But there're many things that cheered me up today: Firstly, I've confirmed a karaoke session with my colleagues on Friday - yay, I love singing! Next, I think I've found a day which I'll be free next week for JA's massage - I'm so looking forward to feeling her magical hands on my body! Lastly, Mi'er has just proposed to me! Should I consider giving up my bachelorhood and marry her? Lol.

Originally arranged with JA to get a massage session on Wednesday, then I suddenly recalled that I'll have to conduct CCA on that day and I haven't even planned the activities! So paiseh. Had to cancel the appointment minutes after we've fixed the time. :/

Haven't met such inconsiderate people for a long time. In fact I thought Singaporeans have become more friendly on the bus over the years. While there are people who may put their bags beside them occasionally, they'll usually put the bags on their laps when the bus is starting to get crowded and is running out of empty seats. I also frequently see people giving up their seats to pregnant ladies and the elderly. These two Malays really ought to learn some manners.

Met up with Mi'er, Jiajia, Jiaqi, Junbin, Xiquan, Kelly and Zhiqiang near Chomp Chomp at night to celebrate Mi'er's return. Had an unhealthy feast of stingray and stuff (which I enjoyed very much) and crapped a lot about Gummi Bears, salted fish, yaks and tabby cats (I checked: a female cat is a queen) - yeah, we love the zoo.

:pplomh gptestf yp yjr fommrt ypmohjy@

(Orgvizoob dirgrmt rm irwwovh. Olo.)

As an audience, we have been used to finding structures and melodies in a piece of music, and we get frustrated and scratch out heads when we can't find them. But this piece is different from the usual melodious types - it's composed of notes that roughly sketch various emotions and memories, which are usually vague and shapeless as well. To enjoy the music, it's really simple, just relax and think of nothing - don't try to find a melody line or where the strong beats are - let the music lead you, and let your thoughts stray.

As a musician, we have difficulties playing the "haphazard" notes and keeping track of those frequently changing key and time signatures - these distract us from having time to get involved with the music itself and instead cause us to be busy with the mundane technicalities. Today, I've finally played all the notes without fault (usually I will be busy sightreading but today I made some effort to practise beforehand) and managed to find time to sit back and feel the piece. For us performers, we should really spend more time to practise. Doesn't matter if the notes don't make sense - that'll come later. :p

I won't say that the composer is ingenious, but when I finally saw something in the piece, I felt goosebumps all over me. It's a bittersweet feeling - like fragments of the author's childhood memories appearing before me... I guess everyone will have a very different interpretation. But I still think the effect (especially the harmonies) will be better if it were written for the symphony orchestra. With the imperfection of Chinese instruments (and our orchestra), there are simply too many distractions (as listed above) for us to truly appreciate the music. Hope more people will "gain enlightenment" before our concert. One more month to go... :)

Conditions of Entry

This website contains only personal opinion, and should not be taken as fact. It also contains satirical social commentary. If you disagree, please do not proceed.

If you find any defamatory remarks on this blog, I hereby apologise unreservedly but I can't promise I am able to take them down from the entire Internet because I don't own Google Cache.

I also promise not to repeat those remarks to any third party. Except my mother. I'm Chinese, I can't talk back to my mother if she wants to know. Please understand. Thanks.

Andrea Bocelli & Sarah Brightman Time To Say Goodbye
Beck Loser
Belle and Sebastian Don't Leave The Light On Baby
Filter Take A Picture
Frou Frou Let Go
Green Day Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton Islands In The Stream
Lenny Kravitz Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone
Mazzy Star Into Dust
Phantom Planet California
Poloroid So Damn Beautiful
Ryan Adams Wonderwall
Stephen Malkmus Church On White
Thalia Zedek 1926
The New Pornographers Graceland
The New Pornographers The Laws Have Changed
The Thrills Not For All The Love In The World
Travis Driftwood

I guess the only way now is to try to get close to her, like a friend? Which will be very hard... But no matter what you done your best, you've been a very good teacher! Like you've told me last year, it is not easy for a teacher to notice every need, it is never your fault or anything. It is not like you know this will happen. Haiz... Like what you always say, Hate can be turned into Love, haha... (just trying to cheer you up) The solution may be hard to find, but it is never really the end unless you give up. Hmm... If you ever get some chance, try to drop some small help or say hi to her? Just want you to know, you've done your best, that is what that matters. You will find your way, I believe you can do it!

