To Perth!

The day didn't start too well - wanted to wake up a bit earlier at 7am and revise a bit for th 9am exam, but that didn't work out. Got to school just on time, went in and whack. Wah lau, the questions are fantastic. Sport psych questions were pretty much regurgitated matter, but the motor learning questions are out of this world. Questions asks us to devise plans to select Olympians out of a pool of candidates and how to train a soccer team in 6 months, what the...

Anyway. Karen and I wanted to play tennis after that but it was really pouring outside. She forgot to bring her MC to submit to admin office and so from NTU, we drove back to her place where she pick up that slip of paper and off we went, back to NTU just to submit it. Along the way, we picked up one of Lana's famous chocolate cake, got pissed off by the NIE administration's ineffectiveness, and got overcharged by the NIE carpark.

Next destination: Mustafa center. Had a small meal at an Indian restaurant there, exchanged some Aust. currency and bought some travel essentials. Went back home, slacked a bit and I went back to have dinner and packed.

Caught up with Xia for coffee at Bishan while Karen went home to pack. She's getting married! Not very nice to say this, but it's really quite an amazing thing haha. Man, how our conversation topics have matured over the years, from our time in JC together. Bit/Tut, where were you two!

Karen just finished packing, and we're making a trip schedule for the family to keep. Flight at 9am tom, bye guys!

Alex: Will get you a stuffed Koala from there!

Roland: Thanks for the camera! I bought my paddles and my PFD along btw, just for a kayak day trip. Can't help but jump at the chance to use them again la...

Rest of you guys reading this: Don't miss me too much!

Classics worth revisiting

In the frenzy of mugging, and the impending examination starting at 9am tomorrow, I went back to listening to a few classics to make the reading less torturous. It was a wonderful experience, to experience again the evocative power of Debussy's String Quartet and the dreamy atmosphere brought upon with Enescu's first quartet.

I hardly listens to much new music now, but perhaps I should go back to listening to the good oldies instead, those that I started off my classical music experience with.

A dog's life.

That's a greedy dog obviously trying to act cute/pathetic so that the owner will give it some of the snack. The owner, of course, falls for the trick everytime. Some dog just knows how to play the sympathy card...

Here's the dilemma: Given the choice, will you choose to be:

1. A dog, living in a good home and pampered with food and showered with attention everyday, with the family members all fawning over you; or
2. A man, eking out a living in Calcutta, bathing at the public water pumps by the streets, sleeping by the pavements out in the open at night?

Come on, humour me and make your choice in the comments!

Monkeying around

I used to do all this when I was young too! Damn...was too young to understand copyrighting then...



The boy's 9 years old or something, by the way.

Round Island Challenge 2006

On Saturday night, Enric and I took part in the Round Island Challenge by Terra Outdoors; it turned out that the Odac gang consisting of people like Sophia, Alvin, Kelvin, Weilun etc etc signed up for it also, and we all congregate happily in the same group.

At such events, involuntary attention (from the occurrence of novel events...motor learning!) is inevitably drawn to the variety of bikes and cyclists in their different jersey outfits. From the loud, colourfully vulgar to the exotic, no two bikes and their owners look the same, hence the fascination. There's a mtb that looks more like a motorbike, with a box behind for the owner's poodle, and a mtb with syntace aerobars on.

We made good progress actually, having thought initially that the stipulated 22km/h pace will be too slow. Going through the various park connectors at the kallang area wasn't very comfortable for roadies like me and Enric, and we were much happier to hit the roads at city hall. The helpers for the event were pretty competent marshallers and I got to congratulate them for a job well done. Snacks and drinks were provided along the way at breaks too, very welcoming!

We cycled to Kranji, and after the dam area, me and Enric apparently went by the rest area unknowingly. Oh well, we proceeded back to AMK through Mandai road instead, had supper at S11; afterwhich he went back to support Real Madrid while I had an early night's rest.

Bike reborn!

