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I participated in an East Zone Science Carnival yesterday at Victoria Junior College, along with Jarrett, Cong Yang, Gary and Hua Ying. It was a one-way trip from school. We had lots of fun with the activities, especially the 15 minutes "star-gazing" in an inflated astronomy laboratory model. Hua Ying commented that it was awesome. (:

We could leave as soon as we completed the activities of the day.
We finished them at about 4.30pm.
It was a one-way trip from school, so we had to return home ourselves.
Since the nearest MRT station was Bedok, it was pretty far away from my home in Woodlands.
In a few stops, we reached Kembangan.
This made me recall the trip home last year during the Ramadhan sabbatical course.

Along with Jarrett and Wei Heng, we went to the Street Bazaar at night as part of our sabbatical programme.
It was a one-way trip from school, so we had to return home ourselves.
Since the nearest MRT station was Kembangan, it was pretty far away from my home in Woodlands.
I had to take all the way to City Hall and transfer to the North-South line, or take all the way to Jurong East and transfer there. The whole trip took at least one and a half hour.

The whole trip took me only forty-five minutes yesterday.
I stopped at Paya Lebar and transferred to the Circle Line, reaching at Bishan and taking the North-South trip back home.

This is how great the Circle Line affects our lives.
By giving us an alternate and quicker route to our destination.
And so I told Jarrett on the way back, "Isn't urbanisation great?"

First Timer

"Wei Jie, Yue Jun and I signed up as a team of three for a competition  organised by Nanyang Polytechnic named 'iCode', which challenges us to  code an iPhone web app. The competition is confined within the secondary  school circuit."

This was quoted from Yihan's blog.
Today is the official launch of the [i.code] Competition.
There was a mini ceremony at Nanyang Polytechnic at about 2.45pm.
That was when they would release the theme of our application for this year so we can start working on it until the judging date sometime in November.

Nanyang Polytechnic is situated in Yio Chu Kang and it would take us approximately 45 minutes to reach there by bus and train transfers from the school campus. This meant that we would have little time to eat, considering the few minutes taken up by the teacher of the last period and the need to reach there earlier to register.

And hence, Yihan's mother, Mrs Khoo, SMTP teacher in Hwa Chong Institution, offered to give us a ride there. Wei Jie had important EP3 stuff to handle, so he could not make it. That leaves Yihan and I.

Honestly, I have never met Mrs Khoo before.
Yihan's one of my best friends and I am aiming for SMTP next year, so I wanted to give her as best an impression as possible. I've asked Yihan. He hasn't talked about me yet, so I'm currently a clean sheet with no stains.
So I asked Joel, since he was in her Sabbatical Course in Term 2. He shrugged and said that she looked strict and whose face show no expression - rarely smiles. Asked me to be mentally prepared.

I prepared a speech. A three-word speech. "Hi Mrs Khoo." Just like that.
Then I got on the car and added a few extra words, "Thanks for the ride."
"Ya, sure." With a smile on her face.
That pretty much broke the ice.
Throughout the journey, she remained friendly.
Offered me a pancake (which I politely declined) and taught me how to go back home. I appreciated it.

I was greatly relieved. Still, I maintained my formality at the end of the ride. "Mrs Khoo, thanks alot."
Then Yihan pouted a sentence: "So formal." Mrs Khoo gave a gentle laugh.

Maybe I shouldn't trust Joel too much.
When you're a first timer, things might not turn out as expected.
But in fact, things turned out great.

The crow

An 80 year old man was sitting on the sofa in his house along with his 45 years old highly educated son.
Suddenly a crow perched on their window.
The Father asked his Son, "What is this?"
The Son replied "It is a crow".

After a few minutes, the Father asked his Son the 2nd time, "What is this?"
The Son said "Father, I have just now told you "It's a crow".
After a little while, the old Father again asked his Son the 3rd time, What is this?"
At this time some expression of irritation was felt in the Son's tone when he said to his Father with a rebuff. "It's a crow, a crow."
A little after, the Father again asked his Son the 4th time, "What is this?"
This time the Son shouted at his Father, "Why do you keep asking me the same question again and again, although I have told you so many times 'IT IS A CROW'. Are you not able to understand this?"

A little later the Father went to his room and came back with an old tattered diary, which he had maintained since his Son was born. On opening a page, he asked his Son to read that page. When the son read it, the following words were written in the diary:

"Today my little son aged three was sitting with me on the sofa, when a crow was sitting on the window My Son asked me 23 times what it was, and I replied to him all 23 times that it was a Crow. I hugged him lovingly each time he asked me the same question again and again for 23 times. I did not at all feel irritated I rather felt affection for my innocent child".

While the little child asked him 23 times "What is this", the Father had felt no irritation in replying to the same question all 23 times and when today the Father asked his Son the same question just 4 times, the Son felt irritated and annoyed.

(This story has the same theme as The Basket.)

Two anchors, four reporters and zero credibility

We are not the 9.30 news. We tried asking for that slot, but they said 'no'. We are so exclusive that we only come up once a week. Believing us is like believing crocodiles make good pets. Contrary to popular belief, any similarities to actual people or events are purely coincidental.

Do you give up your seat to the elderly?

If your answer is 'no', then I guess it's time to do so. Inconsiderate commuters, beware!

Distance Fares: Do you benefit?

I think I'm getting all the days of the week mixed up, but it doesn't matter. Just ignore the "unday" in the banner above. Only recently, in fact just three days ago on Saturday, the Land Transport Authority rolled out the Distance Fares scheme as an improvement to the current system.

The Passion to Teach

Miss Tong popped in during Current Affairs to give us our weekend homework and packets of jellybeans each for Youth Day. Everyone was elated and we ate the jellybeans in class, fighting for the extra packets and sharing them with classmates.

It reminded me of the past, when the occasion we looked forward to most wasn't Youth Day, but Children's Day.
I fondly remember how we always remarked,
"Miss Lee is a good teacher because she gives us lollipops!"
"Mr Tan is a good teacher because he gives us stickers!"
Small incentives like these were necessary for a teacher to get into the good books of a student.

When the occasion we dreaded coming wasn't SA2, but PSLE, and homework quickly piled up, the remarks changed to,
"Miss Lim is a good teacher because she doesn't give homework!"
No longer did we hanker after sweets and stickers and stamps. Instead, homework was a bigger deal.

But as we head on to the next stop of our education, we grow and mature.
Now, a good teacher is a teacher that really cares.
Really concerns. Really teaches. Really understands.
Really communicates. Really learns.
Really lives with the passion to teach.

Very few teachers meet the requirements today.
I would like to acknowledge that Mrs Teo Chin Chew was a great teacher.