b l a c k o u t
Wednesday, June 30, 2004 ^ 06:17 p.m.
Last night, 30% of Singapore was hit by a major blackout, I was one of the victims. Was doing my annual restringing of my guitar when it happened, luckily I just managed to install the last string when everything went black, so I could still tune and play in the dark - Yep, when I was going through in my head the list of things which I can do in the dark, playing the guitar happened to be one of the few.
There were screams seconds after darkness fell. We dug out candles, batteries and torches and lit a candle in each room (very cosy and romantic). Sis thought it would be interesting to walk in complete pitch-darkness where even the streetlights were off, so we went downstairs to take a walk with our torches. Apparently there were many people who thought the same way and walked around with torches in their hands - it was quite a rare sight (and we realised that torchlight can travel very far). When we went back home, the reality of electricitylessness dawned on us when we couldn't turn on the fan or even read a book. My sis was clever to get herself hooked to the phone first. I continued to play my guitar and listened to the radio till when it was late and I thought I might as well sleep. At midnight, the lights in my room suddenly went on again and woke me up. Darn.
Anyway, the CME lesson turned out fine, I only had a chat with the students, and 5N1 seemed like a really disciplined and pleasant class. Phew.
n e w t i m e t a b l e
Monday, June 28, 2004 ^ 06:07 p.m.
New timetable. My 2E1 Math has been taken away from me, and in its place, CME with 5N1.
Have been complaining about seeing 2E1 too often for the past two terms, having 13 periods with them each week for Math, Science and PCCG. Now that Math is taken away, I am half-happy cos I now belong to the Science department exclusively (NO NEED TO ATTEND ANY MORE MATH MEETINGS!), but I have less time with my pet class... Hmm. Well, I guess when you gain some, you will lose some. CME is also something new for me, and I don't know if the class 5N1 is going to be a headache... Oh well. Shall see this Wednesday - my first CME lesson with them.
g u i t a r r e b o r n
Sunday, June 27, 2004 ^ 12:52 p.m.
Have always been very proud of my second-hand Yamaha CG80A which I bought from Jianwen at $100+ when I was in JC. Its color/hue is great, the tone is mellow and expressive, and this model is no longer produced (which makes it an "antique"?). I have always heard that Yamaha CG models are very inconsistent as they are factory-made - I think my guitar just happened to be one of the really good ones.
There was one period of time when I didn't play my guitar at all, and one day I finally decided to take the guitar out of its case. To my horror, the spruce top and back had moulds on it and grime had "fossilised" and formed white marks on the fingerboard. Since then, I have not been able to get rid of these unsightly marks no matter how hard I tried to wipe them off. But today, as I was so free, I experimented with a damp cloth and some Shokubutsu body foam, and Abracadabra! the marks were gone! Now my guitar is squeaky clean and looks brand new and I can even see my own reflection on it. This may be a psychological effect - it even sounds better! *grinning from ear to ear*
l a s t m i n u t e s o f f r e e d o m
Sunday, June 27, 2004 ^ 09:41 a.m.
Found a small DVD shop at the basement of Century Square and it sold the original Band Of Brothers $20 cheaper than the usual price, so I snapped it up and started watching this award-winning series which HBO was so proud of...
School is starting tomorrow... Happy to be teaching and seeing the kids again, but sad when I think of the workload and pressure... Sigh. If only teaching is just about teaching only.
t ' s s h o c k
Thursday, June 24, 2004 ^ 10:55 p.m.
Strategic Planning Day. The introduction session was done by me, and I used toys to explain the concept of I&E. The response was very good - the teachers loved the toys (some were still playing with them for the rest of the day), and I received encouraging feedback such as "You're a very natural speaker!" (from Lourdesamy) and "Your presentation was very good!" (from the P) so I was quite happy.
The rest of the day, to me, was quite crappy, as we went through the school objectives and suggested ways to REPHRASE these goals and action plans, and all these were to be kept and filed up after today - I wonder what is the point of us spending so much time doing something that is just for the record. Hmm.
