Sunday, March 27, 2005
Went to Toa Payoh for lunch today. Popped into the Value Dollar shop at the MRT and found a nice round tin which fit the UMD too. It was actually filled with some aroma candle. So for only $1.05, I bought the tin, melted and threw away the wax, then lined it with the leftover soft styrofoam from yeasterday. So now, I have two cool tins!
Well, the UMD was a little smaller than the tin and would make clinky noises when it moved around the case. So, I went to Art Friend in Bras Basah (just cross the road from Bugis Junction) to see if I could find anything to put inside the case. I was looking for some thick styrofoam which I could perhaps cut a slot that fit the UMD nicely. In the end, I found these soft foam sheets which I could easily cut and use them to cushion the UMDs. No need to cut holes in them. So I cut out 4 to 5 sheets which I can use to separate the UMDs in the tin. No more clinky noises and the UMDs are also nicely cushioned! And to top it off, I printed a little PSP Logo, laminated it and pasted it on the cover... and now I have my very own PSP UMD case! (I'm very proud of myself!)
With the PSP being released in US, I now can buy more games coz they are now released in English. One irritating thing is that there are still no PSP UMD cases on the market except for a $15 plasticky one from Gamescore in Funan. Well, I went around today and found this cool metal tin from a shop in Bugis Junction. Cost only $6. Think it looks much better than the plastic case.
Saturday, March 26, 2005
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Relief.
Yep, it's over. I survived. 4 hours. I'm still alive and breathing. PHEW. (a huge, huge, HUGE sigh of relief).
What's the big deal? Like I said yesterday, it's my first time training adults. First time training fellow colleagues. First time training people who are more senior than me, who are my superiors. As far as I am concerned, it's a big deal for me. Furthermore, this was the first time I am conducting The Leadership Challenge Workshop in its entirety, albeit in a compacted form. So, yes, it was certainly an extremely stressful time for me.
I stopped my preparation at about 2am last night. There was more I wanted to do, but I had to tell myself to stop or I wouldn't have enough sleep and hence energy to conduct the workshop. Falling asleep was not an easy task. Thoughts kept floating in and out of my mind concerning how the workshop would go. How would the teachers react? Would I be a bore? Would they think it was all a waste of time? Would I make big blunders? Do I really know what I was going to do? The questions flooded me as I tried to sleep. I had to make a conscious effort to think of other stuff, like green meadows and cows. Hey, I'm not joking, I really tried very hard to think about green meadows and cows. Eventually, I fell asleep.
The workshop started off not too badly. The teachers were extremely cooperative and participated willingly in the activities and discussions. It really helped to ease me into my role. As the minutes and hours went by, I found myself feeling more and more confident. And I really have the teachers to thank for that. They helped to make my job very very easy.
At the end of the day, I was relieved. Glad that it was over, but also glad that it went fairly smoothly, without any major hitches. I think the teachers generally enjoyed the workshop. I hope I"m not just bluffing myself. I guess I'll know better when they send in their feedback.
In all, it was quite an experience. Perhaps things will get easier from now on. At least I know for sure that I'm much better prepared to conduct the workshop for students in June.
I'm all ready for a good night's rest today. PHEW....
What's the big deal? Like I said yesterday, it's my first time training adults. First time training fellow colleagues. First time training people who are more senior than me, who are my superiors. As far as I am concerned, it's a big deal for me. Furthermore, this was the first time I am conducting The Leadership Challenge Workshop in its entirety, albeit in a compacted form. So, yes, it was certainly an extremely stressful time for me.
I stopped my preparation at about 2am last night. There was more I wanted to do, but I had to tell myself to stop or I wouldn't have enough sleep and hence energy to conduct the workshop. Falling asleep was not an easy task. Thoughts kept floating in and out of my mind concerning how the workshop would go. How would the teachers react? Would I be a bore? Would they think it was all a waste of time? Would I make big blunders? Do I really know what I was going to do? The questions flooded me as I tried to sleep. I had to make a conscious effort to think of other stuff, like green meadows and cows. Hey, I'm not joking, I really tried very hard to think about green meadows and cows. Eventually, I fell asleep.
The workshop started off not too badly. The teachers were extremely cooperative and participated willingly in the activities and discussions. It really helped to ease me into my role. As the minutes and hours went by, I found myself feeling more and more confident. And I really have the teachers to thank for that. They helped to make my job very very easy.
At the end of the day, I was relieved. Glad that it was over, but also glad that it went fairly smoothly, without any major hitches. I think the teachers generally enjoyed the workshop. I hope I"m not just bluffing myself. I guess I'll know better when they send in their feedback.
In all, it was quite an experience. Perhaps things will get easier from now on. At least I know for sure that I'm much better prepared to conduct the workshop for students in June.
I'm all ready for a good night's rest today. PHEW....
Countdown to... Hell?
In about 7 hours time, I will be conducting a training session for teachers from my department. I'll be speaking to about 45 teachers. Scares the hell out of me. It's the first time I'm doing something like this for adults. It's so much easier facing students. Well, I've already spent more than 1.5 days planning for a 5 hours session and I still don't think I'm ready. Sigh. It's gonna be a helluva ride. Just hope there won't be a crash.
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
CEC Training
We had CEC Training today. This year, after supposedly favourable feedback from the Sec 2s from their study skills workshop, I thought it would be fairly safe to invite the same company to provide the training for the CEC. As I walked around the 4 rooms today, I don't know if it was the right decision.
