Seeking God

Met up with Zikai and had another long but productive discussion on myriad issues. Here are a few things that struck me:

Firstly, my healing has a higher chance of coming if I'm constantly seeking and pursuing God and being in His will. A no-brainer, but surely one of the most difficult things to discipline myself to do. It is all the more important if I'm to be responsible to those under me and if I expect them to seek God likewise.

Secondly, doing things for God is not the same as allowing God to do things through you. I find myself very busy nowadays and anticipate that I'll only get busier. I need to ensure that my busyness, however important for the church, does not get in the way of the things that God has in store for me.

Next, a little cud to chew on.
1. If we are baptised in the Holy Spirit, where are the signs and wonders God promised?
2. Why are we not experiencing God's powerful presence daily, when He is unchanging?
3. Why are there so many people leaving the presence of God untouched and unchanged?
4. Where sinners used to chase after Jesus, why are sinners finding church Pharisical and shying away from it?

Finally, two books I'd like to find the time to read:
Kim Clemens' Call Me Crazy but I'm Hearing God
Tommy Tenney's God Chasers

Jesus heals

Experienced God's miraculous healing power personally on Sunday in a powerful way.

I was practising for service on the bass when I realised that I was beginning to get a terrible headache. Strangely enough, it seemed to affect only the right side of my head and I could feel my skull bones aching. There seemed to be a pressure not dissimilar to that of sinusitis. It was more acute when I ran my tongue along my teeth. The moment my tongue crossed the front incisors from the left to the right, I could no longer sense my tongue touching my teeth.

Eventually I had to go lie down. The team came to pray for me and after that I went to lie down again. As I was lying there, my parents told me that it wasn't really nice to be lying there but I couldn't appreciate that thought at the moment. Then Zikai came and said it was OK if I couldn't play, and that I had to decide in three minutes. I mumbled something in reply and just lay there.

Not a minute later, I just felt the ache and numbness just melt away from the right side of my face. It felt as if someone had just pulled it off. I got up right away and felt as right as rain.

I went on to play for the service and gave a testimony later. I'd never experience God's healing so vividly and immediately before. I believe that if God can heal me of this, then eczema is within his job scope as well. But only if I seek him, which brings me to my second post.

20,000 hits!

Not too long ago we celebrated 10,000 hits - now we've doubled it! Thanks and keep reading!

Foong Kee wanton mee

The search for the excellent yet elusive wantan mee continues. Apparently, many people rate this one called Foong Kee at 6 Keong Saik Rd, just off Outram Park. Jasmine and I wanna try it next Friday! Fei Fei wat your heart out!
Photos: http://ieatishootipost.blogspot.com/

The South African petri dish: The sexist culture thrives

Sexism is well and truly alive in the world. If you want to find the hotbed of it, look no further than the sunny climes of South Africa, previously home to apartheid and now the breeding ground of worryingly sexist behaviour.

Apparently, South African women have had enough, with hundreds of them marching through Johannesburg with signs declaring "We Love Our Miniskirts!". The spark that lit the tinder was an incident at a taxi stand where a young woman was unceremonially disrobed by taxi drivers and hawkers, apparently for showing too much skin. They went on to touch her private parts, taunting her while pouring alcohol on her head. The alcohol, of course, is another problem for another article that probably fuelled this disparate reaction.

What's even more shocking than this is the prevailing apathy and narrow-minded view that the high incidence of rape in South Africa (50,000 reported annually, with some activists claiming as many as 1,000,000) is the fault of women who express themselves over-zealously through fashion. That is to say, mini-skirts.

One such idiot is taxi driver Thulani Nhlapho, 21. "If you are wearing a mini-skirt, you give the impression you want to be raped. You respect yourself when you wear a longer skirt. We respect women who respect themselves."

Going by his flawed reasoning, men in running shorts and little else better watch out or they are really asking for it.

Another such Neanderthal is car guard Edwin Ndlovu, 29. "We laugh because they are naked. As a person, you have to control your feelings. It is difficult when women are naked. That's how some men end up raping women."

I really hope he isn't speaking from experience, because it really is a poor excuse. Maybe jewellers should stop displaying their wares because robbers can't control their feelings? Made-up excuses aside, he really needs to check the dictionary to distinguish between underdressed and naked.

