3 hours and counting...

1100. 3 hours to the release of The Sims 3. I'm having brekkie overlooking the line I'll be joining in a little while. First 600!

Shaking speares in the park

Oh, what an evening! It's closing night for "Much Ado About Nothing" and we the audience are sitting on our picnic mats on the grand slope of Fort Canning Hill overlooking the amphitheatre. We, meaning Amy, B-lo, HP, June and me. Around us is a packed house and lost in the midst are a number of our students who happened to choose the same day as us to go.

The heavens were merciful and held off the rain so we could enjoy shaking our speares in the park for the entire evening. Our picnic was a simple affair compared to what some of the other revellers around us brought. But we were very happy with our own buns and sausages, potato salad and grapes, and other miscellaneous post-meal snacks. When else do we get to eat our way through a literary performance without looking anti-social?

The performance was entirely enjoyable. The cast delivered Shakespeare in a most accessible way, sounding very much like plain English which would have been reassuring to anyone in the audience apprehensive about sitting through a whole evening of Elizabethan chatter. The play is a comedy and and the performance delivered loads of verbal humour and sight gags that we might never get to experience from just reading the text alone. Hope our lit kids in the audience will look at Shakespeare through new eyes after this.

The set was particularly intriguing in that it was elaborate without being fussy, nothing extraneous but everything purpose-built with depth and character. We are in the courtyard of colonial bungalow with a swimming pool at left. The pool contained enough water to swim a couple of strokes in, so it wasn't there just for show. The bungalow set was a series of tall, narrow doors and opening louvres that opened out into the courtyard, revealing a long dining room set behind them. While character asides take place in the courtyard, dinner is going on in the background clearly visible to the audience. That makes for a set that looks like there's a whole world that's living and breathing behind the action that takes place onstage. Amazing.

Another evening well-spent with good food, good company and good entertainment. :D

"Monsters" in 3D

June and I volunteered for nephew sitting duty today. As it turned out, we wanted to watch "Monsters Vs Aliens" in 3D and our agenda happily coincided with theirs.

The movie was a fun romp through a familiar theme: outcasts of society saving the day for everyone. All but one of the (human) male characters are portrayed as weedy, incompetent and self-serving, while the female characters tower over them (literally, in the case of Ginormica). Only Gen. Monger has a clue, knowing when to stay out of the way before coming through for the team in the big finish. So yes, there are obvious feminist overtones but I saw it more as a critique of the males of our species as opposed to a statement from the ladies.

As for nephew sitting, I'm still glad that at the end of the day, I can return them to sender. There's just so much we can do to contain so much sonic and kenetic energy within acceptable levels in a public space. There's so much looking around to maintain spatial and environmental awareness so that they don't wander off or somehow allow the environment to interact with them in a negative way. And as far as behaviour goes, they are already considerably well-behaved and obedient.  Wonder how parents of more feral children cope?

SQ baggage

Got a peek into the world of SQ's flight crew. May needed a replacement for her cargo bag a.k.a. suitcase. She also needed a ride and new M2 was available, so we took her over to this pokey little shophouse in Siglap which happens to be THE supplier of cargo bags for SQ's flight crew. They also do repairs.

The staff looks to be all-male handyman types. Brusque in appearance, but they know their luggage and made very practical recommendations on the kind that could withstand the most punishment from airport handling. They actually talked May out of a more expensive but very lightweight Samsonite which she really wanted. It was simply too fragile for her and her frequent-flying career. In the end, she took home a sober-looking Delsey that looked and felt more solidly constructed than her preferred choice.

The name of the new M2 is still under deliberation. I've always wanted to name a Mazda "Hatta" so that his full name would be "Madaza Hatta" for a Lewis Caroll in-joke. But I'm also contemplating J0513, after Josie and her most aware Pussycats, 'cos when we acquired him was in the middle of their big hoo-ha and somehow the name stuck with me. At this point, I'm still open to suggestion.

Possibilities and definites

And so we have arrived once again at what passes for the summer vacation in the West. Those idyllic three-month long breaks, by the way, are a tradition that goes back some two hundred years when the kids of the farming community were needed back at their homesteads as farmhands. It wasn't really a "vacation" at all, unless you like farmstays.

Here, we get a month. Probably a holdover from when we once followed the colonial timetable, but we have taken it as our God-given right anyway.

Today our month of unstructured time stretches out before us with endless possibilities. Possibly we could go to the beach; possibly we could go cycling; possibly we could have long, leisurely lunches on lovely lawns in the sunshine; possibly we could explore strange, exotic and wonderful locations -- and I know of some people who already have that planned.

But there are also some definites too. Like we definitely have to finish our mid-year marking (plus last term's backlog); we definitely have to get our lecture plans firmed up and researched; we definitely have to meet among our various committees to assess our mid-year achievements and make plans for the rest of the year... um, that's all I remember so far. If I've forgotten anything, drop me a line to remind me, ok?

Anyway, I'm not planning to moan about it. It's the summer hols, and whatever the outlook the mood is upbeat. *rubs hands together with glee

Down for the count

The daily fruit juices have not kept me safe from the flu bug. I've been dosing myself nearly every day with a pineapple-starfruit blend, but the last of my defences crumbled today. Perhaps I should have gone with a stronger, if less palatable blend?

Such a bad week to be incapacitated too, but then I could have said the same thing any other week before. Have to remind myself that I am not indespensible, and that a day's rest means a day's rest.

*clangs handbell and cries "unclean, unclean!"

A place to mark

Today was a good day to get some marking done. June was away in HCMC and wouldn't be back till the evening and since campus should have been deserted I drove out there determined to focus on my scripts with no distractions. That worked well. I had a very productive couple of hours that put a more significant dent in my marking load than I had thought possible. Quite proud of myself for that.

What I hadn't counted on was meeting Jojo on campus too. Like me, she needed some place to mark while Derek gave tuition across the road. What she encountered on campus was this grizzled creature at its most unglam -- unshaven, in googly glasses, sans corset, dentures and botox jabs that help create the illusion of a younger person on normal working days. The horror, the horror.

Regardless, she recognised me and invited me to lunch anyway. So we made a threesome at Sizzlers for salmon and salad. A fitting reward for the hours of pain that "marked" the earlier part of my morning. :)

Yes, there's still quite a mountain of scripts left to be marked, but today's session tells me I may yet pull off a miracle before the week is over.

Goodness graciousness!

Woke up at 0530. Quick rehearsal with script amendments at 0700 on campus. On-site rehearsal at 0845. Showtime at 0910. We were the opening act welcoming the GoH as he made his rounds through the five stations of the Circle Line. This is what he saw...

Please don't crowd the doors

Excuse me, the train is not for you to exungulate yourself in

Don't play on the train! Wait fall down, how?

Oh, this poor lady performing her "National Service". Won't someone give her a seat?

One polite applause later and we're ready to explore the rest of the Circle Line

Guess who had the tough job of following up our act?

Tech and fixes

Got an early preview of the new Circle Line subway system that brings public transportation right to the campus doorstep. We have long awaited this development and have watched eagerly every day as the construction mess that we have had to drive through for a couple of years slowly evolved into the steel-and-glass structure that started taking shape only a few months ago.

Today, I rode the train to visit three of the five stations to sound and tech check for tomorrow's little performance. It's great to work with a professional tech team. Whatever I ask for, I get. Head mikes? Check. Handheld wireless mikes? Check. Channel for sound FX? Open and check! Tech is ready to go, no worries. T -15 hours and counting...

Our patron fed back on our script, and did we ever get a taste of corporate interests clashing with our artistic aspirations. In attempting to inject humour in a potentially dreary morality play, we scripted some sequences and lines of conflict that our patron interpreted as not good for its public image.

Basically what our patron would rather we say was that if passengers wanted a more confortable ride, they have the means within themselves to do something about it. That prompted a hasty rewrite at about 2100 hrs tonight, and a mass email to all cast to note and adapt to the changes in a hurry. Ah, the nature of commissioned work.

Blooding the newbies, pt 2

After encountering a major hiccup that threatened to scuttle NYeDC's committment to the MRT project, the J1s are working quite enthusiastically on our little morality play again. Fortunately for us, it turned out to be only a scheduling difficulty that we could resolve and so our project lives on.

