Happy CNY to all who have the time to drop by at my blog!
Went out in the late morning to meet up with a teacher who is also running a board games company to talk about a partnership between his company and MJC as well as our ability to participate in some of the events he is planning with quite a few organisations such as the Singapore Zoo, ITEs, and some government agencies also such as Nexus , Onepeople.sg, and National Youth Council. It was a very interesting talk and I'm quite excited at some of the ideas thrown up and am looking forward to hearing more from him. I think some of the activities would benefit the IGC students and hopefully the partnership would also mean an alternative source of funding for my planned MJC Games Convention should I not be able to get support from Pasir Ris West CCC as well as other modes of publicity.
After I came back I started working on some admin stuff to tidy up certain things, then marked Alkenes Consolidation Quiz, which was quite xian because I'm going to make about 20 students take a retest which means I need to set a retest and mark again =s. There're still soooo many things to be done for the week ahead before I go for reservist it's just mind-boggling...
Suddenly I'm thinking, this blog shouldn't be titled "Lukie's Life". Rather it should be titled "Lukie has NO LIFE!" Anyway it's about time for dinner before I get cracking on clearing up some of the items in the list up there! Happy CNY again!
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
My version of "I Believe" (English Translation)
I believe after you’ve fallen and hurt yourself
Raise your head then continue to walk forward
I believe that when you’re faced with difficulties
Don’t let your head bow down and strive to put in your greatest effort
Even though you didn’t say about the difficulties deep in your heart
Accompanying you by your side I am able to feel your pain
Chorus:
I don’t know what you are troubled about
But what I can do is
to let you lean on my shoulder
and share in your worries
Regardless of any setbacks you may run into
You must tell yourself that
“I believe that there will be a perfect outcome”
After the rain has fallen
There will appear a beautiful rainbow
I believe when I’ve suffered from a setback
It’s just life putting me to the test
I believe that when life is difficult
Don’t let your head bow down and drum up your courage to battle on
Even though you didn’t say about the difficulties deep in your heart
Accompanying you by your side I am able to feel your pain
Chorus:
I wish that you can be happy and I also want you to know that
No matter how long the road may be I will always be there cheering you on
Regardless of any setbacks you may run into
You must tell yourself that
“I believe that there will be a perfect outcome”
After the rain has fallen
You can see the sunny and cloudless skies
And there will appear a beautiful rainbow
Raise your head then continue to walk forward
I believe that when you’re faced with difficulties
Don’t let your head bow down and strive to put in your greatest effort
Even though you didn’t say about the difficulties deep in your heart
Accompanying you by your side I am able to feel your pain
Chorus:
I don’t know what you are troubled about
But what I can do is
to let you lean on my shoulder
and share in your worries
Regardless of any setbacks you may run into
You must tell yourself that
“I believe that there will be a perfect outcome”
After the rain has fallen
There will appear a beautiful rainbow
I believe when I’ve suffered from a setback
It’s just life putting me to the test
I believe that when life is difficult
Don’t let your head bow down and drum up your courage to battle on
Even though you didn’t say about the difficulties deep in your heart
Accompanying you by your side I am able to feel your pain
Chorus:
I wish that you can be happy and I also want you to know that
No matter how long the road may be I will always be there cheering you on
Regardless of any setbacks you may run into
You must tell yourself that
“I believe that there will be a perfect outcome”
After the rain has fallen
You can see the sunny and cloudless skies
And there will appear a beautiful rainbow
My version of "I Believe"
I believe 在你跌伤了之后
抬起头 然后继续往前走
I believe 面对困难的时候
绝不低头 一心努力去奋斗
虽然你不说 你内心的苦衷
陪在你身边的我能够 感觉你的苦痛
Chorus:
不知道你在烦什么 但我能够
让你靠在我的肩膀 分享你的担忧
无论遇到什么挫折
要告诉自己 I believe 会有完美结果
下了雨以后
会出现美丽的彩虹
I believe 受到挫折的时候
只不过 是生命在考验我
I believe 生活艰难的时候
绝不低头 鼓起勇气去战斗
虽然你不说 你内心的苦衷
陪在你身边的我能够 感觉你的苦痛
Chorus:
我希望你能够快乐 也要你懂
不管路多长 我都会一直为你加油
无论遇到什么挫折
要告诉自己 I believe 会有完美结果
下了雨以后
能看见晴朗的天空
会出现美丽的彩虹
抬起头 然后继续往前走
I believe 面对困难的时候
绝不低头 一心努力去奋斗
虽然你不说 你内心的苦衷
陪在你身边的我能够 感觉你的苦痛
Chorus:
不知道你在烦什么 但我能够
让你靠在我的肩膀 分享你的担忧
无论遇到什么挫折
要告诉自己 I believe 会有完美结果
下了雨以后
会出现美丽的彩虹
I believe 受到挫折的时候
只不过 是生命在考验我
I believe 生活艰难的时候
绝不低头 鼓起勇气去战斗
虽然你不说 你内心的苦衷
陪在你身边的我能够 感觉你的苦痛
Chorus:
我希望你能够快乐 也要你懂
不管路多长 我都会一直为你加油
无论遇到什么挫折
要告诉自己 I believe 会有完美结果
下了雨以后
能看见晴朗的天空
会出现美丽的彩虹
Term 1 Week 2
Feeling refreshed after sleeping for 11 hours and catching up on some much-needed rest after another gruelling but meaningful week for me. (Warning - SUPER LONG post - take your time to read if you wish!)
Last Sun - As mentioned in my last post, I went to Bugis to buy the J.Co donuts for the 2 students (though 1 was too shy to take from me in the end) and there was 1 v. pretty assistant there haha. The donuts there are pretty good I think! Wouldn't mind going back there again anytime soon (for the donuts!) =p
Mon - Triple tutorial + 1/2 lecture + preparation for IPSG on Wed. Lecture was good, a few funny moments including one where after a student answered my question loudly and clearly, a student in front of me commented, "Wah, confident sia." to which I alerted the rest of the lecture group and said something like - "Ya, you say confident sia. That should be the way right? If you know your stuff well you should be able to answer confidently and not like some of you who mumble your answers."
After I finished my part, I told the students that I'll let my "brother" take over, which got some of them laughing at the Chem. Bros connection. =p
Tue - Back-to-back labs cos I had to do makeup for Fri SPA + preparation for IPSG as I did a lot of resizing and aesthetic touchups to the cards for the chemistry game I created with my friend before sending it for printing and lamination.
A couple of funny moments with 08S114 when I think Jonathan somehow moved the lab table and I commented on his strength and when I had a funny laugh about Matthias when I was borrowing a TYS from him and he said that he needed it back right after that to do his weekly practice cos I thought he was joking at first but seems like he's serious, which is good cos he's smart but needs hard work to do well.
