More sky pics... :P

Haha...forgive me..I can't keep myself from snapping pics of the sky & its clouds...just love the look of it..... :)


Mostly are taken in CHS...

CHS morning sky...
.....and the same morning sky... :P
Aaah, CHS in the evening...think the building looks kinda cool like that...

Hmm, I can't remember where I took this one...could be when I stopped at a traffic light on my way home....didn't turn out as nice as it looked in real-life...

Well, a few days ago my dad decided that he wanted to clear one of the cupboards in the house so that he will have more space to put his numerous photo albums. And he asked me about this suspicious looking little brown paper bag...saying that it contained my stuff inside..

So I peered inside, half thinking that he made a mistake..but true enough, the things were mine...AND, they were things that I would reeeally love to keep with me, for a long time to come. They were little notes and letters that friends have given to me over the years, since I was in secondary school...JC...university.......

Wow, it was amazing...looking through that stack of letters and notes...so many memories of being in school...and the friends that spent those years with me..all the memories just came flooding back..was such a sweet feeling reading through some of those letters and notes that had been given to me so long ago...just unknowingly made me smile as I looked at them. Some of the notes, I don't even remember receiving.....also suddenly remembered that there was this gal called Serling whom I used to write to pretty often, all the way till I was in JC and she was in uni. Even found 2 letters that my brother wrote to me while he was in Melbourne.. :)

Think somehow, with the progress of modern technology, and the increased pace of life, e-mails and e-cards have almost totally taken over the traditional handwritten letters and greeting cards. Somehow..it's just that much sweeter and more heartwarming to receive one that's handwritten instead of one from cyberspace....it's just somehow different when you get to see the handwriting of someone instead of a typewritten letter... Of course, I must admit that I have also been sucked into the convenience of technology... so rediscovering that bag of letters just reminded me that, the personal touch is a very vital part of communication. ;)

There were so many letters and notes in that bag, I didn't have time to look through them all..but I thought it was worth capturing into photos.... pretty obvious that I am a very sentimental person... :P

Numerous aren't they..... :)

These are the letters from Serling..wonder if i would get to meet her again someday..

And these are from my brother in melbourne :) One of them was a card for my 21st birthday...

:) :) :)

OK, it's time to get back to work!

Photo finally ;)

Photo finally =)
The pictures with the Vballers on my bday.. ;)
Am just gonna post this one, the most 象样 one! (tho Z beside me looks kinda freaky..) ;)

This post was actually meant to be about something else...BUT, due to my own forgetfulness, I left the connecting cable to my phone in school..so the pics that I meant to post up with what I was going to say, shall have to wait.

*PHEW*

My gosh...I have finally finished 11 classes worth of marking!
Goodness me....I can't believe it... It's amazing when you can literally see the level of ink in your pen decreasing rapidly as you mark.......there was a day where I finished one red pen in one day. Scary..

Well, tomorrow's the day of reckoning. I don't even know how my classes did actually..because I do not have the overall collated marks. So i'll only get to see it tomorrow.
*gan chiong*
sometimes I feel as if I'M the one taking the exams...

OK, time to sleep.

Again

Over-reliance is an emotionally tiring process....but yet time after time it happens..
Told myself to be wary...but still, it happened... :(
Where's the exit, I need to get out..fast..

My marking's only half done...and I've double-checked the same scripts countless times....why can't people just put more effort into the way they present?!?

*moody*

Life after the MYE...marrkkkiinng..

Most of the sec3s would probably be relaxing at home now after a long 2-3 weeks of mugging for the mid-years (MYE)....which marks the beginning of an intense period of marking for us teachers!

The past 2 weeks saw me giving little remedials here and there to help prepare some of my sec3s for the mid-years...I sure hope they were helpful.

During one of the evenings after a remedial session, I took this picture in school..

I just love the look of those clouds....

OK, back to the topic of MYE. I must say, when I returned to my table on Thurs afternoon, I was kinda shocked at the sight of 11 classes of scripts on my table. I was almost sure that my table was SAGGING from the weight of the papers... -.-' Thankfully I'm marking half the paper only...if not, I'm so dead.

