There are days.

There are days where everything goes wrong.

There are days where everything seems designed to make you go insane, where even the simplest things seem beyond you, where even so, you have to grit your teeth and bear whatever nonsensical lemons life decides to throw your way, because there's nothing else you can do about it, where you go home at the end of the day, and you feel tired and drained out of all life and blood there was in you at the start of the day.

And then you meet your friend and one good line manages to lift your spirits and end your day on a good note.

Insurance agent: "Do you have any disorders or abnormalities?"

Friend: "Yes, I have an abnormality, it's just... I'm abnormally handsome. I have to go for an operation to uglify myself and make myself look more normal."

Insurance agent: ".... Wh-what?"

I'd rather not name sources on the Internet but I think most of you know there is only one guy who has the balls to come up with a line like that. ;)

This is what happened to me: I go for a long, long movie drought in which I watch NO movies at all, and then suddenly, over the weekend I catch 3 movies. -_-!!! I don't know whether you can call this a Reclamation of Life, but...

Death Note

A Shinigami [Death God] drops the Death Note onto Earth. Any names written within the book will die within 40 seconds of a heart attack. A narcisstic megalomanic genius picks up the book with intentions of killing off all the criminals in the world and creating a new world order in which he is God Supreme.

What a great plot premise, no? You really have to read the manga to appreciate the intricacies and plot twists and turns of this manga. My more barbarian friend may disagree with me, but I feel it is this which makes the manga truly stand out from the rest of those on the market, not to mention the novelty of the plot, whereby the main character is a kind of villian, rather than savior.

All this, to me, is lost in the movie.

To me, this movie is another reminder why I should never watch book-movie adaptions. [bleargh] Because in almost every movie in which I have read the book before, [most notable example being Harry Potter] I have been bitterly disappointed by the lack of depth in plot and character in a movie. Face it, a 2 1/2 hour movie is just not enough to truly do justice to a good sized book, let alone a manga whereby the storyline runs over 12 volumes!

Suddenly, the characters become more 2D, an irony since they are obviously 3D characters adapted from a 2D book. The plot becomes more shallow and brainless. There is no 'mindfuck' in watching the movie, [the term 'mindfuck' being attributed to a certain swingin' fren overseas] and hence there is no mental titillation. There was nothing to excite me about the whole plot and I ended up getting pretty bored halfway through the movie. Like, kill someone already.


Manga is better

Part of the problem is also that I've read the entire frickin' series. I know how he did all his tricks, I know how the plot will develop, I even know how the frickin' thing is gonna end. What on earth is there to look forward to for me then???

And there's a part 2 even. *swoon* I'm not sure whether I should spare myself the agony, or just watch it for closure.

The Prestige and The Departed

"Hey! I'm sorry I said Christian Bale was cuter than you, OK???"

Interestingly enough, the 2 movies that I watched with him on Sunday had the common theme of deception in their scripts.

The magicians of The Prestige are essentially liars. They make you believe that they are capable of performing amazing magic, where actually, they just rely on props and showmanship to deceive you for that moment. The policemen and gangsters in The Departed are just liars, since a mole is basically that. He lies about what he is, in order to conceal what he truly is.

To him, these were both movies that left a bad aftertaste in the mouth. [his exact words, not mine] They are not feel-good movies, and even their endings may not be pretty. I feel at least that the Prestige had a pretty good twist at the end, which somewhat acted like a sort of prestige for the film. Actually, it seems that the whole film was meant to be played sort of like a magic trick. You see an ordinary object, and then the magician does something to that object. But the part that truly amazes you, the audience, is the part at the end, where he brings the bird back from where he made it disappear, and that is the Prestige. In the same way, the twist at the end was such an unthinkable ending, that it really was a Prestige in a sense.

The Departed was based on the movie Infernal Affairs, which yes, I had watched before, but somehow I didn't suffer the same boring deja vu I had while watching Death Note. I did know how the plot was going to proceed and how it would end, but the western adaption of the film was so different from the original HK version that it became entertaining to watch on its own, if only for the colourful characters that peppered the film. It just shows, Hollywood has a certain skill in adaptation. [probably because of a lack of creative scriptwriters... hahaha]

If you have to watch them, I say go for either the Departed or the Prestige. I liked these two better, even if it didn't have the happy endings that he wanted. :p

It's almost back to hostel days, as Yenn prepares to stay over for the next 3 nights at my house, due to an inefficiency in deployment over a nationwide marking exercise. :p Currently her laptop is beside mine as she maples and I blog.

