my ajumma notes

A heartening letter in yesterday's (30 October) Forum: 'Hopeless case' now manager in top bank I was delighted to read the Saturday special report, 'No dead end' (ST, Oct 27), on the Institute of Technical Education (ITE). When I was an ITE student, I used to curse and swear when I went to school in the awful ITE uniform, ever conscious that I would be seen as a 'hopeless case'. Today, I am a manager in one of the world's top financial institutions. Apart from all that was written in the papers, I would like to share with readers how ITE gave its students many opportunities to develop their leadership skills and confidence, opportunities not available in secondary school or polytechnic. It developed in students academic and soft skills needed in the working world. ITE had workshops on public speaking that gave me the opportunity to speak and built up my confidence. I also had the chance to be the emcee for some award ceremony when I would probably have b...

Anyone who can beat Federer is a hero of sorts. He has lost only 7 matches this year. It was such a change to see him the one scrambling, looking worried, committing forced and unforced errors, etc. Congratulations to Nalbandian on doing a Djokovic , i.e., beating the world numbers 1, 2 and 3 in the same tournament. The poor guy has been on the downward curve for such a long time. About 2 years, if I'm not wrong. And I must admit that I had practically written him off. I can just imagine Roddick and Hewitt now scratching their heads and wondering how these 2 guys managed to beat Federer. Well, hopefully this livens up the party somewhat. Federer, Nadal, Federer, Nadal... that was getting really boring. Anyway, over all these years, I've had the impression that Nalbandian was on the bulky, hulking side. It was only last week that I realised he is actually one of the smaller players. He looked half of Federer's size, which makes him maybe one-third Nadal's size, and he i...

I did something unprecedented last weekend. I watched the Shanghai Formula One race. Like any other kaypoh, I'm intrigued by scandals of all types. The whole year I've been seeing news about Alonso and Hamilton so since I happened to turn the TV on sometime during the live telecast of the race, I decided to see if Hamilton would indeed turn out to be world champion. As it turned out, that was about the time Hamilton and his car ended up in the gravel . So... there's the next race next weekend somewhere in Brazil. Don't know if I'll watch it. Watching Formula One is potentially heart attack-inducing. And anyway, watching fast cars going round 56 laps isn't really my kind of thing. Arguably, though, the biggest news in sports recently must be the Marion Jones business . What can I say? Basically, I'm suspicious of anybody and everybody, athlete or official. Also this week, Andy Murray is the latest guy who talks about tennis match-fixing , plus, a Chinese ch...

Initially, I didn't want to comment on the now infamous PSLE Math paper because I didn't want to be a broken record. However, there is this letter by a P6 student in TODAY, which I think is worth saying a thing or two about. The letter I mean is the second one, which starts in the third column with, 'This year's paper has indeed caused much anguish.' Don't know why they like to merge the letters in the on-line version. This Lee Zhicong, whom I will refer to as a 'he' because the name sounds male (apologies if Lee Zhicong is actually a girl), has written the only 'positive' letter I've seen about the paper. I congratulate him for his optimistic attitude towards challenge. He actually sounds happy that the paper was tough! My guess is that he is a gifted child and has already secured a place in a choice secondary school through DSA. If my guess is wrong, based on his letter, I think we can assume he will do well in all his PSLE papers anyway an...

It's surreal to watch, on one hand, what is going on in Myanmar, and, on the other hand, to read about the dainty tip-toeing of ASEAN with regard to the issue. Hello, the people there need help!! I agree with all the people who have said that ASEAN is the best bet for Myanmar at this point. Could this be ASEAN's biggest challenge in its 40 years of existence? Will it rise to the occasion and do something significant? In the meantime, there is much action on the ground level, with Myanmar nationals and locals taking to the streets in KL , Jakarta, Bangkok and Manila, and even all the way over in Seoul and Canberra. Ah... no need to say which city has been left out... You know, people like to say things like 'If there is an issue people (us) feel passionately about, there are other ways to highlight their cause rather than hitting the streets in protest' . (Full letter here ) So, I'd like to ask now, what exactly are people doing to 'highlight their cause'? ...

I just read this on the Asiaone website, 'Poor eyesight an indication of poor health' . (not sure if the link works after today) The findings, as reported in the article: 'Reflecting a trend in Australia, Britain and the United States, a new study among Chinese in Singapore's Tanjong Pagar district has shown that those with poor vision are about three times more likely to die than those with good eyesight.' Doesn't it sound weird that one group is 'three times more likely to die' than another group? I mean, ALL of us WILL die, right? Ah well... Anyway, I'm interested to know what they actually mean by people with 'poor vision'. Are they referring to short-sighted people? In other words, the majority of Singaporeans? Or do they mean those who are long-sighted? Or those who are both short- and long-sighted? Or are they the ones with cataracts? Or other eye issues? Guess people with good eyesight will now have to pay even more attention to ma...

