September Holiday..

Time flies. The September Holiday is coming to an end pretty soon.

Throughout the week, I 'soaked' myself in the college for *little pals' consultation, one after another, from morn till dusk. Heh.. no joke, skipped lunch a few times also. Ha.. no worries, always managed to replenish well during dinner (at times, with a (some) good pal(s)). :)

I was repeating more or less the same thing over and over again to different *little pals during these consultations. Mm.. tired yes, but not boring at all. While what I said can be predictable (as the answers to the questions have to be consistent), how the different *little pals had reacted were rather refreshing. Heh..

I also learnt I am the subject of various blogs maintained by these current *little pals. Haha.. finds it rather funny and a little heart-warming. A little consolation is that I think they must have gotten used to me pretty well to have "me" occupying a little private space in their blogs.
{ *shy to link you all there :P }

It's always good to inject light humour in these sessions. I am not particularly good at it, but I still will try. Ha.. these *little pals will play along naturally and these sessions can be more interesting while learning.

Some random funny moments, I can recall now :
- "No wonder you are not married, you don't find time for dating also. Don't worry, I can be your date." (erm... I got to siam.. act blur.. knowing it's a joke, of course)
- A *little pal has a big round badge attached to his pencil case with the word "I admire gays.." I was a little stunned when another *little pal drew my attention to it. I read it more carefully. The exact wordings are "I admire gays as they left more women for me." Hahaha.. I have nothing against gays or lesbians. They are still as respectable an individual as can be, with a slightly different orientation.
- Are you married? .. Oh may I introduce my secondary school teacher to you? (erm... that's their way of distracting me.. heh.. )
- Many instances of *little pals trying to "show off" what they have done or accomplished but only to find they have done it quite wrongly. Their expression were so confused and funny. They were expecting some praises, but erm.. haha.. still praised them for their effort lah. :P

I did not accomplish much of what I first set out to do in this holiday. The task-list planned prior to the holiday was rather long. The planned tasks were gradually replaced by consultation and consultation. Ha.. so all my time was spent for these *little pals. Mm.. hope they will be doing well, eventually.

I hope I can do more and better..
(not just to these *little pals, but to all people around me... )
(not only assisting others in academic areas, but in general well-being of an individual... )
Inevitably, there are a few who still slipped out of "the net".
Ha.. count that as my limitations.

悲观面：有人就有是非
乐观面：有人就有温馨

唯独人类可以给人类带来希望。
天欲救人、人当先自救。

Where's My Braces?

Where's my braces??
It's gone for good. Yahoo...
What a 1-year-9-month-wait? Erps.. not to mention the $4170-deal. :P

What I naturally and gladly "endured" through :
1) "Hey, you know your age not? Still go put braces?" (The first person asking knows best. She is as old/young as me.)
2) "Ask you ah, why you go put braces? Is it due to vanity reasons?" (The first person asking, later also went to put. Did I inspire him? :P )
3) "Hey, I didn't notice your set of teeth is not well-aligned." (Even from friends of many years. Aiyo, making me feel "why-the-need-to-spend" and have to endure the pain some more. Haha.. )
4) Can't bite anything too hard. The gum region can be really sore. That was really a period of "吃软饭". That was also the period when I mastered the art of swallowing when the hurting is real bad.
5) Can't smile too much immediately after meal, unless you want to appear like a monster-of-sort. I needed a thorough rinse of the mouth first. But, no matter how hard I rinsed, I just cannot guarantee that the oral cavity was cleared of foreign objects. The best way was still to do a quick check in a mirror. So 麻烦 .
6) I acquired a habit of always bringing some tooth-picks with me, and got to leave a set of tooth-brush and tooth-paste at my work place.
7) Eating long uncut vegetables needs practice. On a few occassions, I had one end of the vegetable stuck on my braces and the other end was half swallowed, koo-chee-ing the far deeper end of my tongue (or was that the upper end of the throat). It could be rather comical.
8) The soreness when the tender skin was rubbed against the metallic structure. It took quite some time to get used to it. Maybe the skin had grown thicker in the process.
9) As the teeth were making their 'journey' to re-align themselves, they may create gaps between them in such process. Saliva could just flow out in the most unappropriate time. Eee.. The problem was, before I can get used to the re-alignment, it changed again. I was caught in a few embarrassing situations. Always have some tissue papers at hand may be a good idea.
10) Ulcer. Oh dear. I once had a pretty large one under the tongue. Besides, it was right beside the sharper metallic end of the braces. Every attempt to move the tongue (i.e. when we want to eat or talk) was so 'electrifying'. OMG. Unimaginable. How did I go through that?
11) The wait to remove the braces for good. The 'promise' as to when it could be taken out changed a few times. Haiz.. can be so disappointing leh. Okay la, it was due to the professionalism/perfection the orthodontist wanted to achieve.

