Monday, September 29, 2008
It's finally the day of the solemnization. My cousin (who somehow resembled Tay Ping Hui , but shorter...) gave us a lift there so for the first time, we could arrive at an important event without sweating and melting the makeup.
Not a bad place though I think the background with the construction site seemed a bit weird. I also expected it to be more extravagant (but probably to be practical, it's not advisable to spend so much since it's not the customary wedding) but nevertheless it was still a lovely affair. It also helped that seated beside me was my bro's friend from primary school who looked cuter in real life than on the channel 5 comedy The Noose. Actually I found him quite cute and mature (the studious English speaking Catholic type) even back then when we were all in primary school wahahah.... Ok, it was an innocent admiration thingie back then alright? Bro hasn't contacted him for a long time so it's been like more than 10 years since I've last seen him.
The whole event ended quite quickly, just over an hour with the high tea and the solemnization by the Justice of Peace, which was quite fortunate because it started to rain after that "-_- Timing.. timing...
Another reason why it's a good thing it ended early was because I had to come home to get back to my assignments again.
Serendipity believed today at 6:18 PM
Saturday, September 27, 2008
I used to think that the Communications module was one of the more useful modules we are currently doing as it teaches us to use phonemes to get the actual pronunciation of words. It also made me realise how badly "off" our local English is.
However, subsequent sessions started to make me feel that it's getting kind of pointless because the so-called correct pronunciation would simply change our accent into a pretentious ang moh accent because it requires a switch in the intonation all the time. It's just not natural to us. Our tutor told us that it's not that they require us to change our manner of speaking, rather they wanted us to know the CORRECT pronunciation. However, I don't think that ang mohs have difficulties understanding us so long as we don't insert the lah, lor, leh at the end of our sentences. Did you know that there's actually a difference in pronunciation when a word is used as a verb or a noun? That's a bit of a killer because while reading a sentence, as a Singaporean, we don't differ in our pronunciation. Therefore, we have to put in twice the amount of conscious effort, which makes us read slowly (super slowly) and think before we read. Do we really need this when teaching at a primary school? I don't even remember my Eng teachers at sec sch or JC speaking in a weird way. There are many "CORRECT" things to learn in this world. At the end of the day, people have to consider whether the so-called CORRECT thing is applicable to the real world especially when time is of the essence.
Worst is that he gets mad at us when we don't get it but when it comes to the couple of students who already have western accent, he's more patient. So far, I haven't been a target of his bluntness and I hope it will stay that way because he can get very impatient and direct "-_-
Serendipity believed today at 11:09 AM
Sunday, September 21, 2008
I've been a good student these 2 days. I worked day in and out and deprived myself of TV. I think that's the true meaning of a hardworking employee under the rules of our dear Ministry, the boss. That pays us our peanuts every month. Ok, perhaps outsiders will not think those are peanuts. Indeed the salary allows me to lead a relatively comfortable life (at least at this point when I don't have my own family). But I'm greatly deprived of rest! Just wish to be able to treat my parents to a holiday to a faraway place like Europe. I don't think I can ever earn that much! However, it's always good to go on a tour when one's legs are still sturdy and strong. With all those walking, people who have leg problems due to old age or sickness will not enjoy as much. In the meantime, I can only treat them to a good meal.
Chia agreed too that life in here is busier than at NUS. His main reason of visiting was to look for his ex-students? I forgot to ask him what they're doing there, whether they're undergoing training or doing something else.
These days, tutors are talking about suicide to us. I supposed it's because they too know that this is the more intensive period of life at this place and it's not unusual for people to attempt suicide due to stress. A tutor cited a couple of examples, both of whom were her students last year or something (I'm sure there are more cases that other tutors know). She only mentioned that cases of suicide attempts tend to occur among students in this program due to the stress level and intensity of the program.
Another tutor talked about how computer games can cause teens to kill themselves like in the case of the 2 sec sch boys who jumped to their deaths not too long ago. We were advised to try to keep ourselves up to date about the games children play these days so that we can be on the alert.
All these talks about suicide is kind of disturbing especially when my ex-classmate did it and was successful. Due to religion, I've always believed that people who kill themselves will be banished to hell because no one has the right to end one's life prematurely. In the case of abortion, I wonder what would happen to the mothers when they themselves die since they are committing murder too but that's beside the point lah I know. "-_- I feel even more sorry for any family whose religious beliefs involve the existence of hell and they have a family member who committed suicide. Living and thinking about a loved one burning for eternity is also a painful process. *Gek sim*
Now back to work.
