first day of june holidays
Monday, May 31, 2004, 05:31 p.m.

Yep, school holidays has started, but that doesn't mean teachers are off from work. Went to Dunman Secondary for Chinese 'O' Level invigilation. It was quite a hassle with all the barcode scanning - it didn't used to be so troublesome in my time (10 years ago?), and I thought the purpose of barcode scanning is to cut down manual marking of attendance, but we still had to do it manually after we have done the scanning, so essentially we marked students' attendance TWICE - simply defeats the purpose of using technology.

Then went to MOE Edutorium for a SAIL (Strategies for Active and Independent Learning) briefing, which was about a new programme that will be introduced to all primary and secondary schools soon - students will be required to come up with their own questions, alternative solutions and self-evaluation. The briefing was extremely BORING, Gek Hong fell asleep beside me and I was sms-ing Sakinah.

The SAIL programme is actually very similar to the idea of SPA (where assessment is so difficult), except that SAIL will be applied to all 30 subjects (13 for primary, 17 for secondary). And it all boils down to mean: MORE WORK FOR TEACHERS.

misty
Friday, May 28, 2004, 07:20 p.m.

Ms T (HOD) was on a scolding spree today, reprimanding everyone in the Science department, including me. I politely rebuked at some points when she went too pushy and unreasonable. I don't know whether everyone got it, but from what I gathered, Daniel, Irene and Gek Hong got a share of her scoldings as well - Ms T even shouted at Gek Hong in front of students (so unprofessional!) and Gek Hong rebuked and she was so angry that she walked away.

Brought the Sec 3 students to a Chemistry exhibition, while Irene and I went to the LOTR exhibition instead. Got myself a cheap souvenir set - two small keychains (one of The Ring, one of the Elven brooch) and a black velvet LOTR pouch - all at just $10. Quite pleased.

music
Thursday, May 27, 2004, 08:23 p.m.

Dad got a set of new speakers for me. The sound and bass are really good - have that crystal-clear and all-around feeling when I put on Jamie Cullum - have been listening to him since yesterday...

This reminds me of something I've observed - it seems those who love heavy music like light music too, while those who like light music simply cannot stand heavy music based on theories like "loud music is noise" or "non-melodic/harmonic progressions are trash". My "heavy-metal" friends appreciate jazz and classical music just like I do, and there are these "music purists" who express their disgust quite clearly when they find out that I listen to those heavier stuff - "I can't understand why you listen to such things!". To me, musical preferences are rather personal, and to insult a class of music (no matter how much you dismiss it) is quite rude (this includes TECHNO, by the way).

Please respect ALL forms of music.

what a difference a day made
Wednesday, May 26, 2004, 06:32 p.m.

Environmental Workshop for Secondary One students. Irene and I were in-charge of the station where students made recycled paper from shredded newspapers and magazines. They seemed to have enjoyed themselves squeezing water out from blended wastepaper mixtures on the sieves (which they spolit a few cos they applied too much force) though it seemed so mundane and messy. Students nowadays are so fortunate, they have all these interesting programmes which they can actually enjoy themselves and not feel compelled to attend - I don't remember having such programmes in TCHS ten years ago... The students from 4E1 volunteered to help in this workshop and those assigned to my lab were all very nice students who led the kids in their fun and stayed behind to help clear up the place even when I have released them. I don't see such students in my classes. Hmm.

My Amazon shipment arrived! Violin scores Three Pieces from Schindler's List, a teenage book The Sex Book by Jane Pavanel, DVD Yehudi Menuhin, limited edition CDs of Jamie Cullum's Twentysomething and Eminem's The Slim Shady LP... Will be enjoying them in the next few days... :)

derek's fine
Monday, May 24, 2004, 04:26 p.m.

Derek went home last night and came to school this morning. Only knew this in the morning when his elder brother sms-ed me. Kept waking up last night to check my handphone to see whether his family called... luckily he's okay. Apparently, he was hiding at an upper secondary guy's house.

