shopping for shoes
Wednesday, November 30, 2005, 10:05 a.m. #974
Had to go shopping yesterday to buy a new pair of casual shoes cos a hole was starting to appear on my sneakers, which I'd been wearing for two? three? four? years. I seldom buy shoes because (1) I always have a hard time finding my shoe size of 9.5, (2) I'm lazy, and (3) I'm lazy. Managed to find a pair of decent-looking slip-ons. Size 8 though. But they weren't too uncomfortable and I was too lazy to shop further so I bought them anyway. The salesgirl said I can ask for an exchange if I find a 9.5 in another branch.
During the short trip, I met students at almost every five minutes. Not that I'm an unfriendly person but sometimes when I acknowledge them they don't acknowledge back! So malu. Luckily this time I wore a cap so most of them didn't notice me. Sigh. It's tiring being a celebrity sometimes. Hee.
starlight
Tuesday, November 29, 2005, 10:30 a.m. #973
Don't you just love the song in the recent Soo Kee Jewellery advertisement? Can't find the title to it though...
Quietly
The starlight glows
Moments shared
Not long ago
The night's so dear
Sparkling, dazzling
The stars and us alone
project pilot
Tuesday, November 29, 2005, 12:43 a.m. #972
Anyone watched Project Pilot? It's a competition for local filmmakers to produce a pilot episode, and the best idea will be adopted and developed into a series. Arts Central just showed the 5 finalists (24 minutes each) back-to-back, 3 of which were drama serials while 2 were reality shows, and my vote has to be for Kampong Life.
Kampong Life is a reality show, most probably inspired by Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie's The Simple Life. In the show, 4 pampered kids have to spend 3 days in a kampong. While the idea sounds like nothing new, it was really hilarious to watch kids complaining about waking up early, screaming at the sight of huge bugs, and getting their feet stuck in the mud. I simply love to watch children's unpretentious talk (and see them S*U*F*F*E*R - hahahaha...). Hope this pilot wins so that I can see more of it. :)
talento iii
Sunday, November 27, 2005, 10:55 p.m. #971
Edvox concert at Jubilee Hall. We only had three orchestral rehearsals in all... Three? Yeah, as if we're professionals, only we're not. :)
The backstage was in a mess. Firstly, about eighty violinists had to squeeze on two sides of the stage when the non-orchestral pieces were being played, so all of us couldn't move without touching some other people (picture dominoes lined up one after another). Luckily I managed to find a table to sit on. Next, one of the backstage managers didn't know her stuff but still wanted to 'act boss'. While Changsheng, Dixon and me were already in charge of the third violins' seating (and we're frankly quite competent), this rude smart aleck had to meddle with our arrangements and cause more confusion.
Nevertheless the concert went quite successfully. For the orchestral pieces, that is. Most of the other items like the junior string pieces were... erm, musically horrendous. But I guess their items were there for the ooooh-so-cuuuute factor, it didn't really matter whether they played well.
Here are some of the pictures I took during the rehearsal:
About fifty kids were playing their violins while waiting to go on stage. (And small-sized violins are so screechy!!) Couldn't blame the parents for not staying back to look after their kids.
The children just couldn't stop moving and chatting for no reason even when they're performing! But heck, they're soooo cuuuute!!!
Oooh, that's my hot ex-violin-teacher, Hawa. *Slurp*
That's Changsheng in a piano-violin-cello trio of the Chinese pop song Shen Hua.
