Ouch it hurts!
It's the time of the month when I have to visit my dentist, Dr Lee, at Selegie again. Despite his constant efforts to make me feel comfortable and at home in his dental clinic, somehow, the fact that I have to see him makes me shudder in fear. I never quite enjoyed my visits to the dentist.

Call me whatever names you like, but I do admit that I am frightened and abhor the monthly visits at seeing the man in white. I would have to drag myself all the way to Selegie area just to endure pain. Blame it on the fact that I have some jaw problem and malatrusion (dental term for bad bite). This probably implies that if I persist with my set of teeth without my braces, I might suffer greater complications later in life. The possibilities of not being able to talk and losing all my teeth made me think twice about not putting on braces. Perhaps I am over-exaggerating it, however, I do feel that it is better to be safe than sorry, especially to a chatty little bird like me! All the pain and trouble is secondary to the fact that braces cause me to have less than perfect pronunciations or mis-pronunciation of word (rather important because I teach English), a constant escaping of air from between my teeth when I speak (It's improving now) and the embarrassment I have to face when leafy-green veggies get stuck onto my ceramic brackets. Haha, imagine talking to someone cute with him having to point out, "Hey, there're some greens on your teeth!". Arrghhh...I cannot imagine!

Anyway, today's session was slightly more painful than usual. Hey, I'm not someone who cries pain easily. In fact, I pride myself to be braver and stronger than most girls when it comes to controlling emotions! I did not flinch or even bat my eyelid when Dr Lee extracted my 2 premolars. He even had to use some surgical instrument to pry out one of the broken teeth embedded in my gums when the tooth broke halfway. My lips were the size of 2 cocktail sausages then (It's true! No kidding!).

I am upset because I can only consume soupy stuff today. Solid food is a big no-no. Looking at my father eat his heart out during dinner didn't make me feel any better. Sigh... Why so I have this stupid jaw problem? Why did I put on braces?

Hey, I am comforted by the fact that I have only 17 more sessions with Dr Lee, 17 more sessions of hearing the shrill sound of the drill and experiencing the nasty salty taste of the air abrasion device. Perhaps in 17 months time, I might be at the same computer blogging about how grateful I am to have gone through the process of wearing braces and even put up some before and after pictures of my teeth.

But meanwhile...back to my world of discomfort and pain...*whimpers*

- posted by NaNa @ 5:42 AM |

My Holiday Plan
I spent 3 hours today typing out a set of minutes. Now, my brain is desperately begging me for a break, so here I am, back to blog. Have I mentioned how therepeutic blogging is to me before? I seem to be able to release all my pent-up frustration once I start blogging. Blogging seems to allow me to crystalise very clearly what had happened during the day and allows me to reflect in the most direct manner. AHHH... the power of a good blog!

I have good news. My mother has confirmed that my family(Brother and his girlfriend included) would be making our way to Malacca on the 7th to 9th December. The trip I had been looking forward to. Alas, prior to my trip I have quite a few things to settle:

1) My Sec 1 SOW for English
2) Getting Diamonds That Rust to be ready by 11th December
3) My EOY Workshop meetings
4) 2 more CO duties this week

And thereafter on 17th to 20th December, I might be going with a few of my secondary school girlfriends for a short trip to Batam/Bintan. I am still rather clueless about the arrangements so I guess I just have to leave it to the rest of the girls!



- posted by NaNa @ 7:30 AM |

Theresa's Wedding
Decided not to blog about my trip to Johor but about the wedding dinner I attended yesterday as it was far more exciting.

Yesterday was Theresa's wedding at Hotel Inter-Continental, somewhere near Bugis. Anyway, Isabel agreed to meeting up prior the dinner at around 7.30 pm. BIG mistake! By 7.25 pm, I was already loithering around Bugis Junction with no sight of Isabel. Thinking that she might be only slightly late, I went around window shopping and gave her a buzz only at 7.45pm. Guess where she was? She was only on her way, stuck in the traffic jam! So I figured that she might reach around 8pm and I went exploring Bugis Junction yet again. Hungry, I bought 2 sticks of Japanese Satay (cant remember what it's called, some toki-something) and walked around Seiyu munching away, looking rather pathetic.

Anyway at 8.20pm, Isabel messaged me to tell me that she was stuck at the carpark as there were no parking lots. Well, I was already waiting for her at the hotel lobby. It was after waiting for a further 10 mins that I decided to make my way up to the Grand Ballroom 2. Upon arrival, I was given a fridge magnet that had the couples photographs on it. How sweet! The couple too made use of Polaroid technology to create a special album for keepsake. They used the Polaroid camera to take pictures of all the guests and got them to sign in their album. Hmmmm... this, I thought was such a great idea!

