Tuition Series (Part 5) - JayWalk

Well, we have come to the end of the Tuition Mini Series where we had Karen, Clara, Philip and Mickey-D so far. What better way to top it off with yours truly as a tuition kid myself.

I remembered doing exceptionally well in school that I was posted, the year after, to Sec 3B where I was to do Triple Science and Double Maths for O-Levels. Suddenly, I was thrown into a class with all the scholar-calibre people. Wah raoz.... confirm sure die damn ugly one.

Imagine the students in the class as a group of Gladiators ready to do battle in the arena. Imagine all of them fully equipped with RPG rockets, bazookas, Uzis, Berettas, light sabres(!) and fully protected with exo-armour.

Now imagine me with just a paper hat and a can opener(!).

Yup, that's right. That was how I felt when standing side-by-side with these smart classmates fighting the lions in the Colosseum. Of which, one of them went on to become President's Scholar of my batch. Can opener and paper hat indeed!

I started the year in the worst possible way, I flunked Physics and A-Math on my first semester. My first ever red in my report book. I was totally devastated. I couldn't keep up with the pace of work in that class. That was when I decided that I need help and hence hired a tutor.

Andy came aboard when he was still in NS but clearing his ROD leave (ORD for the younger readers) and getting ready to start his NTI freshman year. He was a tall and lanky guy with a grip so tight that I will talk about it later. You could tell what 2½ years of NS has done to him. His manners and speech all reeks of army.

Andy: So the answer to this problem will be 36.25, WRONG! 36.23 m/s.

I almost jumped out of my chair when he did the "WRONG!" for the first time, which I later realised that was how you are supposed to talk in the army when communicating over the radio.

Even his method of teaching also quite robotic machiam army style, which in a strange way turned out to be quite effective and I was quick to grasp the topics.

Essentially he was a no-nonsense kinda guy and I made the mistake of being a smart-ass ala Eric Foreman in That 70s Show. Just as quick to my wit as was his hand around the back of my neck and the grip was so strong that I was gripped into submission in 2.2 seconds flat. I became the model, "super-cooperative" student ever since.

Then came the interesting part. He devised this little game during tuition. He would look up a challenging problem from the books and gave it a once-through to assess it.

Andy: Hmm... this problem looks like it is worth 2 minutes. Go!

The word "Go!" and a mad scramble for the pen and paper ensued, followed by mad scribbling while he counted down his black Casio digital watch which was the staple fashion of the army world.

So what do I get for beating the clock? Nothing.

So what do I get if I can't beat the clock? 20 push-ups!

Andy: This problem is worth 2½ minutes. Go!

* 2 minutes later *

Me: Done! QED! Hah hah! I beat the clock!

Andy: Go knock it down 20.

Me: Why?

Andy: Your answer wrong.

Me: *Groan!*

It was tough in the beginning as I could end up as many as 300 push-ups each tuition session. However, it suited me perfectly as I was really into the fitness craze back then and I really find it a very interesting challenge.

Soon, I was getting the hang of things and was starting to do well. It fact, Andy was the one who introduced to me the studying of the so-called "short cuts" instead of "bulldozing" which obviously wasn't getting me anywhere. Then came the December holidays and we decided to work through it. The end result was that I completed the 10-year series for both physics and A-maths. Yes, I was ready to take the O-Levels for these two subjects even before I was to start Sec 4.

And so that kinda explain why I was the "expert" during the MacDonald's tuition sessions.

I literally breezed through the exams later that year, especially when it come to Physics, E-math and A-math. Just to give you an idea, I finished both Paper I and Paper IV of the A-math in under an hour each as I raised my hand to signal to the invigilator (Does Atomic Leow ring a bell?) of my intention to leave the exam hall, they thought I had given up on the paper. Hah!

Like my friend Loong (MeePok's classmate) said, "KNN, si beh Cheng!" or Wing (also MeePok's classmate) said, "Nah beh, si beh ya ya papaya." Heh heh. Yes. I was quite the arrogant bastard in my younger days. Now no more already lah. Old man liao. Haiz... :(

Anyway, I did wanted to try the same push-up game with Philip but alas the lazy ass was too idle to even bat an eyelid to the suggestion. KNS!

- Voxeros

1. Sheena left...

Friday, 15 July 2005 1:40 am

This army chap Andy sounds damn sexy to me. *drools*
And yah TPP, I told you already, you're arrogant. ;p

2. JayWalk left...

Friday, 15 July 2005 6:54 am :: 

Sheena: Yeah, you would have wet your pants on the spot. Too bad, he's about 40 now.
As for being arrogant. Last time lah! Last time!

3. lancerlord left...

Friday, 15 July 2005 8:24 am :: http://lancerlord.blogspot.com

Back then, if someone told me to "knock it down", I will look at him with a gong-gong look. Don't know what it means.

4. zeenie left...

Friday, 15 July 2005 8:34 am

Thanks for that series, it was most enjoyable reading! Stirred up memories of tuition days of a long time ago.....

5. JayWalk left...

Friday, 15 July 2005 8:43 am :: 

lancerlord: Back then we called it many names. e.g. Drop, knocking it down and pumping. Funny, nobody call it push-ups.

zeenie: Hey. Glad that you enjoyed it. Now it's back to scratching my head to figure out what next to write. Any ideas?

6. jaschocolate left...

Friday, 15 July 2005 9:48 am

Haha.. very funny.. so this is the way to study to score ah.. wahaha..

7. JayWalk left...

Friday, 15 July 2005 9:59 am ::

jaschocolate: What I also learned from all this is that each of us has got a different thing that motivates us to achieve our fullest potential.

Therefore, be it giving tuition or even leading your team at work, it is imperative to figure out what motivates this particular team member. Next thing to do is to keep pushing the button until the button spoil. Then and only then do you get the 110%.

8. hitomi left...

Friday, 15 July 2005 12:27 pm

Atomic Leow sure sounds familiar. Now, where have I encountered him before? Think his siblings all have scientific names.

9. JayWalk left...

Friday, 15 July 2005 12:39 pm :: 

hitomi: I believe he has a brother named Nuclear.
If I remembered correctly, he was a teacher in SAJC before he moved to NYPoly to specialise in Hydroponics Agriculture.

Not sure though.

