Seriously Over-aged

Yesterday's occasion was a reason to visit my former school, Clementi Town Secondary School. Cos they were having their annual Fund Raising Fun Fair. Was honoured that we are still being remembered by our teachers, to be informed of the event. 6 of us, formerly from the same class, went back. Only our Maths and History Teachers are still teaching the the school till today. Unfortunately, was unable to meet my former Maths Teacher as she was on maternity leave. The only consolation was to be able to meet my former History Teacher, Miss Shelly Low. Perhaps she had long forgotten most of our names, but at least she still remember me as the person who likes to argue wif her during class, and for sucking her blood as a student...hahahaa. Though the meeting and conversation with her was a short one, but as i looked at the students in their white top and brown bottoms, i can't help but to start to recollect memories of us as students there more than 10 years ago. One of my friend commented that we looked SERIOUSLY OVERAGED, cos we could easily grab anyone around us who will be at least 10 years younger than us. It was a waste that the event was held at the temporary campus, and not at the campus where we used to belong. But nonetheless, it was nice seeing the teachers once again, and to know that i am still recognized and remembered by some of them, and most important of all, i could feel how delightful the teachers were to see us around even after having graduated from the school for 10 years :)

here's a complete class photo of my Secondary 4 class: CTSS 4A1/97here's a shot taken on the last day of school, with our class parent (Physics), history and chinese teachers. The table with the CTSS logo was where i used to sit for my whole of Sec 4
here's how we and our history teacher look like 10 years after we, the students, graduated from the school. Did you manage to spot 6 of us successfully on the previous 2 shots????

It's a small World again

The title speaks for itself. Last batch i have my friend's sister in my form class; The coincidence for this batch of students is quite similar to the previous batch, i.e. one of the student's brother happened to be my fellow softballer back in the WORLD CLASS UNIVERSITY. But this student is not in my form class though. I recalled my conversation wif this friend of mine over the msn and dats how it goes:

ZX(former NUS Softball team mate): you work at the C*** aka some training center in Jurong Island right?

Me: Yar... How u noe?

ZX: Cos my sis, from TP, is one of the trainees there now.

Me: ???????!!!!!!! Whats her name?? Is she in my form class????

ZX: Her name is *******.

Me: orh, she's not in my form class.

ZX: She told me you are a very fierce trainer there....

Me: ???????!!!!!!!! How cum?? I dun remember scolding any girls there yet.

ZX: I dunno....but i told her i cannot believe you are fierce......

So am I really so FIERCE???? Perhaps it's really a subjective issue here.

Me: So how did she know that you and me know each other????

ZX: Cos she happened to walk past my comp screen when i was talking to you and she saw your display pic......She was SHOCKED....

Well, such coincidences are definitely not easy to come by.... Afterall, i only chat wif him occasionally.....She muz be worrying right now, whether this FIERCE TRAINER will give her trouble during his lecture tmr and in the future...hahahaa...

The 1st Week of the New Beginning

This week seemed to FLY so fast, probably because i haf little time even to sit down to eat a proper meal, and the reason for dat was because of disciplinary issues i gotta take care of for my class, and be a policeman to catch unruly students of other classes....Usually i wun reali care, unless they are committing offences which i felt are serious.

The Problematic student from my class took up most of my free time, and i definitely had to take disciplinary action against him. I shall not talk about the issue here. What i could say is that he set a new record for giving me the most number of problems in juz 1 week of training.

In fact, i was not the only trainer who had to start handling disciplinary issues in the 1st week of training. Some colleagues had to handle more problems than me, and perhaps more serious problems than mine. But i dun feel blessed at all though......

SP1: Apr 07 Graduation Ceremony

6 weeks wif students reali flies and I had bidded farewell to my 2nd full batch of students. I would say that they are generally a very well disciplined lot, and some of them are fun loving though. Perhaps they din dare to show their true colors to me since i was so fierce at the beginning phase of their training....but i believe my general guiding principle will still stand for the next batch of students..that is to start tight so that its easier for me to loosen as time goes by. So dun be surprised that the nx batch of students will be terrorized and haunted by my strict discipline regulations when i see them nx week. lol.

SP1 is a unique group, anyway i believe that each and every group is unique and special in their own ways such that i will always remember them. Not only this grp is a well behaved lot, they are also generally very conscientious and very inquiring, and i definitely appreciate that. So i wish them all the best in their future endeavors, and i reali hope that all of them will want to, and will get a chance to further their studies after they graduate from poly. Here are their shots:

This shot was taken on their last day of practical training before they went out to the field, while they still have a chance to wear their PPE and still looking fresh and clean..

After the graduation ceremony

Last shot was taken with their own polytechnic lecturer

Lastly thanks Joan for arranging the meet up wif some of the guys from my own class and grp 8. It was a great meeting and thanks for the gift. The thought is deeply appreciated.

Summer is approaching, and it's time to change the background of the blog :)

NYP 15th Anniversary Dinner

Perhaps it's good to talk about something regarding my employer. Yup, last friday was the school's 15th anniversary Dinner and Dance at Swissotel. Honestly, the dinner was grand and good in general. The event was pretty well organized with the Minister of Education as the guest of honour. It was pretty solemn as well, dats why there wasn't any "Dance" like any other company's D & D. Below are all the representatives from our training centre side (only me, april and Mr Tay from the plant side, while the rest are all from the admin side). I remembered my left eye was swollen when i woke up at 5pm dat day, cos of the lack of sleep after the nite shift training the day b4. and while we were enjoying ourselves at the dinner, many other colleagues from the plant side were having their shift training with the poly students are that particular time slot....so am i considered lucky???

This shot is said to be the worthy shot of the night, because we had this rare chance to take a shot with the school's principal，Mr Lim and his wife (centre)...somebody who 我认识他，他不认识我.

再见优客李林14

i finally managed to get the last video up..courtesy of XY. The last song of dat evening, their famous 认错 and 单身情歌




i'm down wif gastritis and fever again...:s resting at home.... and my students r having their final exam today...

Late CNY foto

A foto taken on 23rd Feb, after CNY. It's late becos i juz received this shot from the owner of this foto. It looks cool isn't it? The mahjong tiles seems to blend so well wif the pple in the foto..hehe. It was my idea. lol

再见。优客李林

Last saturday was a fruitful day at the expo...drowned in the excellent voices of 优客李林... One word could describe 林志炫's voice: Excellent. I managed to recorded some of their very nice songs. Perhaps we should only focus on their voices, not the quality of the image, becos for some of the songs, i literally used my fone as the 荧光棒 and the image is shaking all over ... unfortunately i missed the chance to record their most famous song, 认错 becos my fone ran out of battery..totally flat. but nonetheless, i managed to record ard 12 songs in total. Here they are:

少年游

黄丝带

不知所措; a hit during in the early 1990s

Ocean Deep

多情种 1st verse

多情种

蒙娜丽莎的眼泪

离人; i feel that this was the best song of the evening, most touching and meaningful

说不出的告别； an excellent song too. and one of my favorites at the ktv

散了吧

出嫁； a duet in which they sang wif 张清芳 around 15 years ago

输了你赢了世界又如何

Just for you

Considering that they started singing in 1991, but i knew most of their famous songs, and i was one of those few 'old folks' who raised up their hands when we were asked who actually 'grew up' with them all the way from 1991...lol. Back at work on sunday morning, to convince myself that i am not so OLD afterall, i told my students that i went for their concert and started playing the aboved videos for them to listen, but few of them actually knew any of their songs..... and the common response they gave was : 'GENERATION GAP'.. Perhaps i am reali no longer young :'(