I am shocked that such blatant sexism still exists in the 21st century, but there you go. If there's one country that needs sex education, South Africa should be right at the head of the queue.
Source: The New Paper, 6 Mar 2008, p. 22

Folding the best paper airplane

Doing an activity on origami so I thought the children should learn how to make the best paper airplane ever. The first one here was featured in the Times:


This next one was looks so weird, I don't know where to begin. You can find it here:


This one is called the Dragon. Who knows why.

Torres double hat-trick

Just look at El Nino's snap half-volley of Dirk Kuyt's deflected cross: they don't teach this at finishing school - you can't. You either have it or you don't. Ruud van Nistelrooy had it, as did Romario, Ian Rush, Ian Wright and few others. And now, Fernando Torres picks up the mantle with two consecutive Premier League hat-tricks, making him only the fourth player to do so.

National Environment Agency: Let's clean up!

This must be the lamest TV ad out there now, and I see it all the time on TV Mobile. Four young hosts whom I really don't care about strut about in front of a green screen. The graphics are good but the acting is really worse than, say, Triple Nine, though that'd be insulting to James Lye & Co.

One of the guys has a ridiculous side-parting not seen since the days of the Donald Trump combover. He has the gall to say, "If I can do it, so can you!", it being keeping the environment clean. He even had the thumb pointing to himself and the snap of the wrist to point a finger to the viewer. Like, seriously, do I care who you are? This is a celebrity endorsement without the celebrity. NEA really does need to make better use of taxpayers' money by getting bigger bang for their advertising buck.

Inconsistency giving the FA a bad name by Jon Carter, ESPNSoccernet

If the past few weeks are anything to go by, the definition of 'violent conduct' in the English dictionary needs updating.

With a host of unpunished tackles flying in that would be deemed dangerous on a rugby pitch and red-cards being given out for the slightest indiscretion, the Football Association's four-man Regulatory Commission seem intent on creating more problems than they solve.


Frank Lampard gets his marching orders, but he won't face a ban...

... while Jeremie Aliadiere gets a red card against Liverpool for raising his hands.

Accused of running one rule for 'rich' and another for the 'poor', the panel have hardly helped their case with the decision to rescind Frank Lampard's straight red card for a push on West Ham's Luis Boa Morte, yet choosing to give Middlesbrough's Jeremie Aliadiere an extra game's ban for a light slap on Javier Mascherano a week earlier.

While the Chelsea midfielder did not strike his opponent in the face (as previously thought by the referee's assistant), his attempts to kick out at Boa Morte, who should have been similarly dealt with for his part in the proceedings, smacked of something we have seen all season - petulance - and the FA need to address the consistency in which they deal with such actions.

Lampard's behaviour, while not in the spirit of the game, was certainly not 'violent', or worthy of a three-match suspension; but then neither was Aliadiere's and both were clearly seen by the referee, who could only go by the letter of the law.

Middlesbrough accused the FA of a 'travesty of justice' after they were told that their appeal had been 'frivolous' and were forced to accept a additional one game ban for their player for supposedly wasting the FA's time. With this affront still fresh in their minds, it is understandable to see why they are angry when the situation seems so different for teams like Chelsea and Liverpool.

The fact that Mascherano was let off without even a yellow card while Aliadiere is forced to sit on the sidelines for four games may have incensed the Boro board; but news of Lampard's reprieve will only increase their sense of injustice.

The FA's decision to treat a similar incident differently is not just worrying for the state of the game, but an insult to the entire procedure and this kind of inconsistency has happened across the leagues all season.

On the same day as Newcastle's Joey Barton was let off for cuffing Villa striker Shaun Maloney round the head due to 'inconclusive' video evidence, Hartlepool defender Sam Collins' dismissal at Southend United in February was rejected as 'frivolous' and the player incurred an extra game suspension, despite being harshly adjudged to have used an elbow.

To punish a club for trying to aid their player appears odd and now the appeals process for any red-card has to be given serious consideration by clubs who run the risk of angering the FA and increasing the length of the ban.

To add to the level of inconsistency perpetuated by the FA's panel there have been terrible tackles, missed by the officials, which have gone unpunished all season and should have merited retrospective action.

While Lampard's 'violent conduct' against West Ham at the weekend got all the attention, Claude Makelele somehow managed to get away with a over-the-ball stamp on Julian Faubert, who was lucky to avoid serious injury. Makelele was not even booked and there have been numerous incidents which have not been deemed worthy of investigating.

