HOOOOOOOORAY! I AM GOING TO BE A TEACHING INTERN! :DDDDD

I was seriously shocked when I saw the email of offer; I thought I have no chance of making through the interview, given how well-spoken the other candidates from rjc, hci and vjc were. But sad to say, I am posted to Greenridge sec - my (let me recall) 4th or 5th choice? I wanted to teach in nan hua - my 1st choice - so badly partly because I am familiar with the environment, the student profile, and the teachers there. At least, it is not that scary and I won't be alone. But now, being posted to an unfamiliar environment posts many challenges: will the students be too difficult to handle? what if my lessons are not engaging and interesting enough? and worst still, what if I fail to deliver? Looking at the bright side, such challenges may turn out to be opportunities to learn and to emerge as a better and stronger person. What's more the school is only a five-minute walk away from my home - I can sleep longer before school and reach home earlier after school.

Nevertheless, I'm still very excited at the thought of becoming a teaching intern! :DD I guess what I am about to experience will help me in my final decision-making as to the career route I want to embark on - education or healthcare. For now, I should dig out all my secondary school science and math stuff and revise them all over again. It was not specifically mentioned the subject I will be teaching; therefore I should be prepared to teach all science and math subjects. Perhaps, I should start asking around for advice.

Teaching internship aside, today is nanhua band's concert - the event that I always look forward to at the end of every year! The past few days have been spent on alumni band practices - one of the reasons why I didn't return to play for nj's tune-in concert and why I didn't join the jc/poly band fest alumni band. Hahahah im so sorry but all the best to xiangyi and weiyang! I hate playing for nanhua alumni band for it always make me want to continue playing the trumpet when I was about to stop. Then comes Christina and Jessica asking me to go for NUSSO Tune-in next thursday. Ah. I like playing in the band but I want to learn the flute since I was in primary school, which is of course at the expense of losing my trumpet embrouchure. I don't know.

Piano-wise, I should be taking my grade 8 exam sometime next year and after that, I should be qualified to teach piano and yes, additional income but commitment is a problem. Perhaps, I shouldn't think too far yet as of now and concentrate on revising my grade 1-7 theory before starting on grade 8. I haven touched theory for about 8 months and I think I have forgotten most of them. And I have told Ms Soh that I will revise before my first lesson this sunday but apparently, I have not started revising. I bet she will kill me!

Yupp, it's time I should draft out my packing list for my europe trip! Andddd as for now, just SLACK AND HAVE FUN! :DDDDD

fought @ 10:33 AM

As I was preparing for tmr's TI interview, I looked through my SSEF research report and poster. Recalling the period this month last year when I was preparing my report for submission all the way to March this year when I was preparing my poster and script for presentation at STaR symposium and SSEF judging, I was so amazed at what I had managed to do, of course, with much help from evelyn and Prof. It seems almost impossible for me to do everything again. It seems like a dream.

Well, I'm actually quite afraid of tmr's group interview but it should go well if I speak like an mature young kid and think as though I'm in a gp class hahahah gambate! :D

fought @ 7:13 PM

MY NEW FOUND FREEDOM.

I was reading through the previous posts and realised how they were all dominated by studies, CCA, school 'life' in general. Reflecting back, I should compensate with one that fairly depicts the two years I have been through. Albeit full of catching up with lectures, tutorials, tight exam revision schedueles, these 2 years have taught me many things far beyond the textbooks from which I emerge as a stronger, mature person.

BAND first.

It all began with ETUDE XXXIII in 2008. Awed by the main band repertoire, the entertaining stage band performance and how the concert culminated with the college anthem proudly sang along by fellow njcians, I told myself that if I were to go nj, this band experience is something that I wouldn't want to miss. So after Os, I went for their tune-in but that was when I finally realised how poor my playing was and kind of decided not to join band anymore, forgetting the feeling of how badly I wanted to play like the seniors did for ETUDE XXXIII.

Soon I was admitted into nj, struggling among the possible CCA choices. Given the circumstances and other considerations then, I ended up back in band. It was the SYF period and my playing was not up to standard. The stress of getting basic air and articulation techniques right, of hitting the tuning and higher range notes, of being in tune with the section and band compounded with every sectionals, combined and everytime the seniors tried to help but I still couldn't improve. It became overwhelming and I broke down. Some seniors and Ms Feng comforted and encouraged me.

THANKS LYNNA, CHERYL, EDWARD!

AND CHRISTINA! It was their words of encouragement that gave the belief that I can do it and the strength to move on not only during SYF, but also during another unexpectedly tougher period in band - preparation for Etude XXXIV.

