Contemplation...

Memories

2005-10-16T16:11:00.000+08:00

Am taking a break from marking, so was trying to start on my guest list for the wedding, plus trying to pick suitable songs for the repetoire. Thinking through the guest list makes you go back to times past, so lots of fond memories do come to mind... Such as life staying in PGP when I was in uni, where we cooked up all sorts of funny dinners in the common kitchen, and would throw spaghetti on the wall to see if it was cooked (we learnt that from the movie Il Mare), but some ended up on the ceiling where we couldn't get it down! Late night suppers at Fong Seng where we would have cheese prata and teh tarik, overnight vigils to cram the hefty stack of physiology notes into our brains, until we got so bonkers that we kept talking about cortisol and oxytocin... Star gazing and having prayer sessions at the "engine bridge"... Having musical rehearsals for VCF musicals at Aaron's church, all the sharing and bible studies during contact group times, meeting up at the big round tables at the KFC area in Science faculty after lessons... our long study sessions in the Science library, where we would stay until they played the closing song to chase all the people out... Long biochemistry practicals, and trips to the zoo to note how different species differed in form and structure. That was my uni life.

And in JC, the studying sessions at KAP Macs, the rushing every morning to reach school to get to the band room before they closed the instrument store as we played every morning for flag raising, the sleepy afternoon loooonnng biology practicals looking at schlerenchyma and parenchyma and cutting up stinky kidneys... Mr Ho our conductor always mixing my name with Gracia's... Performing at Takashimaya and the Botanical Gardens, and the nervousness before SYF, the cutting of our band CD, and our annual Etude concerts...

And in Secondary, the fun times we had hanging around the band room, playing all sorts of songs, the Sarawak trip where our seniors played pranks on us, and got us locked out of our hotel room... the crying when the band got a bronze for the SYF... the constant shining of boots with lots of water and the smell of burning leather, until our fingers were caked with shoe polish... the pumping on the hot carpark floor... the drill under the hot sun, where we got so tanned that we had sock marks and T-shirt marks... The night games during band camp, where the torture chamber was the toilet (with the lights off!), and where they locked you in the toilet cubicle and sprayed water all over you, then released you to find your group while having to avoid "ghosts" with white robes and black lipstick...

In Primary, the running to the drains to catch tadpoles from the drains... the choir practices where the teacher would poke your tummy to see if you were using your diaphragm... the times where we took turns to fall into the pond... the time where I fell into the drain in Pri 4 and couldn't get out, so they had to haul me out...

And in recent times, the numerous cups of coffee drunk in the NIE canteen... the rushing of long essays on teaching, the times the bio class hung out for lunch, and talked all sorts of nonsense, the badminton and karaoke sessions we had... Attending weddings and housewarmings...

I think its all these little things that we remember the most, not the exam grades or achievements, but the experiences shared with others. :0) Ah... life!

Its farewell for now...

2005-10-14T23:48:00.000+08:00

Today the Sec 4s attended their Leaver's Ceremony... Very mixed feelings to see them walk up the stage and know that they are moving on to a new phase in life. Some of them I've taught for 4 years, and have seen them since they were "little"... And now... they have all grown up into young gentlemen of character (at least most of them!), confident, more mature and sensible, and hopefully more caring individuals :0) Watching as they walked up the stage, all the previous events in the past years come to mind... the scoldings, the funny incidents, the stress of exams and problems. Really wish them all the best... that they would go out into the world having enough strength to face the challenges ahead, and come out as stronger and better.

Am really exhausted after one full night of running around, didn't even have time to have a proper dinner! Am going to turn in, and tomorrow, there would be the mountain of SA2 papers to face and conquer with the mighty red pen.

Decaf? Nope...

2005-09-06T00:17:00.000+08:00

I think the first thing that I will do tomorrow, or rather later, when I wake up is to brew a cup of coffee, cos' I'm sure to need it. Its the North Zone IT Symposium in a few hours time, and our school is hosting it... and we have to be in school at 7 am! And it will end at only past 4 pm... so that would be Day 2 of the Sept Hols.

