Paying it forward

I've got book prizes for the best literature students in my 3 classes, out of my own pocket. Thinking about it, I should have got 6 of them - 3 for best end of year scripts and 3 for best overall results.

I used to get a few book prizes in Primary school, but I think I got none at the Secondary level, strange huh? I remember I got a 3-in-1 volume of Agatha Christie's crime novels, which I was barely able to read but did finish it in the end after some effort, and I used a popular book voucher to buy the unabridged version of Oliver Twist, which I tried reading several times but always gave up. I can't find it now, but I'll always remember the effort I put into the attempt to understand it; that is memorable too.

And of course, in my formative years in JC, I've got D.H Lawrence's Sons and Lovers which did much to help me understand my literature text Women in Love, from the same writer. That was one book that made me a more mature reader/person.

I think students treasure book prizes especially when they come with personal messages from the teacher, and for my case, I'll make effort to finish them even though they were not really suitable for my reading ability then. It did me a whole lot of good, and I want to pay it forward. Who knows, one of them might graduate summa cum laude from the Literature department from a university someday because I had done my part to encouraged them.

What a waste...

• That the US currency had gone up and stayed stable. Wanted to see if it'll drop and I can buy myself enough greenbacks for a honeymoon in the US next year.

• I just threw away another inkless pen. I think I read statistics that says only 5-10% of plastics ever gets recycled, and I don't think that will be one of them. Our plastic rubbish either gets burned and contributes to greenhouse gases and landfills, or inevitably end up in the sea, littering beaches or broken down by sunlight until it becomes plastic pellets small enough for animals to ingest them, thus entering the food chain (Which we are part of, btw).

• It always seems like a crime to me that we use more water to wash a cup compared to the amount that we actually drink.

By the way, have you heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? Read about it in the Natural History Magazine and Discover Magazine.

The big trip ahead...

Exams have started last Friday, which signals the start of the 'lull period', leaving me with more time to think about things other than work.

I just started planning for my touring trip in Langkawi, and it's both daunting and exciting to think about it, all the logistics and preparations involved! From small things like scrapping suncream into plastic containers (cos its current metal can will rust) and charging all extra batteries, I also am trying to figure out the best way to get there still - I missed the Silkair direct flight promotion last month! It feels like my first paddling trip all over again; maybe one can never stop fretting over the organisation of such trips.

Some other things I need to settle -

• Handling the weight of all the things we are bringing - boats are 20+ kg each already, plus camping gear and water and food and personal items.
• Food planning - planning for meals that do not need to be cooked for lunches, and breakfasts that are not a hassle.
  
• If I fly there, where do I get fuel for my camping stove over there?
• Still haven't found a nautical map of the place (not sure if the Singapore sea charts includes it though).
• And yes, I bought a GPS already, have it for almost a month now but I still don't know how to use it!
  

But, think of the beach! The water!

No rhyme or reason...

This is damn funny la, a German fees agency charged Mr Friedrich Schiller, the celebrated (and dead for 200+ years) poet over 40,000 euros for his TV and radio license fees. The bill was sent to a primary school which bears his name. How the hell did they manage to get his name, and who was the smart aleck that decided that his address must be that primary school? See the problem of being an illiterate philistine?

Incidentally, he's the guy who wrote 'Ode to Joy', which Beethoven then set to music and include it into that glorious 9th symphony's last movement. Sing along next time you hear the music!

An Die Freude	To Joy
1 Freude, schoener Goetterfunken,	1 Joy, beautiful spark of Gods,
2 Tochter aus Elysium,	2 Daughter of Elysium,
3 Wir betreten feuertrunken,	3 We enter, fire-imbibed,
4 Himmlische, dein Heiligtum.	4 Heavenly, thy sanctuary.
5 Deine Zauber binden wieder	5 Thy magic powers re-unite
6 Was der Mode Schwert geteilt	6 What custom's sword has divided
7 Bettler werden Fuerstenbrueder	7 Beggars become Princes' brothers
8 Wo dein sanfter Fluegel weilt.	8 Where thy gentle wing abides.

Lyrics taken from http://raptusassociation.org/ode1785.html

An initial tour

Ok, so I got the house keys last Sunday. Here's the floor plan of the place; the major change to it is probably my plan to tear down the kitchen toilet so that the kitchen will be bigger.


Here's the living area with the balcony. The place doesn't get any glaring sun directly in the day, so it's nice in that way.


This storage under the staircase has got to go. It separates the dining and living area and makes the place feels small because you can't see the whole place from either end.


The rusty handrail at the balcony is pretty much reflective of the condition of the whole place. Everything has really got to go, leaving only the bare walls. Anything metal like door and window frames have all been corroded, and even the main door has to be changed (looks like a dog chewed on it regularly).


The stairs starts from the dining area, and the table probably would have to be nicely placed so that the staircase wouldn't be blocked. I doubt we'll have much meals sitting there too anyway.


The entrance to the utility room is just beside the door, and it's a pretty big space for all my gear. Think the shoe cabinet will have to go in there too, a bit strange to cramp that into the dining area.


The kitchen entrance definitely have to be expanded, more hacking here.


The long wooden cabinet hides a pipe behind it. There are a few of these in the house, here and upstairs too, very unsightly. To specifically build something over to mask it might make the obstruction stand out even more...what to do about it?


Up the stairs - gonna change the railings too, and give it wooden steps.


Here's the ugly pipe just outside the toilet upstairs. This common toilet is long and narrow, thank goodness for the bedroom toilet. Guests will have to bear with it :p

The best part of the place - the view. It's just low building and the big blue sky in front of us from the balcony. To make it even better, we want to build a wooden platform to elevate the balcony floor. Enjoy!

Sarah Palin - The Great Pretender

She came from nowhere and tried to impress stupid Americans with her power dressing and vitriolic words against things like global warming and abortion and gun ownership and hunting and wildlife conservation. Now she's being exposed for being the ignorant fool that she is after the insult-hurling start of her campaign was over. I didn't knew how bad she was till I saw this on Mr Brown's site. What a cringe-worthy video, when you consider the fact that this person is trying to be the vice-president of the most powerful country in the world.



