Twas a pleasant day at school, due to: 1) the Chinese New Year cum Cultural Day celebration 2) the prospect of 3 holidays ahead 3) school ending at 10.45am.
From what I can remember, the activities consisted of:
Screening of video on Chinese traditions and customs; muruku, popiah and ketupat-making demonstrations by Malar, Shaun and Hartini respectively; ethnic costumes exhibits; Chinese opera/mask face-painting; Chinese calligraphy display by Temasek Secondary School students (I studied there! Forgot to ask them how was Mr Eddie Tan); Indian henna tatooing; Malay dance sessions, Jawi script calligraphy; Chinese Orchestra instruments display; neoprint sticker stalls; car-washing services; sale of traditional snacks... sounds vibrant and eclectic isn't it? Kudos to the organizing committee.
Uploaded some pics to the gallery.

Went to Chinatown for dinner; had 'Ah Balling' peanut soup at the Chinatown Complex hawker centre, highly recommended! Then followed by a walk through the crowded street pasar malams. What better place to soak up the festive atmosphere, with all these Chinese tong bao.

Went for a Sexuality Workshop at Methodist Girls' School last Saturday. As usual, with this kind of schools, their wings and halls are named after some people significant to the school. Came across this hall known as Me Lau Hall, haha. Erm, for those not in the know, my surname happens to be Lau.
Their main lecture hall looks as big as the one in NIE, 2-level kind. They ushered latecomers to the 2nd level; I was one of 'em. Refreshments were disappointing, they didn't have chicken wings. Topics for the mass lecture: 1) Teen Pregnancy and Abortion 2) An Introduction & Framework for Sexuality Education 3) Sexual Offences and the Law 4) Homosexuality.
All interesting topics, but no. 3 turned out to be the most entertaining (and humourous). Learning points:
- Statutory Rape means having sex with a girl of age 14 years and below with or without her consent, which is the most serious offence (you thought it was under 16 right).
- Carnal Connection (bet you haven't heard of this) means having sex with a girl of age between 14 years 1 day to 16 years with or without her consent, which is quite a serious offence but not as serious as SR.
- Women cannot be charged with rape in Singapore.
- But they can still be charged with incest.
- If you know of a statutory rape that has taken place and fail to report it to the police, you can be prosecuted for wilfully sitting on your rump.
- The above law doesn't apply to Carnal Connection-- that means if a student tells you that he/she was involved in CC, you can exercise your better judgement and choose not to involve the police without facing the risk of prosecution.

Typing this in school now... I'm at an NCC camp for the cadets, and it's already lights out. The 'bapok' contest during the concert put up by the cadets just now was quite memorable, especially cadets Hannan and Andreas who looked and played their parts with gusto.
Think I should stop ordering steak everytime I visit the coffeeshop opposite school.

I'm typing this now on my new Dell desktop, looking at my 15" flat panel (congratulate me). Sacrificed FENR to set up the computer; luckily, it went without a hitch.

An unconventional day at school. Today and yesterday saw a record number of pupils taking MCs and not turning up (my form class had 3 absentees today, others had more). Rumours of food poisoning were circulating. An urgent staff meeting was called at 8.55am. Investigations were underway. It kind of hit home when Ghim Beng from my form class rushed out and vomited right after my lesson. Went to the office to check on Ghim Beng, and went back to class only to find out that Lynette, and Cindy and Joyce (from next door) were also suffering the same fate; the poor thangs. Made the arrangements for Ghim Beng and Lynette to go home.
McDonald's hamburgers are still going for 80 cents, cheap!
May go for FENR tomorrow.

$ingaporeans always seem to be in a rush... you can see it in their faces, in their purposeful strides, in how you do NOT expect a $ingaporean to apologize if he knocks past you during his purposeful stride cos you were in his way, dammit... in how they scramble to work in the mornings and how they drag their tired feet back to their homes at night. Even people in the service line appear so harried and stressed that you find yourself feeling embarrassed and paiseh at having to trouble them and consume their worktime with your insignificant little requests. My personal encounters: the counter staff at Bugis Sunny Holidays, the waiters at Raffles City Cafe Cartel, the lousy waiters at Suntec Olio Dome (they forgot my fries, and they forgot to refill my glass although I asked 3 times, can you beat that). We are so caught up with work that we have forgotten how to smile, so much that a portion of our taxes has gone into reminding us to smile; we were asking for it, didn't we?
Sometimes I wonder, am I really better off than a tramp?

The daylight hours are relatively simple for the tramp amongst us. They pose the comforts of sleep, sustenance and sociability. Night time poses only suffering. This is an edifying reversal of normal practice, when it is evening that brings food, rest and intercourse while day time is taken up with the various forms that work takes. Work is a man's trial, his suffering, his nearest equivalent to the tramp's night-time horrors. Inevitable, de rigueur but hardly much fun.
- Robert McLiam Wilson, Ripley Bogle

Hmmm, evening brings food, rest and intercourse? I recall a survey in the Straits Times that said $ingaporeans are too tired after work to have sex. Does Trampdom beckon you?

