Frivolous Supplies Convoy to Council Camp '05, P. Ubin.

NBS had a bright idea. Let's go cycling on Pulau Ubin and drop in on the Councillors at camp as an excuse. We'd bring some non-tactical, unhealthy snacks for the Camp Supervisors just to make our trip worthwhile. Our manifest included some green-coloured corn puffs, prawn crackers, potato chips (I think it was) and 9 individually packaged sachets of dried seaweed.

Woke up early today and met Lucy and NBS at the Ferry Terminal. A short boat ride later and we were on the little island swarming with schoolchildren on foot and on bikes. Apparently the 2 youth Brigades arranged for some mass activity and the jetty was crowded with kids getting oriented to a wild and rustic side of Singapore many of whom would never have seen before. It's a slice of rural life from 30-40 years ago preserved by the islanders and long may it stay that way.

The main road from the jetty is lined on both sides with bicycle rental shops. At random we picked one and got our Shimano mountain bikes at $7 each for a full day's rental.

Ubin's environment is such a change from our urbanized mainland. Here, it's mostly greenery, houses are still made of wood, the cars are in a condition that would have warranted scrapping a long time ago, and there is little evidence of air-conditioning even in the better-looking structures. It's a great place to get away from it all but I probably wouldn't last more than a day or 2 before I'm itching for bright lights, big city again. Town mouse, that's me.

We met the Camp Supervisors and accompanied them back to the jetty area where we settled in for lunch. The initial idea was for a seafood feast but as the Supervisors were going to remain on the island until Monday, they decided against ingesting anything they might regret in the near future. No chilli crab then. So we ordered rice and dishes: sweet-sour pork, 2 different styles of kailan, a tofu dish, deep-fried baby squid, and fresh coconut to wash it down with. There were 11 of us at the table and the meal came up to a very reasonable $5.50 per head (less drinks). June's thinking of bringing family here for a cheap meal-outing soon.

After lunch, we escorted everyone back to camp then the supply convoy took our leave to make our way back to civilization. Before boarding the boat, we made a quick pit-stop for more coconut and sliced local mangoes which smelled heavenly and tasted like bubblegum.

To Amy, Vince and the rest, just hang in there for another night. You'll be home soon! Until then, have fun roughing it out!

Ooh... check out the local wildlife:

Abu, a fisherman's burly tom, naps beside a well on P. Ubin.

I am stretched thin at work. Coping with a ratio of 76:1 for one subject and 50:1 for another means that my time in actual contact with individual kids can hardly be significant to them. Case in point: today I took one group of students to the NUSCC for the National NE Quiz '05 (some memories there for 03A2, yah?) then I had to abandon them there to sit through the entire experience while I returned to campus to meet my PW groups for another round of project consultations.

I feel like I've been running out on my classes a lot and that they haven't got the full benefit of my undivided attention due to one committment or another in my capacities as subject tutor, Drama Club in-charge, NE Coord, and having to prepare and undergo training for The New Subject as of next year. Speaking of which, the curriculum planning people for The New Subject came down to meet me and NBS on campus in the afternoon to see how we are coping, if we had any further concerns and for ideas as to how they can help us make the transition. A useful meeting, I think, and it's nice to see sincerity and concern on their part for us on the frontlines.

Oh, how did we do in the Quiz? Same result as last year. 3rd in our round, thus not qualifying for the Grand Finals. Hope 05A3 got to learn some NE trivia for their trouble. Thanks, guys!

Edit 01:
Forgot to mention the place I went to for lunch with Weng and Anthony. It's called Friends, just recently opened on Maju Ave right next door to the Cartel.

Friends is both a wine bar and a cafe. The first view of the interior is that of a wine cellar with racks of wine greeting the patron at the entrance. The dining area is not far behind. Tables and chairs are oddly low, though luxuriously comfortable. The chairs are the kind you might just fall asleep in after a good meal, if you didn't have anything pressing in the afternoon. Weng speculates that the low furniture gives the illusion that the ceiling is higher than it actually is, which makes the room seem more open and airier. Clever, efficient use of available space, that.

The lunch set is quite reasonable. $9.90++ for a soup OR salad, a variety of main courses to choose from, dessert and hot beverage (the coffee is pretty strong, Grinders, an Aussie brand). I had the beef lasagne. It went down smoothly, the flavours of mozza and ground beef blending nicely together. Substantial, yet not too heavy as lasagne tends to be. The passionfruit cake was tangy and fresh. Yum.

But the one thing I am most impressed with is the fact that my water glass that came at the beginning of the meal still contained a significant iceberg after I had drained it at the end of the meal. The water was cold and remained so throughout. That, to me, is a clear invitation to visit again. Def.
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Maybe I spoke too soon about the "oppressive doctrine" I mentioned in my previous post... [mumble, mumble]...

