Sunday, May 11, 2014

Singapore's J is for Just a bad day

Nope...this post is not about any bad day of mine.... though there are definitely tons of bad days this year for me to bitch about ... =P

 It's actually a performance which Angela was involved in..... and she was one of the main leads oh.... so proud of her!!!!

 She had invited me to bring 蔡 mummy along to watch this performance on 25 April so as to let us have a better understanding of what her course, Applied Drama and Psychology in Singapore Polytechnic, is all about.... 
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Info about the production from the website

"Just A Bad Day

They are everyday people with ordinary lives. You’ve seen them. They’re your neighbours, your colleagues, your mahjong kakis. Their problems are nothing new. But now, they’re asking you to step in.
Three women are faced with different threats – at home, in the office, and at a party. When familiar environments turn hostile and seemingly harmless situations escalate, what choices are they left with?
This forum theatre piece was created by a team of volunteers from all walks of life in Singapore, who came forward to share their stories of violence, oppression and vulnerability.  In a powerful workshop led by theatre practitioner Li Xie, the volunteers molded compelling characters who mirrored their struggles, their society. Your society.
‘Just A Bad Day’ promises to be a stimulating encounter. Through this intimate performance, we hope to provoke thought and discussion on the less tangible forms of violence against women that continue to be a reality in Singapore.
Come and listen to these experiences, share your perspectives and reconsider your assumptions about gender roles, norms and violence against women. And maybe you will discover possibilities – areas you where you can make change in your own life.
About Forum Theatre
The forum theatre format calls for active participation and problem-solving from the audience. It aims to show people how they can change their world. Beyond voicing their opinions, audience members are invited on stage to participate within the world of the play!"
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For those who are interest to me my angela in action or to know more about this program, the next show will be held at Woodlands Community Centre on 8 June... =D
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Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Paper-making with my fifth graders

the focus was on Paper-Making for the whole of term 1 for my P5 pupils.... 

 it started with 'scaring' the pupils that this year's art lessons were gonna to involve a lot of researching, planning, sharing and reflecting and they all went 'HUH?!?! Why like that???' and were ignored!!!!.... oopx 
then there was a ME demonstration in week 2 on how paper can be made from toilet paper with the equipment that we have in the art room. Pupils were strongly encouraged to jot down the procedures into their art journal as mrs ang is one art teacher who does not repeat her instructions and definitely not one who goes around correcting their shortcuts... dun judge me as i learnt this from my art tutor too..... wahahahaha.... =P .... art is just this lovely subject where pupils can afford to make mistakes and then learn from them or make new discoveries from their mistakes oh... =D 

 Hands-on lesson started in week 3 and for this lesson, and only this lesson, all the necessary equipment was prepared for the 7 groups of pupils. After which they had to stock-take, wash them after the lesson and pick them up at the beginning of the rest of the lessons. 

 This was a trial 'strategy' to reduce teacher preparation time which many art teachers had complaint about. And i am glad that i had decided to spend the time to try it out cos the rest of the lessons on paper-making were all super fuss free.... 

 i only needed half an hour per week to prepare the paper pulp before the lesson and then give the green light for the pupils to go ahead to pick up the equipment and then just stood around to take pictures of them at work during lessons.... 

 oh... and the doing it on the corridor and grass patch outside the art room was so that they have more space for movement and also to reduce clean up time...and hence the pupils had more time making their paper... =) 




the different colours and sparkles and glitters were all ideas from the individual groups... some used food dye, others used poster paints, and there were even some who used marker inks....

was really happy when they had the initiatives to bring their own sponges and rags to speed up the process as only 1 of each was provided for each group... =P 

on average, each group could produce up to 5 pieces of recycled paper per lesson.... the first few weren't as perfect as what they hope to achieve




but they soon got the hang of it after a few tries... =) 


extra learning for this group of pupils who overlooked the importance of pouring ALL excess water through the sieve

they ended up having to rake up the dried paper pulp that got stuck on the grass the next lesson and hence had lesser time to make their own paper. 


and with the paper (and scrap) made during the term, Mother's Day cards and Thank You tags were created to be sold at our annual art bazaar... =) 





love this art activity as pupils get to work in groups, practice their communication skills, be in-charge of their creation and improvement, work at their own pace, there are opportunities to make improvement to their skill mastery etc etc etc.... 

would further refine how the lessons were conducted to include some artists study and hopefully a project work (read: bigger artwork) for next year's lessons.... =D 

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Saturday, March 22, 2014

Singapore's I stands for Ice exhibition and ilight 2014

2 degree Ice art exhibition

don't be fool by the '2 degree'... it's actually at -15 degree Celsius .... brrrr.... 

Getting there info: 
Bayfront Mrt station - Exit A - turn right - walk along the pathway for approx 5 minutes and you would reach


adult weekday price - $25
student price - $20 
additional $5 for bubble winter coat rental 

*suggestion: bring your own gloves if possible... the free gloves provided weren't really useful at  keeping the fingers warm in the extreme low temperature

we were the red penguins.... heee




蔡妈妈 in frozen 小桂林



蔡大宝 in frozen paris




蔡二宝 acting gungho and who had refused to put on his gloves so that he could use his phone but scrambled for them within the first 5 minutes.... wahahaha

 btw, this raffles doesn't seem to be proportionate.... kinda too short or was it that the ice had melted??? 