Wed - Chrystal Workshop again in the morning but the highlight was definitely the IPSG (Chem) in the afternoon at RJC. Btw, IPSG means "Instructional Programme Support Group" whereby teachers from various JCs come together to share their teaching strategies, demonstrations, and other things that can improve teaching (of chemistry) so I represented MJC with my presentation "Having Fun with Chemistry (Teaching through Songs and Games)" and I had planned to share about "Collide (FRS Remix)" and "Sodium Hydroxide" for the songs and our "VSEPR" game.
I started off explaining "Why Songs?" - mainly because not only because of entertainment value but also because sometimes students remember the lyrics of certain songs very well, sadly more so than their lecture notes so if we could wrap our content into a nice song it would be good to help them remember content knowledge.
Then I went into my thought processes when I create songs - (1) The topics/concepts I want to cover - that's always my no. 1 priority because you must know v. well what you plan to teach (2) The popularity of the singer/song - must be a popular song otherwise it defeats the purpose since a large portion of the audience would not be able to connect with the song (3) Lyrics of song - must be easy for me to rhyme with common chemistry terms (e.g. "-ide", "ate", "-gy") because it'll sound v. weird if the sound is v. different from the original song.
Next, I joked that I had checked out the competition as I showed them 2 websites which they may want to take a look at because some songs were not bad also but there were also examples of songs which I would NOT bother to write, such as "The Element Song", which is simply a song that includes the names of all the elements but there's no concept and you have a Periodic Table!
Then I started going through the songs with the concepts I planned to teach and also incorporated a "live" performance of "Collide (FRS Remix)" where I got my chem. bro to help me click the slides cos I joked with the audience that I wanted to connect with them so I should face them when I sing and I took an empty water bottle for my make-shift mike. The singing wasn't great (esp. after a day of lessons) but at least it was entertaining and they were also v. nice to applaud and cheer enthusiastically. =)
After I was done with "Sodium Hydroxide", I told them they may have some reservations about creating their own songs because those 2 songs I shared were quite long and complicated so I said they could start from something smaller and simpler. Then I said I had a surprise for them and since CNY is just around the corner I would share a bonus song based on a CNY song. Throughout the entire song they were laughing loudly and cheering, which was great to see.
At the end of my song segment, I told them that since these songs will be compiled into a CD by RJC, they could use it but please give credit to the creator because of intellectual property rights and joked that music piracy is rampant. =P
After that came my games segment which, after an overview of "Why Games?" and things to consider when creating games, was kicked off with my friend and I explaining to two groups of what the game was about and how to play the game before we let them explore the games by themselves. It was obvious the teachers enjoyed themselves, esp. the TJC teachers who were pretty high when they played the game haha.
Anyway, in all honesty, I feel that I gave an excellent presentation with good flow of the points, injection of humour at appropriate times to keep the energy level high and continuously engage the audience (not exactly an easy task especially when you're doing it at the end of a long day from 4.15-5.05pm), as well as to teach them (to a small extent) how to create their own songs and games. Of course it was also nice to get recognition from my bosses who were there to support me as well as from my colleagues who attended the session.
To end this segment, I'd like to thank all those who had helped out in one way or another - my bosses and colleagues for being there for me and esp. those who help cut out the cards, my good friend Bryan Lim who co-created the game with me and helped teach the game, my ex-student Kwong Shi Min (08S103) for helping me to record and edit the songs, my ex-student Jonathan Wong (06S306) for his idea on the VSEPR card design, and everyone who had helped with the "beta-testing" of VSEPR =)
Thu - Needed to pia for my composition for CNY but unfortunately my time was eaten up by unexpected circumstances like discussion of lecture notes and being briefed on my duties in the Exam Committee.
During lecture I shared with the students about our thoughts for the test results and our 4D's, different from the ones Dr William Tan shared last week - (1) Those who got less than C we were disappointed (2) Those we got less than E we weredisturbed (3) Those who got less than 30% we were disgusted (4) Those who got less than 20% we found it disgraceful. A little bit of humour though I hope the seriousness of the msg got through to them.
There was an incident that I was perturbed about cos when I showed the top 12 students, a student stood up and I suppose pretended to be one of the top 12 much to the laughter of the rest and I tried to suan the student with a witty rebuff, but it didn't come out right and I wasn't sure if people might take my words out of context and misinterpret them to be something sinister. Anyway, I smsed the student to apologize in case he took offence but it was good to hear that he didn't think anything of it and that he can take jokes. But lesson learnt for me to be more careful with what I say even when joking...
Pia through from evening to Fri morning to try and finish up my song and it took me a much longer time than I had hoped for...
Fri - Started off with a rather embarrassing situation when my shirt somehow got caught by the door handle as I tried to squeeze past some teachers while walking to some students haha.
CNY celebrations started off with a v. entertaining lion dance, the best I've seen out of the 4 performances in MJC cos it was interactive when the lions went around to disturb everyone, students, photographers, and teachers and also throwing oranges all over the place. Got a little bit draggy at the end imo but overall still a great performance.
While rehearsing for CNY, I took a look at the performances on and off and the Wushu performance was v. good, esp. this guy who I don't know what weapon he was using but he was v. good at controlling the string and spheres and he had some v. slick moves.
Also saw the other 2 teachers' performances and they were both great! Thought the saxophone was v. well played and of course I already knew what to expect from my ex-mentee from our karaoke sessions as he delivered a great rendition of Jay Chou's "说好的幸福呢" and the students were v. receptive as some of them swayed their hands in rhythm with the music.
The final performance by me and my chem. bro was disappointing for me and I wasn't totally surprised I must admit because >60% of my song ("I Believe") was only composed the night before so I didn't have time to rehearse and I couldn't remember the lyrics well enough (I still had parts of the original song in my mind) so I had to look at the screen quite often and I fumbled on the lyrics at the pre-chorus on both times. Also felt my voice was shaky because I was nervous about not remembering the lyrics well. Only the chorus was pretty ok because most parts were composed some time back so I could remember them.
It's very disappointing that my performance didn't do justice to myself and the song because I really liked the lyrics (though they could be better with more time) but I hope those who paid attention to the lyrics would've found them meaningful and inspirational... Anyway I should also learn from my own song and remain strong in the face of this setback. There're always highs and lows in our lives and I've no doubt I will bounce back and deliver great performances in the future. =)
Anyway, through all this I think there's a moral to the story for my students:
"If you don't study properly then you cannot expect to do the best that you can."
Had our Lo-hei session in the Library after that before going out for lunch at Simpang Bedok, which was v. funny cos apart from the usual crapping, there were a lot of arrows (not curly ones) flying all over the place, such as who to arrange our JB trip in March and who to pay for the bill later. Really enjoyable company! We headed off to my bro's house after that where some of us played mahjong, some board games, and others table-tennis (3v3). Had a great time and it was even better when I had a self-picked maximum hand in the final game of mahjong. =P
Some of us carried on with mahjong in the evening and it was a v. draining session and the 1st time I played a full round taking about 4 hours! =s
Ok, that's it for now. Got a lot of work to clear up again over the weekend and CNY, esp. since I'll be away for reservist v. soon. Quite xian but I must be disciplined!
