it's finally over
it's finally done
my 2nd essay's complete
i'm left with none!
YEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i've submitted my final 4,000 word THEC assignment although the minimum requirement was a 1,000 word piece. actually there was a lot more i wanted to explore in my essay but i thought it was already over the limit so i pulled the plug on it once i hit 4,000.
now i shall (im)patiently wait for the congratulatory email from pete to say that i've passed my THEC course. i wonder if i'll get an "accomplished" grade like my previous one...
then i can get my life back.
marking reports, assignments, projects and tests. *yawn*
which reminds me - i've 5 more reports to grade for the last subject before i officially end the teaching term.
ok you #$%*@!^ reports, here i come... :S
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Monday, February 26, 2007
party @ haven @ arif
back at work after a loooooooooong day of entertaining. had relatives (mine and hub's) over for lunch yesterday and another dinner function for our friends.
remind me NEVER to EVER host 2 functions on the same day. it's back-breaking work even though we catered food that set me back by 1k. come to think of it, i didn't even have the chance to eat dinner since most of the guests in the evening were my pals and spent most of my time as a tour guide, showing them around my new home.
our last guests left at around midnight. xian, was on a sugar high after consuming all the new year goodies and the two girls were still up at 1am. they were just about to snuggle in when the power on the first floor tripped. blackout. hub suspected that our old refrigerator had short circuited. he waited for about 10 minutes before switching the power back on.
but the damage was done as the kids were suddenly wide awake and didn't knock off to bed till about 2am. and just as the hub and i were about to turn in, the home security siren went off.
it was W-A-I-L-I-N-G and S-C-R-E-E-C-H-I-N-G and the blue light was flashing. this time we shut the power down for a longer time. the hub thought maybe it was the outdoor lights that were problematic and switched those off. we got some eye-shut...till about 5 am when the cisco alarm sounded again.
^#&#*(@
WTF!!!!!!!
hub called up cisco to ask for assistance. this time we suspected the alarm itself was short-circuiting the ground floor. the cisco guys told us we had to disarm the alarm by removing the battery. so i held up the torch light while my poor groggy hub had to unscrew the metal box to figure out which was the battery. this is only a temporary measure to drown the sound. the cisco folks told us a technician would drop by to inspect the system for us later on in the day.
what a way to end our day. or start, whichever way you look at it.
this morning i woke with a jump at 7.05am and tried but couldn't get xian up. hub mumbled that he would "settle her" and i went off to work. (last i checked, xian was an hour late for school). as you can very well imagine, my head's spinning from the lack of sleep...and YES, i'm back at the office trying to finish my assignment. not very successful because i'm still zonked out, which is why i've taken to blogging about this while waiting for my brain to kick-start...
think i should pop in 2 panadols and get on with the essay.
remind me NEVER to EVER host 2 functions on the same day. it's back-breaking work even though we catered food that set me back by 1k. come to think of it, i didn't even have the chance to eat dinner since most of the guests in the evening were my pals and spent most of my time as a tour guide, showing them around my new home.
our last guests left at around midnight. xian, was on a sugar high after consuming all the new year goodies and the two girls were still up at 1am. they were just about to snuggle in when the power on the first floor tripped. blackout. hub suspected that our old refrigerator had short circuited. he waited for about 10 minutes before switching the power back on.
but the damage was done as the kids were suddenly wide awake and didn't knock off to bed till about 2am. and just as the hub and i were about to turn in, the home security siren went off.
it was W-A-I-L-I-N-G and S-C-R-E-E-C-H-I-N-G and the blue light was flashing. this time we shut the power down for a longer time. the hub thought maybe it was the outdoor lights that were problematic and switched those off. we got some eye-shut...till about 5 am when the cisco alarm sounded again.