Smart Americans should be ashamed of people like her...

---

Here's a dumb blond trying to be the Vice-President being interviewed on her reading habits...

Couric: And when it comes to establishing your worldview, I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this to stay informed and to understand the world?

Palin: I’ve read most of them, again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media.

Couric: What, specifically?

Palin: Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me all these years.

Couric: Can you name a few?

Palin: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news, too. Alaska isn’t a foreign country, where it’s kind of suggested, “Wow, how could you keep in touch with what the rest of Washington, D.C., may be thinking when you live up there in Alaska?” Believe me, Alaska is like a microcosm of America.

If she really is "the New Energy" of America, God bless the world...

More from the paddling world...

Got a mail from a fellow paddler that the paddling DVD This is the Sea 4 is out already - do visit to tkae a look at the trailers.

More interestingly, from there I stumbled upon this Paddling Instructor website, which has much informative content that actually have much that is new to me (I don't think I know that much, but it's just that new knowledge is hard to find). If you're a paddling coach, do pay the site a visit, and register to get some of its resources.

Writing shorts?

I have been teaching my Sec 1 literature class how to do Unseen Prose this term, and had shown/taught them this story called Stone the Crows. Recently, during a PE period which I have to hold the class in the classroom because PE has ended, I showed the story to a class which I do not teach, read it to them and gave them some food for thought. After that, somehow I mentioned that I got the story online, and one of the kids said "Har teacher I thought you wrote this yourself!"

Don't know whether that is meant to be a compliment hm... maybe the brevity of it makes it seems likely that I am its author. They probably don't realise that writing short stories is an exacting craft. But that gives me a thought...maybe I can start writing stories for them! They'll be the perfect (captive) audience for me ha.

Not that I feel the need to express myself creatively in this manner. This blog is enough to satisfy my crave for expressive writing. I only need time to type out more of my thoughts here.

Designing the house

I'm getting the keys to my new place next Wednesday!

Well actually that doesn't mean anything much, because we're still too busy to try do anything to it. I probably wouldn't start finding a contractor for renovations until after the exams. Meanwhile, will need to drop by there another time to take pictures and measurements of the place for the floorplan too (Yup, apparently HDB sells floorplans with inaccurate measurements).

Anyway, I have had fun reading interior design magazines every month, and it's quite interesting to see both the nice and weird things. Having a feature wall to hang your flatscreen TV on is the 'in' thing to do nowadays, as well as having kitchen islands/open concept kitchens and light boxes on the ceiling. Actually, in quite a few pictures of apartments and houses overseas, people don't even make the TV the focal point of the house! This dispensed with the need to build feature walls of course.

Which makes food for though - what else can be the focal point of a place? Just a cluster of sofa chairs and the coffee table? A full bookcase?

Maybe I should just display my boats, paddles and bike. I can admire them endlessly anyway. But I think somebody else wouldn't be as interested in that...

(Postscript - It just seems wrong for a modern day family to make the focal point of their home the idiot box. Terribly impersonal, don't you think? I mean, watching TV together might be nice, but then isn't there more interactive activities around?)

Paddling diary

Playboating
Well it's good that the Waterfest event gave us playboaters a venue to play together for a month or so. I still have some way to go before I can floop in my boat, and I want to be steady in things like changing into bow and stern stall. Can't pack in much practice though, because my muscles will give up with 2 hours of training.

Polo-ing
It's amazing how things fall in place when you think of the next possible step. My former teammate has a plan to develop a private polo playing ground, and to set up the old PC team again. If things go through, that's where I'll be in future. The important thing is to be in a team with like-minded people, who has the same training philosopy, ideals and dreams. I make sure that I'll train up to be good enough to be in the team, now that I have been down for so long.

Sea Touring
Am slowly slowly planning my trip to paddle round Langkawi. There's lots of information gaps, like which part of the island offers accomodation, and which nearby islands should be visited. Currently, Google Earth is my main help, and looks like I'll have to trust my GPS on the trip. Anyone with information to share about Langkawi do let me know!

Playboating show

Occasion: Waterfest Singapore 2008
Event: Playboating Performance
Date: 13th September Saturday (not sure other days have or not)
Venue: Bottle Tree Park at Khatib
Time: 10am - 10.15am
Fees: Free

I'm gonna be there to take part in the performance. I hope the watching public will be satisfied by it, cos it's quite hard to do choreographed playboating action. Firstly, I have been out of practice, and secondly I still can't do my best in my own boat. And also, I think only paddlers can appreciate the difficulty of attempting the moves; non-paddlers might raise their eyebrows but then not think much of it after a few tricks. Man, I assure you every move we do takes at least a month to nail (from the basic forward handroll), and most takes more than that!

So, hope that we can pull off a 5-minute synchronised routine, and then be successful when we try our own trick! I'm feeling the performance anxiety even as I type now *shudder*...

Paddling far away

It is really something different to do a kayak camping trip.

When doing long extended paddles, your sense of time really gets warped. The paddling will be tiring but the time will just slip away easily as if the waves on the vast expanse of water carries it along. Your worries follows too. The mind goes into an easy and curious state, very very clear and yet ready to cogitate and consider anything that you want to consciously think about. Your body, meanwhile, pretty much go on autopilot, but then again, you can think about it too, the feeling of self-propulsion, the goal of achieving a clean entry of the blades, et cetera.

It takes a few days to get into a pure adventure mode when I'm doing long treks, the kind of feeling which make you forget about work and urbanity and communication devices entirely, when all you think about each morning is the route ahead. In contrast, it only takes a day to get into this mode on paddling trips.

You paddle the day away, cook a nice meal slowly and spend the rest of the night continue dreaming under the stars. You wake up to the sound of waves and the chilly air. And in the day, you just marvel endlessly at the landscape from afar and the colours of the sea, or even admire its denizens from the surface!

I wouldn't mind seeing nobody en route on a trip like this, and that's a real possibility depending on your route. That's a holiday hard to beat, don't you think?

A peek into the future...

