Fan Chan (My Girl)

Plot: Jeab hears that his childhood sweetheart Noi-Naa is to be married, so he makes the trip back home to his provincial village. As he does so, the memories come flooding back to his childhood in 1980s Thailand. He remembers always being late to school, so his father would have to give him a ride on the back of the motorcycle. After school, he would always play with Noi-Naa and her girlfriends while the neighborhood boys rode their bicycles and played football and Chinese fantasy characters.

My take: This is so sweeeeeeeeeeeeet. =]

Joke (unoriginal)

What do Tottenham Hotspur and a toothpick have in common?

They both have two points.

Joke (original)

What's the difference between a bad boxer and a zhichar stall helper?

One lacks the punch while the other packs the lunch.

Pseudo-German - Blinkenlichten

ACHTUNG!

ALLES TURISTEN UND NONTEKNISCHEN LOOKENPEEPERS!

DAS KOMPUTERMASCHINE IST NICHT FÜR DER GEFINGERPOKEN UND MITTENGRABEN! ODERWISE IST EASY TO SCHNAPPEN DER SPRINGENWERK, BLOWENFUSEN UND POPPENCORKEN MIT SPITZENSPARKSEN.

IST NICHT FÜR GEWERKEN BEI DUMMKOPFEN. DER RUBBERNECKEN SIGHTSEEREN KEEPEN DAS COTTONPICKEN HÄNDER IN DAS POCKETS MUSS.

ZO RELAXEN UND WATSCHEN DER BLINKENLICHTEN.
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Translated:
ATTENTION!

ALL TOURISTS AND NON-TECHNICAL ONLOOKERS!

THIS COMPUTER IS NOT FOR FINGER-POKING OR GRABBING ONTO! OTHERWISE IT IS EASY TO SNAP THE SPRING-WORK, BLOW FUSES, AND POP CORKS WITH SPITTING SPARKS.

IT IS NOT TO BE WORKED [operated] BY DUMB-HEADS [idiots]. RUBBER-NECKING SIGHTSEERS MUST KEEP THEIR COTTON-PICKING HANDS IN THEIR POCKETS.

SO RELAX AND WATCH THE BLINKING LIGHTS.

CBS - Sarah Palin vs Katie Couric

Saturday Night Live - Sarah Palin vs Katie Couric

This Saturday Night Live version of the Palin interview is funny. The real thing was frightening...

John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt

John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt is a traditional children's song of obscure origin. Its lyrics are:

John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt,
His name is my name too.
Whenever we go out
The people always shout,
"There goes John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt."
da, da, da, da, da, da, da
John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt,
His name is my name too... (repeat ad infinitum)
The song is commonly sung by young children at communal outings such as long bus rides and Boy Scout or Girl Scout outings. It's also a classic informal parade song in Pennsylvania.[citation needed]

The mock German name celebrated in the song suggests that some English speakers still find longer northern-European names to be inherently funny words; compare the Blinkenlights faxlore in which English words are deformed to form a pseudo-German warning text. The surname Schmidt and the surname suffix -heimer are of Germanic origin. Schmidt is one of the most common last names in German heritage.

Part of the appeal of the song seems to be its infinite loop, presenting the opportunity to turn a potentially intolerably long wait into an informal psychological experiment with the idea of infinitude and the infinite-loop motif. Compare "The Song That Never Ends", "My Name is Jan Jansen" and "High Hopes".

Each repetition is sung more quietly than the previous, except for the final line which is sung at full volume. The "last" repetition is sung in pantomime; typically the final line is then shouted as loud as possible.

World's worst roundabouts

Magic Roundabout in Swindon, England


Turbo Roundabout in Holland

Lara Croft - Tomb Raider

Plot: Based on a popular video game, director Simon West's adventure places English aristocrat Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie) in the middle of a battle with a secret society. Skilled in hand-to-hand combat, the shapely archaeologist moonlights as a tomb raider to recover lost antiquities. She meets her match in the evil Powell (Iain Glen), who's in search of a relic that holds power over time … and life. Jon Voight appears as Lara's dearly departed dad.

My take: OK lah.

Spy Kids

Plot: Carmen and Juni Cortez will soon find out that their favorite bedtime story, "The Spies Who Fell in Love," is really the story of their parents. So begins this affable fantasy, a James Bond adventure for wee ones with all the trimmings. When Dad and Mom (Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino) mess up their first mission after coming out of retirement, their kids must come to the rescue, equipped with some cool gadgets. The Cortez family gets involved in a bizarre plot hatched by a Pee-wee Herman-type entertainer named Fegan Floop (a wonderfully hammy Alan Cumming) that's as giddy as it is ridiculous. Needless to say there is plenty of derring-do concerning long-lost uncles, goofy monsters, double agents, evil robots, look-alikes, and energized chases. Did we mention the gadgets? Although Banderas and Gugino make terrific impressions, the movie is carried (as it should be) by the younger Cortezes, winningly played by Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara. Who would have thought an action/horror studio (Dimension) and writer-director Robert Rodriguez had this pleasing family film up their sleeves? Rodriquez (who produced with his wife Elizabeth Avellán) seemed to be mired in cheesy horror films but here breaks out by capitalizing on the talent that gave him instant status with his debut, El Mariachi (1992). Spy Kids has plenty of verve but never swerves into potty humor (OK, there is one good potty joke) or wicked gunplay. All 7-year-olds should have a film as fun as this in their movie-going lives. --Doug Thomas

My take: Rather fascinating, in that theme ride way.

Gone in 60 Seconds

Plot: Kip Raines (Giovanni Ribisi) is a cocky young car thief working with a crew to steal 50 cars for a very bad man whose nickname is "The Carpenter." Being young and cocky, Kip messes up, so it's up to his big brother, Randall "Memphis" Raines (Nicolas Cage), to come out of car thief retirement and save him. With a cast that includes Robert Duvall, Angelina Jolie, Delroy Lindo, Cage, and Ribisi, it would be easy to say this story wastes all their talents--which it does, but that's not the point. This is a Jerry Bruckheimer film. A good story and complex characters would only get in the way of the action scenes and slow the movie down. No, Gone in 60 Seconds (based on the cult 1974 film of the same name) is not about the stars as much as it's about cars. Fast cars. Rare cars. Wrecked cars. All cars. Too bad director Dominic Sena (Kalifornia) doesn't come across as more of a gearhead; he seems less interested in fast cars than fast cuts. But is this movie fun? Absolutely, and it's fun because it's so stupid. With pointless car chases and hackneyed dialogue in one of the most predictable plots of the year, Gone in 60 Seconds is a comic film that's not quite a parody of itself, but darn close. --Andy Spletzer

My take: Yet another Nicolas Cage action flick. Can't you guys see he's just not on?

