Nizam's Playground

Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?

2008-06-18T01:10:00.002+08:00

Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we're educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence.

Why you should listen to him:
Why don't we get the best out of people? Sir Ken Robinson argues that it's because we've been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers. Students with restless minds and bodies -- far from being cultivated for their energy and curiosity -- are ignored or even stigmatized, with terrible consequences. "We are educating people out of their creativity," Robinson says. It's a message with deep resonance. Robinson's TEDTalk has been distributed widely around the Web since its release in June 2006. The most popular words framing blog posts on his talk? "Everyone should watch this."

A visionary cultural leader, Sir Ken led the British government's 1998 advisory committee on creative and cultural education, a massive inquiry into the significance of creativity in the educational system and the economy, and was knighted in 2003 for his achievements.

"Ken's vision and expertise is sought by public and commercial organizations throughout the world."
BBC Radio 4

2005 Miami U. Cheezies a cappella: Facebook Song

2008-04-02T17:16:00.001+08:00

Facebook Song (A Cappella), to the tune of Dream Dream Dream...

Facebook Song

2008-04-02T17:15:00.001+08:00

This is such a cool duet! Check out the harmony! :)

Papering over the cracks

2008-02-18T00:55:00.001+08:00

I received this over the e-mail today. Have a good read! :)
Rating: M18 (Mature 18, for sexual-content)

The Jakarta Post
Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Op-Ed

Papering over the cracks: A cheeky column
By: Julia Suryakusuma, Melbourne

A few months ago I wrote a column about Indonesians' obsession
with bodily functions (The Jakarta Post, Nov. 8, 2007), but now
I want to really plumb the depths of cultural differences and
get to the bottom of the matter. This is one column that
definitely should be read while sitting on the toilet (although
any Westerners reading should be prepared to turn the other
cheek!).

People talk about cultural differences between East and West in
terms of dietary habits: People in the East eat rice as their
staple, while people in the West prefer potatoes and bread. But
the really important difference I now realize is a little
further south, below the belly: in the West, dry bum/wet vagina;
in the East, wet bum/dry vagina!

Let me explain. In the West, wet vaginas are considered sexually
desirable, but in Indonesia women are brought up believing that
dry vaginas enhance sexual pleasure, for men at least (read the
coming February issue of The Jakarta Post Weekender for more on
bizarre local traditions for producing a fraction more
friction). But when it comes to bums, it's wet, wet, wet all the
way in Asia!

Indonesians, like many other Asian cultures, use water to clean
the anus after what in Indonesia we call buang air besar
("throwing out big water", i.e. a bowel movement, as opposed to
buang air kecil, "throwing out small water", having a pee). Pee
or poo, we cleanse ourselves with water, and often soap as well.
This is called cebok and there is no equivalent term in English,
mainly because there is no equivalent activity in the
Anglo-Saxon world. Unfortunately.

The French of course, have the bidet, often the butt of jokes,
but since they never quite managed to rule the world, it's
Anglo-Saxon custom that prevails. Forget about Napoleon, who
admonished Josephine not to wash herself as he was coming home
in five days time and yearned for "the scent of a woman". He was
after all "a barbarous Corsican" (the epithet he was bullied
with when at school in Brienne, in continental France) and not
really French -- and he was soundly defeated in the end anyway.
And that was at ... ah ... Waterloo, of course. The toilet paper
so beloved of the victorious British Empire came soon
afterwards, patented in 1871 (although it had been produced in
China since 1391) and colonialism spread it across the world.

Today, toilet paper is now associated with
economically-developed societies, although I'm not sure what's
so "developed" about dry wiping your dirty backside. A Western
friend of mine gained an insight into this when he accidentally
stepped in dog poo while barefoot on the beach. Think about it:
Would you consider yourself clean after wiping your feet with
paper? Chances are, you'd only feel clean after you'd washed
your sullied extremities with soap and water. So how is it
different if it's not your feet, but your bum?

In the old days, we Indonesians used a dipper (made from plastic
or before the days of plastic, coconut shells), scooping water
out of a water receptacle using the right hand, leaving the left
to do the cebok-ing. Right hand for eating only please! Nowadays
there are hand-held toilet showers, bidets or water-fountains
that squirt the water where it's needed -- providing you
position yourself strategically so it doesn't land on the
cheeks, or worst of all, your legs and clothes.

However, I've noticed that five-star hotels usually don't
provide "toilet shower" facilities, in any shape or form.
Perhaps they are afraid that -- shock, horror -- it will make
the floors wet! Do they really think that Indonesians or French
never stay in five-star hotels? The result is that in order to
really get clean after using the toilet, we water babes have to
strip to the waist, get into the bathtub and use the handheld
shower.

And what if there's no bathtub, just a fixed showerhead? Get a
bottle, fill it with water and pray for eyes in the back of your
head! Before the days of toilet showers, that's what people did
(and I once saw a sign that helpfully warned that inserting the
bottle can be dangerous!). And I'm happy to report that now even
the victors at Waterloo accept that some people use more than
paper: the British Council toilets in Jakarta used to have
bottles in neat, stainless-steel baskets (hopefully they've kept
up with times and replaced them with toilet showers now).

And why are Westerners so afraid of water anyway? Whatever
happened to washing away your sins? In Islam there is the
practice of doing ablutions before praying five times a day, and
in Christianity there is the saying that cleanliness is next to
godliness. I accept that if you live in the West, it might be
...er ...a wee bit cold in winter, but it is certainly not
unhealthy. I recently read a Western academic paper on
Indonesian hygiene issues that condescendingly dismissed the
Indonesian custom of cebok as "innocuous", because it "likely
has a benign impact on health". Come on! It's a lot more than
innocuous -- in a tropical climate like Indonesia where bacteria
breed like rabbits in that damp, warm Bermuda Triangle down
under, it's an absolute necessity!

So I was flushed with excitement to discover yesterday there's
now even a WTO. No, no, not the World Trade Organization, the
World Toilet Organization (www.worldtoilet.org)! Seriously!
Dedicated to issues involving toilets and sanitation it was
founded by one Jack Sims in 2001. Its headquarters are in
Singapore, it has 44 members and, believe it or not, it has set
up a Toilet College to educate people on sanitation, considered
by some to be a dirty word.

I may not have a Doctorate in Bottom Hygiene but if they offer
an honors course on cebok, I think I might be qualified to teach
it!

The writer is the author of Sex, Power and Nation.

Gracioso Sonora Choir - First Love (Utada Hikaru)

2007-12-24T00:18:00.001+08:00

Awesome! :D

Rest at Last!

2007-12-10T15:49:00.000+08:00

I'm finally back! The past two months or so had been pretty draining, so allow me to do a rundown of events I was engaged in.

For the last week of school (mid-October), I was helping my students with their subject-combinations for the following year, congratulating those who were promoted from N(A) to Express, and also from N(T) to N(A). They had done really well, so I rewarded them with chocolates, much to the envy of their other classmates. Of course, the latter could not protest, as I'd told them earlier in the year that the hardworking ones will be rewarded, so everyone ought to work hard.

This was followed by O-level invigilation till the first week of November. The school where I invigilated had some pretty bright students, and I was especially attached to the Pure Geography class, as I saw them at least three times during those two weeks of invigilation. Wish that class all the best for the results! :)

At this point, there were some problems in my family (read: between my parents, specifically), so I was at wit's end. My sis and I had to play the active role of marketing and grocery-shopping, in addition to household chores, so both of us were rather tired almost everyday.

From 5th to 16th November, I underwent an Honorary VSC course at Home Team Academy. Yeah, all the way to the other end of Singapore. I didn't drive everyday, preferring to commute. On those days when I did drive, I was pretty exhausted when I got home almost immediately. However, I must say that those two weeks were very enjoyable and I got along well with the rest of the trainees in my batch. Oh, I found out on the second-last day that my own neighbour is also a VSC-officer! So cool! :)

On Sunday night, I had a misunderstanding with a very close friend. She had asked me to give her a call, but I was very exhausted from the preparations for the camp (mentioned below), that I sent her a text-message that I preferred not talking over the phone. That part is true as I really dislike talking over the phone, preferring to speak in person or send text-messages. Of course, I should have mentioned that I had had a tiring day, but I'm still wondering why I didn't tell her that. Well, she was pretty upset, of course, and by the time I read the message, it was already the next day when I woke up. I figured that it's a better idea not to aggravate matters, so I didn't reply. I'm sorry for being unfeeling, gal, but I have too many things going on around me, so I'm pretty overwhelmed... :(

19th to 21st November, my school's Choir, Chinese Orchestra and Netball had a combined-camp. It was pretty enjoyable for the students, but quite tiring for the teachers-in-charge. Two of them fell ill during the camp, so there were only the remaining 3 teachers left on the last day to handle the cleaning up and dismissal of students. Eventually, I had to return to school the next day to clear the remaining mess in the staff-room and music-room.

I bought a second-hand Macintosh PowerBook G4 (12") on Thursday. It's awesome, and more awesome when I wiped out the harddisk and installed Mac OS X Leopard. Wonderful stuff, this Mac! :)

The following week, I attended a Website Programming course at one of the JCs. The trainer was pretty interesting, and it was quite tough to debug the programming-errors. I hope to utilise some of the skills I learnt and integrate them into my own website soon. :) The same week, I accompanied my school-choir students to watch two choir-concerts on Friday and Saturday evenings. The students were impressed with the high standards (especially the choirs on Friday), and I reminded them to write a reflection-report on the concert they attended.

I bought a new Linksys router at SITEX 2007. Had a bit of hiccups with the configuration, but somehow it stabilised itself when I left the router running with the modem. Oh yes, I've enabled WEP for my wireless-connection, so too bad for those loser-neighbours who had been tapping (war-riding) off my Internet-connection. Haha!

3December was Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon. I had planned to run with the schoolkids, but I couldn't locate them so I ran with my friend, Sayid, whom I met at Baggage Deposit. Of course, the timing wasn't that great (both of us didn't train much, if at all), but it was quite an experience. I had a sharp pain on one of my right toes. Thinking that it was a blister, I endured. After the run, I found out that my fourth toenail had cut through my third toe, which was bleeding. Ouch! I got a plaster from the First Aid booth, and applied some ointment to soothe the pain. I also had abrasions from my thighs rubbing against each other. Double ouch! Sigh... :(

Last week, I had a choir-session with my Sec 1s and 2s. I wondered where the upper-secondary students went, but the lower-secondary students were pretty energetic, so we had a good rehearsal.

During the same week, practices for Songs Of Joy stepped up, and my choir (external choir, not the school choir) fine-tuned all the kinks. I paired the rehearsals with my gym training-sessions, and I must say that progress on both were pretty good. Oh yes! My metabolic rate finally increased by 100kCal! That's a very good sign, and I'd have to maintain the training. :)

On Tuesday, I bought iLife'08 and loaded it into my PowerBook. Unfortunately, iMovie couldn't be installed due to some insufficient hardware-requirements, but everything else was installed. GarageBand and iPhoto are wonderful!!! :D

On 5 December, I assisted SMC record their Christmas concert, interestingly-titled 'Sing With Us Under The Mistletoe'. Irony is, there was no irony to begin with. The audience was really participative, and gamely sang along to the various songs/carols. There were some memorable items, including one song for the five dragonboaters who drowned off Cambodia. (Rest in peace, gentlemen.) SMC has improved so much, and I look forward to singing with them again next year. Yep, I've already given my word to the conductor that I'd come for rehearsals come January. :)

8 December was the Songs Of Joy concert at Esplanade Concert Hall. The audience was appreciative, and my choir was glad that no major hiccups occurred. The RJC MEP students played their instruments well, accompanying my choir for 'He Comes At Christmastide'. Well done, Rafflesians! The combined-choir from all seven choirs shared the stage for the grand finale, and the sheer power of the masses was amazing! :)

Now, I'm enjoying the sound of rainfall on my roof, and getting ready for my next gym-workout. Hoping to lose about 3kg by the end of the year. :)

Bumped into a schoolmate! And other updates...

2007-11-03T15:56:00.000+08:00

I bumped into Laurence (4A-RI94) at Singapore National Eye Centre early this week. Strangely, both of us saw each other, but we couldn't really remember where we'd seen each other before. That is, until, I went up to him and asked him "Laurence, right?". He smiled, admitted that he couldn't remember my name (not surprisingly, as I was known by two parts of my name back in secondary school).

Laurence is a doctor attached to SNEC, and he even has a namecard! Fascinating! He's still deciding what to do as his bond is running out soon. Pretty much the same for me, as my bond will be ending pretty soon too.

Oops! I see some people about to wag tongues already. (Don't you have anything better to do than to gossip about me?)

Well, I may not leave the education service yet, but I can foresee myself upgrading myself to enhance myself further. Currently, I'm taking some modules at NIE which would propel me to the next level in the Music scene. These modules will go on till December 2008, then I can safely say that I'm prepared to tackle most Music-related material in all schools.

What else is new for me... Hmm... Well, I'm still Chairman of Metro Philharmonic Youth Choir, and I'm settling down to more administration and organisation work in the recent weeks. I'm assisting Singapore Men's Chorus for their concert this Sunday, but I don't know when I'd be singing with them again. Friday evenings are quite precious to me, after rushing around the whole week. Hopefully next year's schedule would permit more time for me.

For the band-scene, I haven't committed myself to playing with the TPJC Alumni Band. They have a concert in December, but I've yet to attend even a single practice on Saturday mornings. Sigh...

Exhaustion is terrible... I hope the gym training will help me get rid of any unwanted lethargy...

Broadrick Teachers' Hari Raya outing cut short (for me)...

2007-10-28T13:36:00.001+08:00

I went out visiting with the other Broadrick Muslim teachers yesterday afternoon. Managed to cover three houses, when my stomach felt queasy at the third house. I turned pale and I broke out in cold sweat.

I excused myself, and threw up in the washroom. Twice; the second time about 5 minutes later. Of course I cleaned up any superficial mess I'd made.

The other teachers were concerned and asked me to rest as I looked as if I was about to black out. When we all left the house, I informed the rest that I would be going straight home to rest, and apologised for not visiting the other houses.

Not sure what happened. Food poisoning probably.

Everyone, do be careful with your food intake. Don't leave food exposed to the surroundings for too long, and do say a short prayer before you consume it. One last thing... Do not breathe, talk and swallow your food at the same time!

A public-service message from a public-servant...

Dahil Sa Iyo

2007-07-28T00:21:00.001+08:00

Dahil Sa Iyo! So awesome! :)

Baby Ally Whatever

2007-07-26T23:45:00.001+08:00

So cute! Anything, anyone? :D

Reservist duty is over, back to work!

2007-07-03T00:14:00.000+08:00

Reservist obligation ended on Thursday. My final night-shift was on Tuesday night till Wednesday morning.

I had had a farewell celebration with Team Bravo of Bedok North NPC Monday night after their morning shift. Why Monday, not Tuesday? Well, some of them would be away on Tuesday, so Monday would be best for most of them.

I didn't join the team for that morning shift as I had to go for my IPPT (NAPFA for those pre-NS students, except there's no sit-and-reach) in the afternoon. Sad to say, I failed the IPPT's 2.4km run by 34 seconds. It's my fault of course, as I had done my 2.4km run the previous evening, so I didn't rest sufficiently.

Oh dear, I've digressed again. Haha! Anyway, yes, I bought a nice chocolate mousse cake from Prima Deli for the team and I got the team-leaders to cut it while I distributed it to everyone. It was pretty memorable, as the team-leaders tried to convince me to return to their team soon. Gosh, I do hope I get sent to the team again in the future...

Take care, Team Bravo. Work hard and see you again very soon... :)

Happy June Holidays to all...

2007-06-16T00:32:00.000+08:00

Xiaoming (Tenor-Sax Player from Hougang Sec Band) beeped me on MSN this evening, and we had a nice chat about whatever has been happening in our lives. It turned out that he's back in the band-scene, playing with one of the premier youth-bands. Wow! Really proud of him. Well, I knew that he would go far as he's pretty focused on his music-making, but I didn't expect him to go that far that soon. Congratulations and keep it up! It's also his birthday today, so here's wishing him Happy Birthday! :)

Currently, I'm serving my reservist with the Singapore Police Force, so I'm having a great time patrolling, meeting people and all. The 12-hour shift is pretty draining, but hey, it's a welcoming change. Honestly, I dare say that I look forward to each tour of duty, as nothing beats extending a helping hand to a person in need. :)

Oh yes, my latest toy is a second-hand Mac Mini which I purchased off Ebay. I had my reservations about getting a second-hand computer system, but my fears were unfounded as I found that this so-called mini-machine (dimensions are approx 15cm x 15 cm x 5 cm) is really stable and packs a solid punch. It runs on OS X 10.4 Tiger, which I think is pretty decent and sufficient for a user who hasn't used the Mac since before the turn of the century. In fact.

I'm typing this blog-entry on the Mac Mini. Hello, world! :D

Waterspout off East Coast Park, near Marine Parade!

2007-05-27T11:23:00.000+08:00

A waterspout (sort of a mini-cylone which usually doesn't harm things on land) hit East Coast (near Marine Parade) on Friday between 2.30 and 2.50pm.

Check out the photos which I took outside the General Office of my school... :)

Thank you, Charlene!

2007-05-26T17:17:00.000+08:00

Wow! Charlene left me a Thank-You entry on her blog (the link is in the title above).

Just to set things right, I am not gay, but I am frequently mistaken to be one because I am pretty good at arguing and 'shooting' people's arguments down (also known as 'bitchy' or sharp tongue). Well, blame it on my secondary and JC education where I learnt how to retort, in order not to be stepped all over my head by aggressors.

Recently I learnt that being quiet speaks volumes, and I can also make my aggressors frustrated that way. Especially when I return the blow in black-and-white, thus sending them scrambling for dear life.

To Charlene, thank you for the heartfelt appreciation which you have succinctly expressed in that blog-entry. I was really touched that you made it public. Wow! Still breathless now. Thank you again, and thanks for being the great 'meimei' you are. :)

Joke: Fish in a Tank

2007-04-22T14:05:00.000+08:00

Question:
There are 10 fish in a tank. 1 died and was taken out. Did the water-level increase or decrease?