Then the Physics teachers, Basheer, Daniel, Gek Hong, Sakinah, Irene and I, got together when the strategic planning session (which spanned eight hours) was over to discuss our problems and difficulties. Ms T (our HOD) happened to pass by so we invited her to sit down and listen to our "grievances". Basheer, Gek Hong and Daniel told her their opinion about her one-way leading style and I told her about Sakinah's dilemma and how I disliked her way of asking people to pass message around instead of telling the people-concerned straight. We made it clear that we had nothing against her and we merely wanted our department to function more harmoniously and efficiently, but Ms T was probably too shocked that the lot of us actually "ganged up" to "complain" to her that she was on the verge of tears many times. I do pity her, and I know she has her own difficulties, but I feel we need to have some understanding between us regarding matters that matter to us... just hope that she takes such form of communication positively. If she doesn't, we may all be fired on Monday? ;)
Mi'er passed her zhongruan to me just now. She is giving it to me! So happy... Hahaha.
m o v e o n
Wednesday, June 23, 2004 ^ 10:24 p.m.
Just a month ago, Denise surprised everyone with her wedding with Kevin. Now, she suddenly resigned as she's expecting a child. Though I haven't been particularly close to her, I feel quite sad as she's been one of the hard-workers in the Science department - losing her as a colleague is indeed a great loss... Sigh. But I guess we all have to move on someday, and we should all be happy that she has chosen to move on.
Had a long chat with Sakinah, Gek Hong, Azman and Lokman today about Ms T (our Science HOD), teaching, passion and our 'limits'... Sakinah, like me, is not interested in promotion at all - she just wants to teach well but Ms T keeps pressuring her to coordinate the Physics teachers and asking her to do many extra things, and Sakinah is now feeling frustrated even when she's such an obliging person. I can totally understand her plight, and to think that she's been working under Ms T for 3 years... I have a great deal of respect for her.
p r e s c h o o l b l u e s
Wednesday, June 23, 2004 ^ 02:08 p.m.
This is one week before school reopens, and I am already feeling exhausted. Attended a lame conference at Carlton Hotel on Monday - supposed to learn about project work and group investigation but ended up merely discussing among our groups and churning out commonsensical solutions that we already knew. Helped the Sec 4s with their revision at the hall on Tuesday - it wasn't too bad, but it was quite tiring having to walk around and ask whether the students had questions.
Today is the worst. Attended a Visual Basic workshop in the morning, which was conducted by Mr Lokman - it was quite interesting but I hoped that it was more indepth. Then helped Joyce etc with their Science project at the lab - they're trying to test whether undyed and dyed hair had any difference. Now waiting for Ee Von to come back from her lunch so that we can work on our I&E presentation tomorrow... I really dread working with her - long lunch breaks, unproductive meetings, slow progress... It is already 2 pm+ and she is still not back... I wish I can be at home taking a nap... ARGH!!
c a n o n
Sunday, June 20, 2004 ^ 10:05 p.m.
Yesterday's guitar festival was quite an eye-opener, it featured local guitar talents competing in Solo, Ensemble and Vocal categories and the first prize for the Solo category was a $3000 Yamaha guitar (which looked just like any China-made guitar). While the soloists were good, the participants for the other two categories were rather weak. Maybe I should take part in this 3 years later? ;)
Today Integral finally got together again for a short "jamming session". We weren't good enough to "jam", but we did enjoy ourselves trying to work out Pachelbel's Canon.
The long-awaited Harry Potter paperback is finally arriving on 10 July. Preordered it. Not that I don't like hardcovers, but I have a thing for consistency - my previous four books were all paperbacks.
g r o c e r y
Friday, June 18, 2004 ^ 06:34 p.m.
Went to do some grocery after a meeting in school and I enjoyed it - leisurely walking around in Cold Storage, around others who were equally leisurely, looking at people mopping the floor and putting on pricetags, comparing prices, asking the lady whether there's still stock for the wildberry sorbet because the only one on display had a broken lid... These made me feel human somehow, unlike work and daily rushes that make me feel so numb.
y o u n g
Friday, June 18, 2004 ^ 06:02 p.m.
Linkin Park's tight and no-nonsense album Meteora has been ringing in my head today...