The Color of Money

Plot: Pool hustler Fast Eddie Felson finds the young, promising pool player Vincent in a local bar and he sees in him a younger version of himself. To try and make it as in the old days, Eddie offers to teach Vincent how to be a hustler. After some hesitations Vincent accepts and Eddie takes him and Vincent's girlfriend Carmen on a tour through the country to work the pool halls. However, Vincent's tendency to show off his talent and by doing so warning off the players and losing money, soon leads to a confrontation with Eddie.

My take: Makes you fall in love with pool all over again. Here's to Paul Newman.

Bloody English

Only the English could've invented this language.

We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes, but the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes. One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese. Yet the plural of moose should never be meese. You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice, yet the plural of house is houses, not hice. If the plural of man is always called men, then shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen? If I speak of my foot and show you my feet, if I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet? If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth, why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth? Then one may be that, and three would be those, yet hat in the plural would never be hose, and the plural of cat is cats, not cose. We speak of a brother and also of brethren, but though we say mother, we never say methren. Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him, but imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!

Let's face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England. We take English for granted, but if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square, and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend. If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?

Sometimes I think all the folks who grew up speaking English should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? We ship by truck but send cargo by ship. We have noses that run and feet that smell. We park in a driveway and drive in a parkway. And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out, and in which an alarm goes off by going on. And, in closing, if Father is Pop, how come Mother's not Mop? And if people from Poland are called Poles, then people from Holland should be called Hoesl and Germans, Germs.

Les Choristes

Plot: Set in 1948, a professor of music, Clement Mathieu, becomes the supervisor at a boarding school for the rehabilitation for minors. What he discovers disconcerts him -- the current situation is repressive. Through the power of song, Clement tries to transform the students.

My take: Thoroughly enjoyable reminder of contract teaching. Shout "Silence!" when you want silence. And boy can Jean-Baptiste Maunier sing. =]

AIG - Almost Incompetently Gazumped

They had us worried there. AIG's near collapse had my heart in my mouth when I thought about the jersey I have with AIG (Aaron is Great) plastered across the front. The 56.5m pounds Manchester United stand to receive in the next few years was suddenly at stake. Thankfully, the US government bailed AIG out with US$85b in return for virtual executive control. Oh well, as long as we get our money, though we can always negotiate a better deal given our triumphs last season.

Cluster Games 2008

Here's the PR talk first. Seng Kang Pri did astoundingly well at the N1 Cluster Games. The football team reached the semis and was the only team that the eventual champions, Xinmin Sec, failed to beat. Our badminton team finished with a 100% win record.

Now here's the truth. Our football team drew two matches against strong opposition in the round-robin, before running out of steam in the semis. We eventually finished fourth, though we should have got third if not for Kalai's injury.

Our badminton duo of Daniel and Mr Lim won their men's doubles match against local favourites Xinmin Sec. Then they were informed that the next match was mixed doubles. Since neither of them wore a skirt, they had to forfeit. Like, hello? How bad can the communication be that we did not even know that it was a team event of 8 people? Apparently Xinmin Pri, just next door, had no inkling of any badminton competition too. It's obvious to me that this was a shoddy last-minute job instigated by SOMEONE in N1, with Xinmin Sec drawing the short end of the stick to organise it.

Further evidence of incompetence abounded in the football tournament. Firstly, whose bright idea was it to have it during Ramadan? It's complete disregard for the well-being of our Muslim teachers. Secondly, there were no water points despite a blazing hot afternoon sun. We had to walk to a water cooler at the other end of the field. Thirdly, how can you get Xinmin Sec boys to referee games involving Xinmin Sec, especially when their teachers are right there playing? I don't doubt their integrity, but why put them in such a difficult position in the first place? Volunteers from remaining teams could easily have been drafted in to referee the games instead of the boys being referees and timekeepers. Finally, our third-fourth placing match was sidelined by the final, so we had no ball boys, and had to keep waiting for balls to be replaced. Apparently the ball boys were too engrossed in the final. Inexcusable - if you have a job, do it.

The last point I need to mention that points to this being a last-minute job is that Seng Kang Pri's very own Staff Games Day, planned so long beforehand, had to take a backseat to this event just because it's at cluster level. If this had been planned earlier, we could have deconflicted the schedule, allowing our fitter PE colleagues to take part.

The last word goes to the football team. Many thanks and congratulations to everyone for going further than we thought we would.
Azreen & Faisal - Despite your fasting, your self-sacrifice inspired us all. Your holding the ball up allowed us to get in the game, just as your runs to the side allowed us to spread the play. And Faisal, what a cracker! =]
Kok Leong - Our captain led by example, never once letting us down. A rock at the back.
Shou Fei - Your tireless running gave us some respite from fitter teams and you never gave up.
Kalai - Cramps notwithstanding, our creative hub that allowed us to create many chances that we did not take.
Daniel - For stepping into the breach when Kalai was down. Performed admirably and threw himself in the face of danger to save us from going further behind.

Let's do this again next year!

Observation

Thank God it went well. Managed time and the class well, despite the efforts of the visualiser and projector to sabotage me. Woo hoo!

1 to 10 and Back Again - An Ah Beng's Tale

Form a story from 1 to 10 and back again. Do it Ah Beng-style. =]

1 day I go 2 climb up a 3 outside a house to peep. But the couple saw me, so I panic and 4 down. The man rush out and wanted to 5 with me. I run so fast until I fall 6 and throw up. So I go into 7 eleven and grab some 8 to throw at him. Then I took a 9 and try to stab him. 10 God he run away. So, I put the 9 back and pay for the 8 and left 7 eleven. Next day, I call my boss and say I am 6. He said 5, tomorrow also no need to come back 4 work. He also asks me to climb a 3 and jump down. I don't understand, I so nice 2 him but I don't know what he 1.

