Posts
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Wedding meeting
Angela, Yewhock, Sharon, Jasmine and I met for the first time to outline what we needed to do for our 23 May 2009 wedding. There were so many things to discuss over dinner at New York New York that we started getting stares at the 3 1/2 hour mark. We managed to achieve a lot and basically everyone knows what to do. Plus a bonus: we got our queue number for Damai Grove - 589! And there are 676 flats to choose from so we confirm can get a flat. Just depends how picky we are.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Twister
Flixster Plot: The largest storm to hit Oklahoma in more than half a century is brewing, and it promises to drop multiple twisters into Tornado Alley. It's the storm that two rival groups of scientists--Jo Harding (Helen Hunt) and her band of brash university students, and corporate-sponsored Dr. Jonas Miller and his sleek, crack cadre with their state-of-the-art research vans--have been waiting for to earn their place in meteorological history. Each team wants to be the first to launch their own equipment pack inside a twister to transmit valuable scientific data about tornado behavior. But to do so, they must put themselves directly in the path of the marauding monster--and stay always just ahead of the swirling twister, anticipating its every move. Adding to the charged atmosphere, Jo's soon-to-be-ex-husband, meteorologist Bill Harding (Bill Paxton), reluctantly joins Jo and his old crew for this last, epic chase.
My take: Amazing graphics for the F5 tornado. Not bad for a 90s movie. And I think I saw Rob Schneider somewhere in there. Can anyone verify?
Dilbert's In-duh-viduals
"We were given our yearly evaluations and handed our objectives for the upcoming year: "Everyone must exceed the Team Average in sales dollars." My boss explained that this was not a case of exceeding a previous average; all ten of us were expected to be above whatever our current average was."
"I love it when it stays light out until it gets dark."
"If my father were alive he would be turning over in his grave."
"I'd like to wish a happy 15th anniversary to our extinguished colleague."
"Man, I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous!"
"You couldn't pay me to work on commission."
“They’re going through paper like it grows on trees.”
"I love it when it stays light out until it gets dark."
"If my father were alive he would be turning over in his grave."
"I'd like to wish a happy 15th anniversary to our extinguished colleague."
"Man, I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous!"
"You couldn't pay me to work on commission."
“They’re going through paper like it grows on trees.”
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Listening & Speaking lesson plans
Finished both, including my calculator activities. Now for practicum.
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Took me ages to complete one. I think I'm gonna just die at practicum.
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Took me ages to complete one. I think I'm gonna just die at practicum.
Under the Tuscan Sun
Flixster Plot: After a brutal divorce, Frances (Lane) is persuaded by her friend Patti (Sandra Oh) to take a tour of Italy--where, on a whim that she hopes will rescue her from her desperate unhappiness, she buys a rundown villa and sets out to renovate it. Along the way, she gets advice from a former Fellini actress, meets a scrumptious Italian lover, and helps support Patti after her own relationship derails. The conclusion of Under the Tuscan Sun holds no surprises, but the deft turns and observations along the way are delightful. Lane carries the film effortlessly but surely, exuding both heartbreak and re-awakening passion. --Bret Fetzer
My take: Nothing special here, just a well-written story that ends all too familiarly.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
Face/Off
Flixster Plot: At his best, director John Woo turns action movies into ballets of blood and bullets grounded in character drama. Face/Off marks Woo's first American film to reach the pitched level of his best Hong Kong work (Hard-Boiled). He takes a patently absurd premise--hero and villain exchange identities by literally swapping faces in science-fiction plastic surgery--and creates a double-barreled revenge film driven by the split psyches of its newly redefined characters. FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta) must play the villain to move through the underworld while psychotic terrorist Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage) becomes a perversely paternal family man while using every tool at his disposal to destroy his nemesis. Travolta vamps Cage's tics and flamboyant excess with the grace of a dancer after his transformation from cop to criminal, while Cage plays the sullen, bottled-up agent excruciatingly trapped behind the face of the man who killed his son. His attempts to live up to the terrorist's reputation become cathartic explosions of violence that both thrill and terrify him. This is merely icing on the cake for action fans, the dramatic backbone for some of the most visceral action thrills ever. Woo fills the screen with one show-stopping set piece after another, bringing a poetic grace to the action freakout with sweeping camerawork and sophisticated editing. This marriage of melodrama and mayhem ups the ante from cops-and-robbers clichés to a conflict of near-mythic levels. --Sean Axmaker
My take: Typical overcooked John Woo largesse.
The Recruit
Flixster Plot: "Nothing is what it seems" in The Recruit, a guessing-game thriller that employs plot twists and conflicting loyalties as its primary raison d'être. Surrounded by potential deception, a newly recruited CIA officer (Colin Farrell) must determine if his manipulative instructor (Al Pacino) is being honest when he identifies Farrell's fellow recruit and love interest (Bridget Moynahan) as an enemy "mole" assigned to steal a dangerous computer virus from CIA headquarters. While claiming to offer an insider's look at CIA training methods, this engrossing yet ultimately predictable plot is pure Hollywood fantasy; any resemblance to reality is purely coincidental, leaving the perpetually unshaven and scruffily coiffed Farrell to fend for himself in Pacino's cynical arena while tracing his familial roots in the spy game. Wearing its cleverness on its sleeve, The Recruit is an adequately elaborate puzzle of perceptions. "Everything is a test," as Farrell soon realizes, and attentive viewers will enjoy piecing it all together. --Jeff Shannon
My take: Pretty riveting stuff. Nothing special though.
The Stockdale Paradox
Something Pastor Koo mentioned that was rather interesting in his sermon When Life Sucks:
The name refers to Admiral Jim Stockdale, who was the highest ranking United States military officer in the “Hanoi Hilton” prisoner-of-war camp during the height of the Vietnam War. Tortured over 20 times during his eight-year imprisonment from 1965 to 1973, Stockdale lived out the war without any prisoner's rights, no set release date, and no certainty as to whether he would even survive to see his family again. He shouldered the burden of command, doing everything he could to create conditions that would increase the number of prisoners who would survive unbroken, while fighting an internal war against his captors and their attempts to use the prisoners for propaganda. At one point, he beat himself with a stool and cut himself with a razor, deliberately disfiguring himself, so that he could not be put on videotape as an example of a “well-treated prisoner.” He exchanged secret intelligence information with his wife through their letters, knowing that discovery would mean more torture and perhaps death. He instituted rules that would help people to deal with torture (no one can resist torture indefinitely, so he created a step-wise system—after x minutes, you can say certain things—that gave the men milestones to survive toward). He instituted an elaborate internal communications system to reduce the sense of isolation that their captors tried to create, which used a five-by-five matrix of tap codes for alpha characters. (Tap-tap equals the letter a, tap-pause-tap-tap equals the letter b, tap-tap-pause-tap equals the letter f, and so forth, for 25 letters, c doubling for k.) At one point, during an imposed silence, the prisoners mopped and swept the central yard using the code, swish-swashing out “We love you” to Stockdale, on the third anniversary of his being shot down. After his release, Stockdale became the first three-star officer in the history of the navy to wear both aviator wings and the Congressional Medal of Honor.
You can understand, then, my anticipation at the prospect of spending part of an afternoon with Stockdale. One of my students had written his paper on Stockdale, who happened to be a senior research fellow studying the Stoic philosophers at the Hoover Institution right across the street from my office, and Stockdale invited the two of us for lunch. In preparation, I read In Love and War, the book Stockdale and his wife had written in alternating chapters, chronicling their experiences during those eight years.
As I moved through the book, I found myself getting depressed. It just seemed so bleak—the uncertainty of his fate, the brutality of his captors, and so forth. And then, it dawned on me: “Here I am sitting in my warm and comfortable office, looking out over the beautiful Stanford campus on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. I’m getting depressed reading this, and I know the end of the story! I know that he gets out, reunites with his family, becomes a national hero, and gets to spend the later years of his life studying philosophy on this same beautiful campus. If it feels depressing for me, how on earth did he deal with it when he was actually there and did not know the end of the story?”
“I never lost faith in the end of the story,” he said, when I asked him. “I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade.”
* * *
I didn’t say anything for many minutes, and we continued the slow walk toward the faculty club, Stockdale limping and arc-swinging his stiff leg that had never fully recovered from repeated torture. Finally, after about a hundred meters of silence, I asked, “Who didn’t make it out?”
“Oh, that’s easy,” he said. “The optimists.”
“The optimists? I don’t understand,” I said, now completely confused, given what he’d said a hundred meters earlier.
“The optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they’d say,‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart.”
Another long pause, and more walking. Then he turned to me and said, “This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”
To this day, I carry a mental image of Stockdale admonishing the optimists: “We’re not getting out by Christmas; deal with it!”
Source: http://www.jimcollins.com/lib/goodToGreat/ch4_p83.html
"Retain faith that you will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties. At the same time, confront the brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be." - Jim Collins in Good to Great
The name refers to Admiral Jim Stockdale, who was the highest ranking United States military officer in the “Hanoi Hilton” prisoner-of-war camp during the height of the Vietnam War. Tortured over 20 times during his eight-year imprisonment from 1965 to 1973, Stockdale lived out the war without any prisoner's rights, no set release date, and no certainty as to whether he would even survive to see his family again. He shouldered the burden of command, doing everything he could to create conditions that would increase the number of prisoners who would survive unbroken, while fighting an internal war against his captors and their attempts to use the prisoners for propaganda. At one point, he beat himself with a stool and cut himself with a razor, deliberately disfiguring himself, so that he could not be put on videotape as an example of a “well-treated prisoner.” He exchanged secret intelligence information with his wife through their letters, knowing that discovery would mean more torture and perhaps death. He instituted rules that would help people to deal with torture (no one can resist torture indefinitely, so he created a step-wise system—after x minutes, you can say certain things—that gave the men milestones to survive toward). He instituted an elaborate internal communications system to reduce the sense of isolation that their captors tried to create, which used a five-by-five matrix of tap codes for alpha characters. (Tap-tap equals the letter a, tap-pause-tap-tap equals the letter b, tap-tap-pause-tap equals the letter f, and so forth, for 25 letters, c doubling for k.) At one point, during an imposed silence, the prisoners mopped and swept the central yard using the code, swish-swashing out “We love you” to Stockdale, on the third anniversary of his being shot down. After his release, Stockdale became the first three-star officer in the history of the navy to wear both aviator wings and the Congressional Medal of Honor.
You can understand, then, my anticipation at the prospect of spending part of an afternoon with Stockdale. One of my students had written his paper on Stockdale, who happened to be a senior research fellow studying the Stoic philosophers at the Hoover Institution right across the street from my office, and Stockdale invited the two of us for lunch. In preparation, I read In Love and War, the book Stockdale and his wife had written in alternating chapters, chronicling their experiences during those eight years.
As I moved through the book, I found myself getting depressed. It just seemed so bleak—the uncertainty of his fate, the brutality of his captors, and so forth. And then, it dawned on me: “Here I am sitting in my warm and comfortable office, looking out over the beautiful Stanford campus on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. I’m getting depressed reading this, and I know the end of the story! I know that he gets out, reunites with his family, becomes a national hero, and gets to spend the later years of his life studying philosophy on this same beautiful campus. If it feels depressing for me, how on earth did he deal with it when he was actually there and did not know the end of the story?”
“I never lost faith in the end of the story,” he said, when I asked him. “I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade.”
