Did quite a lot of stuff over the past 2 days. let's start with yesterday...

woke up at 5:45am for driving. surprisingly, it wasn't as bad as i'd thought it might be. residual effects of army i guess. drove to the circuit, where it began to rain. what timing! didn't learn anything new this time round due to the weather (since switching places for demonstrations in the open wasn't really a good idea), but practised doing the stuff which was taught before. i need to stop being afraid of the car stalling when travelling at low speeds. must remember that high speeds in the circuit = bad for my health (and chances of passing on first attempt). all in all, not too bad for only the second circuit visit, but could have been better. need more confidence!

seeing as the lesson ended at 8:30am, i went down to OCC to watch the A-division bowling competition. met a few juniors (around 7 of them) who are now in various JCs. 3 of them are team captains of their schools! was nice to see them, even though we didn't really talk much except for the generic catch-uppy type of questions and statements, eg. "how's school? coping ok?", "wow, time sure flies...", "what's new since the last time we met?"...you know, the usual stuff. tried to get my coaching instinct to kick in, but with limited success. oh well. was entertaining to watch some of the bowlers and try to analyze their shots. not sure how many of my analyses/conclusions were accurate, but it shouldn't affect anyone even if i was wrong, since i kept everything to myself.

finally got bored at around 1:30pm, then decided to go down to queensway to pick up my new shoes, as they finally had stock in my size. the shoes fit great, and look formal enough for most occasions, so i'm satisfied. blew a gaping hole in my wallet though...not so happy about that. what to do? it's the price of comfort. should start wearing them out soon.

received a call to meet a friend for dinner just as i finished up at queensway. went to centrepoint to do a little more shopping (my poor wallet!) and had dinner at a japanese place specializing in grilled stuff. as far as japanese food goes, it wasn't THAT bad. but like my driving experience, it could be better. fortunately, there wasn't anything to really kick up a fuss about.

coaching was off, so today started at about 12:00pm for me. had to sleep in to counteract the effect of waking up too early the previous day. met up with friends to watch wolverine at vivocity. prior to this, i don't think i've watched a movie on its opening day in...years, if ever. the movie itself was pretty good, with cool and exciting fight choreography. i was not too happy with the way they did some of the plot elements/events and characters' origins/powers, but that's what artistic license is for. despite that, i generally liked it, though i'll probably have to watch it a second time to catch some of the finer plot points and details (not to mention the action sequences!). overall rating: 7.5/10.

had dinner at shin kushiya after that. was way better than the previous day's place. that's 3 japanese dinners in as many days! not that i'm sian of it (i don't think i can ever be tired of japanese food), but it's not good for health. of course, there's the cost factor too. arrgh. must exercise moderation. i think i've fallen short of my savings target for this month already.

tomorrow's one of those days where i don't have anything important/urgent planned at all. probably going to spend the day relaxing. if weather permits, i might go for a swim. that's been something i've been wanting to do for quite a while now. figure it might help me relax and provide non-impact exercise for the knee. about time i went anyway. haven't been swimming for...close to a year now. might as well take this opportunity to see how the bishan pool's changed.

-random thought of the day: I don't feel sleepy yet!-

Came back from my dad's birthday celebration dinner not too long ago. kind of hard to believe he's 50 this year. for some reason, it's difficult to think of your parents as "old". or maybe it's because my parents do a really good job of looking young...i don't know. went to akira japanese restaurant at the link hotel for the dinner. was pretty decent, both in food quality and price-wise. all in all, it was interesting, considering that we rarely eat out at this kind of place.

anyways, i finished marking the test which my student sat for, and i'm pretty displeased with the results. 31/70, and that's inclusive of the bonus marks. the test was set to be challenging and tedious, but at least passable if studied for. i guess you know what this means, then. well, he knows the result, and how i feel about them, so he should be prepared for the bomb to drop during the next session. hopefully he does better in the retest. *reminder to self: go through exam skills with him as well.*

tomorrow's going to be a pretty taxing day. driving from 6:30am to 8:30am (no choice...for the sake of less crowded circuits), going down to queensway to pick up my shoes, and possibly having a dinner appointment later in the evening. better turn in a little earlier tonight to make sure i don't cause any accidents while driving tomorrow.

