I am VERY BUSY yet I have TIME to PLAY?!

Last week I have finished marking 88 copies of Science paper, integral to the evaluation of 15 years old for the entire country. Each paper has 36 pages (no objective questions whatsoever) so I ended up leafing and marking through 3 168 pages of pure agony. I love teaching, but marking is a great bane of my life. Thirteen years of teaching and still I don't find any joy plowing through stacks of paper. But I have ways to make things go easier for me...

This is my housemate cat, Putra or 'Prince' in English. He has a female sibling, somewhere in the house, named Bayu or 'Breeze'. (Hey, I don't give these animals their names ok!) Here, the tomcat is seen being adorable by my stack of exam paper. (I still miss my faithful cat Kiki. Learning from my mistake, I will keep short hairs only now.) 

These two cats residing in my home doesn't belong to me, but my housemate. But I paid for their kibble and cat-sand. I don't do the feeding and changing the litter-box though. Putra is a huge cat from standard as the playful thing eats a lot more than his sister. I may buy more premium cat food to see how big he can grow.  

Malaysia is going through the rainy season until January next year. For now, it almost rained everyday, and I like it! This photo was taken at 715 in the morning next to the school buildings. Heavy mist, where dinosaurs or a King Kong or two may lurk...

I post 10 prefects around the school building to help teachers bring stuff to the staff-room. And they do this everyday in the weekday morning from 700 till 730 am. 

A student sleeping during an examination.

(You may think this picture is characteristically universal, but people don't fall asleep during exam in Japan, China etc) This is taken on the last day of the final exam. If it is really up to me, I let them sleep after finishing, and even while they were actually in the middle of answering questions.

You are responsible for your actions. Regret is not a luxury if you see it is fit to sleep in class and the exam hall.

And this is how I quickly get results from the stacks of paper. I make them attend a class with me, sometime late at night and we discuss and everybody marks their own damn paper. (Some teachers and parents are strongly against this, but I have my own reasons). 

This is a two pronged spear. First, during marking, the students and I displayed every possible answers (wrong or right) and by listening to the discussion, EVERYBODY learns something from the mistakes made, or questions well answered. I entertained every questions and telling them the correct way to mark their own papers (and I purposely ask them not to have ambitions to be teachers, noticing how hard it is to be one now).

The second reason is even simpler. TIME. We can finish marking the whole lot in one sitting (about 2 hours). If I did the honest thing and mark everything myself, it would take me more than a week, and I am the one learning multiple times from marking the same copy over and over again, while the students might not even bat an eye for any corrections when they get back their copy.

Oh, and I may spend almost 8 hours discussing the same paper THRICE to three classrooms. 

(Tell me if you agree or not with me).

If you are worried about the integrity of the results, and doubting the honesty of the students, I am way ahead of you. I only do these mass-marking by students for tests and NEVER major examination (like I mention above. 3 000++ pages remember?)    

And this is me (holding the camera) and my two BFF having a Korean bbq dinner after me finishing the papers. The price was expensive and it was worth every cent (in my opinion, Koreans make the best bbq and steamboat sets ever). We spent two hours eating, mostly in silence because the food was really tasty. Both of them went for prawns and mollusk and I am more of a meat guy (beef, lamb and mutton). I don't see why we need to touch chicken when there are more expensive things to eat. 

I am leaving for a minor pilgrimage @ umrah (to Mecca) this 7th December. And will be there for 14 days. My mom paid for everything and she wants all her sons to join her on the pilgrimage. I have mixed feelings for this journey, but I will not tell about it here.  

Ok, now time to visit your blogs. I believe many may assume me dead or missing or both from the blogosphere. Wait for your turn folks.

The Last Week of School

School makes me forgot to blog. I SWEAR!

I am swamped with paperwork (which I despise), marking (ditto) and general yelling at the kids as many teachers are absent for various reasons.

The admins purposely put me and another female teacher on duty this week, this very last week of school this year. Why? As the Malay proverb would describe us as "chained tigers", very very fierce individuals. (I actually like to be labelled as thus). Together we deter chaos in school by being extremely bossy and general unpleasantness.

I am busy, will do much more later. See you all soon.

