Here's the Raffles contingent at the Swim Finals. We had RGS girls in the front, RI boys in the middle and RJ students at the back. They were flanked by the prefects in their bright orange T. I think combined, we were easily the largest contingent there! Congrats to the Swim Team for the great results and a WELL DONE to the students who really cheered their hearts out!

Report on Parallel Imports of DVDs and CDs

Channelnewsasia had a report on how cinemas and distributors in Singapore want to stop parallel imports of DVDs and CDs. In a simple word, I think it's pretty c**p. Their reason for banning parallel imports? So that they can earn more revenue at the cinemas! Please lar, if you want to fight parallel imports of DVDs, etc, SHOW THE MOVIES EARLIER LAH! For example, the 'latest' Sin City which is still not released in Singapore was shown in US in early April. We are getting it in the cinemas only now! It's already scheduled to be released in DVD on August 16 in the US.

In this day and age of globalization and internet access, it's quite ridiculous to try and stop things like parallel import. People will just turn to Amazon and other online sites. Ultimately, everyone (including retailers) suffers. You want to keep people in the cinemas... just bring in the shows earlier! It's as simple as that.

Click here for the report.

(For those who don't know, parallel imports are good which are purchased from other countries. For example, a VCD movie meant for Singapore sale (like Spiderman) can cost $12. Some shops buy the VCDs from Indonesia or Bangkok which might cost only $8. The VCDs from other countries are called parallel imports.)

Here's a close-up for you to take a BETTER look. He's obviously lookingmore 'fantastic' than Mr Fantastic, eh?

I saw the whole series of Fantastic Four toys at Takashimaya today. Take a look at the pic, dun you think they are one of the ugliest toys around!?? I have no idea why they would design such horrible looking things. Just look at Mr Fantastic. Who on earth would buy that! Invisible Girl doesn't look any better this way (compared to my earlier pic), The Thing looks kinda gay in this pose and Human Torch is just plain stupid! And you know what's worse? Take a close look at the Human Torch's groin, isn't that just being TOO anatomically correct? PUKE!

Caught Sin City today. I've not read the comic so I didn't have much expectations. Imagine my surprise when the violence started! Then I realised it was a R21 movie! lolz.. I bought a ticket without checking the ratings. Anywaez, the movie was really violet. Although there were some... nude scenes... I am pretty sure it was the violence which gave it the R21 rating. There were slashings.. stabs.. cuts.. slices.. TEARING... phew. Thankfully, they kinda replaced all the red blood with white colour or something liddat, so it was slightly less gory. But it was still very violent. But then again, I think it was a pretty good comic-book movie. I think it was much better than Batman Begins. Well, I'm guessing most of you who read this blog aren't supposed to see the movie, so there won't be much agreement/disagreement from you on this...

This is one scary toy! I saw the new Fantastic 4 toys at Carrefour and I was horrified at this Invisible Girl toy. I mean, I have to admit that Jessica Alba was really HOT in the movie, but this figure is just plain wrong! Everything is proportionately wrong and the pose is just weird (I didn't pose it liddat.. most of the boxes came in this pose!). This is one toy which really should have been invisible...

Saw this at Suntec the other time. Quite exciting to see that Singapore has started on this 'capsule' thing like Japan! There were plenty of machines and some were actually cheaper than those in Japan. I managed to get an Incredibles keychain for only $1.

Walked past the new National Library building tonight. OK, I'll admit from this angle and lighting, it doesn't look too bad. Actually, I'm more impressed with my HP for being able to take such a nice night pic!

Dreamz

Last night, I had one of those weird dreams. I dreamt that I was with some friends (can't remember exactly who now) but basically the dream was based in Tokyo and Osaka. My friends and I had done something (also cannot remember!) which woke Godzilla! For the rest of the dream, it was basically running, running and more running away from Godzilla. I had to pull my friends and run deep into the malls in Tokyo to try to avoid Godzilla. Godzilla would be hurling boulders and shooting fire as he searched for us. Then, whenever there was eye contact with us, he would go wild and start thrashing towards us! To escape him, we took a bus to Osaka where I hid in a friend's house. When it appeared that all was quiet, I went out early in the morning to explore the terrified city. It was quiet, and Godzilla was nowhere in sight. And I thought of watching a movie. Dunno why also... But anyway, somehow, Godzilla caught up with us and we continued running. Funnily, I remember stopping at a shop in a mall while running, cause they had this cute dog/cat-like toy which you could stroke its back and it would respond in a realistic way and I just had to spend time stroking its back (maybe I should get a pet?).

After more running, I kinda managed to escape Godzilla as he came to rest in the sea just off Osaka. Then it appears that Godzilla has been communicating with the Japanese leaders (dunno how also). His terms were simple, turn me over and he will leave. But the Japanese Leaders were reluctant and they would not sacrifice even one person. Then... I woke up.

Any dream interpreters out there?

Young Leaders Day

Went for the Young Leaders Day at the Singapore Expo. It was quite well attended. I'm not too good at estimating, but I'm guessing there were close to 2000 students there. From what I gather, the YLD is supposed to be organised to inspire the Young Leaders as they take on leadership roles. Hence, they scheduled 6 consecutive talks for the whole day. Upside? Speeches were generally short & snappy. Downside? At time, speeches were just hot air.. not much substance.

I learnt quite a bit from this YLD. From an organizational standpoint, it was very interesting to see a conference organised for the youth. It was quite refreshing. From the hip dances to the video clips to the snappy pace, they were all quite indicative of how teenagers today generally behave, in this so-called MTV generation. From a personal standpoint, it was heartening to be reminded about simple things like WHY we lead and the passions which drive us.

Dr William Tan's sharing wasn't very deep. But I enjoyed it because it came from his heart. He spoke from personal experience and conviction and this made all the difference. Dr Andrew Goh helped me to see that Singaporeans can also be excellent motivational speakers. We often think that the westerners are the best at that. But Dr Goh was really very engaging. Again, he had simple points, but he managed to capture our attention with his very humourous stories.

The next 3 were unfortunately quite ho-hum. Tanya Chua & company was a waste of time, IMHO. Their segment seemed better suited in a Music Career Talk. H.E. Ong Keng Yong was also not very interesting. I think he had two things working against him. Firstly, it was the post-lunch-sleepiest-time-of-the-day session and secondly, I think he didn't have enough time to really say anything worth listening to. Claire Chiang & Ho Kwon Ping were quite interesting. But I felt their sharing was quite fluffy and at times, not very relevant.

Finally, we had Michael Lee from US. It was a good way to end YLD. After the 3 ho-hum segments, Michael brought focus back to the day. His simple sharing of NED was excellent and again, he did it with such simplicity and conviction. I liked his message. He said "the greatest thing we can do with our talents and abilities is to share them". I think that's really true. If only more people could have such a mindset.

All in all, while not a perfect conference, the YLD was quite good. If nothing else, it reminded me of the things I am doing and why I do them. A very useful reminder!

Warning... Scary Pics

OK, before you judge me, I would like to make it clear that I am not a pervert.

These pics were uploaded on the request of Mr. LZY.

Warning... the images are quite disturbing. Do not view unless you are mentally strong enough.

If you are really ready... click here.

Comics Day

Today was Comics Day. Not bad actually. I thot it was reasonably festive. We had comic book slaes by Chuang Yi and Comics Mart, a Comic Character Drawing Competition and even our very own comic book launch! haha.. It's a shadow of a real convention, but I think having a shadow is better than not having anything at all.

I remember when I visited my first convention in the US. I've been dying to visit one after reading about them in magazines and over the internet. Quite a few years back, I planned a trip to the US where I would be able to visit a few conventions. If memory serves me right, I ended up visiting two Star Trek conventions and a comic book convention during that trip. Conventions are really quite exciting. Hundreds of tables selling stuff..from books to toys to whateva you can think of. Then on stage, there would be performances. At the Star Trek convention, they had people dressed up as Klingons performing Klingon fighting scenes! Then there are the special guests who talked about their experiences performing in Star Trek. It was quite exciting queuing up to get my purchases signed by the actors. There were also screening rooms where various videos were being screened, like fan-made videos of Star Trek episodes, etc.

Well, like I said, our little Comics Day is a good start. Maybe we could have a Sci-fi convention next! heh.. .I can almost feel the prefects shivering at that thot!

Oh yah, if you are interested, I've posted some pics of Comics Day at my album. Click on the link on the right to take a look.

Went to Funan today. Kinda had to go coz I know I won't be free tomorrow. As I was approaching Funan, I decided to play with the settings on on my phone. So, I set the effects to Sepia and ended up taking the two pics below. I know it's not as arty as what some of you can do, but I thought the yellowish effect is quite nice.

Fantastic Movie

I managed to make some time to catch the Fantastic Four movie today. I think that it is not too bad. The effects were kinda fun, though I really can't believe/get used to Ben Grimm's orange exterior. It just looks unreal. The invisible girl's effects were ok. Human Torch was obviously CGI. It wasn't really convincing. But the flame effects were also nice. Mr Fantastic's stretching ability was quite cheesy. It's like something we have watched in movies 10 years ago. Didn't really look state-of-the-art.

Story-wise, no big deal. Quite straight forward and not very exciting. Having Dr Doom as the villain was not very exciting. Dr Doom was quite blah.

