I admire the way your friend not only kept a copy of all the important dates of the people around him, but also acted upon it. Shows how he prizes relationships

Thanks for writing. I devoured the read

You mean places like Hokkaido?

Any reason why the north appeals to you? So that I can tailor my suggestions to your needs

Ohh so your Bitcoin trip didn’t quite materialise?

Looking after a baby is a handful!

Happiness Journal 10/7/25

I endeavour to be unflappable, but I have to admit that my emotions get swayed easily, much like a boat thrown askew by choppy waters.

Thank goodness that I live in Singapore in which the unexpected curveballs tossed by life get resolved quite easily.

At 8.30am sharp, Nick, a MOE customer service officer called me.

“Even if your current school isn’t reflected on the portal, you can indicate it by filling up the form manually,” he reassured me.

That’s all I needed to know. Filled up the form and went on with my day.

Later in the morning, Dawn from my school office messaged me to say that she had emailed me to request for some supporting documents.

You betcha sending her those documents was the last thing I did before I had to leave school owing to my renovation project!

Later this afternoon, Lay Peng, the assistant admin manager messaged me to say that my son’s particulars were not found in the Human Resource Portal. Could I input his details to facilitate the registration?

So, after the reno matter was done and dusted, I dragged my weary soul to school and added my boy as a family member - in the dying seconds before school closed at 5.30pm.

Mission accomplished! I can sleep in peace tonight.

If I had been born elsewhere, I would probably sleep blissfully tonight too. But then, I would awake to the rude shock of a stubborn bureaucracy and chillax citizens who don’t aim to clear their work asap!

The standardisation process

On how the English department surfaces several scripts that belong to low progress, mid progress n high progress students n carries out a rigorous discussion on how to award them marks based on the rubrics. So different teachers can award the same pile of scripts vastly different marks because of their different standards and expectations, even if they are using the same set of rubrics. There are few absolutes in marking English papers

So sweet of you! I think I m very verbose. So I don’t want to post so much and hog the Recent category haha

Happiness Journal 9/7/25

Today, my work day stretched until 6pm, but I still feel pretty energetic.

I volunteered myself to give inputs on an AI-powered marking system a Ministry of Education HQ team was prototyping. I realised that what is common sense to me is uncharted territory to these six developers. So, I became super animated, trying to flesh out my insights from perspectives gleaned from my days teaching at a junior college, a specialised secondary, and a primary school.

“Why did you agree to participate in this trial?” the developer who recruited me asked me, his curiosity piqued.

“To do something that stands out against the daily grain,” I answered.

Well, this unique experience brought me more than I had bargained for. I now realise that my experience matters.

Sorry, hold

Mine is diarrhoea. I only learnt how to spell it without using Google fairly recently

Actually with the prevalence of spell checkers, it is not longer that important to spell accurately.

Too bad children still need to pass exams in my country 🤪

The rule I before e, except after c sure doesn’t make things easily because there are so many exceptions!

Yes, the National Scripps Spelling Bee is more often than not won by Indians!

Why do you need to spell giraffe so often in the first place?

You know the memory aid to remember necessary - one collar and two sleeves. I will tell my students that occasionally is the opposite - two collars and one sleeve.

I confess that I have never come across imbibition before today!

Thank you for doing this! It awakened me to other possibilities, such as in essence (rather than in addition) and an option (rather than an example)

Because of the comma after (8) _____, I meant for my students to key in However instead of Although

Today, I learnt that there are different kinds of white lights, depending on the voltage. They include warm white (3000k), cool white (4000k), and daylight (6000k). Since we bought the 3000k lights, we were somewhat disappointed with the slightly orangish tint they evoked. We may have to purchase the cool white (4000k) lights to salvage the situation.

For a while, I thought your issue was screaming IMPOTENCE! Haha

Awesome that you are growing from strength to strength with this!