Thursday, October 30, 2008

Kunming

the flight to kunming on silkair was akin to taking one on jetstar. there was no inflight entertainment at all. not even flight information!!! some of the kidz were exceptionally excited abt taking a plane and commented that when the plane makes a u-turn, the left wing will fold down while the right wing will fold up =.=

as the plane careened down the run-way, they were craning their necks to look out of the window and went ga-ga over the brief sense of weightlessness. inflight food has never been something worth looking forward to and on silkair, it is not a surprise. the ice-cream served was aptly named. It was nearly impossible to scoop it with the plastic spoon as it was so hard, leaving deep impressions on our fingers ... and to think we were expecting ben and jerry's...

the view outside

As the plane was making its descent ... ...



the airbus 319 with no inflight entertainment...

Kids were overwhelmed with excitement when transferring to the hotel and as a result, paid no attention to the tour guide. stepped in cos i couldnt stand their behaviour. as i was telling the dos and donts like the precautions to be taken since we are at abt 2000m above sea level and crossing roads, the coach suddenly e-braked and I fell forward. right bum aching till today as a result, and when i recovered from the fall, used the unfortunate incident to reinforced the importance of safety. think that was a very good demonstration for them. had an early night cos we need to be up at 0415hr (ZOMG!) for the transfer to Lijiang...

Thursday, October 23, 2008

a greedy cat from Egypt has (more or less) liberated me ...

my 4th batch has been sent to fight the fight that i have been preparing them for and i must say when the team went to view the paper at 1430hr, we were relieved that we have drilled them correctly and aptly for the paper. the one-word ("greed"...ZOMG, how easy can it get) was st8forward and most of the work in their portfolio could be used...

my gut feel that it will still be a proposal to the principal was right on the spot and thankfully, the last few practices that i gave them dealt with the more or less the same context... and in the words of sek teng "just spam the parents can do this, the teachers can do that and the sponsors can provide this and that".

All in all, it has proven to be a manageable paper for most of my kids. for those who decided to stay at home and study by yourself, i'm sorry that you were left out of the final preparation phase... I hope you were able to do it as well as those came for class... and for those who had diligently read all the compre passages, the cats from Egypt is something that is not new in the O levels. so the golden rule - do what i say - still holds.

now that the paper and the "cheating of money" (which i vehemently deny) is over and done with, and with news of the classes that i would be taking next year, it's back to the drawing board to see how things can be done better. perhaps i'd check my pigeon hole more often, diligently update the sign-in-out book, and smile more.

will be leaving for yunnan for ocip on tues so wont be ard when its mummy's berfday. as a result, the whole family with wati included (her's on 25 Oct) went for a nice buffet dinner on daddy's berfday... i really hope that our students can appreciate the intention of bringing them for this OCIP and bring some joy to the kids.. they have asked for a basketball rack and hoop to be provided and some simple conversational lessons to be conducted. am just glad that things that i had intended to accomplish is coming to fruition and hey, it was not as daunting as it seemed but of course, it's not an OMS, i had 2 colleagues to help out. if not for them, i would have less time to help my sec 4 and 5 at this critical period.

guess we need to periodically take stock and count our lucky stars. For me, we have just counted it yesterday... and yes, i do have one BIG lucky star.

Monday, September 08, 2008

Mitch's Wedding

Dearest Chris and Michele,

May you have a blissful marriage and live in happiness forever :)

Really glad that I was able to help out on your special day :P

Photos are in the process of being uploaded on facebook =.=

Saturday, September 06, 2008

The Devil and Miss Prym (Paulo Coelho)

Since QM wanted to kob this book that i borrowed, tot I'd better read it before i hand it over to her.... some parts of it struck a chord with me ...

"She just realised there were two things that prevent us from achieving our dreams: believing them to be impossible or seeing those dreams made possible by some sudden turn of the wheel of fortune, when you least expect it. For at that moment, all our fears suddenly surface: the fear of setting off along a life full of new challenges, the fear of losing forever everything that is familiar."

