Being Optimistic

Ooooohhhhh...it feels so good to lie on the floor of my room doing this. The floor has been cooled by the air con and really inviting considering the humid warmth everywhere else.

So much has happened since I last wrote that I really don't know where to start. Blame it on the macbook power adaptor that has been faulty for the past few weeks. It took me a while to finally decide to get a replacement. $128 eh. But I thought, it would be an investment even if I decided to upgrade. So before this, I had been minimizing the use of my macbook in case the batt runs dry. When it was getting low, I would bring it to the office to get it charged with someone else's power adaptor.

Anyway, so I haven't gone online with the macbook for a long enough session to blog. I kinda lost momentum and got lazy. And if I ever go online, I would use my tiny ASUS EeePc. It has served me well for the past few months, just that it hasn't been for social reasons. Work has also been really busy and I get real tired just thinking of what to blog about.

So what has been happening? Generally, work has been extremely busy. It's like multi-tasking to the max. A chit chat with a few colleagues made me realised that our head count had been reduced by half quite a few years back, but our jobscope seemed to have been more than doubled since then.

Standards have gradually risen and it's getting harder to 'live' up to expectations without compromising the work-life balance that we're supposed to be proud to have achieved corporately. Setting a target of x number of training hours when we have no time to attend any makes analyzing our learning needs pointless.

Optimism is thinning. One big consolation I give myself is that it is an opportunity to force myself to depend on God and look to Him for strength and hope everyday and that I'm doing something meaningful and worthwhile. Sometimes it's difficult to focus when some people keep comparing me to others. Optimism means to take it in and improve myself - that means stretching myself further. I was near to burn-out, now slightly better. All the same, sense of depression comes more easily during such times. The heart becomes more delicate.

A big encouragement was to witness one of our two Dikir Barat teams (men's and ladies' teams) clinching the 1st Runner-up position at yesterday's Inter-Poly competition. Besides that overall prize, the team also won 3 out of the 5 individual awards - Best Percussion, Best Juara (lead vocalist) and Best Karut (secondary vocalist). Not the best translation of 'Juara' and 'Karut', though.

Oh I have a new Malay nickname. It's called Siti + some traditional flower name that I can't remember. What sey! One kind eh, they all! Menyesal!!!

So this coming week's Wednesday, the Choir will be performing an opening item at an International Conference for Learning & Teaching. Apparently it's a really big event with BOG attending. Much attention has been showered on the members to ensure they perform well. From costumes, to accessories, to make up, to choreography...beyond your usual expectation of a typical Choir. I hope all their hard work would pay well and they themselves will appreciate the process and raise their own standard.

Then Band's Flute Ensemble will be playing at the following day's reception. They will be doing the same set as they have done at last month's Graduation Ceremony VIP reception.

After this event is a series of camps from 5 of my 7 CCA groups. Overnight with them to be expected during the 2 weeks of term break.

And then there's going to Band's participation in 3rd National Band Competition in Open Division. Choral Exchange between my Choir and some other Secondary and JC Choirs. Besides my own students' stuff still got external committee involvement! SAF Combined Re-Dedication Day lah, National Day Celebration Day lah, TP Rawks lah! WAH PIANG! A lot of event to coordinate and supervise eh. Want to peng san already sey!



Church Camp from 14 to 17 June. I'm glad this year's Award Ceremony has been postponed to 30 June. Was supposed to be on 18 June. Now I can attend Church Camp in peace. I'm filled with anticipation of a fruitful spiritual encounter with the One whom my life is revolved around.

Oh, today I had my eyes checked to prescribe contact lenses. This is my first time and I'm quite excited about it. I'm getting daily lens cos I'll only use it around twice a month when I'm on duty for worship vocalist. Cos sometimes I can't see the lyrics projected and I'm supposed to be subtle. Not nice to squint my eyes on stage, right?

I had thought of wearing specs but it'll fog up cos I tend to get very hot with the stage lights. The energy spent would also add to the fogging up on my glasses. Hope wearing contacts would help. Collecting on Thu!. So exciting!!!