bebebub:

Congratz!

Tofu Boy 终于可以大显身手 :rahrah: :rahrah:

Thanks bebebub.

But hor, I think no more chance to 显身手 Someone told me this – now you see one tofu boy. Next time, you see about 500 tofu boys. Hahaha… no chance to win liao.

I was walking out of the toilet when I saw our floor’s cleaner sitting near the pool. My office is located on the same floor as the pool. I thought she was taking a breather and had playfully teased her by pointing a figure to mean,”hey, hey, gotcha!” She gestured to her knee cap and then I saw a pool guard peering out at my direction. I walked towards them and the pool guard told me that the cleaner had not one but two consecutive falls within 5 minutes. Oh man…


The cleaner pulled up her pants to show me her red and angry knee cap. The pool guard filled me in the details. Cleaner had wanted to go scrap the water off the area around the pool area after the rain stopped. She first slipped at a step but was saved by her own hands breaking her fall. Thinking nothing of it, she moved on and that’s when she really fell and her knee cap hit hard on the edge of the step. The part where the horizonal step folds downwards to the lower step. Ouch.

I told her to go see the company doctor (so happened to be in the same building, how convenient right?) but she refused. Perhaps the fall wasn’t serious but I felt that having a medical record in the books would be good in case of something more serious develop in the future.

The pool guard got all agitated and insisted that she was worried of her HOD. Indeed, their HOD is famous of being super strict. This HOD reminded me of the eunuchs of old China dynasty, you know? Those not exactly the king but behaved like a king when king is not around. I pity the cleaners who work under him.

Today, there is a cleaner with deteriorating eye sight. HR is checking with her eye doctor on her condition, to see if we can renew her contract. From a business perspective, we cannot say the employer is wrong. Well, the worker cannot work due to whatever reason, how to continue employing him/her?

My heart feels very heavy with such incidence. Before it is too late, we should take good care of our health.

starlight1968sg:

ammonite:

Will continue clearing out the rooms today. I have so many plastic bags I don’t know what to do.

Keep as they may become chargeable soon

oh. I had thought ammonite's plastic bags are already filled with stuff she had cleared out.

We need to update tofu boy's wardrobe and clear his stuff too - mainly books. Thank god I stop buying these two years.

We like uniqlo too. Cheap and nice. The tshirts hold their shape better.

I thought we should at least give a proper farewell treat to tofu boy's classmates and teachers. After all, some of them are in the same class for 3 years and the dynamics will change when next year comes.


Even though things are not back to normal, there has been improvement. One kid who was so sour about not getting any award this year and pin the reason on tofu boy, asked him,\" So when are you leaving our class?\" We believe that he thinks he is ousted from the ceremony this year because tofu boy sweep everything. Still, the sense of aggressiveness had melted and they could now talk about the periodic table. Thanks Z, so that I don't suffer in the evening. Z is also a high achiever. His father is a math and science tutor, naturally Z is advanced in these subjects.

I asked tofu boy if he would also give the farewell treat to the two boys who rallied the kids to outcast him. I have been saying 小孩子 的 心 要 放 宽 一点 for years to him. Actually not just kids, adults too. 心 放 宽 一点. I am grateful that he has learned something. His reply to my question was good - Actually I don't want to give them. But if I give everything and don't give them, it is not nice. So I will give them too.

I thought it was a rather mature thought and this way of doing things would be what most adults would agree as diplomatically correct.

starlight1968sg:

Recently am quite disturbed with some office matters. F who got a warning letter will be posted out. He is making a big fuss, asking me to plead big bosses for him. I did accordingly and got rejected

I feel bad for his posting as he would need to travel from one end of Spore to another. But look, he was pampered. I did that when I was pregnant and who pitied me?
I should look at the big pic. I can’t please everybody. I should just be myself

尽 人事 就 好 .

Thanks Sun and Pokoyoko.



