Latest Updates

I've been coping well with my driving lessons... a bit of an idiot I must say... I'm a nut who can park but have difficulties with lane changing and directional change. My instructors are having a good laugh at me. I can do the advanced stuff but not the easier ones... quite silly, right?

Godma's still in hospital. Wound is clean but not healing. She is not eating enough protein for the wound to heal nicely. Doctors cannot do the skin graft until they see some healing in the wound. Until the skin graft is done, she's still on contact precaution.

Pray that we see some changes soon.

Godma's MRI results

We were all very worried about the results and have been hoping for good news.

The good news was that there was no brain tumour, swelling or fluid build-up in the brain. However, the MRI showed a tiny spot in the lobe lining. At least that tumour (all mass are called tumours) is not present with symptoms like vomitting, dizziness or severe headaches. So the doctors will just leave it alone and monitor it closely. But if it starts to present symptoms, then they will operate and remove the spot.

Blood counts, platelet counts, hydration level, blood sugar and infection are all under control and looking good. The insulin drip has also been taken off and she is now on oral tablets instead. The only thing to watch closely is the infection in her leg and now that they have drained it, it should heal and she must be very careful that it does not get infected again. Diabetic nurse will be coming in everyday to teach Godma to identify the high and low blood sugar levels and what to do when either presents itself.

However, the infection has bacteria so she's on contact precaution. This means we have to gown up and put on surgical gloves before we enter the room. Other than that, Godma is looking well and should recover well. She is eating a lot more despite the taste of hospital food was yucky. I promised her that as soon as she is allowed outside food, I'll buy something nicer for her.

She's also bored and missed her Sci-Fi and BBC channels on cable TV... lolz... Hopefully, things stabilize soon and she can be discharged sooner. But definitely, we are not rushing the discharge. We don't want her to come down with another bout of infection when she gets home.

Something about me...

I've been updating about Godma's condition lately and there's none about me... lolz...

Good News #1

I'm on to Stage 3 in my driving! Yay! Another step closer to getting my license and my 'Hello Kitty' car! :)

Good News #2

My convocation is next Thursday afternoon. I'm finally graduating! Sounds stupid since I've graduated last December but I somehow never felt quite graduated until the convocation is over and some dean gives you your certificate on stage.

I went to collect my gown at Serangoon Broadway last Sunday. When the lady put the gown on for me to try and see if the size fits, I suddenly felt like tearing... the realisation that I am graduating has finally sunk it. That had made my last 4 years of work all worth it.

Maybe this might motivated me to take my Master's? Let's see how things go... ;p

Godma was looking a lot better when I saw her yesterday. However, she has run out of veins to poke (her poor hands are all bruised) so a cannula line was attached. Drips, blood taking etc would be done through that.

Her condition is still rather inconclusive. A CT scan was done on Monday but no dye was used so there was not much contrast to show. Preliminary findings are not showing anything very serious aka no fluid collection. This probably equates to good news at the moment. An MRI was done today on the head, brain and nerves to see what the radiologist can pick up. This was done to rule out possible tumours in the brain. Doctors are worried because her vision is not good and there is an occasional double-vision.

The doctors wanted to do a minor op yesterday to remove the abscess in the thigh. Unless the pus is removed, the intravenous antibiotics could not get rid of the root of the problem. When they took blood to prepare for the op, haemoglobin level was low. As a result, they had to transfuse a packet of blood before the op. The transfusion took place when I left last evening. The op was done this afternoon at 2.30 pm. When I messaged Aunt Carol at 7 plus, she was still in recovery. I'll drop by tomorrow night to see how things are.

Hospital visits in last week...

I made a trip twice to the hospital last week on Thursday evening and Saturday afternoon.

On Thursday evening, things were not quite improved. She could barely recognized people... her medicine and chemo have affected her eyesight. On Tuesday, when she was warded, she did not even remember Aunt Carol, her own sister. At least on Thursday, focusing took a while but once she could recognize people, she would break into a smile. Lennel and Richard were there and she remembered the Mahjong game we had on her bed and how Richard didn't want to play. However, she had no memories of how she got warded and what the doctors and nurses are doing to her.

She was still on saline drip to combat dehydration, intravenous antibiotics and the doctors added one more... insulin drip. The reason why she was warded was the infection and high blood sugar caused her to become sleepy and caused hallucination. When I left, after 6 hours of insulin drip, her blood sugar level was high... unreadable on the machine. Seems like when she was warded, she was very lucky because if we were any moment later, she would have gone into shock. Once again, God's miracles are shining on her.