Anyway, the college blogsite is up and running with some posts already up by our student contributors. The site link is also on my sidebar for easy reference. It's called "Oil Lamps" after that stale joke about our college not needing anyone to change our light bulbs 'cos we are still using said item. We need visitors to our site to win, and your comments and suggestions as to how we can make it better, more attractive and, most importantly, more meaningful to you will help us a great deal, so please feel free.

This entry is also to mark my nephew, EJ's, birthday. He's still Thomas-mad (see my previous post of a year ago) and all his pressies were all themed accordingly. Thomas Lego Duplo from Japan, Thomas 'Lady' figurine with railway tracks, Thomas underwear, Thomas stamp with ink-pad, Thomas railway playset. Once again, M-i-L baked a mango cake and arranged another Thomas railway station diorama on top. Observe below:


Mom-in-Law puts a lot of effort into her homemade cakes.

I wonder if this Thomas obsession is bad for the kid? Shouldn't he immerse himself in other forms of popular culture at least for some variation? Like Pokemon? or Power Rangers? One Piece? On second thought, maybe not.

Yet another day spent off-campus. The M2 is getting a real workout this week. Couldn't come at a worse time for him 'cos he's overdue for his 5000km servicing and I've been too busy to make an appointment with Mazda. Hope he doesn't start falling apart through my abuse.

The Department signed up to attend another GP Seminar, an occasion for most of our fellow GP tutors from all colleges to meet and gather in one spot to listen to Important People talk about Important Things. This time, it was about the Geopolitics of the Middle East. The speakers were 2 very distinguished representatives who've had significant experience with our Foreign Affairs. Of the 2, I've only heard of Mr Mahbubani whose services for Singapore in the UN and in other strange lands are quite well documented. Just Google his name and check out 'em glowing credentials.

Our speakers very briefly touched on the surface issues surrounding that extremely bristly corner of our world, giving it so much of our diplomatic attention. They gave us a little historical insight into the Arab-Israeli problem; discussed our economic and diplomatic interests in the region, our surprisingly respected voice in the politics there (basically everyone tolerates a voice of reason), the opening up of the media which is oddly backfiring on the US who encouraged such press freedoms in the first place; and they reminded us of the fact that whatever we might think of the Arab world, the vast majority are people just like us, who want the things we want and have to some level already achieved: peace, security, freedom of expression, shopping, you know, the normal stuff we can all identify with.

And some of these normal activities we take for granted can be like a bunch of us dropping in on the Colbar for lunch before car-pooling our way to the IPAM auditorium for the seminar. The freedom of sitting at a table with a bunch of friends (Amy, HP, Yee and Gerald), tear into our meat, mushrooms and chips and laugh at the general silliness of life, and no one to tell us we can't do that because ... [insert whatever oppressive doctrine here].

Everyone should have the right to do what we did this afternoon. The tragedy is, we're amongst the few in this world, for one reason or another, who actually can. Sobering thought.

The Drama 1st Years helped launch NLB's READ! Singapore programme today with their dramatic reading from "To Kill a Mockingbird." It was interesting to compare our performance with the other 3 items because it was certainly different in style and genre. The most obvious difference was that our performers read from text that they carried on stage whereas the others were actual performances. We went for realism: movement that had definite motivational cues, the others went abstract and stylized. It's not so much a case here of which performance was better than another, but it seems like we were the odd ones out.

This fact became quite pointed when during the shmooze session, a lady representing a local Chinese drama organization commented with good intentions that our item was a bit static and could have used more movement. I totally agree. If we had been off-script, there could have been a more detailed study of the characters in terms of gesture, traffic pattern, anything other than a repetitive stand-sit-stand make-contact-break-contact kind of interaction; but considering the scenario we were playing and the style we were presenting in, I chose to move only when there was a real need to rather than move for the sake of moving; to not overkill a scene by playing around with light and sound; to bring in new elements without precedent; and to have characters stand around waiting for a line without having a reason or purpose to appear onstage other than to deliver it; all for the sake of giving the audience something to look at so they don't get bored. No wonder I don't win awards for my directorial attempts.

Anyway, this READ! Singapore programme aims to get everybody reading a common set of books -- a canon comprising 3 specific titles for each of our 4 national languages -- and then start book clubs wherever we are, work or neighbourhood or in transit, to discuss them.

