Not too bad for a bad day

Re: Just for laughs.

Think you are having a bad day?

Fire authorities in California found a corpse in a burned-out section
of forest while assessing the damage done by a forest fire. The
deceased male was dressed in a full wet suit, complete with scuba
tanks on his back, flippers, and face mask.

A post-mortem test revealed that the man died, not from burns, but
from massive internal injuries. Dental records provided a positive
identification. Investigators then set about to determine how a fully
clothed diver ended up in the middle of a forest fire.

It was revealed that, on the day of the fire, the man went diving off
the coast, some 20 miles from the forest. The fire fighters, seeking
to control the fire as quickly as possible, had called in a fleet of
helicopters with very large dip buckets. Water was dipped from the
ocean and emptied at the site of the forest fire.

You guessed it. One minute our diver was making like Flipper in the
Pacific, the next he was doing the breast stroke in a fire dip bucket
300 feet in the air.

Some days it just doesn't pay to get out of bed.




Still having a bad day?

Just remember, it could be worse . . . The average cost of
rehabilitating a seal after the Exxon Valdez oil spill In Alaska was
$80,000. At a special ceremony, two of the most expensively saved
animals were being released back into the wild amid cheers and
applause from onlookers.

A minute later, in full view, a killer whale ate them both.



Still think you are having a bad day?

A woman came home to find her husband in the kitchen shaking
frantically, almost in a dancing frenzy, with some kind of wire
running from his waist towards the electric kettle. Intending to jolt
him away from the deadly current, she whacked him with a handy plank
of wood, breaking his arm in two places. Up to that moment, he had
been happily listening to his Walkman.



STILL think you're having a bad day?

Two animal rights protesters were protesting the cruelty of sending
pigs to a slaughterhouse in Bonn , Germany . Suddenly, all two thousand
pigs broke loose and escaped through a broken fence, stampeding
madly. The two hopeless protesters were trampled to death.

What?! STILL having a bad day??

Iraqi terrorist Khay Rahnajet didn't pay enough postage on a letter
bomb. It came back with "return to sender" stamped on it. Forgetting
it was the bomb, he opened it and was blown to bits.

There, now, feeling better?

From :
OFFICER,
WSD/WORKSHOPS PRODUCTION CONTROL ()

A Service Learning Project Reflection

It is interesting to see that in NIE, trainee teachers are expected to do Service-Learning as a module (or should I say, system requirement for teacher qualification) when Service-Learning is such a specialised and highly reputable skill. I feel that is doing injustice and disservice to SL.

A quick glance at the kind of projects we teachers carry out reveals this: A lot of emphasis is being placed on the ‘doing’ and ‘serving’ rather than the ‘learning’ of the trainee teachers. When you help out with community service work or run a camp, you are simply offering a service. Where, then, is the 'Learning' which is supposed to come hand-in-hand with our service? By doing a reflection report after you've done everything? How does that help you to learn???

I cannot believe the module I was assigned to do is so contrary to what I know about service learning. It is definitely injustice to SL. On a personal level, I feel that trainee teachers are not adequately trained in service learning to carry out the project meaningfully. It seems that everybody is coming together simply to complete a requirement for graduation rather than to seek learning and personal development. And if the teachers, who are to later take on the role of facilitators, do not acquire the necessary skills in service learning, then it will naturally be reflected in the way they run the event and engage the students and fellow teachers. I believe this is not the desired outcome of the whole experience.

WHAT NEEDS TO BE CHANGED
Firstly NIE cannot assume that a group-engineered experience will lead to individual learning. Second, it must change the mindset that people are capable of acquiring very high level skills in an unreasonably short period of time. If you want something short term and can produce results, forget about service learning. Unprocessed experience is wasted experience. This explains why people can be experienced and yet don't seem to have gained much from their experience. SL is powerful and even helpful for educators when they know how to maximize on it. One awesome thing about SL is that it can use the simplest lesson to teach a difficult concept. The whole point about doing reflection is so that you can keep improving and changing because you're constantly looking at yourself and making changes to keep yourself growing. SL is progressive, not a hit-and-run. SL builds depth into character, and character is not formed in an instant. SL requires multi perspectives, so that new possibilities are unveiled before the eyes.

In our mad-rushness for instant results, we have allowed this undesirable mad-rushing mentality to infiltrate every part of our culture and lifestyle. That is what we are today. And if we don't start growing deep, someday we're just going to collapse cuz our roots are so shallow.

Just some thots...

Haven had any inspiration for a long time... Anyway, its good to be back. Well, practicum was fun and was a great time with the kids. I realise that sometimes its good not to be too smart, or to think too much like me... haha. Life is really pretty simple.

