Woke up at almost 10 this morning, a new experience for me since I'm usually an early riser. Sometimes it's not by choice, but most of the time I can't sleep any more after 7-8 o'clock. Too restless, I guess. Had the intention of breakfasting at the Ya Kun Kaya Toast place that just opened at Northpoint. Ya Kun's advertising is so counter to that of the trendy coffee joints; I appreciate the candour and the veritas of it. But seeing how late it was already and how excited Q-tip was about the prospect of her weekend morning walkies, we made things simple and ate downstairs instead.
Took Q-tip on a trek through Yishun Park. We saw a line of ants, a section of which was carrying an unfortunate worm off to dinner. It was amazing how fellow ants swarmed to help carry the worm over difficult terrain even though many ants would have known they wouldn't be sharing in it. Once they had helped the main carriers over a bump or crevice the 'volunteers' would go on with their own tasks again like nothing happened. June must be part ant 'cos she heeded the call for assistance and picked up the entire dinner party with a twig and transported them straight to their doorstep a staggering 3 metres away. How altruistic. When she discovered the worm was still alive, however, she felt bad and wished she had helped the worm instead. Veritas, one can only do so much, I suppose.
Q-tip had her bath on our return home and the pet supplies arrived on time. I spent the afternoon replaying KOTOR and munched on Ruffles (cheddar cheese and sour cream flavour) for lunch. (Read Mei's entry for today -- the coincidence is eyebrow-raising).
Wonder if I can persuade June to go watch Troy tonight. She missed out on Thursday's treat 'cos the show was too early for her and she couldn't get off work in time. I know she'll regret missing it on the big screen. I want to buy the DVD (Code 1, preferably) but there's nothing like watching an epic like this in 70mm, Dolby Digital sound. Time to put on the >ahem< charm... Wish me luck!
Saturday, May 15, 2004
Friday, May 14, 2004
It's nice to look at your weekend and think, for a change, that there's nothing pressing on your schedule. At least, nothing more complicated than waiting for a delivery of pet kibble and kitty litter tomorrow and breakfast with the in-laws on Sunday morning. The rest of the time, hmm... who knows? Think we all worked hard for this weekend, and we are going to enjoy it by doing absolutely nothing. Such inactivity makes for uninteresting blogging, but I don't know. We'll see, won't we?
Finally got my bowling trophy 3 weeks after the event. It was presented at assembly yesterday, but I forgot to mention it in my previous entry. The trophy is actually a quite smallish gold cup bearing the college crest. It is heavy for its size and feels satisfyingly substantial to carry around. I can't decide whether to bring it home and clear a space for it (like as if it's the size of an amphora) or leave it on my desk to accompany the growing collection of aluminum root beer cans waiting to be recycled. Hope I don't recycle it by accident.
Promised to send 150 visitors to Tekong next week, but final count only comes up to about 120 including staff. Hope Ee Ling isn't too inconvenienced in helping us make these arrangements. She's on MC today, so she must be under some stress already. Feel a little bad about making her work on this trifle when she returns to work tomorrow.
Lunched with Anthony, Vince, Cara, Darrell and the new relief, Sheena. What new relief? Sheena was in the Student Council the first year I arrived at college. My first CCA was the Council, and Sheena, of course, remembers me from then. It was the year June and I got married and we invited all the Councillors to dinner. All I remember that they were very happy guests who after discovering our cache of red wine became even happier guests that night. The Councillors gave us the most thoughtful present of all, erm... practical things to use on our honeymoon. Thank you, Clifton and the 22nd SC. 'Nuff said.
It was only a matter of time that someone I might have taught would turn up again as my colleague. Now that she's experiencing college life from the other side of the staff room door, much of our mystique has vanished for her. One lunch was all it took. In case you haven't seen it yet, I'll sum it up as: Veritas, no one truly grows up.
Lunch was at Nonya Wok in Bishan. Food prepared by an authentic Nonya lady in the kitchen. I ordered the Special Fried Rice which came with bits of luncheon meat and crabsticks, but the secret ingredient was the sprinkling of what I thought was ikan bilis but Cara said it was silverfish(?). Whatever it was, it was light, crispy and flavourful. So was the rojak, the turnip bits in particular were so fresh, just slightly sweet and very juicy. There is much freshness in the otah too, lemak with chunks of fish meat to get your teeth into.
Nonya Wok is right next door to the McDonald's at Bishan bus interchange.You can't miss it. Just outside the round building housing the two eateries is a small playground in which there is a concrete children's slide. The slide is spray painted with graffitti that reads, "Max Sux." Considering the kind of food you can get next door, I have to agree.
Finally got my bowling trophy 3 weeks after the event. It was presented at assembly yesterday, but I forgot to mention it in my previous entry. The trophy is actually a quite smallish gold cup bearing the college crest. It is heavy for its size and feels satisfyingly substantial to carry around. I can't decide whether to bring it home and clear a space for it (like as if it's the size of an amphora) or leave it on my desk to accompany the growing collection of aluminum root beer cans waiting to be recycled. Hope I don't recycle it by accident.
Promised to send 150 visitors to Tekong next week, but final count only comes up to about 120 including staff. Hope Ee Ling isn't too inconvenienced in helping us make these arrangements. She's on MC today, so she must be under some stress already. Feel a little bad about making her work on this trifle when she returns to work tomorrow.
Lunched with Anthony, Vince, Cara, Darrell and the new relief, Sheena. What new relief? Sheena was in the Student Council the first year I arrived at college. My first CCA was the Council, and Sheena, of course, remembers me from then. It was the year June and I got married and we invited all the Councillors to dinner. All I remember that they were very happy guests who after discovering our cache of red wine became even happier guests that night. The Councillors gave us the most thoughtful present of all, erm... practical things to use on our honeymoon. Thank you, Clifton and the 22nd SC. 'Nuff said.
It was only a matter of time that someone I might have taught would turn up again as my colleague. Now that she's experiencing college life from the other side of the staff room door, much of our mystique has vanished for her. One lunch was all it took. In case you haven't seen it yet, I'll sum it up as: Veritas, no one truly grows up.
Lunch was at Nonya Wok in Bishan. Food prepared by an authentic Nonya lady in the kitchen. I ordered the Special Fried Rice which came with bits of luncheon meat and crabsticks, but the secret ingredient was the sprinkling of what I thought was ikan bilis but Cara said it was silverfish(?). Whatever it was, it was light, crispy and flavourful. So was the rojak, the turnip bits in particular were so fresh, just slightly sweet and very juicy. There is much freshness in the otah too, lemak with chunks of fish meat to get your teeth into.
Nonya Wok is right next door to the McDonald's at Bishan bus interchange.You can't miss it. Just outside the round building housing the two eateries is a small playground in which there is a concrete children's slide. The slide is spray painted with graffitti that reads, "Max Sux." Considering the kind of food you can get next door, I have to agree.
Thursday, May 13, 2004
Overwhelmed. How many of us can say they sat through Homer's Iliad AND Odyssey in one day?
NYeDC gave an excellent showing of the Odyssey -- the best performance to date, and sadly, possibly the last performance too, finally putting the old girl to rest after so much hard work. Cast energy was high and relationships between characters were better fleshed out today. There was a small technical hitch with our miscued music, but the cast performed admirably, recovering and continuing like it never happened. Strong performances by Ramzi and Sam, who persented taut exchanges between the two in-laws. Nice tension and the audience could feel it too. Gid was starting for feel something for his character, Odysseus. It was Odysseus who stood on stage today, not Gid. Hasif, crowd pleaser, kept the audience quite amused with his campy Hermes, and as Tiresias he opted for a blend of what we rehearsed -- deadly serious -- and yet kept some of the fun we used to have when Ain played the same role at Drama Night. The audience got the "blind old bat" gag and Gid did well not to overplay it. Meixian has gained much more confidence delivering Circe's dialogue and the audience reacted well to the cheeky minx. Durga's transformation from stern bouncer to airhead was a nice surprise for the audience and it lightened the scene a bit before the play got too dark. Crew and judges performed credibly although I would say a few more rehearsals were needed to sharpen the comic elements of their scenes. Chorus, clear, coordinated vocals and movement, sharp and disciplined in execution. Well done, folks!
P was in the audience and she was genuinely startled at our ending as were many of our audience members too. Gerald and Anthony came to support us along with a number of Year 1s. Thanks for the back-up, everyone!
