Monday, November 26, 2007

Wushu Performance! Y Proms@CLAP!

The performance on Saturday night at Chinatown Kreta Ayer Square was an absolute HIT with the crowd!

Great job to all who participated! A BIG THANK YOU! goes to Kaiting laoshi and Zhipeng laoshi in charge of choreographing and preparation for this event. The meticulous effort put into planning and preparation is evident, clearly seen and translated extremely well onstage into 10 minutes of pure entertainment for the spectators young and old.

Gotta thank the parents of the young performers for their support in sending the children down for practices and rehearsals. I'm sure they must be proud to see the end result. I know I am. :)

Photos photos...

Uh-oh... when will I clear this backlog of photos to post online.

Do wait patiently, I'll get to it soon.... I hope. :p

Friday, November 23, 2007

KUEN Wushu Holiday Training Camp Nov 2007

Its over.

5 days of hell-on-earth for the trainers...

Children... so many noisy children... Arghhh!

But it wasn't nearly as bad for me as it was for the rest of the trainers... This time I unofficially volunteered myself to be in-charge of entertainment and games, and carefully side-stepped all the heavy responsibilities of being a trainer-in-charge.

I think the kids enjoyed themselves. *pats self on back* Especially on the last night's BBQ where they had free-flow marshmallows. MmmmMmmm.........

This year's group was slightly bigger, with participants from Kranji Pri, Yew Tee Pri, Zhonghua Pri, Yew Tee CC, Jurong Spring CC, KUEN Kids, etc...

I saw some definite potentials in the young ones and some made astonishing improvements over the week. You can almost see them get better with each training session.

Great job KUEN trainers! Cheers to Kaiting laoshi, Wang Liang Laoshi, Zhipeng Laoshi, Zhicheng Laoshi and the rest of the trainers!

I'll definitely post photos of the camp as soon as I get my hands on them.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

SSC SEP Showcase at Orchid Country Club

Updates:

SSC SEP Sports Showcase for year 2008 Sports Education Programmes. This year they decided to hold it at Orchid Country Club. Did a recce this morning of the grounds at OCC, not very impressed. :( No demo areas, lots of restrictions, low ceiling height = No high high banners liao...sigh

Anyway, the trainers spent the whole of today preparing for their turn tomorrow to put up our own Pasam Malam...heh. Well, at least they should be more experienced this time round, since we've been doing SEP programmes since its pilot phase in year 2006.

Some interesting figures we amassed for this round of marketing.

Did you know?
- the combined total no. of students taught by KUEN trainers in the year 2007 is a whopping 8759 !!!
- that's an average of 1459.83333 students taught by each KUEN trainer a year!
- we have brought our KUEN Wushu programmes to more than 25 schools since year 2006
- there are currently more than 800 photographs (of student programmes) in our photo archive.
- we spent an average of 4.5 hrs a week on weekly debriefs and training meetings

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Reservist... Sian...

Reservist...

Sian...

From tmr...

Till 2nd...

Sian...

*Yawn*

Where's my SBO?

Sigh...

Fighting Fit Fuhua

Just ended a Wushu programme at Fuhua. Take a look at the photos I've taken with my handphone. (Not as nice as those taken with my previous K800i but I guess it'll suffice...)



Got the students to fill in the post-programme survey as per norm and it just feels great to have like 85% of them write things like:

"You guys Rock!"

"I had great fun training :)"

"We gotta do this again next year!"

Hehe... I'm not making this up I swear. I can scan in a couple of comments if anyone thinks I'm bullshitting. :p

Anyway, thanks for being a sport guys! (and gals!) If anyone from Fuhua reading this, tell your friends how appreciative Mr. Chin and Mr. Wang is of your participation in the activities... You guys made our day :) (not to mention vomit blood too... heh)

Friday, September 21, 2007

Back to Poiching

Yup, we're back at Poiching School again.
Its been 9 months since we last conducted our KUEN Wushu programmes over there. Many things have changed, but its nice to see the familiar faces of the teachers we used to work with from the PE department. In a weird sorta way, me and my trainers kinda missed the kids, now all "grown up" suddenly during our absence...heh. I hope the teachers and students are as glad to see us as we are to see them. :)



Round 1: Ms Wang VS 40 students!

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Chin on Radio and TV....again

Apologies everyone! Arghh.... I haven't been writing for almost an entire month!
What the heck have I been up to???