Haha..
There were also numerous heart-warming moments.
For example, many *little pals or colleagues who had past- or current-experiences of wearing braces automatically came forward and shared their experiences.

At present, I just got to make sure I have the discipline to wear the "retainer" (getting only next week). That will be truly the final phase.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm now always ready to smile. Just for you? No problem. :)

Counting Blessings...

At time 1600h (approximately) :

*Little pal A : Aren’t you tired? You have been talking since morning till now.
Erm.. of course I was and I took only a few pieces of biscuit for my lunch.
But before I could even try to give a reply…
*Little pal A : But you look like you are enjoying it. Haha..
(she smiled… )
I smiled in return too.. we carried on with our consultation as normal.

Actually, there are enough reasons to pin me down. I was feeling rotten. I was kind of glad that I managed it well enough that I didn’t affect the others around me. Heh..

Just to cite an instance (out of many more… argg.. ), very briefly :

By logic, I must be at B, doing C, with D.
I actually ended up at E, doing F, with G.
But I was hoping to be at H, doing I, with J.

The must-actual-hope just doesn’t align well. That’s stark reality.

Life S. . .
(Just a moment...)

I recalled Lin Xiao Di shared with me once...
“After event K , I am telling himself never again to say life sucks.”
I registered that well, pal.
(Lin Xiao Di, think you may be reading this when you are more free. Ya so, Thanks man!)

I should be counting my blessings.
True enough, there are always enough to get me going. :)

I just need a good night sleep to rejuvenate to my “original” self.
Thank you everyone.

While Waiting ...

Usually, I will make a special effort to be early (if not punctual) for almost all appointments.
I don't quite like to let people wait for me. The feeling could range from uneasy to paiseh or even to an extend of being angry with myself. Heh..

Strangely, while I say I don't like people to wait for me, I don't mind waiting for others.

In a group outing, even when some others are late, there will still be some early enough for me to talk with. Time is not usually "wasted" in a certain sense.

In an outing for just two, I know when the other person is late, I will be alone. But, I will have enough things to keep myself occupied till he/she arrives.
Maybe, I need personal time for myself. I value that anytime. I could read a book, a magazine, explore some gadgets, just thinking about many things or just thinking about my thinking. Haha..

Time is precious and I still value punctuality at large.
My point is plainly, if the other party/parties are late, there is needless for us to be jumping mad. Haha..

Oh, by the way, try waiting for someone you long to meet. That can be quite a different thing altogether. During the wait, you can even feel a tinge of sweetness, I guess. Hehe..

Favourite *Little Pals

One *little pal contacted me. He boldly identified himself as my favourite *little pal. He didn't even say he is "one of my favourites". He plainly put it as MY favourite. When has he qualified as THE favourite? Haha..

Do I have any "favourites"? Ha... I got to think.

I try to be fair. Yet, it's noticeable that I'm close to .. erm.. not all.
Maybe it's near to impossible to know all that well and to be that close to all, at all.
I shall keep trying, anyway. :)

Then who am I closest to? Who are my "favourites"? I think I have...

I observe that, they are not necessarily
- the brainest,
- the most handsome, or
- the prettiest.
(Oh well, by pure coincidence, many of these are indeed rather smart and/or decent looking. Haha.. must say this ah, in case they chance upon this entry and may accuse me of saying they are dumb and ugly. :P )

Some of these so-called "favourites" are actually
- the most lazy,
- the most talkative,
- the ones I scolded most, or
- the ones that simply click.
(Besides, in certain cases, we may first started off as enemy-of-sort. Haha.. In such cases, I will try even harder to turn the tide around. I don't want their learning journey to be plagued by me. It works in most cases, I am glad to say. From enemy-of-sort to friend-like. Wow! )

All in all, I think the key words may be sincere communication.
Communication allows us to understand each other better. Most importantly, I choose to initiate the first move, most of the time. Communication does not restrict ourselves to just talking and talking. We need to spend time with them, listening to them as well. Heh.. believe me, these *little pals have ideas. :)
Perhaps, fate plays a large part too.

