my ajumma notes

Since we finally had a bit of time to pursue trivial pursuits, we dropped in at KBox and now I have a new karaoke favourite. Jay Chou's 'Chrysanthemum Flower Bed' has usurped 'Moonlight in the City' (Mavis Hee), ha ha. I read in Mind Your Body sometime back about a study on different genres of music. It turned out that people were happiest listening to country music. I don't doubt that I myself would prefer country to, say, heavy metal but I don't particularly like county. I was trying very hard to think of country songs and realised that I don't know any modern ones. I could only think of stuff like 'Take Me Home, Country Road', ha ha. Anyway, I think it was in another issue of Mind Your Body that I read that songs make people happy or something like that. I'm sure that must be true. Music of various sorts has certainly helped me in many ways, many times. I'll just end here with something suitable for the time of the year, The P...

Oh.My.Word. All this is quite sick and horrible. May Ms Lo Hwei Yen rest in peace. And condolences to her family and friends. I am glad, though, that Fr Anthony reminded us to pray for perpetrators of violence too. I had almost forgotten them. After all, they are probably the ones most in need of prayers and healing. Come to think of it, there are also the hundreds of other victims. And hundreds and hundreds others, if you think beyond Mumbai... such as in Kashmir, as mentioned by the gunmen... and the many, many broken lives and spirits out there... Aiyoh... This weekend's Gospel reading (Mark 13:33-37) is timely, I guess: Take heed, watch; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Watch therefore -- for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the...

Well, well, so Djokovic finally finds himself back on top of things after an amazing slump. And it's amazing that he still has enough points to threaten Federer's No.2 spot. In fact, he will probably become No. 2 sometime next year. But that's where the plot will thicken. Because I think Murray is likely to eclipse him and even Nadal. If Djokovic had done better this year, he might have a brief taste of being No. 1 but seeing how fast and well Murray is improving, I doubt he will get the chance. I'd have preferred to see Murray win the Masters Cup, of course, but never mind, lah. He has already done so well this year and people like Djokovic and Davydenko need the morale booster that they got from playing in the Masters final. I was glad, though, that Murray cut his hair recently (left) . I cannot imagine him gunning for the No. 1 spot with his old hairstyle (right) . Yes, yes, hair is a trivial matter when you are going for No. 1 but still... It was good also to see G...

It's time once again to write about trivial topics, ha ha. I mentioned this K drama, 1% of Anything , sometime back. The title is grammatically odd but it is what the show is about - that even if there is a 1% possibility of something working out, there is that possibility of things turning out well in the end. I kind of like that storyline. It is a 2003 production, making it a contemporary of Stairway to Heaven and All In. Rom-coms weren't quite in yet at that time so it must have been quite a change from the usual fare then. This show will appeal to die-hard romantics and anyone interested in watching the precursors for many later rom-com scenes. I recognised so many scenes here that were copied in shows like My Girl , Goong , etc. (For all I know, maybe this show copied those ideas from elsewhere.) The show also has practically all the elements you would expect in K drama - rich family versus poorer family, blind dates and match making, best friends, one girl and two suit...

So after the so-called monk, I went back to chick lit and finished Rowan Coleman's The Accidental Mother pretty fast. Nowadays, I'm not all that hopeful about chick lit but this book, about Sophie who ended up having to take care of her late best friend's young daughters, turned out to be quite a good departure from the usual formula. Except for the ending. But what to do, it's chick lit what. At least the plot was interesting and there were some strongly emotional and meaningful 'scenes' between Sophie and the girls. I was surprised to find such depth in chick lit. And so now, I am reading Tim Harford's The Undercover Economist . Not my usual type of book but I was attracted by its cover and blurb, ha ha. This is a really good book. I am enjoying every page of it, which is much more than I can say for the Lim Chong Yah and another purple textbook (or was it orange?) we had for econs in the days of yore. With all due respect to Mr Lim and the purple textbo...

