a kite-flying teachers' day
Wednesday, August 31, 2005, 06:44 p.m. #898
The most tiring Teachers' Day I've ever had in my lifetime. And I am red as a lobster now.
The day started with an extremely unpleasant incident with the Principal, but I shall ignore it for now. Then I went to watch the Para-Para Dance competition at the Hall. We had a dance machine so each class would send a representative to dance on the machine and lead his class. Students were generally very enthusiastic and we actually discovered a few really good dancers. The leading dancers apparently danced so well that even onlookers started dancing (just look at the look of admiration on the girl's face):
Then Jim and I went to 4E4 to chat with the students as we were scheduled to babysit the class. Talked to Damian, Chun Wai, Garry and Shirley about studies, their future, and my expectations for them. And Shirley suddenly got into a photo frenzy (clearly Damian wasn't quite willing to take the picture with her):
Then it was the Teachers' Day concert! Teachers walked into the hall one by one and students clapped and cheered like we were super-idols. Class representatives also stood on both sides of the teachers' path to pass presents to their teachers. Received several presents from my form class, one of them was in the form of a self-made Ten-Years Series with multiple-choice questions like "which teacher is perfect" and "which of the following qualities best describes Mr Tan". One of the pages was marked and scored 4/5 with a comment "nearly perfect" (that's how I always praised myself in class). Thought that's pretty sweet and sharp. The best presents came from JW, with three cards fully filled with font-size-8 words of thanks and appreciation. Can't imagine how many nights he's spent in writing those cards... Haven't looked at the other presents yet as I didn't have the time and they were too heavy to carry home.
Okay, back to the concert. I didn't manage to take pictures cos I was involved in singing for the finale. Sang "I Dream" with Azman. But my mic wasn't switched on when it was my turn to sing and the mic was so high-tech that people around me didn't know how to switch it on either! So malu... Luckily the soundman came to save me before I sang my second verse, which I received some very good comments afterwards. Hee.
As soon as the concert was over, I rushed off to Marina South as I was to be the station master there for The Amazing Race. Teachers had to fly a kite for one minute at my station, where "freedom is flown on a string":
It wasn't easy managing 12 participating teams even though they didn't come all at once cos I had to give the tasksheet, time their flying, take pictures of their flying, sign their record sheet, roll back the strings of used kites ALL AT THE SAME TIME. When everyone has passed my station, I began to fly a kite myself. Haven't flown one for decades, and I think I did really good! Used up the string and kept the kite flying until Tahiya came to fetch me to the pit-stop at Conrad Hotel. Here's a desperate attempt to capture my butterfly-kite high up in the sky using my pathetic phone (think this would require a camera with ultra-zooming powers):
Both contestants and organisers were exhausted by the time we reached the pit-stop for high-tea. Not to mention I was under the sun at Marina South for two full hours. Although we had lots of food laid out before us (apparently Conrad is 6-star?), we couldn't eat much - although there were still some people whose appetites were unaffected. I didn't find the food very fantastic anyway...
Despite our lethargy we still crapped a lot. I was so thirsty that I downed at least ten glasses of various fruit juices and two big scoops of sorbet (okay, maybe these aren't exactly great thirst-quenching stuff). Benjamin and Irene had a great time collecting complimentary teddy bears from empty seats. And Conrad Hotel has a harpist at the lobby! There was only one or two people around and she was just playing there quietly like she's not playing for anyone in particular but simply indulging in her own music... So dreamy, so nice!!
colors
Wednesday, August 31, 2005, 07:01 a.m. #897
Love invigilating Art exams cos the room will be filled with creativity and colors. Here are pictures that I took yesterday behind the students (my camera was silent so I could be quite discreet). The last picture was taken at an EOA paper - the student was clearly NOT doing the paper:
flowers are red
Monday, August 29, 2005, 06:50 p.m. #896
"In a completely rational society, the best of us would be teachers and the rest of us would have to settle for something less."
- Lee Iacocca (former president of Ford Motor and Chrysler)
Isn't that very true? How else can we ensure that our future generations get better? No wonder I'm a teacher. Hee.
Attended a motivational talk at VJC. Had Ms Low Guat Tin, a very humorous lady, as the speaker. It wasn't difficult to sense from her speech that she's truly passionate in teaching and not just methodically preaching like all other speakers I've seen before. The way she talked about how she used a banana to teach a child (Kathy) in a special school to walk and how she used a potato chip to get an autistic child to look into her eyes really exuded her love and pride towards her vocation (or vacation, as she put it). And all these came about because she was inspired by one teacher who changed her life. She was a lousy student when she was young, but a teacher spurred her on and got her a scholarship to study in Australia. In order to ensure that she really went to Australia and not back out at the last minute, the teacher even went to the airport to chase her off and maintained contact with her when she was studying there.
We have something in common - we both know our strengths and are unafraid to flaunt and admit them. So I probably have the potential to become as inspirational as her?! Heheh. Several memorable stories include the joke about Ah Lian's Vogue and the sad one about "flowers are red, green leaves are green" (lyrics below). Here are some pictures I took today:
A good talk wouldn't be complete without a sumptuous break!
And VJC is so beautiful!
Something totally unrelated to the post. Took the following picture on a bus when the disgruntled passenger in front of me got frustrated with the aircon vent as it kept blowing on the papers she was reading:
Flowers are Red
by Harry Chapin
The little boy went first day of school
He got some crayons and started to draw
He put colors all over the paper
For colors was what he saw
And the teacher said...
