Attended a course on "Mental Skills Training (MST) for performance excellence" on campus today. Compulsory for all staff to attend. To appease us for calling us back on a Saturday morning, we got a pretty decent catered breakfast to start the day.

The trainer was one of a small handful of local sports psychologists working locally. He tried to tie his ability to overcome his horrible ('horrible' is relative) academic history with his current role as a trainer of our national athletes' minds, getting them to focus their mental energy on overcoming their performance obstacles.

His methods involve keeping logs and records for training performance, evaluating and correlating personal emotions and thought processes with personal targets hit or missed. We went through some simple exercises for relaxation, concentration and positive imagery, and listened through lots of personal anecdotes of his experience as a college athlete and as a mental skills coach employed by various local schools.

There seems to be a snag when we think about whether we perform to win (as in athletics) or to enjoy the experience (as in drama). To want to win means having a goal, a point of focus to drive and strive towards, which is fine for competitive sports; but for aesthetic experience it's harder to set a concrete goal to aim for. Is our goal to make as much profit as we can on our performance? Is it to get a good review from our critics (a major can of worms for any aesthetic activity)? Is it to get our students to build personal skills in the field and to enjoy the experience so much that they continue to develop those skills in later life?

For competitive sports it's simple: win/lose; gold/silver/bronze; Xth position in the rankings. How does one set such clear-cut goals for an aesthetic group? And yet we must at least set some standard, some mark to stretch ourselves to reach, else the performance is pointless. I suppose we ultimately have 2 very clear responsibilities: 1) to the audience who must enjoy the performance and 2) to ourselves for whom the show must go on.

To summarize things in my own words, performance excellence is about Passion and Professionalism. Passion is the fuel that drives one to perform at one's best because there is some intrinsic motivation for the performance, PEARLS be damned. Professionalism is both glue that binds a performance community together, and a lubricant allowing individual performers to relate well with each other within the community as well as to set and raise the performance bar for each stratum within the community.

Passion and Professionalism then. Perhaps we can set Drama Club goals around these 2 driving principles?

Dammit! Lost a post due to me pressing a wrong button on my keyboard. It closed my browser window before I could publish. Gaaaah! The scary thing is, I don't know which button I pressed! Will piece it together again tomorrow. Waaaaah!

Escaped from campus today to attend a course on the New Subject which will be introduced into the curriculum next year. It's a fascinating examination of how it is we know what we know, and how it is that we trust what we know to be the truth. Well, that's just a simplified version of what we expect our kids to grapple with, even as I am grappling with it in this blog. The subject really should be called, "quid est veritas?" because this little Latin phrase summarises its objectives quite succinctly.

No question, it is a difficult subject and certainly not for the fainthearted. It is for those with an undefeatable sense of adventure, a drive for discovery, and a passion to challenge the known for the sake of gaining greater understanding of the unknowable. This, of course, leads to a small problem: how to teach this subject in such a way that the students will develop their innate curiousity and turn it into a sharp, practical tool of inquiry as they strive to seek answers throughout the rest of their lives? This, no one can teach us pioneer teachers facilitators of this new subject. We will have to learn on-the-job even as the kids struggle to make headway exploring the human mindscape. Wonder how many intrepid explorers we have out there amongst the next year's batch of 16 year-olds? How many of my previous batch might have taken up this challenge if it was offered to them?

Being in town for this course meant being just a short distance from the original Killeny Road Kopi Tiam, the one that was closed for CNY a couple of weeks ago. Today, NBS and I got to try their nasi lemak which was generously spread over with sambal chilli. Very basic, no-frills and no add-on options either. The kaya toast is different from Ya Kun's in that Killeny Road uses thicker slices of bread, lightly toasted, with warmer, meltier butter and a subtler kaya spread. I don't know which kaya toast I like better. Given a choice, I'd prefer to let someone else make the decision and I'll just go with it.

It is now evident that my parallel parking is better than my reverse bay parking. No problems parking at Lloyd Road, though I forgot to display my parking coupons and had to run back before the URA auntie came along. Good thing I hadn't gone far before I realised my mistake. Also, coming into town into the ERP zones is very expensive. The $10 I had in my cashcard diminished suddenly to slightly more than a dollar just from entering the zone! How do people drive in on a daily basis? It must cost a fortune!

The quality of this blog seems to be deterorating. It's almost perfunctory, just another day-in-the-life kind of thing. Oh well, part of the writing discipline I suppose, to keep on pressing on while waiting for new inspiration to strike. Let's see...

