This time, it's a 4-day post, for Lunar New Year.

Sat 28 Jan

New year's eve was particularly quiet. I spent the whole day at home putting up decorations, cleaning up, packing stuff, preparing the goodies (and stealing some along the way), and etc. In the evening, I watched the channel 8 program with my mum till midnight, and I went to catch fireworks from my corridor. I slept at about 4 am, and this is the only time in the year when I have official reason to: 守岁, which is, as far as I know, supposed to prolong the lifespan of the parents when the children stay up. In any case, I'm just using the tradition to justify anime watching. Bwahaha.

Sun 29 Jan

The first day of the Lunar New Year is always busiest. My youngest uncle and his family came over first, and then my mum and I joined them to go visiting (because they have 2 cars). It is a routine tradition by now that we'd always go to my eldest uncle's place first, followed by my second aunt's place (which is just downstairs of eldest uncle's flat) where we would have a sumptuous lunch. After hanging around till mid afternoon, we would make our way down to my fifth aunt's place, staying there till evening before we make the last trip to my third aunt's place for a feast of a dinner. Oddly enough, this year it was quieter at third aunt's place; usually we have quite a few cousins' families visiting at the same time. Apparently, my mum's broadcasting system works better than the army's mobilization callup system. Everywhere I went, every relative was asking me why I did not bring my girlfriend, followed by 'When are you getting married?' As a consolation, my female cousin KX also suffered the same fate. It wasn't so much an issue of being old enough, but rather that of my entire generation, KX and I are the last unmarried ones, so I guess my mum's generation has been eagerly anticipating weddings for very long.

*Wipes bead of cold sweat off forehead.

Urm...don't they all realize that I'm attached for less than 3 months? Duh.

Mon 30 Jan

I went over to my gf's place for lunch and yu sheng. As she had forewarned me, nearly all the relatives on her mum's side were present there. There were many, many of them. I only managed to socialize with her cousins, who were all younger than me, and chatted briefly with some of her aunts. It was a little hard to blend in, by virtue of the sheer number of people I don't know, despite my sociable nature. At least now, I can put a face to all the people she mentions here and there in conversation.

By late afternoon, I brought my gf with me to my youngest uncle's place at Boon Lay area (from Bedok!). Far indeed. I think I have relatives scattered all over the west, north, and a little bit of the east. I think they were pretty excited to be the first to see my gf. We had dinner, and then went off to my cousin JH's place nearby to play mahjong. It's the highlight of the Lunar New Year for me, because I only get to play mahjong usually this once each year. We started playing at 9+, and played till almost 4 am. The only thing about playing for very long is that the nett earnings balance out more or less. At the end of it, I won a nett amount of $2.20, which barely covers the $22 cab ride home. It was pretty fun actually. Hehe. I still think mahjong is a really intelligent (and mathematical) game, beating poker cards handsdown. I consider mahjong part of chinese heritage now. Heh.

Tue 31 Jan

My gf spent the whole morning and afternoon at my place. She still wasn't feeling well, so by early evening, I accompanied her home. Unfortunately, her doctor didn't open the clinic today, so she had to stick with existing medicine (which doesn't seem to cure her). After that, I went down to meet J for pool. Finally, after a month plus, I get to play pool! I can't believe how busy both of us were over the last few weeks. Fortunately, we both played pretty well (though he's still better, darn it), and I'm glad my standard is still maintained even after so long an absence. All in all, a fully utilized long break, except that I wonder why I bothered to bring my tablet PC home to do work. How could anyone bring himself to do work during Lunar New Year?

The 3-day post has returned again!

Wed Jan 25

It's a packed and long day on Wed. I finished my lecture scheduled for this term at last. This cohort is really quite irreverently noisy. I didn't wish to scold them originally, and waited patiently for the students who really wanted the lecture to start to do the hushing. They did, but after 5 min of it, there was little effect. So I told them off. From what I heard from a couple of colleagues, I have swiftly acquired a reputation for being stern already, but I guess that kind of reputation is good to have for a lecturer. Heh.

I had to deliver yet another scolding during my civics lesson. 5 students from my class were apparently half an hour late for their econs lesson, and their reason was that they went to the canteen to eat. I seriously don't know what's the problem with students nowadays. They have no sense of urgency in general, so they shamble from point to point. Give them another decade, and I think they will be slithering about on their bellies like slugs. When they reach a class late, they can claim that they have to walk very far, or that the break is too short. For goodness' sake, the school was just as big as it was when I was a student, and my break then was shorter than theirs by a whopping ten minute. I was always on time still. It's just bad attitude, no matter how I look at it. Even if the school installs travellators (like what's available in the airport) and lifts, they would still be late.

After a tiring staff conference right after, I went to help out with the distribution and setting-up of laptops for the TA year 1 students. It was amusing to see how excited they were about getting their tablet PCs, but what was most (exasperatingly) entertaining was to see how IT-ignorant some of them actually were. I remember wondering whether I was genuinely looking at the bright through-train students. Some unpacked their tablets, picked up the power cable and adaptor, and asked how to fix that together. Urgh. One cable and one adaptor, with only one way to plug the two things together, and only one port in the laptop that can fit the adaptor cable, and they couldn't even go by trial and error? Some asked me if the protective covering over the 3-pin plug needed to be removed before plugging it into the power point. These are just the tip of the iceberg of 'duh?' questions. In the end, even though we planned that we could speed up the whole process, we still finished only by about 6.15 pm. Wired generation? Hmmm...I have my doubts...

Thu 26 Jan

I had one 2-hr lesson cancelled today because it was in the late afternoon, and the school has...the Chinese New Year Carnival! The event only started at 4 pm, so in between that, I went off with 2 colleagues to Killiney's Kopitiam at Siglap. The last time I went to Killiney's at Simei, I was disappointed because I didn't like the kaya toast and the half-boiled eggs (as compared to Yakun). Following my colleague's recommendation, I tried the Penang fried kway teow and the chicken curry, and both were delicious. The curry was thick and not too spicy. The kway teow was fried lightly, so it wasn't oily, but had a rich taste. The prices were fairly cheap too, and I had one full meal (curry came with big pieces of bread). So it's either that the Simei branch is lousier, or that the non-breakfast meals are better. I'll find some time to try the kaya toast and eggs at the Siglap branch before I draw my conclusion.