He seemed very unapproachable in the morning - I thought I should let him cool down so I didn't go and ask him about his disappearance. Then I brought the sec 1s to the Science Center for a Games Bazaar and Amazing Race together with Irene, Ariel, Humaiyah, Firdaus, Gek Hong and Daniel. When I went back to school and dropped by my form class, I saw Derek was playing chess with Yanhao and he seemed more cheerful. Shall wait for an appropriate time to talk with him someday.

derek
Sunday, May 23, 2004, 09:57 p.m.

Argh!!!... I, am, dying, of, anxiety. And I am almost on the verge of tears now - playing the guitar to calm myself down. My palms have been sweaty and my heart has been pounding since I received news from Derek's mother that he has been missing since yesterday, after she ticked him off for messing up his room and Derek stormed out of his home and never returned. His mom called up his friends, and I called Lynn, Victor, Wenjie and Say Chiak but all had no news of him... Where can he be? Where did he spend the night yesterday?? Where will he spend the night TODAY??? Could he have met with some mishap???? Just called his parents hoping that Derek's back home and I would advise the parents to talk to him nicely instead of scolding him BUT they still have no news of him at all. Suggested making a police report but the parents didn't want Derek to have a police record so they're waiting to do that tomorrow if Derek still doesn't return... Derek! WHERE ARE YOU??

nothing left
Saturday, May 22, 2004, 07:59 p.m.

>不留 - 王菲<

我把风情给了你 日子给了他
我把笑容给了你 宽容给了他
我把思念给了你 时间给了他
我把眼泪给了你 责任给了他
我把照片给了你 日历给了他
我把颜色给了你 风景给了他
我把距离给了你 无言给了他

我把烟花给了你 我把节日给了他
我把电影票给了你 我把座位给了他
我把烛光给了你 晚餐给了他
我把歌点给了你 麦克风递给他
声音给了你 画面给了他
我把情节给了你 结局给了他
我把水晶鞋给了你 十二点给了他

我把心给了你 身体给了他
情愿什么也不留下
再也没有什么牵挂

如果我还有哀伤
让风吹散它
如果我还有快乐...
也许吧

itching to dance
Saturday, May 22, 2004, 06:24 p.m.

Finally had the chance to meet the dance instructor Soo Leng and watch the contemporary dance practice. The dance session was really interesting, and I'd love to join them in the stretching exercises and dancesteps if not because I was the only male there. In fact I felt a bit awkward when I was watching them, and I had to look away sometimes cos they're in some embarassing positions and I wouldn't want to be complained of molesting them with my eyes.

Then had lunch with Irene at TM Yoshinoya and wandered around alone for three hours, waiting for my guitar lesson. Met my students Jane, Cheryl, Huiying and Jolin, who followed me wherever I went and made me treat them to a drink at NTUC.

jialing's birthday
Friday, May 21, 2004, 03:19 p.m.

Celebrated Jialing's birthday today. Jialing is the ah mah (grandmother) of the class, and Jane and the girls thought of having a class celebration for her and so got me to help them organise it. Brought the class to the canteen during my lesson, telling them that we were going to have some "activity", and got Wenjie to collect the enormous 2-kg cake that we ordered and was delivered to the schoolgate. Jialing was of course pleasantly surprised when the cake arrived and she saw her name on the cake, and she was almost on the verge of tears when we presented to her the gigantic plushtoy which was contributed by the whole class (topped up by me). Am glad that the class behaved well at the canteen and was responsible enough to clean up after the celebration. At the end, there was one slice of cake remaining, and initially Wenjie and the guys wanted to smash the cake on me, but after much struggling and pleading, I managed to get away with it (phew).

I am quite happy that the class is so cohesive, and I could see that they really enjoyed themselves today after two hectic weeks of exams. Hope they stay like this for the rest of the year (and they channel more energy in improving their grades)!

side by side
Wednesday, May 19, 2004, 03:55 p.m.

It's not bad being an art teacher - you can get to see innovative creations of young minds and enjoy them while grading their art pieces. Was invigilating my form class for their Art exam two days ago. They had to choose between two topics, Underwater City or Side By Side. For the first topic, many students created really colourful worlds of sea animals and imaginary creatures. For Side By Side, Hongning drew a young couple on their wedding day, Jane drew an old couple drinking tea under a tree (so sweet!), Jialing drew people of various races living in harmony, Yanhao drew a pair of slippers at the doorstep, Wenjie drew planets in the universe... I had fun walking around admiring their fascinating work.

nip/tuck
Tuesday, May 18, 2004, 06:41 p.m.