Having a good training session planned is important to me. One reason is that alot of money is being spent. So, I certainly hope the money is well spent. But a more important reason is I really don't want to waste the time of the CEC members and prefects by making them come for a useless training. I get super-frustrated when people make me go for training which I think is haphazard and a waste of time, hence I do not want to inflict the same frustration on others.
My gut feel? I'll be honest and say I don't think the training was very good. It wasn't bad. But I wouldn't say it was good. I found some of the trainers really longwinded and some were even reading off the powerpoint slides. That's like a HUGE no-no as far as I'm concerned. I found the energy levels in the different rooms very varied. I think highest was in Room 2, followed by Room 1. Room 3 and 4 had a pretty low energy level. I dunno if it's because the older boys were there or if it's because of the two male trainers.
Sigh. To any CEC member who read my blog, I can only hope you've found the session somewhat useful. To those who thought it was a wate of time, I can only offer an apology.
In hindsight, I wonder if I should have planned the training on my own. But really, there are so many things on my mind, I don't know if I could have done a proper training. Sometimes I find it quite frustrating. Maybe I ought to prioritize what I really want to do. If I want to do more training-type stuff, then maybe I really should seriously do it more professionally. Well, I'll be doing a training for teachers (scary!) on Thursday. I think it's most difficult to train people you work with. I wonder if I'll be able to do a good job. I'll have to keep them involved for almost 5 hours... phew.
After the training, went for HITCH again. It's my second time watching it. Don't really mind, cause I like the humour. I think Will Smith and the Eva Mendes are quite natural. I quite like Eva.. think she suits the role very well. Kevin James is hilarious. It was quite funny the second time round too. I think it's one of those dramedies that I'll probably buy when it's released on DVD. About 17 prefects turned up for the show. Not a bad number really. But movie watching can be a little anti-social. Maybe next time we can go bowling...
Having a good training session planned is important to me. One reason is that alot of money is being spent. So, I certainly hope the money is well spent. But a more important reason is I really don't want to waste the time of the CEC members and prefects by making them come for a useless training. I get super-frustrated when people make me go for training which I think is haphazard and a waste of time, hence I do not want to inflict the same frustration on others.
My gut feel? I'll be honest and say I don't think the training was very good. It wasn't bad. But I wouldn't say it was good. I found some of the trainers really longwinded and some were even reading off the powerpoint slides. That's like a HUGE no-no as far as I'm concerned. I found the energy levels in the different rooms very varied. I think highest was in Room 2, followed by Room 1. Room 3 and 4 had a pretty low energy level. I dunno if it's because the older boys were there or if it's because of the two male trainers.
Sigh. To any CEC member who read my blog, I can only hope you've found the session somewhat useful. To those who thought it was a wate of time, I can only offer an apology.
In hindsight, I wonder if I should have planned the training on my own. But really, there are so many things on my mind, I don't know if I could have done a proper training. Sometimes I find it quite frustrating. Maybe I ought to prioritize what I really want to do. If I want to do more training-type stuff, then maybe I really should seriously do it more professionally. Well, I'll be doing a training for teachers (scary!) on Thursday. I think it's most difficult to train people you work with. I wonder if I'll be able to do a good job. I'll have to keep them involved for almost 5 hours... phew.
After the training, went for HITCH again. It's my second time watching it. Don't really mind, cause I like the humour. I think Will Smith and the Eva Mendes are quite natural. I quite like Eva.. think she suits the role very well. Kevin James is hilarious. It was quite funny the second time round too. I think it's one of those dramedies that I'll probably buy when it's released on DVD. About 17 prefects turned up for the show. Not a bad number really. But movie watching can be a little anti-social. Maybe next time we can go bowling...
Sunday, March 20, 2005
Retail Therapy
After a sucky Saturday, I decided today would be a day of retail therapy. To start things off, I got myself a new HP. At first, I was tempted by someone to get a Nokia 6630 last night. Not a bad deal really, $388 for a 3G phone. Unfortunately, it came with a 2 year contract. At $26 per month, it works out to a minimum of $624 (subscription) + $388 = $1012, which didn't really make sense. Furthermore, it would mean signing up with Singtel. So, I went down to Sim Lim today to take a look at some phones. I found the Nokia 6670 which I was quite keen on and the price was pretty good too. Then my eyes fell upon the new Nokia 3230... wow.. nice phone... It was really quite tempting but then I found that it would cost me about $300 more than the 6670. Well, I decided to be a little more prudent, so I went with the 6670. Quite a nice phone really. Only small complain, the buttons at the bottom are a little small. Other than that, I'm quite pleased with my new toy. Later on, I spoke to my brother whose business involves handphones and he kinda confirmed that 6670 was a better choice than 3230. Apparently, while it looks nicer, the navi buttons on the 3230 are quite badly constructed. Nice to get my choice validated!
That was retail therapy part I. The second part involved getting new speakers for my computer. Don't ask me why. I just thought I liked them and I'd been thinking about them for a few weeks. So today I decided... why not. So, sitting beautifully next to my monitor are my new Altec Lansing MX 5021 speakers.
Will there be a part III? Who knows. Comeback and see.
That was retail therapy part I. The second part involved getting new speakers for my computer. Don't ask me why. I just thought I liked them and I'd been thinking about them for a few weeks. So today I decided... why not. So, sitting beautifully next to my monitor are my new Altec Lansing MX 5021 speakers.
Will there be a part III? Who knows. Comeback and see.
Bought this before I found out that I lost my handphone. It's by Megabloks. Basically, Megabloks is like a lego-clone. While the toy is not bad, I must say that the overall feel and quality is certainly not the same as Lego. Guess they must have outbid Lego for the license to produce Marvel characters. They also have a Wolverine toy. Maybe I'll go get it tomorrow.
