The craze is now Wii for many people. I'm not well-informed on this craze, except knowing that it's a TV game? Just plug the console to the TV and you're ready to play games alone or with friends. Popular ones are Wii sports where you can play sports by holding on to the remote controller. I've never tried it but those who've done so claimed it feels very real.
I'm not a games person. But now I'm toying with the idea of getting one for Japan. Why? Coz I need to lose weight!! No swimming pools nearby my Japan home. Dun like jogging around neighborhood & having to greet every other idiot that passes by. So the best is exercise at home. Without any gym equipment, i guess the best motivation is Wii? There's a Wii-Fit that has aerobics, jogging, yoga & strength training. Sounds good?
However at a cost of min. S$600, I had better think through carefully....
And if the neighboring monkeys don't have the game at home, my home might end up as a playground for them. NIGHTMARE!!!
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Food!!
With 2 days left before my trip to Japan, my cravings for all the sinful local food increases. As Japanese food is boring & I'm unable to cook yummy local fare due to lack of skills & ingredients, friends have joked that I'm on a "3-months fasting trip" to Japan. And each time when I'm back, I'll probably be like "a hungry ghost". Arrghh.....I already feel so homesick now!
I want to eat all of the below before Friday:
1) Wantan Mee (ketchup version)
2) Fried beehoon with fried chicken wings + cabbage + otah with nasi lemak chili
3) Goreng Pisang + Fried greenbean + Fried sweet potato + Fried chempedak
4) Youtiao + butterfly
Hmm.....actually not many items lah. That's because I've satisfied the following cravings over the past 2 weeks:
1) Char Kway Teow
2) Roti Prata
3) Century Egg porridge
4) BBQ Stingray
5) BBQ Chicken wings
6) Satay
7) Rojak
8) Popiah
9) Yam cake
10) Fried fish noodle soup
11) Soya beancurd + soya bean drink
12) Char Siu Bao
13) Egg tarts
14) Tutu
15) Ma lai gao
After listing the above, I start craving for almost all the 15 items again, especially Char Siu Bao. Must be after hearing my friends talk about how expensive it is in Japan (3 standard sized ones for S$10!!), my mind keeps thinking about it. Ate it at RedStar dimsum restaurant yesterday but not yummy leh. Must go buy from crystal jade tdy/tml! *drool*
I want to eat all of the below before Friday:
1) Wantan Mee (ketchup version)
2) Fried beehoon with fried chicken wings + cabbage + otah with nasi lemak chili
3) Goreng Pisang + Fried greenbean + Fried sweet potato + Fried chempedak
4) Youtiao + butterfly
Hmm.....actually not many items lah. That's because I've satisfied the following cravings over the past 2 weeks:
1) Char Kway Teow
2) Roti Prata
3) Century Egg porridge
4) BBQ Stingray
5) BBQ Chicken wings
6) Satay
7) Rojak
8) Popiah
9) Yam cake
10) Fried fish noodle soup
11) Soya beancurd + soya bean drink
12) Char Siu Bao
13) Egg tarts
14) Tutu
15) Ma lai gao
After listing the above, I start craving for almost all the 15 items again, especially Char Siu Bao. Must be after hearing my friends talk about how expensive it is in Japan (3 standard sized ones for S$10!!), my mind keeps thinking about it. Ate it at RedStar dimsum restaurant yesterday but not yummy leh. Must go buy from crystal jade tdy/tml! *drool*
Friday, May 30, 2008
Days of rotting
I've rotted away at home for the past 2 months. At the beginning I would reflect on weekends what I've done for the week to see if I've spent my free time wisely. I believed I spent it rather meaningfully the first few weeks. I went to the library to read & enjoy the air-con, borrowed books to read at home, watched movies, went swimming, posed at cafes with a book & a drink, met up with friends to eat & bitch, played the piano. However after a while, I began to be bored with the above activities.
The hot weather made me lazy to go out, so that meant less trips to the library in the day. And I cut down on swimming so that i won't get ugly swimsuit tan lines & dry skin + dry hair. As makan sessions increase with friends, i cut down on personal cafe posing time. Too much kopi & snacks liao! I still watch movies, but how many movies can you watch when there aren't many nice movies available? The last one I watched was "Made of Honor". Quite a nice romantic comedy but too predictable. Playing the piano? Need to have the mood to play piano leh, which i obviously didn't have! heehee
So after a few weeks of meaningful activities, my days were spent rotting at home. I would wake up at 9am, have my breakfast, read newspapers and go back to sleep at 10am. Wake up by 12pm, watch tv, surf net and prob take an afternoon nap. Or go out walk walk window shop before meeting friends for dinner followed by kopi/supper. With activities like that, it's no wonder that I've piled on almost 2kg in 2 mths!