But Human Torch's smart mouth remarks are quite funny. And on the whole, the movie is quite a fun ride. Watch it for some fun. But don't expect too much.

IOC thoughts

Today, the most important thing happening in our little red dot called Singapore is of course the IOC thing. So, I would of course like to contribute my opinions which I guess isn't that relevant to anyone cause I doubt anyone in the IOC organising committee will read it. But oh well, that's the joy of blogging rite?

So, I thought having the IOC in Singapore is quite exciting. I wished I could have camped out at Raffles City so that I could catch a glimpse of the VIPs and stars. But I still have a job to do, so no chance of doing that.

I was a kinda disappointed with the Opening Ceremony. Firstly, I think the emcees (esp the female one) were really bad. They had no chemistry and the female emcee was obviously overwhelmed by the VVIP audience. Quite a sad display of our emcee-ing skills. The next shocker was the National Anthem. Personally, I respect Jacintha as a singer. But I think asking her to do the National Anthem in a jazzy-laid back style was plain WRONG. It sounded terrible! I wonder what the audience thought as they heard the weird version of our anthem. I think a full choir singing it in full force would have been wonderful and grand. Instead, what we did was a night-club/lounge version of our anthem. Really embarassing. Finally, I was also kinda disappointed that they didn't even show the whole opening ceremony (with performances) over Channelnewsasia. I was hoping to watch more than just the speeches. Quite a let down when the performances began and the telecast stopped. 'BOO' to CNA for not doing a full telecast.

This morning, I only managed to catch 5 mins of Paris' presentation. I would have loved to watch every single presentation. It's not every day/month/year that we get to view such excellent presentations by the various countries. I think there was much we could have learnt. I think it would have been wonderful if students were allowed to watch and maybe discuss/evaluate the presentations. This would be a real-world lesson for all. Maybe (though I think highly unlikely) CNA will show all the presentations again some time.

London winning? Aiya, I guess I don't really have any strong feelings for or against them. Just kinda sad to hear that Paris had tried and failed three times to host the games! Quite poor thing. It would also have been interesting if Moscow won. Their idea of a river transportation system was quite innovative & unique.

Well, the decision's made and Singapore's 5 mins of fame (ok lar.. closer to 24 hours) is over. Back to reality.

Changed Photo Album

Decided to use flickr.com instead of photobucket. I find the animations and slideshows, etc, more interesting than photobucket. Take a look by clicking on the link on the right!

Youth Day

Today is Youth Day. The real one lar.. not the whole week thing we were doing last week. I must admit, holidaez are one of the big PLUSes of being a teacher. But then again, you dun get flexi holidaez like in the private sector where you can apply leave. You can only go on holiday during the holidaez and no other time. Can be quite sianz.

Anywaez, today wasn't really a holiday coz had to go back school for an exchange programme. I'm not gonna bore everyone with the details. Basically thot it went quite well.

The one thing which I thot was interesting was the way everyone just became totally energized when it came to the floorball and captain's ball time. Regardless of country, language, gender... a ball can just energize and unite youths in a split second! Quite interesting as I stood there observing everyone. I was told one of the gals had hurt her both her feet before the trip (saw the plasters/bandages) but she was excitedly joining in all the games as well!

Oh well, guess i have to accept that 'youth' has long passed by me. Really loved those times in Secondary School and JC. Hope you guys enjoy your youths while you can!

PSP Update

It's been 7 months since I bought my PSP from Osaka. I have to say that while I do love my PSP and think it's a totally cool piece of hardware, I have not been as excited with the software for the PSP. Sure, there are some nice games, like Ridge Racer, Wipeout Pure and Lumines, but on the whole, the games are lagging behind those available for the Nintendo Gameboy and Nintendo DS. I think the Nintendo DS is an ugly piece of hardware. But so far, some pretty fun games have been released, like Polarium and Kirby Canvas Curse. Sony, WHERE ARE THE GAMES? I'm waiting eagerly for the first real platformer to come out, Death Jr. It's supposed to be out later this month. The other platformer I'm looking forward to is Midieval. It seems that in Japan, PSP is losing out to the DS and PS2. Of course lar! There aren't any must-buy games! Sigh.

One good thing though, is that many people are now formatting magazines for viewing on the PSP. That's quite cool. Just need to spend a couple of minutes downloading the magazine then can read it on the taxi/bus/train. The magazines are quite good too. Not some hastily-put-together crap. The other cool thing are Movie Trailers that are specially formatted for the PSP. I've downloaded trailers for the new Harry Potter movie, Bewitched and many others. So on a positive note, the PSP is really becoming more of a multimedia machine, something which I think Sony did hope for it to become. Well, hope the good games will start rolling out soon!


Here are two PSP mags I downloaded. The first one features reviews on UMD movies. The second one is a innovative magazine on the PSP which is viewed vertically!

Today was a busy busy day. Nah, it wasn't busy coz of work. For some reason, I just decided to go different places today. It started off with lunch at Adam Road market coz a colleague who was driving was going that direction. Had a yummy plate of rojak and a semi-decent plate of nasi-lemak. After that, continued on to Holland Village coz my colleague (the same one who was driving) was going that direction. It's been a while since I went to Holland and I thot I'd drop by to take a look. The place is a mess with all the construction for the circle line. It used to be such a quaint and cosy place. Guess it won't be for another couple of years until the construction is complete.

After walking around Hollang V and visiting the landmark Holland V shopping centre (nice to walk, but nothing to buy), I made my way to Funan Centre coz I wanted to see if there were any new second hand games at the game shops there. Took a taxi (which cost me almost $10!!!) there and spent some time browsing. But unfortunately, there wasn't anything there.. only managed to buy Spanglish DVD, a movie starring Adam Sandler. Hmm.. after Funan, walked over to Gramaphone at Capitol for a look before doubling back to Funan to take a bus to Pearl Centre in Chinatown.

After looking at the DVD shops and handphone shops, I went to the NE MRT, thinking I would make my way home. But then I decided to drop by Harbour Front coz I wanted to see the new BiG store by Safe Superstore. I remembered they had a DVD recorder going for $269. So, I took the MRT in the opposite direction and spent some time at the Harbour Front. The BiG store is quite big... heh... but not really fantastic lar. The DVD recorder was the 'terapin' brand. Didn't look really good. So, I looked around a little more then decided to go home. Took the NEL, and then decided it had been a while since I went to Heartland Mall at Kovan. Sooooo... why not? It's on the NE Line anyway. So, took the NEL all the way to Kovan and looked around Heartland mall. By then, it was already 7pm so I thought I might as well have some dinner there. But couldn't find anything I wanted to eat. For some reason, I was thinking of Katong Laksa... So.. took a taxi back to Bishan. Of course, there wasn;t any Katong Lakso there, so ta-pao some dinner and went home.

Hence ended my day of mall-hopping.

Sounds fruitful and fun eh?

Oh yah, at Junction 8, I suddenly decided to buy some preserved fruits. Dunno why. No, I am not pregnant. Just happened to have the craving. So, I bought a whole pack of the preserved fruit (SUPERIOR sweet plums) and ended up cutting them up coz they were too big (Here's a pic!).

So, I guess in the end, you could say it was a fruitful day!

And since I'm on the topic of comparisons.. thought I'd post another picture comparing some images. Notice how they look quite similar? Tell you what, try to match the following to the correct pics: kiwi fruit, a certain student, esplanade... which is which?!

We had MUFTI day on Friday. It's always nice to see how different people dress up to reflect their personality. Below is how one student chose to express himself. I think he looks like a famous singapore comedienne... no?

War of the Worlds

Finally, mid-week. The first week of the new term is always a horrible one. It's like a massive hangover which lasts for the whole week. After a month of holidaez, of sleeping late and waking late, of doing fun stuff... coming back to school is like a massive jolt back to reality. Like it or not, it's part of school life. So, guess there's not much point in complaining.

Other than the horrible feeling of tiredness and the unrelenting wave of things/activities, I guess the term has not been too bad so far. Teaching wise, the 3 classes I'm taking is a nice return to familiarity since I'd taught them before last year. Teaching Physics is certainly more fun than having to cover Chemistry as well. Youth Week has also been quite ok so far. Despite initial concerns, I must say things appear to be going reasonably well.

Today, I decided to make time and go watch War of the Worlds. Actually, the main reason why I had to go was coz I had a movie voucher which expires on 30 Jun. So if I didn't go, I would be wasting a free ticket! WotW was pretty good. The special effects were quite breath-taking. But the one thing which really stole the show was Dakota Fanning. She's the little girl. I mean, she can really freak out! Throughout the show, she pretty much convinces you how scared she is and her screams and sobs are really wrenching. The one small let-down is the ending coz it ends quite abruptly. I think Spielberg did it intentionally coz he wasn't really focussed on how to fight the aliens but how the 'everyday people' faced the invasion. I'm sure many people in the cinema were like 'HUH?!' when the movie ended. haha. Good show. Go watch.

OK, two more days to go. Then it's weekend. Phew!

First day blues.....

I am sooooooooooooooo tired... YAWNZ......

The first day has been pretty ok, but it's been such a looooooooooong day.

YAWNZ.....