For starters, I've had Lasik done on my eyes. Yup, bye bye my beloved specs... Wow, to think that I've been wearing glasses since 8...gulp. I highly recommend it, anyone who can afford it and could afford at least 2 days of MC should do it. It'd be the best gift you can give yourself.

So if you see me and my bloodshot eyes this Friday (7th Sep) on Channel U's Money Week, don't be surprised... Yup, me going on TV again... and radio too. Completed both interviews for radio and tv today (tue), both gonna be aired on Friday afternoon for radio and night-time ard 9.30pm for TV I think. Do keep a look out for me and come back here to post in the shoutbox how good-looking or awful-looking I am (or sound) You know what they say, any feedback is better than no feedback. That probably means nobody's watching...heh

Ok, I've accumulated quite a stash of photos this past month of the school programmes that started and ended. Especially the ACES day ones on the 31st August we did at River Valley Primary and Greenwood Primary. The reviews from the teachers were fantastic and I really should give my trainers a well-deserved pat on the back. Great job guys!

Holiday week this week. Don't think we can rest tho... SEP submission date this saturday, so instead of taking it easy, i've requested for more meetings this week! Cheers! Don't everyone just love inefficient long draggy meetings? Yeah....

I'll post often. I promise. I hope. Heh.

Friday, August 10, 2007

Kuen Wushu Superstar Trainers

Sigh... Ended another programme at Greenwood Primary last week. Last lesson liao, quite sad actually. Will miss these super enthusiastic children, we machiam superstars when they all came rushing forward and overwhelmed us with their hugs and handshakes. We received thank you cards and letters scribbling words describing which trainer they loved the most and why they loved their Wushu lessons. Happy to have brought our fun and engaging Wushu programme to yet another few hundred happy students of Greenwood Primary.

Take a look at these priceless photos:


 

Thursday, August 2, 2007

School workshop, SSC briefing & Sports Silat

Lately a question that pops up often in my head - "How to be at two places at one time?"

Well, you can't.

So when such instances present themselves, I weigh the consequences, prioritize, pick one, and pray the rest goes smoothly.

Wednesday - another mid week post. Phew...
Needed to conduct a teachers workshop at Dazhong Primary and be at TPY sports hall to attend the sports council SEP 2008 briefing. Well, the choice was pretty obvious between the two, I wouldn't sleep well at the SEP briefing knowing that I could have been at Dazhong conducting a great workshop for the teachers. Grin.

Of course I did send a rep in my stead and rushed over to the briefing after the workshop. I was late for an hour and a half and I was told I didn't miss much, everything I needed to know was in a piece of paper in the SEP folder. (Why am I not surprised?) At least the trip (and the carpark fees) wasn't for nothing, I met with Imran, he runs his own Sports Silat Academy. Brought him back to KUEN Wushu to show him around and discussed about possible collaborations between our companies. He's a nice guy. :) I've given my word to help him with the training facility for his Silat lesson on one of the nights we don't have classes.

Remarks:
For more information on the SEP -
SSC Sports Education Programme Portal

In short it is a nation-wide funding programme available to all MOE schools to promote sports and increase sports participation.
KUEN Wushu Programmes have been endorsed under the SEP since the scheme started in 2006.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

The Accidental Guests

Sundays are generally sucky days for KUEN Wushu trainers. Thats becoz we have our excruciatingly long weekly meeting on Sunday afternoons when the KUEN trainers debrief, discuss, bicker, and b!tch about the past week's activities and lessons. The past Sunday was no different. In fact, it was made worse by the fact that we started late and ended even later. When I was done with them by 8pm, everyone nearly fainted from hunger. It was with this in mind that I decided to drive the trainers to a hearty meal at a nice little joint at GL lorong 44 where they sell chinese bbq, dishes and noodles.

As luck would have it, we stumbled upon a birthday dinner in progress, of which belongs to a certain World Wushu Champion - Mr Di Guang Wen. (Master Di or Di laoshi to all of you young punks out there..heh.) We know each other through a mutual friend and before we know it, someone pulled up a table and we were toasting beer on an empty stomach. Felt uneasy gate-crashing what seemed like a private mini gathering but he was a real sport and soon all thoughts of uneasiness were thrown out the window after the 4th beer...grin.