Anyhow, I managed to see Theresa dressed in her wedding finery and wow, I must say, she has slimmed down so much since I had last seen her. I do not recall seeing her jawbone and collarbones being so defined before. I must say she looked gorgeous and extremely radiant! Isabel arrived in the nick of time, 5 mins before the bride and groom started the ceremony. What a close shave!

We were seated at table 35, with Theresa's ex-classmates from St Nics and ACJC, 6 females. There was also an Italian at the table, or so he claimed, to be the groom's friend's friend. It was weird because that table was supposed to be belonging to the bride's side. Couldn't recall his name but apparently, he was a Muslim and did not eat pork. He was especially irritatingly chatty and he had a funny accent. Anyway, we sensed something was wrong but just kept quiet. He claimed to be a lecturer from NUS and when we asked him what the groom's (Tom) occupation was, he mentioned causually that Tom was his colleague doing chemical research. What was stranger was that after every dish, he would simply disappear from the room for a long time until the next dish was served. At his every departure, the girls at the table, including me, would be gossiping about how strange he was. We started to suspect something fishy was going on and asked Theresa about this friend of her husband's when she was making her rounds. Ironically, she did not know him as well!

The weird guy stayed to eat and make conversation until the fourth dish. After which, he disappeared altogether. Nevertheless, the girls were more comfortable with his absence. However, there was this constant nagging feeling that he might appear again suddenly. Sad to say we did not really enjoy the dinner because of him.

At the end of the wedding dinner, Isabel and I went to ask Theresa about her husband's occupation. She told us that Tom was a contractor.

So who was that man who sat with us for the 4 courses? Was he a gatecrasher out for a free meal? How come it was so easy for a total stranger to sneak into a wedding dinner without anyone noticing? These were some of the brooding questions that stayed with me as I left the wedding dinner...




- posted by NaNa @ 10:23 AM |

A Simple Post
Hi everyone... Great news!

One of the teams has managed to squeeze into the finals of the "Let's Twist" Story Dramatization. Yippee!Anyone free on 11th December 2004? How about going down to support your schoolmates? Will keep you guys posted!

Will blog about my Johor trip tomorrow. I'm too tired to write but I just want to share my joy with everyone around me!

An elated Annabel signing off... =)

- posted by NaNa @ 6:25 AM |

The day we were eagerly waiting for...
As mentioned earlier in my previous posts, today is the day for "Let's Twist" Story Dramatization.We began the day by meeting up in the new foyer at 7.30 am.

It had been such a long time since I had woken up so early. However, upon meeting the angels, I could see that all 10 of them were ready and raring to present their stories to the judges. Fortunately, everyone managed to reach there early and we were able to sneak in at least 1 rehearsal session. It was also ideal to meet early to allow them some time to calm down their frazzled nerves. I then proceeded to apply make-up on each and every one...YES, even the boys! At least some eyeshadow and blusher were applied on their faces. Initially resistant, everyone succumbed eventually when they saw how 'gorgeous' the others looked with make-up. I had great fun doing up each and everyone's faces, especially Heidi's who had heavily lined eyes and a beauty mole to complete her evil witch look. Mdm Cheng happened to pass by, wished everyone good luck and reminded to bring pride and glory to the school. Mrs Sum too popped over to give us some moral support. I'm really thankful that everyone is so supportive of this competition. Somehow, it does make the effort more worthwhile and it's heartwarming to see one's superiors showing me and the angels so much support.

We boarded the bus at around 9am, intending to reach Geylang East Community Library at around 9.30am. Somehow, the driver took a longer route and we only managed to reach the library at around 9.35am due to the peak hour traffic. Along the way, we spotted a rather unique-looking bus and I managed to snap a picture of it before it moved off. Haha... looks like it's a good reminder that Christmas is around the corner!

Special bus


Just around 9.30am, I received an SMS from Ms Jumiah, saying that she would meet us at the library itself. Woah...I was really touched that she actually came down to render her help and to give the students some morale booster.

Upon arrival, we were immediately herded towards one of the rooms and we began our audition almost immediately. The room was cramped and small. In fact, I expected something bigger than this. The 3 judges sat together and surprising, one of them was an ex-student of the school. How coincidental! Anyway, we took some time to position our props and then we began. The Looney Tunes went first followed by Diamonds That Rust. There were some minor glitches here and there but all in all, everything went smoothly. Phew! I heaved a sign of relief when I realise that the preliminaries were over, in a flash. The angels were really very outstanding. Somehow, watching them perform made me feel that all my effort spent on them was worthwhile. It's rather hard to put down in words what the feeling was but, I felt great! I bet the angels felt the same way too.

