My Life - Ballet...

My Reflections

2008-08-20T22:20:00.002+08:00

I THINK I fully understand now!

Saying that I'm arrogant is just a cover up or a partial cover-up. The actual fact is that she has never stopped comparing herself to me. Everytime I share my achievements with her, she will have conflicting feelings. One side of her is truely happy for her friend. The other side of her starts to feel bad when she starts comparing. This feeling is bottomed deep inside her heart. And that has increased in intensity throughout these 2 years as my achievements increases.

Maybe she does not preach what she says. She says judging your self worth through comparing with others is arrogant and insecure. However, deep down inside she has never stopped comparing and competing with others.

It maybe due to the conflicting feelings that she has that has caused her much agony. Otherwise she could just have given me a scolding and straighten things out. Why is there agony involved?

It is also my fault that I was insensitive and did not spare a thought for her feelings. Despite knowing that her students did not achieve in terms competition and summer schools, I still went ahead and appeared arrogant in her eyes. In my thoughts, I didn't think I was arrogant, I was merely sharing my true joy and feelings. Hiding true joy and appearing "humble" would be very hypocratical. I thought it was ok since she didn't even believe in sending her students into such things in the first place. But I was wrong.

I didn't know that sharing all my joy with a close friend can appear as boastful and arrogant.

But despite her pretending to be a good friend for these 1-2 years, I still believe that all the things that she has done for me in the past has been from the bottom of her heart.

Anyway, I don't know whether this is true or not. Only she will know best. I still thank her for telling me all these and I wish her all the best!

Quotes of the day:
Always express your true feelings.
Hiding or not being your true self is hypocratical.
Embrace all shortcomings and critise when necessary.
Running away is not a solution to the problem.

Happy for M!

2008-08-19T17:21:00.004+08:00

Yeh, I'm glad to see M back to her cheerful self in class! She looked down for a while.

To M: Wonderful wonderful for picking yourself up and moving on with life! Continue to dance well, move freely and express yourself! You are the best! hee :)

CSTD Dance Competition 2008

2008-07-28T22:59:00.003+08:00

After months of hard work and repeated practises, my hard work finally paid off and was recognised after one of my students gained 1st place in the Under 8 category. I was over the moon and extremely happy. I guess I was over the moon because I do not expect my girl to win the 1st place.

To more experienced teachers, this 1st place maybe nothing, but to me its a BIG deal! This again tells me that I have what it takes! I did not want to take much credit last year for H and M's win. H had other training elsewhere whereas M was a natural dancer.

This year, I have to claim credit for the win as V had been with me since bebe ballet and with no other training elsewhere. She was also not a natural like M. I had to tell her exactly what to do with her arms specifically. :) I feel so super proud of myself!

Would also like to thank hubby, sister, Jean, KH and mummy for coming by all the way to support me and the girls! :D

Presents from London!!!

2008-06-19T22:02:00.005+08:00

Sister just came back from London and she got me so many things! :D

Royal Ballet T shirt and Budding Ballerina T shirt

Harrods Ballerina Bear Tote Bag

Ballerina Pencil Case & Key Chain

Ballerina Pencil Case (back view)

Tyrrell Katz Ballet Mug!!! I Love it!

Tyrrell Katz Ballet Mug (other view)

Ballet dancer mug (royal opera house souvenior)

Ballet Hair Clip which I use every ballet class. My baby got it for me while he was in Cannes :D

DELIGHTED!!

Summer School Results!

2008-05-31T23:21:00.002+08:00

Let's have the pictures to do the talking!

Left: Level 2c Scholarhip winner - Teo Kai Hui
Right: Level 2c Medalist - Vera Chiew

There are my level 2 winners! Congrats!

My "children"! hahaa

Extreme right: Level 3c Scholarhip Winner - Mindy Liong

Me, Mindy & Summer school teacher - Camille Safton

Summer School Week

2008-05-29T11:43:00.002+08:00

This week is so happening and busy! hahaha For the first time I have girls in 3 levels - Level 1, 2 & 3. Been spending some time to observe the girl's classes for the beginning of this week. The girls generally did really well, although I have really shy girls like "Y" who loves to stand at the back and be in low profile. haha

M, V and K are really doing well in their levels. Especially M who is only 8, she is doing the classes with 9 and 10 year olds! Really very proud of her!

M & K are both performing their solos YET again for the 100th time for the summer school concert (afternoon show). So this saturday, I'm going to be ultra busy again!

Will be updating videos of the concert (if I can!) and details of the day soon!

She looks amazing young!

2008-04-08T12:51:00.003+08:00

Cannot believe when she told me she is close to 40 years old! Oh my goodness. She looks so young with a nice complexion and no noticeable wrinkles. Amazing! She totally looks like 25! So exercise can really do wonders! hahahaha I hope to be like that when I'm 40!

2008-03-29T19:35:00.003+08:00

Today is one of the rare saturdays evenings that I have nothing to do!

Been going actively to stretching classes and I really really love lateral stretches. I seriously feel so comfortable in lateral stretches that I actually like the pain! So silly right?

After being exposed to kids and more kids every single day (for 1.5 years), I'm beginning to feel younger and more active! Yippie! That day my amore instructor just asked whether I'm still studying. keke

Nothing much happened and everything seems peaceful except on Sundays when the "B****" is teaching.

After 2 months disappearance.....

2008-03-20T22:07:00.003+08:00

After 2 months of active exercising and going for dance classes, I think I developed a firmer tummy!!! I'm so happy! Belly dancing really helps to tone up the tummy area fast.

Had a nice chat with my belly dancing instructor today.
1) She said she knew I was a ballet dancer the moment I started to dance. **shy but happy** keke
2) She did ballet when she was little, now she does jazz, hip hop, conditioning and belly dance! She says she is so greedy and likes to do everything. **now I know why I like her class - she usually has some form of "ballet/dance" element in her routines.**

Had another nice chat with Mrs T after exams. Mentioned to her my future plans and hopes she can help me on that. And she says she will try and ask me to email her when my plans are definite. **a big big encouragement**

Started to train M & V for their solos. They are progressing well. **encouraged**

Finished planning all coaching classes for Nov 08 exams. No rest day for me already. Teaching every single day of the week. **sad to the maximum**

Will be starting classes for inter work. *apprehensive - so difficult syllabus*

For the first time, I have nothing to attend for the teacher's seminar. This year seminar is focusing on TC. **happy that I can slack without feeling guilty**

Happy RAT year!

2008-02-11T16:45:00.000+08:00

First time giving ang baos to the little ones during Chinese New Year! So sad... only collected a handful of angbaos from the elders. Learnt so many things, I must look after the interest of not only myself but also my family. So many people to please.
You know me right? The more people tell me to follow this and follow that, the more I WON"T want to follow. Hubby is always angry at me for not listening. Finally back to normal schedule. :D

My Workout Schedule

2008-02-01T13:17:00.000+08:00

Went for all the classes that I wanna try out for the past 2 weeks. Here's what I finalised.

Monday afternoon: Cardio Latino ? (This class is fun but its super crowded and have to wait to bathe after class. Should I continue?)

Tuesday morning: Stretch Fit ? (Haven't tried! But its the same lovely instructor as Thursday belly blitz. Looking forward to try after CNY)
Tuesday afternoon: Cardio Latino ? (This class is opposite from monday. It has so FEW people and the instructor is an angmoh who gives those grand battements en rond to a class with 50% aunties! Obviously they can't catch! Even me find it a bit too fast! But her combinations are tricky and fun though, just pity those aunties and maybe that's why there are so few people! haha)

Wednesday morning: Belly Dance (Angmoh instructor whom I suspect is from Middle East. keke. Not too bad lah but she doesn't really explain in detail. After 2 lessons I still cannot get the camel step - rolling your tummy forward and backwards as you move digonally forward with your feet)

Thursday afternoon: Belly Blitz (This is my favourite instructor. She is such a sweet and smiley lady whom bothers to break down all the steps and do corrections. Her classes are always very fun and happy cuz she is always smiling and encouraging you. After 2 lessons, I managed to catch all the steps and combinations she taught.
I must smile more in my classes as I think my students will feel the same as me!)

New vocabulary from Belly:
1) Dessert flower: 1.5 hip rolls travelling sideways and ending with a tap on the opposite leg.

2) Chu chu (maybe wrong spelling) : Its like corrus in ballet!! parallel feet travelling from side to side!

3) Pyramid arms: Like la syhipide arm (not the crossed both hands in front one, its the other one) but the higher arm instead of placing under the chin its touching the forehead.

4) Side Salute arm: One hand up (2nd finger touching forehead) and other hand in 2nd position but palms face down.

Belly Blitz again!

2008-01-24T21:58:00.000+08:00

I went to try out the Belly dance class (thurs) once more again. This time this class is quite different from wednesday one as its a different teacher. This thursday class teacher is so petite and pretty and she giggles quite a bit. She is quite enthusiatic and smiles ALL the time when dancing. (I wondering whether she is tired not from the dancing but from the smiling! hah)

Thursday belly dance is at a slower and so much more manageable pace than wed.

This whole week will be try-outs of all classes so that I can fix a schedule permenently.

Did I mention I even tried areobics? Oh my goodness, its boring to the maximum considering that its so fast-paced. I will never attend any more aerobics classes!

So I have fixed belly dance on my workout schedule.

My Workout Schedule
Mon : ?
Tues : ?
Wed Morning : Belly Blitz
Thurs Afternoon: Belly Blitz
Friday : REST!

Belly Blitz

2008-01-23T14:39:00.000+08:00

Just came back from my belly dancing class. Its amazing! I finally can sweat alot at my tummy area! Shook hips for one hour non-stop. Its such a great workout and fun dance to learn. The class was quite fast-paced and the teacher didn't go into the details of the steps as almost everyone seem to already know them. haha. Think I need more practise.

The class started with some basic hip shakes and arm movements (warm-up). Then it progressed faster and faster as the tempo of the music increased. The class ended with a short dance piece choreographed to the steps that we learnt in the beginning.

Think I did okie lah. I was focusing on the teacher's every movement as its my first time.

Some new terms (if I caught it correctly)
Bicycle - use one side of your hip to do a inward circle followed by outwards.
Shimmys - Shaking of hips only on toes while maintaining still upper body. (i did something like a open leg courru)
Chasse - 3 step linking step
Camel - A movement of the tummy forward and backward (like wave) while on toes and bent knee (one leg is in front of another)

More belly dancing tmr!!!! :D

Yeh! I signed up

2008-01-22T15:00:00.000+08:00

After considering for about 4 days and a trial yoga lesson, I finally decided to sign with with the fitness club! Yeh! The yoga class was challenging! Wow..alot of poses and stunts that I never learn before. Now my arms are still aching. The teacher is a super fit looking "auntie". So flexible and agile at her age! Amazing. She even tried to demostrate a difficult step when she had injured her big toe. Not only the teacher, but the class had quite a number of very fit-looking middle aged women. I look very unfit in comparision. *ashamed*
As my package gives me unlimited access to the club, my aim is to go at least 3 times a week. Tomorrow I will go for the belly blitz - belly dance and aerobics combined! Never ever learnt belly dance before, so excited to try.
Will update about the class when I'm back....

Happy 2008!

2008-01-17T14:01:00.000+08:00

Hey everyone! I'm finally back! Had a busy yet eventful 2007! Also travelled to somewhere further than KL, which was so cool and educative and fun! I must make sure we travel at least once a year to somewhere, really learnt many things when travelling.

Now that I have finally settled down after my wedding and teacher's exam, I have so much free time and hence started to think about more yoga classes. Chanced upon this all-women gym club - amore fitness. They offer very interesting classes like Cardio-Latino and BellyBlitz. Sounds super cool and interesting. So now comtemplating whether to join the club or not. Should I?

