End of school holidays
Today is the last day of the mid-year break. It feels odd, knowing that I’m not going back to school tomorrow. I think about my students, and I honestly worry for them (especially the 5th formers) as to whether they can finish the syllabus in time and whether they are going to be able to ace their Physics, as I know they can if they were under my guidance.
I spent the afternoon tacking up my cards in my home office and arranged my presents out on display. Yeah I know I should’ve done that earlier but I didn’t have the time and space – I spent Saturday cleaning out my home office just to make space! Hehehe.
There’s supposed to be a Teacher’s Day Log #2 where I put up photos about my pressies… but I don’t have the time to write that. Contrary to popular belief, when I’m freelancing, I don’t have more time. I have to spend my time working, you know!
Good luck, kids. I hope your new teacher is able to guide you well. I’m not sure what will be happening in the month of June as he’s not slated to join the school until July, so I hope it all works out for the better.
I might be going back to school for Paramount Championship finals (if I’m welcomed, that is).
By the way, I owe Pamela Teh RM14, so can someone please tell her I’ll pay her back when I drop by the school =D
June 1, 2008
The beginning of something new
It’s June. It feels odd, having left my teaching career behind. I gave Sri KDU three years of my life. There were good times, and there were also not so good times, but I can safely say that teaching at Sri KDU was a highly memorable chapter in my life. Within those three years, I learnt so much, and I’m not talking only from an academic point of view. I learnt a lot about administration, dealing with people, politics in a workplace, but mainly I learnt a lot about myself. I’ve discovered talents I never knew I had, and developed skills I couldn’t have at any other place. But more importantly, I met a lot of people and I made a lot of new friends, some of whom are my best friends and will continue to be my best friends.
But what I never realised was how much I’ve touched people, too. I was so focused on myself, learning as much as I could and discovering as much as I could, observing how people dealt with me and how people have touched my life, that I never realised the impact that I had on people, too. Some of my friends and students nearly cried on my last day at the school; maybe they did when my back was turned. I had a plethora of gifts and cards, many of them from unexpected sources (and one really weird card – that’s from the 4 of you, you know who you are! LT,WR,GG,MY). Some of my former students in past years even came back to the school to see me before my last day – and gave me lovely cupcakes. Yummmmmm! (Ida, here’s the photo you’ve been waiting for…)
In addition, some of my students even invited me to join them for a day out at Sunway Lagoon. Yeah I know. I’m old. But I still had loads of fun with them 
Thanks, 4 Dickens. I had a great time. Photos can be viewed here and here… but as of right now they’re still incomplete because for some reason I’m having problems uploading to Facebook 
Here’s a preview though… hallelujah for waterproof cameras!
May 24, 2008
New website template!
Hi everyone!
I’ve made a new website template. Yes, on the day right after my last day at Sri KDU… I guess I felt it was time for a change for everything!
To be honest I have wanted to change the website for ages, because the content has been the same the past few years, only the template changed; there were too many sections to maintain and I never update them anyway. So now my website will be a full blog, but I will be transferring some of my old files which I would like to keep to this blog. So updates will still be coming the next few days.
To my clients – yes I know I should be working on your websites. Don’t worry, they will be completed by the projected deadline!
April 13, 2008
I’ve got high cholesterol
I’m serious. I have high cholesterol.
Yesterday I finally collected the results for a blood test which I did a few weeks ago… and I was pretty shocked to see my LDL cholesterol level being higher than the healthy range!
Of course I would have loved to be in denial but let’s face it, that’s not going to help anything. So I paged Bronya, my ever-reliable nutritionist whom I met today and she gave me a long list of what I need to avoid eating and what I should eat… but more importantly, she says, I need to make a lifestyle change. That means not only my diet, but my sleeping habits (I don’t get enough sleep), my stress management (too much stress!!!), and my exercise habits (have you seen the flab around my waist?).
Having been someone who is used to eating whatever she wants without suffering the consequences, this is now quite a drastic change for me. I have to cut out sugars, and reduce oils and salts from my food intake. I also had to pull out of my breakfast group (I’m part of a group of four who take turns buying breakfast for one another every week) so that I can monitor my food intake more closely. I’m also now trying to force myself to go to bed earlier (unfortunately however, going to bed earlier does NOT equal to getting up earlier).
Bronya explained to me that my high cholestrol with the other health alert on my blood test resuls (immunity booster recommended, it says) is an early symptom of what is known as Metabllic Syndrome, which has been brought about by our affluent society. It is a cocktail of high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and Diabetes Type II. The good news is, I’ve caught the symptoms early, which means that I can now do something about it without undergoing medication.
I’ve told my parents about this and unfortunately they pooh-poohed it. My dad was like, “You gotta look at the overall cholesterol levels” i..e the HDL/LDL ratio. “I have high LDL levels,” he says, “but my doctor says it’s OK because my HDL level is high.” And “you need to do more resistance training.” Whereas my mom was like, “You shouldn’t take these results too seriously.” And “I thought you exercise a lot?” My mom, having an extremely high metabolic rate, never has to worry about weight gain, so she doesn’t really bother too much putting healthy food on the table. She reuses oils and puts way too much salt in her cooking.
It’s frustrating because the reason I told my parents is not to be laughed at, but to get support in my bid to become healthier. Looks like this is a battle I have to fight alone at home. I suppose the idea of someone so young having high cholesterol is not something they can comprehend because they’re just not used to the idea. To be honest, I thought if I’d ever get diagnosed, it would be when I’m in my mid-30s.
Sigh… well I’d always wanted to live a healthier lifestyle but was always too lazy to get started. I suppose this is a good time than any other to start.
March 1, 2008
The burn’s all black now
Ok, not really black. But it’s very obvious against my skin now. That’s one disadvantage of being so fair. The other disadvantage, of course, is an increased risk of getting skin cancer.
If you didn’t know how I got this, read about it here.