That's us, packed like sardines in the dark among stacks of chairs and equipment at the backstage.
skin
Friday, November 25, 2005, 09:21 p.m. #970
Finished reading Roald Dahl's Skin and Other Stories. Salvaged the book from the bin last year when students threw away books at the end of the year (they really HATE books huh?), and I left it on my shelf until Huda recently saw the book and recommended it. Glad I'd been so cheapskate to pick it up from the trash cos I really loved the darkly ironic stories - and they're all so short and sweet. Especially liked Skin (the tattoo-on-back story), The Surgeon (the diamond-in-ice story) and Dip in the Pool.
too much
Wednesday, November 23, 2005, 07:05 p.m. #969
我并不是陈绮贞的歌迷，但自从在电视广告中听到这首歌后，我便喜欢上了她清澈、纯净的歌声。刚巧Jaq在她blog里也post了这首歌，本来不想再post，今天听着这首歌却还是情不自禁post了。在此套用Jaq说的：“喜欢这首歌的意境，喜欢她的旋律，更喜欢她那懒洋洋的声音……但不能喜欢太多。”
太多 - 鸿鸿/陈绮贞又不禁想起和这首《太多》完全不相干的、若干年前梁文福的《太多太多》：
喜欢一个人孤独的时刻
但不能喜欢太多
在地铁站或美术馆
孤独像睡眠一样喂养我
已永无止境的堕落
需要音乐取暖
喜欢一个人孤独的时刻
但不能喜欢太多
喜欢一个喝着红酒的女孩
在下雨音乐奏起的时候
把她送上铁塔
给全世界的人写明信片
像一只鸟在最高的地方
歌声嘹亮
喜欢一个人喝着红酒的女孩
但不能喜欢太多
喜欢一个阳光照射的角落
但不能喜欢太多
是幼稚园的小朋友
笑声像睡眠一样打扰我
我们轻轻的挥一挥手
凝结照片的伤口
我喜欢一个阳光照射的角落
但不能喜欢太多
喜欢一个人孤独的时刻
但不能喜欢太多
太多太多太多，从来都没人讨论过我好希望能沉溺地喜欢太多，但生活有太多太多，岂容许我们停留，执迷地喜欢太多？到头来，
太多太多太多，他们说习惯了就不算多
大家都有事要做，这些话明天再说
明天有明天的事要做，明天何其太多
平凡的我们，失望和希望，继续一样的多……
touchy melvyn
Tuesday, November 22, 2005, 04:44 p.m. #968
People are writing in to the Forum to complain that the 00 fine is too small a punishment for the London-based Singaporean pianist Melvyn Tan, who evaded NS 28 years ago. A very touchy issue, as they argued that this trivialises national service and is unfair to the multitude of guys who spent two and half years serving the nation.
To me, Melvyn was wrong for escaping from NS 28 years ago, and I'm frankly a little sour that he was let off so easily, but I guess he has paid his due by doing Singapore proud as a famous pianist - that's his way of contributing his service to the nation. It's like telling the teacher to punish a boy severely because he didn't stay back after school for a compulsory enrichment class. The boy has already missed out on the benefits of the class, and he spent the time practising for an interschool piano competition. Should he be punished further?
mad about reds
Tuesday, November 22, 2005, 09:54 a.m. #967
又在重看《红楼梦》了。之所以再看，是因为每一次读它、看它，都会有不同的感受、新的发现。为什么文坛里有至今仍在研究《红楼梦》的“红学家”，而没有什么“三学家”、“水学家”或“西学家”呢？就因为《红楼梦》的内涵与奥秘实在是探索不尽的。
刚开始接触“红学”是在中学时期，觉得作者在为人物命名时的暗喻十分有趣：甄士隐（真事隐）、贾雨村（假语存）、贾化（假话）、甄英莲（真应怜）、秋菱（秋零）、冯渊（逢冤）、秦钟（情种）、元春/迎春/探春/惜春（原应叹息)、娇杏（侥幸）、霍启（祸起）、夏金桂（进鬼）、宝蟾（饱馋）、贾政/贾敬（假正经）、卜固修（不顾羞）、卜世仁（不是人）、单聘人（善骗人）、詹光（沾光）、焦大（骄傲自大）、乌进孝（无进孝）、吴贵（乌龟）……
真正说到“红学”，命名时的小幽默其实只是冰山一角。《红楼梦》里的诗词、哲学思想、药膳饮食的文化、人物形象的多层次等等，都如作者曹雪芹一样，是一个玩味无穷的谜。中国人称它为“四大名著”之首，然而在新加坡又有多少华人会以它为豪？对它没有兴趣倒还无妨，总不能渴望大家都得喜欢读古典小说，但我碰过的一些人就觉得《红楼梦》不过是女人读的爱情小说，那实在是辜负了曹雪芹的呕心沥血，亵渎了《红楼梦》的价值，并恰恰印证了曹雪芹在第一回便预知知音难寻的遗憾：
满纸荒唐言,一把辛酸泪!
