Valerie

12:35 am: Happy Chinese New Year!
Hi all, wishing everyone a healthy, happy, prosperous and successful 2008! Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Major update of the new year: I'm engaged.=)

Not sure yet when I'll be ROMing... Need to see if we're successful with our flat application, which starts on this coming Tuesday.=) Will keep all informed when I tie the knot haha.

05:25 pm: bored...
Actually I have no idea what to write in this entry. Guess I'm just feeling bored. Been feeling bored since donno when. Life's getting boring. Sian lah. Whatever. Think I've been thinking a lot lately.

To Dt, MS and Sandra: it was great meeting up with u yesterday. Too bad Lq, Shing and Jh couldn't join us. Nevertheless, it was nice to see all of you after so long (when was the last time we met??)

I'm looking forward to my Taiwan and China trips in Dec. Think I need to get out of Singapore for a while and see the world and experience a different lifestyle. Hopefully I'll be so preoccupied with sightseeing and shopping that I'll start thinking less lol. To all who are going somewhere too this Dec: happy holidays.

03:43 pm: Dinner at Jewel Box
Wa my this year's bday dinner with my bf turned out quite fun and romantic hehe. He took me to the Altivo Bar at the Jewel Box on Mount Faber, where we had kind of like a candlelight dinner lol. Oh the cable car journey from Harbour Front to Mount Faber itself was fun enough cos the weather was rather cooling and the evening view below was great. =)

The restaurant looked quite posh with huge glass walls enclosing it, offering a bird's eye view of the scenery below. Too bad we didn't get the seats near the glass walls cos two other couples had "kop" them already haha. And yeah, for the whole evening, only 6 diners in the entire restaurant lol. Hmm maybe cos it was a weekday ha.

For dinner, I had salmon while my bf had chicken. I'm gonna have problems describing the taste of the food (lazy to do so anyway =p) but one thing for sure, the quality was GOOD. Well for the price one had to pay, it had to be GOOD haha. We ordered 2 glasses of Pierre Jean red wine from France to accompany our food hehe.

For dessert, we shared an apple crumble. Wah super nice! One of the best apple crumbles I've eaten so far. It literally crumbles in your mouth haha.

Yeah overall the dinner was highly enjoyable. Service at the restaurant was great too. K +1000 pts for Thomas. Eh Jiawen if you read this.. LOL.

08:09 pm: Major Update!
Woo hoo I passed my driving test on my first attempt!!! Still revelling in my joy of passing lol. Made a minor error by accidentally striking the pole when turning out of my parallel parking lot early in my test, resulting in 4 pts being deducted, but thankfully I managed to stay calm and collected and the rest of my circuit course was perfect! On the road, I completed my test route quite smoothly. Quite heng that traffic wasn't that heavy and the route was quite simple. (Got test route 5) Also, there was only a very slight drizzle so visibility wasn't affected. The only minor error I made was going over one of the humps a little too fast (according to the tester lah.. I thought ok leh but well, maybe he just had to find some fault somewhere haha)

Anyway I accumulated only a total of 10 demerit pts so I passed! Hehe=). My parents came to fetch me but in the end it was I who drove the car back haha. My mum said she nearly had a heart attack with me at the wheel lol. Aiyo exaggerate lah haha. Hmm... Think I shall try to get a small car for myself soon! Need to practise otherwise later rusty liao haha.

Eh MS, u good life leh! So free to travel meh? No need to work ah?=P And Trax also very free hor.=P

05:49 pm: updates...
Completed my final driving lesson! Another 6 weeks to my driving test on 14/8 so in the meantime, I'll just be going for revision lessons as and when I feel like it lol.

Yay today's Youth Day holiday. That's probably one of the perks of being a teacher-- you get to enjoy all the holidays your students enjoy lol. Went driving in the morning, lunch at Swensens' at noon, then bowling at CSC club (Bukit Batok) with my bro. So far, life as a trained teacher has been quite relaxing cos for the past 2 weeks, students have been having their common tests and so all we teachers had to do were to invigilate and mark papers lol. Sigh... I don't want today to end!!! Tmr onwards no more luxury of slacking sob sob.

I've been tasked to teach 3 J1 classes, 2 of which are err not very good (tat's an understatement ha). Will be seeing one of my classes for tutorial tomorrow and will be going thru their exam paper with them. Wah lao the average mark for this class I'll be seeing tomorrow is 25/60. Sigh.. I guess the motivation level among the students is quite low. It's definitely gg to be an uphill task for me trying to push them to greater heights lol. Well, I guess we'll see how it goes over the next few weeks. Hopefully we'll start off on the right foot tmr ha.

