Japanese cuisine in quantity

In celebration of a number of reasons, most of which were that we were hungry, the Wongs descended upon Irodori Japanese Restaurant at the Riverview Hotel. The restaurant is quite small, but because we had made a reservation for so many of us, we got a private room to ourselves.

The set up is an a la carte buffet of every popular style of Japanese cuisine. At a very reasonable $33+++ per pax, we can order anything we want on the menu and keep the top-ups coming. While all the servings are small so it's possible to sample everything the restaurant has to offer without getting too stuffed too quickly, the strategic thing to do is focus on the stuff you know you like and use that as a base before becoming more adventurous.

No worries about the quality of the food. The sashimi is fresh and preferably the table should be packed full of raw fish eaters to share the bounty. But there's also a lot of cooked dishes as well so the others will not feel left out. Check out the buffet menu from the link above -- there's something for everyone. Well, dessert's extra.

Must commend the service also. Very attentive with the orders, not shy to make recommendations about the house specials and the green tea just keeps flowing. A little girl carrying a big pot makes sure of that.

Current promotion: UOB, OCBC and RBS credit card holders get 25% off the lunch menu, valid till the end of the year. The Wongs had a special coupon: every third person gets to eat for free. In our party of nine, we paid for six. Not a bad deal at all.

Campus choir does the Vic

Just returned from a choral recital performed by our campus choir. It was a sold out crowd at the Vic, though with the number of choir-istas in the group, that's hardly surprising.

The performance was to showcase the repertoire they're bringing with them to the Czech Republic this summer. As far as singing as a choir goes, the kids have been well-trained. The first half of the show passed pleasantly enough with songs representing various languages and tonal textures. Personally, I was wondering why we don't hear our own choir more often. They are a competent lot, and they would benefit from more performance exposure in front of an audience.

The reason I say this is because the second half of the performance -- a dramatized rendition of "Beauty and the Beast" -- though musically sound, there was a clear lack of confidence in the presentation as a whole. The production values (especially the costumes of the mechanicals in the Beast's castle) looked like it took some effort to manufacture, but because they were ultimately just worn as labels it was hard to believe that the characters were household items magically brought to life.

Part of the problem was in the soloists being difficult to hear. Playing in the Vic requires miking, or really strong voices, as it's a relatively large space to play in. Sans amplification, their vocals didn't carry far and for us in the circle seats, it was "eh, what?" most of the time.

But they are choir, after all, and that's where the bulk of their training goes to. As long as they sound good together, that's the measure of their effectiveness. That they attempted a production that they have little experience in shows their spirit and a sense of adventure. That's a good thing. All they need is an audience to play to more often so that they understand what works and what doesn't.

Here, we don't have show choir, so I wasn't expecting "Glee", but playing to an audience is one way to build confidence, and that's the missing ingredient in tonight's show. Hope they gain some before they hit the Czechs.

The hamster wheel

I wonder if the current frequency I am updating my posts is indicative that I have succumbed to the malady that my expanded group of esteemed colleagues are railing about: the lack of a work-life balance for us who have sold our souls to the industry.

At present, even as I update today, my assignment pile to be graded over the weekend looms forebodingly. And as soon as I return it to the kids next week, I'll be immediately inundated with a new, bigger pile to grade over the summer hols. Kids are already lining up for consultation slots on my free afternoons, now that the endless rehearsals for sectionals and Drama Night are over. Oh, also conducting weekly remedials plus a make up class in the coming week.

But then, so what else is new? The grading is a necessary thing that won't change until the format of the exams changes. All the extra classes and CCA stuff are some of the most fun I've had doing actual teaching because here I'm dealing with kids who really want to learn, who ask genuine questions, who are anxious to listen to what I advise, and I feel that I am meeting real needs by having real discussions with a totally captive and responsive audience. We teachers keep asking for smaller classes, well, here they are.

I am also fortunate enough to have a bunch of great colleagues (yes, I've mentioned this before, but it's worth mentioning again) who still make it a point to find time to socialize as much as support each other with our workload.

Thing is, our external colleagues are so stressed out because everything they do they take as proprietary: my work, my job, my responsibility, my ideas -- which ultimately results in my time, my life... omg. Among my colleagues, nothing is proprietary, we share everything. We're as close to Communism as you can get, without the nonsense politics. None begrudges another of their success. In fact, if we believe strongly enough in each other's causes, we do what we can to help make it a success. That's our campus.

No. The only reason I have been updating so infrequently is because I'm getting lazy. There, I said it.

Currency exchange

With the Euro taking a big plunge against the SGD recently, we decided to convert a fraction of our meagre savings as a sort of investment for the future. Not that we're likely to see a grand windfall, but at least we're hoping to get back a little better than bank interest rates which are pathetic at the moment.

Went with a DBS foreign currency chequing account. No interest earned, but we can cash out any time it's favourable to do so. If anything, we'll earn a bit from the exchange rate when things get better for the Europeans, or should we suddenly want to go and see Europe we'll have currency on hand that we bought at a good rate.

Note that to withdraw funds in SGD, current exchange rates apply; but to withdraw funds in Euro, the bank charges 1.5% commission, so the Euro has to pick up significantly before it's worth withdrawing anything. If it's going to be a waiting game, I can wait... but still...

here's to a return to good times for the Euro!

A slobbery birthday

Now that I have the weekends to myself again, I can spend then on frivolous things like attending Latte's birthday BBQ.

Latte seems thrilled at the prospect of birthday cake for dessert, but she's looks more keenly at our's, instead of her own. Doesn't she know chocolate isn't good for dogs?

Latte's owner helps out with the candle blowing. Dog drool isn't a recommended additive to birthday cake.

Unfortunately, Q-tip doesn't think highly of the canine consumable cake.

But Latte has no problem with daintiness, as Her Highness, Miss Q-tip, does. Latte just swallows her share down in large chunks. It's her birthday, after all.

Wow!Pow!Bow! 2010

Wow!Pow!Bow! 2010 came to a close (finally). Despite our initial fears of playing to only half a house, alumni, parents, friends and a sizable number of the current student body filled the seats, allaying our worries about covering costs.

Rowdy crowd, though. They came in prepared to laugh, and laugh they did even at moments when the drama going on onstage was tense. Guess it's their way of coping. Life is already tense enough as it is. Our three Wow!Pow!Bow! plays had to play to a tough audience. For many of the kids just standing there in front of a sea of faces was a first. That they were able to keep their cool and tell their stories regardless was truly commendable.

Typical of teenagers, the three plays tended to repeat the themes of death and cell phones. Unsurprisingly, the Audience Poll Award went to the play that resonated these two themes the most. The judges gave the Best Overall Production Award to the play with the most movable set pieces and explosive conclusion. SFX rulez! Cool, I can live with that.

But the play from Sectionals which we debuted for a paying audience showed what a trained and professionally directed cast and crew can do. Comedy is difficult, but if done well will win over the toughest crowd. So let's keep comedy on the cards for future Drama Nights, ok?

On the whole, working with all the kids on Wow!Pow!Bow! has been exhausting. But to see them all grow as performers in such a short time, to see how innovative they've been with their staging and set designs, how frugal they've been in obtaining their materials, how eager they've been to improve their performance day-by-day, how patient and cooperative they've been with each other and their competitors; everyone just focused on presenting a good show... that's what I mean by working with a cast and crew with an awesome attitude, having a sense of motivation and ownership over a project of their own choosing.

Though I said before that I don't desire to die in the theatre, I'm pretty sure I want to continue living in it. It's great to be able to teach kids stuff that's outside the curriculum. You can yell at them, threaten them with flying shoes of death, work them till odd hours of the night, and the next night they'll be there again asking for more abuse just so that they can improve on their previous performance. Now, that's a real love for learning! And I'm so happy to facilitate!

Curtains up, eyelids down

Latest news reports say that the lifestyle I've been living lately hasn't been too healthy:

Lack of sleep 'linked to early death'

followed by:

Memo to boss: 11-hour days are bad for the heart.

As much as I love the theatre, I'm not sure I love it all to death. After tonight's run, I'm taking a vacation.

How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

Camping out at Drama Night venue sure makes one lose track of the days. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. Looking forward to Full Dress Rehearsal tonight. Everything still looks a mess, especially the transitions between plays. But the plays themselves have been making the kids work like the clappers. I may only have three plays in the running but they're all showing that they're in it to win it. Quite proud of them already, given what they've been able to accomplish in only two weeks (realistically speaking) and given their lack of experience. Think it was a good idea to let them watch each other's rehearsals, 'cos they're motivated to show better than their competitors. That's been raising the stakes quite a bit. Now it's left to me to provide the packaging, and the polish that complements the show that we've got. Oh, the pressure.

