The 4th topic given them...

(again...Disclaimer: In order to retain the authenticity of the students' entries, their spelling errors and such-like have not been corrected...)

What I would do if I were invisible for a day

> ...the fifth thing I want to do is to correct my data for my NAPFA test. I count myself as a fat person. I want to change my grade to an A. I also can help my frens and change their results...

> I will go to a minimart and take all the food I want to eat, at night I can have steamboat and refil my stocks anytime I want. I will go and scare the classchair man, my friends and the teachers. I will scare them till to their eyes pop out...

> During the night, I would scare people who were walking alone at a particular deserted place. I would be wearing white mask, clothes and shoes chasing people. People will be frightened because i am invisible and they could only see what i am wearing...

> Second, I would look out for those people that are shouting in our class. I would make sure that i will push them down the stairs so that they will break their hands or legs.....Third, I will spray water at those people i hate and make them all wet....then i would make them eat sand....(so scary this one...)...Fourth, I would make those people who litter to pick up all their litter and make sure they eat them all up...(think she learnt this from me...hee)...Fifth, i would change the time of the whole school so that everybody can go home earlier...(interesting...just not sure why that's necessary if she is invisible to start with...)

> In my opnion i do not want to be invisible because everybody will miss me and everybody will go and find me and mae a police report... (note that this is the fella that gives me the most headache. What with work undone, work not there and bullying... My reply to him was "I'll only miss you if you start paying attention and do your work!")

> ...i'll scare Jia Bin, I'll make his head drop out... (How will THAT happen?)

> I will...make a lot of wierd noises to scare him. He will definitely went out the room and scream around the house...

Here's Robin Hood...
> I would run down to the neighbourhood and take money from illegal stalls which are selling pirated video compact disc, DVDs and computer games. I would give half to my parents and another half to charity organisations. I would also go to school, not for study but for giving a punch to all those big bullys and make sure they confess to their evil-doings. Then i will go find those rich buiness mans who earn money the bad or illegal way, I will steal all their money and give it to Beggars or charity organisations. (really sounds like he's living in a different era at some point of time...)

> Lastly, I will go give my brother a real hard kick in his backside, as he is always bullying me....hope you have a happy time marking!! (HAH!!)

> I would go around and help people. Especially the poor. Help in a way that i give them strength when they are in difficulty, although i am not God....Another thing I wish to do is to spread God's love to those people that didn't know Him....that God gave them wisdom. As for my part, I hope that those non-Christian willopen up their ears and accept God's love.

(This sweet girl is my vice-chair person...)

...more from another class coming....to be continued...

BS was good last night. Was even better the week before. Somehow, i feel i need the wakeup call each week. Cecilia's bible study always (almost) brings me to reality... The reality that time is short... that it is not OK to sin (even if we can find all sorts of 'rational' reasoning to justify the stupid things we do), that we have much to get down on our knees to pray for, that false teaching is very real and a very serious problem that we need to guard ourselves against, that it is no one else's responsiblity to make sure that we know the Bible so that we do not wander away from the truth....

Need those reminders weekly, daily. Cos' sin is not usually one big step. It is many little ones that draw us, slowly but surely, away from the truth.

King David surely didn't know that he was going to end up jumping into bed with Bathsheba when he decided to rest while his army went to war one spring. In the first place, he wasn't supposed to stay home while his army fought without him. Perhaps walking around the roof of the castle was no harm, but did he have to gaze upon a naked woman when it was clearly none of his business? Obviously he had looked long enough before deciding she was beautiful. He could have let it stop there. A mistake. And walked away. But what did he do? He sent someone to find out about her. After finding out that she was the wife of another, he should have stopped there. But did he? He sent for her instead. Why send for another's wife?? He went on to send for Uriah, calling him back from the war, where he ought to be. He tried ways and means to cover up his mistake by getting Uriah to sleep with his wife, so that her pregnancy would be justified. But God did not allow it to be. Out of desperation, David got Uriah killed on the battlefield through a plan of his own conception. Uriah's wife became his.

Sin - it's the little ones that slowly draw us away...

For more of David's story, read here.

Been trying to look more 'teacherly' these days....guess that comes naturally with the glasses i am forced to wear. Went to see the optometrist again yesterday. She's confirmed my red eye syndrome as contact lense complications. So according to her, it's here to stay some time... If mild, will last a month, if serious, 3 months or so... gosh. Was pretty horrified at the prospect of having to be bespectacled for so long. It's already been one LOOONG week....got at least 3 more to go?? Still feel my vision isn't as clear as without glasses.