Croatia 1-4 Ingerlund

Whodathunkit? England demolish Croatia to exact some measure of revenge for the Euro 08 capitulation - and how. A hat-trick from Theo "not-good-enough-for-Arsenal-but-good-enough-for-England" Walcott knocked the stuffing out of Slaven Bilic's men, with Rooney a key architect. Theo "I-went-to-World-Cup-2006-and-all-I-got-was-this-lousy-T-shirt" Walcott - Wal-Cott for the World Cup! (read this out and you can hear the pun =] )

Mac vs PC

REM - Imitation of Life

The single's video, depicting a scene of an elaborate pool party, was shot in Los Angeles by Garth Jennings. Michael Stipe, in an interview with MTV UK in 2001, explained how the video was made. "The entire video took twenty seconds to shoot. What you're watching is a loop that goes forwards for twenty seconds, backwards for twenty seconds, forwards for twenty seconds, backwards for twenty seconds, with one camera, static, and then using a technique called 'pan and scan', which is a technical thing that is used when they go from a widescreen format and reformat to fit your television or DVD, moving in on certain parts of the entire picture. And you'll see that we do that picking up various people within the frame."

Source: Wikipedia

Visit to Science Centre

Brought the 10 winning students to Science Centre where we saw an exploding hydrogen balloon, live electricity, F1 simulators and many more.

Didn't get a thank you though. =[

Teach Less Learn More with Spencer Kagan

I believe this workshop may just have revolutionised my teaching. Sure it sounds pretty easy to implement, but the hustle and bustle of a Singapore school does present an obstacle. Despite that, I will try to implement at least a few of the structures and examine the theory behind the eventual abolishment of traditional classroom practices.

Tan Howe Liang gets $10K from NTUC

I'm all for Tan Howe Liang getting the recognition he fully deserves, but why did it have to wait 48 years before someone gave him the credit, and why didn't SSC or SNOC or MCYS or some other governmental acronym do it first? Kudos to NTUC for doing it because no one else would.

Free Time

Plan for my free time:

1. Agape
a. Teach guitar to Agapeans [Beginners: Angela, Kenneth, Yinglei; Intermediate: Shannon]
b. Meet/call Agapeans [Matt, Duncan, Edwin & Jayne, Seng & Sharon, Edgar & Jiahui]

2. Meet/call friends [Art, Amy, Hafiz, Chongkiat, Sab, Nat, Keh, Ting]

3. Professionals/Students
a. Follow-up Exco [Oct-Dec 08: Yewhock, Jasmine (Yinglei), Phyllis]
b. Plan Professionals retreat 2008; forge Professionals vision/mission [bookmark]; launch buddies pledge

4. Entertainment
a. Watch movies [Aviator, Listening with Your Heart, Pulp Fiction, Pursuit of Happyness, Tommy Igoe's Groove Essentials, Worms 2]
b. Read J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter 4-7, Jason's Top 25 children's books, Newbery Award winners

5. Spiritual/Physical Health
a. Drink more water, MRET or otherwise
b. Do more QT
c. Sleep ONLY 8 hours a day, before 11pm
d. Spring cleaning: files and books in the corner
e. Exercise: Before shower - push ups [spider, normal, triangle], climb more stairs; weekly - swimming, jogging, cycling, tennis & football [when better]; KIV - dumbbells [tricep, bicep, pectoral]

6. Wedding/Flat
a. Plan for 23 May 09 wedding with Angela, Yewhock, Sharon, advisors [TBC: Edwin & Jayne, Edgar & Jiahui, P Nettie]
b. Plan for Damai Grove (renovation)
c. Wedding favour [iTunes playlist on CD-R]
d. Counselling

Au revoir, Andrew...

Had dinner with Andrew this evening at Cathay Restaurant. Of course he tried to pay again, but we wouldn't let him. He even tried the "I'm going to the toilet" trick; eventually we realised that he really needed to go.

I'm gonna miss the guy, and I wish him and Jenny all the best. He really is taking a leap of faith I couldn't see myself doing. Jenny must be a helluva gal to leave family and forfeit quarter-million for. Well, Jenny, what I do know is that you have a helluva guy pushing his boat out by uprooting himself to UK. =]

Theophilus Chan - Day of Redemption

Teachers' Day Dinner & Dance

It was a riot! I saw a side of colleagues I would scarcely have imagined but it was all in good fun. Special thanks to Kel, Sheena and Bebe for the wonderful company, not to mention sterling driving from Bebe and pinpoint navigation from Neo.

Thanks Weiqiang for the excellent planning. =]

Kowloon Walled City

The Kowloon Walled City was located just outside Hong Kong, China during British rule. A former watchpost to protect the area against pirates, it was occupied by Japan during World War II and subsequently taken over by squatters after Japan’s surrender. Neither Britain nor China wanted responsibility for it, so it became its own lawless city.

Its population flourished for decades, with residents building labyrinthine corridors above the street level, which was clogged with trash. The buildings grew so tall that sunlight couldn’t reach the bottom levels and the entire city had to be illuminated with fluorescent lights. It was a place where brothels, casinos, opium dens, cocaine parlors, food courts serving dog meat and secret factories ran unmolested by authorities. It was finally torn down in 1993 after a mutual decision was made by British and Chinese authorities, who had finally grown wary of the unsanitary, anarchic city and its out-of-control population.

Gotham City anyone?

Made in India!

Hyperinflation

If you think the American economy is bad, take heart that it’s nowhere near the ultra-super-hyperinflation in Zimbabwe, once one of the richest countries in Africa. The country’s central bank has recently issued a Z$100 billion note (yes, Z$100,000,000,000). So, what would a Z$100 billion note buy you? About two loaves of bread (it won’t even get you lunch - you’d need at least Z$250 billion for lunch).

So far this year, the country ravaged by hyperinflation has been forced to print 100-million, 250-million and 500-million notes in rapid succession. All of them are now almost worthless. has become common now for Zimbabweans to talk of their daily expenses in trillions (one trillion is 12 zeros).

Bizarre dispensers

Weird houses

Barack Obama's speech

What's the fuss?

Freak goal

Orh-haw! Jade Seah say bad word!

Flying Gohs

The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. I was glad to be minstered by these words in a song led by Jeannie on Friday. "In moments like these", I can still sing out a love song to Jesus.

DEPARTURES

As some of you may have already found out, Elaine, Joshua & Joycelyn have decided to leave Agape. Elaine's official reason was to follow her family, though I understand she was also struggling with other issues apart from that. Joshua & Joycelyn left even more suddenly, informing their ministry heads only three days before they were supposed to serve. Similarly, they quote God's instruction as the reason for them leaving, insisting that it had nothing to do with the closure of the Chinese ministry. Of all these I am not certain of the details, so I will only talk about the facts that I'm certain of.