都云作者痴,谁解其中味?
goblet of fire
Monday, November 21, 2005, 08:46 a.m. #966
Didn't quite like Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (the movie). Visually satisfying, yes. But some scenes were so rushed and abruptly ended they felt like they're snipped (the Quidditch World Cup, the dragons, the maze, etc). The director seemed so eager to get on with the story that he didn't want to waste time on details and building up to the climax - I guess he didn't quite like the lengthy book as well (yeah, I thought it's over-indulgently long). Nevertheless the landmark moment of Voldemort's rebirth was well-done - I shall not give away anything here, but you simply have to watch this rather bland instalment in order to get on to the (hopefully) more exciting sequels later on.
dreams of a glorious past
Sunday, November 20, 2005, 11:45 a.m. #965
Attended the wedding dinner of Stanley and Eileen last night at Four Seasons Hotel - yep, my third one for the month of November. A very cosy and elegant setting at the Crescent Ballroom with very nice food (and the servings were HUGE), and I got to catch up on the updates with Delun (NUS) and Lai Lee, Yian Ling, etc (NIE) over dinner.
Reached home to find a new set of 红楼梦 DVDs on my table, courtesy of my dad. I already have the VCDs but this one has got a three-part reunion show that featured those actors 20 years after the filming, where they talked about the filming process (how they survived on instant noodles and stolen vegetables) and their disparate lives after that.
Apparently life has been hard for most of them as nothing could have been better than 红楼梦 - their vivid portrayals of the characters have been so deeply impressed in people's minds that no one dared to cast them in any other roles. Many of them have gone out of showbiz and started a business on their own. Everyone has visibly aged. While the main actors were in their prime of 18 to 24 years old when the filming was done, they're all around their forties now.
The life tragedies end offscreen. The actor for 贾宝玉 has become a director and his premature baby died in his embrace after three months of birth. At that time he was greatly overcome with guilt as he was obligated to work and had no time for his wife - if he'd taken time off, the whole filming process would have to be put on hold. The situation was so bad that when his wife nearly lost her mind after their son's death, he had to bring her to the filmset in order for him to accompany her. 史湘云 left her bright career in 黄梅戏 to take up 红楼梦, only to find that there was no place for her in her previous career when the filming was over. 林黛玉 was jobless and felt lost for months after the filming, until she found her new life in advertising.
Also saw the familiar faces of 薛宝钗、王熙风、贾元春、贾迎春、贾探春、贾惜春、王夫人、邢夫人、尤三姐、柳湘莲、妙玉、薛蟠、贾赦、贾琏、平儿、鸳鸯、袭人、晴雯、香菱、秋桐 (that scene of her bitchily picking her teeth at the door was CLASSIC!)…… The actress for 贾母 has passed away, but 刘姥姥 is still around (only even older), and 板儿 has transformed from a 5-year-old kid to a handsome young man currently studying in England.
王立平, the composer for the soundtrack, also showed up. He said that scoring for 红楼梦 was the turning point of his life. After volunteering himself for the job (because he loved the novel 红楼梦), he had absolutely no inspirations for a whole year and he felt extremely apologetic whenever the director 王扶林 called him. Thankfully the director had confidence in him and didn't mind the wait, or else we would have missed out so much in Chinese music! 王立平 also said that the piece which touched him most was 分骨肉 - he cried on his piano after he wrote it, and because the song was written after the 探春's leaving scene was filmed, he was so afraid that he might be asked to rewrite the song if it didn't fit the scene (he felt there couldn't have been any better way of conveying the song!) - it turned out that the song fitted the scene so well that no further editing was needed - it's also one of my favorite songs in the suite...