* * *
I didn’t say anything for many minutes, and we continued the slow walk toward the faculty club, Stockdale limping and arc-swinging his stiff leg that had never fully recovered from repeated torture. Finally, after about a hundred meters of silence, I asked, “Who didn’t make it out?”
“Oh, that’s easy,” he said. “The optimists.”
“The optimists? I don’t understand,” I said, now completely confused, given what he’d said a hundred meters earlier.
“The optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they’d say,‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart.”
Another long pause, and more walking. Then he turned to me and said, “This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”
To this day, I carry a mental image of Stockdale admonishing the optimists: “We’re not getting out by Christmas; deal with it!”
Source: http://www.jimcollins.com/lib/goodToGreat/ch4_p83.html
Test item construction
I can't believe I put in so much work to try and get an A by doing P5 geometry. Why do I try so hard for? I don't even get a bonus for good results; the futility of it all.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Sunshine
Flixster Plot: Fifty years from now, the sun is dying, and mankind is dying with it. Our last hope: a spaceship and a crew of eight men and women. They carry a device which will breathe new life into the star. But deep into their voyage, out of radio contact with Earth, their mission is starting to unravel. There is an accident, a fatal mistake, and a distress beacon from a spaceship that disappeared seven years earlier. Soon the crew is fighting not only for their lives, but their sanity.
My take: Angela, special effects aside, I still don't see what the fuss is about.
Budget 2008
Two main goodies from Minister Tharman:
1. 40% subsidy for part-time degrees at local universities:
This will save me about $10K. It'll help Jasmine and me out in our savings too.
2. $600 in Growth Dividends:
I think this is the amount I should be getting. Money's money!
1. 40% subsidy for part-time degrees at local universities:
This will save me about $10K. It'll help Jasmine and me out in our savings too.
2. $600 in Growth Dividends:
I think this is the amount I should be getting. Money's money!
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Gems reunion dinner
Well, it was a reunion of sorts, as we haven't had ALG meetings since last year because of the restructuring. I was so glad 16 people came; I had no idea so many would come. Thanks to all of you for making the supreme effort to come from all over the island. It wasn't the best laid plans as we gave up the steamboat idea to go to a kopitiam instead, but in the end it was OK. Thank God.
Here's looking to a blessed Year of the Rat for Agape and Gems!
Here's looking to a blessed Year of the Rat for Agape and Gems!
Urbanwire alumni
Met up with Mr. Yee, Keh, Haris and James at the Urbanwire launch party. It's now been five years since my time there. The emperor hasn't changed at all, but it all feels like another part of my life altogether. Miss Agnes, Karene, Jude, Sab and the lot. Those were the days. "In the forest..."
Friday, February 15, 2008
Readers' Theatre
It's finally over. I think we did well despite some last-minute changes to the timing in the morning. Our combined cab fares came to $50! The performance went ok, but I wasn't so sure about the assessment. There's a vast difference between stuff that'll work in theory and what happens in reality. I haven't quite grasped it yet.
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4 Feb 2008, 2159hrs
My groupmates selected my script as the one to be performed, despite being half-completed. I hope to repay their faith in me. That means sending it out by tonight. The good news is I do feel a little energised, so I might be able to pull this off.
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3 Feb 2008, 1959hrs
Managed to get the skeleton out, thanks to Jasmine. Now it's some intra-solar system getting-to-know-you party, seeing the planets' orbits have not intersected for 4.6 billion years. So the Sun invites all of them for a house-warming (geddit?) party. Interesting conversations entail.
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2 Feb 2008, 1059hrs
Learnt some new befangled EL integration strategy where students perform by reading from a script that's been dramatised from a fiction or (less commonly) non-fiction text. Our assignment requires to write one such script and perform it at Juying Primary. It's supposed to be 15 minutes long. I'm just thinking of the sheer number of words I need to fit in. And it's due Monday. =[
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4 Feb 2008, 2159hrs
My groupmates selected my script as the one to be performed, despite being half-completed. I hope to repay their faith in me. That means sending it out by tonight. The good news is I do feel a little energised, so I might be able to pull this off.
-----------
3 Feb 2008, 1959hrs
Managed to get the skeleton out, thanks to Jasmine. Now it's some intra-solar system getting-to-know-you party, seeing the planets' orbits have not intersected for 4.6 billion years. So the Sun invites all of them for a house-warming (geddit?) party. Interesting conversations entail.
-----------
2 Feb 2008, 1059hrs
Learnt some new befangled EL integration strategy where students perform by reading from a script that's been dramatised from a fiction or (less commonly) non-fiction text. Our assignment requires to write one such script and perform it at Juying Primary. It's supposed to be 15 minutes long. I'm just thinking of the sheer number of words I need to fit in. And it's due Monday. =[
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Ambigrams
These refer to words that look the same whether you look at them upside-down or right-side-up. An alternative to this is one word that looks different when you look at it either way. This is one that reads as Chinwei and Yuenhar at the same time!
You can find more at http://ambigram.matic.com/ambigram.htm
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Legalese
Aiping was asking me to interpret a section of the Companies Act of Singapore. It didn't seem like English at all, and I concluded that even lawyers need English teachers. A sentence of over 60 words ran on without a single comma, semi-colon, colon, hyphen or whatever - it just ran on and on, conditional clauses and other sentence fragments notwithstanding. Here it is in all its glory - you make sense of it:
"Accounting records and systems of control"
"Accounting records and systems of control"
4) If accounting and other records are kept by the company at a place outside Singapore there shall be sent to and kept at a place in Singapore and be at all times open to inspection by the directors such statements and returns with respect to the business dealt with in the records so kept as will enable to be prepared true and fair profit and loss accounts and balance-sheets and any documents required to be attached thereto.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
New Police Story
Flixster Plot: Inspector Wing of the Hong Kong Police Force has become the victim of a gang, led by the evil Joe. When his entire team is killed, Wing becomes a hapless drunk, feeling guilty for the deaths of his team. A young man with a troubled past pretends to be a police officer working on the case with Wing, to get him back on his feet and begin an adventure to get revenge on the evil Joe and his Gang of Five, especially when it becomes personal.
The Source of Love
A radical reevaluation of spiritual beliefs is on the cards for island resident Chen Hon-ming (Chung King-fai) in Christian movie The Source of Love. Viewers meet the aging school teacher as he reaches the end of his career, threatened with redundancy yet working hard to support his ex-junkie daughter Kar-yi's schooling abroad. At home Chen's wife keeps pulling away his wine bottle, he's out of touch with his stuttering preacher son Ah Kit and his senile father has been packed off to an old folks' home.
Chen's simmering troubles start to reach boiling point after Kar-yi sneaks back to Hong Kong pregnant and single. When the young woman makes her return known with an arrest for assault, dramas come to a head and it's not long before religious messages put forward by Ah Kit gain increasing strength.
The Source of Love presents a belief-reaffirming rather than evangelist message in a straightforward and pleasing production. Shot on 35 mm, Stephen Shin's movie is a low-key affair largely focused on faith and a family unit, and the Christian theme dwells on difficulty in persuading people to reject traditional customs for new beleifs. Chen in particular is suspicious of a foreign god, and others point out the apparent uselessness of practices like worshipping ancestors. Study of writing is used repeatedly to show Christianity's relevance in a Chinese setting, showing again and again how the character for "lamb" connects to characters for "eternal" and "righteous". A paper cutout technique to produce a cross and key Chinese and English words also appears more than once.
Noteworthy asides appear in spirited comment on contemporary issues, like Hong Kong's falling English standards and rising unemployment, to keep the production current and some successful light comedy dots the script. An uninteresting side story with local gangsters also runs concurrent to the main narrative. Location work is anchored on peaceful Cheung Chau island settings, while brief diversions into the city include interesting environs like Sai Ying Pun. The score by Chan Wing-wah ranges from acoustic guitar to overly dramatic arrangements, at one point drowning out a prayer. Chung King-fai and Tomi Wong turn in classy performances as parent figures while Peter Yeung Kwan adds subtle humour to his grandfather role. Elsewhere Taiwanese singer Samuel Tai is fine as an evangelising youth, cheery Scott Smyth shows more command of Cantonese than acting and Gabriel Harrison appears briefly as an unpleasant ex-boyfriend who exits with a brick to the head. The movie is dedicated to the late Roy Chiao, who commenced work on the production before his death in 1999.
Source: http://kowloonside.com/movies/thesourceoflove.html
The Longest Yard
Flixster Plot: Pro quarterback Paul Crewe and former college champion and coach, Nate Scarboro are both doing time in the same prison. Asked to put together a team of inmates to take on the guards, Crewe enlists the help of Scarboro to coach the inmates to victory in a football game "fixed" to turn out quite the other way.
My take: Oh this could've been funnier, if Astro hadn't bleeped out every other word. Can't you say 'shit' anymore?
Chinese New Year
An uneventful affair this year, with low takings in ang pow and even lower in entertainment. Eat, sleep, watch TV, read a book, type out an assignment, scold a cousin/nephew/niece, swat mosquitoes/flies etc. The only interesting things were learning poker and driving my cousins' cars.
Why Me, Sweetie?
The Skinny: Uneven romantic comedy which is as magnificently manufactured as they come. The film ends much better than it begins, but that isn't necessarily a saving grace. Louis Koo and Cherrie Ying fans will probably be happy, though.
Review by Kozo: Though he started in the horror and triad genres, Louis Koo has since become Hong Kong Cinema's romantic comedy golden boy. The Man with the Tan has played romantic foils to such screen queens as Gigi Leung, Sammi Cheng, Cecilia Cheung and Miriam Yeung, and the result has been generally profitable if not overtly good motion pictures. Koo has thankfully shown good comedic presence, and has never been afraid to poke fun at his own ladykiller image. Why Me, Sweetie?! plays to those strengths, and Koo performs gamely. However, that doesn't necessarily mean the film is good.
Koo is Don, a studly baker who runs a small but popular bakery in Beijing. An avowed player, he nevertheless is smitten by Ding Ding (Cherrie Ying), an American Born Chinese who charms him with her energetic, offbeat ways. Despite knowing that Don is a player, Ding Ding allows herself to be roped in, and things actually seem to head somewhere for the two. Then the plot device hits. When Don seems to have totally fallen in love with Ding Ding, he suddenly turns red and collapses. When Ding Ding sees him next, he's back to being a total player, and professes not to know her. And, given Koo's smarmy performance, it's hard not to believe him.
But Ding Ding learns the truth thanks to the intervention of Dr. Chie (Tats Lau), Don's longtime pal. Chie tells Ding Ding that Don has a selective memory disorder, which he gained due to the tragic death of a former lover, who ironically looked exactly like Ding Ding. Chie believes that Ding Ding can somehow help cure Don, and even if he isn't cured, the two can continue their relationship anyway. They use a notebook of Ding Ding facts, temporary tattoos, and many pictures to constantly remind Don of who he's supposed to love. And it seems to work, for a while at least. But can the two actually make a long-term relationship work when one is a part-time amnesiac?
The concept for this romantic comedy is utterly manufactured, but that's no real surprise. Given the fact that most Hong Kong—and even American—romantic comedies feature a paper-thin premise, one should be able to forgive Why Me, Sweetie?! for its narrative silliness. Sure, all of the couple's problems could easily be solved if Don visited a real brain specialist (Chie is actually a dentist), but if that happened the film wouldn't be able to employ its nifty Groundhog Day/Memento devices. Since Koo is dashingly handsome and Ying is refreshingly adorable, it should be a pleasure to watch the two fall in love again. And again. And yet again. It's like five movies packed into one.
