Recycling

Last week was the culmination of a recycling competition at the boys' school. It was quite hilarious for us at home. We don't drink sugared nor carbonated drinks at our house. So there were no soft drink cans for the young ones to turn it to boost their class recycling tally. There were only Heineken beer and one Tongkat Ali energy drink (some door gift we received!). I volunteered to drink some beer in the name of recycling. :) !! My drinking rate was deemed disatisfactory. The boys think that they should contribute by consuming beer too!! Wah, of course permission was denied! As for the Tongkat Ali drink, the Significant Other had to do his recycling bit for the children. Any damage done ?. . . You'll have to graduate from Sec 4 before I even broach the matter.

Maiden MSN Session

Thanks to all who met up online last evening to try out our MSN EL session. I just learnt how to use another aspect of computer functions! I'm empowered! My children of course shuddered at how I intended to uphold all grammar rules while MSN-ing. Hmm. . . it's afterall kind of an English session. So let's just try and keep to the sacred purpose of being as grammatical as we can, can? Only one hour of stiff good English. I'll permit occasional slips into MSN lingo.

I realise that the group online sessions will offer wonderful opportunities to chat and exchange friendly banters. I like it. Wonderful opportunities to get all the online socialising we need to ....er, boost our net replacement rates??? Haha! I'm pro-family! But I'll be trying to introduce some discussion threads relevant to helping us prepare for the 'O' levels. I hope that you will keep to the spirit of this online platform and participate responsibly. You are also strongly encouraged to clarify any doubts you may have about EL and share your views. I'll do my best to asssist you.

Okay, got to let you know that I shan't be signing in to tonight's session as I'll be making my way to the Teacher's Day Dinner. The theme is "Rewind the '50s'. I've prepared my outfit. You'll love me --- flare skirt, tight sweater top, horn-rimmed glasses, hair band, socks and sneakers, liquid black eyeliner and all, . . . ready to "sh00-warb" and do the 'fish' to '50s hits!! Haha! dressing up is fun! I never quite grew out of this child-like favourite!

Just wondering how your Cross-country will go in a while. Hope that the weather goes well for you. My 6 had a hectic start to the day this morning: one had to decorate his classroom super-early, one will be participating in a rope-skipping competition, another putting up a dance performance and the other 2 busily putting gifts together. The wimpy one is still sleeping. Got to do up his apple gifts later. Whew!

MSN newbee

Sigh!'Quantum leap' is taken. I'm settling for 'quantosaurus@hotmail.com' for my MSN hotmail account. I guess only dinosaurs would want such names. N'er mind! So on ah. . . Let's meet online 6 to 7 pm daily, starting this evening. I guess you'll know when I'm not available.

Happy holidays, people!

Dogs age too

Haiz . . . saw an old Golden retriever lying in the middle of the road in the neighbourhood, at the risk of being mowed down by the huge trucks and passing vehicles. He would usually be lying on the open car park lots at the side of the road, basking in the morning sun and lazily taking in the morning rush taking place in the vicinity. He has no collar on him, but he looks well-fed. I would often smile at him, envying the good life he must be having. But his morning, he was at the wrong place, salivating like crazy and something didn't look right. I stopped my car, honked at him and waved other traffic on to avoid him being run down. Got the daughter to nudge him up from the middle of the road. Then we saw that he was hurt. The hind leg's giving him some problem. And he was sitting on his own muck! He must be sick . . . Anyway, shooed him back to his usual resting spot. At least he would be safe till I contact the SPCA to attend to him! Which I did.

See, age is even cruel to dogs.

You heard me today. I will not be in school tomorrow and on Wednesday. All of you should complete the Comprehension questions (yes, including the Summary question) at home and hand it in to me on Thursday when we meet for our EL lesson. You will also be given another set of Compre paper tomorrow to provide you with more practice during the freed up MT lesson slots. I know, it sounds like an over-kill. But take it in your stride. Try and complete your work in school, and leave only the minimal to be done at home. That way, you'll be able to get sufficient rest too. No can do? CanNNNNNNNNN!! Just be less distracted in class and remind me not to distract you. Wuaahhhhhhh, I sometimes lead you astray. SIGH! So little time, so many fun stuff to share with you!

Coffee, please

I had a brush with the ugly Singaporean somewhat like the experience of the polite retiree gentleman who ordered coffee at a local foodcourt with a sunny, "Coffee, please". He was actually mocked and made fun of for his un-Singaporean 'jiak garng tarng" mannerism.