These were some of the things she said: Do you know what is the Hokkien translation for emotional? It's siao! How can you say that my daughter is siao? Do you know how embarassed I was when I showed these comments to her aunts?... How can you say such dreadful things about my daughter? What if she commits suicide, are you going to take any responsibility for her death?... How can you make comments about my daughter just because one teacher was biased against her?... (And then I told her I did not just hear from one person but instead got feedback from other teachers and trustworthy students.) Why did you go around asking people about my daughter? How is she going to face her classmates if they spread rumours that she is siao?... Why didn't I tell the school about my financial problems? What can the school do? Once I mention money everyone will ignore me! (Then I assured her that there is a proper financial assistance scheme in place and many students are benefitting from it.) You teachers are already biased against my daughter, will you really help her?... I know all of you teachers are in it together, even if I go to the principal, she'll support you too. You're always right. I already told my daughter to resign to fate. Since she has such teachers who cannot understand her, I told her to just ignore you all...

Even when I kept stressing that everything the teachers did was for her daughter's own good, she refused to see it that way, and she kept avoiding the topic when I wanted to ask about her family problems.

I met up with her daughter S before meeting that parent. Apparently, S has very bad relationships with her younger sister, and she thinks that her mother is always siding her sister. Last night, she quarrelled with her sister and that sister taunted her to stab her with a knife if she dared. S really picked up the knife and nearly killed her sister, but she was stopped by her mother. After that, S was caned by her mother. To add on to the sour relationships, S's family is also facing financial problems.

I am really at a loss of how to help. I didn't expect things to end up this way when all I wanted was to alert the parents that S may be troubled and having emotional problems - I'd hoped that she could receive help before things got worse. But, clearly, both S and her parents are unhappy about what I've done and my comments didn't help at all. The worst thing that happened today (which broke my heart) was at the end of the conversation, when S looked back, stared at me and said coldly in Mandarin,

"When I look at my report book in future, I will remember you for what you've written. You wait till I graduate and go to work and I'll show you whether I am emotional."

I hate to be hated. S is probably going to hate me for the rest of her life. And I have learnt a valuable lesson from this incident.

Luckily Jiahong needed me to scan some pictures so I told the student I had some urgent matters and had to go. Phew.

(I can predict Yingyun will be phew-ing while reading this entry.) :p

My liuqin is back from reinstalling of stainless-steel frets! Looks and sounds really nice. Though it cost me $160. (Ouch.) Then went to Sim Lim and bought a SanDisk flash drive to replace the one my sis fried and also a set of silver-and-black speakers to replace my present ivory ones so that they matched the rest of my computer desk. In the blink of an eye, I spent $200+ for nothing great. But I love the feeling of spending money! No wonder I am still a pauper.) :)

roam'er [Middle English romen]
noun someone who leads a wandering unsettled life
synonym adventurer, barnstormer, beachcomber, bum, commuter, deadhead, displaced person, drifter, excursionist, expeditionist, explorer, floater, gadabout, gallivanter, globetrotter, gypsy, hiker, hobo, itinerant, jet-setter, journeyer, junketer, meanderer, migrant, navigator, nomad, passenger, peddler, pilgrim, rambler, ranger, rolling stone, rover, rubberneck, saddle tramp, sailor, salesman, seafarer, seatcover, sightseer, straggler, stray, street arab, stroller, tourist, tramp, transmigrant, traveler, trekker, tripper, trouper, truant, vagabond, vagrant, voyager, wanderer, wayfarer

Wow, not bad. Expeditionist sounds noble. And I like the melodiousness of gallivanter. But, salesman?!

DOCTOR: What do we have here?

NURSE: We have a car-crash victim who has severe head trauma and a broken neck and massive internal injuries and is spewing blood like a fire hydrant.

