Trying to pack too many things into a day shows its effects the next day. I promised NBS to design the signboard for our booth at today's campus open house, but by the time I'd got home last night, my mind was almost a complete mind-wipe. I couldn't think past the fatigue, and in the end in my somnambulistic state I came up with a total piece of crap which we just had to make do with. That was disappointing.

Guess that pretty much sums up the rest of today as well: NBS and I trying to promote the New Subject, but few prospective JC1 students seemed interested. Those we did talk to had the look of deer caught in headlights; helplessly staring wide-eyed while a torrent of unsolicited information about some esoteric new OPTIONAL subject comes barreling down their way driven by some obviously demented teacher whom they are too polite to cut-off in mid-lecture.

Kids, they just want to know if the subject is easy to score in or if they can slack their way through it. They don't view their subjects as life-changing experiences. We'll let the marketing department know ASAP.

Preparing for college open house tomorrow. Have a table for displaying books and flyers and hoping to interest some little children in the New Subject so that some might actually consider taking it next year. NBS and I will be manning the desk and maybe answer questions about it as best as we know how.

Also for the open house, I worked with the Drama Club this morning on a rip-off from Quidam's interactive mime segment. Simple plot involving (what else?) a love triangle, as demonstrated by our members, then the challenge will be to get audience "volunteers" to recreate the scene and embarrass themselves at the same time. This game will run for 3 slots during lull periods in the programme, so at least things will still look busy. We've only had a couple of runs-through today and we're already on tomorrow, so wish us luck!

And, at last the men beat the ladies' team in a friendly petanque match-up this evening. Anthony, Eddie and me took on Vicki, HB and June and narrowly scored our 13 points first. Anthony's penultimate ball was a wild, high lob that sent us all scrambling for cover, but he made no mistake with his last ball. Game! Yay! Too bad Vicki was actually playing with an injury, but we'll take the victory anyway. Ha!

Finally, let's congratulate Amy on the purchase of her new pearl-white 1.5l Suzuki Swift. It was both fun and an honour for Anthony and me to play a role in your decision-making process. Can't wait to ride in your new baby when it arrives!

It's that time of the year again when the JC2s get thrown out of the nest and are now flying on their own. No more being bogged down by the time-table; college rules of punctuality and dress; and the constant haranguing of tutors demanding homework and assignments. They are free to negotiate their own schedules with their tutors, terrorize their tutors with "another practice essay to mark/comment on," and basically catch up one-on-one with everything that had already been presented to them during the previous 18 months.

At this time of year, it's great to be a JC2 tutor as well. We get to see students who really want to learn, and are anxious enough to finally start asking real, practical questions and actually pay attention when we tell them things. We also get to design our own consultation schedules and tailor them so they suit our natural biorhythms as well as those of our students, rather than be at the mercy of a timetable designed around logistical constraints instead. Once independent,rather than put pressure on tutors to teach, the students have to put pressure on themselves to study, which is the more ideal educational scenario.

Never thought I'd sing an ode to being a JC2 tutor. But I'm a JC1 tutor this year, and I'll be Productively Working until term ends. How the Wheel of Fortune has turned.

I sent a letter to the traffic cops a few months ago appealing against the "inconsiderate driving" charge they filed against me. My appointment to set matters straight with them was this morning, at their HQ in Ubi.

The officer handling my case explained to me that although a truck had right of way, I had shot out into its lane causing it to "jam brake." So, really, I had done something clearly dangerous, though it was fortunate that no accident occured. But considering my extenuating circumstances, the officer offered me a reduced charge of "failing to give way," effectively reducing my demerit points from 9 to 4 (>50% discount!) and a small reduction in the fine incurred as well.

It wasn't the best case scenario I had hoped for, but it's better than nothing. So now I'm living with a total of 8 demerit points, including the 4 I chalked up earlier this year for "crossing a double white line." 8 points to remind me to be more careful on the road. Sigh.