Answer:
Increase! Because the other nine fish cried...

Hahaha! :D

MPYC Chairman, Viral Fever and Goal for Mathematics

2007-04-13T23:35:00.000+08:00

Much has happened over the last week.

Firstly, I was appointed the new Chairman of Metro Philharmonic Youth Choir (MPYC) last Saturday. Not too bad, yeah, except the part about the possible meetings with the Metro Philharmonic Society (MPS) to be held in Chinese. I still shudder at the thought, as my spoken Chinese is still rather raw, and I can't read Chinese characters at all. Looks like I'd need to nominate some other people to join me to help take charge.

Secondly, some loony virus had decided to play a prank on my system, thus giving me a massive muscular ache, on top of the normal flu symptoms and initial body-rash. I wanted to call in sick on Tuesday, but dragged myself to school anyway. I finally succumbed on Wednesday when I had a fantastic headache and high fever. The doctor gave me two days off work, and warned me that it was a viral-fever, so if the fever didn't go away on the fourth day, I would have to admit myself into the A&E Dept (read: ER Room) of some hospital to get a blood-count. I gaped, and he nodded that it was rather serious, as I shouldn't take chances on possible variants of the dengue-fever which could have mutated due to the sudden changes in weather of late.

Demoralising... dengue fever... God willing, I hope not. I've suffered enough when I sat through the first week of my A-levels in SGH due to silly dengue-fever.

(Post-script: Fever's gone! Thank God! :D )

Finally, Maths class. I have a goal. 100% passes in Maths at the end of the year. Not specifically A's or B's. Passes only. Shouldn't be too much to ask, I'm sure?

Mega Update

2007-03-28T20:18:00.000+08:00

So many things have happened in the past month or so. Here's a quick summary of what I did...

First and foremost, I've been sleeping about 2-3 hours per day (night?) for the past few weeks. In short, I'm really really drained. So drained that I've not been wearing my contact lenses much, to let eyes rest. Why's that? Worrying about the students' progress, now that the exams are almost here. How many would actually study? How many would pass? Thinking about stuff like that...

Next, there were the practices for Tampines Junior College Alumni Band's concert, Mural - Animations Graffiti, which was staged on Saturday, 24 March 2007 at the TPJC Auditorium. The guest-of-honour (GOH) was Mrs Susan Chan Yoke Kate, former TPJC Principal, who is currently the Deputy Director of Schools in the West Division. Yeah, nice credentials, don't you think?

The performers for the concert were the TPJC Alumni Band itself (naturally) and the TPJC Concert Band (current students). The current students were pretty hyperactive, but they were not too bad as musicians. It's a nice surprise to bump into three familiar faces in the JC1 batch of students. Yeah, there were Jarred (bassoonist) and Mervyn (trombonist), formerly from Anglican High Band (AHband), whom I got to know for a short time when I was attached to AHS for my teaching practicum. I must admit that they looked familiar, but I couldn't put their faces to where I had seen them earlier, until Mervyn mentioned it to me. Thanks, Mervyn! Really nice to see you both again. :)

There's one more girl (horn-player) formerly from Seng Kang band, the band I used to assist as the temporary percussion-tutor back in 2005. I can't recall her name, I'm afraid, but I recognised the checkered Seng Kang skirt, and she confirmed that I looked familiar too. Haha! :D

(PS: The girl's name is Yong Ying. Thanks, Fong Yee, for jolting my aging memory! :D )

The concert was pretty good actually, and we showcased songs from soundtracks of various animation features, such as Pocahontas, Lion King, Howl's Moving Castle and The Incredibles. I managed to audio-record the entire concert using my trusty laptop, Sony panoramic-microphone and microphone-stand. The sound quality wasn't too bad, but I made a mistake of recording in WAV-format instead of MP3-format, so the raw file was a whopping 2.9GB! I have already edited the recording into various files (one file per song), and the total size is about 60MB now. Phew! :)

Some Broadrick Concert Band students (seven of them) came to watch the concert. Really nice of you guys to come, thanks! They got the tickets from their band-senior (who is also in the alumni-band), not me. I informed them that I would be playing solo tenor-saxophone for a major part of the concert, as the two other tenor-sax players were in JC1, so they would not be joining the rest of us on stage for the combined pieces.

I protested quite a bit when the BRD band-students told me that they could not hear my playing. Of course, I was surprised, as there were some really obvious points in the songs where I played very loudly, to match the sound of the rest of the band. There was also a short segment (8 bars, I think) in Howl's Moving Castle where I played the countermelody (originally played by the cello), against the clarinets and flutes. Of course, as a countermelody, it was a major taboo to stand out and steal the limelight from the melody-players. (Even the conductor Dr Lee Tian Tee had asked me during earlier rehearsals to control my volume, as I tend to go pretty loud.)

The Incredibles was actually the encore for the concert, and the audience was pretty dismayed that there wasn't any song when they called for an encore. Hahaha! Don't be too upset, my dear audience, The Incredibles was actually a very challenging piece (up to six flats! G-flat major!), which was why we saved it for last.

On the last day of school in Term One, I was given the task of hosting the 'Lost In Translation' game for the whole school in the hall, as part of the English and Humanities Week. The game was essentially to get students to translate some selected spoken English sentences (including Singlish, Hokkien, Malay etc) into proper, understandable English. (eg. 'sian siah this lesson' would be translated to 'this lesson is so boring')

It was daunting, as I greeted the school "Good afternoon", and the 2NT students prompted "Good morning". I checked my watch. 11.57am. I greeted the school again "Good morning", and the WHOLE school chorused their reply.

My goodness! I was surprised, but honoured. You see, these students usually greet the Discipline Mistress at such assemblies, but rarely the other teachers and staff. Considering that I had been with the school for only eight months, I was really glad to have the support of the student-population. Granted, being the Music teacher, I see all of them in class. Well, almost all, except the Sec 4s and Sec 5s, as there was no Music lesson for them since last year, when I came in as the first permanent Music teacher since the past 3 years.

I was even more touched when one student actually answered one of my questions during that 'Lost in Tranlation' segment. Yes, it was the same student who had showed some defiance to me, following some weird mood-swing of his. Of course, I praised him for his confidence in coming on stage to answer. Well done, young man! :)

I don't know, but I will miss most of the students when they graduate or leave school. Some of them can be a pain in the neck, yes. But hey, I've been known to be a pain on their ears with my sharp voice and quick wit which leave them covering their ears in pain or tongue-tied due to their inability to match my words. All in the hope of transmitting some useful information to them, and not for malice.

Phew! Super-long entry... Hope you didn't fall asleep reading. :)

I will survive

2007-03-25T17:32:00.001+08:00

A Little Nightmare Music, indeed. Look out for the unconventional method of playing the violin and piano! *faints*

we live in singapura - animated version

2007-03-14T22:50:00.001+08:00

wow! there's an animated version too! :D

Indignation 2006 - TCP - Rasull

2007-02-25T16:01:00.001+08:00

Curious how a flute, clarinet and oboe sound like? Here's one of my bandmates, Rasull, performing on all three instruments the song "Song from a Secret Garden" by Secret Garden, from the CD Songs From A Secret Garden.

We Live In Singapura (by Hossan Leong)

2007-02-25T14:06:00.001+08:00

This is a hilarious clip! Disclaimer: Please take it with a pinch of salt. Laugh at ourselves, not at the performer or his lyrics.

Happy Birthday to Me... Golly, I'm 29!

2007-02-19T11:28:00.000+08:00

Yesterday night was really fun and enjoyable, as my brother and his family came over to celebrate my birthday. There was no cake though, as it would only arrive today. But hey, it was fun dealing with my nephew and niece, who have grown up quite a bit. Here is one picture of them. Cute, right? :D

I woke up this morning after a pleasant night's rest to find six text-messages on my cellular-phone and three over MSN-messenger, all wishing me a great hatch-day.

Wow! This is amazing! I didn't exactly broadcast my hatch-day to many people, so I guess it was the power of Friendster and BirthdayAlarm, both of which keeping track of everyone's birthdays.

Thank you to those lovely people for the messages! Really appreciate it! May all of us have an enjoyable second day of the Lunar New Year, and let's all look forward to a prosperous and fulfilling year ahead.

What do I wish for, now that I'm officially 29 years old? A few things actually:

(1) Confirmation of my teaching vocation. I hope that my probation ends soon, and that I'll be a full-fledged teacher. I'll be honest with everyone. Teaching is fine, but my thirst for challenge will always spur me to try other avenues in the teaching arena, including a stint at the CCA branch, MOE, among other places. But yes, all this will happen after my confirmation and probably after two years of full-time teaching.

(2) Acceptance by 2EC students that this seemingly-boring teacher isn't that boring after all. I think some of them are still 'testing waters', to see how far I'd go before I lose my cool. I think it's retribution, as my classmates and I used to do that when we were students too. Haha!

(3) I am still expecting a Gold for Broadrick Choir, or at least a very good Silver. Angila (the conductor) and I have noticed most of them putting in a lot of effort in their individual rehearsals, and their progress is improving tremendously well. I hope this commitment stays on, and we can all look forward to sowing the fruits of our hard labour for this year's Singapore Youth Festival Central Judging of Choirs. Well done to the Sec4s, Sec3s and Sec1s for the steady improvement! Keep up the good work, Sec2s, for finally deciding to open your mouths wider when you sing! You girls (and guys) sound really warm and full now! :)

(4) "When are you getting married?" "Already 29, you know?" I hear these questions plenty a time. I'd be kidding to myself that I've got a partner. Well, what I do have are some pretty good friends whom I hang out with once in a while, but I don't regard them as partners. You see, I've been single for so long, that I've quite forgotten how to approach people to be mine, etc. Scary, yes! Word of advice: As soon as someone has graduated from secondary school, do start searching for a stead. You should be mature enough by then. Why didn't I do that? Hmm. I used to be quite stressed with my schoolwork (and other work), so I missed many potential opportunities in the past. It didn't help that my mother discouraged relationships until I was in the final year of university. (Oh yes, this so-called Mommy's Boy listens to his mother quite a bit. A bit too much, I'm afraid...) Loneliness is creeping in.... Aaaack!

(5) How about my commitment to performance in various groups? Well, I'm still singing in INTUNE and Metrophilharmonic Youth Choir, and I'm still playing with the TPJC Alumni Band. I owe this guys quite a lot, due to their patience and guidance. I still hope to return to NIE Band soon, but I'll have to check my schedule. As for Singapore Men's Chorus, it'd be nice to sing with them again soon, as these guys have long-term goals too, some of which are in-line with mine. :)

There you go. 5 wishes for this year... Let's all look forward to a great year ahead! Spread the love and joy around! :)

My apologies for the extended hiatus

2007-02-11T15:30:00.000+08:00

Many things happened in the past few weeks... Some are memorable, some were horrible, and some were frustrating. Due to the sensitive nature of my occupation, I will leave out the more 'controversial' ones, and pen down the rest.

2N1 is getting more noisy, and so is 2EC. Perhaps it's time to explore activities which really engage them. Alas, time is always not our side. I will find a way though. Give me time to sort out my plans a bit, then we'll try some new stuff for a few lessons. :)

The Choir has been progressing with their rehearsals for the upcoming Singapore Youth Festival. However, the progress is painfully slow, and I found out that most of them DO NOT practise their singing at home before turning up for practices. I was so irritated by the dissonant notes during one practice, that I told the Choir that I would not hesitate to throw people out, if they persisted in singing wrong notes with wrong techniques. Since many of them are already comparing the Choir to the Gold-choirs, it's time to give them the treatment the Gold-choirs had under their conductor. Yes, the 'if you are not prepared, you can leave the room' treatment.

Oh yes, I have sold off my Nokia N73! Yeah, after 5 months of heart-ache and constant visits to the Nokia Care Centre, I decided that enough was enough. I bought the Sony Ericsson K800i, and I've no problems with it until now. Ironically, back then, I was considering either the K800i or the N73, but bought the N73, as I was quite used to the Nokia interface. (but I didn't expect that the new Symbian OS would be so problemmatic) The K800i is pretty user-friendly, and the Cybershot is wonderful, as I could snap pictures without carrying a separate digital-camera.

Some students (Willie, Ashley and Melissa) and I attended NeVeR on Friday, a piano-ensemble showcase staged by the students of National JC, Victoria JC and Raffles JC. The repertoire was really entertaining, and my students and I were awed by one of the works performed by Grace Ho and Clarissa Chow, written by Grace Ho herself. A powerful concerto for two pianos, and it was amazing to see the two girls communicate with each other while they performed their respective parts. I later thanked Mr Seow Aik Keong (of NJC) and Mrs Audrey Soh (of VJC) [both from my Music class back in NIE] for inviting my students and I to the recital. Very eye-opening, yes. :)

After my choir-practice with Metrophilharmonic Youth Choir, Faridah and I watched NIE Symphonic Band's Opus 32.1 concert at the Singapore Conference Hall yesterday. Fascinating! Two harps, one double-bass and one cello added on to the wind-ensemble on stage, and the audience (mostly students) was thoroughly entertained. We bumped into Yew Fang (a senior from the Percussion section) and Sharon (a senior from the saxophone section), who are both teachers, and we talked a bit about teaching and the upcoming SYF central judging. Looks like many of us would be quite stressed for the next few weeks until the SYF is over.

Faridah and I went to Gelare after that, to talk about school, students and life as a whole. We discussed and lamented about various issues, and sighed that some things are quite rigid, and that it's quite painful to live through it, although we know that we could have achieve more with a bit more autonomy.

Phew! That's one long entry. Okay, students, back to your revision. Don't give me single-digit marks for your tests again...

3-Minute Management Course

2007-01-14T21:20:00.000+08:00

I got this via email sometime before school ended last year. A bit late, I know. Oops! :X

---

Lesson 1

A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower, when the doorbell rings. The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs.

When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next-door neighbour. Before she says a word, Bob says, "I'll give you £800 to drop that towel."

After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob. After a few seconds, Bob hands her £800 and leaves.

The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs. When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks, "Who was that?"

"It was Bob the next door neighbour," she replies.

"Great!" the husband says, "did he say anything about the £800 he owes me?"

Moral of the story: If you share critical information pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure.

Lesson 2

A priest offered a Nun a lift. She got in and crossed her legs, forcing her gown to reveal a leg. The priest nearly had an accident.

After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg.The nun said, "Father, remember Psalm 129?"

The priest removed his hand.

But, changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg again. The nun once again said, "Father, remember Psalm 129?"

The priest apologised, "Sorry sister but the flesh is weak."

Arriving at the convent, the nun went on her way.

On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm 129. It said, "Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory."

Moral of the story: If you are not well informed in your job, you might miss a great opportunity.

Lesson 3

A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a Genie comes out. The Genie says, "I'll give each of you just one wish."

"Me first! Me first!" says the admin clerk. "I want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in the world." Puff! She's gone.

Me next! Me next!" says the sales rep. "I want to be in Hawaii, relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life." Puff! He's gone.

"OK, you're up," the Genie says to the manager. The manager says, "I want those two back in the office after lunch."

Moral of the story: Always let your boss have the first say.

Lesson 4

An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing. A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, "Can I also sit like you and do nothing?" The eagle answered: "Sure, why not."

So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested.

All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral of the story: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.

Lesson 5

A turkey was chatting with a bull. "I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree," sighed the turkey, "but I haven't got the energy."

"Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?" replied the bull. "They're packed with nutrients."

The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch.

Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree.

He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.

Moral of the story: BullShit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.

Lesson 6

A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field. While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him.

As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realise how warm he was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.

A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Moral of the story:
(1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy
(2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend
(3) And when you're in deep shit, it's best to keep your mouth shut!

This ends the 3-minute management course.

I am a co-form teacher!

2007-01-03T21:44:00.000+08:00

I had another surprise today, on the first day of school. No doubt I'm not a form-teacher, but I am the co-form teacher (or assistant form teacher) of my English class, Secondary 2N1. That explains the Pastoral Care period with them, which is usually given to the form-teacher. Haha!

I met the form-teacher, Mr Chua, and he was glad that he had an assistant this year, as he was managing the large class alone last year.

The first task I did was to try my best to memorise all the names and placed their names to their faces. Then I memorised their seating-arrangement, and pinpointed the rationale behind putting noisy and rather-quiet students together.

We're going to have an exciting year! :D

Rest in Peace, Saddam Hussein, and Eid Mubarak to all

2006-12-30T23:45:00.000+08:00

Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was executed today, coinciding with Aidiladha (Hari Raya Haji) in the Middle East. His suffering has finally come to an end.

I did not watch the actual execution on television (I would be too traumatised if I did), but I did see the camera-shot of Saddam Hussein in a heap on the floor after his execution.

My mother and sister shared with me what happened during the execution. He was last seen clutching the Quran, and he refused to have the customary-hood placed over his head for his execution. There was also his final cry in Arabic "Allah is Great!" before he breathed his last.

No hood. Why? Perhaps he would like the world to see his innocence when he was executed. Perhaps he wasn't that innocent (with all the killings), but here's food for thought.

He was the Head of a State after all. A Head of State getting executed? Had that ever happened in history? Was he the first to be given the death penalty? If I recall (I could be wrong, so do correct me here), a Head of State had been imprisoned and even exiled. But executed? I don't recall hearing that ever happening. Perhaps in the (read: more unforgiving) past, but with humanity rights and all, I really wonder where is humanity at all...

Rest in Peace, Saddam Hussein. May God forgive you when you met Death on the Eid, God-willing...

Eid Mubarak to everyone...

Deployment for 2007...

2006-12-29T23:00:00.000+08:00

Today was the staff-meeting at Broadrick, and all the teachers finally got their deployment.

Here's mine... *Drumroll please*
2EC - Mathematics
2N1 - English
2N1 - Pastoral Care
1EA, 1EB, 1EC, 1N1, 1N2, 1T1, 1T2 - Music
2EA, 2EB, 2EC, 2N1, 2N2, 2N3, 2T1, 2T2 - Music
3T1 - Music

Four subjects in total. Sounds like a challenging year ahead...

