Thursday, February 28, 2008
Fri 22 Feb
Every Fri when I head to the Masters' tutorial, I am reminded of a Latin phrase. Diem perdidi. It simply means "another day wasted". I think that is quite self-explanatory. It is sad to be attending a course where you feel like you can't learn anything useful. It may not be entirely the fault of the lecturer, and possibly it is due to the content being more tailored to either very young students, or very disciplined, focused and mature students, e.g. teachers attending Masters' course. I think there is an amazing gap in perception between the two groups comprising the current class. One group hails from my Masters' class having lessons at MJC; the other group attends the same module, but at Teachers' Network. Those from my Masters' class share the same tortured expressions every Fri, but the other group look as if they are listening to some guru mountain-hermit spouting words of wisdom or something.
If I take a step back, that pretty much looks like any class in any school huh? A bored group and a motivated group disparity. I sure hope that my own lessons are the kind where my students come week-in-week-out thinking, "Diem perdidi".
Sat 23 Feb
My wife and I went to attend a prayer meeting, called for by my pastor, at Bukit Merah, only to discover that my wife misread her sms and that the women's prayer meeting was held at Marine Parade. Anyway, that turned out fine because after that my pastor, cell leader, my wife and I headed down to NUH to visit the mother of one of my boys. We went there to pray for her, and it was a painful sight to see her in such a condition, but again, it was uplifting to see the faith of the whole family, having joy in spite of such dire circumstance.
Originally, my wife and I wanted to watch a movie (actually, it was more like me wanting to watch L), but we scrapped that in view of her discomforting nausea, so we went home to rest instead.
Sun 24 Feb
I went for service by myself as my poor wife was having a serious bout of morning sickness, which aggravated to heartburn or acid reflux (sounds like something out of organic chemistry...). I think the best news in church was that 9th of March will be a combined service in the morning, because that very day, I will have to set off to KL for a conference, most probably in the afternoon when I usually will have my service. God is good!
After service, I had my first combined cell group with Collin's boys, and it turned out quite alright. Now our group sizes are manageable. I wonder what it would be like when our cell group grows. Hmm.
Mon 25 Feb
I had a typical long day. Now that the TA1 lessons have become service learning for weeks 9 and 10 in term 1, I find myself having to spend an extra 2 hours at least per week on facilitation. It is tough and somewhat more wearying, but the TA students are a nice bunch, and quite interesting to talk to. That makes the effort feel more well-spent definitely.
Tue 26 Feb
This week is elective week, so my TA1 lesson in the afternoon was replaced by facilitation sessions for service learning in the morning, so I finally have a short day after eight weeks! After lunch, I headed down straight away to my colleague ZH's place, along with two other colleagues for a game of mahjong. I was in desperate need for recreation, especially when I just got assigned to do up a 1 m by 2 m poster for my college for the upcoming conference in KL. I am supposed to go with my HOD there and present on the use of IT in education in TJC as a representative of MOE. Sounds good huh? Not when it is right smack in the middle of my March holidays - setting off on Sun, three days of 9 am to 6 pm conference, and returning on Thu. The 'best' thing is that my Masters' tutorial on Fri is still ongoing despite the holidays, so that leaves me essentially two Saturdays, one Thu evening, one Fri afternoon, and one Sunday. So much for holidays. But I think it will be good exposure, and a convenient platform to showcase the pedagogy used in the school. At the very least, I'll be presenting something that I believe in and is enthusiastic about, so hopefully, the three days won't be painful.
Thankfully, I finished the whole poster in two and a half hours. And it wouldn't have taken that long if my computer was higher-end. A 1 m by 2 m image at 300 dpi is no joke to render. Every button I clicked equated to at least 30 seconds of processing time. Anyone who has worked with Photoshop should understand my frustration, and subsequent relief.
Wed 27 Feb
Many things cropped up along the day to make it a very busy day, and the staff conference was quite long as well. Kudos to the newly appointed bursar, Andy, who managed to be crappily funny in the things he say to make his presentation on financial processes within the school more than bearable, which would otherwise be an extremely dry topic. A few colleagues graciously stayed back to help me facilitate the SynTactic (the organic synthesis card game I designed) competition for this year.
The whole thing took close to three hours, but that was because the finalists wanted to get the finals over on the day itself. I'm certainly glad that the two students I handpicked to join the competition both made it to the semifinals, and one made it to the finals to emerge as champion. I'm happy not because they won, but because they did well in the game. The context of this was that I deliberately chose not to send the students who had been scoring top scores for chemistry. Although based on content knowledge those students would prove stronger contenders, I wanted to pick students who I think will really have fun playing, and still have things to learn from playing, so that they would reap more pedagogical benefits for themselves. Anyway, this time round, I videotaped the gameplay of one table, and collected all the rough work that all the participants wrote in the process of the game (with the students' consent, of course), and hopefully this will give me thick data for my Masters' research. As the person who designed the game, I certainly would want to know if it has the pedagogical value that I designed it to have. In any case, almost all the students looked like they had fun and enjoyed the game, and many were already asking if they could buy a set, or borrow one for revision, and etc. I think I should interview some students to get a more in-depth opinion of the game. Hmm.
Thu 28 Feb
It's a long day in school today, but I managed to finish a lot of work inbetween my lessons, which was a good thing. The big news today, in case there is anyone who actually is unaware, is the escape of Jemaah Islamiyah leader Mas Selamat Kastari from Whitley Detention Centre yesterday. He supposedly escaped when he went to the toilet en route to a meeting at the Family Visit Room. I thought such things only happen in movies. Criminal asks to go to the toilet, and escapes through some window/vents while guard is waiting outside. This must have shocked the world, especially that he managed to escape despite his limp. I sympathize with MP Mr Wong Kan Seng, who has to clean up the mess left by somebody else's negligence.
Suddenly the video of terrorism that is played to death on the SMRT screens becomes joltingly serious, doesn't it?
Every Fri when I head to the Masters' tutorial, I am reminded of a Latin phrase. Diem perdidi. It simply means "another day wasted". I think that is quite self-explanatory. It is sad to be attending a course where you feel like you can't learn anything useful. It may not be entirely the fault of the lecturer, and possibly it is due to the content being more tailored to either very young students, or very disciplined, focused and mature students, e.g. teachers attending Masters' course. I think there is an amazing gap in perception between the two groups comprising the current class. One group hails from my Masters' class having lessons at MJC; the other group attends the same module, but at Teachers' Network. Those from my Masters' class share the same tortured expressions every Fri, but the other group look as if they are listening to some guru mountain-hermit spouting words of wisdom or something.