Yup, back to hostel days, except that tonight the room is much, much bigger, and the food better as we just came back from a ChompX2 dinner. :p

The break from the kids is proving good for the two of us. We were just about reaching that point when we were dragging ourselves to school and she was spamming my hp with "My life sucks"-type SMSes, so it's just about time we spent some time away from the kids before the exams started.

Man, we almost sound like a married couple in that last sentence.

The only problem now is that for some reason, the lag is much worse for her during her Mapling sessions, though my blogging and surfing sessions seem just fine. Considering her possible future [as evident in that South park episode in her blog] as a gamer though, I'd say it's just as well for her. >D

So how has life been to me so far? Other than how my kids seem to be going utterly insane towards the exams, it's good to see that some time is finally clearing up. One tuition kid has just ended his exams so I've stopped him for now, and I finally have more time on Saturday afternoons. *phew* Only 2 more kids to go for now...

The dance is going as well as before, though I haven't been able to go for a proper Fling in weeks. -_-!!! I have been to some events at the Library@esplanade and the change of venue is proving refreshing, though the faces are just the same ones transplanted from Fling. -_-!!!!! Considering another jazz dance course in Nov if I feel up to it, and not too fat... :p

And speaking of dance, who's free on Fri and Sat night?

Other than that, it's been a smooth, eventless life so far. Funny how everything just seems so... settled... right now, like, nothing happening, little hiccups here n there but nothing that is beyond my ability to handle, or chuck aside to a convenient corner of the mind....

Hopefully not the calm before the storm..........

Talking Cock In Parliament

In lieu of many blog entries not done, [life been too boring, sorry], here are some videos I found of the Talking Cock in Parliament event I attended in August. It took me one HELL of a lotta effort to make sure they published correctly, so WATCH THEM!!! Esp the Ruby Pan and Hossan Leong ones, 'cos I think they're the funniest. :p For the other, just watch it for the Candy guy making the Candy line.

TalkingCock in Parliament - Part 7

Skip this till u see the candy guy in the candy shirt... :p n check out his opening line

the mrbrown show 30Aug06:TalkingCock in Parlimen-HossanLeong

From Talking Cock in Parliament, that I watched a while back, this is the Hossan Leong song that I loved... and I managed to find it on Youtube! With lyrics to boot! A definitely more fun way of learning Singapore history :p

TalkingCock in Parliament - Part 8


Here is the Ruby Pan video on different accents in Singapore.... Also hilarious!

A White Death

With the blogging of the Bintan trip, I forgot to blog about the other disaster that struck me after I came back. [yea, not a very good week for me overall]

My Shiroi Creative Zen was playing music for me on the way to work, as usual, when suddenly it hung, and refused to go any further.

I had encountered this problem before, and luckily Creative now has a service center at Marina Sq so I headed there after work to get it fixed.

Where, I found to my profound, abject horror, that to fix the problem, the entire hard drive would have to be reformatted, resulting in the total loss of all the mp3s i had in the player.

I swear, my heart just stopped then and there when the service guy told me those fateful words. Like, the player is only about 1 year old????

Unfortunately the problem was such that there was no way to fix it without erasing everything.

And total loss? We're talking about 1068 mp3s here. [!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]

Hence, now I have to drag out my CD collection box by box and start retransferring them into Shiroi again, CD by CD....... -_-!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh god, I feel like my baby just went to the brink of death, and was narrowly saved by a long, nerve-wracking, operation.

There's bit quite a bit of drama over these few days, so here's fodder for this dusty ol' blog.

I went to sunny Bintan over the weekend with DF and his group of friends, but even a seemingly simple trip almost didn't happened due to some stupidity on my part.