SYF judges are a strange lot who seem to be moulded from Simon and company from American Idol, only not as vocal. My guess all judges look like that after a number of auditions. Wonder how they took to our parodying them in the 1st suitor scene?
Anyway people, you did good today! All we can do not is wait for results and see what the judges really thought of us. It's out of our hands now so there's little that worrying can do. Just take the opportunity to breathe and relax for now, and maybe -- when you can fit your lives around it -- go study! Do us as proud at your 'A's as we are with your SYF showing today!
Watching the Odyssey before Troy feels like putting the cart before the horse. Nevertheless, most of us made our way to PS for Troy. Of course the "gergers" must drool over Bloom, Brad, Bean and Bana; muscular things they are, hunky and smart. Battle scenes were beautifully choreographed, particularly with Achilles and his favourite airborne assault maneuver. It's Saving Private Ryan all over again only this time it's men in skirts hacking at each other and trying to poke each other's eyes out with their pointy sticks. Sets were lush and gorgeous, poignant scenes were moving, there's a lot that can be done with the right budget.
Might say a bit more about Troy, but not tonight. It's been a long day, too tired to think anymore. Goodnight!
NYeDC gave an excellent showing of the Odyssey -- the best performance to date, and sadly, possibly the last performance too, finally putting the old girl to rest after so much hard work. Cast energy was high and relationships between characters were better fleshed out today. There was a small technical hitch with our miscued music, but the cast performed admirably, recovering and continuing like it never happened. Strong performances by Ramzi and Sam, who persented taut exchanges between the two in-laws. Nice tension and the audience could feel it too. Gid was starting for feel something for his character, Odysseus. It was Odysseus who stood on stage today, not Gid. Hasif, crowd pleaser, kept the audience quite amused with his campy Hermes, and as Tiresias he opted for a blend of what we rehearsed -- deadly serious -- and yet kept some of the fun we used to have when Ain played the same role at Drama Night. The audience got the "blind old bat" gag and Gid did well not to overplay it. Meixian has gained much more confidence delivering Circe's dialogue and the audience reacted well to the cheeky minx. Durga's transformation from stern bouncer to airhead was a nice surprise for the audience and it lightened the scene a bit before the play got too dark. Crew and judges performed credibly although I would say a few more rehearsals were needed to sharpen the comic elements of their scenes. Chorus, clear, coordinated vocals and movement, sharp and disciplined in execution. Well done, folks!
P was in the audience and she was genuinely startled at our ending as were many of our audience members too. Gerald and Anthony came to support us along with a number of Year 1s. Thanks for the back-up, everyone!
SYF judges are a strange lot who seem to be moulded from Simon and company from American Idol, only not as vocal. My guess all judges look like that after a number of auditions. Wonder how they took to our parodying them in the 1st suitor scene?
Anyway people, you did good today! All we can do not is wait for results and see what the judges really thought of us. It's out of our hands now so there's little that worrying can do. Just take the opportunity to breathe and relax for now, and maybe -- when you can fit your lives around it -- go study! Do us as proud at your 'A's as we are with your SYF showing today!
Watching the Odyssey before Troy feels like putting the cart before the horse. Nevertheless, most of us made our way to PS for Troy. Of course the "gergers" must drool over Bloom, Brad, Bean and Bana; muscular things they are, hunky and smart. Battle scenes were beautifully choreographed, particularly with Achilles and his favourite airborne assault maneuver. It's Saving Private Ryan all over again only this time it's men in skirts hacking at each other and trying to poke each other's eyes out with their pointy sticks. Sets were lush and gorgeous, poignant scenes were moving, there's a lot that can be done with the right budget.
Might say a bit more about Troy, but not tonight. It's been a long day, too tired to think anymore. Goodnight!
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
Set 03S3B an essay assignment to work on and decided to keep them company by writing an essay of my own from the choices of questions I gave them. I wanted to see how I could cope with the 90 minute time constraint and to see if I still had it in me to write an 'A' grade paper. I estimate I took about 75 minutes to come up with this Cambridge not approved 994 word monster which I will not force anyone to read. Understandably, the essay does contain argumentative flaws, underdeveloped and unsubstantiated points and some clumsy phrasing. Nevertheless, I wonder how I did in the eyes of an impartial 3rd party. If you want to read and grade the essay, "What value do you place on privacy?" click here. Let me know what you think.
The essay is mainly in it's unedited version apart from correcting a small number of annoying initial typos. To save time, I planned the essay and wrote my first paragraph simultaneously. This method is likewise not approved, but it did save me at least 15 minutes writing time.
By the way, I'd also like to know if people are having problems loading up the pictures I'm hosting at Geocities. Please feedback if you can or can't see them. I'd appreciate it.
One day left to Odyssey SYF central judging. Last rehearsal is done, we've done everything we can with it and now it's totally in the hands and voices and bodies of our cast and crew. We trust you enough to let go now and to call it truly your show from this point on. You are well trained, fully prepared and ready-to-go. You are motivated and willing to give all you have to our endeavour. There is nothing that stands between us and a good showing tomorrow, one that we can all be proud of. We ended rehearsal early tonight, so rest well while you individually psyche yourselves up for tomorrow. Be bold, be confident, be aware. NYeDC, stake your claim and rule the stage!
The essay is mainly in it's unedited version apart from correcting a small number of annoying initial typos. To save time, I planned the essay and wrote my first paragraph simultaneously. This method is likewise not approved, but it did save me at least 15 minutes writing time.
By the way, I'd also like to know if people are having problems loading up the pictures I'm hosting at Geocities. Please feedback if you can or can't see them. I'd appreciate it.
One day left to Odyssey SYF central judging. Last rehearsal is done, we've done everything we can with it and now it's totally in the hands and voices and bodies of our cast and crew. We trust you enough to let go now and to call it truly your show from this point on. You are well trained, fully prepared and ready-to-go. You are motivated and willing to give all you have to our endeavour. There is nothing that stands between us and a good showing tomorrow, one that we can all be proud of. We ended rehearsal early tonight, so rest well while you individually psyche yourselves up for tomorrow. Be bold, be confident, be aware. NYeDC, stake your claim and rule the stage!
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
How apt that Troy opens the day we perform The Odyssey at the SYF central judging. Cast and crew deserve no less than a treat from the Drama Club, so we’ll go north where we are more able to get a block booking. I just hope they won’t be too tired to join us for an evening of popcorn, coke and Greek mythology. All Odd-balls, please join us, ok?
One more rehearsal to go before we finish the journey we started last year. How does everyone feel, I wonder? I feel proud, anticipatory and I know that we’ve got a good show on our hands. We have everything to be proud of. It’s not easy to compress a classical epic into the “short half hour of monsters, storms, romance and treachery” but that was the challenge we set for ourselves and that’s exactly what we’ve done. So let’s go in knock everyone’s socks off and leave with a sense of accomplishment and achievement. And then we’ll go see how Hollywood does it on a bigger budget with Troy, the prequel to our Odyssey. I’ll take my 1% inspiration any way I can!
Had lunch again at Jalan Riang. The drinks uncle knows our “usual” drinks, not that he’s 100% correct all the time, but he makes good guesses, and the economic rice is definitely a draw factor. Went early today and it’s so nice to see the trays of dishes almost untouched for once. Discovered that he has a tray of sotong that must be very popular because I’ve never seen it before today. I’m not a big fan of sotong, though, so it makes no difference to me, I’m not likely to order it anyway.
Took a rain check on June’s homemade (can you get it anywhere else?) corned beef rice to go bowling at SAFRA last night, so tonight we had it for dinner. I used to think Libby’s corned beef was the best we could get, but June said it tasted too much of cow so she tried a substitute instead. Her choice was a good one: S&W, which seems to fly off the supermarket shelves leaving poor old Libby’s behind.
Good stuff, corned beef rice. Simple to prepare. Just mix up a can of corned beef with steamed rice while it’s still in the rice cooker and let it steam a little longer to make the mixture nice and hot. Also thrown in to steam are some baby corn (fresh, preferably, but canned will do) and broccoli. A note about broccoli: please don’t ever overcook it! The closer it is to raw the better. Raw broccoli is perfection, but many people don’t like it raw. Too “green,” they say. Serve corned beef rice with a liberal sprinkling of pepper and some fresh, sliced chilli padi. Q.E.D.
