LONG but SHORT
The living are just the dead on holiday. ~ AnonymousNote: This entry is my attempt to resume writing again after a long hiatus.
The long semester break is going to end soon. How time flies. One would think that this 2 ½ month break is LONG and we teachers would be shaking legs in the office or at home but it wasn’t the case where I was concerned. I WORKED throughout the break. The only time I really, really, really didn’t work was when I went for a 10D8N vacay in the States. That was it. You can check my leave record: the only leave I took was for the States trip.
The break started at the end of April. For the first two weeks I was busy with marking papers, keying in the marks and going to schools to evaluate those trainee teachers under my supervision. Other than these, I would be in the office, mostly working on writing articles. All in all I worked on one journal article, which I had to revise a few times, and two conference articles. These took up a lot of my time and were very tedious and nerve-wrecking undertakings but I persevered. I also continued with my part time teachings, both in and outside the campus. In between these things I also had to attend meetings and workshops held by the department, which were suicidal in nature. So there, no BREAK for me! Another indication that I have been WORKING this entire break is my failure to embark on any of those MEGA projects that I’ve lined up at the back of my mind. Kinda like the non-performing loans, as an analogy. As with other previous breaks, I would normally have a few Mega projects planned in my head weeks, no, months before the break comes. These MEGA projects would be those things that I keep on postponing because 1. these things would need hours, sometimes days to complete 2. doing them during the break would be FUN, and I could do them in a very relaxed way. These projects include: 1. Giving a facial uplift to my tiny garden 2. Buying new curtains to replace those more-than-3-year-old curtains 3. Buying bulbs and lamps to add/replace those that are not working. 4. Having a CSI Season 8 marathon at home, accompanied by a bucket of vanilla ice-cream. Well, you guessed right, none of these had been realized because I HAVE BEEN WORKING.
Back to my Us trip, I finally got this much-deserved break at the end of May, after weeks and weeks of WORKING. I don’t know why, but every time I made plans to travel, there would be adverse tests put on me. Last year, while preparing for a US trip, I was tested with a lot of things. This year too, I was put to test. It came in the form of a pandemic. Yup, H1N1 a.k.a swine Flu. It hit the Mexico and the States in late April and by early and mid May, it had spread all over the world, making traveling a dangerous endeavor. I couldn’t believe what was happening. Snide remarks from friends and colleagues didn’t help, too. They were more phobic of it than other equally-fatal diseases such as AIDS! The fact that I couldn’t get a refund from MAS and the fact that this trip would mean a lot to Suzy became the MAJOR pushing factors for the trip. Either we proceed with the trip or our hard-earned 4K go down the drain. The latter is unacceptable, not after those long hours of teaching and script-writing. Remarks like "Screw the 4k, health is more important" really hurt. Some people just have no idea how I laboured for it. Some people also think that I grow money on trees. Well, screw those people. Being the easily-paranoid person that I am, I did a lot of readings on H1N1. I also had the luck to watch a documentary about flu on ASTRO. My understanding was further enhanced. It did make me become paranoid for a while but the thing about H1N1 is, it is as fatal as the common flu. The latter had also killed a lot of people all over the world. If H1N1 is detected early, it could be treated. A doc friend confirmed this. I also think that the media went a bit overboard with the whole H1N1 issue. In the end, Suzy and I were determined to go. Even if it meant taking the painful INFLUENZA jab. Uh, I shudder everytime I remember it. Not pleasant at all, I tell you. The needle was somehow thicker and longer. Need I elaborate more?
So I had my vacay after all. (I'll write about it in another entry). When I reached home, I didn’t have time to nurse my jet lag properly. 2 nights after I got home, I was flying to JB to attend a conference. I was lucky, my paper was scheduled for Day One. If it had been scheduled on Day Two or Three, I don’t think I would be able to present. On my second day in JB, I got sick. My head felt heavy and my throat was sore. Two symptoms associated with the H1N1 diasease. OMG!!! Nevertheless, I chose to ignore these symptoms, took some aspirin and lozenges and slept right from afternoon till the next morning, praying that the virus had not hit me. I was extremely worried that I’d contracted the dreaded virus but I guess the jet lag was asserting its presence in my body system. My mom and sis came down to stay with me and I was pleased. At least, if I were to die, there’d be somebody there with me. Despite my feverish condition, I managed to bring them to Singapore for a few hours. I’d promised to bring them on a Raya shopping spree and I lived up to my promise. My heart was beating so fast when we passed by the Woodlands check point. Thermal scanners were everywhere and I was unsure whether I was well enough for the trip. It turned out I was. What a relief! I guessed I cheated the virus. Hmm. I would like to think so.
One day of rest at home and I was back at work the next day. I had my part time teaching obligations so the whole Sunday I was teaching and teaching until I was blue in the face. A meeting with my muse in the evening brought the weekend to a perfect end, nevertheless :-). That, was a much-needed BREAK. I hadn't seen him for quite some time.