I also learnt an interesting thing about my trainers that night. One of the trainers can't drink... nearly puked, and thats only after 4 semi-filled glasses of beer. All in all it was a nice get-together with acquaintances whom hopefully will become closer after sharing this common experience. We even talked about a collaboration between himself, his networks and KUEN Wushu. I'm generally skeptical about such dinner table talk but I'm keeping my fingers crossed and see how things develop. I'll see what we can come up with when we next meet up, sober and serious...heh...


Remarks
A quick search online revealed the following info on Di Guangwen Laoshi:
- a World Wushu Champion (won the Gold in Changquan in the 1993 World Wushu Championships)
- 1994 China All-round Wushu Champion
- Former captain of the Beijing Wushu Team
- Key Wushu figure responsible for the success of "Dance En___ble's" Wushu classes in the 4 years he was in Singapore.

Impressive isn't it? I know I'd love to be able to put something like "World Wushu Champion" on my namecard. It'd surely do wonders for the company dontcha think?

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Lessons at Fuhua

Wow, a mid-week post. I must be relatively free this week. Actually I'm lying in bed now with a running nose and hoarse throat, think me caught a cold... :(

Went Fuhua this morning and did 3 classes of introductory Wushu lessons with the Sec 2 kids.

Happy to be back in Fuhua again after 2 years. I did an introductory programme with them in year 2005 for their Sec 2s too and some of them still recognise me after 2 years. Feels good to know I left a good enough impression, enough for them to remember me name even though it was years ago and only a short programme.

Anyway, as expected, these students were quite a handful, but nothing Mr Chin can't handle...grin. I hope they enjoyed the session as much as I've enjoyed teaching it (and torturing some of the poor kids with arm lifts and squats...heh) Hope they'll like what I have planned for them in the coming 9 weeks.

Sigh... me no voice again i think. Think tmr's classes gotta leave it to WL laoshi liao... sniff sniff.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

getWushu @ Tanglin Secondary

We brought KUEN Wushu's signature Wushu Roadshow - getWushu to Tanglin Secondary last Friday. (20th July)
Amazing response from the students at Tanglin Sec. Even more so from the teachers, and I think the Principal was pleasantly surprised at the enthusiasm shown by the students.
Whats important is that the students enjoyed themselves and everyone on the team had fun doing it.
(Tanglin S
econdary - You guys ROCKED!)



getWushu Info:
The KUEN Wushu "getWushu - Sports Wushu Roadshow" was started in 2005, funded under the S'pore Sports Council's SPPP programme. It has since toured more than 20 schools , bringing Wushu Sports Exposure to students all over the island. It is a 3-part programme lasting 1 to 1.5 hrs, with lots of exhilarating Wushu action, live interaction with the students, audience tryouts, etc. All this done with a 10+ man team of Wushu athletes cum performers, MCs, Wushu trainers, photo/videographers, logistics, etc.
Sounds fun? Definitely!
Tiring? Hell yeah...

Monday, July 16, 2007

Updates - School Term 3 Week 3

Its been hectic as hell this week. Post frequency dropped from every other day to once a week. My apologies to anyone who's been checking back only to find that the blog's been stagnant. Anyway, here's what we did for the whole week.


Mon 9th
- Wushu lessons @ RVPS in the morning with our adorable ZP laoshi. Did observations for all 3 lessons and he is VERY GOOD. Able to make revisions to lesson plans after obtaining feedback from Moi. Impressive... I like.

- KRP, taken by moi in the afternoon. Sometimes serious, sometimes tiring, always fun. :)
To KRP kids: Betcha arms were tired huh? *grin*

Tue 10th
- RVPS by KT laoshi. Sheesh... this class nearly did us in i tell ya. Ultra active children, minimum response to instructions, short attention span. Requires maximum effort to motivate and get them interested. Got a feeling this might just be KT's trial by fire. Grin.

- ZP laoshi had a class @ SGS. Showed the students their performance video. Suffice to say they were more than pleased with themselves for putting up a decent show in such short notice, complete with custom made costumes.

Wed 11th
- HCI taken by Moi and WL. Struggling with the 30min time frame per cohort to engage the students and get them to learn some skills, while at the same time, maintain enough discipline to keep them in line. Not easy but not impossible either.

- GWPS also taken by Moi, with WL assisting. Mass programme - close to 200 children, but always SO MUCH FUN to teach!

