This author is currently on hiatus for the ignoble cause of mugging. The public is advised to remain calm, as this routine protocol has been shown to have no effect on one's violent tendencies in 96% of cases.
| Saturday, September 30, 2006 |
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End-of-Year Exams are just around the corner. Just 5 days away, to be exact. Take a look at other Singaporean students' blogs, and you see that for most of them, the latest post would be like "mugging for EOYE, hope i score well..." etc. Even on the contacts on my MSN list, its mostly along the line of "Exams so near liao haiz..." for the more pessimistic ones, or "13 days to freedom!" for those more optimistic. Yet i still haven't gotten into the mugging mood. I'm still chatting on MSN, spamming the forums and playing games like Audition. I don't know what's quite wrong with me, but i think its with my personality. While others like Zhaoxing (amazingly) started mugging for their PSLE at the start of P6, i started self-revision only one to two weeks b4, even though its supposed to be the most important exam ive taken to date. And i ended up with a relatively high score which could land me in any school i chose, though i scored only an A for maths. Perhaps its my leave-things-to-the-last-minute attitude. No matter how much parents and teachers drill me not to "Usually don't burn joss sticks, at the end hug the Buddha's leg", i still persist to doing things at the latest possible time if im not in the mood. But i guess that's better than not doing it at all, right? Or maybe its because ive always been scoring relatively well, despite my personality. Last year, i hardly revised at all, and i still topped the class, along with mugger Ben. I've no idea how i do that. So i guess it's led to a habit of me not working that hard, cos I get the impression that i'll still score well enough. But this year's a little different. My grades have been slipping, especially after the killer term 1 tests which left the class with an average msg of 3.5. Maybe it's cos of the general attitude of the class. Somehow, we've become much more slacky comapred to the previous year year. We even got the best grades in the entire level at the end of last year, but this year, it looks like we won't even be close. And i've been influenced by this slacky spirit, and not to mention, games. Not that i blame you guys. xD It's no surprise then that my blog proudly proclaims: Mug If Necessary, Slack Otherwise. But is it necessary for me to start mugging yet? Truth is, I personally don't think so. I'm not really an exam-oriented guy. I'm more realistic and practical. If its gonna help you in the future, then i don't mind spending more time on it. But if the benefits are purely only short-term (like momentary fame), then why bother? Similarly, why do we really bother getting good grades for tests? Maybe English will help you write formal business letters in the future. Maths will help if you're going to be an engineer. Computer Studies if you're going to design webpages or be a programmer. But what use do test results give you? Temporary glee at getting higher than that guy sitting next to you? Of course, if you're forced to get good grades, then you have no choice but to mug for it. But do you still remember exactly how well you did last year? No! That's why I don't really like to mug for exams. Maybe spend the night before on it, but that's about it. And after the exams, I don't go around comparing grades anymore. I might have gotten 1 mark higher than you, so what. Does it mean im going to get 1k more in wages after we get jobs? No. And perhaps that's the root of my slackiness. I don't care. >.< I'm really so sian that i can even post about my sianness. Sigh. |
'Twas teh winnar at 11:04 pm.
| Friday, September 29, 2006 |
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Just my luck. We had a combined Literature lesson with 2M, my hands were extremely cold from the air-conditioning. So on the way back to class. i touched YYY on the neck (one of the warmest parts of your body) and he flinched. Being the big hulk that he was, he whacked me on the back. Ow. Then I ran off and he chased me. Although i was sprinting away as fast as I could, he somehow managed to catch up with me and whack me on the back again. Already having such high kinetic energy from the sprinting, the immense force of his whack threw me forward with more momentum. I tried to regain my balance by leaping a few big steps forward, but... Please mind the step. I didn't realise the walkway I was on was elevated off the ground. So i tripped over the step and fell, before skidding to a stop - on the rough stone tiles on the ground. And i ruined my literature worksheet, but...who cares =P The worst part was that a teacher on the second storey linkway saw what had happened. When i realised that, i quickly scrambled to my feet (or attempted to) and get away quickly. I'm not used to that much attention, especially since it was for something not very good. Fortunately, I had great classmates who helped me to my feet. Thanks Bing and JJ for pulling me up and supporting me (physically, not morally). Unlike someone who chionged/"flew" off Naruto-style (with his hands behind his back) with a spastic smile on his face after being a busybody and seeing what the commotion was about. You want us to include you, then have more class spirit and help others out. And that's the reason why you're isolated. If you want to have friends, you have to be a good friend yourself first. And then, i have no idea who told Ms Gwee about what had happened (or whether she also saw it from the 2nd level) but she was pretty concerned after i got to class, even asking me whether i needed to go to the sick bay. And Bing volunteered to "accompany" me there. Of cos, we know what his motive was, lol. xD Thanks for all the help and concern guys, i really appreciate it. =) Of cos im also at fault for provoking YYY in the first place, but who would have expected Physics to be so unpredictable... Oh, but the good thing is that i'll remember him for life due to this incident, for 2 things: 1) A slightly dislocated finger.  (compare the left and right fingers, notice the latter is bent a little out of shape)2) This blog post. Haha. Please control your strength next time, and listen to Hocky about Physics. ;) On a side note, can you belive it that this is the second time ive fallen this week due to someone pushing me... On Monday (4 days ago), Jay was pushing me cos he was jealous of my English exemption. Again, he didn't realise I was on the edge of a step. So I fell onto a metal drain cover. At least its not that serious, cos i wasn't running. But then everyone walking past was like "Ooooooohhhh...", in contrast to the what (most of) my classmates did. Sadly the final year exams are just around the corner, and next year we'll be split apart into different classes already. =( Its been great with you guys around, and thanks to everyone, our class spirit will stay on strong! |
'Twas teh winnar at 11:32 pm.
