Oh, that special feeling

I wonder if Elgar Lee who wants his citizenship to "feel special" remembers what it really feels like to be at home?

Nobody "feels special" when they're at home. Parents yell at each other and at the kids. Elder siblings yell at younger siblings, then lock themselves up in their rooms to feel unloved and unwanted. Small children are always getting underfoot, grandparents always getting in the way. Home is where the chores are, where we wash our dishes and underwear alike, sometimes in the same sink. How glam is that? We pick up after ourselves if we want a clean, orderly environment to live in. At home we dress down, slouch, burp and f*rt in front of the TV (and each other). That's home: the one place in the world where we can be ourselves and NOT have to be special though the rest of the world demands it from us.

It's home because despite our differences, family is still family. We can fight each other all the time, but whomever else threatens one of us threatens all of us. It's home because without that piece of land or concrete or dirt to stand on, we have nothing else and we have nowhere else to go. In no way does the land need to be special, nor do we have to be special to stand on it. Like it or not, it just happens to be ours. Does Mr Lee have anywhere else to call home? No? Then home is here. How special does he feel now?

If Mr Lee takes issue with having to defend his home, then who else is going to defend it for him? It is sometimes said that because of National Service our boys feel like second-class citizens. O persons of impaired judgement! Only first-class citizens will defend their home because they have something to defend. Second-class citizens either have somewhere else to call "home", or defence doesn't matter to them one way or another because they have no home to begin with.

At home, traditionally, the only ones who should feel special are our visitors. Because they DON'T belong, we treat them with extra care to make them feel welcome. We pay special attention to their comfort, to see to their needs, and defer our needs to suit their convenience. We do what we can to make them leave with a good impression of us. That's basic hospitality, and it's especially important to be hospitable with friends, neighbours and even strangers, when we know we won't last long in a tough neighbourhood without their goodwill. And even if this wasn't the case, it's still how well-bred people treat one another.

But S'pore has come such a long way that we might just have forgotten the realities of home. We feel special now that we have a maid to boss around and do all the things we are supposed to be doing for ourselves at home. We feel special when we have someone at home calling us "Sir" or "Mam", and we can just put our feet on the coffee table and enjoy instant-home, where everything we need or want appears like magic (though we hardly give a toss about the human cost behind the magic). We feel special when our parents put us precious little darlings on a pedestal because they don't know how to keep us quiet otherwise love us so much.

We know we've had it too good for too long when we want to "feel special" in our own home.

The new buzz

After nearly six years of faithful service, my el cheapo no-name-brand PC 4.1 speaker set finally bit the dust. Lately, it developed an incessant buzzing noise that grew louder and louder with repeated use. I tried to live with it for the past couple of months. Sometimes, smacking the boom box helped quiet it somewhat; but now no amount of abuse will keep the peace any longer. The buzz has grown so loud I don't hear what I'm supposed to hear from the speakers any more. It's a goner.

Time to fork out a little disposable income. I settled for this Altec Lansing VS2721. 2.1 speakers means less cabling entanglement in the back. That little gadget in the middle puts volume control on a big handy knob right at my fingertips. Though I feel the sub-woofer doesn't give as solid a bass boost as a comparable Creative model, I'm learning to love hearing all the digital subtleties in my music and games that were swept under the carpet by the old speakers. Voices are clean, as are individual instruments -- and even their relative spatial locations can be imagined if I close my eyes. Battle noises in ME3 come out layered , as if things are happening around me beyond my immediate field of vision. Sweet!

Once again, I'm no audiophile and because of what I was used to listening to, I'm easily impressed by what I have now.

Old salt tale

Hear-tell some of our fellow deck-hands who jumped ship to work on the new luxury liner are jumping off again to parts unknown. Guess t'wasn't quite the Caribbean cruise they thought t'was going to be, eh? I'm not saying this to gloat, however. It's a tough life swabbing decks, no matter which bark ye be sailing. These days, it feels like we're swabbing twice as hard to get the deck only half as clean. T'is enough to make an old salt go, "Arrrgh!"

Cat got your tongue

Time for another interlude accompanied by random cat portraits:

Alert and slightly annoyed at the intrusion of the paparazzi interrupting naptime.