One more rehearsal to go before we finish the journey we started last year. How does everyone feel, I wonder? I feel proud, anticipatory and I know that we’ve got a good show on our hands. We have everything to be proud of. It’s not easy to compress a classical epic into the “short half hour of monsters, storms, romance and treachery” but that was the challenge we set for ourselves and that’s exactly what we’ve done. So let’s go in knock everyone’s socks off and leave with a sense of accomplishment and achievement. And then we’ll go see how Hollywood does it on a bigger budget with Troy, the prequel to our Odyssey. I’ll take my 1% inspiration any way I can!
Had lunch again at Jalan Riang. The drinks uncle knows our “usual” drinks, not that he’s 100% correct all the time, but he makes good guesses, and the economic rice is definitely a draw factor. Went early today and it’s so nice to see the trays of dishes almost untouched for once. Discovered that he has a tray of sotong that must be very popular because I’ve never seen it before today. I’m not a big fan of sotong, though, so it makes no difference to me, I’m not likely to order it anyway.
Took a rain check on June’s homemade (can you get it anywhere else?) corned beef rice to go bowling at SAFRA last night, so tonight we had it for dinner. I used to think Libby’s corned beef was the best we could get, but June said it tasted too much of cow so she tried a substitute instead. Her choice was a good one: S&W, which seems to fly off the supermarket shelves leaving poor old Libby’s behind.
Good stuff, corned beef rice. Simple to prepare. Just mix up a can of corned beef with steamed rice while it’s still in the rice cooker and let it steam a little longer to make the mixture nice and hot. Also thrown in to steam are some baby corn (fresh, preferably, but canned will do) and broccoli. A note about broccoli: please don’t ever overcook it! The closer it is to raw the better. Raw broccoli is perfection, but many people don’t like it raw. Too “green,” they say. Serve corned beef rice with a liberal sprinkling of pepper and some fresh, sliced chilli padi. Q.E.D.
Monday, May 10, 2004
Arrgh! I lost my previous posting 'cos not familiar with the new buttons on this site! Nice that everything's new and there are lots more toys to play with, but have to learn to be careful what I click or lose an hour's work.
Not to say that my last entry was irreplaceable, but I don't feel like discussing that topic again. Too much thought, not enough entertainment. Anyway, it didn't sound like me. Don't want to scare my audience away with too heavy stuff. At least not yet, until we get more used to each other.
Good to have Tina drop in on us at this evening's rehearsal. Though we still couldn't round up full cast due to the odd early timing, it was enough for her to spot areas that could use strengthening and work on them. Various cast were put on the spot and worked over and the results are most satisfactory. Tension between Mother and Penelope is more dynamic and credible and the windbag scene makes much clearer sense now. Rest of the cast would do well to follow Tina's advice for themselves as well.
The simple rule that when you walk don't talk and when you talk don't walk is a very powerful rule to remember. Stand your ground, but also, don't root yourselves to the spot either. Move as your motivation moves you. Don't move because the director told you to do so. Either way, it's very clear to the audience why you are moving. Hopefully the audience will see more of the former.
Also, don't be discouraged when we repeat scenes over and over again. Few of us ever hit the mark on the first attempt. Do->repeat->learn->repeat->add on->repeat->practice->repeat->perfect. Repetition is a key strategy in the learning process. Get used to it.
Rehearsal ran a bit longer than I had budgeted for. Had to leave during our wrap-up briefing but I had to get us a lane at SAFRA for Monday Nite Bowling. Shoulda' stayed till the end of the briefing 'cos Anthony & co. came late anyway. Anthony's pride and joy, his Mazda 3, got it's first major dent after 2-3 months since he acquired it. Proximity sensor apparently didn't pick up the pillar he was reversing into. Key point: when driving, trust your eyes and not your ears. I nearly failed my driving test because of this principle. Now that he's got his first dent, the pressure to maintain his car's pristine condition is off. Guess there's a bright side to everything.
Joining us on the lanes tonight were Wendy, and two of Anthony's petanque teammates, Edward and Cheryl. Vince and Lawrence came too. Edward took a couple of games to warm up but he finished his last game very well with 176, winning a drink for himself. Anthony was a bit distracted because he kept thinking of his new dent but he, too, on his last game hit 202, which was the lane's high score for the day. He won the coveted silver pewter keychain and I know he'll gleefully show it off to Eunice tomorrow.
Me, I got in 4 games tonight the first game missing the gimmick keychain by 3 pinfalls. I won 3 keychains in my subsequent 3 games, bringing my average up to 152 tonight. Quite happy with my performance. All I have to remember from now on is to line myself up properly, aim for the middle arrow and power the ball down the centre. Striking well, sparing accuracy could be better. Next target average: 170. I'm confident that it is reachable now.
Not to say that my last entry was irreplaceable, but I don't feel like discussing that topic again. Too much thought, not enough entertainment. Anyway, it didn't sound like me. Don't want to scare my audience away with too heavy stuff. At least not yet, until we get more used to each other.
Good to have Tina drop in on us at this evening's rehearsal. Though we still couldn't round up full cast due to the odd early timing, it was enough for her to spot areas that could use strengthening and work on them. Various cast were put on the spot and worked over and the results are most satisfactory. Tension between Mother and Penelope is more dynamic and credible and the windbag scene makes much clearer sense now. Rest of the cast would do well to follow Tina's advice for themselves as well.
The simple rule that when you walk don't talk and when you talk don't walk is a very powerful rule to remember. Stand your ground, but also, don't root yourselves to the spot either. Move as your motivation moves you. Don't move because the director told you to do so. Either way, it's very clear to the audience why you are moving. Hopefully the audience will see more of the former.
Also, don't be discouraged when we repeat scenes over and over again. Few of us ever hit the mark on the first attempt. Do->repeat->learn->repeat->add on->repeat->practice->repeat->perfect. Repetition is a key strategy in the learning process. Get used to it.
Rehearsal ran a bit longer than I had budgeted for. Had to leave during our wrap-up briefing but I had to get us a lane at SAFRA for Monday Nite Bowling. Shoulda' stayed till the end of the briefing 'cos Anthony & co. came late anyway. Anthony's pride and joy, his Mazda 3, got it's first major dent after 2-3 months since he acquired it. Proximity sensor apparently didn't pick up the pillar he was reversing into. Key point: when driving, trust your eyes and not your ears. I nearly failed my driving test because of this principle. Now that he's got his first dent, the pressure to maintain his car's pristine condition is off. Guess there's a bright side to everything.
Joining us on the lanes tonight were Wendy, and two of Anthony's petanque teammates, Edward and Cheryl. Vince and Lawrence came too. Edward took a couple of games to warm up but he finished his last game very well with 176, winning a drink for himself. Anthony was a bit distracted because he kept thinking of his new dent but he, too, on his last game hit 202, which was the lane's high score for the day. He won the coveted silver pewter keychain and I know he'll gleefully show it off to Eunice tomorrow.
Me, I got in 4 games tonight the first game missing the gimmick keychain by 3 pinfalls. I won 3 keychains in my subsequent 3 games, bringing my average up to 152 tonight. Quite happy with my performance. All I have to remember from now on is to line myself up properly, aim for the middle arrow and power the ball down the centre. Striking well, sparing accuracy could be better. Next target average: 170. I'm confident that it is reachable now.
Just a quick note: By request I've put up the link to Iraq the Model in my Blogroll (see sidebar). Blogger, Ali, has included other Iraqi blogs in his sidebar. Dear_raed is still on "hiatus" but you can read Raed and Salam Pax's archives detailing their experiences during the "liberation" of Bhagdad.
Counter views can be found in Baghdad Burning written by an Iraqi girl. Trace her links too!
Counter views can be found in Baghdad Burning written by an Iraqi girl. Trace her links too!
Sunday, May 09, 2004
Spent most of the afternoon plowing through blogskins looking for a design that I could use for this blog. As nothing's changed you can guess that I couldn't find a skin I liked. I was toying with the idea of a skin called "The Pressure's On" featuring a silhoutte of the Grim Reaper and the text, "Get better grades or else," but it's so unsubtle and not me at all. Just have to keep looking, that's all.
Q-tip just loves car rides. She watches intently everything that goes on outside the car windows and always has a big grin on her face. We don't take her out too often, though, because taxi fares are expensive and we can't bring dogs into buses or the MRT. Oh, the places we'd go if we could!
