The previous post was about languages of love. I feel that besides knowing how to shower your partner with the correct type of love, it is also important to know how to make your partner less angry with you should you commit any mistakes.
It is inevitable for couples to quarrel. I don't believe that there are any couples in this world who have never had any disagreements before. Usually, if not 100% of the time, the guys will be the first one to say "sorry". Even though maybe in their heart they do not feel that it's their fault, but they still take the first step to apologise. Because they know that if they don't, their partner is going to blow up even more and prolong the argument.
Yet when the guys say "I am sorry", the girls would ask, "Sorry for what?" Then the whole argument will bounce back to the starting point.
Looks like saying sorry is not the best solution after all.
In order for guys to know what best to say to end an argument quickly, they need to know their partner's language of apology. Of course, girls should also understand their boyfriends' language of apology because girls do piss their boyfriends off sometimes.
With reference to the same website mentioned in the previous post, the 5 languages of apology include expressing regret, accepting responsibility, make restitution, genuinely repent, and request forgiveness.
1. Expressing regret
You want your partner to show that he/she is feeling guilty for hurting you. A sincere sorry is sufficient. There is no need for explanation from your partner as to why he/she committed the mistake.
2. Accept responsibility
"I am wrong" are the words that you want to hear, because it shows that the partner admits that he/she has made a wrong decision and is willing to accept the responsibility. For this, the partner must be able to put down his/her ego.
3. Make restitution
For this type of apology language, hearing "I am sorry" or "I am wrong" is not enough. You want to see your partner make efforts to amend the situation. For example, you want to receive a small gift as part of an apology. What you want your partner to do depends on your love language. If your love language is physical touch, then maybe on top of hearing "I am sorry", you also want your partner to give you a hug, or something like that.
4. Genuinely repent
You want your partner to change his/her behaviour. If need be, there should be a plan for the changes required. The objective is not to see the same thing happening in the future. Only when your partner is willing to change will you then see the apology as sincere.
5. Request forgiveness
You want your partner to literally ask you, "Will you forgive me?" Asking for forgiveness kind of shows that your partner knows what has gone wrong, and he/she still wants to keep the relationship going.
For me, my language is "genuinely repent". I don't know if this is weird, but I really dislike hearing "I am sorry" and "will you forgive me". Saying sorry doesn't solve the problem at all. I am a very practical person and would rather see actions taken to solve the problem. It doesn't matter if you didn't apologise at all. In fact, I would be more angry if you just say sorry for the sake of saying and you actually don't feel that you have done any wrong.
In the past, I had done the same thing as most girls do. When the other party says sorry, I would ask "sorry for what?" Usually, the other party would say something which is totally not the reason why I am angry with him/her. Then I would be more pissed. So now, I don't want to hear sorry.
I also don't like it when people ask me "will you forgive me". Of course the answer is no when I am still angry with you! Asking me that question actually creates stress for me. Because by asking that question, the person is putting away his/her ego, and being very humble to me. So if I don't say yes, I would appear petty. Yet I am still very unhappy with him/her. So how can I say yes?
What I want to hear is for the other party to say the steps that he/she will take to ensure that similar situations will not happen again in the future. I think that is the most effective way in solving the problem. So what I prefer to hear from the other party is something like "I know you are angry over (state issue). To prevent this from happening again, I will (state course of actions)."
So what's your language of apology?
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Monday, April 9, 2012
Languages of love
I was told that there is a book titled "The 5 love languages" which is good for couples to understand their partner's love language. I googled it and came to this website:
The website allows you to take a quiz to determine your love language, or what you prefer your partner to do in order for you to feel loved. It is a short quiz, won't take more than 15 minutes. You have to choose your preferred choice out of the options given. There will be some questions that are really difficult to answer, either because all the options don't suit me, or all are equally fine with me. So to make a choice is quite tough.
To summarise, the 5 different love languages are as follows:
1. Words of affirmation
You rely on what you hear to feel the love. Your partner just need to say things like "I love you" and you think it's sufficient. You also like your partner to affirm you, probably by saying "you have done well". Compliments definitely work on you.
2. Quality time
Your partner must be physically around you, doing the things that both of you enjoy doing. You want your partner to give you undivided attention. You do not like distractions when you are spending time with your partner.
3. Receiving gifts
Not random gifts, but gifts of thought. You know how well your partner understands you by looking at the type of gift he/she buys for you. You prefer gifts that serve a purpose, that are to your liking, or that you need. You do not like gifts that are bought just for the sake of the occasion.
4. Acts of service
Actions speak louder than words for you. Rather than hearing "it must be tiring for you to mop the floor", your partner should get the mop and start mopping for you! The more things your partner does for you, the more loved you feel.
5. Physical touch
Holding hands, hugging, and other forms of physical touch makes you feel that you are special to your partner. If your partner does not hold your hand, even for a short period of time, you will not feel at ease.
After doing the quiz, I found out that my main language of love is "acts of service", followed by "quality time". This is very true. I am someone who doesn't take in words. Because to me, it's very easy to say "I love you". I can say it a hundred times if I want to. But what comes after that? Actions. Show me that you love me. Having said this, it's quite obvious that I score very low on "words of affirmation".
I do feel loved through simple acts like opening doors for me, carrying my purchase, or helping me to do simple chores. Sometimes guys are really muddleheaded and they only look at the big picture. So if a guy can look down to the micro level and care for me, I would very much appreciate his gestures.
Quality time is also important. I have to admit that I dislike distractions, though I can tolerate a few here and there (like having to reply sms, or to answer phone calls). What I do not like is when my partner starts playing games on his phone when he is out with me. Luckily my boyfriend does not do that. But I do see couples on the train busy playing games on their phones that they are not interacting with each other. I don't call that spending quality time because they are just physically beside each other.
If my partner wants to do something but in the process of doing it, I will be left alone, then should he do it? I would say it depends on whether it is urgent and must done on the spot. Sometimes people do not know how to prioritize, whatever comes to their mind, they would want to do it immediately. Like "Ah! I must sms my friend now to remind her about the meeting time next week." Can this sms be sent a few hours later or the next day when you are not spending time with your partner? If the answer is yes, then you send it later.
Your love language will be a mixture of the above 5 types, but there will be a dominant one. You can try the quiz to find out your love language! :)
The website allows you to take a quiz to determine your love language, or what you prefer your partner to do in order for you to feel loved. It is a short quiz, won't take more than 15 minutes. You have to choose your preferred choice out of the options given. There will be some questions that are really difficult to answer, either because all the options don't suit me, or all are equally fine with me. So to make a choice is quite tough.
To summarise, the 5 different love languages are as follows:
1. Words of affirmation
You rely on what you hear to feel the love. Your partner just need to say things like "I love you" and you think it's sufficient. You also like your partner to affirm you, probably by saying "you have done well". Compliments definitely work on you.
2. Quality time
Your partner must be physically around you, doing the things that both of you enjoy doing. You want your partner to give you undivided attention. You do not like distractions when you are spending time with your partner.
3. Receiving gifts
Not random gifts, but gifts of thought. You know how well your partner understands you by looking at the type of gift he/she buys for you. You prefer gifts that serve a purpose, that are to your liking, or that you need. You do not like gifts that are bought just for the sake of the occasion.
4. Acts of service
Actions speak louder than words for you. Rather than hearing "it must be tiring for you to mop the floor", your partner should get the mop and start mopping for you! The more things your partner does for you, the more loved you feel.
5. Physical touch
Holding hands, hugging, and other forms of physical touch makes you feel that you are special to your partner. If your partner does not hold your hand, even for a short period of time, you will not feel at ease.
After doing the quiz, I found out that my main language of love is "acts of service", followed by "quality time". This is very true. I am someone who doesn't take in words. Because to me, it's very easy to say "I love you". I can say it a hundred times if I want to. But what comes after that? Actions. Show me that you love me. Having said this, it's quite obvious that I score very low on "words of affirmation".