Committees:
- Staff Welfare Committee
- Arts Advisory Committee
- School Official Opening Committee

CCA Teacher-in-charge of Choir (promotion from 2IC in 2006). A relief to Kim, who can now rest a bit being 2IC. We've agreed to let her deal with the Admin and Discipline of the Choir, while I'll deal with the Pitching, Training, Scores-Arrangement and Scores-Photocopying. It's great working with her! Thanks lots, Kim! :)

Just recovered from Viral-Flu

2006-12-26T23:11:00.000+08:00

I caught some weird form of flu since last week, from the 20th of December. The fever came and went, revisited and left, and I had the sniffles (read: runny nose) and an irritated throat. I took some medicine which I found in the house, but it didn't improve.

My mother initially thought that I was skivving, running away from chores, but I protested that I was really ill, and ended up getting into an argument with her.

On the 20th, there was the Broadrick Choir gathering and also Yurreny's baby-shower. However, due to my argument with my mom and also the headache I had due to the fever, I didn't go out at all.

Sri was pretty upset with me, and I read about her chagrin on her website, but hey, I totally lost my mood that day. Yurreny was more understanding though, and I promised to visit her when I have fully recovered.

I still have the irritating sore-throat. The cough-medicine is not really helping much, and the doctor didn't notice any swelling in my tonsils, so I didn't get any antibiotics either. But the irritation is really bad, and I could be coughing really bad at night. I have to clear the phlegm to relieve myself a bit.

Sigh. Silly flu... Silly viral-flu, rather. It's not the usual flu... :(

Music students or music idiots? :P

2006-12-21T00:57:00.000+08:00

I got this over the e-mail... Laugh till your sides ache! :)

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Actual answers from students on music exams

The principal singer of nineteenth century opera was called pre-Madonna.

It is easy to teach anyone to play the maracas. Just grip the neck and shake him in rhythm.

Gregorian chant has no music, just singers singing the same lines.

Sherbet composed the Unfinished Symphony.

All female parts were sung by castrati. We don't know exactly what they sounded like because there are no known descendants.

Young scholars have expressed their rapture for the Bronze Lullaby, the Taco Bell Cannon, Beethoven's Erotica, Tchaikovsky Cracknutter Suite, and Gershwin's Rap City in Blue.

Music sung by two people at the same time is called a duel; if they sing without music it is called Acapulco.

A virtuoso is a musician with real high morals.

Contralto is a low sort of music that only ladies sing.

Diatonic is a low calorie Schweppes.

Probably the most marvelous fugue was the one between the Hatfields and the McCoys.

A harp is a nude piano.

The main trouble with a French Horn is that it is too tangled up.

An interval in music is the distance from one piano to the next.

The correct way to find the key to a piece of music is to use a pitchfork.

Agitato is a state of mind when one's finger slips in the middle of playing a piece.

Refrain means don't do it. A refrain in music is the part you'd better not try to sing.

I know what a sextet is but I'd rather not say.

Most authorities agree that music of antiquity was written long ago.

My favorite composer was Opus. Agnus Dei was a woman composer famous for her church music.

Henry Purcell was a well-known composer few people have ever heard of.

Johann Sebastian Bach wrote a great many musical compositions and had a large number of children. In between he practiced on an old spinster which he kept up in his attic.

Rock Monanoff was a famous post-romantic composer of piano concerti.

Back from KL! :)

2006-12-19T22:38:00.000+08:00

Rizal, Halil and I went to KL to enjoy a long weekend 15 to 18 December, and to get away from Singapore.

We planned to queue up for tickets to access the Petronas Twin Towers Skybridge. We stayed up all night, and even went for supper to stay awake. We went for breakfast at 7am, then all of us fell asleep when we got back to our room. Darn it! By the time we woke up, it was 10am. (We're supposed to collect the free-tickets by 10.30am, as there are limited tickets)

Sigh... Wasted... :(

Throughout our stay, it was really hot in KL. No rain, if I recalled correctly.

It was raining when we en-route to Singapore on Monday, and apparently it'd been raining since Sunday. Flash-floods all over. None on the North-South Highway though, thank God.

Eragon!

2006-12-13T18:44:00.000+08:00

Rizal, Del and I watched Eragon (I think it was the sneak-preview, as it's due to show on screens from 15 December 2006) at The Cathay Grand cinema this afternoon. The theatre was really grand (hence its name), and the surround-sound effects were impressive!

Anyway, the movie was pretty good, although fans of Harry Potter, Lord Of The Rings and The Sound of Music (yeah, the one filmed in 1960s) might see hints of their favourite movies within this movie. The soundtrack was really impressive, and the numerous brass-choirs (sound-segments where only the brass instruments, such as trumpets and horns, were playing) really added a touch of grandeur.

Music teachers, you can consider using this movie to teach symbolism and power for your Appreciation of Movies lesson.

Enjoy the movie, everyone! :)

Three Weddings in Three Weeks!

2006-12-09T23:41:00.000+08:00

It has to be a record. And probably a temporary void in my finances, but hey, I am glad that I went for those three weddings...

26-27 November: Lionel and Peiying's wedding.
Lionel is my neighbour from one street away, and both our mothers know each other as they met during PSLE marking before both retired from teaching. Lionel gave me the honour of being one of his xiong-di, but I'm ashamed to say that I disappointed him by arriving late on both days, because I spent a long time packing my bag, filled with items which were on standby just in case the AVA equipment failed. INTUNE (alumni of NIEchoir) sang 'Looking Through The Eyes Of Love' from the movie 'Ice Castles' during the dinner celebration. The dinner-guests were pretty impressed, and I think we were good enough to perform on stage too. Congratulations, Lionel and Peiying! :)
(Oh, I drove Lionel's family's automatic Mercedes E200. Now I find that I have problems with my manual-transmission family-car. The engine dies at least once when I drive it. Sigh...)

3 December: Dzulkifli and Elvina's wedding.
Dzul's wedding-reception was really nice! After seeing buffet-spreads at numerous Malay weddings nowadays, having food served was a refreshing change. The food was nice too. Congratulations, Dzulkifli and Elvina! :)

9 December: Helmy and Huda's wedding.
Helmy's wedding was held on a Saturday! Back to tradition! Yeah, Malay weddings were traditionally a nocturnal affair (usually on Saturdays), not Sunday daytime weddings. I congratulated Helmy's parents, and thanked them for their invitation. Helmy and Fadly (who helped Helmy with the organisation and running around) looked really exhausted, so they were glad when I offered to take over Fadly's duty of driving the bridal car in the afternoon. I went to the night-time wedding-reception with Afzainizam, and I got to take a ride in his spanking new (not that new, but still looked very new) Getz. (Shall I consider buying a car now? Hmm...) Congratulations, Helmy and Huda! :)

Hougang Secondary School's Band Concert: ADDICTION

2006-12-07T23:50:00.000+08:00

I went to HS Band's ADDICTION concert. It's lovely. Exactly two years ago, I was also at Victoria Concert Hall for HS's and Seng Kang Sec's combined La Con Musica concert.

This time round, HS Band has a new conductor, and a good one too. He brought out the best in the band, and I was really proud of the students for having improved so much since I last saw them in February 2005.

There was a trumpet-solo by Samuel, one of the Sec 2 boys, whom I didn't get to groom when I was helping out with HS as a percussion-tutor. No big deal, you say? It is really a big deal for Samuel, because he was born with only one hand, his right hand. Yes, while the rest of the trumpeters (and the rest of the band for that matter) had two hands, he had only one hand, and he did a marvellous job with his solo! Well done, Samuel! :)

The concert was really entertaining, and the instrument-tutors and teacher (Roger Lee, the teacher-in-charge of HS Band) joined in in the second-half of the concert.

Well done, HS Band! All the best for the upcoming SYF! Continue to improve and go for Gold! :)

The blog-comment battle continues...

2006-12-03T12:43:00.000+08:00

Looks like our 'friend' from Rwinds hasn't given up yet. I received another comment from him/her this morning. And yes, he/she didn't sign off, the wimp.

Oh yes, did I mention that that blog-entry was made in January 2005? Hello! It's already December 2006! Why bring up the past? Opening Pandora's Box will only release an avalanche of uncalled-for remarks, most of which paying disregard to respect for seniority.

I wonder, really. If he/she claims that I am that lousy, why is it that so many musical-groups are still asking me to return to the bands I used to play in? Hey, I'm not boasting here. It's true! I've turned down all the bands because I would like to concentrate on my job and assist my school-choir's conductor coach the choristers before next year's SYF.

I'm proud of my school-choir. Their singing capability is improving quickly, and I am confident that we can aim for that coveted Gold for SYF 2007. All we need now is to get more choristers to get a more 'full' sound.

I'll let you assess John Doe's (or Jane Doe's?) comments. Criticising me is bad enough, but do notice how he/she criticises the renowned Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music. ABRSM-supporters, you can prepare yourselves to cry Foul!

-----

Yeah, there're people of aged 18 who got distinction for ABRSM percussion, after picking it up for less than a year. Whatever it is, Mr solo-percussionist, you really suck man. I've seriously never heard such a terrible musician until I met you. Well it's great that you play the piano. Stick to it. I mean, you think you're such a great player i everywhere. That includes when you were still in NTU band. I really hope your ass get kick real hard one day. Back to the point ABRSM, it's a sucky examination. The examiners are a non-percussion.Obviously they do not lookout for the technicality of the candidate. Yeah, thanks for that e-mail about long tones. I think you should constantly e-mail yourself to practice longer tones. Pathetic.

Sunday, December 03, 2006 8:11:00 AM

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Nizam said...
Rwinds-loser:

My my, don't we have a lot to argue, do we?

Yet you still refuse to sign off with your real name. Still a clear sign of cowardice.

By the way, if you send anonymous letters/email to some Government agencies/institutions, you only risk getting your letters thrown into the trash.

Perhaps I should trash yours as well, since I only read angst (amidst the poor grammar) and anger, with unsubstantiated comments. (I wonder how you passed your GP, really. Perhaps your examiner/marker didn't check your technicalities, which you had kindly suggested?)

Let's see who will kick whose butt. Help me out here. Tell me your name and I'll benchmark myself against a (shall I say) musical prodigy, whom you portray yourself to be?

Oh, I still practise my long-tones actually. But obviously, you won't know, as you are clearly still blowing your own trumpet, oblivious to everything else.

Feeling triumphant already? Don't be. Pick on yourself before you pick on others. Seriously, no matter how good you think you are, there will always someone better than you.

Oh yes, and do have the basic courtesy to include your salutation and sign off with your real name.

Sunday, December 03, 2006 12:39:00 PM

Look before you leap...

2006-12-02T17:37:00.000+08:00

I received a disturbing blog-comment today on one of my blog-entries made in January 2005 (the link is underlined above).

Some person from Raffles Winds had made a comment about my instrument-playing. Strange, but that person seemed to hate me for some reason, but didn't have the guts to sign off as his/her own name.

But hey, I'm not here to earn anybody's popularity-vote, so if you have something against me, I'm a phonecall or email away. There's no point signing off as a larger organisation (Raffles Winds), hoping to remain anonymous.

I respect people who are true to their word and take full responsibility for their actions. If a person signs off anonymously, it simply shows that the person is a wimp and too cowardly to face the music.

I've quoted John Doe's (or Jane Doe's) comment here, followed by my rather-bitchy response.

Of course I'd be expecting a full apology from that person. I'm definitely not going to let that person off scot-free.

(This posting has been sent to the Chairman of Raffles Winds for his information)

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Anonymous said...
Hey Nizam or whatever your name is. Playing many instruments doesn't mean you are good at anything.I've heard you play,Sax and percussion. You've a horrible tone on sax and you can't even roll the drum. Well it's a joke if you call yourself a percussionist in that way. I hope this goes to the many who reads this, playing in many bands doesn't mean anything. Expecially if you are lousy and don't make any improvement. This is what happens. Just some friendly remarks. I hope you'll look at yourself first before anything. Why do ppl bitch about you?If you're good, they'll respect you. If you're not, they'll just keep quiet. But if you're bringing the band down with the poor playing capability, ppl naturally get pissed cos you're obviously wasting ppl's time. AND respect has to be earn.In band, you've to be good otherwise ppl'll kick your ass off. Even though you're rich,smart or good looking. If you're good ppl respect you.

Rwinds.

Saturday, December 02, 2006 2:15:00 PM

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Here is my reply... Kinda bitchy, I'm afraid...

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Nizam said...
Rwinds-member:

Tsk tsk. Signing off as an organisation, when I am still in that organisation's committee.

What does that show? Cowardice, of course. If you have a point to bring out, but you sign off as a larger organisation (perhaps to incriminate the rest of that organisation), that doesn't really reflect well on yourself, does it?

Well, I must say that it's about time you had your eyes checked. My primary instrument is the Piano, and I picked up percussion and the saxophone (with a bit of assistance from the wonderful seniors in NIE Band and Mr Chua, a Sax/Clarinet tutor-conductor).

In a matter of 5 years (yes, I only joined the band-scene only in 2001 after taking a break in 1989), I managed to pick up percussion (mallets and timpani, mainly), saxophone and the double-bass.

Just for the record, I do admit that I am not very adept with drum-rolling, as I have not really had much opportunity to play that. That's why I can't play the drumset either.

However, despite my 'sucky' playing, I'm sorry to to disappoint you that the ABRSM was pretty impressed with my playing, and gave me a good passing-mark for my ABRSM Grade 5 in Percussion. I missed the Merit-mark by a small margin, but hey, I did prove that I do have the talent.

Oh yes, to rub salt to your wound, I didn't practise prior to the ABRSM examination. I bought the scores beforehand, but I did not have access to any percussion-instruments, so I went for the exam-room, sightreading all the way.

Of course, I chose mallets and timpani, not the snare-drum, for the simple reason that I knew that I was not prepared to be assessed on the latter-instrument.

As for the 'horrible tone' on the sax, I'm not sure if I understood you. I've been trained to use thick reeds (3.5 and above, with an open-mouthpiece). However, due to my short breath, I wasn't able to play the sax with a bright tone without losing my breath. My tone was typically mellow (soft, not dark or bright), so Imarah (a senior from NTU/NIE Band who constantly encourages me) always asked me to try my best to play more brightly. So... was my tone too bright or too dark or too mellow, which didn't suit your cup of tea?

Of course, this was back in 2005. It's December 2006 now, and I had managed to develop my ability a bit more with the TPJC Alumni-Band.

Here's a word of advice (from me, a serious musician with 23 years of experience):

Music is meant to be enjoyed, and there should not be any unnecessary pressure on the players. Suggestions to improvement would be good if there's a major performance or competition, but at any time, there should not be disparaging remarks made behind the player's back. If someone else does it to you, it would not be very pleasant, would it?

I will not hold Raffles Winds responsible for your personal posting, as we are all adults. But remember, in the future, think hard before you write such opinionated-comments, and read and re-read the opinion, putting yourself in the other person's shoes.

That will definitely make you a better person, God willing.

Saturday, December 02, 2006 5:36:00 PM

Charity is wonderful!

2006-11-22T23:59:00.000+08:00

I was at the receiving-end of Charity today.

I bought that 512MB memory-module for myself at Sim Lim Square this evening, and I left the mall to hail a taxi to get myself to Victoria Concert Hall (VCH) for a choir-performance rehearsal.

There was a middle-aged lady in front of me, and I asked her if she was waiting for a taxi too, and she replied that she wasn't. She looked at me, and asked me which direction I would be heading, and I informed her.

She asked me to take a lift from her, as she was heading for the Singapore Cricket Club, which was opposite VCH anyway. I protested that it wasn't necessary, as I didn't want to impose on her. She shushed me, and told me that she would be going the same direction anyway, and her niece was picking her up, so she would be glad to save me the extra few dollars for cab-fare.

I couldn't believe this! Perhaps it was God's grace. (Well, I did have my evening-prayers about 15 minutes prior to that moment.) Perhaps He decided to send some Charity to my lap, so that I could extend it further to someone else. (Yes, God, I heard You...)

I thanked the lady many times... :)

Anyway, the lady's niece pulled over, in a spanking Alfa. I forgot to see the licence-plate, as I was admiring the dark-coloured (black?) car the whole time. I spent about 15 seconds wondering how to open the back-door, as the handle was not at the usual position (as in the case of an ordinary saloon-car).

I looked up, and found some 'decoration' on the upper-part of the door, and gently pulled it. Oh! The door opened! Haha! Call me a bimbo, or blond, or whatever, but hey, it was really my 'virgin' ride in an Alfa.

The two women engaged themselves in their own conversation (about church, etc etc), and I sat quietly.

The elder lady asked if I was a local, and I affirmed it, explaining that I dressed down today, after returning home from work before going out again. (Haha! I seemed to get that question each time I wore t-shirt and jeans... must be the Indonesian genes which I inherited from my Mom)

The two ladies decided to park at Parliament House, and stopped the car at the entrance to let me alight. I thank them one more time, asking for God's blessings for their kind gesture, smiled and got off. I saw the two ladies smiling widely and waving, as their car entered the carpark.

This is really wonderful! I saved probably close to $8 of cab-fare (including peak-charges and CBD-charges), and I saved plenty of time from not having to wait for a taxi.

God, please bless the two ladies once again, for their kindness...

---

Students below the age of 21: Your parents' rule to not accept things and lifts from strangers still apply. You need to exercise your discretion, as you are not old enough to ascertain other people's intentions. But please, even if you do reject such gestures, do maintain your smile and politely say 'No'. However, if you accept such gestures, do remember to thank your host(s), and ensure that you are polite the whole time.

Pay it forward. Don't keep Charity to yourself...

Computer-Maintenance Weekend

2006-11-20T22:30:00.000+08:00

The past few days had been IT-intensive.

On Thursday, I went to my aunt's house (with my family) for Hari Raya, and she informed me that she would be getting rid of the computer, because apparently it had too many problems. I could intercept and take the computer back home to salvage the parts, or she would sell it to the rag-and-bone man. ('karung guni')

What did I do?

