Are you sick and tired of the same old thing Or are you happy enough? Tell me When does so much become so little? When does too little become too much?
It feels like you’ve been here before These are familiar words you sing Wheels spinning Stuck on the rat race treadmill Are you sick and tired of the same old thing?
A trophy wife and trophy life Surrounded by all this glittering stuff Are you empty? Is that a constant nagging inside Or are you happy enough?
I have so many questions Are you certain of all that you see? Never wrong? I don’t believe everything that you Tell me
The Joneses are growing bigger Your ego inflexible and brittle Tired of waiting Believing it’s always your turn When does so much become so little?
Your debt to yourself is catching up Your life is empty (as such) Left with no thing Just sand slipping through your fingers When does too little become too much?
A little better today after all that sleep yesterday. I ended up waking a little early this morning, took a while to get myself going but my first two classes were fun and easy.
I feel freaking hot though, my body seems to be working overtime to get rid of whatever is making me sick. No fever though.
Today I’m grateful for:
Getting through the day in reasonably good shape. I was tired but energised again after another bowl of Pla Tom from Chef Amy. I think I’ll sleep well tonight if I can keep this little cough under control.
The best thing about today was:
On my way to my last class, I found 4 of the students that I had penalised for not submitting work yesterday furiously writing it all out in the canteen. I stood over them for about a minute and they were so focused they didn’t realise I was there.
When they all looked up they gave me a half-upset and annoyed look, along with an ‘ok, I fucked up’ half-smile.
They were wonderfully behaved in my class today and we all had a good time.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
I was all set to teach in my normal room with aircon this morning when another teacher came along and kicked the kids out. We easily found another room but unfortunately, without aircon.
To be honest, the aircon doesn’t make that much difference when a room is full off sweaty teenagers (and a sweaty old man!).
In the past, I might have let this sudden change bother me but now I can deal with it easily.
Something I learned today?
I learned that the US Anti-Doping Agency, which monitors for performance-enhancing drugs in sports, let off offenders and allowed them to keep competing so long as they dobbed in other cheaters!
This same agency has now accused the Chinese swimmers of being drug cheats at the Olympics, even though they were tested 3 times more than any other country and passed every test.
The anti-China rhetoric has jumped the shark.
I took this picture because earlier in the week, Baipad had alerted me to a Facebook auction with this Gloomy Bear plushie. I bid 220 baht and won and here he is sitting on the shelf next to my bed. It gives me the opportunity to give back the plushie that Baicard gave me on Teacher’s Day 4 years ago and had been sitting there collecting dust ever since.
Last night I woke up sometime in the middle of the night with my brain running. This has happened for two nights in a row but last night it was much more difficult to get back to sleep.
A few days ago, I decided to cut the Tramadol tablet in half to try and cut down and maybe give myself a break from taking it for a while to see how I feel. And last night I thought that this was perhaps what had caused me to wake up because this waking up with my mind running hasn’t happened since I started taking Tramadol.
I will see how it is tonight and go from there. I’ve been incredibly calm and content since taking Tramadol but still curious if I can be that way without it.
Today I’m grateful for:
Nong Boom, my grade 12 student. We were studying the IELTS Speaking exam about technology and a main question was about how your life would be different without your most precious item of tech.
To demonstrate I took Boom’s phone and put it in my back pocket and asked her how she felt. After she finished, I purposely didn’t give it back, which she accepted well.
I carried on talking with other students for about 20 minutes and she only once play-whined,’ Teacher – my phone…’ but I still held on to it.
Once I’d finished talking, I opened the camera app on her phone and walked around the classroom taking random photos. Everyone was laughing and Boom took it all in her stride.
In the evening, I asked her if she had any good pictures from today and she sent me this one:
The best thing about today was:
The whole class mentioned above was a pleasure to teach again. A fair few students were missing, which made it even easier to get more personal interactions.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
The downside of those missing students is that they missed the prep for work required for next week. Well, nothing I can do about that.
Also, in my grade 8 class, I have them reading in groups of 4 and Ten has not been prepared to do anything to help himself, so I put pressure on his group that if I grade the group it will be to the lowest scorer amongst them.
I know this will have a negative effect in that it will make the group members think even less of Ten than they already do but I want to demonstrate to them that this is what happens in real life. The weakest person lets down the whole team.
Something I learned today?
I learned a whole lot about semi-fake mobile game ads, why they are made and how they are implemented. It was a head-shaking experience.
Review your acts, Good and bad.
I talked a little with grade 8 student Film today, as he has cut himself off from Ten and No, as they are not really fulfilling his expectations of friendship. I’m just conscious that last year he came to me to discuss his mental health and I don’t want him to be so isolated and cut himself off from everyone. It’s a weird group of kids in that class for sure. I like them all, except for Ten.
