To Sir, With Love

A minor uproar here in the staffroom where my table temporarily became news central because my laptop was on. An unnamed math teacher wooed his 14 year old student and slept with her. (18 times, 16 in a hotel room and twice in the front seat of his car)*
Jazz is a man on a mission. He plans to dig up the identity of the teacher in question with all the clues revealed by the Straits Times.
He was 26 when he wooed her. (We're assuming that he was fresh out of the National Institute of Education)
She was in his Secondary 2 Math Class.
He got married in December 2002. (To his steady girlfriend, not the minor.)
He was in the Rasa Sentosa on the 31st of May 2002.
He was snogging a 14 year old in an unnamed park.
Dude wears specs.

OK...I suspect it was Colonel Mustard in the Bedroom with the condom.

On a slightly more serious note, what the heck was he thinking? Student bats her eyelashes at him and at once, he's buying her flowers and jewellery for Valentine's day? That and the fact that he had a steady girlfriend that he was getting married to. And even if he didn't want to, he did not have the guts to break it off? Now the poor girl's got to undergo the shame of being known as the wife of the dude who boned his 14 year old student.
Add to all that the fact that he went and had another affair with some lady he met off the internet. These Math teachers must be ridiculously repressed in some way or another.
The issue here isn't just the fact that he committed statutory rape (which I think really is a dumb rule in today's society) but that he abused his position as a teacher. He took a student who was under him (insert bad sexual pun here) and took advantage of the fact that he was, intrinsically, a well loved (insert raunchy sexual joke here) figure of authority.
I guess what pisses me off most here is the fact that he managed to exercise, not once, but twice, all the self-control of a Singaporean in an all you can eat buffet...
Well, I'm guessing that the next NIE course should have a module called "How to avoid sleeping with your students".

*The printing of the statistics of sexual intercourse within this lurid relationship shows a certain meticulousness of the person(s) relating the details in question (ref: Trish "The Dish" Jones, Mallrats ) as well as the sordid state of mind of the person who wrote the article. Not to mention the morbidity of the people who share some secret enjoyment in judging the details. (I am sadly one of them)
Two times in the front seat of his car? (On a teacher's salary, that ain't a big car) How is that even possible? Wouldn't once be enough to see the mistake in that?

The Breakfast Club

So I'm stuck in school with UYO duties. (Uniformed Youth Organisation) It's one of those things that sucks because I don't really have any idea what I'm supposed to do. I quit my own UYO 14 years ago to join the Art Club for goodness sakes.
So here I am sittting in a surprisingly therapeutic half empty staffroom. There is something to be said about being in your place of work when there's hardly anyone around. The whole space takes on a new aura. I mean, removing all the people (and thus pretensions and contexts) from a workplace automatically creates new interpretation of the space. (Creating a nonspace?) Makes it all the more peaceful, tranquail and very conducive space for work.
If all that hardly made any sense, if any, it's due to the fact that I'm listening to Avril and Michelle. While not quite blaring through my headphones, they're crooning lightly in the background...adds to the surreal nature of my surroundings. I love Windows Media Player.
When I said conducive space for work just now, I meant marking...that is, what I am supposed to be doing now. (In my deluded state of mind, I convinced myself that I was going to do some marking today...) Presently listening to Lisa Loeb's How and it is pretty amazing. She's singing faintly in a background and everyone's leaving, further emphasising my nonspace.
Beautiful.

Bored actually.

Anyone who has any queries on the title of this post should check the movie out. It's quite fun.

Before Sunrise

I was surfing through the web, actually trying to figure out why my DVDs haven't arrived yet (a Blog for another day) when I chanced upon an interesting piece of information...There's a sequel to one of my favourite movies of all time! (The title of this entry actually)
I remember watching this on one of my video sprees in Melbourne (Video rentals cheap...sigh...) and falling in love with the film. It was one of the most raw and touching romantic films I have ever seen, one has set the standard for the genre in my mind, and it was a rare film that brought a smile to my face. One of those smiles that you get when all is right with the world and you're overflowing with emotion...
[Sap Tap]
Anyway, the sequel is in production at the moment and they've managed to get Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy back for it. I was checking out the IMDB site for it (Production title If Not Now) and there's a little debate over what the title of the movie should be. I think that they should leave "Sunrise" out of it. Nothing cheapens a sequel like trying to flog the original title for every possible permutation. A faux pas that Chronicles of Riddick managed to avoid.
A little related note: I have officially plugged this movie in some female magazine or another, photo included ("The horror, the horror"), by saying that Julie Delpy's a babe.
Not one of my finest moments, but o well.
Anyway, back to marking.
Life is good.

Life or something like it.

Moment of consciousness.
It's a one period day today. This means that my timetable looks like a dream. There's a huge patch of white punctuated with one single niggling English lesson. O well...can't complain. That means of course that I have a ton of time to get marking done...Yay!
It's sad when extra marking time gets one excited.
The fluorescents surrounding me are off for some reason or another and there is but one glaring light above my cublicle that creates an ethereal atmosphere for marking. Interesting effect really. (This really shows the lack of content for this blog entry)
So with this, adieu.

Popping the Cherry

So anyway, I decided recently that it's time to start blogging.
I mean, what's the use of being an opinionated English teacher with a relatively adequate vocabulary who produces absolutely nada in terms of writing?
Staying home for the past two days nursing a twisted ankle got me thinking...I spent most of the 2 days pottering around the house aimlessly and hardly anything else. Bleagh...then I figured that it was about time that I got off my butt (figuratively...I could hardly stand up without falling down) and started writing again. It's one passion that I've lost after uni that I'm trying to reclaim. That and I've got a ton of crap in my head that's threatening to overflow.
So I've decided to start a blog. Chances are that you've probably come here if you know me, otherwise you don't and just chanced upon this site. Either way I hope to make this as interesting an experience as possible.
So enjoy...