Blue

Just feeling kinda blue..

Seems to happen to me once in a while...where all of a sudden, i'd just rather be alone than with a whole bunch of friends... when it takes 3 times the usual effort to say a joke to my mum.. when I have a sudden urge to be beside the calm waters at MacRitchie watching the sun set..... and brain's just filled with random pockets of flashbacks about events, some recent, some a long time ago.... happy memories suddenly surfaces and makes me smile...and frustrating ones just makes brings me down more....

Why are there so many things that require my attention all at the same time..

Recent events have gotten me thinking..if I have really fitted in and am playing my role well. On one hand, I do really want to get involved, and on the other hand, I know I still am inadequate.
Frustrating..

Inevitable change is looming, and all I can say is, it depresses me. My pillars of strength are going to disappear.....will I still be able to stand without them?

Many are asking me to move on, but are the pastures really greener on the other side? Yes I am tough, and have survived for so long...but the step seems a little too huge...

It's Fathers' Day today......
happy father's day daddy...we miss you..

Yesss! Another long weekend following one last week....wooohoooooo... :)

Seriously in need of this one, am about to become a full-fledged panda soon..really looking forward to the June break (note, it's still a BREAK, and not a holiday, since there's SOOOOOooooooo much work to be done :P).

________________________________________________
And that is an extract of my blog post, in the first week of May. Many a times I had wanted to blog, but then, somehow, by the time I got the photos up, and some words flowing, I'd be called off to do something else, or I'd be tired already. So, what else can I say, but that I'M SO GLAD THAT THE JUNE BREAK IS FINALLY HERE. sooooooooooooooo many things to say about the past few weeks, but...some I can't even remember already because it's been so long. So, well, whatever that I can remember :)

Burst shots

Just very recently, I discovered that my sony ericsson phone has the ability to take multiple shots at a go! Haha, so I put it to good use while I was supporting some of the competitions that the school took part in.

The boys in pink 'B' division Wushu team competing in the group display finals.

The Dance rehearsal just before our Dance group left for their SYF, in which they were awarded a Gold with Honours for their splendid performance!

Am glad I managed to set aside time for match support this year. Felt like I missed out a lot on supporting my batch of kids last year because I was spending so much time trying to adjust to S4 teaching and being S4 FT. So, made it a conscious effort this year to set aside time to go and watch my boys in action.

CHMA 2009

Yes, it's here.Almost. Mark the date, it's 25th July ;)

Lotsa CHMA action going on now, we've started our solo studio recordings since this week, and have 3 more to go in the coming week. Photoshoot in the studio on Tuesday, done by a professional photography company! Wooohoooo!

Keep your eyes on the CHMA blog for more of the action! http://chmusicawards.blogspot.com/

SLB Investiture '09

The theme for this year's invest, SOAR.

Student Leadership Boards' EXCO (2008-2009) standing together as an EXCO for the last time before handing over to the new batch.

Another year has passed, another batch of leaders take up their roles, another CHS investiture. I love the way the invest. is carried out, with the symbolic handing over of the blazers to the new batch...the handing over of responsibilities to the younger ones, and with it, also the many affirmations of support, mentorship, and friendship.

For me, as I look back and see the amazing growth and change of the SLB over the last few years, really can't help but applaud the kind of devotion and heart put into the developing and moulding of the leaders. I'm sure those in the SLB can attest to the sweat, toil and tears in the process. Well, whoever said Leadership was a bed of roses? But it's through the process of toiling and sweating, that we learn the best lessons.

Kudos to the batch of leaders who have stepped down, and thank you for your willingness to serve the school as a leader.The new leaders taking the Leaders' Oath.

All the best to the new batch ;)

NCC POP

It's that time of the year again, the promotion of the Part Ds to rank of "Senior", and the new leaders rising to their ranks.

It almost seemed like only yesterday when the Part Cs 08 took over the leadership, and in a blink of an eye, they are handing over the leadership over to the new batch of 09.

The handing over of the ASM position.

The handing over of the CSM position.

The outgoing Part Ds, shouting one last cheer together.

Official GRADUATION :)
The officers and the Part Ds.

See what graduation does to them? :)

Can literally sense the burden of leadership being lifted off some of them straight after POP..haha.. just observing them having arms around each other..and lauging heartily and the endless tau poks, makes me see the deep camaraderie and friendships that they've built with each other over the last 4 years together.

Thanks Part Ds, and especially Keefe and Desheng, for your perseverance and determination in leading the unit. We'll miss you guys.

And to end off....as usual..... :)

Just thankful for a long weekend to rest..