Went to Funan today. Kind of like my way of spending all possible free time doing stuff I want before the term starts. Bought a few new games coz a few of the game shops were having sales (as part of the Great Singapore Sale). I have no idea when I'm gonna play the games, but I guess it's ok to get them when they are on sale so that I can play them later. Bought Ratchet & Clank 3, supposedly an excellent platformer. I've enjoyed R&C 1 and 2 so I think 3 should be pretty good too. Also bought Kirby Canvas Curse, a DS game. Anyway, noticed the nearly completed Court House so I took a pic. Just doesn't look very court-ish to me. More like a restaurant cum shopping complex! Personally, I find the walls weird. They have this slices of marble 'pasted' onto a frame like design. (I think you should be able to see it if you click on the pic and see the larger version). A classy building? Don;t think so. I think it belongs as one of Singapore's ugliest wonders. (Right next to our horrigible new National Library building).

Oh yah, I went to The Marketplace supermarket at Paragon on Wednesday evening and found the yummy Calpis water there! And compared to japan, it was pretty cheap! For you expo-ers, you would remember that a can of calpis would probably cost about 120 yen which works out to about S$1.80. At the supermart, it was only going for $1.55. Like I said, it's of course, costlier than other normal soft drinks, but it's cheaper than Japan! And a 1.5 litre bottle was goign for S$5.60. That's comparatively reasonable too.

Initial D

Somehow, today started off really badly. Just one of those days when the world just doesn't seem right. Maybe it's the thot that the holidaez are ending. Or maybe it's just the proverbial 'getting out on the wrong side of the bed'. My apologies to those I'd snapped at todae.

Anywaez, despite the not too good start, the day got a little better in the late afternoon. I decided to catch Initial D. Now, I'm not exactly a racing car fan so I would probably not be the first in line to catch a racing movie. But I guess, the fact that it's based on a manga, made it quite alluring. So with very little expectations in mind, I went over to Great World to catch the movie. Initial D is a very strange movie. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed myself. I think I found it strange becoz the weird way they did this movie. Watching this movie is really like reading a japanese comic. Some of the humour would feel totally weird in a regular movie. But if you think of reading a manga, where dirty old men like to stare up little school girls' skirts, then it all kinda makes sense. No, it's not a porno movie. There's nothing to see. But occasionally, such actions will suddenly take place. The other weird thing is the way the movie is done. The directors have tried to follow the manga closely by basing the movie in Japan. But all the actors are Chinese?! And they try to get these chinese actors to act in a japanese way! Like the bowing, the overly courteous actions, you get wat I mean? And very often, it just seemed unnatural. I dunno if it might have been better to base the movie in Hong Kong or to have gotten japanese actors to act in japan instead. Anyway, despite it's weirdness, the movie is certainly pretty entertaining. Give it a shot if you are looking for some lighthearted fun.

On a related note, I watched this movie at Cinema 1 in GV Great World City. This is the cinema which was originally the Imax cinema. My frank opinion is that while the cinema screen is nice and large, the curvature of the screen and the height really makes the viewing not very enjoyable. Cinema 6 is excellent, but cinema 1 is quite a horror. If possible, do avoid cinema 1 in GV Great World.

Had a meeting this morning then I decided to go down to Orchard Rd to do some shopping. Wanted to splurge a little before the start of the new term. As I exited from The Heeren, I noticed the new design they had for the bus stop outside the mall. This has got to be one of the more interesting bus stops. I think before this, they had a very creative Madagascar decor. Well, this time, they had this Flying Saucer with a 'FOR SALE' sign. Basically saying that even the aliens are flying Valuair. Thought it was really creative!



When I turned right to go towards Taka, I noticed another excellent promo for War of the Worlds!



After getting plenty of books and magazines from Kino in Taka, I went towards cineleisure and noticed the four Fantastic Four statues! I've read about it in the papers, but had forgotten about it. It was really quite thrilling to see the four statues which were pretty well done. They were placed at the four corners of the junction. Apparently, they had originally wanted the statues to be able to shoot stuff like lasers, but our ever vigilant traffic police said it would be too distracting to drivers... sigh.



It's really very refreshing to see such promotional activities going around Singapore. I think it adds to the excitement of the place and makes it very vibrant. Hope to see much more of such promos!

The Challenge

The last two days have been pretty challenging. It's the first time I'm facilitating the Leadership Challenge for students in its entirety. For those who have been following my blog, you'd know that barely three months ago, I had to conduct an Introduction workshop for the teachers on the Leadership Challenge. That was pretty nerve-wrecking. But that was only a 10am to 3pm kinda thing and I needn't do the whole workshop, just an intro.

This time round, I was conducting the complete TLC workshop for the students, spread across 2 days, from 8.30am to 3.30pm. I was kinda nervous at the start cause I wasn't really sure if I was all ready to conduct it. I had most of the things in order... reports, powerpoints, logistics... but it was just this fear that the whole workshop would end up being a big bore and waste of time.

At the end of these two days, my first response is to breathe a huge sigh of relief. I'm glad my 'virgin' workshop is over. It certainly wasn't perfect and there are areas I really need to work on and improve, but I think on the whole, it was ok. There were times when it got a little demoralizing when I noticed students nodding off or spacing out. Then of course, there were pupils who weren't really interested to take part in the activities. Regardless of all that, I am optimistic that most of the participants were able to take something useful away from the two days spent together.

Well, once again, the holidays are coming to an end. There's a prefects' meeting tomorrow, then I have two days to get stuff ready for the new term. I am so very tempted to go away for those two days.. take a short trip to Hong Kong or something. But I noe the reality is that there is plenty to do before the term starts, especially with Youth Week kicking off the term. Well, all good things must come to an end I suppose.

Let the games begin!

Spent last night and this morning putting together this 950 piece Jigsaw. I bought it last year when I was in Japan. Jigsaws are generally cheaper there. This is my first panaroma-type jigsaw. I always use the long holidays to do jigsaws if I find one that I like. My largest one is a 2000 piece one I think. Those who've been to my place have seen it. That took me a pretty long time. A few days.

Saw this chair/shopping trolley at NTUC yesterday. How I wish I had this at the World Expo! It would have made the queuing up so very much more bearable!

More than half-way through the holidays. So far, it's been quite good. Spent first week preparing some school stuff and also preparing for the Expo trip. Spent second week in Japan. And now, hlaf way through the third week. Been busy doing some preparations for the Leadership Challenge Workshop next Monday. Have also been catching up on the movies! I watched Mr & Mrs Smith on Monday. Excellent show. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie really have chemistry. It's not surprising that Brad Pitt broke up with Jennifer Aniston after the movie. He and Angelina were hot! The movie is really quite funny and the action was good. Highly entertaining. Definitely a 'must-see'!

On Tuesday, I caught Unleashed. Thankfully, I had read the review before watching the show so I wasn't let-down by the non-action-ness of the movie. You go to a Jet Li film expecting only fighting, fighting and more fighting. I must say that Unleashed was quite different. Although there were sufficient fighting scenes, the show really focusses on Jet Li's relationship with his new 'family'. Jet Li played a real innocent role. I think he did pretty good. Better than whatever Jackie Chan has done in Hollywood anyway. But, Unleashed can be a little slow at times. For those looking for an action flick, give this movie a miss. But if you want to see a more dramatic side to Jet Li, give it a shot.

Today, I caught Batman Begins. The highly anticipated return of the Batman movie franchise. Was it worth the many years of hiatus? Well, the movie is really quite different from the previous movies. It wasn't campy and the tone was quite dark. Basically about people struggling with their fears. Christian Bale was quite credible as Batman and this is the second movie I've seen this week with Morgan Freeman (he seems to be everywhere!). At the end of it all, I think the movie was not bad, but unfortunately, there wasn't a 'wow' factor. I came out of the cinema satisfied but not floored. Quite different from movies like Spiderman & Star Wars III where I came out of the cinema wanting to go back for more.

Yepz, that's it for now. Fantastic Four & War of the Worlds next!

Learning Journey to World Expo 2005

Ok, it's been 2 days since I returned from the world expo learning journey. If I don't blog abt it now, I probably won't do it anymore. So here goes.

5 June
I kinda regret taking the overnight flight. I know it did save one night's accommodation cost, but I think the overnight flight was terrible. I couldn't sleep and I had to keep myself occupied through the entire 6.5 hours. It's quite different for my flights to US coz for those, I do sleep after sometime coz I'm just too tired out. For a 6.5 hr flight, there really isn't enough time to get tired. Most of the others did catch some shuteye I think. Well, the flight was uneventful. Kept myself busy with my PSP. Managed to watch parts of The Incredibles and also Shall We Dance. I was quite pleasantly surprised by Shall We Dance. Not a bad show at all. I think Jennifer Lopez plays these kinds of roles very well. Maid in Manhattan, Monster-in-Law, Shall We Dance, all pretty similar roles. Thinking of getting the DVD now.

