Thank You!

Thanks for the kind gifts and greetings you have given to me!

Really appreciate it!

Chill out and have a smashingly good holiday!

The Amazing Resurrecting Cockroach

i'm the official cockroach buster in the english department.
whenever a cockroach is spotted in the toilet in our staffroom,
i'll be tasked to get rid of it.

the roaches in our staffroom are quite amazing.
they alway look like they've died,
lying on their backs.

but when i try to pick them up with tissue,
they will suddenly flip over
and attempt to make a desperate getaway.

either they were playing dead,
or they were half dead and semi-conscious.
somehow, when i try to pick them up with tissue,
they will resurrect and try to run away.
freaky!

Corny Korean drama

my mum's watching this corny korean drama on cable channel 50

they have the most corny dialogue and cliched situation.
in today's episode (i had to watch it as i was eating dinner),
the mother reconciles with her estranged long-lost son.
the son calls his mother 'ma' for the first time in his life.
here's their exchange:

Son: Ma, why didn't you attend my wedding engagement?

Mother: What did you say?

Son: My wedding engagement...

Mother (begins trembling): No...what did you say before that?

Son is quiet.

Mother: Wh..whaat d..did you ca..call me...me? (her voice is now trembling violently and her eyes are teary)

Son: Ma...?

Mother: My son!

Son: Ma!

Mother: Oh my son!

Son (he starts to cry too): Ma...Ma!

Mother (she moves her trembling hands towards son's face) : Oh my dear dear son!

Son: Ma!

Mother: Can I embrace you? (Does she need to ask this unecessary question now?)

They embrace.
More crying.
A soppy and sentimental ballad comes on in the background.

Mother (weeping very badly now): How have I longed to embrace you, my son!

Son (weeping just as badly, muscus glistening at his nostrils): Ma, I'm sorry, so sorry.

Mother: How many times have I told myself, if I could just embrace you, I am willing to die right now, contented!

************

Eeuww....such soppiness!

it reminds me of those yucky taiwanese soap operas.
i think one criteria for acting in these dramas is that you must be able to cry a lot,
if you show some mucus, that's even better.
it shows that you are really crying,
and not like lousier actors,
who have to use eyedrops.

there was this equally bad local drama a few years back-
legend of the condor heroes,
starring fann wong as xiao long nu (little dragon girl) and christopher lee as yang guo.

in that drama,
for 80% of the time,
xiao long nu will move around looking forlorn and downcast...
and her only line will be -

"Guo er, ni wei she me zhe yang dui wo, ni wei she me bu ai wo? Ru guo ni bu ai wo, na wo huo zhe you you she me yi si?"*

*eng translation: "Guo er, why do you treat me like this? Why don't you love me? If you don't love me, why should I carry on living?"

:\

Harry Potty

seen: banner outside orchard road presbyterian church (orpc) -

God is the Potter, not Harry.

quite creative sia.

the message is...
don't get so crazy over harry potter
that you let it take over your life...
that it becomes like a potter moulding your life.

do everything in moderation.

links

anyone wants me to link you?
just drop me a note.

just came back from the gala dinner.
tired.
will post the pix another time.

gdnite!

national day

national day holiday...
i didn't go anywhere the entire day,
apart from buying the newspapers
and some bananas (haha i love bananas, they are cheap n good you know!)
from the stores near my home in the morning.

and i've heeded my own advice-
to do the important and non-urgent things (Priority 2 things -refer to my july 29th post below) when i can.
so i've started writing the qualitative remarks for my sec 1 classes.
have done nos. 1-15 of 108 already.

things to do over the next few days....
1) mark the sec 1 sia scenario writings
2) mark the sec 4 prc scholars' srq writings
3) continue writing the qualitative remarks for 108 and 107
4) do the unseen prose revision lesson plans
5) be at the gala dinner music rehearsal from noon at raffles city on saturday

i had the luxury to practise the piano for 1.5 hours today.
1.5 hours' not too bad and i'm quite pleased with myself.
it's difficult to put in that amount of time during school days.
i'm practising for a concert i'm playing with some friends in october.
the piano part for mendelssohn's piano trio is not easy...
i must really practise hard
so we can resume rehearsals soon.
well...will talk more about the concert next time.

i watched the ndp telecast on tv just now.
i've attended 2 live ndps,
once when i was very young (the details i can't recall at all)
and the 2nd time in either 1998 or 1999.