The flyer didn't take off

All teachers were given unlimited complimentary passes to take trip on the Flyer this week, but it was really a really poor experience. Advice first, in case you don't want to read the rest - Try it if you are really dying to do so, but it is really not worth the money.

Pickup

• Bus stop at Coleman street was crowded with people waiting for the shuttle bus there. When it came, we managed to go up on it, and after all the seats are taken, this stupid girl who was the attendant on board asked all standing passengers to disembark because no one is supposed to stand when the bus is moving! That means that each trip the bus only carried 30 people. The reason was that it is supposed to be an open roof bus (which has this huge piece of plastic over it), and have no railings (which is not true). I don't think anyone appreciate the open-roof concept at all too.

At the Flyer

• We went a small round to find the ticket booth, and turned out that it was just a small discreet office with a glass door at the place where we got off the bus. It was so small inside, the spontaneous queue had to snake out of it and the glass door have to be held open. There was only 2 counters, and it wasn't efficient.
• They made all of us take photos before boarding, so that they can try persuading you to buy souvenir photos after the trip. What the hell. (luckily they didn't resort to pushy sales tactics after that).
• It seriously wasn't impressive la. It was really boring. We sat down and stone after it went pass the highest point.
• It isn't nice to be trapped in a capsule for half an hour with loud kids running around
  
• The shops there are a wierd mix.
  

Back to the bus

• The bus just happened to arrive, but we didn't managed to get a seat, so again, the girl drove people like us down. She's really stupid. Couldn't she just do a headcount instead of driving people off the bus every single time?
• Apparently they only have one bus which goes round and round. It was the same bus, driver and attendant the next time round, 30 minutes later. I could have reached City Hall in that time by walking.
  

How can this be a good attraction when it becomes the world's second tallest observation wheel?

A bloody affair

A sterile and cold place.

I was prepared. Eyes are masked, and then I was enveloped in blinding light. Shadows hovered around, moving in and out of my dreamscape.

Sharps of piercing pain, shrill screams of tools rattling to the core. Blunt prying forceps leveraging crushing force.

Pressure, pain, loss. I have to swallow it all.

I'm sure I deserve more than a week's MC for the ordeal of my wisdom tooth extraction.

Perhaps, this is it...

It was a terrible polo competition for me this year.

My team joined the competition with very few sessions (two or three?) of playing together, and we told each other we'll just go and have fun without bearing any expectations or goals. But as it turns out, I'm never one to take competition lightly. We lost two out of three games in the group stage, and only win the weakest team on the island by a solitary goal. For the first time in a few years, somehow I caught myself committing mistakes due to a lack of awareness that leads to 2 goals being scored. It was just terrible.

It's time to decide my polo future. My teammate is going overseas for a year and I think that's the end of my team. If I want to go on playing, I want to train hard and regularly with another team. Will I join my junior team? Or should I try to join another club?

Do I really want to take polo that seriously?

Teachers' Day

This is a day which makes me wonder if, as Prufrock said, "would it have been worth it, after all", to stay as a teacher for long. The kids suddenly all become angelic and nice on the day, and everyone is in some sort of airy-fairy mood.

I must have the weirdest response to the day. As with last year, I start the day pondering about the significance of the day, if we teachers are really the miracle workers we are said to be (everyone will like us to be, but most of the time they are sorely disappointed). When students come up to give me cards or presents, I feel an immense sense of embarrassment, and receiving anything at all makes me wonder if I deserve it. At the same time, I am very appreciative of their small gestures but do not know how to show it except to say the obligatory 'thank you' to students. I wonder how they feel, overcoming shyness to get something for a teacher, standing up from the class line and approaching the teacher, pass over the gift and only hearing a 'thank you' and a sheepish smile from the teacher, before going back to the class wondering if it was worth all the effort.

I believe in the transformative power of teachers, and I think it is a good occasion after all, to have one day when people remember our efforts. I just think that perhaps I'm too embarrassed by such public display of affections on the day.

Guard your own thoughts

Mr Brown recently noticed that headlines in the Straits Times online portal changes real fast. On an article on the current inflation rate, there were 2 changes to the headlines within the hour or so, each sounding more positive with every revision.

A reader with real insight commented there:

"Nowadays all the bad news becomes good news.

GST to help the poors.
ERP helps u own cars.
Less pay will retain jobs.
Frozen meat is good for health.

This country is evolving to a paradise.
Deities and angels are migrating over here."

This is what Orwell warned us about in 1984, how the political like to encourage 'doublethink'. In fact, doublespeak is everywhere in our dear local paper, with the negative negated and changed to reflect a dubious positive.

I think I should start teaching students how to read newspapers critically in my classes so that they don't end up being dumb citizens without opinions and critical thought.

The limits to knowledge

Here's a piece of food for thought: Isn't it significant that most of us do not understand much of the concepts and history behind the marvels of our everyday lives like inventions and cultural ideals? What does this say about mankind in this current age and time?

I think that is the reason why people are more and more disinterested in understanding the world (urban or natural) intimately, and only interested in hedonistic pleasures and specialised knowledge that can at least comfort us and make us feel less idiotic.

On a related note, I really feel that students nowadays are less curious about things and events, and loses interest in things that they are initially amazed by. Or maybe it's just students in my school.

The weekend

The weekend might be sweet or sour, but without doubt, it's definitely short.

Saturday was sweet. Slept in late, woke up to read the papers and then we're off bouldering at climbasia. It's definitely a better place to climb, at least the tiles are placed with some thought and not done randomly. If I start to go there more regularly, think I should begin my habit of filming routes once again.

Then it was off to Ritz-Carlton, where a room is booked for the viewing of fireworks in the evening.

The view from the toilet is actually very nicely framed - it will be quite a treat to lounge in the bathtub with champagne and watching the fireworks I guess!

We had dinner at Marina Square's Azabu Sabo, which was overpriced with small portions and does a terrible teriyaki chicken bento (Please try MOF@My Izakaya instead). Owing to the light drizzle, the fireworks' smoke lingered low above the parade stands and dimmed much of the sparkle that was created. Actually, I can't say I enjoy it very much. They are just bursts of lights that comes and go, and its ephemeral nature makes it insignificant to me.