I must congratulate myself on finishing 4 books in about 2 months. And not all chick lit some more, ha ha. It is quite a record for me, and it was partly due to spending endless hours in bed for 2-3 days due to a strange ailment. For some odd reason, it turned out that 3 of the books happened to feature 'boys'. More about them later. I'll start with the lady. Fat Chance by Deborah Blumenthal (chick lit for sure) Bought this on the recommendation of a fitness magazine. About a newspaper columnist who enjoys a great following because she is anti-thin, i.e. argues against dieting, slimming down, etc. However, she is asked to be a consultant to a handsome actor for his nip-tuck kind of movie and secretly goes on diet + exercises to lose weight before they meet, hence 'betraying' her cause. Predictable storyline. Lovely cover. Regret buying. I did not purposely look for a 'bad' review but I googled the title and this came up. Just In Case by Meg Rosoff About 1...

It must be some cruel coincidence that had this piece of news 'Low-IQ robber escapes jail, thanks to teachers' out on the same day (today's ST) as the reports about the review of the penal code. Certainly, it is good news that the robber in question has been spared the jail term and 24 strokes of the cane and, instead, will undergo 'reformative training'. However, the circumstances under which this came about are unsatisfactory. The reported started: 'Convicted robber EM has two of his former teachers to thank for getting him out of a long jail term and 24 lashes of the cane.' What if his teachers hadn't found out about his case? EM has an IQ of 66 (average person's IQ is 90-100) and he was convicted of robbery and hitting a policeman. It stated that the district judge 'had not been aware' of his low IQ. How could that happen? The DPP had pointed out that he was 'no drooling idiot' (a phrase I find pretty offensive), had committed ...

My mum was at my brother's place with my nephew, niece and their Filipino maid earlier this week on one of the days when tremors were felt in Singapore. Aunty X (kept anonymous to protect the innocent) was the first to react. She knew straightaway that her sudden dizziness had something to do with an earthquake. My mum was more interested in looking at how much the table and other stuff would shake and move but Aunty X said 'Must run!' My mum said, 'No need, lah, nothing will happen,' and Aunty X then recounted some horrific tale of how the ground split and people fell in the holes, etc. She grabbed my niece and they all went down the stairs from the 13th floor. My poor terrified niece kept telling my mum to run faster, and my mum kept telling her not to worry and that she would see her downstairs. After all, a grandma surely can't run as fast as the 2 kids and Aunty. Actually, the tremors had already stopped by then and when the all-clear was given later and th...

Belated thoughts on this year's US Open. (Warning: the links are to the US Open website which sometimes takes VERY long to load) EXITS Tim Henman This will be his last Grand Slam. He's supposed to play in the Davis Cup but his wife is also due to deliver (their 3rd child, I think) around that time... He is one guy who probably single-handedly gives many Brits high blood pressure every year at the Wimbeldon because they have such high hopes for him and he never did really well in it. Nevertheless, he is one rare gentleman who still plays the gentleman's game like a gentleman. His wit and self-depracating (also rare) humour will be missed, too. He was asked 'What's the best you ever played?' and said, 'I think the best overall is Paris, the Masters Series, when I won. I think for the consistent level of tennis. You know, Basel I played some I remember one year only dropping my serve once the whole week, making Roger cry in the final. That was pretty special (s...

Continuing with the theme, while translations are often hilarious, sometimes, they are not funny at all. When people who transfer words across cultures lose not just the meanings but also the nuances and other underlying associations of those words, the end result can be horrible. Some examples: I heard this Japanese pop song which went 'Merry Christmas, blah, blah, blah...' and in the background was, distinctly, the tune of 'Abide With Me' , more commonly heard during Lent and at funerals. The show with Joo Ji-hoon, which I mentioned in the last post, is called Mawang , or 'Devil King'. Its other English title is 'Lucifer'. I'm not sure if the people producing the show really understand the implications of the title. Anyhow, his character isn't actually one of those evil to the core types. He's psychologically troubled because he never got over his brother's untimely death and the fact that the killer got away with it because of his con...

Apparently, that 'English as it is broken' book has been topping the charts at our local bookstores. Actually, I'm not too interested in that book but this other one may be worth getting my hands on. The article about it, as published in Saturday's (1 Sept) ST: In the world of international diplomacy, the best-chosen words or phrases can leave an audience laughing, bewildered or simply lost in translation, an insider has revealed. Undiplomatic Activities, a yet-to-be-launched book by Mr Richard Woolcott, who ran Australia's foreign service for four years, points to the pitfalls of translating thoughts into different languages. Take the Australian diplomat in France who tried to tell his audience that as he looked back on his career, it was divided in two parts, with dull postings before life in Paris. 'When I look at my backside, I find it is divided into two parts,' Mr Woolcott quoted the diplomat as telling his highly amused audience. Ex-Australian prime m...

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. William Butler Yeats Happy Teachers' Day, teachers!

