Tag: pep talk

My Backyard – 20th December 2024

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Flowers bloom between my toes
Tamed all within this fence
The tree of life grows
Slaked by others’ expense

Beyond the hills and valleys
Where the earth is dry and hard
Adding to the deadly tallies
But never in my backyard

I’ll fight you off my flowers
Kill to keep my order
Raise up sentry towers
To keep you from my border

No, never in my backyard
Eyes shut tight to beyond
My garden must not be marred
No filth brought to my pond

Today I’m feeling:

Tired but happy and healthy. Exercise was a struggle this morning, especially as each day the intensity is increasing as per the plan. But I felt good once done, despite also probably being able to go straight back to sleep if I had a chance.

But off to work and just before my first class, one of the students told me that they all had to leave at 10 to go and do a particular math lesson. Ok, I can deal with it. Then, during the lesson, the time got revised to 9.30. Ok – easy. Done. And an extra hour break for me. I could easily sleep again, but have to push myself to finish off the day.

Health:

Physical: 8
Mental: 7

Today I’m grateful for:

Some folks out there who spend inordinate amounts of time doing little things that only a few people will appreciate.

In this instance, I am thinking about a person who put together a complete comic book reading order for Marvel comics from the 50s until now. And not just a list but digital scans of them all too.

The best thing about today was:

Again, not one thing in particular but lots of little good things throughout the day all adding up to make a great day all round.

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

Both my morning and afternoon classes were affected by students having to go off and do things, and I was easy and flexible enough to go with the flow.

Review your acts, Good and bad.

Jet, Lin and Jee were all nervous about interviews to be leaders in the upcoming conference in January but I tried to calm them down as best I could.

Jee, in particular, was worried because Momo was also interviewing, and everyone knows Momo’s English is the best amongst them. I told her that it won’t just be about English skills but also about suitability for the role.

And sure enough, as I imagined, Momo wasn’t chosen, as the interviewers told her that her personality wasn’t what they were looking for. Momo was very upset and disconsolate, telling me that she felt like a failure. I tried to pep her up again and gave her a hug and left her with her friends, who were also a little shocked at this outcome.

I talked with Jee later and told her that she had no real reason to be nervous. Just do your best, try and fail, try and succeed, it’s all the same. We will still sleep in the same place tonight as last night.

The Silence – 31st May 2024

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 30 Comments

The sadness is creeping
– Into my periphery
Until it overwhelms

Salty tears a-weeping
– All about is sucking me
Deep into darker realms

My old friend
– A bitter taste of blood
A dull aching head

Let’s not pretend
– That this is good
But sleep instead

Submitted to dVerse Quadrille #202 – Darkness and Poets and Storytellers United #129
24th Mar 2026 – shared with dVerse Quadrille – silence

Today I’m feeling:

Tired but kept running by knowing that it’s the end of the week.  Six hours of hot and humid teaching even with brief respites in the aircon have been completely draining.  

I’m home now and will make myself a salad soon.  

I took three of the magic mushroom pills that I got from Matt and can feel a sense of pleasure rising in me and will watch some comedy to wind down the evening.

Today I’m grateful for:

Kru Den, (I’m not sure if that’s her name actually) who lent me her Bluetooth speaker for my second class.  I gave her a frangipani flower in return.  I’d gotten it from a student earlier, who had put it behind my ear.

The best thing about today was:

Getting some good feedback on some of my recent poems.  I didn’t get a chance to write anything new today but whereas I used to be about a week behind in posting poetry I’m now a month ahead.  I’m enjoying writing and learning different forms and playing with it a little more.

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

I snuck up on Nong Fah and stuck a wet finger in her ear as she was lying down looking at her phone in a classroom. She went off in a huff and Jet said that she had PMS and had been moody all day (although she was fine in the morning when I saw her).

Knowing that it is best not to do anything more I played a bit with some other students but saw Fah dabbing her eyes with a tissue and looking really upset.  I watched her from a distance and wondered at the loss of emotional control that many females get once a month.  I can never really understand what that must feel like.

I caught her eye before I left for my own class and tried to express my sympathy with her.

Almost instantly on arriving at my own class, I could see that KanomBang was grumpy with me and her friends tried to explain that she too had PMS.  “That thing…..girls….once a month…”  I love it when the kids realise that they successfully communicated something in their second language.

Anyway, KB soon picked herself up a little bit and was ok.

It’s so weird to see the bewilderment on these kids’ faces when they go through this.  Like ‘Why the fuck am I feeling like this and can’t change it?’

After I got home I messaged a mini heart to Fah and said that I was sorry she was upset in the classroom.  She too, had recovered herself a little by then and was happy to chat a little.  I told her I was sorry I snuck a wet finger in her ear and she laughed and said she was sorry that she behaved the way she did, which I, of course, told her there was no need to apologise.

As an aside, interestingly my super smart grade 8 student Film questioned me in class why I treated boys and girls differently, something that he had picked up on perhaps when the ‘couple’ in the class were ‘fighting’ with each other.  I say ‘fighting’ because it is really just puppy love quarrel-play – nothing serious.

The kids listening were very interested when I replied that I treat girls differently because of the way I can see they are treated in Thai society and that boys are seen as superior and are spoiled more.  This got them talking a lot and whilst the girls agreed in general they said that their own families treated them like princesses.

It was an interesting idea to leave them with, to think and talk about.

Something I learned today?

I learned that Monday is a day off and on Wednesday students won’t come to school.  

Apparently, there will be a sports event at the stadium for about 10 days which is going to make traffic even worse in the mornings.

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

I gave Nicha a little pep talk when she was looking down this morning.

After I’d finished teaching I saw my old grade 9 students with Kru David and I checked in with a few of them who were struggling with his work.  Earn was all happy with herself because she told me that she had finished and, being a little suspicious, I asked if she had copied someone she shushed me and immediately admitted that she had.

I asked her what program she might do next year and she said the Chef program. I said that’s great and encouraged her to at least get what she could out of being in the English program this year.

As I was leaving I saw Aida sitting by herself and also looking down.  I actually didn’t recognise her at first as her head was tilted downwards with her hair covering her face.  Her friends said that she was upset and tired today and when I met her at lunchtime she was resting her head on the table but with a quick chat she said that she would be ok to do my work in the afternoon.

I was intent on leaving quickly but seeing her again I stopped and sat with her and also gave her a little pep talk. She didn’t say much until I asked her if everything was ok at home and she opened up that she was having some problems with her mum.  We didn’t get into it but I told her that she can talk to me at any time if she needs to.