Of course, I am the hero
This is my poem after all!
Well-intentioned and rational
Justice must be my call

So you must be the villain
A poet must have a foe!
Conjuring a dastardly plan
Laughing maniacally so

We take action as we believe
Ignorant of a better way
Both deceived by our duty
In this game of life we play

---

Today I’m feeling:

Good again. I’m enjoying the feeling of being revitalised from my morning exercise. I woke up with a start this morning, though, which was good in that I wasn’t waking before my alarm like earlier this week.

For some reason, I was dreaming about opening a (?) for my student, Fah, and I also had an impression that I had been dreaming about an old workmate, Steve. I’m not sure why they were roaming around in my subconscious.

My first class was fun and straightforward but the two-hour break following it has made me tired and uninspired. I will teach the same lesson again soon to another class of the same grade but I’m doubting it will go as well. I may be doubting myself here rather than the students.

(After) Although the second class was a little more difficult to deal with, everyone at least submitted something to me, whilst some of my first class just left because they couldn’t answer the questions and weren’t interested in asking me for help.

Health:

Physical: 7
Mental: 7

Today I’m grateful for:

My student, Spain, who filled me in on some classroom gossip from his perspective. He’s a year older than everyone else as he has some kind of quirky autism which held him back a year and whilst he struggles to interact in a ‘normal’ manner, he’s fairly bright and knowledgeable and today I discovered that he is particularly observant.

He told me how he sees everything that is going on, who is with who, when they come and go, lots and lots of details. It was interesting to talk with him but also tiring as I struggled to hear him through his face mask and the sudden twists and turns he makes in conversation.

The best thing about today was:

Buying a punnet of strawberries at the walking street and scoffing them all with coconut ice cream, yoghurt and mini-Toblerones in a big bowl. So much for all that exercise and trying to lose weight!

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

I was not inspired to write after a provocative (to me) comment was posted on my poem, Christmas In Gaza, that I read this morning.

I’ve left the comment there without response but it essentially boils down to divisions through religion – ie, my god is better than yours. There’s no reasoning with this, so I’ll not engage.

Internally, though, the rage of hypocrisy burns so brightly. I need to let it go. It’s not my business what others choose to believe.

A few minutes after writing this, I started thinking about how things in general these days are about winning and losing and while some folks lose online arguments, others are losing their lives and the winners are rewriting their histories in some form or another. This triggered off a flow of words and I managed to get the bad feeling out.

Something I learned today?

Hong Kong is the only city in the world that uses seawater to flush its toilets.

Review your acts, Good and bad.

This morning, I encouraged Baipad to finish off a drawing she had started and when I messaged her this evening, asking her what the best thing about her day, it was that she had finished it.