Day 1 of the Year of the Rat

It has been a good day. As I mentioned, cleaned up the living room of my rubbish. Have to get started on my room in a while...

Stayed at home coz mum was working. So, it was mainly waiting at home for the relatives to come over. Good thing I decided not to have my friends over to celebrate after all. My place can seriously hold no more than 6 visitors at any one time.

Some relatives came over today. First, it was a family of 7. Ok... Took out all the chairs we had, place was packed. Then, another family came by. 5 more people. Darn. Had to utilise our computer work chairs, some foot stools, etc... Don't kids nowadays realise that the floor is meant to be sat on?

Almost went into teacher mode and wanted to scold some kids who came in, plonked themselves down on the couch and proceeded to play games on their handphones... Hello? It's the CNY! You're supposed to be visiting, pretending to pay attention to your elders, smile, make small talk and then get your dues - the all-important ang bao. Unless you're really into all the visiting stuff. Like me...

A little sad no more visiting for me... Not very close to the distant relatives. Staying with my grand-dad, so relatives are supposed to come over. And the CNY mood just doesn't seem the same. And not sure if I'm supposed to still be collecting ang baos... I guess as long as I'm a "youth". Which means I still have 6 more years of ang baos to collect.

It was a good feeling, though, to be able to give my parents and grand-dad ang baos. Pretty substantial ones too. I do miss my grand-ma. She passed away some 2 years back...

Anyway, had a good day today. Accomplished several things.

• Clean up living room
  
• Decorate living room
  
• Facial
  
• Knit several inches more of my scarf
  
• Sleep, rest
  
• Watch TV
  
• Entertain relatives
  
• Read more of 'The Subtle Knife'
  
• Check email
  
• Update blog
  
• Bluetooth photos from handphone into laptop
  

Time to get back to work later...

Birthday Presents

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Many thanks to my friends for their presents...


Robin gave this to me couple of days ago. I don't usually put anything to my handphone, worried that any accessories might fall off or scratch my phone.

But I quite like this one. It's now hanging at the end of my red phone - matches the red phone at the end of the accessory! Cute cute! Thank you thank you!



Another peculiar gift. This one's from Joshua. Was pleasantly surprised when he gave this to me yesterday, coz he had already given me a treat last Sunday.

Anyway, it's peculiar for another reason. See, I don't usually put on make-up. I hate putting on powder - the only powder I put on is talcum powder and the blusher. I can never get powder evenly on both sides of my face. Always wondering if one side is darker than the other, too much compared to the other, etc...

But well, it's always good to have something new to try, I guess. So, thank you thank you again.



Last gift in the Year of the Pig, something from my own wishlist. A new watch! Yippee!

But can't wear it yet. It's got 4 metal clasps too many. I have small hands, attached to skinny wrists.

Not sure who's sharing in the gift as yet. Hope to get a full account of the names from @ngel so I can thank them. But Noel came over to my place to pass it to me yesterday afternoon. So, whoever's got a share in the gift, thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!

Happy happy happy lunar new year and happier still birthday to me!

Happy Lunar New Year to everyone!

Hihihihihihihi!

Happy (power of n) Lunar New Year to everyone!

I had a very good start to the Year of the Rat! I slept it asleep. *grin*

For as long as I can remember, I always stay up till the wee hours of the New Year for the tradition of giving my elders blessings and good wishes. However, I was really tired last night. I went to sleep very early, around 10 pm, I think. Woke up real early though, around 3 am. And within 3 hours, I cleared up all my rubbish in the living room! It's very presentable now!

Helped my mum a bit with her preparations for the new year - cooking our Day 1 vegetarian meals, cleaning up the kitchenware, putting up the CNY decorations around the house, chatting with her, being a good daughter... *smile*

Year of the Rat

Ok. Need to hurry up and finish my applications over the CNY weekend.

Right after the weekend, i have common tests coming in for marking and of course, preparation for my cny-bday party! *grin*

And, i really need to tell myself to give up finding a boyfriend. Ok. There. I've gotten it out in the open. No more hiding and telling myself that the guy is somewhere out there. I'm very independent and self-sufficient. Always have been. And always will be. In fact, i've been told several times - that's wat scares the guys off. So, fine for me, too bad for the guys. They are the ones losing out. *smile*

The Sunday Times CNY Special today mentioned that of all the animal zodiacs, those born in the year of the goat - ok, go on and calculate my possible age - will potentially face the greatest failure in romance in 2008. We're to be careful of bad relationships and think thrice before getting involved at all. So, all the more incentive for me to focus and concentrate on getting my Master's!

