Hilarious

when the crappies asked to see the photos on my camera, i agreed without hesitation

it's only when they shouted out excitedly that i realised belatedly about the photos i took of the sex museum i visited in china

i yelled, "sharks" with an intensity that surpassed their shrieks easily. the ensuing commotion caused everyone to look back towards where we were sitting.

i don't think i would get any more embarrassed than this. the crappies would think that i am this sick pervert from now on. haha

at the end, i set aside my reluctance and showed them some photos. as an ex-science teacher, i think that i ought to demystify the concept of sex. they may be impressionable, which makes things more awkward but sweeping things under the carpet and pretending that it doesn't exist isn't going to enlighten them.

well, this visit was actually quite thought-provoking. have you ever wondered if there were gays and lesbians during the era of dynasties? have you questioned how people got to find out about sex then? or how eunuchs managed? all these and more of my queries answered at the museum!!

Pride

Taocheng, adrian and chiahao acted in a Chinese opera. fancy that! especially when you count in the fact that tacocheng and adrian aren't exactly passing their Chinese.

balestier hill secondary school is doing an excellent job to inculcate interest in Chinese among its students!

i felt so proud of this trio. honoured that i was once their teacher. so, i was basking in my pride and admiration until this thought came across my mind:

have i done anything to make my students proud of me?

erm, territory that i don't really want to explore. haha.

in any case, i must fight hard to do things other than my work duties so that i won't lose out to my students. grins.

Teacher "say"

i tackled the issue head-on and offered a student constructive criticism. i must have handed it pretty well because he wasn't offended or defensive. shameless. but oh well:P

i don't think i would have dared to do so during my practicum. ah, growth as a teacher!

erm, i kept fighting the urge to write "i am saying this because i care for you as a person" during the MSN chat because it's v gay lar. hahaha.

after China

a few years ago, i would have balked at the thought of going China so i guess this June trip is a testament to how flexible/fickle-minded i am. haha.

unfortunately, i think i have reached my saturation point with regard to temples, pagodas, pavilions etc. it was surreal visiting Yue Miao (yes, that legendary Yue Fei we all learnt about in our primary school CME/Mandarin classes) and it was great fun running around in Shi Zi Lin but i was rather indifferent towards the rest. i guess i should be more appreciative that i'm standing on historical ground and witnessing all these invaluable links to my heritage but it's mostly just blah.

jia lat ah, i hope this doesn't mean that i am getting tired of travelling. sigh. i guess i will find out after my December trip. haha.

*****

one thing memorable about this trip is that i have an original idea for a photography project! well, at least i hope it's an unique and creative way to perceive the world. i actually "wasted" part of my last day sourcing for suitable photos for this project. i can understand if people criticise me as silly for doing so because that was indeed how i felt. however, at the same time, it felt quite good to go around pursuing something that i felt quite strongly was mine. AND MINE ALONE. of course, whether i would actually act on it and compile a montage (argh, must go and learn Photoshop!) is a different matter since i'm so lazy. sheepish grin

Eye e City 2005

Hi Guys & Gals,

This email brings you the good news.

Your photo/s was/were selected as one of the 100 photos to be printed in the photo book and for the exhibition. You will receive a copy of the photo book with compliments from Eye e City when you come to collect your negatives/cd or indexes on 8th or 29th July 2006.

So see you there! Congrats!

Stuff that i won't get to blog:

1. Crappies blog conflicts. Disagreements are fine but i hope they understand to resist the urge of launching personal attacks and stating their opinions firmly, yet respectfully.

2. Show, not tell. Get an overview of the story student has in mind before tackling the writing.

3. 9/6/06 day. Got to take over two of my GP classes quite unexpectedly. again, i had to impart skills through uninspiring comprehension questions. man, i hope i didn't fumble too badly. haha.

4. 9/6/06 night. Crappies BBQ. i was ambushed and thrown into the water! i should have seen it coming. though it was quite a wild night and i have not had such pure, unadulterated fun in a looooong time. i would like to encourage my students to live life unabashedly but looks like i have forgotten what it feels like to be young. tsk tsk.

may they never lose their spirit

behind schedule/syllabus

why? why? why?

