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

Two days behind now. I forgot to mention that last Wednesday, my thesis advisee showed up a few minutes before my 1030am class to give me his latest paper, in TWO diskettes. He asked me what time I finished in the afternoon (hadn't he memorized my schedule yet?) and I cut him off, telling him that if he expected me to have finished reading his draft by the afternoon, it's not possible. I told him to return today.

Yesterday I got to the gas station just as the heavy rains started pouring. It was very fortunate that it was just a light drizzle while I was sitting on the back of the tricycle earlier, because otherwise my bag, pant cuffs and shoes would have been drenched again.

The convenience store there still didn't have my idea of a good breakfast on the go.

Us three employees waiting when the shuttle arrived ran to open the van door without opening our umbrellas. Why DO people hunch their shoulders when walking in the rain?

I realized I had worked through half of my five peso tickets for the shuttle. This was a real good idea on the administration's part, although it's not fully implemented for students who just happen to catch the shuttle instead of intentionally waiting for it, and they still pay in cash.

Luckily the rain stopped before we reached the campus, although the steps going up to the main door were slippery.

And again the sky was absolutely clear by lunchtime.

Second to the last sessions for my TTh classes. First time I haven't had a lunchtime make up session in three weeks. In fact, maybe I was wrong in computing the make-up sessions and I'm supposed to have one-an-a-half hours more for both of my classes, although the memo said to "schedule a make-up session" not sessions. They should have made it clear they want 3 hours of additional classes for 3 unit subjects and so forth.

It was then that I realized I was wrong in computing
the remaining class hours for my MWF classes. With the holiday on Monday, today is my last meeting with my 1250pm class, and the second to the last meeting
for my 1030am and 230pm classes. So I guess we'll just finish up to eclipses and not take up comets and meteor showers.

And I already decided not to take up stellar coordinate systems and telescope mounts with them, which usually takes another 6 hours of classes. I could cram everything into the sessions left, but I don't want to push into the area where the students start to feel overwhelmed and overworked and begin to resent the subject (and the teacher).

At my pace, there really doesn't seem to be enough time in the term to cover all the topics I have prepared, although it's not enough of a reason to have a second Astronomy subject proposed. Not if the students are asked, though.

One of my co-teachers, Maila, also asked me today to proctor for her two finals on Dec. 13 (Saturday) because a session for her French language class (where SHE'S the student) was unexpectedly scheduled.

Now I'm just one day behind. I'll probably have caught up by tomorrow.