Time of our lives
There seems to be much to talk about, starting with the resurgence of the elitist issue. I'm really fed up with this thing already. My only wish is people don't blow up the matter again and those who wield power to influence others not fuel the fire.
It all started with the HC boy (I deliberately used the word boy) who punched the bus driver over a frankly silly matter. A writer tried to argue that students in elite schools have more pressure thus are more likely to snap.
Frankly speaking, I think that, after going to so many schools, students from elite schools are no different from those in other schools. I think it's absolute crap that one should think they are any different. Doing so merely just messes with your thinking. It doesn't mean you came from a brand name school you're set for success.
I just hope that people can stop having such wrong notions of such students. Also, one thing I believe in, is that it is pointless to argue the case for students in such schools, as it'll be hard to find any sympathy or understanding from a society who currently have wrong ideas about them.
Talking to Nick about our respective futures, he said he really wants to be a farmer in NZ. I said if he gets to become that, I'll visit him every year with my family. The kids will play in the field while we sip wine on the patio talking cock. Good life, no?
Just had this idea of creating a new drama serial after talking to Nick and watching Bones on Channel 5.
It'll be a story about this social worker, who isn't your ordinary kind helpful stereotype. He does social work to get to know emotionally vulnerable women so he can take advantage of their instability, chooses who to help, and only helps those who he thinks are worth helping, yet, he still gets the praise of many. This newly hired social worker who is very idealistic and paired up with him finds him reprehensible at first, as she disagrees with his ways. In the end, she gets convinced by his unorthodox and unconventional methods to help people.
The crux of the situation is that the guy himself doesn't believe what he does helps anyone anyway. "I'm not a good person." he'd constantly say, because he believes that he will never reach the point that he can help someone without thinking about how it'd benefit him. And he is not totally convinced about social work, he sees it as a job, unlike the girl who is filled with ideals, he just does it because, in his own words, "I want to."
Just throw all sorts of situations for them to handle, which they will in their own ways, causing conflict which need to be resolved by the end of the episode, and voila we get a full season. Character development would show the guy have a bit more faith in what he does, and the girl would temper her idealism to something more practical.
Removed my P plate. Am now officially able to accrue less than 24 points before losing my license.
Just feel a bit of ennui. It seems like in my haste to do many things, I have exhausted myself of things to do. Time to go search for more stuff to do before restlessness sets in.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Remember your first wedding?
For those who saw the new commercial commerating 40 years of NS, the abovementioned words appear at the part when a new recruit grabs his rifle from his superior in the rifle presentation ceremony. Brought back some memories, it sure did.
"You must snatch it from me! Like a man!"
Wednesday went to watch Phantom of the Opera. Very good stuff, people were humming the tunes in the toilet while peeing during the intermission. Am now listening to the soundtrack regularly as well. Well worth the 147 bucks.
Friday, the mahjong session that were gestating for a week finally materialised, after a few hiccups along the way. What with people playing out last minute due to a forgotten birthday party or people insisting that they'll only come after watching the 7 pm show on Channel 8 for a chiobu. The driver of the mercedes shuttle bus came to my place early afternoon as he was bored, we browsed kino for a while and he got to be known as Andy, driving all the way to redhill first then to meyer road, where we didn't complete a mahjong game again. Played the stupid drinking game after supper, i kenaed the nonsense for the last round (Tequila, whisky and water). The first round was worse, absolut strawberry, jolly shandy and milo.
Sun was a farce, as we were supposed to go ice skating but got the closing time wrong. Ended up going to settler's cafe in holland village, played their namesake's game and found it quite fun. Adrian got 2 answers right during the idiot game when he was supposed to get them wrong, and claimed he did that accidentally. I'm sure.
Am very behind with my Japanese homework as a result of constant going out, shall take tomorrow to study.
Shall just end with a story. On Sat, I went to office for some refresher course. As it was a very last minute thing, the turn out was very poor, with only 3 people (myself included) appeared. As the meeting hadn't started, I chatted with a colleague who came earlier than me. She started to enthusiastically tell me about what happened to her the previous day.
A bit of backstory first. There was a collective office lunch once, and I sat opposite her for it and started to talk to her. I've seen her before a few times, and she is always dressed in a very mature manner, so I always thought she was a good 3 years older than me. Over the course of her conversation, she revealed she's only a first year uni student, then it dawned on me that she was actually younger than me! In my sleep deprived state then, my mouth moved faster than my brain and I just blurted out these words.
"Your only 20? I thought you were 24!"
She said "No." with enough frostiness to freeze hell over. I thought, Oops, BIG mistake there. But thankfully she didn't really take it to heart, and we chatted amicably during our subsequent meetings.
Back to last Sat, she started to tell me that she was in Bugis the previous day shopping, and suddenly she was approached by 2 young looking but well dressed guys. 1 of them said, "Err, can I have your number?" and she was taken aback. She didn't give them her number, but a email address she hardly uses, and asked for their ages. They told her they were 18.
Which led to her to triumphantly say to me, "Hey 2 18 year old guys approached me leh! And you still say I look 24." When I tried to tease her about those guys having Oedipal complexes, she retorted, "Eh don't talk nonsense la. When you get 16 year old girls approaching you then you have the right to talk!"
And the best part, she repeated the story to anyone who cared to listen in the office.
Line of the week. When discussing examples to illustrate points to the students, many atime we use the ones that are "unforgettable" for various reasons so that the students will remember.
"Why is it that the best examples are the ones that inevitably have to do with bodily secretions?"
For those who saw the new commercial commerating 40 years of NS, the abovementioned words appear at the part when a new recruit grabs his rifle from his superior in the rifle presentation ceremony. Brought back some memories, it sure did.
"You must snatch it from me! Like a man!"
Wednesday went to watch Phantom of the Opera. Very good stuff, people were humming the tunes in the toilet while peeing during the intermission. Am now listening to the soundtrack regularly as well. Well worth the 147 bucks.
Friday, the mahjong session that were gestating for a week finally materialised, after a few hiccups along the way. What with people playing out last minute due to a forgotten birthday party or people insisting that they'll only come after watching the 7 pm show on Channel 8 for a chiobu. The driver of the mercedes shuttle bus came to my place early afternoon as he was bored, we browsed kino for a while and he got to be known as Andy, driving all the way to redhill first then to meyer road, where we didn't complete a mahjong game again. Played the stupid drinking game after supper, i kenaed the nonsense for the last round (Tequila, whisky and water). The first round was worse, absolut strawberry, jolly shandy and milo.
Sun was a farce, as we were supposed to go ice skating but got the closing time wrong. Ended up going to settler's cafe in holland village, played their namesake's game and found it quite fun. Adrian got 2 answers right during the idiot game when he was supposed to get them wrong, and claimed he did that accidentally. I'm sure.
Am very behind with my Japanese homework as a result of constant going out, shall take tomorrow to study.
Shall just end with a story. On Sat, I went to office for some refresher course. As it was a very last minute thing, the turn out was very poor, with only 3 people (myself included) appeared. As the meeting hadn't started, I chatted with a colleague who came earlier than me. She started to enthusiastically tell me about what happened to her the previous day.
A bit of backstory first. There was a collective office lunch once, and I sat opposite her for it and started to talk to her. I've seen her before a few times, and she is always dressed in a very mature manner, so I always thought she was a good 3 years older than me. Over the course of her conversation, she revealed she's only a first year uni student, then it dawned on me that she was actually younger than me! In my sleep deprived state then, my mouth moved faster than my brain and I just blurted out these words.
"Your only 20? I thought you were 24!"
She said "No." with enough frostiness to freeze hell over. I thought, Oops, BIG mistake there. But thankfully she didn't really take it to heart, and we chatted amicably during our subsequent meetings.
Back to last Sat, she started to tell me that she was in Bugis the previous day shopping, and suddenly she was approached by 2 young looking but well dressed guys. 1 of them said, "Err, can I have your number?" and she was taken aback. She didn't give them her number, but a email address she hardly uses, and asked for their ages. They told her they were 18.
Which led to her to triumphantly say to me, "Hey 2 18 year old guys approached me leh! And you still say I look 24." When I tried to tease her about those guys having Oedipal complexes, she retorted, "Eh don't talk nonsense la. When you get 16 year old girls approaching you then you have the right to talk!"
And the best part, she repeated the story to anyone who cared to listen in the office.
Line of the week. When discussing examples to illustrate points to the students, many atime we use the ones that are "unforgettable" for various reasons so that the students will remember.
"Why is it that the best examples are the ones that inevitably have to do with bodily secretions?"
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Goodbye, halcyon days
Something just hit me while I was bathing.
Recently someone dear to me and younger than me told me, after a bit of probing, that he got a girlfriend. My suspicions were aroused when I saw him myseteriously acquire a set of homemade muffins and was confirmed when his MSN display pic showed 2 people instead of 1.
When I told this story to a friend, he laughed and said that he got chocolate cake after his very book out from tekong.
What set me thinking was, when I spoke to the guy that was younger than me, I know his puppy love would face a lot of obstacles and chances are it won't work out and end in tears. The cynical side of me wanted to tell him that, but I decided not to.
Despite this knowledge, I think the things that they'll do for each other would make it worthwhile. Just like the friend with the chocolate cake, although it did not end up the way he wanted, I'm sure if he thinks back to that day he'll smile at the memory of it. Let's face it, after shagging around in that shit island for 2 weeks, dragged from the comfortable civilisation we were used to to something so alien and different, I'm sure the feeling you get if someone was there at the bus interchange waiting for you with a smile would be a feeling of pure unadulterated happiness, untainted by the cynicism of the world.
And I wonder, if I did end up missing out on such simple but pure love, that only belongs to a time where we were all wide eyed and innocent, and that can never be gotten back again.
Something just hit me while I was bathing.
Recently someone dear to me and younger than me told me, after a bit of probing, that he got a girlfriend. My suspicions were aroused when I saw him myseteriously acquire a set of homemade muffins and was confirmed when his MSN display pic showed 2 people instead of 1.
When I told this story to a friend, he laughed and said that he got chocolate cake after his very book out from tekong.
What set me thinking was, when I spoke to the guy that was younger than me, I know his puppy love would face a lot of obstacles and chances are it won't work out and end in tears. The cynical side of me wanted to tell him that, but I decided not to.
Despite this knowledge, I think the things that they'll do for each other would make it worthwhile. Just like the friend with the chocolate cake, although it did not end up the way he wanted, I'm sure if he thinks back to that day he'll smile at the memory of it. Let's face it, after shagging around in that shit island for 2 weeks, dragged from the comfortable civilisation we were used to to something so alien and different, I'm sure the feeling you get if someone was there at the bus interchange waiting for you with a smile would be a feeling of pure unadulterated happiness, untainted by the cynicism of the world.
And I wonder, if I did end up missing out on such simple but pure love, that only belongs to a time where we were all wide eyed and innocent, and that can never be gotten back again.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Helium voiced jailbait, anyone?
Sorry for my laziness, having had the desire to blog much, until it hit me the days that had recently passed are worth remembering, for various reasons. Here's a post to say it all.
Manchester United are Champions! Cheers all around, now for the FA cup final next week. Was desperately trying to find out the Manchester derby score in Hong Kong, only found out it using a internet terminal in a MTR station. And was brushing my teeth in the toilet and heard yangqi telling me chelski only could draw and Man United were Champions!
Watched Spider-Man 3 before I left for Hong Kong, and was quite disappointed. It felt like they were trying to squeeze everything into 2 plus hours and it caused the film to be rather rushed. I hope there's a director's cut DVD somewhere, where they lengthen the film and explain many things that were just left hanging. And poor Venom got shunted so badly.
Was at a secondary school in the west yesterday for work. They were a bunch of sec 2s, with the programme focus on exam and study skills. As I interacted with the class, I found that they're class is very fragmented, with the class monitor that there are as many as 7 cliques! I don't think it was very healthy, so I spent the majority of time talking to the students during the programme, but as a result, I got chided by my Trainer, who is a full timer. The rationale is that we're here to deliver the programme, which is about exam and study skills, not about improving their class spirit.
Which bothered me, a lot more than I'd liked. Normally, although I empathise with the students', especially when they tell me their problems, I can successfully distance myself from them, in a sense wash my hands off them totally. It makes me sound like a callous bastard, but my thinking is that I shouldn't be affected by their problems, otherwise with the number of students I meet, I'd buried under by the burden of their problems. But this class is stuck in my mind. Yesterday, despite knowing that I wasn't there to help improve on their class spirit, the human being within me still wanted to try and help them, even if it is just in a pathetically feeble way; instead of the calculator within me that would decide that the time I have with them is too short and thus not bother.
And they're not the worst class I've been too. Maybe it's because the monitor told me that teachers that don't even teach their class call them stupid. I felt an inexplicable flash of anger when I heard that. And worse still, was she said it in a tone of resignation, and I could guess what she felt. She didn't believe that her class was stupid, but if she were to hear it more, she may just start to believe in it.
She could have been playing games with me for all she cared, but taking it in this context, I must state categorically that I dislike teachers who put their students down, but I can understand why. Teachers are human as well, but they have to remember that their words can mean a lot, even if they think their words mean nothing.
I think it's just me, or either that I have been watching too much GTO. I think for my job, I have displayed the required emotional detachment necessary to survive so far. Still I wonder if that means that I have been discarding my humanity away, a shred at a time.
Had 2 people stand up on me for meals, but expected it as they were both busy people anyway, there was a high chance of it happening. It seems like, save for a few people like myself, many of my peers have seemed to began to enter the 9 to 5 life and are governed by it. Which kind of scares me as I'll enter it soon.
To elaborate on the point, I had supper with a colleague on friday, and she and I were on the opposite ends of the university education spectrum, she a fresh graduate, me a year 0 uni student. She spoke of her interview, and I jokingly reminded her after getting a job the next stage in life is to get married.
She's only 2 years than me, and I'm mucking around, waking up at 11 each day (if I'm not working) and wonder what I'll do for today, while she's out hunting for a job. Gives anyone a perspective on what lies ahead, and it's already mid May. Give it another 4 months and I'll be on that plane to the next stage of my life. And another 3 years it's the mortarboard for me.
Given it's the time for people graduating, I think it's apt to think about my future graduation. Always have a goal in mind, right?
