Encounter with a Rude Kind
The amount of stress for a teacher is an inverse relation as the days approach for the mid year exams. It is at this point of time when 1) all the required syllabus had been taught and there is nothing to do except to revise and drop loads of hints here and there for the unaware students and 2) going to class is just a couple of transparencies and a whiteboard marker. However the stress will increase exponentially to the point when results had to be churned, stacks of marking had to be complete and most importantly comments for the students had to be written. A post mortem had to be done – what went right what went wrong, much akin to that of CSI where they tried to decipher the clues given by the victims. For our case, the TRI ( teacher results investigator) had to do the same for the underperforming students
Nevertheless this post exam activity will not stop me from grumbling and of course complaining about things around me as usual. In fact I felt myself “Zen”ified these couple of days especially when it used to be really frustrating for me to see certain act of misbehaviour and disorder. Let just say today, a couple of hours ago, I was happily walking to my least favourite VCD shop at Toa Payoh Central to get my fix of Hong Kong Drama serials, when I SAW a group of IJ girls in state of undress. Perhaps it is too strong a word to be used, but I cannot comprehend what is so “stylo” about a belt like tie which functions as a scarf and yet barely cover the neck. I also cannot comprehend having collar button unbutton and skirt hiked up almost above knee level and socks sizes which could easily be hand-me-down from your primary school sisters. Yet surprisingly when they see me, they remained oblivious. On a good day, they would have really gotten it from me, A public lecture on the heritage of the school uniform and of course for not even recognizing who I am. But I presume they are all sec ones and twos and they probably won’t recognized me from the school photos and organizations chart which never do me any justice.
And then the mother of all holy cows, another thing came and test me again ( why??) Two of my girls was happily browsing VCDs in the same shop I am in and one of them was having a loose belt ( Thank God for just that) Gave them a short you-can-call-it-a-lecture lecture, I walked out of the VCD shop with my purchase and my eyes away from anything female in blue and white. And then there comes the third test - while I was bringing some afternoon tea to my mom, I saw two boys from a neighbourhood school nearby. Through the surveillance camera, I saw the two boys with cans of drinks and one of them had a lighted cigarette.
RHINEHEART : You have a problem, Mr. Anderson. You think that you're special. You believe that somehow the rules do not apply to you.
RHINEHEART : Obviously, you are mistaken. This company is one of the top software companies in the world because every single employee understands that they are a part of a whole. Thus, if an employee has a problem, the company has a problem.
The time has come to make a choice, Mr. Anderson. Either you choose to be at your desk on time from this day forth, or you choose to find yourself another job. Do I make myself clear?
I guess this is more than what I can bear. After placing my two Rotiboy buns in a safe place, I move up to the ten storey – there was a common corridor.
CYPHER (V.O.) : Just between you and me, you don't believe it, do you? You don't believe this guy is the one?
TRINITY (V.O.) : I think Morpheus believes he is.
CYPHER (V.O.) : I know. But what about you?
TRINITY (V.O.) : I think Morpheus knows things that I don't.
CYPHER (V.O.) : Yeah, but if he's wrong --
Like a couple of fags sharing a cigarette they were shocked to see me as I stand by their side. I looked at them. They were definitely surprised and a little scared. The older of the two ( based on look must be the nicotine) stared back at me
MORPHEUS (V.O.) : I've been watching you, Neo, and I want to meet you. I don't know if you're ready to see what I want to show you, but unfortunately, we have run out of time. They're coming for you, Neo. And I'm not sure what they're going to do.
NEO : What the f*** do they want with me?!
MORPHEUS (V.O.) : I'm not sure. But, if you don't want to find out, you better get out of there.