The break started at the end of April. For the first two weeks I was busy with marking papers, keying in the marks and going to schools to evaluate those trainee teachers under my supervision. Other than these, I would be in the office, mostly working on writing articles. All in all I worked on one journal article, which I had to revise a few times, and two conference articles. These took up a lot of my time and were very tedious and nerve-wrecking undertakings but I persevered. I also continued with my part time teachings, both in and outside the campus. In between these things I also had to attend meetings and workshops held by the department, which were suicidal in nature. So there, no BREAK for me! Another indication that I have been WORKING this entire break is my failure to embark on any of those MEGA projects that I’ve lined up at the back of my mind. Kinda like the non-performing loans, as an analogy. As with other previous breaks, I would normally have a few Mega projects planned in my head weeks, no, months before the break comes. These MEGA projects would be those things that I keep on postponing because 1. these things would need hours, sometimes days to complete 2. doing them during the break would be FUN, and I could do them in a very relaxed way. These projects include: 1. Giving a facial uplift to my tiny garden 2. Buying new curtains to replace those more-than-3-year-old curtains 3. Buying bulbs and lamps to add/replace those that are not working. 4. Having a CSI Season 8 marathon at home, accompanied by a bucket of vanilla ice-cream. Well, you guessed right, none of these had been realized because I HAVE BEEN WORKING.
Back to my Us trip, I finally got this much-deserved break at the end of May, after weeks and weeks of WORKING. I don’t know why, but every time I made plans to travel, there would be adverse tests put on me. Last year, while preparing for a US trip, I was tested with a lot of things. This year too, I was put to test. It came in the form of a pandemic. Yup, H1N1 a.k.a swine Flu. It hit the Mexico and the States in late April and by early and mid May, it had spread all over the world, making traveling a dangerous endeavor. I couldn’t believe what was happening. Snide remarks from friends and colleagues didn’t help, too. They were more phobic of it than other equally-fatal diseases such as AIDS! The fact that I couldn’t get a refund from MAS and the fact that this trip would mean a lot to Suzy became the MAJOR pushing factors for the trip. Either we proceed with the trip or our hard-earned 4K go down the drain. The latter is unacceptable, not after those long hours of teaching and script-writing. Remarks like "Screw the 4k, health is more important" really hurt. Some people just have no idea how I laboured for it. Some people also think that I grow money on trees. Well, screw those people. Being the easily-paranoid person that I am, I did a lot of readings on H1N1. I also had the luck to watch a documentary about flu on ASTRO. My understanding was further enhanced. It did make me become paranoid for a while but the thing about H1N1 is, it is as fatal as the common flu. The latter had also killed a lot of people all over the world. If H1N1 is detected early, it could be treated. A doc friend confirmed this. I also think that the media went a bit overboard with the whole H1N1 issue. In the end, Suzy and I were determined to go. Even if it meant taking the painful INFLUENZA jab. Uh, I shudder everytime I remember it. Not pleasant at all, I tell you. The needle was somehow thicker and longer. Need I elaborate more?
So I had my vacay after all. (I'll write about it in another entry). When I reached home, I didn’t have time to nurse my jet lag properly. 2 nights after I got home, I was flying to JB to attend a conference. I was lucky, my paper was scheduled for Day One. If it had been scheduled on Day Two or Three, I don’t think I would be able to present. On my second day in JB, I got sick. My head felt heavy and my throat was sore. Two symptoms associated with the H1N1 diasease. OMG!!! Nevertheless, I chose to ignore these symptoms, took some aspirin and lozenges and slept right from afternoon till the next morning, praying that the virus had not hit me. I was extremely worried that I’d contracted the dreaded virus but I guess the jet lag was asserting its presence in my body system. My mom and sis came down to stay with me and I was pleased. At least, if I were to die, there’d be somebody there with me. Despite my feverish condition, I managed to bring them to Singapore for a few hours. I’d promised to bring them on a Raya shopping spree and I lived up to my promise. My heart was beating so fast when we passed by the Woodlands check point. Thermal scanners were everywhere and I was unsure whether I was well enough for the trip. It turned out I was. What a relief! I guessed I cheated the virus. Hmm. I would like to think so.
One day of rest at home and I was back at work the next day. I had my part time teaching obligations so the whole Sunday I was teaching and teaching until I was blue in the face. A meeting with my muse in the evening brought the weekend to a perfect end, nevertheless :-). That, was a much-needed BREAK. I hadn't seen him for quite some time.
The next day I had to attend a 5-day 8-5 course. PTK a.k.a. Penilaian Tahap Kecekapan a.k.a. Competency Test. I'd been putting it off for so many years and at last I made a conscious decision to attend it. What the heck, I thought, just get it over with. I need it for my promotion anyway. What is the difference between this PTK course and other courses I'd attended such as Induksi and BTN? None, really. They made you sit through talks and lectures, they served you food, they made you deliver speeches and presentations and in the end, they made you sit exams that require you to answer 5 essay questions in 3 hours! Nevertheless, this course did serve a dose or two of fun. Meeting lecturers from the other faculties was fun. I made a lot of new friends. I also enjoyed listening to their stories (and grievances, of course). Working in a public research university is not easy, I should know.
This week I have to fulfill my obligations as a teaching supervisor. Monday and Tuesday I was in Shah Alam and now I'm in Melaka, in the school library, waiting for my next turn to go into my student's class. While typing this entry, I am watching a movie with a group of Form 4 students. I am surrounded by boys (it's an all-boys school) and have never felt so feminine before. Hehehe. What is in store for me next week? WORK, of course (the new semester is beginning in less than 2 weeks) and I don't even want to think about it at the moment. Not with all these cute boys surrounding me. Woohoo..!
.
This week I have to fulfill my obligations as a teaching supervisor. Monday and Tuesday I was in Shah Alam and now I'm in Melaka, in the school library, waiting for my next turn to go into my student's class. While typing this entry, I am watching a movie with a group of Form 4 students. I am surrounded by boys (it's an all-boys school) and have never felt so feminine before. Hehehe. What is in store for me next week? WORK, of course (the new semester is beginning in less than 2 weeks) and I don't even want to think about it at the moment. Not with all these cute boys surrounding me. Woohoo..!
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