The ferry we were supposed to take on Fri was supposed to leave at 8. I left work early, went to buy some Children's Day pressies with colleagues, and then rushed home to bathe, quickly pack and then take a taxi to Bedok MRT to meet him.

At 1830, I realise that I left my passport at home.

After I made my heart start beating again, I tried calling home to see if my dad or anyone was home, but no one. I quickly ran to get a cab and rushed back home to get my passport. But sooooo many things went against me.

Rush hour traffic slowed down the cab. Mom called, only to berate me for being such an idiot. All the while I prayed fervently that I would just get through the traffic to reach the ferry in time.

Now when I'm in action, I don't think much. But when I'm not doing anything, like just sitting in a cab, I have nothing to do but fret. And I fretted all the way from Bedok to Bishan and back, almost crying in the cab, thinking of how mad he would be, thinking of how my mom was thinking of what an idiot I was, but not thinking of a way to help, thinking, thinking, thinking too much.

To cut a long story short, I didn't make it. 15mins to 8, he called me to tell me that the ferry gates were closing and that we'd have to scrap the trip.

After trying so hard, praying so hard all the way, to be told that I couldn't make it after all...... my heart sank all the way to my toes. I was that disappointed, that I couldn't make it, that I had disappointed him.

I rolled into the ferry terminal to meet him, and we took the cab back to Bishan.

To his great credit though, he was surprisingly upbeat about the whole thing. He was all normal and ok, and he said it was alright, that if I wanted to go all that much, we could just book a ferry for sat morning. I said later that I thought he'd be mad, or upset, and he said,

"It's not what you do, it's who you do it with."

When we left each other night, I looked at his receding back, and thought: That's a good man I chose.

Anyway we went down on sat morn, snorkelled a bit, lounged around, walked around, and before u know it, it was time to go back on Sun morn :p But he was talking about what we could do the next time we went down, just the 2 of us, so I'm keeping my hopes up ^_^

I feel like my stock is slowly appreciating in value, though I'm not getting much dividend returns... hahaha

Because, er, you never know what profound effects for humanity there will be, if we can make teh tarik in space. Imagine, instead of sucking up dry liquids from an airtight pack, astronauts can make fresh, floating teh tarik in zero gravity. They don't even have to aim the cups properly, just let the liquid mass bob along in space until you scoop it up in a cup. Let's all make teh tarik in space.

I caught a few opening minutes of the Singapore Biennale last night.


Firstly, a gripe. If you're advertising to the open public that the event starts from 1800h onwards, then kindly let the public see something at 6!!! I was there from 6 onwards and the only thing going on was some laundry lines with balloons on them being installed. All the main [and I'm guessing, finished] installations were kept away in a tent with entry only for VIPs and media.

Phwargh! Organization sux!

Anyway, soon enough I managed to catch this installation:

Notice the words on the front of the Supreme Court? The artist had a long list of sayings and [possibly] propaganda flashed onto the facade by a high beam.

Which creates an interesting effect doesn't it? The grandness of the project lends it a V-for-Vendetta kind of effect, its sheer magnitude somehow lending it more gravity, especially when using a solemn old building like the Supreme Court as a background. You kind of believe that there has to be some kind of truth to such large, glaring words, and that they have to have some kind of power or truth behind them. Until you read lines like this:for those who can't see clearly, it says Disorganization is a kind of anesthisea or something spelled like that

Clearly something I can identify with, considering the state of my room and my desk at work. And the next one is something interesting too:

I thought this one was interesting though. It makes you think about the words that come from important and seemingly all-knowing people and places. Do the words have more meaning and power because they are against the Supreme Court? What if they were flashed against the UOB towers instead? Or the Esplanade? And if you were standing there, reading the words against the Supreme Court, would you have more belief for these words?

In the words of goldfish, this is one mindfuck awright. :)

For more info, go to the Singapore Biennale website. The theme for this travelling exhibition is Belief, so many installations will be held at religious places all over Singapore. Check it out, take a look, and maybe open your minds a little.

Ironically, it was a few bad incidents on Teacher's Day that made me wonder why I became a teacher.

In the end, after all the trinkets, stationery, and artificial flowers received on 31st Aug, the true Teacher's Day present came this morning, the Teacher's Day school holiday which incidentally is also a prelude to the one week Sept break.

