Making sense in a nonsensical world

Random 2!

2011-12-21T23:42:00.002+08:00

"Have you got used to the fare hike (cabs)?" asked Mr. Ace, Smart Without.

Ironic

2011-12-08T20:47:00.001+08:00

Got a random call from P Company about some upgrade of medi-shield a few days back. Not knowing what' it's about, I agreed to meeting the agent as I thought I had bought the policy from P Company. After checking, I realized I had actually bought from N Company and not P company. So when the person actually wanted to confirm the meeting, i rejected telling them I had already bought from somewhere else.

The twist of fate when I visited JP and got stopped by a staff from SingPost.. To make the story short, I was ushered into a seat where an agent from P Company talked to me about the upgrading of medi-shield. Guess what is meant to be is meant to be. This is call fate. Or perhaps was because of the 'bad luck' from the person who was with me at that time..

Random 1!

2011-10-09T23:49:00.000+08:00

Giant was hungry and so he jio-ed Tiny out for lunch.

At the food court, Giant asked, "what would you recommend for lunch?"

Tiny replied, "Wanton Mee!!"

And so, Giant ordered a bowl of wanton mee.

When the mee was served, the Giant looked at the bowl of mee, then stared at Tiny angrily and bellowed, "THIS AIN'T ONE TON MEE, IT'S ONE GRAM MEE!"

Apple

2011-10-07T01:27:00.001+08:00

Doodle of a Bored Child

2011-10-03T22:12:00.000+08:00

To commemorate Children's Day

A masterpiece done during lesson to focus on the lesson.

Doodle Doo Nothing

2011-10-01T18:00:00.000+08:00

Under your umbrella

2011-09-17T23:19:00.001+08:00

Being a teacher, the task of caring for the children surely falls under your umbrella.

So, when you see a poor boy from school, all drenched by the rain, comes running towards you, and under your umbrella, you will make sure he reaches home safely.

Tools in English lesson

2011-09-17T23:00:00.001+08:00

Nice english

This product the adoption import the environmental protection the link, and have not poisonous, easily wipe. The color and luster is flamboyant, and be applicable to the white plank of white plank, teaching of ????

Can't see the last word.

You can attempt to understand the words =)

Well nvm, since they have this disclaimer

THE GOOD QUALITY COMES FOMS THE ZHIPAI !

So obviously, the person who wrote the texts not from their company since it's not good quality.

Health is the greatest gift

2011-08-14T09:02:00.002+08:00

As cliche as it sounds is something that many people have taken for granted.

Today, I went for a special concert. It was a performance put together by children and youths who are chronically ill, with the support of many people. Though it wasn't first class performance, I could see and feel the never give up spirit in the air as they were performing.

A midst their busy schedule of school and regular visit to the school, they had found time to practise and rehearse the concert. This goes to show that when one puts his heart into something he wants to do, he will succeed.

Full of LOVE!

2011-07-30T23:10:00.002+08:00

Slightly overdue, but still it's nice of them =))

Week as a Physical Trainer

2011-07-10T02:42:00.002+08:00

Sort of kana arrow-ed to do this the past week, I was a little stressed when I was told this as what would happen if someone was injured under my care. LOL.. Anyway, lucky for me, the only day I saw blood was on Wednesday when two of the boys clashed into each other, and they laugh it off. Kewl dudes!

Afterthought was that it was a fun week, getting to dress down for the whole week was added incentive. For now, two more weeks to go before I move on =)

The Notice

2011-06-15T21:01:00.003+08:00

Saw this at the notice board:

The court that the sun shines from dawn till dusk; the court that was built there five years ago; the court that I started to frequent only one year ago; the court where I made friends with so many neighbours young and old; the court where I played bball with x-students from my school and gossiped about the teachers; the court where I played bball with current student; is walking into the history book.

Kinda sad, but I don't think anyone will send in a petition. Guess we'll have to shift to other places and compete with other people for a court to play in...

Ubin Trip 2

2011-06-15T17:13:00.004+08:00

Yesterday went Pulau Ubin for the second time in as many weeks. This time with a gang of youngsters. Initially had wanted to get my tutee to go, too bad his parents don't allow.

I guess it was an eye-opening trip for my basketballing friends, being their first time on the off-shore island. Compared to cycling at ECP, this is definitely a much more interesting place to cycle, without having to stay in path and compete with so many cyclists for space to cycle in.

Even though the main purpose was to cycle, we made Chek Jawa Wetlands the first stop. The tide was high, so actually it wasn't a good time to go in, however, we are somehow quite lucky as two families of wild pigs were on an outing to the wetlands as well.

wild pigs behind the information counter at Chek Jawa

Apart from the wild pigs, we also managed to see a monitor lizard and caught a glimpse of an eagle soaring in the sky.

After leaving Chek Jawa, we headed to find scenic places like the Mamam Campsite and the different quarries on the island. Just before lunch we went into Ketam Bike Park and played at the bike obstacle course for a while, before going back to a restaurant near the jetty to have lunch.

Scenery of the quarry ponds

Having taken our break, we cycled into the sensory trail for a relaxing ride before heading back into the bike park. This time, we went into one of the diamond course (intermediate) thinking that it would only be for the 400m stated on the board. Little did we know that this would end us up riding around the whole of Ubin quarry, consisting of many diamond and double diamond routes.

The seemingly endless trail of rocky route, steep upslope and downslope, winding trails and mosquitoes really tried our determination. And with the bikes taking turns to give us problems, it was slightly demoralizing. LOL!! Thank to another group of bikey who help to tighten the wheel of one of our bikes that we managed to get out of the trail sooner.

Finally after some wash-up, we were on our way home. The good thing about going out with a neighbour is simple, it wouldn't be a boring trip home, hehe.. But I guess we were all tired and found ourselves sleeping for most of the journey back.

**Aftermath of the trip: A dozen mosquito bites on each of us and break from basketball for the rest of the week..

It's a small small island

2011-06-09T00:07:00.002+08:00

Yesterday, while meeting up with a few colleagues to go Pulau Ubin, I noticed a group of Scouts also meeting up at CCK MRT seemingly packed and ready for a camp. They left on the train earlier as I was still waiting for another late comer.

When we finally set off, I was told we have to wait at Tiong Bahru station for another colleague, zzz, another late comer...

When we alight at Tenah Merah MRT, and got to the bus stop, and there's the same group of Scouts, and boarded the same bus headed for the same destination.

浪子回头金不换

2011-05-28T21:32:00.002+08:00

After the recent exception to have a tutee, I could find myself having a second one pretty soon. Let's hope for the best!

Horoscope

2011-05-25T23:01:00.001+08:00

Here is your Daily Horoscope for Wednesday, May 25 You are better able to communicate with large groups today, including public speaking. If that's not on your schedule, you may just want to ponder how you can reach more people with your message.

I guess today was a good day to have parent teacher conference.

Exception

2011-04-04T00:32:00.002+08:00

Today was the first session of tuition I ever gave. Nothing fanciful, just went through homework before asking him to try some more challenging questions. Basically, he knows the techniques, but tends to be careless.

Haven't had the thought of giving tuition before. The main reason, most of the time, it's the parent who wants to get a tutor for the child. This time round, it's the child who approach me of his own accord, and that's reason enough to make this one exception.

Pat on the back

2011-03-22T00:06:00.002+08:00

I guess I should have taken some time off to pat my own back, but was still feeling the aftermath of the event. Guess 3 brand new experiences in a day is too draining on my energy. Though I would have wished that I done better, it should be okay for now.

Hope I can get more materials before I touch up on this post. =)

Congratulations

2011-03-19T13:55:00.001+08:00

"Well done."

"Good job."

Clap clap clap clap....

Yesterday was something like that, and it reminds me of the famous scene in the final episode of Evangelion, which just don't make sense:

From 4.51 onwards

Anticipation

2011-03-17T16:53:00.002+08:00

Is a powerful force which cause me to pace up and down my room.

