St. George’s College (Week #90) – Day #419

Date for Entry: (Friday 06 December 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (December 2024)

[T1, W:15 – WD:, (Td:)*].

**stage

Dear Diary,

    This morning I did not feel like wearing any work clothes. Instead, I chose my St George's Mitchell House T-shirt. I still had to pull on shocks. Daddy and I left the house quickly to get to Curepe. I took the old church bag with the things for Isa this evening to give him. I made sure to put it in my bag last night to not forget it. The staffroom was very empty. Everyone was coming in late. I decided to eat the Curepe pie on the way coming down Sixth Avenue though I knew it wouldn't do much for my stomach.

    As soon as I got in Donna was calling me to come help them out with the pan. I went to see about the timesheet first before anything. As soon as my logbook times were sent, the information was transferred to the form. I then walked over to the office and had that transferred over into the school's book. The Principal's voice was heard in the back of the room. I went to leave the form by my desk and then message Afisha about its location.

    Mel had asked me when I was asking Mr Charles to sign the form if I wanted to do Toc-toc for them. As soon as the form was by my desk, I went over to the hall to assist Mrs Noons-Charles with the 3 Cello. Then they did a run of the song with me doing the toc-toc. Somehow there was an issue with the order and amount of times each song was to be played. I waited for Miss Jones and Crystal to come in the second time and for Mrs Noons-Charles to remember her five pitch locations. They were counted in and the same order issue occurred.

    The teachers had to leave for the staffroom to see about leaving for their 'function'. At that time I remained in the hall typing up the journal entries for Wednesday, and yesterday, and then went back. Mel and some students were decorating the hall. She had brought Mr Sheppard in to speak with him about church matters while I began the entry for today. I felt like I wanted to leave but then it was 11:54 and Isa would have been preparing to go to the mosque.

    It was very special to see "Riba" who came to school. He knocked on the wind calling me to wave goodbye. I saw "Jenny" Atwell who came for her consent forms. There was a pot to go through. She had to be given a blank one for Mel to insert her name in the back of the staff room. Mel and Mr Sheppard were in the back chatting for a while. It sounded like Pastor Janelle had called her too. Parents were coming for consent forms too.

    After we went back to the hall, there was the last of the stage to decorate. Since there was only one reindeer I suggested that it be placed in front of the red curtains to the back centre back of the stage. There was an extra vase so I suggested that they put it by the head so that way it would look like the reindeer was eating from the vase. The two security ladies were both helping with the last of the stage's skirting.

    Mel was hungry and asked me if I was. She took me to Hunties and we got lunch there. We both went for a shandy and sat in the back of the staffroom to eat. The two guards had joined us too. I ate from my biscuit pan as a plate like Tuesday night sleeping over at George's. They learned about the concert for tomorrow, the time for it, the MTS celebration part by the Principal and other things. We had a laugh when they saw me using the biscuit pan to rest the big breast bone.

    That evening, Miss and I went to see about lateness and absences. It was very strange to see how it looked over the phone when entering the numbers onto the school's platform. At 3:15 I left school and walked up the road. Thankfully a bus came as I was crossing the road and took me.

    By the middle of the St Goerge’s Savannah, Miss Jones met me on the pavement and said, "Wayz! You now leaving?" We have a lovely chat there. I told her the joke I was telling Mel about all the work in George's that I did and the extra hours at the school that they are trying to make a Georgian too.

    Daddy was waiting outside of the terminal. I would that the ride to Curepe this evening was not a quick one. We crossed the road and went up the stairs to see Isa. He had just finished the first half of the books that were sent by email. The rest of it was the National Anthem.

    Unfortunately, his email did not save the anthem. I had to get him to take it from my flashdrive to print it. It took me one hour and a half to get the pages sorted and then bound. Daddy helped me get the folders out of the package. I got the spines out and then slipped the documents in for him to staple them in. It was so beautiful to hold all of them in my hands. The loudmouth man liked the way they looked too and thought that it was Isa who made the cover.

