Sunday, October 31, 2004
Thoughts for today 2:
The whole nation has been concerned over the Huang Na incident. I'm pleasantly surprised to note the number of helpful citizens over here and in Malaysia who staged a manhunt of such a scale for the girl and Took, the suspect. Guess Singaporeans do have a heart eh? I think this is definitely more noteworthy than the millions of dollars raised by celebrities.
The news just came in though, that with the help of Took, who surrendered himself, the police has uncovered a box in a park which contained the decayed corpse of a girl. Naked corpse. I wouldn't want to hazard a guess as to what happened. Apparently the guy will be charged in court soon for murder. My heart goes out to the poor mother who has been hoping to see her little girl. Although the official word is that the police is waiting for the forensic report, it's not that difficult to piece together that it probably is the little girl's corpse.
Which makes me wonder about something else...if the people who are missing and not found all this while has a likelihood of being murdered, that means that there are murderers still on the loose among us.
The whole nation has been concerned over the Huang Na incident. I'm pleasantly surprised to note the number of helpful citizens over here and in Malaysia who staged a manhunt of such a scale for the girl and Took, the suspect. Guess Singaporeans do have a heart eh? I think this is definitely more noteworthy than the millions of dollars raised by celebrities.
The news just came in though, that with the help of Took, who surrendered himself, the police has uncovered a box in a park which contained the decayed corpse of a girl. Naked corpse. I wouldn't want to hazard a guess as to what happened. Apparently the guy will be charged in court soon for murder. My heart goes out to the poor mother who has been hoping to see her little girl. Although the official word is that the police is waiting for the forensic report, it's not that difficult to piece together that it probably is the little girl's corpse.
Which makes me wonder about something else...if the people who are missing and not found all this while has a likelihood of being murdered, that means that there are murderers still on the loose among us.
Thoughts for today 1:
I just read an article by Colin Goh (the same guy who brings us the wonderful talkingcock.com!) about Halloween. It's a great article. In fact, I think I might have mentioned the same sentiments to some friends some time back. Frankly I can never understand why Halloween is becoming bigger and bigger in Singapore. At first I thought it's because there are more and more foreigners here on work or other reasons, but I realized that it's just catching on.
I fully agree with him on the weirdness that we are celebrating a foreign pagan festival. Worse still, we are getting engrossed with monsters and phantoms of a totally different mythology. I think we have taken too much of Western culture into Singapore. I mean, Asian countries have such rich mythologies. Look at all the ghost stories that are popping into the cinema. How many of them are about Western spooks? Sure don't see many. Unless, of course, if people start dressing up as Pontianaks and go trick-or-treating, it might scare the sh*t out of some people. Especially if they have rebonded hair...heh.
Anyway I really don't like the fact that the cinemas now are swamped with horror movies. I've always believed that whatever you watch and see, the images stay inside your head. I don't see why people would pay good money to scare themselves silly (or fail doing so, now that's ridiculous), and then have all those images inside their head somewhere, and someday wonder why they have nightmares. Duh.
I just read an article by Colin Goh (the same guy who brings us the wonderful talkingcock.com!) about Halloween. It's a great article. In fact, I think I might have mentioned the same sentiments to some friends some time back. Frankly I can never understand why Halloween is becoming bigger and bigger in Singapore. At first I thought it's because there are more and more foreigners here on work or other reasons, but I realized that it's just catching on.
I fully agree with him on the weirdness that we are celebrating a foreign pagan festival. Worse still, we are getting engrossed with monsters and phantoms of a totally different mythology. I think we have taken too much of Western culture into Singapore. I mean, Asian countries have such rich mythologies. Look at all the ghost stories that are popping into the cinema. How many of them are about Western spooks? Sure don't see many. Unless, of course, if people start dressing up as Pontianaks and go trick-or-treating, it might scare the sh*t out of some people. Especially if they have rebonded hair...heh.
Anyway I really don't like the fact that the cinemas now are swamped with horror movies. I've always believed that whatever you watch and see, the images stay inside your head. I don't see why people would pay good money to scare themselves silly (or fail doing so, now that's ridiculous), and then have all those images inside their head somewhere, and someday wonder why they have nightmares. Duh.