| Wednesday, September 27, 2006 |
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It all started when I was too sian to start revising for my end-of-year exams, yet I can't play games. I decided to blog, but i could not find a suitable topic. So I asked Yiyong this simple question: "Could you give me something to blog about? T.T" And he replied with this list of wacked words. And even as I type out this post, he is still spamming me with phrases. I suspect soemone is even more bored than me. I decided to run a php script to pick out about 5% of the words in the list for this post. So i did a quick script in 5 minutes and crossed my fingers, hoping i didn't get something as wacked as "Etranger Chevalier". The results: The following phrases were randomly picked from the list: I took up the challenge of creating a blog post with that "inspiration". Enjoy the following short essay which attempts to include all those phrases. x.x PS this post is mainly for me to pass my time, so it might contain lots of crap. The idle sniper was perched atop the Great Wall of China. He was camping. As in, the CS type of camping, not the Scout type of camping. Duh. How he wished he was an author. To write books as famous as George Orwell's 1984 or William Golding's The Spire was his dream, except that he would be the Chinese translator of those books. Even being a pole dancer is better than this, he sighed. Being an idle camper was stupid - all you could do was to open up can after can of Trader Joe's Hearty Red Bean Vegetarian Stew, which the Chinese Army provided for free. It was the cheapest food on the market, so it made economical sense for all soldiers to be fed with the stew, and nothing else, for 3 times a day. Or wait for the rare order from the generals. Like "Company Alpha and Omega, meet at point Lily now!" WAIT. Did that just come from his walkie-talkie? Dang. He discarded his bow of delicious stew and hurried towards Lily, which was the codename for the massage parlour. "Why the first and last companies, Sir?" The sniper asked his general. "Because I said so, duh!" he barked back in reply. "ATTEN-TION! All here?" A resounding "Yes, Sir!" and a stamp of feet told him so. "Okay! I want company Alpha to do the massaging, while Omega gets to enjoy first! After that, switch!" There was a general moan from the soldiers. "Why no chio bu, Sir?" A tiny little recruit piped up. "Because of the new rule which permits generals to have polygamy, duh!" The general laughed. "Now, everyone, to your stations!" Soldiers are not trained in massage. Rather, they are taught how to pull pins out from grenades, and hand-to-hand combat. Thus, the shouts of "Ow! Ow! ARRGH!" from the ones being massaged came as no surprise as the "masseurs" attempted to apply their combat skills to their task at hand. The general smiled in satisfaction as he noticed that everyone was enjoying the service. Suddenly, cries of shock came from outside. The general's walkie-talkie sputtered to life, within hearing range of all the soldiers. "An archer has just arrow-bombed our nuclear reactor! Its gonna blow - AHHHHHHH!" Everyone panicked. The soldiers acting as masseurs gripped tightly whichever part their hands happened to be on, while the victims were too petrified to even shout in pain. The last thing the idle sniper saw was a toxic neon green sweeping over him. ~ .THE END. ~ Like i said, that was crap. xD |
'Twas teh winnar at 9:22 pm.
| Tuesday, September 26, 2006 |
Gifted kids to take 'integrated' path Interact, my foot. Do you high-and-mighty MOE officials know how the ex-GEP students will die? You think mainstreamers will accept them? Nary a chance. It's already a long-standing perception of most mainstream students that GEP students only mug and mug, have no life, can't socialise etc. As a result, they WILL be excluded and isloated if you put them in the same class as the mainstream students. I've been in the Gifted Programme for 4.5 years already, i should know. To prove my point, the following incident happened today between some members from our class and from class 2J, which is in Ortus... ...After school, a few of my classmates (including me) went down to the volleyball court to kope the area to play soccer. Yeah, i know it mgiht be a weird venue, but basically its just an empty open court without any nets or anything, enclosed by tall wire fencing, so its also a suitable place for soccer. Since we were the first ones there, we started playing first. But then, a while later, those boys from 2J came down. Seeing that we were already using the place, then asked us to play team against them (just so they could use the place), even though they had 5 people and we had double that. We refused, so they started APing us. Insults like "iSpark de...so arrogant, so selfish, no wonder despised by everybody", "They don't dare play against us 'cos they sure lose de", "Play until so lousy still want to play?" all came spewing out. Of course, we just dao-ed them and niaoed them back with comments like "Nevermind, continue despising us, we don't mind." Thanks Bing. =P And of cos, we all the more did not give up the court. In the end, those guys spoiled our mood, so we too sian to play le, not with a bunch of *insert vulgarity*s sitting at the side flaming us. So we left one hour earlier than planned. I'll be so glad when Ortus has the IT Emeergency Exercise this week. No more bitching from them. So anyway, that illustrates my point that GEPers and mainstreamers can't get along well together. I have no idea whether it was a few black sheep from the GEP batch who started putting down the mainstreamers first, or whether it was the mainstreamers who were jealous of our grades and started APing us first. Either way, the friction between both batches of students is a vicious cycle that isn't going to stop any time soon. Its already generating hatred and grudge in the school learning envrionment, and boy, if you put those students together, it's gonna even even uglier. And the worst part is that even though the report stated that primary school GEP students can still join "schools with school-based special programmes (like IP) that nurture pupils who have special aptitudes and talents", RI is going to merge its GEP and mainstream classes together by next year! (Actually, that's the main cause of my ire which prompted this post today.) If you abolish secondary school GEP, that can still be tolerated, because according to the post, "only 13 students [opted] to stay in the GEP over the IP." 13 students, not too much of an impact, not such a big deal. But a few hundred gifted students in a premier school like RI? That's nuts. GEP IS NOT EQUAL TO SPECIAL PROGRAMMES IN IP, DAMMIT! I have no idea why the board of directors of RI made such a decision to merge, but what I do know is that a majority of the Rafflesians are rallying together, and both gifted and mainstream students are starting petition after petition against it. But i heard that its not working. Probably because RI, although an independent school, is the school with the most government backing. I mean, it has almost become the face of the Ministy Of Education. So its probably useless trying to argue against them. Gahmen got power but you students hardly got any, if they say merge means merge. Even if your principal is against it (which i highly doubt), also no use, because its the MOE wad! If you dare protest, our Senior Minister can drag you to court summore! Raffles students, good luck trying to protest against the merger. Even though you're supposed to be rivals with Hwachong, i can't help but feel a sense of pity for you guys. Good Luck too, in the "interaction" between mainstream and ex-GEP students. If it screws up big-time, too bad. I think application rates of top students to join RI is going to drop drastically in the future. Luckily, HCI isn't going to implement such a crazy scheme. I suddenly feel so relieved ive joined HCI instead of RI. Phew. |
'Twas teh winnar at 8:17 pm.