    That night I returned to Excel, where I tried to make the digital markbook. Some more attempts were made. As the night got later I had to go rest for tomorrow. Mel and I would be meeting in school to work on the rest of the marks and lates and absences. Some more exploring will have to be done with the sizing of the cells and an appropriate way to insert a table for formula tallies. It still looked like a possible idea to materialise and I look forward to that day of accomplishment.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:26 am – 3:17 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #90) – Day #418

Date for Entry: (Thursday 05 December 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (December 2024)

[T1, W:15 – WD:, (Td:)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning I got to school to see the staffroom in a different setting. Teachers were writing all around. It did not look like markbooks from far. As soon as Mel came in to sit by her desk she too was doing what they were doing too.

    I learned that everyone had to do their confidential staff report that was due a long time ago in the year. It looked like they were finally able to get the forms to fill out for the Ministry. I was glad about this because I was not ready for the staff meeting to be so early in the morning although I was looking forward to it.

    At 10:04 PM Mr Charles called for the meeting to begin and lasted an hour (see log book for details):

1. MTS working hours and staffing.
2. No LABS and issues pending.
3. Institution Hazard.*
4. Appreciation.
5. Air-Condition situations.
6. Sanitation and Rats issues.
7. Staffing got Teachers and Office.
8. Professional Conduct.
9. Language Day (To be announced in Term 2)
10. Alumni Parang (14th Dec)
11. Class Lists for CSEC and CAPE for review by this evening.

 

    The meeting immediately concluded at 11:58 AM. Teachers were not paying attention. They were busy in their different cliques. Lunchtime came by and Mel started to try inserting the lates and absents for 3L. It looked like they were tallied wrong. And the white page was stapled badly in the roll book. It made it difficult for me to count properly. I ended up leaving it for her to check it over.

    That evening I left school and went to visit Isa. I was telling Daddy that it was a bad day because I wasn't finding the money to pay for the prints today, I left the bristol board to print my cover pages home and the folders for the documents were not with me. Strangely enough, I misplaced my small green bag after leaving it on the top of my desk in a pile of paper while looking for something in Mel's cupboard. I don't know how it could go missing just like that after leaving it right on the top of my desk.

    We met Isa when we walked into the shop. Andrew was with him by the front computer waiting to print something to sign and scan. He left to go do other stuff by the time. A lady before us was taking a while before we got to speak with Isa. He too didn't get to finish all the prints for this evening's work so he told me to come back tomorrow after his mosque time, instead of having the prints to sort home and coming back. I didn't want to eat anything in the evening going home. When Daddy offered me roti I took that.

    Ended up in front of the television watching the "Southern Charm" season marathon. I didn't watch the finale. I went to the computer and fixed up the Form 5 section in Mel's markbook for tomorrow. Those three hours to 11 PM rushed up quickly. It would have been bedtime immediately. My eyes could not remain open at all. Thankfully I remembered the pack everything I needed to use by Isa in my old church bag. I’m sure that everything is now ready for print in the evening.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:36 am – 4:25 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #90) – Day #417

Date for Entry: (Wednesday 04 December 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (December 2024)

[T1, W:15 – WD:, (Td:)*].

Dear Diary,

    By the time I was entering the male bathroom to go shower from the night, Miss Ramsaran came in early as usual. It felt like I took a while to come back. As I dried up and got dressed, I got scared that the door could not opened. It had to bend all the way back to open. There were not many people there as yet. I returned to my desk to complete the journal entry for yesterday.

    As the sun began to awaken in the sky, Miss Ramsaran shared with me about the field trip that her Form Class did yesterday too. The time was cut short when Mel came back from the road. We went outside by the hall to count money and made sure we had enough for the sound system people and the class luncheon. Mr Marcelle came in very early. I got him the keys to the music room to do this work by the time.

    The time was getting close by for the function and the hall was being filled with the chairs. She had asked Miss "Celia" to ask form teachers to send the children to put their chairs in the hall after roll class. It looked like not many students had come for that day. Jess came late too. The function was about to begin when she came into the hall. Mr Marcelle was working in the music room until the event was to begin. I went back to get a copy of the programme for him. Seems like everyone needed that sheet of paper. It ended up disappearing after the programme.

