The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

I finally got around to reading this book. It's a sad story really. I wonder if I would want to watch the movie version of it now...

ahhh....such bliss...

the much awaited for  b r e a k  is finally here... i have looked forward to this four day stretch of a break for a long time. nothing like having some time to myself just doing the things that i want to do and not have to think of work.

why

why are some people so rude?

from now on...

... I will speak less
... I will listen to no evil
... I will leave work on time
... I will not get involved with the politics in that place
... I will keep my opinions to myself
... I will not let the paranoia get to me
... I will not let the negative vibes affect me

loving your job (even though you hate it!)

I came across this article entitled Keeping a Job You Hate which I thought made a lot of sense. It gives good old fashion advice:

Don’t quit a job until you’ve nailed down a new one.

A few self reminders:

Three things I like about the job:

1. Location, location, location
It's near my home.
It's near my favorite shopping mall.
It's in the middle of somewhere instead of being in the middle of nowhere (as was the case with my last job location).
It's convenient for me to swing by the shopping mall after work for my groceries or window shop after work.
I get to check out the warehouse sales that I love since my office is in civilization now.
I get to have Subway for lunch.

2. Work Hours
Okay, so I do put in long hours but I really don't have to be there and when I do put in long hours, it's because I want to and not because I have to --- now, that makes a lot of difference. Technically, I only need to work from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm.

3. Parking
I get to park in the basement where my car is nice a cool after a long day at work.

4. Numbers
The student numbers are small.

5. Workload
I have less student work to mark due to the low student numbers. When I do give my students homework, half of the students don't do it, thus making my workload even less!!!  :)

6. Restrooms
The restrooms in the building where I work are clean and there is a constant supply of toilet paper in the cubicles most of the time.

7. Blessed
Everyday, I wake up with a prayer --- that Allah blesses my day. I am blessed to be alive. I am blessed to have a job and a source of income. I thank Allah for giving me a source of income.

Hey, that's more than 3 things!!!

Starting my day right
Lately, I've been going to work early (at least 2 and a half hours earlier!) which enables me to put in some hours to plan my lessons over a leisurely breakfast while watching the world around me. I also get free tea refills while I take my own sweet time to read the newspaper over breakfast. Doing my work over breakfast allows me to concentrate on my work without the stress of the office environment and without the interruptions from my colleagues.

When I do make the effort to go home early, I get to get a few hours of snooze time! (I really should get back to my speed walking routine though...).

The Lost Diaries of Andrian Mole 1999- 2001

Actually, I finished reading this book a few weeks ago. It took me quite awhile to finish reading it. I guess it's just not my kind of book but hey, this is my first attempt with any of the Adrian Mole series books.

Torn Apart: A True Story of A Lost Childhood by James Patterson & Hal Friedman

I've just finished this book. It's a true story of how a boy by the name of Cory coped and overcame a little known and understood condition called Tourette's syndrome.

a happier me :)

I came across this article entitled Loving your Day Job and Your Life by Summer Pierre . Many of us are unhappy in our day jobs. What can we possibly do to make our jobs a happier occcurence in our lives?

Summer Pierre, suggests avoiding office gossip like the plague as it can be draining --- how very true. As much as it may be a way to create intimacy with the others at work, it also can drag you down as there is absolutely nothing that you can do about it, so why indulge in gossip in the first place?

This is something that I absolutely MUST work on as I have a hard time trying to distance myself away from people at work who come to me with office gossip. I really MUST leave work as soon as I am finished with my last class of the day. To hell with office gossip!! All it does is generate negative vibes.

She also says that we need to figure out what abundance means for us. I totally agree with this.

Many people associate abundance with money but is it really all about money or could abundance be interpreted on other terms? How do you define 'abundance'?

For me, it is the level of sanity that I can have in a day. The ability to have 'me time' to do the things that I love (for me that means being able to read books... and lots of it!!!). Of lately, that would also mean being able to have time to workout and not feel sooo knackered at the end of the workday that I feel like not working out at all.

early morning walks

I'm proud of myself --- I've been working out first thing in the morning after I wake up. I've been doing it for four straight days. It makes the long weekend holidays worthwhile :)

I wonder if I would be able to keep it up during the weekdays...

Lion Dance

I was in Mid Valley earlier today and saw the acrobatic lion dance. It was amazing.

It certainly has been a long time since I last saw a lion dance. The precision and coordination of the lion dancers as they performed the acrobats on the stilts was simply awesome!

