the•truth•shall•set•you•free

wah lau! today when i waz going home on a bus i dun usu take, at a time i dun usu go home at, i met a friend whom i haven really met for some time liaoz. he wasnt supposed to get up fr dat particular stop, except he waz there for a purpose - to get a queue no. for a flat, WHICH MEANS - he is getting married too!!!

i wun be surprised if i start going downstairs, and the kopitiam uncle tells me fondly dat he is getting married too.. wah lau times 2 million.

they say after pple graduate and start working, the next most decent and logical and politically-correct thing to do will be to get married. well, i juz graduated fr uni a couple yrs ago. i started work last friday. so i shld be on my way to the next most decent and logical and politically-correct step of my life. only prob is im not hitched. yet.

well, in my personal opinion, i think when i am in my 60s and looking back on my life, i wld be thinking to myself dat the golden age of getting married in my era waz YR2005. why? coz it feels like THERE ARE A MILLION PPLE GETTING MARRIED THIS YR. its as tho ALL MY FRIENDS ARE GETTING MARRIED THIS YR.

1. 2 of my gd friends got married late last yr. i attended one, but not the other, coz i waz away in bangkok, for which i felt really bad, coz i cldnt be there for my gd friend's big day. i compensated by visiting her at her new hse. and for the other one which i attended, i actually met someone who wld become my colleague this yr. small ctry we have here eh.. all of the 2 friends and their hubbies are teachers.

2. come june, my jc friend getting married. sent an email to get our addys to send the invites and all. then another jc friend jumped onto the bandwagon and announced she waz getting married too. so dats another 2 down. one of them sent happy bridal photos.

3. also in june, another friend getting married. she's praying dat thru the ceremony, her relatives and friends who are not christians yet will hear abt God and have faith to accept Jesus as the personal saviour and Lord. cool! - in not selfishly owning the wedding for themselves, and making themselves the king and queen of the event, but using it for the greatest glory of the real and only King in heaven. way to go.

4. today, another friend, fr uni, called to ask for my addy, coz, guess wat, he's getting married TOO! (not juz TOO, but THREE, FOUR, FIVE, ..., A MILLION!) he's been with his gf for as long as i know him, so its gd to see them finally seal the r/s with an 'i do'.

5. a pair of gd friends getting married in sept. im quite close to both of them, so im gonna make myself available in helping with the wedding preps. its gonna be fun and exciting, i think. waz really thrilled for my very gd friend when he got married, and it feels gd to be a part of the wedding preps. and its cool to remember dat i waz kinda involved in their getting together (i mean the pair getting married in sept).

6. yr end (nov), another gd friend getting married.

7. another friend getting married somewhere this yr also.

dat brings the total count to 9 couples tying the knot so far, not forgetting those friends who got married prior to this, and those who have already proposed, been proposed to, waiting for flat, saving for wedding... and definitely not forgetting the one who already has a nice cute and (i believe) smart kid liaoz. spoil market.

if you din know what the title of the previous entry meant, its clearly stated in this entry's title.

as you already know (if you dun, pls read the previous entry for greater clarity), i went to taiwan recently. well, this trip, as with all others, waz not w/o its fair share of hiccups.

first up, i waz slated to report to sch on the 4th day of my trip. but as i had already booked and paid for the trip, i waz torn between not wanting to not report on the first day of work and losing 300 bucks if i backed out of the trip (and the refund will only see light half a year later). so i waz in quite a fix, and tho my friends prayed for me that i wld be able to go in the end, i waz actually tempted to pray dat i wldnt be able to go, so that i wun step on the wrong toes even before i start work.

anyhow, i din pray for the latter, and thank God dat my principal waz understanding enough to allow me to go, and dat God caused me to have peace with the final outcome of the 'crisis'. eventually, i became the first (possibly) person in the history of the education scene in singapore to take unpaid leave the first 3 days of work, citing 'holiday' as the reason. (the interesting thing abt this episode waz dat the principal asked me wat waz the learning pt for me in this booboo i created [booboo coz i shldnt have planned for any holiday before posting/reporting dates were out, but oh well...], and i waz duly taken aback. coz i waz stunned dat suddenly, everything seemed like a learning experience. anyhow, i replied "dun plan holidays before posting is out?", with an enquiring and uncertain tone, not sure wat answer the principal waz looking for, and the principal replied "(i need to have more) organizational awareness" hmm...)

