Author: shaun tenzenmen

Australasian DIY music specialist and practising poet, amongst other things

The Albatross – 13th July 2024

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 3 Comments

The crab said to the albatross
“Can you take me from here?”
“Where do you wish to go?”
Asked the albatross
“Anywhere away from these sad rocks,
To the skies!”
The albatross said “Hop in”
And opened wide his mouth
Enjoying a difficult meal

Submitted to dVerse Quadrille #203 – crab

Today I’m feeling:

A little better with my hip, though it kept me tossing and turning all night last night and so when it was light this morning, I just got up.  It was only 7am but I felt better for moving.

I had to deal with an army of ants biting my feet in the kitchen as they were retreating inside from the rain overnight.  Sadly for them, they are all dead now!

I started doing some weeding before heading off for coffee.  I don’t know why.  I just saw one and then kept going.

As I was about to get on the bike, the neighbour told me that they will concrete our drives today and so I can park over the road at Auntie’s, where there is lots of space.  Everything should be finished soon, making our road much easier to traverse.

As our gardeners were due this morning, I asked Amy to cancel them but they insisted on coming.  I guess they need money and know that we are reliable to pay them.

Today I’m grateful for:

The gardeners again.  I’m glad that they came in the end as our grass is cut nice and short again making it less likely for snakes to travel through.  From my quick inspection it seems that they didn’t manage to destroy any cactuses this time too.

The best thing about today was:

Tangmo coming to visit us a couple of times. After coffee in the morning and grabbing some Swenson’s ice cream, picking up Amy and coming home I’ve done a lot of TV watching and hip resting.

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

The pain in my hip is out of my control and there’s not much I can do about it. I’m hoping a bit more recovery tonight, otherwise I’ll have to go and waste some time at the hospital.

Something I learned today?

The Swans won this week, smashing the Kangaroos by 79 points. Not a difficult opponent but good to get another win after the small loses over the last two weeks.

Review your acts, Good and bad.

I met Nong Kratae at Utopia this morning and she asked me if I would come and help her once a month, as her high school-aged students need more information about IELTS study.  

I told her that I could come along one time and see what it is that I might be able to offer.

I took this picture because Piti was doing his best sexy pose this morning.

Champions – 12th July 2024

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 4 Comments
Julius Drost

Champions know the taste of defeat
Aces burn on the last turn
Adversity is needed to complete
The winner’s desire to learn

Plans B and C, as good as A
No best case wins the race
The champions turn up to play
And look their failures in the face

There’s no luck to lift the cup
Making a plan to play the hand
Even when dealt downside up
A champion will understand

Submitted to WDYS # 244 and inspired by a recent David Elikwu newsletter

Today I’m feeling:

A bit groggy, perhaps sick, in pain!  I didn’t sleep well because of the pain in my hip and I’m limping around a bit today.  It’s a bit of a drain on my thoughts.

I’m also on the edge again with a sore throat.  Lots of Covid and dengue fever around at the moment.

It’s cool again with some rain but the grey skies are feeling uninspiring.  I’m motivated to sleep more.

Today I’m grateful for:

The young chemist who spoke good English helped me get some tiger balm patches to help my aching hip.

The best thing about today was:

22 Grams coffee for the morning. Gui closed House today to go to Bangkok, so 22 Grams is my next choice. It would be my first choice if it was nearer school and cheaper. 

In the end, I didn’t stay too long as I came to the hospital to drop mum and pick up Amy, who hadn’t slept much as dad didn’t get into his operation until 11pm and out again at 4am.

I came home and struggled around with my painful hip, which seems to be agitated by sitting down.

Something I learned today?

It’s Spain’s birthday today and he told me that he is now 15 years old, which means that he is a year older than everyone else in his class.  I guess that he was held back a year at some point because of whatever his minor social disability is.

Review your acts, Good and bad.

At around 5 pm I was getting hungry and Amy had mentioned the uni having a market on Fridays now. 

I dropped by to Baipad’s to see if she would practice riding up there and though she complained, I convinced her to do it. She lets her lack of confidence stop her from doing things to improve herself. 

Her sister jumped on the back too and we slowly made our way to the uni but there was no market sadly, so we headed back and then Baipad wanted to show me where Fahmai lived and we went there too but he wasn’t home.

At the end of the day, I think that Baipad gained a little more confidence in herself at least hopefully understanding that repeatedly doing something will improve her skills.

