School

I'm feeling happy.

Before I left school on this lovely Friday, I cleared my work, my backlog of marking (most of at it at least) and my bowels.

The Semestral Assessment has just ended with me not having been assigned any marking, so you bet it has been a real good break this week for me. I spend half the day from Monday to Wednesday stoning while looking fierce invigilating examinations.

There's a ghost in my school. I am quite certain of it because I don't think Primary 2's can coordinate a lie well.

During recess, a number of P2's went to an uluated toilet on the fourth level. When they returned, they were all raving about the ghost. After the excitement and brahaha, I finally got the girls who actually saw the ghost to stand up. I had three of those girls -- innocent and reliable girls who gave the same account of the apparition.

"Got long hair.

"Don't know whether boy or girl."

"Stand like a ghost. (and agreed when I made a jiang-xi pose)"

"Got blood from the side of the heads (pointing towards somewhere slightly below the temples)

I told them, just as a teacher is supposed to, that they shouldn't have been on the 4th floor in the first place, especially during recess. Then I told them not to talk about it anymore and not to spread the rumours. I quickly changed the point of interest and returned their Mathematics examination papers. But to be frank, my hair stood on their ends as the girls related the experience.

Later, my serious, no-nonsense collegue seated next to me talked about how she questioned another two girls from another P2 class about a similar encounter. The description given by the pale girls was:

shoulder-length hair, bulging eyeballs, blood coming from the eyes, it flew and finally..
"don't know whether it's a boy or woman"

I am normally not a believer in these supernatural things, but how can I not believe these girls?

As I am typing this blog, I just realised it's Friday the 13th.

Playing In The Rain

I was caught umbrellaless when a mini storm came; heavy rain, but not enough to give me 100% pleasure.

Anyway, I didn't want to be stranded at the bus-stop without an umbrella and being so near yet so far from home. So I garang-garangly sacrificed my own bag and put it on top of my Watson's $2 fabric briefcase which contained an endless supply of marking material.. and dashed across the road.

After that life-endangering stunt, I decided I should stroll because I was beginning to enjoy the rain on me. My happy 'disburdening' walk was pleasantly interrupted by a girl who offerred to share her umbrella. (Apparently, she is a teacher too.) I politely told her that she can just drop me off at the nearest block, afterwhich I can take the underground tunnel which happens to house cars. Thankfully she obliged.

As I continued my journey in the rain, but hoping Miss Kind Umbrella Teacher would not see me, I was beginning to wonder why I had previously been so afraid of the rain. While holding an umbrella, I would try to physically shrink to prevent the acid rain from touching me. Today, I embraced the heavenly water/water that comes from above boldly and lovingly.

After dumping my things at home, I decided I should go out again and take in the rain.

I went down, half-drenched already, and chose a seat on the sit-up equipment at the fitness corner. I put my legs up, in spite of my skirt, and watched the rain gently falling on my skin. For a brief moment, I could have mistaken my skin for plastic. I realised then why our skin needs to be waterproof. Imagine how Spongebob would do his 2.4km in the rain. He'd get heavier and soggier.. haha.. Wait, that doesn't quite make sense. Isn't he already soaking in water in the sea? Ah.. whatever.

I am just annoyed by my 2.5h stay at Tan Tock Seng Hospital today which was unnecessary but resultant of an inflexible administration/payment counter. Nevermind me... blah Blah BLAH!

My bra is soaking wet; my tiny protrusions swimming about uncomfortably in it.

NTU Discretionary Interview

I went for an interview with NTU a couple of weeks ago. It was a discretionary admissions interview (I applied through drama -- my stint at The Necessary Stage. (Can you believe the interview was on a Sunday?)

Those bespectacled professors asked me about theatre, teaching, psychology, theatre and teaching, teaching and psychology, psychology and theatre and Kuo Pao Kun.
"Tell us, how much do you know about Kuo Pao Kun?"

"Hm.. He wrote 'The Coffin Is Too Big For The Hole', 'No Parking On Odd Days'... And he's dead."

Although I looked about five times more confident than the other contenders, I think I flopped it.

The Birthday Gift Flown All The Way From New York!

Very unglamourous pictures of me right after my shower. This is what Gracie Baby (a naughty girl who's closer to my sister's age than mine..) sent me for my birthday all the way from Long Island. I love packages! (=


Opening it...... Really excited...


Taking a peek!


Tadaa!!! A two-piece! Trust kinky and naughty Grace to send me this!


Hi Grace! Thankew!!!


Hmm... Do you think Ly will like it?


My breastless breast.

Dare I put the last one up? It's me clad in the tiny pieces of material.. hahahaa... probably not!

I almost forgot my blog username and password.

I have just finished reading last Sunday's Lifestyle.
Those papers had been sitting on my table for an entire week. (Sunday papers are a must-read for me.)

I keep thinking that and expecting the next week to be a better week than the one before.
The parents-teachers meeting where I had student portfolios and comments to write took place the last two Saturdays (so much for the 5-day week). The upper ranks of my school think that Howard Gardner's 8 intelligences theory is an innovative format to base our comments on each child on. They have dreams to show this never-done-before idea during the annual congregation of MOE schools at Suntec. The main point is I had to write about all my 33 children's 8 different intelligences -- whether they have them or not. The 8 intelligences are:
1) Verbal/Linguistic i.e. English oral and written
2) Mathematical/Logical i.e. aptitude for Maths and ability to reason
3) Visual/Spacial i.e. I easily commented on their Art for this one
4) Musical/Rhythmic i.e. Tone-deaf or not
5) Kinesthetic i.e. Can run and bounce a ball? Walks about and figits in class?
6) Interpersonal i.e. Getting along with friends and teachers
7) Intrapersonal i.e. Self-confidence? Self-reflection?
8) Naturalist This beats me too. So far, I've shallowly and in desperation limited my comments to the child's interest in nature and care for her environment, although I'm sure it is more than just that.

The UpperLevel wants to have every single bubble filled because it is believed that all children have all 8 intelligences, even if it is to varying degrees (e.g. negligible). I have been told to write comments positively and am banned from writing "Not observable" in any section.

Can you imagine how difficult this is: to observe 33 kids through the term, document your observations, to have every section filled (it is akin to squeezing blood out of a dry rock) and euphemistically and politically-correctly phrase my not-necessarily-accurate observations. Now you know why those letters have been going to the press about the strain of teaching.

I love the kids; I love teaching. It is what happens after the dismissal bell rings that taxes me.

I promise to resurrect my blog properly. Expect more (I'm putting on pressure on myself to deliver..) pictures too. Hopefully some naughty ones can get published..