nice saturday

for some reason, teaching tuition can be really fulfilling.. and when i see the student working hard, putting in alot of effort, at the same time having supportive parents who give appropriate and usable advice, i feel really happy for the child.

well, as a child, i didn't have time management skills and my organisation was pretty terrible. on top of that, i didn't read in advance my textbooks or prepare for the next class. that made me really struggle in school and i never did that well or as well as expected to. I should have been the top of the cohort, but instead i was at the bottom (or so i think) since there's no rankings in my school last time. most people were too stressed.

back to tuition stuffs. as i was walking back home from tuition, it suddenly dawned on me that I am doing things that actually impact on people's lives. these people have become people i care deeply for, and i am interested in their lives and like to interact with them. they've become part of what makes my happy and makes my life meaningful. i want to see them succeed and become better people for themselves and their parents. wow! i mean, when did I become like that? over the past 4 years i suppose.

anws im surprising myself more and more lately.

I have been working on my Snoopy cross stitch pillow case!! the Snoopy character is finished! also finished is the air plane (without wings).. Woodstock (my fav) is still emerging .. i cant wait to finish woodstock and add a light purple border ard them.. Oh ya, arul reminded me there's the mountains behind snoopy.. shall also add that!!
once that's done, i can stuff cotton or beans or wadever soft material inside to make a nice sofa cushion!! isn't that nice? ^.^

cant seem to get enough of holidays .. been so tired after my work lately.. i dun want monday to appear!! ahhh URGH

shall post the photos i took tonight when i have time to upload them tmr =)

its midnight!

free friday

wow. feels SO good to have a day free of stress, work, and colleagues.
colleagues are nice at work but when its off-day, it feels great not to see them in the school context.

i think that after this part time job, i'll be forever free of the school context! YAHOO! that's cos my NIE application was rejected. haha. they must have felt my dispassionate and honest replies were too much for them and schools to handle. well, its like that if i grew up hating the school system and hating how teachers taught etc.. finally i'm free to wander what jobs i can do..

for now, i really enjoyed the rest i got today.

even if i was applying for jobs online, and helping out my mom with stuffs, and working on my half-finished Snoopy cross-stitch pillow project. cant be helped. its still less than half done. im always like this for my handicrafts projects! well this time, the Snoopy is huge, and if i finally finish it, i'll put it in my living room to hug everytime i watch tv or take a nap~ YAY!
im also working on another crochet pillow-case project. my interest was sparked after seeing wantsin knitting a scarf last fri.. heh heh..that was in my half dead stage during work. anws, that bad period of time just ended but it feels like it lasted for a long time. maybe im just too negative (like wad arul kept saying, im very negative when im applying for jobs. too negative for my own good. but i disagree, i think im just being realistic when i think that its hard to find a job now).

oh ya, and finally i had time to play some fluff friends on fb! i cant allow my pettings to go below 3000!! i wana hit the petting limit!! ahh. yes childish i know, but i really OCD about this crappy thing. 2000 more pets and i'll reach petting limit! alas, cos i've not been playing it for the past 2 weeks, my petting has dropped by 1000 plus =( but im confident it'll increase again!

well, applying for jobs can be fun as well. so i shall buck up and send at least 20 resumes per day!

till then!

plan for Weekend
Saturday
- tuition in morning
- driving lesson afternoon
- play in bugis evening

Sunday
- 2pm till evening at chris's hse (bring jap book & camera)

insights from roses and temp jobs

since leaving CGH as RA, i've been unable to get a job until now..

just started another temp job at MOE again (almost same as previous job)..

I realised i hate this job. and it came at a bad timing.

the job is strictly confidential and highly regulated by the officials in charge.

there's a stupid memory test and candidates are given 8 hrs to memorise word-for-word.
worse still, we cant refer to the paper when given the test. and the stupid official expects us to remember things after they interrupt us with unimportant things.

i was so tired from not sleeping one entire night and couldn't even last till the afternoon for the test.

that was really a nightmare; i still feel the shock and fear from it.

shudder to think that i actually was physically there and did those things i did. after that long day of not functioning, i actually lasted till 3am plus to work on my valentine's flowers.. 24 + 21 hrs = 45 hrs of not sleeping!! wow. and i don't believe i lasted so long. totally ignored my body shouting for sleep and time-out. simply didn't take much of a break. that night slept 4 hrs to wake up at 7am..

it was an amazing experience. i never expected myself to overcome that difficult period of 4 days.. but i overcame it and i'm proud of it! but maybe my life expectancy just got reduced by another 5 years or so. who cares? as long as i get to try out new things, experience things in life, and make some money, life is still worth living. a life busied is better than a life wasted by doing nothing.

i realised that i enjoy doing such small businesses that actually impact and matter to people. rather than working behind a computer. this business taught me that people are important and they matter, and the way they interact with each other is also very important to me. since i've an intrinsic interest in people's happiness, doing something related to their happiness gives me meaning and fulfilment too.