-random thought of the day: Less than 100 days before university starts!-

True to expectation, the chem tutor friend i met up with yesterday gave the exact comments about my test paper that i predicted he would. he also said that i was a bad person for setting the paper. looks like i've identified the source of my recent bad karma. well, if the kid gets an A for his upcoming mid-years and next year's o-levels, it'll be worth it. now, let's predict his score for my test. i'll be very happy if he gets 60 and above out of 70, but somehow, the number "45" comes to my mind. i hope that's not an ominous sign.

went for training at the expense of mahjong today. on the best days, it's actually a pretty tough choice to make. at worst, it's a downright nightmare...especially when there are 3 others pressuring you. still, i think i made the right decision to pass over mahjong this time round. for some reason, a lot of seniors showed up today, including the team captain when i was in J1. quite stunning, considering i haven't seen her since she graduated (except for the sporadic visit or two when i was in J2). nice that she remembers me. in addition to her, there were seniors whom i've not seen for even longer periods of time. must have been some amazing coincidence that they all came back today.

so...training was training. did the usual stuff, got a few abrasions mainly around the neck area, and managed to screw my knee up a bit again. nothing serious, but i really really want it to get better soon. will probably have to stop by the chinese physician soon if there's no significant improvement. today's training also made me realize how much i've deteriorated since army days. need to do more to keep fit. running's a bit out of the question now due to the knee and all, so i'll have to switch (temporarily, at least) to something that's lower-impact, like swimming. better get started on it soon, while the motivation levels are high.

managed to catch a ride from one of my friends after training ended, and as a result, i got home in time to watch libera on TV. for those who don't know, they're an all-boys performing choir. the members' ages range from 8 to 14 i think. below are 2 of their videos which i personally like:

so, what did you think? my recent music preference has been leaning to this kind of songs, so that's not all bad i guess. at least it's not death metal or anything creepy like that.

i think i have too much free time on-hand. it's making me think bad thoughts (especially when i'm travelling between destinations/appointments) and generally causing my life to be less happy than it could actually be. arrgh. have to kick that habit. very bad for my health.

latest news...my tuition kid lost the homework i gave him. i am, of course, not amused. in fact, that piece of news spoiled my saturday. oh well. not the first time he's lost something i gave him. there's a thin line between carelessness and irresponsibility, and i am of the opinion that he just crossed it. so now, question is: am i going to be bo-chup and totally forget about it (it's his loss, since he doesn't get to practise), or should i be welfare and print another copy for him? decisions, decisions. we'll see how i feel tomorrow.

meanwhile, i think i'll log off soon for a good night's sleep. maybe that will get rid of today's aches, and improve my mood in time for tomorrow.

-random thought of the day: It's amazing what you can find out if you really bother to look.-

It's getting late, but i figured i was due for an update. besides, it's not going to take me 75 minutes to write about 3 days, is it?

tuesday was spent with myself. wanted to go to the library to write out the answer scheme to my test (and borrow a few books while i was there), but i underestimated the crowd. since when did the library become such a popular hangout!?? it sure as hell wasn't this bad in my schooldays. times have changed, i guess. in the end, i went to popular to restock my supply of pens and pencils (all of which have mysteriously disappeared in the course of my 2 years in NS), then to a void deck study corner to write the thing out. i got it done in around an hour, so i'm estimating a 90-minute time limit for the test. got a haircut (or rather a hair-thin and trim) after that too. my head feels lighter, and more importantly, cooler! more of temperature-cool, as opposed to fashion-cool, though i suppose both might apply.

had driving and coaching yesterday. normally, i wouldn't expect to have a pleasant time when those two events happen in the same day, but something in the air made it pretty tolerable. "enjoyable" would be stretching the truth a little thin. learnt to relax my hands more when driving, though there's still LOTS of room for improvement. coaching went pretty well too. scary thing is that the kids were observant enough to notice i cut my hair, even after not seeing me for close to a week. moved on to the one-step drill, and as expected, they had some difficulty with it. most likely reason is that they're not used to the sliding yet. i was pretty impressed with a few of the kids, because they managed to pick it up relatively quickly. the others...not so much. but i can't blame them either. these things take time. best part is, they were better-behaved than last week! might have been because i grouped them up this time, instead of letting them stick with their friends. should continue that practice. even then, they're still not up to standard in the behaviour department. way too noisy when they're gathered for instructions. what's the secret to get 9 year-old kids to keep still, shut up and listen to you?

ran a few errands today, including banking in a cheque and making some purchases. turns out my calculator's totally fried, and i don't know why either. probably due to lack of usage or something. whatever the cause, i'm sure it wasn't due to flat batteries, like i originally suspected. it's still unresponsive even after a battery change. so, more shopping tomorrow i guess.

speaking of tomorrow, i'm supposed to meet one of my army friends (who's also a chem tutor) to get his opinion of my test paper. my prediction - he'll say it's too tough, too long, or both! let's see how accurate that turns out to be.

ok...it's getting late, and mosquitoes are starting to bug me (pun unintended) by intermittently landing and taking off on/from my legs. they probably can't get a good grip or a nice landing spot, thanks to all the hair there. heh. who says hairless is always good? anyways, i'm not going to stick around to test that theory. heading off to bed...as soon as i'm done with this last youtube video.