What you doin' young man
I'm paintin' flowers he said
She said...
It's not the time for art young man
And anyway flowers are green and red
There's a time for everything young man
And a way it should be done
You've got to show concern for everyone else
For you're not the only one
And she said...
Flowers are red young man
Green leaves are green
There's no need to see flowers any other way
Than they way they always have been seen
But the little boy said...
There are so many colors in the rainbow
So many colors in the morning sun
So many colors in the flower and I see every one
Well, the teacher said...
You're sassy
There's ways that things should be
And you'll paint flowers the way they are
So repeat after me...
And she said...
Flowers are red young man
Green leaves are green
There's no need to see flowers any other way
Than they way they always have been seen
But the little boy said...
There are so many colors in the rainbow
So many colors in the morning sun
So many colors in the flower and I see every one
The teacher put him in a corner
She said...
It's for your own good
And you won't come out 'til you get it right
And are responding like you should
Well finally he got lonely
Frightened thoughts filled his head
And he went up to the teacher
And this is what he said...
And he said...
Flowers are red
Green leaves are green
There's no need to see flowers any other way
Than the way they always have been seen
Time went by like it always does
And they moved to another town
And the little boy went to another school
And this is what he found
The teacher there was smilin'
She said...
Painting should be fun
And there are so many colors in a flower
So let's use every one
But that little boy painted flowers
In neat rows of green and red
And when the teacher asked him why
This is what he said...
And he said...
Flowers are red
Green leaves are green
There's no need to see flowers any other way
Than the way they always have been seen
download the video here!
Monday, August 29, 2005, 09:52 a.m. #895
Thanks to Ennui's recommendation, I've uploaded 4E2's class video to Filefront.com. Click HERE to download. I can assure you it is well-worth the download time!
Upgraded to Singnet's 1500K Unlimited Broadband at no extra cost yesterday (plus 5 months of free usage). Uploading and downloading seem so much faster! :)
new phone and new lives
Sunday, August 28, 2005, 1:31 a.m. #894
Bought Sony Ericsson K750i on impulse after my guitar lesson. Okay, maybe not that much of impulse cos I've promised myself years ago that I'll get a new phone every August and I've been eyeing this model for quite some time already, it's just that my old K700i was still very usable and I thought I might want to save the money this year. But the discounts and freebies drew me to the shop and they're too hard to resist so... I. Bought. It. As if I was hypnotised. But no regrets really. Cos it comes with a 2-megapixel camera which will be handy since I like to take snapshots, and it has a USB cable which I can use to download or upload pictures and music quickly instead of having to tolerate the tedious one-by-one transfer using infrared port. And I have to keep the promise which I made to myself! *Desperately psycho-ing myself that I didn't overspend*
Met up with Jiajia, Junbin and Yingyun at Makansutra later in the evening for dinner. Besides the Hokkien mee which was quite fragrant and not overly oily, the rest of the dishes weren't very impressive. Crapped about Kelly's iron incident, Jiaqi's lie detector story and helped to shell some prawns in Jiaqi's packed mee (while a few youngsters waited patiently for us to vacate our table).
Then Jiaqi joined us to watch Yan Huichang's concert at SCH, which turned out to be quite good. Mr Yan was clearly very popular judging from the hordes of kids that were cheering for him. His conducting skills were also stylishly substantial and entertaining - he managed to conduct the audience to clap rather uniformly for an encore piece, which I thought was quite a feat (usually the audience would clap off-beat after a while). Especially liked The Sound of Water (I really heard trickling of water) and the 5-movement sanxian concerto Nuo. Ah, sanxian... an instrument which I love but will never be able to master.
Proceeded to Lau Pa Sat for more crapping after the concert. Learnt some things about eyelash curlers, mascara and healthy-looking Singaporean manicures versus not-supposed-to-look-natural French manicures (what to do, three very vain girls versus two very accomodating guys). Also gave suggestions for Jiaqi's reevaluation of her life and talked about Keran's new wedded life until it was nearly midnight.
Here are some pictures taken with my new baby K750i:
the sweetest thing ever
Saturday, August 27, 2005, 09:00 a.m. #893
I have to blog about this. My form class 4E2 did a very very sweet thing for Mr Goh and me on Thursday. They screened a class video which they've made, and the story was about 4E2 searching for two legendary good teachers in order to save the "darkness" in ESSS (in the setting of Star Wars). It's 11 minutes long and it's filled with lots of photographs and hilarious moments, all in tribute to Mr Goh and me - I would have uploaded it to share with you if it's not 66MB (I think I'll kill all the Inopinionated bandwidth). Watched the video like ten times, but I was only touched to tears when I watched it the fifth time, when I was watching it alone in my room... The video was just so, so, so impressive, with seamless editing, appropriate background music and funny captions... Really feel sad that I won't be seeing them as often cos Prelims are starting next week, and I'm afraid I'll cry during their graduation ceremony sia! Will be so malu for a male teacher to cry!!
of freedom and lemongrass
Saturday, August 27, 2005, 08:23 a.m. #892
Been so busy with invigilation and meetings that I didn't have time to lament on my blocked nose and sore throat. Yesterday alone, besides having normal lessons and invigilating the 4NT Prelim exams, I had to meet up with NEA's personnel to discuss the National Weather Study Project and bring another lady from the Green Audit on a tour around the school to let her assess how "green" we were. Then after a quick lunch I had to join the girls in an SWC meeting - yeah, I was the only guy - to discuss The Amazing Race which we're organising for the teachers on Teachers' Day. I'm quite sure you can imagine how a majority-girl meeting was like - the meeting took four hours even though TAR was the only item on the agenda, and they even suggested that we (the clue-givers at the checkpoints) could wear pink on that day. Of course I had violent objections, and we settled on yellow or blue.
