Before the year ends, it is to the airport again - soon that is - to Chiangmai , making this the 6th trip to the same place for work in 3 years.
This time however I will be there mainly for the softball trip even though I will be taking two days off to recce for a suitable CIP expedition. I am looking forward to meeting Chala again (my translator) and also hopefully the drivers, johnny and yut who were with us the last few rounds. I kind of missed them even though we couldnt converse much in English.
This trip I will be bringing this huge box of books for Chala's orphans (which was collected by JH and I packed them today) and I am preparing for my Santa Claus' role of buying a computer for them, buying mattresses for them so that they don;t have to sleep on cold floor, buying food for the new year and some additional cash to tide them for a year hopefully. The money for this venture was kindly contributed by myself and 2 students+teacher from the last Chiang Mai trip. It will be a good way to start a new year after all.
_______
Soft Shell Crabs
Sometimes, we just eat whatever we know without thinking.
Went to Swensen the other day on my own to have a meal. They have the Disney menu! Haa just when I though I would like to stay in Disneyland resort for a day. =)
Anyway I had a chili crab soup with soft shell crabs. Something like that.
While biting into one of the crabs, it struck me: if it has a soft shell, how is it going to defend itself against predators? What is it defense mechanism?
The ignorant me found the answer here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft-shell_crab
soft-shell crab are crabs in the process of molting.
Tidbits for the month. Feel free to share!
Went to Swensen the other day on my own to have a meal. They have the Disney menu! Haa just when I though I would like to stay in Disneyland resort for a day. =)
Anyway I had a chili crab soup with soft shell crabs. Something like that.
While biting into one of the crabs, it struck me: if it has a soft shell, how is it going to defend itself against predators? What is it defense mechanism?
The ignorant me found the answer here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft-shell_crab
soft-shell crab are crabs in the process of molting.
Tidbits for the month. Feel free to share!
As we come to the end of the year
Bunny said that I don't update my blog very often or was it how come I don't update my blog?
It was intentional but I was busy working on other sites and because this round, I tried to disseminate the info I had gathered to the whole school population through R.Discovery. Plus I was a bit lazy to log on. haha This is supposed to be a biology but it had served as my own ramblings at times I realised. Thoughtful ramblings I hoped =)
It was almost the end of the year already and just when I finally was able to feel rested, I realised I am going to start school all over again. I think I was quite tensed past few weeks (so I bought an oto eye massager=P).
1) writing testimonials. It was a fight against datelines, trying to find time to type after/before invigilation periods. Each piece was a work that I kind of relished in, masochistically speaking. Poring over written thoughts of others (which brought me some laughs), their own very reflections and my own insights, I assembled each piece with a better understanding of my student. I would like to say that every one is done with sincerity and hope for a new future, and every one is really for each single individual. At least until the amendments come in :).
Typing of testimonials ceased on 1 Dec and in between that and prom night, I churned out my own personal statement (after uploading everything else for UCAS and Naviance) for my own overseas application. For 3000 characters, they wanted several inclusions and because even this personal statement is graded on a scale of 1-6, it was quite daunting. It got worse when I realised that there are only openings for 20 students worldwide.
Then it was prom night. I cannot remember how mine went, probably as camwhoring as 5 sept even though there was no digital camera then. It was my first official time wearing my ever first pair of contact lenses then and like many others, I wore a suit. fast forward many years ahead, things don't really change much =) (the girls always looked very different that fateful night) except I felt older because I am and I had less friends ahah
Then all of a sudden, I was on my way to Bali with my friend on a short trip on Mon afternoon (I had to go back to school to settle paperwork for softball trip..arrgh). I remembered dumping my clothes and electronics into my backpack and left for the airport because my friend paid for an extra 20kg for checkin with jetstar so there was no reason to strategise my packing since I knew that I would never hit 20 kg.
