Unfolding September's Folder

The writing of backdated stuff continues!

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~*Alcova Madness*~

It was a rather spontaneous night. An impromptu dinner date with gera and tiff after work led to an impromptu decision to check out Alcova where zanne joined us then. There was an event with male butlers that night.

We made lots of new friends who were all so much younger than us and they actually thought we were lying when we told them the truth of our real age. Hence, we decided to play along and pretend to be 18 that night. Well, they actually believed us when we lied! They were rather nice people though but we felt like cougars among all these young bloods.

RAWR!



Gera had some personal friends in the house that night and it was really great knowing them! It's a rather unique experience knowing people from a pub/club who spoke fluent English. Usually the people we know at pubs or clubs speak Singlish, Mandarin or a smattering of Hokkien.



Most of the photos taken by hp have been brightened by adjusting the exposure. Pardon the blurriness.

I haven't been pubbing or clubbing in a while so it was really a fabulous night drinking, dancing and socialising. I don't think I'll do it again anytime soon. I'm not as young and energetic as before.


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~*Pris Farewell*~

My longest ever colleague/subordinate in my dept had left. I was sad coz she'd been around for quite a while and she really helped to share the workload by a good amount, yet I was happy for her as she was leaving for greener pasture. I hope she's enjoying herself in her current co.

The following photos spans over a period of a week as not everyone in the dept had common days at the hq. Thus, you'll notice different outfits.

We had a farewell lunch at Sakae Sushi when everyone in the dept was present.



We ordered a little too much and we could not bear to eat the crab which was staring straight at us with its beady eyes.



Unwrapping her gifts and reading our love notes penned to her.





We just had to take photo with the "orange wall" that segregates the dept into 2 teams.



farewell gift from pris... an ANGEL!




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~*Nephew Zayden's 1st Birthday*~

Many photos were taken that day with cuz's DSLR and I've been trying to wrangle them from her to no avail.

The only photo of me and my cute nephew was taken using my sis's hp. It was difficult to get a shot of Zayden coz he's always moving around so I'm glad this photo captured his cute and cheeky face. Check out the hubby behind. My sister's friend actually thought Zayden was our son when she posted this on FB saying "Adorable nephew with my sis & bil in background". LoL




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~*Out of the Pan with Sis & Evan*~

On one of my off days, I met up with my sis and evan for dinner at Out of the Pan after a day of running errands.

I really love their savoury crepe a lot! We ordered 3 different types of savoury crepe and swap with one another. I can't remember what we ordered but I think they were Peking Duck (yummy yum), Seafood Jungle and some beef crepe. Their salad and corn chips were good too.




I've always loved salad with vinaigrette dressing but recently, I found out that I love citrusy-orange dressing too. The orange salad was so refreshing that I'd wanted to lap up the leftover dressing.




We spent a long time in the futuristic ladies and snapped some pictures when nobody was around.



That's the first time I see hand dryer next to the basin like the above.


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~*1st Day in School*~

Cyn transferred these photos to me over MSN on the day the kids went to school for the first time in NYC. They were clearly elated to go to school after having missed school for a long time. Even char got to go to school!



Excuse the watermarking. I watermarked the pictures to post on ourfeistyprincess the other time.


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~*Mid Autumn*~

I met up with karen and sushi for dinner at Tea Cosy. I really loved the food the first time I went there but that night, the standard seemed to have dipped a little. Nonetheless, it was the company that mattered. We chatted a lot and then we shopped but there wasn't really many things to shop that night.




By the time I post this, Sushi has given birth to a really adorable baby boy.




After that, I headed back home but instead of going home, I popped by my neighbour's house on the adjacent street.



Great minds think alike. We were both wearing similar white spag tops!

Eug's hubby and kh are good friends as well as colleagues and it is a good fortune that we stay so close to each other and get along so well. Eug and I both dread the day we would move out from our in-laws place coz we would have one less friend each who stays in such an ulu estate. Speaking of which, I should go look for her for some gossips and bitching sessions soon since both our hubbies are outta town now.

Lovely lovely eug prepared lanterns, premium champagne mooncakes, traditional lotus paste mooncakes and premium Chinese tea to usher in the Mid Autumn's mood as we sat under the pavilion and chatted about so many things under the moon. No, that phrase wasn't an intentional pun to "chat about anything under the sun".



I bought light sticks of all colours from Daiso and soon we were "cracking" light sticks and wearing them around ourselves to add to the atmosphere. Kelly the golden retriever wasn't spared from this too. She kept wriggling her way out from us each time we tried to collar her in and soon eug's bil came so kelly had no choice but to sit still and listened to her master's bidding. See how cute (and utterly sad) she looked with the lighted collar!

