thatjedi

I caught the “Curse of the Golden Flower” in one of the GV screens on New Year’s Day.

What a great movie! Good fighting scenes, strong leading casts (Chow Yuen Fatt and Gong Li), impressive computer effects and good plot all made my $9.50 worthed it. In fact, the climactic battle scene reminded me of the Lord of the Rings.

And I also wonder how the actresses were able to breathe properly while filming, if you know what I mean.

Some said Jay Chou’s acting wasn’t good, but I thought it was fine.

Anyway, one big thing about the plot was this: If a man takes more than one wife, there is a risk of problems occuring many years down the road that cannot be foreseen.

Go watch it.

And the new cycle begins.

My alarm this morning signalled, rather rudely, the beginning of a whole new work year of 2007.

When you have been so carefree for the past few weeks, waking up to a multi-portfolio of responsibilities was simply not immediately welcomed. Reminding myself that I had imbibed “Who Moved My Cheese?” some years ago, I silently chided myself for thinking as such.

And so school had begun. It was mainly administrative stuff that form teachers had to perform with their classes today.

And I really wonder how a few parents could overlook having their children come to school with very long and coloured hair. Just what the bloody hell are they doing at home? Breeding primates?

I’ll be seeing most of my classes for the rest of this week. Somehow I’ll look forward to seeing my N Level students coming back to pursue their O Levels this year. I’ve been teaching them for a few years already, from the time they studied General Science to the time they handled Science(Physics).

Let’s see how it goes.

It was great sleeping through the night with the heavens pouring. Being enveloped between my soft mattress and my warm blanket made it feel like paradise. The sound of pelting raindrops on the streets below my place was rhythmic and in a way, soothing.

Off to slumberland I went. Such luxury!

And then I had to go to work this morning. The storm was still raging on. The streets were still dark, and the raindrops smashing to the wet ground made the reflections of lamppost lights shimmer like crazy.

Breakfast over, and I got changed. Next thing: step out and journey to my school.

What a storm it was. Inches of water layered the ground, with thousands of litres more from the dark morning sky rushing down to add to them. I was thankful I chose to wear sandals and not shoes to work. Of course I had my old trusted brolly to keep myself - my upper body - my head dry.

Many years ago, in a galaxy far, far away, my fellow Jedi Obi-Wan had encountered this weather on Kamino. He had gone there to investigate this mysterious planet that somehow got deleted from the Jedi Archives. In the process, he had fought with Jango Fett, a bounty hunter. All in the torrential rain.

I was just walking in the rain, so I shouldn’t complain too much.

It was quite an experience to be walking through such heavy downpour that resulted in 345mm of water in 20 hours.

I was actually walking through more than a month’s worth of the usual rainfall in Singapore within those few minutes! I kept thinking of Kamino throughout.

This morning I was walking through water. Any heavier, and I would have required a scuba tank or gills to breathe!

There was a letter to the Forum yesterday criticising the recently-concluded “The Finer Side” TV programme.

It said the show was just glamourising wealth and the lifestyles of the rich and famous. The show was classified as “Info-Ed”.

I had watched a few episodes of that. Somehow I agree with the writer, although I am not too much bothered by it.

The show was just presented in THAT way. I was wondering, if this show was indeed “Info-Ed”, how educational was it?

Actually I don’t know! The show didn’t really inform us how much trouble these rich and famous had gone through to accumulate their wealth. We could have learnt a thing or two from them about the values of hard work and entrepreneurship. They also did not showcase how they try to contribute a portion to the charities (or do they at all?), which is a more worthwhile allocation of their riches.

Perhaps I am asking too much from a 30-minute presentation…

Anyway, the show should have taken a more sensitive slant in its perspective. After all, only a small percentage of people can achieve that social status. There are a lot of people out there struggling to make ends meet.

Just talk to any grassroots leader, and he/she could tell you the number of people crying out to MPs for financial help (yes, there are also some frivolous requests to MPs).

When I had scanned through my students’ background to suss out the potentially needy ones, I could pick out a handful that are making the best out of what they have.

Just some thoughts on a rainy Sunday morning.

It’s been three years.

