Week in summary

LAST SATURDAY

Met up with Aud, HR and JR. We walked a lot that day because it seemed like every place we wanted to try was closed or not selling whatever wanted to eat that day. It was still fun though and we talked about planning perhaps a New Year's day stay cation so we can all count down together yay

Some snaps I saved from snapchat lolol

The toast was terrible. 

We walked around town for a bit then had thai food at Sunshine plaza for dinner.

This was a day before Justin returned from Malaysia?

HAZEL'S OG ON MONDAY

Had lunch with some of my uni friends at Putien (Lunch was tasty btw). We met at lunch time in an attempt to catch Hazel during her lunch break. It was a good catch up session. Somehow, I feel like school seems a little more fun now after hearing some of the gossips from them. Can't wait for the next meet up and for juicier gossips!

INTERVIEW ON WEDNESDAY

I'm still waiting for the results. Doubt if I will get it though.

Anyway, my interview was a one-to-one instead of the group one like what most people reviewed they went through. I filled up some form and was asked to write a paragraph (or as many as you like) on "What are your plans for the next few years" and something along the lines of "Why do you want to teach".

I couldn't decide between going back after my interview or to go to Orchard to shop while waiting for Justin to be done with school. I actually decided on going back but wanted to check out F21 at Ion first since I needed to alight there then take a bus home from Orchard (not sure if that is really a shorter/faster route or I convinced myself that it really is a shorter route so I have an excuse to alight at Orchard). Funny thing was I spent so long at F21 it didn't make sense for me to go home for just an hour before I leave the house to come to town again so I stayed outside then had dinner with Justin.

P.S. Somebody complimented me while I was waiting around in SMU hahahaha Always nice to be reminded that there are people who still find me attractive (even when I think I'm looking bad these days) :')

JUSTIN'S FIRST LESSON WITH ALDEN ON THURSDAY

Meh I deleted the snap I took while I was hiding at the corridor and waiting for Justin who was waiting for my tutee to open the door. We had dinner at Redhill market before his tuition and then I walked him over to my tutee's place. So glad Justin took my tutee for English so I don't have to help with that many subjects lololol And also glad because then we can allow ourselves to spend a little bit more on our dates (just a very little bit because it's not like we are earning that much).

Justin came over to my place before tuition and we had a mini photoshoot because he was in suit and tie hahahahahah

Idk if the below pictures will be considered "too much" so please scroll past them very very very very very quickly. Or maybe just shut your eyes and scroll while counting to 5.
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I told him I wanted a pretend-to-kiss photo LOL

I was trying out the mirror effect on him HAHA

<-- I love this picture hahahhaha



























ART SCIENCE MUSEUM ON FRIDAY

TH suggested going for The Deep exhibition so we went for that. It was pretty interesting and educational and there was a guided tour.

Er some random pictures I took :

This looks like fried fish leh. Like a fatter version of the ones you eat with Nasi lemak.

This thing is the giant isopod. It looks like a bug and I remember the guide saying that this is every fisherman's nightmare because when you catch a net of fish with this thing in it, it will bite every fish in the net. See I actually pay attention during the guide.

The exhibition is organised in such a way that you go deeper into the sea as you walk through the exhibits

I remember this is the football fish or something.

I would have preferred having a headset to myself and just explore the place with the guide explaining whenever I reach a particular "checkpoint" - like I can press on something whenever I need an explanation and I would hear it in my headset. But then again, I might feel grossed out because idk how many would have used the headsets + how they probably don't sanitise them and the idea of all the bacteria and germs would put me off.

Nonetheless, it was a good way to spend the afternoon. We had zichar for dinner and then went to Bugis street to shop. I got this silicon nipple tape so here's hoping that I can wear that for long lolol and the sales lady said this would not show through clothes (the one I have shows through clothes so I cannot really wear it unless whatever I'm wearing is thick enough) so I'm looking forward to trying it. If it really works, I will be able to get cropped tops of any styles and not worry about my bra yay

Mookata on Saturday 

Went over to Justin's place and we had mookata for dinner. I don't have proper pictures so I will just be lazy and grab them from snapchat.

OKAY BYE HEHE

How I'm going to answer tomorrow's interview questions

So I'm going for an interview with the learning lab tomorrow and I was told to present a writing sample on any topic. I have not started on that. In an attempt to find out if anyone uploaded their writing samples for learning lab, I googled but found this website with some of the interview questions and information on the interview process so here are some of the questions listed and my preparation for them.