 A scandalously intimate moment caught on camera.

 What? I've done nothing to be ashamed of.

Best budget buffet in town

This looks like a promising start to a great all-you-can-eat dinner to celebrate a very special family occasion. And since it was a really special family event, we weren't sure what to expect when we took a chance on this rather dubiously named "Buffet Town".

Personal prejudice made us think it might have just served cheap food-for-the-mass-market, where quantity counted for more than quality. But the promotional bumph looked good as did the picture on the big poster in Raffles City, and the location was conveniently central; and since we were stuck for other novel places to eat at, we settled for this one.

Good thing we made our reservation a week early! The place was full up even before 1900 hrs. People were already being turned away at the door when our party arrived.

The variety of food choices is probably why so many hopefuls with no reservations were crowding the door waiting for no-shows. There's the fresh seafood section where the oysters in the pix are shucked on-the-spot and put on ice in front of the diner's eager tongs, along with an array of scallops, mussels, prawns, fleshy flower and slipper crabs. Japanese sashimi/sushi, also very fresh, is in the next section. Of course, both sections very popular among the dining crowd.

Today's roast was a gorgeous fatty cut of lamb. No gravy but amply accompanied by mint sauce and horseradish (help yourself, please), washed down with a rich, buttery wild mushroom soup. Because this week's special was salmon, salmon appeared nearly everywhere: as a whole baked salmon, salmon in cream sauce, salmon skewered on a grill, chopped salmon in an avocado cup, and possibly other salmon options that went beyond my notice.

Ignored the pasta, salad, and local street food sections -- and even the chilli crab(!) -- 'cos there's no point filling up on easily available food when there's so many more exotic things to stuff our faces with. There's even a challenge to name a dish that isn't on the menu and it will be prepared to your satisfaction. No that any of us tried. 'cos we sorely lacked imagination at that point.

For dessert the main draw was the pancakes and waffles that went with banana fritters and ice-cream (yay!), but there were also the usual dainties and fruit (nah!). The drinks selection was equally wide, offering both carbonated and non-carbonated pop, soy bean milk... and a kopi tiam for local variations on coffee and tea.

From my party, people are already planning to make a return trip to celebrate upcoming birthdays, and whatever. I'd say Buffet Town offers a selection of good food at decent prices. Above all, the parents are happy with the choice of venue which makes tonight's feasting and revelry a success. :)

A moment of calm at the Colbar

A calendar mix-up sent me scrambling to head office for a meeting. Actually, the calendar was marked correctly; the mix-up was in my own scrambled noggin.

The good thing about head office is its proximity to good lunch places. The Colbar always scores high for ambiance and rustic charm. And good, down-to-earth, Hainanese-English pub-grub.

Understand that food like this is cooked the way Gran would have done it at home, if she were still here with us. Apart for the obvious nostalgia, this food has the taste of simpler times and an easier pace of life. There was even some time left for a quick leisurely read before moving on to more work-a-day concerns.

Making my mark

There must be an award I should be eligible for, considering the marathon marking event I've been engaged in over the last week culminating in a grand marking fiesta on the weekend. Deadline was today. Challenge accepted and met! And already the new stack is sitting on my desk, giving me the eye...

NO. Tonight, I sleep.

Fighting fire with a flamethrower

S'pore's vigilante justice triumphs as a Chinese scholar takes a whole bunch of penalties for a careless, emotional outburst online. In an instance of fighting a matchstick with a flamethrower, there are even a couple of [those whom I shall respectfully address as] commentators who argue that the penalties are not harsh enough, blah, blah.

While it is true that the scholar's online rant was 'improper, insensitive and disrespectful to the community' and did, indeed, '[stir] up considerable unease, distrust and ill-will within and beyond the university community', the latter bit was due in no small part to the overly sensitive, easily-provoked, thin-skinned nature of an insecure yet belligerently vocal community that will not stand for the slightest criticism.

(This is also likely to be the same community that criticizes its government for being unable to take criticism. Hence the community is but a reflection of its government, but anyway...)

