The clock is ticking and in some 40 odd hours, 2015 will come to a close and a brand spanking new year will start. For many of us the 1st of January is a time to reflect on the year that has gone by and maybe make some resolutions for the coming year. I thought of doing a reflections post on what 2015 was to me and my family.

2015 was not a very good year, both for the children as well as me.

2015 was supposed to be a stressful year as this was the year that BB & GG were going to give their PSLE exams. We were prepared for that, what we were not prepared for was how stressful the year turned out to be! If I could rewind time, I would have started preparations a lot sooner than we when we did. I also didn’t have a lot of luck with the tutor we hired. We had gotten the name of another tutor who came recommended by a friend of S’.

Unfortunately when the children were in Primary 5, she got admission into a Masters programme lasting for a year and so she turned the children to a colleague and left. In hindsight, I should not have accepted this as fait accompli, and instead should have researched more options. The tutor P whom we had for 1.5 years left a lot to be desired. I think BB & GG were the first Primary 6 students she was tutoring and it showed. She would constantly change class timings at the drop of a hat and also skip classes which showed in the results. Also sometime after school started, around April I think, she suddenly hiked her fees, knowing parents would not skimp at this crucial year. The worst I feel was when the children texted her about their results, she didn’t reply for a while, and when she did, it was just a “Oh dear”! Anyway, that’s water beneath the bridge now. Lessons learnt and this year and onwards, I will check a tutor’s credentials very carefully before hiring them.

I think somewhere there is a sense of guilt in me that perhaps I didn’t push GG & BB as much as I should have – if I did that, would they have done better than they did? I really won’t know that, will I. Maybe this was for the the best and the two of them will shine in the schools they have been placed in.

Speaking of schools, we still have not heard back from GG’s first choice school and after reading an article in the Straits Times that schools will not be able to admit those with lesser score than their cut off point makes me more and more sure that GG will have to grow to love her second choice school.

Work-wise, this year was very unsatisfactory. I started the year with lots of hope and anticipation, which, as the months passed by started shattering down to earth (too dramatic right!). My new manager was nothing like what I expected, having had his country-man as my previous manager, who is a wonderful person and an excellent manager (the reason he got promoted and left this country I guess). When I realized this, I was in a bind, since I didn’t want to change jobs during the PSLE year. So I stayed put and now in the new year, I am going to have a conversation with Big B (aka my manager) and if the conversation does not have any news on career growth for me, then my time here will have to come to an end, sooner rather than later.

One thing I am really happy is that in 2015 I have been consistently blogging – both in this blog as well as my other one. Sometime in December 2014, I suddenly wanted to revive my blog and start writing again and though I never gave it any voice, I wanted to blog everyday, which I am really happy to announce, I Did! So kudos to me there….
So as I say good bye to 2015, I want all the negativity and bitterness (and I have a lot as you know – lots of unfulfilled wishes this year) to stay in this year and for 2016 to start on a clean slate – one that is filled with optimism and positivity!

What are my wishes for 2016? Wait for the next post….