"Eh, Seng, you read "Tequila Mockingbird" or not?"
"Ya, that Ah Tikus is my ou xiang. Now I wan' to study lor...!"
"But that May-la, dam' b**ch one, ok? Mei you liang xin for the black guy."
"Ayah, black people always very poor thing lah. But Ah Tikus fight for them, that's why I like him!"
"Actually, I'm more of a Bo guy..."
"No lah! Carrie will be the next American Idol!"

I feel so literate already. Oh, well, at least we're talking.

But seriously, it may be idealistic, but I too am buying in on the need to read. We live in the too-much-information age. What info we access is so transitory, so rapidly mutable, that it affects the way we think and the way our belief structure works. We learn quickly that nothing in our world is permanent and apply this attitude to things that do need a sense of the long-term, our values and our relationships, for example.

Reading for pleasure helps us slow time down. Unlike information, the stuff in stories does not change, and we get horribly upset if someone tries to do just that. A work of Fiction may have all the descriptive details thrown into the text, but our imaginations fully engage to fill in the gaps where language proves inadequate. This is how we exercise our ability to dream, and dreams are in short supply in this place.

Ironically, the kind of industry our country is moving into is named "knowledge-based," but we'll never survive just providing information alone 'cos it's too cheap and too easily available anywhere in the networked world. We should sell dreams instead -- they are from an unlimited source, our minds -- and we have the facilities, technology and know-how here to turn them into reality for other people. It's a more fun and rewarding business to get into, besides.

So here's my 2 cent's worth for READ! Singapore: Go grab a book and learn to read for fun; can you afford not to?

Just returned from a pet farm in Pasir Ris Farmway 2. The place is called "Pet Movers" and it had a write up in the June 2005 edition of Simply Her which June spotted.

What a fun place to bring our dogs, Q-tip and Mimi. There were other dog owners there to make use of the facilities: an enclosed dog run where dogs big and small gambolled around, the al fresco cafe where we had breakfast, and a dog paddling pool in which dogs swam while their owners waded after them.

The cafe's menu is very basic. We should have gone earlier 'cos their nasi lemak had sold out by the time we arrived. We had to settle for their fried bee hoon topped with a chicken wing and sliced green chilli. Stomach-filling stuff, little else. But we didn't go there for the food, anyway.

If we had known about the paddling pool earlier, we would have brought towels for our dogs. It's safer and friendlier for them to swim here than in the open sea with its unpredictable waves and currents. We saw a happy little Jack Russell playing 'fetch' with a tennis ball which his owner kept throwing into the water. If only Q-tip was as active.

Apart from the run, the place also has a large pet supply store with reasonably priced merchandise. There is a section where puppies for sale are on display together with a grooming facility. It's a bit smelly here but that's only because our urbanized noses are spoilt, unused to the natural scents of animal agriculture.

A great place for dogs and owners alike to socialize and shop. And a good way to get our 2 antisocial pets to meet and make other canine friends.

The circle is now complete. We have the full life story of one Anakin Skywalker from a precocious 9 year-old Jedi prodigy to fallen Jedi/Sith Lord to redeemed Jedi in the last few minutes of his life. And so ends a saga that took nearly 30 years in the telling.

June says Anakin led a wasted life. For someone so powerful to spend most of his power on causing pain, suffering and death to millions is unpardonable, especially when that power could have been used to do the complete opposite. That he chose his path out of his own impatience, pride, fear, arrogance, guilt and ultimately gullibility is tragic. Obi-Wan rails at him for not living up to being "the Chosen One," but perhaps the Jedi Council didn't quite understand the meaning of the ancient prophecy, as Yoda feared. Anakin was supposed to "bring balance to the Force," and that was exactly what he did.

How much more good could Anakin have done in a galaxy already watched over by the Jedi Council? The Sith in comparison were vastly outnumbered. Darth Sidious (Palpatine), Darth Maul (deceased), Darth Tyranus (Count "I will suck your blood" Dooku), and as far as the movies go, no one else. 3 Darths vs the hundreds of Jedi younglings, padawan, knights and masters doesn't seem quite fair odds even in our galaxy.

Against such overwhelming opposition, the Sith create an empire and all but wipe out their competitors in a single strike. Fine, they have the entire Clone Army behind them but that's just a matter of careful preparation, isn't it? Vader himself strikes at the heart of the Jedi organization and in the most heartless way demolishes it from the inside out. Result: The Sith rule, and 2 Jedi remain (Yoda and Obi-Wan) to rebuild the Jedi faith all over again. Balance achieved.

Episodes 1-3 is innovative in the retelling of a common myth -- hero triumphs over incredible odds and restores peace to a troubled land. In this movie series, it's just that the side that wins, the side that the hero fights for, isn't the side we like. Anakin rationalizes his actions under the banners of peace, security and stability for the galaxy but the peace that comes with his victory is a contrived one, one that exists simply due to the absence of war, and of course it doesn't last very long. And so, equilibrium has to be achieved again and from Episode 4-6 it's Luke who rebalances the galaxy. Anakin/Vader is again instrumental in achieving this rebalancing -- he is the fulcrum to Force balancing in both parts of the saga.

