updates on the busiest week in Nov

its 715pm now, and im in sch effectively for the past 11hrs. im actually still quite busy now. half way through 1 document. on page 8 of the 17-page document. and im seeing things thats arent the word document. soon enough im going to think that the sch is haunted.

thurs and fri are my sch’s strat plan. first day will be alot  lighter than the second. but until the second day is over, alot of ppl have alot of things to prepare and submit. and after the second day is over, alot of ppl will have alot of things to submit.

my timetable this weeks goes as such:
monday: freest day – with 3 meetings, lesson with student.
tuesday: lesson with student, played badminton, prepared for RADAR, went for course from 630-1030pm
wednesday: had 3 consecutive meetings from 830-2.30pm, and thereafter follow up from meetings until 730pm and still ongoing. *Laptop infected with virus software that claims i have been infected with virus.
thursday: strat plan until 530pm. course from 630-1030pm
friday: strat plan until 530pm. engagement from 7-10pm
saturday: cca mtg from 830-1230pm. course from 130-630pm. wedding from 730-930pm.
sunday: course from 930-630pm.

and yes, that doesnt include the fact that im using ALL my available time to do admin crap (except for now)

so im obviously peeved abt the fact that i must have opened something that automatically downloaded a virus called – Advanced Virus Removal – which stated that i have 24 medium/high risk threats from viruses. now, my laptop is with my TA, and he figured that my hard disk also crashed, so he’s changing my harddisk, and that means……….. i wont have my laptop until tomorrow.

admist all these nonsense, i started thinking abt my retirement plans.

a colleague recounted to me yesterday, on how she just finished planning on how to retire in 10 yrs time.

me: 10 yrs??? you’d be… less than 50 right? dont you have a long long retirement to plan for then?

colleague: im a very simple person. i dont have alot of needs. i just need food, and a place to stay, and i dont go on holidays…. so… my plan is to make sure i get at least 5K in dividends each yr from now on, plus my savings…

hmmmm……….. retirement……… for me, i guess that would be in 35 yrs time??? thats a long time to work. but if i can get 5K in dividends each year for 35 yrs, that would ring in a whooping $175K. that is a hefty sum, even if inflation brings that value down to a 100K.

im should look into stable and proper investments….

apart from all these worrisome content, one good thing ive been reading all over my subscribed stuff is that sponges are feeding corals in a major way by shedding their cells, which are high in carbon dioxide concentration. many articles speak of how sponges stay slim. and how much corals get their supplements from these sponges.

isnt it amazing how these symbiosis evolved.

isnt it a wonder how life came to be?

sometimes, the more a scientists tries to break down Life, the more many others feel that there must be divine intervention in the sheer complexity of life. if indeed we all came from broken pieces of stones and clouds of crashing planets, its amazing how non-living things become alive…………

hmmmmm……… i love Life for all the things it is……………

time to go back to my remaining  9 pages. Home is another 2 hrs away!!!

…………………. back at 8pm…

ok fine, im distracted, but only because i really honestly dont have the mood to complete the RADAR!

check this out…. scientists found that sea stars actually soak up water during high tide, so that when the tide receeds, and the environmental temperature gets hotter, the sea star is able to cool itself (maybe by slowly releasing water to regulate temperature)!!! isnt that amazing or what… so cute!

and thalidomide was taught to me as the major disaster in medical history of the world…. with re-emergence of cases in africa and south america. if you remember, thousands of children were born with limb defects at birth. now they found out that that drug works by incapacitating immature blood vessels.

world’s temperature set to increase…. again…. all due to carbon dioxide emissions… thats bad again, because the oceanic creatures have nowhere to go…

and, its getting late, and i need to finish up…. so, we’re seriously going to work on getting out of sch before 9pm…

what i fear most

recently read this article on what really scares people…

many of which, may not be my top 10 fears………. but phobias, as defined by dictionary.com, says “it is a persistent, irrational fear of a specific object, activity, situation that leads to a compelling desire to avoid it”

so i thought of what i feared, and came up with this list…..

