- On finding out that their kid has ADHD, the parents may be so devastated that they give up on him altogether
- His parents would probably send him to learn the piano, violin, or some other enrichment course in Mindchamps or something
- He would be spending half of his free time having tuition, and the other half doing school work, that he would not have time to attempt swimming
- If he seriously wanted to pursue swimming, his parents would likely object and tell him not to go to a sports school, or go take up a law/engineering/medicine degree instead and be like everyone else
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Mad Mothers Madness has won the day.
I don't quite believe it, but indeed the power of the people and the internet has triumphed over bureaucracy and protocol. The government actually backdated the baby package to Aug 17 to benefit the said Mad Mothers, and in the official news, the government spokesperson actually credited the change to petitions from all these mothers-to-be. Looking on the bright side, I suppose this implies that our government does indeed listen to feedback and are willing to make rapid changes, at the risk of looking like they made a mistake initially. I am now convinced of the rallying power of the internet, that real people behind virtual identities and avatars get moved to take real action with the support of kindred spirits over the web.
I suppose REACH forum does reach the ministers as the name suggests. I am glad that my upcoming baby boy will benefit from the bonus. The money will go a long, long way in current times of inflation. I'm just surprised at how fast the government took to revise the policy.
There must had been many Mad Mothers. The current birth rate for 2008 is estimated at 8.99 births/1000 population, and currently the population stands at about 4.6 million (based on CIA's "The World Factbook"). That works out to be about 43000 births for this year. Assuming that the distribution of births is roughly even, from Aug 17, that is 135 days out of 365 days of the year. That works out to be about 15000 babies to be born during that time frame. So yep, assuming that most of the babies are not twins and above, that's quite a big number of Mad Mothers.
Hmm...ask and you shall receive.
I don't quite believe it, but indeed the power of the people and the internet has triumphed over bureaucracy and protocol. The government actually backdated the baby package to Aug 17 to benefit the said Mad Mothers, and in the official news, the government spokesperson actually credited the change to petitions from all these mothers-to-be. Looking on the bright side, I suppose this implies that our government does indeed listen to feedback and are willing to make rapid changes, at the risk of looking like they made a mistake initially. I am now convinced of the rallying power of the internet, that real people behind virtual identities and avatars get moved to take real action with the support of kindred spirits over the web.
I suppose REACH forum does reach the ministers as the name suggests. I am glad that my upcoming baby boy will benefit from the bonus. The money will go a long, long way in current times of inflation. I'm just surprised at how fast the government took to revise the policy.
There must had been many Mad Mothers. The current birth rate for 2008 is estimated at 8.99 births/1000 population, and currently the population stands at about 4.6 million (based on CIA's "The World Factbook"). That works out to be about 43000 births for this year. Assuming that the distribution of births is roughly even, from Aug 17, that is 135 days out of 365 days of the year. That works out to be about 15000 babies to be born during that time frame. So yep, assuming that most of the babies are not twins and above, that's quite a big number of Mad Mothers.
Hmm...ask and you shall receive.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
I think there are more angry Singaporeans than I initially thought. I was reading the REACH forums, which is a platform the government collects feedback, and in the span of a day of the official announcement, there are now 19 pages of posts by upset people asking the government to review the implementation date. I mean, there has to be a cut-off date for implementation, and I think everyone understands. It's also true that even if the date was backtracked to 1 Aug, those who gave birth on 31 Jul and before would be upset and riled as well. But there are two important things that make a difference.
It's about expectations. The way it was pitched during the National Day Rally, and even before it, it felt like the baby package revisions were fantastic. Essentially, the government had raised hopes and expectations, whether deliberately or otherwise, and considering that the implementation date was indeed backtracked to 1 Aug in 2004, who wouldn't make the same assumption that it was possible? And of all the people to disappoint and devastate, they picked pregnant women, who even without policy antagonisation, are already susceptible to stress, mood swings, hormonal changes, and etc. Whoever came up with the saying that a hungry man is an angry man obviously hasn't seen an upset pregnant woman, with the intense defensive protectiveness of maternal instincts.
It's about fairness. Actually, I think the government really shot themselves in the foot this time. The delayed implementation date has already gotten many people up in arms, but it wouldn't be half as bad if there wasn't the pro-rated treatment for adopted and foreign children, who are eligible based on 6 months pro-rating, i.e. born after 1 Jul thereabouts. The disparity amplifies the sentiments, and the fact that it was done for one group makes others wonder why the exclusiveness.
In a sinister way, I'm actually quite excited by this whole thing, rather than disappointed. It's interesting because although policies had caused complaints and grouses before, this policy really reeks of some kind of inequality to a lot of people. I'm curious to see if the power of the people is actually enough to overturn a government policy, and it's doubly amusing because the wave of resentment is riding on the exact technology that PM Lee was raving about for half his rally.
It's about expectations. The way it was pitched during the National Day Rally, and even before it, it felt like the baby package revisions were fantastic. Essentially, the government had raised hopes and expectations, whether deliberately or otherwise, and considering that the implementation date was indeed backtracked to 1 Aug in 2004, who wouldn't make the same assumption that it was possible? And of all the people to disappoint and devastate, they picked pregnant women, who even without policy antagonisation, are already susceptible to stress, mood swings, hormonal changes, and etc. Whoever came up with the saying that a hungry man is an angry man obviously hasn't seen an upset pregnant woman, with the intense defensive protectiveness of maternal instincts.
It's about fairness. Actually, I think the government really shot themselves in the foot this time. The delayed implementation date has already gotten many people up in arms, but it wouldn't be half as bad if there wasn't the pro-rated treatment for adopted and foreign children, who are eligible based on 6 months pro-rating, i.e. born after 1 Jul thereabouts. The disparity amplifies the sentiments, and the fact that it was done for one group makes others wonder why the exclusiveness.
In a sinister way, I'm actually quite excited by this whole thing, rather than disappointed. It's interesting because although policies had caused complaints and grouses before, this policy really reeks of some kind of inequality to a lot of people. I'm curious to see if the power of the people is actually enough to overturn a government policy, and it's doubly amusing because the wave of resentment is riding on the exact technology that PM Lee was raving about for half his rally.
