Wolfie's limited guide to Perth

Getting there
Qantas airway tickets cost us $690 each, and when we checked in they were looking for 5 'volunteers' to switch to an SQ flight going Perth too flying an hour later cos they were overbooked. We volunteered ourselves, only to have SQ telling us they don't have seats together for us, wtf! Eventually when we boarded thankfully we managed to make a switch. Great to be able to watch movies on both flights. Qantas have aunties and ordinary-looking blokes for stewards.


Weather
It was quite alien to a suaku Singapore, to have a big blue sky without a whiff of a cloud greeting us at the airport. The wind could bring a chill especially when temperature drops, at about the time when the shops closes. Then there were two days of morning rain, which made temperature unbearably low for Singaporeans. The cold wind blew very strongly when we were doing our tour to Monkey Mia, but weakenedas the days went by.

Shopping
Almost everything is more expensive there than in Singapore, surfing brands, biking stuff, books, CDs, you name it. Only groceries are cheaper by a little, and Havaianas sandals at this surf shop. So spend only on stuff that you can't get in Singapore, like souvenirs. 70% of the stuff we bought were groceries, very weird.

Sleeping
Underground Backpackers:
Neat, organised, large reception area with cheap net access, and a nice bar with free pool table to use. Double room a little small though (walking corridor inside is less than 1m wide and 3m long), and central-controlled air-conditioning blasts at you throughout the night.

Hotel Bambu:
Horrible. It's NOISY, dirty, unorganised and crowded mostly by wasted backpackers of the sort I don't want to meet. The owner interacts with you civilly at best. The staff are punks who can only do the basics. Despite what the website says,

1. Soundproofing doesn't exists. They have their own party at the front within the premises, and there's a pub playing loud music just besides the hotel that rattles the walls with its bass. They wrote on the reception that Northbridge is a popular clubbing place and that complains of loud noises will not earn a refund, but apparently did not bother to state that on the website.
2. There's only 1 double room, the rest are all dorms. It doesn't even have the 75 beds that it boasts of. When we went there, the system triple-booked the room and we were offered dorms to stay for the first night.
3. There's no fridge in the room as promised, the remote for the dvd player disappeared, the TV is in the smallest size that you can ever find, and DVDs rentals are not free - it costs $2 and a $10 deposit.
4. Cereals and mueslis for breakfast doesn't exist, same for jams. Bread is made of very crummy matter.

The people there are the type that leave their room at midnight to go out partying, and come back at ungodly hours to puke all over the toilet seat. They leave a ton of crockery at the sink unwashed after cooking, or choke up the sink if they do wash up. They obviously like loud noise, and most of them spew the contents of their luggage all over their dorm beds.

I suffered for four long nights.

Grand Central Backpackers:
Creaky place, looks kind of rundown inside and outside, but saved by efficient service.

Activities
Surfing
It was a blast! We booked a 2 day camp with everything in, and went off to the beach within the hour of arrival, packed off in nice ripcurl wetsuits and even free sunscreen. After receiving 15 mins of quality instructions, I was quite surprised we were hurried down to the ocean as wave fodder!


Well actually the basic surfing skills are pretty simple in concept, but practice is key, hence the short instructional time. I developed a new-found respect for surfers (otherwise known as beach bums) after the experience, what with the daily 5 hours of aqua-aerobics that we did everyday. That comes after every attempt (mostly flops at the start) when you get toppled and washed up the beach, and have to walk back into the deep (waist-level) water for the next try while being whacked by numerous waves big and small. You have to do pushups on the board in order to stand, and at the end of Day 1, I could suan Karen all I want cos she can't lift her arms to whack me.

The fun is definitely there for all, and the thrill too, for people like me who eventually got sick of surfing the soup. Going out to deeper waters and trying to surf the curlers brings the experience to a whole new level. I endo-ed a few times when the wave picked me up and drove the board tip into the water in front, and that meant a few underwater somersaults. Not for the faint-hearted.


And oh, the place and food was good too! There's tons of dvds to watch, playstation and pool to play, and you could rummage the fridge anytime you're hungry. Too bad my tired body could only allow me to watch 1 dvd for that night.

Sea Kayaking
Despite it being just a day paddling trip, I brought my paddles, pump, and PFD along just so I can get to use them again. The company wasn't exactly punctual, and were quite slow with letting us start the trip when we got to the put-in point, but at least their Necky kayaks were in good condition, and we got pumps and neoprene sprayskirts too. We received very scanty paddling and safety instructions, which was a negative for them (neoprene skirts for total beginners, and not a word on how to do wet exits??)

