Getting real with fitness

Sneaking off to the fitness club with Jojo wasn't such a big secret rendezvous thing after all. Kids caught us at the parking lot so our exit from campus wasn't as discreet as it could have been. Didn't want to spend the time explaining that we were trying to do something to rectify the state of our deteriorating health. Told them we were 'busy'. Let them start rumours if they want.

Didn't have as much trouble with our low-impact stretch-and-tone class after all. Working out on the Wii already taught me the basic movements and gave me enough flexibility and balance to keep up. But the class provided a social environment in which you can't be lazy and cut corners on movements, and a responsive instructor to make minor adjustments on form which the Wii is still technologically incapable of as yet.

June wants me to help her with what I've learned so far, but in the comfort of our own living room. Time to dust off the Wii and see if that helps her get started. I'll provide the social environment and let the virtual instructor conduct the workout.

Thunderous

Came home to one of the worst thunderstorms I've ever experienced. Lightning flashed continuously, thunder came in unending rolls. The cats were nowhere to be found, Q-tip ran back and forth across the floor in a panic, and all the electricity in the air tripped the fusebox, leaving us all in the dark. The video (above) is nothing more than a short sample of the thunderous noise driving Q-tip nuts. Just imagine all that going on for about 30 minutes at least, and me with nothing to do but marvel at nature's fury.

In the midst of the storm, I had to abandon Q-tip. Had an appointment with my fitness club instructor and finally got a full workout. No drama this time. I survived all his machines of torture and got rewarded with a great stretching cool down. As I stretched, he applied pressure. Together, we managed to pop my spine in several places -- something I hadn't been able to do for some weeks now. That felt great! Reason enough to make a return trip next week. Spinal alignment... mmm!

Have faith, World Cup viewers

S'poreans worried that they will miss out on televised 'live' World Cup matches this year need fret no more. The Acting Minister of ICA is confident FIFA will be reasonable about their demands because we offer such an important market for viewership in this region. As this Minister himself has said so, I absolutely believe it. His name, Lui Tuc kYew, (which translates as "money for football") practically guarantees it already.

Now we are 6

Off-Duty Ed is 6 years old today! 6 years soldiering on with a platform that's fast becoming passe. Micro-blogging's the in-thing now. Nobody reads longish posts any more. And there's less and less time being spent off-duty too.

So to celebrate today's milestone I've put aside lesson prep, essay grading, lecture research, and worries about drama "Sectionals" and Drama Night in favour of vegging out in front of the TV. NCIS:LA and CSI: woo-hoo! Rest of the evening spent collapsed, asleep on the floor. A pre-nap before bedtime.

Why attending assembly talks is compulsory

It's great that there are vendors who give assembly talks on current issues like "cyber-wellness". It's important that the kids learn to protect themselves online, where problems like privacy invasion, identity theft, viral infections and personal harassment are all too easily encountered and can be a real pain-in-the-a** to say the least.

These are 21st century skills we are talking about, dealing with a medium our society is increasingly becoming dependent upon, so by all means provide the necessary instruction to our kids. But for heaven's sake, can we please engage a vendor who actually knows -- and uses -- the Internet as a daily tool for life and not some obnoxious Luddite who sits longer on his moral high horse than at his keyboard, going tsk tsk, and shaking his head at the world passing him by?

His talk and the videos he showed were excruciating to sit through. The first was about moral choices we make in choosing subject matter to blog on. Fine, you know: don't insult others, be sensitive to their feelings... otherwise they will commit suicide and you'll get in trouble with the Principal. O_o The second was about how playing online games turns gamers into violent, obsessive mental patients with bad American accents. Honestly, the acting in these videos would make Bolo Santosi look like an Oscar contender.

Actually, considering the religious source behind this material, I'm not surprised by the quality of the message. The amount of demonizing going on in both the criticism of the medium and in the portrayal of its effects on its consumers was laughably unbelievable.

