Hi-tech is supposed to save us work? Today's language exam put our new bar-code scanners to use again and if there was any evidence of work saved I certainly didn't see it.

The procedure is supposed to go like this:
Candidates are saved of the work of writing their names on their answer scripts. Instead they paste a large bar code label that we invigilators issue to them. We then use our handy little hand-held device to scan each bar code to take attendance. We scan the bar codes again at the end of the paper to ensure that everyone who took the paper has handed them in to be marked. Accurate, easy, efficient, just as it would sound on someone's EWSS suggestion. No wonder we jumped on the idea.

Implementation:
Candidates' individual labels come printed on computer forms, conveniently perforated for our tearing convenience. As the paper begins, the invigilator struggles with ripping apart the forms and arranging them in numerical order so it's easier to distribute them once they have been separated. I'm sure the sound of paper tearing has a demoralising effect on an important exam, not to mention the occasional cusses of the invigilator whenever he encounters a particularly tough piece of label that may or may not tear at the right place.

On distributing said labels, we still have to check if the labels correspond to the person who happens to be sitting at that particular spot. *Goes desk to desk checking ID for verification. Now we take attendance by scanner. *Goes desk to desk scanning labels for attendance. Next, we pass on the scanner to the next door invigilator with whom we have to share. *Goes next door, hands scanner over. Oh, we still have to take attendance manually??? *Applies pen to paper ticking off manual attendance list. Part 1 done.

At the end of the paper we collect the answer scripts and the bar-code counterfoils. *Goes desk to desk collecting said items. We pass the time counting collected items while waiting for the invigilator whom we shared the scanner with to give the scanner back to us. *Goes next door to help self to the scanner after an appropriately polite wait. We scan through our set of collected scripts to verify the numbers. *Scans hastily as Candidates have been sitting through 3+ hours of exam taking and probably need a toilet break ASAP. In our haste we may have missed scanning one or two scripts. *Stares uncomprehendingly at why the number of scripts collected fails to tally with attendance recorded. We slowly trace the stray scripts whose bar codes did not get captured. *Feels 30 eye-daggers prickling back of neck. Finally locate stray scripts and scan them to the scanner's satsfaction. Release the candidates at last. *Goes to fetch a bucket and mop for those who couldn't hold it any longer.

Mom always said if I didn't study any harder I'd end up as a checkout clerk at a convenience store. Shoulda' sat for my MA.

Now I remember why I avoid taking the bus. YJC is only 5-10 minutes from my place by car, but on the bus it takes 45 minutes! My miscalculation nearly made me late for my invigilation duty this morning; and in fact I arrived just after the paper had started. Oh, that means I was late, lah. Going to have to wake up earlier tomorrow, then. What's the point of opting to do duty at a center near my house, I ask you?

Wonder what people made of the GP Eaxm? The essays looked kinda' boring, but at least they weren't difficult to interpret. Paper 2 was an eyebrow raiser. Quite a philosophical topic and some strange questions to answer. I bet this Paper will raise lots of comments amongst the students. Wait for it...

YJ campus is quite tight on security. Every car coming in and leaving is recorded on a clipboard. Visitors likewise have to sign in at the security checkpoint and receive a clearance sticker to adorn your person. We invigilators have to wear a large tag printed with the College crest, address, contact numbers, and the title of INVIGILATOR in large RED lettering. As if we weren't self-conscious enough already.

1 duty down, 9 duties left.

Marathon consultations from 9:30 to 7:00 today with only a short break for Cara's farewell lunch and an hour to meet the Drama Club Exco to debrief Halloween 04.

Hope those who came to me for consultation have got something out of our discussions together and their hard work will pay off in the GP paper tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow. The Day we warned our students almost 2 years ago; the Day we've been preparing our students to face; the Day that no one believed will ever dawn. It's here.

My best wishes to everyone. You've been a wonderful batch to teach. I have really done all I can for you, wish I could have done more, but anyway, enjoy your paper tomorrow and start your 'A' Level campaign off on an upbeat note. Don't ever come back next year wearing the old browns again, hear?

