{PandaMomo Lifestory} "shining as a star ...life is a never-ending journey of discovery learning"

20 February 2007

3rd Day of CNY ... last day of Public Holidays...

Today, I went for visitation to my church brother's and sisters' homes with a group of youths, together with my mother. First stop was at Bro Eddie's home @ Yio Chu Kang. Next stop was at my sister's home @ Novena.
Final stop was Auntie Evelyn's home @ Dakota Crescent. Took photos of my Sunday school teacher, Bro Eddie with his family. His kids are so adorable. Heehee...

Aiyoh! Now, I am feeling so tired. Had fun going around for visitation... Well, time to start work again. I will have to do my best to mark what I can. Just try to do as much as I can before I sleep. Hmmm... guess I have to wake up at 2am... unearthly time to do my work. Play is over, time for work. Nonetheless, health comes first... can't push myself to do too much since I have not fully recovered from my previous flu bout. Hope tomorrow will be a good day. Pray that I keep my cool and stay level-headed. May God bless the day ahead.

7:34 pm;

19 February 2007

2nd day of CNY... 'Just Follow Law'

Early in the morning, I woke up and did some marking of compositions. Work comes first before going out for play. Heehee.

After lunch, my mother and I took bus 64 to Dhoby Ghaut. Unfortunately, we missed a stop and had to walk quite a distance to get to Grand Cathay in the heavy rain. It was raining cats and dogs. My long pants were wet from the walk in the rain despite using an umbrella.

At long last, we reached the box office @ Cathay and collected the tickets that I had booked through the Internet. Thankfully, I brought my OCBC platinium card out that I used to get 10 per cent off for the purchase of the 4 movie tickets.

While waiting for Hua Chin and her mother to join us for the movie 'Just Follow Law', I brought my mother to Starbucks Coffee @ Level 1. Due to lack of seats, I bought takeaway caramel macchinato. Just when I was about to collect my drink, my kawan and her mother came. Heehee... we proceeded to B1 for Taiwan oyster mee sua together with my mother. The 2 mothers had a good talk in Hokkien while the 2 of us queued up to buy the food. We had a good time together.

Next, we went to Level 5 where I bought the medium popcorn combo with 2 ice lemon tea. We were just in time to catch the movie in Cineplex 6. I love the seats there... very comfy. We enjoyed watching the movie together. It was a good comedy show that talks about the real life situations that we civil servants often face... everything must go law by law... follow the rules. The moral of the story is to be creative and break rules at the right time... and be flexible to options and not be a stick-in-the-mud. Often, we do not see certain things till we are in other people's shoes. The key take-away from the movie is to consider the feelings of others whenever we do things, don't simply follow the rules and not show any empathy. Indeed, it is important to use EQ and be empathetic.

After movie, I was coughing badly due to the cold air-conditioning and the cold drink that I drank. I had to control myself not to take any more cold drinks for the time being. :-(

We took photographs for each other before asking a stranger to help us take a group photo of all 4 of us together. I had a great time going out for movie together with my kawan, her mum and my mum. Funny movie with great company. Hahaha...

Bid them farewell after the photo session. My mother and I proceeded to take the MRT to Bishan to visit my 3rd uncle and aunt. We had dinner together with my cousin Irene and her husband, Brett. Nice time chatting with them.

Hehe... being an avid photographer, I requested to take photographs together with them. Heehee... happy moments. Rare chance to meet up with my cousin to chat and take photos together. Managed to get my cousin's e-mail so that I can contact her... hahaha... can also msn chat. ;P

Well, fun times are coming to an end soon. As the saying goes, "Hao hua bu chang zai, hao jing bu chang liu."

One final round tomorrow... 3 stops for 3rd day of CNY. Feeling so tired now after a long day. Ok... time to sleep after uploading this post. <*-*>

10:02 pm;

First Day of Chinese New Year

My baby niece, Keziah eating her lunch in church. Heehee... my sister, Joan has a hard time feeding her as she turns here, there and everywhere.