However, the body clock being accustomed already to one term of school, I woke up at abt 7, still early enough to make it down to school for flag-raising *_* Except this time, I lazed in bed about half an hour longer, then fixed breakfast, surfed some blogs, and now I have MTV on while my laptop is on my lap.

This is the real Teacher's Day :)

Later on, I'll decide what to do in the afternoon, and what to do for the rest of the week, [I might even think about some lesson plans for the next few weeks. Eek.] but for now, I'm content to laze the morning away. *Ah* Now I remember why I joined this line. :p

Work, extracurricular activities, [mine, not the kids'] and the remnants of my social life are catching up with me.

What with the tuition, and the social life, my weekdays and ends are almost always completely booked up. :( And that is not a mere brag. Some weeks I find myself running from school to home, only to bathe, and then get out again to tuition/dance/friends whatever.

I'm not complaining though. In a way, it's very satisfactory to come home, late, but psyched from getting out, sometimes, just for the sake of it. Even if it's just to laze somewhere with a cup of tea and a good book, something I could do very easily at home as well. :) If I had a wireless-enabled PDA, I'll probably be blogging and surfing the net outside as well.

I think I'm just one of those people who need to be doing something. Even if that something is not very much at all.

Anyway, the past week in brief:

Thurs: Talking cock in Parliament. An event organized by the TalkingCock people, where several friends of the founder get together to talk about their Uniquely Singaporean experiences. Witness the woman who reminisces about how going to a more privileged secondary school suddenly makes her feel ashamed of her humble upbringings. Or how the other performers jibe about MPs, Singlish and accents.

The one highlight of the night, however, had to be that gay guy who came dressed in a brightly coloured vertically-striped shirt, lamenting that it made him look like a candy store, and that "You can call me Candy. I'm always hard and you can lick me anytime."

-_-!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fri: Dinner with Yenn followed by some light shopping, in which I buy a pair of great shoes, which bust on Sunday afternoon. -_-!!!!!! Later, Krynn joins us and gets so red-in-the-face by the drinks at Fish N Co that she earns sly, knowing glances from the waitresses on the way out. Heh.

I end the day with a peaceful jaunt through the books at Borders.

Sat: Womad rocked, but not as much as last year, despite the great picnic dinner with roast chicken, chip n dip, and juice. A bit too much reggae maybe? But Jimmy Cliff does some real good reggae... Full of meaningful lyrics...

Sun: The DF and I watch The Devil Wears Prada. I'm glad this was one book I never read, because I rather enjoyed the movie with the hard-as-grit Dame Bitch Miranda Priestly, and the aspiring innocent Andy. And the fashionwear in the movie is to die for.

Watching the movie did remind me of one point of myself though. I guess the whole point of the storyline was whether you were willing to sacrifice everything for what you wanted, love, life, family, everything. It reminded me again why I should never aspire to top management positions. Because I was never quite raised with that killer instinct that Miranda Priestly demonstrated so effectively in the movie. And I could never treat people with that same disdain as she did, crushing them under her feet.

However, on the flipside, you never know quite what you are capable of till you actually did it. So how would you know?

Maybe the real challenge is knowing just when it is you're getting sick of it, and want out. Something I'm glad I'm not quite feeling about my job right now. [certainly I do not have $40,000 in the bank]

What a week! Thankfully my tuition kid has cancelled for the week, and Fri's a sch holiday. *peace sign* Here's to the upcoming week........

This is funny. And should make you want to quit your job.

Some observations from Lindy class:

1. Beware of the shirts you wear, innocently snitched from your brother's wardrobe.

"Can I see your shirt?"

"Sure."

"Hey, isn't that the name of the nudist beach in Australia?"

"What?"

"Hahaha! I wouldn't have known it of you!"

"It's not mine! I got it from my brother's wardrobe! I swear!"

"Yea sure!" *wink wink*

And later with other partners,

"Manly beach. Heh."

.................................................. -_-!!!