I do feel loved through simple acts like opening doors for me, carrying my purchase, or helping me to do simple chores. Sometimes guys are really muddleheaded and they only look at the big picture. So if a guy can look down to the micro level and care for me, I would very much appreciate his gestures.
Quality time is also important. I have to admit that I dislike distractions, though I can tolerate a few here and there (like having to reply sms, or to answer phone calls). What I do not like is when my partner starts playing games on his phone when he is out with me. Luckily my boyfriend does not do that. But I do see couples on the train busy playing games on their phones that they are not interacting with each other. I don't call that spending quality time because they are just physically beside each other.
If my partner wants to do something but in the process of doing it, I will be left alone, then should he do it? I would say it depends on whether it is urgent and must done on the spot. Sometimes people do not know how to prioritize, whatever comes to their mind, they would want to do it immediately. Like "Ah! I must sms my friend now to remind her about the meeting time next week." Can this sms be sent a few hours later or the next day when you are not spending time with your partner? If the answer is yes, then you send it later.
Your love language will be a mixture of the above 5 types, but there will be a dominant one. You can try the quiz to find out your love language! :)
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Pornography
I attended a sexuality education workshop today so that I will be trained to teach sexuality to my students in the future. The whole package of sexuality education touches on diverse topics, such as the differences between love and infatuation, going steady, masturbation, homosexuality, pornography, etc.
My group is supposed to design a lesson package to educate students about pornography. And through discussions, I have the inspiration to blog about this topic.
Many of you think that pornography is just "video showing the process of sexual intercourse with at least 1 person in the video". This means that people having sex with animals is also porn, and there can be sex between more than 2 people.
What I learnt today is that pornography is "any magazine, book, website or movie designed ONLY to arouse sexual feelings and desires". So if there are some sex scenes in a particular show, but the purpose of the sex scenes is to bring out the storyline better, then it is not pornography. And those nude photos of celebrities being circulated around the world are also not considered pornography if the celebrities do not have the intent of arousing the world when they took those photos in the first place. Hence, one must look at the intent of the material when deciding whether it is pornographic or not.
The objective of my post today is to explain why pornography is bad. And the stand I take comes not from a teacher, but from an ordinary girl in a relationship.
1. There is no respect for the human body, especially for the females
In pornography, the human body appears as tools to achieve sexual satisfaction. Whether you are male or female, you are born with the different sex organs for reproduction purposes. Yet in porn, the people involved can do weird things like having sex with animals, or anal sex. They are playing around with their sexual organs. And they do this to "feel good" and to make their audience (whoever is watching the porn) aroused. To me, this is cheapening their bodies.
Pornography is more detrimental for the females because pornography may portray women as tools to manipulate for sex. Women become sex objects and not seen as a human (as in violent porn showing women being beaten up while the men is having sexual intercourse with her). There is a total loss of respect for women in such videos. Men who frequently watch such videos will see women as inferior beings whose only purpose in life is to provide sexual services to the superior men. Women who participated in the making of such videos are spreading the message that women are slaves of the men and need not be respected at all.
Actually many men do know that porn is not good, but because they need it to feed their sexual desires, they say things like "porn does not hurt anyone", "it's better than me visiting the prostitutes", etc. However, if you ask them whether they will allow their younger sisters to be porn stars, they will immediately say "no" because "it is degrading". Contradictory, huh?
2. Pornography paints an unrealistic picture of (great) sex
The reason why people like to see porn is because the women depicted has unusually large breasts (like G cup or what) and the men shown has unusually long penises (maybe 12 inches or what). And during the process of sexual intercourse, the actors have to show on their faces how pleasurable they feel, especially when they reach the climax, they can look like they are dying. I am not sure if I am exaggerating, but this is what I hear from my male friends who watched porn.
Anyway, my point is that the people inside porn videos tend to exaggerate that sex is extremely "shiok". Then the audience may be influenced and want to look for partners who can bring them that level of pleasure in bed. However, in real life, it is very hard to find such a partner, unless the partner had a lot of (sex) experience in the past. But then again, who would want to date a person who had sex with 20 other people or so? Not many are that open-minded.
Unrealistic expectations can pose a strain on relationships when one party cannot fulfill the desires of the other party. For example, the men may want their girlfriends or wives to do certain poses, or wear certain clothes, but their partners are not willing to do so because they don't feel comfortable. What happens next is unhappiness between the couple. If a man can be influenced by porn to have such strong fantasies that he request his partner to mimic what is shown in the porn, then when his partner refuses to cooperate, he is likely to turn to prostitution or affairs outside the relationship. And this will eventually lead to break-up.
3. Watching pornography is not being faithful to your partner
Men will say that it is in their nature to be horny and want to watch porn. They will also tell their girlfriends that they love them very much. Now put the two together and this is what men say to their girlfriends: "I love you a lot but I must look at other naked women." How contradictory is this?
Watching porn will definitely lead to masturbation or sex. No man will watch porn for nothing. When men are masturbating while watching porn, surely there are moments when they are imagining that they are the guy in the porn having sex with that hot woman. The thought of having sex with another woman is already cheating on their girlfriends, and that is actually mentally cheating. Men definitely don't like to hear this from their girlfriends: "Wow, that guy (on the street) is so hot! I am already imagining having good sex with him!" If men don't like their girlfriends to have such thoughts, then they should not watch porn and develop fantasies about other women too! Fair, right?
4. Supporting the pornography industry can lead to child exploitation
Directly or indirectly. I know some people find it disgusting and wrong, but there are others who derive pleasure from these materials. But it doesn't matter whether you watch child pornography or not. As long as there are customers for this industry, the film makers will continue to produce such videos to meet the needs of a niche group of customers. So by watching pornography, even if you are against child pornography, you are indirectly fueling the demand for it.
Another type of exploitation is at adult level. One of the outputs for human trafficking is the porn industry. Women who are kidnapped from their countries are forced to be filmed having sex with different men. And they cannot get out of the porn industry. When men watch porn, are they really sure that the women on the screen are willing parties, that they are not threatened by their "owners" that if they don't put up a good show, they could be killed? Some of the women have been trapped in the porn industry for years, and they are immuned to the kind of life they are leading. Hence, they appear very natural in front of the camera and do not look like they are being exploited. But when men watch porn, did they bother to think about why the women are in the videos? No. They just assumed that all the women they see voluntarily wanted to be filmed.
The demand for pornography is definitely very high. As long as there is a demand, human trafficking for porn industry will not stop.
5. Pornography addiction can lead to committing crimes
For example, molest and rape. Remember the molest case that I blogged about in 2009 or 2010? The guy who tried to molest me (by touching my knee) was caught having more than 300 porn videos in his laptop. From the number you can tell that he is a super horny guy, and he is addicted to watching porn. But somehow watching videos is not enough; he needs to feel. So he tried to molest me and another girl.
A more serious crime that can be committed is rape. I do not watch porn, but I guess there should be some porn on raping? Like the man ripping off the clothes of the girl while the girl is struggling? Maybe it's real raping, or maybe it's the director's idea to portray rape and the actors are very good. But anyway, there are some mentally unsound men who are very turned on by this kind of videos and they eventually rape girls on the street.
Pornography addiction is dangerous and pollutes the mind. Whether you are a man or woman, once you are addicted to pornography, you will keep thinking about sex every day, every hour. Your attention span is shorter, and your work gets affected. You cannot lead a normal social life because the only thing you want to do is to stay at home and watch porn. And very likely you cannot maintain a proper relationship with the opposite gender for long because you will only want to get sex out of the relationship. All I can say about this kind of life is that it is very screwed up.
There are many other reasons as to why pornography is bad, at least to me. But the above five reasons are more compelling and hence I stated my views. I do wish that more people will understand why pornography is bad and fewer people will view pornographic materials.
My group is supposed to design a lesson package to educate students about pornography. And through discussions, I have the inspiration to blog about this topic.
Many of you think that pornography is just "video showing the process of sexual intercourse with at least 1 person in the video". This means that people having sex with animals is also porn, and there can be sex between more than 2 people.
