Funnee

I came out to my ex bf over msn. While marking.

It has been 45 minutes.. and he's still in shock.
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Friday was interesting

The SH treated us to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. She says that since we need laughter in the relationship, she is bringing it to us. And since we can't go to Australia, she will bring Australia to us. That's a sweet thing to say. It's been a while since I heard something like that.

We then headed to look for dinner (at 1030p.m.!) and settled at FATBOYS Burgers just down the road from Singapore Repertory Theatre. She said that's the best burger she has tasted and she's not a burger person. It's yummy but really big. We ended wasting the fries. That was the first time we tried the Kronenbourg beer. She took the lager but preferred my white. I couldn't finish the entire glass as usual, so I guess she was happy.

I always like the Robertson Walk area, especially at the courtyard. I feel relaxed whenever I am there. I like to have a place around that area, God willing.
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It's hard to write listening to Lincoln Brewster..

so I switched back to good ol hillsong.

So.. I thank God for credit card reward points, where I could give the SH her 16th Monthniversary gift. I thank God for prepaid packages that I do not need to spend much buying dinner @ Hua Ting where I think I tasted the best Peking Duck ever. I thank God also for her willingness to go with me to HRC because I was itching for a bit of live rock musik. It was fabulously engaging until the lead singer of Energy looked a bit possessed singing AC/DC's Highway to hell. And I thank God for her treat where I tasted the best Mud Pie ever. EVER. Plus, we got to drink the Kronenbourg Blanc for the second time in 2 days. It has become my most favouritest beer after Paulaner's :) It's light, refreshing and fruity! She had a pint and me, half a pint, as usual.
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while listening to Lincoln Brewster

and thinking about the marvelous sounds he can make on his guitar. I wonder how long guitarists practise to get to this stage. I wonder how much of it is talent and how much is giftings which became more pronounced after they started serving God with the guitar.

I regret that I have not maintaining this blog with insights from my guitar lessons. I don't usually spend the weekends blogging. I think taking guitar lessons is one of the best investment I have made ever.

Well, the update is that I am getting myself familiarise with the string instruments so I can be more versatile. I got frustrated once when there were 2 acoustic guitar players and no electric guitar player. I did not have the confidence to play the electric guitar because I have not tried it before. Now, with the exception of the week when I play the acoustic guitar, I have started to learn how to play the electric guitar for about 2 months now. I hope to be able to learn enough to fill in if there's a need to. But I think the instrument I prolly want to specialise in and play very well would be the bass guitar.

The learning curve is as usual exponential. He crams 90% of the lesson with 100% new knowledge and I end up remembering 50% of what he taught and practise about 30% of that. The good thing is that he repeats what he has taught the week before.

I hope to be able to give as much to the kids I give tuition to like how much he has been giving me in that 45 minutes of lesson.

His first question everytime before we start lesson: How can I help you today?
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Time to get back online..

whenever I am involved in one form of ministry, I got to be disciplined and not be distracted since I can't multi-task so well when I am doing serious stuff. Now that one form of ministry has stopped temporarily, it's time to go back to the other.
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so angry with a parent..

and I think I was a bit harsh with the things I said to her. Sigh. Should have prayed before speaking.

Son cheated during test today. He said the mum knew that he was going to cheat but he still cheated anyway. I called the mum, spoke to her nicely about how important character development is and how that is more important than the score he gets for the test. The mum said that he is not the only one in the class who cheated. She said that she has heard from the few students how they cheated before too. I know that that is highly impossible but she kept saying that they told her that they cheated. I asked for names but she didnt want to give names. Finally, after much grilling, I managed to get her to admit that she actually heard from her son about the cheating cases and not from the students themselves. That brought her credibility right to the ground. She implied that the reason why the children cheated was because I was pushing them too hard and that she had spoken to some parents and they think so too (like how would I believe her now)? She said she is not the type to go to the HODs and Principal because she believes that she prefers to go to the teacher directly (I see that as a threat). I was very pissed then. I told her that if she can come down, we can talk, discuss and investigate this in front of the Principal. She said she's busy and that I can handle and punish her son accordingly if he has really cheated and that I should carry out some investigation about the previous students who cheated.

???????? going to let go of this case for now and just get back my sanity. It's hard to be gentle and kind in speech when I talk to parents like that!
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About Mary and Martha

I think it's good to be a Martha if we have the posture of a Mary.
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Get to sleep in nearly everyday!

It is quite funny that as I start to commit plans for the year 2011 to God when I received notification that my school timetable has changed to facilitate the transfer of 3 of my students who are switching from Standard Math to Foundation Math class.