So good to see how the J1s are pitching in to get this performance going. Our dramaturgh has done some fine thinking on her script. From her rough concepts, the rest of the cast members were happily adding on their own bizarre interpretations as we workshopped the scenario today. Even my J2 directors, YuT and Nick have cast themselves in the project even though I said the J2s could take a rest this week.

And while this is going on, my laundry list of to-do items has expanded rather than shrunk. I am so looking forward to the June hols during which I hope to recover a smidgen of the sanity I am prepared to lose over the next week and a half.

Blooding the newbies

Running hot from Drama Night, NYeDC's next project is to put up a skit for the long-awaited opening of the Circle Line that will bring Mass Rapid transportation right to our doorstep.

Predictably, our patrons want us to present a moralistic tableaux enshrining the proper etiquette of commuter behaviour in trains and stations. No problem. We wanted to involve ourselves in community theatre and here we are -- under the media spotlight, no less.

The opening ceremony is being organized by our local broadcasting body, and somehow it's been decided that our item be among those performing in front of the VIPs. Yipes! As of today I have a rough concept for a script and no confirmed cast, but I have faith in my troops. Tina's offered to help out too, so we'll see how our first rehearsal will go tomorrow.

Hello, you're kinda' cute!

Derrick the Dealer tells me M2 is likely to be exported, but he doesn't know yet where to. Meanwhile, I've finally taken possession of new M2, and here he(?) is! We will probably be adjusting to each other for some time as we work out how our different contours are supposed to fit together. There's no second-skin feel to the cockpit yet.

New M2's dashboard is quite pretty at night, all lit up with a rather aggressive red display. As it is, it's still quite bright in the parking lot but the dash is already glowing like a cylon with orders to shoot on sight. Cool.

Car wash day

It was a sombre little ritual we carried out with M2 as we carefully washed him with our own hands in preparation for the next stage of his journey.

Legally, I have ceased being M2's owner for a little over a week now. He belongs to Derrick the Dealer who, despite having paid in full for him, has been kind enough to let me continue driving him for now 'cos I have been too busy to collect the new M2.

But the day to part has arrived already. The exchange will take place at sundown tomorrow, new for old.

I should feel excited, itching to try out my new ride. But all I feel is sadness at the thought of a good friend moving on. Who knows where the road will take him? India? Thailand? The Philippines?  Or might I still be able to bump into him (not literally, of course) on the busy streets of S'pore? But I do know he has quite a few years of adventure left in him.

Dammit. No wonder I don't have many friends. Partings are so flippin' difficult for me.

My Oscar speech

Hadn't expected that it would end in tears, but the emotional release from watching all their effort, dedication, and everything else they invested physically and psychologically into the production culminate in the audience's appreciative applause
set the waterworks flowing for Yu T and Xuan2. They were tears of joy at having accomplished what had seemed like an impossible challenge for them who had taken a huge leap of faith in directing their own show despite their lack of theatrical experience beforehand.

The other two directors were dealing with it in their own way. Lin stood by her friends as they wept, offering support as best she could -- and Nick went off on his own to shmooze with the playwright of the play he directed. 4 amazing kids who have grown so fast in such a short time. I truly salute them and their ability to organize and motivate a team of such diverse talent to give off their best for two evenings of theatrical magic.

I am still amazed by how so many people were willing to pitch in to make "Timepieces" a success. The actors starting from zero experience to delivering confident performances took much time, practice and not a few sharp words from Tina; the props makers quietly toiling away unseen, so creative and resourceful in building our set from recyclable materials on a budget that was so economical I couldn't believe it when they handed me their bills for reimbursement; wardrobe and make-up who might have overrun their budget a bit, but worth it for the visual treat they created of the actors on stage; the spot-on serious and efficient backstage crew which changed sets so quickly that between-the-scenes blackouts were bearable; and the tireless, multi-tasking publicity crew who took on the jobs of collateral designers, bill posters, sales and marketing, accounts, front-of-house, and banquet staff, all led by my indispensible partner-in-crime, Sha.

The AVA crew was so completely integral to our production I have to credit the show as a collaborative project between our two CCAs. Our campus TV news crew put our "thank you/credit roll" video together and will be editing our opening night video which will make a nice souvenir for all of us involved, as well as for the playwrights who let us use their scripts royalty-free. It isn't easy to get so much inter-CCA support for a project, but our kids pulled it off so seamlessly.

I had professional help from Tina who provided the training for the actors and directors and also lent her overall expertise in putting the kids to work as if we were operating like a professional theatre company. She also brought in Matt for a session of voice training at which we discovered some very hidden talents from among our less prominent kids, and Ian who oversaw all the technical details -- lights, sound -- shuttling back and forth between us and his job tech'ing for the Shakespeare gig at Ft Canning.

One more person I have to acknowledge is June. She sourced out my thank-you tokens to the cast and crew when she had gone on holiday in HK earlier this year. Having lugged them all home, on the nights I couldn't be around to keep her company (several of those in the past two weeks or so) she painstakingly wrapped and labelled each one for a more personal touch.

Honestly, everyone in this production was fabulous. Now, being fabulous isn't my personal forte, but as the appointed CEO of this little theatre company, I really only had one job: to LET the people around me BE fabulous. And everyone was, outstandingly so. Thank you all so very much!!!

Btw, the photo above has nothing to do with our production. "Timepieces" deserved my full attention so my cam stayed sheathed in the theatre. The photo is to congratulate Cara on her wedding day (the S'porean one) today. She threw a lunch for us at the Copthorne Kings and that was my table in the pix. My heartiest congrats to Cara and Dave!

Curtain... 2009

Opening night has always been a magical experience, and this year's Drama Night has been no exception. From rehearsal weeks before right up to curtain tonight there was always something to worry over, some crisis to resolve.

But we opened to a warm crowd, so generous with their cheers and applause, so appreciative of the simple set pieced together on an extremely tight budget. It was the audience that made a big difference to the performance. It energised the performers who took it all in, playing at a level we hadn't yet reached at the dress rehearsal the night before.

Despite the worries, there was no real trouble at all. Everyone pitched in to help, even under no obligation. We had Estate and Security support which was particularly cooperative despite our schools being currently at Yellow Alert status. We had encouraging colleagues who kept our spirits up, plying us with food (thanks, Jojo) and Amy even pitched in to select and collect our reception items from Molly's -- cheap and good wholesale nonya kueh (Mel's recommendation). Speaking of Mel, she personally called in long-distance to wish us all a good show, and probably to remind us what a great time she's having in Poland.

In all the running around I was doing, I'd inadvertently left my cam at my desk, so for the first time, I was forced to watch the show through my own eyes rather then via a tiny LCD screen. Apart from a few minor technical hiccups, and mainly in overcoming the inertia of getting the show started -- it's boring to sit and watch nothing but curtain billowing in the air-conditioning updraft -- the show itself was magic. That is, the magic of previously disparate elements of movement, script, props, set, lighting, sound all coming together for once and seeing the story unfold as envisioned by my student directors of whom I am so proud.

One more show tomorrow night, to most likely a smaller audience. If we keep our heads and not get carried away by tonight's high, I'm certain we'll rock the house again and end our run with a bang. Looking forward to that, and maybe sleep too.

GP would be DADA

If JC was Hogwarts, GP would be DADA (Defence Against the Dark Arts). Quoting Prof Snape about his subject,

"Dark Arts are many, varied, ever-changing and eternal. Fighting them is like fighting a many-headed monster, which, each time a neck is severed, sprouts a head even fiercer and cleverer than before. You are fighting that which is unfixed, mutating, indestructible."

"Your defences must therefore be as flexible and inventive as the Arts you seek to undo." (Half-Blood Prince)

The kids are expressing some concern that our teaching methods are nothing like the methods that accorded them so much success at the 'O' Levels. Back then for them, it was straightforward: here's a chunk of text to study; reproduce it on the exam; congratulations, here's your 'A'.

That kind of study assumes that knowledge is finite and non-conflicting. That's the kind of knowledge that is adequate for a worker with a list of daily tasks that won't change over time.

But it simply won't do for the kids at JC level. These are the kids destined to be our future professional decision-makers. They're young, gangly, squirming at their desks, but in not too many years from now they'll be our engineers, architects, lawyers, politicians, doctors, entrepreneurs and probably teachers as well. Many of them are likely to be our bosses too.

