Rest At Last!
I'm finally back! The past two months or so had been pretty draining, so allow me to do a rundown of events I was engaged in.
For the last week of school (mid-October), I was helping my students with their subject-combinations for the following year, congratulating those who were promoted from N(A) to Express, and also from N(T) to N(A). They had done really well, so I rewarded them with chocolates, much to the envy of their other classmates. Of course, the latter could not protest, as I'd told them earlier in the year that the hardworking ones will be rewarded, so everyone ought to work hard.
This was followed by O-level invigilation till the first week of November. The school where I invigilated had some pretty bright students, and I was especially attached to the Pure Geography class, as I saw them at least three times during those two weeks of invigilation. Wish that class all the best for the results! :)
At this point, there were some problems in my family (read: between my parents, specifically), so I was at wit's end. My sis and I had to play the active role of marketing and grocery-shopping, in addition to household chores, so both of us were rather tired almost everyday.
From 5th to 16th November, I underwent an Honorary VSC course at Home Team Academy. Yeah, all the way to the other end of Singapore. I didn't drive everyday, preferring to commute. On those days when I did drive, I was pretty exhausted when I got home almost immediately. However, I must say that those two weeks were very enjoyable and I got along well with the rest of the trainees in my batch. Oh, I found out on the second-last day that my own neighbour is also a VSC-officer! So cool! :)
On Sunday night, I had a misunderstanding with a very close friend. She had asked me to give her a call, but I was very exhausted from the preparations for the camp (mentioned below), that I sent her a text-message that I preferred not talking over the phone. That part is true as I really dislike talking over the phone, preferring to speak in person or send text-messages. Of course, I should have mentioned that I had had a tiring day, but I'm still wondering why I didn't tell her that. Well, she was pretty upset, of course, and by the time I read the message, it was already the next day when I woke up. I figured that it's a better idea not to aggravate matters, so I didn't reply. I'm sorry for being unfeeling, gal, but I have too many things going on around me, so I'm pretty overwhelmed... :(
19th to 21st November, my school's Choir, Chinese Orchestra and Netball had a combined-camp. It was pretty enjoyable for the students, but quite tiring for the teachers-in-charge. Two of them fell ill during the camp, so there were only the remaining 3 teachers left on the last day to handle the cleaning up and dismissal of students. Eventually, I had to return to school the next day to clear the remaining mess in the staff-room and music-room.
I bought a second-hand Macintosh PowerBook G4 (12") on Thursday. It's awesome, and more awesome when I wiped out the harddisk and installed Mac OS X Leopard. Wonderful stuff, this Mac! :)
The following week, I attended a Website Programming course at one of the JCs. The trainer was pretty interesting, and it was quite tough to debug the programming-errors. I hope to utilise some of the skills I learnt and integrate them into my own website soon. :) The same week, I accompanied my school-choir students to watch two choir-concerts on Friday and Saturday evenings. The students were impressed with the high standards (especially the choirs on Friday), and I reminded them to write a reflection-report on the concert they attended.
I bought a new Linksys router at SITEX 2007. Had a bit of hiccups with the configuration, but somehow it stabilised itself when I left the router running with the modem. Oh yes, I've enabled WEP for my wireless-connection, so too bad for those loser-neighbours who had been tapping (war-riding) off my Internet-connection. Haha!
3December was Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon. I had planned to run with the schoolkids, but I couldn't locate them so I ran with my friend, Sayid, whom I met at Baggage Deposit. Of course, the timing wasn't that great (both of us didn't train much, if at all), but it was quite an experience. I had a sharp pain on one of my right toes. Thinking that it was a blister, I endured. After the run, I found out that my fourth toenail had cut through my third toe, which was bleeding. Ouch! I got a plaster from the First Aid booth, and applied some ointment to soothe the pain. I also had abrasions from my thighs rubbing against each other. Double ouch! Sigh... :(
Last week, I had a choir-session with my Sec 1s and 2s. I wondered where the upper-secondary students went, but the lower-secondary students were pretty energetic, so we had a good rehearsal.
During the same week, practices for Songs Of Joy stepped up, and my choir (external choir, not the school choir) fine-tuned all the kinks. I paired the rehearsals with my gym training-sessions, and I must say that progress on both were pretty good. Oh yes! My metabolic rate finally increased by 100kCal! That's a very good sign, and I'd have to maintain the training. :)
On Tuesday, I bought iLife'08 and loaded it into my PowerBook. Unfortunately, iMovie couldn't be installed due to some insufficient hardware-requirements, but everything else was installed. GarageBand and iPhoto are wonderful!!! :D
On 5 December, I assisted SMC record their Christmas concert, interestingly-titled 'Sing With Us Under The Mistletoe'. Irony is, there was no irony to begin with. The audience was really participative, and gamely sang along to the various songs/carols. There were some memorable items, including one song for the five dragonboaters who drowned off Cambodia. (Rest in peace, gentlemen.) SMC has improved so much, and I look forward to singing with them again next year. Yep, I've already given my word to the conductor that I'd come for rehearsals come January. :)
8 December was the Songs Of Joy concert at Esplanade Concert Hall. The audience was appreciative, and my choir was glad that no major hiccups occurred. The RJC MEP students played their instruments well, accompanying my choir for 'He Comes At Christmastide'. Well done, Rafflesians! The combined-choir from all seven choirs shared the stage for the grand finale, and the sheer power of the masses was amazing! :)
Now, I'm enjoying the sound of rainfall on my roof, and getting ready for my next gym-workout. Hoping to lose about 3kg by the end of the year. :)
For the last week of school (mid-October), I was helping my students with their subject-combinations for the following year, congratulating those who were promoted from N(A) to Express, and also from N(T) to N(A). They had done really well, so I rewarded them with chocolates, much to the envy of their other classmates. Of course, the latter could not protest, as I'd told them earlier in the year that the hardworking ones will be rewarded, so everyone ought to work hard.