Am quite proud of the clues that I wrote for two out of the total of five checkpoints:
Where the South is covered in luscious green
Meet me opposite the shop
Where freedom is sold on a string
Where the village has no villagers
And the smell of lemongrass still lingers
Can you guess where these two places are?
where is the spatula?
Thursday, August 25, 2005, 07:46 p.m. #891
From here on, let women kill their own spiders
Dave Barry
(This classic Dave Barry column was originally published on 14 February 1999.)
From time to time, I receive letters from a certain group of individuals that I will describe, for want of a better term, as "women". I have such a letter here, from a Susie Walker, of North Augusta, S.C., who asks the following question:
"Why do men open a drawer and say, 'Where is the spatula?' Instead of, you know, looking for it?"
This question expresses a commonly held (by women) negative stereotype about guys of the male gender, which is that they cannot find things around the house, especially things in the kitchen. Many women believe that if you want to hide something from a man, all you have to do is put it in plain sight in the refrigerator, and he will never, ever find it, as evidenced by the fact that a man can open a refrigerator containing 463 pounds of assorted meats, poultry, cold cuts, condiments, vegetables, frozen dinners, snack foods, desserts, etc., and ask, with no irony whatsoever, "Do we have anything to eat?"
Now, I COULD respond to this stereotype in a snide manner by making generalizations about women. I could ask, for example, how come your average woman prepares for virtually every upcoming event in her life, including dental appointments, by buying new shoes, even if she already owns as many pairs as the entire Riverdance troupe. I could point out that, if there were no women, there would be no such thing as Leonardo DiCaprio. I could ask why a woman would walk up to a perfectly innocent man who is minding his own business watching basketball and demand to know if a certain pair of pants makes her butt look too big, and then, no matter what he answers, get mad at him. I could ask why, according to the best scientific estimates, 93 percent of the nation's severely limited bathroom-storage space is taken up by decades-old, mostly empty tubes labeled "moisturizer". I could point out that, to judge from the covers of countless women's magazines, the two topics most interesting to women are (1) Why men are all disgusting pigs, and (2) How to attract men.
Yes, I could raise these issues in response to the question asked by Susie Walker, of North Augusta, S.C., regarding the man who was asking where the spatula was. I could even ask WHY this particular man might be looking for the spatula. Could it be that he needs a spatula to kill a spider, because, while he was innocently watching basketball and minding his own business, a member of another major gender - a gender that refuses to personally kill spiders but wants them all dead - DEMANDED that he kill the spider, which nine times out of 10 turns out to be a male spider that was minding its own business? Do you realize how many men arrive in hospital emergency rooms every year, sometimes still gripping their spatulas, suffering from painful spider-inflicted injuries? I don't have the exact statistics right here, but I bet they are chilling.
As I say, I could raise these issues and resort to the kind of negativity indulged in by Susie Walker, of North Augusta, S.C. But I choose not to. I choose, instead, to address her question seriously, in hopes that, by improving the communication between the genders, all human beings - both men and women, together - will come to a better understanding of how dense women can be sometimes.
I say this because there is an excellent reason why a man would open the spatula drawer and, without looking for the spatula, ask where the spatula is: The man does not have TIME to look for the spatula. Why? Because HE IS BUSY THINKING. Men are ALMOST ALWAYS thinking. When you look at a man who appears to be merely scratching himself, rest assured that inside his head, his brain is humming like a high-powered computer, processing millions of pieces of information and producing important insights such as, "This feels good!"
We should be grateful that men think so much, because over the years they have thought up countless inventions that have made life better for all people, everywhere. The shot clock in basketball is one example. Another one is underwear-eating bacteria. I found out about this thanks to the many alert readers who sent me an article from "New Scientist" magazine stating that Russian scientists - and you KNOW these are guy scientists - are trying to solve the problem of waste disposal aboard spacecraft, by "designing a cocktail of bacteria to digest astronauts' cotton and paper underpants." Is that great, or what? I am picturing a utopian future wherein, when a man's briefs get dirty, they will simply dissolve from his body, thereby freeing him from the chore of dealing with his soiled underwear via the labor-intensive, time-consuming method he now uses, namely, dropping them on the floor.
I'm not saying that guys have solved all the world's problems. I'm just saying that there ARE solutions out there, and if, instead of harping endlessly about spatulas, we allow guys to use their mental talents to look for these solutions, in time, they will find them. Unless they are in the refrigerator.
4 unrelated p4r4gr4phs
Tuesday, August 23, 2005, 08:01 a.m. #890
Didn't wear contact lenses and style my hair today cos I was feeling quite sick of my sore throat and blocked nose. So I wore glasses and my hair was messy - typically bochup. Everywhere I went, students stared at me like I was an alien and teachers asked me whether I was okay as if my whole face had "I AM SICK" written all over. Guess 4E1 is going to withdraw their vote for me as the Trendiest Teacher - oh yes, I am actually "trendy" in their opinion, I had a good laugh when they told me.