6 June
Our first day. Arrival was fine. It was nice meeting Yamakoshi san again. The last time i met her was when I was working in Ken-Air and I organised some trips with her. I remembered her as being a very meticulous and careful tour manager and at the end of the whole trip, my memories were more than confirmed!
Anyway, we made our way to Tokyo Sea Life Park. It's not my first visit there. I was here during my second visit to Japan many years back. I loved the way the Aquarium was designed, the tuna tank and the horizon pool at the entrance were my faves. This time round, the thing which kinda spoilt the visit were the screaming children on a school excursion. Wished it was a more quiet experience to enjoy the fishes. It was also a pity that the boys didn't have time to go to the Observatory Tower and the Ferris Wheel.
After the Sea Life Park, we made our way to Odaiba for lunch and then to the Museum of Emerging Science & Technology. I missed this museum the last time as I had arrived there too late. One of the teachers in school, Mdm Kwek, visited it last year (I think) and highly recommended it. I'm glad we made the trip there. It was a pretty good museum. If not for my tiredness, I would have loved spending more time there. The globe with the LEDs was very nice. You can see it in my album. From the museum, we made our way to the pier (just a short 10 mins walk away) and took a boat across Tokyo Bay to Hinode Pier. I think the boat ride was an excellent idea. It broke the monotony of the coach rides and allowed us to take in some fresh sea breeze.
After a Shabu shabu dinner at a shibuya restaurant, we started on our 3-hr journey to our hotel in Hamamatsu. We reached the hotel around 10pm and were totally bushed. On the whole, a very busy first day.

7 to 9 June
The next 3 days were spent at the World Expo. You can't imagibe the crowds that were there. I shan't talk abou tthe various pavillions but just share some thoughts after the whole expo experience.
- queuing: this was scary. Queues after queues after queues. Everywhere I went, there were queues. And the japanese (which made up majority of the visitors to the expo) were just happily queuing for hours. I think this can be simply improved by having a better queue system. One of the teachers were commenting that it was ironic how the pavillions were so high-tech and we couldn't even come up with a better queue system. Hopefully something will be done for the Shanghai expo.
- high tech stuff: I loved some of the high tech displays. Yeah, I know queuing for hours to see a 5 to 10 min display sounds stupid, but some of these were really awesome. The 4000-line high def screen, the spherical screen, the VR-tech, the 'infinite-screen', all really cool. Pity I didn't get to see the World Larget seamless screen in the Blue Hall of Global House.
- shoes: My feet practically died everyday. The shoes I brought were really ill-fitting and my toes were constantly rubbing against the front of the shoes. It was really really painful. In all my trips, I think this was the only one where I wore such lousy shoes. Wish I had brought my sandals instead. I know it's a little late, but I'm gonna go out and get myself a much better pair of shoes sometime this week.
- recycling: it's amazing how the japanese really recycle everything. They even had people at the recycling bins to help people sort their rubbish into the bins. I think in this repect, Singapore is years behind.

10 June
We went on a half-day self-planned tour of Tokyo before we met at Asakusa for a Taiko Drum session. I think both were excellent plans. The self-planned itineraries were fun but too short. If I ever do this again, I would love to give the boys at least a full day to plan their itinerary. As for the Taiko drums session, it was definitely a unique experience. For me, it was like playing a video game.. heh. Before we left for Japan, I had been hooked on Donkey Konga, a bongo game on the gamecube. Playing the Taikos were a little like that coz I had to memorize the rhythms. The instructor used 'Dong' and 'Kong' to represent right and left and it was totally confusing. On the whole, a memorable and fun experience. Finally, we got ot visit Akihabara in the evening. The sad thing was, it was raining (really dampened the mood) and many shops were already closed! sigh... next time, Akihabara needs to be an afternoon experience, not a night one.

11 June
This was our last ditch attempt to shop before leaving for home. Luckily, Ikebukuro had plenty of shops around which pretty much met our shopping needs. For me, it was definitely one of the most rushed shopping I've ever done. In the end, I must say I'm quite satisfied with my purchases, some of which I have shared in earlier posts. Then, it's to the airport to catch our plane home.

There was quite a bit of apprehension as I was organising this learning journey together with the other teachers. As I had mentioned in an earlier post, this was the first LJ I'd organised since joining RI (not including the prefects' retreats lar). At the end of it all, i think it went on quite well. Hope everyone who went on the trip had fun!

Photoalbum Updated

Album updated with pics taken during the Japan Expo tour. Click on the link on the right to take a look. Will update my blog on the trip later (hopefully tomorrow.... ).

My second favourite purchase - the iDog. Yeah, it's one of those things that try to sound like an iPod. Other than the colour (white), there aren't any other similarities. The iDog moves its head and ears according to music, sings... and basically acts cute. Yes, yes, a waste of money, but too cute to pass up!

This trip was quite hectic. Managed to do some shopping only on the last evening before we left and the two hours on the last day. The is probably my favourite item - the Space Warp 5000. Basically, it comes with the poles and connectors and you have to put everything together into one of those ball-rolling-around-the-place kinda toy. I spent about 4 hours putting the whole thing together... Totally worth the 5000 yen!

Back from Japan! How fast a week passes. It's been a tiring but pretty fun week. Here's a pic of the crowd at the expo and the famous Hitachi pavillion where I queued more than 3 hrs for a 10 min ride... Just a teaser before I take some time for a full recount.

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

Off to Japan to visit the World Expo. Hope it is not going to be a human-traffic nightmare as I've heard! I'll probably find some time to blog while I'm there so anyone interested to find out more about the expo, check back during the week!

Cya!

Spent the day doing some admin stuff in school. Preparing for the Japan trip as well as doing some prep for the Leadership Challenge Workshop in the last week. It's rare for me to prepare things so far in advance, quite used to working at the last minute. It's a bad habit, I know, but I always need the adrenaline to get me working.

Probably take my time in doing some packing and room cleaning before i leave on Sunday evening. This is the first trip I've organised for students since I joined RI. Quite funny considering that in my previous school, I was quite keen in doing trips every year. Maybe things are just too busy in RI. Well, hope the trip will be a good one. Looking forward to the Expo. Sounds pretty exciting!

Maybe I can consider doing a US trip end of year! That's kinda like my specialty, San Jose, San Francisco, Los Angeles... used to love doing such trips. I know there's already one going to the East Coast. But that's kinda career-centric. Would like to do my more science-centric one. Anyone interested?

PC Show - what a letdown!

Went to the PC show today. It was really quite disappointing. The show only occupied one hall and many of the major companies weren't even there. Canon, Epson, xbox... all missing.

There was very little excitement and frankly, the only thing I found remotely interesting was the Zen Neeon. The player was smaller and sleeker than I had imagined. And 5Gb for $329? Hmm.. sounds like a very good deal!

Well, I hate to say this, but if you are planning to go to the PC Show? Think otherwise. Go Sim Lim or Funan instead. More interesting.

Album Update

Uploaded some pics of class party into Photoalbum. Take a look!

Busy day. Watched Monster-in Law and H2G2 (or Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy).

Before that, I went to school to do a bit of Admin stuff. Then I popped by the World Book Fair at Suntec City. I was really quite disappointed at the fair. The book selection was really bad and it felt more like a Chinese Book Sale cum jumble sale. I spent less than 15mins at the fair. I'm planning to go to the PC show tomorrow, so I'm hoping it won't be as disappointing as the book fair.

Since I spent so little time at the book fair, I found that I had enough time to catch Monster-in-Law before watching the preview of H2G2.

Monster-in Law was quite ok. It seems to be the 'return of the old actors'. I mean, we had Barbara Streisand in Meet the Fockers and now Jane Fonda in MiL. Mind you, Jane Fonda hasn't acted in a movie for 15 years! There were some hilarious scenes, and Jennifer Lopez was ok as the plain-jane daughter-in-law to be (although I thought she was acting in a very similar role to her other movie, Maid in Manhattan). On the whole, MiL has it's moments and it's kinda fun watching a 'distinguished' actress like Jane Fonda acting like a clown, but it's really just a mediocre film.

After MiL, I had a 10min break before starting on H2G2. As usual, I opted to watch it at an Eng Wah cinema coz Eng Wah cinemas are all equipped with digital projection. I don't understand why GV doesn't follow suit and equip their cinemas with digital projectors too. Anyway, H2G2 was weird. I read the book many many years ago as a student. If you've read the book, you know how weird the story is. The movie is not much different. For those who've read the book, you at least know where it's all aheaded and you're prepared for the wacky humour. For those who haven't, I think the movie will seem very odd. At times, you probably won't even know where the whole story is headed. In the end, I found the humour a little british for my liking. The effects were ok, and there are occasional laugh-out-loud scenes (far fewer than MiL, though). But I suspect, H2G2 will not go down well with most Singapore audiences.

Tomorrow is a bz day... have two meetings before lunch, then pc show, then class party.

Whee!

(By the way, did I tell you how much I like my new K750i?)

On Sunday evening, I was alerted by servant of the dark side that an object of my passion was finally released. Although I struggled with the strong emotions, I am pleased to say I finally gave in to the calling of the dark side. On Monday, I went down to Chinatown and finally set my eyes upon it. It was, simply put, beautiful. The matt-black finish, the vibrant colour screen, the LENS COVER, the auto-focus, the 2 mega-pixel camera... sigh... it was just too good to resist. Hence, I traded in my Siemens S65 and am now a proud owner of the Sony Ericsson K750i.

Please do not judge me. I'm just human. :-P

It feels so good...

It's the holidaez again, and yes... it feels so good...

It's great not having to wake up and go to school every morning. It's great not to be bugged by the thoughts of marking CTs, projects, assignments. It's great to just take things easier.

I think if not for the holidaez, many more teachers would lose their minds. I really think so.

The holidaez have been off on a pretty good start. Managed to finish some materials which I had to prepare over the weekend. Managed to start catching up on some DVDs which I had bought but never had the time to watch. Managed to start watching movies in the cinema again... sigh.. how i missed that.