Just another Sunday

Up bright and early for a 0800 session with Personal Trainer, John. No incident there as I made time to eat breakfast beforehand. June came home from her company trip and as we were walking out to celebrate, we very nearly got run over by a bus charging the lights. We shook our fists at the oblivious bus driver and sent off a complaint to his employer. Never felt so angry with service staff before, but then none had ever threatened the lives of my wife and I before either.

Lazy

What a great Saturday morning! It's such a luxury to sleep in for a change, and I fully took advantage of it. No rehearsals, no work backlog (or rather, none that I feel guilty neglecting anyway), just a nice, restful College Day ceremony to attend in the afternoon. Ah, to revel in my non-involvement!

Significant... not!

Last Sunday's dinner at by the riverside turned out to not to be as significant as we feared. Today, the results came back negative. We are relieved and happy.

Long nights

Working late again. Sectionals may be over but our attention now goes to Drama Night. Going to be continuing with evening rehearsals over the next week too. Actually been grateful for it since it keeps me busy all evening, and it's something useful to do until June gets back from her company trip to Penang. Fortunately for the animals, May's around to feed them and pet sit till I get home.

I'm really tired, though. Only one more week...!

"Sectionals" 2010

Our item for Drama "Sectionals" went well, with our kids delivering a high-energy performance with spot-on cues and clear and audible voice projection. Playing for an audience, they upped their game to a level I've not seen before and gave their all. Regardless of what result the judges deem, Mel and I are very satisfied with the kids' performance, and the kids believe they have a play to be proud of too. And that is all that matters.

But the bigger test is coming for them. It's fine to play to a more than half empty hall of well-behaved adults, but to attract and keep the attention of a couple of hundred of their peers in the campus lecture theatre, we're moving into a whole new level of performance. Wow!Pow!Bow! 2010 is just around the corner. We'll take a short break over the weekend, then we bring out the whips and chains again as NYeDC swings back into full production mode. Mustn't let them get complacent. Heh.

Kids in masks

Two days out from drama "Sectionals" and the kids are falling sick. We made the more sniffly ones wear surgical masks to prevent further infection. We had one good run -- the first we've seen that had energy, awareness and minimal flubbed lines. Good. At this time when control of the production is slowly leaving our hands, the kids are stepping up their game to take over. Encouraging.

Dinner by the river

Tonight's dinner might be a significant one, but just how significant we will be able to determine over the next few days.

A view of the river and beyond

NBS and Vince had us over to warm their new digs. It was quite a reunion of all the folks we once worked with but have since moved on to manage more responsible things.

The apartment is quite comfortable for the two of them. I'm envious of the view they have that stretches all the way south. The city skyline is just on the horizon and considering the distance as the crow flies, that's awesome.

Distances between people over time made dinner conversation a little more cautious, polite even. We basically caught up with each other and our current activities and concerns over a selection of dishes both home-cooked and purchased. As always, there was more than enough to go around.

Too bad we couldn't stay longer after dinner. We'd already had a full day out and had just arrived at their doorstep fresh from sweating it out at the fitness club. We hadn't even showered. The fact that nobody remarked how rank we smelled shows how polite the company has become. And the animals were texting me repeatedly, asking when dinner-time was.

The man in the iron suit

We like Tony Stark because he is a fundamentally flawed hero. No doubt his heart's in the right place (well, figuratively speaking, anyway), but why does he have to be so smug about doing the right thing? Such hubris he carries on his iron shoulders, you feel like slapping some sense into his thick armoured head. And here exactly is where the sequel of the year picks up in Iron Man 2.

Tony Stark/Iron Man opens on a grand high note, making a spectacular entrance into his own Expo to the welcome of a bevy of leggy dancing "Ironettes", and it goes downhill for him from there. The Senate and the military are after his technology, Hammer Industries ramps up its aggression in competition against Stark's, and a foe he doesn't even know of takes up a personal vendetta against Stark himself. All this while he's basking in the glory of his own successes as the bringer of peace to the world.

Why we like Tony Stark is because he fends off his attackers so deftly. His wit in the Senate hearing is a disguise for the fact that he does not win the argument as much as he embarrasses his opponents to the point that they lose credibility in the debate. We like his irreverence and his taste in all the good things in life -- wine, women and all things geeky. Somehow, we are swept up in the mystique of Stark that his excesses seem forgiveable.

Which is why Mr Stark needs to be brought back down to earth. Whiplash makes a great nemesis not because his power matches the power of the Iron Man suit, but because his arrival forces Stark to reflect on the injustice done to the person wearing the Whiplash suit. Thus Stark, the futurist, realises that he has to look into the past for the wisdom to answer many of his current problems. And through Nick Fury, he realises that Iron Man cannot stand alone as the protector of the whole world.

What impresses me about this sequel is that it doesn't go all out to raise the stakes with effects. Yes, there are improvements and upgrades, including the bulky War Machine armour, but nothing that distracts from character portrayals. What IM2 has more of is human characters to balance out the iron-clad superheroics. The movie is really all about the people, anyway, and not the suits -- a fact that seems to elude Justin Hammer.

As before, IM2 promises great thrills, witty humour, and the exhilaration of noisy, powered flight sequences accompanied by the beat of ordnance and collateral damage. Two words: woo hoo!

The end-of-credits sequence adds another piece to the the Avengers puzzle, so stay and keep watching if you want.

Blinkin' lights

If there is going to be a weak spot at Drama "Sectionals", it's going to come from the tech crew. Bunch of imports are too good at their jobs to rehearse with the rest of us and make us feel like it's such an imposition on their time when they do come down and grace us with their presence.

Maybe they don't have a sense of how crucial their skills are to the production. All they know is switch on light, switch off light at roughly when according to the script. If that's the level of their commitment then I'm not surprised that many instances of long, awkward blackouts; lights up catching backstage crew setting the next scene on stage; actors speaking in the dark; stupid, avoidable, unforgivable lapses in production are the result of tech crew keeping their rehearsals to a bare minimum.

Well, we still have a few runs left before showtime. We'll squeeze every last bit of effort from whatever scraps they are holding out to us, and I'm sure we'll be made to feel grateful for it. Thanks, guys.

Sugar rush

Nearly passed out again at the fitness club. Likely the result of two factors. First, we were working out the legs quite intensively with a step-board. My lower extremities probably hogged all available blood, leaving little for the brain. Starved of oxygen, brane go by by.

Second, insufficient calorific intake. My last meal was six hours before starting the session, so there wasn't much left in the tank to burn anyway. Must remember to eat, if I'm going to work at this rate. My trainer bought me a Coke Zero to replenish my blood sugar level. It tasted terrible... but I perked right back up! The effect was almost instantaneous. Fuelled on sugar alone (artificial at that) I completed my training for the day without further difficulty.

Right. I'm not advocating tanking up with sugary drinks all the time. It worked surprisingly well in a pinch and saved me from my own stupidity, but the sugar either all burns to nothing, or stays inside and becomes fat which we're trying to avoid. Nothing beats having proper meals which become material to replace worn muscles, sinew and tissues after a workout.

Uncle Baba and Auntie Bibik go to dinner

Jen’s "Tok Panjang"
We got an invite to Jen's Peranakan themed fund raiser. June went all out to get an appropriate kebaya for the occasion, while I made do with a borrowed batik shirt.

Jen created a "museum" out of her collection of Peranakan paraphernalia and even had spare garb for guests that did not dress according to theme.

It was quite a sociable evening. Apart from the Nyonya feast that awaited us, we were also entertained with a round of singing Peranakan songs, including a song that taught us how to address relatives by their proper titles, and we got a sampling of some traditional games as well -- some strange hand-pinching game and a nostalgic impromptu session of five-stones.

Amazing to see how traditional and modern fit so well together. For the sing-along, iPhone owners whipped out their devices and downloaded lyrics for the rest of us primitives to share.

And dinner... Jen outdid herself with her offering of so many homemade dishes, some you can see from the slideshow above.

Must say, Jen throws great parties!

