Caramel Toffee //

The semester is getting busy yet again. It has been raining so much lately that I didn´t get to snap decent photos that can be shared with everyone. Anyways, I´m now in the middle of two assignments. One for Linguist203 and another one for Educ225. My weekly lab report doesn´t count, because that´s what I´m going to have to do every week all the time.

During our Professional Development session with Sheryl today, we were briefed about our school visits starting tomorrow and the next four Thursdays thereafter. I´m still not sure if I am or am not looking forward to the school visits. In the end, we´re all going to have to do a presentation about the teaching of English in New Zealand compared to the one in Malaysia. I think I can do that. I´m also thinking of making a flash presentation instead of just the usual powerpoint presentation. Heck, I haven´t even been using Microsoft Office for a while now. I´ve been using OpenOffice for a while after my Office went haywire after a certain update.

In Linguist203 lecture, Mark was telling us more about sentence constructions and the type of sentences. I´m guilty of not paying much attention because I was typing up my Linguist203 assignment due next week (on the 22nd of August). I think I´m done with the assignment. I may need some proofreading and clarification on my copula constructions. That, and then I can submit the assignment before the due date.

As I´m typing this, I´m currently in my COMPSCI111 lecture. Today´s lecture continues the previous topic, The Introduction to XHTML and moves on to XHTML and CSS. I´ve done the exercises. I´m really glad I´m taking this course. I have absolutely no problem with this topic, and I´m hoping for a good grade. At the very least, I´m putting high hopes on this course to make up for the B´s and B+s I got in the last semester. I hope to get at least A for this course (though I really want an A+, but alas I don´t think I´m that good yet).

- Unique Advertising of Drinks @ Symonds Street, Auckland -

Frm 1Aug, it will be $1 per call to talk to Cust Service on Prepay. You can still manage yr mob free online. For other ways 2manage yr mob &more info freecall 440.

From: Vodafone

Every service over here is all about limitation and money. I don’t know how much Vodafone would charge for GPRS, but it would surely be cutthroat. I’m upset with my internet connection, and Vodafone decided they want to mess with me some more.

Well, My Woosh wireless broadband is currently running on a dial-up speed, which gives me nothing but frustration after frustration of having to wait seemingly forever for a simple page to load.

Internet connection is datacapped. Three of my apartment mates and I share a wireless broadband plan with 51 GB bandwidth per month. The bandwidth would be reset back to 0% on the 21st of every month. And we ran out of our bandwidth last Friday.

I didn’t even get to download this month, having been busy with moving to the new server. I’ve been very conscious with my usage of the internet. I even avoided graphic-heavy websites to save the bandwidth.

Some people apparently didn’t think so.

I wish they’d be more concerned. Using Yahoo!Messenger and Skype eat up lots of bandwidth, and it actually bothers me that some of them are using both messengers almost all day long.

And the internet’s registered under my name.

How lovely.

I want Malaysia! No monthly bandwidth… Ahh…

- Lecture Theater, School of Engineering, University of Auckland (21.05.08) -

I was feeling quite sleepy in EDUC 283 tutorial today, but I only have myself to blame for that. I slept at about 3.15am last night, so you could guess how hard it was to get out of bed and walk to class at 10am. Our pedagogy discussion today centered on the Facilitator approach to teaching. Theorists we’re familiar with including Vygotsky, Piaget, Hunter, Maslow and Gardner were brought up. I don’t think I will be much of a facilitator when I graduate, though (or should I say ‘if’ I graduate?). I’m more inclined towards the Executive approach, I think. When discussing the Facilitator approach, we delved into the MAKER profile and discussed the redeeming qualities and features of this approach.

A facilitator teacher engages in what we call the Care Pedagogy, which is why teachers who adopt this approach are high in awareness of the needs of students; they also emphasise on attaining and maintaining good relationships with students. This approach considers features of Humanistic Psychology, Constructivism, Multiple Intelligences and a few other aspects. In short, it’s all about teaching students by guiding them to achieve self-actualisation (the highest level in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs), providing them care and making students a priority when making decisions.

No, that certainly doesn’t sound like me.

