Of the Past Month

Update, update, update.

It’s been a busy month indeed.

Well, right after the holidays, our choral speaking team went to compete in the district level.

And won. (First place la, of course!)

Then we went to the Northern Zone level, competing against stronger and more experienced schools.

We got 3rd place.

I’m so proud of my students. It’s not an easy thing  for them to memorise a full English text, and execute it with actions and movements. But they did it.

Recently a group of UMS first year medical students came over to Telaga, and conducted a health workshop in my school.

Quite fun la.

And then, we had Teacher’s Day celebration in our school. So as always, flour and falling down were in order.

Quite fun too! Haha!

And then, we had the PSKPP (sports and cultural event for education officers).

I played badminton, got kicked out first round.

Played volleyball, our team got 1st place.

And I joined the jogathon. Got 4th place. Can you believe it?

I’m so grateful to my students who supported me and encouraged me to join this event, and for all the jogging sessions we had together.

So now, at least I got excuse to go jogging more often (and lose weight!)

One time when we were walking out to shoot some photos for their folio, we came across these two cute puppies.

So cute la! I miss dogs so much.

On the way back from Kota Belud after the Northern Zone level competition, some of my students stopped by the beach for some photo taking. The result was this wonderful jumping shot.

And then, began the jumping photo frenzy among my students:

Even I couldn’t resist! Haha!

Hmmm… is it me or do I keep pointing my toes each time I jump? Gosh, ballet, ballet!

Anyhow, it’s been a crazy month or so.

Now am in KK for the weekend, but came down with food poisoning today, so it was all rest at Wei Yen and Angeline’s place. Thanks for the care and the porridge, and also the noodles (which I didn’t even touch after 2 spoons!). And, oh yes, the donuts. Haha!

I think my body is trying to tell me something. I’ve never felt this bad before la. Is all this fatigue, nausea, dizzy spells and body aches a way for my body to tell me that I’m over exhausted?

Oh yes, I must show these two pictures. Dunno why, but I love them so much!

This is the original photo.

And this one is after Photoshop.

Which one do you think is nicer? Opinions, comments and criticism ya.

Here’s to another eventful month ahead!

Into the 2nd Sem

5 Immediate thoughts on going into the 2nd semester of school:

• seeing my students again
• choral speaking competitions (we’ve been practising since 2006, seriously!)
• more headaches and increased stress levels from the “angkara pelajar”
• more laughs and times of enjoyment with students
• definitely, more Photoshop-ing

At the end of this semester, I will be saying goodbye to a very special group of Form 5 students. Very Special because they were the very ones that I taught back when they were in Form 1, when I first came to Sabah and taught in that school. 11 of them are even more special, because I was their form teacher when they were in Form 1 and Form 4, and now I am bringing them through our final year together.

Has it been 5 years already? Gosh…

Isn’t purple a very nice colour? Haha!

Okay, okay, seriously, enough Photoshop-ing already!

Funny How…

Funny how after a meal with some friends, you offer to pay for it, but you just can’t help hoping that they would pay for it instead.

Funny how when they offer to pay for it, you say “no need, no need” but actually you’re hoping that they also say the same thing.

Funny how when they do pay for it, you say “thanks very much” but inside you let out a sigh of relief.

Funny how we usually go all out to do things for people who we love, but they never notice or acknowledge it.

Funny how people we dislike or don’t bother with shower us with gratitude when we do the smallest thing for them.

Funny how we lose touch with people when we step out of their circle.

Funny how we try so hard to keep in touch with old friends, when in actual fact, we don’t really care.

Funny how we love to go for weddings, but hate it when there are too many to go to.

Funny how people love to tell us things in black and white when we are facing gray areas.

Funny how we feel compelled to give a “good report book” when people ask us about our lives or when they ask “How are you doing over there?”

Funny how we keep asking “How are you?” but don’t know why we even bother.

Funny how we sometimes try to catch up with old friends, but very rarely do we get far or deep enough.

Funny how I still find my former sister-in-law’s blog intriguing and real, although… well, although.

Funny how we love to have hundreds and hundreds of online contacts on Facebook, but we don’t even communicate with more than 50 of them.

Funny how we can use the words “I don’t know” as an excuse for anything.

Funny how when we leave a place, we long to be back, but when we’re back, we long to leave.

Funny how when we’re young, we solemnly swear that we will never end up like the adults we see, but when we finally grow up, we end up being exactly what we said we didn’t want to be.

Funny how we cry at weddings but not at divorces.

Funny how death changes us, but only temporarily, until someone else we know dies.

“Mad World” (Tears for Fears, popularized recently by Adam Lambert)

All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere
And their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow

And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I’m dying
Are the best I’ve ever had
I find it hard to tell you
‘Cos I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It’s a very, very Mad World

Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday
Made to feel the way that every child should
Sit and listen, sit and listen
Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello teacher tell me what’s my lesson
Look right through me, look right through me

And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I’m dying
Are the best I’ve ever had
I find it hard to tell you
‘Cos I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It’s a very, very Mad World

Life is funny, sometimes sad.

But it’s the little constants that keep us going.

***

Okay, enough Photoshop-ing.

For now.

Seriously, a Photoshop Dummy

Ah! I can’t seem to get enough of Photoshop-ing!

This is selective sepia. I chose to keep green and cyan.

Also selective sepia, but this time i chose to keep yellow.

Vintage cloud. But, I think mathematically there’s something wrong with this picture.

This is bloom. Makes the wonderful models MORE wonderful huh?

This one is half sepia. But like half tak jadi la, maybe wrong photo choice.

This one’s called star diffusion. But I think tak jadi la.

Another star diffusion, better, but can still be improved.

My favourite effect for now is still the selective sepia.

Another shot which Hon Yau would call a football shot, but also selective sepia-ed.

So much more to learn. This is fun la!

Photoshop by a Dummy

Lately (and many thanks to Sue Ann, my digital photography saviour), I’ve found the joy of using Photoshop.

Actually, I’ve only been practicing one effect la, the effect that was used on the Fidelis photo, where the subjects are in colour and the rest in black and white.

Here are some trials I did, just for fun:

Not very obvious la, I feel, maybe cos the background isn’t much.

This one, not so kemas, but there’s something about this photo that I like. Maybe  it’s the way he smiles, with his eyes. (Alamak, macam Tyra Banks la pulak…)

This one also a little bit not so kemas, but the closest to the effect I wanted. It’s also the picture of my blog header now.

Seriously, photoshop-ing is good fun. And, it takes my mind off work for a while.

Now, back to work.