-random thought of the day: Need to organize my computer table.-

A nice warm shower has helped to put me in a blogging mood. so, here we go.

the weather has been kind of horrible as of late. as anyone who's lived in singapore for any amount of time will tell you, it's not the heat, but the humidity that kills. it's been extra humid for the past few days, to the extent where even walking short distances will leave huge perspiration marks on your clothes. a good word to describe it would be "muggy". my fan's been cranked up to a higher power setting for the past 2 nights, but it doesn't really seem to help. on the bright side, i felt some wind while walking to the bus stop after training just now, so i'm hoping that's a sign that the worst of it is over.

so far, my isolationism is proving to be rather successful. i feel less crabby, at any rate. should be back in full form by wednesday, just in time for coaching. which reminds me...i have to cut my hair tomorrow. the recent humidity wave has more or less convinced me that too-long/thick hair isn't really that desirable (in singapore, at least). probably will keep the length, but will thin the rest of it out. that's the closest to a win-win situation that i can come up with.

been doing some more reading recently. finished up a few comics, and more importantly, 2 books by mitch albom: the five people you meet in heaven, and for one more day. while i do think they're well-written, with pretty relevant themes, i wouldn't really give them as much acclaim as the reviews which i've read. not at the moment, anyway. maybe that stand will change after i've read tuesdays with morrie, which i intend to borrow in the very near future.

my music preference has been leaning towards musicals as of late. stuff like we will rock you, mamma mia, etc. i don't know for sure, but it could possibly be due to watching the susan boyle video a couple of times. i don't know whether i should be worried by the fact that i'm not very up to date with music trends. problem is, i can't really be bothered to update myself on the latest songs and stuff. i do know the more popular ones, but that's not saying much. well, it's not causing any visible problems, so i shouldn't worry about it (yet).

the rest of my week is more or less set up already. driving, coaching and a dinner appointment on wednesday, plus a library trip, queensway trip, possible swimming outing, coming up with the answer scheme to my killer chem test, and some other random stuff which i'm free to move about across tuesday, thursday and friday. doesn't seem like much, but what do you expect? i'm still taking it easy for now, while i still can.

-random thought of the day: Going to try and sleep earlier!-

Once again, the past few days have strengthened my belief in a theory i came up with some time ago - not blogging for a while makes me moody. there's no scientific proof or anything, but my suspicion is that the moodiness is caused by all the stuff that's bottled up inside. well, now that i'm blogging, i hope my mood will improve.

nothing much has happened over the past few days. coaching as usual on wednesday. the kids were a little better-behaved (i heard that the teacher yelled at them about their conduct while they were in school), but there's still room for improvement. at least the urge to shake some of them up wasn't that strong this time round. even then, it's time to step up the discipline a little. going to run my side a little more regimentally, like not giving them the freedom to form their own groups, enforcing better behaviour, amongst other things.

i seriously need some solitude. the past few days have been rather intensive on human interaction, and it's getting boring? tiresome? sian? old? annoying? probably a little bit of all those. can't find the exact word i'm looking for to describe it. how am i going to survive university life like that? think i'll retreat into my shell for the next few days (aside from tuition and training - the latter depending on knee condition) to find my equilibrium point again. hopefully everything balances out soon.

tuition tomorrow! as you can see from the exclamation mark, the enthusiasm's still there. just had to double-check and reassure myself on that. looks like i'm good to go. going to try a new route, which involves taking a train to yishun and a bus all the way after that. if all goes well, the travelling time should be around the same, or worst case, lengthened by 10 to 20 minutes.

somehow, i don't really feel like blogging now. even youtube isn't cooperating to help lighten my mood. damn videos are loading too slowly. guess i'll hang around a bit more, then go shower up and call it an early night for a change. have to repay the sleep debt which i've accumulated over the past 2 days.