It has been a great joy teaching the students here (altho for some, it is just relief and then dota...:) and I think the best memories I'd have as I step back into NIE will be those times I spent with these guys (esp 3T1). Seriously 3T1 is quite a joy to teach, despite hearing very negative stuff from the teachers. I could remember everyone so well that if you ask me to write a personal card for them, I'd have something for everyone.

2 weeks left to NIE!!!!

Having very mixed feelings about going back, altho its kind of comforting to know that rest kicks in when you return to schooling. I duno what stupid assignments they'll give me this time but I think I'll have to get my future lessons ready ;) AND I WILL MISS MY STUDENTS!!! ROAR!!! Thank god for friendster. Its the only thing that'll remind me that I haven lost my contacts... hehe...altho I'm not really a supporter of friendster (it laggggggssss......)

Aii.... can give u get..zii..bee.... get...zii...bee.... get...zii...bee

GATSBY - The original version?


GATSBY - The spoofed version


GATSBY - The HARRY POTTER version

What will life be like?

What will life be like for you 10 years from now?

No idea how to answer this qn? Then take a look at how life has been for you the last 10 yrs. I've been a Christian for 11 yrs now. But to me, the most memorable and exciting and unregrettable moments were found in my university days, my Thumbs Up days and my Project CRUSH days. The most unforgettable moments had been those of serving others. I believe life should be lived in an unregrettable manner. We should not go thru life doing things we know we'll regret at the end.

The good years of my life had been one lived in faith - faith in God alone; faith to dare to take risks; faith to dare to fail.

It has been good, so I want to live a life that continues stretching my faith for the next 10 years :)


-roar

If Adam and Eve had been Chinese....

Well Connect

Dunno why but it seems like a tiring day for me.. din get to do cell as i can't find a proper venue... it seems to me that i'm lacking all the resources i need to serve God and to do what i need to do - e.g. simple stuff like a car, a decent place to do cell regularly, lesson plans and money. On top of that, people i've been investing my life in are giving me problems at a time when i needed them...

Is this really all there is to it? Am I back to square one?

Today's G12

We had G12 at Jx & sue'e new house tdy in conjunction with the newly weds' house blessing n dedication. I've taken a short clip during our meeting; (shane may hav a longer version).....



Anyway, looks fun doesn't it? Ha ha... cuz i was getting a bit bored so decided to play with my phone :D

And what I caught today really is make room in my heart for everyone (Phi 1:7). Tis Something I learnt during 288 retreat but growing to appreciate it more & more each day :)

Father's Day

Happy Fathers' Day to all you fathers out there!!!

On this extremely auspicious and extraordinary moment my prayer is that my time as a single father will end soon... Wa ha ha ha....

Have you formed your resolve?

Before I disappear into the mountains for the next few days... Here's smth for your enjoyment :)



In order to attain Bankai, I've resolved to train hard this holidays!!

A Call few can answer...

See this?

This is the place where I learn Maya animation from. Comics & animation have always been close to my heart and I believe it is God's calling for my life. I enjoyed the course very much, but never really graduated from it. The first reason is I dun have enuff practice and the second is I haven invested enuff time in it. I can't afford the software, and I needed practice. Sadly my comp is also not powerful enuff to support the thing. Nevertheless it's still my burning desire to enter this industry :)

God has used the past few years in my life to help me ascertain what he really wants for my life. Seng lee once said, "God is most glorified when we are most satisfied." At that time I couldn't figure what that meant. But I guess I'm slowly beginning to understand it. I'm not anywhere near mastering maya enuff to break into the industry yet. I dun wanna use pirated software. And I'm also not doing anything related to animation in my job. But I'm sure God will help me figure a way thru this. If it's a real passion, I dun think it will die so easily. At least I know God will not let it die so easily... :)

Bored at service

Is church service getting too boring?

Research said that we remember 10% of what we hear, 20% of what we see and hear, and 70-80% if we teach it. The conclusion: We remember what we use. And we forget what we don't. Ever forgot how to walk? Or eat? You won't even if you suffer a serious head injury :) And you never get bored with that. :)

SO why is church service getting boring? (Seriously speaking, I find SOL boring as well..., except SOL 3, but that's cuz its taught by seng lee) So why?

I suspect its the form of communication. With my mind getting younger by the years, I begin to discover how difficult it is to sit still for 1 hr straight staring at a person. Goodness, I feel so restless.... Thus, I suspect a lot of creativity is dying in the church as well. I wan to reverse the situation. Something is just not right. Even YC said we had to involve the young pple to do the 'bigger' things. I can't agree any further. It's probably time, that the youth service be led not by the old pastors... but the youths amongst us. Do we really believe in them or do we not?

regarding dota...(part 2)

I can't believe i'm doing a part 2 on this... well, tdy is the global day of prayer... haha... and it felt hot and sunny despite being night... and well, i think every day the whole world prays....