It's a double standard that our active netizenry will take any opportunity to post all kinds of unflattering criticism at anything and anyone, but when someone dares to say something against us, the pitchforks and torches all come out to celebrate a good lynch party.

For a slight, we will extract vengeance to the full extent of whichever law we can bring to bear on the case. Because of a misplaced word we will take the opportunity to burn an effigy in protest of our sad, miserable, deprived existence, and to decry all the misfortunes we have been cursed with living on this tiny dot of an island. Too bad if our straw man also happens to be a real human being, albeit with a foul mouth and a quick posting finger.

Who cares about the ISA looking over our shoulders ready to detain us for inciting violence or causing inter-ethnic or religious tensions? The local neighbourhood watch is an even bigger threat to our freedom of online speech.

Too punishing for apples

Recently, the kids were considering the question about the acceptability of implementing extremely harsh punishments (EHPs for short) to combat crime. One of the points I asked them to think about was about how EHPs affect how people function in society.

Read: Steve Wozniak: Apple couldn't emerge in Singapore

According to Woz, the intolerance of 'bad behaviour' (wrt the perception that harsh punishment is the expected result of such) prevents people from realizing their creative potential. As a result, great talents do not arise from among our people, let alone market drivers such as Apple.

The Woz has a point. If a people works to avoid punishment, they are a people that are afraid to take chances, to experiment with new ideas, to "think different" (as was Apple's motto in 2007). Instead, it is in our interest to keep the status quo, and to achieve success by replicating the success stories of our more illustrious predecessors rather than craft success stories of our own. Sadly our best examples of successful people are bureaucrats and property tycoons. Not an apple among the lot.

By the way, it isn't just about EHPs applied legally in a top-down manner, but because that is the system the people have become used to, they apply EHPs horizontally as well. People punish each other for slights, hurts and errors because punishment is the only means of redress that they perceive is open to them. EHPs also apply internally as people punish themselves hard too, for failing to meet their own expectations.

Fear of punishment makes us give up easily, usually at the first sign of failure. Neither Rome nor Apple was built in a day, yet that's what we expect of ourselves.

We have a very safe and secure society, and that has a lot to do with our laws which promise harsh punishment for wrongdoing. But we'll just have to be content that while we live in a sheltered orchard, we'll never grow our own apples.

Driven to austerity

Here I am looking at cars I can't afford. As it stands, what car can I afford? With the COE breaching $80k, the cost of my current ride has more than doubled what I paid for it around three years ago.

And that explains why I'm at the service centre. It's time for M2's mandatory Authority prescribed roadworthiness inspection, and I'm getting the necessary adjustments done beforehand.

So far that's already cost me pre-service inspection, car battery replacement, transport to inspection venue and inspection fees. o_0

And seeing how car prices have gone beyond the pale, I went ahead to extend my warranty for another two years. Better to pay a four-figure sum for replaceable parts now than a six-figure sum for a total replacement in a couple of years' time. Don't know if my math is sound, but I paid it anyway.

And that's not all: another four-figure sum is due on renewing auto insurance for this year, and that's even before they let me pay my road tax.

Looks like another austerity drive is on the cards...

Tea to lose your head over

Special occasion! The 'A' stands for 'Antoinette', as in Marie 'Let them eat cake'. It's a little place just off Lavender Street. Ambiance is cosy and intimate, with small tables for an afternoon of sipping tea and picking at pastries.

 But since it's more than tea and cakes we're looking for, we start with the salad Antoinette. There's so much crab meat in here it feels sinful not to have to crack through crabshell to get at it.

My beef bourguignon. So tender and so full of cow fat! It could have clogged my arteries there and then, and I would have had a heart attack and died, and gone straight to heaven. Fortunately, I survived to counter-attack...

what remained of June's crepe Florentine. The pancake, ham and egg it was almost like having breakfast all over again. So good.

La piece de resistance, this beautiful jewel of a cake known as... Antoinette! Looks like it's solidly encased in a shiny hard candy shell, but that's just the glazing. It actually has an amazingly soft, mousse-like texture surrounding a slightly harder core of chocolate. The strange blob on top is a jelly capsule containing a sweet berry jam. Still, the entire confection was perfect; not too sweet; and this one tiny thing was sufficient dessert between the two of us. Earl grey d'Antoinette (what else?) a very easy-going tea to wash it all down.