The amount of stress for a teacher is an inverse relation as the days approach for the mid year exams. It is at this point of time when 1) all the required syllabus had been taught and there is nothing to do except to revise and drop loads of hints here and there for the unaware students and 2) going to class is just a couple of transparencies and a whiteboard marker. However the stress will increase exponentially to the point when results had to be churned, stacks of marking had to be complete and most importantly comments for the students had to be written. A post mortem had to be done – what went right what went wrong, much akin to that of CSI where they tried to decipher the clues given by the victims. For our case, the TRI ( teacher results investigator) had to do the same for the underperforming students
Nevertheless this post exam activity will not stop me from grumbling and of course complaining about things around me as usual. In fact I felt myself “Zen”ified these couple of days especially when it used to be really frustrating for me to see certain act of misbehaviour and disorder. Let just say today, a couple of hours ago, I was happily walking to my least favourite VCD shop at Toa Payoh Central to get my fix of Hong Kong Drama serials, when I SAW a group of IJ girls in state of undress. Perhaps it is too strong a word to be used, but I cannot comprehend what is so “stylo” about a belt like tie which functions as a scarf and yet barely cover the neck. I also cannot comprehend having collar button unbutton and skirt hiked up almost above knee level and socks sizes which could easily be hand-me-down from your primary school sisters. Yet surprisingly when they see me, they remained oblivious. On a good day, they would have really gotten it from me, A public lecture on the heritage of the school uniform and of course for not even recognizing who I am. But I presume they are all sec ones and twos and they probably won’t recognized me from the school photos and organizations chart which never do me any justice.
And then the mother of all holy cows, another thing came and test me again ( why??) Two of my girls was happily browsing VCDs in the same shop I am in and one of them was having a loose belt ( Thank God for just that) Gave them a short you-can-call-it-a-lecture lecture, I walked out of the VCD shop with my purchase and my eyes away from anything female in blue and white. And then there comes the third test - while I was bringing some afternoon tea to my mom, I saw two boys from a neighbourhood school nearby. Through the surveillance camera, I saw the two boys with cans of drinks and one of them had a lighted cigarette.
RHINEHEART : You have a problem, Mr. Anderson. You think that you're special. You believe that somehow the rules do not apply to you.
RHINEHEART : Obviously, you are mistaken. This company is one of the top software companies in the world because every single employee understands that they are a part of a whole. Thus, if an employee has a problem, the company has a problem.
The time has come to make a choice, Mr. Anderson. Either you choose to be at your desk on time from this day forth, or you choose to find yourself another job. Do I make myself clear?
I guess this is more than what I can bear. After placing my two Rotiboy buns in a safe place, I move up to the ten storey – there was a common corridor.
CYPHER (V.O.) : Just between you and me, you don't believe it, do you? You don't believe this guy is the one?
TRINITY (V.O.) : I think Morpheus believes he is.
CYPHER (V.O.) : I know. But what about you?
TRINITY (V.O.) : I think Morpheus knows things that I don't.
CYPHER (V.O.) : Yeah, but if he's wrong --
Like a couple of fags sharing a cigarette they were shocked to see me as I stand by their side. I looked at them. They were definitely surprised and a little scared. The older of the two ( based on look must be the nicotine) stared back at me
MORPHEUS (V.O.) : I've been watching you, Neo, and I want to meet you. I don't know if you're ready to see what I want to show you, but unfortunately, we have run out of time. They're coming for you, Neo. And I'm not sure what they're going to do.
NEO : What the f*** do they want with me?!
MORPHEUS (V.O.) : I'm not sure. But, if you don't want to find out, you better get out of there.
Anyway to make it easier for you people to visualise, I had made a rough sketch of the situation then to the best of my memory. As to why I have a halo over my head, hm I guess i feel I am doing the right thing and thus should be rewarded with an angelic halo.
There was an awkward silence of about 20 seconds. I spoke...
Me: What do you boys think you are doing?
Boy 1: Nothing ( frantically trying to hide the cigarette away)
Me: You are abit too young to smoke right? (Cynical smile which by the way I am pretty good at)
Boy 2: What is your problem?
Boy 1 :Shh…
Boy 1: Nothing ( frantically trying to hide the cigarette away)
Me: You are abit too young to smoke right? (Cynical smile which by the way I am pretty good at)
Boy 2: What is your problem?
Boy 1 :Shh…
Let’s just say the last few words really pissed me off. All those who know me know that I hated to be challenged. I spoke again
Me: Me? (I am your worst nightmare.. corny? but that did cross my mind, i didnt say it though, worried that they will laugh their head off for ripping this line from a B-grade Hollywood movie.) Oh my problem is that you should not be smoking at your age what more in school uniform. You from B##@@$ right? Show me your concession pass, I am going to take down your details and report your behaviour to your principal
Boy 1 was undoubtably scared, he took out his bus pass without any more prompting. But as I was going to get it from Boy 1, Boy 2 stopped it.
