My cold sore

is getting better. Work officially starts tomorrow and there are butterflies in my tummy. It will be a long day tomorrow, and it all starts at 8am. It will only end at 6pm, then I gotta make my way to church for MM. The next day will start at 9:30am. Phew. I'm thankful for the timings though coz once school officially begins, and the students stream in, work will start at 7am. Need to adjust to that timing again. Sigh.

Persevere Renie!

Totally lost

about anything that might be going on in my new workplace. It's getting more nerve wrecking as the days draw closer and closer. The cold sore that descended upon me is not making things any easier too... Really pray for His divine intervention... for peace and calmness.

Thank God for Menghan and Weiwen who prayed for me after service today. Thanks guys, it means a lot to me.

May God give me wisdom to handle whatever comes my way, courage to face the working world again, and compassion for the people who interact with me everyday.

Got back my results today...

Thank God... and its miraculous that I did so much better this sem than last sem. Hahaha...

Just ended church camp yesterday. Lots happened... including a saga that landed Dearie with 4 stitches on the right little finger. Long story... but he's fine now... just that he needs to be good and take his medicine regularly. It's an enjoyable camp overall though. :)

Woots!

Passed my advanced theory on that same day but didn't blog about it yet. Haha... Have been quite bored for the past few days but just couldn't be bothered to blog too.

So... my drving test will be on 24 March... sigh... lots more money to go out of my pocket...

Will be going to try on my gown on 22 Dec... guess that's the most interesting thing to look forward to... other than Jane and Shuyi returning from USA on the 16th.

Well, off to church now!

Was busy the whole of last week coz of induction programs. Finally... the holiday has officially started!!!

But I have an Advanced Theory Test tomorrow... haha. I'll study for it later. Lol.

Sigh... Jane and Shuyi have left for US already... and will only be back on the 16th... Sob. May they have a blessed trip.

Driving was a whole lot of fun today...

Drove around Downtown East... so ironic and nostalgic... Haha...

And I progressed to gear 4 finally. Changing gear is more smooth now and I'm getting the hang of stopping at red lights, although it's so irritating.

Finally I can start bumming around at home. No assignments, no stress, just bumming. Haha. Wheeee....

A load

off my shoulders...

The moment I completed the last word of my assignment... This burden just flew off my shoulders. Phew! A whole new journey awaits as I anticipate the first day I report to my new (but familiar) working place. :)

Woohoo!

Posting is out... Haha... Message me if you wanna know where I'm posted to. Not gonna reveal here... too public le :)

Thank God for the posting... Relieved.

Hehe... hehe... hehe...

Yay! The presentation

was a huge success with our lecturer impressed by us. :)

Well... I'm now left with a creative assignment to hand up by Monday... and I haven't started on it yet. The ideas are in my head but I just can't get lazy me to start on it. I guess I work well under pressure. Immense pressure. Haha. Well... back to psycho-ing myself to finish it up.

Another wave of

work to do... 1 presentation next Wed, and the powerpoint slides need to be submitted on Sun. Sigh... my group didn't even realize that we were so close to the presentation until today... sleepless nights coming up for the next few days. Individual assignment is due on 10 Nov... so after the presentation, no rest until I finish my final assignment. Then it's time for me to say goodbye to assignments... Hahaha....

Today's driving lesson was

fun but scary. I progressed to gear 3 :) Car stalled 2 times Haha, coz I was wearing my sports shoes which have very thick soles. So I didin't even realize that I was stepping on the accelerator!!! OMG. Yup, I have decided to wear my cute colourful shoes for all my driving lessons onwards :)

Mum's coming home from China

at 2:15 am tonight. Dearie's gonna go with me to bring her back home :) So is brother :) He sleeps late all the time anyway. Haha.

But the problem is... I gotta wake early the next morning coz got driving at 7:30 am... FUN! But... not enough sleep... sob. More $$ going outta my pocket.

Leaving for Reishaun's 1st month party soon. Woots! It has been a great weekend. Never felt so relaxed and fully recharged for this new week. Weekends should be like this. Haha.

Going to learn driving soon at

9 am!!! So exciting! Finally I have decided to part with my money and invest in getting a driving licence.

So stressed today

coz I couldn't finish my work on time... Thank God for Jane who is gonna help me hand up my work tomorrow so I do not have to make my way to Boon Lay just to hand in my work... Thanks Jane! :)

Then Kevin didn't come for MM today!!! I play A.Guit alone!!! Sob... Thank God the session went alright. I need to check out interesting licks so I can be more interesting... lol.

Had a great time

catching up with JC friends last night at Bugis. Twas a pity though that no photos were taken coz we were too caught up talking and laughing about the good ole daes... Sigh. Well... there was new blood added to the JC gang, and that's good! Right now, for my wedding dinner JC friends table, stands at a grand total of 8 people... we need to introduce more of our JC friends into this gang to make it 10... hahahaha.

Have finished most of my assignments already! It's really a honeymoon period now and I need to appreciate my free time now, before it's too LATE!!!

So exciting... made an appointment with my wedding package coordinator to select the gowns in January... Might bring it forward to December coz of practical reasons...

Okie, back to doing my assignment, it's due on Thursday, but I have no lessons on Thursday so there's no way I'm going to go to Boon Lay on Thursday just to hand in the darn assignment. Ha. So means... gotta chiong today!!!

