Oops, a belated post

Woops, heh, this post was actually written on 7th Nov, but just didn't get round to finishing it till tonight :P
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7th Nov 2007

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!
I'm finally done with yucky yucky invigilation!! =)
Was talking to a colleague today..who was jokingly asking me how come I didn't go climb a mountain this November (coz I had been going to Ophir in Nov for the past 2 years, & thus escaped invigilation)......and he asked me, "would you rather climb or invigilate?"
CLIIIIIIIIIIIIIMMMB.

Such is my love for invigilation :P


And, I'm done with holiday math programme too!! :) YAY!
Now just left with some personal remedials here and there, which I enjoy much more and don't mind doing. yay yay yay... :P

Feels good knowing that, I can finally really relax a little, and can control my time, and do some of the things that I enjoy doing.... But I guess, without being so overly busy and overwhelmed during the term, I wouldn't actually enjoy my break as much. Heh, just a thought....

Went for a wedding over the weekend....very sweet...
Nice to see a couple who've braved the storms and finally get married to each other.
Wish J and C all the best! Pictures...soon... :)


The other thing that I attended over the weekend is a concert by ROCKAPELLA.

http://www.visitsingapore.com/

Description

One of the world’s most popular pop and rock a cappella group, Rockapella, returns to Singapore for a one-night only concert!

Get ready for a highly interactive and pulsating night of entertainment. Being the originators of a new flavour of contemporary pop music, Rockapella re-defined familiar favourites like The Lion Sleeps Tonight, Here Comes the Sun, and My Girl. Rockapella’s innovative vocal harmony bring a cappella to a completely different level. A solid chain, Rockapella’s players – Scott Leonard, Kevin Wright, George Baldi, John Brown and Jeff Thatcher – are the top of their craft. Their pulsating, super-charged concert will leave you on an all-time high well past the last song.

Yup, that was a short summary of them that I found online....which was very true! =)
Thoroughly enjoyed their performance...the guys in the group are all pretty highly aclaimed too....Kevin Wright used to perform with big musicals like Les Miserables, Jesus Christ Superstar......George Baldi used to be part of this fantastic group called Boyz II Men......woohoo..
I particularly loved Kevin Wright's voice....so crystal-clear...and high-tenorish...my favourite kind of voice.. :P
Bought two of their Christmas albums...which was...mm...a slightly wrong choice.. Coz from past experience, the acapella recordings are usually let-downs of the actual 'live' performances. And these 2 albums, did the exact same...was a slight let-down...acapella just sounds so much better 'live'. Recordings somehow sound slightly muffled...and not so clear... But oh well....guess I couldn't resist buying a CD or two during the interval coz they sounded pretty good in the esplanade hall.. :P
Listening to them the whole night makes me wanna go back to sing with my choir for their carolling sessions this December........hmmmm.........*TEMPTED* :)

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Oh yes, before I forget, everyone should head down to
BUGIS NATIONAL LIBRARY at any time between
10am - 4pm on 11th Nov (Sun) to support this pushcart selling caps and jewellery called ELEPUNK !!!!!!

Heh, promised my friend A to put this up on my blog...but a bit late I noe...*oops* Slipped my mind a little...but I suppose better late than never? :P

Basically, what's happening is, this event called
Youthepreneur National Pushcart Challenge 2007
and some of my CHS guys are involved in it. So, GO! =)

A few of us CHS chers would be heading down to give them some moral support...and I suppose...monetary support too :P


And and, I went for Ah-Mei concert on Thursday!!!
But I'm too tired to talk about it now...wait till I get the pics, then i'll post about it at one go =)

First week of "hols"...

Invigilation's disgusting. Absolutely hate it. PERIOD.
YUCKY.
Oh wells.

Tis' the season for ......WEDDINGS!
November and December has always been the season for weddings. And this year is no different. Let's see...I have a total of 1....2.....3 invites so far which I have AGREED to go. And one which I am missing because of my Thailand trip. PLEASE tell me I'm not gonna get any more invites.. not saying that I'm not happy for my friends who are getting married..but, it's an expensive affair turning up for them!

But one good thing about weddings over the last couple of years is that...it's kept a group of my friends together, my music ministry in Varsity Christian Fellowship (VCF) in NUS. Since my final year in NUS, I've been singing for at least one of my fellow music min member's wedding every year. Really nice to meet up week after week to just sing together and catch up with one another's lives after stepping into the workforce.... :)

This time round, the practice venue is my house :) Heh...I love it, coz i'm a lazy-to-travel person....and I love having guests in my house anyway..