The carnival turnout was quite good, although looking at the number of people around in college (staff as well, unfortunately), it didn't look like all the people who were supposed to stay did stay. Only a dozen of us teachers were there at the opening ceremony, baking in the sun. Later on, the sky became overcast, and my level head wanted to bet a buffet meal with me that it would definitely rain. I declined the bet, but proclaimed in faith that it would not rain after quoting him some scripture about Elijah stopping the rain for 3 years. Heh. At 6 pm it seemed like it was going to drizzle, and I blew at the sky, saying that the clouds would be blown away. And they did. The sky was clear above us some time after. Heh. God is nice to me when I make such claims by faith. My level head grudgingly accepted defeat, but he should be feeling relieved that I did not accept his wager. (Hmm...though I think if I had accepted it as a bet, God would probably have let it rain. God and gambling do not go well together.)

In any case, my level head pulled me along and bought a ton of food from various stalls because he was hungry, and offered me a share. Halfway through the carnival, we were both stuffed from all the snacking. A girl from my civics class clever surmised the identity of my gf, but the poor girl got creamed in the face and hair. I got creamed on the side of my face by one TA student as well, and she was still carrying around a plate of whipped cream looking for other teachers. The most entertaining thing was the dunking of teachers. The highlight of the day was the dunking of the DM of the school, who agreed to it, since the proceeds went to charity. The right to dunking him (which was to throw a basketball from some distance at a small target to drop him into a pool of water) was auctioned and it went up to $168! Eventually out of desperation after failing to hit the target after multiple shots, they got the basketball captain to try. The funny thing was that when he finally succeeded, the whole school (yeah, all the students still around went to see the DM get dunked) started to do a couple of TJC cheers. I guess one could say they were really united.

After the carnival and dinner, I went to keep my sick gf company, and accompanied her to see a doctor. A teacher's worst ailment: sore throat, and a loss of voice.

Fri 27 Jan

No school today! Hahaha...how cool is that? TJC got a day off. I spent the whole day cleaning up, packing up, and putting up decorations. Amidst other little chores and menial tasks. Too many things overdue, with too much nagging from my mum to do them. Heh. I'll go visit sick gf later, and keep her company. I'll leave the work I brought home to do for tomorrow.

I was musing over something on the bus ride home earlier, when I was thinking about Memoirs of a Geisha. Now, when a movie is made about different times or locations (hence, languages), it can either stay true to what it should be (e.g. the use of Aramaic in Passion of the Christ, and the use of subtitles for us general public) or simply use English the whole time (e.g. Troy). Most people will accept the latter without fuss, I'm sure. But Memoirs of a Geisha puzzled me on hindsight.

The movie is definitely set in Japan. Since there was mention of Adolf Hitler, the timeframe must be near the world war. Throughout the movie, other than specific Japanese words such as geisha and danna, the language used was English. It doesn't make sense to me that the average person on a Japanese street speaks English, or a geisha for that matter, and hence it would appear that English is used as a substitute language, for ease of understanding. Then comes the million dollar question: so why do the two sisters converse with their dad in pure Japanese at the beginning of the movie, complete with bilingual subtitles? To me, that would only be coherent if it meant that the moment they were sold to the hanamachi, everyone spoke English in that part of Japan, else why the need for a distinction at the start of the movie? A smaller question would then be why would one of the geisha in training be named Pumpkin (a purely English word/name) when everyone is Satsu, Chiyo, and etc?

Then came a more boggling part. Since they hired Japanese and Chinese actors and actresses, the English spoken carried a more Asian accent, which is to be expected. However, nearer the end of the movie, American soldiers were all over the place, and Pumpkin, who had changed the focus of her clientele to these soldiers, changed from her previous Asian-accented English to a totally American-sounding English. Was it merely to show a subversion of culture or what? This again would only make sense if the people depicted were really supposed to be conversing in English daily in the 1940s era, which, of course, doesn't make any sense itself.

All these would not change my opinion of the movie, but it does give me a 'what the?' feeling about it. Hmm...the odd things I think about when I'm sitting bored on a bus ride.

I had a rather good chat with my TA class today. I wanted to find out their views on the IP programme so far, and they were quite vocal, and divided in stands. In the afternoon, I had a lab session with my class. True to my predictions, they made the mistakes I told them last week that they would, and ought to look out for. So much for telling me last week that they already knew well what I was teaching them. Anyway, I went to the lab waiting to be entertained by their inevitable follies, so it was 'fruitful' in that sense.

I went to catch Memoirs of a Geisha with my gf after the long day in school. Even at the unpopular theatre at Shaw Towers, I managed to bump into a graduated student. I had read various reviews which were divided on whether the movie is good or bad. I enjoyed it actually, but at the same time fully conscious of why some critics would not like it. It is a little jarring to see three Chinese actresses (by Chinese I mean ethnicity, and not nationality) act as Japanese Geisha. Quite honestly, after the last scene of the movie, I was half expecting the credits to roll out in Chinese. However, the acting of the various members of the cast was quite solid. I think Gong Li looked really stunning in the show, compared to Zhang Ziyi. Come to think of it, I still can't figure why anyone would regard a woman who has powdered her face that white to be so attractive to stop men with a single look. Quite ghastly, if you ask me. A cultural and era difference perhaps. Incidentally, after the movie, now I know where platform shoes originated from. Watch the movie, and you'll know what I mean.