On Saturday, when I went, things were much improved. Doctors have limited visitors to 2 at a time to reduce infection risk. She is more aware of people and things around her, except she will ask the same questions over and over again... memory retention is rather poor. Blood sugar has come down so if things improve, they would put her on insulin jabs to monitor her response to it. That's going to add more routine to her regular one... once a day self-administered insulin jabs. She was still on saline and antibiotic drips.

She is sleepy all the time but this is good... I seriously think that she is making up for lost sleep for all the months she had been wheelchaired bound. Hopefully, with enough good and deep sleep, her body can rejuvenate and heal and repair faster.

For anyone who wants to visit, it is not encouraged at this point. Wait till she's discharged... Thanks! :)

Waiting for miracles...

Godma is back in the hospital again. There's an infection so she's now on intravenous antibiotics. She's also severely dehydrated. Doctors are observing her and putting her through scans to make sure everything's okie. Hopefully, this is yet another miracle for all of us...

Happy Teacher's Day!

Today, I took Godma on a Teacher's Day treat to The Cookie Museum @ Esplanade Mall. I must say that tea there is absolutely fabulous. We tried the Museo de Chocolate and the Three Queen's Teacake. Sinful but delightful! Very English and much to her liking...

The most fantastic was the cookie sampling. They had wonderful flavours of cookies of all kinds and they were preservative-free and low sugar. They even had savoury cookies like mushroom, nasi lemak, ikan billis and laska. Aruna bought the Madeline Rose and Laska while Godma bought Nasi Lemak.

This special treat is also to help her enjoy before she begins chemo tomorrow. She going to the hospital at 9 am tomorrow for a blood test and if everything works out well, chemo begins in the afternoon.

The chemo news, which I got last week, is a really good news. God is a good God and His timing is always perfect. When the doctors gave us news in April - May that there's nothing more to be done, we have all been praying for a miracle and been going for healing services monthly. Finally, the miracle came when the oncologist decided to book Godma for chemo last week. This was after she told Godma last year that she didn't want to try for anything cos there was no use prolonging Godma's life when she was going to be in pain (cos of the tumour in the spine) and she was not going to enjoy a good quality of life. Godma put off seeing her for a year because she didn't want to get affected by such news. After much nagging from the neurosurgeon, Aunt Carol booked an appointment and received the good news.

If this chemo works out well, Godma may enjoy another 2 - 5 years again. I believe that if God has made a way for this impossibility to happen, He will make another miracle to awe us with his great provision. After all, the pastor's wife has share with us that there were many mugs in Godma's life for God to fill and only two have been filled. His grace is sufficient for us and we were healed by His stripes. I believe that we shall see yet another miracle again.

Quotable Quotes about Teaching...

Why I teach?

Being a teacher is not just about teaching. A teacher is one who shapes, creates and mould lives.
It is about breathing life into the pages of textbooks and weaving magic into them everyday.
It is about inspiring curious young minds and recognising raw talent, challenging them to think beyond mere words.
It is about cultivating the thirst for knowledge that may be found in abundance between the covers of books but which can only be brought to life by a teacher.
Teaching is not one job, its many.
In fact, no other career matches the unique opportunities, challenges and satisfaction you will experience as a teacher.
Being a teacher entails being a role-model to his/her students.
Indeed, teachers play an important role in helping to inculcate in their students, sound moral values and strength of character.
Our students learn through participating in co-curricular activties and engaging in social interactions in school, at home and with their friends.
Teachers, together with parents and the community, are all partners in the process of nurturing the younger generation.

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet. - Aristotle

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To a mind of flint, the teacher must be iron, and strike sparks.
To the empty pitcher, the teacher becomes a well.
To the fallow mind, a planter of seeds.
To the cluttered mind, a gardener to weed, shape, and clear a space for growing.

To the lens, the teacher is light, and to the mind of light, a lens.
To the sleeper, the teacher is the wake-up call of birds at sunrise.
To clay, the teacher is potter, sculptor, and trainer in self-shaping.
To the wanderer, the teacher is a knowing guide.

To the developed mind, the teacher is colleague, listener, and friend.
To all, the teacher is a mirror that shows not only the self but the path and its choices, the task and its demands -- the difficulties, the joys.
To all and from all, the teacher is a learner, a person -- and a prism through which the ordinary continuously reveals itself to be miraculous.