We did take Q-tip to "Pets' Night" at Robertson Walk this evening. We got lost because there were no direction signs telling us where to go. Saw lots of other dog owners wandering around the place trying to find the event too. Took a stroll along the river and eventually had to ask for directions. Oh... along the river is Robertson Quay; where we came from was Robertson Walk. Ah ha!
In the process of our wanderings, Q-tip managed to shake off and lose the clip holding up her topknot and we misled a Jack Russell and a lab who assumed we knew where we were going. Finally as we retraced our steps, we met a chihuahua who happily followed us to the right location this time. Of all the stupid...! Robertson Walk is actually the name of the the square of restaurants just behind SRT, where we usually hang out during the intervals of plays we watch at SRT. Doh!
The square was full of dogs and their owners today. By the time we found the place, all the goodie bags had already been snapped up and the lines for the free dog massage(!) and free hand-drawn dog portrait were too long to bother with. Food, food, we need food! Considering that we hadn't had any lunch barring the leftover Ruffles potato chips and the bar of Lindt chocolate, June and I were starving. Food was our #1 priority! Everything else could wait!
We settled for Sketches which offered a better variety of food options than the other joints and because the crowd hadn't arrived to fill up the al fresco dining area yet. We ordered a side of chicken wings which Q-tip had a share in (it was, after all, a dinner date with your pet), a warm mushroom salad, a spaghetti vongole for June and I had a linguine served with 2 lamb chops.
Wings are wings; what can I say? Q-tip was quite happy to share them with us. Vegetables in the salad were fresh and very green topped with sauteed shiitake in a creamy, tangy dressing. June's order was very generous -- lots of clams on a mountain of spaghetti. I don't know how it tasted; she polished off the lot all by herself. My lamb was meaty and tender, cooked in plenty of garlic (whoo!) and served in a pleasant honey sauce. Q-tip was not averse to sharing some bits of lamb with me either. Nice thing about Sketches: they leave the carafe of ice-water on your table so you can help yourself any time you want. Too full for dessert.
We sat between a schnauzer and a (possibly) mini-maltese sporting a schnauzer cut. The latter was excited and quite noisy, intermittently screaming at all the other dogs around it. Cute, but irritating after a while. It's times like this we appreciate Q-tip and her quiet nature.
Q-tip just loves car rides. She watches intently everything that goes on outside the car windows and always has a big grin on her face. We don't take her out too often, though, because taxi fares are expensive and we can't bring dogs into buses or the MRT. Oh, the places we'd go if we could!
We did take Q-tip to "Pets' Night" at Robertson Walk this evening. We got lost because there were no direction signs telling us where to go. Saw lots of other dog owners wandering around the place trying to find the event too. Took a stroll along the river and eventually had to ask for directions. Oh... along the river is Robertson Quay; where we came from was Robertson Walk. Ah ha!
In the process of our wanderings, Q-tip managed to shake off and lose the clip holding up her topknot and we misled a Jack Russell and a lab who assumed we knew where we were going. Finally as we retraced our steps, we met a chihuahua who happily followed us to the right location this time. Of all the stupid...! Robertson Walk is actually the name of the the square of restaurants just behind SRT, where we usually hang out during the intervals of plays we watch at SRT. Doh!
The square was full of dogs and their owners today. By the time we found the place, all the goodie bags had already been snapped up and the lines for the free dog massage(!) and free hand-drawn dog portrait were too long to bother with. Food, food, we need food! Considering that we hadn't had any lunch barring the leftover Ruffles potato chips and the bar of Lindt chocolate, June and I were starving. Food was our #1 priority! Everything else could wait!
We settled for Sketches which offered a better variety of food options than the other joints and because the crowd hadn't arrived to fill up the al fresco dining area yet. We ordered a side of chicken wings which Q-tip had a share in (it was, after all, a dinner date with your pet), a warm mushroom salad, a spaghetti vongole for June and I had a linguine served with 2 lamb chops.
Wings are wings; what can I say? Q-tip was quite happy to share them with us. Vegetables in the salad were fresh and very green topped with sauteed shiitake in a creamy, tangy dressing. June's order was very generous -- lots of clams on a mountain of spaghetti. I don't know how it tasted; she polished off the lot all by herself. My lamb was meaty and tender, cooked in plenty of garlic (whoo!) and served in a pleasant honey sauce. Q-tip was not averse to sharing some bits of lamb with me either. Nice thing about Sketches: they leave the carafe of ice-water on your table so you can help yourself any time you want. Too full for dessert.
We sat between a schnauzer and a (possibly) mini-maltese sporting a schnauzer cut. The latter was excited and quite noisy, intermittently screaming at all the other dogs around it. Cute, but irritating after a while. It's times like this we appreciate Q-tip and her quiet nature.
Hey, gimme a break! My day has barely started! A couple of links to keep you occupied while I go live:
Little shy girl (We all know someone like her, don't we?)
Pingu Extreme (Let me know when you beat my score of 1281)
Little shy girl (We all know someone like her, don't we?)
Pingu Extreme (Let me know when you beat my score of 1281)
Saturday, May 08, 2004
It's Saturday. Why should I have to wake up so early? Especially when not long after I got to sleep (it was already about 2am!) June shakes me awake and asks for my comments on the flower arrangement she had been making for my mom for Mothers' Day. Truthfully, I thought it was well-arranged for a first attempt and I thought I gave her my verbal assurance and approval, but apparently, according to her, I started to say something then became incoherent then there came a short silence and finally I resumed my gentle snoring. So, my brain sort of functions but it doesen't translate into words when I'm in that state. June wasn't discouraged and continued her arrangement until she crawled into bed at about 4am. She is such a perfectionist and I love her. [Hmm... she's a perfectionist. She married me. What does that make me? ;)]
I officially arose at about 6:30 so I could get to the GP Seminar by 8:45. Simple breakfast at the coffee shop downstairs. GP Seminar was on the topic of the biomedical hub that Singapore is being designed to become by our economists and the ethics that govern said biomed research. This topic is especially relevant as our growth engine in the near future is being tied to this untamed wild horse that until recent times was never even conceived to exist.
Biomed offers us control over what we had once merely accepted -- health and, up to a point, even life itself. As an engine of economic growth, such control, if it can be bought, will be highly sought after by the growing population of wealthy people in our region whom we are now viewing as a vast, almost inexhaustable financial resource in the years to come. As long as people will continue to fall sick and/or die, when we build Biopolis they will come!
Bioethics is like the reins of control as we are breaking in this powerful wild stallion, making it manageable and ultimately exploitable to us. Bioethics reminds us that if we wish to take control over the once-uncontrollable, then are we responsible enough to make choices from options that were never available to us before? From the issue of abortion to stem cell research, we are already making choices over life and death -- choices that now rest in the hands of individuals when once life and death could only be a decision made by collective society.
All these issues would have been very interesting to discuss, probing further into the future of this country and what kind of services we will make available to the world in 10, 20 years time. What will Singapore be famous for then? Will people from around the world flock here to be cured of cancer or other life threatening ailments? Will they also take the opportunity to determine the traits they desire of their next generation while they are visiting or do other more frivolous things like being genetically altered to sport luminous tatoos on various parts of their bodies? Will people be coming here with diseased body parts and leave with fresh, new, healthy replacement parts harvested from a lab cultured pig or some other animal?
Would have been interesting if in our Q&;A session we had asked our speakers more questions on current research and project that towards their future practical applications, or more about the guidelines that our ethics council are currently considering so we can guess at what treatments will be or might become common practice tomorrow. Instead, we became fixated on the type of scholars we are sending to read up this field of research, their personality types and their qualifications, which I suppose are relevant considerations, but I'm not sure the speakers came down to field such mundane questions. If even our teachers are this pragmatic, I fear we are slowly losing what imagination we have left, destined to only follow and copy rather than pioneer and lead as we must in this field that remains largely unexplored. To be successful, we have to be able to identify the possibilities first then work our process to get there and not get hung up with procedure right from the start and go nowhere as a result.
Ouch. Did I just write all that? Wonder if there's anyone else left to read my blog after this outburst? Had a tea-break in between speakers.
Lunched with Agnes, Avril, Cynth and Joanna at the Dome, Bishan. Herb striploin sandwich on multi-grain and walnut bread (untoasted). Pumpkin mash made the sandwich mushy but as the flavour was pleasant and unusual I forgive them. Macchiatto to wash it down. Macchiatto... reminds me of Teresa. Wonder how she's doing today. Haven't written to her in many years now. Wish I hadn't lost her email.