Glad to know that HHB is settling down very well in US and is enjoying everyday of her studies to the fullest. Really happy for her. Hope I can visit her one of these days as I always wanted to go to US to attend the Summer Holiday program for teachers. Air ticket is so ex though....

I haven't got my TC cert yet!!! "HURRY UP" agrzzzzzzz It going to take ages and my pay increment is also going to take ages! My goodness. I hate it!

Wedding Checklist

2007-11-09T12:10:00.000+08:00

Its been so long since my last update. I'm very very busy now with wedding stuff and exam stuff. Need this checklist to keep track of my status!

~~1) Meet up with GH staff to finalised banquet details and stage requirements.~~
~~2)Food tasting @ GH~~
~~3) Mail out all friends invitations~~
~~4) Give out all relatives invitations~~
5) Look for a lunch catering
6) Shop for materials to make jiemei's wristlets, ang bao box and ring pillow
7) Go to wedding shop in People's park complex to shop for wedding essentials
~~8) Get the Vera W gown altered~~
~~9) Final fitting for my other gowns~~
10) Collect Sam's shirt
11) Collect air tickets for honeymoon
12) Call credit card company
13) Assign duties for the jiemeis
14) Collate the number of cars on the wedding day
~~15) Find baby photos~~
16) Photo montage
17) Animation montage
18) Rehearse Mindy & Kaihui
19) Finalise wedding day plan
~~20) Book manuicure for me, mei mei and mummy on 15 Dec evening~~
21) Confirm appointment with JOP
22) Call florist
~~23) Book spa/waxing~~
24) Footwear (loafers)
25) Buy stuff to bring over to new house

15 years later....

2007-09-19T10:37:00.000+08:00

Had a meet up with my primary school classmates yesterday. Saw them for the first time after 15 years. Thanks to the F*iendster network, we found each other! :D I was surprised but VERY happy that everyone is doing SO WELL.

One is a famous fashion designer who won international awards.
One is a famous guzheng player in a international touring troupe. This gal was already playing guzheng very well in primary school.
One is a training to be a pilot.
One is a PSC scholar.
One is a PhD student!
One is a secondary school teacher.
A few are working as engineers and other sort of professionals.
In fact all of them are university graduates.

Although we never talk or kept in contact for 15 years, we still talk like we were old friends. Very nice feelings. I was beginning to think that primary school is so important. haha seems like we are all uni graduates after coming out from a SAP primary school. So nice to see my classmates doing so well in the artistic field.

*very very happy*

The Magic Musical Box

2007-09-10T11:47:00.000+08:00

YEH!! The Magic Musical Box concert is over! YIPPIE! I'm so overjoyed when I heard that its an IMPROVEMENT from the "I dream..." concert from many parents. Many touching moments and sweet bonding I shared with each and everyone of my students was great! I truely enjoyed myself and it was less stressful then I thought it would be. Many thanks to Sam, Sis, Lipei, Tricia (and her little gal), Sharon, Jean and all the parent helpers!

Let my pictures (with compliments from J's daddy) do the talking!

I'm so proud of you gals! You did BETTER than during the competition!

My little ones were quite neat at least during the ending! Jia you!

My blur blur mechanical dolls... SO CUTE

The girls are enjoying their skips! Nice smile

My energetic 7s! didn't know you all were so able to shake and jump so nicely.

My solo gal in At the Beginning

At the beginning ending pose

My compeition winner. So proud of you!

Another picture. Nice attitude!

"Mindy's grade 5 or grade 6?" Ho ho ho So proud to hear that!

Lovely sense of style!

My grade 4s. They truely got more confident of themselves! wonderful!

Twrils. Good job my dears! Maybe so and so will be jealous when she sees you dance like that.

Messy but at least they got their ending pose nicely!

Can you spot Wanxin? keke

Barbie dolls!

Korean Dolls

Musical box dolls! Nice 5th from Clarie.

Ballerinas - nice effect.

Ballerinas again

Confident finish.

Mindy in cinderella

This is exactly the effect I imagine. Thanks Lighting man!

Pretty cinderellas.

Spiral finish.

Confetti!! Well done gals!

Joke of the week!

2007-08-27T13:39:00.000+08:00

This girl really makes my day! Although she doesn't dance that well. Her cuteness and innocence more than make up for everything.

I was explaining to the barbie dolls class what is going to happen during the 6th and 7th Sept rehearsal and concert day.

Whole class: Will there be food in the afternoon? I will get hungry then.

Me: Yes yes, of course, there will be afternoon tea like cakes or bread and maybe milo.

Sharmaine: Yeh! I love milo!

Wanxin: Do you have ice kacang? I love ice kacang!

Whole class and ME: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Now I know I'm teaching a group of hungry people! Just like me! :D

New "pointe shoes"

2007-08-14T09:41:00.000+08:00

Adding to my shoe collection is this! Baby bought it for me in KL.. Yippie!

Pre wedding photo shoot

2007-08-07T19:17:00.000+08:00

Finally!! One big item in the entire wedding agenda checked! :D Had a fun but tiring day of photo shooting! The day started out at 10am. We were late! haha! Luckily we didn't forget anything major! Flowers arrived at 1030am, but they weren't spectacular! The photographer used maybe about 3-4 shots throughout the entire shoot! I must tell the florist!

The studio took quite long! I had 4 outfits. (One short, 2 gowns and my ballerina wedding gown) The first 2 outfits were very quick. The photographer took very quick shots. But S very funny.. cuz he will smile AFTER the photographer snapped! haha and whenever the photographer told us to look at each other, I will burst out laughing. Don't know why! But after a while I got used to it.

Time to shoot my purple evening gown: My hairstyle was very NOT me! It was those kind of messy hairstyle... Looked very matured in the hair. The photographer used a fan and kept experimenting with the arrangement of my dress's fabric. All of the people present (sister, S and the make up artist) were roped in to help hold the fabric at different angles to achieve the effect he wanted. I just felt very cooling standing there.

Wedding gown: Waited for this part very long. Cuz this is the part where I will put on my pointe shoes!! Again the photographer played with the tulle and asked me to hold the gown in different ways to get a ballerina bride effect. I liked 2 of the ballerina pictures (from my own camera) alot! We spent quite a long time to take the ballerina shots. Later then I understand from him that he came from an art background and likes the movements and poise of ballerinas. And he has also recently took another ballerina. I saw the ballerina's picture in his studio gallery. She did a GRANDE JETE (like those Don Quixote kind) !!! SO PRETTY. S is so cute also.. He stood behind the photographer while he was taking my shots and kept making the thunbs up sign! :) S says that he will blow up the ballerina picture to hang in our new room if its nice!! *HAPPY*

Outdoor: Went to botanic gardens and Sentosa. The sky is nice but got ALOT of insects went into my wedding gown!! and they kind of trapped inside the tulle! YUCKS! I saw like at least 3 other couples at Sentosa and botanic gardens! But one of them was so funny. The photographer was trying to taking a picture of them running! So they were like running for more then 5 times! POOR them! So hot still have to run! hahaha

The day ended with me EXTREMELY hungry. So I was in a bad mood on the way home! Haha Thanks to S and Sister for accomodating me! And thank you sister for taking so many nice pictures of us!

Looking forward to the picture selections!

Nice picture!

2007-07-31T11:28:00.000+08:00

When I look at this picture (see below), I was so envious! Although its not perfectly well placed, I never had a picture like that when I was young (not now even). I believe this student will treasure this picture.

Realised that I was so busy these few months, I have not been dancing at all! Oh dear, my bones feel stiff. How to wear pointe shoes to take photos next monday? Oh no! *nervous*

AND I haven't finished all my dances for the concert!! *nervous*

AND I haven't finished makeing half of my hair accessories for this concert! *nervous*

Yeeks... have to buck up and stop playing the RAT game!

Presents from US!!!

2007-07-23T16:32:00.000+08:00

Sister bought me so many presents! heee

What an emotional day!!!

2007-07-22T20:25:00.000+08:00

First, I would like to thank SAM, LIPEI, DARLING SISTER and JEAN for showing so much support throughout the preparation and TODAY!

I'm so OVERYJOYED!! Both my solos won medals in the 9th Asia Pacific dance competition! Both K and M was so supportive of each other and the 3 of us were so emotional backstage. First, K did her solo beautifully and sharply. I'm so extremely proud that our hardwork paid off! I broke into tears (was so moved and touched) when Mindy performed her solo SO confidently and emotionally on stage. After both of them performed, I told myself no matter what happens, they have both done their best and they are winners in my heart. So you can imagined how overjoyed I am when BOTH of them won!

Group dance was also perfect! I really think they should win but the Judge thought otherwise!! Let the messy and noisy group win! What to do, I'm not the judge. haha. But gals, I really think you did wonderfully today! EXCELLENT!

A little "technical" error happened at the prize presentation ceremony. Mrs T announced the wrong name!! It should have been M but she went to read another girl's name! SO OFF!!! And the gal took all the glory that is rightfully M's!! So unfair and PISSED! and that girl is Ms N's student! What a small world. Never mind la, let her be happy lor! But we all knew who won! :D

I actually shed tears of joy after all my gals finished dancing. And I was "hidding in" Sam's shoulder cause all my gals were just sitting next to me! Sorry i need to praise myself a little bit here now! Winning or losing didn't matter that much to me but of course I still kind of want to win after putting in SO much effort! After feeling proud of my girls, I think I'm a little proud of myself too.. kekeke... My work (be it choice of dance, costume, music, choreography) is recognised on an Asia Pacific level! I'm floating nowwwww................ woooooooo

Trial make up & fitting

2007-07-19T22:41:00.000+08:00

Wooooo... trial make up & fitting done! Now have to meet up with the florist! What flower should I get? What flower should I put on my hair. SO many to choose from. Should I take the photos with pointe shoes? I haven't been dancing for so long!! I do not know where to go for the outdoor shoot. So many things to settle and decide. Headz blowing........

Me!

Competition Rehearsal

2007-07-17T23:31:00.000+08:00

I thought I was pretty cool about the competition. But I was wrong. For some reason I felt a little nervous after the rehearsal and the nervousness is getting stronger.... I hate that feeling!

I was very pleasantly surprised by the group dance cuz they managed to do their formation VERY nicely despite having only using the stage twice! Very proud of them. :D BUT NO SMILE from ANYONE!! :( :( :( This could well cost their win! Costumes look pretty nice on stage. SMILE MORE, gals!! *fingers cross*

Mindy was super nervous! But she still manged to dance her steps gracefully and won BIG cheering and applause from ME and Louisa's mum! Mindy: Try to relax, be confident of yourself! You can do it!! *fingers cross*

Kaihui's solo was well done but with no SMILE! :( After looking at the solos side by side... finally agreed that Hui's solo was slightly stronger. BIG applause from ME again! Kaihui: SMILE!! and rise on the arabesque on STRAIGHT knee! You look like a dancing princess when you smile. *fingers cross*

B kept commenting that my costumes was so lovely!! *blush* keke

Parents must be thinking why is this Ms Lovell applausing like a crazy fan?!! hahahah Lipei, Sam and Jean must do the same ok? Too bad my darling sista [who is in the NTU cheerleading team is still on her way home from US!!! :( ]

*FINGERS DOUBLY TRIPLY CROSSED* ALL the best gals!!!

Happy Marriage, Vee!

2007-07-15T22:07:00.000+08:00

Attended a wonderful wedding yesterday. My dear friend Vee is married and moving to NY! Wishing her happy marriage and honeymoon! And I saw Joan Lim at the wedding too!
Some pictures to share.

Me and baby at the cocktail reception. Equal height :P

Us with the wedding couple. Notice the SMALL eyes and the big eyes! Our children will definitely have small eyes...

