Distracted by the tv

Bought my HP cartridges and some resource books

Popular Book store's mega sale is now on. Held at the Sg Expo Hall 6B, many items are being sold at huge discounts. Decided to puchase some resource books so that it will be very valuable in the long run. We spent close to 100 bucks on quite a bit of stuff but it was worth it as some of the items were heavily discounted.

Managed to call the HP hotline and they delivered the ink cartridges to LPS. Thanks to the office staff who received them on my behalf as I was in class. The damage was $108. Not sure how much it will cost if I purchase them at either Funan or Sim Lim. Angela said she saw Harvey Norman selling some of these but she was unsure if they were the exact ones that we needed. I guess I will utilize this service henceforth.

It is Fri tomorrow and I must say that this week was very beneficial as I managed to at least know almost both my classes. Hopefully I will not have to make the same mistake of calling the wrong person especially in 2S. They are a nice bunch!

Saucony 100 Plus Passion Run 2008

The above event is back! It will be held slightly earlier this year. 8June08 at East Coast Park E2 Angsana. Would be great to go for a run before the church camp!

Tremors felt

The news reported that there was an earthquake measuring 7.2 on the ritcher scale yesterday at about 1635hrs. I happened to be at home and was on the computer when I felt my chair moving slightly. Initially, I thought Angela was leaning on my chair because I was showing her something. When she said no, I began to speculate that there might an earthquake somewhere in Indonesia. True enough, Angela smsed me a little while later when she was at WM that there was a newsflash on CNA about a tsunami alert due to an earthquake in Sumatra. Guess it is because I stay on the 18th floor so that is why I could feel it. Imagine those staying in even higher floors.

1st day back at LPS

It's certainly a nice feeling to be back on familiar grounds and to see familliar faces. Some of those in my P4A class were from my 2T back in '06 and 3E'07. Basically, I spent the day observing the lessons and also getting to know the students in both classes. I found the class of P2S to be very well behaved and quite disciplined. Guess my CT really trained them very well. They will be going on an excursion tomorrow so I will be writing out my lesson plans plus printing some supplementary worksheets besides going in to help out for the CA Maths. Heard that the CA English today was quite a tough one. So just wait for the results to see what further remedial action needs to be taken.

HP cartridges

My black cartridge is running out of ink but the horrible thing is that Popular does not sell it! Either the original one that comes with the new packaging is the low end model and once it is finished, they expect you to purchase a higher end one? Oh well, the last resort is to do the online ordering which might not be cheap or just simply drive to Sim Lim to have it refilled.

YOG 2010

Kudos to Singapore who succeeded in their bid for this historical event. It was indeed a tense moment when the IOC President announced the result. It seems that sports in South-East Asia, Singapore in particular, has taken on a greater recognition. Singapore will play host for the 1st ever YOG and will also host the world's 1st ever night F1 race. No small feat eh?

I am liberated

Once I handed in my DCM202 portfolio and dropped off my DCE201 assignment, the sense of liberation was fantastic. The past 7 weeks or so were so hectic but nonetheless fulfilling. Despite some hiccups, I found that some modules had components which will be very worth remembering. Will spend this weekend just relaxing a bit and catching up on some housework while at the same time have a glance through what are some of the topics that I will be teaching so that I can start writing my lesson plans. Not forgetting to update my wiki page so that my boss knows what is going on.

P4 eng & P2 maths

I got notice that I will be teaching P4 eng and P2 maths for the upcoming TP. I finally got a chance to teach P4. Always taught 2,3 & 5 for my pre-service and TA but never had a chance to get a taste of p4 so at least this would be a good opportunity. Met up with the rest of us posted to LPS for our prac and indeed it was like 'going back home'.

Managed to complete the last activity for DCM202 and now I just need to put the folder together and send out the soft copy of DCE201. Handing in the hard copy tomorrow then I will have to start writing the numerous lesson plans.