Been thinking of whether to continue with ballet. Our new teacher is good, as she explains the steps and terms, and watches out for our alignment and positioning. The other day we were trying pirourettes, which... oh well... I guess we need lots more practice! Trying to turn without tripping is bad enough, made worse when you are supposed to be balanced on the tip of your toes of one foot only. Am also thinking of whether I should take my flute exams. So many things that I want to do... but on top of a busy busy schedule, am not sure if its wise to do so, especially with a big event coming up next year. :0)

Term 3 is done, and before we know it, the school term will draw to a close. Come to think of it, this year has really flashed by, with so so so many things happening, some good, some not so good, some sad. I guess even as time ticks relentlessly, we must treasure each moment, and does what matters most.

Ok. Am sleepy, better conk out now.

Thoughts

2005-05-09T18:41:00.000+08:00

Funny how almost everyone you know is blogging nowadays. Your colleagues blog, your students blog, your friends blog. My brother blogs, but he refuses to let his family read, probably because he's complaining about us all the time in his entries. I guess blogging is quite a good habit cos it makes people put their thots down, and its way more convenient than writing stuff out. However, with the era of the blog comes the loss of privacy. I guess what goes into the entries has to be partially censored, because you never know who would chance upon the blog, and what that person would do with the information. Just like how the PSC scholar got into so much trouble about his racist comments on his blog recently. I mean, everything published out on the web can be used against you.

Actually, am writing this while thinking that I should get on with my marking. Its the "I've got so much marking to do" syndrome, where there's marking to be done, but no energy to do it. Oh well.

Went to watch "Kingdom of Heaven" the other day, which was quite thought provoking. Its about the crusades and the story was set around the time of the 2nd crusade, if I'm not mistaken. While the crusades were supposed to be in the name of religion, it seemed more and more (especially if you read history), a struggle for political power. A few days earlier, we were studying 1 Peter 2, with regards to submission to authority. And Pastor Chris spoke about how submission to authorities was instructed in the Bible. I think being able to submit to authorities who may be corrupt, while trusting in the "One who judges justly" is the tough part.

There are lots of thoughts swimming around in my head nowadays. But its time for me to get back to work!

A brand new year...

2005-01-06T01:04:00.000+08:00

2005 has started. And so has school... been so tired out the past few days, running on an average of 4 hrs of sleep a day. Lessons are quite taxing with the new 45 minute periods, which means today I had to teach one class for 1 1/2 hours at a go, then my Sec 4s for 2 plus hours at a go, followed by IPW. Really looking forward to the weekend when I hopefully can catch up with sleep.

All that said, its nice to start a new year and see your students formerly from Sec 2 now all "grown up" and in long pants. Takes a little getting used to... OK, back to work!

Sigh...

2004-12-22T14:43:00.000+08:00

Just managed to boil water as my mum was using both the stove and microwave just now. So finally, I get my daily dose of coffee... And finally, I can get started on some more work. Still trying to sort out so many things... The week is half gone, and with one more week... it'll be school again. Next year would be very challenging, cos I'll be teaching the Sec 4s, as well as helping out in the new programme for pupil development. Band would have an exciting year, with the competition and possibly 2 concerts lined up. And perhaps, even an overseas trip.

Better start on some work, have a dinner lined up with my cell group later. We are going to decorate a christmas tree in my leader's place... sounds like fun!

Little moments

2004-12-21T19:30:00.000+08:00

The band boys finished painting the second banner today, and put up both the banners. Both are really well done. The painting is very neat, the colours complement, and the instruments are quite artfully drawn. Really proud of their hard work, along with one of my colleague's expertise in such matters.