If I take a step back, that pretty much looks like any class in any school huh? A bored group and a motivated group disparity. I sure hope that my own lessons are the kind where my students come week-in-week-out thinking, "Diem perdidi".
Sat 23 Feb
My wife and I went to attend a prayer meeting, called for by my pastor, at Bukit Merah, only to discover that my wife misread her sms and that the women's prayer meeting was held at Marine Parade. Anyway, that turned out fine because after that my pastor, cell leader, my wife and I headed down to NUH to visit the mother of one of my boys. We went there to pray for her, and it was a painful sight to see her in such a condition, but again, it was uplifting to see the faith of the whole family, having joy in spite of such dire circumstance.
Originally, my wife and I wanted to watch a movie (actually, it was more like me wanting to watch L), but we scrapped that in view of her discomforting nausea, so we went home to rest instead.
Sun 24 Feb
I went for service by myself as my poor wife was having a serious bout of morning sickness, which aggravated to heartburn or acid reflux (sounds like something out of organic chemistry...). I think the best news in church was that 9th of March will be a combined service in the morning, because that very day, I will have to set off to KL for a conference, most probably in the afternoon when I usually will have my service. God is good!
After service, I had my first combined cell group with Collin's boys, and it turned out quite alright. Now our group sizes are manageable. I wonder what it would be like when our cell group grows. Hmm.
Mon 25 Feb
I had a typical long day. Now that the TA1 lessons have become service learning for weeks 9 and 10 in term 1, I find myself having to spend an extra 2 hours at least per week on facilitation. It is tough and somewhat more wearying, but the TA students are a nice bunch, and quite interesting to talk to. That makes the effort feel more well-spent definitely.
Tue 26 Feb
This week is elective week, so my TA1 lesson in the afternoon was replaced by facilitation sessions for service learning in the morning, so I finally have a short day after eight weeks! After lunch, I headed down straight away to my colleague ZH's place, along with two other colleagues for a game of mahjong. I was in desperate need for recreation, especially when I just got assigned to do up a 1 m by 2 m poster for my college for the upcoming conference in KL. I am supposed to go with my HOD there and present on the use of IT in education in TJC as a representative of MOE. Sounds good huh? Not when it is right smack in the middle of my March holidays - setting off on Sun, three days of 9 am to 6 pm conference, and returning on Thu. The 'best' thing is that my Masters' tutorial on Fri is still ongoing despite the holidays, so that leaves me essentially two Saturdays, one Thu evening, one Fri afternoon, and one Sunday. So much for holidays. But I think it will be good exposure, and a convenient platform to showcase the pedagogy used in the school. At the very least, I'll be presenting something that I believe in and is enthusiastic about, so hopefully, the three days won't be painful.
Thankfully, I finished the whole poster in two and a half hours. And it wouldn't have taken that long if my computer was higher-end. A 1 m by 2 m image at 300 dpi is no joke to render. Every button I clicked equated to at least 30 seconds of processing time. Anyone who has worked with Photoshop should understand my frustration, and subsequent relief.
Wed 27 Feb
Many things cropped up along the day to make it a very busy day, and the staff conference was quite long as well. Kudos to the newly appointed bursar, Andy, who managed to be crappily funny in the things he say to make his presentation on financial processes within the school more than bearable, which would otherwise be an extremely dry topic. A few colleagues graciously stayed back to help me facilitate the SynTactic (the organic synthesis card game I designed) competition for this year.
The whole thing took close to three hours, but that was because the finalists wanted to get the finals over on the day itself. I'm certainly glad that the two students I handpicked to join the competition both made it to the semifinals, and one made it to the finals to emerge as champion. I'm happy not because they won, but because they did well in the game. The context of this was that I deliberately chose not to send the students who had been scoring top scores for chemistry. Although based on content knowledge those students would prove stronger contenders, I wanted to pick students who I think will really have fun playing, and still have things to learn from playing, so that they would reap more pedagogical benefits for themselves. Anyway, this time round, I videotaped the gameplay of one table, and collected all the rough work that all the participants wrote in the process of the game (with the students' consent, of course), and hopefully this will give me thick data for my Masters' research. As the person who designed the game, I certainly would want to know if it has the pedagogical value that I designed it to have. In any case, almost all the students looked like they had fun and enjoyed the game, and many were already asking if they could buy a set, or borrow one for revision, and etc. I think I should interview some students to get a more in-depth opinion of the game. Hmm.
Thu 28 Feb
It's a long day in school today, but I managed to finish a lot of work inbetween my lessons, which was a good thing. The big news today, in case there is anyone who actually is unaware, is the escape of Jemaah Islamiyah leader Mas Selamat Kastari from Whitley Detention Centre yesterday. He supposedly escaped when he went to the toilet en route to a meeting at the Family Visit Room. I thought such things only happen in movies. Criminal asks to go to the toilet, and escapes through some window/vents while guard is waiting outside. This must have shocked the world, especially that he managed to escape despite his limp. I sympathize with MP Mr Wong Kan Seng, who has to clean up the mess left by somebody else's negligence.
Suddenly the video of terrorism that is played to death on the SMRT screens becomes joltingly serious, doesn't it?
posted by MadPoet : 10:17 PM Thursday, February 21, 2008
19 Feb 08
After school, I headed down to Tampines with my wife to do some shopping. My shaver charger unit has broken down, and I wasn't sure if it was the power cable or the cleaning & charging unit that was spoilt. In the end, I opted to buy a new shaver which uses a similar charger unit so that my current shaver doesn't go to waste. The whole thing costed a whopping $300+, but herein lies the seductive charm of installments - taking a 2 year interest-free installment, the cost per month is now about $12.50. Scary isn't it? Years back, all installment plans came with interest, so a normal consumer (who is not filthy rich) would look at a price tag and think that he can't really afford to pay so much in cash/Nets, and then consider the installment. After considering the interest paid, he might think that it is a waste of money to incur interest, and scrap the whole idea. But once it's interest-free, the thought process becomes radically different. "Oh, it only costs 10+ bucks a month; I can afford that surely."
I still think this must be one of the most potent innovations in the last decade in the consumer industry.
