Dog Year..

I couldn't have asked for a better start to the lunar new year. Victories for both my idols, Martina Hingis and Roger Federer, on the first day of the Dog year. It was really a great day for Switzerland indeed.

This year's final was a bit different from the previous Grand Slam Finals which Rog featured in. For his past 6 grand slam victories, I've been watching alone, sitting on my 'lucky' seat of the sofa. I couldn't do so this year because this year's final fell on the first evening of the lunar new year, which meant that all my relatives would be here. Fortunately, one of my cousins, an uncle and an aunt are ardent supporters of Rog. The rest are pretty neutral. However, I was afraid that their presence would affect the 'fengshui' which would in turn cause bad luck for Rog. It certainly did for the first 1 and 3/4 sets. Rog's luck only took an acute change when we all changed seats.

Everyone felt that Rog's victory was all but expected. Therefore, it was a bit shocking to see the great man being so emotional when he broke down and was at a loss of words. Poor Rog. The weight of expectation put on him by the public and himself was too great even for Mr Cool. Having to hide his emotions during the match was really a great strain on him.

Anyway, this year's CNY is quite significant compared to the previous years. It has been a while since all my cousins are present during the CNY. One of them had been away to UK for a couple of years while the other was doing his undergraduate studies in UK for 3 years before heading to the US for his masters in the 4th year. My brother himself was away 2 years back when he went for exchange in Canada. Although we've drifted apart all these years and that I hardly exchange a word or two to the elder cousins, it just feels good to see everyone back in Singapore. Another significant matter is that all of us have started working, with the exception of the 2 youngest ones and the male cousin who's of the same age as me. You can't help but marvel that time has really flown. It seems not too long ago that we were all kids playing monopoly or badminton together. Now, we've all grown up to be adults. The only thing missing is that none of us are married yet. I think it would be quite a while before wedding bells are heard in this family. None of the elder cousins seems to be interested in getting married.

After seeing my male cousins, I can't help but wonder why the Singaporean males that I've come into contact with are nowhere near any resemblance of my male cousins. I'm not only speaking in terms of looks and physique, but also family background, character, intelligence, sense of humour, social etiquette, values, hobbies and exposure to the outside world. Perhaps all these traits that I'm looking for are only present in my family. I know I'm being thick-skinned here but I guess genes play a very important role :)

She's Back..

The lack of entries is due to a lack of happenings revolving around me. My life has practically come to a standstill for a fortnight because of the Australian Open.

The return of Swiss Miss, Martina Hingis, brings about a fresh lease of life in the woman's game which is largely dominated by the power game. After retiring at the 'grand' age of 22, Swiss Miss decided that she missed the game too much and hence made her comeback. The fairy-tale return lasted for 10 days which saw her knocking off a seeded player and 3 top 100 players, before succumbing to the number 2 seed Kim Clistjers. For a set and a half against Clistjers, it looked as though she was totally blown off the court and the decision to comeback was a wrong move. One can't help but feel sorry for her then. But with her vast experience and the massive support of the crowd, Hingis reeled off the next 6 games to take the match to a 3rd set. It could have been 7 games in a row had it not been for a bad call that went against her. The Swiss Miss of the past would have complained vehemently about it but the more matured Swiss Miss took it in stride and before going on to lose the all important first game of the final set and subsequently, the match.

Hingis can hold her head high despite the defeat. Being a great thinker on the court, her ability to mix up her shots and outwit her opponents would stand her a chance to win a Grand Slam tournament. However, she still has much work to do to be a more accomplished player. Since her return, her service, especially her second serve, has been the focus of attention. Serving at the range of 110-115km/h for her second serve would be a gift for her opponents. Whatever it is, it's a great to see her back. Her goofy smile and cheekiness on and off the court were sorely missed. Her comeback means a diversification of attention away from Rog. Haha.