What I learnt today is that pornography is "any magazine, book, website or movie designed ONLY to arouse sexual feelings and desires". So if there are some sex scenes in a particular show, but the purpose of the sex scenes is to bring out the storyline better, then it is not pornography. And those nude photos of celebrities being circulated around the world are also not considered pornography if the celebrities do not have the intent of arousing the world when they took those photos in the first place. Hence, one must look at the intent of the material when deciding whether it is pornographic or not.
The objective of my post today is to explain why pornography is bad. And the stand I take comes not from a teacher, but from an ordinary girl in a relationship.
1. There is no respect for the human body, especially for the females
In pornography, the human body appears as tools to achieve sexual satisfaction. Whether you are male or female, you are born with the different sex organs for reproduction purposes. Yet in porn, the people involved can do weird things like having sex with animals, or anal sex. They are playing around with their sexual organs. And they do this to "feel good" and to make their audience (whoever is watching the porn) aroused. To me, this is cheapening their bodies.
Pornography is more detrimental for the females because pornography may portray women as tools to manipulate for sex. Women become sex objects and not seen as a human (as in violent porn showing women being beaten up while the men is having sexual intercourse with her). There is a total loss of respect for women in such videos. Men who frequently watch such videos will see women as inferior beings whose only purpose in life is to provide sexual services to the superior men. Women who participated in the making of such videos are spreading the message that women are slaves of the men and need not be respected at all.
Actually many men do know that porn is not good, but because they need it to feed their sexual desires, they say things like "porn does not hurt anyone", "it's better than me visiting the prostitutes", etc. However, if you ask them whether they will allow their younger sisters to be porn stars, they will immediately say "no" because "it is degrading". Contradictory, huh?
2. Pornography paints an unrealistic picture of (great) sex
The reason why people like to see porn is because the women depicted has unusually large breasts (like G cup or what) and the men shown has unusually long penises (maybe 12 inches or what). And during the process of sexual intercourse, the actors have to show on their faces how pleasurable they feel, especially when they reach the climax, they can look like they are dying. I am not sure if I am exaggerating, but this is what I hear from my male friends who watched porn.
Anyway, my point is that the people inside porn videos tend to exaggerate that sex is extremely "shiok". Then the audience may be influenced and want to look for partners who can bring them that level of pleasure in bed. However, in real life, it is very hard to find such a partner, unless the partner had a lot of (sex) experience in the past. But then again, who would want to date a person who had sex with 20 other people or so? Not many are that open-minded.
Unrealistic expectations can pose a strain on relationships when one party cannot fulfill the desires of the other party. For example, the men may want their girlfriends or wives to do certain poses, or wear certain clothes, but their partners are not willing to do so because they don't feel comfortable. What happens next is unhappiness between the couple. If a man can be influenced by porn to have such strong fantasies that he request his partner to mimic what is shown in the porn, then when his partner refuses to cooperate, he is likely to turn to prostitution or affairs outside the relationship. And this will eventually lead to break-up.
3. Watching pornography is not being faithful to your partner
Men will say that it is in their nature to be horny and want to watch porn. They will also tell their girlfriends that they love them very much. Now put the two together and this is what men say to their girlfriends: "I love you a lot but I must look at other naked women." How contradictory is this?
Watching porn will definitely lead to masturbation or sex. No man will watch porn for nothing. When men are masturbating while watching porn, surely there are moments when they are imagining that they are the guy in the porn having sex with that hot woman. The thought of having sex with another woman is already cheating on their girlfriends, and that is actually mentally cheating. Men definitely don't like to hear this from their girlfriends: "Wow, that guy (on the street) is so hot! I am already imagining having good sex with him!" If men don't like their girlfriends to have such thoughts, then they should not watch porn and develop fantasies about other women too! Fair, right?
4. Supporting the pornography industry can lead to child exploitation
Directly or indirectly. I know some people find it disgusting and wrong, but there are others who derive pleasure from these materials. But it doesn't matter whether you watch child pornography or not. As long as there are customers for this industry, the film makers will continue to produce such videos to meet the needs of a niche group of customers. So by watching pornography, even if you are against child pornography, you are indirectly fueling the demand for it.
Another type of exploitation is at adult level. One of the outputs for human trafficking is the porn industry. Women who are kidnapped from their countries are forced to be filmed having sex with different men. And they cannot get out of the porn industry. When men watch porn, are they really sure that the women on the screen are willing parties, that they are not threatened by their "owners" that if they don't put up a good show, they could be killed? Some of the women have been trapped in the porn industry for years, and they are immuned to the kind of life they are leading. Hence, they appear very natural in front of the camera and do not look like they are being exploited. But when men watch porn, did they bother to think about why the women are in the videos? No. They just assumed that all the women they see voluntarily wanted to be filmed.
The demand for pornography is definitely very high. As long as there is a demand, human trafficking for porn industry will not stop.
5. Pornography addiction can lead to committing crimes
For example, molest and rape. Remember the molest case that I blogged about in 2009 or 2010? The guy who tried to molest me (by touching my knee) was caught having more than 300 porn videos in his laptop. From the number you can tell that he is a super horny guy, and he is addicted to watching porn. But somehow watching videos is not enough; he needs to feel. So he tried to molest me and another girl.
A more serious crime that can be committed is rape. I do not watch porn, but I guess there should be some porn on raping? Like the man ripping off the clothes of the girl while the girl is struggling? Maybe it's real raping, or maybe it's the director's idea to portray rape and the actors are very good. But anyway, there are some mentally unsound men who are very turned on by this kind of videos and they eventually rape girls on the street.
Pornography addiction is dangerous and pollutes the mind. Whether you are a man or woman, once you are addicted to pornography, you will keep thinking about sex every day, every hour. Your attention span is shorter, and your work gets affected. You cannot lead a normal social life because the only thing you want to do is to stay at home and watch porn. And very likely you cannot maintain a proper relationship with the opposite gender for long because you will only want to get sex out of the relationship. All I can say about this kind of life is that it is very screwed up.
There are many other reasons as to why pornography is bad, at least to me. But the above five reasons are more compelling and hence I stated my views. I do wish that more people will understand why pornography is bad and fewer people will view pornographic materials.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Transforming a water bottle into a pencil case
Hello! Today I am teaching you how to recycle your used water bottle by turning it into a pencil case! But of course, this brilliant doesn't come from me. I learnt it from my biology teacher when I visited him some time ago.
The materials you should have:
Water bottle (preferably H-Two-O brand as the plastic is easier to cut), zip (which you can get from tailor shop), and some paper fasteners.
First, remove the plastic covering of the water bottle. Draw a straight line across the bottle. To ensure that the line is really straight, plot the points of the line first, then join the dots together. A measuring tape can be used to draw the line as it is flexible and can go around the body of the bottle nicely.
Next, use a penknife to cut along the line. Leave around 1.5cm uncut so that it can act as a hinge. After which, plot some points on both sides of the line. I am a perfectionist, so I plotted each point to be 0.8cm away from the line, and the points are aligned side by side.
Then I used a thumbtack to punch a small hole through the bottle. The hole is not big enough for the paper fasteners to go through, so I used a bigger screw to punch through the same holes. This is to enlarge the holes. The reason why I didn't use the larger screw directly is because it is more difficult to punch it through without it moving about and leaving scratches on the bottle. The pin of the thumbtack has a smaller surface area, thus higher pressure on the plastic, making it easier to go through the bottle. The larger screw just had to be placed at the hole and pushed in. Easier said than done actually. I spent at least 30min punching 16 holes.
The next step is to plot the same points on the zip. I know that each point is spaced 1 inch apart horizontally, and 1.6cm vertically. So I plotted the points on the zip using a marker, then I used a pair of scissors to make a very small incision at the points.
The last step is to put the paper fasteners through the zip and the bottle:
Make sure to test the zip to see if it is secure:
And you can start putting your stationery inside the bottle!