The islands that we visited were damn near to mainland, about the distance to cross from Singapore to Ubin only. Headwind was very strong and steering had to be done with rudders as the kayaks had zero rocker at the bow. Initially we needed tremendous effort to do stationary turns on the spot when the wind blew our bow off cos I forgot about the rudder behind. Somehow, we were paddling the slowest throughout the trip, and I still can't believe my paddling skills have deteriorated to the point that beginners could lead me through an entire trip.

Seal Island lived up to its reputation - seals were everywhere, and not shy at all to appear all around us, popping their heads out of the water for our delight. Most were lying on the beach taking in the sun though. We went by another small island before we reached Penguin Island, which had very nice waters and scenery, and a penguin sanctuary which helps to protect those little creatures living on the island and those which couldn't live outside in the wild. The paddling back to startpoint from Penguin Island was 20 minutes only. Recommended for all!


Monkey Mia Tour
This package provided a comprehensive tour of all the sights worth visiting along its route, and we had a very experienced and knowledgeable guide who entertained us pretty well too. People who drive to visit Monkey Mia themselves will no doubt miss quite a bit of the more obscure sights and trails in the parks, and the tour provides for everything, so it's really worth it. You only have to bear with the engine noise and the lethargy of sitting for long hours. The only way I can see to get around the latter point is to do a cycling tour haha.


We saw countless miles of undulating bush terrain under the big blue sky, and spotted the occasional kangaroo sometimes. It was an almost sublime experience to see the ocean merge with the sky at the horizon at some parts of the coastal trail and at Kalbarri National Park, with shades of blue sketched out as far as the eye can see. Kalbarri town was a dream place to stay, situated at a river mouth leading to the Indian Ocean with the houses all staring out to sea.

Pictures paint a thousand words.


Interesting Notes

• Traffic in the city of Perth is very light, and when we got off the cab from the airport onto the streets in Northbridge, we were the only pedestrians around. There was a moment when we saw a road junction at the very heart of the city emptied of cars at 7pm!
• Bike commuters are everywhere! On smaller streets they have a left lane all to themselves, and there are parking facilities even in the heart of the shopping mall area. Interestingly, almost everyone wore plain shells for helmets and had boring bikes; the most impressive bikes around actually belongs to the police bike patrol!
• The world's greatest pizza maker is apparently in Perth, operating Il Padrino's Caffe in Northbridge. Takeaway pizza there is only half price at $13! My tastebuds are not discerning enough to tell that the pizza I ate was the best in the world though.
• I grew to love Kangaroos a lot - They are cute, have very nice fur and leather which made for several beautiful souvenirs, and taste really good too!

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.

Bintan Coconut Blast Adventure Race

Just came back from Bintan yesterday, helping out as technical crew for this 'Coconut Blast' adventure race organised by Base Camp. My first time doing technical rope work overseas, but it wasn't very much different an experience la.

The technical crew stayed at this 'Bintan Lodge', off the radar of most visiting tourists to the resort island. It is a chalet style place looking like a mini 3-room HDB flat when you go in, with living room, kitchenette and 2 bedrooms.
Don't think it's expensive, but there isn't any leisure facilities there, just like a place for you to stay. Going around will be a problem if you intend to stay at that place. But it is operated like any other resort, with the staff dressed in flower-print shirts and with food order services available.

There were three rope stations, and I was operating the tyrolean traverse that day, helping to set it up, doing despatch, and also taking down the entire thing, coiling up hundreds of metres of rope.
The view from the site had a nice view overlooking the 'Kelong', which is an upmarket restaurant beside a golf course.
After we set up the line, we ended up waiting about three hours for the first racers to come. There was a small shelter where had lunch, took shade, and napped. Some pictures from the place there...
After a grand total of 3 racing teams went by our station, we dismantled the station when 5pm struck (Night falls at 6pm in Bintan). It was tough work lugging all the hardware and ropes on top of the cliff down to the entrance of the place, and when we had finished packing, we had to wait around for the vehicle to pick us up. Even the tide went down by then, creating a 'Chek Jawa' mud plain. Man, it reminds me of the countless times me and my buddies have to lug kayaks and countless bags of gears across muddy low-tide grounds when we finished paddling for the day on our kayak trips.

After the initial hype of doing a race up overseas was diminished, I felt that the trip wasn't worth it, all in all. Maybe I lost my enthusiasm in such things already, or did too much of it. Time to move on perhaps?

