To My Not-So-Secret Stalker...

Coz I know you're reading this... and you know I like teasing you... a whole lot...

HI KIERAN!!!

God Answers Prayers

OMG! The Killers cancelled!! Do you know how lucky I am??? The best friend was riding me for not getting the tickets and made me look EVERYWHERE for them. Ebay, forums and what-nots. I love him but man, he can be a major ass at times. I almost bought $500 tickets out of sheer desperation. They originally cost less than half that price. Almost got them.

Today, the Facebook page informed me of the cancellation and I literally jumped for joy with a WOOT!!

Bitch aside, I feel for those that bought the tickets. Rumours are flying around the cyberworld that the "unforseen" reasons for the cancellation is that the band has broken up. CLICK. CLICK. Yea, research! Plus, imagine getting informed via Facebook of all places?? Not even Sistic nor Live Nation made an official statement. People were still gloating about the concert just a few hours before the "official" FB announcement and then in the following comments they started cursing! Hehehe.

I AM SO GLAD I DIDN'T GET SCALPER TICKETS!!! God, truly does answer prayers. Now before you start throwing stones, bricks, hot sauce at my direction, I did not pray for them to NOT come. I just prayed that there was a way for me to watch them.

Resistance Is Futile

Damn. Another weekend just went by. Like wtf, seriously. Where does the time go?! Weekdays drag on and wear me down completely. Especially this week. With the filming, the lame-ass workshop and the concert... I was on screensaver mode for the rest of the week. I was literally on a high on Friday. I had my Green Day merchandise tee on and paired it with my leggings and 10-year old leather boots. I was rockin' it \m/ I wasn't in the mood to teach too, anyway. Thank goodness it was a short day for me.

Don't ask me what I did this weekend; I cannot recall anything! There was food, movies, nap time and possibly some lesson planning. Other than that, nothing productive. Ahhh... I love lazing about.

Next week looks to be another energy-consuming week. Planned to makan at Lau Pa Sat with my favourite men from NIE. Hmmm... must think of a cool nickname for them... the likes of Them Boys... speaking of which, meeting them for our regular sushi meet-up. This time to celebrate Earnest's birthday. We decided to meet more often for sushi so what better way than to celebrate our birthdays than with sushi!! The day after, on Saturday, it's Zaneth's baby's 30th-day naming... errr... thingy. Yea. This gives us NIE peeps a chance to finally catch up. Gawd, I miss them so. They're like family to me and the closest bunch of peeps I've ever had. Those were good times indeed.

With a packed week like that, I sure hope I have enough time to recover for work.

Green Day

The day that I and many fans have been waiting for finally arrived. Green Day, after 20 years, have decided to head down to our sunny island! I was beside myself!! Plus, it was going to be their 21st Century Breakdown Tour!! Kudos to the best friend for getting wind of this and informing me. He knows people who keep abreast of concerts, events and the likes. He's cool like that.

The concert was mind-blowing. It will take me a lifetime to get over it. I am not exaggerating. It was everything I hoped that it would be and more. However, I wished they played more from their latest album which is heavier than their older ones. It did get the crowd going though, when they played from Dookie. Ahhh... I like Dookie.

The highlight for me would be when they invited (pulled/carried at some times) members of the audience onto the stage to rock out with them! It was fan-fucking-tastic! I'm sorry but an experience like that deserves some vulgarity.

I'm pretty sure Billie Joe Armstrong was impressed with us as an audience. We belted out almost a whole song and he literally got on his hands and knees and bowed at us. Yea, we kicked ass.

The only thing that can outdo this concert would be if the Foo Fighters made their way here. But they're not. *pouts* Till then, this is the best live concert. Period.

Hair Here... There... Everywhere!

Eurgh. I have to teach P5 Health Ed. I only looked through the Activity Book yesterday morning right before my first lesson with the class and I literally screamed out loud! I have to teach... PUBERTY!!! OMG!!! I could have died right there and then! It's not even one of the last few units (when I'm much more comfortable with the class and vice versa) BUT it is THE FIRST unit! Like how can I walk into a new class and start talking about... about... that! Gah. I can just imagine the scenario.

me: Good morning boys!

class: Gooooood..... mooooorniiiiiiiing..... Miiiiiiiss..... Paaaaarveeeeeeen.....

After some mandatory introductions, setting of rules etc...

me: Turn to page 1 of your Health Ed books. Today we will be discussing a topic which everyone of you will eventually go through, if some of you are not already going through it. Now, what is puberty?

Bloody hell. The ground might as well open up and swallow me whole. I was panicking; I had no game plan. I sucked it up and walked to class. I figured the boys would be just as traumatised as I was. And I was right. I was completely honest with the boys and shared with them that I've never discussed / talked about puberty with anyone before. Let alone teach it. They seemed to be a bit more at ease, knowing that I too was not at all comfortable and we joked around a little with the topic. I wanted them to be at ease with me and be comfortable enough with me for them to possibly share what they are going through. Boys are mean and I'm certain they would not want to talk about puberty with their peers.

So far so good. I take pride in being an excellent story-teller and they were listening eagerly to my tales of growing up or the lack of, if you get my drift. I felt I gave a good first impression and didn't make a complete ass out of myself. Hey, PUBERTY hor... you try talking about THAT in front of a bunch of 11-year olds.