-random thought of the day: My 'L' key is behaving weirdly.-

For some odd reason, i seem to be more susceptible to bad moods lately. that's not good, especially when i have to face around 18 primary 3 kids tomorrow (or rather, later today). but, let's not worry about the future yet. instead, let's talk about the recent past..."recent" as in "4 hours ago" kind of recent.

right now, you'll most likely be asking, "what happened 4 hours ago?" the answer: driving. each successive lesson is making me think hard about my choice of instructor. at this point, allow me to clarify something - i stand by what i have said before, that he is nice, patient and understanding. but his teaching methods are a little...concern-worthy. it's rather alarming to have someone grabbing your steering wheel while you're driving. human nature is to resist these kind of outside influences, which is probably one of the reasons why my hands are stiff/tense on the wheel. still, it's most likely for safety reasons, since someone with his level of experience wouldn't be making his students panic for fun.

actually, the above point just made me think of something. sometimes, you have to make the mistake before you REALLY learn. i'm just thinking of asking him to keep his hands off the wheel, and let me crash the car get into a minor scrape. maybe one such sharp shock will help me to learn faster. only thing is, car repairs are expensive, so it's probably in my (and my wallet's) best interest that he does this. oh well. long story short: this little inconvenience is something i'll have to adapt to, given a few more weeks of exposure. just need to change my mindset.

the other, more serious thing about my instructor is that he has the unfortunate habit of nodding off when i'm driving. this means either of 2 things - that he has a great deal of trust in me, or that he's overworked. no prizes for guessing which is the more likely reason of the two! it's quite worrisome when that happens. luckily, he snaps awake when something is about to go amiss (i think he can tell from the car's motion). so far, no accidents have occurred yet, and i don't want to break that streak. i should consider telling him to arrange lessons when he doesn't feel that tired. only thing is, it's happened both in the morning and at night, so i really don't know when to arrange for lessons. well, i'll let him know about my concerns if it happens again.

glad i got that whole chunk of text out of my system. doing that actually made me feel better! now that i'm in a less emotional state of mind, i can blog objectively about the lesson. it was 2 firsts in one...first time in the test circuit, and first night-driving experience. understandable if i was a little fazed, yes? went through everything with no major mishap, except for a near-miss incident at a traffic junction and annoyance at having to wrestle for control of the steering wheel. we also missed a turn while driving along one of the test routes (since my instructor's 6th sense didn't wake him up on time to prompt me), but no issue, since i got to drive a little further, and eventually made it back to recognizable terrain. still have to improve on the hand relaxation and clutch control.

oh. i finished reading little women and its sequel, little men. ok, so i finished them a while ago, but forgot to blog about it. that's another book off the BBC list! anyways, its portrayal of life is way simpler that what you typically see in present times. then again, the book was set about 120 years ago. they didn't have MSN or facebook then, that's for sure. people amused themselves in different ways. part of me wants to try it for say...a week or two, but knowing myself, i'd last around 2 to 3 days (4 maximum) before i got bored and wanted all my technology back. despite that fact, i'm still tempted to give it a try. maybe i will, in the near future.

my goodness. it's around 1:50am already!? better be off to bed...have to be up on time for coaching tomorrow.

-random thought of the day: Need sleep!-

Unforeseen circumstances have caused me to be excluded from tomorrow's bowling introduction thing at the sports school. while i'm mostly relieved about this last-minute change, a little part of me wishes that i could have gone ahead with the lesson, to prove to myself (and my superiors) that i'm capable of performing under fire. kind of sad to lose the extra income from that session too. still, it's a HUGE load off my shoulders, so i won't complain.

this whole incident is best summed up by the title of one of shakespeare's works - much ado about nothing. i can't believe it got me so worried! nevertheless, planning for the session has taught me some useful lessons/skills, and helped me to do some serious R&R (reflection and repentance). so...it wasn't a complete waste of time. besides, the lesson plan i drafted can be used for similar classes which (heaven forbid) i may have to conduct in future.

yesterday was holy saturday, which i conveniently forgot about. luckily i went to check with a junior, who told me training was cancelled. so, that freed me up for mahjong. lost big-time over 2 days (we played on good friday too). after some calculation, the net loss was determined to be $43, with an additional $20 lost to transport costs. that means i effectively gave tuition for free this week! sian. i'm guessing that the reason for my loss was because i've been out of practice. that, and luck probably wasn't on my side. well, what goes around comes around...it'll come back to me eventually.

since i don't have to report to the sports school tomorrow, i'm cleared to go for judo training! probably a good idea, considering i need to exercise. going to take it light and easy though...there's still some tightness in the knee. with any luck, i'll get it stretched out tomorrow. but meanwhile, i'm off to sleep. going to try and readjust my biological clock to more human-like hours.

