Category Archive
The following is a list of all entries from the Uncategorized category.
Ultimate Sports Junkie
This truly cracks me up. She speaks a smattering of English these days, when only about 6 months ago, she was a true-blue gadis Melayu with her proper Malay. Ahem.
Put on your earphones to hear her say “ULTIMATE”. Whoa.
And you know what? She looks like she’s a teacher eh? *gulp*
Will this be a sweet September?
- My Cheeky Monkey
I FINALLY found some time to update this miserable blog- simply because it is the september hols. Not that I am free of work actually, since there are MANY exam papers to be set. They are all due when school reopens (that is THREE days from now.) Gulp.
But there’s hope yet. For a start, the Sep hols will seem a bit longer for me because I don’t have to go back to school on Monday. I will be down, for a good 10 days, for a seriously, highly-confidential and top-secret mission which I cannot mention, by order of the ministry. I’m going for- scoot over and I’ll whisper in thy ear- n-level marking. Shhh.
Yeah, I know. Why it is such a secret, I’ll never fathom. Not that it’s sensational or anything. Pfft.
On the homefront, our family is going thru sort of a… whatchamacallit… chrysalis phase. Something good is gonna come out of the worm- it may take a while, but I’m a stoic believer of /big sucker for the saying “Every dark cloud has a silver lining”. In a weird way, we are much happier than we thought we would be. Things will fall into place, eventually. *cross fingers*
This raya will be different- more cheer, more fussing, more hands to make light work- or otherwise- more cooks to spoil the broth – but one’s thing’s for sure- it will definitely be happier. 
Well, we’ve been going to JB A LOT A LOT A LOT (I can never say this enough). Can I say, every weekend? As in, Saturday and Sunday? Most of the time it’s to sign papers/ make payments and what-not for our weekend home in Horizon Hills. But A LOT of times, it’s just to…erm… make full use of my very expensive passport!!!
Oh, and savour very good food, of course. 
Our house in progress- the one with the canvasIt's just a hill, but it feels cold and breezy- macam highland pulak
The reason why I decided to write a post on this blog again is because my golden princess, Aurelia Sarah, will turn THREE in 2 days’ time. Can you believe it?!!! Well I for sure as hell, CAN’T. Feels like it was just a few months ago that we celebrated her SECOND birthday. Sigh.
So, here’s to the birthday girl: Aurelia Sarah, we love you so very much… you never fail to intrigue us with your wisecracks, your ever-changing temperament (she’s at the ‘i-hate-babies-promise-i’ll-be-your-only-baby’ stage). You never fail to put a smile on my face when you stroke my face and say “Don’t worry Mama” and “I love you Mama”. Much to my disbelief (horror?) you will turn 3 this saturday- but be it 3 or 13 or 30 *gasp will i still be around?* you, in my eyes, will always be my sweet little babygirl. May you be blessed with all things wholesome and good, my Golden Princess.
… and there she goes again with her doe-eyes assuring me “Don’t worry, Mama…”
And I know everything’s gonna be alright.
I love you!
Lazy Busyness
Where the hell have I been for TWO months, man? Even I am surprised- can’t believe that I didn’t even manage to write ONE post in the month-long June hols. Tsk tsk.
I’ve been busy of course. And lazy. When I’m not busy, I’m lazy. I can safely say those two adjectives are the best adjectives to describe my life right now. When I’m not scrambling, I’m sleeping. The cycle goes on, day in, day out.
Another convenient excuse reason I have is that my laptop at home died on me and I can’t even be bothered to 1) lug the school laptop back home or (2)play tug-of-war with Husband over the Vaio or (3) sit in the study and use the Mac. Ahhhh…. lazy lah. I’d rather sleep.
I’m a workaholic by day and a bum by night. It’s not easy switching roles like that. Sometimes it gets a bit messed up and the reverse happens. Not good.
Like right now, I already am feeling lazy to write anymore.
Okthat’sallfrommenowseeyawhenIsee ya bye! *pass out*
The Valiant Red Falcons
In my last post, I did say, it’ll probably be April by the time I get to post again. And that was in February. More than two and a half months have gone by without me writing anything. Sigh.
