Yesterday, my friend messaged me while he was attending an external course. He said that the administrator came to check their attendance every now and then. Why? To make sure that they did not sign the attendance and leave half-way through the class. The “punishment” was to restart their course. -_-

I have to clarify, my friend is in the senior management. So are the rest of the participants.

“They treat you like you’re in a kindy.:)” I replied.

And I must say, they are not the only one doing that. It happens across different sectors, age groups and professionals.

So that’s all come down to one problem – Lack of trust. It seems that if there isn’t any “system” governing EVERY PROCESS, they think that some “idiots” along the line are just not “mature, responsible and accountable” enough to make their decisions on their own. OH NO! These people are going to screw us up! -_-

A simple “attendance checking” system like this actually reminded me of every other “checking systems” that we are being put on, to make sure that WE DON’T SCREW UP!

If the people are so used to “do because we’re asked to do”, then what is going to happen “inside” us?

I wonder if people still take the initiative to be accountable and responsible without being asked to be.

Take the “attendance system” as an example, if an adult does not take learning as his own responsibility, what’s the point for having those systems to tie him down. In another words, “die die” must have him sitting there, who cares if he spaces out or he learns nothing.

If these systems are to “discipline” people…OH BOY. Imagine, a company director being put under a monitoring system so that HE WILL NOT SKIP A CLASS. How classy.

I shared with my students in class one day, that we could hardly find rubbish bin on the street in Japan. And yet, the country is “squeaky clean”. One student asked:”Where do they throw the rubbish then?”

I said:“Handbag…and bring the rubbish home to throw.”

Is there a sign on the street that says “Bring your rubbish back“? NO.
A sign that says “Stand on the left of escalator“? NO.
Are they asked to do all these? NO.

So what has gone wrong?

Posted under Thoughts & musings | [10] Comments 

The pictures say it all..

Nat suggested to have a nerds’ night + pot luck. The funny things was everyone had the common idea of being a nerd – student!

So nerds’ night aside, it was also a “back-to-school” night.

Nat looked so cute! She will be that kind of student whom my teacher will love and protect. But she said she must have looked irritating in the past. -_-

Nat said I looked like an arrogant prefect. I didn’t dress up as a prefect intentionally but I guess being a prefect and dressed as one for 80% of my schooling life really “chop” that annoying prefect stamp on my face. Sigh..

But you know, no dressing up can really beat a real nerd, man…

Posted under Events | [4] Comments 

Never thought the day of losing my surname came so fast. Come and think of it, it is so crucial to marry someone who has a surname that goes well with “Cherry”. (Com’on, just let me be a bimbo for a sec, can?)

That reminded me of my lecturer back in uni. His surname is Berry and he used to joke that if I ever married him, I will be called Cherry Berry. Man, I am fruity.

Went back to Penang last week and met up with my students. They are attached to a company in Penang as their internship programs. One of my students has some skin problem on his feet. My mom recommended a skin specialist and we had to make an appointment 2 days in advanced.

So we went to pick him up from work. True enough, the clinic was flooded with patients. Man, the doc must be good.

And look at the cert plaques man..

Even though we made an appointment, we still had to wait for another 40 minutes to see the doctor. My mom and I were both curious of how the doc looked like. So when the name was called, we entered the clinic too.

The doctor was very surprised to see 3 of us in his clinic while only 1 wanted to see the doctor. Somehow, he had the impression that I was his sister, and my mom – his mom. But we just went along with it…somehow..*scratching head*

Half way through the diagnosis, the doctor looked at me from far and said:
“Hey, your pimples!” *Pointing at my forehead*

Being sensitive about my pimples as usual, I blushed and got irritated a little.

“But, you are pretty with pimples. PRETTY WITH PIMPLES! *He repeated*

I guess my expression said it all. I blushed. My student laughed at me.

“Er, doctor, could you prescribe a cream or something for my pimples? Since I am already here…” *Ya, my self-esteem just crushed*

“Come come…Let’s see, I’ll give you some cream and a soap to wash your face daily. So what’s your name?” *He was about to write my name on my student’s card.

“Cherry”.

“So….Cherry Leong???”

We bursted into laughters and he just wrote “Cherry Leong” on the consultation card.

And so…Cherry Leong, I was. And I was “the sister” of my student for the day.

And by the way, it cost me a bomb for 2 small tubs of cream, 1 toner and a piece of soap! Best still, Don said that he can write me the prescription. Great…*roll eyes*

Posted under Family , Life documentaries | [10] Comments 

Sometimes ago, Nat told me that she was looking for a collectible star wars item. I can’t remember what it was because I do not watch star wars and hence, the names were plain greek to me.

So, a few days before her birthday, I decided to look for the “collectible” item at several toy shops. And toy shop to me, of course it is none other than Toy ‘R Us.

Stood in front of the huge collection of star wars merchandise and had no idea what to buy. I called a “trusted source” to ask for “the collectible item” that Nat had been looking for.

He said:”Darth Vader mighty muggs“.

I dug through the shelves. “Mm…Don’t have!! Should I get her the er..this..er..Chiieew-Bu-ker (Chewbacca) or Han solo? Oh Oh!! How about Lando Carl..er..whatever..? That’s all they have. How?”

“Mm..No..she either has them or they are some lousy characters that we don’t like.”

“Oh no!! How about other merchandise like the mini action figure or lego?”

“I think she has most of them.”

“WHAT!!!??? Wah man, you guys are serious star wars fan!”

The next day, I decided to call every Toy ‘R Us shop I can find in Singapore. I must say, the customer service was very good.

“Hello, do you have ‘Dark’ Vader might mugss?”

“Dark vader?”

“Yeah, the star wars one.”

“Ohh!! You mean ‘Dart vader’ (darth vader)? Sorry, don’t have already..”

-_-

I really thought it was called Dark Vader because it is black mah!

So just a few hours before her birthday, I found some buyers on ebay. Was bidding furiously for the whole afternoon and finally won the bids. I bid for another “unmasked” Darth Vader, too, though I had no idea what it meant.

And later found out that the “Dark vader” was not so “dark”after all. HE IS WHITE!

Michael Jackson in the making

All of a sudden, I felt like I was the biggest star wars fan ever. I bid for the very first time on ebay and Sean was kind to speed all the way to the other side of the island to pick it up.

The whole experience was so thrilling and satisfying! It was almost like a treasure hunt to me. But, I am still no fan of star wars.

Update: Thanks Watson for helping me with picture uploads. I had so much problems uploading these 2 pics.:(

Posted under Life documentaries | [5] Comments