Resolutions?

"He who breaks a resolution is a weakling;
He who makes one is a fool."
~ F.M. Knowles

I’m not the type who makes new year resolutions as I think in terms of periodic goals rather than the year’s.

A fool I shall be in 2010 for I’ve since made some at the end of last year and managed to accomplish one right in the first week of 2010 -- I finally let go of my tuition assignments.

It was a tough battle with my inner self, weighing the pros and cons and arguing with one Jolene and then the other.

It was even tougher to break the news, having taught the boy since he was in P2. He is in Sec 2 this year. As for the P4 girl, I was intending to teach her till P6 but if I retain the mentality of teaching them till their major exams are over, it would be a neverending cycle of PSLE and O-levels.

I’ve given up all other tutees along the way except for this siblings pair as I always feel that I’ve an important role to play in their lives.

To be honest, I really enjoy teaching them and watching them grow. They also enjoyed my company whenever I stayed past tuition hours to talk to them, play games with them or just helping them in their art or project work or other everyday tasks. In a way, they became too reliant on me for all the tasks in their lives since their parents were always not around.

They were not receptive to having other people teaching them and hence I continued on while my energy allowed me to do so. Teaching them on off days, on early knock off days and even took leave whenever I could to teach them during their mid years and finals.

They were that important.

Now that I’m finally able to let go of them, I would have more time to accomplish my other goals.

I’ve always wanted to take up some courses.

Throughout the years, there would be friends asking if I’m interested in taking up some courses.

Diving, wakeboarding, surfing, tennis, hip hop, salsa, freestyle…

Culinary course, lifeskill course, language course…

So many courses, so little time… I was/ am interested but I could not take any course with all my off days packed.

Driving has been put on hold since I was 18. People who know me from then would know about my gripe on this. Having the time but no money since my savings would always be put into better use back then and then after that when I’ve got the money, time wasn’t on my side.

It pricks me whenever people widen their eyes and exclaim, “I thought you knew how to drive!”

Anyhow, I figured it’s wiser to take and pass driving before all the centres relocate to one big centre in Woodlands, before the “cheater” parking poles are taken away, before the multi-storey carpark tests are administered… in short before all the major changes set in.

There is also something which I want to learn really badly. It has been a dream since young and the dream of learning it is further fuelled by some changes in my life the past few months. While some may perceive this skill as inadequate, I consider it an essential lifeskill in my situation.

I heard that it’s really tough for ladies to pass this course but I’m determined to learn it. Even if I fail at the end of the day, I would have no regrets. At least, I could tell myself that I’ve tried.

I won’t reveal what it is and I think only 4 of you know about it. To these people, shush about it ok?

I will also strive to live the mantra of “There is more to life than just working and making money.”

I think I’ve shared this story before but I’ll share it once more. Hopefully, we could all pay more importance to the golf balls and the coffee with frenz instead of worrying about the sand.

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A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an emphatic "yes."

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.

The golf balls are the important things. Your family, your children,your faith, your health, your friends, and your favourite passions. Things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter. Your job, your house, and your car.

The sand is everything else. The small stuff. "If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."
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Let’s stop recounting December for a while

I keep telling kh how I can hardly wait for February to arrive.

February would be when we would collect our wedding bands.

February would be when I can try on my wedding gown yet again and to try on my made-to-measure evening gown.

February would be when we would have our bridal photoshoot.

For these reasons, I can’t wait for February to arrive.

Yet February would also be when I get really busy.

Remember how I was freed from tuition for the whole year end school holidays that I had so much time to catch up with lost time?

I enjoyed that period so much that I almost wanted to let status quo be until I itchy finger go and accept a new tutee.

Her mum had been persuading me for a very long time and so I decided to give it a try. Both mum and gal are really very pleasant people and I have a feeling I won’t regret it.

I’ve been teaching little C since the school reopened but stopped for big C.

Initially, I didn’t want to teach him when he got to sec 1. I told his mum that I would continue teaching his P3 sister only as I wasn’t able to commit that much time. However now I’ve decided to continue teaching him as his mum could not stand him lazing at home since the end of the PSLE. Whenever I teach his sister and I see him bua long long away in the background, I feel that I should really do something.

