fire! fire!
Thursday, September 30, 2004 @ 05:18 p.m.

Fire Emergency Exercise. The SCDF, police, ambulance were all activated for a more realistic feel. After a loud explosion at 1115 hrs, all students were evacuated to the hall (should have been the field, but it was raining). I was in-charge of fire-fighting, so my team rushed to the incident site (where the cause of the fire was a chemical explosion at Physics lab - hmm, huge plot flaw) to save casualties and extinguish the fire. The fire looked very, very real. Though it was simulated merely using a fan, cloth and some coloured lights, amidst the thick smoke and darkness, the fire felt really raging and scorching.

When my fire extinguishing duties was done, I joined the Warden team on the search for missing kids. While I was combing the school blocks, I saw Wendy, who was posing as a traumatised teacher, screaming frantically and trying to wake an unconscious boy who was covered with blood and whose clothes were charred and torn. (The Best Actress award definitely goes to her.) Also saw several students who were too shocked to speak, some were crying, while some simply hid in a corner. When all the missing children were finally accounted for, the exercise soon came to an end after a "press conference" between the principal and the "media". Students were dismissed from school after the two-hour ordeal, while the teachers gathered for a debrief and watched the video that captured the essence of the whole process - there were Aisyah the lab tech who ran all over the place and broke four fire alarm tabs before the alarm finally sounded (they really ought to go and check the functionality of all these alarm tabs), worried parents at the schoolgate, reporters who would lie that they want to use the toilet in order to get into the school, stations where first-aiders helped the casualties, rooms where traumatised students were comforted and calmed... The SCDF praised us for our spontaneity and prompt actions towards unanticipated events - we even rejected the garbage truck at the schoolgate.

Really fun. And I think I looked good with the helmet, gloves and orange vest. Haha.

desmond
Tuesday, September 28, 2004 @ 10:35 p.m.

Many periods of teaching today, followed by three hours of contact time. Then had a Thai dinner with Desmond and Irene at Siglap. Desmond just quit teaching and got a job with Motorola, and he's flying to US for a one-year course in two months' time. Talked about teaching, students, our NIE friends and how they're doing... I wonder if I'm the only person who is STILL comfortable with teaching. Hmm.

dancing in geylang
Sunday, September 26, 2004 @ 09:46 p.m.

Just came back from a sleazy ge tai in Geylang. Our school director volunteered our Chinese and Malay Dance to perform at a mid-autumn festival function, so June and I had to open the schoolgate and prepare our dance groups early in the afternoon (just the make-up and wearing of costumes took two hours) in order to perform at night. Initially we thought we were going to perform in front of a dining audience in a hall, but it turned out that the stage was open-air ge tai style (complete with colourful spotlights and a senior citizen live band). We even had to fight with some selfish singers who hogged the dressing room and locked up the room later so the Malay dancers had to dress up in the dark at the corridors. But the girls put up a great performance despite the hostile conditions. The Malay dancers, especially, were radiant and vivacious throughout their performance. So proud of them. :)

out of boredom
Wednesday, September 22, 2004 @ 09:23 a.m.

Decorated the cabinet at my workstation with the theme of Bjork's "Look no further - it's in our hands". :)

breakdown
Tuesday, September 21, 2004 @ 07:08 p.m.

Noreen is on maternity leave so I took over her Malay Dance. One of the girls broke down as it was one week to the exams and she's feeling very stressed for having to juggle between schoolwork, dance, house chores (cooking etc), her sick father and a younger brother whom she has to look after. All the dancers, the instructor and I stopped the practice to talk to her, telling her that sometimes we have to let go and look on the brighter side of things - we cannot constantly worry about EVERYTHING on our shoulders all the time... I don't know if she was convinced, but she braced herself and appeared to look cheerful for the rest of the practice.

deviance
Monday, September 20, 2004 @ 18:54 a.m.