Saturday, March 19, 2005
S**t happens.
Sorry for the language. But it's been one of those days. You know, the kind where you wished you didn't get up and had just lazed in bed the whole day.
Well, I got up and went to see my doctor. Decided it was time for a blood test to see how crappy my body system was getting. Did pee-test first and that's when my doctor and his assistant gave this 'I can't believe your test results' look. Basically, there was supposedly alot of nitrates in my pee. Sorry, I'm quite bio-challenged. So as far as I understand from the doctor, I've got some urinary tract infection. Again. Then of course, he went on to tell me that it could be some kidney disease. Yeah, that sure brightens up my day. So he basically decided that I'd better do a full range of tests to see how screwed up I am. Well, he drew blood, lots of it. Then now I basically have to sit and wait for the results.
Ahh.. but the beauty of it is... it ain't the end of my s**tty day. It was but a start.
I decided to go home. That's home home, not boarding home for lunch and watch some much-missed cable. Guess what. When I reached home, I found out, my lovely TV was spoilt! So, no cable for me. Great right?
After moping around home, I decided to go funan to see if I could have some retail therapy. Managed to flag a cab, but the driver politely declines to drive me to Funan but offers to drive me to Bishan instead. He's plenty scared of the possible traffic jam in town. Fine. Go Bishan lor. Maybe can take train to Funan. Reached Bishan, I decided to wonder around for a while. Dropped by Bose, went to Action City, then Popular, then BEST... then discovered... MY PHONE WAS NOT WITH ME! Sigh. Tried calling my phone many times. For the first twenty or so times, the phone kept ringing, no one answered. Then suddenly, all I started getting was a dead tone. Guess someone finally found it and decided to keep my old, cracked 6800. Don't ask me why. Not as if it's worth anything, given the condition it was in. So, had to get Mr Chow to sign a letter to authorize me to collect a new SIM card from M1. Had to go down to the M1 shop to get it replaced. Had to then decide if I should get a new phone. Luckily, I have a Nokia 3120 which my brother had lent me sometime back.
Like my title says, sometimes, S**T happens.
Well, I got up and went to see my doctor. Decided it was time for a blood test to see how crappy my body system was getting. Did pee-test first and that's when my doctor and his assistant gave this 'I can't believe your test results' look. Basically, there was supposedly alot of nitrates in my pee. Sorry, I'm quite bio-challenged. So as far as I understand from the doctor, I've got some urinary tract infection. Again. Then of course, he went on to tell me that it could be some kidney disease. Yeah, that sure brightens up my day. So he basically decided that I'd better do a full range of tests to see how screwed up I am. Well, he drew blood, lots of it. Then now I basically have to sit and wait for the results.
Ahh.. but the beauty of it is... it ain't the end of my s**tty day. It was but a start.
I decided to go home. That's home home, not boarding home for lunch and watch some much-missed cable. Guess what. When I reached home, I found out, my lovely TV was spoilt! So, no cable for me. Great right?
After moping around home, I decided to go funan to see if I could have some retail therapy. Managed to flag a cab, but the driver politely declines to drive me to Funan but offers to drive me to Bishan instead. He's plenty scared of the possible traffic jam in town. Fine. Go Bishan lor. Maybe can take train to Funan. Reached Bishan, I decided to wonder around for a while. Dropped by Bose, went to Action City, then Popular, then BEST... then discovered... MY PHONE WAS NOT WITH ME! Sigh. Tried calling my phone many times. For the first twenty or so times, the phone kept ringing, no one answered. Then suddenly, all I started getting was a dead tone. Guess someone finally found it and decided to keep my old, cracked 6800. Don't ask me why. Not as if it's worth anything, given the condition it was in. So, had to get Mr Chow to sign a letter to authorize me to collect a new SIM card from M1. Had to go down to the M1 shop to get it replaced. Had to then decide if I should get a new phone. Luckily, I have a Nokia 3120 which my brother had lent me sometime back.
Like my title says, sometimes, S**T happens.
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
My trusty Nokia 6800 appears to be on it's way to handphone heaven so it's time fo rme to start searching for a new phone. One thing I really hope to have is a keyboard again. They're really great for SMS-ing. Here's a cool one by LG (F1900). However, I doubt it'll ever make it's way here to our sunny island.
Monday, March 14, 2005
The same old story... temptations again
I went to the IT show again today. This time with a friend. I tried hard to tempt my friend to get a 19inch LCD monitor... but failed. However, my friend kinda turned the tables on me and tempted me with other stuff... and the biggest problem is, I have more expendable income than him, so now I end up struggling with the temptations! Here they are:
Temptation 1: New Video Projector (Approx: $1700)
I am soooo tempted with the Sony VPL-ES2 projector. It's just such a simple and beautiful projector. The projector I have now had a brightness of about 800 Ansi Lumens. The new projectors which have caught my eye average around 1500 Ansi Lumens. That's like twice the amount of brightness lor! OK.. I know it's an LCD projector, not a DLP one, but hey.. it jsut screams BUY ME! BUY ME!
Temptation 2: A Digital Video Camera (Approx: $1000)
This one is a little cheaper. Just thought it might be fun to play around with a DV Cam. The new models are really sleek and reasonably affordable. The Sony DCR-PC55E is really very nice. The LCD touch screen is awesome and the camera is just so unbelievably small! I've already got a digital camera so I thought a DV Camera might be worth trying. Sigh, Sony really needs to stop designing cool stuff.