I really like my current Arts tutorial group. Only 13 in the class and it doesn't take much to spark off a raucous discussion with them. They are so ready to jump into a topic and argue it amongst themselves. They have strong opinions (although individually they could be better informed) and I truly have kopi tiam sessions rather than "lessons" with them. Discussions quickly become shouting matches as they tumble over each other trying to make themselves heard. It's fun for me to just conduct/moderate/facilitate them, occasionally tossing new material in the form of a question or comment for them to tear into like a pack of ravenous wolves. A couple of the initially quieter ones are now starting to vocalize their thoughts as well, though 1 vocal chap has suddenly become disengaged and is becoming a bit of a diva in an attempt to seek some kind of attention. Perhaps I should find out a bit more about him and see if he needs special assistance or something. For a bunch of "Higher Chinese" kids, they seem to enjoy GP in a way that runs counter to what we usually observe. As one of them remarked this morning, a 90 minute session just flew by. Guess we must have been having fun.

For lunch we went to have Katong Laksa, and for a change I decided I didn't want to drive. Amy drove instead and she managed to squeeze into a rather tight though conveniently located parallel parking spot just in front of our eating place. Vince arrived as we were finishing our meal. Behind him came a large garbage truck that stopped parallel to Amy's Echo, and hence in front of us. Ugh. The garbage truck revved its engine loudly then a cloud of flatulence exploded from its exhaust port, showering the Echo with soot and ash. Part of the noxious cloud enveloped us too, and it was a good thing we had finished our meal by then, though Bhags wisely decided not to continue polishing off the dregs in her bowl after that. Bleargh!

Drama Club is moving forward with our Drama Night preparations. We have an updated script to work with, though a rough final script should be ready be Saturday. We should also have our casting done by then as well. Tina worked on a bit of choreography using office swivel chairs, and she was quite impressed with the set concept that Yee came up with. Backstage is hard at work on costume designing and the publicity machine is just starting up. It's going to be a breathless run up to opening curtain but we've left the start gate and we're off! From next week, 2 rehearsals a week. Then 3, then 4. Oh, my...

Proud of the Drama Club's J1s today. They had a performance during common lunch break, venue the Drum. It was the physical manfestation of a chatroom dialogue. Though there didn't seem to be much use of movement in the short play, the stillness seemed appropriate to the situation they were playing out. The performers included the 2 scriptwriters for this play. The text was based on an existing play, but 2 of our J1s rewrote the script in order to discuss issues that are more of concern to teenagers today: homosexuality, loneliness, eating disorders, self-mutilation... and worse.

It was fun to see the J1s in action, especially since I have been too busy to help them. They were on their own throughout the run of this production and I must say, they pulled it off quite splendidly regardless. The title of the play was "No Easy Answers," and like the title goes, many of the issues were left open-ended at the end of the play. Looks like we've got a good set of J1 who are committed, independent, interested players. Hope they stay after first term.

Went with bro-in-law's recommendation and went with a full bi-monthly car grooming service. Eddie's set up is a tentage within the Orchid Country Club's driving range parking lot. He's a friendly enough chap who knows his cars and takes great pride in making the cars that come under his care gleam like new. All the cleaning is by hand, not machine. For taking up the package deal, my first polish included a sealant treatment to protect the M2's body from minor scratches and other damage from tiny flying objects, like the gravel in the campus parking lot for e.g. Service was quite rapid. I drove in at 1600 and the M2 was ready to drive out at 1900. He takes cash ONLY so credit-card dependents please take note.

If this seems like incoherent rubbish, it's because I'm half-asleep writing this.

Driving is fun, but it creates its own set of stresses. Constantly moderating speed, judging distances, obtaining situational awareness, making decisions based thereupon raises the heart-rate quite palpably, yet it's the kind of adrenaline rush that gives a thrill rather than reduces one to a trembling wreck of nerves. It's a new state of mind I am learning to ease into and I hope to "become one with" without incident.

I'm now practicing as much as I can on the road. Drove out to SAFRA after classes with Anthony, Amy and Vince for a round of bowling. I had an excellent first game with a number of spares and a turkey (my first in who knows how long) then about the 9th frame I broke a nail [bimbo!] on my middle finger and I blew my last frame for a score of 168. Our second game was total crap. Vince left, and Anthony and I struggled to reach 100. Bad 2nd game! Only Amy was happy because she surpassed her own expectations by scoring 84.