Under FIFA guidelines, retrospective disciplinary action can only been taken if an incident was not seen by the referee or if there has been a clear error in judgement. Quite what constitutes a 'clear error' remains up for debate, but surely if the referee had seen it properly then he would have acted.

Understandably the FA do not want to be seen to contradict the men in charge, but these kinds of incidents will keep occurring if nothing is done. Referees are human after all and the whole point of the video panel is to provide back-up for an official when he makes a mistake.

The trouble is that the FA are so blinded by maintaining their good name that they are willing to gloss over incidents that make them (or their officials) look bad.

With a host of incidents occurring already this season which the FA have failed to take any action over, including tackles by Michael Essien, Craig Gardner, Dirk Kuyt, El Hadji Diouf and Emmanuel Eboue; the most recent example comes in the form of Reading's Stephen Hunt (himself no stranger to controversy).

A meeting of Lee Carsley's studs with Hunt's shin at the start of February provoked an angry reaction from the Reading man, and yet the powers that be deemed the tackle unworthy of a second look, despite that fact that it was totally missed by referee Mark Halsey.

Quite simply, the FA panel should be capable of resolving these incidents retrospectively with the application of common sense. In addition, they should also be able to reduce a three-match ban to just one-match for players who are found guilty of petulance or improper conduct, as in the case of Lampard and Aliadiere.

A rule, retrospective or otherwise, that would deal with the occurrence of a red-card which does not constitute 'violent conduct' is sorely needed. Other examples have sprung up recently, with Willam Gallas' petulant kick on Nani in Arsenal's FA Cup defeat to Manchester United a classic case, yet situations like this are continually ignored by the FA because they don't want to undermine their officials.

Ultimately, if the FA's review panel are ever going to gain credibility in a footballing world which is getting increasingly harder to police, the decisions they make have to be consistent. Too often there are precedents which are not followed and the smaller teams are left feeling that they are treated differently to the cash cows.

The theory is that with the application of some common sense then it shouldn't represent too much of an undertaking to improve their decisions. However if the FA continue to put their own image before the good of the game, then don't hold your breath.
Source: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=513410&root=england&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos2&cc=4716

Means testing

This letter was published in The New Paper on 5 Mar 2008, p24.
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I was not sure previously what means testing meant, but I must comment that Mr Khaw Boon Wan's method of assessing the amount of subsidy a patient receives for Class B2 & C wards is a breath of fresh air. He has done away with the rigid system used so widely in our Government and introduced what can only be described as a fairer and more flexible system. Instead of one inflexible income ceiling, there are now as many as 16 different stages spanning $2000 in average monthly income, each with a difference in subsidy of only 1%. If everyone was to follow suit, we may never see the words 'falling in the gap' any more in The New Paper's human-interest sob stories.

For example, for the C Class wards, a family earning $3200 and below gets an 80% subsidy. Previously, it would not be uncommon for someone to earn, say, $3300/month and fall in the gap completely, getting no subsidy at all. This practice forced people to desperate measures like asking their employers to pay them less just to meet the income requirements. As we speak, come couples applying to buy new flats are caught in this conundrum, earning just above $8000 and qualifying only for resale flats. With this new means testing system, it is hoped that such borderline cases will be dealt with greater mathematical sympathy and flexibility. The more exhaustive the range, the fewer unfortunate borderline cases there will be.

Now if only the other ministries could follow MOH's lead and correct their inflexible systems to better cater to the needs of Singaporeans. Knowing our Government, they'll probably adopt a prudent wait-and-see attitude. May I stick my neck out and say they should start developing them immediately: Mr Khaw's means testing looks every bit a winner.
Reference: The New Paper, 4 Mar 2008, p10-11

Love is..

"Love is feeling like you have known her for a lifetime, yet wanting to spend a lifetime with her." - Aaron Wong

Can your hair ever be too smooth?

