I scrubbed the toilet and did my laundry after my bath just now. Dog tired now.

We went to Chinatown for dinner at "Chang Chen Zhou". Joined in the big squeeze with the rest of the crowd as we walked and browsed up and down the busy streets. Well, I wouldn't say we browsed. We didn't realyl stop at any shop to check out the wares. We just walked right through the crowds. He took some pictures with his new (or rather, second-hand) camera that his bro bought for him for his birthday. We saw the Channel U people filming on location at the foot of the overhead bridge. Everyone was crowding around them as if they were some mannequins on display. There was an old man with a left above-knee amputation sitting next to the Channel U gang. He was playing chinese new year songs on his little harmonica and passer-bys would drop their money into a yellow box in front of him. We could see the stark difference in the interests of the general public there. Everyone had their eyes glued on the celebrities and no one paid any attention to the old man who was trying to play his music above the din.

Apparently I am not allowed to have the Prodikeys set at home with me. I hinted to the HOD that it would be more convenient if I could explore it at home but she said that it belongs to the school. Hmpf.... So anyway, I took it back to school this morning. It will probably be a white elephant soon. I don't have time in school to sit and explore the functions of this toy. There's just so many other more important things to do!

Felt so lonely today. He had to man the open mobilisation exercise at work for the whole day. I was in school till 2pm when the Auntie Ah Lan came to close the staff room. Then I went to town and walked around myself. As I was taking the bus back to west mall, I thought to myself "Will this be what it will actually be like if I was not attached?" I felt grateful that I had him. And if I was single, like about one year ago, at least I have my family, my mum, to go home to. I don't think I can picture myself living alone and being single at the same time. Yes, I will have lots of free time all to myself, but that also means returning home everyday to an empty house. I did not speak much today. Only things like "How much?", "Thank you", "Can I have a new one please?" and stuff like that. Other than that, there was hardly any conversation with anyone. I felt like I was so quiet, so silent. So much so that when I wanted to ask for a Mushrrom Swiss burger, I had to clear my throat before I could say it clearly. I actually shut-up long enough for phlegm to form at my throat!?!

I went for the Prodikeys workshop today at Creative Tech. Am typing this out from my new Prodikeys keyboard now! Yup...everyone got to take one set home FOC. I guess it belongs to my school and I will have to return it, but I will ask for permission to keep it at home for self-exploration before returning it. Afterall, they want me to look into digital music for the school, I should have this set with me at my convenience so that I can fully explore it and look into the feasibility of implementing it, right?

I caught a student in West Mall today with her hair not tied up and her blouse totally tucked out. She was trying to avoid me but I went up to her and got her to tuck in her blouse there and then. The very nerve of her! To think that she's a band member too! To think that I lost my voice for 2 days after counselling her for an entire afternoon when she was in Sec 1! I will have a word with her mother tomorrow. After all, this wouldn't be the first time I speak to her mother. This girl is actually an ok girl but I can see the signs of her going wayward again...the classmate she was with is of questionable character. Those 2 other guys she was with are the typical small "bengs" we see wandering around the malls. *sigh*....I just don't want this girl to get onto the wrong path again.

He said that I was very fierce when I spoke to her just now. He was next to me. hehehe....I wasn't even half as fierce as I can be in school...that was only 10% of my "Kung Fu".

I sat at coffee bean and completed all the marking that I brought home with me today. Feels great to not have anything to do when I am at home.
Wait a minute, I still have something to do. I need to continue typing that memo for the other band teachers regarding the committee meeting on saturday....*sigh*....

We confirmed our suspicions about Number One. There's more than meets the eye....be prepared for more surprises, or should I say, shocks?

The paper issue was discussed informally in the office today. I cannot believe such a small matter actually warrants this amount of time in planning and dicussing. I mean, majority have already indicated "No" to the new scheme. This is so anal retentive.

Tell me, if a male teacher/instructor/coach helps a female student to tie her bikini straps, is it justifiable that the teachers be on RED alert on this issue? If the same person is in a hotel room with a bunch of female students and they were "just chatting", behind the closed doors, mind you, isn't it only natural and also justifiable that the teachers should be very concerned about the matter?

Did some marking at his place just now. I am weighed down by tons of marking! I guess its like that for all maths teachers. You got to set homework so that they get the practice, but that also means that you will have lots of marking to do! If I don't finish what I have on my table in the next 2 days, I will have twice the amount to complete by then!

The staff welfare committee came up with a proposal today and circulated it among the staff for feedback. It was regarding the printing of worksheets by teachers. Usually, teachers get stressed up having to print worksheets themselves for their classes for that day. And most of the time, we are not able to prepare the worksheets way beforehand. We are allowed to collect 2 reams of paper at each time and we use these to print our so-called last mintue worksheets. The office staff helps to print worksheets but you need to give them 24 hours advance notice at least. SO, the new scheme is as such : we will be allowed to bring down last minute worksheets for the office clerks to print, provided about 1 hour is given for the printing. In allowing this, the trade-off is that each teacher is only allowed to collect a maximum of THREE reams of paper for a YEAR. (it used to be unlimited)

I replied "No" to this new scheme. Most of the rest of the staff did the same too.

Am listening to the RnB album that I compiled sometime back. Blasting it and bobbing my head along....cool....yeah.....

Do you sometimes feel that you want to blast music to vent out frustrations? What sort of music will you choose? Music to soothe, or music to vent-it-all-out? I would blast my Guns N Roses in such situations. I will blast my RnB or my Bomfunk MCs when I need to show attitude.

