Tribute to one whose absence is the world's loss

I've just found out that a friend of mine has passed away. Ironically I just changed my ringtone to All-American Reject's It Ends Tonight and that was the tone that rang when I got the news. Well, it didn't end tonight, it ended last Tuesday. The funeral is already over and there's nothing we could do - even my friend who called me had just found out. I'd really have liked to be able to go to the funeral and pay him my last respects. I wasn't close to him, but he was a good friend.

He was a photo buff, and he's even had an online photo gallery. He's really talented.

I'm not in the right state of mind to pen any poem, so he'll have to do without one for now. Here's a tribute to him anyway:

CHEANG CHOEN HOE 6th July 1976 - 14th November 2006 I didn't know you very well in university; my final year there was your first year doing Master's there. I knew you through the debate club, and you worked under me in the English Language Club's newsletter. You were quiet, but whenever you spoke, you held the room's attention with your unexpected wit and cynicism. Your written works bespoke your astounding, unending creativity. You were an amazing, intelligent person. You had a crush on me for a while, and I rejected you. I don't regret rejecting you, because I don't think it would have worked out anyway. But I do wish I could have gotten to know you better. We did keep in touch for a while, but then we lost touch when you went to US. Then one day whenI was thumbing through my email address book, I suddenly saw your name, and I thought hey, why not just try to reestablish connections. And that was when I found out about your suffering. And you said that you were surprised at how I didn't give you the usual positive "everything will be OK" response you got from everyone else, but then you found out I had a cousin who had passed away from liver cancer, too. Well, you didn't make it. Between you and me, I'm sure you didn't expect to, because your condition had deteriorated so much. But you outlived the doctor's prediction by one year if I remember correctly, and I think that's pretty damn good. I only wish that I'd known about your passing on, because I'd have liked to buy you flowers. Real flowers. Remember the paper ones you made from scratch for me when you had a crush on me? I still have them. It's one of the best gifts anyone had ever given me. Every rose, folded in red paper. Every leaf, hand-cut from green paper. You even wrapped them in a plastic wrap almost like a florist would, fragranced with rose scent. The fragrance is long gone, and truth be told one of the roses has already dropped off (it couldn't stay on its fake stalk), but I've managed to get it to hang on a little more. I don't think the world realises what a loss it's suffering from with your passing on. So I'm crying for the world now. I'm crying for what it has lost, and what it doesn't realise it has lost. Because I can't pay my respects to you at your final resting place, this is my final respects to you. I'm going to make a proper tribute page for you permanently on my website. You've been one terrific individual, and I hope you know that. I think you know that. This is the only clear photo of you that I've got in my online gallery. Yes, yes, I know it's a terrible photo. I promise I'll get a better photo of you and upload it into my proper tribute to you. REST IN PEACE

Oops!

Sorry for the triple posts earlier! Damn my home broadband connection. It took me a while to fix it cuz I was too busy to go online and check my website. Anyway it's fixed now.

Nothing else to add here for now, except that I can't wait for the holidays!!!

Lame entry!

I had dinner at Prince Cafe in SS2 today and one of the writings in their menu caught my eye:



If you can't read it, here's what it says:

blog entry: 1.30am
Saturday: I had my sweetest and most wonderful date in Prince Cafe today, where he took my hand and said "I Love You". Oh dear, he's becoming the Prince of my heart. Thank you Prince Cafe! :-P

IT'S TOTALLY LAME!!!!!

How do you like being stabbed in the back by your own supposed friend?

It's not that I've never been backstabbed before. There are probably a number of people out there who don't like me who love to make up stories or say really stupid things that aren't true just to make me look bad - I don't pretend to be loved and liked by all. What I don't like, however, are people who are supposedly my friends who do that to me.

I've just found out that I've been backstabbed and I'm so angry about it. I can't say that I totally love the person who did it - that person has driven me nuts many times and there are a lot of things that person did that I don't like. But I've never knowingly done anything bad to that person, even if it was just gossiping. And this same person has helped me out sometimes and I do appreciate it. I was shocked to find out that this person has made up a story about me though that puts me in a completely terrible light. And worse, has been telling other people about it - people I don't even know. It so happened that a close friend heard about it and thought it fair that I should know. It makes me so mad. Goes to show that you just can't trust some people.

Pweety birdie

I whiled away 50 minutes of my time at school today reconnecting with my youth. OK, not really. 5 Aristotle had been doing crayon pictures for the past few weeks and they'd stuck them on their notice boards... even though there is only one more month till their SPM. Anyway, one of them brought a colouring book and various classmates had been colouring different pictures in the book. They even showed me one that was half-done by their Chemistry teacher. I ended up sitting in one corner of their classroom tediously colouring one of the pictures with their crayons.

Honestly, I never liked colouring when I was young simply because I was terrible at art. I think all my students will attest to that... seeing the pathetic attempts of drawing pictures in a bid to explain Physics concepts to them. But I really like my work today. So I'm posting the pictures here for you to view...

The Chemistry teacher saw it after I was done and said, "It's very girly lah." Well, duh... I'm a girl!!!

Give them an inch and they want the mile...

It's amazing. Some students have been miserably failing Physics for the past two years and when it comes to their forecast, I am still willing bump their grade up to a 5C and they'll stand there demanding at least an 2A. Just because they say they need it to enter college. Just because they say "I will study very hard lah Miss Hoo - I need an A for Physics." How can they possibly expect me to give them an A for a forecast when they have not proved they are capable of even passing the subject?

For those who don't know the grading system, as a rough guide, the grades trickle down this way: 1A 2A 3B 4B 5C 6C 7D 8E 9G where to pass they need at least 45 which is 8E. Our school's system is tougher than the SPM grading system to make the students work harder for their marks. Actual suggested grading system is a minimum of 40 for a pass.

Pop Ya Collar (Usher)

Something I'm going through... Well, not the bit about the girl following me home. The ones in bold though.


Pop Ya Collar
Usher

Hello everybody, welcome today to the wonderful world of U.
Now check it, you have two options you can eat it or throw it away...

See it's a shame that when you're working hard
doing well people hate you
yeah buying nothing else but the best for yourself they really hate you
yeah ya gotta live for you and no one else
don't let em make you feel like you're not being real
just live how ya wanna live you gotta do for you

(Dig that)
If you work hard play hard
(Dig that)
And do what you wanna do
(Dig that)
Just pop ya collar don't let what people say bother you
(Dig that)
You perpetrators I got something to say
(Whats that?)
You can eat it or throw it away
(Picture that)
You're just mad cause you're following in my tracks now can u dig that? Hey

[Chorus 2x]

Hey ladies
(Yeah)
Hey fellas
(Yeah)
You know you're doing good cause they're jealous
they wanna hate you cause you're a go-getter pop ya collar
don't let 'em sweat ya

You can see me every week hanging out with a different girl sitting next to me
cause I'm not about to settle down right now
I gotta be free some of y'all fellas might be jealous but y'all know that don't faze me
I just pop my collar tip my hat and turn my backs on the ones who hated me

(Dig that)
Never going home alone
(Dig that)
If she follows then you know it's on
(Dig that)
She gets the beeper not the cellular phone
(Dig that)
I let her know I won't be around for long
(Dig that)
To all you haters I got something to say
(Whats that?)
You can eat it or throw it away
(Picture that)
Stop hatin, wishin, waitin, anticipating for my heat to fade

[Chorus 2x]

I break my neck for the things I get
so much sweat just so I can get that check
and I'm not gonna let nobody bring me down (Nobodys gonna steal the crown)
because I eat good I live good, I rock good, my life good
if you got a lot and you're working for it pop ya collar don't be afraid to show it

[Chorus fades out]

Subjects delegation!

We had the subject delegation today! As in, which class each teacher will be teaching next year. Earlier we had already filled in a form indicating which subjects we wish to teach the following year, and our principal will do her best to accomodate the requests in conjunction with the demand.

Nah, I'm not going to say which classes I'm going to teach... although it'll probably leak out sooner or later. But darn it, maybe I shouldn't have selected Form 4 & 5 Physics :P I was so hoping not to teach Form 5 Physics. It's way too much work. Especially with these brats I have....................

Time to party!

Bronya's graduation party tomorrow! Or rather, today. I'll be part of the presentation dances, again. This time a bit more stress though. Chiang (son of a friend, Catherine Goh) who is in my class has sold tickets to some of his classmates and THEY'RE COMING!!! Man, it's bad enough I see them in school, now I've got to see them socially too. Fortunately there's not going to be any booze there, hahaha... Not that I drink anyway. But it's good cuz then those underaged brats - I mean, kids - won't get drunk and embarrass ME in front of everyone else. Hahahahahaa!!!!!!