分骨肉 - 曹雪芹The lives of the crew are very much like the life stories in 大观园. The filming of 红楼梦 was just like a glorious dream for them, and like the rise and fall of 宁荣府, they all had to be awakened from their dreams at some point to face the harsh reality. So how did they perservere and stay happy despite the adversities? The actress for 黛玉 answered, “快乐是一种心态的平和。” I can't agree more.
一番风雨路三千，
把骨肉家园齐来抛闪。
恐哭损残年。
告爹娘，休把儿悬念。
自古穷通皆有定，
离合岂无缘？
从今分两地，
各自保平安。
奴去也，莫牵连。
nostalgia
Saturday, November 19, 2005, 08:27 a.m. #964
自从看了新加坡短片《只要为你活一天》，这首同名的经典老歌便一直在我耳边萦绕（虽然那短片只是一场模仿《功夫》的闹剧）。俗气的歌词和简单的旋律间所叙述的幽怨与情感，是时下流行歌曲所无法呈现的…… 或许就如现今的速食爱情，再没有以往的天荒地老、轰轰烈烈。
只要为你活一天
这是我心愿
别再让我心伤感
明知割不断
为什么让此恨绵绵
只要为你活一天
这是我心愿
有多少爱的怀念
藏在我心坎
如果要忘了你千难万难
thanks for the wallet!
Friday, November 18, 2005, 09:56 p.m. #963
Finally got my belated birthday present after three months - a Goldlion wallet-and-keypouch set in an exquisite leather-like case which is nice enough to serve as storage. JJ etc bought it quite some time ago but they never got the chance to pass to me, and I eventually got it today after I thick-skinnedly reminded Zew cos my present wallet is stinking so badly I simply HAVE to discard it (and I'm adamant that I will never buy wallets for myself). Despite its lateness, the wallet is very nice! I like! Thanks to all of you who have contributed to the gift!
in which we wake
Friday, November 18, 2005, 03:08 p.m. #962
Finished reading all 75 issues of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman. Gaiman has brought together many realistic ideas in this compelling story that's driven primarily by dreams and fairytales: notions of destiny (and free will), death (and life), dream (and reality), destruction (and creation), desire (and fulfillment), despair (and hope), delirium (and sanity), immortality, sexuality, love, hatred, jealousy, loyalty, redemption... and he has made me reflect upon these often taken-for-granted notions when I read the stories.
As I read the concluding story arcs, The Kindly Ones and The Wake (where earlier subplots are brought together to a cohesive and climactic end, and previous characters make their final cameo appearances to pay homage in the final wake), I felt an overwhelming sense of reluctant closure - the kind of feeling you get when you know you'll continue to remember something that has ended - the kind of feeling you get after a wake.
the dream with a cockroach in it
Thursday, November 17, 2005, 04:43 p.m. #961
The Sandman said we have the sense of sight and sound in dreams but not the other senses. But I just used the sense of touch in my dream.
Yeah, weird dream. I had a cockroach clinging to my collar - the small and hard-shelled type. The cockroach would move around whenever I was not looking at it, but it would stop and sink its feet into the fabric when I tried to brush it off - because its body was small when it sank its feet into my clothes, I couldn't get a proper grip on it and I couldn't pinch it off too. And it's quite clever, it knew my intentions whenever I was pretending to be looking elsewhere and wanting to surprise it, and it would stay very still. So no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get it off - I even dreamt that I slept and the cockroach was still there when I woke up.
Then came the revelation: The cockroach crawled into my shirt and I tried to FEEL where it was in my shirt. At the same time, a roll of toilet paper "magically" appeared. I used a sheet of it to search for the cockroach under my shirt and managed to pinch it off (er, the toilet paper provided me with a better grip, I guess). And I cruelly squashed it in the toilet paper.