Each time, when I'm asked to do something that is not within my comfort zone, I have the urge to reject the offer. "I don't really have to do that right?" I would think to myself.

So to prevent myself from passing this opportunity, I would readily accept the offer first, then live in anticipation till the job is done. It sometimes make me feel really tired in the preparations, but I always relishes the fulfillment that I get when the job is done.

Even though I always think the process is more important than the product, I still hope that the product will be of some quality.

Hope for the best tomorrow! =)

Missing my proving days

2011-02-15T19:36:00.004+08:00

Proof this: Last day of your life is the best day of your life.

let Pn be the statement that "Pn > Pn-1, such that it is the nth day of your life, where n = 0, ... last day of your life"

intuitively,

P1: This is the day you were borned

Pk: This is the kth day of your life

When n = 0, P1 > P0 is true, since obviously, if you are not borned, you have no life, so first day of your life is better than before you were borned.

Assume n = k is true, i.e. Pk > Pk-1

when n = k+1, RHS = Pk

LHS = Pk+1

= Pk 's tomorrow

As the saying goes, "Tomorrow will be a better day!"

Therefore Pk+1 is a better day than Pk, i.e. Pk+1 > Pk (Proven)

So, by M.I. the last day of your life is the best day of your life.

Is this proof sound and complete? Though I forgot what sound and complete means..

Typical grade D work

2011-02-14T22:03:00.003+08:00

If I wrote like this for my instruction manual in CS2301, sure fail:

Getting to the Race Venue via Mass Rapid Transit (MRT)

Here are the various options available by MRT:

. Alight at Ang Mo Kio station (NS16) and take bus service 138 from the bus interchange.

. Alight at Choa Chu Kang station (NS4-BP1) and take bus service 927 from the bus interchange.

. From Changi Airport station (EW29), board the train and alight at Tanah Merah station (EW4) to switch to the west-bound train to City Hall station (EW13-NS25), switch again to the north-bound train to Ang Mo Kio station (NS16) and take bus service 138 from the bus interchange.

. From Changi Airport station (EW29), board the train and alight at Tanah Merah station (EW4) to switch to the west-bound train to Jurong East station (EW24-NS1), switch again to the north-bound train to Choa Chu Kang station (NS4-BP1) and take bus service 927 from the bus interchange.

Getting to the Race Venue via Private Transport

From the city, use the Pan Island Expressway (PIE) towards Jurong.

Filter our at Exit 7 of Bukit Timah Expressway (BKE).

Follow the prominent brown signs to the Singapore Zoological Garden.

On a regular day, the journey will take approximately 30 minutes.

So, if you want to take mrt to the zoo, you have to board the train from changi airport; if you are driving, you have to start your journey from the city.

English rocks!!

Weird stares

2011-01-16T12:35:00.003+08:00

On the bus, at the shopping mall, at the basketball court, or just walking around. When I look around at some of the children walking around, I always notice that some of them will turn around and give me a weird stare or turn around and give me a second look. Some even turn to their mom, say something then the mom will turn to look at me as well.

All these have become something too common since I started working four months ago. It feels a little awkward sometimes since I don't really know if I know these kids and yesterday something else dawned on me. Could the reason that they are looking at me is because I was looking at them in the first place? 

First entry using iPhone

"This is not your job, now GO!"

2011-01-15T17:45:00.000+08:00

Says P. =(

HNY!

2011-01-03T16:51:00.002+08:00

Work is starting again!! Mixed feelings about the year, hope everything will be good, like it has always been..

Hope everyone has a good year ahead of them. Enjoy whatever (most irritating word) you do.

Controversy

2010-11-13T22:04:00.003+08:00

Sportsmanship is a difficult quality to assess, especially not in one day.

Yesterday, there was a sports carnival and there was fun whole day, till after the prize presentation. A group was awarded the best sportsmanship group and this sparked off a huge war of words on FB between them and another group. Apparently either the award boosted the winning team's ego and it got too big or the other group felt the result was unfair...

Anyway, both teams had demonstrated bad sportsmanship and I don't think they would deserve the award. They just don't understand what sportsmanship is about, should have changed the name of the award to maybe "best cheering team".

An invitation

2010-10-29T22:06:00.002+08:00

In my times as a primary school student, I can't wait to get far far away from my teachers. Why do I get a birthday invitation then? Time really has changed..

Happy Children's Day!

2010-10-01T15:16:00.002+08:00

Never thought I would hear this song again, but now, I'm back celebrating the occasion.

Started work for three weeks already, and not exactly that busy, haha.. Just been lazy to update the blog. Been rather fun sometimes, but I really need to brush up on how to get the class to listen when I speak..

In the few weeks, I probably got many kids to be scolded, letting them break the school rules without knowing.

Anyway, today is Children's Day, and I went out a few of them to play soccer. Not sure whether I doing the right things, haha.. Dilemma!

Respect vs Disrespect

2010-08-30T19:24:00.002+08:00

Respect is earned.

Today went to play table tennis with chubbs after eating breakfast with him and Kai. I had booked the table online and we were punctual at the table, but there were some elderly at the table playing. Though obviously they seen us, they don't look like they were gonna stop.

Hm, maybe they were just trying to finish their game. Nope they weren't keeping points. Were we at the wrong table? So i went to check with the counter, and indeed, it was the right table. So this time, I just asked them and an auntie answered, "this table and the other table are reserved for senior citizens, are you sure you booked it? You got receipt? You got pay anot?" And all sorts of funny questions. So in the end, I just go the counter and get them to print me a piece of paper that clearly stated the time and table I booked. What more can they say? Com'on you want play you book table la, waste my time and had to kill more trees to get the receipt printed.

Yesterday, or weekly in fact, I felt exploited by this relative of mine. Every time, doesn't help out in preparing food, and just sits around waiting to play mahjong, grumbles when lose money, and in fact, none of us likes to play with her, then EXPECTS me to drive her home. Always brag about how good his sons are when I only see them 0-2 times a year (CNY, Ching Ming), why not ask them come pick her up? Brags about her grandchild, when she really is a terror even at a young age of donno what, cos also 0-2 times. Has B.O. (not genetic) since I didn't remember her having that problem when I was younger, so probably clothes never wash or something like that. Stink up the car somemore.. The list probably goes on, but enough grumbling for now. Find it a bother to even talk to her, really donno how to show respect to her sia.. Why should I go the extra mile for her?

Vic also pointed out after I told him bout the table incident, and commented something like not youngsters dowan respect them, but is cause the way they behave. Anyway, he probably only refers to that particular auntie-type SC. They can really be a nuisance, push trolleys to their home, and chuck them by the roadside, beside the bball court/void deck. Blocking people from alighting trains are also them, expects people to give up seats to them when they fit as a fiddle. Don't like other people call them auntie when they call themselves aunties -.-

Linked Article

Goal setting

2010-08-21T17:06:00.002+08:00

Earlier in January this year, I attended the mentoring program training and I had this session where I had to do a goal setting exercise with my mentor-in-training. At that time, I wasn't really sure what I wanted as well, so had to anyhow put up something in the form. Well, it was a career related goal.

Anyhow, since I've acquired this goal around March, I've started to lose my sense of direction and have slacked for a while now. Until a while back, one of my neighbours called yy, a secondary one candidly told me this, "On the first day, my teacher came in, I straightaway told her that she was fat." When you see a "she", being linked with the word "fat", you can imagine the rivalry between them since then.

Of course, if I hadn't been in the mentoring program, I probably would have just laugh off what the youngster said, since I was in the mentoring programming, I felt obliged to say a word of fairness to this poor teacher. I did however make it sound casual and not like I'm reprimanding him. Not sure if it worked though.