Oh ya as a BT (beginning teacher), I've been arrowed to do loads of things liao. Expected ha. First task, I've got to organise a Math booth for open house on 4th Aug. Next, got to set practice paper (1 for each topic, total of 5 topics) for students who failed HORRIBLY in the midyr exam. Yeah, there are students who scored as low as 5%. I donno how they do that ha. And this student with 5% happens to be in one of my classes. Gd luck to me lol.

Oh well, can't be helped, life's full of challenges that we need to try and overcome. Guess that's how one grows. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everything will turn out fine for me.=)

09:41 pm: School posting
School posting is finally out and I've been posted to Pioneer JC. Yay quite pleased with my posting cos I'd always preferred to teach in a JC. Hopefully the workload won't be too heavy and students are easier to manage!

Practicum has just ended yesterday and so it's back to NIE for 2 weeks of lessons. Actually also not really lessons but feedback sessions. Then there'll be a 1 week break from 26 May to 3rd June before another 2 weeks of enrichment programmes organised by MOE. Jiehang, are u working at Tuas Naval Base? Cos there's a visit to the base scheduled for us on 13 June lol. So if you're there do come and "welcome" me hor hahaha.

Btw, anyone free to go travelling during my 1 week break? I feel like getting out of the country to go somewhere (preferably not Malaysia, Thailand or Indonesia lol) Maybe go Taiwan? haha. Or a cruise? Otherwise no choice have to stay put in Singapore liao=(.

Hey maybe we can all meet up sometime during the last week of May. Is MS coming back to Sg? Hehe now nothing to do until end of June lol. Oh ya actually got... need to start reading up JC stuff. Will be paying the VP of PJC a visit next Tues lol. She said want to have chat session with me haha. Kind of looking forward to my new working environment hehe.

09:43 pm: Long overdue blog entry..
Wahhh just realised my last entry was dated 4th Jan lol. Haven't visited livejournal in ages and haven't been reading pple's blogs. Guess i've lost interest in blogging. Must have been too busy with work? hahaha.

Actually now quite slack liao, cos my practicum's coming to an end in 3 weeks time. Next week is revision week so I won't really be doing any teaching and the week after is the start of the midyr exams, so it's just invigilation duties for me.

Since I'm so free nowadays, decided to learn driving haha. Was telling DT, JH and MS during our gathering 2 Sundays ago that I felt like learning and the next day I immed went down to Bukit Batok driving centre to sign up for classes haha. Just passed my Basic theory evaluation yesterday and will be taking my basic theory test on 3rd May. Yeah, an EVALUATION before the actual TEST. To those who got their license a few yrs back -- lucky u! Didn't have to go through this stupid evaluation thing. The driving centre really noes how to make money. Forces pple to sit for an evaluation first to determine if they are ready for the test before being allowed to sit for the test. Waste money lor! And if one fails the test (touch wood!), need to resit for the evaluation again before being able to take the retest. Wah lao, I better pray i pass the darn test haha.

Will be going for my first practical lesson tmr hehe. Still can't go out onto the roads cos i haven't passed the basic theory test and obtained my provisional driving license, so will have to make do with the circuit first. Hehe should be fun I hope... unless this first lesson is just about checking car parts and stepping on pedals without actually making the car move lol.

K, shall try to update my blog more often haha.

09:44 pm: "Blood Diamond" Movie Review
Just watched "Blood Diamond" at 3pm this afternoon. Wow, it a rather exciting and thought-provoking movie, something like a semi-documentary plus fiction and loads of action. It starrs Leonardo Di who surprisingly seemed to have grown chubbier (hmm though there was 1 scene where he bared his top and I THINK those were abs I saw LOL) but his acting was fantastic. No doubt abt it man, this dude can really act lol. Anyway for those who wanna know wat the movie is about, I got the summary of the plot off the site http://blooddiamondmovie.warnerbros.com/

Set against the backdrop of the chaos and civil war that enveloped 1990s Sierra Leone, "Blood Diamond" is the story of Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio), an ex-mercenary from Zimbabwe, and Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou), a Mende fisherman. Both men are African, but their histories and their circumstances are as different as any can be until their fates become joined in a common quest to recover a rare pink diamond, the kind of stone that can transform a life...or end it.

Solomon, who has been taken from his family and forced to work in the diamond fields, finds the extraordinary gem and hides it at great risk, knowing if he is discovered, he will be killed instantly. But he also knows the diamond could not only provide the means to save his wife and daughters from a life as refugees but also help rescue his son, Dia, from an even worse fate as a child soldier.

