Happy Valentine's Day

I know it is past midnight but still I would like to wish everyone out there a Happy Valentine's Day. Mine was nothing special, except if you want to consider waiting for laogong at cineleisure for more than an hour, seeing countless couples walking pass me. Anyway, I don't see the need to celebrate it. Doesn't matter much to me anyway.

Injured my foot again! I was washing my clothes yesterday and while walking out of the toilet, I slipped and nearly fell. Managed to grip onto something and my foot just scrapped against the step. It was still painful and now, it's swollen and bruised.

Don't know what happened. Have a bad sore eye now, on my right side! And when my right eye closes, my left eye automatically closes too. So I'm nearly blind!

Today's the last day of my DCE201 lesson. How fast her tutorials go. I'm going to miss her and the class. It was such fun.

Poem

Guess what. I woke up late again. And I set 3 alarms this morning at 7am, 7.05am and 7.15am. I did get up, but I thought another 5 more minutes wouldn't kill and so plop! I went back down. I was supposed to meet Ridhwan earlier to go for the briefing together. And he was the one who told me to give him a morning call because he might have overslept. Alas! I was the one who overslept. Faster showered and packed my stuff and we shared a cab to school.

I managed to survive the 4 hours break somehow. Was at the library doing my p2 lesson plan and I managed to get the library staff to help me set up the internet connection and so I could also come online and chat. The 4 hours passed by rather easily. At class today, my tutor gave some comments on the lesson plans and now it seems like I have to redo my lesson plan, the one I did while at the library. Luckily, it's not completed and so I can still redo. After redoing this, I may want to redo my P5 Oral one too because I can't convince myself that that lesson plan I did is fun and interesting. Depends on how much time I have left.

I've managed to come out with an interesting idea for my P2 lesson plan already. As a result of my interesting idea, I had to write poems. It's been a long time since I wrote poems. Bet that you didn't know I used to write them, almost every alternate day. I just shared with Vivien my poems and she was amazed. To me, my poems are very basic. I shall post one of my works and maybe you can comment on it.

Forget You Not

I guess I don't stand a chance
I didn't even have a chance
How did I ever fall in love
Oh why oh why must there be love

I cry because of you day and night
I think of you before I sleep each night
Being always here for me
It is just so foolish of me

You led me to believe I meant something to you
However I do not blame you
I pretend that I'm fine though I hurt inside
If only you could feel my heart inside

I can't seem to move on
My love for you will always be on
I don't mind whether you love me not
But for sure I'll forget you not

This is 1 out of my 20+ pieces of poems I did while in secondary 4. My masterpiece came at the end of sec 4 before our graduation ceremony. I did a graduation speech on behalf of my class, in the form of a poem. Maybe I'll post that one of these days. Did you know I used to wonder if I should become a poet? But I just felt shy to really speak out and ask my literature teacher on how to go about publishing my works. And now since I just chatted with Vivien, I thought, why don't I just slowly post it in my blog and see how people feels about my works. I do hope that you enjoy it.

Time wasted

It's a wasted trip today down to Takashimaya. Specially waited 143 on SBS 9815H for about half hour (one of the better buses) and spent about an hour walking by myself and found nothing. My brother came and we still found nothing. Laogong came later and then I still couldn't find anything that I really wanted to buy. Maybe it was the price. Even though I have the vouchers, but to spend $50 on a shirt? No way! Couldn't convince myself to spend like that. Looks like I am going back to BEGA to get some tops. Shall try the outlet at JP tomorrow.

It's back to school tomorrow. The sort-of-holiday is gone in a flash. And I only managed to finish 1 assignment, not 2. Decided to install office on the laptop and bring the laptop to school tomorrow and finish it during my 4 hours break. Oh well, I've learnt how to eat by myself outside and I've learnt how to go shopping by myself (even at Orchard, although I got lost for a while), now passing 4 hours at the library shouldn't be a problem. I've learnt to be independent, in some way. Or maybe I'm just not a social butterfly.

Mission accomplished!

My aims for today were:
1. Clean up my bedroom
2. Finish my P5 Lesson Plan
3. Change my bedsheet

And I'm proud to say that I've done all 3 today with sheer determination.

My room is not exactly squeaky clean but just neater. You can't really blame me for having too much things. I can't throw away my poly lecture notes (who knows when they will come in handy right?), can't throw away my NIE notes for the same reason and then there's all the presents and cards from my friends collected over all the years, too sentimental to throw.