Photos will be up after the party!!!

Growing old is necessary, but growing up is optional. That, however, doesn't mean you can act like a five-year-old

Have you ever noticed some people don't act their age? It's amazing. I'm not saying that it's a bad thing to be young at heart; I mean, I know a number of 50 to 60-year-olds who are more fun to be with than people my age. They're lovely people who are so vibrant.

I do know people my age, however, who act like they're still teenagers. And to me, it's dreadfully annoying. If you're asking me if I'm saying that teenagers are annoying, to say no would be lying. OK, truthfully, I do like a number of teenagers (can't help it, all my students are teenagers). For teenagers to act like teenagers is perfectly fine with me. After all, they have not grown up enough to behave any other way. And everyone has to go through the growing pains stage: the rebellious, authority-challenging, regulation-defying, pink-hair-colouring stage before they realise what idiots they were at seventeen.

What I do have a problem with, is TWENTY-SEVEN-year-olds behaving like they're seventeen. I mean, grow up. You're way past the studying age, you've gone into the working world and dealt with many obstacles that is part and parcel of life. Unless you're still trapped in your coconut shell, please grow up!

By the way, have I inadvertently let slip my age?

Thank goodness for the holidays

Today I didn't do much at school. I was supposed to have an invigilation duty, only to be told that the invigilation slots have been created in error and I didn't need to work it. Woohoo!!! So I spent the whole day finishing up my marking of the finals papers. A real headache, I tell you. You kids are going to suffer my wrath on Wednesday.

Was home early, and had initially thought of going to the gym after dinner. Of course, I got too lazy and now here I am in front of the PC. I was planning to redo my website, and I ended up writing a blog entry. Haaa!!!

My MSN messenger is driving me nuts. It's impossible to login at home. It's my Streamyx connection. Beyond hopeless!!!

I'm hungry.

Steven & Mei Chin's wedding

For the second time in two weeks, I was at the Tropicana Club again for a wedding. This one was a smaller affair compared to last week's, but the bride and groom seem to be much cosier. They didn't have any special video to share like last week, and the space used was less than half the size of last week's, but they had considered little things like having someone lead the way to our table (last week, I had to find the table on my own). And this time, I had friends with me whom I could chat with.

I didn't bring my digital camera again - this time, because I lent it to a friend who hadn't returned it. Choon Meng was supposed to bring his but (1) he forgot, and (2) the battery was already flat. Or so he claims.

Fortunately my camera's 2 megapixel lens was good enough to take close-up shots. Hopeless for far shots though, so we stuck to taking pictures of ourselves. I'm waiting for Mei Chin to share the photos taken by the designated photographer.

Top left: Me Top right: Hui Ling
Bottom left: Choon Meng Bottom right: Yee Kiang

Our table was dedicated to school friends. Chandra didn't turn up though due to work. The others were Jefri, and two other girls from school with their boyfriends. Yes I do know their names but I'm not going to mention them here, to protect their identities. I don't really know these two girls, never did talk much to them in school cuz we hadn't been in the same class. We didn't talk much tonight either. I suppose we did appear standoffish, but somehow I couldn't really be bothered to make an effort. OK, so I'm a snob. I admit though, I felt pretty bad about it because I remember how I felt last week sitting at a table with a bunch of strangers who didn't talk to me.

Here are my excuses though. I didn't really talk to one of the girls because the last time I met her, although she appeared friendly enough, was not very willing to talk about much (I was kinda asking after her, as in how she is, what's she doing now, etc). The other girl, who appeared very bored throughout the dinner (possibly because she didn't really know the rest of us), I had met before at my gym, and when I tried to say hi to her then, she also didn't seem keen to talk to me. Conversation went something like this:

Me: Hi, you're <name goes here>, right?
Girl: .... yes...?
Me: I'm Sze Yen from Taman SEA.
Girl: Oh, hi.

And it ended there. She just kinda went off, which was a bit of a shock to me, because normally when I meet someone from school whom I have not met for a long time, we usually kinda catch up, even if we barely knew each other back in school. Even if it's fake interest. Small stuff like, "Where are you working now?" and general enquiries like that. The conversation ended making me feel as if she thinks I'm some wannabe who just wants to get to know her. If I get snubbed like that, I'm not going to bother trying to repair bridges especially if it doesn't seem worth repairing at all.

By the way, here are some interesting facts I've found out about weddings tonight (or rather, weddings I attend):

• There is such a thing as a karaoke wedding. Honestly, I've never heard of such a wedding before. Mainly because I've never been to one. Hui Ling mentioned it as we were sitting down at our table, and said she had been to a number before. Well, tonight's was the first I attended. It wasn't really a karaoke, because there were no TV or karaoke sets. But there were a couple of old men who went on stage and belted out a few tunes. One old guy went up to sing English songs (out of tune, by the way. He sang three, but the most horrible experience was the last one which he did Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini) followed by another old man doing a few Chinese numbers. I was pretty thankful when it was over early. I didn't want to lose my appetite, especially when I had so little to eat the whole day.
  

  
  
  I don't think he was crooning to the couple of the night. I think he was just singing because he liked the sound of himself singing. It's what we say as syok sendiri.
  

  
       No disrespect meant, really. I mean it. But if I have a wedding, I think I'll be a real control freak about it. I'd probably monitor the microphones so tightly that if anyone even attempts to sing at my wedding, I'd be jumping onto the stage and grabbing the mikes out of their hands, in my high heels and long train and all.
  

  
  

• Chinese waiters at Chinese restaurants are hopelessly inattentive. I always run out of tea and no one comes up to fill it up. Even last week at Alex's wedding. But at least last week we were seated right next to a table which had the refills on standby there, and I often walked over to refill my own cup. Tonight, my glass was constantly empty. And at one point, when the waitress was filling the glasses at my table, as the canister reached my glass, it had already ran out. And guess what, she didn't come back to fill up the glass.
  

  
  

• I'm always at the last few tables to yam seng the happy couple. For those new to this, every Chinese wedding has this hideously noisy ritual where we will raise our glasses to toast the newlyweds, and being typical Chinese, it has to be as loud, long, and noisy as possible. This happens after the couple have gone on stage and poured champagne into the pyramid of wineglasses, where the couple's close family members will be on stage and the whole room will stand with their glasses raised and scream the long "yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ........... SENG!" And then a little later, the couple will go from table to table where each table will repeat the ritual, with lots of happy photographs too.
       And I have noticed that at almost every Chinese wedding I've attended, I am always at one of the last few tables approached by the couple. Some may say this is a good thing, cuz the idea is that the couple has "reserved the best for last". I'm like, yeah right!!! It just means I can't leave so early. Usually by the time the happy couple reach me, dinner was over ages ago, but I won't leave until I toast the newlyweds (and be included in the photo).
       OK, OK, I'm being really selfish. I'm not really grumbling. I really do want to wish the couple happiness with a toast and I will never leave a wedding until I have done so. It's just that I've noticed this has happened to me at Chinese weddings almost every time without fail.
  

  
  

• Chinese weddings never start on time. I already knew this because when I was young, my parents never brought me to a wedding on time. When I was little I used to fret about it because the invitation would say "6.00pm sharp" and we're only leaving the house at 7pm. But even when we got there by 8pm, dinner hadn't even started yet. So I learnt not to go so early to weddings. This year I always stroll into wedding dinners about an hour after the time stated on the card and I'd still have to wait at least half an hour before dinner began.
       I'm just mentioning this because I know some people who do fret about the time. There was a wedding earlier this year which was suppsoed to start by 6.30pm sharp, but because I had jazz class until 6pm, I knew I was going to be late. I took my own sweet time preparing though, and didn't get to the restaurant until about 8.30pm. An dinner hadn't even started. It annoyed one of my Indian friends though, because he had been there on time. Haha!
       And last week, Jefri had fretted about the time saying that it was supposed to start 7pm sharp. And that they may actually start on time because it was puasa month and they may start on time for the Muslims to buka puasa. I told him he can go early if he likes, I'm only going to be there by 8pm. He finally decided to arrive only about 8.15pm, and dinner still had not started. Seeeeee???!!!
  

Here's wishing Steven & Mei Chin the very best!!!

Dance Supremacy

We gave it our all today. I think we were the oldest team on the floor today, haha. All I wanted was to make it to the finals, but we didn't. I knew we couldn't anyway - the other teams were too young, too energetic, too good. My coach was still proud of us though; in her words, we were superb.

