The start of term 3

Term 3 begins tomorrow... and a few months of hectic life beckons. Ha.

Anyway, the past week was rather hectic as well, with a half-day school induction meeting on Wednesday, a full-day staff meeting on Thursday and a full-day staff training workshop on Friday.

One thing to highlight perhaps... and that would be a movie which was shown during the staff meeting on Thursday. A movie by the title of "Freedom Writers". My first time watching that movie... and I found it really touching and perhaps close to what I do in real life. It's a movie worth watching... for all educators and all educators-to-be.

Staff training on Friday was great too. It was quite enriching I would say... but putting what is learnt into use will be a little difficult. I'll try though... because using the techniques taught will definitely make lessons less mundane =]

Right... a pleasant week ahead to all. It's time for war. Haha

End of break

I'm going to school tomorrow and I can't sleep because I'm too nervous and apprehensive~

Nah... not true. Haha. I can't sleep because I've been staying up late for the past few days playing Granado Espada :P Anyway, not going to play it le... partially because the school term is beginning soon and partially because it will soon become a paid game. No point paying money to play a game which I won't really have time for.

I need to pack my room... so many stacks of papers lying around. It's time to be neat and tidy again. Haha. Actually, come to think of it. Adults find it easy to do some things, but teenagers will find it totally impossible. Perhaps it isn't right for me to talk about playing games in my bloggie... knowing that teenagers who stumble upon this bloggie might just start playing and probably not be able to control themselves. Maybe they'll keep messy rooms and say that they can pack up next time like me.

Perhaps I have a little more responsibility than most people out there to educate the young. However, I believe that I live my life... and if I do play games, it is perfectly all right to write about it. What matters is that I, having spent 26 years on Earth, am able to know my limits, which all growing teenagers should learn to. Ok, suddenly a little too serious and a little too ego. Haha. Suddenly don't know what to say :P

Anyway, will be busy busy busy from tomorrow onwards... lalala.

Finale & Fantastic 4

Friday, the last day of my official journey through NIE... The finale to the whole of the post-NIE activities was a visit to ITE College East. Well, being someone who has experienced the streaming system and seen people from primary 7 and primary 8, my view of the ITE is not very pleasant. However, the visit to ITE College East has exposed me to how ITEs are like now... I would say that ITEs are very much like Polytechnics, providing as comprehensive a list of courses as Polytechnics. The hands-on approach meant that students were provided with the technology and devices to learn. I was rather impressed with the facilities and the student guides. Oh yar... the teabreak was supper good... a 9-course teabreak complete with salad and dessert. It was basically a buffet lunch/dinner type of teabreak lo. Haha

Walked over to the Singapore Expo with my friends, since I had to take the MRT over to Plaza Singapura where I would be watching Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer with a friend. Anyway, had initially planned to have dinner at Park Mall's Han's again, but ended up in the restaurant next to it selling those Japanese and Korean cuisine. Quite a large serving for the price I would say... but I've never really been a fan of such cuisine.

Did some shopping with my friend who would be starting work on Monday. His first official job... so we had to get quite a few things. Spent almost SGD300... He got for himself two casual short sleeve shirts, a long sleeve shirt, a belt, a pair of pants and a pair of shoes. I managed to get a long sleeve shirt for myself too... a white shirt with green stripes. Quite nice. Been spending quite a lot on G2000 stuff lately. Hmmm... will need to get new pants done also. No time no time >.<"

The movie was very good. Although I didn't watch the first movie in the sequel, I could still get most of what the movie was about. Quite like the special effects as well. After the movie, I had a go at the u-Papa that was placed at strategic locations of Plaza Singapura... Ermz, I think I'm too skinny. The beating of the u-Papa made me cough once in a while. I need more fats to cushion the beating... Ha. While I was walking to the bus-stop to get home, I was surprised to see people queuing up for taxis even though there was no taxi stand. Impressive... a man-made taxi queue at an invisible taxi stand.

Two weeks

Two weeks of post-NIE programmes... currently into my last day of activities... a visit to ITE College East tomorrow afternoon.

A quick overview of the past week and the current one...

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Last week
A long day on Monday, with feedback talks etc... My friends and I left half an hour earlier... and missed signing out for the day. Ah well. I hope nothing bad will come out of that. Anyway, we went over to Downtown East's Sakura International Buffet and had a great time eating :P Took a walk along Pasir Ris Park after that... quite nice. Relaxing...