I was listening to the National Day Rally initially just to hear news on the upcoming modified baby package, since it is now of utmost relevance to me. I have to admit that PM Lee is quite a charismatic speaker because of his sense of humour, and I actually sat through the whole rally to listen to his many illustrations. It was certainly not an easy task to deliver speeches standing for about 3 hours, given in 3 languages, and watching how he spoke, he did not really refer to his script much, which was impressive.
I found his remark about South Korea's Mad Cow Madness the most intriguing, and his comment about the utilisation of the internet. I think I just witnessed a case in point, because now there is what I would call 'Mad Mothers Madness' on the internet. My wife is an avid reader of motherhood forums now, for obvious reasons, and today's official announcement about the baby package being implemented in Jan has raised an uproar in cyberspace. Some very, very upset mothers(and even fathers)-to-be have posted numerous comments of apparent displeasure. PM Lee should feel glad that his words are certainly ringing true as pregnant women across the country are now rallying together to write a petition to contest the implementation date of the new policy, and all through the power of the internet. At this very moment, one brave (and very angry) mother to be is going to stomp up to PM Lee in today's Meet the People session for the Ang Mo Kio GRC with a long, well-composed letter that harnessed the displeasure of a horde of upset women. Assuming that he is even there to be swamped in the first place.
And it's no wonder that they are upset, because the difference in amount of money is a whopping $6000 for the first child. Essentially, women who are already currently pregnant miss out on this package, and the outcry is why do the women who are actually already heeding the country's call for procreation suffer a penalty for obeying earlier? It made no sense why the policy must be implemented next year when in 2004, the changes to the baby package was announced to be mandatory on 1 Oct, but the effects were prorated to 1 Aug near the time it was announced. Furthermore, the psychological damage is already done. Those whose babies are due from Aug to Dec this year are put on an emotional rollercoaster ride of anticipation of benefits for themselves and their babies, only to be devastated by the news, due to the mere fact that they had their children conceived a few months too early.
Frankly, I think if Singapore actually allowed protests, there may be a few hundred pregnant women parked outside the Parliament House now, waving placards, and I think the police wouldn't be able to do anything because they will endanger additional statistics to the Singapore population if they accidentally cause a miscarriage or something through mental duress or physical incident. Hmm. Based on what PM Lee said in the rally, maybe these hundred women will be at Speaker's Corner instead. I honestly doubt that anything will change actually, but never underestimate the power of the mob and the media. And women. After all, these changes were supposed to be implemented due to feedback from women.
I think what amazed me the most was the relatively small change for fathers. Not that I am craving to be on leave, but to hear PM Lee speak of the importance of the role of fathers, and how he helped change diapers for his kids, and the need for fathers to assume greater responsibility than to leave it to the mothers, I find the increase of childcare leave from 2 to 6 days pittance actually. Worse still, the 6 days is for either parent. So is the current system, which is 2 days per child, not for each parent. I guess I should still celebrate the fact that the government tried to institute change for the guys, no matter how small, so I'd better treasure that increase of an average of two days.
I pity Minister Wong Kan Seng, who is the bearer of this news which may be good for many, but bad news to many also. Many would have forgotten the recent incidents involving jailbreaks and toilet escapes, but now he may have earned the ire of a specific group of mothers whose babies are due anytime from now till the 31st of December.
I found his remark about South Korea's Mad Cow Madness the most intriguing, and his comment about the utilisation of the internet. I think I just witnessed a case in point, because now there is what I would call 'Mad Mothers Madness' on the internet. My wife is an avid reader of motherhood forums now, for obvious reasons, and today's official announcement about the baby package being implemented in Jan has raised an uproar in cyberspace. Some very, very upset mothers(and even fathers)-to-be have posted numerous comments of apparent displeasure. PM Lee should feel glad that his words are certainly ringing true as pregnant women across the country are now rallying together to write a petition to contest the implementation date of the new policy, and all through the power of the internet. At this very moment, one brave (and very angry) mother to be is going to stomp up to PM Lee in today's Meet the People session for the Ang Mo Kio GRC with a long, well-composed letter that harnessed the displeasure of a horde of upset women. Assuming that he is even there to be swamped in the first place.
And it's no wonder that they are upset, because the difference in amount of money is a whopping $6000 for the first child. Essentially, women who are already currently pregnant miss out on this package, and the outcry is why do the women who are actually already heeding the country's call for procreation suffer a penalty for obeying earlier? It made no sense why the policy must be implemented next year when in 2004, the changes to the baby package was announced to be mandatory on 1 Oct, but the effects were prorated to 1 Aug near the time it was announced. Furthermore, the psychological damage is already done. Those whose babies are due from Aug to Dec this year are put on an emotional rollercoaster ride of anticipation of benefits for themselves and their babies, only to be devastated by the news, due to the mere fact that they had their children conceived a few months too early.
Frankly, I think if Singapore actually allowed protests, there may be a few hundred pregnant women parked outside the Parliament House now, waving placards, and I think the police wouldn't be able to do anything because they will endanger additional statistics to the Singapore population if they accidentally cause a miscarriage or something through mental duress or physical incident. Hmm. Based on what PM Lee said in the rally, maybe these hundred women will be at Speaker's Corner instead. I honestly doubt that anything will change actually, but never underestimate the power of the mob and the media. And women. After all, these changes were supposed to be implemented due to feedback from women.
I think what amazed me the most was the relatively small change for fathers. Not that I am craving to be on leave, but to hear PM Lee speak of the importance of the role of fathers, and how he helped change diapers for his kids, and the need for fathers to assume greater responsibility than to leave it to the mothers, I find the increase of childcare leave from 2 to 6 days pittance actually. Worse still, the 6 days is for either parent. So is the current system, which is 2 days per child, not for each parent. I guess I should still celebrate the fact that the government tried to institute change for the guys, no matter how small, so I'd better treasure that increase of an average of two days.