How do you deal with stress

I deal with stress by talking to people about it. Throw in some example from when I did relief teaching if there is a need to.

3 words that describe yourself

Patient (that’s important right? In the teaching industry…)

Independent

Thoughtful

Amusing? (Can this help me get a job?)

Justin said “Team player” and “Highly motivated” but I don’t think I’m any of that. Just yesterday when I was having lunch with Hazel and the rest, I mentioned that I have no career aspirations and that I just want to have a job and not be competitive or aspire to climb up some corporate ladder. Like if I were to apply to be a teacher, I just want to be a normal teacher and not some "head of mathematics department" teacher or principal. I guess not everyone will agree with my perspective and I'm not asking anyone to. I just want a stable job and to be happy and healthy in life. 

Why teaching

Throughout my years as a student, I have always thought the role of a teacher as an important one. When I started thinking about my future career, I know I want a job that would give me meaning in life and not just some routine and mundane office work. I have tried relief teaching in a school and also private tutoring and both offers me a sense of satisfaction. I enjoy getting to know my students and helping them to help themselves makes me feel good. In addition to that,I feel that a teacher does more than just imparting knowledge and that being a teacher can make a difference in someone else’s life. A good teacher can motivate students to do better and encourage their interest in the subject and a bad one will just result in students' disinterest in studying.

I have encountered both. Most of the bad ones were from Uni. I'm not going to include this part during the interview but I recall just having 2 to 3 good professors in my 3 years of uni.

Hobbies

My hobbies include dancing and doing paintings. I enjoy surfing through pinterest in search of ideas and tutorials on crafts. I enjoy quiet activities and dancing is probably the exception.

If I had money, I would want to learn modern calligraphy, indoor gardening (maybe learn to plant some herbs) and type setting. Oh learning how to do latte art and making my own fragrance would be fun too. Also maybe throw in pilates and yoga.

See, I just need money.

Inspiration for teaching

My secondary school math teacher. He was entertaining and made math seemed so enjoyable it became my favourite subject and at the same time, he would motivate us to always do better just because he believes in us. He continued to be my source of inspiration when I returned to do relief teaching. He would check in with me on my lesson plans for the day and correct my approaches, sit in my class, talk to me after school hours to let me know how I can do better as a teacher and I'm thankful for that.

Why take math

I have always enjoyed studying mathematics and it’s the one subject I would do well in secondary school and jc. I have heard loads about math being different in university and that it would be challenging and difficult but I took it anyway because I find studying math to be interesting and solving and proving math questions gives me a sense of accomplishment.

**But actually, uni math..... was really not fun at all. I mean it's cool when you see that you know all these random, difficult, theories and formulae but it was no fun and it was boring.

Okay good luck to me.

P.S. MOE got back to me for an interview for both PE and mathematics. I'm not even that sure if I should still go for that because I have no intention of teaching PE at all. MOE even stated that PE will be my main subject when I didn't even apply for it.

I hope everything works out fine and I'm tired of waiting for replies.

-

My paintings get so ugly when I'm in a terrible mood.

Is my life considered boring

I have an interview on Friday and I just realised that I don't know what is my expected salary for a full time job. This interview I'm going for will require me to take some tests so here's hoping that I will not fail primary and lower secondary school sciences + upper sec math.

Hopefully this will be a five day work week and that I'll still be able to take on private tuition. I wouldn't mind doing just private tuition for my job but idk, somehow, it doesn't seem like a legit, real job... but it is a lucrative career.

In the absence of the pressure to seek a "real job", I would just do private tutoring and spend my money and time doing artsy stuff (like maybe going for modern calligraphy?) and signing myself up for yoga or pilates and travel.