However, instead of five movies packed into one, Why Me, Sweetie?! feels like one movie stretched on for eternity. Director Jingle Ma makes his actors look good, but his pacing and construction leave a lot to be desired. The film starts with lots of needless fast motion, overdone histrionics, and sometimes grating comedy. Then the film does a complete flip-flop and gets overly dramatic and saccharine for a protracted second half. It's like Ma felt obligated to give us both comedy and drama, but didn't know how to intertwine the two. His inability to handle the material makes the manufactured pathos seem magnified and doubly obvious. The result: an uneven and annoying film that manages to affect, but only because they lay it on so thick at the end. Romantic comedies are preferable if the audience isn't pummelled into buying it.
Still, the actors are certainly attractive and even charming. Koo and Ying both overact like idiots during the silly scenes, but they handle the dramatic sequences decently. Koo is convincingly lovelorn and teary, a combination that probably sends his swooning female fanbase into throes of ecstasy. And Ying possesses a photogenic charm and energy that's very winning. She could have the makings of a real star, though she should sometimes take it down a notch. Like most ingenues, she doesn't really know how to regulate her performances, and spends too much time mugging and pouting. Hopefully she'll find a way to tone it down in the future.
Then again, this could all be Jingle Ma's fault. In the past, Ma has taken good resources and made workable entertainment, but his actual ability to craft a film has never been established. His direction of a script seems arbitrary and without any discernible purpose, and he's never shown the ability to direct actors. This can be seen in the uneven performances of the leads, and in the no-name supporting characters, who are utterly faceless and uninteresting. Ma is lucky to have Louis Koo, Cherrie Ying and Tats Lau (in an amusingly droll performance) to bring some life to his manufactured script, which possesses the depth of your average kiddie pool. Ultimately, Why Me, Sweetie?! has far too many cloying and unnecessary moments to make it a truly compelling motion picture. But it also has a lot of Louis Koo and Cherrie Ying, which could be enough for some people. (Kozo 2003)
Source: http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews/why_me_sweetie.htm
My take: Cliched, but all in all not too bad. Quite enjoyable.
Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat
Flixster Plot: Today is a special day for Conrad and Sally Walden--even though they don't think it is. It seems that Sally and Conrad, different as black and white, have pushed their single mom, Joan Walden, to the limit. Conrad's endless rule breaking has his mom seriously considering military school for her son--an idea planted by her just-this-side-of-smarmy neighbor and suitor, Lawrence Quinn. Sally, tightly wound though well-behaved, has bossed away every friend she has, and divides her time between upbraiding her brother and putting new 'To Do' lists in her junior palm pilot. And all the while their mom is just trying to keep domestic peace while balancing a successful career as a real estate agent for her germophobe boss, Mr. Humberfloob. However, on the Saturday that she is to host her company's party, Joan's preparations have fallen prey to Conrad's shenanigans. Thus, she lays down a mom-sized decree: Sally and Conrad are not to leave the house while she is at work; furthermore, they are forbidden from making a mess or misbehaving in any way. The kids are left with little to do besides sit and stare out of the window, while their babysitter, Mrs. Kwan, dozes in the den. Until their unexpected guest--a six-foot-tall talking feline, sporting a red-and-white-striped stovepipe hat--appears. The original party animal himself arrives to turn their world upside down by showing Sally and Conrad that "it's good to have fun--but you have to know how!"
My take: Lame shit. Watchable for Dakota Fanning alone.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Brain teaser
What do these words have in common?
Banana
Dresser
Grammar
Potato
Revive
Uneven
Assess
Banana
Dresser
Grammar
Potato
Revive
Uneven
Assess
Answer: No, it is not that they all have at least 2 double letters.
In all of the words listed, if you take the first letter, place it at the
end of the word, and then spell the word backwards, it will be the same word.
De Coder's Cafe
Board game haters beware! There's a new board game cafe in Newton called De Coder's Cafe. They have an interesting pricing system so it might be worth checking out once. Check it out: http://www.decoderscafe.com/index.htm
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Christian lo hei
Red envelope which contains pepper
“Praise the Lord, for peppering us with your loving kindness.”
Green envelope which contains five-spice powder
“Praise the Lord, for accepting our labor as a fragrant offering to His plan.”
Fish
“Praise the Lord, for the grace of God to be fishers of men.”
Oil
“Praise the Lord, for the oil that keeps us burning in this fight of faith.”
“Praise the Lord, for anointing us with the oil of joy.” (Psa 45:7)
Plum Sauce
“Praise the Lord, for the sweetness of your Words sweeter than honey to my mouth.” (Psa 119:103)
Crackers
“Praise the Lord, for the street of pure gold that you have prepared for us to live in eternity.” (Rev 21:21)
“Praise the Lord, for peppering us with your loving kindness.”
Green envelope which contains five-spice powder
“Praise the Lord, for accepting our labor as a fragrant offering to His plan.”
Fish
“Praise the Lord, for the grace of God to be fishers of men.”
Oil
“Praise the Lord, for the oil that keeps us burning in this fight of faith.”
“Praise the Lord, for anointing us with the oil of joy.” (Psa 45:7)
Plum Sauce
“Praise the Lord, for the sweetness of your Words sweeter than honey to my mouth.” (Psa 119:103)
Crackers
“Praise the Lord, for the street of pure gold that you have prepared for us to live in eternity.” (Rev 21:21)
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
NTU CAC Chinese Orchestra
Dropped by Yinglei's Chinese Orchestra performance at NTU and was pleasantly surprised at the music on show.
Well, firstly, she had to catch her hand on the door as she went to get something. Cue some silent, frantic hand-waving.
The emcees, both in English and Mandarin, were really lame. Can even put Teckseng in the shade. Their languages were all rojak and they kept mispronouncing and stumbling over words, butchering some foreign languages for good measure. Plus they had to shamelessly plug their upcoming concert: Can't blame them there. They whispered to each other but forgot that everyone could hear them.
That aside, the performances were actually really good. Enjoyed Yinglei's guitar-like duet where they did a Tchaikovsky. Her instrument (forgot what it's called) is very similar to a guitar, only with a G-D-G-D tuning. They play mostly two-note chords while harmionising with another instrument. They also play a percussive role on the more upbeat songs. Can understand why she doesn't want to learn guitar first as this would really throw her off with the guitar's E-A-D-G-B-E tuning.
The one that took the cake was the erhu solo that mimicked chirping birds and galloping horses. The guy got it right down to the whinnying of the horse. Such virtuoso technique! Would make an interesting intro if there was a lesson on animals.
The $10 concert in March sounds like an altogether more attractive proposition now. =]
Well, firstly, she had to catch her hand on the door as she went to get something. Cue some silent, frantic hand-waving.
The emcees, both in English and Mandarin, were really lame. Can even put Teckseng in the shade. Their languages were all rojak and they kept mispronouncing and stumbling over words, butchering some foreign languages for good measure. Plus they had to shamelessly plug their upcoming concert: Can't blame them there. They whispered to each other but forgot that everyone could hear them.
That aside, the performances were actually really good. Enjoyed Yinglei's guitar-like duet where they did a Tchaikovsky. Her instrument (forgot what it's called) is very similar to a guitar, only with a G-D-G-D tuning. They play mostly two-note chords while harmionising with another instrument. They also play a percussive role on the more upbeat songs. Can understand why she doesn't want to learn guitar first as this would really throw her off with the guitar's E-A-D-G-B-E tuning.
The one that took the cake was the erhu solo that mimicked chirping birds and galloping horses. The guy got it right down to the whinnying of the horse. Such virtuoso technique! Would make an interesting intro if there was a lesson on animals.
The $10 concert in March sounds like an altogether more attractive proposition now. =]
Goal: Luton Shelton, Assist: A. Balloon
Luton Shelton scores a farcical goal for Sheffield United to upset Manchester City in a FA Cup fourth round upset. Michael Ball was confused by a balloon's inspired flick on and Shelton was the beneficiary. Ironically, it was City fans who released the balloons.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Australian Tourism Bored
I think I want to work for the Australian Tourism Board; they sound like my kind of people! These were posted on an Australian Tourism Website and the answers are the actual responses by the website officials, who obviously have a sense of humour.
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Q: Does it ever get windy in Australia ? I have never seen it rain on TV, how do the plants grow? (UK)
A: We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around watching them die.
Q: Will I be able to see kangaroos in the street? (USA)
A: Depends how much you've been drinking.
Q: I want to walk from Perth to Sydney - can I follow the railroad tracks? (Sweden)
A: Sure, it's only three thousand miles, take lots of water.
Q: Are there any ATMs (cash machines) in Australia? Can you send me a list of them in Brisbane, Cairns, Townsville and Hervey Bay? (UK)
A: What did your last slave die of?
Q: Can you give me some information about hippo racing in Australia? (USA)
A: A-fri-ca is the big triangle shaped continent south of Europe. Aus-tra-lia is that big island in the middle of the Pacific which does not... oh forget it. Sure, the hippo racing is every Tuesday night in Kings Cross. Come naked.
Q: Which direction is North in Australia? (USA)
A: Face south and then turn 180 degrees. Contact us when you get here and we'll send the rest of the directions.
Q: Can I bring cutlery into Australia? (UK)
A: Why? Just use your fingers like we do.
Q: Can you send me the Vienna Boys' Choir schedule? (USA)
A: Aus-tri-a is that quaint little country bordering Ger-man-y, which is... oh forget it. Sure, the Vienna Boys Choir plays every Tuesday night in Kings Cross, straight after the hippo races. Come naked.
Q: Are there supermarkets in Sydney and is milk available all year round? (Germany)
A: No, we are a peaceful civilization of vegan hunter/gatherers. Milk is illegal.
Q: Please send a list of all doctors in Australia who can dispense rattlesnake serum. (USA)
A: Rattlesnakes live in A-meri-ca which is where YOU come from. All Australian snakes are perfectly harmless, can be safely handled and make good pets.
Q: I have a question about a famous animal in Australia, but I forget its name. It's a kind of bear and lives in trees. (USA)
A: It's called a Drop Bear. They are so called because they drop out of Gum trees and eat the brains of anyone walking underneath them. You can scare them off by spraying yourself with human urine before you go out walking.
Q: I have developed a new product that is the fountain of youth. Can you tell me where I can sell it in Australia? (USA)
A: Anywhere significant numbers of Americans gather.
Q: Can you tell me the regions in Tasmania where the female population is smaller than the male population? (Italy)
A: Yes, gay night clubs.
Q: Do you celebrate Christmas in Australia? (France)
A: Only at Christmas.
Q: I was in Australia in 1969 on R&R, and I want to contact the girl I dated while I was staying in Kings Cross. Can you help? (USA)
A: Yes, and you will still have to pay her by the hour.
Q: Will I be able to speak English most places I go? (USA)
A: Yes, but you'll have to learn it first.
----------
Q: Does it ever get windy in Australia ? I have never seen it rain on TV, how do the plants grow? (UK)
A: We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around watching them die.
Q: Will I be able to see kangaroos in the street? (USA)
A: Depends how much you've been drinking.
Q: I want to walk from Perth to Sydney - can I follow the railroad tracks? (Sweden)
A: Sure, it's only three thousand miles, take lots of water.