20 Feb 08
I realized that I haven't been uploading pictures on my blog, so here's a couple of cute shots. I was walking past Bedok library when I spotted this towkay cat lying on the grass patch. I have rarely seen a cat sleep like this in public:
Observe the raised legs. The cat looked like it was out of some cartoon. After some lion dance troupe moved past on a truck, it woke up, stretched and went back to sleep again, in this position:
21 Feb 08
Today is the day that dreams are made of. Congratulations to Singapore for winning the bid for hosting the Youth Olympic Games! I think there are really a whole lot of patriotic people who are passionate about this, as I see many students in my college enthusiastically preparing to support the cause. In any case, I think it's one more strategic victory after winning the bid to host the Formula 1 race. I mean, now there is a guaranteed influx of tourists to visit the new Integrated Resort. Man, I think the construction companies in charge of revamping the National Stadium and doing up both IRs must be panicking now.
It feels so surreal even though I am not the winner, but a relative of mine is actually one of the ten in the whole of Singapore who won the Group 1 prize in the Ang Bao Toto draw! For those who don't know what it means, in simple terms, I am now a relative of a 1.2+ millionaire. Unfortunately, it is not my mother, so I am not filthy rich now, but it's a close enough relative that I can feel happy for, and happier if she can become prudent enough with the way she uses money. Amazing stuff. You know what are the odds of picking 6 correct numbers out of 45? 1 in 8145060! Considering that most average people buy System 7 (choosing 7 numbers to bet on), the odds are still a staggering 1 in 1163580.
I have a piece of good news for all working folks, and guys who will be in army next year (hmm quite a few of my students from last year and this year), and maybe students too: there is a grand total of 8 long weekends next year!
After school, I headed down to Tampines with my wife to do some shopping. My shaver charger unit has broken down, and I wasn't sure if it was the power cable or the cleaning & charging unit that was spoilt. In the end, I opted to buy a new shaver which uses a similar charger unit so that my current shaver doesn't go to waste. The whole thing costed a whopping $300+, but herein lies the seductive charm of installments - taking a 2 year interest-free installment, the cost per month is now about $12.50. Scary isn't it? Years back, all installment plans came with interest, so a normal consumer (who is not filthy rich) would look at a price tag and think that he can't really afford to pay so much in cash/Nets, and then consider the installment. After considering the interest paid, he might think that it is a waste of money to incur interest, and scrap the whole idea. But once it's interest-free, the thought process becomes radically different. "Oh, it only costs 10+ bucks a month; I can afford that surely."
I still think this must be one of the most potent innovations in the last decade in the consumer industry.
20 Feb 08
I realized that I haven't been uploading pictures on my blog, so here's a couple of cute shots. I was walking past Bedok library when I spotted this towkay cat lying on the grass patch. I have rarely seen a cat sleep like this in public:
Observe the raised legs. The cat looked like it was out of some cartoon. After some lion dance troupe moved past on a truck, it woke up, stretched and went back to sleep again, in this position:
21 Feb 08
Today is the day that dreams are made of. Congratulations to Singapore for winning the bid for hosting the Youth Olympic Games! I think there are really a whole lot of patriotic people who are passionate about this, as I see many students in my college enthusiastically preparing to support the cause. In any case, I think it's one more strategic victory after winning the bid to host the Formula 1 race. I mean, now there is a guaranteed influx of tourists to visit the new Integrated Resort. Man, I think the construction companies in charge of revamping the National Stadium and doing up both IRs must be panicking now.
It feels so surreal even though I am not the winner, but a relative of mine is actually one of the ten in the whole of Singapore who won the Group 1 prize in the Ang Bao Toto draw! For those who don't know what it means, in simple terms, I am now a relative of a 1.2+ millionaire. Unfortunately, it is not my mother, so I am not filthy rich now, but it's a close enough relative that I can feel happy for, and happier if she can become prudent enough with the way she uses money. Amazing stuff. You know what are the odds of picking 6 correct numbers out of 45? 1 in 8145060! Considering that most average people buy System 7 (choosing 7 numbers to bet on), the odds are still a staggering 1 in 1163580.
I have a piece of good news for all working folks, and guys who will be in army next year (hmm quite a few of my students from last year and this year), and maybe students too: there is a grand total of 8 long weekends next year!
Monday, February 18, 2008
Tue 12 Feb
It was a normal day in school, and my wife and I headed home for a good rest. I was rushing through the game Lost Odyssey now, which turned out to be a very standard RPG, but considering the lack of it, standard fare was what I really wanted.
Wed 13 Feb
Today I ran a trial run of my SynTactic card game with the current batch of year twos, since there would be a competition in two weeks' time. The turnout was not too bad, with about two-thirds of the competitors present. The main thing I was glad about was that they took to the game quite well, with a few hooked enough to play on despite me telling them that they were free to go off. I think it was well-received, and most of them found it fun to play. That was quite satisfying to know as the game's designer. Let's hope that I can collect some good data from this run.
Thu 14 Feb
It's Valentine's Day or Friendship Day today, depending on whether you have a partner, I guess. The school was colourful today because students were allowed to wear their home garb. I think even at the students' age, girls still like to receive flowers in general. Or gifts. Anyway, students kept asking what special thing I would be doing for today, and all I could tell them was...
"I have cell group in the evening."
Well, I guess I should be thankful that my wife's leader and my leader (who are husband and wife) still unromantically pushed ahead with cell group, since that would circumvent very unnecessarily high expenditure on this day where consumers tell vendors implicitly, "Go ahead and rip me off!"
Fri 15 Feb
After lessons were over, my wife and I rushed off to Aljunied to visit the gynae. Today we got the second ultrasound scan of the baby, and the doctor said all looked healthy. Thank God! Anyway my wife and I have been praying nightly for the baby. I must follow my pastor's example, and he was even praying for the spouses of his daughters when they were in their mother's womb. Haha. After that was done, we headed back to school to hitch a ride from our colleague to Teachers' Network for the Masters' tutorial (which we weren't looking forward to).
Today's session involved more activities that made me go 'huh?' and 'duh'. Finally, at the end of it, he told us about the group presentation, and he told us that all the groups would present on the last session, and each person must present. We did the math, and it worked to about 2 to 3 min per person excluding transitions.
I think this professor didn't plan it out properly. Either that or he grossly underestimated our ability to present. Come on, this is the Masters' course where people couldn't even keep within 15 min for their individual presentations (a few individuals actually took 45 min) in previous modules. I'm just waiting to see how he would ensure 30 over individuals complete presenting in 3 hours, or rather, 2.5 hours, once you subtract away the break time.
