met up with liming for some movie watching today!

first up, you are my sunshine. really touching story. first part was a taaaad bit too slow though. but it got really good and very sad towards the end. :( the good thing is, there is a happy ending! :D haha

15minute break which consisted of a emergency dash to the pharmacy across the road and buying loads of popcorn!

daisy was quite a disappointment. i thought the story in itself could have been really sweet and touching and meaningful but it was just confusing and weird and cliched to me. the backdrop was great tho. kind of pride and prejudice-ish, especially with the music. haha. anyway, i think jung woo sung is completely charming.

yummy! :D

invigilating is both boring and fun at the same time. fun because it's pretty cool not being the one taking the exam. watching the kids squirm under your intense scrutiny. collecting papers. commanding people to STOP TALKING when you yourself know how they feel, just itching to discuss what questions they did. muahaha. but it's also freaking boring because you literally have to just sit there for the whole hour watching people doing their work 0.0 thank goodness i was smart enough to bring my book.

so spent the day invigilating and the last two periods with my coform class who PISSED ME OFF SO BAD. of all five p3 classes, they are the ones that get on my nerves the most. because, once they see me, they just think that it's time for them to play. the noise they make in that ENCLOSED classroom is just like 'WHEEEE AHHHH EHHHHHH OOOOOO AHHHHH GIGGLE GIGGLE SCREAM' it's so freaking annoying. and the harsh truth is that they are the class that needs the most instruction, YET they refuse to listen to ANY of the instructions i try to give. i seriously refuse to teach that class alone. two periods of them pissed me off more than the whole of wednesday where i had that p6 AND p5 class the whole day. when they left the classroom, i was so on the verge of just lying on the floor and screaming. in those two periods with them, one thought just kept flashing in my mind - i simply do not have the patience for this kind of students. i mean one hour and i already want to just give up on them. i have complete and utter respect for ferlynn. she is seriously an AMAZING teacher, for being able to control them, for being able to get them to do their work, for getting their grades up way way way beyond their predicted grades. they should seriously THANK their lucky stars that they got her man.

after school i participated in my first block marking. it was quite fun actually. we sit around a table according to our levels. then we benchmark a few sample essays together. and finally, we start marking! it's fun cos everyone's marking together and, it may be mean, but we get to be 'entertained' by some of the compositions. haha by the time we got to my coform class, our table was just basically laughing nonstop. some of the things they write are just so huh?? some seriously aren't even written in english. in fact, one kid's composition consisted of one word - 'the'.

the culture in this school is such that the teachers are always well-fed. haha. one hour into marking, one of the canteen vendors walks in carrying TRAYS of snacks - fries, nuggets of three varieties and chilli sauces. man, you should have seen all the teachers just perk up man. haha. once again, it was one of the teacher's treat :)

anyways, got home to my two very excited parents. because apparently a big envelope from NUS had arrived. haha. got accepted into NUS FASS. it's a relief. and school starts 7 august! hell yeah! :D :D

ok i have a thousand and one things to rant about today. what's new, but yes let this be a warning - long post ahead! haha.

this should be titled The Violence of Preteens These Days or The Worthlessness of Promises Made by Preteens These Days.

so right after successfully carrying out a really good music lesson with my p2s, i was happily (this time really happily) walking up to my p6 class for art. yesterday, i had succinctly told them to bring three simple things - newspaper, drawing block and paint. and i had gotten nods, and promises and basically was reassured that i would be able to conduct my art lesson today. BUT when i saw them today, and asked, "how many of you brought your things for art?" (see i wasnt even expecting all of them to bring their things), NO ONE responded. as it turned out, none of them brought anything. like ZERO. i mean wtf seriously. is one person out of twenty alot to ask?! is a miserable piece of drawing block too cumbersome to bring to school?? especially since they had actually verbally and physically promised me that they would. i think that was one of the times in my life that i was actually TRULY loss for words. i was so pissed off at them but so completely speechless i couldnt even scold them. and i didnt know what to do, (i mean what kind of art can you do with NO MATERIALS?! to tell the truth, i even wonder if they have pencils. they totally look the type that only carry a single pen to school) so i told them to take out their work to do. and they had the freaking cheek to tell me that they had nothing to do and they were very bored. ARGH. i was having a thousand heart attacks inside me ok. and here's where the violent part kicks in. being so bored, they started beating each other up, re-enacting the 9-oclock show (which was pretty damn retarded), attempting to jump over TWO freaking chairs, brandishing their scissors at each other etcetc. and they are all so freaking big, it was hard to seperate them and get them back to their seats. seriously man, my patience has worn THIN with that class. they are really in a class of their own, with unmatched shamelessness in their actions.