Pokoyoko,
This year has been really busy for me, so no time to post about tofu boy. I must have done something really really good in my past lives to have a child like tofu boy but believe me, it is not always like that. I still insist that I have gone through a few years of hell with him. It is purely from my perspective, my “hell” might be another person’s “rough walk”. Every mum has her struggles.





Here goes the third instalment of tofu boy’s latest episode.

So we got the envelope already. One night, tofu boy came to our bedside and asked to be hugged. We had a family hug and he started crying. Now, tofu boy hardly cries after he turned 3 and I didn’t know what turned the tap on. He began speaking in between his sobs, saying all his friends shut him out recently. It all started after Round 1 results were released. One by one, the friends “left him”. After the GEP results was released, his world has turned against him. Only one boy stood by him and accompanied him occasionally. Poor child, he must have been really sad. I wished I could take away his pain.

I said to tofu boy: Remember the pain you feel… Remember what they did and how they do it… Remember and never do it on another person. You know how it feels like now, so don’t do it. Remember the experience because it teaches you to be a better friend to another person. Forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing. Forgive him (the instigator), he didn’t know how to manage his emotion.

Frankly, I don’t know if he can accept it. It is only human to feel angry after being hurt and you know it is through no fault of yours. I believe he will try.

At the same time, some mischief acts were happening in class. Some kid’s handbook got torn and cut up. The form T addressed the class. Tofu boy said she mentioned about how some kids would gang up and “don’t friend this, don’t friend that”, there were some theft incidences too (not money related) and pranks. Form T said all are classmates, they should take care of one and other, and not hurting each other. The talk was timely. We knew she wasn’t talking about Tofu boy’s case but it was really timely.

Things hadn’t returnd to normal before the next wave came – Form T announced the prize winners for this year. Tofu boy made a clean wipe for all the awards he could possibly have received – 1st in class, best in English/Math/Science. Yup, best in level for all three subjects. Chinese cannot la, the school has taiwanese and chinese kids. Kantang (potato) tofu boy no fight la. Given that he sweeped 3 Best awards and managed a high 90s for chinese, I dare say he is possibly the top boy in his level.

But we were not happy. We worried how his friends might react and how he might be even more lonely from now on. Suddenly, the thought of joining GEP seems like a good escape route. Otherwise, it is the same group of kids he has to be with the next year.

For every ‘suffering’ we endure, it seems to me that it will end somehow once we learn from it and move on. That’s my perspective and experience at least. I said tofu boy was a difficult baby and I had a hell of time with him when he was an infant. I remembered how things improved once I accepted him as he was. Perhaps, from an unspiritual angle, this is what people mean by “changing perspective”. Tofu boy might have accepted my advise – to take it as a learning experience and not to let it turn into hatred. Things began to fall into place.

The Form T’s words must have woken up some of the kids and one by one, tofu boy’s pals return. Our worry was unfounded and tofu boy was happy again. He said one classmate asked him in a sour tone,”So how does it feel like to be winning so many awards?”

When we move to the next lap, we would be switching sides and become the “everything also lose to people”. Let’s see how tofu boy deal with being in the shadow.

Thank you ladies.

cool_hi:

Congrats!!!!!! :rahrah:
So Happy for u & tofu boy!!!

:hugs: I remember how we started talking when our kids encountered bullies. If i remembered correctly, that's when tofu boy was not even in P1. Now your elder one is moving on to the next phase and mine, unexpectedly moving on too.

MrsKiasu:

congrats! actually I been kinda expected tofu boy and JS's to have good news

Thank you. Aiya, 早知道I keep it under wrap longer! :rotflmao: and let you go\"eh? 4D没有中？\"

ammonite:

Congrats! It is good that tofu boy can now find more peers who get him.

There is some typo here? I suspect you mean that tofu boy can now find more peers like him? I think so - there should be more kids who can engage in the same frequency/level as him. He can now talk to fellow classmates who can answer/question him about how many moons Jupiter has, what is the name of the largest moon of Saturn, what is Rhodium and Palladium for... :sick: Seriously, after a long day, those questions are not my idea of nice conversation.