Sun 22 Jan

I spent the earlier part of the day at the Expo, having cell group and service. Today, there was a thrashing session, and I got everyone to voice out their disputes so that we could all resolve them peaceably. There was a guest band (Creative Band?) leading worship today, and the lead singer has a great voice, only that at some point, they were singing the songs from their album, which I was unfamiliar with. Anyway, coincidentally, the guy who ended up next to me when I went nearer the stage during praise and worship seemed to be wearing almost exactly the same spectacles as me. It was an oddly awkward moment. I think with a pair of spectacles this unique, it's hard to swallow when you see another pair like it. Hahaha...

After service, I rushed down to blood brudder SF's place at Simei. We had a short session of AD&D for old times' sake, and we went to Canton Kitchen at Eastpoint for dinner. The menu reminded me of Crystal Jade's, and the food was quite good too, but I still prefer Crystal Jade's porridge. SF claims that there is a place off Bras Basah with better porridge, and I will go check it out someday to see if it can dethrone my current favourite.

Mon 23 Jan

I spent part of the morning convincing my sick gf to go and see a doctor. I have no idea why, but my bare hand can detect temperature fairly accurately (so far plus or minus 0.1 degree Celsius), and I gauged her 38.8 degrees Celsius temperature exactly. It is part sensitivity and part estimation, but I have been quite accurate since army days. Anyway, the (initially) stubborn girl wanted to stay for her lessons (which end at 5.15 pm!) despite a fever that high. That's the amount of dedication teachers have...noble profession indeed. After involving a couple of colleagues who helped persuade her to go home, she finally did.

I went for phase 2 of my dental checkup to fill up the third cavity in the afternoon, once again making a mental resolution to floss my teeth more regularly (but highly doubting I have the discipline to bring it to fruition), and in the evening, I popped by my gf's place to keep her company and see how she was doing.

Argh. Long day in school tomorrow!

Fri 20 Jan

I gave my second lecture today, and it will take perhaps half a lecture more to finish my topic, and I'll be free from lecturing till somewhere in the 2nd term. I decided that I would try not to scold the students into becoming quiet at the start of the lecture; I would not begin till they become quiet on their own. It takes some time to work, but it feels more satisfying when the students who do want to learn start ssshhhh-ing the rest. What was frustratingly amusing was that I spent about 15 min trying to explain something that, in the end, I think about maybe half the students understood it.

I met my class for tutorial first time today. As I expected, the girls are generally more diligent than the guys. A few of them kenna suan-ed by me, and I think they would come to realize the depth of my sarcasm. Bwahaha. The resemblance of one of my students to Weilian, the blind winner of the superstar competition, is really quite uncanny...even his name sounds similar. The rest of the class just calls him Weilian apparently. I hope this class will amuse me more than antagonize me...

In the evening was a Meet-The-Parents session. Before the session began, I sneaked off to Parkway Parade with three female colleagues. One of them wanted to get some stationery, and so did I, hence I tagged along. Originally, we were supposed to grab some food before returning, but in the end, the three of them were so focused shopping for a present for another colleague that all time was used up. Argh...women. Fortunately for them, I have an enormous amount of patience when it comes to shopping with women. In the meantime, my phone kept ringing non-stop, because of some AV problems here and there. Fortunately for me, I managed to resolve those issues remotely, over the handphone, else I would be in hot soup. The whole event started late, and ended by about 9.30 pm. The food was quite good actually (there was Sakae Sushi's takeaway packs!); the only problem was that before I could eat, I was whisked away to meet the parents of my students. I met the parents of 3 of my students in total, although some could have attended the talk, but left early. It was an interesting chat, and they were generally quite candid about their children. A lot of insight can be gained from the parents' perspective, so it was a fruitful session. One parent remarked that I looked very young (implicitly though, maybe she suspected my ability?), thinking that I was about 23. As the inevitable 30 looms nearer, such comments are becoming more precious. Heh.

Sat 21 Jan

I spent the whole Sat at home today, which is rather rare. My gf is away at a church camp, and strangely enough, all my good friends happen to be busy with other things today. In any case, I got myself plenty of rest, watched a good deal of anime, and more importantly, I began some spring cleaning!

I have been meaning to clear out my wardrobe, since there are many pieces of clothes I hardly wear anymore, or have forgotten about. I tried on most of them, identifying which ones I've outgrown, went out of fashion, or are made of materials that are too thick or do not allow my skin to breathe. In the end, I cleared out a quarter of all my clothes. I have been hanging a large part of my clothes on a rack upon the bedroom wall for quite a while, and I finally tied a big plastic sheet over the rack, after persistent nagging from my mum for months. Tada~

















I've tried to arrange them in families of colours too! Bwahaha. What you see there makes up about half of the clothes I have. Now that a quarter has been cleared out and sealed for doom, the remaining quarter, which is made up of business shirts or long-sleeved shirts/tops that I would not usually wear unless there is a suitable occasion or if the weather is cool/cold enough, goes neatly into my emptied wardrobe. And all the red tops that come in handy for national day, Chinese New Year and church events (youth usually have to wear red) also are hidden in the wardrobe. Hmm...and I have not counted all the pants/jeans/shorts/three-quarts/boardshorts, sports singlets, and the obsolete t-shirts that I wear only at home. I also realized that I have 5 pairs of slippers, 3 pairs of sandals, 3 pairs of leather shoes, 6 pairs of running/sports shoes of which my mum has pledged to pass 3 pairs to my 2nd uncle, since they are in good condition and I don't wear them anymore. I have 5 watches, 3 belts, a couple of pendants, and 4 pairs of spectacles - but I faithfully stick to a couple of watches, and my funkiest pair of white spectacles.

I am not a typical guy apparently (I can only recall at most 1 guy I know who may have as big a wardrobe as me), but not quite metrosexual either, since I don't pump iron/go for facials/blow money on hair or nails. I think my current state is good - just vain enough to want to try to look good, without doing the unnecessary.

