quotes

"Hello, my name is Aunty Karen. Who here knows how to spell my name?"

*hands all waving madly in the air*

"Ok, you! How to spell my name?"

"m.y. n.a.m.e!"

***

"Today we're talking about super powers. Name me all the super powers you know.."

"Diamond head!" "Worm!" "Bomb!"

*many strange words later*

"Don't your super heroes fly? or have lightning speed?"

"Cheh...so boring waaaaaan....my superhero don't need to fly, he can blink wan ar!"

***

*Richie comes with his hair flat down across his forehead, no longer spotting the mohawk*

"Richie, how come your hair is no longer standing up?"

"I change my hairstyle already"

"Oh, so last time you were David Beckham, now who are you?"

"David cook!"

***

"The Invisible Man is a stranger in the story book. What is a stranger?"

"Bad guy!!"

"A stranger is someone you don't know. Not necessarily bad. You just don't know the person yet"

"Owwhh...like Red Riding Hood ar?"

"Yea! Remember Red Riding Hood's grandmother told her not to talk to strangers? So what is a stranger?"

"WOLF!"

soldier soldier

life, as it is, has been relatively good for me.

i can safely say i am happy with my job. kids are the best possible beings to work with, i truly believe so. sure they make your blood boil occasionally, make you lose your voice for an hour or so, but at the end of the day you know that they really don't bear any malice. they're honest, playful little things who are simply wants to have fun. they don't like to do things they don't like to do, they like to do things they like to do. life's that simple for them. and being around such simplicities is really refreshing, if you ask me. i'm alright as a teacher i suppose. i work best with playful kids who are active, hyper, yet nice, obedient. my favourite is a 5 year old boy, Richie, who spots a Beckham Mohawk which he sets by himself. sweetest. darling. ever.

i see Dennis less these days. but that's alright. in a way, i really hope i can get used to not having him around every other day. but on the other hand, i really wish to see him as often as i can these last few weeks. anyway, things are great. great great great...:)

ive been shadowing in RPM for the past 3 weeks and i start team teaching next week! team teaching in RPM means i teach some of the tracks in the class. probably start with one track, then 2, and slowly 4. if i'm quick to learn, i should be able to teach a full fledge class by the last week of June. they say i have to make a video of myself within 3 months of my first full class. once i've done this video, i'll send it to LesMills Asia and they'll determine whether i get my certification or not. it's that long a process. seeing that i will be in Auckland in July, i'll have to see if i can teach there for a while, then get my certification there. Not gonna be easy i guess.

family's taking a trip to Melaka, Muar and Port Dickson over the weekend. I've taken an unpaid leave on Monday. I foresee a lot of binging in the horizons. :)

yup, life's great..:)

Where I Stood

I don't know what I've done
Or if I like what I've begun
But something told me to run
And honey you know me it's all or none

There were sounds in my head
Little voices whispering
That I should go and this should end
Oh and I found myself listening

'Cos I dont know who I am, who I am without you
All I know is that I should
And I don't know if I could stand another hand upon you
All I know is that I should
'Cos she will love you more than I could
She who dares to stand where I stood

See I thought love was black and white
That it was wrong or it was right
But you ain't leaving without a fight
And I think I am just as torn inside

'Cos I dont know who I am, who I am without you
All I know is that I should
And I don't know if I could stand another hand upon you
All I know is that I should
'Cos she will love you more than I could
She who dares to stand where I stood

And I won't be far from where you are if ever you should call
You meant more to me than anyone I ever loved at all
But you taught me how to trust myself and so I say to you
This is what I have to do

'Cos I dont know who I am, who I am without you
All I know is that I should
And I don't know if I could stand another hand upon you
All I know is that I should
'Cos she will love you more than I could
She who dares to stand where I stood
Oh, she who dares to stand where I stood

Missy Higgins - Where I Stood

Hair for Hope

How many of you would pay to shave your heads bald?