Added on 7 Nov: I realise that it wasn't the Archbishop but the media that made the church's stand public. ---------------------------------------------------------------- So, our Archbishop has made public our stand on euthanasia . No doubt, this will open us up to some battering by other people's opinions. But never mind, lah, we are used to it. I wonder if we will see some day soon another historic day in parliament when the party whip is lifted and MPs can vote according to their conscience (as they did in 1969 ? for the Abortion Bill)... Don't say no one warned us about the slippery slope from abortion to euthanasia... It's a debate on the same continuum (or slope) , isn't it?

Have been on an unplanned extended break from this blog because (a) am rather busy and (b) the computer is dying, I think. On bad days, it takes, like, half an hour to start and everything responds very slowly, so I don't really have the patience to do anything more on it than what is absolutely necessary. On worse days, we can't even get on the Internet. So... Until we find out what is wrong / fix it / buy a new one (yay!), I guess I won't be doing much or any blogging.

While speaking about the weekend's Gospel reading (Matthew 22:1-14), Father Remi said something about marriage: Long before you were born, God intended this (the fullness of married life) for you. That was quite an awesome thought...

Finally, after, like, 3 months or thereabouts, I have finished Robin Sharma's The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. I guess the book would be classified as 'new age' and 'self help'. There's a lot of practical 'wisdom' but I didn't find it all that engaging. Much of the 'wisdom' is ancient wisdom, which my friend, a Sai Baba follower, told me about some 20 years or so ago. Ha, she could have written a book like that. No doubt, in this book, the 'wisdom' was learnt from 'sages' but I just found it so weird that the guy had never heard of all this. Plus, I'm really not into re-hashing 'old' wisdom into new form, a la 'seek first to understand, then to be understood' from 7 Habits fame, which, as far as I know, came from St Francis of Assisi . And what about the re-telling of Oscar Wilde's The Selfish Giant as part of the sage's wisdom? (Of course it is possible that Wilde got inspiration from some ancient...

Hmm... I was pretty annoyed reading yesterday's papers, seeing how many people, including journalists, found it necessary to qualify their tributes to Mr JBJ. Please lah... At least today's article was positive, though I am surprised to see nothing in the Forum page, considering the fact that about 1000 went for his wake yesterday... JBJ deserves all the accolades he is getting. I think his contribution is unparalleled, with Mr Chiam, Mr Low and the rest carrying on his trailblazing political participation. Who can forget the excitement of the Anson by-election, how it changed our political landscape and how it got a lot more people at least mildly interested in local politics? He surely embodied the spirit of 'the game is never over till it's over'. May he rest in peace.

See ah, start at #15 also can win, okay? Thought today's headlines should have been 'Alonso wows world' instead... Oh well... Although he said after his disastrous qualification outing that his chances were more or less in the longkang, he did go in with a proper game plan - and not just to show his face - and used his brains and the situation to his advantage. And so there he was at the end with the odd-looking trophy, listening to his national anthem. Picture from AsiaOne In TODAY, Massa was reported as saying 'I went to the guy (who made the mistake) and gave him even more motivation, because we need him and we need everybody together for the last three races of the season.' Also, it quoted the CEO of Ferrari Asia Pacific saying, 'We are achievers and we never give up... The Ferrari spirit is about competition, and we always want to win.' The mentality of champions and the spirit of teamwork... Hope some people learn these... Well, on Saturday, F1 report...

There was an article in yesterday's ST about the lack of local buzz about this Sunday's historic race. I fully agree with the journalist that this is partly due to the lack of publicity directed at us locals (there was a clip of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber visiting a hawker centre, looking at the circuit from up high, etc on Eurosports but has there been anything more than what's in the daily news broadcast here?) and the way the F1 race has been presented as little more than a big economic opportunity. Hope no one crashes into here and our pre-F1 heritage can be preserved for posterity We all know there are many, many speedsters on and off the expressways but this doesn't necessarily translate into a very large number of F1 fans. And if one isn't an F1 fan, one just isn't a fan. How to be interested in something one is not interested in? Even if you had the World Cup (soccer) or Olympics here, some people wouldn't care two hoots. The fact is we rema...

