Merry Xmas to Everyone!! =)

Hohoho..Merry Xmas!! 

Blogs

As I was saying, I was stucked at home with elephant-sized tonsils and excruciating sore throat the other day, therefore I spent a great deal of time surfing the net and did quite an amount of blogsurfing too. Thanks to me, traffic to all my friends' blogs had increased! Yeah..

I added two very popular blogs to the list of blogs that I will track down everyday. One of them belongs to the famous Malaysian blogger Kenny Sia and I'm sure I don't have to do anymore advertising on his behalf as he's already so well known in this small island. He definitely changed my view of how well Malaysians can write (pls pardon my ignorance)! *sheepish grin* Anyway, my favourite post is the recent one about Blogskins sins which includes a list of the very common big 'turn-offs' in the layout designs of many blogs. Well, I do use blogskins that was modified from blogskins.com as I'm too lazy to do all the designing and html coding on my own. However, I'm very particular about the overall layout of my own blog and reason why I don't add mp3(s) to my site is explained in his post. Check it out!! On a side note however, I don't discriminate people who do play songs on their blogs (as I know most of you do), as long as it's not songs like 'Lao Shu Ai Da Mi' or 'She Bangs' and the likes.. Argh, those songs give me headaches!

Another blog that I'm quite addicted to belongs to Karen Cheng, it's very well designed and I really like her blog layout, it's so so sooooo 'clean' and uncluttered. Just too bad I'm not artistic enough, or I will crop up my pictures just like hers. =P

A disclaimer: I had never photoshopped any of my photographs as I'm too lazy to install the program at the moment. Moreover, I don't think I have the time to edit and airbrush away all my dark eye rings and pimples. Basically, what you see is 100% what you get.

Sore throat. Boring day. Duhz

Sick day.


Darn, I woke up with a stupid sore throat this morning. The whole thing started yesterday when I felt a bit of discomfort at my throat after a lazy lunch at home on Teachers' Day. I'm quite wary about sore throat due to my job nature so I ate lots of lozenges hoping to cure it, and it didn't get any better. I went to sleep with a burning sensation at my throat, but it was too late to do anything as it was already 4am in the morning (check out the timestamp of my previous post).

It was really bad this morning, I woke up real early (7am) even though it's a non-working day. I could feel my tonsils so swollen that it was choking up my windpipe, it was like having slugs down my throat and I really wanted to dig it up. It really felt like someone stuffed something down my throat during my sleep, as I was sounding quite normal even though it was pain like hell. I had had sore throat before, but it had never came close to this horrible feeling.

Anyway, I went to a clinic immiediately. The doctor was quite amused as both me and my mum were looking really worried about the choking feeling. After shining his mini torch down my throat, he said nonchalently: "Just a bit swollen only...what." Huh? Hmm..so there were no slugs. Nevertheless, I took a MC for the day so that I don't have to go for my poem course in the afternoon. It's really dumb, as this is the first MC I took for this year, and it's not even on a working day!

I've been rather looking forward to this day, since I finally have this chance go for my in-service course in just jeans and slippers like some of my classmates, instead of rushing there after school every Friday. But I ended up being sick and stucked at home the whole day surfing blogs, friendster, and even amazon.com, hoping to find a good book to read.

I was so bored that I clicked on the links of many many blogs to scan thru what's up in people's life, I even went to friendster and click on strangers' profile to see if I can somehow discover more primary school friends (Yup, I was that boh-liao loh!) Sigh... It's a total waste of my special School's Achievement Holiday (principal declared this day off for us to celebrate achievements earned this year).

Teachers' Day Dinner at Mandarin

Do not be mistaken, the following photos were not taken during my secondary school days but last night at the Teachers' Day dinner. The theme was.. 'Back to School Days' and many teachers went to the dinner dressed up in their school uniforms.

I managed to dig out my secondary school uniform as well, and joined in the fun. It was really very interesting seeing teachers dressing up as students and I really felt like it was back to school days, during our first 3 mths in JC. I was quite skeptical at first, as it had been such a long time since I last wore my “红字“ (what we call our Nanyang uniform) and it really felt weird intially, but it really turned out to be a good theme for a dinner like this. Kudos to my mum who had kept my secondary and JC uniforms in perfect condition, and thankfully, I can still fit into it!!



Me and another Chinese teacher also known as Peiling. 


Me with other colleagues from convent 

I would say I enjoyed the dinner with my colleagues tremendously, it was a huge gathering as there were staff from all the six schools and there were games as well as cheer competitions played between the schools. There was one particular school which was really onz as a lot of the young teachers dressed up as ah lians in their school uniform, completed with colourful hair, super short skirts and tatoos on their faces and arms. I almost mistook them for the real Ah Lians walking along the Orchard Road downstairs. Comparatively, the teachers from my school were much more decent. =)

My colleagues and I were sitting around talking about the good old days when we would do modifications to our school uniforms to look more 'outstanding'. Stunts used during those days include folding our skirts so that it looks shorter after the morning assembly, pulling up our socks so that it almost reaches our knees (it was the ah lian fashion during those times) and trying not to be caught with forbidden items like the pager. And my school was exceptionally strict then, the no. of rules that we had to adhere to was so many that our student handbook became as thick as the dictionary. No kidding!

