We had a wonderful weekend, this. Arnold, Cheryl and Theo Nathan flew over from Nilai. It was a blast. Theo and David had so much fun enjoying each other's company. Parting was really. really excruciating. They were oh so sad.

We did the croc farm, 'tambang' boat ride up the Sarawak River, had crabs at a restaurant (although this restaurant's food standards were not as high as they used to be... bad), enjoyed a fantastic dinner at Pinoy along Padungan Road, and watched the two monkeys play the whole day!

Here are some pictures to go along with the words above!








and David took this shot himself.

Goodness... Kuching's slowly becoming a 'wired' city. Even my neighbourhood 'kopitiam' (coffee shop) has free WiFi ! And, the uncle here makes one of the best coffee in Kuching. He's been in the trade since he was 15 years old.

Being a designated cluster school is nice but, there are accompanying headaches. Firstly, the mountains of paperwork to get through - this is before getting the cluster status and even now. Every single thing we do, buy, learn or think must be documented.

Secondly, the scrutiny - i've lost count as to how many 'guests' we've hosted from the Ministry of Education who've come to look into our planning and implementation.

Thirdly, the 'red tape' - i guess all these checks and balances are necessary to ensure that the money given to us is spent wisely. However, give us a break and trust us a little, please....

Aside from the challenges outlined above, we're glad to get the cluster status and the assistance which we've been waiting for since 1997 &, Oh, i'm speaking from the perspective of our wind orchestra. Thank God for our WOTeam led by Rabiah Hj Ghani which includes Goh Hui Leng, Rosmuna Putit and myself. I'm so blessed to work with them and i hope i won't let them down.

Check out our new Wind Orchestra blog at The SainsKu Winds.

We had an Otago Alumni gathering last night at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Lindsay Brown, the Chancellor himself, hosted the event together with Alison Finigan, Head of Alumni & Development. Orlnda had fun although it wasn't her university. She came out of the event feeling that Otago is a very exceptional place to study and was impressed with the down-to-earth qualities of the Chancellor when compared to those "elsewhere". According to her there was none of the stuffiness and aloofness often associated with persons holding positions of high standings in society. So, well done. It helps that he was a Scarfie himself!

We'd intended to stay until half past 7 but ended up leaving only at 9:25!

We also met-up with Dorothy Vatsaloo, a friend we've not been in contact with for ages.She's now teaching in Sunway College Kuching There was much to be talked about and it contributed a great deal to the late departure from the event!

Coincidentally, we bumped into Abdul Aziz bin Mohd. Hassan, who now works in the Malaysian Examinations Syndicate. He left Otago at the end of the year i got there. He's doing fun stuff in the Psychometric Unit there. We too had a lot of catching up to do. Aziz was in Kuching on TDY (temporary duty) observing schools around Sarawak. It was a pleasure talking to you again, Aziz!

We had fun. It's always nice to reminisce - especially the times when one was young and reckless.

Thank God, I'm turning 32 this year!

It's Saturday morning. I'm helping at the Kuching Debate League being held in INTI UC. Linda and I are helping to judge the debate rounds. Loads of first timers and it should be interesting. Woo-hoo...

I may have come across sounding pessimistic but, in reality, i'm quite excited that this idea has finally taken off. Aside from the Yayasan Sarawak Debates and the Swinburne Debates, there's nothing else. We're looking at doing this on a monthly basis and keep it relevant to the colleges, universities, and schools. Raising the bar, so to speak.

It should be a whole load of fun.

I'm hungry.