Term 2 has been particularly tiring. Somehow, things don't seem to get any easier. It's my 5th year here and my 3rd year as PM. Yet, I would be lying if I said I found things getting easier to do. The last term was busy busy busy. FW, CTs, FD, OH, etc.... Next term is not gonna be any better. So, I think I shall enjoy whatever holidaez I have rite now.

Started with watching the new CGI Appleseed movie. It was fantastic! It had this fantastic CGI backgrounds with more traditional 2D characters. The action was really cool and the story wasn't anime-type-weird. It did have a decent story line. But the whole package was really good. That was one DVD I'm glad I bought!

Next, watched House of Fury, this chinese show which was pretty much a Spy-Kids copy cat except that the Kids were more teens. It had some decent CGI fighting scene and the story was ok. I just felt that the director had trouble deciding if he wanted to film a comedy, drama or adventure. It was just a mish-mesh of everything, in an incoherent manner. But ultimately, still watchable.

I'm looking forward to starting on my Astroboy and Rahxephon Series. Maybe I'll start tomorrow!

Today, I caught Madagascar. I was a little disappointed by it. There were funny moments here and there, but overall, it wasn't very good. The story was quite 'blah'... Sure, the lemurs were funny and the penguins were cool but I just didn't care much for the lion, the zebra, the hippo and the giraffe. Digital cinema was cool though.. as always!

So... what next.... I hope to catch Star Wars III in a digital cinema, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Monster-in-law before leaving for Japan with the Expo tour. There's a class party on Thursday which is sounding fun and I've also got a new toy to play.... more on that tomorrow!

I'm watching this Channel U show on tv rite now where they go around taking polaroids of people. Anyway, I realize that I really find Fiona Xie very irritating. Some people say she is the next Kym Ng, but I dunno, her mannerisms & voice just irritates the hell out of me.

xbox360 = pseudo-PC?

Hmm, the more I look at it, the more the xbox360 just looks like a PC. While I don't think the PS3's design is fantastic (I like the slim PS2's design better), at least the PS3 looks like something I would place next to my DVD player, sound system, etc. THe xbox360 looks like it belongs next to my printer and PC monitor.

Meaningless activities

Found another totally meaningless site. There's this funny superhero-type character that dances to this totally irritating ringtone.

I think these westerners (looks like Americans) really have nothing better to do. But then again, it's also quite amazing how they are willing to just let go and do silly stuff like this.

Click here to take a look.

Actually, one of the things which I found interesting was the idea of flash mobbing. It's where people receive smses or emails which tell them to go do something somewhere at a designated time. The example that comes to mind is the M1 advert where peopl receive smses and turn up to do that chicken dance together. As long as it doesn't cause a public nuisance, I think the idea of flash mobbing is quite interesting. It's just a group of people spontaneously coming together to do something together. One example is as follows:

"The latest flash mob incident occurred at 6:01 p.m. on Friday in Berlin, where about 40 people in the middle of a busy street took out their mobile phones and shouted, "yes, yes!" and then applauded, according to The New York Times. "

Something silly, but i dunno.. quite fun too. BUt i think the chances of it happening in Singapore are pretty low, coz we're simply too self-conscious. Anyone out there want to try organising one?

The Saga ends

Went to watch Star Wars III today. It was something which I was really looking forward to. The trailers have been impressive and the reviews have been decent. After two not-too-exciting episodes, this was supposed to be the BIG one to end the trilogy and link it to the classic episodes IV, V and VI.

Went to GV Bishan to watvh the 7.10pm show. Now, for all you GV-goers, we know how famous GV is with the 20 to 30 min long advertisements and trailers. With a movie like Star Wars III, I had expected at least 30 mins of advertisements. Imagine my surprise when I entered the cinema at 7.15pm to find that I had missed the starting scenes of the movie!!! So to all of you who are thinking of watching SWIII at GV, you might want to try being on time.

On the whole, I think that SWIII is a pretty satisfying movie. Let me break it down a little.

Effects: Totally mind-blowing. From the opening scenes to the conclusion, you will be in for a visual treat. I must admit that Industrial Light and Magic has outdone themsleves. You can just sit and gawk and the battle scenes and enjoy every minute of it. The battleships, droids, creatures, are all just wonderful to look at. Be prepared to enjoy the effects.

Story: I think George Lucas did a decent episode to link the Episodes I and II to Episodes IV, V and VI. I guess he was able to show how Anakin finally turned to the dark side and how the emperor got rid of the jedi. I loved the little references to Episode IV. From the Wookies, to Chewbacca to Ambassador Organa, etc, etc, it was fun trying to catch the references.

Acting: I guess all the talk about Anakin being a little wooden and the acting being a little stiff is still quite true here. But I guess, you won't go to SWIII hoping to watch Academy-winning performances. Towards the end, I think Anakin's turning to the dark side was acted out reasonably well.

Directing: One thing that irritated me a little was how spaceships could leave one planet and suddenly, in the flash of an eye, appear at another planet. I never thought that light-speed was equivalent to instantaneous travelling. Throughout the movie, this happened pretty frequently and I found it just a little irritating. I also felt that George Lucas really doesn't know how to turn on the drama-quotient. Some scenes could have been really tear-jerkers, but in the end, turned out to be just mildy emotional. I thought it was a bit of a waste.

Conclusion: This is certainly a movie which I am going to watch again. The next time, I hope to catch it in a digital cinema to see how different it is compared to the normal film cinema. If you are any bit interested in Star Wars, make sure you catch this episode, you won't regret it.

Just take a look at this gorgeous new Gameboy Advance! It's basically the same as the old one with a smaller but supposedly much better screen. This year's E3 is really turning out to be full of goodies!

Hmm, the news are really coming out fast. E3 is so exciting. Well, here's an unconfirmed pic of the new Nintendo Revolution. Looks like a normal CD-ROM drive! Not very exciting. Nintendo will be holding their press conference tomorrow, so we'll finally have a confirmed pic of their new console.... hopefully!

Here's a pic of the xbox360 with controller. So, which do you think looks better? PS3 or xbox360?

Here's a pic of the PS3 with the new controller. THe controller looks a little huge. But then again, Sony has always had a good reaon for designing things the way they are.

Here's a view of the PS3 on it's side.

Wow...here's the new Playstation 3! It looks pretty good. I think it's definitely more sleek and cool then the xbox360. Sony designers still beat Microsoft handsdown!

Hmm... I can't decide if this is a scary pic or wat... The lights around the power-up button of the xbox 360 is quite cool. But Bill Gates has a very sinister look. Now I'm quite tempted to buy the Time magazine just to have a read. Maybe I'll go see it in HML instead!

Photoalbum Updated

Uploaded some pics of RIPB's Bowling Outing using my trusty 6670.

Yep.. Star Wars fever starts! Bought this M&M dispenser a couple of days ago. It doesn't look too good, but hey, the other options were even worse! They had this awful looking deathstar and a really scary looking Yoda. Yah, yah, I know it's a real waste of money, but, hey, that's what movie merchandising is all about, right? Now to get the Burger King Star Wars cup....

Jogathon today started off not very well. The morning did initially look bright and cheery, but the dark cloud rolled in at around 7.45am and before anyone knew anything, the rain came crashing down. Quite funny. People were apparently calling the Jogathon a 'walk-to-the-canteen'. lolz.

Business at our booth was not too bad. It was great to see so many board members helping out in selling the drinks & jellies to raise fund. Selling stuff can be pretty fun. Hmm, maybe I can seriously consider going into a retail business. Might be something interesting to try out. By 2pm, the crowd had pretty much cleared off so we closed shop as well.

Food at the food fair was of incredibly different standards. My faves were the Mee Siam at the RPA stall. Really quite yummy! I mean it has to be since I ended up eating two bowls. The fishballs at the stall nearest to the track were also very good. Ate 3 sticks if I remember correctly. I wonder what it is about fishballs that make them so d*** delicious. I mean it's just mashed up fish meat after all. It's probably the levels of MSG they put into it. Ate some satay from RICO (so-so) and some kachang puteh from NPCC. I'm sorry, but I must say that the kacang puteh was not very good. :-P Maybe it's coz the CCAL was too busy taking care of his 'cousin'.. heh.

Well, that means swimming carnival, house carnival and jogathon are over. Two more major events to go before the end of term.

Exciting exciting exciting!

So many things coming up!

HAPPY THINGS

1. Star Wars III
Yeah, I know it's the one show where we all know the ending. Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader! Whoa... must be the world's worst kept secret. I'm really looking forward to catching the movie next week when it opens. The trailers are awesome and even if the movie is utter crap, I'm sure it'll make a truckload of money around the whole world.

2. E3
To the uninitiated, E3 is this huge expo which is held in the US around this time every year. It's at this expo where the latest consoles, games, entertainment technology are announced. It's my dream to go and attend E3 someday. This year's E3 is all the more exciting as news about the next generation of consoles will be released. Microsoft has already revealed how the new xbox360 is gonna look. The specs are very impressive. Sony and Gamecube have been very very quiet about the PS3 and Gamecube-successor. All will be revealed in less than 3 days! The gamer in me is going totally ecstatic!

3. World Expo, Aichi, Japan
I'm really looking forward to visiting the World Expo. In less than a month, I'll be in Aichi with some teachers and students, visiting the expo. It really looks very amazing. Hope it won't be a let-down. But then again, Tokyo is always an exciting place to be... how can it ever be a disappointment!