THEN, i had to go back to that same aggressive p5 class i took last week. (omg come to think of it, my timetable today is completely the same as last wed 0.0) that class has some MAJOR issues with one of the boys in that class. such to the extent that i had to take him aside and settle his issues with each of his classmates ONE BY FREAKING ONE. i basically talked myself dry for a whole one hour. sprouting those cliched sermons like 'how would you feel if someone kept calling you stupid and stupid over and over again and blah blah blah'. i was quite on the roll actually hahah. and you know, after much persuasion and everything, they actually shook hands and promised to lay off that poor boy and EVERYTHING. and for the next two periods that i was with them, things were pretty alright. then, they broke off for mother tongue, while i took my well-deserved one hour break. when i got back, it was like i hadnt even wasted an hour of my life talking to them. it was back to freaking square one. i mean i dont get it. if you dont like someone, why do you freaking have to keep talking to him and disturbing him and including him in every damn minute of your life?! WHY damnit WHY?! it's a miracle i survived the day man seriously.

and although i'm increasingly starting to feel that i'm a damn shitty teacher, let me first just say that these two classes are actually taken by one, the discipline master, and two, this damn fierce female teacher who i've honestly never seen smile. so while i suck, it's not just on my part!

and in continuity of this topic of violent preteens, there was some major drama going on in my exform class yesterday. apparently, one of the boys just went mad. first, he slapped one of the boys right in the face so hard that he actually left a handprint on his face. and since he had a mechanical pencil in his hand, he conveniently turned to another boy and stabbed him in the neck with it. and finally, to top it ALL off, he grabbed another boy by the collar so hard that the button popped out. 0.0 he is freaking 9 years old and very skinny and small sized and he always used to cry alot in my class. i NEVER EVER in my wildest dreams would have thought he would have been capable of doing such things. and i'm not even exaggerating any of it. i saw the poor boy who got stabbed in the neck today and there was a wound right there. i'm so horrified man.

ok. that concludes my essay on preteens. haha. other random bits of today. the char quay teow was freaking good today. one teacher gave me 20cents. another gave me a chocolate. it rained so much i couldnt go home. so for an hour i sat in the canteen miserably watching the rain go down before finally deciding to call a cab because i couldnt stand it anymore. and it still hasnt stopped raining!

did paper cuts with my p1s for art today and i literally got a paper cut on my finger. damnit i really HATE paper cuts! it sliced through my middle finger and the blood just oozed out like crazy and i had to hide it from the kids so as not to freak them out but at the same time i was totally freaking out. the sight of blood coming out from me just makes my stomach weak with fear.

anyway, i had so many things to blog about but i just dont know how to put them in proper sentences. it's like..

11yearolds pushing my limit. red hot kicks butt. mass consumption of paper. manjaness. paper gifts. loveables and cloy-ables. hearing the same passage being read over and over and over again. semi truce with MHC. yellow2 in glasses. -.- over wrongly spelt words. effective teaching of science. and it's good to be 'home'.

oh and there was this p1 girl who was really annoying me throughout the whole day by asking me repeatedly what we were going to do next. and the thing is i didnt have any instructions from their teacher so i myself didnt even know what we were going to do next. and she kept giving me suggestions like playing egg race (!!) or musical chairs which as a general rule you dont play in a classroom! that's just like suicide for the teacher. but at the end of the day she came up to me and said 'thank you for making our day so fun' or something to that effect and that just totally melted my frustrations man. haha.

anyway, i'm totally out of my wits trying to think of what to do for p6 art on wed. according to the SOW it's supposed to be candle art which is COMPLETELY out of the question because, one, i dont even know wtf candle art is supposed to be. two, i'm swearing off buying things for them to do for art and i seriously do not think that any of them would bring a candle if i told them to. and three, i just really do not see any of them doing anything artistic with candles. 0.0 so basically, i need something that is simple and easy to do and, here's the tricky part, doesnt entail any art materials whatsoever. yes, i think i'm screwed too. x_x

met up with fifi yesterday to shop at marina square. the depressing thing was, there was virtually nothing to buy! or rather, nothing that really made me want to take out my cash or my card. blah. i want to go bugis! anyone game? :D haha. anyways, after that we went for a mad hunt for balloons and green roses and restaurants with a good ambience and food. i think yesterday was the first time i properly walked through chijmes. and it's so freaking gorgeous man. shall go there sometime to eat :) anyway, met up with the rest of the people and we went to this cafe in raffles city for dinner.

