2 day's worth of updates in 1 entry. Go!

Yesterday's rehearsal saw a bunch of special guests from The Odyssey cast dropping in to see how their juniors were doing in this year's production. Apparently, all came in without anyone making plans with anyone else to coordinate the visit. Nice to see them so supportive and encouraging to our current cast and crew.

Mel and I, with HT (thanks for the Black Forest cake!), 'sif, Sam, and Gid (who joined us later) and Cara gathered after rehearsal at Pastamania, J8, for dinner and a rousing good time. Vince, Amy and JY expanded our company later in the evening, so we had a strange mix of student alumni, staff alumni, 1 current student (Ben), and current staff. Given a little more time, I'm pretty sure we'd have been on first name basis with each other, and why not? Who cares for our formal titles, "Mr...," "Ms...," whatever, anyway?

June joined us after dinner when we staff abandoned our current and former students and, once the parking payment machines were working again, drove out to Tg Pagar where Anthony had got us a table at the Eskibar. He's been talking so much about it the past couple of weeks we had to experience it for ourselves. It's a bar with a gimmick that it's name suggests: air-conditioned to a temperature approximating a mild temperate winter. So cold you can borrow a parka from the bar so you can hear the techno beat instead of your chattering teeth.

Unfortunately for us, we chose to go on a Friday evening of a long weekend. It was so crowded, and the main door kept swinging open to allow a steady procession of patrons in and out, thus dissipating the chill into the muggy atmosphere of the outside world. Cheapskates that we are, June and I slipped outside to a coffee shop a couple of doors down for a can of coke ($1.20) then went back into the Eskibar just to cool off and yak with the guys some more.

Eventually, traffic thinned out enough for us to grab all the available stools at the bar to cluster around our table so that everyone could have a seat. But just when it was starting to get a little chilly, it was late and we decided to head on home and catch some rest before Parents' Day II this morning.

... Woke up early on a Saturday morning for the second Parents' Day of three this year. Yes, there will be another after the mid-year exam. Today, the heat was on the P, and her retinue of HODs as they fielded a Q&A session with concerned parents over the plight of their offspring in our college.

Parents as a whole can never agree whether their kids are too stressed out or not worked hard enough, so there the senior staff are in the spotlight assuring parents that we have programmes in place to cater to academic rigour, personal development, career guidance, confidence building, leadership training, ad infinitum so that boy-boy or ger-ger won't lose out to their peers in the "Top-Five." HODs take a lot of flak from parents, and I'm glad I wasn't up there on stage today giving those answers to those questions.

After all the parents, their kids and the rest of the staff left, I remained behind with a small crew of our backstage hands to meet with Yee and Wan Wen for some training on rigging and focusing of stage lighting and to get the stage ready for our big bump-in on Tuesday.

Right. Long weekend ahead. Brought back a bunch of PW preliminary submissions to peruse and comment on in case I get bored.

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Hope Tina will like the modifications I made with our Scarecrow's movements in "Oz." Until today, JT's been playing a very grotesque scarecrow, and for a long while I've been puzzling over what was wrong with the shape she was delivering. Then I realized what it was: JT's Scarecrow looked like she was making an effort to sag, droop and be weak-kneed.

The problem, if we employ real-world physics, is that a stuffed humanoid caricature is naturally floppy, so there is no need to purposely make it look like it was going to fall over any second. Instead, where the effort should go is not downwards but upwards. The scarecrow should be fighting gravity all the time, should be the tallest and straightest character on stage during movement, and only at rest does the Scarecrow sag, just a little.

Now that I've thoroughly messed with JT's brains, she's now got to practice a completely different posture for her Scarecrow. A different motivation for her movement. Hope it will look more "correct" by next rehearsal. Tomorrow.

Shah came in to polish the opening dance number and worked the cast line-by-line with each dance movement. A painstaking workout for them but collectively they do look a little sharper now. Ended rehearsal early as today was supposed to be a rest day for the cast.

As it was early, I managed to have another bowling session with Vince and Amy at the CSC. Good decision! My average came up to 155 in a 5-game series. I hit a personal high of 184, and if I had converted that darned split on the 9th frame I could have surpassed 200 in that game. Where were these scores when I needed them during the tournament? Hope I can sustain this form in the next session.