therefore, i shall set out to do things similar to this in future.

also in this experience, i learned that family is very important. without my family's help and support, and connections, i'll be unable to survive the whole thing. my parents helped out in purchasing last min flowers, transporting me from place to place with that bulky flowers, de-thorning of roses, wrapping of roses, delivery of roses etc.. without them, my 2 legs will need to use Kage bunshin (shadow clones) to do all those..

luckily for me, i had yuwen who was free to help me out with delivery on 2 days, and also wrapping of flowers. if not, no one is free to handle both neighboring deliveries and faraway deliveries at the same timing, including wrapping of flowers at the same time!!

all in all, it was a very meaningful experience, and there was time for family bonding and friendship to bloom in every corner ~ certainly a different way to spend my valentine's.
even though i ended up really sleepy, grouchy and unagreeable on the night of valentine's, leaving me unable to enjoy it with my boyfriend arul, it was all worth the effort and sweat!

my new ear muffler!! ~.~

rose on a cigar box

my new camera pouch!!

crochet equipment 7mm - 10mm needle sizes
my yarn was bought from Spotlight at PS

Made this after buying the yarn at Spotlight this Tuesday.. had a really fun time! There's a sale there now.. wonder if I can still get yarn at a good price hmm .. I can't decide wad to make since singapore is tropical!

ive decided to continue working on a Snoopy Cross-stitch pillow case i bought years back.. it was half finished. and when i took it out, the cross-stitch needle was already rusty!! so i've to buy one tmr.. cant wait to finish it the whole day tmr (this friday no work for me) and use the pillow!! so exciting~

I made a fren there who told me to buy 100% acrylic yarn so that it wont be too hot. i spent nearly 2 hours choosing and thinking which colors to buy, and tried out different materials using the needles there. i was tempted to try out the knitting class there.. the prices are reasonable, 12 hours for $90 .. but its all the way at PS, and besides, knitting isn't such a youngster thing. i better get my driving license on 12 march first before i attend other lessons !

i wonder what i can make next .. already made a camera pouch (arul chose the orange color), and the ear mufflers that can keep me warm on early mornings .. i want to make a handbag next!! since a handbag is always needed for a different occasion ~ just not sure which type of yarn to choose from !! spoilt for choice !

Photos of Bouquets ^.^

Really learned alot this first time selling roses on Vday 2009. It was an eye-opener at the wholesaler, where flowers of all types and from all countries were being sold. the freezing temperature inside where the flowers were kept also amazed me. imagine their air-con bills!!

anws i'm gona list down things to improve on if i were to do this next year
- take flower arrangement lessons to be more pro
- get more contacts, know people who are attached
- go into the business with people you can trust
- get your family's support and help
- plan 2 months ahead and confirm orders 1 month ahead
- marketing should take place 2 months beforehand
- prices cannot be too low since profit will be too low after cancelling overheads
- employ people you can trust
- provide good service by asking the client what they need

vday is finally OVER!!! ^.^

been super busy the past week doing the following

going down to wholesaler at Far East Flora to check out stocks
taking down orders by sms/email/handphone
keeping all orders in check
making sure colors of roses are counted properly
making sure to keep the roses in good care
de-thorning roses and getting spiked by them (ouch)
getting stressed and losing sleep due to excitement (before wrapping flowers)
spent 1 whole night up making orders and getting hallucinations in middle of night to wake up all grouchy, brain-dead, dysfunctional, and simply had a disgusting day at work
wrapping so many flowers until i dream of flowers, see flowers in my mind's eye once i close my eyes
bonded with my family members and frens as we spent the whole night working on flowers
making my mom do lotsa deliveries to nearby LRT station and blocks of flats
getting stressed about not being able to finish my orders in time
running around the whole place and forgetting to eat or drink

cant believe that thursday night, friday night (just 2 nights) and it feels like forever..
was wishing valentine's day would end soon.. cos it was sucha nightmare to be so stressed.
and so many ple last minute ordered SO many things.. i was so stressed i turned them down.. cos thought cannot finish making those bouquets at just a few hours' notice.

last min contingencies
ran outta filler flowers for bouquets! we all took it easy at 2am.. and decided to go to bed.. so we all packed up and slept ard 3am to wake up 7am the next day to get fillers at my market.. luckily my market sell else i'd really die..

i actually stepped on this container filled with flower feed and spilled it all on the floor. Wad bad omen! at that time, my legs were dead wobbly due to lack of sleep.. haix

well a fruitful time spent! really liked this experience ~ will blog more about it next time, so late alr..

filler flowers ~

Song of Jamaica ^.^

Baby's Breath / Million stars

Asparagus Verigatus (green fern)

Anethum

(yellow small flowers)

i love tulips! ^.^

Mia ~

random shots 2

which flower looks better? the lighter one or darker one? was trying out different lighting modes, ISO, and Color modes =) please give comments (if any) in the chat box on the right! all comments appreciated ~