anyhow, so i left s'pore for taiwan with a heavy heart (altho i got peaceful-er along the way), thinking if i wld miss alot of impt stuff happening the first few days of work, or if tongues will be wagging in my absence, disapproving of how a newbie shld be absenting himself on the first day of work, or dat i wld be given weird looks when i really reported on friday, with a really bad first impression set. i waz really quite worried, and kept praying abt it. but really, there is nothing much to worry abt, coz even if the bad things did happen as i imagined, i wld not be able to do anything abt them. and the best part is nothing bad happened (as far as i see and sense so far).

when i returned on fri, the staff waz generally still quite nice to me. the 2nd-in-command waz most understanding - she waz the one who kept telling me its ok before i went when i waz apologetic abt the booboo, and she even asked me how my trip waz when i returned. the only other guy posted to the same sch as me waz also quite friendly and chatty. my dept pple welcomed me gently and my dept head did not say anything abt my absence. the rest of the staff, when they did see me and notice my presence, did ask for my name and if i had eaten lunch and all the stuff you wld normally say to a new person. there waz a veneer of nice-ness. my only hope is it goes beyond the surface.

another grp of pple dat i thot waz really nice were the admin pple. as i came back fr the trip and thot more and more abt it, i realized i had caused a whole slew of trouble for them. here's wat..
1. they had to apply leave for me.
2. they had to get relief for the classes i waz slated to go into.
3. if not, they had to get the teachers whose classes i waz supposed to take over to take back their classes (when they thot they cld finally get rid of them.. hah)
4. which makes me the culprit for more and more pple.
5. they had to repeat any and all instructions they had told the other new guy.

some of the exotic (or so i thought) things i ate in taiwan:
1. 炸米血, which comes in cute little squares that look really harmless. as you wonder what the nice-sounding name means and sinks your teeth into the square, you feel gooey stuff meet your tongue. its soft, but not much taste, coz the BBQ sauce covers all traces of the taste of B*L*O*O*D. yes, 炸米血 is pig's blood.
2. 七里香：雨下整夜，我的爱溢出好像雨水... nope, 七里香 is not the jay chou song that we all can sing. as nice-sounding as it may be, its actually chicken ass. by now, you shld realize that nice-sounding food names usually arent that palatable after all, at least to most pple. with all due credit, however, this item is actually quite tasty, juz like normal chicken meat, juz that its very small, as small as... erm.. a chicken ass.
3. 大饼包小饼： this one is interesting. it literally is wat its name suggests. the innermost layer is a biscuit that is deep-fried like popiahs, with certain ingredients inside which, for the life of me, i cldnt make taste of. this is then wrapped in a popiah skin, but not before its spread with whichever flavour you want. (you can choose either sweet or savoury; and they have an array of flavours like yam, pork floss, coconut, peanut, sesame, etc...) the popiah skin is then wrapped ard the innermost biscuit like how you wld a Subway sandwich. i guess its juz the taiwan equivalent of crepes.
4. 豪大鸡扒: its juz very very very big chicken cutlet with lots of salt and chilli powder (and i suspect msg, coz the powders taste very suspiciously like those minuscule packets you get in maggie noodles, or mamee, for that matter) POWDERFUL.
5. 铁蛋: for the linguistically-challenged, this means metal eggs, literally. well, i guess it is so named coz its really hard on the outside, tho everything else tastes exactly like a normal egg. well, i bought 3 packs back, if you want, drop me a line.
6. 臭豆腐. 顾名思义.
7. mashed ice + ice-cream + pudding + coco pops + strawberry = S*H*I*O*K
8. there waz also some snake stuff, but we din try. not that we did not dare to, but we juz din want to. now there's a whole world of difference there. anyway, i tried snake meat prior to this. it tastes rubber. i can think of 1 friend who wouldnt like it - he doesnt like rubbery-tasting stuff - his name starts with S...

i shld really be sleeping.