This is where I like to spend some of my time marking over the next few days.....my little hangout place Icekrimo =)


I think I mentioned about the place here before...Icekrimo is this little ice-cream joint that's near to Sin Ming..cosy little place that opens from 11am-11pm. So all I gotta do it park my little car at the private houses area...and take a very short walk there.
Apparently Icekrimo has been featured in the papers more than once. They've got interesting flavours like Horlicks..Chempedak...etc.. I do recommend the place if anyone's looking for a nice cosy place for an evening out with friends ;)

Okie, short post for now.
Gonna recharge and go to school to mark tomorrow..

The special day..

It actually all started on Sunday night, when my friends (C, J, Jo, S and G) asked me out for dinner. I think I almost foiled the surprise myself..haha.. If I'm not wrong, my friends wanted me to walk over to Jo's house (who lives next block to me) so that we can go for dinner in one car, and then have to return together after that for them to spring the surprise on me. But because I had so much marking to do, I decided to drive on my own instead so that I'd have the flexibility to return earlier if I wanted to :P Haha...anyway, in the end, they just demanded that I go up to Jo's house after dinner.
It had been many years since the last time my sec sch friends celebrated for me...so it was really heartwarming for me after such a long time..Doesn't the cake look very cute?? Just look at all those gummy sweets and jelly beans on top.. Haha, it's an ice-cream cake from Island Creamery at Serene Centre.

My share of the cake ;)

So that was surprise #1.

Very soon Tue came..and I made it a point to treat it like a normal day, purposefully making sure that I was not unconsciously expecting anything spectacular. And, I have my reasons for doing so. In the past, I used to really really look forward to the actual day, and when it comes, and goes, as if it was any other normal day, I find myself feeling rather down by the end of the day. So to prevent that, I made it a point to tell myself that it was nobody's responsibility to remember, and that nothing much was going to happen..................or so I thought....... :P

So the day started, and I was in school a little earlier than usual as I had to do some things in the morning. And once I reached my table, I saw this..

Woah...I couldn't believe my eyes. Because I wasn't expecting a present at all....So sweet of one of my colleagues to remember....thanks Z.. =) Soon my other colleagues trickled in, and here and there, some of them actually remembered and wished me...

My second "present" for the day, a piece of coffee cake from J...heh...thanks J... =)

So, 1st 2 periods with my form class, was like any other lesson (those sneaky fellas.. :P).
And then I went over to 3-11, and from afar, I was wondering if they were behaving funnily..haha.. Coz when they saw me walking towards the class, they had this slight shocked expression and ran back in. (Usually, they'd just continue going to the toilet and walking about till I reached the class itself). So I reached the class...it was a pretty funny sight. The WHOLE CLASS was pretending to be taking a nap...haha...all the lights in the class were switched off! So I went in and switched on the lights, and that's when they broke into the bday song :) Very sweet of them....thanks 3-11 :)

After my lesson with 3-11, L stopped me along the corridor and said "see you at the comp lab in 5 minutes ok?" Protests were futile, coz they were all met with the reply of "DON'T CARE!". So I went up, and waited outside comp lab 2. Then L came out and spun this story about how the students asked her and I to come up to the lab and that she also had no idea what was happening and all.....riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighhhhtt... :P
And so we waited outside the lab for a couple of minutes..and in between there were 1 or 2 students who ran in and out of the lab (I was told after that, that it was coz they couldn't find a lighter, haha). So when we were finally called into the room, I peeked in from the corner of the door, wondering what was happening. And I got shoved in by L to the chorus of my 2nd bday song for the day.....haha. L had gotten her class to hold the cake that she'd bought me, and sing a song for me. So sweet of her, THANKS L :D
Look at my yummy cake.....
And that was surprise #2.

During the day, colleagues left cards on my table to wish me...so nice to always see something on my table when I returned from class..from the toilet..etc... =) My handphone also almost always had a new message from someone to wish me a blessed bday..from old friends and students alike...thank you so much for remembering...just a simple message really means a lot to me..
Very soon it was the last period of the day, and it was then, that L came hurriedly into the staffroom and said to me "Hey, something happened in your class (3-1), I think there's a fight! Quick let's go up and see what's happening!". And I was like, "Huh!?" and got outta my seat to follow her upstairs.. I remember thinking to myself "my goodness...this can't be happening to me. Why can't they fight on the other 364 days of the year, why TODAY......sigh..".