Here I am right now, having already showered (in cold water 'cos the water heater's on strike), biting into a Wall's Magnum and for the first time in a long while feeling relaxed. It's only just past 2200 and there's the promise that if I really wanted, I could get an early night's sleep tonight. It's a temporary respite, I know, but it's a feeling that you get when a whole bunch of things you've been stressing over are indeed over and, though not exactly perfectly accomplished, the world didn't get destroyed by your incompetence.

72 kids went on tour to P Tekong; a little short of the 120 I was supposed to bring down. Make that a whole busload short, but people adapt to changing situations. NY short? SR short? So combine both groups to make the optimal number. No-fuss practicality at work and everyone's still happy.

The tour's pretty much standard from the last time I blogged about it last October, was it? The only difference, or rather, development is that the recruits' physical fitness tests are now conducted and scores recorded automatically by computer. Saves time, saves human resource, and the atmosphere is very much like a games arcade rather than a sweaty gym.

This time I managed to actually put some of the soldiers' combat rations in my mouth. I accepted a package of "corn and mixed beans dessert" which came chilled in a catering container. It was wet, sweet and cool, just the refresher I needed since it was a blazing hot day and none of us had time for any lunch before the tour began. Then I took a bite of some rice-based thing that came in a different green package. The instructor briefing us earlier had spoken true: "combat rations are not meant to suit your tastebuds..." You'd probably enjoy the stuff only if you were really hungry. Good thing they include Maggi mee, biscuits and fruit bars in the 24-hr pack as well. A guy's gotta have something to eat.

Aileen did manage to clear her schedule so I sent her to supervise the other of the 2 buses that left campus this afternoon. She's been such a great help, and she's not even considered a fully trained ed offr yet. She'll be leaving us to complete her training during the term break and I'm going to be so shorthanded then. I will miss her, though maybe since I have 40 NE reps from amongst the JC1s I can exploit employ them to my heart's content.

Returned to campus as scheduled and dropped by rehearsal again. The actors are off-script now and though still fluffing lines here and there, it is an indication of progress. The whole 3-piece band came together for the first time during this rehearsal and they're playing nicely with each other. Keyboard, sax, percussion... mmm. Lots of scenes and transitions to polish up, tighten up and energize, but at least now we have something to work with where once there was just a rough idea. Lighting designer came down today as well, so all the pieces are falling into place.

So tonight, I shall relax.

So darned tired last night. Today not much different. Military chief-of-staff paid the college a visit to answer whatever questions the JC2 kids might have. One of these questions showed the kid's faulty interpretation of our national pledge, a quibbling point around the word, "regardless..." which he took to mean, "despite..." But thankfully, the visit went well, generally speaking, and it's one more headache over.

Again, without Aileen's and Cikgu's help I might have fallen apart sometime this morning trying to coordinate all the small, unnoticed things that a visit such as this entails. Print attendance sheets, drape speaker's table, drinks, gifts, distribute attendance sheets, distribute feedback forms, arrange for an impromptu photo shoot; and collect attendance sheets and feedback forms after the dialogue session is over. Ok, listed like this it doesn't sound all that much, but still...

Tomorrow the JC2s are visiting the army boot camp on Tekong. A total of 120 invitations were sent out to our JC2s though I could only round up nearly 80 kids to go. Odd because last year there were so many respondents, I almost had to throw people off my buses. Learning point: don't plan for any major events to take place in the April-May period. Too many activities already happening including sports competitions, the SYF and other in-house matters. Kids and tutors are stretched so thin I was also having trouble rounding up a fellow tutor to help accompany the kids, 1 tutor per bus full of little monkeys. Once again, I'm counting on Aileen's help here. Hope she can get out of whatever she's involved with so that it's not just me with 80. I'd really go crazy then.

The bowling club announced the date for the annual college bowling challenge: 4 May. Great. The date of our tech and dress rehearsal for Drama Night. Don't think I can compete this year then. Wonder which Pegasii Anthony will have to partner? Boo hoo.

