good in every way

This past Wednesday i left school early (3ish - more than an hour earlier than the next earliest i've ever left) as i had to go to nie (yes, nie, all of an eternity and then some's journey from my school) to submit something. It was due that day and i only was finished with it earlier that day so i had no choice (the result of my usual procrastination).

Made it there with just enough time to submit it before the offices closed and then since i was there decided to go for cf since the time and the date were right. It was a welcome change from my usual afternoon/evening routine (i.e. stay holed up at my desk doing work, leaving for home and arriving as the sun is setting) even if it meant extra work to do the following day.

Unfortunately while there i realized i was starting to fall sick. My throat had started to feel very dry and sore that morning once my lesson observation had finished and had remained that way since then - three 'extra strong' strepsils had only succeeded in freshening my breath. During cf i blew out one entire packet of tissue's worth of sick from my nose. On my way back i had no water with me and my tongue started to turn sandpapery dry.

I don't normally take sick days - partly cos i rarely fall sick to a severe enough extent (or when that does happen, it's at other inopportune times like during the MEET trip/overseas holidays that don't require me to miss any school) and also cos i find the paperwork very leceh (that applying especially once nie started up till now as well). And so even though i felt like the following day things would only get worse, i was determined to not miss school the following day. So i wanted to get an early night.

But well as we all know nie is just that far away from anything else of any consequence in S'pore (except maybe JP), and added to that, it's a long story but basically i temporarily misplaced my phone, only finding out where it was at close to 11pm that night (which already was way past the targeted bedtime). In other words, no early night for me, and i must have been quite delirious, for i set my alarm for 5am, half and hour earlier than i usually do.

Come Thursday and i managed to struggle through my only real class for the day - i wonder if the Lord made it such that since i hadn't the strength nor adequate pre-lesson prep due to the sick to do a good enough lesson, he dare i say blessed me with a class that turned out to be extra distracted that day despite repeated warnings from me, which gave me the justification (excuse?) to finally cut short my lesson and play the "if-you're-going-to-show-that-little-interest-in-my-lesson-i-might-as-well-not-teach-at-all" card. The lot of them did seem to show some semblance of remorse by the time i did that, thankfully (and hopefully too - their next class is also my next observation, and a twin one at that eek).

My only classes left for the day were not to involve any actual teaching on my part. But that morning i got thrown a major curveball in the form of a last two period relief with one of my 'favorite' classes. I knew i was in no physical shape to deal with this bunch for one period, let alone two. Another long story which i'd better not get too into here follows, but well it ended up (relatively) well i suppose, with a better rapport being established with a handful of them (those i could keep my eyes on, anyways).

So fast forward to today and something i uttered at cf on Wed rings even more true - this Good Friday is really good - in every respect. The added goodness of it this time round for me is that there is a much needed respite from work, and a chance to be sick at home, rather than at school, while not missing any school either.

Of course, that's far from the main reason why as we remember this particular Friday, it's really that good eh. When i was making the few references that i did about this day being Good Friday and all to students, there was scant recognition on their part of what it was. That left me with one added thing to think about as this week of school ends...

(and to close, since recently i've been trying to read the Bible in French, here's some translated hillsong words to think about)

A la croix je me prostèrne
Où Ton sang coula pour moi
Aucun amour n’est plus grand
Tu as gagné sur la mort
Ta gloire remplit les lieux tres hauts
Rein ne peut nous separer

got the carolina blues

While it may be coming to three years since i was there for just about four months, and goodness knows how long before i go back again for a visit, i'm no less thrilled for the Heels and their 5th (woo!) national championship. Rather than being on Franklin Street or anywhere near Chapel Hill though, i was instead doing some relief teaching duty and then sitting at my desk watching the live updates of the game score online. Well i'm no fan of both crowds and spontaneously-lit and clothing-fueled street bonfires, so maybe it's just as well that i wasn't on Franklin Street. From a strait-laced, S'porean perspective though it's kinda mind-blowing to think that something that potentially can be a huge threat to law and order is at the least tolerated to some extent, if not even welcomed with open arms. Try to pull a stunt like that here if we were to win anything of significance (and please, how often does that happen?) and it's police custody for you.

But i digress. I still do miss the Hill. Heaps. All the more so when i compare it to what the future has in store over here. No matter how good an experience the five-ish weeks at school thus far have been, nevertheless what a foretaste it has been of the many probable eyerolls and grumbles there will be in time to come. Maybe i should invest in a punching bag. Oh, to be a quitter...

Well, in the meantime, go heels!

trips

I've almost never been one to do complete any piece of work way beforehand. For me it has always been those proverbial last bursts of fire that do the trick. At the same time, while i'm hardly the type who can't care any less about the quality of work that i produce, i'm also, at least in this regard, far from being a perfectionist. Putting in a reasonable effort which suffices in getting the job done just before it is due is what i'd normally do.

Now that, for the first time, i'm no longer the one that is simply assigned work to do but instead has to not only assign the work to others but also plan and prepare for classes that will help them toward the end of being sufficiently equipped to do that work, as well as mark the returned work promptly, my normal way of doing things as a student can't really hold anymore. Why? Cos now any screw ups on my part no longer only serve to be to my own detriment, but also potentially that of a whole host of others, who regardless of how much (or little) they hold you in regard, or for that matter cooperate with you to begin with, would normally at least trust that you are holding up to your end of the bargain even if they ever should not be doing the same. Already, on a more basic, primal level, i wouldn't be able to deal with the guilt of doing that. And hence all the more so on a higher level as one who is placed in a position to glorify God in whatever manner that may come up, including being as a channel of Christ to others.

It's not been easy thus far, and perhaps i still end up doing things last minute. For starters there hardly seems to be enough time... However, if the aforementioned higher level has yet to kick in, at least the prospect of feeling guilty over what could have been has worked to enough of an extent such that some i have been putting in reasonable effort into whatever i've been doing. I hardly feel like that effort is being appreciated by them (and come to think of it, i still have my doubts as to whether it is worth being appreciated in the first place), but someone has to start somewhere eh...

Random praise point for the day: Finally figured out how to photocopy double-sided using the feeder - it took five weeks (+ close to five years, if you count uni)

I need a holiday...

Bright Lights

In just under twelve hours or so Singapore will be plunged into darkness.

Ok that's almost certainly an impossibly inflated exaggeration, but i suppose from all the buzz that's been going around, Earth Hour this year will at the least probably be far more widely observed here than the last.

I'm somewhat ambivalent about it though. Granted that tomorrow at the scheduled time i will probably take a break from planning for next week's lessons and setting exam questions, but that will probably be as much me being lazy and unmotivated as anything else. I suppose beef with the whole event is that i am not too convinced about how much of a long-term effect this will have on the energy consumption habits of S'poreans. It seems pretty much like a touch-and-go sort of thing to me - kinda like a "hey let's all be cool and save the environment for one hour" and then after that go back to one's old ways. I'm not denying that the cool and hip factor is working to some extent, and yup, why not just milk it for all its worth. But as in all these campaign thingies, if there's no accompanying mindset change, then whatever relief to the environment that one hour of darkness can do will be nothing more than cosmetic.

Let's just say that i don't really have confidence in the average S'porean's resolve to take global climate change and our role in it more seriously. Not that we're alone in ultimately being pragmatically minded in our approach to environmental awareness, but there's much i feel i can justifiably take issue with in how S'poreans view the seriousness, or in their minds, lack of seriousness of the situation. While i suppose i can be thankful we're not a nation of Sarah Palins who continue to be in a sad state of denial on our role and responsibility when it comes to climate change, on the other hand, i would be thrilled if turning to CNG-powered passenger vehicles would not be considered an option only when pricing incentives and high gas costs came into play, or if people would voluntarily do away with plastic bags (even if they be biodegradable) every day and not only when you have to pay a ten cent fee.