Yes, I cannot imagine myself writing abt dota again.. ok, so wad has changed since the last time i wrote? Ah yes, I've talked abt choosing sleep over dota, reading over dota, girlfren over dota and so on and so forth. So wad has changed?

I'm still playing Dota!!!

Yeah, yesterday played at gameslab w EJ's cell members. Played CS also. I had a really good time thru out the hot afternoon. I still enjoy dota la. Yet on the other hand, i recognise my need to keep my passion up so i've been pumping time & energy into wad I like as well. Life is good now that I'm cleared of all #@!%_^*$^&* assignments. (sorry for the unedifying stuff... can I be myself? can I? can I?)

Yes, I see the fulfilment in doing wad God has made me to do. This really has to be my calling...

Yeah... I know the Doraemon looks pervertic...

What I did yesterday...

It was a tough piece of work...

... but totally worth the effort!!

my covenant with my soul

Dear soul,

Have u forgotten?
That the LORD God Almighty reigns in heaven?
That in the days of old he set the limits to the skies and placed boundaries on the seas?
That he took dust in his hands and gave it life?
That he places his commands in you so that he can preserve u?

Let's re-evaluate the whole journey up till now.
We enter into a phase of this journey.
We must learn to let go of the past.
We must understand that the past remains as the past and has no power over the future.
We must remeber that in God it is never too late to have a fresh start.
And we must reach and take hold of that which is stored up in the future.

As long as you still breathe and I still breathe, just live.
Live everyday to the fullest.
Live everyday to glorify God.
Cause thats the only way to live.
Don't live for yourself, for that's the surest way to lose.
Live for God, and lose it for him, since everything we seek to store up in him doesn't vanish.
Live to serve him.
Die to serve him.
Let this life count - if this life holds no other meaning - then make it one that counts for Jesus. Amen.

HEH HEH

Yeah.....

Teachers' Ideas

Teachers’ Statements on “What is Energy?”

Energy is needed to make things happen.

The only meaning for the word “energy” in science is “the capacity to do work.”

Energy is an abstract idea invented by scientists to help them in the quantitative investigation of phenomena.

Energy can be described as a general kind of fuel.

All aspects of energy can be understood in terms of kinetic and/or potential energy.

The biologist’s view of energy is more akin to the everyday one read about on cornflake packets and seen on TV commercials.

Energy is what makes things move.

Energy is a force.

Energy is power.

All energy comes from the sun.

Energy is stored in food and fuel.

A car might use petrol or diesel, both of which are energy.

Energy is made in power stations.

The world is running out of energy.

The total amount of energy on earth is always the same.

Energy cannot be conserved; when a torch battery runs flat, the energy is gone.

It is impossible to demonstrate in the lab the conservation of energy.

One of the useful things about energy is that it can be changed from one form to another.

Gas is a form of energy.

Heating is the name given to energy in the process of transfer from one place to another as a result of temperature differences.

A bath full of hot water contains a lot of heat.

Insulation keeps the cold out.

The ultimate result of energy transfers is to change the temperature of the surroundings.

In the process of spontaneous change, energy gets more “spread out” and becomes difficult to re-use.



Research Data / Singapore Sample / 1992

Float or Sink?

GOOD or BAD? Hard to say

A king once went on a hunting trip with his followers. He loved wild life and would cut himself loose when he went hunting. On this particular trip he got himself lost while chasing after his prey. As he searched around for his party he was attacked by a pack of wild dogs. His right thumb was badly bitten and after a diagnosis, the physician had to amputate his thumb to prevent infection. The king felt tremendously upset and asked his advisor why this happened to him. The advisor thought for a while and told the king:"Good or Bad, hard to say." "What nonsense?" the king said,"I've been bitten so badly. How can this be a good thing? What kind of advice is this?" In his anger he threw the advisor into prison. Months passed and the king went on one of those hunting trips again. And he got lost again. This time he was captured by cannibals. A cauldron was prepared for their sacrifice and when the fire was ready, they got ready their sacrifice - the captured king. On the way to sacrificing the king, one of the cannibals noticed the king had a missing thumb. He screamed out to his people that this sacrifice was 'imperfect'. As a result, the king was set free.

