It is amazing how life works. The moment when the past meets the present. What do I mean? Oh, it’s quite amusing; I was just reminded of my past as a shithead teenager. How? Well, how else does karma work? I have a fifteen-year-old who acts EXACTLY like I did when I was fifteen-year-old. And I do mean EXACTLY LIKE ME.
It has been three weeks, and I am already tired. Yes! I’m three weeks into the new high school semester, and I can feel new gray hair growing. I should be annoyed about it, but it’s the opposite. I’m happy. Elated, even. I’m back with my students – old and new – and I’m teaching old and new material. But teaching isn’t the only thing that causes more gray hair to grow. A lot more, actually.
The first week of school is completed, and I am beyond proud of my students. My class got bigger by three students, and I’m already enamored by their dedication to their goals. Most of them already know what they want to major in for their university while some have an idea but not where to start. However, a few of them don’t know what they want to do because of the many choices available to them. Sure, they are nervous about that…but I let them know that that’s part of the fun of their journey.
This week has been uneventful. Not to say that nothing had happened because a lot had happened. Working with students is never boring and I love it that way. However, everything has been peaceful throughout the last two weeks…
So, I have two new students in my Grade 9 class and two in my Grade 8 and with it brought a whole new set of challenges. However, it wasn’t as bad as my previous student. She was a total nightmare and all my students hated her. Even Jack-Jack didn’t like her – and he likes everyone. Anyway, I would like to focus on the two that I’m responsible for.
A new year means new projects and challenges for my artistic friends and me; this year is no different. In addition to that, we have been making it more of a practice for all of us to plan ahead and much more meticulously. That last part was meant for me because I have had moments where I didn’t plan for something that almost always led to a mishap and a headache. So, I downloaded a Project Management program and I prayed that would be enough. Now…for the wickedly delightful…
My summer was going great. I got to visit friends. I was making enormous progress on my LGBTQ Crimeverse. I was relaxing with my gaming time while checking in with my family. Then, I got some bad news…like a few hours ago.
So, I just got back from my holiday trip to Chongqing. It was much needed and my friends were beyond happy to see me. I mean, of course, we had weChat and our western social media, but it’s something simply delightful about being next to the people you care about. Here. Let me tell you about it.
The Chinese government is a fickled thing. They have laws against discrimination against the LGBTQ community, and, yet, they have laws banning games and media that have feminine men in them. Yeah…talk about hypocritical. They don’t even allow any PRIDE Parade anymore because it was “going against the harmony of China”. Nevertheless, I’m still swelling with PRIDE. Let me tell you why.
China is a country that can be welcoming one minute and elitist the next. I had to deal with people trying to parent me only to try to befriend me when I prove that I won’t be bullied. It’s been an ongoing cycle for a good while now, but I’m not here to talk about that today. But, right now, I want to talk about something that made me smile today.