Feel also that part of the problem is related to the worsening condition of haze in the country. Am quite sensitive to things like smell and hearing. I can smell the haze in the air in the mornings and it somehow affects my breathing and sight. System's been rather blocked up these weeks and on 2 separate occasions, i've had the unpleasant and rather scary experience of almost driving blind. In the afternoons and evenings, as i leave school, SOMETHING in the air (i dunno if its the heat or what) has been causing my eyes to water very very VERY badly. Tears literally POUR out of my eyes. And it always happens round the bend near the school. A one lane road that I cannot stop along. Always start to panic and pray very hard.

Gotta give thanks daily for little mercies...

One of the tasks I set for my students which is not part of the "syllabus" is writing journal entries. The purpose of it is so I have an avenue to communicate with my students about their thoughts about various things/issues. I do not mark them for grammar and spelling. Just write down comments or thoughts relating to what they write. They have had 3 topics to write about so far. The first was "Thoughts about My New School", second "Things I would like to Change about Myself" and the third and most recent "What I would like to Change about the School Rules". Well, sometimes they write out of point, but i close one eye, cos that's not the point. Anyway, for interest's sake, I thought i'd share with you guys some of the things they have written... (disclaimer: The spelling errors are not from me...)

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What I would like to Change about the School Rules

> School rules that are good is keep fringer-nails short...no keep too long hairs for boys....pin the hairs of the girls and not to have long hairs longer than the waist as when they swing their hair sometimes they might accidently slap other people faces.

> Only that when we went to the toliet or somewhere we have to bring along the 'student leave pass' badge and i don't really like it. At least it must have two badges because i HATE going to the toliet alone because when i'm the only one inside the toliet, i will always feel it very very VERY CREEPY.

> ZH secondary's pupils have been laughing at us as we must stay in school until 3 pm because they dismiss earlier than us. Some of the WS students took "revenge". They called them Pizza Hut, Macdonald, 7 Eleven or whatever...

(How is that an insult??)

> Why need 'student leave pass'? I find that no need. Let says if someone is stomachache and there no teacher in class, and rush out of the class, when coming out of the toliet if see the discipline master or mistress saw you without the pass, I don't know whether they will believe what you say.

(I said I didn't think so...)

> I am not very very happy about...have to have personal grooming check every morning. Why? sometimes I cannot find nail clipper, i want to buy my father don't let....I don't like boys with spiky and uncombed hair and girls with long and smelly hair....

> I think that school rules is very strict, as they do not want us to go bad easily...

(haha...looks like the students think of themselves as bad eggs too huh...)

> Why skip school? I don't understand why they want to skip school. If they want to skip school just for playing, they can go to the place they want after school. As for me, I never think of skipping school.

(I'm so impressed)

> I think having expension is a bad idea as we will do not know what the teacher is teaching and we will have no homework and that is boring.

(she means expulsion, in case you didn't get it. Some of these mad students begged me for homework before a long weekend because they felt bored. Can u believe it??)

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That's all for this issue folks...till the next time...

Yes folks... I am bespectacled again. Been feeling some discomfort in my right eye but have ignored it because it wasn't all that bad. Been so busy zooming around too that i haven't had much chance to look into the mirror to see if my eye's ok. Yesterday, woke up with itchy eye and discovered it was red, again. Sigh.

Now have to wear glasses, put in eye drops 4 times a day and sleep with a gel in the eye. Makes vision blurry. Bleaahk.

Gotta find out if it's my contacts or what... dunno how tho.

Hmm...looking at the picure, am reminded of how long it's been since i last touched the piano. Am reminded of how enamoured i was by people who can play. Not so much those who can play with a score, but rather those who can play off-hand what they hear. So impressive! Always wished i could too. But i know such things need quite some amount of tian fen, plus a lot of hard work. Definitely no tian fen i have, and i'm definitely NOT hardworking either. Oh well. Shall try to touch the piano abit today i think.

My dearest friend,

I cannot say I know the sorrow you feel. I cannot say I understand the pain you are going through. I could tell you the pain will go away with time, but I won't. I racked my brains for things to do or nice words to say to make you feel better, but I came up with nothing. I'm helpless. Just as you may feel helpless. Perhaps you wish that you could have done so many things for her, you wish so many other things could have been but somehow they weren't. Perhaps you even feel guilty for not making things better or for not being there for her. I can't tell you not to feel these things, because in all honesty, I'd probably go the same way if I were you. I'm just sorry there's nothing I can do to ease your pain. My heart aches with you.

