Hehe... 4 more days!!

Heh. Here's a pic of us (H, SL and Me!) acting cute in the staffroom to celebrate the fact that there's only 4 more working days left in our Practicum! I'll surely miss my fellow trainee! They are a fun bunch to hang out with. T_T

And the kids of course.... they've grown more adorable throughout the course of these 10 weeks. Besides the joy and excitment of beginning a new chapter in life, there's also sadness at the thought that I'll not get to see these kids again. Oh well, 天下无不散之宴席... who knows, I might just end up back at DS in a few years time. =)

It’s nearing the end of the road…

And I actually felt a little sad. Contrast it to the previous posts that I made about wanting Practicum to end ASAP, it might be kinda weird to say that I’m sad that practicum’s going to end soon. It’s not that I don’t want to go back to NIE, it’ll be fun to see the NIE peeps again. But there’s so much that I’ll miss in DS. Well, not so much… but mainly my fellow trainees and the kids.

My SCM actually asked if I’m interested in teaching English, coz DS is in need of e-lang teachers and they’ll get me to stay if I agree to teach e-lang. It’s always a comfort to go back to familiar surroundings but I have no confidence in my grammar. I never really understood the intricacies of it. =_= Besides, I’ll never know how good DS really is until I have experience at other schools. And DS really is a great place. They have a fantastic school culture and the kids there are adorable. If any of the NIE peeps are posted there, they’re really lucky.

Though it’d be supreme irony if they make me teach e-lang over at my new posting. =_=

It’s all over!!!

It’s been a fucking long time! But now it’s all over! Cleared my final formal observation by my Hist CT! I really don’t know what he thought of that lesson coz it’s a very basic lesson with just teacher-talk and questioning. I hope he’ll find it all right. Heh.

But that’s not the most important thing. The important thing is that it’s all over!!! And the behaviour of the class touched me deeply. My very first observation was with this class too and it didn’t turn out too good. But this lesson gave me a good feeling. The little and some not so little munchkins were really sweet. That class is one of my most notorious classes. But they behaved themselves for my observation. =) The guys were really adorable today –cooperative, enthusiastic and responsive. I couldn’t ask for better students. =) That lesson just made my day!

Edit: I just got back the APT form from my CT! It’s not too bad I guess, especially when compared to my first ob. Huge improvement I’d say! Haha… my CTs are all nice folks. =)

One more to go!!

Decided to have a formal observation by my lit Ct on the spur of the moment. Must be ra’s fault. =P

Hahaha… anyways, I decided to get it over and done with despite not having prepared much. But it went well I guess. My CT was happy with the lesson and the way I interacted with the kids. I’m happy with my new approach too. Being more relax in the classroom really helps. I don’t get irritated and the kids are also happy. So in the end, everything went well and I’m kinda relieved. Just one more this Friday and it’ll all be over! Getting the APT form from her tomorrow... hopefully it'll be good! =)

The kids were just adorable today. I think I’m really going to miss them when practicum is done. T_T On the other hand… I can’t wait for it to end! =P

The long weekend is bliss incarnate!

Heh. Despite life getting easier, the weekend’s still something to look forward to. I can’t wait to get back to NIE! Argh… though there’s still the literature assignment left undone. But I’ll churn it out by Monday I guess. Nat, Ra, you guys wanna meet up in NIE on Monday for some makan?

Sigh… been back to training last wed and nearly died! My muscles are still aching. It felt good but the lack of regular practice really killed me. I think I’ll have to be more regular in future.

School was rather hectic this past week. I’ve been rather stern with the kids and I’m kinda upset about it. I really don’t like to scold them. And I really feel that it’s not that effective. But I really cannot find any other way to get it into their head that it’s really for their own good! I very much suspect my own teachers felt the same way I do now back when they were teaching my class. Hahaha… frustrated and helpless coz the kids just don’t wanna learn. But it’s affecting my mood. I’m gonna cool it and take a more relax attitude next week and see how it goes.