When I mark stuff, I sometimes encounter ideas that I find interesting. Today an essay triggered an X-rated thought which I'd like to share, but only to those who willingly and of their own accord click this link. (To avoid any misunderstanding, NO kids under 18, please).

Edit 01:
Going car shopping is lots of fun, especially if you aren't the person buying the car. I won't say who the prospective buyer is yet, until things are more firmed up at least, but we shopped around the Ubi area looking at Toyotas, Suzukis and eventually a Mazda.

It's fun because we got to poke around the cars on display, comparing the aesthetics of design and comfort. Besides, driving around in a showroom car comes with the excitement of parting with a huge amount of cash and selling your life away knowing you get a nil return on your investment.

Because of budget constraints, we limited our shopping to Toyota's Vitz and ist, Suzuki's Swift and Mazda's 2SP. For the moment the preference looks biased towards the Swift with it's responsive engine, compact shape, leather interior and clean dash; though where the 3 of us disagreed on was the choice of colours which to me just aren't inspiring. We also test drove the 2SP with it's more powerful engine and sports tranny, but for it's current price it doesn't seem to come with enough bells and whistles to be attractive.

Well, tonight our prospective car buyer must do the math and ask more questions. Hmm... to be able to consider buying a new car; it's a situation to relish. Yes.

Check out my new desktop wallpaper:

Day of physical rest, as it should be. Time to catch up on my marking of exam scripts (I'm so close to finishing I can taste it!) and some neglected household chores as well.

Probably catch some CSI on AXN in a few minutes, then turn in for an early night. We're looking at another mad week ahead. Better rest while we can.

M2 almost became a complete Sports Utility Vehicle for today. In his trunk there were a bowling bag containing ball and shoes, 2 sets of petanque boules, and a pair of inline skates complete with protective gear.

Our day began in the rain. June and I met Amy and JY at Bishan Park. We were a little late and we missed HP, but we arrived in time for lunch. We felt like Japanese, so we drove off to Toa Payoh for sushi. As we hoped, the weather cleared up while we ate. Then back to Bishan Park to complete what we planned to do from last night: Amy to learn cycling, JY to try inline skating.

So while Amy sat on her rented bike trying to gain confidence to kick off and pedal, JY armoured up and took her first steps in the rink at the skate park. June rented a bike too and did her rounds while I accompanied JY, trying to encourage her and give her confidence as she orbited the rink staying within grabbing distance of the railing.

Within an hour, JY had begun to take several steps unsupported on her inlines, though she suffered a nasty fall at which she decided to call it quits. Amy was still struggling with her bike, even though June was dangling a cold, refreshing 100Plus some distance away as motivation. If we all do this again next week, I'm sure there'll be some major improvements in their respective new skills.

After we left Bishan Park, June and I went back to the Toa Payoh petanque courts to train with Anthony, the youth team and the Ladies' team. And to clear our debt with Vicki over our equipment purchase.

By 8pm Anthony joined us to meet Amy and JY again for bowling at the CSC. Very busy, athletic day. Of course, it would have been healthier if we didn't finally end up at Swenson's for dinner and dessert. All my calories burned today, I bet I replaced in just that 1 meal. Hic.

JY didn't disappoint me like I did her last Wednesday. I invited her out to lunch with us, promising her a ride back to Bishan after, but when she met up with us, I was nowhere to be found because some last minute stuff cropped up and I couldn't have lunch after all. Tonight, she showed up for bowling as promised. 2 thumbs up for you, girl!

Not that we had a great series of games. After a break of more than a week, you could see the rust forming as we seemed to inspire each other to bowl nonsense. Also, maybe since the pressure's off us now that the competition is over, there's no urgency to take things too seriously and we just enjoyed each other's company instead.

We've committed ourselves to petanque now. June and I purchased a set of boules each from the clubhouse, on credit, heh heh. We decided that if we came early for training and no one else was around to open the store for us, at least we would have our own equipment and we could play or run drills with each other while we wait.