I am NOT about to let someone qualified only as a daily-rated worker make any of those important decisions for me. Those decisions have to be made by people who know enough to know they will never know enough, and yet take action when they do know enough.

Knowledge itself at this level is the Dark Arts. Nothing is certain, possibilities are numerous, sensory input is confusing, conflicting and often inaccurate. Much like the hydra Snape describes, knowledge seeks to beguile, charm, sway, harrass, threaten, and overwhelm (and if all else fails, bore) us because there is so much of it and because it operates according to a multitude of conflicting agenda. And our JC kids have to be trained to handle this kind of uncertainty and still be able to make good decisions anyway.

Our 'O' level reliance on plain vanilla facts will make every hydra head undefeatable. If every head is a fact, then we have to take on the whole monster all at once. To fight the hydra, our tools are logic and reason, values and principles, weilded with surgical precision against the monster facing us. We may not defeat it entirely,but through judicious hacking and slashing, we can cut through enough crap to get what we need of it and get the heck out of there.

This is not easily taught through a textbook. Instead, our activities are more toward research and debate; intellectual defence and attack against opponents who are usually more qualified or more skilled than the students themselves. But through the skilled use of logic and reason, everyone plays on a level field regardless of station, position or seniority. We are teaching the kids to spar and duel against dark forces, and in so doing, we are helping them establish their own identities as responsible and mature adults whom we trust to take over in their time.

In the JC curriculum, there is no better subject than GP (except maybe K&I) to conduct this type of training in. I don't blame the kids if they find the going tough. It is.

We often tell the kids that their future is in their hands. But we teach them because of a more fundamental, self-serving reason: our future in in their hands. They'd better be good hands, so we'd better train them well.

4 days to...

Curtian is so close now. Continuing to be amazed at what the kids are putting into this production. The set is entirely handcrafted from recycled materials, and the small army of stagehands that materialized overnight blew me away. They're quite clueless right now, but they're taking on a steep learning curve to be ready in a scant couple of days.

Online album updated with more rehearsal pix. Check 'em out!

5 days to curtain

Drama Night 09 Rehearsals

It may have been the Vesak Day off in lieu, but since it's curtains up this Friday it's business as usual in the theatre with rehearsals and tech. Kids including the full AVA crew are working hard and making me work just as hard with them.

Tix are already on sale at $6 a piece. Come get 'em while they're hot!

New Trek

After many repetitions, a tale takes on a life of its own. It evolves and the original premises get all hazy, but that can be a good thing because after many decades of same old, same old, we get a fresh new look and a fresh new perspective on what has long become familiar -- and tired.

In "Star Trek" -- that's right, not Star Trek XI and sans any pendulous subtitle -- we get to see the crew of The Original Series (TOS) as young, rambunctious cadets before they take command of the most famous starship in all of sci-fi. Youth brings such energy to the characters many of us have grown up with. Combine that with CGI and a director who has taken the liberty to reinterpret the canon without messing up its spirit makes for a terrific summer action flick.

Barely out of their teens, Kirk and co. face down a threat from the future led by a maniac who weilds a technology that matches his thirst for genocide. If that was their first mission as cadets, no wonder their subsequent voyages hardly raised a Vulcan eyebrow in comparison.

While this retelling doesn't stinge on all-phasers-firing ship-to-ship battles, the carnage is an extension of the very human need to cope with the pain of loss. All the major participants in this battle have lost someone they hold dear. They either learn to cope and perhaps become stronger for it; or they lose it completely, transferring their pain to others.

It's a great set-up for a story, but the events depicted in this movie will not gel with conventional 'Trek continuity. It is clear that because of people from the future tampering with the past (JJ Abrams being self-referential here?) the timeline has changed, and the young Uhura herself makes a point to state that what this crew is experiencing is indeed an alternate reality.

Yet even in this alternate tale, it's only minor events (if we can consider the destruction of a whole planet as minor) that have been irrevocably changed, but the Enterprise (NCC-1701) and everyone on board remain true to their character. It may be more action-packed no doubt, but it is still a exciting Star Trek story.

Will we get to see more adventures with this new young crew? I'd like that. It's a promising beginning.

I are milo dinosawr!

I are milo dinosawr! Hear me rawr!

Some sums

Now I understand what "breaking even" means when drivers go about buying their next car. Simply put, it's the difference between what you owe the bank for your previous car and what the dealer is willing to pay for it as a second-hand car.

The amount I got for M2 not only paid off my existing loan but also went towards a significant portion of my downpayment for the new M2. So my initial capital outlay for the new car wasn't that much after all. What I did pay for was a reduction of the loan I would be taking from the bank so that my monthly installment for the new car is just a little lower than what I am currently paying.

Ok. Too much math. But it does show that it's a lot easier to buy a car when you already have a car.

Director's cut

Got interviewed on my own camera by my own publicity crew. They're making a "behind-the-scenes" video for Drama Night and wanted some short quotes to splice in with the rest of the footage.

It wasn't easy for me to say in just a short quote what I felt about Drama Night this year, and I think I mangled my interview. There are so many people to be appreciative of: from coach, to cast, to crew, to directors, to publicity, to Sha, my partner in crime.

I've been amazed by the organizational capabilities of the club members, and how resourceful and innovative they have been in getting all the help they need to run this show on their own, with me, Sha and Tina taking something of a back seat and only stepping in to offer guidance and support. It hasn't meant a reduction of our working hours, but it does mean that the kids themselves are making the major production decisions, from organizing their own auditions to building the set to even enlisting the support of the AVA crew who have been working flat out with us since yesterday. First time ever, AVA has been so supportive of Drama Club efforts.

The actors and crew have been dedicated to their task even though many of them are actually sub-cons and not actual Drama Club members. All of us are stretched quite thin by now, all keeping late nights as we have been rehearsing, revising and rehearsing again these past couple of weeks. And as of now, there's just one more week to endure till showtime!

But it's going to be a very long week. While the kids' forte is in organization and administration, they still have to make a quantum leap in their stagecraft and overall watchability in the next few days. Things are still looking pretty rough onstage, especially now that we have started rehearsing on site. From what I see from today's rehearsal, we need a miracle to get us ready in the one week remaining. But I'm still confident because miracles have happened before and there's every reason to expect they will happen again.

There goes the hamburger

Hurray! A triumph for animal rights. More surprisingly, the activist happens to be the victim herself! Way to go, Molly! Those stupid carnivores let one slip after all.

I heart NY!

Another head-scratching class discussion

I wonder if we've got our concept of school ranking correct? We accord top ranking to the schools that deliver the highest 'A' grade percentage. Shouldn't it be that the top schools are the ones with the highest failure rate instead? That would indicate that the top schools are operating at the highest possible standards and expectations for their students, and that just passing alone is a real challenge. Pass the best, fail the rest -- that would be the true measure of an elite school.

Doesn't a high passing percentage mean that our standards are so low that anyone can pass? We just don't give failure the respect it deserves and, as a result, our students still haven't a clue what being challenged means. Does that mean we are sending our graduates and scholars out into the world unprepared?

Now, how am I supposed to address this conundrum?

Goodbye and hello

I suppose it was too much to hope for, but my bid for a COE was successful. That means my days as M2's owner are numbered. Well, they were numbered anyway, but now the number has reduced to a very small digit, and it's happened much earlier than expected.

I hate goodbyes, but perhaps M2 will find a better owner on the resale market. One who won't bump him around so much and will wash him more often. As for me, it's time to make a new friend.

Warm fuzzy

The days are hot. Combining that with our humidity, we are being slowly steamed alive. No doubt our energy bills are going to rise as we rely increasingly on air-conditioning to keep cool.

But the past few nights have been most glorious for sleeping cosily snuggled up under the sheets. Stormy, rain lashing down, wind howling through the gaps in the windows, giving us good reason to overstay our welcome in the land of zzzs.

Pyongyang tea party

I'm in a parable-telling mood. Nothing like oversimplifying complex issues as if I'm talking to 9 year-olds about the way the world is. Anyway...

Because of the North Korean missle test not too long ago, one of my kids asked me why we view NK with such suspicion. Let me explain it this way: Mostly, it's a matter of trust. NK fought a bitter war against the US over communist vs democratic ideology and officially there has not been an end to the hostilities even after 50 years.

