I AM OFF.....

I will be checking into the hospital in two hours time. Taking a last sweep of the internet before I get deprived for the next few days.

Little trickles of apprehension are starting to kick in. So many people have commented on my serene state of mind during this period of waiting, or at least the outward manifestation of one, that I appear to have come across as something not quite human. I guess it will be quite a relief to people to know that I suffer from human anxiety like anyone else.

At any rate, I am feeling quite, quite uncomfortable now. There is this worried feeling in the region of my heart, and I cannot seem to sit still and concentrate on anything. I think I will feel a lot better once I am actually checked into the hospital and ensconced on my hospital bed. It is just this dastardly waiting around that irritates me. I have never been good at anything that involves any kind of waiting, or unknowns of any kind.

Ah...time is up. I have to go prepare to shower, pack a little, and then I'm off.

But don't worry....I'll be back. And in a prettier state than the Terminator, one hopes.

STARS AND STRIPES FOREVER!

I always admire creative ideas, because I am so lacking in this area. Look what some unknown bright spark came up with:

A United States themed mahjong set! EP got this novelty set on his recent trip to Kuala Lumpur. Stars and stripes - stars for the dots, stripes for the bamboos. The character tiles are replaced by million USD ($1 M, $2 M etc).

A closer look at the "honour" and "wind direction" tile set:

The three dragon tiles are replaced with colours of the US flag - Red (Red Dragon, or 中), White (White Dragon, or 白板) and Blue (Green Dragon, or 发). The four wind directions are represented by four geographical locations - Canada for North, Mexico for South, New York for East and San Fransisco for West. I am not sure why Canada and Mexico were selected. There seems to be sufficient representative states within US itself to choose from.

The remaining eight tiles, apparently the best and most representative bits of American culture, appear to take the place of the flower tiles.

Isn't it just hilarious?

MY HAIR CUT EXPERIENCE

Some days ago, I went and got my hair cut short. It didn't seem wise to keep my hair long for the upcoming surgery, since I am not sure if I will be in any condition to shower and wash my hair for the first one or two days after surgery (Ewww...).

I had never given up on getting a Katie Holmes bob, even though common sense told me it'll never make me look any more like Katie Holmes, or garner a Tom Cruise lookalike squeeze. But you know what they say about hope - it springs eternal.

I kind of expected hairdressers of established saloons to be at least familiar with the more famous Hollywood personalities. And Katie Holmes' bob had been mentioned so many times in the fashion magazines that it was practically an iconic style all on its own. So I confidently stepped in the saloon and requested for my hairdresser to give it to me a la Katie Holmes.

.....

You know, Katie Holmes? Like, Tom Cruise's current wife?

.....

The hairdresser apparently felt that he needed to bolster his fashionista image somewhat, so he quickly informed me that although he did not know who Katie Holmes was (he made it sound like she was some unimportant two bit actress - which she probably is, but - Tom Cruise's wife!), he could give me Victoria Beckham's bob.

Uh sorry no. I'll take her hubby anyday, but not her hairstyle. They call it a Pob. Trust me, I'll really look like a Pob, and I'm not being complimentary.

Anyway, after scouring about a dozen magazines for a picture of Katie Holmes (and not finding it - I never realised she was so un-newsworthy), we finally settled how my bob should look like by dint of vague descriptions, albeit a lot of them.

Four hours and much intake of chemical fumes later, I took a look at the results. I looked iconic enough alright.

Call me the Egyptian queen. I didn't get Katie Holmes, but I figured Cleopatra was probably a close second. No Tom Cruise, but Marc Antony will do in a pinch.

It was hard to respond to the hairdresser when he asked me if this was what I had wanted. I am not sure if I handed over the 250 bucks quite so enthusiastically either. I did hope that he had been at least spurred to find out what a Katie Holmes bob look like.

It also crossed my mind that if I should end up having chemo (yeah, yeah, touch wood), I might just end up with nothing to show for my 250 bucks. If that happens, I allow you to quote me the hair haiku.

HAIKU DEDICATION

I would like to hijack a haiku composition of the new EU President Mr Herman van Rompuy, and dedicate it to my father. I think it is most appropriate and I think I can never look at my Dad again without thinking about this haiku.