After the course, our coursemate gave us a ride to Kembangan, and we headed off to try the Botakjones that quite recently opened at Block 412 near Bedok Library. For those not in the know, Botakjones had almost single-handedly revived that coffee shop. Originally a famous fish-soup stall (I don't find it that good actually) was situated there, but because the coffee shop owner tried to raise the rent, they packed up and went to the coffee shop across the road. Immediately the business boomed over on that side, but this coffee shop pretty much died out. Many stalls opened and closed, and only the vegetarian stall (which served quite delicious vegetarian fare actually) survived throughout. There were always only a handful of customers at any point in time, and things looked bleak.
Then came Botakjones. Along with a steamboat buffet cum zi char stall. And now the coffee shop is pretty much packed at peak times of the day. That to me looked like a miracle of sorts. Anyway, my wife ordered fish and chips, which turned out to be excellent! The fish was very fresh, and the batter was well-done to a nice crispiness, accompanied by an interesting sauce that isn't tartar but tasted refreshingly new. There was malt vinegar for us to add, which made the fish tasted even better. I had a prime ribeye steak which was perfectly done to my medium rare specification, and the beef was tender, succulent, with plenty of fat (that I cut away, for obvious health reasons...reluctantly). The fries and coleslaw were excessively heaped upon the plate, and it took my full stomach to finish almost all the fries. They added some (cajun?) spices on the fries, and they tasted similar to the Tuscan fries that eBlackboard opposite school serves, but better. The coleslaw was really delicious in taste as well. It was a very satisfying dinner to end off a long and boring day. My mother-in-law ordered pasta from this stall Il Piccolo that just opened today, and it was delicious! I made a mental note to come try the pasta a separate time.
Sat 16 Feb
Today marked a Journey to the West. My youngest uncle was having a buffet dinner treat at his place, and my mum wanted all of us to be there, especially since my family is closer to him. The only catch was that he stayed at Jurong West, needing a feeder bus from Boon Lay Interchange, and we stay at Pasir Ris. Ouch. One end to the other end. The whole journey took about one and a half hours. Man, that's one eighth of a day (to and fro) spent just on travelling.
I was hoping to play mahjong, but there weren't enough small-time players like myself, as my cousins were tasked to entertain the guests by their dad (my youngest uncle). So I only hung around to watch my aunts and cousins-in-law play. I realized one important thing when I watched them play - they were not as skilled as I thought they were! I could probably take them on actually. What I don't have is capital, because they played at ten times the stakes I usually do.
The catering was from Neo Garden (think that's the name), and the food was quite good actually. Maybe I can consider it if I need catering for some event next time.
Sun 17 Feb
I went for service as usual with my wife, but today's message was different in a way. Senior Pastor was talking about intimacy, and the divine romance with God. Halfway through the sermon, God spoke to me, and asked me a simple but cutting question, "Why do you spend so many hours on the Xbox, but so little time with Me?" I realized how I had been distracted by the console, and it affected my quiet time with God, and I felt so convicted that I told God that I would set aside time for Him first, and if I still had time, then I would play. Little did I know that God was just telling me exactly what Senior Pastor was about to, because at the end, he issued the church a call to 40 days of fasting - to fast a meal a day to pray, to abstain from television, and electronic games, and set aside one hour just for God each day. That was when I was dead sure that I heard God correctly, and knew that my answer to Him earlier was what He wanted (but not fully there yet). It was a heavy call, and I wasn't sure how people would react to this. My own boys seem to be quite alright about it, and only one said that he didn't think he could sustain an hour of quiet time, but I told all of them we will try together and keep each other accountable.
G12 brother Collin was sick, so I offered to take his boys for cell in his stead. To my surprise, the three of them refused and wanted to go off. One boy, whom I already had some impression of, proved my gut feeling about his attitude when he replied me something along the line of "I don't want. Don't waste my time." Subsequently on the feeder bus, I asked one more time, giving him benefit of the doubt that he could have been joking, and he replied that I would be wasting my breath (on them) if they came for cell group. My answer to them was that they could forget about joining me. Ever. Because the original plan that Collin and I had was to have a combined cell group at my house every last Sun of the month, and he said his boys wanted to come to my place (probably because of the Xbox 360). Anyway, I think the boys need discipline. Especially since two of them were still playing games on their handphones after Senior Pastor said to abstain from electronic games, including handphone games.
Mon 18 Feb
My wife and I woke up earlier to go to school earlier. Somehow the train and bus are always unusually packed on Mon morning, so we would rather go much earlier and have a nice breakfast opposite school first. I had a few lessons, and revised my new card game a bit before my colleague wanted to go for lunch. I suggested Botakjones, and they gamely agreed, so we were on our merry way to block 412.
We got there just in time to be among the first customers, and the three colleagues who went ordered the fish and chips, and cajun chicken, both of which turned out to be good in their opinions as well. My wife and I ordered pasta from Il Piccolo to have a proper taste of whether the pasta is good. My wife ordered carbonara, which turned out superb. The portion was a little small for the linguine, but very generous on bacon, and the big chunks of bacon were succulent and fresh. The sauce was thick, creamy and flavourful, with just the right taste of egg yolk inside it, and not gelat. I ordered the seafood pasta (can't remember the Italian name of it), and again the spaghetti portion wasn't big, but there was plenty of seafood in it. The squid, clams and mussels were all fresh, but the prawns were not prepared well enough, and the flesh stuck to the shell somewhat. The prices were $6 and $7 respectively, which to me was not expensive given the amount of ingredients thrown in, but like Botakjones, are not the kind of price you would expect in a coffee shop.
After my late afternoon lessons, my wife and I went to Block 85 market to have dinner together. This was the most disappointing trip to Block 85 market ever. Our favourite bak chor mee stall (the second one from the right) was closed, so we had to order other things. I checked with the other bak chor mee stall when they would open, but it was twenty minutes later. In the end, I opted for the wu xiang stall further down the same stretch, just opposite the Fairprice, because I remembered that the last time I ate there, the food was quite alright.
That was a horrid choice. The bee hoon tasted flat and the texture was rubbery. The sotong you tiao (how could anyone go wrong with sotong you tiao??) tasted disgusting. The you tiao skin was not fried properly and there were hard bits that I couldn't swallow. The skin was too salty and the meat inside tasted odd. The beancurd tasted like any beancurd. The prawn biscuit turned out to be crispy and well-fried, and the fishballs turned out alright. But the sweet sauce wasn't even sweet at all! It was like dipping into pure starch with a hint of sugar. Infuriated, I abandoned the whole plate of bee hoon, which incidentally, even the flies didn't bother with and went straight for my colleague's emptied bowl of porridge. I went to order the bak chor mee which was another disappointment. I think the second stall is really better. The noodles from the second stall are usually softer and better-cooked, and the soup base tastes richer. Then again, this could be personal preference. The teochew fish porridge my wife ordered was also bad. The rice grains were too hard, and the fish tasted rubbery in texture as well. Sigh.