We were then told that we were not allowed to stay behind to watch other teams' performances. There was some miscommunication here because the librarian in charge had earlier told me that we could actually do so. Haha...I almost freaked out because I had chartered the bus to come at 5pm. We finished at 10.30 am! Luckily the bus company could send a driver down. While waiting for him, we snapped several photos. Here's one of them:

Almost immediately after putting down our props, we proceeded to Swensen's. Wow... we had such a wonderful time there talking and laughing. Oh yes, they even volunteered to help me train the next batch of storytellers. How nice of them!

Anyway, we left Swensen's with satisfied tummies and with a greater sense of satisfaction that we had done our best. Now, we only can wait for the results....On a last note, do check out what we ate in Swensen's!
- posted by NaNa @ 3:11 AM |

Let's Twist Story Dramatization
Hi, this is my first time blogging in school. Somehow it feels rather different from blogging at home. Perhaps it is because I am more able to blog in a relaxed manner at home whereas I have to shy away from prying eyes in school. Haha... talk about privacy!

Anyway, today was really a rewarding and fulfilling day. We(Note: Not I) spent the day rehearsing for the "Let's Twist!" Story Dramatization Contest which would be held tomorrow. The rehearsals were actually very tiring, more so for the 10 angels as they had to constantly rehearse and practise their lines from 9am till 4pm. I was really impressed with their perseverance and with the fact that they were so enthusiastic at their task. I must admit that the task assigned to them actually "robbed" and deprived them of so many days of their holidays and time they could have spent having fun. Well, I'm rather comforted that these 10 angels all came with great working attitude. They were very much proactive in their tasks, allowing me to take a backseat in their training. I only had to finetune their actions, their pronunciations and give them some suggestions in their acting.

The teams were also very much encouraged when Mrs S popped over to take a look at their "kung fu"(storytelling skills) and this further boosted their confidence. Well, with the exception that Junqun and Farhanah kept giggling at certain parts, everything else went smoothly.

It's really hard work on their part and I promised them ice-cream at Swensens after the whole competition regardless of whether they get into the finals or not. They deserve it. I guess I deserve to give myself a treat as well!

Haha...I hope everything turns out well tomorrow. It's also time to spy on the standard of storytelling in other secondary schools.

Till next time .....Sherlock Annabel!

- posted by NaNa @ 5:00 PM |

Weddings and more weddings...
Hi bloggie

Hmmm...it seems as if the whole world is getting married this holiday, with the exception of me, of course *winks mischievously*. Anyway, I have received a total of not 1, not 2 but 6 wedding invites this holiday! Imagine that I have approximately 1 wedding to go every week. That's how scary it is! Haha... This works out to be a $600 poorer Annabel. *sob sob* Nevermind, I'm sure my turn will come too, in good time.

Anyway, it's such a coincidence that I happen to have 2 weddings to attend on the same night. Since I can't split myself into too, I guess I have to inform W that I can't attend hers. Anyway, here are the dates for the wedding dinners. 26th Nov-Theresa, 6th Dec - Y and W, 24th Dec - Sandra, 26th Dec - Marilyn and 27th Dec - Anqi.

Today, I went sourcing and scouting around Tampines area for suitable dresses to wear for these weddings. Hahaha... sadly, I have no proper dresses in my wardrobe. Since I have like 6 weddings (and more to come I suppose) I thought it was a good idea to invest in a few decent-looking dresses. However, I do not want to splurge on these clothes which I would only get to don once in a blue moon. I had spotted a very sweet-looking pink tube dress at Isetan the other day. I was thinking about whether I should actually get it as it costs $79. I actually tried it on and it does look rather fitting! Well, anyway, I put the purchase on hold. J and CM offtered to loan me some dresses as well. Such dear friends I have!

I started off my mission at DBS Building, This Fashion. To my surprise, there were some clothes which look reasonably presentable. However, one must really be patient and be prepared to take time to sieve through the majority to find a gem. Haha.... after spending 1 hour there, I managed to try on a total of 12 dresses but only buying 1. The salesgirl must be really exasperated with me, having tried on so many and getting only 1 dress. Anyway, I thought that I had made a great buy. The halter neck dress looked as if it cost at least $50. It was definitely a steal for me! Anyway, I started my mission at This Fashion and I ended it there as well. Somehow, the trying of clothes made me rather exhausted. Don't ask me why!

Looking forward to the Storytelling Competition Preliminaries this Wednesday. I believe the 10 angels will do well. They have put in so much time and effort into it! Pray for us, yah?

- posted by NaNa @ 5:34 AM |

Of Farewell and The Incredibles
Today was Ms Yeo's farewell from the staff. Everything ran amazingly smoothly except for my speech. Well, my hands were trembling and shaking way badly as I read out the speech. I was rather intimidated by the huge turnout. The cue cards i prepared for the speech somehow appeared to be stuck to one another. Haha it was extremely embarrassing when I had to tell everyone to wait for me to get the correct card in the middle of my speech. Luckily, the powerpoint slides I prepared ran smoothly. The slides were running to ABBA's song "Thank You For the Music", one of my current favourites at the moment. Anyway, I'm glad that Ms Yeo was happy with the simple low-key affair. We tried our best to make the most of what we have. Hopefully, it came across as sincere(which I think it was).

