This has kind of become a yearly pilgrimage. Since 2006, the end of November marks the beginning of a trip to visit Takeo province in Cambodia, to take in the fresh air, endless rice fields and smiling faces.
Already thinking of the stars there. Hmm maybe should bring a star chart this time.
Of course this is also the period where the school held the last event for the graduating batch, farewell alma mater. This year is in Hilton Hotel and there is always this sense of finality and anticipation about as you see the seniors decked in their finery and trying to navigate in their heels. Got a bit worried for a few. Such a interesting sequence for at the same time I am thinking of their seniors now toiling away at the A levels. Ah the point in time where significant milestones are just 2 years apart. That makes for interesting times as Terry Pratchett would say. One wishes them well and all the very best and hope some keep in touch.
Still have to come back school for some stuff after the trip but will not think about it. The brain is kind of bursting after all the meetings.
Well till then.
Was channel surfing and chanced on “A league of their own” – a classic on a women’s softball league during the world war.
Geena Davis, the team star wanted to quit and Tom Hanks the coach chided her.
“It’s getting too hard” (Geena)
“Of course it is hard, if it were easy, everyone would have done it. (Tom Hanks)
Something worth thinking about.
On the other hand, I still subscribe more to Bobby Chen’s lyrics.
Ok the video is old, but its a Bobby Chen classic. Like we like to say, they don’t make things like this anymore.
Just focus on the lyrics.
Well next week will not be seeing most of the 2009 batch of students. Someone asked, will you feel sad that we are leaving? Of course, one is human right.
我喜歡私奔和我自己
夜裡找個同伴說要去喝酒 恍惚的走在無人的街頭
並不是故意的讓自己圍困在浪漫的回憶中
你不願意活在傳統的角色裡
放任自己腳步不住的漂移
天明時卻又匆忙地搭上遲來的班車勇敢地拒絕全世界的要求
是否我今夜可以讓自己稍作停留
鎖上了門 也鎖上了彼此熱戀的感覺
明天還溶{識一些新朋友
又要問到 下一步你要做什麼
我想要說 我喜歡私奔和我自己
我喜歡私奔 和我自己 不需要理由
我喜歡私奔 和我自己
忘了中國 忘了台北 忘了明天要停留哪個地方
只要穿上我名牌的球鞋
不用等到已經有了瘋狂的感覺
不用等到世界末日來臨的那一天
夜裡偶而打通電話給朋友
分不清是誰分享了彼此的寂寞
把自己藏在一個沒人在乎的角落
我想做一些從來都沒做過
連自己也感到訝異的事情
這一次 我決定私奔 和我自己
遠離了歡喜悲傷 就像是脫去了華麗的衣裳
華航帶你到任何地方 除了中國 你可以別想
This year end been a whirlwind of things. The last minute trip to cambodia, meetings with various groups (suddenly I have more people to meet and discuss things with, not entirely sure this is a good thing) and you get the sense that the next year has sprung on you even before 2009 has ended.
Have to bid farewell to the 2009 batch properly. Thank you all. Its been a nice journey.
Managed to squeeze time out to meet up and just catch up. The quick ramen lunch with the FAB team and today’s coffee at NUS was simply great.
Was appointed official carpark valet for the RGS Nite. Just ended my shift and now back to collapse on my bed.
Will get a brief respite tomorrow before another whole string of meetings.
Cannot resist posting this from Wired Discoveries
What is inside a cup of coffee?
Caffeine
This is why the world produces more than 16 billion pounds of coffee beans per year. It’s actually an alkaloid plant toxin (like nicotine and cocaine), a bug killer that stimulates us by blocking neuroreceptors for the sleep chemical adenosine. The result: you, awake.Water
Hot H2O is a super solvent, leaching flavors and oils out of the coffee bean. A good cup of joe is 98.75 percent water and 1.25 percent soluble plant matter. Caffeine is a diuretic, so coffee newbies pee out the water quickly; java junkies build up resistance.2-Ethylphenol
Creates a tarlike, medicinal odor in your morning wake-up. It’s also a component of cockroach alarm pheromones, chemical signals that warn the colony of danger.Quinic acid
Gives coffee its slightly sour flavor. On the plus side, it’s one of the starter chemicals in the formulation of Tamiflu.3,5 Dicaffeoylquinic acid
When scientists pretreat neurons with this acid in the lab, the cells are significantly (though not completely) protected from free-radical damage. Yup: Coffee is a good source of antioxidants.Dimethyl disulfide
A product of roasting the green coffee bean, this compound is just at the threshold of detectability in brewed java. Good thing, too, as it’s one of the compounds that gives human feces its odor.Acetylmethylcarbinol
That rich, buttery taste in your daily jolt comes in part from this flammable yellow liquid, which helps give real butter its flavor and is a component of artificial flavoring in microwave popcorn.Putrescine
Ever wonder what makes spoiled meat so poisonous? Here you go. Ptomaines like putrescine are produced when E. coli bacteria in the meat break down amino acids. Naturally present in coffee beans, it smells, as you might guess from the name, like Satan’s outhouse.Trigonelline
Chemically, it’s a molecule of niacin with a methyl group attached. It breaks down into pyridines, which give coffee its sweet, earthy taste and also prevent the tooth-eating bacterium Streptococcus mutans from attaching to your teeth. Coffee fights the Cavity Creeps.Niacin
Trigonelline is unstable above 160 degrees F; the methyl group detaches, unleashing the niacin—vitamin B3—into your cup. Two or three espressos can provide half your recommended daily allowance.
Onyx for Snow Leopard is finally out.
It’s been a hurried and short trip. Leaving Singapore at 8am and now after 2 days of meeting and visits, you are back at Phnom Penh International Airport connected again and writing.
Did not bring a camera this time round for you know the place so well. The vast expanse of clear blue sky, the rice fields, now mixed with blocks of green and yellow as harvest season draws near, the orange puffs of dust as a van or lorry rolls past, the bumpy road, the dam built by the Japanese.
No need for photographs as you are busy processing the images accumulated from the past visits.
This trip is different. Have to visit the grave of a dear friend, and reflect on the years that past, in 2006 when we first met, all the conversations and stories. Now with his passing you are reminded of impermanence and how fragile everything is.
To you, Sineng, thank you for the journey and the lessons.
Neil Gaiman is here again. It’s a pity this time round won’t be hearing him talk about Coraline and just soak in the magic.
Well you can see he seem to be having fun.
Have to drop everything and make a quick trip to Phnom Penh to tie things up for the coming expedition in Nov. Despite trying not to meddle too much this year, will be going down for a week in Nov. Told myself will be just photographs and maybe help out in the kitchen. Will try to make myself as small as possible.
The year is winding down, still lots of testimonials to write. Which reminds me I should not be blogging. But there is a certain therapeutic element in seeing your thoughts take shape in front of the screen. Or maybe it is just plain displacement behaviour.
Have been using the metaphor of a roller coaster quite often. Now its plunging down and down. You realise then you just have to let go of the roller coaster. Things will be alright.
Wanted to write a post on my journey as in facilitator in OSL. Decided it might be too long drawn but this shall be a post to thank all who shared what they think and feel. To all who were honest and open and generous enough to share.
Thank you all.
The last session I had yesterday morning, watching the clip about children saved from the dumpsite in Cambodia, was indeed an intense one. Still thinking about what happened there and how one moves on from there.
This is a neat ink saving font to have.
How much of a letter can be removed while maintaining readability?
Ecofont: Less is more.
Tested it and found that its really good for main text.