4. Harry Potter
Sorry, I know some of you might puke at this, but I am really looking forward to the next book in the Harry Potter series. All the major bookstores are already putting up countdown charts. If I'm not wrong, it's probably 10 weeks to the release of the book. For the last two books, I've made it a habit to reread the entire series from start to end before reading the new book. Maybe I'd better get started!

Wow, I didn't even realise it's been almost 5 days since I last posted anything. My last entry seemed as if it was made just yesterday! I know it sounds cliche, but time in RI really flies by.

So many things happened this week. Some not too pleasant at all. But it does seem that the hot topic on many people's minds is this idea of the privacy of blogs. From the incidents involving the scholars to things happening in our own school, there seems to be this atmosphere of paranoia filling the air. Then there's this hue and cry over how blogs are private space and that we should be allowed to say whatever we want on the blogs. To those people who hold on this delusion of blogs being private space, I just want to say, if you want it to be private, keep a good old diary under lock and key. The minute you post your blog online, it really pretty much becomes public domain. I mean, why on earth do you blog in the first place? It's pretty much the chance to let others know how you feel about things. Where's the privacy in that? So, the minute we post something on a blog, we're making our thoughts and feelings available to the whole internet community. When I last checked, I think it includes everyone who has an internet connection, friends, strangers, relatives, parents, teachers, etc, etc.

The other thing is, just as you might have the 'freedom' to air your thoughts, people who read your blog will pretty much have the 'freedom' to act on what they have read. You can't deny that freedom to others.

The thing is, I get a sense that there are basically two responses that are coming from two groups of people. The first group are those who simply blog about their thoughts about things, funny anecdotes, interesting observations, etc. People who maintain these blogs aren't really bothered by what has been happening and their blogs are alive and well. The second group are those who blog to complain about life, about people and include plenty of stuff that they would never in their life say to another person, face to face. It's this group of people who are crying foul over how their 'privacy' has been invaded. Like I said earlier, maybe this group needs to realize that blogs are open to the public. They want privacy, start a pen and paper diary.

In the end (I was saying this to someone else) I think the term 'private blog' is an oxymoron. So if you can't deal with it, find some other ways to capture your private thoughts.

Yep..here it is! The new xbox was finaaly revealed in the US. It's officially called the xbox 360. Unfortunately, I think it looks too much like a PC. I know Bill Gates is trying hard to do this all-in-one media box thing, but I think the xbox 360 just doesn't look like a console. Nevermind, I guess the most important things are (1) price and (2) games. E3 is happening in US in about 9 days time. Can't wait to see the PS3 and find out more about the new Nintendo machine! Such exciting times!

Yep, marking for CTs finally over. Firstly, quite proud of myself that I managed to finish it all by Sunday evening. Quite a challenge coz I actually have up to Wednesday to finish so there was a strong temptation to procrastinate until then. But nope! I was strong!

Last Friday, some guys came over and we had another round of karting on the gamecube. You have to give it to Nintendo. Despite the fact that there are so few good games on the gamecube, Nintendo never fails to release games which are great for groups. Mario Kart, Mario Party, Bomberman, etc, etc. Most played tracks in Mario Kart must be Baby Park, DK Island and Daisy Cruiser. Someone tried really hard to regain his kingship of Baby Park, but alas, it was never meant to be. There were glimpses of hope occasionally as he tried to ascend through the ranks but unfortunately, it was just that, hope. Until our next race...

The weekend was pretty much spent holed-up in my room marking. I don't think I'm gonna talk about the marking. Guys concerned... you'll know how it went very very soon.

When I finally finished marking late Sunday afternoon/early Sunday evening, I decided to go down to Ang Mo Kio Central. It's there when I finally got my first bite of Rotiboy. Now, there is a certain blog which extols the wonder that is the Rotiboy, but I have never found the urge to try it. Well, on Sunday, I finally decided to give it a shot. Was it good? I must say the crispy crust was very tasteful. And the soft centres... mmm... very nice.. not too sweet, yet soft and moist. On the whole, I must agree that the Rotiboy is really quite yummy. At least this was a much better recommendation than a certain Nutella cake which really didn't live up to its recommendation. But the thing about the Rotiboy is, I didn't really feel the urge to have another one. I think this is really just a fad. Give it another month or two and I think the interest level will start to drop off.

Which brings me to today. Went for Board outing with the prefects. It didn't start too well coz the food (although pretty good) was not in abundance. Hence, I pretty much just had two plates of bee hoon, one piece of fried fish (which I had sneaked much earlier), remnants of lasagne filling, two shreds of chicken.. yeah.. that's pretty much what I got for $8. After lunch, we went over for bowling. It's been almost 2 years since I last bowled. Used to enjoy bowling quite frequently last time. In the previous school which I taught, bowling/pool/skating, were pretty common. Went almost every week with the students and it was reallyquite fun. In this school, such things really are rare. I guess it's just different kinds of students/different kinds of school life. Anywaez, I bowled 4 games today and I tell you, my right hand is probably premanently damaged from the ball throwing. I had stopped after the 3rd game, but due to my weak spirit, I gave in to a 4th game... boy, was it a mistake! Each roll was like TORTURE! I never felt happier to finish a game!! But on the whole, it was really fun to bowl again. Maybe can get some others to go bowling too, then next time no need to suffer so much!

Well, tomorrow, Post CT starts. Got plenty of stuff to look into. It's gonna be an exciting two weeks!

Calm before the Storm

Yep, the last couple of days have been fairly calm. Of course, for the students, I'm guessing it's been anything but calm. CTs/Exams, call it whatever you want, but I guess in the end, a week of intense tests simply means high levels of stress for all. Well, as the students slog away on their paper, it's just a matter of hours for me before I start slogging over the marking. That's just how the wheel turns. You slog I slack, you slack I slog... and the the world goes on. Well good luck to all the tests-takers. A couple of days more to go!

Took this a couple of days ago when I was still in crutches and on the back from seeing my doctor. Not sure why I had the urge to take a pic of this Scotts Tissue Dog's ..uh...'behind'... Well to those who uh.. .migh enjoy this... uh.. have fun? To those who don't I apologise for scarring you with this explicit pic.

Here's a curious picture I took a day or two ago. Apparently, this person (who head has been blacked out to protect his identity) was trying to select cabbage. It might be interesting to note that this is in relation with a series of events which show a sudden.. obsession with all things leafy and tomato-ey. From salads, to cabbages, to creepy cherry tomatoes arranged neatly with celery in 'cute' tupperware... I wonder if this might be the awakening of an inner herbivore with this person. Any thots any one?

IT IS HERE!

Yesterday, I did it. I walked (yes... WALKED! something which we really should not take for granted) into a Home Theatre shop in Sim Lim Tower and after about half an hour of demos and considerations, I've upgraded by old EPSON EMP-30 projector to a brand new SANYO PLV-Z3 projector. The Epson has served me very very well for almost 2 years, but it was really time to move on. And when the saleswoman gave me a super sweet trade-in deal, I knew that it was time for the Epson to retire and make herself useful to other masters.

I will not bore you with the details, but I like to compare this upgrade to a upgrade from a 1 megapixel camera to a 2 megapixel camera. It's like changing from Win 98 to Win XP Home Edition (not quite Pro edition yet...).

It was supposed to be delivered on Saturday, so imagine my surprise when I received a call earlier in the afternoon on Friday that they would be delivering on Friday itself. Once the Z3 was set up, I could not wait to load in a dvd and I must tell you... the differences were just jaw-dropping. The images were bee-yoo-tee-fool with the vibrant colours and added depth. I started loading DVDs after DVDs just to watch a scene or two. I went through scenes like LOTR: Battle at Pelennor Fields, Star Wars I: Pod-racing, Finding Nemo, Prince of Egypt: Parting of Red Sea, Star Trek First Contact: Enterprise fighting Borg Ship, Pearl Harbour: Attack on the USS Arizona.. and many others. And with each DVD, I knew my decision was a right one.

And all this using a normal S-video cable! The projector is capable of High Definition (HD) pictures so I must admit I am now thinking of getting a HD-compatible DVD player.

Yep... no regrets... at all... and in case you've not gotten the hint... the Z3 is really awesome!

IT IS DONE. (and I"m pretty darn glad it is!)

Wow... here's the Star Wars Edition of the Sony Ericsson Z500a... doesn't it look totally cool?! The phone may not be very good.. but the images are.. OMG - Gorgeous!

Wow... Nokia has release pictures of their new N70 phone which looks a little like the 6800, but has a 2 megapixel camera. Looks like I just might have to decide between the SE K750i and the N70.

I just can't get a break... (part 2)

Yeah, as the chinese saying goes, 祸不单行, or calamities don't strike alone. I can't think of a more apt example then what's been happening to me.

Monday, the gout in both my feet improved so I could actually start hobbling around with crutches. On Tuesday, I could hobble a bit without crutches so I was pretty much looking forward to going back to school on Wednesday. Then, on Tuesday evening, I suddenly developed a high fever of about 39 degrees. Sigh. I had apparently caught some viral infection in my intestines coz they kinda hurt too.l Much of Tuesday night was spent sponging myself and trying to get my temperature down. Some time later in the evening, I passed out a kidney stone. I don't think I'm gonna give the details here coz I know roughly who are the people who read this blog... anyway, the stone was probably the reason why I had the infection.

