Today was shit. I woke up, and had a shower. Once again, it was cold. I'm kind of used to having cold showers now, but it doesn't make them any less jarring when I first step in. After that, I went to work, but due to a sequence of events, I was late. This was OK, and nobody actually noticed...but it didn't make it any less annoying, as I like to be punctual, especially to work. Once at school, I opened my bag, hoping to retrieve my laptop, and intending to continue a conversation I'd been having and wait intently for an email which I'd been hoping for...and realised that I'd forgotten my laptop. I'd packed the cable, which I had actually remembered as an afterthought...but then forgotten the actual laptop. Moron. I was by now in a rather pessimistic frame of mind, and expected my impending class to go just as badly as the morning had so far. So, I was pleasantly surprised when the class actually turned out to be wonderful. I have been giving my students a review of tenses and aspects...almost all of them can speak and write effectively in past, present and future forms, but they don't know how to use all of the forms and often make mistakes or don't even try to use the more complex ones. Also they have a lot of questions and doubts about everything, including the easier forms such as present simple and progressive. So, I decided that before we go any further in the AWFUL textbook which we are using, it would be useful for them to have a full review of basic grammar like that, and also to have a chance to express all their questions. So, that's what we're doing. Although it takes a little time to get the class quiet enough to start, once we get going it's awesome, and I love it because it feels like I'm actually teaching, instead of using a ridiculously big textbook with no space for change and no time to do anything that's actually useful and/ or fun. My class worked really well, anyway, and somebody wrote 'we <3 Judey' on the board...that made me really happy :)
So, after the awesome class, I went home to get my laptop, and then returned to the task of adding up all my students' exam grades and averaging and making their final scores. I was waiting for one girl to come to my office and do the listening exam already when I realised that there was one student who hadn't done the writing exam, which Andy had given to the students the week before. I then had to rush a message to get the boy to my office immediately to do the test. This happened, but then the girl didn't show up, so I asked for a message to be sent to get her. She didn't come. Just when I was annoyed about that, my computer decided to start being a dick, and one of the trackpad buttons stopped working. Luckily it was only for a little while, but it was enough to rile me further. By 2pm I was so drained by the day's events that I resorted to counting the minutes until I could leave.
Finally the time came, and I gleefully sped off to the gym. I arrived, changed, and found my MP3 player...only to realise that the memory card containing all my music was in my phone. Which I'd forgotten. Never mind I thought, and off I went to do my exercise. All was well for approximately 3 minutes, just enough time for me to set my time and pace etc. on the treadmill...when there was a power cut. Everything off. Luckily I was walking still at that stage, otherwise I would have ended up incorporating flight into my exercise regime! So, I went on an exercise bike instead, and then did some weights, then toured the machines, and by that point the power was back on and I was to use the treadmill. I left the gym feeling a damn sight more positive than when I went in, and I was good to go for the rest of the afternoon and evening.
So, a couple of days ago, we were told that there would be somebody coming to fix the boiler. That was supposed to be yesterday, and nobody came, but I had hoped that it would be possible for them to have come today while I was at the gym. Sadly, this was not to be, and I had to have a post-workout cold shower. Another one.
After the shower I actually had some fun. I got dressed up in all my new clothes and Andy took a bunch of photos for Facebook, so that my friends and family could see my new hairstyle and the lovely new clothes. And, then I ate, and...I'm writing this.
In reflection, this is a really boring blog entry. Sorry.