And so there we were, sprinting up the stairs(I was wearing high-heeled shoes!), thinking that something had really happened in my class. While I was about to reach the class, I heard from inside "fight, fight, fight!" which frankly speaking, sounded seriously weird. Haha, coz I don't think my class is the kind who'll encourage a fight...haha...but coz L made me run upstairs so quickly I didn't really have time to process stuff.

When I finally reached the door, again, I peeked in first, coz I didn't know what to expect..and ONCE MORE, I was shoved inside 3-1.
It was quite a funny sight, coz my class had all squished into a corner of the classroom, and when I got shoved in, they broke into my 3rd and loudest bday song for the day :) Amongst all of them, was the a bday cake, all candles lit (and getting blown out by the ceiling fan...haha..). I must say, I was really surprised. It usually take a lot to spring a real surprise on me, so kudos to my class for having done just that =) Felt really happy =) It's at that moment..where I suddenly felt that all the efforts and time I spend on teaching,scolding,etc them are all worth it..
Of course, it's not that it's not worth it if I didn't get a surprise, it's just that at that point in time, I just felt it so tangibly..that the efforts were worth it and appreciated.. :)

2nd cake for the day.. :)

My form class...


My lovely card and bottle of messages from them..there's nothing like an individualised and present..

Thanks guys...deeply appreciated ;)

So that was surprise #3.

And so, I thought that was a most wonderful end of all the possible surprises for the day.

Had staff meeting on Tue, and since I stayed to mingle and chit chat with 3-1 for a while, I didn't really have time to get lunch. But the cakes were pretty filling, so I thought..nevermind lor.
BUT, in the end, I was treated to a tabao'd lunch by 2 of my students. L paid for the lunch, and C ran out quickly to get it for me before my meeting.
Thanks you 2...the oyster mee sua was very yummy.. ;)

After my staff meeting, I had a remedial appointment with GH.........which turned out to be my final surprise for the day! ;) I was all ready to exit my staffroom with my tablet PC and all when he told me "It's ok ms chow, just come out, no need to bring anything." EH? :) Heh, was wondering how come I had to be reminded of the "remedial session" like, THREE times before Tue...haha...so that was why ;)

Haha, one more cake to end the day on a high note together with the sec3 Vballers.. Thanks guys....really appreciate it ;)
Think we took lotsa pics, but it's all in one of their cameras. *hint hint* I'd love to put them up here... *hint hint*...but can only do that after he sends them to me *hint hint* :P
Spent some time chit-chatting with them a little, before I zipped off home for my dinner with my parents.

Lovely presents from R and G...thank you, so sweet of you guys :)

My parents and I went to M Hotel to have a Japanese buffet for dinner...I lurrrrrrrrrve jap food! keke..

And this is the restuarant we went to, called J-Toshi I think....

It was an "A La Carte Buffet", so we order our food through the waitresses instead of the traditional buffet style where we pick the food ourselves from the counters...
Shucks, they actually have a restriction on the number of plates of Sashimi that a person was entitled to per dinner. WHyyyyyyyyyyyyy............ :P

Heh, my mum and I taking a picture of ourselves with my phone...turned out pretty nice eh.. :)

And that was the end of my lovely and memorable special day.
I think it's one of my best ever...I expected nothing, but so much was done for me.
Thank you, to everyone who had a hand in making this day so spectacular, special, and warm for me, be it in a small or big way. Feel so loved............ :)

THANK YOU =D

Today's a special day...

Yes, today's a special day.
I made it a point not to expect much to happen, lest I get disappointed.
But the truth is, much has happened today....and I feel so blessed :)

I have so much to say, but I have even more marking to do.
So, well, marking comes first, since mid-years are so nearby.
Will post in detail about today........soon...... ;)

Thanks everyone who made today so special....... :)

Pictures that I love taking..