What really got me was how responsive the crowd was. The moment we got onto the floor they were already screaming their support (I suspect this was very much due to the emcee who had "inside information that the team spans generations: ages from 19 to 44". And guess who the insider was...) and for everything we did, everyone - not only the other dancers, but also the public - were cheering us on. It's a great feeling. It was almost worth giving up that perfect attendance award for.

I can't upload the photos of the team yet because they were taken with my teammate's camera, and I haven't gotten a copy yet. But here's a great photo I took with my handphone of me and my coach:

Team captain & coach

The teams who won really deserved to win. I thought they were absolutely fantastic.

Wish me luck

Wish me luck for tomorrow. I'm giving up my perfect attendance at school (tomorrow there's a replacement Saturday for the Raya holidays) because I have already committed to my dance team for an open dance competition. I think it will be a very tough fight, because we'll be competing against people much younger than us (I'm the second youngest in this team of five!!!) but I hope we'll be able to put up a good fight.

Cheap shot of the day

This is just too good not to post on my blog. I'm not going to put names here to protect the identities of the people involved, so I'll use initials instead.

I was at the cafeteria at lunchtime when I bumped into Mr Z and Ms M there, and decided to join them for lunch. Ms M was joking that Mr Z and I were single and that maybe we should get together, and Mr Z replied her with, "No lah, M, I can't go out with her. I can't go out with you either. You're too tall, and she's too intelligent."

"So," I piped in, "Basically you're saying you're too short and stupid!"

Can anyone blame me for not taking that open cheap shot???

Picture updates

Finally! Here are some picture updates:

Remember my entry about the girl who sprayed biscuits on me? The picture promised was way overdue... anyway here she is, on the right:

Me & Sue Ching

Oh, and my school had a Hawaiian Luau BBQ organised by the PTA on the 16th of September 2006. It went fairly smoothly, although it was rather spoilt by the cordless microphones which stopped working halfway. I was one of the emcees so I had to dress up a little.

Aloha!

No, I wasn't nominated for best-dressed or anything. Here are the winners of the best-dressed competition:

Winner of the ladies' best dressed category: Norazlinda (teacher)

Runner-up of the ladies' best dressed category: Pn Hayati (parent)

And while we're here, I'm uploading a shot of me which I really like, taken during Alex's wedding.

Picture of me. Photo taken with cameraphone, that's why it's not so clear.

When I have time, I'll upload them all to my online photo gallery.

Awww

Just came back from a friend's wedding today. I only know the groom who was my classmate in school; I don't know his bride. She's really pretty; they look like such a sweet couple. They even made the video presentations themselves.

Dinner was at Tropicana; the food was pretty good. Can't say that I really enjoyed myself though. I was placed at a table where I knew only 4 of the other 9 sitting there, one of whom constantly talked to the others I didn't know because they knew each other, but those whom I didn't know didn't make an effort to get to know the rest of us. And I was seated at an inconvenient position which made it hard for me to catch up with 2 of those whom I did know but rarely meet.

Anyway I'm waiting for my married friend to post the pictures taken during the wedding. I do have some pics of my own but they were taken with my handphone; I didn't bring my camera cuz I forgot to charge the battery which went completely flat before I left the house. I'll post them here later though. My home connection somehow makes it impossible for me to upload pictures on any site; I was trying to upload pics to my school alumni site to share with the others and it refused to work too. Gotta do it in school then.

This baby's got a new cyberhome

I've just switched my webhost so that I can have my own domaon name. Woohoo!!! No more subdomain URLs for me. None of that zyenweb.thewildwestbabes.com or zyenhoo.bronyabishorek.com anymore. Actually, I've just learnt that I could've still shared space without using subdomains... *blush*. Oh well. The main reason I'm switching is actually because I've found a host that is much cheaper, but still very reliable.

I haven't updated my website except for that Off The Edge article, so there isn't much else to parade. I'll get crackin' on a new update when the hols are here. I swear. I'm thinking of doing a total revamp on the site, and that's a huge effort. If I have no time/energy/too friggin' lazy, you'll just see the same site with updated text.

So, just in case you come across any broken links or images that don't exist, do let me know yeah. I did the files transfer myself so I might have overlooked some files.

Dreamy sigh

I rarely watch TV; in fact I almost never watch TV nowadays but for some reason today after dinner, I was bored and decided to watch the idiot box instead of clearing out my backlog on the computer. It so happened that I managed to catch the beginning of American Sweethearts. I watched it before but couldn't remember what it was about so I watched it again. It was so funny, and quite heart-tugging at the same time. Catherine Zeta-Jones played the annoying character so well, and I really felt so sorry for John Cusack's and Julia Roberts' characters. It was quite a lovely movie, although it was very corny at the end. I'm not that fond of romantic movies (I call them soppy) and neither do I like reading romance novels. Corny bits agitate my cynical view of reality.

But when John's character was doing things for Julia's character by buttering her toast and helping her pack her bags (so to speak), it was something I could really empathise with. Well, I can't say I empathise with the character completely - I don't spend my life cleaning up and pandering after an annoying sister whose world revolves only around her. But it's nice to have a man who loves you and takes care of you and does things for you. Of course, there are plenty of men out there like that but their partners don't appreciate them. It just makes me go... sigh... (dreamily).

By the way, I think John Cusack is really cute. I think Edward Norton is cute, too. And I think they're both terrific actors. So is Johnny Depp - love him in Pirates of the Carribean .

Oh, and I'm still not looking for a relationship. I'm very happily single. :)

T_T

I don't know why I'm feeling so utterly depressed. I can't figure out the trigger. I'm not facing any life-changing or major problems. It might be the lack of nutrition though; someone told me that insufficient magnesium can cause anxiety, irritability and depression.

Well, this sucks. I hate being depressed. The self-pity is more of self-loathing. I'm getting this way too often now.

What I got for my birthday this year

OK, this post comes a bit late. My birthday was over about three weeks ago, but I haven't really had the time to sit down and write about it. Anyway, here goes...

My birthday, having fallen on a Saturday, meant that there were bound to be something happening on the Friday. My class attempted to throw a surprise party for me, which didn't really turn into a surprise because someone said the wrong thing.

Three boys came to look for me in my staffroom during their break, and one of them said, "Miss Hoo, can you please come down to the cafeteria?" I already knew something was up. Some of the others got a bit mad because they had planned to say something else; they were about to tell me one of the boys in class got into a fight at the cafeteria. If they had told me that, I would have gone flying down without a clue!

Anyway, it was still pretty thoughtful of them to take the trouble to buy the cake and stuff. Coincidentally, their English teacher's birthday was two days after mine, so they made it into a combined celebration.

This is the cake the students bought for us. It's CHOCOLATE. Yum yum yum.

Ms Anjali and me

This cake is lip-licking good. Mmmmmmmmm....

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That night I went for dinner with a very close friend of mine. We went to TGIF, and the crew had the usual "We Will Rock You" song. Yowza!

Helen and I

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Saturday night I went to dinner with another friend, but didn't take any photos during then.

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Sunday night, went out with a bunch of my former schoolmates. We tried out this Korean restaurant in Taipan. It wasn't too bad; the food was nice and the concept interesting.

I've got cake again!

The cake was bought by my friends, not supplied by the restaurant.

Happy birthday to me...

The tedious process of cake dissection

Hai-yahhhh!!! A totally lame attempt at trying to practise Korean martial arts

Here's looking at you, kid...

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All in all, my birthday wasn't too bad this year. I was half-afraid that everyone was going to forget and I was going to spend Saturday night alone. Haha! I've got bigger plans for next year though, because it's extremely rare for my birthday to fall on a weekend. Couldn't do it this year because of the lack of funds...

All about 4A

Here I go again, talking about my class once more. My class can be really annoying sometimes. Well, some of them, not all of them. But not too deep down, they're really good kids. I think that they're quite united, and there is no one who is an outcast in the class.

When the new students came in the second semester, I was quite impressed to see how quickly the class tried to make them feel at home. For example, when a new boy arrived, as I was talking to him, some of the class quickly formed a group around him to get to know him better, and to include him in their conversations. It was really heartwarming for me to see this.

Even with the stupid jabañero peppers. Someone brought the peppers and the whole class ended up tricking students from other classes - and even some teachers - into eating them. (Thankfully, I had heard about them before and I did not even attempt to touch them.)

And when the new girl was sort of harassed by a boy from another class, she saved the MSN conversation and the WHOLE class read the conversation. OK, that was partly my doing too; I displayed the conversation on the projector using my laptop. Perhaps not the whole class was interested, but a huge majority of them were. And some of them got pretty riled up about how the girl was (sort of) harassed.