NK still believes it is at war. It's just that it hasn't acquired the necessary technological advantages to win it yet. The US and pretty much the rest of the world are certain that once NK is ready with its war waging capabilities, it will end recess-time and start the war again.

For the world, it's like everyone's at a tea party, makin' nice with one another, while in a shadowy corner one of the guests is muttering to himself and playing with steak knives. Not too comfortable a feeling, is it?

So they're waving chicken wings and hors d'ouvres at him hoping he'll put the knives down and play nicely with everyone else. Sad thing is, he thinks that the only way he's going to get any food at this party is if he keeps pretending to talk to himself and play with knives. And when people start to ignore him again ('cos he grates on their nerves after a while) he gets their attention again by playing with bigger knives. Don't you just hate guests like that? Yet, you feel really sorry for him at the same time.

Trust me, I've been to parties like that before. Ooh... shiny. pointy. things...

Anyway, Mel Gurtov of Time has a theory on why NK behaves so strangely. Check it out here.

Thanks for providing the link, Amy!

The big catfight

Met Jen for dinner. She was over an hour and a half late for our appointment, but she had a good reason. She was doing her part to resolve the big catfight that has gripped the attention of our national media over the last couple of weeks.

It's an interesting story she told about a posse of young upstarts who rode into town one day and by their sheer number declared themselves the new mayor, town council and sheriff over the existing townsfolk and their assets. Oh boy, did they ever pick the wrong town to annexe. The rebellion that came after their initial success was armed to the teeth, spoiling for a knock-down drag-out fight, and brought friends.

There was an epic battle in which more of the town's assets suffered further collateral damage, but finally amidst the carnage the newbies capitulated. Law and order has since been restored while the lawyers are busy calculating reparations.

And so ends one of the most exciting political events to have ever occured in our so-called "apathetic" nation. We may take democracy for granted, but God help whomever attempts to hijack it from us. And in this one instance God, in his infinite wisdom, didn't.

That was basically Jen's story from the trenches. Me, I'm not even going to comment because I wasn't there and, anyway, I wouldn't understand.

As fatigued as my wallet

Labour Day holiday. An opportunity to goof off without guilt because we are celebrating our being employed. These days, having a job is not to be taken for granted so today has some particular significance for us waged and working people.

And looking back on how I've been spending on big ticket items in the past few months, I am so gonna need to depend on a regular paycheck to stay afloat. From acquiring, renovating and furnishing a new home and new wheels, it's a pretty deep hole I've sunk myself in. I had better begin clawing my way up and out, or be buried under the dumptruck load of debt poised directly overhead. 

The marginal utility I derive from spending money has finally reached the point of diminishing returns. I am now as fatigued as my moth-eaten wallet. I've done all I can to boost the economy, so now I declare that it's high time other people took their turn.

No more unnecessary spending from this household. That is, we're not likely to become complete misers overnight, but we're not going to be shopping around for any more trouble either.

Slash, slash, Wolverine, slash

As a stand-alone movie, "X-men Origins: Wolverine" is quite the action-packed blockbuster we were hoping for. There are brutal fight scenes and things blowing up galore, and some awesomely cool choreographed moves by some of the characters as well (Agent Zero and Deadpool!!!), but for a bunch of characters wielding all manner of bladed weapons and small-arms, their kills are oddly bloodless. Guess the movie has to be acceptable to the kiddies' parents too, 'cos Wolvie is as popular to a 10-year-old as is to a jaded grump like me.

"Wolverine" compiles a brief history of everybody's favourite mutant, from his childhood to the Weapon X program and it's disastrous aftermath -- basically, all the memories Wolvie has lost, now revealed at last to the movie audience.

Considering his memories begin in the mid to late 19th century, I would have liked to explore his earlier memories in more detail. Unfortunately, these earlier memories were handled rather perfunctorily in the movie. The intention is to help align "Wolverine" continuity to "X-men" continuity, though I feel they rushed it. Wolvie's been a combatant in every major war since the American Civil War, and each war must have potential for some epic stories. But within the constraints of movie time, a lot of pruning has to be expected.

I'm glad the Sabretooth character is intelligent and that his reprehensible actions are the result of conscious choice rather than direct control by some external force. He is a bad, dangerous man who knows what he is doing, not just some beast on a leash like he was in the first X-men movie.

But the biggest disappointment was Gambit. Yes, it isn't his name on the title, but this character is way too cool to be used just as a glorified chauffeur who gets Wolvie where he's going. And what happened to Gambit's trademark Cajun mannerisms and accent? Maybe they should have brought in a speech coach because he sounded more Irish instead. Sorry, nitpicking; but it's too big an oversight to let it pass without mention.

Maybe it's because the fanboy in me already knows something of the Weapon X saga, so focusing on this event -- crucial as it is to the Wolverine mythos -- was meh. It makes for necessary plot development as the locations and events here are very closely linked with what happens in the "X-men" movie trilogy, but personally, I would have liked more screen time to showcase the awesome potential of Team X. Wolvie's heroic side emerges through his association with the X-men, so it would have been interesting to see the more grey areas of his past alongside his nasty Team X associates.

What I'm saying isn't so much an indictment against poor filmmaking choices as it is an acknowledgement that the Wolverine character has been so well-developed over the years by so many excellent writers and that a simple summary done on film does no justice to the richness of the man who is "the best at what he does, and what he does isn't very nice".

Too late for regrets

I have bought a new car, and I haven't been making much of a big deal about it. First, because it happened so suddenly, and second, because I'm upset.

It isn't about the money -- I don't have much of it to throw around anyway. It's the way I so readily signed over M2 to the dealer, although I had no intention to do it before. I have no reason to sell him off. He's been a good boy, never having given me any problems apart from a flat tyre and battery which were easily replaceable parts. I bet he'd still be a great companion for at least a couple more years before age actually starts taking its toll on him.

So why the sudden change? That's not a question I want to answer now. I'm too haunted by the memory that I signed him away while I was in full sight of him. There he was, just beyond the showroom window, sitting in the parking lot, while I hesitatingly put my John Hancock on the dotted line.

It's a memory that came back strongly this evening when I started him up to drive home from work. Mr Big's "Wild World" was playing on the radio:

Now that I've lost everything to you

You say you want to start something new

And it's breaking my heart you're leaving

Baby I'm grieving

And if you wanna leave take good care

Hope you have a lot of nice things to wear

A lot of nice things turn bad out there

Oh baby, baby, it's a wild world...

I know it's silly of me to be so sentimental. I'm getting a great deal out of this transaction, and it's a routine part of car ownership in S'pore (cars are too expensive to keep for long and have to be sold off before they start giving trouble), but I already miss him.

This is one car owner who is dreading to hear that his COE bid has been successful.

Enduring "memory"

As magical as Mr Mistoffelees, Cats: Now and Forever was quite the extravaganza of music, song and dance that I had hoped it would be. I've been acquainted with the Webber musical since my sis was a schoolgirl, and only now, two decades or so later have I finally been able to see what she had been raving about way back then.

First of all, Cats is not a play. There is a very loose narrative stringing the different numbers together -- a reason for the cats to gather onstage -- but the plot is really just a convenient device for sequencing the scenes in some coherent manner. Most of the scenes themselves are self-contained units, focusing on the story of a particular cat (like the rum-tum-tugger) or cats (like Mungojerrie and Rumpleteaser). So there isn't much necessity to interpret a bigger picture than what is already being presented.

What's more important for me is that the music is beautiful, varying in genre and tempo; as is the dance by the ensemble cast, so coordinated, acrobatic and energetic; a total treat for both audio and visual senses. The experience is what counts -- being in and appreciating the moment, every moment. That's where the enjoyment is, at least for me.

I don't know if Momo, Kaiser and Maui would approve of human beings cavorting around impersonating them, though. This kind of thing is only what we people would do; we don't see cats pretending to be us, do we?

3 2 2

I suppose it was inevitable, though I didn't expect it to be this soon. I took up the dealer's invitation to test drive the newly launched Mazda 3 even though I knew I couldn't afford it. It was just a lark, to see how the latest designed M3 would feel on the road. That was all it was supposed to be.