More talks from Tuesday to Friday, with quite a bit of my time spent dozing off during the talks. Well, not the correct thing to do... but do let me enjoy the last of my student days. It will be a long long time before I can get to sleep in lectures, if ever I get the chance to.

The rest of my time was spent mostly giving tuition and helping my cousin who is taking his 'O' levels this year. I have two cousins taking 'O' levels this year... thus resulting in me having such hectic schedules. Well, some time playing as well... again, not much time to play when work begins soon. Glad that I've reached level 120 in Maple Story... time to take a break. Had fun playing Warcraft 3. Currently trying out Granado Espada... very low level only. AFK-leveling doesn't really work for my combination of characters.

Watched "Men in White" over the weekend. Hilarious... but totally "bo liao" I would say. Just watch, laugh and it's over. I can't really remember what the show is about.

This week
Monday... met up with a friend for dinner at Fish & Co after more talks in NIE. A yearly meeting with this friend of mine. This year, it's his turn to treat me... Heh. Good lah, I've been treating him for quite a few years le. Ha. Now that we have both started to earn our own money, we will take turns treating... which means that I'll be treating next year.

Tuesday... went with a friend to a job agency to get a job. Had lunch at Park Mall's Han's. I've been going to that outlet since I was a boy... my aunt used to bring me to its previous location, which I have no idea of. It moved to Park Mall quite some time ago... and until I went to the University, we still went there on a regular basis for dinner. Eating there brings back memories...

Wednesday... a visit to Tuas Naval Base. Not a bad trip I would say... learnt things about the Navy which I previously know nothing of. Quite an educational trip. Had a chance to explore one of the ships as well. Quite small compared to those cruise ships, but it's a mean fighting ship. Ha.

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Played Audition just now... the C-4 NPC is quite fun. Played the 99BPM and 107BPM ones... dried up the NPCs le. Received two emails from my school over the week. One about the reporting dates and times for next week and another regarding some allocation details. A little exciting now that more details are coming in, but I'm still apprehensive about what I'm going to get...

To my students from my practicum who might read this... I cannot reveal what school I've been posted to. Everything will come to light in due time =] Enjoy whatever is left of the June holidays ba.

And oh ya... notsniw.net will be down for "renovation". Not sure when I will get it done... but it wouldn't be too soon.

Ho Ho. Results are out.

Yep, the results to my second and final semester in NIE is out. Means ah... I can graduate le. Haha. Not too bad I guess... graduated with a Credit from my PGDE(Sec) course (July 2006 intake) with a CAP of 3.60. Happy that I have gotten a credit for my practicum =]

The breakdown of my modules and grades... Semesters 1 and 2

Semester 1

QCM520 Teaching and Learning Mathematics I (All Sec) B
QCP520 Teaching of Physics I C+
QCP521 Teaching of Physics II B+
QED520 Educational Psychology I: Theories and Applications for Learning and Teaching A-
QED521 Educational Psychology II: Providing for Individual Differences in Learning and Teaching and Classroom Management B-
QED522 ICT for Engaged Learning B+
QLK520 Communication Skills for Teachers B-

Semester 2

QCM521 Teaching and Learning Mathematics II (All Sec) B+
QCP522 Teaching of Physics III B-
QED523 The Social Context of Teaching and Learning B
QPR520 Teaching Practice CR
QED561 Technologies as Cognitive Tools A-

Remarks:
Passed the Final Examination for the Postgraduate Diploma in Education (Specialisation
in Teaching at Secondary School Level) (with Credit).
Cumulative Grade Point Average : 3.60

Totally no idea as to how I got a C+ in my first semester...
Next up... full-time teaching... mixed feelings.

Some recent fiddlings

Just another quick update on some of the things which I've been fiddling with lately... well, not much though.

<< Google Calendar >>
Google Calendar is a new thingy that I have been exploring for the past one or two weeks. It will serve to be useful in my work in the future. I'm currently using it for my personal timetable as well as for planning my cousin's 'O' level preparation timetable. Quite useful I would say... and very accessible and rather intuitive to use.

<< Mozilla Sunbird >>
Mozilla Sunbird is a calendar software from Mozilla which works the same way as Google calendar, but in the offline sense. I make use of it to view my Google Calendar on my desktop without having to login to Google... since Google Calendar provides the iCal link to be read by any software that is compatible with the format.

