Maybe, Maybe Not...

Maybe it's because i've not really created much time for hanging out over the past few years...

Maybe it's because the past week, the first back in school after a short but nevertheless good break, has been excruciatingly tiring...

Maybe it's because i feel like while i'm back here in body, in mind and spirit i'm really still elsewhere...

Or maybe it's a combination of all of the above...

Whatever the case, i feel like i'm definitely losing touch with many i once felt far closer to...

Where does one go from here?

SIN to HEL and (soon to be) back - random thoughts

As i'm typing this, i'm sitting in a Finnish train headed south from Oulu to Tampere. Rather nifty methinks that the trains (or at least the more atas trains like the one i'm on) not only have power sockets for you to charge your laptops/mobile phones and what not but also free wireless internet access.

Although it's already my fifth solo Europe backpacking/couchsurfing trip (ok i can understand if that sounds more than just a tad excessive/indulgent), there had definitely has always been something new on each trip. I'm not in the business of writing a travel blog so i shan't attempt to expound in grandiloquent detail on how this has been the case on this trip, but suffice to say, while certainly similar to its Nordic neighbours (the high cost of just about everything, except perhaps dairy products and some fresh produce, for starters), there also are ways, albeit oftentimes nuanced, in which Finland is different.

Being, however, in the business of education in Singapore, i, together with all my colleagues, am aware that Finland, together with South Korea and of course, Singapore, has performed well in certain international math and science tests. And being admittedly paiseh to tell them where i was going for my break, i jokingly said that i'd be studying the Finnish education system *score points*. However while, it being the start of their own summer holidays here, i had no opportunity to actually visit any schools, through couchsurfing, i did talk to some people who are in at least some way plugged in to the education system here. Additionally, i did of course encounter some of the local youth. My conclusion based on this limited observations? There's nothing special about the education system here - like in Singapore the teachers are dedicated (and reasonably paid) and the students are increasingly rowdy and disrespectful. I do get the sense though that unlike many teachers in Singapore (or at least unlike me), the teachers here do enjoy most , if not all aspects of their work and are not tired out by it. They too have increasing amounts of administrative and other work to do, and are getting assessed regularly, but the passion to teach within the public system (it's virtually all public schooling here) remains. In other words, perhaps it's just me... Heh.

time better spent

It's a long story, but basically yesterday night i found myself at Koi at Iluma in the line for a drink. A cs friend was in the mood for one, and so since we were in the vicinity, i thought that i might bring him to Koi since (i had heard that) it's one of the best, it being of the wait-in-line-for-up-to-an-hour-or-so variety of f&b service outlet. Given that the line was noticably shorter than what i would have anticipated, (five or so customers long) we thought that we might as well get in line and try it out (i've never seen the point of being in line for that long for any sort of food or drink, regardless of how good it is). This even though i was at that point of time keeping up a streak of i don't know how long without drinking bubble tea.

Alas by the time we had reached the order counter, the mystery of the shorter-than-expected line was revealed. "We're out of pearls" the counter staff explained. Oh bother. But since we had reached the line, we ordered something anyways.

After placing the order and waiting for about another five to ten minutes, our number was called (something both so clinically efficient yet, considering the purpose, terribly ridiculous at the same time) and we collected our beverages. I could see where the 40-50% premium in prices went to - thicker plastic cups, straws (which come in their own plastic sleeves) , and that film they place on the cup in order to seal it. Of, and of course, i forget, the drink itself. It was undoubtedly good. Obviously they used natural flavourings instead of that toxic stuff which has been banned from being imported from Taiwan (my lime green tea was refreshingly, albeit overly astringent in taste). I bet even their ice was made from fresh mountain spring water heh.

Was it worth the ten-minute wait? Yes, i'd say. But for an hour even with pearls at the ready? No thanks, i'll pass..

Oh, and on a totally unrelated note - this little ditty came to mind after i saw this picture (and was inspired by many a mrbrown parody - though this is certainly below par compared to some of the gems that his team and him have produced).

I see him driven round town in an SBS bus, and it is, Tuck Yew!
Now if the change in your pocket isn't enough for the bus call, Tuck Yew, Tuck Tuck Yew!