Moments

Don't know why documentaries on cabletv has been getting to me lately - was watching this one about the reintroduction of wolves into aboriginal lands in the US, and how a wildlife photographer following the wolves interacted with them for the final time before they lopped off to explore their new life in the wilderness. They acted like huge intelligent dogs, extending their paws out to him as a gesture of friendship and nuzzling him fondly. The photographer said he'll never forget them, and that's probably true. He had an empathy with these wild animals that few others on the planet can claim, and am undoubtedly touched by it.

How many of us can claim to have such profound life-changing experiences, that makes us realise that our lives has been worth living and not lived in vain? And where shall we go in search of them?

Well actually, I think a lot of people on this island would rather go in search of other things. To each their own - I'll look for my moments of epiphanies still. Experiences that make me walk on the streets, surveying the crowd, and think: I know what they all do not, and it is that.

Flying Staccatos!

Alerted by Yaochang that there are videos on Youtube of Heifetz playing Dinicu's Hora Staccato, I went to take a look, and voila, there it is! Watch out for the flying staccatos, where rapid staccato notes are played all in one bow (by bouncing the bow up and down imperceptibly); incredible stuff.

Culture is life

Just watched a National Geographic feature on how courageous people in Afghanistan risked their life to protect their cultural artefacts when the Taliban came in and started destroying the country. A group of film archive workers built a false wall to hit over twenty thousand film negatives and created film prints for the Taliban to burn away, while an artist used waterpaint to paint over human characters in oil paintings so that the Taliban would not destroy them (Their fundamentalist religious beliefs prohibits the portrayal of human characters). An archeologist sought to unearth a long lost gigantic 'Sleeping Buddha' in Bamiyan, which will be almost double the size of the ones that the Taliban blown away in 2001, as a fitting way to spite the Talibans and uncover a glorious part of Afghanistan history.

It moved me so that people are willing to risk their lives to protect their cultural heritage, without which a country will lose its soul. Even in such a strife-stricken and war-torn country, there are people dedicated to preserving memory and the past for future generations to build their identity on. I almost wish I could go take a course in archeology right away and embark on a lifetime endeavour of uncovering ancient treasures for that country after watching the show.

Some reviews

Little Miss Sunshine
- quite a feel-good story about a dysfunctional family who embarks on a road trip so that the darling of the family can go for a 'Little Miss Sunshine' children's pageant. Dad is a loser trying to sell his guru management-success formula, Mum's...pretty sane actually. Uncle is a gay Proust scholar who recently tried to commit suicide cos his lover ran off with a rival Proust scholar. Son is a wierdo who think he's enlightened by Nietzsche and refuses to talk as a vow before going to pilot school. All losers in a way lah, but eventually they shrugged off their mental barriers one by one in the journey and came out more human. More clean fun than American Beauty, so should be a hit.

Death Note
- apparently adapted from a Jap Manga where a genius picks up a death book dropped by the death god, allowing him to kill anyone just by entering the name and having the face in his mind. At first wanting to creating a crime-free world, he then used his power to kill off the detectives who are tracing him, pitting his wits against another genius called 'L'. The story is pretty cool (ignore the cartoon character of the death god always hanging around the lead), ends in a cryptic fashion that demands for a sequel to it. Hell, it better come quick...I can't wait.

The Bell Curve

My dear class rep, when Mr. Azhar showed us an example of formal assessment in PE, asked rather awkwardly, whether such a thing is possible to be implemented for students of lesser abilities in the lousier schools (seeing that the example is from RI). She said that attempts to teach the same game to students in two different schools produced mixed results - In her better school the kids could catch on immediately and play on, while in the other school the students had a hard time trying to comprehend the rules of the game.

I can't help but sense the awkwardness in the question and the following answer, where the teacher sort of have to explain, of course, the viability of assessment in PE, whether it's in a good school or a school with not-as-bright students. I think definitely, teachers have to tailor all their curriculum and content to the abilities of the students, but then it is almost as if it is politically incorrect to state outright that there is a sort of discrimination by intellectual level here.

I think we should all readily admit, acknowledge, and accept that there are both brighter and not-as-bright students, and 'good' and 'lousy' schools too, and make provisions when planning our lessons etc. The important thing is that we never state that as a fact to them, and not lower our expectation of them too much because of our perception of their abilities. Perhaps, PE can be the place where they can feel that they can be 'smart' in other ways too, not only book-wise.

The dismal classroom

During a session in an unproductive and redundant class, I suddenly had a moment of revelation - School had been a huge waste of time for me, all in all. I recalled that for most of my schooling life, I left the school gate after the day's session with no awareness of me having learnt anything at all. Learning only took place somewhat before tests and exams, the time in between was spent chatting/napping during class and playing football after it. When I went for school experience and stepped into the secondary school classroom again after so long, I felt the oppressive atmosphere between the four drab grey walls all over.