Mel opens house

Today's episode of "Teachers Behaving Badly" didn't quite go off as anticipated. Amy had filial duties to perform at short notice, effectively eliminating our venue and the Wii that goes with it in one fell swoop. That meant no raucous, embarrassing, uncoordinated flailing of limbs and other appendages in front of friends and family, though we'd been looking forward to this occasion for a week since we planned it.

But Mel came to the rescue, opening up her home to us social refugees. She fed us homemade pasta and mashed potatoes, a tastier, heartier and more substantial meal than she feared. She may not have been able to provide a Wii -- given the number of fragile things within too easy reach of a careless nanchuk swing -- but the company was good as always. Just put us all together and we entertain ourselves with or without external aids.

Poor Amy. I bet she was looking forward to today more than any of us. We must do a make-up or remedial session for her real soon.

Also, poor Jojo. Her rabbit took a turn for the worse and today, after weeks of palliative care, she and Derek finally made the decision to let him go. For pet owners, that's always a tough choice to make.

Money's worth in sweat and pain

Found a free afternoon to run solo at the fitness club. It's almost like my second home already. Campus is still first. Why have I been spending so much time at a place of torture? One, I spent a lot on it already so I feel like I have to milk my money's worth in sweat and pain. Two, I'm scared. A few breathless nights weeks ago reminded me how much I enjoyed breathing. It's an activity I would like to be able to continue doing for a while more yet. If building up my cardio-vascular endurance is going to help (as per doctor's advice), then I'm all for it. Mmmm... breathing.

A new age

I'm quite convinced the new age of information is already upon us. Had a little research exercise for my class. Broke them up into little groups and assigned each group to look up one item from a list of concepts and philosophies related to environmental sustainability. Once in a while we've got to let them go and forage material for themselves.

I was all prepared to send them off to our traditional hunting grounds: the campus library and Computer Labs. Instead, out pop iPhones, Blackberries, Nokias and every imaginable sort of wi-fi enabled handheld device. Nobody needs to go anywhere. Information comes flowing in where they're seated.

No need to worry any more that there aren't enough terminals to share among kids these days. Welcome to the age of mobile computing... in the classroom!

Only time for tech run

On site rehearsal for Drama Club "Sectionals" went reasonably well, considering how late we arrived thanks to morning rush hour traffic and a brief stop over at the wrong location. Too many schools share similar names. Grr.

Having only two hours to rehearse was good for running tech cues. The tech guys surprised us with their selection of music because I've never heard any of it during our regular rehearsals. Once RodO got into the theatre space, he lost his usual hesitancy and dictated everything like he was on home territory, which probably it was. That worked really well for the efficiency of the rehearsal as we ran cue-to-cue rather than going for a full run. That means we only ran light and sound transitions while the actors just provided their bodies and a couple of lines for cues.

Our transport company was very professional, bringing a couple of extra hands for loading and unloading our stuff onto the truck. They even secured our more fragile bits of set to prevent damage enroute. But the service was quite expensive, though. It would have been so much cheaper to rent a self-drive pick-up, but I'm not confident of driving one of those, accustomed as I am to driving a compact.

Bumped into Wendy A at the fitness club in the evening. I was on the machines, she was bodypumping. Whoa. The place is becoming like a recreation centre for our staff.

Bath day for cats

Bath day for the three cats. Kaiser is developing some nasty bald patches in his coat. At first we thought he and his best buddy, Maui, had a serious altercation. But we've been observing them interact over several days now and though Maui has a tendency to play rough, he isn't showing any particular signs of violence; at least not of the kind that would result in this degree of damage.

Kaiser's condition has to be some kind of mange. So this morning we took the cats one-by-one into the shower for a good scrub-down with tea-tree oil shampoo. Kaiser was first and though he was quite freaked out at the water and suds he mostly maintained his composure. A good beginning.

Momo was next. She yowled and kept yowling all through her bath. If the neighbours didn't know we had a cat, there's no keeping it a secret from them now. Not only that, they'll think we're cat abusers going by the noise Momo was making. Real drama queen, that one.

As for Maui, bathing him was like bathing a wildly animated rose bush. He was constantly growling and randomly slashing at us with his sharpened talons. My "loose hands" technique of holding him didn't guarantee I would be scratch-proof but my damage has already faded away. June was not so lucky, getting some nasty gouges in her extremities. Ouch.

Finally, all three cats are clean. Have to keep monitoring Kaiser, though. If this doesn't work, we'll have to take him to Doc Kasey as the next step.

Getting real with fitness

Sneaking off to the fitness club with Jojo wasn't such a big secret rendezvous thing after all. Kids caught us at the parking lot so our exit from campus wasn't as discreet as it could have been. Didn't want to spend the time explaining that we were trying to do something to rectify the state of our deteriorating health. Told them we were 'busy'. Let them start rumours if they want.

Didn't have as much trouble with our low-impact stretch-and-tone class after all. Working out on the Wii already taught me the basic movements and gave me enough flexibility and balance to keep up. But the class provided a social environment in which you can't be lazy and cut corners on movements, and a responsive instructor to make minor adjustments on form which the Wii is still technologically incapable of as yet.

June wants me to help her with what I've learned so far, but in the comfort of our own living room. Time to dust off the Wii and see if that helps her get started. I'll provide the social environment and let the virtual instructor conduct the workout.

Thunderous

Came home to one of the worst thunderstorms I've ever experienced. Lightning flashed continuously, thunder came in unending rolls. The cats were nowhere to be found, Q-tip ran back and forth across the floor in a panic, and all the electricity in the air tripped the fusebox, leaving us all in the dark. The video (above) is nothing more than a short sample of the thunderous noise driving Q-tip nuts. Just imagine all that going on for about 30 minutes at least, and me with nothing to do but marvel at nature's fury.

In the midst of the storm, I had to abandon Q-tip. Had an appointment with my fitness club instructor and finally got a full workout. No drama this time. I survived all his machines of torture and got rewarded with a great stretching cool down. As I stretched, he applied pressure. Together, we managed to pop my spine in several places -- something I hadn't been able to do for some weeks now. That felt great! Reason enough to make a return trip next week. Spinal alignment... mmm!

Have faith, World Cup viewers

S'poreans worried that they will miss out on televised 'live' World Cup matches this year need fret no more. The Acting Minister of ICA is confident FIFA will be reasonable about their demands because we offer such an important market for viewership in this region. As this Minister himself has said so, I absolutely believe it. His name, Lui Tuc kYew, (which translates as "money for football") practically guarantees it already.

Now we are 6

Off-Duty Ed is 6 years old today! 6 years soldiering on with a platform that's fast becoming passe. Micro-blogging's the in-thing now. Nobody reads longish posts any more. And there's less and less time being spent off-duty too.

So to celebrate today's milestone I've put aside lesson prep, essay grading, lecture research, and worries about drama "Sectionals" and Drama Night in favour of vegging out in front of the TV. NCIS:LA and CSI: woo-hoo! Rest of the evening spent collapsed, asleep on the floor. A pre-nap before bedtime.

Why attending assembly talks is compulsory

It's great that there are vendors who give assembly talks on current issues like "cyber-wellness". It's important that the kids learn to protect themselves online, where problems like privacy invasion, identity theft, viral infections and personal harassment are all too easily encountered and can be a real pain-in-the-a** to say the least.

These are 21st century skills we are talking about, dealing with a medium our society is increasingly becoming dependent upon, so by all means provide the necessary instruction to our kids. But for heaven's sake, can we please engage a vendor who actually knows -- and uses -- the Internet as a daily tool for life and not some obnoxious Luddite who sits longer on his moral high horse than at his keyboard, going tsk tsk, and shaking his head at the world passing him by?

His talk and the videos he showed were excruciating to sit through. The first was about moral choices we make in choosing subject matter to blog on. Fine, you know: don't insult others, be sensitive to their feelings... otherwise they will commit suicide and you'll get in trouble with the Principal. O_o The second was about how playing online games turns gamers into violent, obsessive mental patients with bad American accents. Honestly, the acting in these videos would make Bolo Santosi look like an Oscar contender.

Actually, considering the religious source behind this material, I'm not surprised by the quality of the message. The amount of demonizing going on in both the criticism of the medium and in the portrayal of its effects on its consumers was laughably unbelievable.

Herein lies the problem: I agree you have an important topic to broach with the kids, but if you're going to grab their attention, you'll have to respect them as an intelligent audience. Talk to them about real problems of an everyday nature, not try to frighten them with exceptional case studies (trust me, they aren't scared in the least). Show them practical skills for self-defence, not make them swear off the computer forever (trust me, they won't). And don't be a clown when you deliver your material. Humour is good, but only if it is the vehicle for the message and not for the messenger. As for today's speaker, if the medium was the message, we were sadly not impressed.