Herein lies the problem: I agree you have an important topic to broach with the kids, but if you're going to grab their attention, you'll have to respect them as an intelligent audience. Talk to them about real problems of an everyday nature, not try to frighten them with exceptional case studies (trust me, they aren't scared in the least). Show them practical skills for self-defence, not make them swear off the computer forever (trust me, they won't). And don't be a clown when you deliver your material. Humour is good, but only if it is the vehicle for the message and not for the messenger. As for today's speaker, if the medium was the message, we were sadly not impressed.

In the spotlight

Had to stand-in for missing actors during today's rehearsal. I thought I knew the script quite well already but once in the spotlight I realized just how much I'm asking of the kids. Apart from line and stage direction memory, there's also timing and coordination with the other actors on stage. That's a lot of pressure and I can only say that I'm glad I was just a stand-in.

Truly, my time in the spotlight is over and it's the kids' turn now. My job now is to ensure that the lights shining on them are indeed spotlights they can sing and dance in, and not headlights to freeze in front of.

Ended rehearsal once again too late to join my fitness class though I had intended to finally make a start. Darn it! Made up for it with cheesecake from NYDC. :(

One month to curtain

The days of long nights begins as we're only a month away from curtain. Never felt so underprepared before. Usually by this time, there's at least a sense of what the show is going to sort of look like, but this year all I can see are fragments with edges still needing rounding-off if they're going to fit together.

Not about to panic just yet. Each day, each rehearsal, brings new and interesting developments to our little story. I think we have an awesome narrative, but to pull it off we're going to have to work doubly hard from now. A comedy is that much more demanding to do right.

Mel and I had dinner at Arbite in Gardens after rehearsal. Quite a cool little place with its whitewashed walls randomly studded with colourful Lego bricks. Quite homely, if you're into modern urban-style homeliness. Not too many tables so it's comfortable and not likely to be noisy. The living room area is a nice touch; gives me the feeling that we are welcome to take our time over our meal and not have to hurry off too soon.

The menu looks generally light and healthy. The salad came in a basin, greens fresh and crispy though the vinaigrette dressing was a little sweeter than I expected. The pork stew I ordered came in another basin and a side roll. It was the consistency of a vegetable soup with pork bits -- just what I was looking for. I didn't need to stuff myself. I wanted comfort food and what I got didn't disappoint.

Finished off with the last piece of carrot cake in the display rack. Me and I appreciated the generosity with which the raisins were packed in the cake. Went well with the tea and the shop talk that we had to get through. Yes, it was a business dinner, after all.

Drizzly tempest

Took kids to watch "The Tempest" by The Bridge Project. Mel wanted so badly for the kids to like their first experience watching Shakespeare performed 'live', but was disappointed that this version didn't quite capture their imaginations.

I will say the play had its moments -- lots of them. The comedy was spot-on with timing and characterization, the romance scenes were sweet, the evil plotting scenes were clearly sinister and I enjoyed them all. But the exposition scenes somehow didn't have the same level of energy in them. I know I nodded off from time to time because despite the fact that these scenes are meant to glue all the different elements of this difficult play together, the audience shouldn't be made to feel like they're watching the glue dry.

For me, I saw this production as a collection of brilliant vignettes that were related more or less sequentially, but missing a powerful thread that ties them all together coherently.

But knowing the state I'm in healthwise, I also knew my fatigue would kick in at some point and I was expecting to knock out occasionally. So I wasn't really looking for a coherent story as Mel was.

I was there to steal ideas for tech and staging, and I was not disappointed. It was a large stage divided in half such that upstage was completely flooded with maybe a half-inch of water, downstage was completely dry. Upstage served as the holding area for the actors who were not involved in the scene being played out downstage. They sat on a chair each, immobile, lights down, but because of their proximity to the play area they were ready to go when they were needed.