Speaking about yesterday's Gospel (Matthew 20:1-16), Fr Richards addressed the seeming 'unfairness' of the vineyard owner who paid everyone one denarius, regardless of how many hours they worked that day. I must confess that I always had a problem with the 'unfairness' thing in this story as well as in the prodigal son tale. I mean, the prodigal son's brother was rather poor thing what - did the right thing all the time and his father never celebrated that. Fr Richards said that these stories, while appearing 'unfair' to our human minds, show God's generosity and love. He loves us with the same love He has for Mary, the apostles, saints, martyrs, Mother Teresa, etc. Hence, the same wage of one denarius for all. After all, the prodigal son's dad did tell his brother 'everything I have is yours'...

There were some letters today about the poor attention given to our Paralympians. A Mr Leong Tuck Meng wrote: 'Yip Pin Xiu has done Singapore proud by winning Singapore's first Olympic gold medal. It may be the Paralympic Games, but a gold medal is a gold medal. I am appalled at the amount of media coverage and publicity this has been given... My children were very excited about Singapore's Paralympic achievements and wanted to watch the swimming on TV. Alas, there was no footage, only a short note on the news teletext... How sad that a momentous occasion in Singapore's sporting history is relegated to a footnote. We should have given the same amount of airtime to the winners of the Paralympics as we did to our silver-winning table tennis Olympians.' Mr Jack Tsen-Ta Lee wrote: 'I am glad that MediaCorp screened the opening ceremony of the Paralympics last week and started broadcasting an hour-long daily summary on Channel 5. I do wonder, though, why plans were n...

Ha, Andy Murray is definitely in the mix now! Not a bad Grand Slam finale, I must say, and not too bad a season ending for the top guys. I didn't really think Nadal had anything to prove at the US Open and anyway, he did make it to the semi-final. He has already had such a good year. Andy, who has also had a good year, didn't have anything to prove either, and here he is in the final! I guess, of all the top guys, Federer has the most to prove now but at least he has made it to the final and has stopped sounding too emphatic about how nothing is going wrong. Ferrer, who remains in the top 6, didn't appear too distraught when he got knocked out and gave all the credit to the Japanese kid who beat him. Guess he's happy in general with the way things turned out for him these 2 years. Certainly Davydenko and Djokovic are the biggest casualties and maybe somewhat distraught. The happiest of men must be Gilles Muller, ranked hundred-and-whatever, but who whacked his way into ...

I hardly watch non-tennis entertainment on tennis courts (only remember the singing ballboy at Wimbledon one year during the rain break and bits of the emotional post-9/11 US Open opening) so I was pleasantly surprised by this year's US Open opening night (watch here ). What a treat to have Earth, Wind and Fire singing! And the little boys in the drum item were cute. Two things that struck me most during the parade of champions: (a) how great all the ladies still look (see below for example) and (b) some notable absentees. I would have liked to see Justine, Kim, Agassi and Steffi Graf, Jimmy Connors and Pete Sampras. Monica Seles - picture from here So, who will hold the trophies this year is the US$1.5-million question. It's so strange hearing 'Roger Federer, the number 2 seed'... Anyway, he is so poor thing this year I almost want to say just let him win it, lah. Djokovic has plummetted way down the 'cuteness' and 'nice kid' ratings so I'm not sur...

I agree with the views in this article 'When Being Content Is Not Good'. I don't know of any other country whose athletes take the semi-final as the final and the final as dunno what. I'm glad Nadal is mentioned in the article because taking the semi-final as the final (and the final as dunno what) is quite, quite different from playing each point like it is match point. As we arm-chair critics-cum-sports-fans know, you need a gold medal mentality to get a gold medal. Let me quote the man who was once my hero, Seb Coe, now Lord Sebastian Coe, chairman of London's organising committee, speaking about the Beijing opening : "Actually our guys weren't cowed at all... They looked at that and thought that's really good, but we can do something as good, set in a different context. They were more pumped up because it was so good. I think they were quite excited by the challenge." Never admit defeat before you even play your first stroke, run your first s...