Birthday Wishlist

Actually, I dun need any birthday presents. Just wanna meet up with my friends and have a good time together. The memories would be the best present...

But since my friends are asking... Here's my wishlist...

1. A watch (which I think Noel is getting)
   
2. A pair of sun-glasses (the ones I have always get spoiled quickly, perhaps because they usually cost $10)
   
3. A well-tailored jacket (preferably one which makes me look slimmer)
   
4. A well-tailored pair of pants (the ones I made in Bangkok really sucked)
   
5. A digital sound recorder (for recording my possible post-grad lessons)
   
6. Kinokuniya vouchers so I can buy my magazines and design-related books
   
7. Facial wash for oily/combination skin (preferably L'Occitane or Biotherm or Fancl, NO Clinique)
   
8. A big but fashionable bag in which to fit my laptop and organizer and pda phone and etc etc...
   
9. Last but not least, swimming lessons? So that I can finally enjoy my water sports without the constant fear that I may drown...
   

Guess that's it for now. Like another friend said, nothing else that I would like and is AFFORDABLE enough as presents. *grin*

No MC

Didn't take MC today...

Have to review test with one class, and give test to another class.

My students are new to journalling for Maths and Science, so need to be around to give them more guidance.

Oh dear!

I'm now down with fever too. In spite of me drowning myself with water for the past 48 hours... Darn! Hope this doesn't mean that my weekend will be gone just like dat! I still have an awful lot of spring-cleaning to do... Mom was just nagging me this morning about the awful mess in my room and the living room.

It's not as if I love to live among the mess in my room. I also wish that I was less of a pack-rat and just get rid of EVERYTHING!

When it rains, it pours. It just isn't my day today.

First, was sick yesterday. So, I went to bed early without preparing for my lessons. Without finishing my marking which was to be given back to my students this morning.

Woke up at 5 am on autopilot. Decided I better finish my marking or dunno what to do during 2 periods. Yeh! I finished in time to change for school. Was going to take cab to school when 106 came by. Ok. Save money. Take bus. Thought I was so lucky to get bus just when I reach the bus-stop.

However, decided to continue doing up the weekend assignment for my students and took out my laptop. Finished the assignment just when the bus reached my stop and I MISSED the stop after taking a moment to keep the laptop in my bag. Argh! Next stop turned out to be all the way to the interchange.

"Thankfully", 173 was just leaving the interchange and I decided it'd be faster to take bus than to walk to school with my heavy bags. And what else is new? Just when you are rushing, the bus driver decides to stop at every stop even though no passenger rang the bell to get off and nobody at the bus-stop flag down the bus! And every traffic light would turn red just as the bus arrives at the traffic light!

Reached school just as the bell rang for assembly and sigh... P and VP were there... The one day I was late for school, the one day P and VP decide to lie in wait for the latecomers. I was wearing my slippers, so couldn't go over to the hall directly. My class is generally alright in the hall so I decided I could take the risk and go to the staff room to change into shoes.

Next, 2.5 hours of teaching later, got news that my class got reprimanded coz some boys were loitering outside the class. Argh! Every 2 weeks, my class would get in some trouble. First, it was classroom cleanliness. Ok. That got cleared up. In fact, I'm quite proud of my class. Although I know they still eat and drink in class, they are throwing the rubbish away into the green public dustbin some distance away from the class. However, I wonder if I should be more strict and tell them off for eating and drinking in class?

Ok. Got to go for meeting.

CNY-and-Bday celebrations

Argh!

Was at an all-time high last Sat when I went to recce the venue for my annual CNY-and-Bday celebrations.

Have been asking out all my friends for dinner and some form of celebration since my 21st birthday. I love to entertain and any excuse is a good one to get together people that you love and enjoy being with.

However, I realise that my friends are too diverse and varied, and the celebrations have always been very tiring. I have to juggle the different groups of people and entertain them. They dun seem to mix very well and stick to their own cliques.

Having gotten tired of burning myself out on my birthday, I stopped last year. And it was so dreary... Just another typical day. Remembered it was Contact Time some more... Had to stay late late in school and dun talk about having any Happy Birthday that day. Only a pitiful handful of my friends remembered it was my birthday...

So, I've decided to do something for my own birthday yet again this year. Anyway, as I was saying... Was very happy after recce-ing the venue I had in mind. Got place to nuah in the day, have decent dinner (with entertainment and possible fireworks) in the evening, and chill out at night. It's close to the sea, and access to the hotel room will not be screened by the hotel reception (so can sneak in as many friends as possible).

