SYLVANITE

Counting Good days

2011-07-16T15:52:00.007+08:00

Life normally passes us by and we do not even notice. Is it July 2011 already? How have all the other days passed so quickly?

I felt a need to write something on my blog today because it is one of those 'good' days worth recording. Well, today is my hubby's 55th birthday. It has been many, many years since his first heart attack and subsequent triple by-pass. I'm thankful that he is in reasonably good health. He still looks forward to his twice a week badminton. Only yeaterday, he climbed our mango tree to prune it after the last fruiting.

So today we celebrated his birthday as a family.

It is just a simple meal, followed by cake and durians. I think my hubby is happy that we can celebrate thus.

Another thing that made this a 'good' day is that some months ago, my microwave-convection oven went bonkers. First the microwave stopped functioning. We were informed that repairing the microwave was not worth it. Best to get a new one since nowadays they don't cost much. The unit we have cost us about 2500RM at that time. So off we went to get a microwave for slightly more than 300RM. The convection function was still running well enough to allow me to do all my bakings. Then about 2 months ago my pizzas refused to cook in the convection oven though all lights were on. I was left with uncooked pizzas. The next day we went off to get a new convection oven. This was a rather big one but nowadays the price of electronic stuff is comparatively so low. We were going to sell the old microwave-convection oven to the recycling-collector. None turned up for some days when usually so many of them would be touring the housing area with their vans and loud-speakers. So, stuck with that bulky unit on the porch, I decided to send it to that Sharp shop at Kompleks Kancut. I was told that they may be able to get the convection function working but if anything is wrong with the microwave megatron it would not be worthwhile to repair the microwave function. Okay, I'll get it done if cost is reasonable. No harm having a stand-by convection oven. If nothing can be done or it's too expensive, I'll just leave it there at the shop and they can do what they like with it. In that way I got that unit off my porch.

To cut a long story short, this morning I received a call from Mr Kang, the Sharp shop-owner, telling me that the microwave, convection, grill and combination functions of my unit are all functioning properly again. The cost? 150RM. Wonderful. Now in my kitchen, I've got my microwave-convection-grill-combi oven, a fairly new microwave oven and a new dual-rack convection oven. Hah...I can run a bakery if I want to.

Today, I still went out to buy the birthday cake for my hubby ! Ironically? That's what 'good' days are all about. I can bake a cake if I want to ... but I don't have to if I don't want to. The choice is mine.

And that is what I've enjoyed most since retiring from being a government-employed school teacher. I have the freedom to choose what I want to do with my time.

Such an event-filled year

2010-11-25T15:06:00.000+08:00

2010 is coming to a close in a few more weeks. In all it will be to me a year to remember. My son Jonathan entered Secondary school. Like parents all over the country/world, we vacilated about where to enrol him. Finally we enrolled him in the same school where his father was teaching. We decided that though school does contribute a part to his character development, we the parents have the greater influence and responsibility in his overall development , be it his character or his education. I'm glad to see him happily settled in his school. Having a very laid-back personality his school also suits him. I doubt he'll enjoy a classroom filled with competitive bookworms. Well, I finally went to USA this year and visited my aunty in michigan as well. The short trip to Cambodia with my family and TCF was also an interesting break. So was the 6-day prayer exposure trip to Korea. After a long draught this year is also a year of weddings of the church youths who have all grown up - Emily, Kin Onn, Kin Hup. And a fiftieth wedding anniversary in December! Next year we'll see some more weddings... This is a year of great distress for many good friends who were affected by the terrible floods. Thankfully, though there was loss of property-some irreplacable I'm sure, there was no loss of lives among those we know. A few friends returned home to the Lord. They'll be missed. Next year...what will it bring ?

This new year

2010-01-19T21:38:00.002+08:00

Well we are now in 2010. I'm enjoying settling down into retirement. I'm relaxed. Not in the slightest bit harassed. This is when a being a retired civil servant has its benefits. Having a monthly income despite not holding a salaried position is such an unbelievable blessing. It gives one a great deal more freedom to do what one wants, when one wants. No computer-generated timetable to abide by. Of course one has other responsibilities.

A matter of learning

2010-01-19T20:38:00.003+08:00

I'm in the process of learning how to use photoshop to create folder that can put photos on the web as a gallery of photos. Photoshop is one program I've never got around to learning to use. Too many functions to learn and too time consuming to use. It has taken me a long time to get the process of creating a web gallery despite having a quick demo from a friend some months ago. I'm using a trial version of photoshop cs2. I'm now able to create an flash photo gallery. Now I need to learn how to upload the folder onto a website.