I went for a dental checkup today. I'd pushed off my routine checkup last year, and now I've returned to the dentist because of a toothache. I dread the idea of going to the dentist, even though he's a friendly chap, because of my knack for getting cavities. It's ironic, though, isn't it? Since I keep getting cavities, all the more I should go look for the guy. Anyway, in the end, he discovered one new cavity, and two cavities that were burrowed under previous fillings. He didn't have time to do the filling for the third cavity, after all the cleaning and polishing, so that is scheduled for the coming Mon. When I told Evie I was going to the dentist, she said "Good luck", to which I replied, "It would be good if I don't blow more than $300 on this."

The total bill, including the upcoming third filling, is $290. -_-

As I expected, but too close for comfort. Anyway, that is about the amount I spend per year at the dentist. According to him, the main cause of my poor dental hygiene is not flossing my teeth. I'm guilty as charged, and still lacking the discipline to do it. I wonder what percentage of my teeth will be metallic by the time I hit 50. I'll just see it as giving the dentist an ang pow every year lah.

I bought myself a new pair of slippers from Adidas. The Beetlebug sandals I bought 3 months ago have already worn out in the soles! And the leather strap has peeled into two layers. That has got to be the least durable purchase I've made so far for footwear. While shopping in Citilink and Suntec with my gf, we bumped into so many students who know either of us it was unbelievable. There was one graduated student whom we bumped into twice in Citilink in the past couple of weeks. There was another graduated student who was working in a shop we walked into. There were those who happened to walk past us. The most surprising one was a graduated student who looked radically different from before after making-up, dressing-up, and perming her hair, and was with a guy who looked slightly older than me. When she waved at me, for a moment, I was wondering if she was some old friend of mine, because she now looked that mature. Just like I told my classes last year, by the time the guys come out of army to meet the class for a reunion, they would probably be unable to recognize their female classmates, and quite possibly wonder why they previously didn't realize they could be that good-looking. It will be an interesting day when they all return to collect their A level results.

Argh. I was late for school. Although I waited longer than usual for a cab this morning, that was not the main cause of the lapse in punctuality. I boarded the cab, and told the driver "Temasek JC, Bedok South Rd". He nodded and drove off, and I directed him to Guilemard Rd to pick up two other colleagues. Off Paya Lebar, he went straight into PIE, although our usual route is through Sims Ave. We did not see any cause for alarm, because we had taken a route via PIE before as well, and it did not cost that much extra or take that much more time. I usually rest my eyes on the cab ride, so by the time I opened my eyes, I thought the surroundings look unfamiliar, and the cab meter read too high a fare while still on the expressway. I waited till I could spot a sign, and the next sign read "Tampines New Town." I realized the driver must have thought it was Temasek Poly, so I said, "Uncle, where are you going? It's Temasek JC, not Temasek Poly." He looked surprised and retorted, "You said Temasek Poly what." I replied, "No, I said Temasek JC, Bedok South Rd."

He murmured a "I didn't hear you say Bedok South Rd." I decided to keep quiet at that point, since I really see no point arguing. First thing is that 'JC' and 'Poly' sounds sufficiently distinctly different. Second thing is I told him the road name together with the location, and 'Bedok South Rd' and 'Tampines' should be worlds apart in pronounciation. There was some silence in the cab, and then he went, "You didn't say Bedok South Rd what." At that point, I was getting irritated. If he had said that he couldn't catch what I said, or that it was a misunderstanding, fine. In fact, I didn't want to kick up a fuss over it; I was more concerned about the fact that we were going to be late for assembly. But when he insinuated that I didn't say the road name, he was inadvertently saying that it was my fault. He then went on to say that all three of us kept quiet and didn't protest. For my case, when I opened my eyes, it was already too late. My colleagues, on the other hand, only realized he overshot the actual exit, well, when he already overshot it, and that was about the time I checked to see where we were. So now he was shifting the blame to all three of us. I was pissed by then, and told him, "When I got on, I said 'Temasek JC, Bedok South Rd' and then you nodded before driving off'. He kept quiet after that, and by the time we reached school, we were late. He charged us $2 less than the fare (but then it was still $2 more than the usual fare), so I think he does realize that he was at fault too. In fact, I think when he was protesting, he already knew that he heard me wrongly, and not that I didn't mention it.

This is quite an irritating way to start the day.

Tue 17 Jan

I knew it. It's really just one classroom that is at odds with my laptop. I used my laptop in other rooms, and there are no problems whatsoever with it. Bleah. Today was the first practical session I had with my (only) JC1 class, and they were supposed to watch some video about lab procedures and all. In all honesty, I was sitting through it feeling rather bored, and I suspect the students would be even less attentive. In the end, after going through some salient points, I let them off about half an hour earlier, looking at their low-energy state after a long day. Since they had this "Oh man, I already know all of these" written on their faces, I shall see for myself how well they perform next week when they do the actual hands-on. Hehe.

Wed 18 Jan

Wed is a pretty packed day, especially when I am lecturing this week. I was supposed to come in halfway through the lecture because the previous lecturer needed only half the slot. However, there was a change in venues for the lectures, and apparently, most of the students did not notice it. In the end, we had to waste about 15 min for the students to move to the correct venues. The students who came in were taking their own sweet time, and after a while, though the previous lecturer did not say anything, I couldn't stand how slow they were moving, and taking their time to choose their seats. I gave a stern warning, and I expect that lecture group to dislike me from today on. Heh. In fact, a colleague was telling me that during civics, she was talking to her class about hobbies, and mentioned that I enjoy anime when one of her students mentioned anime, the students had a disbelieving look. One student actually commented, "Huh? That grouchy lecturer also can like anime?" Of all the adjectives...grouchy? Stern or strict would be good - heck, even 'irritated' is a more accurate word than grouchy. Grouchy would suggest I started off with a bad mood when in fact the students got on my nerves. As the years go by, I observe that the movement rate of the students tend towards that of snails and slugs. In a century or so, the kids may possibly grow roots and never move away from their computers anymore.