In the midst of all this, I have been occasionally back on the Korean radar watching 1% of Anything . It's not the most brilliant of shows but I kind of like the whole premise of the story - that no person, situation or relationship is beyond redemption; even if there is just a 1% possibility, you can make things happen. I.e. not relying on miracles but through sheer hard work and doing what you think/know you have to do. Hence the title. But more on the show another day. The reason why I'm writing about it now is I think this kind of thinking (which is similar to Nadal's point-by-point, play-every-point-like-it's-game-point mentality) is applicable to today's momentous table tennis situation. And I believe there is more than a 1% possiblity, no? bear picture from here By the way, I think the rally should still be telecast live. The match is already going to be on Channel U in dual sound, what. Some people have no interest in sports and/or table tennis and there are...

When I first watched Nastia Liukin - and she was really quite beautiful to watch - I thought she was an East European gymnast, based on her physical appearance and style. Turns out that she is East European. Russian-born. But she's won the gold medal for the USA. picture from her website (Wonder if there's something in their Communist roots that give the Russians, Romanians and Chinese gymnasts a kind of grace, elegance and fluidity that I don't see so much in the others. I don't know what else these kids might have in common.) When I first saw the USA team coordinator, I also thought she looked like she was an Eastern bloc person. Don't know what it is about her - maybe her mannerisms and her hairstyle. Turns out she was from the Eastern bloc and her husband was Nadia Comaneci's coach. (And pots shouldn't be calling kettles black, okay? Their comments on the Chinese gymnasts here .) And I'm sure we all noticed the many Asian (and they look Chinese) co...

Great opening. Looks like they didn't need Mr Spielberg after all. Ha. Ferrer and Nadal enjoyed it And great swim, Tao Li. Well done! I read a number of catty remarks online about her "only" coming in fifth and about her being foreign-born. I must confess I'm not in love with foreign talent or anything but give credit where credit is due, okay? Think it's so easy to come in fifth ah? Getting into the final is already an excellent result. And if you think of it, she is still quite a rookie compared to top swimmers in her event and yet, she is the 5th best and she now holds the Asian record. I think people also forget that she is not the same "type" of foreign talent as some others. She was not handpicked or scouted and brought here to represent Singapore. She came because her mum got a job here. And she ended up representing Singapore. Same for Ronald Susilo who came in his teenage years as a student. And who also ended up representing Singapore. Anyway,...

There was a National Day feature about various places that people hold close to their hearts. I thought about it and I realised that most of the places that have meant anything to me are in or near that inner ERP ring, ha ha. These include: 1. Schools - CHIJ and SJI (no longer schools now) 2. National Library (gone) 3. Cinemas - Odeon (gone), Capitol (no longer a cinema), Cathay 4. Book and stationery shops - various second hand book stores along Bras Basah Road (gone), a couple along Victoria Street (Shanghai Book Co. and World - gone), MPH at Armenian Street (gone) 5. Churches - Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, St Joseph's, Sts Peter and Paul, Sacred Heart Church (if I'm not mistaken, they have been gazetted as National Monuments) Interestingly, the place where we stayed when I was in primary and secondary school, which is off the Orchard Road CBD area, is more or less still there as it was then, no major sign of en bloc activity, I believe.

First, I finally watched the Japanese ad from which our National Day video was copied. I was more astounded by the ethics of it all than the lack of creativity and originality exhibited by the creators of the N Day thing. Copying and localising the entire concept?? Of course it is not the first time anyone has copied and localised a concept. Not so many years ago, a movie that, I am told, was a copy of an acclaimed foreign film was lauded . Come on, blatant copying is just not on, okay? Especially in 'creative' industries. As for the rest of the video, the newspaper uncle taking part in the vertical marathon is okay but is that bit about the couple some kind of overt message for people to get on with it and start dating?? Anyway, shoe-giving is not entirely original either. I've seen it in K drama... I guess most of us are/were watching THE SPECTACLE (it's still going on now as I type this; so big scale, just like Curse of the Golden Flowers ; almost expect Jay Chou to ...

