變 - Change

Talking to some people lately has reminded me once again of how susceptible to changes humans are. People whom I've not been expecting to, took such great leaps of faith to move on to the next chapters of their lives at the most sudden timings. It makes me wonder if I'd behave differently too when faced with similar situations; though there shouldn't be any surprise if I do, since change has been identified as the only constant in our lives and at the end of the day, we will all learn to cope and continue living with changes until more changes come by.

Whatever it is, I hope you are happy.

time, slow down please.

At times, I find myself feeling like a helpless parent running after my hyperactive toddler and worrying about not being able to keep up with their pace. The little 'toddler' mentioned happens to be Time in my case (for now). In a blink, the September break is nearly over. Despite the slightly traumatic diarrhea + vomiting episode that landed me on a hospital bed with an IV-drip for close to 3 hours at Tan Tock Seng, I've been having such a great time taking things real slow for the past week; catching up with friends, markings, doing laundry, tidying up the room and spending time with ST. It's been amazing but sadly (we're so close to the end of the year so it's actually not that bad la huh), work's starting again tomorrow.

During this one week, I've had the pleasure of eating some worthy calories so I'm just going to share them in here. I am no connoisseur (thank you Chrome's spell-check) and ST says that I can a little pushy sometimes (not the exact words used but something along that line) when it comes to recommendations so please take my words with a pinch of salt and sugar.

Meng Kee Char Kway Teow from Beo Crescent

This is the second visit after my colleague introduced it to me. I really love the crunchy and sinful bits of pork lard (both big and small pieces) that the lady stall-holder uses to fry the CKT with, not to mention the very aromatic (chao-ta) wok-hei. The noodles were generously coated with sweet, dark soya sauce and she was really generous with the cockles too (I ordered the $5 portion to share). If you do not request for the non-spicy version, this plate of CKT can pack quite a fiery punch; evident in the beads of perspiration that formed along ST's forehead. Much as I was happily slurping up the CKT, my lunch/dinner date did not seem to enjoy it as much as I did. I hope he will someday though, with the non-spicy version!

Turkish Eggs ($8) from Penny University

Ended up here on Teachers/Teachers' Day (w.e.f. 2013, it'll now be on the first Friday of September) with some colleagues after a failed attempt to train for an upcoming run at ECP. The place was bustling with diners at 10 a.m. (another customer told us that it's been that crowded since she was at the place at 9); with barely enough room for us to wait around for a table comfortably without getting in the way of the busy servers - we managed to end up at 3 separate tables (6 of us in total) after a slightly agonizing (I exaggerate) wait of 20-30 minutes but were re-seated together again after a group of 6 were done at the longer 'communal' table. 

I ordered an order of the Turkish Eggs; which was basically two poached eggs swimming in a tangy concoction of whipped yoghurt, spicy sauce, smoked chicken (+$1.50) oregano leaves and served with a slice of toasted and chopped-up sourdough bread. This would be something for people with slightly more adventurous taste buds as the sourish blend of yoghurt and runny yolk requires some getting used to. I thought the plain yoghurt was somewhat reminiscent of hollandaise sauce but then again the latter is usually much buttery/creamier and almost never that tangy. I'm glad that I ordered it because I was really curious about its taste, but I think I'll probably be getting something else for brunch the next time round. Anyhow, while we were 'loitering' and waiting for available tables, I spotted some Windowsill pies at the counter; the Grasshopper pies looked fantastic behind the glass display and the coffee (le usual capp) packed quite a robust punch too (opted for an orange-chocolate blend instead of the usual house blend).

Not-so-humble eggs ($6) from The Humble Loaf

Had this on the same day as the Turkish Eggs; imagine my delight (they didn't see it but I was squealing with excitement inside) when one of my darling colleagues invited us to sing karaoke at Teo Heng after brunch at Penny University. Found at the slightly cramped basement of Katong Shopping Centre (couldn't help but be reminded of the film, Ilo Ilo the whole time because of the numerous domestic helper agencies found there), the first thought that struck me first was "What a tiny space!" Having just had 2 poached eggs hours ago, I was slightly fearful of tipping my daily 'cholesterol scale' if I had another 2 more eggs but I went ahead anyway (after my kind colleague offered to share).