| Monday, September 25, 2006 |
And your Singapore Idol is...(pause for 10 seconds) HADY MIRZA! And then jonathan Leong and Hady smiled and hugged each other, then Hady went to hug Gurmit, the host, whereas Daniel went to shake Jonathan's hand and hug him also. And all their fan downstage (you could tell 90% of them are females) were screaming, cheearing, going wild, hugging each other, doing whatever stuff you can think off. Then I got sick of the scene and returned to my PC to type this post out, when I suddenly got interrupted by an MSN convo: [Hady] the singapore idol!!!!!!!!!!!! says (9:32 PM): Yep, you guess it, its a teenage female fan of hady. I daoed her after that. I sooo don't understand girls. Why do they have such overreactive compulsions? (in other words, go so crazy). As i already mentioned in my previous post, that's also probably the reason why the female singers never make it past the semi-finals, both for the last season and this season. Ok, so maybe i predicted the results wrongly. I guess hady is also quite handsome, and can perform better. Compare the convo above with the following excerpt: Hady = boo. always a malay...always malay vs chinese, male vs male. then the male malay win... Yep, you guessed it, that a forum post from a male classmate of mine. That's why males are more sensible. Maybe its just not our natural instict for our testosterone to start pumping whenever we see a female singer on stage, unlike the sensitive hormones of our female counterparts. See, we're actually more concerned with issues of racism and sexism than with stuff like singing. Seriously, when have you seen such big groups of teenage adolescents mobbing a female singer, performer or whatever, and cheering and going wild over them? Unless they are jounalists, i doubt you've ever seen such a scene before. Mostly its just girls who bother with such stuff. Us males would rather spend our time sensibly at home, watching Singapore Idol on our TV sets and saying, "Those singers are crap. Heck, the audience are just as crap." Okay, maybe that was a little too exaggerated. But you get my point. Is mobbing your "cute idol" that fun? Chasing after their minibuses, or camping for a day outside the indoor stadium, then shoving through crowds just to get that grainy photo of him in your handphone to show it to everyone and say "I saw him! He smiled at me!" Of course, I do believe the idol wannabes have some merit in their singing also. Else they wouldn't be in the competition in the first place. But are you idolising them for their singing, or is it more because of their looks? Singapore Idol thanks you very much for sending in thousands of smses for your dream guy. Considering each sms costs 60 cents and there are a few hundred thousand teenage Singaporean girls out there, its no surprise this is pretty much a rip-off. Gals, why can't you idolise someone like, your macho PE teacher instead? Or maybe someone like Bing? Why does it have to be some frigging guy with big teeth, weird eyes and who likes to comb his hair so that it covers one eye?! At least it looks like Singapore Idol breeds nationalism. Hmm, i think since its even more successful than the National Day parade in making people love their country, why not jsut scrap NDP? Replace it with year long talent contests. Don't worry, you can always change the name. Maybe have "Singapore Idol" from Jan to April, then "Singapore Superstar" from April to July, then "Singapore Band" from July to Oct, and finally end off with "Singapore Dancing" from Oct to the end of the year! That would generate lots of revenue all year long, and plus, its even more effective than NDP in promoting a sense of national pride. Don't have to spend money on goodie bags and fireworks some more! |
'Twas teh winnar at 10:09 pm.
| Friday, September 22, 2006 |
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Previously: The ugly duckling was accepted by the grey ducklings at first. However, after he was bitten by an ikan bilis, Papa duck and Mama duck did not allow him to go out and play and he was thus ostracized by the grey ducklings. After professional duck counselling, the grey ducklings treated him better but Papa duck decided to teach the grey ducklings a lesson. The war had begun. Papa duck was determined to teach the grey ducklings a lesson they would never forget - a lesson about not doing onto others what you don't want done on you. And unsurprisingly, the grey ducklings were furious about the rumours, as how the ugly duckling had been frustrated with the teasing he received. The plan was working! However, the grey ducklings, in their burning anger, lashed back. They united together and refuted the rumours. However, they did not know who it was, and there were speculations that it could be the ugly duckling himself, although most people did not think so. For that matter, no one hoped that it was so. In their quest to find the evil perpetrator, they began investigating duckprints left behind, although it appeared that the person had been uses different soles which left behind different prints each time. It was a tough task and they could not come up with anything conclusive, so they decided to refer the matter to their smarter counterpart, chickens. They helped to piece together all the prints and they managed to get a better idea of who the evil perpetrator was. By now, suspicions were rising about whether the ugly duckling was behind all of this, and emotions were running dangerously high. The head hen decided to step in to try to restore peace. She talked to personally to some of the grey ducklings. They gathered information from the duckprints and presented it to her. She tried to understand and explain the situation, aided by one of the other chickens. She offered suggestions on how to handle the issue, said she would take action, and they waddled home happily thinking the issue was resolved. But the inconvenient turth was that it was not. Due of what had happened, many grey ducklings felt a strong hatred against the ugly duckling, and the niaoing and ostracizing increased. The ugly duckling was very hurt at first, but amazingly, he bounced back. He began to respond to the other grey ducklings, even retaliating (though not physically) sometimes. He appeared to have changed his attitude. And thus, the grey ducklings began to interact more with him. But the issue was not fully resolved yet, unlike what the head chicken had thought. There were still outstanding feelings and emtions, and the teasing had not stopped, although the ugly duckling was coping better with it and was no more taking to it like a duck takes to ikan bilis. So What Now? Would the ugly duckling take offence and cause the war to erupt again, causing all that emotions to come bursting out once more, or would it all just blow over, in the best interests of everyone?  *to be continued in part 3* << Back to the Past |
'Twas teh winnar at 8:29 pm.
| Thursday, September 21, 2006 |
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I went for the HSSRP (Humanities and Social Science Research Programme) briefing today by Mr Melvin Chng. Out of the 19 people who expressed interest through the EMB, only 7 turned up, including me. Again, i must say this is evidence of poor scheduling, since the third language oral test was held today (as i mentioned in my previous post) so a lot of people couldn't make it. But then again, Mr Chng has only a window period of 4 days to conduct this briefing whereas MOE has the whole year to conduct their "research study", so i suppose they can't be compared. Oh, and HSSRP is also managed by the Gifted Education Branch (GEB), which is also part of the MOE. And they will be opening it up to all IP students next year, instead of restricting it to only GEP students like in previous years. HSSRP is a programme which gives you the opportunity to be attached to a professor mentor from NUS or NTU to conduct research in a given humanities research area, which ranges from Economy to Human Geography to Philosophy. According to some research done, 1 hour spent with your professor mentor is equivalent to 20 hourrs of independent research. Don't know how they derived that though. But the benefits are definitely numerous. After you complete your project and if it is acceptable enough, it will be published in a book. Imagine having an article you wrote when you were only 15 years old appearing in a book. Naturally, it would also do wonders for your portfolio. Also, you can submit your project as your HRP (Humanities Research paper, in lieu of humanities exams) and also for Projects' Day. So its not really extra work done cos u can use it for other submissions also, and your HRP marks will be that of your Humanities grade. But you get professional help for it whereas others don't. Haha. The best projects also get to be showcased in The Symposium, a megaevent which is something like your Youth Science Conference, except on an even larger scale. Of course, there is a heavy workload for such benefits. You will have to meet up with your mentor for at least 3 hours over the span of your research, and will also have to do a lot of independent research and learning (cos you can't expect your mentor to do everything for you, duh.) And i guess its this workload which puts people off. You have to write 2 proposals beforehand, one for registration and the other to be accepted by your mentor-to-be. And there's no guarantee that you will be accepted, since there will be so many applicants. So, i really don't know whether to go ahead with HSSRP, or switch to smth else like SMP (Science Mentorship Programme), cos 1) no one else from my class wants to go for HSSRP; and 2) i can't find a partner for this - i hate doing individual work. If you're interested or have any advice, talk to me over MSN. Thanks! |
'Twas teh winnar at 11:38 pm.
