Nov 2006 Desktop

Was reading a friend's blog and found an XP theme that's supposed to be unreleased, for one reason or another. Anyway, downloaded the theme, known as Royal Noir. A theme which gives a black bar. Quite nice le... Heh, I changed my MSN's colour to black too, and changed my usual background picture as well =]

Click to enlarge...

Anyway, realised that it has really been quite a while since I last showed any pictures on my blog... will try to upload more next time... not that I have many. Hmmm.

Yay, the holidays have begun. I think I have five weeks of school holidays. Got to know the result of my SMMT thingy as well. I passed =] Must have been really lucky. Happy happy day.

Mount E and Sentosa

This week has been rather slack... been doing more webpage stuff these days. Rushing a website.

Went to Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre with a friend on Wednesday. My first time there. I think it's a very high end place... much more than Raffles Hospital. Can see all the rich Indonesian tai-tais walking around in there. Anyway, was at a dermatologist clinic because my friend had this mole on his head that looked suspicious. After a few months or even years of procrastination, he finally decided to let a dermatologist take a look at it. Well, a minor surgery is necessary, to at least shave the mole off and send it for analysis to see if it could be malignant. The surgery will take place the coming Thursday morning. Not cheap, not cheap.

Went sun-tanning this morning. Finally. Ha. My friend's brother drove us to Sentosa and we tanned for about two hours. It wasn't that bad until night time. I'm now rather red. I've been wanting to go tan, but didn't, despite the many sunny mornings this week. Anyway, it was a good trip. Saw some people with cute dogs. I want a pet dog too... but ah, no time to take care of it. Tsk tsk. Hope that my face will not peel too badly next week. Might consider going for another tan at the nearby pool if I don't procrastinate next week.

Oh, did I mention that I'm going to Genting this December? Just a weekend trip. Heh.

Go wireless come 1 Dec 2006

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Uh... Empress???

Holidays starting soon... just a 2-hour tutorial this afternoon. One more 2-hour tutorial next Monday and I'll be officially having my school holidays till Jan 2007. Heh

You are The Empress

Beauty, happiness, pleasure, success, luxury, dissipation.

The Empress is associated with Venus, the feminine planet, so it represents,
beauty, charm, pleasure, luxury, and delight. You may be good at home
decorating, art or anything to do with making things beautiful.

The Empress is a creator, be it creation of life, of romance, of art or business. While the Magician is the primal spark, the idea made real, and the High Priestess is the one who gives the idea a form, the Empress is the womb where it gestates and grows till it is ready to be born. This is why her symbol is Venus, goddess of beautiful things as well as love. Even so, the Empress is more Demeter, goddess of abundance, then sensual Venus. She is the giver of Earthly gifts, yet at the same time, she can, in anger withhold, as Demeter did when her daughter, Persephone, was kidnapped. In fury and grief, she kept the Earth barren till her child was returned to her.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Oh no...

I'm schizotypal. How how? :/

Your Social Dysfunction: Schizotypal You display social deficits and oddities of thinking. Your perception and communication are similar to those of a schizophrenic.

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com Please note that we aren't, nor do we claim to be, psychologists. This quiz is for fun and entertainment only. Try not to freak out about your results.

In loving memory of...

... my beloved Yonex windbreaker.

Purple Yonex Windbreaker
?? - 13 November 2006

I've had my Yonex windbreaker for as long as I can remember. Perhaps since my lower Secondary schooldays. Or even my Primary schooldays. I never grew much. Ha. Anyway, the windbreaker has been with a friend of mine since this year or so. Yesterday, I got a call from him that the windbreaker was torn into shreds by his mum. He asked his mum to mend the torn part of the windbreaker, but it got torn into shreds instead. What can I do but to ask him to throw it away.

I knew that the outer layer of the windbreaker was torn at the position of the right shoulder and that the stopper for the zip disappeared for no good reason. I never expected it to be torn into shreds and I didn't even get the chance to say a last goodbye. Ah well, it has served me well over the years, be it during camps, at KTVs, at the movies, during lectures, during most of my major examinations in air-conditioned rooms and even when I am at home. Life is so unpredictable.

It is survived by its accompanying track pants and succeeded by my baby blue Converse jacket.