Had to work last thurs, somehow did not sleep well on wed, so was quite tired while working. Went home to crash, but couldn't sleep at all, then had Japanese class, after that I went to be a very good friend for someone. Don't want to describe too much, but suffice to say it involved being a court jester while being very very very tired, having only 2 hours of sleep (at least it was level 4 sleep), and trying to get a cab in the morning for 40 mins to get to work. Surprisingly, I was more alert on friday than on thursday. The wonders of level 4 sleep.
And to the aforementioned friend, you owe me haha. You know who you are.
Intended to sleep early on sun, after watching the trophy presentation, but ended up being a listening ear to a friend from my school days, who was having some problems with her relationship. After 1.5 hours, she thanked me for being a listening ear, and said jokingly of course, although I was nice she won't fall for me as we know each other too well already.
Which is quite true to me. I don't think good friends can be lovers, it's not impossible, but I think it'll be a bit weird. So now all the teasing and name calling and casual banter will be replaced by sweet nothings and hand holding etc is it? It just feels weird to me. But yeah, what do I know about relationships anyway?
Saturday, went to support a friend who was acting in a play. It didn't really turn out the way I thought it would, but at least the rest of the Guys were there so I could count on their company.
Thinking about it now, if I had been in that situation a few years back, I may have just sniggered and made disparaging comments about it. But now, I think I can understand where they come from, despite not agreeing with their ways.
Like what I always tell my students, and what I told those students on monday, I don't care about your teachers, I don't care about other people, I don't care about anything else, I only care about what's inside a person. I believe in what a person can do, what he or she is capable of, and to quote FF12, "to put the reins of history in Man's hands again". To be responsible for their own successes and screw-ups.
Perhaps I'm too idealistic. Even I have trouble taking things by the scruff of the neck and making things happen. But perhaps all we need to know is that, we all CAN. When you want something badly enough, you'll make it happen.
For a final note, to that class I took on mon, I highly doubt you'll read this, but let this be my release. I hope you overcome your problems and become a great class and work hard.
Ok done.
Purged myself of guilt.
Sorry for my laziness, having had the desire to blog much, until it hit me the days that had recently passed are worth remembering, for various reasons. Here's a post to say it all.
Manchester United are Champions! Cheers all around, now for the FA cup final next week. Was desperately trying to find out the Manchester derby score in Hong Kong, only found out it using a internet terminal in a MTR station. And was brushing my teeth in the toilet and heard yangqi telling me chelski only could draw and Man United were Champions!
Watched Spider-Man 3 before I left for Hong Kong, and was quite disappointed. It felt like they were trying to squeeze everything into 2 plus hours and it caused the film to be rather rushed. I hope there's a director's cut DVD somewhere, where they lengthen the film and explain many things that were just left hanging. And poor Venom got shunted so badly.
Was at a secondary school in the west yesterday for work. They were a bunch of sec 2s, with the programme focus on exam and study skills. As I interacted with the class, I found that they're class is very fragmented, with the class monitor that there are as many as 7 cliques! I don't think it was very healthy, so I spent the majority of time talking to the students during the programme, but as a result, I got chided by my Trainer, who is a full timer. The rationale is that we're here to deliver the programme, which is about exam and study skills, not about improving their class spirit.
Which bothered me, a lot more than I'd liked. Normally, although I empathise with the students', especially when they tell me their problems, I can successfully distance myself from them, in a sense wash my hands off them totally. It makes me sound like a callous bastard, but my thinking is that I shouldn't be affected by their problems, otherwise with the number of students I meet, I'd buried under by the burden of their problems. But this class is stuck in my mind. Yesterday, despite knowing that I wasn't there to help improve on their class spirit, the human being within me still wanted to try and help them, even if it is just in a pathetically feeble way; instead of the calculator within me that would decide that the time I have with them is too short and thus not bother.
And they're not the worst class I've been too. Maybe it's because the monitor told me that teachers that don't even teach their class call them stupid. I felt an inexplicable flash of anger when I heard that. And worse still, was she said it in a tone of resignation, and I could guess what she felt. She didn't believe that her class was stupid, but if she were to hear it more, she may just start to believe in it.
She could have been playing games with me for all she cared, but taking it in this context, I must state categorically that I dislike teachers who put their students down, but I can understand why. Teachers are human as well, but they have to remember that their words can mean a lot, even if they think their words mean nothing.
I think it's just me, or either that I have been watching too much GTO. I think for my job, I have displayed the required emotional detachment necessary to survive so far. Still I wonder if that means that I have been discarding my humanity away, a shred at a time.
Had 2 people stand up on me for meals, but expected it as they were both busy people anyway, there was a high chance of it happening. It seems like, save for a few people like myself, many of my peers have seemed to began to enter the 9 to 5 life and are governed by it. Which kind of scares me as I'll enter it soon.
To elaborate on the point, I had supper with a colleague on friday, and she and I were on the opposite ends of the university education spectrum, she a fresh graduate, me a year 0 uni student. She spoke of her interview, and I jokingly reminded her after getting a job the next stage in life is to get married.
She's only 2 years than me, and I'm mucking around, waking up at 11 each day (if I'm not working) and wonder what I'll do for today, while she's out hunting for a job. Gives anyone a perspective on what lies ahead, and it's already mid May. Give it another 4 months and I'll be on that plane to the next stage of my life. And another 3 years it's the mortarboard for me.
Given it's the time for people graduating, I think it's apt to think about my future graduation. Always have a goal in mind, right?
Had to work last thurs, somehow did not sleep well on wed, so was quite tired while working. Went home to crash, but couldn't sleep at all, then had Japanese class, after that I went to be a very good friend for someone. Don't want to describe too much, but suffice to say it involved being a court jester while being very very very tired, having only 2 hours of sleep (at least it was level 4 sleep), and trying to get a cab in the morning for 40 mins to get to work. Surprisingly, I was more alert on friday than on thursday. The wonders of level 4 sleep.
And to the aforementioned friend, you owe me haha. You know who you are.
Intended to sleep early on sun, after watching the trophy presentation, but ended up being a listening ear to a friend from my school days, who was having some problems with her relationship. After 1.5 hours, she thanked me for being a listening ear, and said jokingly of course, although I was nice she won't fall for me as we know each other too well already.
Which is quite true to me. I don't think good friends can be lovers, it's not impossible, but I think it'll be a bit weird. So now all the teasing and name calling and casual banter will be replaced by sweet nothings and hand holding etc is it? It just feels weird to me. But yeah, what do I know about relationships anyway?
Saturday, went to support a friend who was acting in a play. It didn't really turn out the way I thought it would, but at least the rest of the Guys were there so I could count on their company.
Thinking about it now, if I had been in that situation a few years back, I may have just sniggered and made disparaging comments about it. But now, I think I can understand where they come from, despite not agreeing with their ways.
Like what I always tell my students, and what I told those students on monday, I don't care about your teachers, I don't care about other people, I don't care about anything else, I only care about what's inside a person. I believe in what a person can do, what he or she is capable of, and to quote FF12, "to put the reins of history in Man's hands again". To be responsible for their own successes and screw-ups.
Perhaps I'm too idealistic. Even I have trouble taking things by the scruff of the neck and making things happen. But perhaps all we need to know is that, we all CAN. When you want something badly enough, you'll make it happen.
For a final note, to that class I took on mon, I highly doubt you'll read this, but let this be my release. I hope you overcome your problems and become a great class and work hard.
Ok done.
Purged myself of guilt.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Faraway Sojourns
I have been away, literally and physically, for a while. Somehow that reluctance to chronicle my life came about again, hence the lack of any entry for 2 weeks. Also, I have been physically away from my home, exchanging one island for another in the form of Hong Kong. There seems to be much to talk about.
Hong Kong was fun, as the company I went with, save for 2 good friends, I don't know them in great depth. Although I can't say we got to know each other better as a result of that short trip together, their idiosyncracies made the trip memorable for many reasons. We spent most of the time touring the commercial and retail heaven that is Hong Kong, but yielded only frustration as there seemed to be a lack of attractive items to blow our hard earned cash on. Still, we amused ourselves by indulging in desserts at the oddest of times, bantering with each other, braving the slight drizzle and smoggy air as we trooped along. Holidaying in Hong Kong requires great stamina, as we stayed up till 2 am every night.
Things that amused me were incidents when 1 of the guys insisted that we had 5 Aces while playing a card game, the same guy taking a photo with an air stewardess on another person's phone and spent the whole trip begging for it, camera shyness on a girl's part, having weak knees at the sight of the Ocean Park "Tiao Luo Ji" (Suicide machine, for the literal translation), the nice city skyline scenery at night seen in many a TVB drama.
It was a nice trip, am now raring to go for another one.
I have been away, literally and physically, for a while. Somehow that reluctance to chronicle my life came about again, hence the lack of any entry for 2 weeks. Also, I have been physically away from my home, exchanging one island for another in the form of Hong Kong. There seems to be much to talk about.
Hong Kong was fun, as the company I went with, save for 2 good friends, I don't know them in great depth. Although I can't say we got to know each other better as a result of that short trip together, their idiosyncracies made the trip memorable for many reasons. We spent most of the time touring the commercial and retail heaven that is Hong Kong, but yielded only frustration as there seemed to be a lack of attractive items to blow our hard earned cash on. Still, we amused ourselves by indulging in desserts at the oddest of times, bantering with each other, braving the slight drizzle and smoggy air as we trooped along. Holidaying in Hong Kong requires great stamina, as we stayed up till 2 am every night.
Things that amused me were incidents when 1 of the guys insisted that we had 5 Aces while playing a card game, the same guy taking a photo with an air stewardess on another person's phone and spent the whole trip begging for it, camera shyness on a girl's part, having weak knees at the sight of the Ocean Park "Tiao Luo Ji" (Suicide machine, for the literal translation), the nice city skyline scenery at night seen in many a TVB drama.
It was a nice trip, am now raring to go for another one.
Monday, May 07, 2007
Top of the pile
Monday, August 09, 2004
Claiming back what's ours I was walking towards kinokuniya yesterday after dinner with my family. Upon reaching the entrance, I saw a boy wearing the new Manchester United jersey. I felt it looked odd, and on closer inspection, I realised why so. There was no golden lion on the sleeve, just a normal blue one. Then all the hurt and disgust came flooding back, before slowly being replaced with righteous anger. This time, we're going to get that golden lion back, and how. Just you pretenders wait.
And so they did, with style and panache, the Manchester United way. 3 years of hurt gone, finally, it happened.
Champions
Monday, August 09, 2004
Claiming back what's ours I was walking towards kinokuniya yesterday after dinner with my family. Upon reaching the entrance, I saw a boy wearing the new Manchester United jersey. I felt it looked odd, and on closer inspection, I realised why so. There was no golden lion on the sleeve, just a normal blue one. Then all the hurt and disgust came flooding back, before slowly being replaced with righteous anger. This time, we're going to get that golden lion back, and how. Just you pretenders wait.
And so they did, with style and panache, the Manchester United way. 3 years of hurt gone, finally, it happened.
Champions
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Bloody Hell
They never do it the easy way, and that makes them so endearing yet infuriating at the same time.
When all seemed lost, they triumphed against the odds.
This time, I did not lose faith. Yes I wavered, I had despaired, but I cheered them, urged them on, hoping they understand that their dalliance with destiny was within their own hands, all they needed to do was to take it.
And they did, in the most imporbable of comebacks, made possible by not flair, but sheer will and that stubborn attitude not to say die.
Only they can give me such a rollercoaster of emotions. Only they can sink me into the dark abyess of despair, only to show me that brilliant radiance of their spirit.
Truly, the stuff of Champions.
Glory, Glory, Man Utd.
They never do it the easy way, and that makes them so endearing yet infuriating at the same time.
When all seemed lost, they triumphed against the odds.
This time, I did not lose faith. Yes I wavered, I had despaired, but I cheered them, urged them on, hoping they understand that their dalliance with destiny was within their own hands, all they needed to do was to take it.
And they did, in the most imporbable of comebacks, made possible by not flair, but sheer will and that stubborn attitude not to say die.
Only they can give me such a rollercoaster of emotions. Only they can sink me into the dark abyess of despair, only to show me that brilliant radiance of their spirit.
Truly, the stuff of Champions.
Glory, Glory, Man Utd.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Such effortless elan
Was a funny day. Woke up at 2 to watch the champions league semi-final, prior to that couldn't get to sleep at all. Felt all sorts of emotions throughout the match, elation, despair, hope then euphoria. Man Utd never do it the easy way, hence the rollercoaster ride of emotions. Now to finish the job in italy.
Went to sleep thereafter, but the adrenaline kept me up for a while longer than I liked. Then smsed my boss whether I had to report for an assignment at 11 am, just for the heck f it. Was quite sure it was cancelled as no email was sent about it, but it was still on. Dragged my sleep deprived body up and got ready in double quick time to get to the office to share the cab to the school.
Done with one, had to cross the island to get to the second one, at least I was prepared for this one. Afraid of being late, I took a cab instead of trying my luck with the buses, and as it turned out I was earlier than my colleague.
By this time the lack of sleep was catching with me, so I was running on adrenaline only. Endured the 3 hours, before catching an extremely slow 16 home.
For those who have the time, go watch the blind date videos on STOMP. I only watched the ones with the youngest couple in it, as the girl was pretty for a 19 year old (shallow reason I know) and found her easy going personality the way she gamely took the unfamiliar task of fine dining quite appealing (the less shallow reason). It's quite interesting as you can see and feel the dynamics of their relationship unfolding. Unskilled labourers like myself can learn a thing or too from the videos as well.
The lack of sleep is catching up with him, so this is the time I start typing nonsense. But I guess it's ok since only a few people know about this blog and even so many have stopped patronising this place. And seriously hope none of my colleagues or my bosses patronise this place, to my colleagues if you're reading this now, hi, I love all of you, to my bosses, err hi, don't sack me as I don't think I have brought the company into disrepute.
This blog officially celebrated its 4th birthday 18 days ago. Seems a long way to come, 500 posts plus plus, and I still find the time, energy and reason to post here. When I read my older posts now, I practically shudder and wonder why was I so blinkered and angsty in the past. Some things I fretted a lot about really seem insignificant now. The benefit of hindsight at its best.
So the dwindling or now non-existent readership doesn't really bother me. Like I said before, this is just some small corner of the cyberworld just for me, a place to tell it as it is, albeit in a less rabid and more lucid manner nowadays. No more self-righteous rants about me against the world.