Have always loved to take pictures...you know how, sometimes, when you're walking along the street or just minding your own business, and you suddenly see something that you would really like to capture?
Last time we used to have to be contented to just look at the scenery for a few minutes more.....but now that camera phones are a norm.. :)

Some pics that I've taken with my phone...

CHS with nice blue skies and clouds..

Macau's sunset...

Macau's evening..

More of Macau's sunset...

The most recent pictures I've taken are those below. Have asked a few people to guess which part of Singapore the following pictures were taken from......really like the colour and reflection..

Managed to guess where this place is?
































































It's sunset at MacRitchie reservoir =)

Looong week..

This week was....pretty long...

Physically tired because of the late nights in preparation for school, other things like CIP coordination, and other commitments that I have to fulfill. Emotionally draining as well, many things have happened this week...

But I'm glad that the week is over..class had a few issues to settle....and I'm not talking about the usual administrative things and homework chasing (which all still took place over this week)...altogether, 2 minor and 1 major happenings. I'm glad at the way things turned out in the end for all 3 matters...especially the major one.

Everything that took place got me thinking..and I reconfirmed the fact that teaching...is really a job that's different. It's more than a job...it's really about people. And whenever people are involved, there is this whole dimension of bonding and relationship...expectations... emotions... giving of grace... and more.

By the end of the week, the phrase "behind every dark cloud is a silver lining" came to mind. And I recall the time when this phrase truely struck me..when I was travelling in Australia, and saw it for myself, the silver lining behind this dark ominous cloud. It was such a beatiful sight..and I remember at that point I just said a prayer to God to thank Him for such beatiful things in life.

Thank God for supportive friends who helped me through the week..without them handling stuff for me, I wouldn't have been able to go through the week.

Class aside, friday marked the 3rd NCC (Land) Passing Out Parade (POP) that I was attending, where the new sec3 leaders will officially take over the leadership of the unit. And as usual, the sky was ridden with dark ominous clouds since morning. I have since concluded that, it rains EVERY POP. Or at least, for the last 3 it has. But thankfully it stopped after a little while, and we were able to proceed. And there I was as usual, with my camera and snapping shots of the whole parade..it has become a hobby of mine to snap pics of events..not only for personal memory and keepsake, but also for the boys' memories.

The batch that took over yesterday, was the batch of sec1s that I taught in 05 and 06. Any many memories of them when they were sec1 two years ago came flooding back. So quickly, they have risen in rank, and have taken over the unit.

To the Part Ds who have officially been promoted to the rank of Senior, thanks for all your contributions...all the sweat and effort...hope 4 years haven't only taught you about leadership, drills, discipline and pumping, but that it has ganered you a big group of friends who are dependable, and ever ready to stick by you.

As for the Part Cs who have taken over, it is time.............

Bring the unit to even greater heights! :)

Remember, respect is to be earned..and that pride comes before downfall. You guys can do it ;)

Some photos from the POP....

Some of our old boys came back for the POP...was nice to see you guys :)

Sadly, after the parade and company photo-taking, I had to run off to do some CIP stuff and couldn't stay to chat with the old boys nor the outgoing part Ds, which I'd have really loved to do. Oh well, next time perhaps.

Spent whole of Saturday in school....half the day was because of St. John's flag day..the other half, I was doing my own marking and lessons prep. But thankfully, an old friend of mine was at Bishan in the evening, so managed to meet her up for dinner and gai gai at J8.

Okie, Monday's almost here, gotta prepare my ammunition...

....

http://stickgal.blogspot.com

Why so looong................

.........since the last update?!?

Just realised it's been a full 20 days since I last wrote anything....it's an indication of the amount of things waiting for me to do (and STILL waiting)..

Holidays were a blur, a week seemed too short to really complete anything. What with 2 extra classes and 2 days spent on CHMA posters/form prep and Contact Mag interview, that was virtually almost 3-4 days spent. I suppose this is the result of taking on Sec 3 Math and CHMA.