Hence, I decided to teach him just once a week. At least be there to guide him and make sure he studies every now and then.

So, I’ve got 3 tutees now.

Haha… I think my off days are seriously burnt! I can’t even squeeze in the time for my bi-weekly facials and IPLs. I’ve to cancel or postpone tuition just to go settle wedding stuff in situations when I could not fit the rite timing in.

Thinking about my responsibilities at work, I wonder how I am gonna accomplish them all.

However, I will thrive!

I know I will.

=D


Some happy happy stuff…

like ring!

Kh and I are really thrilled at the prospect of collecting our rings from Ling Jewellery.

We decided to pop by with our dream ring design from Love & Co
– the one with the twisted rope design in yellow gold set in glossy platinum with a single diamond – to ask them if they were able to custom make a similar design for us in my size.

As expected, it was physically impossible to twist the rope to my size. I suggested achieving similar look like using milgrain or beading and they informed us that the workmanship would cost about 4k per ring and it was not worth it.

4K???!!! Per ring some more!

I top up some more money can buy my chanel classic flap liao!

Hence, we decided to look at the rings designed by Ling herself and a roman style pair caught our eyes.

There were crosses lined along one side of the band and on the crosses were many blings for both the man and the lady’s (something totally not on kh’s “simple design list”) yet we both liked it a lot.

Imagine my euphoria when he actually agreed that the blings were pretty!

The lady’s ring on display was in rose gold.

There were two guy’s ring of the same design on display. One was black diamonds with black gold which looked totally cool and goth but untotally like a wedding band while the other was normal white diamonds set in black gold.

Kh toyed with the thoughts of having black diamonds set in rose gold to match the lady’s ring. We thought that was unique but we haven’t quite seen anything like that before and so asked Ling for her opinion on that. She agreed that the combi would turn out unique and beautiful.

Hence, mine would be diamonds set in rose gold while his would be custom-made with black diamonds set in rose gold.

I feel so excited just thinking about it.

BTW, Ling is such an affable, pretty and sweet lady. We almost did not know Ling herself was serving us because in real life, she looks so young and pretty which is quite unlike her photos on Style Weddding magazine or in other print media.

I dare say the feeling of liking was mutual. She kept commenting on how cute we were and we were talking like old friends in a matter of minutes.

"You two better don't talk to me so much. The more I talk to you, the more discounts I'm actually throwing in..."

Haha... to which, we talked to her even more.

She gave us quite a bit of discount, threw in complimentary engraving for one ring and a comlimentary box to hold both rings together.

We almost skipped out of the place in joyful spirits.


like wedding gowns!

I can’t wait to put on my wedding gown! I chose one which kh liked a lot and the design grew on me so much that I even dreamt of it. I wish I could hurry them to alter it to my size so that I could don it once again.

Just two weeks ago, I sat down with my nice motherly designer and showed her my drawings of evening gowns (EG). She modified one of them a little and I have confidence that she would do a good job.

I like all the gowns that she designed so far. The blue one which Li Jiawei wore is really gorgeous in real life! Somehow, the photos in the newspapers didn’t do justice to that gown.

It was worn by the mannequin on our 2nd visit to Whitelink (WL) and that gown got us interested in having a blue EG.

My ideal EG was red initially. I love red gowns and I think it would stand out amongst my black table cloth theme.

However, Aunty Doris suggested a shimmery royal blue cloth (different from Li Jiawei’s) for my EG instead. She draped the cloth over me and kh immediately asked me to mtm a blue EG. Hahaha…

That would match the black theme too.


like taking pretty pictures!

Actually I’m really eager to go for my bridal photoshoot after viewing many brides’ pretty photos. However, I’m still indecisive on the locations.

Kh really can’t stand me wanting everything.

Hahaha…

I love the natural woody and greenery kinda backdrop. Not those “engineered” greeneries you see all over Singapore.

I love the old dilapidated building kinda backdrop. Mysteriously haunting.

