under-estimated: January 2009

Friday, 16 January 2009

right, the email (is from ms vivi - the organizer of SpeechCraft 2009) below will nearly sum up the wonderful time i had at SpeehCraft 2009. i love the new friends that i've made. i thought it was a really lovely experience.

Dear all,

Last night was truly memorable. The twelve finalists for SpeechCraft 2009 not only impressed with their witty, touching, thought-provoking and inspirational speeches. They also earned our respect.

When they faltered, they didn't just give up - they had the courage to begin all over again. They cheered and consoled each other when kind words were needed. There was true camaraderie between them even though they had just come to know each other for this contest. They showed us that winning is not everything and that they were willing to go all out to LEARN from the whole experience!

Here are the results for SpeechCraft 2009. Please join me in congratulating ALL the students, some of whom you may know!

First place:
Muhammad Danial bin Badron (LSCT)

Second place:
Louis Tay Zhi Hao (ME)

Third place:
Mak Teng Teng (MDE)

Consolation prizes (not in order of merit):
1) Tee Mei Yi (LSCT)
2) Luo Zhong Yuan Bryant (ICT)
3) Yeo Yi Wei Stenphel (ECE)
4) Mageswary d/o Subramaniam (ICT)
5) Alexander Chan Bai Jun (ICT)
6) Adrian Koh Denggui (LSCT)
7) Tan Jun Hao Larry (MDE)
8) Roger Yip Kin Hing (LSCT)
9) Tan Jun Yao Gary (ME)

Special thanks goes out to all of the following people, without whom the event would not have been possible:
Our experienced judges who were unfazed by their daunting task - Elizabeth Thorarajoo (Chief Judge), Mr Tang Teck Chye, Mr Peter Tham - from the Ngee Ann Staff Toastmasters Club - and Mr Ross Krekoski (IS Reading Committee member)

My hardworking co-organisers from the IS Reading Committee - Diana Chee (Co-chair), Ross Krekoski, Aaron Vogt

Dedicated students from the NP Student Toastmasters Club : Bala (Vice-President & Chief Trainer) & Clarice (Trainer & contest official), Richard (President/Judge for SpeechCraft Prelim Round & Trainer), Godwin (Vice-President, Emcee for SpeechCraft Prelim Round), and Wen Chuan (our very entertaining SpeechCraft Final Emcee).

IS support staff who lent a helping hand:
Mr Wong Fook Hiong, who willingly stayed back to help us to record the whole session on video
Maria and Wai Cheng, who helped with the prizes and the certificates

Last but not least, all those who took time off their busy schedules to support the event:
Lecturers who came down to cheer on their students.
Our Deputy Director, Ms Pauline Leong, and,
Director/IS, Ms Jacintha John, who gave away the prizes and sportingly gave a very witty, impromptu speech which she had pieced together using the titles of the students' speeches!

A Big Thank You to All!

Sincerely,
Vivi Yanti Zainol
Chair, IS Reading Committee
School of Interdisciplinary Studies

we had to dress up for this contest. i wore my heels, pants and some long sleeved collar blouse. how i wish i had the pictures that we took last night. i'm waiting for ms vivi's reply via email. yes, i am waiting. ((:

my prepared speech was on "Rules", where i talked about rules at home. i was the first to speak for the prepared speech. it's crazy. i nearly went blank. i was so lucky to have remembered what i've prepared. gosh. first to start off everything! can anyone just imagine?!

i was the last to speak for the impromptu speech, cos i was the first to start for the prepared section. i guess everyone was waiting for me to speak, so that things can be done and get over with, hahas - i was kinda hoping for that too.
my impromptu speech was "My Biggest Worry of the Future is....". i spoke about death, not the death of myself, but the deaths of my loved ones. i spoke about losing my grandma last year. i nearly did lose it when i talked about grandma and the thought of losing my own parents. i ended the speech with "treasure your loved ones, before you really lose them".
one lecturer came to me and said, "it was a very moving and touching speech. i'm very impressed with your courage to speak about death of your loved ones. it was very well done. it nearly moved me to tears. i am so proud of you." i have totally no idea who that lecturer was. but her words seriously made me "lose it". holy mama. the tears just came and couldn't stop. gawd. and the lecturer came up to me and said again, "i'm so sorry, you were fine when you spoke, but after what i've said caused you to.." i didn't really remember what else was said after that, cause i was half trying to control myself and half trying to smile at everyone else. woah, that needed some skills. still i couldn;t beat nature. i had to use tissue paper. uhh. kinda "malu", eww.

all in all, the thing that was most memorable to me, was definitely not the prize. but it was the great friends that i've made and the fact that i managed to speak about my grandma. well, after all the main purpose of why i joined this contest (other than the recommendation of my lecturer) was that i had so badly wanted to "honour" my grandma, by sharing about her life and her passing.

and i guess this is why i'm feeling so relieved and at ease now, for i've managed to do, what i had wanted to do very much.

grandma, i miss you.