there are times when you really need your best friend and i'm glad she was there :)

anyways, today, went to airport to study with sister. haha. was supposed to be helping her with math but i think i've totally lost touch. my mental capacity goes up to about primary 5 right now. which is just splendid seeing that i'm supposed to start uni in two or three months time. anyway, it was fun hanging out with my sis :) i dont think we've hung out much this year. oh and i replied your letter buddy! just gotta send it now. hehe :D

after the RT training course, i seem to have just become an even worse teacher. like seriously. this past week, i feel like i'm totally missing the mark all the time. or maybe it's because now i know exactly what mistakes i'm making. kids are running riot but i just have no energy to carry out what i've learnt. i feel like those parents on supernanny when jojo has left them on their own for a week after her teaching.

argh. anyway, linjunjie is having a concert! yay! :D and i desperately NEED to shop. but i have no time! and i love it when my mummy tells me NOT to take my medicine :) and this paragraph sounds like three different people talking about three very different things 0.0

wow just five days away from school and it's like it's back to square one practically. felt so disorientated this morning. there are new relief teachers! one of them is pretty cute. HEHE. haha um yes. ok anyways. first lesson was lousy because i had to conduct a music test for p2s. and to quote tsehchyn, who is the other music teacher of that class, i didnt understand whatever 'dao gey' music terms they have. my goodness, they are only p freaking 2 and they have to learn to identify instruments i never even heard of. and use terms like ostinato and whatever else i can't remember la. so i was flustering and floundering and basically freaking out. the kids were probably like wth as well.

then i spent the rest of the day with upper primary classes. very violent, vulgar and aggressive upper primary classes. i was happily (ok not so happily) walking up to my p6 class and i was just the level below when i see a whole bunch of them out of their classroom gesturing to me to hurry ocme up. i was like shit what's going on man. and so i ran up and what do i see but a boy apparently trying to throw himself off the railing. i say apparently because a whole bunch of them were holding him back while he tried to get to the railing so i dont really know if he was trying to commit suicide or whatever. i nearly had a heart attack man. thank goodness i managed to get him back into his classroom without anyone getting hurt. anyway, that class is so uninterested in their art i really feel like just giving up man. i mean they don't bring ANY art materials whatsoever. not even freaking drawing block. so i have to buy it for them, and provide EVERYTHING for them. and even after that, i have to practically go to each kid and FORCE him or her to do the art. and when it comes back to me, i get really slipshod, halfhearted work. and it's like WHAT IS THE POINT? and they are so rude and, honestly, kind of scary because they are so big and like to shout and wave their hands in my face. and i HATE being called CHER CHER CHER CHER CHER. argh.

oh and when i took a period of p6 math today, i was HORRIFIED and very distressed to realise that i can't do primary 6 math 0.0 they were doing their psle book and some of them asked me how to do the questions and i was seriously like HUH what is that! shit man. my brain is degenerating! eeks.

took a slighty aggressive p5 class as well. they just can't speak to each other at normal volumes and have to SHOUT even tho the person is like NEXT TO THEM. but i kind of like that class. took them before so they weren't too mean to me. haha. one of the boys drew this for me! i thought it was really cool. haha.

very obsessed with nike. hurr.

thankfully i was completely uninvolved in today's PD day! so i had two hours of freedom and an empty staffroom to chill out in before brownies! actually not really cos i had to go to the library to search for this book i had apparently not returned when i actually had! but yeah. then i got stopped by random students to help them with their work. it's actually very gratifying when you explain something and you see the person get it. haha.

brownies farewell today! there was so much food! was kind of impressed that so many of them brought so much food. :) anyway, said goodbye to my p5s cos it was the last time i'd be seeing them too. aw :( i'll miss them and the sessions we had. haha. they are a nice bunch :)

ok the two day course is over! yay! the course can basically be summed up in my sms to liming..