The context of all this is to learn how we deal with hurt, and I hope by sharing this, we will all learn together the best way to handle hurt and conflict, so we don't fall into the enemy's trap.

I will not talk much about Elaine, because I am less clear of her reasons for leaving, but I will dwell more about Joshua & Joycelyn. According to them, they have been seeking God about their future in Agape for a while, even before the closure of the Chinese ministry. This may well be true, but I believe God is a God of order, and will not ask His people to leave haphazardly and in a manner that causes massive disruption to His ministries. Moreover, the Gohs have been avoiding all contact with me - verbal, SMS, phone calls, emails, MSN - for more than a month, to my growing frustration. It would have been easier to contact Mas Selamat and check his plans for Hari Raya. They were also leaving immediately after service when they would normally lunch with us, in addition to cutting back on their ministry commitments. All these, as we learnt in our latest ALG session on Handling Hurt, are signs of someone who has suffered a perceived injustice or hurt. They had chosen to choose the Avoid method of handling hurt, unfortunately the only lose-lose solution. As a result of this, church ministries were greatly affected, with the worship ministry having to look for a soundman and backup singer on the morning of service itself in Joshua's absence on 17 Aug.

Their haste in leaving, in most cases without even saying goodbye to friends, as well as the extent they went to to avoid contact with Agapeans, tells me that they must have been facing some issue that they were struggling with. As far as I know, they chose not to tell anyone about it, and have decided that leaving is the best way to resolve it. As the ALG learnt on Friday, this is one of the worst forms of avoidance, greatly affecting ministry and causing irreparabale damage to relationships. Hard work done over two years can be instantly forgotten.

I have been personally hurt by this episode, because the Gohs were people I trusted, and I feel my trust has been betrayed. When Joshua first came to Agape, I was advised against choosing him as an apprentice. At that time, I defended him vehemently, arguing that he had not been given a fair chance and that he was being pre-judged. I don't regret trusting in him, but I can't help but feeling like a fool. It would have been fine if their sudden departure had been a purely personal matter, affecting us on a personal level. God will heal all wounds, eventually. What I could not accept was the damage done to our ALG as a result of their actions.

SINGAPORE FLYER DEBACLE

As you know, we had an outing to Singapore Flyer on 10 Aug 2008, where 29 of us were there. Joshua & Joycelyn, with the help of Ben & CK, were in charge of this event. My efforts to contact them were also due to me wanting to find out how the preparations for the event were going. My trepidation was obvious, given this was the Professionals' first event. As I mentioned, they completely ignored me. As a result, on 10 Aug itself, I was still completely in the dark about what was going on. Only CK bothered to let me know what was going to happen.

To cut a long story short, many things went wrong, especially with the activities before the flight. I don't blame CK, because he was directed by Joshua & Joycelyn, as they were in charge. He did the best he could in the circumstances. The activities were generally served no objective other than to kill time, which was ironic because we were already struggling to get to the Flyer on time. Moreover, the activities did not consider the needs of our less mobile participants. I apologise for this unwise planning, as I could and should have taken the drastic step of cancelling the pre-Flyer activities, despite the risk of disappointing the Outing Committee. Obviously, I had no idea at that time that they were planning to leave. As a result of my inaction, many people were unhappy and correctly so. I have learnt that I need to make the correct decsion even if hurts people, or I will end up hurting even more.

Unfortunately, the debacle did not end there. The Gohs had assured me that they had already recceed the Flyer. The confusion with which I was greeted with suggested otherwise. They were unsure whether tickets should be collected or distributed, where to present the tickets etc. All this resulted in tempers flaring and unfortunate and untimely comments being aired. I was a guilty party as well. From this I have learnt to Respond (with thinking) and not React (without thinking). I raised my voice and made a reactive comment when I should have responded later when I had calmed down. I apologise for this as I really should be setting a positive example. Let's learn to respond to situations rather than react, even if it means responding later.

After the whole event, I again called the Gohs, who had left the Flyer immediately to avoid me. Joshua finally replied me to confirm that they were leaving. Ever broken up with someone via SMS? When that person won;t return your calls or emails? That's what that feels like. What made me more upset was after I mentioned that I intended to review what went wrong at the Flyer, I was told to treat it as "just an outing". For our ALG, this was more than "just an outing" - it was an invaluable opportunity to bond with one another, given we had only been together for three months, to celebrate our progress in that time. Unfortunately, they decided to put their personal hurts above our well-being by refusing to talk to me, damaging what could have been a really fun day out for all of us.

For all this, I apologise. I could and should have done something about it, and rest assured I am wiser for this episode. What I ask is for your forgiveness and trust that we will do a better job next time, and your patience as keep striving to improve. I hope you will give us another chance.

CONCLUSION

Allen prayed on 17 Aug before the service that we needed to forgive them and learn to bless them. I'm sorry, but that's really difficult for me. I feel betrayed because I had invested so much in their lives. But then I think of how Jesus must feel every time we sin: He feels betrayed, having invested His life to purchase our sins. Yet He chose to forgive us. I know what I must do. I have chosen to forgive and forget, through clearly that will take time. I hope you too will forgive us and forget our mistakes. Let's move on, stronger, more united and steadfast in Christ.

I appreciate God's timing of their departure as it provided a perfect, authentic case study for us when learning about handling hurts. Let us all learn to Agree when facing conflict - to settle things privately with people, and choosing to Respond rather than React. I have. Will you?

Magazine Page Layout Process

Georgia

My favourite font.
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Georgia is a transitional serif typeface designed in 1993 by Matthew Carter and hinted by Tom Rickner for the Microsoft Corporation, as the serif companion to the first Microsoft sans serif screen font, Verdana. The initial version of the font was released on November 1, 1996 as part of the Core fonts for the Web collection. Later, it was bundled with Internet Explorer 4.0 supplemental font pack.

It is designed for clarity on a computer monitor even at small sizes, partially due to a relatively large x-height. The typeface is named after a tabloid headline titled "Alien heads found in Georgia." The Georgia typeface name is a registered trademark of the Microsoft Corporation.

