Category: life

Tired.
Extremely tired.
Just let me sleep
A while longer …

There are days when I want to do this.

Picture courtesy of Rudy from photography class

I had someone comment to me, saying that women are so emotional. That they have misplaced loyalty. Thats why they are always taken for granted.

Woah. I saw red to that. I dont have the statistics to back it up but I just thought that it was an unjustified statement. How true is that? I’m sure we all dont go around acting all crazy, and hyper and spout out emotional outbursts. Oh wait a minute. Maybe we do. Once a month. But that doesnt count.

Mr Chako, our GP teacher quipped in class on day about how three category of people get better pay at work, namely the more attractive people, the males and the taller people.

Being of a non supermodel proportions, a non male and non tall, that statement made me a little apprehensive. What about the common people? Grrr!

*karate chops*

Anyway, take a look at my new desk 🙂

Pretty barren at the moment, I could put the two bears that I usually bring to work. Or some posters or something. Maybe not so soon. Been much too busy with work to concentrate on the appearance of the table.

There’s so much to do! Installation of CD’s in the computer lab, updating the barcoding inventory, creating of newsletters, helping of teachers, doing programming (something I’m not that fluent) helping out in the cca’s and more more stuff and on top of that conduct multimedia lessons…

*faints*

The strange part is, that now that I’ve already had a job, I still receive emails offering me of a job. Funny how when in June when I was bumming around, looking for a job, nothing arrived for about 3 weeks and on the other hand now the reverse.

Oh well.

I still am missing my west spring kids and my colleagues. One of my students called me up and demanded to know why I wasnt in West Spring anymore. How can one not feel a tinge of emotion?

“Cherrr .. Why arent you our IT teacher anymore???”
I could only go … “WAAAAH!!!”

I dropped by school for a while today just to say hello for a bit and had lunch at Sheng Siong with Peter, Jane and Poniah. I miss that camaraderie. 🙂

It was sweet, just hanging out with old friends. I love it.

Amazing. I’m still mildly stunned at this point of time of writing. You are now reading the blog of a newly appointed Multimedia Educator for AsknLearn.

It was one of the most memorable days that I’ll never forget. I had a call yesterday, while I was searching for iEnabler. I reached Outram Mrt Station at about 3.45. I’m quite early! I thought to myself. Now all I have to do is to find a landmark and I’ll be at the building pronto. I walked past Pearl Centre and asked a man, do you know where Teck Lim road is? Nope. And I then I asked another person. I don’t know. Not sure. So I called up the office to enquire about the area.

Do you see This Fashion? Yup! Okay, walked past it and you’ll see a temple, and then you’ll see a hotel and walk past that hotel and we are just there.

Okay, I got it, thanks!

So I walked past this fashion. And walked. And walked and walked. Wow, this is such a long walk! Is this really the right area? I reached Chinatown and walked and saw the Sri Mariamman temple and thought to myself okay, here’s the temple. I don’t see a hotel though. I was feeling quite tired after walking in my heels in the warm afternoon sun. And I felt dishevelled and really flabbergasted. I tried to call the office again. You don’t see the temple? But I’m right next to the temple. Do you know where I should go to? No? Nevermind, I’ll just take the cab there.

Right after I put the phone down, there was a call for me.

Hello? Bzz Bzz Bzz. Would you like to come down for an interview?
Bzz Bzz, take but 91, Buona Vista, Bzz Bzz

Uhh .. wait, what? (snaps out of daze) Could you hold on a while. Let me get a pen. (scribble scribble) Okay, see you tomorrow at 10 am.

I tried to flag some cabs, and there wasn’t any slowing down! Even those who did slow down didn’t know where Teck Lim Road was! In my heart I was feeling murderous. Luckily there was a nice taxi driver who stopped to call up his friend to ask where the area was. And an old uncle, as well as this nice man who was relaxing in his van who took the time to actually check his directory and show me where to go to. To all of you, I’m extremely grateful. There are wonderful people out there.

Anyway, at last I found the place and had an interview with Ken, the manager there and left after about 2 hours. And … I saw a hotel. I continued walking and saw another temple and then, I walked a little bit more and what I saw made me really angry.

It was the same spot where I called the office. It took me 30 minutes to walk all the way around the area when it should only take me 5 minutes to reach here! I was stumped. With my feet aching, and feeling uncomfortably sticky, I felt like digging a hole and hiding myself in it.

I mean, seriously, look at this:

Black route is initial route, red route to go home

*heart aches*

Anyway, this morning, I went to Asknlearn, not really expecting anything since in my mind I was thinking of Mastereign and I heard of Asknlearn’s reputation about being very discerning in the choice of trainers.

But I showed my portfolio, both hard copy and the soft copy and after a while, they asked me to go into the office and do an aptitude test.

