
Watermelon – 13th December 2024

“Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was listening, everything must be said again.” – Andre Gide

Shared with dVerse Poetics: “Despite and Still“
Inspired by part of the essay The Way of Writing by William Stafford

Poetry Form :- Badger Hexastich ( 2/4/6/6/4/2 syllables) (thanks kittyverses) – shared with Reena’s Xploration Challenge #359 and What’s Going On – homecoming
Inspired by this Second Thought video
Inspired by a newsletter from Daivd Elikwu about the dangers of role models and my own experience I am currently revisiting from 2020 with my then role model, George.
Shared with dVerse MTB: An Etheree Tree and inspired my explorations in my youth where I would often walk our dog or just go exploring for fun. Sometimes, with my first girlfriend and hidden deep within the dark confines of the forest, we would lay down on the soft pine needle bed.
Queen’s Copse is a pine forest and King’s Copse is an oak forest.
There are not many pictures from this area and the one above doesn’t really show just how dark it was inside, just a few feet away from the track. No light was getting in there.
Inspired and paraphrased from The Red Hand Files #295

Shared with Moonwashed Weekly Prompt – splendid and WDYS #265 picture prompt
Today I’m feeling:
Ok, after a pretty good sleep. We had the aircon on again for a while last night and that seemed to improve both our sleep.
Today is Father’s Day, and so that means a holiday, though Amy has invited her family over for lunch, so she’s busy this morning. I will come back and vacuum after coffee.
No exercise this morning and an extra hour in bed. Not thinking about doing much today except reading.
Health:
Physical: 6
Mental: 7
Today I’m grateful for:
Having a spare hard drive so that I can back up all my comic book files to it. There had been some power outages last week and the drive the files are on took a few days to re-index itself, so I got a little worried if I suddenly lost them all.
The best thing about today was:
Almost two hours of guitar playing. Although it was frustrating at times, I can feel myself slowly improving – so long as I don’t take too many days off between playing.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
I felt ok in the morning, ready for family lunch but after eating, I just became overwhelmed with exhaustion.
Whilst everyone was chatting, I came into the living room and read for a few minutes before turning onto my side to sleep. The morning coffees kept my mind active for a little while but soon enough I was out for the count, perhaps for almost two hours.
Even on waking up, I felt like my brain wasn’t working yet. Amy came in and looked at me and asked if I was awake (despite the fact that I was reading) and I shook my head. She could see that I wasn’t quite with it.
Now it’s evening I feel quite good again and just hope that I can sleep ok tonight.
Something I learned today?
Out of 113 countries, Thailand ranks 101 for its general English language ability.
Being in the education system here, I can understand this position. I feel helpless and so sorry for all these lovely kids being so let down.
Review your acts, Good and bad.
After waking up in the afternoon and talking a little with Amy, she said that it was her friend’s birthday and she wanted to go and see her. She asked me if I would take her there and though I was still lethargic, I figured it would be good to get her out of the house so I could chill at home.
I got my haircut today and as usual, I gave the lady 100 baht even though she only charges 60.
I also took some watermelon to Baipad, which I bought at Kotchapol whilst looking for some food for myself. I bought some fresh buttered corn on the cob and pomelo – enough to keep me going without having another full meal.

Today I’m feeling:
OK on waking but I struggled with exercise this morning. Just not enough energy in my bones!
Lots of students skipped school today and with a holiday tomorrow, I can imagine Friday will be sparse too. And I just found out that next Tuesday is a holiday too! Easy.
Health:
Physical: 7
Mental: 7
Today I’m grateful for:
Kru Tang for fighting with me (see below). We had quite a noisy too and fro in front of some students but at the end of the day, neither of us was upset with each other, just with the situation.
The best thing about today was:
My first class today only had 7 students and 3 of those wanted to go off to do some work to improve their SchoolBright scores.
I let them go off, chatted with the four remaining students and then with Kru David, and our students Dutchie and Boty.
My second class, only about half of them turned up so we just did some vocabulary study and a quiz to fill up the time.
It’s fun to be around the students when it’s relaxed.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
The school deducted 1000 baht from my salary last month because I never sign out after 4.30 pm. I knew this was coming but it was still annoying. Especially as I invest so much of my time and energy in the students.
However, it doesn’t seem that that is what the school really cares about but just that everyone follows the rules.
I argued my point with Kru Tang but there was nothing she could really do.
So I will make some adjustments to my effort and involvement whilst still doing what is required. I’ll try and look at it positively in that it will give me more time to catch up on reading and writing, though it will probably cut down my guitar playing.
Something I learned today?
I used the Brisk Teaching AI to make presentations and quizzes for me and after checking the results, they are really good. I will use it a lot more in future. This is a good practical use for AI.
Review your acts, Good and bad.
I still feel slightly aggrieved about losing 1000 baht today. I guess I’ll have to take a day off sometime so that I can make up for it. I know it shouldn’t bother me that much and it’s just me feeling underappreciated. I know that hard work is its own reward.