DHL ad

Why wedding dresses are white

Son asked his mother the following question:
"Mom, why are wedding dresses white?" The mother looks at her son and replies, "Son, this shows your friends and relatives that your bride is pure."
The son thanks his Mom and goes off to double-check this with his father.
"Dad, why are wedding dresses white?"
The father looks at his son in surprise and says, "Son, all household appliances come in white."
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Before I get hammered for this, I did some research, and this is what I found:

White did not become a popular option until 1840, after the marriage of Queen Victoria to Albert of Saxe-Coburg. Victoria had worn a white gown for the event so as to incorporate some lace she owned. The official wedding portrait photograph was widely published, and many other brides opted for a similar dress in honor of the Queen's choice. The tradition continues today in the form of a white wedding, though prior to the Victorian era a bride was married in any color except black (the color of mourning) or red (which was connected with prostitutes). Later, many people assumed that the color white was intended to symbolize virginity, though this had not been the original intention. (It was the color blue that was connected to purity.) Today, the white dress is understood merely as the most traditional and popular choice for weddings, not necessarily a statement of virginity.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedding_dress

So there you go. Both the father and mother were not quite correct, but not quite wrong either. =]

Men, men, men

According to The New Paper, 51% of Singaporean men would carry their girl's handbag. Sissies.

80% of men would pay for the date. Well, if women want equality they'll need to pay for it.

91% of men would send the girl home. I assume they have a car?

Total Defence Day

Two readers have replied to the sweet potato article, saying exactly what I wanted to say if I had mustered the courage to go against MOE policy and write to The New Paper. Kudos to Kiara Chua and Matthew Lee, who basically said that it was unfair to stereotype students as spoilt due to the different lifestyles they have, and that the academic staff should have been put through similar treatment to prevent hypocrisy. I rest my case.
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28 Feb 2008, 1834hrs
Read in our favourite TNP today about Total Defence Day. You know, for a front page headline and page two story, I thought they'd entrust it to someone better than two newsroom interns. I do know how difficult it is to write a piece in a few hours, so my sympathies there.

But what followed was a very biased piece whining about how soft and spoilt our children are nowadays. The blame was laid very squarely at the children's feet, but I feel this is very unfair. While I agree that some of them do have life good and could be taught better manners and behaviour, is it really the children's fault that they don't know how to eat sweet potato? Or that they complain when there is the fan in the classroom is turned off? Children nowadays have a very "different lifestyle", as a vice-principal astutely put it. The children can only experience what they are put through. If the parents do not put them through relative hardship, are the children to go looking for it? Don't blame them for being spoilt when there are people more than willing to spoil them with air-conditioned comfort and domestic help.

And please don't blame them for complaining at being hot after PE or recess in a stuffy classroom. Classrooms are relative heat sinks; having been in front of one many times, I know how it feels even with the fan on. On a hot afternoon, it can really stifle the life out of you. I actually pity the children, especially those with skin-related problems. I can imagine how they would have itched and scratched. It is really unfair to put them through such discomfort and imagine that they will accept it gratefully as a lesson. I'm sure our pioneers did grumble here and there about the discomfort as well.

Personally, I can identify with the students who complained about the staff room having air-conditioning. Is Total Defence something only our young should learn about? What does it say to them when the teachers justify the importance of Total Defence in the sweltering classroom and then retreat to the cool climes of the classroom to curse Total Defence Day? It's like justifying talking during the national anthem and then pulling out children for talking.

How can children be content with what they have when they haven't had the opportunity to compare it to anything else?

Now, regarding the sweet potato. Personally, I don't mind the stuff. But you are comparing an adult to primary school children. Surely they are allowed to protest if they are given something they've never tasted before to eat? I imagine that adults would complain at being given fried grasshoppers, so why do we expect a different reaction?

It's simple really. The New Paper has always been willing to treat our education system and children as a ever-present story generator. They rise up in mock outrage when mundane things happen and stir up a hornet's nest at the slightest inkling of a story. It is unfair, unhelpful and honestly irritating.

Bad English

If our newspapers are the paragons of good English, then I'm afraid we are doomed. Just within two sports pages in The New Paper, I found these gems:

"We received an overwhelming number of mails for the question: Who would you want as striker in your team - Wayne Rooney or Fernando Torres."

OK, since when is mail countable? And when does a question not have a question mark?

"This match will be free entry to public, compliments of SAFFC."

So much for the S-League.

"Matches as follow:"

Is the letter 's' at a premium here?

Disgusting.

Haze

The haze is back, but not as bad. Those Indonesian idiots are at it again. And how is the Asean Charter supposed to help with their perpetual pollution?

