"I think they (dogs) are grossly misunderstood - it's not that they like to watch the door; they just want to go in..."Though they can only show their intentions by gestures, it seems to me that they are much more easily understood than man. Though we can talk, speech can serve to mask the essential difficulty of making oneself clear and totally honest to another, don't you think so?
Monday, August 28, 2006
Misunderstood
Karen said:
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Another dimension...
Literature class is starting next week for me.
Today, I somehow grew impatient with reading my penguin's edition of Russian Short Stories and decided to start on Edward W. Said's Reflections on Exile, a thick tome of collected essays on topics such as literature, art, colonialism, the Arabic world, and Palestine issues. About high time I took this out too, because I think I bought it 3-4 years ago and never read a page of it.
On the long train and bus ride from AMK to NTU, I couldn't even finish his introduction to the book. I discovered that I have quite lost the ability to make sense of literary writings, or to grasp the overall topical concerns of just that one chapter. I can't remember what 'reification' or 'antinomy' means anymore, what are the different critical perspectives of writers like Lukacs, Adorno, Benjamin, Bloch, Horkheimer, Habermas when Said dropped their names all stringed up in a single sentence. And there are some parts of the writing when I just skipped totally out of exasperation from non-understanding.
I only could empathise with certain topics and writings on them now, and vaguely grasp the logical strands of literary arguments related to keywords such as 'Immediacy' or 'Historiography'. I still delight in reading perverse sentences that describes too much in an attempt to fix its meaning exactly, such as this:
Undoubtedly, I have grown stupid and lazy since my days as an undegraduate. Then again, wasn't that always the case, and that I didn't had that much erudition and intelligence to start with?
Today, I somehow grew impatient with reading my penguin's edition of Russian Short Stories and decided to start on Edward W. Said's Reflections on Exile, a thick tome of collected essays on topics such as literature, art, colonialism, the Arabic world, and Palestine issues. About high time I took this out too, because I think I bought it 3-4 years ago and never read a page of it.
On the long train and bus ride from AMK to NTU, I couldn't even finish his introduction to the book. I discovered that I have quite lost the ability to make sense of literary writings, or to grasp the overall topical concerns of just that one chapter. I can't remember what 'reification' or 'antinomy' means anymore, what are the different critical perspectives of writers like Lukacs, Adorno, Benjamin, Bloch, Horkheimer, Habermas when Said dropped their names all stringed up in a single sentence. And there are some parts of the writing when I just skipped totally out of exasperation from non-understanding.
I only could empathise with certain topics and writings on them now, and vaguely grasp the logical strands of literary arguments related to keywords such as 'Immediacy' or 'Historiography'. I still delight in reading perverse sentences that describes too much in an attempt to fix its meaning exactly, such as this:
...there is the sense of dissonance engendered by estrangement, distance, dispersion, years of lossness and disorientation-and, just as important, the precarious sense of expression by which what "normal" residents find easy and natural to do requires in exile an almost excessive deliberation, reiteration, and affirmation that are undercut by doubt and irony.It seems that I'm trying to fit myself into the rarefied atmosphere of the literary again (specifically, the complexities of modern/postmodern discourses), going back to reading such torturous texts hoping to discover some benign epiphanies everytime I find myself understanding its dense arguments.
Undoubtedly, I have grown stupid and lazy since my days as an undegraduate. Then again, wasn't that always the case, and that I didn't had that much erudition and intelligence to start with?
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
A day in pictures
This is my classmate Daniel listening attentively to Mr. Azhar in class. He's damn cool sia - the guy must have like, 20 different pairs of Nike shoes in all the different funky styles. Notice here that his clothes for the day is matched by the colour combinations in his shoes and his crumpler bag.
That's Mr. Azhar at the astroturf, walking all around it in the after-rain mist laying out marking cones in preparation for the next lesson. Cool right? He's my idol sia...
Walked past Raffles Place and saw this adorable cat with a luxuriant grey coat sleeping the day away. It was oblivious to the crowd and me approaching it for a nice shot, and I restrained myself from wanting to sayang it to avoid waking it up. Cute kitty...