| Wednesday, September 20, 2006 |
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Dear Sec. 1 to Sec. 3 Students, A large portion of the sec 2 cohort (20 students from each class) had to go for this "Research Study on English and Mathematics" conducted by MOE today. The good part was that we were released at 1.15 for lunch so we could make it there on time. Well, that's the only good point. So brace yourseelves as i launch into a tirade of First off, the biggest problem was with the timing of this "research study". The people taking third language had to skip their lessons today cos of this thing. At least they have an official reason - MOE is in charge of both this and 3rd lang. But the problem is that there is a 3rd lang test TOMORROW. So it was utterly crucial for them to attend today's lessons for revision. But obviously, they couldn't make it if they went for this survey. Which brings me to point no. 2. Our class has 26 students, 20 of them have to go for this research study, and at least 10 of them take 3rd lang. So they had to get replacements from the other students. The worst part was that although there were 2 weeks' notice, everyone forgot about it and the replacements were done in a hurry about 30 mins b4 the thing started. After about 10 calls, a lot of rejected calls and getting our form teacher pissed off and shouting (according to Hubert), those of us who were not selected for the "research study" in the first place had to go grudgingly. That includes me. I had planned to either go for Gym or go to the iLounge to do some work/revision, but there went the rest of the afternoon. So no choice, had to go to LT4 for the "research study". We thought that it would be maybe some surveys or interviews, and once we were done, we could leave. But then one of the guys in charge But the worst part was not about the papers. There were 6 people in-charge who i assumed had been nominated by the MOE, and they kept on shouting at us non-stop, threatening to take down our names ("We will report your names to your principal! And also MOE! You will be blacklisted!") or to keep us back. So we all AP back at them. In the end, after all that shouting, finger-pointing and what crap, we started at 2.20 pm. (We assembled at 1.35 pm. Effective use of time, i must say.) And so nothing eventful happened while we were working on our papers, except that they continued with their threats against anyone who dared turn their heads. And I cut my finger on the paper. =.= I finised with 1 hour to spare, so i looked around and realised that i was the first to complete in the entire row of students taking the Maths paper. Wow. I didn't bother checking, so after half an hour of doing nothing, I decided to go talk to one of those guys in charge. "Excuse me, may I know when this will end?" "Why?" "I have to go for third language, and I have a test tomorrow." (this was obv a lie) "Where is that?" "Um, MOELC at Bishan. I have to be there by 4+." "No, we cannot let you go. We still have another test later." I strongly suspect that MOE just paid a few teachers to conduct this "research study". Extremely unproffesional in their way of handling things, and don't even know what "third language" is, although MOE also takes care of that. Either that, or they're some high-up officials in MOE who are so high up they don't bother to know about other affairs. In which case I believe they don't deserve to be in MOE. Later, towards the end of the paper, I purposely asked the same guy again whether I could go, and he shouted back, "NO!" When they finally collected the papers, everyone was cheering. But not for long. Suddenly, they announced that there was a "second paper" and everyone starting booing. But what to do? MOE say do, must do lor. This 2nd paper was 15 mins long. All of the questions in it were the "What's next in the pattern?" type which were chao easy. As someone exclaimed, "What is this paper for? Test our eyesight arh!" I got tyco again another time round. There were answers marked out on the question booklet, but they had apparently been erased off. But the pencil impression was still there. So i just copied all the answers except for a couple which the previous person didn't do. But this reflects rather badly on MOE's attitude towards this "research study." I can't believe they actually recycle question booklets for this, don't even print new ones. Finally, when it ended at 5 pm (40 mins later than the original schedule), after more shouting to "put down your pens! STOP!" the tests ended. Everyone was extremely noisy. So the guy shouted into the MIKE, "Shut up! Or else we'll keep the whole bunch of you back!" And since everyone was APing the "old men", we all cheered back in reply. At that moment, you could tell he was frigging pissed cos everyone was laughing and was actually noisier than b4 he shouted at us. But he had no choice but to let us go. Empty threats, pooh. So at the end, when everyone was leaving, I walked up to one of the guys and told him I had some feedback. I told him how friggin screwed the organisation of this "research study" was (albeit in a much more formal and polite tone.) I told him we had tests, and that's why nobody's cooperating. And at the end of it all, he had he would refer my feedback (which i highly doubt he would really do) and most surprising of all, he asked if I was a foreign student. You think what, our England very bad izit? Or izit cos i was too cheem for you to understand? Or do you look down on Hwachong, think we Chinese SAP school then all Cheena, cannot speak Engrish properly. You think only ang-moh can speak England very the good arh. We all Singaporeans also know how to code-switch one, not as lousy as gahmen think leh. And so it was one truly wasted afternoon. What's the use of getting students to do your papers when we don't want to take them seriously in the first place, thanks a lot to your ineffective "invigilators"? The results will thus be an under-estimation of our actual abilities. And what's the logic behind scheduling such a useless "research study" during a test week? Especially when you, as MOE, should know there's a third language test the next day. Lastly, we don't gain anything from this "research study". We sacrifice our time to be your test subjects, although not that we want to. Naturally, we would expect better respect. Not an afternoon of shouting, threats, attacks on our school. And especially not you taking down the names of students to be supposedly sent to our principal (whom i doubt they even know) or the MOE. This incident has left me with an extremely bad impression of MOE. |
'Twas teh winnar at 10:26 pm.