Mazdas are always a smooth ride, easy to handle and corner well. I was holding back because of its unfamiliar feel, but the 1.6l engine promised a jolt of power if I would but step a little harder on the accelerator. The luxury version comes with a few pretty cosmetic accessories, mostly having to do with lighting. The exterior boasts dual-xeon headlamps and fogs while the interior brightens up with a constellation of little console lights that indicate where every control button is if you happen to want to push one on a dark night. Pretty.

Like I said, there is no way in heck I could afford even the sedan version, let alone the luxury. The math simply wouldn't go, not that I really wanted a 3 anyway. But the math worked out perfectly for the Mazda 2 which I test drove over a year ago, but couldn't afford then. So suddenly, M2 got traded in and if our calculations are accurate, the new monthly payments will be less than what I am currently paying now. I placed the order, expecting delivery some time next month.

I should feel some excitement, even elation at the prospect of the change, but I don't. Somehow, I feel like I'll be losing a dear, old friend in M2. We've been through a lot together, but I know I won't be able to keep him forever. So can I think of it as M2 isn't really gone but rather as having got a major makeover including weight reduction and image enhancement instead? That'll be one way to cope, I guess.

We might have to clap in shifts

College Day: the day to recognize kids' achievements in academic and co-curricula pursuits, and for a rare few, both. We also use the occasion to inspire the other kids to do better so that they can take their own place on the stage the following year.

As teachers, we are justifiably proud of our students when we know we have contributed in some way to their success. But as much as we like to celebrate our aces, I thought I'd remind myself that the other kids -- the not-so-successful ones; the pains-in-the-neck; the ones who make me want to cough blood and die; yeah, those -- are no less valuable, and are just as worthy of my time and attention as well. Just because they don't score aces doesn't necessarily mean they aren't learning; and sometimes even when they don't display brilliance in exam conditions, it just means that their skills will emerge when they really need them perhaps a little further down the road.

So for me, College Day isn't just about the swots and muggers, but for all our kids regardless of achievement. Congrats to all of you!

Bits of randomness

"I appreciate the compliment, Chu-bi Wan. Have patience, and one day you too will master the art of Cat Fu."

"Dessert. Now. Please."

Finally got these pix uploaded like I promised. That means June's home from Beijing! Yay! No more instant noodles for dinner.

Dunno what's wrong with me the past few days. Simply could not come up with a single coherent thought, and had even more trouble reaching for appropriate vocabulary to use even in conversation with friends and colleagues. It's been like my neurons shorting out or something. Maybe I just need more sleep.

Meantime, NBS had the courage to offer herself up to be ravaged by the usual whiners and axe-to-grinders who stalk the ST online opinion pages. I don't subscribe to abuse therapy to deal with my boredom, but sometimes it's fun to poke the hornets' nest with a stick then stand back and laugh at their angry, pointless buzzing. I guess that could be therapeutic. I guess.

And a shout out to the little Swift who was just minding her own business when an oblivious truck jammed his nose up her butt: "Get well soon!"

Geek gushes over gorgeous gal

Omg, she's a beauty! For an older lady, she's still got the curves and the moves to make these eyes o' mine water. A gal like her is so hard to find these days. Majestic, graceful, yet cheeky enough for a little fun when she's not taking care of serious business, she's still got it in her to turn heads with her presence. At first glance, she may not look immediately appealing, with her twin humps disconcertingly distracting from her sleek figure. But I've observed her long enough, and have grown accustomed to her unique charms. And now I just can't take my eyes off her. I simply must take her home, care for her and treat her real nice, and I just know she'll take me to the heights of my desire.

Sigh. Wish I had £1.5-2 mil.

A change of leadership

We have been playing around with the notion of democracy so much that we actually think we are a democratic nation. Going by the unhappiness over the sudden and abrupt change of leadership in women's advocate group, AWARE, it's become apparent that we have no concept at all about what "democracy" means, or what its implications are. Or the fact that adopting democratic principles presupposes the voting members are responsible people who perform their due diligence before they vote and then are prepared to live with the decision they have made.

No. Here, democracy's peachy -- as long as it returns the status quo. But all hell breaks loose when the unexpected results. Accusations fly over questionable tactics and ethics; hidden agenda and conspiracy theories surface; and everyone wonders what went wrong, as if the defeat of the incumbent was a moral violation of some sort.

Democracy is a contest, not a procedure. There will be a winner and there will be a loser. The one who knows and prepares the ground best wins, the other... well, there's always the next election. My guess is that the previous leadership of AWARE simply took this election as a formal procedure to legitimize its position in the forthcoming term, and wasn't prepared to slug it out with a candidate who was in it to win it. Result: ah, there's the beauty of democracy, isn't it? If the people feel it's time for a change of leadership, then leadership makes a peaceful transition, thus eliminating a full-blown civil war ending with the loser's head on a pike.

But at this time in our nation's development, we haven't quite figured out this aspect of our cherished democratic principles yet. If AWARE is any indication of the ground today, then we're looking at a people that really want to see change take place. The next General Election may prove to be a hotter, more serious contest than it has ever been since independence. The previously lethargic opposition may take this incident as a sign to launch a major offensive to capitalize on shifting ground support while the incumbents should know by now to prep for a real battle on their hands this time.

Could this event mark a turning point in our voters' appreciation of the concept of democracy: that their choices really do matter, and that they have to be responsible for the votes they will be casting? That their votes must be based on an intelligent assessment of the options available and not simply made as a matter of course or reflex? An advocacy group can take time out for hand-wringing (though I think they would much prefer neck-wringing), but national government has no time for anything else other than business as usual regardless of the result. And we, the voters, must learn to peacefully accept the outcome because it was the choice we made. Else it'll be another battle of different coloured shirts as we tear our own country apart. Who needs enemies then?

If we didn't know the first thing about democracy before, now's the time to be AWARE.

Home alone

Urm, I was gonna pretty up this entry with pix of Q-tip with her new haircut, Maui watching TV, and the lovely steak I had for dinner, but I procrastinated a tad too long. Now my cam is on its way to the airport, accompanying June to Beijing. Yes, I've been left to my own devices again for about a week. I've stocked up on provisions so I'm not likely to starve, and the laundry's done so I should continue to smell nice, at least for the next few days.

How is a guy gonna survive without the civilizing influence of a woman's proximity? In this experiment, we're about to find out. Stay tuned...

For one night only

The annual Chinese drama night has taken a big step forward this year in terms of staging choices and overall presentation.

Tonight, in the first play, we saw a more efficient use of performance space, sectioning off different parts of the stage to represent different locations, thus avoiding long, unnecessary blackouts while transitioning between scenes.

The second play was more stylized. The set utilized movable blocks of different sizes for a versatile set that easily transformed to create different moods and locations. Movement in this piece was more tightly choreographed than the previous piece, which tended towards a more realistic presentation. The second piece also made good use of heights and levels, a little dance movement, and also delivered an interesting, textured soundscape -- a combination of music and rhythms -- that worked for both realistic and abstract scenes.

The plots were straightforward enough for me to understand most of what was going on, at least through observing the situation. The dialogue was not simple TV-grade Mandarin, but rather some higher level language that went clear over my head. Must thank Amy and B-lo for helping me past the more esoteric bits, though there weren't really that many.

Apart from watching the performance, I was also taking note of the lighting equipment and the effectiveness of the condensers. It'll be NYeDC's turn to go up on stage in only a month's time. Panic stations!

Knowing we've seen it all before

Why do I insist on watching movies about the end of the world? Oh yeah, for the scenes of civilization being destroyed in spectacular fashion, and perhaps for the glimmer of hope that we can somehow overcome, avert or avoid the inevitable.

In the case of "Knowing", there are indeed some truly vivid depictions of disasters complete with a few disturbing visuals of being right in the midst of it all while people are dying in quite horrible ways all aound us. That itself should be worth the price of admission, but we've seen it all before already -- in the trailer!

Ok, so the trailer does not cover every single aspect of the movie but I daresay everything I wanted to view, I could have got it off the trailer, for free. The bits that were not in the trailer, well, let's just say they didn't add much more -- except maybe a little unnecessary hokeyness -- to an already predictable plot.

There's an attempt to draw out a debate between Determinism and "sh*t happens" randomness, but it seems like a convenient placeholder for upping the philosophical ante of the movie, and it didn't sustain.

Oh well, nice concept, but not quite my cup of tea.