I want to heal
I want to feel what I thought was never real
I want to let go of the pain I've held so long
Erase all the pain till it's gone
I want to heal
I want to feel like I'm close to something real
I want to find something I've wanted all along
Somewhere I belong
This is going to sound silly, but it suddenly occurred to me that I am not THAT old actually. Haven't been keeping count of my age cos every time when people ask me how old I am, I would reply eighteen. And people would start telling me that I am so old, reaching thirties, should start finding a girlfriend, blah blah... so much so that I begin to believe that I am REALLY old. Just did a count: 2004-1977=27, I am only going to be 27 after my birthday, so I am, strictly speaking, only 26 now! But it really is a horrifying thought to be reaching the thirties - I am starting to understand the whole fuss in that episode of Friends where everyone turns thirty. To me, it feels like I would start balding and getting a potbelly, and the lady at the cashier would call me UNCLE instead of XIAO DI. But maybe it's still too early to worry about all that, now that I've realised that I am still YOUNG.
g r a t e f u l
Thursday, June 17, 2004 ^ 11:44 p.m.
My old TV died a few days ago and a new TV arrived today - it's only 21" but I think it's a little too big for my tiny room. Like the nicam stereo and dual-sound function though. My old TV didn't have this dual-sound function so I couldn't watch the Japanese serials in their original sound.
Jing'an came for BH practice today and she gave me a massage when we had supper at Mac. Can't forget the therapeutic (orgasmic?) massage she gave me last year, so I was thrilled when she agreed to give the massage. While massaging, she told me my body is too tense and that I am too stressed and should learn to relax in my work. Hmm... how do I relax when I have to entertain 5x40=200 customers every day? ;)
i n n o d e a
Wednesday, June 16, 2004 ^ 09:17 p.m.
Had to go back to school because Ee Von thought we should try out the toys which we are using for next week's I&E (Innovations & Enterprise) presentation. Woke up early in the morning to go to school and did some personal stuff while I waited for her until I became impatient 30 minutes after our agreed time. And her reply was, "Will be there in 20 minutes' time." Hmm.
Anyway, she came and we went to Innodea Room (supposedly short for Innovative Idea, but it can actually mean I No Idea too - haha, silly name) to try out the toys. Spent several hours just to decide on which toys to play during the presentation. Then we had lunch at Changi V with Jason and Patrick at a terrible restaurant that served mediocre food and bad service. Went back to school after that, meddled with the same toys and took a few photos. A totally unproductive day.
l o n e l y s e a s o n
Wednesday, June 16, 2004 ^ 06:36 p.m.
>寂寞的季节 - 娃娃/陶吉吉<
风吹落最后一片叶
我的心也飘着雪
爱只能往回忆里堆叠
给下个季节
忽然间树梢冒花蕊
我怎么会都没有感觉
整条街都是恋爱的人
我独自走在暖风的夜
多想要向过去告别
当季节不停更迭
却还是少一点坚决
在这寂寞的季节
艳阳高照在那海边
爱情盛开的世界
远远看著热闹一切
我记得那狂烈
窗外是快枯黄的叶
感伤在心中有一些
我了解那些爱过的人
心是如何慢慢在凋谢
多想要向过去告别
当季节不停更迭
却永远少一点坚决
在这寂寞的季节
又走过风吹的冷冽
最后一盏灯熄灭
从回忆我慢慢穿越
在这寂寞的季节
还是寂寞的季节
一样寂寞的季节
n i c h o l a s
Monday, June 14, 2004 ^ 11:58 p.m.
Finished playing Zhen Yitian Tulongji. The gaming system had something new, and the graphics were satisfactorily well-designed, but the ending had no climax and there were some silly bugs that made me unable to finish some optional quests.
Received an sms from Ernest (2E1, my form class) in the morning to ask me to check the obituary to confirm something. Nicholas' father has passed away. Called his home and found that he died of lung cancer. Sms-ed some of my class's students to meet up to attend the wake at night. Derek, Ying Chiu, Sili, Kenneth and Ernest (and two other friends who were in the same class as Nic last year) turned up. It was their first time attending a wake so I briefly educated them a little about wakes while we were chatting over the table. Talked to Nic's mother and reassured her that we would pay special attention to Nic to see if he has difficulties coping with the loss. Nicholas has always been a very well-rounded, responsible and independent boy - in fact he's one of the few students who has scored well in results and earned a VERY GOOD for conduct from me, but I feel that having to go through such a drastic event when he's only a Sec 2 boy is going to be very tough for him - even if he doesn't show it (he looked tired today but he was smiling and played cards with Ernest). He is the eldest son with a younger sister who's still in primary school. Life without his father will definitely change his life - especially when he is now the only male in the family.