Some of the kids are really adorable though… hmmm… even though some of em are slightly crazed. They really are! A little crazed that is. Haha… especially this group of secondary two girls I taught for a little while before the switch in timetables caused me to give up their class. Adorable but wacky. Loved the wackiness though. They’re funny. =P

Gonna miss my fellow trainees too when I leave DS. T_T Not equally of course. Haha… there are some I like more than others. =P I’ll surely miss SL and H the most! There’s this kid in one of my classes. He’s pretty cute lah I’ll have to say. H is sooooo taken with him. Kept going on and on about how cute he is. I have to remind her that he’s not legal yet. Haha… I do agree that he’ll be a heartbreaker when he’s older. Now, I just wish he’ll read the text and do his homework even when I'm not there to nag him into doing it. =_= Coz I feel he's a smart kid and capable of so much more.

Life outside school…

Sometimes, it’s easy to be consumed by school life. Practicum takes up so much time and it’s so easy to be overwhelmed by it all. Thank goodness for my dearest friends outside the school context, like J and the kendo peeps, who’s always there to hear me whine and offer constructive comments.

Went out with the kendo peeps on Thursday night because Z came back from Japan… that lucky thing! =_= It was so good to meet up with the gang. All the conversations about training, about who’s back and who’s missing and who’s being irritating, really made me realize how much I miss trainings and hanging out with them. They are really a hilarious bunch of juniors/friends. There’s no doubt that the kendo community is a really close-knit one. It made me a little sad that I’ve excluded myself recently because of practicum. Yosh! I have to make time to go back for training… though I’ll most likely not survive the training… =_=

Friday was exciting… there’s no other word to describe the experience. The exhilaration of rushing out an assignment on the deadline itself coupled with the planning of lessons for the day made for a very exciting day indeed. But I’m glad I managed to churn it out. Now there’s only the literature assignment left. Hehe… I’m sure the Good Friday weekend is sufficient. But it was good to see my NIE mates. Good to chat about our experiences and gossip about “the thing”. Can't wait to see them in back in NIE!

Only a few more weeks to go… I’ll be glad to go back to NIE but I’ll surely miss the kids at DS. It started real slow but they’re starting to get really adorable. Hmmm... I wonder why... *ponders*

Ps: J dearest! Thank you thank you thank you!!! Words cannot express my gratitude… what would I do without you!~ But expectations really kills… the book wasn’t as good as I’d hope it would be. =_=

oh where has all my money gone too?

I should be saving lots of money since I have no time nowadays… but unfortunately, retail therapy works for me. So instead of saving, I spent even more than usual. Hahaha… but it makes me really happy. So I guess it’s all worth it! =)

Hectic week up ahead. Lesson preparation’s a bitch. =_=

There’s going to be another formal observation by my sup, and I’m going to request for 2 observations by my main CT so I can finish the assignment set by ms Sandra by 7th April. I think there’s going to be another observation by one of my other CT but at this point in time, the memory’s all fuzzy. Here’s hoping that all goes well!! Oh well, at the very least, the people factor is tolerable. I think that’s the most important factor in any workplace.

*ponders*

To all my nie mates out there “braving the wilderness”! Take heart! The end is near! Hahaha… =P

It’s the 5th week! Oh god… just 5 more weeks to go!

Well, the reason I haven’t been blogging is that I’ve been busy. Busy getting myself into trouble! =P And being forced to write reflections everyday does put a dampened on my blogging mood. =_=

But yeah… time just seems to fly. Tomorrow’s my first formal observation by my sup… whom I’ve never seen before in my life. Here’s hoping that everything will go well! =) Everything seems to be speeding up. I hope there’ll be nothing seriously wrong with my lessons. =_=

Oh ya! I tried to access the nie portal but realized that I’ve forgotten my password! Anyone out there who knows my password? Ahhh…. Or anyway of changing the password? Help! T_T

Oh where has the week gone to?