Thu 12th
- Nearly dropped dead from fatigue. Was the Conducting in the morning @ HCI. Then its off to RVPS for WL's observations. Still had to go FHS to conduct my own class of Mod. Cert Programme...
Think thats why I
almost fell sick on Friday. Lost my voice in the middle of the night. Bummer.

Fri 13th
- Wow. Black Friday leh. Didn't realise it until when I typed it out just now. No voice when i woke up in the morning. Msged KT told her they gotta handle the day's lessons liao. In the end I ended up Chief Conducting still, making raspy noises thru the mic. Weird thing was my voice got clearer as the day drew to a close at GWPS. Some potent stuff that medicine i had in the morning... I think there were bee-like bugs floating in the Chinese concoction me Mum made. Yucks....pUi!

Dat abt sums up the boring parts of my week last week.
Onwards trainers! Let us brave another week of screaming children and disinterested teenagers as we cut down the days to another weekend!

Sunday, July 8, 2007

Recipe for a Mass Wushu Programme

Its been a hectic week for the trainers and myself.
The new term has started and gradually picking up steam. Just last week alone, we had 4 new school programmes starting and a couple more schools starting next week. Most are Wushu Mass Workout Programmes, anywhere from 80 to excess of 200 pax at a time.

The burden of conducting such large-scale programmes naturally falls on me as this happens to be my specialization, having done mass programmes countless times and accumulating invaluable experience every step of the way.

Something to share with you and my trainers. (or my fellow competitors if you're reading...grin. Man, I'm such a nice person... i know...)

It is one thing to be standing in front of a class of 20 Wushu students coaching techniques. It is a whole different ballgame standing on the stage with a mic engaging 200 students and teachers in the hall with Wushu exercises, most of whom can't be bothered even if the roof caved in.

Here's the trick: You need to reach out with your infectious energy and hypnotize EVERY ONE OF THEM with your presence and have them move with you, laugh with you, sway with you...When you got them hooked on your every word, slip in the otherwise dorky-looking punches, kicks and stances. Mix in the right amounts of Easy-to-follow moves, a tiny bit of Challenge, a generous serving of Humour - VOILA! Mag-ni-fi-cent!

In short, you need to be a Duracell Bunny in an apron and chef's hat, holding a microphone in one hand and a whistle in the other. Mmm... I bet I look sexy up there on stage. grin...

A nice lady teacher came up to me on Wed and asked where do i get all that energy bouncing ard on stage. Ok... you got me there. The cat's out of the bag - I'm a Redbull Junkie. *wink*

Monday, July 2, 2007

JUMP

I went Jumpin tonight. Heard it was good. Didn't think it'd be this good. Friggin good show.
So glad I bought the tiks, would've kicked myself if I let something like this pass.

The martial arts wasn't exactly top-notch but the comedy, acting, audience interaction and pure energy from the performers sizzled...phew... The performers clearly loved the stage and we the audience couldn't stop ourselves from loving them back. I clapped so hard my palms hurt at the end of the whole show.

Dang... I should really learn to do some of the trickz they've pulled off - like soaring thru the air!
Shouldn't be too hard I hope. We're not half-bad Wushu people. Uh-uh... Not bad at all.

Can you imagine me doing this?

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Costumes maketh the Performance!

Saturday.
Performance at Kranji went well! Me proud of me kids, screaming and punchin early in the mornin for the VIP.
Did some shopping errands for materials needed for costumes and sent it down to Serangoon Garden Sec. ZP's students are making their own warrior costumes for their school play cum Wushu performance next Saturday.

Their inspiration:


SGS Students @ Work!

Mirabelle playing "Who Wants To Be A Maria!" (domestic worker..aka maid)


Keith using his special Mutant Eye-Power helping to dry pieces of painted "armour" while casually sipping his Milo-tinni.

I can't wait to see all of them in their full glory doing their thing! Jiayou lo!

Two-in-one update.