They seemed impressed by the score from the aptitude test and were keen to hire me. I was still a little hesitant and did a quick calculation in my head. Should I still continue with mastereign, freelancing? Or should I take this offer up doing full time. I quicked weighed the pros and cons and decided that I’d take the offer up. A pity actually, I really would love to work in Mastereign. If only they had full time there.

Anyway, I start on Monday to see the new school and to get to know the staff and the locale. I hope it’ll be good 🙂

Anyway, I’ll stop here for the moment, and let my bears narrate the rest of the blog. Ciao!

Woo! I’ve been so bored of staying at home all the time! I’m so glad big miss is taking us out finally!

Woo .. what do you think is out there?
So many trees! Bus riding is so much fun
Ohh .. We’re stopping. Where are we?

*reads*

Ngee…Ann…Polytechnic.

I wonder what big miss is doing here.
I see big brother signing up for something

Woo…

What’s big brother doing? Ouch! That looks painful!

Nah, big brother isnt frowning, it shouldn’t be painful.
Look.
Big miss is doing the same too.
Oh no, she’s frowning.
What’s she saying? *peers*

Not enough Iron. She can’t donate.
Aww big miss looks so sad.
Well, big miss could try again in a few weeks when her iron level is higher.
Lets look at big brother.

He looks pretty comfortable with that ball.
Look at the blood bag, brownie.
Where?
Down there!
Big bro must have a fast heart. His bag is filled up really fast.

Ahh .. it’s all done.
Lets have a rest by over there and hand big miss and big brother some drinks.

Ok!

Woooo! Big miss is asking big bro to go out for dinner.
Yum yum!

*sniffs sniffs*

Whats this drink Big miss got? Smells like ginger.
Big miss drinks wierd drinks.
Yes…

Whats that cat doing there?
Shoo! Scat cat!
Don’t shoo it away, its cuteeee
Not cute Beigie, it’s a lazy cat.
It’ll make big bro throw it food all the time.
Oh well. Silly kitty

Woo! Going home in style.

Well, good night brownie
Good night beigie
It was a fun day today. I enjoyed it.
Me too

Woo!

Just who the heck are these people?

14th June is world blood donor day. I was invited to join in a picnic dinner and a movie by the esplanade after having donated my blood in December.

My sister, Diana and I took the train to City Hall and met Nazry at about 8 pm and we had a simple picnic dinner of hot dogs, nuggets and jelly by the riverside. As we sat down and enjoyed the evening breeze and the beautiful lights of the buildings, Nazry told me about his adventure while taking a picture by the Merlion

While snapping a picture with his new camera phone, he happened to slip and unfortunately fell down. But what made him angry was that there were no one asking how he was or inquired about his well being.

What bustards. He quipped. I sat there wondering why there wasn’t anyone helping him up. How strange. Poor Nazry.

I then told Nazry about what happened to me in the afternoon. I had a call yesterday afternoon. And I was a little dazed.

Hello, May I speak to Marina?
Speaking
Are you free for an interview tomorrow at 3 pm?
Who is this calling please?
My name is Bhapy, and I’m calling from Mastereign.
Mastereign? Yes yes yes. I’m free, Yes yes!
Great! I’ll see you tomorrow. Its at 133, Cecil Street

As I hanged up, I pondered why the name Cecil Street was very familiar to me. And then it hit me. I did spend quite some while over this area. My first “job” was over at this area. I was young and just fresh out of Jurong Institute with absolutely no job experience and found an advertisement for office workers. I was interviewed by a trading company to be a telemarketer.

It wasn’t a pleasant experience. All day long, making phone calls to people that I didn’t know and I had absolutely zero knowledge of trading. After a month I quit after seeing how I really don’t see myself being in this line.

Cecil street was also where I joined Sriwana, a cultural Malay dance organization for a couple of months. I enjoyed my practises there till mum thought that it was affecting my studies and forbade me from continuing.

I also spent weekends here studying my advanced diploma in computer studies in informatics.  To be honest, I think the teaching there totally killed my interest in C programming and I pretty much flunked that subject.

How could I forget this area? A lot of memorable memories here. And I walked and I remember the buildings that I’ve been in as well as see the many changes done to the area. Lovely urban area with a touch of rural charm. I should have a photo shoot here sometime.

Anyway, I was really excited to be called down. I’ve been anticipating as I was really excited by the type of course that I would be teaching. The impressive website that they had made me solidify my desire even more. The entire week I had the thought in my mind “Call me … Call me … Mastereign … Call me…” *laugh*

During the interview, Bhappy, the human resource interviewed all three interviewers together (that was a first!) And we talked about our portfolios and our work experiences and the type of courses that was conducted there. Amazing to find out that they did holistic and soft skill courses like adventure camps, grooming courses, even dance. I was impressed and loved the company’s vision and professionalism. “Hire me … Hire me… Mastereign … Hire me …”

I saw the other two’s portfolio and they were really good too. Looks like a tough competition since they were from the design industry. Me, on the other hand, was self taught … I only had my 5 years experience as an added advantage.