While i'm certainly no fan of using people's names for humour, i couldn't resist...

The Merry Month of May (and other Ms in between)

It has certainly been a very eventful past month - and in the interests of providing applicable learning aids (i am a teacher after all), i shall summarize them in the form of relevant M words.

Mugging and Marking:

The past month at school has been a very hectic one due to the exam period. Let me say though that based on the results, there was far less of the mugging on the part of my students than there was of marking on my part. This was the first exam period of the four that i've encountered thus far whereby i only had upper sec scripts to mark, and only for History for that matter. (Previously it was always only lower sec, and a mixture of English and History). While as a setter this made things easier as upper sec assessment is far more straightforward than that for lower sec, as a marker this made things far more tedious. Since there's a much greater focus on so-called higher-order thinking skills, it means a greater level of cerebral involvement on the part of the marker. So much so that encountering scripts of answers of only a couple of lines long (if there were any answers to begin with) in response to 12 or 13 mark questions was, while bad for the student, rather a relief for me.

Challenges to marking are not only qualitative, but also quantitative in nature. Hence, over the two weeks or so of marking you would see me marking at school, marking at home, marking in the bus or train, marking while waiting for the bus or train, marking while having overpriced coffee at coffee bean, and the ultimate - marking while at a wedding dinner. Certainly not my shining moment.

So by the end of the marking period, it almost felt as though my purpose in life had gone, since the good part of each day would ave been taken up by marking.

MM and his Minions:

Of course the other major event of this past month was the general elections. Ironically, while at the last elections, i still had managed to vote although only more than half the seats were contested, this time round i didn't get to vote although only five of the seats (out of 87) were uncontested. Chalk it down to suddenly finding myself living in Tanjong Pagar, under the watchful eye of the above team. And of course having their potential opponents be a bunch of jokers who submitted their documents 35 seconds too late. And you'd think that by this time they'd get their act together.

On the plus side, staying in an uncontested ward meant that i was not required to perform any election duty. Which meant more time for marking on polling day itself.


This was definitely the most eventful of all Singapore's elections, at least since we gained independence. It was certainly encouraging to see more Singaporeans really thinking through the issues at hand before casting their vote (provided they didn't stay in Tanjong Pagar, of course), regardless of whom they voted for. What i cannot stand are people who cast a default vote without much, if any thought, beyond "oh everything seems well and good to me." I still encountered some of such people, who are testament to the dumbing-down of the political process here over the decades.

Well i hope to see this trend continue at the presidential elections - and i hope that there'll be one this time round. Certainly at the least i've had enough of the oompaloompa..

silver lining

If there's any upside to staying in a walkover ward, it's that i've more time to mark my exam papers :p

walked over

So i'm not voting for the PAP

I'm not voting for any opposition party either

All thanks to 35 seconds...

*sigh*

on autoteacher mode

I've been having to find my way to nie for the past three days for a course, and was unpleasantly reminded of how much i hated travelling between home and there on a daily basis. That surely explains in part why i recall often being in a bad mood when i was there (though to take liberties with the common saying, it's not all in the journey, but also in the destination). The sheer distance and the need for multiple public transport transfers is one thing, but what really made things rather trying for me over these few days were the sheer number of people who were my inadvertent travel partners.

The technical term escapes me (ok, so i've never found it in the first place), but i certainly have a case of crowdoclaustrophobia (i.e. a fear of being amongst a huge mass of people who seem to crowd all around you, forming a man-made enclosed space). Coupled with the general ungracious behaviour of many amongst the local mrt-taking populace, it always makes for a rather riled-up me.

Such was the case this morning at Raffles Place, as i attempted to board the east-west train to Boon Lay. It was at least twenty people including myself who were hindered in our attempts at boarding by several inconsiderate commuters who seemed to have a fear of being more than two metres away from the nearest train door. Which meant that there was at least four or five square metres of perfectly empty standing space slightly further away from the doors which they neglected to occupy.