Gerald Grow

For all Educators

The future of the world is in my classroom today, a future with the potential for good or bad.... Several future presidents are learning from me today; so are the great writers of the next decades, and so are all the so-called ordinary people who will make the decisions in a democracy. I must never forget these same young people could be the thieves and murderers of the future. Only a teacher? Thank God I have a calling to the greatest profession of all! I must be vigilant every day, lest I lose one fragile opportunity to improve tomorrow.

Thy will be done...

In the end, I didn't get the job. The bad news came last Thursday. And the reason that I was given sounded really crappy to me. The HOD told me that she spotted some syntax and grammatical errors in my lesson plan. Otherwise, everything was great and they would have loved to have me join them.

When I heard this, I was so stunned that I didn't know how to react. I dun think I had that many lines in my lesson plan that would highlight major syntax and grammatical errors, causing incoherence in understanding.

Honestly, they dun have to tell me this but I know that the real reason had to do with qualifications. Having being a civil servant for the last 8 years, I dun need to be a rocket scientist to know the importance of paper qualifications in this field. I asked Godma if they would have rejected me if I had an honours degree from NUS or NTU. She admitted no.

I would seriously have preferred to hear the truth (even if it's rubbing salt on wound). It just felt very demeaning. I think that we live in such a politically correct world that the things we say to be politically correct ends up sounding more demeaning or stupid than the hard truth.

Anyway, I was initially quite disappointed. But after a good night's sleep and doses of heavenly wisdom (plus lovely encouraging sms-es from loved ones), I was alright. It is just not in God's will but I'm sure he will have other exciting things lined up for me.

I'm NOT SORRY that my degree came from SIM and I had to do a part-time degree. I admit that I screwed up my life... But I'm very proud of the fact that I picked myself up and I did something great with my life for the last ten years. My degree is the result of juggling heavy work and study achievements so no one can tell me that it wasn't worth it. I am not going to let a lil disappointment get me down.

Godma was worried for me. We made plans to have tea and do some shopping last Friday. When the news came on Thursday afternoon, she asked me if I was alright. Otherwise, we could postpone tea and shopping. I told her that we will go as planned. It was so rare that I had an afternoon off and I was not going to waste my time licking my wounds at home.

So we had a wonderful tea and shopping on Friday. The tea almost didn't happen cos we couldn't get a cab. When I got to her place at 2 pm, I was ready, she was ready but there was no cabs. We tried to 2.30... nothing. 3 pm... nothing. 3.30... nothing. So we finally had to settle for the $45 maxicab which got us to Plaza Singapura at 4 pm. The best thing... we had a $5 discount and even bumped into Audrey (whom we had tea with).

After tea, we had a fruitful shopping trip where we got all the things we wanted under 2 hours... so efficient. Even her maid, Lilik, was impressed that we managed to get everything we need. That's what happens to two gals who never say die!

The highlight of the shopping trip was me getting Godma up the travelator at Carrefour. When I wheeled her up twice, we went backwards and landed up back at the bottom. So we finally worked out a system that worked. I hooked everything on the wheelchair, while she got her hands ready at the brakes. The min the wheels touch the travelator, she would lock the wheels while I support from behind to make sure it does not roll backwards. It worked!

Now, I am going to plan a Teacher's Day treat for Godma. Let's see if I survive taking her out to the Marina area. Hehee...

I survived my lesson observation! As part of the post-lesson observation review, the senior teacher for GP says I show promise. Now must hope and pray for a miracle to happen. :)

I am finally going to teach a GP class next Wednesday... feeling excited yet nervous. The knowledge that everything is hanging on this is kinda scary. Must prepare my materials well this weekend. Thanks God for the long weekend! :)

This whole entire transfer thing is really the hands of God moving in my life.

I finally got an email arranging for the time of the interview on Thursday, 4 pm. However, I won't be able to make it so I went this morning at 9.30 am.

After meeting the vp, she was very frank and told me that they appreciated the fact that I was very keen and earnest. The only concern was the wide gap from primary school to college. They were willing to give me a chance to prove myself by conducting 1 lesson and I would be assessed from there.

At least it was not an outright no. If I can perform during the lesson observation, I would actually make it!

The interesting thing was the vp apologised to me at the end of it cos my application kinda got lost in the flurry of emails that the school gets daily so the clerk did not contact me. VP was also wondering how come I never came for an interview.

When I went for the Poetry Slam on Tuesday night and met the HOD, Godma did tell her about my transfer and we had a short conversation. When I told her that I was waiting for the office to contact me regarding the appointment, the HOD checked with the VP and I got my email on Wednesday.

If this is not divine intervention, I dunno what is... If I had not gone down on Tuesday, I might not have met the HOD and all these things would not have been set in motion.