We celebrated Cara's departure at Gayatri's. A number of J1 tutors were busy with PW so there weren't that many of us but we made enough noise to make Cara happy I guess. At the table were Nirmala, Anne, me, Vince, Joanna, Boon Sin, Amy and Anthony to see her off. Yah, that and to stuff ourselves with chicken korma, mutton mysore, chilli chicken, dum bryani (served in a deceptively tiny-looking pot), and all the rice and side veggies we could eat.

Nirmala said she prefers this restaurant to the more touristy "other one" down the road because the cuisine here was more authentic, not tailored to the tastes of our tourists. She was right. The flavour of a number of different spices brightened up each dish and though everything we ordered was familiar to me, the taste wasn't what I had expected. It was rich and full of body and robustness and, and, and... made the tongue work overtime? Something like that. Personally, the spice flavour went a little overboard for my taste and I think I prefer to eat at the "other one," but then I'm a peasant (or a tourist) when it comes to food.

Ciao, Cara! It's been fun! Thanks for your company, good fortune at the Ministry!

Had my longest consultations today with a couple of unscheduled drop-ins adding to my list. From 9 to about 5 advising various students on their concerns about GP Papers 1 and 2. Just a quick working lunch as a break at Gardens then back to work again. I actually had a great time teaching tiny groups of people who were actually attentive and interested in what I was teaching them. It felt good to be teaching to the students' interests and answering questions that they raised on their own accord, rather than answering questions I raise on their behalf since under normal tutorial conditions noone really asks anything. Why do they have to wait until 2 weeks before their exam before they start getting interested, though? Kids.

It has finally come to pass. I hear Cara's farewell lunch is on tomorrow, though I haven't been invited yet by whoever's organizing it. Well, hope her 2-year committment with the Ministry will fulfil her as much as her time spent with us. I've known her for at least 4 years now and it feels strange that she won't be with us next year. Who's left for us to tease endlessly and mercilessly at lunch? Mel? Hmm...

Forgot to add Flirt's vitamin powder into her dinner tonight. I am supposed to break open 1 capsule a day and mix half the contents in her food for easy ingestion. So I did what I thought was smart. I got hold of her after she had eaten and poured half a capsule of powder directly into her mouth. Trust me, it wasn't easy. She sputtered a bit then the powder suddenly reacted like sherbert. I had a little pregnant cat frothing yellow at the mouth and where she walked she left a trail of slippery vitamin-enhanced cat drool for me to wipe up. Fortunately she has a forgiving personality and doesn't seem to be holding this incident against me. Now I have to feed her her antibiotics. Wish me luck!

Rediscovered Neopets! Finally understood the instructions on how to let neopets.com through my firewall as a trusted site and saved my poor wocky and lupe from starving to death. After all that thinking from this morning, I could use the mindless distraction. See you in Meridell!

Used to be, this was the first week of the end-of-year vacation, at least for the J1s, tutors included. As of last year, this is the week that PW OP, WR and GPF assessment commences. J1 is no fun any more. Still, since the term is officially over, we now get to sleep in a little later and arrive on campus by 8am. Then depending on who has booked a consultation with us, and who actually shows up to make use of the booking, the day for us J2 tutors proceeds accordingly.

Indeed, it feels like things are finally slowing down for us. Classes are over and now it's just the wrapping up of our last gift to our students: their testimonials. Apart from that, it's just preparation for next year's work. Hopefully, I'll stay with the Drama Club, though with all the shuffling around of CCA advisors nothing can be guaranteed. I also opted to go back to J1 and start fresh with a new batch of kids even though I have PW to look forward to as a J1 tutor. I don't like the idea of following up on a class that is used to someone else's style and personality and has to adapt suddenly to my own. Hope HOD and LH2 are ok with getting some other J2 tutor to remain in J2 for another year.

June collected our travel tickets from the agent today. Australia, here we come! We'll be focusing on Sydney and the Gold Coast, free-and-easy. I'm buzzing with anticipation as I've never been to the smallest continent before, and our ininerary (that we planned and booked for ourselves) promises novel activities, picturesque vistas and lots of fresh seafood, not necessarily in that order. Will try blog my vacation, time and cybercafe permitting, or maybe keep a pencil-and-paper log then u/l it at any opportunity I can get. We'll be leaving immediately after the prom, so Ill avoid making the same mistake I made 2 years ago -- winging it off to Korea and conveniently forgetting about my date with the Librarians of '02 at what would have been my first prom night. I don't think anyone really missed me, right, ZL?