I had a staff conference, followed by an IP meeting in the afternoon, and boy, did it drag. I have no wish to badmouth anyone, but suffice it to say that through the meeting, I realize what drastically different schools of thought the language, arts and humanities teachers have with respect to the maths and science teachers. Now I see the clear logic why maths and science departments are housed in one staffroom on the third floor, and the others in the second floor. I can only hope that we would all reach a consensus in the philosophy and direction that the TA would take. It bothered me so much, in fact, that when I came back to the staff room, I was raving and ranting about how both sides were unable to understand the other. It was one kind of a bek chek (exasperating) feeling, other than the fact that the meeting dragged 4 times longer than the 15 min it was supposed to last.

Oddly enough, my bus rides today were all a little odd. On my way back from school, I saw this couple seated at the front of the top deck of the double-decker bus I got on, with the girl sitting on the lap of the guy, right smack in plain view of every row behind them. I've seen couples having PDA (Public Display of Affection), but somehow the stance appeared vulgar, and worse still, they were right in the front row. Too blatant, hence a foul aftertaste. I was so tired I missed my stop and reached Bugis Junction. I think this is only the third time it has happened in my life. Most of the time, I awake punctually 2 to 3 stops before my house. I still wonder why I am so tired with this start of term. Am I really that much busier that I am this wearied? The days feel so much longer. On my way to cell group, there was a man with Broken Wrist Syndrome (i.e. not straight) seated facing the rest of the bus, and he was bitching. Literally he was bitching with the lady beside him, with the gesticulation, facial expressions, voice and tone like a woman, and loudly till the whole bus can hear (and most look amused or disgusted). Urgh.

I've come to one conclusion: my TA class 2A's homeroom projector doesn't like me. Exactly the same time last week, I ran into problems with my laptop and projector. That time was admittedly due more to a lack of experience with the tablet PC. Today, the projector just couldn't detect my tablet PC. Instead, I plugged in a student's one, and it worked. Just not mine. Argh. This in a day when I was going around solving laptop problems for other colleagues, so it somehow feels...insulting.

Mon is now declared as admin day for me. My only lesson of the day somehow starts at 2.15 pm, leaving me with a lot of time before that to run around doing errands, administrative tasks and all. A long wait is more dreary than having multiple lessons throughout; dreariness is more wearisome than fatigue sometimes. In any case, there seems to be some conflict in timetable because a girl in the class has a lesson that clashes apparently, so things might change. Ah well. The inevitability of change.

I've been chatting with quite a few of my students from this year's new classes, and of course, with my graduated ones too, and it's interesting to know them as individuals, beyond the classroom. I hope I will not outgrow this by virtue of aging though. In the very least, I am walking the talk, since the newspaper interview has quoted me on my beliefs in how instant messaging serves to bridge the gap between teachers and students...heh. My colleague just asked me today whether I am bothered or worried that my students are reading my blog and seeing my website, and I just laughed it off. What most people don't realize is that I've made all these sites easily discoverable simply just so that it happens that way. I have nothing to hide anyway.

Yes! I have completed the revamped and updated site for an introduction to myself. Now let me think of what else I can do to add even more content to my website. Hmm....the next project would probably be one to put in all things Christian, such as testimonies and the like. Sometimes I think I'm too creative for my own good. Argh.

Click here to take a look at the finished product.

Yesterday was a more relaxed day, because tutorials for the year 1s have not begun yet. The official timetable has finally rolled out, and I'm quite happy with mine. Hopefully it will not change after the second intake. I end late on Mon and Tue, and I have a packed-out Wed all the way till staff conference in the mid-afternoon, but Thu and Fri are short days. So I start the week exhausted, but can surface to breathe some fresh air nearer the weekend. I like the arrangement. Heh.

Two relief teachers arrived yesterday, and joined us for our chemistry meeting. Shortly after, one of them, YL, got fired. YL got a worse timetable than the other relief teacher, and she came to my level head, asking if she can opt not to take two late classes on Mon and Tue because she has to give tuition. When my level head said no, she misquoted my colleague, saying that he said the timetable can be changed when what he said was that she could choose to swap with the other relief teacher if they are both willing. Then she went on to request that she reports at 12 pm for one of the days because her first lesson of that day starts at 2.15 pm. The first instance was a clear sign of misplaced priorities, since tuition timings probably can be rearranged in the first place. In any case, my level head just told her, "Eh, I think you don't have to come anymore lah." Shocking attitude to come from an employee, and a part-timer at that.

I went out to Bugis to meet my gf. While I was waiting for her, I bumped into quite a few students. I met a student from my civics class, who looked radically different from his image in class after he spiked up his hair, and dropped the specs. I then bumped into two students from my graduated class. One of them was selling cosmetics there, and the other was a poor dude who would be enlisting in army only in Apr, while the rest of his friends have all been shaven bald already and he has no one to hang out with. In the basement I saw a couple of TA students too. I wonder if I'll be able to recognize them in a few years' time. Not because of deterioration of memory, but rather because they would look a lot different. Already I see them dye their hair, and the girls use more make-up and all. Anyway, I managed to buy one shirt, but it's $49! Ouch. Currently I have two must-visit shops - Groove Designs at Heeren, and Natural Project at Bugis. The shirts are decently priced (the latter is a tad more ex though) but the designs are fashionable. I will try wearing it to work to push the boundaries a bit, and see if the design is too funky for school.

I spent the whole afternoon working on my homepage. The intro site is still not complete actually, after I decided to do a complete overhaul on the previous one. It should be done soon, I guess, since it is now only missing the write-up parts. I shall take a break though; the durians I bought are too distracting...I must go gobble them up. Bwahaha.

I'm really beginning to like teaching TA, despite it being more exhausting. The feeling of accomplishment when one or a group of them goes 'orrrrrrrrh' when they understood something I slowly guided them to discover is genuinely quite shiok. I think the rapport is slowly building up too. They are all nice, decent kids. I think it's a really different feeling to be starting anew with a class, rather than taking over someone else, like I did for the previous batch I took when I first came in. I shall count it as a blessing from God that He dissipated my initial dread with cheerful and interesting kids, who will probably make this year fun for teaching.

