Tuesday, April 29, 2003. Sighs at 07:54 p.m.

Aren't women fickle? She kicked up a big fuss and asked me to be the bad guy to kick a member out of the orchestra a few months ago. Now, she wants me to get him back again. "For the sake of the orchestra", she says. How noble. Why didn't she think "for the sake of the orchestra" back then?

Tuesday, April 29, 2003. Enjoying great music at 09:21 a.m.

Divine Comedy is great! While close to Radiohead in tone, the lyrics are, according to my neighboring colleague Ulynn who played his album in the office and introduced him to me, very ironical. I love ironies.

Monday, April 28, 2003. Ironic at 05:52 p.m.

Isn't it ironic? I love Math much more than Physics. But my 2 Math classes HATE my teaching - they think my lessons are too boring and they usually don't understand what I am talking about; my 2 Science classes LOVE my teaching - they think my lessons are very interesting and they understand Science better now. They even hope that I can teach them for the rest of the year.

This really shows that liking a subject and teaching it are two very different matters. So, should I teach a subject that I like and teach badly? Or should I teach a subject that I don't really like but teach well?

Monday, April 28, 2003. Answered at 09:46 a.m.

Posted the answers to the brainteasers. Shall post the answers 3 days after the questions.

Sunday, April 27, 2003. Wide awake at 02:04 a.m.

Attended a useless SEM workshop in school in the morning. Everyone was so bored - Serene was drawing bobdogs with different facial expressions, Haymini was drawing cubes, and I was making sketches of the teachers around me on my notepad: Haymini, Ms Wong, Ms Cheang, Davinia, Thomas, Zaidi... Miss the time when I used to draw people and objects in NUS lecture halls.

Celebrated father's birthday at night with a KFC feast at home as he didn't want to go to a restaurant amidst the SARS hype.

Saturday, April 26, 2003. Teasing at 07:26 a.m.

From now on, I shall share with you the Physics brainteasers that I ask my students in class. Thought they're quite interesting - my students liked them. Here are some of what I asked them for the past few weeks (with relevance to the chapters they're at):

1. If I want to drink a cup of very hot coffee 5 minutes later, should I add milk first then wait for 5 min, or wait for 5 min then add milk, if I want the coffee to be at a cooler temperature before I drink it?

Add first then wait. This is because the process of milk dissolving in coffee requires energy - some heat energy is used up in this process.

2. Have you ever listened to a recording of your own voice and realize that you sound very different on the tape? The recording is actually how you sound to others. Why?

This is because the voice you hear yourself includes the sound of bone conduction (vibration of your own skull) which others cannot hear, thus your voice always sound more powerful to yourself.

3. Since air particles are in Brownian motion, and vibrations produce sound, why don't I hear Brownian motion?

The fluctuations are not great enough for sound to be heard. Moreover, your brain ignores all constant noise signals.

4. Why do boys usually sound more powerful than girls?

Lower frequencies (hence lower-pitched sounds) reflect and reverberate better than higher frequencies (hence higher-pitched sounds), which tend to be easily absorbed by walls.

Friday, April 25, 2003. ExSARSperated at 02:57 p.m.

The SARS paranoid at BH is getting out of hand. As Serangoon has been identified as one of the SARS 'danger zone', there are actually suggestions of disinfecting the orchestra room and instruments, and even to buy a thermometer for everyone so that temperature is to be taken before practice.

Being cautious and being paranoid are two different things. We should base our caution on our knowledge, and not on ignorance. Moreover there should always be a basic level of trust among people that everyone will take care of himself (if you feel sick, stay at home or see a doctor) - just like the trust we place on strangers beside us that they will not pull out a knife suddenly and stab you for no reason. Without this basic level of trust, a society cannot even exist.

Facts we know: the coronavirus does not survive beyond 3 hours; only people who have developed symptoms are infectious (by the time they reach 37.5 deg Celsius, they should already be visibly sick) - so you should know who to avoid if you are intending to be cautious; symptoms include fever, dry cough, chest pains and breathing difficulties.