DOCTOR (briskly): OK, let's take a look at his underwear... WHOA! How do you get Cheez Whiz THERE?

(Laughter from everybody in the emergency room, including gunshot victims.)

How does our sense of smell work? The simplest way to explain it without doing any research is as follows: Every living thing - animals, plants, cheese, magazine advertisements, etc - is constantly giving off tiny invisible pieces of itself, which scientists call "smell particles". Suppose that you have just entered a room that contains a fudge brownie. As you approach the brownie, your nose snorks up smell particles from it and passes them along into the Olfactory Canal, which was completed in 1825 and goes to Albany, N.Y.

No, sorry, wrong canal. The Olfactory Canal takes the particles to your brain, which is actually a fabulously complex computer, which means that on Jan. 1, 2000, it will stop working and your body will flop around like a recently caught perch. But until then, your brain is able to detect the presence of the brownie particles, and, after analyzing them via a subtle electrochemical process involving billions of tiny neural circuits performing highly sophisticated, lightning-fast calculations, produce the following thought: "Yum!"

Your brain then transmits a signal to your hand, telling it to go ahead and put the brownie into your mouth; almost instantaneously, your hand responds with the signal informing your brain that you ate the brownie several minutes earlier, because your hand and your mouth agreed many years ago that, as far as chocolate is concerned, there is no need to involve your brain.

Thus we see that our sense of smell is not as important as it seemed to be back at the start of this article. In fact, our sense of smell can actually be dangerous, because it stands to reason that if our nose inhales too many particles into our brains, eventually a dense particle wad will form inside us, and our heads will explode, sending compressed brownie chunks hurling outward fast enough to pass through a brick wall. Fortunately, according to a recent study by the American Medical Association, the chances that this will ever happen to you are "less than one in four" provided that "you do not breathe too much".

But the question remains: Why do we have a sense of smell in the first place? The answer is that smell once played a vital role in the survival of the human race, back when we were primitive beings who ran around naked. No, I am not talking about the '60s; I am talking about prehistoric times, when primitive men had to hunt for food to feed their families. They'd creep along naked through the underbrush, and every few minutes they would pause to sniff the air for the scent of prey. Of course, since this was nearly a million years before the invention of soap, all they could smell was their own armpits; the animals could easily detect them at a range of 35 miles. As a result, the hunters never captured any animal that had not already died of natural causes, although when the hunters brought this animal back to the primitive village, they'd make up a story to impress the women with their bravery and prowess.

"Whew!" they would say. "You should have seen the ferocious fight this wild animal put up!"

"That wild animal is a rotting squirrel," the women would respond, "and you get it out of this primitive village RIGHT NOW." Men and women are still divided on the issue of smell. Most women are very sensitive to odors, whereas men, largely as a result of smelling their own selves over the eons, have reached the point where they tend not to detect any aroma below the level of a municipal dump. That's certainly the way it is in my household. At least five times per week, my wife and I have the same conversation. She says: "What's that smell?" And I say, "What smell?" And she looks at me as though I am demented and says: "You can't SMELL that?"

The truth is, there could be a stack of truck tires burning in the living room, and I wouldn't necessarily smell it. Whereas my wife can detect a lone spoiled grape two houses away. When she takes food out of the refrigerator, she always sniffs it, and she immediately discards it if it smells remotely suspicious. I, on the other hand, will cheerfully eat a cold cut that was manufactured during the Aztec empire.

This Male Smelling Deficiency Syndrome, or MSDS, explains why women generally smell pretty good, whereas some men, particularly men who sit next to you on airplanes, smell like the Football Team Laundry Bag From Hell. Perhaps you know somebody who tends to emit B.O. rays, and you have been wondering what is the best way to tell him. The answer is: sensitively.

