spring and restraint
Monday, April 30, 2007, 09:47 a.m. #1315
Celebrated father's birthday and Mother's Day at 咏春园 yesterday. The food was good but the service wasn't very commendable. The waitress kept rushing us for the order and we nearly ordered some insanely expensive dishes (which she recommended) until we saw the prices on the menu. But that didn't spoil our experience there. Pa and Ma loved the food, and it's some quality family time spent together.
Watched "Drawing Restraint 9". It's more like a documentary of a Japanese ritual rather than a movie, and I wouldn't have watched it if Bjork wasn't in it. There's no dialogue throughout the 135-minute film, and the soundtrack by Bjork is really abstract. While the arty people claim that this is a masterpiece, I totally could not appreciate it. Ideal for insomniacs (but then again, the music may be too unsettling for anyone to fall asleep).
painfully jammed
Friday, April 27, 2007, 09:06 p.m. #1314
The day didn't start off too well. I was having a very bad stomachache when the bus broke down. Waited painfully (literally) at the busstop while I watched several fully-packed buses go by. Then finally got on a bus, but I was held up by a terrible jam. I've never been late for work before - and I always plan my time such that I'm half an hour early, but today I was nearly late - just made it by a few seconds. Was still having the stomachache but I couldn't go to the toilet as I had a class for the first period. I was already on the verge of "bursting" when I finally relieved myself at the end of the period. All right, I shan't get too graphic.
Luckily the day got much better after that. There was early dismissal due to Speech Day in the evening. Went to Jalan Kayu for lunch with a couple of colleagues and had some really nice chicken briyani, then got back to school to prepare for the big school event. Was in-charge of the slide projections, and everything ran well.
So glad the week is over. Exams are starting soon. Can finally take a breather... before the papers come back in.
the uncomfortable truth
Wednesday, April 25, 2007, 07:06 a.m. #1313
Like what I'd expected, Ak's father didn't check Ak. He merely asked Ak verbally, Ak denied (of course), and he's now probably thinking Ak's form teacher must really be an idiot to be joking about such things. All right, maybe he's in a difficult position this time - if he really checked his boy, and it turned out that Ak really didn't pierce himself, his relationship with Ak would have been terribly ruined. So he chose to trust his son. That is fine with me. But I'm not going to let the matter rest. Have referred Ak to the school counsellor.
the adventurous boy
Monday, April 23, 2007, 06:04 p.m. #1312
Some kids do not learn from their mistakes. Seriously. No matter how many chances we give them, they just continue to test the limits of our tolerance and kindess. They scream for attention, and no matter how much attention you give them, they try even more astonishing stunts to gain more attention.
There's this boy in my form class, Ak. I've mentioned him before - the boy who lied that he was threatened by a bigger boy to help safekeep cigarettes, when the "bigger boy" was totally fabricated and the cigarettes were actually his own. Ak was caught with cigarettes a second time last month. Then two weeks ago, he stole a handphone from another class. He was brought to the police station, where he claimed that his friend asked him to do so. While his case is still under investigation, last week, he stole one dollar from his classmate. Today, on MSN, I heard an even more flabbergasting news from his classmates. Ak showed his classmates his private parts recently in the boys' toilet, to show off how he has pierced his own **** using a safety pin. (!!!)
Have called Ak's parents last week and asked to meet up as he has been misbehaving and not handing up work in class (not during my lessons - he wouldn't dare - but in other subject teachers' lessons - the thing about Ak is, he always acts like an angel when I'm around, and I suppose he does so in front of his parents too). The parents said they're working and couldn't possibly meet. But I guess I'll have to call them up tomorrow again, as Ak's recent adventures are really getting out of hand (what if he's hurt some vital parts or gets an inflammation?!). I can't possibly check Ak's body myself.
P.S. Hmm. Couldn't wait until tomorrow. Called Ak's mother just now, at the expense of exposing my handphone number. She sounded like she's in the middle of her work, and guess what she said after I told her the above? "I'm too stressed right now, please go and tell his father." Called his father (whom I think wouldn't do much as he's been pampering the boy all along, even covering up for his cigarette-story), thinking that, as a man, he'd probably understand the severity of self-piercing of such delicate parts. He assured me that he'll check Ak tonight. I hope he does. Somehow I feel like I'm more worried about the kid than the parents are.