Is school such a big waste of time for most people? Could my schooling days be made more productive with a better environment and more dynamic teachers? It seems that the incidents and moments which left indelible impressions on me and moulded my character all came from CCA time, or the leisure time spent with my friends. The only exception is in JC, when my literature teachers all combined to give impactful lessons; or maybe by then I was mature enough to listen more attentively and absorb their words of wisdom better.

I want to start leaving impressions and making an impact onto my students' lives at that transitional moment of their growth. I think I can expect much more failures than successes in the attempts, but I must persevere and not waste the precious teenage years of my students, whether or not they appreciate it then. Hopefully, they will look back from their future and realise the impact of my efforts, and then in their own way help to contribute to other peoples' lives.

Bike Geometry part II

Had been feeling my shoulders bearing quite a bit of my body weight when I'm my bike last week (meaning that my body weight is directed down forward), I shifted my saddle nose to point up a little so that the saddle can bear more of my weight. I tested out the seat by getting up on the bike while it's rested by the wall, and out of curiosity, got my mum to took a picture of me.

The silhouette figure was unintentional, had to draw the curtains as the bright lights from the windows will make me a shadow anyway. What is surprising is that I see my back being quite straightly bent over the frame, as low as it probably can get. I had always thought I'm sitting quite upright over the bike cos that's how I felt, with my head a distance above the bars. I had thought that a good aerodynamic posture will bring some pains too, so it was a pleasant surprise to see my comfortable posture being a good one too.

Moral of the story: Road bikes ain't torture machines, you just need to customise it real well to your size!

The Raffles Place kitty again

After attending Wang Jian's cello recital 2 weeks ago, I was walking from the VCH to Raffles Place station when I spotted this kitty again!


Ok, so apparently it's a PR there, and it's pretty comfortable with the environment too, walking around a bloke fishing there nonchalently, and refusing to entertain my request for some pictures. This is like the 5th shot that I took of it. Due to its 'dao' nature, I don't think it is willing to let me stroke itself so I kept my hands off...

Mooncake Fest!

Mid-Autumn festival is here! Mooncake galore! Actually it's here for a while already, have eaten my fair share of it too. Now just waiting for the festival to end soon so that I can get good mooncake bargains and stock up lots of it for cheap! hahaha...

Actually, it's not only mooncakes that I like, but these too -

...had always liked these as a kid, not really sure what it is called, but these baked pastries smells so good! Ahh... have always preferred those original baked mooncakes over the snow-skin ones...

Growing up

School is getting busy - there's no other reason why I'm up blogging now at this unearthly hour. I'm only blogging to indulge in a little act of defiant time-wasting, like I did a few years back in NUS watching the entire Matrix movie on my laptop 2 hours before my 9am final exam paper. Work dries up my brain juice and it didn't even cross my mind that I should periodically record the trivial blog-worthy thoughts that flashes and disappears a few times each day.

I'm now trying to write a paper for my NIE literature module, trying to argue that the promotion of transactional theory of literary comprehension is a thinly-veiled ideological cause which should be decried and has been shamelessly and unnecessarily advocated by the education industry. I haven't got much time because my weekend is bloody packed, and I walked around everyday tossing around and considering associated literary keywords in my mind. And the funny thing is, I'm just out to make a point here - the essay isn't and shouldn't be that hard to write, and after all I don't give a damn for the grade I'll get so long as it is a passing one. That says all about me - passion sometimes drives me too far.

Adulthood seems to be all about time management and priority-setting. I hope for excellence in different areas of my life and wish I can try out many other things, but so many things are impossible because time is a limited resource. Those management gurus who days that time is an abstract/artificial/flexible concept and that what you can do in a day is only limited by your imagination and desire, they're all liars. There is only so much time and energy I have.

When you enjoy so many things that life has to offer, how do you prioritise them?

Round - Island Cycling!

Round Island Challenge 2006

Organised by Terra Outdoors, this event is a 120km route that allows you to take an overnight tour of our island with vehicle support and of course, lots of cycling kakis! Get your friends along too!

Sports psychology

Reading for my silly 25% CA Sports psychology test made me reflect and came to some conclusions with regards to my own psychological profile when engaging in sports...