I forgot if it was the Straits or Sunday Times that got lambasted by some people for running the article on Orchard Road dress sense - whether people should wear slippers and dress down for Orchard Road, etc. It was followed rather quickly by Sunday's article about strollers - parents with strollers versus non-stroller users. Wah, I thought, really got nothing else to write about ah? Well, since the article was written and I am an ex-stroller user, I shall have my two cents' worth here. I think it is all about consideration for others and common sense. Obviously, some people have more of these and some people less. To me, poor stroller etiquette is similar to poor road manners, poor bicycle manners, poor pedestrian manners, poor trolley-pushing manners, poor aisle-walking manners, etc. I don't think there is much you can do if other people do not exercise the consideration and common sense you wish they did. To avoid getting into accidents and fights (road rage, bicyc...

This weekend's gospel reading was from Matthew 14:13-21 (five loaves and two fishes). Someone recently sent me Corrinne May's Five Loaves and Two Fishes , which I found very meaningful. This picture is from here , where there is a thoughtful reflection on the above as well.

Well, well, looks like the face of the tennis world will see some change soon if/when Nadal becomes #1. Which some people think may be as soon as the end of the week. It's about time. No offence to Federer but 200+ weeks of the same guy is no fun. Hopefully, if/when Nadal gets there, it will not be another 200+ weeks. The more exciting development, I think, is that Andy Murray is showing promising signs of joining the fray at the top. Last week he played with a lot more resolve than I remember seeing in him. He reminded me of Roddick and Hewitt in the days when they kept having a go at Federer. He was 4-0 down to Djokovic in head-to-head but he still had a go (and a very convincing one it was, I must say) and was rewarded with closing the gap to 4-1. He was whatever-0 down to Nadal, with his last (convincing) loss so recent but he played well, I thought, even though he couldn't carry it through to the end. He sure looked like he had his head about him and if he could have his h...

Continuing with the theme of population growth, there is an article today in TODAY, 'Helping Singles Meet Singles', for which I cannot find the link. In it, a 29-year-old gives his views on what can be done about the singles in that national survey who said they had problems socialising. Actually, I am surprised to know that they have problems socialising. Thought youngsters these days have many more opportunities and skills for socialising. Oh well... Anyway, this guy says that he has peers who have 'given up trying'. Aiyoh! 29 years old only want to give up already! He also echoed an old view that 'only desperate people sign up' - with dating agencies (today) and the SDU (in the past). However, his suggestions about getting companies to send their employees to social activities and other events are similiar to what the SDU used to do, what. So, my suggestion is to bring the SDU back. After all, people being unable to socialise is a serious national problem so ...

Am I the only one who finds that there is an overload of talk about incentives in the discourse about how to get people to have more children? While I do agree that things like paternal leave (3 days is really, really paltry) would help to some extent, what about the social and emotional factors? First of all, isn't it clear that many people do not really want children or are ambivalent about the matter? Second, it sounds like we are going to try all sorts of imported methods to get people to have more children but have we considered how these children will grow up? I don't know very much about Swedish people except for ABBA, Bjorn Borg and the name Lars but I suspect that, on the whole, they do not: a) see their children only before the sun has risen and after the sun has set on an almost daily basis, b) leave a substantial part of their children's growing up years in the hands of others, c) have their children sleep only 6-7 hours at night on school days, d) subject the...

Wow, I must be really out of touch. I read in today's ST that some people consider a starting salary of about S$3,000 'pittance'. They expect a five-figure salary. And they expect not to have to do administrative duties. Hmm... I was still photocopying, filing, and doing various other administrative, secretarial, clerical, data-entry-type, etc, duties long after graduation. Was I exploited by my former employers?? Anyway, what are the jobs that offer a five-figure starting salary?