Having our own boules also means we can practice anytime, anywhere we like. Beach, park, wherever we can find a piece of open ground, preferably flat and not too bumpy.

Training today wasn't too bad. Vicki taught me some shooter's techniques, but it'll be some time before I would have had enough practice to actually use the theory effectively. But, as with the pattern so far, when the Ladies (June and Vicki) paired up against the 3 guys (today Anthony, Weng and me) they still wiped our faces in the dirt, though we did chalk up more credible losing scores than the last time. We're learning too, though maybe not as quickly as the girls.

June's gone pretty much into serious training with her new sport. She spent quite some time learning from Vicki, the local petanque Ladies' mainstay and shooting ace, and her form has improved quite impressively in just a couple of hours of practice.

Later, Vicki and June teamed up against Anthony, Vince and me for a couple of games. Sad to say, we guys sucked and got trashed by the 2 ladies in both games.

Now June wants her own set of "boules" so she can kick my butt every day. Oh well, guess that takes care of what to get her for Christmas!

Lunch came in 2 parts today. First P catered lunch for the staff, her treat. It was an all-vegetarian affair. Thankfully, the dishes were mostly oriental stir-fried or steamed fresh vegetables and not the fake meat gluten stuff. She also spared a thought for the carnivores amongst us and brought in a satay man to keep us happy. And as an afterthought to the younger staff of the fast-food generation, there were also a couple of boxes of pizza. Guess there was a little something for everybody.

Part 2 came around after 1 o'clock. A small convoy led by Anthony headed for Ambrosia on Arab Street for a snack, a drink and marking time. Unfortunately, Ambrosia was closed when we got there so we wandered around a bit before settling on Samar, a Middle Eastern F&B place. Interesting that the backs of the menu carried designs of posters calling for Palestinian freedom. They made me feel for just a little while like I was "there."

Despite having had lunch earlier, I was still peckish so I ordered a saltah. Apparently, it's a Yemeni recipe for a lamb stew soup. It came in a small soup bowl with bits of cabbage, some shreds of flat noodle-like things, and tiny pieces of lamb which were good to chew on. I had an almond flavoured laban (yoghurt drink) sprinkled with cinnamon and cardamon powder. It wasn't sweet like I thought it might have been, but was cold and tasted quite refreshing.

Amy and NBS left to pursue their own agenda soon after lunch, while Vince, Anthony and I stayed the rest of the afternoon to mark essay scripts. Quite a productive afternoon, I must say.

flik... flik... flikflikaflik... flikaflik tak. tak flikaflikaflikaflik taktak. flikatak flikatak flikatak thump. tak flikatak flikatak thump. thump tikatikatikatika(flik) tikatikatikatika(flik) tika(flik) tika(flik) tika(flik) thumpthump....
shikaskikashikashika... tap tapitty... tap tappity tappitty tap tap... tappity tappity tapitty tappity tappity tappity... BOOM CRASH!!!

You get the idea. That's Amy, Vince, June and me at the Esplanade Theatre for "Stomp!", the art of turning noise into signal. It's therapeutic to whack dustbin lids, hubcaps, oil drums and metal buckets to transform your aggression and frustration into a sonic assault against all of humanity, but Stomp! takes it one step further by making music and dance out of it. So with a little rhythm, lots of high-energy movement and a touch of light comedy you can bash away on pretty much any household implement you can get your hands on and go on a world tour. If noise therapy catches on, I wanna sign up too!

Edited:
We went to the TP petanque courts this afternoon where Anthony and the other 2 members of the Women's team coached June through her first petanque experience. June was such a serious student. I could see her really focusing hard on her targets and trying so hard to get the flow of her throw right. Later, they tried her out as a pointer in a couple of games where she did pretty well for a first timer.

Nice that June's learning a new sport that we can play with each other, one probably not as expensive as bowling either. Haha.