Mmm... satisfaction to the max. :)

On the last day of spring break

On the last day of spring break, this is what the wife and I did:

Ate ourselves silly at Itacho. Don't be fooled, this little platter of sushi was just the appetizer.

Used up our last complimentary coupon for two to watch The Lorax which was an ok animation with catchy musical numbers, though I found it too overbearingly preachy and used cute animals to up the guilt factor to the point of exploitation.

We went shopping for new footwear to replace the wife's worn-out treads; and got a staff discount on a pair of berms to replace my embarrassingly holey ones.

And just when we thought we were all shopped out, the wife succumbs to the dark side. It wasn't difficult to fall, though, because the acolyte attending to her was so attentive it was like the wife was the only customer of the evening, though there were others waiting in the queue. I don't know if it is standard service provided by M1, but Ms Acolyte went to the extent of slowly and patiently applying the screen protector on both sides, making sure it stuck perfectly -- no dust particles, no air bubbles. Beautiful job!

That's what we do on the last day of spring break.

Mass Effect 3: the Reapers are here!

The galaxy faces the biggest ever threat to organic life, yet the disparate galactic races are more interested in tearing each other's faces off than deal with the mechanical menace of the Reapers. Once again, the human Spectre, Shepard, has to rally his troops and save the galaxy... but first he has to escape the burning wreck of his home planet, Earth.

The Mass Effect story is truly breathtaking in scope. It encompasses timelines counted in stellar cycles and the spatial breadth of the Milky Way. The enemies, the Reapers are each "skyscraper sized" and each requires a fleet of warships to bring down. There are thousands of Reapers actively harvesting the galaxy of organic life. Against such odds, it's surprising what one charmed person can do to salvage the situation. It's in the dogged determination of doing the smallest of things that may have the widest implications; "for want of a nail", as it were.

Among the smallest of things are Shepard scouring both shops and planets for spare parts to fix this and that here and there. Any advantage is better than no advantage against an enemy of this scale. Thankfully, that's not all he/she (player's choice) does. The Shepard's main mission is to unite the galactic races to join the common cause of ridding the galaxy of the Reapers once and for all.

The meat and potatoes of ME3, as with the previous installments, is the boots on the ground fighting in third-person. Whether against "indoctrinated" aliens or rouge human factions, you have the choice of fighting style which you build your Shepard to exploit. Whether it's up close and personal with melee or shotgun, or my preference of sniping heads off via a zoomed scope at a distance, the idea is to find cover (of which there is plenty) to hide behind while being shot at, and taking your shots as opportunity presents itself. At the same time, you have to guard against having your position flanked, which usually results in disaster.

You also have a choice of two squad members per operation from a range of possibles. It's best to mix strengths, preferred fighting styles and support powers in order to make the best use of coordinated attacks. And because teamwork is vital to survival, much of the game also involves a lot of talking and making nice with your colleagues on board your starship, Normandy II. Talk nice enough with one preferred crew member (comprising a jumble of human and alien races -- it's an equal opportunity starship) and there also appears the opportunity to start or rekindle an on-board romance. Emotions are universal... and apparently biology is too. Ahem.

And there is the heart of the Mass Effect franchise. The storytelling is emotionally involving, especially since choices and mistakes made in the previous two installments linger throughout and have an impact on #3. The name wall on the crew deck of the Normandy lists fallen comrades, and it's sobering to see how many familiar names appear there. It's a testament to the depth of the story when for nearly every name you can recall a backstory and also the circumstances of their demise.

And even in this last episode, the message rings home: in war, friends die. For Shepard, and for you the player, the objective is to minimize the casualty list, save as many as you can. Though often, the choice either isn't yours to make, or it's a choice you have to make.

ME is less of a game and more of an interactive theatrical experience. The animated actors deliver enough pathos to make you feel their hopes and anxieties and mourn their loss if it comes to that. The soundtrack is well-orchestrated to create the appropriate moods: stirring space battles or the piano solo that is so emotive when Shepard gets the "best seats in the house" while watching the Earth burn and waiting for the cavalry to arrive.