So Anakin fulfils his destiny as far as the prophecy goes. Just be careful how you read your prophecies. They may come true in ways you might not like.

Episode 3 was a blast to watch. A visual treat in the scale of the conflict, in the sense that whatever you were looking at, though huge by itself, is just a tiny cog when the camera zooms out to present a larger perspective of the battlescape. I guess it's that way with Vader too. His is a looming presence over the Star Wars franchise, and yet still a tiny part in the grand scheme of things. That's perhaps what's so great about this entire saga: it's an ensemble piece with every part living and breathing rather than being just a vehicle for any star in particular.

There are few surprises in the plot, since we all know how things eventually turn out but it's nice to have the gaps filled for a clearer picture.

I was also lucky enough to catch a complete screening of "The Clone Wars" vols. 1 and 2 in one sitting yesterday. This animated series chronicles the events between Episodes 2 and 3, tracing the exploits of the Jedi knights through the Clone Wars, the unorthodox promotion of Anakin from Padawan to Knight (hence answering how Anakin could aspire to the title of Master since the last time we saw him he was still just an apprentice), and finally leading up to the kidnapping of Senator Palpatine by General Grevious which is where Episode 3 opens. Many thanks to Cartoon Network for this unexpected bonus.

I guess all that's left is to propose a home screening of a Star Wars movie marathon with loads of popcorn and coke when all 6 episodes (in extended format maybe?) come out on DVD with my taped copy of "The Clone Wars" thrown in. Anyone interested?

Spent the afternoon with 3 chatty, lively schoolgirls. Took them to the official launch of the National Interschool Blogging Champoinships 05 at the Esplanade. These girls are the team who will mastermind a group blog to represent our college in the contest. As a tutor advisor, I have no editorial rights over the content of the blog. I'm just around to safeguard that the rules of the game are upheld.

The event was hosted by DJ Jamie who was taller than I had imagined. Not that I make it a habit to imagine her, mind you. My girls took a couple of snaps with her and got her autograph too.

The idea behind this contest is to see how schools can tap into blogging as an outlet for the voice of our youth. Whenever it comes to asking kids what they think about issues, they generally clam up and pretend to be dumb about things, but give them the time, the leisure and the opportunity to write and sometimes interesting things come to light.

Judging criteria are quite basic. Make the blog attractive, keep the content interesting, bring in lots of visitors, and erm... use good English (at least on the part of the main contributors to the blog; nothing we can do about the unwashed masses that leave ungrammatical comments on our entries). 9 colleges are participating, our ambition is to be in the top 5 after the 1st round of judging is over.

Well, if that's the case, I told the girls to make sure their posts remain interesting enough to reward the visitor every time he or she loads up the page. Then, and only then, will people bring other people to drop in and say hi!

The girls are now working on creating this blog so when it's ready (hopefully real soon) I'll link to it. Maybe I can entice some of you to have a look? We could use the support!

After the event, the organizers arranged a simple reception. Free-flow post-mix drinks; finger sandwiches; delicious, hot, crispy samosas; and deep-fried wontons with Sinsin chilli sauce dip. A nice, polite way to end the proceedings, but the girls were still hungry, having skipped lunch to attend the launch so I took them to Thai Express where they tanked up on different forms of Thai rice. The pineapple type, green curry type, shrimp paste type and the olive type. Yummy.

Took the Drama Club J1s to the Woodlands Library to rehearse for their debut performance. It's only a short dramatic reading but it's a pretty big event considering who the Guest-of-honour is going to be -- my Big Boss, himself.

Dramatic reading is a very delicate balancing act. On the one hand, you're reading off a set text; but on the other, you're dramatizing the scene for an audience who is there to watch the action. In a straight drama performance, the idea is to rid ourselves of our texts as quickly as possible as reading from a script loses the audience interest very fast. Here, we have to know the text well enough to play the scene, yet keep our scripts open and manipulate a handheld mike at the same time. The scene itself is a courtroom drama where most characters are held in place by protocol: Judge in his seat, witness at the witness stand, counsels seated at their desks, audience fixed in the gallery. So not a lot of movement called for, very little we can do to keep the audience's attention.

Fortunately, we've been given only 10 minutes to play, and I think that's long enough. The other items on the programme have music, movement and dance incorporated into the readings of texts in our other national languages; Malay, Chinese and Tamil. Since there's so much movement in the other items anyway, maybe we can exploit the contrast in our item and put our stillness to our advantage? We'll see.