My music min people..

And this is J, daughter of one of my music min people, R, who was the 2nd among us to get married :)

And hence I've been promoted to the title of "Aunty Bick Yan"...Haha.


Random pics again... :P
Just some random pictures that I took here and there, and told myself that I'd put up on my blog, but just didn't put up till now :P

Somehow, I just love the look of CHS' clock tower at this time of the day... :)

hOllo Kitty?????? :P
Hahaha....some cheap cheap bag that I saw somewhere in Bishan....

My weekend trip to London
O did I mention that I flew to London over the weekend?

Doesn't it just look so nice and English... :)

Nice hor?

Doing the typical English thing there...having afternoon tea.... :P

The name of the place that we were at is called Cookie Musuem...... and..........................
































































































....it's in Singapore LAH =)

Heh. Just this cool place that's at one of the entrances to Esplanade. Doesn't the interior look so nice and English? A friend and I went over to have dessert on Saturday night.....

Look at our super duper yummy (but sinful until can die) chocolate and cheese cake...

Think the place is worth going once in a while...to get yourself pampered..coz the price of the food is really quite expensive. But like I said...once in a while laaa... :)

Because of the festive season coming up, Cookie Museum is offering "Cookie-tasting" sessions. Quite a cool concept I feel...so we get to taste a whole range of their christmas cookies, while waiting for our dessert and tea to be served.

The flavours of the cookies at the cookie museum gets changed every 6 to 9 months...which means their baker always has to come up with new flavours and ideas! Wow..and their waitresses have the ingredients, tastes, and what's special about each cookie at the back of their hands....they can literally describe each cookie down to the details during the cookie-tasting session...quite impressed I must say.

Heh, resisting tucking in to take a photo for the blog :P

Cars!
Have you noticed lately....that more and more cars on the roads have all these strange patterns all over them??

These are just some of the show cars which I saw at Marina Square last Saturday, and well, I guess except for the poker-dotted one, the rest actually look pretty alright. And I think this new fashion accessory is fast catching on! Coz now, I seem to be spotting cars with patterns on them once in every 2 days...
If tastefully done, I suppose it can add to the beauty of the car.
But I've seen real yucky ones actually....like a few with HUUUUGEEEE Hello Kitties on the sides of those cars....like reeeally huge....
And last Saturday I also saw one car which was covered with HEARTS. Yes, hearts. Red, purple, and pink coloured ones...and if I'm not wrong, there were white feathers in the car too. :S AND, it is not a girl driving it. It's a caucasion man. -.-

For me, I think the most I'll go is to put one or two tiny little patterns at one corner of the car, that's IF I ever.
Too much of it just spoils it I feel.




This is the other sight that I've been pretty exposed to recently. What I call, the ka-zua cars. Don't you think it looks like a KA ZUA??
Well ok, this particular one that's in white looks...mm..ok.
Wait till you see them in black or brown. Really looks ka-zua'ish. Heh.



Oh, before I go, lemme introduce a new character that I'm in love with.









































Mr ONIONHEAD :D

http://blog.roodo.com/onion_club

DON'T YOU THINK HE'S SO CUTE??? :)
Heh, will post more and more of him here by and by.. akan datang =)

Last day of school 2007

Last day of school for year 2007 is here.
My gosh. It does feel a little fast..
It felt as if I had just started Term 1 a few days ago, and now, we've reached the end of 4 whole terms. Wow, how did I manage that.

I still remember posting at the beginning of the year, about the challenges of this new year..taking Sec3s yet again..sports class, form class....chma...

And now, the year's done.

Had a small prize presentation in both my classes today, for those who've done well for AMAth for Semester 2, be it in terms of improvement, or in terms of scoring well for the exam...and added on a mini-presentation at the end of it for 3-11 since I won't be teaching them anymore next year. Was never fond of giving speeches nor prep talks to big groups...so I always choose a non-verbal way of "speaking" when it comes to farewells.

Though I do feel sad that I won't be following them up, I know that it's for their good, and that they'll be in good hands next year.