Not exactly rapt attention

It's probably my own fault I had to destress this afternoon. I've been working on a little presentation for today's address to the JC2s that we Inno people (Kev, et al) were responsible for. We? I mean, me. Not that they didn't offer help, but I took it upon myself to deliver the oration because I could not get another speaker to fill the slot like I said I could. Penance. The speaker I did get is for a later date, not today, in case you're wondering.

I've lectured before, to groups of about 120-150, but this was the first time I faced the whole JC2 cohort, all 700+ of them. Did I really have anything to say that could hold their attention for 40 minutes or so? It was something I've been fretting over the past week, imagining a scenario where I'd be holding a wireless mike in one hand and a can of mace (or a fire extinguisher) in the other to maintain crowd control.

The initial technical problems didn't help ease my nerves, but I finally had my sound and visuals by the second reboot while the crowd murmured around me, anxious to see some action at least for their trouble of hustling to the hall.

But I've been selling my audience short. When we got started, they did rather seem politely interested. It wasn't exactly rapt attention, but it wasn't the riot I'd been fearing either.

A couple of things that most likely worked in my favour: I held a wireless mike and walked in the midst of my audience, randomly shooting off a question, shoving the mike at a convenient face and expecting a response. No one really wanted to attract my attention and my mike, so there were no outstanding individuals in the crowd. The other thing was to constantly vary the sensory input, letting a few short video clips take up about half my time while I spent the rest stitching together a plausible narrative linking the clips together along with the other media (news clippings and websites) I used in my show-and-tell.

I think overall it went well, though I haven't heard the reviews yet. Anyway, the ordeal's over -- for now. And the root beer did wonders for my mood.

Recipe for destress

Recipe for destress: 1 root beer float, well beaten, served neat. And the afternoon off.

Is no house, is zoo

Everyone knows I keep four animals in my house, 3 cats and a dog. The addition of the fifth, Mimi, whom I am dogsitting over the weekend has pushed me to my limits.

It's no fun being constantly up to my elbows in poop and pee, every now and then having to spray down the bathroom floor because somebody missed the paper. And even then, sometimes I can't even change the paper fast enough, so I can't really blame the dogs for their inability to make a precision strike when the designated target zone has already been carpet-bombed to saturation.

Bleary-eyed all weekend, I finally got a good night's sleep in my own bed last night. I simply couldn't take my Mimi-induced insomnia any longer. When she started acting up as usual, I got out of bed to give her a sharp swat on her hindquarters and plonked her back into her sleeping basket. Not a peep out of her after that, and I got a solid five hours.

Now to get the house ship-shape for June's return tonight. All evidence of my decadent bachelor lifestyle must be eradicated. Rhumba is hard at work as we speak.

Have a good Friday

The Wongs are off on their annual vacation, and I am living like a bachelor again. The natural state of things is that any horizontal surface is appropriate to place stuff on and that any protrusion is appropriate to hang stuff on, and so "nature boy" is reasserting himself, at least for the weekend. After all, who are we to keep fighting entropy?

Seriously lacking sleep, though. With the Wongs gone, Mimi's staying at my place so I can keep an eye on her, feed her and take her for walkies. But one thing she will not do is sleep alone at night. Since my bedroom is the one sacred animal-free zone in my house, I had to sleep in the living-room to keep her company. Otherwise she will bark continuously with no consideration for the neighbours whatsoever. But who can really sleep in the living-room? No fan, no air-conditioning and with the windows closed (open windows give the cats ideas) I tried to catch as many winks as I could. Pretty sure I'm way short of the recommended forty.

Still managed to catch brekkie with Jojo and Derek at the Beach Hut (behind McD's, ECP). They serve a breakfast buffet for about $11 nett on Sundays and public hols. Another good option if we're considering dog-friendly locations.

Haven't 'bladed for a long time, so I took the opportunity to have a rollin' cardio workout while J&D hung out on the beach to photosynthesize. And now "nature boy" is considering his options for spending the rest of the afternoon on this nice public hol Friday.

Yes, Kev, I'm procrastinating again...

Captain Heroic

A hastily crafted news headline reads, "Navy warship arrives where captain held off Somalia". Goodness, since the captain was already doing so well holding off a whole African nation by himself, the Navy warship would only be cramping his style.

Click here.

Effective communication

Spent most of the day catching up with my overflowing email inbox and shooting off more replies than I remember ever having done in a single day before. Some of these correspondence were quite crucial, so I'm very gratified that the results have been quite rewarding.

The two playwrights whose scripts we wish to use for Drama Night have given us their royalty-free blessings, as long as we keep the integrity of their opuses (at least in spirit) and they wouldn't mind a video recording of the performance, if we would be so kind. Hmm... now where can we find a competent and reliable camera crew to help us out here?

Also, quite unexpectedly, a guest speaker materialized to help out with a presentation I've been tasked to organize for the whole JC1 cohort. Here I was mentally girding myself up to take on the flak all by myself, and suddenly an expert arrives to lend a much needed hand. Yay!

I'm slowly being convinced that people are indeed willing to come forward and contribute to the education of our young. They need a very clear statement of objectives within a well-crafted, succinct missive, but once they know that they are needed and what they are needed for, they'll do it for the sake of Education.

Best kept secret

Sembawang's best kept secret has got to be the block of little shophouses on Jalan Malu-malu that's like a time-capsule dating back some 30 years at least. There is a seafood restaurant on the corner that's jumping with diners (yes, it's an open secret) though the set-up reminds me of the crappy, run-down seafood joints that once occupied Punggol Point. It's dim and dingy, and diners are better-off not looking too closely at the kitchen, but that's how it all used to be.

There is a frozen meat wholesaler on the same row. He's a good option for cheap meats for barbeques, in case you think the internet bbq wholesalers are too expensive and too impersonal.

But our target of exploration tonight was Flamingg Mangos. On the row of shops that Pizza Hut operates a delivery-only service is an amazing little restaurant that serves very robust burgers, pasta and steaks. The decor is romantically simple: dim with a pink-orange glow; a few small, framed pictures on the walls; a bar counter adjacent to a wine rack, all opccupying an old-style shophouse gutted for al fresco dining.

There's an easy-going atmosphere about the place. Nothing is hurried, not even the light jazz on the stereo which seems to direct the tempo of operation there. It offers a decent variety of drinks, but it's mostly family-friendly, and there's a dog-friendly corner too.

We ordered a cream of pumpkin soup to start which came with a basket of home-made garlic bread. June had a half-rack of ribs while I feasted on two hunks of breaded dory and chips. Free-flow of iced water, cold and therefore good. I had my eye on a creme brulee for dessert, but we both were too full by the time we were done with our main course.

Total bill: $45.75. Not bad for a very pleasant dinner for two. Next time we go, my target will be the beef, and to somehow still pack in dessert.

Library calling!

Went on another book delivery run. Before starting off, the organizers were very happy to inform us that the project has had a successful trial and will now be a permanent operation of the National Library Board. There was a simple appreciation ceremony at which they gave us volunteers a cert and a commemorative polo shirt each.

With me were June (first time!) and Mark G. I didn't think to bring a camera for the event, but Mark shoved me his to shoot him collecting the plaque the NLB presented to our college for our service. Hope it turns out ok 'cos the request was so sudden, I didn't have time to compose the shot properly before I took it.

The run itself was quite uneventful. June and I drove out to two locations in Jurong. One of the receipients wasn't home. She'd gone out to take a class in something-or-other, her family member said as he collected the books on her behalf. The other was a wheelchair-bound teen whose selection comprised some difficult-looking science and math books and he requested we bring him something on C++ programing next time.

I really don't mind there being a next time. The job isn't a big hassle -- even non-drivers can volunteer as Comfort sends a fleet of taxis to provide free transport as part of their service learning culture. The transaction is easy: count books, sign here, sign there, and we're gone. And most importantly, everyone's happy.

Official propaganda

I must be getting old. That's probably why reminders of human mortality seem to be drawing my attention these days. But so far (thankfully) it hasn't been Death itself that's been holding my fascination but rather the celebration of the life lived that has.

This MCYS vid is especially fascinating because it portrays one possible interpretation of the paradox posed in 2 Cor 12:9, which declares that God's "power is perfected in weakness" -- something of a head-scratcher if we just look at the verse out of context.

Love's the same. It's the imperfect that needs love most, and love's best function is when it upholds the most imperfect.