Well, I pointed out to a young male driver that he should not be parking illegally on our roads and blocking access to a private property. He feigned ignorance. I explained the meanings behind our double yellow prohibition lines. He stared at me. I thought I'll hit the message home with a typical Singaporean scare tactic: that the Traffic Police will fine him! He simply let his wife and child in tow alight, wave his arm rudely at me and said, "Ne'er mind!!" I suppose he meant that he has the money and can therefore occupy any space on our roads!

The gracious Singaporean --- an elusive entity!

At the risk of being 'killed' by my learned colleagues in the staff room, I share with you the following saying (author unknown):

"If I had ony one day left to live, I would live it in my Maths class: it would seem so much longer."

Muahahahaaaa!! Ms Q, you're bad!!

One down, two more to go

Hurray, EL Oral's done! Now you can take a breather and then work strategically towards the Essay and Comprehension papers. Now, let's make this clear: we shall not waste a minute of our EL lessons starting from this week's slots. Pay attention as I do the error analyses for our Prelim papers. It's pointless how some of you repeat old mistakes, and just would not wisen up to better ways of writing essays and rendering compre answers. Of course, you are tired after the very tedious Pre-lims. I understand. I shall try to be succint and "power-packed" in my teaching and revision, but you must promise to seriously concentrate on seeking improvements. It takes two to tango, and between you and I, we can make the GCE "O' levels bear us impressive results at the end of this academic year! How sweet the outcome will be . . .

Happy Birthday indeed

I'm so touched. You sweet people actually bought me a cake and made my day! Quite subtle too with the 2 candles [you're two old (read 'too' old, Miss Q!!)]. Well, I made a compound wish (greedy me!) for good PSLE results for my son, excellent GCE 'O"level results for you all, and of course, World Peace! Haha! So "Miss Congeniality"!

Hope that your Oral went well today. Now about Monday --- lessons will resume, and we are scheduled to have our EL period at 1130 hrs. Not sure if we'll be missing that as you people may be involved in a talk in the hall. So, tell you what, can I come during your recess time, just to see the Monday Oral folks, in case?? Please reply me in this class blog C-box, can?

My birthday so far? Well, I've not spent very much of it with the family yet. The kids were all off to school super-early. There's also going to be a dance class tonight. So I guess, we'll probably make up for the celebration during the weekend. The helper made us all wonderful fish and chips, potato wedges, salad and all, though! Umm. . . yummy dinner! The workaholic Significant Other would probably wake me up for a birthday chat LATE tonight when he knocks off from work. That chirpy late night gallivant of a guy ---- very irritating (okay, said with endearment!) Haha, so mushy, huh?!

Have a good weekend. Recharge for next week's post Prelim analyses.

Congrats!

Dear people. Congrats! On my way out of school for the "O" level Oral Exams, I stole quick glances at the results board. Saw at least 3 'A1s' from our class for the Mother Tongue paper. Wow, well done! Did everyone obtain their expected results? N'er mind if you didn't and want to strive for better grades. Have another go! But you realise that time management will then need serious focusing on. Let's work on more self-motivation and discipline!

About the Oral Prep I mentioned for the 15th of August 2008 ---- I wish to confirm that I shall be waiting outside the Staff Workroom (Spiral Stairway) at 10 am to have a last run-through and practice with those who want to "warm-up" before their oral exams that day. All are welcomed to attend. I would really like to see the following: Kenneth, Yixuan, Karen, Malvin, Yi Peng, Lionel, Mu-chen, Junhan, Chun Wee, Mun Lok, Ivan, Jude and Lenson. But I'm not going to compel anyone. You must feel comfortable and good for your 'O' level EL Oral Exam that day. I think I'll be able to see you up till about 12 noon before you are "locked up". For people who will only be taking the oral exams on the 18th, I shall do the same at 10 am on that morning.

I'm a little "gan jiong" for you. Motherly instinct kicking in!

Comprehension Paper best wishes

To one and all: all the best for your Comprehension Paper tomorrow! Read all questions carefully. Study the alloted marks and give befitting answers. Do not beat about the bush. Remember "excess denied". For vocabulary questions, remember to use your "or" and "and" to judiciously link given answers. Manage your time wisely to give attention to the 25-mark summary question. Use your own words to write the summary in one paragaph. Proof-read for tense, spelling, punctuation and other grammar errors.

Give of your best!