^#&#*(@
WTF!!!!!!!
hub called up cisco to ask for assistance. this time we suspected the alarm itself was short-circuiting the ground floor. the cisco guys told us we had to disarm the alarm by removing the battery. so i held up the torch light while my poor groggy hub had to unscrew the metal box to figure out which was the battery. this is only a temporary measure to drown the sound. the cisco folks told us a technician would drop by to inspect the system for us later on in the day.
what a way to end our day. or start, whichever way you look at it.
this morning i woke with a jump at 7.05am and tried but couldn't get xian up. hub mumbled that he would "settle her" and i went off to work. (last i checked, xian was an hour late for school). as you can very well imagine, my head's spinning from the lack of sleep...and YES, i'm back at the office trying to finish my assignment. not very successful because i'm still zonked out, which is why i've taken to blogging about this while waiting for my brain to kick-start...
think i should pop in 2 panadols and get on with the essay.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
MIA
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
been busy.
busy busy busy busy busy BUSY!
loads of marking which i've thankfully finished - wait, i still have 5 reports to go through! damn it. :(
Chinese New Year's always been the craziest time of the year for me. huge families = endless visiting = lunch/dinner parties = expanding waistlines. of course, since i'm married i go around distributing little red packets of crisp new notes to the kids and younger unmarried cousins. which amounts to a lot since i've about 30 cousins and hub's cousins have about 20 plus kids. not to mention friends and the biggies to my folks and ILs. (see pix below- evidence of my laborious red-packeting task).
that's about $1,000 gone in matter of hours.
just like *that*!
*poooof*
oooooooooooooh. my bank account's bleeding so bad. hasn't recovered since i scraped my savings to pay off the home renovation and furniture for my haven @ arif.
yesterday i decided to get off my butt to start my 2nd THEC assignment. was in office till late, about 10pm before the hub offered his limousine services. i'm still only half way through the essay though i've to complete it by the end of feb...which is *gulp*next wednesday!
i think i'm too much of a perfectionist and spend too much time trying to craft the perfect sentences. have always been very anal about producing "quality" assignments. i don't like the "just get it over and done with it" mentality, and even if i do "just want to get it over and done with it", i'll agonise over the piece of work for days. miss ene managed to whip up her essay within a few hours. i really applaud her effort. she's passed her THEC and has, naturally, moved on in life.
and here i am grumbling about it and not completing my damn essay! trouble is, i've to go for another round of visiting in 2 hours and get the girls ready too. no point in getting all psyched up and having to stop midway through my sentences. hate that cos i lose my focus and inspiration.
*sigh* looks like i'll have to stay up when the girls are in bed to finish up my essay. for now, it's time to haul them out of bed. there's going to be a lion dance performance later at hub's aunt's home.
been busy.
busy busy busy busy busy BUSY!
loads of marking which i've thankfully finished - wait, i still have 5 reports to go through! damn it. :(
Chinese New Year's always been the craziest time of the year for me. huge families = endless visiting = lunch/dinner parties = expanding waistlines. of course, since i'm married i go around distributing little red packets of crisp new notes to the kids and younger unmarried cousins. which amounts to a lot since i've about 30 cousins and hub's cousins have about 20 plus kids. not to mention friends and the biggies to my folks and ILs. (see pix below- evidence of my laborious red-packeting task).
that's about $1,000 gone in matter of hours.just like *that*!
*poooof*
oooooooooooooh. my bank account's bleeding so bad. hasn't recovered since i scraped my savings to pay off the home renovation and furniture for my haven @ arif.
yesterday i decided to get off my butt to start my 2nd THEC assignment. was in office till late, about 10pm before the hub offered his limousine services. i'm still only half way through the essay though i've to complete it by the end of feb...which is *gulp*next wednesday!
i think i'm too much of a perfectionist and spend too much time trying to craft the perfect sentences. have always been very anal about producing "quality" assignments. i don't like the "just get it over and done with it" mentality, and even if i do "just want to get it over and done with it", i'll agonise over the piece of work for days. miss ene managed to whip up her essay within a few hours. i really applaud her effort. she's passed her THEC and has, naturally, moved on in life.
and here i am grumbling about it and not completing my damn essay! trouble is, i've to go for another round of visiting in 2 hours and get the girls ready too. no point in getting all psyched up and having to stop midway through my sentences. hate that cos i lose my focus and inspiration.