This was followed by O-level invigilation till the first week of November. The school where I invigilated had some pretty bright students, and I was especially attached to the Pure Geography class, as I saw them at least three times during those two weeks of invigilation. Wish that class all the best for the results! :)
At this point, there were some problems in my family (read: between my parents, specifically), so I was at wit's end. My sis and I had to play the active role of marketing and grocery-shopping, in addition to household chores, so both of us were rather tired almost everyday.
From 5th to 16th November, I underwent an Honorary VSC course at Home Team Academy. Yeah, all the way to the other end of Singapore. I didn't drive everyday, preferring to commute. On those days when I did drive, I was pretty exhausted when I got home almost immediately. However, I must say that those two weeks were very enjoyable and I got along well with the rest of the trainees in my batch. Oh, I found out on the second-last day that my own neighbour is also a VSC-officer! So cool! :)
On Sunday night, I had a misunderstanding with a very close friend. She had asked me to give her a call, but I was very exhausted from the preparations for the camp (mentioned below), that I sent her a text-message that I preferred not talking over the phone. That part is true as I really dislike talking over the phone, preferring to speak in person or send text-messages. Of course, I should have mentioned that I had had a tiring day, but I'm still wondering why I didn't tell her that. Well, she was pretty upset, of course, and by the time I read the message, it was already the next day when I woke up. I figured that it's a better idea not to aggravate matters, so I didn't reply. I'm sorry for being unfeeling, gal, but I have too many things going on around me, so I'm pretty overwhelmed... :(
19th to 21st November, my school's Choir, Chinese Orchestra and Netball had a combined-camp. It was pretty enjoyable for the students, but quite tiring for the teachers-in-charge. Two of them fell ill during the camp, so there were only the remaining 3 teachers left on the last day to handle the cleaning up and dismissal of students. Eventually, I had to return to school the next day to clear the remaining mess in the staff-room and music-room.
I bought a second-hand Macintosh PowerBook G4 (12") on Thursday. It's awesome, and more awesome when I wiped out the harddisk and installed Mac OS X Leopard. Wonderful stuff, this Mac! :)
The following week, I attended a Website Programming course at one of the JCs. The trainer was pretty interesting, and it was quite tough to debug the programming-errors. I hope to utilise some of the skills I learnt and integrate them into my own website soon. :) The same week, I accompanied my school-choir students to watch two choir-concerts on Friday and Saturday evenings. The students were impressed with the high standards (especially the choirs on Friday), and I reminded them to write a reflection-report on the concert they attended.
I bought a new Linksys router at SITEX 2007. Had a bit of hiccups with the configuration, but somehow it stabilised itself when I left the router running with the modem. Oh yes, I've enabled WEP for my wireless-connection, so too bad for those loser-neighbours who had been tapping (war-riding) off my Internet-connection. Haha!
3December was Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon. I had planned to run with the schoolkids, but I couldn't locate them so I ran with my friend, Sayid, whom I met at Baggage Deposit. Of course, the timing wasn't that great (both of us didn't train much, if at all), but it was quite an experience. I had a sharp pain on one of my right toes. Thinking that it was a blister, I endured. After the run, I found out that my fourth toenail had cut through my third toe, which was bleeding. Ouch! I got a plaster from the First Aid booth, and applied some ointment to soothe the pain. I also had abrasions from my thighs rubbing against each other. Double ouch! Sigh... :(
Last week, I had a choir-session with my Sec 1s and 2s. I wondered where the upper-secondary students went, but the lower-secondary students were pretty energetic, so we had a good rehearsal.
During the same week, practices for Songs Of Joy stepped up, and my choir (external choir, not the school choir) fine-tuned all the kinks. I paired the rehearsals with my gym training-sessions, and I must say that progress on both were pretty good. Oh yes! My metabolic rate finally increased by 100kCal! That's a very good sign, and I'd have to maintain the training. :)
On Tuesday, I bought iLife'08 and loaded it into my PowerBook. Unfortunately, iMovie couldn't be installed due to some insufficient hardware-requirements, but everything else was installed. GarageBand and iPhoto are wonderful!!! :D
On 5 December, I assisted SMC record their Christmas concert, interestingly-titled 'Sing With Us Under The Mistletoe'. Irony is, there was no irony to begin with. The audience was really participative, and gamely sang along to the various songs/carols. There were some memorable items, including one song for the five dragonboaters who drowned off Cambodia. (Rest in peace, gentlemen.) SMC has improved so much, and I look forward to singing with them again next year. Yep, I've already given my word to the conductor that I'd come for rehearsals come January. :)
8 December was the Songs Of Joy concert at Esplanade Concert Hall. The audience was appreciative, and my choir was glad that no major hiccups occurred. The RJC MEP students played their instruments well, accompanying my choir for 'He Comes At Christmastide'. Well done, Rafflesians! The combined-choir from all seven choirs shared the stage for the grand finale, and the sheer power of the masses was amazing! :)
Now, I'm enjoying the sound of rainfall on my roof, and getting ready for my next gym-workout. Hoping to lose about 3kg by the end of the year. :)