He just, just, just couldn’t get it together Metaphor not needed, no ray of sunshine Petering out, always under the weather He’ll be here when he’s ready, he’s Justin Time
Jimmy the door so that us fools can rush in Do not harry him, his heart is so sublime So mark my words, when he’s ready to begin He’ll be here when he’s ready, he’s Justin Time
Submitted to the AllPoetry’s Expressing Yourself course; write a two-stanza poem using metaphor and Poets and Storytellers United Friday Writings #137: At the Last Minute. Inspired by an old school friend called Justin who inevitably got called Justin Time whenever he was late for something. An added bonus of a boy’s name used in each line too.
Today I’m feeling:
Sleepy with sore eyes. Slept badly, with Tigger waking everyone up at 3 am for some unknown reason, perhaps complaining about the rain. Reset my alarm to get an extra 30 minutes of rest and skipped exercise.
It’s another grey day to dull my aching eyes and even the kids are less enthusiastic today, amplifying the dark, depressing atmosphere. Though kids will no doubt not be able to help themselves from being kids. Will the adults, this adult, be able to be an adult today?
Today I’m grateful for:
Nong Spain carrying half of the workbooks for me up to the classroom this afternoon.
The best thing about today was:
Doing a little catching up with my four free hours. I got another lesson finished plus more ideas along with some reading and writing. No one thing particularly outstanding today.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
Nong Praew came over to me to help her in the morning class and I guided her to the correct answers. Weirdly, I can feel my Thai improving as I’ve been helping her as she generally only speaks Thai to me unless I ask her to read.
As I was helping her, we used her phone to look up things and I noticed that she had been searching for ‘die, dead, death’ in Google, which she quickly tried to hide. She brushed it off when I asked her about it. She had also told me that she forgot to take her meds in the morning.
Anyway, after she had finished the classwork, she wanted to play but ended up annoying me enough that I left to the cafe to keep working.
In the afternoon class, she was a little concerned that she couldn’t charge her phone and would run out of battery before being able to call her mom to pick her up.
Without being able to charge her phone, a few minutes later, she became teary and I tried to calm her. I looked at her phone and she still had 8% battery left so it didn’t seem like a big deal. In her fragile state though, she couldn’t see it like that.
We did a difficult spelling test and she got deeply involved in that and then I finished up the class and she disappeared quickly.
I messaged her later about why she reacted so strongly to not having her phone charged and she said that she had to walk home. She only lives a couple of blocks from school but it was raining a little.
I wasn’t sure whether to believe this but Kru Jern had mentioned to me that her parents indulge her in everything. In this context, her behaviour makes more sense.
Whilst I will indulge her in learning, I’ll make sure that she knows where are the boundaries.
Something I learned today?
Israel has managed to fire rockets and kill targets in other countries with remarkable precision yet somehow cannot do the same in Gaza, bombing the shit out of everything and anyone.
This clearly shows their intentions. Things are starting to kick off and I can’t see it de-escalating soon.
On the edge. I felt good at forcing myself up and exercising this morning. Could feel my lazy body enjoying the move and stretch.
The weather today is very English and ordinary (a little warmer than in England of course). Dull, grey and spitting light droplets of rain. The dim ambience is straining my tired eyes and as I pulled up for a couple of hours at House with coffee I suddenly felt tired and run down.
Hopefully the coffee picks me up for what should be a relatively straightforward day of classes today.
Today I’m grateful for:
The bakery shop next door to House where I could pick up ingredients for Amy as her first batch of cookies had failed due to too fine a sugar for the mix.
When I got home and tasted them though, they were the best so far but I could still understand why she wasn’t happy with them.
The best thing about today was:
Sitting on the terrace in the egg chair this evening after dark, with Tigger on my lap and rain tap tap tapping down through the canopy of leaves and flowers growing over the entertainment area. The temperature is finally bearable and I’m even wearing a t-shirt tonight, though I could just as easily not do too.
Anyway, it was only a few minutes but I savoured them immensely.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
I was frustrated with Program (and Kwang) in my grade 8 class and asked him to leave after telling him to sit down on about ten different occasions. He tried to convince me that he was going to behave, but unfortunately, he can’t help himself and will just get up and disturb other people.
As I had said I would kick him out if I had to say his name again, I felt obliged to ensure that he left but he refused. So I told the class to just sit and say nothing until he left. He gave it a good go for about five minutes but Kwang eventually convinced him to leave and I carried on teaching and the class was great after that.
Kwang soon got up and asked to go to the bathroom, though and that was the last I saw of her too.
I didn’t let any of this bother me in particular; just wanted to put my foot down. We have fun in my class but there are limits and they need to understand what is acceptable and what is not. It’s a little sad because Program and Kwang are capable students. They just lack maturity and guidance.
I talked with Kru Karn again later but she was just as frustrated with them as all the teachers complain about them to her and she doesn’t know what to do. She doesn’t understand why they are still in school as their points in our SchoolBright system have fallen below zero which generally means that they are asked to leave. Kwang’s current score is now -125!
Thankfully, my second class (grade 10s) was much smoother.
Something I learned today?
We have a new teacher teaching English. Her name is Sasha and she’s from Indonesia. She told me that she remembers me from visiting with the exchange program students last year. Her English is good and clear.