10. ei|een left...

Friday, 15 July 2005 1:19 pm

wah lau. i think if anyone ask me to do push ups as punishment, i will faint halfway, even before i finish 5.

damn unfit. jialat. heh.

11. JayWalk left...

Friday, 15 July 2005 1:29 pm ::

ei|een: I am beginning to see some similarities between Philip and you. Both cannot do push-ups. Both also do carving before.

Makes me wonder...... hmmm....

12. Zhe Bin left...

Friday, 15 July 2005 1:42 pm

1 word - RESPECT! you even finished the TYS before the start of sec 4. that's so not paper hat and can opener material.

13. JayWalk left...

Friday, 15 July 2005 1:52 pm :: 

Zhe Bin: As the old Chinese saying goes, "The panicked dog jumps over the wall".

I was driven by fear of being left behind by the rest of the class. It was a stressful time then. Glad it turned out ok at the end though.

I finished in the top 100 out of 520+ in my year but I was 37th out of 42 in my class.

Definitely paper hat and can opener.

My schoolmate MeePok. Now he is the one with the exo-armour, berettas and bazookas.

14. Ed, Edd & Eddy left...

Friday, 15 July 2005 2:17 pm

Wa lau! Damn innovative loh. If you tell any kids now to go knock it down 20, their parents will come knock your head!

15. JayWalk left...

Friday, 15 July 2005 2:24 pm ::

Ed, Edd, & Eddy: Won't lah. Andy did ask beforehand if I was game for it and I said yes.
Not that it was forced upon me or anything. Perhaps it was the gambling instinct in me to take up the bet in the currency of push-ups.

And I was the sucker to get egged into one wager after another after another after another. ~LOL

16. hitomi left...

Friday, 15 July 2005 6:47 pm

Yeah, think you're right about "Nuclear" and the school. I was from SAJC, but not in the Science Faculty. Unique name sure makes one famous for years...

17. JayWalk left...

Friday, 15 July 2005 9:20 pm ::

hitomi: Hmm... if you know Atomic Leow when he was in SAJC, then you probably are from my "generation" one har?

Yes? No?

18. akk left...

Friday, 15 July 2005 10:31 pm

wah lau! u told me u post around 12.30am...wait wait wait...nothing! hehehe ...but damn funny all the same. if my teacher tell me to knock it 20, i'd fire him, hahahhaha....:)

19. pinafore left...

Friday, 15 July 2005 11:43 pm

That caricature looks a lot like you. Did you get someone to draw that? Yes, I can definitely sense your arrogance!

20. vandice left...

Saturday, 16 July 2005 12:34 am

Aiyah. Bloglines cannot read your feed I thought you never update. Missed all the juicy stories till now. Wah, you got lots of tuition exp. leh. Only time I had some was 2 yrs in primary sch. when CC offered math tuition at $2 (or was it 5) per session.

So you oso finished TYS b4 sec 4 ah? Same here. Keke. And yupz, after climbing tt mountain one sure can do papers in 1+ hour.

21. lancerlord left...

Saturday, 16 July 2005 1:36 am :: http://lancerlord.blogspot.com

During those days, you tell me push-up. I also gong-gong don't know what it means. I very suku those days one. :)

22. JayWalk left...

Saturday, 16 July 2005 4:28 am ::

akk: Hmm... maybe the clock at Blog-city a bit off. But I told you can sneak peek right?

But like I said lah, the push-ups thing was 你请我愿one lah..

pinafore: The caricature not me lah. My hair were got so Que Que one? Besides, one arm push-up leh... saya buay sai. Pai seh.

Actually the truth to be told, the reason why I rush through the papers was because I get tennis court bookings!

Ahhh... when you were young, the sense of priority was a bit "orbit" one.

vandice: It was the momentum. Once you get started, it became easy to maintain.

Besides, can opener leh... have to work harder than the rest.
 
lancerlord: Wah... then like that your NS must be very jialat siah.....no?

23. a crunchy green apple left...

Saturday, 16 July 2005 12:23 pm :: http://www.greenappledelight.blogspot.co

Hey jay i just saw your comment in my old entry haha, no lah i'm no SPUGGER..i just went there to read about the nkf saga. Oh you were previously from acjc too? Must have been quite some time! During Mr Lenn days huh? Heehee. :)

24. a crunchy green apple left...

Saturday, 16 July 2005 12:36 pm :: http://www.greenappledelight.blogspot.co

Ok i just reg at spug already. Haha! But some of you spuggers are really funny. ;)

25. JayWalk left...

Saturday, 16 July 2005 1:05 pm :: 

green crunchy apple: Mr Lenn was the Vice Principal during my day. Mr Wan was the Boss man. That's where "Wan Way" came about. It was named after him when he retired.

Anyway, welcome to Spug. Look out for me under the nick Voxeros. I was like the 12th person to register @ Spug when it first started. Old man liao lor, I tell you.

26. a crunchy green apple left...

Saturday, 16 July 2005 2:55 pm :: http://www.greenappledelight.blogspot.co

Oh ok! I just went into one of the threads and erm they're quite friendly. Haha! ;) My nick is green apple. See you jay! :)

27. JayWalk left...

Saturday, 16 July 2005 2:59 pm ::

Crunchy Green Apple: Have fun in Spug. Watch out for the buayas!

28. hitomi left...

Sunday, 17 July 2005 7:02 pm

Ya lor, we're from the same "era" one... haha...

29. JayWalk left...

Sunday, 17 July 2005 8:29 pm :: 

hitomi: May be same "era" but I am dead sure that you are younger. I am probably in the top 0.5 percentile in age among the bloggers.... sigh....

Sekali, I actually know you in real life. You won't happen to be Lai May, would you?

30. Mee Pok left...

Sunday, 17 July 2005 11:34 pm

Jay - I was not armed with heavy weapons. Einstein is the one with the 84. I only have a (short) water pistol in my trouser pocket. Also explains why my pants are sometimes wet in class.

31. JayWalk left...

Monday, 18 July 2005 6:59 am :: 

MeePok: I thought wet pants was just you happy to see Ms Kim?

32. hitomi left...

Monday, 18 July 2005 10:43 am

Me not a young (in terms of age) blogger either. Nope, I'm not Lai May. Don't think we know each other since I did Commerce in SAJC and you did Science in ACJC (?).