People are getting married!
I am getting pimples!
~kaile

Okay, not so obvious in the photos above. phew

If i ever become a scriptwriter, i would make sure to include these two lines. haha.

sumita: most people mostly blog just to keep themselves occupied.

this from a 13 year old. it's quite a shrewd and ouch-inducing observation into the lonely modern condition, isn't it?

at the risk of being labelled a LOSER, i still wanna blog! haha. especially worthy stuff such as:

finally got my bum down to watch this. procrastinated for the longest time becos i thought this would be heavy on the mind and had to psych myself mentally for it. turned out that although the film comprised mainly dialogue, the easy chemistry between ethan n julie made this such a delight to watch.

can u define an event that shaped ur life ever since?

the car scene in which jesse and celine confessed how their lives had been screwed after their ONS was mind-blowing. i love the way how years of fury and frustration compelled them to peel away their facades stumblingly and strip to their emotional core. i like the idea that they would probably be able to hold themselves together at most times and are only revealing their vulnerabilities to each other becos of their fateful connection. it seems tragically poetic.

mostly, i think i'm scared shitless. only 6 more yrs before i turn 32 and when i reach that age and look back, would i be happy with the choices i have made and the stuff i have achieved in life? would i feel anything? period. i think that it's not difficult to live life in a trance and be dragged along. living in singapore is too exhausting. at least, jesse and celine are self-aware enough to pinpoint the causes of unhappinesses that're gnawing away at them and articulate them into words.

i hope i will not be resigned to day-to-day mundane living

i hope i will not make wrong choices and carry around explosive hurt that i don't even realise exists. having said that, i hope i will always be enlightened to live in the moment and make decisions without too much respect for the future.

i hope i'll find someone special to have one-of-a-kind conversations. sumita actually said she hopes that i don't die old and lonely. now, that is hilarious. grins.

Last Lesson with 1 Integrity

after i got to know that my CT would only be conducting remedial classes for the graduating classes, i gasped and told myself that i ought to return and conduct remedial.

it's unfortunate that there are only so few chem teachers at CBSS. actually i don't mind if they don't turn up for my remedial. they should be given an opportunity to skip remedial in the first place

well, it's only when i conferred with my CT that i realised that good intentions may beget negative outcomes. apparently, these rascals complained about her teaching. hence, it might not be a good idea for me to conduct remedial because i'm not making it any easier for them to let go and adapt to her teaching style.

sigh. i just wanna help. and i have to find time to prepare powerpoint slides for the remedial lor. all the work that does nothing but aggravate matters.

***********
冷场

the remedial itself went quite smoothly. i think i highlighted some key points to note for mole concept and helped even the better students to learn some new nuggets of information. though i have to wonder about the pace of the lesson. 8 Qs in an hour? how come so slow one? am i expecting too much? or am i seriously inefficient? could i have controlled the lesson such that the pace was tightened? again, i lament my inexperience. haha.

to my sec 3s lurking at this blog, hey don't give up on chemistry, alritey. fight on!

I'm not condoning any crude gestures here but this's quite a fitting picture since Kenneth is known as the God of Vulgarities and God of Webs (meaning, he spouts vulgarities like Spiderman spins webs. Not bad for an analogy, yah). Besides, I can't be too harsh since he's wearing my cap. Nothing validates your fashion sense more than teenagers, incidentally a whole zodiac younger than you, clamouring to wear your stuff. haha.

Anyway, he reminds me a lot of myself since i am also known to be bo chup. Personally, i think being easy-going is a neat quality because i feel Singaporeans take themselves too seriously and are bogged down by a lot of unnecessary self-induced stress. Unfortunately, even I have found him to be too bo chup for my liking. I don't quite get how anyone can feel unaffected after getting 22/100 for his maths exam.

He once said that he's keen to be a psychologist. I hope he realises how precious that is as most Singaporeans have absolutely no idea of what they want to be. if he's really interested in psychology, i hope he will take his interests seriously and start to apply himself [read: buck up in maths!]

One incident which impressed me was how he posted several posts when hardly any one was utilising the class blog. it's easy to let things be and lament the dismal state of affairs but more challenging to be proactive in improving the situation. he reminds me about how we should always strive to be part of the solution instead of the problem.