1 litre of tears
Sunday, April 22, 2007, 11:13 a.m. #1311
Just finished watching "1 Litre of Tears" (1リットルの涙), the 2005 Japanese drama based on the true story of Aya, a girl who contracted the incurable disease of Spinocerebellar Ataxis. The cruel disease slowly robbed her of her ability to speak, walk, write and even swallow, while she's mentally conscious of everything that's happening, but she pushed on and used her diaries to encourage the world and the people who contracted the same disease. Have been hearing about this drama for quite some time but I never watched it as I thought it's probably one of those usual weepy, draggy melodramas (the title itself sounds terribly tragic already). Then even my students started asking me to watch it, so, thanks to Youtube, I finally got down to watching it.
Like most Japanese drama series, the gripping drama is short and concise (only 11 episodes), and it touches you with its simplicity and sincerity. Besides the pains that Aya was experiencing, the story also dealt with the realities of the hurtful glances from strangers, the extra baggages that Aya's classmates had to bear in order to accommodate and help her, and how Aya's family came into terms with her illness (father Mizuo initially refused subsidy from the government as he couldn't accept the fact that his daughter could be a "liability" to the country, mother Shioka went in search for a cure that never existed, sister Ako was at first jealous of the attention that Aya was getting, and brother Hiro was initially ashamed of her sister and felt embarassed to let his classmates see his sister's condition)... And it is especially touching to know that this was based on a true story, and that many other living people are experiencing similar pains right now. It just makes our troubles seem so much more trivial, to see someone who's being disadvantaged by a random stroke of fate living stronger than we are. Being healthy is truly an invaluable gift. (I wish my students can appreciate this, and not cut themselves whenever they come across the slightest obstacle.)
P.S. The soundtracks by Remioromen and K are really sugoi! Konayuki ne'e...
second fiddles
Saturday, April 21, 2007, 08:39 p.m. #1310
My guitar teacher gave me a Straits Times cut-out today and said I'd be interested to read it. Then I remember seeing this caption a few days ago but I was too busy at that time and forgot to go back to read it when I was freer:
Playing second fiddle to an old master
By John Marchese
Last week, Christie's auctioned off a 268-year-old carved wooden box with funny-looking holes in it for more than $2.7 million.
There were strings attached.
It was a violin, of course, made in Cremona, Italy, by an old man named Antonio Stradivari, who is thought by many to be the greatest craftsman who ever lived. His fiddles (in the violin world, "fiddle" is a term of endearment) are considered supreme works of art, and the marketplace values them commensurately.
But the violin is also a tool. As prices rise into the stratosphere for the instruments from the workshop of the Cremonese master - and also from those of a number of his contemporaries - one thing is certain: Fewer and fewer of these violins are in the hands of people who can actually play them. This week's buyer is remaining anonymous, but it's a safe bet that he or she isn't a full-time musician.
Musicians, even successful ones, can't afford those prices.
And maybe that's a good thing. The strength of tradition is incredibly strong in classical music, and maybe even more powerful in the craft of violinmaking. Stradivari never left behind a shop manual, but nearly every one of his instruments has been analyzed and measured down to the millimeter. For many years, luthiers, as makers of string instruments are known, have been producing copies with slavish fidelity.
It has long been thought that Stradivari possessed some "secret". Speculation focused on two aspects. Was it special wood, or wood specially treated? Or had he devised a secret recipe for the varnish?
The real secret of Stradivari, according to the legendary violin expert Simone Sacconi, is that there was no secret. Stradivari was simply the best there ever was at his trade.
That explanation provides a rationale for the transformation of Stradivari's fiddles from tools to collectible art objects. But it doesn't support the cult of age in the world of violins.
Strad, as he is known by musicians and luthiers, could never have envisioned the demands placed on the modern musician by international air travel and bigger concert halls. Few people know that most of Stradivari's instruments have been significantly altered over the years to better meet the demands of modern performance. Despite that, they are still old, and sometimes they don't work well.