Drove out to dinner for once! I picked up my parents and took them to Chomp Chomp for stingray. On a weekday the crowds aren't too severe. We found a table pretty easily, right in front of Lucy's, and the food arrived quite promptly. Prices of the dishes were ok, except for the sugar-cane juice. At the market, the same size mug costs only $1. Here, for 3 mugs I gave the guy $5, expecting change. He said I still owed him $1! Ouch.

Parents are happy. They haven't had a car for years and it's not so fun and not so personal to call a cab everytime they want to go out. Now at least they have a new option, as long as I can spare the time.

Does anyone know where there are dog-friendly eating places? We've promised Q-tip rides but for the moment we're still scouting around for places where she will be welcome.

There was an Alien/Aliens double bill on Star Movies last night which ended past 1am. Hence this late post.

Finally collected my M2 from the showroom! And for the first time, I'm a driver not a passenger! Long may it be so.

We went through a once-over look at the body to ensure it was free of scratches or dents. Chew showed me the operations of the electronics and how to open the trunk and hood. He showed me the different components that sat so neatly in the engine compartment, handed me the rest of my documentation including the Certificate of Insurance and the car's manual and servicing record, and we drove off to the nearest Esso station where I applied for a Smiles privilege card. Chew was nice enough to buy me my first full tank of petrol even. We dropped him off at the showroom and we set off on the car's maiden road-trip.

From Macpherson we headed east looking for Changi Village which we found with ease thanks to a general working sense of direction and then by following the roadsigns pointing us in the right direction. Ipoh Hor Fun for lunch, one of the specialties at the hawker centre there (it comes highly recommended by both Channels U and I) and it didn't disappoint. Lots of ingredients went into the dish: chicken shreds, mushrooms, green vegetables, a deep-fried wonton, all swimming in dark gravy. Here we aslo found a drink stall that sold pineapple juice with bits of pineapple in each glass. We thought this drink had gone extinct years ago! It tasted like it had too much ice in the glass, which was probably true, but it had a delightful pineapple aftertaste. The pineapple bits were sweet and fun to chew. Nice.

Drove home to rest then drove out again to mom's for dinner. They were surprised (pleasantly, I hope) at my new purchase. There were lots of questions, of course, and when my sister arrived, there were more. Brother-in-law, Irwin, gave me a contact for a car polishing service at the Orchid Country Club that he and his colleagues like to go to. I'll check it out tomorrow to give my car it's protective first layer of polish.

My driving report so far:
Parking -- sucks. More (much more) practice needed, both parallel and reverse.
Street driving -- not bad. Keep it easy and everything will be fine.
Highway driving -- generally ok, could be more confident in time.
Changing lanes -- be bloody well more careful!!! A couple of close calls with larger vehicles in 2 separate incidents. Accelerate when merging into faster lanes, clear rear vehicle completely before switching lanes. Practice!!!

Looking forward to driving to college tomorrow. As I told my sister, I can no longer afford cabbing it any longer. ;)

Ok. Yesterday's post sounded a bit more serious than I intended. I got stuck on a thread and couldn't see a way out until the end. What I did intend to say was that my still nameless M2 was formally registered yesterday and Chew faxed me the log card so I could make arrangements for season parking at my HDB branch today. The log card will soon be obsolete because of the new e-system the Registrar will be implementing in a few month's time but until then I still have hard copy evidence that I own my own set of wheels.

The other thing I wanted to say yesterday was that Flirt's nameless kitten with a limp was X-rayed and was pronounced healthy with no broken bones. We can be thankful for that. But his wrist joint looks either dislocated or has a serious ligament injury and we'll need to take care of him personally for another few weeks while he recovers. Looks like Belle and Momo are used to having transients stay with us now. They're no longer sulking lumps but are going about their normal lives even though there's one more cat sharing their food and their facilities. Meantine, he misses his mom and cries a lot for attention. He loves being stroked and that calms him down somewhat but left on his own... he's just manja, that's all.

This morning we went to our HDB Area Office to apply for season parking. I brought the faxed copy of the log card and used my driving licence (we haven't collected my ID from Chew yet) as identification with counter staff. It was all very efficient. While she filled out my details on her PC I filled in the GIRO form for subsequent payments. With GIRO there's no need to worry about using overnight parking coupons to park in season parking lots any more. Season parking applies immediately the day you pay. 2 month's payment in cash or NETS to cover the processing time before GIRO kicks in.

The regular parking coupons in $0.50 and $1 denominations we got from 7-11 along with a cash card for ERP and for use in cash card parking lots downtown.