It was horribly long and cold and there was a guy who wouldn't stop interrupting the trainer and subjecting us to his life stories. And the food in the canteen sucks so bad i didn't even dare eat anything which is why i'm stuffing down a huge mars bar now. But it was kind of enlightening i guess and the trainer's really nice and let us off early..i kind of had fun i guess. learnt alot of stuff. played fun games! and it was kind of nice to be in a room of ppl sharing the same fate as you in school and learning about their experiences.

got to know the other relief teacher from my sch, kavitha, better too. we hardly ever talked in school but somehow over this two days we kind of bonded. haha she's suprisingly easy to talk to and has the most contagious laugh ever. hahah. so the past two days have been alright. all the talk about how to conduct lessons etc have made me miss school tho! kind of can't wait to go back tmr, even tho it's a super long day. eeks.

oh and i got a airmail today! hahah. thanks to my buddy. i think it's so exciting getting a letter via snail mail, or in this case, flying snail mail. haha. anyways, great to see your handwriting buddy! really really miss you :( ok i'll leave the rest to my reply to you! haha

met liming for our weekly dose of korean movies. haha april is korean movie month! so many good korean movies coming out :) The Art Of Seduction wasnt anything spectacular, but it was really funny. ha ha funny and that's good. plus, song il guk is completely charming! :)

you know, i think i've become completely addicted to my job now. it's scary, but i've somehow sailed into and past the 4th week of term 2 and it makes me very sad that there's only about 6 weeks left of this job.

i remember how it all started. liming and i were just playing around with the idea of becoming relief teachers because, according to her, the pay was pretty good. and i just happened to mention it to my mum and asked her to help me check my old primary school for any vacancies. and it just so happened that she had recently gotten in touch with the principal of skps who is so wonderful that she herself suggested i come and work there. i remember being relunctant. i didnt want to go to a whole new environment. i wasnt sure i really meant it when i said i wanted to try relief teaching. i wasnt sure i wanted to give up my newfound freedom and go back to early mornings and school days. i remember having to cancel a shopping trip to go for the VERY impromptu 'interview' with the principal. and in the span of 5 or 10 minutes, i was hired and very immediately asked to join in the work plan that was going on that very day. i remember the next three days of increduality, walking around the now familiar school grounds, trying to imagine the next six months. the utter displacement i felt sitting among the other teachers in staff meetings, thinking, omg i was just a student like two weeks ago and here i am planning lessons like a teacher. feeling completely lonely and unable to click with anyone in the staff, even though they are all really great and friendly people. and of course, breathing in a sigh of complete relief when xueying joined as well :)

then when the school year started. i remember the UTTER CHAOS. the meeting of the form class. the shock and horror at how big the class was and how noisy they could get and just how little control i had over them. the overflowing of admin stuff. learning that besides my own form class, which was already two handfuls, i had to take music and social studies for 5 other classes. watching my table overflow with books and worksheets that had to be marked.

the first month was the biggest emotional rollercoaster. i cried more in that month than i usually did in a single year. i wanted to quit like every day. but at the same time, i was building relationships with some wonderful kids, relationships i didnt even realise were so strong until the next month came around i was told of my change of duties. the second month saw me shedding alot of the work and responsibility and exchanging them for a much simpler job of co-teaching. when i first heard that, i was really upset, to say the least. it was pretty much them saying that i couldnt handle the job first given to me properly. but looking back, it was actually the truth. being a form teacher was more than i could handle. co-teaching worked so much better for me. i was able to give help individually to kids who really needed it. and the best part, i didnt have to deal with the discipline which i so suck at. heh.

third month came around, and there was yet another change. from form teacher to coteacher to internal relief teacher. every day, or sometimes week, i would be given a new timetable. in some sense i kind of like that. something new each time. and if i didnt work well with the class, well it would only be for a day. and i got a taste of teaching at every single level. from p1 to p6. from em1 classes to the em3 classes. from classroom teaching to PE (ugh).

and now, the fourth month. YET another change. now i triple task. while still being an internal relief and coteaching, i am also a regular art and music teacher. which so far, i think has been the best change. because there's an element of predictability and unpredictability in my school days now. haha

the past 3 and a half months have been such an experience. it's been both long yet fast. both a joy and a pain. is both something i wake up looking forward to and dreading at the same time. but in the end, i know i love everything about it. the school building. the students. the teachers. the office staff. the canteen vendors. the cleaners. basically everyone in the school (ok practically everyone). the classroom time. the meetings. the after school activities. the learning journeys. hanging out/eavesdropping/pigging out in the staffroom. the food (man i'm in love with the nasi lemak and char kway teow!). the trips to compasspoint. even the travelling to and fro. even the marking. even, and actually mostly, the complaining about it (haha). i think a great part of me wanting to be a teacher is because of this place. when i envision becoming a teacher, i envision becoming an skps teacher. that place has become such a sanctuary, such an escape for me, it really horrifies me that in less than two months i have to leave it and embark on a new journey in a new place as a new person.