Don't think I am going to reply to the BH email threads regarding this. I totally respect people's decision to stay at home and not come for practice, and I have nothing against people who choose to wear masks, but when they impose on others to do certain things to assure their 'safety', I think it's pure selfishness and it's gotten to being irritating. No wonder so many people are avoiding nurses - Talk about a gracious society.

Friday, April 25, 2003. Feeling nothing at 11:15 a.m.

Just made a Sec 1 relief class stand for the rest of their period as they just couldn't keep quiet. One defiant boy even dared to argue with me despite repeated warnings telling him not to make noise (taping the table, whistling, moving around, etc). I wrote his name in the class diary, which would be read by the form teacher at the end of the day and appropriate disciplinary actions would be taken. After I've done that, the boy became very courteous, and the class was visibly intimidated by my loud voice when I reprimanded them.

Some students really prefer the hard way.

And I actually felt nothing after I punished them (I would usually feel quite bad after scolding someone). Guess I am starting to get used to being an 'impartial teacher' already.

Friday, April 25, 2003. Feeling better at 05:55 a.m.

Another incident yesterday added to my disappointment. Bad things always come together, don't they?

But the practice at BH last night really helped to cheer me up a little. It was only a small group of us: Jiajia, Tan Mo, Caleb, Yunfeng, Zhiqiang, Changsheng, Mdm Huang and Mdm Yap, as Serangoon has recently been labelled as a danger zone for SARS (not blaming anyone here - all of us have different stands on this and I respect your decision of choosing not to come). But the music was really good - neat and clear - what I would call 'gan1 jing4' in Mandarin. And the accompaniment piece which we are playing for the Ju4 Wu3 Fang1 is really nice! :)

Wednesday, April 23, 2003. Depressed at 05:39 p.m.

Really bad mood... Suddenly realized I am not such a good teacher after all.

Monday, April 21, 2003. Energetic at 06:28 p.m.

Had my second NSC observation by the NIE supervisor. This was a "spring observation". ie. The supervisor only informed me that he's coming 30 minutes before my lesson, so that I had just enough time to prepare. It was a Math class on Similarity in 3J. The lesson was ok - not impressive but just ok - just a typical Math lesson with no interesting gadgets or special effects. Though he said that this was not as good as my first observation class (which was "really interesting" according to him), his comments were generally good, so I am quite happy about it.

I AM FROM 39 SCE! I AM FROM 39 SCE!! I AM FROM 39 SCE!!! 39 SCE is no longer a classified unit! Yay!!!! It used to be confidential unit (cos "chemical warfare is a sensitive topic" - duh), and we 39 SCEians used to couldn't even say that we are from "39 SCE" when we're asked which army unit we're in. Can you imagine the agony when a group of guys get together and talk NS and we 39 SCEians had to keep quiet and couldn't say a word about what we do, what we are, etc... Glad that now I can tell the whole world I am in this hellish unit, where we are made to wear hellish chemical suits and operate hellish decontamination machines and perform hellish field marches with those hellish suits on... (The suits may look deceivingly comfortable, but I think fox should how terrible it is inside the "aircon suit" - he wore that sometimes for his IA?) It was PURE HELL! Anyway, just glad that I can complain about my unit now, after 7 years of "suppression".

Had 2 long chats with 2 young female teachers separately today - one at the library, one on the bus. And learnt that girls nowadays are SERIOUS about being independent and being able to stand on their own. One told me about her plans on how she was going to achieve 7Cs and learn 10 languages and write novels at the same time (and she is only 19 now). She is in fact writing a biography now and a publisher is awaiting her scripts. Don't underestimate girl-power, huh?

Saturday, April 19, 2003. Reviewing at 11:39 p.m.

Added a "tops" page to this blog.

Finally! Guitar lesson resumes after 3 weeks of SARS break. And I finally got to finish learning the whole Pink Panther.

Bought new albums by Placebo and SHiN (Xin Yue Tuan). Placebo's new album is very similar to their release 5 years ago, only less addictive; SHiN's debut album is too brilliant for their present second album to match, though the ballads are sure-hits, the rock pieces are a bit too pretentious.

Friday, April 18, 2003. Raining at 09:44 p.m.

