(a mentor's musings)

Spike.

I went on a let's-check-this-arty/crafty-shop-out trip today, with a plan of spending an enjoyable evening in the shop... or so I thought.

It was quite interesting, really. Spike first popped in at around 6:30PM looking for lace (this or that or what?) for his t-shirt project. Then, he popped back in at around 8:30PM, out of breath, and just stared at me and one of the shopkeepers - who also happened to sit on the couch - to teach him how to knit. Few facts about him: ten, wants to be a designer (!), has made the aforementioned t-shirt pursuant to his dream career, and mum happens to have an Urban Green meeting in a restaurant around the corner. Aaaaand... he wants to learn how to knit and make fingerless gloves, pronto. Right.

(I haven't even been able to muster enough courage to make mittens, let alone gloves! D8 )

I have taught people on a number of different subjects before, but I find this little man interesting. I tried to make him do some actual knitting instead of merely raving about how fiddly knitting can get. He also wants me to deal with him to make him fingerless gloves once his so-called 'scarf' (basically a long piece of rectangular-shaped cloth) is completed.

Seriously, I find him amazing in an amusing and exasperative manner, as it's a challenge already to get his knitting somewhere. If he did make it as a good fashion designer, I think my musings here would probably appear hilarious to his legions of devotees. Oh well :)) I'm gonna get super-chunky yarns and thick needles, so that he's got something easier to learn to knit with. That is, if he turns up still wanting to learn how to knit next week ^__^

Teaching him how to knit also reminded me of other 'non-academic teaching' ventures I've been through: dancing, sewing, knitting, pattern-drafting. The honour of having the most satisfying student would probably go to a friend of mine who made a quilt for her boyfriend: we set off to buy fabrics with her knowing nothing about sewing, and within less than a month she has completed the so-called quilt on time. I'm not sure whether she'd repeat such a feat in the foreseeable future, but seeing her achieving something perceived as impossible gives off a satisfying feeling on my end of the experience.

Also, there's this picture I posted on myesight. It was taken from an upper gallery at the British Museum. The words inscribed are befitting to this post - here they come:

and let thy feet millenniums hence be set in midst of knowledge

Oh, and by the way, this is the blog's post #200. Yippee! :D

(Portable Film Festival)

If I get asked about this summer's most memorable films, I'd say most of them belong to PFF.

I've rated quite a number of them, and apparently have watched a more obscene number of them (broadband access is useful.) When I started rating them I had been a bit haphazard about what constitutes 3, 4 and 5-score quality films, so here I'll just post a list of clips I find interestingly noteworthy:

The Little Dictator
The Changing Man
Guide Dog
The Trainee
Verschlossen
Cedric
George Grows
Zeid's Little Bomb
Red Bull Music Academy
People In Order
Feist 'My Moon My Man'
Sometimes I Feel Like This
Booth Story
Multiplicity
Kompis
The Whisper Stop
I Remember Lebanon

One good thing about these videos is that you can download them off the website - there's a non-exclusive licence/permission given to the festival organisers to distribute the contents (more legal info can be found on the site's 'Submit' section.) Just make sure you reference whatever you leech off as these filmmakers' work and not pass them as some other people's works.

Altough it may have an amateurish air, PFF turns out to have a higher quality entertainment factor in comparison to YouTube. The festival also gets a huge three-quarter page spread on The Age... not bad at all!

There's only a few days left before the carpets are rolled, so one better hurry to visit and watch them! Alternatively, you can download them off the site and keep them for later viewing - I might do that with some of my favourites.

I'd like to know about the clips you like, so please feel free to leave comments here or on the scribble section, or by e-mails if that suits you :))

Have a good day!

Puzzle

Google is an amazing thing for ego boost.

I have done countless searches on names of people I know (myself included), and I have found amazing results. My sister handles tasks with relative ease/familiarity, my dad has extensive professional interests in health services development, my mom is a self-made career woman. Amongst those I keep in constant contact with - through visual and physical means - are TV personality, technology advisor, student animator, web developer, medical student, petshop business owner, various office-y people, teacher-in-training and beauty queen.

By the way, please don't sulk if you weren't mentioned - not being mentioned is not the same as being forgotten or seen with lesser value! 8O I'm mentioning these people in no particular order because their fields of profession give a profusion of colours to this post ^__^

Google can be intrusively disturbing - I have so far rediscovered my once-existing and non-functional email addresses, messages I posted that I have completely forgotten about, things I participated in that had escaped my mind. Probably the next time around my ICQ number would pop up somewhere on the WWW - I still remember the sequence number, but am not bothered to reactivate it (scary indeed.)

And yes, at times when I feel low and run Google searches on familiar names, I find myself smiling at myself. Odd perhaps, but definitely reassuring. Could this be a mobile charger effect? :D

Ah, just did these guys some publicity. Shout for me if you don't mind, but otherwise have a good day :))

Sashinobeta ryoute kami awanai pazuru wo
Okizari ni shiteta futari deau made
Nakushiteta nani ka saigo no kakera wo
Tori modoshite

Itsuka wasureteita tooihi no kioku
Kokoro no katasumi kasanetanara
Natsukashii keshiki kuchiguse dake wa sonomama

Tomadou you ni hitomi wo fusete
Tachi tomaranaide oikakete

White Cat Waltz

Things to Try Before You Die in UK #9: afternoon tea.

