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...

CNY is finally here..

Before anyone points their finger at me and shouts "moneyface!!!!", please do not be mistaken. I'm not hyper happy that CNY is here because I'm going to be getting my yearly ang baos, but more relieved at the fact that I'm going to be able to get sufficient sleep and rest over the next 3-4 days..... :)

Has been an interesting week..so decided to update today since it's the beginning of a loong weekend! yayyy..

Sec 3 Learning Journey: Sculpture's Walk along Singapore River
So Wed (which was also friendship/valentine's day) was CHS' Learning Journey Day. Those who've been reading from here long enough would have read the post last year about the Sec2 battlefield tour that I attended last year for my class' Learning Journey. This year, along with my form class, we went on the Sculpture Walk inside the financial hub and along the Singapore River.
Actually, comparing last year's and this year's journey, think the Battlefield Tour was more interesting in terms of theme covered..was more impactful I felt.

Nevertheless, I think the sculpture walk was not bad too. If not for the learning journey, I perhaps would not even notice that those sculptures that we visited were actually there. Learnt a little about how to appreciate a sculpture, the different types of sculptures, the materials they are made of, their significance & meaning, etc.

Some pics from the Learning Journey....

At our first sculpture..

Our 2nd sculpture...I think called "Progress & Advancement"

A 'low-relief' part of "Progress & Advancement"

My form class in action!

Does this look like a combination of many boats combined into one sculpture? :)
Listening intently to our guide...
Funky project Stamp..a competition where winning entries get painted onto mailboxes all over the island.
After visiting the sculpture called "Bird"..
As you can see, this is my class' favourite sculpture.. :S
Told you it's their favourite sculpture...... :P
"Ku Cin Ta Cats"..apparently one got "adopted" home by a passerby who loved it too much..
And this is all of us, back in CHS :)

Should have been a really lovely day out with my class...if not for the fact that I was actually very ill. This current bout of flu that I've been having since last Fri is seriously a strong strain. I think I've never had more intense muscleaches from a flu, ever. I suppose I could have actually taken an MC and not gone on the learning journey....it's just that, I really treasure opportunities like that for class bonding..when the class is not in their usual classroom surroundings, when things are more relaxed and more conducive for interaction, where we can have casual chats.

Think I would have been much more chatty and interactive had I not been suffering from the bad muscleaches, sore throat and fatigue......
Thanks to my accompanying colleague and my 2 able chairmen, the whole learning journey carried on smoothly without much glitches, even though I was functioning at only about 40%. THANKS :)

South-Zone Volleyball Finals TODAY
Went down to Yio Chu Kang sports hall to support the CHS volleyball team in the volleyball finals today after our CNY celebrations in school.
Was an exciting 3 sets that we watched...we won the first, lost the second, and finally won the third! Woohoo!!
I LOVE watching matches and cheering for the kids..it's great feeling to give support to our own players, especially since I teach some of them ;) I just wish there were more of us there to give stronger support..think it makes a difference to the cheers to have more people there.
Nevertheless, we have won today!
Hopefully there'll be fuller and stronger support at the nationals :)

How to apply eye cream?

I am currently typing this post with one eye closed. 0.o
That's coz I have a slight eye infection... and please can someone tell me how to easily apply EYE CREAM into the eye?! Arrghhh..like how in the world to put eye cream into the underside of my upper eyelid?? The cream just keeps sticking to my eyelashes and all......and gravity pulls the small little tube of cream down everytime i squeeze out that 1 cm to put under my eyelid =((

And woohoo, i'm down with flu AGAIN. AGAIN!?!? I thought I was fit as fiddle, then suddenly I started sneezing and coughing on Thursday night. Seriously couldn't figure out how come I suddenly got the flu again since I have been resting enough as the common test has taken away quite a few math periods. THEN, I realised. I got the flu from a neighbouring colleague who's pretty sick -.- Fang guo wo baaaaaaaa..................

Thankfully I finished marking the common test scripts yesterday..stayed in school till I finished. Yay.
Most did pretty well....BUT, there are still failures. At least one from each of my 2 classes. =( Shall have to drill drill drill drill driiiilllll them.....