im actually totally totally totally afraid of injections. i hate having ppl inject me. there’s nothing i cant stand more than that. i can inject anything or anyone else, but cant accept getting injected. thats called aichmophobia/balenephobia/trypanophobia and maybe agliophobia (pain).

my friend would know, that i turn pale at the thought of having to get a jab. and thats irrational, because, i’d be totally fine after the jab!

im acutely claustrophobic. i need to know that i can get out if i need to get out. so small places where i cant move when i want to move, sort of freak me out. but i can still do caves and stuff. im not paranoid.

i fear the dark…. sometimes. though i try to convince myself that there’s nothing in the dark. im actually internally freaked out.. thats called achluophobia/myctophobia/scotophobia

i might have this subconscious fear of athazagoraphobia. and sometimes, to be truthful, i do have monophobia. 

seriously, you should go and check out the A-Z list of phobias! they have a name for ALL sort of phobias, including phobias for specific colours, size of objects and stuff………. its weird that ppl are actually diagnosed with phobias of certain kinds!

 

changing 2 genes – nematodes

isnt it amazing that making changes to 2 genes can result in a worm becoming a hermaphrodite or unisexual…….

what an evolutionary adaptation that ensures the species dont get wiped out… but considering that such self-fertilization isnt too good for creating a good gene pool, these worms usually have a way of preventing self-fertilization. and are usually only sexually active as a single gender.

so… of what use is being a hermaphrodite when you cant self-fertilize?

at least when there are the last 2 female of the species of worms left on the world, one can become a male and get the ball rolling…

what kind of environmental conditions would cause these genetic changes to occur naturally, i wonder.

my first batch of sec 1s

my first batch of sec 1s finished their last ‘O’ level paper yesterday… pure chem mcq….

as i walked back to sch from invigilation, i saw many of those sec 4s, i said, “enjoy!”, “have fun”, “good luck”, “see you next yr”……………

i dont think these sec 4s know what i think of them… cos i didnt teach most of them in sec 3/4. but i taught most of them in sec 1.

but this bunch of kids are the nicest bunch of ppl. united. everyone accepts one another. quite professional. even if they dont like someone, they’ll still work well together with him. they help each other out. they feel for each other. support each other alot.

their relationships goes beyond classes. student leaders are so good, worthy. helpful, diligent, trustworthy and basically just very good people…

its impossible for me to say something abt everyone, so im doing this by class.

1A 06 was so united and happening, i did so many things with them during bio lesson. i actually havent seen another spontaneous class comparable to them.

1B 06 was too darn quiet!!!!! OMG!!!!!! apart from a few girls, the rest were like non-existent (maybe non-living) things!!!! but, nice bunch of kids la… had to vomit blood to get them talking. but i guess, maybe in other trs class they were alot more responsive.

1C 06 was so noisy! that was the class i got angry with most. but they were still the more ‘brainy’ class. always managed to get good results. had alot of fun with them.

1D 06 was really fun. had a mixture of different personalities, different working styles. and overall a nice class. i didnt get to know everyone, as well as i would have liked. but still nice ppl.

1E 06 was the only express class i didnt teach.

1F 06 was also a fun class, with loads of random remarks and quirky actions! i only took them half a yr onwards, and they got warmed up quite quickly. overall nice class.

3G 07 was a disasterous class. to think we’d meet up every mth to get updates on them… 3 yrs later, just look at them now. won the first Model Class award. so united. creative. happy. hardworking (though can still be more hardworking). lost some of them to ITEs last yr, but glad to know they are doing well. and are happy. i’ll miss them the most, as ive already told them, from beginning of this yr…

as this bunch leaves, the sch as ive known for 4 yrs will be different. maybe even loses meaning sometimes, if i were to be honest. for 4 yrs, i saw these kids grow up. become friends with one another. become st leaders. become enthusiastic abt events. become responsible. passionate. caring. helpful. compassionate.

hmmmmmm…………

met OGC and OKH in sch just now, and they asked me if i was going for prom. 