Monday, 12 January 2009

and i wish msy good luck for his results. (at 2pm later!)

i do hope he'll do us proud. at least he should score better than i did.

love ya boy! ((:

nh's open house on saturday. and i was "invited" to be back to display my invaluable artistic talents on the whiteboard of the classroom inno was using. i was supposed to reach nh at 8.30am, alas! who knew what happened to my stupid phone. the alarm at 6am didn't ring and i woke up at 8.10am. heavenly.

i could only reach nh at 9.15am. i thought i was super unlucky. i should have walked to nh after i reached clementi mrt. i would probably have reached at 8.45am. darn those stupid buses. word of caution: failure to estimate bus timings accurately could cause one to be late and hence, resulting in a series of unexpected happenings. which was exactly the dumb-est thing that ever happened to me. imagine being late and u wait for the wrong bus and then causing u to be later than ever.

right. inno's room was already set up by the time i got there. okay, i'm feeling damn guilty bout this now. but i what i can say is that i was really impressed with the display. the club definitely did a great (really brilliant) job. i think they can really do it all by themselves now, i'll just be the backup. and its really time to sit back and watch them work. perhaps, mrs. chang can "fang xin" now. ((: good job club!

and then i did the smartest thing. i went hunting for mrs. tan. and i found her outside the guzheng room. yes, she's the teacher-in-charge for guzheng now. i'm guess that she's happier where she is now (thou i dno why-maybe my sixth sense?). right, we chatted for more than an hour, before spotting mrs. chang across the classroom blocks. i was so thankful that i was so "far" from where she was, else i would have most probably been 'knocked out'. see, it pays for breaking your promise and being late. i shall not reveal the contents of my chat with mrs. tan (its a holy secret!) it's just so nice talking to her.

and i finally asked mrs. tan if xiao qing was in the staff room. and yes, she was there. i hurried down to meet my long-lost friend. (according to mrs. ong, she's been looking for me the entire morning.) i guess she was happy to see me, i'm guess cos i totally have no idea. seeing her just made me 'go young' again. just happy, carefree. plain, simple joy. oh yes, and i extorted 2 notebooks from mrs. chang. hahas. kinda made her give me the notebooks. and i was so impressed when she told me that she threw away a whole stack of notebooks when she was cleaning up her table sometime last month. great. so much for recycling.

didn't really get a chance to talk to mrs. chang. she was kinda busy looking thru her notes and yea, she seemed really busy. i do miss talking to her. i don't know why, both she and mrs. tan have this thing, this impact on me. always (without fail) after meeting them or just talking to them (not including sms) would just make me want to study. gosh. imagine if i were to camp at either of their houses during the exam period, i think i'll probably be on the front cover of np's monthly magazine and receiving loads of scholarships. haahaas. (dream on..)

i saw so many teachers at nh. really amazing. there was mrs. chang and mrs. tan (obviously!), ms von lim, ms jesse lim, ms loy xq, mr. nic liu, mr. liu gk, mr. ed ng, ms chng, mrs. a ong, mr seow, mrs. siew, mr fonseka (amazingly he still remembers me! i reckon i should have asked him what's my name, he might just fail that question.), mr. pandian, mr. a yeo, mr. eric tan, and not forgetting my facebook buddy, mrs. lip! okay, if i missed out any teachers, which i most probably would have, i'm so sorry. there were just too many i saw.

i miss nh, i miss nh, i miss nh. i miss the ever so lovable staff there.

mrs. chang, mrs. ong and mrs. lip left early cos xiao qing had some cca exhibit at her school. aww. my long-lost friend is primary 2 this year. oh yea, nicholas, jj and xueli saw the two of us walking along the foyer and nic asked if xiao qing was my sister! hahas, i didn't know what to reply. and after that xiao qing asked why i didn't answer. i just didn't know what to say! i just asked her, 'you want me to say yes?' and her reply was just a big, sweet smile. awww. so sweet.

helped inno pack up a little after the whole extravaganza. the greatest thing i did, was to help them draw the keys. yes, and i so happen to see mr. wee at the general office. and he entrusted me with the keys to open the studio. okay, he has never done this before. really.

went for lunch with mrs. tan at ghim moh. i was hoping to be able to find vegetarian food, alas, vegetarian food was like 'for breakfast only' and the only 2 stalls there were closed. so i brilliantly went to buy soya drink. at least its more filling. we talked bout almost everything under the sun. alright, as usual, she couldn't get off the topic of me having a bf. see, incalcating the wrong values. hahas, she was like asking 'anyone shown interest?' or 'how are the guys in ur school?' c'mon! he will come when he has to come. why the rush? mrs. tan's more anxious than my mum really. i can't imagine that day thou. mrs. tan said i was the 'emotionally strong' breed. she did some tests on me when we were walking to the mrt. yes, those questions. she seemed so amazed by my answers thou.
*sidetrack a bit: and eileen sent me an sms telling me that i must invite her to my wedding. (that was SO random! and i received this sms out of nowhere. gosh. i nearly dropped my phone okay?!) -.-

reached home at bout 3.30pm.
i'm thinking back bout the conversations between me and mrs. tan. i realised that we don't really have much common topic. me leaving nh has caused a major barrier. there's much lesser common things to talk about now. its more of sharing my life with her. goodness. sometimes i wonder if i'm saying too much or giving too much details or just letting out too much insights to my life. if only she'd tell me more bout her life (other than all the lame things that are happening in school), perhaps i won't feel so this way.

sometimes i do wonder how others see me. am i too talkative? am i too 'happy-go-lucky'? am i bitchy? or am i very 'what'? yes, i do wonder. and sometimes i fear it too. well...

alrights, i can't wait for tomorrow to come. cos i'm gonna get my new pants and yea, i'm not gonna bring my lappie to school for the first time in nearly 11mths!
the coming week's gonna be damn busy. first the EIS test on tues, the rehersal for SpeechCraft on tues, the BF re-test on thurs and the SpeechCraft on thurs (same day!), and the JAE helper on fri!

i wonder if i still have time for myself. sighs.