What I Have Been Doing October 2016

It has been some time and I was quite busy leading my life as a teacher. We are approaching the end of the year, hence school holiday is looming not far away. So everything must be documented, filed, frowned upon, shaken all about, maybe with some panicky screaming and sometimes a few sobs.

My students had finished sitting for their final exam and I must admit, on behalf of all the teachers on this planet or beyond, dead or alive, this century and before that...

WE HATE MARKING PAPERS!

This is my lab, which was fortunately devoid of students. So I can take naps and maybe play some online game with my new phone (oh yes I can. No more class as everybody has finished their final exam). Observe the pristine white tables (benches?). I had them all wipe, scrub and polish the entirety of the lab when I found out there were some writing on my table surface two weeks ago. I hate vandals. They should be kicked ceremoniously by the whole community as a warning to all. 

My table in the staffroom yet again... I only sit here for the air-conditioning, or when the rest of the teachers mumbled about how antisocial I was, staying quietly inside the lab. For the record, I don't consider myself to be socially inapt, I just treasure my alone time a lot more.

So much paper to mark... (they are not on my table still). 

My nightlife nowadays consist of playing games, watching tv or go outside for dinner / supper. Heck, when I was way younger I did go to the disco or any other inappropriate establishments. But I had decided that such places had no hold over me, and remember, I like to be alone by myself.

The restaurant above is near my house and we call it the 'purple' shop. The place has blue and purple lighting and chairs. The waiters, I admit to be a bit dumb (hey, I am a teacher. So when I acknowledge someone to be dumb, he is!) but the food was ok,

(My housemate was the one who labelled the waiter as an idiot when he forgot our order twice.)  

And this other restaurant is the one I frequented when I am on warden duty at school. The place is rather huge but not crowded, which I like. All the time I would bring a few of my students to have very late supper with me here (1100 pm upwards). Oh, and as you see in the photo, it is a seafood restaurant. But I refrain from ordering the seafood items because they are costly and maybe not even fresh (this place is far from the sea).

Do you have a favourite restaurant?  

And the picture above is of a typical Malay wedding community dining. Huge tents (or for those who can afford , huge banquet halls) are filled with people for a free meal, celebrating the wedding. Food nowadays are served buffet-style, for the great convenient of the host (less dishes to wash) and guests (no need to wait to be served). But I do remember when I was younger when people serve your meals at the table while attending a wedding ceremony. Good old days...

 Oh, and the wedding above was of my Vice Principal of Students Affair's son.

You can say most of the adults you see in the picture are all teachers or related to the call.

This is the other part of the wedding ceremony in the hall. The bride and bridegroom were on the stage, but surrounded by wellwishers and family members. Usually the tables near to the stage are special because they cater to the close family members of both party.

So non relations like me and sundry just keep to ourselves at the tents...

(MY own wedding was way bigger than this :P) 

I was in the city for two days, attending a science course for teachers. So during my break time, I wander around in my car killing time, and not people, mind you.

This is BSN, Bank Simpanan Nasional (or National Savings Bank). I snapped this pic after extracting my pay from its ATM. Several years ago this was the National Bank of Malaysia, Melaka branch, so the building was understandingly huge.

  The National Bank withdrew its business and BSN took over. This building is actually in the middle of the city centre. But hey! Where are the skyscrapers?!

We only have a few, so they do not matter much.

As Halloween is upon us already, how about a bit of spookiness?

Yep, above is an ancient Chinese tomb. They were a few of these tombs next to the General Hospital and I chose this one because it was in a open space for lighting.

[My Chinese friend told me that it was quite unacceptable to take photographs of cemeteries and my reply was thus.... This cemetery is exactly next to a VERY busy street. People can shout, scold, scream or even shoot at me if they want. But they didn't. And I believe the ghosts would feel pretty proud that someone is showing interest in their grave site.

My friend laughed at this]. 

Two stone lions...

There is a stone with a wad of paper above this gravestone. 

I am wise enough to let them alone.

(Have watched enough horror films about touching stuff you are not supposed to...

And some people said you never learn anything from horror flicks...).

They are two stone elephants. So I took a picture of one.

Another stone lion. Bigger. 

The old Chinese style depicted this lion to be roaring, but as you can see, it was almost like the thing is smiling. I don't find this creepy though. Even looks like a friendly puppy.