It was a normal day in school, and my wife and I headed home for a good rest. I was rushing through the game Lost Odyssey now, which turned out to be a very standard RPG, but considering the lack of it, standard fare was what I really wanted.
Wed 13 Feb
Today I ran a trial run of my SynTactic card game with the current batch of year twos, since there would be a competition in two weeks' time. The turnout was not too bad, with about two-thirds of the competitors present. The main thing I was glad about was that they took to the game quite well, with a few hooked enough to play on despite me telling them that they were free to go off. I think it was well-received, and most of them found it fun to play. That was quite satisfying to know as the game's designer. Let's hope that I can collect some good data from this run.
Thu 14 Feb
It's Valentine's Day or Friendship Day today, depending on whether you have a partner, I guess. The school was colourful today because students were allowed to wear their home garb. I think even at the students' age, girls still like to receive flowers in general. Or gifts. Anyway, students kept asking what special thing I would be doing for today, and all I could tell them was...
"I have cell group in the evening."
Well, I guess I should be thankful that my wife's leader and my leader (who are husband and wife) still unromantically pushed ahead with cell group, since that would circumvent very unnecessarily high expenditure on this day where consumers tell vendors implicitly, "Go ahead and rip me off!"
Fri 15 Feb
After lessons were over, my wife and I rushed off to Aljunied to visit the gynae. Today we got the second ultrasound scan of the baby, and the doctor said all looked healthy. Thank God! Anyway my wife and I have been praying nightly for the baby. I must follow my pastor's example, and he was even praying for the spouses of his daughters when they were in their mother's womb. Haha. After that was done, we headed back to school to hitch a ride from our colleague to Teachers' Network for the Masters' tutorial (which we weren't looking forward to).
Today's session involved more activities that made me go 'huh?' and 'duh'. Finally, at the end of it, he told us about the group presentation, and he told us that all the groups would present on the last session, and each person must present. We did the math, and it worked to about 2 to 3 min per person excluding transitions.
I think this professor didn't plan it out properly. Either that or he grossly underestimated our ability to present. Come on, this is the Masters' course where people couldn't even keep within 15 min for their individual presentations (a few individuals actually took 45 min) in previous modules. I'm just waiting to see how he would ensure 30 over individuals complete presenting in 3 hours, or rather, 2.5 hours, once you subtract away the break time.
After the course, our coursemate gave us a ride to Kembangan, and we headed off to try the Botakjones that quite recently opened at Block 412 near Bedok Library. For those not in the know, Botakjones had almost single-handedly revived that coffee shop. Originally a famous fish-soup stall (I don't find it that good actually) was situated there, but because the coffee shop owner tried to raise the rent, they packed up and went to the coffee shop across the road. Immediately the business boomed over on that side, but this coffee shop pretty much died out. Many stalls opened and closed, and only the vegetarian stall (which served quite delicious vegetarian fare actually) survived throughout. There were always only a handful of customers at any point in time, and things looked bleak.
Then came Botakjones. Along with a steamboat buffet cum zi char stall. And now the coffee shop is pretty much packed at peak times of the day. That to me looked like a miracle of sorts. Anyway, my wife ordered fish and chips, which turned out to be excellent! The fish was very fresh, and the batter was well-done to a nice crispiness, accompanied by an interesting sauce that isn't tartar but tasted refreshingly new. There was malt vinegar for us to add, which made the fish tasted even better. I had a prime ribeye steak which was perfectly done to my medium rare specification, and the beef was tender, succulent, with plenty of fat (that I cut away, for obvious health reasons...reluctantly). The fries and coleslaw were excessively heaped upon the plate, and it took my full stomach to finish almost all the fries. They added some (cajun?) spices on the fries, and they tasted similar to the Tuscan fries that eBlackboard opposite school serves, but better. The coleslaw was really delicious in taste as well. It was a very satisfying dinner to end off a long and boring day. My mother-in-law ordered pasta from this stall Il Piccolo that just opened today, and it was delicious! I made a mental note to come try the pasta a separate time.
Sat 16 Feb
Today marked a Journey to the West. My youngest uncle was having a buffet dinner treat at his place, and my mum wanted all of us to be there, especially since my family is closer to him. The only catch was that he stayed at Jurong West, needing a feeder bus from Boon Lay Interchange, and we stay at Pasir Ris. Ouch. One end to the other end. The whole journey took about one and a half hours. Man, that's one eighth of a day (to and fro) spent just on travelling.
I was hoping to play mahjong, but there weren't enough small-time players like myself, as my cousins were tasked to entertain the guests by their dad (my youngest uncle). So I only hung around to watch my aunts and cousins-in-law play. I realized one important thing when I watched them play - they were not as skilled as I thought they were! I could probably take them on actually. What I don't have is capital, because they played at ten times the stakes I usually do.
The catering was from Neo Garden (think that's the name), and the food was quite good actually. Maybe I can consider it if I need catering for some event next time.
Sun 17 Feb
I went for service as usual with my wife, but today's message was different in a way. Senior Pastor was talking about intimacy, and the divine romance with God. Halfway through the sermon, God spoke to me, and asked me a simple but cutting question, "Why do you spend so many hours on the Xbox, but so little time with Me?" I realized how I had been distracted by the console, and it affected my quiet time with God, and I felt so convicted that I told God that I would set aside time for Him first, and if I still had time, then I would play. Little did I know that God was just telling me exactly what Senior Pastor was about to, because at the end, he issued the church a call to 40 days of fasting - to fast a meal a day to pray, to abstain from television, and electronic games, and set aside one hour just for God each day. That was when I was dead sure that I heard God correctly, and knew that my answer to Him earlier was what He wanted (but not fully there yet). It was a heavy call, and I wasn't sure how people would react to this. My own boys seem to be quite alright about it, and only one said that he didn't think he could sustain an hour of quiet time, but I told all of them we will try together and keep each other accountable.
