Hooligan "kwan" (or behaviour)

I work in a rather fast-paced environment, where there are many 'variables' (things, not just faces you see in class, change over time, depending on the number of approval levels, for instance). In management lingo, it is termed a "dynamic" environment. You may guess by now that I am a teacher.

People used to (and unbelieveably, some still do) perceive that teaching is a 'senang' (meaning leisurely) kind of job! I feel like 'strangling' them (don't worry, figure of speech only). These people who are under serious misconception of this profession in Singapore, should try teaching for a while and see if they can cope! Cope with the workload, cope with the ISO procedures and periodic audits, cope with the markings, tallying cum checking of marksheets, cope with the development of new teaching materials, cope with the updating of modules notes, cope with the documentation such as industry vetting of this and that, cope with getting internships, scholarships, prizes and sponsorships, cope with the course documentation and feedback from so and so, cope with marketing of this and that, etc... too much to detail!

Funny I have somehow (still trying and getting harder each semester), thanks to the all important ingredient called "passion" I suppose! Not forgetting perseverence, diligence and "endless" (or is it 'aimless'?) pursuit of ideals... and lots of energy to climb those stairs, strong vocals to last the whole day through and a non-stop working mind that refuses to go to bed long after physical exhaustion has set in!

Besides the piles of paperwork and documentation (yawn!), there are endless classes to punctually attend to. Psst, tell you a secret - before the 'show' in the classroom, no one knows the 'backstage' preparations that go into each lecture, each tutorial assignment, each exam paper, each of any thing for that matter!!

Most colleagues are always busy, and I am definitely one of those seen running (not exaggerating here!) around like a wild elephant on the loose along the corridors on certain days! Yet, I am proud to say that despite the sprinting, I will still be able to greet (albeit rather breathlessly) my fellow co-workers with a short 'hello' or 'hi and bye' if I enounter one on the way, never mind that he or she might look at me incredulously and sometimes frighfully, as if I might I crash into the person.

May be it is the workload or all those endless boring checking, or maybe it is the very tight "lead time" or "deadlines" for projects or tasks (and stuff), or maybe it is the fact that there are now just TOO many staff around, so much so that sometimes, I sense the personal touch is wanting between distant colleagues in this place.

Take for instance, I knocked on the door of a I thought-not-so- distant colleague to ask something inane like "Sorry to interrupt, so and so, but are you my checker for this so and so module?" . Before I could say this out loud, I got a rather unwelcome stare and a rather rude "WHAT?!" in the face (my smiling face no less!). I was taken aback and had to say, "What 'what'?" Okay, the hint was taken and this person reiterated, "Yes?".

Before I could even finish my politely phrased sentence, another I thought not-so-distant colleague suddenly popped his head behind me and just barged in to ask that colleague something else. I was totally TRANSPARENT to him! Now, that is strange because I am by no means a tiny, frail and emmancipated figure or little Thumbelina, so how could he not see me standing right in the doorway? He did not even utter an 'Excuse me, can I check something?" but simply barged in with a loud voice to ask something else when I was halfway through my politely-phrased sentence. He must have thought that the louder the voice, the more important he is and hence should be accorded immediate attention... regardless of who got there first. What a hooligan attitude! (then again, I am sure if I am the CEO or his boss, the entire scene would have been differently played out.)

I looked at this guy in wonder (disgust) and walked away, realising that to even finish my sentence would simply be a waste of my breathe. After all, this rude interrupter was loud, crude but alas, more handsome and dashing to a female co-worker - so what chance did I have? Why would I want to stand around and suffer the 'indignity' of having to take quene no. 2 when I was the first to be there? How can such a guy behave in this "boh zheng hu" style? I am dissappointed that in this fine institute of learning I am proudly working for, now surfaced such rude people without any basic courtesy and manners.

Sad to say, he is not the exception. There are more and more like his 'kwan' (kind). Now- I am not a self-righteous or a "holier than thou" kind of person, I have my shortcomings/foibles, but I do respect my fellow human being whether they are my co-workers or not, and I do believe in the virtue of being patient and waiting for your turn if you are in a queue!!!

I will, if time permits, provide more examples of such "hooligan moments" I have witnessed, nay, experienced the brunt of, in future entries. Watch this space, stay tuned!! Bye for now!

Musings on a busy afternoon...

Wow it is amazing how time flies! The last time I entered my first ever 'maiden' blog posting was almost a year ago! With some tip from Melissa my capable 'ex-class rep' (she is now in Year 2 of her Accounting course), I managed to retrieve this blogspot.com menu and I stunned myself by recalling my ID and PW correctly to enter a new blog. Hope to continue this 'exciting' forray into a, hopefully more, uh-um, 'regular' journal entry from this day forth...

