Tag: tabula rasa

Spawn – 7th June 2024

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 6 Comments

A serial killer, an oil driller
Hardened by wooden toys
A road rager, black death plaguer
Once were blue-eyed boys

A nasty bitch, the spiteful witch
Waving a demonic wand
A dirty washup, a wicked gossip
Once were fair and blond

Even the spawn of Satan
Was once a lovely child
Depending on the road that’s taken
Arrives either mild or wild

Submitted to WDYS #241, this picture is way too cute not to take a completely opposite run at it. That’s just the way my brain works sometimes!

Today I’m feeling:

Pretty energised and happy, coffeed up, I enjoyed talking, teaching and playing with my students (and other random ones, too).

I talked with Baipad and a couple of her classmates about the gory videos they were shown in class and told Baipad that this was a great opportunity for her to stand up for herself and make her opinion known.  I tried to convince them that their opinions are valid and whilst they may not be listened to, they have the right to be expressed.

I could see from her face that she knew this but wasn’t able to steel herself to do it.  Still, it’s early steps in showing support and one day, hopefully, she will be brave enough to stand up for herself.

The first two classes were grade 11, so they were pretty well behaved (though still have to put my foot down every now and then) and after a quick break, onto the grade 8 scoundrels who were entertaining, and, with gently prodding, made fairly valiant attempts at their reading.

As I was on my way out, I ducked into Kru David’s class and helped some of the bored and dejected students who were struggling with being asked to write a very simple poem.

As I had no pressure, I had time to explain to a couple of students what the idea was about and how to complete it, and they seemed to get the gist.  Of course, when you are the only teacher in the room, it’s difficult to get around to all those strugglers and walk them through things more simply so that they can understand.

Today I’m grateful for:

A Facebook message from my students Baitoey and Piano saying that they missed me.  I was happy to receive it, though not sure exactly why they sent it as I bump into them around school almost every day.

The best thing about today was:

A positive feeling through most of the day without any exceptional highs or best thing that stands out.

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

While teaching in the new building and in the room where Kru Pooky sits whilst I’m teaching, I got a bit annoyed that she kept asking various students to go and run errands for her.

When we were about to start an online quiz, I asked her where my student was and told her that he needed to be here in my class.  I didn’t push it any further than that, but hopefully, she understood my intention.  This is the Thai way to try to deal with Thais doing things in a Thai way!

Something I learned today?

Duolingo, which I make all my students use for 5 minutes a day, has introduced what looks like a reasonably good AI chat component to its teaching practice.  Hopefully, some of my students can benefit from this.

And whilst looking at the app to see if they’ve added Thai (which they haven’t, yet they have Klingon) I found that they have added music and math, so I’m looking into the music one just for fun.

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

I offered Aida a friendly ear if she needed to talk to someone over the weekend.

Tabula Rasa – 24th November 2023

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Born empty, yet complete
A whole thing of being
A clean slate to begin
Eyes open for the seeing
Entropy now underway
Holes puncture the slate
Until the whole is empty
No longer able to create

5th Jun 2024 – Submitted to FOWC with Fandango

Today I’m feeling:

Pretty reasonable, though exercise was a bit of a struggle this morning. Just a tiny tickly dry cough left and there’s little pain from the tooth extraction but just a little bit of a weird feeling in my mouth.

Today I’m grateful for:

A kind of family dinner at Amy’s folk’s house. I ate as soon as I arrived after school as I had only had a few spoonfuls of yoghurt in the morning. Amy rode out to get me some fish congee which was what the dentist suggested for a couple of days whilst the hole in my gum heals. Everyone else was running around preparing food and then ate outside but I ran inside because of the hundreds of busy mosquitoes.

The best thing about today was:

It seems more common these days to not have anything stand out in particular but just to be generally having a good day all day. This is reflective of a more positive and healthy attitude all round.

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

In my last class one of my students advised me that everyone had to be out of the building by 4.30 because the pest control people were coming to spray. 

I don’t know why it is that we have to wait for our students to inform us of what is going on in the school but I’ve gotten used to it by now. 

Something I learned today?

Sadly Kru Fang will leave our school on Monday which is such a shame as she has been the most helpful and friendly teacher of all in our building. I like her a lot. Nothing stays the same.

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

Despite feeling tired during the day I was still happy to accept Amy’s message that we would eat at her parent’s for dinner.

Arriving after finishing school, Amy directed me to walk Leo and though I was hoping to relax for a minute I got over it quickly and let Leo pull me along as he snuffled in any interesting pile of leaves and dirt that he came across. He gives few clues about what is going on his head.

After finishing dinner I was keen to get home but Amy needed some baking ingredient that we needed to go back into the city for. I took it in my stride, even after the first shop we tried being closed and the second shop not having any stock and rushing to the third shop before it closed where finally she got it. I was satisfied with a nice soft cake that I found at the second stop and I think that kept me going.

I sent congratulations to Funfai for more medal-winning tennis and get-wells to Nut, Lin and Baipad.

I sent supportive messages to Aum and Ice because I saw them both enjoying my class of tongue twisters and helping other students.

I managed to go another day without taking a picture. I guess I had opportunities here and there but I did spend a lot of time either in class or in House and distracted with other things like reading or studying Thai.

I feel a little like I’m accustomed now to my environment here in Thailand. It’s not as novel as it once was though I do still appreciate what is around me. I need to get on my bike again soon and go exploring.

The Blank Page – 27th March 2023

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Falling like angels, imperfect and tragic
We tell ourselves stories of gods and their magic
Foundations built on uneven ground
Where the selfish, ignorant and unhappy are found

Where’s our tabula rasa to write our story
Where happiness lies beyond the glory
Our society corrupts us from our fabled youth
Up our own backsides won’t find us the truth

Why concern yourself with conflict and plotting
Everyone is getting what everyone is gotting
Is there any wish worse than the end?
Our fate’s already decided my friend.

Today I’m feeling:

Fairly upbeat and positive though still suffering from the bad air.

Today I’m grateful for:

House cafe! But not for coffee, or not just for coffee. I did a runner from the big hall I was in with all the other teachers telling a colleague that I was going to the cafe because they have an air purifier and wifi that works. Safer and better for work. I told them to contact me if there was anything they needed me for. Happier to be here than stuck in that hall with 100s of other teachers breathing the putrid air.

The best thing about today was:

I’m happily converting my old lessons to use Quizizz which I’m hoping makes my class more fun for the students. I actually enjoy doing this and rethinking how better to engage the kids.

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

As mentioned above, the air quality is out of my control so rather than suffer and complain I came up with a solution both better for me and for the school ie. going somewhere safe and getting more work done.

What are my top three priorities for this week and why?

1. Trying not to develop lung cancer, for fairly obvious reasons.
2. Making sure Kim Chi is ok as she hasn’t been eating much and sleeping even more than usual.
3. Getting as much work done before the holiday starts for real because I know I will be lazy to do much during that time.

I took this picture last week because these fruits and flowers looked pretty hanging on the tree as I was walking by. No new picture today as everything is a dull grey tone of armageddon. The red sun couldn’t even pierce the fog of smoke and it was already almost dark at 5 pm.