Haven't blogged in days, because of two reasons. As mentioned in the earlier post, I'm sick. So that means right after school I come home and sleep it off. Other than that, I'm playing a new MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game...see how friendly I am to readers of my blog?) in the few hours I am actually awake. It's quite a cute game that goes by the name of Maple Story. If you have time to kill and are looking for a free game you can check it out. For those who are upset with me for not responding to msn or icq until an hour later, it's because the game takes up full screen on my computer. Hmm...not a very good reason either eh?
I got a lot of things to blog about so I'll break it up into a few posts I guess. Mostly inspired by today's newspapers...
I got a lot of things to blog about so I'll break it up into a few posts I guess. Mostly inspired by today's newspapers...
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
I'm on MC today. It's a bad throat infection. Ah well, it finally got me. I had some students message and call me to ask how I am. So nice...I'm touched. But very troublesome leh, tomorrow still gotta attend this invigilation briefing thing, so I have to allocate my classes to my level head again. I want to recover fast! I want to go out. Staying at home the whole day playing game and sleeping also not very entertaining...
Monday, October 25, 2004
Today there is a concert in school by Fan Yi Chen! WoohoO! Only problem is I have absolutely no idea who he is. (Yeah yeah, I'm a mountain turtle...) The bigger problem is that I was too sick to hang around for the concert anyway. In the end, I went to see the doctor just now, and got medicine, and a MC for tomorrow. Actually I want to go to school tomorrow, because I really don't like getting others implicated, but I guess I really need the rest. *cough cough wheeze wheeze.
Still, better to fall sick now than in the holidays. I need more energy for the holidays than schooldays...heh.
Still, better to fall sick now than in the holidays. I need more energy for the holidays than schooldays...heh.
Sunday, October 24, 2004
I have finally succumbed to sore throat. My throat has been often been on the threshold of being sore in the recent months, but has always recovered after drinking gallons of water. This time round, it failed to work. I suspect that the crucial difference in the previous times of recovery and this time of succumbing is because of one thing: trying to sing Shi Jie Mo Ri by Shin. I'm positive.
Still, that doesn't stop me from playing 4 hours of pool today. I have really improved since the last time I used to haunt Marine Parade pool parlours. I am at least on par now with this guy I usually couldn't beat back then. Now the next milestone: to have at least a 50% win rate against J, my pool expert cellgroup mate. Right now it remains at 33.3% on average. I guess my numerous hours of being trashed by J has paid off somewhat. If I could just place my white ball as good as he does...
Did I mention that a few students from my sports class jio me to play pool with them the coming thursday? Hmm...I wonder how good they are. *Cracks knuckles gleefully.
Still, that doesn't stop me from playing 4 hours of pool today. I have really improved since the last time I used to haunt Marine Parade pool parlours. I am at least on par now with this guy I usually couldn't beat back then. Now the next milestone: to have at least a 50% win rate against J, my pool expert cellgroup mate. Right now it remains at 33.3% on average. I guess my numerous hours of being trashed by J has paid off somewhat. If I could just place my white ball as good as he does...
Did I mention that a few students from my sports class jio me to play pool with them the coming thursday? Hmm...I wonder how good they are. *Cracks knuckles gleefully.
Friday, October 22, 2004
Argh. Once again, my classes face neglect. Previously my sports class was forgotten when the Timetablers (no such word, but sounds plausible anyway...in fact sounds like something possibly from a Harry Potter novel) allocated classrooms to replace the lab venues. This time round, my happy class (now not as happy) was allocated a classroom that another class was already using. Great. I was walking along the corridor talking to one of the Elders, and she asked me where I was headed. So I said room 423. She blinked, and said that's where she is going.
Bad feeling. So I trudged up to the fourth floor, and yep, there stood my whole class, waiting outside the classroom which was, of course, occupied. I can understand slip-ups. I mean, we are only human. But why does it only happen to me??? No other teacher was forgotten. Or assigned the wrong classroom. Just me. Do you know how much time I've wasted, running back to the staff room to get keys to open the comp lab? Not just once...no, not even twice, but at least 5 times in the last 3 months. Well, if you think 5 times is not a lot, divide it by the 0 times other teachers experienced, and that's a whopping infinite percentage more. So there you have it. I am one poor soul. Heh.
