Midterm Break

Half a semester is finally gone! Finally a break from all that horrible lessons... but in return there's tests and more tests to prepare for. Will be having a total of 6 midterm tests this time and I no longer know how to feel about tests/exams. Quite immuned to them already, though I must admit that the stress of studying for them is somewhat still there. While its true that grades are no longer very important to me now and that I no longer study hard just to make papa and mama proud, it is interesting to note how disciplined I have become as compared to the past(say about 3 years ago) when my parents still asked about my grades once in a while. I guess it is really different when we do things for ourselves and we know that we are doing it as part of the process of attaining our personal goals, without the need for anyone to tell us that.

Argh... enough about studies. Talking about those stuff makes me TIRED and I guess just thinking about it might cause a few strands of my hair to turn white. I already know what's in store for me during this short break and I should just stop reminding myself (at least for now) that I need to STUDY. =P

Wonder how the P6 NH girls are getting on in their preparation for the exams. I counted and realised there's only 11 days to it, which is real soon(for people like me not taking the exam). I guess for them, these 11 days will pass by very slowly and torture them like hell, though I hope not. Really do hope that they get some breaks in between and not fall sick due to excessive studying. Hey... It's true that too much studying makes one sick physically and emotionally! Haha~! Who knows, some poor-kid-studying-for-exams-now may quote me and tell their parents what I just said... =x

As usual, gave tuition this morning and went to teach TT in the afternoon. Tuition didn't go on very well, as I was certainly displeased with my student who chose to slack at the wrong time. Gave her the 'cold treatment' and I hope the coldness woke her up a little, to make her realise that her exam is in 11 days' time.

As for the training in the afternoon, it went on well on the whole. There were 2 new P4 players, apparently there to ensure that there will be sufficient(or at least near to sufficient) number of players to play after YL, YR, SY and ZH 's batch graduate. 1 of them is good... at least she has some basic strokes and learnt quite fast. As for the other, I was a little disappointed at the rate at which she was learning... probably because there were quite a few other younger players for me to 'compare her with'.

Its interesting to note the rate at which the players learn. I realised that some of the players learn things very fast and once I point out certain things, they are able to rectify it and at least make a conscious effort to get it right. It certainly feels nice to teach these players as you really witness them picking up the skills. As for some others, no matter how many times you may point out to them that something is wrong, they will still do it wrong again and again. I wonder if thats what many people mean when they talk about 'tian1 fen4'...

In any case, I did think about whether there was a point in spending time to train up the new P4s. Once again, I was making a comparison. What I thought was... might as well spend more time training up the P3s who have more potential and can represent the school for 1 more year. But on the other hand, I guess there was also a need to ensure that there were enough people to represent the school every year for both divisions, without wasting any of the 'resources'(i.e. good players). This sure does remind me of the word 'optimization' and who knows, I may just come up with a linear or nonlinear program to find the optimal solution to this 'problem'. Haha... just in case you think I meant it, com'on, I'm not so free lah. That was really a lame attempt at trying to be funny with Maths... aww. So the conclusion is that there's no way you can get too funny if you're joking about Maths stuff. =P

As for the down side of today's training, someone seemed quite upset after playing a match and I couldn't figure out the reason... just hope that the person is fine now. After all, table tennis is about enjoyment... I think that it's quite sad if studying already is so stressful for them, yet playing table tennis also stresses them out/upsets them. Hope that all of them will try to take things less seriously(when necessary) and have less things in their lives upsetting them! ^_^

Think I should also mention that some of the players have been in pretty good form lately. Its heartening to see that YR's attacks are more powerful(I guess its because she's growing and getting stronger by the day haha) and she managed to give Mr S a hard time just now. In any case, at the rate she's going, I think she will make a very good singles player by next year. Sadly, I can't comment much about YL, SY and ZH now because they didn't attend today's training. Heard that YL and SY fell sick... see, I told you studying is bad for health! ~_^

After training, I went to city area and bumped into SZ there. This country of ours is really small eh???

On the whole, today is a nice day... I'd say it's a good start to my midterm 'BREAK'. *coughs* The thought of studying makes me sick already. Hahz...