The Georgia typeface shares many similarities with Times New Roman, though Georgia is noticeably larger than Times at the same point size. Times New Roman's characters are slightly narrower, having a more vertical axis. When one compensates for the size differences and disregards the differences in compression and spacing, the remaining differences are minimal. Overall, Georgia's serifs are slightly wider and have blunter, flatter ends, but on initial inspection many letterforms are difficult for a novice to distinguish between Georgia and Times New Roman. Figures (numerals) are an exception: Georgia uses text (old-style) figures whereas Times New Roman has lining figures.

Georgia was part of the core fonts for the Web package and is preinstalled by default on Apple Macintosh and Windows-based computers. It has found popular use as an alternative serif typeface to Times New Roman.

Enjet Enjet Semut

A self-deprecating look at our Singaporean Malays.

Terry Tate: Office Linebacker

We need more guys like him in the office. =]

Humorism

Essentially, this theory held that the human body was filled with four basic substances, called four humours, or humors, which are in balance when a person is healthy. All diseases and disabilities resulted from an excess or deficit of one of these four humors. The four humors were identified as black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood. Greeks and Romans, and the later Muslim and Western European medical establishments that adopted and adapted classical medical philosophy, believed that each of these humors would wax and wane in the body, depending on diet and activity. When a patient was suffering from a surplus or imbalance of one fluid, then his or her personality and physical health would be affected. This theory was closely related to the theory of the four elements: earth, fire, water and air - earth was predominantly present in the black bile, fire in the yellow bile, water in the phlegm, and all four elements were present in the blood.[1]

Theophrastus and others developed a set of characters based on the humors. Those with too much blood were sanguine. Those with too much phlegm were phlegmatic. Those with too much yellow bile were choleric, and those with too much black bile were melancholic. The idea of human personality based on humors contributed to the character comedies of Menander and, later, Plautus.

Through the neo-classical revival in Europe, the humor theory dominated medical practice, and the theory of humoral types made periodic appearances in drama. Such typically "eighteenth-century" practices as bleeding a sick person or applying hot cups to a person were, in fact, based on the humor theory of surpluses of fluids (blood and bile in those cases). Ben Jonson wrote humor plays, where types were based on their humoral complexion.

Additionally, because people believed that there were finite amounts of humors in the body, there were folk/medical beliefs that the loss of fluids was a form of death.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humorism
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So when they talk about a sense of humor, you now know they really mean someone who is sanguine, or who possesses a lot of blood, one of the humors.

Personality test

Apparently, I am Phlegmatic Melancholic.
The Introvert | The Watcher/Thinker | The Pessimist

Phlegmatic - 35%
10 Strengths, 4 Weaknesses

Melancholic - 25%
2 Strengths, 8 Weaknesses

Sanguine - 20%
5 Strengths, 3 Weaknesses

Choleric - 18%
3 Strengths, 4 Weaknesses
------------
Strengths
The Phlegmatic's Emotions
Low-key personality
Easygoing and relaxed
Calm, cool and collected
Patient well balanced
Consistent life
Quiet but witty
Sympathetic and kind
Keeps emotions hidden
Happily reconciled to life
All-purpose person

The Phlegmatic As A Parent
Makes a good parent
Takes time for the children
Is not in a hurry
Can take the good with the bad
Doesn't get upset easily

The Phlegmatic At Work
Competent and steady
Peaceful and agreeable
Has administrative ability
Mediates problems
Avoids conflicts
Good under pressure
Finds the easy way

The Phlegmatic As a Friend
Easy to get along with
Pleasant and enjoyable
Inoffensive
Good listener
Dry sense of humor
Enjoys watching people
Has many friends
Has compassion and concern
----------
Weaknesses
The Phlegmatic's Emotions
Unenthusiastic
Fearful and worried
Indecisive
Avoids responsibility
Quiet will of iron
Selfish
To shy and reticent
Too compromising
Self-righteous

The Phlegmatic As A Parent
Lax on discipline
Doesn't organize home
Takes life to easy

The Phlegmatic At Work
Not goal oriented
Lacks self motivation
Hard to get moving
Resents being pushed
Lazy and careless
Discourages others
Would rather watch

The Phlegmatic As a Friend
Dampens enthusiasm
Stays uninvolved
Is not exciting
Indifferent to plans
Judges others
Sarcastic and teasing
Resists change

http://www.oneishy.com/personality/results/340fe07fc
==========
The PhlegMel

Of all the temperament blends, the PhlegMel is the most gracious, gentle, and quiet. He is rarely angry or hostile and almost never says anything for which he must apologize (mainly because he rarely says much). He never embarrasses himself or others, always does the proper thing, dresses simply, and is dependable and exact. He tends to have the spiritual gifts of mercy and help, and he is neat and organized in his working habits. Like any phlegmatic, he is handy around the house and as energy permits will keep his home in good repair. If he has a wife who recognizes his tendencies toward passivity (but tactfully waits for him to take the lead in their home), they will have a good family life and marriage. However, if she resents his reticence to lead and be aggressive, she may become discontented and foment marital strife. He may neglect the discipline necessary to help prepare his children for a productive, self-disciplined life and so "provoke his children to wrath" just as much as the angry tyrant whose unreasonable discipline makes them bitter.

The other weaknesses of this man revolve around fear, selfishness, negativism, criticism, and lack of self-image. Once a PhlegMel realizes that only his fears and negative feelings about himself keep him from succeeding, he is able to come out of his shell and become an effective man, husband, and father. Most PhlegMels are so afraid of over-extending themselves or getting over involved that they automatically refuse almost any kind of affiliation.

Personally I have never seen a PhlegMel over involved in anything – except in keeping from getting over involved. He must recognize that since he is not internally motivated, he definitely needs to accept more responsibility than he thinks he can fulfill, for that external stimulation will motivate him to greater achievement. All phlegmatics work well under pressure, but it must come from outside. His greatest source of motivation, of course, will be the power of the Holy Spirit.

Barnabas, the godly saint of the first-century church who accompanied the Apostle Paul on his first missionary journey, was in all probability a PhlegMel. He was the man who gave half his goods to the early church to feed the poor, the man who contended with Paul over providing John Mark (his nephew) another chance to serve God by accompanying them on the second missionary journey. Although the contention became so sharp that Barnabas took his nephew and they proceeded on their journey by themselves, Paul later commended Mark saying, "He is profitable to me for the ministry" (2 Tim. 4:11). Today we have the Gospel of Mark because faithful, dedicated, and gentle Barnabas was willing to help him over a hard place in his life. PhlegMels respond to the needs of others if they will just let themselves move out into the stream of life and work with people where they are.