To 3-11:
Thanks for a wonderful year. Think a lot of what I wanted to say, you've already "heard" it through the powerpoint. Always had fun coming to your class..probably because of all the funny characters & sudden outbursts in your class...haha...but also because I can see the determination, interest & effort in a lot of you to do well for Mathematics.
Remember, your current class msg is not your full potential. Work hard and push it all the way up yeah? =)


Form class chalet coming up on 29th Nov.
Really looking forward to it! Spent some time with some of my guys choosing all the yummy food that we are gonna be BBQing at the chalet...yum yum.. =)
Like the idea of the class coming together..bonding...having fun :)
And, love the idea of a class T-shirt!! And it is going to be DRI-FIT. DON'T CARE :P
Hope that we can get the T-shirt design settled, printed and distributed soon....then perhaps my class and I can all wear it during Homecoming next year..heh.

Let's see...what's coming up for the "holidays".
'O's INVIGILATION.
Yuuuuuuuuuuuuucks. I seriously hate 'O's invigilation. It's not half as bad when I invigilate in school since they are my own kids and I don't mind being there to lend moral support.
But 'O's invigilation is super duper ultra boring.........and not worth the remuneration in my opinion....I'd rather be in school from 9am-1pm packing up my table and preparing materials for next year :/ Haiz, but I guess there's no choice....

Interspersed between O's invigilation is Maths Special Holidays programme for the Sec3s....

Then, it'll be Grad night.
Cool. Felt very sad that I missed it last year so I won't miss it for the world this year :)


And then, my trip to Bangkok with my old MGS friends!!!! :)
Can't wait.....
And and, chalet!

Haha....ok, shall talk till end of November only.

As for December, akan datang ;)

Exams over...now what?

So the dreaded End of Year Exams are over, and the whole stressed atmosphere for the students are gone. Now's the time for the teachers to pull their hair out due to the marking..

One of the perks of marking....funny diagrams!! :P

For the first time, marking this time round was a breeze. Perhaps because we did group marking, where everyone just sat down and marked together for a day...so discrepancies can be cleared up straight away. Marked the rest over the weekend and the following mon and tue.....and, my marking's done. :) Fantastic :)
Can't say the same about the results though....*sniff* But i shall not say more..till next Wed..



Oh yes, before it slips my mind again. On the request of Jonathan, this is an announcement that 3-1 2007 CLASS CHALET
is going to be on 29th NOVEMBER. Yup, it's been booked already. MUST COME.


OK, back to my week...

'O's Subject Supervisor
Was subject supervisor of the 'O' level music performance examination on Tue and Wed this week. CHS is one of the centres for examination, so candidates from other schools also came over to get assessed. I guess I should be thankful that my job only entailed me sitting at one corner of the school (Mother Tongue Room) and taking the candidate's attendance..followed by informing them of the time that they had to report over at the examinations room (music room). Was not bad actually, coz I was being serenaded by the candidates' warm-up playing of their instruments. The only bad point was, that it was from 8am - 5pm!!! my goodness..I was literally cooped in the Mother Tongue room from 8-5pm+ la....

Signage outside the Mother Tongue room...

My work desk inside the Mother Tongue room..

The other adjacent side of the Mother Tongue room which is used as a practice room for candidates..

During my loooooong duration of being at the Mother Tongue room, I walked out to take a look at the surroundings....and realised that actually, the pond downstairs looks pretty nice.
Perhaps due to the fact that I drive, I really very rarely walk towards the student lounge and Mother Tongue room in CHS since my car is usually parked at the side of the school. I usually just access my car at the side, and drive straight out the school gate without having to walk through the school towards the front porch, pass the student's lounge and the labs and the gym, etc. Should really take some time when I'm free...to look around the school and to appreciate the landscaping. Though I think some parts of the school still looks kinda weird and out-of-place..but I must say I'm getting used to seeing the ponds and bamboo garden which actually all looks quite nice and serene.......those bronze statues of the running CHS boys along the side of the school and all the way up to the plaza....the students' paintings and works of art on the wall....even the flying geeze :P I remember being quite adverse to some of the changes (some which I have not mentioned) when they first took place....but now that they are beginning to slowly blend into the background due to time and weathering......I think they actually make the whole school looks nice and homely...especially the ponds and students' works. I guess that's how people are (or rather, how I am).....usually resistant to new changes...but only slowly learn to grow to appreciate given time and reflection...




