Yesterday, it was Pastoral Care Day (more commonly known as PC Day) in school. PC Day is an opportunity for Form Teachers to spend quality time and bond with their form classes, but somehow, it has morphed into a day where the class picks a place outside school to spend the morning at with their Form Teachers. Popular destinations include East Coast Park (picnics, cycling), Sentosa, Zoo, ice-skating rinks and a host of excursion-friendly places.
My form class is a Sec 4 graduating class, so they are not down for PC Day. Hence I was tasked to assist the Form Teacher of 301, a Normal Technical class. Our destination was Sentosa, which is the destination of choice for quite a few other classes too.
Weather wasn't too good with the intermittent slight rain. Upon arrival, I left 301 to their own devices since they would prefer being left to their own devices and since they were sec 3s they should have no problem finding their way back to the pick-up point at 1230pm. So I headed for Palawan Beach, and spotted class 207 there with Form Teachers Audrey Tan and Sharon Ong. Bless 'em, the class has actually planned activities to be carried out at the beach: telematch involving flour, and Captain's Ball match.

Sharon with 207 girls:


Michelle emerging after an orgy of flour-throwing/smearing. I wasn't spared too. In this photo, she looked like (in her own words) 'a siao char boh':


Me with the usual suspects - Pei Pei & Michelle:


Something new I learnt: the cutesy poses shown below are collectively known as 'yi er wu' (1-2-5 in Mandarin; note their raised fingers). Cloyingly sweet, right?

Saw Serene (ex EVSS student) again on Monday at the void deck of my flat. She was carting around a cart of Wall's Cornetto to sell door-to-door. It's her part-time job during her Poly hols. She also worked at Tampines Mall Pizza Hut. Bought 2 Cornetto from her on the spot. Hmmm, wonder where Rebecca is working now...
Serene & me:


Since this is the last week of school, there are various post-exam activities organised for the students.
I was attached to the PE dept to conduct games (floorball, basketball, soccer, captain's ball).

Lanky Xiufen (Sec 1 only) with her sheepish smile; naturally she was chosen to be the catcher for captain's ball.


207 girls during captain's ball. Ryoma from 206 couldn't resist sneaking in his handsome face.


Wednesday was a visit with 304 to ITE Macpherson. There, I learnt from one of the tutors that the students are given a choice of 3 colours for their uniform shirt - maroon, blue, white; ain't that a good idea. When I asked him which colour seemed to be the most popular, he replied white. Had a chance to check out their canteen too. Had chicken cutlet with fries (only $2.50). After that, thought the chicken rice looked good, so ordered a plate with added char siew ($3.00). Students exclaimed when they saw my 'second lunch'. Then had 1 can of Milo followed by a cup of Milo from the dispenser to compare which one tasted better (the dispenser actually won). Then returned to school where I tortured the toilet bowl.

On the way to ITE Macpherson. Boy on the right looked like a notorious kid, and he proved it by way of his behaviour during the programme.


This cute student doing her work quietly at the multimedia/computer animation studio caught Zaidulkhair's attention. I believed he asked what her number was. One of the tutors in charge of our visit (who had earlier been encouraging them to ask the ITE students questions) overheard him, and remarked, 'At least he's asking a question'. HAHA.


The famous blue colour, a trademark of every CGI studio.


Alexis with Farhan, Dinie and Zaidulkhair.


While waiting for the bus to ferry us back...


After ITE visit, I had to bring Kevan and Weijie from 105 to East Spring Primary for their solar-car building workshop, cos Felicia couldn't make it. Ran into Myra and Sek Chon there, who happen to be from the same NIE PGDE Biology batch as Grace. Chatting with them made staying from 2.30 to 5.30 bearable. Incidentally, Myra is also an ex IJ gal, woohoo.

Myra kept remarking that Kevan was sooooo cute.


3 Biology teachers:


And finally, here's a pic of my Specialized Body... tattoo! Courtesy of Tay, who happened to be in a good mood that day.

Have been consuming too many McDonald's double cheeseburgers ($1.95 offer) and plates of Blk 85 satay beehoon of late. Had mee goreng at Haig Rd hawker centre and a Ramly burger (beef) at the Geylang Serai bazaar on Saturday night.
Finally saw satay beehoon's man's daughter (I'm assuming) again that night at Blk 85 hawker centre. She was in office attire. No wonder she hardly helps out at the stall now.