Went over to Bishan Park just now after church service...heard that the scouts are having their annual competition there. So went to kaypoh..nice structure that they had built, looks super sturdy. Hope CHS Scouts wins =)

Oh yes, Catholic High has done SUPERBLY well in the O's last year! Kudos to the sec4s 2006 batch...think the EMaths distinction rate (note: not % passes, it's % DISTINCTION) was 98.2% and the overall aggregate score is 9.6!! :) Do I hear a half day coming our way? please? :P

OKie, enough of one-eyed typing. Tired already.

Term 1, Week 6 already

Woah, should I be happy or should I be shocked..that 5 weeks of school has passed us by already. Next week is common test week, I sure hope my kids are ready for it. I foresee mass remedials this coming week.

Missed an old friends' dinner yesterday night..haha..because of my sony ericsson phone. When I used to use a nokia phone, I would be able to tell the time that a msg was sent to me, even if I switch off my phone at night. Now with my sony ericsson, if I switch off my phone at night, and someone sends me a msg laaaate at night, when I get the msg the next morning, it would register it as being sent to me at the time that I switched my phone back on. So here I was today, thinking that I had a dinner with my friends tonight (Sat), when they already HAD the dinner last night. Oh well..

Recently read this off Trisha's blog (http://trisha-reloaded.blogspot.com/), and I think it kinda describes how I feel too...... :)

Love/Hate relationship

I have a love/hate relationship with school. I mean, on 2 Jan, I was ready to slash my wrist at the thought of going back to the grindstone. The break was over, I couldn't imagine facing those students, the endless marking, meetings and those noisy juvenile Sec 1 kids.

3 Jan came. The bewildered-looking Sec 1 students amused me considerably. And my seniors, those whom I was in charge of, and who had been undergoing training since Nov 2006 to run the Orientation Program, I don't know how to express my gratitude to them. They were an awkward, diffident and lackadaisical lot when I first met them in Nov. But in the first 3 days of school, they miraculously rose to the occasion, took charge of things and had the Sec 1's eating out of their hands. It was a marvelous sight to behold and I want so much to give each one of them a big hug and say how proud I am of them!

Then I realised the transformation occurred in me too. I had met all my classes, and now I'm all ready to go. Yes, the madness will be there and I'll soon be bitching about the stupid admin work, the mountains of essays that gather under my desk and the students who terrorised me, but somehow, when I step into the class, I'm a different being. I have discovered that with each new year of teaching, I'm more confident, more certain of why I'm doing this and how I can do this better. The students are my fuel and my sustenance and it's a glorious feeling to be in the midst of so much youthful energy.

If I am not a teacher, then 3 Jan would come and go, hardly making a ripple in my working life. But now, I am in one of those few professions in which a new year literally means a new beginning, new class, new timetable, new challenges. So, in a weird, inexplicable and even perverse kind of way, I'll say "Hooray for the start of another new school year!"

Be Still My Soul

Sang this song in church today.....brought tears to my eyes..
I guess after so long..I still need to learn how to be still.

Be Still My Soul
Be still my soul, be still my soul.
Cease from the labour and the toil.
Refreshing spring of peace awaits,
to troubled minds and hearts that ache.

Be still my soul
God knows your way
And He will guide
for His name's sake
Plunge in the rivers of His grace
Rest in the arms of His embrace

Be still my soul, be still my soul
Though battles round you rage and roar
One thing you need and nothing more
To hear the whisper of my Lord

"Be still my child,
I know your way.
And I will guide
for My name's sake.
Plunge in the rivers of My grace
Rest in the arms of My embrace.

Almost succumbed to sleep, and wanted to go for Sunday morning service instead of today's Sat evening service...but I'm so glad that I didn't.
The message at service today was exactly what I needed to hear...on Psalm 121.
Still have got loads to do, as per before the church service....but at least I don't feel the weight of a heavy stone on my heart anymore..

If..

If muscleaches are a sign of getting sick.......then.................................................................































































I AM GETTING SICK.