1. When state (situational) anxiety hits me, my field of attention really gets drastically reduced. When I hold the polo ball in a big match, my peripheral vision just disappears. On any ordinary training day, I can easily survey my options and make considered decisions.
2. I also experience a loss of muscular coordination in such a state - hand-to-hand passes are hard to perform.
3. The multi-dimensional module of arousal and performance applies very well to me - state arousal can improve my performance only so long as I do not experience cognitive anxiety. I play to a high standard against better opponents so long as I do not feel very inferior to them.

I think I can be a very good polo player on my good days, if I only think that way.

Geometry

I have had a new-found interest in geometry recently...bike geometry that is.

Picture and more explanations from http://www.kvanproductions.com/cycling/bicycle_geometry_101.htm

With the gradual upgrades to my bike, the way I seat myself and pedal on it has undergone minor adjustments (we're talking about centimeters of differences), but what profound effect they elicited! First I changed my pedals and shifted my new cleats forward. Intuitively, I discovered that I have to move my saddle forward too to continue to pedal efficiently. But that left my chin sticking over the stem center, so out goes my 110mm stem and in comes a 130mm stem, which did wonders to my positioning! Never did I felt so comfortable on the saddle, comfortably stretched out in a good aerodynamic posture (as far as my body is comfortable with at this moment).

It's not just about comfort; you can adjust the geometry to perform better too. Want a more aggressive streamlined position? Move the saddle even more forward and higher, and both lengthen and lower the stem, and get narrower handlebars. Just make sure your back can get used to the torture :p

For now, I just dream of cycling on and on...

Less updates...

For some strange reason I've been struck by a productive streak, or perhaps a sort of mania. I wrote down a long list of school work pending my attention, and think daily of how I can make that list shorter. I long to show you guys my sikkim photos, tell you about my Bintan trip last weekend, and of the recently concluded Pesta Sukan polo competition, but it looks like I only have time here to tell you all that I ruined my waterproof camera with water on the trip and probably not have time to blog properly in a long while.

Actionasia Adventure Race

Yesterday I went down to help out at the Actionasia adventure race as technical crew. I had to wake up at 5am, took the first bus to Marina, and walked to the Promenade park. No one was there still, and I napped. When I woke up a while later, this was what Shenton way looked like then -

As with the race in year 2004, the organisation of the race was in a mess. We waited a long while to get any word from the technical director, and finally (after much decisions and revisions) I was assigned to man the fixed lines across the Sheares bridge pillar to the park. A safety boat transported us across the water to the pillar, how cool! Out comes my handphone to snap pictures from the place -




It was a busy day at the river - there were the usual dragonboats and duck tours going in and out past the bridge, but also lots of leisure crafts and sail boats! One had a mast that almost touches the bottom of the bridge. I have no idea what made them turned up there, but it sure made the river really crowded.


The other crews are here looking at the setup of the lines. A tyrolean traverse is usually done to connect to high points, with the user pulling themselves across the line with the aid of pulleys. Here the racers have their back on the water when they pull themselves over, anchored to the line with their safety slings.



It isn't very clear, but the picture below was meant to show the ziplines anchored to the water from the bridge. On the other side of the bridge is the abseil station, where racers abseil down to the end of the rope, which ends a few meters above the water. It is endlessly fascinating for me to watch them make their way down the rope, pause before the end, and suddenly you hear a snap as the end is fed through the device, the racer pauses in midair for a split second, before they make a splash into the water below.


All in all, an interesting day lah. One female racer was yelping out in delight constantly during the swim after the abseil drop, and said to us "I feel so sad that you're not doing this!" But well, I love to stay dry and see others enjoy themselves like this ha. Haven't been doing technical rope work for so long already, want to jump onto any opportunities to do so.

Misunderstood

Karen said:

"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?

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:

...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?

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.

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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...

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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...

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.

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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.

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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!

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.

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...

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 -

1. 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.
   
2. Motor learning/Sports psychology - Two different topics lumped together, a lucky thing as both seems pretty tedious in many ways.
   
3. 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).

Bad news: No recess week this term. Good news: Last week of lessons is end October, and exams is on 24th November, so I've got 3 full weeks to go for a long holiday before that! Woohoo! Now to find the moolah to finance that dream vacation...

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...

Contemplating my career future...

I'm usually not one to think about my career prospects and advancements, but thoughts of how things will be 10-20 years from now if I stick at it in teaching intrigue me. Will I stay on to be a teacher still and handle the everyday stress of handling kids, their schoolworks and the preparation for lessons? Or will I want to be a high flyer-wannabe and aspire to be HOD? VP? P? Or how about being a curriculum specialists, set new content for teachers to teach and for students to swallow?

