Tag: Weekly Prompts Wednesday Challenge

Too Long Jack – 16th January 2023

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 17 Comments

Those words came to me each night
But I could find no pen to write
Wondering what it is you do
Since those times we once knew

Racing hearts and chasing dreams
Of racing carts and laser beams
The world was ours for the taking
Or to be born of our making

Pages wait for this ink’s touch
What to say, there’s just too much
I hope you recall all we did
Loving the slippery slopes we slid

19th Jun 2024 – Submitted to Weekly Prompts Wednesday Challenge – Perspective
28th May 2025- Shared with dVerse – regret. I often write about this specific event in my life, though my feelings are complicated. It felt to me inevitable, so I wouldn’t describe it so much as regret. I thought I’d try to write more specifically for this prompt, but I don’t have the inspiration for the short timeline. This poem is more of a look back and nostalgic and so is filled with some hope.

Today I’m feeling:

Happy but a little agitated. I feel like I should have achieved more than I have.

Today I’m grateful for:

Mum’s soup in the freezer. She made this batch ages ago but I haven’t had to eat for all the time Amy was here. With a bit of salt and pepper along with some Oasis dried gluten, I felt like a master chef. Thank you microwave.

The best thing about today was:

Tangmo brought his friend to play in our garden whilst I was watering and they ran and rolled and tumbled with each other in doggy joy. The new dog is nervous but I was almost able to pet him this time. I didn’t push it though.

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

Today was Teachers’ Day at school where monks come and do some chanting and speeches are given, awards presented etc. The event ran on Thai time and I was hoping to get out by 10 but things were still bumbling along at 11. I was entertaining myself by talking with David and Gus for a while, reading articles and playing poker on my phone.

I did get away and home by midday though.

Something I learned today?

I listened to a reasonable discussion between two Americans living in China discussing current affairs and got to hear a slightly different perspective on events there. I tend to ignore Western media commentary on China but I am aware that I do focus on the opposite and enjoy hearing positive things about China.

This discussion (Sinicism podcast) made me consider things differently and I’ll check out more.

Write about a few of your favourite family traditions?

As a son, we didn’t have any traditions in particular. I guess when we lived with my grandparents we always had Sunday lunch together and I can recall at Christmas, the relatives would come for lunch.

As a father, I’ve not really continued or fostered any tradition at all. Bronwyn is from a large family and any traditions would be held on that side of Hayden’s family. There used to be big family get-togethers that I would sometimes attend even when I was divorced, also taking Kyoko with me. I don’t think Amy ever went though and it’s possible I stopped going by then too.

I took this picture because it was unusual to see Tigger sitting in the middle of the lawn. It’s like he was savouring the sunrise and sucking up the goodness of the sun’s rays. Kim meanwhile had already buried herself under the bedsheets for her 8-10 hour daily nap.

Garden Haiku – 30th August 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 4 Comments

Passionfruit flowers
Precede overabundance
Jam jars are ready

Ripened or not so
Papayas can be eaten
Until sick of it

The rambutans red
Are all infested with ants
Inedible now

Avocado trees
Why do you never give fruit?
I want to smash you

My chillies just came
It was a surprise to all
Conditions perfect

26th Jun 2024 – Submitted to Weekly Prompts Wednesday Challenge

Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment

Today I’m grateful for:
The cookie I ate at House with my lunchtime coffee. It wasn’t particularly tasty or big but somehow it staved off any afternoon hunger so I ended up only needing yoghurt for dinner.
The best thing about today was:
Being able to talk to different students on a more personal level about more serious topics such as behaviour and respect. Even with the difficulties we have in communicating I feel as if I have their confidence in some ways.

I took this picture because I’d never seen the light on the lower mountains like this before. The sun was only just over the horizon to the east.

The Week That Was – 11th November 1979

Jungle Garden – 25th August 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 2 Comments

Too many bananas, papayas and lychees
I got passionfruits stacked up to my knees
Chillies and pumpkin grown from spat-out seeds
On every speck of dirt, even amongst the weeds

Mulberries hang over the neighbour’s fences
I pick his mangoes to save on expenses
The land of plenty, these abundant times
We can’t even eat all the goddamn limes

26th Jun 2024 – Shared to Weekly Prompts Wednesday Challenge
29th Oct 2024 – Shared with Ragtag Daily Prompt – pumpkin

…our age cries out for the redeemer personality, the one who can emancipate himself from the grip of the collective ‘psychosis’ and save at least his own soul.

Carl Jung, Development of Personality

Today I’m grateful for:
Making it through the day without too much stress despite feeling tired and dizzy.
The best thing about today was:
Was briefly talking and joking with Nong Cake. She is still a smart kid. She was preparing Thai and Japanese flags for Japan day tomorrow and I made a joke that the Thai flag was for Italy and she immediately understood and said that the Japanese flag was for Indonesia.