But it wasn't over. That was Monday and I had another class on Tuesday (today). Now this is a better class as compared to the previous one. Since I did remarkably well at that one, obviously it'd be way easier in this better class. What I didn't count on was how eager the boys were for my arrival. I was waiting outside the classroom and when some boys noticed my presence, I could hear them whispering Hey, it's Ms Parveen! She's finally here. Quick quick... Ms Parveen's here already etc etc... Oh boy... dragons in my stomach... yes, fire-breathing, big-winged creatures were flying about in my stomach. I was even more nervous than the previous day!

I stepped in and almost immediately the class started shouting MS PARVEEN! YOUR SON IS HERE! LOOOOOK! You see... Kieran... my Day 1 Musical son's in that very class. I adore him but I didn't want to make it obvious to the class... but they ruined my plan... gah! I couldn't help grinning at their display and the poor boy's scarlet red face! I turned to the class and simply said to them, "I had a plan. I planned to walk in with a serious expression on my face and YOU ruined it. I'll try again." So I did. I walked out and walked back in, putting on my best "serious" look. I could see the boys stifling their laughter and I applaud them for being such good sports!

This class seemed more eager to listen to me than the previous one. I guess because more of them know me as compared to the other class. I shared stories, told some jokes like what I did in the other class. I noticed, however, that this class was a lot more squeamish with the topic. Some protested and wanted to skip the unit entirely! I must really think about my Health Ed lessons to cater to these two classes.

Oh at the end of my class... I ended with this... It is every Mother's duty to discuss the topic of puberty with her son... and I turned to look at Kieran. The class roared with laughter!! My son? He beamed at me before turning scarlet red again. The poor boy... hmmm... poor boys, actually! They have ME to get them through this stage of their lives. Sigh. Why not a male teacher? Or even a married teacher?? Or a REAL mother???

Dimitri The Stud

Check out this voice mail message this guy left a girl he met at a bar. He is SO full of himself I can't believe if the message is genuine. ENJOY :)

The Force Is Strong

I hate that it takes me an hour to get home from school. From the moment I leave the office to the moment I reach my front door - that approximately is an hour's journey. It's exhausting! Plus, I'm in heels almost always!! My poor aching feet.

I'm watching Star Wars IV: A New Hope. It's the HD version and it looks and sounds fantastic! Like the film had not aged at all. The saga is such a cult classic and I can't believe it when people tell me they don't like it at all. It's the ultimate battle between good and evil! If only I had the complete set! I'd be the happiest girl on the planet! Sigh...

My battery's draining... It's only Monday and I was falling asleep on the bus ride home. Not good at all. It was a pretty rushed weekend for me. Apart from trying to clear some work, my 2 favourite men from NIE called me!! We had dinner near my place which turned into supper and that eventually led into us heading our separate ways way WAY past midnight.

I love meeting up with Ismadi and Guna. They're so cool and fun to be around. We're all generally very laid-back by nature and that's the main reason why we get along so well. They travel a lot so I love to listen to their travel tales and misadventures. Plus, Guna loves the kind of movies that I do and his tastes are even more refined / eccentric than mine. Ismadi, on the other hand, is a die hard Star Wars fanatic. And that would still be an understatement!

It was my cousin's wife's bangle ceremony on Saturday. There's probably an official Tamil term for it... but yea... I wouldn't know it, of course. It was nice seeing my aunt and uncle but that's about it. I find all these events such a bore! Plus, everyone's always eyeing you and judging you. I feel it more since I don't speak the language. Eurgh.

It's Only Been A Week???

Why is it when my brothers go off, it's called "work" but for me it's going off to "school"??? Bah.

A week has already passed and somehow I feel like it's been more than just a week. It should be the end of Term 2!! That's how drained I am. The good thing is that I'm following up my class. I don't have to go through all of that bonding, orientation etc... I walked into class and basically told my class, "So... the rules are the same as last year. So let's move on." I know the boys, the boys know me. That makes a lot of difference!

The department meetings are over and I really hope I don't burn out or drown too soon. I must stay on top of things and not only show that I know my shit, but that I can multi-task and get things done. I just want to kick ass this year!

Let's take a look at what I'm up to this year. Thus far.

• Video for Math Com
• Video for Sci Com
• Skit for both CNY and Total Defence Day celebrations
• Co-IC for International Friendship Day
• IC for P2 Evening of Theatre
• Presenter for EL Parenting Conference

That should be all. For now. I must be strong and I really need to psych myself up to get through all of that in one piece.

Good news is that the 1st Quarter is going to kick ass because of the concert line-ups!

• Green Day - 14 Jan
• Muse - 3 Feb
• Paramore - 7 Mar
• Imogen Heap - 29 Mar

*runs around the room*

I am relatively happy but we all know that doesn't quite last. But for now, it feels fantastic.

My Top 10 Entries

In no order of merit, here are my top 10 posts of last year (2009):

• Clean Slate
• Because After 2am is When Things Get Legendary
• Reality Check
• Practice What You Preach
• An Ode to Them Boys
• Good Feeling: I Need You Just A Little Longer
• On Day 1 of The Best Days of Our Lives
• Teachers' Day Celebrations
• Daddy's Girl?
• It's Easy to Be My Friend

The majority are personal entries. Entries where I share with you incidents that have touched / shaped my life. Then there are some that are random and hilarious!

Last year (2009) has been the worst year for me, ever. Work, home and personal relationships took its toll on me. I truly hope that this year (2010) will be less dramatic and more fulfilling.