College Day, and I had a good time catching up with some of the guys of S4D: Ki Han, Eric, Jian Wen, Kevin, Marcus, Wei Xiong... did I miss anyone? Also Drama club alumni: Gwyn (who sweetly offered to help work with Yr 1s), Michelle, Saz, Donnie and Millicent. Watched Thad and Bernard get dunked at the dunk tank, and was badgered into purchasing a gift set from the Drum personnel who took so much trouble over it I think they deserved their $3. Bought a panda rock painting at $8 for June, whom I hope will gain more confidence that her own rock paintings are quality pieces as well. Mei, sorry I didn't get back to the Drama booth for Ramzi's brownies. Too many people, too little time.
Had College Day reception: mee siam, kueh pie tee, sung kueh, siew mai, and the other usual catered stuff at the usual catered quality.
Went to mom's for dinner. Gave bro his spending cash, and lent him my digicam with charger to use on his tour. I feel naked without my Lumix now, especially since I can't take any more Odyssey rehearsal photos without it. Maybe Boon Sin will be kind enough to lend me hers? Anyway, to my kid bro, "bon voyage!" Come back soon!
To sum: I had 5 meals today. What a pig!
I officially arose at about 6:30 so I could get to the GP Seminar by 8:45. Simple breakfast at the coffee shop downstairs. GP Seminar was on the topic of the biomedical hub that Singapore is being designed to become by our economists and the ethics that govern said biomed research. This topic is especially relevant as our growth engine in the near future is being tied to this untamed wild horse that until recent times was never even conceived to exist.
Biomed offers us control over what we had once merely accepted -- health and, up to a point, even life itself. As an engine of economic growth, such control, if it can be bought, will be highly sought after by the growing population of wealthy people in our region whom we are now viewing as a vast, almost inexhaustable financial resource in the years to come. As long as people will continue to fall sick and/or die, when we build Biopolis they will come!
Bioethics is like the reins of control as we are breaking in this powerful wild stallion, making it manageable and ultimately exploitable to us. Bioethics reminds us that if we wish to take control over the once-uncontrollable, then are we responsible enough to make choices from options that were never available to us before? From the issue of abortion to stem cell research, we are already making choices over life and death -- choices that now rest in the hands of individuals when once life and death could only be a decision made by collective society.
All these issues would have been very interesting to discuss, probing further into the future of this country and what kind of services we will make available to the world in 10, 20 years time. What will Singapore be famous for then? Will people from around the world flock here to be cured of cancer or other life threatening ailments? Will they also take the opportunity to determine the traits they desire of their next generation while they are visiting or do other more frivolous things like being genetically altered to sport luminous tatoos on various parts of their bodies? Will people be coming here with diseased body parts and leave with fresh, new, healthy replacement parts harvested from a lab cultured pig or some other animal?
Would have been interesting if in our Q&;A session we had asked our speakers more questions on current research and project that towards their future practical applications, or more about the guidelines that our ethics council are currently considering so we can guess at what treatments will be or might become common practice tomorrow. Instead, we became fixated on the type of scholars we are sending to read up this field of research, their personality types and their qualifications, which I suppose are relevant considerations, but I'm not sure the speakers came down to field such mundane questions. If even our teachers are this pragmatic, I fear we are slowly losing what imagination we have left, destined to only follow and copy rather than pioneer and lead as we must in this field that remains largely unexplored. To be successful, we have to be able to identify the possibilities first then work our process to get there and not get hung up with procedure right from the start and go nowhere as a result.
Ouch. Did I just write all that? Wonder if there's anyone else left to read my blog after this outburst? Had a tea-break in between speakers.
Lunched with Agnes, Avril, Cynth and Joanna at the Dome, Bishan. Herb striploin sandwich on multi-grain and walnut bread (untoasted). Pumpkin mash made the sandwich mushy but as the flavour was pleasant and unusual I forgive them. Macchiatto to wash it down. Macchiatto... reminds me of Teresa. Wonder how she's doing today. Haven't written to her in many years now. Wish I hadn't lost her email.
College Day, and I had a good time catching up with some of the guys of S4D: Ki Han, Eric, Jian Wen, Kevin, Marcus, Wei Xiong... did I miss anyone? Also Drama club alumni: Gwyn (who sweetly offered to help work with Yr 1s), Michelle, Saz, Donnie and Millicent. Watched Thad and Bernard get dunked at the dunk tank, and was badgered into purchasing a gift set from the Drum personnel who took so much trouble over it I think they deserved their $3. Bought a panda rock painting at $8 for June, whom I hope will gain more confidence that her own rock paintings are quality pieces as well. Mei, sorry I didn't get back to the Drama booth for Ramzi's brownies. Too many people, too little time.
Had College Day reception: mee siam, kueh pie tee, sung kueh, siew mai, and the other usual catered stuff at the usual catered quality.
Went to mom's for dinner. Gave bro his spending cash, and lent him my digicam with charger to use on his tour. I feel naked without my Lumix now, especially since I can't take any more Odyssey rehearsal photos without it. Maybe Boon Sin will be kind enough to lend me hers? Anyway, to my kid bro, "bon voyage!" Come back soon!
To sum: I had 5 meals today. What a pig!
Lit students went to watch Luther this evening. Me, the thrill junkie, went to Van Helsing instead. Mei's review now makes me want to watch Luther too, but VH is a visual treat not to be missed either!
Gonna be so busy tomorrow with the GP seminar in the morn, Homecoming & College Day in the afternoon and visiting Mom in the evening, I'd better make this note for VH while it's still fresh and while I still remember to do so.
VH is a non-stop action thrill ride with jaw-dropping brawls and catfights, curiously archaic looking tools and weapons of high impact, spectacular explosions and vistas of massive objects breaking, shattering satisfyingly loudly into splinters, shards and shrapnel. The screams of really horrid creatures and a couple of gasp-inducing shocks keep the atmosphere tense and the audience ready for another breathtaking stunt -- animated or live -- or another revelation of VH's or Dracula's past. Don't expect too much exposition, though, what's important happens in the here and now of their on-screen confrontation.
Plotwise, VH takes after LXG, fusing together the stock characters of the horror movie tradition in one roller-coaster thriller. Jekyll & Hyde make an appearance but it's Frankenstein's monster and the werewolf who are tied into Drac's diabolical plot in a sort of twisted S&M procreation fantasy involving straps, chains and lots of voltage. Uh huh... so the plot's a bit thin, but it's still one heck of a campfire tale! Lots of convenient plot advancing events occur showing the hand of deus ex machina, but who cares? VH delivers some little humour, even less romance but most importantly, an orgy of edge-of-the-seat action almost without reprieve and that's what we're there for.
June's rating: 5 stars (& as a critic she's hard to please).
I don't give out stars. However, the grin on my face at the end of the movie exposed right up to my back molars so I guess it was pretty enjoyable.
So grab a ticket, a bucket of popcorn and a flagon of Coke from the concession stand and go watch Van Helsing. Meantime, I'll see if I can score a couple'a tix to Luther. See you at the movies!
Gonna be so busy tomorrow with the GP seminar in the morn, Homecoming & College Day in the afternoon and visiting Mom in the evening, I'd better make this note for VH while it's still fresh and while I still remember to do so.
VH is a non-stop action thrill ride with jaw-dropping brawls and catfights, curiously archaic looking tools and weapons of high impact, spectacular explosions and vistas of massive objects breaking, shattering satisfyingly loudly into splinters, shards and shrapnel. The screams of really horrid creatures and a couple of gasp-inducing shocks keep the atmosphere tense and the audience ready for another breathtaking stunt -- animated or live -- or another revelation of VH's or Dracula's past. Don't expect too much exposition, though, what's important happens in the here and now of their on-screen confrontation.
Plotwise, VH takes after LXG, fusing together the stock characters of the horror movie tradition in one roller-coaster thriller. Jekyll & Hyde make an appearance but it's Frankenstein's monster and the werewolf who are tied into Drac's diabolical plot in a sort of twisted S&M procreation fantasy involving straps, chains and lots of voltage. Uh huh... so the plot's a bit thin, but it's still one heck of a campfire tale! Lots of convenient plot advancing events occur showing the hand of deus ex machina, but who cares? VH delivers some little humour, even less romance but most importantly, an orgy of edge-of-the-seat action almost without reprieve and that's what we're there for.