its 4.04am on a wed morn, and im still awake. juz finished reading a friend's blog (http://hyperreality.blogspot.com/) and waz shocked at the atrocities pple do to get animal fur. anyhow, i juz thot i wanted to blog after reading someone else's blog, so i put on fish leong's 接受 (for no particular reason, other than it waz the first song on the playlist), and logged onto www.blogger.com and here i am.

yesterday waz a rather uneventful day - woke up at 1pm, visited my temp-semi-paralyzed (due to knee ligament op) friend, and then went for BS (which waz abt contentment). perhaps the highlight of the day waz anticipating my posting results.

not long after i woke up, a friend called to ask me where i waz posted to, as his friend had already received her posting. as i waz already out, i cldnt fulfil his (and my) curiousity. nevertheless, it waz aroused, and i started sms-ing pple to ask where they had been posted to. the list ranged fr practicum colleagues to NIE classmates to old friends. (phone bills' gonna shoot up this mth)

as pple replied back, some dismayed, some elated, while others amused, i began to be more and more gan jiong abt my own posting. i usually wldnt be. even when results came out when i waz in uni, i waz nvr in a rush to find out - i cld alwaz wait till i reached home to check my results. furthermore, i usu din not like pple to check my results for me and wld, instead, prefer to see my results first-hand.

however, i waz not myself today - i waz quite desperate to see my posting result. not only dat, i waz willing to let someone else check it for me, thus not being the first person to see my own posting result. i called my mum to open the mailbox and check for me. however, as she wasnt at home, i had to wait till she reached home to know my posting. in fact, i even called my bro to check for me if my mom had reached home with the mail. and in the meantime, the anticipation juz brew and brew and (to be honest), during BS, i waz edgy and fidgety and kept checking my phone, until a friend commented on the discourteous-ness of that.

in retrospect, i think i waz so anxious to find out my posting because deep down inside, i wanted to return to my practicum sch, and i waz anxious to find out if i did. altho i often joked abt not wanting to return to my practicum sch, jokes aside, i realized that after the initial shock and distaste at being posted there for practicum, and the 10 wks with my boys, i have since grown to like the place, especially my students. i waz already missing them the last wk i waz there.

perhaps its juz in my make-up dat i dun take departures dat well. or perhaps seeing/hearing the students wanting me to stay made me feel dat i waz welcomed and wanted, and therefore i wanted to go back. yet, perhaps all these romanticisms only last as long as i am a new teacher - if i had taught for a few yrs already, mabbe i wld be dying to leave any place, or mabbe if i had stayed long enuff, the students wld have been so bored of me they cant wait for me to leave. izzit juz me? or do such contradictory thoughts go thru' your mind as well?

well, mabbe i shld really be sleeping instead..

he perched himself on a bar table.

the place was dark and noisy. sweaty bodies gyrated to nonsensical beats and tunes on the dance floor. elsewhere, people conversed silently - their mouths moved, yet no sound seemed to come out of them. ironical, considering these people came here to look for someone to communicate with, and all they managed was to do was hold a conversation with half-filled wine glasses and bourbon-laced cushions..

his eyes darted around - he had been searching for the person he was supposed to look for but to no avail. until now. "Gosh," he thought to himself. "远在天边，近在眼前." 2 tables away, a young man of not more than 20 stood, somewhat awkwardly, and out of place. he was dressed in over-sized tees with the word 'gangsta' screaming loudly from it, as if his leg-shaking and his rainbow-streaked hair weren't proof enough he was one. at least they suggested he was one.

he was careful not to let anyone have the slightest sense of what he was doing. he slowly drew out his weapon from a well-packed box, what with an insulation layer to prevent the weapon from screwing up. he held it the way he knew best, as he had always been holding it all these years. [bio-data:~ age:20 ~ occupation (by day) : taking the life out of teachers ~ occupation (by night) : taking the lives out of innocent people ~ no. of years in the line: since age 12]

with his finger in its usual place on the weapon, he was ready to strike any moment. from the corner of his eye, however, he observed that his target had walked over in his direction, as though an innocent church-mouse running obliviously into a trap baited with blue cheese. his heart skipped a beat, but not because he was going to be discovered any time. rather, he had a perverted form of excitement running through his whole body - 送羊入虎口.