When he returned to the palace, the king summoned his advisor and said to him,"you are indeed right to say that by losing my thumb, it could be a good or bad thing. If not for this, I would have been eaten by the cannibals. I'm sorry for putting you in prison." "My lord," replied the advisor,"it's also not a bad thing for me to be in prison, because if i had not been in prison, i would have been sacrificed instead."

So good or bad, its really hard to say. Its how you look at it.

The Doctor

The doctor conducts his usual medical classes for his 20 trainees at the hospital. One day they gathered at the operation room around a dead patient. Doctor began his lesson saying:"To be a good doctor you must take note of 2 important rules. The first, is to not be disgusted by the human body." As he was saying this he removed the cloth covering the dead body. Then he proceeded to insert his finger into the anus and after that put the finger in his mouth and sucked it. "Now I want all of you to do likewise," he said. So one by one the trainee doctors took turns to insert their fingers into the anus and sucked. When they were done they returned to their original positions. "The second rule," said Doctor,"is that you have to be observant. I PUT MY MIDDLE FINGER INTO THE ANUS BUT I WAS SUCKING MY INDEX FINGER. Now I want all of you to go and wash your mouth."

Moral of the story:
Don't be disgusted by the human body.
And watch what your teacher is doing.

2 China men

I went to one of my fav makan spots in bishan after an evening jog for dinner just now. It was a pretty cosy place as there's no crowd and the food tastes good. But tonite 2 (china) guys were making a din at the place. They were very rude to the vendors and talked as if the whole place belongs to them. I was extremely irritated. I'd have videoed them down if I hav a camcorder with me, and post the video on youtube. They should count themselves lucky, but what a disgrace, and what a fool they made out of themselves. I'd have called the police if I own that restaurant.

Then a lady sitting nearby passed her name card to them and introduced herself to be from some church. I'd have taken their pictures and posted on the web. Seriously they deserve some wake up calls... So sueh hav to run into these spoilers... And of all types of people on earth... CHINA MEN!!!!

Another day in NIE

I'm so amazed tat so many ppl r joining teaching. To me, some may appear to be able to survive in this profession, and some not. Maybe i can tell just by looking at their faces, their expressions, their reaction over the workload and their cliques. There're a lot of fresh grads... but there're even more PRCs... their influence and numbers have spreaded even now, to NIE. I wonder if these r trainee teachers or NTU undergrads (if they're undergrads, then even NTU is not big enough to contain them?) I won't be surprised. But this place is so filled with PRCs that I feel like I'm in China!

I suppose i dun need to visit china with so many china people coming to s'pore. Come to think of it, it's so cool. We go overseas to spend money and relac one corner, but these pple come here to study, to work here and help us in our economy.. next time these pple may just replace me in my job. Heh, so what am I driving at? I don't like them? Yes, I don't like having them around. I don't know why? Must i have a reason? Ha ha, I'm not the Zheng Hu wat, so only the Zheng Hu knows why they're here. Yes I don't like them. But I'll still live with it anyway. As long as the cabinet not all china men can oledi.

Good practices in teaching #1

i'm starting this to help myself pick up good things as well as deter from negative stuff.
to begin with, i met 2 really cool tutors in class today, which somehow really gives me the feeling of a well-spent day at NIE.

Tactic:
- Have fun, be relaxed, be natural
- Model for students (if you wan them to read e notes, u can pretend to be reading)
- Proximity (Go near them to subtlely stop their -ve behavior)
(adapted from raymond tan - CPA)

Tactic:
- 10 - 15min warm up b4 lesson (to cater for late-comers)
- cartoons, magic, videos
- Exaggerate
- Mind reading trick (raise the stake!)
- Story of poor farmer (how to counter the cunning loan shark)
- Magic Trick/Teaching must have value
(adapted from katoh - Physics)

It's hard to find good teachers, even here in NIE. I really appreciate those who make the effort to enhance my learning in this short one yr. 3 cheers to you guys!!

HAPPY YEW NEAR!!!

"It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way." (Prov 19:2)

Yoz! It's been a while since I blog - no mood la, but I'm glad the visiting season is now over. Some slight improvement this year as I managed to talk to more ppl compared to the past years. I kind of detest them asking me the same question yr after yr, but this will inevitably be the most irritating thing that's gonna happen till I bring a gal back (for once I really hope that there were women cyborgs). The sadder thing is not that I'm not making any effort but I keep hitting walls.

Microsoft is having new updates again... haha... vista oledi come out still update for wat?

