callijawi
Monday, July 30, 2007, 08:34 p.m. #1369
Watching "Campus Superstar". One of the contestants sang really badly - I wonder how he managed to get into the semi-finals? The judges were quite frank in their comments and the boy looked like he was going to cry - in fact one of the judges was so brutally frank that a student audience made a series of rude hand gestures when the camera was on him. Hmm. Didn't he know he's on live TV, and he's representing his school? *Shakes head*
On a totally different note, here are a few pictures taken during part of the racial harmony celebration in school last week: Malay boys writing Chinese calligraphy, and a girl showing off her Malay jawi writing. Nice eh?
the proper goodbye
Monday, July 30, 2007, 10:44 a.m. #1368
This is an entry which is 30 days late. Officially quit from my keyboard course on 1 July. All four of us quit, as we felt we have learnt enough to play pop songs quite competently, and we were having problems finding time on Friday nights to go for lesson. Over the span of the past one year, we have completed two-thirds of the keyboard course - the final third is on improvision and a bit of composition, which I suppose I have already learnt enough in my music theory lessons anyway...
Being the sentimental person that I am, I got a card and wrote some farewell notes to Jane (our teacher), and went to Hark to give the card to her. I guess she's quite disappointed with all of us as we've never indicated that we might quit, in fact we merely called the school to terminate our course, and we didn't say a proper goodbye to her - it was probably a rude shock for her. Jane didn't show any expression when I passed her the card - she was talking to some other students then. Just before I left, she said, "Hope we'll meet again."
I left my email and handphone number in the card, hoping that we may keep in touch, but she never replied. Maybe we're just part of her "work", and she didn't want to mix that with her personal life. I totally respect that, but I still wonder whether she is angry with us.
the simpsons movie
Friday, July 27, 2007, 06:45 p.m. #1367
Watched "The Simpsons Movie" last night with a friend whom I got to know online (my first time meeting an online friend in real life). The movie was good-old-fashioned-Simpsonically great with the usual tight script, witty one-liners and hilarious spoofs which made the past 18 years (400 episodes) of Simpsons so enjoyable. The Spider-Pig jingle still rings in my head right now. =)
what on earth are you doing?
Thursday, July 26, 2007, 11:40 a.m. #1366
Brought students to a charity organization to sort recyclable waste yesterday. Below is an extract from my reflective portfolio:
This charity organization collects recyclable wastes from residents regularly and categorizes them weekly. After which, the sorted wastes will be sold, and the earnings will be channeled to helping poor families in Singapore and neighboring countries. The presenter of the organization explained it most aptly in his introductory speech, "Rubbish remains as rubbish when it is unsorted, but once it is sorted, it becomes treasure."
Indeed, throughout the two-hour exercise, not only did we "create" treasure, the experience has been a real treasure as well for both the students and me. The students got their hands dirty (not in the literal sense though, because the wastes were relatively clean) in sorting out plastic bottles, aluminum cans, colored paper, old newspapers, CD cases, video cassette tapes and plastic bags. It was especially tricky for the video cassette tapes as we had to dismantle the tapes and pick out the metallic, colored plastic and transparent plastic parts, and this required a bit of technique and skilful strength as the parts were quite securely attached to each other. I am glad to say that at the end of the session, many of the students have become professional "tape-dismantlers".
When the session ended, many students asked to stay longer as they thoroughly enjoyed the exercise – there was a lot of sweat involved, but they had great fun, and they knew they were doing something really meaningful. Some of them said they would love to continue to go to the foundation house to help in the recycling effort whenever they are free. Through this, I think the students have learnt that it doesn't take much to reach out to people who need our help, it just takes a minor step of initiative and action for each individual, and the accumulative effort will benefit many people in return. At first, the amount of unsorted wastes was daunting and untidy, but at the end of the day, everything was neatly sorted into bags, ready to be resold. It was clear from the tired but radiant faces of the students that they felt a deep sense of achievement and meaning.
I had some doubts at first when I thought of getting students to the charity organization. It is a Buddhist organization which originated from Taiwan, and the recycling station that we went to was in their foundation house, which was a temple. I was afraid that the religion factor might interfere with my original intentions for the activity. I have Muslim students in my club, and I was worried that they might not feel comfortable in a Buddhist-set environment. Some parts of the presentation had to be in Mandarin too (due to its Taiwanese roots) so the Malay students might not understand them.