Downstage, the play area focused on a central circular sand pit. A fantastic device it was for representing the world, an external location, the spirit realm, the concepts of reality and imagination, and an external location observed from an internal location like images in a crystal ball in a fortune-teller's tent. So versatile!

The presence of 'live' music and hand-crafted on-the-spot sound effects reminded me of MU days. The music was haunting and really added to the organic nature of the magic that was supposed to weave through the whole play.

So yes, there were many magical elements that the play offered, lots of promise of thunder and wonder to be wielded by a skilled and powerful wizard inspiring shock and awe in the audience. But what came out in the end was somewhat more understated. The pace and skill perhaps, of a gardener tending the rhododendrons rather than Gandalf in mortal combat against the Balrog. What it could have been.

Doctor's advice

Did you know that MtE has a lift operated car parking system? It was quite a novelty to wait in a designated location while a parking attendant hails an elevator car for you to drive into. He selects a floor with a vacant lot, then up you go to find it. The thrill, of course, in in negotiating M2 into this narrow box. Traversing two speed bumps tells you that's far enough, the door can shut behind you now. M2 is quite a small vehicle and I'm feeling the claustrophobia already. Wonder how the Benzes do it?

I was at MtE for a review of my health condition. Dr TB recommended to wean me off the meds which is a good sign. Even better, he thinks exercise will do me good, so I can put my fitness club membership to use again. I still left with a fistful of pharmaceuticals (an over-the-counter prescription drug and a top-up for my inhaler) and a big hole in my pocket. -- about as big as when I take the pets to the vet anyway. Figure I should be worth as much. Yes, Q-tip?

Not epic

Harryhausen did a fantastic smack-bang job with his stop-motion version of "Clash of the Titans". Today's CGI version was a total washout in comparison to it's classic(al) counterpart. "Clash (2010)" went for a darker, angstier narrative -- which is usually promising -- but for a story of these purported proportions it didn't quite work.

Dark means that the screen literally went dark with lots of shadows and blues, greys and blacks. I don't know if this was the effect of the 3D glasses we were wearing but I'd readily trade in the illusion of depth perception for a richer palatte of colours.

There's little point going all dark and moody if the characters are people no one cares about. It could have been Perseus and the Argonauts, a team effort coordinating different strengths to take down a common foe; but it was more like Perseus and the practically-anonymous bunch of tough-looking guys that died easily. Before we could get to know them and even start to recognize them by face, they've already hit the dirt like just another red-shirted Star Trek security detail.

Problem is, the whole thing is almost entirely from Perseus' teenage 'why-me' whiny perspective. It's a fantasy of laying the smack-down on everyone who's ever pissed you off, at first resisting then finally accepting all the deus ex-machina devices that've been conveniently provided along the way. That's just too easy and does little to develop him as a character much.

This narrative simply went for the central plot and doggedly remained there. No back-stories for the supporting characters, very little build-up to the next epic encounter, the whole mission undertaken with the efficiency of an audit check and about as entertaining. There was very little humour (except a perfunctory dig at the useless robot owl of the original version), and as such very little joy in the telling of this tale. Not fun at all.

When you set out to recreate a movie of this scale, this grandeur, but condense it into a series of tightly cut scenes that keep such sharp focus on the main through-line all the time, I'm sorry but you cannot expect to call it "Clash of the Titans" again and get away with it. That name has already been taken. Instead, try "Mash of the Tightened", that might have worked better.

Staying sane

Hell would be like being under house arrest and having the cable TV go on the fritz. Looks like the power cable has shorted out and the box has gone silent. Arrgh!

Thankfully, God has seen fit to bless us with broadband too! Phew!

Confined

Confined to barracks. Drugged and isolated. Maybe I'm getting the vacation I was asking for after all.

Oh, just had a thought. For a specialist in respiratory problems, mine has unfortunate initials: TB. lol.