June's rating: 5 stars (& as a critic she's hard to please).
I don't give out stars. However, the grin on my face at the end of the movie exposed right up to my back molars so I guess it was pretty enjoyable.
So grab a ticket, a bucket of popcorn and a flagon of Coke from the concession stand and go watch Van Helsing. Meantime, I'll see if I can score a couple'a tix to Luther. See you at the movies!
Friday, May 07, 2004
I could'a gone to Ivin's with my lunchmates again, but I needed some time to myself again free of noise and socializing so I need do nothing more than sit and think. And recently, blog as I am doing now. Don't expect anything profound though. It's also a chance for me to wrestle the z-monster whenever it should choose to show up. I'll be ready.
Oh, Ivin's. I thought Vince just managed to con the trainees, Lynette, Julie, Alice & Dawn, into buying us all lunch. I didn't realize that it was to be their farewell lunch -- they're going back to NTU to continue their course and who knows if they'll get posted back to us? Just a minute before I discovered this sad fact, I had turned down the lunch offer, citing my bad stomach, which was true. I still shudder at the thought of ingesting and more curry/chilli-based foods for a while. In the last two days I have had, let's see, prata, mee pok, and yesterday's superb roti jalal a la chicken curry from the mak cik in our college canteen. I've hit my limit and a wise man knows when to stop. The company at lunch today would have been so very stimulating, but I'm just not fit company myself. Social burnout and dihorrea, thats me today.
June has gone to change some cash for 100 Euros. She is so efficient and thoughtful, quite the opposite of me. It's good that we're married to each other instead of being just colleagues with each other. We'd just kill each other in the office. The Euros are a gift to my brother who's going on tour to Ireland, the UK and France. He's departing tomorrow night and we have to arrange to meet him to present him with his gift. His trip is frighteningly expensive, in the range of $6K for flight, meals and accommodation, excluding personal expenses. Thought we'd chip in a bit 'cos he's travelling "by faith" and we're not about to let God let him down. He sent June his entire itinerary which was more info than she had asked him for and she's quite jealous now. All the wonderful places in Europe he's going to visit, many places of which she and I have never even heard. Make good use of your 100E, eh? It's not much but it'll come in useful, I reckon.
We initially wanted to meet him at the airport tomorrow to see him off and at the same time get us some Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits. Generous-sized chicken portions; crispy skin; and a juicy, tender interior. If KFC is 'finger lickin' good,' Popeyes will have you stuffing your gob with your fists. Not pretty, I know, but it is Popeyes! There's no canned spinach on the side, curiously enough, but the buttermilk biscuits and mashed potatoes feel so wholesome going down and they make you feel like a total pig after. I only have one regret after a meal at Popeyes: why did I eat so much? Urrrgggghhhh! Changi Airport, either Terminal, if you're looking for the nearest outlet. Unfortunately, my bro will only be going to the airport late so we have now agreed to meet him at Mom's instead. So much for Popeyes. *Sob.
Anyone for Van Helsing tonight at Sun Plaza?
Oh, Ivin's. I thought Vince just managed to con the trainees, Lynette, Julie, Alice & Dawn, into buying us all lunch. I didn't realize that it was to be their farewell lunch -- they're going back to NTU to continue their course and who knows if they'll get posted back to us? Just a minute before I discovered this sad fact, I had turned down the lunch offer, citing my bad stomach, which was true. I still shudder at the thought of ingesting and more curry/chilli-based foods for a while. In the last two days I have had, let's see, prata, mee pok, and yesterday's superb roti jalal a la chicken curry from the mak cik in our college canteen. I've hit my limit and a wise man knows when to stop. The company at lunch today would have been so very stimulating, but I'm just not fit company myself. Social burnout and dihorrea, thats me today.
June has gone to change some cash for 100 Euros. She is so efficient and thoughtful, quite the opposite of me. It's good that we're married to each other instead of being just colleagues with each other. We'd just kill each other in the office. The Euros are a gift to my brother who's going on tour to Ireland, the UK and France. He's departing tomorrow night and we have to arrange to meet him to present him with his gift. His trip is frighteningly expensive, in the range of $6K for flight, meals and accommodation, excluding personal expenses. Thought we'd chip in a bit 'cos he's travelling "by faith" and we're not about to let God let him down. He sent June his entire itinerary which was more info than she had asked him for and she's quite jealous now. All the wonderful places in Europe he's going to visit, many places of which she and I have never even heard. Make good use of your 100E, eh? It's not much but it'll come in useful, I reckon.
We initially wanted to meet him at the airport tomorrow to see him off and at the same time get us some Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits. Generous-sized chicken portions; crispy skin; and a juicy, tender interior. If KFC is 'finger lickin' good,' Popeyes will have you stuffing your gob with your fists. Not pretty, I know, but it is Popeyes! There's no canned spinach on the side, curiously enough, but the buttermilk biscuits and mashed potatoes feel so wholesome going down and they make you feel like a total pig after. I only have one regret after a meal at Popeyes: why did I eat so much? Urrrgggghhhh! Changi Airport, either Terminal, if you're looking for the nearest outlet. Unfortunately, my bro will only be going to the airport late so we have now agreed to meet him at Mom's instead. So much for Popeyes. *Sob.
Anyone for Van Helsing tonight at Sun Plaza?
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a show! The Odyssey is back on its feet with more fun and action. Energy is high today and hopefully will pick up even more over next week. We’ve finally got the play down to a manageable half hour and even rough as it was today, I’d say it rox! Everyone was more purposeful in everything they were doing and the new motivations for some of the characters worked nicely. The addition of subtle and some not-so-subtle movements by certain characters do add a visual cue to the spoken lines, aiding the understanding of the action onstage.
Only a couple of minor errors in today’s run which are understandable due to the newness of some of the scenes, but unless corrected immediately could be disastrous to our performance next week. Silly things like breaking out of character with the giggles or acknowledging a fluffed line or appearing onstage without being appropriately attired or not carrying on the proper handprops are definite no-nos and will not happen from next rehearsal onwards.
Other than these minor hiccups, everything else seemed to work ok, and I found myself suppressing laughter in certain scenes where there was once dull delivery before. The tweaks to the crew, Odysseus and Mother work well; though I hope we’ll be able to get a 2nd opinion in time before the SYF. Would love for Tina to come in one last time for her last nuggets of advice.
Scary that our actors are still falling sick. At this late stage it's so hard to work without a full cast. Still, it shouldn't be surprising as they're all so stretched in their committments. You must take better care of yourselves; do everything you can to keep yourselves in good health: eat well, sleep well, drink plenty of fluids, engage in regular exercise, look both ways before crossing the street, etc. Your health is a priority.
Van Helsing opened today, and usually I’d be the first in line at the box office for a movie like this. I couldn’t today because of Odyssey rehearsal. Considering what we accomplished tonight, it was an evening well spent.
Only a couple of minor errors in today’s run which are understandable due to the newness of some of the scenes, but unless corrected immediately could be disastrous to our performance next week. Silly things like breaking out of character with the giggles or acknowledging a fluffed line or appearing onstage without being appropriately attired or not carrying on the proper handprops are definite no-nos and will not happen from next rehearsal onwards.
Other than these minor hiccups, everything else seemed to work ok, and I found myself suppressing laughter in certain scenes where there was once dull delivery before. The tweaks to the crew, Odysseus and Mother work well; though I hope we’ll be able to get a 2nd opinion in time before the SYF. Would love for Tina to come in one last time for her last nuggets of advice.
Scary that our actors are still falling sick. At this late stage it's so hard to work without a full cast. Still, it shouldn't be surprising as they're all so stretched in their committments. You must take better care of yourselves; do everything you can to keep yourselves in good health: eat well, sleep well, drink plenty of fluids, engage in regular exercise, look both ways before crossing the street, etc. Your health is a priority.
Van Helsing opened today, and usually I’d be the first in line at the box office for a movie like this. I couldn’t today because of Odyssey rehearsal. Considering what we accomplished tonight, it was an evening well spent.
Wednesday, May 05, 2004
Hermes leaps into action again
NYeDC Yr 1 and Yr 2 bonding session, pizza to follow
Tired. Knees wobbly. Sweatier and smellier than I was last Wednesday (see respective entry for details). We had a blast playing Captain's Ball in the abandoned canteen. Audrey says it makes a good skating rink too and I understand ODAC is already using it for just that.