    The Host of the programme was Kayla Wright from 3L. She did a good job trying. I'm not sure if she did something like that before. She used a picture of the programme from her phone. At some point in the show, I got to ask her to send me a picture of it. Not sure if she will remember. When it was time for me to do my performance Mr Marcelle was concerned about the sound for me and said that I would need a microphone to project properly. He got the engineer to set up the microphone and helped me carry the tenor pan to the centre of the hall at the base of the stage's wooden staircase.

    I got the book stand that I got from the music room early that morning. It was set to my right. As the students waited, I took in some air and let it out before beginning. It was a good idea because it helped me to concentrate on the song. I decided to play the song twice. When it was time for "Mr Babour" to play he was asking for pansticks. The school's box of pan sticks was not a good place to look for that. I lent him my pair of sticks in the hope that it would give him good luck. There were timing and pitch issues but he did slightly okay.

    Miss Jones wasn't there this morning. I also did not see "Mr Haynes" to do "Silent Night". I knew when I was going to perform I saw "Michael" sitting on the end to my far right. Somehow his name was not added to the list for that song and I felt disappointed about that. When the function ended Mr Marcelle and I spoke for a while. The students went back to their classes with their chairs.  I took my chair back to my desk FIRST before I could take back the box of sticks to Jess' desk.

    The rest of the time was waiting by my desk for Mel and Mr Bain to return to school. They went out the road to get ice and the food still had to come. I was waiting for the last 5 minutes for twelve to reach for my fasting to be completed. I saw Pastor Janelle in the compound. Mel took me to the class to meet her and I got to speak with her. It was nice to see her mommy there too. It was about 1:25 PM when we decided to pray and have lunch. Mr Bain wasn't around as we were waiting for him. All the other classes had finished and were out of their classrooms.

    Mel and I ate after the children. I enjoyed the ham. This time the garlic bread was not overpowered by the garlic. Miss Jones came over to eat with us after being with Mr Marcelle in Jess's classroom. I left after He and Mr Bain came to have lunch. Jess and Roberts were giving Mr Bain a Christmas gift. I went back to the staffroom and went back to insert my times into the logbook. All that I got to work on was the markbook for Miss. She had to get names for her Form 5s and their classes. There were a few of the students that Mel was able to remember their surname.

    I was glad that I still had the 2023-2024 class list of names. I can find the names of some of the students under their assigned classes. I didn't have time to do much time to do a lot. The ride from Sixth Avenue to Curepe was a painful one. Thank God the bus was empty. Only a few paintings were done. I do the painting when sitting on the couch to do them. It was good to be back home after a whole two days and a night spent at George's.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:46 am YESTERDAY MORNING – 3:33 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #90) – Day #416

Date for Entry: (Tuesday 03 December 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (December 2024)

[T1, W:15 – WD:, (Td:)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning I got up early. Leaving the house was lightly late. Daddy was complaining bout his back. We laughed at him when I was ready to go since he got comfortable on the couch and couldn't get up. He mentioned that his back was still hurting from lifting all those galvanised sheets. When I asked why he had to lift them it was because there was no one else with the driver. I told him that since I cannot lift heavy things I would let someone know.

    We left for Curepe and only one bus was waiting like the weekend. The rain started pouring from the car. The air conditioner was cold after being wet. It looked like I did not shake the umbrella enough before entering but that could not happen even if I tried. Drivers like to take off one time. I still had to shelter with my umbrella while walking down Sixth Avenue. Thankfully by the time  I got to the school, it stopped. That was another joke for the morning I suppose.

    The atmosphere of the staffroom felt very different. I did not like it and it felt very depressing. It was just like someone died and people were grieving. I needed to get the hell out of there. Immediately Mel came in and said that she was having a test in a Form 3 class. We decided to do number inserts to the mark book while the four students did the makeup test. Form 2s were entered first and the 1F and 1L. She did not have all the names for 1M and it took me a while to put in the main class list file and then transfer over into the markbook. We did not do any of that until after school because the teacher's Choir practice was going on.

