Wide Sargasso Sea

Finished reading Jean Rhys' The Wide Sargasso Sea today. I had to teach it months ago for an Unseen Prose piece that was hard as hell, because of a lack of context. After that lessons and talking to my colleagues, I realised that it was a book that greatly beguiled me, and so bought it off Book Depository. I am glad to have read it, especially given recent events, as it struck an extra special chord with me. That and the title: The Wide Sargasso Sea. Lovely, full rounded vowels that roll off one's tongue, with a hint of sibilance for that bit of ominousness. An idea of a body of water so large that one can comfortably fall back into it and sink silently into its depths. Gave it a 4.5/5 in my reading notebook.

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On Monday, much to the amusement of myself and all around me, I attended my first Math class. In preparation for applying for a Masters degree for the Fall 2014 intake, I need to sit for my GREs. Before that however, I need to actually get to an acceptable level again of Math capability. Urgh. Math was never one of my better subjects, and true enough when I sat for a diagnostic test I bombed the Math section. So I signed up for classes (I harbour little illusions about my limited Math capabilities). Which cost a bomb, but get the job done I suppose. I feel like I remember a lot more about my Sec 2 Math already after just one session, ho.

Also in other news, on Saturday night I went over to Ianthe's house to hang out with her and Steph. There, Ianthe and I also finally booked a trip in Dec to Krabi. Am looking forward to it even though it's months away. Whatever keeps you going, eh?

Pillow Safety Suit

I stumbled up a very silly website called markdg.com, and wandered onto his inventions page. It makes me giggle in the worst possible sort of way, ohoho.

Above is a picture of his Pillow Safety Suit invention. I wish I had one of those. Then I could just roll around on the floor if I wanted to get to anywhere and wouldn't need to walk anymore. Roll about in a nice, soft and squishy suit. Mmm.

Iron Mountain Boxes

Recently M/s L have embarked on a harebrained cost saving exercise which requires all us teachers to relinquish our desks. It was a move that was widely met with disapproval (surprise!) from all the teachers because HEY we're teachers and our jobs involve lots of papers that need to be stored in an organised manner, lest they get mixed up or lost. Whoever thought up the idea was evidently not a teacher, nor has ever been one.

In order to facilitate this move of extreme stupidity, the office ordered cardboard boxes for us. Two boxes each, which we had to sign out for, because you know disgruntled employees would take extra boxes to resell on the black market or something. Anyway the boxes came yesterday, the same day we had our Teacher's Day lunch (COINCIDENCE?! I THINK NOT :O) So after I finished my 9:30pm class I went to look at the boxes, since some fool left them all stacked behind my desk for collection, and I was intrigued.

At a glance of all the perforation lines on the flat packed boxes, I realised that we were reckoning with not your regular sort of cardboard box, but a super-special transformer type box. Even though I didn't intend to pack many things away, I decided to grab a box and start folding it, and BOY WAS I IMPRESSED. This was a box like no other. Everything folded and tucked neatly into each other, without the need for any masking tape. It was sturdy, folded into itself, and when you had to fold it into itself the takeout tabs would just fly out with a wonderful POP. This my friends, was the Rolls Royce of cardboard boxes.

When I stayed in the UK I moved house a total of 2 times, and use normal cardboard boxes each time. Then when I went home, I packed my stuff into 6 boxes of varying sizes and shipped them all back to Singapore by cargo ship. As a result, I'll like to think I've dealt with my fair share of boxes for a 23 year old, and knew all about them. Little did I know about IRON MOUNTAIN CARDBOARD BOXES, which are a veritable feat of great design and engineering, rolled into a humble cardboard box. I SHIT YOU NOT THEY ARE AMAZING.

So amazing in fact, that I think this design is the magnum opus of someone's entire life. Like someone went to engineering school just to come up with it's ingenious design. Whoah. Too bad I forgot to take a picture, perhaps I'll do so tomorrow.

Did you know that I get amazed by very inane and mundane things?

A Kernel of Dried Corn

Recently HR sent out an e-mail that offended the whole office cause the tone was incredibly patronising. The moment person zero saw it, she started sending on mass texts to her friends telling them to read the email, which was then passed on to more people until the whole office had scrambled to read it. When I read it, I just laughed and shrugged it off. I mean, silly is what silly is right? Unbeknownst to me, the email had actually severely pissed off the rest of my office. Today when I had lunch with a colleague, she spoke angrily about the email and the reactions of other staff at her branch, and I was kind of stunned. It never even occurred to me to be offended.

Dunno, just one anecdote of many about how I'm not thinking the same as before. Not sure if it's a new malaise or a temporary one.

I feel tired and strained.

18 August 2013

Today I learnt about flight KAL 007 that crashed in 1983, a casualty of the Cold War that no one quite talks about in History books. Due to a serious of human errors and having mistaken the plane for a spy plane, the Soviets ended up shooting the passenger jet down. When they showed the reenactments of the plane bouncing up and down and the passengers screaming inside, it was kind of depressing.

In other news I am sick, down with the flu or something similar. I spent most of today sleeping, and still don't feel any better. I am however, tearing through A Visit From The Goon Squad during my waking moments. It's a nice, fun book.

My students have also started to notice patterns for when I'm feeling unwell. Namely that I am grumpier and am more disoriented, less mentally organised. Funny kids. One the students that I liked from my Saturday class had her last lesson yesterday, and she gave me an early Teacher's Day present and card. The card is sitting on my desk now, looking at me. Aww.

Bali Traffic

Went to Bali this past long weekend with my parents. Hari Raya Puasa coincided nicely with National Day and the weekend, so I took leave for Saturday and flew to Bali with my parents for a 4 day 3 night trip. Bali I must say, was nothing like I remembered, in a bad way. We stayed in a really beautiful hotel, but outside, the Seminyak area, left much to be desired. Traffic was terrible, and on the 3rd day when we went walking around outside during the evening, I even got asthma from prolonged exposure to the traffic pollution. Furthermore we also discovered a dodgy money changed had pulled a con on my Mum, which quite ruined the mood for that night.

Good news is, my Mum went to confront him the next day and he gave her back the IDR 500,000 (SGD 65). I felt really proud of my Mum for doing that, but I found out later it's cause she didn't realise confronting even a two-bit criminal is dangerous. Hahaha my Mum. I also managed to polish off two books and a graphic novel, and got to relax by the beach and go for spa-thingies.

All in all, I'm glad for the break from Singapore. It was nice to be physically in another spot, but I must say it was definitely not one of the better trips I have been on.

Meanwhile, back to work and life, and endless "Theft at the Mall" essays urk.

Hedgeh

BTW JFYI - I am now a free agent. What ever that means. No I have not lost my job, but I've lost something else that sort of ties people down/together. I will plod through this with various higher doses of medication, family and friends. Just that in the meanwhile, I will be utterly useless and unreliable as a human being. 

I decided after poking about Book Depository (yes! Grief spending!!!) to start a book journal with one of the numerous notebooks I have around. I picked a yellow pantone one which I thought I liked when I bought it, but now no longer like so much. Anyway using my archival pen, I doodle a hedgehog sort-of looking at an apple. It was meant to be a smiley hedgehog but WELL, I guess my mood diffused into my drawing. It now sort of looks forlornly at an apple it cannot reach unless it tip-toed. Can hedgehogs tip-toe anyway? Maybe I'll add a well placed rock near it's front feet or something in the future when I am less tranquillised.