Sunday, December 25, 2011

Sad Story...

Was having brunch with bros HZ, LH and En Lun yesterday and 1 of them was telling me of the case that recently a teacher was charged in court for having an affair with his female student, and apparently not his first time... Upon reading the post in Yahoo just now, realized he was the teacher i/c for the Robotics Club and HOD for D&T in his school... four years ago... I probably might have met this fellow before, and with some probing might know who he is, since HODs for D&T to be also Robotics teacher i/c is not a lot. But I won't be doing that, no point.. Point is, this is utterly a disgrace to the teaching profession and to humankind! Regardless of any excuses this fella can cook up, it is unacceptable for this behaviour, totally unacceptable. These students also have parents. Parents/Guardians sent their kids to schools, trusting the school to take care of their kids, but now this bugger does this... What the hell... He is not fit to be a teacher at all... MOE, this is one of the few times I totally agree with your decision to sack this HOD(ex)... Arrgh, am angry and sad, you just need 1 of such bad sheep to ruin the hard work of teachers who are giving their utmost to nurture our future generation... WTH... and why was he not caned....

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2012!!!!

Dear all, wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy 2012 in advance! =)

Sunday, December 18, 2011

SMRT Train Service Disruption...

2 major disruptions in 3 days? Wow.... But what can you do? ... "Non-satisfactory" service/communication(initially?)? ... But what can you do?.... Today morning testing drag & drag & drag & drag... fr 10am to 12.10pm... But can what you do? .... Raining today, so ponder outside DB MRT station where is the free shuttle bus... Got a road just outside the station entrance, so thought bus will come.. but no, bus is FURTHER out, pls walk without shelter (reminder - raining today)... No clear indication... But what can you do?

In short, even if anything happens, will SMRT be replaced? Nope. Can people go on mass "campaign" of not-taking-mrt? Nope, probably buses and taxis will overload till crazy... Don't think of cars please... Can LTA heavily fine SMRT? Well, yes, BUT... Can SMRT increase fare next year or so? ALSO CAN!!!!! and ... yes, What can you do???

Verdict: What can you do??????? WHAT CAN YOU DO??? .....

p.s. I was slightly annoyed today when I walk all the way to the MRT station only to see the sign that service to NS Line will resume at 11am. I told myself nevermind, go Suntec first... which I detoured and stop at Dhoby Ghaut to go Plaza Sing... only to realise the shops not open yet... so I jalan for a while and went back to MRT station, and thought of taking the free shuttle bus to Orchard, but... refer above story... in the end walk down to station control, and noticed this time (11 plus am) the announcement of shuttle-bus locations had stopped. I figured that it could be service resumed, after such long drag... and ask a red-colour shirt SMRT staff (who was busily tearing down some signages)if any train going to Orchard and he hastily & repeatedly & hurrily &... you get what I mean... says yes (X umpteen times, super speed) and coming.. I go down and waited, with the TV signage saying train to arrive in 2 mins... and wow, it must be counting in cybertronian time, as the "2 minutes" seem to be 4~5 earth minutes... wow... and best is that, if I remember correctly, announcement came to say no service from Ang Mo Kio to Marina! Hmmm... anyway, train did came, but was JAM-PACKED! So I decided to go to Suntec instead, and took the Circle-line then...

Seriously, very bad experience... I understand hiccups do occur, especially such a large infrastructure, which has been serving us reliably for so many years... But as reported, if events of same nature keep happening, then something major might be underlying... I do also am for the overhaul check today, for safety reason... I think I am against the call for the MOT to step down, but rather, the CEO of SMRT (and probably the higher management) can do more than apologise... I applaud PM's move to cut short his vacation (which I personally don't think he should do it), and his usual way of "logicalize" problems and solutuions... but then it shows he might not have learnt from this year's lessons: emotions and EQ do play a big part in solutions...

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

清明上河图 A Moving Masterpiece - The Song Dynasty As Living Art

Went to see "A Moving Masterpiece - The Song Dynasty As Living Art" on Sunday, at Singapore Expo. Very very fulfilling trip! For those who like this amazing painting, it is not to be missed. For those who are interested in animation, the 128 meters long digital painting will amaze you.