Only those with great riches and power put statues of noble animals at their grave.

(That's why I believe these graves were untouched, even by the city council). 

And here is Melaka Sentral.... my state central hub of public transportation, bus and taxis. This building have two wings, like an airport, one for domestic and the other for out of state travel.

I have stopped travelling on buses since I got my own car.

This palce is great for people watching though.

And last and not least. I bought a Zippo lighter today! 

For what you say?

I am not a frequent smoker, in fact I rarely smoke. But I can smoke like a locomotive if I want to, preferably if someone else is paying for it.

I just love metal stuffs, and this one is burnished copper, but not too shiny as I would be unhappy if it is scratched. Oh and did I ever told you good people I like to play with fire?

Mwahahahahahaha! I do like to see things burn :P

(Ok, enough of the pyromaniac confession).

Camera o Phone-camera!

This post is filled with pictures taken from my new phone. It takes amazing pictures, and if you see any inferiority, well, that's my fault. Unlike some of you good people who actually travel to find beautiful scenery to snap, I just take the pictures of things around me. I had a decent small Sony DSLR (8 megapix) and used it extensively during my travelling days. Took many amazing photos of rivers and the jungles.... and alas, I lost ALL of the pictures when I neglected to back them up.

Moral of the story; back up your files for peace of mind. 

Now this is a student of mine I let him use my phone for a selfie. (Last night there was a discussion on talk tv about the dangers of selfies. They concluded that people who frequently selfie has a mental problem! Really?!) As I don't have a face that can stop traffic, I refrain myself to take and post selfies on social media. (Damn those beautiful people...) 

Anyway the boy's skin is spotty a bit because he has gluten intolerance. 

And this is of the same boy with the BEAUTIFY function on. (Most new smartphones have this function). Notice the difference? The phone has a beautify scale from 1 to 10 and this picture is taken only on 5. I tried 10 once and my face looked pasted with make up foundation an inch thick. It was flawless and also horrifically artificial to look. Oh the terrors of modern technology is a sight to behold (or not). 

This is Qasrina Sofea once again. She accompanied me and my brothers to get shots from the clinic. We are going to travel overseas this middle of December, hence the shots to avoid catching diseases. I will tell you where soon.

And this is the contents of my black leather bag. From the top (clockwise) is my leather wallet, a smaller version as the previous one was too big for a sane man to carry. Then my white power-bank (which I confiscated from a student in school, no gadgets policy). My red Sony headphones (because why you want to use earphones when you can go bigger for a statement?) My compact mirror, I bought from a travelling Chinese salesman. A small bottle of scented oil for my skin (I get it why the Evil Witch melted by Dorothy... If my skin got too clean, it goes dry and flaky). My car and house keys, with the Doraemon keychain. Some candy (I am diabetic, the sweets are sugar free) because I like them. And my yellow aluminum bank-cards holder. 

This was taken last week when a friend invited us for a barbeque meal. He has finally cleaned up his yard and house and is happy to invite guests now. In the picture you can see my housemate (in purple) sitting under a grove of bamboos. My friend had just started to light the charcoal by the small pond. I like that pond. I had my feet in it the entirety of the cooking process.  

The pieces of chicken over the charcoal.... My housemate had to pitch in as I am almost useless in this kind of job. They didn't use longer thongs so there were lots of ouchs and owws. They barbecued two chickens that evening and they tasted great, burned bits and all. 

This is the front of my house (yes, I have a request for this pic). Nope, it's not pretty. The gates are rusty and the grass is not brown because of lack of water...  They were dully poisoned by my housemate who had enough of using the grass whacker every month. He even accidentally killed some of the flowering and fruit plants with the poison. As he was the one who planted them, I have no reason to be angry (I'd go ballistic if they are mine).

This is the left side of my house. The yard is quite big and the rest of the homes here had already used theirs for expansions and renovations. I don't have a reason to use mine other than growing weed :) The Japanese rose bush on the left has sweet smelling flowers, almost vanilla like. Again, notice the brown patches... Weed and grass have finally won and they have started to conquer my lawn once again (and I believe my housemate shall poison them once again soon). 

I think I should update something more serious.... But people rarely like me when I am serious.