Backed to the point, I was asked this question many times "How come I going to teach in a p sch? Is it by choice?". And I really hate to answer this question, cos really, I was given this posting. But to think further to the past, I would also have chosen to go p sch for a personal reason which I cleanly forgotten because many pple have started questioning my beliefs, and it's difficult to stand firm like that. To me, education is not just about attaining the grades.

Many ppl have the preconception that adolescents are rebellious. They probably are, but certainly, from most of them that I have seen so far, they probably just shoot off the words before thinking, and thus hurting the feelings of other people.

To end off with the quote "a thousand miles begins with a single step" of course spoken by a famous person, whom I'm too lazy to go search who (why in the world do we need to know who said that?) . Taking a first step is very important to reaching the ultimate goal, cos by the law of inertia once you start, you will have less willingness to stop.

Haha, how I wish that someday, ppl will quote what I might have said purposely or accidentally, but I don't really want them to quote it with my name, they can own that sentence if they believe in it. Looks are deceiving so sometimes, nonsense do make sense :p

I will give way

2010-07-30T14:26:00.002+08:00

I pledge that I will give way to YOG vehicles even when:

1) I unknowingly drove onto the second leftest lane, when I was driving on the second rightest lane in a 4 lane expressway when it suddenly converges into 3 lanes.

2) the traffic is very congested, I will forcefully change lane.

(So that I will not be fined).

(Why can't they just share the rightest lane with emergency vehicles, instead of splitting affected roads into 2?).

Just a little bit Retro

2010-07-15T02:03:00.003+08:00

Yesterday while lunching at my old place of residence, my mum said hi to an auntie whom she suggested that i remember. In fact, I was totally clueless and it happens that the auntie used to be the ice-cream vendor at my primary school, while I was studying there.. Wow, my mum has great memory.

After a while, she saw and greeted another auntie, and shot out a name that was totally foreign to me, and who is the child of the auntie. That child happens to be my classmate in kindergarten :/ OMG.. I only remember 2 names from kindergarten, and I've already no contact with them, trust my mum to remember. Guess they remember everything about their children.

Later in the afternoon, I have a guest, who came over to borrow my comp to try to restore his iphone. He even brought over some PS games and a controller to play at my house :x Playstation 1 if anyone don't know what that is. Haha, I thrashed him in winning eleven, since I'm quite pro at it, and he beat me in the racing game he brought. LOL..

Today was slightly better. After a long day out, I played DOTA with my mentees, probably 1+ yr since I last played with anyone. Maybe they will still ask me to play again soon :p

Homework Strategies

2010-07-10T14:03:00.003+08:00

It's the parents that fret about the child's homework when they can't finish or won't start doing them. It's rather amusing to see parents using many different strategies to get their child to do their homework.

1. Baits

Using food to entice the child to do their homework. Some favourite baits include ice-cream, sweets, chocolate. Could prove very effective when dealing with a gourmet kid (if put in a nice way). However, with so much food attracting the attention, how much of the attention is spent on the homework?

2. Play time

"Work hard, play hard". No one says it the other way round, obviously parents aren't exceptions. More often than not, you will hear parents shouting "Quick do your homework, then you can go play your PS3!", if you don't do your homework, then your play time is compromised, simple. But a lot of time, after doing homework, the parents will say "Go learn your spelling!!". LOL! Bye bye to play time..

3. Reasoning

Over the weekend is when there is the highest amount of homework, and you will hear this "You do this homework now, then you will have less to do tomorrow." Perfectly logical, but not appealing at all.

4. Threaten

Possibly the first exposure to the notion of threatening comes from the parents when they threaten to give them a beating for not doing their work.

Acquaintances

2010-07-05T01:19:00.002+08:00

Just a few years back, I would have played bball only if the court was at least half empty, so I could train shooting on my own. Even on days when there were people who came and wanted to play with me, I would have reservations about playing.

Nowadays, I realized that I did not want to play when the court was empty. My view of making acquaintances seemed to have taken a big turn, probably thanks to the CCA that I had joined for 2 years.

It's common interest that pulls people together, and then it takes effort to nurture the budding friendship, and even more to maintain the friendship.

I've read or heard somewhere that it's easiest to make friends during childhood. Friends are constantly replaced by new ones, that's why we have contact with so little of our primary school friends. As we grow older, and become more and more picky with our friends, there ain't no constant flow of new friends, and therefore spends more effort in maintaining friendships.

I think it's important to maintain friendship and at the same time keep meeting new people, so that you don't cling onto just a single friend and be a burden to that friend.

Keep an open mind and be thick-skinned!

游山玩水

2010-05-31T11:08:00.004+08:00

The holiday so far can be very much summed up using the above proverb.

The hotel

玩水1: whitewater rafting

游山- take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints

downhill! OOPS, the peak you will have to find in fb photos

玩水2: kayaking 1-star

chubbs to the rescue

GTG!

Four weeks on

2010-04-15T14:36:00.002+08:00

After making the crazy move, I think I sort of got the results I was looking for. There were many hiccups along the way, but I think the trouble was worth going through.

Let's hope everything goes well till end May, and well beyond. Good luck to people having exams soon!

2010-03-19T11:30:00.001+08:00

I just made a crazy move on the chess board, only time will tell whether it's the right move.

一着不慎，满盘皆输。

Have you not enough time?

2010-03-11T21:55:00.001+08:00

Bad news!
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-03-01/chilean-quake-likely-shifted-earth-s-axis-nasa-scientist-says.html

Thinking

2010-02-28T13:52:00.002+08:00

The past few weeks, I spent so much time thinking that I felt I had cease operations, greatly reducing productivity. Most of the time, I've spent planning for sessions with my 2 new brothers and bring out learning points from the activities. It's kinda hard to do so, since it's very unnatural if you want to do it purposefully.

Initially, I had thought that this activity would not be so demanding, since I was supposed to have around one outing every two weeks. But with all these plannings, it seems like I spent almost everyday thinking about what to do. LOL.. So far, we've had 3 sessions and they were really good. I felt that it was time well-spent, but I would need to manage my time better so that I can find a balance between academic and non-academic matters. Ultimately, I don't want to go for convocation with Godlike Kai..

Lost!

2010-02-05T23:17:00.001+08:00

This is the first time I found this daily horoscope thingey accurate..

Here is your Daily Horoscope for Friday, February 5

You are feeling rather odd about something that's important to you -- maybe your career, maybe your family. You can see where you're headed, but you're not sure exactly how to get there.

PSK 09 Part 7 - The Celebration

2010-01-27T22:53:00.004+08:00

Day 14:
It's time to move on. Our mission at Prey Veng is completed. The morning before breakfast, the landlord wanted to have a photo taking session with us. Kinda like taking a class photo.

After breakfast, we packed up and returned the logistical items to the NGO. Then we took some time off to visit the market and this might really be the last time I'm walking to the market. Don't really think I'll be so on to visit the place like Eric and KH did :p

When we were finally back at the youth center and ready to leave, the emotions get really high, just like last year.. But we still managed to get some good shots before we leave - the Sang Khem big family!

The bus trip from Prey Veng to Siem Reap is about 6 hours. In a more local context, it's about the time we'll take to drive from Singapore to KL at 110km/h. But we really didn't move at that speed, so the distance should be less. Along the way, we also kana tok by some restaurant, really expensive food..

We had dinner at Siem Reap, at 7000riels/head, really cheap and nice Zi Cha + free flow of rice. After dinner, we visited the night market, and for me, I just went to one corner of the market to relax.

Day 15:
The hotel this time was really shiok, though slightly more expensive than last year, I felt it was money well spent. Today is the day we visit Angkor Wat, though not that interesting a place, it's still a must go if you visit Cambodia.

The morning we visited the smaller temples and after lunch, we went to the main temple. It really wasn't as nice as last year, not just because it's the second time that I went, but because of the restoration works in progress. Look at the green nettings!!

