to-do by the end of the week

1. January update!! aka reflection letter
2. O$P$ to LL, Vee, and M1 tele services
3. Invite people to MIMBY shapeofmyheart
4. clean my dirty mud-stained shoes and bag :( :( stupid puddle!!

wasted $8.50

totally wasted my brain cells watching some blasphemous vulgar gory lame NO STORYLINE show! EVERYONE PLEASE DON'T WASTE ANY TIME OR CASH ON THE MOVIE LEGION IT SUCKS!!! it doesn't deserve even a sympathy popcorn. negative popcorns maybe. like take away the outline of the popcorns even. ARGHH it's a terrible show please don't watch it.

my red pen is running out of ink

check out the crazy amount of worksheets i've to mark!!!! and this is after staying back in sch to finish marking journals :( ok la but journals are v fun to read. apparently my students all want to use their angpao or greenpao money to buy a car when they "go" up HAHAH

monsters and koala bears

these are my dear mentees amaryllischankamin and nicoletanxinyue!

known them both for over a year now, and mentoring them for at least 6 months each. must say that it hasn't been easy but it's an awesome journey for all of us :)

this girl loves to camwhore and fashion is her thing. she uses more make up in a week than i use in half a year! v impulsive but also v honest ;)

ok not the best shot of her, we were in the train! this tall girl keeps insisting i'm always outgrowing her (even tho i've been this height since sec3) and never fails to show her affection to those she cares for.

 

they didn't always get along but they're alot better now! have a very funny love-hate relationship going on btw those 2...

really appreciate the fun and laughter they bring (sometimes drives me crazy too) and hoping 2010 will bring us closer :) 

thought of the day

sometimes what you need to hear the most comes from the mouths of the most unexpected people!

some colleagues:)

losing patience

haha so cool looks like the rose is popping out of my cheek! which is kinda gross actually. sorry just needed a happy picture right now...

was such a horrible day today, i almost lost my cool at my class. they were extra noisy and hyperactive!! not to mention today was my only one hour break day plus there was ICT lesson... for some reason the kids are crazy in the com lab-.-''

went running with chew taariq which made my day:) had a long refreshing chat after dinner at kopitiam! always feel like having bubble tea when i'm out with taariq haha 

i can feel my white hair multiplying

my right ear is blocked and it hurts when i swallow or yawn cuz of the pressure (according to DDK). ARGHHHHH!

have loads of marking to complete, stayed back in sch till 9 but could only clear the math WBs, now at home i've math and english WS to mark.... which are already super overdue! i think i'm gonna like set aside one day of lessons to just get the kids to do their corrections! I HATE IT WHEN THEY HAND IN UNCORRECTED CORRECTIONS SO IRRITATING

this is what i look like in class scolding the kids HAHA

ok back to work!

sibling update!!

these are my bros and sis and i love them alot! we're all close to each other in different ways and we get along pretty well. i think cuz we're all mild-tempered and quite enjoy each other's company. thanks to my dad's enforcement of sunday family dinners i suppose... check out the similarities! don't have a photo of all 4 of us tho.

ok me and my 1st bro like dun look alike right? now check this out:

hahahah... pretty cool i've like different hair for all the pics! 

ok now check out our poofy hair phase!! we look like the beatles or smth.

the 2 in front are my dad's colleagues' kids that we meet once a year for coworkers christmas dinner:)

awesome pawsome huh! time for another family pic :D this was christmas last year!

YAYY! muacks ya'll

cuts like a knife

last sunday's dinner: my 2nd bro's bday celeb

it's so strange what a powerful effect words can have! sigh but we're usually only aware of the painful cutting effect. i was stung unintentionally even though i THOUGHT i wasn't affected cuz i knew the person didn't mean to hurt me. i think it's the tone which makes it sting you know. i mean it can be smth simple, not like vulgar or like a scolding, but if the way it's said is meant to hurt, it really hurts :( i mean even the most insensitive person can be hurt by a single word. well actually insensitive people are pretty sensitive to what others say to or about them. ironic huh.

but the great thing is that words can also have a nurturing effect! i mean like a simple "well done!" or "i love you" can do amazing things to a person's well-being. of course we know that ultimately our security shouldn't be what people say or to get their approval, but everyone needs encouragement and affirmation. i'm really thankful for my dad cuz he actually says "i love you" to me every single night before i sleep (well now he usually goes to bed before me so yea).  i think all children, especially girls, need tender words of affirmation and love, particularly from a father-figure. maybe it's a reflection of our real need for our Heavenly Father's approval!

anyways we all should be careful of what we say cuz we just can't take it back...