Well, this morning, I woke up and found that my temp had gone down to normal. So, I decided to risk it and go to school. It wasn't too bad. Finished my 4 lessons and then came home to rest. I'm kinda runing a slight fever now... hope it comes down coz I really can't afford to miss anymore lessons. Sigh... talk about not being able to get a break.

**WARNING**
This is certainly not for the weak of stomach.

If you click the link, you will view gratituous scenes involving faeces. I have no idea what the song means, so if any of you have a translation, I would love to have it.

If you like cute but dirty things, pleace proceed. If not, please skip this post. Thank you.

hmm.. this is believed to be the design of the new Xbox - the Xbox 360. Must say it looks much better than the old Xbox. Still think it's pretty stupid that they are naming it Xbox 360 instead of Xbox 2 coz Xbox 2 sounds like it's older technology compared to PS3. Maybe Xbox might really have a good chance to topple the PS3! Oh no!

Just found a pic of the new Superman costume for the upcoming movie to be released next year. For those who don't know, the new actor is Brandon Routh, a relatively unknown actor. Must say, the costume looks quite good!

Simple things in life

Today, a few people brought some cheer to the otherwise dreary day I was having.

First off, I managed to get a new old chair to roll around my room. You see, since I pretty much can't put any weight on any of my feet, my only mode of transport has been a really old and broken office chair which I use to roll around my room. The chair has served me well over the last few years, but it's really coming to pieces. More than once, I almsot slipped off the chair coz its hinges are pretty much gone. Well, this afternoon, estate office said they could give me a one of their spare old chairs. A student helped to roll the chair all the way to my block. And now, I'm safely mobile in my room again. Thanks!

Secondly, my mom dropped by to get lunch for me. While I'm in my room, my only source of food is pretty much frozen stuff or stuff which my assistants in boarding help me to buy. Well, my mom bought lunch and she helped me to buy my ever favourite 'Aw Chai Tau Kway' (or Black carrot cake to the dialectly challenged) from the Serangoon Gardens market. This has been my favourite ever since I was a kid. Since I moved into RI Boarding, I've not had much chance to eat it often. It was certainly a treat!

Finally, some teachers dropped by for a chat. It was good to hear what's happening in school and basically talk about anything under the sun. Thank God for friends, right?

Well, it's been a better day. Feet are still painful, but guess they are improving. Wonder how long more to go before I can go out.

Here's a pic some of you might appreciate. Introducing... the Amazing Bean Bag with fingers!

I just can't get a break..sigh

Well, this is a first.

It appears that as my right foot is getting better, my left foot seems to be gatting a gout attack too! This is a first time. Right & left foot at the same time. In the past, I could still roll around and hobble on my 'good' foot. So now, if my left foot gets any worse, I wonder how I'll get around in my room? Crawl using my hands and dragging my foot behind? Sigh. Dun ask me why and how cause I simply don't know. It sure brings cheer to me, knowing that my left and right foot are taking turns to cause me pain. SIGH.

On a positive note? hmm.. not sure if there's one. Guess I ought to be thankful I still have feet.

Oh... to stand on own two feet again....

Missed school today. I'm really quite sick and tired of this leg problem. First off, it didn't feel like a gout attack. When I saw the doctor, I could still hobble on the foot. Doctor said it looked like a strained tendon. So, all I can do is rest and let it recover slowly. That's fine, I guess. But then this morning when I woke up, the pain seemed kinda different. Felt more goutish. That kinda freaked me out a little. I took my gout medicine and just crossed my fingers that things will not worsen.

It's 2.30am now.. I'm not sure if the pain is better or not. I'm almost afraid to go to sleep, coz I'm not sure how it'll turn out when I wake up. Sigh. Really hope it's not gout. I can't afford to miss two weeks of lessons, especially with the common tests right around the corner.

And what's more... I'm supposed to go buy my new toy! Sigh sigh sigh sigh sigh.

Well, hope everything will be better tmr.

Die. Leg pain. Dunno whether gonna get another gout attack.

Sianz. Hope not. Otherwise gonna miss many many lessons with Sec 1s... Sure die, cannot finish CT syllabus.

Worse still.. cannot go buy new 'toy'.

Hope by tmr, the pain will be gone....

It's only week 4. But it feels like it should be the end of the term. Not sure why there is this 'I've-had-enough' kinda feeling. Maybe it's just the deadlines that are on my back. Top of which is having to finish setting the Common Test papers.

Today, got angry with another of my classes. Dunno why this is becoming increasingly frequent. It's not as if I enjoy being angry. To some extent, it's this helpless feeling that nothing I say seems to get through. I really can't understand. How difficult can it be to just not talk for a couple of minutes??? Dunno lar, maybe it's me. Maybe it's them. Maybe it's just the planets in the wrong alignment.

Had some fun today going into a Sec 4 class to teach a bit of Physics. It's been about 16 mths since I stopped teaching a Sec 4 class. Teaching lower sec boys is quite interesting, but sometimes, it's refreshing to do some Sec 4 stuff. Haha.. irony is, if I were teaching Sec 4s, I would probably be thinking how relaxing it would be to teach the lower sec classes. Grass always seems greener on the other side.

Found a link tonite which brought me to a cool video of a choir group singing Nintendo theme songs in acapella! Tried sharing it with another guy, but the game music was lost on him. If any of you are hardcore gamers, you might want to check out the video. You can find it by clicking here. It's a streaming video. If you want the full downloaded version, drop me a note and maybe I can arrange to transfer to you via MSN.

Worked on the Friendship chains with the prefects until about 9.30pm. Here's a sneak peek for those who're checking this blog before Wednesday. I think it looks pretty good! Really appreciate everyone who played a part in putting the whole thing up!

PSP coming to Singapore!

Wow... this is a really aggressive move by Sony. In only 6 mths after the Japanese launch, and 3 months after the US launch, they will apparently be releasing the PSP in Singapore on 12 May. This is quite significant because Singapore has often been at the tail end of Playstation products.

In this aspect, Microsoft has been very successful with the Xbox in Singapore. There is a constant release of games and they are very reasonably priced, often $15 to $20 cheaper than the Japan or US versions. Microsoft has also maintained a very high profile by promoting the Xbox at every PC fair and having lots of advertisements in local magazines.

Well, hopefully Sony has decided to pay a little more attention the the local market.

So, should you get a local version, US version or Japanese version? For those still considering, as far as games are concerned, there are no differences. You can play PSP games bought from any country on the PSP. The only problem is movies. Movies sold in the US or Japan will not be able to be played on the local set. Actually, up till now, Sony hasn't revealed what movies the local PSP can play. So, if movies are not your concerned, then I would probably wait for the local PSP. It's targetted to launch at S$455, a little more expensive than the US price. But it will at least be covered by a local warranty.

Even though I already have a Japan set, I'm eagerly waiting for the Singapore launch! It's really quite exciting!

For those wanting to know more, visit Sony's official site at http://www.sony.com.sg/psp/.

I finally found the tray yesterday (Friday). Went to this supplier of kitchen/catering goods in Chinatown and found that they had the stupid trays. So, that's the end of one saga - The Quest for the Metal Trays. Wonder if it's worth making into some movie.

Last night, I watched a DVD which was really freaky. Not sure if any of you caught the show SAW when it came out in the cinemas. The strange thing is, in the cinemas, it was rated R21. On DVD, the (apparently same) uncut version is only rated M18. Shows the consistency of the censors.

Anywaez, SAW is a totally screwed-up show. It's gory but it also plays mind-games on you. Basically, it's about this fella who goes round putting people into situations where they have to kill others in order to survive. What's the big deal about that? Well, in the main story (*dun worry, no spoilers*), we have two guys, each with one foot chained to pipes. They are given saws and a time limit. To survive, they had to either shoot each other or if they like, saw off their foot to escape. That's totally screwed up! In another scenario, a guy as put in a corner of a room and the pathway to the door was obscured by a maze of razor sharp barb wire. He had a time limit before the door was sealed. So, the poor fella basically had to struggle his way through the wires... you get the picture... Those aren't the worst. I wun even start on the girl with the iron braces...

It's not really an A-grade movie. No big stars and not really very glizty like a big hollywood production. But I think it was quite a good movie.

After watching the show, I admit there was a feeling of unsettledness in my guts. I mean, it's one thing to watch a gory show. It's another when you have to watch people struggling with killing others in order to survive. I think that's the real brain-screwer. Imagine you are in a room with a ticking bomb and an axe. The doorway is blocked by a guy chained right across. The only way to escape is to use the axe to hack the guy blocking the door. What would you do?

A tale of a tray

Today, I shopped for 4.5 hours to look for a stupid metal tray.