After dinner, I decided that I'll go back to the hotel while most of the team went to the night market again. It was a good time for me to enjoy some quiet moments by myself.

Day 16:
The morning and noon was spent at 2 different markets. This is the last chance to do our shopping and everyone really bought a lot of souvenirs, except for me, since I don't really wanna buy the same things I bought last year, lol..

The highlight of the day was the cruise along Tonle Sap where we get to enjoy the final sunset at Cambodia. Somehow I felt relieved as the sun slowly disappear beyond the horizon, my journey as VPD of the project is almost coming to an end :)

Day 17:
We flew back to Singapore at 12pm, and some of us stayed for popeye lunch, like a year before. Somehow I see this becoming a routine for future batch..

Afterthought:
After PSK09, I attended a mentoring training. Like the instructors say, many of us neglect the importance of giving ourselves credits for things that we have done. We might keep thinking of the things that we had failed to do and want to correct that the next time and improve ourselves. However, I thought celebrating is very important as it spur us to achieve greater heights. Give yourself a break. Here's a video for you if you bump into this post :D

PSK 09 Part 6 -Camp II

2010-01-14T17:07:00.003+08:00

Day 11 - 13:
After the break, the team was rejuvenated and ready to complete the education camp, or were we? I was slightly sick on day 11 but was well again by day 12 and ready to give my English lesson. Though I think my lesson wasn't that fun, the kids still kinda enjoyed it, lol..

Day 13 was the finale day. In the morning, we had some competition style games and breaking the participants into teams to compete against each other. The way they played were quite aggressive and we were lucky no blood was shed.

Afternoon was "disco" session, but there weren't many people, mostly the regulars who came. With the end of the last song, our mission there has ended.

Some of the youths invited us to an exhibition match of football. At 5pm, we made our way to a nearby school where the match will be held. It was 6v6, and we really had fun. The field was quite rough and some of us were hurt in the game, but nothing can dampen our spirit to have fun. The match ended in a 8-3 defeat.

PSK 09 Part 5 - Break Time?

2010-01-14T16:36:00.004+08:00

Day 10:
One more week and we'll be headed back home, and today, the youth centre took a break from the camp. After breakfast, we all changed into a slightly more formal outfit and made our way to the church. Just like last year, we will be there to have a Christmas celebration, but we'll not be performing this time round. Something else that's different was that we had to walk there!! No more convoy!!!

We reach at about nine. There were various performances from different groups and the performance was like 3 hr.. Phew, when it's time for lunch. This time, it's curry pork and bread, really nice! After lunch, it's the dance segment and we were all invited to join in and have fun. This was when the Love Export team finally come, and they joined in the dance after their lunch.

At around 3pm, we left the church and most of us went to the market. Mostly, it was free and easy until after dinner, when we had a good sharing session to end the day.

PSK 09 Part 4 - Camp

2010-01-02T20:20:00.002+08:00

Day 7 - 9:
The second highlight of the trip was the educational camp, lasting a grand total of 6 days. With feedback from last year, we tweaked our camp content a little, focusing more on conversational english. To cater to the younger ones, we also had the english divided into beginners and advanced level.

Apart from that, we also had handicraft sessions where we learn handicrafts from them. Though it was originally intended to be the other way round.

Though we're suppose to be giving conversational lesson, there were still the need for translators to help convey the message in Khmer language. Many thanks to the friends who helped out with translating :)

Break from Sang Khem

2009-12-30T23:52:00.002+08:00

A young child was trying to sit up on the hand rail outside a supermarket, and the father instantly said "later you fall down then you know."

I was thinking would it have been more useful if the father had taught the child how to sit properly without falling off instead. He won't always be around to make sure that the child doesn't fall all the time, would he?

It's natural that parents want to protect their children from harm, but does this means that the child should not try out and merely follow what the parents say? Thinking back about the kids from Cambodia, they seem much tougher mentally and physically compared to local kids. None will cry even if they had a hard fall, but just laugh it off. Perhaps we need to rethink the way we train the kids here.

PSK 09 Part 3 - The Paintings

2009-12-30T23:00:00.004+08:00

Day 4 - 6:
After the weekend, most of the people have adjusted to the place, and we finally are able to start off our first objective - to repaint the youth centre.

With the help of Sreymom, a staff at the centre, we were able to get all the materials needed for the paintings.

The tough part of the painting was not the painting, but the scrapping of the peeling wall. That part took us half a day, causing 2 cut fingers. Luckily at the end of the first day of painting, we were able to scrap the walls and whitewashing it once. Some of the kids also help up, or they really did most of the work, thanks to them. Goodbye to the existing murals.

I didn't help up much on the second day of painting(day 5) since I was the cook for the day. The dinner soup was a ultra salty ABC soup, which I had to add gallons of water to dilute, thanks to ???. We were able to complete the paintings on schedule by the third day(day 6).

Nice new murals, done by Star.

PSK 09 Part 2 - Familiarity

2009-12-28T23:13:00.003+08:00

Day 2:
Narong and Theavy were the first two familiar faces who dropped by. Both have grown, especially Narong, who had really grown taller, and maybe a little bit more mature and his voice has started to break. Apart from that, they were still pretty much the same, coming early in the morning and leaving late in the evening.

After breakfast, the whole team visited the market again so as to fam them with the market area. The rest of the day was mostly spent interacting with the two regulars since not many people have come yet.

Day 3:
Breakfast for today was porridge(soggy rice since it was a bit too dry). Oh well, still bearable to eat. After breakfast, and since it's a Sunday, the youth centre is closed for the day, we're free to go to the market again. A few of the members decided to stay behind after the trauma of the previous market visits =)

Just outside the market, someone suddenly called out to me from behind.

"Chit Chin!!"

I can sense the joy in the voice. It was Nirowat, as most people spell the name that way. It's the hip hop king! He's also grown much taller. After the brief exchange of greetings, we parted and met back at the Youth Centre. He brought along a friend named Chanma too, and Sorlick came too. Sorlick was probably the only one who's not grown taller, lol..

After lunch, I received a shocking news from one of the members. And due to personal issue and choice, she had decided to leave the team and return to Singapore. She was accompanied by two others who brought her Phnom Penh, before taking the flight back to Singapore on the following day.

Prior to her departure, we took a few group photos. We're officially down to sixteen strength.

PSK 09 Part 1 - The return to SKYC

2009-12-28T10:13:00.004+08:00

Day -1, 0:
After 4 months of preparations, the team is finally leaving for Cambodia. On 9 Dec, sm, kl, sy, hl, and me met in school to transport our barang barang to the airport, and camped overnight at the airport. The night was long, but luckily we had each others' company.

The flight was at 6am, so during the long interval, we had time to travel to terminal 2 to buy ya kun and mcdonald supper.

We had to transit at Siem Reap Airport which was a bit weird since Phnom Penh was closer to Singapore. Anyway, while boarding the plane after the transit, I saw my sec school music teacher and she was just a seat in front of me. Seemed like she was returning to Singapore from her holidays. How small can the world get?

We reach Phnom Penh at around 8.45am, and went straight to the hotel for a short break. Like last year, the first meal there was KFC. Soon after lunch, we head off to the Central Market, and most people came back with loads of goodies. The team name was unofficially renamed Team "North Face" after more than half the team bought a new Northface bag at the market.

Day 1:
After a good night rest at the hotel, we had breakfast at one of the Chinese Restaurant near the hotel and checked out of the hotel soon after. But before we head to Prey Veng, we had to do more shopping at another market. This time, I bought a Adidas shirt, which was really handy throughout the trip.

I was mostly asleep during the two hour trip to Prey Veng. Upon reaching, we had lunch at another Chinese Restaurant before going to the Youth Centre. When we were finally at the Youth Centre, what I saw wasn't the familiar crowd of kids, but some youths using the new internet services. Not the lively sight I was expecting.