Am meeting up with an old friend this weekend, and I teased her by telling her not to be late, as she had a reputation back in school for being late. She replied back, and I could feel the indignance in her MSN reply, "I've changed".
Which is true. Not only my friend, we all have changed. I've seen great changes in my peers, some so drastic that the old image I had of them in school no longer fits. I myself too have changed (I like to think so), so I constantly remind myself to give others a chance to change for the better as well too.
Why do we change? I know I strived to change as many a good friend pointed out some personality flaws, and I accepted their criticism, and worked to improve in those areas. And for once, I felt a need to follow through with the change.
I don't wish to give a reason on behalf for other people, so I shall just leave their motivation to change open for debate. But the fact remains that there is obvious and discernible change in life. And on a very unrelated note, one friend moaned that he has been the "case study" for a typical single guy until he is sick of it already. Also please don't go playing near canals, drive carefully for all and the evening lightning storm around my home area shorted out a 4 way junction's traffic lights, leaving me to turn right very cautiously while sending my grandparents home.
Ok I think I've rambled on too long again. I think I shall leave you guys with a very interesting thing I heard while matching the Man Utd vs AC Milan match, as spoken by the commentator while he was talking about the milan experienced and ageing defensive duo of Nesta and Maldini. The way he said it, it was like he wrote it down somewhere prior to the match and was itching to say it as soon as the match started.
"What they (Maldini and Nesta) don't know about defending, isn't worth knowing."
Was a funny day. Woke up at 2 to watch the champions league semi-final, prior to that couldn't get to sleep at all. Felt all sorts of emotions throughout the match, elation, despair, hope then euphoria. Man Utd never do it the easy way, hence the rollercoaster ride of emotions. Now to finish the job in italy.
Went to sleep thereafter, but the adrenaline kept me up for a while longer than I liked. Then smsed my boss whether I had to report for an assignment at 11 am, just for the heck f it. Was quite sure it was cancelled as no email was sent about it, but it was still on. Dragged my sleep deprived body up and got ready in double quick time to get to the office to share the cab to the school.
Done with one, had to cross the island to get to the second one, at least I was prepared for this one. Afraid of being late, I took a cab instead of trying my luck with the buses, and as it turned out I was earlier than my colleague.
By this time the lack of sleep was catching with me, so I was running on adrenaline only. Endured the 3 hours, before catching an extremely slow 16 home.
For those who have the time, go watch the blind date videos on STOMP. I only watched the ones with the youngest couple in it, as the girl was pretty for a 19 year old (shallow reason I know) and found her easy going personality the way she gamely took the unfamiliar task of fine dining quite appealing (the less shallow reason). It's quite interesting as you can see and feel the dynamics of their relationship unfolding. Unskilled labourers like myself can learn a thing or too from the videos as well.
The lack of sleep is catching up with him, so this is the time I start typing nonsense. But I guess it's ok since only a few people know about this blog and even so many have stopped patronising this place. And seriously hope none of my colleagues or my bosses patronise this place, to my colleagues if you're reading this now, hi, I love all of you, to my bosses, err hi, don't sack me as I don't think I have brought the company into disrepute.
This blog officially celebrated its 4th birthday 18 days ago. Seems a long way to come, 500 posts plus plus, and I still find the time, energy and reason to post here. When I read my older posts now, I practically shudder and wonder why was I so blinkered and angsty in the past. Some things I fretted a lot about really seem insignificant now. The benefit of hindsight at its best.
So the dwindling or now non-existent readership doesn't really bother me. Like I said before, this is just some small corner of the cyberworld just for me, a place to tell it as it is, albeit in a less rabid and more lucid manner nowadays. No more self-righteous rants about me against the world.
Am meeting up with an old friend this weekend, and I teased her by telling her not to be late, as she had a reputation back in school for being late. She replied back, and I could feel the indignance in her MSN reply, "I've changed".
Which is true. Not only my friend, we all have changed. I've seen great changes in my peers, some so drastic that the old image I had of them in school no longer fits. I myself too have changed (I like to think so), so I constantly remind myself to give others a chance to change for the better as well too.
Why do we change? I know I strived to change as many a good friend pointed out some personality flaws, and I accepted their criticism, and worked to improve in those areas. And for once, I felt a need to follow through with the change.
I don't wish to give a reason on behalf for other people, so I shall just leave their motivation to change open for debate. But the fact remains that there is obvious and discernible change in life. And on a very unrelated note, one friend moaned that he has been the "case study" for a typical single guy until he is sick of it already. Also please don't go playing near canals, drive carefully for all and the evening lightning storm around my home area shorted out a 4 way junction's traffic lights, leaving me to turn right very cautiously while sending my grandparents home.
Ok I think I've rambled on too long again. I think I shall leave you guys with a very interesting thing I heard while matching the Man Utd vs AC Milan match, as spoken by the commentator while he was talking about the milan experienced and ageing defensive duo of Nesta and Maldini. The way he said it, it was like he wrote it down somewhere prior to the match and was itching to say it as soon as the match started.
"What they (Maldini and Nesta) don't know about defending, isn't worth knowing."
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
All things visceral
A good friend called from USA yesterday. Was driving when I got the call, was wondering who was that American accented bugger while trying to navigate a turn. Had a nice chat with him, which lasted 45 mins, realised that I missed having him around to talk cock to. Even if he did give cock advice on how to jio girls that only worked for him as he is handsome. :)
I can't help but realise that I'm being surrounded by them. I seriously wonder if this is a sign.
Was talking to a new friend online about how I am living my life now. I told her that "I'm doing what I want because I what to." Sort of like personal preference maximisation. And I added, "on good days I know what I want to do, on bad days I'm hopelessly lost."
Wonder if I'm having a bad patch now then. I reflect on today, and am not really pleased with myself. Was late for work, and think I was punished for it in a subtle way, may have hurt a friend's feelings unknowingly as well. Oh well. Do better tomorrow then.
Was at the Night Safari on friday night, spent a fair bit of time being lost trying to drive there. Couldn't remember the last time I went there, but I must say it was a very nice place to go to. I guess I'm just a simple guy revisiting my childhood, where my parents used to bring me to the zoo every week. Loved the open concept of the place, turned around at one point and saw a yawning hyena behind me. Also saw a very breathtaking sight of a quiet lake next to the giraffe exhibit, which made me stand there for a while taking it in. Really liked the place.
Campfire was rather ok to me, but didn't go down too well with the guys, so they adjourned to my place to watch 300 (again!) and the Man Utd vs boro match. Bit my right index finger nail off till it bled, that was how tense and disappointed I was. Good thing Newcastle chaopiahed and held chelski, was watching that match as well and was bored to tears, was only happy about the result.
At the end of the day, I place my faith in all things visceral, those that are discernible to me and mean something to me. If it does seem like me attempting to just take all the complexities of the world and disregard all that I feel is not important, I must admit that there is an element of that involved. Maybe I'm just stubborn, headstrong and too proud, but I relish control over my own life far too much, without it, I think this life would be meaningless. Wanting to do what I want to do, when I want to do it, to maximise my personal preferences, to make your own decisions and to be responsible for them, that's the life I want.
Why, you ask?
Because, I want to.
A good friend called from USA yesterday. Was driving when I got the call, was wondering who was that American accented bugger while trying to navigate a turn. Had a nice chat with him, which lasted 45 mins, realised that I missed having him around to talk cock to. Even if he did give cock advice on how to jio girls that only worked for him as he is handsome. :)
I can't help but realise that I'm being surrounded by them. I seriously wonder if this is a sign.
Was talking to a new friend online about how I am living my life now. I told her that "I'm doing what I want because I what to." Sort of like personal preference maximisation. And I added, "on good days I know what I want to do, on bad days I'm hopelessly lost."
Wonder if I'm having a bad patch now then. I reflect on today, and am not really pleased with myself. Was late for work, and think I was punished for it in a subtle way, may have hurt a friend's feelings unknowingly as well. Oh well. Do better tomorrow then.
Was at the Night Safari on friday night, spent a fair bit of time being lost trying to drive there. Couldn't remember the last time I went there, but I must say it was a very nice place to go to. I guess I'm just a simple guy revisiting my childhood, where my parents used to bring me to the zoo every week. Loved the open concept of the place, turned around at one point and saw a yawning hyena behind me. Also saw a very breathtaking sight of a quiet lake next to the giraffe exhibit, which made me stand there for a while taking it in. Really liked the place.
Campfire was rather ok to me, but didn't go down too well with the guys, so they adjourned to my place to watch 300 (again!) and the Man Utd vs boro match. Bit my right index finger nail off till it bled, that was how tense and disappointed I was. Good thing Newcastle chaopiahed and held chelski, was watching that match as well and was bored to tears, was only happy about the result.
At the end of the day, I place my faith in all things visceral, those that are discernible to me and mean something to me. If it does seem like me attempting to just take all the complexities of the world and disregard all that I feel is not important, I must admit that there is an element of that involved. Maybe I'm just stubborn, headstrong and too proud, but I relish control over my own life far too much, without it, I think this life would be meaningless. Wanting to do what I want to do, when I want to do it, to maximise my personal preferences, to make your own decisions and to be responsible for them, that's the life I want.
Why, you ask?
Because, I want to.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
My Annus Mirabilis
No, this has nothing to do with my anus.
Been sometime I wrote anything here, and I do have a lot of thoughts swirling in my head. A few months ago when I was still wearing green, I may have tried to pen them down, and fail miserably due to the rustiness of my language skills, but now I think it's coming back to me slowly. The old acerbic wit has shown itself in a few situations to (I hope!) great effect.
Was at a sec school for 3 days last week. Was quite fruitful, but it was darn far away from my house, all the way in Bukit Gombak, thus I have to wake up very early to get there. And I didn't get there on time at all for all 3 days. Oops. Somehow did not hear the alarm clock on friday, woke up only at 0650, rushed and took a cab there in the end.
Interacting with the students was very interesting as usual, as every bunch is different, plus this time I had no colleague to back me up, so I had to fly solo many a time. The students were a nice group, but they had the usual baggage which I hoped I had helped to clear.
Some interesting incidents. A girl shared to me that she felt her male platonic friend was becoming distant and she was very concerned about this. I was about to give her some standard advice regarding relationships between friends, and then she told me he was her ex-relief teacher, and started to bring in her ex-boyfriend and other stuff, I called time-out and asked my female colleague who was taking the other group to talk to her. I sort of deduced she just wanted someone to talk to, so best I get a girl to talk to her. Don't really feel like revealing too much here online, suffice to say the situation was rather convoluted.
It got me thinking about 2 things. One, she really was thinking too much. She says his short smses that he sends are an indication of him being distant to her, but I beg to differ. Maybe he's just lazy? But my point is we shouldn't really read too much into things.
Secondly, someone will probably castigate me for this, but I think it'll be easy to just acquire a partner. All you have to do is just prey on a person's insecurities, show mock concern, impress him/her with some gifts, and chances are it can be done. I'm not saying that girls are easy, far from it, but what I believe is that it is possible. Which led me to think that if we define the word partner loosely, it can be spilt into 2 parts, the physical discernible part, which is the person you go out on dates with, and the emotional part, in other words he/she is the person you feel more for than other people. So, if you remove the emotional parts, ceteris paribus, you technically still have a partner. But this kind of relationship kind of sucks right?
Was celebrating Fabian's birthday at a chalet in Sentosa, went around the island's beaches in the dark with nick and another guy. The island is indeed nicer, shall make it a point to watch the new musical fountain show, I hope they got rid of that pointless green monkey. The Sentosa Express was a pleasant ride as well, although it's still very expensive to go to the place. At least the best places to be, the beaches, are still free and it was nice to just sit there and feel the breeze and take in the sights.
Spent the weekend studying the backlog of Japanese lessons, 10 in all. Managed to finish all 10 lessons in 2 days and completed all the homework that was due last week.
Man Utd is still crushing opposition, despite losing defender after defender. Hope some of them come back and be available soon. Still, the amount of joy they bring me is just immeasurable.
Read the news about the shooter in Virginia. Just feel it's damn sad, and my first reaction was, "Do I have any friends there?". It's depressing to know that such pointless violence is occurring. With just a few pulls of the trigger, he made a whole nation feel ashamed, created 30 odd grieving families and countless other friends and schoolmates terrorised and scarred for life. Seeing the faces of those who were killed, some cut down brutally at the cusp of adulthood, you can't help but feel a sense of waste. I'd tell my students, if I get the chance to do so, that while you're here bemoaning your life, think of those slain students, never given a chance to blossom into adults, and I hope it triggers a reaction in them.
Did a DISC test on myself, and I think I screwed it up as I mixed my responses as I did not stick to one situation. But I could discern that my outward personality is now I/S, but my inward personality is still S/C. Not a bad combination I guess. It just means I'm more people oriented when I'm with others, garrulous and revel in the company of others, but by myself I still am the anal retentive obsessively compulsive person who enjoys simple pleasures and avoid conflicts I have been for quite some time.
Embarking on the first phase of my "Checking out Singapore before I leave" plan soon. The idea behind it is to check out some places in my fair island that one would not normally visit. This was inspired by Neil Humphreys books on Singapore, and I think it'd nice to just go sightseeing in a place I have come to take for granted for 21 years of my life.
Hmm, this has been a long and disjointed post. Somehow I have been of a good mood for the week, some things happened to me that only I would be happy about, so it is pointless to divulge any details. Campfire this weekend, coupled with a football session that I'll probably be breathless after 15 mins, Hong Kong in a week's time, Spider-Man 3 opening soon, things are looking good.
I like being contented and happy.
No, this has nothing to do with my anus.
Been sometime I wrote anything here, and I do have a lot of thoughts swirling in my head. A few months ago when I was still wearing green, I may have tried to pen them down, and fail miserably due to the rustiness of my language skills, but now I think it's coming back to me slowly. The old acerbic wit has shown itself in a few situations to (I hope!) great effect.
Was at a sec school for 3 days last week. Was quite fruitful, but it was darn far away from my house, all the way in Bukit Gombak, thus I have to wake up very early to get there. And I didn't get there on time at all for all 3 days. Oops. Somehow did not hear the alarm clock on friday, woke up only at 0650, rushed and took a cab there in the end.
Interacting with the students was very interesting as usual, as every bunch is different, plus this time I had no colleague to back me up, so I had to fly solo many a time. The students were a nice group, but they had the usual baggage which I hoped I had helped to clear.