Baipad’s chatty kitten, whose name I’ve forgotten already.

Shine The Light – 11th July 2024

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These are ghosts
White
With bloodied teeth
Dead
Inside the cold room
Shiver and sweat, feel along the walls
Water
Drip……drip…..dripping in tears
Into a puddle
Of blood muck
Sticky in the dark
Fear and fumble for the exit
A midnight moon, it’s way past bedtime
Shine the light back to safety

Written on a day when I was teaching (and learning) about Thai ghosts.
The form is a Paiku. The Piaku form takes part of its name from the fact that the syllable count for each line matches the digits in Pi.
Pi:  3.14159 26535 897
Inspired by this Paiku at Moonwashed Musings and the first line is a variation on the Karate song ‘There Are Ghosts’

Today I’m feeling:

Tired on waking, so I snoozed for an extra 30 minutes, skipping exercise. 

I was sitting at House from 8am until 3.30pm. Before lunch I got a bit of reading and writing done and after lunch I finished off a couple of lesson plans and was feeling inspired to do more but had to go and pick up Amy to take her to the hospital as she will stay overnight with her dad as he is due to have his operation this evening.

Today I’m grateful for:

My usual Jetyod dispensary that had brownies and gummies in stock. I’m hoping to sleep well tonight but hope I still feel ok in the morning too.

Sometimes I still feel sleepy in the morning after eating this.

The best thing about today was:

Really getting into the flow whilst working at House today. Time pretty much flew by and I was enjoying every second of it.

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

After sitting for a little while at the cafe I noticed a dull ache in my left hip joint which has gotten steadily worse throughout the day and causing me to limp a little. It is very tender to touch. 

I’m assuming I must’ve overdone it with the exercising earlier this week.

I hope it doesn’t disturb my sleep and I definitely won’t be doing any exercise on it in the morning.

Something I learned today?

My students at the competition all messaged me to tell me that they had done well, coming 2nd or 3rd place, which they were all quite proud of.  I’m still waiting to find out about others too.

Review your acts, Good and bad.

After I got back from the city I took some cookies to Baipad and her sister and mum. It was already getting a little dark so she wasn’t keen to practice riding the bike so I managed to twist her arm to get in her mum’s car and we just went through everything in front of her, without going anywhere.

I told her I should be free tomorrow afternoon and if it works out, we can practice driving. She threw her arms up in a semi-mocking fright but also a happy resignation that if I push her to do it, then she doesn’t have a choice.

Mandala – 10th July 2024

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 4 Comments

Wild chaotic geometry

Vague approaches to symmetry

A universe in the hand

Reintegration as planned

Womb world thunderbolt

Ritual sensory assault

Burning up ignorance

A ring of fire confluence

Diamonds in illumination

Aspects of individuation

Graveyards to lotus leaves

Here the mandala conceives

Inspired by the image above for Reena’s Xploration Challenge #337 and a quick perusal of the online Britannica entry for mandala.

Today I’m feeling:

A little bit tired and unmotivated.  With no kids at school for the rest of the week I have lots of time to read, write and prepare more lessons but now I’m sitting here in the cafe I kinda just feel sleepy!

Amy had a sore throat a couple of days ago and mine is starting to tickle a little bit too.

I have to go to the dentist at 11.30 but hopefully it won’t be too expensive and shouldn’t need any work done.

Today I’m grateful for:

A decent, long downpour which has finally seen the temperature become more bearable.  Ironically, I’m not at school to enjoy it and everything will be back to scorched and sweaty by next week would be a pretty good guess.

Still, it was nice to feel the cold rain on my skin when I was outside looking around the garden.

The best thing about today was:

My phone being ok (see below) and also the dentist telling me everything was looking ok and them cleaning up some plaque for me.

I wasn’t too surprised when the bill was 800 baht, so I sent through the payment via my phone but then the receptionist realised that she had given me the wrong invoice and that, in fact, today was free of charge.  So she refunded me in cash!

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

Amy sent me across from the cafe to get some cookie bags from the bakery and I was leaving my phone fell out of my pocket and something happened that has made it difficult to use.  I’m hoping that it is nothing too big and expensive to fix but it will be a further strain on my budget this month.

(Later) I managed to restart the phone and everything was back to normal which is something else that I’m grateful for today.

Something I learned today?

I’m learning lots of little pieces of interesting information from my grade 12 kids with their oral diary.  