I don't often compliment official propaganda, but this one has got it right for once. It doesn't mean I'm about to start a family right away, but I appreciate the message.

Drama Club evolution

Quite happy with how Drama Club is working. I was a bit worried last year when we seemed to be accumulating a small group of ordinary kids; no divas, no drama mamas, no one anyone might suggest they would look interesting on stage. But these kids have made such progress since, in terms of work ethic, organizational abilities, willingness to learn, and drive to produce a good show despite our budgetary and space constraints.

Today, our Drama Night cast and crew list numbers 50 from a core of about 14, and I think Tina is exactly the right coach to lead them, with her no-nonsense style and her overall production vision that will ensure everyone will have something valuable to contribute to the effort. For once, even the publicity team which usually operates independently from the production team has now been fully integrated and it was nice to see all departments represented at our first production meeting yesterday afternoon.

In slowly empowering the kids to take charge of their own production, I'm encouraged that the right kids are starting to take over the club from off my hands, and I am very interested to see where they're going to take it.

Carnivorous Rex

The birthday boy got what he wanted, an all-restraints-off meat buffet featuring uncivilized sized hunks of the flesh of several different animals sliced off a skewer onto our own plates. I think it was an act of rebellion against the health and environment conscious campus cafeteria we've been eating at every day for the past... who knows how long already.

There isn't much to describe about the food, really. It's chunky; it's meaty; some of it is juicy and tender while others are a bit of a chew-fest; and the different meats tasted very like the critters they were sliced off. What more do you need to know? We weren't there for subtleties, we were there to tear into helpless herd animals and gorge ourselves with viscera until the world was reminded once again who claims top spot on the food chain.

Carnivore, Vivo, was a Great Choice, birthday boy!

Satiated, the pack found a cool, dark den in which to quietly digest our meal -- a cinema screening "Confessions of a Shopaholic". The movie was a quirky, cute look at a materialist lifestyle lived to the extreme. Being mired in credit card debt isn't funny, but creatively evading a dogged Ah Long (US version) and trying desperately not to ruin a stupendously lucky break at the same time somehow is.

My one takeaway from "Shopaholic": people actually get paid to write a 500-word column in a monthly publication? I must so be in the wrong job.

Earth Night

Gaahhh! Dutifully switched everything off promptly at 2030 hrs to do my bit for Earth Hour. Twiddling my thumbs in the dark didn't appeal to me so I went to take a nap for one hour... and didn't wake up until 0700 this morning. How much energy, including my own, did I save?

Departures

We don't take rituals very seriously these days. We see little meaning in fussing over minute details that our traditions prescribe. For us, they're just a throwback to the old days, and we do them just to keep the old people happy. Whether they're to celebrate the new year, or to celebrate a wedding, we skip through the processes as quickly as possible so we can move on to the next thing, getting on with our lives.

It amazes me that a movie can open my eyes to what we've been missing out on: the deeper meaning behind the details of a ceremony when it is carried out with the proper respect and reverence that it deserves.

"Departures" is a look at the living, and how they must deal with the mortal remains of those who have moved on. After all, death isn't a concern for the departed but for the living who must find a way to dispose of the body that's been left behind, and to cope with the loss. These days, we seem to focus on the former, just dumping the body in a hole or incinerating it; then once out of sight, out of mind. Coping with the loss is easy thereafter because we have emotionally detached ourselves from the process. No fuss, no muss.

But with a pace as slow, methodical and calm as its subject, "Departures" takes us through the encoffinment ceremony with such sensitivity that we who generally do not shed a tear at funerals we attend are emotionally moved at each ceremony depicted in the movie.

The work of the "NK agent" (NK stands for something in Japanese meaning "to casket", if we can count "casket"as a verb) is to prepare the deceased for its final journey. This includes the washing and the origami-like wrapping of the body just before it is placed into its coffin. The ceremony is done in full view of the deceased's family, so the body gets treated with the utmost respect. The objective is to restore the corpse back to the way it used to look like so that the loved ones can identify the final image of the deceased as someone they knew in life and remember for the rest of their own lives.

When people die, biological processes render them unrecogniseable. For example, their cheeks hollow out, while oddly enough nails and hair continue to grow. The NK agent performs a ritual that dresses the body in the clothes it is accustomed to wearing, returns facial features to the way they once were and make-up brings living colour back to the pallid face so that its loved ones don't just send a body off to the incinerator, they send the person off to his or her next destination.

What's moving is when the living actually recognise the desceased for who they are, and the grieving kicks in. People express grief in different ways, through tears, fury, and even laughter, but as long as the NK agent has done a good job no one can remain stoic, everybody is part of the grieving process and as a result the memory of the departed lingers that much stronger, that much more real.

But the ceremony is much more than saying a respectful farewell. It actually reminds us how precious being alive is, and how much more we should love those closest to us so that we can let them go with no regrets when the inevitable occurs.

Beautiful cinematography including the motif of migratory geese who, like life, are present for a short time and then fly away. It's really the dead that are moving on; not us who are staying, regardless of how much we try to make life go on. How paradoxical.

What's also paradoxical is the sense that ironically, the NK agent is a dying trade. That's what's truly sad about this movie. Who will help us remember once the profession becomes extinct? Guess that's where we are now.

Whatever it is, it isn't Science

No wonder the kids are having so much trouble with GP. I discovered a bunch of them memorizing essays for Biology class. It looks like they haven't kicked this horrific habit yet since secondary school days.

Whatever they're learning in biology, it isn't Science. In fact, it's quite the opposite. A scientific mind is one that questions, observes, tests, evaluates, concludes and applies. A non-scientific mind accepts unquestioningly, taking what's immediately obvious as gospel truth, based on an external Authority -- in this case, probably a teacher's "model answer".

Smart parrots, indeed. Extrinsically motivated to study for the exam rather than intrinsically motivated just to know. Fortunately, they're still taking GP as a compulsory subject. So much damage we have to undo.

Bonus debacle

Have we overreacted to AIG's top executives' bonus payout debacle? $165 million looks like an awesome amount of money to waste on people's bonuses, but compared to the $170 billion AIG received for its bailout loan, it works out to about 1/1000 of the total package. As I understand it, the loan was intended to get the company on its feet again, running like a normal, functioning company should. And company bonuses are a normal, even expected, part of corporate function.

Let's make a comparison. An F22-A fighter jet like the one that crashed in California costs $150 million for the US government to write off outright -- almost the total sum of AIG's bonus package itself! For $170 billion, the US government could buy well over a thousand F-22s to replace the crashed one. So, really, there's a lot of bailout money left to deal with the company's problems, even after the bonus payouts. Keeping staff morale high in these bad times is one way to do it.

Of course when I myself am facing a no-bonus scenario at the end of this year, hearing about other people getting bonus amounts I could never even dream of does leave a bad taste in the mouth. But at the same time, there's no reason to get all irrational about it.

Evacuation drill dog story

Our campus evacuation alarm went off at about the time we had anticipated, although we weren't supposed to be anticipating it at all. My job when the bell goes is to head for the main gate, secure it and later to escort media personnel to their holding area where they will receive official information about what's goin' on.

No media showed up for today's drill, but a car stopped at the main gate with a couple of ladies claiming that they had been summoned by phone to retrieve their pet dog which had strayed onto our premises. Could they be performing a 'scenario' that we had been warned to expect?

Not long after, this kid arrives walking down the driveway carrying a short-legged mutt which looked both amused and bemused by its unaccustomed mode of locomotion. Kid transfers canine to me, I shoo him back to where he was supposed to be assembling to take attendance, and I open the main gate to facilitate a slightly embarrased family reunion.

Whoever plans these scenarios is mad.

A couple of hours off

The first meeting of the Wii players' club has come to (dis)order. Members finished up early in the afternoon to take a couple of hours off work and indulge in some hilarity. Odd that we were taking a break from controlling unruly children and still ended up controlling unruly Raving Rabbids instead. The stupid game has fast become our favourite. There's nothing like playing a round to get us laughing at each other as we try to figure out the rules of a game that obviously does not make sense, and who's sole purpose is to embarrass its players in front of their friends.

Little mad breaks like these on the odd (and sometimes very odd) occasion are what keep us going.