While I'm still praying for my miracle, I somehow have a deep sense of peace... like God is in control of everything. When He is in control, what else do I fear. Just do my part well and let Him do the rest.

This weekend has been a really enjoyable one. I kicked off the weekend by having durian buffet @ Cafe Vic, Carlton Hotel with Rachel, Cherise, Jeanette, Sara and David on Friday night. The food was worth every bit of what we paid for. There was delicious braised crab soup, black pepper crabs, roasted lamb, steamed herbal chicken, grilled slipper lobster, grilled pork etc. And of course, the highlight were the durian dishes such as seared scallop with durian and mango, durian prata, durian chicken wrap, durian creme brulee, durian bobo chacha, durian pudding, durian fritters and best of all, freshly opened D24 durians... I could barely move after dinner, let alone sleep well. Was simply too stuffed! Plus had to down a can of beer to get rid of the heatiness.

With all that said and done, next year, I'll be looking forward to the next durian buffet that they would be having.

Saturday, I was at Vivo City having tea with Godma and an ex-college teacher. Pity I was never taught by him. The ex was there with his family and looking at his son, I am so convinced I am not cut out for motherhood at this point. Biological clock is definitely not ticking at all. Much as I like kids, I draw the line at carrying them for no more than 5 min. The only lucky babies to ever stay in my arms for 2 hours were Baby Chloe (Michelle's princess) and Baby Leanne (Jasmine's princess). Sadly, I seem to have no liking for male babies.

The strangest thing was the ex was not happy that I was joining for tea. He was worried that his wife would feel jealous. Whatever for? Me thinks that he has forgotten that I was the one who walked out of the whole relationship and has never looked back since. In fact, I would not be where I am today if I actually stayed n the relationship. Despite the many sacrifices that I had to make, there no regrets cos I am too much of a free spirit to be tied down. Anyway, Godma told him that if his wife had such feelings, it was probably because of him. Hooray for Godma! Lolz...

Tonight, I will be at Plaza Singapura with Godma and her family. We are going to celebrate Uncle Martin's birthday. It's teppanyaki at Sakae Sushi, my first time trying out the food there.

I better head down to gym later today... need to work out the calories after the weekend of feasting.

Godma finally penned down her experiences to encourage her students... Read about it in http://gatsr.blogspot.com/

Honestly, I am very proud of her. She is the strongest person I've known... not in physical strength but by sheer will... She even told me that cancer is not a disease of the body but of the mind. When cancer patients lose hope, that's when everything deteriorate...

She's God's living testimony that miracles can exist.

On a brighter note, one of my colleague, who was very depressed when she was unsure if she could get her transfer, is finally getting the transfer. I believe that miracles happen and if the transfer is truly in God's plan for me, He will give me the miracle and protection I need to see me through...

By the grace of God, the VP replied me and told me that the clerk will call me to arrange for a chat. Honestly, I'm very worried. Godma told me to keep my fingers crossed... it's a broad area i'm crossing so I may not get it and with competition from others applying, it might be tougher.

Anyway, my career thus far is made up of a lot of impossibilities... God has opened many doors for me to try out many things. No matter how tough they were and how many sacrifices I had to make, I have no regrets. I have been given opportunities to try out many new things.

I believe that if God has opened this window of opportunity for me, I believe that he will give me another miracle. Even if it does not work, I have no regrets cos at least I tried.

God will make a way

With faith as small as a mustard seed, God has answered my prayers and has made a way for me to apply for a transfer. Now, I'm believing for a miracle... that I will be called up for an interview, it will be successful, I will get a place and my P would actually be willing to let me go and not give me a hard time.

Always have Plan B!

A pretty woman was serving a life sentence in prison. Angry and resentful about her situation, she had decided that she would rather die than to live another year in prison.

Over the years she had become good friends with one of the prison caretakers. His job, among others, was to bury those prisoners who died in a graveyard just outside the prison walls. When a prisoner died, the caretaker rang a bell, which was heard by everyone. The caretaker then got the body and put it in a casket. Next, he entered his office to fill out the death certificate before returning to the casket to nail the lid shut. Finally, he put the casket on a wagon to take it to the graveyard and bury it.

Knowing this routine, the woman devised an escape plan and shared it with the caretaker. The next time the bell rang, the woman would leave her cell and sneak into the dark room where the coffins were kept. She would slip into the coffin with the dead body while the caretaker was filling out the death certificate. When the care-taker returned, he would nail the lid shut and take the coffin outside the prison with the woman in the coffin along with the dead body. He would then bury the coffin. The woman knew there would be enough air for her to breathe until later in the evening when the caretaker would return to the graveyard under the cover of darkness, dig up the coffin, open it, and set her free.