33. Meepok left...

Monday, 18 July 2005 11:20 am

hitomi - wah ... SAJC. Gd college leh. The skirt can pull until damn short (unlike AC skirts). Used to visit SA during your sports days. A feast for my eyes. This also explains now, 16 years later, my eyesight is worse than most other old fogeys.

34. JayWalk left...

Monday, 18 July 2005 11:38 am :: 

hitomi: Ahh... glad to know that you are not Lai May and you dunno Lai May or your next comment post would be one of death threat. :P

My dear, it is not an issue of you in Commerce SAJC and I in Science ACJC. It is an issue of you, a girl and I, a guy. 'Nuff said.

MeePok: I second the skirt observation. I remembered seeing this SAJC girl riding a scrambler (short-skirt-school-uniform-biker-chick!). I almost wanted to throw myself onto the road in front of her, just so I can stop her to say Hi.

35. hitomi left...

Monday, 18 July 2005 12:14 pm

Jay: What did you do to Lai May?? Was she from St Margaret's - Sherry Lee Mei?

MeePok: Is it? I prefer the ACJC uniform, at least the girls don't have to put on a tie and a belt. The skirt can pull until damn short meh, how come I don't know? Some of the girls made their skirts real tight and short. Don't know how they managed to get into our "challenging-skirts-unfriendly" canteen seats. No wonder your eyesight's still terrible...

36. JayWalk left...

Monday, 18 July 2005 12:29 pm :: 

hitomi: What did I do? er... nothing? *act blur* dum dee dum dee dum.....

Anyway, she was not from St Margaret. Were you?

Where year were you from, if you don't mind me asking?

37. hitomi left...

Monday, 18 July 2005 2:15 pm

Not la4 shou3 cui1 hua1, I hope? haha...

Nope, I was from another girls' school, with blouse + pinafore as our uniform.

I was in SAJC in 1990 and 1991. Sekali I'm older than you. Which year were you from?

38. JayWalk left...

Wednesday, 20 July 2005 1:33 pm :: 

hitomi: 辣手摧花? Wah. you see me too up lah.... That would be another friend, S.Ping. He is the genuine "virgin killer". Another story, another time.

Hmm... "another" girls' school with blouse + pinafore i.e. Not CHIJ..

RGS? SAC?

Saya ACJC 1988-89.

39. hitomi left...

Wednesday, 20 July 2005 3:43 pm

Wah, must really tell us about S.Ping. *hands rubbing with glee*

Yep, me from RGS.

I only realised you're 34 after I hit the "send" button. If you went NTU then maybe I could've seen you before.

40. JayWalk left...

Wednesday, 20 July 2005 4:12 pm ::

hitomi: Eh? You from NTU too? Biz or Acc or Eng?
Goto Tennis : Past vs Present
See if anyone looked familar in the photos?

41. hitomi left...

Wednesday, 20 July 2005 5:54 pm

Biz. You from Eng? MPE?

Nope, nobody familiar leh. Different Hall mah and I didn't play any sports.

Maybe I'll find YOU familiar. Haha...

42. JayWalk left...

Wednesday, 20 July 2005 7:11 pm ::

hitomi: Surprise, surprise. I am from Biz.

I have a gut feeling you know who I am, if I were to reveal my identity. Perhaps we should take this offline?

Clue #1: I was in the Acc&Biz Club main committee.

Clue #2: I probably had a very bad rep. So I was told by Pam.

43. hitomi left...

Wednesday, 20 July 2005 7:26 pm

!!! Wah, ABC some more. Sure, you can drop me a note at my email. Who's Pam? From NTU too?

44. JayWalk left...

Wednesday, 20 July 2005 7:36 pm ::

hitomi: That was heck of a fast response!!

IM me if you are game. I can be found at voxeros<at>hotmail.com (MSN) or voxeros (Yahoo).

As for Pam, let me go grab her over her to explain the whole situation.

Here's very memorable quote from her friend warning her about me.

"What JayWalk wants, JayWalk gets."

Lies! Lies! All Lies!!!

45. hitomi left...

Wednesday, 20 July 2005 7:41 pm

You're fast too.
Huh? I thought I entered my email address at the optional email box? I'll drop you a mail then.

As for the allegation, there's no smoke without fire. Hehe...

46. JayWalk left...

Wednesday, 20 July 2005 7:51 pm :: 

hitomi: My bad. My bad. I didn't see the email address. Silly me. :P

Really lah. No fire lah.. The smoke from dry ice one.

Help! Pam! Help!

p.s. Pam is a dear friend from NUS but she comes over to NTU to study with us.

47. Pam left...

Wednesday, 20 July 2005 8:58 pm

you want me to help you????? heheheeeeeeeeee... this is going to be real good....:)

48. JayWalk left...

Wednesday, 20 July 2005 9:04 pm :: 

Pam: Uh-oh... why do I NOT like the sound of that laughter?
siao liao. -_-"

49. hitomi left...

Wednesday, 20 July 2005 10:39 pm

Pam: Yes, please!! :)

50. JayWalk left...

Wednesday, 20 July 2005 11:15 pm ::

siao liao! siao liao!
Looks like I just opened a Pam-dora Box.

51. hitomi left...

Thursday, 21 July 2005 12:22 pm

haha!! Qing1 zhe3 zi4 qing1 lah.

52. Pam left...

Thursday, 21 July 2005 4:39 pm

er...hitomi - what does that chinese 4 letter word mean!! my cheng yu is legendary... v limited. :)

53. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 21 July 2005 9:14 pm :: 

hitomi: 清者自清 indeed! Wah. You ch1na also quite the heow heow siah....

Pam: It means that he without guilt will have the ability to exonerate himself.

54. hitomi left...

Friday, 22 July 2005 10:59 am

Thanks, Jay, for helping with the chinese characters here. I don't have the chinese software thingy. My ch1na so so only lah, not so 100% effectively bilingual like somebody... hehe...

Pam: Would love to hear the stories from ya. ;)

55. JayWalk left...

Friday, 22 July 2005 11:37 am :: 

hitomi: You don't need special software to generate the chinese characters unless you are using the older Windows like Win95, Win98, WinME or (gasp!) Win3.11.