It’s the end of the holidays! Oh where has the week gone to? In less than 30 hours, I’ll be back in school again. *whine*

There’s still so many lesson plans left undone and stuff not prepared! Arghhhh… there’s still so many dvds I want to watch and books I want to read!! But we can’t always get what we want I suppose. =_=

Oh well, at least I did some research for history. The national library is my new best friend! Their reference section is fantastic! Perhaps it’ll be my new favourite haunt!

Wah… that does sound sad…. a library being my new favourite place. Hahaha…

The week hasn’t been totally wasted I guess. Met up with nat and ra a couple of times, met up with J a few times, went to watch Army Daze not once but twice, watched a couple of good and not so good movies, and I was able to roll around in bed till 11am while J is slogging away at work! Wahahahahahaha…..

Anyways, Army Daze was fantastic! It’s amazing how a play written almost 20 years ago could be so relevant in today’s context. Kumar was fabulous and Robin Goh was surprisingly good as Kenny. But my favourite was still the ah-beng character played by Sebastian Tan. Ahhhh… I wish we could have done the play in school! Not bloody likely I'd say... =_=

*sigh* It’ll be back to 5.30am mornings for me in less then 30 hours. T_T

Man... I must be sick... =_=

Some of my fellow trainees are marking common test scripts now. It feels weird but I really wish I had something to mark as well. Ahhhh…. Life is strange… when I have too much work, I complain. When I don’t have much to do, I want something to do. =_=

Someone… please slap some sense into me!

Things are looking up…. I hope!

Finally met up with some of the NIE peeps (ra, shizhi, pearl, chin chye and auntie) on Wednesday. Fabulous! We should meet up more often guys! Next time with nat, yueheng and uncle! The Turkish food was great and the company was fantastic. All in all, a great day! We have to meet up again soon!

Thursday took a turn for the worse… I started teaching for real on Thursday. Murphy’s Law was the rule of the day. Whatever could go wrong went wrong. It was for most part my fault I guess. I did not go for a trial run using my baby ibook even though I know I’m not too familiar with its functions. In the end, I conducted a chaotic and confusing first lesson. I couldn’t even cover half of what I had originally planned! The subsequent lessons were equally bad though not as chaotic as the first one. I feel as though the students were looking at me with a “Man! You’re incompetent” look in their eyes! T_T Felt so depressed over the lack of quality in my lessons. That was totally not what I had envisioned my first lesson to be! But I’ll have to thank one of my CT (who is also a Shahrukh Khan fan), who helped me solve this very horrid IT problem!

Actually, one thing I can be grateful about is that all my CTs are freaking nice! All three of them!! I really think it all depends on luck. Whenever I hear about ra’s CT’s newest “exploits” I feel thankful. Hang in there ra! Don’t let him get you down!

Took a cab down for training after school… cab ride cost me 18 freaking bucks! I really should buy the shares of the cab company. Transport is taking up almost half my pay!! Oh well, it was worth it coz I got to see Kato Sensei! It was great seeing him so healthy and vibrant. He’s honestly the most healthy 70plus years old man I know. Did not get a chance to spar with him. Hopefully I’ll be able to on Sunday’s training. Yosh! I’m feeling enthusiastic about training yet again… it’s really 'mind over body'.

Friday was a good day. My lessons went ok… or at least that’s what I would like to think so. Covered what I intended to cover and perhaps with the use of IT, I got to show off my keynote presentations. Haha…but the actual fact was that anything would be considered an improvement from Thursday. =_=

Stayed in school till 6!! But it was real fun! Back in the workroom, as the hour got later, I could blast my mp3s and chat and laugh with my fellow trainees. But as we were happily bopping to a Eminem song, my SCM walked into the work area… =_= I had to roll myself over (was on a chair with wheels) discreetly and turned down the volume…

Highlight of the day -Met up with J for makan at ikea. Coz of the crowd at the restaurant, we just sat at one of the displays and talked for ages. The meatballs at ikea were fantastic! Yum!

J, let’s go eat Turkish food soon! They have really salty stuff! Hehe…

Good friends really make my day. =)

Meh…

Haha… the word “meh” just reminds me of Jaime. But it so reflects my mood at present. I miss ya Jamie Townsend! Please get your tattooed ass back in Singapore when you go for your honeymoon!