I stood on the pavement, all decked out in my sportswear: singlet, shorts and running shoes.

I looked ahead with some feeling of uncertainty. I then decided to just do it.

So off I went. I placed one foot ahead of the other incessantly, steadily and rythmically. I regulated my breathing.

I tried to enjoy the view around me. It was okay not to have lush greenery. Urban view was fine: walking pedestrians, strolling elderly, happy mothers and their prams, youths chatting on their handphones, and cyclists ocassionally ringing me from behind.

I jogged on. But it was tough, not having been in action since my ankle fracture three years ago. Oh! That painful moment!

I found myself not as fast as before. I wasn’t exactly having satisfactory stamina. My legs began to protest after a short while. My cardiovascular system yelled for more oxygen within minutes.

I pressed on. It wasn’t about how fast I went, I just wanted to complete this short run without stopping. Mentally I flashed back about a decade ago. I conquered the hilly terrain of my campus fairly easily at unearthly hours during my varsity days. Being a hostelite enabled me to jog at midnight. Flash back a few more years earlier, and you’d see me in green camouflage uniform running around, even in Full Battle Order, fighting mock enemy in exercises.

And I finally did it. I finished what I wanted to do. This time I just ran for ten minutes. But it was enough after being out of action for three years.

The moment I stopped, my legs went almost completely numb. I had to breathe hard to supply enough oxygen for my red blood cells to do their job. The metal implants holding my ankle intact worked well. Only slight discomfort, that was all.

I’ve read that professional sportsmen with my condition are able to play again within months. I’m no professional, so I’ll just take it easy.

I’ll be back.

News report #1: Economy is good. Growth rate revised upwards.

Okay, good for the country….

News report #2: Civil servants getting 2.2 months bonus this year.

Great! That’s good news!

News report #3: Civil servants to be paid more.

Wooohooo!!!

Trust our government to know how to tease us with trailers like these.

#1: Misguided Obsession with Ideals

Alright, many people are idealistic. But what’s the use if they are grossly misguided? I can’t imagine people running the show when all they know is to sprout ideals and quote from journals and texts.

I remain totally unimpressed.

Do they know the ground situation/sentiments? Do they fully understand cause-and-effect? In Chinese, we say “dui4 niu2 tan2 qin2″. It translates to “playing music to a cow”. It means you play music to a cow with the false hope that it fully appreciates and understands what you are doing.

Get on the ground. Get your hands dirty. Slog through what we slog through. Ignore our feedback at your own peril.

#2: Premature Mortality

Death happens to every living thing. It is an unescapable fact. That is what we know. We read about it in the papers and texts. We see it being faked and dramatised in movies.

What if death claims a life prematurely?

My first “experience” with this came when I was in JC. Two of my peers passed away within seven days of each other. One from a freak accident, the other from complications after a surgery.

At that tender age, my thoughts on life then was that it was a whole stretch of time ahead of us. In every single one of us. We are entitled to it.

And when the vicious axe of mortality struck down two of my peers, seemingly so swiftly, it shook me for some time. I had joked and laughed with both of them before…and now they were….somewhere else? They haven’t done their NS yet!

And so I came to terms with that. Life is not predictable. Throughout the years, I’ve picked out three of my school ex-teachers (all relatively young) and another classmate who had appeared in the obituaries.

Life can end suddenly.

Just last week, Dr Toh passed away in his sleep. It was reported in the Chinese tabloids and CNA. Many turned up to mourn for him. They described him as a very approachable and caring young doctor.

Thank you once again, Dr Toh, for giving me a lift last year althougb we didn’t know each other before that. Rest in peace.

From Straits Times Interactive (http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg)

Oct 30, 2006
S’poreans upgrade their own homes but downgrade social behavior. What a shame

I refer to Mr Ho Chin Hwa’s letter in the online forum on the littering problem in Little India.
Granted that our some of the foreign workers bring with them unacceptable behaviour such as littering, I think we had better put our own house in order first before pointing our fingers at them.

Everyday on my journey to work, I travel along Tiong Bahru Road, Leng Kee Road and Jalan Bukit Merah and all I see is litter everywhere.