Teaching Sec 3 once again has re-exposed me to the intense level of preparation that has to be done in order to deliver a good lesson that is informative, convincing, and has enough scaffolding for learning..selecting good examples to expose the nitty gritty details of each chapter, and pre-empting possible misconceptions that students might have. Having said all that, what I love about teaching upper sec is the interaction with them in, and out of class. Because of the age, there's usually a higher sense of maturity and thus more fruitful conversations take place. Most of the time, you are able to get a point across to them through logical reasoning. Students also understand jokes and sarcasm (i.e. suaning... :P) better..haha..
So even though I am really much more tired out by teaching upper sec this year, and that sometimes, the intensity of it is driving me a little nuts, I believe I can safely say that I am enjoying teaching the sec3s =)


As some may have already noticed, I'm doing the CHMA with the highly trained team of IMedia members this year. Am always amazed at the kind of skills that they possess and picked up in their time in IMedia. Glad to be working with you guys on CHMA 07 ;)

The CHMA posters have been up since last Fri, thanks to the IMedia's members' hard work in putting them up all over the school. What disturbs me a little is the torn posters that I saw on level 5, torn right across in the middle. :(
But back to the posters, there's a total of 7 designs this year, and the central theme is "7 Deadly Sins". Before anyone points their finger at us to say that we're blaspheming in a catholic school, it's actually an intelligent play on the date that CHMA is gonna be on this year, 07. 07. 07 =) So every poster has been designed to link the "sin" to CHMA/Music/joining CHMA. Have fun figuring out each poster =) You can view and even download them at the CHMA blogsite
http://chmusicawards.blogspot.com/ . And on a personal note, a big THANKS to WJ for helping with the designing and brainstorming!! =) (psst, must kpo for the CHMAs to come hor ;) )

Registration forms for CHMA are already available here...

Taken from http://chmusicawards.blogspot.com/

No idea where this board is??? It's outside the Media Resource Centre in CHS which is beside ths Staff Lounge on Level 3. Don't be blur, sure can find wan. Interested participants can obtain a form from the sleeves on the board, fill it up and just drop it into the box that's below the noticeboard ;)
Auditions are fast approaching, starting from 19th April, so all budding singers, musicians and rock bands, don't procrastinate anymore!! :)

Yesterday evening was Sports night, and up till the Sports night itself, Joseph was ranked 2nd. But the fight is a really close one, because between the 2nd & 4th positioned house, was only a meer 4 points difference. I just wanna say that I'm very proud of the Joseph House leaders for the job well done in the coming up with, and the coordination of the whole cheers sequence =)
To me, sports night should be a largely student-initiated event..it's when it's student-initiated, that students will have the sense of ownership and fighting spirit for the house. So for bringing the house together, for the evening that you spent practising and cutting cloth AND shouting the cheer sequence into my ear for me to hear, just wanna say a big WELL DONE to the house leaders, and also Joseph House of course, for pulling together and presenting a pretty decent cheer sequence =) I'm proud of you guys ;)

Has been a pretty tiring week...I think I've had a total of 19 hours of sleep from Mon to Fri..which was why I felt that I was on screen-saver mode during the 20 minutes interval during sports night yesterday....it's like...the whole body just going into this stoning mode coz there's no adrenaline from watching your house runners compete on the track..
After sport night I manged to catch up with a couple of old boys who came back to visit....always enjoy this kinda informal meet-ups and chats with the boys who come back =)

So finally last night, I had the chance to sleep.............from 12midnight till 11 am this morning!!
Woohoo...feels good to be able to sleep that long... ;)
Why do I have this feeling that I'm gonna be taking a nap later....heh..

OK, better get down to doing some work before I'm off to church later.
Tata...................*wave* :P

week 9 gone

Woah, week 9's gone and we're fast approaching week 10 which means March Hols is COMING!

Wow..time flies yet again. The past 2 weeks have come and gone so quickly, because after we came back from CNY, it was a 1.5 day week due to our long-awaited half day off for O's results, and followed by Cross-country at Turf City. Well, so what has been happening..