The bottle definitely looks very plain, so what I will do is to buy waterproof paint to decorate the bottle. This way, the bottle will be personalized! :)
Depending on the type of bottle you use, the measurements for the points will be different. And the zip might be too long or too short. so you have to make adjustments from there. What I like about this idea is that it is innovative, and there is room for creativity and personalization. You can try it too! :)
The materials you should have:
Water bottle (preferably H-Two-O brand as the plastic is easier to cut), zip (which you can get from tailor shop), and some paper fasteners.
First, remove the plastic covering of the water bottle. Draw a straight line across the bottle. To ensure that the line is really straight, plot the points of the line first, then join the dots together. A measuring tape can be used to draw the line as it is flexible and can go around the body of the bottle nicely.
Next, use a penknife to cut along the line. Leave around 1.5cm uncut so that it can act as a hinge. After which, plot some points on both sides of the line. I am a perfectionist, so I plotted each point to be 0.8cm away from the line, and the points are aligned side by side.
Then I used a thumbtack to punch a small hole through the bottle. The hole is not big enough for the paper fasteners to go through, so I used a bigger screw to punch through the same holes. This is to enlarge the holes. The reason why I didn't use the larger screw directly is because it is more difficult to punch it through without it moving about and leaving scratches on the bottle. The pin of the thumbtack has a smaller surface area, thus higher pressure on the plastic, making it easier to go through the bottle. The larger screw just had to be placed at the hole and pushed in. Easier said than done actually. I spent at least 30min punching 16 holes.
The next step is to plot the same points on the zip. I know that each point is spaced 1 inch apart horizontally, and 1.6cm vertically. So I plotted the points on the zip using a marker, then I used a pair of scissors to make a very small incision at the points.
The last step is to put the paper fasteners through the zip and the bottle:
Make sure to test the zip to see if it is secure:
And you can start putting your stationery inside the bottle!
The bottle definitely looks very plain, so what I will do is to buy waterproof paint to decorate the bottle. This way, the bottle will be personalized! :)
Depending on the type of bottle you use, the measurements for the points will be different. And the zip might be too long or too short. so you have to make adjustments from there. What I like about this idea is that it is innovative, and there is room for creativity and personalization. You can try it too! :)
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Dangerous road-side argument
I didn't want to blog about this last week, because talking about nationality can be a sensitive issue. But today when I read this news from Yahoo (below), I can't help but feel that there might be a growing problem.. Click on the picture to enlarge it and read the news or click on this hyperlink: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/cleaner-dies-at-budget-terminal-after-being-hit-by-taxi.html.
To summarise, what happened was that this super unlucky taxi driver picked up a Chinese national who may be a bit crazy because his mood changed halfway through the journey. The Chinese national took over the cab and drove to Budget terminal where he knocked down and killed an innocent cleaner. He tried to flee but was stopped by the public.
People who read this news will definitely have your strong opinions about the matter, so I won't be talking about it any further. But this piece of news reminded me of what I witnessed some time last week, and I think I should share with you all.
I was returning home and walking from Fernvale LRT station towards my block (picture below taken from google maps).
And this is the road which I was crossing (picture below taken from google maps).
There was a lorry parked along the road side. When I was looking out for cars before crossing the road, I saw a Chinese national arguing with the lorry driver. I couldn't understand what they were talking about, partly because I was a bit far from them, and partly because I couldn't understand the strong accent. I am not sure if the driver is also a Chinese national, because he is inside the lorry. From my distance and the windscreen in front of him, I couldn't tell. But the man outside quarreling with him is definitely a Chinese national.
The Chinese national was very violent. He tried to pull the driver out of the lorry. He looked like he really wanted to beat up the driver. The driver closed the door, but he opened it. The driver pushed him away. The push was quite hard as the Chinese national took a few steps back.
As you can see from the picture, the road only has 2 lanes. The lorry occupied one lane. So when the Chinese national took a few steps back, he was almost knocked down by a passing car. But even after this near-death incident, he refused to give up. He tried to open the lorry's door again, but it was locked by the driver. Very pissed, he picked up a metal piece on the road which just happened to be beside the lorry and threw it on the window. Fortunately the window did not break, and the driver drove off. The Chinese national was left behind cursing at the driver.
All these happened in about 15 seconds. The situation was very tense until the driver drove off and I continued to cross the road.
I won't be commenting on this incident. Of course after witnessing this incident, I don't feel good about it. But I will be keeping comments to myself. Just wanted to share what I saw with all of you.
To summarise, what happened was that this super unlucky taxi driver picked up a Chinese national who may be a bit crazy because his mood changed halfway through the journey. The Chinese national took over the cab and drove to Budget terminal where he knocked down and killed an innocent cleaner. He tried to flee but was stopped by the public.
People who read this news will definitely have your strong opinions about the matter, so I won't be talking about it any further. But this piece of news reminded me of what I witnessed some time last week, and I think I should share with you all.
I was returning home and walking from Fernvale LRT station towards my block (picture below taken from google maps).
And this is the road which I was crossing (picture below taken from google maps).
There was a lorry parked along the road side. When I was looking out for cars before crossing the road, I saw a Chinese national arguing with the lorry driver. I couldn't understand what they were talking about, partly because I was a bit far from them, and partly because I couldn't understand the strong accent. I am not sure if the driver is also a Chinese national, because he is inside the lorry. From my distance and the windscreen in front of him, I couldn't tell. But the man outside quarreling with him is definitely a Chinese national.
The Chinese national was very violent. He tried to pull the driver out of the lorry. He looked like he really wanted to beat up the driver. The driver closed the door, but he opened it. The driver pushed him away. The push was quite hard as the Chinese national took a few steps back.
As you can see from the picture, the road only has 2 lanes. The lorry occupied one lane. So when the Chinese national took a few steps back, he was almost knocked down by a passing car. But even after this near-death incident, he refused to give up. He tried to open the lorry's door again, but it was locked by the driver. Very pissed, he picked up a metal piece on the road which just happened to be beside the lorry and threw it on the window. Fortunately the window did not break, and the driver drove off. The Chinese national was left behind cursing at the driver.
All these happened in about 15 seconds. The situation was very tense until the driver drove off and I continued to cross the road.
I won't be commenting on this incident. Of course after witnessing this incident, I don't feel good about it. But I will be keeping comments to myself. Just wanted to share what I saw with all of you.
Friday, March 16, 2012
MRT failure (again)
I was on my way to harbour front yesterday afternoon. I didn't know that NEL services are disrupted. It was only when I reached Sengkang MRT station then I saw the message that train services will be terminated at Dhoby Ghaut station as an incident happened at Harbour Front. In addition, free shuttle bus will be provided between Dhoby Ghaut and Harbour Front station.
My first thought, "Again?" I didn't know what it mean by "incident happened at Harbour Front". Maybe someone committed suicide by jumping into the track? Cannot be, as the station is fitted with barriers and doors. Anyway, train disruptions are very common nowadays. I shouldn't be surprised. What I was worried about was the shuttle bus service. I had an appointment at 4pm, so the frequency of the bus better be high.
The train traveled quite slowly on some parts of the track, and it stopped for a few minutes at one of the stations. When the train reached Dhoby Ghaut around 3.50pm, I was rushing to get to the shuttle bus.
Fortunately, there were signs everywhere to direct me to Exit E, and the MRT staff were around to provide help if necessary. When I walked out of Exit E, there were fences erected to direct passengers to the shuttle bus pick-up point. The pick-up point is not at the bus stop, so that the public would not board the free shuttle bus meant for stranded MRT passengers like me. And there were 3 shuttle buses waiting there, so I didn't even have to worry about the frequency. The whole process of me exiting from the train to board the bus was very smooth.
But the traffic was not smooth. This was sort of expected in town. There were many cars on the road, so even if the shuttle bus does not stop all all the bus stops, the speed was still very slow. What I liked was that at each of the bus stop which the bus had to stop, there were goodwill ambassadors to help direct the crowd. I don't know where they came from. They were wearing home clothes and the tag "Goodwill Ambassador". They must had been mobilised at the last minute to help in this crisis. They actually went up to the bus and announce to the passengers which MRT station it is, and what the next station will be. So they went something like, "This is Outram Park station. Next station is Harbour Front. Passengers going to Outram Park station please alight here."