And with the yearbook page in discussion, some of them were coming up with ideas on the pictures to take. Many of them were heavily involved in the technical bit; i.e. rigging up the camera from overhead to take a bird's eye view picture. We haven't taken the photo yet, but we've done a test run and it seems to be working to plan. It's incredible how seriously they're taking this, to take just one picture. They've got measurements and a drawn plan and stuff.

My point is, some classes have outcasts. Some classes have segregated cliques. Some classes can't stand the sight of their own classes. My class isn't perfect. We still have cliques, we didn't win the Paramount Championship, we made losses trying to sell liquid nitrogen ice-cream. But I'm so proud of them, every single one of them. I hold no credit to their achievements or their unity. I'm just glad to be with them this year.

I'm so going to miss them.

All about Khor Sue Ching

Sue Ching is a girl, I think. She eats biscuits. And when she talks, she sometimes spray people with biscuit crumbs. At least, at me. Oh, and she bought me a jar of hot chocolate powder. She was supposed to get one year's supply, and somehow her idea of one year's supply is limited to only 500 g's worth. I wonder how much she drinks in a cup of hot chocolate. Maybe she puts about two drops of hot water with every grain of hot chocolate.

---

I wrote this with Sue Ching right behind me. I'll upload a picture of her as soon as I can find one.

"I like AIDS"

At least, that's what this one brat -- err, I mean student of mine always says. Coincidentally, he had to attend a workshop on AIDS today for 5 whole hours. Well, he and his classmates. And another class. And ... oh, that's it.

I had to sit in with them for the first hour because the first hour was my subject with the students today, from 8-9am. The workshop, conducted by a group of volunteers (I can't remember the name of the organisation) started with ice-breaking where the facilitator told the students that she will ask them a series of yes-no questions, each of which they had to respond by moving to different parts of the room (left side: YES, right side: NO, middle: NOT SURE). It started of with simple personal questions ("Everybody likes me", "I share my problems with my parents", "I talk about sex with my friends") and went on to test their knowledge on AIDS ("If a mosquito bites a person with AIDS, it can infect the next person it bites"). When it came to the knowledge testing part, I was quite surprised on how so many of the students got the answers wrong. Yes, even the kid who loves AIDS did get some of the answers wrong. The facilitator went on to show presentation slides with information about AIDS after that litle exercise.

I think I took it for granted everyone knew about AIDS. It's common knowledge for people in my age group, because back then, the government had an all-out AIDS awareness campaign; there were plenty of advertisements in the media both printed and broadcast, plenty of leaflets, etc. We knew how AIDS can and cannot be spread simply by listening to a short ad on the radio. The awareness campaign was everywhere.

I forgot that there hasn't been an awareness campaign for a while, and only now there's a gradual comeback to the campaign.

I left at 9am because that was the end of my lesson so I don't know what transpired next. I'm sure they learnt a lot.

And no, I don't like AIDS. And I don't have AIDS!

Ear-ring loss galore

It's so maddening! Two weeks in a row I've lost earrings after going to the gym. Last Wednesday I lost my pair of silver hoops, and yesterday I lost one side of my black butterfly dangling earrings. And I really liked these two pairs, and it's not easy to find replacements for these. Sigh... I don't know how I could have lost them. But I'm going to have to take precautions from now on to make sure they don't get lost again.

I'm supposed to put up a post about my birthday last weekend. Haven't gotten round to uploading the pictures. Will do it soon...

Today, I've learnt...

Today I've learnt that if a current system has been in use for a long time, it will not be open to suggestions for change, even if the suggestion has grounds in it for a more logical and efficient use.

Today I've learnt that people who are supposedly charitable aren't necessarily professional.

Today I was supposed to learn something about creativity in the classroom, but then I learnt that I was already attempting to do creative things in the classroom and therefore haven't really learnt much, although I learnt a little bit more.

Today I haven't really learnt much, but then, today was a day which has been pretty infuriating and writing is sometimes a tonic.


(I'll write later about what was so infuriating)


By the way, England's out! Brazil's out! Germany's out!

A little something to share with you

While I'm online, here are some pics I'd like to share... I've taken a number of shots with my camera-phone whenever I see something interesting or amusing, and haven't had the time to upload them onto my blog.

Anyway whenever I have time I'll upload one set. So here's the first...

It's not a good shot because I took it from a newspaper... I was too lazy to scan the paper. Anyway, it's a Marie France Bodyline ad and this is what it says:

We Let Our Figures Do The Talking The one choice for professional slimming solutions 97% The one name I would recommend to everyone 96% The one weight loss management centre I trust more than any other 94% * Based on survey results of MFB customers

Does anyone notice what's wrong with that??????

If you don't I'll tell you - read the fine print. If it's based on survey results of
their own customers, isn't it obvious that the results will be biased towards them since they have already chosen MFB as their slimming solutions?

Then, this is where it backfires. Why isn't their customer satisfaction 100%????

Baaa Baaa Blaaack Sheeep

Had a really tiring day today. Accompanied the school's Leo Club, together with the Lions Club, to take some orphans on a trip to several farms - orchid farm, fish farm, fruit farm, deer farm. Hot day and swollen tongue didn't help. Fortunately had Lydia to accompany me otherwise I'd be going out of my mind.

Students did a fantastic job, especially the Leo club president Lianne who had organised this (with the help of the Lions Club) and put her heart and soul into the project. Many (although not all) students took care of the orphans instead of wandering off to do what they liked.

Can't say exactly the same for the Lions Club. Oh, some of them were really good and really nice. But there's one particular person (I shall not name for politically correct reasons) who busied herself with a book or sat in the shade while the other Lions Club people ran around and made efforts to get to know the students. The event management company was also very good, involving themselves in the activities - there was one photographer who went around taking shots of people, and said silly things to make them smile. All in all everything went smoothly.

Also can't say that I was all that great. I didn't play much with the orphans or mix around with the other adults. I tend to leave everything to the students because they were doing such a great job. However I did amuse everyone at the end with a new-found ability to sing in a bleating voice after we saw sheep at the deer farm. Haha!

Will upload some pics once I've found some nice ones. The ones in my camera aren't all that great - there are some others in Lydia's camera, and also some with the event management company which I hope they will send to us.

Here's the link to download the audiofile if you should care to listen to the bleating voice repertoire. No, there's nothing wrong with the recording. What you hear is what I sang. Hehe.

A wonderful end to all that bodily injuries

Guess what I did at dinner today. I was having dinner with a friend, and after my meal, I ate some bread and butter. I don't know how I did it, but somehow I chomped so hard on my tongue that it drew blood. A lot of blood. It didn't stop bleeding for about five minutes while I held a serviette against it waiting for it to clot. And it hurt like hell!

I couldn't talk properly for a while. Well, I could, but my tongue would hurt. I can deal with ulcers, but I can't deal with a scar on my tongue! I've never bitten my own tongue this hard before. What a grotesque experience.

I managed to finish the bread and butter, but I couldn't eat my fries. What an ending to my week...

A swollen eye, a twisted back, and a painful hip... all in a day's work

It's been a while since my last blog entry. I've been so busy with school and personal work. I don't even use my PC as often as I used to. I used to log on every night... now there are days I don't even want to touch the computer in favour of my luxurious bed.

I've had a spate of minor bodily injuries this week. It started with a swollen eye on Sunday - I had to go to a doctor on Tuesday to get antibiotics and thankfully it has gone down by today. I can't meet parents tomorrow at the school's three-way conference with an inflamation on my beautiful eyes, right?

Then on Wednesday, I woke up with my lower right back feeling rather twisted. It only felt like a muscle twist though, because my spine didn't seem affected. (I should know - I had a serious back pain 2 years ago) No idea why, because I didn't do anything the day before. Typically, I get muslce sore especially in my back the day after gym (probably due to incorrect posture during my workout). I merely rubbed a heat rub and it seemed to help because on Thursday it wasn't so bad, although there was still a shadow of the pain.

This morning I thought finally everything in my body would be ok, but as the day got on I began to limp because there was a sharp pain in my left hip, which is probably due to my gym workout yesterday. I've corrected my posture so there's no more pain in my back, but I honestly don't know why there should be a pain in my hip.

Oh, and in addition, because I worked my legs out so much, my muscles are now very sore, which adds to the limp.

I'm really getting old.

I thought I've hit rock bottom, but then I found I could still dig

I think the title speaks for itself.

I wrote this during invigilation today. I wasn't asleep, but I was certainly dreaming about it.