Wanting to work with students is the main reason why I joined the teaching profession, and so following any other career paths will take me away from it. However, I wonder if there's a limit to how much of this daily stress I can take - hopefully things can get more comfortable as time goes by.

On the other hand, being a HOD or a person in power gives me the chance to change things for (what I feel is) the better, and the satisfaction of creating great changes and revolutions is uncomparable. That was my reason for wanting to be ODAC president back in NUS days...

Or maybe I can focus on the outdoors and work with MOE to regulate these activities with my skills and knowledge, which will probably be useless to most schools. But it probably doesn't give me the satisfaction of being in the other two positions.

So how?

In the news...

PE as O level subject
Victoria school and dunno which other secondary school is introducing PE as an O'level subject for students - this can only be good news! If this move can be infectious, the entire profession will improve as teachers will then need to be more professional and prepared in their lesson delivery, and students for once can finally gain the full benefit of a quality PE lesson, and be motivated to keep fit and learn skills.

Possible obstacles to its implementation?

• Need to educate PE teachers to O'level curriculum
• Having a syllabus will impose a strict structure to teaching (but only slack schools will worry about that)
• Need for PE teachers to upgrade knowledge and skills, training time required.
  
• Possible lack of resources and facilities to deliver lessons as per required by syllabus
• Principle does not see the need for the move (unless MOE starts to actively promote it)
• Unmotivated departments
• Slack teachers and departments
• Slack teachers and departments
• Slack teachers and departments

Traffic rules for cyclists
The trial of the bus driver who killed cyclist Sylvester Ang a while back reawakened discussions on the rights of cyclists on roads. There is apparently a set of traffic regulations and guidelines for cyclists, but it is definitely very poorly disseminated to the general public. Not only do the cyclists need to know and observe them, but motorists should also understand these guidelines and stop thinking that they own the roads.

These acts have kept me alive and cycling on the roads so far:

• Signalling intentions with hand signals like any other motorists (at least cars have light indicators!)
• Being disciplined, cycling arrow-straight on the double lines and don't swerve out into the middle of the lanes to avoid objects; look out, anticipate, and slow down if you go over uneven terrain rather than swerve out.
• Putting blinker lights on the bike, front and back.

Notes

In school - Worthwhile inventions that should be produced

1. Chairs that moves along fixed rails on the floor beneath the desk - so that students cannot move them around for illegal gatherings.
2. Desks that sounds a buzzer when a human forearm/head is rested on it - to wake sleepyheads up/alert teachers to sleepers.
3. A device that will deactivate cellphones and scramble soundwaves from mp3 players.

Elsewhere...

1. Bukit Timah road has been repaved with a new layer of asphalt! Cycling on it has never been smoother till now, can finally use my aerobars along that stretch without having to worry about potholes and manholes etc.
2. Watched "How much do you love me" yesterday, quite a funny show that vacillates between seriousness and the farcical, backed by a repertoire of operatic arias that help in the comedic moments. Monica Bellucci is really voluptuous, but looks quite haggard on the closeups.
3. Met Yuanyin for the above show, but regretted that there wasn't much time to spend talking and catching up. Remembering a potential date with Shahidzul too, catching up on climbing and mahjong with Roland. Sorry if some of you have been missing me guys, training frenzy for polo is on right now, and already, I'm not being too disciplined in sticking to my training schedule...

Not so friendly after all.

Played friendly games with my team last night, and it wasn't a good night at all.

First I played as the keeper and got hit by many balls flying into the goal just out of my paddle reach even though I was watching it all the way. Being stuck in that unfamiliar role also means I didn't know when and how far to stay behind to defend or move up to attack. After staying far away from the action in the first game and effectively removing myself from the game by being too cautious, I take the ball and dribbled in to attack in the second game, and got caught out when the last man couldn't mark the opponents doing fast break attacks.

Secondly, I'll remember the night for its Zidane moments, when the captain of one team inexplicably lost his cool for no good reason TWICE and acted like a hooligan, to the extent of verbally challenging my friend. Referee had to blow the whistle not because my friend fouled him but because he wanted to stop the commotion from turning into a brawl. He later asked me to bear no hard feelings for the incidents, but gave me a lame reason to justify his actions (from his attitude he evidently felt that it was justified), and said it was 'too bad' that he had to behave like this. It didn't help that his team was also paddling in an inappropriate manner, throwing paddle fouls around and paddling at my team's throat level across their boats, though this was most likely done unconsciously.

I regretted arranging the friendlies game last night - it did us no good at all and only bred ill-feelings. I'm sorry to have made my friends come down to suffer all these indignities from a team lacking in sportsmanship.