2. Fast Lindy songs are hard. Slow Lindy songs are harder.

With fast Lindy songs, you fly by each beat and triple step in a blur, swooshing around from A to B and pulled around by your partner as if you were a shot put ball at the end of a string.

With slow Lindy songs, you feel like you're doing a Lindy Tai Chi.

Example of a medium Lindy beat:

Rock step triple step rock step triple step

Example of a fast Lindy beat:

rostetristerostetristerostetriste

Example of a slow Lindy beat:

Rooooocccckkkkkkk sttteeeeepppppppp trrrrriiiipppplllllleeeeee sttttteeeeeppppppp

'Nuff said.

A wistful longing

Watching Where the Hell is Matt made me feel more than a bit wistful, simply cos of the sheer number of countries that he's been to.

Here is one pretty interesting guy. One day he decided he was bored with his life, so he took all the savings he had, went as much around the world as he could, and made a video along the way.

Of him dancing none too gracefully in all the locations he's been to. Seriously, you have to see it to know what I'm talking about.

As stupid as the whole concept sounds, I can't help but feel envious along the way. Like, this guy has travelled to more countries than most people have heard of, can???

I know there are many people who consider travel a frivolous affair, a waste of money that could have been put to better use. Sometimes, they are right. Sometimes, they have the wrong idea of travel altogether, ie to eat, shop and repeat pattern.

I feel real travel should be something that adds to your life, and which greatly enhances its colour and vitality. It is a reasonable assumption that if I was the kind of person who had decided to spend my savings on, say, a new car, or the deposit on my online stock trading account, and not on my Europe trip, I would probably be a far more boring person than I am today.

I think I would also be a more narrow-minded and short-termed person, incapable of appreciating a great deal of the diversity of life and culture, and only able to see as far as fulfilling the financial needs of my future children. [if any] The Trip, and all subsequent travel, did a great deal to open my mind to the rest of the world, and to show me just how many possibilities there were out there, if I were only willing to grasp them.

And if I were not bonded to a powerful government agency, but that's beside the point now......

Of course there were setbacks, and disadvantages. For one thing, that Trip seriously impoverished me, in terms of preparations, actual expenditure over there, and put me in serious debt for several months.

But for all I saw, for all I experienced, and for all the memories? Like the ad said, priceless. For all that I lost monetarily, and it was no small amount, it was still a small price to pay for the riches that I brought back with me. And that will last me for many memories and stories, all the way down to my grandchildren.

I guess if you're worried about the money aspect, think again about the future aspect: What would you rather tell your grandchildren about your life? That you went to school, got a job, got married, and had kids and that was that?

Or would you want to tell them that........ [fill in blank with hope and dreams]

A Burst of Patriotism

Flags at the Esplanade

Frankly, the happiest part of National Day has to be waking up later on a Wed morn and the school holiday on Thursday. [yes, one of the perks of the job]

In a recent SMS conversation, The Slayer was bemoaning the hypocritism that pops up during such occasions. Why do we need a National Day to remind us of how patriotic we should feel? Why do we spend most of our year complaining about this country and then a burst of pride only on one day?

Well, I was thinking of it, and I decided, well, you don't need a Valentine's Day to buy roses for your lover, but it'll be nice to do so all the same ain't it? ;) Regardless of all the petty arguments you've had all year.

I think our feelings towards our country is somewhat like that, like a up-and-down relationship or a dysfunctional family. We go through a bunch of shit here and there, but at the end, this is where we are. This is ours.

I think in order to fully appreciate National Day, it's not quite enough to think of all the things we have here. [The usual litany of things being safety, convenience, oodles of food.......] Maybe we should instead think of what it would be like in another country, and what we don't experience here, that we might overseas.

We don't have suicide bombers, terrorists, and other acts of mass destruction on a day to day basis.

We don't walk down the streets without stares at the colour of our hair and skin, and without condescension and derision. [you can't appreciate this unless you've really been stared at]

We don't have governments which are willing to imprison and starve their people in the name of power, and tell the rest of the world that it is right in doing so [though it has its faults, I doubt you can really compare the PAP to the North Korean govt, or the Myanmese govt, or the Pol Pot regime, or even the US.]

