{start of previous entry on August 01 2006}

Light of Hope (saw this at NUH children ward…)

With each new day, from strength to strength these children grow,

Seeing the light that extinguishes all pain and sorrow;

It is the light you have lit that will always glow,

To show them the way, for a brighter tomorrow.


Afterthoughts:

Wanted to blog about all the fun(ny) things that happened over the weekend but my visit to NUH today set me to another tone of mood… for the first time in my life, I got down on my knees to pray for a student of mine: someone who is usually so bubbly and alive but now critically ill in the ICU, where her fate is determined within the next 48 hours… seeing all the tubes inserted into her just brought tears to my eyes… I just can’t hold them back… It’s such a sorrowful sight to behold… it’s beyond what words can say… but thankfully, that single drop of tear that I caught in her eyes after what I told her brought comfort that she knows I and the rest of the class is there with her, supporting her…

a moment of impulse can have such a drastic effect… life is just so fragile… which means that we must all the more cherish what we have and stop complaining about the how “sad” our lives can be simply bcos of the lack of materialistic stuff or stress from work or studies or minor conflicts over relationships or missing a chance to have fun or something exciting… life, I guess, is much more than these… life, I believe, is beyond what your eyes can see, what your ears will hear, even beyond what your heart can feel… it is a miraculous source of energy that springs so naturally after a cold and dreadful winter but yet leave so quietly and easily when it is not carefully taken care of… God knows how life all started and when it will reach the end in a living person… I can only humble myself and say that I am but a mortal… life don’t lies in my hands… I am simply grateful that I am alive today…

While the rest folded paper cranes to wish her luck for her battle, I was inspired to make her a paper ball instead… why? Cos I wanted to tell her this:

Be like a ball! Even though you are struck down, you will bounce up again! The harder the force to pin you down, the greater you will re-bounce back to life!

Never say die… :)

{end of previous entry 01 August 2006}

{start of previous entry 09 August 2006}

Visited her @ the hospital... she is slightly better now... at least the tubes are more or less removed... but her condition is still not fully stable yet... had a long chat with her mum... i hope it was encouraging for her... at least i managed to bring some smiles and laughter to her while reassuring her that all is well... she will pull through with the support of her parents, her classmates, her teachers and that miraculous touch from the Author of Life! my heart praises Him! :D

{end of previous entry 09 August 2006}


visited her again today... she is out of ICU now! so happy for her! she was sleeping when i went... comparing how she is now to the time when she was in ICU, she looks so much better and i am quite sure things are fine now! had a long chat with her, telling her about what happened during her stay in ICU (which she totally don't remember), the care that people shown for her, the worries that they went through... she was rather cheerful and we had quite a fair bit of laughter... :) only thing now is that she is not able to focus at times and end up staring at the clock... but with heartfelt thanks and praises, I must really thank the Lord for saving her and helping her to recover so quickly! to me, it's a miracle and the answer to all my prayers! Praise Him! :)

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I love nutang! the best blog host i have encountered so far! finally, i can customise my blog with ease! a little caught up learning how to customise so i kinda like disrupted my records of stuff happening in my life! so here's a rojak entry that comprises of all that i can rmb these couples of days:

most of the students seem to be mugging hard for the common tests... which is a good sign! :) Jia you people! before you know it, it's gg to be over! a word of advice: what you do not understand, you do not own. what you own, you can deplore and use during exams or tests no matter what is the scenario! when it comes to subjects like physix, memorising is not the way! understand physix :)

a student pretended to be h** parent and called me in response to my demand to receive a personal call from h** parents regarding h** results, whom the student said are always working late. knew it right from the start but i decided to play along so that i can find out more about what is happening in the family and remind h** that studies should always be top priority, especially if the student don't come from a financially stable family. I really hope that the student can be like Farrah Gray who came from a poor, single parent family and work hard with sheer determination to become who he is today (click on his name to read more)! anyway, the student still do not know that i am not "deceived" by h** and i will see what can be done to help! h** parents, i realised, are too busy and tired making ends meet... a scenario that reminds me of my parents, who worked so hard to support my education and i was so foolish to have wasted my time and their money away when i was younger and not live my life to its fullest! we have come a long way since the days when we all squeezed together in a rented room! i am so glad that i came to realisation when i was about 17 years old, the day i accepted Christ into my life and He has ever since made a radical change in my life! :)

my WISH^toyota came true on 15 Aug 2006 @ 7:10pm! yup! I finally obtained my new car! very satisfied with it so far! thank God for His provision!
money sense: buy a car that is suited for your need first rather than for your taste! cars are always a liability (that means it will always depreciate in value!) so it's not worthwhile spending money making your car look like those models in Tokyo Drift, 2 fast 2 furious! sell your car before it turns 3 cos it will depreciate much more in value after that and most cars these days start to break down easily when it crosses 3 years old! It's applicable here in S'pore, not sure about other countries!