Flirt's become like our 3rd cat, though occasionally she appears homesick for her crappy rooftop. She probably misses her family and her boyfriend, Skull. At our place, Momo and Belle are quite mean to her, giving her the cold shoulder or even trading hisses with her whenever they make eye contact. We're supposed to keep Flirt for 2 weeks while we run an antibiotic course on her. Then we'll take her back to the vet for a follow up exam to see if the medication has done its job. Question then will be, do we release her back to her natural habitat, or will she be so comfortable with us by then that she'll have a hard time adapting back to her old home? Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

NYeDC ham it up at Halloween 2004!

Another Halloween event has been laid to rest. Amen. Hope all who participated had fun! I could see the organizers were workin' their butts off, and I for one truly appreciate the effort. For Ben to coordinate logistics and scheduling for this event within such a short time, I'd have to say he's proven himself most capable of being our Stage Manager for Drama Night '05. JT was almost tireless tonight, "putting out fires" all over the event venues and ensuring that things went according to plan, dealing decisively with unforseen circumstances in a responsible manner. Faz 'n Jaz stayed on top of things, managing the Haunted House, and as this station soon became increasingly popular, handled crowd control as well. Everyone who lined up for a tour got a tour even though it set back our schedule a little.

... too tired now to think of anything further. Will complete entry after some sleeep...

Edit 01:
It's difficult to assess how successful Halloween 04 was.

There could certainly be improvements made to the operations of the attractions, especially in marketing them, in crowd control and in ticket accountability; and other improvements to our allocation of human resources. We could have used an overall business plan that looked into enhancing the cohesion and profitability of the entire event. The groups involved needed to work more seamlessly with each other for a more unified 'feel' amongst the various attractions, and no group would feel 'secondary' to the proceedings.

On the other hand, different individuals showed their capability in throwing this hastily executed event together. They showed committment in working hard together on a common purpose and creativity in improvising solutions to problems as they came along. The event threw up a talented band, still rough and green in presentation, but entertaining nonetheless. We might still need to work on being more crowd-pleasing, but the basic foundations for a show for Drama Night 05 are here and they have passed their test. Now, if only we could get a script out in time...

Thanks everyone, for your work and your support for the event. To Rugby, Soccer, Biz Club, ICS, Dance, 04A1A, AV crew, Photogs and First Aiders (who thankfully remained unemployed all night). And NYP's dancers too.

Meet Flirt, Girlfriend's daughter, whom we are taking to be spayed today.

Doc just called and it's lucky we opted to spend $85 on a blood test for her. Anesthetizing her would be quite adverse to her health as her liver is not functioning normally. Besides, she's preggers (we have reason to suspect the old vetran, Ginger Tom) and Doc advises that she needs to be brought to term while being medicated at the same time to get her healthy again. Poor thing!

There are days in which there's nothing to blog home about, then there are days like today when so much happens, it's hard to remember everything at once.

It's the official last day of term, and everyone's gearing up for a long vacation, right? Well, not till PW's over, not till 'A's are over and certainly not till Halloween's over which takes place tomorrow evening. Ticket proceeds are for a good cause, so it's an invitation to our Year 2 students who need a short break from mugging your brains out to join us for an evening of revelry. Party ends at 9pm, so you can go home with a clear conscience! If you haven't been studying, well then it's your own judgement call. It's good to know that the Halloween team has been putting in another day's hard work, but without working hard there'll be no fun at the end of it all. Thanks for the effort, people!

My meeting at HQ was a re-examination of the programmes that fall under the category of NE in college. Some sacred cows, like many others in our society, are being considered for slaughter and the bigwigs are feeling out what sentiments might be like from us groundlings. Some good ideas came up for the running of the LJ and CIP that might steer these programmes towards a more realistic approach, more relevant to the interests of our students and more than just lip-service to their educational objectives. Might they not be run as one event fulfilling both objectives? Our NE pogramme could then function as one-stop station to facilitate student-initiated projects that are more relevant to their interests (i.e., CCA-based interests) and at the same time to the subjects they are studying (i.e., ST-based interests).