Life is good so far. Three day week and getting paid. Mundane life but I like it ironically because of the seemingly lack of a life. A recent spate of events led me to find a Mr Helpful whom I'm grateful to. I've come to see the good side of people instead of focusing on the negative traits. After looking at the people around me, I've also realised that the family plays a very crucial role in the development of a human being. This has never occured to me because I've always been mixing with people who are similar to me. The way one is brought up really shapes a person's outlook of life, character and social etiquette. Whenever I'm with someone who's lacking in any of these, I can't help but think that he/she would have been a different person had he/she been brought up in a more family-oriented environment. Having intelligence is just not enough to be a complete person. Other aspects are equally important.

Second Week..

Two weeks of school so far. Two months of slack timetable. Still not in the mood of studying. Still sticking to the old and stubborn thought that I'll learn much better outside. I'm sick of theories, theories and yet again theories. I'm tired of ice-breaking sessions and orientations. I'm dreading all the upcoming assignments and projects. I'm not exactly enthusiastic about what my tutor has proposed for my group for a community involvement project. I can't imagine myself embarking on a community service which would help save a non-human organization. I would rather aid our fellow human beings or perhaps Singaporeans, which would definitely be more meaningful. I always believe in the saying: charity starts at home. If we can't even save ourselves, don't try to be noble by saving others. My group has been so 'on' through the yahoo group that I've lost track of what's happening after not opening my gmail account for a couple of days.

Went back to NUS yesterday to watch this new local singer, Gong Shi Jia, who previously graduated from NUS. My obsession with her started when I found out that David Tao specially penned a song for her. I must admit her 'live' singing far exceeded my expectations. Here's a big thank you to the person who invited me to watch this concert, and of course, not forgetting the CD as well.

Anyway, the trip to NUS brought back nostalgic moments. Comparisons between my current institution and NUS inevitably surfaced. Even minor details such as the size of the parking lot or the general perception of the people in the canteen was not spared. I guess the grass is always greener on the other side. I find myself pinpointing ridiculous faults at my current institution though its definitely no fault of theirs. But anyway, I've always enjoyed my life in NUS. It was the best period of time throughout my education life-span. I love the freedom of being a student there. There was always a balance between studies and play there. Nobody breathed down our necks pleading us to study and lay down obvious expectations on us. In simplier words, the philosophy was, if you don't want to study, it's your own freaking problem. Be responsible for yourself.

In other news, my laptop is on the brink of death, which explains my lack of enthusiasm in doing any school work. Everything is reliant on technology now. Heck. I have tonnes of minute things of school -related stuff to do but I somehow end up doing non-important and other more interesting things. Now I finally understand why my students dislike school so much.

Schooling Again..

I'm back to being a student once more after having graduated more than 6 months ago. I've lost the momentum of having to put myself through studying, rushing for assignments, downloading lecture notes, jotting down notes etc. I've grown accustomed to the life of going home knowing that I can relax till the next morning. Given a choice, I would rather go back to teaching in the secondary school where I taught in for the past 4 months. Having compared my time there with my other peers who were posted to other secondary schools, my life was probably paradise in comparison to theirs. To think that I actually complained so much back then. Haha.

I always feel that learning takes place best outside the classroom. There's only so much that books can teach you. Hence, it will be most optimum to learn while on-the-job. A pity we would be assessed the only time we actually experience teaching during this course. Based on feedback from my previous colleauges and lecturers, the course I'm currently undergoing is too theory based, with little hands-on approaches. This is especially so with regards to classroom management. The textbooks provide us with details on how to tackle the different kinds of students. But whether it works is another story. In the end, it all boils down to experimentation. No single method would work for one kind of student. There are obviously useful parts of the courses. The most relevant would be the teachings of the subjects itself and communication skills. A pity these modules would only begin in late February.

I love the drive to my current institution. It is the only highlight of the trip to the school during this whole week. I love the long bends and windy roads of the PIE. Perhaps its the thrill I attain from speeding down these curvy roads, which is in stark contrast to that of the long stretch of straights on the ECP that I drive through while going to NUS. The only nuisance is road hoggers. It take a great amount of skill and guts to overtake them due to the nature of the road. I wish they would check their rear-view mirrors more often to see the massive jam they are causing on the extreme right lane. The most guilty parties? Taxi drivers.

New Year..