Well, I was pleasantly surprised and happy to be able to "celebrate" Mid Autumn that year. I felt a bit bumped that my friends went off to some lantern show near the Singapore River the previous night without me as I had to work late when I had actually initiated meeting up by the reservoir in our estate a few days before. Oh well, that's why sometimes I dislike organising outings. It can get very disappointing when nobody but one bothers to reply.

That night was just a simple Mid Autumn catch up session but I truly enjoyed myself.

I like this photo of us even though it's blurry. It was rather dark so I upped the exposure. Doesn't eug look like mediacorp actress rui en?



Here's what I wore. That was the first time I wore this flowy top with a belt. Who would have thought that studded belt could pair well with the soft flowy top?




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~*Company Day at Universal Studios Singapore*~

I blogged about it a few days after the company day last year as I'd to edit the photos for some co photo competition after the event so i figured I might as well blog about it.

Read more about it here.


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~*Random Stuff*~

I bought a huge bag of stuff from Daiso. The stuff were mainly for my students and also little gifts for friends.


1st row (left to right): magic capsule sponge animals for children's day; magic tricks for reward system gift exchange; wooden magnifying class for reward system gift exchange.
2nd row: sweet bordered cards which I wrote notes on for my graduating students

Here are 2 items for myself: Daiso sponge cleaner and rubber facial cleansing pad



The sponge cleaner needs no introduction in Singapore. It's a really effective detergent for make up sponges and brushes. Pour a small amount and watch your make up leftovers wash off your sponges and brushes as you rinse the detergent away. It also helps save water since it doesn't foam as compared to normal soaps and you needn't waste water and time washing soap suds away. I grabbed a few more bottles for my friends.

As for the cleansing pad, I don't find it particularly amazing. This product was swept clean off its shelf and was the #1 seller in Singapore Daiso at that time. I bought a few for my friends as well, thinking that its results would be promising.

The packaging and the word behind were entertaining though. I love laughing at Japanese English translation.



As the years go by, the students who have been with me for 5 years would have known that I would always urge them not to waste money buying me Teacher's Day presents. I very much prefer handwritten cards anytime coz I can keep them easily. I do not know what to do with tangible gifts and often they get recycled as my reward system gift exchange for students.





I'm particularly touched by this girl's letter. She is rather weak in her English and I find myself wanting to whip out my red pen to correct her mistaks but the fact that she penned me a note really brought warmth to my heart.

BTW, I was walking on the overhead bridge when I saw the most peculiar sight.



This little critter was seen huddled in the corner, using its snout to push the corner as if a hole would magically appear. It was clearly shaken by the many people walking up and down the stairs. It looked like baby hamster save for the long tail. I've never ever seen any baby rodent out in the open before and I wonder how this rat/mouse got there.

"Don't be a parasite to your classmates."

I would utter the above sentence each time my students borrow stuff like foolscap paper, pens, correction tape and the likes from their classmates.

Whenever it is composition week, the kids who borrow foolscap paper are the same.

The kids who lend/give their foolscap paper would be the same too.

So you can see it's pretty unfair to those who always bring their stuff to class.

I would tell my kids to draw a picture of a parasite at the top right hand corner of the foolscap paper whenever they borrow/take a piece from their friends. Those kids who have been with me long enough would know what a parasite is and would automatically draw mushrooms, toadstools, bedbugs, leeches etc.



I'm beginning to suspect they relish the idea of drawing parasites on their paper.

Today I had a new boy in my P5 class. He is cute; good-looking for his age. He looks really prim and proper, definitely an agreeable young man with proper upbringing. He wasn't shy for a new boy and participated well in class. I had very favourable impression of him and more so after I found out that he's from a prestigious primary school that begins with "R".

When it came to compo writing, he informed me that he didn't have foolscap pad with him. Of course, I forgave him as he's new and told him to borrow from a classmate. The kid next to him immediately drew out his foolscap pad with great enthusiasm and went in his usual pixie voice,

"Nah lend you but you have to draw a parasite at the corner."

-_-|||

It was hilarious to see the baffled look on my prim and proper new boy but very soon he took delight in drawing a parasite.

A student's composition

The topic for this compo is about doing something meaningful. I was beaming in my heart when I read this.

[click to enlarge]






I wonder if he had read the papers about Charmaine or if this plot is completely his own idea. If it is the latter, I must say that it's such a coincidence. Anyhow, I hope he doesn't know my relation to Charmaine.

So far, only one of my kids came up to me and asked, "My mummy ask me to ask you is it you on newspaper?" I told him to go back to his seat and I'll answer him later. I didn't get back to him after that though.

I don't want my students to know too much about my personal stuff.