Left with DCM202 after finishing up DCE201

I can't believe it. I managed to complete the first part of DCE201 in just under 3 hrs. However, throughout the 3 hours, I was thankful that I had the company of some music in the background or else it will be ultra montonous. Just as I was about to start on the 2nd part, I hit the writer's block and had no idea how to go about doing it. So I decided to go for a run. Yes, at 1300hrs. It was quite windy and fairly cloudy as well so even though I could feel the sun, it was not that bad. Then inspiration came. Came home and completed the pre and post activity before going out to pick Angela from work. Now I hope I can finish the main activity before I pick Esther. Got an appointment after dinner which will probably mean from 2000 - 2200 hrs I can't get anything done. At least that leaves me to finish up DCM202 by noon tomorrow as I have a meeting with my SCM.

please exercise caution when you blog

This post serves as a reminder to all bloggers out there & this includes yours truly. A relief teacher was given the sack for posting wholesale some of his students' essay in a manner that was meant to mock at their english proficiency. The way which the blogger wrote it was a blatant insult directed towards his charges. Many have seen it as it was also featured on the famous portal STOMP.

I have mentioned this before and I feel that this serves as a reminder to exercise extreme caution on the blogging content. It is perfectly ok to blog whatever that is on one's mind as we are all entitled to our own opinions and views. However, it must be done in a responsible way. This I mean if one's blogging content is being questioned, one should be able to answer and defend the content. Furthermore, such open mockery does not display one's intelligence. Rather, it manifests the opposite.

Moral of the storey: Be a responsible blogger.

better than expected

Surprisingly, aunty's test questions were quite alright. Except for qn 2 when I 'played cheat'. I solved it by the good'ol algebric method and thereafter I worked backwards to do it via the conventional model method. According to aunty, she said that many of the students struggled with algebra because they grew up using the model method and even in secondary sch, they tried the model method. Not that the model method cannot be used but what happens if the numbers get too large? This is where the beauty of algebra comes. So that explains the difference between those whose IC # starts with 7, 8 & 9. I know that a few of my coursemates will snigger at the sentence in bold!

Last wk before prac

I am frantically finishing up my final assignments and projects before I head to LPS for my practical attachment. Thankfully, I am just left with DCE201 and DCM202 as I decided to bite the bullet and complete the other two by tonight. In fact I hope to finish my DCM202 independant study topic by this evening so at least I can focus on the remaining portions. Tmw is the DCM202 challenging problem test and I just wonder what kind of questions aunty is going to give us. Speaking of which, I was helping a CG friend's niece in her maths earlier. She is in P3 and being the occupational hazard, I started browsing through her maths worksheet and ended up having an informal tuition session with her. We had our annual CNY lunch with the current DG. Now I have additional questions to add to my resource collection.

ACS BR Class of 4B6' 91

We had our annual class gathering at our form teacher's house this afternoon. I have lost count how many years we have been doing this ever since we left school many moons ago. As you can see, when we graduated from sec sch in 1991, we started this yearly gathering sometime in 1994 or 1995. And it has been like that every year since then. Although only a handful of us can make it, the ties that bind will always be there. Needless to say, we still address our form teacher as 'Mdm' just like when we were in her class. Some of us have become parents ourselves and it just seems that we have moved on or some might say we have aged. However, that ACSian spirit in us still lingers. We will catch up on our school days and exchange information on how our other classmates are doing. Though we only meet once a year, whoever that is getting married will never fail to have at least one table for our class. That is why Once and ACSian, Always an ACSian.

All bad things must come to an end

Finally RT is over. Just left with the final group submission and we have already got the points. All that is needed is for us to elaborate it. Thanks to the other 4 for that great dynamics once again. Like I mentioned before, it is quite fun except for certain elements which dampened the mood but the group dynamics negated it thus making it a great effort.

Eve of our RT performance

We should be able to tie up the loose ends before we head to execute our RT. Seems exciting but because of how it is being organised by certain people at the top, everyone is just biting the bullet and getting it completed. The whole process is actually quite fun if it was organised in a much better way with less demanding requirements. Why do some people insist on going to school to perform it when it is not widely used at all due to obvious reasons? All I can say is that some people are just sitting on their ivory towers behaving in a high and mighty way. They know next to nothing what is going on at the ground level but they insist on their idealistic way of doing things. Anyway, I shall not let this dampen my V Day mood.

Smile!

