MJC Open House and End of T1 W1

Woke up at 6.50am to go jog/gym with Jon again then came back to nap. Going out for dinner and then SMU CO's 1st concert at SMU Arts and Culture Centre. Not exactly a fan of such musical concerts but just going down to give my support to an ex-student who apparently started up the CO so this is kinda like a measure of their success for those evaluating them.

We had our MJC Open House on Wed and seems like it was quite successful as all our goodie bags were snapped up by 3pm. Went around to check the IGC booth since I was helping my friend to oversee as he was busy with Open House then support my chem bro for his Chemical Kinetics Demo Lecture then we had our first Council TA meeting of the year where we talked about finances (and I am going to be our internal auditor for Council funds cos I'll be doing the accounts haha), new Council event for the freshies (8th SC), as well as updates on other key events. Also met A LOT OF EXSTUDENTS (seriously a lot) and realised that 5 of their siblings will probably come to MJC this year haha. Would be funny if I ended up teaching them I think.

After the whole thing was over, we went for Council TA dinner at Tampines One Dian Xiao Er which was kinda like a reunion dinner plus surprise birthday party for one of our TAs which was quite funny. Somebody actually planned about a week before to pretend that we forgot about the TA's birthday and even bought fake gift and card as our present to him and that we weren't going to celebrate since most of them need to save money for their weddings (many of them just got married or are getting married soon) but actually they got his fiancee to date him for dinner. =p

So after the Open House, we pretended to go our separate ways and I went off first, followed by the others but we met outside school with the intention of cabbing down to Tampines One to set up the place. Lo and behold, just as we all gathered at the bus stop, one of our TAs arrived on the dot (unplanned!) and pick us up. =)

Anyway, we blew up balloons and somebody brought streamers and a banner kind of stuff. Even told the waitress to direct them to us when they asked for their seats and we hid under the table before bursting out to surprise and sing "Happy Birthday". We were all saying it's a bit like those primary school birthday parties at McDonald's haha. A little bit childish perhaps but it was a lot of good fun. =p

Btw, the family set at Dian Xiao Er is pretty good. Highly recommended! =)

Thur - met up with my PBL team members to share ideas as we started crafting our 2 problems but actually I more or less had things planned already cos I managed to find some stuff on the Internet after a long search. Nevertheless I wanted their opinions and also see if they managed to find something better. Am quite interested in developing the problems and actually it's quite fun when we have the time to sit down and think and research about real problems involving chemistry. =)

Also met up with a Council TA and councillor to discuss about Friendship Week and there are soooo many things to plan for! Never realised that but I'm excited about things and it's quite fascinating, as I thought it would be when I joined Council. The ICs just spoke to me ytd (Fri) about their theme and I liked the idea so I'm waiting for them to build on this theme while I do a little bit of research also. =)

Fri - after Chem meeting I went to do some research in the library for my H1 Mole Concept Notes cos I wanted to revamp some stuff after looking through the H2 notes, thinking through my past experiences and what I wanted to see in the future, which is explicit teaching of certain skills, use of appropriate analogies and providing more interesting applications to daily lives (rather than just a touch-and-go thing which we do in the opening lecture).

Anyway, some of us came up with a funny action which will be prob be our trademark move for the next few days cos we were talking about planning ahead and doing work ahead of time then somebody did this outstretched hand and looking far pose and I followed suit so we've created a new pose haha to describe having foresight. =p

Went out for lunch at Tampines One Imperial Treasures with some friends and surprisingly a friend revealed to me his thoughts after our chem meeting this morning. Apparently at our PBL meeting ytd he was puzzled at why I seemed so unaccepting of their ideas and was quite critical about certain points and also questioned them on what they proposed because he never encountered me doing that before. However, when I was presenting he realised that I needed to have the details in place for presentation and so that I can respond to the questions thrown at me by others so he understood after that. Haha, it was a good thing to know that he didn't misunderstand my intentions when I rebutted them but ya certain things you can't work with sketchy ideas and just thinking that it might work. Point to note: Don't take it too personally when people seem to be criticising you. Listen carefully and try to see their point of view. =)

All-in-all, this has been the most relaxing week for years as I start to move to a higher gear for the new year and it's good to see a clear sky when leaving school! Miss seeing the ex-students though, the familiar faces at the study benches when I enter school and go around school... Ok, better leave house already. Working hard tomorrow! =)