Then, sent out messages telling my friends to confirm the gathering and... So many people all busy with this and that...

Feeling slightly disappointed, I made arrangements to postpone the gathering by 2 weeks to the weekend after the CNY. Was feeling better since hopefully more people can attend, and it'd be on my lunar birthday...

THEN... Today got the letter that my Sec 3 Parents' Day is on the same day!!! Argh!!!

Sigh... Will have to start events in the afternoon instead of in the morning. Hope I can leave early enough on the day and not be all tired out by the end of the dialogue sesson.

Argh!!!

Photos of ITE Visit

Some photos from the ITE visit with my class on 24th and 25th Jan 2008.


Wenfa enjoying all the attention lavished upon him being the first volunteer to try the clean suit.


The boys in my group trying on the clean suit.


Wenfa and Kenny hamming it for the camera


Not sure who this is after everyone is wearing the clean room getup - anybody knows?


And this is me! Enjoying these fans which are supposed to blow away all dirt and foreign particles.

Week 5

Let's see...

Had a "Workshop on Blogging" yesterday. Thought it'd be about teaching us how to use blogs to engage our students... In the end, it was actually a lecture on the do's and don'ts when we teachers (as well as all other civil servants) blog.

This is the one that started it all, so for archival purposes:

~~~~~

Prime News

We are public servants - and we blog too
Lynn Lee
568 words
23 August 2006
Straits Times
(c) 2006 Singapore Press Holdings Limited

EVEN as Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called on the Government to use new media to spread its message, a clutch of agencies and public servants are already busy blogging.

The public servants blog as private individuals. But they came together last October as an informal gathering of bloggers and net-savvy individuals interested in blogging, who work for the Government.

They call themselves the 'Gahmen Bloggers'.

What they have in common: A desire to explore whether their organisations could harness the popularity of blogs as an additional and 'friendlier' way of dealing with the public, said Health Promotion Board senior executive Vanessa Tan, 28.

In his National Day rally speech on Sunday, PM Lee said the Government would adapt to new media to get its message across, including using podcasts or videocasts and even humour.

Said Ms Tan: 'Previously, news would come through more formal channels, like press releases. For young people, a blog might be a better way to get their attention.'

She and fellow blogger Ivan Chew, 34, a National Library Board (NLB) manager, came up with the idea for the group and spread the word through their websites, and on Tomorrow.sg.

About 10 people turned up for the first 'Gahmen Bloggers Meetup' late last year at Toa Payoh Community library. The group's mailing list has now swelled to 21 people, including people who work in government-related organisations.

Members meet in small groups for coffee, but discussions usually take place in cyberspace.

These personal exchanges have helped some 'gahmen' agencies improve on its own ideas to reach out to the public.

Mr Walter Lim, 36, director of corporate communications and industry promotion at the National Heritage Board (NHB), said ideas he gained on sustaining a blog gave the NHB 'a leg up' when it launched in March its museum and heritage blog www.yesterday.sg .

'We realised we would need to ensure a pool of regular contributors to the blog, otherwise posts and discussions will just die down. Also, their comments should sound natural, not like they are part of a heritage campaign.'

Other agencies with official blogs include the NLB, which has four blogs with posts on book reviews and its programmes and the Community Development Youth and Sports Ministry, which runs www.youth.sg , a portal for youngsters.

These blogs are meant to boost the agencies' online presence, but what about their employees with personal blogs?

The 'Gahmen Bloggers Meetup' members steer clear from talking about what goes on in the office.

The reason: Civil servants are bound by the Official Secrets Act. There are no specific rules on blogging but the Public Service Division says that the code of conduct 'requires an officer to conduct himself in a manner which upholds the integrity of the public service and which instils public confidence in it.'

Ms Tan, for example, talks about gizmos, current affairs, restaurants and interesting websites on www.vantan.org , but makes no mention of where she works.

Similarly, other 'Gahmen bloggers' say they are civil servants but omit references to their agencies.

Mr Chew focuses on library matters at www.ramblinglibrarian.blogspot.com .

But he has this disclaimer: 'Views expressed here are strictly my own and do not represent the official stand of my employer. But you know that already.'

~~~~~

Satisfied weekend

Good weekend. Not much work done, but there was a well balance of work time, me time, tuition time, leisure time, rest time.

Very important also, didn't spend much money. $12 yesterday for lunch, dinner and four hours of electricity, wireless and air-con.

Today, $15 for lunch, dinner, dessert and 2 hours of people time with Beng.