so here i am, not even done with the job, and i'm missing it terribly. i dont want it to end. yet one reason why i like the job so much is because of it's temporality. i know, even though i feel like i want to be a teacher right now, what i really want is to continue in this wonderful situation of being a relief teacher while waiting to further my studies. being a part of this school as it is now, with the students and staff as it is RIGHT AT THIS MOMENT. i dont want the school, situation or people to change.

and this is just me. i get attached to things very much towards the end and obsess and miss it like crazy once it ends. bah this is so depressing. and shit that was long, i think i just spent an hour on this. =X

i'm really scared now. that physical manifestation of my fears is surely going to take a toll on my mental health as well.

anyway, i'm so very very thankful for my parents. they nag alot yes. but they are always there. always have, and i know always will. so even when i cry, i know it's going to be ok. even this time.

phew. today was so much so much so much better than yesterday :) (despite the fact that i had no free periods until 11.30) took 3s, 4s and 5s today. i love 3courage. they treat me so nicely :) haha and strangely enough, they are the only p3 class that can be occupied with drawing. i was so PLEASANTLY suprised when they just sat at their OWN seats drawing quietly! i guess it's also cos they are one of the smaller-sized p3 classes, but i felt so completely un-suffocated and happy.

then rushed over for my p4 art class. ok, after the past two weeks of classes not bringing their art materials, i was so impressed when i walked into 4joy. their newspapers were laid out, vegetables and paint in front of them, all ready to start! :D haha it was QUITEEE messy tho as paint always is. but i guess it was alright. one kid even cut out a tortise shape onto his potato! i was so impressed man.

after that i spent the rest of the day with a p5 class that was extremely teachable but at the same time not arrogant like some other classes. ahem. such a sweet day today was :)

oh yeah, so today was the NIE teachers' last day. alot of students were crying apparently (altho i didnt see any, but according to the teachers in the staffroom). and they attacked the staffroom like rabid fans. it was quite funny actually. haha the teachers were getting quite pissed and the kids were plastered to the staffroom door calling out for the teacher who wasnt even in the staffroom. it was like being under attack. hahah. the NIE teachers were like MIA after school so i didnt get to say goodbye to meihui or take a picture :( and now i realise i dont even have her contact. booo. :(

anyways, after school went to check out the bookfair at expo. not bad, made off with quite a few books for less than 25 in all! woot. i was too tired to search properly tho. was practically falling asleep on my feet. argh i hate being all perpetually tired.

i think back to that time when i loved 1harmony so damn much. when i thought they were the cutest things ever. when i was so sad that i could no longer teach them and always wished that i could relieve their class.

NOW, 1harmony is synonymous with 1 headache, 1 horrible day and 1 hoarse throat. a part of me just DIED when i got my timetable for today. out of 11 periods for the day, 7 was with them. including one period of PE. the worst part was that 6 of the 7 periods were in a BLOCK. from after their recess all the way to dismissal time. (which is like 3 bloody hours) i really truely and completely have newfound and profound respect for their form teacher man. that class is even worse than my old form class, which is REALLY REALLY saying alot because they are smaller in size (both individually and the class size. ha ha) the annoying thing about them is that once you ask a question, the WHOLE class just seems to find it necessary to simultaneously shout out their answers. i wasnt exaggerating when i told them that they could not even be quiet for more than a minutes. GAD.

was supposed to take them again tomorrow. i was contemplating suicide. but i talked to the teacher in charge of timetabling instead. OMG she's so nice i love her. she took one look at my horrified face when i said 'am i taking 1harmony again tomorrow?' and immediately said she would change it for me. HA thank goodness for nice people in this world.

anyway, my p6 art today! argh. 99% of the class didnt even bring ANY art materials whatsoever. thank goodness for their ever so resourseful teacher. ahem. haha. anyway, all i can say is thank goodness their classroom is airconditioned. because, for all the walking around their class answering to every 'CHER' and for all the things they did to get on my nerves, the airconditioning really did diffuse alot of the irritation.

