this is how my weeknights for last week went:

mon-watched harry potter and the half-blood prince
tues-watched blindness
wed-stoned and did nothing
thurs-watched finale of Prison Break
fri-went for translation class. mercifully, i stayed for the entire thing

think i should kick some butt and involve myself more in activities. i feel quite lazy. haha. then again, i like how i can just stone in front of the television and not think, letting it guide me whichever way it deems fit.

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brought some kiddos to the Temasek Seminar, a platform organised by Mindef Scholarship Centre to engage our best and brightest in defence and security issues

actually i quite enjoyed myself. before the speeches, this LTC from the Navy tried to entertain us and the kids from River Valley High and I was quite impressed with his easy charm and witty way of using simple analogies to convey ideas and pitch at the intellectual level of adolescents. it definitely made me think about whether i am an effective communicator in class and how i could break down complex ideas using things that youths are familiar with and passionate about. hmm, i think this sort of finesse is primarily acquired with time. which then leads to my burning question of all time: how does one acquire depth beyond his years ah?

i think DPM Teo Chee Hean was quite marvellous. he did a very good round-up of the presenters' speeches and helped draw the connections before commencing the forum. he appeared quite sincere in wanting to listen and more than once asked the student to answer her/his question before venturing a response. he encouraged students to respond to one another's concerns. it's quite different from the Q & A format that I expected and am accustomed to. i think it takes a gregarious and confident person to be able to shape the dialogue in such an interactive and collaborative manner.

some student brought up how MM Lee Kwan Yew commended how one could just leave newspapers and a bowl unattended to in the 1950s and no one would steal the money and newspaper copies. it was a question that commanded the audience's imagination quite tenaciously after Mr Teo Chee Hean tweaked the anecdote as such: If this were to happen in your school, do you think this project would succeed? It dominated the bulk of the discussion as people were compelled to share of their experiences in sec sch and/or make side comments to add on to the inputs.

is there any society out there that can exhibit such an atmosphere of trust? or is that only an utopia?

it was a good-refreshing-opportunity to hear the youngsters express their struggle to identify with Singapore. which prompted another question in my mind: years after now, would i lament the fact that i have never worked overseas?

i think the challenge of being a Generation Y citizen is that while we are privileged to have choices, it is so darn difficult to make an informed decision when you know that you may change to be someone different, which would be at odds with the person who made that decision all these years ago. In theory, one can come to terms with not making the best decision on hindsight but doesn't a void constantly remind?

i wonder if i had gone into mass comms all these years ago, would i be struggling now to enter the teaching profession? On some days, i have this strong urge to find answers even when i know there're none.