I always get my way and I will always win...

Heck, so we shall continue on fluff pieces...

It's almost 11 PM, and I Should Blog Something

Tomorrow is a school day and I should sleep early. But I had spent this afternoon napping for hours and I don't feel sleepy quite yet. You see, before the nap I went out and bought myself a new smartphone to replace my still usable (innocent) one. I need a bigger internal memory for a phone and my old HTC 816 measly 8 gig is too small for convenience. The new Huawei Honor 8 has 64 gig memory and I added 36 gig more externally. And the double camera is amazing.

So I tested the new phone camera tonight... 

This is my betta fish I keep in a mason jar on the table. I called him Justin, and yes, he is male. Justin cost me thrice the usual price because he got metallic scales, which is quite prized by betta lovers. Once I had a betta fish twice the price of Justin and gosh! He was BEAUTIFUL. (Betta males have more colourful scales and bigger 'sails' than females. They can live up to 5 years).

I was cleaning my leather bags and wallet earlier this evening and the stuff are still lying on the floor. I just adore good quality leather goods. But I will not waste money to buy exclusive brands like Louis Vuitton and Coach mainly because.... there are a tremendous amount of pirated items out there, there is no need to feel that special swagging your Prada when a 'Prado' cost 90% less.

Oh, and I put my bank cards inside the yellow aluminium case. Sometimes I only carry this to shop and leave my wallet in the car.

These are actually women's brooches. I bought them from my sister's boutique shop and they were imported from Korea. I used to have tarantulas and scorpions as pets (but never snakes) and I pinned them to my messenger bag and sling bag, both black leather.

As for the time being, NOBODY commented that I shouldn't wear women jewelry. Some female colleague s asked if my sister sells 'cuter' brooches, and I said yes.

Crystals.... I have many crystal bracelets. But I don't think guys my age can wear crystal bangles anymore :(

I snapped this outside my home after locking the gates. Looks ominous doesn't it?   

Same place, but with my flash on. Now you can see a bit of my front yard. On the further right in the gloom you may see my pomegranate tree. I love this tree, not only because it produced huge fruits, both my pet ferrets and Kiki, my cat were entombed underneath it.

And no, I don't eat the fruits. Here, people plant pomegranate trees for aesthetics and luck.

A heavily laden tree is considered very auspicious.

Well, that's all folks. Time to hit the sack (1131 pm now).

To The Movies We Will Go.

I'd like to share you some pictures of me doing one of my favourite hobbies (other than gaming, eating and sleep). So bear with me and wait till I visit the blogs of you lot to comment. My update is SO LONG overdue and I feel like kicking myself, neglecting to write. I blame the new PS4 games I religiously play everyday and the added school workload, reaching the end of the year.   

Well, this is on top of my dashboard. A plastic Doraemon, the Japanese cat-like robot (I happen to love and collect Doraemon stuff. My students also give me lots during Teacher's Day). The rubber salamander is a leftover from a Teacher's Day game, this year. 

(A few teachers here do call Doraemon, and I don't really mind. The students are aware of my liking to the character but they are not crazy enough to call me to my face. Do your friends call you a nickname from any cartoons?)

I hate traffic jam. Fortunately after the state upgraded the roads to double lanes, the way to the city is now wider and faster. Still I prefer to go during weekdays to avoid the rush on weekends. When I was younger, I'd ride the bus to go and watch a movie. 

It was really a pain as the public transportation here is not really dependable. But you do excruciating things for the stuff you love eh?

And we have a meal before we do the shopping / movie. If I am feeling generous, I'd go to somewhere fancier but nowadays that kind of money-burning intent has somewhat lessen. (Maybe because of my brand new hobby - saving money in the bank!)

Here you see my housemate (Yes, he lives with me) with a pizza, and I am having an orange brioche (mighty expensive, the pastry, but oh so good!). Usually I do sushi, but the kind I like best was sold out.

And this is us waiting for the movie to start. Usually we arrive two hours earlier so we can do some shopping and eat. I prefer to go back directly after the movie. I am predictable that way. 

The front of the cinema... I use the right entrance, for online purchases. A few years back I had a card for another cinema, and used the card to buy tickets from a machine situated in front of said cinema. When a newer cinema opened (pic) I finally experienced the joy of online purchases.