I chose the former :)

"Once upon a time, a man, his horse and his dog were travelling along a road. As they passed by a huge tree, it was struck by lightning, and they all died. But the man failed to notice that he was no longer of this world and so he continued walking along with his two animal companions. Sometimes the dead take a while to register their new situation... It was a long, uphill walk, the sun was beating down on them and they were all sweating and thirsty. At a bend in the road they saw a magnificent marble gateway that led into a gold-paved square, in the centre of which was a fountain overflowing with crystal-clear water. The man went over to the guard at the entrance.

"Good morning."

"Good morning," the guard replied.

"What is this lovely place?"

"It's Heaven."

"Well, I'm very glad to see it, because we're very thristy."

"You're welcome to come in and drink all the water you want." And the guard indicated the mountain.

"My horse and dog are also thirsty."

"I'm terribly sorry," said the guard, "but animals are not allowed in here."

The man was deeply disappointed for he really was very thristy, but he was not prepared to drink alone, so he thanked the guard and went on his way. Exhausted after some trudging uphill, they reached an old gateway that opened on to a dirt road flanked by trees. A man, his hat pulled down over his face, was stretched out in the shade of one of the trees, apparantly asleep.

"Good morning," said the traveller.

The other man greeted him with a nod.

"We're very thirsty - me, my horse and my dog."

"There's a spring over there amongst the rocks. You can drink all you want."

The man, his horse and his dog went to the spring and quenched their thirst. The traveller returned to thank the man.

"Come back whenever you want," he was told.

"By the way, what's this place called?"

"Heaven."

"Heaven? But the guard at the marble gateway told me that was Heaven!"

"That's not Heaven, that's Hell."

The traveller was puzzled. "You shouldn't let others take your name in vain, you know! False information can lead to all kinds of confusion!"

"On the contrary, they do us a great favour, because the ones who stay there are those who have proved themselves capable of abandoning their dearest friends."

think the world needs to work on this

"Not a single voice in the crowd was raised against the choice. The mayor was glad because they had accepted his authority; but the priest knew that this could be a good or a bad sign, because silence does not always meant consent - usually all it meant was that people were incapable of coming up with an immediate response. If someone did not agree, they would later torture themselves with the idea that they had accepted without really wanting to, and the consequences of that could be grave."

something that i see unfolding in ... ...

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

the weekend

the oral examinations are finally over and am glad the kids felt the charms work. did some late minute 1-2-1 on sat before making my way to the Ritz to view the fireworks display.

am on the verge of getting "hook" to dota and must admit i am still a noob at it. scored a first by raking up 3 kills tho I can't remember how i did 2 of them. and the other 1 is a cheap shot.

completed the army half-marathon on sun in 2 hours and 31 minutes. 1 minute above my target, but i blame it on the people who blocked the passage while strolling and talking cock to their friends.

did the first 10km within 55 minutes, which is on track. by the time i hit about 18km, left thigh began to cramp and had to stop and stretch. At the 20.5km mark, both thighs cramped *sianz* but cannot lose form and walk past the finishing line. So grit my teeth and ran past the finishing line in self-delusion that i came in first.

looks like the full marathon is not my cup of tea cos I was limping yesterday. but today, the pain has subsided. so I'll not run the standchart on the 7 Dec but focus on training for the Safra biathlon next march.

still anticipating the arrival of vios ... ...

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

too long a break...

1) keeping 2 hamsters as pets.

2) gonna be busy with Mitch's wedding preparation in Sept

3) never swiped my plastic while on holiday (this is A FIRST!)

4) waiting for the arrival of my vios

5) oral exams have started, yay! i just have to endure one-to-one till 25 Aug. Then it's back to the preparation of the written papers. As much as I lament and gripe and procrastinate, i think this batch is more promising. hope the good luck charm works, it better!

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

the chaos starts

the first 2 weeks just zoomed past with oral exams, meetings, heart-to-heart with the kids and most importantly wimbledon.

our mj game were paused momentarily when crucial points were played between stylish Fed and wedgie Nadal... after entertaining (or rather torturing) ourselves with budget mj in between the rain delays, the gang was aghast with Federer's lost to wedgie boy. utterly disappointed with the results. managed to win some cab fare amidst the torture :P tho it was mentioned that the sleep was much more important. well, the gang expected me to put aeroplane but a promise is a promise, so i appeared ard 11 plus.

thanks folks for making me feel so much at ease these days....