The 5 love languages and Yo's birthday

Did a quiz i found on shuyi's blog... check out the result on the right panel. To take the quiz, click here.

Happy belated birthday Yiyou! You have reached a quarter of a century old... lol. God bless u and ur family. I'm glad we met for dinner with the gals, it was a good catch up and fun session. Hope u enjoyed urself. I am still sore about the KTV session haha... let's go ourselves and leave them out. Lol. I not so mean la... haha.

Thank God

that I have finished by horrendous 2000 word essay. Hope my Caucasian lecturer will understand my points. Lol.

Anyway, congratulations to Wenjie and Jinghua who will be officially Mr and Mrs Teo Boon Keat after their solemnization on 11 Oct 2008! So exciting! Looking forward to it... Yay! Of course... my pocket is gonna have a hole in it after their banquet, but oh well... :)

Time to continue working on my Math assignment. Suddenly feel the urge to finish my work. Wow... I have changed overnight. Yah RYGHT...

So confused

by all the ideas that I want to include in my essay. I am torn apart by "i-want-to-do-very-well" and "i-think-i-just-dun-care" attitudes. Right now I'm feeling sleepy... I will nap for a while. Snorez...

I feel so hypocritical

while writing my 2000 word essay. It really is terrible having to cough out ideas and words that I do not really mean. Duh. It's even worse that I do not have anything brilliant to write anymore after I managed the 500th word. Sigh.

Back to 'smoking' my way through the next 1500 words. Smoking is bad for health.

Focus focus!!!

I need to focus on my assignments due next week... Kept getting distracted by my Dreamweaver assignment which is due much later... Sigh...

Happy Childrens' Day

to all my previous students. Haha... Hope you guys had a great holiday although you are in the midst of your exams.

Leave your blog address in the comments or my shoutbox if you don't mind me putting a link to it k. I wanna remember u guys.

Presentation was successful! Thank God!

Really thank God for today's presentation. We had no rehearsal prior to the presentation and everything went through smoothly. I was preventing myself from falling sick before this presentation as I was feeling an onset of a sore throat already. Thank God that I did not get a full blown sore throat. In the midst of the presentation, I felt feverish and had a splitting headache. It seemed as though my body knows that the presentation is over, and that it can fall sick already. It took me the rest of the day to recover from the headache and feverish feeling.

On another note, went to the Singapore Flyer with Jane, Shuyi and Danny today. The flyer wasn't great at all... but the company was excellent. By God's grace, Shuyi's dad miraculously turned up at the Pan Pacific hotel while we were walking to the MRT, and gave us a lift home. Wow.

So for now... I will rest.

So many things to do...

but I dunno where to start. Sigh... I need to prioritize badly.

I need to complete my part for a group presentation on Monday. I need to complete my Dreamweaver coursework. I need to write a 2000 word essay. I need to do a lot a lot...

Looking at the current list I have above, I believe I need to concentrate on my group presentation first... ok I shall do that... and not get distracted by other stuff... haiz.

So far there has been nothing eventful

in my life... and that explains the lack of updates from 8 sept when I was crazy over Sungha Jung. But I still am crazy over his guitar skills.

Except that I went for dinner at Ikea wif Janeee, Yimin and Dearie yesterday. Poor Yimin was 2 hours late coz her colleague decided to take MC and her boss told her to stay for OT. Poor gal.

Off to school now... meeting wif Joanne later in the day for math project.

More Sungha Jung! Talented Korean kid!

Simply amazing, inspirational... good to listen in the morning...

When I heard this... indescribable... feel closer to God too. Dunno why... but it is so. Simply breath-taking music. Enjoy.

It's too fast...

the holidays pass too fast for comfort. Have been sleeping a lot for the past 3 days... I need to get back my rhythm before I get too tired for school on Monday...

Trying to come up with ideas on what to do in my presentation on Tues. It's hard to sum up my 10 week experience in 5 min... woah, huge challenge. Overall, I had a pleasant experience compared to my compatriots. Hehe... Really... thank God...

Ok back to planning for my 5 min presentation. Bored...

Had a great catch-up session

with Ruth, Yasi, Grace and Dearie yesterday. Twas a pity the Ruth had to leave early though... And yes... she wasn't that sotong after all :p

Unfortunately... although I brought my camera... silly me forgot to fish it out for photos!@#!@ How irritating... so... means we need to meet again!!! Hahaha...

YAY!!!

The camp is OVER!!! OVER!!! So OVER!!! Haha... Going out soon to Aikit's house for a gathering... BBQ! Yay!

Finally.... HOLIDAY!!! Meeting Yasi, Ruth and Grace tmr for catching up... Yay!!!

Anyway... Ruth... if u r reading this... pls dun be sotong... it's 4 pm at Bugis MRT control station... dun hide in some toilet later we all cannot find u... hahahahahaha.

Had quite a lot of fun with

the kids in the "camp" today... how can we even have the cheek to call it a camp when there are only 10 sign ups... LOL. But... we still did. Muahahahaha! My segment is on tomorrow, pray that it goes smoothly. Pray that it will be interesting... at least we tried to make it as interesting as possible by making ourselves look silly first. As usual, Renie Beanie decides to be as silly as possible so that others will follow along and make the day more fun. Hahahahah!!!!!!!