An absolutely silly entry. Anyone care to analyse this weird dream? :)
7
Wednesday, November 16, 2005, 03:25 p.m. #960
Last day of Strategic Planning yesterday and we were asked to fill in an evaluation form as a group to rate the usefulness of that DISC workshop. Our group gave a rating of 7 (out of 10). The principal walked by, saw our rating and tried to convince us to rate higher, "Are you sure this workshop is only worth a 7? 7 is probably only a C-grade you know? Don't you think the workshop has made you more aware of the people around you? We have paid quite a big sum for this to be conducted, I guess it deserves more than a 7?"
More expensive means better meh? And the last time I checked, 7 out of 10 is still a distinction grade in O levels, how is that a C-grade? I wonder what grading scale she's talking about. I was quite infuriated by her trying to influence our opinion so I replied, "The workshop was too generic and I don't think I learnt much from it. Even if it raised my awareness up to 10, it also doesn't mean than this awareness is useful to me. By the way, we're asked to rate its usefulness, not our awareness, isn't it?"
Then she asked how many of us actually agreed with 7. Nobody answered (what the hell!), and I replied that we had a majority vote. Then she asked whether we should have taken an average to be more accurate (what the hell!!) and went on to say we have to consider the effort that the trainers have put in, blah, blah, blah, and I looked at her like she's uttering irrelevant rubbish, "So you want us to give a higher rating, even when it's not really useful?" She tried to give a smile but it looked really fake, and she said something like, of course not, just that we should reevaluate our rating. And she walked away. The group only started to talk when the coast was clear, and everyone said that 7 was really the most appropriate rating (why didn't they speak up earlier?! Ms T was one of them, by the way). We changed the rating to an 8 eventually anyway (D*MN!).
After the evaluation, I realised almost all the other groups gave a rating of 7 or lower, and the principal stopped at every table to encourage them to rate higher "because she has spent a lot of money on it". She probably needed a high rating to justify her school spendings. Then she could have asked us whether we wanted this workshop before conducting it! Or she could have filled in all the evaluation forms with a rating of 10! Why bother asking us? Hmph.
Don't remember feeling so angry towards pushy people in the past. Do we actually become more irritable with age?
i am a csi person
Monday, November 14, 2005, 07:19 p.m. #959
First day of Strategic Planning at Downtown East. Half the day was devoted to the DISC workshop in which external trainers came to analyse our character profiles.
According to my profiling results, I am a "C" person, and specifically, an "Objective Thinker". "C" stands for Conscientious. Although I don't think I am a true blue "C", I have to agree with some parts of the analysis which stated that "I seek accuracy and correctness in everything I do... I will master a new skill privately before I use it in a group activity and I'll find it rewarding to exceed my own high expectations... Aggressive people and incomplete messages make me feel uncomfortable". "C" people can only be convinced by truth and logic. And because they always make sure their work is perfect before submission, they get very offended when people manage to find fault in it. That's so true. :)
There was also a survey done on what we perceived of others. Surprisingly, I was perceived by others as a highly-"I" person ("I" stands for Influential), and they used words like "enthusiastic, sociable, confident and charming" to describe me. "I" people are basically people people who like to be recognised and free from control. They are very sensitive to criticisms and they love being praised.
I think I am a cross between "C", "I" and "S" actually. "S" stands for Steady. An "S" person is sincere, patient and agreeable, and he is usually a fanatic for order - keeping the workdesk squeaky clean and filing stuff up meticulously and placing labels on them... That's so ME!
So, to conclude, I am probably a "CSI" person. Definitely not D (Dominant) - although my profiling results showed that I'm supposed to be equally "D", "I" and "S", and highly "C". Maybe I'm just "strange" (as my fiancee has said). But I wonder how accurate can such tests be - horoscopes divide people into 12 types, while here people are divided into only 4 types - the inventor of such tests probably just need to cook up some flowery and generic language to package them so that no matter how we read the analysis we'll feel "ya... that sounds like me..." But organisations still buy it. And they pay big money to get these people to analyse their subordinates (just like my school did). Why huh? I think I can "smoke" better these people leh!... Oops, that's the "C" part of me manifesting.