蔡三宝 caught busy selfie-ing the moment she stepped into the display hall... (-.-!!!)


all, except angela who had an leg injury, had fun sliding down the mega huge ice slide 

yes, mummy too.... heee





4/5 of our 全家福 ... as 蔡小宝 was at work and couldn't join us for this outing... =(.... but we still had fun.... wahahahaha... =P
claiming that she's an expert at taking group selfie, all of us snuggled close to take one but then none of us, including the "expert", were starring at the right spot lo... (-.-!!!)



all the 20 sculptures were lined so close together that we completed one round within 30 minutes... 

 knowing that re-entry was possible, we headed out to thaw ourselves.... only to return 10 minutes later at 4.30pm sharp for the 3 minutes "snow fall"... 




fabulous photo of alfred taken by mom.... =P 



me with my hands tucked into the coat as my fingers were in pain due to the freezing cold temperature... =S


angela acting as 真子 while trying to remove the 'snow' from her hair ... heee



we didn't check out the ice bar area... =S , instead we bought snacks at the food corner to keep us entertained while we waited for  蔡小宝 to join us for dinner after his work... 

overall, an unique experience due to the extreme low temperature... wasn't really interested in the sculpture as they were not as intricate or magnificent as what i had expected. The sculptures were also not aesthetically displayed but all lined like sardine right next to each other, creating a very clutter and claustrophobic feeling which i dislike ... =S
dinner was at ding tai feng at mbs before we moved on to i light marina bay 2014 which was held just outside mbs
installations were up since 7 march and the last day for viewing them will be on 30 March, Sunday. Lights on from 730pm till 11pm everyday during this period except for 29 march where the lights would be off for an hour from 830pm to 930pm as part of earth day special.. =) 

There are a total of 28 installations.

 installation: A2 - The Wishing Tree

 first, collect a tag which is attached to 2 light bulbs 
second, pen down your wishes 


mummy wishes for 和平 (peace), i wish for happiness, 


angela wishes for better health, alvin wishes for 'nonsense'


while alfred wishes for the sky... =P 


third, attempt to swing the tag onto the wishing tree
fun yet dangerous  but nobody cares if they get hit or hit anybody.... 



installation : A4 - Happy Croco 



蔡三宝  and 蔡小宝 at installation: A5 - Bedazzled 


Alvin and Alfred at installation: A8 - WeHeartLight 


 on closer look, the individual designs on the panels


installation A9: Joujou-Ours 

so cute 



 installation A12- The Guardian Angels 


installation A14: The Pool 

 happy happy that it was a full attendance for this later part of the termly chua's outing...=) 
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Sunday, March 16, 2014

my very first "DSLR"

out of all the art modules that i took during the advanced diploma in arts education a few months back, photography was my favourite .... and after seeing all the fantastic shots that tony took during our tasmania trip, i have been contemplating on getting my own dslr too... 


but knowing myself all too well, i would never ever wanna lug a "tua-leng-gong" dslr anytime, anywhere, for any situation or any event... hence the only choice i have is to get the hybrid kind of dslr.... compact camera with manual function... =P 



didnt think much about it after the trip as i was really really really busy with school work.... until i came across qiu qiu's post on pentax q7... then i was like.... omg, me want one too.... a compact dslr at only 200g and in such cute colour combis.... =D 


with 20 camera body colours to be matched with 6 grip colours

it resulted in a whooping 120 combinations which i can choose from ....am really spoilt for choices.... =) 


called up MS colour, the famous camera shop in amk and was quoted $650 for a pentax Q7 basic kit, a saving of $149 from what i had expected to pay based on qiu qiu's blog.... 

so to amk we went.... =) 

 the sale person showed us a black and silver Q7 upon request... dosen look impressive at all lo... =( .... and told us that they do not carry the whole range of colours as this model of camera was not in demand.... 

 was rather surprised that it was not a popular choice so he explained that the quality of pentax Q7 is only slightly better than compact cameras and with an additional $30, customers could buy an olympus pen lite which takes far far far better quality pictures which the pentax cant even be compare to... 

 probably was the way he compared the two cameras, i got the feeling that pentax Q7 was really for people who just go for it for its cutesy colours... and since i was more interested in getting better quality pictures with a compact camera, i chose to listen to the expert and got myself an Olympus Pen Lite E6

which housed a larger sensor size (= better quality picture), larger screen and a flip screen for selfie


paid for it using the annual $400 lds and a top up of another $480 for the white one... wooolaaalaaa... 

 have yet to try it despite having bought it for 2 weeks liao.... waiting for the perfect occasion to 开张 and this March holiday shall be the best time to do so as i have planned to continue with my A to Z Singapore Blog Challenge, which was started last May and has been inactive since last December, to River safari and the 2 degree Ice art exhibition during this one week break ... 

 Yippy Ya Yo!!!! 
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