It is another quietly concealed fact in the music world that a number of top violinists keep antiqued modern copies in their collection and play them when their fine old fiddles are out of kilter. Do listeners really notice the difference? A few years ago I attended a concert where a world-renowned violin soloist performed a concerto with an internationally acclaimed orchestra. He was supposed to be playing a very expensive Stradivari, but instead he used a violin made that very year in Brooklyn, by a top luthier named Sam Zygmuntowicz. Did the audience rise up as one and heckle him for the ruse? No, they gave him three standing ovations.
Violinists say they can feel and hear the difference a Strad makes in that intimate spot under the ear where a violin is cradled.
But there is plenty of evidence that their listeners in the audience can't. In listening test after listening test, the common result is that even great violinists and top dealers can't discern the sound of a Stradivari from that of violins from other luthiers.
Though these are the facts of life for modern luthiers, the situation still makes them a little crazy. They can do nothing but stand by and watch as the limited number of Stradivari fiddles get more and more expensive and disappear into the hands of foundations and rich collectors. At the same time, musicians ignore the violins, violas and cellos of modern luthiers and instead pay high prices for lesser instruments simply because they're old.
With each big-ticket sale like the one at Christie's on Monday, the musical world gets one step closer to the day when all of the great Stradivari instruments belong to non-musicians. That will be a sad day in one sense, but hopeful in another. Maybe musicians will stop coveting some illusive perfection and embrace the work of mere mortals who walk among them. They'll get good fiddles and more disposable income.
Sam Zygmuntowicz, carving away each day in Brooklyn, likes to remind his customers of a fact so obvious it is often overlooked. He's even made it into a pin and stuck it over his workbench. It reads, "Strad Made New Fiddles".
Are modern instruments surely inferior to old ones? In fact I have just asked my violin teacher to help me source for a good, new violin. Don't think I deserve a Stradivarius for my skills, and I don't suppose I can afford one either... I especially liked this part of the article, "it is a safe bet that he or she (the buyer of the Strad) is not a full-time musician... musicians, even successful ones, cannot afford those prices." This is true everywhere, isn't it? People who own the best resources are those who don't need them. :)
the unnecessary ceremony
Friday, April 20, 2007, 09:04 p.m. #1309
Attended the promotion ceremony yesterday at Suntec despite a million other more important things to do. I really wonder the relevance of the ceremony, when all of us had to rush like mad after a long, humid day of teaching to reach Suntec, and then spend hours waiting together with the rest of a thousand people, to receive an unimpressive-looking letter of appointment, printed in boring same-sized Arial. It's not even a certificate which is nice enough to be framed up. And we still get our promotion with or without that piece of paper anyway. Nobody (and seriously I mean, NOBODY) felt excited about the ceremony at all, judging from the rows of sleeping people and those yawns from my left-right-front-back. If they sincerely wanted to show their appreciation and congratulation, at least schedule the ceremony in a non-busy period (exams are in two weeks!) and in the morning so that we didn't need to go to school. How could we enjoy the ceremony when our clothes were crumpled, and we were feeling so sticky and smelly after a day's teaching?!
songs
Sunday, April 15, 2007, 01:11 a.m. #1308
Been indulging in music by brilliant new musicians like Mika and The Bird And The Bee, but I have to say that old songs still have that more special enchanting power that draws me in. Heard Mavis Hee (许美静)'s 红颜 on a cab a few days ago, and I could really feel the emotions welling up to my chest - isn't it ironic, that the song was about Princess Diana but it foreboded Mavis' fate as well?
轻轻回眸 冷的世界 来不及 发现它的美
如花盛开 你的心扉 一阵痛 就已枯萎
plain truth
Friday, April 13, 2007, 12:34 p.m. #1307
Just read an entry written by a student from a certain JC, complaining about how his school boasted about their e-learning system to the media, when the system wasn't even robust enough to support the high traffic, students couldn't log on and it was actually a total failure. This entry was featured on a rather high-profile website and I wonder whether this student is going to get into some kind of trouble.