| Monday, September 18, 2006 |
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My group was supposed to do a Maths presentation on cylic quadrilaterals today. The estimated time we were supposed to take was half an hour. In the end, we used up the whole period (40 mins), and couldn't even get past the first part of our presentation. This was due to Tiansheng (our first presenter), the Maths pro who had received extra training at NUS b4, spending way too much time on complicated proofs which no one could understand. His diagrams were also horrible, extremely messy and confusing with all the lines criscrossing about. Well, what can you expect from MS Word? Later, towards the end, when everybody got extremely sian of listening to TS natter away and gave up trying to understand what he was saying, Derek suddenly cut into his presentation, drew a diagram on the board, explained it in one sentence and everyone was able to understand him. So in one minute, Derek managed to explain clearly the proof TS had been trying to explain for 10 mins. And Derek saved the day. This incident highlights the question: Does special training, especially with experts like professors, cause you to be unable to connect with the other average people? This is because one would definitely learn some cheem jargon from the experts, and one would then subconciously use it in your work, however one does forget that the other people who have not learnt that much would not be able to understand him. In short, such special training would cause you to become more like the experts and professors, who become isolated in a world of their own due to their cheem language. My answer to that is: No. It does not happen all of the time. Derek also went through the same special training with TS, yet he could still teach brilliantly. This is because of the ability and skill to translate all the jargon you learn into simple concepts which are understandable by other people of lower standards. Such jargon is useless except for when you communicate with other experts, which are sadly only a minority of the total human population. To adapt a quote from Mr. Warren Liew's letter to the ST Forum regarding the teaching of English in our education system: The best Maths students need not necessarily be the best Maths teachers, and similarly, conversely so. So basically, what it means is that even if you are good in Maths, you may not be good at passing on your knowledge to others. Similarly, even if you are a good Maths teacher, you might actually be weak in Maths. Having gone through SIMO training at NUS myself, I can certainly say that it does increase your knowledge of Maths. However, how you apply this knowledge is a different matter. Would you choose to give complicated proofs that cover every single (unnecessary) aspect of the question so that it is flawless, and then receive recognition for your wonderful proof in some Maths or Science magazine. Or would you rather just make things simple, cut away the need for extra unnecessary workings, present your answers in a way such that others are able to understand you, and pass on your knowledge to others. That is the clear distinction between professors and teachers. |
'Twas teh winnar at 11:01 pm.
| Saturday, September 16, 2006 |
As part of HCI's "Cultural Enrichment Programme", all sec 2 students had to attend the A Capella Festival Concert which was held on 16th and 17th Sep. Although i don't think i was really very much culturally "enriched" by the concert, the performances were definitely impressive and most of us enjoyed ourselves.A cappella music is vocal music or singing without instrumental accompaniment So the performers were, like, performing Evanescene's My Immortal without any musical instruments. THEY were the intruments, doing all the beats, whistling, trumpet blowing, etc. Sounds almost like the actual stuff, if not better. Truly amazing what you can do with the human voice. The concert went well until almsot the end, except for some idiots clapping to the wrong beat on purpose to screw the performers' rhythm up (in which they failed). Then for the final performance, the organisers had invited the SuperBand Juz-B. And man, did the girls go wild (and some boys pretending to scream like girls too). Took a few minutes for them to settle down and for the emcee to speak, and then a few moments later, they would suddenly start screaming again for no apparent reason. I suspect some of them bought a ticket just to see their favorite band in action. The interesting thing was that they were supported some guy called Wei Qi, who i suppose is a member of Juz-B. At the very first scream of "Wei Qi!" i thought i was some joker from our class who was trying to niao our WQ from 2N. Then later, it escalated to "Wei Qi!! 我们永远支持你!! Wei Qi, 我爱你!! WOOOOOO~!!" and i realised that they were actually cheering for some guy up on stage. Such a coincidence. Wei Qi must be very excited that he has so many female fans. xD And then, throughtout the performance by Juz-B, the girls were screaming again. And then, at the end, they screamed again. And again. And just to niao them, some of the HCI boys screamed as if they were girls also. Extremely ear-splitting considering how high-pitched their voices are. The question is, are these girls supporting the talent and music of the band itself, or is it more of their looks and packs? If you do watch American Idol, you would observe that the audience supports their idol by clapping and cheering, then staying silent throughout the performance, then giving them a standing ovation. Whereas in Singapore Idol, the supporters (mostly girls) simply scream and shout rubbish like "I will always love you!" the whole time. This disrupts the music, so it is really the music they care about, or is it more of simply the sight of their "star"? Ken is so right when he says that "Singapore Idol is more of a competition of looks and personality." Seriously, if those a cappella singers had joined Singapore Idol, they would have owned the other performers' socks off. Paul Twohill can't sing for nuts, and he managed to stay on until the top four when much better singers like Mathilda were voted out, until he was finally eliminated. (phew!) So this shows that he got through more because of his hip factor and his frggin hair covering his eyes, because the very performance he combed up his hair, he got voted out. So why don't those singers join Singapore Idol? My guess is that they have much better things to do. Why join a singing contest which is actually more a contest of appearances, and you become famous not for your singing but your looks? Its definitely not the true fame for their talents that those singers wish for. I think the supporters of all those "talent" contests like Singapore Idol are mostly teenage girls who have nothing better to do than to spam smses and look at hot hunks and punks. That's also why for both Seasions 1 and 2, the final 2 contestants are both male. Cos the females don't excite those girls, Its thanks to these manaical girls that Singapore Idol is able to earn so much money. It's not to say that the Singapore Idols can't sing well. Sure, their singing is definitely above average. However, the really good singers do not get noticed or gain recognition, because the Singapore teenages would rather support handsome singers than truly great singers. That's why America Idol produces so much better singers than ours. I am sure that Singapore is also able to produce such talented performers like theirs. But Singaporeans have to become more matured towards such subjects first. |
'Twas teh winnar at 11:57 pm.