Well, since that computer was actually 'my baby' (I assembled it for her), I brought the computer home.

I found out Friday morning, that the WindowsXP in that system was caught in an infinite-loop, so it would reboot itself. Everything else was in good working condition (except the CDROM drive, but hey, there's also the CDRW drive, which works).

I repartitioned and reformatted the harddisk, and chucked back the data which was originally there. Then I dismantled the harddisk and CDRW drive from that computer, ready to be reinstalled into my aunt's new computer, which was supposed to arrive by the begining of this week.

I had bought a 100GB harddisk for my sister's laptop (which was painfully struggling with a 30GB harddisk before that) as an advanced-birthday present, so I split the harddisk into several partitions and installed WindowsXP and Service Pack 2. As for the old harddisk, I placed it into an external-casing, and used it as an external harddisk. :)

For my own laptop, I bought a 512MB memory-module, and my computer then had a whopping 768MB of RAM (to add on to the 256MB RAM which was already there, after removing one of the RAM-modules)!

[(Post-entry on 22 Nov 2006) I bought another 512MB memory-module today, and now I have 1GB! My goodness! The increase in performance is exponential! Much much faster now!]

Finally, my desktop computer. The AMD AthlonXP 2800+ CPU was diagnosed to be faulty, so I bought a second-hand AthlonXP 2500+ (which could clock the same performance as a 3200+ CPU, using the BIOS settings). I had some problems with the seller misunderstanding our appointment-date, but it was sorted out, and I got the CPU on Monday, instead of Sunday, as promised.

(Still mucking around with the desktop computer) I had to install WindowsXP several times as the computer would mysteriously hang. I adjusted the graphics-card, and it worked fine, but it 'hung' again after a while. I had a hunch, and replaced the graphics-card with the one from my aunt's computer, and clocked the CPU back to its normal speed (2500+). It worked! Hmm... Either my own graphics-card was going wonky, or the CPU was getting too unstable from the overclocking.

I decided to leave the system alone then, since it's working well now.

For my father's laptop, I switched off the 'Animate objects' option under the Windows98 Display settings, and the laptop worked much more efficiently than before.

Phew! My balcony is still messy from my operations from the previous few days. Relax, Mom, I'll clear the stuff one at a time... :)

Near-death experience! And a revelation!

2006-11-09T23:11:00.000+08:00

I went to Bishan Swimming Complex this evening, to do some laps while waiting for INTUNE practice to begin.

I pushed off from the wall, as usual. 5 metres later, my goggles filled with water, so I stopped swimming and emptied it. I resumed my lap, and about 3 metres later, I had a severe cramp on my left leg, and sank. My right leg struggled to kick to stay afloat, but it was no use. I went under, swallowing copious amounts of pool-water.

I remembered my swimming instructor's advice. "Even if you are struggling, go to the bottom, and jump up, and you'll be above the water-surface again."

I did that several times, yelling for help each time I surfaced. Help seemed to take forever to arrive. I felt the presence of a life-buoy in front of me, and I grabbed onto it. By then, both my legs were already vertical in the water, and I no longer had energy to kick my legs up.

The lifeguard pulled me to the side of the pool and asked me if I was alright. I explained to him the cramp, and he nodded understandingly, and helped me stretch my left leg, which were rather numb by then. "My goodness, I'm not paralysed, am I?" I thought. The lifeguard suggested that I probably got the cramp due to the rather cold weather. Perhaps.

I remembered that I had just recovered from diarrhoea two days before, and told the lifeguard so. Perhaps that too... due to the lack of water and nutrients in the system.

I rested a bit in the water, and another lifeguard came up to ask me to fill out an incident-report form. I pulled myself out of the water, and slowly walked to the spectators' stand to fill out my particulars.

The whole time, I was thanking all the three lifeguards who were there; the one who saved me (I found out that his name was Mr Wu), the one who asked me to do the form-fill, and one more who advised me to sit still and relax, and not swim for the rest of the day.

When I had gained some sensation in my legs, I made my way the washroom to wash up, and informed Rizal and Faridah about my encounter.

Rizal advised me to rest a bit more after recovering from diarrhoea, as I still needed to get back my energy. Faridah teased me about being too ambitious, and asked me to go back home straight.

I had INTUNE practice, so I took a cab after doing my prayers at the new mosque in Bishan. I informed Lionel about my accident, and he told me to take it easy, and to rest as soon as I get home.

Here I am, at home, head still woozy. Maybe I should turn in early. Sigh...

Oh, I asked Nizam (AJC-mate) about some symptoms about lactose-intolerance, and he was pretty positive that I probably had some intolerance to lactose, as I had been having diarrhoea after drinking full-cream milk...

Sigh... One more food-item to strike off my Favourites list... :(

Broadrick Bollywood Bling

2006-11-04T00:37:00.000+08:00

Reached home from Crown Prince Hotel at about 11pm. The Broadrick staff had the Annual Dinner tonight, with a Bollywood theme. Strange, not many noticed the 'bling' element.

I wore my shiny (but cheap) watch, to add the bling to my dressing. Oh yes, I wore a nice translucent dark red kurtha (correct spelling?) with my black CK singlet inside. Yeah, must try to look expensive lah, since it's a formal dinner and all. (No, no white singlets... *bleah* to the students...) :P

Most of the other teachers dressed up to the nines. Especially the ladies. Oh yes, the ladies were gorgeous! I was about to tease some of them about their wearing sarees when they didn't have enough 'flesh', but hey, even the so-called less-fleshy ladies looked awesome! :)

I came late for the dinner, no thanks to the last call of nature before I left home. (Yeah, I had the runs today. Crappy tummy... pun not intended) And, to be caught in the silly PIE and CTE jams, back-to-back. (Come on! When is KPE supposed to open? This kaypoh wants to know. haha!)

The hotel-ballroom's sound-system seemed to reject the laptop which we used to play the video-clips, CDs, etc. But, upon Ghaz and Kim's request, I had lugged along my trusty Altec Lansing desktop speakers and Aiwa subwoofer, which I set up in record-time, and soon the ballroom had thumping Hindi music, perfect addition to the Bollywood atmosphere.

I participated in the Singing Competition, singing Frank Sinatra's "As Time Goes By". Perhaps it was the loss of water (from the runs), or the fact that I didn't warm up, but I totally screwed up the song. I forgot my lyrics (thus I had to scramble to refer to the lyrics), and my initial-pitching was awful.

Sigh... I got second place for that contest. Losing out to Chu Kai, who strummed on the guitar, and also sang along. Good showmanship! Well done, bro! :)

My table was so-called the organisers' table, as the game-masters and most of the Staff Welfare Committee sat there. As that was the only table available (other than the VIP table... gulp), I joined them. But hey, it was pretty good. I helped Ghaz film most of the video-footage (until the tape ran out). Oh yes, I managed to catch Ghaz sing too, but it's in my digicam. Haha! I'll show him Monday. :)

This might have been Nyonya Hwee Ling's and 'Pretty Boy' Julian's final event, so we took numerous photos. I didn't get to take a picture with Nyonya though. Wasted! She was wearing a lovely Indian costume!

Oh well... Time to rest... Need to grab some charcoal-tablets first, just in case...

Goodbye Danil...

2006-10-26T23:55:00.000+08:00

The office-phone rang sometime in the morning yesterday, and it was the father of one of my colleague's students, Danil, looking for my colleague. I told him that she wasn't around, so he asked for the Principal's number. I gave him the main school-line, and he hung up.

I did a bit of marking of test-scripts for the foreign-students, then I walked around the corridors. I bumped into Tiffany and Aabidah (2N2), who told me that Danil had passed away, and the funeral would be the next day.

I was shocked! The phone-call!

I hastened to my office-cubicle, and did a bit more marking. My colleague returned, and I told her about the phone-call. She looked rather grim, but thanked me for informing her, and went out again.

The Sec 3s had to go to the Action Theatrette after the Deepa Raya concert yesterday afternoon, before returning to their classes.

Very odd... (I later found out that the Principal was informing the Sec 3s about his passing.)

Last night, I sent an SMS to June (who did contract-teaching at BRD), who clearly remembered Danil being the student whom both of us 'drilled' for the English Oral exams, but still scoring wonderful marks. June called me back, expressing her disbelief about his death. We reminisced Danil's likeability-factor and musical talent. (Yes! He has a Diploma in Music (Flute) from ABRSM, which he earned when he was 13! If there's anyone who should be considered a child-prodigy, Danil's THE one!)

This morning, the official word was out. An envelope was passed around in the staffroom to raise condolence-funds for Danil. I bumped into Tiffany again, who complained that she wanted to go to the funeral-wake at noon with some of the Sec3s.

I completed grading the foreign-students' papers, and I walked around again. (Yes, walking around helps me de-stress from marking headache-inducing scripts.) Both Tiffany and Aabidah were in tears, and they were saying that they would miss Danil so much, as they were talking to him just the week before. Poor girls...

The form-teacher (my colleague who shares the same phone-number as me) told me that Danil died in his sleep. Very tragic...

I coached the Broadrick choir with some pieces (like I did for last Thursday and yesterday), and I promised myself to pay my last respects to Danil at the Christian funeral-parlour at Choa Chu Kang Christian Cemetery at the 7pm Service.

At 6.30pm, I met CJ (another colleague who taught Danil's class for 10 weeks), and we took a taxi down to CCK. We reached at about 7pm, and the Service had already begun.

Hwee Ling and Vasughi joined us not long after. We handed over the money to the family (who was all cried out), and stood by the coffin where Danil lay. He looked so peaceful, and I managed to catch a sob before it could propagate.

The rest of the congregation listened to the pastor's preaching, and they sang Amazing Grace and What A Friend (We Have In Jesus). CJ and I listened, but we didn't join in, as we are not Christians. (I could have sung Amazing Grace, as it doesn't involve Jesus at all, but I was stunned, as I could see the significance of the lyrics to the occasion, so I was numbed in silence.) Sigh...

On the trip to Clementi later, Hwee Ling told me that Danil's family wanted to surprise him on his birthday by singing him a song, but there was no response, even when they increased their volume. Only then did they realise that he was gone.

Word of advice:
Do cherish the people around us, as we won't know when we would lose them.

---

An Eulogy to a Student...

Dear Danil:

I must admit that I had only talked to you for about 3-4 times max, the first being your English Oral examination in July, when Ms June Goh and I took you. I remember asking you "What's your name and index-number?", to which you replied that your name didn't exist in the register, as it wasn't updated.

The next few times we talked, it was along the corridor, when I would be teasing you and Adam for spending your time chatting, when you should be studying. You took my teasing in good spirit, but you continued to chat anyway, since you wanted to enjoy the free-period privilege you had. (since the school doesn't offer the Russian language, your native Mother Tongue)

Earning a Diploma in Flute from the Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) at the age of 13... How on earth did you accomplish that? Even for me, I only got my Grade 7 in Piano at age 14. Geez. Thanks for the motivation to push myself harder.

My Hari Raya celebration this year has a different meaning altogether, as you passed away on the first day of Hari Raya, which was coincidentally your 16th birthday. Now, I've lost much of the festive mood. No, not because of your passing, but because I believe that the joy and gaiety have to be superceded by pain and suffering to even appreciate the better things around us.

You are in a better place now, and may God bless your soul.

Rest in peace, Danil Zufarovich Shagimardanov (DipABRSM)...

Mean Marking Machine or Lenient Marking Machine?

2006-10-17T23:59:00.000+08:00

I finished marking the examination papers today, after much moderation with the marks. Yes, I decided not to be too harsh, lest I 'killed' students with my strict marking.

I swear, I had a bad headache, after seeing all the marking and remarking which I did.

Yet people can still fail English. I seriously don't understand...

When I keyed in the marks into the School Cockpit, I found that even more students had failed English, so I double-checked the marks from the previous terms. I found that some of them did pretty badly in terms 1 and 2, so their so-called 'good' marks in the final examinations were pulled down very badly to a marginal-pass or a bad fail.

I consulted Ms Mastura again, and she advised me to help the near-pass cases. Not too many, so I did a bit of tweaking of the marks.

In the end, I had 7 failures for English from 2N1, and 5 failures from 2N2. Not too bad actually.

2N1/2N2: Don't rest on your laurels. Do continue to work hard, and read books during the vacation-break. Your command of English should be stronger when you return to school next year. Take care!

2006-10-17T20:28:00.000+08:00

The Letter - Raw Cut

I found this video clip on my friend's blog. Though it has a gay-theme, the universal theme of love and rejection applies to every one of us. Do prepare some tissues when you watch this clip. Very heart-wrenching... Sigh... :~(

2006-10-14T20:57:00.000+08:00

Taufik - i dream

Here's Taufik's version. Sounds pretty good actually. It's a pity it isn't as original as it was claimed to be. Sigh...

2006-10-14T20:51:00.000+08:00

Leann Rimes - I dream

Oh dear! Here's the proof. LeAnn Rimes did sing 'I Dream' in 2001 before Taufik and Sylvester sang it at Singapore Idol 2004. Poor Taufik, as he needs to go through all the legal matters...

Raffles Dynamite...

2006-10-10T18:55:00.000+08:00

... Don't mess with Dynamite...

Yeah, some lyrics of one of the Raffles cheers. Gosh, I so miss that school. Sigh...

I applied for the ORA-UOB Visa credit-card about two weeks ago, and I received the card two days ago. It's really awesome. Credit-card and ORA membership-card, all in one...

By the way, ORA stands for Old Rafflesians Association.

I'm sticking to my promise. No charging to the credit-card, unless really necessary. :)

Oh, yesterday I also received the video-clip of the 1991 Singapore Youth Festival (SYF) Outdoor Display Band competition from one of the Raffles Winds members, held at the National Stadium. RIMB (RI Military Band) clinched the Best Display Band and Best Drum Major awards in that competition.

Sigh... All the glory days of being a Rafflesian in the 1990s.....

Triple-M... and ABRSM exam

2006-10-02T21:54:00.000+08:00

Triple-M is here... the Mean Marking Machine. Hahaha! Yeah, I'm marking so much now. It's amazing that I managed to complete marking the CA comprehension papers for 2N2 in one day.

Just got 4 sets of papers today, after all the English Language exams. 2 sets of Paper 1 (Free Writing and Functional Writing aka. Composition and Letter-Writing), 2 sets of Paper 2 (Comprehension). 65 scripts of each, so that's 130 scripts altogether. I need to complete marking by next week (preferably Monday or Tuesday)...

I so can imagine myself marking from today onwards. Lynn (NYGHS) described it most aptly "I will morph into a marking machine this weekend."

Mark mark mark...

Oh yes, ABRSM's practical examination applications for the January-February session begin tomorrow. I'm thinking of taking Grade 5 for Saxophone (Tenor). Jeremiah (guest-singer for MPYC, and baritone-saxophonist in several community bands) suggested taking the Grade 8, but I doubt I'd have the time to revise much. So, maybe it's Grade 5 for the time being. Perhaps I'll take a look at the pieces too.

Need to visit Yamaha (Plaza Singapura) tomorrow or the day after...

What's happened this week...

2006-09-29T22:29:00.000+08:00

The past few days had been very trying. I've been so exhausted after breaking fast (Oh yes, Ramadhan began last Sunday) at dusk, so I had been taking 8-9 hours of sleep till almost 5am.

It didn't help that I had been having a runny nose, so I was losing quite a bit of body-fluids. I should have taken MC, but I had to revise the expectations of the English Language papers with the students in 2N1 and 2N2. Both classes were rather restless, so I had to raise my voice a few times to get my message across.

For 2N1, it was more draining, as the childish scamps (most of the boys) decided to 'invent' a game of whacking crushed paper-balls at each other. I had to yell at them most of time. I even threatened to get the boys who kept on pulling their shorts down such that their underwear or boxers were showing (a la Jesse Metcalfe 'John Tucker Must Die') to wear the school skirt or diapers. One kid refused to listen, so I told him to get out of the class. (which he did)

Honestly, I am tired. Tired of dealing with recalcitrant kids. During my last English lesson with 2N1 (amidst the flying 'mortar' of crushed paper), I announced to the girls and the remaining boys that I would be expecting 70% and above from the playful boys who seemed to be too 'genius' to listen to whatever I was saying. Some of those boys got the hint, but only momentarily, until they resumed their childish antics.

I give up...

True or False?

2006-09-23T01:08:00.001+08:00

Got a tag from Fong Yee's blog.

Here's the deal...
(1) Think of 10 short bits of interesting stuff about yourself. And they've gotta be true.
(2) Come up with 5 false statements regarding yourself, but for fun's sake keep them in the threshold of believability.
(3) Jumble them all up together and list them in any order.
(4) Post them on blog and let people guess which the five false ones are!
(5) Get 5 others to do the same.
---

1. Teaching was not my first choice of career.
2. My childhood ambitions were to become a doctor, model and air-steward (in that order)
3. I have a wide vocal range, although my voice sounds as if I'm a bad singer.
4. I have two left feet. (meaning, I can't dance, or I'm a lousy dancer)
5. My most favourite subjects in school were Mathematics and Chemistry.
6. I used to repair computers as a hobby.
7. I am a sloth, but when I start exercising, it's almost impossible to stop!
8. Despite my being an introvert, I am pretty adept in the area of tongue-lashing. (don't bother arguing with me)
9. I used to dream of owning a BMW by the age of 30.
10. People tend to hate me for being frank.
11. I challenge myself all the time.
12. I was born in the cusp of Aquarius and Pisces, but I regard myself more as a Aquarian.
13. I dislike people who hate people who learn to play various instruments, instead of specialising in a single one.
14. I am more artistic than scientific, although my O-level results proved otherwise.
15. I hope to get married by the age of 32.

---
Who shall I tag...
(1) Del!
(2) Sri!
(3) Hazwan!
(4) Rachel Tham!
(5) Huay Ching!

Irresponsible! >:(

2006-09-22T23:50:00.000+08:00

I took the day off, as instructed by my mom, just to be on the safe side, else I would risk getting myself charged by the Police force for 'two-timing' my duty, when I'm under their payroll until Friday.