2005 had been a rather eventful and colourful year to me. I'll always remember 2005 as the year that marked the end of the studying era and also the beginning of being an employed worker. Besides that, I'm especially pleased with the new friendships formed and the old friendships renewed. Here's a breakdown of my 'achievements':

Academically: I've never ever been very academically-inclined. From young, Barbara has always labelled me as a 'slow learner', especially with any subject related to alphabets and words. So to have graduated with an Honours degree is quite an achievement in itself. If there was a value-added award tracking my results from JC to University, I won't be shy to admit that I utterly deserve the award.

Career-wise: I was initially in a state of confusion and frustration into deciding my career line. I only applied for teaching because the friends around me did so, or rather, just to have a taste of what the interview was like. I was initially elated that I was allocated to teach secondary English and Music. Through projects done in my 4 years of university, I've always been dismayed with the standard of written English Language of my peers. This was especially so in the 1st 2 years of university. Having had to read through lower secondary school standard of English made me want to vomit blood. It makes me wonder whether these people have been taught grammar, sentence structure and even spelling during their English lessons. It would indeed be a satisfying job to be able to raise the English standard of the future generations. Anyway, I was more glad to be given the opportunity to teach music. I thought it would be a breeze as it is afterall a non-examinable subject (not MEP). I'll probably just have to play some pop music on the piano and get the students to sing along. I was totally shattered after the music audition. I could only blame myself for being so shallow. Classical music still reigned after all in our education system. The matter was worsened as my music audition was delayed due to a clash with my school exam. By then, the vacancies in NIE were already filled up. I was only left with the option of contract teaching, with the teaching subjects of English and Mathematics. I could only lament the poor timing. But if I look on the positive side, at least I was still given a chance to teach. After not making through the audition, they could have just threw away my application and not bothered about me. So while most of my friends went directly to NIE, I was thrown straight into a secondary school to be an untrained teacher. As all of you would probably know, the initial stages were very difficult for me. I found it hard to adapt to the neighbourhood surroundings. All along, I've hardly come into contact with the mainstream, only mixing with similar people. Elitist would be the perfect word to describe me. But as time went by, I began to understand the kids better and got used to their style. I initially concentrated too much on their weaknesses, which totally blinded me from their strengths. If the students were represented by a piece of white paper smeered with patches of black dots, I only focused on the black dots even though the white areas were much larger. As an educator, this was a grave mistake. Anyway, I'm glad to have started off with contract teaching first even though it meant that I would lose out on some monetary gains compared to my other peers. It was indeed crucial for people like me to have a taste of what teaching neighbourhood school students would be like. Hopefully with this experience, I would be able to manage the students much better during my school experience and practicum.

Health (Sports and Games): Believe it or not, I only picked up tennis this year. The Federer racket that I bought was meant to be a lucky charm for Rog's matches. I must say that playing tennis was much easier than I expected. Perhaps the one decade of watching tennis aided a lot. Who needs a coach? Constant exposure to watching skilful players like Steffi Graf, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Martina Hingis and of course Roger Federer would do. Besides tennis, I've also been hitting the gym.It takes a great effort to get started in exercising. Ironically, I only started doing so when I began teaching. I was desperate to do something to feel more energetic and recharged. Running on the treadmill keeps my mind afresh and improves my stamina which I greatly need in my job.

Friendship: As stated above and probably in previous entries, the new friendships formed in my honours year is probably the highlight of my undergraduate studies. My females friends aided me a great deal in my studies while my male friends and a few girl friends provided me with much entertainment and companionship (when playing tennis, mahjong, singing ktv, watching movies, eating, talking crap etc.). Hopefully our friendship would last as the years go by.

Romance: Did enjoy some blissful moments with certain people but no further attempt was taken on both parties to move on to the next stage. Perhaps there was but the hints dropped were not straightforward enough for me to understand. On the other hand, I played the devil by rejecting people. Irony in simple English: People whom you like don't like you but people whom you don't like like you.

I don't want to make any New Year Resolutions as I hardly ever achieve them. I just hope I would be able to manage my students more effectively. More importantly, I wish everyone good health. Afterall, health is wealth. Good health does not come in a vacuum. Alrights, this has been such a time-consuming entry to read. So get your butts out of that comfortable chair now and start exercising!