Oh, and the latest standings for the ministry's league are out. If you must, click the sidebar link to see how the Gutter Boys are doing.

Edit 01:
Hmm... I seem to have lost my comment service. I'll give it another day, then I switch over to Haloscan or something. How annoying.

The Oz banner! 'nuff said... g'nite! 

Brought pizza for NYeDC kids who were busy making a huge banner advertising Drama Night. Yee's design: 7 long rolls of I-don't-know-what-kind-of heavy duty industrial paper, duct taped together to form the base ; then a patchwork quilt of coloured paper pasted on for the background colour. On top of that are the lettering announcing the title, "Oz," the date and declaring that everything had been done by ourselves, in-house. June and I delivered the motivational pizza at a little past 1400...

... and we only completed the banner after 2100. By then the janitor had gone home and we couldn't get access into the atrium area where we intended to hang the banner to greet the early Monday morning crowd. So, reluctantly, we had to roll up our "tapestry" and place it against the atrium staircase for safekeeping. Tomorrow at 0630hrs, we're calling all hands to help carry the banner up to the 5th storey where we will drape it over the top railing. Hopefully, we'll get it ready before the main student body arrives.

Just got home from taking a few of our willing hands home or wherever else they needed to go. Thanks have to go out to all our helpers today: Aaron, Faz, Grace, Jane, JT, Suzhen, Shan, Yit Han, Mel and, of course, Yee and June. NYeDC owes y'all one!

If I'm getting to college by 0630 tomorrow, what time do I have to wake up? OMG, time for bed!

It's mom & dad's 43rd wedding anniversary so we took the opportunity to have a family dinner outside for a change.

The day began a little late. We overslept a bit but still managed to get to Sing See Soon Flower Garden at the junction of Paya Lebar and Bartley just in time to grab their last bouquet of purple roses for mom's pressie. The shop people called the species, "super-rose". They and a whole lot of other imported flowers were kept in a cold-room -- air-conditioned to match European spring temperatures. Cold enough to make breath visible to the naked eye.

The flowers here go for wholesale prices. A bunch of 20 gorgeous super-roses for only $8! Someplace to think about if Valentine's Day or some other special occasion rolls around for your sweetheart, eh, guys?

Drove to Gardens market for brekkie. Bought a lot of the usual local breakfast things like carrot cake, vegetarian noodles, yu tiao, and tau huay. We had Q-tip with us so we couldn't eat there. Instead we brought all that stuff over to mom's place for their second breakfast and our first.

Rushed off soon after to get the M2 groomed at Eddie's. M2's 2nd appointment for car grooming this year. I sent M2 looking filthy after last week's wash and I was a little worried that I would bear the brunt of Eddie's approbation over the state of my car. Last time I saw him, he had instructed me to wash the car twice a week, and if it rains, wash another time. Reasonably, which car owner's got that kind of time?

Caught a cab back home where we arranged to meet our neighbour from immediately downstairs of our flat. According to her, water from our bathroom is leaking into her bedroom and is becoming an inconvenience for her. We went in to look and yes, water does seem to be collecting in her ceiling lamp and a large piece of paint has peeled off from her bathroom ceiling and is now hanging pathetically downwards awaiting gravity to finish the job. We assured her that we'll get HDB to send a contractor right away to assess and repair the damage. As with HDB policy, we'll split the bill between ourselves. Watch this space for further developments.

Went back home, caught some TV, then before long, it was time to collect M2 from Eddie. From Eddie's we drove over to collect mom & dad, then drove back into Gardens to Jumbo Seafood Restaurant. June cursing and swearing that she forgot to bring her Jumbo membership/discount card. Stuffed ourselves full with the usual boring stuff we invariable order -- couple of meats, couple of veg, some tofu, but with the addition of some very fine steamed sea bass and 2 huge steamed crabs. Who thinks steamed crabs are better than chilli crabs? Yup, I thought so!

After dinner adjourned for ice-cream back at mom's place, then home again. Phew! Thought Saturdays were supposed to be for rest?