One lungful of air

Sometimes, you can be grateful for just one lungful of air. My mysterious ailment is upon me again, though never as seriously as it struck during the last couple of nights. The tightness of chest and the wheezing kept me up practically all night. In the last 48 hours, I barely managed maybe 4 hours of sleep.

Moved treatment up a notch from the usual GP consult. Went to see Jojo's specialist today at MtE. A session with his nebulizer did wonders for me, but over the next two weeks I'll be taking steroids to increase air-flow through the tubes, decongestants and a thrice-daily inhalant.

Causes? He went through a checklist of possibles, but nothing rang a bell except family history which could fit at a stretch, I suppose.

So apart from medicating myself silly I'll be watching my diet -- there's a list of all the good stuff I should be avoiding -- and no physical exercise for the time being.

As always, it's a bad time to be on medical leave.

Cosmic recall

Cool! Cosmic rays may be the reason why so many Toyota vehicles have been recalled recently. But we won't know for sure until they suddenly become rubbery and stretchable, or spontaneously combust, or develop a rocky, orange epidermal layer, or if the warranty goes completely invisible. Looks like Toyota might have inadvertently discovered how to create the world's first fantasticar! Is it powered by Hybrid System? ("Of course!")

Deliver-me fails to deliver

So much for our fifteen minutes of fame on Middle Eastern TV. Camera crew only arrived today and can only start filming this coming Tuesday. Some of us have to work for a living, so no go. Oh well.

A drama Saturday

Mengs and I were at SPoly in the morning attending a dialogue session about Arts Education in schools. It was quite useful listening to other schools share their aesthetics programmes with us. If we are working something similar for ourselves, the groundwork has to start now.

Integrating the four separate drama groups into a coherent college-wide plan should make resource allocation more efficient, but more importantly it would bring in the minority groups -- which are currently operating like drifting satellites -- back into the fold. There's a lot we could learn from each other but because of our discreet programmes we've not been even thinking about coming together to offer a more streamlined, focused and purposeful approach that would benefit the college as a whole. That would be a start anyway.

But the highlight of the morning was the rescue of a little terrier that was clearly lost and panicking on Dover Road tailed by a patient bus driver who gave him a chance to run into the SP parking lot, out of harm's way. I quickly parked and set off with Mengs in tow to look for the little fella. I soon had him in my arms and fortunately he was tagged with his name, address and a phone number which I got Mengs to call. Turned out Netty's owner lived just across the road. It took only a couple of minutes for her to meet us where we were and reclaim her wayward doggie.

My vision of a tearful reunion between a little girl and her lost dog were dashed instantly. The owner (a cute, young expat lady) didn't even know Netty had gone missing and was surprised to hear her dog reported as such. Oh well, at least we averted an unnecessary tragedy for both owner and dog.

Drama rehearsals in the afternoon. RodO came back with a completely rewritten ending to his earlier script. The comedy that we once had has now taken on more serious overtones. Wonder what P is going to make of Drama Night now with all the morbidity and mayhem going on when he was expressly looking forward to laughing his head off the whole night. Um... no answers about that right now.

Evening we went to exercise our new membership rights. Our trainers took us on an intro tour of the different weight machines and ran some preliminary tests on our fitness levels. After the tests and the first two machine stations, Uncle here found himself flat on his back staring at several anxious faces and the flourescent light overhead. My heart is so weak, blood wasn't going into my brain after even that initial exertion.

So now apart from paying for membership, I'm also paying for a personal instructor to help design my body back into shape -- in the personal fitness sense, not the yummylicious vanity sense. Best to take care of the ol' ticker now while I still can, not wait until it's too late to do anything about it. And since I've put down quite a pretty penny on the whole thing, that in itself is the motivation to keep going. Hmm... maybe I can make a claim with the company to subsidise my expenses...? No harm asking.