Of plans to have a KTV session with coursemates

Few of us were talking about going for a karaoke session before we begin our practicum and after handing in the final projects. I found that two of my coursemates actually like oldies plus other timeless classic songs. Moreover, we found that each of us actually have a liking for chinese and even cantonese songs. Well, yours truly is one big fan of Jacky Cheung's canto songs which I will definitely request whenever I have a singing session with any of my friends. Even in my varsity days in Perth, they too have these songs. However, let's not get distracted. Complete and finish well our final assignment before we let our vocal chords loose.

Enzo and Esther

The 1st picture was taken when Enzo (left) was 3 months while Esther was just a little over a month. Compare and contrast a baby who is mostly on breast milk to one that is mostly on formula milk. The second video clip was taken on the 2nd day of the Lunar New Year when Angela's side of her relatives have an annual gathering. Needless to say, almost all attention was on both Enzo and Esther plus another cousin who is still less than 5 mths. Come next year, the 3 of them will probably be running all over the place.

Surprise guests yesterday

Got a phone call at around 1630hrs yesterday and it was from one of my ex-students from LPS. He asked if he and four others could drop by to visit. As I was about to head out for a run, I gladly obliged them to drop by at 1800hrs while I did a short run around the neighbourhood. They then arrived at 1800hrs after making a couple of visit to their respective homes. Needless to say, Esther was thrilled to have 5 older teenagers (yes, they are no longer kids) come and visit her.

lastest family picture

Esther's expression

Happy Lunar New Year to all

Lunar new year wishes from the Tang family to everyone. May you have a blessed time with your family and relatives. Blogging will resume tomorrow.

roller coaster RT

1015hrs: JYP can only accomodate us on wed between 1100 -1200hrs sending everyone scrambling as many of us have lessons at that time.

1030hrs: Yours Truly approaches LPS for urgent 'bailout'. HOD is very favourable but will only give final confirmation on mon when school reopens after the CNY holidays and the weekend.

1045hrs: JYP can now accomodate all 6 gps for RT!

Inagine the dilemma faced now. However, win-win situation is that if LPS is ok, my group will go while the rest will go to JYP. If LPS is unavailabe to accomodate, then all 6 gps will go to JYP i;e- status quo.

slight relief

Handed up the individual portion for DCE202 and DCM201. So now I need to work on the study topic for DCM202 and then get on with my DCE201 which is the most headache of all. So at least I can take a slight breather. Next week will be when we will present our RT for DCE202. Thereafter it will be finishing up the remaining tasks before I begin to write my lesson plans for the 10 week school attachment.

A very close shave

I had a very very close shave yesterday evening. After dinner, we decided to go for a stroll around the neighbourhood since the drizzle had ceased. We put Esther on the stroller and went on a leisurely walk. There were some construction sites around my in-law's place and we had just crossed one site when I felt I had stepped onto something. A very slight poke on my sole could also be felt. Upon investigation, I had stepped onto a 4cm screw and it actually caused a puncture on the sole of my slipper. Despite the thickness of the slipper, I could feel a little prick but thankfully I did not sustain any cuts nor bruises. I tried to pull out the screw but it was embedded quite deep in. Fortunately there was someone sweeping her driveway so I managed to borrow a pair of scissors from her to pluck out the foreign object. Praise the Lord for His protection and I must say that if the screw had been any longer or if I had exerted more pressure on the ground at that split second, I probably have had to rush to the A&E for an injection and that means a bandaged foot as well. Incidentally, it was my right foot so imagine the inconveinence should the unthinkable happen.

Plans and executions differ by leaps and bounds

Very often, one plans how to do something. You will map out the procedural steps on what to begin, how to develop it and finally, how to finish it. Needless to say, countless practises plus re-adjustments galore so that when the time comes for that actual showcase, the perfect piece is all ready to be unveiled. Or so it seems. However, what happens ideally might differ from how it turns out actually. Murphy's Law might kick in at the most unearthly of times coupled with last minute (or should I say second) changes occur and short of throwing it into a disarray, one's mind suffers from the common computer problem: all systems hang. But all's not lost if one knows how to counter the hiccup by thinking on your feet and switching strategy if necessary. However, things might not be as rosy as it seems so the occasional 'bad day' happens.

video of Esther trying to read

reading