its snowing in paris

pére lachaise cemetery.
wishing you were somehow here again.

best buy!
chic designers. coming soon.

best food!
3 michelin stars. coming to rws soon.

Sensational Gary

eat, pray, love

complicated men, complicate lives

well, i do not really know what ah pui is trying to say but my own interpretation is this:

we have ourselves to blame if that happens.
there had been a few instances which i thought i made it complicated for myself:


scenario 1
recently, i found out that of one the security guards drove to work and had the audacity to park at the residents' lot. i discovered this when i saw him drove out at about 2+ on a saturday afternoon while he was on duty. in the first place, who is he to park at the residents' lot. secondly, who allowed his vehicle into the property? why did he drive out while he was on duty? 


many questions were unanswered and i went to the management office to report this matter to the estate manager. she didn't believe a word i say until she called the guard house and the security guard admitted. he was told not to drive anymore but just this morning, i saw the same car again. (likelihood to react on monday: 90%)


scenario 2
it was children's day and i decided to get a small gift for the ten P6 students whom i have been giving them remedial on saturdays (note: their own form teacher did not want to come back on a saturday to help them). it was meant to be a surprise for them but instead, i surprised myself. not only did they not say thank you, two girls came up to me and asked if they could swap the colour of the pen with me. i was dumb folded and did not react to it as it was meant to be a happy occasion for them. (likelihood to react that instant: 80%)


given my personality, i would not have let the two matter go just like that but over the years, i have learnt something called 'letting go'. for people like me, it takes a lot of strength and attainment to let go of certain things which may seem trivial to others. 


i read about summiko tan's article in the today's papers about her marriage life. i had such a good laugh because it was an exact reflection of my own marriage. the marriage had brought out the monster in her and likewise in me. often, i am so blinded by getting things right but really, letting go lightens the load and allows me to enjoy the simple pleasures which had been there all along. 


complicated men, complicated lives?
i say forget about it and let me enjoy my ruffles and muscato.
(of course, before that i have to vacuum and mop the floor first)
c'est la vie!

happy children's day

21 Nov 2010

HK AsiaWorld-Expo

happy : )

"excuse me sir, your left...

... headlight has blown."

i heard that as i drove past the gate slightly after 9pm on the first night of my ict.

and so i went to autobacs to have it changed this morning after my ict ippt.

guy: do you want the white light or yellow light?
me: the same as the previous headlight, i think its yellow.
guy: do you want those extra bright ones?
me: no, i think it will be very distracting on other drivers.
guy: ... ... (he must be thinking: this guy must be a weirdo)

and so i got it fixed for $48, inclusive of labour.

stella

dining at 282m

moroccan lamb

creme brulee with hazel nuts, 
flourless chocolate cake &
sticky date cake with caramel

marina bay sands - who cares about 
dining at the jailbird's restaurant 

padang - ndp rehearsals

great view from the top

going there again in 2 weeks' time

another demise

i wrote about how i was flipping through the papers last year and found out that my former mt wo had passed away. just now, as i was changing the papers for my dogs, i saw my army buddy's big name on the obituaries section. not that he had passed away, but rather, his mother. i have not met him since our last ict, which was 2 years ago and incidentally, we are due for one at the end of the month. hope he is doing well now.

mr marc

mr marc by marc jacobs

the first thing i own from mj.

incidentally, its the latest this season!

i've never owned anything thing that is so in before.

happy ^ ^

flash flood

really couldn't understand how the taxi landed up there.
i expect more of such episodes coming up.

4 years old (that's 28 dog years)

3 kings and a queen by david hockney

short getaway

+ lots of food!

还是妈妈做的粽子好吃

its the time of the year again.
a tradition that dies with the person who knows it.
i am thankful that i still get to taste it again.
妈妈做的就是有妈妈的味道。
超好吃！ 

basilico & 55

i took my parents to basilico at the regent for a dinner last night for a father's day treat when my mum showed me a cpf letter belonging to my dad. he will be 55 in august and hence, will be eligible to withdraw his cpf monies. of course the issue of what to do with the amount came up and naturally it evolved into getting a new home, especially when they had just visited my aunt's new home at the pinnacle last week.

i have no intention to get a hdb and get myself tied up for the rest of my life over a hdb flat. i think many singaporeans are just to anxious to get a flat, especially the newly weds. they do not consider the implications of getting a public housing in singapore. on the surface, hdb claims that its primary objective is to provide a roof for singaporeans (attractive grants) and they make it very explicit that foreigners are not eligible for such preferential treatment. so this group of people can either opt for resale flats (no grants) or private property (commercial interests rates).

it really seems that hdb is taking care of singaporeans in this sense but really, if one bothers to analyze the situation, it is obvious that the ones who stand to gain are the foreigners when they dispose off their property and leave the country. i find it appalling that hdb flats are often the first and only (4 in 5 people) choice made by singaporeans. im really not sure if hdb has done well in their claim to provide a roof over every singaporean but i think their success comes from brain washing the locals to make them their first choice when it comes to getting a new home.

save our earth

and my face too!