Last Sun - As mentioned in my last post, I went to Bugis to buy the J.Co donuts for the 2 students (though 1 was too shy to take from me in the end) and there was 1 v. pretty assistant there haha. The donuts there are pretty good I think! Wouldn't mind going back there again anytime soon (for the donuts!) =p
Mon - Triple tutorial + 1/2 lecture + preparation for IPSG on Wed. Lecture was good, a few funny moments including one where after a student answered my question loudly and clearly, a student in front of me commented, "Wah, confident sia." to which I alerted the rest of the lecture group and said something like - "Ya, you say confident sia. That should be the way right? If you know your stuff well you should be able to answer confidently and not like some of you who mumble your answers."
After I finished my part, I told the students that I'll let my "brother" take over, which got some of them laughing at the Chem. Bros connection. =p
Tue - Back-to-back labs cos I had to do makeup for Fri SPA + preparation for IPSG as I did a lot of resizing and aesthetic touchups to the cards for the chemistry game I created with my friend before sending it for printing and lamination.
A couple of funny moments with 08S114 when I think Jonathan somehow moved the lab table and I commented on his strength and when I had a funny laugh about Matthias when I was borrowing a TYS from him and he said that he needed it back right after that to do his weekly practice cos I thought he was joking at first but seems like he's serious, which is good cos he's smart but needs hard work to do well.
Wed - Chrystal Workshop again in the morning but the highlight was definitely the IPSG (Chem) in the afternoon at RJC. Btw, IPSG means "Instructional Programme Support Group" whereby teachers from various JCs come together to share their teaching strategies, demonstrations, and other things that can improve teaching (of chemistry) so I represented MJC with my presentation "Having Fun with Chemistry (Teaching through Songs and Games)" and I had planned to share about "Collide (FRS Remix)" and "Sodium Hydroxide" for the songs and our "VSEPR" game.
I started off explaining "Why Songs?" - mainly because not only because of entertainment value but also because sometimes students remember the lyrics of certain songs very well, sadly more so than their lecture notes so if we could wrap our content into a nice song it would be good to help them remember content knowledge.
Then I went into my thought processes when I create songs - (1) The topics/concepts I want to cover - that's always my no. 1 priority because you must know v. well what you plan to teach (2) The popularity of the singer/song - must be a popular song otherwise it defeats the purpose since a large portion of the audience would not be able to connect with the song (3) Lyrics of song - must be easy for me to rhyme with common chemistry terms (e.g. "-ide", "ate", "-gy") because it'll sound v. weird if the sound is v. different from the original song.
Next, I joked that I had checked out the competition as I showed them 2 websites which they may want to take a look at because some songs were not bad also but there were also examples of songs which I would NOT bother to write, such as "The Element Song", which is simply a song that includes the names of all the elements but there's no concept and you have a Periodic Table!
Then I started going through the songs with the concepts I planned to teach and also incorporated a "live" performance of "Collide (FRS Remix)" where I got my chem. bro to help me click the slides cos I joked with the audience that I wanted to connect with them so I should face them when I sing and I took an empty water bottle for my make-shift mike. The singing wasn't great (esp. after a day of lessons) but at least it was entertaining and they were also v. nice to applaud and cheer enthusiastically. =)
After I was done with "Sodium Hydroxide", I told them they may have some reservations about creating their own songs because those 2 songs I shared were quite long and complicated so I said they could start from something smaller and simpler. Then I said I had a surprise for them and since CNY is just around the corner I would share a bonus song based on a CNY song. Throughout the entire song they were laughing loudly and cheering, which was great to see.
At the end of my song segment, I told them that since these songs will be compiled into a CD by RJC, they could use it but please give credit to the creator because of intellectual property rights and joked that music piracy is rampant. =P
After that came my games segment which, after an overview of "Why Games?" and things to consider when creating games, was kicked off with my friend and I explaining to two groups of what the game was about and how to play the game before we let them explore the games by themselves. It was obvious the teachers enjoyed themselves, esp. the TJC teachers who were pretty high when they played the game haha.
Anyway, in all honesty, I feel that I gave an excellent presentation with good flow of the points, injection of humour at appropriate times to keep the energy level high and continuously engage the audience (not exactly an easy task especially when you're doing it at the end of a long day from 4.15-5.05pm), as well as to teach them (to a small extent) how to create their own songs and games. Of course it was also nice to get recognition from my bosses who were there to support me as well as from my colleagues who attended the session.
To end this segment, I'd like to thank all those who had helped out in one way or another - my bosses and colleagues for being there for me and esp. those who help cut out the cards, my good friend Bryan Lim who co-created the game with me and helped teach the game, my ex-student Kwong Shi Min (08S103) for helping me to record and edit the songs, my ex-student Jonathan Wong (06S306) for his idea on the VSEPR card design, and everyone who had helped with the "beta-testing" of VSEPR =)
Thu - Needed to pia for my composition for CNY but unfortunately my time was eaten up by unexpected circumstances like discussion of lecture notes and being briefed on my duties in the Exam Committee.
During lecture I shared with the students about our thoughts for the test results and our 4D's, different from the ones Dr William Tan shared last week - (1) Those who got less than C we were disappointed (2) Those we got less than E we were
There was an incident that I was perturbed about cos when I showed the top 12 students, a student stood up and I suppose pretended to be one of the top 12 much to the laughter of the rest and I tried to suan the student with a witty rebuff, but it didn't come out right and I wasn't sure if people might take my words out of context and misinterpret them to be something sinister. Anyway, I smsed the student to apologize in case he took offence but it was good to hear that he didn't think anything of it and that he can take jokes. But lesson learnt for me to be more careful with what I say even when joking...
Pia through from evening to Fri morning to try and finish up my song and it took me a much longer time than I had hoped for...
Fri - Started off with a rather embarrassing situation when my shirt somehow got caught by the door handle as I tried to squeeze past some teachers while walking to some students haha.
CNY celebrations started off with a v. entertaining lion dance, the best I've seen out of the 4 performances in MJC cos it was interactive when the lions went around to disturb everyone, students, photographers, and teachers and also throwing oranges all over the place. Got a little bit draggy at the end imo but overall still a great performance.
While rehearsing for CNY, I took a look at the performances on and off and the Wushu performance was v. good, esp. this guy who I don't know what weapon he was using but he was v. good at controlling the string and spheres and he had some v. slick moves.
Also saw the other 2 teachers' performances and they were both great! Thought the saxophone was v. well played and of course I already knew what to expect from my ex-mentee from our karaoke sessions as he delivered a great rendition of Jay Chou's "说好的幸福呢" and the students were v. receptive as some of them swayed their hands in rhythm with the music.
