Placard – 20th August 2024

To protest alone demanding to be heard
Upset at the wrong use of the word
Defined by slogan, magnified by fear
More important than contrition here

Any apology draws more contempt
No exclusion, no person exempt
A placard of placation has no effect
What does repetition come to expect?

A madness of masses in individual
A singular dogma conformed to ritual
Angry at the freedoms provided
For all to enjoy themselves divided

I’m still reading Crisis In Culture and finding new inspiration to write.
29th Aug 2024 – Submitted to dVerse – stormy weather

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Today I’m feeling:

Not so bad. Amy woke up before my alarm and started looking at her phone and the dull light movements were enough to wake me too.  I covered my head with another pillow but soon enough, my alarm went off.

I managed to motivate myself to do a little exercise, which got my blood moving, which was good.

Both my classes were fairly entertaining and fun, though the rowdy grade 8s were certainly noisy today, but as I gave them the speaking task they’ve been practising again, I wasn’t so bothered.

After class, I ended up stuck in the canteen talking with many, many students.  I was kind of waiting for Jet to appear, as we had discussed her editing some Instagram videos for me and she said she would be around there at lunch time.

Eventually, I left though, back for another coffee and some reading and writing catch-up before heading home.

Health:

Physical: 7
Mental: 7

Today I’m grateful for:

A quick power nap from 4 til 5 that, if I hadn’t woken me from, I probably could’ve slept through until morning.  I’m also grateful for Amy’s home cooking, which I haven’t had since Friday, as we’ve either been out or I’ve just made myself sandwiches instead.

The best thing about today was:

Hanging with the students at lunch time was a lot of fun, as I walked around and found new groups to chat with.

I went over to sit with Momo, Baifern, Pan and Namsai, and Momo always gets nervous in these situations because I’ve known her for a long time already. She told me that Pan really wanted to talk with me but that her English wasn’t good enough.

So I went and sat next to Pan and got her talking as much as she could. I told her that the only way to improve is to practice and to talk to me whenever she wants. I think she was happy that I was prepared to make the effort and I was happy that she tried her best too.

What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?

I’d been given a room to teach in for my grade 10s but found that it was being used today so we had to resort back to the library again, which wasn’t too bad in the end.

Something I learned today?

Momo and her friends told me about a new app that they are using to study English called Edsy. I’ll check it out.