learnt this from my knowledgeable wife:
do you know how the term "white elephant" came about?
there is really such a thing as a white elephant that is beautiful but difficult to maintain bcos of its consumption rate! in the past, countries actually send white elephants to their enemies as gifts, in disguise to wear out their resources! what a deceiving move! :P

showed this MOTIVATIONAL video to my students to encourage them: note that the word "EVERYDAY" is repeated so many times! passion is not a once for a while kinda of thing! it's all about living it out passionately EVERYDAY! :)

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i enjoy the moment when people share their joy with me... here's a piece of good news that my graduated student cum physix rep texted me on my mobile yesterday evening:

Hiya mr chow! i would like to share my joy with u! :) I've got the 2nd place in the national student reporter competition organised by radion station FM 95.8! An interesting experience indeed... and now I'm also a student reporter under FM 95.8! An outstanding reporter, I think that's what i wanna be in the future. I'll try my very best! ;)

my reply:
Wow! Omg! I am so so happy for you! :) so glad that you won and so glad that you know what you wanna be! Thanks for sharing this wonderful news with me! :)

her reply:
No la, i should be the one thanking you, for being such a great teacher who has shaped me in all ways. It has been one of the most pleasant thing to be your student you know! and I am still a faithful reader of your blog! haha... a source of inspiration and motivation. From it, I got the courage to press on during the competition! :)

To all my students out there: if you have a piece of good news to share with me, please do! I would like to share it with the whole world if you are agreeable!! :D

To my student who was disappointed when the teams did not win anything in the competition: I am still very proud of you and I think that you have tremendous amount of potential to excel eventually in the area of debating! Don't lose heart! Learn from this setback to become even better! :D

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First and foremost, I would like to offer my heartfelt thanks to all who took the trouble to show appreciation to me as a teacher through the gifts, cards, sms and verbal greeting on this special day! I am deeply touched by the effort put in. This is the intrinsic reward that no job in the whole world can even offer! :)

Well, here they are: the photos of every single gift that was given in random order (NOT in any order of preference/liking! I cherish every gift, whether big or small, simple or delicate, cheap or expensive, hand-made or bought! it's the thought that counts!)


My table was so packed with gifts that i took quite a while to clear them! :)


thank you adelaine for the happy beans pen and the paper crane! got your msg! Jia you for your EOY exams! you can! :)


thank you jane and yufeng for the stirrer! thank you for faithful and passionate service in SJAB! all the best for your prelims and coming Os! :)


thank you annabel for the card, the teacher's day msg and the lollipop! I will defintely eat it! Dont lose heart! I believe you can make her proud! :)



thank you zilianers for the hand-made crystal ball and the falling star! continue to stay "chio" and so "zai" in your studies! :)


thank you sonia for the red pen, chewing gum, the nice ribbons and wrapper! glad that you will work hard to do me proud this EOY! jia you! :)


thank you jasmine for the rochers! i finally gave you what you have been pestering me for! happy viewing! :)


thank you terrance for the jar of sweets! thanks for being such a good logistics head for SJAB! :)


thank you coolness for the cup of sweets and the note! stay cool by always doing so well for physix, ya!? :)


thank you christina and tracy for the red pen! 2 chris: stay pro for physix!! 2 tracy: u know what 2 do, right!? :P


thank you xinyi for the photo frame cum note pad holder! continue to be such a sweet and dilligent student! :)


thank you yaohui for the stuff dog! it was a nice surprise for me! dont be discouraged by your CT results this time round! do well for your coming EOY! :)


thank you amanda for the hand-made card! never knew we took a photo together during NDP! hopefully i will get to teach 109 again next year! :)


thank you joscelin, my mentee, for the apple! keep staying ever so creative and artistic! :)


thank you mei luan for the beautiful cake puff! never knew you are so good in baking! shall visit you one day @ cake avenue! :)


thank you guan qun for the toblerone! jia you for physix! dont freak out bcos of it! i am sure you will eventually master it! :)


thank you councillors for the descriptive ice-cream sticks and hearts! I believe it must be your hard work right, kit yeng? :)


thank you huiwen for the red pen! 303 is fortunate to have a chair person like you! :)


thank you peilin for your book of thankfulness! i shall remember every single bible verse in the book! hope they come in handy for you too! :)


thank you xuejie and wanqing for the trophy! i will definitely try my best to reach the goal! thanks for being my wonderful physix reps! :)


thank you ivy for the hand-made card and crane! it's really the thought that counts and i will take note of your constructive feedback! :)


thank you vanessa for the figurine and card! it was a pleasure having you as one of my mentees for TOL! your model house rocks! :)


thank you zhi yong for the pen! though you are ultra cheeky in class, I enjoyed having you as my student! :)