Next morning, the breakfast buffet at the restaurant was excellent. I could find nothing to complain about, and it was the most sumptuous breakfast spread I ever had.

We had a seat at the full length glass wall, and could see all the greenery outside while eating and reading the newspapers, and that is the best experience of a hotel stay IMO.

But by then, it is already Sunday. Dread came and troubled me from the moment we left the hotel. Back at home, I had to work, and didn't really feel wasting time playing my polo friendly game that night. I went nonetheless, but left hurriedly at ten.

Midway through the game, I was thinking that finally, this year might really be the last year I'm going to commit myself to polo. My alumni team doesn't go for training anymore, and I can't fit into the junior team currently due to difference in ideas. I think I lost the passion to want to go down constantly every week to train the new batch too. During supper, a teammate said that he is going to San Francisco for work for a year - yet again confirming that my team will probably play its last competition this year. Time to move on perhaps...

Planning for medical leave

I got my voice hoarse yesterday, and wanted to give school a miss later. Although there isn't much that's happening in the classroom for me tomorrow, it sure doesn't feel good to be sniffing and coughing and grunting when I want to speak to people.

But then I realised that my CCA will need help because one of the teacher has been on MC a few days for sore throat already, and my guess is that she is not going to come tomorrow. The club have to plan for an event too, and cannot run tomorrow's session on one teacher alone (my HOD is also away). I don't want to kill my colleague by throwing everything to him, and now decided that I should go after all.

And then my teacher's day dinner is happening tonight too. I would really want to skip it as I'm in no mood for fun or food or whatever nonsense that it will throw up. Honestly I hate it, because for the event I was asked to plan a stupid game which is so totally not fun and against the spirit of a Teacher's Day. Would I be able to leave school after my CCA to get an MC just to skip the dinner? Is it worth it? Is it even possible? Or should I just bear with it and grin?

So damn irritating right. To be genuinely sick but cannot even take an MC because you're too considerate.

Paddle monster

I broke another paddle again! Was practicing to floop in the T1 yesterday when that happened. I bounced and jumped over, and while I pushed on the paddle underwater to force my legs over, it broke cleanly at the shaft. All in all, I killed about 4-5 paddles already. Hope my Werner will never meet such a fate. Anyway, how am I supposed to playboat now? Have to get something fixed up again - I loath to buy a new paddle just for the occasional playboat practice. I'm very near to nailing the floop in the T1, will want to keep on trying.

Had throat inflammation and seen the doctor for medication and a MC yesterday. Now I'm slacking at home not really doing anything, nor did I particularly enjoy this break. But guess it's just good to not have to shout at people in school. Man, just breathing in smoke from the kitchen already irritates my throat to no end.

Much to do before the holidays. Damn other teachers can go on leave from Nov 15, and I'll be doing CCA events and trips till end Nov. I need a good recharge then.

An ideal place

The keys to my new place will come before October!

It's pretty exciting to know that it's within reach, though I had to wipe out almost every penny in my accounts for it. We're still at the stage of conceptualising how the place should look like. For now, we know we wanna build a raised platform to elevate the balcony, have some simple shelf for the TV and show off the wall instead of having a huge TV console or having a feature wall fashionable nowadays. The utility room besides the door will be my gear room, we'll have the bedroom (she's designing it) and also a study with my books and CDs taking pride of place (I'm doing that instead).

What should I do with the extra room?

• Music room - somewhere for me to scratch my violin in?
• Bouldering gym - build a simple wall with tiles and all?
• Mess-ing room - a place for me to do any work that requires things to be sprawled all over?

Or maybe all my sporting gears will just spill over into this room haha.

Send in your suggestions to me!

Paddling the North

Last Sunday I did a paddling recce, intending to start paddling from this ulu jetty I saw just beside the causeway. But apparently there's no access to it, and I ended up starting at Sembawang park.

It is a blessing in disguise - the environment was comfortable and we have lots of space to setup the boats. We even ordered Mac breakfast and had it while we build up the boats! We attracted loads of attention from kids, adults, and some cycling groups there.

Finally, out on the water at 11am. Somehow the boat don't seem that long when I'm sitting inside it. It's great to start paddling off after some hard work on the boats!

Sembawang WaterVenture Club, supposedly an empty shell right now. Enric remarked that there's nothing happening there at the moment, but I pointed out all the anglers standing at the slipway fishing away.

He's right to point out that the green Nautiraid goes with the green shaft on the Epic. He said I'll look nicer with his hat and PFD too, but I really don't need to be colour coordinated on the water...

It's always fun to paddle in the rain! The drizzle lasted less than half an hour, but the cloudy skies made it a comfortable paddling day. Pulau Punggol Barat is on starboard, no landing there. I wonder what's on it...

We took a turn into Punggol River, and went in all the way to Fernvale. The water cleanliness wasn't as bad as I thought, and it is quite spacious out there on the river. It's always nice to paddle into the midst of urbanity. I will imagine that I am introducing surprise into the routine lives of passerbys and make them smile at seeing adventurous spirit.

And where possible, we explored small 'creeks' along the river channels, not knowing where they lead us...

It was said quite a while back that paddlers could no longer go between the mainland and Coney Island, but we decided to find out for ourselves nonetheless, after rounding Punggol Jetty. We went all the way in, and true enough, we hit the barrage. Well, no other thing to do but to go across. We cut across the construction site there wanting to go to the beachfront on the other side, but was lazy to walk the way and decided to just launch from the seawall, certainly a tricky move, and a first for me. Not before we finished a packet of Ruffles chips first!

Enric was happy that he didn't slip into the water butt-first...

We finally reached Changi at around 6pm. Took turns to pack the boats and shower, and went for nasi lemak. A nice way to spend the weekend - I really should do this more often, even if there's not much left of Singapore waterways that is left to be explored (without permissions and permits and licenses et cetera).