Thank God for today... went to Meritus Mandarin to confirm the dates and all... Yup... it should be on 16 Nov 2009. Phew! More planning and $$-draining on the way.

It's Teachers' Day today...

and I have to go to Commonwealth to complete the GESL project!@!? Crap... Same for tomorrow... Sigh... Hope it goes through smoothly and we can complete it in one piece. Yay... then on Wed... it will be holiday holiday holiday!!! Gotta remember to watch my online lecture too... opens today... better be a good student. Haha...

Dum dee dum...

Added some photos in Friendster... go see... Some photos with the 3n1 guys I didn't add... will just keep k... Haha...

Happy Teachers' Day!

So touching today! My students gave me a big surprise by baking a cheesecake. The best part was that... we were told that... there was not supposed to be any food in the celebration. Watever la! Damn nice can... Lazy to upload photo.. haha... I took a photo of the blueberry cheesecake. Then there was the big card! Encouraged by their words :) Will strive to be a better teacher... I promise!

I know a lot of you are reading this okay!!! Lol. So, 3N1... thanks for all the memories... and the delicious cake... and the pretty card... and of course... not forgetting all those who came up to me with cards n gifts... yes I really appreciate it. :)

It's time to reflect...

after everything has ended.

How can I make my lessons interesting? More precisely, how can I make A.Maths lessons more interesting? It's hard (or almost impossible) to find real life applications for A.Maths, coz they are simply beyond the level of the students (sometimes even myself... geez). I need to search harder for interesting A.Maths applications and usage... coz I really feel the students' boredom during the lessons. How do I expect them to be interested when I am bored myself?

Anyway, I'm not very on-the-ball in looking for real life applications for E.Maths either... Lol... Too much effort required... And time does not permit either. Why... why must lessons be so hectic? I want my students to enjoy, to appreciate the beauty... but I need to appreciate it myself first. I have to transform... transform into Ms Real-Life Application. Lol. Zzz...

On a lighter note, took photos with my students today! Haha... it was fun! Not gonna post them here though... hehe. Actually felt quite sad during the last lesson... but didn't wanna show it. Yeah... me being trying-to-be-cool gal. Duhz. Wanted to tell them a lot of things. Wanted to tell them that I'll miss them... but Renie just couldn't do it... coz knowing myself, silly emotional myself... I had to hold the words back. Didn't manage to get much out except that they should rely on themselves to succeed and not depend on how good their teachers are. Coz... that was how I was... Bad habit. Renie!!! Depend on God and yourself! Yeah, so the taking photos part was simply to while time away and take my mind off the sad part. Gosh... I'm so lame. Haha.

Glad that I can blog more today... coz feeling nostalgic already, and in a mood to blog. More relaxed... now that the stressful period is over... for now. God... guide me in the journey to come...

It's the holiday mood!

Woohoo! It's ending! It's ending! Practicum is ending! But... I'll miss the school, the colleagues, and of course... the students. Well... there are new things to expect and anticipate at new places. So, I shall look to the near future and not be saddened by events that will pass soon. God will bring me through.

Twas a

horrid, torrid, borrid, whatever-you-name-it day. Just not my day. Thank God it's over.

Everything had to go wrong at the same time... yes... Murphy's Law holds true. Lol.

The kids made it better, and so did God. End of story.

@**#@!@#*X@##Z#@

End of story.

Practicum is ending soon!

Yay!

Feeling troubled...

Dunno what to do... need to make decisions and I feel inadequate. May God show the way...

2 more observations to go!!!

Yay. Should all be on next week, coz I need to finish up some topics with the class this week.

Just ended another observation today

3 more to go. All to squeeze in 2 weeks. The last week I need to keep it free...

Wanted to do 2 this week so I can relax for the last few weeks, but due to some problems... I can't. Yup, so I shall make use of the long weekend to prepare for the 2 observations next week. Hehe.

Going to visit some hotels this Thurs... going to watch movie with Dearie tonight! Yay... I need a break badly.

Thank God that the observation went well. :)

Now in the midst of finding a wedding banquet location and deciding how many tables we want. Quite fun, but tiring. Got to make appointments with the various hotels to see their prices and venues too. So far so good. Went to our first hotel on Thurs night, but was disappointed by the service of the banquet manager, so we are most probably not taking that up. Yup, looking forward to visit more hotels, now that we have broken the ice by meeting 1 hotel already.

Observation tomorrow...

Haiz... Feeling tired of all the observations. They are staged anyway... we can't design such interesting lessons all the time... it will take up too much time and energy... well, I guess I need to sacrifice somehow... sigh.

Hoping all these will come to an end soon...

On a lighter note, Dearie and me are looking for a suitable venue to hold our wedding banquet... which will most probably be in late November or early December next year. Emailed several hotels and have received replies already. And... wow... I really need a lot of money... I'm sure, with hard work and God's providence, it will come :)

Off to continue writing my lesson plan... yes... torturous.

Anxious... Stressed...

I'm so stressed... by many things... by decisions I need to make... by waiting for others to make decisions... by the daily duties I need to fulfil...

I'm glad God has sustained me all this while.
I'm glad He put Dearie and many friends to counsel and advise me.
I'm sure He will make my path straight.
Since I was led to this part of my life by Him, He will guide me through :)

I need to have faith, perseverance, courage to face the upcoming events and decisions that need to be made. God... show me the way...

Halfway through my practicum...