Maybe i was particularly pissed off, for i found myself scolding this inconsiderate lot at a classroom-worthy volume. I'd like to think that this worked, but well, all it really did was get them to inch enough to one side for me to squeeze past them to occupy the few square metres of neglected standing space. At least i took enough grip of my senses to hold my tongue when i spotted one lady who looked like she was smirking (for what reason, i dunno) and was about to tell her to wipe that smile off her face. It was only then that it struck me and i realised that, no, i was not in class, so no, i had better not say that. Wouldn't that have been something - i'd probably have made stomp :p

Well, at least once school starts again, there''ll be no more of this problem, since by the time i reach school most of these inconsiderate folk probably would not even have left the house yet. The silver lining.

I can has march holiday?

In one simple word, no. In fact, i probably had more free time during the CNY break.

But when you put things into perspective, it's really not so bad. In fact, this March break is the first one week school holiday since i've been trained as a teacher that i've actually had the chance to enjoy any real holiday time (that's actually just one day's worth, and it's not due till Friday, but i'm cautiously optimistic)

The past two September breaks were spent at reservist training. 'Nuff said about that. (Another round coming up in a bit...)

Last year's March holiday was spent on a working trip to India. And as much as i love them (and while there's much room for improvement in that department, i do), spending time with students does not equate to a holiday, be it in S'pore or overseas. Not in my book anyways.

In any case, i fear that the recurring theme of the posts here in the past year or so in particular have tended towards the complaining type. And especially when taking things within the larger context of many of the world events of the past couple of months, my complaints really just wither in comparison. On that note, i do hope that the MediaCrap VP for MarComms does a lot of soul-searching...

Mr. Brightside

Contrary to the impression that i may give sometimes regarding the lunar new year holiday, it isn't all bad. It is a holiday after all. As long as i'm able to keep clear from supermarkets and other commercial establishments who remain hell-bent on playing insufferable 'festive' music, which they seem to have an uncanny knack for doing just moments after i set foot into the store (whatever happened to all that talk a few years back about stores who play the music having to pay royalties?), and successfully conceal my eye-rolls at crucial moments during school celebrations and when people recite those meaningless (to me) Chinese couplets when preparing the yusheng before tossing (the only fitting one i can think of at such moments is 乱七八糟, which i doubt is in reality very fitting at all), i can definitely get by the couple of days with minimal fuss.

Plus, i've the rare opportunity to have more than just the increasingly abrogated weekend away from work. In its physical manifestation, at least - of course i still end up doing work, just that i don't stay in school for more than twelve hours to do it. As i've been commenting a fair bit this time round, i am very much in the lunar new year spirit, in the sense that i'm adding a touch of red around me. The red may be in the form of ink from a red pen and the medium may be my students' homework, but at the end of the day it's still red.

Hopefully there'll be a bit of time left over from work-related stuff for a bit of exercise, especially since the weather bureau promises that there'll not be a repeat of the recent weekend of rain. Of course, if there's one thing that i've learnt about the met service here, it would be to take everything they predict with a bucket of salt. In fact what they seem to be better at doing is to account for past weather patterns, rather than predicting future ones. They probably have had to issue a forecast this time round since they'll be minimally operational over the next few days.

Minimally operational. Sounds good. Wish it could apply to me =p

new year, same rant

So i finally get down to posting here four whole weeks into the new year. And as much as i'd like to think that new year would equate to some sort of change in the kind of stuff that ends up here, unfortunately that isn't the case. Which basically means another cathartic rant/complaint post.

Not that there have been no changes. On the contrary, where work is concerned, there have been changes aplenty going on. However, these changes have by and large meant more things to do, and consequently less free time. Note though that i didn't say that the changes were all bad. Many changes have really been for the better. It's just that none of them result have resulted in even the most microscopic of shifts in the mythical work-life balance towards the latter. In fact, i'd say that at least from my own experience, i'd consider any attempt to promote work-life balance in any teachers' recruitment drive that moe may ever think of putting up to be a clear-cut case of misleading advertising.

Whatever the case, though, there is much about what i do that i enjoy, even if it has meant much ore work in the process. While i'm pretty sure that, provided i remain in the system, i will never have the opportunity to teach areas of history that i'm deeply interested/passionate in, at least (most of) what i've to teach doesn't result in me having to dig deep to find whatever token acting talent that i may have in order to feign enthusiasm anymore. Or is it just that i'm becoming a better actor?