because of these two classes, i was seriously on the verge of falling asleep during the meeting. thank goodness it was pretty short and there was good food and a pretty funny activity. the NIE teachers are leaving tmr tho! which kind of sucks because that means one less friendly face in the school. :( rahh.

brownies after that. next week would be the last week i see my brownies! will miss them. they are a pretty nice bunch. we indulged in alot of p5 gossip today. hahah. sometimes i seriously feel like one of them man 0.0

so damn tired now but i wont be able to sleep because i took a 2hour nap just now. argh. p4 art tomorrow!

holy shit.

MY SISTER JUST BROUGHT HOME GIANT MUTANT BANANAS! they are like completely freaking me out. i get the creeps whenever i touch it! EWWWWWW!

one thing i like about bad days is that the next day automatically becomes 'good' by default. haha.

there were YET more visitors to the school today.

my pe lessons today were pretty succesful! except for a girl who had a pretty bad fall. but i cleaned her up and she was up and running with her friends by her recess :)

that new kid is so adverse to girls it's really funny. he keeps screaming and covering his face when this particular girl comes near him. and he proclaimed he hated girls. right up till i pointed out his mother was also a girl. hurr. oh and he calls me Mr Teacher! wth! he's got a super adorable smile tho. hahah. and i was so touched by how the class was so hospitable to him. it was really sweet. and when he finally learnt how to go to the toilet by himself, we all watched as he made his way there and gave us a thumbsup from across the bridge. and when he came back i made everyone clap for him. haha. i like taking p2s!

oh and one of the girls gave me a GEMS card today 0.0 hahah those cards are meant to thank people in the service industry for great service! but yeah ok sure i'll take it. hahaha.

i'm like the queen of excursions man. i've gone for the p3 one to the zoo, the p5 one on the hippotours and now i'm down to go for the p4 one to the science center! but i dont mind because i havent gone there in damn long! anyway i kind of like taking kids on excursions. haha. and i like most of the p4s. the teachers too :)

youtube rocks the world! i can't believe i only just recently discovered it. all those untapped sources!

the campus superstar cd is actually really good! have i mentioned i'm a big fan of the winner ZHIYANG! his voice is just awesome. i voted for him! woohoo :D for once, the one i voted for won. oh except for taufik also. haha.

ok rah i have to go cut frames for my p6s art tomorrow. pls let my art lesson tmr be a success!

today was one of those days that just start horribly. and you know for the rest of the day, everything you do would go wrong. however, today was also a pretty good day. huh. how odd.

long post ahead!

anyway, it starts with news that i would be taking a p2 class for the next two days. which is fine. except the timetable also includes two classes of PE (the freaking bane of my schooling and teaching life). this is followed by a very confusing and chaotic assembly for me which i can't be bothered to recount. all i can say is this school has a seriously high frequency rate of 'visitors to the school'. which, to me, is a very stressful thing. i mean the visitors with the p and vp are constantly walking around the school, making me very nervous.

thankfully my first period of PE was saved by another PE teacher who very kindly (although i dont think i really gave him a choice haha) let my class join his.

the better half of the day was spent;

-taking care of a poor p1 kiddo who had a tummyache. his large and adorable eyes kept filling up with tears and i felt so horrible for him :(
-trying to explain to another p1 kid, how after buying something, his money would naturally diminish 0.0
-teaching another yet another p1 kid how to draw himself. i'm quite pleased he liked my drawing! haha
-repeatedly introducing this new student to his class. omg i have officially become a Naggy Adult.
-teaching past tense and constructing sentences with the p2 class. yawn.