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Notable things...
It's the Seventh month of the Chinese lunar calender now, and the burning of joss papers had been ongoing for a while already. Since young, I could never get used to the smoke that irritates my nose incessantly and those unsightly piles of burnt paper ashes that clogs up the drainage covers and sometimes get carried by the wind up to my flat. I had always hoped that when the present older generation has passed on, this silly and very irritating custom, along with other nonsensical acts by the elderly like jostling to board and disembark from transport, queue-cutting, general uncivilised habits etc, will disappear too.
The newspapers and Gerald reported the general chaos that resulted from the masses trying to view the firework displays going on these days. If the festival was designed to attract people to view it, then isn't it the organiser's fault if chaos emerged and traffic comes to a halt because they didn't plan for the turnout? Don't think it's worth my time to see it myself, transient beauty such as fireworks always leaves me unsatisfied in a way. It gives people a 'wow' moment, but it's not the type of beauty that touches people and leave indelible marks on the memory after that.
Yesterday on the bus back from Mel's place, I had a sudden recall of a triumphant feeling, that I had conquered or won over something in the day. The events of the day were nondescript, but that fantastic feeling must be associated to one of them. And then, the revelation: That euphoric moment came from my full effort poured into cycling back from school. My average speed is still average at best compared to more regular cyclists, but I sure couldn't go much faster than I did then, and it felt really good to give your best in a sporting moment and experience the 'high' afterwards.
The newspapers and Gerald reported the general chaos that resulted from the masses trying to view the firework displays going on these days. If the festival was designed to attract people to view it, then isn't it the organiser's fault if chaos emerged and traffic comes to a halt because they didn't plan for the turnout? Don't think it's worth my time to see it myself, transient beauty such as fireworks always leaves me unsatisfied in a way. It gives people a 'wow' moment, but it's not the type of beauty that touches people and leave indelible marks on the memory after that.
Yesterday on the bus back from Mel's place, I had a sudden recall of a triumphant feeling, that I had conquered or won over something in the day. The events of the day were nondescript, but that fantastic feeling must be associated to one of them. And then, the revelation: That euphoric moment came from my full effort poured into cycling back from school. My average speed is still average at best compared to more regular cyclists, but I sure couldn't go much faster than I did then, and it felt really good to give your best in a sporting moment and experience the 'high' afterwards.
Lit class gathering
It was a great night yesterday - some of the great young literary minds (many great teachers too!) on the island gathered together around a table to snack nonstop on desserts and sweet stuff the whole night through.
The talk was flowing nonstop like the coke out of the cans and meandered round subjects of all sort, from the hilarious-nonsensical to the downright naughty-bitchiness. It was a lovely night people!
The talk was flowing nonstop like the coke out of the cans and meandered round subjects of all sort, from the hilarious-nonsensical to the downright naughty-bitchiness. It was a lovely night people!
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Perspectives
recall
This is a picture I took at dawn enroute while cycling from Eunos back home; I had polo training the night before and then didn't sleep a wink playing mahjong at Mag's place. In an airy-headed state, I actually saw the world as quite a pretty picture: I just had to stop at a junction, look up, and saw this piece of azure sky acting as backdrop for the mosque's tower, flanked by a lamppost that had the audacity to thrust a label across the picture frame and with an overshadowed yellow light below it. Don't ask me why, it was pretty awesome to me at that moment of time, if only I could have a better camera than my phone.
This is a picture I took at dawn enroute while cycling from Eunos back home; I had polo training the night before and then didn't sleep a wink playing mahjong at Mag's place. In an airy-headed state, I actually saw the world as quite a pretty picture: I just had to stop at a junction, look up, and saw this piece of azure sky acting as backdrop for the mosque's tower, flanked by a lamppost that had the audacity to thrust a label across the picture frame and with an overshadowed yellow light below it. Don't ask me why, it was pretty awesome to me at that moment of time, if only I could have a better camera than my phone.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
PE Paradise
In Instructional Strategies class, Mr. Azhar described a world where Physical Education is conducted in almost the best way possible. In that school, the students learn various skills with certification goals to assure competency at a certain level, such as swimming certifications progressively as they go through the secondary school levels, sports climbing level 1 etc. Each term, games will be taught and skill assessed at the end of the module, and a grade given which will be reflected in the report book (PE is considered an academic subject there; failure to pass it means failure to promote).