The final performance by me and my chem. bro was disappointing for me and I wasn't totally surprised I must admit because >60% of my song ("I Believe") was only composed the night before so I didn't have time to rehearse and I couldn't remember the lyrics well enough (I still had parts of the original song in my mind) so I had to look at the screen quite often and I fumbled on the lyrics at the pre-chorus on both times. Also felt my voice was shaky because I was nervous about not remembering the lyrics well. Only the chorus was pretty ok because most parts were composed some time back so I could remember them.
It's very disappointing that my performance didn't do justice to myself and the song because I really liked the lyrics (though they could be better with more time) but I hope those who paid attention to the lyrics would've found them meaningful and inspirational... Anyway I should also learn from my own song and remain strong in the face of this setback. There're always highs and lows in our lives and I've no doubt I will bounce back and deliver great performances in the future. =)
Anyway, through all this I think there's a moral to the story for my students:
"If you don't study properly then you cannot expect to do the best that you can."
Had our Lo-hei session in the Library after that before going out for lunch at Simpang Bedok, which was v. funny cos apart from the usual crapping, there were a lot of arrows (not curly ones) flying all over the place, such as who to arrange our JB trip in March and who to pay for the bill later. Really enjoyable company! We headed off to my bro's house after that where some of us played mahjong, some board games, and others table-tennis (3v3). Had a great time and it was even better when I had a self-picked maximum hand in the final game of mahjong. =P
Some of us carried on with mahjong in the evening and it was a v. draining session and the 1st time I played a full round taking about 4 hours! =s
Ok, that's it for now. Got a lot of work to clear up again over the weekend and CNY, esp. since I'll be away for reservist v. soon. Quite xian but I must be disciplined!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Term 1 Week 1
It's been pretty draining already, even for the 1st week of school, though considering that I've never fully cooled down during the holidays I'm still warmed up to handle the intensity.
Last Sun - was chionging more admin stuff and looking through Alkenes Tut and SPA Expt 1 in preparation for the week. Finished at about 1.30am but I couldn't sleep until about 3am. Kept tossing and turning in bed thinking about my expectation talks during lec and tut in an effort to motivate the students and impress upon them the importance of being consistent and putting in their max effort, amongst other stuff.
Mon - Pretty ok, quite pleased with my opening lecture in terms of my talk and lecture, trying to mix seriousness with doses of humour/suanning at times to keep them awake, e.g.
(1) When talking about their chem files I said that some of those I've seen last year were DIIIIIS-graceful. I said I've changed from "disgusting" to "disgraceful" since it's 2009 so new year, new vocabulary.
(2) Showed them a picture of a cute sheep with droopy eyelids and suan some of them who are like that sheep, dreamy and passive, with a stoned look during lessons and how they should be more like the ox, this being the year of the Ox.
(3) Told them to learn how to manage their time due to the many different commitments so they need to cut down on their "Other Stuff", for example, blogging.
(4) Told them to be "even more serious" and that we think the best of them and that they are already serious (though some may not be).
(5) Told them to learn their lecture notes properly to internalise the content and not read it like some Harry Potter book or Twilight series.
(6) Was joking about some fire extinguisher thing during my opening lecture slide, though when I thought about it again, I was wondering if some might have thought I was insensitive. Hopefully not, didn't mean to come across that way.
(7) My favourite and something that I really wanted to say (if the occasion arose) since I thought about it during the holidays... When asking a student a simple question who couldn't answer, I said, "You're already in JC2. You need to raise your standards! Right now, the only things you've raised are my eyebrows!"
Tue - Lecture was disappointing by my standards and I was greatly irritated when I couldn't pause an animation because I was in the writing mode and when I rehearsed beforehand I was in the normal mode so I didn't encounter problems earlier on. Also, because the animation didn't match exactly to the example in the lecture notes, things weren't so clear. Maybe we need to develop our own animation next time, if possible... Anyway I didn't feel good for the rest of the day and my friends said I was too hard on myself since technical difficulties crop up at times so yeah, guess I shouldn't let my perfectionist streak get to me too much. Learn from mistakes and move on!
Wed - Had Chrystal programme workshop again in the morning before lessons, which now starts at 9.35am in view of the Staff electives that we can take up. I signed up for social dancing though I'm not so sure what they'll be teaching - hope it's not line dancing though cos I think that's quite uncle-auntie kind of dance!
Had our 1st session of CCA where I told them my new expectations and also gave another motivational talk and to write down something like what they want ultimately in their testimonial so that we can work towards it and to put my foot down on certain behaviour. Was very fun, esp. when playing Taboo to destress cos the people gave a lot of funny descriptions and expressions (though by right it's not allowed). Can't rem offhand what they did but I laughed my head off at their antics. Rattlesnake was also very interesting and I laughed when they first took out the magnets and some of them screamed when the magnets all started clumping together cos they're super strong magnets. Sitting Ducks was also a very cute game, kinda like Family Business concept, but much simpler and I figure would be much more appealing to kids cos the cards are darn cute.
Thu - Dr. William Tan came down to MJC again for another motivational talk and this time it was even better. I enjoyed his video presentation at the start because it told his life story rather than him telling us, as he did the last time. Josh Groban's "You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)" was also a very powerful and apt song for his video so it was very engaging.
He also spoke about the 4D's that we all need to achieve our goals - Desire (intense burning desire to want something), Decision (making the right decisions that leads towards our goals), Determination (to overcome the many setbacks in our way), and Discipline (to follow through our plans and not allow ourselves to be distracted). Hopefully the students would've been inspired by his life story to do something more meaningful with their lives rather than wasting their time away on meaningless stuff.
Fri - Finally the end of the week and Nina told me a very lame but pretty funny joke. It goes something like, "How are angels made?" (Answer at the end of my post) We had an IT workshop from 2-5pm and it was quite tiring though it was quite fun with the people around me cos I was v. competitive and wanted to finish doing the things asap by reading through the manual myself and doing my independent work so I was furiously flipping the pages, much to their amusement.
Went for dinner with some of my friends after that and saw Pangyu and Leon on the way out of MJC. Dinner at The Manhattan Fish Market was pretty good and we chit-chatted about the people around us. Pretty fun but too bad more people couldn't join in cos it was arranged at the last minute.
Miscellaneous happenings during the week - Shared my Robin Hood analogy in class about curly arrows, which I thought was quite funny (at least they laughed about it) and good for remembering an impt concept. SPA was draining cos of the long briefing as usual for the 1st lesson and the best part was starting the expt and going through the answers for Skill D and when I tried to draw a datalogger with my minimal artistic skills. Also had a little joke with them about the tough financial times so we need to cut down on wastage of reagents and avoid breaking glassware.
Oh, and I've also been forcing myself to do some exercise when I wake up at about 5.40am, just simple abdominal exercises to get some blood circulation and build up more core strength since I don't have the energy to exercise when I get home. I shall try to emulate Dr William Tan and incorporate pushups into my morning workout - 450 pushups is scary though! Haha, must set SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely) - Let's start from 20 pushups this coming week first. =)
Sat-Sun - Slept well to catch up on my lack of sleep during the weekdays and marking test papers, which was sadly, by and large very disappointing to say the least. I also have 4D's about my feelings which I may share in lecture if other tutors also feel the same way.
