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

I thought I would be late today because my housemate, who usually wakes up at 4am and leaves before I have to use the bathroom, was still taking a shower when I woke up at past 5am.

I left the house at quarter to 6 thinking if I would have to make up my math class if I don't arrive on time, considering it's my last meeting with them.

The tricycle also let us off at the terminal instead of at the highway 20 meters away. I was ready to rush it when I heard my name being called behind me.

It was a car going the way I had just come. I thought it was one of our neighbors, but it was the P.E. teacher in school. Talk about God opening a window.

He had just dropped off his wife at the bus terminal and was on his way to use the shortcut (for private vehicles) going to school.

So because I was late leaving the house, I'm actually here in the office thirty minutes earlier than I would have been if I had commuted on time.

Back to yesterday. First, my thesis student. He had gotten the note I left in my pigeonbox, telling him to already look for his panelists' common time for holding a defense. In fact, he had already asked the chairman for his availability on the 18th before he saw me. That's the day before course card distribution.

I don't know if he's aware of the new "natural" schedules for thesis defenses which take into account the deadline for submitting change of grades, two weeks from the course card day. But he doesn't want to leave notes anymore for the panelists, but instead decided to go to their classrooms or wait for them in the department, although the letter would have had my signature indicating that I had approved his work for final defense (again).

As of this time I don't know if he has talked to all of his panelists.

In my astronomy classes yesterday I made them compute their pre-final grade, after giving them the results of their last exam.

I should note that in that exam, I encountered something new again that has not been part of my experience in the last twelve years teaching: students giving more than one answer for multiple choice questions.

What part of "choose the best answer" don't they understand? It was okay for one of the questions, about the constellation with a star cluster in its head, which I realized belatedly had two possible answers (that counts as another "error" in my exam). The student still gets one point even if both are written. But what if one of the choices the student gave is wrong? Then the answer is entirely wrong.

Heck, even the game shows don't accept "a or c" as a correct winning answer.

Good thing no one complained about that after I gave back their papers, or they would have gotten snapped at.

One more thing about the exam: at least two students in my 230pm class called my attention to the fact that they did not get their exam papers back, and double-checking my records, I did NOT correct their papers. I will have to look through my files to see if they were misplaced.

I'll relate more about the students' pleas for their pre-final grades next time.