Quite the contrary: - 2/12/2002

Is the chosen title of this entry, only because "Q", "K" and the letter "Z" have yet to be featured as opening words to the titles for these entries. Before it is too late I must run through the alphabet - though why I do not know.

Spent some of today marking at coffee club express in paragon. This was after a CNY lunch thing at my Uncle's place. Was teribbly disillusioned by the poor quality of the writing and the nonsensical answers to lit. It is true - we (ie Lit teachers?) try so hard to teach literature and the appreciation of the literary when everything else in the system promotes "literalness". Ended up failing many scripts that just could not read between the lines, that missed the sarcasm of the poem. I think there aren't any clear guidelines on this aspect of literary cognition. At what age is a chid able to "get" sarcasm? How much of life must you have seen before you appreciate irony? How old do you have to be to detect cynicism? Can a 14 year old see the point of romantic tropes? Apparently literature syllabi in other countries have pegged a kind of cognitive mastery scale which suggests that at different ages a child should be able to understand a particular genre of writing and appreciate the hidden meanings. But we're hardly so advanced here. Besides we study English as if it were a second language here so it's hardly surprising that we miss nuances of meaning.

Anyway - apart from that haven't done much except grouse to Ms Tan that I'm spending my life telling kids to write in one tense. She was circling lousy Bio drawings ("They'll be so insulted when I make them practice drawing circles ...")and so both of us came to the conclusion that we are wasting our lives.

Things to be happy about - this seems almost to be a compulsory section or I'll just be pathetic.
1. It's nearing the end of term 1 and I'm still well and good - don't have to put up with RV for very much longer (hopefully).
2. There's a shipment of Sci-Fi / Fantasy books by Delany on the way and it should reach me anytime soon ...
3. Got the confirmation invoice from Leicester about the MA Applied Linguistics and will be starting on the 4th of March.
4. Finished several piles of marking and so don't need to feel stressed
5. Have lost some weight and can concentrate on losing more now since most of the major eating has been done.

On Isabel: Who is the name of my Sister's new born girl. She's now staying with us (plus my sister and my Bro in Law) so it's quite a party here ... She's very small and pruny. (Nine months in amiotic fluid does shrivel you up) and very warm whenever I carry her. Haven't had much contact with her though as the doting parents are always around - but I think she's quite well behaved ... doesn't wail much. Anyway, after hearing all the horror stories about babies and seeing my sis and Bro in Law look after the kid - I'm pretty much into not having any children of my own. All the pain and suffering to bring a child into a world of pain and suffering. Anyway, Ms Tan is more into animals than humans so at least we agree on something. Thinking along those lines, I think it's more humane to actually adopt children who are abandoned and need someone to look after them. Too bad the adoption policies in S'pore are so strict. But the option is always there if we move away for a while. I think part of the reason to not want to have a child also stems from the fact that we both come into contact with kids every day, and you come to realise that all the effort put in as a parent comes undone when the child grows up etc. Having seen more naughty disinterested kids than good motivated ones, I think there's more to discourage having a child than to spur me on to have one. Also, you save a lot of money when you don't have a child - think of all those diapers thrown away, the school text-books, the toys and the fact that you'll have to spend on the kid for at least 18 years with no guarantee of return.

Anyway - at least I'm aware of the fact that I'll probably be a bad parent. A lot of people think that everyone else is a bad parent but that they'll be the exception. Reality check - I know I can't cut it as a parent and so I won't pretend.