I informed the chairperson of 2N1 to go to the Music Room to get the Comprehension test-papers, and inform the relief-teacher(s) that I had instructed the class to resume and complete the Comprehension test-papers.

The chairperson got back to me later in the evening to inform me that she had fallen asleep, so she didn't get to inform the relief-teachers. Apparently one student pointed out that I had intended the class to finish the test-paper before dismissal. According to the sleeping chairperson (not sure who told her), the relief-teacher had apparently looked at the stack, but decided that she did not know how to administer the test, so the test-papers were left alone on the teacher's table. (HELLO! Teachers know how to administer and invigilate tests!)

For the second period, the form-teacher had apparently come in, and the class did Mathematics.

And yes, both periods were meant for English.

I don't blame the teachers. I blame the students for being irresponsible, and not informing the relief-teachers the pressing need to complete the test-papers, which would be taken as continuous assessment (CA). These students would rather have the period off, so that they can sleep or do other stuff. And these are the so-called 'premier' class of the Normal(Academic) stream.

These students are clearly juvenile and immature, and can't be bothered about their own well-being. Here I am, trying my best to push up their grade for English (MOST of them failed English last term, and are now at the mercy of their parents), yet they take my efforts lightly. Mark my words (I am not cursing the students), but some of them risk getting retained in Sec 2, or even get channelled to Normal(Technical), as the school can clearly see that the Normal(Academic) stream is too difficult for them. (which is not the case, but the exam-results speak for themselves)

Look, if you want me to be laissez-faire (or the 'bo chup' or 'tidak apa' attitude), I can do just that. But I am more responsible than that. I do not wish to shortchange any student under my care. I had premium education in a premier school, and I'm sharing my knowledge with the students, yet they don't care a single s***.

I asked them to start a Vocabulary noteook each since Term 3, and I reminded them that I want to check the notebooks. One girl spoke up, saying that it's already nearing the exams. I retorted that they were informed more than 10 weeks ago, but nobody cared. I announced that students who did not have/bring the vocabulary notebook will have marks deducted from their CA.

Disappointing, really. This class will be my nightmare. The object of my eternal misery unless they pull up their socks and improve.

2N1: I am confining all of you on Monday, to complete your Comprehension test-paper and also to start and finish your Composition test-paper. I don't know how I can finish marking them by Friday. If it's impossible, we'll exchange papers and mark each other's work. Absentees on Monday will be awarded ZERO mark.

Back to school...

2006-09-21T23:59:00.000+08:00

I went back to school today, to administer the Music Fest presentation with the Sec 3NT classes. I was shocked that one of the classes (3T2) had not had a proper lesson, so I got them to fill out the Music Fest forms, to plan their presentation.

3T1 was more prepared, and I had two groups presenting their items. Not too bad, although one student chose to be a 'sleeping member' (supporter). I told that group that I would give them another chance, but all the members would have to contribute.

By afternoon, I was super-exhausted. Strange, because I thought I had rested enough. I guess my system had not settled down yet. I drove carefully home (I didn't go for INTUNE choir-practice tonight), and I almost crashed into the car in front of me. Lucky for my emergency-brake. Phew!

I didn't tell my mom about the near-accident. But I got this feeling that she knew something was wrong. I told her that it was supposed to be my off-day until Friday, and she scolded me for going to work.

She's supportive and proud of my sense of responsibility, but she's more concerned about my welfare. As it is, I had been working 12-hour shifts for the past two weeks, and I was still under the jurisdiction of the Singapore Police Force until Friday. If the Police were to find out that I went to work today, I could have got into trouble with them.

My mom gave an analogy. If we take MC, we must stay at home and not go out gallivanting, just in case our workplace calls home to spot-check on us. Similarly, an off-day is considered 'leave from work', so I can do anything BUT go to work.

Sigh. She has a point there... I'll call the school tomorrow morning, and ask the staff to arrange for a relief-teacher for me.

Swim swim... and what's happening in school

2006-09-19T13:46:00.000+08:00

Just got back from a nice one-hour swim at Bedok Swimming Complex. Yeah, my first swim since God-knows-when. Several months, I think. Haven't swum since... hmm... February, before I went on Teaching Practicum at Anglican High School. *Hey, AHS!*

Anyway, I got myself a nice tan now, while doing my 12 laps. 12 slow laps... no big deal, yes. But it's sufficient to get the arms and pectorals aching slightly. Good sign that the muscles are activated. Woohoo! (Wayne and Jiajun: You can punch me again soon. *laugh*)

The Water-Baby is back! Hahaha! Let me find some time to take my Kayakking 2-Star, and try out Dragon-boating again. My goodness, I've not touched water-sports since last year! Ackk...

Anyway, what's happened since my last posting? Well, I visited Broadrick on Friday, to find that there's a relief-teacher for all my classes. Thank goodness! He's Mr Yassin, who left teaching after several years as a Head of Department (CCA, I think) at two schools in Western Singapore. He commands respect, yes, but his style is a bit too relaxed for my liking. He even said that I was 'tense'! I took offence to that, of course, but I am worried that the English classes may not be sufficiently prepared for the exams, so any teacher can see why I am upset when my classes are taken lightly.

The N-level English results for Broadrick has always been astounding for the past few years, with 99% passes or so. The O-level English results are not that good, at around 80+%, which is pretty good too.

2N1, 2N2: Please pay attention to the style of questions I have prepared in the Comprehension and Free-Writing (Composition) re-tests. Those are actually Sec 3 Special/Express standard, which is roughly around the standard which you would be facing for the final-year examinations. Yes, those papers were the actual papers which I sat for when I was in Sec 3.

Don't worry too much though. If you stay calm, and analyse the passages and questions, you should not encounter major problems. Good luck to you all! :)

Disappointed!

2006-09-14T00:21:00.000+08:00

Disappointed! Upset! Pissed! Furious!

Those are the emotions I'm feeling now.

I'm currently serving my reservist-duty with the Singapore Police Force, for the International Monetary Fund (IMF)/ World Bank Group meetings for these two weeks. My team has been working 12-hour shifts (even more), and most of us are already exhausted.

I asked a random student in my classes, and imagine my chagrin/shock. None of the lessons which I had prepared for my two-week absence was carried out in class! I panicked. I asked another student. Same thing! I asked what was carried out during Music class then. 'Free period', the student said.

WHAT ON EARTH! To think that I spent the blooming one-week September break preparing lessons for those two weeks, and NONE was carried out?

I made a call to one of my colleagues, who's in charge of timetabling (including relief-duties). I asked him what happened. He told me that the relief-teacher who was supposed to take over my lessons bailed out after one day. No other relief-teacher had stepped in since.

So who comes into my classes then? 'Our own teachers' was the reply, obviously referring to them babysitting the classes.

I explained to him that I had spent a lot of time preparing the lessons, and I'd expect the relief-teachers to give out the worksheets, EVEN IF they do not carry out the lessons. I only have one Comprehension test, and one Composition Test (Week 2). No-brainer task. Give out the papers, and invigilate. The materials are neatly printed, stapled and compiled, and inserted into separate folders on my table.

Idiot-proof stuff. Why can't they share my vision of encouraging the best out of the students? The lesson-plan is very straight-forward, and I intentionally left behind my record-book to facilitate this.

One week has gone. I am weary. I feel like crying. No, not because I'm weak. Because I feel sorry for the students. They come to school to study, and they get shortchanged because some of the staff thought that there was no work to be done.

Hello! Two weeks! 7 periods of lessons per class per week. Total = 28 periods! Am I supposed to hold them back after school when I return to work on the 25th of September? It's bad enough that most of them failed English last term, and my papers are meant to push up their grade.

Really. I'm close to kicking someone's face now...

Study: Teacher's gender affects learning

2006-09-02T10:55:00.000+08:00

I received this via email from one of the INTUNErs. I wonder how true it is...

---

By BEN FELLER, AP Education Writer Sun Aug 27, 11:55 AM ET

WASHINGTON - For all the differences between the sexes, here's one that
might stir up debate in the teacher's lounge: Boys learn more from men and girls
learn more from women.

That's the upshot of a provocative study by Thomas Dee, an associate professor
of economics at Swarthmore College and visiting scholar at Stanford University.
His study was to appear Monday in Education Next, a quarterly journal
published by the Hoover Institution.

Vetted and approved by peer reviewers, Dee's research faces a fight for
acceptance. Some leading education advocates dispute his conclusions and the
way in which he reached them.

But Dee says his research supports his point, that gender matters when it comes
to learning. Specifically, as he describes it, having a teacher of the opposite sex
hurts a student's academic progress.

"We should be thinking more carefully about why," he said.

Dee warns against drawing fast conclusions based on his work. He is not
endorsing single-sex education, or any other policy.

Rather, he hopes his work will spur more research into gender's effect and what
to do about it.

His study comes as the proportion of male teachers is at its lowest level in 40
years. Roughly 80 percent of teachers in U.S. public schools are women.

Dee's study is based on a nationally representative survey of nearly 25,000
eighth-graders that was conducted by the Education Department in 1988. Though
dated, the survey is the most comprehensive look at students in middle school,
when gender gaps emerge, Dee said.

He examined test scores as well as self-reported perceptions by teachers and
students.

Dee found that having a female teacher instead of a male teacher raised the
achievement of girls and lowered that of boys in science, social studies and
English.

Looked at the other way, when a man led the class, boys did better and girls did
worse.

The study found switching up teachers actually could narrow achievement gaps
between boys and girls, but one gender would gain at the expense of the other.

Dee also contends that gender influences attitudes.

For example, with a female teacher, boys were more likely to be seen as
disruptive. Girls were less likely to be considered inattentive or disorderly.

In a class taught by a man, girls were more likely to say the subject was not useful
for their future. They were less likely to look forward to the class or to ask
questions.

Dee said he isolated a teacher's gender as an influence by accounting for several
other factors that could affect student performance. But his study is sure to be
scrutinized.

"The data, as he presents them, are far from convincing," said Marcia
Greenberger, co-president of the National Women's Law Center, which works
to advance the progress of women.

Greenberger said she found Dee's conclusions to be questionable and
inconsistent. More broadly, she said, boys and girls benefit by having male and
female teachers as role models.

"I don't think there are many parents or students, looking back over their
educational careers, who haven't been inspired by a teacher of the opposite sex,"
she said.

"And many have had very unhappy experiences with teachers of the same gender
that they are. We have to be careful of too many generalizations," Greenberger
said.

Student success cannot be narrowed to the gender of the teacher, said Reg
Weaver, president of the National Education Association, the country's largest
teachers' union.

Experienced teachers, good textbooks, smaller class sizes and modern equipment
all influence how boys and girls do in class, Weaver said.

"Students benefit by having exposure to teachers who look like them, who can
identify with their culture ... but this is just one variable among many," Weaver
said.

Dee said his research raises valid questions.

Should teachers get more training about the learning styles of boys and girls?
Should they be taught to combat biases in what they expect of boys and girls?

In the nature-nurture debate, he said, teacher gender belongs.

"Some people will react strongly to this," he said. "But I've taken pains to explain
that we need to be cautious about drawing policy conclusions. As provocative as
this all might seem, I really haven't gotten that much negative feedback."

Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon?

2006-09-01T15:14:00.000+08:00

Anyone wanna go for Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon? I'm thinking of going for the 10km run. Today's the last day for early-bird registration ($10 off!). Get back to me soon. I should be registering by tonight...

Happy Teachers' Day to all!

2006-09-01T11:42:00.000+08:00

Yesterday was Teachers' Day, and today I slept in all the way till almost 11am. Hahaha! Such luxury! :D

For yesterday's celebration, I wore my newly-bought GQ shirt which had a silk-like finish and embroidered design at the bottom-front-right side. I didn't have time to iron the shirt, so it was slightly crumpled. In my haste to rush out of the house, I forgot to apply a dollop of wax to my hair, so my hair was more-or-less au-naturale, with minimum static due to some water and combing. I was slightly worried, as my hair is actually brown, due to my dying the hair last year. I managed to cover it up well with the hair-wax. But now, without the wax.... let's hope nobody noticed...

Anyway, the Music Room aircon was still down, due to some water-leak or something like that, which was causing the aircon to trip. My two Music lessons were in the heat, and I forced the students to help me open the quarter-vent windows and door. Just my luck not to have proper windows in that Music Room. No fan too! Ugh!

Broadrick celebrated The New Paper's "Be Yourself" Day at the same time. The students were allowed to be dressed in their Sunday-attire, whereas the teachers could come in smart-casual wear. (I decided against wearing my low-waist jeans, in case I attracted unnecessary attention. I stuck to my dress-pants instead.)

The students were dressed to their nines, and I even joked about them going to Orchard after dismissal. Some were actually, while the rest told me that they would be heading to Bugis or Suntec. How convenient. Those two shopping-centres were a 10-minute bus-ride away. :)

Gifts... Oh yes! I got tonnes of gifts from all the darlings in my 15 classes. These include flowers (real and artificial), pens, food, etc etc. I was really touched, and I would like to thank them all, from the bottom of my heart. One girl teasingly wrote this on the wrapping "Mr Nizam >.< the Simon Cowell of Singapore. Happy Teacher's (sic) Day". Gee! Me? Simon Cowell? One girl told me that I was rather sarcastic during English class, and now Simon Cowell? What next? Ken Lim? *LOL* But hey, being compared to such celebrities, I'm very flattered actually. Thanks, girls! :)

For the Teachers' Day concert, I went MIA (missing in action) for a bit of the time, because I was rehearsing for my item with the School Choir. The girls were singing Memories (from 'Cats') and The Prayer (by Andrea Bocelli, also redone by Celine, Josh Groban, Charlotte Church, etc etc). As I had sung The Prayer with Singapore Men's Chorus last December, I informed Angila (the conductor) that I would love to join them and sing with the girls. (Yes, Broadrick Choir is an all-girls choir in a co-ed school. Ironical eh?) Fortunately, the arrangement I had was in the same key as the arrangement which the girls had, so I didn't need to transpose keys, etc. The rehearsal went fine, and all of us were ready...

For the actual performance of 'Memories', the microphones were turned low, so much of the singing didn't go through the speakers. When I came on the stage for 'The Prayer', I used one of the microphones and asked the AVA crew to turn up the mic's, which they did, thankfully. The Prayer was heavenly, as I was singing in harmony with my two powerhouses from the Soprano and Alto sections, backed up by the rest of the choir. Oh yes, Catherine (the pianist) sight-read the piano-accompaniment for the Tenor-Bass (TTBB) arrangement, and she was glad that she did, as the soloists were able to sing in time.

The audience clearly enjoyed our rendition of The Prayer, and we received thunderous applause. I saw some students giving the thumbs-up in the audience, and I returned them with one too, and a smile and wink. :)

What a day! Thank you, Broadrick students, for a wonderful day. Love you all... :)

2006-08-27T20:34:00.000+08:00

Panda sneeze shocker

This is so cute! *laughs*

TPJC's 20th Anniversary Dinner

2006-08-27T15:36:00.000+08:00

I went to Tampines Junior College's 20th Anniversary Dinner yesterday night, with some friends.

(L->R) Siti Zaleha, Faizah, Mdm Rosemah (Malay teacher at TPJC), Suryani and Faridah

I was not exactly Mdm Rosemah's student, as I dropped Malay, but I remember her being a very motherly teacher, and it was really nice talking to her. To add on to that, she has to be one of the few certified teacher-bilinguists in Singapore. She can effectively teach in English and Malay, but she chose to teach Malay.

Oh yes, we caught up with other people whom we knew too. :)

(Front L->R) Del Rasouli, Low Soo Ching
(Back L->R) Nizam (me!), Lindy Chia, Jessica Chen, Meiling, Mrs Tay Boey Yiong (Further Maths teacher), Siti Zaleha, Faizah

Mrs Tay was my Further Maths teacher, and I was her Maths rep. Yeah, I embarrassed her once by being the only person who failed a Maths test from my class. Eeps! But I learnt a lot from her, and her Statistics methods are really great! Oh, she asked me to request to return to TPJC and teach Maths. I was thinking... can I start a Music class there instead? Since TPJC does have a niche in the Arts? :D

I played the baritone-saxophone with the TPJC alumni-band that night. We played Killing Me Softly and Latin Gold (comprising of Tequila, La Bamba and another song), and also the College Song. The MC, AB Shaik (a TPJC alumnus from the radio station, Warna 94.2FM) cut short our College song, got everyone in the audience to stand up, and sing. Oh yes, we played the second time too, at a faster speed. Eeps!

Anyway, I arranged the college-song the night before, according to the correct key of D Major(not conveniently transposed to a higher key of E-flat Major, as what was done by the band previously). The scores to that version was missing, so I was asked to re-transcribe it for the band. The band-members were complaining before that, but I was glad that they tried their best to iron out the 4-5 sharps, and double-sharps in their scores. In short, they played REALLY WELL! Congratulations, TPJC Alumni-Band! :D

The whole event ended at about 11pm. What a tiring day...

Rude and Recalcitrant Students

2006-08-24T21:10:00.000+08:00

Two incidents within two days.

First, I made a face (not a rude face, but an amused face) to a student who was talking to one of the teachers. The girl actually stopped her conversation and told me "Don't interrupt when I'm talking to Cikgu".

I was taken aback. The Cikgu (teacher in Malay) reproached her gently, reminding her that I was a teacher, so that was not the tone to be used on me. The girl didn't respond, and chose to ignore me, so I remark "Memang tak masuk ajar" (definitely ill-mannered, compared to 'Kurang ajar' = insolent due to lack of education).

I told that girl's friends that I would be expecting an apology from her. If she doesn't come forward with the apology, I would make a fuss, and demand a public-apology in front of the whole school. (To that girl: You know whom you are. I don't take these behaviour, ignoring your misbehaviour.)

On to the second incident...

I did experiential learning with my two English classes. For the first class, it got off to a slow start, but I managed to get the whole class to blindfold themselves and follow the trail led by me, letting them pretend that they were taking a walk in the pitch-dark jungle.