Serendipity believed today at 11:35 PM
Monday, September 15, 2008
I'm starting to appreciate children's picture books now that I am taking English modules. The illustrations and the layout all have their own meanings. The challenging thing about writing a children's book is that you can't beat about the bush (like in adult fiction). Yet the author has to be creative and straightforward enough to be able to capture a child's attention span which isn't very long. Plus storylines have to be engaging enough but can be finished in 10-15min.
Phew... Not easy at all to produce a good book! There are some books which although are children's books, hold deeper meaning even for adults. However, the innocence of the storyline making it all the more captivating and makes 1 relate it to the reality of life.
We might be doing our assignment on the book Diamond in the Snow. It's about a mole which found an icicle in the snow (he's nv seen snow before...) and he thought it's a diamond. He wanted to carry it away (home or to show to friends) but it started changing shape along the way (melting but he didn't know that). He thought it's a magic diamond haha... and the story progressed...
Another popular author is Anthony Browne, who likes to make use to gorillas as characters in his books. One of his books is about a gorilla seeking inspiration from famous artworks. The gorilla ended up painting a gorilla Mona Lisa... a gorilla Birth of Venus... Wahaha... very funny! And gross too haha....
Some of his books are really clever. Should check it out.
Serendipity believed today at 7:58 PM
Sunday, September 14, 2008
It was such a coincidence yesterday when I met Fiona at the Forum Shopping Mall at a bookshop for kids at 2 something pm. In the first place, Forum is not like the most happening place along Orchard Rd and neither is the children's bookshop. We're actually doing an English assignment together and are supposed to settle on a fiction which we think will be suitable for Primary 2 pupils after which each of us got to think of a different teaching point from the book. It can be nouns, verbs, adjectives, punctuation... U got the idea... It's just such a funny thing to meet my partner there but it probably happened for a reason because we managed to narrow down to a particular book (still keeping options open) and she decided to do the purchasing since she still had leftover funds to claim from.
Anyway, for such children's bookshops, if for some reason you need to buy a book for kids, you can get any friend who happens to be from NIE to help you get since there's 10% discount. Not much but well, it makes a difference since a book can cost at least $15 for a soft cover version (and twice the price for those hard covered ones).
This brings me to the next point. I've never really believed in hard covered books. To pay double the price for the same contents just so that I can whack the cover and it'll still be good as new? No way. Even if I have a young child, I don't think buying books with hard covers really do the trick. It's not about preserving the book this way just because your kid likes to be rough towards books. It's a matter of teaching him/ her to take care of books and treat them more lovingly (I even try to wrap my books with protective plastic cover and I'm an adult @_@). Of course, kids will be kids, they may end up with torn covers after some time but that will also teach them to take better care of the books right?
Yesterday was bookstore day for me. I even went to kino to look see if there were any suitable picture books. The section there was better than the sight I saw at Borders a couple of weeks back. At Borders, all I saw was the remains of a hurricane, many human survivors but books seemed to be lying on the ground taking their last breaths. May they rest in peace too.
One reason could be that kino staff probably tidy up the place often. However, maybe at the children's section, kino should consider covering the parquet flooring with carpet. Or maybe wrap children who run around like a mummy and then push them into the storerooms until their dimwitted parents finally realise that their gems are missing? Haha.. ok this part sounds really mean. But no apologies.
A father allowed his son to run all over the place stamping on the floor all the while he was happily trying to select picture books for him. The son's 6 years old btw since I overheard the father saying he's preparing books for him for Primary 1 next year. I don't blame the child. In fact, I don't ever blame children who run around and make themselves a public nuisance. However, I'm sure the parents are educated enough (only educated parents will go to such bookshops to buy books for their children right?) to know that not everyone is deaf like them. Or maybe such parents should be slapped awake to see the light.
Such people will defend themselves by telling me, "You not even a parent so what gives you the right to judge?" Well, one doesn't need to be a parent to see that a parent doesn't even open his/her golden mouth when the kid is making a nuisance of himself. At least if you try to reprimand your child, I will still give you credit for it.
Another case was when I was at Wheelock's Place and when I was passing by a rather posh restaurant, a family with a kid sitting on baby chair was waiting for their food and their child was using chopsticks to hit the edge of the table machiam like he's in a band or something. It creatd a lot of noise. The parents were still happily talking away and smiling, highly oblivious to the fact that their child was misbehaving. Worst, I think it's the parents who gave the child the chopsticks to entertain himself just so that they can chat among themselves.