Being a teacher, I have started collecting teaching material. What consitutes teaching material? Basically anything! Think about it. Even a CD can be a teaching material. I can use it for P2 Math class on shapes or P6 class on finding area and circumference. Another example, hole puncher. I can use it for P5 Science on levers. So you see, all these things can't be thrown! I also have so many textbooks that I took from twinnie's brother in case I need them and so I had to clear shelve and cupboards just to fit them in. After hours of clearing, finally.

Lesson plan lesson plan lesson plan... when is it going to end? Down with one and left 1 more. And just when I think it is over, practicum starts and I would presume it will come out to about 2 lesson plans a day, minimum.

Ridhwan called me earlier this afternoon, asking me to meet my NSC (NIE Supervising Coordinator) on Monday at 9am with him and Wesley. Now this sucks big time. Not that meeting her sucks, but the timing sucks. Since everyone can make it at this time, then can't for my sake change right? Supposing briefing ends at 9.30am, then that would mean a 4 hour break before my class starts at 1.30pm! Goodness! What am I going to do? Coming home also doesn't sound logical because I would have to leave soon after. Staying in school... in the library... 4 hours... to do my P2 Lesson Plan maybe? Ah, damn, laptop does not have microsoft office! School computers? Nah, hate the computer lab. I shall think of something.

Photos of shopping & My maiden trip to a pub

This is going to be a photo intensive post of the result of my retail therapy yesterday. My apologies if the pictures are not very clear. I ain't a photographer, just snapped this with my k610i.

First 3 pieces from Bugis, the shop I always frequent.

Blue shiny top. Wanted a cream colour one at first, but luckily laogong reminded me that I already have a cream blouse. So I thought why not get something different. That's how I ended up with this loud colour. But I think it's cool.


And this top is so cute. Everyone thinks that it is a jacket. But it is not. It is a blouse.


And then I saw this pants. It is a set with the top. The boss told me that I should take the pants with the same colour as my top, but I thought full body same colour won't be nice and so I took black. Easier for mix and match next time too. And guess what made me happy. It's a size M! I have so much problems buying pants and to be able to fit into this pants, size M is an amazement to me. Like this pair very much.


Next stop. This Fashion.
Laogong suggested that I get this dress so that it is similar to the shirt he bought. Matching. Not exactly very cheap ($40+) but it's quite nice. Size M only. L is quite big. Plus size girls can consider getting that dress.


Guess Yanxin's reaction when she saw this skirt? Belly dancing. Hmmm.. No comments. Well she started dancing in it. Weirdly.


The super comfortable skirt! Free flowing and silky soft texture. Laogong loves the look of this skirt, well, so do I. Wanted to get another skirt of this type but a different design. Too bad that they do not have a new piece because the one placed outside was a little stretched (probably by some people who can't squeeze in and kept trying to squeeze in)


The rest of the skirts below are mainly for my work use.






And now finally for the last stop. Shoes. Bought 3 shoes, but I only took pictures of 2 of them because 1 of it, I have already worn it.

Golden brown. Comfort level 4.9/5. When I tried it was super comfortable, but that leaves the final 0.1 to wearing the shoe for hours.


Still wondering why on earth did I buy white. Oh well, this shoe is supposed to be comfortable too and for my work. Hope it lasts and that it really is comfortable.


Got these 2 pairs a few weeks ago at the M.A.D shoe sales at Westmall. So tempted to wear it out but I've been trying to control till the new year.




And there you go! All my new clothes and shoes. Did I over buy? But most of my clothes are skirts again! And I have no lack of skirts. I need tops. Where can I buy them? Should I go BEGA? But it's expensive there. Does anyone have any any place to recommend?

Chinese New Year shopping aside, with a twist of events, I ended up reaching home at about nearly 3am. Went to a pub (club 62 I think) yesterday or this morning theorectically. My maiden trip and the outcome? And the verdict is... it's really not my type of place. So smokey and awful singing. I'm ok with people singing naturally but why do some people have to sing with that "constipated look" on their face as if they are singing so nicely when it is totally awful. I would rather hear a tone deaf person sing! Ok, so anyway, I went down because it was laogong's colleague's birthday and I didn't want him to go down just to meet them for a short while. So I told him to go down to the pub first before sending me home.

