More happy pics..

Just another post to post more happy pictures up....this is F and W, signing their marriage certificate during their church wedding..warms my heart to see them smile so happily.. :)




















This is R and H beside me, my close friends, one from sec sch, the other from choir in JC...we were all from the same choir in JC the 3 of us :)
























My choir friends from JC..all of us served in the comittee back then... :)
















Think my friend looks so good in her evening gown!







Okie, time to sleep..................goodnight.................... :)

2 Happy events...

woah..been a full week since I went on MC..and guess what? I'm still not fully recovered. This is quite out of the norm..coz usually I would have recovered even before I finished half the medicine given to me. But this time round, even way after I finished my medication, I still look and sound a little unwell. Hmm...maybe it's the stress..

Past 2 weeks have seen 2 happy occassions pass....one is the birth of my friends' little baby girl called Samantha...


Don't you think she's very adorable...everyone say 'awwwwwwww'... :)










The other happening event was my friends getting married. They'd been together for 8 years, and finally, tied the knot last Saturday. Just attended their wedding dinner yesterday night at Marriot Hotel.



I believe this is the cover photo of my friends' photo album..which somehow I didn't get to see... But I think it's so sweet... "We love, because He first loved us"..












And this is the bunch of us from my JC choir.. (Notice how my silly friend's big head has blocked half my face though there's SOOOOooo much space on the left of the photo for him to stand...grr..)






1 week to exams and 4 weeks to end of term!

=(

my goodness...teaching with a sore throat is no joke.... I must say this is the worse sore throat I've gotten ever since I started teaching. Voice actually went hoarse and cracked quite a few times today. Of course it doesn't help when the students that you are teaching couln't care less that you are already struggling to project your voice and continue with their own conversations....

*AH CHOO!*

i'm sick....*ah chooooo**cough**sneeze**sniff**throat pain**muscleache*
Gosh, haven't been so sick in a long time. Don't even know how I caught this bad bout of flu. Wouldn't have deteriorated into such a bad flu if I had been able to see the doctor yesterday afternoon. But due to an utterly immature and irresponsible person, I was unable to because he caused me to miss the opening hours of the clinic. So here I am, at home the entire day today. Thankfully I only have 2 periods of lessons today..

Piggies talk..

Hi, we're the rest of the piggies on Miss Chow's table......oh wait, there's been a most recent addition to the family! Look out for him soon... ;)

Comments?

I was recently told that it was difficult to leave comments on my blog because the person has first to have a blogger account...seems like i set the comments settings as such some time ago. Heh, so I went to change the settings recently so that even if people do not have a blogger account, they can leave me comments.

People who read my blog will realise that there have been no comments so far. Or so i thought! Haha, actually there were comments a month back!! Hahahha...but I never realised it because I think when blogger alerts me of the comment, the email gets sent to the JUNK mail in my email, which I usually only browse through and then delete all of 'em. So I missed those comments a month back...haha...but nevertheless, I finally realise they were there, and they are up on the blog now..which you probably can't see coz it's on a post that's so long ago. Haha...but I'm glad I finally noticed the comments... Thanks for commenting :)

CHS Inter-UG Paintball Competition 090906

Just before school re-opened, the CHS Inter-Uniformed Grps Paintball Competition organised by the PE Dept in CHS took place at Singapore Orchid Country Club (SOCC). The UG officers didn't have to be there, but I thought it'd be nice to be there to render support to my boys :) J and I were the only 2 teachers there, besides the organiser himself, R.

As usual, I am actually kinda blurr as to whether I've ever been to SOCC before, so the night before I went to check up on the street directory to make sure that I didn't lose my way there. Lo and behold, when I reached there, I realised I HAVE been there before, hahaha, for my friends' wedding on 31st Dec last year. =P

Anyway, I should have taken my own advice and slept a while longer...reached SOCC at about 9am, and everyone was having their safety briefing. Then after that, we still had to wait around somemore for setting up stuff, for drawing out the knockout systemm blah blah, so the whole thing started only i think, late 9+am. Heh. I should have slept till 9am then left the house at 9.30am...would have made it there just in time to see my NCC(Land) team play.

The competition is as such, 2 teams are sent per UG, Team 1 and 2. All the team 1s will play in a knock-out system, and same with the Team 2s. Then there'll be semi-finals and finals.
Each game has 2 rounds, and to win a round, would be to do 2 things: 1) Shoot down 2 targets over on the enemy side, and 2) Steal an ammunition box from the border of your "enemies".