Temptation 3: A Colour Laser Printer (Approx: $500)
I can't believe the price of this one. A colour laser printer for less than $500! Wow.. it's just too good to be true. But Epson's Acculaser C900 is really that cheap! We're not talking about a normal inkjet here, but a full 2400dpi Colour laser. This was one buy which I really really REALLY struggled with. The only thing holding me back? The fact that I can easily get a colour laser printout from school! If the school did not provide us with a colour laser printer, I think this buy would have been a no-brainer!
Temptation 4: New Graphics Card (Approx: $300)
One thing that irritates me is when I buy a new game and when I try to play it, I realize that the game's graphics settings has to be set to 'LOW'. Now, bear in mind, my computer was just bought last November and it's supposed to be one of the better ones. Yet now, when I tried to play PIRATES!, I still had to use LOW settings. Sigh. So, my friend tried hard to tempt me with getting new graphics card. Some of the high-end ones were really awesome. BUt those cost around $800. The cheaper ones which would still be a significant upgrade for me, would cost around $300. This temptation will probably get the better of me some time. But not until there is a game which causes to me ABSOLUTELY demand an upgrade in my computer's graphics card. The next must-play game is Civilization IV which will probably be out later this year. So my thoughts are, let's wait till the game is realized before decided on this upgrade.
Yeah, so you see, these are the temptations which I allow myself to get into. The IT show is now a good place for the weak-willed...
This is probably the least expensive
Temptation 1: New Video Projector (Approx: $1700)
I am soooo tempted with the Sony VPL-ES2 projector. It's just such a simple and beautiful projector. The projector I have now had a brightness of about 800 Ansi Lumens. The new projectors which have caught my eye average around 1500 Ansi Lumens. That's like twice the amount of brightness lor! OK.. I know it's an LCD projector, not a DLP one, but hey.. it jsut screams BUY ME! BUY ME!
Temptation 2: A Digital Video Camera (Approx: $1000)
This one is a little cheaper. Just thought it might be fun to play around with a DV Cam. The new models are really sleek and reasonably affordable. The Sony DCR-PC55E is really very nice. The LCD touch screen is awesome and the camera is just so unbelievably small! I've already got a digital camera so I thought a DV Camera might be worth trying. Sigh, Sony really needs to stop designing cool stuff.
Temptation 3: A Colour Laser Printer (Approx: $500)
I can't believe the price of this one. A colour laser printer for less than $500! Wow.. it's just too good to be true. But Epson's Acculaser C900 is really that cheap! We're not talking about a normal inkjet here, but a full 2400dpi Colour laser. This was one buy which I really really REALLY struggled with. The only thing holding me back? The fact that I can easily get a colour laser printout from school! If the school did not provide us with a colour laser printer, I think this buy would have been a no-brainer!
Temptation 4: New Graphics Card (Approx: $300)
One thing that irritates me is when I buy a new game and when I try to play it, I realize that the game's graphics settings has to be set to 'LOW'. Now, bear in mind, my computer was just bought last November and it's supposed to be one of the better ones. Yet now, when I tried to play PIRATES!, I still had to use LOW settings. Sigh. So, my friend tried hard to tempt me with getting new graphics card. Some of the high-end ones were really awesome. BUt those cost around $800. The cheaper ones which would still be a significant upgrade for me, would cost around $300. This temptation will probably get the better of me some time. But not until there is a game which causes to me ABSOLUTELY demand an upgrade in my computer's graphics card. The next must-play game is Civilization IV which will probably be out later this year. So my thoughts are, let's wait till the game is realized before decided on this upgrade.
Yeah, so you see, these are the temptations which I allow myself to get into. The IT show is now a good place for the weak-willed...
This is probably the least expensive
Sunday, March 13, 2005
Movie Marathon
Today, I basically decided to start catching up on the movies which I had been missing the last few weeks. So, I went on a movie marathon at Eng Wah (Toa Payoh) , catching 3 movies! heh...
Started off with ROBOTS at 2.10pm. It was a so-so movie. It wasn't bad, but I guess the characters just aren't that endearing. The story was also just so-so. I didn't find it boring, but it certainly isn't in the same league as Nemo or Incredibles. I did find the animation very nice, and the robot world they created was quite interesting too. But, the one thing i really enjoyed was that one fart joke. It was really hilarious! Personally, I would go as far as to say that that one joke was worth the whole movie! haha.
Next was HITCH at 4.50pm. It was quite funny and really enjoyed it. There were plenty of laughs and it was nice to see Will Smith not in an 'action hero'-type role. The King of Queens guy was also pretty funny. Highly watchable, dun miss this one.
Finally, I caught LEMONY SNICKET at 7.10pm. It was quite an interesting movie. At least Jim Carrey didn't turn me off! The three kids were pretty natural and I enjoyed their different abilities. I've not read the books yet and I must say that after watching the movie, I'm quite tempted to pick up a copy and give it a try.
Well, that's about it... how I spent my first day of the holidays. I think it was pretty well spent, don't you? :-P
Started off with ROBOTS at 2.10pm. It was a so-so movie. It wasn't bad, but I guess the characters just aren't that endearing. The story was also just so-so. I didn't find it boring, but it certainly isn't in the same league as Nemo or Incredibles. I did find the animation very nice, and the robot world they created was quite interesting too. But, the one thing i really enjoyed was that one fart joke. It was really hilarious! Personally, I would go as far as to say that that one joke was worth the whole movie! haha.