For the second class (the so-called better class), the students never got further than 5 metres from the classroom. The whole time, the students were laughing and teasing each other. Right until bell rang. I shouted (in the corridor), telling them to return to class.

I yelled at them in the class, demanding what was the problem. It was a simple 15-minute activity, yet people took their own sweet time, having no sense of urgency. I went on, reminding them that they were not geniuses, so they should quit behaving as if they were. I would be carrying out the Blind-Man's Trail again on Friday, and if they persist in misbehaving, I would not hesitate on carrying out the lesson at the basketball court, despite the blazing sun between 11.20am and 12.30pm.

That class was stunned and remained quiet. Yes, for once, THAT lot of recalcitrant students actually obeyed and kept quiet.

I marched out of the door, slamming the door behind me. Without thanking them.

The next two periods were Music lessons with two Normal-Technical classes. They saw my black face, were about to ask, when I told them that I had just scolded the previous class, and I was in the mood to kill someone, so nobody should test their luck with me.

Once again, I got complete co-operation from those two classes, which I usually never did.

Public caning - a point of view from an observer

2006-08-15T16:00:00.000+08:00

I witnessed my first public-caning of a student today. Semi-public, rather, as it was done in class, and not on stage. I'm sure some of you may have seen the caning-scene in Jack Neo's "I Not Stupid 2" movie.

Personally, I was rather traumatised. Much that I tried not to be too affected by it, but I can't. My own conscience was nagging at me. "Is the student alright? Can he sit down properly without wincing in pain?"

I was relieved that sitting down was not an issue with that boy, and he tried his best to smile. BUT I detected the look of hurt in his eyes. Yes, that emotional pain which he kept hidden.

Hidden from most people. Except me (perhaps some other people too). I can see people's innermost feelings. I've had that 'gift' since young. My specialty is reading people's body-language and interpreting what's going through their minds.

People have deceived me time and again. I know, but I don't want to make it an issue. I am not naive, though I am good at pretending to be 'blur'. You can lie to me, but I can see if and when you are lying. You can say something, but I'd know if you mean something else. I pretend to play along with people's words, but I empathise with them.

Sympathy (feeling sorry for someone) is over-rated. I gave up sympathising long ago. Empathy (feeling someone's emotions) is part of my emotional structure now. If someone feels happy, I share their happiness. If anyone is miserable, I dare say that my heart cries out to them, and I may even shed a tear or two.

So what went on in that young student's mind? What about that pain which I saw written across his face? Mixed emotions actually. Hurt and anger for being humiliated in public, fear for possible future punishment, and regret for his wrongdoing.

"Spare the rod and spoil the child." That's a common proverb practised by the previous generation. Meaning, punishment is part and parcel of education and discipline. I hope the student (and the other students in the class) learnt their lesson. Such punishments are usually 'prescribed' if countless reminders and advice have fallen to deaf ears. In other words, you brought the punishment upon yourselves, not that we wanted to give it to you.

Educators (myself included) dislike meting such punishments to students, but as it's a good deterrent, I guess punishment may really be necessary in some cases. For educators, punishments can only affect our karma and mood for the rest of the day. That is why many of us try to keep our cool as far as possible. If we do lose our temper and scold students, that is simply because we care. We can always ignore your attention-seeking attempts, but that would not help you prepare yourself to face the harsh world out there, would it?

This entry was written (typed) with the hope that I could lift the burden from my conscience.

To that student, I do wish that you can behave better now. Change for yourself, not for others, or for fear of punishment.

To all my students (past, present and future), pause, think and reflect on whatever I have just shared, and pen your thoughts in your own journals.

Sheila Majid's Legenda Concert at Esplanade Concert Hall

2006-08-12T23:59:00.000+08:00

I watched Sheila Majid's 20th year anniversary in the singing-industry sold-out concert with several Music classmates (Shahril, Irda and Sherine, and some of their friends).

The Queen of Jazz from Malaysia had not lost her touch at all! She sang a total of 40 songs or so (which she informed the audience at the start of the concert), including some songs by her idol Stevie Wonder.

The concert was pushed back to 10pm, due to the finale of the Singapore Fireworks Festivals held at Esplanade (9-9.15pm). Sheila was really amusing, and assumed that the fireworks were meant to welcome her. (That might have been true, you know!)

The thing which I found intriguing was her musicians' skills. Her husband, Acis, was her Music Director, and playing the 1st keyboards. As for the other musicians, Irda (my classmate) had informed me earlier that many of them (including Acis) graduated from Berklee School of Music in the US! Wow! That could explain the wonderful chord-changes and polyphonic tonal-patterns.

For the first half, Sheila was dressed in a golden-yellow gown with a toga-top, and released her beautiful straight hair. (Hmm... Rebond Girl?) For the second half, she donned a black gown, and her hair was tied up in a bun.

The Legenda concert ended at about 1.20am, and she was scheduled to conduct autograph-signing of her CDs directly after. The queue was really long, and many people were waiting in anticipation. This, in spite of the late hour.

I was too tired by then, so I took a cab home, leaving my bag and other stuff in Irda's car. I'll get it from her on Sunday. :)

Vox Camerata presents "Musica Intimae", 10th August 2006, Esplanade Recital Studio, 7.30pm

2006-08-10T19:30:00.000+08:00

My debut concert with Vox Camerata, as seen from the beautiful poster above. It's effectively an a capella concert at the Esplanade Recital Studio, with a repertoire ranging from odes to the evening all the way till nocturnal dance-y numbers.

Date: 10 August 2006 (the evening after National Day)
Time: 7.30pm (1930 hours)
Venue: Esplanade Recital Studio
Ticket-Price: $15

Drop me a line on my tagboard or email me at nizam.music@gmail.com if you would like to order tickets... (PS: Tickets are sold out! But there may be extras! Email me if you wish to be in the waiting-list!)

Repertoire:-
First Half
1. Abendlied (Josef Rhienberger)
2. Kyrie, from the Cantus Missæ (Josef Rhienberger)
3. Abendlich schon rausht der Wald (Fanny Hansel – Mendelssohn)
4. Quant j'ai ouy le tabourin (Claude Debussy)
5. Dieu! qu'il la fait bon regarder! (Claude Debussy)
6. Calme Des Nuits (Camille Saint-Saëns)
7. Ô Nuit ( Jean-Philippe Rameau)
8. 73157 (Joseph Gentry Stephens)
9. My Epitath (Jonathan Adams)
10. Lullaby, My Sweet Baby (William Byrd)
11. Evening (Arthur Sullivan)
12. The Morris Dance (Charles Villiers Stanford)

Second Half
13. Dahil Sa'yo (Arr. Fabian Obispo)
14. On Suuri Sun Rantas ( arr. Shahril Salleh)
15. Chiisana Sora (Toru Takemitsu)
16. Beauty (Joseph Twist)
17. Wandering (Joseph Twist)
18. Past Life Melodies (Sarah Hopkins)
19. Riawanna (Stephen Leek)
20. Verano Porteño (Oscar Escalada)
21. Hine E Hine (Tim Hamilton)
22. Prayer before Sleep (from the Talmud Suite) (Sid Robinovitch)
23. Lullaby (Lloyd Vick)

Another new toy... Nokia N73... :D

2006-08-06T20:05:00.000+08:00

I went to M1 Shop at Parkway Parade with Rizal today, to buy myself a Nokia N73 handphone after trading in my Nokia 6680. Yeah, the 6680 was driving me nuts with the frequent hangings and slow interface.

Comparatively, the white/mocha-brown N73 is really gorgeous! The resolution is really sharp and having a 3.2 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens is definitely a convenient substitute for my trusty Olympus digicam. :)

Rizal and I went across the road to the push-cart stall nearest to the traffic-light opposite Parkway Parade. We bought the crystal-cases and screen-protectors for the N73. (Rizal bought one set for his sister's N73, whereas I bought one for mine) We then went to Burger King to have a light lunch, and tried the screen-protector for size. Darn! The screen-protector's too small!

We trekked back to the stall, and we had a mildly-heated exchange of words with the sellers. The sellers claimed that it was the correct size as stated by the manufacturer, while Rizal and I pointed out that the correct size would fit the screen nicely, not with a 1mm border.

The sellers tested using a 2.0" Digicam screen-protector, and it fitted nicely! However, they claimed that I'd need to fork out an additional $4 to make up for the difference in price! Also, they claimed that the screen-protector which I had torn from the cover cannot be exchanged as it was opened before that (although I did not even place the plastic onto my phone yet!).

Rizal and I were very flabbergasted, and decided not to let the owners earn the additional $4, so we took the smaller-sized screen-protectors and left, vowing not to patronise that shop in the future.

Joke: Nuns and the Vampire

2006-08-02T18:00:00.000+08:00

I heard this joke on Jean and Rod's Cartunes on Class 95 on Wednesday evening...

---

Two nuns were driving in their car when suddenly a vampire landed on the nuns' windshield (front window).

Nun 1 (driving): Quick, show him your cross!

Nun 2 (passenger) rolled down her window, stuck her head out of the window, and yelled at the vampire: Get off the windshield!

---

Hilarious! :D

I've got my CCA! :)

2006-07-29T23:00:00.000+08:00

I went to Broadrick at noon today to collect the drum which needed repair, and bumped into the HOD PE/CCA. He informed me that he had allocated me Choir, and assist Ms Kim Huang.

Wonderful! Why? Because the choir is pretty good. A bit of encouragement would be sufficient to get the kids to excel. Oh yes, and I do need to cajole some boys to join the choir too. Currently, it's a girls' choir.

Shouldn't be a problem. :)

Violent kids

2006-07-28T23:59:00.000+08:00

Let me recapitulate what I said about Normal Technical kids. They are driven people, yes. But there are some who can be rather violent and rowdy.

Just this week alone, I found two items in my music room broken. The skins of one snare-drum, and one mallet (for the Orff xylophone). And it was exactly after my music lessons with two NT classes.

I've already nagged at one of the classes, and told them to own up, or the whole class would pitch in and repair the cost of replacing the drum-skins. I've not informed the other class yet, but the form-teacher informed me that I could get the Design&Technology (D&T) instructors (read: lab-technicians) to fix the mallet.

There goes my hope of starting the N-level Music course in Broadrick. I feel that the kids are seriously not ready yet...

Performance: INTUNE (25-26 June 2006)

2006-07-25T19:30:00.000+08:00

INTUNE (or NIE Alumni-Choir) performs at Esplanade Concourse (the area between the Concert Hall and Theatre) this Tuesday and Wednesday between 7 and 9pm. There are two performances per day at about 7.30pm and 8.30pm. Do come and watch us if you can find the time! :)

Oh yes, it's a free performance! :)

Repertoire includes:-
(1) Prayer for the Children
(2) Ecce Homo (theme-song for Mr Bean)
(3) Happy Together (remember the beer-advertisement starring Jennifer Aniston?)
(4) Follow That Star

Two new toys this week! :D

2006-07-22T23:59:00.000+08:00

Bought two new toys this week. A Yamaha PSR410 keyboard, and a 4G iPod. Both are secondhand, but hey, if the deal's good, I don't see why I'd have to splurge more for a first-hand. :D

Broadrick kids will enjoy a bit of music when I plug in the iPod in class in the future. Tada! :D

Calling for TPJC graduates who can play musical instruments

2006-07-22T12:00:00.000+08:00

Dear all,

The TPJC Alumni-Band is anxiously seeking more players for its upcoming performance on 26 August 2006 at the 20th Anniversary Dinner, and for its year-end concert on 29th of December.

For the August gig, we'd be playing light pieces suitable for the dinner.

For the December performance, it may be the last performance for the TPJC Alumni-Band, as the band may have to wind up, due to poor interest and attendance. As it is, Dr Lee Tian Tee had agreed to conduct some pieces (Carmina Burana, Impressions of Japan), and it's expected to be his last concert with TPJC Alumni-Band. (His last concert with the TPJC Band (the existing one formed with JC1/JC2 students) would be on 29th of July.)...

Do come back and play with us. It may be our last performance together. Let's all put our playing skills together and do our best!

For more info, do join tpjcalumniband Yahoogroup.

See you at the next practice this Saturday morning, 10am-12pm! :)

~Nizam~

I attempted the Double Bass at NIE Band practice!

2006-07-21T11:59:00.000+08:00

I went for NIE Band practice and I challenged myself to join in the band-practice without warming up on the double-bass in the instrument storage room. Needless to say, my playing sounded really thin, my fingers ached very soon after, and I stumbled on various plucked-string (pizzicato) sections.

Sigh! Time to practise my fingering and playing before practices from next week onwards. Oh well...

I have graduated from NIE!

2006-07-13T23:50:00.000+08:00

Today was my Teachers' Investiture at Nanyang Auditorium, NTU.

Gosh, I am so going to miss my classmates. Really missing them now actually. Sigh...

Here are some photos taken at the event...

Ann G and Me. We did our School Experience together at Chai Chee Secondary, and Practicum at Anglican High School. She's at another school now though. :)

Amy, Me and Haryati - the three Malay musketeers in Maths class. We share a common dislike for a particular person too. We won't disclose whom he/she is... :D

Elsa, Me, Ruth and Lisa. The rest are Literature and English majors, but all of us are teaching either English or General Paper now. Oh yes, we were all from at least one of the Raffles schools. We were missing Joanne, another of the girls' classmates, who had to rush off after the ceremony.

Some of the people from Music class.

Some of the people from Maths class.

Avin, Chai Leng and Me. We were the habitual latecomers to Maths class. Yeah, all three of us used to take turns to be mildly late, and super-late. Yeah! Loser! Whatever! :P

VJC Piano Ensemble Performance

2006-07-05T00:00:00.000+08:00

Mrs Audrey Soh (VJC Music teacher and my NIE Music classmate) sent me this email. Do email your orders to me at nizam.music@gmail.com, and I'll forward your orders to her.

Anybody wanna go watch? I'll be going down... :)

~~~

Victoria Junior College will be holding its annual Piano Ensemble performance on
Friday 7 July at 7.30pm in the Performance Theatre. Tickets at $10 are available
to students and teachers alike.

If you are keen to attend the performance, kindly email me with your name, the name of your school, and the number of tickets you wish to have by Wed 5 July.

I will set them aside, ready for your collection at the front of house.
Kindly bring along the payment in cash (exact amount, please).

Looking forward to seeing you and to your kind support.

Focus on Problems vs. Focus on Solutions

2006-07-03T11:59:00.000+08:00

I got this via email this morning. Let's all think creatively, instead of being rigid, ya! :)

~~~

One of the most memorable case studies on Japanese management was the
case of the empty soap box, which happened in one of Japan's biggest
cosmetics companies. The company received a complaint that a customer
had bought a soap box that was empty.

Immediately the authorities isolated the problem to the assembly line,
which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery
department. For some reason, one soap box went through the assembly
line empty. Management asked its engineers to solve the problem.

Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with
high-resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soap
boxes that passed through the line to make sure they were not empty.

No doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast but they spent whoopee
amount to do so.

But when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was posed with the
same problem, did not get into complications of X-rays, etc but instead
came out with another solution. He bought a strong industrial electric
fan and pointed it at the assembly line. He switched the fan on, and as
each soap box passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes out of the
line.

Moral of the story: KISS (Keep It Simple,Stupid) i.e. always look for
simple solutions. Devise the simplest possible solution that solves the
problem.

When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that
the pens wouldn't work at zero gravity (Ink won't flow down to the
writing surface).In order to solve this problem, it took them one decade
and $12 million. They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity,
upside down, underwater, in practically any surface including crystal
and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C.
And what did Russians do??

The Russians used a Pencil!

So, learn to focus on solutions not on problems, "If you look at what
you do not have in life, you don't have anything," ... "If you look at
what you have in life, you have everything."

I watched "Superman Returns"!

2006-07-02T23:59:00.000+08:00

I just caught "Superman Returns" with Shahril, Sin Huay and Evonne (from Vox Camerata) at GV Marina at 8.40pm. We actually wanted to catch the digital version of the movie, but the online-booking site didn't specify that the digital movie would be on at 9.15pm. Oh well, shucks!

"Superman Returns" is pretty good actually. Well, I like action-flicks, with tonnes of visual effects, and the movie really satiated my appetite there. The music was pretty good too!

Oh yes, the fear of any musician out there... when an impressive, expensive instrument gets destroyed. There's one scene where one of the props was a near-$150K Steinway grand-piano. That piano was destroyed soon after. AAARGH!!! :S

For those expecting to see Brandon Routh's (Superman's) highly-publicised size of family-jewels, rest assured that the production spent several million dollars touching-up, so the final product is clean and not provocative. Hey, "Superman Returns" is not meant to be a porn-flick, for goodness sake! The storyline is good enough! :)

Do watch out for the twist in the storyline somewhere near the middle of the movie. Oh yes, the movie is 2.5 hours long, so do clear your bowels and bladder before you proceed into the theatre.

If you are very bored, do go to the following website for the online-game for "Superman Returns". The objective is to prevent the 'Daily Planet' globe from falling onto the ground, but Superman has to avoid all the Kryptonite fragments. Have fun! :)
http://www.miniclip.com/superman/superman.php

Speed Reading

2006-07-02T07:34:00.000+08:00

I got this via email from Rizal. Do read, think and reflect... :)

(Actually, I did this sometime back in Sec 1 English. Not exactly the same, but something similar, about selectively choosing words instead of reading the whole sentence to get its meaning.)

~~~

This is one of the many tricks to speed reading. They teach you to look at the frsit & lsat letetr of a word and your brain will fill in the rest. Pretty cool. If you can read this, you have a strange mind too. Can you raed tihs?

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

KOMO The Silent Killer Inflammatory Breast Cancer

2006-06-29T20:14:00.000+08:00

I received this via email today. Quite disturbing. Girls (and guys), do spend a bit of to time to read the article...

~~~~~

The Silent Killer: Inflammatory Breast Cancer

May 7, 2006

By Michelle Esteban

SEATTLE - Breast cancer is something women think they know all about: Look for lumps; have mammograms; see our doctors.

