Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

Before I begin, let me emphasize again what I believe is one of the advantages of practice writing by drawing from personal occurrences: it infuses passion in the work. When I know what I want to convey to the reader, it forces me to anticipate their questions as to what would seem unclear as I formulate the sentences in my head.

Since I’m depicting a scene that actually happened, it’s already replete with detail. It’s just a question of choosing the elements I believe is important to my overall point, and trying to place it at the cue of best emphasis.

If one can hone that successfully with factual events, what more of a story that is springing fully formed from the imagination? It should make it seem just as real.

Continuing my earlier account, when I arrived in the room, the student who cheated last meeting wasn’t there. In fact, less than half of the class was present. Maybe he decided he’d already assured himself a failing grade in the class. But when I was already starting my lecture, the late lunch takers started to trickle in, and he was one of them.

I didn’t want to make a scene and tell him to get out right then and there. I decided I would just ask him aside quietly after I had explained the activity. But his voice was actually as loud as mine while he seemed to be animatedly driving home a point about something to one of his classmates.

I stopped. “Mr. Yau!” I said. That caught his attention. “After what you did last meeting, if you want me to allow you in this class again, I require a written letter of apology with a statement that you know from the Student Handbook about the consequences of your action.” He nodded meekly and reached for a piece of paper.

While I was writing the guide questions on the board, from the corner of my eye I saw him place it on the teacher’s table. It wasn’t bad, when I read it, making me think his classmates might have helped him with it. But I still called him forward, and asked him if it was clear that he got a zero in that exam. He said yes. Whether he has enough points to pass the subject despite that score remains to be seen.

During the lecture in the second half of the class, he wasn’t his usual distracted self. I would have appreciated it more if he had shown interest in the lecture by paying full attention, but I guess he’s not up to thinking of that kind of fake impression. He had his head down while in his seat the whole time, ironically the same position that made me suspicious of his behavior during the test. I knew, though, that now it meant he couldn’t meet my eyes, and he had a notion of what I’d think if he left the room in his discomfort. I wonder if that will keep up until the end of the term.

After my classes I was supposed to meet with the lab coordinator to go to the planetarium builder. Unfortunately that was postponed because the sample he was supposed to show up hadn’t been set up yet for proper viewing. So that will have to wait until next time.

Lastly for Friday, the stargazing I offered to one of my former classes because I knew they had a celebrity for a classmate that they might bring along, didn’t push through. Again, maybe next time.