Something Good Something Bad

A few days before the New Year, my Facebook status read:

KT is thankful for the good and bad in 2008 and is anticipating the good and bad of 2009. More the good lah. Happy New Year! Woohoo!

Well, at New Year's Eve, i was at a get-together and it was fantastic to enter 2009 with my brothers and sisters in Christ and with a bang too, lol. So that was good.

Today is back to school day. I was at the school helping out with the orientation programme for parents of P1 kids.

Early in the morning, i got news that the young man whom i've mentioned before who had cancer relapse, is back in the hospital battling fever barely after being discharged from a over 20-day stem-cell treatment. Then at school, i received an sms with news of the passing of my fren's dad. So those 2 pieces of news are the not-so- good. Please remember them in your prayers for those who know the people i'm referring to.

We had a speaker today for the parents. He talks about the parents' role in their kid's transition to P1. He is someone i know because we were in the same field previously, but we've not spoken before. So today, when i was assigned to be a coolie, yes, to help him carry his cartons of books/resources to the theatrette, I thought i should introduce myself to him. We talked about his work and some mutual friends we know and then he asked me for my name again. I said "KT" and he said, "As in Katie?". Ok, here we go again. This is actually a very familiar pattern of conversation as far as my name is concerned ;-)

So i patiently explained that those are my initials and that my name is Kwai Theng. "Oh, so you are Kwai Theng!"A mutual friend who heads a social service agency for whom we both "worked" for at different points in time, refers me by that name. So with the clarification that i'm Kwai Theng and not KT, we chatted like old pals, lol.

I enjoyed his talk. This being a boys' school, it's a timely reminder that mothers and fathers play different roles in bringing up their boy:

Mothers raise boys.
Fathers raise men.

So there you go, that is the good for me today.

By the way, my boys had a good day too. Ethan is now a buddy to a P1 boy from China. He will guide him through recess time for 2 weeks. Ewan was so happy that his good friend is in the same class as him. But he thinks his form teacher is fierce. LoL

Good and Bad, i am thankful.