Sometimes I bought tickets a week in advance. 

This was taken around 1100 pm, after the cinema, on our way to the car. See the cars? The cinema is always full of people. 

I don't park inside the shopping complex area anymore to save money and to avoid the traffic jam of going out of the tight compound. We have to walk further a bit as I parked my car in a nearer shop lots. (This particular shopping mall has the cheapest parking rate ever, RM 1 the whole day, but I am a cheapskate after all.) 

And this unrelated picture is of the spread my sister and I had for our mother. No, it wasn't her birthday or what, sometimes we do stuff like this to amuse ourselves. Usually my sisters do the mommy-entertaining stuff, but as I ordered the whole catalog for dimsum from a friend, I said what the hell, let's do a party. The dimsum was awesome!

That's my niece, Qasrina Sofea. She modeled stuff (jewelry and clothes) for her mom's boutique shop. 

Oh, and I bought the steamboat pot and induction cooker especially for this. I am also an impulsive buyer. (complex me).  

I had this Tefal electric grill for years (I found the brand to be very exceptional, if you buy the premium stuff). Grilling is done outside of course. I do have an actual grilling set at home, and it was such a chore to clean after use :P Having meal with people you love should be a frequent thing. "Do not be stingy when it comes to food with family and friends" I read this earlier this year. How true. 

p.s.

- We watched Ben Hur (the remake) and I was not impressed

It's Almost The Middle of August?!!

Wow. Time does fly very fast when you are older... Like wishing us to kick the bucket quicker so the younger people can take over. That's how I think anyway, though I prefer to live forever. From the movies; vampires, immortals who lived a very very long life were depicted to have very very boring lives too. They may travel, experiencing a lot, or just stuck inside caves for thousands of years... (I found travelling to be boring. That's why I don't like travelling far).

What the heck am I rambling about?

My pink netbook and my red wireless mouse. I can open my blog at school because we have a decent wifi in the staff room. Of course the wifi is filtered so we cannot open any other social media platform like Facebook or Instagram. Which is ok with me because my smartphone has a humongous amount of data to waste on FB and Youtube. I actually d prefer to read an actual book if I want to kill hours of my time. The smartphone isn't large enough to read comfortably. 

Why not get a tablet you say? I already have an IPad at home and I don't like to lug it around. 

This was taken on the last day of co-curriculum activity this year. The sun was shining bright and hot, and the students were required to sit in their respective clubs / societies to get their attendance. I do wished these people can move a lot faster. I am quite particular about time, and I have this tendency to look down upon tardy people.

But yesterday I heard somebody famous (and dead) quoted on tv; "Punctuality is the thief of time". 

I think its Oscar Wilde. Please rot in hell, that man.

And this is my car blocking the way to the front of the hostels before the rush.... Why? Because I just feel like it. By blocking the way, the parents had no other choice, and they will drop off their children faster, the goodbyes shorter because of the accumulating traffic behind.

(And the students never dared to ask me move my car at their parents behest)

A science teacher looks for easier ways in life.

It's exam time once again! And I am dreading to mark all that Science papers. All 88 copies, each 32 pages, by students of varied intelligence. Science and Maths... the two dreaded papers of lower secondary school. These papers are more difficult than most and to get As... it's a f**king miracle! (And that's coming from me who teaches Science!)

The Age of (the) Offended

Look at the picture above for a few moment s'il vous plait...

I just took the random picture above for a reason. This is about being offended at anything, anytime of the day, for no apparent good reasons.

I rarely listen to / watch talk programs on the radio or television. But yesterday, as I was driving to school, the two deejays on my favourite commute radio talked about how people got so easily annoyed at things, even the tiniest bit of stuff not even related to their well being. People are so judgmental and criticize like they are the foremost expert in everything in said topic.

My minor social experiment above, regarding the picture; Did you comment in your head about the children in the picture? Maybe the boy can smile a bit more? (Or the girl a bit less?) Why are they carrying big files? Surely the age of modernization we have smaller files or way better still, tablets for school? Hey, our Alice looks way prettier than the girl! My gosh, that boy looks way reddier than my Alex! Heck, what's with the white background? Why not display a scene in a classroom etc etc? and the comments goes on and on if we dwell a lot longer on the subject.