Some interesting incidents. A girl shared to me that she felt her male platonic friend was becoming distant and she was very concerned about this. I was about to give her some standard advice regarding relationships between friends, and then she told me he was her ex-relief teacher, and started to bring in her ex-boyfriend and other stuff, I called time-out and asked my female colleague who was taking the other group to talk to her. I sort of deduced she just wanted someone to talk to, so best I get a girl to talk to her. Don't really feel like revealing too much here online, suffice to say the situation was rather convoluted.
It got me thinking about 2 things. One, she really was thinking too much. She says his short smses that he sends are an indication of him being distant to her, but I beg to differ. Maybe he's just lazy? But my point is we shouldn't really read too much into things.
Secondly, someone will probably castigate me for this, but I think it'll be easy to just acquire a partner. All you have to do is just prey on a person's insecurities, show mock concern, impress him/her with some gifts, and chances are it can be done. I'm not saying that girls are easy, far from it, but what I believe is that it is possible. Which led me to think that if we define the word partner loosely, it can be spilt into 2 parts, the physical discernible part, which is the person you go out on dates with, and the emotional part, in other words he/she is the person you feel more for than other people. So, if you remove the emotional parts, ceteris paribus, you technically still have a partner. But this kind of relationship kind of sucks right?
Was celebrating Fabian's birthday at a chalet in Sentosa, went around the island's beaches in the dark with nick and another guy. The island is indeed nicer, shall make it a point to watch the new musical fountain show, I hope they got rid of that pointless green monkey. The Sentosa Express was a pleasant ride as well, although it's still very expensive to go to the place. At least the best places to be, the beaches, are still free and it was nice to just sit there and feel the breeze and take in the sights.
Spent the weekend studying the backlog of Japanese lessons, 10 in all. Managed to finish all 10 lessons in 2 days and completed all the homework that was due last week.
Man Utd is still crushing opposition, despite losing defender after defender. Hope some of them come back and be available soon. Still, the amount of joy they bring me is just immeasurable.
Read the news about the shooter in Virginia. Just feel it's damn sad, and my first reaction was, "Do I have any friends there?". It's depressing to know that such pointless violence is occurring. With just a few pulls of the trigger, he made a whole nation feel ashamed, created 30 odd grieving families and countless other friends and schoolmates terrorised and scarred for life. Seeing the faces of those who were killed, some cut down brutally at the cusp of adulthood, you can't help but feel a sense of waste. I'd tell my students, if I get the chance to do so, that while you're here bemoaning your life, think of those slain students, never given a chance to blossom into adults, and I hope it triggers a reaction in them.
Did a DISC test on myself, and I think I screwed it up as I mixed my responses as I did not stick to one situation. But I could discern that my outward personality is now I/S, but my inward personality is still S/C. Not a bad combination I guess. It just means I'm more people oriented when I'm with others, garrulous and revel in the company of others, but by myself I still am the anal retentive obsessively compulsive person who enjoys simple pleasures and avoid conflicts I have been for quite some time.
Embarking on the first phase of my "Checking out Singapore before I leave" plan soon. The idea behind it is to check out some places in my fair island that one would not normally visit. This was inspired by Neil Humphreys books on Singapore, and I think it'd nice to just go sightseeing in a place I have come to take for granted for 21 years of my life.
Hmm, this has been a long and disjointed post. Somehow I have been of a good mood for the week, some things happened to me that only I would be happy about, so it is pointless to divulge any details. Campfire this weekend, coupled with a football session that I'll probably be breathless after 15 mins, Hong Kong in a week's time, Spider-Man 3 opening soon, things are looking good.
I like being contented and happy.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Belief
Forgive me Father, for I have sinned. At the time when they needed me the most, I wavered. I doubted them. I set myself up for disappointment, prepared my heart for it. I forsook them at their darkest hour, I placed my well being over them, yet they still played the game of their lives. They raised their game, they stood 2 metres tall, they played with their hearts. So while I celebrate and revel in this victory, I feel ashamed as well, for I had doubted them, didn't render the support they demand.
7-1. This was a team that had players like Fletcher and O'Shea, whom I frequently condemn for not being good enough to be a Man Utd player. 2 goals from Carrick, who perhaps with the absence of Scholes, was able to step up and hit those sweet long shots, his second was just a beauty, unsaveable. Giggs played those passes that I remember he could do ages ago, including that grounder banana pass for Ronaldo's second, the last time I saw that was way back when he set up Andy Cole's 4th goal for a 5-1 win over Newcastle. Ronaldo, what can I say, everytime he touches the ball there's this air of excitement and expectation that crackles around the ground, and I think he revels in it. Player of the season for me so far no doubt. And Smith, after his horror injury, deserves his goal. I missed the sight of him harrying defenders, snapping at their heels.
Dreams are made of this. I had already told myself, the only way they can win this is that the players play their best, and they sure did. I had this silly grin pasted on my face for the work at work. And given some stuff that have been happening in my life, it looks like my fortunes are somehow tied to my favourite club for 12 years.
Glory, glory, Man Utd.
Forgive me Father, for I have sinned. At the time when they needed me the most, I wavered. I doubted them. I set myself up for disappointment, prepared my heart for it. I forsook them at their darkest hour, I placed my well being over them, yet they still played the game of their lives. They raised their game, they stood 2 metres tall, they played with their hearts. So while I celebrate and revel in this victory, I feel ashamed as well, for I had doubted them, didn't render the support they demand.
7-1. This was a team that had players like Fletcher and O'Shea, whom I frequently condemn for not being good enough to be a Man Utd player. 2 goals from Carrick, who perhaps with the absence of Scholes, was able to step up and hit those sweet long shots, his second was just a beauty, unsaveable. Giggs played those passes that I remember he could do ages ago, including that grounder banana pass for Ronaldo's second, the last time I saw that was way back when he set up Andy Cole's 4th goal for a 5-1 win over Newcastle. Ronaldo, what can I say, everytime he touches the ball there's this air of excitement and expectation that crackles around the ground, and I think he revels in it. Player of the season for me so far no doubt. And Smith, after his horror injury, deserves his goal. I missed the sight of him harrying defenders, snapping at their heels.
Dreams are made of this. I had already told myself, the only way they can win this is that the players play their best, and they sure did. I had this silly grin pasted on my face for the work at work. And given some stuff that have been happening in my life, it looks like my fortunes are somehow tied to my favourite club for 12 years.
Glory, glory, Man Utd.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Fever Pitch
Been reading the aforementioned book for the last few days, and I must say it's great. Bear with me, those who read it long ago, I have always wanted to read it but never got down to doing so, finally got a chance to do so after borrowing it from the library. Any football fan should read it. I just like to reproduce a excerpt from the book, which more or less sums up the feeling of a football fan.
Football teams are extraordinarily inventive in the ways they find to cause their supporters sorrow. They lead at Wembley and then throw it away; they go top of the First Division and then drop dead; they draw the difficult away game and lose the home replay; they beat Liverpool one week and lose to Scunthorpe the next; they seduce you, halfway through the season, into believing that they are promotion candidates and then go the other way... always, when you think you have anticipated the worst that can happen, they come up with something new.
When I read this paragraph I can't help but nod in agreement and smile. I remember having to endure cock ups like taibi and barthez, defensive errors aplenty, that agonising FA cup final in 2005, when Man Utd dominated the whole match but lost, 4-3 against Real at home but still out, and many more sad moments.
Didn't really feel that well today, thanks to a major screw up on my part on sun. It did not help that Man Utd lost in a very frankly, pathetic way. I just hope now they roll up their socks and finish the job they started way back when the season started.
Been reading the aforementioned book for the last few days, and I must say it's great. Bear with me, those who read it long ago, I have always wanted to read it but never got down to doing so, finally got a chance to do so after borrowing it from the library. Any football fan should read it. I just like to reproduce a excerpt from the book, which more or less sums up the feeling of a football fan.
Football teams are extraordinarily inventive in the ways they find to cause their supporters sorrow. They lead at Wembley and then throw it away; they go top of the First Division and then drop dead; they draw the difficult away game and lose the home replay; they beat Liverpool one week and lose to Scunthorpe the next; they seduce you, halfway through the season, into believing that they are promotion candidates and then go the other way... always, when you think you have anticipated the worst that can happen, they come up with something new.
When I read this paragraph I can't help but nod in agreement and smile. I remember having to endure cock ups like taibi and barthez, defensive errors aplenty, that agonising FA cup final in 2005, when Man Utd dominated the whole match but lost, 4-3 against Real at home but still out, and many more sad moments.
Didn't really feel that well today, thanks to a major screw up on my part on sun. It did not help that Man Utd lost in a very frankly, pathetic way. I just hope now they roll up their socks and finish the job they started way back when the season started.
Friday, April 06, 2007
Sunset Horizons
Relief teaching has come to an end. Had an option to continue for another week, but didn't take it up. Decided to go back to my old job, as there were a plethora of assignments lined up for me for that week, hence would pay better than relief.
That relief teaching stint sure taught me some stuff, like students really take their school for granted. Last tues' assembly was about a bunch of 60 year old old boys and their teachers coming to school to promote their book of stories about how life was like during their time. Sitting there in the new hall on the teachers' chairs, you can't help but wonder amidst the chuckling of the current students at the humorous anecdotes, did they really understand why these men of such advanced ages would decide to do something of this great scale, 4 decades after leaving school? What is special about the school that inspires this in them?
I used this example of these old boys in a civics and moral education lesson which I was reliefing to sec 2 boys. They claimed they liked my lessons as I would just ramble on and on with story after story, but that's another point. When I brought up the case of those old boys, one boy stood up said that, he feels that sometimes all the school is concerned with is their reputation and nothing else.
In the times I was in school, I may have agreed with him. But hindsight gave me rose tinted glasses. I told the class, that you as students are very very privileged to be studying in this school, where there are opportunities abound for you to excel in, where the teachers and admin staff are supportive and genuinely care for the students, where many before you have go through those hallowed gates and became men of great repute. To be part of this great institution, one has the responsibility to those before and after him to uphold its good name many hold in high regard. For it is only the things we feel the strongest for are the ones we will protect with vigour.
A bit melodramatic I know, hence my afterthought for that day is that I may like hearing my own voice too much, but those words just came. I think many an old boy would agree with him, for it was in white we became and still are good friends, it was there we went from boyhood shorts to adult long pants, and despite leaving, we irrevocably return.
I may been romanticising this, but I feel that way. It is very easy to just get into a daily grind of things, but once I took those necessary steps back and viewed my school, I did not see walls of soulless stone mortar and brick, I feel that unique sense of belonging, a feeling that I was always going to be a son of this place, a place of yes stone mortar and brick, at the mercy of rain wind and demolishers, but its unremovable mark it left on many cannot be erased.
To those who currently walk those hallowed halls, remember those who came before you, but more importantly, remember why they return.
Relief teaching has come to an end. Had an option to continue for another week, but didn't take it up. Decided to go back to my old job, as there were a plethora of assignments lined up for me for that week, hence would pay better than relief.
That relief teaching stint sure taught me some stuff, like students really take their school for granted. Last tues' assembly was about a bunch of 60 year old old boys and their teachers coming to school to promote their book of stories about how life was like during their time. Sitting there in the new hall on the teachers' chairs, you can't help but wonder amidst the chuckling of the current students at the humorous anecdotes, did they really understand why these men of such advanced ages would decide to do something of this great scale, 4 decades after leaving school? What is special about the school that inspires this in them?
I used this example of these old boys in a civics and moral education lesson which I was reliefing to sec 2 boys. They claimed they liked my lessons as I would just ramble on and on with story after story, but that's another point. When I brought up the case of those old boys, one boy stood up said that, he feels that sometimes all the school is concerned with is their reputation and nothing else.
In the times I was in school, I may have agreed with him. But hindsight gave me rose tinted glasses. I told the class, that you as students are very very privileged to be studying in this school, where there are opportunities abound for you to excel in, where the teachers and admin staff are supportive and genuinely care for the students, where many before you have go through those hallowed gates and became men of great repute. To be part of this great institution, one has the responsibility to those before and after him to uphold its good name many hold in high regard. For it is only the things we feel the strongest for are the ones we will protect with vigour.
A bit melodramatic I know, hence my afterthought for that day is that I may like hearing my own voice too much, but those words just came. I think many an old boy would agree with him, for it was in white we became and still are good friends, it was there we went from boyhood shorts to adult long pants, and despite leaving, we irrevocably return.
I may been romanticising this, but I feel that way. It is very easy to just get into a daily grind of things, but once I took those necessary steps back and viewed my school, I did not see walls of soulless stone mortar and brick, I feel that unique sense of belonging, a feeling that I was always going to be a son of this place, a place of yes stone mortar and brick, at the mercy of rain wind and demolishers, but its unremovable mark it left on many cannot be erased.
To those who currently walk those hallowed halls, remember those who came before you, but more importantly, remember why they return.
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Birth by Sleep
It's been some week for me. Week 2 of relief teaching brought more headaches and a very bad throat. Started feeling very lousy during monday's japanese class, and the general feeling of being ill continued throughout the week. Queasy stomach, running nose and the works. Still am not feeling totally 100%, but have been irrigating myself with water and vitamin C for the last few days so I think I'm on the road to recovery.
It's nigh impossible to get my students to hand up homework. Somehow perversely I like marking so I make them hand up their work, and half the class doesn't. I give up. No point collecting if only less the class hands in. However, sometimes their answers make me laugh out loud. Like this student's suggestion on how to control the burgeoning rabbit population in Australia was to bomb the burrows. Very ACME. Also, started this idea of giving sweets to those who do well in my class. Those sweets are actually left over from CNY when only a few guests came to my place. It's akin to feeding sealions pieces of fish when they perform their tricks, in my opinion. And for their last lesson last week, there were supposed to view onion cells in the bio lab. Sec 1s and fragile lab equipment really don't go well. I leave the lab for 1 min to get the lab tech and someone breaks a bottle of iodine solution.
Actually had more to say, but Blogger ate my post. Argh. Oh well, shall leave that for another day.
It's been some week for me. Week 2 of relief teaching brought more headaches and a very bad throat. Started feeling very lousy during monday's japanese class, and the general feeling of being ill continued throughout the week. Queasy stomach, running nose and the works. Still am not feeling totally 100%, but have been irrigating myself with water and vitamin C for the last few days so I think I'm on the road to recovery.
