More Lobangs!!

It is so amusing... It started out as a serious meet the parent session for one of my underperforming and lazy student. Then as the ice was broken and the scolding and encouraging over, the father began talking about his passion, diving. OMG, this 50++ uncle doesn't look his age and he's a dive master! As I am about to have my first pool session this Wednesday we talked abit about diving etc and lobangs... He even invited me to go dive with his kakis in the future as his son draws out a holiday time-table. O-O Diversion...

Hahaaa talk about perks the teacher can get at times!

Suay Saturday part 2

Hahaa this is a continuation of the Saturday sailing episode. In our haste after the sailing session we forgot to switch off the lights, left a pair of shoes and a message on the board of the office that the manager wasn't very impressed. He wrote a very polite reminder email to us the scatterbrains out here today... Wah... So paiseh!

Choices

Had dinner with my NIE coursemates last night. One decided to have a clean break with her wishy washy boyfriend and is now 'on the mend', probably having the song 'I will survive' running in her head. Hehee, oh well I am sure there are better men out there waiting for her.

The other is in a more difficult situation as her Japanese boyfriend is caught between changing religion and family approval. Hope this tricky situation could be solved, or it will be more painful and unfair for either parties as it drags on.

Choices... To make or be made. But signs of hope or possibilities are around. We were seated beside this beautiful and well mannered toddler in Swensen's. Her father is a chatty American while her mother is a Malay Muslim dressed in traditional tudong. We, 3 young aunties were staring unashamedly at the child. She was so pretty! I am sure the couple have had some interesting courting stories before they become a family. But from the looks of it, it is a success story so far. :]

As my 2 other friends talked and pondered about their tumultous love life I just kept real quiet, and count my blessings in a zilch love life. Muahahahaaa... Oh well... can't always look at the flip side of the coin right? ;P

好无辜喔！-_-

Intuition can be so easily brushed aside by rational thinking that proves to be wrong in retrospect. At the back of my mind there was this little reluctance to go sailing today. I attributed it to the fact that it can be quite aimless out there at times and actually chided myself for being so weak-willed and went ahead anyway, even though it was quite hard to get a cab.

Things were ok initially and I made a mental note to double check everything just to be sure. Later I was joined by the rest of the sailing aunties and uncle, one of them have not sailed for quite some time and wasn't very confident of her skills. So we sailed, she capsized and could not upright. The others tried to upright her boat but failed, and then I offered to help. Being the capsize queen I am quite confident of my uprighting skills. Hehee...

Then as I was trying to sort out her mainsheet and tiller extension, the mast fell. Basically the boat had to be towed back. There was some confusion etc as she capsized my boat as I exchanged boats with her and could not upright... and worse, we are without safety boat coverage and the other coaches were busy with their own charges. The others had to sail back to call for help. She was then unconfident of sailing my boat back to shore as it is more unstable, but with some encouragement from the others and probably me being really curt, she managed.

One uncle stayed around and in the end managed to tow me with his laser for a bit before a powerboat came and took over. At this point my school coach has to drive by and... in his usual ah beng style laugh at me and clapped and cheered...><

That's it man. Any shreds or remnants of my reputation have gone down the drain, and this time I am innocent!!! I was helping one who can't handle the situation. WAH!!!!But for the passer-by, it looks as if I am the one. Criessssss...

Moral of the story: don't feel good, don't go sail... But hmmm, things might be worse if there are less people around... sigh. Interesting Saturday... interesting start to the holiday...

3 years!

Year 2003, term 2 week 10 Friday was my first day as a teacher... so...
Year 2006, term 2 week 10 Friday would be my 3rd 'work birthday' bah...

One more year to go!
WoooHooo!!!
Then what? -_-|

But well it has been a crazy term. Many many last minute things, many many big events, earlier examination timing, less time for teaching on top of everything else, results are not there... Used the mad myriad of things to be done as an excuse to have another hair cut. Now with my streaks mainly cut off, I am really an sea-urchin head, again. Hahaahaaa! I refuse to learn, I refuse to change. Sheesh... :]
Well holiday's here!!! S O M E H O W, r e s t...

Where will I be in 3 years' time... hmmm...

Some got the message, others?

At times teachers tend to get too caught up in the nitty gritty and underestimate the amount of extra information the students are actually absorbing.