I love the spiral staircase and shophouse kinda backdrop. Kinda exudes a melancholic back-in-time feel.

I love the antique, Victorian kinda backdrop.

I love all the cityscape.

I love the beach and huge rocks too.

I love all the quirky places with quirky landscapes to complement quirky shots that one would least expect to be backdrops for bridal shoots.

How to choose just TWO locations?

Of course, my first love would be the trash the dress kinda enchanted forest feel. However, we would not be able to do it with WL and have to find our own means.





Should we just TRASH the whole idea?

I was so eager that I contacted aprilcherrie (the lady in that photo) and being the ever pleasant blogger, she was so helpful in providing me all the links of waterfalls in Malaysia. She also gave me many useful tips and information.

I’ve got sketchy plans here and there collaborated with my sis and her Mayasian frenz but I hope kh would be agreeable to the idea.

Time is a huge factor too and we aren’t sure if we could work something out.

Fingers crossed.

dog tired...

Balancing work and tuition everyday.

Tutee is having his PSLE.

I'm more stressed for him than he is for himself.

I wish to have more sleep.

After everything, I will try to take a short break to simply sleep my time away.

I hope.

Oktober Overdued

Chipmunk Face Day 3
Sunday, 14th October 2007

It is the 3rd day of my wisdom tooth extraction. With chipmunkness and deformed face shape still visible, I was raring to go out with deardear as I haven’t seen him for the whole week. It was also one of the rare Sundays that I don’t have tuition till the evening.

Once kh saw me, he looked at me straight and burst out, “Hahaha… chipmunk face chipmunk face!”

I didn’t dare to imagine what he would have said if he saw me the day before.

He said that my face shape is deformed with one side sagging down.



But at least I made a good effort in trying to mask the ugliness.

From swelling and ugly bruising…


To only swelling…


Chipmunk face didn’t bother about her stitches and went to eat hou liao (good food) with cruel boy. People kept on staring at me but I ji tao heck care.

Shrimp salad… YUM!!!


Crayfish pasta


Mixed fruits chocolate fondue.


Then, we went shopping. Didn’t really shop la.. just jalan jalan.


I enjoyed myself. Kh is really my de-stress therapy.




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A NO-WORK off day
Wednesday, 17th October 2007

I accompanied mum to the polyclinic for the routine check ups and follow ups.

Someone called my name. I thought I heard wrongly coz I would never bump into anyone I know at polyclinics.

Coincidence of all coincidence, it was tiff!

It seems that my mum was more happy to see her than I was. If you’ve been reading, you would know that tiff and I were the first friends in primary 1 and very good friends too. Hence, my mum knows her and was excited to see her.

Don’t be mistaken, tiff, I was very happy to see you too!

Despite having persistent rashes, Tiff had to rush back to work but we arranged to meet up later in the day at Kinokuniya for some book –shopping.

I met up with apr for a quick lunch as we were both in town for our separate appointments. Talk about coincidence again.

It was our first time at Soba So Good.


Huge portions… A bowl of soba accompanies every set meal.


So we had soba on top of rice as the main bulk of the meal. It’s Soba No Good for pro-Atkins-dieters.





After apr went off for her dental appointment, I was left to shop alone while waiting for tiff. I wanted to buy so many things but I had to control. The feeling of having an almost empty bank account is no fun. I felt so restrained. I’m one who can save very well but once I see something I really like, I don’t mind spending. Oh by the way, I didn’t go broke la. I just went to invest almost my entire savings but sshh… won’t say what it is first… must make money first then can disclose.

I was looking for more working clothes but went on a Calvin Klein trying frenzy instead.

I like these clothes…


But my favourite fitting room try of the day would be this CK fur hooded jacket.



It’s nicer than all the marshmallow fur fur Abercrombie jackets but the price is a whooping $500+. I love it but I would have been really crazy to buy it. I ended up buying a shirt instead. It’s my most expensive shirt to date. Ya, it’s expensive to me… remember, I’m one who can save very well?