Went for a stroll with Derek, Ying Chiu and Sili after the wake. Initially wanted to take a neoprint (oooh, such fads are still around) but the shop has closed for the day.
e c h o e s o f n a t u r e
Saturday, June 12, 2004 ^ 11:41 p.m.
The last time I wrote a concert review was years ago, for the Liu Xing concert. Tonight's HCCO concert was one of the most SOLID one I have ever watched since that Liu Xing one. Okay, shall keep this review short.
Before the concert even started, we were given the programme booklet - in the form of cards packaged in a CD case - that's something quite special and it gave people a really, really good impression, thanks to the designer's work of Jiahong, the idea by WK etc, and the big budget of HCCO.
First, the two orchestral pieces. Spring was a fitting start and it was probably the best piece of the evening, showing off the best traits of every section with dramatic dynamics and melodic contrasts. Princess was good too, but the most impressionable was the performance by Yunfei - a short pipa solo part which he did extremely well, with perfect lun zhi and clarity, and he managed the main-melody/accompaniment roles so well that he shone from the rest of the orchestra.
Next, the zhongruan solo by my dear son WK - Camel Bell of the Silk Road. It's amazing that he played all the tremolos by yao zhi (I suppose he did this to achieve that "tightness" of tremolos done with plectrums). His tui-la and vibrato of strings were also very precise and appropriate.
The erhu ensemble Dance of the Ah Mei Tribe was one of the few Chinese string ensembles I have heard that were in tune and in unison. The dizi duet Wu Bang Zi was humorous and lively, and I noticed that JJ is not the only flutist who blinks at every note she plays (heheh). The next orchestral piece The Unforgettable Water Festival of the Dai was ironically the most forgettable and lacklustre piece of the evening.
The woodwind and percussion ensemble The General's Command was very majestic with surround sound effect (and almost deafening with all the suonas blasting right in your face). The cello & bass ensemble Canon in D went out of tune at times, and most of the time the audience was laughing at the lead player who was too dramatic in his body movements and facial expressions.
The erhu solo Tash Kurghan in the Sunshine by Tan Jun Kai was... erm... out of this world. His technical perfection was unseen and unheard of for people of his age, with every single semiquaver note crisp and clear (AND IN TUNE!) even at insane speed *very impressed*. This was a tough act to follow, and the next plucked string ensemble Peace in the Woods did not capture much attention especially when there weren't many tempo changes and the whole piece seemed monotonously chirpy.
The final two orchestral pieces. Flying Apsaras was my favorite piece years ago, and every time I listened to it my eyes would tear. Maybe I have heard the piece and teared too many times, this time although they played well, I felt nothing. It was the next piece, Winter - a highly expressive and versatile piece, that reminded me of the times when I was in HCCO with Xiaoling, Meicen, Yingyi, Shuzhen, Daohui, Zewang... In the past we didn't use to be so technically strong and we got together for the friendship more than for performance. Now, when I saw that HCCO has become so strong (so many people!) and vibrant, I felt... old (as usual) and slightly touched (for god-knows-what-reason). The encore piece was rearranged AND CONDUCTED by Melvin - I Believe - a bit corny, but was nevertheless well arranged.
A very memorable night. According to the emcees, this was the last official concert for HCCO, cos HCJC and TCHS will be combined next year. And of course, not forgetting the beautiful girls who lit up the stage and made the concert so much nicer to watch (a percussionist, a sheng player, and a cellist who was strictly speaking not very pretty but had that very clean and stylish look). ;)
Oh, by the way, the guitar recital at Yamaha went well. There were actually two sessions - one at 3 pm and another at 5 pm. I fumbled at my Vincent for the second session, and our ensemble Say Yes was the most well-received. Phew, luckily not too much face was lost.
y a y y a y y a y y a y y a y
Thursday, June 10, 2004 ^ 05:38 p.m.
Finished Kinematics! Yay yay yay!
JJ managed to sell my SYCO ticket so I can go and watch WK perform! Yay yay yay yay!
