My Day

I woke up late. I was supposed to be on time for this teaching effectiveness seminar. It should start at 8am and I woke up at 8:40! I did indeed set my borrowed fone to alarm at 7am, but no, my unconscious mind got the better of me. I somehow turned it off. Well, that always happens anyway.

I had a valid reason for waking late. It's not just out of plain tardiness. It was because I slept late.. It may have been already 4am when sleep closed in on me. I slept late for many reasons. First, I was reading. Second, I was listening to music. Third, I do not know if it was just my imagination but I think the double bed was rocking. I did not feel anything at all. Or did I? I am not going to tell you. Or maybe it was just me. The music I was listening to was not sleepy music.. some tracks were upbeat too. So my foot swings in time with the beat occasionally. Maybe it was just I.. Right, who am I kidding?

There, last night was.. another one of those nights. I really felt the need to go away from that cursed boarding house asap and.. BLOG. Yeah, I had no other outlet. There was no one I can talk to. No other way to divert my thoughts. I did lit up some sticks up at the rooftop. I thought in there.. and when I was about to light my last one, it.. fell. What luck! Well, that pissed me off a bit, (I know I can just easily buy another one, but still..) so off I went to an internet cafe. However, I was not able to post something worthy because I hated that place! It just wasn't conducive for writing.

Anyway, I was the only one left in the boarding house when I woke this morning (thank goodness.. I avoided some very awkward encounters!). I was as fast as lightning and arrived at the DILC past ten. It was a nice building, a new one. I was given a nametag by the guard, and she gave me an envelope containing things necessary for the seminar. They were already starting. There were a lot of teachers from Chem present, not just the new instructors - Dr. Amor and Dr. Quirit were there too. I was given a seat just beside the door of the room. They were talking about the qualities of a good and bad instructor. The presiding teacher showed these characteristics on a projector. I looked and I smiled because I have all the characteristics of a good instructor. Hehehe. Well, I do. There even was "a comedian in the class", and "sharing your life stories" in there. Until then, i was not sure whether telling jokes or my life stories were good or bad for an instructor. Wow.. I am simply the best. Hahaha. I was a good instructor without trying to be one. Of course, I haven't read a manual on how to be a good instructor, and older instructors did not tell us which was a good or bad thing to do in class. I was just me, and I was just GREAT. I was perfect.

Then, we had this discussion about mentoring. Being a mentor. If you do not know what a mentor is, here is a quote from our handouts: "Whomever we consider our mentor, that person did not just teach us how to read book, write paragraphs or solve math problems - he or she empowered us to deal with life." I would love to be my students' mentor. To have that position, to help them grow. It is one of the wonders why teaching is such a noble job. You are helping your students build their tomorrow. And when they do succeed in the end, you are prouder of them than they are of themselves.

In the afternoon, we watched a movie, "The Emperor's Club". Watch it. It was a good movie. About a teacher and his students. It touched me, (Shut up! I dont easily cry on movies you know) and I almost cried. Well, you see, i am just too passionate about my job. After watching it, there was a discussion. We were talking about how we should sometimes talk to students who we feel should be able to perform better in our classes. We should know why. Then, this teacher raised his hand and said that we cannot simply go inquire about each of our students lives since we had other things to do. He said that the salary isnt that big so we really have to make both ends meet. Where will we find the time to worry about these students? I found his view quite wrong and I raised my hand. I said that dedication to our job is quite a big factor in assessing these problems. I said that if you are really concerned about your students, you do not have to voluntarily spend time with each student. I said that when you sense something wrong about your student, you just do something about it. It just comes naturally! Simple dedication to your job, that's all there is! That is the key to effective teaching!

I went back to IC and guess who I saw as I was on my way out? The indescribable couple! I rode the Ikot and saw them going off another way. What happened? You know, I just felt the usual shit. Nothing new. I mean, I practically live with them, so what would seeing them just together, on their way somewhere, bring? The same usual serving of shit. I might have another serving tonight when I get back at the haunted house, I am not sure yet. So what happened was that I couldn't possibly go straight home in that condition. I detoured to SM to watch a movie. And my plan was to watch it until I rot. I looked at the list, and didn't like anything. "Into the Blue" was still showing. My options were Doom, Lava Girl, Dungeons, Dubai, and Lord of War. I was walking to and fro and I felt that I came to the mall to watch a movie anyway, so I should just choose and endure it. In the end, it was "Doom" that I watched.  As I thought, it came from a video game. The title was not appropriate to the story. I did not like it, but it took my mind off the shit for a while. As usual, watching alone opens a new set of options..

Anyway, after watching I went to Philcoa, and here I am, typing this Blog entry. I should really think about how much money I am spending just to post something in here. You may have noticed that I almost post one entry per day. Career 'no? It is because I have no other outlet. I have lost them. So I am left with technology as my helping hand. It doesn't give me anything back, it just provides me with something where I can vent off this steaming shit inside me. When things are more stable with me, I wouldn't post as often.

There, that was my day. What did you gain by reading this? Nothing really. Just an insight into my life. Anyway, I do not post blog entries for you. I post for me. When I want to write, I just write. And I write here because it is more convenient.