Last day of the course, today looking at the assessment of Paper 2, the Critical Thinking component of the subject. I must be mentally fatigued or something as I didn't have many intelligent things to contribute to my group's discussion. I kept staring at the sample students' answers and it took a long time for me to make sense out of what I was reading. It wasn't that the answers were bad, but I simply couldn't focus. I kept forgetting what I had read before and had to backtrack constantly. Or is it that my own critical thinking skills are lacking? All I knew was I needed sleep, or at least a week's vacation on a deserted island beach in the South Pacific. Umbrella drink optional.

To celebrate the end of the course, NBS and I paid one last visit to the Ya Kun at Tiong Bahru Plaza. This time we tried the sugar toast and concluded that it's neither the kaya nor any other spread in the toast, but it's the butter that makes it what it is. Must have gained some serious weight over the last week. Too much good food in the vicinity, coffee breaks with catered snacks between classes in the morning and afternoon, and hence, WAY too much coffee -- more than I usually get under normal circumstances.

Abandoned NBS after lunch to attend my promo ceremony. Got to shake the hand of one of our senior directors, whose youthful appearance was a bit humbling. She must be one of the scholar-types on the fast-track to the up-and-up, while the rest of us (me anyway) are contented being the bottom-feeders in the fish-tank of the ministry.

Pete snuck us into an oddly unutilized LT4 for rehearsal this evening. We ran the whole play through and though it's seriously rough, it's coherent. 8 more rehearsals to go, so they're going to be really intensive. Better prepare mentally and physically. And Yee's creating a publicity gimmick that's going to make a big impact on Monday morning. The cast and crew will be on campus this Sunday getting our surprise ready. Hope it turns out as he envisions it.

Last note: Happy bdae to Jane! Gorgeous cake!

Day 4 of my course and it's a marking and assessment workshop of students' essays in KI. Cambridge stressed how scrupulously fair their marking of exam questions is, so today we bashed out what we thought 'fair' meant in practical terms at college (ground-zero) level. The main concern was with Paper 3, the independent study project: just how far does the definition of "independent" extend? As always, there is little consensus between those who want to push for as-much-help-as-possible for the students, and those who interpret "independent" as completely-on-you-own, no help from the teachers at all, or else it's cheating.

Someone has to make a decision on this, but in the meantime, I suggest keeping it real. For the independent study, students should be allowed to seek whatever 'help' they can get as long as the source is relevant to the question they set themselves out to answer; students must credit all their consultations, dialogues, divinations, etc., in the bibliography section of the KI Paper 3. This way, the markers should get a better handle on what kind of 'help' the student got. And 'how much' of it too. Since part of the KI curriculum comprises ethics as a key module, what better way to test the students' internalization of ethical principles than making them be honest about the information and other assistance acquired in the writing of their essay?

Bowling tournament tonight. Bowled a lousy 133 average, and this was after I scored a "turkey" (3 strikes in a row) during the last game. Then my subsequent throws went all over the place. Still, this is roughly my current average -- I haven't made much improvement, personally, but I think as a team the Gutter Boys are slowly getting better. Perhaps next month we'll see some real progress?

Day 3 of my course and today we're looking at the introduction of our first real independent research paper for JC students. This is the main reason why I decided to move my teaching in this direction from GP in the first place. A chance to work directly with pre-university students on the kind of stuff they will be doing at uni level. Something real, and concrete, and skills that have direct application to their near-future rather than some nebulous far-off date close to never.

It's a tough paper, all right. A 6-month programme during which individual students will submit a research proposal to be approved by a Cambridge board (not by the teacher!) followed up with a major essay of 2500-3000 words in length, about -- get this -- thought and thinking about a particular topic of study. For example:

We know that "Jedi knight" is becoming a recognized religion by the increasing number of people who are claiming to be followers of this pop-culturally derived belief system. So, by what basis do we identify a body of human activity as "religious?" Since a religion spreads by the successful transmission of a particular canon of knowledge thus creating new converts (who had previously believed in a different canon of knowledge), how might a person be attracted to change his/her religion which may entail the eradication his/her previous belief system in order to accept the new one? How might a convert deal with such a radical thought-changing experience? How might the convert's previous socio-religious circle deal with such a change? (I made this question up, so it probably needs work still).