Anyway, our first digital camera (Nikon Coolpix S1) was delivered last night! Ordered it online on Sunday at Bargaincity cos it's cheaper than in stores and it had lots of free accessories. It's almost the smallest camera I've ever seen (very cool and slim), and it can be used underwater! Quite glad with the purchase. Sis made the decision this time cos I haven't been able to decide on which model. Shall be playing with the camera for the next few days.
Also received my belated birthday present from Mi'er yesterday, all the way from ANU Australia - 6 DVDs of Naruto! Jumped with joy when I saw Mi'er's handwriting on the envelope. Watched a few episodes. Shall savor it slowly as instructed in her postcard. ;)
Another belated present was a bunch of 4 gigantic plush roses from 4 girls of 4E4 (this reminds me of the Singaporean short film "4444"). The Science department ring file at my workdesk is now a permanent vase for the roses, and the roses are standing high above the rest of the file canopy in the office. Shuxian will cringe at the roses whenever she walks past because they're really grotesquely big (and pink). She's probably also jealous. Haha.
piano lyrics
Monday, August 22, 2005, 01:31 p.m. #889
There's this question in the Science workbook, "Why can't a professional singer sing some of the notes produced by a piano?" The answer should be something to do with the vocal range of human, but one student wrote:
"The piano notes have no lyrics, so the singer cannot sing them."
-_-'''
triple eight
Sunday, August 21, 2005, 11:56 a.m. #888
The concert DVD for BHCO's 2005 concert is finally out! Mr Bian really did a great job in videographing. This year's DVD is a lot better in sound and picture quality compared to the previous one although that one was already excellent.
Needless to say, the first track that I watched was Liuqin Chronicles, to see whether my flop in the third movement was audible. Strangely, and much to my pleasant surprise, it was hardly noticeable except for a slight skip in rhythm! Still wondering whether it's the result of a wonderful patchwork done by Mr Bian, or the flop was just a figment of my own imagination?! But my tai feng was indisputably horrible - I looked really bored and stoned throughout (my students said I looked very sad). Think I've got to learn from Jiazhen - she seemed like she's enjoying every single piece with her professional look and crisp movements!
The opener Dance of the Yao Tribe was, frankly, quite a letdown with its sloppy start and an almost numb and procedural treatment throughout. Maybe it's because I've heard too many better versions of the song.
The track which I'm most proud of was Reverie of Green Pastures. We managed to pull it off even though most of the performers still thought the piece was nonsensical right up to the day of performance. The song started off really well with a dreamy prelude by Jonathan's beautiful sheng and Junbin's meaningfully monotonous dizi. And my harmonics in the middle section could actually be heard! (Thanks to the Almighty Condenser Microphone and probably Mr Bian's post-production.) But soon I couldn't wait for the piece to end as it began to sound a little tired and mechanical. Still, I think it's a feat for us to have performed this piece.
By the way, the video is so clear that I could even see my transparent lap-rest. Couldn't help but also notice Jiajia's relieved smirk when she finished her solo in Autumnal Rain, Junbin's persistent pout throughout Dance of the Yao Tribe, Mi'er small geisha-like lips in Journey to Yu Yuan and Zhiqiang's double-neck in Splendour of Fishermen's Lives, which made him look like he had a severed head.
The best item of the concert was inevitably Love of the Loess Plateau, despite the distractions from the semiquaver blinking of Jiajia. Thanks to the familiar theme, Qu Chunquan's very Chinese and melodious arrangement, the likeable and resonant qualities of dizi, and the clean and well-coordinated execution and chemistry between Jiajia and Junbin.
Well, it's over. And the next concert, according to Xiangbin, will probably be in year 2007. Not sure if I'll still be in BHCO at that time, but it has definitely been a pleasant and memorable experience working with you guys in Rhapsodies of the Heart III. We have improved in many ways in my opinion, technically and musically. I remember we had a few unbearable pieces last time, but this time we had none. Even though we might not be in the ranks of TCHSCO or SCO, I think we have done a marvellous job amidst our busy work schedule and adult commitments. For one, not many amateur groups can confidently say that they can play the Green Grass song!
what the fog
Sunday, August 21, 2005, 09:49 a.m. #887
There has been a lot of talk recently (especially in the blogging community) since three Singaporeans have been raided at their homes a week ago for sharing MP3s through IRC. Everyone is finally starting to realise the existence of this ridiculous law which roughly translates, "The purchase of a CD does not mean one has bought the rights of reproduction from the copyright owner. When one buys a CD, he is buying the right to listen to the CD as and when one wishes but he cannot rip songs out and place them in his MP3 player." And there were some very truthful comments like "99% of iPod users are criminals" and "recording industry people are fat greedy pigs".
I really think duplication of music for personal use hardly has any effect on the recording industry (no matter how they try to convince us otherwise). I agree that distributing MP3s on the internet can be deemed as illegal, but if I'm just transferring songs from a CD that I've bought to another more convenient device without inconveniencing anyone else, why should that be an offence? Why should I be limited to only 12 songs in one CD (unless I bring along a bulky CD folder) when I can have hundreds or thousands of them in my MP3 player? Really think the recording industry just wants to make more money by earning $1 per MP3, on top of their CD sales.