Come to think of it, I'm kind of glad I no longer have to go Bt Merah for svc every wk (wait, what am I talking about? I'm still going LOS at Bt Merah b4 svc leh... and the food sucks!!!) But I'm kind of glad cuz I dunno why I just dislike tat place. Can't catch cabs at nite. Always the same stalls that are open. Always so hard to get there (and get out of there w/o car). Somehow I just feel sick about it. Actually Expo is supposed to be worse but somehow the feeling is just different :D I know why oledi. The TCT floor is slanted, so whenever i try to dance my legs struggle. Expo doesnt have this prob. Am I complaining? Probably. But I'm glad we're out of the place. And I really hope we'll go to even better places.

Ohhh... how I wan a car.... I wan a car..... so so badly.....

Bad dream

Had a bad dream last night - an encounter with demonic forces. I rem feeling intimidated in the dream and having an oppressive feeling over me. I was trying to rebuke the demon but words could hardly come out of my mouth, and this time my arms were stuck also. As I shook myself awake from the dream, i felt my arms being pressed down - actually i've shoved my arms under my pillow while i fell asleep. But it was still a bad dream.... crap...

MAGIC!

Haha.. my own magic video... Enjoy... :D

To Singnet users out there...

Do u experience frequent disconnection problems on your broadband?

I've started the 1500kbps plan for barely a month and been having my internet cut off every now and them. I'm terribly annoyed with this; first, i had prob connecting thru my router, and for these 2 days, my broadband gets cut off in the evening. Yesterday I could not get it up after trying for hours, and no one from the technical support answered my desperate call. It happened again just now, and after restarting both my modem and com at the same time, i somehow managed to plug in. Again the technical support was not of any help- i think they put the number there for fun. I'm really really unhappy with this. Already considering cancelling this stupid plan. This is really not worth saving $16 every month just to have this kind of headache :( I'm angry! angry! angry!

Geez...

I finally got a chance to lead a worship session for an encounter weekend. Felt so privileged - and must say that it's been a long wait. But they did a swap with my session :( Initially i'm to lead worship for this session talking about the Cross. I prepared the songs according to the Spirit's guidance and was really quite pleased with it. Then on Wed ah pa said the session was changed to 'plan of redemption'. Although he said I don't have to do major changes, I just felt that my anointing would not be put into good use bcuz this session is not as power packed as the previous one, which somehow left me with the feeling that there's not much to minister thru the worship when it comes to my turn. Now I'm having problem looking for more appropriate songs to minister but thus far I'm stuck; and I'm supposed to email EJ by noon but here I am, sitting and still thinking... and who knows, maybe my inspiration will come only tom morning. But right now, I just feel like doing away with all the previous songs bcuz I dun feel inspired by them anymore. I'm so stuck now Lord.

regarding dota...

Just some thots that I have after playing dota these few years...

Intro:
When warcraft 3 entered the market, it operated very much like starcraft except the colors were more vibrant and there were 4 races and they intro the Hero concept. Standard warcraft game is you build and kill and expand. You play in different maps for new taste (just like in CS). THat's conventional game play. After a while they introduced new ways to playing the game, such as 3-corridors D-Day, easter bunny, diablo, Heros' Siege, etc. Heros siege & 3-corridors were pretty popular back then, until Dota appeared (or rather, they modified the old Dota). Its very much like 3 corridors except that u play it very much like an RPG. Levels & weapons make a whole lot of difference - an MMORPG to some extent.

Gameplay:
Dota (like most other computer games) focuses on Mental & Psychomotor Development. The Reality: You gain power by seeking to gain the upperhand, beat ur opponent thru out the game & he's basically dust. It is obsessive. If you're not careful, you can end up playing excessively, which is not good. It's easy to get engrossed in it. You'll feel sian when ur character dies. You'll feel very sian when u keep dying. But You'll also feel very shiok if you kill some pple. You'll feel so dam good when pple all gang u and u still dun die.

We play games to kill time. I play games to gain a sense of self-satisfaction. How many times do we marvel & feel really satisfied with what we've achieved in real life? If you play dota, you can feel that way in just 1 hr. Its cheap, but for that moment it does feel good (altho it doesn't last very long). More often than not, nobody shared in my victory. I win, I win alone. That's no fun, i discovered, altho we play in a team.

Being good at Dota does not imply you'll do well in life. Being good at Dota may be a result of addiction & an overwhelming desire to feel the exhilaration of winning. I think it's good to play Dota when there's time to kill and there's a break to take. Since its too intensive in nature, I'll recommend sleep as a good form of self-recovery.

In conclusion, I shall just say tat if there's time, choose sleep over Dota, choose outing over Dota, choose reading over Dota, choose blogging over Dota, choose stoning over Dota and choose ur girlfren over Dota. But what if my skills backslided? Well, so be it. After all, what use is it to lose rest, brain juice, time with loved ones, knowledge, inner peace over Dota? haha...