I am actually very pleased with how SBS Transit handled this train disruption. No doubt I was late for my appointment (reached at 4.30pm), but that's mainly because of the bad road traffic. But of course they could have shortened the time taken to resume train services.
Then today when I was reading Yahoo news, I read that the company would not rule out sabotage as one of the reasons for train disruption. I don't know what led to them thinking this way, but I love one of the comments left by a reader:
In case the words are too small, I type out for you: "Sabotage good good good can someone do that to the ERP". Hahaha!
Experiencing train disruption for once is sufficient for me. Really hope that our public transport system can be improved.
My first thought, "Again?" I didn't know what it mean by "incident happened at Harbour Front". Maybe someone committed suicide by jumping into the track? Cannot be, as the station is fitted with barriers and doors. Anyway, train disruptions are very common nowadays. I shouldn't be surprised. What I was worried about was the shuttle bus service. I had an appointment at 4pm, so the frequency of the bus better be high.
The train traveled quite slowly on some parts of the track, and it stopped for a few minutes at one of the stations. When the train reached Dhoby Ghaut around 3.50pm, I was rushing to get to the shuttle bus.
Fortunately, there were signs everywhere to direct me to Exit E, and the MRT staff were around to provide help if necessary. When I walked out of Exit E, there were fences erected to direct passengers to the shuttle bus pick-up point. The pick-up point is not at the bus stop, so that the public would not board the free shuttle bus meant for stranded MRT passengers like me. And there were 3 shuttle buses waiting there, so I didn't even have to worry about the frequency. The whole process of me exiting from the train to board the bus was very smooth.
But the traffic was not smooth. This was sort of expected in town. There were many cars on the road, so even if the shuttle bus does not stop all all the bus stops, the speed was still very slow. What I liked was that at each of the bus stop which the bus had to stop, there were goodwill ambassadors to help direct the crowd. I don't know where they came from. They were wearing home clothes and the tag "Goodwill Ambassador". They must had been mobilised at the last minute to help in this crisis. They actually went up to the bus and announce to the passengers which MRT station it is, and what the next station will be. So they went something like, "This is Outram Park station. Next station is Harbour Front. Passengers going to Outram Park station please alight here."
I am actually very pleased with how SBS Transit handled this train disruption. No doubt I was late for my appointment (reached at 4.30pm), but that's mainly because of the bad road traffic. But of course they could have shortened the time taken to resume train services.
Then today when I was reading Yahoo news, I read that the company would not rule out sabotage as one of the reasons for train disruption. I don't know what led to them thinking this way, but I love one of the comments left by a reader:
In case the words are too small, I type out for you: "Sabotage good good good can someone do that to the ERP". Hahaha!
Experiencing train disruption for once is sufficient for me. Really hope that our public transport system can be improved.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Thinking Day Celebration 2012
If you had been to Orchard Scape Park yesterday morning or early afternoon, you might have seen a lot of Girl Guides there. We were having Thinking Day celebration. For your information, Thinking Day is a day to celebrate the Girl Guides and Scouts movement, and it's on 22 February because the founders (Lord Robert Baden Powell and his wife) share the same birthday on this day (isn't that a coincidence). Some people have this misconception that Thinking Day is to think critically and solve problems on that day. Actually, the day is for us to think of other sister Guides and brother Scouts, and giving them our appreciation.
My school volunteered for White Elephant Sale. For this whole week, my Guides have been making announcements in school and asking their classmates to donate second hand items for the sale. The response was very bad initially. On Tuesday and Wednesday, no items were collected at all. I was panicking because the sale is on Saturday. So during my Guides session on Wednesday, I told all my Guides to collect at least 4 items from their class. With 16 classes, we would have at least 64 items for sale. The items started coming in on Thursday, and on Friday afternoon, all of us stayed back to set the sale price of each item.
There were so many things to sell that on Saturday, we had to take 2 cabs down to Scape Park. Upon reaching there, I found a spot with better human traffic to set up our booth.
Other schools also took part in White Elephant Sale. I would say that our booth generally has more variety because we sell everything from soft toys, shoes, bags, clothes, to books and stationery. Many other stalls tend to specialise in one or two types of goods.
Schools not involved in White Elephant Sale or other activities were seated outside. While waiting for Girl Guides Patron (Mrs Mary Tan) to arrive, they sang campfire songs:
But the weather was weird. It started raining while the sun was still shining. It dampened the celebration mood.
Brownies also came for the celebration and they are all so cute! Many of them are very chubby and I must say that they love buying things!
At the place where the White Elephant sale was set up, some teenagers came and wanted to do their weekly skateboarding. I think they didn't expect the whole indoor space to be occupied by us, because I could see their disappointment. They just lingered around initially, but later on they started creating trouble.
They reached around 11am, but our event would only end at 2.30pm. So they started to skateboard at a corner, which happened to be just beside my booth. It's quite noisy, but I am more worried about the safety of my Guides. Not only that, some of them started smoking. An adult Guider from the HQ went up to them and told them nicely not to skateboard because it's not safe. She was very polite and they listened to her, but only for a while.
They were getting impatient because the rain was very heavy. They were stuck in this place with nothing to do. So they started to skateboard again, only to get another reminder from the adult Guider. But they were persistent and in the end the Guider was pretty angry with them. So they decided to shift to another corner of the scape park, disturbing another group of Guides. There were even 2 cyclists who tried to cycle their way through the crowd and do stunts. But they had to brake because they almost knocked people down.
I understand that they really wanted to skateboard and cycle, but I must say that they were very inconsiderate and selfish. The whole place has been booked by us till 2.30pm. They could have gone to somewhere else to wait rather than endangering the lives of the girls there. From the way they behaved, I know that most likely they are school dropouts, or are delinquents in school. Even with 2 gentle and polite reminders, they refused to wait patiently. Then they started taking off their shirts in front of the Girl Guides. I was really pissed off with them!
Anyway, they didn't really disrupt the white elephant sale because the customer flow was very still good. My booth sold 91 items and earned around $260! I know it's not a lot of money, but I am very proud of my girls who put in a lot of effort for this event.
After the celebration, I met up with Mervin. We went to Bishan to do some shopping. Osim set up a booth to promote their massagers. I think many of you know that they came up with a new foot massager and got Xiao S to be the spokesperson. I was quite interested in getting one because every day after teaching, my legs would be very tired. But I wasn't sure how good it is, so Mervin and I decided to go for a trial.
I must say that the massager is really very good. It massages not only your feet but also your calves. It's a bit painful for me because it's my first time doing a massage. But after around 10 min of massage, my feet are not that tired anymore. I think it would be a good investment, especially if the whole family gets to use it.
But I needed more time to consider because it's not that cheap. They were having promotion yesterday, so they were selling it for $698 (if I remember correctly). The initial price was $798. Having a massager is good, but there is no rush in getting one.
But what made me decide not to buy on the spot was the salesgirl who was very pushy. Initially she was very polite, explaining the functions of the machine. She even gave me a towel to cover the lower part of my body because I was wearing a dress. After the 10min trial was over, I told her that I need time to consider if I am buying.
Immediately after hearing this, she snatched the blanket away and said, "By saying this, I already know you don't want to buy." I was very shocked by the change in her attitude. Then I told her the reasons why I need time to consider. But no matter what I said, she was still very unhappy. She even said things like, "It's because you told me you are a teacher, so I respected you." And she also said, "I am working late shift and you are my first customer, so I bothered to spend so much time explaining to you. You think other salespersons here would spend as much effort as me? They would only start the machine and walk away."
I don't know why I still bothered to stay there and tried to explain matters to her. In the end I only got more negative reactions from her. Mervin and I were stuck there for at least 15min I think. As a customer, I have the right to tell her that her attitude is very bad. But I just remained there and listened to her lecturing. Now thinking back, I should have been more frank with her.