The great tragedy is, my M2 is waiting for me at the warehouse today, but I can't go collect him because I'm just too busy with Parents' Day. So Chew will drive him back to Mazda Motor from the warehouse so I can just pop by the showroom tomorrow to get him. 1 day more...

Part 2 of the J1s' Experiential Learning took place today. The tour groups had the whole of today to complete their assignments based on their experiences at Escape Theme Park yesterday. Of course, students being what they are, they didn't impress us much with the way they handled their own time. On a day without a structured timetable so that the students could complete their tasks unsupervised (it was an interdependent learning exercise after all), there were a few who just couldn't take their tasks seriously enough and decided to manage their time doing their own thing as they tried to leave campus before dismissal at noon. These few caused the whole J1 cohort to report back at the Hall for a round of attendance taking a half hour before they were officially allowed to leave.

We staff are constantly torn between freeing up the students to be responsible unto themselves, yet being forced to take 'corrective measures' when students (even if just a few) do stupid things to erode our trust in them.

This sort of thing happens less often when one leaves school to work for a living. The consequences are much greater to bear, for one thing. A reprimand, let alone a dismissal from a job has serious repercussions on a working person's prospects for the future.

For the student, what's the worst that could happen? A scolding? Demerit points? CWO? Easily laughed off, and these days if anything happens to a student in school, the parents step in to shelter the offender and will try all ways and means to shift the blame elsewhere, particularly back to the school itself.

Question: will a working person's parents do the same thing if their child got fired from his or her job? Would Miss X's mom take Starbucks to task if the organization had punished Miss X for a work-related misdemeanor? This scenario is highly unlikely, yet it happens in school. No wonder students don't see much further beyond the end of their noses. They live in a parent-sheltered non-reality. No responsibilities, no consequences, they don't even take themselves seriously.

This is not to say that the majority of our students are like that, but it's true that a few bad apples spoil the barrel. Because of a selfish few, the majority, who are responsible if fun-loving, cannot live in the freedom that they deserve. We're always coming down hardest on the good students because they happen to be diligent enough to be present whenever there's a shelling to be delivered.

I wonder if up to this level of education, parents are more a hindrance to their children's education than they are a help. At this level, we staff need a freer hand to hire and fire students, just as corporate employers are free to deal with unproductive employees. After all, employees or students, at this level they are of the same age and should be treated as such. That way, we will have students in our schools who really want to be there, who have studied their contracts carefully and know what is expected of them and will live up to their expectations in order to receive the benefits that they expect in return.

There must be a clear point at which parents know when they cannot interfere in the lives of their children any longer, and I propose that that point should be, for convenience sake, by the time the kids have taken their 'O' Levels. At JC level, 17-18 year-olds do not need their parents to shelter them any longer and by the same token shouldn't need their parents to tell them what to do either. It was like this 20-30 years ago. To have the situation as it is now is regression, not progress.

Why am I obsessing about this topic today? Because tomorrow is the J1s' Parents' Day. What message are we sending, I wonder?

Whee! Today all the J1 students and tutors dumped all formal tutorials and went to Escape Theme Park for a day of activities in the open air and bright sunshine. Formal clothing went out the window, only that the students had to be in their orientation Ts for easy identification.

All the students had already formed their tour groups from within their GP tutorials and were tasked with a number of different small assignments set by our different departments while entertaining themselves on the rides. As far as I could tell, the interest was more on the rides than on the assignment book, but who could blame them? Anyway, apart from a few tasks they had to manage on site (like measuring pulse-rate before and after a ride) there will still be time for them to complete their tasks this weekend.

The activity I planned for the students was nothing more than the stipulation that they tour the park in a set group of 4-5 members. Group integrity to be kept at all times. To facilitate the relationships amongst the group members, I assigned a specific role to each. There was a Motivator, a Cheerleader, a Resource Manager and an Arbitrator; and in case there was an additional member or two in the group, they could double roles. During GP next week, the groups will assess their success in maintaining cohesion, and correlate their success (or failure) with how well the group members played out their duties in their assigned roles.

Now, this simple activity was designed with Total Defence Day in mind; I still am NE i/c after all. Q: how does this activity relate to Total Defence? Drop me a note if you think you have an answer and see if you're right!