However, I took a calculated risk, telling the people at the organization that most of our students would not understand Mandarin and that there were Muslims in the midst. It turned out that the presenters were very sensitive and did not mention anything to do with Buddhism at all. In their introduction, they talked about how their organization helped people all over the world, and about their conviction in saving the Earth for the greater good of mankind. The talk was sincere, convincing, touching and educational. Apparently, the Buddhist setting of the foundation house did not bother the Muslim students as well. In fact the most enthusiastic student of the day was a Sec 3 Muslim boy, who, during the final consolidation sharing session, gushed about how much he enjoyed himself, and how he would spread the word about environmental conservation among his family and peers. To plan an activity with good intentions is one thing; hearing the students speak out that they have achieved the intended purpose is another thing altogether. I was quite touched. Apparently, I have been overly concerned. Religion is not a barrier at all – environmental protection is everybody's business.
photo gallery
Monday, July 23, 2007, 06:25 p.m. #1365
An entry with four thousand words:
Death of a pencilcase. The zip broke. This pencilcase has accompanied me through four long years of teaching. I like it for its stylish and hardy material, and the zip which can open up to its side (easier to search for small stuff in the midst of chunky markers) - a great design which I couldn't seem to find last week when I shopped around for a replacement. Eventually got one which was close, but it's just not as ideal.
Artist at work. Took this picture last weekend at the racial harmony carnival at Kovan. Thought the floor painting (using ground rice flour) looked really colourful and vibrant!
Foowosh. That's the name of this boardgame - the hard work of my EC members. We spent quite a bit of time researching for questions on toilet cultures, and putting all the ideas and artwork together on one gameboard wasn't very easy as well. Quite proud of the final product. Judging took place last week, and the judge seemed to like the game too.
The childhood monkeys. Suddenly thought of them one night. Dug them out from the storeroom and took this picture. I didn't have many toys when I was young, so I dearly treasure the memories attached to those toys which has survived these long years of neglect. It's such a coincidence that both of my most "important" toys are monkeys. The black monkey with the withdrawable pacifier has been with me since I was a baby - my aunt gave it to me when she was still the girlfriend of my maternal uncle. I got the other monkey (Pee-Pee) in Malacca, when I first went overseas with a group of close secondary school friends - each of us bought one monkey actually, but I don't know whether they still keep theirs. Ah... the secondary school days - the best time of my life.
conquering the world
Sunday, July 22, 2007, 09:13 a.m. #1364
Bought the boardgame Risk and started playing with sis last night. Was so engrossed in it that I decided not to go for orchestral practice (and it was raining!).
For me, Risk has some sentimental values. I remember when I was in secondary school, I'd stay over at a friend's house to play Risk (and Asshole) for days and nights with a group of friends. We would strategise and form alliances with the ambition to "conquer the world". In those times, we weren't bothered with the "worldy issues" yet, and computers weren't common too. Risk was a simple, great game that brought us together to let us kill time and enjoy ourselves.
So where are these friends now? I have lost touch with most of them. According to hearsay and Friendster, one is in Thailand, one is in the U.S., one is in Shanghai, and I don't even know where some of them are right now... "Conquering the world" has taken on a different meaning for each of us now, depending on our aspirations and what life has led us into. I don't suppose these friends play Risk anymore - I haven't played it for more than a decade. Maybe these friends won't even remember those times when we used to fight over small spaces on a gameboard, but I'll always remember those days when friendships were the purest and we could have pure fun without worries.
the inattentive cabby
Friday, July 20, 2007, 06:42 p.m. #1363
Sometimes one inattentive cab driver is all that it takes to make a bad day worse.
After a long, tiring day of work, all I wanted was to get home quick and have a nice, hot dinner (I don't even remember whether I had lunch today). When I got on the cab, I expressedly told the driver to go by TPE, which will usually ensure a short and smooth ride home along the expressway. But the driver didn't drive as directed. I thought he had some ingenious shortcut so I let him drive around a bit, but I was apparently too optimistic. He got us on a couple of busy roads and traffic jams - whether he did that intentionally I wouldn't know. But he was definitely enjoying the radio program which was playing on his stereo - he was laughing at the jokes that the DJs made. I was already quite pissed when we were still around Tampines after ten minutes and he asked, "So, should I go by Old Tampines or Kaki Bukit now?" So I answered, "Up to you. I told you to go by TPE but you didn't follow anyway." And he had the audacity to ask, "So, should I go on TPE now?" To which I exclaimed, "TPE is not even near now!"