That's one thing about teaching that's very xian for me - the fact that you can give your best but you may not get the best back. I can accept that not everyone is smart but I can't accept the lack of effort shown by some. And worst of all, some think you're being an * when you chide them for not giving their best. Thankfully there're also the angels who will try their best and I guess that's partly what keeps me in MJC for now, together with my friends in the workplace and the gradual improvements in the working environment.
Ah well, looks like it's back to work again - gonna look through their Arenes tutorials. Will take a little break later on at Bugis cos I'm gonna go for a little walk as well as to buy donuts for 2 students who answered my questions during my Arenes lecture last year.
Hope I don't fall sick, esp. this week cos seems like a lot of ppl are having flu, sore throat, etc. Updates next weekend! Oh ya, the answer to Nina's joke: "Halogenation" LOL. =)
Last Sun - was chionging more admin stuff and looking through Alkenes Tut and SPA Expt 1 in preparation for the week. Finished at about 1.30am but I couldn't sleep until about 3am. Kept tossing and turning in bed thinking about my expectation talks during lec and tut in an effort to motivate the students and impress upon them the importance of being consistent and putting in their max effort, amongst other stuff.
Mon - Pretty ok, quite pleased with my opening lecture in terms of my talk and lecture, trying to mix seriousness with doses of humour/suanning at times to keep them awake, e.g.
(1) When talking about their chem files I said that some of those I've seen last year were DIIIIIS-graceful. I said I've changed from "disgusting" to "disgraceful" since it's 2009 so new year, new vocabulary.
(2) Showed them a picture of a cute sheep with droopy eyelids and suan some of them who are like that sheep, dreamy and passive, with a stoned look during lessons and how they should be more like the ox, this being the year of the Ox.
(3) Told them to learn how to manage their time due to the many different commitments so they need to cut down on their "Other Stuff", for example, blogging.
(4) Told them to be "even more serious" and that we think the best of them and that they are already serious (though some may not be).
(5) Told them to learn their lecture notes properly to internalise the content and not read it like some Harry Potter book or Twilight series.
(6) Was joking about some fire extinguisher thing during my opening lecture slide, though when I thought about it again, I was wondering if some might have thought I was insensitive. Hopefully not, didn't mean to come across that way.
(7) My favourite and something that I really wanted to say (if the occasion arose) since I thought about it during the holidays... When asking a student a simple question who couldn't answer, I said, "You're already in JC2. You need to raise your standards! Right now, the only things you've raised are my eyebrows!"
Tue - Lecture was disappointing by my standards and I was greatly irritated when I couldn't pause an animation because I was in the writing mode and when I rehearsed beforehand I was in the normal mode so I didn't encounter problems earlier on. Also, because the animation didn't match exactly to the example in the lecture notes, things weren't so clear. Maybe we need to develop our own animation next time, if possible... Anyway I didn't feel good for the rest of the day and my friends said I was too hard on myself since technical difficulties crop up at times so yeah, guess I shouldn't let my perfectionist streak get to me too much. Learn from mistakes and move on!
Wed - Had Chrystal programme workshop again in the morning before lessons, which now starts at 9.35am in view of the Staff electives that we can take up. I signed up for social dancing though I'm not so sure what they'll be teaching - hope it's not line dancing though cos I think that's quite uncle-auntie kind of dance!
Had our 1st session of CCA where I told them my new expectations and also gave another motivational talk and to write down something like what they want ultimately in their testimonial so that we can work towards it and to put my foot down on certain behaviour. Was very fun, esp. when playing Taboo to destress cos the people gave a lot of funny descriptions and expressions (though by right it's not allowed). Can't rem offhand what they did but I laughed my head off at their antics. Rattlesnake was also very interesting and I laughed when they first took out the magnets and some of them screamed when the magnets all started clumping together cos they're super strong magnets. Sitting Ducks was also a very cute game, kinda like Family Business concept, but much simpler and I figure would be much more appealing to kids cos the cards are darn cute.
Thu - Dr. William Tan came down to MJC again for another motivational talk and this time it was even better. I enjoyed his video presentation at the start because it told his life story rather than him telling us, as he did the last time. Josh Groban's "You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)" was also a very powerful and apt song for his video so it was very engaging.
He also spoke about the 4D's that we all need to achieve our goals - Desire (intense burning desire to want something), Decision (making the right decisions that leads towards our goals), Determination (to overcome the many setbacks in our way), and Discipline (to follow through our plans and not allow ourselves to be distracted). Hopefully the students would've been inspired by his life story to do something more meaningful with their lives rather than wasting their time away on meaningless stuff.
Fri - Finally the end of the week and Nina told me a very lame but pretty funny joke. It goes something like, "How are angels made?" (Answer at the end of my post) We had an IT workshop from 2-5pm and it was quite tiring though it was quite fun with the people around me cos I was v. competitive and wanted to finish doing the things asap by reading through the manual myself and doing my independent work so I was furiously flipping the pages, much to their amusement.
Went for dinner with some of my friends after that and saw Pangyu and Leon on the way out of MJC. Dinner at The Manhattan Fish Market was pretty good and we chit-chatted about the people around us. Pretty fun but too bad more people couldn't join in cos it was arranged at the last minute.
Miscellaneous happenings during the week - Shared my Robin Hood analogy in class about curly arrows, which I thought was quite funny (at least they laughed about it) and good for remembering an impt concept. SPA was draining cos of the long briefing as usual for the 1st lesson and the best part was starting the expt and going through the answers for Skill D and when I tried to draw a datalogger with my minimal artistic skills. Also had a little joke with them about the tough financial times so we need to cut down on wastage of reagents and avoid breaking glassware.
Oh, and I've also been forcing myself to do some exercise when I wake up at about 5.40am, just simple abdominal exercises to get some blood circulation and build up more core strength since I don't have the energy to exercise when I get home. I shall try to emulate Dr William Tan and incorporate pushups into my morning workout - 450 pushups is scary though! Haha, must set SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely) - Let's start from 20 pushups this coming week first. =)
Sat-Sun - Slept well to catch up on my lack of sleep during the weekdays and marking test papers, which was sadly, by and large very disappointing to say the least. I also have 4D's about my feelings which I may share in lecture if other tutors also feel the same way.
That's one thing about teaching that's very xian for me - the fact that you can give your best but you may not get the best back. I can accept that not everyone is smart but I can't accept the lack of effort shown by some. And worst of all, some think you're being an * when you chide them for not giving their best. Thankfully there're also the angels who will try their best and I guess that's partly what keeps me in MJC for now, together with my friends in the workplace and the gradual improvements in the working environment.