Just a few more words from Wimbledon. I came across these Safin quotes from the Wimbledon site . Apart from his on-court theatrics, I believe people also enjoy his 'self-effacing' interviews and his humour. About what he needs to do to beat Federer in the semi-final: To beat Federer you need to be Nadal and run around like a rabbit and hit winners from all over the place. His take on Federer and Nadal: They will be the greatest tennis players in the history. Because Nadal didn't lose a match on clay since, I don't know, he was 10 maybe. And Federer, he's going for his sixth Wimbledon. He definitely I think gonna pass the 14 Grand Slams. I hope for him. So I guess I can say to my kids that I played against him. And I think just also two great guys, to be honest. Really down-to-earth. Federer is quite funny. Nadal is also, he's there. No, very interesting. It's good to be with them in the same locker room. Anyway, I wonder what Nadal and Venus chatted about a...

What goes through the minds of champions? From Nadal's post-match interview. Q. Losing the fourth set tiebreak the way you did, with two match points, could have been very depressing for other players. How did you emotionally deal with that fourth set so you could come out in the fifth and play your best tennis? N: Well, is the final of Wimbledon, so I have to continuing fighting all the time with positive attitude. I am playing well, so why I have to go down, no? I won two sets 6-4, 6-4. I lost two tiebreaks. A little bit unlucky. I played terrible two points with the 5-2 on serve. I accept that. And just first of all accept I played terrible in the 5-2, and later he did very well. So just tried continuing focusing on myself, playing well. If he has a break and beat me the final, so just congratulate him and go at home, no? That's it. Q. Can you just try and express your feelings as the match went on and on and became tighter and more dramatic, what were some of the things th...

YES!!! Finally... I retired at the 4th set to protect myself from a heart attack and, also, it was already 2+am. But from what I watched before I went to bed, I think Nadal deserved to win, which Federer himself kindly conceded as well. And he (Nadal of course) deserves to be number one, too. Hopefully that will happen soon. Well, well, it wasn't so long ago when people (Nadal included) believed that Federer was closer to taking the French Open away than Nadal was to taking Wimbledon. Looks like they all predicted wrongly... But maybe I should go into this predicting business because I've always thought that Nadal would do it some day. Ha ha. And , while I was watching the match I kept thinking of 'If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming you for it' from Kipling's 'If' (which I learnt from Bridget Jones, ha ha), and, what do you know, the next day there's this article that quoted the same poem. Ha! Hey, and I didn'...

Speaking about today's Gospel (Matthew 11:25-30), Fr Cary said that many years ago, an older priest had reminded him to always keep in mind that you would never fully understand all the burdens people carried to church every Sunday. Indeed... He also told us about the legend surrounding the yoke and I think I found his source . Here's what it says: There is a wonderful legend concerning the quiet years of Jesus, the years prior to his visible ministry. The legend claims that Jesus the carpenter was one of the master yoke-makers in the Nazareth area. People came from miles around for a yoke, hand carved and crafted by Jesus son of Joseph. When customers arrived with their team of oxen Jesus would spend considerable time measuring the team, their height, the width, the space between them, and the size of their shoulders. Within a week, the team would be brought back and he would carefully place the newly made yoke over the shoulders, watching for rough places, smoothing out the e...

Too bad. Zheng Jie is out. Thought she could have become a sort of Justine substitute - shorter and smaller than the giants but tactically smart. Well, she is shorter, smaller and tactically smart but it's not easy to become even half of Justine. But well done, like I said. Hope she will continue to do well on the tour. Now, maybe Safin can produce the magic we all know he is (still) capable of. Like every other person has remarked, he does seem to have become calmer (maybe his Himalayan trek did something to him), he has thrown off his jewellery and there is still that spark in his game. I am sure he remembers fondly the AO semi-final (2004?) when he beat Federer. I mean, Safin versus Nadal (who is typically not thinking about the final yet) on grass will be pretty interesting, no?