| Thursday, September 14, 2006 |
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Of course, i learnt a few new interesting things about how PDay is organised. And so i present...Projects' Day Extra! (you know, like how SG idol shows u the behind-the-scenes stuff, uh-huh...) Fact #1 Projects' Day recives about S$3000 in budget. Thats actually quite little, considering its held over 9 months. In comparison, the iCouncil Training Camp, held for three days last year had a budget of S$1000. Fact #2 Projects' Day trophies for prize winners cost $6 each. However, their design is quite nice. Also, they actually print the individual awardee's name. Not bad.  Fact #3 However, the trophies' design has been the same for years already. The only difference each year is in the year number printed. Fact #4 Sadly, the quality of the trophies each year is also the same. They are really fragile. Apparently the glass "cups" have only been superglued on - according to a teacher, a proper trophy with the top part screwed on securely would cost $20. $6 = superglue $20 = screw There's already been 13 trophies broken in the transportation process from the factory to HCI, and a further 10 more broken in the sorting out of the trophies. Jiakun's and Dah Wei's trophies also had the same fate. All of their cups simply broke off cos the glue was too weak. So what do we do to fix those trophies? Glue it back again, duh! Although Mrs Chan says that much more trophies were actually broken last year...get a better supplier, dangit. >.<  Fact #6 This year, one sec 1 group actually made it to the Grand Finals! In the entire history of PDay, only one sec 1 group has done it b4... Also, Dah Wei's group is the first (and only one) from our iSpark bacth to enter the Grand Finals. Wooow! *cheer* Fact #7 Originally, the arrangement was for only the team leaders to go up on stage to collect his trophy and the certs, while the trophies of the other team members would be passed to them later. But Mr Hon wanted to let all prize winners up on stage. So thats 4x the trouble and 4x the chaos, especially for us helpers. Argh. Fact #8 Seah Kia Wee and YU FAN will be helping to pass to trophies and awards to the Guest-Of-Honour tmr during the prize-giving ceremony this year. I was demoted to a reserve, in case Swee Kiat faints or smth then I take over him. Photos courtesy of Hong Hui's handphone. Thanks! xD PS Sorry, posting of Part II of Duckingz Reloaded is postponed to some other day. This post takes higher priority. |
'Twas teh winnar at 10:29 pm.
| Tuesday, September 12, 2006 |
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Once upon a time, there was an ugly duckling. Except that he is ugly duckling reloaded. So although he is still as black, Mama duck and Papa duck love him dearly and treat him like their son. However, the ugly duckling was mocked by the other grey ducklings. "What big eyes you have! What dark feathers you have!" They would occasionally snigger at the ugly duckling. For it was true; he did have big eyes and was dark-coloured. So the ugly duckling felt very sad, but he did not quack angrily back at them and laughed along with them. "All the better for spying!" He would reply with a laugh. The ugly duckling seemed like a nice duck to the other ducks, so they accepted him, althought they still beared a little grudge against him for his differences, but they controlled it. Then one day, something happened. Something BAD. Something catastrophic. Something that would change the ugly duckling's life forever! It all started when Mama duck and Papa duck brought the ugly duckling out to the lake to teach him how to swim. He was a good learner and was just paddling along well behind Papa duck and Mama duck, when suddenly...he was attacked! "Ow! It hurts! Something's biting me on my leg! I'M GONNA DIE!" suddenly wailed the ugly duckling in pain. Papa duck and Mama duck quickly swam over to rescue their beloved son out of the water. "It's just an ikan bilis (anchovy)!" Papa duck exclaimed when he saw the wound. But the ugly duckling wasn't listening. He was to petrified to do or say anything, for that matter. "How terrible for such an evil to befall you!" Papa duck continued. "We must seek help at once!" So Mr. Quak the ducktor was summoned. He used a feather to wipe away the blood, and the ugly duckling felt much better. "Papa, Mama...im so scared of ikan bilis! It almost killed me!" he sobbed. "Don't worry, my duck, we understand how you feel", Mama duck told him. "We mustn't allow you into the water again!" The next day, the other grey ducklings came to visit the ugly duckling. "OMGWTFBBQMUSH, I heard you can swim liao! Wanna go splashing with us in the lake?" they asked. But even before the ugly duckling could reply, mama duckling cut in. "No, he is not ever going out into the water again! See, he was bitten by ikan bilis, and now he has a phobia of it! He might die of fright or bite should we allow him to go swimming again!" And so it continued like that. Every time the grey ducks went to find the ugly duckling, Mama duck would shoo them away. Slowly but surely, the grey ducks began to ostracise him, for he never joined in their activities because of Mama duck's refusal to let him do so. And the ugly duckling also felt very isolated and alone, for he did not go out with the others. He felt very redundant. And because the ugly duckling did not go out with the other grey ducklings, they began mocking him, calling him names such as "nerduck" and "mama's duck", both of which are deregatory terms in duckslang. "Do not utter such bad words!" the ugly duckling would quack back in return, "Mama duck says its very bad!" But the grey ducks simply laughed back at him in return. They ignored him and continued calling him names. The ugly duckling ran home crying to mama duck, complaining that the other ducks were treating him unfairly. Mama duck decided to get professional help and a well-respected duck counsellor was called in. He talked to the grey ducks about the situation of the ugly duckling, and that they should put aside differences and try to accept and tolerate him, for he had been brought up so. The grey ducks followed the duck counsellor's advice. So they stopped calling the ugly duckling names and started trying to make friends with him again. But he still felt extremely prejudiced against them for all they had done to him before. He decided to tell Papa duck about his unhappiness. Papa duck answered in frustration, "If they can't learn, then I will teach them a lesson." So Papa duck began spreading rumours about how the grey ducks had planned for the 13/37 attacks, which was to waddle into the Swan Lake Centre and peck it down; how they did not stick to the duckian philosophy and values; but worst of all, *to be continued. this short story is not over yet!* Go to the Present >> |
'Twas teh winnar at 11:53 pm.
| Monday, September 11, 2006 |
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Surname is 于 (yu3). Teaches Chinese (duh). Female. Standing in for Mr Lim NE while he's away on NS these 2 wks to lose some weight. Apart from being far from his weight (she's rather slim and, um, relatively chio as compared to some other tchrs), her teaching abilities are also far from LimNE's. Never judge a book by its cover. Worst part is, she can't tolerate noise. Probably due to her extremely soft voice. Can hardly hear her. Such teachers who are extremely strict are never received well. I heard 2M niao her like siao. Purposely tell her the wrong names so she got confused. Then laugh at her. She should be glad 2N isn't that bad. xD And i was sleeping for 3/4 of her lesson. First she ask us read thru a passage by ourselves (i took the chance to sleep while reading halfway thru, but with my head lowered so it seemed that i was actually reading), then she read thru the passage (i dozed off again), then she picked a few students to individually read paragraphs from the passage (i wasn't chosen, so slept again). In the end i was awake only for the last 10 mins of her lesson, when she was talking some crap about how reading would improve our vocab and let us learn more good idioms and phrases (she proceeded to name some from the passage). At least her lessons have some use. =P And tmr, Miss Letchmie is coming around to our class after school to give us a On a side note, im feeling very pissed/frustrated/lethargic right now. Maybe its cos my internet has been screwing up the whole night, always disconnecting. Maybe its cos i couldn't sign in to Windows Live Messenger the whole night, until now. Maybe its cos im down with flu. Maybe its cos i have a lack of sleep. Whatever it is, it must be my mood that's causing me to type in such short sentences. Not my usual style. Anyway, for those of you who still cannot connect to messenger, here's the fix for it (provided by a friend - thanks yee jiunn!) Open with Notepad: C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts There's a reason why MSN Messenger is termed to be the most unstable IM service. Argh. |
'Twas teh winnar at 10:45 pm.
