iphoting's Sink

This week has been one of the most loaded ones ever. Never have I been so discontent, frustrated, and at the same time, paradoxically joyful, and happy. It would have been a living Hell had there not been council campaigns, shattered glass doors, funny jokes, and great Bridge games.

It was marred by all sorts of time-tabling frustrations which require rule-bending for everyone to keep sane, extremely high drag periods, and a particular annoying teacher that is on record number of hate lists, staffs’ included.

An extension to the balancing ac, is quite uplifting, over and above the greying school compounds.

I’m really close to a burn out again, but it’s only week 2 of the second term. I’ve got no idea how many more weeks I can hold before I snap, as there are at least 8 more to go, with various deadlines grinning at my situation. Long school hours aren’t helping in anyway.

Apart from exercising, there’s no way for me to relieve this feeling of discontent and frustration, also known more fondly as stress. Sleep, which I’m already short of, is sadly insufficient this time. I guess I need a long and relaxing break, away from the hustle and bustle of Singaporean IB life.

I’m delusional to think that working life can never get tougher than this. I wish.

Ah I know, school hasn’t been satisfying at all.

One of the most amusing things that happened today.

Glass door came crashing down and students when straight ahead to collect souvenirs for themselves.

As promised, here are a few pictures that I hastily took that I found interesting.

Exhibit A:

No idea, but I thought hanging shoes outside the classroom door might be inauspicious. If not, it looks as if someone got hanged there, just missing skeletons.

Exhibit B:

The perfect route of escape! For those who cannot take the strain of EE or TOK or IA or whatever acronyms you can come up with, feel free to put your neck through the noose for the final solution. No guarantee of success though.

Exhibit C:

I’m glad the group of student council wannabes have agreed to take over the jobs of the construction companies to bring us a bridge on the fifth floor! Hurray! Whether they deliver their promises is another thing though.

That’s all that I managed to snap today though, there could be more tomorrow.

For today’s daily dose of happenings, I’m pleased to announce that on week B Tuesdays, my class have lessons straight from 8 am to 1 pm, without a break or whatsoever in between. For those of you who don’t do mathematics, it is 5 hours of uninterrupted lessons, back to back! Of course, this is the finest timetable that the time-tabling committee has ever produced, and the time-tabling committee is always right and is highly competent, second to none. People have got shot for saying otherwise previously. As such, I must offer my heartfelt thanks and congratulations for their hard work that no other can match. I enthusiastically look forward to the next timetable revision.

You know, when student and staff alike requested for shorter school days, the administrators add 20 minutes more of lessons to every subject, every week. When we gave feedback about our hunger, our recesses magically got withdrawn.

Sincerely, I think it’s reverse psychology at work and it’s dumb for us to not have noticed it earlier.

So, we should, as a change of strategy, sing great praises and thanks for our new school hours and lesson lengths. Just like the way MPs do to the new budget. Our sleep is absolutely and ultimately worth sacrificing for for that 7 period long mathematics and 7 period long physics lesson (we got today) that our teacher has no idea what to do with them all. So of course, to be much more efficient in this Singaporean edition of IBDP, there are only 24 hours a day and students have decided to do both! Sleep and attend mathematics and physics lessons at the same time to save time!

Anyway, for today, whether a teacher lets us off for recess during his long periods is inconsequential. We would have walked off regardless. A class of hungry and grumpy and sleepy people is not something to be reckoned with.

Oh well, tomorrow will be a better day yet! Marathon from 9.20 am to 1.40 pm (excluding SL2; 4 hr 20 min). If not, it’ll be 9.20 am to 3.00 pm (5 hr 40 min), straight through jail, do not pass Go, do not collect $200. Amazing if students don’t fall sick on these days.

I asked God yesterday if what I saw in my vision really is, show me a sign. That, I regret not defining what the sign should be, and God replied saying that rain would come. It was afternoon then and I looked out of the window. The sky was clear and blue and chances of rain coming down would be rather slim, I thought. Clear skies lasted all the way to the early hours of the morning, and I soon forgot about it.

While dropping my sister off to school in my father’s car, I got an sms from my friend who said that it was raining. I looked up towards the sky and saw that it was all clear. Nevertheless, I told my father to floor the accelerator whenever he could.

And boy, 5 minutes in the journey to the west, the speed dropped from 110 km/h to 50 km/h. It was raining. Not only was it just raining, it was raining so heavily that I wondered, why? There, I remembered my request for a sign. Not a slipshod drizzle, not a regular storm, not a downpour, but a massive heavy monsoon like thunderstorm with all lightning and thunder possible.

Haha, time to mail myself a letter with the vision written, opening it up only like a few years later to go wow.

From the rain, I’ve learnt 1 thing today. Avoid asking for an undefined sign from God; He gives His best.

Chapel was good today. Good.