Me and SOPPPHHIIAAAAAA.. Close colleagues :)

Me and baby again, at the end of the wedding dinner. The wedding was till like 11 plus! Crazy.. Have decided to wear this pretty little dress (baby's gift) for my Sept Concert. :D

And look at the temp curls after one day.. Still nice... Lots of compliments from students and people in JE! worth the money... keke

Status UPdate

2007-07-07T21:48:00.000+08:00

Items to Choreograph

1) Barbie Dolls - JE 1015am
2) Classical - JE 11am
3) At the Beginning - JE 12pm => DONE :)
4) Musical Box Ballerinas - JE 2pm => DONE :)
5) Cinderella - JE 245pm => DONE :)
6) Ribbon Dance - JE 345pm
7) Tambourine Dance => DONE :)
8) Classical Solo => DONE :)
8) Modern Solo => DONE :)

9) Korean Dolls - LP 1015am
10) Classical - LP 1015 & 1115am => DONE :)
11) Feel the Beat - LP 1212pm => DONE :)
12) Reflection - LP 130pm => DONE :)
13) Mechanical Dolls - LP 230pm

14) A whole New World - HG 730pm & 815pm

Hand printed photograph

2007-06-24T23:51:00.000+08:00

I received a hand-printed photograph of my JE bebe ballet class today. I was very touched by the kind gesture of the mummy as she presented the photo (she took it and printed - not using a printer - it herself) with such sincerity. I thought the photo was so well taken as it captured the expression of the girls so well. I will keep this photo well! Thank you!

Musical Box Dolls with Tutu

2007-06-24T22:41:00.000+08:00

HEre's the completed musical box dolls. hahahaha sorry they are very blur at the end of the video. NO time to take another one. ONE take only!

ENJOY!!

Start of break..

2007-06-13T23:00:00.000+08:00

Today marks the start of my one-week break from teaching! Yippie I got no ballet classes except for M's class. Have 2 classes with her, one on Monday and one on tuesday. Hope to finish the whole dance by tuesday. And hope that the costume can be out by next Thursday so that M can try it on.

Everything abt this special dance is SUDDEN. Sudden inspiration, sudden thought to start rehearsal earlier during the school holidays, sudden thought to enter her in the competition, immediate "YES" reply from M and Mum about entering the competition (U know, they usually consider everything for very long).

I feel so wonderful about everything associated with the dance. :) Will be posting video once I finish for my baby and my darling mei mei to watch. Till then, my inspiration has to keep coming.... Wish me luck!

Reflection

2007-06-12T14:59:00.001+08:00

Here's the grade 4 item.. Somehow feel, they are not confident of themselves

At the beginning...

2007-06-10T21:42:00.000+08:00

Just finished the first of the modern ballets pieces, of course the dance is still kind of messy and with 3 people away.. here's the best it can look. :)

Sudden inspiration...Vellerina's Notation

2007-06-08T23:44:00.000+08:00

Out of nowhere, out of the blue, I got very inspired by this song and started a choreography of the song. :) Here's my very own dance notation of the dance steps.

Somewhere out there Part 1

Somewhere out there Part 2

Somewhere out there Part 3

I ran out of inspiration at the last 2 lines of part 3!!! Must be the class that I was rushing to! ANGRY!

CAn you visualise the dance by looking at the notation? haha

Summer School Results

2007-06-04T22:41:00.000+08:00

After 2 weeks of summer school and teacher's course, here's my summer school achievement so far. I'm really quite pleased with my gals. Congratulations to them all!

2005
Level 1 Winner

2006
Level 1 Winner
Level 2 Medalist

2007
Level 1a Medalist
Level 1b Medalist

Thoughts of a happy bride-to-be

2007-06-01T12:06:00.000+08:00

Think I have spent like more than 20 years competing with others: school work, school results, ballet, ballet students, students' results, career, money and a million other things. It just struck upon me one min ago, WHY AM I COMPARING & COMPETING? Think I haven't got such thoughts for ages which hugely explains why my blog is so dated. Today is such a special day! I suddenly feel I gain like so much confidence in myself.
I think the group dance tutu IS nice and I don't have to ask anyone for their opinion. I don't care about parent's opinion. I think the dance is doing fine. I think the concert costumes are fine as well, much better than previous year. :) I'm going to have a successful concert (at least my own dances). I have faith in myself and my students.
I love my wedding gown! Is totally what I want. So pretty!! haha Evening gown is still in the process of alteration and so I will pass my verdict after the 2nd fitting. But I'm sure it will turn out really fine. :)
Feel so good about myself! Yuppie.. maybe all brides to be feel the same way......

Don't they make wonderful musical box dolls? So proud of these primary gals.

The Magic Musical Box Checklist

2007-01-07T22:34:00.000+08:00

Items to Choreograph

1) Barbie Dolls - JE 1015am
2) Classical - JE 11am
3) At the Beginning - JE 12pm => DONE :)
4) Musical Box Ballerinas - JE 2pm => DONE :)
5) Cinderella - JE 245pm => DONE :)
6) Ribbon Dance - JE 345pm
7) Tambourine Dance => DONE :)
8) Classical Solo => DONE :)

9) Korean Dolls - LP 1015am
10) Classical - LP 1015 & 1115am
11) Feel the Beat - LP 1212pm
12) Reflection - LP 130pm
13) Mechanical Dolls - LP 230pm

14) A whole New World - HG 730pm & 815pm

Realistic....

2006-12-09T20:45:00.000+08:00

When you get the results, you are not sure whether the girls performed really well that day or T was in a very good mood that day. ha... Freaking 60% Honours Plus! The rest of the girls with Honours must be thinking that their honours is no good. Anyways... Thank you sista, HHB and Tricia for helping me in mock exams as well as actual exam day.

One parent was very honest with me today. She asked me if her girl can join the comp class. If not, she will transfer her girl to BT. Very realistic, which is what parents are nowadays, isn't it? NO feelings involved. As long as the location is convenient, they will go, what is 2 years to them? Nothing. Pondered on the thought for a while.

My conclusion is: Since I did not choose her in the first place, there must be something not right, why waste time to think of reasons to let her be in the comp class. Let her go..... :)

The older you get, the less friends you have

2006-11-08T15:03:00.000+08:00

I came to realised that all friendships, bondings and other forms of relationships will eventually come to an halt one day. How many of your childhood friends are still in contact with you now? How about primary school classmates, secondary school classmates, JC and even university classmates are you still in frequent contact? Countable with your 5 fingers? Its damn sad right? The older you get, you find it increasingly hard to sustain those friendships that you have had while you were still studying.

Some friends become wives, some friends become mummys. The topics you talk about are so different. Opinion changes overtime. Some people that you click with years ago might not click with you now. Friends going away in search of better prospects. Some others have a clear goal in their minds.

While my goal is clear, sometimes it becomes translucent when the financial aspect comes in. The thought of re-settling in other city gives me butterflies at times but I often tell myself I have to be strong to re-adjust to the change. But then again, I have never needed to re-adjusted to another surroundings in my life. Just hope everything will be okie and me and my family will led a peaceful 2007!

To do list for Nov and Dec 06

2006-11-01T15:06:00.000+08:00

1) Ensure everyone passes with flying colors in CSTD exam on 10 Nov (trying hard!)

2) Search for Grade 2, 3, 4 classical dance music

3) Search for competition dance music

4) Choreograph competition group and solo dance

5) Choreograph Grade 2, 3, 4 classical dance

6) Finish my own CSTD exam.

7) Buy theory book and study for TC.

SO MANY things to do but so little time. I got to finish all these so that I can have a peaceful mind during my Christmas and New year holiday break! Wish me luck!

New beginning...

2006-09-15T23:46:00.000+08:00

I officially stepped down as an auditor on 13 Sept 2006. It was a wonderful experience for me and I learnt so much from my 4 years in the firm. Thank you everyone for your support and care throughout my journey.

First few days of teacher life was wonderful! I feel so light and relieved. I finally have time to prepare my classes and I'm all rady to inject new stuff into my classes and inspire my students once again! I'm so so so so happy. I prepare every single class with careful thought and most importantly, a BIG smile.

Got a new international school student from Korea. She is very smart and always asking questions. Very intelligent little girl. Really looking forward all my new students and classes. :)

Happy Teachers' Day!!!

2006-08-31T00:12:00.000+08:00

I'm so touched when my students give me flowers, self made cards and other cute little presents during teachers' day. I believe that shows how much they love me, right? Or rather how much the parents love me? haha. Whatever it is, I'm really happy to receive the presents. :)

Back from KL...

2006-08-21T14:03:00.000+08:00

Had so much fun in KL. Baby surprised me with a bouquet of flowers - purple roses!!! :):):)

It just feels super funny when I always come back with nothing from KL trips. Mummy ask me how come I never buy anything at all since its the Malaysia Mega Sales. I was like "donno!"

Baby bought me an ELLE face towel and I'm using it right now! very very nice and smooth.

Everything is more defined now. My evenings are filling up very soon. Got a call from Aunty Liming to confirm all the loyang point classes. Great! :)

regaining strength

2006-08-14T22:54:00.000+08:00

I'm finally not working that late everyday. I finally have time to breathe. I have time to talk to my baby. I have time to do my own things. I have to for my blog! Realised I only have a few entries for the whole of 2006.

I tried to take class photos of the JE gals on sunday. Only remembered that I was supposed to take photos after 245pm! hahahaha so only had like 3 classes of photos. Never mind! I will take them on the coaching class day (coming wed)

As days passes and the deadline I give myself to decided whether to quit or not is drawing near, I received encouragements from my dearest Sister and Sammy and HHB. They made my path clearer. I'm more determined to make a major transistion in my career.

Thank you all for your encouragements!

Baby I'm sad

2006-08-12T21:59:00.000+08:00

Mummy is talking to someone now...

Daddy is irresponsible. He is not supporting mummy anymore. He says no one is giving him money. No one cares. All he does when he comes home is to ask me for money. Every word that he says is about money. He does not love us anymore. I'm disappointed with him.

Mummy sounds like she has a new love? She's got lots of calls on her mobile everyday.

The whole family is falling apart.

Hope my darling sister graduates soon. Then I can set my mind at ease.

Sometimes I feel I'm selfish to a certain extend by buying the car. If I never buy my car, I can give my mummy more money.

Should I still go ahead and quit my job?

It's time for a evaluation

2006-08-08T15:39:00.000+08:00

Shanghai Concert (6th Aug 2006)
First time I saw my students perform live on stage! A very different feeling as compared to when I was the one cheorographing. I feel like a parent watching my kids dance and I'm so proud of them.
I appeared at the VT backstage after JE classes and everyone was so overjoyed to see me. I saw all my students and Mindy! So overjoyed that I can take pictures with them all.
I enjoyed the show but felt that Singaporean students have a lot to learn from students in China.

Major decision
I spend close to 4 years in auditing and ballet teaching. Had a good taste of the corporate world. Learnt a lot of things but I feel like moving closer to the world of ballet and develope my expertise in this field for long term. But haven't decided on a date to move on yet.
More classes are definitely in the cards. More classes would mean more coaching classes and it has come to a point when I do not have anymore weekday evening slots! I only have Thursday nights free now, which is totally crazy. Most probably will be sending exam gals in March 2007 to ease out the crampness for Nov 2007 exam.

Evaluating ballet career
Singapore ballet market is getting more and more saturated. My goodness. Look at the number of major gals produced by Ms Lee. They are all up and coming teachers who are going to dominate. We are kind of losing bargaining power. Gosh.
I wonder if KL market is that saturated. I hope I'm one of the pioneers and they seriously lack teachers over there. So excited at the thought of it. Urgently needs the TC to accomplish that.
Think 2007 will be a major turning point in my life as it has been safe and stagnant for a while. Its time I get out of the comfort zone and move on. I must be brave and take the first step. Otherwise I will never know how is it like to be a full time ballet teacher.

blink blink!!!