The dancers really made it  look as if the lion was alive and had a personality of its own. It looked around at the crowd, blinked its eyes and shook its behind --- it was sooo cute!!!

perceptions

Strange things are happening at work. I have to look for another job. I don't like how the current place is run. I don't agree with the management's decision. They make some pretty strange decisions. 

Students have successfully removed one teacher. They seem to play favourites. You are not valued for your knowledge and what you can bring to the table. You are valued for making the students happy (never mind if all that you do is talk the whole time and no real learning takes place). 

Students seem to think that talking to a native speaker will make their speech better. Thing is, native speakers are unable to detect and correct inaccuracies in students' languages but they speak with the right accent and that is all that matters.

I doubt if the students can tell the difference between a trained teacher and an untrained one, but that is all unimportant. All that matters to them is that the teacher sounds the part.

Many of them tell me that they want to live in an inner circle country. They have no idea that inner circle countries are not interested in taking in Middle Easterners.    

the monsoon

There was drama at work. The teacher who was told that her services were no longer needed threw a fit in the teachers' room.

She was annoyed (and who could blame her for feeling that way) and probably hurt too. She has been teaching for over 30 years and this has never happened to her before. She was close to tears when I arrived at the scene. It was ackward --- I didn't know what to do. I walked in, saw the scene going on and slowly turned the other way around and left the room.

I think the students just have absolutely NO idea what they are turning away. They say that her classes are boring... but don't you learn even from boring classes??? Thing is, teacher is in her 70's and you don't expect someone that age to break into a song and dance in her classroom. She was trained in the day and age when you don't have fun in the classroom but does that make her a bad teacher by today's standards???

Should this be even allowed?

Should students be allowed to dictate which teachers should be teaching them? Should students be allowed to have a say in the termination of a teacher's services?

The students where I work have ganged up and decided that they didn't like their teacher. Over the span of just two days, they have managed to pressure the manager to terminate their teacher. On what grounds, you ask? Her crime? Her lessons were boring. Is that enough grounds for terminating a teacher?

It's bad karma and I certainly hope that what goes around comes back and hits them in their faces. There is a God out there.

footsie spa

i bought a pumice stone and foot scrub and treated feet to some pampering.  i should do this more often. bliss :)

my completed reads

I finished reading Busy Woman Seeks Wife last month and Before I Knew Him last week.

the story: the beginning

here are the characters:
siamese cat
pillsbury
material girl
runaway
scientist
craftsman
servant
peter pan
hunk

Strange sayings in the nite

Pillsbury has been saying some pretty strange things to Craftsman. There is great likelihood that Pillsbury says these things to Craftsman with the intention that Craftsman will convey the message to the commoners. These revelations are normally conveyed to Craftsman at night. Unknown to Pillsbury, Craftsman has no intentions of becoming the messenger.

The Royal court incapable of appreciating a good piece of art

The Royalty wasn't impressed with Peter Pan. It isn't Peter Pan's fault. The Royalty (as is often the case) just doesn't know how to appreciate a good artist.

Pillsbury thinks that the solution is to present the Royalty with a bouquet of lilies. Pillsbury thinks that lilies will make his shop smell good. Never mind that the lilies aren't qualified in the required area and don't know the technicalities that come with the art, nor do they know the lines to the script.

He thinks that the Royalty will be in awe of lilies which they could very well be but it isn't ethical to present someone who has no technical skills and expect the Royal family to be acquire some skills in the art of Kama Sutra in return.  

my current read

i'm reading this book at the moment.

2010

yup, another year and another list of new author reads and to start it off is this one that i just finished reading a few days ago.

this one is not really my genre of choice --- kind of harry potter-ish.  i picked this one up from the bookcrossing zone. 

what i found interesting about this book is that its characters are based on real people as well as mythology.

Cotton On

I just discovered Cotton On in 1-Utama (okay, I'm probably the last person on the planet to discover this!).  I saw loads of people in the store (there was a sale on).

I'd never heard of the brand before and went into the store to see what was going on.  I LOVED it!!!  People were going crazy and the clothes were everywhere...the last time I saw anything that resembled this was when I was in Primark in London.

The prices were affordable and there were loads of stuff that I liked (and bought!). In fact, I loved it sooo much that I went back there the next day (when the displays were more organized).

my current read

and this is what i'm reading now.  i started reading it a few days ago.  it's a series of essays.  it's almost like reading a journal filled with snippets of thoughts.  some of the essays are pretty humourous.