Phantom oh Phantom

So today was the day I brought my Form 2 girls to watch the teathre Phantom of the Opera staged by the one of the private schools here.

When we arrived they were already many students around the area, once seated I was shocked to see that it was actually a full house. When the curtain went up, I was blown away by the props, the costumes and the backdrops .... but that is all the good things I can say as the play was below my expectation.

The night before I can't believe I was actually excited to go and watch the show, as I was told it's going to be a musical with live performance, I pictured live singing throughout the performance, live music like we had for our musical with the orchestra and the choir group but I was wrong.

No doubt they sang but like what.....4 songs, yes of course they had music but it came in shapes that look like a keyboard and an organ, and as I was told they are using Andrew Lloyd Webber's I was surprised to hear music from Kitaro, the Nutcracker and one Italian song where the fat man usually sings.

I guess due to the success of our musical, I expected too much from this production mainly because the students came from a private school, they had more money, they had native speakers as their English teachers, the tickets for the day were sold out, only to be let down by their horrendous performance.

I was often told a play is to be dramatised and to showcase acting and this play was often distracted by the narrator that appeared throughout the whole play. It was such an anti-climax everytime he appears. The casts had poor pronunciation Christina Daae (pronounced as Da yay) became Christine Day, Madame Giry (pronounced as Jee Ree) sounded like ikan tenggiri, Raoul de Changny (pronounce as change yee) became Raoul de Chadni (sounded like the gravy used in thosai), all the correct pronunciation that I've been teaching the girls for all these years went down the drain in a mere 2 hours.

Not only that they did not pay much attention to detail. First, the Box 5 is known as the ghost box but the two Comte and Vicomte actually sat there when in actual fact they should be seated in Box 14, I guessed the crew had forgotten to change the number which is not acceptable because it is a consider a crucial part in the story. The doctor wore a tail coat instead of the usual lab coat worn by doctors, we had to wait for quite a while for each segment although the props were all ready and the sound of the bell to signal the spotlight I find it to be an annoying sound.

I felt like it was a waste of time, some students felt they were deceived and robbed of their RM10, I feel bad because I encouraged them to go, I was restless throughout the whole show which I find it to be rare because I'm such a sucker for romance, but I was lucky to have my good friends with me, as we had a good time chatting and laughing.

I was impressed by a few of the casts though as they sang well.

Is it me or was our musical way better than this one?

Sigh!

*cough*I miss our school musical drama*cough*.

To whom it may concern

Sometimes life is unfair and not worth living,
Sometimes things just don't go our way,
Sometimes people fail to understand how we feel,
Sometimes things just don't work the way we want it to be.

But please don't go around with that sour face of yours and please don't go bark at people who know nut what you're suffering from. Trust me, everyone has problems and some more serious and major than yours and you are not alone ok, we are willing to help you, sometimes dear, talking about it will help to release the burden and pain so talk to us, don't let your emotion controls your behaviour.

You don't have to be rude to justify your feeling, we ask because we care and your attitude towards our question can be hurtful. We wanna help because we are worried of you, so please control you anger and stop making that 'you don't wanna mess with me' kind of look. Some of us had had it with that kind of attitude from you, but I will not stop asking until I know you're ok.

Just because I care.

Nabil

Last night while I was attending to Khairina with her homework, my son Nabil approached,

Nabil : Ibu, let's play a game
Me : Not now, later perhaps.

Nabil : It's a very easy game Ibu, you don't really have to think. All you have to do is to follow what I say.
Me : Follow je.

Nabil : Ah ah follow je, that easy.
Me : Ok. I follow. Shoot!

Nabil : Ok Abil akan cakap 'lock', Ibu kena cakap 'key'. Ok?
Me : Ok.

Nabil : I'm Pad lock.
Me : I'm Pad key? Mana ada padkey?

Nabil : Ala Ibu ni, ikut ajelah.
Me : Ok, ok.

Nabil : I'm Gold lock.
Me : I'm Gold key?

Nabil : I'm Door lock.
Me : I'm Door key?

Nabil : I'm Man lock.
Me : I'm Man key?

Nabil : Wakaka kaka ka ka. Ibu monkey.
Ibu : ?????? (Grrr...kurang asem betul) ahak ahak.

Today was fun

Well today was the performance for the Toyota Eco Youth, the orchestra members gathered in the hall as early as 7.30 am, setting up the platforms, chairs, music stands and the instruments. The sound system people were punctual, they arrived 7.45 on the dot, mike 'ing', plug in and what not. Encik Radzali our music instructor was on time too, we did the sound check, practiced with the choir group and our principal looked contented.