For example, in 1964, when I was a student at Pleasantville High School, I had a class with a teacher who had a major odor problem, to the point where, when he'd stroll past the rows of desks, which he did often, students would keel over in his wake. Being teenagers, we might have handled this situation in a cruel manner. But instead, one day, as the teacher walked past, a student in the front row, whose name I will not reveal here, sensitively whipped out a can of Right Guard brand deodorant, fired off a brief blast, then quickly hid the can before the teacher turned around. This gesture was so sensitive that many of us thought we would rupture key internal organs from vibrating so hard.

There are many, many more exciting facts I could tell you about the fascinating topic of smell, but unfortunately I have no idea what they are. So I will conclude this discussion with this thought: Keep sniffing! But don't inhale.

Had lunch with Liangsheng, Guojun, Sicheng and Suhui after BH practice in the morning. Managed to strike a rather smooth conversation with them but couldn't help realising that I'm one decade older than them. Think I'm facing the Big Three Crisis a little too early. *The scene about Joey (Friends) not accepting the fact that he's reaching thirties is playing in my head*

Wenjie invited me to his Cosplay Competition at Downtown East to support him. He's probably going to dress up as Kurosaki Ichigo (Bleach). Cool! Wondering if I should go. The crowd may be too young for me. :p

Did a bit of shopping for a flash drive after that cos sis fried it after she borrowed and used it at her office (don't know how she managed to do it, now my computers cannot detect it when it's plugged in), but I didn't buy one in the end cos they're so expensive! Then had dinner with Weisheng at Magic Wok to have my yearly financial review and chatted about our secondary school friends. He also shared with me some of his business plans - hmm, I could plagiarise some of his ideas! :p

Went to watch the inaugural concert of Ruan Society. Was quite disappointed with their mediocre standard, but I guess it's good that there are people who are actively keeping the ruan culture alive - it's not easy to keep such things going in Singapore arts scene. The 3-movement concerto at the end wasn't too bad too, just that the microphone didn't pick up the soloist's performance very well.

Finished the first two (chronologically) books of The Chronicles of Narnia by C S Lewis, namely The Magician's Nephew and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The plot is simple (I guess it has to be so since it's meant for children) and the adventures aren't very adventurous (but I think children will love them). Many unsubtle Biblical references. Hope the next five books are better.

Before the lunch, I went to Citylink HMV to grab Coldplay's X&Y. Felt something churning in my stomach so I had to visit the toilet nearby. As I sat on the toiletbowl doing my business, I realised the cubicle beside me was occupied as I could see the guy's sports shoe (you know, the type of short cubicle wall which is open at the bottom). A while later, I noticed that the shoe was shifting about and the guy was tiptoeing sometimes. For a moment I thought that guy must be having a real hard time pushing - but I didn't hear any splashing sound at all (okay, I was quite perverted to be watching out for those sounds). Then I noticed the shadow on the floor showed the guy was actually in the middle of... erm, you-know-what (aka The-Act-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named). Was both amused and disgusted at the same time cos the guy must be really horny and desperate to be doing this in the midst of such unenticing aroma. (In fact I felt slightly apologetic to have contributed to the "aroma" - or maybe he gets turned on by such smells?) Was thinking of banging on his cubicle and shouting, "Hey, what are you doing?!" but decided that the smell which I have contributed was punishment enough.

Met up with Junhui after that at Jiaxing to leave our liuqins there to be fixed. My shankou has shifted and I also needed a change of stainless steel frets. Hope they do a good job. Sending instruments for repairs is like letting them undergo lasik surgery: big risks involved that may yield disastrous results. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Junyi is back! Haven't seen him at BH for about two years, and his first comment for me had to be, "You have aged!" 唉，似乎不得不认老了！ :/

Then rushed to Tampines for my guitar lesson, where Lily went through Alhambra and Asturias again - not very fruitful cos we learnt nothing new. Went back home after the lesson to fix up the new monitor and keyboard. Decided that my present Microsoft optical mouse was better as the new Philips one wasn't as smooth. Now my computer desk is so much more spacious, and the ensemble of black and silver looks really cool!