things got better from assembly tho! for one, because i was sitting with the p2s, i got to see my JJ! haha his cheeky smile is just adorable beyond words. :D then the p2 teachers put up a really hilarious skit. haha laughing at them made me feel much much better xD

after assembly was my first proper art class with my p1s. and i am SO PLEASED to say that it was pretty successful! :D :D i managed to do handpainting with 30 kids and only two palettes of paint and about 10 paintbrushes (provided by yours truly), in 30minutes! and then cleaned up the kids, the paintbrushes, the palettes and the class in 15minutes. looking at the colourful finished work and the relatively clean kids, i felt like Super Art Teacher for a moment. HA HA. :D

remedial after school. urgh i was just about falling asleep. but thankfully my coteacher came back in time to teach instead of me. towards the end, the kids were getting all crazy and it was pretty funny. everything was just so funny to them. i can't remember what was going on, but everything seemed pretty funny to me too. i think the heat and the long day just got to everyone. even my coteacher was laughing. so basically we were all just laughing and laughing like siaos. 0.0

after work, i was too tired to go home! that was the saddest thing ever. i just sat at my table until i got so bored i dragged my sorry ass home. AND THEN, i missed my bus stop! i was fully conscious when it happened. i thought i was on the bus i usually took when i was in secondary school! so yes, on the day when i was so damn tired, i just had to miss my dumb bus stop.

there was a random thing i wanted to say but i forgot what it was! argh. annoying.

[edit] ok got it. i wanted to say that i want to get minty shampoo! it's the most refreshing thing ever! makes your scalp TINGLE happily :D oh and peanut butter and banana sandwiches rock my mornings :D

at 8am with nothing to do..

ok i'm succumbing to boredom at work and ignoring the fact that i think blogging from work is extremely unsafe (i'm a paranoid insecure person, yes.) i am also very upset because today i have to take that STUPID p6 class again. ok i know it's somewhat of an oxymoron calling the best class 'stupid'. so let me change that. i have to take that annoying p6 class again. i realise i'm not the only one who thinks they are arrogant! this is one of the pitfalls of banding i think. i mean if you've spent the past 3 years of your life being called the best of the school, i guess your head would swell and you would think you dont need any teachers (especially ignorant relief teachers only 7 years older than you) to do well. bah i sound so bitter.

update at 11am
thank freaking goodness their teacher came back! haha so i only had to see them for one period :D shit they are seriously damn rude and annoying man. ugh. whatever. i hope all their wonderful HOD teachers continue to come to school so i never have to see them ever again. hm so now i'm left with three whole periods free before my next period. sudden freedom. hurr. i'm starting to like hanging out in the staffroom now. actually i only like it when there's very little people in it. tis nice and peaceful :) and the teachers around here are in a crazy mood once again. haha. i have totally got to stop snacking tho. argh. it's just natural reflex to grab something to eat once i sit at my table. even when i just had recess the period before! eeks.

la la la. i'm bored! i have things to mark but RAWR.

oh my gosh. the weather totally totally sucks man. it's so damn hot for the whole day in school. then just when you want to leave the place, it pours and pours and pours 0.0

i've been 'nominated' to go for some two-day relief teacher course thing next next week. it's freaking from 8.30am to 5.30pm! :O but actually i should be grateful for this. because i'll still get paid for those two days. and apparently, after i go for this course, my pay MIGHT 'have some changes'. hmm. i would be verily eagerly waiting for thoses changes. hehe.

need to stock up on good noodles in my house! after 'teaching' my brownies how to cook, or rather cooking for them, in school, i was craving for noodles too. luckily my mummy was very tired today so she let me cook my own noodles for dinner. BUT, all i had was maggi asam laksa. which totally sucks btw. i dont even know why it's called asam laksa. (asam is chicken right?) cause it didnt even taste like chicken OR laksa. it just tasted.. gross. bah.

oh yeah, i totally nearly fell asleep during the meeting just now. first time it happened! hahah. they were discussing the 10th aniversary celebrations. quite exciting actually. they are going to have a funfair thingy with horse rides! like real ponies! how cool la. oh and some of the recently promoted teachers also gave a lunch treat which was really yummy! the school staff seem to be in the habit of treating each other. which is all good. haha.

i am also quite paranoid about hfmd now. i washed my hands with soap today more times than i've ever done in my life. better safe than sorry!!

i've officially been made into an art teacher. i dont know what to say about that.

anyway, i'm so happy. i can't believe the meeting tomorrow is scheduled to be only ONE HOUR FIFTEEN MINUTES. super! i really loathe meetings so that's just awesome news. hehe.

i don't know if i'm paranoid, but i feel like the other teachers dont really like me :(

hm. today was a really slack day. :) oh and during relieving, i came across this really good looking p6 boy. he's seriously tall, dark and handsome man. too bad he's also 12 years old. =x

anyway, left school right after lessons. cabbed down to town with liming to catch an afternoon movie. My Girl and I was suprisingly good despite it's cliched girl-gets-leukemia-and-dies plot. movie had it's fair share of funny moments. the funniest part, however, was during a sad scene. because this group of girls behind us were seriously sobbing, with a tissue to blow their noses and all man. honestly, it was quite damn funny.