Since different choices lead down different paths, there are multiple endings to be experienced. Regardless, for my run, I believe I have experienced the most logical and satisfying one. It effectively guarantees that an ME4 is impossible, that the story has finally played itself out, and I can get back to my life again. Phew!

Content with Content but value in Values

The industry has set some new targets. We've been so focused on academic goals, it's time to bring back values. That's what I've been saying all along. In the practical sense, it's the way to go because what is abundant is cheap, and what is scarce is treasured. Today, Content (information/knowledge) is so abundant it's virtually free. What we've grown so scarce of is Values, and if we casually scan our immediate environment, it's clear how lacking we are in this basic human trait. So people who chase after Content, hoard it, and seek to capitalize on it are going to be disappointed in how little return they are going to get out of it. Those who will benefit most in the near future are those who have cultivated the right Values that can guide them in putting the freely abundant resource of Content to the best use.

By the way, I'm referring to Content and Values within the context of my pet subject, GP, hence I am looking at the issue as an academic working in the industry, not as a layman. Lately, campus has been looking to add value to our year-end results. Not that it hasn't been a preoccupation before, but now that our intake has been attracting increasingly better performing candidates, it's been getting harder to add value to our students year after year, since by their 'O's they are already doing well in their academic subjects.

It's difficult for us, especially, because we once had students who were happy enough to pass their 'A's; but now our students are aiming for top grades. Our strategies have to change, not in little increments any longer; we have to take bigger and bolder steps. I can only speak for my subject, so I will venture to examine how our grade rubrics work in order to suggest what else we might be doing to squeeze out that extra value to meet and exceed our new expectations.

Remember that there is little value in abundant resources and a much higher value in that which is scarce? Since Content is abundant to the max given our electronic information access and retrieval capabilities today, providing more Content for the kids to study adds little value to their learning. Content makes the difference between outright pass and fail, though, so there is still a bunch of students whom we must feed Content to and they must be content to just scrape through. But if we examine the GP rubric, the higher grades are attainable by exhibiting good judgement in evaluating Content knowledge based on strong moral principles backed up with logical reasoning, communicated clearly and succinctly to others.

If we're wondering how we have the time to 'cover' so much Content and so much skills training in the slightly less than two years that we have with each cohort, I say we up the emphasis on the skills we are lacking in and downplay Content teaching (what most people are so worried about) which is so abundant, it's valueless. After all, in grading GP papers for so many years, it's clear that depth of content does not gain additional marks but instead distracts the candidate from responding to the main question who then fails to show evidence of thinking, reasoning, evaluating and communicating, thus resulting in mediocre to near-fail grades.

Let's be assured that knowing a little about many 'topics' makes a candidate more flexible in dealing with the tough moral questions that he or she will face at the 'A's than a candidate with a lot of knowledge about only a few pet topics. A daily scan of the news as a personal habit is much more beneficial to a student, because it allows him or her to participate in the up-to-the-minute global conversation, than a topical content package that provides a false sense of security. Such packages are more for assuaging guilt than they are useful in training young minds to become global citizens of the 21st century.

Since the JC timeline is two years duration, I think the first year we should train the kids to source Content for themselves, that is to plug themselves into the daily flow of news, to observe patterns of human interaction and to identify people, concerns and events that repeat themselves over time. It's throwing them into the pool at the deep end. It'll be chaotic as they flail about, struggle, curse and complain but most will get the hang of it, while those who are seriously going under are the ones we are watching out for with the rubber ring.

Second year, we push the kids out more to exercise their moral judgement, critical thinking and communication skills as a natural follow-up from their previous experience. Second year is not the time for Content drilling any longer since (ideally) they have already immersed themselves in the ebb and flow of global information currency. What they need now is to be able to pick a point on the Content map and navigate their own way there, and this is going to require more kids getting involved in classroom interaction and less of teacher-talk which just eats into valuable training-time for the kids.