Thunderstorm outside. Listening to "Gollum's Song" (LOTR2 The Two Towers OST) and feeling the pain of Gollum all over again:

Where once was light
Now darkness falls
Where once was love
Love is no more

Don't say - goodbye
Don't say - I didn't try...

These tears we cry
Are falling rain
For all the lies you told us
The hurt, the blame!

And we will weep
To be so alone
We are lost!
We can never go home

So in the end
I will be - what I will be
No loyal friend
Was ever there for me

Now we say - goodbye
We say - you didn't try...

These tears we cry
Have come too late
Take back the lies
The hurt, the blame!

And you will weep
When you face the end alone
You are lost!
You can never go home

Friday, April 18, 2003. Reflecting at 02:20 p.m.

Relieved a Sec 4 class yesterday and the students were busy studying for a Chinese common test. I was requested to conduct a spelling test for a girl, and when she didn't know how to write some characters, I gave hints by telling her how the characters resemble what they mean. She was very impressed and commented that she understood more in those 10 minutes of spelling time than she did for the past four months of Chinese lessons, and that I should be teaching Chinese. I told her I would love to teach Chinese, if not because I do not have the qualifications to do so. She said that I am more qualified than her teacher who had to look into the dictionary every time, while I could answer her questions straight away. That made me feel very flattered indeed. Ha.

Near the end of the relief class, some boys played with water in class (Sec 4, can you believe it!?) and created a puddle on the floor. I demanded one of them to sweep up the water as he was pointed by everyone as the culprit, but he was visibly displeased that I singled him out and he refused to do it. The group of boys started to shift responsibilities. I told them that the whole class would wait until someone volunteered to clear the mess or I would not release the class. I guess I was sort of firm in my tone and the boys soon knew I meant business and finally two guys got up to sweep the water. I thanked them for volunteering after that, and I think I've earned their respect after the incident although I may have made one guy dislike me. Lesson gained: Always be firm.

Wednesday, April 16, 2003. Uncomfortable at 05:33 p.m.

I scored the highest among the 5 NIE trainee teachers in the first round of observations by our NSC supervior, and some of the trainees started to tease me about it. I guess they didn't mean it the bad way, but somehow when they tease me in front of others they seem to sound rather sarcastic. Hope I'm just being too sensitive. I'm sure they're happy for me.

Tuesday, April 15, 2003. Resting at 05:08 p.m.

A Sec 4 boy chatted me with me about basketball and other issues for around an hour today and he told me about his dreams and aspirations. He said he hopes to go to US for further studies and pursue a career in computing. However, as he is a Normal (Technical) student, he feels inconfident in realizing this dream, especially when his English is very poor. I told him to be more confident of himself, and he is young enough to realize any dream he wants - it all depends on whether he wants to work towards achieving the dream, and whether he is willing to make changes to his character (he confessed that he is lazy) to make things happen. I think he was quite surprised that I gave him encouragements (his elder brother probably never did) - hope I have made a difference. :)

Monday, April 14, 2003. Feeling bad at 08:22 p.m.

School reopens after the long SARS break.

Was forced to send a Sec 4 boy home cos he was visibly sick. Actually the boy always looked sick, but the fact that he only just recovered from a flu last week made the vice-principle think that he's still sick. The boy wanted so much to stay as he was afraid to lag behind especially when the exams are coming, but we simply had no choice. WE GOT TO GO BY THE BOOK.

I am fine with VP's decision. It's always better to be safe than sorry, but I just couldn't bear to see the look of disappointment on the boy's face.

Sunday, April 13, 2003. Nostalgic at 05:00 p.m.

Was so tired yesterday that I slept at nine and only woke after nine this morning.

In a nostalgic mood today. Listened to CDs by Bee Gees, Beatles, Enya, etc. Mesmorized by John Lennon's "Yesterday" and "Imagine"...

Imagine there's no heaven... no hell below us... nothing to live or die for... no religion too... Imagine no possessions - I wonder if you can; no need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man... imagine all the people, living life in peace...

Saturday, April 12, 2003. Yawning at 08:23 p.m.

Went back to school to attend a four-hour meeting on the measures to control SARS when school reopens. Lots of administrative work to be done, and we are going to take the temperature of every single student every morning for at least two weeks.