And my class has the audacity to suggest having the lesson in the canteen. I think they were hungry. One of them was lamenting how hungry she was once every five minutes...thereabouts.
Bad feeling. So I trudged up to the fourth floor, and yep, there stood my whole class, waiting outside the classroom which was, of course, occupied. I can understand slip-ups. I mean, we are only human. But why does it only happen to me??? No other teacher was forgotten. Or assigned the wrong classroom. Just me. Do you know how much time I've wasted, running back to the staff room to get keys to open the comp lab? Not just once...no, not even twice, but at least 5 times in the last 3 months. Well, if you think 5 times is not a lot, divide it by the 0 times other teachers experienced, and that's a whopping infinite percentage more. So there you have it. I am one poor soul. Heh.
And my class has the audacity to suggest having the lesson in the canteen. I think they were hungry. One of them was lamenting how hungry she was once every five minutes...thereabouts.
Thursday, October 21, 2004
Sigh. I have a few students facing the possibility of being retained, and boy, does it show on their faces. The disturbing thing is that normally they have very cheerful dispositions and are talkative. The only thing I can think of is the old saying 'zao zhi jin ri, he bi dang chu'. One of them has been slacking all the way, and her good friend asked me to add 4 marks to her paper. Sigh. I told her that if you fail, at least fail with some dignity.
I think all the students are in holiday mood already. Almost all my students, except for the few faithfully diligent ones, showed up missing a tutorial book, or did not attempt at all. In the end, I made them do group work. How to teach like that? Alamak, tomorrow still got lecture. I wonder if everyone will show up in the first place. A lot of students reputedly have vanished to prepare for their project work presentation...
Thoughts for today:
There's really a lot of bad news in the news. Some coal mine in china had some accident, trapping 56...Japan has been ravaged by typhoons, and dunno what else has happened where else. Actually, it's news like this that makes me appreciate Singapore a lot more. Though a little less...um...exciting, we are spared from almost all the natural disasters. We only have to face bird flu and SARs, or other weird diseases. How can people be so unhappy living in this little safe haven of an island? Too safe? No kick?
I think all the students are in holiday mood already. Almost all my students, except for the few faithfully diligent ones, showed up missing a tutorial book, or did not attempt at all. In the end, I made them do group work. How to teach like that? Alamak, tomorrow still got lecture. I wonder if everyone will show up in the first place. A lot of students reputedly have vanished to prepare for their project work presentation...
Thoughts for today:
There's really a lot of bad news in the news. Some coal mine in china had some accident, trapping 56...Japan has been ravaged by typhoons, and dunno what else has happened where else. Actually, it's news like this that makes me appreciate Singapore a lot more. Though a little less...um...exciting, we are spared from almost all the natural disasters. We only have to face bird flu and SARs, or other weird diseases. How can people be so unhappy living in this little safe haven of an island? Too safe? No kick?
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Thoughts for today:
1) The news nowadays are really depressing. I think for a good few months, every day there seems to be a major accident, involving either a plane, train, coach or ship happening somewhere in the world. Has it always been so? I haven't really noticed till recently. My mum was saying that she wouldn't want to go travelling; it seems to be so dangerous. I only told her that if a person's time is up, he can die sitting in a car because someone who tried to commit suicide landed on top of his car, for instance (recent incident).
2) I heard over the radio that the parliament is trying to pass an act to tighten the law on illegal downloading of MP3s, movies and software. Apparently they are trying to step up the maximum fine to $20000, and a possible jail term of up to 6 months. $20k? Ouch. Makes the CDs look so much cheaper now, doesn't it?
1) The news nowadays are really depressing. I think for a good few months, every day there seems to be a major accident, involving either a plane, train, coach or ship happening somewhere in the world. Has it always been so? I haven't really noticed till recently. My mum was saying that she wouldn't want to go travelling; it seems to be so dangerous. I only told her that if a person's time is up, he can die sitting in a car because someone who tried to commit suicide landed on top of his car, for instance (recent incident).
