They were here from the beginning.
Some arrived before The Temple walls turned green.
Others witnessed and will live to tell their future grandchildren about The Great Flood.
Shuffling their little half-grown feet for the first time through the Old Temple Gates, they found themselves in a new and unfamiliar Temple Grounds.
At first, most were quiet, shy and reserved (traits that are unimaginable now). Some were even cold and showed some attitude towards the alien that was Miss Loi.
But it didn’t took long (as with most students) for them to settle in and got themselves (too) acquainted with her and each other. And joss sticks sessions would never be the same again once the gaps between their ears became fully operational.
Very quickly, the Ministry of Talkativity was established – where members deemed it a cardinal sin to even stop talking for a moment, and whose legendary Leader was rumoured to have learnt to talk before he could even walk.
In the years that followed, Miss Loi was resigned to a life of saving students (who were unfortunately seated next to these members) from joining the evil Ministry, at the same time having to fend off a thousand 无聊 questions in class (无聊 because the asker already knew the answers beforehand most of the time).
And then there were those who mumbled their way through the years, complementing their unintelligible mutterings with some the worst handwritings the world has ever seen, along with rollercoasting grades that were season-dependent (probably due to whether the examiner could read the handwriting or not).
But when this band of brothers and sisters, the enfants terribles of The Temple, stepped forth with the rest of her 2010 batch to receive their Mathematical Deliverance on Judgement Day last Monday …
… and despite the gratifying news filtering in from her double-maths students (some of whom … umm … “hardly know anything about AMaths” and had been repeatedly asked by their school to drop AMaths 
) that
- 100%/90% have scored a minimum grade of B3 in E-Maths/A-Maths respectively.
- in both E-Maths & A-Maths, 75% attained at least a 4-grade jump.
- 84% have improved by at least 5 grades in E-Maths alone.
… and from her supposedly ‘weaker’ F9-plagued single-math students, of which 84% first arrived ‘spectacularly’ with a F9 grade (thanks to her usual anti-protectionist policy),
- 84% have improved by at least 3 grades. (basically it’s the same aforementioned F9 clique *sweats*)
- 75% have made the leap to at least a B4.
… Miss Loi’s mood was akin to the soft rain that fell in the afternoon.
As she watched with immense pride every single one of them stepped into the White Gates of Salvation – to be reincarnated as A-Level/Poly students – it was as if The Temple itself has come full cycle from those early days of uncertainty.
And now she couldn’t help but feel a lingering sense of emptiness once the last of them, those who had given her so much nonsense ‘grown up’ with Miss Loi through the years, those (whose parents) had placed their faith in her even when The Temple was nothing but a minuscule shrine, disappeared into the blinding light.
But with fresh contingents of half-grown feet now marching through the Temple Gates, Miss Loi knows that she has to quickly break out of her spell of 
melancholic mood these couple of days and look ahead – just like those of you who may still be a little sore and reflecting over your L1R5s or the odd grade that got away.
… damn the evil moderators!
For in addition to Miss Loi’s yearly adage of The next step you take is always more important than the previous step you left behind blah blah blah, this year she has a new one i.e. despite what some might say
Life always favours the late bloomers.
(but just don’t leave it too late!)
So hang in there and should you ever encounter an obstacle that seems too tall, know that there are always many, many roads to Rome:
P.S. This overdue post should have been done earlier in the week but as always, things have been pretty overwhelming following the release of the results *sigh*
With the start of a new year, it's level-up time! Subscribe now to the 
Suggested solutions & answers to selected 
my results came out better than expected 
...
ShuYen (3)
Serafine (2)
Student_B (2)
apocalyptical mecks (1)
Ryan (1)
Steel Rain (1)
yuuki (1)
Miss Loi is a full-time private tutor in Singapore specializing in O-Level Maths tuition. Her life's calling is to eradicate the terrifying LMBFH Syndrome off the face of this planet. For over 21 years she has been a savior to countless students ... 
曜
日
The Very Best In School N.E.mation!
(0)Look at Miss Loi.
Trapped in a GIF file
Cute, sweet and affable with a smile that’s frozen for eternity.
Having been trapped in such an inanimate state since the beginning, however, her face is suffering from cramps from all that smiling.
Thus she yearns for the day when she can free herself from the shackles of her static
.giffile and get herself featured in a Youtube movie − where her mathematical adventures would be retold in an engaging fully-animated manner (must be in full HD), and where the world would see and hear how shescolds her studentsconducts her joss sticks sessions in full 3D surround sound.And so the avatar Miss Loi could only watch with static envy and jealousy when the real (flesh & blood) Miss Loi received an invitation to blog about N.E.mation! (pronounced ann-nee-mation not nee-mation) − a yearly competition where groups of highly-creative students come together to see who can come out with the
next Initial D anime seriesbest one-minute animation clip.Started in 2007 and now back for the 5th year, N.E.mation is a competition for youths to express their notions on Total Defence through animation.
What’s interesting about this competition is that the contestants themselves are no budding Pixar or Dreamworks wizkids, but are instead regular students with no prior experience in animation. Given only 3 weeks of training to equip themselves with the necessary skills, they are tasked to create their very own one-minute animation clips to be judged by a panel of industry professionals and voted by a very demanding and yim chim armchair public (i.e. all of you reading this
)
Winning teams have had the ultimate honour of having their masterpieces screened on major TV channels – viewed by excited parents who would then hao lian to aunties/uncles that “MY SON/DAUGHTER DID THIS!!!“, by coffeeshop bookies waiting for their next football match, and by a Miss Loi pretending to look at the TV screen to avoid the guy peeking at her from the next treadmill when she’s working out in the gym.
This year in N.E.mation! 5, students are asked to use their creativity to produce storylines centred on the theme of “Home – We make or break”. The animation clips of the top ten finalist teams will be judged by a panel, including industry professionals from DreamWorks and Bluesky Studios. In addition, the public can now vote for their three favourite clips at www.nemation.sg or via SMS. The winning team will win a coveted trip to visit DreamWorks Animation in the USA!
After a long and grueling selection process, we are now down to ten finalists who will battle it out among themselves for that free USA trip. Check out each finalist’s interesting promotional videos where team members talk about their project, experiences, how their holidays got burnt etc. etc. (as an added incentive to click, there are many handsome guys and pretty girls in the videos too
)
So please support these students’ hard work (and make the burning of their holidays worthwhile) by casting your votes on your favourite animation clip! Click the image below to view the clips and vote:
Voting period from 22 Jan to 6 Feb 2011.
And perhaps, whoever the real Miss Loi voted may even get to win an exclusive contract from The Temple to bring Miss Loi’s avatar to life