I pity Minister Wong Kan Seng, who is the bearer of this news which may be good for many, but bad news to many also. Many would have forgotten the recent incidents involving jailbreaks and toilet escapes, but now he may have earned the ire of a specific group of mothers whose babies are due anytime from now till the 31st of December.
Monday, August 18, 2008
First and foremost, a shoutout to the Singapore Golden Girls: Congratulations! Even though they were up against formiddable opponents (world ranking 6th, 7th and 9th against China's world ranking 1st, 2nd and 5th), they put up a valiant attempt to contest for the gold. I don't think I'm very patriotic, but when I see the national flag being raised at the victory celebration, I think I can feel what the government would term as 'national pride'. I know many people who chose not to watch the match because they already knew the outcome would be so, but I watched it nonetheless, in the hope that some surprising miracle would take place. Ah well.
Anyway, the recent lapse in posting has been due largely to me rushing out my first draft of my dissertation for the Masters' Course. I'm hoping to get the tough part over and done with before my baby comes out.
Wed 6 Aug
Today was a very long day. Other than the usual share of meetings, I was still anchoring the lecturing during the protected time in the late afternoon. In fact, a group of students was so enthusiastic that they swamped me with a bombardment of questions for a good 45 minutes! I was tired, of course, but was heartened by the intellectual curiosity of those girls. They actually asked questions that reflect contemplation.
Thu 7 Aug
Today's pilgrimage was to another place this time instead of Old Aiport Rd. We went to Fu Lin Yong Tau Hu next to Siglap Centre. The taste was definitely different than usual, because they served only rice or thick bee hoon in a savoury meat sauce. Actually, even the dishes were served in savoury meat sauce. The sauce itself is delicious, but after a while, it gets cloying since it is everywhere. The dishes were all served fried, which tasted good, but it felt too oily and unhealthy. I think I don't like quail eggs to be fried, so I didn't enjoy that part of the lunch. The price is not cheap for Yong Tau Hu; mine came up to about $5+ because I added one more bowl of bee hoon (not counting drinks), and my wife's numerous picks brought the cost to $6+. The food is indeed not bad, but I don't like it enough to go specially again to eat it.
Fri 8 Aug
Today was National Day celebrations in school. I think out of the past few years I've been teaching, this year's celebrations were the best. There were humorous emcees that actually amused me, the National Day video contest finalists were also very entertaining, and the external rock band that was invited was quite good. I think the only disappointment was the hall acoustics, which didn't showcase the lead singer's vocals well. The wushu performance this year was quite impressive too.
After the celebrations, I rushed down to City Hall to look for my dentist. I could see a cavity on my lower right molar when I brush my teeth, so I know it had gotten bad. My teeth are my archilles' heel, so I knew I had to fix it. What I didn't anticipate was how big the cavity was. I could see a hole from the top, but it turned out that the cavity began from the gumline up. That took a big filling to settle, and there was no time left to check the other teeth, so I made an appointment in September to return. I'd better check my teeth more often. Too much sugar in my diet perhaps.
Sat 9 Aug
My wife and I did some cleaning and clearing up in the morning to slowly make room for the baby stuff. We were trying to clear our bedside area to leave room for the cot. In the afternoon, we decided to make a trip down to Giant and Ikea to search for a plastic chest of drawers to organize the baby stuff. We saw Giant carrying a large stock of Toyogo when we last went there, so we went with high hopes.
Only to be dashed. Either Giant stopped carrying the brand, or all the stock went out. Either way, there was nothing there. We quickly went over to Ikea in the hopes of finding something useful, but in the end it was one futile trip. It was so hot earlier on, so we took a cab there, and we didn't want to waste time waiting for the shuttle bus, so we took a cab back. All in all, it was a 13 bucks worth of a wasted trip.
At least we came back in time for NDP.
Sun 10 Aug
Amazingly, my unit didn't get activated during our standby! After all the briefing a month back to prepare us for activation, it was all for naught. Good thing I didn't spend much time packing up. Once again, what I thought would happen did not happen, and my wife would like to claim credit for praying. Hard.
My wife and I went to service as usual, and I was to have a combined cell group with the boys of my G12 brother, Collin, at my place. On the way back, my wife had the inspired idea of checking the NTUC at Simei MRT station, and true enough, they had the Toyogo chest of drawers we were looking for! So I quickly bought it, and it costed a hefty $89 for that piece of plastic, and got one of my boys to help me carry it home.
After the cell group, my wife and I went over to White Sands for dinner. We stopped by Popular, and bought two small five-tier filing cabinets since there was a 20% storewide sale. We wanted to clear the mess on our working table, and organize all our documents, so these were perfect. So we spent the late evening packing, clearing and dumping. This weekend felt like Lunar New Year spring cleaning! Sort of.
Mon 11 Aug
Thank God I'm a teacher, because today was an off day! A continuation of the sentiment of spring cleaning occured today as we did a massive amount of housecleaning. We got our part-time maid to come in to help us clean the windows in my mum's room, and to clean our master bedroom toilet as well, while we moved our rug and furniture, vacuumed and mopped the whole house. Man, that was exhausting. Whoever thought that homemakers were having a better life than working outside clearly have absolutely no idea.
Tue 12 Aug
Diem perdidi. For those of you who don't remember the meaning of this latin phrase I occasionally use, it means 'another day wasted'. The reason for this sentiment was that I was back at Kranji Camp for a briefing. Now I already knew that my unit was shutting down, and we were to be deployed to other units. Today was about finding out which unit we would get to. When we reached the camp and in-processed, we received a small slip of paper that told us which unit we were supposed to move to.
That turned out to be the highlight of the day, because it went downhill from there. We spent countless amount of time waiting for two briefings to start. Essentially we already knew almost all the content of what was covered in the briefings. The other highlight was the tea break, and it really felt like an army thing because we were not given plates, forks or other utensils, so we had to just use our hands. The most brilliant thing was that they served (delicious) char shao su, which instantly crumbled to the touch and bite, and dropped a gazillion crumbs all over the multi-purpose hall. I was expecting the worse case scenario of us doing area cleaning, but fortunately, they had cleaners.