Talking about lights, would the one hour of darkness make more than a dent to the overall pattern of energy consumption here? I'm thinking of the vegas (or make that hong kong- tackier still)-esque neon lights that front one of the nightclubs near my place, and the increasing number of brightly-lit facades in new or renovated buildings in town. Also the appalling golf course (like we needed another one) next to the Sheares bridge (which incidentally was built on a nice forested patch of reclaimed land) which at night is lit more brightly by floodlights than it is by the sun itself during the day. And the 24-hour ntuc at Jurong Point which is seriously overlit by at least 100% during all 24 hours of its operation every day of the week.

Some things in this world man, they don't make sense...

But still, as cheesy as it sounds to me, i will be "voting earth" tomorrow. And will try my best to do so on every day following tomorrow as well, and not stop. Wish that others would do the same.

No Brainer

In the spirit of the oh-so-originally-named Budget Terminal and of course the $400,000 Marina Bay, should it come as any surprise that two of the winners to name the turns of the S'pore F1 circuit, more specifically the turn under the Benjamin Sheares Bridge and the turn near the Civilian War Memorial won with their chosen names being "Sheares" and "Memorial" respectively. Of course, they couldn't just name the bends as such, giving them what are only the most obvious names possible. No, they just had to hold a competition.

So much for encouraging creativity when the overall winner of the two grandstand tickets, a pit lane walk and a two-night stay at a trackside hotel did nothing more than stand at the turn in question, look heavenwards, see the bottom of the Sheares Bridge, think to himself "hey, that works", and then conjure up some smoke to justify the totally duh choice of name. If only all things in life were that easy, pay cut be damned...

Anyways, if things continue to follow this pattern, then i won't be surprised if the as-yet-unknown name of this mascot (which looks more like a Sun Wukong-esque monkey to me but apparently is a lion? I dunno) turns out to be something like Monyet/Singa, or why bother even with another language - monkey/lion.

looking beyond

Over the past week there've been three incidents involving the deaths of foreign students/former students here that have hit the news. It's given me something to think about on top of the lots of stuff that have been occupying my mind with practicum and all.

I must admit that i was hardly one to second-guess the local mainstream media's portrayal of the first incident (the stabbing cum alleged suicide at ntu). I just thought that, if not for the (thankfully) very strict gun laws here, it would be nothing more than akin to the many troubled-student-goes-on-shooting-rampage stories from places like the States and Finland that have popped up from time to time. In other words, i pretty much did nothing more than accept what was presented, what apparently were presented as facts.

Then i received an email from an Indonesian friend and former ntu student which suggested that things may not in fact have been as straightforward as they were presented to be. It included a forum response to the online ST article (re: post dated March 04, 2009 Wednesday, 09:40 PM) which i thought was a very sobering assessment of the portrayal of those involved in the incident and a justifiable questioning of the so-called facts that have been presented to the public, as well as the conclusions that we have drawn about them from what we have read and viewed. Like in the case of the second alleged suicide (interesting to note btw that this time they did at least make it clear that this was an alleged suicide - i don't recall the same being done for the first case, though maybe it was, and in my own reading of the story i conveniently discarded the word "alleged"), this time of a recent graduate and then-current staff of ntu, there are so many assumtions based at least in part of stereotypes that we tend to assign to foreign students methinks that perhaps are really less-than-helpful to say the least. At the least, i can only hope and pray that in whatever official/unofficial reviews that do take place in response to these incidents, colored preconceptions do not feature at all, and, specifically where Christian ministry to the international community in school campuses is concerned, that these incidents will serve as a good learning point when it comes to planning and preparation.

After i heard about the pgp incident and read about it in the ST, i went googling for reports on what had happened from the American perspective. I came across articles like this one and again, based on my more or less wholehearted acceptance of what i had read in the ST report, figured that the American reports had conveniently left out details regarding how he had passed on cos they didn't want to talk about the drinking and pill-popping that were inferred by the ST report to be the cause of his death. I then found this rather strongly-worded indictment of the campus observer for their speculatory take on the incident (to their credit, they did at least publish and respond to it, though there's no indication of any amendments made to the original article, let alone an apology being made, since they stand by what they had reported). I'm no student of journalism so i can't pass judgement, but i can't help but wonder if the original report was influenced by stereotypes of Western exchange students as well - stuff like their gathering at the pgp foyer steps every wednesday night before heading en masse to town to go clubbing and coming back in shared cabs in the wee hours of thursday morning all liquored up, and then waking up late for class with an almighty hangover (yes i admit i've held that view myself, especially when i was staying there - though of course in itself there's nothing really wrong about that)... In retrospect, surely no one, be they a local or a foreigner is so one-dimensional and readable (i know i wasn't when i was on exchange), therein lying a big challenge to student ministry - how to see each person as unique and special (in God's eyes, and therefore as it should be in our eyes as well), beyond any albeit sometimes partially true generalizations that can be made about them.

I think of this also because in my second week of practicum i've come across some international students as well, who are incredibly diverse in their backgrounds and all, and also in their needs. Looking at some of them, i'd have to say that it's hardly a stretch to see what has happened in the aforementioned ntu cases possibly happening to them as well in the near or far future, if perhaps they find no one to unberden themselves to and receive the appropriate help from... It's quite a worrying thought...

1234

Well since yesterday we remember the 123rd, why not go one more number further. Anyways i thought that this was pretty cute.



And so is the original video upon which this was based. Feist kinda reminds me of a saner, more coherent version of Björk. Sway your hips like she does there at your own peril...

123

The best is yet to be,
But only now are you 123...

Happy birthday, absence makes the heart go fonder...

week in review

At the end of week one i've somehow managed to get up at 5:30am every morning thus far (and at 5:31 have each morning then muttered to myself that i won't be able to keep that up in the long run), have already been on two learning journeys (and at the least have learnt how to better jaga very energetic and restless students), and have yet to eat at the purported best thing about being posted to the particular school (though on the plus side even the fare in the school canteen already beats that at nie).

This upcoming week will feature my first (of so many) attempts at conducting lessons in this school, and to that end i was racking my brain trying to think of interesting ways to lead up to a compo for monday's lesson (and no success yet). Somehow though doing up lesson plans now seems less of a chore than it did all of two weeks ago. Maybe cos this case they're done with a tangible audience in mind (and maybe also just cos this is not nie). Thankfully the people at the school (at least thus far) have been real nice and welcoming, so things are hardly as daunting as i thought they might have otherwise turned out to be. Workload has also (again at least thus far) still been manageable. Still a long way to go, of course, but at least it's a promising start :)

at long last

I was pleasantly surprised to read this news a day or so ago. After having written more than one's fair share on Filipino Americans, including if i remember correctly one whole chapter on the veterans' fight for proper recognition of their efforts in WWII, it was heartening to see that whoever still is around got what they deserved. Almost makes me want to write a follow-up paper (just kidding!). Pity the more than sixty years it took for this to happen and thus also the tens of thousands of veterans already dead and therefore unable to claim these very belated benefits (and of course relatives of the deceased aren't eligible...). US$9000/15000 isn't exactly a real big amount of $, though maybe when factoring in inflation it may differ, i dunno...

And while initially i was not too thrilled with the fact that this distinctly non-economy-boosting measure somehow figured in the so-called stimulus package that was just signed into law, on the other hand i suppose this provision simply needed to be tucked within this much larger package, where many of the lawmakers would not have been afforded the time to look through each and every of its constituent components, if it were to have any hope of being signed into law in the first case. Well i suppose those who will benefit will take it whatever way it comes, even if the way in which it did come really screams for lots more articles to be written...

the bane that is boon (lay)

Coming not a moment too soon, yesterday was the last time, for a while, when i'll have to go on a long journey to the west, and certainly not on a daily basis for a longer while. The past seven or eight or so months of taking the mrt, more often than not during peak hours, has reminded me of the sheer inconsiderateness (this word exists?) of many S'poreans, and hence needless to say has been quite the test of my patience.

