Just a thought

the radiant smiles of college friendship huddles flash frozen on facebook belie the cruel camaraderie of later years in career, business and showmanship.

maybe it’s just the pessimist within doubting everything without

maybe it’s last night’s violent nightmare

i dreamt i was to be executed by hanging

i woke up yearning for comfort

i woke up so alone

it’s knowing the transience of that light-hearted kodak moment that makes looking at photos all the more sweet, and bitter.  don’t you wonder how youths will turn out? how they could potentially thwart a once-friend in the name of career/business/politics?

ouch.

but for now, bask in the exuberance of youthful energy shouting look-at-us from the photograph.

i have sunglasses marks! how embarrassing. serves me right for being under the scorching sun for a few hours.

and i went to popular toa payoh to get some books. all 3 copies of one of the books was tattered so i had to make the trip down to bras basah instead. oh well.

what else. oh dear, i’ve only been emailing and calling (all work-related) since i got home. i should start my real work now.

MUST WORK VERY HARD. NO LUCK THIS YEAR.

ONLY HARD WORK.

jia you.

Hello, Year of the Tiger. It’s not a good year for me.

2010 Chinese New Year Day is on February, 14 2010.

Year of the Tiger begins on February 4, 2010.

http://www.chinesefortunecalendar.com/newyeardays.htm

i’ve one arm tight around lion, inhaling its warm calming smell

we’re holding our breath, i gingerly peer through the closet slit

and cool sharp air fills my alveoli

but i shudder to step out

a preschooler dragging imaginary foot weights at 7am

let us lie a little longer in the dusk of our fantasies

this post is for someone dear – faith.

nothing much happens in my private life. eat, sleep, work (a bit), talk a lot and think some more.

i miss hearing you chat. i miss reading your writing.

let’s just say, i miss you.

while looking for fresh material, i found an old flame …

Clementine by Elliott Smith

They’re waking you up to close the bar
The street’s wet, you can tell by the sound of the cars
The bartender’s singing “Clementine”
While he’s turning around the “Open” sign
“Dreadful sorry, Clementine”
Though you’re still her man
It seems a long time gone
Maybe the whole thing’s wrong
What if she thinks so but just didn’t say so?
You drank yourself into slow-mo
Made an angel in the snow
You did anything to pass the time
And keep that song out of your mind
“Oh my darling
Oh my darling
Oh my darling Clementine
Dreadful sorry, Clementine”

This should help dispel the notion that girls are naturally disinclined towards maths.

One of the first lessons that girls often learn in elementary school is that boys are better at math.

Although this incorrect lesson is certainly not part of the curriculum, first- and second-grade teachers, who are predominately female and math-averse, communicate that math is not their strong suit to some female students, according to a study published January 25 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers found that the girls who got the idea that math ability falls along gender lines had the worst achievement in this subject during the school year.

Levine’s team points out that these young children are also learning gender-based attitudes from parents, siblings and peers. But because teachers are probably confirming or strengthening sexist ideas about mathematical ability, the researchers suggest that elementary teachers be required to take more than the minimal college math courses. “More care needs to be taken to develop both strong math skills and positive math attitudes in these educators,” the authors wrote.

For the full article: Little girls are made of sugar and spice, and learn that math is not nice

Related article: No Gender Gap in Math

The bottom line is, teachers need to be trained NOT to pass on their anxiety to young, non-discerning kids. Even if teachers admit their weakness in a certain subject, it should be qualified that it’s not a gender thing but an individual bias.

it’s not just america though the prob sounds more severe there

WAITING FOR SUPERMAN

I suppose it’s similar everywhere. the difference is in degrees.

For a nation that proudly declared it would leave no child behind, America continues to do so at alarming rates. Despite increased spending and politicians’ promises, our buckling public-education system, once the best in the world, routinely forsakes the education of millions of children.

Filmmaker Davis Guggenheim reminds us that education “statistics” have names: Anthony, Francisco, Bianca, Daisy, and Emily, whose stories make up the engrossing foundation of WAITING FOR SUPERMAN. As he follows a handful of promising kids through a system that inhibits, rather than encourages, academic growth, Guggenheim undertakes an exhaustive review of public education, surveying “drop-out factories” and “academic sinkholes,” methodically dissecting the system and its seemingly intractable problems.

However, embracing the belief that good teachers make good schools, and ultimately questioning the role of unions in maintaining the status quo, Guggenheim offers hope by exploring innovative approaches taken by education reformers and charter schools that have—in reshaping the culture—refused to leave their students behind.

http://sundance.bside.com/2010/films/waitingforsuperman_sundance2010

oh yeah. there’s no purpose to this post except to say hi.

i like canberra! granted, it’s not as neon-light exxxciting as sydney, but really, i don’t need so many X’s. (inside joke)

i can so imagine raising a family or retiring in canberra!

i was horrified that the city centre, gov buildings and museums in canberra look so short and nondescript, almost blending in with the surrounding’s earthy colours. i meant, short is fine, but inconspicuous?

i suppose i was used to the imposing colonial or 18thC-19thC type buildings that usually house organizations of national stature.  and really, when one thinks of it, it makes more sense that such bodies are toned down like the (wo)men in white in Sg. Not flashy and down to earth (if only in official image). this really should reflect the work of nation-building – for the community and not for vainglorious gain.

this reminds me of a book i chanced upon at the gleebooks bookstore in sydney. Dress for power. Or something to that effect. Generally, it’s about dressing to impress and rise at work. You get my drift. I’m not saying one should or shouldn’t do that but this points towards the fact that in spite of the whole egalitarian notion of modern society, we’re still very much partial to image. yes, there’s a place and time for all attires but WHY! apart from the impracticality of wearing a bikini/trunks at work (to cold and distracting to others), why can’t we don tees and berms in the office? relaly, I have no answer but i’m just throwing questions. and personally, i’d err on the side of caution. call me a coward or whatever but as they say better play safe.

SAFE.

this brings to mind the short story by … oh darn, what’re the title and writer’s name? i’ll come back to this when i’ve info at hand.

talking about short stories, i had the pleasure of rereading a short story written by pw a few days ago. i mean, i knew it was good the first time i read it but encountering it again brings a fresh dimension to it. really, i think it’s a breath of fresh air in local short fiction, esp when one is used to overtly post-colonial lit with all the insecurities and repressed anger of older writers. anger against the colonialists and perhaps towards modernity and their ineptitude in the face of change, fuming impotently for imbibing the western psychology they love-hate.

…hmmm is that the lady who’s coming to pick me up?? better go!