Met up with Jiaqi, Jiajia, Zhiqiang, Kelly and Zewang in the evening to celebrate Jiaqi's birthday at Dubliner Irish Pub. Had a really hearty chat, got to know some secrets which some of us have kept for a long time. As usual, there were plenty of teasing and juicy speculations: the freezer couple, the masseuse, the floating apparition, the mysterious phonecall, the waiter who looked like David Gan... Haven't enjoyed such chatting sessions for a long time. :)

School holidays started this week but I still had so many activities going on that I haven't had time to take a good rest yet. Monday: 'O' level Chinese invigilation at Dunman. Tuesday: Two hours of lab with 4E2 and 4E4, followed by two hours of meeting with our longwinded WITS leader about how to minimise the school's aircon usage, then rushed for my violin lesson with Michelle (which saved the day). Wednesday: Elections briefing at the mysterious ELDS. Thursday: A full-day strategic planning workshop in school. Today: Two hours of lab with 4E2 and 4E4, then two hours of TYS Q&A with 4E1, followed by an hour of science project with 2E1. Went to Sakae with Gek Hong after that and had a long chat.

The feeling of not-going-to-school for two weeks is good. But a parent spoilt my mood the moment I stepped out of school today when she called and screamed at me for writing "bad" comments for her daughter (who's in my form class). She said that her daughter has been getting good comments from her form teachers for the few past years, so "how could you write such horrible comments for my daughter"? Instead of asking me why I wrote what I wrote, she scolded me ceaselessly for no reason. How ridiculous is that?

I remember I wrote things like her daughter has been inconsistent this year and she tends to be emotional sometimes. These didn't seem like very bad comments to me, and part of it was gathered from feedback from other teachers as well. I tried to calm her down despite her total lack of EQ (she just screamed and screamed and refused to stop), and told her that I wrote the comments in hope that her daughter could improve from there. Tried to reassure her that her daughter is doing fine, but she can still do better if she recognises her weaknesses. Then she went on to say things like, "She has a mother and a father you know? You wrote as if she has no parents!" (She repeated that a few times until I stopped her when I gathered she's not going to stop repeating.) In the first place, I couldn't figure out how my comments suggested that she's an orphan. And then, she went on to rattle about "what kind of teacher are you to say such things about my daughter" as if I would earn extra bonus by writing "horrible" comments for students... She finally got on my nerves and I calmly told her (like she's a kid who's pestering me to buy her candies) that if she wanted to call me, she should hear me talk; if she wanted to scream at the phone without listening, she could do that to a dial tone and didn't have to call me. Then she kept quiet for a while and I tried to explain the reasons for those comments. But soon, she started getting very agitated again and went on with her rambling. I was so frustrated that I ended the call quickly by arranging a time to meet.

Now I know why her daughter is so emotional at times.

Anyway, the place looked like a TCS set for the World War II period with old wirings, lights, fans, etc. Ceilings were so low that my hands would be severed by the fans if I were to raise them. Poh Choo and I were late and there're already around a hundred people in the briefing room. Adjourned for some refreshments after the briefing. Couldn't believe we actually had to have the refreshments under the morning sun - some thoughtful planning they had there. Met Poh Choo again amongst the crowd and chatted with her under the shade of a big tree that she found. She's a very cheerful and easygoing person - I would have been bored to death if not for her company, in fact I wouldn't be able to find the place if not for her - she's really my "benefactress" for the day.

For the next four hours, we simulated the polling process a few times and each person got a chance to be a "normal" voter, a presiding officer and an "abnormal" voter. By "abnormal" voter, I meant a voter who was blind / immobile / illiterate / unreasonable / senile... Most of us had a lot of fun playing that last part. For example, one roleplayed a person who insisted on using the phone within the polling station, another insisted on cutting the queue because she's an elderly. I roleplayed a person who refused to let the presiding officer write my register number on the counterfoil of my ballot paper. Learnt quite a lot from the session (which I am certain I will forget by tomorrow).

Toured around Toa Payoh Central after the session. The place was almost unrecognisable - couldn't match my old geographical impression of the place with the present layout. Used to frequent the place when I was in secondary school, but that was like eons ago. Hmm. Met Poh Choo again at CD Rama. Such a coincidence! Would have asked for her number if she was ten years younger. :p