There have been the pesky youths who receive texts or calls but after taking out their phones hold them up for the whole train car's worth of passengers to hear their already loud and jarring ringtones at least until more than half the tone goes by before finally reading the text/answering the call. Along the same line, those who find it within the kindness of their hearts to compensate for the lack of tv mobile (the bane of my sbs bus-sitting existence) by broadcasting their own selection of choice (read: crap) music for the listening pleasure (read: where's my earplugs when i need them?) But worst of all, the motley crew of passengers awaiting entry into the train who either are color-blind (oops i'm an English teacher now so i must use the British spelling eh? - make that colour-blind) and hence cannot see the yellow arrow markings on the floor, or just don't care for anyone apart from themselves. Hence they form a crowd immediately outside the train door and hinder the way of those trying to exit, and even worse, attempt to push their way past the alighting people. Must have mentioned this before. Anyways, it annoys the hell out of me. This problem is especially prevalent in boonlay in the morning, which has let me to the uncorroborated conclusion that people in the far west are just about the S'poreans most lacking in social graces. One day (must have been a bad mood day) i lost enough of my patience to not only push back at one auntie who were trying to worm her way in to get a seat, but also scold her (in Chinese, no less) and then scarper before she could react. Not my finest hour, but well at that moment i felt that it was warranted.

Well hopefully those days at boonlay will soon be gone, now that the two new stations are opening and the western mob will be spread out to these stations as well. Inconsiderate S'poreans aside though, the trains are seriously getting too crowded for my liking. The other day, on the rare occasion that i headed to nie during an off-peak hour (3ish pm), the trains came at six-minute intervals, and needless to say, each train was packed to the brim. I've definitely taken the train before at those times, and the intervals were not so spread out as they were this time. What alarms me is that this nonsense is apparently the intention of SMRT, since Saw Phaik Hwa (the President and CEO) actually believes that packing as many people into the train is what our trains are important for. Something tells me she drives to work...

oh hush rush

This image was circulated in certain Christian circles (and remarked upon as being a pic which will never make it to the mainstream media) - thought it was somewhat heartwarming to see this taking place. While i have doubts with regards to the theology of the pastors/church leaders who are laying hands, it's a reminder nevertheless of the importance of praying for those whom God has put in authority, and for that matter whether you agree with them being there or not (which i think i should remind myself more of from time to time), rather than unapologetically and openly denounce them with unnecessarily harsh and partisan invective, and even worse, take pride in it. Speaks volumes about one's (lack of) humility and (abundance of) ego, and not to mention also reflects really poorly on conservatism to have such folk so highly esteemed among its ranks.

absolutely fabulous?

I chanced upon this article the other day, which started me thinking, and then the same topic came up in random conversation just now as well, and yup come to think of it, i wonder what comes to mind in the minds of foreigners when they hear or read about S'pore holding an annual parade called 'Chingay'. I've no idea what's the etymology of the word anyways, but surely you can't blame people for getting the mistaken impression that it's similar to more famous parades in places like Sydney or San Francisco, can you?

In any case that's about the limit to my interest in the parade. Especially since the route this year apparently impedes upon my newfound running route. Bah.

battle's at midway

This seven-week sem at nie has been, and will continue to be, very packed, and the amount of work to be done before it runs out and practicum starts is quite something. When you look at all the stuff to do, it actually isn't too big a deal. The problem for me lies in how all this is squeezed into such a tight timeframe, and this week (specifically, tomorrow) marks the midway point. Goodness knows the only reason why i've looked forward to cnys in years past has been for the break, but this year more than ever before, the break is pretty academic (in all senses of the word). Even though it's a total of five days long including the weekend and the free day, it doesn't seem like enough time. Not that i'm behind schedule though, but that's only because i didn't bother to set one...

As is the case in every cny, at least some point of the Aussie Open seems to be ongoing. I'm glad though that we don't subscribe to the sports channels at home though, since it would be a waste of $ as long as the grand slams and maybe college bball would not be showing, and all that would be on were just (imo) boring soccer, and also cos if this were the case i'd be even more distracted than i already have been thus far, which would be a disaster where attempts to complete nie work would be concerned. So as much as i'd have enjoyed seeing AI get thrashed and ND retiring (ok i'm mean), i guess it's for the best that i don't...

Three and a half weeks to my transport costs being halved...

revealed

I don't know how discreet i'm supposed to be about school postings so i won't say exactly where i've been posted to (for both practicum as well as for the final posting), suffice to say that i hadn't expected to be posted there, though in retrospect it makes sense distance wise (glad the road diversion has been done away with). That being said my previous place was far nearer to the school than my present one is, but then again, how many schools are there near to my place anyway? Anyways, it'll be nice to have to head back east again, even if it's not too far east...

At the moment, my main concern with this place is the same one i had with it when i was concerned i'd be posted there for my two-and-a-half week stint two years ago - that it'll be too much of a culture shock. Which come to think of it is a bit strange given how there were quite a few from this school in my previous church, so it's not as if i was totally clueless about the school culture. All (i.e. two) my short-lived church tuition stints were also with children from this school actually... But well i guess i had the same concern with the ese school, and that turned out fine. Could really see why the Lord brought me there, and in the same vein, i'm sure in time i'll see why He is bringing me to this new place ya...

Le Cordon Bleagh

When i came across this, i was somewhat surprised that the backlash from the article was that sizeable. Initially when i read the article, i thought that it was quite a cool idea. Then i read that the guy actually was a perm sec, and started to get miffed. I, lesser mortal that i am, distinctly remember him being quoted as saying stuff like "taking five weeks leave is easier that you think". What a lack of foresight on his part, to say something like that, and of course, to disclose with so much pride the expensive details of his little cooking holiday to the whole of S'pore. A bit worrying that someone of his standing can be so aloof (but then again, it's not as if this is an isolated case, so it's not as if i was surprised).

Didn't expect it to lead up to this though. Didn't think it was that big of a deal (or at least that it would be allowed to become as big a deal as it has). Of course, i'm sure they only decided to reprimand the guy, or at least to make it public, cos of the larger-than-expected backlash, a kind of damage control measure. Can't help but feel a bit for the guy though - the timing of the silly article i suppose couldn't have been any worse, and whether done intentionally or not it sure seemed as though the writer/editor styled the story in such a way as to get as negative a reaction as possible to the holiday. I bet the guy wishes he'd brought his family to Shermay's Cooking School instead :p...

Thoughts on Gaza

During the time of intercession at church last Sunday there was a time of prayer for the current crisis in Gaza. Prayer for world events is something that i've become more passionate about (even if admittedly i still don't do enough of that if it's not a prayer led by someone else), so that was heartening for me.

By the end of the prayer however, alarm bells were ringing in my head. Cos (at least in my opinion) the prayer was clearly directed more towards Israel and less towards Gaza. No mention of the Palestinians whatsoever was made, and the closest there got to this was praying something to the extent of "for the families of the dead and injured". There however was plenty of mention of stuff like the protection of the Jews and the salvation of God's chosen people. Fair enough, but i thought that to include this without mentioning the Palestinians and the hundreds, if not thousands more (compared to the Israelis) of Palestinian casualties, including many civilians among them, wasn't right. I almost felt like i was in some church in Texas... No matter how positively the whole story is spun in Israel's favor, and how horrible Hamas may be, the fact is that both sides have a part to play in delaying a tentative ceasefire, which should at the least be a major, if not the top priority at the moment. Instead we see continued heavy shelling by the Israelis with even the UN HQ being shelled. To me, it's disgusting.