We do not contribute half our income to tax. [owch]

And it is only in Singapore that we can walk around with that sense of belonging, where everything is so familiar that it ceases to be an amazement any longer, where you walk with that sense of confidence that tells you this is where you're supposed to be and this belongs to you

I don't know about you, but after touring a couple of countries, it's always a kinda relief to come back, and feel that mental 'click' as if I was an astray puzzle piece and I was finally coming back to familiar ground, where I knew exactly how to get around, how to talk to people, and be understood, and where I was treated exactly the same as everyone else.

Maybe that's the most important thing to appreciate about our country, no matter where. That this is where we know where we stand.

Sure we have our problems, but it's probably a good thing that most of the problems and the things which piss us off about our country are problems of the educated and affluent class, ie issues of democracy, income, press freedom, rather than problems of the desperate and poor, ie, how am I going to live till the next day?

So for all the little things, for the big things, and all the shitty things about this country, yea, I'm still pretty glad to be living here.

Happy National Day.

Silence of the Kittens

Not a Hannibal Lecter knockoff by the way. This was a play I watched last night with Slayer at the Black Box at the National Library. [one of the smallest performance areas in Singapore]

The play draws on the SARS period, where cats were blamed for spreading the virus, and there was talk on whether they should been culled from the streets, to the chagrin of many cat owners. Using this as an inspirational springboard, the play examines how, in trying to create safe, comfortable lives for ourselves, we somehow let go of what makes us human, or rather, our 'inner cat'.

If I had an inner cat, my fondness for slacking and snacking would probably make me a Garfield. But I do fully agree with one of the lines from the play, where the actress says,

"Somedays when it's hot and I know it's going to be cool later, I like to lie down and laze.... The work can be done later."

My thoughts after the play... Hmmm... I don't know whether it's because I'm older now, or working or whatever, but I find myself half agreeing with the themes in it, and half disagreeing. Half agreeing because I think there's something profoundly disturbing about the idea that it's somehow acceptable to disregard other human and animal lives in the name of societal peace and stability. What kind of people are we if we are unable to show kindness and compassion to the animals in our world? What does that show us about our attitude towards those we deem the weaker and unacceptable in society?

I think if you consider yourself human, then you should have that shred of compassion that separates you from the animals.

In this sense I can fully agree with the allegory presented in the play. We can try to create a safe, comfortable environment for ourselves and our children, but in doing so, we may risk them growing in a sterile, growth-impeded environment, where anything 'dirty' or 'different' is to be chucked away or hidden under covers.

In fact, we risk creating a narrow, close-minded society where people are unable to accept those even slightly different from themselves.

But of course, on the other side of the coin, looking at the audience members already show you what kinds of people are those who are agreeing and identifying with the themes in the play. A quick glance around showed western-educated, [i heard a few faux accents] well-dressed and possibly decently-paid employees. In other words, those who have the money to spend on plays, and the time, on a Friday night to watch the show. Maybe cos they have no children to occupy their time, and no need to work late in order to earn a living.

No surprise then, that they are the minority who are bemoaning their lack of response or rights in this society.

For a better comparison, maybe we can compare the students in my secondary school, to the students in the primary school where I teach. Most of us back then had both parents around, grew up in a relatively middle class setting, and enough money to at least eat during recess and buy the textbooks and stationery we needed.

Looking through my pupils' particulars one day, I could see, albeit through a lot of second-guessing, what kind of lifestyles they led. Some pupils had the particulars for either the father or mother conspicuously blank. Most parents were working in lower income job brackets, and possibly earned less than I did. One girl once skipped school because her mother had to work in the afternoon and didn't want her coming home to an empty home. [huh?] Some pupils went without green pens or didn't have exercise books or activity books for weeks because their parents forgot. I'm praying it's not because they didn't have the $2 to spare at that point of time.

How do you tell these people the importance of civil rights for all? How do they convince them that such values are important, when they are too busy trying to eke out a living for themselves?

Who are the real victims?

I'm turning into a capitalist, label-chasing whore. I'm walking down the dark, dark road to becoming a tai-tai wannabe, seduced by chic fashion labels, smooth, skin-kissing fabric, and all because of a DF who has preferences for brands previously out of my income range.