P.S. Kailiang (my beloved ex-student) is now a part-time waiter at Downtown East! Mildly teased him when he served me over lunch. Heh.
myopia
Saturday, November 12, 2005, 02:54 p.m. #958
Some students nowadays are really quite short-sighted and ignorant about the world around them. This may not be so for all schools but it's true at least for the school where I'm teaching - a secondary school in Tampines. I guess internet, PC games and cable are so attractive that they don't even bother to explore much beyond their school and home.
I remembering telling one graduating class that I was from Hwa Chong JC. Their faces went blank for a few seconds before they started asking, "How do you spell that? Is it a good JC? Is it better than Tampines JC?" I nearly fainted. (In the lingo of youngsters: PENGZ.)
Our principal also mentioned a boy whom she approached when he was late. When she asked him for the reason for his lateness, he replied sheepishly, "I stay very far away..." And when she asked him where he was staying, the boy replied with a pitiful look on his face, "Pasir Ris."
a stressing spa
Saturday, November 12, 2005, 07:37 a.m. #957
Went to Loyang Secondary for SPA update yesterday - not the spa SPA, but Science Practical Assessment. The system has been simplified after being tried out in junior colleges earlier, and our school is one of the few secondary schools that volunteered to implement the new SPA next year, so instead of the usual Cambridge 'O' Level Paper 3, graduating students will use school-based SPA for their practical component. (Actually the whole Science department opted to implement SPA later, but our principal signed us up for next year nevertheless - oh well, for pride and glory I guess.)
Sakinah and I will be pairing up to conduct Physics SPA next year for the Sec 3s and we're quite excited about the whole thing. SPA is definitely a great idea as it allows students more space for exploration (especially the section where students design experiments) but teachers' workload is going to be increased tremendously and there will inevitably be problems as SPA is still something new in Singapore (many JC students and teachers have been complaining about it). And the new SPA package will only be ready and delivered to our school next January, so we'll have to act really fast then and start off immediately (MOE sure has a sadistic way of ensuring that teaching is a challenging career).
Dry stuff aside, the best part of the day was the lunch - a feast of catfish and ice-creams at Swensens with Sakinah, Lourdesamy, Huda and Selena! *Burp, slurp*
fire along tampines road
Thursday, November 10, 2005, 02:39 p.m. #956
10 minutes ago I was travelling on bus 81 along Tampines Road when a car in front burst into flames. Managed to take a few pictures and videos. Here are some of them:
This was when the fire first started - it still looked quite harmless, but vehicles behind it were cautious enough to start reversing (albeit rather haphazardly).
Soon all the vehicles in front reversed and took the side road but our bus-driver insisted to stay and wait as our double-decker bus could not take the small lane. In the meantime the fire got worse and the fire engines arrived within a few minutes. If there was going to be a massive explosion, our bus would have been the first to kena the shrapnels.
Here is one of our gallant firefighters.
And this was what remained of the car when the fire was put out. I pity the driver who had been standing on the sidewalk all the while, alone, watching his car being slowly consumed by the fire and probably cursing himself for not going to the temples more often.
In the two short videos which I took, there're some happy songs on TV Mobile playing in the background (how ironic), and if I listened closely I could vaguely hear one auntie begging the bus-driver to be brave and drive past the burning vehicle. Thankfully the bus-driver had more sense.
the auntie who is nice and smiley
Thursday, November 10, 2005, 08:52 a.m. #955
Attended Thiam Soon and Shermaine's wedding dinner at Hotel Intercontinental last night. Thiam Soon was my NIE classmate so inevitably I was seated with other NIE friends who are now teachers. Throughout the dinner, we talked about - what else - students and MOE. Our contract is ending soon and almost of us are planning to stay on in teaching, which is good news - I won't be alone.
