A boy that was born English
With depression he could not extinguish
Accepted his fate to relinquish
– Leapt into the unknown

Then a man of Australia
Who could not accept failure
Yet failed to modify his behaviour
– The journey was only just starting

Finally to the land of smiles
He overcame all his trials
Accepting all his different styles
– It was the journey, not destination

Submitted to Ovi Poetry Challenge 56 – accept

Today I’m feeling:

Not too bad.  My hip is only slightly sore now, and I think I got it from spending too much time sitting in the cafe on Wednesday and Thursday last week.  I don’t think that it was from exercise so much, though I’m still wary of starting up again, and so skipped it this morning.  I will start again tomorrow and see how I go.

I was a little dizzy this morning until my medicine kicked in, and I felt pretty good by the end of the day.

Today I’m grateful for:

The folks doing the new road again, as they put in some extra concrete to join up with our driveway, which we were expecting to have to do ourselves.  I’m not sure how good it is yet as it is still covered, but it will be better than nothing and cheaper than use having to pay to fix it up.

The best thing about today was:

I had back-to-back one-hour classes with my grade 8s this afternoon, and I was pleasantly surprised at the second class who can the most rowdy at times.  Within five minutes of setting them a writing task, they were quietly completing it, and I didn’t know what to do with myself.

As they completed the work, I told them what we would do on Thursday when they would read the tex,t and they listened attentively so that they could write out some pronunciation in Thai to help them remember.

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

In the morning, I had to walk over to auntie’s house where our car was parked due to the road work, and Tangmo wandered over for a cuddle, rub and snack.  His back was wet and there was a sudden smell of cat shit and I was sure that I must’ve stepped in some.

Even after getting in the car I was looking around for cat shit, wondering how a cat might’ve gotten into a totally locked car.  Then, as I was driving along, I smelled my hands and they smelled of some sort of horrible chemical, like a mix of paint thinners and petrol.

The bad smell must’ve been a mix of dirty dog and whatever the dirty dog had been rolling in.  After arriving at school I avoided saying hello and fist bumping students as much as I could and headed towards a bathroom to wash my hands and make sure that I hadn’t sat in cat shit somehow.

One wash helped, but it wasn’t enough. I took a second go at House and started to feel a little less self-conscious.

Tangmo came to say hello again when I got home, and he still stunk to high heaven.  I hope it is not having too much of an effect on him, as the smell is positively cancerous.

Something I learned today?

Today will be the last that I see of my grade 12 HAP and E-sports students for this semester.  It’s a shame, as I had a fun class lined up for them next week.