Great to see NYeDC running around having fun again. You people are lunatics! We played 2 games split in 2 halves, broke for dinner and you insisted on playing some more after pizza. Have mercy -- I'm too old for this physical abuse. If this keeps up, PE Dept will send PFT failures to us and we'll train them for PFT gold in a month's time.
Year 1s joined us which was more than I expected because they were busy with painting the banner for Saturday and I thought they would be tired. Duh! Nice to meet them and interact with some of them for effectively the first time. *waves at all Year 1s if you're reading this.
Also unexpectedly, the Debate team with Anthony and Greg joined us as well. It was the first time since the split 2+ years ago that Drama and Debate had gotten together for an activity. Fine. The Debate team won their games but we had a great time anyway. Well played, fellas!
Pizza delivery put me in a state of panic for a short while. Bill amounted to what we had agreed on amongst Yee, Cara and me, but I hadn't collected the cash from all of them at the time. I had enough on me to pay for half the bill and I was wondering where the money for the rest would come from. Yee showed up at the nick of time. It must have been funny to see us tutors pooling our cash and counting up the combined liquid assets on our persons which was just right to pay off the pizza dude. We were so grateful we let him keep the change, all 70 cents worth. Don't spend it all in one place, ok, buddy?
Seldom do I walk off a playing field without some damage to my corpus. It's been a habit since my youth. There's something about the image of the bruised, battered, bloodied body of a gladiator who's lived to fight another day that somehow I'm enarmoured with. It draws attention, sympathy or at the very least a seat on the bus because few people want to sit next to a walking human disaster. Who knows when the latter might keel over, causing the nearest person to undergo a police interview? Today was no different. In a mad scramble for the ball I collided with one of the pillars (actually an I-shaped steel girder) and in the process dented both my wristbones and caused what looks like a bruise on my right forearm. I can still type so I guess nothing's broken. Maybe the bruise will fade by tomorrow. June promised to rub me down with medicated oil before bedtime. Sounds good to me! Attention, sympathy...
If the X-men can break for a mad game of Bball with hilarious results I think we can have a game therapy session too! NYeDC, thanks for the game!
A week and a day to our performance of The Odyssey at the SYF. It's a risk not having a rehearsal today but many of our cast are rehearsing for Homecoming/College Day this Saturday and so we had a choice: to rehearse scenes in which cast were available or to forget everything for a day and play our brains out.
We've chosen the latter and once the cast & crew are done with helping the Year 1s with the Homecoming banner, it's off to simple pleasures again -- of running, throwing, catching, cooperating with some, competing with others, and getting sweaty and out of breath while doing it -- back to primeval basics. In prehistoric times, the hunt was the thrill of the week because our lives depended on it for food and materiel, to sustain and maintain our very lives.
Our hunting skills badly need sharpening. We have to remember what it's like to be hungry again. We need to know the importance of playing the game as a team again. We have to look our opponents square in the eye and be sure that constraints or no we will prevail. We will prevail because we will it to be so. Hence, the game is an analogy for our will to survive. How badly do we want to survive?
It's not about winning, it never was. It's about learning to cope and still coming out on top, as Odysseus himself did in Homer's epic. Odysseus had no reward waiting for him at the end of his journey, all he wanted was to come home. If this isn't motivation, silver and gold are even less of a motivation in the long run.
We need our achievements, great or small, to give us the confidence to face harder and tougher challenges as we progress through life. The harder we strive to win the sweeter our victory if we achieve it. If we don't, there is a vaster pool of learning that accumulates towards our victory next time around. Regardless, as long as we can keep on looking for and looking forward to the next time we are already a success.
The contest is not yet upon us, folks. There is still time to prepare. Let's sweat hard for a sweet victory. A week and a day. Let's give it all we've got. For today, LET'S PLAY BALL!
We've chosen the latter and once the cast & crew are done with helping the Year 1s with the Homecoming banner, it's off to simple pleasures again -- of running, throwing, catching, cooperating with some, competing with others, and getting sweaty and out of breath while doing it -- back to primeval basics. In prehistoric times, the hunt was the thrill of the week because our lives depended on it for food and materiel, to sustain and maintain our very lives.
Our hunting skills badly need sharpening. We have to remember what it's like to be hungry again. We need to know the importance of playing the game as a team again. We have to look our opponents square in the eye and be sure that constraints or no we will prevail. We will prevail because we will it to be so. Hence, the game is an analogy for our will to survive. How badly do we want to survive?
It's not about winning, it never was. It's about learning to cope and still coming out on top, as Odysseus himself did in Homer's epic. Odysseus had no reward waiting for him at the end of his journey, all he wanted was to come home. If this isn't motivation, silver and gold are even less of a motivation in the long run.
We need our achievements, great or small, to give us the confidence to face harder and tougher challenges as we progress through life. The harder we strive to win the sweeter our victory if we achieve it. If we don't, there is a vaster pool of learning that accumulates towards our victory next time around. Regardless, as long as we can keep on looking for and looking forward to the next time we are already a success.
The contest is not yet upon us, folks. There is still time to prepare. Let's sweat hard for a sweet victory. A week and a day. Let's give it all we've got. For today, LET'S PLAY BALL!
Tuesday, May 04, 2004
Well, that was terrible. I fell asleep in the middle of making my previous entry. When I awoke I had barely enough sense left in me to sign off properly. Can't imagine how I got so tired. Must be getting old.
Anthony's back from playing petanque in Bangkok. The Thai team is so good, his focus was "not to get his ass kicked," which he successfully accomplished, he reported.
Lunched at the prata place off Rosyth Road. Their maggie mee goreng is quite outstanding, if you can stand the MSG it's cooked in. We had to repeat several times that Mun Yee's order must not have any chilli in it. Must not have any chilli in it. Bad memories from last week's mee kuah, which he ordered and found to be as edible as a spouting flamethrower. Sensitive, that guy. Andro's nasi briyani looked good and his order came quickly too. Definitely on my list to try next time I'm here.
Ordered an ice Milo which was rich, sweet and very cold. Delicious. The ice Milo is quite good enough, but if you're really thirsty you could try the "Milo dinosaur" which is an up, no, supersized ice Milo, beaten into a fluffy froth on top and liberally sprinkled with Milo powder. For most purposes it's overkill, but feel free to indulge. There are worse ways to spend $2.50.
Service is very friendly. Very. The mak cik is very patient taking orders. Dealing with large groups of screaming schoolboys from St Gabriel's(?) ordering a myriad of prata combinations and frequently changing their minds and their orders is liable to drive someone bonkers or imbue a serenity, patience and longsuffering on the victim. Glad to say Mak Cik is of the latter calibre, and can still maintain her sense of humour to boot.
The usual verbal horseplay goes around the lunch table, which sometimes gets too intense for Mun Yee. Andros himself contributed a paraphrase of "OMG" in response to our irreverent banter. Tried to pull a fast one on Vince but he's wise to us now. Mealtimes are fun.
No rehearsal tomorrow. Cast & crew bonding instead. Need the energy boost and the reminder that team spirit is still alive and ready to take on new challenges. Once we get our Homecoming prep done it's off for food, fun and a round of Captain's Ball. Wa-hey! Thinking of using the abandoned temporary canteen grounds to use as our court. Whadda'ya think peeps?
Anthony's back from playing petanque in Bangkok. The Thai team is so good, his focus was "not to get his ass kicked," which he successfully accomplished, he reported.
Lunched at the prata place off Rosyth Road. Their maggie mee goreng is quite outstanding, if you can stand the MSG it's cooked in. We had to repeat several times that Mun Yee's order must not have any chilli in it. Must not have any chilli in it. Bad memories from last week's mee kuah, which he ordered and found to be as edible as a spouting flamethrower. Sensitive, that guy. Andro's nasi briyani looked good and his order came quickly too. Definitely on my list to try next time I'm here.
Ordered an ice Milo which was rich, sweet and very cold. Delicious. The ice Milo is quite good enough, but if you're really thirsty you could try the "Milo dinosaur" which is an up, no, supersized ice Milo, beaten into a fluffy froth on top and liberally sprinkled with Milo powder. For most purposes it's overkill, but feel free to indulge. There are worse ways to spend $2.50.
