Hahahah!!!! Just have to do it to give outlet to my current obsession - Kim Hyun Joong of SS501. He's so pretty, he's prettier than me and a lot of girls out there. Anyhow, why is the title of the post "sad"? Because of age.

Question: When do you know you're too old for all these idol drama nonsense?

Answer: When all the lead actors are younger than you.

As Kim Hyun Joong said in this reality TV programme "We Got Married" (go catch it by the way, if you have not), "It's a crime just being old". No la... He's actually very sweet to old people. His "bride" is older than him but he was still so sweet to her. *grin moronically*

SS501 is coming to Singapore in December! I shall try to con a ticket out of my sister. Hehehe..

Off to Taiwan tomorrow, though I very much wish my ticket was to Korea. But I shall enjoy my trip. Don't wanna think of coming back. Yet. Sigh.. the holidays are passing far too quickly.

There are 3 essay competitions I would like you to consider taking part. This is open to everybody. If you submit an essay, I will look through it for you and help you make amendments and submit them for competition. It is good exposure to see how good your essays are compared to others in Singapore. :)

1. SPH-NAC Golden Point Award 09
Any topic, short story (less than 5000 words) or a collection of poems (5-8 poems).
Deadline: 29th May.

Prizes: 1st prize $4000 cash, trophy and $6000 enrichment grant. First Prize winners may
also be offered the opportunity to be represented by a well-known, international
publisher and / or by an established literary agent.

Second Prize - $3000 cash and a certificate

Third Prize - $2000 in cash and a certificate.
* Too close to the deadline. We'll have to miss it. But if you are interested to join this one, you can always submit first and we can enter it for next year's competition. *



2. Your Singapore Through Their Eyes
Topic: What is Singapore to you?
Deadline: 15 June 2009
* We can still make this one BUT you need to submit your story to me by 02 June, next Tuesday for vetting and amendments. *



3. Youth Writers Awards Asia 2010, English Short Story Writing Competition.
Topic: Dare 2 Dream: Stories of Imagination, Passion and Sporting Excellence (in celebration
of Singapore hosting the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games)

Students are invited to write short stories (fictional or non-fictional) in English describing the
nature of individual love and passion for sport(s) including values like friendship, the will to
go the extra mile, honesty, fair play, hard work, respect for everyone regardless of differences
etc. THey can share their true feelings, joys, frustrations or special memroies they may have
about sports through the medium of the short story.

Criteria: Youths born between 1992 - 1996
Max 800 words

Deadline: 30 Sept 2009

Prizes: Top 5 winners who are NON-Singapore resident --> A 5D/4N all expense-paid trip
for 2 (winner + guardian) including return trip + hotel accomodation in Singapore.
Also tickets for 2 to attend the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games.

OR

Singapore Resident --> A return trip for 2 (winner + guardian) to a destination in
Asia. Also tickets for 2 to attend the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games.

25 merit merit winners will each receive a Reader's Digest Book.

I watched a really cool show that day - "Fireproof". Basically, it was a story revolving a fireman who was going through a divorce with his wife. The fireman's father gave his son a book - it's called the Love Dare. It was a book of 40 dares, one for each day, for one person to do for his / her partner. So, for example, the first day's challenge was for the fireman to not say anything mean the whole day. The second dare was to do something nice for his partner etc. 

Wow! We made $115 today! From pretty much nothing. :D Nah, of course with somethings... with pretty glasses and salt and a funky code and free transparencies. Honestly, I'm beginning to see my students in a different light. They are really very creative and entrepreneurial. I mean, when they called me yesterday evening saying they wanna make salt candles, I was like "sure or not? Can sell meh?" or when Zainul said "The text photos will be a hit!" I was like "Yeah... right." But anyway, since they wanted to do it, I was okay with it. Quite glad I let them do it, and tried to overcome some minor obstacles - like no photo paper and no printer. So.. I think we did pretty well as a class! I guess there's a reason why I'm a teacher and not a businesswoman. Sigh.. just no business acumen la. 

