It's Hari Pahlawan or Warrior's Day in Malaysia. The term 'Pahlawan' covers (former and active) members of the Armed Forces, Royal Malaysian Police, Communist Insurgency era Home Guards, and Volunteers. A moment of silence please for these brave men and women.

Thank you.

Today is also Vernon's birthday. We've lost contact over the years but i have always remembered him fondly. He got me interested in choral music, introduced me to the works of Maria Callas and the world of classicals, plainsongs and operas.
Some folks may think it odd for me to write about a friend in that manner but you only turn 40 once and folks are allowed to memorialize them just a bit. So, Happy Birthday, you old sod! (if you ever get to read this!)

July ends and August beckons. August has always been a busy month for yours truly. This August is no different. Exams, supervisions, camps and workshops are the order of the month. My only free day - hilariously - is Wednesday and a small part of Saturday (every two weeks, roughly...). Get not me wrong for i am not complaining because activity is good for a lazy fart like me. We've decided that Wednesdays will be the day we take David swimming - every week. He's just gotten over his minor fear of water last month and we don't want to waste the effort we put into that endeavour. Our aim is to get him floating and swimming by the time he turns 4 in 2009. It's a skill every child should learn at the earliest possible moment. One will never know when it comes in handy.

Have a lovely rainy day ahead... I know that I am!

Cool days and cool nights are the order for the day! I have absolutely no complaints whatsoever. The past two nights have seen temperatures drop to around 24-25 degrees Celsius compared to the usual 28-30 at night. Perhaps our lovely location in Matang had something to do with it?

Just caught 22 boys (students) who were sooo late for school. The disciplinary teacher was there too but he was far from being subtle. The boys are immune to all that shouting coz he does it rather regularly. Dealing with them will need more thought and patience put in. Teachers in Malaysia (and also Saudi, i'm told) shout a lot. We so need to tone down and be polite - if we want them to be polite to us. If at home they see their parents screaming at them, and come to school to have their teachers scream at them too, how do you think they'll turn out when they leave pre-adolescence and enter the scary world of free will, self-gained money and power (AKA adulthood)???

What can we do? 1. Deal with them in smaller groups. Talk through their faults and misdeeds. 80% of the time it works. 2. Ask them what should be done to them (or what they should do) in order to 'pay' for their offences. Usually, they hit themselves harder than we teachers do! 3. Forgive. Yes, we can do that! and we should (all 77 x 7 of the time and more!).

Sounds too optimistic?

I've tried this with Boys from a very low achieving Form 4 class in KL and with students from a high achieving class in Kuching. It works, more often than not. You do get some recalcitrant ones but generally, you can iron out most of the problem creases easily. Less fussin' makes for Less Cussin'.

Life is still good.

Q: What's better than spending the entire night sifting through data and preparing a biannual report for Fifth Form English?
A: Anything and Everything else, of course!

I must say, though, that i am rather pleased with the results of the data analysis. Nearly all the pre-stated objectives set out at the end of last year were achieved. I had however, overlooked the issue of balancing between the needs of lower achieving students and higher achievers.

My focus from January to June had been towards raising the standards of the bottom 25. They improved beyond my target of 10%. Unfortunately, some of the higher achievers stagnated and did not achieve their own personal goals. Lesson learnt.

Just as you thought that the rains have stopped and the sun had begun to scorch this rain drenched land, it began pouring mightily again. God does love me!

Have a luvly week... or what's left of it!

What a beaut of a weekend! no... we did not go to the overrated, overhyped and overpriced RWMF. Instead, we jetted over to Klang and celebrated Theodore Ravin Nathan's 1st Birthday. He was so goggle-eyed and awed by the many people who turned up (actually, i reckoned it was because of the A&W Bear mascot who made an appearance).

We got to KLIA at 9pm and got down to helping with the party. Arnold and Chery had most of it under control so we ended up babysitting Theo & David. What a blast it was to see the two lads playing together! I am so pleased with David for being big-hearted enough to let Theo have his way and 'telling him off' when Theo misbehaved. He really is turning into a granpa.

David ended up being the only kid not scared of the Bear and ipso facto ( i know, wrong usage), scared the guy in the bear suit! It was a blistering 31 degrees C in the shade on Saturday and David made Bear guy dance and jump and carry for nearly 45 minutes. At the end of the games and torture, he told us, "Budak tu buat aku takut la..." (That boy scares me). I love my son.

He slept on the way home to Kuching last night. A very happy boy.