then we headed down for dinner at wheelock. man i'm addicted to the sushi at that japanese restaurant. even the ginger and the salad's YUMMY. went down to borders to check out books. ended up in the children's section. and borders has a totally AWESOME children's section. the books are so freaking cool! (but also very expensive. boo.) had a really great time just laughing at some of the books as well as finding some books from our own childhoods :) i also got a REALLY cool how-to-draw book. usually it costs over 20 bucks for one. but the special 4-in-1 edition was only 8 bucks! don't know how that works but yeah, it's all good. haha. :)

and i really hate taking the train. argh. how on earth am i going to study in NUS.

omg i can't believe i forgot to bitch about this colleague of mine who sits next to me in the staffroom. i don't know what's her damn problem. but like she's completely OBLIVIOUS to her surroundings or something. either that or she's completely selfish beyond measure. like everyone else in the staffroom, myself included, always makes an effort to sit into their desks so that other people are able to walk through the rows of cubicles. but this woman, she takes up more than half of the ALREADY VERY FREAKING NARROW walkway. i mean fine if you like sitting with your chair out, but like if people are VERY OBVIOUSLY trying to get past, the least you can do is move in right. or at least PRETEND to make an effort to move in. like i can stand there or even say excuse me and she just DOESNT MOVE. i mean WTF seriously. and when i try to squeeze past and ACCIDENTALLY bump into her chair (i mean who can bame me right. it's not like i'm as skinny as her) she makes a damn pissed off sound. ARGH. and so now i've taken to just bumping past her chair. the reflex courtesy in me always ends up saying sorry to her. although honestly i dont think she deserves a sorry. and also, now whenever she tries to get past, i dont bother moving my chair either. i mean an eye for an eye etc. it just sucks when you're having a shitty day and people like that are in your vicinity. damn i hate the staffroom. ARGH.

i don't care ok. never did, never will.
bah.

i find it highly ironic that the class names that some classes have are so in contrast to everything they are.

for example. today i took 1HARMONY, and harmonious is about the last word i would use to describe that class. they have got to be the most rowdy p1 class i've taken. and i've taken pretty much all the classes already. they run about, refuse to listen, do not respond to instructions, cannot for the life of them line up and basically just talk/shout too much. the only thing they've got going for them is their extreme cuteness. which kind of sucks because i'm a total sucker for cuteness. HOWEVER, after hanging out with them for the whole damn day, i was literally on the verge of losing my voice, my mind and my sanity. i used to like them so much when i took them for music. i always wished i would have the chance to relief them but after today, hell no i never want to step in that class again man. i mean, they're great kids and all but i just dont have what it takes to control them.

had such a supreme headache after that. and had remedial with 3KINDNESS, and in the same way, kind is about the last word i would use to describe them today. cos their form teacher wasnt there, i had to take them on my own. and omg, i was on the verge of committing suicide. i really dont understand why they refuse to listen to me. i tried asking them nicely to let me finish so i could let them go off, but no, they ignored me. i tried lecturing them and scolding them, but no, they were quiet for 5 minutes before going back to their usual selves. my head was throbbing so bad from their noise and the pressure to finish the workbook, i apparently looked very flustered when their form teacher came back. i was so pissed off after that. argh.

so anyway, today pretty much sucked. i'm so sick of shouting. especially when it's to no avail. and i dont like having no one to complain to in school! rahh. you are officially missed miss lam! :( :( :(

oh on a lighter note, the p1s are really adorable. like one of the girls from 1 harmony asked me why i havent come for music class in so long even though she always sees me during recess. and throughout the day, alot of them asked me if it was music lesson. i mean i havent taken them for music in like two months! but they still think i'm their music teacher. 0.0 and i relieved my ex p1 social studies class as well today. i had only seem them for ss twice. but when i went in and greeted them, telling them my name, they were like 'of course we know your name! you're our social studies teacher!' and i was like oh man. hahahah. i was really touched because i barely had an impression of that class. i guess it's cos the p1s know very few teachers in school so they pretty much remember every single one that steps into their class.

argh i still feel shitty. i feel burnt out. i feel ridiculous. but i know, that even the slightest thing can turn that around.