Love ya Dad!

TIME FOR BAD...minton

that's me and michelle my LL <3

she came down all the way early in the morning to play badminton with me on wed before my work started, even tho she stays in NTU hall aka MALAYSIA.

not that i <3 badminton but that i TOTALLY SUCK. i failed my PE test cuz i failed badminton. BOO:(

no worries i learnt smth on wed. how to tie badminton net!! 

no worries we came up with a plan to get our jc friend aka my pri sch friend aka the VJC girl's badminton capt 2008 to help me improve!! YAYY. if she's free la. heh.

25th JAN IS THE DAY!!

 

photo update!! outing w SERVE babes (reason why i'm now broke)

stuff i'm gonna get with my next pay:

coloured contacts (BLUE GREEN GREY HAZEL)

maybelline gel eyeliner

amaryllis' overdue bday pres

zoe's cheesecake from her new blogshop PROJECT BAKE

LL's posb account no. so i can pay her back hahaha

kor day's 22nd bday pres! (DUNNO WHAT TO GET)

new earphones!!!!  (my one-month old ones are gone already)

that's it! now i'll have to cycle everywhere or use coins to take bus cuz i'm so broke no money to top up my ez-link :( 

 

hello people of earth !

new picture enjoy i'm going to make my blog more interresting from now onwards so LOOK OUT^^

To the Sensational 6: VJNB'09/10

Dear Juniors

You girls have been absolute warriors these few months. Training has been intense and circumstances pretty rough, but you've all put in nothing less than your 100% effort. I'm very proud of how you have stuck together like glue, and I can only say what the next few months will put you thru will make the team gel even more - or tear it apart. Keep the openness and honesty among you, tears will come but tears among team mates are perfectly fine. The dynamics among the 6 of you makes it easy to make team decisions so make united decisions and keep each other in the loop.

Help to keep each others' heads up! No one motivates and inspires you more than your fellow-sufferer who perseveres with you. Make a decision to lift yourself out of the rut of failed expectations and to look on ahead, finding solutions for what you can change. We all face failure and disappointment but dwelling in it just makes you self-absorbed and depressed.

Would you rather win with a group of strangers or lose with your closest friends? It's seriously not the outcome but the process. If you don't enjoy the process you're not going to care about the outcome anyway. Treasure the experience and you'll find the victories even sweeter, because you made it together.

I don't dare to make any promises that season will go fine; in fact we all know it will be a struggle, a race up till the end. But you know you girls have my support and I'll help however I can, I'm only a phone call or sms away. Will be praying for each of you ;)

Love ya'll much <3

Chat 'Loving

Talking to Michelle on the phone now!!! YAY i've really missed her:) Wish i could meet up with her more often but we're almost a country apart (pasir ris to pioneer!) She's very funny, we're talking about her turning agnostic - that means she's undecided if there's a God. It's quite funny cuz her new lepak gang is a chinese/malay/indian group made up of (respectively) aethist/muslim/waanabe-agnostic. Michelle please remember to send me your bank account number so i can return you the money you transferred to me to tide me over the christmas season...

Went over to Vee's to discuss the girl's valentine's event but me and Glor and Vee ended up just talking about ministry stuff and members and our own personal stuff hahaha so fun!! In the decided that the event should be held in March, that's about all we discussed over the yummy fondue that Vee made :D It was a really nice long chat:)

Ok my contact lenses are drying up, gonna clean it so i can wear it to cycle to school tmr!! FIT

owwwwww

Talk about Monday Blues!! If labour pains are as painful (prob worse) as what I went thru this morning I'm seriously freaked out by the horror I'd have to face in the future. Had majorly painful menstrual cramps this morning, it was crippling, literally! I couldn't stand straight could barely walk. I stumbled to the fridge to find painkillers but couldn't even focus long enough to read the terrible handwriting on the pill labels. Yes it sounds like I'm over-dramatising but I'm NOT!!! GUYS PLEASE SYMPATHISE AND BE NICE TO THE LADIES AROUND YOU, IT REALLY HURTS!!

