work work....

just a quickie

I thought I should write something here soon since my blog's fast becoming dusty.

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Something random I read today in The Sunday Times:
"According to Dr Martin Seligman, a pioneer in the field of positive psychology, he highlights in his book Authentic Happiness that 'it is possible to achieve greater happiness no matter what your circumstances are... [by having] positive emotions, engagement and meaning in your life.'"

This ties in quite nicely with another article I've read:
"I seek not happiness but satisfaction, contentment and fruitfulness in growing older".

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On my school-work, its been a tad difficult to back-date on all the work that should have been done in the past few weeks, but not done due to my exams and all. So this week has been a frantic game of playing catch up. But I guess the dust is slowly settling, and I am finally getting down to doing the stuff I'm really interested in, which is making a meaningful and positive impact in my students' lives, though I'll only be around for a while more. hmmm

On starbucks, diamonds, flu and exams

No there's not much connection between all the sub-topics, except maybe that its an update based on events of the past few days.

First on what's happening in school. Yes, I am down with sore throat, cough and flu and literally dying. add on to the fact that I still have an exam on Sunday, i think i've got a killer combi on hand.

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Went for the school's learning journey for the Arts fac students, and I think it was well-planned and executed. Some hiccups here and there, but that's normal. I personally thought it was all really good. And for myself, personally, it turned out better on the Starbucks station-side, since I got to know some of my colleagues better, and yes, heard some good advice. hmm. like "If you believe in what you're doing, everything will (somehow) fall into place". I didn't think of it at first, but I think the well-meaning advice actually helped explained what happened last year. (As a history-student-wannabe, I think there's a natural tendency to look for new interpretations of past events and experience.)

For instance, I started off in late 2006 thinking of a fresh start, and yes had some (IMHO) good plans and, if you want to call it, "vision" in place. that worked for sometime, at least in my little forcefield. But I think I was eventually detached from the ground, 'coz I think that didn't quite rub-off with others. Fast forward a few months, I think I was serving out of obligation then out of belief, and by mid-'07, with the mission done and finished, it really was back to Square 1. Disillusioned, isolated and detached, I think I did at least managed to convince myself to give up a pointless enterprise. Was it my fault? I guess it has to be, but as with all coins in the world, there are always 2 sides to it. Another accident and a minor surgery later on, and I was quite ready to pullout. I got back my freedom in early Nov '07, but never was quite the same person I was one, or even two years back. For better or for worse? I'm still not sure yet, but I hazard that it was probably for the better.

From my current job and daily activities, I think I'm starting to rediscover what having meaning in life was all about. And yes, the advice that "if you believe in what you're doing, everything will fall into place" is probably sound advice. I remeber I did post this somewhere before, so allow me to repeat this quote again:

Quoting Scott Adams (of Dilbert fame) on his Happiness Formula (quoted from getrichslowly blog):
Happiness = Health + Money + Social Life + Meaning

So yes, some food for thought.

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And yes we had a good dept dinner treat from Boss. And the conversations spanned across numerous topics. (That's how the diamonds part is related, but I shall not elaborate here)

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So here I am, sick, almost halfway through my revision and deciding to slack a little. Here's wishing good luck to all my friends (and myself) who are taking exams! good luck!

some random thoughts

so i've done my second exam as well. again, I shall have to wait till the results are out. One more to go and I'll be done (I hope).

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My friend's blog entry prompted me to think about what I'm gonna do in a few more months time. As an extension of a rather short conversation with another friend of mine, it suddenly occurred to me that in 3 months home, I shall be relieving my duties at my current workplace and reverting back to a student. Now, how cool is that! no students to worry about, no more class-admin, no pedagogies to worry about etc etc. I could go on listing.

But something doesn't quite feel right. It's as if I'm so used to doing all these, and its gonna be stranger to suddenly become a student all over again. Now, there's nothing wrong with being a student - in fact, all of us are learning something from the people around us all the time. But being a student in the academic sense all over again (after almost 3 yrs, if I may add) is really quite a counter-culture shock. Especially when you're back on the "right" side of the good 'ol desk once again. Sitting down there, diligently copying the nuggets of wisdom spewed out by your lecturer, worrying about presentations (or rather, the preparation process, group mates etc), worrying about exam results etc. geez. It's all back to square one.

I guess I just can't reconcile that kind of change at this moment. At the very least, not now. But I shall have to make adjustments with time. As that friend of mine pointed out, suddenly you look at your students and you feel old, though frankly speaking, it wasn't that long since we last sat there. It's gonna be a weird feeling to go hee-hee-ha-ha-ing (sorry about the use of army lingo) all day long, going for orientations and all. But still -

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In any case, I shall worry about that in a while's time. Meanwhile, at least I've did a few km run, about to mark finish my students' assignments and all. hmmm. And I need to find time to study for my last exam. And hit the gym more frequently too. my weekend jogs are also in danger of being phased out too. till then ~

the crunch comes

yes lots of revision for my exams (undone),
lots of students' work coming in (unmarked),
need to plan for tutorials/tests/lectures (unplanned).

oh god. I will survive.