Having bought my bike in February this year, I have went on to make quite a few bit of parts upgrading to it. From looking like this -


...it now looks like this -

A list of parts I have changed:

1. Handlebar - Easton EC90
   
2. Stem - ITM Millennium, 130mm
3. Cyclocomputer - Cateye Micro Wireless
4. Seatpost - Fusion carbon seatpost
5. Seat clamp - from Fusion too
   
6. Saddle - Selle Italia SLK Kit Carbonio
7. Bottom Bracket - ISIS Spline BB, titanium body with carbon shell.
   
8. Cranks - FSA SLK Carbon cranks, 172.5mm
9. Pedals - Look Keo Carbon, Cro-moly axle bearings
10. Chain - KMC X9 Gold
    
11. Cassette - Shimano 9 speed cassette
12. Wheels - Mavic Ksyrium Equipe (Black)

Removed:

1. Cinelli aerobars
   

Added:

1. Cage Rocket holder
2. Lights
3. 2 red Adidas bottles
   

Don't bother asking me how much it costs now... :p

Video analysis of technique in sports

I've always found video analysis of performances for technique useful as augmented feedback for the performer. Before my waterproof camera drowned, I've used it numerous times to provide feedback for people learning to do kayak braces and rolls, and also for myself when I do playboating tricks.

For example, when learning how to roll, kayakers usually do not have the fine proprioceptive sense to know how movement is generated by their body. Whether they roll up or not, they can't tell where the power comes from, whether the body or the head comes up above the water first, whether their body is perpendicular to the boat or leaning fore or aft at setup position, or even whether they managed to do the hip flick or not. In these cases, it is much easier to show them literally how they performed by reviewing the video, rather than trying to do an imitation of their performance for them to see their mistakes.

I also use it to review my own performance, like getting my friends to film me in action shooting a polo ball, so that I can see the extent of the shoulder-joint rotation in generating power. But to use video for your own feedback, you must first know what are the characteristics of good performance and technique, know which movement/limb to watch and critique, and then have adequate motor skills to adjust your technique towards the ideal example.

Now, I just need to get another waterproof camera first...

Great blog!

Visit the Dash Point Pirate and take a look at the vibrant paddling scene overseas! The author is getting his BCU 4 star training in surf currently, but has already made his own boats! Wow. The paddling scene in Singapore is very very sad in comparison, in everything like the variety of water conditions, ownership, training, and opportunities...

Aftermath: Grade review

Ok, my essay was read by 2 other tutors and the grade is up to either a B+ or an A-. My tutor keeps telling me I should be very happy. Actually I realised that not every watertight essay can get an A because it they need to have a grading curve and that means they can't put all logical essays up there. But still, her comments about my work was totally irrelevant, she totally missed the point of my complaint too.

And I wonder why I got so worked up on this stupid academic exercise which has zero application value in the real world. I might have felt that I'm defending my standpoint regarding that issue in the essay, but perhaps I'm already afraid that I'm becoming stupid already.

Can you blame the kids?

Anyway, I can't help but say that I'm sorely disappointed with the attitude of my NIE lecturer, who is apparently all too ready to propagate the oft-criticised kiasu trait with regards to pursuing academic results. I might have said elsewhere, that all through the course, she keeps talking about grading issues even though the class isn't that interested actually - she just assumed that all of us needed a good grade to find our lives worth living still.

Recently, I wrote an essay criticising the frequently-lauded reader-response theory in teaching literary competency, and got a 'B' grade for it, with some irrelevant comments behind and only one in the essay that says something like: "That might not be the case..." when I said that the theory is irrelevant in that teaching context.

Unhappy with the judgmental remark which is totally unsubstantiated, I wrote a lengthy email for her asking her to justify her remarks about my essay and the grade. She simply passed my essay on to another lecturer to review, and today told me loads of silly things like: "You'll find that our grading is really fair and well-moderated", and "It's just that we have a larger cohort this year, and you should see how good some of the essays are". Blah blah blah...