*Just in case my friend reads this: I'm not angry with you, just a little sad that the windbreaker has to come to this sorry end.

Long day

I just realised today... after this week, I'll only have lessons on two more Mondays before my holidays begin ie. just two hours of lessons per week for the next two weeks. That's scary.

Anyway, the day began with me waking up later than planned. Had to rush a little, since I was doing my micro-teaching today and had to wear formal clothings and comb my hair. It's time-consuming to dress up... I normally just wet my hair, put on my tshirt and berms, then head off to school le.

Micro-teaching wasn't as good as I thought it would be. Maybe I was a little nervous and not as prepared as I thought I was ba. A good learning experience though, since there was quite a bit of feedback from the lecturer (mildly negative ones). Have to work harder on my content knowledge. It's weird being a Physics teacher when my degree is in Computing. There's this horrid feeling of incompetency and inadequacy every time I conduct a Physics lesson or share Physics stuff. I'm more comfortable with Maths though, not that I'm fantastic in it... just more confident.

Lunch, followed by an hour in the library rushing my tutorial 3 reflection for my Individual Differences tutorial. Then it was two hours of Communication Skills. I'm not sure whether the problem lies with me or my lecturer... but I am almost always at a different frequency from him. I can never fathom what he's trying to say... or what responses he wants from me. My level of intolerance for the lesson has been rising over the weeks. I'm so going to die for my oral presentation. I'm rather definite that he won't be able to decipher what I say.

Two hours of tutorial for Individual Differences in a cold cold tutorial room. The lecturer dressed like a typical Taiwanese girl today and even spoke in Taiwanese Mandarin. Rather enchanting. Ha. Anyway, that aside, I had quite a hard time keeping myself awake towards the end of the lesson :P Went over to the canteen to grab some buns for my dinner and it was over to church to tutor my pastor's daughter.

Ehz, four hours of A-math tuition. I was half-dead by then... so I can't imagine how she was feeling. I did tell her not to practise anymore for the night, since it was really an overdose le. Well, I do hope that she will get decent results for her sciences and mathematics... since I put in quite a bit of effort over the past three weeks to help her.

Quite late le... shall go sleep. I'll hopefully wake up early tomorrow to get some stuff done. Maybe a short trip to the pool will be nice if the sun is out.

Sick... and SMMT

Yea... sick again. Not enough sleep I guess, although I did have about 14 hours of sleep on Tuesday. Maybe it was an overdose of sleep. Ha. Anyway, down with a slight cold. The weather isn't helping either. Days are mostly rainy. Haiz... sick le can't go tan even if the sun is out also. Sian.

I'm finally done with my draft lesson plan. Another two reflection pieces to write... basically just answering of questions, one group report, another individual report for GESL and a pair work demonstration for Physics. Oh yar... there's still my micro-teaching thingy on Monday morning. I hope I'll be well enough by then to "perform".

Just had my SMMT today... SMMT stands for School Mathematics Mastery Test. It's basically a 2-hour paper with 20 short questions with parts. The standard is just slightly above the 'O' level A and E Math paper standard and we're supposed to get at least an A1 grade for it to pass. Hmmm, today's paper was ok... I couldn't do about 11 or 12 marks... and I think I was careless for quite a lot :/ Dunno if I'll do well enough to pass. If I fail, I think it would be a borderline fail ie. about 70 marks or so. The second try is next in April/May 2007. I hope I pass this time round... otherwise I'll have to sit for the second try. But I think I'll be more prepared and confident then... now that I know how the paper is like.

Feeling drowsy from my cold medication...

Eh, B only :/

Your Vocabulary Score: B

You have a zealous love for the English language, and many find your vocabulary edifying. Don't fret that you didn't get every word right, your vocabulary can be easily ameliorated!

How's Your Vocabulary?

Firefox 2

Firefox 2 is out~ but... the download seems to be slow. Can't wait to see how it's like. Heh.

Anyway, the past few days have been rather relaxing except that I had to give tuition everyday, including today... and tomorrow... and even on Sunday. Happening. I've been playing Audition and I think I'm getting a lot better at it. Ha. It's getting a little boring though, but I guess the few new modes are making it more challenging, especially the "Beat Up" mode.