The first day at the youth centre turned out rather uneventful as the team gets settled into the quarters. The first trip to the market actually disgusted some of the people :p, and the first night was filled with some screaming, lol.. Probably just need some getting use to.

Exam 7 finally over

2009-12-03T02:33:00.002+08:00

Today is the last day of examination for me, summing up the semester with 2 papers.

The highlight of this semester's examination was my last paper. It's a level 4 CS module and really, ought to be really hard, right? It turned out the module only had 5 sets of lecture notes, and it's grading is 30% project + 70% final exam, with the topics of the 3 exam questions spell out to us in the final lecture.

The paper for the module was even more pro. 9% of the module fell on 2 yes/no questions, 5% on a true/false question, and the rest mostly one-line answers. I almost broke into cold sweat seeing people scribbling in their papers, when I only had around 70 words on the script I had handed in. Hopefully what I wrote made sense. If not, it's another module down the drain.

why I don't belong

2009-10-21T01:39:00.002+08:00

Attended a lecture today which was conducted by a guest lecturer. He was monotonous, speak with an accent, an outright boring, at least for me.

During the lecture, he tried to have a little bit of joke, but wow, I couldn't find the funny part, and only me. So this suggest I probably was at the wrong place.. Looking forward to have the regular lecturer back.

Fun-raising

2009-10-21T00:52:00.003+08:00

Two weeks of fund raising is finally over and I think that now I will be chased by my project work members from the various modules cause I have been busy with the bazaar and car wash. The two fund-raising activities were the same as last year, but not exactly the same.

Though we sold donuts like last year, we also sold many other things bubble tea and lecture refreshment pack (on e-learning wk?). We had car wash like last year, but we did the washing over 5 mornings, instead of 3 full days.

Now the focus will be on selling t-shirts and I would like to express my gratitude to people who have bought the t-shirts. :D

The Serial Position Effect

2009-09-30T22:46:00.003+08:00

And there's the long queue of people again.. This time round the queue gathered in front of the transitlink office, to replace their old ezylink card with the new cepas card.

During the start of the replacement exercise in January, people also queued for the replacement though there was nine months to do so. Now the end of September, and the last day of free replacement, people once again queue up to change the cards. So where were the crowd during the remaining of the time?!

This phenomena can be explained by the Serial Position Effect. When people are asked to recall a list of words, they tend to recall words from the beginning and end of the list. The findings is illustrated in the graph below:

image taken from wikipedia

People tend to remember words from the front of the list(Primacy Effect) because they have more time to rehearse the words to themselves, allowing the words to go into long-term memory; People tend to remember words towards the end of the list(Recency Effect) because those words are still in the short-term memory. Collectively, the two effects are known as the Serial Position Effect.

How can this explain the queues? People who queued up during the January period are under the Primacy effect; people who queued up today are under the Recency effect. People tend to forget that they can actually exchange the cards during the months from February to August, though there were special booths set up for that purpose.

Conclusion:
It's amazing that people like to queue so much.

Thoughts

2009-09-30T21:20:00.003+08:00

For the first time, I invigilated for a mid-term test instead of taking the test. To speak the truth, it's quite boring, lol. But at least I get paid for standing around.

On Monday, I saw a few youths maybe around thirteen seated at a bball court taking puffs of smokes in their school uniform. Clearly, they don't have the age but wander how they got their cigarettes.. It's quite sad to see this happening, but what can I do? Could I have approached them and start preaching to them? Nah, I doubt that will work. Change doesn't come about in a day and certainly doesn't come after preaching by some stranger. I can only hope they find someone who care for them and capable of guiding them soon.

Social Service Agency Visits

2009-09-23T22:12:00.002+08:00

Went visiting 2 agencies yesterday and today to Shan You Counselling Centre and Student Care Service Centre. I have to be quite unlucky to get places that are so far from my house, but lucky they were interesting visits.

Before entering Shan You an elderly woman came forth and asked a girl beside me what place is this, showing that people are still generally still unaware of the help that are available?

Of the two places I went, I prefer the latter visit as there was an ice breaker session which helped me to know some other people who also went to the same visit. Think the ice breaker could come in handy for me soon too. :p

If I were to choose to volunteer for either of them, I would choose the latter as well. Cause I prefer to work with youths and children.

Anyway, after the visits, I'm supposed to write a reflection paper to be submitted. Think it's gonna be more difficult than I thought, cause it's not the first time that I had visited these agencies, and the novelty is long gone :'( It's still nice to learn about some of the programs that are ongoing in the centres, and I could join them as a volunteer in future.

After the second visit, I asked Kai and Miz out to lunch at AMK, eating at the food court of AMK hub, getting a not-so-cooked chicken laksa from the stall, condemned that stall.

Miz rushed off to school after lunch, while the remaining stayed behind for a cup of Mc Milkshake. We settled down at an open square to chat and drink the milkshake, when something interesting happened, steps away from us.

A guy grab a girl then I don't know what they do, but seem like they were tussling. After a while, they left. Just when we had finished our milkshake and wanted to leave, we were stopped by someone who said she wanted to interview us. Of course, I pushed Kai to manage her. Initially, he accepted to be interviewed, but when he saw a big camera being taken out, he didn't want to, and push me over, lol..

I didn't want to either. Anyway, the first question was what's the reason that we did not attempt to intervene. My answer would be "Their acting didn't look convincing." That's one reason why I didn't wanna be interviewed.

eat and eat and eat

2009-09-22T00:12:00.002+08:00

The last few days was spent mostly on food. With 5 meals a day, plus going around to buy snacks to bring back to Singapore.

Well, it's still a good break to visit my relatives whom I've not seen for more than 2 years. :p Upon return, it's back to replying so many emails. Hope my students don't submit junk programs, cause I've failed to reply them in time. Good luck to them.

PSK Interview

2009-08-23T23:29:00.003+08:00

About a year ago, I was being interviewed to join Project Sang Khem 08. Even though I felt I had flunked the interview, I was quite happy that I had went for the interview despite the many doubts I have about myself at that point of time.

A year later, I am seated at the other side of the table, interviewing people for team 09, and now I can understand how much effort it takes to schedule interviews. Though I wasn't without error during the process, I tried my best to simplify the signing up process.

During the actual interviewing of people, some people asked what was the yardstick of our interview? A truthful answer for this would be "I don't know.", but I know many people will not take that as an answer, so I'll now try to coin an answer for the question.

A simple answer which I had stood by would be expressed in the equation

Empathy + Sincerity = Persuasion (post)

For starter, you can show empathy by being polite in your email for signing up. Of course, being punctual for your interview is another way.

The sincerity part is a more difficult part to show even though I can basically summarize it as you have to be truthful and show the interviewer the real you.

Hope this information helps.

Rot Remedy

2009-08-11T20:55:00.002+08:00

After a perpetual period of rotting, school has finally started again. With a 3-hr lecture from 11am-2pm, I woke up early with all enthusiasm to attend punctually.

Indeed I was early and even found time to print my notes before proceeding to the lecture venue. It was then I found something odd about the seminar room, it was pitch black inside. Not knowing where's everyone, I decided to hang around. After waiting for a while, I finally saw someone coming to check out the room, but walk away after looking at the door. And so, there was a notice on the door, which I had not seen when I was there.. How unobservant..

"Dear Students,

The lecture for CS4211 has been relocated to SOC1/05-46..."

The new location was no where near where I was. In the end, I was late by half hour for class, and the lecturer ended 1.5hr earlier. Should really have stayed home today.

Run & Hike

2009-07-21T15:47:00.003+08:00

After two bogey attempts to go Bt Timah Nature Reserve, I finally found the way there yesterday.