Rushed over to the CSC in the evening of the 3rd installment of our Ministry's bowling challenge. They gave away the prizes for last month's top results before our game commenced. The top high game from last month was from a lady bowler with a score of 233 (out of a possible 300). Our competiton is truly quite awesome. I did pretty ok nevertheless, averaging 153 pinfalls out of 3 games. My sparing accuracy is crap -- for the 2nd game I simply couldn't close the frames, else my score would been higher. Training objective for next training session: practice clearing spares.

Guess with this game under my belt, my overall personal standings should have improved some, though still nowhere near the top yet. Makin' progress, though.

The team's standings are hard to judge. Yee and Vince both had good games and, like me, at least 1 poorer one. Anthony has an injured elbow and couldn't bowl his usual game. It would be good if we all bowled like we practice... Oh well, overall team improvement as far as I can tell. Cheers to us, the Gutter Boys!

Before we knew it, the first installment of this year's PW assignment was due today. Deadline was yesterday for the kids, today for us staff to submit the collated submissions. One of the major new developments in this year's PW cycle is the submission of individual proposals for a group project even before the formation of the students' project groups. This procedure ensures every student has a chance to show they can have a bright idea rather than just going along with the idea of the most on-the-ball person in the group. Of course, when you have to supervise 50 individual students in PW, having to look through and assess 50 individual proposals can be something of a headache.

It doesn't help when you have kids who insist they didn't know that the deadline was yesterday, though this little nugget of information has been repeated quite a few times over official and unofficial channels. I feel like proposing my own little project, something along the lines of equipping all teaching staff with cattle prods to inspire and motivate the blur and tardy. We could raise taxes to finance this worthy cause.

We took yet another step towards fixing the leak in our toilet this evening. It was after June had made several phone calls that we discovered our constituency's Meet-the-People sessions are usually on Monday evenings. We quickly drove down to our MP's office to have a quick dinner before he opens for consultation at 1930. We arrived on the dot but the waiting room was already crammed full of petitioners awaiting their turn. We prepared ourselves for a long wait and settled in to watch "Survivor" playing on the TV to occupy ourselves.

We watched the elimination of another "Survivor" contestant, Jan, and not long after that we received our summons in to see an official. Apparently, our problem is minor enough not to require handling from the top man himself. It's a standard procedure that our official seemed quite familiar with.

"Toilet leaking?"
"Uh... yes."
"Okay." (signs on our notice from HDB)
"Um... what happens now?"
"Oh, nothing. HDB will send you a letter in a couple of days. You'll get a subsidy of 50% of the repair cost and the balance you pay 25% and your neighbour pays 25%."
"Wow. Thank you and goodnight!"
"Goodnight!"

What might justify this subsidy? Our floor is leaking due to some poor workmanship from our HDB-approved contractor who only waterproofed the shower area though he should have waterproofed the whole bathroom floor instead. wear and tear of our bathroom waterproofing, so in a way it's a bit of compensation for the repair costs we have incurred as a result of the leak.

Our visit didn't take us as long as we had anticipated. In fact we wasted a parking coupon preparing for a 2-hour visit and we were done in 1. It was early enough to join the guys at the CSC for another practice round.

I did good tonight. 3-game average: 169; and my personal best game total: 187.
I'm starting to strike more often, but my spares still suck, else my scores would have been even better. My score, though, showed a steady decline with each consecutive game, probably because I get tired easily(...?). Conclusion: don't bother throwing a warm-up game else we'll get too tired by the time the tournament starts.

Entry for 2 days again.

Saturday: College Day, so spent a weekend afternoon in long sleeves, tie and proper shoes. Arrived early fearing lack of parking lots on campus and parked outside in the HDB parking lot anyway. Spent $5 on parking as a result. Interesting how the brain of an idiot works, no?

Due to withdrawal symptoms the Gutter Boys hatched a plan to get some practice after the speeches, prizes and politeness of the College's most important day on the calendar was over. We were unlikely to get lanes on a weekend evening so we got Weng to book a lane for us at the S'pore Swimming Club where he is a member. But because he couldn't join us, he instructed us to seek out his mom at the club first to obtain his membership card so we could sign for the lane in proxy.

Now, that seemed like a bit of a hassle so Amy tried getting a lane at the CSC instead and scored one most unexpectedly. So we bowled there in the early evening; 3 games until we got kicked out when the people who had a prior booking showed up.

