Terrible Kissers – 21st November 2023

I’m saying goodbye to all the terrible kissers
Crazy roommates and sideways pissers
No more mental breakdowns for me
I’m handing the landlord back the key

Moving on from fast food dates
Working minimum wage cleaning plates
I’m tired of all the dreams I’ve dreamt
That I never had time to attempt

But finally, the time has come for me
To make the trip towards a different sea
The school of life has me graduating
Beyond the realms of just contemplating

The terrible kissers will be a reminder
To treat myself and others kinder
Four winters and summers now past
The time is right to move on at last

inspired by this post at Spinning Visions
10th Oct 2024 – Shared with Weekly Prompts Wednesday Challenge – Leaves


Today I’m feeling:

Ok but still coughing a little. When I got to school I found that one of my classes has 15 students off sick today! Amy is coughing and has a sore throat now too.

Today I’m grateful for:

My student Lydia for expressing her appreciation for my class today which was about vowel sounds.

I was also grateful to Tulip, who I moved from the back of the class to the front, which she was extremely unhappy about but then excelled in her interactions and was full of smiles.

I messaged her later to see how she felt about it and she gave positive feedback. I hope it encourages her for the future.

The best thing about today was:

 A steady diet of happiness, many happy positive moments without one standing out.

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

I turned up to an empty classroom for my first class of the day, only then finding out that they had to go off to some meeting for the morning.

It would be nice if the kids learned about planning and communication so that when they become adults they can plan and inform people like me that get frustrated about its lack!

Nevermind. Five hours before my next class. Let’s drink coffee!

Something I learned today?

I read it on the internet so cannot claim it is true but this text said that supermarket apples can be up to one year old. After picking they are covered in wax, hot air-dried and placed in cold storage.

Review your acts, and then for vile deeds chide yourself, for good be glad. — Discourses 3.10

I sent supportive messages to Tulip, Khawhom, BB and Namfon after our class today.

I encouraged my grade 10 students when they sulked after I gave them a more difficult option and then proceeded to do very well anyway, so I gave them positive feedback.

I helped supply a couple of forgetful students with pens this morning.

I helped Amy without complaint immediately after getting home. She had been sweeping up leaves and wanted me to finish off and throw them over the fence.

What deserves my energy and focus right now?

Now I’ve settled on Thaipod101 for my Thai studies and will stop with the other apps for now. I have a two-year subscription and must focus on pushing forward with it. I have the routine and habit in place and the belief that I can do it. So, this is not just ‘right now’ but it does start ‘right now’ and ‘right now’ every day!

I took this picture because I was thinking I should try to identify this dead snake that Amy found near our terrace. It was hard to say why it was dead. There were no obvious wounds except a little blood around its mouth. 

More Sugar – 18th October 2021

Little girl, lost in her thoughts
Searching for the why
Struggles on, trapped inside
Whilst the world passes by

No answers, questions repeating
What purpose being?
Everyone else in happiness
Is the illusion she is seeing

Tell yourself, forgive yourself
And be kind to your heart
Get back up on your horse
And every day, just start

The way is forward, moving on
Learning from the past
It’s a cliche, but live each day
As if it was your last

A true story of a girl whose name translates as Sugar
Submitted to Weekly Prompts Wednesday Challenge – Moving On


Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for our mask supply so we can change them often and try to stay safe.


It felt like a busy weekend but I notice a calmness within me these days. Before, I felt like I have to do this and do that and get it done. I still have things to do but I have a confidence that they will get done and don’t feel any stress to get them out of the way.

Perhaps I know about all the things I have lined up in the future – things that may keep me occupied for another lifetime or two. Yes, I want to start fiddling around with music again – it will happen when the time is right.

Perhaps this pandemic has taught me to slow down a little. Without it, I’m sure I would be busy organising new things to be involved in. A situation such as this is not so bad timing for me. I did a lot and achieved many things up until the pandemic. It’s easy for me to sit back and relax a bit.

I hope that others come out the other side with renewed energy and can pick up where things were in their lives and the state of their societies.

I had a long talk with Oh’s girlfriend Namtan on Friday. She struggles with anxiety and depression, so I told her my story. Something I said hit me quite unexpectedly.

I said that Amy was lucky that the chemicals in her brain were capable of making her positive most of the time. I said to Namtan that we are not like that – we are always questioning things and searching for meaning. It’s just the way we are. And I have accepted that. It’s not an option anymore to try to be something you’re not.

I’ve known this all along but without resolution until recently. Namtan is 28. I told her not to give up. Every day is a struggle but we are capable of digging ourselves out of the mental holes we created until now.

It was nice to be able to offer advice, though I think perhaps I overwhelmed her with too much information.

We talked a lot about books too. She’s a librarian and an avid reader. I think that’s a good start to get on the right track.

I had some stomach bug for most of the weekend and lost a kilogram in weight. Somehow, I managed to push through the abs routine each morning, though. I can see a definite change in my belly fat. I’m actually starting to like the way I look again.

The Week That Was – 21st January 1979

Brave New Beginnings – 5th March 1993

Sun shines down on me
And I realise I am blessed
With all life’s wonder
And each day’s new test

Clouds that pass by
Casting shadows of doubt and fear
Are soon-forgotten reflections
That never held favour here

Each new step taken forward
Opens up numerous avenues to explore
Each avenue searched in time
Makes more possibilities than ever before

Once so easy to frighten
Once easy to quash my ideas
Now I stand proud and enlightened
With knowledge gained from my years

Brave new beginnings around me
From them, I will not turn
Each little twist of destiny
Leaves a lesson for me to learn

1st Jan 2026 – Shared with Esther Chilton’s Writing Prompt 97 – new beginnings

Tragedy – 2nd March 1993

Dark snakes finger your opinions
Now you’ve lost all your control
Flirting with dangerous decisions
Cast black shadows through your soul

Continue on this bleakest road
Distances will set us apart
When soulmate becomes soulless
It tears a wrench in my heart

If memories are for yesterday
Sun shines on all I recall
The darkest moments from my past
I now forget them all