Test: http://www.goingthedistance.org/pages.asp?pageid=18151
Results: http://www.goingthedistance.org/pages.asp?pageid=18155

Schools Digital Media Awards

Am doing this before November this year. Sounds quite interesting and can actually put my RadioPro skills to use, though I got D for that module. Have to use Audacity or ProTools to create a 3-min radio package on SOMETHING. Will worry about it in Term 4 lah. Will probably involve all the kentangs in my class and with Kalai's help, this should be fun.

http://www.evideo.edu.sg/sdma/

The shit hits the fan

Alternative title: All hell breaks loose.

It's been coming for a while, but it finally boiled over last week. If you ever need a case study on why communication is important and considering people's needs, do approach me. I'd been trying for a month to talk to some people regarding issues in their life that concerned me, but I detected some obviously evasive action. NIL replies to SMSes, emails and missed calls for ONE WHOLE MONTH.

It was an accident waiting to happen, and it did. Despite my best efforts, I was not in the know, due to a infuriating lack of communication. Having advised the organiser to reconsider the activty, I had to step back and let them make the decision, otherwise they'd learn nothing from it. And so the activity suffered from a lack of time and consideration and the participants' needs.

To top it all off, I bore the brunt of the criticism, as I strived to protect the people from hurtful and demoralising comments. Ruined my day, but I'm still glad I did it. All this would be useless if the people now STILL do not communicate with me to review the event, but I did what I had to do.

I just hope that I find out at the end of the day that it was all my fault because of dodgy Starhub SMSes. I'd be incredibly relieved that I was the buffoon.

Sungha Jung - Africa

Weekends don't count unless you spend them doing something completely pointless. - Calvin

My new weekend motto.

An open letter

Judging from your non-responsiveness to any communication from me, I believe this will be the last time you hear from me. I don't see a need for me to say anything else if you don't.

When I got an SMS from you thanking me for my leadership and blessing my ministry, it sounded terribly hollow.

It still remains a mystery to me why you would uproot yourself so haphazardly. Officially, the reason is divine intervention, but many things fly in the face of that reason. If truly God was behind this, why the secrecy? Why the avoidance? Why the tell-tale signs of a person greatly disturbed by something?

Ironically we are going to learn some of these things this Friday. Soon after the announcement of the closing of a ministry you were connected to, you started leaving service immediately after closing, when it was in your nature to stick around. You started to scale down your ministry commitments. You avoided my calls, SMSes and emails for over a month. Your actions were so obvious that people aside from me started to notice as well.

The main thing that gets me is, if this is from God, would God have wanted you to make so ignominous an exit, almost with a paper bag over your head - so ashamed are you to face your friends? Who am I to speak if it is truly God? So if you speak the truth, then I apologise unreservedly, to God and you.

However, the signs point to the fact that something or someone hurt you, or someone close to you, perhaps related to the above-mentioned ministry. I will never know, because you will never tell. I sincerely hope I am wrong about you, because if you would use God's name to lie about a personal reason for leaving, then I pray for God's mercy on you.

I must admit that I'm hurt by your actions. Ironically, we're teaching Handling Hurt, the final lesson in the ALG for Creating Community. Even more ironically, you were supposed to plan this lesson, but like all the other ministries, you dropped everything and left, something unlikely for God to allow you to do even if He were asking you to leave. I feel like I've been betrayed, despite the effort I've put in to your lives, that I don't even deserve a decent response or explanation. Again, is this what God would have you do?

For these reasons, I really doubt that your reasons are genuine, and that instead you are grappling with personal hurts that you've chosen to nurse and nurture. You've let it consume you to the extent that you'd put aside dear friends here and leave without saying anything to them.

Finally, for you to see the Sunday outing as "just an outing" was utterly irresponsible, and it showed. I even have to doubt a recce was even done (as I was informed); the chaos at the location was damning evidence of that. You may have seen it as your last hurrah, but how is that fair to the people who entrusted their time to you?

Words can't really describe the disappointment I feel after the effort I went through to defend you in front of others who tried to put you down. They said you were irresponsible, impatient, cunning, conniving, undependable and more. I defended you vehemently on countless occasions. Unfortunately, now I feel like a fool, for they have been proved right.

I hope God will make you learn your lessons about impatience and judgmentalism, or you will be condemned to repeat the lessons till you do.

Kung Fu Panda

Flixster Plot: Po the Panda is the laziest animal in all of the Valley of Peace, but unwittingly becomes the chosen one when enemies threaten their way of life.

My take: There are no words for awesomeness.

United 1-0 Espanyol - Ole Gunnar Solskjaer testimonial

You are my Solskjaer, my Ole Solskjaer
You make me happy when skies are grey
And although Shearer was so much dearer
Don't take my Ole away

To the one and only Baby-Faced Assassin - such a devoted servant and the most well-spent 1.5m quid ever. We'll always remember THAT Nou Camp toe-poke, the Nottingham Forest super-sub quadruple and the self-sacrifice to squad rotation.

United 0-0 Juventus

Rotten day

Got admonished for talking during Value Moments. We were discussing about what was being shared leh, but I guess we'd tell the kids the same thing - discuss later.

Then gave bad advice about letting the IT monitor know my password - bad move. Why didn't it occur to me? Sigh.

E-cow-nomics

SOCIALISM: You have 2 cows, so you give one to your neighbour.

COMMUNISM: You have 2 cows. The State takes both and gives you some milk.

FASCISM: You have 2 cows. The State takes both and sells you some milk.

NAZISM: You have 2 cows. The State takes both and shoots you.

TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows. You sell them and retire on the income.

MALAYSIAN BUMIPUTRAISM: You have two cows, the State takes one and gives it to your bumiputra neighbour. From the milk you sell from the remaining cow you buy a bull and mulitply your herd. The State takes 30 per cent of your herd as it grows and give them to your bumiputra neigbour. Your bumiputra neighbour has a kenduri each time they receive a cow.

UMNOPUTRAISM: The State takes 30 per cent of your herd and parks them in Switzerland in the name of some UMNO official or close relatives, friends and sons-in-law.

MALAYSIAN GOVERNMENT-LINKED OR BUMIPUTRA CORPORATION: You have two cows.
You employ mainly bumiputras to milk them. But both cows have been sent to the kenduri, so the State gives you more cows and write off the losses of the first two. After several kenduris later, you invite an American or German Corporation to turn around the losses. The Japanese have however already taken their two original cows back home to Japan.