Next was HITCH at 4.50pm. It was quite funny and really enjoyed it. There were plenty of laughs and it was nice to see Will Smith not in an 'action hero'-type role. The King of Queens guy was also pretty funny. Highly watchable, dun miss this one.
Finally, I caught LEMONY SNICKET at 7.10pm. It was quite an interesting movie. At least Jim Carrey didn't turn me off! The three kids were pretty natural and I enjoyed their different abilities. I've not read the books yet and I must say that after watching the movie, I'm quite tempted to pick up a copy and give it a try.
Well, that's about it... how I spent my first day of the holidays. I think it was pretty well spent, don't you? :-P
Friday, March 11, 2005
Track & Field Meet
Thought the other post was getting really long, so I might as well post this separately.
It was certainly a special day... first time in 16 yrs... Bayley House finally won the T&F championships. I know I'm no longer in charge of the house, but I still feel really proud of the house even though I'm just a normal teacher in Bayley. It was awesome to hear the announcer saying 'Champion House is BAYLEY!' and it was an almost emotional experience watching the house captain lifting the trophy. Let's hope that this is a good sign for the rest of the year! It's time Bayley reclaimed the Overall Champion House title after losing it for two years!
I'm however gonna be frank and say we kinda deserved getting fourth place for the cheering and stand decorations. Although we had a pretty large group of students cheering, our volume was really quite sad... And the cheers weren't as exciting and heart-pumping as Moor's or Morrison's. Morrison's Haka (is that how it's spelt?) was not original... but I do like their cookie monster cheer. Unfortunately, I think they didn;t do it in the right style. It was too 'shoutish'. With such a fun cheer, they should really have tried having more fun with it. Moor was quite powerpacked with their cheers. Really good team of cheerleaders AND cheerfollowers... heh.
Stand deco? Morrison won, hands down. Really creative and festive. Bayley's stand was really not very good. We had such a fun theme to work with, but unfortunately did not maximize the potential. The pyramids were quite sad... and the banners... hmm... actually, I think all the banners weren't very good. I think it would be useful to organise a banner course sometime end of this year! It's about time the students learnt how to do really good banners.
Finally, a quick (but heartfelt) apology to the H house... sori lah.. but to those who know what I'm talking about, I really couldn't help but come up with the cheer... it was just..... too..... tempting.....
It was certainly a special day... first time in 16 yrs... Bayley House finally won the T&F championships. I know I'm no longer in charge of the house, but I still feel really proud of the house even though I'm just a normal teacher in Bayley. It was awesome to hear the announcer saying 'Champion House is BAYLEY!' and it was an almost emotional experience watching the house captain lifting the trophy. Let's hope that this is a good sign for the rest of the year! It's time Bayley reclaimed the Overall Champion House title after losing it for two years!
I'm however gonna be frank and say we kinda deserved getting fourth place for the cheering and stand decorations. Although we had a pretty large group of students cheering, our volume was really quite sad... And the cheers weren't as exciting and heart-pumping as Moor's or Morrison's. Morrison's Haka (is that how it's spelt?) was not original... but I do like their cookie monster cheer. Unfortunately, I think they didn;t do it in the right style. It was too 'shoutish'. With such a fun cheer, they should really have tried having more fun with it. Moor was quite powerpacked with their cheers. Really good team of cheerleaders AND cheerfollowers... heh.
Stand deco? Morrison won, hands down. Really creative and festive. Bayley's stand was really not very good. We had such a fun theme to work with, but unfortunately did not maximize the potential. The pyramids were quite sad... and the banners... hmm... actually, I think all the banners weren't very good. I think it would be useful to organise a banner course sometime end of this year! It's about time the students learnt how to do really good banners.
Finally, a quick (but heartfelt) apology to the H house... sori lah.. but to those who know what I'm talking about, I really couldn't help but come up with the cheer... it was just..... too..... tempting.....
Term 1: The End
This week went by really fast, thanks to the Sec 1 GE Camp, Track & Field Meet and all the other end of term stuff. As usual, it always seems that there is insufficient time for everything. I think we are simply people who are too busy. Oh well.
Monday was a 3/4 day holiday. I appreciated it. Thought it was great to take a break. Some of the teachers basically took the chance to have a long leisurely lunch and just forget about work for the rest of the day. I've not had much time for such chill-out sessions with the teachers this term. It always seemed to be one thing happening or another. So, this was a good time for us to just hang loose and be ourselves.
Tuesday to Thursday was Sec 1 GEP Camp. I must admit I went to the camp with mixed feelings. Last year, I was in charge of discipline, but this year, I wasn't asked to do it. Wasn't quite sure then if I should be actively involved in the discipline. Well, I decided that I should leave the discipline to the teachers who were assigned and try to enjoy myself. At first, it was a little hard. When the sec 1s were noisy, I was so tempted (out of habit) to stand up and ask them to shaddup... but I am proud to say I managed to subdue my habits and leave it to Mrs Neo and Mrs Maas. The main thing I was asked to help out with was the campfire. All in all, I think the campfire went quite well. It's still not the campfire which I think it should be, but it's better than the one I helped plan last year. I'll keep looking towards organising a really good campfire. Hope the sec 1s enjoyed the campfire. I thought the cheering competition and the dances were really fun. Kudos to the 8 Sec 4s who took the time to travel all the way to Sembawang to join the Sec 1s. To me, this was the best example of commitment.