Called up twenty students to ask three questions:
(i) Have you been to China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Canada recently?
(ii) Have you left Singapore at all during the break, say, visited JB?
(iii) Are you feeling well?

I can recite the questions so well now that I am starting to sound like a salesman.

Friday, April 11, 2003. Groovy at 08:51 p.m.

DJ-ed myself to an evening of Beck's music, from Totally Confused and Beautiful Way to Sexx Laws and Tropicalia. Feel like dancing - though I don't know how to.

Friday, April 11, 2003. Feeling poor at 01:30 p.m.

Completed the Orc campaigns and am in the middle of the Night Elves campaigns - the building system of night elves is very clever, and the town environment is much more pleasant than others! Don't think I'll have time to complete the game though - school reopening soon...

Starting to feel the financial burdens cos I just received a notice from CPF to pay back my NUS school fees (an outstanding amount about 000) by means of monthly deductions from my bank account. Managed to plan the monthly deductions such that I can still save around 00 per month, on top of my Singnet, M1, guitar and transport bills and allowances for my parents - that is, if I don't spend anywhere else. No longer feeling rich...

Thursday, April 10, 2003. Shaken at 07:23 p.m.

If you haven't watched a single movie this year, The Pianist is one you should not miss. Based on the Nazi occupation of Warsaw during WWII, this powerful movie tells the true story of Polish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman, who struggled to survive in those times when money, humanity, life - and death - don't matter anymore. You may cover your eyes when Jewish civilians were relentlessly slaughtered and humiliated in the movie, but it is chilling to know that these cruel and horrific moments truly took place sixty years ago... I now have a greater respect for Jews - No more Jewish jokes for me please.

Been having an overdose of superb movies recently...

Thursday, April 10, 2003. Cherished the cherries at 12:17 a.m.

Watched Taste of Cherry for the second time on TV (first time was at the Film Fest). Still felt touched and affected at the end of it. It's a story about a man who planned to commit suicide - he had dug a hole and would lie in it and swallow a bottle of sleeping pills that night, and he needed someone to come and fill up the hole the next morning so that he would be properly buried. He approached 3 people to do the job and promised to leave a large sum of money in a car near the hole for whoever was kind enough to grant his dying wish. The first two people couldn't bear to do it, but the third, who was an old man, agreed as he needed the money to pay the medical fees for his anaemic child.

The old man told the suicidal man his experience when he tried to commit suicide himself years ago. It was early morning and he went to a cherry tree wanting to hang himself. He tried to throw the rope over the branch several times but the rope just didn't go over. So he climbed up the tree and tied the rope to the branch. When he was getting down, he touched the cherries around him. He decided to eat one cherry before he died. And so he ate one. It was sweet. So he ate another one. And one more. And another. Until he realized that the sun had risen. Then, children who were going to school walked past and asked him to shake the tree so that they could eat the cherries as well. He did, and the children loved the cherries. The old man then plucked a bagful of cherries for his wife and went home. His wife was still asleep then, and when she awoke and ate the cherries, she loved them too... The taste of cherries saved the life of the old man.

The old man also told a joke: A man was sick and he went to the doctor. When the doctor asked him what was wrong, the man said, "When I poked my belly, I felt pain; when I poked my chest, I felt pain; when I poked my legs, I felt pain... It must be a serious illness, doctor!" The doctor did a thorough checkup and told the man, "There is nothing wrong with your belly, chest and leg; you merely have a broken finger."

The old man then told the suicidal man, "Whatever your problems are, there may be no problems at all, it is your mind that needs help."

The film ended with the man lying in the hole, looking up at the moon, and a thunderstorm was about to start.

Thursday, April 10, 2003. The Nimmo King serenades at 12:13 a.m.

Revised Blue Moon, If, Vincent, Choros, Love Story, Bengawan Solo and What A Wonderful World on the guitar.

Crowned as the Nimmo King by my sister as I played rather well in the game Nimmo's Pond (Neopets) and she wanted me to play for her account whenever I am free so that she could earn enough Neopoints to buy the chiapop collectibles. Haha.

Wednesday, April 9, 2003. Thinking teaching is good at 04:11 p.m.