Taste aside, I really love the cheeky name of this side. What is it that makes it not so humble? I'm guessing it should be the ham. Apart from the Serrano ham, it is made up of the humblest of ingredients; 2 comforting soft-poached eggs, bits of tangy pickled celery, thin olive slices, lots of chives/spring onions (can't tell the 2 apart sometimes) and generous black pepper seasoning. I hesitated initially when I read "pickled celery" and saw the generous chives/spring onion (I have a strong distaste for raw spring onions) sprinkled on top because those are usually food items that I steer clear of but I'm glad I went ahead to take a slurp. Apart from adding a nice crunch to the dish, I couldn't taste the sharp taste of the abhorred celery (pickling does wonders, it seems) and there was no nasty 'oniony' taste from the suspicious-looking chives/spring onions so I'm guessing they used chives. The ham shavings lent an even more savory touch to the already-savory runny eggs and since I'm someone who usually goes for stronger flavours, this was a Yay. Definitely the kind of dish you'd want to be sopping wholesome bread with.

Apart from these eggs, we also had a go at the hazelnut-based meringue (tastes better when paired with a nice cup of kopi; it balances out the sweetness imo as some of my other companions who did not order beverages found it slightly saccharine), raspberry pound cake ($2.50) and financier. The pound cake was fluffy and easily one of the nicest pound cakes I've ever had while the financier was moist, strangely addictive and irresistibly priced at $1.50 a piece.

And until the next time work allows for another food rave and rant, that'll be it for now.

Money makes the world go round

Sat down some days back to calculate the copious amount of money I'll be needing for my Travel Grand Plans a few years down the road and finally got a rough idea how much I ought to be putting aside every month at least to make that possible when the time comes. Not to forget, continuity of my life after all that traveling is over... and that kind of ended with a slightly serious discussion with the bf.

I was somewhat taken aback at the differences in attitudes towards saving up between an employee and employer, and that made me start to entertain the thoughts of investments and starting up in the not-so-near future. It's funny, how our trains of thoughts change as we grow older.

Erm, is it too late for resolutions now?

We're too far out into 2013 to call it a new year anymore but no one says we can't have new resolutions only when we reach the final quarter of the year so here goes.

Let's start with...

One: I will learn to stop over-eating and say no to food even before I feel full, because constant/ excessive satiation is not that great for my body at the rate my snail-speed metabolic rate is slowing down.

Re-Prioritising

Less than 10 entries for the whole of 2013 so far and nothing without so little of a mention of work in (nearly) every single one of them. I used to scoff at people who had problems with their work-life balance but look at who's the one being laughed at now.

It's the continual assessment week right now and that could be the reason why I seem to be having slightly more time on hand for now.

It's been nothing less than awfully quiet in this little online space for the past few months. Thank god my 'offline life' has been much more exciting. Phew.

Saw some of the most amazing underwater sights and creatures up close while blowing bubbles in Moalboal back during the June holidays; definitely significant enough to have hit some kind of milestone in my personal scuba journey.

Breath-stopping to see such a large school/ball of sardines swarming towards me.

The sheer enormity and their wonderful synchrony truly blew me away.

Thanks to Bun's awesome recommendation, ST and I made our ways down to look at this little large fella and his group of friends. I guess I'll remember the experience of being flicked absent-mindedly by his/her tail for a long time to come; it was one of alarm, followed by relief, and finally amusement.

And this pair of mating Mandarins!

Didn't have a clue what I was looking at until I snapped a shot and saw the beautiful colours appear on my camera screen. They are probably smaller than half my palm and were darting into safety of the staghorn corals so quickly whenever the flash came up. Very comical and funny experience.

Apart from the awesome dive trip with ST, I also managed to squeeze in a 2D1N trip to Malacca over the long National Day weekend with the girls. In retrospect, I simply find it hard to believe we'd spent such crazy durations queueing for nearly everything; from entry into JB, to chendol and laksa, and a satay steamboat. 3 hours (or was it 3.5?) just to get a table at the famous satay celup place. Woah. You know they say there's always a first for everything... I believe that's also the last time I'm going to be heading to Malacca during their national holidays. All of us learnt that it's truly a terrible time to visit Malaysia (via land transport) during the Raya holidays. Mad queues aside, I had a good time catching up with our little 'support group'. And to be honest, most of the food that we queued up for were really well worth the ringgit. The only exception was the Peranankan cafe just beside the Peranakan museum around Jonker; I'm not that fussy when it comes to food but that's honestly a place I don't think I'd ever want to go back to; for dining at least.

And voila! That's just a glimpse of my 'offline life'.

I'm feeling slightly accomplished that I'm able to touch a little on my social life instead of solely work (again) this time round. clapforself.jpg.

Until the next entry (who knows when will that be), tata and good day.

Part-time administrative worker

Looking at the number of forms (blah-blah-blah acknowledgement form, so-and-so acknowledgement slip, etc) I give out to and collect from my kids these days, I somehow feel like I am a part-time administrative worker. That could well have been included in the job scope when I signed the papers, though it's pretty obvious by now that I haven't taken a close-enough look at the fine-print back then.