One major problem we have had before is that there is so much duplication of events attempting to fulfil more or less overlapping objectives that all our well-intentioned programmes become nothing more than an additional work burden to our students. Visits, etc., are carried out simply because they must. How mind-numbingly boring. Students do the work, we tutors get the credit for organizing the events, at least if we take a cynical view of the situation.

Perhaps we need to learn to decentralize, do away with a one-size-fits all solution and instead customize field trips according to the needs, interests and talents of the individual students who as a group request to visit a place they want to go to together, to do something they want to do as a team together, to learn something specific that they want to learn together. If we can suit the trips to Project Groups who are looking for primary resources of information for their research, that might be one more bird killed with a single stone.

Perhaps in the 2 years that a student spends in college, each student should only get 1 chance to propose and participate in 1 such field trip, and that's all. Each individual student will then have to choose his or her 1 trip very carefully, or lose the opportunity altogether. It sounds like hell to manage, but if the students find such a programme more meaningful, then we will find a way to manage. A lot of what-ifs and why-nots. I think that makes our discussion quite fruitful and I'm glad I went.

June and I joined Vince and Amy at Wild Rice's "The Visit of the Tai Tai," a delightfully bizarre, dark comedy with old friends (Tina and Ben) and familiar faces in the cast. The Tai Tai and her retinue represent promise, progress, science, opulence, everything the impoverished backwater town of Saitang aspires towards, but dealing with her is also making a pact with the devil, or at least a mockery of what was once human.

The premise is a complicated moral dilemma: for a large sum of money that will lift a starving community out of abject poverty, will that community correct an old injustice by committing a new one? Will common human decency prevail or will the temptation of economic salvation push a proud, upright citizenry to do unspeakable things to one of their own?

These questions resonate with us because we live in such times. Foreign investment is our only salvation; this is our reality. What are we prepared to lose of ourselves, our identity, our values, in order to make ourselves attractive to such investment? Is it worth it? And the answer isn't as automatic as we might think. The human will to survive at all cost is a pursuasive force, though it is easy to underestimate.

Right. Ivan requested us to sell the show if it meant something to us. "Tai Tai" runs till this Sunday, 1 November at the Victoria Theatre, so if you can spare the time and the cash, go. It's a great show!

Ever since Halloween came to college, I've become a nervous wreck this time of year. I worry if the event is ever getting off the ground; if the event will be publicized enough so that our student body will take some time off to come and have fun; yet not so well publicized that unwelcome guests crash the party and in so doing damage our assets or find trouble with our students, etc.

The first two years, I was in the centre of the event getting everything organized and I was just too busy to enjoy myself. Last year, it became more student-oriented and it was great as I started to take a back-seat and let the event run on its own, more or less. Last Halloween was a flamboyant affair, with emphasis on great-looking costumes and a very simple programme -- a haunted house tour, Bhangra till closing time with a best-costume judging thrown in.

This year, things seem to be falling into place at a slower, more methodical pace with the Drama Club leading the way. A more ambitious, varied programme involving more locations in our new building, but with the same general focus as last year, rockin' the house with music and dance. It was nice to see the club members hard at work today preparing material for this year's haunted house. I previewed the band and though they aren't exactly larger-than-life, they have a pretty good sound that should add to the festivities in a big way. Hope their equipment hold up, AV crew, please be on top of things.

One more announcement at assembly tomorrow and we're committed. Saturday evening I'll be a nervous wreck again hoping everything will turn out fine, everyone would have had a great time, nothing gets damaged in the process, and everyone gets home safe from a crazy, memorable experience. If we can do that, it'll be one more notch marking an event that will in time become integrated into our college culture. Jus' doin' my bit for my college.

I also received my SAF100 in the mail today. Normally, I'd be steeling myself up for 2 weeks of military discipline which I don't look forward to, but this time I'm being 'invited' to a 2-day course on using the new personal weapon, the SAR21! I've been looking forward to handling this new piece of equipment and I had thought they'd never give it to my unit this close to the end of our 13-year cycle. Time to trade in the old M16! Upgrade mania strikes again!