All this is making me sick. I NEVER GIVE A DAMN ABOUT MY GRADES, especially for something I enjoy and love. I simply stand by the point I made in the essay, and if she give me a 'B', she will have to tell me why my argument doesn't warrant an 'A' by showing that the argument is flawed somewhere, not because she doesn't like what I've said. I don't care if I get a 'C' if she can convincingly show that what I wrote was nonsense.

NIE needs to do more to convince people that it is an 'institute of distinction'; inwardly, I know many people think that what they're learning there is rather lame.

I'm a free man!

...Free from assignments for the semester, that is. Just handed in my last Lit essay and did my microteaching today too. It wasn't that hard to churn them out actually, this second essay was much easier to write, just that I kept procrastinating; I was genuinely interested in the topic that I did for my microteaching, so it was no pain at all. Fall short a little from my expectations for the delivery though, I was the last person and I made myself anxious to end the lesson on time, so spoke a bit too fast and zoomed through it, ah what a shame. Damn. I really wanted to enjoy the moment.

Anyway, next up is the exam paper for motor learning/sport psychology next friday, so gotta get down to studying from now. Expect more blog entries here - I think I'll blog more then I study, just as an excuse to slack.

A visit to Mr Azhar's place

My third Hari Raya Haji invitation within this period, the lunch at Mr. Azhar's place was great! Nice food and drinks, love the mutton dishes (Have always liked the way the malays cook their mutton), and of course, the great company of my class people. We played Taboo with Pictionary cards and had Isabelle as side entertainment, and admired the scenary outside his place, which overlooking a whole stretch of undisturbed forest and Sungei Serangoon (can paddle out to Coney Island from there!).


He kept two black kittens in his place, which hid themselves outside the house on the balcony when we arrived. Their bright eyes are so full of intelligence, look at them stare at my phone camera!

Badminton training

Went for my first badminton training session today at Assumption English School. It was a cycling trip there, going along the familiar route on Bukit Timah which I usually use to go to and from NTU, and I got to keep my bike securely there too.

The training starts with lobbing before going into a few drills involving players on both end of the court executing different strokes; most drills use a feeder to start, good for keeping up the activity level. It is good to do such isolated drill practice for me, hope that eventually the performance there will transfer into my game. The best learning pointers for the day for me is on my preparation during defence. Some drills started with a static right-foot-forward position, which is kind of awkward because there's bound to be some position adjustment after the shuttle is served, not sure if that's the best thing.

Also learnt a very uncommon position of preparing for smash/drop, which should take quite some time to get used to. But then again, I recall Chen Hong in that posture when they set up their smash in badminton clips too, so perhaps it's worth learning.

Wonder how the training progression will be, or if there's any plan at all. The last 15 mins was left for us to play a doubles game, and that's when the instructors smoke out, something that I frown upon (will try to keep them there to give me advice next session). Also, given that we practiced quite a bit of footwork during the session, shouldn't we be playing singles game at the end instead of doubles?

Football Carnival!

PESS 3C and 3D had a football carnival at The Cage today, playing at 2 pitches simultaneously for 2 hours.


Meticulous organised, the carnival comes with an entire playing schedule! With group members list, fixtures, schedules, and scoring record. Not to mention the cooler with ice and isotonic drinks and mineral water, plus lots of tidbits.


Tom Browne would be very proud of us indeed!

Singapore's Transportation Woes

Man, today I suddenly realised what a blessing it is to be a teacher, work at a place near my house, and being able to bike commute to work. I was on the road in Karen's car a few times today and to me the street conditions are really making the option of owning a car untenable to me even in the far future, what with the frequent traffic jams making the cars crawl in long lines at so many places. Can you imagine paying so much for a car to drive on these roads?

