The Three States of Increasing Depression.The image speaks for itself.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Teacher's Day
This here is a poem by Jack Prelutsky. Happy Teachers' Day indeed.
The Creature in the Classroom
By Jack Prelutsky
From The Baby Uggs are Hatching
It appeared inside our classroom
at a quarter after ten,
it gobbled up the blackboard,
three erasers and a pen.
It gobbled teachers apple
and it bopped her with the core.
"How dare you!" she responded.
"You must leave us...there’s the door."
The creature didn’t listen
but described an arabesque
as it gobbled all her pencils,
seven notebooks and her desk.
Teacher stated very calmly,
"Sir! you simply cannot stay.
I’ll report you to the principal
unless you go away!"
But the thing continued eating,
it ate paper, swallowed ink.
As it gobbled up our homework,
I believe I saw it wink.
Teacher finally lost her temper.
"OUT!" she shouted at the creature.
The creature hopped beside her
and GLOPP...it gobbled teacher.
Source: http://www.jackprelutsky.com/flash/parentPoems/CreatureClassroom.pdf
Incidentally, I received stickers with 'A+' and 'Perfect' from one of my students. How neat is that? It's oddly touching that they seem to think that you would want stickers like that, and kid you not, I do appreciate them.
The Creature in the Classroom
By Jack Prelutsky
From The Baby Uggs are Hatching
It appeared inside our classroom
at a quarter after ten,
it gobbled up the blackboard,
three erasers and a pen.
It gobbled teachers apple
and it bopped her with the core.
"How dare you!" she responded.
"You must leave us...there’s the door."
The creature didn’t listen
but described an arabesque
as it gobbled all her pencils,
seven notebooks and her desk.
Teacher stated very calmly,
"Sir! you simply cannot stay.
I’ll report you to the principal
unless you go away!"
But the thing continued eating,
it ate paper, swallowed ink.
As it gobbled up our homework,
I believe I saw it wink.
Teacher finally lost her temper.
"OUT!" she shouted at the creature.
The creature hopped beside her
and GLOPP...it gobbled teacher.
Source: http://www.jackprelutsky.com/flash/parentPoems/CreatureClassroom.pdf
Incidentally, I received stickers with 'A+' and 'Perfect' from one of my students. How neat is that? It's oddly touching that they seem to think that you would want stickers like that, and kid you not, I do appreciate them.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
The library as a sanctuary of study
I quite fail to understand how anyone can miss the point. Yes. by all means shush the crying child. It is after all, standard, responsible behaviour for a child's guardian or parent in the library - the sanctuary of silent study in nice air conditioning.
But, when the guardian's phone makes loud noises and her shushing *repeatedly* is louder than the child (now happily cooing), I seriously wonder at the irony of it all. Part of me wants to say: strangle the child, no noise! and the other part of me of course is doing the admonishing for saying such nasty things in the first place. The best solution is of course, not to bring the pram, the baby and the toddler in and seeing as the parent did not seemed inclined to read or borrow books or use a laptop, I really really fail to understand why anyone would come in here.
But, when the guardian's phone makes loud noises and her shushing *repeatedly* is louder than the child (now happily cooing), I seriously wonder at the irony of it all. Part of me wants to say: strangle the child, no noise! and the other part of me of course is doing the admonishing for saying such nasty things in the first place. The best solution is of course, not to bring the pram, the baby and the toddler in and seeing as the parent did not seemed inclined to read or borrow books or use a laptop, I really really fail to understand why anyone would come in here.
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Creatively Written: Diary Entry
Welcome ladies and gentlemen! Step up this way to the first ever Borders Books and Movies Fair at the Expo!
Dear blog-san,
Today, I went to the Borders Book (and Movie) Fair at the Singapore Expo. It was a lot of fun. In the morning, after eating a delicious breakfast which consisted of bread from the bakery downstairs, I flipped through the newspaper and saw the advertisement for the fair once again. After a few minutes of indecision, I decided to just go for it, since it was so tempting. Hoping to catch a ride in my father's taxi to the bus stop, I went down quickly after dressing to meet him at the carpark.