How can I not blog about this? What an Asian run! Who would have thought it would come to the Williamses versus the Asians at these later stages of Wimbledon? Actually, I think it started with that Japanese boy who played well against Nadal at Queen's, but never mind about that now... Well done, Tamarine and Zheng Jie! So now, Tamarine is out , but not without an excellent fight... in all her matches... And Zheng Jie has the unenviable task of playing Serene in the semi-final. That woman is so gutsy. She's a Nike person but she should be wearing 'No fear' instead, ha ha. It was great to see the crowd cheering for the Asian girls and it was amusing that some of the commentators could not contain their amazement that these two girls could actually play good tennis. I lost count of the number of times they said 'she's thinking' in both Tamarine's and Zheng Jie's matches. Tsk, tsk, so patronising. Think Asians cannot play with their brains, ah ? Go, Zhen...

Now the Wynners are coming! Cheapest ticket $78. One doesn't say 'Wynners' without thinking of Chelsia Chan at the same time. But I don't think she'll be here with them.

Didn't go to the Osmonds concert . But I went when they came in the 80s. It was amazing that my dad actually bought us tickets for it. He has zero interest in this kind of thing. Didn't go to see Air Supply either. But it reminded me of another man, my JC teacher Mr H, who appeared surprised that his students were fans of English, Dutch and Italian footballers and Australian bands (not much interest in Japan or Korea in those days!). He had just come to Singapore so I guess he could be forgiven for not knowing that we Singaporeans were/are quite global in our tastes. Wonder how he is now... Anyway, wasn't their old drummer a Singaporean called Ricky or something like that? But I did see Chage and Aska on TV. Didn't know these guys are still singing! Watch Say Yes here! Meanwhile, I've been off the K drama radar for a while but I've recently been catching bits of Formidable Rivals on KBS. This girl is a bit too serious most of the time (haven't watched enou...

I'm sure many of us read those forum letters about the so-called 'sure-fail' tests and exams with interest. It was interesting for me to read letters from students in support of such tests. I myself stand firmly with the opposing camp. Even Chua Mui Hoong (can't find her article now) and Andy Ho were moved to write articles on the topic. Was reading Andy Ho's till my brain was very tired but I found his link between the 'sure-fail' stuff and 'authentic teaching' rather idealistic. I'm sure teachers want to be the best teachers they can be but there are things that are beyond their control. For example, the boy had a couple of - in his teacher's words - 'killer papers' for the SA1 and the teacher was not the one who set them. And so, I feel sorry for the kids who 'suffered' in those papers and the teacher - who may well have been teaching as 'authentically' as possible - for now having to handle the aftermath of a lar...

I was quite wrong about Nadal's prize money. It was one, not five, million euros. Still, that's a lot of money... There are a million things that could be said about that match and about him but the main point is that he's quite untouchable on clay. Sorry to rub salt into Federer's wound but he can stop hoping. I can only think of 3 men who could be permitted to dream of it, namely, Djokovic, Ferrer and Nalbandian. Djokovic because he managed a small chink in the armour by taking Nadal to a tie break in the semi . Ferrer because he made a little dent by taking - gasp - a set off Nadal at Barcelona . Nalbandian - I'm just guessing because he and Ferrer have the skill, the style, mastery of clay, etc, (but both don't have the drive and consistency) and he does have a positive win-loss record against Nadal. However, it has been some time since they last played... Anyway, with Nadal and Djokovic barely over 20 years old, time is not on Federer's side. And not on...