Archer, who has made his living trading diamonds for arms, learns of Solomon's hidden stone while in prison for smuggling. He knows a diamond like this is a once-in-a-lifetime find—valuable enough to be his ticket out of Africa and away from the cycle of violence and corruption in which he has been a willing player.

Enter Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly), an idealistic American journalist who is in Sierra Leone to uncover the truth behind conflict diamonds, exposing the complicity of diamond industry leaders who have chosen profits over principles. Maddy seeks out Archer as a source for her article, but soon finds it is he who needs her even more.

With Maddy's help, Archer and Solomon embark on a dangerous trek through rebel territory. Archer needs Solomon to find and recover the valuable pink diamond, but Solomon seeks something far more precious...his son.

As I was watching this film, I couldn't help but feel a sense of pity and injustice for the innocent civilians whose lives were taken away by the rebels who indulged in senseless killing. I was quite shocked the first time images of young boys barely in their teens carrying guns and firing aimlessly at the civilians. While this was only a movie, the use of child soldiers in many third world countries today is very real. It's certainly alarming to learn of the plight of these children who should be in schools receiving a good education instead of committing acts of terror on their own people!

Anyway i shouldn't spoil the story any further for those who may be interested in watching it LOL. TV time now! hehe

11:58 am: Bored to tears...
I'm sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo borrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrred! It's so super sian to stay at home almost everyday with nothing better to do. Even watching tv can be sian lor. Spent my New Year's Eve yesterday watching tv non-stop from 5.30pm to 12.15pm and frankly, I doubt I really understood what was going on most of the time. I think i reached a point in time where I was just staring at the TV screen watching the grapics move. The 9pm channel U show starring Yang Qian Hua sucked lor but I watched it anyway since there was nothing else better to do. And today's gonna be another boring day for me. Suddenly I can't wait for sch to reopen cos at least I'll be doing sth. I think the best part of a long sch holiday is going overseas for sightseeing. If I were a billionaire, I'd definitely be spending every day of the year city-hopping, drinking coffee at some sidewalk cafe in Europe and enjoying the cool breeze. Life in Singapore is seriously boring man.

Hiaz I think i can spend the whole day ranting abt how bored I am. Maybe I should start contacting all my frens and ask them out for shopping or dinner or watever everyday till sch reopens. 6 more days till sch starts! Anyone free to accompany me around Singapore for the rest of the week? hahaha.

05:17 pm: Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou...
Returned home from China on the 10th Dec and has been "rotting" at home ever since haha. Took some notes of the places we visited during the trip using "notes" in my hp, which I transferred to my laptop via infrared. K, shall now share them with everyone hehe.

Day 1 (4/12/06, ~2pm)
Hehe now on the bus heading towards the city.. Plane landed at the airport ard 1230.. Watched miami vice on the plane.. Heng ah din watch it in sg cos the movie sucks! V boring haha.. Wa im starving liao cos the last time i ate was brunch on the plane at 9 am.. Our tour leader is a v tall guy called Jacky haha.. N he's been talking non-stop since we boarded the bus hehe.. Oh i met Prof Leung Ka Hin just now at the airport! Wa think he boarded the same plane as us.. He actually smiled at me hehe.. Think he recognises me lol.. Too bad din get a chance to talk to him.. K back to listening to Jacky lol.

(~4.30pm)
Ha just had lunch.. V full now lol.. Oh ya food was gd hehe.. Ha i wonder wat time we'll hav dinner tonight since we had such a late lunch! Lol.. On our way to our hotel now, where we'll rest for 2h before gg sightseeing hehe.. Oh n ya, i think our guide Jacky looks a bit like Daniel Wu lol!!

Day 2 (5/12/06, ~9am)
Argh woke up this morning with panda eyes! Din sleep well last night cos the radiator was working too well n i was itching all over fr the heat. Oh ya its freakin cold here in shanghai- was 10 deg yesterday morning while night temp was prob close to 0.. I was freezing in my coat when we walked to a theatre to watch a famous acrobatics performance last night! Anyway, it was 3 am when i got out of bed to switch off the radiator n opened a window. Was trying to get back to sleep when i heard a buzzing sound in my ear! A mosquito?!? I also din want to noe was it was ha. Quickly climbed out of bed again to close the win n on the aircon this time. By then couldnt sleep liao, so i just laid in bed till 7am. Sigh.. Think ill try to catch some sleep on the coach later.. Donno y i can never get a gd nights sleep when im on hol! Lol.. Later at 10 well be gg to suzhou.. Jacky says will be colder there.. Think i better put on my scarf lol..