Where these acting skills would really come in handy would be in how i react every time there's something that has to be done in which i can discern little, if any value in doing, beyond padding my work review at the end of the year. This year i've occasionally reached the proverbial tipping point, whereby i somewhat brusquely declined to do something simply because i had too much to do. I don't regret having done that in the sense that i don't really care (or at least so i think) about how that might reflect upon my prospects for promotion [because, particularly after looking at the amount of work that the higher-ups have to do (or in the case of some of those that i work with, more of delegate), i can honestly say that i don't care for a promotion]. However, i am somewhat regretful of having done that in the other sense of not wanting to be a bad witness, as i'm pretty sure that i could have carried myself off far better than i'd ended up doing.

Until things start changing on the moe end (which, realistically speaking, will not happen anytime soon), maybe i should look towards my own change instead. Then come the end of bond time, we'll see how things end up working out.

New Beginnings

I don't keep close track to such things, but i'm pretty sure that at least when looking back at recent years, today was the earliest on record i've heard CNY music playing publicly - even before the new calendar year has started. Crept me out. Thankfully the supermarket i happened to be in today still had the sense to play Christmas music, but i think the days of CNY music-free supermarkets and other commercial establishments are very numbered.

Another set of days that are certainly very numbered are the number of free days before school starts again - three to be exact. Not that i have had a very fulfilling holiday to begin with, but i'll take whatever i can get. Maybe it's the relative un-freedom of this soon-to-end holiday that has prompted me to already start researching on possible holiday trip locations for next year, even though it's increasingly looking like my June holidays will be another non-event and the next time i can take a trip out of Asia will be at the end of next year.

I shouldn't complain though. After all, as i remind myself frequently, my job is not to travel, but to teach. And the teaching experience next year promises to be very interesting, and if not more so, then at least in a very different year from what i've experienced thus far. On the plus side, next year i can be more focused, subject wise at least, compared to previously. Arguably, i also am able to teach things which are more in line with my teaching interests. However, that also means that i have a heck of a lot more preparatory work to do for this year's classes than i ever had to do in previous years. Furthermore, for the first time i'm also handling graduating classes, which implies the conducting of lessons over the June holidays (byebye summer vacation).

I'm quite ok with that though, and in fact, as cheesy as it sounds, i'm up to the challenge (or at least i say that now - check back in four months). So bring it on, 2011.

Perspectives on Christmas

Somehow i've never really been excited by Christmas here. I reckon it's because when i was a student the arrival of Christmas meant that the new school year would be starting within a week (which is probably why i've been even less excited about New Year's Day). Then when it came to army time i recall having to be back in camp by Christmas night, or at the latest the following day, so regardless of what Christmas symbolizes i never was particularly thrilled. save for the opportunity for a one-day break. Now that things have come full circle and i'm a teacher, i'm still pretty much indifferent since Christmas means that the end of the school holidays is near again.

And while much has been said of how Bethlehem is situated in the middle of the desert, so on the first Christmas it couldn't have been that cold, surely even for people here the idea of "Christmas in the tropics" somehow doesn't cut it. Blame it on the very westernised picture of Christmas that has been etched in our psyches, something that only breeds further disappointment, which is pretty much catnip to this nation of complainers. Why, the only hope we have of the much sung-about white Christmas is to head to Tanglin Mall and be sprayed by soap suds amidst a throng of over-excited young 'uns (and in steamy weather to boot).

Of course, ideally i'd be focusing more on what Christmas really means (isn't that always the case?), especially when year by year, we get bombarded by an increasingly commercialized view of the season. I can't say i'm a conscientious objector to the over-commercialized Christmas season though - i don't Christmas shop simply because i'm lazy - but nevertheless regardless of the proximity to the school term i guess it's good to take the opportunity to look at things from a larger perspective. Which is probably why i was very appalled to read a report on West Coast GRC in yesterday's ST, even if it was just for one line, which actually had nothing to do with the political situation per se (which you'd figure i'd have a lot to be appalled about). The reporters were talking about "foreign newcomers" in the GRC, and said that "residents in Pioneer, Boon Lay and West Coast endure the presence of foreign worker dormitories in the heartland".