Upon seeing my father and his relief driver there, I greeted the both of them cheerfully and settled down for the short ride. However, upon nearing the bus stop, my father made a turn towards Hougang instead, and I was left stranded in the car and headed in the wrong direction. As if to dampen my trip further, my bus loomed up just after my father had passed the bus stop. Red with silent fury, I sulked while my father dropped off the relief driver. To my relief however, my father offered instead to drive me to the Expo! I nearly jumped for joy, but recalled in time that I was in my father's cab!
Stuck on cloud nine, I could not resist grinning from ear to ear all the way there. On reaching, I made a beeline for the fair immediately. All at once, I seemed to be wading against a sea of human bodies, and it was all very exciting. As I browsed through the varied selection of fiction, all priced cheaply, I even found two copies of a school text that I needed for the coming semester. How lucky!
Here is the list of books I bought*:
The Harmony Silk Factory; Tash Aw
On Friendship; Michel de Montaigne
The Ladies of Grace Adieu; Susanna Clark
A Clockwork Orange; Anthony Burgess
The Republic; Plato
Plays; Anton Chehkov
One Hundred Great Books in Haiku; David Bader
The Secrets of a Fire King; Kim Edwards
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell; Susanna Clark
Mozart's Journey to Prague; Eduard Morike
The Ingenious Edgar Jones; Elizabeth Garner
Perfume; Patrick Suskind
Two hours later, tired but pleased, I made my way out of the Expo with my purchases safely stashed away in my backpack. I love book shopping!
Lots of love,
XXX
*Somehow, I don't see the persona of the diary writer reading this kind of books, but nevermind
_____________________________
Now. Admit it. How many of the phrases did you come across in your youthful days of composition writing? I can't believe I have to teach phrases like "jumped for joy", "tired but pleased" and "grinning from ear to ear" in my classes. The cliches are threatening to make my eyes drop out from rolling too much. Also, I really must find something else to harp on other than tuition....
Dear blog-san,
Today, I went to the Borders Book (and Movie) Fair at the Singapore Expo. It was a lot of fun. In the morning, after eating a delicious breakfast which consisted of bread from the bakery downstairs, I flipped through the newspaper and saw the advertisement for the fair once again. After a few minutes of indecision, I decided to just go for it, since it was so tempting. Hoping to catch a ride in my father's taxi to the bus stop, I went down quickly after dressing to meet him at the carpark.
Upon seeing my father and his relief driver there, I greeted the both of them cheerfully and settled down for the short ride. However, upon nearing the bus stop, my father made a turn towards Hougang instead, and I was left stranded in the car and headed in the wrong direction. As if to dampen my trip further, my bus loomed up just after my father had passed the bus stop. Red with silent fury, I sulked while my father dropped off the relief driver. To my relief however, my father offered instead to drive me to the Expo! I nearly jumped for joy, but recalled in time that I was in my father's cab!
Stuck on cloud nine, I could not resist grinning from ear to ear all the way there. On reaching, I made a beeline for the fair immediately. All at once, I seemed to be wading against a sea of human bodies, and it was all very exciting. As I browsed through the varied selection of fiction, all priced cheaply, I even found two copies of a school text that I needed for the coming semester. How lucky!
Here is the list of books I bought*:
The Harmony Silk Factory; Tash Aw
On Friendship; Michel de Montaigne
The Ladies of Grace Adieu; Susanna Clark
A Clockwork Orange; Anthony Burgess
The Republic; Plato
Plays; Anton Chehkov
One Hundred Great Books in Haiku; David Bader
The Secrets of a Fire King; Kim Edwards
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell; Susanna Clark
Mozart's Journey to Prague; Eduard Morike
The Ingenious Edgar Jones; Elizabeth Garner
Perfume; Patrick Suskind
Two hours later, tired but pleased, I made my way out of the Expo with my purchases safely stashed away in my backpack. I love book shopping!
Lots of love,
XXX
*Somehow, I don't see the persona of the diary writer reading this kind of books, but nevermind
_____________________________
Now. Admit it. How many of the phrases did you come across in your youthful days of composition writing? I can't believe I have to teach phrases like "jumped for joy", "tired but pleased" and "grinning from ear to ear" in my classes. The cliches are threatening to make my eyes drop out from rolling too much. Also, I really must find something else to harp on other than tuition....