My mother and I posing for photographs at the void deck of Ang Mo Kio's auntie's place. Heehee... photos taken by my cousin and edited by me using MS Photo Editor. Hahaha. :D

My two lovely cousins, Meiyu and Meifeng (right to left). How they have grown from little toddlers to youths today. Growing girls.

@ My 2nd uncle's house for CNY visitation. My 2nd aunt with my cousin Denan's dog. What a beautiful and intelligent dog! Hehe... but too big to be reared by me.

My relatives @ 2nd uncle's house for CNY visitation.

Posing for a nice shot with my cousin Ming Yong and his wife. Heehee... the youngster shot! Hahahaha...

My 3rd uncle, his wife together with cousin Ming Yong and his wife.

Makan @ Plaza Singapura Manhatten Fish Marketplace.

Having fun taking photographs outside Plaza Singapura. Hahaha.

Final shot of the street scene @ Orchard before taking bus 64 home. Heehee. :P

12:37 am;

17 February 2007

Yeah! Chinese New Year is coming...

Yeah! Chinese New Year is coming. Heehee... It's time for celebrations.

On Thursday evening, I went for dinner with my dearest church sister, Sin May @ Sanur, an Indonesian restaurant at Takashimaya. The food was yummy, just that the dishes were all rather spicy. Heh, but I like it. :P

I enjoyed the time with Sin May and her friend, Tup. Sin May and I bought a ring each at Fareast Plaza and had our names engraved in them. Heehee... what fun! People have wedding bands, as for us gals, we have our FRIENDSHIP BANDS since we are both still single bachelorettes. Hahaha...

Yesterday, I celebrated CNY in school with my kids. I started the day with mission impossible. Hehe... busy with photo and video taking. Phew... I was running around here, there and everywhere.

Thank God! As I have been training my Infocomm Club (ICC) members to take photographs and videos, thus, I had a few capable assistants. Hahaha. They assisted me in the photography and videography for the CNY celebrations in the school hall. Heh, I also gave on-the-job training of the use of the school's Canon EOS 20D SLR camera for a few of the ICC members. I taught Jasmine, Pradeeptha & Xi Hao how to handle the big SLR camera with the flashlite unit.

After downloading & reviewing the photographs and videos, I realised that the kids still have a long way to go to take better photos and videos. It's a continuous learning process in photo and video taking... the skill of capturing the moments are never simple. You have to be quick and focussed to get the shots you want. Heehee... can't say I am a professional, but at least I am an amateur photographer. I am better at photography than videography as I am still picking up the skills of good videography as I explore the ways of doing it.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed taking photographs and directing the ICC members to capture the moments. Hehe... feels like a news reporter or journalist at times. Thinking of furthering studies in mass communication... kind of related to my interest in media. Just a dream of mine... to study Mass Communication in 2 years' time, after I finish my bond with MOE. I can use the new knowledge and skills more proficiently in my teaching too. Heehee... I am just a big girl with dreams... but of course, commit everything into God's hands. I will pray about the matter of furthering studies and going overseas for volunteer teaching for more exposure and what's close to my heart. :D

Kekeke... Oh no... seem to be getting a flu again... sore throat, cough & sniff sniff. Took flu medicine last night and Chinese cough mixture this morning. Pray God blesses me with good health so I can go happily for the Chinese New Year visitation that starts tomorrow. Dog year is coming to an end... and tomorrow will be the start of Piggy year. Hahaha...

1:05 pm;

10 February 2007

Fun Times over the weekend

Finally, I can get some rest during the weekend. Phew! After being sick for more than a week, getting back to school to teach from Wednesday to Friday was a challenge as I faced my class. As the saying goes, "There are good times and bad times." I learn to rejoice in good times, but think of how things can get better in bad times with God's help. Only then, life will be meaningful with HOPE of a better TOMORROW. Hee hee...