Some of the boys from group 1 of my aquatic ecology project came down to school today to clean up their tank, which was covered with alot of algae. And because I was busy helping out with the hanging of the banner, they were on their own the whole time, and was pleasantly surprised when I went to the student centre to see that they had really cleaned up the place after working. Usually when they clean up the tank, they do partial water changes, and the floor gets flooded. But this time, the place was cleaned up, and the tables and chairs were neat when I got there.

One colleague went out for lunch and helped me to buy lunch back, along with coffee... but unfortunately, the coffee got spilt. Was so touched when I found out that one colleague went out later for lunch, and wanted to get coffee for me to replace the spilt drink. But she forgot in the end, but its the thought that counts!

Going for a run.

Random thoughts

2004-12-19T14:50:00.000+08:00

The other day, was thinking about capsaicin, the chemical found in chilli that makes you need to drink copious amounts of water. The chemical is very stable, and apparently does not get digested when consumed, hence its fiery exit. The funny thing is, you can feel its effects when you eat, at least in your mouth, and perhaps when it gets to the stomach, you may as well (esp for those with ulcers). But you don't feel anything past the stomach. Was sounding it out to DT, asking him if it was just the mucous in the small intestine that stops capsaicin from setting the gut on fire. He said that the small intestine cannot feel pain. Hmmm. But on reading more about the small intestine, am not too sure if he's correct.

The Straits Times had an article about using poisons to kill following the poisoning of Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko using dioxin. Its really scary to see how man can harness knowledge from science to harm or kill others. Just look at what is used for chemical warfare, things like nerve agents like sarin, mustard agents, hydrogen cyanide and arsenic. Or even worse, biological warfare agents, like anthrax and botox.

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity."

~Albert Einstein

I agree with him.

BBQ

2004-12-15T23:04:00.000+08:00

Back from a school BBQ and waiting for my turn to shower. I smell like a BBQ chicken wing. Yeech. Spent most of the time fanning the fire and BBQ-ing stuff, but oddly enough, this is the first BBQ that people seemed to be more pre-occupied with water bombs than eating. We had quite a bit of leftovers... Was a gathering of some Sec 2 band people and some other Sec 2G people (Was the only teacher there...). They spent most of their time either spraying water/throwing water bombs/pushing people in the pool... But on the whole, I think they did have fun. Was nice to see how they worked together to plan the BBQ and how they pitched in to help... and the student who opened up his place for us was really a gracious host.

The fire proved to be one that was hard to start. The first few attempts fizzled out literally, and later they managed to get solid fuel from the neighbouring pit, which helped alot. But that fire died out after some time, and they resorted to using toilet paper as fuel, along with drippings of margarine, which was rather... innovative. But it meant that they had to make multiple visits to the toilet to get toilet paper, and I got roped into the toilet paper kidnapping movement too.

Ok... mum's out. My turn.

Finished

2004-12-15T13:16:00.000+08:00

Finally finished reading "Sophie's World". Quite well written, I must say. Now on to "A Short History of Nearly Everything". Hols are coming to an end. Sigh. Work still towers over me like a mountain. Got to go...

Dream on...

2004-12-15T01:48:00.000+08:00

Went to browse the sites on Miyazawa flutes. Goodness, a used one sells for 6K? Sigh. Think if I ever want to get one, I'll have to start saving now, and save for a longlonglong time. Coupled with flute lessons and scores, think I'll have to save very hard. Perhaps eat just porridge for 4 years. Heh. Got my brother to help me rig up the other DVD player (that plays mp3s) in my room, so now I get accompaniment during practice. Too poor to get a mp3 player... Meanwhile, I'll just be content with my Yamaha flute.

The ethics of eating

2004-12-14T23:21:00.000+08:00

The other day, Straits Times had an article on Christmas Island, which of course, mentioned the crab migration that the island is famous for. And the reporter was talking about how others were asking if the crabs could be eaten. Which reminded me of my NIE classmate, a biology teacher, whom the other day exclaimed that she only knew about 5 kinds of crabs: Chilli crab, black pepper crab and I'm not sure what else. Which then reminded me about how my students were keeping crabs in this paludarium and were asking me if they could eat them when they got bigger. Hmm... Think its the Chinese mentality where we tend to view living things as mostly edible.