I must admit i have yet to understand full enough about how what is written in the Bible applies to the current Israeli state and the Israelis as God's chosen people. Is this purported 'act of defence' against Hamas (and by virtue of the density of Gaza, the entire Palestinian population there) really akin to the battles against the Hittites, Jebusites, Canaanites and whatever other -ites there are., lending Godly justification to what has been going on for almost three weeks now? I'm certainly not convinced, and am waiting to be convinced otherwise...

Public Service Announcement

I don't know why i don't seem to have anything better and less frivolous to do than watch the repeat of the Golden Globes on tv (although i'm at least trying to do some minor nie stuff in between)

Anyways, last week i happened to be in the library (a regular haunt, now that it's near enough to my place) and went up to the tenth floor, after seeing a sign below that advertised for a special exhibition on Lee Kong Chian and Tan Kah Kee. However, i was about five days too late, as it had closed with the year's end.

Instead however, there was this real brilliant, if still somewhat abrogated exhibition on the life of David Marshall, which i'd highly recommend, even if you're not a history buff. Anyways half the exhibition is on his life before the stuff we all know (or hopefully still remember) from lower sec history and is rather fascinating. Like apparently he was born just down the road from my place, in a house that (surprise surprise has been demolished) occupied the land where peace centre now is, and that his family came from Baghdad of all places.

There also is this even smaller but nonetheless interesting exhibition on the same floor on the origins of some road names in S'pore, and the short biographies of the people they were named after. Just so happens that two of the roads were named after my ancestors (my proverbial grandfather's roads, or more accurately, great great grandfather and great great great great grandfather). Not that it has any influence on my recommendation of course.

So if you're in the vicinity, do check it out (have no idea when they will end though, so don't complain if they're gone by the time you get there...)

E'pean musings

Now's as good a time as any to ramble on about the recent trip, primarily for the sake of my own memory (i.e. or else i may forget what i did), since that would be a likely thing to happen once nie starts again. And don't those credit card commercials always say that such and such costs so much, but memories are priceless? Anyways, i dunno how much time i may have to do that from tom onwards, and before i know it it's already been more than a month since i left... So maybe let me correct the first statement, it's not as good a time as any, rather, it's as good a time as any time before tomorrow.

Amsterdam was where i landed, and was probably the place i went to this time that i was most familiar with, since i've been there two times before. The first time was seventeen-and-a-half years ago though, so that doesn't really count, while the second was for a choir trip in 2001 where we had a day tour of the city that can best be described as the exact opposite of free-and-easy (given the reputation that the city carries, and that the way the choir tours tends to lean towards the ultimate control freak variety, i guess it's no surprise that the red light areas were not part of the tour). I think we only did the token day tour cos we happened to land in Schiphol in the first place. And come to think of it, that my flight happened to be to Amsterdam was probably the only reason why i spent two days there as well. Well as it turned out it was quite an interesting and intriguing starter to the trip, and i'm glad i decided to go there again since i managed to see things that i had not seen before (including some stuff through some windows that i probably in retrospect should not have seen).

Amsterdam was the only place i actually experienced snow falling during the trip - it was at night in the hostel and i was prepared to go to sleep. It had been drizzling outside, but then i guess it got colder and soon some others remarked that the raindrops had turned to snow. Just for the sake of it i went outside to the fire escape and do all those things you'd expect a suaku S'porean to do like take pictures and stick out my tongue to catch snowflakes. Just as well in any case, since there was to be no more actual snowfall (apart from when i was in the train) during the trip.

I've always been rather obsessed with visiting as many countries as possible, and while i'd been to Belgium before, it was only a non-stop drive-through that just happened to pass through Belgian soil since that was what lay between the Netherlands and France. So saying i've been to Belgium before would have to come with an asterisk. This time i finally set foot on the soil for a change. Again, coming from S'pore, it was a refreshing change to go to Bruges and find that seemingly almost every building of note was older than S'pore itself. Talk about an embarassment of riches. If i'd any regret about Bruges, it would be that i knew of the existence of the movie "In Bruges" before the trip, but had conveniently forgotten about it while planning and during the trip itself, and then only remembered it again during my next stop.

I ended up traveling alone cos i figured i would not be able to find anyone who would want to do Europe, or at least at that time and in the way i would have wanted to do it. Over the whole course of the trip, the occasional thought like "oh you idiot why are you walking along this poorly-lit street at this time of night, you wanna get mugged?" came to mind but thankfully none of these came to fruition. It was actually pretty safe, come to think of it. Just had to make sure that i didn't do stupid things like count my $ in public and such and such. In fact, i thought that at the end of the day the only two drawbacks to being alone were 1) the usual how to take pix of oneself problem, and 2) feeling paiseh to step into a proper sit-down place for a meal on my own. So it was in Bruges that #2 came into effect, as even though there's all sorts of interesting Belgian food to try, i never got around to eating any of it, cos i'd have to go to one of the fancier sit-down places for that. So even though i was even prepared to eat stuff like rabbit, i didn't get the opportunity to do so (and just as well the other day i was watching this documentary which showed that some wild E'pean rabbits are infested with ticks).

I had randomly found out about couchsurfing through some newspaper article last year, and when it came down to planning for the trip i realized that it would be a real cool way to go about with things, for at least part of the way. So i managed to do that in both Maastricht (which i sorta randomly decided to go to, not knowing much more about it than that there was the treaty) and Luxembourg (see my obsession with going to as many countries as possible above). Turns out that it's a great idea, it really helps to know and understand a place better if you've people who stay there to bring you up to speed (and of course, the S'porean in me can't fault the fact that you technically don't have to pay for lodging). And it also so happened that these are places that are not quite as touristy as most of the other places i went to, so getting good reliable info from my hosts was quite neat. Basically (provided you get good hosts, which i did) it brings out the best in people :) Look forward to the next opp to do that (when?)...

The whole of the second half of the trip was spent in France. Initially i'd looked forward to the trip mainly as an opportunity to finally go there after having (allegedly) learnt French for five whole years (the only other time i went there being the same seventeen-and-a-half years ago trip). Then, once i got to French-speaking parts in Belgium and Luxembourg, after the luxury of being able to get by with English before that, i realized that i was somewhat out of my depth, and that my so-called French was really really that bad... You can therefore imagine my euphoria after i carried out my first successful French coversation , even if it only consisted of two guys asking me if the train at the platform was headed to Luxembourg and me replying "je ne sais pas" (i dunno). I also chickened out of reserving my train tickets in France at the local ticket counter, as i had spent at least two days trying to figure out all the vocabulary and grammar that i might have needed in my head, but still came up short (so instead i went up to a ticket counter while i was still in Luxembourg, straight up asked "Bonjour, parlez-vous anglais?", and heaved a huge sigh of relief when she replied "yes").

Well, over the course of the week i was there, things did get better and by the end of the trip, i thought i could get by pretty well, such that on the Air France flight home, i made sure i still spoke to the cabin crew in French (even if all i had to say was oui, non, jus d'orange, and le poulet, s'il vous plaît). Along the way there were petty little triumphs, like when i went for lunch with a Brazilian friend i met at my hostel in Paris and i was able to get by ordering for the both of us and explaining to him what was on the menu. One thing i realized though, my ability to speak French drops drastically in cold weather. Since speaking French involves making a lot of mouth-contorting sounds that are not present in English, i realized that when i had to speak French outdoors (say when grabbing a meal at a Christmas market), i'd be hard-pressed to pronounce a lot of the words properly cos my face would be numb from the cold. Still managed to get by thankfully...