If you are using Windows 2000 or XP, you have it already. Just need to going to your control panel to fish it out. I can help you with it, if you so desire to have that feature.

56. hitomi left...

Friday, 22 July 2005 2:28 pm

Yeah, definitely need your help in fishing out the setting to allow me to input the chinese language. I'm using Windows 2000.
Thanks in advance!

57. JayWalk left...

Friday, 22 July 2005 2:51 pm ::

hitomi: Windows 2000? Easy lah. Get online and I will guide you via Yahoo.

58. hitomi left...

Friday, 22 July 2005 3:56 pm

Hoh say! Will pop you message later.

59. JayWalk left...

Friday, 22 July 2005 5:20 pm :: 

hitomi: Will do. Chat you later.

Tuition Series (Part 4) - McDonalds @ YMCA

Ahh... Mickey D at YMCA, my regular hang out after school everyday of my Sec 4 year. Before I am being mistaken as one of those FarEast Kid or Centerpoint Kid or whatever they call them back then, I was there to study, OK! Mai siao siao hor!

Yes, you heard me. I was there to study and to give tuition and er... ok lah... I was also there to meet chicks lah. You happy now? :P

There was this bunch of us who are from different schools and we have this idea to meet everyday after school as part of our preparation for our O-Levels. We have people from MGS, SCGS, RGS, CHIJ, SJI and ourselves just to name a few. There were a few other schools that come and go but we were more or less the "Permanent Members". On top of the usual revision of our work together, we also have this exchange of each other's test/exam papers to have a bit "more practice". It was a good idea in the sense that whenever we get stuck with one of the paper's problem, we would always have the person from where the paper originated to provide the solution, since his/her teacher would have gone through it before hand.

I must say that papers from RGS and RI were generally more difficult and often even more challenging than the O -Levels 10-year series. Some would say that they were beyond the syllabus but I think it was a good idea to be constantly challenged. Come exam time, the actual paper would be a breeze. Wouldn't it?

I also recall doing a pre-lim paper from a certain Secondary School in the Springleaf area, I was shocked that the questions were so easy. So easy that one would have mistaken it for a Sec 2 exam paper, instead of one that is supposedly the Prelim paper for O-Level. At first, I asked myself if the actual O-Level was supposed to be that simple but a check with the 10-year series proved otherwise. With no disrespect to the school, it got me thinking that the students, of this school in question, would all drown at the O-Level exam if the proverbial baby-pool was as far as they had ever ventured.

Coming back Mickey-D, we also came up with the "subject station" idea, where each one of us, who would be the tutor for the day, would take up a table specialising in one particular subject. So whoever needed help in say, Chemistry , would go to the tutor who would be in charge of the "Chemistry station". My strengths were in A-Maths Physics and Biology and so I often find myself manning the "stations" of these 3 subjects and myself as a student seeking help in Chemistry. (and besides, the "Chem Princess" was from SCGS and really really chio... know also must pretend dunno. ~LOL )

To me, it was a excellent idea as we are all very motivated to excel even though they were for all the wrong reasons. We just didn't want to lao kwee in front of the girls and vice versa for the girls who would fight to be the "station mistress" and thus have the opportunity to be surrounded by guys at her table.

To everything, there were the pros and cons and while the advantage was that we were kept off the streets and our time was devoted to studying, we were also very distracted by the opposite sex at times. Still, I think on the overall, the pros outweigh the cons.

Well, I am happy to report that all of us did exceptionally well for our exams and we all got into our respective first choice of Junior College. We didn't keep in touch after that even when some of us ended up in the same JC. We got together from our separate origins and we knew it was time we leave on our separate paths. Come preparing for the A-Levels, nobody did the Mickey-D thing again and I found myself in the school's library spending 9 months to prepare for my exams.

Why so far ahead in time to prepare? Well, the truth to be told, I set up my own "AO/C-Math station" in the library giving tuition to a group of girls from the Arts/Commerce (and one from Science) faculty.

I guess old habits die hard! ~LOL

- Voxeros

1. akk left...

Thursday, 14 July 2005 12:43 pm

hehehe...i can see that among all the permanent members, got more girls' schools....

2. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 14 July 2005 12:46 pm :: 

akk: Gee... I wonder why?.... ~LOL

3. a crunchy green apple left...

Thursday, 14 July 2005 1:39 pm :: http://greenappledelight.blogspot.com/

Hahaha, hey you brought back fond memories of studying for the Os and (urgh) As.

Unfortunately i didn't have as much fun as you studying with students from other schools. Still have stations somemore. Formidable!

Oh about being cheated by the tuition agency - after teaching this pri sch kid for a mth (and jus gotten my pathetic half-mth pay), i was told by the tuition agency that the Mother of the child wanted to terminate due to financial probs yada yada. I just took it as it is and i didn't bother to call up the parents. Then i rem that very week, her Mum was telling me how happy the kid was with me (she really was ok!haha) and how she wanted me to give her more maths hw blah blah.. It just didn't make sense.

Like someone who's very happy the day before went to commit suicide the nxt day? Ok bad example. Anyway i'm sure the agency used the same tactic to get its commission..
OH MY GOSH this is becoming a blog entry. See you jay! :)

4. ei|een left...

Thursday, 14 July 2005 3:35 pm

hmm. interesting "study tactics". haha.
anyway, i'm surprised that all of you all managed to get together. from what i know, most of the girls schools have "issues" with each other. heh.

5. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 14 July 2005 3:55 pm :: 

Crunchy Green Apple: I must admit the Stations are a novel idea. Must constantly choot pattern mah... or else how to keep the ladies coming back for more?

Ahh... finally you leave your URL... must go over kaypoh kaypoh liao... ~LOL

ei|een: The girls all ok one lah... especially when we are *cough* there to *cough cough* "keep" all the ladies *cough* "happy".

6. Jaschocolate left...

Friday, 15 July 2005 12:47 am

Hmmphz.. dirty old man liao.. but i cannot complain about sugar daddy... Sighz..

7. JayWalk left...

Friday, 15 July 2005 6:51 am :: http://voxeros.blog-city.com

jaschocolate: DOM, your head lah! Wah liao... say me until like that. I was doing it in good faith OK? *sulk*

Down you go in the pecking order for the sugar daughter list. Down!