I hope I'm not being overly optimistic as usual.

Wednesdays are now my official most hectic day of the week. I start with a 2 hr lesson with a TA2 class, and again, I see them in full force only today. Not the whole class takes chemistry, so there are only 17 students left. They seemed more energetic today than last week, but were more quiet than I expected, from all I have heard. Odd. Or do they need that long to warm up to me? It is incredibly tiring to teach TA, because of the way we have to guide them to reach the answers themselves, but it is also incredibly fulfiling when they show that they have gotten it. I think the little twinkle in the eye that comes with the 'Oh!' that implicitly says 'I got it!' is common to everyone, and it's a great thing to see. I think the way we traditionally teach in the teacher-centred 'downloading' kind of approach will rarely produce such an effect.

Lectures for the JC 1s have finally started, and the students at LT1 were absolutely riotous in terms of noise level. It looks like when I come in next week, I'd better be prepared to do crowd control. In contrast, the students at LT2 were quieter. Of course, there is a larger number of students in LT1, but my theory is that LT2 contains the last 15 classes, which tend to be the arts classes, so I see more girls there. At the age of 17, methinks the boys make more noise than the girls. Hmm...I will observe some more to test the validity of my hypothesis.

I finally met my civics class for the first time today, and all but 3 were a whopping 15 min late thereabouts. I gave them a stern warning, which I then kind of regretted...not because I didn't mean it, but it is kinda difficult to do icebreaking and bonding time after admonishment. Heh. In any case, I think it looks like a fun class. I also realized that more than half the class are here through DSA (Direct School Admissions), and all but one of them through sports achievements. Interestingly enough, I end up with a sports class again this year. I'm not sure how strong they are academically, as compared to my previous sports class, but at least I think they should be a fun and outgoing bunch. Anyway, time will tell; I'm taking them for chemistry too, so I'll be seeing a lot of them.

I just came back from the 144 meeting with Ps Yeang Cherng, and what he shared threw a different light onto a verse that I am familiar with. I need to mull over it a bit more too. 2006 faith goal to bear more fruit: double my cell, and have 12 leaders-in-making!

Yesterday I saw one of my TA year 2 classes in full force. Unfortunately, I had a technical hiccup with my tablet PC, which led me to a ten minute delay in lesson time, and some minor ridicule from some students, labelling me '(tablet) noob' and the like. It was frustrating, not because of the mild embarrassment (it's a good thing I'm quite thick-skinned), but that I didn't expect computer trouble. Looks like all my being savvy with software doesn't prepare me for moments of hardware problems. I think I have to play with the tablet PC a bit more, since I've only just gotten it last Friday. Other than that, when the lesson proper began, it turned out quite fun. The kids were rather entertaining with their various irreverent remarks.

I am going to be a civics tutor (CT), a.k.a. form teacher, this time round, with my only JC 1 class. Although I was complaining about it in school, I am actually rather excited about it. Excited about everything but the admin, to be precise. I hope it would be an interesting class, and I shall see for myself tomorrow. Considering that the official policy is that a teacher who is a teacher-in-charge of a PDP (a.k.a. CCA) does not need to be in any committee, I happen to be overloaded in a sense that I'm in charge of AVC and a main member of the IT committee. And the joke of the day is - I'm assigned to be a CT mentor! The joke being that I have not been a CT so far till now...how am I supposed to mentor someone else? I should try to be optimistic and see the additional roles as a good thing...

I spent an idyllic afternoon today finishing one anime series X. I was originally following the manga series for a long time, but the series was extremely slow to see print, and had cliff-hung since a couple of years back, I estimate. The anime series follows the manga fairly accurately, and I wonder if the anime could have been released before the manga...that aside, it was an interesting end-of-the-world-ish kind of storyline, with many characters involved (7 dragons of Earth and 7 of Heaven, and that's not including some other major side-characters). The animation is superb, and the best part is that I finally managed to see an ending to the story that was left dangling since about two years ago, and a good one at that. What I really liked about it is that in the short span of 24 episodes, the anime managed to cover the background of almost all of the main characters somewhat, which reveal why they have their present personalities, which is not an easy task given the many characters. Next in line is Peacemaker.

I woke up just in time to head for church service today, after the clubbing (and blogging) last night. It is a good thing the youth service is at 1.30 pm, and not early in the morning. A couple of my boys went MIA today, to my immense irritation. Not at the fact that they couldn't make it (or chose not to), but the unreachability by phone that accompanied the disappearance. Fortunately for them, I was quite glad because there was a visitor who came for service. He's actually a classmate of the cousin of one my boys, and I've never met him before, but he was quite keen to see what Christianity is about. He's a 16 year old boy from China, and he was quite a friendly chap. He asked me quite a few questions throughout service, and I was glad that my Chinese is good enough to explain many things to him in Mandarin. I will pray for him and his fellow PRC friend who wanted to come, but couldn't make it.

I had cell group at Changi Airport, at the same nook I found last week. Nice, little cosy corner. Some policemen walked by, but they didn't chase us off, so I assume we aren't considered to be having an illegal gathering. A couple of my boys had dinner at the food court at T2, which was beastly expensive. A bowl of fishball noodles for $5.95! Scary. And the verdict was that it didn't even taste good. My gf came over, and we went to Sakae Sushi for dinner. I think the airport Sakae has the thickest salmon sashimi in all the outlets, but only after a certain time. I suspect there must be some super generous chef that comes in about 6.30 pm, because the sashimi that rolled out from the kitchen after that time are thicker. Significantly thicker slices. We went to get some snacks and stuff too. I bought 5 packets of gum sweets (called Fruit Salad) from Natural Confectionary, which I have crowned 'The Best Sweets on Earth". It's soft, and made from 100% fruit extracts, and unlike many others which stake the same claim, it actually tastes true. It is worth getting tooth decay over! Kidding.