I have never envisioned myself doing great things and going really far in my career. I just want to spend my life with no regrets and to try things that I'm interested in - like so far, I've tried

• cashiering (yes I've always been curious and interested in learning how to operate a cash register) 
• making soy milk (I applied for the job because I liked the soy milk so I was hoping to get free flow soy milk while working there )
• giving out free candies (because the shop was tiny and who can resist a tiny shop selling tiny bottles filled with tiny candies)
• being a sales assistant at a shop selling blogshop clothes (hoping to get staff discount for some of the clothes)
• being a waitress (that was my first job after O levels? It was low paying but I had a lot of fun working with my friends like how we will spoil orders to get free ice cream)
• manning a cafe all by myself. Okay Jiayan and I took turns manning the shop on different days. I learnt that it is not easy to serve a perfect scoop of ice cream and that making waffles is fun.
• being a banquet server (because I heard it pays well but that was not fun at all. The platters were all so heavy and you don't even get to eat the banquet food :( I guess I chose the wrong kind of banquet job but that was just for a day so it was good experience)
• being a clinic assistant for two months. It was not so much of fun because the clinic is pretty busy so you have to dispense the medicine while reading illegible handwriting and weigh babies and measure their head circumferences etc. but still, I gained some experience
• being a promotor for an item I have no clue on how to promote. That was during the IT fair and I was supposed to promote speakers? It's difficult to promote some thing that is of really poor quality. The speakers only seem to work well when I play a particular song so I put that song on replay hoping to sell them lololol I remember this uncle asked if I could play The Beatles/Adele, I said I don't have them in my iPod but I just didn't want to play these songs because they would have made the speakers sound really bad
• doing data entry (that was a follow-up job to compile the pay check for it fair I think?)
• doing packing stuff for a book fair
• teaching a class of 40 for 2 weeks (not easy hello~ And especially difficult when I feel so small in comparison to the students)
• giving private tuition

I think my longest part time job was the one making soy milk. Probably because I was in my favourite mall (Ion) with my favourite mall toilets and.. I got free soy milk.

So yup, I think I have accumulated quite some experience thus far and I definitely hope to be able to learn more from here and that the remaining years of my life will not be restricted to working in a boring and mundane environment.

How I spent my hazy week

Wednesday
This week, I'm glad that I was able to catch up with some of my friends (specifically, JY and Daph) over Sukiya~ I've been craving for Sukiya so this lunch was a timely one hahahah and I got the best of both worlds - my hotpot and my friends. We were so full after that and I tried postponing tuition to a later time (like 1 hour later?) because I wanted to shop (oops). Then something even better happened, my tuition got cancelled hahahahhahaha I was so happy when I received that message in the changing room so yep my tuition was postponed to Friday and that's great because I can still meet Justin after tuition on Friday. JY left after awhile so I was just roaming around town with Daph. Actually, I think that was my first time being with just Daph and not Daph + Jiayan or Daph + Kelz or Daph + the rest of the usual peeps. It was fine actually. We were really just walking about everywhere and I honestly didn't expect Daphne to be able to walk that much HAHA We walked from Dhoby to Ion then to Paragon then Scape then 313 then back to Ion. Justin wouldn't do that. We stopped at 313 for a break because I was craving for tea-time stuff but I couldn't decide on what I want - the pudding at Muji + hot matcha or carrot cake at Cedele and then more options came into my head so we left Paragon in search of tea-time food/drink. Eventually, we stopped at Dolce Tokyo and I got myself hot azuki. Daphne asked if I was really thirsty because she saw steam still coming out of my drink when I was almost already done with it hahahaha (but I was not thirsty).

Thursday
was a public holiday but it was so hazy so I left house only for tuition. I had 4 hours of tuition with A that day. Justin says most of my revenue come from tutoring A since I see him so often and for long hours. I'm glad that my tutee is doing rather well in math now though! He told me he got 92 for his CA2 when he previously got about 50+. I spent thursday night painting because I had this random desire to paint Justin something so I stayed up till 3 and I completed this tiny book with reasons for why I love my boyfriend. Hey, I'm not cheesy. I just think that we all need tiny surprises along the way to motivate and remind us how loved we are. Also, who wouldn't appreciate gifts from their significant other.

Friday
I had tuition with the P6 girl. Because it's nearing PSLE, her mum asked for me to stay for 2 hours per lesson instead so I did just that for this week. It wasn't that bad because we were just spamming questions from some PSLE past year papers. Then I met Justin after tuition and we had our collagen pot for dinner. The broth was really nice and we were really kiasu about it when the waitress offered a refill. We thought that they were going to refill our entire pot so Justin was like "eh drink more soup first" then I said "Why don't you take out the chicken and stuff too so they can add more" but no, it was a fixed portion LOL And they only served our noodles after the refill so our noodles had little soup to soak in :( I was already full before the refill though but yep that was a satisfying meal hehe We finally tried this collagen pot after talking about it for so long.