Thursday.
Went Kranji and trained the kids for their sat performance. Stayed back till 1am at the office making revisions to the PPT for tmr's roadshow @ Greenwood Pri. (sniff... all alone in the office. almost got locked in coz the security guy at Shines didn't know I was ard and locked the gates...sigh)

Friday.
Played chauffeur and drove KT and ZP to Teck Whye Pri for their session and headed to Kranji Pri again for their last rehearsal b4 the actual day. Fetched trainers back to KUEN to pick up stuff needed for the Wushu Roadshow at Greenwood. The roadshow was absolutely GREAT! and the Greenwood children loved me...ahem... us. :p Watch this Blog for updates re. the roadshow as I'll definitely post photos once i get them onto the computer.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Jon Foo


Man, has it been 2 years already?

I knew Jon from a couple of years ago. He was trainin for a bit at KUEN and we even did a performance together at the gala premiere for Kungfu Hustle. He dropped by KUEN Wushu for training last night and we went out for drinks.
(If you're going Jon who??? Go youtube and type in Jon Foo to see a couple of his works)

He travels to different countries doing stuntwork for movies, but I can't call him a 'stuntman', thats just plain wrong. He's an actor! (laugh... he does look alot like Frodo doesn't he, a better looking one of course)

Oh yeah... He also taught me 'Kick the Moon' in like one day. Cool yeah?

We went for drinks with Francis at St James. Turns out that they met each other 2 years ago on Orchard Road while Francis was performing and Jon went up to Francis to ask about his ultra cool dance moves. We were en route to St James and as if he had a sudden epiphany or something he turned around and went "I think I've seen you before...." What are the chances of
that happening huh...

Anyway, I think we were drunk before we even got there cos we kept breaking out into that annoyingly funny Gatsby song from the ad.

"Iiiiii....can give you GATSsssBiee.... GA-ATSsssBieeee....GATSsssBYiiieeee...."

He's flying back to Thailand today, but he says he'll be back next month.

Call when you're back ok.

Monday, June 25, 2007

Money earned. Money spent.

Sunday whizzed past just like that. Hectic even for a Sunday.. Damn...

KT brought the kids to Marina Sq for the SSC event thingy, turned out it wasn't too appreciated as the morning crowd at MS was pathetic. Am glad they had a really fun movie session after that tho...(courtesy of KT laoshi)

Brainstormed with ZP re. his performance at SGS, talked abt some DIY costume designs and the materials he'd need to get on Mon. Then its off to Suntec for a quick lunch. Went to take a look at the GSS deals at Carrefour. Deliberated over LCD monitors and got distracted by the ACER notebook deals. Finally settled on this for $339/=

Good deal hor?
Gonna hang this 20" Acer LCD at the window area of the KUEN office for ads and notices.

One down, many to go. Wishlist for KUEN:
- LCD monitor for window display (< $400)
- DV camera (< $800)
- Digital still camera (< $1000)
- Notebook (< $1500)
- Mirrors ( < $2000)
- Huge posters of Wushu poses for marketing (< $3000)
Gulp... thats a lot of money we don't have... :( *chuckle*

At the end of the day, everyone went home happy (I hope)cos they got a big fat angbao from KT, mostly reimbursements for performances and helping out during the training camp.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Operational Hiccups - Hold your breath.

Yanbin came by KUEN Wushu yesterday to visit. (He's an actor cum stunt master at Mediacorp) Just back from filming the latest Jack Neo movie (starring Fann Wong!) in KL for the past 3 weeks. We got to chat a little regarding the new setup and he provided me with new insights. (thanks partner :p)

Told him about my problem of the hall being constantly in use by other ppl. (mostly SHINES Outdoors la..). He told me to make a stand and say No.

We gotta pay to use their facilities (during camp), they should be paying us everytime they use our training hall right? Why else are we paying rent for? The tiny miserable office space?

And Sunday mornings are nightmarish... The church ppl got our hall and the morning parents are unhappy that they have been relegated to the classrooms. Well, initially I thought training in the classrooms wasn't such a bad idea, with the aircon and all... I don't think so anymore.

Anyway, on a lighter note, me and Yanbin did talk about starting a new programme at KUEN. A course targetted at young adults (read 17 and above) that is part Wushu and part action-star training. Participants will get to experience "flying" and wire-stunts, perform action fight scenes, learn stunts and acrobatics that will prepare them if they ever wish to embark on their ways to Movie Stardom....

Cool idea yeah? Tell me what you think.

Friday, June 22, 2007

I hate accounts.

Spent the day at KUEN Wushu clearing backlog of paperwork and admin stuff.

Its official. I hate doing accounts.