Mum's gone off for another 3 weeks trip...she had just come back from a 3 weeks trip to Melbourne to visit my brother 2 weeks ago, and she's off again yesterday morning, with a whole big group of friends to visit taipei, china and hong kong. Good for her to go I guess...takes her mind off things. As for me, also feel a sense of relief when my mum goes on trips...instead of having to always explain letters and bills to her everyday. It's not that I mind doing it, I just mind doing it everyday...which can be a bit frustrating since I'm now the only one who can do it for her. So yup, hope mum has a good time with her friends, and family in Hong Kong.




Sec 4 Farewell Assembly
So yesterday was farewell assembly yet again...my 4th since I entered the CHS family. Sadly this time round, I had to zip off halfway and come back, and then zip off again due to lessons.

This year's was a little different yet again...the form teachers of each class actually stood on stage to present each of the graduating sec4s with a Graduation Certificate. It was a heartwarming-cum-heartwrenching ceremony...as I saw colleagues give out the certificates with tears in their eyes. Even I felt like tearing when I saw the picture of love, trust, friendship and well-wishes...
This is the batch that I taught when I first came into teaching.
Wow, it's been a full 3 years already..as they went on and off the stage, I was just thinking back of the times when I taught them in Sec 1...both they and I have come so far...it's really encouraging to see them as confident, grown young men.
I suppose this is one of the perks of teaching...to see kids grow up..and be part of that process..and hopefully have made a positive difference to them.

Granted the opportunity, next year it'd be my turn to give out the certs too. I wonder what it'd be like to be the one on stage giving it out...something tells me I'd need a box of tissue...since this batch that I'm teaching now, I've been teaching ever since they were in Sec1. Oh dear me..

Random events..

Hmmm...almost one month of not posting.


I think I'm suffering from withdrawal symptoms of not blogging! Haha..



But that's not the only thing that I seem to be suffering from, also suffering from a horrid cough and horrid reappearance of my eczema problem that had been well-controlled since 15 years ago. Many may have noticed...the super blotchy skin that I have nowadays..haiz.


I'm on antibiotics again. What, my 5th course this year? It's almost as if it's a sweet that I can take every few months... #(*$()@#&$@($*(!)@#!.


Thankfully it's EOYs for the Sec3s this whole week, then I have the time to fall sick.




Just here to post about some random events which I'd wanted to post about from time to time..but just never got round to doing it.


Class crane-folding
Just before the Sept Hols came, my class and I did some paper crane folding for the Kidney Dialysis Foundation in aid of their fundraising. So here we were in the afternoon, all folding paper origami...heh.


I felt it was fun...heh, but on top of that, was a good time for class bonding :)


Some pics from that afternoon...

Don't know what's so nice about sitting on the table....haiz..


This is not all of course, by the end of our folding, we had one box full!

Look at these horrible ones...thankfully I did some Q.C. before passing them over to KDF..

Interesting gifts for Teachers' Day

Some really interesting stuff that I got this year for Teachers' Day are homebaked muffins and cakes! Very interesting for guys to actually bake...very SNAG (Sensitive New Age Guy).. :)

My name's on it somemore!

Nice big sunflower was one of the gifts this year too.. :)

Mystery Present

Saw this lovely box of roses with a handphone acessory hung on it on my table after the September break....hmmmmmmmmm.........no card or note to tell me who placed it there....until now I wonder who it's from.... :P


Marking haven
Was over at NUS 2 weekends ago to do some marking after church on Sat since my church is over at Dover, which is only about a 5 min drive away from the NUS Campus.

Lucky NUS students...they even have SUBWAY inside the campus! And if I'm not wrong, there's also a japanese restuarant now. Hmph.

So yup, had Subway for dinner, then parked myself at Yusof Yishak House's empty canteen to do my marking. Had a wall fan all to myself since there was hardly anyone around me but just a couple of other uni students studying for their exams..

Some big collage made up of all the international students' well-wishes and comments...

Talk about the wide variety of things that you can purchase from a vending machine....have you ever seen an UMBRELLA VENDING MACHINE????

Hahhaha....seriously this is the first time I've ever seen one, and I was really tickled. I mean..since when did vending machines dispense umbrellas?

But I guess it's a really cool idea...I suppose students at Yusof Yishak House will never have to brave the rain to get home... :P

Super big moon

Just couldn't resist whipping out my handphone to snap a picture of this SUPER BIG moon (OK, of course the moon is the same size every night, but you know what I'm talking about :P).

See the white circle in the centre of the 2 rows of street lamps?? It's not so obvious in this pic, but the fact that I can capture it at this size on the pic, it just shows how super humongous it was!! Hehe.