It made me wonder who is employing her and how much she is getting paid. I don’t think she speaks Thai, so I’m not sure if she is included as a Thai teacher and will be asked to do all the things that they have to do, too.
Anyway, I told her to ask me anything if she had any questions.
29th Aug 2025 – I’m guessing she must have only been teaching here temporarily as I don’t think I saw her again!
Review your acts, Good and bad.
Today is Nicha’s birthday and I wished her well but I could see that she and her friends may have been expecting something more.
A little later, I popped around to the cafe and bought her back a slice of chocolate cake, for which she was very appreciative and came and gave me a hug.
She’s a good kid. I hope that she finds her place in the world and that it is a good place.
Someone took this picture because these students of mine spent the weekend away doing some kind of activity. Sadly, 4 of them decided not to come to school today and missed my fun movie class. Sad for them anyway…
Tired still and not particularly excited for my classes, knowing that many students will be missing for various reasons, disrupting my plans.
I got up ok this morning but feel a lack of energy and my eyes are a little blurry still.
Onwards we must go!
Today I’m grateful for:
A bit of a chilled, busy day due to circumstances described below. I’m still pretty tired at the end of the day but was expecting to feel much more exhausted after six hours in class, then dashing home and soon out again to the airport to pick up Amy. I’m looking forward to sleep but also feeling satisfied with the day.
The best thing about today was:
Falling into the rhythm of the day with only 14 out of 35 students turning up for my first class. The rest were mostly off doing projects and special meetings.
As the class was due to do presentations, this has to be delayed until next week. I figured I’d try to do some pronunciation work with the few students in attendance and settled on a 90-question Quiz about the pronunciation of past tense ‘-ed’ verbs.
At the start, everyone was quite competitive but with so many questions, once they started to understand the rules for this grammar point, they all started deliberately choosing the wrong answers to wind me up.
Suitably satisfied I stopped the quiz halfway and let the kids relax for the rest of the time.
And so it went on, in my next class, about 8 or 10 students were off doing something (which luckily I heard about yesterday and had prepared for) and I did a really simple reading, translation and quiz with the predominantly J-Biz program students.
I even managed to dash off to House for a quick coffee and writing catch-up before my final class with grade 8s and a tough reading challenge for them. I was pleasantly surprised at how well they handled it. Not with the quality of their reading but the fact that they’ve become accustomed with doing what I ask and feel comfortable that I will assist them. It’s a win as far as I’m concerned. If they can’t improve their English, at least their attitude to difficult tasks will improve.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
I’ve been a little frustrated with waiting on covers for the SpeechOdd/High Voltage split 12”, which Parthiban arranged with Talib in KL. Talib has been out of contact for a few weeks now and I’m sitting on a stack of currently unsellable vinyl until I get these covers.
There’s not much I can do and Parthiban is also frustrated and decided not to work with Talib again. Hopefully, the situation resolves soon.
Something I learned today?
I read an interesting piece about how Buenos Aires was richer and more culturally advanced than any other American city in the early 1900s until the Great Depression, followed by a series of political missteps, which saw it lose its status. There was even a phrase, ‘To wish to be as rich as an Argentinian!’
Review your acts, Good and bad.
Even after my long day of classes, I dropped in on Kru David’s grade 9 class and helped Nicha, Yurin and Tankoon to understand what was required. It felt good to help them and they showed their appreciation with their thanks.
I took this picture because Freya didn’t understand why I was saying ‘Sadako’ when she was fixing her hair, so I put the picture up on the screen and made her stand there too.
Would you cheat the tigers of their worth? The voices of the dead claim a friend Hasty to join the march towards oblivion Bad blood bullets hold a message to send
Bless the big cats in a natural ceremony A scent on the breeze of the savannah From the city smells, to our sandy shells The ringing of bells will cry ‘Hosanna!’
OK, though not particularly up or down. I pushed myself this morning with a full body workout and am waiting to see how my hip reacts, especially as I don’t have a class until 2.30 pm today so I’ll be sitting a lot until then.
Today I’m grateful for:
That Cap ate all his breakfast this morning as he woke us up in the middle of the night, hacking up a hairball.
The best thing about today was:
Helping out in Kru Numnim’s class again in the morning and being able to take the time to help some of the poorer students with their learning and understanding.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
I feel a little down this evening and I think it is because I’m thinking too much about our education system here in Thailand. When I see some teachers in their classes, I just don’t understand what they are doing. They are wasting their students’ lives!
When I ask students what they learned today and they say ‘nothing’ I try to get them to understand that they should be angry if that is truly the case.
It’s a struggle some days!
Something I learned today?
There is an app for Makro where I can see what they have in stock. Amy showed me today as I went there on my way home and was once again disappointed to find that they were out of stock of my favourite yoghurt.
Now I can just check the app before going.
Review your acts, Good and bad.
Iphone asked me for some help with wanting to be a buddy for future exchange students and I gave her some advice on how to find out more about what is required.
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.
I took this picture of Ploy because she was bullying me as I was on my way to class.
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.
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.
1994ever 