My thoughts and my prayers are with you, my dear sister. We have shared so much together, I just wish I could share your burden just now. You have been a dear friend to me in just these few years we have known each other. I've no doubt you have been a wonderful granddaughter to your granny, just as she's been a wonderful granny to you. I know in my heart, that she loves you very much and is very proud of you, simply from the little you've told me. Cry and mourn if you must, but rejoice too in the memories you've shared with her and in the Master who holds us all by hand. You will meet again in eternity.

Praying that God grant you his comfort and peace in this time.

I'll be here for you.

With the hot weather coming back to town, this is just one of the many sights we get to see these days...did u notice?

LURVE clouds...

The Bridge...







The View...







I like...

Nice right? Tis a picture i took on one of the hikes in Central Nature Reserve...never heard of right? Heh. Today was my 4th time on this 3 to 4 hr hike. Took this on the 3rd hike.

Somehow, today's route felt alil more arduous than the previous times. Or may be it feels tougher because i've forgotten how tough the previous times were. The memory of a goldfish, i have. Did some thinking today while on the hike and it struck me how the journey paralleled our lives on earth.

The hike was tough at some points and easier at others...
Just like life is and will continue to be

It was blazing at some parts and shady at others...
Just like how life gets unbearable at times, yet pleasurable at other times

At some point of the hike, I wasn't sure how long more it wld take, how far we were from the finishing point, where it was or what exactly lay ahead of me... And this is how it is with life, isn't it? We don't know when we will reach the end of life's journey, how long more we have to be journeying or what lies ahead of us...

What we did know this afternoon was that we were assured we would eventually reach our destination, we knew where we would end up and the general direction we were travelling. Just like in life, we, as God's children, have the assurance that we have a destination we are aiming for and will eventually reach. We may not know every twist and turn that comes along but we know where we are headed.

There were points i took time to enjoy my surroundings...the flora, the butterflies, the clouds...especially the scenery from the top of the bridge. Other times, i was too busy avoiding obstacles and trying not to fall that i was blind to the beauty that was around me. There were times i felt weary and tired and wished for the walk to end, but pushed myself on for the sake of pride, friends with me and *heh* exercise.

So it is with life i guess. There are occasional times (of course, we shd aim for more of these) we stop to admire the beauty that God created for our enjoyment. We marvel at God's creation and enjoy what nature has to offer. There are other times we are too busy in our work and wallowing in our problems that we fail to see the good things in life. Family, good friends...whatever God has given to us so freely. We dwell instead on our unhappiness and what we don't have. There are, and will be times, where we feel weary and tired, not knowing why we are doing what we're doing and perhaps even wishing things would just come to an end. But then, life isn't all about us, is it? Sometimes, we just have to push ourselves on, for the sake of family, friends, faith...and "exercise". Just as we exercise our physical bodies to build our bodies up and stay fit and healthy, each time we rely on God's strength and push ourselves on in the face of difficulty, we build up our character and we grow 'fitter' in Christ.

hmm...not bad for a day's hike, eh?

If anyone knows someone else clumsier than me, please let me know so i can feel better about myself and not so alone...heh

Was told to get a warm drink today...(see prev entry)Went to the hot water dispenser holding my mug in my left arm (which had just been punctured for the longest time). Don't ask me how but i managed to spill some hot water on my left hand whilst filling my mug. In doing so, I let out an "OW!".... and promptly spilled the hot water in my mug onto my RIGHT hand......sigh...

Went running to the tap to run water over my hands...

Best thing is...i'm actually amused with myself. Dunno many ppl who manage to do such ridiculous things. My colleagues had a good laugh at my expense.

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Short story 2: Hiking

Been gg to mcritchie for the past few sats to hike for 3-4 hours...all the way to Bt Timah Hill. Long and arduous journey...heh

3 weeks ago while clambering thru a metal railing on that hike, i happily whammed my shin against the rail. We all know that no matter how fat and well-endowed one is, the shin is one part of the body that doesn't exactly store fats. So well, short of it is, got an enormous bruise that actually manifested itself as a lump. A kind fren of mine managed to rub it down to size. No one can understand how i manage to do such things.

Last week, we went hiking again. Was very careful climbing thru that particular railing this time. Made it thru with no mishaps. Came to the second railing. Was so careful climbing thru that, that i failed to notice a short metal barrier slightly beyond the railing. Result? WHAM!