After the tutorial, Mira and I went to UBS to browse for books. I should remind myself more often to not wander around the psychology and the history sections of the bookstore when I have less than $400 in my bank account. It made me slightly distressed, not being able to buy the books that I want. I think I’ll be buying a few books with the coming allowance. Granted, we should have gotten our allowance about a month ago. Some titles that I want to buy are:

1. Truth
2. Artificial Happiness
3. Rousseau’s Dog
4. Social Intelligence

A lot? Yes, I know. I have an unhealthy obsession with non-fiction books. I find them more compelling to read, which explains why my bedtime reading usually involves… a grammar book.

EDUC 223 lecture and tutorial today dealt with the topic of classroom management. It’s basically similar to what I’ve learnt back in IPBA during my 1st year, only that the one I learned last year was more in depth. EDUC 223 only covers the theories and practices, common rules, logics, etc. Last year, my coursemates and I were not only exposed to Classroom Management as a standalone subject, but also to classroom management theorists such as Colorosso (Teaching With Love and Care), Canter and Canter (Assertive Discipline) and Alfie Kohn (Beyond Discipline).

I love Alfie Kohn and his ideas. And his classroom management beliefs, of course.

That aside, I’ve made a list of what I should be doing online after having done with the finals (or soon, if I have time):

1. Move my technology blog to geekdom.info and start tech blogging again.
2. Revamp stylishgeeks.net into a collective or a graphic site with photoshop brushes, etc.
3. Finish my web/blog directory at ireadyou.net
4. Launch booklyhour.com where I’ll be writing mainly about books
5. Revamp junjou.info to make it more user-friendly
6. Make new photoshop brushes, graphic items, Joomla/Wordpress themes and PSDs
7. Launch words.ireadyou.net for original artistic pieces

On another matter, I’m currently really happy that Junjou.info now boasts of minimum 10,000 unique visitors per month Way to go!

- Wellesley Student Apartments, Auckland (20.05.08) -

I had to go through an unpleasant shower of drizzle on the way to class this morning. The rain was not heavy, but New Zealand’s famous strong wind made it difficult. Umbrellas could only save half of your upper body, and that is if you’re lucky your umbrellas don’t get blown or damaged by the wind. In ESOL210, we got further into the ‘Results & Discussions’ section of research reports. Pretty interesting, I have to say, but I still like ESOL210’s language focus practices. Those practices make me feel that it’s absolutely true when people say, “You find new things everyday!”

Mira and I came back to our apartment right after our ESOL210 class. June was preparing her breakfast, though I don’t really want to know what she was really preparing. We went to our rooms, just barely saying ‘hi’ to her as a polite form of greeting. I was having my brunch (White rice with chicken vindaloo and chicken tikka masala. Yum!) when the management staff of Wellesley Student Apartments (where I’m staying) barged in, happily announcing “Room inspection!”

I didn’t mind this part. What I minded (and still mind) was the outcome. Our rooms were all okay, but we got a Red warning notice regarding the kitchen wall and the microwave. What pissed me off to a greater extent was June herself. She started saying about how we should get the microwave clean and the kitchen walls sparkly, or otherwise we’ll be fined. I was not in the mood because of the rain, and June just had to go and be her usual obnoxious self. Most of the time, I tolerated her presence and her constant egocentric chatter. This time around, however, all I wanted to do at that time was yell into her ears. What got me so pissed off?

1. The microwave was half-broken. By this, I mean that we can use the microwave as convection oven and for grilling, but not the microwave function. How ironic that we have to call it microwave despite this faulty trait. We have not used it for God knows how long. The last time I used it was more than a month ago, and that was to bake cakes. Two weeks ago when everyone cleaned the apartment together, Mira and I were in charge of the kitchen. We scrubbed everything dry. My hands were all twitchy for two days after all the cleaning and scrubbing. Whatever that can be seen from inside the microwave (including orange streaks that look so much like corroded metal, and they probably are) is not removable. Try smoothing the surface with your hand. It’s all smooth, not a fickle of dust can be picked up. But June, being obnoxious, dared to ask us “Did you use the metal scrub or not?” and dared to make that unsatisfied look on her face.
2. She was the one who used the microwave last. A few days ago, she messed the lounge up with her stuff and spent the whole night baking muffins. She was telling us about her sister’s birthday and how she was going to take pictures of her friends posing with the muffins and saying “Happy birthday, [insert her sister's name here]!”. It was funny how she asked me if that’s a great idea, but then she answered on her own that “of course it’s a great idea!”. In other words, whatever happened to the microwave after our cleaning session was her fault. She was the only one who used. And she dared asking Mira and I to clean it again?
3. Not only she’s obnoxious, but she’s also a hypocrite. She paste a note on how we should not leave our pots and pans in the kitchen, and that we should wipe the table and all. Did she do all that? I can recall many times where she would just leave her pots and pans, and her plates or tupperwares on the dining table or on the kitchen counter, or in the sink. And until now, she keeps dirtying the dining table with breadcrumbs. She leaves for her class without minding the mess on the table. Great, June. You’re such a pot who dares to call the kettle black.