Was slacking at ECP jetty yesterday in the evening, decided to msg Patio to ask if there's any ride. Her reply: yes, 8pm at Adam Rd Food Centre tonight, going to Sembawang. So I proceeded to Adam Rd.
Riders present: 7 guys (including Uncle David), 2 gals (Patio and Jeremy's colleague, Cher with her new nice red Scott Team Racing bike).
Route: Adam -> Bukit Timah Rd -> Long long Mandai Rd -> Sembawang Park. And back the same way! Of course, after that, it was a long lonely ride back to Tampines for me. Deepavali lights were on along Serangoon Rd.
Twas an enjoyable ride.

Some more photos...

Sandra and Linda playing with Caramel at my place, a guinea pig on loan from Brenda. Caramel has since been relocated back to her original home. Think she'll be happier running around the garden than in my kitchen. Bye, Caramel, I'll miss your squeaking for food.


Here is Joey, a Maltese terrier who belongs to Jacqueline, sister of Brenda.


Here is the cute little girl (Sachiko) from The Taste of Tea. What an interesting expression-- she is deep in thought, pondering how to get rid of her giant self which appears around her from time to time. Yes, The Taste of Tea is another weird Japanese film.


And finally, two watch pics. This is the set of tourbillon watches from Thomas Prescher. It is sold only as a complete set. From left to right: the single-axis tourbillon, dual-axis tourbillon, and no prizes for guessing... the much vaunted triple-axis tourbillon. I think the square case is the nicest; it's huge!


My PAM86 on brown monitor-lizard. It's on my wrist now as I type. Haven't taken off this strap for a long time.

Some photos to share...

2 October:
Watched The Taste of Tea as part of the Japanese Film Fest. It was a 9pm screening at Plaza Sing, so after that, decided to proceed to The Arts House for Insomnia, a 48-hr art exhibition that remained open overnight.

Wong Su-En is a S'pore born artist who is now based in New York (of course, any Singaporean artist who has made it good MUST have been based overseas instead of parking their asses in creativity-stifling $ingapore). She did live painting in a room which also contained her other works. She's known for painting nude figures of women in sexually suggestive positions, with her own face on every figure; in other words, nude self-portraits. This is to show how the western media often has sexual stereotypes of asian women, if I remember correctly.


A male local artist painted these realistic paintings (watercolour I think) of snacks from a bygone era (ok, some of them still exist) to bring out the inner child in us. He also had miniature plastic army soldiers for the public to play with. One could choose a snack from those exhibited, and the artist would give you the snack to eat. Me, I chose Ding Dang. The toy inside was a tiny mechanical pencil, cool.


Some photos from the Planet Fitness Ride:
Briefing at start-point (the gym at Far East Square).


On Saturday night, there is a small flea market right outside the gym building.


Posters from a bygone era, sold by the man above.


Spiffy Tank bike.


Unbelievable saddle. It's carbon, has no padding, and looks very thin. You need to have buns of steel to ride on it. Costs about $400 plus.


Saw Rahmat (EVSS ex-student) at Changi Village with a few of his bicycle buddies!


And finally, something to whet your appetite. Did I mention I love lamb?

Was marking attendance for EL coaching sessions these few days, and inevitably, I'd come across names on the list whom I know are not around anymore. Students who are suspended, don't want to come to school, sentenced to Homes, etc etc. Looking at those names (e.g. J, I, M), with those boxes beside them which will surely remain empty instead of containing a '1', I couldn't help feeling a little sad. These are the traces of students who have given up the fight. Hope the system treats them kindly.

Went for the ride organised by Planet Fitness gym last night.
Gym at Far East Square -> Esplanade -> ECP -> Coastal Rd -> Changi Village -> Back to Far East Square. Of course, I broke off at Tampines after Changi Village. Huge turnout for the ride; at least 50 riders using bikes ranging from the market type to the seriously high-end. It was fun to see the agonised faces of those riders who were struggling up the Selarang slopes.
People I recognised/saw/said hi to: Flanker aka Khairul, Kevin & Serene (SCH group), Marzocchi aka Adrian, IAMNOTFAT, Spinninggirl aka Lynn; GTSMan aka Troy, Fleastoongs aka Ernest (both body and bike have recovered from that accident), Sehsuan, Ah Lai, Alvin, Ah Lai's friend who rides the Da-Bomb, Cyen aka Jason, the long-haired guy on his pimpin' pink free-riding bike with the label 'Porn King', Eric & Samantha, the small boy on sponsored Cannondale, Alan (on titanium Morati), Nik (minus Pling who was sick).