We also noticed that most people turned up in their secondary school uniforms rather than their JC ones. I think for most of us, it was really during that phase of life when school life played an sigificant role in our identity. I still missed the good old days from time to time, when we had an unique school uniform, outstanding school name that we could identify with.

Thank you..

Presents I received yesterday.. 

Yesterday was a very happening day. Though it's supposedly special and pleasant for all teachers, it was quite tiring too. I was running in and out of the office meeting students who wanted to pass things to me, giving out last minute instructions and homework for the holidays while trying to get the kids to settle down and listen to me. I think the kids are really much more excited than us teachers, and there were lots of leftover cakes in the pantry from the P6 parties. =)

At my EM3 class, I was ambushed by the 'foam' confetti spray cans.. three boys were armed with a spray can each, and I had to escape to the staff toilet. It looks like cake being thrown on me initially, but luckily it was quite easy to clean off once it's dried. Other than this surprise, I was also very surprised by the students. I complained a lot about them, as they were the ones who made me feel the most frustrated in school and received the most scoldings from me.. but each of them really spent time and effort to get something for me. And they were eagerly gathering around me, trying to get me to open their presents first. I guess it's not the number of presents but the kind of appreciation you can feel coming from them.


I hadn't been in school for long, only a term so far and that's no more than 10 weeks. I'm not expecting to get boxes and boxes of presents (you'll never know what to do with them!) like my other colleagues but its still nice to get students who run up shyly to you to wish you 'Happy Teachers' Day'. I think it's really the thoughts that count, isn't it?

Oh yah, to top off the parties and celebration, I had my first fire drill in school yesterday. Nobody that I knew was aware that there's going to be a fire drill, and I couldn't even recognise the alarm when I heard it. I didn't know where to bring the kids too, and it was a lucky thing we met the form teacher at the ground floor and she took over from there. I heard that some classes were cutting cake when the alarm went blaring.

Happy Teachers' Day!

Teachers' Day 

To my co-workers, colleagues, friends and teachers out there.. Happy Teachers' Day!!

I'm quite excited as this is my first official Teachers' day, looking forward to the celebration in school later today and the Teachers' day dinner at Meritus Mandarin. =) More blogging after that.

Ooooh.. Sept break is finally here, and its longer than usual, almost up to 2 weeks of hols. We deserved it!

What message is it trying to convey?

Attention: Dogs 

Time. Rain. Mondays.

Raining outside.. 

Time flies. That's a cliche line that everyone loves to say when they are having fun and it's the end of the hols. Have you ever wish that life can be the same as what we always see in the movies. You've seen it before, they have these lines flashing across the screen: a week later, one month later, two years later, and voila... time had passed! Sometimes, when I'm feeling bored and I don't really like what I'm doing, how I wish I have those kind of 'in a blink of an eye' effect and time can fast foward a bit more. I just feel like finding out what I'll be like months and years later. Will my life be better then?

It's been raining the whole of the weekend so most of the time I was at home reading a good book, catching up on sleep and just slacking. There are times when I really love the rain. It's a good reason to be in bed, it makes the air smells fresh, and sometimes it even make me feel peaceful. But at other times, it is quite frustrating: Why is it always raining when I'm planning to go out?? It's even worse if I'm on my way to work or back from work. I just don't like it when it rains when I have a tiring day ahead or behind me.

Anyway, even though I've really rested well this weekend, I'm not the kind of person who loves to stay at home or indoors too much. At this point of time, I just sort of wish for that 'fast-foward' effect, so that this boring weekend will be behind me and I'm doing something better soon.

All about teaching... for the teachers!

- Teaching is the profession that teaches all the other professions.

- If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one
time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn't want to
be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist,
without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence
for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom
teacher's job. (Donald D. Quinn)

- A good teacher is like a candle - it consumes itself to light the way
for others.

- There are three good reasons to be a teacher - June, November, December.

- The secret of teaching is to appear to have known all your life what
you just learned this morning.

Graduation

No idea what to blog about.. brain cells are usually dead at the end of a typical workday. However, there's no lessons the next few days due to PSLE oral! Hurray!

Anyway, I'm back blogging. Quite inspired by Peiling's blog so decided to dig up photos of the several occasions when I was gowned. =)


Heehee.. I'm sure many of us had attended this PAP kindergarten 'graduation', with the fake airport background behind. This should be taken somewhere in 1986. 


Years later... at the NUS commmencement ceremony (convocation), July 2003 


NIE investiture, June 2005  


Yeah.. we are finally out of 'school'. Know that all my friends had already posted these photos up on their blogs, and I'm the slowest!!  

Why so loooooooooong no blog?

Yeah, it's been a month since the last time I blogged. And not coincidentally, it had been a month since the term started.


Reason for this blog to be deserted for so long? Busy, busy, busy..!! I'm working 2 sessions almost everyday, 7am-7pm. Had been pondering for a long time, am I less efficient than the others? Will I cut down on my marking time as I get more experienced? Hmm... I definitely hope so!! Well, its been a month in school 'officially' and there's still lots of things and practices to adapt to, lots of passwords to apply, lots of acronyms to find out what it stands for, etc etc.