And now I've a new craze --> watching dramas online! I've always watched dramas online. From Jap to Korean to Taiwanese dramas. But my craze stopped sometime in Feb when I ran out of dramas to watch. Now it's on again! I'm following 3 on-going dramas still showing in Japan/HK.
(1) Absolute Boyfriend / Zettai Kareshi (Japan)
Romantic comedy with eye-candy for the ladies! The male lead is very cute! It's about a robot "made-to-order" according to what the female lead wants in an ideal boyfriend. She treats him like a robot, he truly loves her (coz he's been programmed to!) and her boss falls for her too. Love triangle. Can't wait to watch the end!
(2) Last Friends (Japan)
Another drama about love, but this time it touches on more serious issues like domestic violence & gender-identity crisis. Feels like a sad drama. It was quite interesting initially but it's beginning to feel a little draggy. Superb performances by 2 of the leads, especially the psycho boyfriend who beats up his gf.
(3) Forensic Heroes II (HongKong)
Police drama. A bit like CSI. Starring Frankie Lam, Bobby Au Yeung & my favorite Charmaine Sheh! I enjoyed watching Part I of the series. So really looked forward to Part II. However so far the cases they've solved aren't that exciting. Hope it gets better.
It drives me nuts to chase after on-going dramas. But it's good also otherwise I'd probably just sit in front of my computer the whole day to complete the drama!
Haiz, 1 week left to nuah & rot away in S'pore. After that will be more rotting in a foreign land. Think I'll go crazy at the rate I'm wasting my life away......
The hot weather made me lazy to go out, so that meant less trips to the library in the day. And I cut down on swimming so that i won't get ugly swimsuit tan lines & dry skin + dry hair. As makan sessions increase with friends, i cut down on personal cafe posing time. Too much kopi & snacks liao! I still watch movies, but how many movies can you watch when there aren't many nice movies available? The last one I watched was "Made of Honor". Quite a nice romantic comedy but too predictable. Playing the piano? Need to have the mood to play piano leh, which i obviously didn't have! heehee
So after a few weeks of meaningful activities, my days were spent rotting at home. I would wake up at 9am, have my breakfast, read newspapers and go back to sleep at 10am. Wake up by 12pm, watch tv, surf net and prob take an afternoon nap. Or go out walk walk window shop before meeting friends for dinner followed by kopi/supper. With activities like that, it's no wonder that I've piled on almost 2kg in 2 mths!
And now I've a new craze --> watching dramas online! I've always watched dramas online. From Jap to Korean to Taiwanese dramas. But my craze stopped sometime in Feb when I ran out of dramas to watch. Now it's on again! I'm following 3 on-going dramas still showing in Japan/HK.
(1) Absolute Boyfriend / Zettai Kareshi (Japan)
Romantic comedy with eye-candy for the ladies! The male lead is very cute! It's about a robot "made-to-order" according to what the female lead wants in an ideal boyfriend. She treats him like a robot, he truly loves her (coz he's been programmed to!) and her boss falls for her too. Love triangle. Can't wait to watch the end!
(2) Last Friends (Japan)
Another drama about love, but this time it touches on more serious issues like domestic violence & gender-identity crisis. Feels like a sad drama. It was quite interesting initially but it's beginning to feel a little draggy. Superb performances by 2 of the leads, especially the psycho boyfriend who beats up his gf.
(3) Forensic Heroes II (HongKong)
Police drama. A bit like CSI. Starring Frankie Lam, Bobby Au Yeung & my favorite Charmaine Sheh! I enjoyed watching Part I of the series. So really looked forward to Part II. However so far the cases they've solved aren't that exciting. Hope it gets better.
It drives me nuts to chase after on-going dramas. But it's good also otherwise I'd probably just sit in front of my computer the whole day to complete the drama!
Haiz, 1 week left to nuah & rot away in S'pore. After that will be more rotting in a foreign land. Think I'll go crazy at the rate I'm wasting my life away......
Dermatofibroma
2 weeks ago, after much nagging from my parents, I went to see a doctor regarding a small little growth on my knee. It isn't painful (unless I go and pinch it) nor itchy. Its position is such that when i'm in shorts/berms/short skirts, it's obvious. Some friends thot it's an insect bite. In dim lighting, I've had someone mistaking it for a peanut!