Just as I am beginning to be resigned to the fact that the students will always find non-essentials, like my ear studs or colour of my socks more interesting and fun, my sec 1 students cum sailors actually surprised me by asking me if the big drain I mentioned in my talk was part of the Singapore River, as we passed by it after the washed out sailing session. I thought they were not listening but they were, and they were interested to find out more about it. :]

It is yet another reminder of what the experts keep saying, link it to things that the students know, and they will have more interests in it and then they will do their own searching and seeking. For me in my haste to cover syllubus etc I tend to forget that. Sigh passion is the main key to learning and retention success, but teachers tend to forget that, or are pressured produce results and kill off the passion of discovery in the process.

"Statistics and figures are like women in bikini, what is revealed is tantalising, what is hidden is vital." Read this quote somewhere a long time ago. Sadly the grain of truth is often washed away from the wave of falsified glorification of results in figures that the essential is well hidden.

Rain!!! It has to rain!!

I have this fishy suspicion that the winds and sun don't really like me taking my sailors out to sea much. There is a higher chance of heavy rain and thunder storms if I were to bring them for training, and the pattern has persisted for about 2 years now...

Maybe I should be called Wang Wang instead, for I bring rain, and rain is wealth in the traditional Chinese point of view... Even the sailing coach was laughing, suggesting that I should go to places with drought and bring the rains over. My colleague also joined in the fun until I threatened to push all sailing stuff to him. Hehehe... -_-.

Heh... despite the rain and again seemingly wasted trip, anything that can get me out of school to the outdoors are like chocolates. Or it's just the sea. Being near it seems to have some positive effect to the human psyche no matter what. Was feeling really down and tired till well ok, when the rain began and the tiredness was replaced by the urge to bang my head against the wall. Suddenly I don't feel that bad anymore. Hahaa...

But ironies aside, it was probably this piece of news that made my day despite the rain, I have an eye candy for help during officiating during the nationals, and the boat allocated to me is the kind that is easier to drive. Yippee!!! Lala.. I was happy then. :] Hahaa... hope my eyes don't get diabetic.

Project Human Seastars

Work, and demands just pile and pile some more. It is not exactly anyone's fault, but the system just moves and changes so fast that it becomes one big bottomless monster, churning out one project and demand after another, demanding to be fed all the time.

Anyway, I demand a lull time for myself now, just finished a talk for half of my school's population. I didn't realise just how tiring it is to address and speak to the students in the hall than in the classroom. The talk went on quite well... Hopefully the students learnt a bit here and there. I am tired, and so are the rest of the school population. Hmmmph, the system has to slow down or be less greedy, or we can shift the entire school population to Hougang Chalet. (Hehee... sorry, if you aren't local/from Singapore and didn't understand this. :])

Vacation's coming, but is there a vacation?? Supplementaries, outings, meetings, trainings, courses... I have to learn to split myself up to 4-5 slices for the things that happen simultaneously. Some of my other colleagues have to split themselves into 6-7 fragments... Project Human Seastars...
Hahaha...

一脚踏两条船

Hahaa, no, I am no gallavanting Casanova... but that is literally what I will be doing tomorrow; giving my own school a talk on a volunteering group that I am a member of.

I am having the jitters of having to address half the school population. It is not as if i have not done it before, but yup, emotions are hard to control and rationalise with. Shall see how it goes... and then organise a trip over to Kallang River...

Lalala...

What a Monday!

Blue monday it is today;
At least it is over,
Even with the blunders
In memories it will be tucked away.
So the mistakes can be made again.

One will never be ready to face the winds of reality
If the wings of parental protection is not lifted for security.

My driving skills is a pure example.
It has been 5 years since, still a blundering driver.

The more parents worry the more reliant I am,
Not able to perform to show that I can.

Self-fulfilling prophecy; a vicious encircling.

A bad start in the day, goes a really long way.

Memories fail and behind time I tail.

A lesson I forget to attend, till its end.

Lacking in experience I don't deny,
Pragmatism rules I can't defy.

Classes exchanged for the hope of better,
In the hands of the academic master.

Many things left undone, thousands more left unsaid.
Only this crappy rhyme written to waste time.

Hehee...

Irritating friends, or maybe it's just me.

When you laugh and dig at someone, do it just once. When it has been repeated all too often it becomes stale, and lame, and offensive.

I can share awkward situations that I face to friends of mine and laugh over it. The idea is that it is a sharing and we share a better understanding of one another and then move on. But I keep making the same mistake of sharing some situations to certain friends who will make a joke out of it and use it over and over again for a period of time, laughing over it for their own entertainment.

