28 July 2005

Farewell, My Dear Friend

Its been only a short year since we've know each other, going through with times that were difficult and hectic, facing challenges, sharing jokes, having the time of our lives. This friendship that we have forged, troubles we have shared, will continue to edge on in all our hearts.

We kept wondering, what is it that you had to leave; I cried, we cried; if those tears would bring you back, we would very much do so, though yet in vain these tears seem to be. We grief, we remember, and we will always keep you in our hearts. Maybe one day we will see you again, maybe those tears that we shed will become the very bright lights that will shine down upon you and us.

Farewell, my dear friend.

22 July 2005

Hi Blog

Isn't strange that sometimes there are so many things that you wanted to say to people but felt that the times and places were all wrong or that the people weren't really prepared to listen even if it was important?

Have been working a very engaging career ever since i joined the service a year back. A new bird people wouldn't qualify me as now as my colleagues tell me, yet experienced wouldn't exactly the words to be used either.

The job has been a challenging one... teaching by itself requires much energy and zeal, and much preparation in order to come up with a satisfying piece of work; yet school is never encouraging of such a culture. It would perhaps be far-fetched to say that some people in the past committed the fatal mistake of criticising teachers' work to be too free, thus that teaching has become more like managing corporate companies -- in which the children and education become the ultimate sufferers of such a phenomenon.

Sounds tough? Case to be made easier? Teaching used to be too little work? Tax payers complain -- teaching becomes a corporate management -- teachers become more of managers aka part-time maids.

In both cases the children are still the ultimate victims. It was never for these children that adults nowadays think and prepare for. We are all making our own perfect worlds, we fight from ranking to banding; we vie for the awards and statuses and we talk about distinguishing ourselves making an impact on students' lives.

Did we make it?

The answers seem to be yet apparent and vague at the very same time... ...

17 July 2005

New Pics Uploaded

http://ms4c05.blogspot.com

About Re-committing Ourselves

For those who had put their minds and even their souls into a single commitment or the like, there is always a juncture when we take a step back and really begin to ponder: were all of those that i have done worth the effort that i have paid?

Come to think of it, i wonder if i can ever answer this very same question that has been bothering me for years.

Ever since i was accidentally given the post of Chairperson many years back, it has became my personal resolve to maintain or even bring glory to the Unit. I have gained much and i have lost an equal amount; of friends whom i would have wished better bonding or of opportunities that had went by uncherished.

Passing out was supposed to make me feel at ease but yet a CI i have yet again resolved to be achieving.

Years passed and now i am at this very point as a person of stature and powerful standing, yet i am not spared the grimness of the very same question that puts me to questioning: am i still able to give? Has the touch or the passion passed by myself? Am i so lost in the mundane that it becomes impossible to relive the past?

Has my resolve lost its meaning?

16 July 2005

POP 2005

With the annual camp just passed by, it is indeed a blink of an eye that the sec 4s are passing out today. I remember the many memories, i saw the pain; laughter echoed and images flashing by ... ...

What was the journey like? How did you pass by these 4 years and how did it all add up?

Images of myself i always see whenever a new batch comes and goes. Being with each seems to be re-living the experience a brand new time again, and every parting is always hard to bear.

If there can be a choice, would time stop? Would any of you have wished it this way?

01 July 2005

NPCC Annual Camp 2005

Heres my take on the camp that took place from 13th to 15th June. It was the first time after so many years that we decided to take the entire unit out to Pulau Ubin for the Annual Camp. Fun as it might have been for some of us, it is indeed a very expensive camp to run.

And then it was a lot of preparation before the camp started, and all the officers and CIs had to go Ubin to recce before we could confirmed the planned out route as well as marking the checkpoints.

Guess the real action started during land expedition whereby i was not part of. Had to bring a few PRC teachers to go sight seeing as they wanted to tag along, and so hence we went, tagged along by a few of the sec4s too. It was a good time to go sightseeing and do get to know the other parts of P. Ubin; we went to the spice gardens whereby cucumbers, lady fingers, lemon grass and many other fruits and vegetables were grown.

Some of them actually crowded round a well and peered into the place at the same time under the cover of the plants that crept along the entire frame of the well. It was quite a funny picture i had taken and well, i guess i will post that up for all to see as soon as i can. Then some of them went on to say that they have had experiences whereby they had to take baths drawing water from the well... and with fishes inside! Haha it was really quite funny but i used to bathe from a well with many big fishes when i was little and regularly went visits to my granduncle in the kampong last time.

Then i would peer over the icy well water and see if the fishes were doing anything funny... and i remembered also that i asked my mother if the fishes really eat mosquitoes that would otherwise be breeding if there were not put into the pond? Such memories... though now when look into the well during the camp, the feelings were utterly changed ... ...