Only problem, decided to splurge on my birthday... It'd be my last 20-something birthday. And last year was such a pitiful affair when i decided to take a break and not organise anything. Right now, it's between 2 hours of dinner and ice-skating at Fuji Ice Palace. I'd prefer this but the place is booked for competitions the whole day. There's supposed to be a 2-hour gap in the evening. Hope the management will let me have the place and allow me to bring in food from outside for dinner.

Wanna look for me, I'd be here

Yup!

I just found a great place which serves food, has power supply at most of its tables and FREE wireless!

It is also fairly deserted of people so I won't feel bad about hogging its table and spending only a minimal amount on food and drinks. They have this $9.90 meal deals which come to about $12 with tax and service charge. But if I were to stay here for 3-4 hours having my meal and doing my work, I think that's more than a fair charge for food, endless water supply, electricity, wireless, comfortable working environment...

As it is, I came in here after my facial around 4 pm, had my lunch-cum-dinner, and am still here at 7 pm. What a great way to save money and be productive. However, I realise I am only productive for the first hour. After that, I start to surf, go online, blog, you get the idea...

Still, Yippee!

Where is this place you ask?

*grin* Come ask me lah!

oh, p.s., it's not Mac's.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Judgement

Judgement signifies the start of a new journey, guided by lessons learned in the past. It represents the culmination of your life's experiences and is about rebirth and resurrection. It is time to face demons from the past and make a fresh start using a clean slate. Make that final decision that will finally plunge you into a new situation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hope I guess it bodes well for my application for my Masters...

*fingers crossed*

My fave song from Beauty World

If there was another way,
I would not be here today.
I'd be back somewhere I belong,
somewhere in my past.
I should be the first to know
Where the road i'm taking goes.
If I fail then i suppose,
every road must be wrong.

Now i'm here,
Now that i've made it this far.
I must try to find out
what I'm all about
cos I lost all the answers long ago.
Felt I didn't need to know,
I didn't care.
Now I do.

Beauty World

Got 2 tix from Aida to watch Beauty World. She kept asking whether anybody wanted till i decided to help her out and take the tix off her hands. Fortunately, i had frens who were willing to accompany me for the show despite the last-minute notice.

There were also quite a large number who had no idea wat Beauty World was. *grin*

Anyway, the day started well enough. I had a great time with Robin the previous evening, although i did spend a little over budget on pizza at modesto's but the company was worth every cent.

Back to the day, I woke up earlier than i had to for tuition, made it just in time for the shuttle bus into the apartment estate, and had time to go to Sim Lim for my new HDD-cum-DIVX player. But too bad the stall where i buy my dvds from was closed - will have to go down again another time. Saved some money by only eating the fries of the mac's meal i bought. Kept the burger for another meal.

Then got home and took an hour's nap.

Mood took a nosedive just before i met Jonathon for the musical - explain another time...

Now, gotta go finish up preparing for my physics lessons tomorrow. Tata!

Hopes for 2008

It's been a good 12 days so far.

Number 1 - got the better 3n class for form class. Thought at first that i'd have problems with them but i think i prefer normal stream than express stream classes for form class. Yes, they're a headache when it comes to chasing paperwork and discipline cases, but they are so much more interesting characters.

My teaching classes have all been pretty enjoyable. I love my sec 1 class - they are so enthusiastic and CUTE! The sec 4 class seems to be coming to their senses and are doing their work. The sec 3 classes all also pretty on task and writing their notes and completing their worksheets. And, FINALLY, i only got 3 preparations for lesson planning. 2 for mathematics, but it's ok coz resources are easily available, and 1 for physics. Only problem i foresee is getting confused where i left off for each of my 4 sec 3 physics classes. It has only been 3 or 4 lessons and I'm starting to get them mixed up already...

Number 3 - not a sec 1 form teacher, so was not involved in the sec 1 camp. Otherwise, i would have had a problem being caroline's sister for her wedding. Other details in a later blog entry about her wedding?

Number 4 - trying very hard and being very successful to save money. If any of my close colleagues see this, i apologise that i haven't been joining them for lunches and dinners. Trying to save money by going home for my meals. Therefore, also means no more weekend shopping trips, going out for dinners, drinks, general socialising which require the spending of money on food, drinks and taxi fare.

Okies. Reach my train stop home liao. Will try to remember to continue to blog later when i get home.

Tata for now!

Release of N-level results

Yippee! My 4 NT class did pretty well for their N-level Science paper. Got a 82% pass rate against the national pass rate of 71%.