That brief line speaks volumes about how Singaporeans in general (and admittedly sometimes myself included) disregard the contributions of the foreigners in our midst and instead just harp on how they inconvenience our daily lives. It almost is as though we see ourselves as superior beings to them. Now, i'd flesh this point out in detail, but that's been done far more eloquently elsewhere. I also can't say that i was appalled by this point in itself, since i pretty much would have expected to hear such sentiments. What i was appalled at was that this was presented as a factual statement on the reporters' own part. For all of ST's faults (and don't get me started on those - again others do so far better than i ever can), you'd at least expect them to present a balanced view (though then again, as i type this, Fox News comes to mind =p) and not take a prejudiced view towards the matter. Instead, we have the reporters themselves declaring that having foreign worker dormitories in our neighbourhood is something that we have to "endure". Surely a role that the press should play would be to dispel such one-dimensional takes on these issues, rather than to endorse them in their own writings, but, again when taking things into perspective, i can't say that i'm surprised. Sadly. Perhaps these ST reporters need to take this opportunity (no ST published tomorrow rite, which means that they really can do so) to think about what they write...

post-Krabi

While it has usually been the case that during the longer school holidays i'll take a fairly long, or at least, as long as possible holiday out of the continent of Asia, the special circumstances of this December holiday (plus of course my last minute planning, which was even more last-minute this time than it has ever been before due to a combination of procrastination and too much darn work to do) have it such that travel plans this time round were decidedly different. Well for starters, i've had to restrict myself to Asia for a change, and in fact, to be more specific, Southeast Asia (though that's in large part because i'm not at all interested in going to any other parts of Asia, at least not at the moment, and in the case of China, not ever). Additionally, the length of the trip's been cut drastically from last year's three weeks to less than a week this time round. So this meant that for the first time in three years there were no quaint Christmas markets in close-to-freezing weather with the obligatory mulled wine to enjoy. Instead, it was decidedly tropical weather for a change, something much closer to home (which as far as i'm concerned is often not something good).

It didn't turn out too badly though. Not that i'm not one to be philosophical about such things, but like i had said earlier, in a way circumstances were such that it was just as well that i didn't manage to get away from say, November, since i had so much work to do (hmm and in fact, still do have to do, though that's another story). Furthermore, i guess after four straight backpacking and couchsurfing trips in Europe a break in the routine couldn't do much harm. In any case, i ended up going to Koh Lanta in Krabi province, which at this time of year at the start of the northern winter season seems to have a tourist demographic profile almost entirely composed of sun-starved Europeans. Being pretty much a lone Asian in a sea of tourists of European ethnicity (yes there were barely even any Japanese, and (thank goodness) almost no other Singaporeans in sight either) meant that i was pretty much ignored by almost all the people in the tourist trade whom i encountered, which can work both ways. On the minus side, in such situations you can't help but feel like a second-class tourist compared to the farangs, but on the plus side, that means that the scores of massage, hotel, and restaurant touts barely even sent a glance my way.

Oh, and of course, another big plus about this trip is that it was a heck of a lot cheaper than what i'd pay usually, even though this time i had to resort to staying in hotels due to the scarcity of budget/couchsurfing options. So now i'm telling myself that the money saved this time round could possibly go a long way next time. Hopefully the next time will be during the June holidays. I dunno if i could tahan any longer without a larger-scale trip...

catching some breath

I find it kinda ironic that now that it's the holidays, and school has been out (at least for the students) since the last time i was here, that i seem to have less time on my hands to post anything here. Bringing forward the last day of school (again, i stress, for the students) seems to have become the ultimate empowering device to hand all sorts of somehow school-related work to us, stuff which, during lesson time, we could still swat away (occasionally, at least).