Is is OK to send a child from an English-speaking home to a Chinese-medium school?

2009-11-18T11:54:00.003+08:00

My son's UPSR (Year Six) results will be released tomorrow. He says he has tried his best and I believe he has. All the pimples that popped up on his face two or three months before the exam is testimony to the pressure he was under. Just this morning I mentioned that his pimples are clearing up and he reminded me that there is no more stress. Will he get all As? No he won't. Do we regret sending him to Chinese-medium school which would result in him not scoring all As? No we don't. He may not score As in the 2 Chinese papers but he has acquired an extra language. This will stand him in good stead. Besides, he is able to communicate better with his paternal granny in Mandarin. So parents, if you are pondering whether to enrol your child in a Chinese-medium primary school (you being unable to assist your child in any way in Chinese language), let me assure you that it is OK. I remember my son floundering when he was in Year One and Two. He did not understand announcements made during assemblies or over the PA system. Sometimes he guessed right. Many times he guessed wrong. Last week he was singing a chinese song that the whole Year Six students were to sing during the school graduation day. He sang but he could not tell me the meanings of all that was contained the lyrics. But he could sing it well and he enjoyed singing it. So next year my son goes to Form One. He has survived six years in a chinese-medium school!

Power versus the milk of human kindness

2009-09-02T08:50:00.002+08:00

I had the opportunity today to chat with a colleague. She had just returned to work after being undergoing home quarantine for about 10 days. She told me that she was given 10 doses of tamiflu. Fearful on hearing that an acquaintance had died from influence A H1N1, she had gone for a checkup because she had experienced severe headaches and ‘cutting’ chest pains for some days. Though she has completed the treatment for H1N1, she still had to get further treatment because her lungs have been affected. She is worried. She is also upset because those in authority were neither sympathetic nor supportive when she needs to go off for further follow-up checkups. One even commented on her being away from work for so many days! Why am I sharing this? Because even while I was chatting with her, I could empathise with her. She is really very hardworking, putting in long hours at work. She has a great deal of responsibilities and paperwork so she is even willing to dish out money from her own pocket to employ an assistant to do the computer-work for her. Of course, one may reply that it’s okay since she can afford it. But that’s not the point. She doesn’t have to take this extra step to ensure that all the work assigned to her gets done on time. She could very well say that she does not know how to operate the computer well. So many people pour a great deal of time and energy into their work and career. When they are able and can contribute, their superiors seem to appreciate and value them highly. Sad to say, many feel let down by these same people when the situation is reversed, when support and understanding is needed in return. Why is it that when people are promoted to administrative positions they seem to forget where they came from? I know there are some good administrators but there are so few and far between of them. What George Orwell says in the Animal Farm is so true: "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Trying to make a comeback to blogging

2009-08-21T13:37:00.007+08:00

It's not easy because for the last few months whenever I sit in front of the computer one task or other crops up and I've had to put blogging on hold. I must really follow Covey's advice of filing and doing more tasks in the IMPORTANT BUT NOT URGENT box, rather than lumping everything in the URGENT box and have not enough time for what's important. Besides the camera acted funny and so I couldn't even get good shots to post. The few that were presentable went onto Facebook. Perhaps I should decide where I want to focus my stuff- Facebook or Blog. Mustn't be repetitious. Very tedious and 'lao-lang' 'cheong-hei' to repeat oneself. God has been good to me. These past week I had only 10 periods to cover. A GSTT (Guru Sandaran Tidak Terlatih) teacher came and she took over my one Form 1, one Form 2 and one Form 3 classes. I held on to my two Form 5 classes though she was to take over my whole timetable and I was told to observe her and operate on a-TST (teacher-support-team) basis. I did it a few times and then I cried off because I couldn't stomach the errors she subjected my poor ears to. What our kids have to put up with in class during English lessons! I shudder at the thought of this. I must remember to remind Jonathan again to ignore teacher-errors in his English class. So having to go to class officially for only 400 minutes a week left quite a good deal of time on my hands to pack and clear up many things in school for my departure from the world of classrooms. 30 August would be my last 'teaching' day for after that my fifth formers will be having their Trial Exams for SPM until I say good-bye to them on 17 September. They break off for the Hari Raya holidays. I break-off and that's it for the rest of the year. I DON"T HAVE TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL ANYMORE! Hooray! PTL

2009-01-30T18:23:00.013+08:00

It's now one whole month into 2009. I'm finally settling into the year. The last few weeks have been crazily buzy - what with school beginning, sports practices,cross-country race, record book and class register to complete, a whole lot of school meetings (70% of which were unnecessary!),fitting

everybody's 2009 (especially the son's) schedule together, hangover from Christmas,

sharing endings and beginnings, preparing for and celebrating Chinese New Year.