Well, something like that. The focus is not on "religion," mind you, but rather on the creation, transmission, and perpetuation of the knowledge behind religion, and more importantly, how that knowledge is used to expand a religion's reach amongst people; and perhaps a further exploration into whether such usage might constitute an ethical breach in our modern day social contract to respect religious diversity amongst our people.

This type of exploration goes far beyond what GP ever pushed JC students to think about. I think they can rise to the challenge if they have guts and gumption enough. Wonder what my class size will be next year -- 8?

KI has the potential for great fun and learning, and heated animated discussion, but it's definitely not for the squeamish.

Day 2 of my course. Yesterday we looked at critical thinking through the analysis of the reasoning behind chunks of text. We looked at argument premises and supporting points, and we looked at assumptions on which arguments are based. These components, depending on how they are related together make or break an argument and there is a logical, if technical way of determining if an argument is valid or not.

Today, we looked at the ethical dimension motivating decision and action for people individually and socially. We asked what was 'right' and what was 'wrong' and on whose authority do we make such claims? We looked at some simplified principles and ethical premises of various ethical schools of thought and we tried approaching various moral dilemmas on these disparate bases.

These moral dilemmas are to some extent similar to some of the decisions we have to make in KOTOR2. OK, I'm obsessed. Light-siders are motivated to do "Good" though there is the unlikelihood of gaining material reward. Sometimes, lightsiders even sacrifice material (making donations to "worthy" but unprofitable causes, for example) in the hope of gaining lightside alignment points. No material benefit, but your character's portrait appears enshrined by a column of bright, white light, stands up taller and straighter, and looks increasingly heroic. A virtue ethicist approach, as the end result of an action or the consequences matter less than the character building opportunity one gets from dealing with a crisis.

Sith characters, on the other hand, advance themselves through a more utilitarian approach. A pragmatic, what's-in-it-for-me attitude. Sith can gather more material resources this way, at the expense of an increasingly ugly (subjective term), twisted character portrait. Also, Sith get to use the cooler, more spectacular and deadly darkside powers at a discounted cost -- Force choke and lightning, for example. Who cares about 'character-building' when you can do cool stuff like this?

Hmm... now, how can I convince the college to let my students play KOTOR 2 so I can engage them in ethical discourse...?

This evening, Tina sent over the latest update on our Drama Night script and Shah is still choreographing for the Witch's big entrance number. If done well, people are going to love to hate our Witch as soon as she appears. HT dropped in on us to catch a preview. Hey, grrl!

And now for some good news: Girlfriend has recovered over the weekend at Dr Casey's and is now terrorizing the veterinary staff with her teeth and claws. Dr Casey arranged for us to take Girlfriend back to the Square where she belongs. She's a little tired out and annoyed with the blood testing, the sedation, the confinement, the drip and whatever else they put her through. She's eating again, so she should be able to fully recover soon. Hopefully, this is 1 cat that we have 'rescued' from this blight.

June thinks I am a control-freak, and maybe she's right. Today though I was supposed to be on-course I still started the day on campus to conduct my PW tutorial before taking off to Exams Branch. I felt I needed to explain the initial stage of this year's project tasks, and I hope they bought my explanation enough to actually find something useful to propose as their INDIVIDUAL project.

Was too clever and took a short-cut from campus towards the CTE, then annoyingly got lost on the way. It was a matter of knowing which lane turns where and I kept getting stuck on lanes that took me further and further away from my destination. Arrived nearly a half-hour late, and the course had already gone into full swing when I sheepishly opened the dors and tried to find a seat near some familiar face. Fortunately, I soon found NBS to sit with. NBS, my new partner in crime (or KI, anyway)... heh, heh!

Missed an opportunity to join Anthony & Co for drinks at the sub-zero bar tonight. After the course, I went back to campus for Drama Night rehearsal. After that I was simply too tired to go back downtown where I had just been just a couple of hours ago.

On the way home, another pick-up truck unexpectedly swung into my lane, and for once, I beeped my horn in anger. Nice to know you have this reflex at the time you really need it. I stepped hard on the brakes but thankfully the car behind me had been keeping his distance, so nothing more than a scare. Phew!

