Lessons

"Ilyas!"

Ilyas's head shot up, eyes bleary and blood shot. He blinked thrice, his hazel eyes slowly focusing on Mr. Lee who was frowning, his hand grasping a red marker pen. Ilyas slowly noticed the glances his classmates where throwing him. Hastily, he wiped his lips, which, to his chagrin, were wet with drool.

Mr. Lee shifted onto his right foot, arms akimbo, and fixed Ilyas with a cool stare. In the haze that was gradually lifting, Ilyas realised a reply was expected.

"Err.. hmm?"

Mr. Lee was not amused.

"Stand," he growled, eyes cold as salted ice. Ilyas got to his feet, his chair scraping noisily against the parquet floor. He seemed to regain his senses faster now the entire class was staring at him. He felt like the woman with a beard,the man with three legs. He envisioned a cage around him and a big red neon sign that read " The first boy to cross The Most Scary Teacher in the school" while his classmates threw peanut shells at him and called him the Green Jackass.

"Do I bore you, Mr Ilyas? Should I juggle balls for you? Pierce myself with large needles and call myself "Spike" Lee?" The dimunative teacher was gathering momentum with his sarcasm, but Ilyas knew better than to answer. He remembered how Mr Lee had dealt with one such student a couple of years back who was foolish enough to say something lame. The police still had trouble looking for enough body parts to identify the body.

At least that was what Mark said. Ilyas remembered the other thing Mark was so convinced about: that the singer Aliyah was still alive and had engineered her own death to run away from bad debts and a forced marriage to Micheal Jackson.

As you can see, Ilyas still has not completely cleared his head. He begin to imagine Micheal Jackson moon walking around a tree and serenading the ghost of Aliyah with Hee-hee's and Ow's. His attention was harshly snapped back into focus as a a red marker pen came flying at him, thrown by an angry Mr Lee who was fuming at the non-chalance Ilyas was displaying.

It never touched him.

With a speed that defied the eye, Ilyas' right hand moved with blinding speed, intercepting the pen as it flew towards him. The loose pen cap, stopped abruptly in mid-flight, came off and fell towards the ground. It clattered loudly in the silence that followed, as all eyes turned from the surprised boy to the furious teacher.

Cold, blue eyes contrasted with the burning red face as a trace of insanity flared to life, before dying suddenly. Mr Lee seemed to want to start screaming, but amazingly he got a hold of himself, and breathed normally again, face not as red as before but the vein in his temple throbbed obscenely.

"Give. Me. Back. My. Pen." He held out a shaking hand as he spat out the words. Ilyas had timidly dropped his hands behind his back, but at the command slowly shuffled forward. The drama was back on. Ilyas somehow felt that what Mark said had a grain of truth after all. He felt as if his death was imminent.

Mr Lee gazed into his eyes, and Ilyas fidgeted, breaking eye-contact almost immediately. He braced himself for the beating that would ensue.

"Detention," Mr Lee growled, before grabbing the pen and truning his back on a silent Ilyas.

Sketches: a true success!

Thanks one and all.

Thanks so very much for Nurul for the wonderful script.
Without which i would have been editing air.

Without the crew, i would have been struggling with the scene changes, with the costumes, with the timing and with the precise running of the show.

Stand up to applause, Nadiah, Nurul, Faizal and the chief, Zul.

Most of the crew took time to learn their lines and came in with steady performances in support of the main cast. Thank you again.

The guy with the need to be a queen, and a desire to perform as a big purple dinosaur. You have been a wonderful foil for my comedic stupidity, and your comebacks are getting better and sharper. :)

Stand up to applause, Yihan.

Without an excellent cast, i would have floundered through many a rehearsals. Your hardwork, dedication as well as your willingness to work long hours over a short period of time have reaped wonderful benefits.

Stand up to applause, Shahdon, Nadirah, Dhaniah and Yazid.

For the man who inspires, encourages, harangues, scolds, loves, sings and smiles... You have been my inspiration to do well, and my motivation to try to achieve what you have. In many ways, you are Sir Alex Ferguson to my Roy Keane, Obi wan to my Anakin, and Gandalf to my Aragorn. Thank you very much.

Stand up to raucous yet slightly amused applause, Shai.

Sketches is over, but Yellow Chair will carry on. We are still climbing the steps that began with Tainted Flower, followed by Bella, and now Sketches, and we will continue to climb ever higher but with our feet stuck firmly to the ground. Thank you all, and may we march hand in hand, till the very end.

Taufiq

Sketches: A Story of Hope

In support of the Yellow Ribbon project, Yellow Chair Productions Presents,a Black Box Concepted Production:



ATTENTION!!! TICKETS ARE SELLING FAST!! DO BOOK YOUR TICKETS NOW!!

Date : 16th September( 2pm, 5 pm and 8pm)
17th September(2pm and 5pm)

Venue: Tampines Central CC, Room 3 F on the 3rd Floor.

Cost: $4

Whats it about?

See the world through the eyes of Danial, an ex-convict who faces professional failure, a total marriage breakdown and an ailing Grandmother as he fights to regain his lost dignity and love. Feel his pain and loneliness as life throws him a bad turn, and rejoice with him as he finds a path to final redemption.

Is a man judged but what he has done? Or is he judged by what he can do? Can Danial finally lay his past to rest, and build a better future?

Come on guys, its my directorial Debut! Contact Mr Yazid for booking Details as soon as possible.

91274745 (Yazid Jalil)

See you there!!!!

Something New

EXAMS ARE COMING!

I found that Miss Pei is gone! oohh.. damn.. Angie, if your reading this block, on behalf of sembawang scondary, we are going to miss u loads! juast wanna say you never fail to make me smile with your innate goofiness and really really lame comebacks. Good luck with your future endaevours, and mayhap we'll meet again in future.

No no.. im not THAT short.. just crouching a little..

Here are more pics from the teachers day dinner, before i forget..

Mrs Azwizah discovers that the rock melon is really HARD.

"Wait, the spoon is the one with the tines right?"

Seriously, Angie, im not THAT boring..

This is what happens when you forget to take pictures in the hotel itself. This picture was taken under Inda's block after the 'wild' party. The Three Stooges!!!

Inda and Siti

Now that night was really fun, considering that it was my first teaching event, and first adult party ive been to.. makes me feel 10 years older being around refined and tasteful chaps like Mr Sim and Mr Raja.. I suppose teachers are like that some how.. they have this strict guidelines of how to become a good teacher and they follow those guidelines to set a good example everyday that theybecome it. Thats why they are soooo nice , these teachers.

Another thing i realised is how there is very little backstabbing going around in the staff room. Its not like an office.. the teachers are not like office workers climbing the ladder of ambition. They have no enemies within, because in the staff room, its like a bastion or a castle where the teachers rally after battling the students all day long. They regroup, re-arm and refresh themselves with chocolates and stuff, but most importantly, they talk to each other about the kids. They gossip . They laugh at the kids. express anger and tears, show how touched they are when a student does something unexpected. There are only 2 sides in this war. Students agains the Teachers. There is no place for backstabbing politics here. Thats why teaching is so cool..

Anyway, im pretty tired now, and my language is slipping into the red zone.. so ill go.. laterz den..