Bali was not bad but I thought I suffer from the incessant working for the past one month to be able to reach a a peaceful mental state. In other words, my mind was still rather fidgety. But a break was still a break. It was still good to be able to not think of any work even if it was only for 5 days. =)
Back to Singapore, I had to do up part two of my application. This was the stressful part and took me a week to formulate a research theme when I had not done any for so long, totally unfamiliar with social research, no in tune with current educational landscape but had so many ideas, some practical to do while others are idealistic. I would pace up and down the house to find my muse until I decided not to worry too much but just write what I believed in, thought was feasible and put them down in black and white. I trusted in my scientific basis of judgement and because I only knew so much (I don't have time to do enough research). A neat piece of work (at least my fren told me) and so I hoped the people reading it will be as excited as my friend was. Like my students, I took a day to get my certificates endorsed (NIE and NUS), weighed my envelope and finally sent the envelope out to meet the dateline. And that was only this week. hahaha
--------
BREAK BREAK!
Christmas Eve. I went out to run some errands (like cutting my locks and rejuvenated with short hair) and had a starbuck coffee at the cityhall link. I liked sitting down with a drink and listening to cheesy xmasy songs (at the appropriate year only pls). It always bring a smile to my face with its festivity. I always think about Love Actually! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m2T5yfgsZ0
I read this newspaper article and it picked out pple wearing supposedly nice stuff and interviewed them. Other than the fact that I thought the clothes were not that outstanding by themselves (shirt and tie - isnt it norm? but perhaps they are less common among young pple in orchard) but to print about a 19 yr old wearing more than a $1000 on himself, arent we sending out a wrong msg? for one thing, it is NOT normal bcos a typical 19 yr old cannot afford it and it is also not true that only branded stuff are tasteful or value for money. These days, the branded goods are more inferior in quality so it takes a discerning shopper to get the best deals actually. Anyway , I just hoped that the young generation were not misled ...mmm i shall keep an eye out for that column next time.
Watched AVATAR (3D) today with my friends. J's treat because he passed his IPPT with me with a silver as his PTI for the past 2 weeks! AVATAR was awesome and my friend thought I fell asleep because I did not move at all. Nope. I was running through the forest! :)
James Cameron had really brought it home with this alien species although typical themes were explored. Still I enjoyed. I loved the bio stuff! - Signal transduction! nervous-like system in the roots! the part where the Na'vi plunged into the animals? I thought it was a simile to how pple plug into comp/virtual reality in sci fic actually but they changed the perspectives. There were parts that reminded me of Hayao Miyazaki's earlier works (the raccoon guy) like the floating mountains - Castle in the Sky and feeler-like sensor - Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.
But more importantly, I hope pple are not just blown away by the concepts or animations but think about how it really mirror real life. In our determination to get resources for our own needs, for our personal interest we often disregard others. Species went extinct, indigenous tribes slowly phased out (the only untouched ones are in papau new guinea i think) - and thus their knowledge of nature, and isn't that the reason why japan started WWII? We also see it in deforestation, pollution and how the bigger companies/some countries are operating in their drives to maximise economic returns. without a care, without a heart - and that is actually the thing we should work on and is working on - care and respect for others because life is not all about us.
I envy the Na'Vi and their connection with nature because they understood symbiosis, mutualism and the interdependancy of all living things.
The good thing is many pple are starting to appreciate nature again, to feel the live pulsating from underneath and start to care for Mother Earth.
------------
RANDOM
my students who do not know that these songs came from somewhere: :)
It was intentional but I was busy working on other sites and because this round, I tried to disseminate the info I had gathered to the whole school population through R.Discovery. Plus I was a bit lazy to log on. haha This is supposed to be a biology but it had served as my own ramblings at times I realised. Thoughtful ramblings I hoped =)
It was almost the end of the year already and just when I finally was able to feel rested, I realised I am going to start school all over again. I think I was quite tensed past few weeks (so I bought an oto eye massager=P).
1) writing testimonials. It was a fight against datelines, trying to find time to type after/before invigilation periods. Each piece was a work that I kind of relished in, masochistically speaking. Poring over written thoughts of others (which brought me some laughs), their own very reflections and my own insights, I assembled each piece with a better understanding of my student. I would like to say that every one is done with sincerity and hope for a new future, and every one is really for each single individual. At least until the amendments come in :).
Typing of testimonials ceased on 1 Dec and in between that and prom night, I churned out my own personal statement (after uploading everything else for UCAS and Naviance) for my own overseas application. For 3000 characters, they wanted several inclusions and because even this personal statement is graded on a scale of 1-6, it was quite daunting. It got worse when I realised that there are only openings for 20 students worldwide.