Starting from where I live, I first ran towards my first check point - Bt Batok Nature Park. At the entrance of the park, I was greeted by a dozen of monkeys by the road. I took a short break at the park, before continuing my journey up the hill. After conquering the first hill, I went towards my final destination.

It was just across the road, but I can't find the entrance the last time I came after making a wrong turn. This time however, I made it. It's my first time to the nature reserve, though it's not exactly that far from my house.

After another short break at the foot of the hill, I hiked up the 163.63m landmark. There were at least 2 choices up the hill, via the main route or through the woods along the South View Path, I took the latter.

The walk was somewhat fun, as not many people took that path, so I was able to enjoy some tranquility while walking up the hill.

The final stretch was called the summit path, and was definitely the most tiring part, consisting of maybe a 100 steps up to the summit.

The total distance of the journey according to the distance calculator was about 7.5km. Though it's quite far compared to my normal run, it was more enjoyable as there much more things to see. Probably gonna go again someday to explore the other side of the park, and maybe if I buy a bicycle, I'll try out the mountain bike trail, looks really cool and slightly dangerous.

image generated using google maps distance calculator

Leadership Workshop day 4

2009-07-14T20:35:00.003+08:00

The final day started with the heavy downpour at dawn which woke me up from my sleep and half drenched me.

Breakfast was instant noodles :( and bread.

After breakfast, we did a summary for the previous day followed by the presentation of the proposal for the project that we had come up with. The proposal was subsequently accepted.

Lunch follows, with the choices of instant noodles and leftover biscuits and bread. After which, I managed to take a picture of a crime scene. Apparently, KL in a frenzy, shot almost everyone in the group.

That explains why when he went down later on, everyone else kept themselves busy by scribbling away, not intending of helping him out.

The last part of the workshop was a re-enactment of an emergency situation that could happen during the trip. By popular demand, I was elected the casualty and the trainer smeared ketchup over my forehead and thigh. This basically meant that I need not do anything for this lesson. During the debrief, I still smell of ketchup, delicious..

Just before leaving the house, we toasted to the completion of the workshop.

Leadership Workshop day 3

2009-07-13T21:09:00.005+08:00

It's time for the field component of the workshop. We were supposed to meet at Changi Point ferry terminal at 10am, but I reached ahead of time at 9.10am. After packing lunch when it's almost 10, we set off on the short ferry ride to Pulau Ubin.

Upon arrival, we took the van to the house where we will be staying for the next 2 days. I weren't really shocked by the state of the house since it was somewhat like Sang Khem Youth Centre, except slightly worse.

The first activity for the day was the recce around the island for the group members to design a meaningful YEP if our destination was to be Ubin. After the recce, we returned to the house for our packed lunch. Auntie's dog sure had a filling lunch like us.

After lunch, we had a few theory-based lessons, including duty of care that leaders need to exbihit, understanding reciprocity in culture and risk assessment.

Getting blessed by the village head

After the lessons, we went to Chek Jawa for our "R&R". Even though it's called R&R, it's still part of our lessons as we had to adhere to the rules we set during risk assessment. This is the third time I went to Chek Jawa, and the fastest I had completed the board walk.

Dinner time follows and it's instant cup noodles. We had our meals over TV, watching harry potter and the chamber of secret. Before we could finish the show, we had to go for the last module of the day, life journey, facilitated by me!

This was quite a tricky module, and since we only know each other for 3 days, it does make it even more difficult. After I had a nervy start, passing down instructions, my partner Stella set the ground rules and we're off for our 20mins time-out.

I started the sharing, and went in a round-robin as each of us shared something significant in our lives. It really wasn't easy leading the discussion, but at least, everyone was very cooperative. Not sure what'll happen in my own team.

After our lessons have officially ended for the day, we still had another discussion for the project in ubin that we had to design to be presented the next day.

After supper and a bit of talk-cock, I went to sleeping bag at around 1am. :p

Leadership Workshop day 2

2009-07-07T18:16:00.002+08:00

With the ground rule set at being punctual and if you break it, you will have to serve coffee to the class, I managed to reach a good half minute prior to start of workshop. However, it was delayed slightly due to technical problem.

I was then handed the ultimate sk that I will have to conduct one of the lessons which I think is probably the most difficult during this weekend's stay at Ubin.

Anyway, the lessons were like the first day except that mostly the trainer just sit by and observe while selected participants were asked to conduct.

So now, all that is left of the workshop is the Ubin part where we will likely be simulating the expedition itself.

Leadership Workshop day 1

2009-07-05T00:21:00.003+08:00

It's the first day of the four-day course to begin my next YEP. It was quite paiseh for me as I was late on the day. Luckily, I weren't the latest with another girl stepping in about 2 seconds after me.

After a bit of settling down, I looked around at the other participants and realized a familiar face belonging to my classmate from secondary school. He's leading a team to India I think. How nice to meet up this way.

For the course, the first two days are theory based with lessons conducted at SMU, and we've covered six modules today, though I shan't list them out.

At the end of the day, we had to choose a leader for next week's Project Ubin, and I volunteered for day 1 of that trip as it seems like it's more like a logistics leader. Hope I'm right.

Library tour

2009-06-30T23:25:00.002+08:00

After searching 3 libraries in the past week, I've finally borrowed the book I wanted. But now, after maxing my borrowing quota, I'm quite backward in my readings again.. Even the free extension might not be enough for me to finish reading all the books.

Trip to Ulu-ululand day 2

2009-06-15T16:55:00.001+08:00

Everyone woke up at 6.30am on the second day and breakfast at 7am. After breakfast, it's off to the high element course. Of course, safety brief was conducted before that to the kids and volunteers helped out in gearing the kids for the course.

At the course, I helped out at the abseiling station, making sure the kids have all the required equipment before allowing them up the platform. It's quite funny helping them wear the gloves, as the gloves are so big that I can't feel some of their fingers after putting them on.

The volunteers had their chance at a higher course after the kids were done with their activities.

Lunch was outdoor cooking, which include army delicacies like sardine, baked beans, sausages and maggi! Thankfully, those food were for the kids only. After that, the kids went off to the milo pond for dessert while the volunteers had chicken rice for lunch. I never take any photo there as it was advisable to stay away unless you want milo for dessert as well.

At about 4pm, the kids washed themselves up and were back at the MPH and had some simple games while waiting for the bus to come. And at 6pm, we were all finally on our way home from this very fun camp.

Trip to Ulu-ululand day 1

2009-06-14T21:44:00.008+08:00

I spent the last two days with this batch of kids, and a group of volunteers on an even ulu-er place than the armour centre that I frequent five years ago. But it was something I was really excited about since the Cambodia trip 6 months ago. Maybe because it's the holidays, and I've not planned any activity at all.

We were early at the camp, and had to wait a while before the kids reached the campsite. When they finally arrived, they were first split into 2 groups. (p.s. pictures don't do justice to how "well" they behaved)

The first activity was to bring the kids to fam the ground and the trainers brought us out on a treasure hunt to search for materials to make the group flag. With the gathered materials, it's time to get started getting their hands dirty.

Afternoon was team-building games and supposedly, there should have a gulp of nice milo dinosaur, but was postponed due to CAT1. Luckily, after dinner, the weather was good for the campfire.

Both teams had a performance, and towards the end, the trainers wanted to sabo somefour volunteers by getting them wet, lucky for me, I was convinced that I should be a spectator for that performance.

Afterward, it's bed sweet bed for us after supper and bath. However it's dream on if you think it's really sweet, cause volunteers are sleeping with the kids, muahaha...

More photos shall be posted on facebook..

Motherly Love

2009-05-29T01:51:00.002+08:00

I was on the train home today, and a mother was out shopping with her daughter and were on their way home too. With nothing better to do, I listened in on their conversation.

Mother: Tomorrow just tell your teacher you will hand in the work after the holiday la.
Daughter: How can?
Mother: Ai yo, just tell the teacher you were out to collect your passport then went shopping until 11 plus, 12 o'clock.
Daughter: That is not a valid reason...