Q: Are there any ATMs (cash machines) in Australia? Can you send me a list of them in Brisbane, Cairns, Townsville and Hervey Bay? (UK)
A: What did your last slave die of?
Q: Can you give me some information about hippo racing in Australia? (USA)
A: A-fri-ca is the big triangle shaped continent south of Europe. Aus-tra-lia is that big island in the middle of the Pacific which does not... oh forget it. Sure, the hippo racing is every Tuesday night in Kings Cross. Come naked.
Q: Which direction is North in Australia? (USA)
A: Face south and then turn 180 degrees. Contact us when you get here and we'll send the rest of the directions.
Q: Can I bring cutlery into Australia? (UK)
A: Why? Just use your fingers like we do.
Q: Can you send me the Vienna Boys' Choir schedule? (USA)
A: Aus-tri-a is that quaint little country bordering Ger-man-y, which is... oh forget it. Sure, the Vienna Boys Choir plays every Tuesday night in Kings Cross, straight after the hippo races. Come naked.
Q: Are there supermarkets in Sydney and is milk available all year round? (Germany)
A: No, we are a peaceful civilization of vegan hunter/gatherers. Milk is illegal.
Q: Please send a list of all doctors in Australia who can dispense rattlesnake serum. (USA)
A: Rattlesnakes live in A-meri-ca which is where YOU come from. All Australian snakes are perfectly harmless, can be safely handled and make good pets.
Q: I have a question about a famous animal in Australia, but I forget its name. It's a kind of bear and lives in trees. (USA)
A: It's called a Drop Bear. They are so called because they drop out of Gum trees and eat the brains of anyone walking underneath them. You can scare them off by spraying yourself with human urine before you go out walking.
Q: I have developed a new product that is the fountain of youth. Can you tell me where I can sell it in Australia? (USA)
A: Anywhere significant numbers of Americans gather.
Q: Can you tell me the regions in Tasmania where the female population is smaller than the male population? (Italy)
A: Yes, gay night clubs.
Q: Do you celebrate Christmas in Australia? (France)
A: Only at Christmas.
Q: I was in Australia in 1969 on R&R, and I want to contact the girl I dated while I was staying in Kings Cross. Can you help? (USA)
A: Yes, and you will still have to pay her by the hour.
Q: Will I be able to speak English most places I go? (USA)
A: Yes, but you'll have to learn it first.
Microteaching
Kena massacred for microteaching, but I didn't even get the worst of it. Two others got it worse, including one for speaking out of turn. At least it's over.
There really isn't much reason to come on Tue and Thu any more since we're just observing our peers. I will go see Dr Hia tomorrow afternoon before he flies to Japan. Makes sense.
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19 Jan 2008, 2259hrs
Supposedly after TA, microteaching is peanuts. Well apparently I'm a monkey with digestive problems, because the same problem of mental block and creative haemorrahage seemed to happen when I was doing my lesson plan. The ideas just don't seem to flow. Can't explain it. Well, at least the lesson plan is done and ready for Thursday.
There really isn't much reason to come on Tue and Thu any more since we're just observing our peers. I will go see Dr Hia tomorrow afternoon before he flies to Japan. Makes sense.
-----------
19 Jan 2008, 2259hrs
Supposedly after TA, microteaching is peanuts. Well apparently I'm a monkey with digestive problems, because the same problem of mental block and creative haemorrahage seemed to happen when I was doing my lesson plan. The ideas just don't seem to flow. Can't explain it. Well, at least the lesson plan is done and ready for Thursday.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Swimming
Do NOT swim on a Saturday evening. The pool is full of kids (who stand on the lane ropes) and teenagers (who apologise simperingly when asked to stop loitering at the lap pool), the water's full of flotsam, jetsam, snot and whatever else and the place is super crowded. Still managed to get 20 laps in though, and so did Jasmine.
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23 Jan 2008, 2121hrs
Swam for the first time in don't know how long at Hougang Swimming Complex this afternoon. Originally targetted 5 laps but realised it got easier and easier after that. So swam 20 breaststroke laps in all, averaging about 1.5min per lap. I realised I can't swim the crawl: can't coordinate the feet, arms and breathing. Should I swim again this Sat? =]
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23 Jan 2008, 2121hrs
Swam for the first time in don't know how long at Hougang Swimming Complex this afternoon. Originally targetted 5 laps but realised it got easier and easier after that. So swam 20 breaststroke laps in all, averaging about 1.5min per lap. I realised I can't swim the crawl: can't coordinate the feet, arms and breathing. Should I swim again this Sat? =]
Australian Open 2008 Ladies' Final
Ah, so. The glamour tennis final all the hacks had been hoping for (along with about three billion males) ends with the Russian loudhailer completing a 7-5, 6-3 win over the Serbain ingenue. The beautiful Maria clobbered the pretty Ana into submission with a masterclass in powerful groundstrokes and passing shots. You think back to a few years ago when Maria realised that she would need to develop the power side of a game to complete with the Williamses, and now Ana must do the same to keep up with Maria. Both ladies played tennis to grace any final, before Ana faded towards the end while Maria grew from strength to strength. What was the difference? Experience? Fitness? Fatigue? Who knows? But it's all moot, as Maria claims her third Grand Slam of her career.
But Ana sure won over many new fans with her fighting spirit to save two championship points before succumbing to the inevitable. Maria's hunger won this for her.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Ergonomic pillow
Yes I've jumped on the bandwagon, an era after Sellavision's Support Pillow that cost $49.90. Saw a $45 one at Ikea Tampines so I thought, "Why not?"
Realised I didn't think through the "Why on earth did I buy it?" part but it was too late. Been enjoying blissful sleep so far. It could be psychological though.
Realised I didn't think through the "Why on earth did I buy it?" part but it was too late. Been enjoying blissful sleep so far. It could be psychological though.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Stuart Goes to School by Sara Pennypacker
Another interesting book that can be used to talk about fears and life in school among other things. It is the sequel to Stuart's Cape, but I haven't read that one. Has the Powerpuff Girls-type graphics that kids are used to and a fantastical storyline. Trying this out on my P2 student. Hope he doesn't say it's boring.
Esio Trot by Roald Dahl
Another lovely book by Roald Dahl. Can't think of many teaching points but useful as an introduction to weight, perhaps. An absolute delight to read. Can't believe Cedric (my P6 tuition kid) said it was boring. After all the effort I put in. Lectured him on his lack of tact. Kids these days.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
2010 Youth Olympics
Firstly, I hope I got the year right.
It's down to Singapore and Moscow for the inaugural Youth Olympics after Turin, Bangkok and some other city were eliminated. While Moscow was ranked better and Singapore lost out on the later Games Village completion date, we live in hope. It'd be a shame, after all, if the money NIE spent on a mural to commemorate all that was wasted. The IOC wouldn't be very nice if they did that, would they?
It's down to Singapore and Moscow for the inaugural Youth Olympics after Turin, Bangkok and some other city were eliminated. While Moscow was ranked better and Singapore lost out on the later Games Village completion date, we live in hope. It'd be a shame, after all, if the money NIE spent on a mural to commemorate all that was wasted. The IOC wouldn't be very nice if they did that, would they?
Principals
Wel, well, well! The New Paper is getting more interesting! A letter in the forum about how principals need to improve on their people skills. I'm glad to have had good principals so far, but have heard enough horror stories from colleagues and friends. Firstly, let me say that they have a really difficult job on their hands, though they are paid to do so. But my point is that just as football players don't necessarily make the best managers, teachers don't necessarily nake the best principals. It's almsot a totally different set of skills. While they may be excellent educators with a genuine heart for children, they may not be the most skilled in dealing with employees and parents. If courses would help them in this blind spot, then why not? But please don't make it another superfluous and run-of-the-mill thing. That's too much of that floating around in TRAISI.
Let's face it: results are more important than staff well-being. The school will always come first. It's just dumping more work on you in a mroe civilised way.
Let's face it: results are more important than staff well-being. The school will always come first. It's just dumping more work on you in a mroe civilised way.
Monday, January 21, 2008
My quirky alarm clock
Seems to be working. Hope it stays that way.
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19 Jan 08, 2243hrs
Reached a compromise. Scotch-taping my battery securely to my alarm clock. Let's see if it works.
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19 Jan 08, 1543hrs
No this is not a Maths problem.
When my alarm rings, it somehow shakes the battery loose and the clock stops running. So sometimes a snooze can be a really long time. I think I need a new clock. =[
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19 Jan 08, 2243hrs
Reached a compromise. Scotch-taping my battery securely to my alarm clock. Let's see if it works.
------------
19 Jan 08, 1543hrs
No this is not a Maths problem.
When my alarm rings, it somehow shakes the battery loose and the clock stops running. So sometimes a snooze can be a really long time. I think I need a new clock. =[
Monopoly
Dang, it clashes with my time table. However I have the option of getting someone to stand in for me before I play the other two games. I think I'll pass. Monopoly relies too much on chance for me to stake $2 and two evenings on. Scrabble maybe. =]
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21 Jan 2008, 1124hrs
Thinking of registering for a Monopoly competition in school. Sounds like fun and I've always wanted to play for some real prizes other than counterfeit paper money and bragging rights. Costs $2 to register and is organised by a new club on the block called Club Jeux. Admire them for the way they've seemed to have created a buzz about their club that ELL Club hasn't. Then again, we have different objectives: theirs revolve around fun and games, ours are more pragmatic, shall we say.
Also came played a different version of the game in KL. Involved updated locations in London to reflect its modern places, raising the stakes to the millions and having a cashless system involving Cash Cards that can be credited and debited. Certainly better than fighting over who doesn't want to be banker.
------------
21 Jan 2008, 1124hrs
Thinking of registering for a Monopoly competition in school. Sounds like fun and I've always wanted to play for some real prizes other than counterfeit paper money and bragging rights. Costs $2 to register and is organised by a new club on the block called Club Jeux. Admire them for the way they've seemed to have created a buzz about their club that ELL Club hasn't. Then again, we have different objectives: theirs revolve around fun and games, ours are more pragmatic, shall we say.
Also came played a different version of the game in KL. Involved updated locations in London to reflect its modern places, raising the stakes to the millions and having a cashless system involving Cash Cards that can be credited and debited. Certainly better than fighting over who doesn't want to be banker.
Women rule!
Alright, just to balance up. =]
-----------
Silent Treatment
A man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each other the silent treatment.
Suddenly, the man realized that the next day, he would need his wife to wake him at 5:00 AM for an early morning business flight.
Not wanting to be the first to break the silence (and lose), he wrote on a piece of paper, 'Please wake me at 5:00 AM.' He left it where he knew she would find it.
The next morning, the man woke up, only to discover it was 9:00 AM and he had missed his flight.
Furious, he was about to go and see why his wife hadn't wakened him, when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed.
The paper said, 'It is 5:00 AM. Wake up.'
-----------
Wife vs Husband
A couple drove down a country road for several miles, not saying a word.
An earlier discussion had led to an argument and neither of them wanted to concede their position.
As they passed a barnyard of mules, goats, and pigs, the husband asked sarcastically, 'Relatives of yours?'
'Yep,' the wife replied, 'in-laws.'
-----------
Women's Revenge
'Cash, check or charge?' I asked, after folding items the woman wished to purchase.