Anyway, I didn't let her spoil my mood for the rest of the day. Mervin and I tried a pizza outlet at Jalan Kayu. The restaurant is very special because it sells 26 pizzas and the first letter of the names of the pizzas are from the 26 alphabets. So I ordered a Sofia (seafood pizza).
The pizzas all have extremely thin crust, thinner than Pizza Hut's thin crust pizza. So each of us had to order a 10 inch pizza and we shared a plate of soup. The food was great and very different from the usual pizzas we eat. They used little tomato paste and the toppings were plenty. So I think $17 per 10 inch pizza is quite worth it. If you want to eat there, you better reserve some seats if not you have to eat outside with no air-conditioning.
Then at night, I watched a movie at Mervin's house. And the Saturday flew past just like that. It seems like every weekend I didn't rest enough, and the new week starts so quickly. I am just glad that every morning I can go to school with Mervin. :)
My school volunteered for White Elephant Sale. For this whole week, my Guides have been making announcements in school and asking their classmates to donate second hand items for the sale. The response was very bad initially. On Tuesday and Wednesday, no items were collected at all. I was panicking because the sale is on Saturday. So during my Guides session on Wednesday, I told all my Guides to collect at least 4 items from their class. With 16 classes, we would have at least 64 items for sale. The items started coming in on Thursday, and on Friday afternoon, all of us stayed back to set the sale price of each item.
There were so many things to sell that on Saturday, we had to take 2 cabs down to Scape Park. Upon reaching there, I found a spot with better human traffic to set up our booth.
Other schools also took part in White Elephant Sale. I would say that our booth generally has more variety because we sell everything from soft toys, shoes, bags, clothes, to books and stationery. Many other stalls tend to specialise in one or two types of goods.
Schools not involved in White Elephant Sale or other activities were seated outside. While waiting for Girl Guides Patron (Mrs Mary Tan) to arrive, they sang campfire songs:
But the weather was weird. It started raining while the sun was still shining. It dampened the celebration mood.
That's our booth:
Brownies also came for the celebration and they are all so cute! Many of them are very chubby and I must say that they love buying things!
After the celebration, there were a lot of litter on the floor. Sigh... :
At the place where the White Elephant sale was set up, some teenagers came and wanted to do their weekly skateboarding. I think they didn't expect the whole indoor space to be occupied by us, because I could see their disappointment. They just lingered around initially, but later on they started creating trouble.
They reached around 11am, but our event would only end at 2.30pm. So they started to skateboard at a corner, which happened to be just beside my booth. It's quite noisy, but I am more worried about the safety of my Guides. Not only that, some of them started smoking. An adult Guider from the HQ went up to them and told them nicely not to skateboard because it's not safe. She was very polite and they listened to her, but only for a while.
They were getting impatient because the rain was very heavy. They were stuck in this place with nothing to do. So they started to skateboard again, only to get another reminder from the adult Guider. But they were persistent and in the end the Guider was pretty angry with them. So they decided to shift to another corner of the scape park, disturbing another group of Guides. There were even 2 cyclists who tried to cycle their way through the crowd and do stunts. But they had to brake because they almost knocked people down.
I understand that they really wanted to skateboard and cycle, but I must say that they were very inconsiderate and selfish. The whole place has been booked by us till 2.30pm. They could have gone to somewhere else to wait rather than endangering the lives of the girls there. From the way they behaved, I know that most likely they are school dropouts, or are delinquents in school. Even with 2 gentle and polite reminders, they refused to wait patiently. Then they started taking off their shirts in front of the Girl Guides. I was really pissed off with them!
Anyway, they didn't really disrupt the white elephant sale because the customer flow was very still good. My booth sold 91 items and earned around $260! I know it's not a lot of money, but I am very proud of my girls who put in a lot of effort for this event.
After the celebration, I met up with Mervin. We went to Bishan to do some shopping. Osim set up a booth to promote their massagers. I think many of you know that they came up with a new foot massager and got Xiao S to be the spokesperson. I was quite interested in getting one because every day after teaching, my legs would be very tired. But I wasn't sure how good it is, so Mervin and I decided to go for a trial.
I must say that the massager is really very good. It massages not only your feet but also your calves. It's a bit painful for me because it's my first time doing a massage. But after around 10 min of massage, my feet are not that tired anymore. I think it would be a good investment, especially if the whole family gets to use it.
But I needed more time to consider because it's not that cheap. They were having promotion yesterday, so they were selling it for $698 (if I remember correctly). The initial price was $798. Having a massager is good, but there is no rush in getting one.
But what made me decide not to buy on the spot was the salesgirl who was very pushy. Initially she was very polite, explaining the functions of the machine. She even gave me a towel to cover the lower part of my body because I was wearing a dress. After the 10min trial was over, I told her that I need time to consider if I am buying.
Immediately after hearing this, she snatched the blanket away and said, "By saying this, I already know you don't want to buy." I was very shocked by the change in her attitude. Then I told her the reasons why I need time to consider. But no matter what I said, she was still very unhappy. She even said things like, "It's because you told me you are a teacher, so I respected you." And she also said, "I am working late shift and you are my first customer, so I bothered to spend so much time explaining to you. You think other salespersons here would spend as much effort as me? They would only start the machine and walk away."
I don't know why I still bothered to stay there and tried to explain matters to her. In the end I only got more negative reactions from her. Mervin and I were stuck there for at least 15min I think. As a customer, I have the right to tell her that her attitude is very bad. But I just remained there and listened to her lecturing. Now thinking back, I should have been more frank with her.
Anyway, I didn't let her spoil my mood for the rest of the day. Mervin and I tried a pizza outlet at Jalan Kayu. The restaurant is very special because it sells 26 pizzas and the first letter of the names of the pizzas are from the 26 alphabets. So I ordered a Sofia (seafood pizza).
The pizzas all have extremely thin crust, thinner than Pizza Hut's thin crust pizza. So each of us had to order a 10 inch pizza and we shared a plate of soup. The food was great and very different from the usual pizzas we eat. They used little tomato paste and the toppings were plenty. So I think $17 per 10 inch pizza is quite worth it. If you want to eat there, you better reserve some seats if not you have to eat outside with no air-conditioning.
Then at night, I watched a movie at Mervin's house. And the Saturday flew past just like that. It seems like every weekend I didn't rest enough, and the new week starts so quickly. I am just glad that every morning I can go to school with Mervin. :)
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Chingay 2012
Mervin managed to get 2 free tickets from his school for Chingay 2012! All thanks to Edwina (who was my mentor when I was in that school) who secured that 2 free tickets for us. :)
This year's Chingay is called Waterway Parade of Love and Care as the parade road will be filled with ankle-deep water.
Here's Mervin and me on our way to Chingay:
And our seats were at the green sector, right at the back:
This was before the start of the parade (packed with people):
The parade began with a dragon and phoenix dance. This is the dragon:
The dragon and phoenix meet:
And this is the phoenix:
The opening was pretty awesome because dry ice was thrown into the water, creating a lot of smoke. When the coloured lights shone on the smoke, the visual effects were very beautiful.
The parade continued with beautifully decorated floats:
I thought it's interesting that humans were placed inside huge "hamster balls":
The Chingay parade ended with the usual fireworks. Somehow I feel that this year's Chingay paled in comparison to last year's Chingay. Last year was the first time I attended Chingay (also with Mervin) and I remembered I was cheering and screaming a lot. But this year I was just sitting behind watching the parade passively.
Maybe because we were sitting at the back, whereas last year we were sitting quite close to the performers so we could soak in the atmosphere. And I think a major reason is because of the waterway. No doubt the water helped in visual effects. But the presence of water also restricted the movements of the dancers. Hence they weren't dancing a lot.
I also remembered that last year there were more participants from other countries. But not so many this year.
Nonetheless, it's still a good effort put up by all the performers! Cheers to them! :)
This year's Chingay is called Waterway Parade of Love and Care as the parade road will be filled with ankle-deep water.