Something to look forward to in the upcoming week :
I finally brought my disposable camera to the film shop so I'll be expecting some photos next week. It's been so long that I don't even remember what I took with that camera. That's pretty exciting right?
I am finally getting my new phone next week and it'll be delivered to my place so yay to fuss-free transactions. Actually it was not fuss-free, my phone was out of stocks for a few weeks so I guess I'm just lucky this time and I got to purchase it online with an additional discount so that was great but I was late for tuition while settling this transaction with the online chat agent. Meh.

But overall, everything's good so here's to better days.

I'm not even prepared for adulthood.

I have disappeared for way too long, haven't I?

You know what, I don't even remember what I have been doing these days. I fell sick recently - not terribly sick but still sick enough to feel uncomfortable. There was this day when I was even hesitant about going to town (shows how sick I am) but I went out anyway to have lunch with Justin. I met Kelz just that day and we went shopping at Watsons. I told her this is how I know we are old because we can spend our time just browsing in Watsons and chatting with the promoter. I got myself this tiny kit containing a tiny cleanser, moisturiser and some serum from Eucerin; hoping to improve on my current complexion (my complexion sucks). In addition to that, I got the Palmer's cocoa butter oil therapy for skin because I hate the stretch marks I have on my body. I don't even know how I got them because I don't remember ever being fat or growing much.. since I'm still this tiny. Er anyway, so yeah small steps in an attempt to be closer to attaining ~perfection~ (Nobody is perfect yada yada yada but we all want to be as near to perfection as we can, don't we)

Recently I heard of this other friend planning to BTO next year and I feel like.. I'm nowhere near that LOL Not that I feel pressured to get married asap (actually getting married early is more of a want for me because I prefer it to having my wedding when I'm 30+. What if I'm wrinkly by then..... I don't want to look bad in my wedding portraits) but then I think about how I actually don't have that much savings (lolololol say goodbye to early weddings) so I decide to stop thinking about getting married and having a house altogether. I think I only want these things (as of now) just for pretty wedding photos, fun honeymoon vacation and frequent furniture shopping/DIY-ing crafts for a place I can call my own. That's it. I'm just excited for that part hahahahhaha but not the part where I need to pay bills and all. I know I am not prepared for this but we can all have our occasional daydreams right~~~~~

This is how I'd like my wedding to be : http://theknottybride.com/28233
Not so much of the mint dresses unless my bridesmaids fancy that. Be prepared for many trunk/wood slices and bouquets of baby breaths (and then we can throw bouquets of baby breaths in the air. HOW FUN IS THAT)

Okay I know my blog has lousy content but I'm sure I have kept some people entertained for 5 minutes hehe

Oh na na

I feel so lazy I neither want to blog nor write in my diary.

Life has been.. pretty chill.

My anniversary was great. We were supposed to host Jiayan and Daph for some drinking at our hotel room hahahaha (it was a pre-clubbing activity) but the clubbing got cancelled anyway so Justin and I went out to grab supper - mainly because I was craving for chicken (and apple strudel but he asked me to just get my chicken). This Justin got me a bouquet of roses (I wouldn't have known how many stalks of roses there were if he didn't tell me about it) and some stuff he got from Bali like essential oils and comfy elephant pants. So now we have matching bali elephant pants and bali bag hahahah I always don't know what to do when I get flowers but since this bouquet is for our anniversary, I will have to find some way to preserve the roses. I have tried ironing the rose petals and some baby's breath but the past weeks have been pretty busy so I haven't completed drying them out and I know I need to do that before they all turn black :(

The day after the anniversary was Daniel's housewarming. I was tired. My eyes were dry and my face just felt so oily and I was missing the stay cation from the night before. I wish we can have stay cations more often so we can go for suppers, stay up to talk or play dot arena together, drink some wine before sleeping etc. (Yes the life I envision is really chill)

After the stay cation and the housewarming... I don't think we did anything else besides our usual going to town for movie/food dates. I still need to develop some photos from my disposable cameras. It is quite exciting since I don't even remember what I took and if the camera actually captured what I intended for it to capture but since I got both cameras as gifts, no losses on my side I guess.

Oh we went for Kodaline just the other day with Meg and her friend. It wasn't awkward (I guess?) and I'm so glad I finally got to watch Kodaline perform live. :') I love their songs and I love how my boyfriend went for it even when he is not totally familiar with them. So yep, that's basically what I've been doing for the past few weeks.