Hair blows in the wind
After years there is still wind
Sadly no more hair

DELIVERIES THAT MAKE ME HAPPY

I received a surprise delivery about ten minutes ago from a good friend. Nothing brightens a day so much as knowing someone is thinking of you.

Thanks AW!


Smiley cupcakes!



Cheery sunflowers!

I am also preparing my entertainment material for my long convalescence. This is but a quarter of my prepared reading material.



And more are on the way! Speaking of deliveries, I discovered OpenTrolley.com while I was searching for other online book sources other than Amazon. The great thing about OpenTrolley is that they are based in Singapore, so delivery in Singapore is dirt cheap. I paid about SGD 5.00 for SingPost delivery to doorstep for about ten paperbacks. The prices of recent releases are also cheaper than places like Borders and Kinokuniya. A typical paperback romance novel which costs me SGD 16 to 18 in bookstores is retailed at SGD 12 to 14. For those without credit cards, they accept local bank transfers too. Delivery time takes about seven to ten days, and my books are delivered in perfect condition. The selection is decent enough, and should be able to satisfy most people, unless you are a voracious back-list stalker like I am.

There is room for improvement, of course. The search engine could use some refinement. And the system is not set up for browsing, since many of the books had no product description and/or reviews. I had to get the feedback from other sources like Amazon, and then place the order with OpenTrolley. I also wish they had sources for used books too. But they are pretty new, so I guess it only remains to give them time and room for further improvement. I am very happy with them at this point, and plan to make the most of their cheap delivery service when I am laid up at home.

In between preparations for the operation, I found time to do quite a bit of reading. I have ditched my romance novels for the time being and delved into classics. Or more accurately, classic romance, for there is something in me that can never get away from romance no matter where I am and what I am doing. So I have been busy with the likes of Jane Austen, E.M Hull, Elinor Glyn, E.M. Dell, Anthony Trollope, Louisa May Alcott, L.M Montgomery, the Bronte sisters etc on the internet. There are many, many sites which provides free reads of these authors. I struggled quite a bit with my conscience regarding intellectual property rights etc, but then I figured that for these authors at least, the public copyrights have already expired (I think).

In particular I have been also re-reading my own Alcott collection. This is one author that always make me cry, no matter how many times I read her books. I was reading "Rose in Bloom" in the hospital waiting room the other day, and was at the exact place where Charlie died. I had a little weep and I received many symphathetic looks; people probably thought I had received extremely dire news. I only wished she had been more prolific with her children/teenage classics. Her adult novels are too gothic and dark, and morbid for me.

This space will be somewhat boring (if it isn't already) in the coming days, as I will probably end up discussing my reading material, since all I will be doing is going through my pile of books. I cannot ask for better pleasure than that, but I guess not everyone will agree.

THE GREAT CHINESE EDUCATION DEBATE - AGAIN

The debate on Chinese language education is on, yet again.


I am not sure how many times the Ministry of Education (MOE) has revised the Chinese language syllabus and teaching methods in the last ten years. But one thing I am sure - I am damn glad I am not a Chinese language teacher.


The traditional teaching methods that have garnered so many criticisms from students and parents are precisely what is used in the teaching of many, many languages other than Chinese. In my opinion, rote memory is required to lay any kind of language foundation. I doubt I learnt my ABCs via osmosis, and SB didn't pick up Japanese just from reading manga comics. I remember those hours spent memorising my tenses - past participles, future tense and what have you.


Parents and students have criticised Chinese lessons in schools as being dry and uninteresting. Then again, I doubt other subjects such as mathematics could be conducted in a more interesting way than the languages. But there do not seem to be any complaints thus far. It seems unfair that parents encourage their children to do additonal supplementary English readings in the form of story books and such, but do not make the same effort for Chinese, even at the most basic levels. They then turn around and complain that the language is dry and uninteresting. If all I had to read were textbooks when I was studying English, I would have thrown a tantrum too.


The conclusion I have drawn so far, is that the entire debate has nothing to do with the teaching of the language. It is all about the mindsets that surround the learning of the language. The effort put into the picking up of any subject needs to be two-way; the teacher must make the effort to teach, and the student must make the effort to learn. All I seem to be seeing from the entire debate, is that parents and students want maximum returns for minimum effort (or no effort at all).


