it is a rare occasion that i actually feel so enthusiastic about blogging but if i may say so myself, i think i had a rather successful photo excursion with these cam-whores from CTG 218'2008:).



the activities we engaged in were simple



trying out headers,



playing ball,



bantering light-heartedly



getting in touch with one another. yup, a tad too close for comfort for some.

Sumiko was lamenting in her latest column about whether she is any less of a woman, for she didn't go through the traditional rite of passage to settling down and raising kids. a sentiment taken up by Mr Leong today when we had breakfast together. geez, I do wonder if my social life needs a serious overhaul when I am spending time bonding with people who are at the awkward stage of their lives where they are neither teenagers nor adults. where their prerogative, it seems, is to grip about high transport costs and compare the size of their hongbao money. ~no offense, guys~

but for the most part, I feel quite blessed. it's true that these guys don't have the financial capability to travel to far places yet but really, precious memories are composed of the simple things in life: watching the Singapore vs Jordan match and eating vegetarian maggie mee.

when you have companionship, anywhere feels like a holiday.

Noi, a National University of Laos lecturer, came to Singapore recently for two weeks to attend a course in NIE. Obviously, I brought her around some parts of Singapore:)

Noi shared how she had attended pedagogy-related courses in many countries, including Korea, Thailand and the Philippines. She hopes to apply for training stints in Denmark and Turkey in the foreseeable future.

I was VERY humbled to realise how her profession has brought her to so many places and allowed her to experience so much of life. In fact, I lamented how I have only been to Laos! And here's the best part: She's a year younger than me. sigh.

My resolve is strengthened. I pledge never to lose my wanderlust. I would push myself to accumulate my varied experiences and emerge a wise, charismatic man. haha.

my favourite Kindaichi comic involved him investigating a murder in an obscure village, where he once spent a memorable week with the characters when he was little. apparently, the memories they created were so precious and indelible that the characters missed Kindaichi and kept talking about him through the years.

Monday was the release of the O level results, in which I found myself watching Ip Man with chia hao and melvin

the crappies two years ago

it's nice to watch a movie together.

I feel exactly like Kindaichi. It was only a short 8 weeks of being their teacher in Chong Boon Sec but really, your first batch of kids touches you deep, somewhere.

and on Wednesday, I spontaneously played mahjong with chia hao, tian tian and hui hui.



see how big chia hao has grown! my gosh.

it's nice to play mahjong together.

today, toh xin, jj and joseph lepaked with me at Yishun Junior College canteen. i would have insisted on taking a photo, given the momentous nature of the occasion (first time students return to visit me at my workplace leh!) but somehow didn't feel like pushing it. maybe i subconsciously looked down on their slipper outfit. haha. nonetheless,

it's nice to chat about random stuff together.

teaching has got to be one of the few jobs in which one can build up genuine relationships with people. i will miss that element if i do leave this profession.



this week-the first week of school-has been nothing short of interesting. and it is only thursday! ~grins~

So, I am back after watching my movie. Here's what I watched



It's rather similar to My Favourite Wife by Tony Parsons



in the sense that the core of the plot explores why a couple get involved in an adulterous affair with story arcs involving some characters around them as well. similarly, i found the side stories more interesting than the adulterous affairs. In Little Children, the supporting characters were a recently released ex-convict who received condemnation for his act of indecent exposure and an ex-cop who struggled with anger management issues after losing his beloved job when he killed a kid by accident. really meaty substance here, ya. whereas the male lead's close friend in My Favourite Wife shot himself after seeing his Filipino wife in bed with another man. not forgetting, all the observations made about how China is a cold, hard, cruel place as it gears itself to be the next economic power

but i'm not here to compare and contrast the two. back to Little Children, I wanted to slap both Patrick Wilson and Kate Winslet for acting like erm, little children. Planning to elope in the heat of their passion, with Patrick ready to abandon his son?!! Of course, I see how they feel bored and hopelessly trapped in their lives. Patrick who watches wistfully at the teenager skateboarders and hasn't been feeling alive in years. Kate whose husband touch himself to some slutty internet porn star~I kid you not!~

but their impulse to seek solace from each other's arms just seems so self-righteous, so self-indulgent. get over your pity party.

still, i was hooked and oh man, i'm such a sucker for these movies in which the seemingly disparate paths of various unrelated characters "wind slowly and tremulously together, building to an extremely tense climax". cases in point: Crash. Babel. Love Actually. and now this.

i wasn't really convinced by Patrick's change of heart to return to his wife but i'm not going to begrudge it for it does help the movie end in an optimistic note-It's never too late to change your future for the better.

just the right note to start the new school year with. :)

the secondary school kid in me has a sudden impulse to post an account of the things I did today.

~went for teaching and learning
~afternoon nap
~prepared worksheets for teaching and learning
~checked out websites
~contributed some photos here. hope to win a prize.

it's 8pm now. will probably watch a movie.

the older i get, the more i feel the need to justify to myself that my time is meaningfully engaged. i wonder if i have the energy to value-add to my Sundays when term starts.

老爸就是靠着这双手把我养大。

one of the things I do want to remember about 2008 was how my friend asked me to help her select Chinese books on life. Her uncle was dying of cancer and wished to read such books.

"My uncle doesn't have many days left." She uttered this poignant line.