There were some pleasant surprises. I admit i have pretty high expectations of all my students which is why my pass rates for tests and exams are usually quite lousy. But in the end, if my high expectations help them to do well, yippee!

Of course, not many of my students, or myself sometimes, can agree with this mentality. Many a time, i would ask myself: "is it worth all the aggravation? Work myself so hard and give my students so much pressure. Will they really strive to do well, or just give up, as it is so difficult to do well in my class?"

More to come... Must get back now to my OSL presentation. Tata!

My last indulgence

Yup. I can't put it off anymore. If i really wanna go overseas for my Masters, it's now or never. I can't imagine having the energy or motivation to study when I'm over 30...

Met up with Xinyan and Wensi last night. Xinyan's in her final year at UK and Wensi is changing job to work at AStar.

As mentioned in my previous blog, met up with Singyuan last week to watch movie. She's also applying to study for her Masters. And Robin was, last that i know, studying for his GMat to apply for MBA.

Anyway, the only thing stopping me is money. But after saving for the last couple years, i think it's now or never. But, will really need to tighten my purse strings to fulfill the financial needs. It's easier to get into UK uni and our education syllabus is still based on the UK system. But, the pound is so expensive...

Fun-filled day

What a day!

Got up early this morning to go out with my mum. Went shopping at Wheelock Place and Isetan Scotts. Had vegetarian food at LingZhi with my parents. Bought the Tong Luk First card for my mum so that she can go makan with my aunts and uncles next time.

Then, more shopping at Tangs, Paragon... Meanwhile, trying to coordinate meeting Singyuan to watch Golden Compass in the afternoon. And guess what, Jonathan messaged me to watch Lust Caustion in the evening. Perfect timing, coz my mum wanna go home by 4 pm, and Golden Compass was at 4+ show. And Singyuan wanna go home for dinner after movie, giving me just ample time to make my way down to meet Jonathan for dinner before Lust Caution at 8+ show. Happy!

Did a lot of window shopping today. Had a few things in mind to buy but didn't. Maybe I'd go town again tmr. What things?

(1) Thomas Sabo bracelet + charms. How? Should I buy?



It's expensive, more than 10 times the price of the cheapo chrome ones I bought from Bugis, etc... But the quality is also more than 10 times better. It's sterling silver, and probably comes with cleaning service. The packaging also definitely much better...








(2) Muji inserts for my organizer.

Got a free organizer from buying my Kerastase shampoo and hair care products. Yup. I have an organizer in my PDA phone. But somehow, I think something physical is still better. Just hope I will keep updating it as required... Therefore, gonna change the weekly inserts which are given in the organizer to the daily ones I saw in the Muji store.

Anyway, before you know it, it was time to make my way down to Cathay Orchard to grab the tickets for the 4+ movie. Along the way, passed by a Citibank branch and decided to get the Tangs card and Clear card. Luckily for me, there were still pretty good seats available when I reach the cinema at 3+.

Then, it was off to Plaza Singapura. Unfortunately, or maybe it was ok, the GV shows at both Plaza Singapura and Marina were SOLD OUT! Quickly called Jonathan to see if he could grab tickets from the only other cinema showing Lust Caution in the evening - Balestier.

Met Singyuan and went off to watch movie. Very interesting movie. Loads of questions in my mind. Gonna grab the book and read on.

Sorry. Gotta take a break for now. Sleepy liao. Nite nite.

Long time no see

Hihi, it's been a long time since my last blog entry.

Lots of things happened. Most significant being my leading a 36-strong team to Cambodia for our school's yearly Overseas Service-Learning Project.

Very sad i had to miss one of my junior's wedding coz of the trip. Went for my school's prom for the graduating students. Coincidentally, it was at the same hotel as my own Sec 4 prom. Needless to say, it brought back many memories of my own prom. It wasn't THAT long ago... *grin*

Been back a week. The weather is utterly depressing. Rain, rain, rain. Please go away...

I had made up my mind and all prepared to go running like every other day. But the rain makes it so easy to postpone everytime... The 4 kg i lost during my OSL trip isn't gonna stay away for long...

Just had fake eyelashes put in this morning. Trying them out to decide if i wanna get lash extensions done. Then met a friend for lunch before meeting the gals for Caroline's bridemaids' dress-fitting. Mine's a halter. Cleavage shrunk coz lost weight, but nothing else seem to have shrunk... Sigh...

Sure putting the weight back very quickly coz of all the snacking i've been doing while I'm home. So, very sad... Will someone please go to the gym with me?