8. jaschocolate left...

Friday, 15 July 2005 9:46 am

sob sob.. you bully sweet young thing (ME!!).. sob sob

9. JayWalk left...

Friday, 15 July 2005 9:49 am :: 

jaschocolate: Where got bully? Oh alright... you win. *pat pat*. Better? sigh....

10. jaschocolate left...

Friday, 15 July 2005 10:24 pm

YEA!! happy... hee

11. vandice left...

Saturday, 16 July 2005 12:29 am

Study station siah. Library some more. Cannot talk loudly so must whisper. Therefore must sit closer. Also can use 'eyes' to 'communicate' siboh? Steady la Jay. Champion tactic.

12. JayWalk left...

Saturday, 16 July 2005 4:20 am :: http://voxeros.blog-city.com

jaschocolate: ~LOL. Btw, I noticed you know Rouk? He's my junior in NS. Small world huh?


Vandice: Not to forget we also use our legs to tap each other under the table too. ~LOL

13. jaschocolate left...

Sunday, 17 July 2005 12:26 pm

Actually i know Ruok through the small world of blogging.. wahaha.. only met him once.

Tuition Series (Part 3) - Philip

Philip was the son of my part-time housekeeper. He flunked his N-level and "Aunty" decided to ask me for help. Given my going rate, she would have ended up having to pay me to work for me but alas, the soft spot in me decided to take Philip pro-bono. After all, Aunty had been very good to me treating me like her own son all those years. So in a way, Philip was a kid brother to me. How to take money from them?

Philip hailed from a modest government school and a pretty good-looking Beng if I may add. So naturally, my gut instinct told me that he probably spent too much time chasing girls than actually sitting down to hit the books. Philip was a good kid at heart though I must say that he was pretty messed up in the head at times.

Tuition was at my place on Sunday mornings since I would be home from the hostel (read: need laundry) and besides, Aunty was coming to work on Sunday mornings anyway. I remembered our first session when I had a get-to-know-you session, in order to figure out the size of the task ahead of me. That was when he showed me his left inner forearm. It was full of scars and the scars read, "S H A R O N". The silly boy carved up his own arm with a penknife to spell a girl's name that she was chasing. Aiyoh! How she reacted to that gesture, I would never know. Kids these days! Really!

Teaching him was easy as his school syllabus was very much simplified given that it was N-Level. As per my two other tuition kids, Karen and Clara, I taught him also to learn about concepts and ideas rather than trying to bulldoze through the textbooks.

I remembered preparing him for his first math test since I came aboard. It was a test on vectors and we spent the entire week preparing for it.

Me: Harlow. Siang kar pay-geer?

Philip: Tai kor, guess how my result for the Math test?

Me: You pass lah. Tio bor?

Philip: Of course pass lah. But guess my score leh.

Me: Total score is how many?

Philip: 7.

Me: 5?

Philip: Lim Peh tio long zong 7 leh!! But then tai kor, got porbem leh.

Me: What?

Philip: Teacher say I cheat leh. Can you talk to her or not har?

Me: ...

So a phone call to his school to a certain Ms Lim and all was well thereafter. Aunty made me curry chicken that following Sunday. YUM!!

Philip's grades started to pick up steadily and passed his N-Level that year and proceeded to try for O-Level the following year.

Then there is this one incident somewhere along the road, that I remembered him most by.

It was a Saturday night and I was out cheonging with my buds at Fire Disco. For the younger readers out there who have not heard of Fire, it was located in Orchard Plaza before it closed down a few years back. It was a 2-level setup with a mezzanine level in between. Ground floor is the main dance pool where you see all the Ah Bengs/Sengs/Lians/Huays congregate to strut their tetno moves. Go up the stairs to the mezzanine level that's where you have pub tables and chairs overlooking the main dance floor below. Further up was where the live band performed, with Douglas Oliverio leading his band Energy (who had since relocated to BarNone). That's our hang out.

As I got onto the stairs leading to the upper level, I saw this kid with papers, files, books, calculator sprawled all over the pub table, busy scribbling away.

Me: Wah lan eh, Philip! Lee chor si mi?

Philip: Tomolo morning got tuition mah. Homework haben finish.

Me: Do homework at Fire??!!??

Philip: Bor pian, peng yu jio come Fire, so I one time two bird kill by bringing homework here lor.

Me: ...

Like I said, this was one messed up kid, but his heart was at the right place.

At the end of it all, he got his 5 O-Level passes though not good enough to get into Poly. Last I heard from Aunty was that he decided to enroll in the Singapore Institute of Commerce (SIC) but that kinda fizzled out after a while too.

Aunty retired a few years later and I bumped into Philip once a few years back. He was working for an interior design contractor firm and had been doing ok all these years.

He crashed and burned with Sharon, by the way.

- Voxeros

1. jaschocolate left...

Wednesday, 13 July 2005 8:55 am

at least he turned out ok..

2. JayWalk left...

Wednesday, 13 July 2005 9:45 am :: 

jaschocolate: Yeah. Like I said, he was a good kid to begin with. Just messed up but good kid nonetheless.

3. Ed, Edd & Eddy left...

Wednesday, 13 July 2005 1:33 pm

Wow, doing homework at fire? That's something I like to see.

Your "Siang kar pay-geer" crack my up, reminds me of the good old days.

4. JayWalk left...

Wednesday, 13 July 2005 1:41 pm :: 

Ed, Edd & Eddy: Yah man.... Fire Lisco... I saw him there doing my homework, I si beh kum tong, lau bak sai siah....

5. ei|een left...

Wednesday, 13 July 2005 6:10 pm

HAHAHAHAHA! this post made me laugh damn loud. appeals to my inner (very hidden) ah lian. heh.

philip sounds like a really sweet kid. you did a great job on all you tuition kids :)

by the way. that carving of names thing. yeah, it was all the rage. what can i say? teen years. phase.

6. JayWalk left...

Wednesday, 13 July 2005 6:17 pm :: 

ei|een: Inner lian? Wah... I come back must jio you go cheong lisco lisco liao...
Carving was all the rage? You got carve before or not? Or got guy ever carve for you? Wow!

7. zhe bin left...

Wednesday, 13 July 2005 11:12 pm

haha this is the first time i'm here and i tell you i like all your posts!

