All Kinds Of People

In my 33 years and 4 months of work, I have come into contact with all kinds of co-workers. Some are hard to work with, needs a lot of tact:

• The armoured car (Kereta kebal - mahu cara sendiri, bising, mendesak)
• The sniper (Penembak hendap - tidak bermoral, sabotaj, gosip)
• The hand grenade (Bom tangan - senang meradang)
• The Knows All (Serba Tahu - mengetahui segala-gala, tak mahu dengar cakap-cakap 'orang yang serba kekurangan')
• He thinks he knows all (Ingat dia serba tahu - ingat aje)

When it comes to working as a team, it's a torture working with the following kind of people.

• Mr Yes (Orang Ya - cepat setuju, lambat habis tugasan)
• Mr Maybe (Orang Mungkin - suka tangguh)
• Mr Disappearing Act (Orang Tiada - tiada maklumbalas langsung)
• Mr Cannot (Orang Tidak - Saya tidak bersikap negatif, saya cuma bersikap realistik)
• Whiner (Perungut - merungut tidak henti-henti)

But of course, not everyone I met over my entire career are like that. I've also met those who have been a real pleasure to work with.

• Positive thinking - even the most difficult of all problems seem possible to solve with these people around
  
• Hardworking - willing to go the extra mile in the name of efficiently and effectively completing the task set for them
  
• Co-operative - always willing to lend a helping hand, and cover for you if you land yourself in some sticky situation
• Good and cheerful attitude - they are pleasant, smiling, and (best of all) they don't complain even if the task set ahead of them is probably one of the most difficult in their entire family history
• Realistic - they don't allow themselves to float on air; their feet's always on the ground
  

Bottom-line is we encounter many kinds of people throughout the life of our career. Some are just pleasant to work with, helpful, hardworking etc. It's really a good bonus to be working with people such as these. However, in the real world, more often than not, we face people who are really difficult to work with (people who have the characteristics I described in the first two batches of bullet-points above. No, they are not necessarily bad people, they are good in some ways, and truthfully, many things wouldn't have been done without them. It's just that they have "unique" attitudes and behaviours that need to be managed, that's all). Thus, working with them calls for a positive mental attitude. Accept all of them and do your very best. And no matter what happens, smile!! Don't tear your hair out over them. I quote a speaker in one of the many conventions I have attended:

A little bird in the sky

A man looks up
The bird shits in his eye.

He was not angry
He did not cry
He said, "Thank God, cows don't fly"


Hehe... Ciao! And have a nice weekend! :p

Majlis Jasamu Dikenang 2009

I was at Hotel Katerina on Saturday 27 June 2009 for the above function - meant for retirees and soon-to-be retirees. There were around 250 of us and we received a watch each from the Pengarah Pelajaran Johor. Mine is a Giordano ladies watch. Behind the watch is engraved JPNJ 2009.

41 days more and I shall be a YB (Yang Bersara). 33 years and 4 months of service. I have taught in 7 schools throughout my entire career. Of that, I was a Pengetua for 10 years, spanning over in three schools, i.e. SMK Tenang Stesen (in Segamat), SMK Yong Peng and SMK Munshi Sulaiman. No prize for guessing correctly which school was the hardest to be Pengetua!

Cheers!

Blowing In The Wind....

I was listening to the above song (sung by Bob Dylan). It has a lovely & haunting melody...
The second verse goes like this:

How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky ?

How many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry ?

How many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died ?

Chorus: The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing in the wind....

Then I thought about the Form 1J student who died on Sunday night's motorbike accident, and his brother who is seriously injured. Even though they were in the right of way, they must have gone very fast.

Earlier this year, another Form 1 student (a girl) was involved in a serious motorbike accident. Luckily she is now okay. After her accident, the school warned students to be careful when riding motorbikes, and to always wear crash helmets.

Every year there are lots of accidents involving students on motorbikes. Why do some parents allow their young children to ride motorbikes??? Especially along a dangerous stretch of road like Jalan Kluang ? Traffic is heavy. The students are young, many throw caution to the wind and like to show off, like to speed. A lot of them don't wear crash helmets...

How many accidents must it take till they know.....
That too many schoolchildren have....

The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing in the wind....

I CAN'T WALK!!

For the past two weeks I had this pain in my knee, but I couldn't be bothered about it. This kind of pain comes & goes and was most horrible after I climbed up Takah Tujuh in Selai. So I continued my daily walkabouts in school.

On Saturday, I must have stood too long on the stage during the awards presentation. When I woke up after a short afternoon nap, I found that my knee was swollen & I could only hobble around.

On Sunday the swelling grew bigger and hobbling around was a wee bit more difficult. On Monday - wow... to take a single step was torture!!! My orthopedic surgeon said that I am suffering from acute osteoarthritis. He said that that injuries to the knee joint often lead to osteoarthritis in later life.

Well when I was younger, I was very active - and I could not afford shoes like Nike Air, Asics Gel, etc. Badminton Master by Bata was all I could afford myself. Hehe... Another thing, I go for Latin Dancing classes every Tuesday night. Too much of jiving, rock n roll, rhumba and samba wearing high heels must have taken a heavy toll on my knees.

He gave me a jab at the knee and took out 5 ml of yellowish liquid from that spot. Eww... Then he told me to rest my leg for one whole week - no walkabouts, no going to school.

Help!!! Today's only Wednesday & I am starting to feel bored .... oh no!! ;-p

Hari Anugerah Kecemerlangan & Hari Terbuka Ke-2 2009

Quite literally translated, it's basically our school's Awards Day and 2nd Open Day.

The event was a success, even though more than 20 teachers were not around, as they had to go out for other activities (District and State Levels).

A big THANK YOU to all teachers for all your cooperation and hard work in making this event a success. A big THANK YOU also to those who came back on Friday afternoon to help with the preparations.

Some snippets from the event:


YB Ab Aziz Kaprawi entering the school, and greeted by our rugby team with their Haka performance


More of our school's rugby team performing the Haka




Students looking smart as they greeted YB Ab Aziz Kaprawi.

Thank you to the English teachers for training the Afternoon Session students in their choral speaking presentation. It was well done.


Our choral speaking team and their performance.

Here are some photos of the awards presentation:


YB Ab Aziz Kaprawi giving his speech


YB Ab Aziz Kaprawi presenting an award to a student


Mr Teo, YDP PIBG of SMKMS, presenting an award to a student


Many parents coming to discuss with the teachers on their children's performance at school

What was heartening was the sight of a group of teachers who stayed behind after everything was over to clear up the benches, tables and chairs in the open hall. They joked and laughed as they went about doing their work. That's what I consider as TEAM WORK.

As I drove home yesterday, I told myself MUNSHI BOLEH!!!!!!!