Read the news about this 24-hour childcare centre in the Katong area (rich people area?) that lets parents leave their children there for days, weeks and even months! This is to suit the lifestyles of young parents who hold full time jobs and have no time to look after their kids and no confidence in maids. They visit their kids couple of times a week and take them home to visit grandparents on weekends. This is SO crazy. Where are the parenting responsibilties then? This man who was interviewed said that his child is there because he cannot stand the sound of children crying. I was deeply appalled. I mean, hallo, you want to have children, then you got to accept the whole packge deal. Kids come with noise and crying! Can't stand that? Then don't have kids! Simple as that, isn't it? How can you split the responsibility up?

Singaporeans....one word for such behaviour....PUI !!!

We just caught 8 Mile. Not as fantastic as we thought it would be, but it was good cos at least now we know so much more about what rap and hip hop is all about. Well, at least one aspect of it. I think it takes alot of wit and intellect to be able to rap off your tongue, off your mind. I like hip hop. It makes me wanna bob my head and shoulders and all that. Kind of miss hip hop lessons at the gym...

Voice is not exactly back yet. Still raspy and unstable. Can't laugh properly without sounding like a strangled turkey...

I am going to lose my voice any minute. It's hanging on its last bits of vibrating chords in the voice box...right now, I sound like a drag queen. Let's pray I don't come down with fever and all that....

What a tiring day it was. I had 4 lessons in a row (2 hr 20 min) followed by recess and then another 4 lessons. Had the stomachache during the FIRST lesson and did not get to visit the toilet until 4pm!! It's not that I don't want to go...I just had no time! Things just keep on coming my way and needed immediate attention that I did not even ahve the time to visit the loo! Such is the job hazards that we teachers face - constipation.

I spent about $700 on my computer on Sunday. Bought a brand new motherboard and got the Intel Pentium 4 2.4GB processor. Cool huh? Also got RAM and all that too. All for a cool $700. Now I'm running super smooth and I'm on XP finally. All thanks to him cos he helped me with everything!

The wedding dinner was quite fun! Saw people I have not seen for a long long time. Most have not changed in terms of mannerisms and character. Generally, that is. Mart and I sat next to each other and we were like bitching about one of our classmates at the other table. The ultra boring one with the ego problem and all. urgh....sometimes. a meeting once in 10 years is just sufficient with some people...

It's nice to hear from people when they make comments like "you've lost weight! you look good now!" etc etc... but hehe...such comments massage my ego but deep down, i know the whole truth...I am putting on weight and there are countless problem areas that are well-hidden from the public eye. Oh but I do love my hair now. I am so inspired by White Oleader to have long long hair. I saw that movie and I was so overwhelmed by how good those ladies looked with their long long hair...just like when I saw Practical Magic and I got inspired to braid my hair like Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock.

Mum's birthday this Friday. If my sis can only have dinner on thursday night, then I will have to meet up with Jen, min and qing another day for dinner....

I had a bad dream when I took my afternoon nap just now. I dreamt that one of my band members died and we were at the funeral. Everyone was crying and crying. It was really sad. I cried too and woke up feeling sad. So glad it's only a dream!!

ok need to sleep. My standard bed time since school started is 1030pm. It's way past bed time now....*yawn*

HK is getting married next monday. Will be meeting up with a couple of ex-college classmates at his wedding. I dunno whether to feel anything or not. Actually, I am kind of anticipating it cos it's been awhile since we last saw each other.

We have all got our own laptops at school now. And the better news is that I can now surf at my own desk! It's a priviledge that we never had in the past. No more fighting with the other 69 teachers for the 2 stupid terminals at the corner of the staffroom! Soon, I will blog from school. Soon, I will install msn and icq on my laptop. Soon, 'cos I don't have the time to do so this week, as yet.

Three cheers to personal-laptops-at-our-own-tables!!!

wah. I cannot believe I wrote the previous blog. So super on the ball?!?! What did I eat man...

My form class is made up of a good mix of students of different characters. There are 39 of them, out of which, 23 are girls. Well, the girls were mostly the soft-spoken type who would rather die than to ask a question or offer any suggestion. So shy!!! It was quite difficult to bring them out of their shell in the past 2 days of team building activities in school.

I do have a couple of girls who are more spontaneous and have more initiative. I was good to see that they could take over come of the planning of the competitions and they were able to work together with the boys. As usual, the girls and the boys are extremely seperated. They avoid sitting near each other so when I step into class, it would seem as if they were at a tea party where the guys on one side would dance with the girls on the other. I suppose the teacher has to be the thick-skinned one to make a few jokes, get them to laugh to do the ice-breaking. I don't really mind.

On the whole, after these 2 days of activities, I am able to see who are the ones in class who have initiative, who are those who need abit of pushing to get something done, who would prefer to just contribute silently and not speak up. I also have a rough idea on who are the ones to keep an eye on and whom should I seperate in terms of seating position in class.

I am their form teacher. How they move into 2003 largely depends on how I manage them and their class dynamics. I feel very excited and enthusiatic about being a form teacher again, after 3.5 years of not being one. I only pray that I will have enough time for them, as I have more and more duties coming my way this year. I also pray that I will not burn out too soon.

Sometimes I just feel like teaching is not a career. It's a commitment. Being a teacher, I owe these students an education that I can best provide in terms of every aspect of their teenage years. I am looking forward to 2003, at the same time I am aware of the amount of workload that's coming my way. I feel I have a healthy level of "fear" in me to stop me from becoming too complacent or over-enthusiatic.

Well, that's Day1 and Day2 of school for me so far. Let's see how it goes and whether this fire will burn stronger or die out.....