It's nigh impossible to get my students to hand up homework. Somehow perversely I like marking so I make them hand up their work, and half the class doesn't. I give up. No point collecting if only less the class hands in. However, sometimes their answers make me laugh out loud. Like this student's suggestion on how to control the burgeoning rabbit population in Australia was to bomb the burrows. Very ACME. Also, started this idea of giving sweets to those who do well in my class. Those sweets are actually left over from CNY when only a few guests came to my place. It's akin to feeding sealions pieces of fish when they perform their tricks, in my opinion. And for their last lesson last week, there were supposed to view onion cells in the bio lab. Sec 1s and fragile lab equipment really don't go well. I leave the lab for 1 min to get the lab tech and someone breaks a bottle of iodine solution.
Actually had more to say, but Blogger ate my post. Argh. Oh well, shall leave that for another day.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
At the very least, the night did not forsake me
It's a sat night, and I'm here blogging in front of the laptop. The outing to don's house for england against israel was cancelled due to the poor attendance. So it's just me, the laptop, the thunder and lightning outside the small window and the radio on 100.3 with smooth jazz music to keep me company for tonight.
Watched TMNT on friday, and yes it isn't the best movie by far, but like I always say, watching it is a celebration of the fact that you have a childhood. Loved the way they managed to combine the grittiness of the comic with the slapstick humor of the cartoon. There were some killer lines in the movie that prompted many guffaws from the audience.
Today I went for a combined birthday party of 3 of my JC classmates, held in SMU students' lounge. It was fun and nice, had 3 groups of people to talk to, fencers, 4D and 3E. Was the one of the earliest to arrive and latest to leave, thanks to the fact I live about 15 mins walk away. Spent a nice afternoon there, talking cock with good friends.
So much weird stuff in my life. 1 of my friends is going for a matchmaking session next week. I thought he was kidding, but turns out he was deadly serious. Met my old econs tutor on the train home and she claimed I was very "naughty" during my JC times. I spend quite a bit of time gossiping with my former chinese teacher in the staff lounge. And my Japanese teacher thinks that I practically live in Suntec as her favourite question for the monday class is "what did you do yesterday?" in Japanese and I have been answering for the last few weeks either "travel fair" or "IT fair". Interestingly my Japanese class has been reduced to only 2 guys in it, 1 of them which is me. And it's going to be further reduced as the other guy is going to enlist soon.
I'm practically falling asleep on my chair. At the end of the day, when it's dark and quiet, I'm glad for the fact that the night will never forsake me. I know it'll always be there for me even during the darkest of times. I think I'll heed my body's insistence for rest soon. Sleep is the best balm for any kind of emotional malady, that I've long realised.
It's a sat night, and I'm here blogging in front of the laptop. The outing to don's house for england against israel was cancelled due to the poor attendance. So it's just me, the laptop, the thunder and lightning outside the small window and the radio on 100.3 with smooth jazz music to keep me company for tonight.
Watched TMNT on friday, and yes it isn't the best movie by far, but like I always say, watching it is a celebration of the fact that you have a childhood. Loved the way they managed to combine the grittiness of the comic with the slapstick humor of the cartoon. There were some killer lines in the movie that prompted many guffaws from the audience.
Today I went for a combined birthday party of 3 of my JC classmates, held in SMU students' lounge. It was fun and nice, had 3 groups of people to talk to, fencers, 4D and 3E. Was the one of the earliest to arrive and latest to leave, thanks to the fact I live about 15 mins walk away. Spent a nice afternoon there, talking cock with good friends.
So much weird stuff in my life. 1 of my friends is going for a matchmaking session next week. I thought he was kidding, but turns out he was deadly serious. Met my old econs tutor on the train home and she claimed I was very "naughty" during my JC times. I spend quite a bit of time gossiping with my former chinese teacher in the staff lounge. And my Japanese teacher thinks that I practically live in Suntec as her favourite question for the monday class is "what did you do yesterday?" in Japanese and I have been answering for the last few weeks either "travel fair" or "IT fair". Interestingly my Japanese class has been reduced to only 2 guys in it, 1 of them which is me. And it's going to be further reduced as the other guy is going to enlist soon.
I'm practically falling asleep on my chair. At the end of the day, when it's dark and quiet, I'm glad for the fact that the night will never forsake me. I know it'll always be there for me even during the darkest of times. I think I'll heed my body's insistence for rest soon. Sleep is the best balm for any kind of emotional malady, that I've long realised.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Polemic
My life is eerily like army. Everyday I book in by signing a book, spend my time alternating between being busy or acting busy, sneaking in a few personal activities in between, finally clocking up the required hours before having to leave in the most stealthy manner. And of course you have to sign out before you leave. Once I get home I inevitably go take a nap before dinner. It's fast becoming a bad habit and screws up my bio clock.
Oh and after the Boro game when Ronaldo won the penalty that decided the game, he used the word "polemic" in the post match interview and had me scrabbling for dictionary.com.
While in the staffroom today, I was chatting with a teacher with my colleagues. She was asking about what happened to the personalities of our batch, and she proceeded to take out a file with all the class lists of the classes she used to teach, which dated back to 1997. In the 1997 file pocket, there was a namecard. She said that this student came back recently and gave her his namecard. Written on it was "Phd MIT".
That really got me thinking. I really want to be able to bring back a namecard and it would be something impressive as well. Not for vanity, it's more for a validation that yes, I did well.
However, I went to my former form teacher and asked her, "Ma'am, Mrs XXX kept classlists of all her students and still remembers most of them. So, what's my name?"
She couldn't answer me.
Well, at least it's an improvement. The first time she saw me when I came for relief, she confidently called me Zhi En.
Anyway, I would like to just air some views about my alma mater. Thinking back, I think the best and the most carefree times were in sec school where my class just fooled around. I kind of regret not making the most of my time then. Now that I'm a teacher there, I see a lot of things happening behind the scenes and realised that a lot of perceptions was wrong. I used to detest chinese, but now I think chinese is a very important subject and would always find the opportunity to use it (hence my various conversations with my former chinese teacher); I would complain about going to school, but now I'd love to go back in school; I would fret unnecessarily about results and compare them with peers and get jealous, now I realise it's so pointless as long you do well in the end for the major exams to get to where you want to go.
I guess these sentiments are a result of growing up. I get if-only-i-knew-then-what-I-know-now moments a lot, but yeah life goes on and I've to just get over it. So just a friendly word of advice from someone who has gone through it before, enjoy your school life. Don't be so eager to get out of school as once you do, there ain't no way back there. Unless you become a teacher that is.
My life is eerily like army. Everyday I book in by signing a book, spend my time alternating between being busy or acting busy, sneaking in a few personal activities in between, finally clocking up the required hours before having to leave in the most stealthy manner. And of course you have to sign out before you leave. Once I get home I inevitably go take a nap before dinner. It's fast becoming a bad habit and screws up my bio clock.
Oh and after the Boro game when Ronaldo won the penalty that decided the game, he used the word "polemic" in the post match interview and had me scrabbling for dictionary.com.
While in the staffroom today, I was chatting with a teacher with my colleagues. She was asking about what happened to the personalities of our batch, and she proceeded to take out a file with all the class lists of the classes she used to teach, which dated back to 1997. In the 1997 file pocket, there was a namecard. She said that this student came back recently and gave her his namecard. Written on it was "Phd MIT".
That really got me thinking. I really want to be able to bring back a namecard and it would be something impressive as well. Not for vanity, it's more for a validation that yes, I did well.
However, I went to my former form teacher and asked her, "Ma'am, Mrs XXX kept classlists of all her students and still remembers most of them. So, what's my name?"
She couldn't answer me.
Well, at least it's an improvement. The first time she saw me when I came for relief, she confidently called me Zhi En.
Anyway, I would like to just air some views about my alma mater. Thinking back, I think the best and the most carefree times were in sec school where my class just fooled around. I kind of regret not making the most of my time then. Now that I'm a teacher there, I see a lot of things happening behind the scenes and realised that a lot of perceptions was wrong. I used to detest chinese, but now I think chinese is a very important subject and would always find the opportunity to use it (hence my various conversations with my former chinese teacher); I would complain about going to school, but now I'd love to go back in school; I would fret unnecessarily about results and compare them with peers and get jealous, now I realise it's so pointless as long you do well in the end for the major exams to get to where you want to go.
I guess these sentiments are a result of growing up. I get if-only-i-knew-then-what-I-know-now moments a lot, but yeah life goes on and I've to just get over it. So just a friendly word of advice from someone who has gone through it before, enjoy your school life. Don't be so eager to get out of school as once you do, there ain't no way back there. Unless you become a teacher that is.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
The Mascaron Drive
Another one of my late night rambling again.
Teaching is fun, but definitely don't see it as a potential career for me. I think the novelty of teaching wears off after 2 days, and I got 2.5 weeks more of it to go through. Not to say I don't like it, but it's rather stressful to prepare for lessons and get sent around in circles by the incessant and weird questions the sec1s can come up with. Challenging and somewhat amusing if you ask me.
Also, it allows me a look on the "other" side in my old school. I got a kick out of sitting by the side on the chairs during assembly today. Was speaking to my old chinese teacher today, she was lamenting that the chinese standard is quite bad nowadays, so much so my standard of mandarin which is quite condemned is considered quite good! Things have really changed much when I was in sec school, the facade, the subjects taught, the teachers etc. I don't really remember being like my students when I was their age though, and I'm like only a few years older than them! No wonder my chinese teacher said it's getting harder to connect to students nowadays.
On a home side, finally set up the home network system. So I'm actually blogging using my new laptop in my room. No more fighting over between us 4 siblings on who gets to use the only internet enabled computer in the study room.
Played basketball on saturday with a pathetic 4 people. Good thing I warmed up and cooled down thus I didn't get any aches or muscle strains.
There's still a whole tonne of stuff that require my attention, all listed very compulsively in my blue notebook, all waiting to be struck off with some satisfaction. It's probably the late night syndrome again, as I feel this compelling need to speak to someone. Oh well, one way to deal with that is to just sleep it off, which is what I'm going to do now.
Another one of my late night rambling again.
Teaching is fun, but definitely don't see it as a potential career for me. I think the novelty of teaching wears off after 2 days, and I got 2.5 weeks more of it to go through. Not to say I don't like it, but it's rather stressful to prepare for lessons and get sent around in circles by the incessant and weird questions the sec1s can come up with. Challenging and somewhat amusing if you ask me.
Also, it allows me a look on the "other" side in my old school. I got a kick out of sitting by the side on the chairs during assembly today. Was speaking to my old chinese teacher today, she was lamenting that the chinese standard is quite bad nowadays, so much so my standard of mandarin which is quite condemned is considered quite good! Things have really changed much when I was in sec school, the facade, the subjects taught, the teachers etc. I don't really remember being like my students when I was their age though, and I'm like only a few years older than them! No wonder my chinese teacher said it's getting harder to connect to students nowadays.
On a home side, finally set up the home network system. So I'm actually blogging using my new laptop in my room. No more fighting over between us 4 siblings on who gets to use the only internet enabled computer in the study room.
Played basketball on saturday with a pathetic 4 people. Good thing I warmed up and cooled down thus I didn't get any aches or muscle strains.
There's still a whole tonne of stuff that require my attention, all listed very compulsively in my blue notebook, all waiting to be struck off with some satisfaction. It's probably the late night syndrome again, as I feel this compelling need to speak to someone. Oh well, one way to deal with that is to just sleep it off, which is what I'm going to do now.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Cause celebre
No work for the next 4 days till friday as it is the school holidays. Am savouring the break, but reminding myself to make good use of it. Things have really piled up and there are a lot of stuff that require my attention.
Was a bit apprehensive about going to work on sat, as it was all the way in the west at an ungodly hour. Good thing I managed to secure the car, otherwise the journey will be very intolerable, especially since I slept precious little the night before thanks to the adrenaline and testoterone 300 worked up in me. But in the end it was rather fun to be there training, the students were the most obedient and receptive bunch I've gotten, probably because they're the incoming captains and student councillors. But as they were undergoing a boot camp of sorts, they were pretty militant in their style, as evidenced when one girl said "All pens on the right hand side of table tip pointing forward, water bottles under table on the right side as well". I thought this would kill their spotaneity, but after a slow start they came good.
Went for barney's birthday party about an hour early as I came from work. Just talked cock with the 4D people, met a long lost pri school friend who happened to be barny's friend as well. Been seeing my old pri school classmates lately, on friday one of the sales promoter at the IT fair was my good friend in pri school. Ended up buying a laptop from him when I went back on sunday.
Yet again I'm unwilling to turn in for bed. Don't know why I always display such self destructive tendencies. Maybe I love the night a bit too much. After all, in the quiet of the night, the only voice you hear is yours and yours only.
No work for the next 4 days till friday as it is the school holidays. Am savouring the break, but reminding myself to make good use of it. Things have really piled up and there are a lot of stuff that require my attention.
Was a bit apprehensive about going to work on sat, as it was all the way in the west at an ungodly hour. Good thing I managed to secure the car, otherwise the journey will be very intolerable, especially since I slept precious little the night before thanks to the adrenaline and testoterone 300 worked up in me. But in the end it was rather fun to be there training, the students were the most obedient and receptive bunch I've gotten, probably because they're the incoming captains and student councillors. But as they were undergoing a boot camp of sorts, they were pretty militant in their style, as evidenced when one girl said "All pens on the right hand side of table tip pointing forward, water bottles under table on the right side as well". I thought this would kill their spotaneity, but after a slow start they came good.
Went for barney's birthday party about an hour early as I came from work. Just talked cock with the 4D people, met a long lost pri school friend who happened to be barny's friend as well. Been seeing my old pri school classmates lately, on friday one of the sales promoter at the IT fair was my good friend in pri school. Ended up buying a laptop from him when I went back on sunday.
Yet again I'm unwilling to turn in for bed. Don't know why I always display such self destructive tendencies. Maybe I love the night a bit too much. After all, in the quiet of the night, the only voice you hear is yours and yours only.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Joie de vivre
For the benefit of those who don't know, for the past 3 days I have been reliefing in my old secondary school. It's fun to go back to my old stomping with an elevated status, but the education business is no joke and there are many quirky things that occur. These include sec 1s asking me weird but yet logical questions that are very hard to give a proper answer to, sec 1s asking me to explain a concept he found out on the net which I have never heard before in my life, sec 3s claiming to prefer route-learning, the very fun relief teacher gang who come together to talk cock or visit each other at our cubicles to have lunch together, the laptop and all the benefits that come from it, the students calling me "Sir", meeting my old teachers, like my old chinese teacher whose first words were to make fun of my hopeless mandarin, bestriding those nostalgic hallowed halls of education from my past. And in the space of 3 days, I was almost late thanks to champions league football, only came in right on time for assembly, witnessed a car breakdown and almost lost my voice.