-random thought of the day: Does anyone want to contribute questions for my student's test?-

Here's some food for thought...what's worse than something weighing heavily on your mind? the answer: an unidentified something weighing heavily on your mind. my mental baggage from last night hasn't cleared up yet, possibly due to insufficient sleep-time for it to fully process. i'm betting that that was the likely cause of my poor performance for driving today. simply put, today was an off-day for driving. the entire lesson just didn't flow well, with the car being way more jerky than usual. felt like yelling at myself, my instructor, and the idiots who screw up on the road (counting myself, again, amongst their number too) a few times, but managed to restrain myself. after all, that wouldn't have done anyone any good. conversely, it might have even soured relations. stalled the car once, which is something i haven't done in around a month. in my defence, i did it on a slope, so that's slightly more forgivable. well, lesson learnt - i shouldn't drive when i'm irritable and/or fatigued. bad things are more likely to happen in those cases. strangely, despite the tiredness, my hands were still too tense...

as if that wasn't enough, my boss dropped a huge-ass bombshell on me after the sub-par driving lesson. next week, the sports school will play host to a group of foreign kids, and we're supposed to give them a little introduction to bowling. sounds easy enough...but here's the catch. he'll be away in china for family stuff, which leaves me to solo the session. happy happy joy joy. as of now, i've drafted a general lesson plan for the class, but i still have no idea how many kids to expect, their age range, whether they have prior bowling experience or not, or even what country they're from! if all goes well, i'll get all that information (and hopefully more) by tomorrow, leaving time for me to fine-tune the lesson plan a little.

while planning for the lesson and clarifying some do's and don'ts, i realized (with some third-party assistance) that my thought patterns are extremely self-failing, as compared to pre-army times. at present, i tend to think in negatives (eg. don't walk too fast, don't power your swing, don't tense up) instead of focusing on neutrals/positives (compare the above examples with: slow down, cut down on muscle, relax). it's the pink elephant effect. if i say, "whatever you do, don't think of a pink elephant!"...what instantly comes to mind? likewise, if i tell the kids not to do something, chances are they will do it, instead of doing the correct thing that they were supposed to do. have to remember that...it's a valuable lesson!

similarly, i should also focus on positive outcomes, instead of the worst-case scenario. by doing the latter, i'm smashing my own hard-earned confidence to bits, and submerging the pieces in a sea of doubt. it's sadly, once again thanks to army. in army, you have to make all sorts of contingency plans for potential screw-ups (eg. what if the land rover doesn't show up on time? what if the driver doesn't know the way? what if the exercise takes longer than expected? what if we brought insufficient stores outfield?). it's good to have back-up plans in place (especially in army, which has a very strong ass-covering culture), but if that's done excessively, energy is wasted in solving problems that may not actually exist (some may not even have the potential to exist in the first place)! therefore, what i'm going to do is get as much information as possible, modify my plan accordingly, and deal with unexpected problems as they come up...thinking on my feet, so to speak. sure, it sounds easy now, but we all know better, right?

well, at any rate, it won't be the end of the world even if i mess up (which should not happen if i stick to my plan). or at least, i don't think it will be - unless the offended country decides to declare war or something equally drastic, that is. then again, what are the odds of that happening? SO...i'm just going in to execute my plan, react appropriately to any unforeseen circumstances/twists, not to mention maintain my cool and professionalism. above all, i'll make sure they learn something and leave them with a good impression. ambitious, but do-able.

still, all that's in the future. right now, i'm in need of either (1) a hug, or (2) lots of sleep. getting both of them would be a nice bonus. unfortunately, it probably won't be easy to get either of them at all, seeing as nobody's within physical-contact range, and i have to be up at 9am tomorrow for a mahjong appointment. oh well. i'll just put it on my tab...along with the other 300 million things which i supposedly owe myself.