My Invigilation

 

Do you know how boring invigilating can be?

It’s a tiring fight to keep your sanity

There’s nothing to do but to keep your eyes open

To make sure that the silence is never broken

No exchange of words, no tries of cheating

No semaphores attempted, no matter how fleeting

I’m willing the hands of the clock to move faster

I’m trying to stay awake with all the will I can muster

 

In my bed of heather beneath the sky

Deep in slumber, I quietly lie

The stars twinkle in their heavenly home

While the fireflies begin their nocturnal roam

The warm breeze chases away the cold

Deeper into the heather, I fold

A susurration of night-time whispers I hear

Lull me gently into a sleep so dear

 

The sounds are getting much louder

A sudden explosion of voice in my ear!

That could only mean –

 

Dammit! I fell asleep!

 

Invigilation

I haven't blogged lately because I've been so tired. Mid-year exams are coming to an end (Phew!) and it's really more draining to invigilate than to teach. Just sitting there doing nothing is worse than actually doing something.

Nothing much to reminisce about actually. I've actually forgotten what it was like to take a school exam, really. But watching them suddenly reminded me today of a fellow classmate I had back in Form 3 who made a lot of noise when we were taking our exam papers. It wasn't that he was the class clown or he was trying to draw attention to himself humourously; far from it actually. The noise he made was more of his constant crushing of papers he wanted to throw away; and the noisy glugging of water from his 1.5 L water bottle. And because he does it very loudly, and very often, it can be quite distracting. I don't think he intentionally meant to distract us, he was just thoughtless in a socially inept way. He had the same level of noise during our PMR examinations too. I don't think anyone ever told him off, because we were all too polite to.

Oh, I didn't see anyone like that at all. It was just that I was suddenly reminded of that classmate. Quite a horrible recollection, actually.

Paramount Championship is finally OVER!!!

The Paramount Championship is finally OVER!! It was so draining. The finals were on Monday and Tuesday, and I was more drained at the end of the both days than I usually am at the end of a normal teaching day.

Here's something to boast about for my class. We got third overall for Upper Secondary! Woo hoo!!! Honestly I didn't expect to us even be in the running for an overall top three. We got knocked out of so many events, I thought we'd be at the bottom or something. Hehehe. I forgot that there were several classes who didn't participate in most events. When they announced the third place, I think I'm the only one who screamed for joy. Haha.

Here's our medal tally:

GOLD
1) Poetry recital
2) Mandarin debate
3) Band performance

SILVER
1) Seasons drums
2) Group singing
3) Solo instrument

BRONZE
1) BM Essay
2) BM Sajak
3) English speech


Honestly I was just so sick and tired of the Paramount Championship because it was really draining, even for the days leading up to the finals (preliminaries in action). But I'm glad the kids had fun and I think they should be immensely proud of their achievements, even if they didn't win a medal.

Speaking of the band, everyone watched them perform as they were the last band to go on for the competition, which was the last event of the championship. They totally rocked the house and they were the champions, hands down. Maybe they should start playing gigs to earn the money we lost from the Open Day booth... hmmm....

4 Aristotle Rocks!

We sold liquid nitrogen ice-cream today. Everyone was impressed with the procedure to make it but we didn't even manage to break even. The main reason was that we ran out of tasty mixtures to make the ice-cream; all we had left was coffee which was too bitter and no one wanted it. Sigh...

But we still had fun. At least, I hope they did. I was just way too tired. I had to check on two other booths too (Physics + Leo Club) from time to time. And in the middle of the day I had to go out and refill the liquid nitrogen so we lost an hour there. Not that it made much difference because it was the running out of mixture that was the problem. We still had plenty of LN by the end of the day.

Anyway I'm just writing cuz I'm really, really proud of these kids. They were very responsible in handling the booth (i.e. didn't shirk duty) and they worked very well together. It's mainly due to their knowing each other since they were in Form One, I think. I take no credit for the kids' teamwork. I think I'm just lucky that I've been put in charge of a class which consists of students who are smart and responsible.

The band from my class who participated in the Paramount Championship (more on this later in a future blog entry) were also part of the mini-concert showcase. When I arrived early in school this morning I heard them practising in the hall, and I was quite surprised. I didn't know then that they were part of the showcase. However I recognised the song because they were the only group in the Championship to take on a song that is not of this generation - they played the funky Ghostbusters of the '80s which is really nostalgic for those in my age category. So I walked in and watched them practise (they're so damn good!!!!!!!!!!!) and it was then I found out that they were part of today's show. I'm totally pleased for them, but I can't help wondering why they were picked for the showcase, considering the finals for the Paramount Championship's band category is on Monday or Tuesday (can't remember which), and they said they were surprised too. But I'm totally happy for them. I missed their actual performance though, because I went out for the liquid nitrogen refill. I missed the whole concert, actually. It wasn't a biggie for me though because I've seen most of the performances before. I was just sorry to miss the band's performance.

I think 4 Aristotle totally rocks. Even though we didn't break even for our booth. Even though they screwed up the English debate (AAAARRRRGGGHHHH!!!!!!). Even though we're not leading in the Paramount Championship (screw that!). Even though they hate me for my difficult Physics class test. Even though they screw up in Physics!!!

Let's see if I can survive the rest of the year with them though.

Arghhh!!!

Sometimes I wish that my students don't know of my blog. That way I can vent a lot frustration out and they'd never know I was talking about them. Argh!

No, no, I don't want to complain about you who is reading my blog now. I love you kids too much. (Insert bouncing rubber eyeballs here). OK, seriously... well, I do like most of you. And honestly, you're not the one I want to complain about.

I shall stop my cryptic blog entry here.

Stupid Girls

I finally saw Pink's video of Stupid Girls. Yes, yes, I'm a bit behind in terms of MTV and music. I used to know all the name of every new song that hit the radio airwaves. Nowadays I'm not too bothered anymore and I only find out the name of the song that catches my attention.

Anyway, I think Pink's song of Stupid Girls really drives the message home and the video is one of the best (and funniest!!!) I've ever seen. I've often liked Pink for her songs with strong messages about the girl power - her first single being Most Girls. She's not an outright feminist, but she doesn't believe that girls should rely on men. Like that Destiny's Child song, Independent Women.

Belated tears

I'm feeling rather sad. My brother left us for Japan on Monday night on a scholarship to study medicine. All the months leading up to Monday night was full of preparation for him to leave - buying his things, sending an advanced package, etc. I wasn't really involved in it, because I was way too busy with school work. I hadn't even bought him a farewell gift. Yes, yes, I'm a terrible sister, but I didn't know what to buy for him that he didn't already have. I didn't want to get him some useless trinket he'll leave behind because there isn't any more space in his luggage.

My mom had a farewell dinner for him, inviting all my relatives from her side of the family on the Saturday night the week before. Two of my brother's friends were invited too. My relatives on my father's side are all in Penang, so of course they couldn't join in. It's not like we're all that close to our cousins, actually. My mom had the dinner because (according to a reliable source) my maternal grandmother gave him a huge ang pow and my mom wanted to show her appreciation. The ang pow still couldn't beat my two aunts from Penang though, who bought him a brand new laptop.

My relatives came down from Penang on Sunday to send him off - the aforesaid two aunts and my paternal grandmother. At my suggestion we all went out for dinner on Sunday night. (Was surprised this wasn't thought of earlier, actually. You'd have thought that when your only son is about to leave the country for about seven years, you'd like to have one more nice dinner as a family.)

We all drove to KLIA to bid him farewell. The same two friends who came to the dinner came over to KLIA to send him off too. I thought it was really nice of them to do that. We whiled the hours away sitting around and trying to finish up the film in my mom's camera (yes! She's still on that old thing. I told her she should have told me to bring my digital camera).

When it was time for him to leave, we each gave him a hug except for my father who was kayu as usual. I was surprised that my grandmother didn't cry. No one did. Not there, anyway.

I haven't been close to my brother since I came back from university. I missed four of his vital school years when I was at university. We were very close when we were younger though. We used to fight a lot too. And he was such a chatterbox when he was a kid. When he was older he was much more reserved.

It just didn't hit me how much I'd miss him even though we weren't exactly close, but at least he was around. It was only when I came home just now and I suddenly noticed he's not at his usual spot in front of his PC. Strange, isn't it?

So... that leaves me alone here in Malaysia. My sister is in UK and my brother is in Japan. Maybe I should go to another country too...