沟通。
我在想， 一条水沟，若是不通顺的话，那一定臭气熏天。
哈哈。。 在此虽然我有一点乱盖，但“沟通”的重要性确实也体现了出来。:)

The satisfaction comes when I see the many *little brothers or *little sisters that I have made along the way. :)

Swimming With Contact Lens

When I have a bit of extra time with me, I like to experiment. Ha.. which was what I exaclty just did.
I tried swimming while wearing contact lens this time. Of course, the pair of goggles was wore as well. It worked wonder.

My myopia is kind of serious. Prior to this experience, I was almost-near-blind while I'm in the pool. I don't swim well and I don't really know who exactly I knocked into. Every images around me were so blur.

Swimming to me, has reached another "dimension".
Ok, I still can't swim well. But at least, I know who I have knocked into. :)
Also, I can ascertain, if someone were to tell me that there is a hot babe nearby. :P

假期、佳期

Holidaying.. It’s my life!
Haha.. ~ ~ *crap* ~ ~ !

True enough, it’s school holiday (假期) again (for a week). Yah.. I need a break and all *little pals need a break too. But with the year-end examination drawing near, perhaps, this is also the golden time (佳期) to catch up on their revision. They (great majority of them) need it badly, I think.

A few more months to go. Ha.. I shall walk with them this stressful journey, assisting them with their revision. At times, I also feel I can only do so little. Haiz..

I must also remind myself to do something useful.
This period is certainly not just a holiday (假期) for me, it is also going to be a good time (佳期) for me to do/learn other things as well. Ha.. already thinking of catching up with some old pals (if I'm not too lazy and less passive).

Haha.. would I be able to cope with the many consultations booked already? :P

如今是"假期"也是"佳期"。大伙儿加油吧！=)

忽而忆起有人说过：三期末劫是危机、也是回乡的好时机。

今年秋季，秋意盛浓。
腥风暴雨已经凡尘临，
若不快登上菩提，唯恐。。。

First Cat's Shots

On my way back home, I saw the cat (that usual cat at my block).
I whipped out my handphone and took a few shots of it.

Haha.. I really appreciate the convenience of having a phone with such function.

However, on closer look, I think I still prefer the general effect of a proper digital camera.
(But again, maybe I have yet to know my handphone well enough to achieve the effects I want.)

In the good spirit of sharing, you all can also see some of my cat's shots.
They are not too nice. Nevertheless I quite like to see the expression on that cat. Heh..

First Post Via Email

I'm again trying out something new.
This entry is posted through emailing (without accessing to blogspot at all). Cool!

But again, if I can get access to computer for email, then I can get access to blogspot. Right? Right? Then I don't need such fanciful way of posting what. Mm..

However, if my handphone can sent out emails, then apparently I can post entries almost anywhere / everywhere. Hehehe..

Wait a minute, I don't think I want to subscribe that kind of service through Singtel. Don't want to pay la... Besides, it's unlikely the case that I have so many things to write about anyway.

Teachers' Day

Over the years,
I'll receive some form of well-wishes during this day.
I can feel their sincerity and being a rather "soft-guy", hey, I can be so easily touched. Ha.. I may not express it though.
On the receiving end, it feels good, ha.. or even blissful.

However, I am thinking to myself, what have I done to deserve these?
Okay, I admit I wasn't slacking and I am still working pretty hard for them, as I take it as my responsibility to do the work well.
However, I do note that everyone who likes their job gives their best.
But not many jobs have a day specially set aside
- to receive thanks, well-wishes/gifts from thier 'clients'
- to be rewarded with with a day's off (the day before it, is meant for celebration, and so technically speaking there are 2 days' off),
- to indulge yourself, etc.

Really *shy* man..

I really appreciate the bonds built with the *little pals over the years.
Aren't they more like little brothers and sisters?

While they thank me for playing my role, I am also grateful that they (the *little pals) make my life more colourful and with more human-touch too. Ha.. the 'thanking' should be more mutual. :)
Teaching can be a rather interesting profession, where we also learn at the same time. In many occasions, we do learn from our *little pals as well. Haha..

*We shall continue to work well together. :)