The smokey smell lingered on and on. Washed my hair a total of 4 times since I came home and it still stinks. Yucks! Well, I won't say a totally no-no to pubs, but I'll just be picky with my selection from now on. Less smoke and a smooth environment, not screaming ah peks and bitches everywhere. Which brings me to the point of, why do attached or married people flirt outside their relationship? Totally despise them! Anyway, I think I want to try going to Eski Bar at Holland Road. Seems nice. Clean environment.

By the time I bathed and waited for my hair to dry and finished my school homework for today, I finally slept around 4+am. I thought that I would not be able to wake up this morning, but guess what, my biological clock woke me up at 8.30am. That means only 4+ hours of sleep. I realized that now I always wake up around 8+am no matter what time I sleep. And what is worse is that I can't get back to sleep. So here I am today, tired but still can't sleep. Hope I can have a good sleep tonight. No school tomorrow, so hopefully my brain will just have a proper sleep and not worry that I'll wake up late for school or things like that.

To make things a little worse this morning and afternoon, my runny nose started again! Luckily, it cleared off by late afternoon. I'm ok now. Trying hard to motivate myself to do my DCE assignment. Halfway through with one of the lesson plans already.

CNY shopping

I'm here at laogong's house blogging because I have nothing better to do. He's bathing and we're waiting for his parents to come home before he'll drive me home. And that will be after midnight. Since I'm free I shall updated about my shopping trip today.

It was an eventful day today. KLunch was good. Well, not say very excellent but not too bad. Sang a lot and yes, laogong did sing! That's the main thing. And guess what, he said he is willing to go again tomorrow and the day after and after and after. But of course, it's just not possible. Where are we going to get the money from? Maybe next week.

After that, it was a shopping trip to bugis and paya lebar this fashion. Spent $80 on 2 tops and a pants (oh yeah! i finally bought ONE). Liked my clothes a lot. Laogong spent $150 on 4 shirts and 2 pants. Liked all the stuff he bought, well, I have to, since I helped choosing them anyway =p

This Fashion at Paya Lebar was a slight disappointment as I thought they would offer much more range. I thought I could get more pants and 1/2 length pants (and yes I am still sore about this) BUT no! none of them fit! Grrrrr! Ended up with 5 skirts and a dress, and with a 10% discount, laogong still paid $141. One of the super duper expensive presents he's given me so far and I really appreciate it. Well, I'm treating this as my belated birthday present and advanced valentine's day gift (he said because he's sitting next to me as I type this..psst.. he just bathed finished, which shows how long I've blogged or how fast he's bathed)

Went to old woodlands central to get some shoes too as I threw away most of shoes as they were worn out. I was expecting it to be cheap but no! I still spent nearly $70 on 3 pairs of shoes. Better than nothing and I don't really have a choice because I desperately need shoes. Maybe I'll go Jurong East Central and look around again. Maybe they'll have some good and cheap pairs there.

If I have the time, I'll probably post the pictures of what I've bought another day. Signing off now.

Looking forward to tomorrow!

Oh I'm so looking forward to tomorrow. It's going to be a day of retail therapy and voice therapy. Ok, not exactly voice therapy but at least it's a way to destress. Will be going in the morning to early afternoon with laogong for a ktv session! Wohoo! That in itself is enough to make my day, but that's not all! After that, we are going for retail therapy at 2 of my favourite places. Bugis and Paya Lebar. Can you imagine the grin on my face now? I'm practically smiling from one ear to another. I think to the point whereby I am too excited to even sleep tonight. I've been thinking about this and looking forward to tomorrow since last Friday, when we planned this outing. I'm gonna sing my lungs out. Have been learning the lyrics to some songs the last few days. Oh yeah.

And in a small corner of my mind, in the midst of this excitment, I've been brainstorming for some teaching ides for 2 of my lesson plans. I've got my general outline now. Doing the lesson plan is quite easy because I'm seasoned. It is making those manipulatives I have now. But shouldn't be a problem, not as big scale as my math lesson. My aim is to finish both lesson plans by this weekend. And then I can don't think about it anymore.

Yesterday was my parents' 24th wedding anniversary and we went to New Park Hotel (in the midst of little india) for dinner at the Hai Xiang Restaurant. They raised prices probably to new management, but the food standard has really improved and we totally enjoyed our experience there. It's a dinner buffet and costs probably around $35+++ per person I think. Although it is slightly costly, it is worth the try, once is a super blue moon.

When am I getting well?