Decided on Vincent for my solo - added a bar of harmonics in the midsection cadenza (which I thought was quite ingenious), and I am almost TOUCHED by my own rendition of the piece (so thick-skinned, haha). Yay yay yay yay yay!
p r a c t i s e !
Thursday, June 10, 2004 ^ 12:50 a.m.
After realising that the Chinese RPG is going to be very long and I can't possibly finish it in one week even if I play 24 hours a day, I started working on my lesson powerpoints. It was quite dreadful - while I enjoyed adding animations and putting paragraphs into concise points, I spent several hours over the past two days and only got half the Kinematics chapter done - at this rate I wonder how many chapters I am able to complete before the holiday ends. Sigh.
12 June is such a "hot" day for performance. SYCO and HCCO are both having their concert on that day. (I have already bought the SYCO ticket but I want to watch my dear son WK perform a solo piece in the HCCO concert - am hoping JJ can help me sell my SYCO ticket.) And then Lily sms-ed me today to tell me that I have to perform one solo and one duet on the same day at TM Yamaha for a guitar recital. Hmm. Gonna have to practise a lot in the next few days. Pondering between Vincent and Choros for my solo - the more fumble-proof one will be my choice.
Michelle is preparing herself for labor and Hower is taking over my violin lessons for the next two months. Had a lesson with her yesterday. She went through with me several pages of new pieces and she would play together with me whenever there were duet pieces. Quite stressed cos she plays so well (with all the beautiful vibratos and precise staccatos and tenutos) and she expects me to sight-read immediately the pieces she decides to duet with me. She doesn't scold me, but I always feel rather embarassed whenever we have to stop because I sight-read too slowly. Gotta brush up my sight-reading skills!
b l a h b l a h
Sunday, June 6, 2004 ^ 05:13 p.m.
Yesterday, conducted another lab session for the Sec 3s, amused myself with watching my girls dance in Contemporary Dance, watched Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (the book is much better than the movie), attended guitar lesson and started playing Zhen Yitian Tulongji (latest of the Softworld Jinyong Qunxiazhuan trilogy) - hope I can finish playing it within a week so that I can concentrate on making powerpoints for the next term (which I intend to complete in the following week).
Also made a little something for a dear little friend who is leaving Singapore soon (M: hope you'll like it!).
s a i l o r s i n k
Friday, June 4, 2004 ^ 06:12 p.m.
Conducted a Physics lab session for my Sec 3 yesterday (the turnout was better than I thought, and the students finally knew how to draw proper graphs), played D2x with Edmund at nights, and attended another SAIL training today.
My East Spring group is what I call the passive active learners - we were all very positive about this new teaching strategy and we would love to try it out in the next term, but we didn't ask many questions as we knew the trainers were there just to offer general ideas and we should modify what they'd taught and explore more on our own. There was this guy whose group is what I term as the active passive learners - they asked MANY questions, most of which were merely picking on what the trainers said, and they were cynical, unconstructive and irrelevant comments made just to seize "air-time". They seemed so negative about the new idea and were so unwilling to just TRY to accept it for a while and test it out to see if it is really worth employing as a teaching strategy. Sakinah and I would exchange glances of 'oh-no-that-guy-is-talking-AGAIN' whenever this guy talked. Thought the trainers were really patient with him.
f u n w i t h f i r e
Tuesday, June 1, 2004 ^ 06:21 p.m.
Had a fire emergency briefing by SCDF today. I am being assigned as FET 2 (Fire Extinguishing Team) Member 2, with Bala (Head of FET 2), Eric and Ariel - and we are supposed to fight fire with extinguishers and hosereels in case of fire emergencies. Today's briefing is just the first of a series of such briefings, and we are going to have a live drill involving the police and SCDF near September - think it's going to be fun because there will be people who will be assigned to act as agitated parents, over-enthusiastic reporters, students who have gone hysterical, people hiding in remote places thinking that they would be safe (the Warden team will try to find them), victims trapped under fallen pillars, etc.
The briefing was 4 hours long, and all of us were so bored that I began drawing pictures (as usual), Ariel started colouring her handout, June started playing Yogi Bear on her handphone (she recommended it to me and I am now addicted), while Wendy and Kevin started a competition among themselves to list as many celebrities as possible from A to Z. Yep, not just students do such things when they're bored, TEACHERS too. :)