Another painfully succinct entry on PostSecret:
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Have you ever met people who proclaim to be guitar experts and would go on strumming happily on their guitar even when the strings are totally out of tune? I have met a few, and I sometimes see such scenes on TV. And I can't understand how these people can still enjoy their music so much with all those clashing sounds. Gibson has apparently come up with a solution - a self-tuning Robot Guitar:
Now, you can be a "musician" without having any sensitivity to pitches and knowing how to tune your own instrument. How ironic is that? |
Have been missing-in-action for the past two weeks as I was attending my final ICT (in-camp training) of my life. Yes. The final one after 10 long reservist years. Meaning? No more ICT, no more annual IPPT (Individual Physical Proficiency Test), no more mobilisation, no more wearing of No. 4 (that's the name of that familiar green camouflage army uniform), no more s**** and ch****** training (censored because I'm not supposed to reveal what my unit does)!
Attended the MR Ceremony this morning. No, MR does not stand for Mister, but "MINDEF Reserve" - the official term for "I have nothing to do with National Service anymore!" It's like the term that those young army guys like to use - "ORD", which marks the end of their 2-year mandatory NS - only that "MR" has even more cause for celebration, as it marks the end of the 10-year reservist requirement, and it signifies the absolute end of my relationship with the SAF (well, unless there is a war). So, the next time I see guys shouting "ORD loh!", I can give them a smirk and say, "Boys, don't be too happy, you still have 10 more years to go. Me? MR loh!" Well, back to the MR Ceremony. I can't say too much about my 12 years of army life (including the 2 years of mandatory NS) since my unit is confidential. But let's just say it's filled with many bittersweet memories built upon tough trainings and enduring friendships. Received a certificate of appreciation and the following souvenir box during the ceremony (the Hamilton watch, which has my name inscribed, turned out to be quite nice): 
Many things have changed during the course of 12 years - the cookhouse no longer produces horrendous food (I developed a phobia for mutton in my early army days), there is not so much of "tekan-ing" anymore, we now sleep on quality spring mattresses that no longer look like banana-boats (the newer generations won't be able to understand this), even the buildings have been revamped. But there is one thing which has accompanied me all these years, since the very first day when I was enlisted 12 years ago - my helmet. 
The all-purpose helmet has been with me through all good and hellish days in jungles, muddy swamps, SOCs (standard obstacle courses), route marches, range shoots, barbwire crawls, thunderstorms, scorching noons... Its scratches and peel-offs are like my thumbprints - unique and irreplaceable. During trainings my helmet has protected my head from bump injuries and live bullets; during field exercises, it has been used as a mallet to hammer pickets into the ground (hence the battered state); after a storm in the jungle, it has been used to scoop out the rainwater from my shell-scrape trench; during rifle ranges, it has been used to contain the empty cartridge rounds, at times when I'm feeling low, it would be smashed on the floor to vent my frustration... Now the helmet shall forever remain in my storeroom, quietly preserving the stories collected in those 12 years - a prized possession which I'll proudly show anyone who's interested to hear my army stories. |
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Attended the solemnization ceremony and wedding dinner of a good friend at Tuas last evening. Yep, Tuas. At Raffles Country Club. He apologised to everyone in his invitation for the inaccessible venue but he said the place was simply too ideal to be forgone (there's a chartered bus for those who don't drive).
Understood why when I witnessed the signing of papers against the spectacular backdrop of that vast stretch of calm waters and undulating green hills. It'll be quite unromantic to know that the waters are part of a reservoir and the green hills are live firing grounds, but the scenery was great nonetheless. The food at the restaurant wasn't marvellous, but the place had a panoramic view of the scenery, which made the eating experience quite special. Even the ceiling fans were made from rattan. The service wasn't too impressive though, with insensitive staff walking around and shifting furniture behind the new couple when they were taking pictures with their friends and relatives against the picturesque backdrop. Then when a few of us were chatting on some seats at an open area after the solemnization (during the brief wait before the dinner), we were told by the staff (albeit politely) that those seats were for country club members only. It was an early dinner which spanned from 6 to 8 plus - my friend considered the travelling time and that most have to work today - very thoughtful, I'd say. And I guess the club manager must have been very happy to accommodate the early dinner, as there's actually another wedding dinner right after my friend's. And the staff made it plain that they were rushing when they eagerly cleared every dish very quickly even when the guests were not finished with that dish yet. There was also a slideshow which was intended to be run throughout the dinner, but the projector kept going cranky, and there wasn't much technical support from the staff - "our people" had to go over to fix the projector periodically whenever it decided to go mad. Despite being tainted by the (non)service and (non)support, the wedding was an enjoyable one. It's the matrimony of my good friend and a wonderful girl afterall! And I'm glad to be able to witness them crossing over to the next stage of their new life. |
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The latest season of Survivor is set in China. Great to see Chinese elements being integrated into the gameplay - the Chinese zodiac, the Chinese dragon, the Five Elements and Eight Diagrams (五行八卦)... Chinese delicacies, acrobatics and music have also been weaved into the challenges. The slogan "Outwit, Outplay, Outlast" has even replaced by "比智慧，比技巧，比耐力" - not as catchy as the original, but still decently accurate and elegant. The initial two tribes were named "ZHAN HU" (战虎) and "FEI LONG" (飞龙) - a bit cliched, and reminds me of 卧虎藏龙, but still acceptable. I only start to think that the creators were trying too hard when they renamed the Tribal Council as 选手退场 on a plaque - the Chinese translation sounded (ironically) too un-Chinese, and they used a mixture of Simplified and Traditional characters, with the Traditional Chinese character for 场 written wrongly. That's still fine actually, for foreigners to have done so much research on the Chinese culture and taken the bold step to use so many Chinese characters on the set (there's use of calligraphy everywhere), such flaws are really too insignificant against the huge amount of effort being put in.