Blah... spent very nearly the whole day trying hard to remember purchases and to balance the numbers. Issueing cheques and writing payment vouchers. Trying to remember who to invoice for what service.

This is the part I like least of running KUEN.

Calista's dad (a really nice guy :) ) mentioned jokingly that we're not making money coz I'm really bad at accounts. Heh... I wonder how true is that. Hmm... with all the services rendered that we forgot to invoice ppl, I'm starting to think he might have a point.

Darn...

Quick update on whats coming:
- Later, Friday 22/06/07. Tien Hsia Language School children coming again for Wushu workshop.
- Sunday, 24/06/07. Young Parents Fiesta at Marina Square. We're doing a roadshow cum Wushu promotion at Marina Square Centre Stage. 11am - 1pm
- Monday, 25/06/2007. School reopens! (I can almost hear the students go "Yeah!")

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Sentosa Silosa beach performance

Did a group Wushu performance last night at Sentosa Siloso beach.

Almost forgotten how fun performances can be. During the performance that is.

After you bask in the applause and euphoria of being in the limelight for the 10 min or so on stage, you retire to the changing room to change out of your Wushu costume drenched in sweat. You'll slowly feel your legs getting heavier and soreness in parts of your muscles you didn't realise when your body's pumped up with adrenaline just 10 min ago.

The morning after.
Ouch...

I haven't trained for quite awhile and I'm starting to feel the after-effects. Hope I didn't pull any muscles.

I really gotta start working out again. Once I've got everything at the new place more or less settled.

Back to doing paperwork. *sulk*

Monday, June 18, 2007

Central Assessment @ KUEN Wushu

Long day. Started at 9am. Ended at 11pm. Yawn...

Took a team of 4 KUEN trainers and 3 Admin staff to successfully conduct the centralized assessment.

Participants took turns to do their static station tests, routine test and their theory test (oral and written). Some were a nervous wreck while others were nearly yawning when it got to their turns. It shows when you're prepared and it definitely shows when you aren't. Lol...

I would like to state again that the twice a year (mid-year & year-end) centralized assessment at KUEN Wushu Academy is a non-compulsory, opt-in test. The decision to take the test rests completely on the trainee (or parents). Right down to the choice of routine and number of tests to take, and prepare adequately for. I'm advocating self-empowerment to anyone who wants it, and for those who are prone to be lost, there's the standard template of progression for you to follow and KUEN trainers to hold your hand throughout. (aww... so cute)

But if you're comfortable at your current level, sure keep things that way. We understand the progression isn't for everyone, and that there will be people who is doing Wushu for interest, for fun, for friends, for fun, coz their parents enrolled them, and oh... for fun.

This is quite unlike any of the grading tests in Singapore for other martial arts or Wushu associations/Wu-Guans/Clans/Clubs you will find out there.

I run a school. I would like to keep it as school-like as possible. That means devising a proper system of teaching -> documenting signs of learning -> reviews and revision to ensure improvement.

This applies to everyone, trainers and trainees alike. (Trainers gotta learn too. I wouldn't want anybody to stagnate. Gets boring... yawn.)

Wow... I sound cheem. Oooo....

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Box for my shouts!

Got my very own shoutbox for the Kuen Wushu blog, after listening to yuxiang.

Meddled with it for awhile last night. Then I dozed off in front of the monitor...

Try not to do that. It leaves rows of little squares on your face. Drool makes the keys sticky too... heh. Then all sorts of grime and dirt starts accumulating... Eeee...

Yeah... now I'll know if the blog is as lifeless as it looks from here.

Tell your friends. tell your family. tell your enemies. I don't care. :p

Just tell someone. Anyone.


Children... Lots & lots of children....

We had our hands full today. A Wushu workshop at KUEN Wushu from a bus-load of children from Tien Hsia Language School, 127 to be exact.

Gulp...

They are a force to be reckoned with I can assure you. Teachers,, I applaud you for your patience and kindness towards these little...dev... I mean angels.

Children can be cute. I'm not saying they can't be. In fact I quite enjoy working with kids. They have an abundance of energy that I have learned to tap on and channel it back into the class. You need this to recharge after every class to last through the day. A well conducted class with energetic and engaged students fills your energy right up to the top.

Here are some shots of those human Energizer batteries...




Children at KUEN Wushu doing their "Ha-Ha!" thing...

Somewhere over the rainbow...