2006-05-30T18:02:00.000+08:00

Never know how it felt to receive a diamond ring from your sweetheart until I finally received one! And its a pre-proposal ring somemore... You know, now I will have 3 rings! hahahaha pre-proposal ring, proposal ring and wedding ring. WOOOO...

The DATE:- 27 May 2006. Will never forget!

My ring is at the craftsman, changing the size... I'm SO SO SO excited to see the ring on Friday! :)

Back from heaven...

2006-02-13T10:42:00.000+08:00

Haven't blogged for ages. But I feel that this is an important event for me to blog and remember. I had the most wonderful Valentine in my life last saturday at the fullerton hotel.

After checking in, we were ushered to our little mini suite by the front desk staff. After she opened the door, there was a long passageway that lead to a opening where I could see a glism of the dining table - the place where we are going to have our valentine dinner. Along the passageway, there was a cabinet where the safe is and some tiny drawers which I donno for what purpose. Further up on my right, I saw a WALK-IN wardrobe with a leather stool inside! Finally we passed those and came to the entrance of the bedroom. I was like "WOW", in silence of course. The lady (who brought us up to the room) then quickly made sure everything was okie, and ask what time would we like our dinner to be and she went off.

The moment she went off, I did 7 pose turns and finished on croise in 4th position for my baby! (HHB: I did not knock into anything! *clap clap*) The room is SO HUGE and the ceiling of the room is so HIGH!!! Its like you can do a pas de deux and the gal will never never hit the ceiling!

We went on to explore the room in further detail and we found their matchbox is so COOL. Its long in shape and the matches are black in color with a silver head! Being the usual itchy hand me. I open all the drawers that I could find and explore everything single opening. Everything is so nice and COOL! The giantic bed is also rised and I had to tip toe a bit to sit on it and its so comfortable with 4 HUGE pillows on it.

Bathroom is amazing too. It has a HUGE bathtub and the seperate shower room and a seperate room for the toilet bowl. Can you imagine how huge it is? haha. So we went on to explore the shower room. It has 2 types of shower - one HUGE flat round that is fixed on top and a small long rod. When you on the big one, it feels really like a shower! you know, like raining? Then the small one is the normal one where you use at home. COOL!

I took a bubble bath and we had so much fun trying to make bubbles. hahaha Feel like a queen cuz he was serving me a drink and checking and making sure everything was okie, like those people in the spa. haha. Then I realised he's so romantic and has attention to very small details that very few guys have. Like he will serve the water on a very nice plate and put some rose petals on it to decorate and light up candles for me and make everything so nice and sweet. Thumbs up for that, baby!

Dinner was so cool toO! Its a french dinner and there were 4 courses including dessert. So they actually had to serve the courses in 15-minute interval, so every 15 mins they had to ring our door bell and poor baby has to open the door every 15 mins. haha so cute. Oh and everytime they came into the hotel, there were at least 3 waiters! hahaha so cool. Feel like queen again. :)

After dinner, we waltz (anyhow waltz one lah) a bit before retiring as I had to teach the next day...

Next morning, we had a wonderful breakfast in the Town restaurant before I sent him off.

Can't wait to see him again. Still feeling like a princess now.... ;)

Over in a blink of the eye

2005-12-30T22:07:00.000+08:00

This year has been absolutely amazing. It marks 1/4 of a century for me! I had an exciting career in both fields and made many friends, lost some colleagues, got lots of talented students, lost talented students as well, lost a close friend, found a NEW LOVE!! Isn't life amazing? You lose something but you gain lots more.

I have learnt to be even more open minded, forgive as much as possible and embaced everyone with sincerity. Been doing that and have never been happier. :)

Milestones of 2005

2005-12-21T13:40:00.000+08:00

Jan 05:
- Officially stepped into Peak as a Senior Associate 2.
- Leaded team into an audit of a listed company
- Played host to a Switerland penpal and visited the Zoo AND night safari for the first time in 10 years.

Feb 05:
- Started my driving course, passed my basic theory

Mar 05:
- First experience in the Swiss Club. COOL!

Apr 05:
- Started teaching from 930am to 6pm on Sundays in JE
- Passed my Final Theory

May 05:
- Attended my beloved friend's ROM at Amara Hotel. She's so beautiful!
- Lead a team of more than 20 people to a government linked company audit.

Jun 05:
- Ping Yi won the CSTD Level 1 central scholarship and I was congratulate by many teachers and friends! :)
- Damaged lots of brain cells to design costumes for all my 7 recital items (including Clara)
- watched Royal ballet LIVE in esplanade!

Jul 05:
- failed my first driving test. :(

Aug 05:
- "I Dream" concert rehearsal

Sept 05:
- "I Dream" concert => managed to choreograph and stage 7 items for 54 students including Clara's scenes and Twinkle duet. :))
- Received the most number of teachers' day presents so far.
- Attended my close gal cousin's wedding. So touched by the entire event that I feel like getting married too!
- PASSed by driving on the 2nd attempt! :)))))

Oct 05:
- Booked my MARCHIE!
- Found the love of my life again....
- Birthday party organised by my colleagues. :))
- Went to Bangkok for a girly shopping trip with Vee and Jas! REAL shiok!!!!!

Nov 05:
- CSTD Exam. 5 HPs from Mrs Alback (apparently very strict examiner)! - very PROUD!

Dec 05:
- Got my marchie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *COOL*
- Watched a 2nd wonderful performance (after Swan Lake) of 2005. - The Nutcracker by SDT
- Watched a 3rd beautiful performance of 2005 - "Qi" by AJC Dance Alumni. I was personally so touched by the sincerity of the dancers and was amazed by the improvement in dance technique and presentation that was displayed by both my seniors and juniors. WONDERFUL! I really hope this would not be the last AJ concert.

Phew... I have done so many things both in my audit and teaching career. Wonderful 2005! Really looking forward to 2006!

Vrrooom Vrrrooom........

2005-12-15T08:28:00.000+08:00

I got my new car!! Its so pretty and cute and round and purple! I love the car but of course I love my sister, S, and ballet more!

Been driving around Singapore everyday. Before I got the car, I was on job in Jurong for 2 weeks and in Kallang for 2 weeks - so actually I have not taken the mrt for quite long! These few days I have been driving to work. Its so cool! But I hate it when I get lots of stares from MALE drivers for the following reasons (I think):
1) Its a NEW car!
2) Its a march!
3) My driving sucks!
4) I'm a female driver!

No more squeezing with aunties on the MRT and don't have to stand from tampines all the way to Raffles place! Even when there is traffic jam I feel so good too! hahahahaa stupid me, can sit in the car and enjoy air con and listen to 933.

Fully understand why people still choose to drive to work despite expensive parking and traffic jams. Yeepi!!!!

Yesterday night I was very emotional for many reasons again:-
1) I miss Sam. Its beginning to feel like very virtual and unreal again. He better come soon to make things real again.
2) I suddenly feel that I have less friends?! what happen to all my JC classmates, Peirong, Janice and Peiyu?
3) Can't think of anymore but I just still feel werid.

Surprise flowers!!!

2005-11-28T23:48:00.000+08:00

I was having a tiff with my baby yesterday night. And you know what, for the whole of today he did not send me a single sms and gave me a single call. I got more and more pissed as the day goes by. Super super pissed till i saw Lipei's pretty little "beauties" - primary. I had so much fun teaching them and I called them "beauties" cuz there are so many pretty gals in that class! Donno where they from (probably tuesday). And i saw Mindy!!! YEepi. Had a good class!

Then my anger was totally reduced to zero when I opened my house door and saw this .......

Exams over!! 3 cheers!!

2005-11-25T20:19:00.000+08:00

Yes!! Finally all my exams are OVER! I'm so relieved. I feel so good everytime after exams are over cuz then its time for me to finally NOT do exam work in class and we can learn new stuff in class! So interesting!! yeh yeh yeh!

A BIG BIG BIG HUG to Dar dar, Lipei, Zuo En and Sharon for helping me in the exams! Luckily for them if not i would not have managed to run the examination so smoothly. Mrs Alback told me the girls were LOVELY when I served her lunch! Hope they have good results!! So proud of Annika, Kai Hui and Holly for scoring Honours Plus (hope i didn't see wrongly)! I'm so happy that the whole group made it! hahahah

A BETTER news of the week was I am FINALLY getting my car in Mid Dec (more than 2 months wait)!!!! SO SO SO SO SO excited abt it! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Also looking forward to see Lipei's planet performance!!

letter from a dear student's family

2005-11-19T20:27:00.000+08:00

Dear Ms Lovell,

It is of great reluctance on my part and sadness on Louisa's, to let you know that she will be leaving you at the end of December.

As you know, my other 2 girls are in SBA, which make good sense to enroll Louisa there too. You can imagine the inconvenience and the amount of time we spend if they are in different schools.

Under your tutelage, we can see that Louisa has developed the love for dance and her confidence has improved tremendously. She has really enjoyed herself.

My husband and I wish to extend our heartfelt appreciation and thanks for the love and exposure that you have given her.

May we wish you many happy years of teaching!

Yours truely,
Dave & Philly
18 November 2005

===================================

I was so touched after reading this letter. I wish Louisa all the best and may you be a principal ballerina one day! I will always love you! :)

2005-11-19T20:22:00.000+08:00

Guess what! I haven't got my car till now?! Its getting really frustrating. I hate unknowns and the worse thing is the people cannot commit on a date that I will definitely get the car! DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN!!!

My life so far is lovely! I just finished my exams in LP, after the exams I make it a point not to send them in for another exam. They all cannot make it. One of the girls stil dare to ask me when is the next exam??!! CRAZY. Still don't get the idea of how bad they are? Compare them with Lipei's thursday gals, if they get honours, LP gals should just get a pass. That's how much I think of them. Sometimes I really wonder whether that's because of me! How can the whole class all be SO lousy?

On the other hand, my JE gals are better. Even Sharon (a non-dancer) can tell the difference between JE and LP gals! Fainted.
Primary girls are giving me strange timing just now. The music is rather stange too! Wooo...
But any how, I still love to teach the JE gals, they are so much stronger and firmer.
I was just wondering how many honours plus will I get this time? Will Ping Ghee get honours plus? Louisa? The thought of the fierce looking examiner doesn't give me a good feeling.
All the best for my exams on Friday!

I'm getting busy at work now! More and more in-charge assignment. Attitude of the juniors is driving me crazy. All lazy bums!

Relationship is also quite stable. I know he is working very hard to gain my trust again. I really appreciate that. He got me a jewellery box from korea for me to put the pearl necklace and earrings he gave me for my birthday. Then, he will continue to "help" me fill up the box. When the box is filled, he will give me THE blue box (read: Tiffany & Co). Hope the day really comes!

LASTLY, HAPPY 20th BIRTHDAY DARLING BABY!!!!!! *KISS*

back from the land of smiles

2005-11-08T18:35:00.000+08:00

Everywhere you go, people will greet you with a smile and say "Sawadica" (not sure whether its the right spelling). And they thank you with a gesture (palm to palm) and say "Kapunca". Generally, the people are very friendly and are not agressive in nature. Gals there are so pretty and demure, no wonder Ang Mohs like them so much.

Never spend so much time shopping in my life before! ALL 3 days of shopping. From Chatuchat market, MBK centre, central world (Jim Thomson!!!!), Suan Lam night market and massages near Siam Centre. SUPER SUPER fun girly shopping trip. Bought so many bras that its enough to last me for one year. Everyone has presents!

Totally enjoyed the massages which is like super cheap as compared to Singapore!

I LOVE BANGKOK!

Coca Restaurant in Bangkok - SUPER CHEAP

See! all 3 of us bought the same Jim Thomson bag! hahaha

Are ballerinas air heads?!