this kind of event is supposed to instill
a sense of patriotism in the citizens.
and it's very effective i should say -
seeing the impressive-looking military fleet marching past,
the beautiful formations executed by the fighter planes,
the heroics of the marine and air divers and so on.
this is what they call psychological defence (re - NE)
and to cap it with the singing of the rousing national day songs,
i bet many would gladly sacrifice themselves for their beloved country after this!

anyway, the 1st part of the parade,
with the various military displays,
was rather spectacular.
added on to that
was the scenic watery surroundings
and the beautiful Shenton Way skyline.

this year's ndp was rather artistic
and highly representative in nature.

they had 3 roller bladers dressed like characters from 'transformers'
and they spouted 'mythical' lines
about mother nature, water, the earth etc

there were also
people dancing with strange spiky things protruding from their backs;
a male singer with highlighted hair, all dressed in white,
emerging from an all-white car to sing a national day song;
and even the new song was delivered in an operatic version first
before they tried a more contemporary style.

not surprising as the creative director, goh boon teck
is one of singapore's most promising young theatre directors.

anyway, kudos to the organizers for the great effort put in.
the nation enjoyed the solid military display,
the rousing fireworks (especially spectacular this year),
the singing of the familiar old favourites like
'stand up for singapore' and
'count on me singapore'
at the beautiful marina bayfront.

happy 42nd bday, singapore!

Something funny during contact time

during class contact time today,
the students had to go to the hall
to practise the 90th anni song.

(btw, the song is very nice and tuneful,
it's by this well known local musician called iskandar ismail,
check this out if you don't already know how prominent he is.
http://www.nus.edu.sg/cfa/groups/music/jazzband/bio.html)

i was having some difficulty locating my class initially,
as the sec 1s and 2s were scattered all over the place.
so i was walking up and down,
looking left and right
for quite some time,
before i finally turned around
and lo and behold, they were behind me
all the time!

from the cheeky grins some of them had,
they must have been quite amused
at my confused demeanour
as i searched high and low for them.

but at least i found them.
my babies were safely settled down.
(i'm beginning to think of my students as my 'babies', like how some of my colleagues do)
but they are 'big babies' already --
in a twinkling of the eye, they will be sec 2s,
and they will have a batch of sec 1 juniors to take care of.

i hope they will always remember what i've told them
at the start of the year.
even if they've been treated not so nicely by some of their seniors,
they shouldn't do the same to their juniors.

some students think that it's natural to follow everything their seniors do,
so if the seniors shout at them for no reason,
or force them to do menial things very matter-of-factly and scorn at them,
they will replicate these unruly behaviours
in their subsequent dealings with their own juniors.

this is very wrong,
it's as if you are venting your frustration for your seniors
on your poor juniors.
And you might be starting a vicious circle,
for your gullible juniors might imitate your behaviour just as well!

but don't misunderstand me,
i'm not saying that if your seniors ask you to do things which might seem insignificant,
they are bullying you.
things like doing backstage work during performances,
carrying props and equipment,
or cleaning up,
which many sec 1s do,
especially during ccas,
are tasks which will build up your character,
and make you humble and willing to serve the common good of the cca.

however, if your seniors command you to do these
in an unreasonable manner,
overwork you, or take you for granted,
then it is wrong of them.
it infringes on your right as an individual
in a democratic society
and you ought to raise this to your teacher.

if you do meet such unreasonable people,
there's some consolation for you...
in time to come, only 2 things can happen to them.
either
1) they 'mature' and blush when they recall their childish action of ordering you around just because they happen to be one or two years older, or just a little more experienced than you.

or
2) they continue their unreasonable behaviour and get cast out by all their friends.

but remember, my big 'babies'....NEVER BE UNREASONABLE TO YOUR JUNIORS IN 2008
you might make others fear you for a while,
but the true mark of a good senior is when you earn the respect of your juniors.

okay, enough about that now,
let's talk about the 90th anniversary rehearsal yesterday at raffles city.

we left the school at 11.30am,
did 2 runs of the programme at the venue,
and only managed to leave for school at 5.30pm.

the 'musical' in the performance
neatly chronicles the history of nygh.
the dancers were all very good,
and our choreographer mdm chen lili
has done a wonderful job in making everything so oriental,
something befitting a school that prides herself
for upholding good chinese values.