2) I heard over the radio that the parliament is trying to pass an act to tighten the law on illegal downloading of MP3s, movies and software. Apparently they are trying to step up the maximum fine to $20000, and a possible jail term of up to 6 months. $20k? Ouch. Makes the CDs look so much cheaper now, doesn't it?
I finally had some good news for my students today. After moderation, the passing mark has been lowered significantly. I am glad many of my students who were supposed to fail managed to pass. But at the same time, we tutors lament the fact that this cohort did poorly in a paper designed to be easy. The biology and physics tutors echo the same sentiments. It is tragic, I tell you, simply tragic.
The batch of PRC students for next year's integrated programme has come in. Very young kids, ranging from 13 to 15 years old. So cuuuuuuute. Hahaha...got a few short botak-heads running over school, eating snacks by the bucketload. Next year's school environment will be very interesting...
The batch of PRC students for next year's integrated programme has come in. Very young kids, ranging from 13 to 15 years old. So cuuuuuuute. Hahaha...got a few short botak-heads running over school, eating snacks by the bucketload. Next year's school environment will be very interesting...
Monday, October 18, 2004
If there's one thing I don't like, it's being the bearer of bad news. Yes, today the promo exam scripts were returned to the students. Interestingly, many of my students came to ask me if I'm going to teach them still next year. For a while I was wondering whether they were hoping I wouldn't, because their results...eh...basically suck big time. Apparently I was wrong, and they were afraid that I wouldn't want to teach them now that they did horribly in their promos.
But I'm still disappointed. Hmmm...should I have drilled them with remedials after all?
But I'm still disappointed. Hmmm...should I have drilled them with remedials after all?
Sunday, October 17, 2004
If there's one thing that really irks me, it's waiting for buses more than their proudly-claimed ten minutes (frequency). Today, I see the second longest wait in my life as far as I remember. 22 minutes! And I didn't even just miss the bus before that. Argh! (Longest was 24 min, but I know of people who claim 45 min, so yeah.) Now, considering that I take 197 to sunday school most of the sundays, and on average, the bus taking more than 10 min to come happens at least 1 in 2 sundays, what the heck are the drivers doing at Bedok bus interchange???
I abhor waiting more than 15 min for a bus, because it gets increasingly irritating as time goes by. Main reason being that my house is central, and has many bus routes passing through. So when this kind of thing happens, you get to see about two of each bus go by. The first one makes you sigh. The second of the same number goes by, I'll be so tempted to curse and swear (God give me more patience in this area!). And I'm not the impatient sort. Can I launch a complaint huh huh can I can I?
A few sunday school boys are going ga-ga over this girl who comes back to help out. She used to be in sunday school as well, so most of the boys who are still here, or who have moved on to Youth network know her. She's pretty at her age, and when I first saw her, I knew she was the kind of terror who will make half the boys in her class go crazy over her from Pri sch all the way to sec 2 or 3 at least. What's worse is that she is becoming somewhat more prolific, because she also happens to be involved in the dance ministry, so once a month, she'll be dancing on stage. I have seen two boys (not under me) fall under her spell, and now one of my own boys have fallen too. Today at lunch, two of the smitten (because of their obsession, read 'smitten' as close to 'smeedle' as possible) ones joined me at my table even though they weren't eating. Me, being the sharp and observant person I am, turned around, and, you guessed it, the terror was sitting about two tables away. I spent my whole time observing the two boys, and caught them looking around very frequently, and the eyes somehow always linger at that table.
Argh. Horrors of horrors. I will be the cell leader of boys whose hormones are starting to rage. I will be settling into the job description of Aunt Agony pretty soon.
I abhor waiting more than 15 min for a bus, because it gets increasingly irritating as time goes by. Main reason being that my house is central, and has many bus routes passing through. So when this kind of thing happens, you get to see about two of each bus go by. The first one makes you sigh. The second of the same number goes by, I'll be so tempted to curse and swear (God give me more patience in this area!). And I'm not the impatient sort. Can I launch a complaint huh huh can I can I?