In the spotlight

Had to stand-in for missing actors during today's rehearsal. I thought I knew the script quite well already but once in the spotlight I realized just how much I'm asking of the kids. Apart from line and stage direction memory, there's also timing and coordination with the other actors on stage. That's a lot of pressure and I can only say that I'm glad I was just a stand-in.

Truly, my time in the spotlight is over and it's the kids' turn now. My job now is to ensure that the lights shining on them are indeed spotlights they can sing and dance in, and not headlights to freeze in front of.

Ended rehearsal once again too late to join my fitness class though I had intended to finally make a start. Darn it! Made up for it with cheesecake from NYDC. :(

One month to curtain

The days of long nights begins as we're only a month away from curtain. Never felt so underprepared before. Usually by this time, there's at least a sense of what the show is going to sort of look like, but this year all I can see are fragments with edges still needing rounding-off if they're going to fit together.

Not about to panic just yet. Each day, each rehearsal, brings new and interesting developments to our little story. I think we have an awesome narrative, but to pull it off we're going to have to work doubly hard from now. A comedy is that much more demanding to do right.

Mel and I had dinner at Arbite in Gardens after rehearsal. Quite a cool little place with its whitewashed walls randomly studded with colourful Lego bricks. Quite homely, if you're into modern urban-style homeliness. Not too many tables so it's comfortable and not likely to be noisy. The living room area is a nice touch; gives me the feeling that we are welcome to take our time over our meal and not have to hurry off too soon.

The menu looks generally light and healthy. The salad came in a basin, greens fresh and crispy though the vinaigrette dressing was a little sweeter than I expected. The pork stew I ordered came in another basin and a side roll. It was the consistency of a vegetable soup with pork bits -- just what I was looking for. I didn't need to stuff myself. I wanted comfort food and what I got didn't disappoint.

Finished off with the last piece of carrot cake in the display rack. Me and I appreciated the generosity with which the raisins were packed in the cake. Went well with the tea and the shop talk that we had to get through. Yes, it was a business dinner, after all.

Drizzly tempest

Took kids to watch "The Tempest" by The Bridge Project. Mel wanted so badly for the kids to like their first experience watching Shakespeare performed 'live', but was disappointed that this version didn't quite capture their imaginations.

I will say the play had its moments -- lots of them. The comedy was spot-on with timing and characterization, the romance scenes were sweet, the evil plotting scenes were clearly sinister and I enjoyed them all. But the exposition scenes somehow didn't have the same level of energy in them. I know I nodded off from time to time because despite the fact that these scenes are meant to glue all the different elements of this difficult play together, the audience shouldn't be made to feel like they're watching the glue dry.

For me, I saw this production as a collection of brilliant vignettes that were related more or less sequentially, but missing a powerful thread that ties them all together coherently.

But knowing the state I'm in healthwise, I also knew my fatigue would kick in at some point and I was expecting to knock out occasionally. So I wasn't really looking for a coherent story as Mel was.

I was there to steal ideas for tech and staging, and I was not disappointed. It was a large stage divided in half such that upstage was completely flooded with maybe a half-inch of water, downstage was completely dry. Upstage served as the holding area for the actors who were not involved in the scene being played out downstage. They sat on a chair each, immobile, lights down, but because of their proximity to the play area they were ready to go when they were needed.

Downstage, the play area focused on a central circular sand pit. A fantastic device it was for representing the world, an external location, the spirit realm, the concepts of reality and imagination, and an external location observed from an internal location like images in a crystal ball in a fortune-teller's tent. So versatile!

The presence of 'live' music and hand-crafted on-the-spot sound effects reminded me of MU days. The music was haunting and really added to the organic nature of the magic that was supposed to weave through the whole play.

So yes, there were many magical elements that the play offered, lots of promise of thunder and wonder to be wielded by a skilled and powerful wizard inspiring shock and awe in the audience. But what came out in the end was somewhat more understated. The pace and skill perhaps, of a gardener tending the rhododendrons rather than Gandalf in mortal combat against the Balrog. What it could have been.

Doctor's advice

Did you know that MtE has a lift operated car parking system? It was quite a novelty to wait in a designated location while a parking attendant hails an elevator car for you to drive into. He selects a floor with a vacant lot, then up you go to find it. The thrill, of course, in in negotiating M2 into this narrow box. Traversing two speed bumps tells you that's far enough, the door can shut behind you now. M2 is quite a small vehicle and I'm feeling the claustrophobia already. Wonder how the Benzes do it?

I was at MtE for a review of my health condition. Dr TB recommended to wean me off the meds which is a good sign. Even better, he thinks exercise will do me good, so I can put my fitness club membership to use again. I still left with a fistful of pharmaceuticals (an over-the-counter prescription drug and a top-up for my inhaler) and a big hole in my pocket. -- about as big as when I take the pets to the vet anyway. Figure I should be worth as much. Yes, Q-tip?

Not epic

Harryhausen did a fantastic smack-bang job with his stop-motion version of "Clash of the Titans". Today's CGI version was a total washout in comparison to it's classic(al) counterpart. "Clash (2010)" went for a darker, angstier narrative -- which is usually promising -- but for a story of these purported proportions it didn't quite work.

Dark means that the screen literally went dark with lots of shadows and blues, greys and blacks. I don't know if this was the effect of the 3D glasses we were wearing but I'd readily trade in the illusion of depth perception for a richer palatte of colours.

There's little point going all dark and moody if the characters are people no one cares about. It could have been Perseus and the Argonauts, a team effort coordinating different strengths to take down a common foe; but it was more like Perseus and the practically-anonymous bunch of tough-looking guys that died easily. Before we could get to know them and even start to recognize them by face, they've already hit the dirt like just another red-shirted Star Trek security detail.

Problem is, the whole thing is almost entirely from Perseus' teenage 'why-me' whiny perspective. It's a fantasy of laying the smack-down on everyone who's ever pissed you off, at first resisting then finally accepting all the deus ex-machina devices that've been conveniently provided along the way. That's just too easy and does little to develop him as a character much.

This narrative simply went for the central plot and doggedly remained there. No back-stories for the supporting characters, very little build-up to the next epic encounter, the whole mission undertaken with the efficiency of an audit check and about as entertaining. There was very little humour (except a perfunctory dig at the useless robot owl of the original version), and as such very little joy in the telling of this tale. Not fun at all.

When you set out to recreate a movie of this scale, this grandeur, but condense it into a series of tightly cut scenes that keep such sharp focus on the main through-line all the time, I'm sorry but you cannot expect to call it "Clash of the Titans" again and get away with it. That name has already been taken. Instead, try "Mash of the Tightened", that might have worked better.

Staying sane

Hell would be like being under house arrest and having the cable TV go on the fritz. Looks like the power cable has shorted out and the box has gone silent. Arrgh!

Thankfully, God has seen fit to bless us with broadband too! Phew!

Confined

Confined to barracks. Drugged and isolated. Maybe I'm getting the vacation I was asking for after all.

Oh, just had a thought. For a specialist in respiratory problems, mine has unfortunate initials: TB. lol.

One lungful of air

Sometimes, you can be grateful for just one lungful of air. My mysterious ailment is upon me again, though never as seriously as it struck during the last couple of nights. The tightness of chest and the wheezing kept me up practically all night. In the last 48 hours, I barely managed maybe 4 hours of sleep.

Moved treatment up a notch from the usual GP consult. Went to see Jojo's specialist today at MtE. A session with his nebulizer did wonders for me, but over the next two weeks I'll be taking steroids to increase air-flow through the tubes, decongestants and a thrice-daily inhalant.

Causes? He went through a checklist of possibles, but nothing rang a bell except family history which could fit at a stretch, I suppose.

So apart from medicating myself silly I'll be watching my diet -- there's a list of all the good stuff I should be avoiding -- and no physical exercise for the time being.

As always, it's a bad time to be on medical leave.

Cosmic recall

Cool! Cosmic rays may be the reason why so many Toyota vehicles have been recalled recently. But we won't know for sure until they suddenly become rubbery and stretchable, or spontaneously combust, or develop a rocky, orange epidermal layer, or if the warranty goes completely invisible. Looks like Toyota might have inadvertently discovered how to create the world's first fantasticar! Is it powered by Hybrid System? ("Of course!")