Speaking of eating, went to Para Bem Brazil today for lunch. That place is a carnivore's dream come true, cos they serve you all sorts of meat in the buffet. And the meat is really cooked just right, with all sorts ranging from sausages and various types of lamb, beef, chicken, mutton and pork. Was so full that I didn't eat dinner.

Back to the pig

2004-12-14T01:32:00.000+08:00

Forgot to add. We've decided to name the blue pig Chelsea. Simply because we're Man U supporters, and because its blue. If it was pink it would have been named Arsenal. So the poor pig is the punching bag when Chelsea wins a game. So far, the pig is quite safe, cos Chelsea just drew with Arsenal. Now if Man U would buck up, if Rooney could control his temper, and if Ronaldo could stop falling down.

Freezing Time

2004-12-13T23:46:00.000+08:00

I wonder what is it with photography that has people hooked. Some would just take random shots of daily life, especially with camera phones becoming so common nowadays. With digital cameras, it makes photo-taking even easier. You can take 100 shots of some scenic location, and at least 10 should come out quite nicely. I was browsing through the photos on my school eMac in the morning to choose the better shots from the band concert for one of my students. Realised after zooming through about 100 plus shots that some were just taken frame by frame, while others were carefully composed shots.

When one of my students was taking photos in the SRC today, was thinking that photo-taking can be more than just random shots of life. He was trying to get chairs out of the way to avoid having reflections for the tanks (he was taking photographs of the fish tanks they had set up). I still can remember trying to take photographs of flowers at home and trying to adjust whatever limited light sources I had to get different effects. But I think what would be more interesting would be architectural photography, getting the different angles and perspectives, using the interplay of light on different surfaces to the best effect. More challenging still, wildlife photography, but would be limited by the type of equipment I have. Equipment does count, cos its very hard to take animals in motion when all you have is a manual focus lens. By the time you've focused, the monkey/squirrel/dragonfly is nowhere in the picture. And having powerful telephotos are a plus point. No point taking a bird in flight when its going to be a small speck at the corner of the photo. (Bird? Where? Oh, I thought that was a speck of dust.) Of course, I think the hardest would be taking people. Capturing the mood, the expressions, which flit across faces in a blink of an eye.

Anyway, all this talk makes me want to bring my camera tmr. But since I can't, I'll content myself with another trip to Sungei Buloh. Plus, have volunteered to be the photographer for next year's band events. Sounds like fun. :0)

Mixed feelings

2004-12-13T20:44:00.000+08:00

I've been banned from bringing my camera to the zoo. Sigh. That means I'll probably make a trip down to Sungei Buloh one of the days. Haven't touched the SLR in ages, I think the last time was in Cameron Highlands in June. Trying to get in one photoshoot before school starts again.

Which reminds me... less than 3 weeks to school. Just realised today the sheer amount of work I need to finish in this span of time, plus the planning for next year's Sec 2s for their assembly and PC lessons. I didn't realise the planning was on such a massive scale, until I found out that sending the entire level out during assembly means 9 buses in the carpark. And if the Sec ones are going out at the same time, we'll have something like almost 20 buses, and probably 700 over students going out at the same time.

Ok, time to eat a late dinner and get down to some real work.

Sucidal Shrimp

2004-12-12T21:09:00.000+08:00

One Yamato shrimp jumped last night. Nearly stepped on him when going to my room. Had to net him back into the tent and luckily, he survived his Olympic diving stint... No gold medal for him though. The world record goes to the other fellow who jumped the other time and scurried across the house... landing up in the study room, which was about 4 m away. How he got there, I really don't know. But that one died for his effort... :0(

Diversity: A biological headache

2004-12-12T04:00:00.000+08:00

At least for me. Had supper (the fantastic tom yam instant noodles that was so spicy that it caused my ears to hurt) and spent the past 1 hour trying to read up on biodiversity (Johnson and Raven, 1988) and how to classify living organisms in the 6 kingdoms. The last time I studied this was in secondary school, and I can't remember the details for each kingdom being in the syllabus then. It wasn't covered in the JC syllabus as we did growth, reproduction and some agriculture topic for the electives. Botany has never been my forte, and I've never had to stare at the invertebrates or lower life forms at such a close range. Uni was spent mainly zooming in on all the various pathways inside cells, and the only animal bio I managed to squeeze in was on vertebrates and environmental physio. Why did I do physiology and not zoology?