Thank God... 5 more weeks to go :) Then it's back to NIE until November.

Just bought my bridal package today at a wedding fair at Vivo City. We have finally started planning and splashing on our marriage after 7 years of saving. Yes... the big day should be in December 2009.

Feeling so tired now after a whole day of work and haggling at the wedding fair. Out.

Feeling drained today...

Coz got a lot of things to do... and I stupidly forgot to bring my thumbdrive home!!! How am I going to work like this??? ARGH!!! God... help...

Was so stressed the past few days

that I skipped many meals... Need to gain back the weight I have lost... haiz.

Thank God that everything went smoothly and my observations went well. :)

It was His Calling that led me to where I am today. So He will bring me through the trials. :)

Just spent 3 hours

doing up a lesson for tomorrow... so tired now... having a headache and feeling giddy. Need to get away from the computer for a while and continue after dinner... Yup... lots of notes to prepare for the week...

Ups and Downs

Lots of ups and downs this week. Thank God that He brought me through the whole week and ended it with a bang. Twas a good day today :)

I learnt that my mood will affect my students, so I need to try to bring in an enthusiastic mood all the time. It's hard, but I'll try.

I need to concentrate

and stop procrastinating... Wasting too much time... Maybe coz I am so busy on the schooldays so I don't feel like doing anything on holidays. Hmmm... but that's an excuse...

God... give my discipline to start on my work...

Thank God for my results...

Just got my NIE results today... did quite well :) Thank God for my results...

Getting ill already though... think coz a few of the trainee teachers are also ill... staying in the same room with them the whole day does not help... so really need to pray for health. Can't afford to fall sick into my 3rd week of Practicum... There are 7 more weeks to go... Throat pain and flu coming...

Yay! Monday is holiday coz of Youth Day!!! Haha. But need to prepare a detailed lesson plan for my NIE supervisor by Tuesday, as he will be coming to observe me on 15th July and he wants the lesson plan 1 week prior to the observation. That's really a challenge coz I don't really know what I will be teaching on that day yet. See how... need to complete it by this weekend.

Had a wonderful day today...

Love the kids, love the job so far :) But still need to meet expectations for the Practicum... will try... but kids come first :)

Getting the hang of things....Thank God!

Yay... have completed some worksheets and notes which can last me about 2 weeks I guess. :) My supervisor's nice, so I'm really happy :)

I almost wanted to pull out of MM for the next 10 weeks coz I was so stressed for the first few days of school. Thank God that He let me see how things are running smoothly now, and guided me through some planning. Thank God I did not make the decision to pull out of serving MM. :)

Getting drained so early...

Guess I'm just not used to getting up so early yet... feeling very tired all day and drained. Need God's strength and refreshment. There is a lot of adapting to do...

There are a lot of things to learn in teaching. Many experienced teachers have told me that we must be firm when meeting a class for the first time. That will be a challenge for me and something that I will have to work on... in the meantime... I am preparing to address my classes for the first time on Monday. Lesson plans, worksheets and notes to be prepared... Getting stressed by all these things... but I guess that it will come naturally soon... I hope...

While in the midst of all the preparatory work, both mentally and emotionally, God will pull me through... :)

Came back on the 19th... and now facing the reality...

Have met my CTs today and they are nice people. But I'm not worried about the adults... more about the kids. Have been interacting more with adults for the past 2 years and I am worried about facing children. Well... I'll just haf to submit to God and persevere through. Sigh... havin a headache coz I'm not used to getting up so early yet...

I have posted photos of my Taiwan and HK trip in facebook. So do take a trip there if you are free. :)

Title-less post with a title... duh

Yippee... will be leaving for Taiwan tomorrow until 16 June, and HongKong from 17 to 19 June. Holiday before practicum starts on 23rd June when I'll be very very busy doing lesson plans just for the sake of grading. Sigh... I need to prepare myself for a very busy 10 weeks starting from 23rd June. May God lead and strengthen me during this trying period.

On another note, please pray for Yo's dad. Pray for strength and determination for him and for Yo too. May God bless their family and guide them during this difficult time. Yo, JIAYOU!

Last day in NIE

Haha... sounds scary right? Like I've quit or something. No la!!! I'm still excited about the teaching career and not giving up. Today is my last day in NIE, as I will be going to my Practicum school from 23rd June until end August. Yup... then I'll return to NIE from Sept to Nov for the last semester. Then that's it for NIE. Haha.

My blog is one year old

6th May 2007 was the first time I blogged. Now that look back at some of my previous posts... and reminiscing about the things that happened over the year... wow... a lot has happened.

God is good. He brought me through a lot of tough times... Sigh... Thank you God.

Am starting to

catch the holiday mood and starting to procrastinate again... The hardworking mood is creeping away... cannot like that... I have a presentation on Thursday and 2 lessons plans to hand up next week. Furthermore, I have a humongous Math Microteaching Individual presentation next week on Monday!!! That's stressful...

Tis a busy week for me... God help.

Thank God...

that 2 assignments were completed today.

that I went out with Mum for breakfast, lunch and shopping today.

that I bought 3 pairs of bermudas at a sale.

that I'm still in a hardworking mood.

that Dearie will be going with me for a holiday in June.

that MM went well last night.

that Shuyi finally got her present which Dearie and I got for her.

that Jane ate a free Ben and Jerry's ice cream cone which contains 90% fat.

that Liverpool lost... sob... SOB... so I'll be rooting for Man U in the Champions League Finals (although I usually don't want them to win), coz I hope Chelsea will lose. Hahahahahaha...

for everything that I have, that I am, that He gave.