There are 3 parts to the exhibition: Pre-show Hall, Main Hall and Post-show Hall. The Post-show Hall which sells snacks and souvenirs, is open to public without fee (Don't expect too much novelty from the food items). You have to buy ticket to go to the Main Hall which showcases the 128m painting, and the Pre-show Hall features the urban lifestyle as a Song Dynasty people. Check out this website for more information (http://www.amovingmasterpiece.com/exhibition.html) but best of all is go and have a look!

Took lots of pictures in the Pre-show Hall...














The start of the main attraction...





Will try to find some time to upload the clips taken, meantime I believe Youtube has some, but as said earlier, the best is to go and experience!

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Late Brunch at Old Town Cafe Suntec City...

Went to Suntec yesterday... Feeling hungry, went over to the Old Town Cafe for a late brunch... First visit to a Singapore-located Old Town Cafe, as only visited the Genting branch before... Nice ambiance...


Ordered the Gao (thick) White-Kopi, has a taste of its own, "lighter" than the common kopi-tiam's kopi, but in a positive way... Oh, if can, try not to put in anymore sugar, its sufficiently sweet enough to taste the kopi...


Was torn apart in choosing the (instant) noodles or my favourite Ayam Rendang Rice... in the end ordered the latter... Ok, not bad...

Monday, November 28, 2011

Genting Trip November 2011 - Chin Swee Caves Temple

Went on a trip to Genting recently, with family and my sis-in-law's family, so big group... Stayed on very high floor, and the window scene is great!



Manage to finally go down to the Chin Swee Caves Temple, and indeed that is the main event for my trip this time! Was very very surprised to see the temple space area was HUGE. I initially thought that there is only a small temple but upon entering, its "WOW" all the way...



Do not be fooled by the photo's size for the Buddha statue, He is HUGE!!!!!




There is also a "Haw Par Villa"-like place inside, showing the 10 levels of Hell... Not to really frighten people, but to try to guide people into not doing bad deeds...



Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva statue... He vowed not to achieve Buddha-hood until all the levels of Hell are empty...



Some pics of the 10 Levels of Hell scenes... Don't the figures remind you of "Haw Par Villa"?...




There is also a LARGE statue of the Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, in the chinese depiction of course, inside... There are also the 18 Arhats statues, but due to bad lightings, I did not capture them down on pics...



The very tall pagoda! Wanted very much to climb up but seeing the levels, and my ankle is also acting up then, I decided not to... But still very magnificent building...



Got many other statues, like the Fu Lu Shou (福禄寿) which represented Good Fortune, Prosperity and Longevity respectively. (Note picture below, from right to left are Fu, Lu and Shou respectively)...



The Nine-Dragons-Wall...



The day was good weather with sun but very cool!!!!

Totally enjoyed my trip this time...

Oh, saw this "风扇" while having high tea in Resorts Hotel cafe!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

CNA - Talking Point: Values and Character-building in schools

Watched the CNA "Talking Point: Values and Character-building in schools" episode... wow... education seems so important after the London riots incident... Some interesting points that caught my attention:

(1) Other than the host, the show got a JC Principal, a Sec Sch HOD, a COMPASS member, a Parent Link member, an undergrad previously from SJI (wow...) ... but strangely, No "PURE" TEACHER is involved in this "talk"... What??? !!!!!! ... Amazing CNA... This calls for "salute" 5 times.. This is especially weird that there were some related topics / discussions on eg. responsibilities on teachers (to deliver the teaching of character excellence)... So how to know their POV?

(2) Talk of the CME values Wishlist - resilience, team working, interaction of different cultures, integrity, compassion / empathy... hmm....

(3) Values are "taught" or "caught"? Hmmm... In my personal opinion, kids take the "value" into them and probably deeper if they can "feel" the "value"... ie. the "caught" / teachable moments... What is "taught" may not stay inside, or stay for long... But nevertheless, in providing an education for the mass, we can't rely entirely on seizing teachable moments ("caught"), almost impossible, so still need the "taught"...

(4) CCA - Will schools be telling that the students that it is "NOT IMPORTANT" to win, and sportsmanship is more important? ... Hmmm...

(5) Character / Holistic development should be both at home and in school, I agree with... Point is, the "talk" did not mention at which stage would this begin, and at where, and which comes first...