Anyway, was reminded that kelp was a seaweed and that seaweed is not classified under plants, but under algae, which were protists. (Which reminds me that my fish tank is technically in need of major protist and snail removal.) And then there were the angiosperms and fungi and diatoms. And that's only a wee bit of the entire works. I've yet to get to the vertebrates, but that would be easier. At least all this points back to the Creator God and not a long series of random chance mutations. Anyone who suggests that an Amoeba has the potential to become a human capable of thought after millions of years has got be kidding. And speaking of thought, my brain has either forged lots of new synapse connections today, or has partially combusted. (Actually, that's not an exaggeration, as respiration is in a sense, combustion.) Ok enough ramblings. Time to sleep.

Bro's Back

2004-12-12T00:02:00.000+08:00

My brother is back from his community service trip in ChiangMai, Thailand. The plane touched down at 2230. Believe it or not, he spent his money on clothes (all for himself!), and just got instant noodles for the family! Ok, at least he bought the tom yam noodles... He also lugged back 2 cushions and a baby blue pig toy. He supposedly bought the cushions for himself for his stay there, and my mum passed the pig to me. Looks quite cute, but I have no idea what to do with it... realised that I'm getting a little old for soft toys. Mr Blue Pig will probably join my zoo along with Mr Bali Monkey and the teddy bear family.

Well, since he's back, it means the noise level is up at home, with his constant loud music blasting from his room. I hope he doesn't continue all the guitar playing in the middle of the night. I've enough problems with insomnia as it is. Ok, going to eat noodles, and back to exploring the diversity of living organisms.

Carpe Diem!

2004-12-11T20:15:00.000+08:00

Ok, trying to blog again after a long period of inactivity. School holidays have been filled with meetings, and interesting events. Though I've not been able to finish as much work as I like, so far, its been an enjoyable holiday. Didn't need to go down for band today, so managed to catch up on sleep, plus read more of "Sophie's World". Quite amazed that I've finally managed to plow through 1/2 of the book, since I've failed on the past 3 attempts of even going past page 50. Have bull-dozed past Socrates, Plato and Aristotle... and am exploring Descartes. Mind-boggling. The book gives me a headache.

Am trying to catch a breath between 2 of my fav activities, namely, playing the flute and ballet. Got sick of playing all the Alfred Reed pieces, so went to dig out some songs that are being played by my school's alumni band. Didn't have the guts to try Impressions of Japan, or Carmen Fantasy, so started with Mononoke for warm-up and Pilatus for practice. Am still trying to figure out the notes for the "Les Choristes" soundtrack. Phew. About 5 months since I last played (that was during the school band concert)... Next on my list: Vesuvius, Armenian Dances I and Fantasy Variations (If I can find it. Have no idea where it went!) Which reminds me, my James Barnes CD is still with Michelle, and I still have her "Shine" CD. Might go to Yamaha tmr to see if they are selling the flute pieces for the Grade 4/5 exams, these would be an interesting alternative to band music. And speaking of Yamaha, think I better call the piano tuner, since Dad has forgotten about it. The piano is so flat, the middle C sounds like a B.

Ok, have to go practice the plies and rond de jambes. Tues will be the last ballet lesson of the term. Then on to reading up on the classification of living things, and powerpoint slides for Sec 1s, and programme planning for Sec 2s for their PC lessons. Hmmm. Quite a fruitful day!