I was also amazed by how the Lord was working in my life while i was there. Since i was going by myself, i'd initially envisioned this trip as some kind of personal retreat, something that i knew i would need after last sem at nie (and will need for this one :p). However, when i got there i may have gotten carried away with (and again i blame the S'porean in me) the desire to see as much as possible within the limited time that i had. So basically that meant 1) i must have walked an average of 5km a day, if not more, which works out to more than a marathon's distance covered while i was there (not to mention aching feet and knees every night), and 2) i was perhaps a bit too distracted for my liking. It turned out though that through a guy i met at my first hostel in Amsterdam (the Christian one in the heart of the red-light district), i received a contact of someone in Strasbourg, who when i was there brought me to a charismatic evangelical home cell group. It was such a blessing to even just be there and be encouraged by the believers there, even if everything was conducted in French and hence i only understood about half of the conversations that were going on. Incidentally, one of the ladies there even remarked that the French that i could speak was spoken without an accent (something that i attribute to regularly watching TV5 Monde), which was somewhat affirming to hear heh... At the end of the day, i think i've been inspired by this trip to improve my French further, with the aim of having it eventually surpass Chinese as my second-best language (and that shouldn't be too hard eh?)

So all in all, i'm really glad for the opportunity to go for this trip, and i definitely learnt a lot. Look forward to the next trip, which hopefully will come within the year. I'll definitely need it, from the looks of things...

Grinning and Bearing it

After about half an hour or so of trying to reacquaint myself again with the nie virtual learning environment (which carries the very misleading moniker of "geNIEus"), i finally found what i had been quietly dreading all holiday - this upcoming semester's timetable. Actually, now that i take a second look at it, it's not too bad, but i guess after the strangely student-friendly (or more accurately, anyone who does not stay in boon lay-friendly) three/four day timetable last sem, anything else was bound to look bad. And so while i still may entertain lingering thoughts from time to time that nie must be in collusion with the folks at smrt and sbstransit, planning their timetables in such a way as to maximize bus and train revenue collected from those poor things like me who stay far away, again i guess i shouldn't complain so much ya, even if it were not anything to do with starting the new year on a fresh foot kinda thing.

Going back to nie after a good break was never bound to inspire much enthusiasm in me to begin with, though i must admit already in the run up to it starting again on mon, i've already been rolling my eyes aplenty and then some. I'd so love to elaborate, but i don't think that would serve any useful purpose (maybe to vent pent-up steam that i may otherwise save to vent in the face of a prof?). We'll just see how things go in the next couple of weeks ...

Creatively Nauseating Yusheng

The thing about Christmas in S'pore (apart from that it's too warm, especially after coming back from far colder places) is that it segues into CNY way too quickly. As i've said before, i really don't enjoy CNY apart from it being a holiday (and a long weekend this upcoming year too :) and usually once the new year comes, i avoid stepping into the supermarket for fear of hearing more awful CNY music.

Yesterday's ST was thus slightly worrying in the sense that it's not four days since Christmas day itself but already one of the food write-ups was on where to go for different kinds of fancy yusheng. (Seriously, Sichuan spicy ox tendon yusheng with blueberry sauce or abalone yusheng with rojak sauce? *gags*) Yup they didn't even leave room for the usual "what to do with my Christmas dinner leftovers?" article this time - maybe some overly-creative chef should have created a roast turkey and ham yusheng with cran-apple gravy *bleah*

Noël, know well?

I forgot where exactly i read this (i thought that it was in the ST this morning but now i can't find the quote, perhaps it was a dream?) but well it said something to the effect of "around 2 billion Christians around the world celebrate Christmas, along with millions of other people". That was quite a striking statement, as evident as it is. I mean, already among those 2 billion, i wonder how much of the seemingly elusive "true meaning" of Christmas is actually reflected upon, rather than it merely being an opportunity to take a break from work, eat possibly copious amounts of unhealthy food, and catch up with friends and/or family. Not that these are not in some way (some more than others) linked to this true meaning, but perhaps at the end of the day the actual meaning is overshadowed by all these these peripherals and incidentals. And if it's like this among us 2 billion, what more for the millions more who observe/celebrate the holiday but (generally speaking) don't go beyond the commercial/social aspects of it. For example, how about how in some places Christmas is promoted for its perceived (and very real as well) commercial benefits but any religious bent on it is strictly out of bounds.

And as i normally do, let me make the disclaimer that perhaps i too sometimes fall into this trap. Perhaps year after year of celebrating Christmas since childhood has made me take it for granted to some extent, when it really has become at times nothing more than a time to take a break, pig out, and receive presents. Even the wide array of carols that we sing all become appreciated more for their melodies rather than the richness of what their lyrics mean to convey to us all.

But well, i guess the cool thing in this case is that the Lord has made it such that at least where religious holidays are concerned, Christmas is perhaps the most observed (or at least recognized) by non-believers, which is in a way a real neat opportunity for outreach, more so than perhaps any other holiday. Yup so while sometimes we may lament as to how Easter is perhaps more important to our faith than Christmas is and yet is lesser recognized, or as they do elsewhere, complain about how in the interests of religious freedom/sensitivities and what not, "happy holidays/season's greetings" has become the pc way to go rather than "blessed/merry Christmas", hopefully that will not get in the way of simply seeking to spread the message about what we believe Christmas to really be about...

Why go?

As last semester at nie was going by, it became more and more clear to me that i would not last another one (even with a month-long break in between it, and around half of the next one being spent at a school rather than at nie itself) without taking a good long overseas holiday during the aforementioned break. I figure that i'm the kind that needs regular holidays abroad to retreat, reflect and recharge. This being the last confirmed opportunity i'd have to do something like this since i dunno how things may be like next time, i felt i had to make sure that i'd make something out of this one. And me being me, i had to do it in some far away ang moh-inhabited place, and not something in the same continent. Granted that i've already had the opportunity this year to go on one of each of the two types of aforementioned trips for a reasonable amount of time, but i reasoned that hey i don't really spend on much in S'pore anyways (i'm set to match last year's record of one movie watched in a cinema in a calendar year), and i guess the money saved from that could go into a good far away trip.

Initially, i was thinking of doing the US again, maybe hit the magic 30 at least. But then again, i already went there earlier this year, and have been there pretty frequently in the past too. So i thought maybe that can wait for another time, especially when i can find others to go with (and maybe drive around for me :p). And since i was (and still am) getting so frustrated of the heat here, which meant that i'd to head somewhere in the northern hemisphere, the only other option would be somewhere in Europe. And since i'd be going by myself (cos while i didn't really ask around, i didn't get any "i want to take a good, reasonably long holiday in some far away ang moh country and i'm looking for others who want to do the same" vibes from anyone), i figured it would have to be in a place that i would be able to survive reasonably well enough. In other words, i'd have to go to a place where i can manage with at least one of the languages commonly spoken there. That meant English and (God willing,) French [Mandarin would be out unless i would be doing a tour of Europe's Chinatowns, sampling the Singapore Fried Noodles of the Chinese restaurants in each place...]. So after a heck of a lot of surfing of sites like expedia, momondo, and eurail, i managed to find a really good ticket on non-crash-prone carriers (SIN-AMS, CDG-SIN) and a suitable rail pass for Benelux and France. For the latter, since it was the last year i could take advantage of the youth pass (until 26 years old) and train travel allowed me to be more flexible in my travel plans (since i'm so last min), as well as less polluting, while affording the convenience of traveling to/from train stations which are often near/in the city center as opposed to airports at the fringes, i thought that it was a no brainer to get a rail pass compared to choosing to fly from city to city.

Hmm so that's a really long preamble to the actual trip itself, long-winded as i am... The rest will come soon...