We were at the courts until quite late then eventually broke for dinner. Anthony and Wendy introduced us to Blooies, an essentially expat hangout place in Siglap. The place was full of Ang-mo types having a good time, most of whom were ignoring the Man U game on the TV, preferring to focus on their own conversations.

We were there for the food so June ordered the black pepper chicken as recommended by the rather frazzled-looking wait staff. From the fragments June offered me from her plate I could tell that the chicken was delightful. Tender and juicy and flavourful , and so fresh too. Likewise my mussel penne in tomato sauce. Lovely. I'd like to know which brand of ginger ale they served. It was sweet and not as dry as it usually is. That was a nice surprise 'cos given a choice I'd go for ginger beer (for the smoothness) rather than ale.

Celine and CW joined us a little later for coffee, chat and gossip. CW let us gawk at his Jazz in the parking lot. He'd recently installed a new grille, adding on to the other mods that supposedly "improve fuel consumption" -- aerodynamic fins and a bloated exhaust pipe, for example -- and other more cosmetic enhancements as well. He's a seriously "poisoned*" dude.

Blooies is one more dog-friendly place we can add to our list. Next time lah, ok, Q-tip?

*Term describing someone with car-upgrade mania.

Finally got to see the inside of a doctor's consultation room after nearly 2 years of being in the pink of health. Well, a dirty-pinkish shade, anyway.

Smashed my knee on the lanes during training on Tuesday -- way harder than usual -- and by yesterday my already knobbly kneecap developed an additional contour that looked a bit alarming. Left alone, there wasn't much pain but when I pressed my finger into it, it felt mushy and it bloody well hurt. Time to get it looked at by a professional.

June's office covers spouse's medical claims so I took the opportunity to make use of this fringe benefit at least once before the policy expires permanently. This meant going to an approved company doctor, and there are 3 or 4 in the Yishun area alone. I found one just behind the MRT station, in block 744.

The GP is a slightly elderly gentleman who is very talkative and detailed in explaining all the possible injuries my knee could have sustained. After various leg extensions and rotations on the examination table, he confirmed that since I still had full movement in the joint, the injury was thankfully locallized to the patella and that the swelling and pain should subside within a week, given rest.

Got from him a painkiller, and anti-inflammatory and a gel-ointment (external application only). No permanent damage, then. Phew.

Edit 01:
Since I was on medical leave, I arranged to meet Vince to get my stack of essays to be marked over the weekend. At the same time, I took Mimi and Q-tip along for an afternoon outing. We met at East Coast Park, which Vince said was a good place to get an afternoon's quota of marking done.

And so it was that me, 2 dogs, Vince, Anthony, Weng and Amy ended up on the beach. First, we had lunch at the Beach Hut (sorry to say, but the food wasn't very good); then casting our cares and scripts aside, played petanque instead. Ahhh, rest... just what the doctor ordered.

Lovely, lazy afternoon. Thanks for the company, y'all!

Today's the day the promo papers begin. All the work we've been putting in this year now culminates in this one big push to the half-way mark. And another giant pile of marking awaits me now -- all essays -- and a slightly more than 2 week deadline hangs over my head. My best wishes to all my students, and I hope to see you all continuing the work in year 2.

Today's also the last day of the bowling league. Amy got blooded after all, Anthony deciding not to change the arrangement we made for last week and letting her bowl in his place. Because of this historic moment, NBS and HP came along ostensibly to form Amy's cheerleading squad. But the game became too long-drawn and repetitive for them, so eventually they disappeared to watch TV instead. Nevertheless, NBS did stay out with us past pumpkin-time, and this will be a fact Amy won't be letting us forget anytime soon. Yes, Amy, you win.

June was, of course, our most faithful supporter. She stayed through good throws and bad and even had to motivate Vince a bit during his execrable 1st game. Thankfully, he picked up in his subsequent games, as did Yee who was our best bowler tonight.

Me, I had a pretty decent 1st game, then slumped back down to average again, cock and lock notwithstanding. Bleh. So it wasn't quite the bang we were hoping to end the tournament with, but we had a great run and we've enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. Next year the trophies are OURS!