I landed the role of PA announcer as my duty for the day. So I burned 6 CDs full of randomized assorted music and tried my hand at being a radio DJ, spinning discs and making announcements, or rather vocal inturruptions, at every half-hour interval. At first I was all fired up and speaking with FD's smoothness, then as I realised that I could only be heard within the space of the Central Pavillion and not much further beyond, my enthusiasm took a bit of a hit. By 1130 I had run out of things to say and I guess my alternative career at 'Station SKPD*' died a natural death. Beyond that I was making inane comments and not long after my job was just to pursuade people to go home.

Never seen anything like it before. Usually our problem would have been how to keep the students entertained within the premises until dismissal time. Today, noone wanted to leave. We had to beg and cajole the students to make their way to the exits as the park had to close for the day. First I tried to be subtle by announcing the last song to be played at my station. The I stopped the music completely, kept my CDs and physically left my station. As noone got the hint, I had to grab a loudhailer and along with other staff we went from ride to ride "granting permission" for them to go home.

Picked up another kitten after dinner. This ash-coloured furball is one of Flirt's babies and the Cat Rescue Squad brought him home, bathed him and will take him to the vet tomorrow to have his front paw looked at and treated. Poor thing's limping so badly. Needs attention ASAP.

*Station SKPD was derived from the title of today's activity, 'Escapade,' which was in turn coined by both me and Agnes. 'Escapade' was a joke acronym we made up and it stood for, ahem, Experiential Scholastic Collaboration Alternative Plan And Developmental Exposure, which actually means nonsense. But we liked 'Escapade,' so we kept the title.

A lo hei with the Drama Club involving both J1s and J2s. Mel went out to Sushi Tei to bring the lo hei back to our rehearsal room. It was very fresh (it was made fresh on the premises upon ordering) and we very quickly polished it off. It was funny to hear her pronounce general blessings in Mandarin on the club and our members. She's become quite the mother for the kids and I think they love her for it.

Just before our ceremony, I drove solo in the Echo and had the worst possible time parallel parking in a lot near Brown Box where I met the guys for lunch. It didn't help that the lot was just outside the betting shop and the people waiting in line got quite a show of the car see-sawing in and out of the lot and eventually giving up, leaving a very badly parked car behind me. At least the road was clear enough to still allow traffic through.

I parked right in front of Vince, so he anxiously came out of the cafe to guide me in. Just as I left the car, the Merc in front of me decided then to leave its lot giving me ample space to maneuvre. I wasn't interested. Insult to injury, huh!

The Chef's Salad at Brown Box is nice! Fresh garden veg with slices of not-overcooked hard-boiled eggs and bits of ham. Mmm... No time for a bigger meal, but the salad held me satisfactorily the rest of the afternoon.

Mazda's Chew called to inform me that my car's just about ready for registration. He'll collect my ID card tomorrow, complete the registration on Friday and I should have my wheels by Sunday or Monday. Awesome! Meantime, I'm practicing parallel parking like crazy now. Simulated, of course. If you want to practice with me, just click here!

"Friendship Day" futsal tournament including 2 staff teams playing. In the staff face-off the winning team automatically qualifies for a semi-final match against a student team. Us old men, Vince, Anthony, me, Gerald and 2 surprise guest players, Hd Arts and Richard joined us against a younger, fitter Arts/Math/PE team led by the experience of Hd PE, soccer i/c and our current DM. Hmm... well, maybe their team only was 50% younger than ours. Ha ha.

We played in the blazing hot mid afternoon sun in the netball court, our goalposts improvised from 2 netball net poles placed at each end of the court. The match only lasted a total of 15 minutes, but really that was all we could take of running around like mad in the heat.

Our 2 teams were interestingly matched. They ran faster for longer distances, we tended to be more adventurous and creative with our probing of their goal. We created more chances at goal with more spectacular strikes, they played a passing game with fewer attempts at our goal. Unfortunately for us, they managed to convert 1 good strike whereas we were lacking that element of luck that could perhaps have made a difference.

Our best chances came from a chested volley from me that went just wide of goal, and a full-blooded volley from Anthony that splintered the crossbar without breaking it. If we were on camera we would have seen multiple replays of our shots from different angles in slow motion. Our downfall was our fitness. On a swift counterattack, we were too winded to sprint back in time to defend our goal and Gerald was left alone for a moment with Chee Peng (I think it was), who scored.

We adjourned to Gardens to rue our chances and drown our sorrow in so many large mugs of sugar cane juice that we made the Auntie a very happy woman. Anthony, of course, ran his own replays of his chances repeatedly and vowed vengeance if we ever met up again. Perhaps if we ask Amy nicely she'll set up another match for us?