What's the title of that song....? Oh yes, I WILL SURVIVE!! Must find the song and add to my playlist. So what's next? As the saying goes "Time and tide waits for no man (or woman)". I believe that it is best to take everything as it comes along and do the best that we can with God's help. There is always something new to learn, something old to remember and cherish, something better to look forward to . Worry a little less... Laugh a little bit more... 2009 would be okay. HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone.

Psyching up

2008-12-21T17:09:00.002+08:00

Christmas around the corner is usually much looked forward to BUT also signals the approach of holiday's ending. This year Jonathan didn't go on about putting up the Christmas tree. Maybe a sign of growing up. So the tree remains in the box this year. The trimmings of Christmas should remain just that I guess, ...trimmings... The church sanctuary got decorated however. It was an ad hoc thing decided during the Chinese Service prayer and planning meeting on Friday night. So the next morning a group of people turned up to put up the decorations using last few years' deco items. It is not very grand nor thematic, but it 's better than nothing. Still, the Christmas week will be good family time for our family, what with the three sisters' families getting together. There's also meeting up with friends returning to Alor Star to celebrate Christmas with their own families, welcoming the MYF carolers, Christmas worship together ... A BLESSED CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL.

Between and Betwixt

2008-12-14T16:11:00.004+08:00

Between and betwixt school terms there are such things called VACATIONS. Vacations are times to do a list of things that we cannot normally do during school terms. GOING OUT AND ABOUT is usually on the list. That was what my family and I had been doing the last 2 weeks. We didn't venture out of the country, only out of the state. Stopping at Tapah SU Campsite to pick up Jonathan after the Tweens Camp, we proceeded to KL just to spend a couple of days with my sister's family. Their church was having a food and fun fair. My sister's cell group turned Nestle Ice-cream seller for the day. Christmas arrived in KL early.

Then we went up to Genting Highlands for another couple of days. We had two days

of very contrasting weather - rain on day one and bright sky on day two. Good thing GH has indoor and outdoor rides. Worked out just fine. The crowd was terrible. Doesn't look as though Malaysia will suffer from any economic setbacks if people are spending so freely. We came back to Alor Star, rested a day and shot off to Penang for a 3-day Mandarin- speaking Christian Teachers Camp. While hubby and son participated in the programmes, I managed to achieve the second item on my vacation list - LOLLING AND LAZING. Wonderful!! Aren't vacations wonderful???

Tyranny of the urgent

2008-11-30T00:18:00.002+08:00

This is a phrase I picked up years ago. Told myself at that time to not fall into this trap. However this holiday that began two weeks ago has been day after day of being caught up in something that needed to be seen to immediately. Holiday seems more busy than working days. What incongruency! Today, I MADE time for what I wanted to do- personal timeout. It has been along day but what a sense of achievement one feels when all that 'urgent' matters get accomplished alongside patchwork sewing, tea with friends AND most important listing an item on ebay.com.my to test market response. If you are interested in giving a unique-one of a kind table runner-made by a very careful crafts-person (not yours truly) as a Christmas gift / birthday gift etc. do pop into ebay and search under "patchwork table runner" and acquire it. It is very well-made. See for yourself.

Time off

2008-11-03T17:02:00.011+08:00

This morning I was a little 'trigger-happy' but only with the camera. One hand on the wheel and one finger went 'click...' Can only do this when driving an auto car. Manual car - definitely a no..no. See street lamps are still on( and some people are still sleeping!)

When I arrived at school I saw all the girls (mine is an all-girl school) trooping off to the hall. This is Monday morning. Not assembly day. Something must be on. Seems I've been very out of touch. Our school won the Sekolah Cemerlang(Excellent School) award this year, meaning that the school collected a cash award of RM500,000 - so I'm told. And this Wednesday afternoon there's going to be a 'kenduri' (feast) for the whole school. I won't be around that day. The students were being updated this morning. (This teacher required the updating too!) Seems the principal and a chosen team had gone off to KL to receive the award and would be returning Tuesday night by flight. All teachers had been informed to go receive them at the airport. I won't be there either. These are the things that make me glad that I've only slightly less than a year to go.