Beam told me that he is really interested in human behaviour and psychology and wants to study that at university.

Blow And Crash – 9th July 2024

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 3 Comments

A vile legion, no alkaline vial
A third eye opened up to show
The first two burned out and bled
Soon forgotten, supposed to know

A toot of one’s own horn
I found myself getting in touch
With beauty scarily sublime
It overwhelmed, too much

As skin returned from blue
The views up there began to fade
Stirred up in a sandy wave
To crash on the beach I made

It’s not these orange-tinted glasses
Or butterflies flowing from my gut
Reality was just a ‘barely hanging on’
Out of my mind, a door slowly shut

Submitted to No Theme Thursday and the attached picture as inspiration.

Today I’m feeling:

Pretty good. An easy start and a relatively simple first class with my grade 8s.

Today I’m grateful for:

Being able to quickly rearrange my afternoon class so that everyone could finish early.

The best thing about today was:

Getting home by 3pm and though it’s a bit of a negative, I lazily watched TV rather than getting anything done.

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

My second class was supposed to be at 2.30, but a few students had told me that because other teachers were away, they had nothing to do until then.

So during my first class, I was thinking how to start at 12.30 instead so that everyone could finish early.

I decided to go for it and messaged them to come at 12.30 and we would find a classroom to study in.

It was only a little later that I realised that I had forgotten that this class is made up of students from two different programs, and one had classes until 12.30, which meant that they would miss lunch by coming straight to my class this time. 

I thought I’d smoothed it over because I knew that they wouldn’t actually study until 12.30 and asked them to quickly grab lunch whilst they could. 

The class went well and we got it all done in an hour, as the room was due for another class.

Later, I heard that the two groups of students were quarrelling about this change of plan, so I had to try and smooth things over. Though I also found out that this was not just about what happened today, but an ongoing situation between the two.

Something I learned today?

Burmese armed resistance are financing themselves by flooding Thailand with cheap drugs, causing a moral quandary for those who support their fight for (supposed) ‘democracy’ there.

Somehow, I never come across these cheap drugs!

Review your acts, Good and bad.

I watched all the students preparing for the drama competition and personally wished each of them good luck for the next few days. Lin, Jet, Namyen, Guitar, Noah, Poppy, Achang, Alew, Wipping, Palm and a couple of others. I dispersed all my coins to them as they begged for spending money while they are away. I think that cost me 17 baht in total!  I hope that they have a good time because they have been working hard on this play.

I took this picture because these are my old students, Aoey, Pleng and AimAem rehearsing their speech for their competition. Unfortunately for them, they couldn’t stop themselves from laughing when I started taking pictures and holding my hands as they were. As with my other students, I wished them well and to try their best.

The Wild World – 8th July 2024

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We live alone
Our relationships symbolic
Resources for production
Or a backdrop for healing

A miracle of blindness
Debasing all else
To second-order existence
We live alone

A massive fiction of things
The wild at the margins
An intellectual sleight of hand
Of us versus them

Ignorant of our nature
Domination the goal
Trading in certainties
At a bloodied altar

Denying our relationship
We live alone
We are the pandemic
In a wolf head mask

It’s business as usual
Caught in the weave
Dualistic blindness
We chose to live alone

Possessing the wisdom
The germ of a solution
Future archaeologists found
We died alone

Inspired and borrowed from Dan Ray at Philosophy Now’s review of Ways of Being Alive by Baptiste Morizot

Today I’m feeling:

Pretty good, though I feel like I’m overheating.  Not sure if something is going on in my body or it’s just leftover from pushing myself with exercise this morning.

Today should be a relatively easy day at school and hopefully I still feel motivated when I get home and play some guitar.  I totally lazed away the weekend and though I don’t feel guilty about it, I still know that I should be doing stuff.

Today I’m grateful for:

Only five students turning up to my first class.  They didn’t know where everyone else was and assumed that they were taking the whole week away from school, as from Wed-Fri, they are not at school and supposed to be studying online.

I played a Quizziz of each student’s choice for the first hour and then let them go for the second two hours of our class, so I’m back early for more coffee!

The best thing about today was:

The extra coffee time that turned out well, as I got a couple of nice poems written after doing a bit of reading and thinking.

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

Another one of my pens went missing today during my class with 2/7.  I’m fairly certain that it is Program who is taking them as he is always trying to steal things out of my pocket, never has his own pen and always walks around the room and near the table when I am not there.

I may be wrong but I’ve got my eye on him.