No Country for Corrupt Men

So it turns out that the time i was in Amsterdam was the only time i had the opportunity to put something here. And well, now that i'm back (oh crap), i can say that it was a real nice trip that i had, and hopefully far from the last... But i'll talk more about it in detail another time (though of course i said the same about the election and look what's happened - i'll make sure it happens this time)

Actually, i just realized that i've some lingering nie stuff to do before the new term (hence the "oh crap"), so this will be short. On a semi-election note (so at least i still keep to what i said earlier), and in light of recent political happenings, i recalled that when i was in Chicago during fall break while on exchange, i came across this sign (the guy was running for a second term) and took a picture. And i remember sort of inferring from the local press that he was rather inept. And yet at the end of the day he still won by a 9% margin over his Republican opponent, who was the last Republican elected official left statewide at that time (hence now there are no more...). The Illinois GOP must really stink, really bad... Anyways, whatever it is, i like how this sign shows how much things can change in one short election cycle...

gone dutch

hmm don't have long left on my 1.50 Euro internet so here's the short of it:

am now in Amsterdam
flight non-eventful
staying in red-light district
but in a Christian-run hostel
so they cancel each other out (?)
already got offered weed and mushrooms on the street
love the weather
could be colder
you should visit Anne Frank House
and i'm out (not from the weed and mushrooms)

window closed, window opened

(Fm: MINDEF)
Congratulations. You have cleared your IPPT for your last IPPT window and your new IPPT window has been opened. Keep up the good work.

Amidst all that has been happening over the past week or so, i almost forgot that i had taken my ippt until i got this text earlier today. Hah. Well anyways, after the very limited prep (token runs, climbing up the 143 steep steps to my place every weekday) that i was able to do, due to both busyness and of course, laziness, i'm glad that things managed to pan out enough for me to be able to clear it - if but barely. I suppose i relied upon sheer motivation to not have to kena remedial training (which would entail going back to an army camp for two-ish hours three times a week). So well, that's another year down, and a new year of telling myself to start exercising earlier so that i can take the next one at an earlier date so won't have to do a last-min rush again but prob ending up doing the last-min rush next year. I suppose if there's anything good about turning twenty-five, it's that it brings one to a slightly slacker standard for passing IPPT (Cat X to Cat Y - one pullup less, four cm less, that sorta thing).

Am watching sky news coverage of the attacks in Mumbai (only because CNN is showing A Tribute to Heroes and BBC World some IT program). Interesting that the correspondent on site at the Taj Hotel isn't even missing a beat with each of the successive grenade blasts going on behind her - i can only imagine how long it's been going on. Such is the fairly unique nature of this particular series of attacks (i.e. ongoing over a sustained period) that i wonder how much these news networks ought to divulge live on air about what the police/military intends to do - surely, although they keep on saying that there's no electricity etc inside the buildings, there is a possibility that somehow the hostage-takers may be able to figure out what the next move of the police/military is and act accordingly. Of course, there also were people trapped in their rooms who somehow came in contact with some networks via their mobiles and were interviewed live literally just as they were huddled in darkness in their rooms hiding from the hostage-takers - at the least i hope they did not divulge their room number. Already, i read that one British yachting tycoon who has been confirmed dead had earlier been interviewed by the BBC, where he had said something to the extent of them moving from the restaurant to the ballroom to take shelter from the hostage-takers. I can only hope that there's no correlation between the two.

Oh well, hope all this ends very soon...

a bumpy end

Well, the elusive moment has almost arrived - this is the last week of nie stuff for this sem, and i've made my last journey to the far west (of if you prefer, M'sia) for the year. All that's left to do is a handful of web thingies, and that's it. And not a moment too soon, that's for sure, although admittedly, after months on end of seeing nie people day after day, it seems weird to not have to see them (at least not in a school context) for at least a good month.

Anyways, not everything for this sem has ended on a good note (though come to think of it considering my many gripes about what has happened, i suppose it's already a surprise that it hasn't ended off even worse). There's this one particular not-too-useful class that i've not exactly been very enthusiastic about since day one. My sentiments are shared by just about everyone else in the class. We have bones to pick not just with the class itself, but also, and perhaps more critically so with the tutor as well. And as a result of this veritable reservoir of antagonism, to put it mildly things have not been pretty, with enough drama to rival the most over-the-top of Korean serials. Admittedly, i've been contributing to this atmosphere, though after one especially significant blow-up i realized that well, i basically needed to be more Christ-like.

So after the exercise of significant self-control over the course of the next couple of weeks, it came to the last lesson, whereby we were supposed to receive feedback on one of the assessment components that we had done a couple of weeks before. All that while i think we all were thinking that we should have been the ones giving much-needed feedback to the tutor, and not the other way around. Although come to think of it, history would lead me to assume that even if we were to do that, nothing would change on the tutor's part anyways.

But well back to the point, before the feedback exercise we were supposed to fill up a feedback form "on the course, not on the tutor", as was made explicitly clear to us countless times. So well, in my desire to do my part to make sure that future generations would not have to go through the same @#$% class (although again from history, chances are that little, if anything, would have changed - that's nie's ear-to-the-ground for you), i was quite brutally honest with my views on the class, while trying to not offend anyone in the process.

Unfortunately, in the process of making my views clear on paper, it reminded me of all the suppressed annoyance i'd had towards the class over all those weeks. So by the time the feedback process came, i apparently was quite riled up, and so i became somewhat dismissive and couldn't-care-less towards the tutor. Or at least that was what many of the others pointed out to me afters (though they did that generally in a more in a congratulatory tone than a reflective and sober one - such is the terok state of this class that we've had to tahan over the weeks). But, as i said, that came after the feedback session - during which i actually was already trying to withhold myself from being overly blunt. So it was on that disgruntled note that i ended that bit of nie. Hmm - am not too pleased with that, but i also figure that if not enough is done to alert this tutor to the harsh realities of the class, it'll just be horrid for future generations. And i shall spin it in that way in my mind so as to not beat myself up over it any further...

The skies begin to clear

I did promise i'll ramble on more about the elections at a later date - at the least to serve as a log of sorts on some of my many (and hopefully substantial) thoughts. Well that isn't going to happen today. Brain isn't functioning on too high a level today. In fact, it has pretty much dumbed down ever since the last of the biggies for this sem went in on mon. Since then it has been a strange, but nevertheless blissful state of periodically thinking to myself: "hmm what work is there to do?" and then immediately answering myself: "nothing!" But of course, as i remember Lear once remarking to his Cordelia (that's about the only line i remember from A level lit, apart from the flies and wanton boys one), "nothing will come of nothing", so in keeping the dear king's words in mind, i shall speak again...

I suppose that i should relish this opportunity to sit back and in fact do nothing - after all i don't see much other chances open in the near future for me to do just that - nothing. Well, maybe not exactly nothing. Since the good ol' b'day is coming up, it means that so is this year's ippt, which i have to somehow find the wherewithal within me to clear. And by "clear" i mean no more than just that - not fail. No lofty visions of awards and reward $ are in my head. After last year's fiasco, in which i accidentally ran the wrong way and thus screwed up even passing, let alone my expected $100, i'm not gonna be as optimistic this time. Anyways, nie's unparalleled ability to suck up all my potential exercise time (and then some) has meant that i've not really been able to do much pre-ippt prep apart from the odd prematurely-aborted run now and then. So i just hope that the weather on that day will be favorable enough, as if it does rain, then methinks there would go my only chance of taking ippt before the b'day, which would mean much unavoidable inconvenience for me...

The other, far more exciting thing coming up is that i finally got down to booking something for the dec break. The more i thought about it, the less i could see myself staying here for the entire one month off, and furthermore chances are this would be my last chance in a while to take a good break out of here. So after months of entertaining ideas in my head, i finally had enough of a clear mind following the near end of nie's torment for the sem to decide on flights. Now lies the more marfan task of slotting the details in, and then booking internal transport/lodging etc... Reminds me why i don't like to plan things. But well, if the alternative is not going anywhere, this is a hassle i'm willing to undergo...

talking junk

The other day on the way back from a run at the botanics i chanced upon a poster ad at the bus stop for Burger King - they were for something called a BK Stacker. At the moment it had been an awfully long time since i had last eaten and it already was sevenish, which meant time for dinner. For a moment there i actually thought of stopping by the BK at PS on the way back to buy one. Good thing that by the time i got to PS and stood outside the BK there, i took another look at the poster featuring the Stacker situated in a prominent position right outside the restaurant, and thought "nah..." and went home instead.