Thank God.

In a hardworking mood...

Dunno why... but I thank God for this attitude that I am currently in. I feel like doing my assignments all the time. The mood for enjoyment and procrastination is simply not there at all... I wonder how long this can last. I pray that it will last until my assignments end. Haha.

Janeee... all the best for your observations ok.... May God watch over and guide you as you are being observed. No worries... you will get through it in one piece! :)

Something to look forward to

Yay... will be going to Taiwan from 9 to 16 June and then to Hong Kong from 17 to 19 June. Celebrate Dearie's graduation! This trip will be more of a sightseeing trip than shopping. Anyway, I don't like shopping, so this trip is gonna be lotsa fun!!! YAY!

Crazy week just ended...

Finished a silly presentation and handed up a humongous lesson plan today. Was quite disappointed with how the presentation turned out coz of lack of preparation. Spent a lot of time on my lesson plan for mathematics instead (which was definitely more important). Glad most of the hectic stuff is over... but I still have assignments to hand in every week until mid May, when I will be officially relieved from all assignments. Have 2 lessons plans to complete (both due in mid May), one more presentation on 5th May, and one additional math worksheet creation to hand up on 5th May too. Ok... I see that the coming week is quite hectic too... but will not be as bad as this week.

Somehow... I am starting to feel disillusioned about my service in MM... I wonder whether I am getting stagnant and comfortable. Anyway, recently MM decided to 'revamp' itself by making a record of latecomers on Wednesday's practices. It's a good move, but I wonder what will happen to those who are often late. Will they be told to leave MM? Suspension? I guess it's just the embarrassment and guilt that will prevent latecomers for the time being.

Well... yes, I will not deny that I am often late for Wednesday's practices. Somehow, I prefer to be late, than to be early and end up having to wait. Furthermore, the last few times... I was mugging until quite late, and by the time I got to the sanctuary, it's near to 8pm and I have not had any dinner. That's why I'm late, coz I go down to hawker centre to eat. I do not want to sound defensive here... but God is good, I don't think I will need to mug and work til so late on Wednesdays anymore for the time being. So, I believe I can be on time for practices!!! I mean... on time for pre-MM. Yay!

Thinking again... is pre-MM necessary? Hmmm... Ok the fellowship is good... but sometimes, it just ends up becoming a lamenting time... Yup, it's good to share with brothers and sisters... well... does that make pre-MM become a mini cell? Ok fine... I'm thinking too much. God says we need to submit to authority. Yes, I will submit to authority.

God please humble my heart and soul to serve you wholeheartedly. Let me not dwell and complain about minute matters. Show me a path...

Busy chiong-ing

another 1000 word essay due on Monday... have only written about 10% so far... hope to finish it by today... By lunch time! Hopefully... if not... dunno lor... tomorrow chiong again... haha.

My 2000 word essay is finally complete and ready to go!!!

Yay! Praise the Lord! Finally... the torturous 2000 word essay will be outta my hands by 3:30pm on 7 April. YES! YES! Really... it's like a huge rock off my shoulders... Now I can concentrate on 6 new assignments due in April... doesn't sound any better right? At least these assignments are more relevant to what I will be teaching in the near future... And I will be more willing to do these assignments than the sickening Educational Psychology 1 assignments. Haha... Thank God...

My thumbdrive played an April Fool's joke on me on 1st Apr...

After I typed about 400 words of my Psychology essay assignment, I decided to save the work in my thumbdrive (duh). Then there was a pop up that said saving was not possible because the file type is different. WHAT DIFFERENT!?!?!?! How can my Word document become another file type suddenly? But it's true... my word document got converted into a temp file!!! I thought that the word document was still there... so I deleted the temp file without checking. Well... u guessed it... my hard work was all GONE! OH NO!!! But oh well... I did panic a lot, then I thanked God. Coz if this had happened to me when my essay of 2000 words is done, then I'll really be crying.

While I was on the train... as I had my laptop with me... I tried to reproduce my 400 words... by the time I reached my destination, I reproduced almost half of it... Thank God. But I wasn’t as satisfied with it as the first time... sigh.

When I reached home, I inserted my thumbdrive into the desktop computer to re-confirm that the essay is really gone... then... then I saw the TEMP FILE!!! THANK GOD!!! I could not find it while I was on the train!!! Why did it suddenly appear when I got home!?!?!?! Yay!!! All my hard work is not lost...

Thank God the original essay is found...

Twas’ a bad April Fool’s joke...

Essay on Self-Esteem

Haiz... struggling to write an essay of 2000 words on self-esteem and whether schools should play a significant part in enhancing self-esteem of students. ARGH!!! Have been reading a lot of books and journals to be able to get an idea and also to reference them. The way they write is simply too profound for my puny pond of vocabulary. Zzz... The worst thing is that... it is due on 7th April!!! I'm done for... Sobbbbbbb....

No... must press on... MUST PRESS ON... Jiayou, jiayou, jiayou!

Let's see... what have I been doing all this time... Educational Psychology project, Educational Psychology project, Educational Psychology project and more Educational Psychology project!!! ARGH!!! Our presentation is on Monday, and I feel unprepared. Sigh... Anyway, we just gotta plough through and hope that God carries us through this...