    Instead of wasting my time and waiting I went back to my desk. While inserting marks we heard the panorama tune earlier this morning. After 3 times of sending a different student to tell them to stop I ended up having to run to the hall. Raising my hands in the air like the Phoenix in front of the band they immediately stopped. Since they could not hear me I went to speak to "Vannah" and told her that only the Christmas Programme ensemble piece and the solos could be run. I told her that when Mr Marcelle comes for practice then it could be played.

    I was feeling too upset in my stomach in the second half of the day. Jess came to speak with me. She got to school late and went to sit in the corridor by the teachers. "GG" left early today and was asking me if I wanted to go with them but I stayed back. We got the 1M class list ready but with the girls, there was a mix-up with the names. It took a while to fix. Even with the Form 4s later that evening some of the surnames were not remembered. Luckily I had the school list of names that I made from the previous academic year to recycle.

    After 5 PM, Mr Raymond came back to the school compound. He was going to practice with Mr Marcelle who returned for the evening to George's. Miss Jones and her husband were practising for the performance tomorrow in the hall also. I tried to see if Sir and I could find back his umbrella but it looked like someone took it and went with it. 

    When we first spoke in the staffroom earlier this evening, he was asking if I was going to play with the teacher's band for the function tomorrow. He said that I could fall in or do the toc-toc if I wanted. The term he used at first was "jam-block". That was the first time hearing jam block. He said that was the first original name before it was called the Toc-Toc.

    Mr Raymond left with Miss Harris. She was still complaining about $800 that went missing. Mr Marcelle came back he had forgotten something that he needed to do some work. Mel and I decided to take a recess after finishing the remaining 1M class. As we walked out of the compound we saw Miss Jones and her husband practicing still. She told me that Chinese would be better since I was fasting and full more as if I ate food. We were going to the place called Hunchies opposite the school to the back at first.

    We ended up going for the Chinese, which was almost half the walk from school to the bus route. The wait was long. We spoke more about the programme for tomorrow and the concert on Saturday. She met someone who recognised her and we walked back to meet Matthew. As we were about to make our way back and make the end to the school, a person came asking for food and then the rain broke down on us.

    We ended up running to the hall door to rest our bags. We were both soaking wet. Matthew couldn't wait so she got an umbrella and went out to the road. I could hear that Mathias was there. The sound system men came after we were done eating. Mr Marcelle's food was saved for later. I used my blue biscuit pan as a dish. It was a long while I had wished that I brought a plate to school. As they were leaving, we were neatening up the hall to the back and packing chairs that remained in rows. A lady came to visit Miss at some point. The fabric brought was called skirting.

    When the lady left, the three of us and the sergeant guard helped us. She went up on the ladder while Miss and I held onto us while she was up there. Only the red fabric was set up. The skirting will have to be sent by the who is renting them. It took us a long while to fix the stage too and then for Sir, Mel and I dragged four palm plants into the hall. They were really heavy. I caught a laugh dragging in one palm plant on my own but it left a hard pain in my chest for a while. Mel was looking for another palm plant but the others in the yard were too dirty.

    We ended up locking up the hall for tomorrow inside the school but the floor was too dirty after it had been mopped that same morning. Children were taken to the hall today because the rain had taken dominance of the compound. The PTSA was holding a fundraiser fun day for the students. The three of us went back into the staffroom. This was minutes after 9 PM.

    Sir did not have another chord he needed for his laptop so he ate after Miss had made sure he did. I had a good laugh about a list we were looking for. He told me that while in this experience, it is good to observe everything so I know better in future and keep the phone numbers for the designers and sound people when I need them.

    Mel's phone was running low so I suggested we put the marks in and then she could put the grade letters and comments in whenever she got the time. All of the Form 1s and 2s were entered. We will have to wait for Jennice on the Form 3s to enter the markbook tomorrow. It was after 11 PM that was the end of the inserts.