(~9 plus pm)
Whoa just came back fr a massage session. This was my first ever visit to a massage centre lol. It's supposed to be the most famous massage centre in suzhou, which offers 2 kinds of massage-body n foot. jacky recommended tat we try the the foot one, which turned out to be quite painful for me. Think cos my muscles were too tense n i wasnt used to having my feet massaged lol. Ha the lady attending to my bro actually thought he was my elder bro ha! Oops either he looks too old or i look too young hehe. Then this morning when we reached Suzhou, we visited a silk factory where we watched a fashion show. Jacky said Suzhou women v pretty but no leh, so far havent really seen any pretty ones haha. The models who did the fashion show only so-so haha. Think there was only 1 who looked like a beauty to me lol. Tmr well be heading to hangzhou, another "mei nu" place haha. Erm think also hard to find real mei nu there bah haha.

Day 3 (6/12/06, ~10 plus am)
Yay on our way to hangzhou now. So far, the trip has been quite enjoyable. Wa im amazed at how much china has improved over the last few yrs. The last time i visited mainland china was in june 2000, when we went hk n shenzhen. Then, the toilets n streets were still quite unsightly (11 yrs ago when i went beijing they were even worse!), but now everywhere's as clean as in sg! Oh the food's gd too. Now i noe y Liting fell in love with china after her 1st visit there 1 or 2 yrs ago haha. China has certainly changed tremendously, so much more advanced then yrs ago. Im beginning to like it myself haha. Well, another 1 plus hour till we reach hangzhou. Jacky said its the 3rd most scenic place in china ha. Wa the definitely must take more pics liao lol.

(~9 plus pm)
Back at hotel liao hehe.. Wa today we visited a tea plantation n enjoyed a tea-tasting session hehe.. The plantation is called Mei Jia Wu n produces the famous Xi Hu Long Jing Cha. An interesting thing abt this plantation is tat everyone living on it has the surname Mei! Haha.. Then we had dinner at a restaurant near the plantation, following which we watched a performance at a place of interest called Song Cheng (something like our failed Tang Cheng lol) Tmr we'll be taking a cruise along Xi Hu.. Wa we passed by it today.. Its magnificant! Hmm was Hero filmed there? Lol.. Tmr ill ask the guide hehe.

Day 4 (7/12/06, ~8 plus pm)
Hmm.. While China itself has improved a lot, its ppl unfortunately hav failed to 'improve'. Most ppl still go ard spitting wherever they like n non-smoking signs r practically ignored. On our cruise along Xi Hu, we had the misfortune of having a huge group of tourists fr donno which part of china on the same ferry as us. We purposely sat in the non-smokin section but guess wat? Some of them heck cared the sign n smoked here! A guy lagi best, spitted on the carpet! In front of me some more! Wa lao think we'll really hav to wait a few more yrs before china becomes more developed n its ppl more educated n well-travelled, before their behaviour changes. Long time ago when Singapore was still a developing nation, its people were like that too so can't really blame them bah. Hmm.. Im actually getting sick of the food liao somehow lol. Too much of sth gd really has adverse effects instead. Now is like every meal also the same kind of dishes.. Sian liao lol.. Cant wait to eat at Jacks or Swensons again haha. Oh ya been shopping quite a bit hehe.. Bought a bag, a bracelet n some food hehe.. Tmr we're gg back to shanghai for sightseein n more shopping haha!

Day 5 (8/12/06, ~3 plus pm)
Hehe now on the way to shanghai.. Will be reaching in abt 1 plus hours time. After checking out of our hotel, we headed towards Xi Tang, a small village 1/1/2h fr Hangzhou, where we had lunch first. Been raining since morning n its freezing outside, abt 7 degs C. Initially was wondering wat was there to see at a village but guess wat? Turns out tat Xi Tang is the place where tom cruise's mission impossible 3 was filmed! Remember the scene where he was running thru a narrow corridor decorated with red lanterns, desperately trying to save his wife? It was filmed here ah! Woo hoo! Haha. Took loads of pics of cos haha. Oh n actually there were lots of things to see at the village, many small shops selling stuff tat were super cheap hehe. Well, most things in china r cheap, as long as they r not found in shopping malls haha. Bought a shawl n some muffins tat were super delicious! Yawn.. K time for a short nap before we reach hehe.