A few sunday school boys are going ga-ga over this girl who comes back to help out. She used to be in sunday school as well, so most of the boys who are still here, or who have moved on to Youth network know her. She's pretty at her age, and when I first saw her, I knew she was the kind of terror who will make half the boys in her class go crazy over her from Pri sch all the way to sec 2 or 3 at least. What's worse is that she is becoming somewhat more prolific, because she also happens to be involved in the dance ministry, so once a month, she'll be dancing on stage. I have seen two boys (not under me) fall under her spell, and now one of my own boys have fallen too. Today at lunch, two of the smitten (because of their obsession, read 'smitten' as close to 'smeedle' as possible) ones joined me at my table even though they weren't eating. Me, being the sharp and observant person I am, turned around, and, you guessed it, the terror was sitting about two tables away. I spent my whole time observing the two boys, and caught them looking around very frequently, and the eyes somehow always linger at that table.
Argh. Horrors of horrors. I will be the cell leader of boys whose hormones are starting to rage. I will be settling into the job description of Aunt Agony pretty soon.
Saturday, October 16, 2004
Played pool again yesterday and today. I am becoming a bit better at placing, although the shots still do not have the consistency in accuracy that I aim for. Someday I will clear the table from the opening shot. Some day.
Came back from a karaoke session. Shouldn't have taken Wu Xiang for dinner yesterday. Too many fried things inside there, and it nearly killed my throat. The coup de grace (finishing blow) came actually because a few of us tried to sing Shi Jie Mo Ri by Shin.
I will not try singing any song from Shin in Karaoke from now on. It's vocal suicide.
Came back from a karaoke session. Shouldn't have taken Wu Xiang for dinner yesterday. Too many fried things inside there, and it nearly killed my throat. The coup de grace (finishing blow) came actually because a few of us tried to sing Shi Jie Mo Ri by Shin.
I will not try singing any song from Shin in Karaoke from now on. It's vocal suicide.
Friday, October 15, 2004
As of today, I finished marking an extra 11 classes to cover for my colleague, which is a third of her load. I now officially earn the title of Superman in my department, which is only given to people who mark at superhuman speeds. And how apt that I marked an extra 11 classes to save someone. Superheroic ain't it? Hahaha...speaking of Superman...
*Observes a minute of blog silence for Christopher Reeves...
I distinctly remember liking most of the old Superman movies. And a movie (I think) named Somewhere in Time, which I thought was a brilliant old movie. He was paralyzed but not crushed in spirit. Looking at his life for the past few years, I see a testament of the triumph of the human spirit in the face of adversity. I look at the lack of resilience in my students nowadays, and wonder how in contrast one man can have such a strong will to live.
*Observes a minute of blog silence for Christopher Reeves...
I distinctly remember liking most of the old Superman movies. And a movie (I think) named Somewhere in Time, which I thought was a brilliant old movie. He was paralyzed but not crushed in spirit. Looking at his life for the past few years, I see a testament of the triumph of the human spirit in the face of adversity. I look at the lack of resilience in my students nowadays, and wonder how in contrast one man can have such a strong will to live.
Thursday, October 14, 2004
My subject head just confirmed with me today: I will be moving up with the current batch of year 1s into their year 2. Great! Gives me one more year to work with them and refine them into gold!
I feel sad about some of my students. There are some who flunked chem, but I fully expect it, looking at their attitudes and sloppy work, and then there are some who worked really hard, and still cannot make it. The latter has my sympathy. One of them just asked me today what grade she got. At first I couldn't bear to tell her, but I guess she has a right to know. Since I have answered her classmates, it doesn't take a genius to figure that my reluctance to tell her would imply something anyway. I suspect my classes are going to shrink by at least 10 to 20% if I estimate correctly, whether it be dropping chem as a subject, or being retained.
Looks like next year's batch will be overloaded. Dragon year plus integrated programme plus a truckload of retainees.