Yup, so that's all for now.

Today's the start of the EOYs for the Sec3s, so, here's wishing all Sec3s in CHS, ALL THE BEST :)

Don't worry, it'll be over before you know it ;)

To my math classes: GO AND CHECK SHAREPOING AND HEYMATH EVERYDAY!

Sept break over?!?

My gosh, the term break (note that I said "break" and not "HOLS") is almost over.
*gasp*
*faint*
If time passes as quick as this, soon it'll be the Final Year Exams (FYEs)!!!
*bites fingernails*

Wait a minute.....why do I sound like I'M the one taking the FYEs..sigh.
But seriously, sometimes it does feel that way. I seem to be even more anxious than my boys who ARE the ones taking the exams. eeks.

OK, relax...*breathe in breathe out* Everything will be fine........(won't it?)....
Exactly 3 weeks to the start of FYE as of today...and 1.5 more chapters to cover in 2 weeks. EEKs.
LOTS to mark and return and go through and test....goodness..I better make a list of things that I have to accomplish on a daily basis to help prepare the kids for exams.

Been posting less and less of late....goes to show the amount of time I have on my hands...
Jogging my memory a little to see what's been happening over the last 3 weeks..

HK Aunt & Cousin's visit

Was very nice to have my aunt and cousin come over to spend time with my mum in mid-august. They came for about 2 weeks..think it was comforting for my mum to be able to spend time with her sister.

My cute HK cousin, whom I think I can easily pass off as my sister.. we used to look even more alike a couple of years ago.. :)

B's wedding
Yup, another wedding among a whole spate to attend for the year. This time, my university friend whom I spent 3 years together doing our Maths degree in NUS with :)
Congrats to B!!

The Math kakis :P

Cluster school singing competition
Recently, I went to support a few of our CHMA finalists who took part in a cluster school singing competition. Interesting that they should name it "Campus Superstar" coz that's the exact name as the competition which was being shown on channel U. But more importantly, the CHS participants did the school really proud by clinching 1st runner up for the solo category, and winning the group vocals category. Yay!
Some pictures from the night..

Teachers' Day
This year, teachers' day lunch became teachers' day high-tea and was held a day before the celebrations itself.

Teachers' day high-tea at Singapore Swimming Club..

On the day of the celebrations, the staffroom became a common corridor as students came in and out to wish the teachers "happy teachers' day" as well as to place stuff on the teachers' tables.....I'll just let the pictures do the talking for a little while :)

Can you see that we're blocking the staffroom door?!?? Kinda embarassing having to keep apologising to people for making them stand at the side to wait for us to finish with our picture.. :P

This year's hall set-up for the teachers' day concert..

Haha look at what my class gave me!! =)
A super duper big baby Silvester the cat..SUPER big lor..

Oh oh oh, and to top it off, my class also ordered Sushi into the school to eat! Yummmmmmmmyyy....i luuuuurve sushi.....keke..... :)
Thanks guys ;)

Glad that I managed to catch some of the old boys who came back to visit...

Big thanks to everyone who took the effort to say a simple "Happy Teachers' Day", and of course, to those who've left stuff on my table and passed me stuff. THAAAAAANKS =)
Paiseh, didn't manage to meet some of you coz I wasn't at my table straight after the celebrations. :P

Super movies
Watched 2 movies last week. Hairspray and Ratatouille.
I loved Ratatouille. The little rat looks soooooo cute :) I'd love to have a lil' rat that could cook up a storm in my kitchen...hee.

And....i LOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVEEEEEE Hairspray!
Haha...ok so I'm biased. But has been a long time since I last watched a movie that I've fallen in love with.
Prior to watching the movie, I had no idea what it was about, or who it was starring...which is pretty typical of me..heh.
But after I watched it, I could even hum some of the tunes a few days after the movie. Just goes to show how well-written the music is. Just bought the Hairspray soundtrack 2 days ago, my first ever soundtrack. Usually, movie music never interests me to the point of purchasing their soundtrack..but I just couldn't resist this one :) My my, every song that I listen to rushes images of the movie into my head. It's as if I was watching the entire movie in my head as I listened.. :) Such a simple movie about love, dreams, prejudice.....the music and images just keeps me smiling as I listen to the soundtrack :P

Okie, I think I overspent my time on the computer. *OOPS*
Gotta get back to marking for now...and tmw morning, it's off to schoooooooooooooooooool....