Monthly Archives: April 2016

2016 Week 17 Update

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I want to put this down, so I don’t forget. The past few weeks I’ve been processing what is happening around me and sometime this week, I realised something. There is something not quite right between Big B and his boss. I have a feeling Big B will not last long in his role here. Big B is an expat and he has been deputed to Singapore from his home country and company for a certain number of years. From what I’m seeing and understanding, I feel Big B will not last his tour here, he may ask his home company to recall him back sooner than later. And I’ve realised that I’ve become the unfortunate victim in this skirmish! For some reason since Big B’s boss is not happy with him, he did not want to regularise my employment and eliminated my position so Big B is inconvenienced. I did obliquely mention it to Big B this week while we went through whom to pass on the different aspects of my job and his comments about his boss were not too complimentary!  Well, that’s life I guess!

I mentioned about a drinking session they had this week. I didn’t go as I had decided. The next day, Big B spoke to me about the session this week and asked me to come. Then he said the words I wanted someone to acknowledge – he said it’s for you and since you don’t drink, we’ll go for dinner. So I have said yes and it’s tomorrow! After that a couple of others  also came up to me asking me to come and I said yes….

The week actually went quite fast for me, I was busy clearing up my desk and doing my handovers. This week will therefore be quite boring I guess, I really don’t have much to do…Next week onwards, it time to start looking for new jobs and take the time to do all the things I had planned to do in the house and with BB & GG.

Have an awesome week folks, the last for April…

2016 Sec 1 Week 17 Update

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A very ho-hum week as far as school was concerned. The children are busy preparing for their first semester exams which starts from next week,

I am very happy with GG, she has become very mature in the last few months, the failure she had in her PSLE exams was the spur she needed. BB on the other hand, is still as playful as ever! Sigh!!

BB had an e-learning day in school this week and e-learning here was very different from what they had in primary school. Then, they were given everything prior to the e-learnng day and had a few hours to complete all subjects. Usually it won’t take more than an hour, and they have the rest of the day to themselves. Here, on the other hand, BB had definite slots throughout the school day for each of the subject and the curriculum of the e-learning was also not shared in advance. If they missed the slot, they missed the e-learning, which would be graded in the end.

I also, on a whim, googled the best schools in the world for the subjects BB & GG are interested and shared with them. I am using that as their incentive to study, will know in a while if this was successful. It’s also surprising in a good way that Singapore universities figure in the top 10 in both lists…

On to week 18 now, which is the start of exams. Exams also are differently done in secondary school, in bits and pieces over a two week period!

In My Hands Today…

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Radiance of Tomorrow – Ishmael Beah

At the center of Radiance of Tomorrow are Benjamin and Bockarie, two longtime friends who return to their hometown, Imperi, after the civil war. The village is in ruins, the ground covered in bones. As more villagers begin to come back, Benjamin and Bockarie try to forge a new community by taking up their former posts as teachers, but they’re beset by obstacles: a scarcity of food; a rash of murders, thievery, rape, and retaliation; and the depredations of a foreign mining company intent on sullying the town’s water supply and blocking its paths with electric wires. As Benjamin and Bockarie search for a way to restore order, they’re forced to reckon with the uncertainty of their past and future alike.

Writing

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if-word-clipart-1024x627One of the things I want to try my hand in during the next month or so is to start writing seriously. I’ve always loved writing and one of my favourite periods in school used to be the English composition period. In fact, I can remember myself in school, during the English exams, once we get the paper, the first thing I’d do is see the options for the composition section. Only after I made my choice, would I start to attempt the rest of the paper, wanting to savor the composition right at the end. All the while writing the paper, the composition would be writing itself in my head and I would pen it down once I’d done the other boring parts like grammar and the literature section.

In college, I wanted to do English Literature, but got suckered into doing Economics and Finance as I felt that’s where the nicer jobs were, but writing was something I did in secret. When Blogspot and later WordPress started, I was elated. This was a chance for me to start writing and this is where my blogging journey started. However, with the exception of last year, I’ve been more of an indifferent blogger, preferring to remain anonymous. I still prefer to blog anonymously, but my writing has started to get better in the last eighteen months or so of blogging regularly (or so I’d like to think)….

writing-a-book-two-people-clipart-1Like my reading, my writing is all over the place, but if I have a soft spot, then it will be for children’s books. I know that there are not many famous children’s book authors, but I love penning down small and sweet stories for the young. If the story has a kernel of something they learn in the process, that’s icing on the cake, as far as I am concerned. I have some stories written in this blog about a couple of monkeys called Chica and Chiki, modeled, as you’d probably have guessed correctly, on GG and BB!

I’d love to write more stories on my monkey twins and maybe some others. I know I have to do some research on how a children’s book is written and will do so. One part of this research will be to read more children’s books, but I am also planning to search for books on this subject as well as perhaps on creative writing? I am also looking for some courses in creative and writing, need to check the local universities, but I am not too optimistic about this. I will go online and maybe Coursera may have something for me.

I’ll definitely update once I start writing and who knows you people will be subjected to my stories here. When I do, please be honest in your reviews and critiques…..

In My Hands Today…

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One and a Half Wife – Meghna Pant

Unlike most Indian immigrants, Amara Malhotra is not destined to achieve the American Dream. Much to the anxiety of her parents – the spirited Biji and the doting Baba – Amara leads an unremarkable life. That is, until she marries Harvard-educated millionaire, Prashant Roy. However, this fairy-tale isn’t meant to last, and even as Amara’s marriage collapses, she finds herself returning to the land of her birth, to the small city of Shimla. Here, in a borough grappling with questions of modernity, Amara is caught in a tug-of-war between old beliefs and new ones, between parents who favour obedience and new friends who encourage independent thought.