Anyway, a quick check on the time shows, it's 10 o'clock and they alighted at the same stop as I did.

Dominating!!!

2009-05-28T22:46:00.002+08:00

While an Arsenal fan committed suicide following Arsenal's exit in the Champions League at the hand of Man U, a Man U fan went on a dominating streak after Man U's defeat in the finals.

Nigerian bus driver kills four Barca supporters

Results

2009-05-23T17:31:00.000+08:00

to be out in less than a wk now..

Proof by Contradiction

2009-03-28T18:15:00.002+08:00

A very good example, if you don't already know what this proof is about:

Assume the man in green is YOU.

However, YOU can only see this poster, if YOU are in the train. Therefore, by Proof by Contradiction, YOU cannot be the man in green.

Q.E.D.

BackStage

2009-03-24T00:24:00.003+08:00

Finally concluded Con Amore (exhibition cum bazaar cum sports day) last week. As the description suggested, this event includes many things. Being the designated driver for this event, I have driven the nussu van and clocked a few hundred miles, wandering all over the island.

Here's two pictures of the backstage staffs, a.k.a. logistics team carrying out their final task for the event, returning of 26 tables to OED.

I can safely say that this is the last time I'm doing a big scale bazaar. Damn tiring. Time to look forward to my next project's preparation starting in May.

Guard Duty

2009-03-20T00:51:00.002+08:00

So bored now, this is the week of the much anticipated bazaar, Con Amore. After such a long preparation, it seems as though everything that can go wrong had. I wander how much can the bazaar earn.

This is the first time I'm posting in school at the wee hour. Hope I don't need to stay in school anymore like right now what I'm doing. Jaga-ing the things at the bazaar.

Yawnzz...

Another story at the Barber

2009-03-05T22:54:00.002+08:00

That's why visiting the barber is fun.

I've wanted to keep longer hair for a change, but decided against it, so I went to the usual neighbourhood barber for a cut.

Once there, I was greeted by this old barber whom I vaguely remembered had cut my hair once before. He's one funny old man. He asked my whether I want my haircut the same as last time and I thought wow, he's really got good memory, even I hardly remembered the last time he cut my hair.

After I said yes, he started taking his own sweet time to set the towel and cape in place, then slowly taking his time to cut. The lucky thing was that I've done with all my work for now and not in a hurry.

Halfway through the cut, another customer came in and the boss attended to him, finished cutting and left, while I'm still in there wandering when the uncle will be done with mine.

Finally when he's satisfied with every detail, I took out a ten-dollar note, since I knew it's sufficient and I was expecting a change of $2. The boss was still hanging around and we had a casual chat. The uncle took about one minute before he found the change and handed over to me. Though I haven't paid attention to how much he'd given me, the boss was sharp, realizing he'd given me $4 instead of $2 and asked the uncle in Hokkien, "how much change you want to give him, he's a varsity student."

His memory was not as good as I thought..

Stressful wk

2009-03-05T22:43:00.005+08:00

Finally all my mid term tests are over. Almost couldn't catch my breath this week, with 1 assignment and 5 tests due within 4 days. The recess week was so short some more, really not much of a recess.

The result of the first test is out already, and only managed to get 60%, think need to work harder.

Of the five tests, think the most difficult is the second test, and it happened to have the heaviest weightage. Now can only cross my finger and hope for the best..

The remaining three tests were relatively easier.

Tall Hat

2009-02-23T01:07:00.002+08:00

Usually, I'd be very happy when people praise me, but now when people say my maths is very good, I feel very stressed, caused it's not good at all..

2009-02-15T09:51:00.002+08:00

When I was my cousin's age, and I scored zero for my spelling, I have to come up with excuses like "The teacher's pronunciation was really bad."

Now, my cousin just had to say, "the standard has risen." will suffice.

Kids have it easy nowadays..

Do you want to be safe?

2009-02-11T00:01:00.002+08:00

Not too long ago, I was approached by this random stranger outside JE Library, and he gave me a one hour lecture on salvation and repentance one day before my last paper. That particular paper, I got my worst grade ever.

Today, I was yet again stopped by another random stranger, this time in school.. Many people were walking towards the Central Forum and of all people, this guy came up to me, and started off with his gimmick. The question here is "WHY ME!?"

The most probable reason is that I have a sinful aura. From afar, my aura can already be felt, and when I walked their way, they have to stop me and share with me their story.

The good thing about this is that he knows I need to have my dinner before my last lesson, so this encounter only lasted for 10 minutes.

adrenaline rush

2009-02-03T23:32:00.002+08:00

I simply don't understand why tutorial participation is such a popular component in our grading.

I agree sometimes(most of the times) that I do not participate in the discussion because I don't know how to do the questions. But on the occasions when I'm able to answer the questions, I still don't like to share my answers.

One reason is I find it very difficult to articulate my points when speaking aloud. Sometimes, I find that even I don't know what I'm talking, so I'd rather keep quiet.

Another reason is the post-effect of the contribution. Take for example today, in my smallest tutorial group ever, with a class size of 6, I was easily arrowed to answer questions. I feel quite out of place when I have to go to the board to write my answer. Even when I voluntarily shout out my answer, I feel my heart thumping really fast afterward, and it's too stimulating for my liking, even though I know I've earned an extra 0.5 mark or so for my contribution.

2009-01-18T00:54:00.002+08:00

A chain of many small events has led me to meet my little friend whom I met at the VSA camp last month, though it took me and him 3 seconds to recognize each other. Lol. Happens he was there for VSA arts lesson, so well, maybe we'll meet again. Glad he remembers my name too, many people say it's hard to remember.

Also received an email that I initially thought to be a spam. After reading through the broken English, I realized that it was sent from Cambodia, by one of the youths that came for our education camp. The email was nicely done up with a background picture, only the language needs some brushing up :p

A Busy Year

2009-01-12T10:51:00.002+08:00

The timetable looks slack with a three-day week, but everything points to a busy year.. Especially in the second half of the year.

Starting off will be a series of meetings for an upcoming event in march. Hopefully this won't be as tiring as the trip to Cambodia, though I'll still be in the same job scope of logistics.

Apart from that, still have the post-trip to IMH at the end of January to settle, and many other miscellaneous stuff before we can finally conclude PSK'08.

Bye to PSK'08, say "Hello!" to PSK'09 in June. Let's see what's in for me this year when the date draws nearer. Already seeing some potential pitfall with the ICT coming in December this year..

IPPT will be done in February, clear the faster the better. Anyone wants to take with me just pm me. Thanks. :)

return of the BPian Spirit

2009-01-02T22:40:00.002+08:00

Two years since I last went back to BPGH, so since the school has completed its renovation, they invited all alumni members to return and visit the "new" school. So I woke up early in the morning to go to school as though I was still a secondary school kid and went back to school on the first day of school.. Of course, my groupies won't give up the chance to play basketball at the new campus!

After the visit, I went on to have sakae buffet at wheelocks place as the gathering for my YEP'08 team, and they still gonna meet up for another 2 times before next Tuesday, wth and we just came back..

Afterthoughts

2008-12-29T18:02:00.003+08:00

The trip was tiring, but well worth my time.

From the beginning, I was filled with doubts. Now I'm glad I've pressed onwards. Things change, but keep your HOPE burning!

Operation Hope

2008-12-12T00:00:00.000+08:00

has started..

A Hectic Month

2008-12-06T19:41:00.003+08:00

The highly anticipated holidays, filled with so much things to look forward to.

I've had quite some fun in the past 2 days, joining VSA Camp 2008 as a volunteer. Of the three-day camp, I went for 2 days. I was partnered with one of the campers and the first day I went was an excursion to the Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve. Just nice, I've wanted to go there in the June Holidays, but since no one wants to go, I never went.