Thank God for everything! Yesterday and today hold my most enjoyable moments so far. Yesterday, I had a fun time with my class as they were more on task and majority have learnt to cooperate with me to make learning enjoyable. As always, I have a habit of playing music during class activity time to liven up the mode. Concurrently, music is also used to signal change of activity, along with my bell rings. 1 bell ring= change, 2 bell rings= stop & 3 bell rings= I AM ANGRY! STOP & LISTEN! When my children work with me, I am happy and makes things fun for them to learn. That's just me! :P I also had a great time with my Social Studies class when we had a class voting & campaigning session for the Class President as a simulation of the ELECTION PROCESS held in Singapore. I love to make history come alive, being a historian at heart since I loved & studied History till my JC years. I hope to pass on my love for History & Geography to my students through SOCIAL STUDIES teaching.

I had a good lunch @ Black Canyon yesterday with my IT comrades, Fari & Kian Ann, together with a new AsknLearn IT trainer, Daryl. The food was yummy, the company I had was fantastic. As my body was aching badly, I went for a good body massage @ Tropical 21 to relieve my pain. It was worth the money as the massage & 'fire bottles' (huo guan) also removed 'heat' from my body. Now, I feel so much better and my stuffy nose is finally clearing! Yeah! :D

Thank God for protecting me. I nearly broke my back today coming down from the bus @ S'pore Discovery Centre. With many things hanging on my shoulders, I missed my step and fell flat on the steps of the bus. A few of the Infocomm Club kids were in front of me, while the rest were behind me, together with Linda, my colleague. They asked if I was okay. Well, not really okay as I my elbow was grazed slightly. Thankfully, my jacket covered my elbows to prevent further ugly injuries. Thankfully, I was carrying a backpack that cushioned my back against the steps. Otherwise, they will have to send me to hospital instead of happily going for the NE web design & video briefings @ Discovery Centre.

Linda & I brought 10 Infocomm Club members to participate in the briefings. We took some time to register before we entered the auditorium to listen to the briefings. There were 2 parts. During the interval, the children were so hungry that they went out to grab a bite before returning for the next briefing. Interestingly, I met the AsknLearn trainer, Astley who trained some of my kids last year for SVA. He was kind to offer to do a session with the kids on video production tips to aid them in the video competition. Of course, I gladly accepted the offer and suggested for the workshop to be done in Week 10, after their Common Test.

After the briefings, we went around the place taking photographs, both indoors and outdoors. I love taking photographs in such leisure conditions and friendly environment. :D It was fun taking photographs of the children in different poses as well as candid shots. Hahahaha.

Following photo-taking time, we went inside the Discovery Centre to explore the exhibits, games and other fun stuff. Hahaha... I even tried out news reporting on live telecast and could view the playback. Hehehe... did all after Jasmine & Pradeeptha urged me to do so. It was fun to try news reporting. Sounded very professional. Hmmm.... maybe I can become a news reporter afterall. Hahahaha....

Soon, it was time to return to school. We waited for a while before our Comfort bus came to send us back to school. My time estimation was good. We reached school around 1pm. The children bid us, the teachers farewell before going home.

Once I was done with repacking my things to leave in the staffroom and bring home what's needed, I hitched a ride from Linda to take MRT from the nearest MRT station. I travelled to a few places today. I went to Suntec City to collect my new pink pants before proceeding to Toa Payoh for my facial. Along the way, I bought a new zipper pouch for my handphone. Hehehe... 'new clothes' for my dear handphone. Next, I bought 2 new MayDay CDs... one is a 2005 compilation, the other is the latest album with a poster that comes with it. Listening to the songs now. Sounds good... :P

I enjoyed myself today having done the things that I like... photography, shopping and pampering myself with facial. Hehehe... learning to rest & relax so that I can gather more strength to run the race ahead. Yeah! :P

9:18 pm;