Parents parents parents

Well after my last post about calling parents up, it's a coincidence that I had to attend this MOE course on 'Relating well with parents in the school context' yesterday. Nothing much about it - the speaker just try to convince us that it is good to establish partnership etc. I posed my questions about what teachers should expect parents to do, and the answer is basically that we lay out the consequences of negative actions to them, and try to suggest solutions.

Today, one of my kid's parents have to come down to school for interview too. Kid feels restricted and wants to rebel, and parents feel outraged and goes down harder on poor kid. In such a battle, it is really hard for them to see the good things in each other's actions and intentions, and so the domestic battle will probably lasts. Sigh. What to do?

Again, teaching in a neighbourhood school makes me realise that there are many families in Singapore who are ill-prepared for parenthood in different ways, and the child's behaviour and academic performance reflects that.

And because of this, I think many teachers are not really supportive of the government's idea of wanting to boost birth rates, unless Singaporeans becomes more sensible parents and have the means to support their child in all ways.

I want to think

I miss the feeling of being intelligent, to be pondering about philosophical issues and to wrestle with meaning and definition of abstract concepts.

I'm just a bloody robot now who mainly slaves at routine work, or struggles unsuccessfully to design good lessons.

Calling parents

Man I hate to talk to parents on the phone. I think it stems from the fact that unless I'm calling up friends, I really hate having phone conversations with strangers. You have to consider what you say real fast, and it really is a real pain to me. This is especially so when I have to talk to parents, when I have to be tactful at all times.

Calling them is bad, can you imagine how much worse it is for them to call me? Usually they are complaint calls, or calls from parents who want to find out where their kids are. In the latter case, you'll have to go run around school asking if anyone detained the class etc etc, then call the parent back again, a pure waste of time and energy. Can you imagine running up and down 4 floors and around the school just because of one call, and if you get several calls in a day?

But then, I have teachers around me who will compile lists of misbehaving students, or students who do not pay attention in class, and call up their parents one by one to talk about it. It's really amazing, this effort; I can't find any reason for doing that myself. I mean, what do you expect the parents to do? Scold them one more round at home (and make the kid bitter about you)? Offer advices on parenting or disciplining children? I think seeing parents twice a year during parent-teacher meetings is enough for me to dispense whatever advice I have for them, thank you.

Kids are kids la, if they are not well brought up they will just need daily reminders from you to keep in line. If the parents having been bringing them up well, what makes you think your phone-call intervention is going to help the situation?

Northern Exposure III

It was real exciting for me to attending this concert yesterday, to hear 3 of the Sibelius's best symphonies, including the penultimate 7th.

I bought fourth row seats, and it was really close to the stage. The first row is probably like a metre away from the violinists' feet, so I'm not too far away too. It was quite an interesting experience though, to hear and see the violins up close. Indeed, it is quite fascinating to see how Sibelius gave the parts to the different strings, and I got to hear many different sounds that my recording could not afford me.

The brass and the woodwinds came up from above the cloud of stringed voices, and I had to pay special attention to them to catch their moments. The horns were quite impressive, and they surmounted the technical challenges well to deliver a tremendous sound.

I didn't exactly take to Lim Yau's interpretations, but it was a great experience still. I haven't been going for concerts for quite a while already, and needed performances like these to remind me that the live experience is still worth going for.

Priorities

Was just thinking a friend after badminton that I have no time to seriously consider my new place's renovation plans, and he thinks I should re-prioritise the things I spend time on.

It has been at the back of my mind, but I could never force myself to consider it seriously...abandon my weekly sports sessions to do other things.

I go for them religiously because I'm quite positively addicted to them. It just feels shiok, and it is nice to be able to look forward them whenever I am swamped with work. It motivates me to finish my stuff fast so that I can go play in peace.

But yah, I'll get 3-4 hour of time on certain weekdays if I forego my sessions and spend the time planning for my new place seriously. That is, of course, if I can concentrate solely on that and not end up doing other things like school work or netsurfing...

So many things to do...planning colours, materials, layout, furniture...finding and deciding on contractors etc etc. I will be busy with school all the way till end November, and it'll be too late to start thinking about these then!

Sigh...even if I want to give up something...what will it be?

A great Saturday

I had a great day yesterday enjoying myself with different activities. And guess what, towards the end of it I unwittingly dampened my mood by thinking of my next work week and making myself anxious for no good reason. Nonetheless, it was a good day of boating, shopping and eating!

My polo juniors have to conduct an orientation session for a camp, and I took the chance to go playboating at the dive pool. We took some nice clear shots of us playing from underwater, and it looks really interesting. Here a clip of my roll after a failed floop attempt.



And here is an underwater view of a party trick in action.



After a back-breaking session, we had lunch and took the train across the island to go for the Library book sale. It was really cool, $1 for each book! Found quite a few paddling books too, but it all adds up to only 10 books in the end for me.

Finally, it was dinner at Din Tai Fung before watching The Dark Knight. Can someone enlighten me on these points?

1. Why can't Batman just let the Joker fall to his death? That will be the end of further mischief from him. After all, it's a war out there, and many good men have been sacrificed already as it is.
   
2. Why does that stupid police officer have to post himself in the interrogation room with the Joker after Batman left?
3. Why does Batman have to shoulder the blame for the people that Harvey Bent killed? No one knew who did it anyway, and the police can easily attributed it to any of the bad guys.

It was good overall, but I think there's too many minor climaxes scattered in the story, such that there is no culminating scene to end it all. It was a little anti-climatic to have the story end with Harvey being bumped off the building.

Are we missing out on life?

When is the last time yelp out a shout of joy?

When you couldn't sleep in excited anticipation of a great experience?

Shouldn't we live for epiphanic moments?

NUS

After some silly training course today at the NTU Alumni clubhouse (which is at Buona Vista, not NTU), I went over to NUS to have lunch. I miss the Japanese food store at Science faculty, and 3 years since I graduated, the store has been taken over by another vendor, but my food was nice still.

I don't miss NUS per se, but the memories I have of my studies and stay there is indelible. Strangely, the most poignant thing I can remember is of myself walking alone all around the campus. Going to Arts faculty from my residence, traversing the multitude of stairs scarring the landscape. Taking the bus to Science faculty or NUH just for the food. Wandering up and down among the library shelves alone for hours.