The weather was good - slight drizzle with cool breezes. Had lunch with Jon at An Ji Niangdoufu at the borders of Chinatown. It's a nice and cosy coffeeshop with only one stall that sells noodles and niangdoufu - all handmade. The food is good, and some of the niangdoufu are rather exclusive, but they come with a price - my bowl cost . That's quite steep in niangdoufu standards, I think. And the coffeeshop wasn't even airconditioned (luckily the weather was good). But heck, I AM RICH anyway. Ha.

Chatted with Jon about his job and other friends whom he met recently, and heard some stories about sly Singaporean businessmen and mean colleagues. Quite glad that I am comfortably cooped-up in the relatively less political school environment (though I have heard backstabbing stories in school as well, I have not experienced it yet).

Tuesday, April 8, 2003. Fingers "hard" from practice at 11:40 p.m.

Realized that I've forgotten many songs that I used to love to play on my guitar, so decided to spend some time revising these songs. Went through the fingerings for only Cavatina, How Deep Is Your Love, Dahil Saiyo and Classical Gas, and it already took me around two hours (Mind you, these are not those chord-strumming C-G-A singalongs). Didn't want to strain my left hand too much, so I am leaving the other songs like Choros, If and Vincent till another day...

Nice feeling to "revive" these familiar songs.

Tuesday, April 8, 2003. Friendly at 01:18 a.m.

Had a chat with Jon, and promised to meet up with him some time this week. Have been friends with him for over 10 years, and it's always been him who approaches me when we are starting to lose contact. It's good to have such old friends who remember you.

And Friends (the sitcom) is back! Yay!

Monday, April 7, 2003. Sighed at 08:08 p.m.

Just when I was enjoying Oasis, a friend called to tell me she found out that her boyfriend had been seeing someone else until that girl met another guy. She asked me for advice, and whether she had been too silly to have accepted her bf's apology and pretended that nothing had happened. I didn't quite know what to say as I have always thought that they are incompatible, but I couldn't possibly add on to her misery then by telling her my truthful comment, so I told her that both of them should reevaluate the qualities they see in each other and not be blinded by each other's good points - think through whether these points are truly important to him or herself in the relationship. I told her the decision is wholly hers, and I do not wish to influence. Hope I wasn't being too not-helping... sigh.

Monday, April 7, 2003. Reddish at 11:05 a.m.

A short piece inspired by Red yesterday - arranged for piano (for the first time!) in d minor - Click here to download midi.

Monday, April 7, 2003. Inspired at 01:09 a.m.

Rewatched Blanc (White) and Rouge (Red) on DVD, and that completes the mission of rewatching the Trois Couleurs (Three Colors) trilogy. Liked the ideas in Red: coincidence, intuition, destiny, and how people's lives (even of strangers) are intricately and intimately weaved together. Strange that I have little recollections of the movie. Maybe I didn't understand it the last time, or my memory has failed me again (sigh).

Finished compiling notes and preparing slides for Sound and Congruency & Similarity. Intend to use the signature scene of Nanako shouting "Anata wa ogenki desuka? (How are you?)" in Love Letter as an opening for the chapter on sound and echoes. Also using Bjork's "It's Oh So Quiet" to illustrate the effect of loudness, pitch and quality on the waveform by using the oscilloscope function in Media Player. For congruency, I will be asking students to cut a 4x4 square grid along the grid lines into congruent halves. (For those who are interested, there are only 6 ways of cutting the square to obtain congruent halves.)

Quite happy with my lesson plans, and I feel I am developing a passion for teaching Physics already (used to feel nothing for Physics). So glad.

Sunday, April 6, 2003. Still breathing the fresher air at 01:56 a.m.

Went to Bras Basah in the day to search for a Chinese Orchestral VCD that a Taiwanese friend requested for, and took the chance to go for a carefree stroll. Bought a MOS unagi rice burger and ate it as I was strolling and browsing through books, trying to enjoy the freedom of having no deadlines and lots of free time. There are less traffic, less people and less noise around - most people are hiding at home to avoid the temperamental virus. Even the air feels fresher.

Saturday, April 5, 2003. Wryly smiled at 11:49 a.m.