Here's Mervin and me on our way to Chingay:
And our seats were at the green sector, right at the back:
This was before the start of the parade (packed with people):
The parade began with a dragon and phoenix dance. This is the dragon:
The dragon and phoenix meet:
And this is the phoenix:
The opening was pretty awesome because dry ice was thrown into the water, creating a lot of smoke. When the coloured lights shone on the smoke, the visual effects were very beautiful.
The parade continued with beautifully decorated floats:
I thought it's interesting that humans were placed inside huge "hamster balls":
The Chingay parade ended with the usual fireworks. Somehow I feel that this year's Chingay paled in comparison to last year's Chingay. Last year was the first time I attended Chingay (also with Mervin) and I remembered I was cheering and screaming a lot. But this year I was just sitting behind watching the parade passively.
Maybe because we were sitting at the back, whereas last year we were sitting quite close to the performers so we could soak in the atmosphere. And I think a major reason is because of the waterway. No doubt the water helped in visual effects. But the presence of water also restricted the movements of the dancers. Hence they weren't dancing a lot.
I also remembered that last year there were more participants from other countries. But not so many this year.
Nonetheless, it's still a good effort put up by all the performers! Cheers to them! :)
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Chinese New Year!
This year's CNY is a bit different for me. In the past, the first day of CNY is always slacking at home eating the new year snacks. Then day 2 will be spent at my grandma's house where all my relatives will gather.
However this year, the first day of CNY will be going down to the orchid farm at Seletar Farmway to see Mervin's relatives. I had seen most of his relatives before, especially his cousins. So mingling with them is not a problem.
We didn't stay at the orchid farm for long. Mervin's family and I left in the early afternoon to go to a temple to pay respect to Mervin's deceased grandfather. At the temple, we made donations and drew lots to tell our fortune for this year. I got a good lot which read, "It will be a good year for you and your family. Business and trade can be transacted and profit gained. Marriage will be successful. Illness will be cured." Hope this lot is accurate. :)
After the temple visit, we dropped by Mervin's relative's house before heading back home. I had not traveled so much during CNY before. I was used to sitting at my grandma's house for one whole day. So the traveling actually made me quite tired and truly experience what it is like to go visiting on CNY. So I pity people who have to go visiting for 2 full days.
By the way, this is the photo taken with Mervin at the orchid farm:
So the second day of CNY was at my grandma's house. The atmosphere was very dead. A few years ago, I remembered my relatives would start gambling in the morning. They loved to play black jack and could play all the way to the night. But this year, at 12 noon, not all relatives had arrived. The gambling den was not set up. At 2pm, some of my uncles and aunties were taking their afternoon naps. I was really bored in the house!
Then I went into one of the bedrooms and chatted with my cousin and a few aunties. The main topic was about teaching (how difficult it is to be a teacher nowadays). Then we also talked about which handphone to buy (iphone versus samsung verus nokia).
In the late afternoon, 2 of my cousins came over and they decided to set up the gambling den. I wanted to play mahjong (but not playing with money) but there were no mahjong sets. So I decided not to join in the card game. Anyway, the card game is called in-between. I had introduced this game last year in my blog (here's the post: http://read-about-teresa.blogspot.com/2011_02_01_archive.html).
Basically, you are given 2 cards and you have to guess if the third card you receive will be in between the 2 cards you got initially. You state the amount of money you want to bet on. If it is, then you win the amount of money you stated. If not, you have to pay the same amount of money. The worst case is when the number is the same as one of the 2 cards you received. Then you have to pay double the amount of money.
A video of the game is shown below:
When the players lost money, the central pool of money would become bigger:
And BIGGER:
My mother was down on her luck that day. She lost a bit of money at first, and wanted to win her money back by betting larger sums of money, like $50. But the third card she got always coincide with her 2 cards, so she had to pay double. But she still didn't give up. Once, she bet $200 and had to pay $400 to the central pool!
That's my mother laughing over her losses:
Her total losses accumulated to $1000 at one point. My relatives started to tell her not to be so greedy and bet so much. Because we were all very worried for her. After all, gambling is just to kill time and play with relatives.
The final round came when my mother wanted to bet everything in the central pool of money. The pool contained around $420. If her third card is the same as one of her first 2 cards, she would have to pay $840! But she decided to take the gamble. We were all relieved for her when her third card was in between the 2 cards. At least she could recoup a bit of her loss. But I think she still lost around $500. :(
This year should be the last few years that I spend CNY as a single. After a few years when I am married (hopefully I am able to get married, haha), it will be my turn to give red packets. Sigh.. But I won't delay marriage just because I do not want to give red packets. I know some people really delay their marriage thinking that they can save a few year's worth of red packet money. However, I would say that they are losing more money by delaying their marriage. Why is this so? You just need to estimate how much money you need to spend on giving red packets. Maybe $500 (suppose each red packet is $8 to $10)? But by delaying your marriage, you are delaying getting a flat as well. Judging by the rate of inflation nowadays, buying a flat a few years later could cost you to pay tens of thousand of dollars more. So what is $500 compared to let's say $20,000? So it's still better to settle down early. Haha..
Sunday, January 15, 2012
First week of school
This post is actually very late because I had finished my second week of school. I would say that the busiest time of the academic year is the start of school. So many admin things to settle and activities to run. I had no moment of rest. The worst is that teachers and students have common breaks. So every time I go to the canteen and see the long queue, I don't want to buy food anymore.
For this year, I am the form teacher of a Sec 1 class. Now, the classes in my school are not called 1-1, 1-2. etc. The principal wants to get rid of the "last class syndrome" and decided to name each class after great people whose names begin with "E". So the classes are called Einstein, Euclid, Eliot, Euler, Everest, Emerson, Eisenhower, and Edison. My form class is 1 Emerson.
There were no lessons on the first week of school. All Sec 2 students are involved in facilitating the orientation programme. There were 8 stations set up around the school, and the Sec 1 classes will do round robin to experience the different stations.
Form teachers will have to complete the FT chat with the whole class by the end of the week. The FT chat is to find out information like whether the student has medical conditions, whether the parents are divorced, etc. As I do not have any co-form, I need to finish speaking to my 40 students in 4 days.
There was no time to have a proper chat. I was like a robot repeating these questions:
"What is your date of birth?" "Are you a Singaporean?" "What is your handphone number?" Blah blah blah.. "Ok, can you help me call the next student to come here?"
In the midst of my busyness, I still need to prepare for the CCA carnival on Saturday, finish my scheme of work for term 2, write the emcee script for campfire, order firewood for the campfire on Friday...
Talking about firewood. This was my biggest problem during orientation. I thought the school had leftover firewood from last year's combined UG campfire. So I didn't order any. Only 2 days before the campfire was I told that actually there were no leftover. I was given a contact who sells firewood pre-soaked in kerosene. I called him on Wednesday evening but to my disappointment, he was unable to deliver the wood to my school in time.
I was really panicking because parents are invited for the event. I was put in charge of the campfire. So I must solve the problem. On Thursday, I did a search on google and managed to find a company which sells fire wood. She can deliver it on the same day in the afternoon. The only drawback is that the wood is not pre-soaked in kerosene.
So I had to mobilise my Girl Guides at the last minute to help do the soaking after school. I knew from my experience that the wood had to be soaked everyday at least 1 month before the campfire. Just one day of soaking won't do the job. But that is the best I can do. :(
Then came Friday, which is my busiest day in the week. I had to do classroom decoration with my class in the morning, then take them for photoshoot. At 11 plus I was told that the emcees for the campfire will not be students. It will be teachers instead. So I had to be one of the emcees. And then there were changes in the sequence of the class performances. And I was told that the class videos need to be screened as well. Later on, I was informed that the song "I believe I can Fly" had to be included towards the end of the campfire. Finally, I was told that there will be a prize giving ceremony at the end. I was editing the script for 2 hours!
Worried about the firewood, I decided to soak the firewood with kerosene again. This time all by myself because my Guides were involved in the orientation programme. So I was in the Guides Room for almost 2 hours choking on kerosene vapour.
