Die, Survive or Thrive

I m dead tired, hungry ...

Been a whirlwind week past and another whirlwind week ahead. Drowning and dying.

Madness schedule ... yesterday, recruitment talk in the morning at 8am, rushed back to sch at 9am for meeting till 1pm, then rushed for another moe meeting at 2pm, which lasted till 5pm... then rushed for dinner appointment at 6 plus.. finally managed to catch a movie, the departed...quite draining and heavy.. not exactly suitable for that jaded frame of mind at that point of time, but it's a good break nonetheless.

Then this morning, had to go to fajar road, somewhere in the west, for another recruitment talk at 8, then on to rosyth at 10, then back to school in the afternoon, and spent the whole afternoon and evening hunting around and preparing for a presentation i have to do tomorrow for this cluster seminar thing... gona be out for 2 whole days for the cluster seminar. And my music paper is on friday, with another recruitment talk on friday morning, which also clashes with an additional lesson i had previously arranged. Then another mock for EL on saturday morning.. Next week's gona be a typhoon week... recruitment talks ahead, music main paper, followed by the el papers.... WOW.... that's it....

And all those essays i forced them to write.. and still waiting for me, piling up. Very jaded and mentally exhausted, but got to do it. Papers next week.

K... shan't complain... forge ahead... and i shall survive. No, I shall thrive.

Farewell Assembly 2006 and CH Alumni Founder's Day Dinner

13 October. Most significant date.

It's farewell assembly day for the sec 4s today. Went up to 4-4 and 4-8 to give them the bookmarks that I made. Wrote some parting words and placed my favourite poem 'If' in the bookmark. Tried to con 4-4 and 4-8 that I had EL assignments for them, and I could see their jaws drop, literally. Of course, could not keep up the pretence for long, and started to give them the book marks. But I am really bad at saying goodbye, and this was no exception. I mumbled and rambled incoherently my goodbye thoughts, and told them to read the bookmark instead. They all stood up and clapped anc clapped at the end, which was moving. I fled swiftly.

The farewell assembly itself was the official closure. The highlights were the videos/slides presentation and the teachers' item at the end. The songs accompanying the videos were from our era, and the photos and clips and words ... all touched different parts of our hearts. Then, the teachers' item. It was unrehearsed and spontaneous. Took the song sheet from Endang and we all proceeded up to the stage while singing. Of course, we went wild, all of us, as we gamely hollered and sang into the mic, in key and off key, and tried the pass the microphones around. The Greatest Love Of All, and I Believe I Can Fly. The boys were happily shouting out the names of teachers whom they wish to sing into the mic, while we poor teaching souls were trying to read the lyrics as we sang. Towards the end, our free and soaring spirits took over... we sang with more and more gusto, and I know I did some ridiculously sounding sustain notes at the end ... for the fun of it lah ... And the boys went further .. they all, as a cohort, decided to stand on the chairs, and waved their arms in syn, as we sang together. It was really ... one word ... moving. So, it was a good farewell assembly. We had a charged closure.

For the sec 4s, I am certain they will remember this day, and the cheers they had at the end. And the school song was never sung so lustily and heartily by them before. They will all keep this close to their hearts, their feelings and thoughts of this day. For me ... I hate farewell assembly day, really, because it's sending another batch off, I don't look forward to saying goodbye, I know they will move on from here, it's like they are leaving home and embarking on their journeys, but for me, closing a chapter of life is always difficult. It's really emotionally very exhausting. Imagine experiencing that every year...

Then, it was the annual Cath High Alumni Founder's Day Dinner, at Neptune again this year. It was the most enjoyable FD Dinner I have had.. all the old boys teachers sat together, and we had a jolly good time - a truly enjoyable time filled with sincere laughter and thoughts. We were really boys again, relieving out past, talking bout the present, jibbing and suaning one another, talking and exchanging information. It was great fun, and it's like we were back in our schooling days. Especially, when we went round to say hi and talk to our former teachers, many of them retired and old, as well as sit at the same table as some of our teachers still teaching here. Saw our own classmates from yesteryears too. Good chat. Saw all the ancient, old, middling, younger batches of old boys all running around talking and catching up. As as all cath high students go, we never listened to the speeches given at all. Everyone were busy talking away at the top of our voices, ignoring the happenings on the stage. The only complete silence was during the prayers, as expected. Typical of all of us cath high boys, haha. So, it was a great gathering. Indeed, it was good.

And all the sec 4s should try to arrange and come for this annual dinner from next year onwards. Nothing beats coming together in a school community. The school song was sung at the beginning and the end, with the prayers, and with the familiar faces of old teachers, and the familiar family traits of a cath high boy all around ... it's like back in school again. If you want to see what a cath high boy is, just look around at the dinner, and you will see it in all of us.

Yup, this is a good day. 13 October 2006.

Mad Rush .. EL .. Music ... EL .. Music ... EL .. Music ...... Exciting!