Day 6 (9/12/06, ~8 plus pm)
Wa today's super duper cold! Abt 7 degs C plus strong winds! Was quite relaxing today. Stopped over for a photo along 'Shanghai Tan', which is actually sth like our esplanade by the bay lol. Since it was so cold, we only stayed for a while before quickly pushing back up to the coach haha. Then we went to a shopping area where there were rows of shophouses. Cos the selling of imitation gds has been banned in china since early this yr, most of those shops tat sell imitation gds had to go 'underground' lol! Best lor Jacky took us thru a narrow deserted street into a small room where such gds were sold. Quite scary man.. Like something ull see in black society movies ha. But we bought some of the gds haha cos they looked exactly like the real ones but at prob 1/10 the original price! Sigh din manage to buy any clothes cos the shops all selling winter clothing! Yeah tmr gg hm liao...

Yup, tat's abt all for my trip haha. Miss Hangzhou man.. Xi Hu is soooooo beautiful! The scenery there is indeed magnificant. V peaceful place also. Think it'll be nice to be able to take a long stroll along the lake, breathe in the fresh air and enjoy the cool breeze. Wah maybe shall do that after my retirement muahaha.

09:26 pm: Leaving on a jet plane...
Hey peeps, will be in Shanghai from tmr till 10th dec hehe. Cya all back in Singapore for the dinner gathering! So is it settled on 12th dec? haha. Just send me an sms abt the dinner ah and I'll be there hehe. Happy Belated Bday to Jiehang and an early Happy Bday to Dantong!

Yay! Finally bought the Richard Clayderman compliation CD lol. Been wanting to buy it since donno when. Saw it on display at Sembawang Music at Bukit panjang plaza yesterday and bought it! hehe. Only $29.90 for 8 CDs ah. Think it's produced in China tat's y so cheap lol.

Since sch ended on 27 Nov, I've been bored to tears staying at home all day, other than during the days when I went out. Hiaz, during sch term sian, cos so many assignments to do, then hols liao also sian cos NOTHING to do! Aiyo I think I'm hard to please hahahaha. Luckily tmr going Shanghai liao hehe. Finally SOMETHING to do-- shopping! hahaha. Oh yes and more importantly, photo-taking LOL. Think I better think of new poses liao instead of showing the "victory" sign all the time hahaha.

Yippee! 10 more hours till I board the plane!=)

03:48 pm: Twisted fingers
Bought a guitar yesterday and have been trying to learn how to play it on my own, using a "guitar for beginners" website. Was extremely excited at having finally bought my guitar (after 2 weeks of procrastinating) but my excitement turned to frustration cos I can't seem to get the chords right and switch my fingers between chords quickly enough. WHY IS IT SO DAMN HARD TO LEARN THE GUITAR??? I think my patience is running out and my fingers are getting all twisted up from all the practising (which seem to be going nowhere!!)Dantong and Sandra, how did you learn it the last time? Free to teach me some day? Really can cry lor. Think I need to train myself to have more patience in learning this darn thing lol.

Eh Mohshan, you really having a good life in Sydney hor. Don't seem to ever hear you complaining abt work lol. Still have time to plan a 12-day holiday in Tazmania?!? Wah, so Trax is going to fly over to join you ah.. Ain't that gonna cost him a bomb haha. How much is your whole trip anyway? Remember to take pics for us to see hor. Taz sounds like a rather exotic place to visit lol.

Yeah the hols are coming. Any of you going anywhere? Hope to meet up with u gals soon!=)

09:43 pm: Updates...
Hehe it's been a long time since I last updated my blog. As usual, I'm just being lazy lol.

Yay tks Liqi for organising next wed's dinner hehe. I'm looking forward to meeting you gals since it's been quite some time since we last met up. Hmm.. Haven't thought of where to dine. Was thinking of Italian food haha. Anyone has any good suggestions? hehe.

Celebrated my bday last tuesday with my bf. Immediately after Educational Psychology class at 4.30pm, we took a train to Causeway Point, where we had dinner at one of my fav restaurants, Jack's Place. One of the best moments of the dinner happened when I came back from the washroom after the main course and I was waiting for my dessert. Was wondering why my dessert was taking forever to come (cos my bf's had already arrived) when a waiter brought me a piece of cake with a lighted candle and the Happy Birthday song was played! My bf had actually taken the chance when I was in the washroom to ask the waiter to specially prepare the candle and song for me haha. Hehe I thought it was a rather sweet surprise lol. Luckily I went to the washroom then haha.