New eyes

Contacts showing signs of wear. Had to get them replaced, but since Leow's retired I have no interest in bothering him to make another pair for me. It was 20 years ago that he made me my first pair and I've been going back to him every year ever since. This year, I went commercial to Capitol Optical, on a good friend's recommendation (name withheld for medical confidentiality).

These old, tired eyes of mine require quite some negotiation to balance out clarity of distance with clarity of reading. Odd that as we get older while we remain as short-sighted as we have always been, we are also getting long-sighted. It's a paradox no one has been adequately able to explain to my satisfaction.

Given my profession, my contacts will have to sacrifice some distance for reading, though when I'm at home I've taken to wearing my googly glasses 'cos they're really my best option. Gimme another couple of years and I will have to consider lasik or just wear glasses permanently. I'm not looking forward to that time when I have a Hobson's choice to make.

But for today, I made a choice anyway. I'm now trialing disposables to replace my current permanent pair. Hygiene and daily freshness were a strong selling point.

And later today, I believe I discovered Sembawang's best kept secret... but I'll only explore it at a later date.

A pile of croc

We must be in serious denial. Here, we're getting news to expect industry-wide pay cuts, and we're still spending money anyway. We got 50% storewide off Crocs through an "inside source" so although the chunky, rubbery footwear was never on our shopping list before, today we bought a couple of pairs each, and for the in-laws too.

While we had an exclusive discount source, the other shoppers were paying normal store prices and they just kept coming towards the cashier with their own selections. I guess recession or not, life and shopping must still go on.

A treat for the censors

The Board of Film Censors would have us know that it is no longer in the business of censorship. No. It now takes a 3-C approach: Classification, co-regulation and consultation by which the Board restricts access to the media according to age discrimination, rather than making a hatchet job on a roll of film with scissors and Scotch (TM) tape.

We know this because the BFC opened its screening room to us and talked us through the different processes and procedures our mainstream media undergo from submission for classification to final public release. I suppose it's a good approach because it seeks to please some people but not everybody, whereas the other more heavy-handed way pleases no one and pisses everyone off.

Kids did well discussing the sensitive issues in "Little Miss Sunshine" which they got to watch in its entirety, they had an animated Q&A session in which they showed off what they had learned in the session, and they grilled the staff there properly too. Quite a fun morning, actually.

Apologies to NBS whom we stood up for lunch even after making plans at the beginning of the week. We ended our BFC visit late and couldn't make our appointment after all. :(

Witch Mountain all over again

Disney's "Witch Mountain" movies of the 70s' were a major influence on my formative years. They were among the first movies I watched focused on paranormal themes. They fed me with fantasies of ESP abilities, aliens and spacecraft; but it was because of these fantasies that I began reading the newspapers, looking out for articles on such topics.

Somehow, Witch Mountain made a believer out of me and I suppose I was looking for corroborating evidence that such things were real. If they could be real for other people -- so my logic went -- they could turn out to be real for me too. After expending much effort on fruitless mental levitation, my teenage mind decided that if ESP wasn't my gift, then I had to be an alien. Perhaps that above all effectively ended my teenage social life, and turned me into the warped and twisted middle-ageing adult I am today.

Not surprisingly, I made a bee-line for the latest Witch Mountain tale to spin out of the Disney Studio... and realised how much I've grown up in 30-plus years. I mean the basic plot is the same: two young aliens wielding extraordinary powers get chased around for pretty much the whole movie by an evil, obsessive character, and are aided by some uncle-ly dude who promises to get them home, wherever home may be. But I've lost the magic of the first movie and I spent most of the time spotting plot loopholes big enough for a taxi, an RV and a flying saucer to transit through -- abreast.

"Race to Witch Mountain" is a pastiche of many sci-fi plots -- "Enemy of the State", "Terminator", and "Alien", for example -- woven together so loosely it's easy to slip into seen-it-all-before mode. There's a little humour, some action sequences, some big explosions, and the pursuers are by no means benign, but the thrills tend to be short-lived, never sustained.

Oh, well, jaded forty-something talking. I think the biggest thrill for me was to see Ike and Kim (who played the original alien kids) making cameo appearances as a sheriff and a diner waitress respectively. To me, they're old friends whom I haven't seen in decades, and it was a brief vicarious reunion that we shared in a greasy spoon in Stony Creek, small-town USA. It's assuring to see that even as I have grown up, they have too. Tony and Tia, it's good to see you again!

Momentum builds for Drama Night 09

I find it hard to reconcile the notation on my calendar that claims it's the March hols with my 9-hour work day today. I must say that it was a very productive day, and a not at all unenjoyable one 'cos most of the day I spent with the Drama Club, but still I wouldn't call this week a "vacation", like how the rest of the world might consider it. 

Interesting that our scripts this year have rather adult themes and rather, um... adult language, but the kids who are auditioning today seem a little young and naive to be playing such roles. And my intrepid crew of inexperienced student directors themselves haven't quite yet understood the nuances of their chosen scripts yet.

Which brings the club smack into the issue of censorship, or at least toning down of the more squeamish bits so as to play at a level our audience can accept. I realize I'm pushing the envelope here, but it's important that my charges experience the issues of real theater production and its role in the community so that they can see the bigger picture rather than just a romanticized "school-play" version of it.

I'm going to have my hands full with this year's Drama Night. It'll be interesting, but I can only say that I brought it upon myself. Thankfully, I have Tina's expertise and Sha's extra pair of hands to help out.

Ooo... cake!

Happy birthday, June! Hope I haven't hidden your gift too well. It's in a place I thought you'd look at, but so far, you haven't. Hee hee. Keep looking!

Focus, people, focus...

This morning's session with Prof Mo on critical thinking in GP would have been interesting and useful as he was supposed to help us figure out how we could use the subject to train our kids to enter uni more as thinking sceptics than as smart parrots. Unfortunately, our discourse was sidetracked and eventually derailed by a certain inquisitive student who was more interested in picking apart the examples rather than follow the main argument. Like trying to catch the Prof out on some technicality, or something. Typical.

As much as I prefer an interactive class, this one simply couldn't meet its objectives, proving once again that some teachers make the worst students. In times like these, it's best to let go of our previous expectations and just go with the flow. We may not have achieved our goal, but we did get a mildly interesting dialogue out of it anyway.

So the highlight of the day has to be the generous lunch Cynth and Mojo provided from Fassler. We feasted on mounds of sashimi and antipasto, with canapes from Delifrance. And The Daily Scoop ice-cream in assorted flavours for dessert. A big thank you to our bosses for feeding us so well!

Deja Vous

I feel like I've had several conversations like this one in my lifetime.

Lucky me!

Lucky me! Won this scanner-printer from a draw at the IT Show.

Edit 01:

Now, I wonder if my luck was in the drawing of the right coloured ball from the closed box, or in the choice of game. There weren't all that many balls -- I felt only about 10 at the most -- and10:1 odds aren't bad for this sort of game. I suspect Challenger was just giving them away.

The value of a college education

Yay! New entry, which means I have made a significant enough dent in my assessment pile to lift my silence. It was due to the all-nighter I pulled last night, accompanied by a cold pizza and my wife who ensured I stay awake and alert that my conscience is clear today.

One of the things I'm grading is an essay on the relevance of a university education today. I'm quite disturbed by the number of responses that say otherwise, and the reason (note the the singular) they give is that Bill Gates (he went to Havard!), Einstein (he got his PhD at 26 years of age!) and Thomas Edison (homeschooled) didn't have college degrees and still made a success of themselves.

That argument is wrong on at least three levels: 1) The facts are off base; 2) these three are outstanding individuals and hence non-representative of the general population; and 3) to consider the three as representative of 'today' requires some discussion on how they contributed to creating the world as we know it today, otherwise we have to consider two of the three as recent history and hence dismiss them as irrelevant to the discussion. Am I being too strict?

Only eight and a half months to throttle up their secondary school prattle to undergrad standard. I forsee a breathless run to the end of the year. But if there's one thing that'll keep me motivated, it's my own belief in the value of a university education, regardless of what the kids are saying.

I'm flipping through STI, and I'm thinking I was so close to being this guy. I don't want my kids to end up like him either.

Normal service will resume shortly

We apologise for the excruciating quality of the previous entry. Normal service will resume when the pile of papers awaiting grading on Xmac's desk has been significantly reduced...