G12 brother Collin was sick, so I offered to take his boys for cell in his stead. To my surprise, the three of them refused and wanted to go off. One boy, whom I already had some impression of, proved my gut feeling about his attitude when he replied me something along the line of "I don't want. Don't waste my time." Subsequently on the feeder bus, I asked one more time, giving him benefit of the doubt that he could have been joking, and he replied that I would be wasting my breath (on them) if they came for cell group. My answer to them was that they could forget about joining me. Ever. Because the original plan that Collin and I had was to have a combined cell group at my house every last Sun of the month, and he said his boys wanted to come to my place (probably because of the Xbox 360). Anyway, I think the boys need discipline. Especially since two of them were still playing games on their handphones after Senior Pastor said to abstain from electronic games, including handphone games.
Mon 18 Feb
My wife and I woke up earlier to go to school earlier. Somehow the train and bus are always unusually packed on Mon morning, so we would rather go much earlier and have a nice breakfast opposite school first. I had a few lessons, and revised my new card game a bit before my colleague wanted to go for lunch. I suggested Botakjones, and they gamely agreed, so we were on our merry way to block 412.
We got there just in time to be among the first customers, and the three colleagues who went ordered the fish and chips, and cajun chicken, both of which turned out to be good in their opinions as well. My wife and I ordered pasta from Il Piccolo to have a proper taste of whether the pasta is good. My wife ordered carbonara, which turned out superb. The portion was a little small for the linguine, but very generous on bacon, and the big chunks of bacon were succulent and fresh. The sauce was thick, creamy and flavourful, with just the right taste of egg yolk inside it, and not gelat. I ordered the seafood pasta (can't remember the Italian name of it), and again the spaghetti portion wasn't big, but there was plenty of seafood in it. The squid, clams and mussels were all fresh, but the prawns were not prepared well enough, and the flesh stuck to the shell somewhat. The prices were $6 and $7 respectively, which to me was not expensive given the amount of ingredients thrown in, but like Botakjones, are not the kind of price you would expect in a coffee shop.
After my late afternoon lessons, my wife and I went to Block 85 market to have dinner together. This was the most disappointing trip to Block 85 market ever. Our favourite bak chor mee stall (the second one from the right) was closed, so we had to order other things. I checked with the other bak chor mee stall when they would open, but it was twenty minutes later. In the end, I opted for the wu xiang stall further down the same stretch, just opposite the Fairprice, because I remembered that the last time I ate there, the food was quite alright.
That was a horrid choice. The bee hoon tasted flat and the texture was rubbery. The sotong you tiao (how could anyone go wrong with sotong you tiao??) tasted disgusting. The you tiao skin was not fried properly and there were hard bits that I couldn't swallow. The skin was too salty and the meat inside tasted odd. The beancurd tasted like any beancurd. The prawn biscuit turned out to be crispy and well-fried, and the fishballs turned out alright. But the sweet sauce wasn't even sweet at all! It was like dipping into pure starch with a hint of sugar. Infuriated, I abandoned the whole plate of bee hoon, which incidentally, even the flies didn't bother with and went straight for my colleague's emptied bowl of porridge. I went to order the bak chor mee which was another disappointment. I think the second stall is really better. The noodles from the second stall are usually softer and better-cooked, and the soup base tastes richer. Then again, this could be personal preference. The teochew fish porridge my wife ordered was also bad. The rice grains were too hard, and the fish tasted rubbery in texture as well. Sigh.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Tue 5 Feb
I slept as often and as much as I could to recuperate and regain some much needed rest. The MC felt necessary, especially since Chinese New Year was approaching. Oh no! I won't be able to eat the new year goodies. Sigh.
Wed 6 Feb
Today was a short day in school because there was only the annual Road Run. I couldn't run this year because I was put in charge of the AV, and the other teacher-in-charge had other duties. Anyway, I doubt that I was in any condition to run after the severe throat infection. The whole thing ended early enough, and we went to my wife's place for a reunion lunch before heading home for the reunion dinner.
At night, my wife and I started packing ang pows. This was the painful part, although compared to what we gave out during our wedding for the helpers, this was only a sting compared to the pain parting with money then.
Thu 7 Feb
First day of the Chinese New Year, and my family went out to visit my eldest uncle and second aunt first. Today had the most interesting MRT ride, because when we boarded the train, we found a suspicious-looking article! There was this big bag under the seat, and there was no one on the train. I stopped the driver as he walked by (it's Pasir Ris station, so the driver always walks past to change sides) to alert him to the situation, and basically, he went there, took and bag and went off, presumably to drop it at the station control for lost-and-found. Considering all the 'educational' video clips that repeat day in day out on screen in the MRT stations, I would have expected a more stringent check of the 'suspicious article' before the driver removed it. Or did he think that there's no way there could be a bomb in there? Hmm...
After we were done with the visiting for my side, my wife and I headed down to Yishun to meet up with the rest of my wife's relatives where they were visiting my wife's granduncle and aunt. Later, we took the train back to Aljunied to visit my wife's grandma, and that was quite a lively occasion because there was a lion dance there! Apparently my wife's grandfather had a lion dance disciple who comes by annually with his troupe.
This was the first year that I gave out ang pows officially. Last few years, I gave ang pows to my uncles and aunts who had helped my family out in the past, but now there is also the capacity as a married man to give out ang pows to the younger ones. Actually, it is quite a joyful thing to be giving out red packets, because they are always excited to receive them, just as I was last year and before. I guess it is in line with blessing others anyway.
Fri 8 Feb
Second day of the Chinese New Year, and my wife's relatives (her mum's side) all came over to our place to lao yusheng. The yusheng for their family is very different from the outside because her cousin is a sushi chef, and he always buy a whole salmon to slice it up himself. Rarely you see yusheng with more fish than the other ingredients, and we still had three big plates of sashimi left! One fish costs about $80, but I think that fish can make more than twenty Sakae Sushi red plates. Excellent stuff there. In the afternoon, I played mahjong with her uncles and cousins till the night, with a slight nett loss at the end of the day, but it was still a fun time.
Sat 9 Feb
I woke up especially early and headed down to Toa Payoh where my friend picked me up to go down to Choa Chu Kang. We were all gathering at Magic kaki Yichuan's place, because the booster boxes we ordered were all at his place, so this was the official opening of the booster packs. We hung around to play till the afternoon before heading back, and man, it was a looooooong way back to Pasir Ris.
This Chinese New Year had been great! I had played pool and Magic, which are two of my all-time favourite hobbies, and played mahjong too. And found time for Xbox 360 and anime! Woohoo! Now that's a break.
Sun 10 Feb
I woke up earlier in the morning to clean the hamster cages before going down to church for service. After that, my boys and I, together with Eric, Collin and Collin's cell group, headed down to our cell leader Adrian's place. Later on, my wife and her girls came to join us as well. It was a sort of reunion dinner, and we had a good time chatting. Now that Collin has a cell group of Sec 1 boys, it feels a lot more lively, especially since my boys and his boys mix pretty well.