I imagined him reading his books on his hospital bed, trying to take stock of his life, come to terms with his regrets and quell his racing fear and ached for how he had to wait to die.

She later smsed me that her uncle liked the books I chose. made me feel good that I could be of help, albeit in a somewhat indirect manner.

when eyes are an enigma

i think the best thing about the dec break is how i regained my presence of mind to watch some serious films ever since i joined teaching. one of the embarrassing things i had to endure last year was sitting beside my chong boon ex-students while watching The Honey Bunny. could feel my professional status being dragged down a few notches there. haha. not that The Honey Bunny (and Mamma Mia!, Tropic Thunder, Burn After Reading etc) wasn't enjoyable. I am not so atas as to reject the laugh-out-loud-every-minute of frivolous movies but after a while, you kinda need some yang to balance the yin, you get what i'm saying.



Paradise Now explores the motivations of two Palestinians Said and Khaled to become suicide bombers as a form of protest against the occupation by Israel. stripped bare, it reveals how desperate one can get if he feels oppressed and impotent and wants to do something-anything-to redeem himself and make a statement. i liked how a change of heart is sensitively and plausibly protrayed after their separation from their handlers. Khaled (the man in the car), who was more determined initially, began to have second thoughts and questioned the worth of their act. He didn't follow through his suicide bombing act.



On the other hand, the initially more hesitant Said became more resolute. The movie ends with him sitting in a bus full with Israeli soldiers and the viewer is held in suspense as all sorts of questions gush over his mind. will he detonate himself? could he change his mind? will i see the explosion? what is he thinking? and while you are willing that you won't be seeing anything awful, the camera slowly moves up closer so that Said's eyes become the focus of the screen.


k, this is the closest photo that i can find.

brilliant ending.

click here to read more about Paradise Now.

on a random but somewhat related note, here is a photo I took of Johnny Depp's eyes recently at an exhibition in the National Museum. I'm quite fascinated with soulful eyes; maybe i shall do a photo series this year. haha.

New Year's Resolutions

Nay, I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions. Firstly, I feel if one is compelled enough to change, he won't need the stimulus of a new year to prompt him to change. secondly, well, in one previous post last year, I famously declared that I would post 50 tips on my travel journal within 6 months. kns. how many did I manage to post? a grand total of....

...zilch.

haha.

nonetheless, this post has been gnawing at the back of my mind for days. if nothing else, I feel the urge to think of and post some resolutions here so that I would be easily reminded of the Kai Le I wish to become.

anyway, I came across this in The Straits Times recently:

Gary Hayden is a freelance writer who specialises in education, science, philosophy, health, well-being, travel and short fiction.

so cool, right? so learned about such diverse disciplines. sigh, it makes me shake my head when I think about how ignorant I am.

so, having given some thought to it, my new year's resolutions are

1. do volunteer work
2. watch old classics movies. these may include

100 movies (copied and pasted from a friend's blog)

Godfather, The (1972)
Shawshank Redemption, The (1994)
Godfather: Part II, The (1974)
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Schindler's List (1993)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Casablanca (1942)
Seven Samurai (1954)
Star Wars (1977)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Memento (2000)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Rear Window (1954)
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, (2002)
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Usual Suspects, The (1995)
Am閘ie (2001)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
North by Northwest (1959)
Psycho (1960)
Silence of the Lambs, The (1991)
12 Angry Men (1957)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
Goodfellas (1990)
American Beauty (1999)
Vertigo (1958)
Pianist, The (2002)
Sunset Blvd. (1950)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Matrix, The (1999)
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Taxi Driver (1976)
Third Man, The (1949)
Paths of Glory (1957)
Fight Club (1999)
Boot, Das (1981)
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Chinatown (1974)
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Maltese Falcon, The (1941)
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Bridge on the River Kwai, The (1957)
Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
All About Eve (1950)
M (1931)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Raging Bull (1980)
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
Se7en (1995)
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000)
Wizard of Oz, The (1939)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Vita e bella, La (1997)
American History X (1998)
Sting, The (1973)
Touch of Evil (1958)
Manchurian Candidate, The (1962)
Alien (1979)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Rashemon (1950)
Annie Hall (1977)
Great Escape, The (1963)
Clockwork Orange, A (1971)
Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The (1948)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Sixth Sense, The (1999)
Jaws (1975)
Amadeus (1984)
On the Waterfront (1954)
Ran (1985)
Braveheart (1995)
High Noon (1952)
Fargo (1996)
Blade Runner (1982)
Apartment, The (1960)
Aliens (1986)
Toy Story 2 (1999)
Strangers on a Train (1951)
Modern Times (1936)
Shining, The (1980)
Donnie Darko (2001)
Duck Soup (1933)
Princess Bride, The (1987)
Lola rennt (1998)
City Lights (1931)
General, The (1927)
Metropolis (1927)
Searchers, The (1956)
Full Metal Jacket
Notorious (1946)
Manhattan (1979)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Graduate, The (1967)

3. take more good photographs. To this end, I have already set up an album titled "Self-taken Favourites (2009)" on Facebook. ingenious idea? the use of this feature of our ultra-connected, narcissistic era to motivate me to keep my resolution. heh.

well, i will check back a couple of months later to see how things are going. new year. fresh start. new slate. i-can-do-anything frame of mind. wooohoooo! :)