I ordered 10 boxes of pizza, we ate our lunch in the school canteen, it was fun. The girls got ready at around 1.30 pm, we performed at around 3.00 pm and as usual they were excellent. I'm so proud of them and the thought that this may be the last performance for the Form fives saddened me as they have been in the orchestra throughout their school lives and we have established some special bonds together, seeing them grow right in front of my eyes from small, whining immature girls to tall, sweet, mature ladies made me feel that I'll miss them once they leave school.

Anyway, while waiting for tea, some of the orchestra members and the choir girls sat with me at the gazebo beside the hall and this was where the fun starts. I discovered many unusual and funny things about my students for example how one of my form fives actually has this major crush on our music instructor, I somehow could sense it years ago but had brushed it away, but today just confirmed everything and looking at her blushing when we were talking about him was funny. And the fact that she was not the only one and they were other girls too who have major crush on him made it even funnier. Just for the record, my music instructor is not unfortunate looking and he has some good husband materials and the fact that he's passionate in his music especially when he's conducting makes him look really awesome, i tell you.

So being in a all girls school, where we are deprived from having many of these species in our school, I somehow could understand their feeling, the fact they went gugu gaga over him and other male trainee teachers was hilarious. What I'm amazed was the fact they disguise their feelings, looking uninterested when these people were talking to them, how they rolled their eyes when these guys gave lame jokes but when in actual fact, they were intoxicated with their behaviour. Funny!

The whole event ended at 5.30 pm, I was tired but I couldn't stop smiling, these girls just made my day.

How time flies!!!

Can you believe it is Thursday already? What had happened to the days before this? Time flies so fast when you least pay attention. Again this week was a busy week, preparing RFP for cluster and the orchestra practises on Monday, Friday and saturday for the performance this coming monday, is taking it's toll on this body of mine.

Talking about time, i find my baby hilman to be growing too fast. What happened to that chubby baby who used to crawl and loved to be carried? Now he's busy kicking ball with the brother and playing 'London Bridge is falling down' with the sisters giggling away. Besides playing with the siblings, he loves to imitate us praying, everytime when we lay out the prayer mats he'll be the first one to pray and do the sujud. Let the video below show you what I mean. Sometimes, our prayer is distracted with his doing that made us stop and laugh

Frustration

I was so frustrated today with one of my English classes students. It is frustrating when the students do not take things seriously. Such an ample time was given for them to prepare something that they have learnt, watch and study. But they came out with such crap. I didn't bother to stay on because I just couldn't comprehend what they were trying to do.

They do not feel the importance of learning at all and that's what makes me feel sad. They only just want to be playful and doing fun things. I'd told them too many times that this oral marks will be carried forward until they are in Form 3 and the result of this oral will appear in the PMR slip. But did they care? NO!!!

I want to help them by given them ample time to practise, so they can get good marks for their oral, furthermore the 2 weeks that I couldn't make it to class i've told them to practise their oral, but did they heed my advice and take it seriously? NO!!!!

They just love wasting time and doing nonsense, making noise in the classroom and when the real day comes, they come up with such lame excuses, nobody wanted to stay back because they have tuitions, no transport etc etc. It is so frustrating because they did not put the time when I wasn't around into good use.

I do not have all the time in the world, I have sylabus to finish, books to mark and other classes to teach and I have a life too. You cannot just expect me to give in by expecting me to stay back just to watch the play which I know not worth my time.
I have the power to let them fail their oral, but would I want to do that? NO!!!! But I'm done nagging and talking, if you want good marks for your oral you know what you are supposed to do. I'm just so fed-up and mad with this kind of behaviour as this is not the first time it's happening and I'm beginning to sound like an old record saying the same thing over and over again.

So please have respect for others.

Come and show your school spirit!

I love going to Cheer competition. The excitement, the vibrant colours, the adrenalin rush when they execute the stunts never fail to impress me. Every year I drag my whole family to watch and to support my school team, the glamour 'D'starz', lucky me all my girls love watching cheer and so does my hubby as this his chance staring at sweet, young girls with short, skimpy outfit without getting the glare or awful remarks (ahak ahak).

So today we all came clad in orange t'shirt and I got everybody to wear orange. My hubby was a real sport as he wore orange t'shirt too. Remind me why I married him in the first place. I shouted at the top of my lungs when my team perform, although there were some minor glitches but overall they did a fantastic job.

Sadly today, not many came, so they did not get much cheer from the crowd. The purpose of me writing the blog today is to call out to all Sri Amanian out there, to get ready to get out, wear your orange shirt and come and support your school team 'D'starz' tomorrow. Bring the fans, banners, placards and don't forget to shout as loud as you can for 'D'starz' tomorrow.

See you there!(NOT!)

p/s - I was there today, so I did my part. (ahak! ahak!)