Then yesterday had a swell time ktving with 5 of my classmates, two of whom were Meiyin and the good-looking guy hehe. There's a promotion from now till the 31st Oct, whereby if you make a booking the day before, u get to enjoy a discounted rate for KLunch. So each of us ended up paying only $8.50 instead of the usual $11! And guess what? We even sang from 11am to 3.40pm cos the waiters didn't bother to chase us out until then! Wah really value for money hehe. Meiyin says we should book one of the rooms in the student hub at NIE and hold a KTV session lol! Great idea btw hahaha.

Think NIE life's so far so good. Made many new happening frens who will stop at nothing to organise at least one event every week. We even had a mooncake festival celebration 2 tuesdays ago on the 3rd October! Had a fun time eating mooncakes, taking photos and playing charades lol. Loads of assignments due in 2 weeks time but heck care lah haha. Will do them next week which is a term break and I'll only have 2 days of sch hehe!

04:51 pm: The Banquet
Watched The Banquet last Thursday! Liqi, I agree with you that it's more of an artistic film than just a sword-fighting period movie. Kind of has the "Hero" feel. And yes I like Daniel Wu too!!! hahaha. But I think he looks better in modern films hehe.

I quite enjoyed the film though it's not my usual fav kind of action movie. Somehow I starting to appreciate films of other genre. Think I'm becoming more cultured? hahaha.

"Although almost every scene wows and tingles your senses ie. the opulence of the banquet decorations, the awfully heavy and tinkly gold jewellery adorning the Empress like christmas ornaments… There really isn’t a particular climax, rather there is a beauty melancholy underlying the entire film."

Indeed, Liqi, this para that you wrote in your blog aptly summarises the mood of the entire film! The setting was elaborate, the costumes oozing with elagance and the atmosphere was electrifying. Thought the sword-play between Zhang Ziyi and Daniel Wu was graceful and rather captivating. Must admit that Zhang Ziyi is a fantastic actress (although I can't stand her sometimes when she takes on those bitchy roles:p) who played the role of a conniving, power-hungry, love-starved Empress brillantly. Daniel Wu however I felt was so-so. Think his role didn't really allow him to portray much. Or rather, I felt he hardly appeared on screen ha.

On the whole, impressive cast, excellent screen play, great music!

04:18 pm: Wala Wala what lah?? LOL
So for the first time in my life, I visited a pub. Must admit it was quite a refreshing experience, and contrary to what I had expected, it was smoke-free! Heng ah haha. If not I would have suffocated during that few hours there lol. Well, not exactly entirely smoke free lah, only the second level was smoke-free (and air-conditioned). The prices for the drinks were exorbitant though, 14 bucks for a small glass of cocktail/wine! But certain drinks were 1-1 so I guess those were more worth it? No wonder my mum says pubbing's a waste of money; so much cheaper to buy ur own liqueur and drink it at home haha. One BOTTLE of red wine in the supermarket costs something like 15 bucks? LOL. Anyway the music was great, the company was great so on the whole, ok lah haha.

Oh Sandra, u din miss much by not coming haha. Only something like 4 or 5 guys turned up and the good-looking one didn't come, so no loss HAHAHAHA.

Managed to "escape" at around 11pm lol. Best lor, was prepared to leave at 10.30pm but was "forcefully" detained by Meiyin lol. Well, yeah 10.30pm was kinda early but then I didn't want my bf to miss the last train home what, since he wanted to see me home first. N actually I was kind of tired liao since I'd been in school since 9.30am. Donno how come the rest of them still had the energy to party till dawn LOL. Just as I was about to "ren ming" and be prepared to take a cab home at 1am, I somehow managed to "break free" and escape haha. Can't even remember how it all happened haha, I only remember being pulled and pushed around ha! Yikes, think Meiyin's gonna "kill" me liao on Monday haha.

04:11 pm: Updates..
Whoa it's been a long while again since I last blogged. Guess I'm not such an avid blogger as most of you lol.

Well, life's been really busy all of a sudden. New modules have started, new assignments are pouring in and not forgetting those endless project meetings. Argh, I'm starting to get stressed out liao. Last week was especially horrible. Everything seemed to have gone wrong:

Sunday afternoon--my bro destroyed this lovely balloon teddy bear my bf made me
Monday--got back a math test for which I only got 6/10 (Ya man wat the??? It was supposed to be damn easy!)
Tuesday morning--quarreled with my bro (aftermath of the destroyed teddy bear incident? lol)
Wednesday--long day in school from 8.30am to 7pm non-stop with only a 1h break in between
Thursday--another long day from 9.30am to 6pm (cos had math project discussion)
Friday--my mum cancelled a lunch appointment (which I was looking forward to!) with me at the cos something cropped up at the last min

So basically felt like crying every single day of last week. Think I could have joined some contest looking for the person who could "drop tears" in the fastest time possible. I would have set the record with 1 s LOL. Anyway, the week's over liao thank goodness! I've been in better spirits liao since yesterday. Can't wait for my math proj presentation to be over tomorrow. That stupid ppt has been taking up most of my time and killing most of my brain cells.