Then there's this auntie who served our table for the night who kept 'targeting' me by giving me humungous portions, asking me whether I wanted more red wine, telling me what the next dish was going to be... and she only talked to ME and nobody else - maybe I was the only one who was polite enough to respond. But she's all motherly and smiley the whole time so I didn't mind - that's what good service is about. You smile, I smile.
the uncle who has a lot of money
Wednesday, November 9, 2005, 08:44 a.m. #954
Today was the second time I caught this fare-evading uncle in action. Yesterday I witnessed him blatantly walking past the bus-driver without paying, and when the driver halted him, he continued walking and sat down at the back of the bus. The driver got out of his seat and pulled that uncle to the front asking him to pay up. For a few minutes the uncle kept insisting that he has paid and everyone of us was staring at him (we all knew he's lying) but the driver was firm. Eventually the uncle relented and dropped a few coins into the paying machine. Unwilling to stomach the humiliation, he went on yelling, "You think I have no money is it? I have money okay!" and even took out a few dollar notes to show everybody. So dramamama.
Then today that uncle boarded the same bus as me again. This time he dropped a coin into the paying machine. And I mean, *A* coin (judging from the single 'ting' sound), which I assumed to be a 10- or 20-cent coin because the lady driver stared at the coin for a long time and seemed to have pondered for a while whether to call back the uncle to pay the full fare as he has already gone up to the upper deck by then. After some 'internal struggles', she decided to let him go.
Utterly disgusted by this uncle. He's one of those who caused all the debate on the Forum. And I wonder why we (the non-fare-evaders) are arguing to protect these people.
tales and dreams
Monday, November 7, 2005, 08:46 p.m. #953
Have been reading The Sandman comics for the past few days. Came across this nice quote in issue #19 (A Midsummer Night's Dream):
Things need not have happened to be true. Tales and dreams are the shadow-truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes, and forgot.
wellness and urinals
Monday, November 7, 2005, 05:57 p.m. #952
Attended a briefing at ITE College West (Bukit Batok Campus) regarding the change in Science Syllabus T. This is one of the few occasions where I actually welcome MOE's move: I think they have really done the right thing this time in cutting the syllabus, decreasing the number of questions to answer and reducing the number of papers for Normal Technical students. In addition, a very appropriate chapter called Good Health and Wellness has been incorporated into the new syllabus, where one of the learning objectives is for students to "evaluate information related to health and wellness from the mass media for biases, e.g. glamorisation of smoking in movies, promotion of unrealistic role models in magazines". Kudos to those people who proposed this idea, cos I think these unrealistic portrayals and expectations have definitely become a very relevant societal problem - ten out of ten girls around me feel they're too fat, and five out of ten guys are obsessed with muscles and tans. Students should really be made aware of the profit-mindsets of advertisers and discern what's best for themselves.
One photo I took at the ITE: The spill-proof urinals look so spacious they almost seem comfortable enough for sitting on. Maybe they can be used by females too.
story of the black stickers
Sunday, November 6, 2005, 08:26 p.m. #951
五月天音乐概念电影《未来》里，男主角安慰女主角时令我有所感觉的一段小插曲：
跟你讲个小故事
在我国小的时候
我们以前有个班导
我每次做错事情啊
他会在我联络簿上贴上一个黑色贴纸
我那个时候好害怕好害怕
只因为贴上那些黑色贴纸
可是你知道后来怎么了
后来啊
我在我们学校后面文具店发现
那种黑色贴纸
一张一大堆
只卖十五块钱(S{$d_entry}.75)
我才发现其实它不代表什么
有些事情啊
你只要不要去太在意它
它真的没有什么了不起的
unconventional arrangements of a wedding dinner
Sunday, November 6, 2005, 08:41 a.m. #950
School holidays have started but teachers still have to report for work for two more weeks. Spent the past week answering students' queries (graduating students came back to school to study), clearing my desk and filing my teaching materials (ended up with 3 big lever arch files of Physics stuff and 1 of Science).