Friends is back! And just when I am grumbling about there's no series worth watching anymore when this final season ends, there comes Nip/Tuck. The pilot episode was brilliant, with a very tight and meticulous script, thought-provoking subplots and complex characters, albeit a few disturbing scenes.

night with rodrigo
Sunday, May 16, 2004, 10:39 p.m.

Boring Sunday night. After practising some string-crossing on the violin, I suddenly remembered the Concierto de Aranjuez scores which I bought a long time ago - a guitar concerto which I'd always aspired to master but was too lousy at that time. Turned on the aircon, made myself comfortable, and figured out the first page (out of seven) of my favorite second movement. Practised the page over and over again for fear that I'd forget the fingerings... Hope I can find time over the next few weeks to figure out the rest of this movement - and maybe over the holidays to master the whole concerto...

the merits of short hair
Friday, May 14, 2004, 06:48 p.m.

Jj said yesterday that my new haircut reminds her of her colleague who cut her hair short when she was pregnant and that I now look like an auntie. A few BH friends also commented that I look weird and the haircut isn't very nice. Hmm. Not very flattering comments huh?

Anyway, those are only their opinion - I am very happy with my short hair - No more worries about the wind messing my hair, no more hassle of combing the hair (waxing the hair is so much easier and faster), the hair does not get the burnt or sweaty smell easily on hot days, and there are so many ways of styling the hair when it's short cos it is capable of defying gravity, unlike long hair that is too heavy: spiky, Beckham-style, Bart-style, unidirectional, flat-and-formal... I have also inspired a little short-hair craze in school, where Gek Hong (a teacher) and several other boys have also cut their hair short, and one student even went to the office to ask me the name of the haircut so that he could get it for himself.

a plant without roots
Thursday, May 13, 2004, 04:33 p.m.

Just finished marking 2E1 and 2E4's Science paper. Can't help but blame it on the trainee teacher who took over my 2E1 for the past 10 weeks - 2E1 has 9 failures and only 6 distinctions - that is a drastic drop from their fantastic results in Term 1 although this mid-year paper is much harder. 2E4, on the other hand, as done well with 75% distinction. Very happy for them. Hope they keep up the momentum.

Though marking Science essay answers could be very tiring, there were times when some answers were so funny I would suddenly burst out laughing. I remember one nice quote from Derek (2E1), an answer to the question, "Why is semen from a sterilised male no longer reproductive":

The semen from the sterilised male is just like a plant without roots, it cannot grow.

Oooh. How aptly put (though he didn't score any mark for this "unscientific" answer). May want to print this out and stick on the class noticeboard. Lol.

mr six-percent
Tuesday, May 11, 2004, 06:18 p.m.

Just finished marking 120 scripts of Math Paper 1. Still have 80 scripts of Science waiting for me to mark in my drawer. Yet another 120 scripts of Physics will be coming in next week.

I love marking my own classes' exam scripts. From their work I can see how much my students have improved or deteriorated, or whether they are making the same careless mistakes, and sometimes the students would write little messages or lame pictures at the side that would wake me up from the tiring and tedious process of marking. But this time, I am not marking my own classes. So for me, it was just going-through-motion, marking scripts of strangers whom I don't know - it wasn't THAT enjoyable, and I wouldn't know whether my classes would be unfairly penalised by another marker who might be stricter in his or her marking. Hmm.

Anyway, there was a free health screening conducted by NKF at our school today. Had my checkup, and I turned out to be the healthiest person in my school, having a fats percentage of 6%, which was the lowest compared to most people who got around 30%. The ideal is to have less than 20%. When the NKF personnel saw my screening results, he exclaimed that I am the healthiest person he's ever come across, and when I expressed my concern to want to become fatter, he said I should maintain my present lifestyle as I WILL get fatter as I grow older.

