I am a School Warden, and Hear Me Roar

I am just back from looking after some 300+ students in the school hostel. Its only babysitting the students, making sure they do stuff on schedule and hoping nothing bad happens during my time on duty.

What are the bad things that may happen you asked? Children are still children. Accidents during sports. They might fall off the stairs. Brawling rarely happens, but its a possibility. Some students may have high fever in the middle of the night. They might got food poisoning. Unauthorized personals invading the hostels. Or the students decided they wanted to go out of the hostel grounds without permission. The list can be quite long....

There are 7 wardens, all of us are also teachers, three men and four women. Only me and a fellow male teacher live outside the school compound. (I love my house anyway, and do not wish to stay apart long with it). Close proximity to the students will be BAD for a warden's health. There'll be constant knocking on the door, and endless stream of questions from both students and parents during the weekend. From 'when can we go out' to 'can I bring my child out for her grandma's wedding'.

Every wardens has his / her own style. And mine is 'in your face' approach.

If I don't like a student (behavior) I will tell the rest that I hate that particular human being and his associates will also feel the heat. I don't usually sugarcoat my words because I always believe honesty is the best policy.

Some may wonder in shock, WTH are you posing as a teacher then? From my 14 years experience, my observation of human (student) nature is; they will never change in school. A good student may improve, but an average or the bad ones may continue being so for the rest of the year. I am talking in behavioral terms, not academic. A tardy boy will continue being late, and a hardworking girl will continue creating great diagrams in her homework.

So what kind of children do you have?

The best way to change children's mind for the better is by telling them why they must do so, making them UNDERSTAND what will happen if they fail. Yes, talk to them to nail in the facts, properly.

This may prove very hard because usually peer pressure will destroy this holy task of yours.

So I always turns to BLACKMAILING instead. The next best thing.

You don't do what I ask, I will never look at your face again. You will make 5 copy of this correction paper if you fail my test. You will stand the entire hour in my class if you are late. You will acknowledge yourself as an idiot if you fail to answer me, even after I told you to read. You will sit in the middle of the corridor if you fail to hand in your work etc etc.

Harsh. (Not very) brutal. But it works. I don't do much shouting anymore when I found out that the results will be much the same without any screaming. Now I aim for their ego.

Anyway, picture time!

I used my younger prefects to set up the hall for yesterday's ceremony. These students work directly under me and know what will happen if I don't get my way. So everything went fast and smoothly. If I use the average students instead, sharp and abusive words may have to be expressed to have the job done. (They will play... oh how they play....)
Oh and this was about 930 in the evening....

The next day, when all of them are in school prefects uniform. I didn't have to tell them twice (now that's a teacher's wet dream). You girls sweep and you boys pick up the pigeons' feathers (our school is infested with these flying vermin). Observe and Obey, my personal motto.

You just cannot win the war by playing nice. The Dark Side of the Force can have things done too :)

Needful Things and Wanting Stuff

I have just started a new hobby four months ago.... which is collecting MONEY. (You may also call it saving, you boring people you).

Usually by almost the end of every month, I would have some cash to spare and always ended up spending it all up before payday. I know its a very very bad habit, and I did waste thousands upon thousands on the little things that amused me.... but still, I think they were well spent. I am going to be 40 soon and it would be stabbing on my own proverbial back if I don't save some for the rainy days....

(I actually LOVE rain and the cold weather, mind you).

So since four months ago I set aside quite a significant amount of money (in fact, I transferred it to another bank for NOT ease of use). The amount I set aside monthly is always the same, for me to remember. And still at the end of every month, I still have some surplus.... (what the hell have I spent on before this?!)

And now I wondered.... if I started saving YEARS ago, I might be as rich as Scrooge McDuck or Toupee Trump!

Yesterday my mom gave me a lot of cash money, my small share from the sale of one of our houses. I immediately put the money into my collection bank! A few friends who know my new hobby said I should put it in some trust fund for maximum profit. I think I will do it later next year.

For now.... other than new PS4 games (fortunately the titles I really like are very few in between) I don't want anything else. But I NEED to repair the gates, and my house sink. That will not cost an arm or a leg :)

If I work much harder, I can accumulate more money... That's why I don't hate rich people because I know most of them work hard for it. I am just lazy, and only make so and so.

p.s. - I was thinking what to post earlier as I was browsing through your blogs.... :)

The Greatest Author on This Planet; Sir Terry Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015)

This may come WAY so late, writing about somebody who passed away much early this year. But I just kickstarted my blog (again) and at least I may run away with that excuse, eh?

Once in 1997 I was bored and decided to buy a book with my own money (yes, yes, i admit I have STOLEN a great deal of books from people and EVEN libraries.... but that was way when I had few cash to spare, and good books were (and still) expensive). So I visited Kinokuniya of SOGO, the nearest bookstore to the light railway transit station I board to go home.

I love fantasy. And was very familiar with most of the good authors and titles. But the fantasy section in the bookstore was dismally inadequate. Only a measly row remained, with titles I had never heard of. As I did not wish to go empty handed, I picked up a few books to look.

And yes, I am someone who JUDGED a book by its cover.

(And I rarely open a book for a quick read before buying).

In the midst of those few books was a purple blue one.

Heck, the cover is bloody ugly, I thought, no wonder nobody wants it. I turned it to read the blurb;

"FAERIE TRASH.   Ever wonder what those magic circles of stones in the English countryside are for? They're to keep the elves out.

Elves are nasty (besides being brutish and short). They're vicious. They love cruelty. Plus to make things worse, they have got IT. Glamour. Style. Humans find elves absolutely irresistible. They actually think elves are cute!