(BUT if you, o pure-hearted souls you did none of the above, good for you! I'd like to shake your hands and ask the secret to be a good non-judgmental human being).

Nowadays the social media is a favourite place to express our emotion (safe or not, that is not the discussion for now). You are having a nice meal, share it on Instagram! (where people may judge if it's really good or not). You just got dumped by your sh***y boyfriend (change your status to single in FB and wait for the judging masses to say boo-hoo-pity-you). You tweeted you are having the time of your life (and the judgy people may compare it to theirs). I just give some examples.

I will let this article hang because, heck, i am super offensive / offended / offending myself.

But hey! That what a teacher is for, we have THE RIGHT to judge and comment. This also goes to parents and bosses around the world. 

Heck, life will be boring if we don't talk about other people and complain!

C'est la vie :-)

Of Terrorism and Network of Spies

If I didn't love myself and parents well, I'd be a phenomenal crime lord.

Yes, I was born evil, and it wasn't my parents fault. Maybe the bad genes of my previous ancestors were finally distilled within me, or the cosmos decided to create an alien in human form for fun. I never said I was good, always tell people to be careful around me.

At least I warned them. It's not like I'd grow claws and rip them apart. I hold grudges... and I always get my dues. Imagine Damien 6.0.

Anyway, talking about Terrrorism... Last week three Malaysian fishermen were abducted by the coast of Sabah by three heavily armed men from the south of the Philippines... The same case happened before, some of our citizens kidnapped by the southern Philippines terrorists for ransom.

For your information, the south of Philippines is a nest of pirates, two bit freedom fighters and kidnappers. And those islands is very near to Sabah, Borneo, the eastern-most state of Malaysia.

A few years ago, several of these armed men infiltrated Sabah, killing locals and policemen in their wake. They wanted Sabah to be theirs, citing of documents and agreements from long past to validate their purpose. And the government mobilize the army and bombed them all to hell (I was surprised that we do have drone-bombs in our arsenal).

Back to the matter at hand, if we pay the ransom (millions of ringgit worth), they may return the hostages... but the vicious cycle will never end. The terrorists will buy more guns and continue rampaging and kidnapping, asking for more money. They say their cause is just, and they are desperate. But whoever knew of a righteous terrorist nowadays...

 People and places are bombed worldwide. Innocents shot by discontent madmen. Suffering, all year round, fun for the whole family! This is the age where terrorists are superstars, the news are almost incomplete without tales of death and carnage.

If it was up to me, I'd invade the south of Philippines and kill every living soul living there. And then withdrew my troop and say "Ooops! Sorry" to the Philippines government. But that may incite a war. See? The circle never ends. But diplomacy is already dead and buried.  

I am not nice, but I hate terrorism. Why? Because it may disturb my peace and sleep. Rather selfish reasons, that.

Anyway, let me tell you about yesterday's case;

A girl tweeted her picture in the afternoon during school. She was careful not to add her teachers or school friends. She thought she was clever... (bringing gadgets, phones to school is an offence)

Her friend outside the school saw the tweet, and promptly alerted a teacher about it. The teacher, who happened to be in the staff room yelled for me, showing me the uploaded tweet with picture, the damning evidence.

I instructed a couple of my prefects to bring this girl to me. It took her a long time to come (students know it is never a good thing when I call them). She was starting to evade when I asked where the handphone was, and I had not the energy to scream her to submission.

I flicked her tweet account using my own phone and showed the tweet to her (the time stamp clearly shows the upload during school hours). "Explain this." She was silent.

"Bring me the phone right now. If you refuse, it's ok. Tomorrow I shall call your parents and we shall have a meeting with the principal and vice principal of student affairs. So what shall it be?"

She relinquished her huge tablet to me immediately from her bag.

Yes, I do a lot of blackmailing. I am a terrorist too. I never said I am nice :)
 

The Gall of Some People @ O Great Pretenders

This morning as I was walking to the school office from my car, I heard the teacher-on-duty berating the assembled students about the incident yesterday. She said there had been SEVERAL students who had 'fallen sick' and wanted to be taken to the clinic.