Then it was prom night. I cannot remember how mine went, probably as camwhoring as 5 sept even though there was no digital camera then. It was my first official time wearing my ever first pair of contact lenses then and like many others, I wore a suit. fast forward many years ahead, things don't really change much =) (the girls always looked very different that fateful night) except I felt older because I am and I had less friends ahah
Then all of a sudden, I was on my way to Bali with my friend on a short trip on Mon afternoon (I had to go back to school to settle paperwork for softball trip..arrgh). I remembered dumping my clothes and electronics into my backpack and left for the airport because my friend paid for an extra 20kg for checkin with jetstar so there was no reason to strategise my packing since I knew that I would never hit 20 kg.
Bali was not bad but I thought I suffer from the incessant working for the past one month to be able to reach a a peaceful mental state. In other words, my mind was still rather fidgety. But a break was still a break. It was still good to be able to not think of any work even if it was only for 5 days. =)
Back to Singapore, I had to do up part two of my application. This was the stressful part and took me a week to formulate a research theme when I had not done any for so long, totally unfamiliar with social research, no in tune with current educational landscape but had so many ideas, some practical to do while others are idealistic. I would pace up and down the house to find my muse until I decided not to worry too much but just write what I believed in, thought was feasible and put them down in black and white. I trusted in my scientific basis of judgement and because I only knew so much (I don't have time to do enough research). A neat piece of work (at least my fren told me) and so I hoped the people reading it will be as excited as my friend was. Like my students, I took a day to get my certificates endorsed (NIE and NUS), weighed my envelope and finally sent the envelope out to meet the dateline. And that was only this week. hahaha
--------
BREAK BREAK!
Christmas Eve. I went out to run some errands (like cutting my locks and rejuvenated with short hair) and had a starbuck coffee at the cityhall link. I liked sitting down with a drink and listening to cheesy xmasy songs (at the appropriate year only pls). It always bring a smile to my face with its festivity. I always think about Love Actually! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m2T5yfgsZ0
I read this newspaper article and it picked out pple wearing supposedly nice stuff and interviewed them. Other than the fact that I thought the clothes were not that outstanding by themselves (shirt and tie - isnt it norm? but perhaps they are less common among young pple in orchard) but to print about a 19 yr old wearing more than a $1000 on himself, arent we sending out a wrong msg? for one thing, it is NOT normal bcos a typical 19 yr old cannot afford it and it is also not true that only branded stuff are tasteful or value for money. These days, the branded goods are more inferior in quality so it takes a discerning shopper to get the best deals actually. Anyway , I just hoped that the young generation were not misled ...mmm i shall keep an eye out for that column next time.
Watched AVATAR (3D) today with my friends. J's treat because he passed his IPPT with me with a silver as his PTI for the past 2 weeks! AVATAR was awesome and my friend thought I fell asleep because I did not move at all. Nope. I was running through the forest! :)
James Cameron had really brought it home with this alien species although typical themes were explored. Still I enjoyed. I loved the bio stuff! - Signal transduction! nervous-like system in the roots! the part where the Na'vi plunged into the animals? I thought it was a simile to how pple plug into comp/virtual reality in sci fic actually but they changed the perspectives. There were parts that reminded me of Hayao Miyazaki's earlier works (the raccoon guy) like the floating mountains - Castle in the Sky and feeler-like sensor - Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.
But more importantly, I hope pple are not just blown away by the concepts or animations but think about how it really mirror real life. In our determination to get resources for our own needs, for our personal interest we often disregard others. Species went extinct, indigenous tribes slowly phased out (the only untouched ones are in papau new guinea i think) - and thus their knowledge of nature, and isn't that the reason why japan started WWII? We also see it in deforestation, pollution and how the bigger companies/some countries are operating in their drives to maximise economic returns. without a care, without a heart - and that is actually the thing we should work on and is working on - care and respect for others because life is not all about us.
I envy the Na'Vi and their connection with nature because they understood symbiosis, mutualism and the interdependancy of all living things.
The good thing is many pple are starting to appreciate nature again, to feel the live pulsating from underneath and start to care for Mother Earth.
------------
RANDOM
my students who do not know that these songs came from somewhere: :)
Posts