2005-11-03T21:53:00.000+08:00

I was reading this book when I came across a comment that says "Ballerinas are all air heads." I interpreted this as the ballet dancer's head is filled with nothing but air and ballet. This make me ponder alot about myself.

For me, whenever I'm not working, I'm either in a dance studio or at home. I suddenly remember HOW LONG I have not stepped into orchard road to shop when I was having hi-tea with Lipei on Tuesday. This is not very normal, is it? My clothes may be SUPER out of fashion and I still don't realise it!

People are travelling, roller blading, diving, wake boarding, swimming, playing tennis, playing golf and playing all sorts of things. I have not done these in a long time. Some of these things I have not even tried before in my life! Am I missing in alot of other activities due to my intense concentration in ballet? When I meet up with a group of new friends, sometimes I do have difficulty striking a conversation with them! I don't even have any idea about the latest movie in town.

I hate to admit this but I think I really lack general knowledge apart from ballet and general accounting stuff.

I won't know what type of wine is good.
I don't know how to pronounce very very basic french and italian main courses on the restuarant menu.
I don't know where exactly is Germany on the world map.
I don't know the different cities in USA and Europe.
I only found out recently that the first Disneyland is opened in Orlando, before that I don't even know that Orlando exist!
I haven't been to any Disneyland in my life.
I haven't been to US or Europe.

AM I AN AIRHEAD?

I feel like a princess who found her prince charming

2005-10-27T22:35:00.000+08:00

It was raining as heavily as it is now. In fact, it was pouring. It was so cold. Both of us were hiding in the shelter. Even though I was at the shelter, I could feel the heavy rain drops on me. He was hugging me so tightly to keep me warm.

We gazed at each other. He said I was god's gift to him and would never let me go. At that moment, I felt like a female lead in a Korean Drama.

He planted a gentle kiss on my raindrops-wet cheek.

I wished the world would come to a standstill at that moment.

Wonderful night

2005-10-22T17:27:00.000+08:00

I had a really wonderful birthday celebration yesterday! Lots of presents and KTVing and wonderful cheesecake from Baker's Inn. I got a lovely pair of ballerina hairclips and pendant, a wonderful earrring holder + handmade and come butterflies! and a LOVELY cushion for me to put in my car and a "He's not that into you" book and ALSO not to forget a ballerina TONG from DAR DAR DAR!!!!

Thank you all for spending such a wonderful evening with me! I'm 25 years old liao lor!!! SO OLD!!!!! hahahahaha

S came down especially to celebrate my birthday as well. Very sweet of him. All of us sang till 1pm! Everyone gave me face by staying throughout the night!

THANK YOU ALL, LOVE YOU LOTS!!!

Wedding dinner to attend later... double happiness and night out with S and FW gang to follow. :)

Happy Birthday!

2005-09-24T20:35:00.000+08:00

WOW.... I had so many trial students today! That is just after I said that this school's enrolment is not good! Goodie!! I have tricia's ex-student and a cute little eurasian girl. NICE!

Okie, this is one of the quiet saturday evenings after my morning teaching and afternoon ballet class. I'm currently planning Oct's lessons when I saw this TV program showing this person performing tricks using a chain with fireballs at both ends. This reminded me of the day after I had this nice dinner at esplanade with a friend. Both of us sat down along the river to watch this performer do the same trick. I was complaining to this friend abt how lousy the trick is! We had fun that night. Anyway its not the point, just want to wish this friend a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Exam stress

2005-09-15T22:57:00.000+08:00

Wow... It's amazing to note that it has been 2 weeks after the concert day! How can time pass by SO incredibly fast? I'm now into the exam mode in full gear. Starting to get every anxious about my girls' results. So anxious that I didn't realised that they have only had about 4 coaching lessons! Oh man, I keep thinking that exam is so near and but in fact they had only attended four lessons!

This time round, my aim is 100% honours as usual with 20% Honours plus (which translate to about 7 honours plus girls). From now on, I will be positive! I will do my best not to get angry and the girls will do their best in class.

Honours Plus is the WORD!

Holidays..........

2005-09-09T23:39:00.000+08:00

YES!! I'm going to bangkok on 4th November!!! It has been SO LONG since I last been overseas!! FINALLY.........

Making a list of what to buy....

Already got some "orders" coming in!!

I Dream...

2005-09-02T11:45:00.000+08:00

YES!! The concert is finally over! I think most of the kids truely enjoyed themselves. I really want to thank all the parents for their support and care. Its a pity that I didn't get to see my dance items. I could only see them from the wings. I also didn't catch most of the other teachers items. Can't wait to get hold of the DVD! Cheers to all the 300 girls who performed last night. You all were WONDERFUL!

I got a little flower + bear gift from Mindy. She says she will miss me... sob sob... I will miss you too!

Zhu Xuan says she loves me on her self-made card. So sweet

Vera gave me a small bottle of hand made cookies!!

Colyn gave me this RUSS ballerina photoframe that I always wanted to buy! Plus a bouquet of flowers

Louisa gave me a crystal ballerina + a bouquet of flowers

Valerie gave me a cute note book which I will use for 2006 teaching! hee

All the other kids gave me flowers (some self made, some soft toy flower, some single stalks)

Sista gave me ballerina earrings!!!!

Gals, you are all so SWEET. I LOVE U ALL.

latest happenings in my life

2005-08-22T22:42:00.000+08:00

Lots of drama during the first week of August. I never cried so much in my life. Shalln't update here. People who know me well should know.

Maybe no one is reading my blog now. But I think I will still write hoping that I have an occasional audience....

Exam:-
Thursday classes were really bad.... one class is enough to kill my voice.

Mondays were much better. Haven't thought them the dances yet. Intend to teach them after the concert when they can concentrate better for the examination. I have very high expectations from this batch of girls as many of them had started from Bebe ballet with me abt 1.5 years ago. I'm really excited to see how well that the girls I trained from scratch can perform. But on the other hand, I hope I'm not pushing them too hard that they dislike ballet. Balance is really important here.

Concert:-
I'm really really stressed about the concert as the girls are not up to my performing standards yet. None of them can be considered good. I realise my girls, with the exception of a few rare ones, lack stage presence. This is something that is so difficult to teach. I can find myself making them repeat again and again without improvement. This is really frustating.

On the last note, I hope everything goes on well.

"Its so tough to be a ballerina..."

2005-07-31T20:36:00.000+08:00

I never knew children as young as 5 years old can say the above quote. I made the butterflies repeat their dance again and again and again today. After the 6th time, Kai Hui said in frustration, "It's so tough to be a ballerina!" She never fails to amaze me.

I forgot to teach my primary class to FINALE!!! OH NO! OH NO!

It going to be a big mess next sunday.....

No striking and mounting...

2005-07-21T22:11:00.000+08:00

Had a bad driving lesson today! I made so many mistakes! More than all the lessons combined! GOSH.... The instructor was shaking his head and the more he did that the more nervous I felt!

I was turning RIGHT using the middle lane when this STUPID toyota picnic cut right into my path! If this happens tmr, = IMMEDIATE FAILURE!

In a nervous state now, doesn't help when I found that all my friends (whom are extremely good drivers) never passed first time!

Lazy week

2005-07-16T21:52:00.000+08:00

This whole week was a breeze for me... so nice, everyday knock off at 530 sharp! No more such thing for next week! Think will be busy busy..... and plus I've got driving test! :*

Began my coaching classes ar Loyang point. The jellied bodies were still jellied body. :(

We finally found one day when everyone is free to take pictures for the concert. We spent the whole afternoon posing (the same pose). I have never taken so many pictures (of the same pose) in my life! hahaha. But it was fun and definitely memorable! so cool! Big thanks to MJ for being our photographer! AND here's the product....

the 4 teachers

Lots of things are still undone. Have to take pictures of the girls in their MESSY hair... YUCKS!

recollection

2005-07-11T21:16:00.000+08:00

Me and a colleague were looking at photos of our past 3 years in the firm today. Everyone changed so much! Amazing you know. Its more amazing that we ourselves didn't even noticed that we were so fat/thin/old/ugly in the past! We were glad that everyone changed for the better. We had a good laugh at all the pictures.

Then after that I was chatting with HHB about Louisa and Mindy. After the chat, I suddenly thought of the day when she graduated from Bebe ballet when she shyly presented me with a stalk of flower! She was so sweet and I think I shall not force her to smile anymore. Its just her and she is just like that - always so serious. A forced smile will never move the audience anyway. Who knows, she might already be trying her best to smile... Don't want to pressurize her and put her off. :) Mindy as usual was smiling so nicely and dancing so nicely throughout the whole rehearsal. so cute!!

How I wish I had one whole class of Mindys and Louisas!

Concert preparations

2005-07-10T21:23:00.000+08:00

I have finished buying everything I need for the concert! Oh yeh!!! I'm just left with the dancing queen shoes to make. I dread the day when I will collect all the costumes! Yucks.... have to spray/sew/decorate so many costumes! I think I will die!!!!!!

Today I finally started to rehearse Valerie for her character! OMG.... Its quite scary! I only have about 3 more lessons to go before the 7th Aug full run, where everyone will come to view the items! Its really scary! I just hope Val can remember all the parts she is supposed to come out! I'm under a bit a pressure and I think Val is nervous too! Somemore have to rehearse with the other enchanted forest items. Anyway, we only have about 6 lessons to the actual full dress on 28th Aug! Its SO SO SO fast!

My wish for the concert is that my items will not be too lousy as compared to the other teachers and my girls (especially Louisa and Valerie) all smile nicely on stage!

A "new" me?

2005-07-04T21:09:00.000+08:00

Even since I took out my braces, people have been telling me I slimed down alot! Got meh? How I wish I really slim down my hips! I feel so fat down there! YEEKS........ Why can't I have ballerina body?

My students asked me whether I changed my hair. I was like "?????". Then they said,

"Ms Lovell, you changed you hair from black to brown right?" They meant dye!!!! hahahahaha.

=========================

A "new" me aside. My new bebe ballet class was okie! LUCKILY. No monsters. All well-behaved kids who don't even need mummy to be with them for the first lesson!

recent updates

2005-07-01T15:08:00.000+08:00

24th June:-
Went to watch Swan Lake with Sista and HHB. Bought 2 TEES, one white with 5 ballerinas and one black tee with the Royal ballet LOGO. So delighted. Then 3 of us and I'm quite sure the whole theatre is overwhelmed by the stunning performance of the prima ballerina and the wonderful set flown all the way from London! 5 thumbs up for the spectular performance!

25th June:-
Wore my black royal ballet tee!
Went on a "shopping" trip with Tricia to choose our flower garlands for the performance. I got my yellow flowers withour much difficultly. Tricia had some problems finding nice blue small flowers. Finally decided on pink and blue garlands for her Waltz girls. The lady at the shop was rather pro, she did everything so fast!
Later, Tricia went to Suntec to meet Jo for some make-up class, donno whether its stage make-up or normal make-up. hee hee
Went for class at KKCC. Finally class has more than 5 people! It was nice. I'm still trying to remember the elel syllabus all over again!

26th June:-
Wore my white royal ballet tee with white leo and white ballet skirt!

"Ms Lovell, you look like... hmmm.... like.... WHITE SWAN!" - Bebe Gal

"You look sweet in this outfit" - O.L

"Ms Lovell, look! I can do this!" - Pre ballet gal referring to the 1st position on the white tee.

I had a whole day of open houses! Every open house was as like the usual class except for monsterous 515 bebe ballet (started on Apr 05). They were behaving better than normal! hmmm.... donno whether its because of their parents inside the room. I just hope they can at least learn how to do a proper jump after this term!

Oh, and I also graduate a class of bebe ballet today! One of the parents came up to me and told me this:

"Thank you very much for your guidance and coaching!. My daughter's posture is so much better than one year ago and she is walking more 'gracefully' now."

Almost 2 years...