There was a fire emergency briefing. An SCDF personnel came to brief us about the area to cordon around the incident site and what the respective rescue groups ought to do in case of fire. I was asked to be a victim and he demonstrated how to carry a casualty. Some students happened to pass by and thought I had passed out or something. ;)

Derek's (my form class student) mood swings are getting out of hand. When the class was noisy and Catherine ordered the class to keep quiet, he shouted some vulgarities, then when Catherine asked him to repeat what he'd just said, he shouted, "I was insulting you, so what?" Catherine was very angry and reasoned with him outside the class. Derek apologised and Catherine kindly forgave him.

This was not the first time Derek has done this. He's also hurled vulgarities at Mr Goh before, and he had used the broom to smash a table. On normal days, he's fine, but when he's in a bad mood, he can do very drastic things to vent his frustration. Will be talking to him tomorrow...

volumen
Saturday, September 18, 2004 @ 11:50 p.m.

A long day. Went to school in the morning for a meeting to discuss the SEM report with Selena and Noreha. The Physics teachers then stood around and grumbled about Ms T and her insistence about wanting our exam questions to be "challenging" even when the paper is for Normal (Tech) and we feel the students ought to be given some chances of passing and gaining confidence. Just like all superiors, "they never try to understand"...

Had lunch with Irene, headed home for a nap, then attended guitar lesson at Yamaha and Edvox rehearsal at YMS. The rehearsal was much more enjoyable than the previous one, there were more people (so I could hide my mistakes and sightreading) and I could follow the pieces better. Will be practising hard next week, especially my solo piece... don't wanna malu myself...

My Volumen shipment has arrived! Containing all of Bjork's MTVs for the past 10 years, it was really a treat to watch all 21 videos in one go (some of them I'd never seen before). Can't wait to see her Medulla videos...

look no further
Friday, September 17, 2004 @ 06:49 p.m.

> It's In Our Hands - Bjork <

Look no further
Look no further
Look no further

Cruelest
almost
always to ourselves
it mustn't
get any better
off

It's in our hands : it always was
It's in our hands : in our hands
It's all there : in our hands
It's all there : in our hands

Well
now
aren't we scaring ourselves
unecessarily?
aren't we trying too hard?

'Cause it's in our hands
It's in our hands
It's all here : it's in our hands
Look no further
Look no further
It's in our hands : it always was
It's in our hands

muddy grass
Thursday, September 16, 2004 @ 10:54 p.m.

Went to BH for CO practice after a few weeks of absence. It's still the abstract Green Grass song (Xia Si Qing Cao Di) - I desperately want to find a recording of it (if it exists)! Although I now know how the passages are phrased and I am able to catch some nice harmonies and melodies here and there, I am still clueless about how everything fits together to form one cohesive piece of music.

the scientist
Tuesday, September 14, 2004 @ 07:07 p.m.

A very nice song...

> The Scientist - Coldplay <

Come up to meet you, tell you I'm sorry
You don't know how lovely you are
I had to find you, tell you I need you
Tell you I set you apart
Tell me your secrets, and ask me your questions
Oh let's go back to the start
Running in circles, coming up tails
Heads on a silence apart

Nobody said it was easy
Oh it's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said that it would be this hard
Oh take me back to the start

I was just guessing at numbers and figures
Pulling your puzzles apart
Questions of science, science and progress
Do not speak as loud as my heart
Tell me you love me, come back and haunt me
Oh and I rush to the start
Running in circles, chasing our tails
Coming back as we are

Nobody said it was easy
Oh it's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be so hard
I'm going back to the start

defrost
Monday, September 13, 2004 @ 10:44 p.m.

Friends has ended. Sense of loss. :(

A friend told me I have become cold ever since I started blogging... Did some soul-searching, taken note. Please slap me the next time any of you feel that I am cold towards you. Thanks. :)

two hands
Saturday, September 11, 2004 @ 10:59 p.m.

I really don't know how to give advice on how much studying is enough. On one hand, I have friends who get upset when they score an A2; on the other, some of my students only aim to pass 3 subjects so as to get promoted.