Ahhhh… it’s gonna be Friday tomorrow! Woohoo!! I want to go out and paint the town red!!! Nay… just kidding. =_=

Practicum is fine I guess… haven’t got a chance to interact with the kids yet. Will most probably start late next week. The amount of preparation work required is incredible! That’s what one can expect when one has to teach secondary 1, 2 and 3 History! Not to forget secondary 1 Literature. Everyday is filled to the brim with lesson planning and PowerPoint presentation. Life is hard…

On the good side, I’ve got nice CTs and extremely nice fellow trainees with me. That’s something to be thankful about I guess. Life could be much worse…

Oh ya… life would be better if I had more money. T_T

Looking forward to meeting up with my NIE pals... esp my kg mates! do reply to my e-mail k! =)

My feet hurts… T_T

Wore my new heels to NIE yesterday… was trying to test them out and see if I could last the day wearing them. And of course, I wanted to alter my new pants and the heels were sort of a guideline. And so, when we left ra to her gesl presentation and went to jalan jalan at JP, I was suffering. Every step was a torture. But nat was nice enough to buy me a drink at LJS to ease my suffering. Haha… then we shared some mp3s using my baby ibook which has this cool program that can extract songs from ipods. Hehehe… hindi songs are nice!

Then despite my suffering, I decided to meet up with J for makan. It was only during dinner that J told me they actually provide shoes at the alteration shop for customers who wanted to alter their garments accordingly. That means… I suffered the whole day for practically nothing!!! But the trip was fruitful! My copy of SHANTARAM arrived!! My thanks to the good people over at sunny! *grin* I also got my pants altered in time for school on Monday and dinner was fun coz the company was good! We practically spent the whole time gashing over Lee Jun-Ki, the drama series “My Girl”, and Lee Jun-Ki!!!


Oh! He’s just adorable!!!

And well, Practicum is looming over the horizon…

Ah… just handed up one of the last history assignment before practicum. I must say that it is a relief to be free of assignments for a while and I’m quite looking forward to going to school proper. It’s going to be a whole new experience. Good or bad is still unforeseeable I think. Hahaha…

And ya! Dot! Let’s go register at ubi soon! I want to continue my lessons… I want to get a license. *whine*

I'm a germ factory...

*cries* I'm down with sore eye!! note... it's singular, not plural. =_=

My left eye is sore as hell and I can't open it pass a few seconds. T_T Why?? i've never really appreciated the use of both eyes till today! I can't do work properly... can't work on the stupid LORMS nor can i re-watch Hero for the philo project without feeling horrid. Worse of all, I can't watch my korean drama in comfort!

When I told J bout it, the reply is as follows:
"O_o <--- how appropriate.
or should i use O_-
wahahahahah!!!"

So evil!!! But it was funny as hell lah. hahahahahaha...

Misc stuff…

I haven’t been going for trainings in a long long while now. Work, health and holidays played a huge part but I have to blame my own laziness as well. =_=

Anyways… back to past events! I turned 24 past January and frankly speaking, I don’t feel any different. In fact, the auntie at 7-11 even asked for my IC when I went with dot to buy cigs the other day! Wahahaha… that was a riot. We were so happy to turn over our ICs. Hehehe…

Heh. This might come sort of late but thanks for all the well-wishes people, smses and phone-calls alike. Besides the ang baos and what-nots, I received very sweet presents from equally sweet individuals as well. Coerced or otherwise. =P

Dear Candice forgot bout my birthday… but since she paid for my Dior Play, I’ll forgive her. Haha…


I got a very cute Kon plush from vape, delivered right to the doorstep! So sweet of vape! He’s one of the nicest guys I know so far. =)

Cute isn’t it?

From my darling J, I got something I’ve always always wanted!! The Dior Gourmette!!!

Isn’t it pretty????? It’s my favourite so far! Hehehe… not to say I don’t like the other gifts, but it’s sooooo pretty!!