After our previous failure to secure Girlfriend, I purchased a proper cat carrier from the pet shop next to Dr Casey's. It has a locking door so no need to rely on cable ties and whatnot to keep the enclosure secure. This morning, Girlfriend happened to be sitting outside the NTUC and June lured her into the open with the promise of fresh kibble. It was then easy for her to pin Girlfriend down then pick her up and stuff her into the carrier. Mission Accomplished!

We brought Girlfriend to see Dr Casey but Dr Tan attended to us instead. We hospitalized Girlfriend for observation and further testing. Poor thing. Dr Tan called us later in the afternoon to ask if she should sedate Girlfriend who was getting increasingly agitated and defensive. In order to treat her immediately, sedation seemed necessary, and I didn't have any better options. So I gave consent, at the risk that Girlfriend might need more and more sedation from day to day if her attitude continues to be poor and her health continues to deteriorate. Too much sedation could kill her too.

Best thing would be for Girlfriend to quickly pull through this disease, then we can release her back to her natural habitat again. And after surviving this round of infection she should be immune to it if it should come round again. Today she's still looking pretty horrible with that stuff coming out of her eyes and making her face so dirty. Get well soon, Girlfriend.

This evening we saw Groucho who also looks sick. We also saw Nabiki (Girlfriend's daughter) who thankfully looks fine, except for being uncharacteristically quiet. Perhaps she misses all her friends who lived in the Square?

Next week is the NEXUS (the irony will be lost on most people) point for so many things I am in charge of: Security Seminar, Senior Civil Servant's Dialogue, Drama Night (shifting into high-gear), BMTC visit... As I am in charge of them ALL, my focus is so diverse I'm having difficulty controlling ANYthing. And it's even worse that next week, I'm not even going to be physically present on campus because of the week-long course I need to attend at Exams Branch. The one week I absolutely need to be on campus, I'm not. Great timing.

Fine. Perhaps I could've managed my time better. It's partially because I chose a couple of these dates myself, but at the same time, some of these dates were chosen for me as well, so the year climaxes early for me, and since the year is still early, there's promise of more to come. Multiple climaxes. If this was sex, it wouldn't be a bad thing.

Then there is next week's bowling tournament date. I'm still bowling a crap 120-130 average over 5-6 games. I changed the grip on my bowling ball's thumb hole as it was slowly wearing loose. Now my poor Brunswick 'Zone' looks a bit Frankenstein monster-like with the orange shim contrasting horridly with it's blue body. And because I now have a tighter grip, the 11-pounder feels too light and therefore less controllable. More practice needed. When? Dunno.

More bad news: Cat Rescue Squad failed this morning to secure Girlfriend (Matriarch of the Square) who is herself showing symptoms of the disease that's been wiping out the neighbourhood's cats. Her eyes are terribly sore and seriously leaking discharge, and she's too scared to see the vet. We chased her around the Square trying to put her in the transport basket, but she ran and kept running. Eventually, she settled in the branches of a tree and refused to budge. We'll try again this afternoon.

My graphics problem is no longer confined to KOTOR2. The same problem is affecting NFSU2 as well, so I have much maligned Lucasarts. My apologies. 2 possiblities: My software drivers, or more likely, overheating. Watson now operates without his chassis cover for better ventilation, and so far it seems to be working. No more graphics glitches for a while already. Ugly, inelegant solution but I'll settle for what works. I can no longer afford to be fussy.

Think I've reached my complaint quota. Thanks for listening!

Too busy, too tired... and these last 2 nights have been my nights off rehearsals. In fact they've been nights off for everyone in preparation for the big 2-week sprint to production night. But working with an expanded time-table AND coordinating next week's Seminar -- in absentia, mind you, as I will be away on course at Exams Branch all next week -- is a bit nuts. Thank god for Aileen and her organised, unflappable, solid let's-get-things-done assistance.

Yay! M2's back from hospital and he's looking fine again. Got the morning off to return the "courtesy" Soluna to the NTUC Co-op at Tampines Mall then collect M2 from IDAC Braddell where I had left him last week.