I am a marking machine. A colleague has taken ill, and I, with the help of a senior colleague (very senior...I refer to her as one of the "zhang2 lao3" - elders) settled the whole cohort of MCQ scripts. And today, that colleague got hospitalized for suspected dengue, so we agreed to split up her structured question to mark on her behalf. I was so efficient that I ended up marking 3 extra classes, and possibly more tomorrow, to help ease the burden of some of my busier colleagues. A lot of people are owing me favours now. Keke. *evil grin.
I feel sad about some of my students. There are some who flunked chem, but I fully expect it, looking at their attitudes and sloppy work, and then there are some who worked really hard, and still cannot make it. The latter has my sympathy. One of them just asked me today what grade she got. At first I couldn't bear to tell her, but I guess she has a right to know. Since I have answered her classmates, it doesn't take a genius to figure that my reluctance to tell her would imply something anyway. I suspect my classes are going to shrink by at least 10 to 20% if I estimate correctly, whether it be dropping chem as a subject, or being retained.
Looks like next year's batch will be overloaded. Dragon year plus integrated programme plus a truckload of retainees.
I am a marking machine. A colleague has taken ill, and I, with the help of a senior colleague (very senior...I refer to her as one of the "zhang2 lao3" - elders) settled the whole cohort of MCQ scripts. And today, that colleague got hospitalized for suspected dengue, so we agreed to split up her structured question to mark on her behalf. I was so efficient that I ended up marking 3 extra classes, and possibly more tomorrow, to help ease the burden of some of my busier colleagues. A lot of people are owing me favours now. Keke. *evil grin.
More thoughts for today:
I just rewatched the whole Matrix series for the fun of it, and I recall an interesting debate when it came out, whether the series had any religious implications, especially since Neo was featured as a saviour character, to the extent that he died and lived again in the first episode. A comment I read from somewhere is quite enlightening though. What we glean from the movie is a result of what we take into it. Which means that it may be because of what we already believe in that we choose to see something in a movie. Makes sense. But having said that, here's a little piece of trivia...in Matrix revolutions, when Neo was taken over in the Matrix by Smith, and then the machine in the machine city sort of counterattacked through Neo (and subsequently annihilated Smith), Neo's posture was exactly that as if on a crucifix, and I played that scene frame by frame, and found that when the bright light from the machine world was penetrating Neo's body, it formed a perfect cross on Neo's torso before exploding the scene into bright light.
Ok ok, I'm a christian Matrix buff. So? Sue me. Hehe.
I just rewatched the whole Matrix series for the fun of it, and I recall an interesting debate when it came out, whether the series had any religious implications, especially since Neo was featured as a saviour character, to the extent that he died and lived again in the first episode. A comment I read from somewhere is quite enlightening though. What we glean from the movie is a result of what we take into it. Which means that it may be because of what we already believe in that we choose to see something in a movie. Makes sense. But having said that, here's a little piece of trivia...in Matrix revolutions, when Neo was taken over in the Matrix by Smith, and then the machine in the machine city sort of counterattacked through Neo (and subsequently annihilated Smith), Neo's posture was exactly that as if on a crucifix, and I played that scene frame by frame, and found that when the bright light from the machine world was penetrating Neo's body, it formed a perfect cross on Neo's torso before exploding the scene into bright light.
Ok ok, I'm a christian Matrix buff. So? Sue me. Hehe.
Thoughts for today:
1) Congrats to the Singapore team for making it into the top 8 in the international Counterstrike competition...some WCG thing which I don't know what it stands for. The only Asian team to make it into the top 8, as widely emphasized. I say, Singapore should channel resources into training in this area. Goal 2010? Olympics? Hmmm...bring out the nerds! Gaming is our forte! It's what many of our kids are great at, ain't it? Other than mugging...
2) I'm impressed by the new ITE east campus. Looks state-of-the-art. I've noted that ITEs will be classified as colleges from now on, apparently on par with Junior Colleges...considering all the policy changes lately, I suppose it's only a matter of time when ITEs will offer thru-train or integrated programmes...for the Normal Tech students! I mean, with the new system in place, after sec 1, it will be very difficult for Normal Tech students to cross into Normal Acad (cost them one year more), and the subjects that the new syllabus covers for Normal Tech is "to prepare them for the challenges of ITE" as I heard over the news report. So...come to think of it, it's already a thru-train system! Basically, at PSLE, your fate is almost decided. If you make it into Normal Tech based on your PSLE, it's almost confirmed to be a thru-train straight to ITE.