Something I learned today?

As I had some spare time in the morning, I ducked into the grade 10 English class to chat with some of the students I knew and whilst there, Kru Ren came in to teach.  He didn’t do anything to try and get the students attention and seemed to be just shouting to no one, as everyone else was either on their phone, playing games or making TikTok videos.

I just don’t get how that is going to work.  But what was weird was that meeting some of the students a couple of hours later, I asked them about the class and they were able to talk about the subject fairly coherently.  Maybe it got better after I left, or Kru Ren decided to teach in Thai rather than English, so that at least he would be understood.

Review your acts, Good and bad.

I stayed back after my last class to talk with Praew some more.  I think she is a little bit of an attention seeker in some ways and I’m not totally sure what to believe.  With her anxiety, depression and being bullied in class, it is sure to mess with her behaviour.

Not My Business – 7th July 2024

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Your opinion of me, it could hurt
You can only teach if I wish to learn
Keep kicking it along in the dirt
Your opinion of me is not my concern

To take offence is to give offence
An ever-decreasing circle of pain
I’ll not give you satisfaction at my expense
Or even bother to explain

First attempt at an 8-line poem about what offends me. Nothing offends me, not personally.

Today I’m feeling:

Lazy.  I didn’t intend to. Though I didn’t have any other intention either.

My energy has returned but motivation has gone missing. Part of this is due to knowing that I will have lots of spare time this coming week.

Today I’m grateful for:

The freedom to be lazy today. 

The best thing about today was:

Clearing a bunch of videos out of my ‘watch later’ queue.

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

Everything was in my control, I just made the laziest choices!

Something I learned today?

I finished watching the Idles documentary and enjoyed it a lot. I like their music but usually only in small doses. I can appreciate their appeal as genuine human beings and that makes me like them more.

I took this picture because I wanted to send it to Noey. I told her that Utopia is boys only now (now that there are no female staff). Save also said that she had told him that she wanted to stay in the USA, so I messaged her to find herself a boyfriend while she’s there.

Go Figure – 6th July 2024

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

It was a cliché to be sure
A thumb stood out, throbbing sore
Cats and dogs did not truly pour
The joy was in the tale

Dead from boredom, a slow burn
The Cheshire cat smiles in turn
The bad seeds will never learn
The joy was in the deed

Brand new, champing at the bit
To get to the bottom of it
It’s hyperbole I must admit
The joy was in the search

It doesn’t get much better than this
A cuddle before make up and kiss
From shotgun wedding through to bliss
The joy was in the idioms

Submitted to the Ovi Poetry Challenge – joy and for an assignment at AllPoetry

Today I’m feeling:

Sleepy and bleary. I can’t quite focus my eyes on the screen, and despite killer coffee, I feel as if I could enjoy another few hours of sleep.

Nothing in particular to do today, and Amy and I talked about watching a movie later.

Today I’m grateful for:

Seafood buffet grill with Amy and Aun. I wasn’t going to go originally, but in the end I decided to. The food was average but cheap.

The best thing about today was:

A late morning nap after a little book and comic reading. I finally felt a little more awake after that.

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

At the seafood buffet, hygiene did not seem to be a high priority, highlighted by the maggot I found crawling across the ‘clean’ dishes. Hopefully, the spicy seafood sauce was able to kill anything that is likely to kill us.

9th May 2025 – That shop has now gone.

Something I learned today?

This evening we watched Furiosa, the latest Mad Max movie. It is big, dumb fu,n but not really that good.

Review your acts, Good and bad.

I messaged Lin to see how she was doing because after having some issues at home mid-last week, she then looked and felt sick on Thursday and Friday. Happily, she said that she was getting a little better.

Tonaor took this picture yesterday and I think it’s funny. I don’t usually see myself in profile and it shows me a little of what I look like to the kids. The expression on Namking’s face is hilarious too.

Scattershot – 5th July 2024

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You made them, baby boys
Conceived in a sweaty room
Forgotten fruit left to rot
The urge to run too soon

Scattershot bonds stretch
Heated passion, spoiled seeds
Helpless baby boys flailing
Without the direction he needs

You made them, baby girls
Breeders, they can’t stop breeding
Pretty pink unkissed lips
Rushing towards the seeding

Scattershot, the TV dreams
Promises whispered or unspoken
Babies make babies cry
So all the boys and girls are broken

Submitted to FOWC with Fandango and inspired by my experiences teaching wild and untamed students already on their sexual journies as their young parents are missing in action (for various reasons).