The new HDB block where my god-son lives is messed up with new litter every morning. The plant areas along the road from Tiong Bahru Plaza have all sorts of plastic and paper waste which seem to come from the shopping mall.

The foreign workers I see here are those who are doing the hard job of cleaning our city.

Let it not be said that only the heartlanders litter. Last Sunday on my journey from Upper Thompson through Lornie Road, Farrer Road and Queensway, where the private housing estates are, there was hardly a stretch of road that was free of litter.

Even the Padang is often ringed with rubbish.

I am not old enough to remember the 1960s, but I have the impression that things have gotten worse in the past decade. Why is it that while we upgrade our own homes and lifestyles, we downgrade our behaviour?

I expect to see a mountain of garbage whenever Singaporeans gather for the pasar malam, community events, Singapore River Regatta, Chingay and even National Day Parade.

Martin Goh’s letter of 14th October about the bad behavior of some Singaporeans almost got it right. What he missed out was that many Singaporeans are also contented to ‘live like pigs’ wallowing in filth.

Perhaps it is tied to the thinking that there will always be others to clean up after them - the maid at home, and the cleaner in the streets.

Let me share this. I always feel humbled by the behaviour of our guest workers from the Philippines. They used to gather for picnics in the green space at Orchard Road MRT Station, and they always clean up after their fun.

They leave all their rubbish in the bins provided or neatly tie up the rubbish bags and leave them next to the refuse bins

If we don’t respect our own city or obey our own rules, why should we expect our guest workers to do it?

Something has gone wrong somewhere - and something needs to be done.

Kelvin Ang Kah Eng

—————————————————-

Somehow, Singaporeans are really lacking in care for the environment. Perhaps the writer is right, many of us just simply assume that it is the job of maids and cleaners to clear up the litter. Pride in the environment is non-existent.

If we implement more fines and launch more campaigns, Singaporeans will cry out “Nanny State!” again.

So how?

The acklay stared furiously at the lone figure twenty metres away.

It was hungry. Very hungry. This lone thing here was meant to be the acklay’s meal, just like any other thing put in this execution arena of Geonosis.

The lone figure stood silently, anticipating the acklay’s every move. His posture was entirely defensive. After all, he was put here out of Count Dooku’s evil, perverted pleasure of seeing a human chewed up by this green three-metre tall carnivore.

The acklay cautiously inched forward. Like any other predator, it studied its prey carefully and calculated the best way to strike its target. Its previous few moves had not yielded results. This small figure was far more agile than any other prey it had ever had.

The lone figure moved back just as the acklay made its slow advance. Boy, this thing’s really scary, he thought. But he couldn’t let fear grab hold of him. Not now. He moved his lightsabre to his front, a more aggressive posture. The whole arena was roaring. The audience - the Geonosian critters - was cheering the acklay on for a bloody kill. The whole atmosphere was deafening.

This potential acklay fodder here couldn’t afford to lose concentration at this moment.

And suddenly the acklay had decided to unleash another attempt to grab its food. It let off a horrible shrill and with its teeth bared, it leapt through the air and had both its front claws stabbing forward at this lone figure.

The lone figure backed off within a split second. Even with all his Jedi training, he had been caught a bit off-guard. He saw two huge deadly claws darting through the air at him. The whole arena erupted in approval at the spectacle, almost sure that they would be seeing the death of this Jedi now.

Desperate to save his own life, and partly motivated not to let Count Dooku have his way, the Jedi swung his lightsabre at the claws hoping to chop them off -

- and one of the claws stabbed right through the fabric of the Jedi’s right sleeve of his robe, the side where the Jedi was holding his lightsabre. The claw pinned his right sleeve down onto the sandy ground, and the Jedi’s body was forced to follow.

The other thrusting claw was intended to stab right through the Jedi’s heart, but due to his fall, the claw landed just beside his head on the ground, with a sickening thud.

The Jedi assessed his own situation now. He was on the ground. His right hand that was holding his lightsabre had been rendered immobile. The claw was firmly pinning his sleeve down. The other claw had embedded itself almost half a metre down into the ground just to the left of the Jedi’s head. Such was its brute strength!

The arena continued to roar in approval. The next move by the acklay would surely be a kill!