So having had my class canceled and the camera still unsheathed, I decided to take a morning walk to appreciate God's creation (to counteract man's ridiculousness). A 10-minute walk from the hall back to my room yielded a myriad of leaves that God created in different shapes and sizes. Took about 30 odd shots ( all different plants). I'm glad I had time off to "stand and stare...." this morning.

School and teaching

2008-10-28T23:14:00.002+08:00

Finally, finished my marking duties for the year 2008. If there's one thing about joining the teaching profession that stresses me out, it is the having to read, correct and assess my students' written work. Other than this (and working with silly administrators) I've enjoyed the major portion of my teaching career. Looking back, I've had time to do what gave me personal pleasure and satisfaction. The remuneration may not be that great but it has improved in the last decade. I am able to live quite comfortably, especially in this small town of Alor Star. Interacting with students has been both pleasure and pain, satisfying and stupefying, riverting and revolting. Would I make the same career choice the second time around? I believe I would, without reservations but with some conditions attached.

Driving on Malaysian Roads

2008-10-24T14:26:00.002+08:00

Haven't had time in the last week to do any blogging. MUET (also been termed 'monyet') does have its pros and cons. A change from the daily routine of school is usually welcomed after a couple of months at the grind. But having to drive to Kuala Nerang daily is not without its moments of frustrations. 2 or 3 minutes delay in departure means being caught in the jam from Hutan Kampung to the hospital. (Mind you traffic jams and Alor Star is not synonymous in my book!) Why are we usually the victims of some others' incompetence? I really sympathise, empathise, whatever '...thise' there are some more, with those who have to go through this daily. The planners should have gotten the roads ready before the hospital came into use. Considering the hospital project itself was delayed for four long years what excuse did the road-builders give, I wonder? Once past the hospital area it should be nice smooth scenic drive. It is actually. But then you have drivers who decide that they would like to go for an early morning stroll all the way from Langgar to Kuala Nerang. Then there are those lorries and other big whatyoumightcallthem who have every right to be on the road and hold up all the other vehicles behind because there's no way to overtake them. No problem - unless like me you have to reach Kuala Nerang by 7.15 a.m. to collect the test papers. Grrr..... Patience, patience, patience... Convent school training is very good at ingraining that teaching that "Nice, young (and not so young) ladies do not swear."

Another patchwork in the pipeline

2008-10-18T17:04:00.004+08:00

Marking essays takes a toll on the sanity. Needed to get away from those mind-boggling pieces. So turned to other more relaxing mind-bogglers. Don't know how to put these blocks together as yet but at least working on them were much better than getting frustrated by the other blockhead pieces if you catch my drift.

More on exams

2008-10-18T16:50:00.004+08:00

Mummbled ... at having to relief a double period Form 1 class again last Thursday. So many teachers away for PMR. Next week's my turn to be away. So i guess fair's fair. Anyway it was the beginning of the test schedule for these Form 1 girls and it was Art. Turned out to be fairly interesting as i walked around the class. Finally took out my camera and took some of these shots. (Blogging has made my handbag heavier). Green peas,red beans, rice, anise, cloves, cardamons, cinnamon sticks, dried chillies, coloured paper were among the medium used.

So

2008-10-15T16:29:00.005+08:00

How do you say this word? My conversation this afternoon with a dad reminded me that our tone of voice is even more powerful than our words. This dad asked me whether it is okay to respond with 'so'. Nothing wrong, right? Wrong. Seems his son had been using this word a lot when talking to his younger sister lately and to the father's ears it sounded very disparaging. The Chinese would say 'boh hor bean' to the sister's views at all. It was all in the tone of voice that the boy was using. So we tried out 'so' in various tones and we agreed that it is not the word so much as the tone that counted. Must watch my tone.

Not flawless

2008-10-13T09:01:00.001+08:00

This is the most recent labour of my hands and trusty sewing machine.

Why?

2008-10-13T08:38:00.000+08:00

"Why 'sylvanite'?" you may ask. Running to the dictionary may give you an idea of this soon to be 'former' English language teacher's choice of a blog name. Of course I know that for some of you techies 'running to the dictionary' would not be done with the legs these days but with your little fingers! Whatever suits you best. The raison d'etre for the appearance of this blog in cyberspace is my son JCTC. After I bugged him to start (and continue updating) his blog, his sweet revenge is of course to bug his mama in return. The dialogue would usually go like this: Son : So, when are you starting your blog? Mama: Soon Son: So, when? Mama: Not now. I'm too busy This happens like everytime I ask him about his blog. Thus sylvanite is starting now. In the course of time hopefully this blogspot will live up to its name.