Mon 11 Feb
It's back to school again after a good long break. The best thing about Term 1 is always that there's a long break halfway through before the March holidays.
Is there such a thing as a gay hamster? Haha. I think my male hamster is highly abnormal. So far because of his previous aggression, he had been placed in a separate cage from the female hamster. Every now and then, I bring the two together on some neutral ground where I can separate them if necessary. On all these occasions, Beckham (the female hamster) had taken initiative to sniff Xiaobai and go close to him. She had laid flat on the ground and raised her tail, which is the hamster signal for readiness for hamster intercourse. And Xiaobai just sat there unmoving.
That would be the equivalent of a woman throwing herself naked at a guy, and the guy just stands there not knowing what to do next.
Sigh. I have a dumbass male hamster which is missing one normal animal instinct.
I slept as often and as much as I could to recuperate and regain some much needed rest. The MC felt necessary, especially since Chinese New Year was approaching. Oh no! I won't be able to eat the new year goodies. Sigh.
Wed 6 Feb
Today was a short day in school because there was only the annual Road Run. I couldn't run this year because I was put in charge of the AV, and the other teacher-in-charge had other duties. Anyway, I doubt that I was in any condition to run after the severe throat infection. The whole thing ended early enough, and we went to my wife's place for a reunion lunch before heading home for the reunion dinner.
At night, my wife and I started packing ang pows. This was the painful part, although compared to what we gave out during our wedding for the helpers, this was only a sting compared to the pain parting with money then.
Thu 7 Feb
First day of the Chinese New Year, and my family went out to visit my eldest uncle and second aunt first. Today had the most interesting MRT ride, because when we boarded the train, we found a suspicious-looking article! There was this big bag under the seat, and there was no one on the train. I stopped the driver as he walked by (it's Pasir Ris station, so the driver always walks past to change sides) to alert him to the situation, and basically, he went there, took and bag and went off, presumably to drop it at the station control for lost-and-found. Considering all the 'educational' video clips that repeat day in day out on screen in the MRT stations, I would have expected a more stringent check of the 'suspicious article' before the driver removed it. Or did he think that there's no way there could be a bomb in there? Hmm...
After we were done with the visiting for my side, my wife and I headed down to Yishun to meet up with the rest of my wife's relatives where they were visiting my wife's granduncle and aunt. Later, we took the train back to Aljunied to visit my wife's grandma, and that was quite a lively occasion because there was a lion dance there! Apparently my wife's grandfather had a lion dance disciple who comes by annually with his troupe.
This was the first year that I gave out ang pows officially. Last few years, I gave ang pows to my uncles and aunts who had helped my family out in the past, but now there is also the capacity as a married man to give out ang pows to the younger ones. Actually, it is quite a joyful thing to be giving out red packets, because they are always excited to receive them, just as I was last year and before. I guess it is in line with blessing others anyway.
Fri 8 Feb
Second day of the Chinese New Year, and my wife's relatives (her mum's side) all came over to our place to lao yusheng. The yusheng for their family is very different from the outside because her cousin is a sushi chef, and he always buy a whole salmon to slice it up himself. Rarely you see yusheng with more fish than the other ingredients, and we still had three big plates of sashimi left! One fish costs about $80, but I think that fish can make more than twenty Sakae Sushi red plates. Excellent stuff there. In the afternoon, I played mahjong with her uncles and cousins till the night, with a slight nett loss at the end of the day, but it was still a fun time.
Sat 9 Feb
I woke up especially early and headed down to Toa Payoh where my friend picked me up to go down to Choa Chu Kang. We were all gathering at Magic kaki Yichuan's place, because the booster boxes we ordered were all at his place, so this was the official opening of the booster packs. We hung around to play till the afternoon before heading back, and man, it was a looooooong way back to Pasir Ris.
This Chinese New Year had been great! I had played pool and Magic, which are two of my all-time favourite hobbies, and played mahjong too. And found time for Xbox 360 and anime! Woohoo! Now that's a break.
Sun 10 Feb
I woke up earlier in the morning to clean the hamster cages before going down to church for service. After that, my boys and I, together with Eric, Collin and Collin's cell group, headed down to our cell leader Adrian's place. Later on, my wife and her girls came to join us as well. It was a sort of reunion dinner, and we had a good time chatting. Now that Collin has a cell group of Sec 1 boys, it feels a lot more lively, especially since my boys and his boys mix pretty well.
Mon 11 Feb
It's back to school again after a good long break. The best thing about Term 1 is always that there's a long break halfway through before the March holidays.
Is there such a thing as a gay hamster? Haha. I think my male hamster is highly abnormal. So far because of his previous aggression, he had been placed in a separate cage from the female hamster. Every now and then, I bring the two together on some neutral ground where I can separate them if necessary. On all these occasions, Beckham (the female hamster) had taken initiative to sniff Xiaobai and go close to him. She had laid flat on the ground and raised her tail, which is the hamster signal for readiness for hamster intercourse. And Xiaobai just sat there unmoving.
That would be the equivalent of a woman throwing herself naked at a guy, and the guy just stands there not knowing what to do next.
Sigh. I have a dumbass male hamster which is missing one normal animal instinct.
Monday, February 04, 2008
Tue 29 Jan
I managed to get many things done in the hours I had before my first lesson, and headed home after school. My throat was feeling kind of weird, so I figured I should get some rest.
Wed 30 Jan
Amazingly enough, there was no staff conference scheduled for today! I was feeling a bit unwell, but I was feeling so bored that I was asking around to try to arrange for an impromptu mahjong session after lessons. In the end, it fell through because there were numerous other meetings going on, one involving me as well.
Thu 31 Jan
I had a long day in school, as usual. My sore throat and cough was worsening, so I headed down to see a doctor after lessons were done. I had dinner at my wife's parents' place before going down to Bugis to meet my cell group. Today my cell leader just wanted to hang out and talk, so we ended up at Liang Seah Street having dessert, followed by a couple of games of pool. I think my skills had deteriorated somewhat, but it was not as bad as I anticipated. After that, the husbands/boyfriend waiting gang of us headed down to find our respective partners after their cell group was done.
Fri 1 Feb
I was on MC actually, but I figured that since I had to attend my Masters' tutorial because there was a quiz, I might as well go to school. However, I went just before my lesson started, so I managed to get some rest beforehand.