The acklay opened its jaws now, and the Jedi could sense its immense confidence creeping up by the second. What could he do now? His weapon - the only means of self-defence - was humming away harmlessly in his right hand. Any attempt to lash out with his other limbs would be futile since he had limited reach.

The Jedi raced through his mind for an answer. He almost saw his own life flash before him. The acklay towered victoriously over him. It was ready to consume its hard earned meal. What would he become seconds later? How would he free himself now? Who could help him now?

The acklay’s mouth was almost over the Jedi’s head now. Like any predator, it would bite the neck of its prey, and with a quick twist, end the life of its prey. But the acklay’s mouth was so huge! Perhaps it could just bite off the Jedi’s head in just one go?

The Jedi felt hopeless and lost. The open mouth reached down towards him, with two rows of sharp teeth ready to do their job. Its thick saliva was already dripping down on his chest.

How does death feel like?

Desperation turned into anger. Fear turned into strength. The Jedi would not take it lying down.

Survive, you idiot! Do it now! These thoughts suddenly screamed at him. Hurry!

Despite the urgency of the situation, the Jedi felt something was - wrong?

He looked up again, perhaps living up the last moments of his life now. All he could see was the acklay’s open, hungry mouth. The whole arena was roaring.

KILL IT!

The Jedi howled furiously and suddenly he felt a tremendous surge of strength as he shot up his left hand at the acklay, and within an instant deadly bolts of Force lightning ripped angrily into the helpless body of the acklay.

It flinched and broke into spasms, totally caught off-guard as the Force lightning swiftly did its damage. It screamed in pain and tried to back off from the lone figure on the ground.

The Jedi continued to howl in anger. His left hand continued to emit the Force lightning. And then he stopped.

The acklay had limped back quite a considerable distance away, shocked and petrified by the sudden turn of events. The Jedi seized his chance. With his right hand now free from the claw, he jumped towards the acklay that was still hurting from his Force lightning.

And with a deliberate swipe, the Jedi decapitated the acklay with his lightsabre. Just like what Mace Windu had done to Jango Fett in this exact arena.

The limp, lifeless body of the acklay slumped down to the ground. The Jedi stood victorious over its carcass. The whole arena, this time, fell silent. It was a rude shock to the audience.

The Jedi composed himself. How the hell had he done that? He found himself breathing very fast, probably due to his anger. He tried to slow it down.

He looked at his Jedi weapon now, and….

It was a red lightsabre! A weapon of the Sith!

His eyes opening wide at this shock discovery, the…Jedi?…Sith?…. tried to make sense of what had happened.

And he suddenly recalled how he’d make the acklay back off. The Force lightning! It was a Sith practice! Emperor Palpatine had used it on Luke Sywalker and Mace Windu!

What in the world was happening to him?

In the stands, he heard Count Dooku laugh amidst the stunned silence. The laughter grew louder….and louder… It punctuated the air.

Count Dooku had managed to lure him into the Dark Side!

Count Dooku had forced him into giving in to his fear and anger, and flow along with it!

“You have done it, young man! You are FREE! The Force has freed YOU!” Count Dooku shouted from the stands.

The lone figure looked up, astonished.

“Remember the Sith Code, my new apprentice!” Count Dooku commanded, and then he went on.

“Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion I gain strength.
Through strength I gain power.
Through power I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free ME!”

“YOU have joined the DAAAARK SIIIIIDE!”

Those words mocked the lone figure, and cut deeply into his mind. What is this? No way he would join the Dark Side!…NO!

…but he had done it, he had given in to his fear and anger. He had even used the Force lightning.

This man was…now a Sith Lord?……still a Jedi?

Count Dooku was still laughing away……

….and then thatjedi shot up from his desk, totally bewildered.

What on earth….?

He looked around. He was no longer in the Geonosian arena. He was back safely in his room. His huge stack of exam papers sat on his desk, made slightly warm by his face as he fell asleep on them after marking.

And in his right hand, thatjedi was holding on to a red lightsabre pen.

Author’s note:
This story is entirely fictional. I just wanted to let my thoughts and imagination run wild after finishing all my exam marking!