Yay!!! Once Monday ends, I have one less project!!! But... there are 2 more presentations the following week!!! So... I still have to trudge on and focus on the 2 projects... ARGHHHH!!!!

David Archuleta - A breath of fresh air... really...

It's been long again

Too busy to blog... busy doing work, doing assignments. These apparently are more important to me than blogging right now... Full load week has begun and the first week has ended. It was fun, but real packed and tiring. I'll just need to persevere on... Tired... But loads to do.

Full load next week

Next week will be the start of the full load... I will have to travel to the other end of Singapore daily... haiz... Thank God, Mondays start at 1230, Tuesdays at 1130, Wednesdays at 1030, Thursdays at 1230 and Fridays... at 0830. So I will only have to worry about the Friday lessons where I have to leave home by 0615 to avoid the crowds and make sure I get to campus on time to eat breakfast and move off for class... oh boy...

Conjunctivitis

Yes... just seen the doctor... confirmed Red Eye... or Conjunctivitis. Here's a short description: Conjunctivitis (con·junc·ti·vi·tis) (commonly called "Pink Eye" or bloodshot eyes in the USA, "Red Eye" in the UK, is an inflammation of the conjunctiva (the outermost layer of the eye and the inner surface of the eyelids), most commonly due to an allergic reaction or an infection. Click here for a full description. Yucks.

I am sick...

Firstly, thank God my assignments are outta of my hands already. Have handed them up today and felt at peace with them. :)

After all the staring at the computer for my assignments, I realized that my eyes are watery and red for the past 3 days. I thought I had insufficient sleep... but I think there's an infection already... can't be I look at the computer for one hour and my eyes are bloodshot rite... something is wrong. Will go see doctor tomorrow morning... haiz.

Stupid Assignment!!!

After grappling with APA (American Psychological Association) referencing style for hours (yes HOURS), I finally had a breakthrough on its usage methods. Thanks Jane for entertaining my impromptu call last night. It did help me :)

Out of 40 marks of my assignment, I have finally completed 12 marks of it. ARGH! Sounds bad right? Especially since it is due on Friday!!! But... the rest of the marks constitute the practical application of the theories, so I'm not so worried. At least I have completed the theoretical part of stating out the theories that I perceive, and explaining each aspect of it. Somehow, I feel that my writing has suddenly become more philosophical at this instance. Correct me if I'm wrong... HAHAHAHAHA!

Ok... I'm off to eat lunch, then go to campus for group meeting!!! ARGH... I prefer to stay at home and continue my assignment though... but since MOE is paying me to go to campus, I need to be there. If not... will get warning letter. YES! One unexplained absence will "garner" a warning letter immediately the next day. VERY FAST!

It's been a long time since I've blogged...

Too busy eating CNY goodies and bumming around at Grandpa's place. Haha. Also busy doing my assignments.

Silly me realized that I started doing an assignment that was due much later than another which is due TOMORROW. ZZZ. And I found the stupid forum that I was supposed to make a posting during the CNY week!!! ARGH! I'm LATE!!! Realized that the forum cannot be found if you go through the main link. Have to go through a link called communication, then group pages, then click on my tutorial group! How would I know that!!!?!?!?! Thank God that I stumbled upon it and found out that a lot of people have not posted as well... PHEW. Just posted my views there. Here is it for your reading pleasure. Haha.

At-Risk Students:

If a student is scheduled for remediation, he might be demoralised. This might seem to be a broadcast to the rest of the classmates that he is not as good as the rest of them. To avoid such branding, remediation might need to be reduced to a large extent. An alternative could be to give the student a leadership role in the class, such that he might feel some responsibility to do well to be able to be fit to lead his classmates.

I personally feel that the teacher has to make a lot of changes to the teaching style for such at-risk students. The lessons need to be more engaging and authentic, in order to capture the attention of the at-risk student. The student needs a reason to sit at his desk during the lesson and not drift away in his own thoughts. The teacher plays a very important role in making sure that the student is interested in the lesson. I believe that appropriate use of ICT will be a very good way to keep these students engaged in learning.

Making learning fun makes for good learning:

Yes, I agree that learning has to be "fun". We usually remember teachers who made the effort to inject humour into their lessons. That just shows how influential such teachers can be and that their lessons are more memorable.

However, has anybody thought about what "fun" is to them? Is your definition of "fun" similar to the students'? Some people might think that playing Sudoku is fun, but it is not to me though :) So we can see that "fun" is relative, and thus we need to keep abreast of new technology that is evolving ever so quickly, such that we can capture the students' attention with new teaching methods and surprises. We will not be able to please everybody in everything that we do, so we just need to be adaptable and introduce different methods in different situations.

Somehow

I'm always drifting in and out of the Procrastination syndrome. Haha... yes I have been procrastinating yet again for the most of today. I need to sit down and do some constructive work.

Peace out!

Yay!

I have finished the 2 readings that I have been putting off for many weeks already. Haha. Ok now I need to buck up on my assignments already... Kampatei!

Procrastination sets in

so I need to stop staying at home already. There are simply too many "unconstructive" things to do at home. For example, watching TV, playing computer games, playing the guitar, STONING etc etc... Haha.