I think my opinion of the professor remains low. He told us that the quiz would start punctually at 4 and end at 4.30 pm, despite our various protests that we may not make it on time due to traffic. When I reached there with my wife and colleagues, we were ten minutes late and the quiz had not begun. When it did start, he did not end it till almost an hour later. I didn't really care and left the room after finishing my paper in half an hour. I think everyone was just waiting for someone to start, so many left after I left the room. The rest of the lesson wasn't particularly fruitful either. Sigh.
Sat 2 Feb
I slept practically most of the day away. The medication I was on caused drowsiness, so I essentially woke up, ate food, ate medicine, and slept till the next meal time.
Sun 3 Feb
I went to church service as usual, and decided that even if I was sick, I would still jump and praise God, whether He heals me or not. But it sure was tiring to be sick and jumping around. Haha. I had cell group after service, and headed home to rest.
I managed to finish an anime series, Claymore. It is a story about Claymores, female warriors which are half human and half Yoma (means 'demon' in this series, and I'm guessing the word is 妖魔), groomed to take down Yoma. The series follow the main character, Clare, as she searches for an Awakened Being (which is a Claymore that has become a Yoma) that killed the Claymore who is her benefactor. This anime is very intense in the fighting scenes, especially because the main character seems always to be the underdog and appearing to be losing most of the time (and survives somehow, of course). I think I haven't seen many anime where the enemies are this much more powerful than the good guys - enough to decimate many in their wake. There is plenty of blood and gore in this series, so be forewarned. Heads, arms, legs, hands, and etc being chopped off, and the like. The story is gripping though, and at the end of twenty-six episodes, it looks like there will be a season 2 for sure, since the extremely powerful villains are still undealt with. Worth a watch, but be sure to adjust the contrast on your monitor, because most of the time, the animation looks far too dark to make out the background.
Mon 4 Feb
I woke up in the morning with a sharp pain in my throat, tons of phlegm, and could barely speak. Since I had first period lessons, I figured that I had better go to school. Especially since I'm also the lecturer for my topic and I doubt anything would be ready, or willing, to take over at such last minute notice.
I gave my class topics for group discussion and went around to facilitate, so at least I only needed to speak at normal volumes, and survived the double-period lesson. Lecture went fine, because there was a mike available.
I left the school after my lecture was done to go see a doctor. I think today I waited my life away. On my way to school in the morning, the bus arrived twenty minutes after I reached the bus stop. I think many students were probably late, since not everyone managed to get on the bus. When I was leaving school, I waited another twenty minutes for 38. When I went to the clinic, I waited an hour till it was my turn. All in all, sickening. The doctor said my throat was infected, and my vocal cords were affected, so she gave me two days of MC and told me not to strain my voice.
I managed to get many things done in the hours I had before my first lesson, and headed home after school. My throat was feeling kind of weird, so I figured I should get some rest.
Wed 30 Jan
Amazingly enough, there was no staff conference scheduled for today! I was feeling a bit unwell, but I was feeling so bored that I was asking around to try to arrange for an impromptu mahjong session after lessons. In the end, it fell through because there were numerous other meetings going on, one involving me as well.
Thu 31 Jan
I had a long day in school, as usual. My sore throat and cough was worsening, so I headed down to see a doctor after lessons were done. I had dinner at my wife's parents' place before going down to Bugis to meet my cell group. Today my cell leader just wanted to hang out and talk, so we ended up at Liang Seah Street having dessert, followed by a couple of games of pool. I think my skills had deteriorated somewhat, but it was not as bad as I anticipated. After that, the husbands/boyfriend waiting gang of us headed down to find our respective partners after their cell group was done.
Fri 1 Feb
I was on MC actually, but I figured that since I had to attend my Masters' tutorial because there was a quiz, I might as well go to school. However, I went just before my lesson started, so I managed to get some rest beforehand.
I think my opinion of the professor remains low. He told us that the quiz would start punctually at 4 and end at 4.30 pm, despite our various protests that we may not make it on time due to traffic. When I reached there with my wife and colleagues, we were ten minutes late and the quiz had not begun. When it did start, he did not end it till almost an hour later. I didn't really care and left the room after finishing my paper in half an hour. I think everyone was just waiting for someone to start, so many left after I left the room. The rest of the lesson wasn't particularly fruitful either. Sigh.
Sat 2 Feb
I slept practically most of the day away. The medication I was on caused drowsiness, so I essentially woke up, ate food, ate medicine, and slept till the next meal time.
Sun 3 Feb
I went to church service as usual, and decided that even if I was sick, I would still jump and praise God, whether He heals me or not. But it sure was tiring to be sick and jumping around. Haha. I had cell group after service, and headed home to rest.
I managed to finish an anime series, Claymore. It is a story about Claymores, female warriors which are half human and half Yoma (means 'demon' in this series, and I'm guessing the word is 妖魔), groomed to take down Yoma. The series follow the main character, Clare, as she searches for an Awakened Being (which is a Claymore that has become a Yoma) that killed the Claymore who is her benefactor. This anime is very intense in the fighting scenes, especially because the main character seems always to be the underdog and appearing to be losing most of the time (and survives somehow, of course). I think I haven't seen many anime where the enemies are this much more powerful than the good guys - enough to decimate many in their wake. There is plenty of blood and gore in this series, so be forewarned. Heads, arms, legs, hands, and etc being chopped off, and the like. The story is gripping though, and at the end of twenty-six episodes, it looks like there will be a season 2 for sure, since the extremely powerful villains are still undealt with. Worth a watch, but be sure to adjust the contrast on your monitor, because most of the time, the animation looks far too dark to make out the background.
Mon 4 Feb
I woke up in the morning with a sharp pain in my throat, tons of phlegm, and could barely speak. Since I had first period lessons, I figured that I had better go to school. Especially since I'm also the lecturer for my topic and I doubt anything would be ready, or willing, to take over at such last minute notice.
I gave my class topics for group discussion and went around to facilitate, so at least I only needed to speak at normal volumes, and survived the double-period lesson. Lecture went fine, because there was a mike available.
I left the school after my lecture was done to go see a doctor. I think today I waited my life away. On my way to school in the morning, the bus arrived twenty minutes after I reached the bus stop. I think many students were probably late, since not everyone managed to get on the bus. When I was leaving school, I waited another twenty minutes for 38. When I went to the clinic, I waited an hour till it was my turn. All in all, sickening. The doctor said my throat was infected, and my vocal cords were affected, so she gave me two days of MC and told me not to strain my voice.