The trip was cut short by the afternoon rain, but I think we've had reasonable amount of fun that day.

The second day I went was the final day of the camp. We've had various activities in the camp venue (Bedok Green Pri Sch). My t-shirt ended up in a big mix of colours. The most fun part for the day was seeing how the little campers enjoyed playing games that I had played myself when I was their age. Didn't know the game of playing scissors, paper, stone on the balancing beam still existed. Seeing them getting a kick out of the game makes me feel really great. But they get really wild while playing and I nearly gotten taupok-ed by them..

The camp was summed up with a mini concert put together by the children. At the end of the day, I think that what makes me feel good is to see the children enjoying themselves. It was a really enjoyable 2 days. Thanks to Nabeel, Mubeen, Mervyn, Zhua Li and Regan. :)

Coming up next in the holidays will be marathon tomorrow. After that will be a few days of prep work for my upcoming trip to Cambodia. Looking forward to them.

Omg, and I completely forgotten about getting back my results on 23rd.. Until i finished this blog post. Crushed back to Earth!

where...?

2008-11-28T17:53:00.000+08:00

Is there something on going there? You want to go there?

(nod nod)

But winter is coming. I won’t be able to move if it gets any colder. And if we leave this house, we probably won’t be able to come back. You still want to go?

(nod nod)

What is over there, I wonder?

(A warm place with many things where people have fun everyday…?)

Tutorial Participation

2008-11-24T00:21:00.002+08:00

Quoting from one of my lecturers, "A tutorial is a learning environment where people exchange knowledge and learn from each other."

I totally agree with this statement, however, by awarding participation marks during tutorial totally defeats the purpose in my opinion. People who are already strong in the subject will have minimal problems in preparing for the tutorials, so each time during tutorial, the same person will "volunteer" to present the answers, and get a big bonus for answering the question. At the same time, weaker students will fall back further and further in the marking scheme as the bonus is really so huge (17%). This awarding of the marks really destroyed the learning environment.

He compares the awarding of participation marks to the "principle that is similar to a taxation system where the wealthier segment of the society pays more taxes.", but in fact, here, he is giving the rich more riches, and depriving the poor of their needs - a system that will lead to corruption.

The way he argues his point reminds me of one of my platoon mates, a !@#$%. How can this environment makes learning happy.

Old Times

2008-11-18T21:10:00.002+08:00

While taking a walk in Lot 1 basement today, I saw a familiar face in Ya Kun, and decided to say hello.

Think it's been 2 years since I last met him in my secondary school. Of course, he doesn't remember my name, cause he's always mixed up my name with my other classmates during lesson. He was probably about to leave but decided to stay for another cup of tea while we gossiped for a while. Anyway, thank him for my cup of coffee. :)

Aftermath

2008-11-13T21:40:00.002+08:00

Yeah! The tutor did not criticize the program at all. In fact she said the preliminary testing was not bad, but it makes me more worried that she is saying that to everyone to comfort them. We shall see when the final result comes out.

sweet sorrows

2008-11-12T14:10:00.003+08:00

I woke up to great euphoria today despite the nightmare I've had. What could be more frightening than dreaming about your project supervisor criticizing everything about your work after you've spent hours on it in the past few weeks?

The moment I realized it was just a dream, I felt really great, as I know that the project has already been submitted to the supervisor. The project has finally concluded!

At the same time, I felt a bit lost since I've been working on the project for so long and now that it'd ended, I've suddenly found more time to stone. How I wish some things never ends so I'll be kept busy. That's why I've left the final volume of prince of tennis half read, animes half watched, and always seemed half-asleep when I'm awake and vice versa.

2008-11-01T23:24:00.003+08:00

what about the world we live in today.
depressing emotions thrown at everyone
those that accept are fickle and dry
those who dont are mad
which one am i?
who knows?
i wish i could die
who cares! whats it all for?
the one thing i live for hates me.

zzz.. kids..

2008-10-31T23:43:00.002+08:00

What are the ways to save money? I witnessed a very nice and innovative way to do that yesterday.

2 kids alighted from mrt at cck station and when exiting the gantry, the smaller of them tailgated the older one out.

Well Done! Next time I see them, I shall report them..

Glad Today's Over

2008-10-31T23:34:00.003+08:00

It's Halloween, and two of my lecturers decide that we will be celebrating it today.

Deadline: 31 Oct, 2359hrs.

Muahahaha..

Happy Halloween!!

Dampen Spirits

2008-10-25T00:00:00.002+08:00

Rain comes too often this week, that hope was dying, until new hopes were found with creativity. How the ball crosses the line doesn't matter as long as it crosses and makes itself counts.

The part I like most about this week was seeing how people enjoyed the bumpy rides and the drifting.

Time to hit the homework!!

Sing to the Dawn

2008-10-21T21:08:00.001+08:00

what can be worse

2008-10-09T23:32:00.005+08:00

It can't get any worse, so just do it.

Illustration from fear the friend of exceptional people by Geoff Thompson

double negation

2008-10-08T15:53:00.003+08:00

Pessimist: I don't understand how you are always so positive about things.

Optimist : At least I'm consistent in my way of thinking. I don't understand why are you always so negative about things except for your own way of thinking.

why plan

2008-10-06T17:42:00.002+08:00

There is really no point in making detailed plans. Plans are made, preparation underway, and something cocks up, the plans go bonkers.

I suppose the important part here therefore is the ability to handle things when your original plans go haywire, which I'm so bad at.

So when you've something in mind, just get down to it. The detailed plans can come later as you slowly progress.

10 Bad Things That Are Good For You

2008-09-28T23:49:00.002+08:00

1. Listening to Loud Music
You experience more pleasure from it.

2. Texting, Not Talking
More discreet, therefore a preferred mean of communication to youngsters in family communication.

3. Pounding the Pavements
Strengthen the cartilage around the knee.

4. Being a Bit Overweight
Greater reservoir of nutrition in time of illness.

5. Full Fat Dairy
"less likely to develop 'metabolic syndrome,' a cluster of symptoms such as high blood pressure, blood lipids and glucose levels that can lead to diabetes, heart disease and stroke."

6. Caffeine
Delay development of Parkinson's in men and probably prevent gallstone and improve performance of athletes. (Sounds good to me!)

7. Booze
Red wine and Beer helps against heart disease.
Gin and tonic prevent night cramps.

8. Computer Games
Helps hand-eye coordination and increases IQ! Good for learning physics (-> I must have played too little during childhood).

9. Sugary Soft Drinks
People who drink the sugarless counterpart are more likely to be overweight, since it's more healthy and you tend to drink more. It's all in the mind.

10. Being a Working Mum
Not relevant to me, but better health in general for working mothers.

The most important part is still to do the above ten in moderation. Too much of anything is usually a problem even if it's good.

Source:
Reader's Digest September, the fifth annual humor issue
http://www.readersdigest.com.sg

Math is FUN!!

2008-09-17T00:13:00.001+08:00

It's interesting, depending on your interests.

http://www.mathsisfun.com/

I Have Plentiful

2008-08-27T20:38:00.002+08:00

What are things you treasure? I'll make a guess.

Is it something that you have very little of? Something rare is usually something of value. And this rare item is gonna make you become very possessive of it, making you don't want to let go of it.

I've just read a book and there was a solution proposed by the author(unfortunately, I don't remember the title of the book), which I find very useful.

In order to let go, first, you need to acquire more of that item. That will mean if you are possessive of your handphone, buy plentiful of handphone; if you are possessive of your home electricity, use more electricity, etc. Of course, these analogies sucks.

When you feel you have plenty of your treasured item, you feel less pain if you were to share them with other people.

Team Work

2008-08-22T00:41:00.002+08:00

A man takes 1 year to complete building a house. How long does it take 5 men to complete building the same house.

The answer: definitely less than 73 days.