When debates are run by people who don't know what debates are

My students lost in the BM inter-class debate today. I didn't watch them because I was conducting extra classes for my fifth-formers. After it was over, they came up to me and told me that... they lost. I'm not upset they lost. No - what I'm angry about is how the debate went. It seems that the other side went and gave printed evidence to support their case to the judges. And my team apparently lost because they appeared to be under-prepared, and lacking in confidence.

 

This is the first time I have ever heard that evidence to judges could be accepted in a debate. I have never been to a debate competition that allows such things. What surprised me was that all three judges (BM teachers) accepted it. The highest level of BM debates that I know of in this country is the Malaysian Royals Debate between public universities, and they are very similar to the English version with the exception that it is held in BM. You never provide evidence to the judges. Even in Forensic's value debates, you show your evidence to your opponent if need be. Not carry the big fat Black's Law book and pass a copy to each of the judges.

 

And then it turns out that evidence presentation is allowed. All the other classes were doing. So is this ignorance their fault? Hardly - like me, they never heard of debates that allowed such things. So my question now is, why were they not briefed on it? Is it not obvious that they should have had some kind of briefing by the BM debate judges about this?

 

I question the integrity of this kind of debate. If they go on to inter-school debate competitions, I'm sorry but they're going to be kicked right back to school. I wonder if any of the teachers in the school have ever been to a proper debate competition before.

 

Oh, and here's another joke. For the English inter-class debate, their constructive speeches are four minutes each and the reply speeches are three minutes. In proper competitions, they are SEVEN minutes long and the reply speeches are four minutes. How much can you say to support your case in four minutes? I suppose they assume the kids aren't smart enough to stand up and talk for very long.

Debate Finals!

My students were involved in a debate competition the whole of last week organised by KDU College called the Dato' CQ Teo-KDU College Debate Challenge. Together with Ms Lydia, we trained the students and discussed the motions with them, spending HOURS and HOURS, even on weekends before the competition. They made it all the way to the finals, which is a huge achievement given that of the four of them, three have never debated in a competition of this style, and it is the first time since the challenge started two years ago that the school even made past the preliminaries. We lost to Chong Hwa in the finals, but I think it was a very worthy school to have lost to as the debate was a good one and it had been a very close fight.

Still, am damn proud of my kids!

New subdomain!

My website is now resting on a new subdomain. You'll only know this if you typed in http://www.zyenhoo.com because it will automatically route you to this location. If you typed in the old full subdomain name (http://zyenhoo.thewildwestbabes.com)... well, obviously it won't work.

I will be moving to a webhosting space all on my own soon though... I'm not moving yet because I would like to finish up my contract on this webhost first. Will keep you all updated... but then, as long asyou keep using http://www.zyenhoo.com, you wouldn't notice the difference.

I lost a Sony auction! :(

I lost a Sony auction! :( I could've gotten a Handycam worth RM2,999 for less than half the price...

I went for the Sony Style members-only night with a friend just now. They had a lot of things going on there... special discounts, auctions, etc. I told him that if he sees me taking out my credit card, he has to stop me, because I honestly cannot afford to get another new gadget at the moment.

Anyway... initially he was just playing with the auction, raising his hand when he was way too far back to be noticed and to be counted. However when we got really close, I started raising my hand - because I wanted to buy that Handycam! Well, I have no idea what the model was but it sounded like a dead good deal. I'm just a videotaping freak... I got it at RM950 and someone outbided me. My friend glared at me and I decided not to push it above RM1,000 and let the other guy win.

Afterwards I was groaning on and on about how it was so worth it to pay RM1,000 for a Handycam worth almost RM3,000. Whereas my friend chided me and scolded me and said he didn't know what to do initially to stop me from bidding. And afterwards he shut his ears whenever I kept complaining.

Well, I suppose I could look at this way... that RM1,000 I did not spend could be put into a new Handycam model I really want.... Haha!!!

Pet peeve

My students have come up with some silly little blog which is supposedly dedicated to me. I was initially mortified but at the same time very curious to see how it was going to turn out.

Just read the latest entry. Quite cross with it. I'm not cross because the entry makes fun of me. I can take jokes that take a poke at me - people who know me well know that. I'm annoyed because the person who wrote it (and the entry before that) seems to think he's witty and funny. Whatever he wrote isn't even funny or remotely intelligent. And it doesn't border on tasteless - it's way over the border.

No, I'm not providing the link here. I don't provide links to sites I feel aren't worth your screen time.

Physics 100% passes! Woo hoo!!!

This post is a bit overdue but I've been too busy the past few days. My school's Physics results - 100% passes with 46% As! Woo hooooo!!!! I'm more relieved than excited, actually. I was so worried that I hadn't prepared the students enough for the examinations, given that I only had half a year with them, and it took a while for them to warm up to me when I first came in. Phew!

My task has not ended, however. There's still this year's batch to worry about. And if I'm still around - next year's.

Of people...

Whenever there are people, there will always be politics. No matter where you are, what profession you're in, who are involved, how old you are. Politics will always exist.


In completely unrelated news, I have a wedding to attend in Muar tomorrow. An ex-coursemate of mine, who helped me a lot during my university days. I was supposed to drive down with 2 friends (who are a couple). I didn't ask to join them; the girl was the one who invited me to join them. I did mention that I can only go on Saturday morning itself - I cannot leave on Friday. She hinted a few times that they might want to leave on Friday last week, but they were not sure yet and it seemed more likely they will leave on Saturday. So I didn't source for other means of transport.

Suddenly last night she said they are leaving on Friday after all and told me to find my own transport there. Two days before the event and suddenly I'm left without means to travel. A little annoyed, really. Fortunately I found a friend who hasn't found a convoy to travel with yet and he said I could drive down with him.

I suppose it's my fault. I should've looked for backup means, eh? But that's not how I work. I don't want to book a seat in two cars, because that would deny somebody else from traveling down with one of the groups of people. It's like making reservations in two hotels for the same night just in case one of the hotels screws up your reservations. Things don't work that way.

If I were the one who was driving and I was not sure whether to leave on Friday or Saturday, I would have told my potential passengers early on that if they can only leave on Saturday, they ought to travel with someone else so they have guaranteed transport, no matter which day I leave on. I do not like leaving people in a limbo. It's called being fair.

If I had to drive down to Muar by myself, I wouldn't go at all.

I blame myself. I have too high expectations of people. I forget that not everyone works the way I would like them to. Hell, I'm not perfect myself. But I do the best I can with every consideration possible to others. The higher the expectations I have of others, the more disappointed I get when they fail.

International Women's Day

I heard a really stupid ad on the radio today. It's some new slimming massager by Osim, I think. It goes something like "My waist is smaller" or "I can get into an M when previously I was an L" thanks to that massager. And then it ends with a "Happy International Women's Day" to celebrate how wonderful the women in that radio ad feel now because they look better.

They have completely missed the point of International Women's Day. International Women's Day is the story of ordinary women as makers of history; it is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women to participate in society on an equal footing with men (quoted from UN website). It's not about how good some bimbotic woman feels because she's half the size she used to be.

Even if it was about how a woman feels about the way she looks, I think that they should be celebrating the fact that a woman is beautiful no matter how she looks. It doesn't matter how many inches she's lost off her thighs, or how much weight she's lost, or that you can now see her rib cage almost protruding through her skin. A woman should be appreciated for who she is and not what she looks like. A woman should be valued for her achievements and not her body shape. And sadly, this simple concept seems to have escaped most of the people in this world. Especially the advertisers of a slimming massager.

Happy International Women's Day, everyone.

We Are Blue ... We Rock More Than You!

And .... Sports Day is finally over. After a long morning of breathing down the microphone and eating an ice lolly for breakfast, it's over. I got to school early enough to spend some time with my cheerleaders, before spending the rest of the morning cooped up at the emcee stand. I think I did a pretty good job as an announcer. Yes, yes, I'm blowing my own trumpet.

The whole event went quite smoothly, and it was a pretty tight race with Green House leading most of the time before finally clinching the Champion House trophy. Blue House trailed in at third place with only a difference of one point behind Red House.

These are the champions of the exciting team events:

Tent Decoration: Yellow House (I think it was a tough fight between Yellow and Green)
March Past: Blue House (honestly, I was a bit surprised at the result. But to tell you the truth, the standard of marching in the school is ... well, really low)

And... the one that I had to hold my breath for.... Cheerleading goes to Blue House!!!!