Soon the news spread - I am now known as Mr Six-Percent, and people who walk past me would ask me what's my diet like and so on. Hmm. I don't think I should tell them I am actually trying to get fatter, hor?

kevin & denise's wedding
Sunday, May 9, 2004, 09:32 a.m.

Attended Kevin and Denise's wedding dinner yesterday night, the first interracial wedding among my circle (Kevin is Chinese and Denise is Indian). It's a pity I couldn't attend their church wedding in the afternoon due to Li Ling's parents - I missed the Indian lunch reception! The dinner was okay. The slideshow about Kevin and Denise was very nicely done, there were formal as well as casual shots which were rather cheeky and humorous.

Sat with Jason, Wee Teck, Benson, June, Jane, Chelsia, Ee Von, Harveen and Wendy. With Wendy and Wee Teck around, my table was constantly laughing from the comments they made and the pranks they played on each other. Wee Teck put baked beans into Wendy's souvenir fruitcake and Wendy was so puzzled with the combination when she opened the box she thought the beans must have been delicately-made chocolates. When she realised it was Wee Teck's doing, she burst out laughing and couldn't stop.

Then, when the dinner was over and I was on the way back on the MRT, I saw a boy sleeping on his father's chest and I suddenly felt that I-wanna-be-a-father urge again. ;)

my children
Saturday, May 8, 2004, 02:11 p.m.

Conducted an optional Math lesson for 2E1 as the Math paper is on Monday. Glad that almost the whole class turned up. My classes have been making me quite happy recently as they have shown some genuine interest in improving. I know Kailiang, Say Chiak and Victor have been studying together lately at the airport and library, and I have seen Stephanie and Wenjie studying in the classroom. Jonathan and Dickson (of 3E1) even typed out their own Physics revision notes and sent their hard work to me. Several students (like Xinyi, Derek, Kailiang, etc) have also sort of "converted" from being problem kids last year to become more mature and "tame" and among the top students in my class in this semester.

After the Math class, I met up with Li Ling's parents again together with the VP Mr Yong. Throughout the conversation, they were still very much siding with their daughter, and I had the feeling that they're in fact encouraging Li Ling to continue living in her imaginary world where everyone is scheming against her. While we advised the parents that they have to make Li Ling change her perception of the world in general in order for her to overcome her "fear of people", the parents still insisted that we need to punish those people who "bullied" her. Nearly coughed out blood.

Went back to class after the more-than-an-hour-long session which was quite pointless in my opinion, and was rather touched and surprised to find Jane and Xinyi still in class doing Math. Xinyi has improved in her Science and Math from a Fail grade last year to Very Good in the first term, while Jane has been consistently weak in both subjects. Helped them in some questions, and then chatted with them about work and classmates.

my dear form class
Wednesday, May 5, 2004, 05:45 p.m.

You may feel that teachers and students should keep a distance between each other, but I love to mingle with my students. Now my form class guys and I are like good friends, putting hands around shoulders during photoshots, asking each other out for bowling or movies, having crappy talk once in a while... While you may think that these students will climb over my head when we become too friendly, I feel that I have been able to still gain their respect - they know the limits of their jokes and friendliness, and they are good, obedient students when in class, even those "ah beng" students (Derek, Kailiang) behave well in my class although I hear many complaints about them from other teachers. This is something I am very proud of - being able to maintain the stern teacher-student relationship while we can relax and joke after school...

And seeing their results improve gradually really makes me feel very happy (my form class is one of the average-classes, and their results are the TOP among these average-classes). I have very high expectations of my class as I believe they have the capability to beat those elite-classes if they're willing to put in the effort. Sometimes, when the class was not performing well, I would communicate my disappointment to them, and people like Jialing and Wenjie would tell me, "Cher, be patient, we may do very badly now, but our class will make you proud at the end of the year." You may think that this is just an empty promise, but it makes me feel very comforted. I can see some of the people really trying hard to improve (Nazia, Lynn, Xinyi) and I do believe that the class WILL do well in the end *fingers crossed*.