Anyway, just came across a poem that my talented colleague had composed.. and I'm sure many of us will find it familiar. My collection of comics, trading cards, rubber pokemon figures is growing everyday!

They think she doesn’t know
What’s going on below
Their desks as she is teaching
So they keep on playing
They didn’t hear her creep
Right up to their seats
To cry out loud with glee,
“GIVE THOSE THINGS TO ME!”

Back from hols!!

Yeah, was back from a very wonderful hol last Sunday night. Koh Samui was really great! And of course, finally the photos are up and ready to be posted, as below. Too tired to post up the rest of the photos, till I'm back from Initial D tomorrow night. I'm so excited! Gotta blog about that, too.

Grrrrr... I hate staff meetings! I'm having staff meeting for the next two days to end off my hols horribly.. *sulk*

Dinner at "The Deck" (Not NUS arts canteen that deck)

A nice place where soft cushion seats were placed on the floor and we can lie back to drink or have our meals. *burp* Not very good for digesting food though..hehe..  


Surprisingly, food was good there.. although I was expecting such a place with good ambience to serve lousier food. It was mixture of thail food like Tom Yam soup and western food. My friends had barracuda and shark fillets for dinner... yummy!  



Done with our dinner at 'The Deck', and time for more shopping! 

I love Thai massage!

Even though I've been to Thailand twice before, this is the first time I've tried out the Thai massage, which is sometime that you must definitely must give it a try if you get to Thailand. First of all, it's soooooo cheap there! And secondly, it was a very relaxing experience.


Me doing a stunt with the masseur stepping on me. The stretching was painful at times, but very 'shiok' too! I could actually hear my bones cracking and joints being 'popped' (if you get what I mean). I was so addicted to massaging after this session that I went for another foot massage the next day. =) 

Flying back home

Don't be mistaken, this is not our Singapore Zoological Gardens. It's actually Koh Samui airport and that's the area for passengers to wait for their flights. It was pretty fascinating when we first arrived at night to an airport like this, holidays at at a truly tropical island. Wooooo!! But it wasn't so cool when we were leaving, it was sweltering hot and the airport wasn't air-conditioned! Brrrr....  



The trams with passengers. 


Lo and behold! These trams actually brought us to our plane.. and it was really so much like riding at the zoo. 


These planes look like flying to Hawaii yah? It's quite a small jet actually...  

Not for the kids...

Happy Father's Day! 

Oh yeah.. how I love this ad. Heh.. =P

I've totally missed Father's Day as I was away overseas. Luckily, bought some wine and beer from the airport, and therefore 'conveniently' gave it to my dad whose activities at home consist of beer-drinking (occasionally) and reading newspaper (many times daily). =)

A movie that is not to be missed...

Initial D 

Initial D (头文字D) is out this week, I'm so excited!!! Jay is in town these few days for the premiere gala event... wooohooo.. But of course I'm too old to be one of the screaming fans with banners, so all I can do is to publicise about it on my humble blog here.

In case you're one of those 'kee siao' pple that don't really like Jay, this is one movie filled with other super cool and cute stars as featured in the poster. Do catch them racing their cars down the streets, it's so cool that you're just gonna freeze.. Heh.

Which Singaporean Blogger Are You?

Congratulations , you are...

Scarlett Ting of joewei.blogspot.com

You are independent, smart and beautiful. Its too bad you don't see that yourself because life's little difficulties brought down a lot of your self confidence. As a result, you talk cryptic and you don't trust people easily. You care a lot for your friends and your loved ones, sometimes even more than you care for yourself, although they don't always seem to appreciate it. Don't let that affect you. As the saying goes, you don't miss the water till the well runs dry. So hang in there, you're a star in the making.

Which Singaporean Blogger Are You?

This is a very 'accurate' quiz created by the funny (and very popular) Kenny Sia, I couldn't decide on that nightspot question and went back to change the answer. And lo, and behold!

Congratulations , you are...

Finicky Feline of finickyfeline.liquidblade.com

You may seem sweet on the outside but behind you hide a sharpened claw. You have the observation skills of a forensic detective and can see right through people easily. You attract attention, both good and bad, but more bad than good. You've seen more assholes in life than a proctologist. The bad ones tries to screw you over but quickly learnt that its a bad move because you enjoy screwing them back accordingly.

Which Singaporean Blogger Are You?

Nevertheless, they're both pretty ladies, I'm sure. And that's the most important thing. Hahah, check out the quiz, just for fun!

Congratulations, Cuixia..

Us at the table waiting for the dinner to start.. and the late QH to arrive. 

The wedding dinner had been over for a week, but as usual the blog is delayed. Too bad that this photo turned out too dark, but it's one of the better shots with all of us inside. As you can see below, photos after this were brighter, cos I realised that I had to turn off the camera's flash and use the natural lighting in te ballroom.

Nevertheless, still want to wish Cuixia and her hubby a very happy marriage here. =)

The happy couple walking down the aisle