Newspaper story #1

Couldn't resist this short post. The latest newspaper story I told my daughter is of the Tampines molester, who had molested a number of young girls in the lift, at times using his bicycle to block the hapless victim's escape.

So we had a really nice bonding time reading the article together. I had to explain the meaning of "molest" to her. Hope she doesn't go showing off her new vocabulary to her teacher. Then she wanted to know specifically which part of Tampines the rascal operated in (because we go to Tampines every Friday for Bible Study so she wants to know if we'll be safe). I ended the story with the moral : Do not enter a lift with a male stranger.

But the spunky little girl wanted to know what she should do if she sees a stranger waiting for the lift with her at the lobby. How can she not enter the lift with him? So we came up with a few strategies on how to look like you're not waiting for the lift. All in all, I'm glad she's thinking about such things. Because as a mother, I worry about such things a whole freaking lot.

Anyway, ladies and gentlemen, that's how my newspaper story session went. No prince or princess or fairy godmother, just cold hard facts about evil people who possibly lurk in a corner near you. It's a mean world we live in, girl.

Just checking

So I have 3 full days of seminar and I find myself thinking of a zillion things, in between the esoteric lectures I have been subjecting myself to. Specifically, I'm thinking about :

1) whether you are all being nice angels towards the relief teacher. I hope, trust, pray that you are. So far, I've heard some comments from JQ and while I'm eager to check with a few more people to see if what he said is true, I'm resisting the urge to SMS any of you because...well...maybe part of me is scared of finding out the truth? I should really check with the relief teacher herself cos you never know, what you say may be different from how she perceives things. Such is the complexity of human relationship.

2) whether my desk in the staff room has been usurped by someone to put his own things. Tsk tsk tsk. It happens you know. You just go somewhere for a few days and then you come back to discover that someone has claimed your desk as his territory. Why there is this need for humans to stake territorial claims like that, albeit temporarily, is a phenomenon that warrants more investigation. Perhaps it's time I sit next to someone I can bully, instead of the other way around. :)

3) whether you have completed your CME homework. You may hate me for this but I actually am looking forward to reading your interviews, especially since I have been given a preview by Uni. OK, I'm a kaypoh, but really, do you not think it is very interesting to find out how your parents met each other, how their courtship was like, and what pre-marital jitters they went through? In fact, I'm very tempted to do a similar interview with my mother and if I did find the time to do it, I'll see if I can post it here.

4) my daughter's exam. She's very relaxed about it, which is good I suppose, because I am not. But wait, let's see, what did I just tell you at CME lesson the other day? "Do not exasperate your children"? OK, I'll remember that. (Takes 10 deep breaths.)

The house is unusually quiet now because my daughter is learning her spelling. And then I'll have to prepare her for her Oral exams tomorrow. So I'd better run along and do the proper motherly thing.

See you all on Thursday!

I'm no mean mother

Some of you think I've got a mean streak in me just because I told you I regale my daughter with newspaper stories of car accidents. You can't have been more wrong.

I mean, just turn to the newspaper any day, what nice, wholesome stories do you think I can tell my 7 year old girl? About how Durai gets charged? About the elections? About why her Ah Mah's HDB block will not get upgrading? Perhaps the newspaper is not a good source of stories for young innocent minds but I beg to differ. I think there's no harm in letting her hear real stories of people having accidents, or suffering, or dying. Of course, I censor the gory bits and just let her have the gist of the story, coupled with a few moralistic coda about how she shouldn't get a boyfriend who rides a motorbike (a lot of them end up as pulp on the expressway), or what she must ask the nice gor-gor who asks her to donate money to a charity (like what % of the money goes to the real people in need).

Of course, the stories that get published in the newspapers are usually sad, horrible ones. So my daughter's mind is fed with these doses of reality from her enthusiastic mother. No point letting her believe that life is all Snow White and happily ever after nonsense right?

I do confess, I have a hidden agenda to these newspaper stories sessions I have with my girl. I actually want her to realise that the newspapers is a rich source of stories and ideas. And hopefully, she'll want to pick one up soon and read them herself. It's tough to be an English teacher's daughter huh?

