End of School Year Blues

It’s the end of the school year.

Should I have stayed, I could’ve been in Grade 10 which I believe is a validation of my skills as a teacher, but even so, I wanted out of this place. I wanted to go somewhere else where I can grow professionally, where I can say what I wanted to say and where co-workers are not part of your everyday annoyance.

I love my department head to bits, but I think my love of her will never outweigh the annoyance, nay, the hate that I feel towards my colleagues. I felt used and talked behind my back. I felt my contributions to our school were downplayed and that I wasn’t given any recognition for my work. It’s infuriating, really, they would never say a word whenever I did something right, nay, something great yet all their fangs would be on me should I stumble a bit.

Just shows how unprofessional some of the tenured teachers could be.

Which makes go to this: how come some teachers have been in the profession for a very long time and yet why do they act so unprofessional? They would downgrade the new and proby teachers to make themselves look good, but lo and behold! They are the same teachers who couldn’t control their students, couldn’t follow deadlines and couldn’t have a good relationship with their supposedly long-time colleagues. They stink of unprofessionalism I actually find them ridiculous already.

After this two-week lull, my colleagues would report again for work. Now, who said teachers have two-months vacay? It’s pure bullshit, I’m telling you. I’ve been in the same shit last year and that is so not fucking fun. I just feel lucky that I wouldn’t undergo such torture once more.

Really, I don’t have any problems staying in the same school come June, but fuck, I don’t want to see those faces again. I don’t want to see them again and pretend nothing’s going on, when in fact, I wanted to fucking punch them in the face.

Add to that, the salary.

Forget the service, bullshit. I have mouths to feed and a sibling to support. And I need to fill my coffers. I wouldn’t mind actually the extra work that my institution gives me, but shit again, could they at least give the necessary compensation? They’re giving me a sorry $300 a month for all the stress and depression I undergo. It’s not enough to feed a family of four.

It’s flight and flight from this school all the way.

Of course, I owe this school two years of my teaching experience. I honed my teaching and classroom management skills here and I am very grateful of that, but still, I feel that it has drained me to the point that I’m on the edge of mediocrity. And I hate that. Thank you for the experience, but I don’t like the way you treat your teachers.

I’ve tendered my resignation two weeks ago and one of the higher-ups noticed that I’m happy.

Well, I really am.

A burden has been finally lifted off my shoulders.

It’s time to fly again.

A Hunger Games Review of a Very Casual Moviegoer

I met with my high school friends last week and it has been really refreshing considering the stress that I’ve been going through the past few weeks then.

It’s been a cool thing, reuniting with them after five years and actually sitting down and telling stories with them. It feels so good.

Well, of course, we burned our money watching The Hunger Games and yeah, it’s sort of cool. I actually was hesitant to watch it because I haven’t got the time to read the book even if the ebook was already saved in my laptop for a good one year since I learned it was a banned book in America last 2009. But yeah, since there’s no decent movie to watch that week, we plunged in it.

And it was a good experience. Jennifer Lawrence was really stunning as Katniss especially during the first interview. And I like her with her brown hair than her natural blonde. Katniss is my type of heroine, kinda tomboyish with still a touch of femininity. I really like her because I see myself so much in her like in the way she never wanted to be seen as weak. As for her acting, she just doesn’t have any chemistry with Josh. Or is it because Katniss is supposed to be faking it for the audience?  But still, their mushier scenes just don’t have any effect on me. As for Josh Hutcherson, well, when I first saw him in the movie, I thought of Alfons Heiderich. It’s just that his hair was parted to the other side. Oh well. As for his acting, he was actually convincing during the Reaping.  He was the shy boy being called to become a sacrifice, you can actually see the vulnerability in his actions, and also when they saw the Capitol, he has that shy boy smile of wonder again. But come arena scenes, his acting became bland. They don’t have any chemistry. Period.

But still, it was a good movie in the sense that finally, I was able to force myself to read the book. I actually planned to read Catching Fire, but I closed it after just reading the first few pages. The book really doesn’t have any effect on me. It was so unlike Harry Potter that even if I already watched the movie, I would still avidly read the book. No such thing here with The Hunger Games. And upon reflection, I like the movie Katniss better than the book Katniss, the former’s very decided and determined, while the latter is too whiny and angsty for my taste. And Peeta. He’s so vague in the books I like movie Peeta better again. Peeta in the book is like Stephenie Meyer trying to become intellectual.

I love the stars, I love Jennifer, I love Josh, but for all the hype, I think the acting is bland, unconvincing.
Still, it’s worth your penny.