a sign of change?

metamorphisis. i like that. i know what you're talking about Shirlyn and i'm glad to read that you and Mary had a good time in Tioman; for me, i gotta come out of my cocoon. i've been spending too much time with myself and not with others. anyway, i cut my hair (literally though my dad decided to "fix" it up a bit afterwards) so here's me:



this was taken via the lovely LG Shine procurred through a new family mobile contract. lol, Mary i remember you were trying to decide between your current phone and the Shine. it's too sexy. haha.



anyway, we'll see how things go. i gotta get free of my head. the next two weeks, i'm gonna write a 15page research paper on the recently signed Intellectual Property Protection Act which looks like more of the same battle between content providers and tech providers. i've a corporate finance test next monday and i think i should do well (how'd you find yours, Mary?). i've a business proposal to submit by next thursday plus a few short chapter summaries. there's also that corporate finance project that is due sometime but no info so not thinking about it. haha. finally, there's the 2 day class that i have to take, world-view leadership, happening on the 24-25th. dunno how that'll go. we'll see.

hopefully, i'll check the blogs more often. then start responding to emails again. and go on from there.

Oops

Ehehe, haven't looked at this blog in a while. Actually, haven't been reading blogs much at all. Things have been fine since I arrived in the US. Somewhat busy. Making friends and all. Getting email addresses. Meeting pretty babes. If I was wont to repeat jokes, I'd write about a girl I met in the library that I fell hopelessly in love with but I used that one while I was in Australia. Haha.

At any rate, life's looking up. APU's looking to be better and better. Did you know that Bryan Clay, the decathlon gold medalist is APU alumni and trains at APU pretty much daily? Or that my course is AACSB accredited, something only about 312 Business Schools in the world have, a list that includes Harvard and Wharton? Fascinating.

The people are looking to be great people and I think that's a fabulous thing given that environment was the main reason I chose APU. Anyway, 2 days of orientation done, should be settling my registration by tomorrow.

Great Evenings

Wow, two great evenings in a row. Yesterday night, I had a really great time with my choir friends at Hanabi; great company plus I ate like a pig. Hehehe. All that training with the people in HRMC paid off. Cleaning up Din Tai Fung orders has shown me the path to how to stuff myself thoroughly. Hahaha.

Tonight, I had a great time with Liling. Laksa at Toastbox plus foot reflexology plus random shopping. Fun! Haha! She's wonderful to be around. A great end to a trying day at work.

I really thank God for the beautiful people He's placed in my life and for teaching me how to appreciate and to love them more and more. Life with You is truly better, Your ways and Your love I really cannot do without.

Good Day

today was a good day at work. tiring and in some ways blur but good. was almost late for work -- went to bed 2:30am and struggled to get out of bed. hehe. was still in time though i missed breakfast.. which was ok because lunch was bak kut teh! woot! good stuff. God is good. hehe.

anyway, ran about with a packet of pocky because i couldn't get myself to say no effectively and firmly enough. but it was alright. i mean, i usually don't snack but i went around giving pocky to kids who'd finished their lunch and haha, i'd say the lunch went pretty well. they were going crazy over it. haha.

homework time was pretty amazing even when i had to take the class solo.. can't remember why but i was alone. then i just told everyone that they can talk BUT if i can identify the voice, that person gets IT time reduced. good tactic but execution can be better. the idea is to really bring down the hammer on the first person to exceed the line, even by a bit, but i was too focused on helping some of the kids with their homework and.. yeah. i'm not sure where or when it started but i just don't notice the background noise when i'm concentrating. end result -- a lot of names on the board but hey, it was amazingly quiet compared to the usual chaos. hehe.

gretel also gave me a fairly loud *complete* sentence today. something along the lines of "timothy doesn't want to give yvette's brush back" plus a few more words i didn't catch. wow. she must really care about yvette to speak like that. i mean, it was audible. i wasn't specifically listening for it and i could still catch her meaning. wow. i mean, it's like jenny volume. soft, shy, but clear within a small radius. i feel really blessed and honored, really, thinking about it. one of my fellow teachers hasn't even heard her speak before and i've already gotten plenty of talk-time. mostly from making her read homework questions together with me but also some of the fun times when she forgets that i'm a "teacher". hehe. her throat-clearing can also be surprisingly loud. as in, whoa, gretel can make such a loud noise?! i have a vague suspicion that she's doing it on purpose. hehe.

caleb almost cried on me today yet in the end, he did his work. it was tricky but i felt i handled it well. i gave him a choice to do some of his work and get some playtime in later or just sit beside me while i help gretel with her homework. it was really give and take. i think i got conned by his school bus argument but given how emotional he was feeling, it's entirely possible he forgot his dad was picking him up. anyway, he went from, i don't know how to do, don't know to do, can never learn how to do to just needing to confirm his answers with me. i consider that a great success even if he only did 1 question without any input from me.