Nothing much has changed since the last post. Busy as hell. At one point I was waiting with bated breath for the March hols, and then SUDDENLY it was over. I remember just waking up every morning before the March hols and chanting to myself- I can do it, I can do it, X more days to hols- and then POOF! It was over. Bummer.
Since then, I have been chanting many things when I wake up in the morning. A few weeks ago it was – I can do it, I can do it, X more days to Good Friday. This week onwards, it is the same line, but ending with ‘X more days to Labour Day’.
What is wrong with me?
Just before the Very Good (but short) Friday, I had my hands full with House Mastering. What the hell is that- you ask. Well, remember, when you were in pri/ sec school, and you had this ridiculous whimsical pointless day called “Sports Day”? By some arbitrary deduction of fate, you ’belong’ to a particular House (usually identified by different colours). Do you remember, my friend?
It must have been – through a very carefully executed ‘eenie-meenie-minie-moe’ procedure, no less - that I was somehow selected as the House Master for the Falcon/red house of my school. At first I thought it was funny. Then when it sank in, it was horrifying. Me. Sports. Master. Has the world really gone topsy turvy, I thought.
In the end, no amount of squirming/ begging/ pleading/ crying/ taking students hostage could get me out of it. So I did it.
Then came the endless shopping for red stuff. Noisemakers. Balloons. Hats. Banners. Flags. Masks. Face paints. I was seeing red, literally and figuratively. As much as I initially wanted to do this with a ‘heck-care’ attitude, the bloody irritating Capricorn in me just wouldn’t let it go. I was actually trying hard to win.
Every day for two weeks, I stayed back until 6 or 7 to prepare. Cheer practices. Banner painting. Morale building. Mascot prepping. I was chanting cheers at home, and chanting cheers in class. I was crazy. A cheer practice with my whole house (a quarter of the school population) a week before the actual event saw me climbing unto a canteen table, loudhailer at mouth, screaming my lungs out, singing, and also boogeying. Yes, on a canteen table. I was stark raving mad. The kids were thoroughly amused (some traumatised that their cikgu has lost it) and they actually wanted to win this damn thing for me.
On the actual day, it was clear to see that the Reds flooded the field with red shirts, red balloons, red faces, red noisemakers. And boy were we loud. Teachers from other houses came to us and conceded defeat. I wish I had photos, but need I explain that I suffered temporary loss of sanity at the cheering competition to care about wielding a mere camera in hand? (But I know the school photography kids did take shots of me screaming my lungs out). *hope it won’t be put up on the school website. Gulp.*
However, despite the gusto, the blood, sweat and tears, all four houses can’t win, can it? The kids were devastated. They thought the whole judging was unfair, conspired, kelong, favouritism, wtf happened- they beat their chests in agony… but well… somehow we still lost, kids, despite making our presence felt, more than any other house. The teachers were perplexed- how could the Reds lose? Well it can if the judges are parent-volunteers whose kids DO NOT come from the red house, I tell them. That’s how.
I’ve been tired, and still am. Now I am counting down the days to the next holiday, Labour Day. Then the exams will start (which mean SLEEP MODE) and then TA-DAAAAAHHH!!!!! It’s the JUNE-FREAKING-HOLIDAYS, Y’ALLL!!!!!
Now, SCREAM IT with me EVVV-RY BODEHHHHH!!!!!
I can do it, I can do it, X more days to June Holidays!
I can do it, I can do it, X more days to June Holidays! (repeat until the last bell rings)
The Short and Long of It.
Just a week before today, I was drawing up an actual plan of how I’m gonna spend the four-day weekend so as ‘not to feel bored’.
I hoarded lots of snacks (for FEAR that no shop will be open and that we will be having a dvd-marathon days on end), brought back piles of marking, materials to set exam papers, and EVEN re-installed my sims2. I had this vision of the CNY long-weekend being a sleepy, stay-at-home retreat, where the streets are empty (save the lion dance music in that fleeting lorry once in a while), all shopping centres closed, and Singapore practically being a ghost town. Well at least for 2 days lah… quite a nice, peaceful thought, huh?
What was I thinking?
The weekend was anything but that. Bustling, as always. Before I knew it, the four days were suddenly over and there I was, on tuesday night, staring at the piles of karangans, pemahamans, bina ayats etc etc. Well only ONE stack was marked. That’s not something one can be proud of.