Just to clarify what a BK Stacker is - it comes in three variants: the double, triple and quad stacker, these fancy monikers referring to the number of patties the burger has. And to complement each patty, the burger basically features a one to one ratio between patties, slices of cheese, and strips of bacon [which (though this is obvious, nevertheless deserves spelling out) meant that a quad stacker would fit between the bun halves four patties, four slices of cheese and four strips of bacon. I remember a time when A&W offered something called a Big Papa burger, which was proudly billed as the first burger in S'pore with three patties, and that i was highly intrigued that such an item could exist. Fast forward a decade or so and BK has made mincemeat (pun intended) out of the Big Papa.

I remember the Stacker being offered at the BK on the UNC campus and me trying it once - as big of an appetite as i have, i settled on a double - and felt absolutely and positively icky afters. Way too much burger (of too low a quality) there for me to take. And imagine if i were to feel that way after a double, how about a quad? And for that matter, how do people even open their mouths big enough to take a full bite out of one of them without dislocating their lower jawbone from its socket (as snakes apparently do when swallowing large prey whole)? That being said, unlike the Big Papa in S'pore, the appearance of this monstrosity of a burger there came as no surprise - the obesity endemic there is just beyond belief). And without a doubt, it is (relatively) low cost, low nutritional value, high fat, high sodium, high calorie (the quad apparently is worth all of a thousand calories), and of course, stomach-filling food like the Stacker that is literally feeding this problem.

I also have to make the disclaimer that i'm hardly an anti-fast food crusader - while i have resolved never to eat McD's ever again unless under gunpoint, i thoroughly enjoyed a thouroughly unhealthy burger/fried chicken etc whenever i had the opportunity to while in the States (cos there they have real good quality stuff there). I once ate twelve burgers (albeit mini fist-sized ones) in one sitting while at a dingy old White Castle. And for me the burgers at Sutton's on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill rank with the atas, oddly-named ieat superburger from Astons here as the best i've ever eaten. And i wouldn't hesitate to eat more of them, although the key of course is moderation. Yup so if to that end i'm hypocritical, then guilty as charged am i.

What does trouble me is that grossly oversized burgers have made their way to mainstream, heavily advertised fast food menus, which means that people here too will now have a higher tendency to sink their teeth into these thingies on a more regular basis. Not to be outdone by BK here, i saw an ad outside a McD's here today promoting their 'Mega Mac', which is nothing more than a Big Mac on steroids if you ask me (two extra patties). Is there really so much beef in the world that we can allocate so much of it to go into crap products like that? Of all the excuses for more methane-belching cows being farmed in this world, this is just about the worst one... If things continue along this vein, who's to say that we don't follow the footsteps (or make that footplods) of the US in time to come, not only in terms of obesity, but poor diet-related stuff like strokes, hypertension, cardiac arrests and the like... The whole just screams of excess - excess that we can pretty much do without when we put things into context and bear in mind the severe hunger problems that we've to deal with today...

bit bit more

The worst of this sem at nie is thankfully over. Wednesday was when two of the biggest remaining thingies for the sem were handed in, and now all that lies between now and a couldn't-be-more-welcomed break is a handful of smaller thingies of minimal consequence. Ok, not really of minimal consequence, but it sure feels that way after the load that came off my back on wed. But still, the biggest thing left before school ends for me is the usual pre-b'day ippt that i somehow have to find the capability within me to clear.

As is ever so typical for pieces of work that i've to do, i started doing the work later than i'd have wanted to, got heavily distracted over the process of doing it, and thus overshot my target for finishing it. I had intended to finish everything by tuesday night, so i could have an early night and wake up bright and early the next morning to catch the election results before leaving for school as late as possible to print the stuff and then go for class at 1:30pm. However, over the course of the days leading up to wednesday i had gotten distracted by several things, among them playing more mindless facebook games and surfing numerous sites for reports from the campaign trail.

So the net result of all of this was that i only went to sleep at around 4am early wed morning, and still not having finished my work by then (and that came as no surprise, considering how many times i switched the tv on to CNN etc to see how things were going). Woke up again two hours later, though the first thing i did was turn on the tv again, rather than finish up the last bits of my work. The next five to six hours or so were spent valiantly attempting to multi-task, something that i am notoriously bad at doing (observe me trying to pray while playing guitar, for example) - shifting between doing the last bits of the two big pieces of work and checking out the sometime bizarre (they 'beamed' people into the studio, a la Star Trek; after which they appeared as holograms, even though they were in a totally different location, like Princess Leia - and lost focus from the actual elections at times as a result) coverage of election night. But well thankfully things came together in the end (where both things are concerned), and i left for nie just before 12.

Think all that last-min work plus the making sense of the election results exercised the little grey cells a bit too much though, cos my brain was honestly not working properly for the rest of the day, save for the presentation, by God's grace.

Well, anyways, hopefully i won't be resorting to these tactics again any time soon, which methinks is likely - hard to think of an event that can distract me as much as giant political events (hmm but that may not be the case after all, now that i've discovered that i can view whole episodes of the Daily Show and the Colbert Report online, to add on to the snl skits). Methinks am getting too old to pull these half-nighters anymore (all-nighters are all but impossible). Already, it feels weird to not have anything much to monitor on the various websites and telly coverages (there just seems to be a lot of people crying when i catch the latter).

Anyways, will talk more about the actual results another time. I ought to go to sleep. Got one teeny class tomorrow -which means another round of spending more time travelling to and from nie than actually being there. *thinks positive thoughts*

You Chase Me Out...

A bit of fluff at the end of a long week...

As i was doing my usual mid-journey-back-home-from-faraway-nie retreat from the heat by chilling a bit in the nearby Cold Storage, i was remarking to myself how it has quite a good choice of music as far as businesses go - i forget exactly what songs were being played but at least i remember that 1) they were original (i.e. not some half-baked pirated remake version) and 2) they were in English.

So of course it had to be that today, just after making that observation, that on my way back i popped in there again, and what should be playing but Josh Groban and You Raise Me Up. Now, i just so happen to think that this is just about as tacky as songs get, but never mind, at least hearing it once in a while is worth the odd chuckle here and there.

But then as time went by, i realized that, horror of horrors, all that was playing was a neverending loop of You Raise Me Up - once the song ended, it would start again. Goodness. There's only so much chuckle and snigger-worthy moments that i can entertain... Well needless to say i didn't last there much longer.

I'm now somewhat wary to step in there again, especially once cny hits. Time to bring out the earplugs...

up (literally) atas places

Thought that it might be good to take a bit of a break in between pieces of work to ramble on a bit here.

Oh who am i kidding - the entire long long weekend (Deepavali mon off plus free days on fri and tue) has been spent basically doing what i am doing now - slacking. And i actually don't really regret it (hmm ok, maybe after being reminded in class today of what exactly is due next wed, that's not entirely true). But the break was good nevertheless - and at least i did try to do some work, but ah well, the flesh was week.

I spent the long weekend instead doing a wide range of stuff with generally similarly (the unwilling english teacher in me wonders if two adverbs side by side like that is permissible) low productivity levels. There's been too much time spent playing brainless (ok maybe that's not the right word to use - one of the games, after all, is "Who has the biggest brain?") games on facebook, breaking various weekly, monthly, and all-time records in the process. Also too much time has been spent watching campaign trail coverage and surfing all sorts of political websites i never previously knew existed. (When i heard that next wed's English class would be cancelled, i was happy firstly because i can now stay home til later to catch the results, barring any cockups, and not because that would mean i would have more time to do my work). And of course catching almost every snl video i could get my hands (or more accurately, cursor) on. Yup, not just even the Fey/Palin ones. Take this one laden with hilarious, if un-family-entertainment-worthy double entendres for example. Though it's not half as good (or bad?) as this one...