Fumingly watched the meter tick away with a growling stomach for the rest of the journey.
The journey took more than twice the amount of time I usually take by cab, and the trip cost three dollars more than usual. Not wanting to waste any more time (he probably knew that I wouldn't spend time arguing with him), I merely paid him and got off without a word.
a homeless spark
Friday, July 20, 2007, 06:32 p.m. #1362
以下转载自一个朋友的blog，被我做了些许的更改。刚离开乐团而搁置了乐器的怅然，我也曾深深感受过：
并不是我们没有了热忱，只是热忱让寒冷的空气给摧毁了。毕竟我们再也没有一个有火炉的家，可以一直让我们的热忱持续燃烧。心里微弱的火苗闪烁不定，随时都会有浇灭的遗憾，而我们却无力呵护，甚至有点疲惫。当那些依然在乐团的朋友兴奋地谈论着什么什么歌曲时，我顿时感觉陌生。忽然，最热闹的练习室转变成了最寂寥的地方。
有时很迷惘，曾经那么死命执着的精神变质了。要再找到一个能为我们准备暖呼呼的火炉的家的机率有多少呢？每个屋子或许都有个暖炉，但要找到一个适宜的温度，却不容易。
一个值得的乐团，在一个人的生命里又会出现几回？
见到这一位与我不同乐团、年龄的朋友也感同身受，心口不禁感到一阵酸。这样的遗憾应该是一直在重复地上演吧？...
indecent exposure
Thursday, July 19, 2007, 01:14 p.m. #1361
Remember the guy (A) who supposedly pierced his private parts? Apparently he's going cranky again recently. A few girls complained to me that they saw A exposing himself to a group of boys in the classroom. Yes,
in the classroom - must he be so narcissistic and desperate that he had to do that right there right then? I asked the group of boys about A, and they said A has done that several times actually, in the classroom, and sometimes at the library. According to the boys, he had no reason for doing what he did, and he would simply laugh after he'd unzipped his pants to expose himself. I nearly fainted. Such behaviour will never be condoned if he did it outside school, even if it was meant as a joke! (And I wonder what's so funny.) Referred his case to the school counsellor as I knew he would most likely not tell me the truth if I'd asked him - he lied about his cigarettes and piercing in the past anyway. The counsellor must be extremely busy with all the teachers' referrals.
aerin's
Wednesday, July 18, 2007, 11:25 a.m. #1360
Met up with JC friends on Saturday - nearly forgot about it after my long day of music theory, guitar and violin lessons - until YY sms-ed at the meeting time that she'd be late. Rushed to the meeting place (Raffles City), only to realise that I was actually the second earliest person to arrive. Made a short trip to the Esplanade nearby to get my violin bridge and bow adjusted, and when I came back, the rest still had not arrived. Whatever happened to the virtue of punctuality??
Anyway we had a great dinner at Aerin's (basement of Raffles City). Highly recommended. Nice variety of western food, and ALL their dishes were nice - at least all the dishes which the four of us ordered were very decent. The crust of the apple pie (with a special-tasting vanilla ice-cream topping) was heavenly, for example. And the ambience was good - not a big crowd despite the quality food and the weekend.
Talked about babies, work and... hmm, many other things which I cannot recall. It's nice to chat with old friends who aren't teachers - or else the topics of unappreciative students and the hardships of teaching will always dominate the conversation... The next time we meet will have to be much later when YY has given birth. Looking forward to that day. =)
the truth about skirts and hair
Monday, July 16, 2007, 09:24 p.m. #1359
The irony of blogging is, when you have many events to blog about, you don't have the time to blog. And when you're free to blog, you have nothing much to write about. Hmm. Anyway, in the following days, I'll try to recount the blog-worthy stuff for the past two weeks, before I forget...
The most troubling thing on my mind right now is about one of the boys in my form class. Let's call him D. The Discipline Master told me that D has been caught on camera, stealing girls' skirts from empty classrooms when the girls have gone for their PE lessons (!) - he meticulously took out the wallets and other items from the skirt pockets and only took away the skirts, meaning his intent really wasn't about the money... and right after his stealing act, he's caught on camera again in the toilet, this time putting on the skirts and admiring himself in the mirror (!!). Yep, I didn't know there are so many hidden cameras around in the school until then, but I suppose they are installed for the safety of our students. And this time the cameras really served to reveal some really,
really obscure secrets of a boy.