The caretaker was reluctant to go along with this plan, but since he and the woman had become good friends over the years, he agreed to do it.

The woman waited several weeks before someone in the prison died. She was asleep in her cell when she heard the death bell ring. She got up and slowly walked down the hallway. She was nearly caught a couple of times. Her heart was beating fast. She opened the door to the darkened room where the coffins were kept. Quietly in the dark, she found the coffin that contained the dead body, carefully climbed into the coffin and pulled the lid shut to wait for the caretaker to come and nail the lid shut.

Soon she heard footsteps and the pounding of the hammer and nails. Even though she was very uncomfortable in the coffin with the dead body, she knew that with each nail she was one step closer to freedom. The coffin was lifted onto the wagon and taken outside to the graveyard. She could feel the coffin being lowered into the ground. She didn't make a sound as the coffin hit the bottom of the grave with a thud. Finally she heard the dirt dropping onto the top of the wooden coffin, and she knew that it was only a matter of time until she would be free at last. After several minutes of absolute silence, she began to laugh. She was free! She was free! Feeling curious, she decided to light a match to find out the identity of the dead prisoner beside her.

To her horror, she discovered that she was lying next to the dead caretaker.

Many people believe they have life all figured out..... but sometimes it just doesn't turn out the way they planned it.

Think of a 'Plan B'!

First Scrapbook Attempt Completed!

My first scrapbooking is finally completed!

Nice?

I really think it's not too bad for my first attempt... considering how I was the bane of all my Art teachers cos I used to fail art.

This will definitely inspire me to create more... especially when doing this is so therapeutic

My first scrapbooking attempt

I am probably one of the most uncreative person around but after hearing my colleagues rant and rave about scrapbooking and a trip to Laine's Papeterie at Wheelock Place, I was inspired to begin my first.


Now, all I need are the pictures to complete it. Stay tuned for the update! kekee...

My Life Thus Far

This June has been a very good holiday for me. For the first time in my life, I neglected work... going to school only on the days required. The 2 weeks break which we were officially given, I did not step into school at all!

My Melbourne Trip was fantastic! Now I finally understand why people like to retire in Australia. I loved the winter weather which had an average temperature of about 8 - 12 degrees. We stayed in Trueman's Cottage at Rosebud. The cottage was beautiful!

Here is the lovely garden right outside our door. There is a lovely fountain, although with no water. The tree has Christmas lights strung around it so it will direct Uncle Martin where the cottage is.

Here's the room which I shared with Rosy, my godma. Notice Crinkles sitting on the bed? Crinkles is the teddy bear who has travelled with her on all her holidays. Unfortunately, with all her things and the wheelchair, we forgot to take him out. He spent most of his time in the room. Poor Crinkles!

His consolation? We took him out to Great Ocean Drive where he got to enjoy lovely Devonshire Tea with us.

Even the Macdonald's in Oz is more interesting than what we have here. While I was there, they were having Flavours of the Games promotion, to celebrate the Olympics. There was McEurope (which was yummy!), McAmerica, McAfrica, McAsia and McAustralia burgers which were launched every 2 weeks. Wish I was there long enough to try everything!

I also enjoy my first theatre performance overseas. We watched Boeing, Boeing at The Comedy Theatre. The most fantastic thing? You are actually allowed to eat and drink in the theatre. We had ice-cream during the intermission. This might sound a lil crazy but I actually really love eating ice-cream during winter.

Other places we visited were Moralto's vineyard, Arthur's Seat and the Moonlight Sanctuary where I had so much fun feeding kangaroos, bettongs and tawney frogmouth (a breed of owl). I only wished I could stay there a little longer. Will definitely want to return there again soon.

Over last weekend, I spent it at Batam with friends for spa and shopping. Personally, I found it a rather boring place for shopping. The only shopping delight? Groceries. It is always half the price you would pay here. No wonder there were people carrying large boxes of instant noodles and huge bags of groceries on the return ferry.

I think this was the best 2 weeks of my hols I have spent in the last 2 years. I was totally relaxed!

However, I think I'm seriously allergic to hot weather work. The minute I returned to Singapore and back to school, the migraines have started. Sigh...

Well, I guess we always have to count our blessings. At least, I really enjoyed the 2 weeks. Although term 3 has not begun, I'm already looking forward to the Sept hols... haha... hope the 10 weeks pass quickly and hols come faster.