A case in point. The top PSLE student this year is a Chinese girl who could hardly speak English upon her admission to the school. In a few years, she has changed all that. Situational circumstances aside, I understand she has put in incredible effort into the learning of the language. While she has of course been rewarded for her hard work, I think many feel that it should be the case of course. The situation is now reversed in the case of the typical Singaporean English speaking student, who is poor in Chinese. I wonder how much effort has been put into the learning of the language, before the students and parents turn around and point fingers at the teaching institutes? Is the effort even a fraction of what the Chinese girl has done for her English? Are we being fair?


I don't see the point of continuing this debate and driving the poor Chinese teachers insane in the process. I have always been a pro-Choice person and here is my pro-Choice solution. Leave the syllabus and teaching to the people who are trained for them. What the MOE can do is to abolish the compulsory bilingual system for the Chinese in totality. Let the learning of Chinese be voluntary, just like, for example, a third language, or a humanity subject. In this way, those who are willing to put in the effort will reap the benefits, and might even better appreciate the opportunities and the edge it gives them. At the very least, there will be no petty threats of emigration just to avoid the bilingual policy. If the government is worried that there would be a dearth of effectively bilingual citizens eventually, I think the continual ascendency of China and the natural "kiasuism" of Singaporeans would probably even things out in the end.

At any rate, I am glad that whatever the decision, that I am done with my formal education, and I do not have to be the unwilling receipient of all the various syllabus changes being rolled out. I do not know if they make any difference to the quality of students turned out, but I get the feeling that the fresh graduates who show up at my office seems to be equipped with less and less foundation knowledge as the years pass. The only thing they appear to excel in is finding information from the internet. It makes for some entertainment as I think up various ways to ask the question "You mean you never learnt that in school?"

NAMING TRIVIA

I was perusing the reviews of some romance novels that I am interested in purchasing when I came across a reader's short rant on the name of the hero. He/she felt that it was too feminine sounding a name for a romance hero, who, after all, is supposed to be tall, dark, and all that encompasses masculinity, even his name.

It was Jocelyn.

His/her rant reminded me of something I found on the internet recently. It is interesting to note the interesting trivia one comes across on the internet. I had recently read a blog post on a romance writers' blog. The author was lamenting the difficulty that she faced in finding names for her characters. Her fellow writer colleagues were all commiserating, and I was surprised that people actually write fan mails to authors to complain about protaganists' names. One would have thought there were better things to do.

One would be surprised at how much consideration the naming process involved, especially for prolific authors who have written a lot. Apparently, one of the important investments of fiction authors are baby naming books, the more the merrier, and spanning different races and cultures. Personal preferences aside, the name had to be easy to remember, easily spelled and pronouced (no Scandinavian names), suitable for the time period of the novel (no hippie names for regency romances), and of the correct gender.

One would think that the last requirement would be the easiest to fulfil. I mean, it is easy enough to remember not to name a hero Jane or Mary. But apparently, the author who wrote the blog post I was referring to above, named the hero "Artemis" in one of her novels. She changed it to "Artemas", the male equivalent, only after receiving complaining emails from her readers. I was plenty amused at the anecdote.

One of the points she made in post was also the crossing of genders for certain names. Names like Hilary, Evelyn, and the Jocelyn of the above-mentioned fame were solid English male names once upon a time. Then America happened. And after that, we have the very popular "Cameron" as in "Diaz", "Drew" as in "Barrymore" and sundry others. I can see where the bewilderment sets in then, when trying to give the protagonists nice names without resorting to the common and overused.

Back to the rant. I thought it was very nice of the other reviewers not to snub that particular ranter with regards to the issue on the name. Then again, many people probably had the same thoughts but were too polite to mention them. I certainly would have, if I didn't come across the other blog post first.

Note: The blog I was referring to above is "Running with Quills", and the blog post I was referring to is titled "Jayne and a boy named Sue" by Jayne Ann Krentz, who happens to be one of my favourite authors as well. Read the comments as well to get the whole of the discussion, if it pleases ye.