Was quite heartened when a student sent an earnest sms to ask me, "Teacher, how much is best for a normal person to study for one day? How many days must he study the same things to remember? And what time should he sleep?" At least he bothers.

seven jokes
Saturday, September 11, 2004 @ 10:35 p.m.

I don't think I've posted jokes on my blog before. But these made me laugh, so I hope they'll make you smile too. (Thanks, Jane.)

~ 1 ~

A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales. The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it was a very large mammal its throat was very small.

The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale.

Irritated, the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible.

The little girl said, "When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah".

The teacher asked, "What if Jonah went to hell?"

The little girl replied, "Then you ask him".

~ 2 ~

A Kindergarten teacher was observing her classroom of children while they were drawing. She would occasionally walk around to see each child's work. As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was.

The girl replied, "I'm drawing God."

The teacher paused and said, "But no one knows what God looks like."

Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing, the girl replied, "They will in a minute."

~ 3 ~

A Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six year olds. After explaining the commandment to "honor" thy Father and thy Mother, she asked, "Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?"

Without missing a beat one little boy (the oldest of a family) answered, "Thou shall not kill."

~ 4 ~

One day a little girl was sitting and watching her mother do the dishes at the kitchen sink. She suddenly noticed that her mother had several strands of white hair sticking out in contrast on her brunette head. She looked at her mother and inquisitively asked, "Why are some of your hairs white, Mom?"

Her mother replied, "Well, every time that you do something wrong and make me cry or unhappy, one of my hairs turns white."

The little girl thought about this revelation for a while and then said, "Momma, how come ALL of grandma's hairs are white?"

~ 5 ~

The children had all been photographed, and the teacher was trying to persuade them each to buy a copy of the group picture.

"Just think how nice it will be to look at it when you are all grown up and say, 'There's Jennifer, she's a lawyer,' or 'That's Michael, He's a doctor.'"

A small voice at the back of the room rang out, "And there's the teacher, She's dead."

~ 6 ~

A teacher was giving a lesson on the circulation of the blood. Trying to make the matter clearer, she said, "Now, class, if I stood on my head, the blood, as you know, would run into it, and I would turn red in the face.."

"Yes," the class said.

"Then why is it that while I am standing upright in the ordinary position the blood doesn't run into my feet?"

A little fellow shouted, "Cause your feet ain't empty."

~ 7 ~

The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. The nun made a note, and posted on the apple tray:

"Take only ONE. God is watching."

Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies. A child had written a note:

"Take all you want. God is watching the apples."

borexcel
Saturday, September 11, 2004 @ 10:16 p.m.

Woke up in the wee hours to travel to Pioneer JC at CCK as I was one of six nominated to attend MOE's EXCEL Day. It turned out to be just an exhibition that showcased creative works from various schools and we needn't be there so early actually. Felt cheated of my valuable sleep. Luckily Irene was also there to accompany me while we browsed through the project works. So we went around trying out some games and collecting postcards, and took a few photographs. The only displayed work that was impressionable and innovative for me was a game which was similar to mahjong but the tiles contained Chinese radicals instead - thought it's rather interesting for teachers and students to sit down together to play mahjong and learn Chinese at the same time.

Was actually quite worried when I was at the EXCEL Day as it was September 11, and thousands of teachers were gathered at one place - a very good chance for the terrorists, you know. :p

Anyway, Irene and I decided to leave early as there really wasn't much to see. Sneaked off after the teabreak (which wasn't really sumptuous considering it was such a big MOE event) and I went in search for Bjork's Volumen 1993-2003 DVD. Couldn't find it at HMV, Tower Records, Music Junction or Sembawang Music. Guess I'll have to resort to importing again.

teenagers
Thursday, September 9, 2004 @ 11:55 p.m.