It's been an interesting day. Went to Storm (my kor's) house to help his daughter out in her studies. It's quite a good experience as now I can roughly understand what are some of the misconceptions that students face is some of the topics. This makes me more keen to want to give tuition. I do hope that she did learn something and that I didn't end up confusing her even more. All his 3 children are really cute. The girl is pretty and the 2 boys, simply irresistably cute!

Other than that, these 2 days, I'm still not feeling good. I was down with a terrible flu yesterday, and clearing my nose the whole day at work! I had to take the flu tablet ultimately because it was just so bad. It made me feel even worse because it made me so drowsy and yet I couldn't sleep at work. Keep dozing off for a few seconds as I was teaching. The tired feeling lasted the whole day even until I went to meet laogong. I was so tired that I slept soon after putting down the phone with laogong. Wondered if the flu was due to the drastic changes in temperature. The other day it was so hot at the botanic gardens and then at night it was cold.

And now, after dinner at Sakae (storm's treat), my stomach is not feeling good. On the way home in the cab, I was in between feeling warm and cold and felt queasy again. I am still feeling a little like vomitting again.

Is it due to the lack of sleep? Maybe because I slept late yesterday despite feeling tired and had to wake up early this morning to go church and had no time for rest today. Plus my meals are irregular again. I thought I could rest well tomorrow. No, I can't. Got to give one of my piano students extra lessons because her piano exam is coming and she isn't the slightest bit ready. With all the work my boss and I are putting in to make her pass, I hope she can make it through this time.

E-learning week. I hope to get enough rest to recuperate before school starts again. Once it does, I doubt I have the time to regenerate.

Trip to Singapore Botannic Gardens

Oh yeah, it is finally over! Well can't say that I was totally happy with my presentation, but I don't think it was that bad either. After all, Terrence, Sharon and a few other classmates did say that my activities were good. Hope that my activities can cover up for my little fumbles here and there. After days of slogging my guts out just to prepare for today's presentation, it is finally over. Time to concentrate on my english lesson plans, after I get back my sleep. Been sleeping only a few hours last few days and I am extremely drained.

A look at one of my activities for my micro-teaching.


Another thing that's leaving me drained is because Sul and I went to the Singapore Bontannical Garden today! I think I might have been there when I was still very young, but it is as good as my first trip there. Kept snapping photos of all the beautiful flowers! Don't know the names of some of them but who cares as long as they are beautiful? Took so many photos until my camera ran out of battery. It was fun despite the scorching hot afternoon sun and the many mosquito bites I have! Enjoyed myself there. Our main aim was to go to the evolution garden but we ended up walking into so many other places like the fernery, bonsai garden, frangipani garden and such. Long walk but it's all worth it. In a way it is lucky that DCS has set us this field trip assignment (though it contains no marks) as it has forced me to go down. Been talking to Sul and Gillian so long about going to these places and it has finally taken place today. I want to go to the zoo and night safari next. Who is going to bring me?

Some pictures of the flowers we saw today. Many many more pictures but can only post some of them. Beautiful aren't they? Sul, I burn a cd for you so no worries!










Sultanah posing with the Vanda Miss Joaqium (National flower of Singapore). Flowers not very clear though.


Entrance to National Orchid Garden. Wanted to go in, but had to pay and so we gave it a miss.


Look at the size of that hibiscus. Almost the size of my face!

It's e-learning week next week which means, there's no school, except for DLK. After e-learning week, one more week of school, then Chinese New Year break and a few days of school and it's practicum timeagain. Another 24 days! Posting is out and I'll be going back to my previous practicum school. Luckily, Wesley, Ridhwan and Adrian are all going back too. At least familiar faces again and we all can support each other through. Last practicum was 5 weeks, now is 11 weeks, inclusive of the March holidays. The pressure is really on us this time as this is the focus of our training and it will decide our fate in this profession. I'm looking forward to it and yet feeling all the nervous vibes.

I guess time will always show a person's true colours. I still don't really understand why this is happening but I've decided not to question it. It is should be this way, then so be it. I can still be equally as happy. I'll just be neutral. Thankfully, I still have some people who I can really call my friends. They know who they are =)

Time for blogging

Managed to squeeze in a little time to update today. Been busy doing my micro teaching preparation. Designing my slides and worksheets and doing up my lesson plan and tomorrow will have to continue to do my manipulatives. I really hope to score well in this.

Laogong surprised me today totally! He said he the colour is nice. Phew! A sigh of relieve.