AD

I just learned in another edufire session that Egyptian Arabs are always friendly to greet even strangers and foreigners but will run you down in the street. "The buses have no brakes," Dr. Hamdy said. Suddenly Philippine traffic doesn't seem so bad anymore.

Sarah read somewhere that a Capricorn will never completely leave school. The book also said it's because we're such loners, it's the only way we can get social interaction.

Er, no.

It would be fun to attend classes all day. It really is important to take into account both aural and visual modes.

I recommended the site to Afinite, and I thought it caught no one's interest, until I saw Aloha's name in the list of tutors. She listed her rate as 50 dollars per session, when the veterans only charge like 25. *Vulcan eyebrow lift*

There is a rule that only Japanese natives should translate English to Japanese. I managed to convince Betty and Joy sensei to give me a couple of certificates that should have gone to Ogata. It's similar to what I've done for Landy before so it wouldn't be problem.

When I came home, my electric fan is broken. Need to buy a new one.

Can't decide if that's either foresight or bad karma.

Hell is... a one-hour bus ride to work with Twilight on the onboard TV.

I do not normally watch people, only those who come into my radar, but the Mentalist has me trying to make guesses about people I encounter on the street.

Closer to home, back when Peewee was uncertain about her standing in NCF, I noticed she wore black most of the time. Then when she was starting to feel confident, bright blue, and in complicated patterns. Today, Josef was noticeably absent, and when asked, Peewee said she didn't know why. Today was also the first time I've seen her wear golden brown. I'm already weirded out that they don't study together, but this is weirder still.

I wish Josef hasn't given up on the Ogata class yet. He is handicapped by not being PIJLC. Then he'd know the rest of us have gone through the humiliation of not knowing the answer several times. He has it easy in fact, he hasn't made Ogata frown yet.

Felt the sudden urge to color. I didn't want to use crayons because colored pens are more vivid, but where else can you get 64 different shades? The crayons themselves are good for a laugh too. Could you pass me "Purple Mountain's Majesty"? Thanks.

I used to receive a big box of crayons like this every year on my birthday. For some strange reason I lose them between years, and oddly the parents didn't mind buying them. I thought it had like 200 colors back then.

I think this is the first time I've seen a scale model with lights.

Ana asked me to sub again. Flu. Everything was going swimmingly well until I made one, very simple mistake. Then I had the feeling I lost them after that. I'm not good enough for this job. Why did I ever land myself here? I wish I'd find the job that I am truly fit for. Soon.

On the bright side, The Mentalist is surpassing my expectations. The girl boss's reactions aren't quite believable though. Then again, I never cottoned to Sarah Siedel for the first 10 episodes or so, but eventually got used to her.

What a relief. New old series to tide me over before September. The Mentalist.

Entrance to the faculty room in Manila. Left side are the desks and shelves of the senior faculty. Right side are the pigeon holes of both junior and senior teachers. I guess I should be grateful I got a second one this year.



The long table where we do teacher stuff and eat. Betty sensei takes the chair near the computer. Jovy took the chair opposite. The rest of us take whatever's unoccupied. Although I've never seen Joy take the spot opposite Betty even when Jovy wasnt a regular. The cabinet at the end doubles as a changing screen.



From the other end of the table. Betty sensei's newer computer which she reserves for book-writing. Some of the textbooks are a bit dated but still useful.



The whiteboard behind Betty sensei's spot. Jovy pointed out that the refrigerator gets in the way when writing, but it's hardly used for anything except reminders. Kubo's student ID picture back in 1998 is still pasted there. Betty sensei may be super-stingy sometimes, but at least she doesn't charge us for the water.

The odds and ends don't bother me as much as long as the blank worksheets and pictures are where they are supposed to be, and there's space on the table to work on. In Makati people would just dump everything on the table and forget about it.

Japan Blog Matsuri for July announced:
http://gakuranman.com/japansoc-blog-matsuri/

And serendipitiously, the Monkey Island remake and new game:
http://gakuranman.com/new-monkey-island-remake/

Excuse me now, I have to get back to squealing.

http://www.peterzale.com/helen/

Cool discovery while loitering in Goodwill. Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet. I think her shirt shouldnt be tucked-in though. (What's the English term for the Taglish "tucked-out"?)

I find it kinda sad that although the comic compilation was slashed to 100 pesos, I couldnt bring myself to buy it. Maybe it's a sign I should quit nihongo and go into IT.

Fireworks display tonight at SM North. What the heck for?



I just took a picture of this because it's the first time a dress made me want to eat it.

Dad had long since given up getting Mom to attend Sunday mass regularly. But there were times when I was a kid (it was just the 3 of us) that we would drop by a church and pray for a bit before buying groceries or something. Before leaving, we would light a votive candle. I don't know why, but it felt like being given a treat. Above picture is the candle racks at St. Peter's. Used to be candles would only be yellow, then only white. Now there's blue, green, and red.