Yahoo! news: Poor_Have_Difficulty_Eating_Healthy_Foods

Here's a strange turnaround of events. In today's world, it's the poor who have a problem with obesity, and the ill-effects inherent therein.

Amazing that processed foods: the convenient, fast-to-cook, additive-enhanced, attractively packaged concoctions of mass production have become more affordable than fresh fruits and vegetables. Economies of scale are to blame for this, I suppose.

Worse still that the poor have to work so hard and for such long hours that they have no time to cook for their families either.

No $$$ + no time = eating junk & crap.

It's just so ironic then that the poor are now developing health problems once associated with the rich. Fat, prosperous bodies and diabetes (caused by too much intake of sugar, once considered a luxury product) seem to have been discarded by the rich who can afford to take care of their dietary health. And it's left to the poor to pick up the refuse, as usual.

So, how are you treating your body today?

"Cock" and "Lock." 2 words that I had all but forgotten over the last month in competition and in training. I had kept on diagnosing and re-diagnosing the problem I've been having with my wild throws: change standing position, change aiming point, change angle of attack, whatever... and almost every time, my throw will still go off in every which direction, and I have been pretty moody about it for a while already.

This evening's practice took me back to the basics. Pick standing position... centre self... focus eyes on target area... control breathing... COCK wrist... push-off (not too far)... walk up... swing back (also not too far)... genuflect... LOCK wrist on the downswing till release... point thumb at precise target area and follow through... let balancing arm do it's thing intuitively. 2 very simple steps in the procedure makes all the difference between a good throw and crap.

I followed this procedure on my last 2 practice games -- and scored a personal high of 209!!! Finally broke the 200 barrier, and earned a "clean game" and "high game" citation for my lane as well. Current mood: euphoric.

Team Manager, Amy, expressed concern about me peaking too early. The last game of the season is on Thursday and therefore a very bad time to slump again so, no. Must continue to focus, concentrate and not get complacent. Yes, ma'am, we'll end the season memorably!

Of course, the great tragedy about Thursday's game is that Amy won't be replacing Anthony after all. We thought the game was on last Thursday when Anthony was in Brussels, so Yee had got her all prepared with intensive training all week. But Anthony will be rejoining the team this week so the Gutter Boyz will still be together one last time this year. Amy's training hasn't been for nothing, though. She's since picked up her game to the 130s (give or take the occasional inconsistent 90+ games) and is still working hard to be a true contender. Maybe she'll consider joining us as a player next year? How 'bout it, ma'am?

We're in exam mode already. These 3 days are for the JC1's study break and the 1st paper begins Thursday. Between the JC1 and JC2 tutors, there's been a sudden role reversal since last week, and now we (JC1 tutors) have the more flexible timetable.

I'm taking the time between student consultations to read Phillips' "6 Questions of Socrates." It's slow going because it's a book I'm consuming in small chunks at a time. Though I haven't even made it past the 1st chapter so far, I find the duscussion groups Phillips organizes (and then writes about) to be quite fascinating. From culture to culture, people to people, he gathers a class-sized group together and asks them for their views on virtue/justice/moderation/good/courage/piety and lets the group just trash it out amongst themselves. Sometimes he asks for further clarification or some other leading question, but most of the time, the group members bounce ideas amongst themselves.

What's fascinating for me is that the participants range from the elderly wisened to the pimply teenaged, and so far it's been the younger crowd that seems the most vocal. 16-18 year-olds talking about the highest of human ideals, truly believing what they say and yet listening with open ears and hearts and minds in order to learn more from what the others have to say. Whether they're Greek or Navajo or Japanese the young have something to say about being human and aiming for the highest standards of human excellence, and they are neither afraid nor embarrased to say it.

The "lesson" goes in many different directions in quite an unstructured manner. The "teacher" (Phillips) doesn't actually control the discussion as much as he helps the group to uncover truth for themselves. Phillips doesn't have any answers to offer anyway.He's more interested in stimulating and sometimes provoking his discussion group to respond to the discussion.