Was out with nick, fab and don for the IT fair after relief today, went to scout around for laptops, but was rather tired and irritable so wasn't really able to concentrate. Also am frustrated by the great variety of choices which decision making a real headache. And also, **** that cock sony ps3 promoter, didn't give me a brochure when I asked for it, even though he clearly had some more if he had bothered to ask his colleague. In the end, I got one from the counter less than 10 paces away. And when I went to get it, the cockster came over to where I got the brochure to talk cock to his colleague. Wanker. Was damn pissed.
Went to watch 300 with the guys. It was the ultimate manly movie, with only 1 prominent female in the show, and the sight of tanned sculpted bodies with ads of steel on screen more than half the time. The gore was sometimes unnecessary and off-putting, but overall it was nice, and it inspired the manliness in us.
During dinner, mog was making random manly jokes and punctuating his sentences with stuff like "that's not what a true Spartan will do", and as usual we started to talk lots of random cock.
I just realised it's these simple times, sitting at carl's jr eating and cracking silly jokes that I'll really miss when I go over. As the clock slowly but surely ticks down to the day of my eventual and inevitable departure, I find myself wanting to savour and cherish every moment of happiness. Sometimes I get bogged down by work that I forget that I should allow myself to enjoy life now as I'll get lesser chances to do so in the next few years.
Sorry for being a bit pensive, not that I'm sian or anything, just a little tired and that's when my mind goes all zonky. But I know for sure that I'll miss genuine good company whom I know will cover my back, shield and spear ready against the trials of the big bad world.
For the benefit of those who don't know, for the past 3 days I have been reliefing in my old secondary school. It's fun to go back to my old stomping with an elevated status, but the education business is no joke and there are many quirky things that occur. These include sec 1s asking me weird but yet logical questions that are very hard to give a proper answer to, sec 1s asking me to explain a concept he found out on the net which I have never heard before in my life, sec 3s claiming to prefer route-learning, the very fun relief teacher gang who come together to talk cock or visit each other at our cubicles to have lunch together, the laptop and all the benefits that come from it, the students calling me "Sir", meeting my old teachers, like my old chinese teacher whose first words were to make fun of my hopeless mandarin, bestriding those nostalgic hallowed halls of education from my past. And in the space of 3 days, I was almost late thanks to champions league football, only came in right on time for assembly, witnessed a car breakdown and almost lost my voice.
Was out with nick, fab and don for the IT fair after relief today, went to scout around for laptops, but was rather tired and irritable so wasn't really able to concentrate. Also am frustrated by the great variety of choices which decision making a real headache. And also, **** that cock sony ps3 promoter, didn't give me a brochure when I asked for it, even though he clearly had some more if he had bothered to ask his colleague. In the end, I got one from the counter less than 10 paces away. And when I went to get it, the cockster came over to where I got the brochure to talk cock to his colleague. Wanker. Was damn pissed.
Went to watch 300 with the guys. It was the ultimate manly movie, with only 1 prominent female in the show, and the sight of tanned sculpted bodies with ads of steel on screen more than half the time. The gore was sometimes unnecessary and off-putting, but overall it was nice, and it inspired the manliness in us.
During dinner, mog was making random manly jokes and punctuating his sentences with stuff like "that's not what a true Spartan will do", and as usual we started to talk lots of random cock.
I just realised it's these simple times, sitting at carl's jr eating and cracking silly jokes that I'll really miss when I go over. As the clock slowly but surely ticks down to the day of my eventual and inevitable departure, I find myself wanting to savour and cherish every moment of happiness. Sometimes I get bogged down by work that I forget that I should allow myself to enjoy life now as I'll get lesser chances to do so in the next few years.
Sorry for being a bit pensive, not that I'm sian or anything, just a little tired and that's when my mind goes all zonky. But I know for sure that I'll miss genuine good company whom I know will cover my back, shield and spear ready against the trials of the big bad world.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Homecoming
It's been a rather strange week. It's like someone up there read my subconsciousness and resolved to give me stuff that is close to what I desire yet not quite as similar as what I really want.
Was chatting with yangqi on sun at liang court macs about the good old times in RJ, like how we missed the old campus especially. Then lo and behold, I receive a sms on mon morning, telling me that the venue for today's assignment was switched to mt sinai, where the school I was supposed to go for work has taken over the old RJ campus. Was very excited to be back there. There were many changes, although the main facade did not get altered much. All that was once green, like the doors or railings were not painted sky blue, LT1 no longer has the extra chairs on the sides, but it still has those rickety green chairs cum folding table, the field is very condemned, with bare patches everywhere, LT 2.5 was paved over, thus no more paint stains, the library (which I spent most of my time there as it was where I had my workshop) had its layout changed, the back rooms where we once took econs s papers in are now sealed off and converted to classrooms. They still retained the magazine shelves though, and I found a copy of Outlook amongst the Time and Newsweek magazines. Didn't get to stay too long though, as I had to rush off immediately when we ended, but will be back next week so will definately go and take a longer and harder look at how the place has changed.
Thursday brought me to Jalan Batera (sp?) adventure camp, site of the Singapore jamboree 6 years ago. I remember how it rained almost everyday and I felt extremely lousy throughout the camp. It was raining heavily on thurs as well, so my students did the indoor rock wall first. I then spied upon students wearing the iconic PE shirt of my former JC. Then I saw my old PE teacher, which strangely enough yangqi and I were discussing on sun. Talked to him for a while, found out those students were J1s going through a class adventure camp. Also saw one of my chem lecturers, but he wasn't my tutor so didn't talk to him. Those from my batch, you would rmb him as the guy who twitches his head frequently.
These incidents helped to make a busy week memorable. Went dragon boating, rock climbing and high elements with my students. Working with so many students, each of them having very unique problems, it always leads me to think, how did we end up the way we did? How did we learn to stiop being playful and study hard for exams? How did we realise that only by doing well for our exams will we have a better future? How did we realise that fighting is the wrong way to do things? How did we become well-adjusted and dare I say it, normal individuals? My job is to equip my students with lifeskills, but when I was in school I sure didn't have these workshops. So how did I, and most of my peers, become who we are?
I realise that myself and my colleagues, despite we teaching our students lifeskills, sometimes we ourselves are flawed indivuduals as well. Yet flawed as we are, we managed to be well adjusted enough to deal with life. I guess we just grew up to become flawed adults, but with the sense to hide these flaws from sight.
Still, I feel happy when the students I try to reach out talk to me and say that they want to work hard and be the best they can be. It sure does help to brighten my day. I believe in helping people the practical way, and I must say I enjoy my job. Sure there are times when I feel disappointed when I try my best but the student just won't listen, but I know I can't save everyone, as long as those who are willing to be helped help themselves, at least I'm safe in the knowledge that he or she will respond positively and live up to their potential.
It's been a rather strange week. It's like someone up there read my subconsciousness and resolved to give me stuff that is close to what I desire yet not quite as similar as what I really want.
Was chatting with yangqi on sun at liang court macs about the good old times in RJ, like how we missed the old campus especially. Then lo and behold, I receive a sms on mon morning, telling me that the venue for today's assignment was switched to mt sinai, where the school I was supposed to go for work has taken over the old RJ campus. Was very excited to be back there. There were many changes, although the main facade did not get altered much. All that was once green, like the doors or railings were not painted sky blue, LT1 no longer has the extra chairs on the sides, but it still has those rickety green chairs cum folding table, the field is very condemned, with bare patches everywhere, LT 2.5 was paved over, thus no more paint stains, the library (which I spent most of my time there as it was where I had my workshop) had its layout changed, the back rooms where we once took econs s papers in are now sealed off and converted to classrooms. They still retained the magazine shelves though, and I found a copy of Outlook amongst the Time and Newsweek magazines. Didn't get to stay too long though, as I had to rush off immediately when we ended, but will be back next week so will definately go and take a longer and harder look at how the place has changed.
Thursday brought me to Jalan Batera (sp?) adventure camp, site of the Singapore jamboree 6 years ago. I remember how it rained almost everyday and I felt extremely lousy throughout the camp. It was raining heavily on thurs as well, so my students did the indoor rock wall first. I then spied upon students wearing the iconic PE shirt of my former JC. Then I saw my old PE teacher, which strangely enough yangqi and I were discussing on sun. Talked to him for a while, found out those students were J1s going through a class adventure camp. Also saw one of my chem lecturers, but he wasn't my tutor so didn't talk to him. Those from my batch, you would rmb him as the guy who twitches his head frequently.
These incidents helped to make a busy week memorable. Went dragon boating, rock climbing and high elements with my students. Working with so many students, each of them having very unique problems, it always leads me to think, how did we end up the way we did? How did we learn to stiop being playful and study hard for exams? How did we realise that only by doing well for our exams will we have a better future? How did we realise that fighting is the wrong way to do things? How did we become well-adjusted and dare I say it, normal individuals? My job is to equip my students with lifeskills, but when I was in school I sure didn't have these workshops. So how did I, and most of my peers, become who we are?
I realise that myself and my colleagues, despite we teaching our students lifeskills, sometimes we ourselves are flawed indivuduals as well. Yet flawed as we are, we managed to be well adjusted enough to deal with life. I guess we just grew up to become flawed adults, but with the sense to hide these flaws from sight.
Still, I feel happy when the students I try to reach out talk to me and say that they want to work hard and be the best they can be. It sure does help to brighten my day. I believe in helping people the practical way, and I must say I enjoy my job. Sure there are times when I feel disappointed when I try my best but the student just won't listen, but I know I can't save everyone, as long as those who are willing to be helped help themselves, at least I'm safe in the knowledge that he or she will respond positively and live up to their potential.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Lazy Weekends
Next month will be a crazy month for me. I foresee working 6 and a half days a week, plus the resumption of my classes in the evenings. Will be doing relief teaching in my alma mater, plus various assignments and tuition on sundays. All in an effort to finance my jetsetting ambitions.
This weekend is probably my last restful weekend for sometime. I was supposed to revise my Japanese, but didn't even go close to doing that. One good thing is that I managed to settle many of the "5 cent 10 cent" things which have been bugging me the last few weeks. Finally overcame my inertia to get them done, pushed by the fact I probably have no time to do so for the next month.
Just spent the weekend lazing away. I think 1 of the greatest pleasure in life is just to be half-asleep and half-awake while the radio plays nice soothing songs. And this is such a simple pleasure.
Spent some time to visit my grandmother who hasn't been feeling very well. Watched a bit of hong kong drama with my sis and commented on how diabolical the villain was. My family of six had a great dinner, bantering with each other.
While writing this entry, I stopped at this point for about a good 20 minutes. I simply couldn't find the words to describe this simple kind of happiness I like. It's just that feeling you get when you're with people whom you care about. I want my future to be filled with that feeling forever. It won't be easy, but it's these moments of simple happiness that make me remember that life is a not a rush to the destination, rather it is a nature trail, allowing you to take in the sights and sounds.
Next month will be a crazy month for me. I foresee working 6 and a half days a week, plus the resumption of my classes in the evenings. Will be doing relief teaching in my alma mater, plus various assignments and tuition on sundays. All in an effort to finance my jetsetting ambitions.
This weekend is probably my last restful weekend for sometime. I was supposed to revise my Japanese, but didn't even go close to doing that. One good thing is that I managed to settle many of the "5 cent 10 cent" things which have been bugging me the last few weeks. Finally overcame my inertia to get them done, pushed by the fact I probably have no time to do so for the next month.
Just spent the weekend lazing away. I think 1 of the greatest pleasure in life is just to be half-asleep and half-awake while the radio plays nice soothing songs. And this is such a simple pleasure.
Spent some time to visit my grandmother who hasn't been feeling very well. Watched a bit of hong kong drama with my sis and commented on how diabolical the villain was. My family of six had a great dinner, bantering with each other.
While writing this entry, I stopped at this point for about a good 20 minutes. I simply couldn't find the words to describe this simple kind of happiness I like. It's just that feeling you get when you're with people whom you care about. I want my future to be filled with that feeling forever. It won't be easy, but it's these moments of simple happiness that make me remember that life is a not a rush to the destination, rather it is a nature trail, allowing you to take in the sights and sounds.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Red Storm
It has been a very good Chinese New Year.
Saturday had a class reunion lunch at PS cartel, but I refused to pay for their 10% service charge so I ate at home before going. It ended up being more like a RI reunion as there were no girls and the only non RI guy did not turn up. Reunion dinner was nice for the company but not the food, was rather appalled to realise my bro blew 124 bucks in Topman for his outfit, especially after I tsked at some JC kids in that very same shop the day before when I went to get my phone. Watched Man Utd waste chance after chance to beat Reading until 330 am.
Visiting started late again, but somehow it didn't feel draggy. Still, I was half asleep half awake thanks to the late night before, so I kinda zombied through my last visiting for the next few years.
The second day of CNY brought me to Sing Yong's house, and I forgot to bring mandarins. Anyway, we played 3 rounds of mahjong, won a considerable sum, which I would blow very quickly over the next 3 days. After which rushed home for dinner, before heading to bishan for a fencer's outing to see adrian off. We met at bishan and was driven to the thomson prata place by adrian, after which we went to his house to play mahjong and poker. Andrew provided a lot of soundbites and plenty of moments of merriment, especially when he related on his experience on how to take a photo while on a rollercoaster and on how good is he in mahjong as he had honed his skills by playing it on his phone. The best was when he told us with a straight face on how to not get caught running a red light by the red light camera. He said, you have to inch forward slowly across the line, as the camera only detects the change in magnetic flux, which prompted us to ask adrian to try. Sadly enough we couldn't prove the theory as adrian showed a lack of faith in his friend's words and unsportingly refused. I left early as I had tuition the next day, apparently they played poker all the way till the morning.
Day 3 was tuition in the morning, then father side dinner in the evening. Woke up at 0400H to watch Man Utd vs Lille, I thought another thai walkout will happen. Rushed to a primary school in Jurong for work, zombied through it, was amused by the cute pri 3 kids. Went home and napped, had another session of tuition before retiring at 9 thanks to the sleep debt accumulated over the last few days. Went back to my alma mater today for a job interview, will be teaching there for 3.5 weeks. And it is also world's scouts' day and Murugan's birthday. Had a nice dinner with the guys in an Indian restaurant at clarke quay. Had a fun time talking cock and laughing as usual.
