The Irony of What You’re Saying
This morning I was listening to Mix FM’s Breakfast Show (on the radio) hosted by the new hosts JD and Dilly, who have included a new segment in the breakfast show called Dilly’s Daily Dilemma. In this segment, Dilly picks out one dilemma submitted by listeners, and they discuss the ways to handle the dilemma, and encourage listeners to call in to give their input.
So today’s dilemma was by a listener who wants to know if long-distance relationships can work, as he and his girlfriend have been in two different states for a few months now and the girlfriend seems to be getting cold, and wants to break it off; but he wants to keep trying.
Anyway, so this caller “Miss Anonymous” calls in and says that long-distance relationship can work, and can testify to witnessing that it can work – apparently her sister’s marriage has survived long distances. JD kept on saying “No” insistently (that LDRs don’t work) whereas Dilly was looking for the optimists; and she was encouraged by the caller.
Until they asked her about her own relationship, and it turned out she had a guy who was in a different country (can’t remember where) and it didn’t work out. But she insists that it’s different because she “found someone new”.
As Dilly tactfully put it, “Can you see the irony in this situation?” I think the irony went right over the caller’s head. I couldn’t help but to burst out laughing when I heard the caller defending herself. Like Terry Pratchett would have said, to some people, irony is how you describe your weapons and helmets made out of metal.
January 22, 2011
Unseen Academicals!
Eversince I was introduced to the Discworld series by a friend who was a huge fan, I’ve been hooked eversince. I still remember the book that my friend gave me – in fact, I still have it. As I was the editor of the university’s English club newsletter, my friend gave me for my birthday a book entitled The Truth which was about a young man who accidentally became a newspaper editor in Ankh-Morpork, the Discworld’s largest city.
The Discworld is a fantasy world created by Sir Terry Pratchett, and is about a world which is flat and disc-shaped carried on the back of four elephants resting on a turtle swimming through the universe. Of course, when my friend first described the world to me, all I did was stare blankly at him and remembered nothing of the description. It was only after I started reading the Discworld books and have become a huge fan that I remember this description very clearly.
And I must say, having read Terry Pratchett’s Discworld has completely spoilt my expectations in writers. I love his wit, his writing style, his parodies, and the way he tackles our own world’s issues through the eyes of the Discworld – issues such as prejudice, racism, and even the way we view history.
It is on my life’s kick-the-bucket list that I must own the entire Discworld collection. He has now written 38 books and I don’t even own a quarter of that; however I have read almost all the Discworld books, by borrowing from my school library and even my own students.
Anyway, enough about Discworld in general.
Unseen Academicals was published at the end of 2009, and although I saw the book in the stores then, I didn’t buy it because the hard cover copy (which was all the stores had) cost just under RM100 – and as much as I love Terry Pratchett’s books, I didn’t have that much to blow on the book. Then I found the book in Book Xcess in the latter half of 2010 – a brand new hardcover Unseen Academicals for RM19.90!
Of course without a second thought, I bought it.
Unseen Academicals
I normally finish a book quite quickly, especially if it’s a book I really enjoy and am unable to put it down. However, I can’t quite say the same of Unseen Academicals this time, which is quite unusual for me as a Discworld fan.
Unseen Academicals is about … football. The wizards at Unseen University were required to form a team to play football, otherwise they would lose a bequest; and also because this was a “suggestion” by the city’s tyrant. There were also many side-plots involving kitchen maids Glenda and Juliet, a talented football player Trevor Likely and a goblin called Nutt, with love stories thrown between them.
It seemed so promising, but I must say it took me quite a few months just to complete the novel. I have it by my bedside because I normally read at bedtime; but this time, even when it’s conveniently beside my bed, I couldn’t quite make myself read the book. By the time I managed to force myself to complete the book, I kind of forgot what happened at the beginning because I read that section a while back. I know I could choose not to finish the book, but as a rule I always try to compete reading a book that I have started, especially if I am already more than midway through.
So, why can’t I finish the book? For one, I found it – I’m sorry to say – well, boring. I do like reading about Mustrum Ridcully and Ponder Stibbons because the banter between the two of them have always made me laugh out loud. But this time there was a lot of focus on the new characters and their blossoming love, and somehow I didn’t really care much for them. So even when everything turned out well for them in the end, I wasn’t metaphorically jumping up and cheering, like I’d do when things turned out well for Sam Vimes in Night Watch and Thud; or for Tiffany Aching in Wee Free Men and A Hat Full of Sky. I was more of, “Thank god I’ve finished this book.” I’m not sure if I’ll be rereading this book again, but if I do, it won’t be in the near future.
I know this “book review” isn’t well-written, but it’s hard to write without giving too much of the plot away. OKOK, the truth is I don’t remember much of the story enough to write a proper review because I finished reading the last section in one day, and I read the bit before that a few weeks ago. So I can’t remember enough to feel the flow of the story.
Terry Pratchett’s written a new book called I Shall Wear Midnight about Tiffany Aching, and I want to read THAT one! But I haven’t read Wintersmith yet which is the third Tiffany Aching book, and I will need to read that first before reading this latest one.
Time to go Book Xcess again and hope I can find these books…
January 21, 2011
Rocking to a new year!
It’s been three weeks into a new school year, and I’m slowly settling into the school routine. I’ve been assigned to teach four Form 5 classes this time; different from my previous assignments, which have always been a mix of Form 4 and Form 5 classes, except for the one time I was teaching Chemistry to four Form 4 classes. I’m teaching Physics again, which is and always has been my baby.
I was hoping to be the homeroom teacher of the same class again, which was 4 Mozart last year, but alas – they assigned a new class to me (5 Columbus), and I did not teach this class last year, so it’s going to take some time to get to know the students (and their names!). The good news is that they seem to be a pretty cool bunch. More good news is that even though I am not the homeroom teacher of 5 Mozart, but I’m still their Physics teacher, so I can still yell at them hang around them as much as I did last year.
The year ahead looks like it’s going to be a tough one, though, but I’ve got some practice handling it from last year. Last year was riddled with financial setbacks, false lies spread by a former colleague about me to students, and many other personal issues I am not willing to discuss on a public website like this. It wasn’t all bad though. At least I still have my hair and my teeth.
OKOK, it was better than that. I recovered some of my financial losses, and I worked hard to prove that the lies were indeed lies, and managed to overcome quite a number of personal challenges.
This year I’m taking on a number of personal projects, including moving to a new place of my own, and opening my own business. So yes, I’m looking forward to the year of the Rabbit!
January 2, 2011
Happy New Year!
Happy new year! May this year be one that is much better for all of us!
And to celebrate the new year, I got myself a brand spanking new theme.
And… no, I didn’t make this theme myself. Yes yes I’m supposed to be a freelance website developer but I had no time to come up with a design I liked, and I was already SICK TO DEATH of my old layout. So…. here’s the new one!
Thanks to http://www.wpthemesfree.com/ for supplying loads of fantastic free WordPress themes! Yay WordPress!
There’s still a lot of tweaks needed though because I had added a lot of customized items on my old blog layout. Need to work this new baby to fit my blog. Hang tight 