As she fumbled for her wallet I noticed a remote control for a television set in her purse.
'So, do you always carry your TV remote?' I asked.
'No,' she replied, ' but my husband refused to come shopping with me, and I figured this was the most evil thing I could do to him legally.'
-----------
Understanding Women: A Man's Perspective
I'll never understand how you can take boiling hot wax, pour it onto your upper thigh, rip the hair out by the root, and still be afraid of a spider.
-----------
Words
A husband read an article to his wife about how many words women use a day: 30 000 to a man's 15 000.
The wife replied, 'The reason has to be because we have to repeat everything to men.
The husband then turned to his wife and asked, 'What?'
-----------
Creation
A man said to his wife one day, 'I don't know how you can be so stupid and so beautiful all at the same time.'
The wife responded, 'Allow me to explain.
God made me beautiful so you would be attracted to me;
God made me stupid so I would be attracted to you!
------------
Who Does What
A man and his wife were having an argument about who should brew the coffee each morning.
The wife said, 'You should do it, because you get up first, and then we don't have to wait as long to get our coffee.'
The husband said, ' You are in charge of cooking around here and you should do it, because that is your job, and I can just wait for my coffee.'
Wife replies, 'No, you should do it, and besides, it is in the Bible that the man should do the coffee.'
Husband replies, 'I can't believe that, show me.'
So she fetched the Bible, and opened the New Testament and showed him at the top of several pages, that it indeed says "Hebrews".
------------
Final Draft
God may have created man before woman, but there is always a rough draft before the masterpiece.
-----------
Silent Treatment
A man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each other the silent treatment.
Suddenly, the man realized that the next day, he would need his wife to wake him at 5:00 AM for an early morning business flight.
Not wanting to be the first to break the silence (and lose), he wrote on a piece of paper, 'Please wake me at 5:00 AM.' He left it where he knew she would find it.
The next morning, the man woke up, only to discover it was 9:00 AM and he had missed his flight.
Furious, he was about to go and see why his wife hadn't wakened him, when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed.
The paper said, 'It is 5:00 AM. Wake up.'
-----------
Wife vs Husband
A couple drove down a country road for several miles, not saying a word.
An earlier discussion had led to an argument and neither of them wanted to concede their position.
As they passed a barnyard of mules, goats, and pigs, the husband asked sarcastically, 'Relatives of yours?'
'Yep,' the wife replied, 'in-laws.'
-----------
Women's Revenge
'Cash, check or charge?' I asked, after folding items the woman wished to purchase.
As she fumbled for her wallet I noticed a remote control for a television set in her purse.
'So, do you always carry your TV remote?' I asked.
'No,' she replied, ' but my husband refused to come shopping with me, and I figured this was the most evil thing I could do to him legally.'
-----------
Understanding Women: A Man's Perspective
I'll never understand how you can take boiling hot wax, pour it onto your upper thigh, rip the hair out by the root, and still be afraid of a spider.
-----------
Words
A husband read an article to his wife about how many words women use a day: 30 000 to a man's 15 000.
The wife replied, 'The reason has to be because we have to repeat everything to men.
The husband then turned to his wife and asked, 'What?'
-----------
Creation
A man said to his wife one day, 'I don't know how you can be so stupid and so beautiful all at the same time.'
The wife responded, 'Allow me to explain.
God made me beautiful so you would be attracted to me;
God made me stupid so I would be attracted to you!
------------
Who Does What
A man and his wife were having an argument about who should brew the coffee each morning.
The wife said, 'You should do it, because you get up first, and then we don't have to wait as long to get our coffee.'
The husband said, ' You are in charge of cooking around here and you should do it, because that is your job, and I can just wait for my coffee.'
Wife replies, 'No, you should do it, and besides, it is in the Bible that the man should do the coffee.'
Husband replies, 'I can't believe that, show me.'
So she fetched the Bible, and opened the New Testament and showed him at the top of several pages, that it indeed says "Hebrews".
------------
Final Draft
God may have created man before woman, but there is always a rough draft before the masterpiece.
Student-centred learning? Engaged students?
You know, for all the diatribe that NIE spouts about student-centred learning and engaging students, they sure do a poor job of giving us engaging activities in a certain module. Quite auntie lah, let's put it that way.
Absolutely inconsistent with accepting reasons for latecoming. An MRT breakdown is acceptable, but a massive jam caused by an accident on the BKE is not. Go figure, and WAKE UP. Drones on and on regardless of the paralinguistic hints from students of nodding heads and intra-group backchat. As a result the whole atmosphere of the class is down in the dumps and the joy of learning has been dashed on the rocks. We can't wait for class to end and take our 10-minute break that is MANDATORY when we need it, since it is happily ignored. It seems that only children need to be engaged, but not teachers. Way to go.
Absolutely inconsistent with accepting reasons for latecoming. An MRT breakdown is acceptable, but a massive jam caused by an accident on the BKE is not. Go figure, and WAKE UP. Drones on and on regardless of the paralinguistic hints from students of nodding heads and intra-group backchat. As a result the whole atmosphere of the class is down in the dumps and the joy of learning has been dashed on the rocks. We can't wait for class to end and take our 10-minute break that is MANDATORY when we need it, since it is happily ignored. It seems that only children need to be engaged, but not teachers. Way to go.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Ants!
NO not the movie. Facing an ant proliferation in my room and in our house in general. Ants stress me out; not good for my skin. But I've to keep squishing them on my table, on the wall, in the bathroom, in the kitchen: they're everywhere! Spraying insectiside brings only temporary relief. They're surviving mainly because they're so small and reproduce in such great numbers. No matte how many you kill, the queen ant will produce more. Down with the queen! I HATE ANTS! Add to the hate list those irritating rubbish flies, ticks and spiders. Found them at one point or another in my room.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Andy Roddick gets in on the act
Handy Andy tries to get in on Novak's monopoly by taking on John McEnroe and Andre Agassi. He declined to do a Roger though.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Beezus & Ramona by Beverly Cleary
Another excellent book from the reading list, this time with dealing issues with family love and sibling library. Even though this was written 53 years ago when 'gay' had a different widespread meaning and is used frequently to describe chracters' dispositions, this book describes 9-year-old Beatrice's (Ramona pronounces it as Beezus) frustration with the logical yet infuriatingly incorrect behaviour of her 4-year-old sister Ramona. Children will have so much to say and write about dealing with situations like this.
Men's Rules
Now here are the rules from the male side. These are our rules! They're all numbered "1" ON PURPOSE!
1. Men are NOT mind readers.
1. Learn to work the toilet seat. You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down. We need it up, you need it down. You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down.
1. Sunday sports. It's like the full moon or the changing of the tides. Let it be.
1. Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way.
1. Crying is blackmail.
1. Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one. Subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! Just say it!
1. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.
1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do. Sympathy is what your girl friends are for.
1. A headache that lasts for 17 months is a Problem. See a doctor.
1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 days.
1. If you think you're fat, you probably are. Don't ask us.
1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one.
1. You can either ask us to do something or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.
1. Whenever possible, please say whatever you have to say during commercials.
1. Christopher Columbus did NOT need directions and neither do we.
1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not a color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.
1. If it itches, it will be scratched. We do that.
1. If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing", we will act like nothing's wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.
1. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, expect an answer you don't want to hear.
1. When we have to go somewhere, anything you wear is absolutely fine. Really.
1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as CARS, SPORTS and occasionally SPORTS RESULTS.
1. You have enough clothes.
1. You have too many shoes.
1. I am in shape. Round IS a shape!
1. Thank you for reading this. Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight. But did you know men really don't mind that? It's like camping.
1. Men are NOT mind readers.
1. Learn to work the toilet seat. You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down. We need it up, you need it down. You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down.
1. Sunday sports. It's like the full moon or the changing of the tides. Let it be.
1. Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way.
1. Crying is blackmail.
1. Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one. Subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! Just say it!
1. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.
1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do. Sympathy is what your girl friends are for.
1. A headache that lasts for 17 months is a Problem. See a doctor.
1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 days.
1. If you think you're fat, you probably are. Don't ask us.
1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one.
1. You can either ask us to do something or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.
1. Whenever possible, please say whatever you have to say during commercials.
1. Christopher Columbus did NOT need directions and neither do we.
1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not a color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.
1. If it itches, it will be scratched. We do that.
1. If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing", we will act like nothing's wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.
1. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, expect an answer you don't want to hear.
1. When we have to go somewhere, anything you wear is absolutely fine. Really.
1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as CARS, SPORTS and occasionally SPORTS RESULTS.
1. You have enough clothes.
1. You have too many shoes.
1. I am in shape. Round IS a shape!
1. Thank you for reading this. Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight. But did you know men really don't mind that? It's like camping.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Found this book in the NIE library based on the recommendation of Gayle Whitson and Jason Loh, two excellent tutors who have unfortunately moved on from NIE. They did provide a stellar list of 25 children's books they recommended us to buy, and stingy old me didn't bat an eyelid. However as I was tutoring my P6 student in English, I realised the value and importance of inculcating the love of reading. I've just started him in Roald Dahl's Esio Trot. I think Hatchet might be a bridge too far at the moment.
Anyhow, an excellent book Hatchet is, though it was written more than 40 years ago. It provides excellent dilemmas for the main character, Brian Robesen, a city kid stranded by a plane crash in the Canadian wilderness. It charts his survival techniques and personal issues he must overcome if he is to survive the physical and emotional tribulation. It gives an excellent opportunity for kids to respond in writing and speaking on what they would do in his shoes, decision-making, overcoming crises attitudes toward work etc.
I can't wait to use it in a classroom, but must pluck up the confidence to do so. Incidentally, Brian's confidence was one of the issues that he faced early in the book. A really uplifting read.
Novak Djokovic the doppleganger
Novak Djokovic impersonates Andy Roddick, "Pistol" Pete Sampras, Maria Sharapova, Rafael Nadal, Goran Ivanisevic and Lleyton Hewitt, among others, while practising at Queens in 2007.
Now he's fooling around with some Argentinean players before his match with Stepanek at the 2007 US Open. Spot the stars! Roger Federer, Roddick again, Sharapova again, Nadal again... Relak lah, brudder. =]
Create your own font!
Pardon my ignorance if this is already widely known; I've never been a technocrat. You can scan your handwriting and create a font based on your own handwriting!
Apparently you can scan it in and buy the font for USD9. I'm seriously considering it. Too bad my handwriting's mostly illegible. =[
Get it at http://www.fontifier.com/
Pangrams
"The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" is a 35-letter pangram (a phrase that uses all the letters of the alphabet) that has been used to test typewriters and computer keyboards because it is nicely coherent and short.
In Windows XP, an alternative message Jackdaws love my big sphinx of quartz. 123456890 is added.
Adapted from Wikipedia
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There also exist perfect pangrams, where every letter is used only once.
These are some without proper nouns, acronyms, or abbreviations:
Veldt jynx grimps waqf zho buck. (A grasslands wryneck Woodpecker climbs onto a male bovid on Muslim land held in trust. - created by Michael Jones)
Junky qoph-flags vext crwd zimb. (An Abyssinian fly playing a Celtic violin was annoyed by trashy flags on which were the Hebrew letter qoph.)
Cwm fjord bank glyphs vext quiz. (Carved symbols in a mountain hollow and on the bank of a fjord irritated an eccentric person.)