Anyway, last night I went to catch "The Incredibles" at Bugis Junction. It's the best animation ever created by Disney Pixar. It's hilarious, creative, witty and a great movie for both the young and old. I was totally blown away by the plot and characters. I've recently watched "Shark Tale" but, YES, I agree that "The Incredible" is in a league of its own. Watch it for yourself and you will know what I mean! I do not want to be a spoiler and reveal the plot in my blog.

After the movie, around 12 am, CM and I wanted to use the toilet. However, all the toilets in the building were locked. We therefore decided to use the toilets at Hotel Intercontinental. Erm... The main point is not to talk about the toilets but on our way there, we spotted the Bugis arcade and remembered that there was a toilet somewhere around the area. We saw many policemen crowding around the escalator area with some youths, but CM and I dismissed the sight and thought that the policemen were just being vigilant. We then took the escalator down to the arcade level. Imagine our shock when we saw blood of the floor near the escalator landing. I almost freaked out at the sight! The cleaner was there mopping up the remaining blood stains. Frightened, we immediately took the escalator back up again. I held on to the escalator bar to steady myself. To my horror and disgust, I saw another patch of blood on the bar next where to where my hand was. Yucks! Luckily I didn't touch it by mistake. Shaken, we quickly left the scene.

I presume that there was a fight prior to this. Hmmm... I am still rather disturbed by what I had seen.

- posted by NaNa @ 1:21 PM |

Mamma Mia!!!
It's Mamma Mia night for me tonight!!!

I went for the musical at Esplanade, a.k.a "The Durian" tonight with J. Mammia Mia's one entertaining musical to watch....in fact, it's a must-watch. Well, initially I was rather reluctant to shell out $65 ($67 to be exact because of Sistic's surcharge) for the ticket. However, since I had heard so many raves about it, I thought why not? I went and did not regret. It was a superb production and ABBA's songs were ingeniously incorporated into the plot of the musical. I was no Abba fan before this but now I AM! I bought ABBA's "The Definitive Collection" yesterday while I was at Plaza Singapura. ABBA is equivalent to ...hmmmm let me think... S Club 7 of yesteryear, maybe even bigger! I was totally blown away by the fact that most of ABBA's songs are really catchy. It probably takes a 3-year old kid 2 mins before he is be able to hum "Honey Honey" the second time he hears it. The power of ABBA!

Anyway, I made it on time for the musical. It was exceedingly rushed as I left school around 6.05pm, reached home at 7pm and had to shower and change before hitting the Esplanade. Without taxi drivers, I would have been locked out of the musical to face a TV screen. Anyway, because it was so rushed, I did not manage to eat dinner and proceeded hungrily to watch Mamma Mia on an empty stomach. Haha luckily my stomach did not growl or I would have been seriously embarrassed! *blushes*

Mamma Mia was my first ticket inside the Esplanade. I thought that the place was breathtakingly magnificent and grand. Perhaps that ambience took up half my ticket price. Anyway, my $65 ticket allowed me only a place right behind. The stage was actually rather visible from where I was seated. Many $85 seats in front of us were empty but the ushers did not allow us to move in front. I did think that it was rather mean of the ushers at first. Looking back, I think there were just doing their jobs. Sighs... What a waste!

Think I would be buying Mamma Mia tickets for my parents as their birthday gifts. My mother wanted to go but she is terribly sick. My dad didn't want to go because he had a badminton session scheduled. Silly man!!! Anyway, my mum was greatly disappointed. I can sense my dad wants to go as well since he's such an ABBA fan. Well, I'll probably buy them the $100+ tickets then and be a good daughter! *winks*

By the way, my tagboard's not working. Hope it will get up and running again. I really miss it!


- posted by NaNa @ 8:01 AM |

East Zone Schools Chinese Orchestra Concert
Was missing in action for 1 entire day. It wasn't that I was too lazy to blog, but the reverse... I had absolutely no time yesterday. Well, the Chinese Orchestra was involved in this East Zone Schools Chinese Orchestra Concert "Rhapsody in Harmony 2004" yesterday. It was a tiring day for me as I went to school at 10.45am and reached home exactly 12 hours later! You might be asking what I was doing the entire day. The answer ---> The East Zone Chinese Orchestra Concert...duh!