2005-06-24T13:53:00.000+08:00

This is the moment when I'm free, doing nothing at home and too lazy to continue choreography of Twinkle Dreams. I was lying on the couch staring into blank space when suddenly images of my past 2 years of dancing and teaching come to my mind.

Just 2 years ago, we were just busy preparing for the Swan Lake concert. I had difficulty releveing on one leg. (Did my toe nails drop off or something?) HHB was practicing for her spanish dance on pointe. Now, If you ask both of us to do the dance again, I'm sure we would do better than 2 years ago. I recently saw some of them doing the Spanish dance again. I must say they were indeed much better than 2 years ago.

Then, I was performing in AJC Dance Alumni's concert. It was really nice experience because I received so many flowers and gifts from everybody! That was also one of the so many so many dance experiences that I had together with HHB.

After this came the PPAS performance, we did a dance on pointe and another modern tango. It was wonderful also, as everyone worked SO HARD for the performance. Everyone still remembered how HHB's skin came off almost everytime after tango practice... AND in that perfromance at least we can say we did a proper on pointe dance much better than SwanL days. Personal improvement gained!

A turning point came when we all broke off from Ms N. It was significant, each of us went on to a different teacher to persue our ballet due to differences in timing. I have not seen HHB dance for a long time and I do miss the times that we take classes together and when we gossip about everything before, after and even DURING the class.

Now, I have got some wishes to fulfil.
1) Get elementary
2) Get RAD inter
3) Dance in the same class as HHB again.
4) Do double pirouette PERFECTLY.
5) Balance on pointe in 5th for 5 minutes!

Okie... teaching now.
I started teaching rushing from tampines to Jurong east every sunday after Jazz rehearsal. Do you think its fate? I keep getting wonderful students in JE (so far away) from home. Initially I had the intention to stop JE after gaining more classes in other Crestar branches nearer to home. But the moment I saw Ann, Annika, Louisa, Reina and some others, I knew I will stay. They were so cute and adorable and they have strong legs! They could do their pointing with so much stability. Then at the beginning of this year, I have another talented student - Kai Hui joining the class. I hope they do really well in the exams just like their "seniors". hahahaha

This is Kaihui!

Then came Valerie, Yi Ching, Yi Ting, Joyce, Jia Ying and Shina. They were my pioneer batch of exam girls. Val was really terrible when she first joined. Her knees were strange and she didn't seem to have any strength in her legs. A miracle happened as she attended more and more classes. She got her strength and nice dance sense. She actually become graceful! And thanks to the help of many people on the exam day - HHB, Sharon and Darling! Everything went on smoothly and I got what I hoped for. I felt really blessed then. This whole class progresed really well together and I believe they have fun every Sunday. Now everyone is busy preparing for the Sept concert and I believe they are really enjoying themselves. I hope they can get good reviews in the upcomign concert, that they pass their exams with excellent results and more and more summer school scholarships. :)

After this class, a new bebe ballet class was set up! This is an amzing class as well. They are so well behaved and strong! NOw, they are graduating to pre-ballet. After this, more and more classes were started and generally, there will also be talented students in every class. I really enjoy teaching them every sunday. The only point when I feel exhausted was after I stepped out of the studio! :) Amazing!

Wishes for teaching:
1) 100% honours
2) Summer school scholarships in Level 2 (maybe in 2007)
3) I'm always able to inspire my students to greater heights. Just like Yaling is so inspiring to me.
4) To know exactly what I want and to teach in a more structured way.
5) I produce a world class ballerina 10-15 years down the road.

Updates

2005-06-20T20:44:00.000+08:00

Sat:-
Loyang's coaching class is confirmed starting. :( I apparently have 7 girls and they are confident that they will get 8. HAIZ....

Celebrated Fathers' Day with grandpa! Fun meeting all the cousins that I have not seen for a long time.

Sun:-
Annika signed up for exam! Yeh! I got 2 more gals for exam. But I'm still short of my target by 2. Ann's mother didn't want to sign up! Think she this thinking of quiting after the concert leh. :( She say Ann is too short for a long term career in ballet! I was like SUPER shocked that she thought so so so far ahead! But well, can't force the parent, right?

I'm super BLUR today lor... Cannot remember all the dance steps. I didn't make any progress for twinkle dreams. :( I got applause from outside the studio for the Spring Waltz rehearsal! hahahaha. So sweet, the parents. :)

Class was generally okie.

Mon:-
Finished my course at 5pm. But had to work 2nd shift! Now I'm still in office. Sad... but going off soon lah.

LOOKING FORWARD TO SWAN LAKE. I want to buy t-shirt!!!!

MSN chat

2005-06-15T18:34:00.000+08:00

You know today I had a chat with my student on MSN! So cool right? hahahahah. chat about ballet in general and the concert. Val asked me whether she is going to wear a dress for the character of Clara.
So Val is a middle child! She has a elder sister and a younger sister! Asked her whether she is stressed about school work and about ballet exam. She says "NO". :)

I strained my wrist. I think its too much typing! Now I have a tiger-brand plaster on my wrist. So ugly.

Looking forward to next week! Mon- Thurs on course and Friday I'm on leave! Friday is also Swan Lake day. AND 2 of Sis's friends are watching the Swan Lake too! COOL!

Also looking forward to sunday ballet where Val and me are going to ask PingYi whether she is on MSN! hahahah

In office now, waiting to go to sing KTV later.. .woo hoo...

Busy week

2005-06-12T21:24:00.000+08:00

Wow... its been so long since I last updated. That's because I have been working late every single day execpt Friday cuz I felt SUPER DUPER tired and drained. I got a feeling that so many things happened but I just can't remember exactly what!

Monday: First day of work from my 2 weeks break. Everyone I bumped into commented about my teeth! So happy.

Saturday: Today I'm damn tired cuz I worked late everyday durign the weekdays!! It affected my teaching quite a bit! Sorry girls :( I have 5 exam gals confirmed (and more is expected) from LP DESPITE the fact that I tried to discourage them from the exam. I actually told all the parents that the exam is NOT necessary. Last resort: Tell the parents I can only form a class with 8 girls and pray hard that there won't be 8 girls! **fingers crossed**
Went for ballet at TPWCC. Ms Ong didn't come, guess she was busy with RAD summer school. Boring class.
Then went for Ms Pam's class. Not bad. She is a nice teacher. I lasted one whole class with my new one-size-bigger demi pointe shoes. I still CAN'T hold my leg in a la seconde. :( Hope its gets better!

Sunday: After a good rest yesterday, I was feeling good in the morning when I woke up (which is a good sign)! Today I' m in a super good mood because of that :)

1015:- The once most dreaded class has become better and is out of the blacklist! They are doing quite okie now although still not the usual bebe ballet standard.

1145:- YES!! the jelly body girl didn't sign up for exam!! Hooray.... Ann and Annika also haven't sign up! Hope they will next week. Donno what's keeping the mummys. They were pretty okie durign the butterfly rehearsal too. Nice!
6 exam girls in total. :(

1230:- Got a shock when I didn't see Valerie's name in the coaching class list. Turns out that the mummy forgot to sign up. *phew* Waltz is quite nice. Flower dance is finishing soon! YEH!
8 exams girls in total. :) All the good girls signed up for exam! so Happy!

2pm:- This is my favourite bebe ballet class! Oh my. I LOVE every single one of them! So well behaved and serious. I've decided to send them for Mar 06 exam. They should be ready by then! Hope the entire class signs up! Lovely gals. (",)

245:- Good class today! Most of them got the pre-ballet walking - at least they did it nicely without wobbling here and there! They in fact they mentioned that they love this walking!! **They are strange, aren't they?** hahahaha. Dancing queen was rather neat (by pre-ballet standards) for the first time! so happy!
8 exam girls altogther.

Twinkle dream:- The girls are learning really fast! We are almost done with the dance, HHB!!! Its just 2 lessons! :))))))))))) But don't expect any fantastic steps, k? It a VERY simple dance with very simple steps. But the whole thing is very sweet because of the music. Oh and we decided WITHOUT any arguement whose going to wear white whose going to wear pink! Louisa says she likes white and Mindy says she likes pink! So good right?! I thought both girls are going to say they like PINK! YEH! Can tell that Mindy loves this dance! Not sure about Louisa though. She seldom smiles while Mindy always SMILES. :)

430:- Okie pre-ballet class, still deciding whether to send them for Mar 06 exam. They just started in Apr 06. Deciding....

515:- This class is officially blacklisted and has moved on to my blacklisted charted. TERRIBLE!!!!

End of day:- Altogether I have 22 exam girls from JE currently. About 4 short from my expectations. :( Still wondering why C can get SO MANY girls for 6 months coaching!!

Summer school in a flash

2005-06-04T23:23:00.000+08:00

Mon: The teacher couldn't really control the students very well. At times, the class were noisy and she had to resort to raising her voice at the girls. Jazz was a disaster as she didn't breakdown the steps for the poor little girls.

Tues: The standard of the girls this year is generally not to strong. Maybe its because its level 1 and they are doign quite difficult stuff. I'm surprised to hear from a fellow teacher that some of the girls had joined the same level last year. Think the teacher is quite frustrated with the girls by the end of 2 days. Choreography of the performance dance was slow.

Wed: "Is 2 mins enough?" The teacher asked Mrs T. "They couldn't do anything else." She added. Mrs T just laughed at the comment. The usual noisy little girls shut their mouths upon the arrival of Mrs T. I must say she does have a great presence and a sense of authority in her. Its like she has everything under her control. The children was scolded by Mrs T and reminded quiet throughout the duration that she was in class. She attempted to teach grande jetes, which reminded me of the DVD that I have. Obviously, it was a total disaster in terms of technique but in terms of enjoyment, the girls enjoyed it.

Thurs: The dance was must neater today than yesterday and the day before. Couldn't get anything from the tap section cuz I got no idea about the steps.

Friday: The summer school was held in the Tanglin CC instead of RGS. The studio is pretty nice! The dance became neater than the day before although it was still untidy.

Saturday - Summer school concert day: Had to rush all the way from loyang to SCGS. Arrived there and found one of my student's hair so untidy! Had to quickly do up the hair in the auditorium in front of everyone! A bit embarrassing but no choice. Talked abit to Ms N. Thought she would ignore me. Anyway donno why she is angry lah!
A pleasant surprise came at the end of the concert when Mrs T annouced that my girl won the scholarship! I was quite happy at that moment. Its like.. WOW... she kind of "outshine" all the SCGS girls. Rebecca came to ask me to take a photograph with her so that she can blow it up and stick on the notice board! hahahaah. Of course I'm not going to do that. Even Barbara congratulated me after the event. so nice......

Thoughts: I felt really bad when I saw the other two girls almost tearing because they didn't win. They were too young to understand that they must put in effort to win. I kept on assuring them they are excellent girls. Oh dear... poor little girls... Its really hard on them, isn't it?
The Level 1C HMs are all SCGS gals. I thought one of them was not very deserving of the awards cuz she was so act smart and noisy and spoilt. The other 2 were okie. They were good girls.

Strange Thoughts...

2005-05-25T22:13:00.000+08:00

I'm having my 2 weeks leave now! No more work in my head. Everyday see our beloved examiner who changes her mind every now and then?! Rather frustrated at times. Went through boring morning sessions to which everyone says they benefited alot! *stratches head* I couldn't help it but I kept talking to HHB this morning during the session. JO was so smart not to come for this!

You know, I don't like to just teach syllabus and more syllabus. I don't really like to follow the syllabus and teach the kids to do the exercises to perfection. To follow every single count and every single arm placement rigidly without question. I think exams really make people lose their creativity and the idea of expression through body. Everyone is going overboard with the tiney winey details of the syllabus that they become so dead and stiff. I think I finally realise what Mdm Goh meant when she says exams are bad.