AN AMERICAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. Later, you hire a consultant to analyse why the cow has dropped dead.

A FRENCH CORPORATION: You have two cows. You go on strike, organise a riot, and block the roads, because you want three cows.

A JAPANESE CORPORATION: You have two cows. You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. You then create a clever cow cartoon image called 'Cowkimon' and market it worldwide.

A GERMAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves.

AN ITALIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows, but you don't know where they are. You decide to have lunch.

A SWISS CORPORATION : You have 5,000 cows. None of them belong to you. You charge the owners for storing them.

A CHINA CORPORATION: You have two cows. You have 300 people milking them. You claim that you have full employment, and high bovine productivity, and arrest the newsman who reported the real situation.

AN INDIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You worship them.

A BRITISH CORPORATION: You have two cows. Both are mad.

A MALAYSIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You signed a 40-year contract to supply milk at RM0.06 per litre. Then midway through, you raised the price to RM0.60 or you cut the supply. When the buyer agrees to the new price, you change your mind again and now want RM1.20.
The buyer decided you can keep the milk, who rather go look for milk that comes from recycled cows or the cow urine instead. At the end your two cows retire together with the Prime Minister.

A SINGAPOREAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. Whenever prices of GST, ERP, PUB and kopi-si go up; one cow-peh and the other cow-bu.

Manchester United crest

Nichole Nordeman - Why

This is not Nichole, but this cover was used for an Easter video.

Making the ban(ner)

I am SO impressed by my class' artistic talent. In barely 2 hours and between 10 students helping out, we cut out all the letters for sticking on the banner, almost completed the pictures of racial harmony and the S'pore flag in crayon, and even found time to watch me lose in the aforementioned football tournament. Hats off to 5 Joy. =]
-------------
22 Jul 2008, 2220hrs
Our class is making a banner for NDP and I've assembled a elite team of art & design specialists to create it (me excluded). There's gonna be painting, scribbling, drawing, pasting, gluing and other messy verbs thrown all over the place.

I really enjoyed today hanging out with them and generating ideas for the banner. Just watching them interact with one another in their endearing Mat-nerisms made for quite an entertaining afternoon. Picking up a few Malay words from them here and there too.

Local movies

Robert de Niro & Elmo

Julia Roberts & Elmo

Cookie Monster - C is for Cookie

Andrea Bocelli & Elmo - Time to Say Goodnight

Natalie Portman & Elmo

Elmo & The Goo Goo Dolls - Pride

Norah Jones - Don't Know Y

Yo Yo Ma & The Honkers

Cab Calloway - Hi De Ho Man

Madeline Kahn & Grover - Sing After Me

Joanna Wang - True

Joanna Wang - I Love You

Spandau Ballet - Communication

Graduation

It is with bitterweet emotion that I graduate from NIE with my Diploma in Education (Credit) tomorrow. What might have been was not to be - and that's that. I have to trust God that this is for the best. In a way, I'm glad the decision to crossover is not mine to make - God's made it easier for me somehow.

Racial Harmony Day football tournament

So much fun! My team played 5 matches, won 0, drew 1, lost 4, scored 2 and conceded 7 but we enjoyed it all the same. We even managed to salvage the draw against the eventual champions.

It was obvious the teams were not exactly on an even keel but we never gave up and I almost scored one of the goals of the tournament. A chest trap to control a defensive clearance, a run towards the defender before pirouetting 360-degrees Zidane-like away from him but my hurried snapshot was parried away.

Phrases

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/raining%20cats%20and%20dogs.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_ain't_over_'til_the_fat_lady_sings
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-dea1.htm

Anagrams

Dormitory: Dirty Room
Schoolmaster: The Classroom
Elvis: Lives
Clint Eastwood: Old West Action
Western Union: No Wire Unsent
Desperation: A Rope Ends It
The Morse Code: Here Come Dots
Slot Machines: Cash Lost in Me
Conversation: Voices Rant On
Heavy Rain: Hire a Navy
Tom Cruise: So I'm Cuter
Mother-in-law: Woman Hitler
Funeral: Real Fun
Snooze Alarms: Alas! No More 'Z's
A Decimal Point: I'm a Dot in Place
Statue of Liberty: Built to Stay Free
Eleven plus two: Twelve plus one
David Letterman: Nerd Amid Late TV
Debit card: Bad Credit
Presbysterian: Best in Prayer
Astronomer: Moon Starer
The Eyes: They See
Election Results: Lies! Let's Recount!
The Earthquakes: That Queer Shake
Eleven Plus Two: Twelve Plus One

He who has a why to live can bear with any how. - Friedrich Nietzsche

This is SO applicable in classroom management and discipline, as well as so many other things inherent in teaching.

Why Men Are Happier Than Women

NICKNAMES
If Laura, Kate and Sarah go out for lunch, they will call each other Laura, Kate and Sarah.
If Mike, Dave and John go out, they will affectionately refer to each other as Fat Boy, Godzilla and Four-Eyes.

EATING OUT
When the bill arrives, Mike, Dave and John will each throw in $20, even though it's only for $32.50. None of them will have anything smaller and none will actually admit they want change back.
When the girls get their bill, out come the pocket calculators.

MONEY
A man will pay $2 for a $1 item he needs.
A woman will pay $1 for a $2 item that she doesn't need but it's on sale.

BATHROOMS
A man has six items in his bathroom: toothbrush and toothpaste, shaving cream, razor, a bar of soap, and a towel.
The average number of items in the typical woman's bathroom is 337. A man would not be able to identify more than 20 of these items.

ARGUMENTS
A woman has the last word in any argument.
Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument.

FUTURE
A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband.
A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.

SUCCESS
A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend.
A successful woman is one who can find such a man.

MARRIAGE
A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn't.
A man marries a woman expecting that she won't change, but she does.

DRESSING UP
A woman will dress up to go shopping, water the plants, empty the trash, answer the phone, read a book, and get the mail.
A man will dress up for weddings and funerals.

NATURAL
Men wake up as good-looking as they went to bed.
Women somehow deteriorate during the night.

OFFSPRING
Ah, children. A woman knows all about her children. She knows about dentist appointments and romances, best friends, favorite foods, secret fears and hopes and dreams.
A man is vaguely aware of some short people living in the house.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
A married man should forget his mistakes. There's no use in two people remembering the same thing!

