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Happy New Year

Celebrate endings—for they precede new beginnings.” —Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Wishing you all a very Happy, Peaceful, Prosperous, and Healthy New Year 2024!

Looking forward…

December 31, 2020 KG2 Comments

I had to give up my swimming lessons in January 2020 when everything exploded and I can feel my fear of water dampening my soul,

but I am looking forward to the fact that I can pick up from where I left off in the future or even re-learn to conquer my fears.

I had to spend almost twice the hours doing that one thing I always hated, which is to record my voice (for my lessons),

but I am looking forward to doing the same but with acceptance of the fact that I, at least, have to listen to it only once (to check if it is ok) but it’s worse for my students 😉.

I had a mini breakdown for the first time in my teaching in the Uni when some feedback from the students became too personal to be accepted as constructive criticism,

but I am looking forward to looking at them again for the next semester and continue my work with the same passion and hoping that one day they might get my jokes and my sarcastic comments 😉.

I was amazed at how the youngsters took to the digital form of living (virtual schools, workshops, remote catch ups) etc. so easily with so many tools (Zoom, Teams, Meet etc.),

and I am looking forward for the elders to catch up with them and prove that they can mute their Zoom sessions without having to search for the button every single time.

I hadn’t traveled this year as much as I would have loved to, not just to my home country but also within the UK (except for one small one that we did in August),

but I am looking forward to exploring my city’s nooks and corners more and find those hidden gems and rubble.

I had the pleasure of indulging in my friend’s baked goodies which he experimented every week the bake off was on,

and I am looking forward to enjoying more of his baked goodies even when the bake off is off and also encourage other friends of mine who are good at baking to experiment to their hearts pleasure as I am only too glad to be their guinea pig ;).

I had to finally give up on my resolve never to buy a weighing scale as I was afraid that I would be only too obsessed with it and would end up measuring my weight every other day,

but I am looking forward to using it wisely to ensure I balance myself well on baked goodies and healthy meals.

I had been trying very hard to encourage Mr M to switch to the digital medium of books (aka using kindle) and buy only paperbacks for those which we might need forever,

and I am looking forward to buying him one as he finally came around to it close to Christmas. It is only wise to invest in it as he devours as many books as I do and we are running out of space in our home.

It is easy to look back and worry at how and what causes this shake up, feel angry at all things said and done, feel annoyed at people for their ignorance and stupidity,

but I think controlling what I can, taking pleasure in small things and small moments, being grateful and happy for the lovely people in my life, and hoping for the best in the future by doing the best I can to be part of it is the only way forward.

Wishing you all a Very Happy, Peaceful, Healthy New Year.

To get through the hardest journey we need take only one step at a time, but we must keep stepping - Chinese Proverb.

It's been a while

March 23, 2020 KGLeave a comment

It has been a really long time since I had any time to sit and write a blog post. I have been posting on and off on Instagram and Twitter but sometimes there is so much to do and so much to read, I hardly find time to do anything else.

It has also been a while since I did this ‘working-from-home’ thingamajig. When I was working as a software engineer, that was my thing. I loved doing wfh. Cannot do much of it when you are teaching in a school. Now that we have to do the work from home due to the current covid 19 situation, I find that I am already comfortable doing it without having to worry about what will happen in a week’s time. My experience has taught me the trick of doing it and still maintaining sanity.

I know a couple of my colleagues and friends are already pulling their hair out, and it has been only a couple of days since we moved to working from home. My day one has been marked with me taking the day off which was booked well in advance. So took advantage of it and had a mega cleaning session and ensured that I had the setup ready to get on with my work from tomorrow. Also got my Wii setup for my regular workouts.

The situation otherwise is as we all know not so great. People are still being idiots, being ignorant, being selfish, which is expected, but there is also so much love and care going around which I think we should focus. I sincerely hope that those that don’t take this seriously yet come around soon and do what is necessary not just for themselves but for every one concerned.

I am glad that finally the focus is on the people who have always been the backbone of a well functioning society but have always been ignored; the public servants, the nhs staff, the teachers, the service officials, etc. I hope they stay safe and healthy for the sake of everyone else. Kudos to them all!!!