The night was still young so we did as Weng suggested and used our booking at his club. We would have to pay a no-show fine if we didn't anyway. We were meant to follow each other in a convoy but Amy and I lost the lead car (Anthony's M3) in heavy traffic so Amy drove on by instinct and I kept doggedly on her tail trusting she knew where she was going. She didn't. She made a wrong turn at Old Airport Road instead of Mountbatten and wisely stopped her car on the side when things started looking unfamiliar to her.

Fortunately, I knew this part of the neighbourhood and managed to get us the rest of the way there, though I made a mistake and parked in the Members Only parking lot. After our training session, both our cars had warning letters planted on them. Next time we park there we'll have our tires clamped and face a $100 fine. Never again.

The team's doing well, Yee is running hot now. He posted a score of 211, the high game for that lane for the day. The weak link now is me, posting lower scores than the others, though higher than my usual. If we continue bowling like this for our tournament game this Thursday, we should see certain improvement in our standings.

Today:
Our contractor finally dropped in to see our bathroom. June basically entertained her while I hid in my study in denial. The repairs are going to be such a painful process for me, but for June it's the final product that motivates her.

Went back to washing the M2 by hand and got it nice and shiny again in record time. Now that we have a system that we're used to we're a lot faster now than before. Except that I left our sponges to dry in the sun and we forgot to collect them when we packed up and drove home. Fortunately, the washing bay is only a short walk away and Q-tip got an unexpected outing just to retrieve them.

Picked up parents and bro in bright and shiny car to meet sis and family at Casuarina Road for dinner. We celebrated Mothers' Day and my bro's belated birthday with more food than was possible to finish. Drove back to my sis' place to plough into the cake we bought. A lovely chocolatey one it was.

One of my passengers (don't know who) tracked a wad of chewing gum that had stuck to the sole of his/her shoe into the M2. My rear right car mat now has some indelible stains and a nice pepperminty smell as well. Nah, I'm not upset with my passengers, but that inconsiderate turd whose indiscriminate disposal of gum has messed up my car's pristine interior owes me a new car mat. Not that I'm ever likely to collect though... grrr.

Barely a week after our major event, the Drama Club is up for another gig. A very short item for the NLB for the launch of its new reading campaign. Am assigning our J1s this performance, though it has come at extremely short notice. What else is new, right?

The job is nothing more than a dramatic reading of a section from "To Kill a Mockingbird," the trial scene, to be exact. The on-site rehearsal is next Thursday, performance the following Tuesday immediately after the long weekend break. Let's see what our new blood can do.

Despite meeting the Club members this morning to seek willing hands to clear the remnants of our set from LT4, only Jaz showed up at the appointed time. There was a long ladder to maneuver between the lights and flybars and 5 wing-obscuring flats to cut down and stash offstage. Between Jaz and me, we cleared the set within an hour, with me climbing up the rickety old ladder and she holding it steady at the bottom. I must say, Jaz is strong for her size. A few more hands might have made the job less strenuous and dangerous, but there you have it. When things are glam, full attendance; but when things turn absolutely unglam, you see lah! Definitely must scold people already.

JY discovered why we usually bowl on Monday nights instead of Friday. The simple reason: no lanes available on Friday night, no matter how ulu the bowling alley might be. Sad because JY doesn't get the urge to bowl very often, so we lost out on an historic moment due to a lack of facilities. Amy remarked that there is a surprising number of Singaporeans who bowl. My take is that as long as an activity can run without experiencing sunlight, moreover in air-con comfort that activity is going to be mega popular. Bowling practice tonight cancelled. Withdrawal symptoms are setting in...

Thanks to Amy we got tix to watch Hossan and Selena in "It Takes 2" at the Vic.

The show was quite a friendly one in which the 2 performers seemed quite at home with their audience. Selena was an entertaining hostess, natural and at ease, as if the 600 or so of us had made ourselves comfortable in her living room. Hossan seemed more practiced and precise with his schtick and perhaps the contrast between the 2 might have made it appear that he was trying a little too hard to get the laughs.

The pacing was easy, just a little hint of racyness and a couple of ribaldries but really nothing to offend anyone over. The duo did their share of poking fun at Aussies, Yanks and a certain Charles and Lady; and added some cabaret singing into the mix. The topics of their patter shifted and varied with smooth fluidity. One moment Selena is discussing the difficulties of finding a good travel partner then switching over to discuss tips for married couples to stay interested in each other. Hossan was in his usual self-depricating persona talking about the differences between guys and gals, to experiences during NSF days (what else do guys talk about anyway?).

As the night went on the talk turned more and more toward local political satire, though again there wasn't much there that all of us in some way or other haven't already discussed amongst ourselves: criticisms levelled against gay parties, for example, to policies over maid abuse, to the Great Casino Debate/Debacle. Humour going along the lines of Mr Brown, et al.

