The summer vacation is finally over, & the kids went back to school a couple of weeks ago. Has it been only 2 weeks??? It seems longer than that. They are in full swing, with a hefty amount of homework almost daily.
Z, a freshman in high school, is starting to realise that high school work involves a lot more depth than what he did in middle school. He is joining a gun club (!!!) & a performing arts club (the appeal being that he & his "band mates" can jam together in school). I hope he can cope with the extra activities. I was hoping that he could also involve himself in a community service club, but don't want him to get overwhelmed. Maybe he can do an adhoc type of thing during the school year, if something pops up.
W, 7th grader, is "joining a band". Not sure how this will work out, because at this age, a lot of it is talk, & high hopes which may eventually not end up the way they want it to. His band is supposed to audition for a talent show, but have yet to have a full fledged rehearsal. It will be interesting to see how this will turn out.
Me
I am going to be doing a locum job next month, once a week. Already did one session a couple of weeks ago, & I can honestly say that I do NOT miss work. I had that "been-there-done-that" feeling. At this point, it's hard for me to picture myself going back to full time clinical work. The passion is just not there. I have been considering the possibility of setting up my own business offering a consultancy service to interested parties to help them optimise their health-care needs. That way, I could use my knowledge & prior experience to do some good. Darn, I wish that med school had included a module on business studies.
Just found out that my Art teacher is moving to Jakarta. Aaahhhh! So sad! I really loved the art lessons. Now I will have to go look another class that is just as flexible & just as fun - I think it will be hard to find.
Am rather starved for good, non-depressing movies. We watched "Love Wrecked" starring Amanda Bynes last weekend, to our regret. I had hoped for a light-hearted romantic comedy, but ended up with a silly & rather juvenile storyline, with pretty bad acting. "The Devil Wears Prada" starts this week; with Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci & Anne Hathaway, I hope that this will be more enjoyable.
Am also hoping that some world-class acts will head this way. Had wanted to watch Westlife, but my 'kaki' had some prior engagements & couldn't make it - I didn't fancy going to a concert on my own as I expect that most of the audience will be comprised of teenyboppers. Robbie Williams - tickets are so expensive + he is performing at the National Stadium which has sucky acoustics & not a great place to hold rock concerts (I had attended 2 concerts there before, by Michael Jackson & David Bowie - not worth the money). I refuse to pay $300 for it. Am considering watching "tick, tick Boom!", a musical based on the life of Jonathan Larson (who produced Rent) - will need to check out reviews on this before deciding.
Whom do I wish was coming here to perform? James Blunt, Jason Mraz (again), Nickelback (surprise - I really like their music), Green Day (another surprise - they're good!), just to name a few. I wouldn't mind watching Supernova, no matter who wins the contest. I have grown to appreciate Tommy Lee's antics & rather manic expression on his face when he is playing his drums. At this point, my faves to win are Dilana & Ryan Star.
I found my old English Lit books from Sec 3 & 4 - an anthology of poems, & Animal Farm by George Orwell, among them. All my scribblings & notes on the edges & in between the lines are still there & legible (although my aging eyes are finding it a bit hard to read some of it!). What great memories I have of our English Literature lessons. It was one of my favorite subjects as it allowed me to pour my heart & soul out on paper when asked to analyse certain poems or certain areas of the books. I didn't realise it at the time, but I think this helped to balance out the rote-learning & regurgitation we had to do with the Science subjects.
6 comments:
Do your kids go to an American/international school?
And, you don't need a course in business to start one!
Yup, they go to the American school here. A. & I decided that the local education system wasn't going to allow our kids to explore/fulfill their potential, so gritted our teeth & transferred them...entails some sacrifice, but for the sake of our kids' development, something that we are willing to do. No regrets since!!!
About starting up a business, you're right. But if I had some know-how, it wouldn't seem so scary!!!
Who are your target 'customers' for your consultancy biz? Pte individuals or corporates?
As an individual... thot my GP should be able to advise me on how to 'optimize my health-care needs'? GP is supposed to be practising wholistic medical care, ya?
As corporate... i do need help/advice on how to structure/optimize my healthcare benefits with the same dollars. However, i also need to work within the constraints of what's available in mkt, demographics, competitive mkt practice, and global/corporate policies...
Corporate. Because I see that there is where potential for improvement lies.
As for individuals, there may be a need for patient advocates in complicated cases (not so much at GP level) - laymen may not be able to understand the workings of the health care system, don't know where to look for info about their medical conditions, complications, how to sieve through the endless info (and rubbish) one gets from the Internet.
Just my sentiment: I sort of resent the international schools - namely because of the way they are segregated from the local population.
If they would interact more, ie. just like ACSI has a different IP programme but still interacts very frequently with the other schools, I would resent them less.
Part of it stems ironically from having been in (and currently being in) the American education system before - it is sort of a third culture thing.
I agree that there could be greater interaction - I am not sure why there isn't. Not the fault of the students if the school admin doesn't do anything about it. There IS community service within Singapore with various organisations for the international students to take part in.
Having said that, when my kids were in a local school, I felt that there was some xenophobic sentiments among the local students. So apart from the education aspect, there was also this other factor which drove us to transfer them.
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