Deliver-me fails to deliver

So much for our fifteen minutes of fame on Middle Eastern TV. Camera crew only arrived today and can only start filming this coming Tuesday. Some of us have to work for a living, so no go. Oh well.

A drama Saturday

Mengs and I were at SPoly in the morning attending a dialogue session about Arts Education in schools. It was quite useful listening to other schools share their aesthetics programmes with us. If we are working something similar for ourselves, the groundwork has to start now.

Integrating the four separate drama groups into a coherent college-wide plan should make resource allocation more efficient, but more importantly it would bring in the minority groups -- which are currently operating like drifting satellites -- back into the fold. There's a lot we could learn from each other but because of our discreet programmes we've not been even thinking about coming together to offer a more streamlined, focused and purposeful approach that would benefit the college as a whole. That would be a start anyway.

But the highlight of the morning was the rescue of a little terrier that was clearly lost and panicking on Dover Road tailed by a patient bus driver who gave him a chance to run into the SP parking lot, out of harm's way. I quickly parked and set off with Mengs in tow to look for the little fella. I soon had him in my arms and fortunately he was tagged with his name, address and a phone number which I got Mengs to call. Turned out Netty's owner lived just across the road. It took only a couple of minutes for her to meet us where we were and reclaim her wayward doggie.

My vision of a tearful reunion between a little girl and her lost dog were dashed instantly. The owner (a cute, young expat lady) didn't even know Netty had gone missing and was surprised to hear her dog reported as such. Oh well, at least we averted an unnecessary tragedy for both owner and dog.

Drama rehearsals in the afternoon. RodO came back with a completely rewritten ending to his earlier script. The comedy that we once had has now taken on more serious overtones. Wonder what P is going to make of Drama Night now with all the morbidity and mayhem going on when he was expressly looking forward to laughing his head off the whole night. Um... no answers about that right now.

Evening we went to exercise our new membership rights. Our trainers took us on an intro tour of the different weight machines and ran some preliminary tests on our fitness levels. After the tests and the first two machine stations, Uncle here found himself flat on his back staring at several anxious faces and the flourescent light overhead. My heart is so weak, blood wasn't going into my brain after even that initial exertion.

So now apart from paying for membership, I'm also paying for a personal instructor to help design my body back into shape -- in the personal fitness sense, not the yummylicious vanity sense. Best to take care of the ol' ticker now while I still can, not wait until it's too late to do anything about it. And since I've put down quite a pretty penny on the whole thing, that in itself is the motivation to keep going. Hmm... maybe I can make a claim with the company to subsidise my expenses...? No harm asking.

White Cloud Gang comes to town

Tonight was the annual meeting of Our White Cloud Gang. A sordid, crime-ridden affair it was. We witnessed a Kafka-esque human-to-mouse metamorphosis as the result of a series of betrayals. In the second half, there were several vignettes of other forms of crime such as (deep breath...) gun-running, slave trading (or maid hiring, I couldn't really tell), drug trafficking, sexual harassment, gambling, organized charity, all montaged together from the point of view of a tourist seeing the less touristy parts of town... or a channel surfer clicking through the TV Guide at random (I really couldn't tell).

This year I was unexpectedly bereft of subtitles, so the above was what I could surmise from interpreting movement and set, but the dialogue was way too inaccessible to make sense of, given my grasp of the language. But I guess that was the main problem I had with the proceedings. Everything else seemed to work well: music, dance, costumes, lighting and white-face makeup. Most of all, over the years, they finally learned the value of brisk, precise scene-changing avoiding long blackouts.

One thing I got quite annoyed with was the audience. The house was buzzing with a constant low rumble of distracted chatting. Looking ahead to our own Drama Night, it looks like we'll be facing a similar tough crowd that will not be quiet unless what's going onstage can truly catch its attention and hold it throughout.

A challenge, then!

Such drama

Wow!Pow!Bow! is starting to take shape. We have three short plays so far. Two are angst-ridden teen tearjerkers. The third is a farcical spy movie spoof. Still on the lookout for a couple more plays that might lend a little balance to the evening -- otherwise P's apprehensions might come true: as in every competition year, Drama Night 2010 will be yet another dramatic, dreary, and depressing affair. Competitions seem to bring out the intensity of our deeply buried emotions. Maybe we could benefit from the therapy?

Fortunately, our main feature is an absurdist comedy, heavily adapted from an existing Japanese script with lots of opportunities to exploit for gags galore. But "funny" depends on timing and delivery, and we're making the kids work really hard on that. Comedy is serious business as the kids are finding out right now.

But anyway, it's been good to work with RodO. I can see the gags and I can choreograph them into the blocking, but he knows how to realize them onstage and make them work. It will help a lot when the kids get their scripts out of their hands. When they stop worrying about their lines and stage directions, then we can work on the polish. The sooner, the better.

There's nothing better than ice cream

There's nothing better than ice cream. Except free ice cream! Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's.

Free ice cream was a fantastic prelude to my new fitness routine which I decided would begin today. June and I were going to ask for a free trial class in low-impact callisthenics, but we had such a long chat with the manager of the establishment that the class started without us. We could only content ourselves with staring at the fully-packed dance studio and gape at the speed at which the students were going through their motions.

Undeterred, I signed up for a package anyway, postponing class till the weekend. We're determined to arrive earlier next time. So much for today's fitness routine. We chomped on Kenny Roger's chix and ribs immediately after our most intense ocular workout. What an auspicious beginning to the first day of taking care of our health.

Dropped in on kid bro at the hospital later. He's been in this past weekend with a fever and irregularities in his blood count. He's already been run through a battery of tests but nothing conclusive so far. When we met him this evening, he was lounging around in the hospital Starbucks looking none the worse for wear. So far, the professional advice he's been getting is to watch his diet. Guess there's nothing to worry too much over for now.

Gift of fish

It's the third week and back to Gift of Love with a new dish to thrill the palates of the aged sick. Actually, it was all June's show today, cooking up a fish curry that drew rave reviews from the crowd. While she was soaking up the adoration, I was back at M2 feverishly grading essays in time for Term 2.

And that pretty sums up the events of this week. Usually, I find ways and means to make the most of the mid-term break. This week, however, was one agenda item after another and I still haven't got everything done that I needed to do.

I doubt I'm alone feeling like this. Everyone I know is scrambling for some deadline or another; everyone is thankful for the week's break because it's a fantastic opportunity to get work done without being interrupted by the normal workday chaos of term time.

Everybody, chorus with me, "I need a vacation...!" OK, enough self-indulgence. Back to work!

House calls

We continued the tradition of our quarterly library book delivery to the disabled folks in our community. Head office knows us by face and name already, so we were spared the usual rookie briefing. Destination: Woodlands.

Veterans we may be, but still making rookie mistakes. Navigation is always a problem. Turn left, turn right, go straight, didn't you see the arrow back there, where the h*ll are we now? Yep, those and the "I thought YOU had the checklist?" "No... didn't YOU hand it to the lady to sign at the last house?" "Oh, yeah. Crap." variety too.

One of our drops was to a minor celeb of sorts. He was the friend of another young disabled chap with MD featured on an episode of Life Transformers. We'll be getting a chance to appear on TV ourselves. Some Middle Eastern film crew wants to interview some of us volunteers, possibly next weekend. We'll see how that goes.

Josh and Jan hosted dinner for us. June wanted to learn some Thai cuisine from Jan and together they whipped up a creditable green curry, prawn tom yum, stir-fried mixed veg combo. Mango sticky-rice for dessert. Jan's a good teacher, June's a good student and their hubbies are becoming quite well-rounded as a result.

While the ladies were busy in the kitchen Josh and I rented Tropic Thunder to entertain ourselves with. It's quite a work of metafiction being a film about a film with a character actor, a method actor and a clown cast as the main stars of the film within the film. Amidst the action and things blowing up, there are lots of commentaries about film genres, acting styles, and a behind-the-scenes look at the dirty business that goes on behind a Hollywood blockbuster production. Loads of fun to watch.

But I am kinda' regretful renting it too because with its profanity-rich dialogue, I'm pretty sure Josh's house has never endured such colourful language since they moved in. Wouldn't be surprised if he's put "spiritual cleansing" on his to-do list for tomorrow.