After the interview, I left for home and not 15 minutes I stepped out of the building I had a call from Mastereign again asking me if I could teach for about 2 week.

Of course I said yes!

So now, you’re looking at a freelance trainer 🙂 The pay wasn’t that much at the moment, but it’s not so bad. I love this organization! At least I can breathe a little easier now.

Whoopee!

Coming back to the blood donation event, after we had our dinner, we went to the Padang to watch an open air movie. They were playing ‘shark tales’, and we sat on the mats provided with other families. It was so lovely. I really love these type of atmosphere. It was just like the botanic garden trip I had last month. Only this time, I had my siblings with me 🙂

The movie ended at about 9.30 pm and deciding that the night was much too early, we proceeded to go to the Raffles City shopping centre to just walk about. And we saw lego displays there!

We love lego!

Isn’t this spider totally awesome?

Harry potter meets the sith meets the eccentric blogger

At about 10 pm or so, we left back home by the crowded train.

Buying the ticket

Rock on!

Horribly crowded train

I wonder what she was thinking

By the way, I flunked my riding test. Yes I flunked it on Monday. And I blame it on the rain making everything slippery. Not giving up though, I’m going to try and try and try again till I pass 🙂

Nearly 3 am the time I’m writing this entry. And I am supposed to have another interview tomorrow at 10 am … *chuckles* Oh dear.

Me? Read? *points to self* Me? Read? Books? Kidding right. I was tagged by Princess Thumbelina but really, I dont read as much as I should …

1) Total number of books that I’ve owned
Quite a number of computer books, programming, flash animations, adobe premiere. There’s also some self improvement books, like the dictionary of dreams, how to be a sucessful person in 55 tips, Tony Buzan’s memory improvement books … Very rarely do I own fiction books, normally because I usually borrow these from the library and only buy books if I really need them to refer to them at my own convenience.

2) The last book I bought

One particular poetry that caught my eye:

Virtue, by George Herbert

Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright,
The bridall of the earth and skie:
The dew shall weep thy fall to night;
For thou must die.

Sweet rose, whose hue angrie and brave
Bids the rash gazer wipe his eye:
Thy root is ever in its grave
And thou must die.

Sweet spring, full of sweet dayes and roses,
A box where sweets compacted lie;
My musick shows ye have your closes,
And all must die.

Onely a sweet and vertuous soul,
Like season’d timber, never gives;
But though the whole world turn to coal,
Then chiefly lives.

3) The last book that I read
Not quite done with it, just halfway is this book.

Basically this book tells you about how you have the mental power to achieve anything that you want and trains your mental and emotional self to become more mature and stronger. You identify thoughts and feelings that makes you unhappy, and develop healthy ways of thinking. Interesting book, albeit very simplistic and quite clear cut. In a nutshell. You can do anything, if you believe you can and DO something about it.

I’ve read this one some time back

Cart recommended me this reading. Basically its a book about virtual worlds, how one can travel into it to interact create social worlds (very similar to the 3D worlds that we have right now and amazingly, this book was written a long long time before the internet) Interesting book. But Sci-Fi isnt really my kind of reading.

4) Books that mean alot to me

a) Chronicles of Narnia

My first encounter with “The lion, the witch and the wardrobe” back in secondary school, when I was about 14 or 15 years old and it intruiged me enough to borrow it from the library. It took me about a week to complete reading and I loved the fantastical story of magic, of loyalty and friendship … and before long, I was scouring for the other Narnia books installments. I loved them all and the most captivating installment of all was “The last battle” which really left me having a deep impact about the netherworlds

Suffice to say, I loved it.

b) The Quran does bring a feeling a serenity when I read it and calms me down. Wonderful reading during nice and quiet nights. I have to admit that I’m not a very religious person and that I’m not all that good at the arabic reading but its an incredible feeling anyways.

C) Tony Buzan’s Use your head.

While back in secondary school, there was a camp for improving the mind conducted by Nury. And the coordinator, Uncle M starting talking about how memory works and how to improve memory by different methods like Mind Mapping, and Number pegs. I started reading this book by chance while in the library. I liked this book as it was quite simple to follow (though admittedly, I’m a little unmotivated to train my pegs) Tony Buzan’s a hero to me

d) The Zen of listening

I like this book as it has many pointers about the lost art of listening and it makes alot of sense. Communication is two way and that people should listen to another person’s point of view, even if they do not agree with each other to at least understand their own point of view and why they react that way. I couldnt put this book down. Its easy reading but has a lot of punch.

e) Well, this book was written by not one author but many. It would be my autograph books and my diaries throughout the years. It contains many precious memories that I can refer and reflect to throughout the years and is more precious to me than any book in any library. It might not be a literary genious writing, but its heartfelt and is still most beautiful.

Yeah .. thats about it *scratches head* Lets see if these people below would make a list too

Red
Ck
DJ
Krysss
Derek
ChronicRiddick