Training. Fitness. Once we can run again, our team'll be unstoppable. You'll see. Oh, wait... wasn't this supposed to be for 'Friendship Day?'

Pix uploaded purely for bragging rights. No trophy yet, but working on it! The red text says the score must be verified by TNT before I can be awarded my NP. :)

It's V-day but there's not much to say about it. I'm proud, I guess, that my CT kids have been able to sell out all merchandise from their gift booth, and the proceeds have gone into purchasing more stocks to be sold over the next couple of days. Enterprising lot, they are.

And as far as gifts are concerned, I am officially the Giver of the Worst Gifts Lifetime Achievement Award Winner. Whenever I go shopping for a seasonal gift I don't want to appear like I'm purposely shopping for an item specific to the occasion. I prefer to shop for utility items rather than sentimental types because I would rather not enter a store looking like the turnip that just fell off a turnip truck, even though that's what I actually am. Fine. Totally unromantic, though I did promise in an earlier entry that I would try harder.

Perhaps it's time to stop being an out-of-the-box thinker and stick to conventional gifts instead. Flowers, candy, CD full of romantic songs (even though I'm currently boycotting commercial music because the industry has criminalized file-sharing). Safer options and stocks are plentiful so, why not?

What DID I get for June, you're probably asking right now. Don't bother asking, suffice to say it was rather ill-conceived, involved more effort to obtain than was necessary (I realize now), it didn't work like I thought hoped it would, and I'm too embarrassed to think about it any further. No, it's not contraceptive in nature, in case you're wondering, though I suppose it has become that now.

Maybe if you ask nicely, June will tell you what it was herself... It made sense to me at the time, that's all I'm saying.

Mostly confined to the neighbourhood again. This is probably one of the last few weekends that this is going to happen, so I'll just consider today a day of rest. June's finishing off a stack of Cantonese serial VCDs, a story involving lawyers, but I don't know anything more about it. I tried watching an episode, but couldn't understand the dialogue and eventually gave up. Pity, because June's really enjoying it.

Spent most of my time involved in heavy neopetting instead. Won another trophy, this time for Cellblock which is incredibly easy to beat once you've mastered the sequence by which you place your game pieces. And completed another mission for Defenders of Neopia (take that, Cave Chia!). The Neopets Total Defence (huh?) game is also up and running. The game is based on something Singaporean kids are good at and well-practiced in: comprehension. Just think of it as a cheap way to earn 1500 NP or so per day while it lasts.

I got my hair cut at my neighbourhood barber. Big Malay guy, big hair. He must be good because from the morning right till the afternoon when I decided it was time for my hair to go he was cutting hair non-stop. Customers were just filing into the barber shop in a never-ending stream. Poor guy was alone, his 2 able assistants/partners/employees were nowhere in sight, off on a CNY break, no doubt.

This guy understands what to do with my head -- got my hair cut very close again without making my head look too spherical, and I like it. No wonder he was still working right into the early evening when we were on our way to Mom's for dinner. Sad thing is, there is a new barber shop that just opened in the opposite block of shophouses, and no customers. The 3 barbers just sat around their shop smoking and reading the papers and not a head to groom.

Mom likes her new DVD player. My bro will be pouring over the manual tonight, so I think he'll be ready to give her lessons on its useage pretty soon. Left her with a couple of DVDs, Lilo and Stitch and the old classic, The Wizard of Oz, just so she can experiment with them until she gets the hang of the player's operations. She should have fun.

Can you believe it? My second time eating dim sum at the same restaurant with the same people in less than a week! It's M-i-L's birthday and we went back to Kia Hiang Gourmet for lunch to celebrate. No, I'm not really complaining, after all the food's good. The additional Peking Duck dish was a delish, though unhealthy, bonus. Sweet roast duck skin wrapped in a pancake skin with a sprig of spring onion (?) dipped in plum sauce. Only June could refuse this treat, adverse as she is to eating animal skins.

We also bought a durian cake from Angie's Choice. The cake was quickly devoured by the 8 of us around the table, and we gave a wedge to the friendly restaurant captain who paid our table so much attention. M-i-L blew out the single candle to mark the passing of another year.

Candles on cakes were once probably a test of a person's health as he or she aged. As long as the celebrant could blow out an increasing number of candles in one breath the person was still ok. Cutting the cake is probably the modern humane equivalent of making a thanksgiving animal sacrifice. Not a good idea to slaughter the pig on the dinner table these days. The guests will get their nice party clothes all messy and the floor will get all slippery, so a pretty confectionery would have to suffice. Easier to stick candles in it too.

