Sunday, May 14, 2006

The last MindChamps Course

My Saturdays are finally FREE. For the past 2 months, I had been attending courses every Thursday (6.oopm-9.30pm) and Saturday (10am-5.30pm). It had been a killer. I must admit that I felt quite sad when yesterday was to be the last course.

We were supposed to prepare a speech for our parents who were arriving at 4pm. Jamie and I prepared a last minute speech at Mac before the course started. Oh, and I saw Wan Ru at Mac!

We were supposed to give a trial run in front of the whole class before the parents came, and when it was my turn, I went up in front of the class and gave a really impromptu one which my trainer said it was really good and that it came from the heart. And that my parents would be touched listening to my speech. HAHA! Of course la! Before my turn, I kept memorizing the points that I was supposed to say and during the trial, I used the draft that I did to help me remember the points.


My draft.

At 4pm, the parents entered the classroom BUT my Mom was nowhere to be seen. Typical her! Dad wasn't coming due to work. My friends and I were complaining about how embarrassing it was for our parents to enter the classroom while the others were giving their speeches! Their parents shortly arrived one after another BUT my Mom was still not here! I was beginning to feel worried as I was No.13 to give the speech.


Preparing for the parents arrival.



Mom finally arrived at 4.45pm when Diyana, the tenth person was giving her speech. I felt much relieved after her arrival. After Jamie's and Kate't turn, I had to go up to give my speech again. I went up there without a clue as to what I was supposed to say as by then, I had already forgotten all my points.

My speech went something like this...

Hi. Good evening everyone. I am Janine and today I'm going to talk about my parents and the little things they do for us that really mean a lot to me.

I would like to thank my Mom for always being there for me and the little things she does for us. For example, she wakes up the earliest during school days just to prepare breakfast for us and she even makes the effort to to prepare different food for us each morning. I feel that it's really nice of her to sacrifice her sleep just to make sure that we do not feel hungry during lesson time.

And that she cares for her children more than she cares for herself. Whenever she goes for shopping, she wouldn't forgot about her children and would buy stuff for us too. And when I said I needed tuition, she immediately went around looking for tutors for me.

It's really hard to bring up four children, but she manages it so well. (This was BLOODY IMPROMPTU)

And she's a great cook! (I forgot my lines and added this in last minute!!!!! OH MY, by then I was already panicking as I forgot everything so I added some stupid stuff too) Oh, she provides me with food, shelter, money and education and I'm really grateful for these. (It was supposed to be my conclusion for my parents but I couldn't think of anything else)

And and, she's always including me for facials! (Everyone started laughing)

(I forgotten my points about her providing me with a listening ear everytime I rambled about school life and teachers and that she was a really independent and strong woman and I want to be like her and that she's my superwoman!)

And I'm also grateful for my Dad. Because of his work, he usually comes home way past midnight, but that never stops him from waking up as early as 6am the next morning just to fetch me and my sister to school. It's really cool of him to sacrifice his sleep just to make sure we don't have to take the public transport to school, like many of my friends. Sometimes, he wakes up earlier than me just to wake me up too. And because of his work, we never have dinner with him, and it's a rather sad thing but he makes the effort to bring us out for family meals during weekends.

Whenever he comes home earlier, like around 11pm, he would call home to ask what we want for supper and it's really nice of him to do so.

I really appreciate my parents. They let me make my own decisions and this really make me more independent and decisive. (I forgot to mention about the example that I talked about during the trial and I couldn't mention about them providing me with the food, shelter, money, education AS I HAD ALREADY MENTIONED IT EARLIER, which means I had nothing else to say. I quickly proceeded to my conclusion...)

From this, I conclude that we should all never take things for granted and we should cherish everyone around us. (AND I STUPIDLY ADDED ONE DUMB AND TOTALLY IRRELEVANT POINT) We should never regret our decisions. And Happy Mother's Day to all mothers here, especially to my Mom! Thank you. (I can't remember if I bowed)

Alamak, that was how it went. Totally screwed, compared to the trial one. I was smiling and smiling nonstop. The rest assured me that it was a good one though. I could see my Mom from where I was standing and I'M SURE I saw her wiping her eyes! Hoho.

I think I'll miss Toa Payoh after the course. I used to abhor that place as there was nothing appealing there.

I took pictures with some of my friends there.


Me and Yan Ru.


Me and Vivian.


Me and Kate!


Kate, Me, Jamie, Adeline.


The whole class with Charmaine (the trainer)

Alright, that's all!
Goodbye!

Janine.