Curtains Up!

Long time no see!

I went back to school this morning to put up curtains for the classroom. I got a shock when I saw Ms Tan, accompanied by her students who were quietly doing their work. 10:30 am, I was told her lesson would end then.

At about 10:50 am, I went back to the classroom and was relieved that it was already vacant. 

After putting up the curtains, I went back to my workstation to continue with my marking. I did a count and realised that 6 students did not submit their journals to me before the end of term 2. 

By 2 pm, I was ravenous. I decided to pack the remaining 8 journal books home. As usual, Yew Fook was the last man standing.

I Saw Your Drawings…

When I saw Ms. Linda Lee at the GO this evening, she smiled to me and said, “I saw your drawings.” I was rather befuddled. “What drawings?” I asked her. She replied, “You did a book with Mun Ching and Mrs. Yeo (the Principal) showed it to us during EXCO meeting.” I felt a little embarrassed. “Us? You meant many people saw it?” She smiled and nodded again. Utterly embarrassed. I then tapped my card and left the office.

But it got me curious. I approached Ms. Lee and asked her when it did happen. She said that it was only recently, this week to be exact. Alright, so it happened only yesterday. Shortly, Mr. Tomy Ng, the cheeky Mother Tongue teacher, came towards me and said that Sarah, the HOD of Discipline, was urgently looking for me. For a while, I was wondering if I had done anything inappropriate. Ha. He gave me her numbers and I called her immediately.

It rang quite long before Ms. Sarah answered the call. She explained to me that they (Weiyong, Jaida) were involved in a reading project and that Mrs. Yeo suggested roping me in for their project. I immediately agreed. I hope I can be of much help to whatever project they are doing.

By the way, Ken struck up a conversation with me minutes before school ended. He is only 27. When I told him I was 31, he said he could not believe it. And I told him a few years down the road in this line, it would be more obvious, especially with the wrinkles. Ha ha…

A Trip to JB (Johore Bahru)

After the Maths survey (and a 60-minute test!) at the NTU LT 2A, Ryan and Will decided to go to JB for lunch. Yeah, lunch. By then, the weather was getting a little dark. But our ‘peh-peh’ rider was very determined to make a trip to that country – all so because he could fill up his tank. It took me a long time to decide if I should join them. Well, finally, to show my commitment, I agreed to go on the trip.

Because I did not have my passport with me, I had to return home first to collect it. Eventually, I invited Ryan to my house and poured him a cup of nice coffee. Like many other guests who had been intoxicated by the nice aroma of my mum’s coffee, he complimented on the coffee which Mum had brewed. Yeah, never in life my mum’s coffee has failed to earn praises from coffee drinkers!

We alighted at the Kranji MRT station and boarded bus 170. The journey was a short one and like what Ryan had promised, it took only 30 minutes to reach our destination. When we reached the Sultan Iskandar Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Complex (or Sultan Iskandar Complex), I was in awe of the cleanliness, spaciousness, orderliness and the contemporary architectural design of the building. Wow!

We went to Johore Bahru City Square and had some finger food while waiting for the ‘peh-peh’ rider. The shopping mall was very Singapore. What we have in Takashimaya and Plaza Singapura, they have it too. To an extent, it was kind of boring. And then just as I had predicted, Will lost his directions. When he finally arrived, Ryan took us to what he claimed the ‘master chef of Dian Xiao Er’ restaurant. Well, not really a restaurant, but an air-conditioned kopi-tiam which sells succulent duck meat stewed in Chinese herbs.

After lunch, we decided to chill out at OldTown White Coffee. So the three of us rested our tired bodies on the comfy seats and shared our memories from secondary school days. Just in case you are one of those curious kittens or pussies out there, the ‘kuai lan’ ‘yan dao gia’ above is the famed ‘peh-peh’ rider who used to be, according to the legend himself, an Ah-Beng reject. Sadly, he was also rejected by the industrious sort. Hmm… now I know why he prefers to teach delinquent students. 

Programme Feedback Done Online…

This morning, I reached the NIE at about 7:40 a.m. for the Programme Feedback. It should start at 8:30 a.m. but eventually, it was conducted by A/P Low Ee Ling half an hour later. What was more annoying was when A/P Low announced that the feedback would be conducted online at the release of our exam results. (The release date is somewhere mid-June.) Anyway, to pacify us, we each were presented with a 4GB thumb-drive upon registering for the feedback.

After the feedback, Ryan, Will and I made our way to the Audio House. Of course, Will rode on his bike while Ryan and I took the public transport. (Oh, yeah, the Seahorse has been posted to Ahmad Ibrahim PS.) When we reached Clarke Quay MRT station, Ryan said that he knew his way to Miramar but eventually we took a long route to our destination. I think his GPS was not working well this afternoon.