The reason why I've brought up this discussion on values education is because the industry, bless the top management, has clear and good intentions for the needs of our nation but, like the bureaucrats that they are, their only solution for encouraging schools to embark on Values education is to throw money at it. People have the wrong idea that Values education is a separate entity from Subject education. It's not. In fact, Values education is integral to subject mastery (at least it is for GP) and to reward it with money and certificates gives the very wrong impression that a person's values can be exploited for personal gain, and that values are used to differentiate people from one another instead of integrating everyone inclusively through the sharing of the same values in common with one another.

All the more so that we send out the right message of Values education because we are finding ourselves living in an increasingly diverse society, where tension between people groups is running alarmingly high.

Parking lot with a view

Dropped in on the lawyer who's handling the refinancing of our home loan. This is a periodic necessity as every couple of years or so, depending on the loan contract, the bank will increase the interest charged to a ridiculous level.

I don't know why it will do this because what happens is that we will go shopping around for another bank to take over the loan at a more reasonable rate. The formalities are now complete, and now we owe a new bank everything we have -- and everything we are likely to earn in this lifetime -- for the roof over our heads.

The pix represents the view from the parking lot of the lawyer's building. This is another exciting downtown parking facility, accessible only by car elevator. It costs only $5 per entry to park here from 1800 hrs to 2200 hrs on weekdays. Useful to know.

Sleep deprived

That was brilliant. After two straight nights of less than 4 hours sleep due to grading assignments, I overcompensate and have yet another less than 4 hour sleep entirely hooked on ME3.

Am a walking zombie right now... and I still have one more class to get through. Thankfully, I am prepped and ready to deliver. Afternoon classes are the worst to stay awake in, though. Urgh.

Will stick head in bin for food

Momo! I so did not raise you to be a dustbin cat! Just because the packaging we threw out still smells good doesn't mean that your dignity has to go out the window!

The other reason why I took this shot was because she reminded me of a raccoon foraging in the urban landscape. Can't think why.

Perforated pirate

I don't know what's up with Maui, but lately his favourite game is 'Pirate'. The rules: jump as high as possible on owner; climb up T-shirt; perch on shoulder; survey territory. If owner walks around, grab tight with claws and hold on for the ride, just like a pirate's parrot.

It was kinda' cute when he was a kitten, but now he's a full-grown tom. With his combined weight and adamantium talons, my home shirts have become well-ventilated; my epidermis well-lacerated. I'm even afraid of being ambushed in the dark now. It's happened before, stabbed in the back by my own cat.

Tonight, the feline identity crisis is getting both a manicure and a pedicure. Here, Maui-boy... come and get your nice treat...!

(Photo posed to simulate actual events. No animal was harmed in the posting of this entry).

Normandy ready for boarding

How lazy can one get? I'm not shopping for PC games anymore; not at the mall, anyway. I downloaded my copy of Mass Effect 3 N7 Deluxe Digital Edition direct off Origin, the online games manager EA is using these days.

Which is probably why the Challenger that used to be just down the road has packed up and disappeared. Brick-and-mortar, meet digital... wait, where are you going?


ME3 is now installed and ready to play (so much for Skyrim); but I'm still 24 hours off from the official launch date and the game's locked until then. No early preview for early birds, then? Feh!

24 hours left to complete grading all assignments! I'll never make it!!!

Plus one other thing; I believe I lost the save game I've been keeping over the past 2 installments! Not looking forward to starting with a clean slate all over again. *grumble, grumble...

Dinner with a friend

Dinner at PS Cafe with June's colleague who will soon be departing for England. On the menu we have a mixed grill assiette. Comprises a hunk of lovely fatty lamb, bratwurst sausage and a blackened king prawn served on a bed of zucchini, asparagus and ratatouille.

The yellowtail kingfish. The oozy green stuff is Romesco sauce which was probably there for the aesthetic 'cos it didn't do all that much to add to the flavour of the fish.

Just in case we didn't order enough to fill the three of us, we called in reinforcements in the form of this pork pie served with a side of couscous and a veggie kebab. It didn't matter that Jen was part-vegetarian; we finished the lot, garnish and all, including a side salad and a slice of carrot cake. Good? Yes, and we were hungry.

And here is the reason for our evening. I can say we had dinner with quite a remarkable lady in both intelligence and life experience. Retirement for her simply means an opportunity to dump the corporate world and try her hand at something meaningful, like education.