Rach must be one of Phoon Huat's best customers. That was a gorgeous chocolate cake to celebrate Mei's 18th with. Happy bdae to both Mei and Farisa! I don't actually pay attention to birthdays, but when I do get to hear about 'em, they deserve a mention.

Today I attended the wake of my Grand-Uncle, the oldest representative of Mom's side of the family. He lived to a ripe old age of 92, so he's lived his adult life through most of the tumultous times we only hear about in history and NE sessions. I vaguely remember that after his retirement he still volunteered to take school kids to various historical locations in Singapore and tell them about historical events from his experience, making him a walking, human narrator of our unbelievable past. Unbelievable, because the past that we keep hearing about seems so far removed from our present, though the time scale really is only 1 lifetime, no more.

He will also be remembered for his great faith as an Elder in his church, and he will be missed for his knowledge of Christian scripture and his service to the church that he spent most of his life with, even as a boy.

Oh, I just wrote a eulogy, didn't I?

Also met my ex-boss at the wake since he goes to the Grand-Unc's church. He essentially baby-sat me in my working life for four or five years while I tried to figure out how I really wanted to be gainfully employed. Basically, I was his personal assistant, accompanying him as he took on short-term jobs with one company after another. I helped him with his administrative tasks while he, erm, envisioned possibilities for new business ventures for whomever his employer was at the time. It was like being a squire to a ronin (masterless samurai) in the business world. He got all the excitement while I polished his katana. I didn't do much, I didn't get paid much, I didn't expect much, and I was contented, though not necessarily happy.

And Blogger's being a pain again. Guess this entry's going to be a day late.

There. Presentation made and one more pressure item is now off my list. 'sif and Kareen had suggested I talk about the video-making project, but I found I had less to say about that than about the download-neighbourhood-map-and-explore-area-on-foot exercise of this year. The presentation was about sharing thoughts and ideas about the "teach less, learn more" concept and I thought perhaps a negative example, i.e., how NOT to do it, would be a better learning point for all the teachers attending the sharing session.

It turned out to be a much smaller event than anyone expected, even to the organizer's surprise. Bad time of the year to organize an inter-school do. Everyone's busy with exams and other things. Yesterday, I was told to prepare for an audience of 30, which seemed ok as that will be about the size of most tutorial groups next year. Today, Thad and I arrived at the appointed time (though I had the honour of being designated last speaker) and no one else apart from the organizer was there. Eventually, 12 to 15 people arrived to hear the 5 presentations from 2 primary schools, 1 secondary school, and yours truly.

The first primary school presented twice, including one Prize Winning initiative for teaching language using DVD movies. The other primary school presented their idea of using games (Boggle, Scrabble, Pictionary...) in the teaching of English.

When it was my turn to present, my audience amounted to a grand total of 10; one group had to leave due to prior commitments. Guess I'm still not ready for prime time national reach yet. Still, what was left was a comfortable tutorial size.

The next challenge was how to eat all the food that had been catered for 30+? Ramadan didn't help the situation much. We ate what we could, said our thanks and goodbyes and waddled off for home, decision being that the remaining tea would be distributed amongst the school's students who will return in the evening for self study as they prepare for their 'O's.

June bought a brain teaser from the pasar malam downstairs. Messing around with shapes and patterns should keep her occupied all night. The sales guy kept pushing the idea that solving the puzzles doesn't require much effort; only observation, analysis, working with possibilities and "understanding the question." This guy should come and teach GP with me.

Just received 2 consecutive phone calls:
Cat Auntie's out of a job again so we assured her we'll be going downstairs soon to supplement the strays' dinner. Mom called with info that my Grand-Uncle has passed away, wake to be held tomorrow evening, Friday evening and funeral Saturday morning. Grand-Uncle takes a wealth of Singapore's oral history with him. Hope his work with the National Heritage Board would have preserved some of his personal memories for us.

Off to feed cats now!

I can feel an MC coming on this week. It's only a question of what day will I be really too sick to function? The nose is drippy, the head just a little spinny and I'm falling asleep in the middle of consultations. Not a good sign.