It's really not funny to have food poisoning. Amid all the controversy about the Geylang Serai Temporary Hawker Centre, I suffered from a case of food poisoning over the Good Friday weekend. It's probably a punishment for being too greedy as I was actually full, but still insisted on my banana prata and bandung cinno. Thursday night was a real torture as my joints and bones were aching. I knew I was coming down with a fever. The pain that wracked my body was so bad that it was unspeakable and could not be relieved. Of course, I didn't think of panadol, cuz too sick to think straight. My husband was snoring away loudly, which made me even more mad... Of course, none of it was his fault, but the wrath of a woman is never quite justifiable or reasonable. Then, he made up for it for whole of Friday, Saturday and Sunday by being extra nice to me.  

Some of you may realize I've put a new song on the blog! Haha.. that's my current favourite of the moment. Saw and heard the song on MTV one day and found it really cool. Anyway, Chen Qi Zhen (Taiwanese singer) has always been a singer I kinda admired because she is good friends with Mayday! (concert coming in August. *SCREAM PEOPLE*) But I've never really paid much attention to her until this song. Anyway, what really made me like it was the tune and some of the lyrics. 

I have reason to suspect that the same person posting irresponsible comments are the one and the same person. Let this be a stern warning. DO NOT let me find out who you are, or I will bring discipline action against you. 

I've come to realize today how important HOPE is. Man is a funny creature. We can lose a lot of things - boyfriend/girlfriend, money, career - it all don't seem to crush us. Somehow, in the midst of our sorrow, we know and we believe, deep down, all these will pass and we will be able to carry on. However, if we lose hope, if we stop thinking that there will be a brighter day tomorrow, then all will be lost. We stop working hard, we stop smiling, we stop thinking, we stop talking, we stop loving, we stop opening up, we stop sharing because - what is the whole bloody point of doing all those things? There is no more hope. 

A bit disappointed that none of my students said they wanted to go cycling, except for Melvina, but she bluffed me. Haha... 

Yay! Excited! Going East Coast for cycling this Saturday. So glad Daryl's organizing it, and I don't have to be doing anything. Haha... I'm a slacker! Thanks Daryl!  He says we may be able to cycle all the way to the airfield to look at planes. Wah... like so idol drama... 

Yay! I finished one lot of ironing! So accomplished! Okay.. I think when I grow up,  I want to be an ironing lady. I can do that quite well! Some more in front of the tv, so quite enjoyable. very de-stressing.

I don't know why I feel sad. But I guess I just feel unmotivated and... sian. For a vocabulary lesson, the closest equivalent of sian is "morose". Haha.. I feel morose. I feel morose about my inefficacy (ineffectiveness) of reaching some students. I feel morose about being more like a disciplinarian than a motivator. I feel morose that I'm doing meaningless things when there are much more meaningful things waiting for me to do.

This is NOT GOOD.

I didn't even realize I was so bad-tempered until the other day, a student asked, "Cher, why do you always look so angry? Ask you question only ma, why do you answer until like so "bu nai fan (so pissed off in Chinese)". The strangest thing was, I didn't even realize I was giving off such vibes. What is wrong with me?

Don't know. Quarter-life crisis. That seems pretty popular among my friends these days. Everything also blame on quarter-life crisis. But I attended prayer meeting today, and it was good. I guess I feel better after Jiap prayed for me. Wise ol' Jiap said, "It doesn't matter what we feel. Our obedience to God is meaningful."

So what to do when you feel MOROSE? I'll pray, grit my teeth and get on with it. I can feel happy. Find the things I like to do and find the little joys in life. Appreciate people. Say thank you. Be thankful that God is still very good to me. He gives me a cab every morning without fail. Smile more at students (try. unless they misbehave). Smiling makes me happy. Spend time with sister. Iron my clothes (not that ironing makes me happy, but at least I clear some housework).

See... I feel happier already! :D

I've been thinking of this word recently. A lot, based on the events I see happening to me and to the people around me. What do you do when a friendship falls apart? When you've said some words that hurt? When a chasm has opened up between you and someone else until it seems impossible to close up that gaping hole again?

If I may, I would like to recount an incident that happened to me in university. I had a good friend when I went into hall. Her name is Angie. We were fast friends. Not the best of friends, but not too bad, I would say. So she was the captain of the touch rugby team and she picked me to be her team manager - basically water girl, take attendance, carry drinks etc. Not a bad job, because I didn't like playing the sport anyway. However, due to various circumstances (learning driving, family obligation), I couldn't fulfil my obligations a lot of the times. I think from then on, our friendship was really strained. She thought I was irresponsible, shirking off when there was training. I thought she was not understanding. Why can't she understand I just couldn't and already felt bad about it? Besides, I told her the reasons each time. She felt unhappy but didn't confront me; I felt angry but didn't confront her. As a result, we let our friendship slip away just like that - over such a small misunderstanding.