As an aside, I just heard the most original reason for buying 4D from my mother when I asked her how she spent the extra money I am giving her every month: "If our [house/phone] numbers came out and won something, and your aunts called to ask, and if I said that I didn't buy, they would think I just don't want to 'share' the money. So might as well buy lah."

Fri 6th Jan

Today is the longest non-teaching day ever! I started with a short breakfast, and then I had a TA meeting to discuss what we are going to do for the first term with the TA classes. Right after that, we had a Temasek Cafe session, which is a nice term given to a staff conference held not on Wed afternoon (the usual slot), where our VP gave us a nice talk about learning in general. Right after that, the IP HOD called for another meeting to discuss various issues that surfaced during last year's TA1. I had a short lunch break, and then it was the last day of the basic counselling course. It was slightly less boring because there was a lot more role-play involved, and the whole ordeal was finally over and done with. I quickly changed into sporting attire, and went for a jog organized by the PE department, to train up the teachers for the upcoming road run in Feb. Not that many teachers turned up actually, with the majority of teachers from my batch and the batch after. It was a pretty good run, and I realized that my stamina was still roughly there, which meant that when I took the IPPT near my birthday, it was the flu that did me in. Bleah. I also realized sadly that my knees still hurt a little when I run, but only when there's heavy impact. No more marathon this year for me...not worth risking life and limb.

I came home for a nap, and then met my gf at Suntec. She had gone to meet her good friend from JC, and I joined them for a short moment before the friend went off. We had, once again, what I coin as a 'friendster moment' - we discovered that this close friend of my gf is a close friend of one of my closest friends (blood brudder Yuren). Singapore is so small. I still believe that any two Singaporeans randomly picked are at most friend of a friend of friend of each other. We hung out at Esplanade's California Bistro, which seemed to have undergone a makeover. The mango thick milkshake is delicious, albeit a little too sweet. Good stuff.

Sat 7th Jan

I finally went to check out Ministry of Sound today, which explains why I am blogging at this hour in the night - I mean, morning. I arranged to meet Collin, J and Steph at 9 pm, but I reached there earlier, so I went to queue, and goodness, the queue was long. No, come to think of it, long is an understatement. I think it wasn't this bad when people queued for Hello Kitty. Anyway, the queue moved pretty fast, relative to the rumours I've been hearing from various sources, and I got in after waiting for an hour. Today's cover charge was $25 for men, $20 for ladies, inclusive of 2 drinks, so it's pretty alright.

The place is sprawling huge. The main dance floor is very big, and very empty. Apparently, they disallow people onto it till maybe 11+? I see bouncers blocking the way at first. Here's a shot of the dance floor, taken with my trusty handphone.
















We were too early, so we went round to explore a little. On the first floor, there is one other dance floor Smoove, which features R&B and Hip Hop music (which I really don't like for clubbing). It is fairly sizably big, and has a wire fencing round the dance area in the centre before the DJ Console. On the second floor, there's another place 54, which features Retro music. This is music even older than what they play at Zouk's Mambo Jambo (which is 80's dance music), but tastefully remixed. However, the dance floor there is pretty small. There's another room called Pure, and it's bright white in decor, with cosy sofa and bed-like seats. However, to have a table in there requires the opening of at least 3 bottles, and a bottle cost about $228 on average. Scary for a small fry clubber like me. There are tables all over the place other than Pure, and those require the opening of 1 bottle. So in the end, we sat by the ledge, which is free. Here's a shot of the view from there.

















Only around 11+ did the dance floor (in the above picture) open, and got packed quickly. It was trance music all the way, which I found to be pretty cool, but J couldn't stand it. And after a while, I also found it boring. So we went to 54 for a while, but the place was hot, as if the air-conditioning was non-existent. Here's a psychadelic shot of J grooving. Night mode plus movement equals blur pictures.
















We were jostled about at the dance floor by a big group of Caucasian men, who by default are pretty bulky in size, so after a while, we went back to the main dance floor. When we were bored of the music again, we headed out to Smoove to check it out, and it was jam-packed! Apparently, R&B and Hip Hop are really hot in Singapore. I fear that it will one day displace other music in clubs. Argh, the horror! Gross. In any case, we went one big round and out of the place simply because there wasn't space to squeeze in to dance. So we went visiting several locations before we finally called it a day. Considering that I drank only two glasses, and danced quite vigorously throughout, I suspect I could have burnt a decent amount of calories more than I consumed. Anyway, the drinks are goooood. The bartenders are not stingy with the alcohol, and the mixes generally taste fairly strong. The place is definitely worth coming again to, even if I have to queue for an hour to get in. Looks like Zouk has gotten an able new contender for business now. The bonus of the night was getting a Mercedes cab for the ride home. Heh. Oh yeah, and I think I'm kinda half deaf now.

Yesterday I met one of my Temasek Academy (TA) classes for lessons, and I was mildly surprised. From what I hear about these through-train kids, they have been painted out to be full of energy, vibrant, talkative, and etc. What I saw yesterday morning was a bunch of lethargic individuals. I started with a round of introductions, but they were unresponsively quiet. I theorize that since there was less than half the class around, with the absent ones being involved in orientation, the energetic ones were probably in the orientation anyway. What shocked me though was the difficulty they had in doing the revision exercise. Apparently, most of what they learnt had been lost during the long holidays. Sigh.

I went for cell group in the evening. J had to leave early, and Adrian managed to wrap up cell group in 1.5 hours, which to me, is record-breakingly short. In the end, Collin, Eric, JH and I went down to Smith street for supper. I realized I always order char kway teow from the same stall usually, and that it is actually not that fantastic, compared to what is available at the hawker centre downstairs of my house, or the one opposite the school. I think it just happens that when I end up at Smith street, often I have some craving for char kway teow coincidentally.