(6) A discussion broke out on : Parent Link member mentioned that teachers (maybe) are too stretched out to show compassion, to "walk the talk" for the students (something like this, and a GOOD POINT raised!) ... and guess what, the JC Principal says "... I don't know whether we are looking at one teacher and then blowing it out of context and therefore it becomes all teachers being this way, being stretched..." Wow, amazing statement made... So is she saying she does not know, or... ? Hmmm.... wow... I'm stumped, loss for words... sigh.... Well, we know we'll always tell our kids to be MORE OBSERVANT, don't we?

(7) Class size (reduction) : How to care for 40 students in a class when 3 kids at home already "up to here (head level)"... I salute you, Parent Link member!!! Another Good point made!!! ... and best thing is, there is no reply to this suggestion, neither by the Principal nor the HOD, nor any other person... I also "salute" you folks for this - this no-talk spirit and attitude should be shown to the soldiers in the POW course...

(8) Agreed with the COMPASS member on correcting the student's inappropriateness, eg. rudeness, before him going for, say, remedial lesson...


Kudos to CNA for organizing this topic for Talking Point!


(If you would like to see the episode, google keywords - CNA, talking point, values in school... )

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Its.... SMELLY TAU FOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES!!!!!!

Paar Malam is running in Bedok Central... and when I saw this stall, I am extremely delighted, because it is selling SMELLY TAU FOO !!!!!!!!! Yeah!!!!!


Has been my craving since trip to Taiwan, and has been lazy to drive around to search for local stalls/shops if selling, so WOW, after months, finally sent a piece of stinky mouldy bean product into my mouth (& stomach)!!! Hahahaha.... GO AND BUY!!!! DON'T WAIT!!! Especially the stall seller is so slow... and blur, hahaha... Of course, taste is 3 levels below the ones I eaten in Taiwan, but, hey, I'm not complaining!

Haul of this evening's Pasar Malam's mum-mum...

Monday, September 19, 2011

Awesome Dinner!!!!

Had dinner at around 8pm... About 4 hours before that was watching 食尚玩家 - 就要酱玩, and the hosts were eating a big bowl of Moi Chye (梅菜/梅干)rice... and we (me & my folks) were discussing about the moi chye... Then later, we realized we still a pot of mui chye and some braised pork leftovers, voila!!!!



The fried egg's yolk is not fully cooked, so break it and some will flow into the rice... mix with the sauce and everything... DELICIOUS!!!!!

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Stupid AHM...

Stupid organization / routing for AHM that is held today... Did not put up notice boards in early part of closed roads... Get stuck & cannot get out until after 1hr.... Spoil plan to bring folks to Chinatown brunch trip... In the end now eat in T2... Ok, time to enjoy my meal!

Monday, August 29, 2011

And Singapore has a new Elected President...

... by 35.19% of the total valid votes, just 0.34% more than the closest candidate... wow.. hmm... ok... so got to 'tan' (Hokkien for "wait") for 6 years to vote for next President... if any... wait... just need another 5 more years to vote in GE... 2016... wow... hmm... ok... sigh... Oh, had a good meetup / meeting with my old friends to discuss for his wedding plans and recce the routes... Long time did not go to Cheesecake cafe liao...

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Quick Review of Marina Bay Sands Casino

Went over to Marina Bay Sands casino the other weekend... Is really built for "higher level beings", not really for the commoners... the shops around there are branded... even the "foodcourt" sells at a higher price, don't dare to think of the celebrity chef restaurants...