At the Audio House, Will bought a 42” LG plasma and an LG DVD player for his mum. Initially, he was only looking at the 32” range but since the price difference was rather marginal between 32”, 37” and 42”, he finally decided on the latter. Hmm… and I thought the potential buyers were Ryan and I  because we were the ones who suggested checking out the prices at the Audio House…

After that, we had a short break at the Trung Nguyen Coffee cafe at Liang Court. The two of them discussed the itinerary for their Bangkok trip for next week while I tried to recover myself from the flu bug which I had contracted since morning. A kind Will offered to get me Panadol and I took two. Shortly, we decided to walk over to Lucky Chinatown. Yeah, I am still thinking about my Grimlock…

We decided to check out OG People’s Park first for any presence of Masterpiece MP-08 Grimlock. To my amazement, they had 6 pieces of that dinobot leader (SGD$ 209.90). Wow! I was even surprised to see the new Alternity A-01 Optimus Prime (silver Nissan GT-R) and Destron (a.k.a Megatron) (SGD$ 99.90!). Ryan expressed his childhood interest for the G1 Bruticus.

We finally reached Lucky Chinatown and I saw MP-08 Grimlock beside MP-05 Megatron. Both have been reserved. The lady at the counter told me that there would be a re-issue of MP-04 Optimus Prime with trailer. I would not mind getting it too because my MP-01 is flawed… with loose joints and cracked hull. Hmm… never buy discounted products from sales… Anyway, the lady told me that most of her clients were waiting for the OG sales so that they could get Grimlock at 20% off. Not sure if I want to wait for that though…

Where’s My Grimlock?

I was so bored on Monday that I decided to ask Lydia out to Orchard Road. Well, ever since I took my last exam paper on 29 April, I have been either idling or blasting Uroboros-infected Africans on Resident Evil 5 at home. And then I suddenly remembered I had to get my Grimlock. Hey, not just any Grimlock, but a Masterpiece MP-08 Grimlock as seen below. Hey, cool, right?

I first saw it at Takashimaya on 11 April when I was shopping around with Alan at the Toys section. It was placed on the highest shelf, with about two or three pieces left. I was aghast by the rather exorbitant price tag – SGD$ 209! I felt it was too expensive and placed the item back.

Then, on Monday, I decided to buy it anyway. To my disappointment, it was not there any more. Replacing it were other transformers, including the Hasbro 25th Anniversary Universe Re-issue G1 Optimus Prime below. They still have plenty of them!

Lydia suggested trying my luck at other stores and I could only think of Rapid Culture at Orchard Cineleisure. Yes! I managed to find one, which was placed prominently facing the entrance, at the shop.  I checked out the price – it was only SGD$ 10 cheaper.

When I reached home, I decided to check the mail that MIKELZ sent to me months ago. There it was! That already expired pre-order of Masterpiece MP-08 Grimlock had a price tag of only SGD$ 140!!! WTF*!

Looks like my Masterpiece MP-01 Optimus Prime is going to be extremely lonely for a while…

 

 

 

 

 

* WTF = What The Fish, a term coined by my ex-Sony colleague and current friend Kelvin Yap to replace the rather offensive What The F***k.

Long Time No See!

My sincere apologies to those who visited my blog and found it almost defunct. (Wow! My last entry here was done 5 months ago!)

I am now back! :-)

This semester has been a hectic one. First of all, I have 6 modules – 3 Curriculum Studies of 2 AUs each (ACE402, ACM402, ACS402), 1 Education Studies of 3 AUs (AED231) and 2 Academic Subjects of 3 AUs (AAE431, AAE435).

I have no qualms about the CS modules because overall, they are rather interesting and they provide insights into current trends and issues related to pedagogy. What is most satisfying is that I had the opportunities to work with people whom I was not close with before, like Will Ng (yup, previously he was known as Willie), Li Kokh and Wendy Wong.

I also have no major dislikes about AED231. I just feel that the assignment on life journey with a partner is a little meaningless. While it does make me explore and discover myself better and deeper through conversations with my partner and reflections, the thought of ‘making use’ of a partner is just not a good idea. (Unless the coordinator of this module is expecting her students to journey with their partners for the rest of their lives… that’s life journey, right?)

Then comes Dr. Guo, our tutor for AAE431 (a.k.a SFG), who looks a little muddle-headed and does not seem to express himself well. I think most Alvin Leong fans (who were ‘tricked’ into taking up this module) were irritated and unimpressed by Dr. Guo’s personality. However, his patience is what I admire most.

My worst nightmare comes from AAE435. Till this day, the slightly aloof and enigmatic tutor continues to haunt me in my dreams nightmares. But him aside, I was more disappointed by one of my group members when we attempting to complete our presentation assignment.

Imagine out of a sudden, one by one your friends came to you and asked you, “What happened between you and your group? Do you guys have any conflicts?” And eventually you realised that you had been bad-mouthed or your integrity had been discounted? PMS at work? I am not a woman and I have no idea how badly it can affect one person’s moods but criticising someone behind their back is definitely uncalled for. Still, I accepted the apology.

Hmm… learn to forgive, but not to forget… I learnt this from AED231. I think we can forgive the person who does us harm but cannot forget the process that we have gone through… the experience that we have when we are managing conflicts, discussing our views openly and honestly… I learnt to open up from this ordeal and this module.

Looking forward to 25 May 2009!

Another Glance at Past-Present...

... results.

Uh-oh, I had better pull up my socks higher. Giving the current trend, it might just dip further.