We then had a parade, which was moved back to the hall because it started pouring. It was one heavy downpour. Our Commanding Officer gave a long speech, to our dismay, and when he said, "I am not fond of long speeches, so I am going to end here", we rejoiced, but somehow, he continued from that point onwards to talk for about another 15 minutes. I am guessing that two different people wrote both halves of his speech, but I'll never know. Well, the only compensation was that the indented dinner of Western food was not too bad. The bad part was that the outprocessing was delayed by half an hour.
Wed 13 Aug
Today was a typical Wednesday, and I had a bit of a backlock from my absence yesterday. There was a galore of meetings, and the staff conference in the afternoon proved interesting, because it was talking about 2009. There will be changes to the system that I grew up in, and now teach in, and we will see a single-intake system for the junior college next year. It looks set to be yet another upheaval, but I think it's a good idea. Except for the part that looks like our December holiday will be shortened. Hmmm...I need to do detailed calculations.
Thu 14 Aug
It turned out to be a dreadfully long day today. I had a meeting in the morning with my team to discuss a project I am tasked to co-lead for next January. Sigh. The magnitude of this goes beyond the usual 'arrow' that befalls me, and I would classify the scale of this as a cannonball.
Other than the usual lessons, because of the inter-disciplinary project for the TA1s that was a collaboration between biology and chemistry, my colleague and I had to sit through a whole slew of presentations. Hardly any group kept to the timings we gave them, not counting all the technical errors in setting up and all, and in the span of three periods, we were hoping to clear five groups - one in each half hour, but it turned out to be one group per period. Because my colleague had a lesson after that, and I had a lesson after her, the next time we could resume the presentations was about 4.40 pm. That took us up to 6 pm, which I guess counts as overtime for a teacher's schedule. Well, I know many colleagues who typically stay beyond that, but I prefer to end my day punctually after my last lesson.
And still finish the mountainload of work I'm tasked with.
Fri 15 Aug
Today was meeting day. After two hours of meeting to discuss the prelims, I had lessons, followed immediately by another meeting regarding SEM (School Excellence Model), which was essentially a kind of auditing for schools. More administrative work will certainly follow. Following that, there was a roundup for the TA1s, and that stretched my day long and thin.
Although I don't really enjoy sports that much, it was still relaxing to watch some of the Olympic events here and there. Unfortunately, I missed the crucial semifinal match of Singapore against Korea, and at night, I watched some other countries slug it out for some other events.
Michael Phelps is truly impressive. I just did a search on him on Wikipedia, and man, the guy's achievements are vastly many. What struck me though was his background, that he was initially diagnosed with ADHT, and his sisters brought him swimming to expend his hyperactive energy. I was just thinking then that if Michael Phelps was born in Singapore, he would most likely not be an Olympics champion. These are my theoretical reasons:
Sat 16 Aug
The expensive set of fabric couch covers had arrived, and it was time to change. That was one heck of an arduous endeavour, even with the help of my mother-in-law, who had plenty of experience with this. The cost of the covers reflect the worksmanship, and the fabric fitted so snugly it was a challenge removing it, and putting a new one on. In fact, there was so much velcro to keep the cloth in place that it was doubly challenging aligning the fabric properly without having the velcro get stuck elsewhere on the cloth on the couch bases. I was knocked out by the time it was done, and that was just half of the housework. The cot had also arrived, so it was time to do some massive cleaning and reorganization.
By the time I was done and ready to continue my dissertation draft, it was almost time for (going out to buy back) dinner. By the way, doing housework seriously is good exercise. The amount of exertion necessary could rival a light workout. Haha.
Sun 17 Aug
Today was FCBC's 22nd Anniversary! It was a big celebration with plenty of balloons, and Ps Khong delivered a powerful sermon to wrap things up. I had to cancel cell group due to only one of my boys being able to stay for cell, and my wife and I went off to Eastpoint for dinner. We tried out the bento at Niwa Sushi on the first floor, which tasted decent only. The odd thing that made me feel 'swindled' was that the drink from their dispenser costed $1.50 and was only one cupful, inclusive of half a cup of ice, whereas the canned drink costed $1.20 and came with a cup of ice. I should have inquired of the price first, so that was dumb of me.
We were back in time to watch the deciding final match between China and Singapore. It was interesting how the commentator harped on the fact that our players formerly were born and trained in China, but later came over to Singapore for pursuit of better lifestyle. But to be fair, he also dwelled on the fact that they came over at a very young age, and stayed here for a long time. Anyway, China should be glad that the finals were essentially dominated by the PRC players, and players who originated from PRC. In any case, most of us Chinese Singaporeans originate from China anyway, so I don't think there's much difference to begin with, so who cares if they were 'imported' from young? I guess it would only look kinda weird if our swimming team had a Singapore PR or citizen Michael Phelps or something.
Anyway, the recent lapse in posting has been due largely to me rushing out my first draft of my dissertation for the Masters' Course. I'm hoping to get the tough part over and done with before my baby comes out.
Wed 6 Aug
Today was a very long day. Other than the usual share of meetings, I was still anchoring the lecturing during the protected time in the late afternoon. In fact, a group of students was so enthusiastic that they swamped me with a bombardment of questions for a good 45 minutes! I was tired, of course, but was heartened by the intellectual curiosity of those girls. They actually asked questions that reflect contemplation.
Thu 7 Aug
Today's pilgrimage was to another place this time instead of Old Aiport Rd. We went to Fu Lin Yong Tau Hu next to Siglap Centre. The taste was definitely different than usual, because they served only rice or thick bee hoon in a savoury meat sauce. Actually, even the dishes were served in savoury meat sauce. The sauce itself is delicious, but after a while, it gets cloying since it is everywhere. The dishes were all served fried, which tasted good, but it felt too oily and unhealthy. I think I don't like quail eggs to be fried, so I didn't enjoy that part of the lunch. The price is not cheap for Yong Tau Hu; mine came up to about $5+ because I added one more bowl of bee hoon (not counting drinks), and my wife's numerous picks brought the cost to $6+. The food is indeed not bad, but I don't like it enough to go specially again to eat it.