Should have prepared my presentation for tomorrow afternoon over the weekend. Now that I should be resting I'm still getting my points together and I still have a bunch of slides to make too. Good thing I'm the first presenter. Hopefully I can sneak away after my spiel then go home for more shut-eye.

Thad is going to be my co-presenter, though I'm not quite sure I know what to do with him. I told him that he's just going to change my slides for me, but he really should be fielding questions during the Q&A with me. I know he's got some good ideas to share with the Cluster too. Hope I can convince him, or perhaps I shouldn't give him a choice? Heh, heh.

Edit 01:
Oh no! I just saw my updated presentation schedule. I've been bumped down right to the bottom. Last speaker. Boo!

Too many indulgences today. Too much junk food, too much staring at CRT and LCD screens all day, too much indolence and not actually getting anything constructive done. Wanted to prepare for my presentation on Tuesday, but couldn't get in the mood. No wonder I'm feeling sick right now. Think maybe I'll try sleep it off... at the next available opportunity.

The state of high drama in my household is over. Good thing neither I nor June are OTT performers, but as a result no one's going to make a movie of our lives. I guess we're not very entertaining to an audience.

Spent the morning at Border's with the current Drama Club advisors to plan possible storylines for our next production. Mel was early so we had time for a muffin and coffee before Yee and Cara finally arrived. Note to self: Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf's Cafe Vanilla is awfully sweet. Must ask for less sugar next time.

Yee was hungry so we adjourned to the Dome Cafe where we brunched and yakked over potential story elements. We've sort of got a rough set of ideas of the things we want to see in the story, but there's a lot of fleshing out to do. Another old classic (well, perhaps not as ancient as the "Odyssey") is about to get redone by the NYeDC, so after Halloween let's get cracking!

As I already had breakfast with June before meeting Mel for "second breakfast," I only ordered a Warm Portobello Salad at the Dome. I've always been curious about what the huge, flat, curcular fungus tasted like. I discovered that after cooking they aren't that huge after all. But they pack a substantial bite and are nice and juicy too. I didn't care much for the pine nuts and the beetroot that was in the salad so Cara took them over for me. The flavour of pine reminds me too much of my aunt's toilet cleaner.

Turned down Weng's offer of an outdoor movie at Fort Canning: a double bill of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and "The Howling" in celebration of Halloween. Am having a quiet evening instead with wife, TV and pets.

June's back. It isn't quite the homecoming we both expected, though. I honestly thought that before she left we had ascertained that she wasn't expecting me to pick her up from the Airport on her return. So I didn't. Big mistake. Lost an opportunity to play the hero and go against expectations, and now I am a villain of Hussein proportions.

When this happens, the aggrieved party will do everything it can to remind the transgressor of the Great Sin at every opportunity. Conversations invariably find their way back to square one regardless of topic. When conversation inevitably dries up, there's always The Look, and strategy #46: talk aloud to the pets.

Why didn't I listen to Lynette who, being a woman, is qualified to understand female psychology and had advised me to go to the airport regardless? I complied instead with a "prearranged agreement," which apparently was nothing more than a figment of my imagination. Providence had provided me with one last chance to avoid the doghouse, but I still blew it anyway.

I have had almost a day to think over what had transpired between us and to ascertain my degree of wrongness. Legally speaking, as I did what was within the bounds of a verbal agreement (even if I was the only one who remembers it) I should not be held liable. However, if you asked me what I should have done out of love, then I have to admit that the loving thing to do was to have shown her that I couldn't wait for her to return and to have been there to greet her as soon as she strolled through customs with her luggage. A little self-sacrifice and inconvenience always goes a long way in making relationships work.

This is Fido, reporting 'live' from the doghouse. Woof...!

Stupid funny sized fonts in my previous entry. How do I fix 'em?

Anyway, got this Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire off Zhenlin's blog (Hi, Z, Halloween's coming!). Useful if you want to know what kind of learner you are and how to strategise your learning habits to match.

Stayed behind with the rest of the tutors taking year 1 classes next year for a sharing workshop on critical thinking and reasoning, an approach all subjects are supposed to be using to teach the college's 2005 batch. Doesn't sound like there's anything new to this idea, but perhaps today's course just showed that it can be formalized and structured such that it doesn't have to be an ad hoc, haphazard application but an actual discipline and technique for teaching.