I first went to the Esso station near my place to get the Soluna washed at the Wash 'n Go. It's a fun experience -- a foam party for cars. First the entire car is splashed with buckets of water, then sprayed with loads of soapy foam, then sponged down by hand, then rinsed with a pressure hose, then finally, towel dried by hand. It took about 20 minutes as there was a bit of a queue there already even early in the morning.

By contract, I had to return a clean car, both inside and out so I extracted the car mats to beat them free of dirt and grime. The Wash 'n Go operator kindly allowed me to have the mats sprayed with the pressure hose too, so that took care of that problem. I also had to top up the fuel tank which I did.

I arrived at the co-op at about 0900 (I might have arrived earlier if I didn't get lost on the TPE) but was told the uncle would only be in at 1000 to take the car back. So I went to the nearby McDs for a leisurely breakfast to pass the time. The Soluna was clean enough to pass the uncle's standards so there was no need to apply the $10 cleaning fine. The car wash cost me $6 so I saved $4, though it wasn't quite enough to pay for breakfast.

Caught a cab to IDAC Braddell where I finally took back possession of M2, one week after his mishap. It was a minor accident, with relatively minor damage, so the whole process was largely painless. Still, it helps to have good friends who will see you through the difficult times (thanks, guys) and the attentive, amiable service provided by the IDAC staff, Eileen in particular. Without them liasing between the insurance company and the repair shops on my behalf, I would have been pretty much at a loss as to how to proceed to get M2 fixed. Bouquets and roses to y'all!

M2 is home now, where he belongs.

Exactly a year ago today I started experimenting with blogging, so Happy Birthday to quidestveritas!!! *whistles and confetti fill the air

I'm pretty proud of myself for keeping this blog updated almost daily; a couple of lapses here and there, but I've always found something to say eventually, at least so far. Must thank everyone for dropping in regularly and thus encouraging me to keep writing.

So how did I celebrate today? Well, there was PW tutorial first thing in the morning. It was my CT's first PW session with me and because one of their PW tasks involves the study of properties of a particular aspect of nature, I took the group outside the college compound to stare at the canal and otherwise observe whatever Mother Nature allowed to grow around the HDB block there. I'm not sure what the kids got out of the exercise, but they'll learn less about nature confined to a classroom, I think.

Then I had a 3 hour lecture to give. That is, the same 1-hour lecture given 3 times over within a span of 4 hours. Same exercise, same tired old jokes, and by the time the last lecture came around I was drained.

Then Drama Club rehearsal when we encountered problems with the ending and that part of the play had to be rewritten. Tina, me, Mel, Aaron and Ben trashed out some possible ideas till 2030hrs and hopefully the script will be more streamlined by the next write.

Then I went back to the Civil Service Club for bowling training. The last couple of weeks I've been bowling crap. Very disappointing scores, and tonight was little different. Back to averaging 120+ again, and the tournament is next Thursday! Good luck to us all!

Returned home to a wife who was livid over the psychodrama Cat Auntie and Lau Ban Niang are putting her through. They report that Skull is now dying from same affliction that has struck down many of the other cats in the Square. If they had told us earlier in the weekend when they had noticed his condition, we could have had him seen to, but their info today is too late for us to do anything about it. Flirt, her baby (missing), the black kitten, and now Skull. I don't know how much more of this we can take.

Didn't mean to begin a new year on such a downer, but it's been the truth so far, and long may veritas rule here! Happy birthday, blog!

Early morning wake-up call. Collected in-laws from their place at 0630. First stop: Chong Pang for brekkie. Any later and there would have been long queues for the best food there -- the chui kueh and the yu tiao. Neither are plagued with the too-much-oil affliction and they're great eaten fresh and hot. Too bad I wasn't feeling hungry 'cos there's plenty other stalls that look promising.

But it wasn't breakfast that got me out of bed early. Today is the day of my in-laws' annual visit to the final resting places of their departed folks. Well, not just my in-laws but for many Chinese families here as well.

As I was previously short of personal transportation, June and I have always been excluded from this visitation. However, this year to celebrate my acquisition of wheels, I became designated driver for the day. Don't know if it was a good thing, but as my M2's still in the shop, it was my rental Soluna that made the trip with us.