Instead of going book-shopping with tiff, we only stopped by borders and kino for a while. Hahaha…

Our sausage and rosti dinner at Swiss German Sausage Bar


I must say that this is quite good and the price is reasonable. I did not know about this stall as I never liked eating at the crowded Taka Basement.

Tiff, I say you must get outta that place real soon. You are still very funny but your energy level is really depleting man.


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Sparkling, Clean teeth
Friday, 19th October 2007

I went to remove the stitches on my gum. I was a little nervous for I wondered if the dentist would go, “Now, let’s see what’s under here. Donuts… chocolates… crayfish… pasta… prawn… soba… tempura… mushroom… sausage… …”

I also washed and scaled my teeth. For once in 13 years, the back of my teeth became so white. The smoothness was indescribable. I kept using my tongue to feel the smoothness behind my teeth.

SHIOK!

I sure hope I don’t get addicted to visiting the dentist.


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Grill-Out at Sunset Way
Sunday, 21st October 2007

A small bunch of us jc friends met up for dinner at Grill-Out, Sunset Way.

If you’ve never heard of Sunset Way, let’s shake hands. Sunset Way is an area of restaurants, cafes and bars situated in Clementi. Tucked within and under HDB flats, it exudes uniqueness. Where can you find such a place in sunny Singapore, I ask you?

I don’t like the pseudo classy alfresco dining. Dining outdoors is really uncomfortable in our humid climate. The place was so dark and it didn’t help that our candles were constantly blown out by the occasional gusts of wind. The waiter had to slam a torch on our table.

Their Black Angus ribeye steak is quite appetizing but that was the first time I didn’t feel full after having steak. I wonder what was wrong.



Other dishes my friends had…

I dunno the name of this




Tam’s dinner. Some yellow tail thingy with wasabi.


Tam & me


We had a mini birthday session for caleb, tam and jw.


I heard from my friends that this place had very good reviews. Hmm… The Black Angus ribeye was delicious no doubt but my friends and I agreed that we would not head there anytime soon. It has probably gotta do with the ambience.


Next stop -- Wala Wala.

The other jo – the funny funny bitch…


Oh! We haven’t been calling each other “biatch” for a long time! She’s always sooooo busy too.

This jo – the unfunny biatch




I haven’t seen reg for a long time too.


Haha… I was playing around and got this…

Looks like we’ve got no nose but I like the effect.

Group shots









I hope the 29th December class party would materialise. I really can’t wait t see everybody again. Jw in charge, should be no sweat la huh.

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Another Goodbye
Tuesday, 23rd October 2007

It is apr’s last day at hq. I’m really gonna miss this same wavelength bimbotic buddy at work. I don’t care lor. We must still meet up every now and then hor?

A giant Pooh Bear Smarties for the people in our room


Got pooh bear slide show camera wor.


So cute. Reminds me of those toys of the 80s.

A sweet and unique handmade card from her


Why is this card sweet? Coz she was so thoughtful to add Simba and her stumpy tail in the card. All the words written in her ugly handwriting was sweet too. Well, I sure hope she’ll get married soon so we can be her jie mei. Don’t play us out hor?

I did not bring the card home. When I showed my family members the photos of the card, nobody could figure out what that was. Even after I’ve pointed out the ears, head, body and tail, they still could not make out that it was Simba. Only clever kh could. He took a few seconds to scrutinise the shape and proclaimed confidently that it was Simba.

Photos of us





I was inspired by the effects of the photos on apr’s camera with spoilt screen and came up with these…













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No Halloween Party Nevermind
Saturday, 27th October 2007

What was supposed to be a wild Halloween cheonging with the bimbo sisters as discussed a few months back turned out to be nothing. I was quite sian of the whole last minute changes initially. I’ve already had a simple and cheap “costume” in my mind. Nevermind, save for next year. I hope that this Wednesday would be fun!

Went to vivocity with kh. We’ve only been to vivo 3 times so far coz kh hates the place. I hope he begins to like the place coz I love to buy clothes from nichii.

Had dinner at the place w/o any queue: Aji by Hanabi









The best dish of all!