Anyway, I guess it's quite normal for schools (or organisations, in general) to cover up such things. Sometimes when we have sunk great resources and money into something, we'd want to believe that it would work out fine. But the truth is, it's not always fine. And then we'd have to convince ourselves otherwise by convincing everyone around us, when the truth is actually plain for all to see. Quite pathetic huh? Hmm. And I'm not referring to the huge ministerial pay raise in the last few statements.
termite #23
Sunday, April 8, 2007, 05:33 p.m. #1306
I thought I could indulge in hermitry and abstain from work for three days, but no, work still managed to find me... through SMS. Hmm. Mighty invention, eh, SMS? Was informed that one of my exam papers did not meet the mark and I had to set the entire paper again. Sigh. And so I spent the first half of today doing just that.
Didn't manage to stay at home totally for the past two days either. Went to Shuanglin Temple with my family to tidy up my grandparents' altars on Friday for Qing Ming. A really peaceful and beautiful place - sat under the shade and enjoyed the scenery while waiting for my grandparents to "finish their food", and that's when I spotted these peculiar chalk marks on the pillars.
Hmm. The monks were so benevolent that not only they didn't kill the termites, they gave them addresses so that other termites could find them more easily?! (By the way, I went round the buildings and found other "addresses" like Termite #21 and Termite #30 too.)
two results
Saturday, April 7, 2007, 02:00 p.m. #1305
Forgot to update on the two music result slips which I received. One was for my guitar exam, which I failed. The examiner's comment was: You did prepare your pieces, but you need to pay attention to make the music flow and refine the tone. Also work more on sight-reading. Keep on practising and try again! Hmm. Quite disappointed although I was half-expecting this result. And I thought I really liked my tone that day! Think I have to set higher standards for myself.
The other result slip was from my pop piano course - the evaluation of my sing-and-play gig at the music cafe. My teacher had been very generous with her scoring. Despite my pause in the middle (which should have warranted a failure), she gave me a far-above-average score and gave the following comments: You have the showmanship. Guess the talking crowd made you speed up a little at the last chorus, but you're still able to control your mood until the end. And when I asked her what's the meaning of "showmanship", she said I had the air of a classical pianist, which translated to mean that I looked artistically antisocial. -_-
Oh well. Have got over the unflattering results. Will be expecting one more result slip - the music theory one... Hope it's going to be better than these two!
hermitry
Friday, April 6, 2007, 07:35 a.m. #1304
Been so busy for the past few weeks that it's impossible for me to retrace what I've done - and this is going to carry on for at least a few more weeks. Just on next Wednesday alone, I'll be having three appointments at the same time in the afternoon, each demanding my physical presence - will have to present to the cluster schools in a sharing session on SPA, oversee a individual photo-taking session for the graduates of 2006, and facilitate a briefing by some environmental officers - will be getting some of my friends to help out since I can't possibly be in three places at the same time.
So glad it's Good Friday today, that I can finally take a breather. Haven't been getting enough sleep last week (some nights I only slept for two hours), and despite sleeping really early for the past few days in hope to "catch up" with the lost sleep, I still felt like a zombie most of the time. Yet life still has to go on - I still have to wake up at 5 am in the morning, go to work for more than 12 hours, face my classes with energy and alertness while work still keeps on coming in, then when I reach home I'll still have to continue to work past midnight - and the irony of it all is that most of the work has scarcely any relations with teaching at all... For this long weekend, I deliberately did not bring home any piece of work and rejected all appointments, just so that I can do nothing and laze around at home for the next three days and be a contented hermit. Really hope I'll be recharged enough for the following weeks...
P.S. Despite all those things that were robbing my time away from actual teaching, some students actually told me after school that they enjoyed Science lessons the most. I was like, "Are you sure?" When I was struggling to open my eyes and straining to make sure that I was talking sense in class, the students actually enjoyed my lessons? Such little moments are truly morale boosters that keep me going sometimes.
the price
Wednesday, April 4, 2007, 07:47 a.m. #1303
I am not getting enough sleep and I have so many things on my mind. The price of promotion? Hmm.