So many of my students are having BGR problems. I have seen break-ups and getting-back-togethers so many times that I have lost track of what are really happening. Yesterday, I gave advice to a girl who was torn between two guys and I actually encouraged her to accept one of them. Hmm. If MOE gets to know this, I'll be in deep trouble. Anyway... I am not exactly against teen romance. As long as teenagers know the limits (physically and emotionally), I feel relationships are part of growing up, and couples can encourage each other and make studies more enjoyable. I have come across a few open-minded parents who feel the same, and they are fully aware of their children's relationships and support their children emotionally and financially... provided the youngsters don't go overboard. (But then again, who can be there to guard them to be sure that they don't?)

Since I am on the topic of teenagers... I think one of the reasons why youngsters nowadays are more rebellious and why many of them view studying as unimportant is because they have been hearing too many stories of successful people who did not excel in studies - Sim Wong Hoo, pop stars who quit school... and their success stories have been overly glamorised such that it seems there is really nothing great about excelling in studies, unlike in my time when doing well in school means everything and it is necessarily the only way to success. Okay, I don't believe that excelling in school is everything either, but I can't say that education is not important at all - besides the hardcore knowledge which we gain from our tens of years of education (how much of that do we remember anyway?), I feel the process of learning - the self-discipline and rules, the skills of making logic, analysing, rationalising, etc - is much more important and it is that which benefits our lives and life decisions later on. The government has been stressing that we do not need to have a degree to be an entrepreneur - there is nothing wrong with that - but many teenagers nowadays don't think too much into what is being told to them. They just accept facts at face value and make very simplistic deductions on their own: entrepreneurs don't need a degree = I don't need to study; pop stars can become rich and famous without studying = I can be rich and famous without studying too. They can't see the relevance of studying at all - at least not in their context.

I wish there could be some reality check - some publications on how it is NOT COOL to be a school dropout, and that NOT EVERY school dropout WILL become rich and famous. I am not looking down on the school dropouts - I have no doubts that they can become rich and famous too if they adopt the right spirit and attitude! But I just wish students today can treasure their time in school and not waste their chance of studying without even trying.

boots
Thursday, September 9, 2004 @ 11:32 p.m.

Yep, still in the midst of Bjork madness. Was reading Bjork's bootography when I realised I possess an early rare bootleg of Bjork - don't even remember when or where I bought it - could be at a pasar malam. Listened to it and marvelled once again at Bjork's live magic (ooh, she loved to use the flute in her live performances back then). Coincidentally, the album was recorded 11 years ago on the same date as today, 9 September.

vokuro
Thursday, September 9, 2004 @ 12:58 a.m.

The pleasure is all mine
to finally let go
and evenly
be flown
~ Pleasure Is All Mine, from Medulla ~

I love the holidays - though this time it is only one week long. Hi to all those working: Yep, I know you are jealous of me having the school holidays, but no, I'm not going to argue about teachers having to work harder (physically, mentally and emotionally) than most of you during school term - you won't believe anyway.

It was the first day (after a very long time) that I have had all to myself. Practised violin for several hours, trying to perfect Concerto in D minor, Fantasia 2000 and Jazzing About Suite, and even revised the old scores that I got from Integral (our little band is already history because Junbin has given up saxophone).

With a palm full of stars
I throw them like dice on the table (repeatedly)
I shake them like dice and throw them on the table (repeatedly)
until the desired constellation appears
~ Desired Constellation, from Medulla ~

Indulged in Bjork's Medulla, which I listened to over and over again and just couldn't resist hitting the Repeat All button. The tunes of Oceania and Pleasure Is All Mine keep ringing in my head...

Sounds go through the muscles
These abstract wordless
move : ments
They start off cells
that haven't been touched before
~ Headphones, from Post ~

Despite my very cheerful mood, reading the newspapers nowadays can really be rather depressing, with so many horrors and tragedies... Nobody knows what may happen tomorrow - accidents aside, these are things that some people DO to make other innocent people's lives miserable. Sometimes I wonder why mankind is destroying himself - do all the massacre and destruction make these sadists feel thrilled and satisfied?