Travelling on public transport is an equally unpleasant option - SMRT must be deluded to dare report that their services are underutilised when people complain that buses don't come frequent enough; they probably just look at some ulu bus routes and not the few important services like 74, 133 etc. On these routes, many can expect to be packed standing upright for half an hour or more every morning. Like someone said in the papers, the bigshots of Singapore should use their services to serve as an example for the rest of the nation, if they really think it's good enough. And they still don't bother to put up route lines at every bus stops; how to give people confidence to transfer between services etc? Plus TVmobile irks me to no end.

So, imagine being tortured in the morning for more than an hour everyday and ending up in office half dead. I'm so glad I'll arrive at school invigorated everyday instead.

What?

Can you guys read clearly what's written after the 'Fully Sold' headline? Hm...what will you think if you were one of the unit buyers...

Floorball stunts

Here's a youtube clip on the different variations of the floorball technique called the airhook, where the stick blade hooks up the ball and literally attaches itself there while the stick is being swirled around to keep the ball there. Gawk and learn.

On Jackson Pollock

Christie auction house chalked up a record sales of £58m in a single auction recently, with Pollock's painting No.12 sold for £6.62m, the highest paid for a post-war US artist.


The painting's huge! The actual one that is. Totally chaotic, but fascinating for that very reason too.

Richard P. Taylor discovered that his paintings folllow fractal rules, where a minute part of the pattern is statistically similar to larger parts if you look at it in magnification.

Want to try doing a Pollock?

"A creative global city"

Do you think that it's possible for Singapore to be 'a creative global city'? A few random thoughts on it...

• Do we first need a stable Singapore's cultural identity before we can talk about the arts? What then, do we have to sing/write/paint/act about? The laudable successes of the artistic local film industry do give us hope, but in the other genres, the lack of a distinct national culture seems to impede artistic development somewhat. Do we need a Singaporean Sibelius to create something out of nothing first?


• What will our creative talents showcase? The virtuosic Singaporean pianist playing Chopin? A fresh interpretation of Don Giovanni by the SLO? We have the performers, but do we have a content and context that is truly ours?


• IMO, the masterplan have to start with a well-developed and thorough plan for arts education in school first. Without an appreciation of the arts and a recognition of its value (economical or otherwise), any plan will fall flat with a nation of philistines.


• Growing artists must have an avenue to pursue professional development here too. I am not sure, but I suspect that the majority of prominent artists in the various artistic genres here are educated overseas. It is probably a sign that local arts education institute falls short of international standards.


• What will turning Singapore 'into a wireless nation' do for the arts or for national creativity?
  

Finally, I guess everyone must have heard by now that creativity needs a free environment to be fostered, and that state campaigns can only do so much if the nation is not ready to give a free rein to creativity. Yes, censorship issues must be better considered.

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Just three hours after I wrote the above, I chanced upon a book review of 'Visual Shock: A History of Art Controversies in American Culture' at the Boston Globe, detailing the history of official resistance and censorship against modernist art. This quote from a judge involved in one of those legal battles to import modern art into the country: "conceptions of what is art and what is beautiful are not static. They change with time", is clearly relevant to Singapore. Progress cannot come without risks in adopting new ways of thinking. The country should be as daring in letting artistic endeavours break new grounds as it is willing to develop the gambling gaming industry in Singapore.

Smashing badminton clips!

Have been procrastinating in the midst of my work by viewing Youtube clips recently, the current craze being badminton videos. Here's one of the best I've seen, a match between Lin Dan (currently World No.1) and Peter Gade (currently World No.3).

Amazing pictures

This is my classmate Peng Kee, as we were having dinner at Chomp Chomp.

It isn't apparent in the photo, but he's actually drenched and wet from the heat produced in the process of food ingestion , with his chin dripping sweat nonstop. He's shown here being in the process of finishing up a plate of cockles himself; eventually he did finish all 30+ pieces of them of course.

Oh, and did I mention that that was dessert? He finished up a plate of wanton mee, a bowl of porridge, and a few Chwee kuehs plus a chomp-chomp size mug of sugarcane juice before that.