Oops!

Another exciting episode in Jasmine's catalogue of mishaps.

Q: Jasmine was opening a box of chocolate biscuits which was wrapped in foil. Think Arnott's Tim-Tam. Upon pulling the tray out of the foil, a stack of the biscuits promptly dropped to the floor. Why?

A: Simple gravity, my dear readers. She had failed to see big blue words emblazoned across the packaging that said 'THIS SIDE UP' and had opened it upside-down. Sigh.

Writing activity

Observed a writing activity conducted my Ms Lim Swee Ching. Ms Lim is my main CT and she's really, really nice. Prepared a file for me and all. If only all CTs were like Kok Siang and her, and the world will be a better place.

She did what I did not think was possible - take P3 kids through a four-period lesson:
First, she revised some good practices in writing, alluding to the introduction, ending, adjectives, adverbs and direct speech.
Then, she gave detailed instructions for group work, before releasing the children to generate vocabulary for the group composition.
At every point, she tried to stretch this above-average class by rejecting some of their simple words and asking them to try harder. This was stretching the children in practice. They were also advised to refer to their writing guides for ideas.
For weaker groups, she provided them a list of words that described emotions. This was differentiated instruction in action.
She then consolidated the groups' work and showed good examples to the class, including some of her own words.
The children were now tasked to write a composition in their group. Cue pandemonium, pen grabbing, arguing over who goes first etc. right? Wrong. By and large, this class was able to distribute work thanks to their well-defined roles of leader, quiet captain, resource manager and timekeeper. Only minor intervention was required.
Work all done, these pupils were supposed to write individually the next lesson, where it'll be graded and recorded. Let's see how it goes.

William Gallas: Captain Underpants

Many have come out and said that William Gallas should be stripped of his captaincy. Here I present Exhibits A and B.
First, he kicked out at Nani when Arsenal were 4-0 down. Then, in another match against Birmingham, he kicked advertising hoardings and sat down by the touchline crying like a baby when Clichy conceded an injury-time penalty. Tony Adams and Patrick Vieira must be hiding their faces.

Nani seal juggling

This is class. Really rubbed salt into the Gunners' wounds. Got the Gunners' knickers all in a twist.

Excursion to Singapore River

Went with 3 Meticulous to the Singapore River under the blazing hot sun. They were quite a handful though I could empathise given the weather and the inability to hear the guide at any given time. The girls are fine really - already have some favourites - but the boys seem to have ants in their pants. I don't know how some of these more experienced teachers build up a tolerance to rowdiness. I hope I'll find out one day.

Church Retreat meeting

Had our first real meeting with the Church Retreat workforce. Working with Pastor Nettie is a breeze - our responsibilities, the agenda etc. were already prepared - such is the effectiveness! Seems that I have the most to do: I hope I can balance this with board responsibilities, practicum and wedding preparations.

Kickboxer breaks leg

If you thought Eduardo's was bad, take a look at this.

Real Madrid 0-1 Getafe

Wah, stupidity. Arjen Robben thought he'd scored then half the team went to celebrate. But someone was offside so Getafe counter-attacked 4-on-2 and scored, for real this time. Stoopid. Rafizah, eat your heart out!

Jasmine Tang vs Eric Tsang

Jasmine has lost her voice and doesn't know where she put it. Now she sounds like Eric Tsang, the guy in the middle who hosts Super Trio. I can't talk to her without laughing. =]

Eduardo's broken ankle

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.

How to fold a t-shirt in two seconds

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.”

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.

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.

Boogie Nights

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:

"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.

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!

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!

A Whole New World recording

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..."

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.
-----------
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.
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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. =[

Richard Clayderman's Ballade pour Adeline

Old skool man.

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

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"

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.

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.

Brain teaser

What do these words have in common?
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

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)

United 2-0 Portsmouth

How the hell do you stop this?!

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. =]

United 3-1 Spurs

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.

Skoda Fabia ad

Peugeot 206 ad

Sony Bravia ad

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.

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.

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.
----------
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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

My quirky alarm clock

Seems to be working. Hope it stays that way.
------------
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. =]
------------
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. =]
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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.'
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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!
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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.

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.

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.

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.

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
----------
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

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.

Alexandre "The Duck" Pato

Is Milan's Brazil wunderkind worth the hype? You decide.