Today I’m feeling:

Good again.  I pushed through the tough exercise again this morning, feeling breathless and sweaty by the end.  Amy has been sound asleep in the mornings for the last few days and in the evenings I’m usually asleep well before her.

I enjoyed my first two grade 11 classes this morning and just have a reading class with the grade 8s this afternoon and it’s the weekend again.

Today I’m grateful for:

My student, Beam. In the task I set his class yesterday of sending me an oral diary telling me what they learned that day, Beam told me that he really enjoys my class and learning things from me. 

Whilst he is smart enough to know how to butter someone up I believe his sincerity. It felt good to hear and encourages me. I will return that encouragement to the class.

The best thing about today was:

… (As I’m writing this on Saturday morning, I don’t feel that there was one best thing about yesterday. The day was pretty good all round until I ran out of energy, and as I’m still not fully recovered yet, it is clouding my memory of yesterday a little too.)

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

In my last class, I could feel my energy giving out and was glad to end it a little early and then head home.  I revived briefly with some dinner, but by around 7.30 pm, I was crashing badly and melting into the lounge, mindlessly watching TV.

Amy tried to revive me again before sleep, but ended up disappointed, and I was asleep an instant later.

(I didn’t even have energy to complete writing here and doing it now on Saturday morning)

Something I learned today?

Praew told me that she will leave our school at the end of the semester because of her unhappiness, and on further investigation, she told me it was because she was bullied in our class. 

I thought maybe this was by her old friends, Nudee and Ueang, but I was surprised to learn that it was by KanomBang. I hadn’t seen this at all.

Review your acts, Good and bad.

I sympathised with Praew and her situation.

She Is Beautiful, They Said – 4th July 2024

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 8 Comments

Somehow, she deals gently with her blues
A feathery kind an introvert would choose
All told her that she is beautiful and smart
She counters she has no confidence at heart

A common theme for sure, though this poem is about one student of mine in particular. I could have gone on writing but I think I managed to sum it all in these four lines.
Submitted to WDYS #243, Writer’s Workshop Prompts – counter, Word the Day Challenge – introvert and Moonwashed Weekly Prompt – Feathery blues

Today I’m feeling:

Pretty good again. I got up and exercised, the 20-minute video workout again, not feeling quite as strained after finishing this time.

Once at school, Baipad, Apple, and Ploy were excited about a new game, and I also later downloaded it and played a bit tonight to see what it was all about.

It looks really good, but trying to follow everything on the small phone screen just makes my eyes ache.  I can’t imagine what it is doing to children’s eyes, with them playing for hours on end.

After my morning coffee time, I had the pleasure of teaching the grade 12 kids, who are getting more into what I’m teaching them and also doing quite well.

With my younger kids, their blank stares usually indicate no understanding, but the older kids’ blank stares are them thinking!  Part of my class today was about showing enthusiasm in their conversation.

Today I’m grateful for:

Not teaching my second class as the classroom was in use for next week’s competition preparation.  I assigned the students some writing work to keep them busy for a little while, and was able to skip out an hour earlier than usual.

The best thing about today was:

Having the grade 12 students use the website that Kru Tang told me about today, and seeing the happiness on a few of their faces when they achieved relatively good scores testing their speaking.  

I will get them to test themselves each week, and hopefully they will be able to see their own improvement over time.

Something I learned today?

Parents have complained to the school that the teachers are not teaching their classes because they are too busy preparing for next week’s competition, just handing out worksheets instead.  I think the parents would complain even more if they actually saw what goes on in the classrooms!

Review your acts, Good and bad.

Spain turned up for class even though I had given them some writing work to do.  He ended up following me around the school as I went checking up that the kids were doing their work.

Spain is a funny kid.  He was some form of something or other, I wouldn’t like to say what, which seems to affect his social skills. With me today, though, he was nonstop talking, and I was quite impressed with his English skills.  He struggles to make friends because of the way he is, but deep down, he’s a nice boy with a good heart.

Tonaor took this picture because she saw me passing by and shouted ‘selfie’, and everyone else came running out.  From top right: Fah, me, Mei, Tonaor, August, Namthip, Namkhing, Nicha, Dena. Sadly, after three years of being in the ‘Talented English Program’, they can barely speak any English between them! Somehow, we’ve been able to bond and communicate with each other, though.