Amid these busy and activity filled days, there has been precious little time for me to think or mope. I guess being busy is the best way to ensure that I stop worrying about things I shouldn't worry about.
It has been a very good Chinese New Year.
Saturday had a class reunion lunch at PS cartel, but I refused to pay for their 10% service charge so I ate at home before going. It ended up being more like a RI reunion as there were no girls and the only non RI guy did not turn up. Reunion dinner was nice for the company but not the food, was rather appalled to realise my bro blew 124 bucks in Topman for his outfit, especially after I tsked at some JC kids in that very same shop the day before when I went to get my phone. Watched Man Utd waste chance after chance to beat Reading until 330 am.
Visiting started late again, but somehow it didn't feel draggy. Still, I was half asleep half awake thanks to the late night before, so I kinda zombied through my last visiting for the next few years.
The second day of CNY brought me to Sing Yong's house, and I forgot to bring mandarins. Anyway, we played 3 rounds of mahjong, won a considerable sum, which I would blow very quickly over the next 3 days. After which rushed home for dinner, before heading to bishan for a fencer's outing to see adrian off. We met at bishan and was driven to the thomson prata place by adrian, after which we went to his house to play mahjong and poker. Andrew provided a lot of soundbites and plenty of moments of merriment, especially when he related on his experience on how to take a photo while on a rollercoaster and on how good is he in mahjong as he had honed his skills by playing it on his phone. The best was when he told us with a straight face on how to not get caught running a red light by the red light camera. He said, you have to inch forward slowly across the line, as the camera only detects the change in magnetic flux, which prompted us to ask adrian to try. Sadly enough we couldn't prove the theory as adrian showed a lack of faith in his friend's words and unsportingly refused. I left early as I had tuition the next day, apparently they played poker all the way till the morning.
Day 3 was tuition in the morning, then father side dinner in the evening. Woke up at 0400H to watch Man Utd vs Lille, I thought another thai walkout will happen. Rushed to a primary school in Jurong for work, zombied through it, was amused by the cute pri 3 kids. Went home and napped, had another session of tuition before retiring at 9 thanks to the sleep debt accumulated over the last few days. Went back to my alma mater today for a job interview, will be teaching there for 3.5 weeks. And it is also world's scouts' day and Murugan's birthday. Had a nice dinner with the guys in an Indian restaurant at clarke quay. Had a fun time talking cock and laughing as usual.
Amid these busy and activity filled days, there has been precious little time for me to think or mope. I guess being busy is the best way to ensure that I stop worrying about things I shouldn't worry about.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
I find your lack of faith disturbing..
For some strange reason, I've strained my right shoulder muscle and it has been hurting for a week already. I suspect it's another casualty from that very ill-fated rollerblading session. Repairing my K750i's screen cost me $125. Very expensive lesson learnt.
Went K with adrian and fabian on friday. It was supposed to be a rollerblading session but that lasted like 10 mins, the same amount of time it took for adrian to blade 1 round around the east coast macs and for fab and me to use the macs toilet. YJC was having its cross country there, hence the large posse of people. Adrian chauffeured us to parkway where I killed chickens for 3 hours, before retiring home.
To people who read this, happy CNY to you all! My last in Singapore for the next 3 years I guess, will probably pseudo-celebrate it next year via a webcam. Shall enjoy the experience of visiting tomorrow.
And I frittered away $36 of hard earned money on wed night. Never again.
Like Nick, I kinda stalled on my plans for an exciting 2007. It was supposed to be filled with exciting work experiences and the time in between I was to learn many skills and read a lot of stuff and hopefully exercise to get IPPT silver. I've managed a few objectives, like my Japanese language classes are going on well; work is fun, exciting and insightful; been reading plenty of books, but when it comes to those activities which require great amount of self discipline, which are normally those activities during the free periods between work, I tend to nap, watch TV or just idle away.
Got to stop the rot. Must make an effort to maximise my free time. Many of my friends in uni tell me I should enjoy this free period in my life, as uni you'll be less free. Thanks to them, I'm reminded that I shouldn't sit on my ass for too long.
Somehow, their reminders have a very sobering effect on me. I'm already 21, once I enter uni and complete it, I'll be 23-24. Then it's time to get a job, be financially independent, get married, have kids, work for their future then retire. Not much time for yourself.
I'm grateful for their words as it serves as a very important reminder for me to go seize the day. It'll do me a world of good to heed them.
For some strange reason, I've strained my right shoulder muscle and it has been hurting for a week already. I suspect it's another casualty from that very ill-fated rollerblading session. Repairing my K750i's screen cost me $125. Very expensive lesson learnt.
Went K with adrian and fabian on friday. It was supposed to be a rollerblading session but that lasted like 10 mins, the same amount of time it took for adrian to blade 1 round around the east coast macs and for fab and me to use the macs toilet. YJC was having its cross country there, hence the large posse of people. Adrian chauffeured us to parkway where I killed chickens for 3 hours, before retiring home.
To people who read this, happy CNY to you all! My last in Singapore for the next 3 years I guess, will probably pseudo-celebrate it next year via a webcam. Shall enjoy the experience of visiting tomorrow.
And I frittered away $36 of hard earned money on wed night. Never again.
Like Nick, I kinda stalled on my plans for an exciting 2007. It was supposed to be filled with exciting work experiences and the time in between I was to learn many skills and read a lot of stuff and hopefully exercise to get IPPT silver. I've managed a few objectives, like my Japanese language classes are going on well; work is fun, exciting and insightful; been reading plenty of books, but when it comes to those activities which require great amount of self discipline, which are normally those activities during the free periods between work, I tend to nap, watch TV or just idle away.
Got to stop the rot. Must make an effort to maximise my free time. Many of my friends in uni tell me I should enjoy this free period in my life, as uni you'll be less free. Thanks to them, I'm reminded that I shouldn't sit on my ass for too long.
Somehow, their reminders have a very sobering effect on me. I'm already 21, once I enter uni and complete it, I'll be 23-24. Then it's time to get a job, be financially independent, get married, have kids, work for their future then retire. Not much time for yourself.
I'm grateful for their words as it serves as a very important reminder for me to go seize the day. It'll do me a world of good to heed them.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Too nice
Thanks to a very crappy and shaggy singles' night out on v day night, it's midday and I'm feeling extremely sleepy. I'll probably hit the sheets once I finish this entry.
Anyway, was out CNY shopping with a friend on tuesday when we started to discuss about girls. (Off topic: I think when guys get together they mainly discuss 1) Girls 2) Army 3) Football) Anyway, he was telling me the girl he used to like was to him, at least not very nice. He elaborated further that he deduced it when they took the train together and she did not give up her seat for anyone. Well to draw a conclusion from that incident seems over hasty, but I tend to agree with his point. You don't want a partner who goes around caring for everyone but you.
Am out of work for 2 weeks due to the CNY period. Thus been slacking around st home doing a whole lot of nothing. But yeah, giving myself Feb and March to slack around before emabrking on my plans in the months later.
Shall work on part 2 of the script soon. Inspired by a certain dinner and dance.
Ok i really need to sleep...
Thanks to a very crappy and shaggy singles' night out on v day night, it's midday and I'm feeling extremely sleepy. I'll probably hit the sheets once I finish this entry.
Anyway, was out CNY shopping with a friend on tuesday when we started to discuss about girls. (Off topic: I think when guys get together they mainly discuss 1) Girls 2) Army 3) Football) Anyway, he was telling me the girl he used to like was to him, at least not very nice. He elaborated further that he deduced it when they took the train together and she did not give up her seat for anyone. Well to draw a conclusion from that incident seems over hasty, but I tend to agree with his point. You don't want a partner who goes around caring for everyone but you.
Am out of work for 2 weeks due to the CNY period. Thus been slacking around st home doing a whole lot of nothing. But yeah, giving myself Feb and March to slack around before emabrking on my plans in the months later.
Shall work on part 2 of the script soon. Inspired by a certain dinner and dance.
Ok i really need to sleep...
Sunday, February 11, 2007
When you look like crap, you start building a personality real fast
Agree no? I kind of agree with it, but I believe that the personality comes first no matter what. It also helps if you don't look like a car wreck as well, as sadly first impression, which is normally visual, affects a lot and somewhat unfairly.
Rollerbladed on sat for the first time in my life, landed on my poor K750i so many times that now it has rapidly spreading dead pixels on my LCD screen. Heart pain.
Watched a very low class match where newcastle led a charmed life to beat liverpool. Still it was fun watching fabian and nick squirm everytime a long ball was pumped into the newcastle half and bramble will fumble it while kenneth jun seng and I would shout "Siao liao! Siao liao!" in the hope the fumble will be a costly one.
Got stuck in rush hour traffic at 6 pm to send my bro to NJC for a concert. Madness. Just sat in the car and listened to the radio. BKE at rush hour is no joke.
Looking forward to CNY somewhat, my last in sg for sometime after all.
Some of the things that are bothering me now include my probably enormous repair bill for my phone, my frustratingly slow bittorrent speed, inertia to set up the computer network in my home and my reluctantance to finish reading that ever-increasing stack of Newsweek magazines. But the thing that frustrates me the most is wondering whether if I have been fighting on the wrong and unprofitable side all this while. And I wonder if a change to the dark side is due..
Agree no? I kind of agree with it, but I believe that the personality comes first no matter what. It also helps if you don't look like a car wreck as well, as sadly first impression, which is normally visual, affects a lot and somewhat unfairly.
Rollerbladed on sat for the first time in my life, landed on my poor K750i so many times that now it has rapidly spreading dead pixels on my LCD screen. Heart pain.
Watched a very low class match where newcastle led a charmed life to beat liverpool. Still it was fun watching fabian and nick squirm everytime a long ball was pumped into the newcastle half and bramble will fumble it while kenneth jun seng and I would shout "Siao liao! Siao liao!" in the hope the fumble will be a costly one.
Got stuck in rush hour traffic at 6 pm to send my bro to NJC for a concert. Madness. Just sat in the car and listened to the radio. BKE at rush hour is no joke.
Looking forward to CNY somewhat, my last in sg for sometime after all.
Some of the things that are bothering me now include my probably enormous repair bill for my phone, my frustratingly slow bittorrent speed, inertia to set up the computer network in my home and my reluctantance to finish reading that ever-increasing stack of Newsweek magazines. But the thing that frustrates me the most is wondering whether if I have been fighting on the wrong and unprofitable side all this while. And I wonder if a change to the dark side is due..
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Totally unrelated
This shall be a very random post.
My music collection has been stagnanting for ages due to err acquring issues. Please feel free to help me rectify this problem.
It's alright to be infatuated with someone as long as you know you only "like" the person because his or her physical appearance is appealing to you. I think.
It's darn irritating to be infatuated with someone as that makes conversation with that person so much more harder. Especially when all you want to do is just to talk to him or her and get to know him or her better. It feels like your body is purposely trying to ignore whatever your brain tells you to do.
I wonder if roller blading is the same as ice skating.
I won $16 in the first round of mahjong last week, only to lose $29.50 the next round. Ouch.
I have been running around many schools for workshops in a bid to earn back my losses from the aforementioned mahjong game.
I nearly fell ill after monday's Japanese lesson as my teacher and some students were coughing away in a poorly ventilated classroom.
Went for 2 21st birthday parties, seah's and shaorong's. Wallet is lighter as a result. Had lots of fun with my 4D classmates reminiscing about our antics in class and our teachers.
Been reading Neil Humphreys books on Singapore. British wit in a Singapore context, quite a funny combination. Need to finish 2 more books in a week before having to return them.
There are too many bloody mosquitoes in my room thanks to me keeping the windows open when it gets dark.
I think I should sleep more instead of staying up damn late and tiring myself.
This shall be a very random post.
My music collection has been stagnanting for ages due to err acquring issues. Please feel free to help me rectify this problem.
It's alright to be infatuated with someone as long as you know you only "like" the person because his or her physical appearance is appealing to you. I think.
It's darn irritating to be infatuated with someone as that makes conversation with that person so much more harder. Especially when all you want to do is just to talk to him or her and get to know him or her better. It feels like your body is purposely trying to ignore whatever your brain tells you to do.
I wonder if roller blading is the same as ice skating.
I won $16 in the first round of mahjong last week, only to lose $29.50 the next round. Ouch.
I have been running around many schools for workshops in a bid to earn back my losses from the aforementioned mahjong game.
I nearly fell ill after monday's Japanese lesson as my teacher and some students were coughing away in a poorly ventilated classroom.
Went for 2 21st birthday parties, seah's and shaorong's. Wallet is lighter as a result. Had lots of fun with my 4D classmates reminiscing about our antics in class and our teachers.
Been reading Neil Humphreys books on Singapore. British wit in a Singapore context, quite a funny combination. Need to finish 2 more books in a week before having to return them.
There are too many bloody mosquitoes in my room thanks to me keeping the windows open when it gets dark.
I think I should sleep more instead of staying up damn late and tiring myself.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Someone
Someone who explodes with joy when Manchester United scores a great goal.
Someone who likes writing simple short stories in the dead of the night with quiet and soothing music on.
Someone who likes the camaderie he feels when playing mahjong.
Someone who likes to just chill out and talk cock with his friends.
Someone who loves grandiose stories in RPGs.
Someone who hates his own indecision at times.
Someone who loves a good book for some late night reading.
Someone who believes that your legacy is left within other people and in not in the amount of money you have.
Someone who believes in doing what you believe and making your own choices so that if you screw up, you got no one to blame.
Someone who believes that smiling in the face of adversity will always help.
Someone whom a lot of people think talk too much for his own good.
Someone who loves his life a lot.
Someone who believes that happiness is a choice and to be sad is a conscious decision, therefore we can always choose to be happy.
Someone who wants to continously improve himself.
Someone who hates himself sometimes for being lazy and unmotivated to make the necessary changes in his life.
Well, I'm just someone on this Earth trying to be. Still looking for my niche in this world, but I'm sure I'll find it.
Someone who explodes with joy when Manchester United scores a great goal.
Someone who likes writing simple short stories in the dead of the night with quiet and soothing music on.
Someone who likes the camaderie he feels when playing mahjong.