At 5.30pm I had to start setting up the campfire with the Guides and Scouts. It's their first time setting up so they were pretty slow. I was worried about the time. Then at 6pm, Mervin brought Macdonalds to school for me! :) Because the packed dinner is really not appetizing. So Mervin was sweet enough to deliver dinner for me. :)
I told him that later at 6.45pm I got to rush to Punggol MRT station to get a CD from someone from Guides HQ. The CD is for the CCA carnival tomorrow. I was under high stress level at that time because the setting up of campfire was not completed. I could not afford to leave the school for 20min to get the CD. But I must have the CD for tomorrow. Then Mervin volunteered to fetch me over at 6.40pm since he has the car. That was a huge relieve for me! So I would be away for at most 5min.
After getting the CD, my mood stabilised a lot. Stress level dropped by 50%. The campfire set up is almost done. So I changed into formal wear for the campfire. If I had known earlier that I would be the emcee, I won't wear long sleeve to school! I would be perspiring so much later.
Anyway the campfire was quite a success. It started late but we managed to end it by 9.30pm. All Sec 1 classes had to do a performance and they weren't shy about it! In fact, many of them are such good dancers. I was really amazed by their boldness (to perform in front of so many parents) and their talents.
Because I mentioned that I am the form teacher of 1 Emerson, after the campfire, a few parents came up and talked to me. And the best conversation I had was:
Parent: My daughter told me that you are her form teacher.
Me: Yes I am.
Parent: Just now I didn't know which teacher because there are so many teachers around. Then my daughter say it's the prettiest one. Then I know it's you.
Me (embarrassed): Hahaha!
Anyway, not trying to show off. Just that I really had a busy and tiring day so that compliment really put a smile on my face. :)
I left school at 10pm on Friday night. Got to reach school at 7.30am the next day to prepare for CCA Carnival. Though I was really physically tired by then, I think Saturday was the best day in the week.
This is because during the CCA Carnival, I could see all my Guides putting in 200% effort to get the Sec 1s to sign up for Girl Guides. Last year, I felt that my Guides were not very passionate about the CCA, and they don't know what Guiding is all about. To be honest, I didn't expect them to contribute much to this carnival, also because all of them went home late last night after the campfire so they might not have enough rest.
To my surprise, all of them suddenly became so enthusiastic about Guides. Many of them went around the school giving bracelets and flyers to the Sec 1s. The rest helped out in the booth. As their teacher, I was very happy to see the change in their attitude. They may not know what Guiding is, but at least I can see the unity in them. And I think from this sense of unity, better things will come. :)
At the end of the day, a total of 44 girls signed up. That's almost a third of the school population of girls! Although some of them may change their mind when they do the actual sign up online, my Guides and I were still very satisfied. :)
That concluded the first week of school - all work and no play.
For this year, I am the form teacher of a Sec 1 class. Now, the classes in my school are not called 1-1, 1-2. etc. The principal wants to get rid of the "last class syndrome" and decided to name each class after great people whose names begin with "E". So the classes are called Einstein, Euclid, Eliot, Euler, Everest, Emerson, Eisenhower, and Edison. My form class is 1 Emerson.
There were no lessons on the first week of school. All Sec 2 students are involved in facilitating the orientation programme. There were 8 stations set up around the school, and the Sec 1 classes will do round robin to experience the different stations.
Form teachers will have to complete the FT chat with the whole class by the end of the week. The FT chat is to find out information like whether the student has medical conditions, whether the parents are divorced, etc. As I do not have any co-form, I need to finish speaking to my 40 students in 4 days.
There was no time to have a proper chat. I was like a robot repeating these questions:
"What is your date of birth?" "Are you a Singaporean?" "What is your handphone number?" Blah blah blah.. "Ok, can you help me call the next student to come here?"
In the midst of my busyness, I still need to prepare for the CCA carnival on Saturday, finish my scheme of work for term 2, write the emcee script for campfire, order firewood for the campfire on Friday...
Talking about firewood. This was my biggest problem during orientation. I thought the school had leftover firewood from last year's combined UG campfire. So I didn't order any. Only 2 days before the campfire was I told that actually there were no leftover. I was given a contact who sells firewood pre-soaked in kerosene. I called him on Wednesday evening but to my disappointment, he was unable to deliver the wood to my school in time.
I was really panicking because parents are invited for the event. I was put in charge of the campfire. So I must solve the problem. On Thursday, I did a search on google and managed to find a company which sells fire wood. She can deliver it on the same day in the afternoon. The only drawback is that the wood is not pre-soaked in kerosene.
So I had to mobilise my Girl Guides at the last minute to help do the soaking after school. I knew from my experience that the wood had to be soaked everyday at least 1 month before the campfire. Just one day of soaking won't do the job. But that is the best I can do. :(
Then came Friday, which is my busiest day in the week. I had to do classroom decoration with my class in the morning, then take them for photoshoot. At 11 plus I was told that the emcees for the campfire will not be students. It will be teachers instead. So I had to be one of the emcees. And then there were changes in the sequence of the class performances. And I was told that the class videos need to be screened as well. Later on, I was informed that the song "I believe I can Fly" had to be included towards the end of the campfire. Finally, I was told that there will be a prize giving ceremony at the end. I was editing the script for 2 hours!
Worried about the firewood, I decided to soak the firewood with kerosene again. This time all by myself because my Guides were involved in the orientation programme. So I was in the Guides Room for almost 2 hours choking on kerosene vapour.
At 5.30pm I had to start setting up the campfire with the Guides and Scouts. It's their first time setting up so they were pretty slow. I was worried about the time. Then at 6pm, Mervin brought Macdonalds to school for me! :) Because the packed dinner is really not appetizing. So Mervin was sweet enough to deliver dinner for me. :)
I told him that later at 6.45pm I got to rush to Punggol MRT station to get a CD from someone from Guides HQ. The CD is for the CCA carnival tomorrow. I was under high stress level at that time because the setting up of campfire was not completed. I could not afford to leave the school for 20min to get the CD. But I must have the CD for tomorrow. Then Mervin volunteered to fetch me over at 6.40pm since he has the car. That was a huge relieve for me! So I would be away for at most 5min.
After getting the CD, my mood stabilised a lot. Stress level dropped by 50%. The campfire set up is almost done. So I changed into formal wear for the campfire. If I had known earlier that I would be the emcee, I won't wear long sleeve to school! I would be perspiring so much later.
Anyway the campfire was quite a success. It started late but we managed to end it by 9.30pm. All Sec 1 classes had to do a performance and they weren't shy about it! In fact, many of them are such good dancers. I was really amazed by their boldness (to perform in front of so many parents) and their talents.
Because I mentioned that I am the form teacher of 1 Emerson, after the campfire, a few parents came up and talked to me. And the best conversation I had was:
Parent: My daughter told me that you are her form teacher.
Me: Yes I am.
Parent: Just now I didn't know which teacher because there are so many teachers around. Then my daughter say it's the prettiest one. Then I know it's you.
Me (embarrassed): Hahaha!
Anyway, not trying to show off. Just that I really had a busy and tiring day so that compliment really put a smile on my face. :)
I left school at 10pm on Friday night. Got to reach school at 7.30am the next day to prepare for CCA Carnival. Though I was really physically tired by then, I think Saturday was the best day in the week.
This is because during the CCA Carnival, I could see all my Guides putting in 200% effort to get the Sec 1s to sign up for Girl Guides. Last year, I felt that my Guides were not very passionate about the CCA, and they don't know what Guiding is all about. To be honest, I didn't expect them to contribute much to this carnival, also because all of them went home late last night after the campfire so they might not have enough rest.
To my surprise, all of them suddenly became so enthusiastic about Guides. Many of them went around the school giving bracelets and flyers to the Sec 1s. The rest helped out in the booth. As their teacher, I was very happy to see the change in their attitude. They may not know what Guiding is, but at least I can see the unity in them. And I think from this sense of unity, better things will come. :)
At the end of the day, a total of 44 girls signed up. That's almost a third of the school population of girls! Although some of them may change their mind when they do the actual sign up online, my Guides and I were still very satisfied. :)
That concluded the first week of school - all work and no play.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
RSS Feed (xml)