Topic: The Japanese Occupation of Singapore Letter 1 (excerpts): Being half-Japanese and half-Singaporean, my sons are no exceptions (children of Japanese ancestry being apprehensive about participating in National Day celebrations in Singapore schools) . They confessed to me that some pupils had hurled offensive words at them during such events. I feel one of the main reasons for this is a lack of sensitivity among teachers. When my older son was in Primary 5, his Chinese teacher told the class that Japanese were bad and stupid to attack the US during World War II. This teacher later told us that he had made such a remark because he did not realise that he had a half-Japanese pupil in his class. Letter 2 (excerpts): I can understand her frustration and anger in learning that her child was inadvertently discriminated against by the school teacher. However, I believe this was an isolated case. In our multi-ethnic society, whether in school or in the working place, foreigners, includin...

(belated comments on that song) The loveliness of Paris seems somehow sadly gay, The glory that was Rome is just another day, I've been terribly alone and forgotten in Manhattan, I'm going home to my city by the bay. I left my heart in San Francisco... This is what came to mind the first time I heard/saw There's No Place I'd Rather Be , this year's National Day song. I'm really not into locally 'created' works which copy other styles, storylines, etc. Granted, 'copying' and suiting the 'new' work into a different situation require some skill, too, but, well, let's just say some people have better skills than others. For example, I like I Still Call Australia Home , which has been cited as a 'similar' kind of song. So, anyway, this poor song was fiercely lambasted by someone in last Saturday's ST. This guy wrote that the earlier debate about whether the song should have the word 'Singapore' totally missed the point,...

Also in last week's Sunday Times, two scary articles: 'Too Thin Teens' and 'Hey! Big Spender' . Too Thin Teens Not surprisingly, the number of teens with anorexia nervosa has risen. Boys were not mentioned much in the article but I understand that there are now also more boys with this condition. Peer pressure seems to be really overwhelming these days. One of the girls talked about how everyone else was so thin and how thin girls were popular. In fact, the classmates competed to see who would be the thinnest of all. Doctors are also concerned because more girls see having anorexia as 'hip'. How and when did life in a girls' school become this way? Even while in hospital for treatment, the girls resist recovery, outdoing one another in not putting any weight back on, hiding or getting rid of the food they are supposed to eat, exercising secretly in the toilet, etc. Hey! Big Spender According to this article, teenage girls are spending 'hundreds of ...

Yesterday's Sunday Times reported the results of a street poll (again, nobody asked me) about the 'qualities that make a true-blue Singaporean' (in order of popularity): 1. Singlish 2. food 3. kiasuism 4. dunno wat - they never say one 5. griping and whining (said a respondent, 'I can find something to complain about, no matter where I am or what I am doing.' Ha ha, could have been me...) Anyway, the writers of the article described Singlish as 'the tortured product of Singaporeans' grapppling with English'. Wah, why they say until like dat? Every language oso got some people speak better, some people speak worse, what.

Several pages about Singaporeans and friends in today's ST. Hmm... I thought 'friendly' and 'having friends' (though related) mean different things... And what's so surprising about people ranking family and friends above the 5 Cs? Shouldn't this be the case, not just in Singapore but anywhere in the world? Hmm... Okay, okay, this is not a day to complain or nitpick. What I shall say, in line with the 'friends' theme, is that I'm grateful to live here in an era when it is not weird or wishful to expect your teacher, spouse, parent, boss, senior colleague, junior colleague, or even your in-laws, whatever their ethnicity, creed or nationality, to be your friend as well.

Warning: Spoilers ahead! A show with elements of all three of the above? Yup. With a stupendous stroke of creativity, someone has come up with this superb (so far) serial. Scandal in Old Seoul (a.k.a. Capital Scandal ) is set in the 1930s, during the Japanese Occupation of Korea. The romance and humour do not trivialise or detract from the fight for independence. Well, not for me, anyway. There are also other underlying social themes such as modernisation/westernisation versus tradition, wealth versus poverty, decadence versus purpose in life, men versus women, etc. The action is exciting from Episode 1, and there's not really been a boring moment for me so far. This is quite unlike all other K shows I've watched, which take a while before the action really begins. Even Sam Soon , I'll have to say, took about 2-3 episodes to warm up, and some others, well, only warmed up towards the end! I'm glued to this one! And I've not even talked about the music and wardrobe y...

Reading, as most of us can prove, is an excellent cure for idleness. In Pride and Prejudice , Mr Darcy says, 'All this ('accomplishments' a lady should have) she must possess... and to all this she must add yet something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading.' There are so many books of all kinds being published these days that even if you were not idle and finished reading all the books you wanted to, you still wouldn't be short of new books to read. Another recent visit to Page One yielded more... er... fascinating titles . Here are some: 1001 Books to Read Before You Die I thought that was really funny. Wouldn't you rather shelve this book and use the time to read another one instead? Maybe one of the 1001 recommended books? How to Be a Famous Writer Before You're Dead What's with the death theme? Pilates for Dogs What can I say? And finally... How to Be Idle No joke. I really saw this book. 'Mark, if you ask me ...