Today is Thursday and tomorrow's Friday. Next week entirety is the Eid Mubarak's holiday and students may return back from this Friday evening.

As an entity born with a dark soul, I know how these naughty students think. They pretended to be sick so the good people in the clinic would give them a couple of days off and MC certificates. Then they can happily skip school much earlier than the rest, and I believe their parents are also in cahoot in this dastardly proceedings.

So as I stopped by the ranting teacher, told her to announce that if any students wished to go to the clinic today, they have to see me first. She immediately expressed my request on the PA for everybody to hear.

Now it is almost an hour after the announcement.... nobody shows up, as I predicted.

My reputation for being a thorough investigator and all round nasty person do have its merits.

This was a ferret of mine, Disco, who died last year. These photos were taken years ago when we played by the beach with some friends of mine. He was an affectionate boy from most ferrets, I could see him smiling when he was happy. 

I looked up for his pictures here in my own blog and would like to share the memory of Disco with you people :'(

A Teacher Walks In A Park...

[Why I work as a teacher?]
To those who knew me from the earlier years, they might find the job a bit peculiar because they expected a lot more from me - lawyer, engineer, pharmacist, serial killer, drug dealer etc. I wanted to be a teacher, and the only ones who knew were my parents.

[Seriously. Why a teacher?]
Because both of my parents were teachers. And I was fascinated when they marked the exercise books in front of me. And I was born bossy and only tolerate truth and facts from people. And I found patronizing people quite fulfilling this dark heart of mine. It's not about the money, really.

[Now you have been one for several years... How is it?]
The journey was not smooth. I got into a lot of trouble because I refused to be like everyone else. But truth be told, you ONLY remember EXTRAORDINARY teachers in school, right? I wanted to be one. Teaching is very rewarding, and as I have a black soul to begin with, it is nice to see that your students ended up successful.

[Politics in workplace. Your comment?]
I am usually my own faction, because nobody acts and thinks like me. This make me a target for war-mongers and gossipers alike. Oh, it's so much fun to attack the odd guy! I don't usually take sides, and keep my opinion to myself. But this has changed as I grow older, now I would expressed myself rather loud everywhere.

[What's your favourite activity in class?]
Other than teaching and belittling people? Maybe storytelling with students. I told them about the goode-olde-dayes, and what I did then. They found my stories genuinely fascinating because I did things few normal people would (will not divulge this to you for security measure). There is always a moral in my story, not just empty talk, and they remember my stories way better than the actual lesson I taught them!

[So you are truly happy with the job?]
Truth be told, I am a bit unhappy with the direction the education this country is heading. But as I am a lowly teacher, I will try to obey as much as I can.

And this was taken this morning during the mentor-mentee session. I (black shirt) was sitting way back with six of my students. (We can use the classroom but I was lazy to climb the stairs, naturally). We talked about their academic accomplishments and how to improve. I think I talked a lot of nonsense because I was unhappy with somebody earlier but the students seemed ok with their venting teacher. I am only alien, ok!

I Lost A Prefect

This happened for a few months already but I just knew the full detail yesterday afternoon...

I have a group of 55 prefect students under me in school. The number of boy prefects are significantly less than the girls. (Add your sexist commentary here). I found out that girls are more proactive and the boys are lazier. Still, they all needed to be prodded with a hot glowing stick (read a lot of yelling) to have the job done.

Anyway, I did lost a boy. He is 14 and from the last class of his batch. I chose him not because of his intellect, but his ability to follow order. (Come to think of it, 'following MY order' is the very tenet to be in my crew. I run my outfit like the mafia). He was likable enough, sometimes spouting unnecessary commentary when nobody is asking, but rarely rude. To tall for his age and not really good looking to stop the flow of traffic.

He lived with his uncle and aunt, as his own parents are serving time in jail for some unknown crime (unknown because I don't make it a crusade to ask too much to fill my pretty head). The relatives sent him to stay at the hostel in school, and they admitted to me that the boy was a handful much earlier because of the state of his family; too much freedom and less supervision = the making of a monster. Fortunately for the boy and his guardians, we are able to curb any negative vibes from him, and he stays and study with the rest of the students quite normally.

Until a couple of months ago....  