<< Blender >>
Blender is an open source 3D graphics designing software with a small installation filesize. Worth taking a look at for anyone who is interested in 3D graphics without the hassle of large installations and pirated software.

<< GIMP >>
Introduced to me by a fellow teacher who is a MAC user, GIMP is a free graphics program similar to ADOBE Photoshop... worth a try I think. I personally haven't downloaded it, since I still have my Photoshop. The link leads to a version that works in Windows.

It's June le...

Eh... so fast June liao >.<" Time really passes very quickly... It will soon be the end of the year le. Anyway, I'll just do a very quick re-cap of the events that took place last week.

Monday
Went over to Beach Road for lunch, wanting to eat the 辣椒面 but it was closed for holidays. So my friend and I ended up having 炒果条 instead. Not bad leh... not oily and got many many the vegetables. Walked over to a dunno what art gallery after that to view an art exhibition put up by the graduating NIE trainees. A fellow practicum friend, Dass' works were the least abstract of them all... so I could still appreciate what he drew. The rest of the exhibits and drawings were totally off-frequency. Met a teacher there as well...

Walked over to Suntec after that for the World Book Fair, hoping to get some good buys, but there wasn't really much. Ended up getting a tub of artificial sand that has the same characteristics as playdough. No need to go to the beach to play with sand liao... Ha. Anyway, walked past G2000 before reaching the convention halls and with the Great Singapore Sale in place, I got for myself 2 casual working shirts and 2 casual shirts. Quite a good buy... an additional 20% off the final bill when I used the POSB Everyday card.

Tuesday
Nothing much... went over to my cousins' place as usual for tuition.

Wednesday
Met up with a few of my practicum friends for dinner at Holland Village NYDC... I had a "Romeo and Juliet" baked pasta. Quite a huge serving... I don't mind going to NYDC for pasta. Ha. Had a nice chat with them. The only female practicum friend brought her boyfriend along. It's good to make more friends.

Thursday
Ah! Attack of the rice weevils. Zzz. What happened was that during one of my Maths lessons in NIE in February, I brought small plastic bags of rice to school for my microteaching lesson. I happily thought that nothing would happen if I left the stuff in the A4 paper box in my room. However, the rice weevils that came with the rice proliferated... to the extent that I started finding rice weevils crawling around all parts of my room. Well, it took me a while to realise that the box was the source of the weevil invasion. Got quite a shock when I opened the box... Ha. Anyway, spent a good half an hour clearing up the box and catching and drowning all the rice weevils that could be seen crawling around >.<"

Went for tuition after that... had pizza for dinner. Heh

Friday
Met up with an insurance agent who is a friend, to help another friend get insurance, since I am rather "in-the-know" about how insurance works and the existing plans in the market. All the experience came from meeting so so so many financial planners and insurance agents previously. I need to learn to be nasty and decline any future "invitations" for financial planning. I don't have anymore finance to let people plan liao.

Went to watch Shrek 3 after that. Totally hilarious. Ha. I think it was a nicely done sequel. Highly entertaining =]

Saturday
Met up with my cousins and my aunt for dinner at AnchorPoint's Secret Recipe. The food is ok, but the service was rather bad. The restaurant manager the face black black de. Zzz. Saw another teacher there as well. Go anywhere also can meet people. Ha. Anyway, had a good chat with my cousins.

Sunday
The day was spent sleeping... for a good big portion of the day, followed by tuition at my cousin's place. Am helping him settle his stuff and prepare for the 'O' levels which will begin in early October. So much to do, so little time... lalala. Filing took two sessions le... and I''m still trying to do some planning and consolidation of whatever resources he has, so that he can start revision real soon. Lots of catching up and practise in the queue.

Random
I've been a little hooked on Warcraft 3 these days. I've always been interested in strategy games and I copied the installation from my cousin just over a week ago. Been playing quite a bit for the past week. Holidays mah... must learn to relax :P Quite fun lah, but time consuming.

The only thing with playing such games these days is that I do not have the time and energy to follow the storyline of the game. It requires frequent playing to be able to retain information about the scenarios and all that. That's part of the reason why I chose to play Maple Story... no need to remember anything, just brainless gameplay. Oh by the way, I leveled to 120 le... finally =] I do not have the luxury of time to play much after this anyway. A little apprehensive about work. Ha