11 Oct 2021 - Sunrise

It always feels great to witness the beautiful sunrise and morning sky!

6 Oct 2021 - PSLE is finally over!

Javier took his last PSLE paper (Higher Mother Tongue) today.  This marks the final milestone of his primary school journey.  It's time to enjoy and have a well-deserved break.  Javier may have completed his exams but Jerlene's end year examination has just started.  So all the best to Jerlene!

30 Sep 2021 - PSLE starts today

Today is the start of PSLE 2021 and I wish all P6 students all the best for their exams.  It's really not easy for students from this and last year's cohort when they had to go through many changes due to the ongoing pandemic.  Also, there is going to be a new PSLE scoring system this year, and that's creating more uncertainty among students and parents.  Anyway, as I always tell Javier, just work hard and do your best in your exams.  No matter what's happening around us, as long as we put in our best effort, we will achieve our goals.  Stay positive is key!  加油!

26 Sep 2021 - Back with stricter Covid-19 rules

Earlier in the month, I thought the Covid-19 situation was getting better and I was quite hopeful that some of the restrictions will be lifted soon.  However, instead of getting better, there has been a spike in the number of Covid-19 cases in the past 2 weeks.  Patients who require oxygen supplements and in ICU are also on the rise.  As such, there is going to be another round of rules tightening in the coming one month.  I hope that every one is able to cope with all these changes, especially those kids who will be sitting for their year end examinations in the coming weeks.  让我们一起加油!  Together, we can do it!  :-)

19 Sep 2021 - Antigen Rapid Test (ART)

Ministry of Education has distributed the Antigen Rapid Test (ART) kits to all students in primary schools from 13 Sep 2021.  Javier received three ART kits earlier in the week.  He's supposed to do one test before going to school tomorrow.  He had been procrastinating in the past few days over this matter.  Tonight is the deadline and he has no choice but to do it.  He did not need my assistance and he did it all by himself, which I am quite impressed.  The test result shows negative.  He will have to do one more test before sitting for his PSLE in less than 2 weeks' time.

13 Sep 2021 - Confirmed Offer from TJC (DSA)

The result of Javier's application for Direct School Admission to Secondary (DSA-SEC) is out today.  He was overjoyed when we informed him that he has gotten a Confirmed Offer (CO) from Temasek Junior College (TJC) for a place in the school.  The condition is that he must be eligible for Express stream based on his PSLE results.  It's going to be a 6-year Integrated Programme (IP), which is one of his criteria for a secondary school.

Congratulations, Javier!  Hopefully with this, you need not give yourself too much pressure and stress for the upcoming PSLE.  Just do your best and I'm sure you can achieve your goals.  All the best!

3 Sep 2021 - Lunch @ Tenderbest

Today is Teacher's Day and it's a school holiday.  As such, we went out for our lunch at Tenderbest @ Jalan Kayu.  This is our first visit here and we all love the food.  We will definitely frequent this place in the future.  Hopefully we do not have to go back to more Covid-19 restriction now that most of the population has been vaccinated.  :-)

15 Aug 2021 - Lunch out today!

Dining-in has resumed for fully vaccinated people in groups of 5 from Aug 10.  So today we decided to have a family lunch out since we are all fully vaccinated.  This is the first time in about 3 months when our whole family is able to dine in together in a restaurant.  Hoping for more relaxation on the restriction soon.

9 Aug 2021 - National Day RSAF Fly-pasts

Today is Singapore's 56th birthday!  Due to the current Covid-19 situation, the National Parade has been postponed but the RSAF fly-pasts proceeded as planned.  Similar to last year, our RSAF did a "round-the-island" state flag and fighter jet fly-pasts as the organisers sought to bring cheer to more Singaporeans while encouraging them to stay home.

Six F-15SG fighter jets flew in a tight delta formation across the island, to places from Jurong and Bukit Timah to Woodlands and Pasir Ris.

A Chinook helicopter carrying the state flag can be seen all around the island.

HAPPY NATIONAL DAY to ALL!

1 Aug 2021 - Completed both doses of Covid-19 vaccines

Jerlene and Javier took their 2nd dose of the Covid-19 vaccination today.  After their experience with the 1st dose which turned out to be better than expected, this time round they were not as anxious as the previous time.  With this, our whole family will be considered fully vaccinated 14 days from now.  Can't wait for more relaxation of safety measures once our entire population reaches a certain percentage of vaccination rate.  加油！

12 Jul 2021 - Fish Up: Another great scratch project from JJJwong

In the past few weeks, Javier had been very busy working on a new Scratch project called "Fish Up".  It is a fishing game that comes with a tutorial, achievement, leaderboard, music option, save/load feature and is mobile friendly.  This is one of his most complete game that he has done so far,  Within a few days after he published this project, it has already garnered more than 10,000+ views and is one of the top trending projects within the entire Scratch community.  Glad that his weeks of hard work did not go down to waste.

I tried to look through all the comments for this project and it is very encouraging as most of the comments are positive.  It has generated lots of discussion among the scratchers, especially on how to get the secret achievement in the game.  Soon after, close to a hundred scratchers started remixing this project.  This is indeed the most successful project for Javier so far and hope to see more from him.  Well done!  :-)

23 Jun 2021 - Vaccination for Children

Jerlene and Javier went for their first dose of Covid-19 vaccination today.  Jerlene seems very relaxed while Javier was a bit stressed out since the day we registered for him.  He's not worried of the side effect, he's simply afraid of the needle.  We went to the vaccination centre at Raffles City Convention Centre as all other venues were fully booked for the current June school holiday.  I accompanied them through the registration counter till vaccination area.  Once they moved over to the observation area, I was told to proceed to the parent waiting area outside.  Javier said that the injection was not as bad as he had expected.  So far, both Jerlene and Javier feel ok and the only side effect is the sore arm, which most people experienced.  Their next vaccination will be around 6 weeks later.

21 Jun 2021 - Relaxation of Covid19 restriction

As the number of Covid-19 cases are coming down, some of the safe measurement will be relaxed slightly starting today.  For instance, dining in and hanging out in groups of 5 are now allowed.  Let's hope the number of cases will continue to reduce so that further relaxation is possible as we move towards normalcy.

9 Jun 2021 - Completed our 2nd dose of Covid19 vaccination

Tracy and I took our 2nd dose of Covid19 vaccine today.  Just like when we took our first dose, the entire process was very smooth and quick.  This time round, we were given a box of face masks after the vaccination.  Now that we had taken both the doses, we will be officially certified in the MOH system as fully vaccinated in 14 days' time.  

MOH had just announced that children between 12 to 15 years old can start to register for their vaccination, preferably during the current June school holiday.  We do receive SMS notification to register for Jerlene and Javier.  At this point in time, we have not made up our mind whether to let them go for it.  Guess we will give ourselves a while more to decide.......

31 May 2021 - DSA Application for Javier

Direct School Admission for secondary schools (DSA-Sec) is a scheme that allows students to apply to some schools before taking the PSLE.  Primary 6 students can apply for DSA-Sec based on a wide-range of talents which include academic subjects such as Maths and Science, Sports, Performing Arts, Leadership etc.  In fact, some schools, such as NUS High, only accept students through DSA.  Javier decided to apply to certain schools that match his criteria through this DSA exercise.  Sometimes in July, for students who are shortlisted, they will have to go for some written tests, trials or auditions.  After which, the schools will then offer a place for successful applicants.  I wish Javier all the best for his application.  :-)