I am more "diligent" when I'm in campus. I am totally behind time already and assignments are staring to creep in. Datelines are fast approaching (like Chinese New Year. Ha.) so I need to start on them fast.

God... help.

Twas an eventful day

Was involved in one accident and heard of another accident all in one day... yesterday.

Dearie was driving me to NIE yesterday around 1 pm. We were on the PIE where there was a jam coz of an accident up front. While we were moving slowly along the first lane, read properly hor, FIRST LANE! On our right (YES!!! On the RIGHT!!!), a JB car suddenly banged into the right side screen. Dearie said he saw the side mirror fly over his car onto the third lane! The JB car did not intend to stop and solve the problem. The car behind us started to horn, so did Dearie. But we were wondering why the car behind us was horning though, since it wasn't his side mirror which flew. Thank God that there was a jam, so the JB car had no choice but to stop. Dearie asked the driver of the JB car (let's address this guy as Chong) what happened. Chong said he couldn't brake in time. Ya right! Anyway, the car behind us also stopped. Then I saw that the right side mirror of the car behind was dangling! Wow!!! Chong actually hit 2 cars coz he couldn't BRAKE IN TIME!!!! YA RIGHT! After some negotiations in the heavy rain (yes it was raining), Mr J (the driver of the 2nd car) said that we should go to a workshop right away. He was afraid that Chong would run away if we drag on for too long. So all 3 cars drove to Comfort Delgro at Pandan loop. SLOWLY. Coz dearie's side mirror was gone, Mr J's side mirror was dangling, and Chong's left and right mirrors were both damaged. Of course la! Chong's left mirror hit Dearie's and Mr J's right mirror. Chong's right mirror was damaged by the trees beside the first lane, DUH! How can anybody be so dumb to try and create another lane in the FIRST LANE?!?!?! Anyway before we all decided to go to Comfort Delgro, Mr J called the police, who REFUSED to come to the accident scene, coz there were no injuries. WOW! How helpful!
In the end, Chong had to pay both dearie and Mr J the damages (DUH!). But he said he could only afford a certain sum. After a long long negotiation, the sum of money was determined and everybody left for their businesses. Dearie then sent me to NIE, with no right side mirror. It was already 4 pm. The whole saga lasted for 3 hours!

In the afternoon, dearie decided to go to a police station near his workplace to report the matter. A colleague offered to drive him there. As they were leaving the carpark, a lorry reversed into the colleagues' car!!! Oh no... the damage wasn't so bad, and the car was still "drivable". So they still went to the police station after dearie's colleague negotiated some terms with the lorry driver. Dearie actually felt very bad, and felt that he was a jinx to his colleague. Haiz. Dearie, you cannot think of it that way... At least, God protected us in all the situations. We escaped without a scratch.

Yes... twas an eventful day... yesterday.

Drink one cup of coffee

and you need to drink 4 more cups of water to hydrate yourself again. Yup... that's explains why I always feel thirsty after drinking tea/coffee. So I will not be drinking tea in the mornings anymore. But of course, I will still indulge in the occasional starbucks or coffe bean frappes. Haha. And I will be prepared to hydrate myself with 4 times the amount of water later on. Lalalala.

Procrastination is starting to overcome me already. Praying for diligence and concentration. I have not been progressing in my study plan for the week that had just passed. Haiz.

Trying to study hard

but still not doing very well yet. Haha. At least I'm trying to reach the sky, so I think I have fallen onto the clouds. Lalalala.
Have been too caught up with school stuff and busying myself such that I did not blog, friendster or facebook for quite a while. At least I try to blog more. Friendster and facebook were mouldy when I accessed them just now for fun. Haha.
I think I also wanna go exercising more often, so that undesired fats do not grow at the wrong places. LOL. So I am going swimming the next day!!! YEAH!

Electricity down in my house

from 8:30am to 5pm today. So I left home for Toa Payoh in the morning. Met Emmeline, Sharon and SK for lunch. Somehow, I thank God that I left. Not that I'm trying to make the best out of my situation, but I sincerely and earnestly think so. Hmmm. I'm starting to get used to the teacher-in-my-head.

Did some studying today for a Mathematics test on 23rd Feb. The scope of the test is the Secondary 1 to 4 Mathematics 2007 syllabus, Additional Maths included. Woah... Actually, the content is not very difficult, but I am really taking a long time. Until now, I am still on the Secondary 2 textbook (didn't bother with Sec 1 though, I started with Sec 2). But I'm not too worried, coz I really had a fruitful time while studying the Sec 2 textbook. Besides looking through the questions and making sure I can tackle them, imaginary lessons went through my mind. I tried to come up with ways to keep the students engaged in the lesson, and interesting ways to put the theories across to them in a "harmless" manner. That's why I'm moving along so slowly, coz I am thinking a lot. Thank God that I am diligent for now. MUAHAHAHA.

Anyway, met Janeee, Shoeee and Dianne for a badminton game yesterday evening. After that I went swimming with Dearie (swam 10 laps). Had too much exercise until I had a hard time falling asleep. So I guess I shouldn't be too ambitious in future.

Headache everyday

because of the silly nokia phone that my bro lent me. My sony ericsson phone was faulty, so I sent it in for repair last week. I was informed that it can be collected yesterday, but they called me and told me that it was delayed coz my motherboard needs to be replaced and they ran out of stock. ZZZ.