But none of that will save you from one silent breast cancer killer that women know virtually nothing about.

It's called "inflammatory breast cancer," and it's something every woman must know about.

Nancy Key didn't know.

"I was furious and at the same time, terrified that I was going to die, 'cause I didn't know," she said.

What Marilyn Willingham didn't know, killed her.

"She smiled and took a breath and went to sleep," says Phil Willingham, Marilyn's husband.

And Kristine Turck didn't know.

"It's gonna be a tough fight," says Kristine.

They didn't know there was more than one kind of breast cancer.

They didn't know they could get breast cancer without a lump.

They didn't know a mammogram would not detect this kind of breast cancer.

They didn't know Inflammatory Breast Cancer - or IBC - is the most aggressive form of breast cancer.

They didn't know, until they got it.

Almost Never A Tell-Tale Lump

"How can I have something when I go to the doctor every year, I do self breast exams every month and what is this? Why am I surprised?" asks Nancy.

We've all been taught the same thing when it comes to breast cancer -- we look for a lump. But when it comes to IBC, forget that! You won't find a lump.

"Inflammatory breast cancer almost always presents itself without a lump," says Breast Cancer Specialist Dr. Julie Gralow.

Inflammatory breast cancer appears in sheets of cancer, or what doctors call cancer nests. The cancer clogs breast tissue vessels.

"If I had heard of it prior, I probably would have been more suspect that something was wrong rather than just young and dumb," says Kristine Turck.

Kristine was just 37 when she was diagnosed with IBC, three years away from the recommended age to start mammograms.

Patti Bradfield can never forget the day her daughter Kristine told her.

"I have the kind that I'm gonna die," says Patti Bradfield.

Patti had never heard of IBC either.

"Ignorance is causing death," says Bradfield.

Getting The Word Out

Patti is determined to warn every woman she meets.

"Have you heard of inflammatory breast cancer?" Bradfield asks a woman walking by on a Kirkland street corner. "I'm not trying to sell anything. My daughter has stage 4 and I'm just trying to alert women."

She stopped 46 people on that corner, and 42 never heard of IBC.

"Oh my God, I never even heard of it, thank you for the information," says a young mother.

"The interesting thing is most women have never heard about IBC and most physicians heard about it in med school but never have seen a case," says Dr. Gralow.

Nancy and Marilyn's doctors told them they had bug bites on their breasts and prescribed antibiotics. By the time Marilyn was diagnosed, she was stage 4 and the cancer was everywhere.

"I never dealt with stages of cancer, I didn't know there wasn't a stage 5," says a dumfounded Bradfield.

Know The Symptoms

Andi was just 16 when she died from IBC. She was too embarrassed to tell her mother her breast looked funny. It was slightly enlarged and her nipple was inverted -classic IBC symptoms.

Other symptoms include: rapid increase in breast size, redness, skin hot to the touch, persistent itching, an orange peel texture to the breast and thickening of breast tissue.

"It's important to understand your breast, no one knows your breasts better than you," advices Dr. Gralow.

"It doesn't happen very often so there isn't as much awareness about it," says Lynn Hagerman, Executive Director of the Susan G. Komen Foundation's Puget Sound Affiliate. IBC accounts for about 6% of all invasive breast cancer cases.

Lynn Hagerman runs the local chapter of the Susan G. Komen Foundation. With their pink ribbons and messaging heard nationwide, they are the undisputed leader in breast cancer awareness.

In 20 years the foundation's work has helped boost survival rates from 75% to 95%.

"One in 8 women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime," says Hagerman.

Hard To Find IBC Information

She admits with all the emphasis on a lump, inflammatory breast cancer patients may not get enough warning. In fact, it's hard to find information on IBC even on the Komen Web site.

IBC survivors say that and not being included in awareness campaigns makes them feel left out.

"It's all about them, it's not about the good for everyone else," says Turck.

And, survivors tell KOMO 4 when they were diagnosed, they called Cancer Centers and couldn't get help.

So, we called four cancer help lines in Seattle, and 3 out of 4 didn't know about IBC.

"It stands for Inflammatory Breast Cancer, 3 separate words," I tell one center.

Even when I spelled it out, they still didn't know.

"I just want to be sure, I called the resource desk at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, is that right?" I asked.

When her own helpline didn't know, that shocked Dr. Gralow.

"Wow... which means we have education of our own staff to do," admits Dr. Gralow.

More Money Going To Research

All the cancer centers do a good job creating breast cancer awareness, but more information on IBC will help to ensure that women know what to look for.

Dr. Gralow assured us that the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance is spending research dollars on IBC. Komen says it is too.

Dr. Gralow is also working with the National Cancer Institute and will participate in the " State of Science" conference to be held next April in Bethesda, Maryland. She says IBC is on the agenda.

Since our initial report, the Susan G. Komen Foundation told KOMO 4 News they need to do a better job with IBC awareness and that they're redesigning their Web site and creating a better search engine to make all information, including IBC more accessible.

The best way to detect IBC is to know the warning signs and ask for an MRI or a biopsy for detection.

For More Information:

IBCResearch.org -- or 1-877-STOP-IBC

www.ibcsupport.org

IBC Association

www.ibcmemorial.org

www.y-me.org

www.cancer.org

Seattle Cancer Care Alliance

National Cancer Institute -- www.nci.nih.gov

www.mayoclinic.com

Susan G. Komen Foundation

www.youngsurvival.org

You can also watch a Windows Media Version of our story at this link, for those whose computers are not compatible with our main Web video player.

On reservist-course this week...

2006-06-26T20:31:00.000+08:00

This was meant to be my first week of school, but I'd been called up for a reservist-course to prepare the NSmen for recall during the IMF-WorldBank conference in September.

So yeah, I'm effectively missing school now. But no, I didn't actually shake legs prior to this. I had done up a whole set of lessons for the 15 Music classes, and submitted my record-book and CDR (containing video-clips and PowerPoint presentations for the lessons) to Mdm Rohani (the teacher-in-charge of timetabling at Broadrick) last Friday.

What about English? Well, I didn't actually have my Scheme Of Work and textbooks yet, so I couldn't plan anything. However, I think Ms Mastura would be taking over the classes while I'm gone. :)

Singapore Men's Chorus's "Love's Journey"

2006-06-25T23:52:00.000+08:00

Singapore Men's Chorus had a near-sellout concert tonight, at the National Library Drama Centre. The audience was very supportive, despite the minor slips, and it was very encouraging for us singers.

After the concert, the choristers and friends in the audience made our way to Mox's at Tanjong Pagar for a post-concert celebration. Two bottles of champagne were on the house, while I sipped my skyjuice which I requested from Bryant, one of the waiters whom I knew.

Jason Ong (the Music Director) asked me if I would be singing in the next season. Strange, I thought some people already knew that I would be leaving after the concert to concentrate on my teaching. I explained that it would be really difficult for me, as work would be starting soon, so I would be really tired. He informed me that the rehearsal-days may be changed, so he hoped I could stay on.

Much that I would love to, considering the really wonderful friendship I had forged with many of the SMC choristers, I'm afraid I'd have to check my schedule and stress-level first. I'd rather not make promises too soon...

First staff-meeting at Broadrick! Got my timetable too!

2006-06-22T22:17:00.000+08:00

I went for my first staff-meeting at Broadrick Secondary today, and was pleasantly surprised that Wilbert, one of my group-mates from Teacher Preparatory Programme (PE), will be doing his 5-week teaching practice (practicum) at Broadrick! How awesome! :)

In addition to that, one of my Civil Engineering classmates, Chu Kai (Jonathan) has been attached to Broadrick for the past six months. :D

Ah yes, looks like I have familiar faces around. :)

I interacted with some of the guys during lunch. Yeah, Enoch, Zainal and Jonathan. All three are very friendly, so I think I'll be alright. :)

Oh yes! I've already got my timetable. I'll be teaching 15 Music classes; 7 Sec One (Express/NA/NT), 6 Sec Two (Express/NA/NT), and 2 Sec 3NT classes. Due to the surplus number of Maths teachers, I would not be having any Maths classes (but I'm still in the Maths department), but I would be teaching two classes English at the Sec2NA level. Total number of 35-minute periods: 31. (17 for Music, 14 for English)

I'll need quite a bit of help for English. Right now, I'm inclined to regurgitate the wonderful material which I received from my English teachers back in RI. Not a good idea, as there's the scheme-of-work to follow. So yeah, I'll stick close to the scheme-of-work, and inject in the interesting activities as and when it's possible. :)

Land Issues: Resolved

2006-06-19T21:56:00.000+08:00

My neighbours (the Tehs) and my family discussed it out, and my family decided not to pursue the matter. No point getting a surveyor and spending a few hundred (or even thousand), just to double-confirm the land-boundary.

As neighbours, we have to trust each other. We will not be selling the house anyway, so any land-boundary changes may not even affect us much.

Love thy neighbour, they are the closest relatives thou'd ever know...

Rock Opera

2006-06-17T23:59:00.000+08:00

Vox Camerata was involved in IMG Promotion's Rock Opera The Musical: A Rock Anthology.

It was challenging enough to deal with Malay lyrics (especially for those non-Malay-speaking choristers), and we had numerous amendments to the score right up to the performance-night!

The second performance on the 17th was pretty good though. We had a technical-rehearsal in the afternoon, and we had a jam-session with the stage-band. Yeah, they played the songs and we sang along to it! Songs included 'Kopi Dangdut' (catchy Indonesian number) and This Love, Hotel California. Really awesome!

Just for kicks, I managed to film Sayid's (Widdy) impression of a rocker-dude. Go watch it! :D

Land issues

2006-06-13T23:54:00.000+08:00

The past few days have been pretty stressful...

My neighbours next door, the Teys, are doing renovation to their house. Being a Mechanical Engineering graduate (I saw his namecard), he was concerned that his land-area seemed smaller than it should be.

My parents and I took out the blueprints of our house, and pointed out the dimensions of our land. Mr Tey wasn't convinced and engaged the services of a surveying-company to determine the actual boundary-line. The wire-fence between our houses was removed to facilitate this, and also to make way for a proper concrete wall.

The surveyors did their job, and it turned out that the dimensions in our blueprints were not correct, as the land-width should be 11.219m instead of 11.98m. The surveyor had got the estate site-plan from the Singapore Land Authority, so his should be accurate. My parents and I were shocked, and got the surveyors to check again.

My mother suspected that the construction-worker might have nudged the surveyor to fabricate the lengths, but I told her that it was not possible, as the surveyor would only put his job at stake. Armed with my Civil Engineering knowledge, I explained that survey-values are precise, so it was possible that our former-architect and contractors had drawn our plans wrongly, in order to make our land-area bigger than it actually is.

I checked the Internet, and it turned out that Engaus Architects is no longer a listed company with the Board of Architecture, possibly as the architect had stopped practising.

I searched the Yellow Pages, found the architect's name, and called his house. He was not in the country until tomorrow, 5pm.

My mother suggested that we wait a day or two to let the architect rest, before we call him. She explored the idea of seeking compensation or litigation. I reminded her that the dimensions was possibly from our contractor (who had gone bankrupt), so it was likely that the architect did not have a clue about the actual dimensions.

Why litigation? Well, if you refer to the lawbooks, misrepresentation of facts can be used as a cause against someone. To litigate is to sue. Yeah, we see this happening in many American courts. (They seem to love litigation, don't they?)

If you are still unsure, when you sue against someone, the losing party has to pay the lawyers' fees for both parties, in addition to the compensation and fine which the judge/arbitrator sentences them. Yeah, big money involved. (Don't sue, unless you are very sure you have a strong case, and if you have enough finances.)

Sigh... Thank goodness I still remember my Engineering stuff. Else, I'd probably be super-frustrated like my mother is now...

Reported to Broadrick Secondary

2006-06-08T14:55:00.000+08:00

I took SBS 10 from the bus-stop outside Temasek Secondary School to get to Broadrick Secondary. I saw the messy detour from Dunman Road into Guillemard Road and back to Cassia Road. The whole bus-trip took about 25 minutes. Pretty quick, yeah! Wonder how much more time I'd need to factor in, considering the morning schoolchildren traffic.

The Principal, Mr Said (or rather, Mr Ja'afar, as he seems to prefer being called by his father's name), and the HOD/PE, Mr Andrew Fong, welcomed me, and they through some expectations of the school with regards to the Music curriculum. Basically, they hope that the students would learn an instrument from the Music lessons, and also assured me that Music lessons will not be replaced with any other lesson. (sounds familiar from what I hear happening in some schools out there) Music would take higher priority above the other subjects. Much flattered that I was on hearing that, I do hope the students do pay attention to the examinable-subjects as they are important too.

I get this impression that Mr Ja'afar would like Music to be one of Broadrick's niche-areas. Needless to say, I was pretty overwhelmed by the sudden confidence, but I am determined to do my best and not disappoint anyone.

I would be taking Music for 16 classes - 7 Secondary 1 classes, 7 Secondary 2 classes, and 2 Secondary 3NT (double-period) classes. 18 periods in total. I will be getting about 1-2 Maths classes too, but that would be firmed up soon.

Mr Ja'afar assigned me to Choir being my CCA, although Mr Fong would rather I be involved in the Concert Band. Mr Ja'afar then informed that, being the Music teacher of the school, I would also be the Music-Critique for all the musical performing groups (Concert Band, Choir, Chinese Orchestra). I breathed a sigh of relief that I had managed to pick up the chinese-flute during my course of study at NIE. At least I won't be at a disadvantage. :)

Mdm Koh (the Admin Manager) showed me around the general office, staffroom and the music-room. I chose a nice cubicle at one corner of the staffroom, against the window. Yay! My own sanctuary! Gonna conceptualise a layout-design soon. The music-room was pretty large (around the size of AHS's music-room, I think). Some choir-girls were inside, so I didn't get to look around, other than to stand at the door.

Lovely school. I think I can get used to this. :D

I took SBS31 home. Hmm.... 35 minutes. Not too bad also, but I'd rather stick to SBS10. Fewer schools along the way, so fewer passengers too (hopefully)...

IPPT and X-Men3 (again!)

2006-06-06T06:41:00.000+08:00

I took my IPPT (NAPFA test for NSmen) at the old Police Academy yesterday. The first 1.8km (out of the 2.4km run) was fine, but I had bad stiches in the last 600m, and I had to force myself to slow down to a jog. Sigh... I passed, of course, but I missed the $100 incentive-pass by 20 seconds. Darn it! :(

After a quick rest at home, I went to meet Sri, Sufyan and Del at Tampines Mall. We made a quick-decision to have dinner at the food-centre at East Coast Park (near Bedok exit). It was really nice! :)

11.30pm. Another quick-decision to catch a midnight-movie at Cathay cinema. X-Men3 again! Hahaha! We dropped off Sufyan, Del dropped off his car at home, and we went there in Sri's car. Reached Cathay at about 12.10am (in time for the 12.15 movie). :D

My mom was upset with me for not returning home by midnight, and she was yelling over the phone to return home quickly. I understand her concern. My neighbourhood is pretty dark at night, and it doesn't help that my next-door neighbour is having renovations done, and the house is vacant. Same goes for the 3 neighbours behind my house. (Yeah, I'm surrounded by 3 vacant houses. Quite creepy at night, as a shadow may not be that of a tree but a person hiding..)

Anyway, the movie ended at about 2.30am, and we made our way home thenafter. Thanks, Sri, for letting me practise my automatic driving-skills on your car! :)

"She's the Man"

2006-06-04T23:34:00.000+08:00

Yeah, second movie in a week!

"She's the Man" is no ordinary chick-flick. Amanada Byne is one chick who doesn't mind being cast as a smelly, uncouth, pubescent boy (she impersonating her brother in his school).

Watch this lovely young lady transform into a 'mean' boy who loves football (soccer, for those American English). See how she tries hard NOT to get into crushes with the other guys in the football team, and how she shivers when she realises that some girls are having crushes on her! (Eeps)

Based on Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night", this movie is really entertaining, and somehow reminds us of Disney's "Mulan".

Go catch it and laugh your head off... :D

Same joke in English... Antonyms...

2006-06-02T00:20:00.000+08:00

Here's the translation of the previous joke (my translation, which is hopefully accurate and retains the flavour)...

---

Students : Good morning, Teacher.

Teacher : (shouting) Why merely 'Good morning'? You're not praying for me a Good evening and night too?

Students : Good morning, evening and night, Teacher!

Teacher : Too long! Never said by anybody! Say 'Good tidings'! Easier and more meaningful. Furthermore, the greeting fulfills all time and tide.

Students : Good tidings, Teacher!

Teacher : To you too, sit down! Listen carefully. Today, I want to test you on antonyms. When I say a word, you must promptly give me the antonym. Understand?

Students : Understood, Teacher!

Teacher : I don't want any interruptions.

Students : (silent)

Teacher : Clever!

Students : Stupid!

Teacher : Tall!

Students : Short!

Teacher : Far!

Students : Near!

Teacher : Justice!

Students : (misunderstood 'Keadilan' which was one of the opposition political-parties in Malaysia) UMNO! (the political-party for most of the government)

Teacher : Wrong!

Students : Correct!

Teacher : Stupid!

Students : Clever!

Teacher : No!

Students : Yes!

Teacher : Oh God!

Students : Oh Slave!

Teacher : Listen here!

Students : Listen there!

Teacher : Quiet!

Students : Noisy!

Teacher : That wasn't a question, stupid!

Students : This is an answer, clever!

Teacher : I die!

Students : We live!

Teacher : Cane then (the other meaning of 'baru' is 'new') (you) know!

Students : Root old don't know!

Teacher : I'm so lazy to teach you!

Students : We're hardworking to study, Teacher!

Teacher : You are mad!

Students : We are sane!

Teacher : Enough! Enough!

Students : Insuffient! Insuffient!

Teacher : Enough! Enough! (meaning to stop)

Students : Not yet! Not yet!

Teacher : Why are you all so stupid?

Students : Because only I am clever!

Teacher : Oh! Talking back!