Afternoon tea is an extension of leisure eating and hence one of my favourite things to do... when there's time to kill and chat-worthy topics to go through.

Tissa and Nat are my sister's friends from high school. Since they are in London as part of their tour of Europe, I managed to get a booking for the three of us in an attempt to be a good/helpful/hospitable host. Since afternoon tea tends to be quite pricey, good experience is as indispensible as the edible consummables are, so the venue choice was quite narrow: Dorchester or Berkeley. I couldn't get a timely booking at the Dorchester, so Berkeley had to do... and off we went to Berkeley.

I am used to having my own 'afternoon tea time' at Liberty or Partridges accompanied with scones and jam... but this afternoon tea is in a league of its own.



We were booked for 2PM and stayed all the way till the end. We had such a good time chatting and catching up, and we practically sampled everything that was provided. We also watched the Caramel Room scenery changed as customers came and went and waiters changed their work shifts - it started off with ladies and ended up with lads. I'm trying to list down the things I learnt about proper afternoon tea today.

First, there were no scones in sight.
(Ouch!)

Second, afternoon tea at Berkeley is basically like a lunch buffet. You get bite-sized servings of sandwiches and savoury bits, and you get the fancy-looking, nice-tasting, fashion-emblazoned sweet little creations. Aaaaaand... the plates are refilled when they run low.
(Just come early and skip lunch altogether.)

Third, you can stay till the service ends at 6PM.
(Stay back and pig out on the refill service.)

Fourth, drink all you like... as long as it's tea.
(Anything else are charged. Steep.)

At the end, we got offered to bring home the remaining little cakes and biscuits in our plate. Tissa's plan to get more 'of that smoked salmon' failed miserably; we quickly finished up anything they put on the lower trays so that they are refilled with savoury nibbles. Well, towards the end we had nothing but sweet, and had to be content bringing them home ^__^ Probably we should've asked the kitchen... nevermind :q

Recounting the experience, afternoon tea left me with these things: frivolous little sweets, precious moments, an injured bank account and allergic rashes on my back. Probably I should've stayed clear of the bubbly ^^;


Special mention goes to Gincu, who suggested me to try Pret-a-Portea sometime last year. Thanks for the info, we had a good time ^^

Anyway, have a nice day! :D

One Day I'll Fly Away

Horses and airplanes.

These two methods of transport are rather unusual; what's more, their first human rides were separated by millenias. Both seem to be testosterone-charged and therefore considered to be more befitting of male participation.

Perceptions aside, I am interested in being able to ride horses properly as well as fly planes. I've taken riding trips in the past... I haven't gotten far with flying aircraft (only to the extent of doing take-offs and landings on flight simulation), so I would need to work on it. Probably it's a romantic notion of commanding battles etc that might have made the idea sound even more appealing, but anyway... being able to steer airplanes is a useful set of skills.

Oh, and I did consider getting a truck driving licence while still working at Astra...

You can call me a bunch of weird thoughts if that suits you :))

(a rose would smell as sweet)

Late night, or rather... early morning entry.

I came across this gardening article on Rose of Sharon, also known as Shrub Althea, and feel compelled to post my response upon reading.


"Rose of Sharon is a late bloomer"
Yes, would love to believe so... as long as it's not too late.

"Family lineage connects it ... with other members of the mallow family, including cotton, hollyhock, okra and - believe it or not - even marshmallows"
Cotton? I love Swiss cotton shirts, they feel like silk
Hollyhock? Drought-resistant and have long taproots, wow :))
Okra? Love eating them sauteed :E
Marshmallows... the plant? The humble marshmallow confection started its life as cough suppresant, so it is useful (check wikipedia for more information.)

I didn't expect it to be so hardy... oh, and by the way, it's not a rose.

Be Thou My Vision

I feel obliged to do a post on this very day (yes, 17 August!)

To make a long story short, I was actually about to fall asleep when the song started playing. It reminds me of the smell of Melbourne. Absurd, huh?

There are a couple of things I want to blog about too, but since my brain is largely on passive rest mode I'd have to keep them for another day. Enjoy your day ^__^

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art
Thou my best thought, by day or by night
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light

Be Thou my Wisdom, be Thou my true Word
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord
Thou my great Father, I thy true son
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise
Thou mine inheritance, now and always
Thou and Thou only lie first in my heart
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art

(52 weeks)

Last week at church, a young lady asked me how long it had been since I moved to London. I said it had been 51 weeks... and this Sunday it's been 52 weeks.

It's been a year since I moved to London.

Last year my mother was fretting about immigration at Heathrow. Last year my dad was nervous when he found out we were to land at Gatwick instead of Heathrow. Last year I was worried about checking in with 78 kilograms of luggage under two tickets.

Tomorrow I am going to *that* optional English language class again. Nominally, things look like they were like last year. They are different, though. I would not see the faces I saw last year, and there would be questions raised as for why I decided to re-attend lessons I don't exactly need in the first place. I might see Kevin again, or even be re-assigned to his class (would I be a recurring nightmare to him? Better not.) I'll just keep what happened last year to myself and let this year's class create its own memories.

Probably this is what repeating a year at school would feel like. Oh well, we'll see tomorrow. Take care :))