M-i-L's birthday is within days of Mom's birthday. This year my sibs and I will be pooling resources to get her a much needed DVD player. They've really come down in price these days. I got a Sony one from Causeway Point for $159, a bargain considering my bro was thinking of a similar machine at closer to $200.

Now, I think a DVD movie would go well with Mom's new player. Hmm... wonder which movie would appeal to her and at the same time show what the new player is capable of...?

Someone was in a pink blouse in the staff room this morning. I thought I saw that blouse before and it wasn't on the person whom I remember was wearing it. One day last week Amy wore a surprising splash of colour compared to her usual modestly muted tones. It was a rather smart executive-style pink which made her look, um... happy. Today, however, Amy was flabbergasted that someone else was wearing the exact same blouse, someone who had earlier asked her where she got it from. I'm not certain of fashion etiquette amongst women, but it seems it isn't done that they buy and wear the same clothes as each other. Party in question: Mel. Good thing they didn't wear the same thing on the same day, else they just might have gone door-to-door hawking Avon products.

There was a lo hei session in the staff lounge. Interesting. Platters piled high with shredded lettuce, carrots, radish; bits of ginger, candied citron peel, crunchy things; pickled cucumbers; fresh pomelo with all the toppings and sauces. There was an ingredient conspicuously absent from the dish though -- fish. Apparently it's against regulations to serve raw food on campus in case people got the runs and sued the college, or worse, the Ministry. So we had a healthy lo salad instead, and to be honest, noone really missed the fish.

Spent the evening obsessing yet again over my yet-to-arrive M2. Found the official Japanese website for the M2, known in Japan as the "Demio." Apart from the regular versions, the Japanese have a Sports version and an ultra-feminine "Stardust Pink" version. The Demio also comes with a funky optional sun-roof which is not on our list of approved accessories here. Trust the Japanese to keep the fun stuff to themselves. Sigh.

Family lunch with the Wongs at Kia Hiang Gourmet, the Chinese restaurant in Sun Plaza. It's our annual family dim sum event with a marathon cheong fun eating session thrown in. I remembered how I was done in last year with deep-fried delicacies so I focused on the steamed stuff this year. The dishes were fresh and tasted quite refined. Unfortunately, my days of eating dim sum in quantity are quite over. I missed the crappy coffee-shop style chilli sauce that goes so well with har gow/siew mai; the chilli served here was too high class for my taste.

Wongs went on their second day of visitations while me and June stayed behind to catch Constantine. We had more than an hour to wait till showtime, so we wandered around the few open stores in the building to kill time. Eventually, we got bored of looking at toileteries and dollar-discount items. We were still too full for a coffee so we simply settled on a bench and watched a bunch of little kids abusing a coin-operated ride machine. Typical of kids -- play until cry. Kids are so predictable.

Constantine isn't a fun movie to watch per se. It's slow, methodical pace develops quite an interesting story taking licence from the Catholic mythos, but don't expect too much gleeful shoot-'em-up action. There is some, but it's not by gun nor by fist that Constantine saves the day, but rather by an appeal to a higher authority to resolve the situation; not the common approach for the run-of-the-mill action hero, but then Constantine is no ordinary hero. He smokes a lot and has terminal lung cancer as a result. His motivation comes from a selfish desire to "buy" his way into heaven, knowing that his ultimate destination is going to be The Other Place due to a mistake he made in his early life. A hero from the dark side, then.

Warning: the movie takes licence with the fundamentals of Christian belief, so if you are easily offended or confused this movie might not be for you. Else, be prepared for the kind of gritty storytelling from DC's adult line of comic books with its greater focus on human drama and experience than superhuman >pow< >biff< >bang<. In a way, it makes for meatier storytelling, but rates low on the fun index. Choice is yours.

The day passed without a lot of input from me. Just coasted over to the in-laws for a bit of lunch and gobble whatever I could of June's cookies while they were still obtainable. Watched Kung Fu Hustle on VCD. Sadly, it wasn't as funny as its trailer promised. We didn't bring Mimi back as she's still under 'treatment' at our place, but it felt strange being at my in-laws' and not having her around begging for tidbits and tummy-rubs.