Attended Aaron and Eevon's wedding on Thursday. The matrimonial dinner was quite different from the other dinners I've attended: The groom was the one who cried during his speech to his parents while the bride was exceptionally bubbly and consoled the sentimental groom. Then in the third aisle-walkdown (yes, there were THREE), the bride was the one who walked to the groom from the ballroom entrance while the groom stayed put at the stage (thought it's usually the other way round?). The dinner was also one of the longest I've ever attended, stretching to nearly midnight due to the long speech by the best man (his speech was longer than the MCs' and couples' combined - nobody was listening after the first 5 minutes) and long video presentations, one of which was actually shown at the end of the dinner when everyone was already so tired. Despite all these unusual arrangements (which I guess were immaterial), I'm sure Aaron and Eevon will become a very sweet and happy married couple - they've been dating since university days! (And just look at the similarity in the spelling of their names - such a beautiful coincidence of Fate.)
P.S. Thursday was Ah Bee's big day too but I couldn't attend his wedding since I promised Eevon first. Here's wishing him and his bride 白头偕老, 情比金坚!
catching chopin on a mayday
Friday, November 4, 2005, 07:22 p.m. #949
Bought three albums recently. Jay Chou's 11月的萧邦 (November's Chopin), Jamie Cullum's Catching Tales and Mayday's 知足 (Just My Pride).
Jay and Jamie have many common points: both of them are young songwriters who're classically trained; Jay introduced R&B to the otherwise boring Chinese music scene and Jamie brought new life to jazz and made it 'hip'. While I used to admire Jay's unique style when he was still an unknown, he's losing my attention as his later albums are becoming more formulaic and commercial. His latest album sounds the same as his previous ones and he has clearly stopped innovating. Regrettably, his songs will still dominate the charts and he'll continue to be 'hot' for many more years whether he innovates or not, as youngsters nowadays do not need much reason to worship idols. It's a pity that he has become lazy and gotten too comfortably famous. Hope he wakes up from his slumber soon and does not put his talent to waste.
Jamie, on the other hand, continues to shine in his latest album. His sensitivity and wit are manifestly displayed in acute pieces like 21st Century Kids and 7 Days To Change Your Life. Even pop pieces like Get Your Way are refreshing to the ear with its elaborately pollyannaish orchestrations.
Mayday, after so many years, is still able to charm us with their unpretentious positivity and passion. They're probably the only rock band that does not indulge in sadness, angst, expletives or extremities, and it's precisely their 'clean' and optimistic image that makes them so unique and their songs so close-to-heart (whether sentimental ballads or sunshiny pop). Just hope they'll continue to have fun and make great music like 恋爱ING, 金多虾 and 知足!
sin city, the comics
Friday, November 4, 2005, 10:20 a.m. #948
Finished reading all 7 books of Sin City comics. The first four books were very well-drawn and I was really awed by the amount of detail and emotions that B&W could convey. The later books seemed rushed and the storylines weren't as robust. And the movie really captured all the classic moments and dialogues as seen in the comics. In fact it's so religiously faithful to the original that every minute detail like the camera angle replicates the comic panels exactly. Looking forward to Sin City 2 for Ava and Delia. :)
sin city, the movie
Wednesday, November 2, 2005, 03:24 p.m. #947
Watched Frank Miller's Sin City yesterday. Ya, I know I'm half a year late and the sequel will be out next year but hey, better late than never, right? And I'm glad I didn't miss it - it's a such a super-duper-COOL show! Action-packed violence in B&W with memorable lines, three stories seamlessly edited into breathtaking sequences, and the much more compelling stories set it apart from the similarly-themed Kill Bill (and of course not forgetting the sensuous ladies like Jessica Alba and Jamie King... *wipes nosebleed*). Shall check out the original comics very soon. One question though: How come the people in Sin City can never die one huh? :)