No wonder parents are burying their children in tuition, and killing their childhood. Totally understandable.
1) Congrats to the Singapore team for making it into the top 8 in the international Counterstrike competition...some WCG thing which I don't know what it stands for. The only Asian team to make it into the top 8, as widely emphasized. I say, Singapore should channel resources into training in this area. Goal 2010? Olympics? Hmmm...bring out the nerds! Gaming is our forte! It's what many of our kids are great at, ain't it? Other than mugging...
2) I'm impressed by the new ITE east campus. Looks state-of-the-art. I've noted that ITEs will be classified as colleges from now on, apparently on par with Junior Colleges...considering all the policy changes lately, I suppose it's only a matter of time when ITEs will offer thru-train or integrated programmes...for the Normal Tech students! I mean, with the new system in place, after sec 1, it will be very difficult for Normal Tech students to cross into Normal Acad (cost them one year more), and the subjects that the new syllabus covers for Normal Tech is "to prepare them for the challenges of ITE" as I heard over the news report. So...come to think of it, it's already a thru-train system! Basically, at PSLE, your fate is almost decided. If you make it into Normal Tech based on your PSLE, it's almost confirmed to be a thru-train straight to ITE.
No wonder parents are burying their children in tuition, and killing their childhood. Totally understandable.
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Yeah! Finished marking promo papers in two and a half days! And inclusive of helping a sick colleague mark the MCQ answer scripts! I am superman! Or as another colleague commented: I am a marking robot.
Some thoughts for today:
1) Singers/bands nowadays getting more and more cheapskate. They release like their 'greatest hits' album after like only 2 albums, and then they throw in 1 to 5 new songs so that their fans will fork out the money. Stars like Madonna, Bon Jovi, etc release a greatest hits album only like after almost a decade of music or a gazillion albums. I foresee many more 'greatest hits' albums coming. Soon there'll be 'greatest of the greatest hits' albums.
2) The world really seems to be propelling towards more conflict. China and Taiwan are at loggerheads now, Pakistan just tested a missile that is supposed to be able to hit specific targets in India (a clear threat), terrorism is striking many places, including a threat to Korea. Wars and rumours of wars, as the bible says.
Some thoughts for today:
1) Singers/bands nowadays getting more and more cheapskate. They release like their 'greatest hits' album after like only 2 albums, and then they throw in 1 to 5 new songs so that their fans will fork out the money. Stars like Madonna, Bon Jovi, etc release a greatest hits album only like after almost a decade of music or a gazillion albums. I foresee many more 'greatest hits' albums coming. Soon there'll be 'greatest of the greatest hits' albums.
2) The world really seems to be propelling towards more conflict. China and Taiwan are at loggerheads now, Pakistan just tested a missile that is supposed to be able to hit specific targets in India (a clear threat), terrorism is striking many places, including a threat to Korea. Wars and rumours of wars, as the bible says.
Sunday, October 10, 2004
Friday night was happening man. Went to eat good food at Lao Beijing, went to play pool for a while, went to this pub with a nice live band at Prinsep, then went for pool again. Slept very late, and then awoke to a long day ahead.
Attended a church wedding in the afternoon, and it was nicely done, but it feels like half the people there are from FCBC anyway, so it felt like service brought forward...then some of us shared a cab down to church for service. Apparently when the shepherd is away, the sheep go missing. Only left me and two other cell members. Baaaa.
Then I rushed down to Taka to sample food at Imperium restaurant for my cousin's wedding. It is in the same place that Sparks used to be. If you know what I'm talking about, then you are one old clubber. Hehehe. The restaurant looks pretty impressive, and is big, being able to house about 45 to 50 tables at one go. Now the interesting part is that when we came out to see how the wedding being held there was being run, I discovered that the bridegroom was actually my sec sch physics teacher! At first it was a suspicion, but I went to check with the reception and found his sister there who confirmed it. Hahaha, small world. Or rather, I have an abnormally large social circle, or at least people I know...