During a weekend where the students were able to go back to their respective homes, his mother showed up at his uncle's house. She expressed the desire to meet her long lost son, and maybe take him out for dinner for awhile. The boy's uncle and aunt were hesitant at first, yet they obliged when the woman pleaded and promised to return the boy back after the meal. The boy left with his mother and that was the last time his uncle and aunt saw him.

His uncle told me that the mother took the boy to meet his father and then the entire family traveled quickly to an undisclosed address in the capital city, a couple of hundred km away. Yes, the convict parents kidnapped their own son from his legal guardians. And one of the atrocities his parents did earlier was SELLING their own children. (Adoption is rather normal everywhere in the country, and most of these adoptions are unofficial, without legal document exchange and is all about trust. But selling children @ human trafficking is another ball in the park. heck, It belongs in another stadium, preferably in prison). The boy initially had another 3 younger brothers. Now he is the only one left.

The school was free from any legal fuss because the abduction(?) happened when the boy was under his guardians' care. But I lost a man (boy) and I asked the vice principal of students affair what we can do. He said we cannot do anything as this is a custody battle, where the school has no say.

The boy hasn't attend a school yet (I expected him not attend at anytime anywhere in the future, having irresponsible parents like that). And he was happy. He told his friends via phone text messages about that state of being. I told his friends that I send my 'good luck to you' wish, sarcastic like and hope he would not end up like his fabulous parents.

I need to find a replacement... and this week alone 18 students lined up to be my new prefects.

Life goes on.

School Holidays Is Already Halfway @ I am That Lazy Updating My Post, ha!

The midyear school holiday is already at the end of the first out of its two weeks. I was busy doing things a teacher should properly do during his free time, like sleeping, playing video games, a bit of reading, and more sleeping. Time surely fly so fast when you are slumbering like a hibernating bear in your own cold dark bedroom (thanks to the new air-conditioning set I bought at the end of the El Nino heat spell). I got pics to show you people!

And the picture above is of last week's Friday, after school, before the students are allowed to go back for their holiday. The Principal and Vice Principal had a lot of things to say to everybody, mostly reminders to pay this and do that. The fasting month, Ramadan will be here soon and everybody should be prepared for it. The school will be emptied of all, except...

These students still stayed until Sunday for extra class. I got a slot to teach them Science on Sunday morning and I stayed at the hostel the night before because I was the warden on duty. The hostel was a lot quieter when more than half of the students were absent.  

Students was required to wear collared shirts because it was 'proper'. Truthfully I don't care what they wear to class unless I don't like that piece of clothing. And when I don't like it....I'll take it away. Yes, even the shirt on your back that instant (they had to borrow from friends who wear double layered shirts). I keep the confiscated shirts at home and use them as floor rags. 

And this is me teaching that Sunday morning.... A colleague took this pic as evidence of my attendance, and for filing too (the digital age where everything is online).

I rarely use the white/blackboard, forcing them to follow me using their minds instead. I believe if a student's head is in tune with his teacher, he got a bright future ahead. 

Anyway, about not using the whiteboard thing, this made me infamous in my previous school where certain teachers accused me of being lazy and irresponsible. But hey, say whatever you want but my students got better marks from the others'.

In this present school, no badmouthing happens because I am now the senior Science teacher and my method is proven to have impact :)    

And this is my car, being serviced at 70, 589 km. I should have serviced it earlier but I waited until the school holidays. This is the 6th year I have this car and I am happy with the purchase.

I call my car WereTiger because it has a tiger logo :P

Anyway, after the oil change, the service operator upgraded / updated my car's software. (Apparently, this is A THING! I was surprised because I only think computers and handphones can be upgraded like that). Now my car got the MKII upgraded software and it is now 15-20% more powerful (without using more fuel)

Now go and see if your car can be updated too. 

And this here is my latest purchase. A rather small bike with small wheels... And hey, it can be folded!

My doctor said I need to do some exercise and as I don't like running or lifting things, I do like cycling. I wanted a small folding bicycle because 1) it can be transported in my car if I want to cycle elsewhere further 2) it is easier to keep inside the house, to prevent theft 3) it looks so damn cool, hahaha! It is worth the price, I googled the rest of the planet for the price of the same bike, and I paid less for it too here :)

p.s.

- How was your weekend / holiday?