When we got home in the mid-afternoon, we put phase 2 of Mimi's treatment in action. We took both Mimi and Q-tip for a long walk around Yishun Park. The park was quite deserted today so we took them off their leashes and let them just follow us as we trekked the jungle pathways. Idea was to tire Mimi out in the afternoon so that she would be able to sleep at night. There was an unexpected side effect, however. Both June and I were wiped out on the living room carpet in front of the TV for the rest of the afternoon. Went to my mom's a little late as a result.

Had lots of satay at mom's. Don't know where she got them from, but the sticks of beef and chicken were good and meaty; eaten with piles of onions, cucumbers and ketupat. And more of June's cookies. Over-ordered, as usual, and when we left there was still a number of sticks of satay left that we couldn't finish. OK, not exactly a traditional Chinese meal for CNY, but few stores are open today.

CNY: eat, sleep, give hongbao to younger cousins, nephews and nieces. And parents too. It's a whole different perspective after you're married.

Chinese New Year concert on campus probably isn't going to be as memorable as the breakfast after. 3 cars, 6 people running out to town for kaya toast at the original Killeny Road place. Unfortunately it was closed for the holiday. Decided to go to the nearby Dubliners instead.

Party comprised me & Boon Sin in Anthony's car, Tsui Wei in Vince's and Amy doing a self-drive. I was starving as I hadn't eaten in the morning, and presumably the others were too. Sadly, I had to forego the pork shoulder because reunion lunch with June's folks was in only a couple of hours. I contented myself with the fish fingers in chilli mayo, one of the lighter offerings on the menu.

Immediately after brekkie I scooted off for lunch. From my in-laws' place I picked up an unexpected bonus: Mimi, who has come to stay with us for another couple of days. It seems she has insomnia and as a result has been keeping the household awake at night with her barking for constant attention in the wee hours. We've been tasked with the job of training her back into her regular sleeping hours that are more acceptable to human habits, so we're hoping that our cats will keep her awake and occupied the whole day then she'll be properly tired at night and sleep like the rest of us. Once she's no longer insomniac we can return her to her proper habitat.

Abandoned all our animals to go to reunion dinner with my clan. The Peony Jade seems like a good place for reunion dinner -- especially during the second shift -- as the pacing is quite relaxed and the staff maintain their friendly demeanour throughout the 10-course meal, though they must be anxious themselves to go home to their own families. Food is pretty standard stuff. It was their ecologically unfriendly sharks fin soup that stands out for me as the most delicious dish of the evening. The bits floating around in the soup were chunky and gave the teeth something to do.

Nephew, Mark, had a reaction to the MSG, complaining of chest pains and facial numbness. His family took him to the hospital though, as we had predicted, his symptoms subsided while waiting to see the doctor. We guessed that Mark had been raised on healthy food since young and hasn't built much resistance against the introduction of unhealthy substances into his system. Unlike the rest of us.

We all adjourned to Mom's after dinner for loud conversation and June's cookies. Family chat till past midnight dosing on sugars and caffeine. Time for bed now... Happy New Year!

The world isn't a nice place; that's what one of my kids learned today. Leave your stuff lying about for long enough, when you come back something's going to be missing from it if you haven't taken proper precautions. Whoever it was who made my girl cry, I hope you have a dying mother for whom you bought medicine with your "takings." Poor kid's probably never going to be the same innocent from today, and what a loss that's going to be for the world.

Crime occurs because there is intent which follows through from opportunity. Intent cannot be prevented because that's trying to assert control over realms that we have no control over. What we do is control what we can control and that is, as far as possible, to reduce the opportunity. With half the equation gone, crime is unlikely to happen.

"Reducing the opportunity" simply means being responsible for what you have or what you are entrusted with. Don't leave stuff unattended. If for some reason you can't look after your own stuff for a while, get someone you trust to help you look after it while you're gone. In an ideal world, we needn't have to be this paranoid, but we do live in a nasty world so it's wiser to be careful than be sorry.

On another note, Mel, Pete and me finally sat down for a meal together. Scotts Picnic where we all had different versions of beef noodles. Wholesomely delicious, with rare broiled beef strips and beefballs in thick gravy and clear soup on the side.

Before that, we went to visit Tina first to sort out where we all were for Drama Night and what needed to be done from this point on. With Mel as den-mother, Pete as music director, Tina as drama coach, what's left for me is admin, finance and backstage (with Yee's help, of course). That means I really am Producer, a role I've never had to play before. It's going to be a stretch, especially since I'm removing myself a step away from the stage and handling overall management (I'm the Man now) but I can do it. I'm scared, but I've done various aspects of these duties before. I just need to pull them all together for this one performance, that's all. *Crosses fingers*