High strung

I can't shake this odd sensation I've been experiencing all morning. I'm feeling all excited, but can't tell if it's the excitement that comes with the anticipation of something wonderful about to happen or if it's the fear of some great horror that's fast approaching. The odd thing is, I have no reason to expect any such thing, either way. Weird.

I wonder if it's the result of the two consecutive cups of coffee I had for breakfast? Caffeine doesn't usually affect me that way, but maybe McD's is using a blend that's more potent than any other I've had so far?

First timers at Resorts World Sentosa

Happens that a special occasion falls on today's date. We decide to celebrate at the newly opened Resorts World Sentosa. Here we're at the Brazilian themed Fiesta Restaurant. Expect lots of meat!

Fiesta features a four-course set: soup, appetizer, salad and the main course. There are lots of options per course, but you get all the salads listed including the salad of the day. Salads are quite exotic with ingredients such as baby beets and heart of palm. Thought I would hate beets, but these ones didn't kill me.

June's option was pork ribs for the main course. This portion was way more meat than she could handle. She ate one-third and donated the rest to her dining companion.

He was busy with his own Churrasco, a mixed grill of sausage, sirloin steak and spring chix. The meats were done beautifully, especially the sirloin that was delightfully pink inside. All this on one plate would have sufficed for a meal, but with June's donation of pork practically melting off its rib bones, I became a gorging carnivore, eating like I'd marked tomorrow's asteroid impact on my appointment calender.

One item not listed on the menu is dessert. Today, they served two kinds; on the left is a sweet-sour passion fruit pudding, on the right a sweet-bland port-soaked rice pudding. Exotic and surprising.

Tea and coffee to wash it all down. Overall, the meal was well-balanced. Lots of veggie-salads to complement lots of meat. Each dish was light and fresh, in just-right portions. I believe if we had asked for more salads and sides we would have been obliged. As it was, we were already stuffed without having to ask for more. How much per pax? A very reasonable $39+++, really not bad for a special occasion.

Sadly, we couldn't get tix into Universal Studios, so this is the closest we could get, standing forlornly at the turnstiles. Never mind, we'll plan an outing soon, I'm sure of it!

But when it comes to parking in the massive underground parking complex, please don't be an idiot and park anywhere you please. They're serious about enforcing proper etiquette and they will clamp your wheels if you try to get creative. Don't worry, this isn't M2. There's enough parking for everybody plus there's a free tram service around the parking lots too. So any lot is as near your intended destination as another -- there's no reason to park like this.

Gambling on a dream

Goodness! My old boss is in the news today. Should have known he was the one behind it all 'cos he was already talking about it way back then. So glad to know that his dreams have come true, especially since they said he was just living in a fantasy world. Major hospitality resort (check), on Sentosa (check), US franchised theme park operation (check), superstar concerts on a regular basis (check), casino (um, he never actually discussed this in my presence -- maybe I wasn't in his inner-circle of trust, but check). Article says it took him 35 years. I say if anyone was going to get it to work, he would.

Congrats, Ron! You've proven your critics wrong, and I'm really happy for you! Now comes the really tough part -- keeping it all alive! You the man!

According to Me

According to you
I'm difficult
Hard to please
Forever changing my mind
I'm a mess in a dress
Can't show up on time
Even if it would save my life
According to you
According to you

But according to him
I'm beautiful, incredible
He can't get me out of his head
According to him
I'm funny, irresistible
Everything he ever wanted
Everything is opposite
I don't feel like stopping it
So baby tell me what I got to lose
He's into me for everything I'm not
According to you

Sorry, Orianthi, but According to Me,
assuming you've been in the relationship long enough, the one who truly loves you is Mr "you". Mr "him" is only out to exploit your gullibility and cheat you of your money, your goodwill, and anything else you might have of value. And that's all.

There's nothing like being taken well and truly for granted to know that your relationship is secure. See, when "you" complains about you, it's because "you" is prepared to see you for what you really are -- and what you are not. "You" no longer needs to pretend to be head-over-heels in love (that's a tough act to maintain for long, anyway). Likewise, there's no more pressure on you to keep hiding your flaws from "you", yet "you" is still by your side, still your man.

The only thing that's going for "him" is a sweet tongue -- and most likely a sweet tooth to go with it. Once he's got past your wrapper, he'll just suck you dry and spit you out when all the sweetness has gone.

So, Orianthi, ma'am, catchy song, but Me isn't buying your little tantrum.

Blindly into the future

First term is over. Time for a little reflection on the tumultuous couple of months that have just passed. Big realization comes hot on the heels of the iCTLT: what the heck are we trying to do, preparing the kids for a future neither they nor we nor the experts have a clue about? We're the blind leading the blind, and where we're going, nobody knows.

We're better off simply preparing the kids for a much more certain here and now. If you don't do your homework, if you don't practice this past exam paper, you will fail your end-of-year exams. That's pretty certain.

Why go all the way out of our depth about this? We should let go, and let the kids discover their future for themselves. That's their destiny, and they will embrace it, and adapt themselves to it when it becomes relevant to them. For now, their only future lies 7-8 months ahead of them. That's as far as they can see, and in reality, our crystal ball only scries within the same limits.

School isn't about preparing kids for the future. Never was. School is about teaching kids the wisdom of their elders, their traditions and their roots. Let's continue to do what we've always done best: ground kids in the skills and techniques that have worked well for us, and let them figure out how to innovate around what we've taught them in order to get around the problems they will face in the future. It's up to us to give them the base of our past knowledge and up to them to inscribe the knowledge they acquire from the future to pass on to their subsequent generations.

If they don't learn their past from school, they won't learn it anywhere else.

Talking in class

Improving the proficiency of our spoken languages is a step in the right direction. People learned to speak first, and only when they discovered that what some people were saying was meaningful then we developed the skill to record speech through writing. What our schools have been doing is putting the cart before the horse and making written language a priority over spoken language because its easier to mark to a standard.

About time they fixed things. I've always believed that as you talk, so shall you write -- so it's pointless to teach people to write before they can talk. If drama and story-telling are truly coming to the fore with today's Parliamentary recommendations, I guess yours truly has a reason to stay employed for a while longer. Apart from needing to eat, of course.

But no exams, please. Some things have to be taught for their utility alone. When you stick in an exam, as soon as the exam is over there's no further motivation to use it ever again. Keep the exams on the written papers, let the oral component just support the written component. That'll be the best deal for everyone.

Universally within our means

Jim Simon takes issue with Universal Studios Singapore for charging its unlimited all-year pass with special privileges at an exorbitant S$1098. That's much like someone craving a Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost when he can only afford a Kia Picanto. For most of us, a Picanto's good enough. It's cheap, gets us to places we wanna go, and most of all, it's available to anyone who wants one.

Dude, open your eyes. There's a S$66 option for those of us who can't afford better and are prepared to rough it just for a day in our lives. The 'Annual Superstar Pass' is meant for people who can hang out and live at Universal Studios the whole year 'round. That kinda' assumes they don't work for a living. And if they don't work for a living, then they probably are the sort who think S$1098 is a mere frivolity to their daily expenses.

In the free market, there's things affordable to the workaday masses like us, and there's the luxuries for the few who aren't us. Let's learn to live within our means and not be in such a huff that we can't exercise our sense of entitlement if we aren't willing to pay for it.

Drink with me

Wow! Great news for womenfolk, right after International Women's Day even. Avoid getting fat by drinking alcohol! Did I die and wake up in women's heaven? See article here for how you can booze away the bulge.

Construction noises in the background

9 pages from an NYT article, "Building a Better Teacher." Today is for listening, not talking.

COMFORT goes co-op

We generally revile taxi drivers as a profession. They drive too fast, they drive too slow, they cut other drivers off abruptly and slam on their brakes at the last second to pick up a fare.

Must be a cut-throat business with so many cab drivers plying the streets competing for a dwindling number of potential passengers. With so many strange fare surcharges these days, people are starting to consider owning their own vehicles as a cheaper option for getting around town.

But look! In order to obtain a bigger slice of pie per cab driver, instead of competing each other off the roads, they're building a communication network to share information with each other.

Expanding market share by killing competition: Bad. Expanding market opportunities by sharing information: Good. Cooperation is the name of the game, people! Sesame Street may have had it right all along.

Fluff

As before, while immersed in iCTLT mania there's the tendency to get over-hyped with all the new concepts and ideas buzzing around and the temptation to turn this platform into a pulpit preaching change, innovate, move! There's the appeal to start participating in discussions with people who know so much more, have so much more experience, and actually know what they're talking about.