It was a strength-zapping day for me and I didn't manage to go to church at all due to the fact that I had to be in school early. Worried that I would reach school late, I took a cab, thinking that it would give me some time allowance to arrive way before the students. Alas, man proposes, God disposes. I managed to get a cab, but the cab driver heard me wrongly and almost drove me to Pasir Ris instead! The cab driver was this nearing retirement old man who is most likely hard of hearing. What's worse, the cab fare came up to $9.40, the most since I had taken to school in 2 years. Probably it was because the cab driver had to make a detour. Sheeesh...next time I take a cab to school, I will ensure that I e-n-u-n-c-i-a-t-e the address clearly!

Anyway, back to the main topic... the concert. Well, we spent most of our time rehearsing the items. There were so many items scheduled for the performance that very night. I believe that the audience must have been way overwhelmed by the many items that night. If I remember correct, the concert lasted a whooping 2h 45 mins. Ouch! Mdm Cheng, our new Principal, was standing behind the doors, full of smiles and cheering for our students when our item was on. It was the first time she had seen the whole Chinese Orchestra in action and I could sense the pride on her face as the Orchestra played. Oh, did I mention that she had put up an item with the other principals/vice-principals? Well, she played the pipa and I think she did rather well.

Photo of the concert booklet


Anyway, amidst the concert, we were literally chased out of our holding area where our bags, instruments and other stuff are placed. Anyway, it was really silly because we had no place to go and had to make do with the corridors of VCH. Talk about bring pathetic! Well, at least we were not the only school rendered "homeless". We had to carry all the bags , instruments and stuff out of the room in liek 15 mins. Check out the condition of the bags in a mess in the picture below.

Bags, bags and more bags...



- posted by NaNa @ 9:02 PM |

I'm back with a vengence!
Oooh, I was really too busy these few days to blog. I had mentioned earlier that I was involved in the End-of-year Staff Workshop and boy, was I glad that it was over. However, we still have another session on the 29th December 2004. You may think it's weird to enjoy work, but I actually relish the bonding of colleagues working together in the workshop committee. It's hard work but I enjoyed the process. ;)

Anyway, I promised you photos of The Santuary. So here they are! Tata!

The Santuary (Notice the aluminium strips on the pillar?)


Another photo of the library


After the workshop, I had to rush immediately to Chinatown to meet YH and friends. Being a person who has absolutely no sense of direction, I was actually rather frightened of taking the NEL line to Chinatown. Yes...I do get lost! What's more, it's only my second time taking the NEL line. However, I was pretty street-smart *ahem* and decided for the sake of arriving in one piece in Chinatown, I had better follow the crowd. Voila.... I have proven the saying "If in doubt, follow the crowd" correct again!

The purpose of the meetup? Well, YH wanted to buy us dinner as he managed to get posted to ACS(I). Well, YH, if you are reading this, congrats because you have not been forgotten by your fairy godmother. Anyway, we went to a vegetarian (reason: YH is a herbivore) restaurant called 'Just Green'. Thanks to YH's generosity that we had a sumptuous dinner consisting of mock shark's fin, crispy oatmeal prawns, fish cooked in black pepper and lemon sauce and much, much more. Just thinking about the food again makes my mouth water. At the end, the dinner came out to be $200+, which I thought was rather steep for simply putting "flour stuff" into my stomach. Nevertheless, we all enjoyed ourselves and that was all that mattered.

While walking around in Chinatown, I happened to chance upon this shop selling all sorts of stationery. I went in to get some materials for making paper roses (I happen to be rather good at this) and I saw the tiara below. I could not resist the temptation and got it in the end. Now, you must be thinking that all the work had gotten to my head that I am crazy enough to buy a tiara. What for? you might ask. Well, it's for the Storytelling Competition in two weeks' time. Both groups from 1E1 and 1E4 could use this, so I bought this without thinking. I amvery much sane, alive and kicking, by the way!

The Tiara


After the buying and sight-seeing along the night market at Chinatown, we were all bushed and decided to rest our feet at Swensens at Chinatown Point. There, we stayed till around 11, where I had my yummy Coit Tower ice-cream. Aren't you envious? *winks*

Yummy Coit Tower from Swensens


Anyway, I am signing off now as I want to catch Singapore Idols on Channel 5, The Champions on Channel 8 and Survivor.
- posted by NaNa @ 8:14 PM |

End-of-Year Workshop
Wow, what a busy day today was. It's amazing how everything worked out so nicely. Just in case you have no idea what's going on, let me fill you in.