See that rainbow? Taken today (15th June, 2007) around 5pm.

Photo taken from the basketball court outside KUEN Wushu facing
Shines Outdoor
adventure training facility. In case you're
wondering, the yellow containers
are bunks
for camping.

And oh, I made some new b-ball friends at the court today. Phew...
there's this guy
that can do some really neat tricks with the ball.

I'm impressed.

Its generally rather difficult to impress me with b-ball skills. I'm a
pretty good player
myself.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Meetings... meetings... meetings

Meetings are tiresome things. They sap the energy out of you and take up loads of time. Meetings render you, and whoever's unfortunate enough to be caught in the same meeting with you, rather unproductive for that day.

I started my day with a meeting at Hwa Chong Institution regarding a Wushu programme that we're due to conduct in July.

Then I met ZP laoshi for lunch at West Mall, followed by an indulgent afternoon tea session at Coffeebean. No we're not being Tai-tai-ish. We were discussing work over a nice cup of English breakfast. Envious? Aww... don't be. You don't work till 10pm at night. :p

Got a call and had to rush back to Kuen for a short meeting with SHINES's director. Apparently, there would be an event on the Sunday two weeks from now and I will have to find a way to make the training hall look tidy and decent. Great. : (

That's followed by a meeting with the Lyreco sales manager to get quotations for some office items I am planning to get.

At 6pm, ZP laoshi and I finally started on what we originally planned to do - A complete revision of the current theory test format and setting of questions for the centralized assessment on Sunday.

Meetings are tiresome things. I'm beat.
Zzz......

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Work days and off days

Spent most of Monday at the office shifting furniture around.

Spent the entire day at home yesterday shifting furniture and throwing out old stuff. (I moved my sitoca table to the office. At 120cm x 70cm, it took up too much space in my room, and since we're still lacking a table at the KUEN office...)

I foresee a lot of furniture shifting at work and at home for the rest of this week.

Hmm... and I thought Mondays were supposed to be off days for KUEN. *shrug*

I suppose with the new setup at SHINES, the office ppl no longer need to dutifully come in to open up and man the phone, since its an open school and the office phone will direct all unanswered calls to my hp. Well, that could be a bad thing, since we'll no longer need to keep regular office hours. Ppl could come in for work any time they want!!! GASP!

And right at the corner of the week is the KUEN mid-year central assessment on Sunday. Plenty of preparation work. Test papers to set, routine assessments standards, operational flow, manpower allocation, etc.

Speaking of which, I am actually already late for work. *gulp*

Hey! But who's to say blogging with the keyboard on lap, on my bed, in my room isn't productive work. *indignant*

Its very tough work ya know. Nods.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Phone at last... Net's gonna wait...


CHEERs: The phone's up... yeah!
BOOs: Internet's still down.


Just realised from Singtel that relocation of ADSL takes up to 3 days. Darn... and although the SHINES campus is supposed to be Wifi'ed, I can never get my notebook connected enough to go online. It kinda connected... but not. (It shows you're connected but you just can't get your browser to work. Bah...)

Did a little re-arranging of the
* T I N Y * space that is to be our office today. Due to the phone line sockets being placed somewhere else other than where I originally wanted it to be, I had to reshuffle all the furniture to accommodate the positions of the phone line (phone sockets determine where the modem & networking hardware is to be placed) but I kinda like the new placement over the old one :p . I also totally messed up KT's comfy setup (if you're a student then its Wang laoshi to you :p ), she's left with no table...for now. Muhahaha.....

Will take a picture of the place once I get all the furniture in and tidied up the place a little.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

RSYC Family Day

RSYC stands for Republic of Singapore Yacht Club. It's situated in the West Coast area, somewhere near PSA, 2 min drive from the West Coast drive-thru Macdonalds.

We've been asked to do a Wushu demo at the club's family day event this morning, to create awareness for its Wushu club.

I've been conducting a class at RSYC since the beginning of the year (every Sat 4.30pm-6.00pm). The class is rather small, 8 students with the occasional absentee/s. Really hope the recruitment drive goes well and the no. of students increases coz the timing clashes with another Wushu class held on the same day (Yew Tee CC). That would mean my hands are tied and I won't be able to visit and observe the trainers conduct their lessons at Yew Tee.