The half day due to the fantastic O's results was great, everyone was kind of let off at 9.40am that day, with the whole school being given yummy ice-cream to eat in celebration of the marvelous results. Glad that my class managed to get our 2 hampers wrapped..found it quite fun actually..doing the wrapping and all. Always enjoy all these outside-of-class activities with the boys. Thanks for helping with the hamper guys, those who actually stayed back to do it. I'm sure we made a small difference to those who received our hampers, and that they feel a little more blessed during CNY.

The staff lunch that followed after that was at Aquamarine at Marina Mandarin. (Try saying those four words, I seriously find that it twists my tongue.)

Photo from http://www.marina-mandarin.com.sg/dining/aquamarine.htm
The food was SUPER GOOD. My goodness..and there was such a big variety food, I think if I took just ONE mouthful of each dish that was at the buffet, I'd be too full. So I had to ration my stomach space :P So I only managed to eat like..some of the dishes. Heh, but still, very very nice. Actually got to each my favourite sashimi ... *drool*.

I must say that the waitresses are very efficient there. I was actually having my dessert halfway, when we were called over to another table for yu sheng, only to be told 2 minutes later, that we didn't need to go over. And lo and behold, when I turned back to my table, my plate of half-eaten dessert had been taken away!! My gosh I almost fainted. Hais, my poor half-eaten chocolate fondue :P

Next day was X-country at Turf City. My first time having a cross-country at Turf City. Colleagues have told me that it'll be scorching hot because of the lack of shelter, so thankfully, there was tremendous cloud cover for most of the morning.

As for the results, I only have one thing to say.....

JOSEPH, we'll get it back during Sports Night!! ;)

KEEP YOUR HEADS AND SPIRITS UP!

Was a fruitful day of meet-ups that day as well, met up with my ex-colleague L, and then in the evening, met up with my friend L who was back in Singapore for the CNY period. (haha, why do all their names start with L)
Believe it or not, that evening was actually the first time that I stepped into the newly renovated Cathay cineplex building. Haha, yes, I am a mountain tortoise. Sure looks nice...I shall endeavour to watch a movie there during the March holidays. :P

That weekend, my brother returned to Australia after his one week stint for CNY. I never thought I'd say this, but I do miss having my brother around sometimes (other than the fact that I have no more privacy whenever he comes back coz we share a room :P). He seems to have this knack of making my parents happy and making them laugh all the time. Somehow, the family dynamics changes when there's 4 of us in the house, rather than 3. Ah well, I guess even at my age, there's still a lot to learn.

This week was quite a rush. Loads of syllabus to cover since 3 days are taken up for e-learning next week. Sure hope my classes understand what I'm saying in class...especially for my Saturday class yesterday. If there are any doubts, QUICKLY ASK AH!!

3 days of e-learning, nice time to catch up on my marking.

Must also remember to go and fix my appointment with the skin centre for my sudden super flare up of eczema, and another appointment elsewhere for my mysteriously prolonged back pains.......

CNY: A time for meet-ups

Woohoo, thank God for sleep...the rest that I've been getting over the past few days seem to be paying off. Except for a toady voice & a blocked nose still, I actually feel pretty ok. :)

Some photos to outline my CNY...

This was reunion dinner with my auntie's family...see the ultra big plate of yu sheng that we're about to toss? :)


First day of CNY, where all relatives visit my house. That's due to the fact that my granny lives with me.

One of my nieces!! SO CUTE right? My gosh...super cute..cannot stand it...she's my cousin's daughter.. :P

This is my cousin (the lady in red) and her children, my brother beside me..they're all so cute..

3rd day of CNY....lunch with my family's old friend & his family. The guy in the picture above is the son of my dad's old friend. We've known each other since we were little kids in HK..

And the most enjoyable meet-up of them all, is my meet with my gang of old friends from secondary school. We met up at NYDC at Holland V...

Two of my best buddies from secondary school... =)

And this is the whole big bunch of us :)
Not the full group of us yet....but will suffice for this CNY meet-up.

Toady voice

Eeks, I think I'm paying the price of not listening to my own advice:
"Just WATCH the volleyball match, don't shout."

Currently croaking away coz I think I aggravated my sore throat with all that shouting at the match yesterday :S

Sigh, no bak kwa for my this CNY I think...