Fri 8 Aug
Today was National Day celebrations in school. I think out of the past few years I've been teaching, this year's celebrations were the best. There were humorous emcees that actually amused me, the National Day video contest finalists were also very entertaining, and the external rock band that was invited was quite good. I think the only disappointment was the hall acoustics, which didn't showcase the lead singer's vocals well. The wushu performance this year was quite impressive too.
After the celebrations, I rushed down to City Hall to look for my dentist. I could see a cavity on my lower right molar when I brush my teeth, so I know it had gotten bad. My teeth are my archilles' heel, so I knew I had to fix it. What I didn't anticipate was how big the cavity was. I could see a hole from the top, but it turned out that the cavity began from the gumline up. That took a big filling to settle, and there was no time left to check the other teeth, so I made an appointment in September to return. I'd better check my teeth more often. Too much sugar in my diet perhaps.
Sat 9 Aug
My wife and I did some cleaning and clearing up in the morning to slowly make room for the baby stuff. We were trying to clear our bedside area to leave room for the cot. In the afternoon, we decided to make a trip down to Giant and Ikea to search for a plastic chest of drawers to organize the baby stuff. We saw Giant carrying a large stock of Toyogo when we last went there, so we went with high hopes.
Only to be dashed. Either Giant stopped carrying the brand, or all the stock went out. Either way, there was nothing there. We quickly went over to Ikea in the hopes of finding something useful, but in the end it was one futile trip. It was so hot earlier on, so we took a cab there, and we didn't want to waste time waiting for the shuttle bus, so we took a cab back. All in all, it was a 13 bucks worth of a wasted trip.
At least we came back in time for NDP.
Sun 10 Aug
Amazingly, my unit didn't get activated during our standby! After all the briefing a month back to prepare us for activation, it was all for naught. Good thing I didn't spend much time packing up. Once again, what I thought would happen did not happen, and my wife would like to claim credit for praying. Hard.
My wife and I went to service as usual, and I was to have a combined cell group with the boys of my G12 brother, Collin, at my place. On the way back, my wife had the inspired idea of checking the NTUC at Simei MRT station, and true enough, they had the Toyogo chest of drawers we were looking for! So I quickly bought it, and it costed a hefty $89 for that piece of plastic, and got one of my boys to help me carry it home.
After the cell group, my wife and I went over to White Sands for dinner. We stopped by Popular, and bought two small five-tier filing cabinets since there was a 20% storewide sale. We wanted to clear the mess on our working table, and organize all our documents, so these were perfect. So we spent the late evening packing, clearing and dumping. This weekend felt like Lunar New Year spring cleaning! Sort of.
Mon 11 Aug
Thank God I'm a teacher, because today was an off day! A continuation of the sentiment of spring cleaning occured today as we did a massive amount of housecleaning. We got our part-time maid to come in to help us clean the windows in my mum's room, and to clean our master bedroom toilet as well, while we moved our rug and furniture, vacuumed and mopped the whole house. Man, that was exhausting. Whoever thought that homemakers were having a better life than working outside clearly have absolutely no idea.
Tue 12 Aug
Diem perdidi. For those of you who don't remember the meaning of this latin phrase I occasionally use, it means 'another day wasted'. The reason for this sentiment was that I was back at Kranji Camp for a briefing. Now I already knew that my unit was shutting down, and we were to be deployed to other units. Today was about finding out which unit we would get to. When we reached the camp and in-processed, we received a small slip of paper that told us which unit we were supposed to move to.
That turned out to be the highlight of the day, because it went downhill from there. We spent countless amount of time waiting for two briefings to start. Essentially we already knew almost all the content of what was covered in the briefings. The other highlight was the tea break, and it really felt like an army thing because we were not given plates, forks or other utensils, so we had to just use our hands. The most brilliant thing was that they served (delicious) char shao su, which instantly crumbled to the touch and bite, and dropped a gazillion crumbs all over the multi-purpose hall. I was expecting the worse case scenario of us doing area cleaning, but fortunately, they had cleaners.
We then had a parade, which was moved back to the hall because it started pouring. It was one heavy downpour. Our Commanding Officer gave a long speech, to our dismay, and when he said, "I am not fond of long speeches, so I am going to end here", we rejoiced, but somehow, he continued from that point onwards to talk for about another 15 minutes. I am guessing that two different people wrote both halves of his speech, but I'll never know. Well, the only compensation was that the indented dinner of Western food was not too bad. The bad part was that the outprocessing was delayed by half an hour.
Wed 13 Aug
Today was a typical Wednesday, and I had a bit of a backlock from my absence yesterday. There was a galore of meetings, and the staff conference in the afternoon proved interesting, because it was talking about 2009. There will be changes to the system that I grew up in, and now teach in, and we will see a single-intake system for the junior college next year. It looks set to be yet another upheaval, but I think it's a good idea. Except for the part that looks like our December holiday will be shortened. Hmmm...I need to do detailed calculations.
Thu 14 Aug
It turned out to be a dreadfully long day today. I had a meeting in the morning with my team to discuss a project I am tasked to co-lead for next January. Sigh. The magnitude of this goes beyond the usual 'arrow' that befalls me, and I would classify the scale of this as a cannonball.
Other than the usual lessons, because of the inter-disciplinary project for the TA1s that was a collaboration between biology and chemistry, my colleague and I had to sit through a whole slew of presentations. Hardly any group kept to the timings we gave them, not counting all the technical errors in setting up and all, and in the span of three periods, we were hoping to clear five groups - one in each half hour, but it turned out to be one group per period. Because my colleague had a lesson after that, and I had a lesson after her, the next time we could resume the presentations was about 4.40 pm. That took us up to 6 pm, which I guess counts as overtime for a teacher's schedule. Well, I know many colleagues who typically stay beyond that, but I prefer to end my day punctually after my last lesson.
And still finish the mountainload of work I'm tasked with.
Fri 15 Aug
Today was meeting day. After two hours of meeting to discuss the prelims, I had lessons, followed immediately by another meeting regarding SEM (School Excellence Model), which was essentially a kind of auditing for schools. More administrative work will certainly follow. Following that, there was a roundup for the TA1s, and that stretched my day long and thin.