Someone who likes to just chill out and talk cock with his friends.
Someone who loves grandiose stories in RPGs.
Someone who hates his own indecision at times.
Someone who loves a good book for some late night reading.
Someone who believes that your legacy is left within other people and in not in the amount of money you have.
Someone who believes in doing what you believe and making your own choices so that if you screw up, you got no one to blame.
Someone who believes that smiling in the face of adversity will always help.
Someone whom a lot of people think talk too much for his own good.
Someone who loves his life a lot.
Someone who believes that happiness is a choice and to be sad is a conscious decision, therefore we can always choose to be happy.
Someone who wants to continously improve himself.
Someone who hates himself sometimes for being lazy and unmotivated to make the necessary changes in his life.
Well, I'm just someone on this Earth trying to be. Still looking for my niche in this world, but I'm sure I'll find it.
You and I are a statistical improbability
They stood overlooking the harbour, feeling the evening breeze caress their faces. He leaned against the railing, stealing glances at her all the time. She just stared out into the distance while casually adjusting her short hair. They were physically close to each other, but yet not close.
He knew what her response would be anyway, he just had to say what he said as he wanted to. He just wanted to tell her how he felt.
He spoke. "I don't know about you, but right here right now, being with you, I feel happy and contented. I wish I could just stay here and stare at this magnificent view with you forever."
She didn't respond immediately.
She smiled a sad smile at him. "I'm sorry."
They stood overlooking the harbour, feeling the evening breeze caress their faces. He leaned against the railing, stealing glances at her all the time. She just stared out into the distance while casually adjusting her short hair. They were physically close to each other, but yet not close.
He knew what her response would be anyway, he just had to say what he said as he wanted to. He just wanted to tell her how he felt.
He spoke. "I don't know about you, but right here right now, being with you, I feel happy and contented. I wish I could just stay here and stare at this magnificent view with you forever."
She didn't respond immediately.
She smiled a sad smile at him. "I'm sorry."
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Truly Madly Deeply
By Savage Garden
I'll be your dream
I'll be your wish
I'll be your fantasy.
I'll be your hope
I'll be your love
Be everything that you need.
I love you more with every breath
Truly madly deeply do..
I will be strong I will be faithful
'Cos I'm counting on a new beginning.
A reason for living.
A deeper meaning.
Chorus
I want to stand with you on a mountain.
I want to bathe with you in the sea.
I want to lay like this forever.
Until the sky falls down on me...
Verse 2
And when the stars are shining brightly
In the velvet sky,
I'll make a wish
Send it to heaven
Then make you want to cry..
The tears of joy
For all the pleasure and the certainty.
That we're surrounded
By the comfort and protection of..
The highest power.
In lonely hours.
The tears devour you..
I want to stand with you on a mountain,
I want to bathe with you in the sea.
I want to lay like this forever,
Until the sky falls down on me...
Bridge
Oh can't you see it baby?
You don't have to close your eyes
'Cos it's standing right before you.
All that you need will surely come...
I'll be your dream
I'll be your wish
I'll be your fantasy.
I'll be your hope
I'll be your love
Be everything that you need.
I'll love you more with every breath
Truly madly deeply do...
This is the de facto love song. With vivid imageries to boot. There's a pirated version of this song on radio now, sung by a female singer. After all these years I still prefer Savage Garden's version and Darren Hayes' silky voice. This was probably the first song I fell in love with, way back when I was still in primary school. And I guess it gives an informal guide for die hard romantics. They can go stand on Mt Faber and go swim in East Coast park. Which reminds me, 14th Feb is coming again. Crap.
By Savage Garden
I'll be your dream
I'll be your wish
I'll be your fantasy.
I'll be your hope
I'll be your love
Be everything that you need.
I love you more with every breath
Truly madly deeply do..
I will be strong I will be faithful
'Cos I'm counting on a new beginning.
A reason for living.
A deeper meaning.
Chorus
I want to stand with you on a mountain.
I want to bathe with you in the sea.
I want to lay like this forever.
Until the sky falls down on me...
Verse 2
And when the stars are shining brightly
In the velvet sky,
I'll make a wish
Send it to heaven
Then make you want to cry..
The tears of joy
For all the pleasure and the certainty.
That we're surrounded
By the comfort and protection of..
The highest power.
In lonely hours.
The tears devour you..
I want to stand with you on a mountain,
I want to bathe with you in the sea.
I want to lay like this forever,
Until the sky falls down on me...
Bridge
Oh can't you see it baby?
You don't have to close your eyes
'Cos it's standing right before you.
All that you need will surely come...
I'll be your dream
I'll be your wish
I'll be your fantasy.
I'll be your hope
I'll be your love
Be everything that you need.
I'll love you more with every breath
Truly madly deeply do...
This is the de facto love song. With vivid imageries to boot. There's a pirated version of this song on radio now, sung by a female singer. After all these years I still prefer Savage Garden's version and Darren Hayes' silky voice. This was probably the first song I fell in love with, way back when I was still in primary school. And I guess it gives an informal guide for die hard romantics. They can go stand on Mt Faber and go swim in East Coast park. Which reminds me, 14th Feb is coming again. Crap.
Shag can't think
Further proof that I should keep my mouth shut when my mind is addled. Last friday, after another hard day at work, the 3 of us (my male boss and another female colleague) allowed the students to leave the venue first before we started to pack up and leave ourselves as well. It was a trying an emotional day and I was feeling very drained mentally. In addition, I didn't really take a fancy to the canteen food so I had only a little bit of lunch, thus I was also very glucose deprived.
As we were packing up, we started to talk cock amongst ourselves, especially in reference to what happened in the day's programme. We finally got all our stuff together and was about to leave. I carried the heavy stuff like the laptop out of the archaic AV theatre, while my female colleague went to turn off the lights. As the school was a very rundown one, with ageing facilities, pressing the switches resulted in a blue flash of electricity to crackle around it, shocking her but thankfully not literally. She gave a surprised gasp and backed away. My boss, who was behind her, checked to see if she was alright.
"Woah, be careful there." He said
And as if someone else was speaking using my lips and my voice, I heard myself saying, or at least it's my voice, but it would seem my mouth was being controlled by another being. "Don't worry, I know CPR!" And it came out crystal clear in my voice, with a tinge of playfulness in it.
Silence for a full second, before my boss deadpanned, "I don't think that was the point."
Moral of the story: Shag can't think
Further proof that I should keep my mouth shut when my mind is addled. Last friday, after another hard day at work, the 3 of us (my male boss and another female colleague) allowed the students to leave the venue first before we started to pack up and leave ourselves as well. It was a trying an emotional day and I was feeling very drained mentally. In addition, I didn't really take a fancy to the canteen food so I had only a little bit of lunch, thus I was also very glucose deprived.
As we were packing up, we started to talk cock amongst ourselves, especially in reference to what happened in the day's programme. We finally got all our stuff together and was about to leave. I carried the heavy stuff like the laptop out of the archaic AV theatre, while my female colleague went to turn off the lights. As the school was a very rundown one, with ageing facilities, pressing the switches resulted in a blue flash of electricity to crackle around it, shocking her but thankfully not literally. She gave a surprised gasp and backed away. My boss, who was behind her, checked to see if she was alright.
"Woah, be careful there." He said
And as if someone else was speaking using my lips and my voice, I heard myself saying, or at least it's my voice, but it would seem my mouth was being controlled by another being. "Don't worry, I know CPR!" And it came out crystal clear in my voice, with a tinge of playfulness in it.
Silence for a full second, before my boss deadpanned, "I don't think that was the point."
Moral of the story: Shag can't think
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Friday, January 26, 2007
Lost in Translation
Something rather funny happened when I went for my night Japanese lessons last evening. I came from work, so I was dressed in my long sleeved shirt, a casual beige jacket, jeans, a pair of American cockroach red covered shoes and carrying a black briefcase bag. I was feeling rather tired and my mind was addled due to the long day so when I entered the classroom I was feeling rather dazed already. I sat down and proceeded to take out my files and papers when my sensei (teacher) approached me and started talking to me. She's a lady, in her mid 20s to early 30s, speaks ok English but with a Japanese accent.
Sensei : Zhao Yang-san! Did you cut your hair?
Me: (snapping out of my daze) Err.. Hai! (Yes in Japanese)
S: Very nice! (hands drawing out an outline of a person's body) You look very handsome! You go dating later?
Me: (still in a daze) Err...Iie.. (No in Japanese) I went to work today so I dressed this way.
S: Sodesune! (Oh, like that ah in Japanese) (Puts 2 thumbs up) Very nice! Very handsome!
Me: (Finally coming to terms of what's happening) Hontoni? (Really in Japanese)
S: (still smiling, note:I used a term not taught yet in class but i learned it from watching too much anime) Hontoni!
Well of course I felt rather bucked as someone complimented me on my looks, although felt rather weird as it came from a teacher of all people. Then I thought back to what I wore for the last session. For the previous class I wore my baby blue bathing ape shirt, light brown diesel bermudas, airforce sandals and carried a backpack with straps very tight as I cycled to class. In addition my hair was unkempt, un-gelled and looked like a lion's mane. So I wonder if she was really complimenting me or making a subtle remark about my dressing for the last class.
If anything, this reminds me once again, clothes do maketh a man. If you look like a certain friend of mine who has this babyfaced youthful look, whenever he puts on his sec 1 orientation shirt and cap he immediately looks like a sec 1 kid again. But put him in a collared shirt he looks like a mature young man. Thus one should never underestimate the part the clothes you wear play when people are forming impressions about you.
Something rather funny happened when I went for my night Japanese lessons last evening. I came from work, so I was dressed in my long sleeved shirt, a casual beige jacket, jeans, a pair of American cockroach red covered shoes and carrying a black briefcase bag. I was feeling rather tired and my mind was addled due to the long day so when I entered the classroom I was feeling rather dazed already. I sat down and proceeded to take out my files and papers when my sensei (teacher) approached me and started talking to me. She's a lady, in her mid 20s to early 30s, speaks ok English but with a Japanese accent.
Sensei : Zhao Yang-san! Did you cut your hair?
Me: (snapping out of my daze) Err.. Hai! (Yes in Japanese)
S: Very nice! (hands drawing out an outline of a person's body) You look very handsome! You go dating later?
Me: (still in a daze) Err...Iie.. (No in Japanese) I went to work today so I dressed this way.
S: Sodesune! (Oh, like that ah in Japanese) (Puts 2 thumbs up) Very nice! Very handsome!
Me: (Finally coming to terms of what's happening) Hontoni? (Really in Japanese)
S: (still smiling, note:I used a term not taught yet in class but i learned it from watching too much anime) Hontoni!
Well of course I felt rather bucked as someone complimented me on my looks, although felt rather weird as it came from a teacher of all people. Then I thought back to what I wore for the last session. For the previous class I wore my baby blue bathing ape shirt, light brown diesel bermudas, airforce sandals and carried a backpack with straps very tight as I cycled to class. In addition my hair was unkempt, un-gelled and looked like a lion's mane. So I wonder if she was really complimenting me or making a subtle remark about my dressing for the last class.
If anything, this reminds me once again, clothes do maketh a man. If you look like a certain friend of mine who has this babyfaced youthful look, whenever he puts on his sec 1 orientation shirt and cap he immediately looks like a sec 1 kid again. But put him in a collared shirt he looks like a mature young man. Thus one should never underestimate the part the clothes you wear play when people are forming impressions about you.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Reel Life
I just realised that in 2006, after watching Pirates 2 in late June, the only other movie I went to watch was Flyboys, which was at the behest of dear Brandon. ("Humor the pilot." He said.) I think there was a distinct lack of must-see movies last year.
Anyway, I think most people know that 2007 is going to be a blockbuster year for movies, many of them are sequels or highly anticipated due to their source material, be it comic adaptions or what nots. Also those who know me well I loathe to spend $9.50 watching a crappy movie, but here are some movies I know I'll be in a cinema to watch.
The following list was chosen from wikipedia under the catergory 2007 films so I hope the collective wisdom of all internet users are accurate.
1) GOAL! 2: Definately one to catch with the guys. That means Adrian, yes you are coming too. Don't make us drag you.
2) Harry Potter 5: What can I say, I'm a fan and I like this book for its descent to darkness.
3) Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End: Well you can't really argue with blockbusters. Besides the second one was the best summer 2006 movie I watched, and I want to know what happens at the end of the trilogy.
4) Spider-Man 3: I liked the black costume, I like Venom, I liked the cartoons and comics and I liked the first 2 movies. To me, this is a must see. Only problem is to jostle with everyone else wanting to watch it.
5) Ninja Turtles: I think people can see a pattern already here. Nevertheless, this movie may suck but I would think it's a way to regain my lost childhood.
6) Transformers: This is it. This is the one I have been waiting for. I have suffered enough ridicule for my weird interests, and with this I'll have my vindication. Now to find someone who would watch it with me on opening night with me gushing and giving a running commentary.
I just realised that in 2006, after watching Pirates 2 in late June, the only other movie I went to watch was Flyboys, which was at the behest of dear Brandon. ("Humor the pilot." He said.) I think there was a distinct lack of must-see movies last year.
Anyway, I think most people know that 2007 is going to be a blockbuster year for movies, many of them are sequels or highly anticipated due to their source material, be it comic adaptions or what nots. Also those who know me well I loathe to spend $9.50 watching a crappy movie, but here are some movies I know I'll be in a cinema to watch.
The following list was chosen from wikipedia under the catergory 2007 films so I hope the collective wisdom of all internet users are accurate.
1) GOAL! 2: Definately one to catch with the guys. That means Adrian, yes you are coming too. Don't make us drag you.
2) Harry Potter 5: What can I say, I'm a fan and I like this book for its descent to darkness.
3) Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End: Well you can't really argue with blockbusters. Besides the second one was the best summer 2006 movie I watched, and I want to know what happens at the end of the trilogy.
4) Spider-Man 3: I liked the black costume, I like Venom, I liked the cartoons and comics and I liked the first 2 movies. To me, this is a must see. Only problem is to jostle with everyone else wanting to watch it.
5) Ninja Turtles: I think people can see a pattern already here. Nevertheless, this movie may suck but I would think it's a way to regain my lost childhood.
6) Transformers: This is it. This is the one I have been waiting for. I have suffered enough ridicule for my weird interests, and with this I'll have my vindication. Now to find someone who would watch it with me on opening night with me gushing and giving a running commentary.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)