My kind fren immediately rubbed my knee most vigorously while exclaiming over my clumsiness...ouch!

Tell me...know anyone else like me?

Prologue: Am in the Healthy Lifestyle committee at work...what we do is to organise activities and such that promote healthy living amongst staff and students. First project of the year? Health screening for all staff by AH.

Setting: Signed up for the screening. Supp to do it today during my free period. Had to fast for 8 hrs before having the check, which meant no supper last nite and no breakfast this morning. Sigh. Do without food i can't. Had to take weight, height, body measurements and....BLOOD! SOB! Am scared of needles...

Climax: After taking my height, weight and measurements, i hurriedly sat down in front of a nurse in the white uniform (was told by my colleague to let the senior nurse take my blood. The junior ones are in blue..) and starting getting really nervous and tense. Dunno how i survived my BCG long time ago. The nurse complained that my vein was too fine. Made me exercise my arm till i felt weak. Inserted the needle. Hid my face and accidentally let out a whimper. My colleagues and the nurses looked at me in surprise. Some of the nurses even came round to pat my back and comfort me. The needle was in there for a LOOOOG time...."Your blood is not flowing out..." she said to the side of my head partially hidden by the piece of paper i was holding. Finally, someone said, "too long already, take out take out...later then take again." "WHAT??!"

My left arm was weak. Was told to go drink some hot water and then come down again. Started getting a lil woozy. Nurse's parting words.."Next time go and donate blood ...get used to it..." "Piang! I don't donate because i barely make the weight limit lor!" okok...that's only part of the reason why i don't. I'm scared of needles in me...

Went down again after my drink...felt nauseaus by then. Pricked my OTHER arm, the nurse did. Complained once again she cld not find my vein. Squeeze my fist i did...while hiding my face once more. Think i was famous in the room by then. Another nurse immediately came over and stood beside me patting my back and comforting me with soothing words. Tried to distract me also by asking questions. Wasn't too blind to that in spite of my fear.

Epilogue: Am one of the few with TWO plasters on my arms instead of one. All my students kept asking so many questions. I guess beige plaster on my chocolate coloured arms must be pretty obvious. Sigh. Left arm still hurts. Can't lift heavy stuff without feeling the 'suan-ness'. So useless, i am!

A certain friend blogged about this today...Felt inspired to add on to her list...*heh*
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Here's hers...

Some of the expressions that describe how I feel every morning:
1. Run over by a bus/truck

2. An old and battered floor mat that everyone's stepped on

3. That I'm drowning and there's no one around to save me

4. A lonely toilet paper roll that's reaching the end of its roll

5. A loser that's been hit by a heavyweight champion and about to pass out

6. An obsolete computer (486??) that nobody wants

7. An old and heavy FORD

8. A pair of glasses that a big fat lady has accidentally sat on

9. A runaway train that's falling off a cliff

10. That some idiot has grabbed my head and shake it so violently that it's induced a constant spinning feeling

11. An overstretched rubber band

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And here's mine...

How i feel in the mornings...
11) like i've somehow been tricked into running 10km at a 100m sprint speed...

12)Like i've fallen from the 10th floor and somehow managed to survive the fall...but barely

13)Like someone had glued my eyelids shut sometime during the night.

14)Like a piece of wet dishrag that has been wrung many times and is still being wrung

15)Like i've been run over by a truck and the truck is still on top of me

16)Like a bird flying away for winter to a far far away plc that never seems to get nearer

17)Like wat paper must feel after gg thru the shredder

18)Like chocolate that has been left in a car to bake in the sun and forgotten whilst in a demented shape

19)Like a target board that has been shot at and thru countless times

20)Like a piece of cai tao guei that was accidentally dropped on the floor, stepped on by countless people and forgotten...silently screaming...

As the big V-day approaches...came across an article that amused me...now my turn to amuse u...*heh* my dear frens out there...this is for you =)

Disclaimer: None of the below came from me, nor does it represent my opinions or feelings...
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The only thing to do this Feb 14 is to completely ignore the day. Pretend that everyone else has gone completely loopy. Make believe that it's just another day. Chant "It's not happening. There is no such thing as Valentine's Day. It is a figment of my imagination. Om. Om." In other words, follow the list that follows...

1) Run around the office and home and tear out every calendar page with 14 Feb on it. Liquid paper is a valuable ally. If all else fails, insert the entire calendar into the paper shredder.

2) Turn off the radio. Unless, of course, you want to listen to a lot of fake American accents reminding you that it's Valentine's Day. And you soooo want that, don't you??