OK, I wasn't really holding my breath. After all, as one of the emcees, I had the results in my hands way before I needed to announce them. I had to keep myself from smiling so that the kids wouldn't know for sure that they've won. Oh, everyone said that they did a good job and they were sure to win (even before today - when they saw the full rehearsals) but I didn't want them to get their hopes unnaturally high up and then take a hard dive when they don't win. If you ask me whether they deserve to win - my answer is, of course, a resounding yes. And the reason is - I'm biased! Like, duh! I'm the one who has been sacrificing my afternoons and Saturdays to spend time with them, making sure they get their stuff right! Although I was not the choreographer (we had gotten an external trainer/choreographer, who's great at what she does) but I was there for the kids all the way except when I was away during Forensics.

I think they all did a great job within their own capabilities. It's not the best I've seen, but I thought it was the best within the school, and I was so worried that the judges may not recognise that. (Or at least, share the same view as I do!)

The team had gotten extra medals, as there were 24 allocated medals but only 20 in the team, so the captain gave me one. Haha!! I'm going to hang that up in my cubicle. That's something for me to brag about, until next year, at least.

I won't comment on the other teams, but I thought that everyone did well. I think it was a pretty tough fight between all the four cheerleading teams. It was of course, pretty crushing for the other teams who were ranked low. But if someone's going to win, someone else has got to lose.

Anyway, the rankings for the cheerleading teams are:

1. Blue
2. Yellow
3. Red
4. Green

A video of the whole thing on my website may be too much. I might put in some short clips of key sections... if I feel like it.

Go Fight Blue Team Win!

I cannot begin to explain how badly I want my house cheerleading team to win!! So much so that I don't even care whether the house wins the overall champion title. It's more important to me that the cheerleading team wins!!! Yes, yes, I know I'm only the teacher advisor. But I've seen how hard these kids have worked and how they've all gelled together so well they're almost family to each other. At any rate, no matter what happens, they're all winners to me.

This year the cheerleading teams have all improved tremendously from last year (how would I know this if I wasn't in the school last year? I saw some videos) which is great for the school because that means the standard within the school is improving. Personally I think that all the teams are on equal footing now and provided there is no foul play and no unexpected accidents that happen, it will be a very tough and close fight between all four houses. Perhaps after sports day, I'll post the videos on my website.

The school is also planning to participate in this year's Cheer 2006 competition. I don't know if the standard within the school is that high though. Every year, the national cheerleading standard keeps increasing exponentially and it will be quite a lot to hope that the school squad can get a placing, or even win anything (like Best Newcomer). I'm not involved in that though. (Phew!)

May the best house win tomorrow! Woooohooooo!!! *Cough cough* I'd better save my voice as I'm one of the announcers for the school's Sports Day event tomorrow.

Some tribute!

While you're reading my blog, you should read what my student has written about me. Thankfully it's not some kind of fawning flattery of cavity-and-diabetes-causing fan blog. Very much the opposite, really. It's so touching to know the impact I made on my students. Muahahaha....

Oh, and while you're reading other blogs, read this. The post isn't really the interesting bit (although the videos are worth downloading, especially if you know the people concerned) - the comments are the entertaining read.

Auditors...

I went to a function recently, which was for internal auditors of a particular bank. It was actually a four-day convention for the said auditors, but I was there on the first night for an ice-breaking session.

No, I'm not one of the auditors. Don't ask what I was there for.

Anyway, I was there with a few other non-auditors and we were pretty surprised by the cool responses we got from the auditors. Some people did come over to say hi to us, but the moment they found out we were not one of "their people", i.e. not auditors, they immediately turned their backs on us - some quite literally. It's as if they're blatantly saying, oh, obviously you're not important, so I don't need to waste my time sucking up to you. The only ones who were gracious enough to talk to us were people from the other countries. The snubs we got were from our own Malaysian people, and the Singaporean counterparts.

Made me almost glad I have no transactions whatsoever with the bank. I did have a credit card with them, but I cancelled it years ago (although there was still some issue about it for a while - I kept receiving statements for more than one year after the cancellation).

While we're on the subject of auditors, my school is currently being audited. There's a brief story to tell about it, actually, but I can't tell it yet lest I get the persons involved (and myself!) into trouble. I'll have to wait until it's actually safe to tell... probably after all the auditing books have been closed for the year.

PARTY!!!! .... at school

On a lighter note, my class had our first party this year. We've agreed to have a birthday celebration every two months, combining all the birthdays of the students during the said two months.





Err... we're all holding candles because I got candles with the cake... and COMPLETELY forgot to bring a lighter to light them. I forgot serviettes too, but fortunately the kids brought enough tissue paper to go around.

This was also some kind of "farewell" for two students who have transferred down the hall to a Humanities class.... Yeah, yeah, I know. "Farewell" kononnya when we can still see them everyday. Doesn't mean that their presence in the class won't be missed.





And this is our first class picture. Not everyone's here though. Some are absent. And some are... well, I don't know where they went. I don't know why anyone would want to give up a party. OK, admittedly they had an Add Math test after that. But, still....




I've got lots more photos (because of Alvin who trigger-happily kept snapping my camera at every moving object) and a very short video of the party. Don't worry, kids - you'll all be getting a copy of everything. I hope to compile photos and videos of the class throughout the entire year into one nice fat CD. If you want these photos ASAP though, I'll make a link available for download on my website.

At the end of the whole party, Iman cheekily smeared cream on my cheek. Fortunately the camera and videocamera were already in my possession and there are no pictures of that...

My story at the gym today

I went to the gym just now, as part of my usual routine. I don't attend the classes; I typically do the cardio machines, the weights machines, or the free weights.

There are always people coming up to me to correct me whenever I do something incorrectly, or to give me suggestions on additional exercises I should do. These, of course, include some of the personal trainers who work there, but I make it clear that I can't afford to pay for personal training lest they try to sign me up for a course or something. Some personal trainers don't even bother to look at some of the people working out on their own; I think they're really in it for the money and not to help people. There's one who did come up to me and he was pretty sincere in helping, because he told me what I should do and also explained the reasons for what he said.

There are also a couple of guys who often work out there and have also corrected what I've done. I've noticed that they always help out some of the girls in the gym, and they've also offered to help me. I sort of accepted the help of one of them (let's call him A). Sort of, because he kind of just came over and started telling me what I should do. He had very quickly noticed my scoliosis and explained what I should do to try to make it look more balanced. From then on, I trusted his judgement because he always explained every exercise very clearly, the correct posture, the muscle groups that are working, and why I should do that exercise.

And then, another personal trainer (let's call him B) suddenly comes up to me and makes an appointment with me. I was quite surprised, and I wasn't sure why. I even told him that I can't afford PT, but he said "Saja...." However I missed two appointments, albeit unintentionally.

Anyway... I had told A that I'd be at the gym today and he said he'll meet me then. So at the gym just now, I was warming up with cardio when B sees me and then he tells me he will meet me upstairs. I was like... OK.... Then when I went up I saw A and I told B that he was my "si fu". A begin making me work my shoulders with free weights when halfway through B cuts in and makes me work my legs.

I could actually see A wasn't too happy about the interruption. And neither was I. But I went along with the flow, and somehow B's exercises just didn't work for me. He made me do walking lunges that were supposed to work the butt muscles, but I didn't feel the right muscles working. So he made me work on stationary lunges with weights, and they ended up exhausting my thigh muscles and I almost collapsed. A saw me and told me to sit down and noticed that I seemed to feel a sore in my lower back. So A told me to use the stretch machines to stretch properly but then B comes along and makes me stretch on the mat. And again, his stretches didn't work for me; in fact I almost got a cramp in my side. I even felt slightly nauseous, but I focused on my breathing to try to alleviate it.

I got quite pissed off, actually. Here, B was telling me that he's got this trainer competition coming up soon and he's not all that good in identifying exercises for me. I'm sure whatever he suggests may work generally, but he hadn't identified the problems I have in my body, and what my actual aims are. So I told him I would rest awhile and use the stretch machines on the lower floor.

I went down, did the stretches, and got a fizzy drink from the juice bar. And I sat there fuming. I was pretty upset because I didn't like the way he interrupted my initial training session, and I felt that the failed exercises he told me to do may have ruined my workout session today. I don't have many chances to go to the gym in a week, so I try to maximise the few chances I get. But I was also pretty angry at myself. I should have just politely but firmly declined his offer to help, and all this could have been avoided.

I was lucky today though. My back stopped hurting, and the slight nauseous feeling went away. I went back to the free weights area, but when I saw B I just mumbled incoherently and quickly looked A up to get a proper training session. Man, I really worked out today and I'm pretty exhausted now, but I'm feeling darn good too. Whether I can lift my arms tomorrow is a completely different story, but at least I'm working the right muscles. Right?

My archive...