We met a GEP teacher today. She says her students love to write stories, draw comic strips etc. I replied wah best - my one too. Not just stories and comic, he loves to \"publish newspapers\" too.

And so I was saying Tofu boy said that we would concentrate on SA2.


Heeding the wise advice of leeyl, we began our revision during the September holidays. It seemed like a marathon for both tofu boy and me. I realised how hard one needed to work to be at the top, especially if one wanted to stretch the lead. It is like scaling the mountain. The higher up, the harder each step is. No wonder people say Singapore education is stressful. It was hard to be working when most others are playing. With the exception of a few days, tofu boy was “toiling” towards his goal of the year - to maintain his position in school level.

I know some of the school's kids went for GEP training. More than half from the top classes have enrichment classes for all 4 subjects. Keeping that pole position is not going to be easy.

This year, tofu boy is able to tell me his gut feel after the exam papers. He would say,\" English, min 42/45\". Frankly, I have no idea to believe him or not when I heard him (but going forward I would, because his prediction was quite accurate).

He managed to keep his scores high but hey, there always seem to be some kids sharing the high score as him! Having swept through almost all the prizes/awards he could possibly have won this year, maybe not getting GEP and academic award is ok. Life is fair, you gain some, you lose some. Right?

While we were receiving exam papers, some friends are receiving GEP registration letters. I picked him up from school last Friday and he came out with a bag which I hadn’t seen before. Some vendors came to the school that day and the students were given the bag, along with some freebies. For a moment, I thought I saw 传说 中 旳 “big envelope”…

Me: hey, what’s that? Is it the envelope?
Son: what envelope? It is a folder from vitagen.
Me: oh. Ok. (I am sorry, I was greedy) I thought it was an envelope.
Son: What envelope? You are thinking it is the GEP envelope?
Me: (trying to hide my thoughts) Oh no la, just wondering…
Son: Are you not expecting the GEP envelope?
Me: I am sorry, mummy was greedy for a moment.
Son: it’s ok. I HAD the envelope.
Me: ya da ya da…. (not believing him)
Son: I really have it! It is in my bag!

And he did the little boogie woogie with a mischievous grin.

For once, I couldn’t believe it and insisted on seeing the envelope. “aiya, wait la. I will show you when we get home! Since you have waited so many days, surely you can wait for another 10 minutes?” I where got waiting…. No have lor… ok fine, fine. I was greedy because I am only human.

Back home, it was a cat chased mouse scene with me running after tofu boy. The playful soul in him screamed, ” 打 抢 啊! 打 抢 啊!” Finally, I got it. 传说 中 旳 “big envelope” 真旳是brown colour旳!

Me: You really got it. (I could feel my eyes getting wet)
Son: yup.
Me: I didn’t think you could have made it. The percentage is just too low. All I wanted was for you to clear Round 1.
Son: I always know I am different. :imanangel:

He said it in such quiet and mild tone that no air of arrogance was detected. Still, I want to say看报纸了, 才说4D开什么. Chey.

Being free alone will not "discourage" these people from gossiping. It is a sense of security and being at ease that allow people to let their guards down and engage in pastimes like that.

starlight1968sg:

imami

you are right!

In my ofc, colleagues worried about posting to different sites, forgetting that there are some who are still looking high and low for jobs.

Talking about looking for a job.

I got to know this lady. Impressive education record - RGPS, RGS, RJC, NUS. Guess what job is she looking for? Cleaner. On paper, she had my curiousity piqued and I was just too curious - I had to meet her myself. When I saw her, I knew why. Her face and demeanour kept appearing in my mind.

That night I told tofu boy about this lady. Even Tofu boy was :?

I explained to tofu boy - she is a classic case of academic success is not a guarantee to better jobs, better life. There are more to doing well than doing well in school. Sure, education and qualifications are very important. I still maintain that education is the ticket out of poverty. But if we look around, those at the top are usually made of more than just paper qualification. They generally also speak and write well, are charismatic and possess good interpersonal and leadership skills.