Winning is not everything.

A great read!

I packed a small hardcover copy of Madame Bovary into my bag when I went out 2 days ago, and was totally hooked by it while on public transport. Being an English translation of the original text in French, I do not know who owns the credit for the wonderful writing. In short, a story of a woman so enamored with the ideals of romance that she became an adulteress and went headlong to (so I heard) a tragic outcome. Such accuracy of psychological details, and such appropriate succinctness of lines, that says so much with such elegance!

Here, read this: 'but now this pretty woman he adored was his for life. The universe, for him, was contracted to the silken compass of her petticoat' - the blind and devoting love of a man, wonderfully described!

And here too -
' It seemed to her that certain parts of the world must produce happiness, as they produce peculiar plants which will flourish nowhere else. Why could she not now be leaning on the balcony of a Swiss chalet...' - Indeed! My sentiments exactly!

'He couldn't swim, or fence, or fire a pistol, and was unable to explain a riding term she came across in a novel one day. Whereas a man, surely, should know about everything; excel in a multitude of activities, introduce you to passion in all its force, to life in all its grace, initiate you into all mysteries! - Charming, passionate lines, at the same time inspiring for us and a telling comment upon the naïve character of Madame Bovary.

'His ardours lapsed into a routine, his embraces kept fixed hours; it was just one more habit, a sort of dessert he looked forward to after the monotony of dinner' - My my, what a dreary scene described, one hoped never to be confined to a suffocating relationship like this after being cloistered up in a private world after marriage.

'The older among them retained a youthful air, while the young ones revealed a certain maturity. Their nonchalant glances reflected the quietude of passions daily gratified; behind their gentleness of manner one could detect that peculiar brutality inculcated by dominance in not over-exacting activities such as exercise strength and flatter vanity - the handling of thoroughbreds and the pursuit of wantons.' - Describing both the modern day and Victorian age gentlemen who glided the halls of high society.

Marvellous writing; I have no doubt this book will keep me enthralled for the coming week.

The well-tampered clavier

There is an upright piano at the foyer of the school, with its lid up and keyboard always ready to take a pounding. The notes sounding from its tarnished black lacquered body are probably in need of professional tuning, and I wouldn't be surprised if one or two keys are stuck.

Everyday, I heard snatches of misplaced chords and fragments of a melodic line drifting faintly from the piano at recess time, and usually see 2 or 3 kids sitting on the piano bench enjoying companionship. The fractured portions of the music that they imagined doesn't seem to disturb them very much; they are more likely compelled to tinker with the keys that can hammer out something interesting rather than engaging in music-making. But like them, I'm similarly attracted to the sound of music, or rather, just pure simple tones. The latter alone is enough to transcend the ubiquitous bustle of life, and temporarily dislocate my consciousness to an awareness of its calling.

So often had I wished that my parents had forced me to take up the piano lessons that they offered me when I was very young, or had the chance to keep persist in my violin lessons through my life stages. I dream a lot about being able to sit at the worn-out piano every recess and play Chopin, or to go busking in the midst of the crowd in Orchard and play Bach on the solo violin. I want to give more of this world a glimpse of the beautiful and magical through the transcendental powers of music.

It's E-Learning day!

Today and tom, the kids in my school will be at home the whole day reading stuff off the net and doing online assignments, leaving the teachers to join in focus group discussions and myself, probably to slack the day away. Then again, that's what I've been doing most days. Because the canteen is closed, I'll probably go out of school for some food later, then come back surf net and use the nice gym here, and that'll probably waste the working hours away.

Things are ok for this practicum here lah. I'm not bothered by many things and pretty much left alone to slack. The students are mostly nice, with some of us making an impression on each other in this short time already. I join in 2 badminton sessions and 1 ODAC session with the kids every week, and really enjoy them though that means I leave school real late. Most of the teachers are quite stressed out here though, most don't bother to lift up their eyes to look you in the face and smile when paths crossed, but that's ok. For the first time, I hear idle chatter and laughter here in the staffroom now; the absence of the students must be a welcoming relief.

What's I've learnt in school thus far (mostly unrelated to PE):

• Some teachers like to be in a good supportive staffroom, some wants a place which has kids with best behaviours, I think I am looking for a place where my talents will be valued and put to best use.
• The P and VP can really set the mood and atmosphere of the staffroom. The entire morale level of the teachers depends on their EQ and ambition.
• If you don't show that you're serious about teaching (esp. with PE lessons), the kids naturally can't be bothered to pay attention or do what you instruct them.
  