| Friday, September 08, 2006 |
 Ok, thats him from the Digital Life article on 9th May. But he looks rather different now...for one, he doesn't look at fat (according to Andai). Also, it looks like his hairstyle has changed a lil bit. Anyway, also present was a representative from M1, Mr Gary Wong. It started with an email from Gary... (1 Sep) I would like to meet you and/or your peers to get some comments/ opinions on the overall game concept, and how we can make Wei Kiat's mobile game known to your school. Some ideas I was thinking of: Chinese High publication, maybe you have a class email/ core group email, announcement on yr school or informal group forum Yep, the (informal) meeting was held at 4.30 pm, at the McDonald's located at King Albert Park. It was about The Wicked Mobile Game, which is basically a SMS version of The Wicked. For those interested, it will be released soon, probably next week even, so it looks like M1 was trying to get some publicity for it in HCI, which is also WK's secondary school, for those who don't know. (On a side note, he was also from EC3, which is a computer club.) When we first arrived at KAP, we couldn't find WK or Gary anywhere (we had only seen WK's pic from that article b4 only). So i ended up calling his handphone...and lo and behold, WK waved and we realised they were just in front of us, on the 2nd level. =.= WK's friend was also there, and the two of them had been studying for their upcoming A-level prelims. When WK and Gary saw us, they were kinda surprised. 'Cos they thought that we, Throughout the entire meeting, WK somehow kept on saying that we were very smart, and Gary somehow also got into the act, saying stuff like "Wah, you must be Wei Kiat No. 2 lah, take over WK when he goes to NS." I mean, durh, we're only riddle solvers, and besdies, there's many other people with a much higher intelligence, its not like we're that smart lah... However, i did receive this sms from WK b4 i reached KAP... ...Gary is quite sly in a way after dealing with him so many times. He's just looking for ultra-cheap publicity. While the payment to me (Weikiat) is erm quite jialet (bad). Don't promise him too much. Lol ok, i hope we didn't promise Gary too much. We told him that it was possible to make an announcement over EMB (which is HCI's school message board system which everyone is supposed to check daily), however, only teachers could post. So we suggested that he emailed Mr Yong JS, who is the teacher-in-charge for EC3 and should know Weikiat rather well. Gary also showed us a couple of sample questions, one of them was the Monty Hall problem which had alrdy been discussed in the Wicked forum, so I knew the answer for that one =P The other riddle went something like this: North went the train South went the train The train stopped at station 4 Which station did the train stop at? Gary said they had a whole team of M1 employees trying to solve that riddle, but they couldn't figure it out...yet i solved it in like, 2 mins? I don't believe him =.= Anyway, click here for the answer, but ill leave you to figure out how to solve it. Its not very difficult... On another note, during the meeting, WK kept on pressing Gary for his payment/cheque (perhaps to make his point that the payment was "jialet"?), but Gary kept on turning down his request apologetically, saying that he would "press his company for the money". Its an ugly world out there doing business. Oh, and i think WK's Hi-MD is chao cool. For more info, go to Wei Kiat's Blog. ;) |
'Twas teh winnar at 1:38 am.
| Tuesday, September 05, 2006 |
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I went to Fuji Ice Palace today with Jing Jie, Wei Qi and Eening for ice skating, must say it was quite fun. That is, after you've got the hang of it and can skate without falling down too much. =) Its quite zi4 bei1 when u see the pros zipping by you, doing their stunts and moves, whereas you're still struggling to keep your balance... Of course, when you get the hang of things, its also quite ego-boosting to be skating by those small little tots who are still using the metal supports, yet can still fall down. ;) Obviously, i had my fair share of falls, since this was my first time. i had a really nice "fall", and also a really humiliating (but cool!) one. Nice I was skating just beside the wall, when a little boy suddenly appeared from the entrance in front of me. I tried to stop, but then started falling forward, so i quickly grabbed the wall. My legs continued moving forward, slid around 180 degrees and slammed into the wall, with me still grabbing onto the wall. Final position: both legs in front of me, one outstretched and the other bent, with my hands still clinging onto the wall. Its a nice feeling. Humiliating i was skating nowhere near a wall, and JJ and en were coming towards me from the other direction. i wanted to wave to them or smth, but somehow i lost balance, my legs swept up and over me as i did a half-backsummer, but I landed on my knee, then on the side of my HEAD. Ow. Must have been going really fast to be able to do that. My temple's still hurting now... But i think i still did quite well. its my first time ice-skating, yet i can already skate better than WQ and En. The only problem is that i can't brake properly, so i often end up crashing into the wall or, sometimes,...someone. Oops. Well, perhaps one reason why im so pro is cos ive rollerbladed a coule of time b4. But i think its actually mainly cos i DARE. "敢敢来", as JJ says as he eggs us on. I started by taking small steps along the wall. Then, i progressed on the skating just beside the wall, so if i fell, i could just grab it. Later, i started skating without the wall, except that WQ was at my side so i consatntly used him for support. Sorry =P Finally, i dared to try skating by myself, and that was really where the fun began. Its a really cool feeling as you whoosh/glide on the ice, with the cold air blowing at you. Thing is, you're being supported only by 2 blades on your skates, which is both good, if you are able to control and maintian your balance, and bad...ow. You have to rmb that you're not wearing shoes per se, so you can't run, but you have to "slide" on the ice. The technique of movement is different. I think the faster you go, the more momentum you have, the ezier it is to keep balance. But if you lose balance when skating realllyyy fast...good luck. We exited after about 3 hours. WQ actually told me beforehand, "If you don't get any wounds, you are really tyco." So En had an abrasion on her ankle, WQ blisters on his feet, but me and JJ came out relatively unscathed (except for bruises from my falls). And coincidentally (or not), we're both gymnasts. That's what gym does to you. =) |
'Twas teh winnar at 11:57 pm.