The last few practices before Etude night were tormenting (those whom I went out with the day before Etude would know!) to the extent that I realise how unhealthy the band culture was then. My bro psychoed me into turning away from the negative side and thinking positive the night before. It worked. Garnering the support from other batchmates, I overcome the mental barrier and played the solo with no mistakes, at least.

My two main sources of motivation: JESSICA AND LAYTENG! THANKS!

Thanks to this band experience I learnt how to go along with difficult people and appreciate the nice ones more, I gained more musical knowledge and playing skills that enabled me to play confidently in nanhua alumni, and I decided that I will not join band anymore in uni!

Next, STAR PROGRAMME.

THANKS EVELYN (my right) for all the help in the experiments, my understanding of research work, the written report and poster presentation! On the left is a proud father of mine hehehs.
And surprisingly, my project was selected for SSEF and unexpectedly, I got a silver! There was nothing more I could could ask for. (my poster in the background!)
Though I wasn't put through the entire process of research cos evelyn helped me alot, I gained deeper insights into her field of work and valuable experiences if I were to do research in uni :)

Lastly, my dear friends who have been through thick and thin with me and of course the teachers who have been so committed and loving! And thanks to GP, I learnt how rewarding can reading newspapers be (hopefully not too late), and some thinking skills.

Yes that should be about it, a reasonable account of my non-academic life in nj huh.

Now that I'm almost free from academic commitment for the time being, I'm starting to ponder over post-a level plans. And so far, these are the things that I MUST DO:

1. Get A JOB either as a teaching intern/relief teacher/part-time helper at pharmacies
2. Nanhua band camp and annual concert
3. Catch up with ex-bandmates
4. Outing with tuition friends
5. Learn the flute
6. Family tour to Taiwan
7. Go to Universal Studios Singapore
8. Exercise more
9. Catch up with fellow pigs!

Haha that's all for now. Time to get on with a new day with my new found freedom!

fought @ 7:32 AM

OMG. A LEVELS ARE ALMOST OVER.

It's been a very stressful period but thankfully, I'm blessed to have full support from my family and friends. Gone are the days of seemingly endless slogging and anxiety. Indeed, it calls for celebration with all my dear friends. I'm definitely looking forward to meeting fellow pigs this friday, tuition friends soon, and nhsb batchmates during band camp in dec!

This time round, the Cambridge examiners are more creative and armed with a whole new arsenal of questions. So advice to my juniors: please understand the concepts and practise a wide variety of questions. However, the papers are generally accessible (they have to be for a normal curve). Still, I'm feeling very uncertain, unlike the feeling after prelims. Well, now I shall pray for the very best and concentrate on relaxing before starting on bio paper 1 revision.

fought @ 5:39 PM

I cannot believe that prelims are almost over.

I am only left with my h3 paper this wednesday and I hardly have any motivation to study for it especially after those depressing h2 chem papers on friday. I am having reservations about teaching chemistry as my future career. Most probably, I would go into pharmacy. Though my experience in h3 pharm chem has been rather terrible, it has given me more insights into pharmacy and helped set my foundation :) Yay I'm glad that I've more or less decided.

I think the next time I would blog would be after As. Definitely looking forward to 2 Dec! Till then, I must work hard especially for GP!! Jiayou to everybody and to me! :D

fought @ 9:00 PM

the biggest joke of the day - morning assembly
juniors i'm sure you are more capable than that so jiayou!

i'm officially band-less. anyway, i was looking at the nbc results and nhsb got a silver with 78.67%, that close to a gold but their effort was commendable as they scored the highest among all the silvers. well, hopefully nhsb will take this as a good learning experience in preparation for next year's syf. go nhsb! :DD

alright it's getting late. tmr gonna spent almost half a day in school. so i better go sleep now.

fought @ 11:32 PM

Im really sleepy now. today's the first day back to normal lessons after an entire month of studying and 4 days of torture. school's really tiring for me and i think im getting old.

CTs are over and i don't think i will fare well this round. my carelessness and compromise on answer quality for speed are going to pull my grades deep down. but i don't think i will mull over my poor grades for i've learnt how to take things like results less seriously, all thanks to the training through the endless stream of exams, tests and quizzes. i think that's the only positive thing from this academic experience for now.

Yesterday after my h3 paper, i went for my long awaited shopping spree and watched tv the whole night :) Recovered from dejection i got doing the h3 paper and decided to pray hard and work hard for what's ahead.

Check: 2 July 2010, Friday, Term 3 Week 1.
2 weeks to piano practical.
8 weeks to prelims.

Stay focused. Self-disciplined. I will survive.

Oh and I got to start shedding some weight with less food, more resistance to temptation, more exercise. So saddened that I've gained 1.5kg over the last term D:

fought @ 10:45 PM