8. pinafore left...

Thursday, 14 July 2005 2:40 am

Your siang kar pay geer very classic! Glad that Philip turned out alright.

9. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 14 July 2005 6:13 am :: 

zhe bin: Harlow! First time har? Give ang pow? hahahah....

pinafore: My "siang" got the Teochew slang slang one hokay? Mai siao siao hor...
Well, army daze was a time when anglo-Jay took a back seat and AhSeng-Jay took over.

10. akk left...

Thursday, 14 July 2005 12:41 pm

ur student very good, go clubbing and still got heart to study there. winner. :)

11. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 14 July 2005 12:45 pm :: 

akk: Yah lor... dunno whether to scold him or to kiss him. Haiz...

12. ei|een left...

Thursday, 14 July 2005 3:32 pm

hahaha! can, can! as long as got alcohol, i happy! haha.
as for the carving.. maybe i'll blog about it sometime. heh. :)

13. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 14 July 2005 3:57 pm ::

ei|een: ON you lah... wait till I get back.

As for the carving, you really got ah? Wah.... must blog hor... damn bladdy curious (read: kaypoh) now. hahahah

14. vandice left...

Saturday, 16 July 2005 12:38 am

I'm old enough to have been to Fire for tea dance. And I've seen ppl doing their hw there. But really, as a tutor you'll lao bak sai seeing your own student doing tt bcos of you. You must have gotten to him, inside. I had such a tough time when I was volunteering at the boys home. So much angst and rebelliousness.

15. JayWalk left...

Saturday, 16 July 2005 4:34 am :: 

vandice: Ahh... vandice, if you have been to Fire, then may I welcome you to my Old Folks' Blog. Tea Dance some more. Ahh the days of Rumours and Warehouse. ~LOL 

I guess I got lucky for half the battle was won when HE was the one who approached me through his mom and not the other way round. 

I know it's tough with the boys at Boys' Home. They will always treat you as an outsider and the tuition was forced upon them. They always have this "I-didn't-ask-for-this" attitude. 

It was often an uphill but losing battle. Still, you just do what you can and that's that.

Tuition Series (Part 2) - Clara

I took up this assignment when I was in NS and back then, the army pays pittance. It was Unit (as in Operational Unit e.g. Battalion, Brigade HQ or Division HQ) life after the initial BMT and it was almost like an office job with 9-to-5 hours and then nights out till 2359 on weekdays. I accepted the assignment as I desperately needed the extra cash to fuel my partying habit on weekends. I was hesitant initially when I learned that Clara lives in Sembawang (my camp was in Bukit Panjang). A consult with the bus guide revealed that I needed to take the bus in the direction of Woodlands, stop at the zoo (yes, I visit the zoo 4 times a week!), cut across through Mandai Road and then change bus at Nee Soon to get to Sembawang in the direction of Peirce Reservoir. Same route back to camp after tuition each night. Siong!

I guessed, I took the assignment partly also because my Godma lived in the same estate and it meant that I get to visit her pretty often (read: free dinner).

Clara was a Sec 2 student from a true-blue pinafore school and I was to teach her math and science. Her math was the bigger challenge as she was averaging about 60 marks on her tests. Instead of spending the first few sessions figuring out how far her school has gone into the semester's syllabus, we dove right into preparing her for her upcoming test in 2 weeks' time. According to her, she said that I was teaching her all the "shortcuts" when what I really did was to make her understand the subject concept which in turn gave her the much needed confidence. The confidence to realised that no matter how complicated the questions were worded, it all boiled down to asking for the same thing. Just apply the concept and the answer will always be correct.

On the afternoon of the Friday, two weeks later, she paged me (ahh... yes, the time before mobile phones).

Me: Harlow, siang kar pay-geer?

Clara: I got my test results today! Guess how much I scored?

Me: Out of how many marks?

Clara: 50.

Me: Er... 40?

Clara: Nope.

Me: 35?

Clara: Nope. I scored 50!

Me: Zhun Bor?!

I expected an improvement after 2 weeks of coaching but I certainly didn't expect her to shoot right to the top on her first try. Hmm... looks like I've got myself another smart kid.

I vividly remembered the following Tuesday when I stepped into her home. There were a whole congregation of people in the house with kids and all. For a moment, I thought I just stepped into a surprised party. Apparently, the word of Clara's perfect score got around the whole family tree and all the uncles and aunties showed up to see who this miracle worker was and wishfully hoped that I would agree to take an additional one of their sons/daughters under my wing.

Alas, no. I turned them all down as I am not ready to be bogged down by a sackful of commitments and besides, I really don't need THAT much money to party.

Overall, she did well for her Sec 2 and finished the year with an 80+ average. She was rewarded with a place in the triple-science stream and I was to carry on teaching her, expanding the subjects to the 3 sciences and 2 maths which translated to a significant pay raise.

Then something didn't seemed quite right when the December holidays started. There were some strange vibes, pulsing from her direction. Holy cow, it was a teenage crush heading my way! You could tell by how she lit up when you showed up at her door each tuition session. By how she does everything you told her to. By how she finished every bit of homework you had assigned. It appeared to be all good but there was just that overwhelming vibe that totally smothered your senses to pieces. That look in her eyes tells me that something was scheming in the back of her mind. *shudder* Each tuition session started to become a test of my nerves of steel.

Then came that Saturday afternoon before Christmas when she called to meet me at Raffles City. We were to exchange Christmas gifts for we took a break from tuition for 2 weeks. We met, we exchanged and we decided that I should send her home as it was getting near to dinner time. As we were walking, she held my wrist...

WAH LAN EH?? CHOR SI MI??! OMG!! She was going to do the old hold-wrist-then-innocently-slide-down-to-hold-hands-interlocking-fingers trick. BUAY SAI LAH.... 14 years old only!! How can???!! Rotan leh!!

Subtly, I switched her gift to the hand-in-distress and thereby thwarted any chance of letting her successfully do the hand-slide-and-capture. She was pretty persistent as she sneakily switched over to my other side and tried again. It was a cat-and-mouse game of the hands as I passed her gift from left hand to right to left and back repeatedly.

I guess by the time, I dropped her off at her home, she got the hint and that was that. Phew!