Right in the face

All schools are celebrating National Day today. I had to chauffer all 6 to school and MRT stations this morning. One has to take part in some Amazing Race, another a Cross Country Race at the beach and the rest, concerts and mini-parades in their schools. The cupboards at home have been emptied of our red T-shirts. School books have been put away as we start getting into the swing of the long-weekend holiday mood. We'll be hyping ourselves up with Singapore songs from later on till National Day. We'll probably be dancing to the songs and music when we watch the Parade live on TV (but, we've first to get hold of one!) Yeah for Singapore ---- all 43 largely good years!! Majulah Singapura!

I suggested cheekily to the Cross Country Race one that I should perhaps "accompany" her by sun-taning at the beach while she competes in the race. Yep, I shall dig up that old bikini lying at the bottom of the closet, spread me picnic mat and read at the beach . . . just like old times! Everyone in the car this morning recoiled in horror. Don't forget to put a paper bag over your head, Mum, they chorused!

They sure don't mince their words! Okay, look on the bright side, honesty is a virtue . . .

Good sounds

I read with interest how a Japanese researcher claims that mantras chanted can bring about 'good water molecules' while curses make 'bad water molecules'. A Tibetan monk picked up from that, and recommended that we can actually purge our systems of toxic elements by chanting certain utterances and willing a simple thought process. Hmm . . . interesting.

We all know that a positive environment better nurtures desired growth and bring about fruition of potentials. So, the correct thing to do is to surround ourselves (that is, if we can help it) with optimistic and encouraging people. And of course, try and dabble in healthy pursuits. Whenever this is not possible, we should then try and counter any negative influences by building up the goodness and positive energy in us. Remember, to a large extent, we can control our attitudes and reactions to situations. Try it!

Thinking of you all as you tackle your Pre-lims. Wishing you well and looking forward to getting you in best shape for the "O"s!

This family went to the Getai

After dinner, I rounded the family plus helper to watch the Getai staged in our neighbourhood. Wow, the place was packed. Unlike the days of yore, I noted that there was a noticeable number of migrant workers from China, Bangladesh, India and other nationalities in the audience. They were clearly enjoying this respite from the week's hard work. Hmm, I thought to myself: our social landscape has definitely changed. A rare evening breeze boosted the comfort factor of the setting. Everyone was enjoying the gig. Don't 'pray' 'pray' hoh. Although it was a modest set-up compared to the bigger ones you'll see elsewhere in our heartlands, I noticed that they had super-good sound systems. Never mind that the lighting man was perched precariously on a make-shift structure above an electricity meter box. He controlled the spotlight most professionally. Even rigged up some laser effects too! The audience lapped up every evergreen and new hit belted by the singers. They were good. Some were actors, actresses and singers of the soon-to-be released locally produced movie,"12 Lotus". The "Ah Peks" "choped" the front seats (hmm . . . I didn't understand this bit. I thought that they were meant for other "guests"??). You and I know why. There were lots of gyrations and titillating flesh shown. Haha!

That's our Seventh Month. I wish though that there could be the big-time Opera performances like during my time . . . I would then be able to take my 6 down memory-lane and wow them with my on-the-spot translations of the dialect classics!

08.08.08

So, will you be joining the queues to place your bets at Singapore's luckiest Toto outlet this 08.08.08? I teased my children and asked them if we should give it a go. After all, the prize money would be a whopping $8 million! Wow, imagine all that cash! Nah, that would be gambling, wouldn't it? It would be placing good money on buying a dream that has a very slim chance of materialising. Yep, the younger ones think that I should get them Maplestory pre-paid cards instead! SIGH!

How romantic! Some couples are thinking of saying "I do" on 08.08.08. I hinted to the Significant Other how sweet people who are in love can be. He rolled his eye balls. I get the hint. I knew that the Global Positioning System he got me on our last wedding anniversary kind of signalled the end of the lovey dovey stage for us. SIGH! . . .

These are the measurements for our class hoodies.

(Click to enlarge)

Measurement in inch.

1 inch = 2.5cm

Note that :

Not every garment may match these exact measurements due to acceptable measurement tolerances. Any quality issues concerning product measurements should be reported to the wholesaler from which the garment was purchased.

Click here for preview of colours

Think of a nickname for yourself.

The nickname will be printed with the logo in front of the hoody.

Each hoody should be $35, the logo in front and the crossword printed at the back.

* Any enquires feel free to ask Alvin.

* The design will be out after our prelims. Minghui and Stephen are in charge of the designs, feel free to give any idea or comment.