-random thought of the day: Why hasn't the tuition centre replied!!??-

Quiz-mania has been going around on facebook for the past few weeks. if i were to take the "how would you die?" quiz, the returned result would definitely be "by primary 3 kids". that's just a roundabout way of saying that sooner or later, these kids are going to dive me to an early grave. each successive training session has exponentially increased my respect for primary school teachers - or indeed, any person who takes care of kids aged 10 and below on a daily/regular basis.

today's training session was a bit too chaotic. still need to work on my crowd control skills. i wish it was as easy as grabbing one of them by the neck and shaking him/her (well, it's mainly the guys...girls tend to be better-behaved) up a bit lot. believe me, i've entertained that thought (and several - think 20 or more - even more drastic/painful ones) way more often than is good for health. but, therapeutic as the act may be, i would definitely be in a world of trouble after carrying it out. end result? not worth it. patience is a virtue...which i don't have, and am supposed to acquire through this.

there has to be an easier way to maintain discipline, right? maybe it's time for me to do something on a larger scale, like giving the entire class a time-out. as of now, i already have a pretty good idea of who i'm going to pull out for some quiet time during the next lesson. as much as i hope it doesn't come to that, it's the only solution sometimes. of course, there's the alternative solution of activating the teacher. think i might start to do that too. actually, there's a tiny little part of me that actually WANTS someone to pull a major stunt...major enough to warrant severe punishment. reason being that i can show the rest of the class i mean business by making that person sit out, or worse. chinese idiom goes "kill one, warn a hundred" or something along those lines. yes, i know it's wrong and sadistic, but indulge me...i've been traumatized!

now that my semi-rant is over, let's talk about their progress on the lanes. moved on to foul-line drills today. most of them got the idea, but there are still a few of them who just WON'T listen to instructions, even after several repetitions. these few also fall into the "kids i want to shake up" category. i really don't know what's the issue here. i'm already using simple english, speaking slowly and clearly (well...it's slow and clear enough for the majority, at least), so i don't see what the problem is. it's probably about capturing and holding their attention, which (sadly) is another of my weaker areas.

of course, there are the select 1 or 2 who just can't get into the proper position due to anatomical/physiological constraints. can't really blame them, because they do take the effort to try (when they remember to, that is). i still have yet to find out how to overcome that little limitation, and the fact that one of them is more comfortable conversing in chinese doesn't really improve my odds. my chinese muscles definitely got a workout today! incidentally, could someone enlighten me on how to say these few phrases..."lean forward", "keep all your weight on your left foot", "maintain balance", "stretch out your right leg"...in chinese that a primary 3 kid would understand? i'd really appreciate it.

all in all, there's definitely room for improvement...both in their skills and in my teaching style. on the bright side, the whistle did help! ended class with my throat feeling less abused than last week. my knee held up too, which is something i'm extremely thankful for. lucky we weren't doing one-step drills today. i'd just die from all that sliding.

the situation down under has taken a turn for the worse. my cousins are now hell-bent on living separately from each other. the whole thing is reminiscent of my feud with SOMEONE in the army, with the main difference being that it's between relatives now. maybe it's because i've been dealing with kids (18 of them! the horror!) earlier today, but the whole thing just sounds childish to me. i really really think that both of them need to have a nice, direct talk, so that each party knows how he's pissing the other one off. then, work from there, change for the better, and everyone's happy. but...it's past that stage now. in fact, i'd go as far as to say that it's beyond salvaging. i just wonder how they'll behave towards each other at family functions in future. time will tell...

for some reason, my brain/mind feels overstuffed today. it's probably the fatigue setting in. at any rate, i think i'm not very well-equipped to deal with any more heavy/draining stuff today. going to sleep it off. besides, i have driving early tomorrow morning. don't want my lack of sleep to cause any accidents now, do we?

-random thought of the day: Why can't they get along?-

Drama, drama...

apparently, my cousins in australia aren't getting along well with each other. now, i've heard snippets of both sides of the story, and my personal assessment is that it's rather silly to argue over such trivial stuff. i had originally wanted to blog about their dispute in greater detail, but decided against it after second and third thoughts. after all, there's that old saying about dirty laundry, and what not to do with it. instead, i think i'll send them an email or something later.

once again, my supposedly objective-packed day has been reduced to almost nothing. i called the shoe shop to enquire about the steel blues, and was so happy to find out they were in stock! then, the store called me back 10 minutes later to retract that statement. turns out one of the staff made a mistake, and it wasn't in yet. bugger it. make me happy for nothing. well, latest news is there's a newer, better model coming in in around a week's time, so i'll wait until then. if they still can't deliver, i'll just look someplace else. after all, i don't believe the ENTIRE queensway shopping centre won't have another pair of shoes which i like.