Then went down to Euphoria, the tiger beer birthday bash. Went rather late, after all the nice food, so I only caught Shin's Shi Jie Mo Ri as I was going in, and then Michael Learns to Rock came on for a one-hour gig. It was awesome! MLTR has good stage presence, and after they sang I realized how many hit songs they actually have. Good stuff there. Next year would go again, but go earlier.
That ended about 1 am, and then I went to play pool. The great thing is that I have finally gone down to the new venue of Pool Junction, the pool parlour I used to frequent when I was still attending the Marine Parade side of my church. I knew that they closed down for a while, but only recently did I know of its existence from Shups accidentally stumbling across it. I went down yesterday already, but couldn't find some of the old counter people. Today I found one guy there, and apparently, he still remembers me. The boss remembers too. In fact, I managed to get a 10% discount for being an old-timer. Enthusiasm has its privelleges.
Attended a church wedding in the afternoon, and it was nicely done, but it feels like half the people there are from FCBC anyway, so it felt like service brought forward...then some of us shared a cab down to church for service. Apparently when the shepherd is away, the sheep go missing. Only left me and two other cell members. Baaaa.
Then I rushed down to Taka to sample food at Imperium restaurant for my cousin's wedding. It is in the same place that Sparks used to be. If you know what I'm talking about, then you are one old clubber. Hehehe. The restaurant looks pretty impressive, and is big, being able to house about 45 to 50 tables at one go. Now the interesting part is that when we came out to see how the wedding being held there was being run, I discovered that the bridegroom was actually my sec sch physics teacher! At first it was a suspicion, but I went to check with the reception and found his sister there who confirmed it. Hahaha, small world. Or rather, I have an abnormally large social circle, or at least people I know...
Then went down to Euphoria, the tiger beer birthday bash. Went rather late, after all the nice food, so I only caught Shin's Shi Jie Mo Ri as I was going in, and then Michael Learns to Rock came on for a one-hour gig. It was awesome! MLTR has good stage presence, and after they sang I realized how many hit songs they actually have. Good stuff there. Next year would go again, but go earlier.
That ended about 1 am, and then I went to play pool. The great thing is that I have finally gone down to the new venue of Pool Junction, the pool parlour I used to frequent when I was still attending the Marine Parade side of my church. I knew that they closed down for a while, but only recently did I know of its existence from Shups accidentally stumbling across it. I went down yesterday already, but couldn't find some of the old counter people. Today I found one guy there, and apparently, he still remembers me. The boss remembers too. In fact, I managed to get a 10% discount for being an old-timer. Enthusiasm has its privelleges.
Saturday, October 02, 2004
I spent 45 minutes playing with cow cat today. It's been soooooo long since I last played with him. At first he was happily limping along when he saw me and froze. I think he is not sure if it is me. So I made a cat call, and he ran over, limp and all, to me. He's very affectionate today. I actually tried leaving thrice, but twice when I was getting up, he stopped me by putting a claw on my toe, and the last time he followed me all the way to near the lift. He's a really smart cat I think. When I was scratching him, he lifted his hind paw and motioned scratching in the air. When he wants me to scratch harder, he motioned faster.
Anyway, had a nice game of pool in a not-as-nice place. I think I should just stick to Pool Fusion or some place of similar quality. Anyway, I managed to beat resident expert of my cell thrice out of 5 games. Which is a much higher percentage than I can possibly remember. I think I really am improving. I must play more often. Definitely. Xue2 wu2 zhi3 jin4. (Translation: there is no limit or end to learning.)
Anyway, had a nice game of pool in a not-as-nice place. I think I should just stick to Pool Fusion or some place of similar quality. Anyway, I managed to beat resident expert of my cell thrice out of 5 games. Which is a much higher percentage than I can possibly remember. I think I really am improving. I must play more often. Definitely. Xue2 wu2 zhi3 jin4. (Translation: there is no limit or end to learning.)