i saw some of my students wearing thick make-up
for the performance.
it takes me some time to get used to something like that..heh
because they look suddenly so grown up with all that rouge.

when we were waiting for our turn,
i had some interesting conversations with some of my colleagues.
one of them told me how posh the ladies was,
with a couch and all.
so i went to check out the gents,
and was disappointed that there was no couch,
but lots of mirrors!

i was also asked to pretend that i was the conductor of the guzheng ensemble,
and had to walk up the stage upon cue.

i had once dreamed to be a conductor (of a symphonic orch, not a guzheng ensemble!),
it's nice to be able to stand in front of a hundred musicians,
and to draw out beautiful music with the wave of your arms.
hmmm...maybe someday.

ps did i ever tell you that one of my very first wish was to be a bus driver? :\

Music trivia

here's a little trivia about me...

My pianistic lineage...
My teacher is Lim Tshui Fang,
whose teacher was Patsy Toh,
whose teacher was Yvonne Lefebure,
whose teacher was Alfred Cortot,
whose teacher was Emile Decombes
whose teacher was Frederic Chopin.

Which means that Chopin is my great great great great grand teacher!

The Mad Hatter's Party

this morning, i was asked by ms foo soo ling & ms sandra teng
to join their sabbatical girls for tea
at this tea place opposite nygh.

their sabbatical was about how to carry out good conversations
and what tea etiquette's about.
and on the final day (today),
the students were supposed to host a few of us teachers at the tea place
and conduct good conversations over tea and a light meal.

i was with this group of 3 students from 403 and 404 -
quite well mannered girls,
although it took some time for the conversation to warm up.
it's not easy to have tea and conversation with people you don't know well lah.

but i have to say that as the session progressed,
they gradually opened up,
and were quite forthcoming too.

we talked about
their ccas,
the schools we went to,
jc life,
gp vs ki,
the 90th anni musical,
arts subjects vs science subjects,
religion etc...

of course wrt to religion you have to discuss with discretion,
that kind of topic can be quite sensitive.

1 point of note,
they agreed too that many students go into the science stream,
because there are more job prospects in that.
i mean even students who might be more arts-inclined.

my sabbatical ended today with a dramatised reading.
had some rather good plays,
one funny one had this prince with pig's skin called hamson
who's hounded by 3 clingy girls called bel, bella and belly
it's quite funny, how these girls keep pestering the prince,
and it turned out that they wanted to ensnare hamson
because they wanted to eat his pig's skin.
so in the end hamson married a vegetarian named cabbage --
to save his own skin!!
so creative, can think of such a ridiculously funny plot.
there were also lots of socially conscious ones
on real life issues such as whale poaching
and the true story of this korean man who's born in a jail.
many of the students also got their ideas
from the issues/scenarios that were raised in class.
great, shows that they were paying attention.

to be frank,
i was disappointed when some of them
told me on day 1 that the module wasn't their first choice,
but from the good plays we have today,
i think they've gotten something out of it,
so i'm happy about that.

yesterday, we watched the phantom of the opera movie during sabbaticals.
i didn't really like it when i watched it in the theatres in 2004,
but this time round,
i felt more for the phantom.
he's loathed by all because of his deformity
and thus has never experienced love from others.
he's a figure that doesn't know how to relate to others --
like an animal, he follows his primal instincts,
and kills anyone who's against him.
and yet he's supposed to be a genius --
a composer, architect, inventor and magician etc.

that's the part of the story i have a problem with,
how can someone with such an undeveloped and crude nature
be a genius in things so refined like music and architecture?

but it's quite moving in that when christine finally shows
love (not erotic!) and compassion for him,
he can't take it and breaks down.

well that's a beautiful moment for me.
the savage receiving love when he least expects it,
and crumples because of it.

i think i didn't like the movie when i first watched it
principally because gerard butler (the actor who played the phantom)'s
singing was absolutely awful!

and I still think so now!

Improvisations

we did some improvisations for sabbaticals yesterday
had some interesting scenarios:

...a hci boy and a shy girl trapped in a lift
...a rude american tourist with a pet gorilla on a leash bumping into a girl on flag day cip
...spongebob and a smelly crow in a classroom
...a grouchy aunty bumping into an acs boy
...
..
.

must say that all the students did quite well
considering that all of them are new to improvisations.
and even if you were quite shy about acting,
don't fret,
many good writers are inward and they express their emotions better with a pen.