layan.. living my life

Salam. It ‘s already half past ten in the morning. Just had my breakfast consisting of a slice of Gardenia butterscotch and a kacang merah bun. Please don’t get the idea that I eat only bread for breakfast, okay! My breakfast varies. Sometimes I have nasi lemak, nasi kerabu, or if I go out to lumut, then a chapatti dips in sardine sauce, washed down with a glass of teh tarik, would be the choice. And sometimes I don’t eat at all. A bottle of plain water is fine enough for me..

I’m into my second week of school, and already I’m in the mood for everything. As usual, when school reopens, I’m up to my nose with meetings, project papers, and teaching of course. They are really tiring, mentally, but it’s good in a way that it helps me to get into a deep slumber at night. : ) So far, there have been 4 meetings, and later in the afternoon there’ll be four mesyuarat agung to attend. Peh! Talk about teachers having a breeze.. last year which consisted of 37 school weeks, I attended 48 meetings, can you imagine that? It’s simply outrageous, I tell ya.

Ye la, a teacher core business is to teach, but here we are, attending meetings almost every week, preparing paperwork such as project paper, post mortem, minutes of meetings, worksheets, updating files now and then, updating notice board, preparing for sports meet, practices in the afternoon, and being the coach for the football team, I have to select and train the players normally for a whole month, and also as the sports secretary I have to shortlist events, prepare the track, long jump and shot putt venues, make order for prizes, get the statistics ready, the list of athletes, the sports apparatus, to make sure the sports day runs smoothly, and after that send in a report. Phew! In between all those mentioned above, there’ll be perkhemahan perdana, courses to run and attend, and the list goes on and on. Forever. So, when does teaching, which is supposed to be the core business, come into the picture?

This year I’m teaching the form fours and fives. English and pjk. It does occur in my mind to quit teaching. I have been giving it a thought for quite some time now. Don’t get me wrong. I love teaching. I love the moments with my students, teaching them, cracking jokes during the lessons, and I always have fond memories of teaching life. But after considering the fact that the teaching profession is overburden with loads of craps; redundant paperwork, having meeting for the sake of having meeting, long and dragging and boring courses and meetings, fussy and ridiculous administrators, side jobs such as being the clerk, the gardener, the trainer, the detective, the advisor, the listener, the painter, jack of all trade if I may sum up; I must say that seriously, I’m contemplating of quitting once I reach 50. And that’s 3 years and 11 months to go.

Still a distance, kan.. but it provides me space to explore other avenues to live my life and as a breadwinner for the family, I must do something that can provide for us financially. I’m not getting any younger, and I don’t want to live this life working for others forever. I want to do something that’s worth doing, financially sound, and most importantly, satisfies the soul. Most probably I’ll work in my kebun, in that way I’ll be the boss and I’ll be the collie, and I’ll decide what’s best for me. Though I won’t be making much money, I’ll be satisfied. I want to be independent. I can always work part time as a tuition teacher to supplement my income. I even thought about selling keropok lekor at pasar malam, or selling mee sup pedas ,which is my wife specialty, by the roadside, or I may just spend time at home.. I’m still contemplating, mind you. But as for now, now meaning right now, I have a class at quarter past eleven. So it’s time for me to move my ass and get going! Ciao!