The sec 1s are a really enthusiastic batch. And I must admit, the energy levels are really high. Some quick positive & negative points about this batch from this camp:
Positives:
1. enthusiastic (yep, I said this already)
2. energetic (ditto)
3. spontaneous
4. fun-loving
5. crazy about Carrot Juice is Murder
Negatives:
1. restless
2. doesn't listen when others talk (sigh... i really vomit blood with this point! esp in class too!)
3. many dun like veggies!
4. crazy about Carrot Juice is Murder
As for the Sec 3 PLs? I thought they did quite a good job. For one thing, I liked the fact that many of them did spend time talking to their groups, sharing their experiences and giving them advice. Yeah, some of them did walk the thin-line of almost tekaning the sec 1s, but I think they generally didn't cross it.
This is the 4th Sec 1 camp I've attended. First was Sec 1 camp 2004, second was sec 1 geo camp 2004, then sec 1 camp 2005 and now sec 1 gep camp 2005. I have never believed that you need to 'tekan' students to get their respect. I believe we should be strict. But I never supported this idea that students need to be subjected to constant punishment and humiliation then they will learn to be disciplined. Since I took over PM-ship and had a chance to make more of a difference, this was one of the things I set out to change. I know many senior boys don't like this change. But after these four camps where I gradually persuaded more people to accept this point, I am still convinced that what I believe is correct. I dun think that the Sec 1s who have undergone the 'tekan'-less camps were any less well-behaved than those who have. I know there are many senior boys who still disagree with me. But I hope this is one thing which I can leave behind when I leave RI.
Monday was a 3/4 day holiday. I appreciated it. Thought it was great to take a break. Some of the teachers basically took the chance to have a long leisurely lunch and just forget about work for the rest of the day. I've not had much time for such chill-out sessions with the teachers this term. It always seemed to be one thing happening or another. So, this was a good time for us to just hang loose and be ourselves.
Tuesday to Thursday was Sec 1 GEP Camp. I must admit I went to the camp with mixed feelings. Last year, I was in charge of discipline, but this year, I wasn't asked to do it. Wasn't quite sure then if I should be actively involved in the discipline. Well, I decided that I should leave the discipline to the teachers who were assigned and try to enjoy myself. At first, it was a little hard. When the sec 1s were noisy, I was so tempted (out of habit) to stand up and ask them to shaddup... but I am proud to say I managed to subdue my habits and leave it to Mrs Neo and Mrs Maas. The main thing I was asked to help out with was the campfire. All in all, I think the campfire went quite well. It's still not the campfire which I think it should be, but it's better than the one I helped plan last year. I'll keep looking towards organising a really good campfire. Hope the sec 1s enjoyed the campfire. I thought the cheering competition and the dances were really fun. Kudos to the 8 Sec 4s who took the time to travel all the way to Sembawang to join the Sec 1s. To me, this was the best example of commitment.
The sec 1s are a really enthusiastic batch. And I must admit, the energy levels are really high. Some quick positive & negative points about this batch from this camp:
Positives:
1. enthusiastic (yep, I said this already)
2. energetic (ditto)
3. spontaneous
4. fun-loving
5. crazy about Carrot Juice is Murder
Negatives:
1. restless
2. doesn't listen when others talk (sigh... i really vomit blood with this point! esp in class too!)
3. many dun like veggies!
4. crazy about Carrot Juice is Murder
As for the Sec 3 PLs? I thought they did quite a good job. For one thing, I liked the fact that many of them did spend time talking to their groups, sharing their experiences and giving them advice. Yeah, some of them did walk the thin-line of almost tekaning the sec 1s, but I think they generally didn't cross it.
This is the 4th Sec 1 camp I've attended. First was Sec 1 camp 2004, second was sec 1 geo camp 2004, then sec 1 camp 2005 and now sec 1 gep camp 2005. I have never believed that you need to 'tekan' students to get their respect. I believe we should be strict. But I never supported this idea that students need to be subjected to constant punishment and humiliation then they will learn to be disciplined. Since I took over PM-ship and had a chance to make more of a difference, this was one of the things I set out to change. I know many senior boys don't like this change. But after these four camps where I gradually persuaded more people to accept this point, I am still convinced that what I believe is correct. I dun think that the Sec 1s who have undergone the 'tekan'-less camps were any less well-behaved than those who have. I know there are many senior boys who still disagree with me. But I hope this is one thing which I can leave behind when I leave RI.
Monday, March 07, 2005
Weekend over liaoz...
Yepz, the weekend came and went really fast. It's been a pretty fun weekend. Firstly, I got to catch up with some sleep. It's really glorious to sleep more than 5 hrs a day. I think optimally, I should sleep about 7 hrs. But it seems almost an indulgence. If I were to wake up at 6.30am, I would have to sleep at 11.30pm every night. Hmm.. maybe it might be possible... but what about TV??
The weekend got off to a good start. After having a lovely 8 hours or so of sleep, I was awakened by the ring of my handphone. It was two challengers asking if they could drop by to compete in a round of Karting. Well, always game for a challenge, I humbly accepted it. It was not long before someone deeply regretted his decision. He had one stronghold... Baby Park. He was the King of the Park and he was wallowing in his pride and confidence. Well, I believe it was an equally humbling experience as he saw the title slowly slip from his hand as his Kart fell behind the others... Yes, the king of Baby Park is no more. This was certainly a good start to the weekend.
Later on, had a meeting to attend. Not too bad... despite being a Saturday afternoon meeting, it was fairly productive. It was even more productive when we ended the meeting with a few rounds of... you guessed it.. Karting again! You know, you really have to give it to Nintendo. Although the Gamecube doesn't have very good support from other gaming companies, the party games which Nintendo publishes are really very good. Mario Kart, Mario Party, Bomberman... all examples of great 4 player games. PS2 and Xbox loses out in this area.
