Oxymoron In The Tropics

If you have nothing good to say, then don't say anything at all. I don't know who said that but I believe in it.  Not that I always succeed in staying true to the basic premise in that sentence, but I try. I have a friend who does many things in order to be true to herself.  Not everyone agrees with what she does but life's like that, isn't it?  However the latest stage of her life is to find salvation in a religion anathema to her family members.  And so they heap blame and vitriolic poison on her hapless shoulders.  Everything that goes wrong in their clan is blamed on her.  What utterly idiotic logic... But she sits there and TAKES it.  I tell her to just get up and leave.  And she just sits there and takes it. I remain her friend and I get some of the poison as well.  What do they expect me to do...?  Stand with them and 'stone' her?? Well, I think these righteous people should pay heed to these words: John 8 : 7        He that is without sin among you...

On the net, there are many things that get circulated and some of these are motivational stories.  I was reading the story of The Wooden Bowl one day (for the umpteenth time!) and it never fails to surprise me how some people never realize that when they mistreat their parents, their own little children are watching them and 'learning' how to treat THEM when they get old.  Poetic justice, some may say but I just think it is sad. However at the end of The Wooden Bowl , someone tagged on that you can learn a lot about people by the way they react to a rainy day, the elderly, lost luggage and a tangle of Christmas lights. I thought of someone I love very much and laughed.  For he thinks rainy days are times to have a good sleep, he is super patient with the elderly, he can scream bloody murder if anyone dares to lose his luggage and he would probably end up flinging the tangled Christmas lights at the wall & buying new ones (so far none of our Christmas lights have dared t...

Attended the ASFF Under 15 2009 Farewell Dinner at Palace Hotel tonight. Well, actually I emceed the function together with Henry N... so, yeah, that qualifies as having attended the function. I am feeling happy about it because things generally went well and the evening ended on a high note. The food looked good ... although emcees hardly ever get the chance to eat (no time and no appetite!). I just assumed the food tasted good based on the empty plates heaped on the tables. Started the evening with a multimedia presentation (recap of the championship events), moved on to the usual speech of farewell and handing-out of certificates of participation & appreciation, dinner, songs and dance by the Sabah College singers and dancers (I thought Abd Khareez did a great rendition of Hello Beautiful!), exchange of souvenirs among the contingents.... and CONTINGENT TALENTINE! I wasn't expecting much, considering that the contingents came to play footie...but I found myself thoroughly...

My son's only six but he already grapples with homework every night. His teacher gives him two sentences every day to copy out five times; one in English and another in Chinese...or Malay and Chinese. Tonight he has to do 'The weather is fine." and also ' ~&\%$*@~' Sorry ah, I don't know how to read Chinese characters. Besides homework, he has also learned the skill of procrastination. Mummy, I'm thirsty. Homework cannot be done until he gets a drink. Mummy, it's hot. Mummy switches on the fan. Mummy, got cheese? Mummy looks at son and walks to the kitchen to find a slice of cheese. Mummy, I want the cheese cut in triangles. Mummy finds a knife and cuts cheese in triangles. Mummy, I want eraser. Mummy asks where his eraser went. He says already gone. This happens every night. With varying differences in his requests. Mummy is now an expert in perfect cheese triangles, optimum fan angles and keeping a supply of erasers and sharpeners.

Today I was on the phone, calling up English teachers I knew (and didn't know!) to help out during an international event in my city. It wasn't a difficult task for the teachers...all they had to do was become tour guides to Kota Kinabalu. Qualification? Ability to speak English well, cheerful personality and proactive mindset. It wasn't the first time I've been asked to get English teachers together to do something not related to English teaching. English teachers tend to have a reputation for being willing to do all sorts of stuff (er...can I read that as being creative?) and bundling in lots of loud laughter in the process of doing the job. I've noticed that TESL grads are extremely marketable in my part of the world. Quite a number of my TESL buddies have 'abandoned' the MOE in search of greener pastures elsewhere. One even found an employer willing to pay off her substantial bond to the government! A corporate friend of mine told me that these gr...

Just got back from Palace Hotel.  All I can say is that I survived emceeing the ASFF Welcome Dinner...just. Anybody who has ever been an emcee knows what it's like.  You prepare for all eventualities and OTHER eventualities happen.  But I suppose I should be happy because on the whole, the most important things took place according to plan, as listed below. 1) The VVIP gave his speech and we didn't mispronounce or miss important parts of his name or post. 2) The dinner began on time (despite the microphone hiccup!) and ended waaaaay ahead of time... hooray for us! 3) The right tokens of appreciation went to the right VIPs. 4) The cultural performances ended on a high note, Sayang Kinabalu sung by Asmin Mudin its composer. I won't mention the hiccups because no-one seemed to notice except for those who planned the dinner and of course, the ones who emceed the function...LOL.... The Sri Lanka footballers sat next to us and seemed to be amused, watching Henry and I tryi...

Last Friday, I attended a meeting for the Asian Schools Football Federation (ASFF) Under-15 Championships taking place in Kota Kinabalu from the 12th to the 18th of August.  One of the main issues discussed was Influenza A H1N1.  While the officials were worried about the pandemic, they were focusing more on how to handle the issue.  No cancelling of the championship ... :) I'm one of four emcees tasked with handling some of the functions during the championship so it should be pretty interesting, watching the goings-on.  Looked like the emcees will be given quite a free hand, bar the usual Malaysian protocol rules.  I like this aspect of being an emcee using the English language... Malay language emceeing has too many rules!  Hmm, should I be getting worried....naaaah, don't think so. So far, only ten countries are taking part, braving the pandemic...LOL... Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Vietnam, Macao, Singapore, Brunei, China, Thailand, the Philippines and of course, Malaysia!  H...

Today I was miserable. I woke up, feeling as if I had a Sword of Damocles hanging over my head and was so sure that the day was just going to get worse. Which naturally it did. Things didn't go the way they were supposed to, discussions went from bad to worse and things pretty much degenerated to the point where the aircon was too strong, the coffee was too bitter and the CARPET WAS TOO BLUE! I just wanted to drag my useless and unproductive body home, find some pillows and bury my head out of sight until Monday melted into Tuesday. But of course I logged into the net first. First person I met online patiently 'listened' as I typed all my grievances out. After an hour, I felt much better. Then I went into Facebook and naturally, since misery loves company, I changed my status to ' had an awful Monday.' Almost instantly, friends and cousins began asking why, sending teddy bears, Jesuses and commiserated with me. They didn't allow me to be miserable. What sw...

I was reading a friend's blog post where he expressed his frustration with teachers who just didn't care. It is sad to meet such teachers as actually they are suffering inside.  Either they have forgotten the magic of teaching and seeing the light of knowledge in their students' eyes or they never really knew that magic at all.  But then why are they in the teaching world at all?  Teaching is a VOCATION, which means it is a career you are called to.  Something you have a need to do, a strong inclination towards.  For me, to teach is life.  I MUST teach, I NEED to teach...otherwise I feel dead inside.  When I teach something new and a student says,"Oh wow...I didn't know that...", my day is made.  If I teach and I see a bored expression on a student's face, I cannot rest until I find out why that student is bored and how to dispel that look.  If you are a teacher and you're reading this and you do not understand, then you should ask yourself why on ea...