*sigh* looks like i'll have to stay up when the girls are in bed to finish up my essay. for now, it's time to haul them out of bed. there's going to be a lion dance performance later at hub's aunt's home.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
volharden*
i'm finally DONE with the first batch of marking :)
actually, i'm one of the first amongst my colleagues to do so. (perhaps this is a result of intense training by the hounds of infohell.) now i'm left with the other subject (25 scripts) which i'll probably start tomorrow.
i usually take about 3-4 hours to familiarise myself with the marking scheme and complete the grading process for each class. my target is to complete all the marking before school breaks for the chinese new year holidays.
i have to persevere. just a few more hours...then i have to start working on my 2nd THEC assignment which i got an extension for.
*sigh*
the spirit is ever willing but as usual, the flesh is so darn weak.
*according to http://www.dictionary.com/ "volharden" means "persevere" in dutch.
actually, i'm one of the first amongst my colleagues to do so. (perhaps this is a result of intense training by the hounds of infohell.) now i'm left with the other subject (25 scripts) which i'll probably start tomorrow.i usually take about 3-4 hours to familiarise myself with the marking scheme and complete the grading process for each class. my target is to complete all the marking before school breaks for the chinese new year holidays.
i have to persevere. just a few more hours...then i have to start working on my 2nd THEC assignment which i got an extension for.
*sigh*
the spirit is ever willing but as usual, the flesh is so darn weak.
*according to http://www.dictionary.com/ "volharden" means "persevere" in dutch.
Friday, February 09, 2007
Zero Failure record no more
the weekend is near...but i doubt if i can enjoy the break.
have completed marking the test for one class and am disappointed - no "A". in fact, i have 1 "F". which is heartbreaking because i haven't had a student scoring an "F" in my class so far in the poly.
there goes my Zero Failure record. :'(
*sigh*
still the student would probably pass the module in the end since there are 9 other components to pull up the marks.
i'm keeping my fingers crossed that i won't have to write an "F" on another script. it's painful for me to do so. i'm not such a cruel person. i do not gleefully scrawl a big huge "F" and erupt in evil guffaws...
*sigh*
have completed marking the test for one class and am disappointed - no "A". in fact, i have 1 "F". which is heartbreaking because i haven't had a student scoring an "F" in my class so far in the poly.
there goes my Zero Failure record. :'(
*sigh*
still the student would probably pass the module in the end since there are 9 other components to pull up the marks.
i'm keeping my fingers crossed that i won't have to write an "F" on another script. it's painful for me to do so. i'm not such a cruel person. i do not gleefully scrawl a big huge "F" and erupt in evil guffaws...
*sigh*
Thursday, February 08, 2007
marking - a teacher's bane
is there no end to my marking misery?
the kids at school complain about being laden with projects, assignments, test and exams. what they fail to realise is that their tutors are equally stressed out with marking...especially if it's a pile of gibberish (thank goodness most of my students have produced fairly acceptable standards of work, with the occasional extraordinarily brilliant piece of gem to liven up my day.)
this semester seems to have zoomed by way too fast for my liking. the PBL subject i teach has 10 assessment components! 10! multiply that by 3 classes of 67 students in total...argh! it's a frightful nightmare! thankfully the assessments were spread out throughout the term, meaning i've already marked about half of them. the killer bit is the summative test, which i will have to start - by hook or by crook - today or i'll never be able to meet the 12 february deadline.
and i still have another subject to look into - the kids will be taking the test later and i've to mark the 25 scripts by next week as well because 16 february is the last day of term! plus i'm up for duty for the Joint Admissions Exercise (JAE). triple argh!!!
nonetheless, i'm into my 6th year of teaching and i still love being an educator despite my incessant complaints. it is most unfortunate that assessments are part and parcel of the job.
i'll get by.
i'll survive.
somehow.
the kids at school complain about being laden with projects, assignments, test and exams. what they fail to realise is that their tutors are equally stressed out with marking...especially if it's a pile of gibberish (thank goodness most of my students have produced fairly acceptable standards of work, with the occasional extraordinarily brilliant piece of gem to liven up my day.)
this semester seems to have zoomed by way too fast for my liking. the PBL subject i teach has 10 assessment components! 10! multiply that by 3 classes of 67 students in total...argh! it's a frightful nightmare! thankfully the assessments were spread out throughout the term, meaning i've already marked about half of them. the killer bit is the summative test, which i will have to start - by hook or by crook - today or i'll never be able to meet the 12 february deadline.