Squdgy fez, blank jimp crwth vox! (A short brimless felt hat barely blocks out the sound of a Celtic violin. - created by Claude Shannon)
Confused? Here are some with proper nouns, acronyms, or abbreviations that'll make it more readable:
PR flacks quiz gym: TV DJ box when?
NBC glad. Why? Fox TV jerks quiz PM.
Blowzy night-frumps vex'd Jack Q.
Glum Schwartzkopf vex'd by NJ IQ.
Err, maybe not. =]
Adapted from Wikipedia
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Zeno's paradox
Among the most famous of Zeno's "paradoxes" involves Achilles and the tortoise, who are going to run a race. Achilles, being confident of victory, gives the tortoise a head start. Zeno supposedly proves that Achilles can never overtake the tortoise.
Achilles gives the tortoise a head start, in a race. Before he can overtake the tortoise, he must run to the place where the tortoise began, and the tortoise has move on to some other point. From there, before he can overtake the tortoise, he must run to the place where the tortoise had move on to. This goes on forever, and Achilles can never pass the tortoise.
Here, I paraphrase Zeno's argument:
Before Achilles can overtake the tortoise, he must first run to point A, where the tortoise started. But then the tortoise has crawled to point B. Now Achilles must run to point B. But the tortoise has gone to point C, etc. Achilles is stuck in a situation in which he gets closer and closer to the tortoise, but never catches him.
A finite length can be divided up into an infinite number of pieces, all of zero length. You can imagine that, can't you. Just divide a length into halves, then fourths, then eighths, etc. But, in the Zeno story above, we find that none of the pieces is of zero length.
Here is an animation which counts to infinity in 8 seconds. Actually, I cheated. There are not an infinite number of frames in this animation. I skipped 1/100 second (approximately). "1" takes 4 seconds, "2" takes 2 seconds, "3" is 1 sec., then .5 sec., .25 sec., etc. If our computers were infinitely faster, we could get in infinitely many frames in that 8 seconds.
Adapted from http://www.jimloy.com/physics/zeno.htm
Therefore, there must be a finite number of pieces. Hence, this finite number of pieces is coverable in a finite amount of time, since the nett speed (subtract the tortoise's speed from Achilles' speed) is obviously greater than zero i.e. Achilles is faster than the tortoise. This proves that Achilles can overtake the tortoise eventually. Effectively, Achilles will overtake the tortoise when t = headstart/nett speed.
The question is when, and whether he'll do so before running out of time or distance to do so. There are therefore three different outcomes to this farcical race. To quote a gameshow, it is Achilles' race to win, lose or draw, interestingly all dependent on the finishing line's position. Even with so many unknowns, it is actually possible to establish mathematical inequalities to demonstrate the three outcomes.
Basically, there is a tie when headstart of tortoise + speed of tortoise x time given = speed of Achilles x time given. Here, time is obviously the time taken for the tortoise to reach the finishing line, since he is in effect winning from the start of the race.
Making the time given the subject of the equation,
The tortoise wins if: t > nett difference of speed divided by headstart
Achilles wins if: t < nett difference of speed divided by headstart
Draw if: t = nett difference of speed divided by headstart
I end this discussion with Jim Loy's little anecdote:
Little-known story: Achilles didn't win the above race. So, he challenged the tortoise to a pole vault competition, double or nothing. The tortoise's pole bent impressively, before it catapulted him out of Greece, never to be seen again. I made that one up.
The New Paper's Santokh Singh on teacher ranking
I like this guy. He always has something fresh and interesting to say about our education system.
This time round, he champions a 360-degree ranking system, which includes one's superiors, peers and subordinates. For teachers, these are their principal, HODs and level heads (though not necessarilt the most level-headed), fellow teachers and students respectively. Oh well, as long as it doesn't degenerate into a farcical popularity contest. Some would say being the best does not make you the most popular, but I say it is possible to do both.
Secondly, he suggests that D-grade teachers be given the option of moderation by MOE. What good this will do I don't know, but at least it allows the avenue of appeal and belays the excessive authority of the principal. S/he has that much of variable wage component to give out to her staff leh.
This time round, he champions a 360-degree ranking system, which includes one's superiors, peers and subordinates. For teachers, these are their principal, HODs and level heads (though not necessarilt the most level-headed), fellow teachers and students respectively. Oh well, as long as it doesn't degenerate into a farcical popularity contest. Some would say being the best does not make you the most popular, but I say it is possible to do both.
Secondly, he suggests that D-grade teachers be given the option of moderation by MOE. What good this will do I don't know, but at least it allows the avenue of appeal and belays the excessive authority of the principal. S/he has that much of variable wage component to give out to her staff leh.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Friday, January 11, 2008
Election (Hei1 she4 hui4)
Flixster Plot: ELECTION is Hong Kong's answer to The Godfather. Amidst the modern world mixed with old tradition, The Wo Shing Triad exists in Hong Kong, its shadowy power intertwined everywhere. Every two years, an election is held to vote in the next Chairman, who is the leader of the largest and oldest Triad in Hong Kong. Big D (Tony Leung Kar Fai), a megalomaniac and violent leader squares off against the respected and level headed Lok (Simon Yam) for the Election. In order to gain the respect of the groups, Lok and Big D unleash their forces in search of the Dragon Baton, the traditonal symbol of power and authority of the Chairman, and war breaks loose until the baton is recovered. Also starring Louis Koo, Nick Cheung and Cheung Siu Fai, ELECTION throws you into the dark underworld of Hong Kong and China in the midst of a battle for power and supremacy.
My take: This is cool. =]
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
The Ultimate Gift
Flixster plot: When his wealthy grandfather dies, trust fund baby Jason Stevens anticipates a big inheritance. Instead, his grandfather has devised a crash course on life with 12 tasks--or "gifts"--designed to challenge Jason in improbable ways, sending him on a journey of self-discovery and forcing him to determine what is most important in life: money or happiness.
My take: Better than expected. Real lessons here.
My grandfather
I finally cried. It happened at the Leaders' Retreat when I was watching The Ultimate Gift that included a part where a grandfather had recorded his message for his grandson. Then I remembered Enkong. Better late than never. Bless his soul.
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I realised I was probably about the only one who didn't shed a tear. Is it that I'm able to keep my emotions in check or that I'm pretty emotionless? Then when some kid's hands got shut on by the piano cover, I callously said that he deserved it for playing where he shouldn't be playing. I think I'll make an excellent father.
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Have reached KL and glad to see that everyone is positve about the whole thing. When someone dies and has gone to meet Jesus, it becomes more of a celebration. =] Funeral's on Thu and scattering of ashes on the sea is on Fri. Should be back by Sat or Sun.
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My grandpa has passed away on X'mas Day. I'm just glad he's no longer suffering and is with Jesus now. Rushing back to KL now.
Merry Christmas, y'all.
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My grandpa's back home at my uncle's place in KL having been discharged. He's feeling a bit better now and I believe the environment will do him good. My mum's managed to take a week off to visit him there. Pray for a complete recovery.
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Finally back in S'pore and it'd been a relaxing yet stressful time there. Stayed in the most luxurious of houses (thank you, Linda and Tan) but yet had my grandfather's health on my mind, despite plenty of window shopping and sightseeing.
Briefly recceed the Avillion resort at Port Dickson. This one is really a class above everything else. I mean, lawn tennis?! Only stickler is the potential high cost. Let's see what the agent can offer us.
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Change of plan: Jasmine, Sharon, my mum, Yewhock & I are only going on Wed morning and staying till goodness knows when. My cousin's dream and my granddad's cryptic indication of 'five days' on 1 Dec makes 6 Dec very important. He could die or get better. Whatever happens, we know he is saved and that's what matters. Looks like I have to give Thu's prayer meeting and Sun service a miss, as we'll probably link up with the recce team in KL, and henceforth to Fraser's Hill and Port Dickson. Who knew I'd be so busy this holiday?
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I should be going with Jasmine next week from Mon-Wed. Pretty apprehensive about going by ourselves.
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Please pray for my grandfather as he's really ill. Went to the doctor for a checkup and found that the haemoglobin (iron) in his blood is half the normal level. Also, my cousin dreamt that he would pass away on 6 Dec. If this is true, then it's a message to my family and I that we can't delay visiting him in Malaysia any longer, leave and schedules notwithstanding. Pray for God's healing and for his faith in God to strengthen.
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I realised I was probably about the only one who didn't shed a tear. Is it that I'm able to keep my emotions in check or that I'm pretty emotionless? Then when some kid's hands got shut on by the piano cover, I callously said that he deserved it for playing where he shouldn't be playing. I think I'll make an excellent father.
-----------
Have reached KL and glad to see that everyone is positve about the whole thing. When someone dies and has gone to meet Jesus, it becomes more of a celebration. =] Funeral's on Thu and scattering of ashes on the sea is on Fri. Should be back by Sat or Sun.
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My grandpa has passed away on X'mas Day. I'm just glad he's no longer suffering and is with Jesus now. Rushing back to KL now.
Merry Christmas, y'all.
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My grandpa's back home at my uncle's place in KL having been discharged. He's feeling a bit better now and I believe the environment will do him good. My mum's managed to take a week off to visit him there. Pray for a complete recovery.
-----------
Finally back in S'pore and it'd been a relaxing yet stressful time there. Stayed in the most luxurious of houses (thank you, Linda and Tan) but yet had my grandfather's health on my mind, despite plenty of window shopping and sightseeing.
Briefly recceed the Avillion resort at Port Dickson. This one is really a class above everything else. I mean, lawn tennis?! Only stickler is the potential high cost. Let's see what the agent can offer us.
-----------
Change of plan: Jasmine, Sharon, my mum, Yewhock & I are only going on Wed morning and staying till goodness knows when. My cousin's dream and my granddad's cryptic indication of 'five days' on 1 Dec makes 6 Dec very important. He could die or get better. Whatever happens, we know he is saved and that's what matters. Looks like I have to give Thu's prayer meeting and Sun service a miss, as we'll probably link up with the recce team in KL, and henceforth to Fraser's Hill and Port Dickson. Who knew I'd be so busy this holiday?
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I should be going with Jasmine next week from Mon-Wed. Pretty apprehensive about going by ourselves.
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Please pray for my grandfather as he's really ill. Went to the doctor for a checkup and found that the haemoglobin (iron) in his blood is half the normal level. Also, my cousin dreamt that he would pass away on 6 Dec. If this is true, then it's a message to my family and I that we can't delay visiting him in Malaysia any longer, leave and schedules notwithstanding. Pray for God's healing and for his faith in God to strengthen.
Friday, January 04, 2008
Beards and sex
"How fast a man's beard grows ... is partly a function of how much he thinks about sex [because thinking about sex produces a testosterone surge]."
- Bill Bryson in A Short History of Nearly Everything
Know any men with rapid beard growth? Anyone who's shaved in the morning but looks like he hasn't? Hmmm.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
GROW 2.0
MOE has made it more attractive to be and stay a teacher. Not much, but progress is progress.
I like the fact that they are recognising more part-time degrees unrelated to education. This includes study grants and full-pay/no-pay leave in the interest of professional development. There are also enhancements to the Connect plan, performance-related bonuses and salary increment scales (with regards to market wage benchmarks).
Read all of it here.
I like the fact that they are recognising more part-time degrees unrelated to education. This includes study grants and full-pay/no-pay leave in the interest of professional development. There are also enhancements to the Connect plan, performance-related bonuses and salary increment scales (with regards to market wage benchmarks).