The closure of schools is extended by another week. The postman's gonna be very busy delivering letters and SARS kits to 600,000 students.

Saturday, April 5, 2003. Discovery at 02:07 a.m.

Have been trying to make this blog viewable and presentable in both 800x600 and 1024x768 - had problems writing the codes such that layers will be aligned accordingly in different resolutions. Finally found the solution - by trial-and-error (actually out of frustration cos I was about to give up and just entered something that seemed insensible and it WORKED)! ;)

Learnt something new today. (Did I just say that a few days ago?)

Friday, April 4, 2003. Irritated by the SARS paranoid at 06:26 p.m.

An SMS message I got today:
At times when you cry, no one sees your tears
When you worry, no one sees your pain
When you're happy, no one sees your smile
Try coughing - everyone will look at you!
How cornily and sickeningly true.

Went back to school in the morning to attend a meeting on SARS - no news on whether the school closure will be extended - not even the MOE officials know cos it's gonna be a cabinet decision and the situations are just too volatile. So the schools now have to prepare for both scenarios: if school reopens, the upper and lower sec will be split during assembly so that students are screened at different venues to reduce infectivity; if school remains closed, we'll send out letters to parents specifying the assignments to be done during the closure. There is even a SARS Kit which MOE is working on 24-7 right now so that it'll be ready for all students on Monday. Hmm.

Thursday, April 3, 2003. Wanting to watch more movies at 09:05 p.m.

Rewatched Bleu (Blue) on DVD in the afternoon. It is a responsibility that life is to be lived, just like a musical piece, once written has to be performed. The silent charm of Juliette Binoche is still as captivating.

Watched The Hours with Jiajia, Xiangbin, Zhiqiang, Yunfeng and Yingjie. Didn't find it as boring as my friends did. Again, it's a movie about troubled lives and their struggles with the notion of death. The lead trio of Nicole Kidman (Virginia Woolf), Julianne Moore (Laura Brown) and Meryl Streep (Clarissa Vaughn) is complemented by powerful supporting performances by Ed Harris, Jack Rovello (a handsome kid), Toni Collette, Allison Janney and Claire Danes. This is not an easy film to follow, but once you get in the flow, you'll be lost in the worlds of the 3 tormented women who lived in 3 different times.

Thursday, April 3, 2003. Finished chatting at 02:02 a.m.

Haven't chatted online for a long time. Talked to a junior today on ICQ for quite a while. Hope he didn't think I was too boring. =p

Wednesday, April 2, 2003. Melancholic at 03:42 p.m.

Received my Amazon shipment of DVDs yesterday. Feasted on 8 Miles and Animation Greats then, and rewatched the brilliant Cinema Paradiso today. I first watched it ten years ago, and thought it was the best film, EVER - it was probably from then that I started watching foreign movies.

This time, however, I am not as thrilled as ten years ago - the new DVD version has 51 minutes of new footage that revealed "what really happened", but I think this version is too long - luckily this DVD has the original theatrical version as well - maybe I'll watch this original version some other day. Despite the length, the first section on young Toto and final kissing-scenes' montage still moved me somehow.

It was April Fools' yesterday, and the megastar Leslie Cheung committed suicide. Maybe he chose the day so that people would remember. It is sad that it happened at a time when everything is already in a mess - war, SARS, ... but it is comforting at the same time to know that the people around me, and myself, are doing fine.

Tuesday, April 1, 2003. Proven wrong at 02:46 p.m.

Have always thought that reflections of polygons are not congruent cos the orientations are different (clockwise labels of vertices become anticlockwise), but I was wrong (simply by the definition of the SSS property). Realized this while preparing for my lesson on congruency and similarity. Not bad. We learn new things every day - or rather - we UNLEARN wrong things every day.

Tuesday, April 1, 2003. Contented at 02:00 a.m.

Nothing beats eating a nice hot bowl of noodles in an airconditioned room while cuddled up in blankets watching TV on a sweltering summernight.

Tuesday, April 1, 2003. Stomach growling at 12:23 a.m.

Did more changes to the unseen codes than to the visible layout. Hope the page is functioning well... Please tell me if anything is not working... Thanks! :)