I thought dancing is about art, about creativity. At the seminar, everyone (including me) is standing like a blockwood when asked to choreograph something on the spot. The only exceptions are maybe those students from Lasalle. Although they may not choreograph something that is nice but at least they tried. Not like me. :( Its not that I don't dare to show people, you know. Its that my mind is a total BLANK! I don't have any ideas about the steps at all!

Then in the ballet exam world, everyone (including me) is going to take (or have taken) elementary follow by TC then TD. I mean why is everyone doing the same thing? Its just like after graduating from Accounting, everyone is getting a job in Big4.
Having said all that, in order to continue to teach, I still have to go through the same rigid process myself.... HAIZ...

Recently, I chanced upon a school (American Academy of Ballet) by accident. I'm now a member of that academy.They have a system that I find really good! They combine exam and performance together! They call it performance awards! The concept is similar to the Dorothy Gladstone award, but its applicable for all levels. The exams (12 levels altogther) will take place in a theatre. All the parents and friends will come to watch. There will be judges of course. Each and every child will get a chance to perform some exercises and a solo in front of everyone. Then after the whole thing, the judge will give them certs and medals either gold, silver or bronze. Presently, the academy doesn't have a presence in Singapore. Isn't it great to bring this into Singapore? I tried the first steps program (like pre grades) with the kids. They love it alot!
Will definitely look into the possibility... HHB: maybe we can look into this together if you interested too? :)

Funny gals

2005-05-15T20:17:00.000+08:00

I'm having a hard time trying to teach Valerie how to do her turns with a flip of the head... Anybody knows how to teach turns?

You know, I give notebooks to all my preballet girls for them to paste their sticker and sometimes I will write my comments in there. So they have to bring their notebook every lesson. I was amused by this little gal today.

Annika: Ms Lovell, do I have to bring my notebook on the concert day?

Me: NO NEED.. (laughing at how innocent and cute she is)

Kai Hui: Ms Lovell, why does everyone like you?

Me: Of course, I'm so pretty. ;)

Kai Hui: Then the whole class must like me too!!!

Me: Yes, of course. You are very pretty too.

Kai Hui: Ms Lovell, I like you!

KIDS are really cute...

Today I got all the 4 forms back! All the 4 bebe ballet girls I invited last week are interested to do the concert. I'm so happy!

What happen to all my exams?

2005-05-14T23:11:00.000+08:00

I thought I decided to take CSTD ele, RAD inter and my driving exam this year!!???

What's happening to all the exams? I haven't got a chance to talk to Ms Ong abt the RAD inter found! AIYO... Why is her coaching class so early?? It seems like CSTD elementary is also out of plans now... no teacher. SIANZ...

I hope to pass driving at least and make sure my gals pass their exams well!

8 hours of shouting.... well almost

2005-05-08T21:07:00.000+08:00

Just finished my 8 hours of shouting.... Today I have finished my butterfly part 1 and dancing queen choreo. BUT they are SO messy till I donno how to polish! Maybe I have to re-teach everything again! I also took a BIG risk todae by giving out the letters to invite 4 of my bebe girls to participate in the concert for the "Dance of the little swans". Not sure whether they can make it or not! Its a big challenge to me! *fingers crossed*
TOday I got an RAD examination report from my student who just took the pre-primary exam. The report is so CUTE! It has alot of components like co-ordination, body awareness, music etc etc. A "\" stands for "needs support, a "X" stands for progessing and a "*" stands for competent! hahahahah. My student got lots of "*".
Just got to know that the ticket prices are $38 and $28!!! its more expensive than watching SDT!

Boring life

2005-04-30T21:09:00.000+08:00

This is one of the days in my life when I feel so bored! Nothing new in life... in other words its like very bland. You know, its like everyday go work, then go back home. Even classes are becoming like overloaded. I keep teaching the same things. You know its like I've got so many pre-ballet classes which are about the same standand and they are all on the same day! Its like an overdosed of pre-ballet girls.
Because life is becoming so boring... I buy lots of things these days to make my life more exciting. I've been addicted to buying accessories, lots and lots of them! My jewellery box is like almost full!

Concert

2005-04-24T21:04:00.000+08:00

OH my god... I'm incredibly SLOW in my progress.... :( I have only one so called completed dance. But that's because it was originally done and the girls are bigger and learn faster. :(

Only got this picture to show.... haiz

Very touched....

2005-04-14T22:15:00.000+08:00

This note was given to me by my ballet student who has transferred to another teacher. I was very very moved as she came specially on sunday just to give me this note and a gift. I think only HHB can understand how actually I feel when I read this. I feel so accomplished that my students enjoy my classes... :)

2nd week of april

2005-04-13T22:24:00.000+08:00

Hello everyone!!

Its April now!! Can you believe this? The year has passed by so fast! Audit peak is also over, though I have Mar year end jobs starting soon... Now that I'm more free, I start to wonder how much bonus will I be getting this year. :)

My client is down with MUMPS... I'm very scared that I will ge infected leh! Although I never really talk to her on monday lah! BUt still... dangerous.... donno whether I should go back to the place tomorrow or not?!

Now I'm almost done with the audit, I will miss my IDOL.... haiz... sad

Met Jean for lunch just now! Had a great time. Bought a pair of flower earrings! SO sweet and pretty, can't wait to wear them!

Nothing special happened, everything is kind of dull and flat now... boring.

weekly update

2005-04-08T22:53:00.000+08:00

Monday:
Just came back to office from my week long leave. Super duper busy! So many emails to clear, everyone is looking for me. Suddenly I felt so popular! Started audit for new job. Office is beautiful! Its full of rooms. Everyone works in a room. Some rooms got 2-3 persons inside, some got only one person. Its really cool. EVERYBODY there earns more then the combined salary of 3 of us! amazing. I can't disclose the name of client here. :X

Tuesday:
Spotted this really beautiful lady in the client's premises. I think she is a consultant! And she sits in the room opposite ours! Really nice to keep seeing her. She is wearing this REALLY nice pearl earrings and matching necklace. Makes her look very korean/japanese! I guess she is about thirty years old. She speaks with a slang, and has a very confident and strong voice! Very successful career woman! MY idol!

Wednesday:
My junior overheard the lady saying that she is flying to 2 countries in 2 days and giving a lecture in NUS on friday! I was like "WOW"!!!!! I went to pierce my ears so that I can wear pearl earrings to be like my idol!

Thursday:
Missed that lady! hahahha

Friday:
Found out her name (cannot disclose for confidentially reasons). She earns close to $20k a month, her bonus for 2004 are over $100k and her allowance is $50k. CAN YOU IMAGINE???? Her one month allowance is my one year pay! and she is only like 35 years old. 10 years older than me. AND she is not like the highest ranking in the firm. DO you think in 10 years time I can earn that sort of money? She is my super idol now! really COOL lady. Now at home don't feel like doing anything.....

Look forward to Saturday's classes.

new sunday classes

2005-04-03T20:36:00.000+08:00

Wow wow wow... I applause myself for teaching non-stop from 10:15am to 6pm for the first time in my life! 8 hours of breathing the same studio air...
There were 2 new classes - one pre-ballet and one bebe ballet. Pre-ballet girls were not bad! As usual, there are a lot of students from China. I got a pleasant surprise! Valerie's sister, Vivienne joined the new pre-ballet class! Valerie brought her sister to class (Valerie's class is at 1230pm while her sister's one is at 430pm) and help her wear her shoe and carried her bag... Valerie is such a good girl, can take good care of her sister.
There were so many girls in Bebe ballet, I lost count of how many exactly as the attendance list was not updated. Couldn't remember all the names! My god... so difficult to remember as their names was so strange!

New saturday class

2005-04-02T21:44:00.000+08:00

HI! Today has been an extremely lazy saturday...

Class today was okie! I have got quite a good new class. See some potential girls! PHEW... Remember? Half my bebe ballet had uneven leg length?? I was so afraid this class will have the same thing! LUCKILY don't have.
You know that day I was telling HHB that so far I haven't really met really haughty parents? This new class got one! CANNOT stand her you know!!
After class, I lazed around at home, intended to do choreography but ended up nothing! HAIZ... Slept all the way still about 8pm.
Watched Ms Universe. WOW... I liked the Ms Universe winner right from the start! You know why? She has abdominal MUSCLES!!!!!! Very very very toned body. And she speaks with a slang and nice voice! She looks confident! Outstanding. Good choice, judges!!! :)

Looking forward to Sunday new classes!!!

Driving week

2005-03-30T22:18:00.000+08:00

Phew.... one whole week packed with driving lessons! hahahha One last lesson to go for the week! So far I have learned driving straight, turning (gradual bend, sharp bend, right turn, left turn), braking, changing lane, anticipating traffic light changes. Quite fun! TOday I drove from Ubi to Tampines! got past my house leh! hahahaha
On the way back to the driving centre, I suddenly never concentrate, I see the driver in front of me turn into the car park, I also turn into the carpark! hahahahah silly me.
Tmr must book lessons when the clock strikes 12!!!

Wish me luck!

Missing me?

2005-03-27T20:47:00.000+08:00

Hello.... Its been a long long time. Hahaha :) Updating you day by day....

Monday (21st):
Seen him in first time after so many months. Doing the same job as him lor. Nothing special anymore, in fact I feel that he's so so so not confident of himself still. He doesn't really look at people in the eyes when he talks to you one leh. Always look left, right or down (basically anywhere) except into your eyes. I'm damn fed up with a particular manager in the firm. He is SO irritating, naggy and is a MANY-HEADED snake.

Tuesday (22nd):
Nothing special at work. I'm quite slack now since I've been talking to S. You know, its the time difference thingy. You usually miss him at night one mah. But then its early in the morning over there. So sometimes I don't know whether to wake him up or not. So we usually ended up chatting twice a day, once at his night time (my afternoon) & once at my night time (his morning). So you can see that he sleeps really late!
TODAY is our first month anniversay. hahahaha. He didn't remember it, but I wasn't angry at all. Its kind of surprising! I think I have grown up. I don't fuss over such things anymore.

Wednesday (23rd):
He was feeling down, so had to spend time talking to him lor. As you might realised (I realised it too), my life now has changed quite alot. It kind of revolves around him. Everyday I look forward to knocking off. After I knock off, I don't go anywhere else one leh, I go home to wait for his call or to call him. My god...

Thursday (24th):
After I knock off, I went shopping! Bought lots of lingerie and facial stuff. Damn happy. Feels good wearing pretty lingerie too. HAHAAHAH! I feel like throwing away all my grandma undies.

Friday (25th):
GOOD FRIDAY! Slept till 12 noon! Dear looking for me, cuz he misses me but I'm sleeping like a pig!! So funny. Talked to him for a while before we went to sengkang to visit my uncle. He got cancer... *sad*. Then bought even more lingerie in compass point. Got handphones for sista and mama. Feels really really good!
On the other hand, I'm getting more and more tired of audit. So sian, workload gettign heavier.

Saturday (26th):
Still no inspiration on what to do for the LY point gals. Haiz.... They are quite boring one leh at times.... :(
Went PS after class. Saw my godfather (the painter) & his wife. His wife has a small shop space at B2 of PS selling jewellery. She gave me this really complicated but sweet looking bracelet! Really nice.
Thought about my godfather and his wife, both very artistic and their 3 kids are all very artistic too. IS it why I'm so attracted to S? Hee hee... my god, I told my godfather abt S and that he is doing 3D animation. He seems pleased. :) ANyhow, I want my daughter to be artistic too! So nice. A world class ballerina. I need to check whether S is turned-out. IF both of us are turned-in, then my daughter cannot be a ballerina!

