Q&A

A group of Professors from the Japanese University affiliated with my school popped by to conduct a research on creative education. Cinthia and I were thus invited by a very persistent Ms Joan, to provide insight on this topic.

The Japanese ladies; fair and poised were aided by yet another Professor from the National Institute of Education to translate our views. Though conversation was strained and forced at times, there were sparks of brilliance.

The freezing room comprised of advance dip students, some of which I recognized or knew. Some spoke with thick slangs that made me wonder what the hell was wrong with being local.

Does speaking to Professors warrant slangs?
Will it make you look smarter?

And boy, did the people with slangs talk and talk and talk and talk. I even noticed one of the Profs eyes glaze over as she started to pout.

Shuttup already!

When asked what creativity meant to us, one student expressed it as being brave enough showcase what you had to offer. Cool!

I interpreted it as an individual opinion. If I felt what I did was creative, then it is. Cause what applies to me may not apply to someone else.

When asked what emotion or feeling we associated with creativity, I simply answered ‘happy’. Hurhur.. its as simple as that, because I feel I need to be happy in order to be creative. I’m destructive when I’m angry.

Some people went on and on and on like energizer rabbits and ran totally off tangent with their rants. If looks could kill, Cinthia's stares would have left gapping stab wounds.

Finally, they asked what we felt was different between creative education and non-creative education. I replied:

‘non-creative education is route learning. Learning a set of skills that requires me to memorize and vomit out in an examination. Whereas creative education is learning the same set of skills but allowing me to be able to manipulate it into different scenarios.’

Cinthia also said that non-creative education doesn’t deserve such a beating from everyone because again, it can be interpreted differently to everyone and regular education doesn’t mean we stop being creative.

Power.

After a series of 10 questions, they opened the floor to questions. As it was late in the evening, everyone wanted to rush off into the sunset, complete with dinner plans and what-nots, but the Professor kept looking at me because maybe it would have been rude or we would seem disinterested if nobody asked?

I just asked:
“so.. what do you feel you did creatively to research this topic on creative education?”

People broke into laughter and the Prof from NIE lamented between guffaws it was extremely difficult to translate my question. Hahaha.. The Japanese Profs replied that other researchers normally used conventional methods like surveys which would not have been able to garner such spontaneous answers and I congratulated them for their creativity and hard work.

Calling the interview to its end, they handed out tokens of appreciation to the participants and bowed as we exited.

Super courteous! My SNM should learn from them! Or would my hospital like to send me to Japan?! Please.. please.. please..

I think Casey James did an impressive rendition of Keith Urban's "You'll think of Me".

A fantastic interpretation from Crystal Bowersox once again!! I do hope she stays!

Flying Without Wings

Saying time flies is such an understatement. The months have just whizzed by like some nuke on steroids. My month long attachment in an acute and comm hospital is over!! Woohoo..!! What’s left is another 2 presentations, 2 essays and 2 papers before I can finally salute academia a final farewell.

The health assessment was undeniably my worst nightmare. The consequences of laziness and procrastination really slapped me in the face. There were some who clucked their tongues in disgust, chiding my inability to memorize the steps just days shy from the test. Lucky for me, Rams and SI helped guide me through the steps and lock some portions in the ol’ grey matter. Even Ms Joan, who had previously fervently refused to see me for extra lessons, rang the alarm bells after assessing me hours before the actual exam.

She told me I would fail.

I really tried to gather my thoughts but threw my paper away and just laid on the floor outside the examination room in the mid afternoon, which once again brought the onslaught of eyeballing and fresh comments. Hahaha..

Entering the room, I whispered a prayer for God to move my hands. Well, God upped the ante and covered Ms Joan’s eyes! Hohoho... In fact, Rams broke out into palpitations and cold sweat worrying for me! I felt my heartbeat and breathing slow to a crawl and with Rams prompting, glided through the 40 min assessment. Even Ms Joan was surprised, stating the marked difference mere hours ago. With a sigh of relief, Rams hugged and congratulated me inside. We practically jumped for joy! What a sight it was.

Ms Joan said I was very lucky to have friends like them. She’s damn right.

The next 20 minutes saw me frantically scribbling the 3 page long documentation as I squeezed every ounce of info onto the black lines. I’m so glad the torment’s over.

Thank God for Rams, SI and Su.

The gang’s has planned a mini getaway to Genting after exams to unwind and basically just lie around and do nothing. Did I tell you slumping on the floor is my forte?! Hah.. and Malaysia provided the best location due to monetary constraints. Sobs.

I do hope salary fattens up quick cause I’m really dying here. I really do hope I can go Korea in autumn to oogle at men lug bargains back!