still at work

i am waiting for time to fly pass.

past two weeks - busy and yet it was kind of fun. i still have to find time to do the special class for the form 5 who failed last year's bio paper.

it has been raining quite frequently and seriously, that's a very bad thing because we can't have our basketball training. and the condition of the basketball is pretty THM, even that is an understatement.


it's going to be a loooong week because i will be home alone.



tomorrow i have to teach PE, again.



i am looking forward to the next getaway.

once

you have adapted to this kind of life...

you'll be ok.



that's how the curve works.

march is saying goodbye

and
Hello, april!

#10

for you.

wonderland

you're like alice in wonderland.

let's drive away

and so i had two trips back to back. First in Kuching and that was a good, fruitful one. i had a 1 day break in LD and whoosh, the Kundasang trip!

we left home at about 6.30am.
the drive was very nice, despite the many crazy potholes.
we talked. we talked nonsense. we complained. we sang.

you'll definitely pass by the entrance to this plantation.
i have always wanted to take picture of the flowers with the clear blue sky.
it makes me feel as if i'm in another country.
:)

We reached Kundasang at about 11.30am and went in to Kinabalu Park. we spent some good hours in the park.

The next morning, we went for sunrise and then the COW PLACE!!

Mt. K.
These 3 were taken from the Desa Dairy Farm :P

I guess one of the beautiful surprises is the visit to Mahua Waterfall in Tambunan. The winding road into the park is kind of scary but it's good that we didn't turn back halfway. The scenery was breathtakingly beautiful.

and we found a huge pill milipede.

Our journey continued in Sandakan and we went to Labuk Bay. Not to forget the seafood breakfast at Sim Sim.

at Labuk Bay.

Back in LD.

i'm happy.

one week.

taken in Sandakan.

'why is love intensified by absence?'

#9

14th March, Kinabalu Park.

2nd thought on "what's ahead"

1st trip to Kundasang, 5-6th Nov. taken in a cloudy/rainy afternoon.

2nd trip to Kundasang, 14-15th March. taken in a sunny, bright morning.
Mt K can be clearly seen.


i walked further down the trail this time.
and i still think that i could have walked a little bit further.

:)

the first pic is kind of 'cooler' and more mysterious.

and i had one of the best-est holiday/road trip. more pics to come when i have the time and the turtleband is behaving well. i'm still looking through the pic, about 730 of them but not too many jimo shots. geee....

that's where you are

don't leave. just stay.


其实不想走

this is what i call 'surprise'

Waterfront, Kuching.
Dewan Undangan Negeri at the back.


i was away in Kuching from the 8th til 12th morning. we left school on the 7th and went on a crazy 6.5 hours of bus ride from LD to KK. The night spent there was - ahem, kind of pathetic, i must say. That's where i realised how homey my 'home' has been to me.

Before the whole basketball thingy, i wasn't really hoping to win big. i was just hoping that we at least maintain the 3rd placing. ok, i secretly did hope that we can win, or come in second in place and got sent as representative of the sabah/swak/labuan (SQL zone).

and then, there comes the news that only the champion will be sent as representative. haih. the chances is even slimmer because in view of the opponent teams and the girls' level... what's left for us? :(

whatever it is, i told them.. just go and see how things unfold themselves.

this is the first game on the 9th, against Sains Labuan, under the hot sun. our match was scheduled to start at 11 but it delayed til 11-ish and ended at about 1.30pm. we won 31-29.


it's not easy to be the coach. the students played all out. i have to think of the strategy to defend and counter attack. i have to think who to substitute because they got tired easily under the hot sun. whoosh. and that labuan coach kept shouting to his players 'PRESS PRESS PRESS!!!!!!!!!!!'

sheeesshhh.......

the first victory was sweet. a sweet surprise. :)

after the 2nd match of the day. we played against Sains Miri and menang tipis, 25-24. front row, the girl in front of the one with the ball was our 'saviour'.

we started of very well, leading the game with quite a few points apart til the 3 quarter. 20-18. 20-20. 22-20. 22-22. 24-22. at the last minute, we were at a tie of 24-24. I was practically shouting at those in the court, trying to restrategise to keep miri from scoring.

