TDVL Day 5 of 20

I decided to sit in the air-conditioned lounge / lobby to have my dinner and because people trickled in later than usual, I had the whole place to myself except for another female (from another class) about my age, who sat next to me talking softly into the phone. She talked so soft spokenly that I felt she was very gentle. That's a virtue I should learn to have. Anyway, I managed to finish my packet of rice and have a coffee. I was headed to the restroom when I bumped into the trainer at the water cooler. It was a cue to head into class. Alas, about a quarter of the people had still not arrived at the start of class!

Perhaps it was a Friday so people were in a more relaxed mood. Or perhaps they were anticipating winning that night's BIG TOTO draw (which, I did not buy). Haha. My fellow course mates started to loosen up. There were some joker comments here and there. It's nice that we're all getting used to seeing each other's faces.

Some people moved places again. I am resigned to the fact that if I wish to sit back in my regular spot, I should go early and just 'chope' (reserve) it. I like my seat because it's not the first row and I have a good view of the whiteboard and I can see and hear the trainer. So now, the first thing I do is to enter the empty classroom and reserve my seat with my shawl.

By the end of the 5th night, we had covered Module 2. As of today (because I can be quite a blur queen), I think there are 5 modules to be covered. We started off with information on our country, the State emblems, Flag, pledge, anthem etc. I think it's so if any tourist should ask you, you won't be so ignorant. Then we moved on to road rules, signs, somewhat like basic and final theory. Then we covered rules and regulations governing cabbies and by the 5th night, we had basic information about pick up and drop off rule and regulations and of course the ubiquitous demerit point system.

As a driver, I am always forgetting bus lane timings. The only thing I can recall (and quite smugly, I will explain why), is that regular bus lane timings do not apply on WEEKENDS. So when you see vehicles avoiding the regular (yellow lined) bus lanes on Saturdays, hehe, I smugly drive in the bus lane and zoom past them merrily.

Anyway, many drivers I know, can never remember the regular bus lane timings. I came up with a methodical way to remember it (because that's how my brain has to work to remember stuff) and I haven't forgotten it since! I shared it with hubs (who is also often asking me what the bus-timings are) and he said I should share it with people:

Regular Bus Lane timing (yellow lined bus lanes)

7.30 to 9.30 am
5pm to 8 pm

How to remember?
Maybe it's cos I used to be a school teacher but I decided that:
7.30 am is when school starts
9.30am is recess
If you do not study, you will get
5 eggs (meaning 5 zeroes. Egg is from '8' get it?)
I've never forgotten it ever since (which is only last week). LOL.

We were dismissed slightly earlier and I rushed home to start my well-deserved weekend.

I actually spent 2 hours ironing my shirts and pants for the new week's worth of classes. Divine providence that I had purchased some new Uniqlo shirts some weeks before with my kids. I thought I would dread going to class but I am not! I am actually looking forward to it. Hubby asked me how I felt and I said I was actually excited to be gathering new information from the classes. Not sure how the tests will pan out but that's beside the point.

Also, I'm super glad that my Plan B is already in motion. Now, I watch my clown co-worker faking it at work (which clown alternates between a Government website and Yahoo movies and expects people to believe he is hard at work?) and I tell myself, it's only a matter of time. I won't be letting anyone treat me wrong again. If it happens again, I will be walking out. Money enough or not enough. The clown can have my job. He can run the circus for all I care. He can download movies the whole day for all I care. He can selfishly build his own business database on company time. I won't care anymore. Life is too short and if God is with me, then who can be against me?

I've had time to reflect and fume that because of a screw up by the clown, I am expected to pick up the broken pieces and fix the problem. Where is the clown? No where to be seen. Not a nice feeling when other times, you are chided together with the clown (which makes me a clown too and I hate clowns). The next time I am bullied. I WILL walk out and tell them to clean up their house before they expect me to clean up their mess.

Last night, hubs and I lay in bed and we were discussing about how we don't really need a lot of things in our lives and how good God has been to us. We are already pretty simple. We are trying to in fact, be simpler. We don't need flashy houses, flashy cars or watches though I do admit, I haven't gotten Louis Vuitton out of my system yet because I LOVE patina on vachetta leather. LOL. I know, LV and simplicity do not go hand in hand. Hubs pointed out that lots of other bags have patina and I agreed that it was also the precision of the LV workmanship that impressed me. I need to work on this, I know. But I told him I am not perfect. I am just a human trying to incorporate God into my life (wait, actually that doesn't sound right. It should be ME trying to incorporate myself into God's way).

Anyway, back to the discussion hubs and I were having; we just need to have enough and more importantly, he is glad that I've become more generous to total strangers. I've heard it all the time, that it is better to give than to receive and it's only recently that I've parted with $ more easily to people I thought needed it more than I did. It really did make me feel lighter and I'm going to make a conscious effort to do it more often. It's not that I have a lot to spare but I've changed my mindset to believe that the little I can hardly afford to part with, could make a difference to that person's life AND that the Lord will take care of my needs.

Just wanted to end by saying that God really has been good to me. I feel His guiding hand. Whenever I take Communion, I am moved to tears by His love for me. I told hubs that He heard my cries of despair and though His resolutions never came at the speed nor way in which I had anticipated, they came any way. How great is our God! Praise Him!