Read all of it here.
GROWTH
Professional Development Packages
Greater Support for Postgraduate Studies
More In-Service Upgrading Opportunities for Non-Graduate Teachers
RECOGNITION
New Education Scheme of Service (2008)
Revised CONNECT Plan
Additional Outstanding Contribution Awards
OPPORTUNITIES
Enhanced Senior Specialist Track
Further Re-employment Opportunities
Future Leaders Programme
WELL-BEING
Expansion of Part-time Teaching Scheme
Greater Support for Part-time Teaching
Enhancements to No-Pay Leave
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
KL = Kurangkan Laju
Saw my dad si chia like FIVE times, four times in S'pore alone driving Uncle Johnny's car. He wasn't used to the biting point of the clutch. It happens to the best of us. =]
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I have finally discovered why Kuala Lumpur is so infamous for its jams and traffic congestions. KL actually stands for kurangkan laju, which you see on Malaysian roads everywhere. It means slow down and everyone dutifully obliges.
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I have finally discovered why Kuala Lumpur is so infamous for its jams and traffic congestions. KL actually stands for kurangkan laju, which you see on Malaysian roads everywhere. It means slow down and everyone dutifully obliges.
Eczema update
Despite a humid and active day at Ker Toh Loh, managed not to scratch a lot. Am relying on Cetirizine, an oral anti-histamine, in the absence of Prednisalone. Must rest, eat and hydrate well in the meantime.
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There seems to be a trend. The steroids work for the first week, then the effect starts to tail off. Tomorrow's the last day of steroids and hence it's off to Dr Hia again. I can just feel the eczema being suppressed, though it's still there. I can feel it. But I pray it stays away even though I get off steroids. I can't continue like this.
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Steroids have never worked so well. I haven't enjoyed such quality of life for a long while. I pray this will be the first step to getting some semblance of a life back. But going out today with no flannel, cream or even a bag was liberating. One more week of this and I'm off it, so I wanna make the most of it. Then have to monitor my progress.
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I am ultra-susceptible to heatiness and its causes nowadays. A late night, too much or too little sleep, the wrong food, stress, or no reason whatsoever: anything could trigger an outbreak. Outbreaks usually mean inflamed skin and extreme itchiness, followed by extreme exfoliation and widespread exfoliation or peeling. The amount of dead skin I sweep up each day is literally by the handful.
My upper lip area and ears refuse to heal or even dry and remain distinctly uncomfortable, itchy and unpleasant to look at. I probably don't mind the eczema on the limbs, but the face is really a bummer.
I am unable to take part in any activities that cause me to sweat or increase my heart rate, which obviously includes football and any active sport. My eyes water and tire easily because of rhinitis and my nose constantly runs because of sinitis; both conditions are linked to the eczema. Any shock I get, like a loud noise, brings a rush of blood to my head, which makes it itchy all over again.
All these symptoms are being treated by a concoction of Chinese herbs and medicine that constitutes a systematic and long-term approach to healing. It costs about $250 each month, so I'm glad my parents are helping out with $200. I also use wet towels with ice to alleviate the itch, though I can only do so for 20 minutes at a time before I need to moisturise, as the skin gets extremely dry.
I constantly receive well-meaning comments about how bad I look and recommended cures, which I can't ignore because they are borne of good intention.
I hate this eczema from the bottom of my heart and the depth of my soul. I urge you to pray with me whenever you think of me:
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There seems to be a trend. The steroids work for the first week, then the effect starts to tail off. Tomorrow's the last day of steroids and hence it's off to Dr Hia again. I can just feel the eczema being suppressed, though it's still there. I can feel it. But I pray it stays away even though I get off steroids. I can't continue like this.
-----------
Steroids have never worked so well. I haven't enjoyed such quality of life for a long while. I pray this will be the first step to getting some semblance of a life back. But going out today with no flannel, cream or even a bag was liberating. One more week of this and I'm off it, so I wanna make the most of it. Then have to monitor my progress.
-----------
I am ultra-susceptible to heatiness and its causes nowadays. A late night, too much or too little sleep, the wrong food, stress, or no reason whatsoever: anything could trigger an outbreak. Outbreaks usually mean inflamed skin and extreme itchiness, followed by extreme exfoliation and widespread exfoliation or peeling. The amount of dead skin I sweep up each day is literally by the handful.
My upper lip area and ears refuse to heal or even dry and remain distinctly uncomfortable, itchy and unpleasant to look at. I probably don't mind the eczema on the limbs, but the face is really a bummer.
I am unable to take part in any activities that cause me to sweat or increase my heart rate, which obviously includes football and any active sport. My eyes water and tire easily because of rhinitis and my nose constantly runs because of sinitis; both conditions are linked to the eczema. Any shock I get, like a loud noise, brings a rush of blood to my head, which makes it itchy all over again.
All these symptoms are being treated by a concoction of Chinese herbs and medicine that constitutes a systematic and long-term approach to healing. It costs about $250 each month, so I'm glad my parents are helping out with $200. I also use wet towels with ice to alleviate the itch, though I can only do so for 20 minutes at a time before I need to moisturise, as the skin gets extremely dry.
I constantly receive well-meaning comments about how bad I look and recommended cures, which I can't ignore because they are borne of good intention.
I hate this eczema from the bottom of my heart and the depth of my soul. I urge you to pray with me whenever you think of me:
"Lord, I claim Your healing for Aaron in Jesus' name for You are Jehovah Rapha - God our Healer (Exo 15:26). I trust in Your promise of healing which You have given Aaron when you said that he will 'laugh' at his condition in days to come (Job 8:21-22). I rebuke the eczema and declare that it has no place in the Temple of the Holy Spirit (1Co 6:19). I also declare that all food is God-made and is not impure (Act 11:9), and that Aaron will not suffer any side effect even when eating foods he is supposedly allergic to. I pray You will give him peaceful sleep (Psa 127:2), improve his condition and complexion, and remove the itchiness. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen!"
Ker Toh Loh?
Success! Think basically almost everyone enjoyed themselves, got to know one another better and is now more familiar with the Park Mall area.
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Was a little disappointed at the number of people signing up and the lack of things done with so little time left. But it's not my baby so must learn to relax. Must learn to trust the people I empower. Fingers crossed for New Year's Day.
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Not sure how to spell it, but that's the name of our latest outing to celebrate our move to Park Mall. Teams will get to explore the area around Park Mall and familiarise themselves with places to eat, play and fellowship. Should be a blast.
The only shame is not being able to take part as we're organising it. =[
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Was a little disappointed at the number of people signing up and the lack of things done with so little time left. But it's not my baby so must learn to relax. Must learn to trust the people I empower. Fingers crossed for New Year's Day.
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Not sure how to spell it, but that's the name of our latest outing to celebrate our move to Park Mall. Teams will get to explore the area around Park Mall and familiarise themselves with places to eat, play and fellowship. Should be a blast.
The only shame is not being able to take part as we're organising it. =[
Monday, December 31, 2007
Maria Sharapova Live!
What a damp squib this turned out to be. Pity the sods who coughed up $180 for nothing. I don't think it sold very well as many people seemed to possess 'complimentary' tickets. The first set almost turned into a walkover, with the Chakvetadze serve particularly vulnerable. Anna found her rhythm in the second set though, as the crowd got behind her to encourage a three-setter. In the pulsating tie-breaker, the crowd broke into two factions: the pro-Maria one who wanted to go home and the pro-Anna one who wanted to see more tennis. Well, after more than 20 points, Maria finally obliged and held her serve on match point to conclude the 94-minute walk in the park.
As to whether Singapore is ready for a ATP or WTA Tour event, I don't think so. Some hecklers were keen to show off their knowledge of tennis players whose fame is only exceeded by their complete irrelevance. Where do Messrs. Federer and Roddick fit in here anyhow? Any they seem to have a propensity to cheer Anna and Maria using their surnames. I mean, that's like saying "C'mon, Wong!" Yeah, that would really spur me on. And to do it when they preparing to serve? Take those people out and burn them at the stake.
The ballpersons were another sticking point. Their pace was glacial at best and they seemed too enthralled by Maria to realise they were there to pick balls fast. At one point they were feeding balls to Anna when it was Maria's turn to serve. If these jokers are the future of Singapore tennis, then I must say there's tunnel at the end of the light.
Finally, I was appalled at the number of people who left early. I mean, show some respect lah, traffic jam notwithstanding. This is not exactly Malaysia Cup, right? And to hear Anna and Maria glibly saying they loved the Singapore crowd just showed their tolerance of Neanderthal behaviour.
I'm just glad I got my ticket free.
As to whether Singapore is ready for a ATP or WTA Tour event, I don't think so. Some hecklers were keen to show off their knowledge of tennis players whose fame is only exceeded by their complete irrelevance. Where do Messrs. Federer and Roddick fit in here anyhow? Any they seem to have a propensity to cheer Anna and Maria using their surnames. I mean, that's like saying "C'mon, Wong!" Yeah, that would really spur me on. And to do it when they preparing to serve? Take those people out and burn them at the stake.
The ballpersons were another sticking point. Their pace was glacial at best and they seemed too enthralled by Maria to realise they were there to pick balls fast. At one point they were feeding balls to Anna when it was Maria's turn to serve. If these jokers are the future of Singapore tennis, then I must say there's tunnel at the end of the light.
Finally, I was appalled at the number of people who left early. I mean, show some respect lah, traffic jam notwithstanding. This is not exactly Malaysia Cup, right? And to hear Anna and Maria glibly saying they loved the Singapore crowd just showed their tolerance of Neanderthal behaviour.
I'm just glad I got my ticket free.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Monster House
Flixster Plot: Although no adults will believe them, three children realize a neighbor's house is really a monster. They must find a way to stop the house and save the neighborhood.
My take: Quite OK lah. Watched because of my nieces and nephews.
Click
Flixster Plot: A workaholic architect, who has been overlooking his family in favor of his career, comes across a universal remote that allows him to perform TiVo-like functions on his life, such as pausing events or fast-forwarding over them. When the remote begins creating its own memory and choosing what to fast-forward over, the man sees how much of his personal life has passed him by and realizes the importance of spending more time with his family.
My take: Thought it'd be a funny one. Turned out to be a moralistic guilt trip.
Pacifier
Flixster Plot: As an elite member of the world's fiercest and most highly trained fighting force, Navy SEAL Shane Wolfe thought he was prepared to take on any duty, no matter how perilous or impossible… until he tried baby-sitting. Assigned to protect the five out-of-control children of an assassinated scientist, who had been working on vital government secrets, Shane is suddenly faced with juggling two outrageously incompatible jobs -- fighting the bad guys and keeping house. Replacing his usual arsenal of wetsuits and weapons with diapers and juice boxes, Shane not only must battle a deceptive enemy but wrangle teen rebel Zoe, sullen 14-year-old Seth, eight-year-old Ninja-wanna-be Lulu, as well as three-year-old Peter and baby Tyler -- not to mention their off-beat Romanian Nanny. He's truly a SEAL out of water, and now it's up to this one-time lone warrior to take on the most important mission of his life: keeping a family together.
My take: Scarcely believable, but pretty funny.
Monday, December 24, 2007
The Exodus
I sometimes feel like talking to the people who are leaving and hearing from them directly about their reasons for leaving. If anything, this would represent a chance to express my final disappointment in their departure, whether or not my opinion means anything to them. I just need to say it, if that makes any sense. I guess I will wait till after the Leaders' Retreat where I can get a better idea of what is going on. I have learnt to wait for the right time.