The teachers would be having their End-of-Year staff workshop tomorrow and some colleagues and I were given the task of coordinating it. It's really tough and extremely challenging to put a workshop together. However, I must add that it's really fun to work together as a project team. Hahaha...that is if you have like-minded project mates. I guess that is the same when students are assigned group mates for their project. Everyone wants the most co-operative people in their group. Personally, I truly enjoy projects more than paper work. =)

Anyway, we revamped and redecorated the library. Aluminium strips were pasted on the pillars in a spiral manner, the tables were nicely covered with checkered plastic table cloths we got from Value $1.05 shop and little ornaments with potpurri were strategically positioned in the centre of the table. All these and more were added to the originally lifeless library... and voila... the transformation was AMAZING! I remember telling one of my colleagues that the library is now a "happening" place. I must admit that I was suitably impressed by the great job we did. I will try to put up some pictures tomorrow. After all, seeing is believing!

I believe that tomorrow's workshop would be a great success. Looking forward to the workshop but not to the fact that I have to crawl out of bed at 6 am. *Wails* However, a project member must do what a project member must do, despite the dark eye circles and massive, dangling eyebags!

Oh yes, angels who are down for my remedial session this Thurday, I would have to postpone it to Friday. *Clubs myself for not realising that Thursday is Deepavali*





- posted by NaNa @ 6:05 AM |

My "Lame" Blog
Well, I have just received a comment on my blog that it is "lame". What does "lame" mean anyway? That my blog is crippled? How can it be so when my blog has no legs? *dripping with sarcasm*

Anyway, I really cannot comprehend why anyone would read and flame other people's blogs. It seems as if these pathetic losers have nothing better to do. Oops...anonymous, or whoever-you-are, if you feel so strongly about my blog, I have a very sincere advice. KEEP OUT! Simply click on the cross icon on the top right hand corner and vamooosh... out of my sight.

I am not mean by nature and I hope I never will be. In fact, I detest people who put others down. To anonymous, my blog is not suitable for your reading, I guess. Well, perhaps you can recommend me your blog site instead. I am enjoying writing my daily blog and I hope that if you find my blog needs improvement, kindly show or tell me how by giving me constructive suggestions and not by bombarding my tagboard with nasty comments.

I have already said that I am very new to blogging. In fact, my current page exists only about a week old. The earlier blogs were copied from another previous blog site which didn't take off. I admit that my blog site is not the pinnacle of perfection. However, please do not slam other people's work just like that. It's really not very fair.

Anyway, I do hope that anonymous is not one of my students. I would really be very disappointed if it turns out to be so.

Signing off

Annabel

"Everyone needs encouragement. We could definitely do better without people who put others down." ~ Annabel





- posted by NaNa @ 6:14 AM |

Brother's back!
Blogging time....

Prior to my blog, I spent approximately 45 mins calling up and chasing some angels for their blog url. It was tedious and utterly time-consuming. Most of them already had the blog site up and running but either did not send me the link or claimed that they had already emailed me. Well, I gave them the benefit of the doubt and actually believed some of them. Hmmm, perhaps, my angels are not so angelic after all. *Sigh*

Anyway, Brother's back! However, he is down with flu and his voice was rather gruff and hoarse. Everyone in the family is down with flu, except for me and my maid. Probably my body resistance is high due to the many multi-vits I pop every night. Haha...I take about 2 multi-vits, 2 capsules of evening primrose, 2 capsules of vitamin e... well you get the picture! I'm a pill-popper!

Back to Brother. Brother has gotten a 2 day MC from the doctor so he would not be returning to camp. This gives me more time to spend with him. Hurray! My Brother is actually more elated at this piece of good news. He told me that he missed home a lot in three weeks at camp. Poor thing! Anyway, do check out the picture of me messing around with Brother's army cap. I forced him to take the picture for me and he did so reluctantly!


Well, I was watching the news earlier this evening and I happened to see this news extract about a new coffee craze in Philippines. Seems like the latest fad to hit the country is coffee beans from civet cats' droppings. No kidding! These people actually collect the faeces from civet cats(whose diets are mainly coffee beans), wash them and roast them into civet cat coffee. Coffee experts have claimed that these coffee beans actually make great-tasting coffee. Eeeewww! How gross can anyone get! I'll take my Nescafe over civet cat poo anytime... *cringes and shows and utterly disgusted face*
- posted by NaNa @ 4:11 AM |

Wasn't able to blog last night. I think the server was down and I gave up after 10 minutes of trying and retrying. Anyway, I was too exhausted to blog last night.

Oooh, I had an exciting day yesterday. I went with J to catch Princess Diaries 2. It's indeed a typical teenage flick and we sat surrounded by 13 year olds. It felt really strange, as if we were the oldest in the entire cinema. (Ok, I know that's true but still, I'm 13 at heart!) Anyway, they laughed at the places that I thought were not very funny. I guess this is what people call a "generation gap". Sigh... age is really catching up with me! Anyway, back to the show. I throughly enjoyed "Princess Diaries" but "Princess Diaries 2" was simply an average production. I guess angels would definitely enjoy the show more than I did.