When the DM questioned D about the videos, D confessed and said that he's actually done that several times since his primary school days, and his parents don't know about it. He also requested us to keep this secret from his parents. I couldn't believe my ears when I heard the story from the DM. D may seem like a quiet loner, but it never occurred to me that he would do
this. D is now seeing the school counsellor, and the school is still pondering on whether his parents should be notified.
Then today D's father called me. I thought the school has told him about his son, but it turned out that the father called to complain about the DM, who cut D's long hair today, saying that the school didn't have the right to cut his hair, and that D's mother is a hairstylist and she could have done a better job. When I asked him whether he was aware of the school rules and D's long hair, he said of course he was aware but he didn't think D's hair was long and most other schools aren't so unreasonable. I felt the urge to say, if you don't like our school rules, get a transfer - but I knew such statements are forbidden so I didn't really say it.
Anyway I was quite angry by then. If he'd known about his son's long hair, why didn't the "hairstylist" mother give him a haircut? And when the school steps in to discipline his son for him, why is he still so unsupportive? Then he argued that keeping short hair hardly means anything in terms of discipline, and that his son is a well-disciplined, fine boy. I agreed that D is a pleasant boy, and told him patiently that being neat and maintaining personal hygiene is actually a very basic form of self-discipline. But the father was still not convinced. He even said that I'd never understand because
I don't have a kid. Hello, that's getting personal here! When he went on about how his kid now looks like a "clown", I was very tempted to tell him about his son's unusual hobby, about the greater problem-at-hand, but I resisted, knowing that the right thing to do was to wait for the school's decision on whether to respect D's wishes. Argh. So, I spent some time rebutting the father's superficial arguments and eventually telling him to watch his own child more closely. Colleagues around me who heard my phone conversation (they didn't know about D) were so impressed with my firmness and "fierceness" that they saluted me when I ended the call.
I hope it's just puberty, curiosity, or some kind of hormonal surge that led D to be doing what he did. I'm deeply troubled because I'm a sucker for proper closures, and I'm not sure if this matter will ever find a
proper closure.
du diable
Friday, July 13, 2007, 03:11 p.m. #1358
Yesterday has been a long, tiring but fulfilling day. Was involved in conducting one "@ the Movies" program with Mdm S. She used snippets from the cartoon "Brother Bear" to discuss the animals' rights to live and the importance of forgiveness, and I used a short video clip on polar bear and global warming to emphasize the need to view issues from various perspectives. Everything flowed very well and I thought the students truly enjoyed the session.
Conducted a lab session for my graduating class after school. The students who came finally showed some sense of urgency, so I was glad, but the attendance was still not very satisfactory, meaning a handful of students are still hoping for miracles to happen...
The deadline for submission of prelim papers is today. And this information was only released
in the corporate shared folder this week - there was no formal announcement or notification at all - so if we didn't check the shared folder we wouldn't know. Anyway I'd predicted the deadline to be soon so I have finished setting two papers early on, but I didn't think the deadline would be
so soon, so I'm left with one more long paper to set. Yesterday I spent hours sitting in front of piles of books and the computer, setting the exam paper. Just when I was feeling like an overworked zombie, a phonecall from my friends came at night. Apparently they found a few nice violins in an instrument shop at Esplanade but the boss refused to reserve the violins for me so I was advised to go and take a look at them right then.
Took a cab and rushed to the Esplanade shop. The two violins that they found, which were chosen within my budget, were indeed very decent. Both violins were handmade by Scott Cao in US, who has made violins for the likes of Itzhak Perlman and Nigel Kennedy. One had a very bright and rich sound, and an antiqued cracked varnish. The other had a mellow and crisp sound, and a sleek look. While I liked the first violin's resonant sound, I also loved the lower registers of the second violin. Eventually bought the second one (a Guarneri copy) since I really liked the sounds of both in different ways but the second one won on its clean look. And it has a name that probably suits me well - Du Diable - The Devil. Ha ha. (The original 1734 Du Diable was said to have supernatural powers. Cool eh?) Also got a Brazilian bow and a silver BAM case.