I did a mock test during the lesson at RSYC yesterday. Sigh... It got me worried for the kids. Half my class couldn't finish the test routine. They froze... Brrr.... I think being in the centre of the carpet alone and doing the routine is stressing them out. One more lesson till they go for their first assessment and things don't look too good for my class. But comeon, you can't fail the first test? Nobody fails the introductory module. Nobody. It's never been done before. Let's keep it that way shall we.

I'll post some photos of the family day event if I remember to snap some later.


Friday, June 8, 2007

Holiday Training Camp

Starting to become a staple every holiday ever since we started doing one a year and a half ago. The trainers and I work hard to do better for each camp. One of the things we decided to do after our camp reviews is to drop the generalized training coupled with enrichment components and change it into an intensive training camp. Not really suited for beginners, this time round the participants were really put through some grueling physical training that is sure to leave many sore and aching and missing their warm *beds/pc/tv/mommies/daddies.

*delete where applicable.

The trainers deserve a big pat on the back as they endured 5 torturous days of sleepless nights and early morning training sessions. Yup, in case any participants are reading, bet you didn't know that while you were sound asleep in Lalaland after a full day of Wushu training and camp activities, your trainers were still up in the middle of the night doing stuff like


- end of day reviews

- revision to training plans
- adjusting training targets
- reviewing training objectives
- planning non-training activities
- preparation for the next day
- checking in on you while you snore through the night
- having instant cup noodles

- playing Starcraft on the company PCs... *eye roll*

A big thank you to the following trainers:

王楷亭 老师
陈志鹏 老师
梁汉松 老师
陈铿锜 老师
杨宇翔 助理
王佳琪 助理
陈思瑾 助理

for conducting such a great camp.
(if I miss out anybody's name, let me know and I'll credit accordingly)

Hope the participants had as much fun as the trainers are tired... grin.
Today, they're going home...
I can almost hear their sigh of relief... trainers and participants alike.

Edit: Picture added 9th June, 3.33am.

Thursday, June 7, 2007

New Blog. New Place. New Milestone.

New Blog.
What can I say. Something I've been trying to get done but never did get around to it. Just like learning to write html so that I can manage the company website on my own. I'll get around to that... some day.

New Place.
If you don't already know, KUEN Wushu has relocated to its new training premise on the 31st of May, 2007. The new address is 1208, Upper Boon Keng Road, Singapore 387312 (Within SHINES INSTITUTE).The dust hasn't really started yet at the new place. Phones offline still, no net access (Argh...) and the stores are lying around everywhere. Yup, not a pretty sight, and my head's hurtin just thinking about the tasks to do.

New Milestone.
We've come a long way since we started out with an empty hall 3 years ago at Blk 70 Geylang Bahru. I know it must be hard to leave for many people, countless hours of training and fun memories, full mirrors the length of the entire carpet, parquet flooring, big office space, place of our own.
But hey, let's look on the bright side.
Now, we have FREE PARKING!
That works for me. (I believe I speak for ALL drivers @ KUEN!)
Grin.

Let us work towards another great year ahead and start building many many more hours of great memories at this new place.

I'll post some photos I took while we were shifting and of the new place once I get them out of my phone.

Zzz... for now.

KUEN's 1st Post

Hello World.

That was the first sentence that popped into my head after filling in the Title "KUEN Wushu Blog's 1st Post". Those who did programming will probably know where that came from.
"Hello World" is the first line of code you will probably learn to write if you learn programming.

There. The official KUEN Wushu Blog is born.

Took me quite awhile to figure what all the fuss is about with blogging but I did it. (shame on me for sitting on it for so long...)

I think there is already a KUEN Wushu related blog that is up and running called KUEN's Playground... I apologize for being so slow but I have never been on it as I could never find it or find out how to post to it.

To anyone who is reading this, especially Shen, don't worry about it. I thank you for setting up "The Playground outside the Training ground"and to keep it up and running even though you must be terribly busy with studies and all. Please continue to keep the community strong and the blog fun and playful.

While KUEN's Playground is as its title suggests, a "playground" for students and trainers alike, this official KUEN Wushu Blog is something I set up to help promote KUEN better. Seeing how little I know about maintaining the company website, I suppose the idea of a hassle-free method of posting to the Web did appeal to me. (I'm ashamed... I really should learn to write html... soon.)

There you are. Pretty long for a first post.

This is Chin, signing off.