Oh ya best, Meiyin has been "psychoing" me to go Wala Wala this coming Thurs night. When she first asked me I was like "What the heck is Wala Wala??" And yeah she laughed ha. Said is some pub at HV and even emailed my whole math class asking pple to go! I've been "forced" to go liao since I'm like supposedly one of her "best" frens in NIE LOL (Yeah she even smsed me last night to emphasise I was not to "fly my aeroplane" and back out pengz) Sandra wanna come along? Can get to meet my male classmates?;) (Eh got one good-looker leh) hahahaha!!

06:15 pm: life's an emotional roller coaster
I realised I'm not a strong person emotionally. Yesterday afternoon I was depressed because some pple made me depressed and today I'm depressed (+ guilt-ridden) cos I made someone depress. Yeah, guess I'm easily affected by the actions/words/feelings of other pple. Hope tomorrow'll be a brighter day for me.

10:56 pm: updates..
Wow, it's been a long while since I last blogged. It's not that I've been too busy to blog since sch at NIE started (on the contrary, life's been damn slack LOL) but just lazy to do so haha. Sometimes I have the urge to pen my thoughts yet when I'm at the comp, this feeling of laziness washes over me and I think to myself, "aiya sian lah, blog tomorrow" and that tomorrow never comes lol. Anyway, I've finally "forced" myself to update this "on-the-verge-of-extinction" blog and here goes...

For the past 3 weeks, my weekends have begun on weds (oh ya except for the week of National Day when my weekend started on Tuesday LOL!!) so life's been a bed of roses (minus the thorns) for me haha. Well, if u are starting to envy me and think life in NIE is heaven, here's the catch: my honeymoon period ends on 27th Aug cos tat's when lessons for my 4 remaining modules are finally going to start and when all my assignment datelines are coming in. My entire Sept and Oct are packed with datelines and so before the weight of these "endless" assignments come crushing down on me, I better enjoy the rest of this mth while I can lol.

Hmm although life's gonna be busy in a couple of weeks, I believe it can't get any worse than life in NUS lol. At least I understand every lecture here in NIE and they are so much more interesting! Everything I'm studying here beats the boring and demoralising maths lects in NUS. Especially LOVE the educational psychology 1 module that I'm taking now (it's a compulsory module for all student teachers btw and ya, that's what we are called-- student teachers lol) cos we get to discuss various issues ranging from brain cognition to psychosocial development of human beings during different stages of life to problems faced by adolescents. Somehow when we discuss these issues, invisible antennas branch out from my head I start to link them to what I've seen/experienced before in my life and I feel I'm beginning to understand myself and others more. Hmm yet ironically sometimes I feel I'm suffering from an identity crisis and thinking too deeply into things. Aiya what the heck, I turning psychotic liao LOL. Should have majored in psychology. Think it's sth I can relate better too rather than math haha.

Yeah tmr free day again hehe. And of course I won't be rotting at home but going out for a day of fun hehe.

06:00 pm: Day 4...
Another busy day. Morning was still quite slack lah until 1110 when I had to attend contact time, then 1210 to 1310 sat in for a normal tech sec 1 sci class and from 1310 to 1410 sat in for a sec 3 express A maths class. Again my phys mentor asked me to spend the first 15 min talking to the sec 1 NT class while he went to get worksheets and that 15 min was hell for me man. Ok lah not TAT bad actually.. class was noisy and some boys were shooting one another with rubber bands and some girls were chatting among themselves but tat was abt it haha. Some of the guys sitting in front were quite nice and responded to qns i asked them pertaining to their ccas, hobbies, world cup etc. Basically getting them to ask me abt my sch life was useless lah since they aren't interested in studying in the first place so I had to switch to asking them qns lor haha. When my mentor finally came back I complained to him abt the boys who were shooting rubber bands haha. They got a mini scolding and were told to apologise to me for misbehaving lol. They did lah and din defy or anything so I guess they aren't TAT bad lol.