Especially in my last year, solitude is the most significant thing that I experienced. I spent countless hours cooped up in my room facing my laptop, doing work, surfing around the net, and listening to music endlessly. Most people work till late at night, and I was no exception, churning out essays or cramming for exams till daybreak. And I spend many hours too among the fascinating books in the library, sometimes devouring books on my research list but often also browsing books on disparate subjects out of interest. I am just as likely to borrow books on literary criticism as essays on music and the arts, or sociological texts.

But there were much fun moments with ODAC people too, and it was intellectually exciting for me to conceive and plan for a great presentation for my literature modules - I can even get insomnia thinking about my presentation the next day! I made new friends in my lit honours class, and we hang out together at the Arts canteen sharing insider jokes and talk arty-farty about the latest critical theory terminology bandied around the tutorial room.

Those were the days.

Moving on...

A close friend of mine in the polo team just decided to move on in life and pursue other activities. Now it seems like I'm the only one among the seniors who is willing to stay on to develop and play with the team.

He was a player with great vision. He could assess game play and come up with countering tactics, devise set attack plans for us to develop our attacking skills repertoire, and have a commanding presence on the water. During competitions, he could point out the strategies of the other team and suggest ideas to mess up their play. I was most impressed with his vision in a training match when we played against the junior team and their coach (a national player). He was holding the ball as the playmaker, while I drifted in and inexplicable decided to try screening off the coach playing outside defence. Coupled with a successful tackle-overload, a goal was scored. He paddled by and applauded my move, and I was amazed that he actually noticed my action and how it created the scoring opportunity - that is how sharp he is in his vision of the playing field.

I saw him yesterday night on the streets, and asked him about coming down; he said it's time he moved on to try new things in life. I felt a sense of loss then, to see a player leaving the team, though it is an inevitable decision that has to happen some time. It is sad that we have to give up things in life to move on, and I wonder when will it be my turn to do the same.

I think when the new batch of juniors come in in August I'll be motivated to be down to coach them. I'll carry on my playing career as long as this current team stays intact.

The joy of coaching

I taught a 13 year old to do hand rolls! As mentioned previously, it's a joy for me to teach paddling to my kids the way I want it, and after getting them to do lots of hipflick exercises, I got them going into trying paddle rolls. 2 of them managed to perform the brace roll on the 3rd day, and after demonstrating the hand roll to them in the last half hour of the course, I thought, heck it's probably easy enough too. The 13 year old tried twice and got it afterwards, with a back-lying recovery. His senior could only get used to the forward recovery style I have been teaching all the way, and couldn't make himself lie back, but he's almost on the way to performing the much harder forward-recovery handroll too!



It reminds me of the joy of coaching paddling again - I will want to do more such courses again!

Hope

Is it in everyone to always hope for something better than their current realities?

Yesterday the week started after a long weekend with Youth Day giving us a day's break more. But I spent those 3 days coaching my kids in paddling. I was quite happy doing the course with my buddies, having meals with them and working together, and also for the fact that I was coaching an advanced class where I can have a free hand in the program and not make myself teach to a syllabus. I am proud that by the 3rd day, 2 of my students could do hand and paddle rolls, and everyone gained much water confidence and had fun throughout too.

But ultimately, it was draining for me. I reached home feeling lethargic and slept very early each day. I had to face this week with minimal work done throughout the weekend. It was with a sense of dread that Tuesday came round. Things went smoothly and jobs done on time upon demand, but still my mind could not rest and gain satisfaction. Always, the anxiety of living at such a fast pace and juggling so many things leaves me edgy.

Overall, it seems that there are not many days in my job when I did not try looking into the future to see if there is a better path to take in a few years' time. I need to know that I'm slaving for something better. Already, it has been long since I sought self-improvement for myself in terms of upgrading my skills or gaining new experiences.

I don't want to let my time drain away doing petty things daily. We all can do more to help ourselves and others! I want to believe...

I want my food!

I hate the days when I can't even find time to eat proper lunch, and unfortunately most of the days are like this. You are busy till school ends and even then you will still be busy. Meetings are the more irritating things to go for, and they can call them whatever they like (contact time, sharing sessions etc), but they are mostly time-wasting affairs. A lot of days, there's no food left to buy at the canteen by the time I have time to eat.

Teaching is so unhealthy for you. You lose your voice, get high blood pressure, stand for far too long, have reduced sleep and rest, and don't eat proper and regular meals.

On several fronts...

School is starting again!
Ok it's not such a big deal (by right), and I am trying not to feel like it's a big deal too. I've been a good boy and I did my work, and now I just have to adjust myself to the waking/working routine again. I'm really looking forward to the short second semester! However much shit I take, it's only gonna be so long before I get my break!

I am still playing hard for polo, and actually kind of excited to play with my juniors for this year's national champs. It's hard work, but I should continue to push myself and not be a wimp. Am putting in more training into playboating these days too, because I might be performing at this year's Waterfest at Kallang! That'll be really cool, so long as performance anxiety doesn't sets in.

And we kind of decided we'll probably not go Nepal after all this year end; we are going through the process of getting our dream place now and renovations needs to be done during that period if we are to stay in it by next year. It's very exciting to think about how I can possible transform the place with a new look, and most likely very costly too...

Have only this much time to write, more later!

Hong Kong!

Arrival

It's a fairly quick flight to this place, and I watched 'Vantage Point' on the flight too. China has already decorated their plane with the Olympic theme, cute!

Taking a cab out, we went by several very modern bridges spanning across the islands. The terrain is really quite mountainous, and it is really fascinating to me that such a bustling metropolitan city can have so much hills around it such that a large part of the city is on slopes.

Near the bridges there are lots of tall skyscraper-like housing projects that looks like real nice condominiums, and they are all facing the water! Can you imagine living right up at the top, being buffeted by sea winds everyday and having a priceless view of the water?

Things get much less interesting once you reach the city. It's just shops and crowds, and I am pretty much stuck in it all these days. Ok, there are lots of nice and interesting things, but still, I long to go out into nature...