A fun evening out. No new information gathered, same kind of breakfast talk rehashed, but presented by a couple of pleasant comics with a little music and colourful lighting thrown in.

Parking tip: to watch a show at the Vic, people usually park at Parliament House though I stupidly parked at Funan Centre (1st parking lot I came across) and had to walk a bit further. Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised to find that my parking charge for parking between 1730 and 2230 amounted to only $2. I was expecting to pay a bomb. Don't know what the charges are like at Parliament House, but I doubt it could have been much cheaper.

Yesterday the whole college packed up shop and took half a day to support our volleyball teams at the Schools finals. It was the first time in many years that both the boys' and girls' teams qualified and we were quite hyper about that.

At the girl's finals, we sardined out half the TP Sports Hall, while JJ stuffed themselves into the other half. Our opponent's supporters were um... interesting to observe. They were fully into their cheering, coordinated in both voice and movement, and loudly in unison. Their leader was a rather large individual who would not have looked out of place if he wore an animal mascot's costume, a racoon, say, or a rhino. He moved, they followed; he bellowed, they roared as one. Many of our staff were very impressed with their spirit, and indeed, watching them was far more entertaining than watching the game.

What does it take to build such pride in one's organisation? I think it comes when all members equally suffer personal humiliation to such an extent that each individual is glad to pin one's pride on a collective identity instead.

Cheers are embarrassing. They have inane 'lyrics,' the most basic of nursery-style rhymes, and when you shout them out with gestures and other unnatural body movements, other people look at you funny. No individual would dream of exhibiting such behaviour amongst a polite audience, especially if the individual is a hip, cool teenager with a shred of dignity. That is, I repeat, if the teenager is an individual in a crowd of other hip, cool teenagers.

So, personal pride gets in the way of a collective spirit. Take away that pride and then perhaps the group identity becomes all that more important. Cheering, singing, dancing, united teenagers lending full encouragement and focus to their winning team. Yes, our college could not get past their very simple tactic of return-the-ball-no-matter-what and in a contest of not skill but will, we lost the battle 3-2. Our v-ball girls' are runners-up this year.

Our boys' didn't have too much trouble with their opponents, though. A straight 3-0 victory against TJ in a more aggressive match than the girls' game was. Well, maybe not as aggressive as the women's Olympic Beach V-ball matches, and a whole lot less eye-candy, but we won.

After the prize presentation, we filed out of the sports hall. JJ continued cheering as we left. No doubt they would lock up the place when they're done.

Life is back to routine now after Drama Night, and thank God for it. It was grand excitement for the last 3 weeks, constantly battling uncertainty, adapting to minor but numerous changes and disruptions to schedule, adrenaline high and high-strung all the time. But that's not me, and not the life I enjoy over a protracted basis. Things are more predictable again, pressure finally easing off a little.

I have evenings to enjoy again, evenings spent by myself and June and pets, or following a varying, spur-of-the-moment agenda as and when I like, instead of adhering to some pre-planned schedule (ironically, one I planned myself) with a final product to rush out. Tonight June and I celebrated my 'homecoming' with steamed crab from our regular haunt. Finally, a proper sit-down meal together to enjoy at our leisure.

Q-tip does not like crab, BTW. Instead of gobbling down the morsel I gave her like she usually does with other table scraps, she sort of trampled it and made a mess of her chair which I then had to clean up with a wet-wipe. Spent the rest of the evening with June and the cats in a mindless stupor in front of the TV. Ah, family life.

Post-production euphoria over the weekend. We put up our show; a musical, as the kids asked for; made them sing and dance, put them in colourful costumes and let them blow the socks off their audience. New standards, new heights achieved for the Drama Club, everyone seemed to enjoy the performance, even Tina's illustrious guests, though there were still problems with audibility, occasional missed cues, unauthorised ad-libs (not usually so much of a problem) and OTT overacting by certain cast members. The dream has reached fruition and it's a great feeling to accomplish a task this scary to this level of success.

Spent yesterday not doing anything constructive for a change. Caught 'Kingdom of Heaven' and it was nice to be entertained passively, just sitting there in my cinema seat, mindlessly sipping on Coke as scenes of bloodshed passed before my eyes. The movie had some nice touches in its focus on the 'kingdom of Heaven' being in reality in the mind and in the heart of every person living. It isn't in the structures we build, nor in the political borders we raise, but in our humanity towards each other, regardless of colour or creed. That's the problem with being NE coordinator. You read NE into anything...

