After Recess...

Yesterday marked the start of the second half to the semester. It also means more assignments, tests and of course the major exams towards the end of the semester... I was back in school after taking a deserving 1 week break... For your info, this sem is the very first sem that I didn't go back to school at all during the mid semester break...

Well, the lesson wasn't awesome.. It's Europe... Kind of regretted taking that module... However, it's certainly great meeting up with my friends and peers again.. During the break, I saw this poster on a notice board.. It's about an up and coming Triathlon... I felt the urge to join it but seeing that I have to swim 0.5km, I don't think I will.. Then came along Daryl and Syai... They were so on about it.. Apparently, in this triathlon, each member of a team will only do one leg/station... We spontaneously come up with a team strategy.. Lol... Syai will do the first leg which is the swimming part (0.5km) followed by cycling which will be undertaken by Daryl (20km) and then I will be the anchor man for the team and run 5km for the last leg.. To those who doesn't really know who the three of us, you might think that this should not be a problem... After all, this is not the complete triathlon... But to see 3 fat guys taking up this challenge would surely be a 'feast' to the eyes.. We might even turn this into a parody, making a mockery at the event and to ourselves... Worry not though for most of the time, whatever we plan seldom materialize...

Today is a no lesson day for me.. Hooray!!! But I have to study for tomorrow's Social Life's test... So, I will scoot over to my favourite study haunt after Zohor... In the meanwhile, I managed to find this clip.. Just love this song.. "Here Without You" by 3 Doors Down.. Dedicated to that special someone...

Family Portrait

In a family portrait, we look really happy.
Let's play pretend, let's act like it comes naturally...

And so goes the song "Family Portrait" by Pink... It's kinda true.. Every family looks very happy in photos... However, is a family ever perfect? Or is that just a myth which everyone tries to pretend to exist? I wonder...

Reflection

Today had been a rather great day... Started off by giving tuition to the kids at Jurong West... Dreaded it initially but once it began, it's kind of enjoying... Weird huh?? Maybe becoz today was pay day... Hehehe... Well, as I was teaching the kids, I realized that the way I teach Maths is rather different from other people.. I kind of teach Maths in a very 'humanity and arts' way... In a way, I tend to explain alot, something which none of my Maths teachers back in secondary schools didn't seem to have adopted. Well, to see that the kids understood what I was blabbering about and were able to solve the problems, assured me that what i did is ok...

After that, it's back to Coffeebean to catch up with my readings.. Alot to catch up but I didn't regret not studying for the initial part of the week coz I think without the break, I wouldn't have the freshness to cover a great deal of work.. While studying, I was listening to Class 95 and they were playing hits from the 90's.. How wonderful!!! One of the song is the video clip which I have attached... "Reflection" by Christina Aguilera... How appropriate as I reminisced that era while engaging in the readings...

Was thinking that it's about time that I go for a jog again... Coincidentally, when I checked the mail, I received a letter from NIE reminding me about the Physical Proficiency Test which I had enrolled (I need to pass that in order to stand a chance to teach P.E. in school)... My sis wanna tag along so I reluctantly agree... Was hoping to cover at least 6km but after 2km, she pooped out.. Sianzz... Continue to drag her from our place to Jurong East and back, though at a very pathetically, slow pace... But the feeling after exercising is damn shiok... Some of my frens say that it felt similar to having sex... Well, I wouldn't know about that would I??? Hehehe...

Well, been quite a fruitful day for me... Accomplish quite alot of things which I had planned intially... To complete this awesome day, I hope that my beloved club, Chelsea, would trounce Portsmouth... I guess that's it for now... Adios...

Uncritically Critical

This entry is just food for thought. I decided to write this while taking a break from all the notes and readings...

As we live our everyday lives, we tend to (re)produce and reinforced hegemonic understandings of social life, its order and regulation. After all, we are just normal citizens of a nation, have our own daily routine to carry out and hardly have time to sit down and reflect critically about how our everyday lives seem to be laid out almost seamlessly. Because of this, certain people might accused us of being uncritical.

However, as living individuals, we are never dispossessed of our agencies. We have the ability to make differences no matter how small these are. Though we could be faulted for (re)producing these 'naturalised' understandings of everyday lives, we do, at times, challenged these apparently neat and tidy way our social lives are being organised. We do questioned why certain things are the way that they are. In a way, we are being critical even without we realizing it. Therefore, it could be said that we are being uncritically critical.