I was like, "How can we lose this game when we started of so well????!!"

And then in the last 15 seconds, the saviour-girl was given two free shots. She missed the first one. all pressure was on her.
second shot - YIPPIE!! she did it!!

and a few seconds later, there goes the whistle!

second victory in a day. Double the sweetness.
bad news, one of my main players sprained her ankle and we have another important match the next day.
sigh. the whole night i was thinking "what to do, what to do?"
"how how how?"

i don't have pictures of the 3rd match. we played against Sains Sabah. the points were quite tight, and the girl who sprained her ankle requested that i put her into the match. i hesitated. she said she can wait near the ring and shoot once she got the ball. and it worked tremendously well. we had a good lead by the second quarter until the 3 quarter. Gee, what's with the number 3?
At the middle of 3 quarter, it began to drizzle. the court got wet and slippery. the whole game had to slow down and that actually gave us great advantage. the opponents have no way to close in the gap and we won 22-14.

We knew we won't be able to win the fourth and last match, against Sains Kuching. We lost 14-42. Our aim is not be 'goreng-ed'. That score wasn't too bad, but it could be better.

after the last match against Sains Kuching. The students were happy. So am I.

All the victories were surprises to all of us, albeit we're still disappointed that runner up will not be sent as reps like those previous years.

we're prepared that this would be the end of our basketball journey for the year 2011 and shall do better next year.

We had a closing ceremony on the 11th night. By the end of the ceremony, that's when they announced another surprise. They have decided that the champion and the runner up will be sent to the peninsular in May for national basketball competition of all residential schools.
ROAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:)

we couldn't believe our ears and we kept asking each other is that real.

all we can say is..

"PERCAYALAH"

at KKIA. a jump of victory.

there's going to be lots of hard work once the holiday is over. basketball trainings will be the priority besides going in for classes. extra bio classes. etc etc etc.

this trip has taught me to percaya.
believe and have faith.

知足常乐

i don't know why they translated that into 'we care, we grow, we grow together'.

contentment brings happiness.

this was taken last Sunday, before picking up my housemate from the airport. i actually wanted to take picture of the plane landing on the air strip. so i stopped the car by the roadside and waited for the plane. so cool, right? the adrenaline rush was awesome. my heart beat so fast as the plane began to land.

:)

i didn't get any nice touching down shots but i got this.
contentment brings happiness.


it's something of positive encouragement but my eyes see only jimo-ness,
especially after changing that into black and white.

i do not want to get 'over-contented' and end up being stuck at the same place for the rest of my life.
how should i strike the balance?

school life has been super busy ever since the year started. last week was the worst week i ever had. it was disappointing and i was utterly disgusted by how some situations turned out to be. i tried to be helpful and i ended up being back-stabbed, being accused as an irresponsible teacher. it became my fault. how could they? it was really sickening. i could feel my heart being squeezed out of its blood the moment i heard about the 'story' that was being circulated. gosh. i couldn't believe how brainlessly unhelpful some people are, everything also i don't know i don't know. tell me, what do you know? it's really tiring. i work as a teacher, i don't sell myself into this profession. don't drive me around and make me your slave, oh you pharaoh! to teach is to touch a life forever. that can be true if you are doing things out of your freewill. with the kind of system i am in - it killed my joy, it robbed my passion, it poisoned my mind, it sapped all my strength, it crushed my spirit, it shrunk my mind.

that's the problem in this system.

i will be in KK next monday, and then in Kuching from tuesday til friday for basketball competition. And awesome, i will be going for my 2nd Kundasang road trip right after my Kuching trip. i'm hoping to get nicer pictures after having known how the place is like and with some better plannings. go to kinabalu park. go to the cow place. go for sunrise.

:)

we are all survivors in our own THM situations.