P.S. "Vokuro" is Icelandic, meaning "vigil".

loving seitz
Tuesday, September 7, 2004 @ 10:21 p.m.

Conducted a remedial session for 2E1 in Math and Science as requested. Was half afraid that they'd forget about it and nobody'd turn up, but the attendance was unexpectedly very good although most of them left after I was finished with Math. Had a rather long chat with Jialing, Xinyi and Shuting about future prospects and the various subject combinations when the session ended.

My violin solo debut is going to be the 3rd movement of Concerto in B minor by Friedrich Seitz. So excited with this rather challenging and lively allegretto moderato piece. Michelle went through the first half of the piece with me in detail, and... I'm loving it!

medulla
Sunday, September 5, 2004 @ 08:58 p.m.



It is no surprise that Bjork surprises me yet again with her new album Medulla. In her past albums, she has been able to use the most apt and possibly the strangest instruments to compliment her versatile vocals. This time, she has done away with meticulous instrumentations and created her most primal and thematic album to date, with mostly only her vocals and the choir, punctuated lavishly with sighs, weeping sounds, grunts, ululations, shrills, heavy breathing and throat singing in the background. (For those who watched the Athens opening ceremony, you should have sampled some of these in her performance of Oceania.) The album may not be easy-listening or crowd-pleasing, but it is definitely going into my list of top albums of 2004.

1st violin
Sunday, September 5, 2004 @ 07:47 a.m.

Was so tired yesterday that I fell asleep the moment I touched my bed.

Had guitar lesson at noon, then coached Ho Ming, Wenjie and Steph in Math and Science at the void deck. Many of the Sec 2s are very stressed now ever since the briefing on streaming some days ago. And I guess they ought to be worried, now that the exams are less than two months away...

Went home for a short rest before going to YMS for the first rehearsal for the string concert. It was horrendous for me. I only got the scores three days ago, and I am only at Grade 2, yet I am expected to play the semiquavers (Bach's Concerto in D minor for two violins) at flying speed as the 1st violin. Mr Foo seemed to think that we are supermen, and insisted that we had to rehearse at the original speed instead of slowing down, even when it was only our first practice. (I remember my first experience in CO was also horrifying - Tuo Ling Xiang Ding Dang.) Many of the adult players could not make it (and yes, I was the worst among them, staring at the scores most of the time, still sightreading while the notes flew by), but all the children could play the pieces well, and they even complained that the speed was too slow. I assume they got the scores long ago and had been practising a lot... Luckily I'm someone who can take pressure rather well, although I was slightly embarassed as the parents were watching at the side, I didn't feel too bad - come on, I am only a Grade 2!! In any case, I'll be practising hard in the following weeks - think the pieces should be manageable once I find the notes (hopefully)... Can't let down Michelle's expectation of me.

long chat
Friday, September 3, 2004 @ 05:17 p.m.

Stayed back after school in 2E1 classroom to coach Steph, Wenjie and Xinyi in Math. (When I told Irene I was going to give my form class more coaching in Math in the holidays even when I am not teaching them Math anymore, she gave a sigh of exasperation and said that I am too obliging and I'm only inviting extra workload for myself. Haha, well, I just can't bear to leave my children in the lurch.)

Then spent the next two hours chatting with Steph, Wenjie, Xinyi, Jialing, Kailiang, Victor, Aisyah and Dalinah about lots of miscellaneous stuff... a little on sex (again - sigh, teenagers' curiosity about sex can never be satisfied - and I always have to be careful when talking about this sensitive issue), a little on relationships, classmates, teachers and studies... Then went to Tampines Mart for a very late lunch. Steph and her friend Shaqeena tagged along and we chatted for a while again...

Today was the last day in ESSS for Chin Teck, the trainee teacher who took over my 3E1 Physics class for this term as part of his practicum training. Before he left, he gave me a book to thank me for my guidance - Teaching to Change Lives by Dr Howard Hendricks. By simply reading the title, I can already expect to be inspired. :)