So here's a simple photo update.

Met up with my guys from 4-1 last year during the March break....do miss seeing them around in school..

Taught guitar to P1-P6 kids in church during the March break too....and there's only one conclusion, I'm NEVER gonna ever change to become a Pri school teacher...NEVER....

Teaching primary kiddos is seriously a different ball game altogether! What you see in this pic is, on the 3rd of 3 days of workshops...don't even remind me about the 1st day....was .....SCARY...

Just look at the huge rainbow!!!!!!!!!! Couldn't resist whipping out my phone to snap a picture of it.. Don't worry, I kept my eyes on the road and just snapped...lucky shot :)

Went to support my Volleyball team's match to fight for Nationals 3rd/4th placing.....always makes it more exciting to watch when my own students from class are playing, allows me to see a different side of them than what I see in class. Always gives me a huge sense of pride to see them excelling in other things other than in class. :)

Oh and we got 3rd placing :)

And as usual, to end off, the beauty of the clouds in the sky....

...never fails to capture my gaze...

R.I.P

While driving today I heard over the radio that a Singaporean doctor was found dead in Melbourne...and I was like "hmm...oh dear.." and carried on with the rest of my day's activities.

It was not until 9+pm in the evening when I was about to pay for my petrol at SPC, that the photo of the doctor on the front page of a chinese newspaper caught my eye.
It was my friend from JC.

For a moment I was in denial, as I couldn't confirm if it was my friend coz I didn't know his chinese name. But the more I stared at the photos, the more I felt my heart shiver. So I bought the newspapers and headed home. And when I got home, my Straits Times confirmed it, with his name printed in English, and a large picture.

How can this be? That someone I knew from JC, whom I used to speak with, who used to be so light-hearted, friendly, confident, suddenly be found to have passed on in a foreign place, and reason unknown?
It all seems so unreal, and yet, when I stare hard at his picture in the newspapers........ I know it's true......
I can't imagine his family.....the pain of facing a sudden death...it's coming back to me....

Heart-wrenched..............shocked..............saddened.............


R.I.P Allan...

New year...new class...new challenges...

Yes yes, I know I haven't been posting in a long time. Not at I didn't want to....but 1) I didn't have time to 2) When i wanted to, Blogger kept rejecting the photos! What's a post without a photo or two right? :P

So very quickly, a month and a half of 2009 has passed by...I must confess that I'm only JUST getting used to teaching full Math load again after doing a partial music load for the past 3 years. And to make matters worse, my timetable has changed like about FOUR times since school started (and no, I'm not trying to be funny, it literally changed 4 times). Oh well, what to do? I have no say over when and how my timetable changes anyway...so, whatever la.

My kids from last year have all finally settled into their respective JCs and finished their orientations. Seeing their orientation photos on Facebook and their blogs makes me recall the great times that I had while in JC too. To be frank, my own orientation was SUPER BORING. Haha, no thanks to my quiet and shy OGLs that took my OG...plus the super cliques that stuck to themselves. But the rest of my life in JC was a blast! =) The camaraderie and school spirit, something that I'll always miss.

The other day some of my boys came back to visit, and we were just talking about their orientation, the cheers, mass dance and all...and they were commenting on how the school spirit is awesome in JCs, and how it was almost a culture shock to them. But actually, I think, they felt that way coz WE don't have a strong cheer culture nor hyper strong school spirit over here. Something that I, up to now, only half understand, and feel a sense of helplessness about. To me, strong school spirit, love for the school and cheer culture is an integral part, or even part and parcel of school life.

But oh well, I guess for our boys, better late than never :)

So, 2 major fun events that took place over the last week...

S2 Learning Journey - Battlefield Tour

My 2nd time going on the Battlefield Tour, brings back some memories... Was very happy that we visited the Battlebox this time round =)

The entrance into Battlebox, the underground chambers that the British army operated in when they were defending Singapore during the world war.

A pity no pictures are allowed inside the Battlebox itself..

Everyone walking towards the gate of Fort Canning....love the background being slightly blur with the focus on one of my boys.. Love my new camera functions!! :P

At Changi Museum..

The many little notes of remembrance and thanks from visitors and relatives of the soldiers who gave their lives to fight for Singapore..

Kranji War Memorial

I think it's always at the Kranji War Cemetery-cum-memorial where the kids will have their deepest impressions of the whole trip. At least, that's what I feel.

Throughout the day, our guide had told us many many stories about our war heroes, and how they fought for us...and to finally see their graves at Kranji....it just leaves a greater impact than ever.