But sooner or later the reality hits home that there's no place in that discussion for Xmac's idealist fantasies and techno fetishes. Especially not when he is still unable to reconcile technical methodology with pen-and-paper results.

Xmac has no credibility discussing matters beyond his ken. So he will continue to talk about his dog, and his friends, and other random things fluffy and inconsequential instead:

Yesterday, Q-tip had the time of her life being petted and fussed over by many hands and one giant golden retriever at the college Sports Carny. After, we together with the usual suspects, feasted on meat at Brewerkz -- cool, another dog-friendly place to spend an afternoon. Dinner we celebrated with more meat catered by the Botak one in celebration of FLY-girl's, um, "21st" birthday.

Goodnight, dear diary.

iCTLT 2010, Day 2

iCTLT 2010 Day 2

This morning's keynote speaker, Jenny Lewis, reminded us that our students' success depends on a whole-school commitment to producing an end-product that is contextually relevant to market needs. Make 'em employable, then they can carve out whatever future they want for themselves. Towards this end, she showed us impressive stats and studies that made it painfully clear that student performance can be consistently tracked and measured against a standard benchmark in order to identify which kids require what forms of intervention when. Technology applied with bottom-line in mind.

Other factors of school success is teacher quality, not just across the board but also in maintaining an atmosphere of openness and a sense of mission such that teachers freely collaborate with each other within and across departments and levels because everyone has an interest in the total learning potential of every child, rather than keep the learning experience into subject-specific domains dominions limited to the individual teacher's personal sphere of influence.

That makes sense. Often there's the tendency to protect the subject or department without considering the kids' total development. Homework, remedials, assessments and research are all imposed on the kids by subject. Hence, every subject competes for the kids' time, effort and concentration. We make the kids prioritize between one subject or another, and there's probably a spiralling cycle of guilt when a choice is made. That choice is usually on the basis on which teacher the kid likes the most or which teacher has the loudest shouting voice or is the most creative (or ruthless) in meting out punishment. That's not really a good way to develop a well-rounded student, but it happens all too often.

Thus, a whole-school approach can be a very simple exercise of having all the different subjects coordinate the kids' workload evenly so that five assignments, two tests, several tutorials and a lab assessment don't all collide on the same week for them. The sooner we teachers stop competing against each other, the sooner we can have saner kids. Well, maybe easier said than done.

Lewis is also a firm believer in Authoritative pedagogies underlying all teaching and learning activities: school-wide, and personal. Um, 'k.

David Warlick's back to discuss personal learning networks. What I learned wasn't so much about how those are supposed to work for the kids but rather the mistakes I have been making as a blogger. Although I keep reminding my kids that essays are mostly commentaries on other people's essays and little else, I realise I'm not following my own advice. Blogs are little more than commentaries on other people's blogs. They are meant to contribute to an extended conversation that's going on in the blogosphere, but because I don't like butting in on other people's conversations my blog's been feeling like the lone voice in the wilderness. Long-winded one at that. So, time to go see what other people are writing about. I'm sure there are nice people out there. Yes.

Finally, Terry Freedman broached a topic that I'd so taken for granted that I didn't even realise was a topic of discussion: Reputation Management on the Internet. But he's right. I admit I've been releasing all kinds of skeletons from my closet and letting them collaborate freely all over cyberspace. I'm sure they'll all come back and haunt me again someday. But if savvy ol' me could be so careless with his rep online, the kids really need to be guided in this area or exam results might just be the least of their worries.

Unfortunately, I didn't stay for the final keynote speaker. I sensed dark clouds brewing on the horizon, and sure enough, there was trouble on the homefront. Not ready to release this skeleton into cyberspace yet. Some conversations are really not for public consumption.

Anyway, biggest takeaway for me from iCLT 2010: Whatever else you do with technology in education, please collaborate, socialize, share, converse. That's learning in the 21st Century.

iCTLT 2010, Day 1

iCTLT 2010

The iCTLT is back in town, presenting us with another opportunity to rub shoulders with prominent education te[a]ch-ies from around the world. I got overexcited the last time the circus came to town, and I did try some of the stunts at home. So I knew enough to look at things more realistically this time around.

My key question this time -- and I heard the speakers address bits and pieces of it -- was how do we stop teaching kids to write the perfect answer, but rather teach them to ask a better class of questions instead? And given that keynote speaker, David Warlick, reminded us time and again that we don't know what future we're preparing our kids for, it's clear they won't survive on our pat textbook answers any longer. They have to start asking useful questions and employ processes that help them find those answers on their own.

I may once have been blinded by technology, but if there's one thing that's coming clear from this year's conference, it's that the shiny toys and tools won't work on their own. Access is not a problem for us -- the tools are readily available at our fingertips. My biggest problem and disappointment so far has been in attempting to orchestrate a social learning environment among kids who view each other as competitors rather then collaborators. If I understand the psychology of my kids correctly, they'll distract and disrupt class so that no one can gain an advantage over anyone else, then frustrate themselves by trying to catch up with the lesson at home, away from prying eyes.

Good that Warlick pointed out that the most successful organizations are collaborative rather then competitive in nature. There's a story there I could use to bring the kids back online.

Elliot Soloway and Michael Furdyk were seriously gung ho about the collaborative learning potential of technology. Soloway was hot on mobile, anytime, anywhere, teacher-designed, student-centered learning platforms; though I imagine such programmes have to be... creatively funded. It would be best if such learning programmes could be accessed by every kid using the mobile phones they already own but because there's a multitude of software platforms, apps markets, service providers and indeed differing capabilities of mobile phones themselves, schools will have to shell out for a standard-issue device per child. That's a very expensive proposition for a school, so until every kid can afford an iPhone or a comparable competitor, I don't see that happening en masse just quite yet.

Furdyk is all about inspiring young people to get together through collaborative social networks to actually work on social entrepreneurship projects because they will have to put real learning into direct application towards real problems in order to achieve tangible results in real humanitarian causes. Makes sense. If the kids are worrying about bigger problems affecting people other than themselves, their exams will seem minor in comparison.

Currently, we're facing a vicious cycle. Kids worry about exams and they don't see the problems of others. They study to pass their exams, but they can't put their learning to real-life use. But because they can't apply what they're studying, they can't understand or appreciate what they're studying. They get bored, disconnected, frustrated and ultimately worry they can't pass their exams. Ad infinitum. It isn't that the kids are dumb or stupid, it's that they have to live outside of themselves in order to make the difference.

Providing the balance to today's session, Jason Trump reminded us that throwing technology at our problems isn't going to solve them for us. The potential for personalized learning is all there for us to harness, but a school must "have a clear vision for how, why and when to move" towards implementing tech as policy or it will either become a white elephant or, worse, counterproductive -- causing more problems than it solves.

I see the gaps in my approach in using technology, but I think I didn't see them before because I tend to work alone. If I start collaborating with others, I may yet figure this thing out. Question is, who will work with your friendly neighbourhood misanthrope? Yes, I have issues.

Inbox has (308,462) new messages

On the eve of iCTLT 2010, I discover that kids today don't check email any longer. That's so last century. No wonder all my important notifications have fallen on deaf ears. Kids want their messages now, not wait to get PC time then log into their email server. Want kids to respond, send SMS: a mobile, handheld, instant communication medium that's never far from their person. The old man learns something new today.

Pet owners' commitment

Jojo's geriatric rabbit, Bobby, has been stricken with paralysis and needs lots of care and attention because he can't perform his usual bodily functions unassisted. Because of his age, recovery is not expected, so it's tempting to consider euthanasia as a quick, painless way out for everyone. But though it's available, it is seldom the best option, and she knows this.

Jojo asked how we coped when our cat, Belle, faced a similar situation. Well, Belle was our cat and we couldn't imagine not doing our best for her during her time of paralysis. We chose to care for her when she was young and lively, and that commitment extended to the time she became crochety and unable to walk. We chose to love this particular cat among all the other cats in the world, and when she needed our love the most it was there for her without second thought, without reservation. And when Belle eventually did pass on, we cried. When it comes to 'coping', that's as good as it gets.

Strange to think that one could love a cat, but love isn't always rational. Love is simply like that.

Our fellow pet owner is about to undergo this same process. It'll be painful and tiring and frustrating, but at least after our chat today she knows she isn't alone in this difficult time.