Today, the dream became cold, hard reality. Performance over, it was time to put away our toys. Large, heavy pieces of set carried up several flights of steps to be stowed securely behind the College Hall from LT4. Bits of costumes, hand props sorted into reusable material and trash, then disposed off properly. We celebrated our newly assigned drama (store) room, though the room is diametrically opposite campus from LT4 and with me leading the way for our tired NYeDC members struggling with armfuls of barang, I felt like Moses leading the Exodus into the promised land -- the people kept complaining how far away it was all the way there. Then when we finally reached our room, it was "too small," "too hot," blah, blah. Kids, ya gotta love 'em.

P.S. How close we are to facing death, maiming, dismemberment or disfigurement on a daily basis. On the way up the atrium flight of stairs, six or seven of us schlepping a heavy raised platform back into the classroom where we had taken it from turned a corner too quickly and too abruptly that one side slammed into the steel bannister with a jarring thud. A couple of seconds ago, my left hand was supporting that side and might have been turned to powder if I hadn't just moved it to get a better grip elsewhere.

Woke up at 0900, a luxury after maybe 3 weeks of early mornings. We're pumped, opening night of 'Oz' being quite a hit with our crowd.

As a club NYeDC 05 pulled together and focused on getting our show out. Whether in training, rehearsal, technical, handicraft or artistic activities, everyone found a niche and gave everything they had and more. Every rehearsal found a new angle, a new toy, or a new gag with improvisation and seat-of-the-pants ingenuity; necessity being the mother of invention.

Right down to opening night, the cast and crew still found new ways to play, and last night the Timekeeper and the Wizard came into their own as characters in the show. Must credit Timekeeper who was sensitive enough to notice he was stealing limelight away from the main action and sensibly stopped his antics so focus could go back to centrestage.

Having a competent 'live' band to support the action is definitely the way to go. Our musicians have very little to do with the club but they found a way to believe in the show enough to ask to be a part of it. We left them to improvise on their own and kept the soundtrack flexible. Result: action, underscored with music and effects, that would otherwise have fallen flat.

If there were any problems on opening night, it would have been from the soundboard. Condenser mikes not picking up well, actors sounding soft in ensemble, in contrast to the loud, clear sounds of our individually miked up solos. Need to balance the sound better, and avoid feedback, which was another nagging problem.

The house last night was larger than I had been mentally prepared for. Last night sold well and let's hope tonight's show will be just as good. Must thank 'sif, HT, Ramzi, Shariffah and Durga of 04 for their time and for creating a gorgeous front-of-house set with fabrics, a couple of fedoras and a ruby red shoe (shaped phone). Must also thank the AV guy for hanging around in the sound booth giving me a hand with a twitchy soundboard.

Tonight is closing night. Let's avoid complacency and let the success of our previous night get to our heads. NYeDC 05, let's go and break some legs!

Looks like another major expense heading our way. HDB came over to inspect our bathroom to determine the source of our downstairs neighbour's roof leakage. Assessment: We're going to need a whole new bathroom. Floor tiles out, crapper out, and while we're at it, wall tiles out, bathroom sink out -- hey, and maybe get a replacement water heater too!

It's likely that it was our darned air-con contractor's fault in the first place, giving us an a/c drainage pipe that drained impractically into the drainage hole of our main bathroom floor instead of the shower hole. Because the drainage hole was at the far end of our bathroom, the contractor ran a long PVC pipe all the way across our bathroom floor which became a tripping hazard for us. June got fed up with the pipe one day and had it hacksawed off. So the a/c drained directly onto the bathroom floor. The water must have eroded the sealant between our bathroom tiles and thus started seeping into the floor below. Hence, new waterproof lining has to be installed, and hence, our new bathroom (minimalist in design due to budgetary constraints) will rise from the rubble of the old.

Um... in case there is anyone out there who is looking for evidence indicating whose fault is the greater, the above raises mere speculation on my part and does in no part constitute a confession.

What happens now? An HDB contractor will be engaged who will bring steely tools and beefy men to tear up our bathroom fixtures and install new ones with more gusto than finesse; and will gleefully send us a huge, hefty bill at the end of it all. How we then proceed with the apportioning of the bill between the parties involved will be another story for another time.

Finally, this week we move into our auditorium. For one week we can call our space truly ours. No more dealing with squatters in our rehearsal rooms, no need to move furniture around and back; the stage, the flooring, the lights, the sound system, they're all ours and we have smugly taken possession of them all.

The lights are plotted and almost set, much of the major pieces of set are onstage, props in labelled boxes backstage and costumes sewn and hanging on their racks. We've used up nearly 8 rolls of gaffer tape ($20 worth!) in a day, which must be a new record for us.

We only had 1 run today with costume, and it's good that the cast know now how much faster they need to change clothes backstage as they shift from scene to scene. 2 more days of rehearsal left and then it's showtime!