From my kendo seniors… I got a shinai bag I ordered from Tiff. That was sort of “coerced”. I choose the presents and all they have to do is to pay for it. Wahahahaha… I have nice seniors lah. But I haven’t seen the shinai bag as yet. Hope it’ll be as nice as I think it would be! =)

Ra, nat and hen… don’t think that I’ll forget bout the present! The 12th of February is coming real soon. =P

CNY was not as fun as it used to be. Maybe its coz my grandfather’s no longer around. The atmosphere seems rather muted this year. But it was a novel experience, getting ang bao from my elder brother. Hehe… we were so lucky my sis-in-law don’t allow him to be stingy with our ang bao money. *grinz*

The card games continued despite muted atmosphere. Hahaha… I won some money… a pittance really but still, a pittance won is still money! It was great seeing my cousins again! We don’t hang out as much as we used to. But it’s great that we’re still pretty close.
Here's throwing in a random picture of me with my cousins... not all of them of course...

It's slightly blur though... coz of the resolution. grrr...

And I finally learnt to play mahjong at the enginger’s house, taught by his “other sister” before going out to eat at fish and co. It was fun hanging out with the kendo peeps.

Last but not least… practicum posting is out and while I’m not exactly thrilled with my posting, I’m not dissatisfied with it. Well, at the very least, it’s not a ‘magical school’. And it also happens to be kitty’s old school. He assured me that it was ok…. during his time there. But that’s at least a decade back. =_=

8th Kendo Youth Tournament and misc stuff….

And so! We concluded our YT yesterday with amazing results! Second (both NUS Team Bs) and joint-Third (both NUS Team As) for both Men's and Ladies' teams! Though there were several times when tempers ran a bit high and things got a teeny weeny bit messy…. But everybody pulled through! Thinking bout it, it’s my 5th YT since I joined NUSKK. Man… I feel old!! T_T But at least I can still take part!!

Sigh… this is the last year I can represent NUSKK… anyways, onwards to some of the pictures taken that day… =)


All the trophies before the tournament… luckily, we managed to retain some of them when YT’s over… hehehe…


Some of my juniors sitting around stoning after the whole event was over and cleaning up was done…


Ting eating up the remaining bento sets left over from lunch and wai in the background looking bored…


Me and asstea with our team event trophies... even though we are from different teams, we are still team NUSKK!! hehe...


My beloved NUS Team B!!! Everybody said we’re all of the same height! But I disagree… I think tingting is a tad shorter than me and kimchi. Hehehe. Anyways, Team B rocks!!!


NUS Team B with Damien Sensei! He honestly one of the best senseis I’ve known… not that I know a lot of senseis lah…. Haha...


NUS Team A with Damien Sensei. =)


Heh. Onwards to the misc stuff! Was msning with kitty earlier and as usual, the conversation turned a little weird…

T_T says:
u're an old kitty now
m.faizal : ) says:
meow...
m.faizal : ) says:
old kitty? SO THAT MEANS I"M A C A T!
T_T says:
old kitty suits u more lah. hahahaha
m.faizal : ) says:
ehhh...
m.faizal : ) says:
cannot like that la
m.faizal : ) says:
wait like old mei mei sia...
m.faizal : ) says:
you think i what
m.faizal : ) says:
-_-
m.faizal : ) says:
i know i'm for rent.. but still...
m.faizal : ) says:
i am tender.. still...
m.faizal : ) says:
LOL!
m.faizal : ) says:
a
T_T says:
omg!!!
T_T says:
tender!!!
T_T says:
wahahhahaha.... this is so going on my blog lah
T_T says:
wahahahahhahaha
m.faizal : ) says:
...
m.faizal : ) says:
don't like that la...
m.faizal : ) says:
i treat you nice nice..
T_T says:
where got nice?
m.faizal : ) says:
wait i sayang you kay? -_-
m.faizal : ) says:
LOL!
m.faizal : ) says:
a
T_T says:
dun want!!!
m.faizal : ) says:
then i'll bite
m.faizal : ) says:
wait
T_T says:
that sounds wrong...
m.faizal : ) says:
i'll refrain myself from biting.. cos you sadist.. not masochist..
m.faizal : ) says:
LOL!
m.faizal : ) says:
ha
m.faizal : ) says:
freaking hilarious..
T_T says:
u're weird lah!!!
m.faizal : ) says:
must be something i imbibed
m.faizal : ) says:
@_@



Yes kitty… I think it must be something you imbibed…. =_=

Ahhhh… I want a TKGS doll!!