On Sunday, I made my first sale through a classified I posted on the net! So exciting... I had bought GT4 because of the excellent reviews it was getting. When I tried it out, I realised the game was just too realistic for me. I really prefer the arcade-y type racers like Burnout 3. So, I posted a classified late on Saturday evening and inless than 12 hours, I had sold the game.. losing about $15 from what I had paid. Not bad lar. Better to lose $15 than to leave the game rotting in my room.
After selling the game, I thought I would enjoy a nice lunch... so I decided to eat at NYDC at Wheelock place. What a disappointment that was. I had the potato salad first. Now, how wrong can a potato salad get? Well... very wrong! The salad came soaking in the mayonaisse. It was gross. Every mouthful was totally pukifying. Then came my main course. I ordered the 'chef's recommendation': The bbq chicken sandwich. What a mistake again. The sandwich just tasted... tasteless! There was some chili salsa sauce... some chreds of chicken... four HUGE slices of foccacia bread, but the combination was just wrong. I ended up leaving two pieces of bread uneaten, andinstead resorted to scraping the slivers of chicken meat from the bread. It was a sad, sad lunch. sigh.
Sunday afternoon was Boarding Sports Carnival. Hullett Block tried hard, but alas.. we're still enjoying 4th place out of 4 guy blocks. We did do very well in Volleyball, coming in first... but we pretty much sucked at the other games. Heh. But the guys tried hard and I hope they had fun. Perhaps we might do better in Term 3!
So in the evening, to make up for the sucky lunch, I went with the tutors to Magic Wok at Novena Square for dinner. Not the best of meals, but it was tasty and miles better than the tasteless slop I had at NYDC. I tell you, it will be many many many MANY months before I every step into NYDC again.
The week ahead is gonna be short. GE camp on Tues, Wed and Thurs. Then TnF on Friday. IT show starts on Thursday... yeah... looks like it might be time to start spending again! hooray!
The weekend got off to a good start. After having a lovely 8 hours or so of sleep, I was awakened by the ring of my handphone. It was two challengers asking if they could drop by to compete in a round of Karting. Well, always game for a challenge, I humbly accepted it. It was not long before someone deeply regretted his decision. He had one stronghold... Baby Park. He was the King of the Park and he was wallowing in his pride and confidence. Well, I believe it was an equally humbling experience as he saw the title slowly slip from his hand as his Kart fell behind the others... Yes, the king of Baby Park is no more. This was certainly a good start to the weekend.
Later on, had a meeting to attend. Not too bad... despite being a Saturday afternoon meeting, it was fairly productive. It was even more productive when we ended the meeting with a few rounds of... you guessed it.. Karting again! You know, you really have to give it to Nintendo. Although the Gamecube doesn't have very good support from other gaming companies, the party games which Nintendo publishes are really very good. Mario Kart, Mario Party, Bomberman... all examples of great 4 player games. PS2 and Xbox loses out in this area.
On Sunday, I made my first sale through a classified I posted on the net! So exciting... I had bought GT4 because of the excellent reviews it was getting. When I tried it out, I realised the game was just too realistic for me. I really prefer the arcade-y type racers like Burnout 3. So, I posted a classified late on Saturday evening and inless than 12 hours, I had sold the game.. losing about $15 from what I had paid. Not bad lar. Better to lose $15 than to leave the game rotting in my room.
After selling the game, I thought I would enjoy a nice lunch... so I decided to eat at NYDC at Wheelock place. What a disappointment that was. I had the potato salad first. Now, how wrong can a potato salad get? Well... very wrong! The salad came soaking in the mayonaisse. It was gross. Every mouthful was totally pukifying. Then came my main course. I ordered the 'chef's recommendation': The bbq chicken sandwich. What a mistake again. The sandwich just tasted... tasteless! There was some chili salsa sauce... some chreds of chicken... four HUGE slices of foccacia bread, but the combination was just wrong. I ended up leaving two pieces of bread uneaten, andinstead resorted to scraping the slivers of chicken meat from the bread. It was a sad, sad lunch. sigh.
Sunday afternoon was Boarding Sports Carnival. Hullett Block tried hard, but alas.. we're still enjoying 4th place out of 4 guy blocks. We did do very well in Volleyball, coming in first... but we pretty much sucked at the other games. Heh. But the guys tried hard and I hope they had fun. Perhaps we might do better in Term 3!
So in the evening, to make up for the sucky lunch, I went with the tutors to Magic Wok at Novena Square for dinner. Not the best of meals, but it was tasty and miles better than the tasteless slop I had at NYDC. I tell you, it will be many many many MANY months before I every step into NYDC again.
The week ahead is gonna be short. GE camp on Tues, Wed and Thurs. Then TnF on Friday. IT show starts on Thursday... yeah... looks like it might be time to start spending again! hooray!
Thursday, March 03, 2005
Dunno why, but I've been feeling very drained this past week. It's like... there's no energy left and I'm like running on empty. I've been trying to grab a little more sleep, but somehow I end up sleeping about 5 hrs a night. Tomorrow is Friday, so maybe tomorrow night I can catch up on some glorious sleep.