Anyway, while waiting for J at Tampines Mall, I embarked on a sacred mission of shopping. Well, Metro was, and still is, having a 20% storewide discount. I ended up with a white bag and 2 hair clips. Hey, I made some substantial savings of about $8. I then popped over to Samuel and Klein and bought a skirt at 50% off. Now, how cool is that?

Today, Brother is coming home. Am looking forward to seeing him again! Oh, Brian, Junqun, Farhanah and Fung Qi would be coming over today as well to prepare for their story-telling competition. Hmmm... think I will be calling up the angels who have not submitted their blog pages to me today and tomorrow.

Will update further if I have time! See you and enjoy your weekends.



- posted by NaNa @ 8:00 PM |

It's Idol Fever
Back to blogging. The reason why I was late, simple. It's Thurday night and Idol fever is on! Haha...I'm totally into watching Singapore Idol every Thursday and Friday night. In fact, I do believe I'm not alone in this. Even my mother and maid watches along.

Tonight was RnB night and I was really glued to the screen. I'm beginning to see the idols differently as well. Let me critic the performances of the 5 contestants tonight.

Taufik: He has really evolved from a nobody to a somebody in this competition. He has improved BIG TIME! Taufik can really groove well to the music and he has such slick movements. Plus, he can capture the audience's attention. Well, at least he has captured mine! Initially, I found him rather average-looking, but the longer I see him, the more suave he is. *swoon* Taufik has good mastery of all the themes in the Singapore Idol. He will definitely be a strong contender for the final 2! Rock on, Taufik!

Daphne: Personally, I like her cutesy voice. Despite her small frame, she does have a big personality. However, I find that something was sorely lacking in her performance tonight. Perhaps, it's the lack of motivation (Christopher is not around anymore)? I don't know. She can sing better when she hits the high notes. Daphne can definitely be idol material, however, maybe not in the Singapore Idol. My guess is that she'll be out tomorrow.

Slyvester: He did not impress me tonight. I found his performance to be only average. Maybe it's because I have such high expectations of him. His dancing was non-existent and he appeared as though he was having cramps. Sorry Ziqi and all Slyvester supporters out there! I must however admit that he is really boyish. Probably if I were a teenager all over again, I would gush madly over him. He has this bad boy streak in him which would possibly endear him to many ah lians as well.

Leandra: I thought her first performance of the song "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" was terribly weak. In fact, it was one of the worst renditions I have ever heard. *Bleah* However, she totally blew me away with her version of "Falling". I'm no Alicia key fan, but the moment she sang, I sat up and told myself that Leandra is still in the competition. Phew. She's just too sweet to go away like that. Her biggest disadvantage would be her age though. (See sometimes being old is not too bad either!) ;)

Olinda: My favourite singer among all the Idol wannabes. Like Taufik, she definitely stands a high chance of making it to the final 2. She has really showed that she wants to win Singapore Idol really badly. I'm rooting for her because she is starting to look glamourous. More changes will be in the pipeline, trust me.

Anyway, 1 shocking discovery I made. I realised that there's a teacher in PRSS who actually looks and sounds like Florence Lian. Guessing time!

Oh yes, tomorrow will be the deadline for the submission of blog links. Do try to remind your friends who have not done so. Otherwise, they will be hearing my voice on their phones. This is not a threat!


- posted by NaNa @ 6:14 AM |

Makes me wonder
Hi guys, finally got to the root of my problem. My tagboard was the sole cause. No wonder there were no words when I loaded my blog earlier on. Arggghhh... this blog is really exasperating! Perhaps the template I chose has some bugs. How unlucky can I get? I have now removed it and hopefully my blog can be read. I will put up a new tagboard pretty soon. Meanwhile, do continue reading my blog yah?

Anyway, I really want to rant in this blog. Somehow or other, I find myself pulled in all directions. It seems almost as if I cannot breathe. It's the holidays, so why is this happening? I keep asking myself but I simply cannot provide any answers to the question. Many may think that teachers are actually the luckiest beings on earth, being blessed with a 2-month long holiday. How many people ot there actually realise that teachers actually have to go back to school every day until 19th Nov and we still have duties assigned to us. Hey angels, you are not the only people with holiday homework, yah? I think I have much more on my hands than you do....sighs. How I wish I was a student all over again...I promise to do all my homework and obey my teachers. Honest! Cross my heart.

Enough of the nasties. I was quite shocked when my father actually asked me if I was interested in doing Lasik for my myopia. Shock was the word to describe, as in the past, the moment I brought up the subject, I was immediately silenced by him, claiming that Lasik was highly dangerous and that one could go blind. What made my dad change his mind? I presume it's the fact that the cost of Lasik is now really, really affordable. Such that a poor girl like me can afford it. Nevertheless, I told him I would adopt a wait-and-see attitude first. Whatever will I do with my contact lenses otherwise? However, I can definitely say that I would go under the laser pretty soon. I want my 6/6 vision like my cousin, Michael!