In this sense (and i know i might sound like a darn workaholic when i say this - which maybe is what i've become), i'm glad that circumstances are as such this time that i'm not able to go for a decent (means more than a week long) overseas trip, so that i can have more time at hand now to try and get all the work done before i do go somewhere, which will be for a far shorter time than what i'd ideally like. But a holiday's a holiday, i guess, right? And in any case, i somehow have become relatively focused these past few days or so, such that i think i've been able to get through quite a fair bit of work, or at least a fair bit more than i'd expect from myself when not at home trying to do work.. Good times?

a mouldy moulder

It's now pretty much the end of school for this year ( at least for the students), as even though this upcoming week is only week seven of the last ten week term of the school year, due to the O Level exams everything else in secondary schools is more or less shut down. This has only been the case for the past, what, five years or so, due to those exams having been moved forward to accommodate an earlier release of results. I still remember the (good?) old days when my birthday, while always falling right at the start of the school holidays, would during the O and A level years instead fall smack within the exam period, and i definitely had to plow through a paper or two once or twice.

What this means is a very rushed second semester for the teachers and students, particularly, if like me for lower sec history, your school follows a modular system, where basically you have only one semester (i.e. half the school year) to complete your entire year's syllabus. Couple that with the impeccable timing of the SAF in scheduling my three week reservist during this period (while for good measure, managing to also eat up my Teachers' Day and one week September school break as well), and the uncanny knack of the higher ups for without fail, managing to come up with more and more things that teachers are supposed to do. Add for good measure conditions at the workplace which are, shall we say, evidence of a fallen world and you've got one incredibly crazy semester that i'm frankly still reeling from

It therefore isn't much of a surprise that this semester has also been the one when i've started to entertain thoughts about a life outside of the system, even though, yes, i still have a good two-and-a-half years to go before i can actually enjoy even the possibility of such a life. I feel that there's only so much more of comforting myself by being reminded of the fallen-ness of this world and me as being placed by God in the midst of it for a purpose (and that already had started to wear thin by the time i was at NUS) that i can handle before totally losing a sense of what that really means.

While i'm still in this system though, i think i do need to start to try and get my act together more. Which means for starters screwing up less often, in order to give others as little ammo as possible to (deliberately or otherwise) aim in my direction. I guess i can hopefully use the (somewhat) clean slate of a new school year to try and start over, so to speak. At the same time, there's the need to remind myself constantly that ultimately, teaching would not exist if not for the students, and therefore they are people whom (as terrible as they often can be) i should consider the impact on them for whatever i'm doing as a teacher. (After all, otherwise, i wouldn't be moulding the future of our nation, eh?) And also, for as much as i despise the notion of doing things primarily for the sake of promotions and performance bonuses, to not be so blatant in bringing that across, as i've realised that it can come across as preachy, instead of reflecting well on my values as a Christian in the workplace.

I do wish that i had a good time on vacation to regroup and make sense of things before the new school year. Unfortunately, the aforementioned craziness of the past semester means that i never got around to planning anything, and now air ticket prices are all crazy expensive. Then, scheduling wise i'm not able to be away for any longer than a continuous week, which really kills it for most places that i'm typically interested in going to. Will definitely try to fit something in though. For my sanity.

The Calm Before the Storm

It feels kind of surreal now - me typing this leisurely on a Saturday afternoon - as after being seemingly endlessly busy, all of a sudden i can't really find much to do (ok, actually there are lots of things to do, just that maybe they're not so urgent. Important, yes, but not urgent - i shall start to do them later on - yes, seriously).

The reason for this somewhat eerie calm is of course that exams begin in a few days' time, and so there are no more real lessons to teach (thankfully i was able to finish teaching all that is to be tested soon enough), just revision. And while, as usual there's all the last minute consultations with students, many of whom have showed not even a microscopic degree of interest in my lessons until now (though i prefer this to not being interested throughout, which is the case for many others), by and large it's been a much easier time during these past few days compared to when i first got back to school not more than a week before that. Easy enough for me this morning to actually have the opportunity to go for a run that had nothing to do with either school or the SAF. A rare opportunity indeed, one which i doubt will still avail itself next week when i will have the scripts of 240 students to mark over the weekend (marking while running - now that's a nice bit of multi-tasking that i'd like to see someone do).

Now, one thing that i was able to do today since i'm this free was to read the newspaper without having to rush because i might miss the bus/not get enough sleep. In today's ST Life there's a feature on children "having a bigger say in how they want their rooms to look," with their parents "gladly picking up the tab". I was never given this opportunity by my folks, though just as well, given my indecisiveness (not to mention indifference).