The ceremony of remembrance, of those who gave their lives, that we may be free...

Simply love this pic.... :)


And this is us, at the end of the Learning Journey :)

*tired*

Sec2 camp another time.......

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy new year everyone :)

Heh, seems like I'm still a lazy blogger during the hols :P

Can't quite believe it's the new year alr, and that sch reopens tomorrow!!! Dark eye rings...here I come..... :\

Haha...well, don't really feel like writing much, so as usual, pictures shall do the talking ;)

Taiwan trip

Me and my favourite bing tang hu lu!! Basically it's malt-coated fruits :P Simply LOVE it. LOVE. I think I had one stick almost everyday that I was in taiwan..

G and I taking a pic near our hotel..thought the trees and flags in the background was pretty nice.. :) And look at the perfect weather! I think we had perfect weather 6 out of 7 days that we were there...nice and sunny for taking pics :)

No this is not my hotel's lobby, it is Qian Gui, the equivalent of PartyWorld KTV in Taiwan. Just look at their posh lobby! And, the ENTIRE building is for KTV...they have nice lifts inside that brings you to your room's floor, and what's more, every single karaoke room has its own toilet. It's own toilet! My goodness...

This is where we had Steamboat, Mala buffet steamboat =) Super yummy...it's called La(4) Zhong (1) Jian (1) :) Though it took us a little while to find it, it was definitely worth it! My favourite dish was the fish ball that had fish roe inside...yummmmmmm...

This is us having our packed MOS burger breakfast at the train station, waiting for the 8am train to bring us to Chiayi, before we took another bus to Alishan for a 2D1N trip. Look at the super cute milk bottle!! It's from the MOS burger there...

This is one of the aboriginal tribes in Taiwan performing at Alishan. They really really look like they are of tribal origins....from their features and all..super don't look like chinese..

Just one of the many nice views in Alishan...

This is all of us, thawing at the Starbucks at Alishan! Haha...we were SO happy to see it coz we were so so so so so so cold. :P Just look at our happy faces...haha..

One of the 2 highlights of my entire Taiwan trip, the sunset at Alishan :) It was so beautiful....*sigh*

It was so cold the whole time we were standing there..THANKFULLY I was already wearing my thermals.... :P

This is about 5.55am in the morning at Alishan, we were all queuing to take the 6am train to a higher up place at Alishan to see the sunrise! My 2nd highlight of the trip :)

The old rickety train....

And this is us, half awake. Hahha...we packed breakfast once again the night before from the 7-11 equivalent there...and ate our breakfast on the way up the mountain..

Our station at the top. And thus begins our loooooooooong (ok not so long, but it felt like it :P) trek up to the highest point to have the best view of the sunrise. I think this was at about 7.30am? The sun was gonna peep at us at about 7.50am according to the guide who was there. Apparently, the sun rises at different angles throughout the year, and the guides there know exactly where it's rising from.

The guide told us exactly which angle at which the sun would be rising, so we were all waiting earnestly for it to peep out from behind the mountain. And apparently, we were VERY lucky as well, because it seems they hadn't been able to see the sunrise over the last 3 days due to cloud cover. YAY! Lucky us :)

These 2 shots were taken only like 2 seconds apart. The sun rose REALLY quickly...you could literally see it rising by the second...super cool... :)

Self-potrait! Haha..it pays to have long arms....because whenever I try to take self-potraits, I always cut my own face in half :S

After the sun had risen....love the scenery still...the colours and all...really beautiful... All who are going to taiwan, must go Alishan to see the sunrise and sunset! Haha..I think the next time I go there, I'll join in this tour which starts at 4.30am in the morning...where we'll get to see even more scenery... :)

This is me in the Ferris Wheel which was in one of the taiwanese serials called Huan (4) Huan (4) Ai (4) which starred Yang Chen Ling and He Jun Xiang.

One of my favourite pics :) Heh, taken at the shopping centre that is beside the ferris wheel, also one of the filming sites of the taiwanese serial. Now I kinda know why those aunties all wanna visit the filming sites of the korean dramas when they go over to Korea...because it really is quite exciting seeing the place in real-life after you've seen it on TV :P

This is yet another sunset that we watched, at Danshui. I'd been to Danshui on my previous taiwan trip, but we didn't stay to watch the sunset then.

OK, that's all for updates. So mah fan to put up pictures coz they keep appearing at the top of the post everytime I upload new pics....but oh well, what's a post without pictures? :)

I can't believe I must wake up early tomorrow all over again!!!!

Ok, enough of self-denial.....