It's been there for more than a year and really, I'm not bothered by it. But my family are concerned that it might turn cancerous. So I finally went to see the doctor on 13/5 who told me it's "Dermatofibroma", a harmless skin growth. I can leave it alone or remove it. I know my parents will ask me to remove it, so I removed it that day under local anesthesia. That marked the start of 2 weeks of "no seafood, no yam & no soy sauce based food". Down with a sore throat & cough, that meant no chicken as well. I had nothing much to eat that 2 weeks, making me very miserable!
3 days ago I went to remove the stitches. Doctor said I'm ok liao. Wound healing well. I hope it wouldn't leave an ugly scar and in 3 weeks' time it'll be completely healed so that i can go hotspring! Meanwhile I'll go eat to my heart's content!
It's been there for more than a year and really, I'm not bothered by it. But my family are concerned that it might turn cancerous. So I finally went to see the doctor on 13/5 who told me it's "Dermatofibroma", a harmless skin growth. I can leave it alone or remove it. I know my parents will ask me to remove it, so I removed it that day under local anesthesia. That marked the start of 2 weeks of "no seafood, no yam & no soy sauce based food". Down with a sore throat & cough, that meant no chicken as well. I had nothing much to eat that 2 weeks, making me very miserable!
3 days ago I went to remove the stitches. Doctor said I'm ok liao. Wound healing well. I hope it wouldn't leave an ugly scar and in 3 weeks' time it'll be completely healed so that i can go hotspring! Meanwhile I'll go eat to my heart's content!
Back to school
My wish to be back at the school teaching finally came true! Even though it was just for 3 days of relief teaching over the last 2 weeks, I was very happy to go back. I met my ex-colleagues & ex-students who were both surprised and happy to see me. I felt a sense of belonging there but know that I can't go back there for good.
I realised relief teaching is quite different from teaching as a permanent teacher coz (1) I don't know the kids & don't have to try hard to know them since that's probably the one & only time I'd see them. (2) I could just let them play games or go through the textbooks briefly coz my boss also doesn't expect much from a relief teacher. They just want someone to sit in class to "take care of the monkeys" for that period. (3) I can scold or ignore them coz I won't be back! hahaha
One other thing I've learnt from this experience is my ability or lack of ability to handle kids with almost zero knowledge of English. The classes I relieved were the C-class, most of whom have little or no basic English background. All the while I've had B-class students with an intermediate grasp of the English language, so it was easy to get my message across by speaking slowly.
This round when it came to kids w/o basic English, I realised speaking slowly doesn't work! It had to be combined with pictures, actions & hoping that someone in that class knows enough to translate correctly. Now I understand why those Jap speaking teachers use Jap to teach English. Coz it's so much more convenient & easier to put a message across! However I still believe that's not beneficial to the kids in the long run. They will end up waiting for translations all the time and will not have the motivation to learn English.
I think I didn't do very well in teaching them (the C-class). Many looked lost. Maybe I spoke too fast. Maybe they didn't understand my intonation or use of words. Haiz....I wonder if I'm able to handle C-class students on that little island.
I realised relief teaching is quite different from teaching as a permanent teacher coz (1) I don't know the kids & don't have to try hard to know them since that's probably the one & only time I'd see them. (2) I could just let them play games or go through the textbooks briefly coz my boss also doesn't expect much from a relief teacher. They just want someone to sit in class to "take care of the monkeys" for that period. (3) I can scold or ignore them coz I won't be back! hahaha
One other thing I've learnt from this experience is my ability or lack of ability to handle kids with almost zero knowledge of English. The classes I relieved were the C-class, most of whom have little or no basic English background. All the while I've had B-class students with an intermediate grasp of the English language, so it was easy to get my message across by speaking slowly.
This round when it came to kids w/o basic English, I realised speaking slowly doesn't work! It had to be combined with pictures, actions & hoping that someone in that class knows enough to translate correctly. Now I understand why those Jap speaking teachers use Jap to teach English. Coz it's so much more convenient & easier to put a message across! However I still believe that's not beneficial to the kids in the long run. They will end up waiting for translations all the time and will not have the motivation to learn English.
I think I didn't do very well in teaching them (the C-class). Many looked lost. Maybe I spoke too fast. Maybe they didn't understand my intonation or use of words. Haiz....I wonder if I'm able to handle C-class students on that little island.
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