Great-grandma's tomb is up on a hillside at the burial plot up on Sime Road. Never been there before in my life. The place is just a bit creepy but beautiful nonetheless. It's like the jungle and the dead have forged a truce with each other. It's a largely uncultivated landscape, full of trees and grass, and rays of sunlight streaming through the branches overhead. If you look upwards, it's stunningly pretty, but we tend to keep our eyes on the ground to avoid walking over peoples' graves.

My in-laws place joss-sticks on the ancestral tomb and burn paper offerings in front of it. The tomb seems quite well taken care of, considering the last visit was probably last year. The grounds keeper has been doing his job well. But the adjacent tombs are overgrown with weeds and it's obvious they've been abandoned by their surviving families for a long time. At these tombs my in-laws generously spare some joss as well, visiting them in proxy of people we don't even know.

The immediate next door neighbours belong to one family and they have their tombs guarded by a pair of statues of Indian militia. Apparently the patriarch of this clan was someone important in the CID when he was alive. It's sad that it's only the statues that keep the tombs company now. Not that it's sad for the deceased, because it doesn't matter any more, but for the living who have lost the memory of their past, of the people who were once close to them. Perhaps I'm over-romanticising, but a place like this brings such thoughts to the surface.

A peaceful place, quiet, contemplative. Dutiful people arriving to remember those long-gone, armed with gardening implements and burnt offerings of paper money, paper clothes for the after-life. Other tombs waiting for visitors who will never arrive. This world is, after all, for the living. May the dead rest in peace.

We also visited June's grandparents, whose ashes rest in the San Jiang Gong Columbrarium on Dempsey Road.

Hmm... when was the last time I visited my dearly departed?

My previous post was a load of trash, and I know it. Goes to show how tired I was, writing nonsense like that. So the fact that I'm making another entry right now is totally illogical, especially when my alarm clock is set to ring at 0530hrs this coming morning. The reason why is for my next entry.

Today was another crazy run-around session, mostly work though the evening was quite fun. Morning I was at Tina's studio with the Drama Club. It was fun watching Shah choreograph the kids and watching their jaws drop in amazement at what he wanted them to do. Then it was gratifying to see them practice over and over again and get better every time. We have a really good show this year. Great director, great choreography, great accompaniment, great music, visionary set BUT too little time to pull it all off. Another couple of weeks would have made a lot of difference for us, but too bad we can't have 'em. So we'll make do and hope it'll be good enough.

Having a 'courtesy car' while your own car's in the 'shop can be a real pain when it comes to parking. Without the benefit of season parking, the tearing of chad off individual parking coupons is such a tedious chore. And knowing that each coupon is a dollar's worth for every hour of parking adds insult to injury especially when your season parking's already paid up for the month. I want my M2 back...!

In the afternoon I was busy preparing for Monday's lecture. A solid 3 to 4 hours of looking through material and condensing it all into PowerPoint slides, and I'm still not happy with the presentation. It's boring! I'll lose my audience in 5 minutes unless inspiration strikes tomorrow. Then again, it's been a week already and I have yet to be inspired. 1 more day left to think. *Fingers crossed.

Rewarded myself by joining Anthony, Weng, Celine and their dates at this wonderful eating place at the KTM railway station in Tanjong Pagar. The station is technically Malaysian territory so there's a major Malay food court operating BEHIND the main building, hidden away from the main road. We ordered an assortment of foods: Ramlee burgers, mee goreng, kambing (mutton) soup, murtabak, kebab in pita bread, satay and later in the evening, Weng ordered a seesha (secret ingredient was to put ice cubes in the water chamber to make the smoke smoother and more flavourful), forming the centrepiece of our table.

Beware the satay, though. They tell you the waiting list is half an hour long. It's actually 3 times the estimate. By the time our order came, we were too full to eat, having ordered other things while waiting. We acted 'blur' and when the server went back to check the order, we decided it was late and left to go home. Do we feel bad about abandoning our order? Not really. Other people would have snapped up our satay and have been grateful for it.

Early day (even earlier than regular schooldays) tomorrow. Must grab whatever sleep I can. 'Night!