So this is a picture of my boys planning their strategy on how to best accomplish those 2 things in order to win a round. (I am so utterly impressed by this Picassa program that enabled me to do this collage! Heh, love the effect. =P)

This is my team of boys from Land. And (those from CHS) guess who's itchy hand is that spoiling my nice photo...

This is attempt no. 2 at taking the same photo...spoiled their attempts at being itchy-handed once more, which explains why everyone's like laughing and distracted coz I had to wait so long to snap the shot! silly boys...haha...

See what I mean by itchy-hands!?! SIGHZ....

FINALLY, a nice one with LESS itchy hands....but notice that i suddenly grew horns!? Sigh..

Yay finally, Land Team 1 preparing to go into action. First up against us is NCC (Air) Team 1.
OK, finally pictures to show the action!! It's quite an interesting sight to see Land 1 play Air 1, coz they are ALL wearing the army No. 4 uniform. Which makes it really look like war!! Haha...this is Land Team 1 in action :) Unfortunately, for Team 1 we lost one round, and disqualified the next round coz we managed to get the ammunition box, but didn't realise that one of the 2 targets was still up. Nm, well done for first try ;)

This is Land 2, who got through to quarter-finals. Quarter-finals was quite exciting, ending in a draw with Air team. So to decide the winner, there's a shoot-out of 6 shots. A pity we lost in the shoot-out, but nevermind, I'm proud of my guys for having gone this far :) And most importantly, I think it was quite a lot of fun for them too :)

This is the shoot-out between Air and Land in quarter-finals..

Yep, so that was it. Quite interesting to have the UGs do a paintball competition I must say. :)

2 more weeks to exams guys!!!

Technology jinx

My handphone is less than a month old, and I have already sent it to Nokia Care Centre to have it repaired. I just bought a 1 GB thumbdrive on Teachers' Day and it hangs my tablet PC when I plug it in. Isn't technology supposed to make the lives of humans easier and more time efficient????? ARGGGHH!!!

:(

Rock-wall climbing on 25 Aug

*Phew*
The Sept break is finally here. So relieved to be able to sleep a minimum of 8 hrs before i pull myself out of bed...with the option of jumping right back in.haha....

Last saturday, for the first time i went to climb the rock-wall at Yishun Safra along with S, C, L and 3 of L's colleagues. Had been a long time since I last saw L, and it was fun catching up with her. The walls at Safra are much higher than the one in our school, one being 18 m tall and the other being 25 m. If i'm not wrong, the one in school is about 10 m in height. Below are some of the pics of the walls....





















This is the 18 m tall one, which is the first one that I attempted to climb. Has been such a long time since I last climbed, so was feeling a little nervous. Plus the wall is so much taller than the ones that I've climbed before...PLUS, I was super sleepy and tired from the previous week of marking. Haha...but nevertheless managed to reach the top of this one, though it took me a little longer than usual...heh..




















This one is the 25 m wall. Looks scarily tall doesn't it? I also think so, haha.. Was quite reluctant to try it actually, coz it looks SO difficult!! So I actually took a loooong rest after my first climb to watch L, S and C climb before I finally went to climb this one. Think i managed to scale more than 3/4 of the wall...quite an achievement to me. :) Can you actually spot a person on the wall? That's L climbing ;)


























This is a picture of the 18 m wall (again) but this time shown with the wall attached beside it called a "chimney". The chimney is more challenging than the normal walls because there are hardly any handholds to cling onto as you make your way up, just lotsa cracks to slip your fingers into.. and NOPE, I didn't try to climb it.














This is C climbing the chimney, see the way one has to twist and turn the body in order to manouvere upwards??






















This last pic of the walls there is an interesting one. It is lined with STYROFOAM! It's a wall that's meant for training up ICE-CLIMBING. That's why the guy on the wall is holding this hammer-thingy that is used to pierce into the foam before he kicks his spikey ice shoes into the wall to move upwards. Pretty interesting...I've never seen this in Singapore before..














L and I looking triumphant after our climbs :)















After climbing and a quick shower, we're off to crystal jade for lunch and catching up with one another.. :)

More pigs?

More piggies...haha...these 2 posts showcases 3 out of 6 "permanent residents" of my office tab1e...:)

Flying pig!