“of course” i said. 

im looking forward to seeing all the last-time-shorter-than-me and cute-haircut-boys dress up in coats and suits. all handsome with hair done up nicely. im looking forward to seeing all the last-time-shorter-than-me and sweet girls dress up to their nines. all pretty with hair all done nicely.

as i bid them goodbye, im sure i’ll see everyone again in jan for the ’O’ level results.  

and im sure many of them will come back for sch events, SSC gatherings, tournament trainings, UG camps, SYF practices, and of course, Teachers’ Day 2010…..

im not sure how many sec 4/5s will actually read this post, but, i’d still like to wish the graduates of 2009, all the very best in their future endeavours. stay good, do the right thing, make your parents proud, carve a name out for yourselves…

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sea snake at semakau

one of those times when you’d say that sea snakes are such pretty things…

video of yellow-lipped sea krait by sgbeachbum

seriously, i believe, i’d be freaked out if i saw sea snake. different from when i see land snakes – cos i can manouver anytime!

but, its really just pretty………. and thats why, i will learn diving (one day)

after i pass my driving.

living birds and dead fish at Marina Reservoir

canoeing at marina reservoir these past 2 days, wasnt as tiring as my one-star cerification 2 yrs ago… still, my muscles are aching a little….

but, the river/reservoir was so dirty, i just dont understand why, such a important reservoir (one that will be closest to Singapore’s new highlight) would be left so dirty, so much so that fishes have to die…………

not one, not two……… there were so many dead fishes over these past 2 days, we were so shocked!

this huge catfish also washed up on one of the shores where we disembarked for lunch..

one of the instructors said that when the dam was put up to create the barrage, the lack of sea water killed the first wave of marine life in the reservoir. i dont know if thats still the case, if it is, thats probably a more settling news to hear than chemical pollution right…..

still, there’s no need for so much rubbish…… can drinks, plastic bags, rubber gloves, cigarettes, pads, bottles, wires, etc…….. that place needs a clean up!

anyway, there were many shore birds perched up everywhere. on trees, on railings, on broken branches on the water…….

egret flying – what a large wingspan

egrets fishing

is this a heron?

is this a sandpiper or greenshank??

here’s the close-up

spotted dove?

the close-up shot

is this a heron?

im starting to like these birds…. its better than being at jurong bird park!!! these egrets flew past us so many times, wingspan so huge!!! and they flew close by. probably used to the noise and frequent traffic of dragonboaters and kayakers….

we saw some of these birds on this small land… and stumbling upon that land felt like discovering a new island!!! i could only imagine how interesting it must be for voyagers!

when you stumble upon nice big funguses like this one!

overall, it was a good exercise, fun, relaxing to watch the view, and enjoy the scenary…

lets just hope they clean up the waters soon…

 

End of Curriculum Yr updates

ongoing:

headache, from yesterday
wondering whether i made the right decision
self-doubt

                                                                                                                                                             

im going to be extremely busy, and i might just be walking around sch with a black face. trying to lead at home and lead in sch at the same time, is so taxing.

need to reflect and think. i need to think abt my leadership focus, style, vision, how i want to lead and how i want to develop………..

still wondering whether i’ll rise up to the occasion.

i guess its time to get past wondering why i agreed.

i need to sit and think. i need to figure out who i am in this new role.

 

btw:

the failed relationship post below, is not regarding me. its abt a couple i know. so, no questions pls.

 

CE RADAR

im freaking out… im messed up… im freaking out…. im confused…. im worried sick… im doubting myself… im unsure… im insecure… im panicking…

i hate admin work!

but, i cant be that dumb and i WILL make this work!

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