Picnic Basket

Haven’t been as happy and carefree for a long time.

It began with an afternoon of lunch and shopping with Boon. Loved it!

Then, it was the long awaited Oktoberfest! Beer, food, good company, good music - what more could one ask for! We were all trigger happy, had random people to dance and take pictures with, and were just all happy happy.

Haven’t had this feeling for a long time.

Left Oktoberfest at about 1130pm, while Jean called me to join her and a bunch of pilots at St James. After my girlfriends left for home, I went on to meet Jean. And had fun!

And just got home not long ago…wheee…………

Need much much sleep……

But is happy…………………..

What is nice about my office environment is that once it hits about 430-ish or 5-ish, when only half or less than half the teachers are left, there’d inevitably be someone walking around, offering sweets/chocolates/cookies/tea/anything - just to perk their fellow colleagues up, whether they know them or not. I should start doing that for others too After watching 10 groups do their oral presentation today, I think I deserve a pretty Paisley and Cream cupcake! But nuh-uh, I am going home to my kopitiam dinner. Too knackered to cook!

Got me hair cut and coloured today.

To celebrate the final teaching week.

To signify a new beginning in my attitude towards work.

To just look better la.

唸唸吓, 我呢个人一向真係无野心. 细细个阿爸阿妈讲麽我就做麽, 好少话会发表个人意见, 话唔做. 呢一种态度就一直咁样KEEP到依架出唻做嘢. 拜五之后, 的确係有少少吓親, 呢三个月来所唸的通通被推翻.

不过,我依然坚信, 我做得呢一行, 係上天的安排. 我相信上帝会给我指引.

呢个周末之后, 希望我会更加谨慎. 防人的心不可无, 我依架明白啦.

It was a stressful week. ended with more stress to my previously (probably still is) oblivious little mind.

Please God, do let me know how to handle all these.

But again, thank God for friends. Over beer with Andrea, I learnt that I am not alone in my worries. That they are not unfounded, that I do have support, that I am not alone. *hugs* to Andrea.

And WH joined us for dinner and dessert. Nectarie was an especial comfort tonight.

Of Friday nights. Of girlfriends, heart-to-heart, and unspoken support.

I may not feel it right now, I may not know what to do now. But I know I am somewhat a little more ready to face Monday, feeling a little more certain (and you won’t know how scared I am) about me.

And to come home to find Joe online and talking about relationships and revisiting those guitar-strumming days and getting introduced to Gabe Bondoc -

I’ll be okay

This is a story about Ms Poh. She does not live. She exists to read overdue WRs because it was not important enough to be completed before the promotional examinations. She exists to be available for requests for immediate consultations. She exists to be the proofreader and the editor. She exists only for ONE (read: mine!) group (you mean she is an ST for 11 other groups as well? Ooops). She exists to rearrange paragraphs. She exists to tell you the objective of your project. She exists to be the guarantor of an A-worthy report. She exists to answer questions such as "Can we exceed the word limit?".

She exists to be the person to blame should you not obtain an A.

She does not live.

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May I reiterate, I aspire to be a tyrant next year.

Anybody wants to whisk me away to live?

I have said that more than once over these past few weeks.

Reason? The kids are only beginning to be mildly pressured by the impending PW deadlines. And I have suddenly become tutor/proofreader/editor/copywriter/you know what I mean.

They are reasonably bright 17 year olds. And I am but a facilitator. I’ve crossed the boundaries many times but ultimately, my goal is to guide them towards independent thinking (albeit with much nudging) and critical reflections. And more importantly, towards the big picture.

And I keep feeling that I am hitting against a blank wall. All they want are short term solutions, the easy way out.

How do you spell a-r-g-h?

How do you be a good teacher these days? Do you guide, or you do you guide and edit and correct their work for them?

It has been a very very steep learning curve.

A colleague, whose dad was a teacher, told her this:

There are 4 categories of students. Those who can and are willing; those who can and are not willing, those who can’t and are willing and of course, those who can’t and are not willing.

Ideally, we want to help all of them. But can we, really?

I aspire to be a tyrant in the classroom next year.

This time by Sammi Cheng.

*sigh of happiness*

I have been listening to her songs for many many years and I don’t recall her sounding as good as she did last night at the stadium, nor has she looked as good ever.

I want to be as energetic as that when I am 35!

it was a really really good concert - despites the many intervals for wig/hairstyle/costume changes. Sammi Cheng, like Jacky Cheung, was clearly all out to PERFORM. Her dancers were amazing and her voice was nothing but amazing.

And of course, the larger purpose of this concert tour was to dispel the negative rumours about her death/illnesses/depression/stuff like that. Very touching, very real. I loved it how she’d openly receive gifts from her fans, comment on it, and also how she interacted with the audience, with the 2 fans that she brought on stage.

非常的有性格的一个女歌手.

Before I went for the concert, I was prepared to sit out for most of it cos I didn’t know her Mandarin songs. Turned out that she spoke Cantonese throughout the concert with like only 1 Mandarin song, which was one of the only two I knew.

Biggest surprise in her song selection? 爱是… with MC Yan (originally with LMF). I was so so happy to hear that - only to realise that both girls (Sharon and Valane) did not know that song. So I started bobbing on my own.

There could have been many more songs that I would have liked to hear, like 理想对象, Lady First and even Mi. But the whole dance medley made me feel like I was in some club in Ipoh, swinging away to Canto-techno-pop. Which is not a bad thing, really. 煞科brought back some good stuff and Chotto 等等 made me feel like I was in primary school.

And she began the concert with my favourite Andy Hui song ever - 唯独你是不可取替.

Whatever the concert would have lacked in quantity (abrupt ending with the fans expecting an encore, only to find out that the encore had already been done), the quality is definitely there.

And Stefanie Sun DEFINITELY can hold her stage WELL.

And I WANT to watch a concert at HK Coliseum.

喜欢程亮的长情,更加喜欢华振邦的嚣张, 他的自信.

This evening, at the end of the graduation ceremony, I had my first encounter with a parent.

Now, people always tell me that the parents of children who attend top schools are usually [           ]. I usually smile and say [           ].

Tonight, I met a [            ] parent. Never have I met someone as [                 ] and [              ]. Though I do feel a little sorry for her but she is still [                     ].

End of story. Time for reflection