Yesterday, I went videogame shopping with a friend. He was looking for the new Gran Turismo 4 and I was thinking of getting it or some other game. I'm not exactly a racing game enthusiast, but I've seen the screen shots of the game and they look awesome. Anyway, we first went to Funan to take a look. Unfortunately, although they had the game, they did not have the special Logitech Force Feedback Wheel which my friend was thinking of getting together with the game. You've gotta understand this, my friend is not a console gamer. He hasn't even played with his PS2 yet. His friend had loaned him the set indefinitely. Anyway, we asked around and found out that the Logitech wheel was more than $300 dollars! Phew... $300++ bucks for an accessory! He was a little discouraged when he heard that. You could feel his enthusiasm subside almost instantly. Well, since there was no wheel there, we thought we'd drop by Seow Choon games near Sim Lim Square. They're like a distributor, so we thought we might find the wheel there (even though my friend was pretty much set on NOT buying it coz of the price).
We walked into the shop and looked around and saw some other wheels. There was a $85 dollar one and we kinda fiddled with it. My friend was obviously not very impressed with it. Then, it happened. He caught sight of the Logitech wheel. He lifted the box and stared at the pictures lovingly. The $85 wheel was certainly NOT in the same league. The next 20 minutes were spent allowing him to convince himself that it was ok to spend that kind of money on a wheel. Mind you, he probably could have bought a real steering wheel for $300 bucks. In the end, (with a little of my prompting) he caved in and left the shop $430 poorer...but with the wheel & game in hand. Frankly, I couldn't believe he caved in. It was a real hoot to see him struggling over the decision. Yeah, guess I'm kinda evil for doing this to him. But it's good to see someone spending so much money on a toy wheel and game.
I wonder how long it will be before he gives up on the wheel. Maybe I might be able to get him to sell it to me at a 50% discount! haha....
Yesterday, I went videogame shopping with a friend. He was looking for the new Gran Turismo 4 and I was thinking of getting it or some other game. I'm not exactly a racing game enthusiast, but I've seen the screen shots of the game and they look awesome. Anyway, we first went to Funan to take a look. Unfortunately, although they had the game, they did not have the special Logitech Force Feedback Wheel which my friend was thinking of getting together with the game. You've gotta understand this, my friend is not a console gamer. He hasn't even played with his PS2 yet. His friend had loaned him the set indefinitely. Anyway, we asked around and found out that the Logitech wheel was more than $300 dollars! Phew... $300++ bucks for an accessory! He was a little discouraged when he heard that. You could feel his enthusiasm subside almost instantly. Well, since there was no wheel there, we thought we'd drop by Seow Choon games near Sim Lim Square. They're like a distributor, so we thought we might find the wheel there (even though my friend was pretty much set on NOT buying it coz of the price).
We walked into the shop and looked around and saw some other wheels. There was a $85 dollar one and we kinda fiddled with it. My friend was obviously not very impressed with it. Then, it happened. He caught sight of the Logitech wheel. He lifted the box and stared at the pictures lovingly. The $85 wheel was certainly NOT in the same league. The next 20 minutes were spent allowing him to convince himself that it was ok to spend that kind of money on a wheel. Mind you, he probably could have bought a real steering wheel for $300 bucks. In the end, (with a little of my prompting) he caved in and left the shop $430 poorer...but with the wheel & game in hand. Frankly, I couldn't believe he caved in. It was a real hoot to see him struggling over the decision. Yeah, guess I'm kinda evil for doing this to him. But it's good to see someone spending so much money on a toy wheel and game.
I wonder how long it will be before he gives up on the wheel. Maybe I might be able to get him to sell it to me at a 50% discount! haha....
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
Nausicaa at last
I've always loved reading comics, both english and chinese. Up to primary six, I read English Comics by DC and Marvel. Superman, Green Lantern, Spiderman, Archie... I usually went to the neighbourhood comic rental shop to rent them. As for chinese comics, they fell mainly into two types: Xiao Ding Dang (Doraemon) which I followed really religiously and Astroboy, which I got to read when I visited my cousins in Johor Bahru. In Secondary School, I kinda lost some interest in comics, though I still read them occasionally. I really got hooked again towards the end of JC, and that was when I started reading manga like Dragonball. One of my all time favourites is Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.
After reading the manga, I found out that there was a Anime version. I've tried to get hold of the English version but believe or not, I've been unsuccessful. Almost every trip I've made to the States would include a search at various video shops to see if I could find the movie. There's a japanese/chinese version available, but I really wanted to watch the English version. Why am I telling you all this? It's kinda hard to believe, but after almost 20yrs, I've finally watched the English version of Nausicaa. Walt Disney finally did a redub of the movie and released it barely a week ago. I pre-ordered it and finally received it yesterday. Tonight, I put almsot everything aside, sat down and enjoyed the movie. It was a pretty good movie. Although it only included about 2 volumes out of the 7 volume-manga, the animation was beautiful and the story was magical. Can't believe I've kept my interest in Nausicaa for so many years! Now, I'm gonna try and dig out the old comics and read through them again!
After reading the manga, I found out that there was a Anime version. I've tried to get hold of the English version but believe or not, I've been unsuccessful. Almost every trip I've made to the States would include a search at various video shops to see if I could find the movie. There's a japanese/chinese version available, but I really wanted to watch the English version. Why am I telling you all this? It's kinda hard to believe, but after almost 20yrs, I've finally watched the English version of Nausicaa. Walt Disney finally did a redub of the movie and released it barely a week ago. I pre-ordered it and finally received it yesterday. Tonight, I put almsot everything aside, sat down and enjoyed the movie. It was a pretty good movie. Although it only included about 2 volumes out of the 7 volume-manga, the animation was beautiful and the story was magical. Can't believe I've kept my interest in Nausicaa for so many years! Now, I'm gonna try and dig out the old comics and read through them again!
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