One of those three Singaporeans who were caught is a student, and *shh, don't tell anyone else* that guy happens to be in my present form class. I was shocked when I found out that he's the unnamed student mentioned in the papers who is now facing a possible sentence of up to "5 years jail and $100000 fine" - and he's sitting for the O levels in a few months' time! A very unlucky guy, when frankly millions of Singaporeans have committed the same "crime". You can't imagine how worried he is now, when he's just a simple boy from a neighbourhood school and in a regular family that won't be able to afford the hefty fine; and how frightened he was when the police knocked on his door one morning when he was still deep in his sleep, and they ransacked his house and confiscated his CPU. I'm not saying that "everyone's doing it so it can't be illegal" or "a pitiful criminal should be less guilty", but I must be convinced that this law is REASONABLE if it is to be enforced. Right now, I have not heard any explanations regarding how transferring CD tracks to MP3 players for personal use can be damaging. I DEMAND A REASONABLE EXPLANATION, and not just "this is the law, so you'd better jolly well follow."
If the recording industry is trying to send a warning to the public with their recent raids, they've succeeded - my sis has even stopped listening to music online for fear that it could be illegal too without her knowing - but I'm definitely more disgusted with their self-righteousness now.
hate being sick
Saturday, August 20, 2005, 12:11 p.m. #886
Must have caught the flu bug when I dragged myself to BH on Thursday despite being dead exhausted. Yesterday I started having fever, sore throat and a runny nose altogether. Felt extremely sick and it took a lot of effort for me to move my limbs. It didn't help when I had to tolerate three hellish periods with 4T1, and got an SWC meeting to attend after school. Slept for 10 hours last night and I'm feeling more coherent now, but the symptoms have not gone away. And it's the weekend! Argh.
daylight robbery
Thursday, August 18, 2005, 03:53 p.m. #885
On my birthday, my friend proposed to my other friend, and that friend said yes. They have successfully robbed me of The Day That Belongs Exclusively To Me. :/
leoism
Wednesday, August 17, 2005, 09:10 a.m. #884
Went to my form class 4E2 yesterday during their English lesson to tell them about a Physics test on Thursday. Noreha was inside and she was talking to the class about their O level English Oral exams (which has been going on for the past few days). When Noreha saw me, she got all smiley and said to me, "Mr Tan, do you know what the Oral topic was for yesterday?" I said no. "It's 'Talk about a teacher whom you admire', and your name came up so often that the O level examiners came to ask me who this Mr Tan was!"
Of course I felt very flattered, and my immediate reaction was to reply rather thick-skinnedly, "Oh, I'm not surprised actually." *insert nonchalant look* Noreha and the class laughed while I added, "4E2, flattery does not save you from the Physics test huh." And they laughed harder.
It's quite a regret that I'm feeling closer to my form class only this late in the year. But it feels good that every little care and concern that I show is being quietly appreciated. Besides the long thank-you note in the birthday card yesterday, another girl also sent an sms to me last night with a photo of us (taken a few weeks ago) and words like "you're one of the best teachers I've ever had."
I'm such a sucker for compliments. Typical Leo. :)
birthday
Wednesday, August 17, 2005, 07:04 a.m. #883
Birthday yesterday has been rather uneventful compared to other years since I had to attend Contact Time until the evening and violin lesson at night. My earliest presents came from my sister (a Marimekko pencilbox) and on last Friday from Jieying, who gave me a Chinese novel (a sequel to the novel she gave me last year). Gave her a lunch treat to thank her for supporting my concert and remembering my birthday every year.
My form class 4E2 sang a birthday song for me before they greeted me, 4E1 sang the song FIVE times in class too (cos they were reluctant to get on with work, haha). Also received a very thoughtful card and a bright yellow "Don't Worry Be Happy" roadsign from a student (it's now at my workdesk as a constant reminder). Weisheng sent an Obolo cookies-and-cream cheesecake to my house last night (and my mom, sis and I had a mini celebration). Many of my ex-form class (2E1) students also remembered my birthday and verbally well-wished me. Debbie, my ex-student in Compassvale, actually remembered my birthday after more than two years, and she was among the first to send me an sms. Thanks also to friends who gave me handshakes, ecards and smses of well wishes - appreciate them very much! :)
Gave myself a nice Cat Welfare Society T-shirt by donating to the society. But I just wasn't in a birthday mood yesterday. Guess I'm already too old to be feeling excited on birthdays. Sigh.
cruise ships and a rope
Tuesday, August 16, 2005, 06:10 p.m. #882
I was drinking tea when reading this and I had to try very hard not to burst out laughing:
Yo, Ho, Ho And Rum Based Beverages
Dave Barry
(This classic Dave Barry column was originally published on 30 January 2000.)
I am a hearty seafaring type of individual, so recently I spent a week faring around the sea aboard the largest cruise ship in the world that has not yet hit an iceberg. It is called the Voyager, and it weighs 140,000 tons, which is approximately the amount I ate in desserts alone.
The Voyager sails out of Miami every week carrying 3,200 passengers determined to relax or die trying. The ship has (I am not making any of this up) an ice-skating rink, a large theater, a shopping mall, a rock-climbing wall and a nine-hole miniature golf course. We have come a long way indeed from the days when the Pilgrims crossed the Atlantic aboard the Mayflower, which - hard as it is to imagine today - had no skating rink and only four golf holes.