Sunday (27th):
I tell you, I really enjoy teaching JE gals. They are always so cheerful. They tend very very naughty at times but they also listen and are so much smarter. Today, I showed them Les Sylphides. They were SUPER inspired and they danced so much better after that!
My 2pm bebe class is SO SO SO well-behaved. Today I asked them to line up in one straight line and to do tippy toes running from one end of the room to another one by one. So naturally I look at the the gals who are starting to run instead of those that have finished. To my surprise, when I turn my head to look at those that have finished running, they were all seated quietly (in a straight line some more)., crossed leg and watching their friends who are still running. OH MY GOD.... Even the pianist was amazed!
Then I showed Louisa's class our spring wind dance! (HHB don't scream at me for doing that!) hahahaha They loved it!! They say its a BEAUTIFUL dance and Ms Lovell is so pretty! hahahaha ***floating**** They can recognise me!!! They so young only 5 years old. Quite good leh to be able to recongise me! OH OH... got one silly gal keep insisting that Lipei is me! hahaha donno why! DO we look alike?

Bubbly me

2005-03-20T21:58:00.000+08:00

Taliban has left for New York. Its so fast! Suddenly, she gone and went be around for a long time. Sob Sob....

Went to the dentist and Dr Lee fixed some internal retainer for me on the lower teeth. The tongue feels so strange... Will take out the braces hopefully by May! YEH YEH YEH.... :)

Met up with Claudia the last time before she leaves for Switerland. We had a great swiss dinner at the swiss club. Very nice and serene place! I like...

Dear called me while I was on the cab to Jurong East to ask me whether he should rent this apartment that he saw. I thought it was quite good cuz its very near downtown and the rent includes heater which is very expensive. He's going to see another one soon..

The moment I stepped into JE minutes later, I got a shock of my life when I was told that there are 2 new classes starting in Apr. OH my gosh... I'm going to teach from 9:30am to 6pm starting april... becoming like JO! :(
1015am bebe (my most hated class) is getting slightly better ... no parents in the room now! FINALLY
All the rest of the classes were the same.

Reached home at abt 6pm today. Quite tired from the shouting.

But then after dinner I was SUPER bubbly... hahahahah had a very funny webcam session with MJ. I even danced ballet for him!!! SUPER funny!

Distance pulls us closer together

2005-03-15T22:07:00.000+08:00

Its really ironic that its the distance that pulls us even more together. You know, whenever I think of him, I really think of him, cuz you know you not going to see him anytime soon. This feeling is always there during the day and triples during the night. I think he finally couldn't bear it any longer, he called like 3 times yesterday to bare his heart out. My god. It was so sweet. Its really nice to hear him say the 3 words FIRST. hahaha, since I was the one who asked him whether he likes me first. Fair right?

When you really love a person, you don't really bother about his career, whether he has money, his background, his bad habits, do you?

I don't know whether I'm being idealist here.

PMS

2005-03-06T19:04:00.000+08:00

I never knew I had PMS till now! I think it was on wednesday or thursday. I actually didn't talk to him the whole night cuz he didn't reply my sms! hahahah, when you think back, it felt like super stupid lor. And the worse thing is, he guess that I was having PMS! Its rather embarassing.

The girls met up on Friday night at Vee's house for a foursome heart-to-heart chat cum movie cum cocktail session! It was really fun! We talked mostly abt each other developments and boyfriends and started to compare boyfriends! (Of course, deep in out hearts, we all knew that our own boyfriend is the best lah!) Vee made us some cocktails! Its really nice. and its really cool to drink at home!

Saturday was like a sauna day! The CC had NO aircon!! My god... it was terrible. After the class, my own face was flushed (RED)! We learnt the inter-foundation dance. I think it was the same dance that Jo taught us in Crestar Thomson. I think Ms Ong is really a great teacher cuz she teaches in great detail. She makes us do the steps over and over again until everyone is sure of what's going on! The grade 4 gals could handle the dance! My god... they were so nice and NEAT! like in SBA. I was totally embarassed cuz i think they could do it neater than me!
Dear told me that he is sorry for not being able to be with me all the time AGAIN. I told him that he is super long-winded. Everytime must repeat that one leh. Its becoming like his trademark line.

The waltz dance is almost done! I gave Valerie a short solo part - a series of pose temp leve & temp leve with retire. It looked kind of strange. Will have to polish that! Dancing queen is like SUPER duper slow! My god... its going to delay my twinkle twinkle stars! But I really don't want to delay twinkle twinkle stars leh! Haiz.... :( Butterflies are so cute!!! hahahah decided to go for VERY simple chereography and aim for 100% neatness. Ann Ann is damn cute! I love her.
I gave out Summer School forms today. Gave one to Kai Hui and Louisa. They are only in pre-ballet (haven't even take exams) but I'm taking the risk to let them experience the summer school. I hope they sign up! Also, gave out the forms to some of the primary girls. Hope they sign up too! Then I can go watch them dance.

Melting from showers of love

2005-03-03T15:10:00.000+08:00

Everything is still sweet now. We've been talking everyday, in fact twice a day! worse than reporting! hahaha
Talk about lots of things. Realised that I'm not the kind of person that plan so far ahead. He's already thinking about like where to settle down, who to look after the kids and what's its like when we grow old. Even marrying is like FAR for me right now. But of course its kind of nice to think about these things. Actually, in fact, I only wish that the feeling will last PASS the honeymoon period. That's good enough for me. I believe we will work on that.

Did I say I receive a DVD from a student? Its a Romeo & Juliet DVD. Its really cool to receive things from students unexpectedly! My students all got character! They like to give things as and when they like. kekekekeke

I'm now on RED alert! very panicky liao. HAven't plan for March 2005 classes and haven't choreograph the butterfly dance for Ann's class. Oh my gosh. I think I talk too much on the phone. I better buck up on my ballet. Tonight when I get home I MUST at least plan the lessons first!

Ubi driving centre sucks man! The people there are so KS! First of all, they only allow people to book their lessons for the next month on the first of every month. (meaning: on 1st Mar, you can book for the whole of April) I logged into the system on 2nd Mar. 2nd Mar leh!! The only empty slots left are 22nd Apr onwards. I was so pissed! Now I will have so much gap in between Mar and Apr lessons! :(

Weekend meetings

2005-02-28T17:57:00.000+08:00

Saturday:-
Went for Loyang ballet as usual. Started to panic as I haven't thought of ANYTHING for the loyang girls yet! How how??
Ballet was special todae. Class was thought by a famous teacher, Ms Margi. She teaches the Vanganova Technique (Russian). Pretty impressed with the beautiful arms and upper body style. Think Mdm Goh could be Vanganova-trained as well. Since she emphasized so much on the arms and upper body and centre.
Met with HHB for our belated valentine's day dinner. Had Jap food. But best of all, we had a good talk. So long haven't talked to her liao. Nowadays we don't get to talk so much as we are no longer dancing together....
I wish her all the best with her crush!! ;)
Talked to dear till past 12 midnight.

Sunday:-
1015 ballet class was horrible as usual. Yucks!
The rest of the class was okie, usual lor. They want to start someone classes AGAIN! I want them not to start anymore classes till 2006! busy busy.
Meet up with Ah Jean after teaching. Had another good talk (2nd one for the week) with her. She gave me a degas calendar! Its very nice. hahahha so sweet of her! Now I got 3 ballet calanders! Told her abt my latest updates. I made her guess who's the guy! hahahaha, she guessed everyone (she even named some names that I don't even know!) but Sam. She's so funny one, she said eliminated Sam right from the start as he was not in Singapore.
Talk to dear again till past 12 midnight.

Monday:-
SLEEPY!!!

Lady Luck

2005-02-25T12:09:00.000+08:00

This is one of the moments in my life that I'm daydreaming... Dreaming about how lucky I am. Well its like peak period for all of us now. But I'm actually at this client's where workload is not too much and in fact both of us are rather free. You know its like people are working so hard, slogging and working late every night. For me I go home at around 6.30pm everyday. Reach home about 730pm by cab. Bath, eat dinner, then catch the 9pm show. After that talk to S. Its really a nice and not so stressed life. Gosh. really nice. I like that!

I hope my luck continues with me later cuz I'm going to take the basic theory test. Oh my, I took the trial test yesterday, the questions are not easy you know! Now they change the whole system and added lots of general knowledge questions. Best of luck to me and sister! :D

I'm hungry now... I want my lunch!

What is the feeling like....

2005-02-24T17:46:00.000+08:00

It's really been a long time since I feel really loved by someone or started to love someone. It's really sweet to have someone call you "Dear" and to receive calls/texts from him everyday to hear about his updates of the day. You know that there's somebody you can talk to when you are troubled and that you can tell him everything, although he's physically miles away.
Its really amazing how fast things has progressed. He's suddenly part of my life. Well, I guess when you meet that special person, even 1 day is sufficient. Am I right?
He made me realised that all the previous guys that appeared in my life recently are so called crushes (or even flings, i donno) and not love. HHB has also pointed this out to me.
With him, my life feels so complete. I have my family, my ballet, HHB and him!
Only till now, I realised that WORDS can be impt in a relationship (I used to believe actions are more impt than words), especially for a relationship like ours.

In love...

2005-02-22T21:44:00.000+08:00

We are kind of together now.

Sweet Saturday

2005-02-19T20:46:00.000+08:00

Met up with the girls yesterday! We updated each other about us. Jas is getting married. She told us exactly how her husband to be proposed! Vee Vee will be flying to Paris on Mar 7th! AND Taliban will be working in New York! On my gosh... everyone is like having such an exciting life! Went to Long Bar (raffles hotel). That place is full of ang mohs! Slept at 2am yesterday.

Woke up feeling rather sleepy today. Went for classes at Loyang. Got a rose from one of the students. So sweet... I love to get flowers unexpectedly! Like everyday is Teachers' Day!

Got a call from him at around 230pm (130am his time) while walking along Bugis. He's like calling me before he sleeps *sweet*. I love this kind of unexpected calls too!

Bought a VCD and a DVD as recommended by him. Finished the VCD. (HipHopBallerina: There's abt 1% dancing inside the show! Lend to you on sat!)

Lazing around at home now...

Passion

2005-02-17T18:45:00.000+08:00

We knew each other about 2 years ago.

I was impressed with his singing skills then.

He is very confident about himself.

He went to Canada about a year ago.

We lost contact for a while.

Recently, we started to chat via MSN again.

We chatted for 2 hours on Sunday on the phone.

We text each other like dozens of times a day updating each other on our day went.

We chatted for another 2 hours on Tuesday evening. He called me the moment he woke up. (We have about 13 hours time difference)

He called me this afternoon to tell me that he can't sleep.

I asked him why.

He said it was due to passion.

I was kind of stunned. BUT I don't really understand what that meant.

Weekend updates

2005-02-13T21:26:00.000+08:00

Saturday:
Went for Ms Ong's class. I have been missing quite a bit of classes cuz I was sick :( Ms Ong asked me why have I been missing classes? *opps* I really find Ms Ong a very sincere teacher. She is really nice to her students although she has a stern face. (like Mdm Goh! I like her also) I got an orange from her for chinese new year! hahahah so cute! Makes me feel like a primary school girl.
After ballet and shower, went over to Ade's house for steamboat! Really nice food they prepared. They are relly good. I'm so ashamed of myself. Can't cook a proper meal! Played with Ade's doggie. Her name is suki! She so CUTE!! love her.
Played mahjong till like 3am! lost a bit of money! hahahahah

Sunday:
Well, since I slept like around 4am last night. I couldn't wake up in time for theory lessons today. So we missed lesson 1 of the 4 lessons. Reached the school at around 1030. Stayed there till about 4pm. Exhausted but the instructors were very interesting! On our way home, me and sis were like looking at all the road signs and applying what we had learnt. So fun! hahah

Just had a long 2 hour phone chat with a friend from Montreal. Long time since I chatted for so long on the phone!

Weekend zoomed past so fast! Tomorrow I'm starting work on a new client in Tuas.