Viva Vinegar!
Sunday, January 31, 2010, 03:17 p.m. #1653.

Is it the end of January already? Been so busy that I hardly noticed the passage of time. Transport expenses has definitely gone up for me this year as I have been going home by cab during the peak hours of seven-ish. Working for at least thirteen hours every weekday makes me treasure weekends even more - carefully devoting some time for friends, cinema and karaoke. While I feel really accomplished and satisfied with my new work scope, I am unsure of whether all that work is indeed worthwhile of my health and energy - which are probably slowly wearing away without visible effects yet. Sometimes I ask myself: do I really have to work this hard?

But work life has been great, really. My school leaders appreciate my work, my colleagues are wonderful, my supervisees are positive and showing promise, and my students are teachable and fun... What more can I ask for?

Anyway my little roboboy has got punky green hair now!



Was ironing my new white shirt last night when I realised I had created yellow scorch marks on the shirt as the temperature was probably set too high (I never had such issues with my other shirts with that setting). The scorch marks resembled coffee stains and were conspicuously unsightly. Sought help from mum, and she told me such scorch marks are irreversible and that's no way I could get rid of them. Unconvinced, I looked for remedies on the net, and... Voila! Here's sharing the tip for those who are having problems with scorch marks: Pour white vinegar on the affected areas, rub, and soak in water overnight. The scorch marks will disappear without a trace! Mum stared with disbelief at the clean white shirt as I actually knew something housechore-ish which she didn't know. I was just relieved that my new shirt didn't have to go to waste!

Antitoxins and the Little Roboboy.
Thursday, January 14, 2010, 08:51 p.m. #1652.



Started a little green corner at my workdesk when the year started. Included dracaena and sansevieria (also known as Mother-in-law's Tongue) as I'd read that they can filter off the toxins in the air especially in offices. The greenery really does cheer me up sometimes when work gets dreary. Watering the plants in the morning can be quite therapeutic too.



And the green corner has definitely stirred up some conversation. People who walk past would ask me how I manage to get the plants thriving indoors, my vice-principal is thinking of getting plants to beautify the office, my colleagues have also asked to transplant parts of my plants since the small pots won't allow them to grow further anyway.

P.S. The "little robot" pot is a gift from my ex-student! So cute right?

So Proud.
Monday, January 11, 2010, 05:34 p.m. #1651.



First entry of the year. Probably the happiest one as well. My eyes were filled with tears of joy when I watched my form class student go onstage to receive her results as the top student. She fulfilled my dream - having someone from my form class go onstage to be honored, despite us being the "weakest" Express class. In fact, not only did she realise my dream, she was the top student! This has never happened in the history of my school (the top student always came from the "top" classes) - and I am not sure if it will ever happen again. I am just really, really glad.

The rest of my form class did not let me down as well. Nearly one quarter of them scored distinction for Science - that's better than even the so-called "better" classes - and they started with such weak foundation! This is all thanks to all the subject teachers, who motivated the class together with me, and made them create this "miracle". They have debunked the fallacy that the "weakest" class is condemned to fail.

Of course my Pure Physics and 5N class did not let me down as well. More than half scored distinction, and many of them scored extremely good results for their overall too.

I am so proud, so proud of all of them.