Just look at it! It’s adorable!! Hehe… even the green pinafore looks good on it!

The fragility of age... =_=

Arghh… I should have done my warm-up exercises properly yesterday before the mock tournament… now my left shoulder hurts like hell... and my right hand feels a little weird... hurts round the thumb area. =_= Perhaps I should count myself lucky that my headache's gone. =_=

Sometimes I really got to remind myself that I’m not that young anymore… sigh… the fragility of age. T_T

There’re just so many things to be done! Readings to be read, essays to be written, questions to be set, trainings for the upcoming tournament and dvds to be watched… ok… so the last thing’s optional. But that’s also the only thing I looked forward to. =P

Got to set my priorities right I guess… T_T

All right! Back to my DVDs now! Kekeke…

Happy New Year!!!

2006 will be fantastic! I just know it! haha... at the very least, I sure hope so!

Before all else, here’s wishing my brother a super duper extraordinary birthday!! May you always be happy and that things will work out great for you in this new year! =)

Have not thought of any new year's resolutions as yet and have absolutely no plans of thinking up any. I just want everyone around me to be happy. =) Does that count as a new year's resolution? Don't think so ya... it's more of a new year's wish I guess. *grinz*

Ahh… I’m feeling so sleepy now… but new year’s eve was rather eventful to say the least. Had dinner with the akers in a cozy little café in sunshine plaza with good food and cheap prices…. Had quite a good time laughing at para (as usual) with the gang. Then I left with J and gang to MoS.


All the money I’d saved in the café was offset by the outrageous amount the MoS management charged for cover charge and drinks. Haha. We had tequila with orange coz they’ve ran out of lemons. Argh…. Though the tequila was good, I don’t think it’s worth 12 bucks per shot. =_= but still, though MoS was a little too hyped up, it was still rather all right. Oh ya! Better queue management couldn’t hurt. The night was slightly marred when a friend lost her hp while on the dance floor. Bloody buggers who steal handphones... lousy bastards one and all!

Heh. Enough venting… I just got my hands on the limited edition dior lipgloss “Dior Play” yesterday! Yippee!! Thanks vape so very very much for helping look out for it in Korea!


It’s just so pretty!!! Hehehe...

not really the last day of the year but...

Met up with the girls yesterday for lunch and it was good! I haven’t seen them since the class BBQ last month. Been missing them loads! Instead of the fish sauce I was dreading, I got a very pretty jewellery box from nat and ra. Haha… thank god it was not fish sauce. =P Heh. Congrats to my dearest nat for the stuff that’s going to happen on Saturday! I want to see the “you know what” on Tuesday!

And I got my long awaited SRK DVD from ra! Banzai! Banzai! Banzai! SRK comes in a close second to my beloved Johnny Depp! Oh speaking of JD, I was convinced to start reading SHANTARAM because ra told me that JD bought the rights to this book and will be starring as the male lead in the movie version in 2007. Yipee!

Today’s a pretty mundane Friday… I can’t seem to be able to dreg up the energy to do anything except roll around on the bed and watching drama series. Sorry dear dot… for not going to your bbq tonight… I’m just feeling really tired and I don’t interact well in crowds I don’t really know. Nevertherless, have a fantastic bbq tonight and we’ll meet up for dinner or a drink in the coming year!

Ahhh… I need to meet up with my silly cousins!!! if I don’t meet up with them soon, I’ll end up eating the pineapple tarts I bought for them in Taiwan!!!

The coming of the new year made me think about old friends and new experiences. Not a bad thought to start off a new year... but I'm totally NOT looking forward to school at all... T_T