Service is very friendly. Very. The mak cik is very patient taking orders. Dealing with large groups of screaming schoolboys from St Gabriel's(?) ordering a myriad of prata combinations and frequently changing their minds and their orders is liable to drive someone bonkers or imbue a serenity, patience and longsuffering on the victim. Glad to say Mak Cik is of the latter calibre, and can still maintain her sense of humour to boot.
The usual verbal horseplay goes around the lunch table, which sometimes gets too intense for Mun Yee. Andros himself contributed a paraphrase of "OMG" in response to our irreverent banter. Tried to pull a fast one on Vince but he's wise to us now. Mealtimes are fun.
No rehearsal tomorrow. Cast & crew bonding instead. Need the energy boost and the reminder that team spirit is still alive and ready to take on new challenges. Once we get our Homecoming prep done it's off for food, fun and a round of Captain's Ball. Wa-hey! Thinking of using the abandoned temporary canteen grounds to use as our court. Whadda'ya think peeps?
Monday, May 03, 2004
Hi Farisa! Hi Mei! Hi Yan! >big wave< You've discovered who is responsible for this abomination!
As you can see, this page is quite blah and the html is going to take me quite some time to figure out. I'm just cutting and pasting text in my template right now and seeing what works and what doesn't. Would be grateful for any assistance you could provide in making my blog look prettier. Also anyhow signing up for all kinds of odd blogging services to see what they actually do. As long as it's free I don't mind experimenting.
My mind is almost totally incoherent now. All I know is that I've been fed, so now I'm in a better mood, and my blog's had a couple of visitors today that is a pleasant surprise. But, neeeeed sleeeeep...! Brain refusing to function. C u tomorrow!
As you can see, this page is quite blah and the html is going to take me quite some time to figure out. I'm just cutting and pasting text in my template right now and seeing what works and what doesn't. Would be grateful for any assistance you could provide in making my blog look prettier. Also anyhow signing up for all kinds of odd blogging services to see what they actually do. As long as it's free I don't mind experimenting.
My mind is almost totally incoherent now. All I know is that I've been fed, so now I'm in a better mood, and my blog's had a couple of visitors today that is a pleasant surprise. But, neeeeed sleeeeep...! Brain refusing to function. C u tomorrow!
The college seems to be shut down today, i.e., no one's allowed to log on the 'net for fear of the Sasser worm infecting our systems. Warning came too late for me! I was already online and my laptop suddenly flashed a window showing a countdown timer and shut down my system in a minute.
Very cleverly, I tried to download the Windows patch preventing the Worm from taking further effect (was that the proper procedure, I wonder?) but because the stupid worm kept shutting down my laptop during the installation of the patches (guess I haven't updated for a while!) I screwed up my Windows and now it won't start up properly anymore. Crap!
Moral of the story: update Windows often, before it gets too late. Gonna have to take my laptop to our tech who is probably up to his neck fighting Sasser on our LAN right now. Wonder when my laptop will come back to me?
As a public service, here is the link to d/l the Sasser removal tool from Symantec if you've been hit.
Very annoyed now. Nobody talk to me! Wait till I'm in a better mood. Grrr...
Very cleverly, I tried to download the Windows patch preventing the Worm from taking further effect (was that the proper procedure, I wonder?) but because the stupid worm kept shutting down my laptop during the installation of the patches (guess I haven't updated for a while!) I screwed up my Windows and now it won't start up properly anymore. Crap!
Moral of the story: update Windows often, before it gets too late. Gonna have to take my laptop to our tech who is probably up to his neck fighting Sasser on our LAN right now. Wonder when my laptop will come back to me?
As a public service, here is the link to d/l the Sasser removal tool from Symantec if you've been hit.
Very annoyed now. Nobody talk to me! Wait till I'm in a better mood. Grrr...
Sunday, May 02, 2004
Lunch at Adrian's. He made a seafood pasta for us which was yummy. Said he woke up early to get fresh ingredients from Chinatown, about an hour's bus ride from where he lives. His seafood pasta comprised spinach fusilli with fish, shrimp and calamari topped with a tomato-basil sauce and accompanied with sauteed champignon mushrooms (I would have preferred raw champigons, thinly sliced) and steamed asparagus. Slices of baguette from Delifrance to sop up the sauce and our contribution -- Waldorf salad -- on the side.
It seems I have very poor hand-eye coordination. As I was inserting a bit of sopping baguette into my cakehole, it bounced off my teeth and landed sop-side down on the chair I was sitting on before bouncing off again to hit the floor. It left a couple of faint sauce stains on the cream-coloured upholstery which sent Adrian scrambling for the Scotchgard. Oops, 'scuse signore. Hope the stains are not permanent (crosses fingers).
I make a simple Waldorf salad based on the recipe the American tourist recited to Basil Fawlty in an episode of Fawlty Towers. Green and red apples cut into small cubes, celery, walnuts and raisins well mixed with mayo (we use Kraft). The apple cubes should be thoroughly soaked in lemon juice to prevent them from turning brown. The apple cubes are cut by June herself 'cos she doesn't let me play with sharp objects -- soaking the cubes in blood makes them turn brown faster. Adrian doesn't like raisins, so we kept them on the side for ourselves. I don't know. It just isn't right without the raisins which, if used sparingly, give an occasional sweet surprise to the generally sour salad.
The rest of the afternoon we reminisced over our Hawaii trip, pouring over the photo albums we brought over to his place and seeing the shots he took of his trip to Europe and Japan. The lucky pig spent a couple of days in a Japanese onsen! He said if he was going on vacation again this year, he'd like to go see some real snow once again. It's been years since I've seen real snow too. Will I get the chance this year? Hmm... (thinking hard).
It seems I have very poor hand-eye coordination. As I was inserting a bit of sopping baguette into my cakehole, it bounced off my teeth and landed sop-side down on the chair I was sitting on before bouncing off again to hit the floor. It left a couple of faint sauce stains on the cream-coloured upholstery which sent Adrian scrambling for the Scotchgard. Oops, 'scuse signore. Hope the stains are not permanent (crosses fingers).
I make a simple Waldorf salad based on the recipe the American tourist recited to Basil Fawlty in an episode of Fawlty Towers. Green and red apples cut into small cubes, celery, walnuts and raisins well mixed with mayo (we use Kraft). The apple cubes should be thoroughly soaked in lemon juice to prevent them from turning brown. The apple cubes are cut by June herself 'cos she doesn't let me play with sharp objects -- soaking the cubes in blood makes them turn brown faster. Adrian doesn't like raisins, so we kept them on the side for ourselves. I don't know. It just isn't right without the raisins which, if used sparingly, give an occasional sweet surprise to the generally sour salad.
The rest of the afternoon we reminisced over our Hawaii trip, pouring over the photo albums we brought over to his place and seeing the shots he took of his trip to Europe and Japan. The lucky pig spent a couple of days in a Japanese onsen! He said if he was going on vacation again this year, he'd like to go see some real snow once again. It's been years since I've seen real snow too. Will I get the chance this year? Hmm... (thinking hard).
Saturday, May 01, 2004
Just a quick memory test because I'm bored. Name the dishes from our dinner at Loy Sum Juan:
Sharks' fin soup
Abalone/jellyfish cold dish
Scallop-celery salad
Har Jeong Gai
Braised duck
Steamed fish
Tofu spring rolls
Obligatory noodles
hmm...
Longans with almond jelly
Seems to be a dish I can't remember. Or was it an 8-course meal + dessert? Whatever. I am so full now. 10 people at the table but only 7 effectively eating. 3 are under 5 years old so they can't each much. Cause for celebration: my kid brother is going to be 32 in a couple of days' time. We won't see him on the date of his actual birthday so, "Happy Birthday" in advance! And if he is going to be 32, I am going to be ancient. Maybe that's why I can't remember... er, what were we talking about...?
Sharks' fin soup
Abalone/jellyfish cold dish
Scallop-celery salad
Har Jeong Gai
Braised duck
Steamed fish
Tofu spring rolls
Obligatory noodles
hmm...
Longans with almond jelly
Seems to be a dish I can't remember. Or was it an 8-course meal + dessert? Whatever. I am so full now. 10 people at the table but only 7 effectively eating. 3 are under 5 years old so they can't each much. Cause for celebration: my kid brother is going to be 32 in a couple of days' time. We won't see him on the date of his actual birthday so, "Happy Birthday" in advance! And if he is going to be 32, I am going to be ancient. Maybe that's why I can't remember... er, what were we talking about...?
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