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I just broke my $190 Yonex MusclePower 99 racket! A shot coming at me and best partner William came diagonally from his side towards mine, so both of us went for it. He extended his arm for a backhand, and I smashed my racket down on his wrist. Next thing we knew, we saw a yellow racket face flew away and I was left holding a yellow wand. He survived with just a red welt across his wrist despite my smashing power.


It has never occured to me that the technical bombast scrawled on rackets, touting the superb technologies that goes into making the racket, can actually be true. Inside, there is a metal core (presumably titanium), wrapped up by a shell of graphite. Pretty cool to actually see it for yourself. Now...when will I be able to fork out another $190 for it...hm...

Tested!

Results from the last psychological survey I did...I'm not sure why people (myself included) like to see if ithey can validate and reaffirm their own identity using silly tests like these, curiosity perhaps? Though I can't really figure out why I should be curious about what the tests will say about me (after all, how does it matter whether I can 'prove' that the test is accurate/inaccurate?), since I'm fully aware that I'm a much more complex character than any description of my personality can do justice to.

(Btw, you can try it yourself here)

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Your answers suggest you are a Supervisor

The four aspects that make up this personality type are:

Summary of Supervisors

• Bring order to their home and work life
• Like to act on clear, achievable goals
• Think of themselves as stable, practical and sociable
• May be irritated when people don't follow procedures

More about Supervisors

Supervisors like to make plans, organise people and get things done efficiently. They are natural administrators who dislike chaos and strive to bring order to every aspect of their lives. Supervisors like jobs where the goals are clearly defined and there are proven work methods in place.

Supervisors are most likely to say they prefer a job which involves a series of separate projects, according to a UK survey.

Supervisors use logic to solve problems and believe in being open and direct in their communications with others. They prefer to work and socialise with like-minded people.

In situations where they can't use their talents or are unappreciated, Supervisors may reject the opinions of others and insist they are right. Under extreme stress, Supervisors may feel cut off from the people around them and lose confidence in their own ability to cope.

Because they like to take charge and organise activities, others may find Supervisors too bossy.

Stuff from the papers

On the fact that 1% of NUS Alumni donates to the University:

Given a choice of donating to NUS or any of the many charities around, which one will you choose? The answer is clear: NUS is not an institution that depends on donations for its survival. Although the fund might be used to give awards to needy students, it is simply infuriating to see how the university splurge on countless useless projects just to create a brand name for themselves. I can never forget their hypocrisy; saying on one hand that they want to encourage active student life on campus, but then wanting to charge small societies fees just to use a silly room for weekly meetings. And of course, they wouldn't spend a cent towards funding societys' activities, except for the glamour events like sending a bunch of people up Everest.

Anyway, why doesn't ST publicise the plight of charities out there who are barely surviving, with staffs working desperately day in and out trying to sustain their humanitarian efforts of caring for their beneficiaries?

On the defense of Ms Wee Shu Min by bloggers (responses posted on Digital Life in ST)

Some Singaporean youths really have an egoistic streak in them. How can they support Ms Wee's comments when she's obviously flaming that guy for sport out of boredom? Would they like to be targets of condescending sarcasm themselves? They are right that everyone have a right to free speech: Ms Wee had hers, and the public responded equally in protest. The fact that she abruptly cut off the debate by shutting down her blog is a sign of cowardice, not to mention the fact that she still had not issued an official apology in person. Her dad should be ashamed of her behaviour as a parent who knows better, for his lousy defence of her remarks. Without having even worked in the corporate world before, the brat is in no position to comment on the difficulty of finding employment in Singapore.

If she enjoys humiliating others in a poorer situation than herself by flaming them online, I dare her to open up her blog online again - then she can appreciate how it feel like to be flamed. Cowardice is a sign of immaturity - obviously intellectual maturity speaks nothing about one's character.