and speaking of helping. wah. gretel almost defeated me but for the grace of God. she is... one tough cookie. from 4:50pm till 5:55pm, she did a grand total of 2 math questions. ouch. most of the time was spent just her doing her sway. wow. what endurance. i thank God for yvette -- i have a strong suspicion that it was her argument that she was willing to sacrifice her playtime to be beside gretel, her constant encouragement for gretel to be willing to learn and to do.. ok, i'm convinced it was yvette that got gretel to finally do the question. i mean, it took her about all of 20 seconds to write out the working and the answer for the question. she must really, really hate doing math. she's likes english and chinese though. something to take note of. =)

and yeah, i was ready to give up at 6pm. it's torture for both gretel and i to just sit there, me intermittantly trying to teach her, encourage her, blah blah blah and her for the most part, doing her silent sway with roving eyes. oh she has pretty eyes by the way. i noticed after i cajoled her into more eye contact. hehe. yeah, i feel really blessed that she would still feel comfortable around me -- we've had more than one of these "torture sessions" before.

also had a good chat with ling lao shi. i had a feeling she really knew her stuff and now i know for sure she really knows her stuff. got a few tips, few insights, and some encouragement. what teachers really need is ai xing and nai xing and she says i have both. good stuff. =)

if you haven't gathered by now, i adore these kids even though they can really manage to both irritate and wear me down. thank God for giving me such a good training environment. i've got lots of improvement to go, but i've improved a lot.

EODM - End of Month Debrief

heh, end of the month.. end of the day debrief. still remember 2WO Lim going through the massive stacks of EODDs for alpha battery. i have to say that out of the different non-commissioned officers in 18da, i respect him the most.

anyway, the symposium is over. i got... very busy. somehow i was held accountable for the stage, registration, and technical aspects plus some of the signage. messy that was. at any rate, i'm told i did a good job and they did kinda look sincere as they said it so i'm just going to leave it at that and plop this symposium onto my resume. whatever happened, it was a good learning experience.

oh and Romi was a cool guy. stay calm. be cool. things are all good. haha, picked up a few control room tricks from the technician. he does concerts, gigs, and equipment rentals too and one thing i like which he mentioned is bringing backup music -- if the customer's cd isn't mastered (volume normalized, etc) properly, then he'll just use his own. no need to go all crazy over a small issue -- in the end, it's the ambiance and flow that counts, not the exact music used.

and i must thank God for bringing me through. i had been falling sick for weeks and the week of the symposium i was really hitting the rocks. maybe cuz i wasn't doing a lot of telemarketing anymore and correspondingly drinking less water. whatever the case, i'm glad that the crash came on earlier this week. wow. earlier this week.

wow. the symposium really felt like it was ages and ages ago. must have been a really long week and in a way, it was. i'm getting better with the kids now, being more firm and all.

on other fronts, PCM is getting better. getting closer too. choir will be throwing me a farewell dinner 7th of August. looking forward to that. will also have to look for a venue since they're leaving it up to me. haha!

this blog post is starting to really wander so i'm just going to bring it to a close with two things. first are two lines from the last song i'm singing with the choir before i leave, Wherever You Are - "but the will of God won't lead you / where the grace of God can't keep you". they're so nice, they let me pick the song. haha.

the second is a video of Michael Jackson performing Man in the Mirror. the lyrics have been on my mind for sometime, especially the part "that's why i'm starting with me". starting. not if it's to be, it's up to me but if it's to be, it starts with me. i like that. i really do.

Symposium

wow.. i keep saying that life's been plodding along but i hadn't quite realized that it's been so long since i last posted on this blog. erm.. lemme see, life is ok. busy these days since the symposium on protecting your child against the cyber menace 24:7 is just next saturday. i'd been roped in to do telemarketing.. then it transitioned to include being in charge of the registration team on the day itself.. and then it became i'd be the hands-off ic instead and focus on getting the tech-team to be ready since the original dudes won't be back in time to recce the place. i really hope we get to set up the night before or at least before 9am. 9am gives us 30 minutes to get every bit of IT and sound up and running and tested, including integrating the speakers presentations in. oh well, should be fun.

on other news, avita's anniversary is doing black light theatre instead of dance. a little disappointing and surprising at the same time. blt is a blast from the past. it's been 8 years or so since i last did it.. but haha, muscle memory still seems to kicking about.

and on other notes, i'm contemplating purchasing a contemporary bag. one of those sideslung ones. been browsing about, converse seems to have a nice one. i suppose it's appropriate to show the briefcase that i'm planning on getting:

you can take a closer look at it here: ShopMarriott Minimalist Briefcase

whaddya think? liked it after spending quite a bit of time browsing through different briefcases online. i like clean lines and simplicity. haha.

Life

Life is once more plodding along. Telemarketing in the morning. Childcare in the afternoon. Nights are random. After watching Kung Fu Panda with Ziliang and The Incredible Hulk by myself, I've decided to implement a new habit which is a movie every weekend. Current plan is Hancock tomorrow night 8pm. Next week is still undecided. Anyone who wants to go watch a movie together can just sms me. It'll be guaranteed that I'll be watching *something*.

Started reading up Boundaries again. Will lend if others are interested, will finish it if no one is. Still going through You were Born Rich. Let Go and Let God is making more sense now. I'll be moving on soon.

And just as an aside, before I leave, I'd like Gretel to become comfortable enough to not mind-blank the moment I go near. Maybe even hold a conversation. Haha. We'll see.

Keep whistling "Don't Worry Be Happy" by Bobby McFerrin. Trying not to in class. Haha. Whistling not allowed.