Ah well, looks like it's back to work again - gonna look through their Arenes tutorials. Will take a little break later on at Bugis cos I'm gonna go for a little walk as well as to buy donuts for 2 students who answered my questions during my Arenes lecture last year.
Hope I don't fall sick, esp. this week cos seems like a lot of ppl are having flu, sore throat, etc. Updates next weekend! Oh ya, the answer to Nina's joke: "Halogenation" LOL. =)
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Workshops
Finally finished 2 v. long days of workshops and meetings but it was great to see my friends again in school. Thur's workshops were pretty enjoyable actually, with the new Chrystal programme being introduced to us as well as some stuff from the LEAD workshop. Learnt a few useful things from both workshop. =)
Fri was a really long day of meetings but it was fun to talk crap with our group during the tea and lunch breaks and also we had dinner together on both days, and listened to a v. interesting though sad story ytd... Oh ya, during lunch, I wasn't sure if a student was waving at me because I didn't recognise the student (yeah I have had a few situations like that before so it's not that I'm BHB! =P) and she was also quite far away but there wasn't anyone behind me and the people around me weren't looking at her so I suppose I was the intended target. I think I did wave back, a bit feebly perhaps so I hope I wasn't perceived as being unfriendly!
Anyway looks like it'll be a v. fierce start to the year next Mon with 3 tut + 1 lec and also going into H1 lec and my bro's tut and prac (he's my new mentee haha) as I go about fulfilling my various roles. Lotsa things to prepare over this weekend so ciao for now, till maybe next weekend!
Fri was a really long day of meetings but it was fun to talk crap with our group during the tea and lunch breaks and also we had dinner together on both days, and listened to a v. interesting though sad story ytd... Oh ya, during lunch, I wasn't sure if a student was waving at me because I didn't recognise the student (yeah I have had a few situations like that before so it's not that I'm BHB! =P) and she was also quite far away but there wasn't anyone behind me and the people around me weren't looking at her so I suppose I was the intended target. I think I did wave back, a bit feebly perhaps so I hope I wasn't perceived as being unfriendly!
Anyway looks like it'll be a v. fierce start to the year next Mon with 3 tut + 1 lec and also going into H1 lec and my bro's tut and prac (he's my new mentee haha) as I go about fulfilling my various roles. Lotsa things to prepare over this weekend so ciao for now, till maybe next weekend!
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Jacky Wu, Teva Sandals, Returning to School
Read about Jacky Wu's possible exit from the entertainment scene from this June, which would be a real pity. Love the humour from the guy and I don't remember watching all those Guess Guess Guess shows without laughing at all his antics - be it his super lame jokes, witty puns, or just plain enthusiasm.
Took a walk to Toa Payoh this evening and on the way back my Teva sandals gave way, much to my disgust. My previous pair lasted me for about 8 years I think and this one barely a year plus (bought on 4th Dec 2007). The sole on my left sandal just suddenly came off about 3/4 of the way, forcing me to walk like Mas Selamat with a limp on my left leg. Didn't want to pull it off cos I had planned to glue it back when I got home, though I've been lazy to act on it so far...
One of the things I really missed doing these hols was to play soccer. Looking forward to Jon being back then we can have a get-together for some footie! Returning to school tmr for LONG meetings/workshops for the next 2 days, school's really starting soon! Kicking off with first lecture some more, so I really need to be fired up for things, as if I needed to be fired up haha. I'm ready, bring it on! Hope I won't burned out though. My grandma, aunt and even my hairstylist said I've become skinnier from the look of my face... =s
Took a walk to Toa Payoh this evening and on the way back my Teva sandals gave way, much to my disgust. My previous pair lasted me for about 8 years I think and this one barely a year plus (bought on 4th Dec 2007). The sole on my left sandal just suddenly came off about 3/4 of the way, forcing me to walk like Mas Selamat with a limp on my left leg. Didn't want to pull it off cos I had planned to glue it back when I got home, though I've been lazy to act on it so far...
One of the things I really missed doing these hols was to play soccer. Looking forward to Jon being back then we can have a get-together for some footie! Returning to school tmr for LONG meetings/workshops for the next 2 days, school's really starting soon! Kicking off with first lecture some more, so I really need to be fired up for things, as if I needed to be fired up haha. I'm ready, bring it on! Hope I won't burned out though. My grandma, aunt and even my hairstylist said I've become skinnier from the look of my face... =s
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Yes I can!
Just came back from my 6-hour trip to Orchard. Went to Lido for lunch at LJS then watched "Yes Man", which was VERY funny! Haha, Jim Carrey is really a v. funny character. Quite a sweet movie also and I liked his relationship with Zooey Deschanel - quite cute couple! As noted, there were quite a few sexual references in the movie which made things even funnier.
Went window-shopping after that at Wisma, Taka, Paragon, Tangs, and finally Far East Plaza but there weren't many clothes that caught my eye, save for some shirts at this shop called "Fabrick". Really, nowadays it's been quite hard for me to find some nice shirts that I would wear to work - at least at prices that I wouldn't mind paying for now, which is why I haven't been buying Raoul shirts for some time. Even the Zara shirts on sale were disappointing - at $60 I'd probably rather buy from Matsu or Natural Project like I did on my last shopping trip cos the Zara designs didn't appeal to me, sad to say. The shirts looked more or less the same, either similar to those I already have or not striking enough to make me part with my cash. Quite xian!
As for shoes, ever since I went Japan, I kinda felt I would never buy shoes in Singapore again cos Japan has a lot of interesting shoe designs and it's much cheaper there! A pair of Zara shoes could set me back by about $100-160 (and it's not like it's really v. nice) whereas most of the good shoes I saw in Japan seemed to be around the $50-70 region, including the one I bought that I really love!
Ended my trip with a waffle + ice-cream at Gelare since I noted it was a Tuesday (1/2 price for waffles) but I think it was too much for one person. After I while I got quite sick of it though I tried to finish most of it but I regretted it cos I'm feeling really full now and not really in a nice way...
Went window-shopping after that at Wisma, Taka, Paragon, Tangs, and finally Far East Plaza but there weren't many clothes that caught my eye, save for some shirts at this shop called "Fabrick". Really, nowadays it's been quite hard for me to find some nice shirts that I would wear to work - at least at prices that I wouldn't mind paying for now, which is why I haven't been buying Raoul shirts for some time. Even the Zara shirts on sale were disappointing - at $60 I'd probably rather buy from Matsu or Natural Project like I did on my last shopping trip cos the Zara designs didn't appeal to me, sad to say. The shirts looked more or less the same, either similar to those I already have or not striking enough to make me part with my cash. Quite xian!
As for shoes, ever since I went Japan, I kinda felt I would never buy shoes in Singapore again cos Japan has a lot of interesting shoe designs and it's much cheaper there! A pair of Zara shoes could set me back by about $100-160 (and it's not like it's really v. nice) whereas most of the good shoes I saw in Japan seemed to be around the $50-70 region, including the one I bought that I really love!