Join KIEHL’S at TANGS Orchard to Save Our Rare Earth! In line with KIEHL’S long-standing commitment to the environment, the New York-based purveyor of fine-quality skin and hair care, has teamed up with children of celebrities to each design a limited edition Rare Earth Deep Pore Cleansing Masque, expressing what saving our rare earth means to them. Retailing at $45 each, 100% of the nett sale proceeds will benefit the Singapore Environment Council’s causes & concerns. 

thanks for remembering

sunrise

when the world is still in slumber...

gss day 1

天地人

i'm never a fan of 战国 stories but this NHK serial changed my view.

and when i 百度 for 直江兼续, i found this:
iPhone战国武将版壳套发布会

这套单价高达99800日元的iPhone壳套
以日本战国时代的著名武将为设计主题，
分为织田信长、伊达政宗、上杉谦信、直江兼续、真田幸村五种，
由拥有三百多年历史的漆品老店“象彦”参与打造，尽显和风之美。

individually wrapped in a luxurious price.

i want get an iPhone!

are singapore teachers overworked?

In a forum letter in The Straits Times on 15 May 2010, a teacher’s wife, Ms Aishah Quek chronicles her husband’s typical work day. She bemoans her husband’s punishing workload and questions the seeming non-existence of a work-life balance.

A teacher in a local primary school, Ms Quek’s husband wakes up at 5am every weekday, and leaves home by 6am, to reach school in time for morning ‘guard duty’ at 7am. After remedial lessons, co-curricular activities and administrative duties, her husband reaches home at 8pm for dinner, before, surprise, surprise, he starts to work from home.

If these normal working hours are representative of a typical day in the life of a teacher, do teachers; the people who play an integral role in shaping young, impressionable minds, have sufficient time to relax and recharge, before the next day comes around?

A student in the morning session has about 6 hours of lessons per day (from 7.30am to 1pm). But that’s just about the time a teacher’s after-teaching hours begin.

“On a typical day, we mark assignments, conduct remedial lessons and complete many administrative tasks, which often extend long beyond our official working hours,” said *John*, 35, a married primary school teacher with a one-year-old son.

Another educator, *Seline*, 27, who called it quits after three years, said, “When my husband and I were both teaching, we hardly had any quality time in the evenings because we’d both be busy marking assignments, preparing for the next day’s lessons or just be too tired.”

Added another teacher, *Lionel*, “I already feel drained by the time I start marking my students’ work after 5pm. This increases the likelihood of making errors.”

my take on this issue is this:

1. it's got to do with the school culture set by the management (level heads, hods, vp and p).

with foresight, they would be able to lead the school to greater heights. but where they are so micro-minded and bitter, all the nonsense would be passed on to the teachers. that's where all the add-ons comes in after a class is over. e.g. new school of thoughts: a teacher should be given the space to re-think about how they teach in groups. old school of thought: a teacher must be seen doing something until 6pm. i know of a school which makes it a point to end the weekly contact time no later than 3:30pm while my current bullshit school ends at 5:30pm weekly.

2. it's got to do with the teacher-student ratio.

not all schools have the same ratio. where schools have a balanced ratio, a teacher's weekly teaching periods is 32, at 30 mins per period. this gives them time to rest in between lessons, to complete some of their markings, to settle administrative matters or even to prepare for the next lesson. however, the teaching periods in this bullshit school is 49, one practically starts and ends the day with the students. 

at the end of the day, can you really blame someone who quits before or after their bond is up? its the littering cycle that cannot not be broken. fresh teachers fill up the gaps of the drained ones, who were busy picking up litters thrown by the system. 

tension

there was an episode yesterday while i was marking one set of papers. apparently one of the questions contained an error which was undetected and caused me 2 rounds of re-marking.

it is difficult enough to mark 41 scripts. let alone re-mark them for 2 more times?

my tolerance for such errors (from setting to vetting) has always been very low. i mean how many rounds must the paper be vetted before it is error proof? if everyone is doing their job, once is enough.

