Retirement is the new Rewirement

It would be great if Ms. Goh is a sudden passerby and reading this. I made a handmade card with a portrait painting of her during her retirement speech in January this year. And I just realized it was kept in my blog draft all this while. I though it would be nice to share it with all of you, if any of the points I've mentioned and you felt the same way. I believe the majority are proud to be a St. Marian for their lifetime, so do I. Without further ado,  here you go. 


Dear Ms. Goh, 

If you haven’t received the thanks you deserve after serving almost a decade in St. Mary, I want to thank you now. You're an absolutely amazing principal and making such a positive impact on me. I want to thank you for doing the most important work of all, educating the next generation and being willing to work long hours for modest pay and minimal status when you surely could be making more money with less stress and greater prestige. Although I may not agree with you all the time. But I am sure I have fond memories of my days in St. Mary's. I remembered that we are always alert and afraid of your keys sound that is hanging around your neck and your footstep sound from your high heels as you walk along the corridors. We will quickly settle down ourselves like pulling up our socks, get our fringe clipped, buckle up our pinafore and put the bags on the ground and much more. So that you will not walk into our class and give us a lecture. That would be a big relief for us. Now, I would laugh back at our little silly gestures. In comparison to other government school, we proudly have cleaner toilets, better canteen food, and less vandalism. Our chairs and tables are mostly in good condition. A person told me recently, "you can still have good teachers without a good principal. But you definitely won't have a good school". I believe, it's not very often a principal motivates people during assemblies with videos and pictures. Besides that, it took my dad and I, searching for almost 6 schools in a day for in KL for Form 6 but none of them offered art subjects. And without any demand, you offered help by contacting your friend and introduced me into MBS for my further studies. I'm so thankful and grateful at that moment. But unfortunately I have to turn you down because I received a scholarship offer from The Star Education Fund. You're always the best and I miss your literature class so badly. It was so fun and scary as I don't understand English well at that year. I can't thank you enough and I do appreciate for everything you have done for me, and everyone in the school. I hope you like the portrait painting I did for you. It's my first time drawing Asian and painting a portrait. Happy retirement and enjoy yourself! May God keep you well and healthy!  

Sincerely,
Tan Pooi Ling
Graduates of 2010 

With Love,
Audrey Tan

New Path, New Chapter

This is my first post in 2015. My few months of break were not wasted. At least I enjoy a few vacations locally and overseas and gave me a whole new perspective. I've made up my mind and try my luck for another scholarship to pursue my Bachelor Degree. I'll never dive myself into the art industry anymore. I figure out that's not my passion, although I love teaching and sharing art with kids, which is a total different thing than studying Advertising and Graphic design. I realized that I'm a person who loves freedom and exploring new things. I'm an extreme three-minute-heat person. Every lecturer says I've done best in presentation and always score at least one or two marks below or full marks. I think Corporate Communication will lead me to a pathway that I believe it'll suit me and I'll love it. Throughout three years in my Diploma, I realized that do what you love and not for money. Many told me that, but I was too naive to trust them. I regretted my first choice of doing art studies. And luck is on my side, I was so lucky receiving an email for a scholarship interview again. Few more days to prepare the best of me to present myself in front of the judge panel. Cross my fingers that I'll ace through my nervousness and wish me best of luck to pass through the interview. I think learning new languages will be an extra advantage for this course and my resume in the future.  I'll do my best and possibly scoring first class honour. 

Yours truly, 

Audrey Tan