and i still have another subject to look into - the kids will be taking the test later and i've to mark the 25 scripts by next week as well because 16 february is the last day of term! plus i'm up for duty for the Joint Admissions Exercise (JAE). triple argh!!!
nonetheless, i'm into my 6th year of teaching and i still love being an educator despite my incessant complaints. it is most unfortunate that assessments are part and parcel of the job.
i'll get by.
i'll survive.
somehow.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
haven@arif blessed
it is done.
my haven @ arif has been blessed and we can officially move in! woooo-hooooooooooooo!
it was a simple ceremony although there were lots of preparations before the day started. we'd invited Lama Thubten Namdrol Dorje of Thekchen Choling to perform the house blessing, Tibetan Buddhism style. He'd also been pivotal in advising us on the Feng Shui of our home as well as hub's office.
hub's been brought up in a mainly Taoist-Buddhist-Chinese folk religion environment, which suits me fine. on paper (i.e. my birth certificate), i don't have a specific religion but have been exposed to Taoist and Buddhist practices (family influences) and 10 years of catholic school education so i have learnt to respect other people's religions. my philosophy has always been the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
we had a short ceremony to consecrate our beautiful Green Tara copper statue now sitting in the altar. the hub had spent the early part of the morning running around buying fruits, flowers and other local snacks like ang ku kueh (紅龜粿), huat kueh (发糕) and nian gao (年糕), sweet soup, tea etc. mil cooked her signature vegetarian vermicelli and two other vegetarian dishes.
it's quite an experience for me as my parents' home never had an altar so i'm supremely ignorant about praying rituals, practices and significance. from now onwards i have to learn how to take care of Tara and the altar properly. (Below pix taken with my N73 early in the morning before i left for work.)
my haven @ arif has been blessed and we can officially move in! woooo-hooooooooooooo!
it was a simple ceremony although there were lots of preparations before the day started. we'd invited Lama Thubten Namdrol Dorje of Thekchen Choling to perform the house blessing, Tibetan Buddhism style. He'd also been pivotal in advising us on the Feng Shui of our home as well as hub's office.
hub's been brought up in a mainly Taoist-Buddhist-Chinese folk religion environment, which suits me fine. on paper (i.e. my birth certificate), i don't have a specific religion but have been exposed to Taoist and Buddhist practices (family influences) and 10 years of catholic school education so i have learnt to respect other people's religions. my philosophy has always been the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
we had a short ceremony to consecrate our beautiful Green Tara copper statue now sitting in the altar. the hub had spent the early part of the morning running around buying fruits, flowers and other local snacks like ang ku kueh (紅龜粿), huat kueh (发糕) and nian gao (年糕), sweet soup, tea etc. mil cooked her signature vegetarian vermicelli and two other vegetarian dishes.
it's quite an experience for me as my parents' home never had an altar so i'm supremely ignorant about praying rituals, practices and significance. from now onwards i have to learn how to take care of Tara and the altar properly. (Below pix taken with my N73 early in the morning before i left for work.)
our family of 4 stayed overnight at our new home for the first time. the girls bunked in with us in the master bedroom as we wanted them to get used to the new home first before sleeping in their own rooms. it was so breezy we opened all the windows and turned on the ceiling fan. honestly it was great NOT to have the air-conditioned for a change and we could enjoy the fresh cool air. over at the IL's place, we've to sleep with the aircon on every night because of the massive construction works (mrt circle line) and swamps of mozzies.
unfortunately, FIL was also admitted to the hospital the same day we moved in. he'd stayed for the house blessing ceremony but BIL picked him up after lunch to SGH. we're all now hoping that since he'd receive some blessings, all will be well.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
it's february already??!!!
holy guacamole!
we're into the 2nd month of 2007! it's absurd! i haven't even settled into the new year yet and we're already in february. plus chinese new year's coming up in about 2 weeks and i still haven't gone to get new crisp notes for the red packets.
*sheesh*
11 more months to go before we "celebrate" a new year...
we're into the 2nd month of 2007! it's absurd! i haven't even settled into the new year yet and we're already in february. plus chinese new year's coming up in about 2 weeks and i still haven't gone to get new crisp notes for the red packets.
*sheesh*
11 more months to go before we "celebrate" a new year...
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