Ended my trip with a waffle + ice-cream at Gelare since I noted it was a Tuesday (1/2 price for waffles) but I think it was too much for one person. After I while I got quite sick of it though I tried to finish most of it but I regretted it cos I'm feeling really full now and not really in a nice way...
Monday, January 5, 2009
Watching TV, Composing a Song
Back from school and it's been a long day for me even though school hasn't started officially. Thankfully there's still some time over the next 2 days to get some more things done (Thu and Fri almost full day of meetings T_T) though I think for tmr I shall take my last bit of break before chionging again cos it's gonna be a v. fierce term ahead with everything coming in. Maybe go shopping, catch a movie, something relaxing will be nice... =)
Gonna catch "Campus Shrewd" later - last episode! I think some people were kinda bemused when they realised I was following the show. Actually I didn't plan to, but it just seemed like a v. funny show when I happened to let the TV run while I was on the computer (multi-tasking as usual) - the theme song by Rainie Yang is also pretty nice! Got Ijimae after that also! These are the few shows that I'm following nowadays cos there's not much nice stuff to watch on TV I think (unless you have cable).
Considering the good shows on TV recently that I've watched or that I'm following, Forensic Evidence (the show just before Ijimae) was really enjoyable for me, as well as Criminal Minds 3 (on Ch 5). I enjoyed both these shows cos they're pretty intellectual and helps me to be more observant about people and things. CM3 (on Tues Ch 5 11pm) is v. diff. from CSI, which I kinda got bored off after a while cos CSI is all v. formulaic - you know there're gonna be scenes of close-up shots of bodies, bullets piercing through bodies, that kinda stuff - whereas CM3 delves into the minds of the criminals literally. It's fascinating to learn about what these people are thinking of and how their behaviour in their normal lives can be linked to a lot of things about thier personalities and past experiences. As I watch, I'm thinking, "If I can learn all these and apply them to my students, understanding why they do things like this or like that, that would be v. interesting!"
Been racking my brains again trying to compose some lyrics for another performance (not a chemistry song haha). Don't really like to when I feel like I need to rush. I think potentially it's gonna be really nice if I can finish it but there're a lot of missing parts so I don't know if I can do it. Wish me luck! =)
Gonna catch "Campus Shrewd" later - last episode! I think some people were kinda bemused when they realised I was following the show. Actually I didn't plan to, but it just seemed like a v. funny show when I happened to let the TV run while I was on the computer (multi-tasking as usual) - the theme song by Rainie Yang is also pretty nice! Got Ijimae after that also! These are the few shows that I'm following nowadays cos there's not much nice stuff to watch on TV I think (unless you have cable).
Considering the good shows on TV recently that I've watched or that I'm following, Forensic Evidence (the show just before Ijimae) was really enjoyable for me, as well as Criminal Minds 3 (on Ch 5). I enjoyed both these shows cos they're pretty intellectual and helps me to be more observant about people and things. CM3 (on Tues Ch 5 11pm) is v. diff. from CSI, which I kinda got bored off after a while cos CSI is all v. formulaic - you know there're gonna be scenes of close-up shots of bodies, bullets piercing through bodies, that kinda stuff - whereas CM3 delves into the minds of the criminals literally. It's fascinating to learn about what these people are thinking of and how their behaviour in their normal lives can be linked to a lot of things about thier personalities and past experiences. As I watch, I'm thinking, "If I can learn all these and apply them to my students, understanding why they do things like this or like that, that would be v. interesting!"
Been racking my brains again trying to compose some lyrics for another performance (not a chemistry song haha). Don't really like to when I feel like I need to rush. I think potentially it's gonna be really nice if I can finish it but there're a lot of missing parts so I don't know if I can do it. Wish me luck! =)
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Finally done!
Finally finished those answers and doing the admin (so far) for SRP. It took me so long just to do the brainless and thankless task of creating the list of students and their details. =s
Shall try to follow Han Lu’s advice and do short posts where I can! “Revenge of the Sith” is showing on TV now. Perhaps I’ll take a break from work and read the newspapers and have dinner while watching it – busy life so I need to multi-task! Didn’t catch the movie and frankly I’m not as interested in the prequel of Star War (1-3) as I was for the earlier series (4-6). Maybe cos I only like Luke Skywalker haha (because the name is nice! =D)
K, break time! Though I wonder how many people read this and I’m surprised Weng actually found my blog cos I can’t even find my own blog on Google! O.O
Saturday, January 3, 2009
My 1st Blogger Post! 08S114 BBQ; The year so far…
Got extremely * with Friendster cos for the 2nd consecutive post I had problems putting up my post… I think I’m quitting Friendster already cos it’s just * slow! Anyway, let this be a new start for 2009 so I shall be more positive now… =)
Had BBQ Outing with my ex-CG 08S114 ytd and it was a very enjoyable one! 10 of them could make it (the best turnout for their class gathering so far) and I met up with some of them at White Sands where Han Lu said I was trying to act young with my dressing. -.- We then went to Downtown East for some shopping of the BBQ stuff and making full use of Natalie’s printed map, we made our way from DE to the pit, which was quite a funny journey.
(1) I was carrying the icebox with my laptop on top of it then Natalie wanted to help me with the laptop and apparently she was running after me but in a weird way so she was always behind me, much to Han Lu’s amusement. (2) At a junction I told them to trust me and follow my lead cos I’m a guy so I know how to read maps then Natalie was still staring at the map. She told us she was from Girl Guides then we were all laughing as there were some who seemed to have doubts. (3) Along the way we walked through the mangrove area and the heels of my shoes were knocking v. loudly against the wooden platform so Natalie was asking, “What’s that sound?” before Han Lu pointed out that it was my shoes and Natalie thought my shoes were made of metal! =p
Anyway, we had some free time when we reached the site before Natalie’s parents arrived at the car park so we played a bit of Taboo (newer Singapore version) and though it wasn’t as entertaining as with my crappy IGC people (cos they weren’t as crazy and enthu in their guessing and describing), it was ok. But I was quite poor on the day and some them were much better at me at describing so I guess I need to improve myself! The first word I was kinda stoning already cos I was supposed to describe “backpack” and I was thinking of a popular brand of a particular backpack – Deuter – but somehow I blanked out for a few seconds cos I was thinking of duffle bag and I was like, “Wth, what’s that name?” Irritating! Anyway, apparently they played during a GP lesson before also, which I thought was quite interesting, cos they were supposedly learning how to paraphrase…
After a while, some of us went to help carry stuff from Natalie’s parents and along the way I was chatting with Han Lu about this Korean show, Ijimae, cos she finished watching already so I asked her to fill me in on some of the earlier episodes that I missed. Then on the way back to the site we walked past some stables and at first we thought Natalie was v. blur cos we thought she said she couldn’t see the horses, which were all too apparent to us, but it turned out she was referring to her friend that she couldn’t see. =p
Back at the site, Nina and Nisha did a great job to start the fire and and I believe that was the first time I went for a BBQ where the girls started the fire. Learnt a few things from them as I watched how they built their structures cos they had different concepts – Nina used mainly small pieces and Nisha used huge pieces, which I thought would not be suitable – and it was fun to watch them go about setting the pieces. I just helped to dispense the charcoal to them haha.