...5 out of 10? perhaps the guys? no big huh for you to run a razor through your locks once in a while, create the whole Michael Scoffield look? No?

alright...how many of you would pay to watch a friend shave bald?

...think about it, it could be a bet over a footie match. call the right predictions and your buddy might just have to make a trip to the barber compliments of you, but with self satisfaction to boot. still no?

ok...how many of you would pay to watch a friend shave bald, and have that money be donated to charity?

...yea, your friend walks out looking like a goofy shaolin master, you get the kicks out of it, one kid is saved from cancer, and you get the credit. what could be better?

well, yours truly is not gonna be shaving my head bald, so hold your horses. don't go calling my house phone just yet. although i do believe if it were me i'd be getting obscene amounts of pledge monies. =)

Kelvin Lim. How do u think he'd look bald?

Friend of mine would be doing it at this event called Hair for Hope in Singapore. You may know him, you may not, either way it'd be for a good course. So if one of the things listed in your new year resolution for 2008 was "Do something charitable" or "Help the needy", this is a good place to start. Go pledge. =)

the young ones

I've started working in Cosmotots. For the ignorant, Cosmotots is a child IQ development center. In layman term, its an English class for kids aged 4-12 years old. Kids are taught to speak, read, write and listen.

I can honestly say, I have never had so much fun at a job before. Not even when i marshalled at Camp 5, not even when I was a gymnastics coach. Kids who come to Cosmotots are the most adorable things in the world! I love my job!

I basically teach kids 8 years and below. Some are extremely bright, some take some time to grasp things, others simply grasp..literally. haha...everyday it's a different experience. When people say kids say the darn'st things, they mean it. It's true! I have not had one dull moment when i'm with the kids in the classroom.
even when i'm in the staffroom, marking their books, i chuckle to myself at the silliest things they write. it's just tickling when you see how kids interpret certain instructions from you different from each other. I've only been there a few days but already I'm trying to change the way I speak to children.

I've learned that:
1. Kids are afraid of being kissed. "I kiss you ar!" is actually a penalty. =D
2. Kids are smart. After analyzing your behaviour for 15 minutes, they can pretty much figure out how to deal with you to get what they want.
3. No matter how tough they act, they ALL have a soft spot. Knowing this can be your greatest weapon.
4. My daughter shall never wear pink and fall amongst the gazillion other little girls who wear the same colour. My son shall be taught not to swear and curse because nothing ruins the adorablity factor more than a curse word.

catching up

recent events have been all abut catching on old times, really. and i love catching up, reminiscing. it kinda reminds me how different i was 5, 6, 7 years ago. how i was silly and naive in the past, and still had the best times of my life. and it is always fun to reflect and see how far i've come from the Karen then. I usually tell people i don't think i've changed much. appearance maybe, because i've spotted like 2,756 different hairstyles in the past. but character wise i used to tell people that i'm still the same person i was when i was in my extremely uncomfortable blue pinafore which i wore from form 1 to form 5. but the truth is i have changed a lot. there is a difference of the earth and the sky from 15 year old me to 22 year old me.

anyway, on saturday i had lunch with Mrs Khaw and some of the RSGs. And if you saw us individually walking along the malls or on the streets, u might not notice but if i should say so myself, when we take on something, somewhere by the storm, you'd notice a similarity in us all. something about the poise, the grace, the outgoing energy and the very very hearty laughter that entails a story told by any one of us. i think we look pretty damn good in this picture, quite honestly. all of us. L-R: yuh huey, shiow fern, roshida, Mrs Khaw, me, katrina

yesterday night was dinner with some secondary school friends. there were more on the invitation list, but i guess with today being Wesak day and all, Sunday became a family night too. anyway, i was happy with whoever who came. some of which i've not seen for months and months and months! it was good fun. it really was. money well spent. =)L-R: soon seng , jackie, han yang, li hua, me, dennis