Then, it was Sec 3 and she became cocky and overconfident as far as her schoolwork is concerned, thinking that she has a tuition talisman at home to keep her invincible. Add that to the distraction of boys and her grades started to slip. She got lazy. Homework was no longer completed when I returned. So the time during tuition were spent doing last session's homework instead of teaching her new stuff, ahead of her school. Time was wasted as she procrastinated and the shocker came when her mid-year report card revealed that she failed 6 of her 8 subjects.

She was in shocked and her parents were visibly upset. The drop from an A-student to a failure was just too much to bear in a single blow. They were further surprised that I was so calm about it. They did a further double-take when I told them that the results were expected and she was on the right path. I explained that she needed a huge humbling setback as a wake-up call. Unlike Karen, Clara couldn't be motivated by her own ambition to achieve academic excellence, for she had none. Clara needed another type of motivation - fear. The fear of failure.

After that mid-year shocker, all was well again as we wiped the slate clean and started over. I couldn't see her through the "O"-Levels as my term in NTU started just before her pre-lims. Travelling from Jalan Bahar to Sembawang twice a week, just wasn't possible. Not even when the parents offered to double the fees. I would love to but I just couldn't do it.

However, I left with a peace of mind, knowing that her foundation was laid in place and I had no doubt that she would go on to do well.

We kept in touch from time to time and found out that she did ok for her "O"s. Not fantastic though but enough to get her a place in CJC.

Then one day, 2 years later...

Me: Harlow, siang kar pay-geer?

Clara: Hey, it's me. Clara.

Me: Oh hey. Long time no hear. How's you?

Clara: I got my A-Levels results today. I got 3 As and I had to get on stage to receive it from the Principal in person.

She went on to read Law at NUS.

All was well.

- Voxeros

1. ei|een left...

Tuesday, 12 July 2005 3:06 pm :: http://sadomasochisticme.blogspot.com

ok. i'm gonna display my school pride now.

YES, CONVENT GIRLS ARE GENERALLY SMART. including ME.

wah lau. damn buay hiao bai. bwahahahaha :p

the best thing is that we also have street smarts. not just book smarts. well, most of the time anyway. alot of my schoolmates in sec school were all really intelligent. but we were all damn playful. heh.

2. jaschocolate left...

Tuesday, 12 July 2005 6:32 pm

why didnt i know u back then.. if i do tuition, maybe can help.. sianz..

3. JayWalk left...

Tuesday, 12 July 2005 8:21 pm :: 

ei|een: I agree to everything you said about convent girls.
In fact, I married one!

jaschocolate: Maybe can help as in you being a tutor or you being a student?

4. jaschocolate left...

Wednesday, 13 July 2005 8:51 am

me as a student lah.. i was too stupid back then not to employ someone to teach me and now.. i am lost..

5. JayWalk left...

Wednesday, 13 July 2005 9:47 am :: 

jaschocolate: Well, you did turn out ok at the end of the day anyway. So I guess no biggie there lah. :)

6. Sheena left...

Wednesday, 13 July 2005 11:23 am

Yeah, I can attest that convent girls are smart. Look at me! LOL~

Anyway, looking at you, I would never have guessed that you were THAT charming to girls. I mean, at that time, you weren't a rolling-in-money sugar daddy yet right?

7. JayWalk left...

Wednesday, 13 July 2005 1:15 pm ::

Sheena: You bladdy siao char bor. I was never a sugar-daddy to begin with lah...

According to your fortune teller, I machiam only mentor or something to that effect. Where the hell got mention sugar-daddy?

If this fortune teller say I sugar-daddy, I make sure I will kick his ass jialat jialat when I come back.

8. akk left...

Wednesday, 13 July 2005 1:30 pm

the make of a true tuition teacher, u are. :) very happy ur student did so well. :)

9. JayWalk left...

Wednesday, 13 July 2005 1:34 pm :: 

Akk: Frankly, I think I got the luck of good pickings of students.
After all, they were the one who sat for the exams, not me.

10. a crunchy green apple left...

Wednesday, 13 July 2005 8:35 pm

Very interesting blog you have here! Guess i'll be checking in often. :) I was cheated by the tuition agency once and i don't want to teach tuition anymore from then.

11. pinafore left...

Thursday, 14 July 2005 2:37 am

One more pinafore to testify. Most convent girls are beauties with brains ...

12. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 14 July 2005 6:09 am ::

crunchy green apple: Ahh... welcome to my humble abode. Glad to know that you find my writing nonsense palatable.

As you would have noticed. All except Clara are free tuition (Read: no money one). Hmm... between you and me, gee... who kena cheated more? Hahahahah....

Hey maybe you want to share you experience here? I am curious to know what happened.

pinafore: Heh heh... for once, I couldn't agree more. :)

13. vandice left...

Saturday, 16 July 2005 12:43 am

I have had mebbe 10 students, and the only pay check I received was from my cousin's student when I relieved a few lessons for him while he was honeymooning. All the rest were like student didn't pay (gobbled up the $$ parents passed to him), or I refused to accept payment, or I was volunteering. Haiz, cmi as a tutor/debt collector lah.

14. eemiily left...

Saturday, 16 July 2005 2:39 am :: http://eemiily.blogspot.com

hee. i'm a "clara" student. my maths tutor used to say i learn things very fast but forget fast too. lazy. slacked for prelims resulting in a 15.. wasnt really shocked by my results;knew it was coming anyway. but i also knew what i had to do. right after the prelims (on marking days), i started studying (Lol, where got ppl after exam then start studying -_-).

8 weeks, almost everyday til 7/8/9pm at AMK lib. doing TYS. completed the bio, phy and chem one . maths prepation in tution. o lvl: 9 =). 4a1(double maths, bio chem), 2a2(eng,chem), 2b3(chi,humanities)

my maths tutor was fantastic. explained really well.the one who spurred me on to study most. knows the exam trend, what he said will come out really did!

i wish he taught a lvls too. i'm in lazy/slack mode now =S. gonna start mugging soon thou
hee. i wonder if u explain science stuff in hokkien..

15. JayWalk left...

Saturday, 16 July 2005 4:49 am :: 

vandice: I think you did ok as a tutor lah. At least none of your students tried to give you alternative payment of the "rotan" form. ~LOL

Girls back then already damn hiong. I wondered if it is worse now.

eemiily: Wah, you results quite power siah.