The sec 3 exp A maths class was quite fun.. was my first time sitting in in a maths class during this sch exp prog. The students were very responsive and asked a lot of qns! Best ah my maths mentor havent even finished teaching a section and one girl raised her hand to ask how to do one of the exercises at the back liao lol. Think maybe cos they are the best class tat's y the students more onz. Yeah good good i hope I'll get to spend a lot time teaching this class full of guai students who are sooo onz abt maths!! hehe.

Ha best I actually corrected my mentor when he made a mistake in his working lol. Actually spotted the mistake liao the moment he made it but felt paiseh to raise my hand and correct him on the spot.. thought maybe some bright student would spot it and correct him instead but none did! So when he was done with solving the qn and asked the students to check the ans at the back of the textbook, he was surprised that his ans was wrong. I waited a while to see if anyone would spot his mistake but really no one did so I bo bian raised hand to tell him lor haha (to save him the trouble of checking thru his working again lol) My mentor best ah, laughed it off, said, "oh yaya it's x^2 why I wrote x, see so stupid right!" Then he added, "I purposely made the mistake see who will spot it!" haha common trick tat teachers use hor haha. The class went "yaya..." and one girl remarked, "u give the trainee teacher a chance to show us how good she is right" LOL!! Damn gao xiao lah this class lol. I can't wait to teach them sth hehe. Hope they bombard me with more qns haha. I'll be more than glad to explain to them haha.

Hmm tmr early in the morning after flag raising I'll be sitting in for a sec 2 normal acad E maths class ah.. hopefully they'll show some enthusiasm towards maths too then lol.

09:27 pm: Days 2 and 3...
Yesterday was damn sian. Din have anything to do at all lol. Listened to this teacher Mr Lim, who's in charge of our welfare, talk abt his experiences teaching in neighbourhood schs and then to 2 PE teachers who talked to us abt discipline stuff and CCAs. Yeah tat was all. The rest of the time I spent surfing the net, chatting on MSN and playing pinball LOL.

Today however was super hectic.. well at least from 1210 to 1515 lol. Morning was pinball and msn as usual but after lunch, my "nightmare" started lol. Went to sit in for 2 physics classes back to back from 1210 to 1310, then from 1310 to 1430. The first class was a sec 4 phys/chem class and my mentor Mr Chin best ah, asked me to spend the first 15min talking to the class while he went to photostat some worksheets for them (and took the chance to eat snake a bit also lol). So yeah, I was bombarded with qns by this class of warm and frenly students who were so excited over having such a young and pretty teacher (HAHAHA) sit in for their lesson. They asked me all the usual expected stuff like which sec sch i was from, which jc, wat subjs I was teaching... Oh they were quite excited when I told them I took french for A levels and some of the girls kept asking me to say stuff in french lol. I obliged and said some crap which I later realised wasn't structually correct (LOL!) but they were impressed enough and went "wahhh" hahaha.

Oh ya I also talked to them abt scholarships and teaching as a career haha. MOE shd give me commission for helping them promote teaching lol! They were quite interested in knowing more abt them also and one even asked if there are scholarships available after O'levels lol. Wah good good... I love their attitude towards studying! These are the kind of students I'd really love to be able to teach for the rest of my teaching career haha.

Then the next class i went to was a sec 3 triple sci class who was supposed to have lab session. Again my mentor asked the class to ask me qns while he set up the expts they were supposed to do! So best lor i basically repeated my whole life story to them haha. This class was quieter than the sec 4 class, only one guy sitting at the back of the class who kept asking me qns haha! Best ah even asked if I was attached lol! Then I was like "aiyo y ask this kind of qn? Pls ask sth related to studies and sch" and i asked, "so, would u all like to noe more abt jc life?" lol. These students ah, always ask the same kind of personal qns lol. Expected liao haha.

The lab session supposed to end at 1410 but best lor, it dragged till 1430! In the end I had no time to take a break and had to rush for a meeting which started at 1430 argh. It was a meeting for this small group of students involved in the statistical poster competition thingy organised by NUS stats and applied prob dep which my maths mentor asked me to attend (cos he's in charge of these students). This comp's quite fun actually, not very maths related as I thought it would be lol. Just need to think of a suitable topic, do some surveys to get the stats and present them in an A1 poster. Guess I'm supposed to help them along lor. Shd be fun I guess haha.

These 2 weeks will be more observations for me. Then I'll have to teach liao. Sigh got to teach sec 1 NT phys and sec 3 exp phys. My mentor asked "how's ur kinetic theory?" and I was like "err wat's tat ah?" LOL. Im supposed to teach kinetic theory to a sec 3 class lor. Ha I'll try my very best to avoid being taught the topic by the students themselves then HAHA.