- posted by NaNa @ 4:18 AM |

Springcleaning
Haha, my relationship with Blogger.com is solely one of hatred. This is the second time in a row that I had almost completed my blog but accidentally erased my entry. *slaps myself doubly hard this time round* What can I say? That I'm stupid? Careless? ...Sigh...

Nevertheless, I have discovered that my most productive time for blogging would be immediately after my dinner, in the evenings. This would be the time when I have just finished my dinner and I can think in a clear state of mind. Before this, I am often found in a trance-like, sleepy state. After my dinner, I would then zoom immediately to my computer and embark on my journey of blogging for the day. Basically, it would be a frenzied time of thinking, typing and reflecting. A time when I would be oblivious to the world and people around me. I would then ignore the dog barking downstairs, Mother nagging at me and concentrate fully on penning my thoughts for the day.

Well, today, I have successfully managed to clean and pack my work area in the staff room. It was no easy task, considering that the area was almost classified as "hazardous" due to the amount of paper and dust around it. (Haha, I am exaggerating but you get the picture) Anyway, I have cleared most of the papers away, threw out a black trash bag worth of junk and decorated my work area. Now, it looks spiffy and I am most proud of my accomplishments in a single day!

Since students are not allowed into the staff room area, I shall allow you a sneak peek at my new work surroundings....

My Work Area

Voila... Cool right?

Oh yes, angels are starting to email me their blog pages. It makes me wonder which class will fully submit their URLs first. 1E1 or 1E2? 1E2 had responded fast initially but 1E1 is slowly catching up. Haha...it's the amazing race for them... a race to see which class can submit their blogs first. Who do you think will win? Angels, hurry your friends and help them in their mission!

Anyway, let me reveal the answers to the 3 photos I had put up in my blog yesterday.

Picture 1: Escalator in one of the Bangkok skytrain stations
Picture 2: Railroad tracks in again, one of the Bangkok skytrain stations
Picture 3: A remote control holder. Haha.. got you there! Unbelievable right? Check out the picture below for some solid evidence.


Did you get it right?

With that, I end my blog today with a picture of my dog. Hopefully, all these pictures do not make my blog laggy. Do let me know if it does. Cheerios!


Sleepyhead!

- posted by NaNa @ 4:42 AM |

Photos Galore!
My relationship with Blogger.com is now a love-hate one. I had just finished typing today's post when I realised that I had accidentally deleted it. Argggghhh.... silly me! Nevermind, I shall exhibit my never-say-die mentality and REDO my entire blog. Hmmmph! *sulks and crosses my arms*

Well for today, nothing much happened so I will not be writing about the monotonous happenings of today. Instead, I would be blogging about one of my interests --- Photography. Looking at me, you would never expect that a simple, gentle, lovely young lady (an exaggeration...I know) like me would be interested in hobby like photography. Indeed, photo-taking is often synonymous with bald-headed old men in their prime who have too much free time in their hands. This is stereotyping but who cares? I am neither bald nor have too much free time, but I truly enjoy taking photographs.

I recall the first time when I was given my first camera by a close church friend of my family, Uncle Harold, when I was 13 years old. He had noticed that I had shown slight interest in photography and presented me with an old camera of his. Now, let me take some time to describe the camera. It looked neither slim nor physically attractive. Instead, it looked weathered, seasoned and to put it in simple English, an antique! It was one of the cameras that required some effort on my part to forward the film everytime a shot was taken. However, I was extremely elated at the thought that I could snap away freely without being snapped at by my mother for playing with her camera. Haha, it was the best thing that could happen to me then.

I started clicking at every I saw, my dog urinating, my father dozing off and my various family members looking their very worst. Of course, I received many complaints but who cares? I was enjoying myself! Uncle Harold then taught me that taking good pictures require much patience, in waiting for the subjects to be ready and being always ready as a photographer to catch that very special moment. I remembered being laughed at by my cousins and friends for lugging an old contraption everywhere I went but their stares and ridicule did not put me off photography. I throughly enjoyed myself. "Wait with vigilance and patience, for it is only with waiting that you can capture the best moments," stressed Uncle Harold. Perhaps, it was through Uncle Harold that I learnt to temper my hot-headedness and fiery spirit in me.

Sadly, I lost the camera when I was moving house. Much as I tried my best to look for the camera, I could not find it. However, the words of Uncle Harold will remain etched in my head as indelible memories.

Anyway, let me show off some of my photographs taken using my latest digital gadget --- a Konica Minolta that I had purchased in June. I have also put up 3 pictures for readers to guess what they are in my tagboard. No prizes for guessing it right but answers will be unveiled in my next blog.
- posted by NaNa @ 4:06 AM |