But there's one classic moment in last week's episode, where I literally watched aghast, when the only Chinese contestant among the sixteen, Peih-Gee, volunteered to give the newly-merged tribe a Chinese name. The tribe members liked the colour black, so they decided to include the colour in their tribe name. Then Peih-Gee said, she thinks the phrase "fighting wind" is cool and she likes the sound of it in Chinese, which she translated to be "打风". So she concluded, after combining her stroke of "fighting wind" genius with the colour black, that the new tribe name would be "HAE DA FUNG" (黑打风). *Insert long pause of disbelief* ... HUH?!?! The mostly-American tribe members probably had no idea how ridiculous that sounded in Chinese. 黑打风?!?! It somehow reminds me of a fly-swatter. Like they're all pestbusters or something. Seriously, who would ever name ANYTHING, THAT??? And Peih-Gee is a Chinese. -_- From then on, whenever Jeff Probst (the showhost) calls out the tribe name (with his American accent), I cringe. 选手退场 really wasn't that bad afterall. |
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Ever wondered what the lyrics of our national anthem mean? Here's my attempt at translating the national anthem, word for word, for those who want to know what the individual words mean. Corresponding translations are underlined to separate the words, whenever a phrase with several words is used or the order of words has to be changed in English.
Mari kita rakyat Singapura Come, we, Singapore citizens Sama-sama menuju bahagia Together, towards happiness Cita-cita kita yang mulia Our ambitions which are noble Berjaya Singapura Make Singapore a success Marilah kita bersatu Come, we, as one Dengan semangat yang baru With a spirit which is new Semua kita berseru We all call out aloud Majulah Singapura Progress, Singapore Majulah Singapura Progress, Singapore And here's the official properly-worded translation from the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts: We, the people of Singapore Together march towards happiness Our noble aspiration To make Singapore a success Let us all unite In a new spirit Together we proclaim Onward Singapore Onward Singapore |
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When I'm running through the Malay vocabulary lists, I feel a sense of revelation as I start to find meaning in some of the Malay street/place names in Singapore:
Tanah Merah - Red Land Bukit Merah - Red Hill Bukit Timah - Tin Hill Bukit Larangan - Forbidden Hill Bukit Panjang - Long Hill Pasir Panjang - Long Sand Paya Lebar - Wide Swamp Jalan Anak - Child Road Jalan Besar - Big Road Jalan Bahagia - Happy Road Jalan Kayu - Wood Road Lorong Halus - Gentle Lane Kampung Ubi - Tapioca Village Pulau Ubin - Granite Island Pulau Tekong - Anchorman Island Kaki Bukit - Foothill Potong Pasir - Cut Sand Kerbau Road - Buffalo Road Fajar Road - Dawn Road Senja Road - Dusk Road Petir Road - Thunder Road Gangsa Road - Bronze Road Perak Road - Silver Road Lompang Road - Empty Road Bangkit Road - Awakening Road Segar Road - Fresh Road Kembangan - Blossom/Expansion Sentosa - Peace/Tranquility Damai - Peace/Tranquility Tengah - Centre Punggol - Fruit wholesale market, or the practice of hurling sticks at the branches of fruit trees to bring fruits down to the ground, or a high stump Khatib - Preacher in mosque Bedok - Big slit drum used in mosques to sound the alarm in the past ('beduk/bedoh' modified) Siglap - Darkness/Secret ('segelap' modified) Bras Basah - Wet Rice ('beras' modified) Bukit Chandu - Opium Hill ('candu' modified) Pulau Brani - Brave Island ('berani' modified) Sungei Buloh - Bamboo River ('sungai' and 'buluh' modified) Pulau Semakau - Undergrowth Island ('semak' modified) Telok Ayer - Water Bay ('teluk' and 'air' modified) Telok Blangah - Open Bay or Cooking Pot Bay ('teluk' and 'belangah' or 'blanga' modified) Tanjong Pagar - Fenced Cape i.e. a cape is a land jutting out into the sea ('tanjung' modified) 'Geylang' may mean 'Factory' in Malay ('kilang' modified) or 'Chicken Cage' in Chinese... Hmm, seems like the latter is the more convincing root. 'Buangkok' may mean 'Discarded Nation' in Malay but I guess it makes more sense in Chinese as 'United Nation'. 'Sengkang' means 'Dash' in Malay but the Chinese meaning of 'Prosperous Harbour' has more bearing. 'Toa Payoh' may mean 'Old Swamp' in Malay ('tua' and 'paya' modified), but the order of the words more likely suggests a Chinese origin (Big Mudswamp). That means it has essentially the same meaning as Paya Lebar! 'Pasir Ris' is supposed to mean 'White Sand' but I can't find the meaning of 'ris' anywhere - maybe it's modified from 'hiris' (slice)? Then it has the same meaning as Potong Pasir? And, is 'Tiong Bahru' supposed to mean 'New Chinese' ('baru' modified)? How about 'Bukit Batok'? Does it mean 'Hill of Coughs' ('batuk' modified)? Interesting. [References: "Malay for Daily Use" by Dr Liaw Yock Fang (Marshall Cavendish, 2005), Dicts.info, and Dr Bhanot's Malay-English Cyber-Dictionary] |
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"Kids nowadays have many demands, and they cannot cope with the disappointment when they don't get what they want." A quote extracted from the Sunday Times, spoken by the PLMGSS principal, who received a students' petition and some verbal bashing on the forum when she refused to let a boyband perform in the school as the O level exams were approaching.