While aboard the ship, we passengers engaged in a wide range of traditional cruise-ship activities, including eating breakfast, snacking, eating lunch, drinking complex rum-based beverages while lying on deck absorbing solar radiation until we glowed like exit signs, snacking some more, eating dinner, eating more snacks and passing out face-down in the pate section of the midnight buffet. Needless to say I did not attempt to climb the rock wall, which is good because the resulting disaster would have made for a chilling newspaper headline:
CRUISE SHIP EVACUATED AS MAN FALLS, EXPLODES;
HUNDREDS SPATTERED BY SEMIDIGESTED SHRIMP
The only stressful part of our shipboard routine was looking at photographs of ourselves. When you're on a cruise, photographers constantly pop up and take pictures of you; they put these on display in hopes that you'll buy them as souvenirs. At night, my wife and I would join the throng of passengers looking through the photos, hoping to find a nice flattering shot of ourselves, and then suddenly - YIKES - we'd be confronted with this terrifying image of two bloated, bright-red sluglike bodies with our faces. Jabba and Mrs. Hutt go to sea!
When every passenger had attained roughly the same body weight as a Buick Riviera, the ship would stop at a Caribbean island, and the passengers would waddle ashore to experience the traditional local culture, by which I mean shop for European jewelry and watches. I frankly don't know why it makes economic sense for a tourist from Montana to fly to Miami, get on a ship and sail to Jamaica for the purpose of purchasing a watch made in Switzerland, but apparently it does, because shopping is very important to cruise passengers. If these people ever get to Mars, they WILL expect to find jewelry stores.
The other thing you do when your ship is in port is take guided tours to Local Points of Interest. Under international law, every tour group must include one tourist who has the IQ of sod. In Jamaica, we toured a plantation, and our group included a woman whose brain operated on some kind of tape delay, as we see from this typical exchange between her and our guide:
GUIDE: These are banana plants, which produce bananas. You can see the bananas growing on these banana plants.
WOMAN: (in a loud voice): What kind of plants are these?
GUIDE: Banana.
WOMAN: Huh! (To her husband:) Frank, these are banana plants!
The woman repeated virtually everything the guide said to Frank. One day he will kill her with a kitchen appliance.
But I am proud to say that winner of the award for Biggest Tourist Doofus was: me. What happened was, during the tour, a man demonstrated how he could climb a coconut tree using only a small rope made from twisted banana fibers. When he came down, he showed me the rope, and I, out of politeness, pretended to be interested in it, although in fact it was, basically, a rope. The man handed it to me and suggested I might want to "take it home to the kids." I frankly doubted that any modern Nintendo-raised American child would be thrilled by such a gift ("Look, Timmy! A rope!"). But I pretended to be grateful. Then the man told me that such ropes USUALLY sell for $15 (he did not say where), but he would let it go for $10. And so, unable to figure out how to escape, I gave him $10. I imagine the other plantation workers laughed far into the night when he told them. ("He gave you $10 for the ROPE?" "Yes! He must be even stupider than the tape-delay woman!")
But don't get me wrong: I truly enjoyed the cruise. It was fun and relaxing, and it gave me a rare chance, amid all the hustle and bustle of my busy life, to pick up a substantial amount of body mass. Cruising is also romantic, so let me just say this to you couples out there: If you're looking for a way to rekindle the flame in your relationship, I'll sell you my rope.
clone of me
Tuesday, August 16, 2005, 10:09 a.m. #881
Something very freaky. Catherine has the same birthday as me. We only realised it when Gek Hong started singing birthday song for me at my desk and Catherine walked past. Okay, the freaky part is not that. It's that we have IDENTICAL handwriting (I once mistook her handwriting as mine). And she used to be in Chinese Orchestra in secondary school. AND, she used to be playing liuqin as well. AND we are so similar in character (we are like the male and female version of the same person)! Luckily she's born a year earlier, or else we would be born at the same place (KK) on exactly the same day as well... So, anyone who wants to reproduce a baby who will grow up to be just like me, try planning the birth to be 16 August. ;)
diabolo
Sunday, August 14, 2005, 09:59 p.m. #880
Got my hands on a diabolo on Friday when I passed by 2E1 after school. Benjamin, Fazleena, Yande, etc were practising diabolo tricks that they've learnt from an enrichment program. I was quite amazed by their fanciful stunts, and they persuaded me to try. Benjamin showed me some basic steps to start the diabolo spinning and I followed - it's actually quite fun whirling the diabolo and keeping it balanced on a string although I still couldn't toss and catch the diabolo like Benjamin did. (They said I'm already quite gifted to be able to succeed in balancing on first try.) Shall pester them to teach me more tricks when there's time... (which is never?) :)
a quiz
Sunday, August 14, 2005, 01:56 p.m. #879
I remember Kelly saying she won't expect me to do an online quiz even if she asks me to do so. She's absolutely right, but I was bored and actually spent about an hour doing this:
THREE NAMES YOU GO BY:
1. Wex
2. Sean
3. Mr Tan
THREE SCREEN NAMES YOU HAVE HAD:
1. Earthroamer
2. Roamer
3. Rhourke
THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
1. My slender figure that never gets fat
2. My big fat juicy eyes that can be overly feminine and overly imposing at the same time
3. My toothy smile
THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU DON'T LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
1. My slender figure that never gets fat
2. My big fat juicy eyes that can be overly feminine and overly imposing at the same time
3. My fair skin that can never get tanned
THREE PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE:
1. Hokkien (my dad)
2. Hakka (my mom)
3. Chinese
THREE THINGS THAT SCARE YOU:
