Tag: work

Baby Doll – 17th August 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

Made of plastic with a million others
Boxed and sold to potential mothers
Wrapped in cloth, put in a manger
Idolised when stolen by a stranger
Faith questioned by this random act
The perpetrator is family in fact
Purposes are being slowly revealed
With metaphors that were concealed

Inspired by the first season of TV show The Leftovers

I don’t like work – no man does – but I like what is in the work – the chance to find yourself. Your own reality – for yourself, not for others – what no other man can know. They can only see the mere show and never can tell what it really means.

Joseph Conrad

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for all the things I learn about myself every day with the challenges I face.

The Week That Was – 28th October 1979

Time’s Up – 21st April 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Hello friend, I’m just passing through
But I’m grateful that I got to know you
Thick as thieves, inseparable brothers
One and the same in the eyes of others
So friend, we never got to say farewell
Something happened, neither of us could tell
We didn’t mean to but life pulls in different ways
Memories remain the only thing that stays

There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still.

F.D. Roosevelt

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for this holiday I’m on – I’m loving it. The fact that I’m OK with holidays or work makes everything I do interesting and I know I’m adaptable to enjoy any situation.

The Whys – 5th February 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

There was a wisdom to the air
A confidence contained in words
A charismatic character
Striding forth with bellows
Seen from the side
Seen straight ahead
Backwards or upside down
Never questioned, the whys
– I questioned the wise
Found lacking and falling short
Unveiled, revealed to me
It matters not, what you see
This is just a matter for me

When we can be alone, we can be with others without using them as a means of escape.

bell hooks

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful that Amy got offered both jobs and took the 2nd one as it allows her to travel in February before starting in March. Excellent.

New Coffee – 31st January 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Close my eyes and count to three
Sit up as straight as I can be
Breathe in deep, expand my chest
Slow it down to do it best
Racing thoughts, I let them go
Race on down that river so
Five minutes later and I’m done
So now the day has just begun
I can face everything I’m thrown
I can count each day I’ve grown
Even more wicked witches come
I can carry on until I’m done

Successful people do things that they don’t like to do because they can accomplish the things that they want to accomplish.

paraphrase Albert Gray

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful to have made a good plan to get everything ready for my first work day without Amy.

A Good Witch – 16th December 2021

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

What power does a good witch wield
And how can it be so?
The power to limit jackassery
Using that golden word – No!

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for the coffee shop next to school where I can go and work quietly when I don’t have the car to go off elsewhere.

Quick one today. I gotta pee and I gotta go buy some bits and pieces.

Reasonable classes today and I enjoyed the students a lot. A little bit of effort from them will bring them a reward. A happy teacher will make a happy student.

I started the final 30-day abs workout. Already, it’s hard! But I’m gonna do it.

This pen is running out. That’s two pens in two days. Something else to buy.

We got that attitude! – 24th November 2021

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

I am so happy and grateful to have had the chance to sit quietly in the cafe doing work. Today I won’t be able to do that and I will miss it.

Naturally, last night I went over things in my head many times. I thought about many different questions and defences for my work but by the morning, I decided not to meet and talk more with Kru Nu. I’m certain that any parents’ complaints are just from lazy students and the only reason they complained is because I told them their children are lazy.

I’m still annoyed that the school didn’t support me without finding out any information but that’s the way it is. So, simple solution – don’t tell the parents!

I was hoping that by telling them that it would encourage them to push their kids a little when they are not at school. Maybe it worked for some but others are perhaps convinced that their little princes and princesses can do no wrong. Maybe they even believe the grades they get!

So, I will carry on as is, perhaps making things a little easier of simpler but I will push on with pushing them on. As I told Champ, I’m not really teaching English. Their understanding of English will occur naturally once they see the rewards of work and practice through thinking.

My Wife’s Performance Review – 18th November 2021

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Yesterday I reviewed the dog
Today I review my wife
I feel her performance
Doesn’t meet the standard for my life

She’s got some goals to reach
And I will keep on poking
Look out, here she comes
No honey, I’m joking! I’m joking!

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for the adjustable bracket I bought for my iPad so that I can read laying down flat and looking straight up. I hope this helps a little with my sore neck.

Well, turned up today to find only 4 students come to my first class and none to my second! I guess I would’ve done the same after getting a vaccine and being told you may get sick afterwards. I would definitely be sick!

But, I haven’t let the kids off – I sent them the work I had planned. I expect the good ones to do it. It will help them with their work for next week.

It means I have another full day mooching around so at the moment I’m in 22 Grams as I had to come and collect Amy’s vaccine passport. I will apply for one too next week, now that I know where to go and what to do.

Hayden called me yesterday and seemed pretty upbeat. He’s getting involved in some disability care training, which could be really good for him. Doing good things for other people will definitely improve your own self-worth and esteem.

Amy’s student, Nong Na, will come on Saturday and I will teach/talk with her for half an hour or so. I’ve been thinking about what to do and as I’m writing this, the idea has come forth for her to interview me. Sometimes the act of writing provides the inspiration.

I’m waiting for Central to open in 15 minutes (11 am) to go and double-check the price of the MacBook Air. I’d like to buy it before Amy goes away. My laptop is starting to get very slow and finicky, especially the trackpad. As I mentioned before – it still works though. 12 years use for a laptop is pretty good going!

I already prepared all of next week’s work for classes yesterday, so I can start on 2/9’s future classes with the subjects they’ve chosen. I could probably finish that all this afternoon and, who knows, maybe even tomorrow, students will still be ‘sick’. Then next week I can just sit in cafes and read, write, caffeinate.

Here I am again in another job where there’s hardly any work to do. I’ll motivate myself to improve the quality of my work. Put effort into the common good.

(Later) I made a good decision to go and get a massage. I feel great! Now, I’m back at House for afternoon coffee and I’ll go back to school around 3 pm, as I did yesterday, and eat lunch!

Working From Cafe – 10th October 2021

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 2 Comments

Plug it in and power up
Working here with coffee cup
–Day and night slaving here
Waiting for beer o’clock

Wifi Password 9999
We got the power but not the time
–Living in a deadline fear
That must remain forever online

Twenty four seven three six five
Blown through another portable drive
–PDFs sent peer to peer
Waking up dead just to stay alive

Words were writ, emails sent
Both for and against the government
–What the fuck are you doing here?
With all the wasted time you spent

Earned a dollar, put in bank
Spent on all the coffees drank
–Your boss is making profit clear
Whilst you are just a mindless blank

15th Mar 2024 – Submitted to WDYS 229
14th Sep 2024 – Submitted to Ragtag Daily Prompt – cafeteria

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for the dentist suggesting me to use a special brush to clean between my teeth. They are starting to feel better now.

Sad Butterfly – 24th August 2021

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 4 Comments

We are not so sentimental
– sort of desolate
Towards what we once had

It’s only people like us
– who are really happy
Who can enjoy being sad

Calling out to the pretty ones
– fluttering around us
Like butterflies of fad

No dignity in frivolity
– falling on the ice
Our balance so very bad

More Abe-inspired talk from Glenn Dakin.

18th Feb 2024 – Submitted to Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge – Desolate

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful I have a job where I can at least take time off to be sick or work at home – I don’t have to work every day just to survive.