Food

Roast Pigeon! Always wanted to try that. It's nice and crispy on the outside, but the red meat is even more pungent than duck. Can be an acquired taste for some, especially the fried 'spare parts' that comes with it. Thankfully I take to good food fast.

We had dim sum at this restaurant today, and ordered an insane lot of food because we thought the portions will be smaller like how it is in Singapore. Even the waitresses were amazed by our appetite...in the end we only paid $10sgd for each person, so it's really like an all-you-can-eat buffet...worth it!

Buys

CDs - The Huang Mengla's one is $9sgd only! The rest are under $20sgd too. There's also a 'deep sea soloing' climbing DVD that I got at the Mammut shop.

Cute stuff - for my students and colleagues. Great gifts! Even I can 't resist them. Cartoon print band-aids!

The Mammut shop there is really amazing. I managed to find the Mammut climbing tile! Damn cool! Bought stickers for kicks too, and 2 chemically-activated handwarmers. And the salesperson gave me 3 cloth bags with its logo too, nice guy!

The climbing tile in detail. It's gonna take pride of place somewhere in my new place next year.

Other stuff - Chaco ZX2 at half price $65, wire carabiners at $10, cord, alpine utensil and sporks...

There's a shop selling so much Salomon shoes there, and it's real cheap! I bought the Salomon XA Pro Gore-tex version for $134, Black Diamond poles $41 each, Pocari drink packets, Platypus pushcaps, Map of North-East Hong Kong...

More to come! Hahah...

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We wanted to go for a walk at around this Plover Cove area (a reservoir), but was put off by the layers of rainclouds that morning. Also, apparently one day before we arrived Hong Kong had its heaviest rainfall in 128 years, which caused numerous landslides and flooding on major roads; there was thus the consideration that further rain can lead to more landslides too. So we slept the morning away, and eventually, the weather turned out sunny all day!

We had to substitute the trek with a visit to the Peak instead. The tram up is an experience in itself, and it starts from the basement floor of this tall building on the right! There are a few stops along the tram route, but only 1 person got up midway. Tourists are everywhere though. The ride is really steep! The gradient of the slope here can give you a picture...

Up there, we can see the night lighting of the city, and the water gap between Hong Kong Island and the 'mainland'. I just wanted a place with a nice view, but there's 2 shopping arcades there at the top, and the whole place is thoroughly commercialised.

You can see that the housing blocks are all skyscrapers in themselves, really amazing. Dwarfs almost any housing project we have here in terms of heights.

Back to the city for walks and more shopping. We meet pet dogs occasionally, and all of them seem exceptionally well-trained, and only one were seen with a leash. Here is an extremely cute one which stares up at people so attentively, and became an attraction itself with hordes of people crowding around it.

The last day - we still woke up late, had breakfast at a nice and cheap local porridge eatery, and bought a few cheap shirts before going back hotel to check out. We hit the streets again after that, rushing around for the last few buys of the trip. I went to scout around for the bus stop where the airport express bus will be, and went by this shao la stall by the road. This is probably the representative picture of Hong Kong for me - bright and delicious, lots of variety, value and full of local flavour.

OE Conference 2008

It was a great 3 days at the OE conference, which is a lot to be said for any conference generally. I am happy to see friends, meet new people in the community, and interact with the speakers from overseas. Their keynote speeches offers totally new perspectives to me, and it is a refreshing change from reading about OE topics in certain texts, because those speeches really inspires me to make changes to the way OE can go locally. There are many concurrent sessions offered there, presenting participants with some tough choices on which to go for, and the variety of topics discussed is really good!

It just gives me a warm feeling to be among like-minded people and talking with them passionately about the state of outdoor education in Singapore, and I think it makes us all feel that OE is really undergoing continual progress here. It is apparent that the OE unit in MOE has put in much work to make things happen and encourage the growth of the community, and it is really heartening.

In short, the conference reminded me again to aim to work there in the future, and to further the OE cause in schools. I only hope that I can still remember all these inspiring messages from the conference after school starts and the dreaded monotony of work sets in.

New on this Island!

Ok I have to say I'm pretty entertained by the Sunday Times today - the new Southern Ridge trail have a cover page mention, and it's good that it receives this publicity to get Singaporeans out of their house and appreciate the outdoors more. The National Parks website gives good direction for exploring the trail.

It's probably unfair to compare the natural walks on our island with other countries', but then again I think people elsewhere are much more passionate about walking than us generally. I'm taking a day of my Hong Kong trip for a day hike, and decided to try the Plover Cove walk after seeing the pictures of the scenery there. Look at the incredibly informative website that the walkers there created!

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In a separate article, apparently there will be an artificial surf site producing 3m waves at Siloso beach by next June! Surfing was really fun when I tried it in Perth last year, and to be able to do it locally in warm water will be great! Now I wonder if they can accomodate surf kayaks there hm...

And the paddling community is looking forward to the whitewater stadium at the new sports hub of the future. We'll have to wait and see if the public have full access to its facilities after it comes up. The paradox of paddling in Singapore is that water is all around but we got such limited access to it.

Recent fun stuff

Some of the more interesting things I did recently -

Playboating at RP
Damn cool sia! Currently the only place in Singapore with a rack of very nice playboats! I was a bit rusty after losing practice for quite a while, but easily got back the skills with the help of the amazing boats. We tried doing routines and attempting a bit of choreography too, very cool. Really looking forward to more such chances to play.

Shell Eco-Challenge
With my school kids, I took part in this amazing-race like event meant to promote environmental issues awareness. It was quite fun and I made it exciting by running everywhere I can (and forcing my kids to run along too).

The highlight of the trip is a visit to Poh Ern Shih at along Pasir Panjang road. Strange place for an eco-challenge stop? Well apparently the temple wants to go green in its rebuilding project, and have included many alternative energy projects on the site to achieve the 3'R's of resource management.

Solar heating - water is heated to 70 deg here with the help of solar power.