Let's start with something quite significant this last 4 weeks... Yeah my soul (or 'sole'? haha) mate dropped into hot and humid Singapore after ...gasp... more than a year in New Jersey since her migration there and we had a joyful reunion on 11 July 06 (Tue).

Certainly Diana has become a happier (and I must add, more youthful!) person, living the high-life of an 'expat" oriental tai-tai and driving a big mean powerful Sienna (at no less than 80 MILES per hour on the highway, so she boasted), with a cosy town house with lots of green in front and back of her comfy patch, keeping at least 2 freelance jobs (she is ever resourceful and energetic as usual, all her prior worries before going there were unfounded as I told her back then in the good'ol days), and at the same time, perfectly mothering 4 beautiful girls as only she knows how... Sigh... I have said this many times before and will say it again, "Diana, you are a superwoman indeed"! How I envy you (from a heart full of admiration and joy for your success as a person and woman!)

"How d'ya do dude?" that is the slang lingo one can say with an attitude in Big Apple! "Hah, li kong si mi huh?" came our mock singlish reply.

Like any true blue Singaporeans, we khakis gatheredwe feasted and sang the night away, Part 1 was held at a teochew restaurant by the river side at Robertson Walk. We indulged in more than our stomachs (and wasitline) could accomodate - but with such wonderful company, who cares!? Diana missed the steamned paos (or buns) served with the stewed pork ribs and requested we satsify her cravings (actually my craving too!). Part 2 was sinful desserts spelled "Chendol with loads of coconut milk and durian toppings" at Zion alfresco (okay lah, open air) Food Court, before making our way to Diana's favourite haunt of all time, Kara-o-ke (pronounced as 'karaOkee' as is spoken there buy the dudes). For the first time, we tried the KBox at Cineleisure. What an eye-opening experience - boxed rooms and rooms filled with young people crooning away without a care in the world. And this is happening at an hour when Cinderella should be home in bed!

We were ushered to a wrong room initially and almost immediately, from the shocked countenances of the occupants, we reckoned they might have mistaken us as some aunties and uncles raiding them to see if they were underaged or so... We quickly and coyly backed out and hurried into the correct room (double checked room number this time). Really, if not for Diana's sake, an 'auntie' like me would be a rare sight in such a place. Anyway, our hearts were very young as always, so let's paint the town red I say! And we the overgrown aunties and uncles did (for a short while at least)!

After we sang ourselves hoarse (numbing our ear drums as well), we decided to call it a night. We do have to work early the next day... actually, it was also because most of the minus one offerings were of a different genre (read 'generation') and there were just not enough golden classics (read 'old hits') to last us the whole night through... anyway, it was all fun and laughter and whether in or out of tune, everyone enjoyed themselves.

We enjoyed the pleasurable company of our dear friend and my soul-mate Diana (imagine background music begins now for song ' When will I see you again...?").

So, what's brewing at work? It has been busy and busy work all the way... one project after another, sometimes, 2 at time same time... or more...

Something interesting to look foward to - my boss wants me to organise a study trip for my students in the specialised course to Japan. I will have to dig out old contacts and try to see if the company I had my memorable one year internship with so long ago, could oblige us again or not. Except, it is not just one of me but probably a small 'troupe' this round if the trip does materialise. It will entail lots of planning and coordination but the greatest hurdle is probablly the paperwork and procedures which the standard operating procedures require.

Being a full time employee and a "part time" Mom is a challenging role. On normal days, my routine goes something like this:

- out of the house at 8am (save when there is 8am class), return about 7pm, get my girl (whom I miss so very much each day) to bed by 11.30pm.
- dinner (tingkat catering service - those 4 tier container food service) and clean up after girl has eaten
- packing her school bag for the next day
- do the ever huge load of laundry - beats me how 3 of us in a household can churn out heaps and heaps of clothes to wash every other day! Haha!
- a bit of snack IF i do ever catch some news (rarely watch the goggle box these 'maidless' days) or grocery shopping at shopping mall
- showering girl
- finally showering myself (and the nightly routine of lotions, serums, creams and stuff for moi) before calling it a day, er, night!

That is all for now. Time to go for NDOC! Chiow for now!

Melissa Came to See Me...

Melissa Choi my very capable class rep in class DAC/FT/1A/04 came to see me - it was great because I told her she has been selected for the Poly Forum scheduled sometime in Oct 2005! Hurray!! She also has an existing bloc DAC1A04 (keep it simple) so I decided to give this blogging business a try! Thanks Mel!!