Whoever said pigs can't fly? =P

Term 3 Week 10

Wooohoo...we're finally reaching week 10 of Term 3. Has been a most challenging 2 weeks that has gone past..both physically and emotionally. Events that happened has made me think back to the days while i was in secondary school..I wonder if my class and I ever changed any of our teachers' minds about their teaching career...hopefully nothing that we said and did affected them to that extent. Don't worry, I still enjoy my job and the kids, just that events that happened have made me reflect a lot.

These 2 weeks has seen me drowning in marking, because of the need to key in the marks into the system to be processed for the kids' report books next week. So on top of lessons preparation, lots of time spent on marking till late. In fact, was so tired that when i was suddenly told that i was duty officer for Land last Fri, all I did was to go down for the parade at the beginning of training. I always made it a point to actually go down during the trainings itself (besides the opening parade), just to familiarise myself with what's happening and the cadets, as well as to get to know more of them...basically, to be around and be more involved in the training, and not be an elusive mdm. But physically i was just too tired on that day, and thus i left them all to my able leaders to take the entire training.

Marked marked marked marked marked, and finally keyed in all marks by this Friday. YEESSSS!!! Keyed in all the marks already. Felt so relieved that i almost felt as if the Sept hols has started...hahahhahaha...as if. But nevertheless, it is only a week away ;) Looking forward to the break..think the kids also need a break. Has been a long and tiring Term 3.

Went Rock-wall climbing at Safra yesterday morning...shall talk about it in the next post. For now, I have to prepare my lesson on CONES.

Continuous Improvement....are you up to it?

I am having gastric now, and have been having it for the last 2 hours since 3.30pm...was supposed to release my form class at 2.10pm, but couldn't do it till 3pm..thus lunch came at only around 3.30pm.

Over the last 2 days...my class has been reading the devotions to the school.....of all topics, on the topic of continuous improvement. I wonder if it is really so difficult to strive for continuous improvement, to strive to a greater height without falling back too much, to be responsible for one's own actions and words, to be aware of how it affects others, to be mature young men, to be appreciative of others' efforts.
Does eveything that one does only have the word 'ME' in mind...do "OTHERS" ever come into the picture?

I have slowly come to realise, that being overly patient and accepting is actually harmful to others, contrary to what I used to think. I thought that patience, care and reasoning can spur and encourage people, but I suppose I am wrong. What I have realised is, patience, encouragement and using reasoning does not work in all situations....that sometimes, a deterrent or consequence is a better way to get an idea across. Which i feel is a sad realisation...


“Maturity begins to grow when you can sense your concern for others outweighing your concern for yourself.”
~ John MacNaughton

NDP Happenings... (Part II)

Was abandoned by my old friend on Tuesday (she was suppose to meet me for dinner), so i decided to drop by Marina Square on my own to listen to people sing at Music Dreamer Live! Cafe...always loved listening to 'live' singing. Other than being able to listen to a whole night of live singing and accompaniment by very good instrumentalists, I also got to catch the fireworks display at Marina Bay from Marina Square. Was nice...seeing the fireworks.... here are some pics of the fireworks :)



Actually felt quite upset with my friend for cancelling on my last minute....but I suppose something good did come out of my "being abandoned" by my friend.... :P

NDP happenings.. (Part I)

On Tue 8/8, CHS celebrated National Day with our very own parade, must say the parade looked better than at the rehearsal, which is a great sign ;) Felt proud to see my Land cadets marching as smartly as they could. Thumbs up :) But could be a tat better still :P Some pictures taken with my new phone of the parade..




While waiting for speech day to start, a few of us decided to take some pictures of our national day coloured clothes :P

my cute cousin & niece

Was at the Popular Sale at Singapore Expo today, to see if i can pick up anything for my office. Was pretty crowded.. while i was walking around , i actually saw some parents pushing their baby prams while they were shopping around. Not a very good place to be bringing babies I thought, since it's quite crowded and noisy. But amazingly, the 2 babies whom i walked pass were both sleeping very soundly amidst all the noise and crowd! Haha, so cute. Makes me think about my own cousin and niece, both very cute too. Below are two pictures of my cousin and niece...they are both mega cute and have fantastic PR skills :) Always makes the adults around them smile and grin whenever they are around ;)

This one is my cousin from Hong Kong...only 8 years' old but sometimes talks like an adult...heh..
And this is my hyper cute niece..her name is Joy, and very appropriate because she's such a crowd pleaser, always brings the people around her lots of joy.

