Happy Teachers' Day

Hmm it's a bit surreal, to see American cities flooded like they were in Bangladesh. You get the impression, after a while, that the United States are indestructible, that calamity will never befall them, that they may as well be living in another world. But here comes the biggest hurricane in living memory, and after bashing its way through the Caribbean it slices into great America, only blowing itself out when it gets to the Great Lakes. And you're reminded that nobody's immortal. And the images of destruction and flooding and despair make America seem to belong more to the real world than ever; one is reminded that they too can, and must, feel anguish once in a while.

Probably the only country more delusional and unlikely than the US is Singapore.

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It looks like I'm triple-booked on Mon next week. Was supposed to go to school for makeup lessons. Then MAS sends this invitation to a tea session, which I wanted to decline anyway. And then MFA changes their tea session to clash directly with the MAS thing. Heh, if I were a conspiracist, I'd say they were forcing you to choose between the two, much like RJ and HC always schedule their open houses on the same day. But oh well...it looks like MFA's going to have to take precedence.

Other uni application things...hmph. I'm beginning to reconsider whether it's such a good idea to offer free help for the uni apps. People are starting to look at me suspiciously. Well, it would be a lie to say that I don't expect anything in return, but heaven knows I'm not going to ask for it. The playing field is already unfair enough as it is, and the original idea was to maximise gains by minimising the competition a la Game Theory. But it seems like whatever I can do will not be enough to defeat the competitive mentality of this particular game we're playing. So, for the record, here are the ground rules I will play by:

I will not expect anyone to offer me help.
But I do expect the usual amount of respect for my privacy and integrity.
I will offer anyone help, but the amount and nature of help will be determined by me, because of the sensitive nature of the information that I may hold.
I will not deliberately gear to harm any one person's chances.
I will always avoid infringing other people's dignity and privacy.

Of course, it may seem a bit weird, taking all that trouble to get into a good strategic position and then not using it. Bluntly put, I just enjoy the feeling of security. And the feeling of security is reinforced not by frightening other people off, but by building goodwill.

And I realise that it's hard not to sound arrogant when I'm talking about this issue. It's just that I haven't gotten used to all the ramifications of this particular strategic position yet. Strangely enough, I find it much easier to offer assistance to people in science. Perhaps it's cos their applications are to wholly different faculties, so there's no direct threat. And maybe it's also because I know so much less about their courses, and I can help less, that allows me to be more carefree with it, instead of having to worry so much about upsetting the balance too much.

I wonder if anyone else is playing by rules - any rules - in this game...

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Heh, I seem to be seeing everything in terms of WAVW. Probably that's because I've finished the quote thematiser for it! Managed to keep it from overshooting 50 pages. The ending of that script is superb stuff...the construction of the plotlines is so intricate that I ended up quoting virtually every line on some pages, because there are just so many patterns and connections to investigate. The whole play is a masterpiece of reality-construction...the way Albee brings in elements from earlier parts of the play to haunt the plotline near the end is brilliant. I especially like the superb and incisive irony of the actual death declaration...the echo of the previous story is so devious that it cuts like a laser through the consciousness, and I can only stand in awe at George's (and Albee's) tactical mastery. Those people are really pro players.

Tomorrow, shall start on the last Quote Thematiser of these two years - the Heart of Darkness one. Hopefully it won't be nearly as long, though I do think it's an equally rich book, if not richer. Of course, this is only the easy part, the enjoyable bit. The hard part will come when I'm trying to memorise bits of these two books.

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Teachers' Day today was really really good. Got a sizable proportion of the class down in school, and all our teachers were there too. Purvis brought along his sister (the real "Jean", as it were =P) and his niece, while Rolly brought his three kids (who are stunningly beautiful...no wonder they can actually do child modelling). A bunch of us got presents for each of them. The best was a Lego boat for the Conradian Sea Captain, Batchelor, and a placard for Purvis warning Oxbridge people to stay away from him (a good idea, if I do say so myself =P) And of course, each tr also got beer (one or two bottles, depending on how confident we were of scoring in the prelims...which is why Tay ended up with an armful of alcohol...).

It's rather sad, really, though it was a very nice little party we had going there. This is going to be the last Teachers' Day ever (they don't celebrate it in uni, do they?), and our teachers have been excellent, every single one of them. I don't think I can explain what I think of each of them...they're really too complicated as people for me to be able to do justice to them with my meagre linguistic grasp. But it has been...enriching. An enriching two years. And it has been a pleasure to be in their classes. And it's great to know it's a two way thing.

Heh...to think there were so many troubles to begin with, back in the beginning of last year. But somehow or other, I find myself at the end of the tunnel, having grown to treasure this class and its teachers. These three classes. Our batch of Humanities people. What were the right decisions that were made along the way? How is it that the intersection of all our experiences have resulted in such a wondrous construct? I've no idea how it happened, but somewhere along the line, something right happened. And it is a real pity that it's only now that I begin to appreciate that.

pondered by phoenican @ 31.8.05