Gate-crashed the NTU Bike Rally on Sunday. Left Tampines at 4.15am so that I can make it to the start point (NTU Heritage Centre) in time for the flag-off at 6.00am. Intermittent drizzle throughout the journey to NTU, but LUCKILY the weather held. Route taken: Tampines -> Bedok Reservoir Rd -> Ubi -> Macpherson Rd -> Serangoon Rd -> Bukit Timah Rd -> Clementi Rd -> Follow MRT track all the way to Boon Lay -> Jln Bahar. As expected, flag-off was delayed; it was 7.00am plus when the entire group set off. Saw quite a few Togoparts FENR regulars there of course. Followed the bike rally till the end of Old Tampines Rd, then broke off to head for home.
Later part of the day, proceeded to Serangoon Gardens for dinner (not Chomp Chomp, but the new eating place) and dog-walking therapy.

I have a craving for Muslim mutton satay, must be Muslim. City Satay at 85 market sucks... hence the only satay I'll eat now must be from a Muslim stall. Mutton, sweet mutton.
Feel like eating again: The Chinese-style mee goreng at Simpang Bedok.
The East Coast hawker centre is closed unbearably long for renovation *sob*
Counting down to CNY and lots of bak kwa. Must do an early morning ride on the first day of CNY too!
Another watch to look out for - Zeno Watch Basel Oversized Pilot's range. With its case diameter of 47mm, it's a rival for Ernst Benz Great Circle watches, and slightly cheaper too.

Watched Uzumaki (Cineleisure is the only one screening it). Dorine happened to be in the same theatre too! Well, what I can say, it's a journey into the weird, but definitely one of those movies that sticks to your mind. It's classic Japanese horror with its many unexplained loose ends and unapologetic over-the-top visuals.
Found out that Ernst Benz watches are retailing at a watch shop in Bras Basah Complex, of all places. Thought Hour Glass will bring them in instead. Badly want to view this brand, which boasts a case diameter of 47mm!
I haven't bought Chris Ho's Attack of the SM Space Encroachers yet; think it'll be cheaper to buy it from BigO website (Times is selling it for $28!!). Oh, SM (don't be naughty) actually stands for 'sng muay', that is, Hokkien for sour plums, according to Chris Ho himself.
Taken from Pui Kwan's blog: 'Life is like a Google search, you never know what you're gonna get'.

Finally, I got to attend a wedding at Chijmes, the dream location for a church wedding; thanks to Brandon & Sofia! Stained glass, white-washed stone walls, delectable bridesmaids, cute twin flower girls, live music from a jazz quartet, scrumptious sheperd's pie and grilled chicken with teriyaki sauce-- these surely are the makings of a memorable wedding. Uploaded a few pics into the gallery.

Normal people can take ghastly actions. - Hannah Arendt

"I had been conducting research for some years on deindividuation, vandalism and dehumanization that illustrated the ease with which ordinary people could be led to engage in anti-social acts by putting them in situations where they felt anonymous, or they could perceive of others in ways that made them less than human, as enemies or objects," - Zimbardo (psychologist behind the Stanford Prison Experiment) to the Toronto symposium in the summer of 1996.

Missed the screening of Das Experiment (The Experiment) during the German film fest, so am glad Shaw is showing it commercially. Tried to book online for tix to the 5.15pm sneak preview, but the site couldn't seem to let me register as member-- frustrating. Nevertheless, we decided to try our luck, and I was pleasantly surprised that Grace managed to get tix at an hour before screening (considering that it's a Saturday at Lido). Came across a juggling group at the basement underpass of Isetan Scotts, with their balls, loops and skittles. Felt itchy when I saw one guy practising with the 3 loops, so I finally stepped forward to try. Managed to keep the 3 loops in the juggle, but stopped short of trying the skittles. Must buy 3 skittles from some toy shop to practise!
The Experiment didn't disappoint, anyway, any film labelled as 'psychological thriller' should be worth watching, no need to consider one... Grace said her ears were actually twitching with rage during the thick of the violence, hmmm, could it be a rush, rather? Hope not, haha. The girlfriend of the lead looked like X-files Scully at times. Must go and search google for the Stanford prison experiment!
After movie, proceeded to Sofia's prime-location condo for her pre-wedding party (actually, it's more of a reception for her relatives). Took off our shoes at the door and walked in barefooted, only to discover everyone was wearing their shoes inside the house. Hmmm, thought the only chance one gets to wear shoes inside a house will be at NTUC/UDMC chalets. Got to sneak-preview the 4 bridesmaids (yes, 4) before the wedding tomorrow. So I met Su Ching (correct me if wrong spelling) and Karen for the first time... Su Ching looks the spunky type, and Karen... Karen has an unbelievably saccharine-sweet and innocent disposition (with voice to match), which will kill some guys I believe, but on the other hand, some guys would go crrrrazy over that too, haha.

Dinner at Magic Wok (Capitol Building) with Angie, Desmond, Kingsley, Tien Loong. Due to CCA Fair rehearsal ending unbearably late, and having to pay my overdue phone bill (they HAD to disconnect my line at this time) at Starhub Tampines Mall, it was close to 8pm when I reached City Hall MRT. The beef hor fun sucked-- beef was tasteless and the gravy was too garlicky. Made up for it by having the 'usual' (read, waffle with ice-cream, drenched in maple syrup) at Cafe Cartel.

My hard disk crashed on 1 January 2003 *sob*.