We had a rather disturbing check-in at the airport last night. Only 4 domestic counters were open during one of the more busier times at KLIA. The lines were long and the counter staff were taking ages to check people in. The flight took off 20 minutes late (BUT inflight service was excellent, well done to Cabin Crew Boss Alexander of MH 2532 and team). Apparently, there's a SILENT work-to-rule/go slow protest happening with some parts of Malaysia Airlines over some staff appraisal cock-up. The newsies have reported that people in there aren't the happiest of campers around. That, compounded with the B777 damaged in Europe & the aerobridge collapsing and taking off the door of an Airbus A330, has indeed taken morale to an all time low.

Darren's been in Kuching for the weekend but small as this town is, i haven't had time to see him, let alone meet & bring him out for food. Must try today BUT classes starting at Unimas today... boo hoo hoo. Don't get me wrong; i enjoy teaching those classes but family is still family, right... especially Darren. Hmm... wonder how pissed tired he got yesterday...

Rachael: your posts have never bored me. amused? yes. bored? never. You're too fruity and loopy, cuz.

Ben: How the interview? OK kah?

Later, Boys & Girls.

For more on the family and stuff, read Linda's blog. It's verbose and full of hidden mickeys meanings.

Thus begin the ONLY crazy weekend in Kuching; The RWMF at Santubong (Rainforest World Music Festival). ALL hotels are fully booked. Yup, even the seedy 2 star ones have one or two rooms left. It's a crime that the hotel previously known as Holiday Inn Damai Lagoon Resort could not be completed in time, hence, causing the loss of 200+ rooms and cancelled bookings by those last minute type folks (read, Malaysians).

The latest buzz around is that they've relaxed the security at the festival by allowing more people in. Going by the murmurings of veteran RWMFers, last year's fest was as interesting as a deflated rubber balloon.

My cousin Darren is finally attending the fest, so three cheers for the festival virgin!

We are soooo off going to the RWMF. After David arrived, it just wasnt / isn't / not going to be possible. I'm glad we went together previously. The atmosphere was electrifying. The sound -albeit wonky, at times -was loud enough to blow yer socks off. The very fact that one was at the foot of Mount Santubong - a place laced with enough legends, spooky happenings 'dan lain-lain' to make Bram Stoker want to migrate - was fantastic --- and so was the amount of canned booze we brought to *ahem* share with the visitors around us.

That was then...

We are so married. Just the other day we realised how much we were into the whole young parents thing. It was David this, David that and "have you packed his..., what about his blanket...."!!! Is is worth it? Without a doubt, i would say yes. He is worth every moment of it.

Would i do things differently if i had another shot at life? Interestingly, Linda and I would change just ONE point in our lives. GETTING MARRIED EARLIER INSTEAD OF BEING NUTTERS WHO ENDURED 4 YEARS OF SEPARATION AND A LONG DISTANCE RELATIONSHIP BEFORE GETTING HITCHED.

Ah... There, i've said it.

Happy New Semester to Rachael as she begins slogging till Christmas. Love ya, Cuz.

AND to Ben, two big thumbs-up for getting through the selection process. You are one step closer to your DG41 PxTx starting salary, plus regional allowance, housing allowance, hardship allowance....

Enjoy your weekend, y'all!

Activities coming up:

1. BB Sarawak Camp organised by us!
2. Theo's (our nephew in Klang) birthday celebration on the 14th.
3. ESE classes starting on the 16th.

The plate is looking fuller by the day.

The haze has returned! So much for the extended rainy season. So far, it's thin and light. We expect it to become thicker and heavier. More rain please!

We had dinner last night at a cafe serving food from the Phillippines. It's called "Pinoy Ihaw-Ihaw" which literally means "grilled or barbecued food" (ihaw-ihaw) of Filipinos (pinoy). I was told that it's in the masculine form. Feminine: Pinay (Filipina).

We had Lumpiang Shanghai & Fresh Lumpia (spring rolls; both fried and fresh), Kare-kare Oxtail (oxtail cooked with fresh leafy vegetables & eggplant in a creamy peanut sauce) and Tortang Talong (eggplant omelette). Linda had the extremely fresh and pure starfruit juice while i had a surprisingly refreshing mango juice. I'm so glad that these fellas did not use MSG (or even if they did, you could not taste nor feel it) or lace their fresh juices in sugar.

We patronised the cafe last month when Cheryl, Arnold and Theo were around. Cheryl and Arnold were unanimous in their pronouncement that this place served really good Pinoy food. Bear in mind that Cheryl's not just from the Phillippines but also Manila to boot! Their Crispy Pata is also excellent. Have a go, you won't be dissapointed. Oh, it ain't halal (Crispy Pata is deep fried pork leg).

Back to work. I have to end as abruptly as the series ending for the Sopranos.