so, with that objective gone, i was left with my NUS medical checkup. due to poor planning and a touch of laziness, i left the house at 1:50 for the 2:30 appointment. as if the tight timeframe wasn't enough, i managed to get spectacularly lost while searching for the place (i ended up at NUH, and those of us who have been to both locations know how far university health services is from NUH)! serves me right for not doing my research/homework on its location. the nice lady at the NUH information counter told me to take the shuttle bus, and that it wasn't a walkable distance. guess she underestimated the walking power of (ex-)army boys. your concept of "walking distance" gets redefined after you walk 24km in FBO - especially if you've done it more than once in your NS life, like me! as if to prove her wrong, i ended up walking there, and was ultimately 45 minutes late for the appointment.

fortunately, the nice counter staff were very understanding, and they managed to slot me in somewhere. saw a couple of army acquaintances, as well as a few ex-schoolmates from secondary school and JC. really is a small, small world...especially in singapore. anyways, did all the routine stuff, like eyesight, urine test, chest x-ray...similar to the pre-enlistment checkup; major difference being that everyone was nice and friendly, unlike in CMPB. found no pressing problems (though i was told to lose some weight - as if i didn't know i had to!). they said they'd call me if anything was amiss, so no news is good news in this case.

came back home after that, and saw a pretty interesting notice in my email. one of the cat high old boys has set up a tuition centre, and is hiring teachers. now, i know my previous stand was that i would never work in a tuition centre, but hey, this centre is run by an old boy! if i really HAD to work for a tuition centre, might as well start on more familiar/less treacherous ground, right? i've already sent him an email expressing interest in a teaching job, and i'm just waiting for his reply now. only grounds for rejection i can see now is that my total working time (april to july - 3+ months) might be too short. but...let's not assume too much. would be a total waste of time and effort to think of solutions to problems that might not even exist.

well, that's about everything interesting that's happened in the recent past. there's coaching tomorrow! can test out my shiny new whistle (it's plastic, and therefore un-shiny). really hope the knee holds out through coaching. actually, that shouldn't be a problem. it's feeling less bummed as compared to the previous few days. meanwhile, i'm off to draft my monthly budget statement and expand further on an idea for a killer chem question that came to me while waiting for my checkup results. my student is so going to hate me for this.

-random thought of the day: Feeling evil now...-

Received a nice surprise in the mail today. last month's paycheck from the sports school finally arrived! only problem is that it's in cheque form. i've dealt with cash payments (from tuition) and fund transfers (from NS), but cheques are foreign territory. well, better to learn now while mistakes are less costly. i'd really hate to screw up a million-dollar cheque when i'm working in future...provided i get to handle such large sums of money, of course.

i was actually quite tempted to cancel today's tuition, in view of my screwed knee and all. but, professionalism (not to mention financial concerns) won out in the end. this session was a little...less lively somehow. went through chemical bonding, which he quickly got the hang of. i'm starting to realize that my teaching style is such that i'll cover main points and difficult concepts, but i'll leave the students to read up on the tiny little "sesame seed green bean" details themselves. no point spoonfeeding, right? perhaps that's why things didn't go so well with the previous student. i'm still looking forward to next week, so i figure it's a good sign as long as that optimism doesn't go away.

the knee's a little better as compared to yesterday. the ice treatment helped quite a bit. still hurts when negotiating stairs and sudden movements are a no-no. really feel like screaming in annoyance whenever i get stabs of pain from doing one of the things stated above. so far, i haven't actually done it yet...been able to keep everything inaudible and in my head. should really wash my mind/brain out with soap, what with all the accumulated exclamations stored within. heh. still counting on it to recover by tuesday, so, with the exception of running a few errands tomorrow, i'm going to be quite sedentary (well...more so than usual) until then.

oh damn. as soon as i finished writing that paragraph, i remembered that i have my NUS medical checkup this coming tuesday, and i was planning to head down to queensway to get my shoes. so looks like i'll be walking around quite a bit on that day, which means that i have to get better by monday, ie. tomorrow. oh wow. how's that for a rushed schedule?