Edufire.com is awesome. Not only is it a place you can market your teaching skills, you can leech off others for free lectures. Attended my first freebie last night, it was about better ways to study. The guy was from Austin. I had thought that with my years, decades, of watching American and British shows I wouldnt have any problems understanding what he said, but there was an instance that I had to ask him to repeat what he said. Either show English isnt always near real English, or my hearing is getting blunt, with age. Oh great.

I signed on for another lecture in a couple of hours. This time about anime songs. It's worth getting up at not my usual times. I should really set up a headphone and mic thing though. You can type in the chat box, but it's kinda embarassing making the instructor wait.

I had thought that only photogenic instructors would take in this kind of medium, but some look pretty geeky, and I think one can have the option for sound only (or else the video failed to load for my browser.) Bluntly speaking, I thought the Austin guy still had some room for improvement in his lecture, and yet his feedbacks could only say good things. It's all very encouraging. Though with the range of topics possible, I'm tempted to do something quirky, like how to cover books in plastic.

I had shared this over at Facebook where most of my workfriends are. I shouldnt have been surprised that nobody got excited over it. I share something, they dismiss it. I don't share something, they think I'm being selfish.

There is something about fern buds appealing and repelling at the same time. We had some which grew spontaneously in our garden. When I went to Baguio for college geology was the first time I saw giant ferns. So I associated cold climate with bigger plants. Which seems silly in retrospect since ferns are known to be tropical. This one was shot along the walk to the restaurants in Greenbelt 3.

Taho is hot soybean curd mixed with sago (jelly pearls) and caramelized syrup. It's usually served in plastic cups like this one for 10 pesos, but street vendors won't mind pouring it into your own cup or bowl if you brought one. It's commonly thought of as a breakfast item. One of the pleasant surprises that my Tita had when she stayed at the Crown Plaza, was that the predominantly Western styled breakfast buffet also served taho, but they were served in Marie Antoinette type glasses. However, nowadays one can spot vendors at any time of the day and in the most unexpected places, like Ayala, Makati.



Street vendors usually carry the makings in 2 steel canisters such as these, held together by a wide slat of bamboo on their shoulder. They usually troll neighborhoods at morning, crying, "TAhooooooo." Woe is the one who thinks trying it now and again is enough. The taho vendor will certainly be back under your window same time next morning, and will keep crying "TAhoooooo," for 10 minutes or more. And even if you don't buy this time, they'll be back again next morning.

Art exhibition at Cubao LRT station.






There were a lot of really good stuff but I would say that I could relate to this one the most. It shows the rails traversing through nature. Some might think it's a protest against the destruction of the environment. But I get the feeling that the artist saw what I did, that modern progresses and nature can exist side by side. It was only when I look out the MRT that I realized Metro Manila is not a totally bad place. The number of trees are almost the same as the number of buildings.

I'm rather surprised at how the media has only good things to say about Michael Jackson now that he's dead. It's not my style to talk about popular topics, while they're popular, but Susan Miller, the astrologer, made some interesting observations.

"Transiting Venus was precisely conjunct Mars in his house of death at the very time of his death, so people would say wonderful, loving things about him.

I feel terrible about his passing. He lived a lonely life. He had plastic surgery on his face because his father was so mean to him that he wanted to distance himself from his family and look different from his father."

She makes no mention of his pederasty.

Alice lecturing on using real objects (riaria) as teaching material.


Joy sorting through the loot after we won the pop quiz. It was rigged. Really.

Didnt plan on attending the Afinite general meeting but I found out Alice was going to be the speaker for this month so had to go to show support. She texts me later after we've all gone home to thank me. And while I was searching for the words to reply back, I got to wondering why do I always make it a point to be there for major appearances of my friends. With a shock, I realized it was because Mom was never there for the times I was recognized for achievements. She was too lazy to dress up to go out. Though, I'm thankful I do this unconsciously. I'd rather not have it tainted by resentful memories.

Credits go to Joy sensei who said that these would make good props for teaching the "Kore wa nan desu ka?" (What's this?) pattern. It's funny because I recently read somewhere that although that type of sentence pattern, such as "Sore wa hon desu ka?" (Is that a book?) Hai, kore wa hon desu (Yes, it is) Iie, kore wa hon ja arimasen, jisho desu (Nah, it's a dictionary) occurs frequently in grammar texts, they rarely get used in real life. I beg to disagree. There are lots of times we ask someone what a thing is, eventhough most of the time we already know perfectly well. Like, Is that a PSP? which often preludes to the questioner borrowing said object.

Anyway, back to the picture. Kore wa nan da to omoimasu ka? (What do you think it is?)