Read more about the game here. Play already confirm won't 老人痴呆... but ah, might 抽筋 :P

Shall try to finish up my Physics lesson plan as well as the accompanying Powerpoint slides and maybe worksheets by tomorrow morning. Turning effect of forces - Moments. I quite like this topic... lots of demos and hands on stuff for students to explore =]

Marina KTV

Went Marina KBox on Saturday evening... Three hours of karaoke with buffet dinner. Well, I think I spent more time eating though :P Tried some food which I didn't try the first time I went there. On the whole, it's a pretty good deal. I still prefer going on a weekday though :P It'll be SGD7 cheaper... and we may get an hour more to eat... erm... sing. Going again next Monday :P

Walked around Marina Square... Giordana, Baleno, Hangten, U2... The new designs didn't really catch my eyes. I still need to get some new shirts soon though. I've been wearing the same old shirts to school. It's about time for some new clothes le... and new pairs of sandals, sport shoes and leather shoes. I need a new wallet too. So many things to buy ah... I think I shall wait till the end of the year, when I get my bonus :P Or perhaps when I get my salary for the month of November... just six more days. Heh

Three more assignments left before the end of the semester. One lesson plan, one Physics demo clip and one final report to go. No plans for the holidays yet though... but I think I'll want to go on a cruise or something. Just a short break before the new semester begins... after which I doubt I'll have any time for overseas trips except maybe to Sentosa.

I hope the sun will be out tomorrow... wanna go tan. It's been months since I've last been to the pool.

Diet Coke and Mentos~

http://eepybird.com/dcm1.html

http://eepybird.com/exp214.html

Interesting... =]

GESL

Ok, let me first present a brief summary of the week that has passed...

Monday was spent touching up the SCLP for my ICT module... and I discovered that there were some typo errors in the FLASH that I made after it was already submitted. Ah well. Let's just hope that my tutor is not able to notice the mistakes :P But then again... there's nothing I can do except to make sure that the copy that I have is correct... just in case I'm going to make use of it in the near future. Heh.

Nothing much for Tuesday... just a presentation and tuition in the evening. I think I work too hard sometimes... giving free tuition somemore. But... a student who is willing to learn is hard to find and the fact that her 'O' level papers are just round the corner does warrant my help. More late nights ahead. *notsniw searches for his sleep and manages to concuss*

Wednesday... I spent the morning churning out an essay that is worth 90% of the CA for a module. I hope it's decent enough to get at least a B grade for me. It was on "Ability vs mixed-ability grouping". It basically explores the various forms of ability grouping ie. banding, streaming and setting as well as mixed-ability grouping ie. just throw students into any class without ranking, with an analysis and comparison between streaming and setting, and between ability and mixed-ability grouping. My conclusion? There is generally a need for ability grouping... and setting is a good way to group students.

Thurday... Accompanied my NIE friends over to Eight Flags at NTU to purchase their laptops. Envy... ha. Super lightweight and small laptops. 1.3kg compared to my current 2.8kg. I'm so tempted to get a new laptop even though mine is only four or five months old. But... I think I still prefer a larger laptop screen. It's just the weight that is rather irritating. Tuition again in the evening.

Ok... now on to GESL, the main topic of this entry :P

The execution of the GESL project was finally concluded on a cloudy Saturday afternoon, after two half-days of activities for some primary one students in a neighbourhood school. I know that I will eventually be teaching in a secondary school... but it was nonetheless a very good experience for me.

I think it's really hardwork for primary school teachers to handle classes of 40 students each. Between my friend and I, we had 5 primary one students and we already couldn't really handle them. They just keep running about. Ha. But... they are really nice children. I think I learnt quite a bit from this experience... in terms of knowing about myself and knowing how to handle children.

I won't really go into the details of the activities. I'm quite glad it's over though (not in the "get-it-over-and-done-with" sense) and now it's time for me to really do my job as the group treasurer to settle the money stuff... by the end of the coming week I hope. Waiting for a school day when I can collect all the receipts.

There are some other things which I want to mention... but I'm tired now :P
Mental note: Marina KTV, assignments left.

Quiz quiz

http://www.intuitor.com/physics_test/PhysicsSavvy.html

Quiz with 40 "easy" Physics questions, taken from a friend's blog. Go try go try.

My results: Your Total Score is 82.5 %

Hee. Happy :P