:: reader k ::

Friday, April 27, 2007

healthy sinful

Mia has set up her online store with her interesting productions, totally handmade, at times stolen goods from the twins' toys.
do pop by :)

Store Label
Ocha Cream

Store URL
www.ochacream.com

Store description
As healthy as Ocha (Japanese green tea), as sinful as cream.
Ocha Cream sells jewellery/ accessories that are handmade by Mia. Her works are usually a little whimsical, a little quirky, a little pop, sometimes dainty, sometimes dramatic, and totally Singaporean.

reader k | 4/27/2007 12:52:00 AM | 1 comments

losing oneself

where?

reader k | 4/27/2007 12:38:00 AM | 1 comments

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

got caked

i cannot believe it, i have 5 cakes in a day for birthday this year:

1) the crazy sec 5s experiment no. 4, home-made retangular sponge cake with white chocolate droplets forming an elephant. turns out pretty nice!

they started experimenting it on friday... if only the same effort and energy are put into coursework :)

2) more of the crazy sec 5s bought cake during my 4 periods lesson with them. they took one whole period (30 mins) to eat the cake.... just lazing around, escaping work.... :)

after cake-eating, photo-taking, still playing around.... kids....

3) the crazy sec 5s again, experiment no. 20... chocolate cake with honey dew and some white creamy liquid that melted. the cake was hidden in a corner in the art room. i refuse to try experiment no. 20! haha.

erm, no picture of that.

4) the beloved 4N kids, who went off to West Mall in the rain before art remedial and too shy to pass it to me, they left it on the desk beside me.

some of the boys from my beloved 4N. act cool but actually so shy. :)

5) my one and only Ex-sec 4E came back to celebrate for Chuimin and me. very, very touched.

the kids that took time and trouble to come by. and my great boss and friends!

we were over-dosed with cakes.

but it was a day filled with warm wishes for me. i am so blessed and fortunate.

widya the nerd and grace the sun-burnt face made me the most attractive, height does not matter! :) that's what friends are for. haha. sandy just disappear, even better! :)

reader k | 4/17/2007 11:16:00 PM | 3 comments

G: happy birthday King A and Queen K

G dedicated a blog entry on his blog for our birthday this month and don't know where he digged out that funny photo-me photo booth of me and A many years back from! it's hillarious!

and the kiki with a ball.... that must be a picture from way back during our doggie sentosa trips :) haha!

cannot, must put it here so that everyone can laugh! :)

reader k | 4/17/2007 11:08:00 PM | 2 comments

beautiful soup

mom called a few days before my birthday and asked me to be over for dinner. i asked what she'd be cooking and she replied we'll just eat out. i complained that i eat out EVERYDAY and it's no more fun if she's not going to cook, so she asked what i want. "anything soup!"

she said she will cook bah kut teh. yipppeee!

it turns out to be lotus roots soup, equally yummy! cos dad's theory of not able to get good lotus roots soup outside so she has decided to change the menu. nel wanted to trick me by just buying bah kut teh from outside and store them into a pot so i wouldn't know it was bought and not home-cooked. of course i'd know! but dad can't bear to spread such a lie to me, my birthday or not, because soup is so important to me :) my dad knows me best!

R&R practiced the birthday song the whole morning and they sang it just for me, but request to have alex's name sang in too (humph!!)

so, a nice, quiet, my daddy-mummy-neh nex-korkor-mia-R&R birthday dinner.

loved it.

reader k | 4/17/2007 10:53:00 PM | 2 comments

Saturday, April 14, 2007

10,752.57 to 10,052.57 in 10 seconds

first time i saw a number like this in there:
10,752.57

10 seconds later,
10,052.57

how scary.

reader k | 4/14/2007 01:01:00 AM | 8 comments

'............'

today after art lesson a few kids stayed on to continue with their work, and we chatted a bit.

'cher, do we have art lesson during holidays?'
'of course! i've booked you all for monday, tuesday, friday. don't think about going anywhere in the first week of holidays!'
'ah? only 3 days ah? no more in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th week?'
'don't you all want to enjoy your holidays? go play a bit during the 2nd week lah.'
'can we come back and do art?'
'......................'
then i added,
'go relax a little before you are back to have your prelims, but if you want, you can come by the last week of holidays, we'll be in.'

was very touched to hear them wanting to come back more.

reader k | 4/14/2007 12:50:00 AM | 0 comments

Friday, April 06, 2007

teacher-kid-parent: the pattern

a few days ago, a note was left on my desk by a teacher who is teaching my class.
the note says to ask me to give the parent of the kid a call when i'm free.

first thought: the kid got into trouble during the teacher's class.

so i asked about the whole incident.
- the kid was talking non-stop to another kid during her lesson
- she asked them to stop talking and pay attention. it's common and no big deal. but she was surprised to find their facial expressions when she stop them from talking. they were seriously disraught that the teacher had interrupted their discussion. when asked what they were discussing about, they said nothing. obviously it was not about the subject or the lesson.
- she was concerned and so she rang the parent. the kids' result has been sliding too, so she thought it's about time to mention that to the parent as well.

it was a pleasant talk with the parent, and it ended with a note that i was asked to call the parent back for a chat when i'm free. so i was informed.

the teacher laughed and told me that she was concerned about their intense conversation thus she called the parent. her description made me laugh too.

