Happy & Blessed Chinese New Year!!!

Happy & Blessed Chinese New Year!!!

Do you know what is it that I enjoy most for Chinese New Year?

Check out the photos below!! =)

Actually, no lah.

What I enjoy most during Chinese New Year is that I get to intentionally spend extended time with my family.

It starts from the reunion dinner to all the visitations to different relatives' houses.

I really thank God for my family.

(Haha.. but that doesn't mean I don't like the new year goodies. My favourite is the PINEAPPLE TARTS by my mum & sister. They're really really good!! Yummy!!!)

The Gathering... (of Teachers)

The photo above was taken when my Maths class in NIE went for a lunch gather at Pizza Hut at Clementi. It is really amazing that everyone of us is going to start our practicum teaching in less than 2 weeks time.

I must say that I have really enjoyed all my Maths classes in NIE for the past 7 months or so. Each of my classmate had been such a blessing to me that I think I got no space here to write them all. I will only give a few special mentions here...

I want to give thanks for our beloved class rep, Qiu Lin! She's really responsible and made learning for us so much easier. She's going to be a fantastic teacher, no doubt about it.

I want to give thanks for Junjie, Paul and Tze Kun. They are such wonderful team-mates in my Maths class. They have really given me so much encouragement that I think Maths class will be not so interesting if not them.

And of course, I really want to thank my Maths tutor, Dr. Ng too. He's really a very good tutor will go to all lengths to help us trainee teachers teach better in the future.

How time flies.. I'm going to Springfield Secondary soon. My NIE days are numbered. I realized that unknowingly, over time, my Maths class had kind of built a certain bond together. I was really overjoyed to be able to have lunch outside of NIE with them.

I know that the path ahead in teaching is not going to be easy. There will be hurts. There will be disappointments. There will be fear.

But I believe that there will also be true joy. The joy of seeing the lives of our students transformed. As what Mother Teresa said "Do good anyway." I'm really encouraged when I read about this quote from her, about people. I hope that you will be blessed as you read.



People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have and it may just never be enough;
Give the world the best you have anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it's all between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

A Tale to Tell... (Part 3)

She was crying badly over the phone. She asked me how come I have been ignoring her (which I admitedly did because I wanted to forget her). I tried giving excuses like I was really busy. Kinda lame I think. But what can I say?


Then she confided in me that she was really upset because Benny was kind of pressuring her to break up with her boyfriend. I was shocked. I was really angry at Benny. I was also at a loss.


I did what they always do in movies & drama serials. The next day, I confronted Benny straight away (I wasn't so extreme like the guy on the right). I told him off for making Alicia upset. Benny didn't say anything. He just kept quiet and received my scoldings. I think he felt a bit guilty. Nonetheless, I think he left Alicia alone after that incident.


A few weeks later, for reasons I don't know, Alicia broke up with her boyfriend. For a moment, I thought I had a chance. I continued to show her concern, but I still didn't dare to tell her about my feelings.


But things were not to be. There's this guy, Danny (not real name) also from the same CCA. He's in the same committee as Alicia but they weren't that close, I think. Around that same period in time, something bad happened in Danny's family. He was really upset.


And somehow, in that period in time because he was upset, and Alicia was also upset, they started to talk to one another a lot more. Eventually, they became attached to one another. I was out of the picture once more. That really broke me. Alicia and I drifted apart, and soon, we were really just ordinary friends.


I just couldn't accept it. How can this happen?? I thought we could be together. I was totally crushed. Devastated. To say that I'm upset, that's an gross understatement. I think I couldn't sleep well for a long long time. It took me a really long time before I can function normally again.




Reflections

As I look back, I realised that all along, I have been imagining things on my part - 自作多情 Even though Alicia was attached, I imagined that one day we would be together. And I didn't dare to tell her my feelings because I was afraid that her reply would completely crush my hopes. I wanted to have at least a bit of hope.


That's kind of silly for me. I wasted so much emotions on this incident. I really could have spent more time doing other more meaningful things.