The cooking part was fun, barring the fact that I was responsible for producing some highly cancerous-looking hotdogs because after I dumped them on the mesh I went to do other things and I totally forgot about them lol. At least the satays later were good and I enjoyed the marshmallow part where some people laughed and said I have some strange poses when heating the marshmallow but I was successful in producing some really nice melt-in-your-mouth marshmallow ok. =p
Anyway, it’s Sherilyn’s birthday today so they bought a cake to celebrate ytd and apparently despite us trying to be discreet about things, some of us were talking too loud and the others could hear us so. We also had problems lighting the candle cos the wind was very strong so we decided in the end that we would light it at the BBQ fire so we just walked towards Sherilyn not-so-discreetly with the cake and we laughed as I used a pair of tongs to direct the candle at the fire and we sang “Happy Birthday” while the candle was burning at the fire. Then I quickly lifted the candle for Sherilyn to blow out. That was probably a first for all of us to see something like that LOL.
We also had poppers and bubble blowers and it was fun to blow bubbles and have bubbles being blown at you. Some passer-bys even commented, “Wah, got bubbles!”, which got us laughing heartily. =p
Took a couple of photos also and we ended off with a Yam-Seng where 12 of us (including Nat’s good friend Zheng Xiang) wished for a great 2009! Overall it was a successful and enjoyable BBQ and there were many other funny moments, including some random bloopers like Han Lu’s “Ice-Cream SOTA” and Nisha’s “I silented my phone”. Thanks everyone for contributing to an enjoyable night! =)
Anyway, so far for 2009 apart from the enjoyable BBQ outing, I’ve been pretty immersed in my work. Starting to really up my gears and I was chionging on New Year Day and ytd scanning and manipulating pictures and typing out stuff preparing some MCQ Quiz for my students and also doing up tutorial answers. What a sad way to spend my 1st Jan ya?
Spent my entire morning and part of my afternoon doing tutorial answers and some other work stuff, and took a nap just now so I shall carry on preparing my MCQ Quiz Answers and looking through our plans for SRP. Note to self: Jia you!!!
Had BBQ Outing with my ex-CG 08S114 ytd and it was a very enjoyable one! 10 of them could make it (the best turnout for their class gathering so far) and I met up with some of them at White Sands where Han Lu said I was trying to act young with my dressing. -.- We then went to Downtown East for some shopping of the BBQ stuff and making full use of Natalie’s printed map, we made our way from DE to the pit, which was quite a funny journey.
(1) I was carrying the icebox with my laptop on top of it then Natalie wanted to help me with the laptop and apparently she was running after me but in a weird way so she was always behind me, much to Han Lu’s amusement. (2) At a junction I told them to trust me and follow my lead cos I’m a guy so I know how to read maps then Natalie was still staring at the map. She told us she was from Girl Guides then we were all laughing as there were some who seemed to have doubts. (3) Along the way we walked through the mangrove area and the heels of my shoes were knocking v. loudly against the wooden platform so Natalie was asking, “What’s that sound?” before Han Lu pointed out that it was my shoes and Natalie thought my shoes were made of metal! =p
Anyway, we had some free time when we reached the site before Natalie’s parents arrived at the car park so we played a bit of Taboo (newer Singapore version) and though it wasn’t as entertaining as with my crappy IGC people (cos they weren’t as crazy and enthu in their guessing and describing), it was ok. But I was quite poor on the day and some them were much better at me at describing so I guess I need to improve myself! The first word I was kinda stoning already cos I was supposed to describe “backpack” and I was thinking of a popular brand of a particular backpack – Deuter – but somehow I blanked out for a few seconds cos I was thinking of duffle bag and I was like, “Wth, what’s that name?” Irritating! Anyway, apparently they played during a GP lesson before also, which I thought was quite interesting, cos they were supposedly learning how to paraphrase…
After a while, some of us went to help carry stuff from Natalie’s parents and along the way I was chatting with Han Lu about this Korean show, Ijimae, cos she finished watching already so I asked her to fill me in on some of the earlier episodes that I missed. Then on the way back to the site we walked past some stables and at first we thought Natalie was v. blur cos we thought she said she couldn’t see the horses, which were all too apparent to us, but it turned out she was referring to her friend that she couldn’t see. =p
Back at the site, Nina and Nisha did a great job to start the fire and and I believe that was the first time I went for a BBQ where the girls started the fire. Learnt a few things from them as I watched how they built their structures cos they had different concepts – Nina used mainly small pieces and Nisha used huge pieces, which I thought would not be suitable – and it was fun to watch them go about setting the pieces. I just helped to dispense the charcoal to them haha.
The cooking part was fun, barring the fact that I was responsible for producing some highly cancerous-looking hotdogs because after I dumped them on the mesh I went to do other things and I totally forgot about them lol. At least the satays later were good and I enjoyed the marshmallow part where some people laughed and said I have some strange poses when heating the marshmallow but I was successful in producing some really nice melt-in-your-mouth marshmallow ok. =p
Anyway, it’s Sherilyn’s birthday today so they bought a cake to celebrate ytd and apparently despite us trying to be discreet about things, some of us were talking too loud and the others could hear us so. We also had problems lighting the candle cos the wind was very strong so we decided in the end that we would light it at the BBQ fire so we just walked towards Sherilyn not-so-discreetly with the cake and we laughed as I used a pair of tongs to direct the candle at the fire and we sang “Happy Birthday” while the candle was burning at the fire. Then I quickly lifted the candle for Sherilyn to blow out. That was probably a first for all of us to see something like that LOL.
We also had poppers and bubble blowers and it was fun to blow bubbles and have bubbles being blown at you. Some passer-bys even commented, “Wah, got bubbles!”, which got us laughing heartily. =p
Took a couple of photos also and we ended off with a Yam-Seng where 12 of us (including Nat’s good friend Zheng Xiang) wished for a great 2009! Overall it was a successful and enjoyable BBQ and there were many other funny moments, including some random bloopers like Han Lu’s “Ice-Cream SOTA” and Nisha’s “I silented my phone”. Thanks everyone for contributing to an enjoyable night! =)
Anyway, so far for 2009 apart from the enjoyable BBQ outing, I’ve been pretty immersed in my work. Starting to really up my gears and I was chionging on New Year Day and ytd scanning and manipulating pictures and typing out stuff preparing some MCQ Quiz for my students and also doing up tutorial answers. What a sad way to spend my 1st Jan ya?
Spent my entire morning and part of my afternoon doing tutorial answers and some other work stuff, and took a nap just now so I shall carry on preparing my MCQ Quiz Answers and looking through our plans for SRP. Note to self: Jia you!!!
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