I took this picture because this is what my students drew on the board before class started. Baipad and Jan claimed responsibility and which was a little surprising though I know Baipad loves drawing. The picture made me laugh and then I teased them that I would show the head teacher and they begged me not to.
This is Trevor’s picture but of the same sunset that I was looking at last night. It was mesmerising.

The Biggest Rug – 22nd July 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 2 Comments

Now that news is entertainment
There’s nothing worth knowing
It’s there to serve a purpose
To prevent your knowledge growing

A movie star’s divorce
Is more newsworthy than war
When the injured are at home
And understand what the fighting is for

The rug is getting bigger
Where all the garbage is brushed
Tricked to believe in freedom
Whilst watching it being crushed

9th May 2024 – Submitted to Word of the Day Challenge – Garbage
26th Sep 2024 – Submitted to Weekly Prompts Wednesday Challenge – Supersize

We need each other to become ourselves.

Abraham Kaplan

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for our crazy passionfruit plants that are providing me with so much fruit to enjoy. Then there’s the crazy pumpkin that also may actually give us food that doesn’t get eaten by insects this year.

Safety First – 13th September 2021

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

It’s a dirty war where enemies become friends
And friends enemies to further their own ends
To the victor the spoils, to make up the rules
To put out the fires burning on hated fuels

Some will celebrate whilst others may flee
An order emerges to which most want to agree
Freedom for the ignorant, itself its own cage
Repeated ad infinitum on every history page

Better to be oppressed than constantly scared
It’s all relative when your life has been spared
Safety comes first, freedom a patient wait
Rebuilding lives, thankfully able to create

Stop running tired now passed that difficult test
Grateful once more, living again, amongst the blessed

29th May 2024 – Submitted to Weekly Prompts Wednesday Challenge

Cassette collecting all KLS releases from 2014-2021

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful that in my dream last night I tried to protect the people I love – even though I woke up screaming, waking up the people I love!

I was not in the best of moods over the weekend but not terrible. I think I ran out of energy yesterday and just ended up reading and watching TV. Last week, on Monday, I gave George some ground coffee as a gift and to show that I’m OK with him even though he doesn’t interact with me anymore.

Then, on Friday, as I was listening to YouTube and just before writing my entry here, he came into my classroom, which was a bit of a surprise, and I smiled towards him as he approached. He came up to me with the coffee and said, ‘Why did you give me this?’ I said, ‘No reason – just a gift. You drink coffee, don’t you?’ He put it on the table and said, ‘I don’t accept gifts for no reason’, turned around and walked off. I was speechless.

I sat for a while, writing my entry and decided not to mention this and to think about it over the weekend first. This may have also affected my mood a little, but I realise I feel quite resilient to this kind of behaviour! It gets me curious about what makes people act in this way. Suspicion? Pride? Culture? Anyway, I will ignore this stupidity,

I talked a little with Amy and Bruno about it. Amy blames me for even trying to interact with him. Bruno agreed that it was strange behaviour but not so uncharacteristic from what he know of George. We all agreed that we all feel sorry for Bee, who knows what he is like and puts up with it, whatever her reasons.

Anyway, I gave the coffee to Champ this morning, who was really appreciative of it!

Sleeping Garden – 15th August 2021

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

*Why do we sleepwalk and tread all over our hearts?
Do you feel as if you’ve come out of the soil yet?
Step into the light, it’s time to play all our parts
Reach for the sun, let’s see how dirty we can get.

*First two lines (and ideas) stolen from Glenn Dakin’s ‘Abe – Wrong for All the Right Reasons’
26th Jun 2024 – Submitted to Weekly Prompts Wednesday Challenge

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful to Didi this morning as she let me try some of her lemon cheesecake that she made for Art at Utopia. Also to Gang – who shared info about his tattoos and his plans. They are both nice people.

I Am The Librarian – 15th May 2021

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 2 Comments

I am the librarian tending to my books
Sniffing, smelling, rearranging order
Perhaps one day I’ll open them
Be a reader instead of a hoarder

A world of so many tales
Told by those who breathed them
Where I can be lost, then found
And I can be relieved then

I am the librarian lending out my books
We can share such stories
Of those failures and losers
Or those who shined in glories

20th Sep 2024 – Submitted to Weekly Prompts Wednesday Challenge – Hoarding

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful to Art at Utopia for giving me two free coffees today. I gave him a couple of books and some sketches I did but didn’t expect anything in return. As a bonus, the coffee was even more delicious than normal.