In contrast to yesterday, I met another TA class today, and they were sufficiently responsive. My colleague initially told me to expect the reverse reactions in the two classes I am teaching, so I found it rather odd to say the least. Essentially, this class seemed more conscientious, or at least, they seemed to know their stuff better, and the other classes my colleagues are teaching appear to be fine as well. Looks like one of my classes would need a lot more work. Perhaps because of that classes' various subject combinations, which all suggest a predisposition towards the humanties/arts. Next week, the real challenge of teaching TA will begin once we kick in this year's syllabus.

I had the second session of the counselling course today. I wonder if anyone gave the presenter some feedback similar to what I thought, because today, he shared a little bit more about his experiences. Still uninteresting though, unfortunately, and I was busy solving an interesting maths problem that stumped a couple of maths teachers. I did solve it actually! Bwahaha. My brain has not rusted yet. At least, it entertained me through a good part of the course. It would not be as boring perhaps had my church training not covered similar content before. Ah well.

I received a phone call from one of my graduated students, and I was pleasantly surprised. It would have been genuinely pleasant had the call not borne an underlying agenda of wanting me to meet her colleague who wants to show me some MLM health product samples. That moment stirred up similar sentiments to when a long-lost friend suddenly reappeared, only to start introducing insurance or financial plans. I remember a comment from a friend who said to another friend who is going into financial planning that it might be easier to start working with friends first, and I think otherwise. I wonder if other people feel the same way as I do - disappointment that the relationship is only worth a business transaction, when it comes from someone who is not a close contact.

First day of school! I can't call it hectic exactly, but I was busy right before school assembly. I thought I had to help set up the auditorium for principal's address along with Jon, but fortunately, the students were already there. I think I should be thankful that despite having such a small team working for me, they actually are highly efficient. In the end, Jon and I hung around to oversee the whole (messy) thing, and did not have to do 'manual labour'. A graduated student ML came back to visit, and dropped by to say hi to me. It's a nice feeling...haha...part of the intrinsic rewards that come with the teaching profession perhaps. She informed me about her class barbecue at Aloha Changi, but I don't have the energy to drop by so far a place. It is a very long day for a first day of school.

I managed to squeeze out a bit of lull time before I went for a quick lunch, and it was back to school for a basic counselling course from 1.30 to 4.30 pm. Argh, and it has to end at 4.30 pm for Thu and Fri, because the course is broken up to 3 days! Bleah. The course session today was dead boring. I was playing with this cast chain puzzle ZH gave me for Christmas; actually, I already solved it, but I think I put it back the wrong way perhaps, and now I can't take it apart again. It's actually no fault of the presenter, but I think he chose to cover too much theoretical stuff - psychology and biology. Although I didn't seem to be paying attention, I did grasp most of what he said, and I realized that I only perked up my ears a bit when he mentioned anecdotes. If he went on to describe more of his cases as examples, it would have made the session much more enjoyable, I estimate. Ah well, I'll write that into the feedback form at the end of the course then.

New Year's Eve

I met a couple of uni classmates for lunch. After wanting to check out the place for quite a while, I finally ate at Manhattan Fish Market at Plaza Sing. Blood brudder Yuren insists that the place serves better food than Fish & Co, but after a meal there, I think the standard and price are just comparable. Poor ML is experiencing puberty at 25 - she only just kenna a very bad outbreak of acne. A waste of a pretty face, I say. In any case, she has finally returned me my Sol Bianca anime after 3 years, at long last. Both ML and HL seemed unhappy with their work, which makes me feel even more assured that I made the right switch to teaching as a career.

This is one of the quieter New Year's Eve I've had for a while. I was just watching DVDs with my girlfriend till about midnight, and caught the fireworks from the comfort of my corridor. Bwahaha...I love my place. There was no need to go squeeze with thousands of people at the Esplanade for the view, missing only perhaps the thunderous explosions of the fireworks. After that we took a stroll to Lavender Food Court for a simple supper. I guess the company always matter more than the activity, doesn't it?

New Year's Day

After missing cell group for a couple of weeks, first due to illness, second due to KL trip, I finally met my boys for cell group. Considering now that the church has moved to Expo, I find Changi Airport a pretty nice place to have cell group. I managed to find a relatively quiet spot where we can maintain low profile, except for moments when my boys get bizarrely friendly and say "Hi! Happy New Year!" to passers-by, particularly air stewardesses. I gave them a dinner treat at Burger King, which is a belated birthday treat. I should have taken a picture of the huge pile of fries they stacked. I've not seen fries look that daunting to finish before.

In the evening it was the Youthnet Bash! The praise and worship was awesome, and I was dancing till my knee started hurting, and I was sweat-soaked. I saw some TJC students there, although not taught by me, and I think they were more shocked to see me there than my seeing them. It was a whole load of fun, but I think my boys and I might have irritated the people seated in front of us, because we were bursting balloons and all. The whole bash ended pretty late actually, and I wonder how many people were stuck without a means to get home, but fortunately I bumped into shups! who was waiting for QF to pick her up for supper, and I happily sneaked a ride along with my girlfriend and her sister. We had BCM at blk 85, but this time round, the noodles were from another stall. I think I still prefer the noodles from the second stall.

Last Day of Holidays

Alas, all good things must come to an end. School is starting tomorrow. I think I had too short a holiday this time. I wonder if I can shirk off some pointless responsibilities in the June holidays, and spend less unnecessary time in school next time. I decided to be a good boy and stay home the whole day, since I really haven't been home much for the past couple of weeks at least. Besides, I needed to work on my network's tribe t-shirt. I'm waiting to see my design worn by the couple of hundreds of brothers and sisters under my pastor...hehe.

I also decided to revamp my homepage, and now I redesigned it to make it better for navigation of the various pages. It's now easier to add stuff to it too, if I decide to add other pages. Here ends phase 1 of the revamp. I'll tweak some other stuff when I have more time again, which seems hardly possible right now. Argh.

Check out...The Living Room.