As if God knows that I enjoy sleeping in, the timetable is planned in such a way that I only have to wake up at 6.30 a.m. on Friday. I get in at 9 a.m. on Mondays, 11a.m. on Tuesdays, 8.30 a.m. on Wednesdays and 9a.m. on Thursdays. That will mean I end later on these days, but no complaints. I am so not a morning person.

What does it mean? He wants me to have more rest so I will be energised so I don't have to resign next year? Hmm..
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I am thankful, really thankful.

It was a wonderful weekend though sad to know that 2 of my friends have fallen sick after coming back from Australia. Am praying for quick healing for them.. Another friend's dad is into his last days suffering from lung cancer..

I am feeling pretty relaxed now that I don't have to play for worship next Sunday. I enjoy playing and I enjoy serving in the worship ministry. Serving causes me to be more disciplined with my time because I have to carve out at least an hour and a half daily listening to the songs repeatedly to get the rhythm and tune ingrained, then spend time practising so that the transitions between chords are smooth. I am glad for the break for the next 2 weeks. :)

I will be leading worship for CG this Tuesday though. I think my fingertips are hardening. Ganbatte!
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blah

being on half pay is challenging. At least I learnt to be frugal as much as possible. Can't wait to get back to full pay. BIG SIGH.

175 per week to sustain a relationship is not too much I guess.

Plans plans plans. Praying about direction for next year.
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What I learnt from reading today's news

I learnt what a vuvuzela is; the horn-shaped instrument that creates the loud horn-like sound during soccer/rugby matches at the stadium. (I have become painfully aware of new words after I started scrabbling).

I learnt that Amanda Jantzen, who exposed me to my first live jazz experience, is here in Singapore and performing tomorrow at the Esplanade.

I learnt that Singapore's new brand values are "transforming", "nurturing", "collaborating" and "daring to dream".

Am still reading the papers.
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Oh!

I forgot to add!

I HAD AN AWESOME TIME WITH THE SH THIS WEEKEND!! :D
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Random

Recently, I engaged the help of my friend to give tuition to 2 of my kids at a lower rate than the normal rate that school teachers usually charge since the kids are not well to do families. They are kids who consistently get less than 20 marks for their Math. Though I do not teach them Math, I am their form teacher and I really do not wish for them to repeat P6 next year because they get fewer than 20 marks for their Math.

Anywayz, he buzzed me and ask me if I got them to remember a lot of stuff for English. He said I am using up their memory space, so much that one of them cannot even do basic subtraction. Oops. I do work their brain quite a bit for English.. I don't think I am not the cause of their bad Math results though!

Time to get back to marking. Am listening to the same 4 songs for worship this Sunday repeatedly. Very challenging wor.. God will need to help me more this time.. Doing this for Him anyway!

I had been lazy reading the bible. It feels like something is gnawing at me inside. Some habits are fantabulous!
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silly me

I had to lock the blog because I went to use aussiefreakshen as my Words with Friends ID and I am currently playing Scrabble with 4 colleagues.. Just don't wish for them to chance upon the blog :)

Sorry if it's a hassle to log in to read.

hugs
me
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first week of work...

is somewhat exhausting the energy I acquired and accumulated during the holidays. I can imagine what I will be like on full load!

Nevertheless, I still give thanks that I am able to read my book, practise my guitar, spend time listening to people, talking with them, praying, yada yada yada admist my planning and marking. This will be an interesting 3 months before the end of the PSLE. I will miss the kids.. They are so precious. I really pray that they will clear the PSLE and move on to a good Secondary school...

Time to wash off the mud and get ready to meet the SH before badminton!

TGIF soon!
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Ezer Retreat!

superb! though i had to go without the SH, I had an awesome time catching with the other 8. SC often calls Ezer the auntie squad. I believe so. I gain much however, from their sharing through their experiences and I am thankful God brought me into the group.

A group of 3 went up to Pulai Springs on Friday after some drama. Then the remaining 5 went on Saturday. I was reminded that the thing I love most about road trips are the conversations in the car. We joked, we laughed, we shared honestly, we laughed. Lots of laughter! I likeeeddd!
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distractions

Scrabbling on the iphone is time consuming! I can be so obsessed about something/someone once I am into it/her. This would be under the spirit of self-control.

Need to regulate.. and follow my schedule!
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SHORTCUT!

I reckon that we can grow more discerning and wiser through experience and age. However, I realised that there can be a shortcut and this wisdom and discernment need not necessarily come through suffering nor a greyed head.

This short cut is readily available by the anointing of the Holy Spirit. For when we are engaged with our creator whose thoughts are higher than our thoughts, whose ways are higher than our ways, who is sovereign over all the earth, then we are blessed with this uncanny ability to deal with situations with wisdom and discernment.

Yes?
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