I am still patiently waiting - hope most of the class will indeed do well and get streamed into the better classes next year.

uproar
Monday, May 3, 2004, 04:35 p.m.

Created quite an "uproar" in school today. Whenever I passed by teachers or students, they'd pause for a while, rub their eyes and then look at me with disbelief. Some of them told me they couldn't recognise me even when they got upclose. 3E4 cheered and clapped when I entered the classroom. Wenjie coincidentally got himself a crew-cut too, so he was telling me how we look like brothers now.

Here are some adjectives that people used to describe my new haircut: cool, cute, punk, young, nice, macho, ... okay, at least they're all quite positive. Hope these people were not being sarcastic. ;)

beautiful mistakes
Sunday, May 2, 2004, 10:25 p.m.

>美错 - 林夕/王菲<

本来相约他在海边山盟海誓
却找错地方来到一个游泳池
满眼湖水蓝的美丽
你我就从那里开始

蓝色的涟漪铺展一段回忆
你送我偶然从天而降的陨石
我一直误会那是颗完美钻石
不曾看见它的瑕疵
把它镶在我的戒指
我也没发现有什么损失

让我感情用事
理智无补于事
至少我就这样开心过一阵子
不管他是真的你是假的谁是目的地
能自以为是也是个恩赐

不是来得太快
就是来得太迟
美丽的错误往往最接近真实
尽管昏迷有时梦醒有时不坚持
人生最大的快乐也不过如是

所谓醉生梦死
大概就是这个意思

a new man
Sunday, May 2, 2004, 04:19 p.m.

Just had a new hairdo. Told the guy I wanted "something different - short, probably a crew-cut?" and so crew-cut it was. Quite happy with my new look, cos I look completely DIFFERENT - very fresh, neat, clean, awake,... and the short hair sort of accentuates my electrifying eyes (heheh) though my eyes look a bit too fierce in some angles. Never had such short hair except when I was in BMT. While I used to massage my hair when I shampoo, now I have difficulties pinching my hair, and I realise that I don't need so much shampoo too.

It even feels different when I lay my head on the pillow. :)

waste of time
Saturday, May 1, 2004, 09:56 p.m.

Met up with Li Ling's parents a few days ago to discuss the case regarding Li Ling being forced to kneel by Stephanie and Yuxin. According to the statements by the two girls and five other witnesses, apparently the girls did not force Li Ling. They merely asked her why Li Ling was ignoring them, then Li Ling suddenly knelt down and then ran off. After the incident, she told her parents that she was being bullied and the parents went to report the matter to the VP Mr Yong. Mr Yong asked me for more background information as I was the form teacher, and I told him about the stained-skirt incident, and suggested that Li Ling could have fabricated some of the details again. As he was away last week, the case was passed to me to handle.

Li Ling's parents were very protective of their daughter. Despite the consistent statements that point to the fact that the girls did not force Li Ling to kneel, they kept insisting that no sane person would kneel down on her own without a reason - when I suggested that Li Ling MIGHT have THOUGHT that the girls made her kneel when in fact they didn't, they violently objected to the idea. In the end, they agreed that they would not pursue the matter further, not because they're convinced by me, but because Li Ling didn't have witnesses to support her - they're simply implying that her schoolmates have all conspired against her.

We then went on to talk about why Li Ling was so unpopular with her peers. Told them that they had to admit that something MUST be wrong with Li Ling since it was not just a few people who couldn't get along with her. The parents agreed and said that Li Ling had the same problem last year, so we discussed some ways in which Li Ling could change to make herself slowly accepted by her class. The parents appeared to be receptive but all the while I felt that they were still stubbornly thinking that there's nothing wrong with their daughter and they're skeptical about what I was saying as I was one of them. After talking with them for over an hour, and though they seemed satisfied when we parted, they called up the next day saying that they'd thought it over and decided that they did not want to let the matter rest and they'd like to see the VP again next week. ****. I am sorry if this is unprofessional but I really feel like cursing cos the parents are simply not helping at all if they're going to side with their daughter blindly.

Just look at the recent Nan Chiau incident, isn't it sad to see that parents nowadays trust their children more than the school (when they don't even spend enough time to know their own children well)?