My goal is not to persuade them to stay, for that will be doomed to failure. I just look at it as closure for myself.
Just as a reminder to myself, the people I want to talk to are the Powerpuff Girls, Mojo Jojo and their underlings.
My goal is not to persuade them to stay, for that will be doomed to failure. I just look at it as closure for myself.
Just as a reminder to myself, the people I want to talk to are the Powerpuff Girls, Mojo Jojo and their underlings.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Exam Results: Yr 2, Sem 1
DCE200: B
DCM200: A-
DED200: A-
DLK200: A-
DSE200: B+
DSM200: A
Cumulative GPA: 4.45 [down from 4.54]
A little disappointed but otherwise pretty good apart from the Bs.
DCM200: A-
DED200: A-
DLK200: A-
DSE200: B+
DSM200: A
Cumulative GPA: 4.45 [down from 4.54]
A little disappointed but otherwise pretty good apart from the Bs.
Monday, December 17, 2007
GEMS Retreat
What a wonderful time we had at retreat. You could see everyone just forging bonds and bulidling friendships with one another in such an environment. A special word for Yewhock, who conducted the games and activities impressively despite it being his debut. Many thanks to Angela and Jackson, who made special effort to come despite prior commitments.
We kept to the budget of $60/head for the retreat [excluding Pastor's gift] and I'm impressed with the proficiency and fluency each committee member went about his/her job, despite a tight schedule and personal commitments.
Of course there's room for improvement, and we'll look into these areas in time for planning for the next retreat.
Finally, I thank God for His providence during the retreat: good weather, wisdom in sharing sensitive issues, willingness of people to help and perticipate... the list goes on.
We now look forward and shift our attention to our ambitious telematch programme on New Year's Day, which we will organise with the youth. Here's to another sucessful event!
----------
Well here we go. All the planning and it comes down to this. I'm reasonably satisfied with the work we've put in as a committee and have also learnt much about the work attitudes of my committee. This will help when I do an evaluation at the end of the year.
Pray for God's hand to move in the retreat. The rest is up to Him.
We kept to the budget of $60/head for the retreat [excluding Pastor's gift] and I'm impressed with the proficiency and fluency each committee member went about his/her job, despite a tight schedule and personal commitments.
Of course there's room for improvement, and we'll look into these areas in time for planning for the next retreat.
Finally, I thank God for His providence during the retreat: good weather, wisdom in sharing sensitive issues, willingness of people to help and perticipate... the list goes on.
We now look forward and shift our attention to our ambitious telematch programme on New Year's Day, which we will organise with the youth. Here's to another sucessful event!
----------
Well here we go. All the planning and it comes down to this. I'm reasonably satisfied with the work we've put in as a committee and have also learnt much about the work attitudes of my committee. This will help when I do an evaluation at the end of the year.
Pray for God's hand to move in the retreat. The rest is up to Him.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
The Terminal
Flixster Plot: Like an airport running at peak efficiency, The Terminal glides on the consummate skills of its director and star. Having refined their collaborative chemistry on Saving Private Ryan and Catch Me if You Can, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks mesh like the precision gears of a Rolex, turning a delicate, not-very-plausible scenario into a lovely modern-age fable (partly based on fact) that's both technically impressive and subtly moving. It's Spielberg in Capra mode, spinning the featherweight tale of Victor Navorski (Hanks, giving a finely tuned performance), an Eastern European who arrives at New York's Kennedy Airport just as his (fictional) homeland has fallen to a coup, forcing him, with no valid citizenship, to take indefinite residence in the airport's expansive International Arrivals Terminal (an astonishing full-scale set that inspires Spielberg's most elegant visual strategies). Spielberg said he made this film in part to alleviate the anguish of wartime America, and his master's touch works wonders on the occasionally mushy material; even Stanley Tucci's officious terminal director and Catherine Zeta-Jones's mixed-up flight attendant come off (respectively) as forgivable and effortlessly charming. With this much talent involved, The Terminal transcends its minor shortcomings to achieve a rare degree of cinematic grace. --Jeff Shannon
My take: Thoroughly enjoyable. Held me in thrall throughout.
Happy birthday to me!
Many thanks to all the people who have wished me. God bless you for remembering! The only thing I want from God for my birthday is to be healed of my eczema. Pray or me whenever you can. =]
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Rev James Singh's sermon on Simeon
Here's my two cents' worth on Simeon.
I can identify with the broken hands. God has given me a promise with regards to my healing, but it gets harder and harder to hold on to with each passing day that sees no progress. I have to keep asking God for His strength to pull through and keep believing in His healing. God help me to have a breakthrough. Help me hold on.
I can identify with the broken hands. God has given me a promise with regards to my healing, but it gets harder and harder to hold on to with each passing day that sees no progress. I have to keep asking God for His strength to pull through and keep believing in His healing. God help me to have a breakthrough. Help me hold on.
Mona Lisa Smile
Flixster plot: In 1953, a time when women's roles were rigidly defined, free-spirited, novice art history professor Katherine Watson begins teaching at the prestigious all-female Wellesley College--which despite its academic reputation, is an environment where success is measured by 'how well' the students marry. Encouraging these women to strive for a more enlightened future, Watson challenges the administration and inspires her students to look beyond the image of what is, and consider the possibilities of what could be--contrary to popular belief.
My take: Pithy, but a little underdeveloped. Not too much to chew on either. Still, a constructive use of two hours.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
10 Commandments: The Musical
Flixster plot: The story of Moses from the Bible in musical form, filmed live at the Hollywood Kodak Theater.
My take: Val Kilmer can't sing.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Bolton 1-0 United
We deserved at least a share of the spoils, but kudos to Bolton for really getting stuck in, harrying and harassing their more illustrious opponents. Despite dropping three points and getting sent off (which could mean a touchline ban), Fergie will have many lessons to draw from this loss.
1. Gerard Pique is not Premiership material and must be dropped like a hot potato. He makes Michael Carrick look like The Flash and can't win a header to save his life. He was badly at fault for Bolton's goal as he flew through the air to head thin air, the ball dropping kindly for Nicolas Anelka to sweep in. He then repeated his stunt two more times after that, thankfully with no further consequences than to leave Rio Ferdinand hoping that Nemanja Vidic or even Mickael 'Heart Attack Man' Silvestre was there to partner him. He was soon hauled off for Anderson, Fergie deeming him a liability. Move either John O'Shea or Wes Brown to centreback in an emergency, and kick Pique back to Zaragoza.
2. Owen Hargreaves must take the free-kicks from now on. He forced more saves out of the keeper from a dead-ball situation than Cristiano Ronaldo has the entire season. For the record, Jussi Jaaskelainen only had one save to make, though a far-post effort seemed to leave him stranded as it shaved the bar.
3. Anderson must play more games. United only came afire when the enigmatic Brazilian came on. For all of Carrick's vaunted range of passing, it took the ex-Porto man to really stretch Bolton with long passes to the right wing.
4. Carlos Tevez is no Ruud van Nistelrooy and Fergie needs to buy a targetman in January. He missed another one-yard sitter to condemn United to their second defeat of the season.
5. Put the new players through boot camp. Where United's old guard would get fired up from the challenges that were flying in from the likes of Kevin Davies, we saw Patrice Evra, all wrapped up against the cold, complaining bitterly about a strong but fair challenge from the Bolton hardman. Coupled with Anderson and Nani's incessant turf-rolling, this is looking embarrassing.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Happy 3rd Anniversary!
Wow, it's been three years! And every one of those 1,095 days, I thank God for your patience, tolerance and care. I'm looking forward to the rest of my life with you. =]
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Sad, sad England
And so England are out of Euro 2008 before it's even started. What strikes me is how apathetic I am towards their fate, despite being an England fan. Mostly it's due to the fact that don't deserve to be there based on their capitulations in the matches that mattered.
And so I now begin the unenviable task of finding an alternative team next year.
On another note, why not Raddy Avramovic for England manager?
Monday, November 19, 2007
Testimonial match for Amara
Yes, we may have played our last match at Amara. The score was immaterial (7-3 for the record), and there was an excellent spirit all around. A little muddy perhaps, but it was tolerable.
I was not supposed to play at all, as my skin is still dodgy, but I played in goal for a while as the teams were numerically imbalanced. Imagine playing in leather shoes, trousers and white shirt, at the mercy of the other team's misfiring strikers. I got through unscathed after 20 minutes.
I'm glad Ben arranged this match. It was important to end the football this year on a good note. A note too for Matthew, who put aside his feelings to join us. He kept dedicating his goals to Samuel by pointing to the sky, till I reminded him that Samuel was still alive, though not kicking.
When we move to Park Mall, it remains to be seen where we can play. Perhaps Fort Canning? I anticipate picking up loose balls won't be fun.
I was not supposed to play at all, as my skin is still dodgy, but I played in goal for a while as the teams were numerically imbalanced. Imagine playing in leather shoes, trousers and white shirt, at the mercy of the other team's misfiring strikers. I got through unscathed after 20 minutes.
I'm glad Ben arranged this match. It was important to end the football this year on a good note. A note too for Matthew, who put aside his feelings to join us. He kept dedicating his goals to Samuel by pointing to the sky, till I reminded him that Samuel was still alive, though not kicking.
When we move to Park Mall, it remains to be seen where we can play. Perhaps Fort Canning? I anticipate picking up loose balls won't be fun.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Lady in the Water
Flixster plot: A modest building manager named Cleveland Heep rescues a mysterious young woman from danger and discovers she is actually a narf, a character from a bedtime story who is trying to make the treacherous journey from our world back to hers. Cleveland and his fellow tenants start to realize that they are also characters in this bedtime story. As Cleveland falls deeper and deeper in love with the woman, he works together with the tenants to protect his new fragile friend from the deadly creatures that reside in this fable and are determined to prevent her from returning home.
My take: Overly convoluted and incredible.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Ze Neu English
The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.
As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5-year phase-in plan that would become known as 'Euro-English'.
In the first year, 's' will replace the soft 'c'. Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard 'c' will be dropped in favour of 'k'. This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter. There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome 'ph' will be replaced with 'f'. This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.
In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.
Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.
Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent 'e' in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.
By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing 'th' with 'z' and 'w' with 'v'.
During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary 'o' kan be dropd from vords kontaining 'ou' and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl.
Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.
Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas!
As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5-year phase-in plan that would become known as 'Euro-English'.
In the first year, 's' will replace the soft 'c'. Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard 'c' will be dropped in favour of 'k'. This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter. There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome 'ph' will be replaced with 'f'. This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.
In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.
Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.
Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent 'e' in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.
By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing 'th' with 'z' and 'w' with 'v'.
During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary 'o' kan be dropd from vords kontaining 'ou' and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl.
Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.
Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas!
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Splitting the cab fare
Came across some interesting mathematical articles on the fairest way of sharing a cab.
Take a look at these links:
http://www.tagxe.com/How.jsp
http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=739831
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB113279169439805647-jP1H4pfk3i2ACypy26ghtvTlJ30_20061207.html
Take a look at these links:
http://www.tagxe.com/How.jsp
http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=739831
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB113279169439805647-jP1H4pfk3i2ACypy26ghtvTlJ30_20061207.html
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