It has been a hectic 2 weeks. Rushing everywhere everyday. Sec 4 Music Practicals the priority now. Spent most afternoons and saturdays doing the sec 4 music practicals, and the other day was spent at MGS trying out their piano for the pract. Much of the English marking was put on hold, because all energy and mental focus spent on the music practicals. Next week is gona be another mad week ... out for the real 'O' Level music practicals from wednesday to friday, from 8am till 6pm everyday. Yes, it's that tedious, examining and writing comments for every candidate throughout the week.

English is THE king subject these days. Last few weeks of 7-8am took a toll on all of us, till i couldn't wake up on time on the last 3 days... so much for my blasting my students for being late... i ended up being late by 5 odd minutes those days... so tired... and having disturbed sleep. But must press on .... L1 is the most important... and the students CAN definitely do well if we all continue with this rigorous regime of English compre compo. Passed out this brilliant EL revision schedule that I came out with ... the push for distinctions, haha. Now it means I have to print out all the additonal reading materials and worksheets, as well as answers. Need to catch up on marking again too.

Yesterday was really crazy .... Did my 7-8am sec 4 EL compre review, then had sec 3 music final exams paper 1 and paper 2, which lasted 2 hours 40min, halfway during which i had to rush up to 4-8 and 4-4 to have my final official EL lesson for them. Then rushed down to collect the papers and arrange the practical schedule for Saturday for the Sec 3 music boys. It was by then 3:15pm, afterwhich I had to attend a meeting, till I had to run at 4:30pm, to catch a cab to Plaza Sing to listen to Ivan and Andrew test out the exams studio electone for the O levels. I only managed to reach PS at about 5, which left us with only half an hour to fine tune their balance etc. Came back to school after that, to finish work.

It was a mad rush, AND I LOVE EVERY BIT OF IT.

Forbidden City: The Musical - A Hundred Days of Changes, To Change The Way We ...

I caught the final day performance of local musical 'Forbidden City', music by local composer Dick Lee, story and lyrics with West End award-winning Stephen Clark and idea collaboration with Steven Dexter, Presented by the Singapore Repertory Theatre.

It was a most fascinating presentation on an important epoch and character of pre-modern China History. Told through the reminiscence of the elderly Empress Dowager Cixi, it tells of a woman, an empire, and a people fighting for what they believe to be for the good of their nation. It tells of a nation fighting against foreign imperialists, in a doomed effort, to retain their way of life which had always been for 5000 years. In essence, that historical period - the Opium Wars, the Hundred Days Reformation, the Boxer Rebellion, the Allied Invasion - all shaped and crafted Chinese political psyche and mentality for the 100 years since, and its scars and impact still echo in the halls of Chinese politics and diplomacy today.

[LAND OF OUR FATHERS: ... One more defeat, one more retreat ... the world that we know that we're fighting to save ... one more to lose, one more to choose ... the world that we know for five thousand years ... the world that we make through the shedding of tears ... is becoming a world that everyone fears... the land of our fathers, the stories we told ... the land of our fathers, the glories of old ... ]

Charged and moving, moments abound when the air seemed to hang in suspense, as none dared breath but hung onto every word and note of the characters. I suppose it being the final day had its effects too. It was a full house, and after a month-long run.

[ MY ONLY CHANCE: ... They've painted my face ... they've chosen my path ... they've nurtured my pride ... in the role that they cast... but inside there's a place... a place that nobody knows ... This is my only chance ... Love, open my heart ... heals the broken dreams all in the past .. This is my only chance ... Love ... make me a part ... of someone ... who shows me ...]

This 2006 run is a magnificent spectacle; the revisions since the 2002/2003 runs (which I too had attended and had not appreciated) created a tighter narrative, more dichotomy and emotional tussles, greater sense of history and occasion. The costumes bespeak a rich tapestry of traditional designs and modern interpretations. The stage design flows poetic and symbolic - an electrifying visual feast of colours and depth.

[BLOOD IN THE STREETS: The very heart of China is sullied by its laws, its soul is choked with bitterness, with every breath it draws ... the earth is steeped in bloodshed, the walls are closing in ... corruption flows within our veins, now truth become a sin ...... A hundred days of changes, to change the way we learn, to change the way we see ourselves, for then the tide will turn ..... will make our world a stronger world that will not be run on bribes...... A country torn to pieces, by a hundred years of greed ... by the foreign devil's opium, just see the nation bleed ... a country torn to pieces, by a long and bloody war ... as the allies fought to rule a land, that is rotten to the core ......This is not the time for cowardice ... for if a single man retreats ... if a child is weak, if a woman cheats, we will suffer the first of a thousand defeats ... for an empire die, like a heart that never beats ... we will see our blood in the streets ... Blood In The Streets ...]

And the music and lyrics. The chic fusion of traditional eastern instruments and modern western ones creates a lush orchestration. The soaring yearning of My Only Chance, the hope and optimism of A Hundred Days Reformation, the turmoil and angst of Blood in the Streets, and the despair thereafter, and the same lyrics and melodic motifs presented by opposing characters in simultaneous contrasting contexts - the ironic parallels. The many turns, lifts and lines ofthe tunes and the poignant words just continued floating and etching their imprints in my mind even two days after. It will probably be a most successful world tour, esp in China. I look forward to its next run, and I will definitely be in attendance.











Official Website at www.srt.com.sg All photos taken from the SRT website.