White Cloud Gang comes to town

Tonight was the annual meeting of Our White Cloud Gang. A sordid, crime-ridden affair it was. We witnessed a Kafka-esque human-to-mouse metamorphosis as the result of a series of betrayals. In the second half, there were several vignettes of other forms of crime such as (deep breath...) gun-running, slave trading (or maid hiring, I couldn't really tell), drug trafficking, sexual harassment, gambling, organized charity, all montaged together from the point of view of a tourist seeing the less touristy parts of town... or a channel surfer clicking through the TV Guide at random (I really couldn't tell).

This year I was unexpectedly bereft of subtitles, so the above was what I could surmise from interpreting movement and set, but the dialogue was way too inaccessible to make sense of, given my grasp of the language. But I guess that was the main problem I had with the proceedings. Everything else seemed to work well: music, dance, costumes, lighting and white-face makeup. Most of all, over the years, they finally learned the value of brisk, precise scene-changing avoiding long blackouts.

One thing I got quite annoyed with was the audience. The house was buzzing with a constant low rumble of distracted chatting. Looking ahead to our own Drama Night, it looks like we'll be facing a similar tough crowd that will not be quiet unless what's going onstage can truly catch its attention and hold it throughout.

A challenge, then!

Such drama

Wow!Pow!Bow! is starting to take shape. We have three short plays so far. Two are angst-ridden teen tearjerkers. The third is a farcical spy movie spoof. Still on the lookout for a couple more plays that might lend a little balance to the evening -- otherwise P's apprehensions might come true: as in every competition year, Drama Night 2010 will be yet another dramatic, dreary, and depressing affair. Competitions seem to bring out the intensity of our deeply buried emotions. Maybe we could benefit from the therapy?

Fortunately, our main feature is an absurdist comedy, heavily adapted from an existing Japanese script with lots of opportunities to exploit for gags galore. But "funny" depends on timing and delivery, and we're making the kids work really hard on that. Comedy is serious business as the kids are finding out right now.

But anyway, it's been good to work with RodO. I can see the gags and I can choreograph them into the blocking, but he knows how to realize them onstage and make them work. It will help a lot when the kids get their scripts out of their hands. When they stop worrying about their lines and stage directions, then we can work on the polish. The sooner, the better.

There's nothing better than ice cream

There's nothing better than ice cream. Except free ice cream! Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's.

Free ice cream was a fantastic prelude to my new fitness routine which I decided would begin today. June and I were going to ask for a free trial class in low-impact callisthenics, but we had such a long chat with the manager of the establishment that the class started without us. We could only content ourselves with staring at the fully-packed dance studio and gape at the speed at which the students were going through their motions.

Undeterred, I signed up for a package anyway, postponing class till the weekend. We're determined to arrive earlier next time. So much for today's fitness routine. We chomped on Kenny Roger's chix and ribs immediately after our most intense ocular workout. What an auspicious beginning to the first day of taking care of our health.

Dropped in on kid bro at the hospital later. He's been in this past weekend with a fever and irregularities in his blood count. He's already been run through a battery of tests but nothing conclusive so far. When we met him this evening, he was lounging around in the hospital Starbucks looking none the worse for wear. So far, the professional advice he's been getting is to watch his diet. Guess there's nothing to worry too much over for now.

Gift of fish

It's the third week and back to Gift of Love with a new dish to thrill the palates of the aged sick. Actually, it was all June's show today, cooking up a fish curry that drew rave reviews from the crowd. While she was soaking up the adoration, I was back at M2 feverishly grading essays in time for Term 2.

And that pretty sums up the events of this week. Usually, I find ways and means to make the most of the mid-term break. This week, however, was one agenda item after another and I still haven't got everything done that I needed to do.

I doubt I'm alone feeling like this. Everyone I know is scrambling for some deadline or another; everyone is thankful for the week's break because it's a fantastic opportunity to get work done without being interrupted by the normal workday chaos of term time.

Everybody, chorus with me, "I need a vacation...!" OK, enough self-indulgence. Back to work!