Although I don't really enjoy sports that much, it was still relaxing to watch some of the Olympic events here and there. Unfortunately, I missed the crucial semifinal match of Singapore against Korea, and at night, I watched some other countries slug it out for some other events.
Michael Phelps is truly impressive. I just did a search on him on Wikipedia, and man, the guy's achievements are vastly many. What struck me though was his background, that he was initially diagnosed with ADHT, and his sisters brought him swimming to expend his hyperactive energy. I was just thinking then that if Michael Phelps was born in Singapore, he would most likely not be an Olympics champion. These are my theoretical reasons:
Sat 16 Aug
The expensive set of fabric couch covers had arrived, and it was time to change. That was one heck of an arduous endeavour, even with the help of my mother-in-law, who had plenty of experience with this. The cost of the covers reflect the worksmanship, and the fabric fitted so snugly it was a challenge removing it, and putting a new one on. In fact, there was so much velcro to keep the cloth in place that it was doubly challenging aligning the fabric properly without having the velcro get stuck elsewhere on the cloth on the couch bases. I was knocked out by the time it was done, and that was just half of the housework. The cot had also arrived, so it was time to do some massive cleaning and reorganization.
By the time I was done and ready to continue my dissertation draft, it was almost time for (going out to buy back) dinner. By the way, doing housework seriously is good exercise. The amount of exertion necessary could rival a light workout. Haha.
Sun 17 Aug
Today was FCBC's 22nd Anniversary! It was a big celebration with plenty of balloons, and Ps Khong delivered a powerful sermon to wrap things up. I had to cancel cell group due to only one of my boys being able to stay for cell, and my wife and I went off to Eastpoint for dinner. We tried out the bento at Niwa Sushi on the first floor, which tasted decent only. The odd thing that made me feel 'swindled' was that the drink from their dispenser costed $1.50 and was only one cupful, inclusive of half a cup of ice, whereas the canned drink costed $1.20 and came with a cup of ice. I should have inquired of the price first, so that was dumb of me.
We were back in time to watch the deciding final match between China and Singapore. It was interesting how the commentator harped on the fact that our players formerly were born and trained in China, but later came over to Singapore for pursuit of better lifestyle. But to be fair, he also dwelled on the fact that they came over at a very young age, and stayed here for a long time. Anyway, China should be glad that the finals were essentially dominated by the PRC players, and players who originated from PRC. In any case, most of us Chinese Singaporeans originate from China anyway, so I don't think there's much difference to begin with, so who cares if they were 'imported' from young? I guess it would only look kinda weird if our swimming team had a Singapore PR or citizen Michael Phelps or something.
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Wed 30 Jul
Today was a long, drawn-out day for me. I had to rush some urgent mass printing in the morning, and went to my usual class, except that today my class had to be filmed. I was working together with two colleagues, coordinating with a vendor to do an update on the college's existing corporate video. One colleague was to be featured in it to give the teacher's perspective, and it was all well and good, but my vice-principal wanted to feature my card game in the video since it was now a school resource of sorts, so somehow I was to be in the video, albeit for a short moment only. It took up my valuable lesson time, and my kids were in an uproar seeing us kenna NG a few times, but after a while, they got totally engrossed in the game they were oblivious to the video camera, which was what I would have wanted to show in the first place, so that was good.
After that, I grabbed a quick lunch, and followed the video crew around campus to help coordinate. I went off in the midst of shooting to give a lecture in the afternoon, and went back to filming. Originally I was supposed to go for the Leaders' Meeting for church, but the filming took so long that I could no longer go down. Sigh. Hopefully the shoot turned out well, else I would feel even sadder for myself. The stuff we teachers do other than teach...but that's reality I guess.
My colleague drove me back to Pasir Ris, and I brought him to try Mr Chicken Rice, which turned out good as expected. I also treated him to the Kung Fu milk tea that he was impressed with as well before he drove me home and I could finally, finally rest.
Thu 31 Jul
It was a long day today, and I met students to give them consultation sessions on chemistry. It was really tiring, but at least there was no cell group today. I was wiped out, residually from yesterday, I guess.
Fri 1 Aug
It was a sadly long day today. I planned to leave early, because I wanted to accompany my wife to Pasir Ris West Mall to look for cheap diapers, according to the recommendations of my cell leader's wife. In the end, I was held up discussing the backend administration of selling my card game to the students, and that dragged all the way till 4+ pm. I rushed home, and rushed out, and I took a bus there with my wife and my mother-in-law.
After going there, we suddenly felt that we were quite blessed to have Elias Mall. We ate at the Kopitiam there, which looked very different from other Kopitiam outlets, because firstly, they didn't have that card reader system, and secondly, the signboards were all individualized (normally the signboards just display what kind of food was sold). Anyway, the food there sucked. My wife ate ban mian which was bad, and I had hor fun, which was pathetic as well. We went around trying to find a baby-stuff shop, but didn't find it. Finally, we realized that it was actually a chinese medicine shop that stocked up on these products. We bought a couple of packs first to try, and we did some snooping around later to verify that it was indeed cheaper there. But I'm not sure if it was worth the effort of taking the feeder bus there. We bought a drink from the Sweettalk there, and it was bad. The pearls were badly prepared. Both my wife and I disliked it so much that if I were to come again, it would be a hit (the diaper shop) and run thing.
Sat 2 Aug
My wife and I decided to go shopping for some baby stuff. We went over to the Kopitiam (which has much better food than White Sands' Kopitiam for sure) to have lunch, and started hunting around. I conveniently bought two t-shirts from Split on the way and bought a bag from Fie Japan, a rather new shop, for my wife as birthday present. We went to White Sands for dinner, and seeing that my wife seemed to have run out of choices, I brought her to try the food at Coffee Club. I had eaten there a couple of times a long time ago, but I remembered that the standard was decent, and since she had yet to try it, I thought I would give her an early birthday treat to experiment.