Boy 2: Who the hell are you? What give you the right to take down our particulars
Boy 1 was undoubtably scared, he took out his bus pass without any more prompting. But as I was going to get it from Boy 1, Boy 2 stopped it.
Boy 2: Who the hell are you? What give you the right to take down our particulars
Sickening kids! That was when I was really pissed.
Me: I am a teacher and I am very angry at the way you say all this ( notice that I tried not to use all the cheem cheem words for fear the ah beng don’t understand) Your act is already wrong. Fine then let's go and see the principal together. Anyway it is just a short distance away? Or maybe you boys preferred to see the police escorting you there?
Boy 1: Sorry cher! I pomised I dome do eat again. ( Notice the spelling error is deliberate and I was trying to imitate the way he pronounced the words)
Boy 2 realised that he had played the game too far, kept quiet. I was pretty smug.
Me: So?
Boy 2: Solli
Me: Har?
Boy 2; Solli ( at a slightly louder voice)
Me: I am a teacher and I am very angry at the way you say all this ( notice that I tried not to use all the cheem cheem words for fear the ah beng don’t understand) Your act is already wrong. Fine then let's go and see the principal together. Anyway it is just a short distance away? Or maybe you boys preferred to see the police escorting you there?
Boy 1: Sorry cher! I pomised I dome do eat again. ( Notice the spelling error is deliberate and I was trying to imitate the way he pronounced the words)
Boy 2 realised that he had played the game too far, kept quiet. I was pretty smug.
Me: So?
Boy 2: Solli
Me: Har?
Boy 2; Solli ( at a slightly louder voice)
Anyway I still took down their particulars and told them if anything happens I would report this to the school ie, if I found my car scratched, my family harassed, myself got beaten or my students get harmed or of course I catch them again. I let the two boys go.
Did I abuse my power? No I am just exercising what had been given to me – a civic-minded citizen. Did I do right? Yes I gave the boys a chance hopefully they will repent. But then again judging from the chants of “NBCCB” ( a popular ah beng hokkien expletive) I guess they will be doing their illegal liaisons somewhere. May we meet again.
Did I abuse my power? No I am just exercising what had been given to me – a civic-minded citizen. Did I do right? Yes I gave the boys a chance hopefully they will repent. But then again judging from the chants of “NBCCB” ( a popular ah beng hokkien expletive) I guess they will be doing their illegal liaisons somewhere. May we meet again.
MORPHEUS (V.O.): Don't be controlled by your fear, Neo. There are only two ways out of this building. One is that scaffold. The other is in their custody. You take a chance either way. I leave it to you.
MORPHEUS: The Matrix is everywhere, it's all around us, here even in this room. You can see it out your window, or on your television. You feel it when you go to work, or go to church or pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
NEO : What truth?
MORPHEUS : That you are a slave, Neo. That you, like everyone else, was born into bondage...... kept inside a prison that you cannot smell, taste, or touch. A prison for your mind.
Outside, the WIND BATTERS a loose PANE of glass.
MORPHEUS : Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.
MORPHEUS: The Matrix is everywhere, it's all around us, here even in this room. You can see it out your window, or on your television. You feel it when you go to work, or go to church or pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
NEO : What truth?
MORPHEUS : That you are a slave, Neo. That you, like everyone else, was born into bondage...... kept inside a prison that you cannot smell, taste, or touch. A prison for your mind.
Outside, the WIND BATTERS a loose PANE of glass.
MORPHEUS : Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.
I feel so much better that I have done my part as a teacher, as a civil servant upholding the very fabrics of society which is gradually falling apart. First we have people drinking in pub, pole dancing bar top dancing, then we have underaged smoker and then we will have gamblers. Hm.. Not bad for the ingredients for a Mediacorp Channel 8 drama.
In fact my story which I have written can be use for those teenbopper drama which tell people about students in Singapore
So who should I cast? Hm letting my imagination run wild a bit.. and here it is....
In fact my story which I have written can be use for those teenbopper drama which tell people about students in Singapore
So who should I cast? Hm letting my imagination run wild a bit.. and here it is....
Introducing the cast…
As I mention I tried to be as realistic as possible and I think out of the stable of Singapore artiste these can really portray the characters well.
What do you think? (:P)
As I mention I tried to be as realistic as possible and I think out of the stable of Singapore artiste these can really portray the characters well.
What do you think? (:P)
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