Perhaps our biggest problem is in underestimating our kids. We don't actually engage them at this level. We feel they aren't "ready" to discuss such issues with us. Sometimes we don't even feel we're ready to discuss it with them either. Hope we get over our prejudices fast. Wonder what our kids might say, given such an opportunity?

To the owner of the SUV parked so inconsiderately at the egress of the Empress Place slip road turning out into Connaught this morning:

You caused a minor traffic jam along Empress because a tour bus could not find an angle to exit into Connaught despite many back-and-forth attempts by the bus driver. Traffic backed up to the end of the Asian Civilizations Museum and everyone grew increasingly irate at the blockage.

One-by-one, drivers abandoned their vehicles and walked towards your car to see what the problem was and how they could help the bus driver with his situation.

When enough people got together, they decided that it was more expedient to do something about it rather than wait upon your good graces to show up and drive off.

I would never have imagined that human hands could actually lift and drag a whole SUV aside, but I guess when coupled with adrenaline, an angry mob is not to be underestimated. Dear owner, in case you're wondering how your vehicle ended up parked on the sidewalk instead of on the road where you left it, the explanation is right here.

Please give more thought to where you park next time. Thank you.

Spent all of last night wiped out on the living room floor watching back-to-back episodes of ABC's "Lost." It's thanks to May's generousity that she's lent us her collection of this gripping TV series. I'm not surprised it won top drama honours at this year's Emmys.

The silliness of mysterious goings-on on the Island is just icing on the cake. The lead characters are strong, interesting people; and though their situation appears within the context of being marooned on a deserted island, the same situation could easily be duplicated in any other area of human interaction -- workplace or school, for example -- in which the same people come into contact with each other again and again over a prolonged period of time. It's the development of human relationships, the banding together of strangers for the common cause of survival despite the difficulties in communication between different cultures and their prejudices, and the so-human need to get out and explore the unknown that secured my eyeballs until um... sometime past midnight.

This evening, June came home fuming mad from the office. Bad day, apparently. Best way to cheer her up is to get her fed so we took Q-tip with us to Jerry's in Jalan Kayu for a bit of indulgence. Jerry's has built it's reputation on buffalo wings and they did not disappoint. 6 large wings, plump and tender and smothered in a hot sauce (your choice from 3 degrees of intensity). They make one heck of a mess on fingers and clothes, but that's to be expected from this kind of generosity.

June got herself a gorgeous filet mignon while I went for the ox-tail stew. Both of us for different reasons had ended up skipping lunch so by dinnertime we just needed to tear into meat with our teeth and claws. No apologies for our carnivorous behaviour. So there.

Sated, we dropped Q-tip back off at home the went to catch a movie. Not much to choose from this week so we ended up with Jackie Chan's "The Myth." Guess it was good that we didn't have any expectations for it. We tended to be more forgiving that way.

A present-day archaeologist, Jack (how original), has recurring dreams of himself as a Qin Dynasty general whose duty it is to escort the Emperor's new concubine back to the palace, but through the trials and tribulations of the journey, falls in love with her instead. Complications arise when Jack's friend, William, takes advantage of these dreams to send him tomb-raiding across Asia in search of the truth while reaping the spoils of each foray for himself. The scenes bounce between the present and the past as Jack's memory slowly reveals itself, though sometimes the movie gets a bit rambling, losing focus as stunt after stunt, fight after fight pile on.

What I thought was the highlight of the movie was a priceless scene in which Chan fights 2 Indian policemen and 1 fanatic religious devotee on a conveyor belt that has super-adhesive qualities. At the same time, his gorgeous Bollywood co-star is caught literally in this sticky situation and both she and Chan have to perform a strip-tease in order to escape. Heh heh.

The premise behind the closing scenes sounds a bit hokey, but it does set up the zero-gravity fight scene as well. Yes, Chan makes strange films.