Indeed, the school environment has changed at an exponential rate over the last decade. When I chatted with a teacher who's retiring at the end of this year, he said that schools have changed too much over the past few years - so fast that he can no longer cope - the extra work to be done besides teaching, the shift in students' attitude... Instead of gratitude, many feel like they're customers and we 'owe' them a service. When we don't accede to their 'requests', some of them can get very vindictive - just read some students' blogs and you can easily find students showering expletives and derogatory nicknames on their teachers. A few will even call these out at teachers face-to-face. (I remember in the past even the worst-behaving student would still show respect for their teachers.) Students now talk about 'rights' and about how teachers should respect them - I've heard colleagues who've come across students who told them, "If you want me to respect you, you'll have to show respect for me first." The more law-savvy ones may even find excuses to sue their teachers in court - just look at the alarming number of such cases in the recent years. How can teachers feel secure with showing care for their students when even simple acts of concern can be twisted to become lewd acts of indecency? Recently, my student asked me to meet her under her block after my invigilation duties to answer her questions on Physics as her place was just beside the school where I was invigilating. Her classmate (another girl) came along too, and we studied for a while until we realised there're many flies around and the place really wasn't very conducive for studies. The girl suggested that we went up to her place. When I asked whether her parents were at home, she said only her younger sister was in. I vacillated for the while with the idea of being alone with THREE GIRLS without other adults around. It really sounded like a scenario which might get me into trouble. However after much persuasion, I finally conceded - the girls were afterall 'good' students, and their O level exam was on the following day - I doubt I have anything for them to seek revenge for anyway. I have been very cautious with going to students' house. If I remember correctly, that was only the second time I went to a student's house after all these years of teaching - the first time was several years ago when I went to a boy's place with a bunch of other boys to celebrate the end of a school year. At that time, I thought going to a boy's house wouldn't have much implications, until those lawsuit cases started appearing in the papers. I don't know when and why the relationship between teachers and students have become so strained - I'll even hesitate before putting my hand over my students' shoulders during photo shoots. Is that the result of teachers with bad conduct? Or of vindictive students who are too badly pampered by their obliging parents? If teachers (and school) and students are able to trust each other, none of these will be a problem at all. It used to be nice and peaceful when I was a student. So what went wrong over the years? |
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For the first time in my life, I sprained my back. Was shifting boxes of books in school when I felt a sharp paralysing pain on my lower back. Now I can't bend my back already. Sigh. Think I'll be experiencing more of such firsts as I get further past thirty.
Saw a student smoking in school uniform at the busstop just now. I walked up to him, gave him a look of disapproval, and eye-directed him to the bin nearby. The boy was a rather big-sized Malay, and he had a friend with him. They could have beaten me up for being such a nosey parker, but the boy actually removed the cigarette from his mouth and stubbed it out at the bin obediently. Should I count myself lucky for not getting a beating? Or should the boy thank me for not reporting the matter to the school? Think I won't do this again when I'm alone - it's the sore back that gave me the foul mood and impulse today. |
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The first day of November was spent at the school strategic planning session. Not exactly exciting, but not as draining as previous years as well. Went to AMK Hub after that and had a good dinner at New York New York with Ed and EL.
Have been contemplating to take up the Malay language as my fourth language for a very long time (after English, Chinese and Japanese) but I never really took serious action. Finally bought a book at Popular that day and ended the procrastination - "Malay for Daily Use" by Dr Liaw Yock Fang (Marshall Cavendish). Didn't get a purely conversational book as I don't like to memorise sentences without knowing what the individual words mean. Divided into three sections, this book progressively introduces the Malay language in a very comprehensive manner. The first section deals with basic grammar, illustrated with many examples; the second section contains vocabulary lists, categorised into sections for quick reference; and the last section contains useful conversational sentences. Malay grammar is really quite easy - my difficulty is in its vocabulary. Shall need a lot of practice to get those words into my brain. Luckily Mum knows a bit of Malay, so I'll be speaking Malay at home very often from now. =) P.S. The entry title literally means, "in-the-process-of learning language Malay". |