(this is my personal favourite..)
3) When smug couples ask you what you're doing for dinner, tell them seriously that you're joining them and, for a brief moment, enjoy the sudden flicker of panic in their eyes.

4) Draw up a list of all the people who have ever been mean to you and send them an extravagant, but anonymous, V Day card. If they're single, it'll drive them insane wondering who fancies them. Eventually, it'll lead to depression when there's no follow-up on the day. If they're attached, it'll ruin their day because they'll be wondering if there are better catches out there. Classic win-win.

5) When no one is watching - lunch time is perfect - shear off the heads of all the roses in the office.

6) Fly to Nepal. Everyone is a Buddhist there and they will be far too busy working out their past karmas than to worry about earthly trivialities like chocs and teddies.

7)People will be sending you cutesy SMS-es of teddies and heart shapes. Do not even waste your strength scrolling down. Delete the msg immediately and add the sender to your list in Item 4.

8) Go to a public phone booth and make crank calls to your ex-boyfriend/gf when you know they will be having a romantic dinner with their new gf/bf.

9)Promise yourself that next year, you will be attached. even if you have to kidnap someone or pay them to pretend to be your bf/gf.

10)If all else fails, drink a bottle of vodka and knock yourself out for the day.

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*heh* Hope this managed to bring some semblance of a smile to your face...know many of you are overloaded. In all probability, you're too busy to be even looking at this entry. But well, just want you guys to know my prayers are with you and i hope this managed to cheer you up somehow...

Today is day 2 in my bespectacled state...feel blur most of the time...

One word of advice..try not to buy green spectacles..ppl actually mistake the green on the frame to be algae...ARRGH!

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Feel kinda sad yet relieved..missed the last lesson of romans bs with cecilia yesterday...but guess i felt so tired that if felt good also to stay home. Was considering whether to go for bs at about 6pm. Just got home from the optician's. Then thought i should put the eyedrops before i forgot. Lay down, put the eyedrops, closed my eyes....and whaddya know?? I opened my eyes and it was 8pm!! Man... cldn't go class lor..

Suffered an anxiety attack last night...really ruined my sleep. I'm the kind of sleeper ppl would want in their houses...the perfect watchdog. Super-lightsleeper. Keep telling fellow mission-trippers that one day i will save them from something! So when things weigh on my mind or if i'm anxious abt the next day's activities i'll get very very bad sleep..wld keep dreaming abt weird stuff vaguely related to the cause of anxiety.

My form class is the last express class in the level. They are real noisemakers and can get really out of hand. Feel responsible for them, at least to make sure they dun get worse in behaviour. So last fri i decided to punish them by telling them they'd have to stay back till 6 plus on mon. (They have to stay till 4 anyways for a test). The unexpected happened. Got injured in the eye and needed to see the doc. At the same time, i din want to cancel the punishment because then they'd think i dun carry out my word.. So i went to the Discipline Master and told him to take charge of releasing them when he wanted. He agreed readily and i went off after settling things with him.

Lo and behold...got a message from a colleague last nite saying that the vp was agitatedly looking for me yest afternoon, saying something like "group of students..waiting in classroom....parents outside...complaining..." I tell u i almost died from shock! And by then it was too late to call anyone to rectify anything. Had bad bad sleep..

Prayed but still felt some apprehension coming to school today. Din want to get defensive and seem like i'm shirking responsibility. Yet, at the same time, i did feel that i wasn't at fault. BEST thing is the DM not ard today lor!

But thank God, all turned out ok. The vp was reasonably calm after a night's rest. I explained things to him and it seems he knew who was responsible. I went back to class and explained things to my class, who seemed pretty cool abt it. All they asked was, "Cher, how come the DM can forget us har??" To which i had no reply..

As some of you probably know by know...Somehow managed to injure my eye on sunday. The short of it is that, according to the GP i saw, i scratched my cornea and have to wear spectacles for a week. Arrgh, the agony. I seldom wear specs out. Tends to give me a headache. Plus, i always feel i can't see as well as with contacts.

For some reason, my eye looks worse today and feels more sore compared to yesterday. Which doesn't really make sense considering i saw the doc yesterday and have been using the eye drops he gave. Hmm. And have been wearing specs leh. Students have been conmmenting on my specs all day. Sigh. Perhaps lessons were alil more bearable becos they've been more sympathetic? heh.

Think i shall go see the optician later. Getting abit worried. Hmm..and must pray more. Tendency is to go to Man first before God.