So when an infestation of faerie Trash invades the Kingdom of Lancre, upsetting the Royal Wedding Plans, the ordinary people of Lancre are helpless. It's up to the witches, led by Granny Weatherax, to deal with the vicious little bastards.

Which is all right with Granny. She thinks elves are cute, too. And that makes them even more fun to kill."

I never smile while reading a book. And this blurb created an instant miracle!

I love fairy tales. And here is an author who tries to be funny in fantasy. 

I broke my own rule to judge a book by the cover, bought it and left for the station.

In the train, I opened and started to read. And it happened again, me smiling! The book was so cleverly funny that I continued reading it and finish all 281 pages that very evening.

I was smitten. Never an author had that power over me. I returned the next day after class and bought every single book by the same author (I only got two). I walked to further bookstores to acquire more titles. Traveled across states and one time, used my penpal in America to get me a couple of elusive titles (Amazon.com and online shopping were still unknown back then).

I even got some of his collaborations with other authors.

Yes, he is THAT good. Try him.

So when Sir Terry Pratchett died of Alzheimer's last March, you can say there was a small yet significant hole in my soul. This was a man, who I never met, but through his writings conveyed fantastic little miracles. He created memorable and powerful characters to emulate and hate. Elegance of words even in crude jokes. Observation of the human psyche, and the truth about human nature.

He was the greatest author who ever lived, because he made me smile (and think).

There will never be a new Discworld novel... and I have to wait for the final book to reach this shores still..... But farewell and goodbye Good Sir, your stories will live on within millions of readers who (may accidentally) stumbled upon your works....

p.s. - I found out that in later publishing, the covers of Pratchett's books had improved somewhat :)

Vain vain Vanity Yay!

I was vain (2013) and still am :)

Of Star Wars and Pink Netbooks

My housemates never watched Star Wars before, and as I am so hyped for the latest 

installment this December ("The Force Awakens"), I had to force them to watch both 

previous trilogies on my Bluray player (and yes, I have the box dvd, every fan should 

have wot?)

So, two nights ago we started on “Star Wars IV; A New Hope” and last night we 

continued with “Star Wars V; The Empire Strikes Back”. When I asked them when do

 they think the films were made, both said maybe earlier this millennium. When I told them the first movie was released in 1977, they cannot believe it at first. Heck, even I 
cannot believe it myself while watching starcruisers chasing the 
Millennium Falcon on glorious HDTV. Its cinematic orgasm, I tell ye!

Anyway that is beside the point. I was born a year after the first Star Wars, 
but was only

 able to watch it in the late 1980s, when we had our first colour tv. I didn't understand 

much at the time, but heck EVERYBODY knows Darth Vader. I even wished to grow up to be a Sith Lord (no secret there to those who knew me). Galactic domination! Red 

lightsabers are cool! And to kill anyone through tv screens! Yay!

(Makes me very good in reading people... and then manipulating them later)

I am typing all this using an Acer netbook. My Asus notebook died on me after only a 

year (making me hate the brand and not wanting to do anything with it anymore). A 

netbook is indeed smaller, and WAY slower. But it does it job, as I only use this 
netbook to blog and do some light work and browsing.

But some people just cannot understand why the colour is pink.... 
(“It’s so not you....”) I told them

 that was the only colour left, when all the blues, reds and silvers were out of stock. 
And is it so hard

 to imagine a Sith Lord with a pink death ray console?

Anyhow I read somewhere; it is a very brave man who sports pink (not gay, ok!)

Hazing the Neighbours....

This picture was taken earlier today, at 10.50 am. Nope, it wasn't fog. It's the bloody haze.

My school is on top of a hill, Bukit Merchat (or Mer-chut Hill to you English speaking people). We have a spectacular view of the surrounding, and from over elevation, can see kilometres away. The haze has made this impossible for months now...

Indonesia is on fire.... The country surrounding Malaysia is burning its jungles for new plantations. Smoke and ash are spread throughout South East Asia and the neighbouring countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines are affected. This happens EVERY FREAKING YEAR!

The air was so polluted that some states close schools because of the high API (air pollution index). In the picture, our API is about 128.... Just imagine in south Sumatra, Indonesia, some parts reached 800 - 1000 units.

And yesterday in the news, a minister from Indonesia asked why must they apologize for the haze?

....... some people are born stupid it seems....

Almost A Year Without Blogging....

Facebook kills blogging.....

I used to blog frequently once. And made it a point to post a few entries every month without fail. I met many good people here, read their blogs and commenting on their posts. And they did the same with mine too.

Then enter Facebook.... (I don't do any Instagram, Tweeter etc as I see no point in having more social accounts.) Snapping a picture and updating it online is SO easy with my mobile phone. Updating a status anytime, anywhere and anyhow is a breeze, with some clicks on the digital keyboard.

I was enthralled, like the millions of people all over the planet.

Facebook is king. Everybody must have an account. Everybody must be connected there. There is no escape.

Once upon a time I believed that e-mail @ the internet killed snail mail. I had some penpals all over the globe and we wrote religiously to each other MONTHLY. As the age of the internet peaked in the late 90s, I found it was tedious to write long, descriptive pages. This sentiments must be shared by my penpals as we all drifted from each other.... and I have none left.

All this for the sake of progress (?)

Now I think I should start blogging all over again. (Yes yes I know some of you have heard this before). I will try to limit my time on Facebook, and give blogging a go once again.

May the Force be with me. Yay!