The casino overall is not impressive. In comparison with the RW Sentosa counterpart, MB Sands is/has:
(1) Slightly lesser smoke, which is probably 1 of the only 2 advantages it has over RW Sentosa (RWS).
(2) Less mouldy smell (from carpet) the 2nd and last advantage....
(3) Get your drinks yourself. Yes, there are staff OCCASIONALLY push carts to bring beverages to you, but they shout out like drink sellers at a soccer match in old National Stadium (unlike the RWS, the aunities ask you personally warmly and with a smile). No biscuits.
(4) Coffee (with milk) is as good.
(5) Milo is as good.
(6) Bottled drinking water NOT available. Only seen once when the staff pushes the cart, only once in the middle of the night... No plain water, sigh...
(7) Earn Member points as easy, but....
(8) Member points CANNOT redeem meals! Can change points into Premier$, but is 1 point to $0.50. So if compare to RWS which effectively converts 1 point to $2, anyone can do the math and know which is worth... There are around 3 restaurants inside the casino. We tried 1, the service is good, but the price is... even after deducting around 32 points, still have to pay $12 plus... 32 points in RWS can redeem around 2 meals for 3 person... of course RWS is self service, but personally prefer to have "free" food...
(9) Food is ok though, not bad...
(10) About same journey time...
(11) Need to pay $100 levy for local as per normal...
(12) Casino has POOR design in terms of layout... imagine an oversized Tampines Mall of 3 floors... Slots machine are placed around the oversized "walkways". If in "2nd" floor, you have to walk ONE BIG ROUND to get to the other side of the slots machines!!! Sigh...
(13) Machines are lousy... not fun...
(14) Queue up a LONG time just to make the membership card.
(15) Card sometimes is difficult to be read in the slots machine.
(16) Entrance & exit gates are CONFUSING!!!!! You'll know what I mean when you go there... RWS entrances & exits are so much clearer how to approach...
(17) ID card sensing system slow and easily cock up. Once when going out to take a breather, I accidentally moved my card instead of quickly moving it out of the laser barcode scanner, and the alarm sounded, and have to go to the side to "quick reset" my status...
(18) POOR STAFF SERVICE. Especially 1 of the security (in suit) at the entrance, ask him where to go for making membership, he replied that must go inside casino to make, and when I remarked "oh, so casino inside got counter", his immediate no-thinking reply is "Of course lah, inside sure have one what..." ...

So my folks and I unanimously conclude that : we will NOT go back to MB Sands again. Should we want to go to local casino (although unlikely, since now only left 2/3 pay... ), it will be RWS.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Tangkak 1 Day Trip 2011

Went to Tangkak yesterday... Quite a fun trip, after so long absence from 1-day tours... Spent lots of time on the bus though... Anyway, had a nice breakfast with old Auntie army again... Then proceed to destinations... Some highlights are:

Durian buffet session in the durian plantation... Some are nice, but most are not... so lucky can open infinitely... It was more of an experience, than tasting the durians...





The agency even provided a simple lunch of fried beehoon, curry vegetables, sweet-sour meat-lets, horfun... hahaha... in fact the whole day was feeling full from morning till reach home...


Also visited 2 temples: Ji-Gong temple and another was... Dua Peh Gong (???) temple. They are just besides each other, so went to both... Note the Ji-Gong is actually built on TOP of the temple, not inside, hahaha...





Was too late to go shopping, so cancelled the shopping item.. sad... but nevermind... Went to a so called better restaurant (see picture below) for dinner, and the food was indeed GOOD! Got kampung steamed chicken, fried pumpkin pieces in curry leaves, pig stomach soup, deep fried sour prawns, steamed fish (groupa?), Thai-style fried beancurd, etc etc...


After dinner, went out of restaurant, and saw lots of swallows flying around... picture is too blurred... the blurry little spots are actually swallows...



Bought a lot of stuff, most delighted one is the Guang-Biscuit seen below. The one with sesame seeds is the plain saltish version, the other one in the left is filled with sweet bean paste... finally got to taste it again after 3 years... nice...

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Belated Pics - Dinner on 29 June, 30 June

Dinner on 29 June... Father cooked Taiwanese Beehoon Fried!!!!! Singapore-style Oyster Fried!!!!!!!! With Stirred-Fried Cabbage!!!! Verdict??? The Beehoon is EXACTLY like what we had in Taiwan, BESTESTEST!!!! Oyster Fried is good too, although Father said 1 of the 2 plates is too "hard", not enough water in the flour...



Dinner on 30 June.... Home-cooked Oily Chicken Noodles and Wanton Soup!!!! Just like the Chew Kee one!!!! Yes, the noodles may not be as chewy, but it is definitely more heart-warming... Overall, the chicken is just as GOOD, if not BETTER, than the Chew Kee one!!!!!!!! Wanton Soup is GOOD too!!!!! SUPERB!!!! Was chatting with Father, and we agreed simple ingredients brings out the true flavour of the dish....





Yes, I am sick, but still need to work today.. & tomorrow...