Tired

I suppose a lot of people will box me when they hear me say this...but...I think I am getting old. Haha...I suppose a lot of people think that I'm 18...but I'M NOT. Though I do look like it.. =P

Well, back to why I think I'm getting old.
I used to be able to stay up late for consecutive days, and still function at 100% when I'm in school. Never used to develop dark eye rings nor eye bags even with a severe lack of sleep..but that's all in the past.

Adjusting back to the routine of school has been pretty difficult over the past week. Somehow, my body seems to think that I'm not getting enough sleep. Or perhaps, it's because I've been having disturbed sleep...so not much rest at night.

Some evidences of tiredness....
In class yesterday:

"17 - 9 = 6" (Huh?)
"(3x + 3)^2 = 3x^2 - 18x + 9" (Huh??)
"4 X 8 = 48" (HUH???)

Yup...I think I must have shocked my class yesterday...they all had this puzzled look on their faces as they watched me write the above during class...
Gosh I can hardly stop yawning...rainy days and gloomy skies don't help either..

Changes...

For a person who doesn't really like changes, first 2 days of school has left me thinking and reminiscing quite a bit...my once all-so-familar-with students, are now all in different classes....

Wondering how all the JC guys are doing too...

New year, new challenges.

I've got a new form class, that's 3-1.
Interestingly, I've never taught ANY of them mathematics before, though I taught 3 whole classes of Sec2 Math last year. There's even a pretty large group that I have never even taught before.. (not even music....altog I taught 8 out of 10 classes last year, be it math or music). So, will be a whole new time of getting to know people and working out the team dynamics.

The other class that I'm taking is 3-11. Bubbly class that I've taught music to before...but due to the fact that I only met them I think, less than 10 times for lessons last year (due to a whole variety of reasons), 3-11 can also be considered a pretty new class to me. A little worrying, because the sports seasons are all going to be starting soon. Remedials, here I come.

4 music classes, but this time a little different. Art and Music will operate like Home Econs and D & T, half classes each time. Woohoo, gonna be a fun year. I can just foresee increased efficiency and learning speed in Music class. :P

Tomorrow, 5 periods.
Now, SLEEP.

School reopening

So quickly, school is reopening.

The past few days has been a bit of a rush...hadn't even had time to sit down and just slowly reflect and think about new year resolutions. Perhaps over the course of the rest of this week, I shall do just that.

New year, many new challenges at work. New commitees, new responsibilities, new form class, new colleagues..

All the best to my colleagues who have ventured out into other pastures :)
And to those of us who begin our year in CHS, yeah man let's go!!

HK Pics

On one of the famous streets in Macau at night..a nice shopping area according to our tour guide... Really love the lights and ambience of christmas..

My favourite cousin!! Lotsa people seem to think that she really looks like me..I suppose I could pass her off as my sister ;)

And this is ALMOST the whole jing gang of relatives in HK..with one family missing..we had just had a most yummy dim sum brunch..

This is a bowl of snake soup...quite yummy I must say.. :)

Had steamboat lunch on Christmas eve at my aunt's place...steamboat feels good in cool weather..unlike us in singapore, who have steamboats in air-conditioned restuarants..

On night of Christmas eve, some of the roads were cordoned off, and so here we are, walking in the middle of the road that was JUST cordoned off when we reached there. Haha, was an interesting experience..one moment we were walking on the pavement, and the next moment, we were told we can just walk right down the ROAD itself.. ;)
The signature signboards of the Hong Kong streets.

HK Trip Pics II - Day Trip to Macau

So we took a day trip to Macau...

Looks liks a castle at the back? If I'm not wrong it contains an amusement park inside amongst other things.. Surrounding it are many hotels and casinos...

The 10th tallest viewing gallery...err..in the world? I can't really recall the names nor details of much things in Macau because I was pretty ill that day..

Us in the viewing tower...

The view from the tower..

This is a part of the GLASS floor of the tower!! Not for the faint-hearted definitely. You can literally stand on top of it & look all the way down 58 stories. Looks scary doesn't it..
Probably the most famous site in Macau. Seriously can't remember the name..but it's what's left of a church that was burnt down, and has since become a place of interest.
A lovely view of the sunset in Macau from the top of a museum that we visited.
I really love the whole ambience and feeling of sunset......