Solar roof - generation of energy via photovoltaic cells - it actually returns energy to the energy grid, and the directing monk says they are tying up a deal with Senoko Power to sell this energy to them at a 50% premium over the market rate! It will take about 15 years to recoup the investment with the tie-up, 25 years without; clearly the temple is headed by far-sighted visionaries.

A small hybrid wind-solar energy generating unit, purely for getting power to provide night lighting at this level. Now that's not hard to install in any house isn't it?

He also showed us one of the nun's room where they have this furniture module system created entirely out of bamboo (bamboo apparently renews itself in only 5 years after harvesting). It is a humble platform-bed, a storage solution, and even a tea corner! Wouldn't it be nice to have something like this in any house?


Also, they have a system to generate hydro-power by channelling water down from tanks, collecting and filtrating rainwater for drinking from the roof, collecting and storing rainwater from all around the premises for other uses, having a non-flushing urinal system and collecting urine for fertiliser-use, using natural ventilation in the design etc etc. I'm sorry to sound like a geek, but all this sounds terribly exciting to me.

Also interesting...

• Hong Kong trip planning - wanna do a hike there, the scenery of Plover Cove looks great!
• Wedding reception planning - want to wrap it up by this holiday. Where will it be? It's a surprise! (That means don't ask. Hah.)
• Nepal Trip planning - Itinerary, budget, air tickets. Dreaming of it even now.
  
• Possible paddling trip?

Already, the holiday seems too short.

Holiday season is in!

Today - First day of the holiday!

I woke up close to mid-day today, and basically lazed the day away. It was damn shiok, and I even had those aching feeling in my muscles which you get when you sleep too much. Alas I can't run away from school totally and have to go back on Wednesday for a while to settle some small niggling matters. It is bad luck for me having to remove my wisdom tooth this Thursday too, but guess it isn't that nice to take a week's MC for it also la.

Next week will see me attending a 3 day Outdoor Education Conference, and then off to Hong Kong! When I return on the 12th, that's already like half the holiday gone sigh. Just gonna climb and paddle as much as I can before school starts.

Actually, I have a secret hope that I'll accomplish something tangible in this holiday. It can be anything from building up my Gundam model or creating several great wet weather PE lessons, but yah, I just hope the holiday don't just wheeze by without me having anything to show how I passed the time.

The holiday!

Things are getting really exciting, because the holiday is coming!

Effectively school will end with the parents-teacher meeting at the end of this week, and no matter what I wouldn't be in school next week because my damn wisdom tooth hurts and I will wanna get it out on Monday.

I'm already packing my weekends with appointments - not many are enjoyable though. This week will be spent on wedding invites, attending meetings to ask about hosting wedding banquets, and flat viewings. Yup, I'm really into these adult things right now haha. Well well well...

Everything's exciting when the holiday comes, even the prospect of doing work (at my own leisurely pace). Will be planning a bit of itinerary for my Hong Kong trip, and also hoping to paddle out at sea more. More of all my sports! Can't get enough of them.

Along the way...I am actually contemplating staying on in my school after all, till the time I can get myself into HQ. Continual involvement in my CCA is good for my resume, and a possible impending change of principal might shake things up for the better too. So hard to read into the future...I'll have to carry on depending on my good fortune in life so far for the opportunity to come I suppose.

Efficiency

Today, under duress to reach school before 7am, I ended up finishing the 6km cycle to school within 16 mins! 19 minutes is a very comfortable time, and when I first started riding to school and trying to see how fast I can push myself I finish at 17-18mins. And now I got record speed without even trying very hard!

This made me realised that a fast cadence is indeed the key to better efficiency. If you're a monster maybe you can crank up all the hills on my route, but when I do that I usually find myself strangely losing all power the moment the slope is conquered and I reach the flats! Now I make myself sit in the saddle and spin easier instead, and that is definitely working much better. I do know that I need to learn how to spin smoother at a fast cadence.

The same thing probably applies to paddling, as people who uses the greenland paddle will attest to.

Picture from http://www.adanacpaddles.com/main.htm

The small and very elongated 'blade' promotes a high cadence and low angle paddling style, versus the use of european-style paddle with larger blades that demands more power and usually wielded at a lower cadence.

But then again, I can't get used to paddling with low angle strokes still, try as I may. In a way, it's satisfying to put in power into the stroke too. I wouldn't miss the chance to try one of these though, given the opportunity.

Thinking ahead

It's a busy period already, thought I was initially led to believe that the lull period has already arrived. After I'm done with all the scripts marking, it's time to key in results and remarks, prepare to meet the parents, execute post-exam programs etc. And yes, my CCA will demand a fair bit of my holiday time too - I'm particularly sore that I have to go for a trek this coming long weekend and have to sacrifice all my planned activities for it. Quite bad huh, CCA teacher not being enthusiastic in going out with his dream team.

Another blogger once divided the year into academic seasons, when teachers are hell-busy and when they are winding down and then having the holidays. The seasons go, and the years might fly too. Hopefully.

And recently I thought about my career path and think that if by next year there's no school interested to take on a PE teacher with the skills that I have, I'll probably just stay till my third year before trying a post at the HQ. At least here I have a CCA I'm interested in. And truth to tell, things are somehow more comfortable now, and I really think my colleagues are great fellows.

And without a doubt, 2008 will be the most expensive year for me ever. I'm gonna be spending a hell lot of money this year, hundreds of thousands...scary...

Marking period

It is strange, but teachers are the happiest when there's no students around in the school.

I was struck by a strong pensive mood as I went through my normal routine of changing my shoes and depositing my bike when I reached school today, upon seeing the empty parade square. The unexpected peace and quiet in that normally rambunctious physical environment created a jarring moment of cognitive dissonance.

Up at the staffroom, everyone was happily doing their work. Really. People were really happy to be doing their marking in peace. And there are those who lounge and relax as they mark. We ordered Mac breakfast delivery, another colleague was watching back-to-back CSI on streaming video, and I guiltily took out an hour to watch Heroes 2, ha!

Such a rare moment of sanity in the school. And it makes me realise how mad things are during the normal schooling season, all that daily chores, extraordinary events, frustrations from working with the kids.