It is bearable once in a while, but not for many times in a day. Maybe I was petty, but it could be quite overwhelming if it has been done by 3 friends together in the day, and then recounted with much glee in the evening by 2 of them, unrelentlessly. Laughing out loud. I was in the car with them then and had the urge to just walk out onto the main road and slam the door shut. But I didn't, thought it was too drama. Instead I just turned silent and became really curt. Good thing they seem to detect my displeasure and toned down, but the damage has been done. I don't think I would want to have too many activities with them, at least for the time being.

What I do on some Saturdays...

One perks of being a teacher is the priviledge of being able to sail for free. Of course, we are very much on our own. No coach, no safety coverage and therefore slow slow improvement rate, for slow me that is... My sailing still sucks after all these while. Friends laugh at my capabilities to capsize at the slightest of winds... Haahaahaa... and there is this private joke of me and my anchor... -_-.

I guess I will just have to be more aware, sail more, observe more, bug the coaches around bah... paiseh but oh well... I don't have much of a reputation left anyway. Tak glam. hehe...

有免费的就别嫌啦。。。 interestingly, the love-hate relationship i have with sailing might be the only thing that might make me consider just that little bit more if I would stay in the teaching profession. Oh well...

Unquenchable Thirst

I thought the management and their "i know you are very stretched but more has to be done" statements are bad enough until I read this recent email that goes something like this: "dear team, please get this and this done, sorry to add on to your impossible work load, appreciate your cooperation".

Yeah sure, book me a place at the IMH. Or better still, in hell...

When one really breaks down people give you fake concern and sympathy and give you advises on how to take care of yourself and striking out a balance in this unbalanced world. Advises that if you had followed at the beginning would lead to another set of complaints of you being lazy and etc...

Ok, the cynical bastard in me is rearing its head again... better sleep it off or jog it off somehow.

Not Invincible

Took MC again today... with every semester, the frequency of needing MC just increases. It is often the same problem of gastric flu... Thought I could do some work at home, but the results are the same all the time, I will be sleeping instead... O_o.

Really admire my other colleagues who seem to be made of iron, no, not iron, but stainless steel. No matter how much work and crap is piled on them, they can go on and on and on... putting in 14-16 hours in school and god knows how many more hours at home settling the neverending work.

Yes, they may complain, yes they may look down and beaten but they are still there... working, doing stuff for the sake and benefit of the students, for the need of documentation of the good work done, for the need to keep records, for the noble cause of education and the churning of facts and figures, for the economy of the nation and the future of the nation... I really wonder how they keep at it.

I guess it is all in the mind. It is all about will power and determination. It is a calling.

I guess I am just weak. I am selfish. I do not want to work 14-16 hours a day. I want 8 hours of sleep a day. I want a hobby. I want my gastics to function properly. I regret I am not invincible... sigh.

Tough mother's day for mum...

Human beings are emotional beings, even as we strive to be rational and explainable in more aspects of life. For the romantics, a totally emotionless and rational world is so dull and sterile. Everything is explainable, drama lacking.

While I on the other hand lament on the lack of emotion drama in my life, having been trained to be pragmatic and non-showing in appreciation in my family since young.

Birthdays of parents and special days like mother's and father's days are unusually stressful for myself. I feel guilty for not showing my appreciation to my folks while the rest of the world is doing their part, (often in more ways than one and also stimulating the economy at the same time.)

And if I did, I will more often than not be ridiculed for my choice of gifts and analysed on how inexperienced I am as my folks go on with the 'aiyah, you shouldnt have' routine for at least 2-3 days. Life's little ironies...

Anyway this little irony is actually the side dish. I am not comfortable comforting people when it is the most crucial. This mother's day must have been very stressful for my mother, as my grandmother has been diagnosed with cancer in its terminal stage. Recently grandma has been complaining of severe backaches and cramps while my mum tries to soothe her worries and yet preparing for the inevitable eventually...

Not knowing what else to do, I turn to books. Bought a recipe book on healthy living and how to combat cancers, hoping that knowledge would bring my mum some solace somehow or another.

Today I received feedback that the book I bought was too expensive, the format not that user friendly... Blah Blah... Heez, I dont know what else to say... Just have to try and keep trying??

First Grain

Hmmm...
I used to scorn the idea of having a blog... but curiousity and an unexplained sense of the suppressed want for exhibition made me try it out, at least for once. I wonder if anyone will read this, without any advertising to friends and all. (Hmm to find this blunt needle in the cyber haystack takes much more effort than it would be worth... guess soon enough I would be advertising and canvassing for readership. Heheheehe)

Then again, one should not forgo the old and tested methods totally... At least for now my notebook diary will not be burnt or totally replaced by bloggies. The paper ones have only silverfish and termites to contend with, not other kinds of viruses or cyber illnesses. :]