After the late supper and the cab ride home, I didn't have the mood to set the exam paper already. Simply went to sleep and asked for an extension of deadline this morning. Luckily I was not the only one who was stunned by the one-week deadline, so it's decided that everyone shall hand in the exam papers next week. Phew. Shall take a nap soon and then go experiment on my Devil. =)
nodame cantabile
Sunday, July 8, 2007, 05:28 p.m. #1357
Thanks to Eriko for introducing me to two great video websites: crunchyroll.com and aznv.tv. Both sites stream complete drama serials and movies from Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan (and even Singapore), with aznv.tv streaming videos at a higher resolution and better sound. The collection at both sites is amazing, ranging from those old serials in the 80s to the latest Asian dramas. I tried searching for all the shows that I could possibly think of, and they have ALL of them.
"What's wrong with playing the piano freely and in the way I enjoy it?"... The dilemma of every musician - the balance between conventional expectations and the individual flavour, the freedom of expression.
Finished watching "Nodame Cantabile" on aznv.tv. Anyone who has been in an orchestra before will definitely identify with the characters in this Japanese drama serial. A girl (Noda Megumi) who enjoys music and plays classical pieces with her own whimsical interpretations, a guy (Chiaki Shinichi) who aspires to be a conductor but is unable to further his studies abroad due to his fear of plane rides, an amateur orchestra that's facing an impending disbandment as everyone has different aspirations for the future... A drama serial revolving around classical music could have been exceedingly boring, but the zany characters and their hilarious antics make this serial very funny and enjoyable... Nodame's "gift" in transforming any room into a rubbish dump that overflows with dubious purple fluids, Chiaki's wacky facial expressions whenever Nodame has her hands all over him (Gyabo!), Masumi's possessive infatuation for Chiaki, Mine's passion and showmanship in performing, Maestro Stresemann's love for sexy magazines and his pretentious "German" accent, Sakuma's indulgent love for literary theatrics... Many classical pieces have been used in the soundtrack and they really add a lot of colour to the story (although some pieces have been used quite awkwardly too). It makes me want to belong in an orchestra with all my friends again.
live earth
Saturday, July 7, 2007, 11:28 p.m. #1356
Live Earth day. In Singapore, we're encouraged to wear green today to show our support, and I was hoping to see a sea of green when I was out, but it's disappointing to observe that there's less green around than usual. Maybe green just isn't a very wearable colour for everyone. Either people didn't know (but it's been publicised all over the papers and TV!), or they didn't care, or they didn't have green clothes to start with, or they didn't believe that wearing green meant anything, or they simply didn't want to be wearing the same colour as others (although in the end not many wore green anyway). Some may even argue that these huge publicity and worldwide concerts are depleting precious resources as well - but I guess the massive movement has served the purpose well - awareness has been heightened, and it seems "hip" to be environmentally-conscious - the rarely-seen unified effort of peoples all over the world can be quite touching, and comforting... Let's do our own little part to keep our Earth "alive", and let's remind everyone around us as well... Answer the call.
westqophdope
Thursday, July 5, 2007, 07:32 a.m. #1355
Have you heard the two new NDP songs? Don't you think the solo piece "There's No Place I'd Rather Be", sung by Kit Chan, sounds like an earlier NDP song "Home" (also sung by Kit ten years ago)? And the other ensemble piece "Will You?" sounds like "Go West"? Maybe Jimmy Ye deliberately wrote them this way, so that the two Kit songs have some continuity, and people can remember the songs more easily. Thought it was nice to have included some challenging opera-vocal parts in "Will You?" - earlier songs always sounded too "safe for singing". Anyway I guess it's hard to churn out politically correct lyrics and singer-friendly melodies every year - the effort in ensuring that this has been done every year is already an achievement in itself. Which other country does this?
Since I bought the two boardgames last week, my sis and I have been playing quite a bit of Scrabble, sometimes late into the night. And we're so addicted to it that we even practise it on our own during commercial breaks (yes, Scrabble can be a single-player game too). Quite a nice game actually, as it makes us flip our dictionaries, which were otherwise gathering a lot of dust. And who on earth would know words like "zyzzyva", "xu" and "qoph" if not for games like Scrabble?
Been bidding on eBay recently too. Won several bids and bought a few precious CDs and violin accessories at really low prices. It felt great to win those unbelievably cheap deals, but one wrong bid washed all my successful cheap deals down the drain. It was the case of a violin peg dope. The price of the dope was actually very low, but I forgot to do the proper conversions for its shipping price (so careless!), and it turned out that the shipping cost was about five times the price of the dope. Was "doped" into buying it, literally.