| Monday, September 04, 2006 |
This morning, at 11am Australian time (9 am SG time), things finally came unglued for Steve Irwin as he was shooting a documentary segment on stingrays. Snorkeling on Batt Reef, a stretch of the Great Barrier Reef about 15km from Port Douglas in North Queensland, the 44-year-old happened to swim over a large ray which, startled, whipped its barbed tail upwards into his chest. He died instantly. Yes, a very sudden and shocking news, especially since Steve's THE Crocodile Hunter and most of us have been watching his documentaries, especially the very famous Croc Files series. Perhaps his time had come after having had so many close shaves, working with such dangerous animals for the sake of nature. Nevertheless, let us all pay tribute to him, and his work in helping to protect and converse wildlife. Some sentiments and reactions from around the world: Australia has lost a wonderful and colourful son. - Australin Prime Minister John Howard He died doing what he loved best and left this world in a happy and peaceful state of mind. He would have said, 'Crocs Rule!' - John Stainton, Steve's colleague Several Australian news websites went down due to high web traffic and talk-back radio experienced a high volume of callers expressing their grief... - Wikipedia Yep, even crocodilehunter.com was down when i checked it half an hour ago. And here are some reactions from some of my MSN contacts: The better: "Steve...It was nice watching you on tv..." "R.I.P Steve "Croc Hunter" Irwin" "swiftly striking stingray sharpshooter speared steve" And the bad: "dead. - turtle on a stick." "so what the hell does this turtle thing mean" "STEVE IRVIN = WINNER OF TORTOISE (sic). SO PUT A FREAKING (tu) AT THE START OF YOUR NICK. LMFAO~" Does this indifference, perhaps, reflect a lack of concern on the part of Singaporean teens, towards as serious a topic as death, especially that of such a famous naturalist and star, one who has made such a great contribution back to Mother Nature? Even if you haven't watched his documentaries before, or don't know him at all (which i think is quite impossible), you still have no reason to take him death so lightly, and even in some cases, be so insulting towards him. he is still an outstanding fellow human being after all. Perhaps this is due to the excessive influence of games like MapleStory (eew), that us Singaporean teens have lost even our humanity and emotions. Can't even give someone respect at his deathbed. Something for you to ponder about, against the backdrop of a very shocking death. Anyway, do put a tortoise [emoticon code is: (tu)] in front of your MSN nick to express your heartfelt condolences towards Steve Irwin. Do spread this message, i first received it from Ning Yu, who got it from an unknown source. However, don't spam people with it, just put the msg in your nick or PSM, and if other people feel the same, they will naturally follow. BUT, if you feel nothing at all towards Steve and cannot force yourself to do so, then don't do it at all. Don't just do it because "it looks cool" or because of some other stupid and lame reason like that. Don't bring yourself to lie about what you feel. Such a campaign is nothing without your sincerity. It will just take up extra space in your nick. Once again, rest in peace, Steve Irwin. |
'Twas teh winnar at 9:17 pm.
| Saturday, September 02, 2006 |
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Since there won't be any lessons for the next few days, i think that ill have to resort to blogging about current events, else i wont have anything interesting to talk about...:( So do enjoy this last long and interesting post for this week. Nothing much has happened for the past couple of days, so it looks like ill have to blog again about the same topic as my previous post... We celebrated Teachers' Day yesterday, and i wrote a tribute to our teachers a couple of days b4 <3, so today ill talk about the importance of such a celebration. So how fruitfully did you spend the day off yesterday? ill bet most students stayed at home playing computer games and piaing MapleStory (eew), while the more active ones went out for a game of soccer or two with their friends. On the other hand, teachers probably stayed at home marking overdue worksheets, revision papers and the like. Is teachers' day supposed to be spent like that? The only thing that shows any evidence of "celebration" and commemoration for our teachers is, perhaps, the few hours of performances, tributes and speeches the day before. Surprisingly, I actually observed during the celebrations that some teachers were actually not paying attention to the performances meant for them, but were in fact chatting among themselves! Quite ironic, especially since they always want us to liste to their speeches and lessons when they don't do the same for our performances. Not that many of the students were pay attention to the event either, though. Beyond that few hours, nothing else happens. Life goes back to usual, students carry on defying their teachers' instructions, not handing up homework, and teaching carry on slogging under their heavy marking workload. Are such celebrations wasted on us? Students and teachers alike do not pay attention, unless the performance is something really hilarious and attention-grabbing. I think that the main cause behind this lacklustre response is due to the lack of sincerity on the students' part, and the lack of respect on the teachers' part. We look at it as "just another school celebration", instead of really finding and understanding the deep meaning and intentions behind such an event. It is only in that one day that we salute our teachers, shower them with gifts to show our appreciation, tell them "Thank you for teaching us." But ask yourself, does that really come from your heart, or are you doing it only out of tradition; or worse still, because it is required of you? Do we really treat teachers' day as a chance to show to the teachers our gratitude towards them, or just a chance for us to slack at home? In fact, do all teachers actually deserve to be appreciated? I can safely say that at least 50% of teachers are in it for the money or job experience, and not because they truly enjoy teaching and passing on their knowledge to students. Perhaps we do not experience much of it in "premier" schools, but such a phenomenom is especially evident in neighbourhood schools, where teachers teach with an indifferent attitude, without the will to teach in the first place. If those teachers treat students simply as money-spinners for their jobs, then how can you expect students to appreciate them? Besides, how many students atually like school, enjoy lectures and lessons, and like the homework and tests that their teachers hurl at them? Probably only 1/26, at the very most. In that case, how can they like their teachers, the forefront of the education system, if they already detest the education system? However, this is not to say that there aren't teachers who are truly dedicated to their jobs, or that there aren't teachers who are liked by teachers. These teachers are able to connect well with the students, and are also able to teach well and make the students understand, but more importantly, they make an impact on their students' lives. This, i believe, is the objective that such teachers aim to fulfill when they set foot in the teaching career. Unfortunately, it is sad that for such great teachers, they can only look forward to that one day in their whole career - Teachers' Day - that they are showered with gratitude and, um, love. Why must it be so? We should make every day a teachers' day for teachers we sincerely appreciate, who make a difference to our lives. It would make both the teacher's and the student's lives much more meaningful that way. In fact, I have had some teachers who have taught me in the past requesting that we not give them gifts or cards on teachers' day. This is because such experienced teachers have long ago realised that such material gifts hold no meaning if you give it just because you have to. As one such teacher lamented, its just a waste of money on such gifts that are shallow in sincerity. Thus, you don't have to send your teacher expensive gifts or cards only on that special day. Instead, you can make their teaching experience memorable simply by listening to their lessons, following their instructions, and scoring good grades and meeting their expectations. In fact, expressing your gratitude non-explicitly through your everyday actions tells more than simply one single day where you suddenly start giving them cards and "thank you" cards. Remember, its the little things that count. |
'Twas teh winnar at 9:36 pm.