Of course, so far no students have failed it yet, as skill test is only one of the assessment component, and other things like sportsmanship, punctuality, turnout and bearing also count. Another reason is because students becomes so diligent and earnest in learning the skills taught in class due to a desire to perform well for better grades.
It proves my opinion right again - that the imposing of rigorous standards, assessment methods, performance benchmarks, all help to increase the standing and importance of PE for both students and teachers alike. In that school, all teachers are required to teach all that's inside the curriculum, meaning they must all be able to be assessors and certifiers of skills like swimming and climbing etc. Just imagine the energy the department will have, when PE is elevated in importance to the other academic subjects!
What a glorious thought...though schools like this are very few indeed in this land...
Of course, so far no students have failed it yet, as skill test is only one of the assessment component, and other things like sportsmanship, punctuality, turnout and bearing also count. Another reason is because students becomes so diligent and earnest in learning the skills taught in class due to a desire to perform well for better grades.
It proves my opinion right again - that the imposing of rigorous standards, assessment methods, performance benchmarks, all help to increase the standing and importance of PE for both students and teachers alike. In that school, all teachers are required to teach all that's inside the curriculum, meaning they must all be able to be assessors and certifiers of skills like swimming and climbing etc. Just imagine the energy the department will have, when PE is elevated in importance to the other academic subjects!
What a glorious thought...though schools like this are very few indeed in this land...
Thursday, August 03, 2006
1st week of school
Well, so school has began again. It was a slow start, with my second subject's (literature) lessons not starting until the last week of August. Right now, only 3 modules to go for -
- Instructional Strategies - A continuation/repetition of instruction methods last semester. Same old thing all over, teach class management and planning, and then go teach outside in some school for last 4 weeks of module. But the tutor Mr Mohd Azhar, new to NIE, makes a very good impression, and hopefully he can constantly make us discover new learning points.
- Motor learning/Sports psychology - Two different topics lumped together, a lucky thing as both seems pretty tedious in many ways.
- Soccer - First lesson today, again by Azhar, is interesting, fun, and very tiring. He really practice what he preaches, throwing in learning points strategically while letting us play for a damn long time. My utmost respect to his teaching skills here, and I need to get my soccer skills on par with his expectations man (I suck lah).
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Down with Cough!
Got possessed by a dry and unproductive cough for the past 2 weeks, and it still comes back once in a while after diagnosis and medication last week, though I have to admit I didn't take my medication punctually.
Apparently I've got 'allergic cough', which I noticed is frequently triggered by consumption of cold drinks and sporting activities, resulting in a spell of strong coughing that threatens to make me vomit. The doc says nasal discharges at the back of the nasal cavity can trigger throat irritation, and that itself is triggered by allergic reaction to the environment (as you all know, I got allergic rhinitis and am sensitive to the surrounding for most of my waking hours). A cold throat, caused by cold drinks and a cooling of the body core upon sweating during sports, can also trigger that.
So how? I haven't been a good patient so far, and still order my cold drinks habitually in addition to missing my medication schedule. Must resolve to stop ordering teh peng everytime already...
Apparently I've got 'allergic cough', which I noticed is frequently triggered by consumption of cold drinks and sporting activities, resulting in a spell of strong coughing that threatens to make me vomit. The doc says nasal discharges at the back of the nasal cavity can trigger throat irritation, and that itself is triggered by allergic reaction to the environment (as you all know, I got allergic rhinitis and am sensitive to the surrounding for most of my waking hours). A cold throat, caused by cold drinks and a cooling of the body core upon sweating during sports, can also trigger that.
So how? I haven't been a good patient so far, and still order my cold drinks habitually in addition to missing my medication schedule. Must resolve to stop ordering teh peng everytime already...
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