The nokia phone's radiation is so bad that everytime I pick up, I will get a headache! Argh! So now, I dunno whether it's the phone affecting me, or is it the travelling? The travelling is starting to get on my nerves too. Wasting so much precious time.

Gotta start concentrating and being diligent in studying. Time is moving fast. Real fast.

Still trying to adjust to life

in NIE. Realized that many of the courses will be project based, and no examinations required at all. Sounds good? Not really. I had never done many projects in my life as a Mathematics student in NUS. I have little or no experience in writing 2000 word long essays. Oh my goodness!!! The only thing that I don't mind doing, are presentations. I'm really not afraid of speaking in front of an audience... thanks to UOB. Ha. Yeah, so I thank God for that.

And also, it's been a long time since I studied anything at all. I printed out a set of notes for one course, then I started to try to read it. When I completed one paragraph, my eyes hurt so much that I had to close them for a while. When I open them again, I forgot what I had read in the first paragraph. Zzz... It's a vicious cycle... Argh. Well... it's a learning process all over again. I have to do this... for God.

Bye for now... going to try to prepare for the tutorial tomorrow. But I really don't know how to start preparing. What do I do? Memorise the notes? Hmmm... No way... Maybe I'll just read through and try to understand and digest the important points. Maybe I'll write the points down somewhere... Dum dee dum...

Just another day

Before I start lamenting about today, just wanna say that I had a great time yesterday evening catching up and crapping with Yo, YM, Janeee and Dearie at the mini BBQ. Thank God for them.

Went to church this morning and felt normal. Thought that everything will be smooth but absolutely screwed up during the PAW session. Need to remember to bring home the scores in future.

Then we had to go to AMK for Dearie's family thingy. Totally lost and felt out of place the whole time there.

Then Dearie was occupied with tuition in the afternoon. I went home to sleep. He went to send a friend off at the airport after that and reached my house at about 7:30pm.

He then drove mum, bro and me to a seafood restaurant beside Changi Prison for dinner. Mum said that it was nice the last time she brought Grandpa here. I thought that it was alright. Mum thought it was not worth it in the end. The dinner cost a lil' over $140 for 4 persons!!! Oh man... Mum's treat though. Thanks Mum.

This day feels like a normal day to me... Hmmm... I think it's supposed to be my birthday. Whatever. I guess birthdays will be like this from this moment on... as I have reached a quarter of a century. It's not so exciting and surprising anymore. Am I disappointed? Yes, I guess there's this lil' disappointment (maybe a lot, but I am trying to make it feel like a little... haha) in me, but I need to grow up now.

Think whether the birthday is exciting or not really depends very much on how I look at it. I guess I am just not in the mood for my birthday this year. Sigh, it's a long day tomorrow and it starts at 8:30am. ORIENTATION!!! I'm feeling bored already... duh.

NIE has started!!!

School has finally started and I felt so lost on the 2nd day. Why lost only on the 2nd day (3 Jan, 2nd Jan was the first)? Because Dearie was with me for a while to orientate me on the first day. Haha. But I thank God that I made 2 friends (they were from AHS and TJC too, that's why they looked familiar, so we stuck together) on the 1st day, and one more on the 2nd day (who is taking the same course as me).

I really need to get into the schooling momentum, as I realized that I haven't. Hehe. I forgot to bring pen and paper on the 1st day, so Dearie had to rush back to the car to get some for me before he left for NUS. Oops. Thanks Dearie :) Then on the 2nd day, I dropped my wallet (containing my EZ link, ATM card, and MONEY) in the lecture theatre. And I only realized it when I was about to have breakfast in the canteen with my new found friends. ARGHHHHH!!! But, as usual, blur me thought I left it at home and I did not suspect anything at all. Really thank God for the next thing that happened. I received 2 missed calls (I cancelled them coz I was in a briefing after breakfast), so I called the number after the briefing. THANK GOD!!! It was a clerk from the Administration of NIE. They said somebody (God bless the kind soul) picked up my wallet and left it with them! YAY! So I got it back la! Hahahahaha. What a day.

Anyway, most of my curriculum lessons only commence on the 23rd of February, so I will not be so busy yet for the time being. But the general lessons like Educational Psychology and other stuff start next week. Kind of excited. Heh.

Have been very tired for the past few days (briefings started at 8:30am), but much better today (coz the briefings start at 11 am). Need to get used to getting up in the wee hours. In case you do not know... I am staying in Tampines... and NIE is in Boon Lay. I need to travel to the Tampines MRT first, then take the MRT to Boon Lay, then take another bus in to NIE. Basically I will be travelling from one end of Singapore to the other every day. Thank God for Dearie who has been fetching me to school for the past 2 days. He will be doing so today as well coz he is also going to NUS. Hurhurhur.

Well, today is also Say Kheng's birthday, so Happy Birthday to her!!! Really miss the times we had lunch in office. Well, I did try to have lunch with her yesterday coz the briefings ended at 12 pls... but she had other plans already so another day ba :) Anyway, here are some of the pictures we took at the party with the Fillipinos. Miss them so much. But I have to follow God's Plan for me.

Photos in order: 1 - Dearie and me, 2 - Sk and me with Fillipino colleagues, 3 - SK and me, 4 - With Dearie again :)

Ok... time to get ready to eat breakfast with Dearie then he'll drive me to NIE...