Just realized that the archive links on this page didn't work. Sorry!

Anyway, someone's asked me to clarify a post I wrote in September. I was waiting for a good time to write it, and it seems to be right now.

Earlier that day, I received a call from a friend. The conversation went something like this:


Friend: Sze Yen, where are you?
Me: In the staffroom. Why? (typing away at my laptop to complete some work)
Oh. OK. Well, don't scream when I tell you this.
Me: Why? You're getting married? (in my usual sarcastic manner, still typing away)
Friend: Err... yeah.
Me: ........ Huh???!!!!

I was very quiet for the remainder of the day.

Well... I was in shock simply because I did not expect it and I didn't expect my sarcastic answer to be, well, true. Anyway the couple is very happily married now and I'm very happy for them.

Passing thoughts

Nothing significant to report today. Just heard that in addition to Tai Yang and Danil, Darryl is also thinking of switching to a sub-science (Bio) class. Why are they all breaking my heart? *sob sob*

Took a video of three boys who were doing something that looked really funny. When I've compiled it, I'll upload it onto my website... muahahaha....

By the way, anyone interested to go for the Rainforest World Music Festival in Kuching this year? I wanted to go last year but couldn't get tickets. Anyway the very week before I was already in Kuching for a friend's wedding. Can't afford to go to Kuching two weekends in a row. Not that I'm really interested... it's way too near my birthday. Rather hang out with my friends and be the centre of attention then to go somewhere else to pay attention to someone else... hahaha!!!

Awards for my students...

If I had to give the classes I teach awards, these are the awards I'd give...

CLASS THAT PAYS THE MOST ATTENTION goes to 4 ARISTOTLE. Sure, there are some kids in there who make a lot of noise. Every class has its clown(s). But having taught five rowdy classes last year, three of which are still in the school this year, it's amazing to be able to teach a class in which almost every student is paying rapt attention. For once, I actually feel appreciated.

QUIETEST CLASS DURING CLASS TEST goes, again, to 4 ARISTOTLE. It was simply amazing. I gave my usual threats of destroying papers of anyone who cheats or lets someone cheat off their papers, and that I will write TALKED DURING CLASS TEST in marker ink all over their test papers if they did. Almost none did though. And when they asked me a question about the test paper, it was merely to clarify something they didn't really understand in the question. Unlike the following award, which is the...

NOISEST CLASS DURING CLASS TEST which goes to 5 DICKENS. This does not only pertain to talking (or attempting to talk) during the class test. They actually ask me questions like, "Teacher, is this the right answer?" "Teacher, is my working correct?" "Teacher, what's the answer?" Not one minute during the entire class test goes by without someone raising their hands to ask some kind of question. And they ask why I look so angry whenever I'm in the class!

Seeing that the other two classes might feel left out, here are some awards I have concocted for them:

CLASS THAT MAKES THE MOST NOISE IN THE LABORATORY goes, hands down, to 5 ARISTOTLE. Somehow, they seem to think that the laboratory is the place for them to talk in amplitudes way above their usual. It makes me almost want to never take them to the lab ever again.

CLASS THAT PARTICIPATES MOST IN THE LABORATORY would have to go to 5 MOZART. I suppose that this is mainly because there are only 11 students in that class who take the subject, as opposed to 15 in 5 Dickens, 27 in 5 Aristotle and 28 (now 26) in 4 Aristotle. But like I wrote in Student Lounge, this is my guinea-pig class among the Secondary 5 classes, and they're the most willing to try any experiment even though it might turn out to be a failure.


What about the other classes, you ask? .... What other classes? I only teach four! I did say "If I had to give the classes I teach awards, these are the awards I'd give..."

If you're looking for medals or a trophy though, dream on.

From 28 to 26

One of my students from my homeroom told me today that she's changing classes next week. That brings it a total of two students leaving (the other told me last week on Saturday). Well, they say that's it's not because of me (I really hope it isn't!! Haha!!!) but because they don't want to do Pure Science anymore. They've opted to switch to a Humanities class. I'm really very sad about it, because I like the two of them very much. Oh, I like my whole class, but there are some students whom I got to know better than others. Lest you think that I'm playing "favouristism", I'm not - it's the natural way things work. You always get to know some people better first before you get to know the rest. I can't possibly get to know 28 people at one go at the same pace, right? It's only a little more than one month that I've been their homeroom teacher which is really a short period of time, and I won't pretend that I believe that I've impacted them in any way. I'm not that conceited.

Rather silly, isn't it?

When your car's drink costs more than your own

Damage control...

There seems to be a little argument going on in the comments of my last post. Thanks, kids, it's an interesting read. I'm now somewhat grateful that my msjbox is temporarily not working lest you use that as your platform instead.

Many seemed to be upset about Matthew being called the supreme intellect of the universe. I was being sarcastic, did you not read my previous post? I'm not sure if he's just being some kind of egoistical cynic (OK, he obviously is...) or if he's just joking, but this trait of his is what seems to be so endearing to all of you. Someone's even got a blog dedicated to writing about Matthew. By the way, Darrel, you stole one of the photos off my blog without permission and without giving me credit for it.

Matthew - thanks for announcing to the world about that silly little thing I signed up for years ago. I never got around to removing that entry. By the way, you need to run a spell check on your blog and the comments you write on others' blogs (including mine). And I've removed the link to your blog from my links page. It's not that I can't take bad language, but I simply cannot tolerate it from an underaged student who may think that it's cool to pepper every other sentence with offensive words. I still am your teacher, and I can't say that I find your entry about the cats remotely amusing, even if you didn't mean it (which I really hope you don't).

Having said and done that - I still like all of you kids very much, whether or not you're in my homeroom or in my class. I just think that there is still a long way more for you to grow up.

A little something for you

While I'm online, here are some photo updates taken with my brand new Nokia 6270. *gloat gloat*

A little something for you which my students from 5 Mozart made with the light box they were supposed to be doing the diffraction grating experiment with...

Oh, and since I'm talking about my beloved homeroom, here are some photos with which you will then be able to identify some of them should you happen to bump into them on the streets:

And here's the Supreme Intellect of the Universe who concocts the Fundamental Dynamics of the Universe...

The secret's out...

My blog has been discovered by my students! OK, actually many of them have read it before, but they were all my students of last year. Unfortunately my big mouth let slip to my homeroom yesterday that I have a website. I didn't want to actually, wanted to keep it under wraps (I shy shy mah). I didn't tell them the URL of course, but I did say that they can Google my name and it'll turn up. And of course one of them tried it.

My older students have already found out my website because many of them added themselves to my MSN messenger, and I usually announce my website updates on MSN (with the URL in blazenly written, of course. What's the point in telling people my website has been updated if they don't know where they're supposed to go). No, Matthew, I am NOT going to give you my MSN username.

Anyways... after reading his comment, turns out this young chap who constantly has AIDS on his mind (if I had a penny for everytime he utters that word, I'd be a millionaire) has a blog too. Very cynical and seems to be under the impression he's some sort of supreme intellect. Just because you carry a calculator that can play Super Mario Brothers doesn't make you one, you know! Anyway, I've added it onto my links page. Quite interesting read, really. Am very curious about what's happening between him and NS. Must dig that out from him soon. If not him, well.... then his classmates. Haha!

By the way, just to let you know, I'm going to be changing the URL of my website soon. The domain name http://www.zyenhoo.com is still going to stay, of course. In case you didn't notice, it always points to a subdomain, i.e. http://zyenhoo.thewildwestbabes.com. Yes, yes, I know many of you are wondering what's up with the wildwestbabes bit. It's my dance team name. Read more about it on The Dancer. However the team has disbanded and we're going to discontinue the website, so obviously my website won't be residing on that domain anymore. I haven't planned what the name of the main domain should be yet. But the main URL will stay so you kids can still use it with or without the change.

Why do I use a subdomain in the first place? Well, simply because I've purchased web hosting space that I'm sharing with others and I can't afford space all on my own. I'm not rich like you kids, you know. :D

By the way, about the earlier young chap - OK, to give him his due credit, he is some sort of Math genius. And PC genius too. I'm sure he's itching to tell me quite a few things I should do to improve my website. He does have some spelling errors in the entries in his blog, but I suppose the AIDS... I mean, Math ability makes up for it.

And if the rest of you 4 Aristotlians are reading - you're all great kids too. I'm still so proud to hear how much you've chipped in for the notice boards. I'm just waiting for the work to be done on the notice boards.

If the rest of you are students from other classes who are waiting for your names to be mentioned - errr, why don't you go visit the blog of your homeroom teacher or something...