Monologues for an audience of one

I know myself as a writer. Too much text. So much I scare people off reading. Lengthy descriptions and unwieldy grammar make people give up and scream, "get to the point already!" Creating long, elaborate set-ups just to deliver a corny, often obscure punchline. Making people scramble for a dictionary to decipher otherwise incomprehensible vocabulary is a sign of compensating for deep-rooted insecurity in a person.

No wonder my GP Forum page (sorry, members only) is near stillborn. The kids are going nowhere near my article commentaries that are longer and more confusing than the articles themselves. It's not that they aren't reading -- the counter tells me they are -- but they're simply stunned into silence within the first paragraph. And in the end, I'm still writing monologues for an audience of one.

Ah well, I've always had trouble talking to people anyway. Conversation is just not my thing.

I do want to keep the Forum running though. Must learn to moderate my tendency towards excessive exposition and stop imposing ideas on the kids. The less I talk, the more they have a chance to say something back.

Currently reading "Ten rules for writing fiction" as a guide to developing my Forum personality. The rules may have been advocated by writers of best-selling fiction, but are still good advice for writers in general.

15 days later

16 days ago at our CNY reunion dinner, we had an excess of the most delicious fish gravy remaining from a deep fried sea bass we eagerly devoured. Not willing to waste such a delicacy, Haen had a brainwave. He ordered two bowls of rice and dumped them both into the remaining "chup" and stirred well. We each took a small bowlful of the concoction and declared it was the best dish of the whole meal. The chef we complemented was aghast at the travesty we made of his specialty and could only shake his head in dismay at the barbarians crowding his gate.

But based on our response, perhaps we might have invented a new dish for Ah Yat to serve in the next CNY. No need to thank us. All credit should go to Haen, the family's "chup" gourmet.

Happy 15th day of CNY, folks!

Revolutions

I remember when I installed a Sound Blaster card into my old, boring 486 International Business Machine and reaping a revolution of whizz bang proportions. The bloody machine had found its voice! It spoke! It sang! It replicated explosions so loud that Dad charged into my room with a fire extinguisher, looking for a fire without seeing the smoke.*

It was the beginning of clocking many hours of flight time on Wing Commander with audible dialogue between the characters, contextually sensitive background music, and full sound FX (volume down, of course, to stave off another unnecessary parental intervention). And it wasn't just me alone celebrating this noisy revolution. Around the world, gamers rejoiced as their games got more realistic and hence fun to play with the introduction of sound.

Then imagine my surprise when I discovered that the master of the revolution was a fellow S'porean. I'm no flag-waving patriot, but I was proud to know that one such as myself, with my upbringing, my culture, had made such an impact on the world, the one behind all that was good for us gamers with the promise of things only getting better.

Today, I'm lugging around a laptop packed with so much more computing power than my long-trashed 486. But the tablet is peeking over the horizon and it's really tempting to make yet another substitution. A tablet would certainly be handier for computing on-the-go. Not that I'll be playing Wing Commander on it while crossing the street, I believe I've outgrown that phase of life, but for immediate access to my life online which is getting harder to distinguish from my life in so-called 'meatspace'. My calendar; status updates; blogging; messages and chats; commercial transactions; work planning, preparing and perhaps one day even delivery, all in the palm of my hand without physical commute-time delay. Oh, don't feel sorry for me. I believe I'm already working all the time -- it just doesn't feel like work.

But here's the thing. Do I go with Job's new baby with all it's glam functionality, or do I go all patriotic-proud again with a locally-made competitor launching at about the same time? Back then, Mr Sim had no competition in the market. There was only one product, which made him the innovator of his day. But now it looks like I won't be able to make a purchase unthinkingly. It can't be an automatic 'buy S'pore' anymore. The tablet will have to wait until I do a few more market comparisons. May the best competitor deserve my last dollar.

*This never actually happened. I just made it up for the effect.

Trusted

It's an honour to be among the fourth most trusted professions in S'pore. The top three positions are firefighters (they have no reason to lie), doctors (we trust them with our lives, basically), and judges ('cos if you can't trust a judge, whom can you trust?). And then there's us, the humble teacher, trusted with imparting knowledge and the right values to "the future of our nation".

Aw, shucks. We do our best.

On an unrelated note, Amy's link to Lennon's "Imagine" performed by the cast of "Glee" (below)

... contains lyrics that are perhaps too idealistic for me. Lennon isn't asking us to "Imagine" what could be, but rather what once was. Everything he wishes away are structures and institutions that humans have made and that make us human.  Look, we're already here and we're here to stay. Yes, we're made a mess of it and yes, we're responsible to clean it up. And we will try. But the only way Lennon is going to see his imagination become reality is if he includes one last verse beginning, "Imagine there's no people..."

I'm a cynic after all. Who knew?

Sorry for the breakdown

In case you're wondering why the format of these entries now looks different and untidy, it's because NBS alerted me to the unfriendliness of ECHO Live, the new comments manager I had subscribed to. Note the past tense. I quote her official complaint

"... your Comment function comes with custom barriers. Sign in first...choose which profile to sign in with, wait for the program to load...And hence, I gave up. That blog isn't an interactive one, it's now officially a soliloquy."

Removing ECHO was a pain as it had somehow embedded itself into my blog template through some obscure HTML coding. Though no HTML expert, by trial and error I've finally restored Blogger as my comments manager. However, as a result I've lost all the comments to my previous entries. :(

Blindly messing about with unfamiliar code has also resulted in the messy layout, and I have no idea where the "Reactions" check boxes came from and how to remove them. I may have lost other functions too but I'll probably find out which specific ones over the next few days.

But anyway, the soliloquy is over. It was never meant to be one, anyway.

Under the sea

I had no idea women were banned from submarine operations.

What were the reservations of the Navy when they instituted the ban?

I suppose practical considerations like privacy and accommodation are valid. Besides, sub ops often isolate people for months on end, and in such cramped conditions emotional attachments and rivalries could easily arise and thereafter compromise the morale and operational readiness of the crew. Also the social and political fallout of having women killed in battle could reduce national will to pursue an aggressive course of action against an enemy over the long term.

These were the notions of sailors in ages past, when bringing a woman on board ship was once regarded as ominous to the voyage.

Today, the US Navy has relinquished such archaic thinking. The nature of modern battles places women on the frontlines regardless of the capacity they are serving in. In war, any target that moves is fair game, conscience and regret be damned. At least give the lady a rifle and she might be able to shoot back,increasing her chances of survival on the battlefield.

In combat, women strategize in ways that often blindside men (if you don't know this, you haven't fought one before), so male dependent enemy forces could be at quite a disadvatage when the US military machine employs its latest now not-so-secret weapon to its fullest and deadliest capacity.

But the biggest reservation against assigning women to the undersea corps has to be the negation of a very old joke. To the question, "what is long and hard and full of seamen?" the answer can no longer be "a submarine."

Free to any home!

Maui's been a naughty boy lately. Apparently, he's been overeating at breakfast so between the time I've gone off to work and June's just about leaving he's eaten not just his own share but has also robbed Momo and Kaiser of their shares, and consequently has upchucked it all in little piles all over the floor. Little wet piles of unchewed, mashed-together kibble all over the floor. June's mad 'cos she has to clean up everything before dashing off for the train, hoping the delay won't make her late.

As we're discussing the problem we hit on a few solutions: reduce everyone's rations by half. Print and distribute flyers offering a free cat to anyone who wants one. I suggested that to save money and material, we shoud just stuff Maui into a random mailbox and assume the best. June reminded me that Maui was so fat already, he'll never fit into a mailbox and still be in any condition that will keep his disposition sweet enough to be adopted. Eventually we decided to encase him in a crate large enough to accommodate his girth, weigh it down with his sandbox and a starter pack of kitty litter, and place it in a strategic location where a prospective adoptive family might be curious enough to lift the lid and be charmed by the no-longer-little ball of ginger-striped fur within.

Of course, none of those scenarios is ever going to come true. Oh... but the temptation...!

Anyway, that's my point. Never adopt a pet unless you're prepared to tolerate all the unglam inconveniences that comes with pet ownership. Don't give pets away as gifts either, it's unfair to stick your best whomever with an unwanted responsibility.

The same goes for having kids -- there are consequences. A baby is not a decision to be made willy nilly. Have or have not, there is no 'Maybe'.

"I will feed him"

This being the third Sunday of the month, June cooks up a chix curry for the old folks at Gift of Love and I provide transport. Still haven't quite warmed up to conversation with them yet...