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Happened to read another teacher's blog about what she thinks her students were doing when she gave them work. Read this.

Then read what the teacher was actually doing.

Quite hilarious if you ask me. Perhaps I should bring a laptop to class when I give you work to do in future.

Exhausted & pensive

I am thoroughly exhausted. Mentally and emotionally that is.

So shall not blog much today.

My daughter was sick today and was given 2 days MC. This is her second trip to the doctor's. The doctor had initially said he'd give her 2 weeks MC and I froze and turned around to face him, imagining the worst. "What?? She had HFMD??!!" As it turned out, he was merely joking, except that in such times of medical hypersensitivity, I didn't find it the least bit funny. Anyway, my girl was grinning, sick though she was, cos she had just missed her tingxie today - her most dreaded event in school.

I'm also in a pensive mood, because I'm reminded of how I had lost my father on Good Friday last year. As if my emotions are building up towards his death anniversary, I had inadvertently spent the last few days thinking of him and my mind is running a slide show of images of my father, as I reminisce over the moments we had. I can't say we are particularly close, though I do feel a lot for him, my frail father who talked so little about himself but gave so much of his life for his 3 children.

Shall not write anymore for now. For my tears are blinding my sight as I am left with just memories of someone I love dearly.

Good night folks.

Oh dear!

I've just discovered this about myself :

You Are 28% Abnormal

You are at low risk for being a psychopath. It is unlikely that you have no soul. You are at low risk for having a borderline personality. It is unlikely that you are a chaotic mess. You are at medium risk for having a narcissistic personality. It is somewhat likely that you are in love with your own reflection. You are at medium risk for having a social phobia. It is somewhat likely that you feel most comfortable in your mom's basement. You are at low risk for obsessive compulsive disorder. It is unlikely that you are addicted to hand sanitizer.

How Abnormal Are You?

from on online test which you can also try here.

So now, when I give you crazy debate topics like 'I think Mdm Sng should be a supermodel." I guess I can get away with it without suffering endless flaming from you in your blogs?

Happy April Fool's, etc

I am actually glad that April Fool's Day falls on a Saturday this year. No need for teachers to be extra vigilant when she walks into class because she never knows if her students are going to play a prank on her. And for some reasons, some students take the liberty to disregard what the teachers say on this day, especially if it's got anything to do with homework or test, thinking the teacher is joking. Oh please, teachers NEVER joke about homework or test. We take these very seriously, like wedding vows.

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This week has been a very hectic week for me. So many meetings and a zillion and one things to do. I managed just one day of tennis with the boys, which ended unfortunately with Victor breaking a tennis racket. I showed Exhibit A to the owner of the racket (a PE teacher), and we spent a good 5 minutes trying to explain HOW the damage occurred, cos we have never seen anything like it before.

In my 10+ years of tennis playing, I have broken racket strings many times, but never a racket with its frame cracked at such an unusual angle. If I could only see how it happened in slow mo, then maybe I could explain it using Newtonian physics.

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On the subject of tennis and sports in general, I was talking to a fellow PE teacher about the idea of "winning" in sports. "Winning is not everything," he said. This uttered after our school team had lost a certain match.

"Sure, winning is not everything," I said. "Winning is the ONLY thing."

Which about sums up my personal motto. When I do anything, I want to win. I don't want to be a loser. I am very competitive by nature. If I meet with failure, it spurs me to try harder the next time. Because I want to win eventually.

Some friends have told me it's quite stressful to play games with me (whether it's tennis or Scrabble or carom) because I take them so seriously and I'm so kiasu (literally). I am not sure if my competitive spirit is unhealthy in some ways. I admit, it does at times make me impatient with people (even students) who are so contented with mediocrity. Where's your fighting spirit? Where's the striving for excellence, for kick-ass, mindblowing, jaw-dropping, critic-silencing performance? How can you be pleased with something that's a pale shadow of your true potential? I want to scream at them.

If I ever come across as the fiery-breath, demanding teacher in class, bear with me. It is the competitor in me speaking. And I'm just trying to stir you all up. Rise up, rise up, and take the class, the school, your family, your clan by storm. Stop being a nobody. You are a SOMEBODY.

And this is no April Fool's joke.