The bottomline is that at that time (during JC), I wasn't ready to handle BGR. My belief is that most of us are not mature enough at that age. Among my friends, only a few of those who got attached in JC made it to marriage.

A Tale to Tell... (Part 2)

After overcoming the initial shock, I began to ask myself what I want to do next. Should I try to come between Alicia and her boyfriend? Or should I just give up contacting her? At that age and maturity, I honestly don't know what to do.


Then on my birthday, Alicia actually gave me a soft toy!! I think I almost went crazy. First time a girl give me a personal birthday present. And it's from the girl I liked!


I thought through after some time. Well, we're still good friends. She probably doesn't know I liked her. Ok, I decided that I want to be good friends with her ONLY. I will not try to make her break up with the boyfriend.


And it worked! We were really good friends. Almost every night, I would call her to chat with her, BEFORE her boyfriend call her. Though I try to tell myself, we can only be good friends, deep in my heart, I was hoping that a miracle would happen. Yah, all along, I didn't tell her that I liked her.


But no miracle happened for me. As time passed, I started to realized that there's another guy from my CCA, Benny (not real name of course), who became quite close to Alicia. All of a sudden, it's like they will be together quite often in school. I didn't have the courage to tell Alicia I liked her. Nor do I dared to ask her what's happening between Benny and her.


I felt left out. Depressed. My moods will consistently be down.


Finally, I made a resolution. I decided to give up. I stopped contacting Alicia completely. I began to focus on other things in school.


Then one night, the most unexpected thing happened. Alicia called me. She was crying...



(To be continued...)

A Tale to Tell... (Part 1)

Recently, my good friend posted on his blog about his BGR experience.

Well, I think everybody has a story of his or her own. My story? It's quite a sad one when I was in JC... It's almost like a drama serial.


Long long time ago...


When I was still quite young, I was studying in this JC.

The photo on the left is a photo of my class and the photo on the right is a photo of my CCA friends.















(I look kinda funny right? haha...)


When I first joined my CCA, I didn't know many people inside. As I came from a boys' school, I don't really have many female friends and I wasn't really comfortable talking to girls on a personal basis. (Class interaction was okay though..)


But one fine day, when I was still pretty new in the CCA, I was relaxing in my CCA room. A girl came into the room. A sweet-looking girl. A girl that caught my attention.


She sat down in the room, and somehow we started to chat. I got to know her name, Alicia (not her real name)!! Awesome, I thought at that time. Something magical happened next.


A senior came into the room. He asked Alicia if she wanted to study with him at the library. I could tell that Alicia wasn't very interested nor comfortable. But somehow she didn't know how to say no. She looked at me, and asked me to join them.


In my heart, I nearly flipped. But on the outside, I calmly said yes. Hence, the three of us went to the library to study together.


And because of this, I got to know Alicia pretty well. We exchanged phone numbers and would chat quite frequently on the phone.


"Am I in love?" I thought to myself. If I'm not, how come I'm always excited when I talk to her or see her.


But we all know, not everything happens in the way that we want. A few weeks later, I overheard a conversation between another of my 2 friends in the same CCA.


They were saying that Alicia has a boyfriend already.


My world came crashing down.



(To be continued...)

Beauty to Rescue

Most of us have read fairy tales, like Rapunzel, Cinderella, Snow White & the Seven Dwarves, and many others.

The themes of these tales are always the same: Damsels in distress, and behold! The knight (or prince) in shining armour comes along and saves the day.

Even modern movies and drama serials, we can often see the same theme as well.

Every time I come across such themes, I can always imagine myself to be the main male character, either being a cop, a prince, or some dragon-slayer or witch-killer.

Isn't that something that we guys all deeply desire? That we can have a beauty to rescue?

Perhaps some of us have not found the beauties to rescue. Perhaps some of us are too young to think about it.

Still, what we can do now is to prepare ourselves. And be ready to resuce the beauty when she comes along.

Be proactive, and not passive guys.