-random thought of the day: Haven't watched the Sunday sunset for a while...-

Why have both this and last week's training sessions been so full of injuries? no, i didn't injure anyone this time (though there were a few casualties). instead, i was on the receiving end for a change. something popped/cracked in my left knee as i was countering a throw during sparring practice. after a few hours of observation, my amateur diagnosis says it's just a twist, or worst case, a minor sprain. seeing it in writing actually makes it sound/look a lot worse than it felt, though i was quite shocked when it happened. only inconvenience now is that walking takes longer than usual, and that going up stairs requires lots of teeth-gritting (and a few muttered curses, though that's optional - but recommended!). can't really bend it too far back either, but it's not like i'll need to bend to that extent.

this is the first time something like this has happened to me...and i'm not 100% sure why it did. probably built up too much angular momentum while turning. since joints are the weakest links in the skeletal structure, and the knees are weight-bearing, it's really not surprising that it would be the first to go. i'm counting on it to heal before wednesday's coaching. would be horrible to keep alternating between kneeling and standing positions with a bummed knee.

so far, i've been keeping it on ice, thanks to a friend's recommendation. 10 minutes on (i'm cheating and leaving it on for 15 minutes), 2 hours off. i'm only regretting the fact that i could only start icing it at home, instead of in school (the available ice was needed for more serious strains). will probably have the time to run through another couple of cycles before bedtime. IT HAD BETTER umm...*hopefully that will* speed up the recovery.

don't know why i'm suay enough to have both injuries on my left side. worse still, it's the elbow and knee (both vital joints!) that are injured. so annoying. elbow still isn't back at 100% yet, by the way. i found that out the hard way when doing some of the training exercises. maybe i should switch to something less...impactful - like swimming, at least until the injury streak is over.

pain and injuries aside, it was fun to mess around with the juniors. right now, they're still inexperienced, so it's easy to catch them with all the little sweeps and hooks (aka. minor techniques). better treasure this experience while it lasts...which should be another few months or so. it's quite amusing to see some of the tactics they use, like charging in. heh.

time for bed! going to try and sleep the sprain off. tomorrow brings another tuition session...with any luck, it'll go as well as, or even better than the previous one.

Quick little update before i head to bed.

spent the last...9 hours or so playing age of mythology, which i bought at funan a few days back. it's the first game in around 5 years that has made me completely lose track of time. by right, in supposed to be sleeping (or at least in bed) now, so yes. down with that plan. if it wasn't for my eyes feeling some strain, i might have gone on for another few hours. who knew it would be so addictive? it actually reminds me of a simpler version of command and conquer, but set in primitive/ancient eras. difficulty's ok for now, considering i'm playing on moderate. i can't imagine what "titan" difficulty level must be like! should be a pretty good way to occupy myself in the coming weeks. only downside i see is that it'll steal time from CoH.

around half of my total slacking time has passed! oh noes. i'm left with slightly less than 4 months before university begins. while it's not bad, it's not exactly good either. makes me wish i'd accomplished more in these past 4 months. it's really kind of scary to see 4 whole months just go by like that. under normal circumstances, this is where i'd say something deep/philosophical. but right now, my energy levels don't permit me to. so, i'm off to recharge.

-random thought of the day: Training tomorrow!-

After last week's disastrous less-than-ideal training session, i didn't have my expectations set too high for this week. yet, by some twist of fate, this week's training session turned out better than expected! i'm attributing it to a number of factors, like the main teacher being there to help control the kids (she was absent last week), and having more lanes to work with, reducing waiting time and restlessness. everything went smoother, and i think the kids learnt more from today than last week. i'm already starting to see a few of them get the whole "relaxed arms" idea. so far, only one of them is still really lost in the woods. i've given him one-to-one attention (more than once!) to show him the correct methods, but to no avail. don't know whether his attention span is THAT short, or if my teaching methods are incompatible with his learning style. should probably give him a few more sessions to see if the problem solves itself.

there's this one other kid who's posing a bit of a challenge. the problem is, he's not bad or anything. it's just that he's perhaps a little overenthusiastic, which sometimes leads to disruption of the class. i don't want to make him sit out and give him the wrong impression, but if i don't address this issue tactfully, that's bound to happen. you know what? i shouldn't be worrying about this. i'll highlight it to the teacher, and let her talk to him. with her experience, she'll be able to solve it easily.

i swear, coaching these kids is tiring work. even though i'm doing minimal physical activity, i still feel wiped out after training. must be because i'm talking and giving instructions so much. so, at my boss' suggestion, we went to get me a whistle! so cool. now, i have to figure out how to use it effectively. don't want to be blowing and blowing all day long for nothing. will get the chance to test it out next week.

meanwhile, it's about time for me to head off for bed. driving at 8:30am tomorrow means i have to sleep a little earlier to ensure i'm well-rested.

-random thought of the day: I wish life was a little busier...-