September School Holiday

Today is 1st Sep 2008, the first day of the one week's break between term 3 and 4. What are the reasons to have this break? Well, besides getting a break from school, it is also the time to play catching up with the studies and also to start preparing for the year-end exam.

I felt so ashamed when Isa called my office to ask, "Can I watch LOTR with you tonight?" My heart ached. I have been mean to Isa - I have been piling worksheets and assessment books onto her, instead of giving her a break from studies. I told her that she has to study harder and do better in the coming year-end exam. If she wants to be a school prefect, good academic results are generally preferred.

She has been wanting to wear the prefect tie very much. I have been using this "carrot" to motivate or push her to work harder in her studies. I did not ask her if doing worksheets and assessment books are top of her priority list.

Come on, give that poor child a break! Afterall, she is only 9 years old and she is already inundated with worksheets and assessment books daily.

It is time for me to reflect on myself.

Ok, let me pack up and leave this office which has tons of work that never seems to end. I want to watch LOTR with Isa tonight.

Mid-Autumn Festival part 2

Remember that I mentioned I would be buying some "exotic" types of moon-cakes this year? I tasted them yesterday. One type was moon-cakes with fillings made of sesame with yolk. The other was lotus paste but instead of yolk, it was chocolate with cognac.

These mini moon-cakes come with a big price tag; the sesame type costs $42 (excluding GST) for 8 pieces, while the other was $68.

Anyway, it was a good experience to taste them.

Driving in the City

I travelled from Bukit Batok to Asian Civilisations Museum. I went through 2 ERPs and a total of $5 was deducted from my cashcard. I considered myself lucky to reach my destination smoothly despite the heavy traffic flow. Look, the ERP is supposed to cut down the number of cars but I am unsure if this works.

I could have paid even more if I made a wrong turn.

It was close to 8pm when I wanted to return. The ERP into Orchard Road was still in operations! I managed to detour and took a long route.

It is pretty expensive to drive into the city, even during the evening.

Try it unless you want the experience. Else, save that few dollars!

Vietnam celebrates her 63th National Day

I attended a dinner at Asian Civilisations Museum on 28 Aug 2008. It was hosted by Vietnam Embassy to celebrate her 63th National Day. A lot of foreign guests were invited.

Finding a parking space in the heart of a city needs lots of good luck. Luck was with me at that moment. A car happened to leave its lot and zoomed, my little car went in immediately. I can't believe that the parking is free!

Besides the delicious food which was an international spread to satisfy the appetite of multi-national guests, I liked the ambience of an evening at Asian Civilisations Museum. Imagine yourself holding a glass of wine or having a dinner, facing the Singapore River which has lots of eatlets, enjoying the night breeze. The backdrop was the lighted high-rise banks. It was rather quiet in the evening though we knew it would be a different story during the day.

There is an event going on at Asian Civilisations Museum.
http://www.acm.org.sg/exhibitions/eventdetail.asp?eventID=404

Since the one week school holiday is just round the corner, do consider making a trip to this beautiful place.

Mid-Autumn Festival

The lunar 7th month will be coming to an end and soon we will be celebrating mid-autumn festival or lantern festival or mooncake festival.

Have you tried any moon-cakes? This year, I am going for the "exotic" type; moon-cakes will fillings of sesame or some liquor ???

I will share my experience after eating them.

Yummy!

Beijing Olympics 2008 (last)

Finally after days of watching various competitions, this Game has come to an end on 24 Aug 2008. The closing ceremony at Bird Nest Stadium lasted about two hours. Again, we were able to watch spectacular firework displays, preformances and the handover to London 2012.

I can't help but feel sad because I will have to wait 4 years later to see the athletes to excel again, to see new World Records achieved, to share the joy and sorrow after a competition.

See you in London 2012.

Beijing Olympics part 3

I watched the table tennis final where Singapore played against China on 17 Aug 7.30pm.

The results were kind of expected; how can we expect to beat a big brother unless a miracle has occured?

I have mixed feelings. On 15 Aug, our team fought from 2.30pm till 6pm+ against South Korean team and finally won and got into the finals. Our players were armed with great determination and will to fight on till the last minute.

On 17 Aug, our team barely spent 2 hours and was already "booted out".

I learnt something from watching these games.

You can earn points (or marks) by 2 ways, namely (1) create chances to attack our opponents successfully and (2) creating chances for your opponents to make mistakes. Our players consistently made many mistakes and thus "giving" away points freely and easily to our opponents.

Our opponents did make some mistakes but being much more experienced and skillful than ours, they were able to minimize such occurrences. Thus our chances of getting points from their mistakes were greatly reduced.

Is our opponent such strong such that our flaws and weaknesses were all exposed?

I am not a table-tennis player. I merely shared my personal views.