Oh yes today would be the last time I see my favourite P2 boy. His withdrawal reason was that his mum was too busy to bring him for tuition. Why is it that I don’t feel sad anymore?


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Recently, I feel like I’ve been stretched to the max.

My work is never-ending. I know sometimes I can only blame myself for always trying to improve on the materials and giving myself more work.

Just 3 weeks ago, I pia my phonics course outline at one shot after doing some on and off research. The franchise person was very pleased with the unique and creative approach. I was like a dog with two tails when I heard that and felt extremely smug about my work. Then just a few days later, they had a change of plan. My creative approach would not be very feasible if they would want to maximise enrolment. I felt like all my efforts were wasted. I had to come up with a new plan and I’m not even halfway through.

The next bomb dropped on me. I have to revamp the whole of primary English curriculum to fit the franchise people’s taste. Ok la, it’s not just to suit the franchise people. Our co will benefit from the revamp in the long run too. I have all due respect for this lady as I could see that she is not only a passionate educator, she is one who is good at sales and marketing too. Her ideas are also quite brilliant. However, to revamp the whole curriculum now is a bit too much for me. Without, the revamp, I’m already doing a lot of modifications as you can see how much time I spent on work.

Now with this revamp, I will be having an additional colleague to help me but I wonder if that is really enough. My superior said we work hard now so end of next year can relax a bit. I was thinking if I wanna work so hard now, I will feel like staying till the end of next year. If not, I work so hard in revamping and leave after that a bit wasted right? I won’t get to enjoy the fruits of my labour. Hmm… … But I’ve already missed the chance for that interview.

Besides work, I had intensive tuition for my pri school tutees for their final exams right after my sec sch tutee. During the weekdays, I would try to leave earlier from work to give tuition whenever I did not have night classes to teach. On Sundays, I would be teaching the bro and sis 3 to 4 sessions. By the time I reached home, the sun had set and I was really quite sian to continue working at home. This went on for 3 weeks. Giving a 2-week-break for my sec tutee wasn’t a break for me as I used the additional time to teach the pri sch tutees. Now that the pri sch tutees’ exams are over and I’m giving them a break, my sec sch tutee’s tuition has to resume.

Do I sound like I’m dreading all this? Don’t get me wrong, that isn’t my feeling. I enjoy giving tuition. It’s just that I feel like I need a break.

I’ve informed both tutees’ mum that I may go for a holiday and they said by all means. I really yearn to go on a holiday but with all the additional revamping workload and sudden obligation not to go on leave, I don’t know if I can take a break at the end of this year.

You know how I like to teach the cute cute C right? Ok for easy reference, I’ll call him big C and his P1 sister, little C. Big C always does very cute things. Even though he is gonna be in P6 next year, he is still as cute as when I first taught him in P2.

As for his sister, I don’t really like teaching her as she’s really very naughty and annoying every now and then. She knows she’s annoying and she enjoys it. So can you imagine how exasperating it is to teach her at times? Luckily she doesn’t exhibit this habit at all times. When she is well-behaved, she is SUPER well-behaved. So guai and cute that I would hug her and praise her for the good attitude.

There was a period of time last week when their mum went overseas. She wrote a letter for her mum. She asked me to read it and I corrected her grammar and spelling mistakes. She immediately grabbed her pencil and eraser to correct all her mistakes. On most other days, she doesn’t even show such eagerness when I correct her mistakes in her school work and assessment books.

After resealing the letter, little C said, “I tell you a secret. All the letters I write to mummy, she never read. She all put one side and when I go and see, she never open.”

My heart ached when I heard that. I assured her that her mum had probably read and resealed the letters.

Anyway, this was what she wrote:





Not exactly in perfect English but I was really touched by it.

What’s more, Little C did all the past year school exam papers conscientiously and scored Band 1 for all the Mathematics papers. She “collected” and packed them all neatly so she could show her mum when she came back. When it was 10 minutes to the end of the last session before her paper the next day, she insisted on doing another paper to “collect” for her mum to see.

The night their mum returned home, little C immediately grabbed the stack of exam papers and dashed out. From inside the room, I heard her mother rebuke her for running out during tuition.