She’s lucky she didn’t do her ritual of asking me (or any of us) “Which one looks better?” and “Which one matches with this one?”. If she did, I would have blown up and yelled straight to her face. Quoting my friend Hijrah’s blunt remark, “If you’re originally ugly, you’ll be ugly either way.” I would have yelled it to her face had I not know what self-control means. Another thing I can’t stand about June is her egocentric ways of dealing with people. If she wants to speak to any of us, she has the habit of rattling the doorknobs to try to barge into the room. When she finds the door to be locked, she would bang on the door incessantly. And very loudly.

There is a limit to kindness, and there certainly is a limit to tolerance. We’ll have to tolerate her for another six months. Oh, the horror. Let’s see how much longer I can keep my self-control in check.

- Autumn in the University of Auckland, Auckland (19.05.08) -

It rained just before I walked out of the apartment building this morning. Autumn in Auckland is really inconsistent. When it’s supposed to be cold, the sun shines down like it’s angry. Sometimes, it rains like this morning - just a brief shower. Another time, it would rain non-stop for a whole day. That scenario usually occurs on weekends when I have plans to go out, though.

I expected ESOL 210 class to be less packed today, considering how we had EDUC 283 assignment to hand in by 4pm. I wasn’t expecting the class to be so empty, though. There were only nine of us attending the lecture, and our lecturer Rosemary smiled knowingly. She must have had similar experience throughout her teaching career. So, with only nine students, you can just imagine how boring the class was. Mira and I tried to see the fun in ‘Results and Discussions’ section of research reports. Sorry, Rosemary. We couldn’t help the sudden snorts, chortles and silent giggles we made when we did the exercises on pages 197 to 205. Well, the fact that the sample research dealt with English vocabulary and teenagers was amusing enough. The fact that 100% of the test subjects answered correctly to the word ’sex’ was another. I want to see the research instrument! It must have been funny, because I saw words like ‘cream’, ’skirt’, ‘copy’ and ‘original’. They couldn’t answer ’skirt’ but they could answer ’sex’, just what in the world were they thinking?

Speaking of ESOL 210, I got back my 3rd assignment and my 3rd test paper. So far, so good. I got 8% out of 10% maximum for each paper, so I guess I’m pretty safe. I have two more papers for ESOL 210 in the form of a test and an assignment, weighing the last 30% of the course marks. Each paper weighs 15%, and I must get at least 11.5% out of 15% for each of the paper. Not need, but absolute must! Otherwise I’ll fall to B+.

I don’t know what will happen to my EDUC 283 assignment, but I’m pretty sure I won’t get good marks for it. It’s really hard to submit a paper when there’s no clear format of how to answer. It’s not an essay, yet it’s not just a simple comprehension task. I think I would have been more confident if the assignment was in the form of an essay or research/observation. I would gladly write a 5000-word-essay if the instructions are clear. I am to be blame for putting myself on a tight spot. It was a last minute work, and I feel really bad about it. But I know I brought it upon myself. My mind went blank on me after submitting EDUC 223 assignment last Friday. I only got my hands to type out the words late last night and after ESOL 210 class this morning.

I skipped ESOL202 class for the purpose of finishing the assignment too. Yes, I am in a dire need to go and punish myself. No splurging on anything more than $10 for 1 week. I’ll keep reminding myself that for punishment.

I sound like I’m adopting the Executive approach. And here I thought I’m more likely to adopt the facilitator approach…