Can't imagine what the parents must be going through for having to sign some form every other day if the teachers are already experiencing so much frustration with them; much of it stemming from the fact that they are used mainly to shield our backsides. Grr... 10-15 minutes per day totals up to nearly over an hour for the entire week. Can you imagine how much more can be achieved with this time?

The productivity we're missing out on! I can't even...

pet peeves in the staffroom

#1 Who moved the giant hole punch?

Put it back after use la!

#2 Unwashed utensils in the sink

It's a shame that as we advocate our students to be more responsible for themselves, some teachers are not walking the talk. Unwashed utensils can remain in the pantry's sinks for up to a couple of days before someone (who should not be responsible for them) cleans them up. Can you imagine how gross the used bowls look? Do the culprits really expect the janitors to clean up after them every single time? I don't think cleaning up teachers' used utensils is part of their job scope. It disgusts me, how some fellow colleagues do not have the basic courtesy to clean up after themselves.

#3 Colleagues who have no idea how loud they are

Yup. You get unbearably loud. Sometimes.

Achievement unlocked

It took me a little longer than I expected, but for the first time evar,
I made a student cry in class some 2 days back.
You cannot even imagine how furious I was after learning that
one of my kids forgot to bring the work (again) that
he was supposed to have handed in 2 days ago and
blatantly lied that he's already submitted it. 

I felt slightly guilty when I saw him tear but honestly,
he deserved it more than less for trying to lie his way through
and thinking he'd be able to get away with it.

Personally, this would be classified as an achievement unlocked. 

I'm making good progress in becoming The Terrifying Teacher.
Way to go, AJ.

No entry too short

It's been a good 2 months since the last update.

There's been a couple of changes in my life since, both good and bad.

Let's start with the good.

When I titled the last entry as "The month of Two",

I sort of meant it in a literal way.

By welcoming the month of Feb as part of a duo.

I haven't thought it'd be anytime soon that I got hitched so quickly

but things happen, and yeah, I did.

My prior incessant worrying 

(e.g. what if I can't get used to having a boyfriend again?

or what if I can't get used to holding someone's hands once more?) 

had been uncalled for (phew...), 

because I've been having quite a wonderful time so far.

Many thanks to le bf, of course,

who's nothing but accommodating 

and encouraging towards me, 

as work has been piling up sneakily behind me

like an unwelcome ninja.

Which brings me to the bad.

Work got hectic.

Or maybe of course,

I could just have serious time management issues.

Things become alright for awhile after roughing some days out, 

but I find myself struggling to stay afloat not too long after.

I hope I'm not just hopping onto the "busy bandwagon" 

for the sake of appearing like I have important things to do

like what many others are doing.

This has got to get better.

I mean, I don't want to go on getting just a few hours' worth of sleep nightly on weekdays.

Before it gets better though, work's made me 

appreciate the weekends so much more these days.

I can't wait to meet up with le friends and bf
over the weekends for a nice catching up mostly,

And also, not forgetting, 

my daily lunches packed lovingly by Mumsy.

Alright. No more whinging.

I look forward to sharing interesting things that's been happening

at work more regularly!

The month of Two

:)

#29 The person that you want tell everything to, but am too afraid to

The last such person in my life was probably J.

I was fearful that saying what was on my mind would bring about abrupt endings.

But things were getting too much to bear so I decided what the heck
and went ahead with it anyway.

Ultimately, it did make things end in some way.

But contrary to what you might be thinking, I have no regrets for speaking
my mind because the relief from it was immense. 

Life goes on and people will soon forget about these petty and insignificant things that happen
to them once in a blue moon.

I mean, at least I would.

#vainpotteacher

I was looking for some kid near the canteen when two P4 girls (with their P1 buddies in tow) came up to me and smiled real shyly. I've seen them around previously and would usually smile to greet them so I'm not exactly unfamiliar to them.

One of them: Teacher, you are very pretty.

Me: Aww. Thank you :)

While I looked all calm and steady on the outside, this was how I really felt on the inside:

You know people always say kids don't lie... heehee.

tired

It's the beginning of 2013 but I'm already starting to feel weary.

I wish I can find some hole and curl up in there until the sandstorm blows past.

lessons from dating

It's the start of a new year and I'm tempted to talk about shiny new beginnings but I'm saving that for another entry (my backlog is only getting longer). 

For now, I'm just going to share something that offline/online dating's taught me in the past year:

You meet people whom you have sparks with,

you meet people whom you don't have sparks with,

and you also meet people whom you don't want to have sparks with.

Of course, this doesn't come entirely from me.

I'm speaking on behalf of some of the people I've met. So far.