The bad news was, it took us over a year of silence and awkwardness to get back to a talking kind of level. It was so bad that we would avoid each other, although our rooms were only two doors away! And I remember thinking to myself "Is reconciliation ever possible?!" The good news was, I don't know how, I don't know when, but reconciliation started to take place and we even went on a graduation trip to Taiwan together! Just the two of us!! It was awesome and it wasn't awkward at all.

A few lessons I've learnt:
1) Reconcilation takes time. Sometimes we want to solve the problem, get rid of it right there and then. But often, it's not possible because there are still bad feelings. So the most difficult thing, but the best thing to do is to wait. Wait till you can look him / her into the eye, wait till he / she can completely forgive you.

2) Reconcilation takes 2 hands to clap. Both parties must want to save the friendship, otherwise there can't be true reconciliation.

3) Pray. When it comes to people, often times, it's not what we do that matters. In fact, it's really a mystery, what we do and what we don't. Since it's a mystery, it's better to let God lead your actions and not be too rash.

4) Sometimes it's better not to be reconciled at all (at this point of time). Perhaps your physical presence is the one that hurts more than heals. So be patient, be sensitive, let go and let God handle. Again, nothing is absolute. Not being reconciled now doesn't mean never being reconciled.

So I hope for all you good people out there, if you need to be reconciled with someone else, I hope this post and my example give you a little hope. Take time to heal, take time to wait, take time to say you're sorry, take time to wait for the other person to respond. I wish you all the best in your friendships and relationships. :)



I love you Angie! :D

Hi 2EC,

I would like you to think about what we spoke about last week.

1) Is Code-switching (changing from a high register of English to a lower one and vice
verse) useful in your daily life?

2) If you can't code switch, how will it affect you?

Okay... that's all, have a happy Chinese New Year! And remember to code-switch when you talk to your elders and cousins and friends. Otherwise, you may not be able to get big angbaos! :)

To all,

I apologize for my thoughtless comment. I have learnt a precious lesson in keeping my comments to myself from now on. But honestly, it was meant as a joke, to Yongsheng especially. I guess I misread that he could understand and take it.

I planned this whole lecture in my head about taking responsibility for our words, and after that, I realized that this lecture is first and foremost for myself. So I take responsibility for stating derogatory comments about a Taiwanese star and accept all criticisms about my failure as a caring and concerned teacher. I will also take your suggestion of spending less time reading your blogs and more time with my family and husband.

I just want to caution you that many of your comments, like mine, are defamatory as well, and if I wanted, I could hold you responsible in the eyes of the law. But Pamela, I'm not that childish and I don't want to pursue it further. But if anything, if your words can bring a woman of 25 to tears, how much more your hurtful words to your friends and/or enemies (ie. people you don't like). So the next time you hate someone, I urge you, for your own sake, please reconsider their feelings cuz the same thing could happen to you too.

I was wondering what thoughts you guys had after the "mini-lecture" on poverty. Do you like such content-based English lessons? Or would you rather do comprehension, composition, grammar etc.

Found this IN MY NAME advertisement. Stars are coming out and using their influence to compel their governments to end world extreme poverty. Will we be the generation?



Anyway, it would be great if you can respond to these questions (or whatever thoughts that flow):
1) "What do you think of microfinancing?
2) Do you think it can eradiacate poverty altogether?
3) Do you think Singapore (as a society) takes care of our poor?

Love to hear from you in your blogs.

Dear 3B1,

These are possible links for you to explore getting more information for your situational writing. I hope it's helpful!