I actually went to Armani Exchange and bought 2, yes 2 tops.

Which leaves me poorer by about $270.

WTF????????????

I blame the lack of variety in this year's Great Singapore Sale. If there were more stuff, and in my size, I might have bought more of the cheaper type of clothing and not be stuck in this dilemma on whether to flaunt off my new shirts, or bang my head against the wall.

But damn, it's hard to resist a shirt which you love, and which your bf thinks makes you look slimmer, taller, and er, bustier :p

Yes, I still live. In case anyone [anyone at all?] was worried by the lack of entries in this blog, I still live, albeit barely.

Anyway, lemme tell u about the fiasco that was Cabaret.

Firstly, I had planned to watch this musical with Juls a long time ago, so about a couple weeks ago, I duly went down to book the tix.

On Thurs morning, on the way to work, I was musing over the thought of watching it that night, and I took out the tix to check again what time was the show.

And found out that the date on the ticket was: WEDNESDAY NIGHT

And I had paid about $70 for each ticket.

I don't think I need to type down all the unsavory words that passed through my mind at that point of time.

I depressingly smsed Juls at work, telling him about it and telling him that he no longer owed me the $70, fool that I am.

Luckily for us though, Juls had less of a defeatist attitude than I did. We still met up, and rushed to the Esplanade, where Juls told the receptionist how we had asked for Thurs night but got Wed night instead. I didn't hear the entire conversation, cos I was quietly fretting in a corner, but the end result was that they found that there were still seats in our category and they let us in to watch the show after all. [Yay!!!]

I owe quite a debt of gratitude to the polar after this.

So we still managed to catch the show!



Overall, I have to say the singing and the acting weren't half bad, but I do think there were many aspects that could have been better. For one, considering that the title of the musical was 'Cabaret', you would think the cabaret in the play would have occupied a larger role than that. As it was, it seemed to be a very minor side player.

Also, the revolving set design concept is so old already. I've seen it so too many stage productions for it to have any novelty anymore.

I guess overall, it was ok, but I don't think very memorable.

Kyo, Yenn-san wa 'Anta no blog wa nani mo aranai yo' to iita. Hai, muzukashiikara, nani mo kaita. Doomo sumimasen. :p

Kyo, watashi to Yenn wa Level 3 kara gougakushimashita. Omedetou! Korekara, watashitachi wa Level 4 no gakusei.

Speech o kiiteru nagara, sannen no nihongo no benkyo o omotteita. Hajimeta toki, 'watashi wa Aki-san desu. Doozo yooroshiku' shika wakaranakatta. Heta ne! Ima, joozu ni narimasen ga, heta ni narimasu. :) Ima, nihonjin ga hanashiteru, 80% o wakatteiru. Ii desu yo! Ganbatte!

Eh, for you gaijins, sumimasen, eh? :p Needed some of the writing practice after receiving one of the most horrendous marks ever for my Jap test. X( Even though I passed, well, I think I might've scored higher if I had actually studied, so well, like that lor. :p

The days have been passing just, like that, for me. Somedays, I feel as if I'm not so much as getting through the day, as being dragged through it. I know of no other way to describe that feeling other than that, though I would think that many of you working types may know what I'm talking about.

I think one of the aspects of the job I seriously dislike is how it spills over into personal time. Time supposed to be spent recuperating energy and clearing oneself mentally is instead spent thnking of the next day's work, or scouting for resources for the next few lessons. X( I know teaching is supposed to be a vocation, but if this workload goes on, the govt is left with 2 alternatives:

1. All the teachers with anything less than a life-binding passion for teaching leave, which leaves those with a real life-forsaking passion for the job tempted to leave as well.

2. Most of the teachers stay, because of the pay, but they spend so much time on the job that they all become spinsters, causing the national birthrate to spiral further downwards.

Which is why after Yenn and I met in town today, I was so reluctant to return home. Because to return home would be to face the reality of my LPs and the ending of the weekend. It's as if by staying out, I would be able to delay the inevitable and delude myself that little longer.

Of course, this never works. *Sigh* But at least it was nice to reclaim my humanity for a while.