Apparently, the tribe has spoken. 90% of the students, with teachers, decided that school hours are way too long for anybody’s liking and actions spoke louder than words. From a customer point of view, it seems like the executive management has difficulty in controlling staff (mis)behaviour. I guess staff rebellion can be attributed some way to “nobody is indispensable”.

I shall comment about the campaigning posters tomorrow when I get a chance to take a few valuable pictures.

Part of what Rev Casey Treat talked about this morning was the following verse (1 Cor 2:9), which enlightened me.

But as it is written:

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,

Nor have entered into the heart of man

The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

But, that’s not the crux. The crux lies in the following verse (1 Cor 2:10):-

But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

Ah ha! The things of the God, in the spiritual, are hidden from the natural. Which makes perfect sense why it’s hard to see, hear, or understand God and what he is doing without listening to the Holy Spirit.

As it is written in John 16:13, “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.”

Catching a glimpse into eternity and into the future, seeing things that eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, is something I greatly appreciate – deja vu. Hehe, also known as fortune-teling when a fee is charged; no idea how accurate those in the streets are though.

This guy has good observation skills, doing things that I do subconsciously and don’t do for a living. The post speaks of social hierarchies in a class setting. Though it is not exhaustive, it is sufficiently comprehensive for most usual classes, with usual people.

Speaking of links, it’s quite amusing to witness the responses and side-effects of the linked item. Some get shocked with the great influx of traffic, some get annoyed by the immense publicity generated, and others surprised about the significance of their writings. At times, the link gets replicated all over, everywhere. A good example is balancing ac.

Edit: Fixed link.

Sometimes, I just wonder, what on earth is going on. On my way home on one of the days, I saw this advertisement outside the school.

To be frank, I’m impressed. Advertisers sure know where to target for any potential untapped market.

Apart from that, today marks the day of a second Hack the school has seen. As for the first, I haven’t managed to get a photograph, but this time, I decided to make good use of my phone’s camera, outside school hours of course.

From my observation, every teacher or student who saw the hack for the first time burst out in good laughter. My congratulations to the owner of this good hack; well done! It certainly brought life back to school. Oh, to the uninformed/uninitiated, the face below the words, ‘EETOK’ is a sad one.

Amusingly, some teachers commented that the hack in itself though good, but it still wasn’t perfect. The text should read ‘TOKEE’ instead as it is easier and more fun to pronounce.

Yesterday, I happen to have a great chat with one of my former teachers. That teacher, I have to admit, was one of the best that had taught me so far. In that short span, we talked about how school have changed and how long school hours have become, detrimental to health.

On my way home that day, I also bumped into a teacher on the way home who somehow lives near me. No doubt, school hours are way too long for healthy family relationships and it serves as a good warning / reminder to avoid this school like plague if I were to become a teacher.

Couple of days ago, I came across this TODAY article, Real-time bus arrival info for heartland riders, which speaks of how LTA is planning to revive a plan that they had shelved many years ago. It also reminded myself of the concept presentation we made during InnovateIT competition last year. Somehow, they were very similar in motive, and the implementation is somewhat close.

The biggest difference is cost; the article (found in ST) claims a figure of $2 million more that what we’d proposed. The next difference is the level and quantity of information required to be displayed according to the specification documents, as stated in the article.

Though we didn’t win the InnovateIT competition, I’m glad that something of similar concept is being explored and implemented, for real, and not just remain as a fragment of everyone’s imaginations – iN2015.

Traditional Chinese Medicine is something which I have great respect for. Though many claim that it’s voodoo magic, I beg to differ. It’s a 3000 year long, comprehensive study of symptoms and observations, albeit lacking in scientific methods. Fortunately, it is changing with advances in technology and greater cooperation with western medicine.

My first official and proper encounter with TCM with great emphasis was in a Hospital in Beijing. The doctors there combine both western medicine and chinese medicine holistically to diagnose and cure diseases. Generally, western medicine to treat symptoms and chinese medicine to correct imbalances of the system. This hybridisation is especially useful for more effective treatment.

What fascinates me the most is the skill of pulse reading. This seemingly simple technique of feeling pulses of both hands is a major under representation of techniques involved and results gained. From the way the pulse is portrayed, the health and condition of all major organic systems are represented. Coupled with the other diagnosis investigation methods, a person’s health can be seen.

The second most amazing thing is the way plants, herbs, and animals, when used in the correct combination, would bring healing and balance to the body.

Thanks to my Cantonese heritage, my mother brews soup daily for every meal, with varying herbs helps in ‘cooling’. My family has a background of heatiness, and soup tend to help prevent too much of it. Too much of it will result in either a nose-bleed, fever, soar throat, or something to that effect.

I hope one day, I would be able to learn the combinations of chinese herbs which produces different effects on the body when consumed with soup.