thank you yini for the photo frame! wishing you all the best for the coming promos! jia you! :)



thank you joyce and jia ying for the famous amos cookies! dont lose heart concerning your results! JC life is tough but you are tougher! :)


thank you emily for the hand-made card! I believe your hard work will pay off this coming EOY exams! Jia you! :)


thank you kit yeng for the brownie! I'm sure you are doing just fine in JC! continue to be so happy always! :)


thank you daphne (303) and jinghui(not you meh!?) for the soccer ball stuff toy! jia you for your coming EOY! do me proud! :)


thank you abigail, yiyan, chrysan, amanda, yining, sabrina and cynthia for the stuff bear! stay always so close together as friends! hope you will all be in the same class next year! :)


thank you 303 for the hand-made card! this class is getting so much more alive these days! keep it going! :)


thank you lixuan (304) for the male sign, the msg and the photo frame! very thoughtful of you indeed, considering the fact that you are so frustrated with physix! I am sure you can do very well for your EOY exams! Jia you! :)



thank you felicia and melissa for the gigantic card and the jelly beans! this card tells it all! continue to work hard understanding physix! let's have more remedials, ya!? :) free kick was great fun! :D




thank you weiru, soh min, rebecca, xinjie, lynn, cuitian, cheryl, sok ee, daphne and jamie for the big bouquet of sunflowers, the card and the photo frames! very very sweet of all of you indeed! really hope that the 10 of you will always be close friends (not just only playing bridges together!) and you will all excel in physix together! rock on! :D thank you 302 for signing the card as well! prove that you are exceptional good in this coming EOY, ya!? :)




thank you 301 for reciting that "marriage vow" to me! till death do we part indeed! really hope that the class will excel in this coming EOY exams and become even more united! :) thank you letts for the gift (that you bought from Europe) and that you are giving on behalf of the class. appreciate your act of sacrifice! :)


that's me with my new found brother, chow ah beng (aka mr liu)! tucking out all the way! cool isnt it!? LOL! :P


that's me with puay bing, esther, jia ying and pearlyn! thanks for coming back to pay me a visit! shall catch up again with all of you when we manage to arrange for a class outing! meanwhile, stay cheerful and funky! :D


that's me with some teachers and 304! thank you 304 for the pizza party! it's was simply wonderful! the teachers really felt like superstars! enjoyed the captainball game a lot a lot! the ODD team is fantastic but the EVEN team is even better with me around! LOL! :P we shall have another round soon, ya!? :)


lastly, I was there at the teacher's day rally 2006 with PM Lee as the guest speaker! The talk was inspiring! heard that i was caught on TV, messaging on my phone! omg! :P but it was for a good cause so no regrets! :D

this entry took me hours to complete but it's worth it! :D happy holidays!

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I have a student who has 12 ear stubs... omg! i pity her ears..

students can be so wild these days! someone can actually draw a face on a box, cut 2 holes for the eyes and go around with a broom hitting their juniors and running away! someone actually hang a dart board on the wall and charge towards it with his head! it's painful but he enjoys it!? weird! anyway, they are not from the school i am teaching! :P There are worse things that happened but i shall not blog them here! :P

The parent-teacher conference was enjoyable! I had a good time talking to the parents about their children. Most of the time, I will not say anything "bad" about them and would usually tell their parents how we can work together to help them to excel! :D had a good laugh bcos of the "newtube" joke! :P It serves as a warning to me as well: be sure about what you wanna say before you say it! and another thing, [they] ordered mac without asking me! sad lor! :( had to wait till 9 pm before driving through @ king albert for a quick bite! thanks for the fries anyway! :D

confiscated part of a serial drama (Full House) from my students cos they promised to watch only 2 episodes a day. So over the weekend, I gave them 6 discs (for 3 days) so that they will keep to it and not spend too much time watching and spend more time studying! Took a peek at episode 7 today to see what is so interesting about it and I'm kinda hooked to watch the whole series! LOL! tempting but hmm... only if I loads of spare time! :P

soccer was fun today though it rained! I was sick for quite a while (although it's not noticeable) and today was the first day after so long that i felt that i have overcomed the virus and became stronger! yeah! I just love times when i fall sick and recover without seeing the doc! :D

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busy creating mindmaps for my students to aid them in their revision for the final year exams..

busy marking some of the prelims scripts for the graduating class..

busy helping students to revise through their work...

busy calculating CA2 marks and keying in remarks...

busy photocopying useful stuff for my students...

but in spite of these all, i just wanna to tell my students that when you feel like you are falling, I'll give you WINGS! :D

this song is dedicated from me to you all :: You Give Me Wings ::



P/S. i am also "busy" enjoying the company of my wife and my kids and my students throughout the busy days of my life!! :D

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