1. White hair on my head (haven't got it yet but I can't imagine the day when I find the first strand of white hair...)
2. Losing my hand (then I can't play my musical instruments!)
3. Something bad happening to people around me (family, friends, students, etc)
THREE OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS:
1. Access to internet
2. Food
3. Sleep
THREE THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW:
1. An old "What The Fish" T-shirt from NUS
2. Boxer shorts
3. Glasses
THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE BANDS OR MUSICAL ARTISTS:
1. Faye Wong! Always inventive and unique.
2. Beck! Always inventive and unique but never weird.
3. Bjork! Always inventive and unique and sometimes weird.
THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE SONGS:
1. Chesspiece - Faye Wong
2. Angel - Sarah McLachlan
3. Yesterday - The Beatles
THREE THINGS YOU WANT IN A RELATIONSHIP:
1. Trust
2. Respect
3. Understanding
TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE (in no particular order):
1. I love kids (though I don't have one)
2. I love cooking (though I don't know how to)
3. I love sports (though I seldom do it)
THREE THINGS ABOUT THE PREFERRED SEX THAT APPEAL TO YOU:
1. Humble and eager to learn
2. Sensitive to details
3. Passionate in her interests
THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE HOBBIES:
1. Practising musical instruments
2. Blogging and reading blogs
3. Karaoke
THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO REALLY BADLY RIGHT NOW:
1. Nap
2. Bathe
3. Read
THREE CAREERS YOU'RE CONSIDERING/YOU'VE CONSIDERED:
1. Architect
2. Musician
3. Counsellor
THREE PLACES YOU WANT TO GO ON VACATION:
1. Rome
2. Tokyo
3. Paris
THREE KID NAMES YOU LIKE:
1. Josh
2. Raymond
3. Aloysius
THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:
1. Find someone whom I truly love and want to see the first moment when I wake up every morning
2. Be a good father and give my children the best growing-up environment (which I think I didn't have)
3. Be a full-time musician, at least for a while before I die
THREE WAYS THAT YOU ARE STEREOTYPICALLY A BOY:
1. I cannot remember what people tell me about themselves
2. I cannot tolerate pink and polka dots
3. I am stubborn, egoistic and analytical
THREE WAYS THAT YOU ARE STEREOTYPICALLY A GIRL:
1. I prefer a stable life over an adventurous one
2. I have overly pretty eyes
3. I like to listen to juicy gossips (though an overdose will put me to sleep)
THREE FEMALE CELEB CRUSHES:
1. Faye Wong
2. Matsushima Nanako
3. Princess Xiang Xiang (a character in Jinyong's novel, does that count?)
THREE PEOPLE THAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE TAKE THIS QUIZ NOW:
(Nah, shall not impose on anyone.)
the irritating maid
Friday, August 12, 2005, 05:59 p.m. #878
The promotion campaign of The Maid is getting on my nerves. The trailer ad is on every Mediacorp channel and it is played during almost every single commercial break. It's even worse on TV Mobile - the ad can easily be played three times within five minutes, and I get extremely irritated when I hear the unpleasant and disharmonious theme repeatedly. Life-sized mannequins are even found in GV toilets so that you'll see them behind you when you look into the mirror (so distasteful and cheap-scare!). This has been going on for weeks and the movie has only just started its run! Wonder how much longer I have to tolerate this.
To Mr Raintree, if you happen to find this website by googling: I WILL NOT WATCH THIS STUPID MOVIE NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES YOU SHOW THE AD! (Okay, I may watch it when the pirated VCDs are out.)
see red
Thursday, August 11, 2005, 08:23 p.m. #877
This year's National Day celebrations felt very different for me. Besides the singing competition on the eve which lifted my spirits, the NDP was exceptionally memorable too. Stayed at home to watch the NDP this time, and frankly I was quite bored after the first hour and went to do some other things while leaving the TV on, but there were several scenes that caught my attention every now and then - the scenic Padang with the night-lights of the city as the backdrop, the brilliant camera-work that zoomed in on oblivious children who looked so innocent and engrossed, the human wave that involved zealous citizens who joined in the Padang celebration from the heartlands - I missed the fireworks though cos I was playing Sims. Heh.
Here are some pictures taken during our competition on National Day Eve. Especially loved the one where Hamizan looked constipated, and yeah, that's me with a gorgeous acoustic guitar (okay, you can only see its side view). Cool ya? ;)
alijah
Thursday, August 11, 2005, 08:45 a.m. #876
The cover of the 400-page hardcover book Today In History, Singapore, which was given out to all school children in commemoration of Singapore's 40th birthday, was actually designed by a student from our school, Alijah (4E4, the weakest Express class). Her entry was chosen among millions of submissions from all over Singapore and I think this was really prestigious. (And for our school, which seldom has anything to be proud of, this was something.) Quite glad of the fact that a piece of work by an unknown girl from an unknown school was recognised and selected. Alijah may not be excellent in her studies but she's definitely talented in the arts - hope she continues to excel in her forte later on.