Snugly ensconced in my hotel room, I watched this BBC documentary about North Koreans fleeing their homeland by various ways and means through China. Imagine having to trek for more than 10 days in the dark of night, from North to South China, through Cambodia and into Thailand, all the while knowing you could die, get arrested (and deported), etc, any moment. It made me seem so small-minded to be relaxing in the hotel and complaining about not getting 'live' telecast of the French Open . It puts the 'runaway' food prices I've been bemoaning in perspective. Elsewhere in the world, there are people with no food, people who can't afford food, people who have to risk their lives for food, etc... So, let me re-frame that for myself. Prices here are 'rising' (not 'runaway'). We are in for some 'discomfort' (not 'disaster'), as the minister says . Meanwhile, Nadal pockets a cool more-than-5-million euros for making Roger Federer's w...

Belated thoughts, post Justine's retirement announcement. She was one reason why I started watching tennis again. As even Federer said, she was 'remarkable' in that she was small and yet, how many times have we seen her cream players who were giants in comparison? She has had a number of dubious 'sports-womanship' moments but I admire her guts and grit. The most memorable match in that category was her 2003 US Open semi-final against Jennifer Capriati. And then, of course, there is her backhand, which will be missed for a long time. For once, Serena Williams had something nice to say , "She was a great champion and she gave me a world of trouble, so I hope the best for her. What can you say about such a great champion? I don't think we have enough time." So, looks like the ladies' French Open trophy is up for grabs now. The tournament will be really different without her. It would almost be like having the men's tournament without Nadal. As f...

Apparently, some people think the five fuwa , the mascots of the Beijing Olympics, have jinxed China . Jingjing, the panda, is native to Sichuan, site of the current disaster. Huanhuan, the red one with 'flame hair', has seen trouble with the Olympic torch. Yingying, the antelope (the yellow one) is native to Tibet, site of, well, Tibet. And Nini, with a kite (the green one), represents the 'kite city' Weifang which recently saw a disastrous train derailment. So now, it seems Beibei (the blue one) portends some disaster at the Yangzi River because Beibei is a sturgeon fish, found only in the Yangzi River. Interesting... And we have Yingying and Nini right here in our living room... It is also interesting that in the olden days in both China and Myanmar, disasters of such magnitude were interpreted as unequivocal signs of disapproval (of the ruler) from the heavens. I wonder what is running through the minds of the leaders in both countries now. Well, at least Hu and We...

The ladies are in Berlin. It's not often that you see Justine in an even slightly flouncy skirt. She looks nice in the outfit, and there was this yellow string at the back of her shirt, I think. Her off-court get-ups are often not so exciting, though. Ana's lovely dress. And the Russian tee-shirt look. Pictures from here .

For a few weeks, we had to watch nothing but Life Made Simple because the boy had taken to watching it, on the recommendation of his friends. I do know that the show is/was popular but I don't see it as one of TVB's brightest moments and I couldn't wait for it to end. A big plus point of the show is that it is quite values-laden: friendship, family ties, loyalty, honesty, etc. The acting is alright, too. As usual, Jessica acts well, as does Lo Yuen Yan, who plays Roger's mum. However, I thought it made light of marriage. First, there is Leila wanting, for a long time, to marry Bosco because he is rich. It is unbelievable that they suddenly love each other and get married at the end. After all, for an almost equally long time, Bosco is not interested in her, he likes Jessica (very much), Leila is awful to most people (including Bosco when his company fails) and betrays Jessica. But she does look good in the wedding segment. The worst part of the show is Jessica marryi...

I really like that trophy. It's beautiful. And I have to give it to the Spanish speakers for their court fashion. Nadal's shirt has these stripes over his left shoulder, matching the stripes on his bandana (not in picture). Nadal in red and yellow in an earlier match. Ferrer in red. Ferrer in white, and still looking good. Ferrero in red. Nalbandian in yellow. Not that I'm into such bright colours. I just think these guys are the ones with the attitude to carry off reds and yellows without looking like parrots. White and muted are still stylish for tennis, after all, though I must say that Federer's light blue shirt looked rather old-fashioned. Finally, these two young upstarts in their Monte Carlo casino feature . Nadal was funny when he was holding his bow tie, saying, 'I don't know how to put this.' Pics from Yahoo!Sports and Monte Carlo Masters