I started off at 5pm at the concourse. Took a cab to Mustafa Shopping Centre at Serangoon Road, thinking it would be easy to find a metal try there. But.. no.. they didn't sell it. So I walked down Serangoon Road to Tekka Market, looking out for stalls that sell metal stuff. No luck. Decided to try something more up market, so I took a cab to Orchard, Paragon, where there's a Metro, remembering that they had a household goods section. Guess what, they had apparently closed down that section a long time ago. So, I crossed over to Takashimaya to try my luck. Nope, no tray there either. Actually, they had one, but it was too small. So where to next? I decided to try Seiyu at Bugis Junction. Their household section wasn't too bad. I took a can there, but... no luck. None there too. Maybe OG at Albert Mall opposite Sim Lim had it.... so I walked over. Again, no luck. It was already 8.15pm. I was hungry, but I needed to find the stupid tray. So I decided to go all the way back to Ang Mo Kio coz I remembered there was quite a good household shop next to the S11 food court. I tried to take a cab. Took me almost 45 mins. Sigh. By the time I got into a cab, it was already 9.00pm. Made my way to Ang Mo Kio, guess what? Right... NO LUCK. Went to the ultra-neighbourhoodish Four Seasons shopping centre for my last ditch attempt. NO LUCK AGAIN.

It was by then, already 9.30pm. I was tired. I was hungry. I decided, it was time to give up.

One would think it would be easy to find a stupid metal tray in Singapore. One would be wrong.

Wouldn't you say I had a meaningful day?

I'm not a casual music listener. You rarely see me with ear phones listening to mp3s or radio programmes. When I have my ear phones on, it's normally coz I'm playing some PSP or GBA game. Guess I've never been much of a music listener except when I need some noise, example, when I'm marking or studying for some test/exam (in my student days lar...).

Sometimes, when I hear someone I really like, I'll follow the artist for a while. A couple of years back, I really liked Alex To when his song '情人' was super popular. Then I bought a couple of his albums, but that died out in less than a year. I also liked Lee Hom for a while coz I first heard his song 'Julia' which was really catchy. For english songs, I thought Robbie Williams has got pretty interesting songs. Really liked his 'Rock DJ'. Caught my attention the first time I listened to it.

Last night, I was tossing and turning in bed. Maybe it was coz half my nose (ie. one nostril) was blocked or maybe coz there were things going through my mind (like how sucky the last few days had been). As I laid in bed, two songs popped into my mind. Don't ask me why. They just did. So I got up, turned on my computer, went on the net to Soundbuzz.com and purchased the mp3s. Soundbuzz is really convenient and I think the prices are reasonable. Anyway, the first song was "Angels" by Sarah MacLachlan. The chorus was really nice. I wanted to blast the song through my lovely MX5021 but had to control myself coz it was like 3am in the morning and the boarders were already asleep. Maybe it was becoz of my mood that the song was exceptionally comforting.

" In the arms of the Angel far away from here.

From this dark, cold hotel room, and the endlessness that you fear.

You are pulled from the wreckage of your silent reverie,

You're in the arms of the Angel; may you find some comfort here."

The other song was kinda weird. Dun really know why I was thinking about it. It's "19-2000" by Gorillaz. I first listened to the song coz it had this really cool flash animation. Furthermore, the song had a computer-game-like rhythm. Very fun. Like I said, dunno why I suddenly thought of that song. Maybe I should introspect a little more and see if I can find the reason.

Since today has not been particularly pleasant, I decided not to blog about the day.

Instead, I shall write about the wonderful statement which Mr Bob Parr (ie. Mr Incredible) made when he was arguing with Mrs Parr (ie. Mrs Incredible). For the blur, Mrs Parr was making some statement about how Mr Parr never made time to go for his son's school functions, like when his promotion ceremony when he was moving from like primary 4 to primary 5. And Mr Parr simply replied about what kind of society have we become that we have begun to celebrate mediocrity.

Mediocrity is a scary word. For me, it's a word which I'm really scared of, but at the same time, it's a word which can be spelt 'stress-free'.

I've always been scared to be mediocre. I think it's something which I've tried never to be since my secondary school life. In whatever projects I have undertaken or responsibilities which I had been given, I have very rarely been satisfied to be mediocre. I've always believed that if anything deserves to be done, then it deserves to be done well. So, personally, I'm quite annoyed when I see others being satisfied with medicore efforts.

This has been both a bane and a boon.

Bane: you become a very critical person who tends to pick on others' performance. Nothing ever seems good enough. And sometimes, this can make others scared/annoyed /irritated with you.

Boon: it pushes you to greater heights. It ensures that your efforts are always you rbest, always 110%. So, the results are often fairly good, coz I can't settle for second best.

Well, that's why I'm scared of mediocrity. But like I mentioned earlier, many times, mediocrity is also something I wish I could settle for. It would certainly make things so much more stress-free. If I was willing to settle for second best, not to make things overly difficult for myself, and just do what is normal/expected, then I can envision a pretty easy life. No need to think of new ideas, new ways of doing things. Just repeat what was done earlier, and keep repeating it... ad nauseum. (heh, I like that term, 'ad nauseum'.) If I could do that and be satisfied with a mediocre performance, I 'd probably have much less stress.

Well, for now, I think I'm still quite scared of being mediocre. Maybe I need to find a balance? But if I find that balance, would it still be a state of mediocrity? heh.

Well, until then, I'll still agree with good-ole Mr Parr: 'What kind of society have we become if we've begun to celebrate mediocrity?'. Nice!

It's 9.15am.

And yes, the day is officially off on a sucky start.

Hooray.

Here's something that can brighten up my day... the Sony Ericsson K750i with a 2 megapixel camera! That's really very cool. I'm quite in love with the 1 megapixel camera in my nokia 6670 and I'm definitely excited to think about the quality of a 2 megapixel phone.

Funny kind of day

Today has been just 'one of those days'. Some might simply say I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Maybe I was just feeling a little down in the dumps coz I feel a hint of a cold coming. One nostril is blocked and my throat is kinda sore. Maybe that contributed to a crappy kind of day.

Funny isn't it? How one's mood can so simply affected by how one feels.

One thing that gets on my nerves is when people got behind your back to complain about you. I mean, if there are things to say, have the decency to say it to the person's face. I think it's a totally cowardly act to act as if everything is ok in front of the person, then go behind the person's back to his superiors to say otherwise. I won't really give any more details but I get very pissed when people do things like that. Ok.. deep breaths... happy thoughts... H27 in my room... :P

Plenty of 'fun' stuff coming up over the next few weeks. I'm quite looking forward to it. Yah.. sure.

Maybe a good night's rest will get me out of this crappy mood.

New Pics!

Just uploaded some pics from my class' mini-party today. Click on the link on the right to take a look.

New Photo Album!

Just added an online photo album at exzekestence.myphotoalbum.com

Not sure if it's the best place to do it, so if any of you have a better suggestion, I'm all ears!

Until then, feel free to click on the link on the right and take a look at a few pics which I've uploaded.

Oh yah, and I decided to lengthen the Tag Board too. Always thought it was a little short. I'm not really good at fooling around with the code, so I'm taking little baby steps here. Be patient with me!

In the news again

Found out that RI was in the news again, this time over the fact that the school does nothave a soccer CCA. It's really interesting to read the various points of views... from the coach to our Headmaster to former soccer stars from RI.

In case you missed the New Paper article, here's the online link.

Took this photo at Toa Payoh central. There was this large group of people doing some linedancing thingy. In many ways, it looks like a mass dance, except I think it's just footsteps and no hand choreography. Really don't know what to make of it. I mean, there's this group of people, probably in their late 30s to 50s, dressed in different outfits, some fairly skimpy..a few scary! There was a guy, probably in his early forties, wearing a fish net t-shirt! OMG. The dances looked interesting, but I can't imagine myself joining them! Maybe it's this 'beng' feeling or maybe it's the 'Ah Soh' feeling. It just feels wrong. But they do dance quite nicely. Many of them are pretty good at their steps. Haha.. maybe it's time to act like I'm in my thirties and join line dancing!



Oh yah, I took this photo with my Nokia 6670. Really like the megapixel camera on the phone. Maybe I'll be able to post many more pics from now on since I have a camera with me most of the time.

Here's my second-hand S65. Quite a nice phone. Reminds me of Star Trek! haha...I think that's one of the reasons I bought it. Well, time to let it go. Anyone interested?

Haha... looks like whenever term starts, blogging is reduced to the weekends. It's not that I don't check my blog everyday, guess it's just laziness that prevents me from updating my blog.

Well, the week wasn't too bad. A fairly good start to the term, I think.

A few highlights...

Went for my medical checkup on Monday to see if there are any new stones in my kidneys. It was good to hear that everything looked clear. Just last Saturday, I had gone to my family doctor to get the results of my blood tests. It was excellent to hear that everything was quite normal except for my triglycerides and uric acid. No problems with anything else. So, things really brightened up.

Maybe it's the good health results or maybe it's the delay in getting the Optoma H27, but this week, I was bitten bad by the handphone bug. I was reallyquite tempted to just get another handphone to try it out. After much struggle, I confess I gave in to the temptations and bought a second hand Siemens S65. It's not a bad phone, but after trying it out for a couple of days, I've decided that I didn't really like it. Guess I'm really too used to the Nokia interface. So, now I"m trying to sell it off at not too big a loss. Hmm.. should I try out the Sony Ericsson S700i? heh...

The other thing which occupied my time was the Japan World Expo trip. Had to spend time confirming the itinerary, the price, preparing the materials for the students... It really reminded me of my job when I was with Ken-Air when I had to plan tours, prepare travel brochures, etc. I met up with my old boss who will be handling the tour for us. It was nice to meet them again. And the thing is, the team working with her, was largely unchanged. I think that's really commendable coz I think it really shows what a good manager/leader my old boss is. She's one of the persons I look up to as a model of a good leader. Sure miss those days!