Friday, August 08, 2008
Dream reads
Right. As some of you know, I've been reading ahead for one of my lit modules, and that book (Middlemarch) unfortunately, is thick, and while not exactly boring, is not exactly engrossing either. My life is being ruined by the Internet age. In any case, this book is suspected as being the first book to be covered during lectures, hence it being read ahead. Also, as to how badly this book is affecting me, I started having weird dreams about it last night, which essentially consisted of how the reading ahead was a futile attempt at getting ahead because, in my dream, Middlemarch isn't even the first, or second book on the lecture list but the 3rd, or the middle of the lecture schedule. As if that wasn't enough, a check with the ivle workbin showed that Eliot will only be covered after the term break, and as such, I doubt if I would even remember who is who and what is what in the book by then. Bleah. Wasted effort for now. I am better off going to refresh my memory of reading Alice in Wonderland...
Sunday, August 03, 2008
Friday, August 01, 2008
The Book Post: Artemis Fowl and the Time Paradox
Aurum potestas est
So claims the Fowl motto and if we are to take the glossy gold-cover of the book (see post below) literally. However, in the course of six books, one learns that paradoxically, all that glitters is not gold - that shimmer in the air may be an invisible fairy, or more importantly, as young Artemis finds out, what's precious need not be appraised in carats.
As the possible last book in the series by Eoin Colfer, the book takes up some of the themes that have been sidelined previously in lieu of the characters having to save the world. Having now recently adverted the latest threat to fairy and humankind, the plot turns towards the long-suffering environment for the next adventure. Artemis' mother, Angeline, has fallen prey to a debilitating disease whose cure lies in the brain fluid of an extinct lemur. Hence the title - Artemis has to travel back the years to outwit his younger self, the culprit behind the extinction of the particular lemur species and rescue said lemur. No doubt, in comparison to The Arctic Incident or The Opal Deception, the scale is not as epic (no trolls, no mob attacks etc), but with this as the last book, for now, it is nice to see a return to character development. Little Arty is growing up *sniffle*, and things are changing. In some ways, this is good; the readers of the books won't stay ten forever, and the Growth of a Character is very important in children's literature. You know... so that they get life lessons out of it or something.
On the other hand, when parts of that character development, the establishing and maturing of the relationships between the main characters also consists of what I suspect to be fanservice, I can't help but feel a pang of loss. I flipped back to the very first book in the series, and I find that the first few lines still make me laugh. "The language," and here I quote my sis, "is really good here." I agree. The wit and humour sparkles and crackles with an energy not seen in the latest of the series. This is why, perhaps, I'm not sad that Colfer is stopping the series for now. The series is growing fatigued, and as one says, one should leave it while the going is still good. And it still is, even with me grumbling how the insides of the book do not shine as much as the cover.
Overall: 3.5/5
So claims the Fowl motto and if we are to take the glossy gold-cover of the book (see post below) literally. However, in the course of six books, one learns that paradoxically, all that glitters is not gold - that shimmer in the air may be an invisible fairy, or more importantly, as young Artemis finds out, what's precious need not be appraised in carats.
As the possible last book in the series by Eoin Colfer, the book takes up some of the themes that have been sidelined previously in lieu of the characters having to save the world. Having now recently adverted the latest threat to fairy and humankind, the plot turns towards the long-suffering environment for the next adventure. Artemis' mother, Angeline, has fallen prey to a debilitating disease whose cure lies in the brain fluid of an extinct lemur. Hence the title - Artemis has to travel back the years to outwit his younger self, the culprit behind the extinction of the particular lemur species and rescue said lemur. No doubt, in comparison to The Arctic Incident or The Opal Deception, the scale is not as epic (no trolls, no mob attacks etc), but with this as the last book, for now, it is nice to see a return to character development. Little Arty is growing up *sniffle*, and things are changing. In some ways, this is good; the readers of the books won't stay ten forever, and the Growth of a Character is very important in children's literature. You know... so that they get life lessons out of it or something.
On the other hand, when parts of that character development, the establishing and maturing of the relationships between the main characters also consists of what I suspect to be fanservice, I can't help but feel a pang of loss. I flipped back to the very first book in the series, and I find that the first few lines still make me laugh. "The language," and here I quote my sis, "is really good here." I agree. The wit and humour sparkles and crackles with an energy not seen in the latest of the series. This is why, perhaps, I'm not sad that Colfer is stopping the series for now. The series is growing fatigued, and as one says, one should leave it while the going is still good. And it still is, even with me grumbling how the insides of the book do not shine as much as the cover.
Overall: 3.5/5
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