The above 2 cases are Chinese families by the way. Shame shame...
Serendipity believed today at 12:18 PM
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Someone walked up to my table during my late lunch today and put her plate down. I looked at her for awhile and wanted to ask her why she wanted to sit at my table. However after looking at her face for awhile, I realized that she's a classmate from my sec sch! I didn't know she's also studying here. She looked kind of different probably because she's become so so tanned. To her, I still looked the same after all these years (which I shall take as a compliment haha!).
We haven't really kept in contact with the other classmates from sec sch too. However, when she told me that she heard one of them had passed away a few years back, it was really shocking. Worst was the fact that it was a case of suicide. That was really tragic... Strangely, it's always people who seem unlikely to commit suicide who decide to end their lives. But then, that was so many years ago since I saw her. In fact, I hardly knew her back then too though we were classmates. Just remember her as someone who looked Japanese with her rosy cheeks and small, smiley eyes and cheerful demeanor. Perhaps she had changed drastically after all these years. My friend who told me about this could not confirm the reason. Nonetheless, it's s waste of a young life that would otherwise have a bright future.
Death of an ex- classmate or anyone our age is difficult to accept. That's because it's not a natural age to pass on, much less due to such a reason like suicide. I found it really disturbing somehow but I hope she could rest in peace after whatever she was struggling with.
Serendipity believed today at 9:08 PM
Thursday, September 4, 2008
We've begun yet another module today~
Great isn't it?
Yay... more assignments!
Ok, the redeeming factor was that the tutor was quite funny. He's got theatre background so he could be quite dramatic and expressive at times. Plus he gave us Teachers' Day present! Each a 100g block of Toblerone new flavour Fruit & Nut! 100g ok? Don't pray pray... not the teeny weeny small piece kind. Generous...
Isn't it strange that as adults, we could still be so happy about receiving surprised gifts even though it's chocolate, something we can all by now afford to buy ourselves?
The art lesson tomorrow has been cancelled. Yippee! This module's kind of boring coz it's just discussion after discussion for 2 hours (she doesn't let us off early). It's so draggy that most of the time, many of us will be yawning away, discreetly of course. Only the guys have eye candy during the tutorial since the tutor's so pretty :D
Once again, the weekends are here. What do you have in store for yourself?
Serendipity believed today at 10:26 PM
Monday, September 1, 2008
Having a horrible cold which is making me sleepy. Bad timing since this week is e-learning week and there are tests next Mon and Tue. :( Wanted so much to finish as much things as possible. I hope I'll get better when I wake up tomorrow.
I took a new route to school today. This time it's by bus 185 (just below my blk), it goes straight to the route that 179 takes. It's off peak hour when I took it and the journey lasted 1/2 hr. It's definitely going to take more time if taken early in the morning so I can't just take this anytime I like. This bus passes JJC. It's unfortunate that during my JC days, this service wasn't available or it would have taken me just 15min to reach JJC bus stop. Yes! Just 15 min! @_@
Felt kind of nostalgic when the bus went past the school. Lots of fond memories of that place. I guess among all the schools and institutions that I've been to, that must have been the most memorable one. I wonder if Ms Sem is still there. If she's no longer teaching there, it means that all the teachers who have taught me there (excluding 1st 3 mth..) have all left.
Last thurs during the Art practical, we were asked to do figure drawing. For each figure (2 of them posed at different time), we only had like about 5min. "-_- It's really a touch and go thing. The style was different. The method was different. I rem. that Chia didn't like us to smudge the charcoal, always reminding us to build up slowly.
Now here at NIE, or at least in this course, what was demonstrated involved LOTS of smudging. Smudging, smudging and smudging... Like nobody's business hahah.... It's probably also because of the time we had. To build up slowly, we need to have like hours to do a piece LOR... :P
P/S: don't take on so many things yourself by suggesting this and that and in the end blame others for not helping you. That's the way the world goes. You suggest, you do it. Especially when others genuinely had no idea how such things should be done. Don't turn around and say that others are treating you as a stupid person. This irritated me a lot especially when I volunteered to help you out with something but in the end you generalized and use the word "everybody". If that's the case, I shall act blur in future too.
For the 1 millionth time, I wish people will think before they talk. That's the reason God gives everyone a brain.
Serendipity believed today at 10:23 PM