"hi, the name's JK. seems that you are new here."

"here to make friends," he thought. he edged a smile, held up his weapon boldly, took in a deep breath, and then heaved out another.

BANG!

one minute of the boy's life died.

after my practicum, which officially ended 29th april 2005, i met up with different groups of pple, with one thot in my mind: boy, am i blessed to have so many friends ard me. thank God!

on mon, which waz a public holiday, i went to pulau ubin with some friends. i reached the meeting place only to find out that there were friend's friends whom i did not know. hmm.. *i dun like strangers* *i dun like making new friends* *im super duper anti-social* anyhow, i din really have to interact with them, except when i needed help to change a punctured bike tyre. the rest of the time i spent talking to the few friends i already knew. it waz quite fun, coz i din feel any pressure to have to make conversation with pple i dinno - all i had to do waz to really relax and enjoy myself. dat waz cool for me.

after dat, i went to a dinner gathering with gd friends, to celebrate someone else's birthday. it waz gd to see everyone again, and i particularly enjoyed the open and comfortable environment we were in, being able to talk and share quite openly and freely, w/o any fear of being put down or ridiculed. i felt safe. i guess dats one of the beauty of friendship.

on tues, i went to sch and then to a chalet organized by my army friends. well, to be exact, they shld be called army acquaintances, at most, coz i din really know alot of them, and i had forgotten even more of their names. as i walked in, i realized many faces looked familiar, tho i cldnt find any names within my schemata to fit those faces. well, naturally, as you guessed, i interacted only with those few friends i already knew. it waz cool, catching up, and knowing everyone is doing fairly well, mostly waiting to go into uni. i felt a little awkward, being in the midst of many unfamiliar pple who all seem to know one another. i guess dats wat is meant by 'not being in the circle'.

on wed, i went to sch (again) and then to a dinner# with another grp of army friends. this time it waz cozier, with only 7 of us. i waz rather happy to see them, juz to catch up and know dat everyone is doing well. this nvr fails to make me feel gd. however, there waz a particular friend i wanted to see but din turn up. he had to rush to visit his ailing grandma. this guy is a pai gia, and is nowhere near the same as me, be it character wise, or interests wise. but somehow, i juz feel this is one friend i can make. altho i wun say we are the best of friends, but i believe there is a certain dose of sincerity in our dealings with each other, and dat im able to make a little difference in his life, and dat, to me, is cool enuff.

#: well, b4 dinner, i went to do some marking with another friend. to say the least, im not particularly close to this person, altho i wld say there is the potential to be. somehow, along the way, as we marked, we began to talk, and we had an amazingly gd conversation for over an hr. we, or rather he, mainly, talked abt our teaching experiences, teaching stunts, wat we really want and hope for our students, r/s issues, do we really want to teach forever, among others. i waz thankful for the honest and sincere and perceptive and wise sharing he gave, and many of the things he said truly blessed me and caused me to think. and i began to think it is really in such meaningful conversations dat a true friendship is borne.

so wat do gatherings mean to you? do gatherings mean different things on different occasions? or do they mean different things with different pple? do you look fwd to gatherings of all kinds? well, i like gatherings. i think.

well, its been a really really really long time, and im surprised my blog is not closed down yet. and im more surprised my blog actually has fans, and my friends asked me why have i not been blogging for so long. well, for one, i had been in the business of practicum, and was totally tired at the end of each day to bother to login and blog.

anyway, practicum came and went, much faster than i had expected, and left in me bittersweet memories. im already beginning to miss my students, but yet if you ask me do i really want to go back to my practicum school, my mind is undecided. altho i think its leaning more and more towards going back.

juz a little summary on my practicum. i had 3 classes, sec 1 exp, sec 2 exp, sec 3 normal acad. well, each class has its own share of interesting characters, particularly the sec 3 class. wat a crue of colourful personalities i met this past 10 wks. and ironically, though they were the most tricky among the 3 classes, i muz admit they made the deepest impression on me, and im beginning to think i'll miss them the most too.

nxt wk, im gonna go back to nie, then its waiting for my posting, which will determine where i'll be for the nxt couple of yrs. shudder.