She had alfredo pasta, and I ate this beef on mashed potato thing that I now can't remember the name of. Her alfredo was good, but I guess since it was baked pasta, the sauce must had been vaporized somewhat and didn't seem enough even though it was tasty. My beef daub (I think) was fabulous! The beef was tender and the sauce was rich in flavour. In fact, the mashed potato tasted great on its own. We had an or-mango blend (orange and mango) which was nice and tangy, and for the finale, we had fruit fondue. The fruit fondue was quite good, in the sense that they served mango (which was sweet), kiwi, banana, strawberries, and flavoured marshmellows (orange, and I think mint). We were so full we didn't feel like moving.
At night, I convinced my wife to watch Appleseed, Ex Machina, with me. The resolution of the anime was so high that I wish I had a full HD TV to go with the DVD. The animation was spectacularly good, and the storyline was interesting, although morbid, portraying a possible scenario of abused technology threatening to wipe out (the consciousness of) mankind. I like anime that features mecha in general, and this one didn't disappoint, although the use of it was minimal, with more focus on the characters. I think all the characters, males included, were so wonderfully drawn, that it looked like the whole anime had only hunks and babes. In some odd way, both my wife and I thought the female character who was the prime minister of the city Olympus looked remarkably like Pan Ling Ling. Heh.
Sun 3 Aug
We went down to Simei earlier to have lunch at Han's. Maybe I haven't been there for a long time, but I don't remember their prices being so expensive. I distantly recall a set meal costing a lowest of $6.80, but now it's $8.80. After that we headed over to church service, which was long, but Ps Khong shared some things about the G12 vision, and some bold new changes that I thought were good and worth looking forward to.
After service, we went hunting for a dinner place. We were getting tired of the usual, so I brought my wife to Canton Kitchen at Eastpoint. I was there a long time ago, and I thought the food was alright. I think since then, either the food quality has improved, or I didn't remember it correctly - essentially, the food was pretty good! We ordered the 2-persons set meal, which costed (after ++) about $35. It came with a seafood and beancurd soup, which was served in individual porcelain pots, and vegetables with abalone mushroom by default, and two dishes worth $10 or under of our choice. The soup was tasty, and it was interesting because all the ingredients were diced to small pieces, so it was quite easy to eat. On the other hand, it was a smart move, since the kitchen can 'recycle' all the small pieces that didn't quite make the cut. The vegetables were delicious, and what I like about this place is that the food is not too salty and still taste good, as compared to Crystal Jade, which boasts a similar menu. We ordered roasted duck and claypot beef with ginger and onion. The roasted duck was so tender and succulent we finished it up very quickly. The beef was also well prepared, being tender and all, and the portion was big. There were many, many slices of beef that I could fill up one rice bowl with it. There was also a small bowl of dessert which was papaya with snow fungus, and some other ingredients like dates and gou qi zi. Good stuff there, and not beastly expensive. In fact, the portion could well serve three persons by adding one more bowl of rice and a simple dish.
Mon 4 Aug
Today was my packed and long day, and the same for my wife. It was her birthday, no less, and we ended up going to her parents' place for dinner, with some durian and almond pudding for dessert. When we headed back to Pasir Ris, we went over to White Sands' Coffee Club to try their fruity tiramisu, and I ordered my long-time-ago-favourite iced mocha vanilla. It was then we realized that they have this birthday promotion where they'll give a free 500 g cake! But have to order it 3 days in advance. Argh. Never mind, I'll make sure to get it when it's my birthday.
Tue 5 Aug
I cleared some work early in the day, and I was suddenly caught with a motivation to clear up my table, so I did a major spring cleaning, clearing out 4 years' worth of garbage, and clearing one big half of my table. Now I have a big space set aside for marking! I also cleaned up the inside of my cabinet and drawers, sorted everything neatly, and dumped three bags worth of rubbish, most of it recycleable at least.
I thought I could come home early to rest, but when I passed by the General Office, I recalled I had unfinished business with my bursar. I only planned to remind him about something I entrusted to him, but in the end, he went through the whole thing together with me so as to get it done there and then, so I only left school an hour and a half after what I originally intended. Sigh.
I've caught a few days' worth of trailers for Channel 8's 9 pm show (which I can't remember the name of), and I think the show exists so that everyone in it can shout. Even the old man in today's trailer was trying to shout through his oxygen mask on his deathbed. Last time I thought every Channel 8 drama serial has an attempted (or successful) rape scene at least. Now I conclude that there is either a mad person / low IQ person in every show as well.
Today was a long, drawn-out day for me. I had to rush some urgent mass printing in the morning, and went to my usual class, except that today my class had to be filmed. I was working together with two colleagues, coordinating with a vendor to do an update on the college's existing corporate video. One colleague was to be featured in it to give the teacher's perspective, and it was all well and good, but my vice-principal wanted to feature my card game in the video since it was now a school resource of sorts, so somehow I was to be in the video, albeit for a short moment only. It took up my valuable lesson time, and my kids were in an uproar seeing us kenna NG a few times, but after a while, they got totally engrossed in the game they were oblivious to the video camera, which was what I would have wanted to show in the first place, so that was good.
After that, I grabbed a quick lunch, and followed the video crew around campus to help coordinate. I went off in the midst of shooting to give a lecture in the afternoon, and went back to filming. Originally I was supposed to go for the Leaders' Meeting for church, but the filming took so long that I could no longer go down. Sigh. Hopefully the shoot turned out well, else I would feel even sadder for myself. The stuff we teachers do other than teach...but that's reality I guess.
My colleague drove me back to Pasir Ris, and I brought him to try Mr Chicken Rice, which turned out good as expected. I also treated him to the Kung Fu milk tea that he was impressed with as well before he drove me home and I could finally, finally rest.
Thu 31 Jul
It was a long day today, and I met students to give them consultation sessions on chemistry. It was really tiring, but at least there was no cell group today. I was wiped out, residually from yesterday, I guess.
Fri 1 Aug
It was a sadly long day today. I planned to leave early, because I wanted to accompany my wife to Pasir Ris West Mall to look for cheap diapers, according to the recommendations of my cell leader's wife. In the end, I was held up discussing the backend administration of selling my card game to the students, and that dragged all the way till 4+ pm. I rushed home, and rushed out, and I took a bus there with my wife and my mother-in-law.