Can't find an accurate link but here's a gist of what today's session hoped to convince us:

• "All subjects have a logic to them. Each is a system of meanings that enables us to reason effectively. Yet, most students try to learn not by reason, but by rote memorization. They blindly memorize someone else’s answers. Even when they do well on tests, it isn’t because they truly understand. True understanding requires disciplined reasoning.... Dr. Richard Paul focuses on how to break out of the didactic mode, [moving] into a new paradigm for instruction that explicitly fosters reasoned learning; learning that accesses the inner logic of all substantive inquiry. [Paul] offers a penetrating, in-depth look at ways to cultivate intellectually powerful minds... to help you put reason, accountability, and power back into teaching and learning."

(quoted from the blurb on Paul's How to Teach video series)

Actually, there's really nothing new in the content. We covered material that was basic common-sense thinking strategies that we use instinctively, although we, in our own time never actually sat through a course specific to such training. We sort of picked the skill up as we went as part of our maturing(?) process. Kids these days, I guess, are expected to grow up much faster. Still, such an approach could mean more interesting tutorials for both students and tutor, assuming both agree to play the same game. That, I think, is the hardest part.

The workshop went from 2-5pm. By then we were so bombed out we proceeded to Rosyth Road for prata, beef steak goreng (for me), and kopiccino ice, and some totally non-intellectual discussion. Next year's problems can take care of themselves next year.

Just a quick note to record for posterity that I made history today at the Grassroots Club. Bowled my personal worst pinfall: 76! Managed to salvage some pride in my 3rd and final game with 131. Vince, however, bowled his personal best: 188! *stands stunned, jaw hanging open, making little inarticulate noises, bbbbbb...

Check out what we were wearing today. Me in Phoenix red, Vince in Pegasus blue. Must be wearing the wrong colours, that's why the scores look inverted. *desperately clutches at last straws before drowning in quicksand.

My vacation is almost over. June comes home from BKK tomorrow. Guess that means no more late nights. Thank God. I could use the sleep.

Ironic that Creative and I-pod machines are increasing their storage capacities and a headline like this one "Home users face fines or jail for illegal downloads" pops up in the local papers today. Have to wonder, what is all that storage space going to be used for now? Why should people pay for something so expensive when they are going to be criminalized for the content they carry around in it?

Let's do some math. Creative's new Zen Micro at a modest 5Gb holds 2,500 songs at CD quality. If 1 CD contains about 12-14 songs, it should be able to hold about 208 CDs worth of music. At about $18 per CD, a Zen will cost about $3,750 to load up fully with legally purchased music. If we downloaded legally off Soundbuzz at $1.99 a song, that's even worse for our budget, an amount worth $4,975! Looking at the figures, most people (especially young people, "Mom, can I have $3,750 to buy music with, please?") will be priced out of the market.

Once, we used our music to "stick it to The Man," now The Man has gotten smart is looking for ways to stick it to us with His music instead. Folks, we gotta find a more equitable alternative -- forget technology; buy cheap, buy unlimited capacity: buy an FM radio. >sigh< Economics has set our society back by 20 years.

I'm looking at my DVD collection and just realised how much horror and violence I've acquired in their full digital majesty. Within arm's reach I could grab "Kill Bill" (both vols), "Van Helsing," "Blade II" and slightly further away a bunch of other schlocky horror flicks too. Such graphic detail. Screams, shots, singing steel, so lovingly detailed in a 3-D surround soundscape. Why else would we buy DVDs if not to experience all the special effects that go into an action-packed adventure? And then I wonder why I get nervous washing my hair in the shower. Go figure!

This collection must have grown out of the need to find an appealing and appropriate movie to screen on Halloween, and I have always insisted on DVD quality. Hmm... speaking of which, I wonder what we're doing to mark the season this year? I haven't heard that anyone has had any inspiration yet. Now, THAT's scary.

Oh, June bought me "School of Rock" too, and I haven't opened it yet! A musical comedy for a change. I guess that takes care of this evening!

And sidebar calendar's been updated, if that's of any use to you!