NDP

People keep asking me if I'm okay, perhaps it's because I've was looking so zonked out by Friday. This week has been one that has been quite deprived of sleep. Had an average of 4 hours every night..goodness, how did i survive. But, once again, i survived it, thank God :)

Common test is coming up for the kids this coming week, i sure hope they are ready. Am actually more looking forward to the National Day week!! haha, feel as if I'M the kids...hah. But it's always exciting to look forward to national day..always like watching the parade on TV, makes me feel all so proud to be Singaporean.
My parents just went for the NDP preview yesterday night..dad's a mega on-the-ball photographer, so NDP is a must for him every year to practise his shots. ;) Saw the pictures when we came back after dinner, I must say, i'm beginning to really feel the spirit of national day! heh, the sea of red and white, the fighter planes flying across the sky, the BIG singapore flag :)



Here is a pic my dad took. He's a fantastic photographer ;)












Was watching our own CHS NDP rehearsal on Friday afternoon..makes me think back to the times when i was in GB back in Sec school. It was always fun to be preparing for a parade, and be displaying the best side of our drills to the school on important occasions like founders' day. Drills were such a large part of my life back then...every year, we would prepare for our drill competition that would take place after the exams. Drills to me, is all about teamwork, discipline, endurance, quick-thinking & swift, precise & smart execution. Every command that is executed is done with pride and precision. Sometimes I feel that the drill that I see nowadays, seems to be lacking in something....could be because of my own background in drills, or perhaps drills just aren't as emphasized as it used to be before. Which I think is a pity, because, there is so much that can be learnt from just doing drills alone.
Whenever I see people falling out of the ranks during a parade/rehearsal, I wonder, what's happening?! Just like on Friday's parade rehearsal alone, there were around 4-5 people whose face had turned pale and were brought out. I thought guys are much stronger physically than girls are.. I must say, I've never seen any of the girls in my company fall out last time. But of course, some of the boys could genuinely be sick. But I think a lot of times, it is due to things like skipping breakfast etc, which can be avoided. I always made it a personal duty to ensure that i'm well hydrated and had some food before some major event. So it still boils down to personal discipline.

Heh, all of a sudden, feel like going back to visit my GB company. Reminiscing about the past always makes me smile. :)

But now that i'm back to reality, it's time to pick up that red pen and mark!

busy weekend

*STRESSED*

ZZZzzzzz..

Gosh i'm so sleepy..almost fell asleep marking my Algebra class test.. All due to the utter lack of sleep since Monday. Think i have been having an average of 5+ hrs of sleep everyday.

In fact, i just fell asleep typing this post! MY GOSH..that's a signal for me to jump into bed right now. Will probably say more over the weekend...

Be gone ZoneAlarm!

YEEEESSS!!!! I've successfully gotten rid of that irritating ZoneAlarm program! (contrary to some internet discussion boards about how difficult is is to get rid of it after the horrendous program after the upgrade that caused it to start shutting off the internet access..) My dad and I were just trying our luck in uninstalling the program, since, anyway, we couldn't access the internet no matter how hard we tried to shutdown the ZoneAlarm at the bootup of our computer. We thought that since we're already so stuck, even if we get stuck uninstalling it, we'd have lost nothing.

Was beginning to get a little worried at our first attempt to uninstall it, because everything came to a halt after we pressed the "uninstall" button. The computer just didn't seem as if it was doing any uninstallation for a long time...and it was then that i remembered that...i hadn't done a backup of my files on the computer for a mighty long time *yikes*. So anyway, while i was having my lunch, my dad decided it was taking too long and just switched the whole computer off (without shutting it down!). I almost fainted.

Anyway, after 2 more tries, ZoneAlarm was finally removed!! And that's why I can happily type this entry on my desktop...whopppeeeee...

Nice to see the sun shining brightly outside my window...as opposed to the sudden downpour and rain in the cloud-ridden skies in the earlier part of this morning.

Ah yes, I have replaced the tagboard on my blog with the "comments" link at the end of each entry of the blog. Am very proud of it because it was seriously through pure trial-&-error that i managed to get the links back on the blog. Had wanted to do it for a long time, but then Blogger had some problems putting it into the template automatically for me..which until now i don't know why. So had to do my own experimenting again..heh..
So yups, if anyone would like to leave a message, you can do it with the "comments" link.

OK, going to start on my work. Have been down with a flu the entire weekend, and didn't touch all the work that I had brought home to do.