After going there, we suddenly felt that we were quite blessed to have Elias Mall. We ate at the Kopitiam there, which looked very different from other Kopitiam outlets, because firstly, they didn't have that card reader system, and secondly, the signboards were all individualized (normally the signboards just display what kind of food was sold). Anyway, the food there sucked. My wife ate ban mian which was bad, and I had hor fun, which was pathetic as well. We went around trying to find a baby-stuff shop, but didn't find it. Finally, we realized that it was actually a chinese medicine shop that stocked up on these products. We bought a couple of packs first to try, and we did some snooping around later to verify that it was indeed cheaper there. But I'm not sure if it was worth the effort of taking the feeder bus there. We bought a drink from the Sweettalk there, and it was bad. The pearls were badly prepared. Both my wife and I disliked it so much that if I were to come again, it would be a hit (the diaper shop) and run thing.
Sat 2 Aug
My wife and I decided to go shopping for some baby stuff. We went over to the Kopitiam (which has much better food than White Sands' Kopitiam for sure) to have lunch, and started hunting around. I conveniently bought two t-shirts from Split on the way and bought a bag from Fie Japan, a rather new shop, for my wife as birthday present. We went to White Sands for dinner, and seeing that my wife seemed to have run out of choices, I brought her to try the food at Coffee Club. I had eaten there a couple of times a long time ago, but I remembered that the standard was decent, and since she had yet to try it, I thought I would give her an early birthday treat to experiment.
She had alfredo pasta, and I ate this beef on mashed potato thing that I now can't remember the name of. Her alfredo was good, but I guess since it was baked pasta, the sauce must had been vaporized somewhat and didn't seem enough even though it was tasty. My beef daub (I think) was fabulous! The beef was tender and the sauce was rich in flavour. In fact, the mashed potato tasted great on its own. We had an or-mango blend (orange and mango) which was nice and tangy, and for the finale, we had fruit fondue. The fruit fondue was quite good, in the sense that they served mango (which was sweet), kiwi, banana, strawberries, and flavoured marshmellows (orange, and I think mint). We were so full we didn't feel like moving.
At night, I convinced my wife to watch Appleseed, Ex Machina, with me. The resolution of the anime was so high that I wish I had a full HD TV to go with the DVD. The animation was spectacularly good, and the storyline was interesting, although morbid, portraying a possible scenario of abused technology threatening to wipe out (the consciousness of) mankind. I like anime that features mecha in general, and this one didn't disappoint, although the use of it was minimal, with more focus on the characters. I think all the characters, males included, were so wonderfully drawn, that it looked like the whole anime had only hunks and babes. In some odd way, both my wife and I thought the female character who was the prime minister of the city Olympus looked remarkably like Pan Ling Ling. Heh.
Sun 3 Aug
We went down to Simei earlier to have lunch at Han's. Maybe I haven't been there for a long time, but I don't remember their prices being so expensive. I distantly recall a set meal costing a lowest of $6.80, but now it's $8.80. After that we headed over to church service, which was long, but Ps Khong shared some things about the G12 vision, and some bold new changes that I thought were good and worth looking forward to.
After service, we went hunting for a dinner place. We were getting tired of the usual, so I brought my wife to Canton Kitchen at Eastpoint. I was there a long time ago, and I thought the food was alright. I think since then, either the food quality has improved, or I didn't remember it correctly - essentially, the food was pretty good! We ordered the 2-persons set meal, which costed (after ++) about $35. It came with a seafood and beancurd soup, which was served in individual porcelain pots, and vegetables with abalone mushroom by default, and two dishes worth $10 or under of our choice. The soup was tasty, and it was interesting because all the ingredients were diced to small pieces, so it was quite easy to eat. On the other hand, it was a smart move, since the kitchen can 'recycle' all the small pieces that didn't quite make the cut. The vegetables were delicious, and what I like about this place is that the food is not too salty and still taste good, as compared to Crystal Jade, which boasts a similar menu. We ordered roasted duck and claypot beef with ginger and onion. The roasted duck was so tender and succulent we finished it up very quickly. The beef was also well prepared, being tender and all, and the portion was big. There were many, many slices of beef that I could fill up one rice bowl with it. There was also a small bowl of dessert which was papaya with snow fungus, and some other ingredients like dates and gou qi zi. Good stuff there, and not beastly expensive. In fact, the portion could well serve three persons by adding one more bowl of rice and a simple dish.
Mon 4 Aug
Today was my packed and long day, and the same for my wife. It was her birthday, no less, and we ended up going to her parents' place for dinner, with some durian and almond pudding for dessert. When we headed back to Pasir Ris, we went over to White Sands' Coffee Club to try their fruity tiramisu, and I ordered my long-time-ago-favourite iced mocha vanilla. It was then we realized that they have this birthday promotion where they'll give a free 500 g cake! But have to order it 3 days in advance. Argh. Never mind, I'll make sure to get it when it's my birthday.
Tue 5 Aug
I cleared some work early in the day, and I was suddenly caught with a motivation to clear up my table, so I did a major spring cleaning, clearing out 4 years' worth of garbage, and clearing one big half of my table. Now I have a big space set aside for marking! I also cleaned up the inside of my cabinet and drawers, sorted everything neatly, and dumped three bags worth of rubbish, most of it recycleable at least.
I thought I could come home early to rest, but when I passed by the General Office, I recalled I had unfinished business with my bursar. I only planned to remind him about something I entrusted to him, but in the end, he went through the whole thing together with me so as to get it done there and then, so I only left school an hour and a half after what I originally intended. Sigh.
I've caught a few days' worth of trailers for Channel 8's 9 pm show (which I can't remember the name of), and I think the show exists so that everyone in it can shout. Even the old man in today's trailer was trying to shout through his oxygen mask on his deathbed. Last time I thought every Channel 8 drama serial has an attempted (or successful) rape scene at least. Now I conclude that there is either a mad person / low IQ person in every show as well.