Dark Knight

Plot: Batman and Gordon find alliance with a newly appointed DA Harvey Dent to stop a vicious killer with a warped sense of humor known only as The Joker, a threat to both the good, and the evil of Gotham City.

My take: Watch this for Heath Ledger's final performance as the manical Joker. The plot was engaging enough till the end, with a stellar supporting cast featuring the likes of Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and even Chin Han (Masters of the Sea) and Edison Chen! Apart from Batman's perpetual hoarse throat, watch out for the Joker's pencil-disappearing act.

Marcus Miller - Run for Cover

Live Under The Sky '91

Jaco Pastorius - A Portrait Of Tracy

Stadhalle, Offenbach in Germany, 1978

Jaco Pastorius - Bass Solo at Live Under the Sky 1984

Jaco Pastorius & Toots - 3 Views Of A Secret

Piano & harmonica duet anyone?

Little Girl - Psalm 23

Sungha Jung - Smells Like Teen Spirit

Sungha Jung - Mission Impossible Theme

Sungha Jung - With or Without You

NDP 2008 MTV

Someone commented that our NDP 2008 MTV is very similar to a Japanese TVC. Judge for yourself:

NDP TVC

Jap TVC

Email said:

"if you notice something, our NDP video this year is a rip off from a Japanese TVC about this child thinking differently drawing a whale while our NDP version is tis girl drawing a star! what a shame!
First we have a MDA rap, next our NDP video actually rip off from another country's TV. How embarrassing."

My response was rather fervent:

"Rip-off? Spread the shame? I think that's quite an unfair statement to make. Having been involved in planning for NDP 04 during my NS days, I can tell you that original ideas are hard to come by. Instead, the effort is made to scour the globe for ideas that can help meet the objectives. If you look at the entire NDP 08 video, the classroom scene is just a small part of the whole thing.

To say that it's a rip-off, I think, is an insult to the effort that the Committee has put in to celebrating the nation's birthday.

My suggestion is that, instead of sitting in your armchair and commenting, get off your seat and contribute to NDP in a more constructive way. Then, perhaps, will you appreciate the thankless task that is NDP planning.

Please put yourself in the person's shoes before passing off callous, thoughtless statements, and think about the value it will add in people's lives before you click Forward.

Aaron Wong
MCM '03
NDP '04 Show Committee, PA to Chairman Show"

Some alumni replied with sensible responses, meaning I had to retract my words. Among their salient points, the fact that there is nothing truly orignal in the world anymore, merely adaptations and modifications, and that the NDP 08 people were merely (to use an MCM example), changing every third word to avoid plagiarism because three words in sequence is plagiarism. It's no crime by the letter of the law, but it goes against the principle of it:

"I really don't know guys. It was a tough day at work, and I guess my response was a little too fervent. Apologies there, Chee Kaur.

In any case, there may have been factors we were not aware of and will never know. Basically with something as big as NDP, I'm assuming the Chairman would not have allowed it if he knew it were plagiarised. He must have been kept in the dark somehow.

In my opinion, they found a good idea, used it, and probably hoped no one would find out. Pretty naive perhaps, but they could have gotten away with it if not for FMS-ers snooping around. =]

The thing I'd have done differently is probably cite the source of inspiration somewhere and make relevant changes to it so as to protect myself. I guess now they need to face the music, if only for taking someone's great idea, and perhaps passing it off as their own. Sounds familiar?

Lastly, I'm not a journalist, but perhaps still think like one. =]"

My final response:

"I think they found a really good idea. I'd use it too, if it was the best I could come up with. Most people are concerned only about the end result anyway, and don't care how you do it, as long as you get it done. That's work, guys. But the lack of citation was quite dishonest, and they should be accountable for that."

PAD-man

Or Pre-Army Depression Man.

No lah, I'm sure Seng can handle it, but I believe every pre-NS send-off from now on should be like tonight's. It was just a time for him to enjoy our company and what we had to say about him, and only we got the saboing, which was pretty mild. Moreover we learnt so much about him too.

Well done Angela & Jas. =]

Malaysia Boleh!

They've outdone themselves again - this time with three New Paper stories in a row!

1. They've suddenly sprung a surprise and relaunched the white cards again. The Johor immigration department was contacted and, get this, they directed the call to the checkpoint. That's like, hey PM, I have a question about Singapore. Oh here, talk to my MP. ?!?!
Immigration oficer Shahrul Nazrie (poor soul) said that he didn't know why the white cards were being introduced, and that he was just following instructions from the Putrajaya immigration department.
That's right, make a decision, but don't tell your people why.
Finally, to all you white-card hoarders - bad news - it might not be the same white card.

2. Malaysia's Women, Family and Community Development (hmmm, no mention of men, there) Minister Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen has suggested castrating repeat rapists.
The female minister did clarify that she was advocating more research in this area. Yes, Dr Ng, castration DOES prevent rape. No need to risk any male guinea pigs for this one.

3. Finally, a non-Muslim reporter in a knee-length skirt was barred from Malaysian parliament after guards objected to her attire. She was sent home to change to pants. Hello, we don't even do that to children nowadays.
Those who failed the "skirt test" were told to pull their skirts down a bit. Another reporter was sent home for having too-tight pants.
Some female MPs were spotted in similar attire but the guards didn't stop them. Their explanation? "We can't tell them off as they are MPs."
A Malaysian minister promptly over-declared: "To me, as long as you don't some dressed in only your underwear, I'm fine with it." Anything except underwear, you say?
------------
Jan 22 2008, 2259hrs
Malaysian bureaucracy's finest hour.

Singaporeans do not need to fill out white cards on entry to Malaysia because, wait for it, they've run out of them. Apparently they decided to start a new system, as yet unnamed and undescribed (or indescribable), but have not bothered to inform, errr, anyone at all. Some officers stamp the white cards, and some don't.

Mr Johari of the Johor Immigration said that Singaporeans would still be asked the location and duration of their visit. I quote, almost verbatim: "It would be quite troublesome for our officers to keep asking them for the location and duration, so we may get them to write this on little pieces of paper, but it's not confirmed yet."

Whoa. Like such a groundbreaking decision. So you replace the white card (a form) with a piece of small paper (another, albeit smaller, form). Apart from this lunacy, everything else is status quo, of course.

How do you change the system and inform no one? How do you remove the old system without the new one in place, and tell no one? How do you all that, and stil not be sure about what to do with little pieces of paper?

Am I the only one who doesn't get it?