Students : Oh! Giving up! (or 'Giving in')

Teacher : Insolent! (literally: not taught enough)

Students : Taught enough!

Teacher : I'm finished!

Students : We live on!

Teacher : O.K. Lesson is over!

Students : K.O. Lesson hasn't started!

Teacher : Enough, stupid!

Students : Not yet, clever!

Teacher : Stand up!

Students : Sit down!

Teacher : I said that UMNO is wrong!

Students : We hear that Keadilian is correct!

Teacher : You are this dumb!

Students : We are that smart!

Teacher : Spoilt! (literally: the lesson is spoilt)

Students : Functioning!

Teacher : You all are detained this afternoon!

Students : We all are released that night!

Teacher : (silent, gathers his books and leaves)

Joke in Malay Language - Perkataan Berlawan (Antonyms)

2006-06-02T00:10:00.000+08:00

I read this joke sometime back. I stumbled across someone's Friendster account, and he had this as one of his testimonials. *LOL*

---

Murid : Selamat pagi, cikgu.

Cikgu : (Menengking) Mengapa selamat pagi sahaja? Petang Dan malam awak doakan saya tak selamat?

Murid : Selamat pagi, petang Dan malam cikgu!

Cikgu : Panjang sangat! Tak pernah dibuat oleh orang! Kata selamat sejahtera! Senang dan penuh bermakna. Lagipun ucapan ini meliputi semua masa dan keadaan.

Murid : Selamat sejahtera cikgu!

Cikgu : Sama-sama, duduk! Dengar sini baik-baik. Hari ini cikgu nak uji kamu semua tentang perkataan berlawan. Bila cikgu sebutkan perkataannya, kamu semua mesti menjawab dengan cepat, lawan bagi perkataan-perkataan itu, faham?

Murid : Faham, cikgu!

Cikgu : Saya tak mahu Ada apa-apa gangguan.

Murid : (senyap)

Cikgu : Pandai!

Murid : Bodoh!

Cikgu : Tinggi!

Murid : Rendah!

Cikgu : Jauh!

Murid : Dekat!

Cikgu : Keadilan!

Murid : UMNO!

Cikgu : Salah!

Murid : Betul!

Cikgu : Bodoh!

Murid : Pandai!

Cikgu : Bukan!

Murid : Ya!

Cikgu : Oh Tuhan!

Murid : Oh Hamba!

Cikgu : Dengar ini!

Murid : Dengar itu!

Cikgu : Diam!

Murid : Bising!

Cikgu : Itu bukan pertanyaan, bodoh!

Murid : Ini ialah jawapan, pandai!

Cikgu : Mati aku!

Murid : Hidup kami!

Cikgu : Rotan baru tau!

Murid : Akar lama tak tau!

Cikgu : Malas aku ajar kamu!

Murid : Rajin kami belajar cikgu!

Cikgu : Kamu Gila!

Murid : Kami siuman!

Cikgu : Cukup! Cukup!

Murid : Kurang! Kurang!

Cikgu : Sudah! Sudah!

Murid : Belum! Belum!

Cikgu : Mengapa kamu semua bodoh sangat?

Murid : Sebab saya seorang pandai!

Cikgu : Oh! Melawan!

Murid : Oh! Mengalah!

Cikgu : Kurang ajar!

Murid : Cukup ajar!

Cikgu : Habis aku!

Murid : Kekal kami!

Cikgu : O.K. Pelajaran sudah habis!

Murid : K.O. Pelajaran belum bermula!

Cikgu : Sudah, bodoh!

Murid : Belum, pandai!

Cikgu : Berdiri!

Murid : Duduk!

Cikgu : Saya kata UMNO salah!

Murid : Kami dengar KeADILan betul!

Cikgu : Bangang kamu in!

Murid : Cerdik kami TU!

Cikgu : Rosak!

Murid : Baik!

Cikgu : Kamu semua ditahan tengah Hari ini!

Murid : Dilepaskan tengah malam itu!

Cikgu : (Senyap dan mengambil buku-bukunya keluar.)

Marksman! And X-Men3! :D

2006-05-31T23:14:00.000+08:00

I went for Police reservist-shooting today, and I got 81 points! Yeah, out of the full score of 100 points! Meaning, I'm a marksman again! Wow! So happy for myself. Very glad actually, as I was worried that I could not even get the minimum 60 points to pass.

Well, that's $200 in the pocket for me. Yay! But I won't get to see the money until 2-3 months' time. Geez... :S

I watched X-Men3 (The Last Stand) this evening. It's really good! Some people were commenting that it wasn't that great, but hey, I was entertained. Hahaha!

To those who intend to watch X-Men3 in the movies, do remember NOT to leave the cinema when the credits start to roll. The house-lights would still be off, so that's a clear indicator that there are more after the credits. Yes, there would be one more scene. Do stay for an additional 5 minutes or so, or you would miss a critical scene. :)

Reporting to Broadrick on 8th June 2006

2006-05-30T00:29:00.000+08:00

I called Broadrick this afternoon, and the admin-staff informed me that Mr Said would be expecting me on the morning of either the 8th or 9th of June. I think I will go down on the 8th. I have a talk at NIE by Kandang Kerbau Hospital on Chronic Illnesses on the 9th.

Still thinking of what to discuss with Mr Said. Perhaps he'd be asking me to help out with either the Concert Band or Choir, to hopefully push them up to a comfortable Silver standard.

That would be a challenge. But that would also mean I'd have time to commit to only one choir, and perhaps one band. Yeah, no more 'choir-slut' or 'band-slut'. Hahaha! :P

My student was expelled!

2006-05-26T19:08:00.000+08:00

I bumped into Sing Ji and Su-Wern (both from 1E, Anglican High, 2006) today, and they informed me that their friend (also my student from one of my classes) had been expelled from school. They were grumbling that it was not fair, as he did not get a suspension prior to the expulsion.

The poor boy will be starting the new term at MacPherson Secondary.

I wish him all the best!

Status of Appeal for Chai Chee?

2006-05-26T18:45:00.000+08:00

I went to Chai Chee today after Friday prayers to assist in coaching the saxophone-section of the Concert Band, before the band's performance at Bedok Library on Saturday.

I visited the Staff Room, and was surprised to see students walking in and out of the staffroom, oblivious to the "Strictly No Admittance to Students". I suan-ed one of my former-Sec3 students (the Sec 4EA prefect Goh Yiling... oops! same name as the quiet Goh Yiling from 3C-AHS. hahaha! what a coincidence!), asking her if she could read the sign on the door, and she said that she needed to call a teacher out, and walked through the staff-room. Geez... Students nowadays...

I talked to Mrs Siva (yeah, the lovely, motherly teacher who was my mentor in Chai Chee) about it, and she agreed that some students could possibly to walking into the staffroom just to enjoy the air-conditioned comfort. I knew it! Hahaha!

I asked Mrs Siva about my transfer-request. She told me that Mr Loke (the Principal) was on long-MC, and that it would not be possible to get the transfer done within such a short period. (Sigh! That was what Mrs Pereira told me when I called on Thursday as well) Besides, if I were to go to Chai Chee, there was a high possibility that I might not be teaching that many Music and Maths classes, and perhaps more of other subjects (eg. English).

Oh well... Broadrick it would be then... I would be the only Music teacher then. I wonder which department I would fall under. :)

Requiem - feedback

2006-05-25T23:59:00.000+08:00

The Requiem concert went fine. The sopranos were SO loud! No kidding! The alto-section was actually the largest, but the sopranos were much louder than them. Wow! There were some sections where some singers did not come in but merged in bit by bit. Let's hope the audience could not tell. Hahaha!

The brass, woodwind and percussion students from the RJC Symphonic Band were wonderful! Several slips, but they did really well. My sis (a clarinettist) was impressed by the two RJC clarinettists, and the concert as a whole. *Thanks, sis!*

RJC Band students: I'm sorry to see that you felt quite left out at some points (perhaps you guys were treated as part of the chamber ensemble, although you were clearly not). I hope the chocolates brightened your day a bit. Yeah, I know I always give out chocolates, but hey, I hope you all feel better, ya! Really proud of you guys. Take care and all the best for A Tempo! :)

Oh yes! Yang Bin (RJ trombonist), you did great for your trombone-solo in Tuba Mirum (movement 3 of Mozart's Requiem)! Really proud of you. Well done and keep it up! :)

Mozart's Requiem, Thursday 25th May 2006, 8pm at Victoria Concert Hall

2006-05-25T20:00:00.000+08:00

The year 2006 is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's (1756-1791) 250th birthday, and his 215th death-anniversary.

I am singing the tenor-part (not tenor-solo) at the above-mentioned concert, to be held this Thursday at Victoria Concert Hall. I am part of the Metro Philharmonic Youth Choir, one of the collaborating choirs (the other choir is City Choir), which will be accompanying the International Festival Chorus. The music will be provided by the wonderfully-talented students from the RJC String Ensemble and RJC Symphonic Band.

The soloists are:
Soprano: Ms Sharon Mendelssohn (great-granddaughter of the composer Felix Mendelssohn, if I recall correctly)
Mezzo-Soprano/Alto: Ms Anna Koor (her voice is good!)
Tenor: Mr Tom Anderson (another powerful tenor. fascinating!)
Baritone/Bass: Associate Professor Chia Wei Khuan (vocal-lecturer at NIE, Music department)

Tickets are almost sold out, so do come early to get the remaining tickets at the door. The lowest-priced tickets cost $12 (the back of the concert-hall, on the lower-level), but there are other tickets closer to the stage which cost a bit more.

The Requiem was Mozart's last piece of work before he passed away. Sadly, he only managed to complete the first movement (Requiem) for the choral and orchestral parts, but he managed to dictate the other 11 movements (Dies Irae, Tuba Mirum, Rex Tremendae, Recordare, Confutatis, Lacrymosa, Domine Jesu, Hostias, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei).

Do watch the movie "Amadeus", which had sound-clips from the Requiem, in addition to Mozart's last few days before his death.

See you there! :)

Last Day of Music and Maths lessons...

2006-05-24T23:15:00.000+08:00

Today was the last day of the Music and Maths lessons at NIE... I have taken photos of both classes (using the trusty timer on my trusty digicam). Two of the more 'decent' photos (fine, the formal shots) are as follow... :)

Music Class

Maths Class

Miss these people already... Gonna miss them even more when Term 3 begins... Sigh...

Goodbye Chai Chee, Hello Broadrick...

2006-05-24T21:34:00.000+08:00

I called Mrs Pereira (Chai Chee Sec) today, and she informed me that Mr Loke (the Principal) was taking a long-MC, and had not stepped into the school for about a week already. Sad to say, she couldn't help me fight my case, without the Principal's support.

Oh well... Life goes on, I guess... Besides, my mom was been telling me a few days ago that I should just accept God's grace, and go to Broadrick, but I'd have to discipline myself to sleep and wake up early. Yeah, I'd probably have to try taking SBS10 instead of SBS31. It's definitely faster...

I called Broadrick Secondary after that. The Principal was on leave. (Hmm... I wonder if the Principals were having a retreat or something. *grin*) I talked to one of the HODs instead. Ms Sin, the HOD of Science. She was pretty nice, and we chatted a bit (including her confusion that I was posted to Broadrick for practicum. *laughs*). She informed me that Mr Said (the Principal) would be back Thursday afternoon for the Meet-the-Parents session, so I'd have to try to grab him between 2 and 3pm.

Let's see... Can... I'll give him a call, before I get ready for the Mozart concert... :)

The 99 Club

2006-05-23T13:37:00.000+08:00

Dear beautiful people,

Quoting the chorus of TLC's "Waterfalls"

Don't go chasing waterfalls,
Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to.
I know that you’re gonna have it your way
Or nothing at all
But I think you’re moving too fast.

1A, 1D, 1H (Anglican High, 2006): You should be familiar with this song, which we did in our last music lesson...

Anyway, I got the following story via email from one of my choir-mates. Pretty thought-provoking...

---

Once upon a time, there lived a King who, despite his luxurious lifestyle, was neither happy nor content.

One day, the King came upon a servant who was singing happily while he worked. This fascinated the King; why was he, the Supreme Ruler of the Land, unhappy and gloomy, while a lowly servant had so much joy.

The King asked the servant, "Why are you so happy?"

The man replied, "Your Majesty, I am nothing but a servant, but my family and I don't need too much - just a roof over our heads and warm food to fill our tummies ."

The king was not satisfied with that reply. Later in the day, he sought the advice of his most trusted advisor. After hearing the King's woes and the servant's story, the advisor said, "Your Majesty, I believe that the servant has not been made part of The 99 Club."

"The 99 Club? And what exactly is that?" the King inquired.

The advisor replied, "Your Majesty, to truly know what The 99 Club is, place 99 Gold coins in a bag and leave it at this servant's doorstep."

When the servant saw the bag, he took it into his house. When he opened the bag, he let out a great shout of joy... So many gold coins!

He began to count them. After several counts, he was at last convinced that there were 99 coins. He wondered, "What could've happened to that last gold coin? Surely, no one would leave 99 coins!"

He looked everywhere he could, but that final coin was elusive. Finally, exhausted, he decided that he was going to have to work harder than ever to earn that gold coin and complete his collection.

From that day, the servant's life was changed. He was overworked, horribly grumpy, and castigated his family for not helping him make that 100th gold coin. He stopped singing while he worked.

Witnessing this drastic transformation, the King was puzzled. When he sought his advisor's help, the advisor said, "Your Majesty, the servant has now officially joined The 99 Club. "

He continued, "The 99 Club is a name given to those people who have enough to be happy but are never contented, because they're always yearning and striving for that extra 1 telling to themselves: "Let me get that one final thing and then I will be happy for life ."

We can be happy, even with very little in our lives, but the minute we're given something bigger and better, we want even more! We lose our sleep, our happiness, we hurt the people around us; all these as a price for our growing needs and desires. That's what joining The 99 Club is all about."

Paris?

2006-05-19T23:55:00.000+08:00

I took the above-mentioned picture this afternoon. My friend commented that the angle makes it seem as if I took it at some side-walk cafe in Paris.

Actually, I took out in the Lavazza cafe in NIE library. Hahaha!

Maybe I should photography as a semi-pro. (I still think I'm quite raw...)

Another hobby! Hahaha! There goes my social-life. But wait, another hobby can mean more social opportunities too. Aha! :D

Called Chai Chee... hopes are up once again...

2006-05-18T17:06:00.000+08:00

I had a conversation with Mrs Pereira (HOD English) today, with regards to the possibility of my being posted back to Chai Chee, perhaps switching to English as well. She was glad that I considered Chai Chee, and told that she would have to consult Mr Ong (HOD Maths), who was in-charge of teacher-movement.

Mrs Pereira called back later, and got the go-ahead from Mr Ong, who said that I could be given more Music classes and some Maths and English classes, so that the current Music teacher, Mrs Ellen Ho, could do 'something else'. Hmm... Possibly, she'd be given more English classes, as she was also trained in English anyway.

Mrs Pereira asked me point-blank if I was serious about switching to English. I started with "Okay", and she replied that "Okay is not enough. You need to really have the passion." I laughed, and replied that I would be more confident about switching over as soon as I had found all the English files which I had accumulated since Sec 1.

Yeah, my secondary school life in RI. Those memories. How many English teachers did I have? hmm... Ms Quah Seok Whee, Ms Chen Jia Lee, Mrs Shanti Sundram, Mrs Cheryl Yap, and Mrs Noorizan Albar. These were really great teachers, and I thoroughly enjoyed my four years there. :)

Oops. Sorry, I digressed again. Geez... Stay focused...

Anyway, Mrs Pereira said that she would have to talk to Mr Loke (the Principal), to get the official green-light. She would also talk to Mrs Ellen Ho, about the possibility of giving me some of her classes.

Phew... Hoping for the best now...

Reply from both MOE and AHS...

2006-05-16T16:58:00.000+08:00

I received three messages over the weekend and early this week.

One was from the MOE HR executive, replying that I would not be allowed to teach English because I had undergone training in MOE for Maths and Music only. She said that she would get back to me, if there would be a chance of reposting or not.

The next email was from Mrs Chan, encouraging me to stay positive, and to look ahead, no matter where I would be posted to. Teaching experience is priceless, no matter which school we go to. Wise words, indeed...

The last email was from AHS's VP, forwarded to me by Mrs Chan. It was a short email, saying that AHS requires English-trained teachers, and not Maths or Music. Sigh...

Appealed...

2006-05-11T16:55:00.000+08:00

I sent an email to MOE to appeal for another school closer to my home.

Now waiting for a reply from them...

I also sent an email to Mrs Mary Chan (AHS), requesting for her assistance to convince the VP to be posted back to AHS.

This is so sad... appeal here and there. Makes me seem as if I'm so pathetic. Geez...

Posting's out... Broadrick Secondary

2006-05-11T12:21:00.000+08:00

I received my school posting yesterday. Broadrick Secondary! My goodness, that's wayyy in Kallang (Dakota).

No offence to the school, but I really mind the distance. Dunman Road is so congested in the morning! Looks like I'd have to avoid Tanjong Katong Road, my usual route.

I like the school actually. I did tuition-relief there once, and I pretty much like the new surroundings. Yeah, it's a brand-new building, after the school shifted out from her old premises opposite Guillemard Camp.

My father had good memories of that school, as he was among the earlier teachers when it first opened in the 1970s (I think). Yeah, he taught English and Literature when he was there, although he was trained in English and Maths. So cool! He's retired now, of course. :)

But the distance? My goodness. I was thinking of not using the family-car. Looks like I may need to drive almost everyday, get my sister to send me before she goes to work, or I should get another car. The last option is so expensive! Ouch!

Seems like MOE's posting this time round is pretty erratic. Some classmates got back the same schools they were at for contract-teaching, school-experience or practicum, whereas others got totally different schools. For many, the schools are so far away from their homes.

I have another classmate who stays in Choa Chu Kang, but got a school in Ang Mo Kio! Oh my goodness! Are we expected to wake up at 5am everyday, just to go to school or something? Sigh...

Trying to appeal with MOE now. Hope someone kind soul there shares my point of view...