List of poorest countries in the world:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)y_GDP_(PPP)
http://www.hottnez.com/the-10-poorest-countries-of-the-world/

Grameen Bank - http://www.grameen-info.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=68

Microcredit - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lnzF3KVaow

UNICEF - http://www.unicef.org/mdg/childmortality.html

Healthy nutrients in sheep's milk - http://www.nutraingredients.com/Consumer-Trends/The-healthy-potential-of-sheep-s-milk

Sheep itself - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheep

Land seizures force Cambodians to be homeless - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/world/asia/27cambodia.html

Cambodia Housing - http://www.photius.com/countries/cambodia/society/cambodia_society_housing.html

I've got a burning and important question.... HOW TO LINK????

haha.. I'm using the programme called Bloglines to track all your blogs. So I'm reading all of your blogs from there. You can check it out if you want! You will know who updated and who didn't, so you can just read those updated ones.

I apologize for the lack of content in my blog. SO BUSY!! I hate it when I'm preparing today for tomorrow's lessons. Haha... oopss.. that was supposed to be a secret. ACTUALLY, I PREPARED YOUR LESSONS MONTHS IN ADVANCE!

Anyway, yeah... see ya in class real soon....

To my 3B1, I really have to apologize for the bungle. I wish I could just say "nevermind la. I'm the teacher, don't need to apologize", but it was my screw up that I booked a room that had less than enough working, competent computers, and even brought you guys to the wrong room. So, I'M SORRY. HAHA.. that meant I'm sorry by the way, in Webdings.

Anyway, this week, for your blog assignment, just say something about yourself, or comment on something, or tell me about your favourite band/singer/activity/game/movie, basically anything!

AND PLEASE include a comment box and / or a tagboard in your blog. Go to "Template" --> "layout" --> "add widget" --> "add comment box". If don't know, ask your blogger friends. They can help you!

The weekend will be here soon! We will all survive Week 1.

I wonder what's up today. I just watched the youtube video of Dr. Randy Pausch's last lecture (before he died), and then in the evening, I watched Bucket List with Skai. If you don't know this show, it's this one here.



Basically, it's about 2 elderly guys (Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman) who have terminal cancer and they decided to write a list of things to do before they pass on. It was a list of things they had always wanted to do before they "kicked the bucket", hence, the list was called the Bucket List. Hmm.. I don't know, I guess it was just very poignant to see 2 men nearing the end of their lives doing fun things like skydiving or going on a Safari tour in Africa and even getting reconciled with estranged daughters and families. The film begs us to think about the end of our lives. What do we want others to say about us when we die? That we've been smart? We've made a lot of money?

Morgan Freeman mentioned 2 questions:
1) Have you found joy?
2) Have you brought joy to the lives of others?

To add to those questions, I want to challenge my Christian friends and family.
1) Are we being transformed to be like Christ everyday?
2) Have we touched others with the love of Christ?

Difficult questions to answer but definitely necessary. I pray all my family, friends, students, colleagues will live a worthy life that will leave others wishing that you were still here.

Just something to think about.

Yeah... My house is clean, my toilets are clean, Shaokai has cleaned the floors...

I feel accomplished as a Saturday (only) housewife. Hmm... I wonder if the youths will come over and compliment me on my clean house. HINT HINT!

Setting up a blog is extremely easy! By the end of the lesson, you will have to set up a blog, write a short introduction of yourself (about 150 words) and complete your first post. After you do that, you can play around with the aesthetics of your blog.

Setting up your blog
1) Register your email account and password at www.blogspot.com
2) Go back to your email account to activate your blog.
3) Go back to create your own blog.
4) Name your blog. (blog title and address can be different) (follow the instructions there).
5) Choose a template.
6) In your blog, please add the following:
Click on "Settings", click on "Site Feed", make sure you allow "Full" in "Blog Feeds".
7) Start blogging!

I officially created this blog on the 1st of January 2009!! I got addicted to the html coding and
spent hours finding for the perfect skin, coding all the widgets, making sure the alignment was
respectable and it was surprisingly fun making my blog perfect! Of course not perfect because by the time I was done (not really), I realized I had no more energy to post anything. Anyway, who
cares about a really nice blog without any quality posting right? By the way, if IT courses offe
html coding, GET ON BOARD. It is absolutely the oldest, mouldiest smelliest IT course you can
take, but it never seems to get obsolete. My rudimentary knowledge of it (I learnt it in
secondary school!) was enough to help me edit codes and get this blog out. So... it is best value of
money and time!



My new year resolutions:

1) I will procrastinate less. (haha... I said less, I didn't say I WON'T procrastinate)

2) I will not complain.

3) I will let go and let God do whatever He wants.



I'm not perfect, but I try...