The snacks were left unopened, adding on to our secret stash of tidbits (secret to Ooyah who’d want ALL the snacks to be opened at once). The books and newspapers brought back left untouched. The dvds left unwatched. The sims left unplayed.
In the end, we went out on all days but half (CNY eve)- we went shopping, ikea-ing, korean bbq-ing, potluck-ing, shopping….. lots of fun alright, so much fun that it felt like a normal 2-day weekend.
And now I’m TIRED and in sooooo need another long weekend.
Please? I’ll make it last this time, promise.
Well Done, My Friend!
SEMANGAT KELAS PERTAMA
Oleh Linilidia Abdul HamidBELIAU mengambil peperiksaan GCE peringkat ‘O’ sebanyak dua kali. Malahan dua percubaannya di peringkat GCE ‘A’ gagal mendapatkan sijil penuh. Tetapi kini, Cik Fauzia Jailani, 25 tahun, dapat tersenyum bangga kerana beliau merupakan satu-satunya pelajar kohortnya mendapat kelulusan Sarjana Muda Sastera (Pendidikan) dengan kepujian kelas pertama. Beliau menerima ijazahnya dalam majlis penyampaian ijazah di Auditorium Nanyang, Universiti Teknologi Nanyang, semalam, yang turut dihadiri Menteri Pendidikan, Dr Ng Eng Hen. Cik Fauzia merupakan salah seorang daripada 313 graduan baru NIE. Kejayaannya yang membanggakan itu didorong minatnya untuk mengajar yang dipupuk sejak kecil lagi. ‘Semasa kecil, bila bermain, saya selalu berangan jadi seorang guru yang sedang mengajar murid-murid,’ cerita Cik Fauzia. Disebabkan minatnya yang mendalam, beliau telah memohon memasuki NIE. Malangnya, tujuh percubaan pertamanya gagal. Namun ini tidak mematahkan semangatnya. Sebaliknya, semasa bertugas di sebuah pusat jagaan sebelum dan selepas sekolah, beliau mengirimkan permohonan buat kali kelapan untuk memasuki program diploma pendidikan NIE. Sejak diterima, Cik Fauzia, yang kini mengajar bahasa Melayu di Sekolah Rendah Balestier Hill, tidak lagi memandang ke belakang. Setelah tamat kursus diplomanya, beliau melanjutkan pelajaran ke peringkat sarjana muda. Cik Fauzia, yang mengambil pengkhususan dalam Bahasa Melayu dan Sastera Melayu untuk ijazahnya, berkata: ‘Sebenarnya, saya rasa untuk berjaya bukan usaha seorang individu saja. Sebaliknya, sokongan yang diterima daripada keluarga, teman-teman kuliah dan pensyarah juga memainkan peranan penting. Saya tidak mungkin dapat melakukannya sendiri.’ Cik Fauzia, yang baru berumah tangga, ketika bercakap tentang aspirasinya sebagai seorang guru berkata: ‘Saya ingin menjadi contoh kepada murid-murid saya. Jika saya yang pernah gagal boleh berjaya hari ini, saya mahu mereka berfikir bahawa mereka juga boleh melakukannya. ‘Sebagai guru, apa yang lebih penting bagi saya ialah murid-murid saya dapat menyumbang secara bermakna kepada masyarakat suatu hari nanti.’ Semasa berucap di majlis tersebut, Dr Ng menekankan, walaupun Kementerian Pendidikan (MOE) sedang giat menjalankan proses pengambilan guru baru dalam masa sukar ini, mereka masih mengekalkan proses pemilihan yang ketat untuk memastikan hanya calon-calon yang mempunyai sikap yang betul, minat mendalam dan kebolehan akan dipilih.
Congrats, Fauzia, to have done so so so so well against all odds (and I know there were many!) You totally deserve it, dear, perhaps more than anyone else, for ALL your hard work, slogging, patience, tears etc etc etc… wahhhh you totally deserve it lah babe. Your parents and husband must be so proud of you, and I pun tumpang semangkuk jugak ler ye! So proud of you!
I’m proud to tell you that I used and will be using this article this whole week for my lessons and tell my students, “This is my friend!”
Let’s meet up soon and I will belanja you makan ok?
(ada occasion, makan; takde occasion pun- makan TETAP makannn!!!!)
