Tag Archives: Weekly Update

2015 Week 17 Update

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A very short week due to the long labor day weekend and quite a boring one too!

My ex-boss came to Singapore for a set of meetings and on Wednesday we went for a dinner with him, my new boss and one other colleague. While waiting for said colleague to bring his car around, my ex-boss was casually talking to me and I suddenly had this epiphany – for some reason I don’t want to go in too much detail here, the scales suddenly fell from my eyes and I really saw him for what he was. And I realised I gave him too much credit for my growth here. Yes he was responsible for what I am today compared to two years ago, but a major reason is also my work, my credentials, my achievements and what I brought to the table. So now I have more respect for myself and what I have achieved, so major, major thanks for that ex-boss! He’s still a very valued friend and mentor, but just not on the pedestal I had put him on earlier…

We had one moment of happiness yesterday when GG passed her Hindi SA1 (see yesterday’s post) and now hopefully this will spur both of them to do better in the coming SA1 exams for the other subjects.

Happy Monday and have an awesome week filled with positivity! I know I am going to have just that….

PSLE Week 17 Update

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Finally a piece of good news this week! GG & BB got their Hindi SA1 results yesterday and we were pleasantly surprised with the results….GG passed (not by a lot, but she passed) and BB failed marginally…I now have some hope for the future.

GG hasn’t stopped smiling since she came home from school yesterday. I am using this opportunity to tell her how happy she will be when she does well in her exams and has this feeling again! BB is being a perfect boy – not too concerned with his low(er) marks, but there’s always hope right?

The orals start tomorrow and then the written papers. Wish us luck….

2015 Week 16 Update

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One of the better weeks in recent times! Like I said last week, my new boss finally came in last Tuesday and he seems to be a nice guy – similar in temperament to my previous boss with whom I got along well.

We had a staff meeting this week and things I am working on seem to be taken up well. So far (touch wood) things are going well and hopefully this will lead to better opportunities within this organization. This is the biggest reason I am not taking very concrete steps to leave – I really like what I am doing here, if only people’s perceptions of what I do change – and this will happen when I get a formal title to what I am doing – then I can see myself having a fruitful career here. Ah well, let’s see how things pan out in the next six months or so and I will make a decision. PSLE will also be over by then, allowing me to take decisions I would otherwise not take.

We attended S’s cousin’s daughter’s first birthday yesterday and boy was it different! A mash-up between a corporate D&D (dinner & dance) and a wedding reception! All this in an HDB void deck. The loud music which made talking and thinking impossible, the MC who behaved as if he was in a D&D, the hosts who were most un-host-like and I could go on and on…They even had the baby change clothes three times in the hour she was around just like in a wedding!

Anyway, this was something we had to do as noone is S’s family was there. I would have loved to spend some time with the baby, but could not as the mom was busy with her relatives and so did not come near our table at all!!!

I can go on and on about this, but don’t want to inflict you with negativity….


Have a great Monday folks!

PSLE Week 16 Update

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The lull before the storm week – this is the last week BB & GG have before they start their SA1 (Semesteral Assessment 1) exams. Monday onwards they start the non-paper components – listening comprehension, composition for English and Mother Tongue (which they will sit out) and then the next week will be the oral exams after which the written exams start. This year is moving way too fast for me!

Earlier in the week, BB & GG sat for the ICAS test. I was pretty unconcerned about this test until I read some posts on parenting groups I frequent and then realized it’s more important than I thought it was! The children sat for the science test first with the Maths and English ones to come.

The International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS) are independent skills-based assessments with a competition element. Commonly referred to as the UNSW tests, ICAS is unique, being the most comprehensive generally available suite of academic assessments and school tests for primary and secondary school students. Each test is sat at the student’s school and is invigilated by teachers under normal examination conditions. Over one million student entries are accepted from over 6,300 schools in Australia and New Zealand annually. In addition, students from over 20 countries including Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa and the USA participate in ICAS each year.

For the Science test, the children are tested in skills in the key scientific areas of:

  • Interpreting data, including observing, measuring and interpreting diagrams, tables and graphs
  • Applying data, including inferring, predicting and concluding
  • Higher order skills, including investigating, reasoning and problem solving

The papers cover content on:

  • Earth and Beyond (incorporating the Earth Sciences and Astronomy).
  • Energy and Change (incorporating Physics).
  • Life and Living (incorporating Biology and Ecology).
  • Natural and Processed Materials (incorporating Chemistry).

BB found the paper quite easy while GG found it hard (typical right?). BB also told me there were Chemistry type questions which he could answer (go figure!) I really don’t know if he actually did the questions after thinking it through or he just picked an answer he thought was correct!

I heard and hope this is correct that we can use these scores as part of our DSA application – let’s see if the result comes through before our applications go in J

2015 Week 15 Update

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Another ho-hum week….

I started on my new job search this week, applying to jobs I may be interested in. I do not want to take very concrete steps as I love what I am doing here, but it’s the impermanence that I don’t like. My colleague E mentioned that there is going to be some openings in my department soon and that I should apply for it, as it is basically what I am doing, ramped up a bit. I will do that (Thanks E) and if I don’t get it, then it’s bye-bye company….

Oh, we’ve had a new colleague J who joined from a nearby country in Feb and he is so insecure! Technically he is the highest ranked among the three of us, but the lowest in terms of experience (he has this rank because that was his rank in his home country and they can’t downgrade him when he moved here). So he behaves like the king of the hill – wants all plum assignments and brown-nosing people. He is lucky that he has his fellow country-men around and in senior positions, which helps I guess.

I have to pen this incident down – last week, with all the problems my laptop was giving me, IT finally decided to give me a new one as it was long overdue. They gave me a temp laptop to tide me over till the new one was ready. Now this temp laptop had a privacy screen filter and immediately J wanted to know where I got it from and how he can get one. When E and I told him, these are not really useful he said “But I can’t see your screen from here”. For reference sake, E sits at my back (we both sit facing away from each other) and J sits on my side on the other side of the cube.

Now this makes me wonder – what else does he see on my screen and is he keeping tabs on me? Need to check this out soon….

Also our new boss is finally coming in next week – this was another reason I didn’t want to leave immediately – as I wanted to see if him being here will make any difference. My ex-boss will also be here the week after next to handover, so it will be good to see him too…

Ok, end of my verbal diarrhea….Have a great week folks!