Well ok honestly I'm still better off than some ladies who get such terrible cramps on a regular basis, I've never had such painful cramps before. I managed to call in sick and took MC off work today!! I know some people think it's an excuse or waste of MC (because I used to think so too - yes, unsympathatic girl's retribution) but honestly I would have never made it to work and stood around the whole day in this condition. But I'm all better after taking the painkillers from the doctor's, and hopefully I can make it to school tomorrow to an awesome 2nd week of term! YAY:)

Got it figured out (i think)

All my friends out there, please offer to practice badminton with me! I need to be able to spar decently so I can pass my Physical Proficiency Test (PPT), that test I missed about this time last year? YES the reason why I'm not in uni yet haha. WELL SOME NEWS - I took the test in Dec and I FAILED (quite miserably, in fact). Thank God there's another test this March before the NIE entrance date, which I'm going for. And YES I've decided that I'm really going for this whole teaching thing - 4 years study, 4 years bond to MOE. And I'll be stuck in education cuz it's a NIE degree, I can't do much other than teach in schools or give tuition. BUT KNOW WHAT. I realised I really enjoy teaching! And the surprising thing is I'm not even talking about teaching PE, even like teaching English, I really quite like it! I'm actually looking forward to work, even though the children are noisy and the admin is disgusting, I find myself thinking about my class, praying for them, trying to innovate lessons using my less-than-genius brain and tapping into my minimal-experience and no-teacher-training-whatsoever resources.


My Dad said to me when he was driving me to school on the first day, "Another opportunity to bless your students".  I think that mentality is what drives many Christian teachers in Singapore. Teachers seldom get the opportunity to share about their faith to their students, whether in the classroom or not, it's obviously quite a sensitive topic in our secular country. It's quite a pity, don't you think, considering the number of young people that we come into contact with daily, and we nurture them for at least a year. Yet we can't share with them the most important lesson of all - how we all need someone or something to surrender our lives to, our cause and motivation. Something worth living for. And that thing is NOT the education that will get you a job that will get you alot of money that will provde for your family (which is what many practical parents teach their young children actually). But we can bless them! With social and academic education, with moral support, emotional encouragement, kind words and gestures. With much LOVE. The amazing thing about students ( and all young people) is how they can sense your sincerity or lack thereof. I guess teaching is the same as any other job, you've gotta use heart <3. 

You know all those TEACH advertisements talking about how students remember their teachers and how they inspired them - honestly I can't remember my Primary 2 teacher (i'm teaching P2 now so I was thinking about it) any I have no figment of memory of what happened in the classroom, but somehow I mamaged to learn all the English Maths Chinese that I was supposed to learn, and that gave me the foundation to learn the other important stuff. (Of course now my Chinese is hardly evident, sorry Lao Shi) What I mean is that even if my students don't remember me or remember my lesson, I sure hope they absorb the knowledge and the values that I impart to them in the classroom. Seriously, even things like cleaning up after oneself and listening when others are talking - they gotta be taught, re-taught, re-taught again. Perhaps my mere 6 months in their lives can make a positive difference to them, I'm inexperienced and idealistic, but I'd love to try.

Please God, teach me patience and grant me wisdom that I may be a blessing to these 29 children I teach.

Wake up to a New Start

That's right, I am attempting to revive my poor blog! This is a picture a took while cycling home once, it's the last bit of natural open field that we have left in Tampines/Pasir Ris that's not backgrounded by high-rise flats or buildings. I wanted to cycle along this stretch again to my training at 8.30am but looking at the time and the amount of sleep I'm getting, not sure if it's a good idea.

I'm not going for training to train but to coach, so technically I don't get much exercise myself, hence the want to cycle. I'm going to negotiate a coaching deal with VJnetball's new co-teacher in charge so hopefully I can get to see my juniors thru another round of A div. Honestly if they can get a proper professional coach it would be the best for them, but if not I would most definitely put in my best effort to plan for and coach these girls. They have few but talented players and for the Year 2s it's another chance to fight for what's rightfully theirs - a place in the Top 4 in the Nationals.


Of course that would mean alot of energy and TIME MANAGEMENT from me, because I'm teaching in the afternoon session, 12-6pm. So by the time I go down for training I've to jump right into the court work, without being able to check on their ball drills etc. which is fine for the seniors but difficult for the newbies. Which is why I'm really hoping that good J1 netball players will enter VJC and be willing to join Netball. We really need people with good foundation so the team can focus on building chemistry. 


OH NO. I JUST REALISED I WON'T BE ABLE TO BE THERE FOR THEIR MATCHES CUZ IT'S IN THE AFTERNOON. THERE'S NO TYPE OF LEAVE I CAN TAKE!!! 

whattodowhattodoitsuckstobestuck!