relationship meters
Tuesday, August 9, 2005, 01:06 a.m. #875
Just came back from a long chat with Eileen, Edmund and Zhangli. We started at Paradiz Centre K-Box (Edmund came to pick each of us up), then we went on to Orient Ocean at Hotel Miramar for a buffet dinner, and ended with supper at Cafe Cartel, Siglap. Can't believe we talked for so long from 7 pm up to minutes ago. And like most teachers who lead a sad life of students above self, we ended up talking about work and students (and a bit about our personal lives). I could imagine our Relationship Meter going up from Friend to Best Friend (like in The Sims 2) while we Chat, Gossiped and Joked. Good thing that Edmund drives. Not only we could travel everywhere for a change of ambience, we got free rides from and back home. :)
we are the champions
Monday, August 8, 2005, 02:01 p.m. #874
WE WON! WE WON! WE WON!
Yep, it doesn't matter that we had less than five practices in all - we emerged as the champions among the five participating teams for the National Day Sing-and-Dance Competition! Everyone went crazy when the first runner-up was announced - Elaine almost fainted. Our last-minute hard work didn't go to waste after all, even though we only aimed to have fun and didn't target to win. The judges probably liked our band (drumset and guitars), original lyrics (by Fatin and Nasyitah), break dance (by Saiful) and the teacher's participation (moi sincerely). The prize was just a load of chocolates and cookies, but this memory of rehearsals and laughter will be priceless.
Gave a treat to 4E2 at Mac after the celebration in school. Spent close to a hundred dollars (on MacDonald's!?) and I was half-glad that they persuaded me to go to Mac when I initially suggested Swensens (where I could have easily spent thrice the amount). Haha.
4e2 again
Sunday, August 7, 2005, 10:35 a.m. #873
Couldn't resist posting these very kawaii pictures of my form class - they brought cameras and took hundreds of photos and short videos last week, and I got them through MSN:
4e2 rawks
Sunday, August 7, 2005, 09:53 a.m. #872
Had a final rehearsal for the National day performance on Friday and gave my form class a treat at Mac for their effort and enthusiasm. Think we did really well but the mics were too muffled and some of them weren't even functioning. The school should really invest more on mics since there are so many celebratory occasions at the hall and the mics always spoil them. (The BH people will remember Mike's famous quote, "Mic very important.")
Went on a CD spree yesterday. Got Green Day's American Idiot (Finally! Have been waiting for this special edition), Bjork's Drawing Restraint 9 (a disappointing album - it's overly indulgent and I thought it's trash after listening to it once) and her Medulla DVDs (the MTVs and documentaries were brilliant!). Wanted to buy some T-shirts but none appealed to me.
the blank faces
Friday, August 5, 2005, 09:43 a.m. #871
I am very worried for my graduating classes (which is basically ALL my classes). We're on revision mode now, but many of the students seem like they're seeing the science formulas for the first time. Needless to talk about 4T1, majority of the class is still in their all-year-round holiday mood and they refuse to do work seriously. For 4E1, the only Pure Physics class, some of them are working hard and a few have even asked me to vet the mindmaps that they've drawn, but many of them are still weak and taking it easy. For 4E2, 4E4 and 5N3, which will be sitting for the Combined Science (Physics) exam, most of the class still had the blank look on their faces when I was explaining the answers for past year papers. Either they're too tired from excessive studying at home, or they had totally no idea what I was talking about... And I believe the latter is the more likely reason. I wish I could physically shake them out of their slumber.
violin exam
Wednesday, August 3, 2005, 07:03 a.m. #870
Saw the aftermath of a road accident on my way to my violin exam yesterday. A contorted bicycle, a car stopped in the middle of a turn, police cars, a boy in green uniform lying on the grass and his face covered with blood... Many thoughts went through my mind and it felt strange how tiny things that happened in a split second could potentially lead to big changes in people's lives... At the moment of impact, the driver could be distracted by a sudden thought about his dinner and the boy could be thinking of rushing home to catch a TV program - and this double coincidence of negligence led to the accident. The driver of that car could be charged and develop a phobia for driving later on. The boy, if he lives, may be disfigured and never ride a bicycle again. Parent passers-by who witnessed the accident may forbid their children to ride a bicycle on the road... Argh. Guess I'm thinking too much.
Nevertheless, this could have inspired me to play the slightly melancholic Preludio well later on in my ABRSM Grade 4 violin exam. Think I played the three set pieces more expressively than usual. The chromatics in Hindu Song were smooth and the piece had very contrasting dynamics. The Drunkard's Song was vivacious and animated, and its spicatos were (thank god) even. Scales and arpeggios were all right. Aural was good too, think I didn't make a single mistake. But my sightreading was horrible - the rhythm of the piece was simple and it's in an easy F major key, but I counted the beats wrongly and a few notes were unnecessarily sharpened (I realised the mistakes only 0.1 seconds after I played the notes so I had to carry on playing as if nothing's wrong). Sigh. Hope I do well! :)
early wishes
Tuesday, August 2, 2005, 07:04 a.m. #869
The first thing I received at 5 am this morning was Kelly's sms, wishing me good luck for my violin exam. I don't remember mentioning the date to anyone and even if I did mention it, I probably said it only once. But Kelly actually remembered! Quite touched (cos I'm someone who can't remember dates and I always admire and appreciate people who can). Thanks Kelly for starting my day on a high note! :)