but this is not the case here. the paper was printed as and when the setter had finished setting the paper. that itself is a big mistake. it only showed weak execution and poor supervision of the testing system.

the best part is the error was neither rectified by the setter nor the head. it was some kind hearted soul who saved their asses. this was the last straw.

i always use this analogy to illustrate my point: someone throws a piece of litter on the floor and leaves. the next one who sees it may or may not picks it up. suppose it did, it gives the litter bug an incentive to keep littering because someone will eventually picks it up.

i understand that the intent is not to complicate things but to resolve the error there and then. i wonder if this is really going to be helpful in the long run? things like these keep happening, until someone stops these things from happening.

i am extremely disgusted by how things are managed here. perhaps right from the start, i have already held on to the belief that i should not even be here in the first place.

i have never slept so few hours each day for the past 5 years of my career and when i say that this is unique here, people starts to get defensive.

i just want to get out of this place at the soonest possible time.

someone help me please.

cookies for mr tan

biotherm homme

$150 in all but nothing nothing compared to the sleep i need badly.

bloody messed up school. 

pui!

详细字义

1. 从尹,从口。“尹”,表示治事;从“口”,表示发布命令。
合起来的意思是:发号施令,治理国家。本义:君主,国家的最高统治者。

2. 古代大夫以上据有土地的各级统治者的通称。
思得明君《三国志·诸葛亮传》

follower

i noticed a green icon as i logged onto the dashboard of my blog:

it says "1 follower"

and so i clicked to find out this follower is:

then i thought:
who is this person? do i know her? why is she following my blog?

while reading her entries, i managed to find out who this follower is. omg! your picture totally does not look like you at all lor! then again, perhaps i have not met you in person for a long time or perhaps my image of you has always been stuck during our uni days. oh well, hope to see more of your entries soon ^ ^

lover undercover

13 March 2010

11th Hour - Melody Gardot

Esplanade Concert Hall

update:

her singing was flawless but she didnt sing lady undercover.

IT Show 2010

first time at the IT show.

2mbps for only $14.52/mth.

alice in wonderland

nine

gu chee gu chee

atap house

i was telling my coursemate how my life in a palace had been reduced to an atap house all because a random posting.

i paid a visit to the atap house next to the granite quarry on friday.

OMG!!!

it has a space as big as a palace but still not the choice within the area.

wearing long sleeves is considered overdressed. depressing hor?

this is like the analogy which darlin gave me that time i was choosing a car: you must get one that you like; otherwise you have to sulk and face it everyday.

sulk and face it for the next 2 years?

ke lian de lian hua~

moody

ever since i've gotten my posting, i have been rather moody.
the only reason for this is because i was not posted back.
there were so much expectations for me to be back and meet my students.
it could have been happy cny for so many pple.
all these have been disrupted because some jerk at level 7 decided otherwise.
there's still 1 more week for a miracle to happen, otherwise i will have to face the tin quarry everyday for the next 2 yrs.

speak clearly

acne

i had a cluster of pimples (maybe 3) growing on my left shoulder several years ago. i burst them and it left a pimple scar. lately, i noticed the same area started growing pimples again and this time, it became a large lump (about 4cm in diameter) and painful. and yesterday, it burst on its own and omg, free flow of creamy + bloody pus. apparently it didnt just stop there. this morning, it continued to flow again and i am feeling the strain on my shoulder. am i going to die?

*update 28 Jan 2010*
yesterday saw a major eruption. so graphic that i refrained myself from taking any pictures. while squeezing the lump, the discharge gushed out and splattered all over the mirror. it was so painful that i did it in 3 installments, at 1hr interval each time. god! the finale was when i managed to squeezed out the root - about 1cm in length and 5mm in width. so that's what been hiding beneath my skin. i am not going to die after all.

to sidetrack, i was struck with a great setback yesterday. the pain i had while squeezing the lump did take away some of my emotional pain. now i fully understand why some people resort to self-harm to deal with their emotional pain.

songs im singing during the next round of ktv

北酒場 細川たかし


浪花節だよ人生は 細川たかし


時の過ぎゆくままに 沢田研二


長崎は今日も雨だった 内山田洋とクール・ファイブ


北国の春 千昌夫


昴 谷村新司

pictures from japan

Disneyland, Tokyo

View from Shinjuku Prince Hotel

Osaka Castle

Ferris Wheel, Yokohama

Hakone Yumoto

Rainbow Bridge, Odaiba

View from Park Hotel

Shiodome Ramen