Anyway, if you do not enjoy this posting and think that I have probably gone bonkers, it is alright... But I hope you like the music video "Wherever You Will Go" the acoustic version by The Calling, which has been one of my favourite all-time song... Enjoy!!!

Mat Jiwang (Sentimental Guy)

The day started off quite ominously... Switch on the tv to check out the scoreline for this morning's champs league matches... My heart sank, even deeper than titanic, when I heard Del Horno got send off... I saw the replay.. What the hell man!!! That's no red card... Before leaving the house to sell the kuehs below at the provision shop, I thot that the final score was 1-1 with both goals coming from own goals... I consoled myself, "Selamat draw seh."

When I reached the shop, Hadi, the guy who always buy Berita Harian and at least $4 worth of kuehs, came shortly after... U see, he is a Man U fan and he thot I am as well.. But I didnt tell him that I am an AMU (Anti Man U)... Malas seh nak explain and maybe gaduh in the morning with my rival club's fan.. So all along he thot that I am a Man U fan also.. Kekeke... I juz layan lah... He came with a big smile... Suddenly he said, "Dik, Chelsea kalah dik!!!" I like, "Mana ada? Draw aper?" To my surprise, it is true... Apparently, I didnt watch the replay till it ends.. E'To actually score the winning goal... I feel like not selling him the kuehs man.. Not that I'm a sore loser but that smile of his, probably feeling contempt that Chelsea had finally lost, made me feel damn irritated especially when it is 5:50 in the morning...

So it started off quite badly but other than that everything went on as normal.. At last, I managed to get some studying and catch up on my readings... Been lazing around and putting off the readings after completing the assignments that almost killed me the whole of last week... I still got about 6 1/2 lectures worth of readings left to catch up... Hehe...

While studying juz now at my favourite location at Westmall's Coffee Bean, the song I'd Rather by Luther Vandross was aired... Tengah shiok dengar alih2 pakcik saman datang lah... Never put coupons so I got to rush to my bike, leaving the song halfway... What's worse, when I go there and placed my coupon on my bike, I realised he was not on duty.. He looked at me one kind and I bet I can see a smile coming out from his face... He probably thot, "What a stupid kid!!!" Dah waste 65cents seh... Sighz...

Anyway, my youngest sis told me that I was becoming more jiwang now... She's right man... I began to hum and sing more sentimental Malay songs... Hehe... Don''t know why also.. Before, I don't really like to sing Malay songs... Now, hmmm... Not sure eh... Maybe I have turn to a Mat Jiwang...

Going for tuition later... Feel damn lazy but what to do... No tuition = No money... Anyway, as I had mentioned in the last posting, I don't always use chiem English lah.. Tengok mood... Hehe... Alrite folks, I think I've babbled alot.. Till next time...

Never Knew This Day Would Come

My very first entry... Well, those who knows me well would be surprised to find out that I finally have a blog... I know certain people would celebrate and punch the air with their clenched fist to finally see me succumb into this popular culture of blogging coz I used to be against the idea of having a blog of my own... But... This is not an act of defeat on my part but simply becoz I have learned to redefine the meaning of a blog...

Previously, I used to view the world using a rather myopic pair of lens... The world to me simply exist in binaries... Good vs Bad, Beautiful vs Ugly, etc... Therefore, I used to think of a blog as a paradoxical space... A space which juz wouldnt conform to this dualistic nature of thinking... A public space for individual's private lives...

However, as my title of the blog would suggest, meanings and definitions in life are never static and fixed. It changes, transform and forever fluid... Life is like a palimpsest... New meanings could be inscribed while old meanings may be obliterated... The lens which we view the world are also ever-mutating as we experienced everyday lives, no matter how mundane it is... Thus, my views and opinions about blogs have changed. Instead of a paradoxical space, I now see it as a space of resistance, a space for me to air out my views and a space where my thots could be mapped out...

To all those, after reading the first three paragraphs of this first entry, who think that the rest of my entries would be similar to this first one, worry not... I am no academic... As u read the subsequent entries, hopefully, u will get to know who, how and what I am, something which I am constantly trying to (re)configure... Meanwhile, do express ur views, if u have anything to share, on the tag or message board or whatever u call that.. (am still trying to figure out and explore how to use this thing...) Thats it for now folks...