"you know, they looked so serious, but refused to tell me what they were discussing about even after i said i'm going to call the parent to inform this. it's as if they were planning a robbery!"

wahahahahaha!

later in the week i spoke to another kid in the class and asked about this incident. he laughed and told me that he think they may be discussing about a computer game. finally when i spoke to the kid concerned, he told me yes, they were talking about a computer game. and when i asked if he was annoyed with the teacher for interrupting their discussion, he said no. he was surprised that the teacher was concerned about this. he thought he had upset the teacher and had angered her.

sometimes they do not know that we care for them this much.

so, i'll have to call the parent for a chat when i'm free. next task.

reader k | 4/06/2007 02:14:00 PM | 0 comments

ecstacy-learning

we had an E-Learning Day on wednesday.

students do not need to be in school but they have to go through the lessons prepared and set up by their teachers online. Different types of lessons were prepared.
poor teachers.
we have to crack our brains to think of what's the best topic to be put online, how they can access it, blah blah blah.

i had to do it for art for my sec 3 and sec 4 kids. all seems well. but the line got flooded by kids from about 10am to 5pm. that seems to be the popular time for kids to be awake and be doing work. thus the E-Learning was extended, they were back in school on thursday, but still have to complete their E-Learning tasks online after school.
poor students.

i enjoyed that day as the school was quiet enough for us to catch up with the other tons of work we have besides our daily teaching load. had extra time to carry out fruitful meeting with my boss and department as it is not interrupted by other factors such as students-looking-for-you, need-to -attend-to-so-and-so, etc. best of all, all the staffs had lunch together at the same time instead of da-bao-ing from the canteen or coffee shop outside, and eating at our desks or the freezing staff lounge at strange hours (3pm, 4pm, 4.28pm, etc)

but i still love the old school approach - human interactions.
it is still nice to see my students, talk to them and such, even though it can be pretty tiring.

this is a try-out for future emergency. i think it is rather good to have it once in a while even without any emergency where schools have to be closed. it gives us more white space and help the kids to be more independednt and responsible of their own learning.

it doesn't apply to all subjects though.
i find that for art, direct interactions is really important. my discussion with my students on their works mostly bring me closer to them. it also helps them to be more open in their thoughts and opinions. more sharing was done in that way.

we shall see how things go.

reader k | 4/06/2007 01:44:00 PM | 2 comments

Monday, April 02, 2007

what do you want?

wid asked me what i want for birthday.
i said it's so tiring to think about a birthday wish list, again.
and i'm getting older already, kind of strange to have a birthday-birthday.
and she laughed and asked, "how old? 33?"

yah, the big 33.
and before i walked out of the door to my lesson, i added,
"it's 33 with the 'th' ah.... don't 'tree-tree' me ok"

yes, seriously, come to think of it, there isn't really anything i'd want.
material stuffs, yes, lots, but whatever for? it's only a desire, a short-term desire.

but some of the birthday gifts i do remember getting that have really touched my heart:
- an A2 leather portfolio case from my crescent girlfriends in JC for my 17th birthday. i still have it now. it's been 16 years!

- an ipod when it first came out. from dear alex. it costs a lot.

- of course, trips to UK, Spain, lots of Bangkok trips, Taiwan, all from Alex. I've only ever bought him a trip to HK.

- a slice of birthday cake from my Crescent girlfriends during one of the film fest nights for my 27th birthday, if i'm not wrong. they said i've always complained i didn't get cakes for my birthday, but usually i don't eat the cake even if there is. i just love to complain.

- a slice of cake brought up to bus number 7 by a special friend as he ran off to buy it and ran back to the bus before it left the interchange. it was my 18th birthday.

- watched "The Phantom of the Opera" with the same silly person on my 21st birthday.

- a piggy bank with lots of coins filled inside from my Crescent girlfriends again on my 21st birthday. i had to carry that to the musical.

- the numerous clothes and bags from cheesepie benny and gerald. they are the only guys that buy me clothes. yaya buys me books. fabby sends me beautiful cards.

- the surprise cake the art teachers and my close friends at work got me. with a student who came to inform me that there was an urgent "happening" at the art room and i need to be there. i believed him.

i think there may be lots more. but well, i'm older now, memory dying. :)

reader k | 4/02/2007 11:49:00 PM | 3 comments

Sunday, April 01, 2007

APRIL

i love the month of APRIL.

(adopted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April)

- April is the fourth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar.
- April begins with the sun in the sign of Aries and ends in the sign of Taurus.
- There are 30 days in the month of April
- April in Latin is Aprilis.
- The Latin aperire, "to open," is in allusion to its being the season when trees and flowers begin to bloom. This is supported by comparison with the modern Greek use of ἁνοιξις (opening) for spring.
- Associated with the Roman divinities, April was sacred to Venus.
- April's birth flower are the daisy and sweet pea.
- April's birthstone is the diamond.
- In China the symbolical ploughing of the earth takes place in their third month, which frequently corresponds to our April.
- In Japan the feast of Dolls is celebrated in April.

Some of the tragic events in April (just seeing a few here):

President Abraham Lincoln's assassination (April 14, 1865)
The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake (April 18, 1906)
The sinking of the RMS Titanic (April 14-15 April 1912)
The Oklahoma City Bombing (April 19, 1995)

Many meaningful and useless days in April (a few i personally love):

April Fool's Day (April 1)
Reconciliation Day (Always April 2)
A's birthday
K's birthday
Earth Day (April 22)
Singapore Film Festival (mid April)

reader k | 4/01/2007 05:02:00 AM | 2 comments