Despite my revelations, I'm itching to get back to NIE playground and play on. 1o more days to go!

Beijing-Lhasa Railway

This is one train ride that I want to take! I love comfortable train rides, and the one in India is somehow rather attractive to me, although it's a bit crampy and the bed barely enough for my height. How great it will be, to look out at the scenery from 5000m+, in the comfort of the pressurised cabins inside. Read about it here, and there's a photo-article here too.

Numbed

School is a routine that starts the day, before my mind starts running. I'm in a sort of limbo here, most other teachers are busy and milling around, while the few of us on school experience just follow around and do nothing much, except for the horribly tedious practicum journal that we are supposed to write about. I really don't have much of a life to blog about already, can finally understand Alex's sentiments man.

Teaching Practicum I...

...is a bore. There is nothing much to learn so far - PE lessons are all about making kids run and be in better shape for their NAPFA tests, observing lit class is rather more productive and interesting. And we have to do a hell lot of writing and reflective work on very dull lessons, imagine that. It will definitely be a test of my creative writing skills.

Everyone I heard had to get used to the schooling routine of waking up early and such, which is draining on me even though I don't do much for the day actually. Today I just learnt that I can't go back to sit in the air-conditioned staff room after lunch - I'll just go into hibernation mode immediately.

Seriously counting down now to the end of the practicum already, and for a return to PESS! However tiring it is, training for polo and playing badminton are the only things that keeps me sane. And of course, visiting a certain teacher in BPSS regularly...

Some things since I came back...

1. My room is now in a mess.
2. I'm perpetually aware that I'll 'start work' next monday (not that I am worried or concerned in any way at all, but it's just a nagging irrational feeling of sianness)
3. My polo skills suck, real badly. I now weight a wimpy 65kg for my 1.78m height, and simply lack the pure brute strength necessary for the sport. Worse is the fear that I experienced every other minute in the game, fear of passing because the pass will go wayward or be intercepted, fear of shooting because the forceful shot is simply not there. Everytime there is a 50-50 ball, I already know I'll lose the chase. It's a dreary feeling.
4. Because of that, I have planned a 7 day training plan for each week to see where my best effort can take me. 4 pool sessions, 2 gym workouts, and one day of of ball throwing. On top of that, I'm cycling down to NTU and back for every training, and going early to warmup with practice throws too. I'll either improve or disintegrate.
5. I discovered that I've got average grades for last semester, which is to be expected. This comfort with mediocrity, I wonder if it's something to worry about. I can't tell myself, as I did in NUS, that outside of studies I'm picking up a lot more skills. Now, it seems as if I'm just content to cruise along enjoy my time. Seems like something that I should be worrying about.
   

Photos to Tioman paddling trip

Trust my good buddy Roland to have the time to upload the paddling photos onto the net at Yahoo; I must say, his time management in office is great! Apparently there's a part 2 to the photo album - he was saying something like you can find it in the root folder of his profile, but I haven't got the time to verify that info.

Yup, as much as I love to show people my trekking photos too, I simply can't find the time to post them online. Gotta spend the time training instead, tonight's polo session at PC made me feel like a retard. I'm sure you guys wouldn't wanna see a thousand pics online anyway right??

In Bangkok...

Here at an internet place in MBK, bangkok right now - the girls are at another place shopping on their own because me and Jamie, one of the quartet in our group, can't tolerate the physical torture of standing around while they are checking out clothes at the endless rows of shop.

It has been a good trip so far. Sikkim was an eye-opener, a country built entirely on hillside slopes, but pretty well-to-do because of the proper roads they have linking one place to another. Kolkata is messy, chaotic, super humid and sticky, but we got used to it eventually, and with the help of numerous airconditioned havens like restaurants, I grew to like its diverse sights so distant from the road scenes in Singapore. Bangkok here...well...what can I say - I only enjoy the cheap food; the only other cheap thing are clothes and that, I do not have much need of.

Haven't got the chance to do much shopping in India, only tried out their food here and there and such, so for those whom I said I'll get a copy of Karma Sutra for them, I'm sorry I didn't get it. Bought a few books though, and 3 CDs from this shop which had a good selection of classical stuff like Harmonia Mundi, cheap! Watched X-men 3 here in MBK, might be going Khao San tonight and this wholesaler market called Patunam or something tom. Gonna catch a few World Cup matches in the pub near Suk 11 too; the latter is still one great place to stay in, and everyone were impressed by its cleanliness and simplicity.

It's pretty noisy here with the games arcade behind me, so gonna go off now. Will post photos when I get back, and see some of you guys perhaps. See ya!