But i also had the opportunity to do a day trip to climb Gunung Panti (translate that however you wish), near Kota Tinggi in Johor. It was a very satisfying experience, encounters with some of God's less popular members of creation notwithstanding:



Oh well, i was invading their turf anyways, so i psyched myself up not to be too bothered with them - yup the leech can suck my blood for all i care - how ironic though that i don't want to lift a finger to hurt a leech but relish whacking the irritating existence out of every mosquito i come across - maybe it's because the blood splatter patterns (not to mention the dismembered body parts) are certainly far less gross for the latter.


Next stop: Mt Kinabalu. Or at least soon enough before these joints and muscles get too old and worn out for that sort of thing...

turning blue

The other thing apart from the stuff below that has been taking up quite a bit of time is campaign watching. I dunno if it's a boon or a bane that now that there's cable in my house, cos while with cnn and bbc and (if all else fails, the 'fair and balanced' fox news) there's no shortage of coverage on everything that's been going on, it also means that i spend way too much time watching these thingies. And this is even before we talk about the less serious stuff like the Colbert Report and SNL, which takes up that much more time. All in all, i think i probably know more about who each state is likely to vote for than about, say, theories on motivation in ed psych (which speaks volumes about my own motivation eh) or the process method of writing (i don't really know anything about the latter actually).

I'm sure that my limited exposure to the so-called liberal zoo that is Chapel Hill within the conservative heartland that is NC played a role in it, but as of now, and in fact, generally speaking, methinks i've always been more inclined towards the Dems. Of course the negative campaigning, which has been especially prevalent among McPalin, has helped to sway me the other way. And also the fact that it seems to be the very basis of their campaign - not the issues, but rather, that you should not vote for the other because yaddayaddayadda... And i think it would be so regrettable if McPalin were to win on the basis of the opponent being a purported Arab, a Muslim, and a terrorist's associate, among other negatives. And the way things are going, the only way i see them winning is this way - the sad thing being that there exists way too many of the kind of voters that can be swayed by crap like that for this to be the case. I guess it's good to see for a change that both sides have sort of agreed to tone down the negativity, and that McCain even corrected some of his terribly myopic supporters' misguided views on Obama - "he's an Arab" being one of them. Unfortunately, the people running his campaign seem to be more willing than him to use lies and half-truths to get him to the White House, if that's the only way they have left. And all the nonsense that Palin continues to say is exactly the kind of fluff that the aforementioned clueless hick voter relishes with much aplomb. That's why i've given up listening to her nonsense - might as well just stick to Tina Fey's more substantial and humorous version.

Thinking back a bit though, one other regrettable thing about this election is the almost total silence on the issue of poverty, both domestically and abroad. For all of John Edwards' moral failings (and the somewhat hypocritical fact that he's a multi-millionaire residing in a giant mansion in Chapel Hill), one thing i've always appreciated about him is that he made tackling poverty a central issue of his campaign(s). Having seen my fair share of it even in the US itself, i know it's an issue that has to be raised. For some strange reason though (or maybe i've not been paying enough attention), i've not heard either McCain or Obama talk about the working class, at least not explicitly. The closest anyone has gotten has been Biden using his working class roots to his advantage. Generally though it all seems to be about the middle class (for Obama, i mean - McCain doesn't even talk about them), and now all the more so in the wake of this financial mess that affects them the most. But while they're at it, how about those below the middle class who never had it good to begin with, and definitely will not have it any better in this current situation? Do they not form a big enough voting bloc to matter to the campaign? With the economy in the crap state that it is in now, one sad thing from my point of view is that those who have already been neglected will only be even more neglected as the $700 billion focus shifts elsewhere...

up to speed

It’s been a bit of a while since the last time here, mainly because there has been a lot of nie stuff to do, the first big wave of which has more or less come to a close. Don’t get the impression, though, that i’ve been hard at work. Not really. Think it’s been by God’s grace that things have actually still been rather manageable, and for all my latent complaints about irrelevance and a wasting of my time, looking back things were hardly as tortuous as i initially would have imagined them to be (Not that i’m saying that i’ve changed my mind about the irrelevance and a wasting of time. More that i’ve had somewhat of a change of heart at least to the extent that i’ve realized that there definitely is a reason why there’s nie, for after all God has put me here right. Just that my own human limitations are such that i’m at least at this time not able to see what these higher purposes are.).

In the meantime there’s been various stuff that has been going on – the noise i’ve just heard on the tv as they were reporting on the F1 Japan Grand Prix reminds me of that horrible racket that I had no choice but to tahan when the S’pore leg of the race was in town. I never was a big fan of living in town, and at least for the next four years or so i’ve another reason to be reticent since come every September I’ll be plagued by the seemingly endless whirring of the cars doing their laps. It just so happens that my room window faces the race, so it gets that much more annoying. And for me F1 has never been much more than a waste of fuel, unnecessary carbon emissions, and a bunch of people with too much money on their hands flaunting it left right and center and rubbing it in the faces of us ordinary folk. Ah well, call me a nimby if you want to, but at least I would be perfectly fine with having foreign workers live in my neighborhood…

Just the other day, i happened to be feeling quite hungry, and the only thing within immediate reach of me at home was a bag of fun size M&Ms – and they just so happened to be made in China. After a split second, my empty stomach won the rock paper scissors with my skeptical brain, and i wolfed down one of the small packets. That’s not wholly representative of my attitude towards Chinese-made food though. As much as white rabbit candies have been an integral part of my childhood (my favorite way to eat them was to try, usually in vain, to peel the rice paper off and let it melt in my mouth first before eating the candy proper – gosh, i sound like i’m delivering a eulogy here), i don’t think i’ll be having another one of them anytime soon – at least not unless i get hungry again =p

Looking on the bright(er) side

I was going to say that i'm typing this now since i'm not in the mood to do work, but then i realized that this is pretty much the norm, so it's not really worth mentioning in the first place (though of course the irony is that i do end up mentioning it to make my point).

It's no secret that these past few months at nie have been some of the least enjoyable in recent memory for me. I've been struggling (and am struggling) to come to terms with a lot of what we've had to do, for as much as the intentions behind what goes on may be noble and commendable, at the end of the day people there just seem to not be able to get it. And i'm led to conclude that we've all to suck it up at the very least because we get paid, and uniquely so in the whole world, or so they say.

In spite of my latent annoyance (and at least it's not resentment), i've been drawing comfort from the fact that, even though i still see myself as being at one extreme end of the cynical scale, many, if not most, of those around me seem to be echoing my sentiments. So i've been reassuring myself that it's not just me, but indeed the system as a whole, that has a problem. Scant comfort, i know, but at least it helps to get me by.

But well, as of late, i've realized that maybe it's me after all, or at least to some extent. Somehow, even when i compare notes with others about our own bones to pick with the system, i always have to hold back somewhat, cos i find my list of complaints to far outweigh the others, and so if i were to bleah out all my annoyances, i would probably monopolize the conversation and turn the other off.

And also, as has been my consistent point of sharing recently, think i've been reminded of how poor a testimony i am as a Christian if i were to ooze negativity as i have been accustomed to doing once i step off the mrt train and catch the first whiffs of the nauseating raw cocoa odor of Boon Lay. So, as a friend has rather aptly likened the suffering which prodices perseverance, then character, and then hope, that Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians 5 to nie, i've to try and put things into perspective, in the light of why i'm there in the first place.

So, as i prepare to get cracking on e-portfolios, podcasts, and whatever other fancily-named-but-tortuous-all-the-same assignments that have to be done, while i'm not about to do so with a forced smile on my face, at least i can try to see the bigger picture, and definitely not feed a growing reservoir of repressed exasperation and anger. Yupyup.