BTW, I think you avoiding the more important issue. Your tutor YanDao or not? hahahahaha...

You year 2 now? You mentioned you were from NYJC? Jialat. Memory fading liao. Old man liao.

I can't explain Science in hokkien but I have a knack of explaining using analogies though.

 
16. emily left...

Sunday, 17 July 2005 3:21 am :: http://eemiily.blogspot.com

quite old, (late thirty/earlyforties) not yandao ; haha. he's metrosexual i think! lives alone den quite often have flowers at home + burns aromatherapy oil stuff ; (my maths stuff + me always linger of that scent after tuition lol) year one NYJC
btw i wish u were at the blog con today! at least would know someone (besides zhiyang)(classmate) hahaha

17. JayWalk left...

Sunday, 17 July 2005 6:59 am

emily: Yeah wished I was there too. Would love to meet you! However, at the rate things are (blog con around July) it looks like I will never be able to make it ever. 

Oh well, I'll have to depend on the rest of your to show me pictures. Speaking of pictures, the blogger con , from the pictures on mrbrown blog, looked quite boring leh.

I hope I am wrong.

Tuition Series (Part 1) - Karen

I was in JC2 when I gave my first one-to-one tuition. Karen was from a dark-blue pinafore school and roped me in to help her prepare for her O-levels. In return, she agreed to be my tennis kaki on Saturday afternoons. In other words, free tuition lah! Teaching Karen was really easy as she was a really smart girl to begin with. It was akin to having a high performance sports car and all I needed was to fine-tuned it to purring perfection.

In terms of academic grades, she would easily beat me with her hands tied behind her back. Putting our result slips side-by-side would give the impression that I was more or less redundant. Well, yes and no. Yes in the sense that she will still score with flying colours with or without my tutoring and no, in the sense that I was able to give her that little extra bit of help with her confidence to capture the A1s. One thing about her was that she was damn good at memorising stuff, which in an unhealthy way, exploited the loophole of our imperfect examinations system. It has always been the easy way to memorise every single damn thing and then regurgitate all and sundry at the exam hall. I took the effort to make her understand the ideas and concept behind the subject i.e. to figure out exactly what was being taught and in return, figure out what would be tested. In a way, I am just making the whole exams process more efficient for her i.e. get straight to gist of the question, answer it, QED, get out and on to the next question. This certainly beats the "traditional way" of unloading every single damn thing and hopefully some of the points regurgitated will score the marks. Repeat for next question.

Officially, tuition was every Thursday afternoon for 2 hours but we often overshot that mark into the evenings. Fortunately, my place is only an elevator's ride away and so traveling was never a problem. On Saturdays, you would see her trotting down to the court with her tennis gear as well as files and books which may turn into an extra impromptu tuition session on the court itself. She was such a diligent student that I was a little embarrassed myself at my own slacking self. Tuition on the concrete under the hot blazing sun? Yes. Why? No idea but it brings a smile on my face just thinking back about it.

On top of the 3 sciences and 2 maths subjects that I was coaching her, we sometimes find ourselves digressing into other stuff and I remembered this particular conversation:

Karen: Let me ask you this question.

Me: Shoot.

Karen: It's in the middle of the night and the streets are empty. You are driving and you approach a red-light. Do you drive on since there are no cars around?

Me: No. You stop because the light is red.

Karen: But why? I mean there are no cars right? Quite stupid, don't you think, to stop when the street is empty?

Me: How many times do car accidents happen because the driver didn't see the other party? The street may appear to be empty but that is only your perspective from the inside of your car. For all you know there is that fatal speeding car that you didn't see coming.

For some strange reason, I have no idea why this conversation was etched so deeply inside my memory. Perhaps, it was the only time I was able to teach her something that she didn't already know!

Anyway, our tuition session lasted only 9 months before she took her O-Levels. Score? 9 A1s and 1 A2 (for Chinese). I can't really lay claim to any credit but was just glad that I helped.

After that, it was on to JC and then to UK on some stat-board scholarship. Haven't seen her since when they moved out of my estate that very year. I last spotted her at BarNone (Knobby: Nurse Nanako incident) a few years ago from a distance but I didn't go over to say hi as it had been more than 10 years already. Just felt weird going up to say hi. Sekali, she doesn't recognised me anymore. Better leave things as they were.

- Voxeros

1. jaschocolate left...

Tuesday, 12 July 2005 2:26 am

U so handsome.. how can forget.. hee :p

2. pinafore left...

Tuesday, 12 July 2005 7:09 am

You're surely not talking about me right?
Btw, why does every young girl say you're handsome? Have I said that before?

3. JayWalk left...

Tuesday, 12 July 2005 8:25 pm :: 

jaschocolate: Wah. Dun like that say me leh. I shy. *blush*

pinafore: If it were you, then I won't be blogging here reminiscing about it right?
They don't really mean it when they say saya hensem lah. Just a meme going on, all trying to be my sugar daughter. ~LOL

4. akk left...

Wednesday, 13 July 2005 1:16 pm

heheh...i'm missing something here....I was abt to comment on ur tuition until i saw jas' comments, then i forget what i wanted to say...

u handsome? show show! :)

ok lah. abt the tuition thing, my fren say its more stressed to teach high achievers becos they really take u seriously, so everything u say must be very careful...

5. JayWalk left...

Wednesday, 13 July 2005 1:20 pm ::

akk: I prefer to teach high achievers because they more "cooperative". Also spur yourself to do well coz you have to work hard to stay ahead of the little prodigy.

This certainly beats those rich brats that you are forced to put up with coz of the money.

6. Zhe Bin left...

Friday, 15 July 2005 1:26 pm

it was such a sweet entry. and i think it's really sweet for you too, no? but i thought you could have went up and say hi.

7. JayWalk left...

Friday, 15 July 2005 1:36 pm :: 

Zhe Bin: Let me make a confession here. I wasn't the same guy more than 15 years ago. Back then, I was this squeaky clean. Machiam sporty with a bit of book-smarts kinda pin-up boy. 

The night at BarNone, I was this chainsmoking guy getting buzzed on booze.

I thought I would be better off leaving things as they were back in 1989. 

 

So now you know why.