What i thought was appalling was what one mother of a five-year-old girl who chose a pink (surprise surprise) room with drawers "painted with a shimmery sheen of stars" (oh help) said (and by the way the bill came up to $15000). And i quote: "We pamper her a lot and tend to be indulgent. It is important that she feels good about the room, that it is designed to what she likes so she can have a happy childhood." Do we really need more potential spoilt brats who are used to getting whatever they want just so that they can be 'happy'? I suppose that having to deal with some of these on a daily basis has made me even more abhorrent of such (imho) poor parenting practices. You're basically setting your daughter up to become one of the many who believe that she is entitled to have her way practically no matter what, and in the process cause many of those around her (or at least people like me - those who as an occupational hazard work with these young brats) a great deal of misery. You want her to be happy? Well then give her a can of pink paint, a brush, and a some shimmery star stickers from Popular and get her to do it herself (Oh yeah, she is all of five years old eh - then why not do it together with her? A good parent-child bonding moment)

irregularity

Yet another quick recap post, if at the least, to maintain a minimum of one post per month on average.

But anyhoos, what a past month it has been, though unfortunately i don't think that i can say much, if anything about it here. Suffice to say that it was three weeks or so of (somewhat surprisingly enjoyable) overseas reservist, i went there pale and i came back, well, black(-ish), Oh the grossness that is peeling skin.

After that long a time spent there, unlike most of the others i did not really look forward to coming back. My reservations were quickly justified upon the first day of stepping back into school. The semi-amusing comments from students and teachers alike about my quantum leap in skin tone aside, it was a grim day when i finally had to face the consequences of an extended (but oh so blissful) time away from school, consequences that i only now, around a week-and-a-half later, am beginning to recover from. I don't know if there's been any talk about making the yearly ICT less of a hassle for NS Men, particularly those who work in the public/civil service (since one could logically argue that more could be done in such cases to make it such that this mandated time away from work does not have to adversely affect how things turn out before and after the ICT itself), but if there is, well then *note to self to activate my self censorship switch* MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE!

ta!

Off for overseas reservist (to i-can't-tell-you-where to do i-can't-tell-you-what). Hopefully i'll be frequenting this place more when i get back.

Au revoir.

Moscow 2010, if only...

So it turns out that it has to take a four day long weekend before i'm able to get myself to put something here (i abandon too many things before they have run their rightful course and i don't want to add this to that heap of things). Sadly, half of the said weekend is already gone, and before i know it it'll be (ack!) time for school again, with probably less than half of the work that i had originally intended to complete being done. Case in point - because i had to go for a nat'l day dinner at expo tonight (don't ask), i had intended to first hang out at some cafe at expo and get some work done before the dinner, and then hang around again at the Hanis near my place to get more work done before heading home. Needless to say, i didn't hang around either time in the end

Anyways, as i know i've mentioned at least twice before, together with that other obliged-to-wear-red holiday, nat'l day is just about my least favourite of the days off that we get. How ironic that both of these holidays are the only ones when we at school are guaranteed at least two days off each. Certainly, the extra day off for both is a slight redeeming factor, but otherwise i can't really care much for either.

I suppose though, that given the line of work i am in, the employer i work for, and of course, the country i live in, remaining this negative and cynical can't be very healthy [that was actually a very valid and thought-provoking point that the MP made during his speech at the nat'l day dinner (yes, i was actually listening - must have been during one of the courses of the chinese menu that featured seafood, so i didn't have the option of being distracted through eating, and since everyone else was eating i couldn't talk to anyone else either..)]. Something to work on i guess - let's wait for YOG to be a thing of the past though. There's only so much angst that i can repress =p

Anyways, in totally random other news, i just realised that i have memories of Nat'l Day 1990. At the Padang. Silver Anniversary. Was it really twenty years ago?

life support

There have been many times over the past month when i've wanted to put something here, though, as is normally the case nowadays, i've had to postpone doing so due to there being so many things to do. And of course, now when i actually have some time to write a post, my mind is blank. Pity. It's been an extremely eventful four weeks, both in and out of school. Wish it were more out than in.

Ah crap, brain not working. Watch this space.