Sushila told us this story from the Alchemist by Paul Coelho during our Macritchie chat this morning. When she told us she couldn't remember the whole story, so we started guessing what the message was. I thought the idea is to forget about the oil, since it probably doesn't mean anything. We should give up all these meaningless burdens and pursue our dream. After I went home, I did some research and realised that the oil represents responsibilities. So the message is to enjoy life and yet not forget one's responsibilities.

Hmmm. Maybe I'm a really irresponsible person, but I'd rather not have to worry about the oil anyway.  read more »

Laycheng, Florence, Sushila, Chad and me met up at Macritchie Reservoir for a chat. Hmmm, we ended up grousing about school life again. With us was a Dr Chua who's some educational consultant (not with NIE). I hope he doesn't go away thinking we hate teaching. In fact, we all love to teach, and as a junior in the group I have great respect for the others (cept Chad who has fewer years in service than me) for lasting so long in education.

Well, I really yearn for the mountains, and a change of environment, so hopefully I can bring myself to quit the service at the end of the year and go do something else. I don't think I can be a good teacher if I'm lost msyelf.  read more »

An ex-student from VJC, Cliff, came to visit me today. I was in school so he took a taxi from orchard and we had a good chat. Cliff is now studying in New York University, doing business. He's one of the more unique individual around - I can still remember him perpetually falling asleep in class, which is a problem he has been having since Pr 5. I met the mother before over this, and she said she had sent him to various doctors before, but nobody could tell why he has such a problem. Haha, actually we had quite a few good laughs over this during lessons, especially when he fell asleep during PW group discussions (it's like, there're only 5 people talking and you can fall asleep?!?). The weirdest thing is - Cliff is a sportsman. He was into Judo and was some national champion in his category. Maybe his metabolism goes in bursts. I remember having to squeeze a lot of brain juice when writing a recommendation letter for him for his Uni application as he did not get fantastic results. But I truly feel he has great potential, so I was rather glad when he told me he made it to NYU.  read more »