    By 11:26 PM miss went to the couch to rest. At first, I rested by my desk and then went to the single couch in the corner. The small table became my footrest. At 5:02 I got up on my own. I called Miss and she agreed to switch. I took the long couch and she went to shower in the female restroom. Afterwards, I went to shower. I told her it felt like the people and this place were trying to make me Georgian. Is possible to be a hybrid? Being Spartan and a Georgian at the same time? I wonder.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:46 am – REMAINED THE NIGHT IN SCHOOL)

St. George’s College (Week #90) – Day #415

Date for Entry: (Monday 02 December 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (December 2024)

[T1, W:15 – WD:, (Td:X)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning I woke up on the couch at 4 AM. I went to bed for two and a half hours. Then I got up to get ready. On my way down to Curepe I left something home. We waited forever for Andrew to get ready before returning to Tunapuna. I went to Vashni to get binders for printing my books this week. I got to school and teachers complained of a smell from the sewer. They tried to get the doors remained open and then Miss Mustapha sprayed something she called a neutraliser. It was nice.

    I stayed fasting for the rest of the day while spending the whole time decorating the hall. Not many of the children stayed around to help out. I most likely did most of the work. Couldnt remain in the staffroom or there would always be students coming to ask for things by the staffroom door. I went to the hall and met Kai and we worked on the hall columns by the car park side. The both of us were tired of the day.

    Jess had brought 3F and 3M music students to have them run through their parts for "Oh Holy Night". "Jenny" ran through the song but she needed the pitch letters. Way before this, during roll call time, "Mr Haynes" came to practice his "Silent Night" solo. He ran through the Panorama tune before coming to play his solo again for feedback from me. The feedback came for his hand positioning, me changing a chord to avoid any annoyance with the sound, and then he had to work on his rolling.

    In the staff room, there was talk about being absent for the whole day and then thinking it was covered for because of bank time. I learned that when the leave days (14SL and 14OL) become unauthorised leave without getting permission. It was also the first time I learned how many sick leave (SL) and Occasional Leave (OL) that teachers were given.

    I went home and did a few paintings that evening, probably not more than three. I took the remainder of the time it flew by quickly to fix the package label for the library. I hope that it works this time. I used Canva for this and also for creating a Borrowing Card's Pocket Label for the books. In case the cost is too much, I will have to switch the idea to using regular adhesive labels.

    I thought that Mel and I would be able to insert marks to the markbook and have it tally the numbers but she wanted to see about the hall first. Maybe tomorrow would provide some time to get some numbers in. We had planned to meet at the first two periods to see about it in the morning.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(8:15 am – 3:23 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #89) – Day #414

Date for Entry: (Sunday 01 December 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Wednesday 04 December 2024)

[T1, W:13 – WD:, (Td:X)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning I ended up sleeping back. I got to church late and had a short while before the performance. We did not know when we were going to play. The other children to play with us were not called over and then Rev Baldeosingh continued. We had to take back our seats. Toward the end of the service, we were called back to play. Mr Sharma sat down by the piano for the whole service and played there. Zara was put to serve communion so we did a solo. The practice continued as usual.

    Dexter brought some book donations for the library. I took them with me since one Girl wanted to go inside. She borrowed her third book. After setting up the library and then packing the books to take home, the practice continued longer. The song of their choice for next week was "Carol of the Bells". I remember "Isaac" shaking his head no when he saw the arrangement for "Noel" that Mr Sharma did. I was surprised too. I also saw the interesting run for the introduction.

    A lot of them left. I remained in the church with Anthony, Clarence and Mr Samaroo. They were speaking about the first Christian Pan Festival held by the Anglicans and that the Presbyterian Church in the 60s did not like Steelpan being a part of their church. I thank God that it made a way after that time and served a useful purpose.

    As soon as I got home I ate and got ready to head down to George's. Two heavy showers of rain delayed me and Daddy from leaving the home. It was nice that in Curepe the sun came down. I told him that I might just need to use the same umbrella to shelter from the heated sun. We had a good laugh about that. One maxi was on the bus route and as soon as I jumped in we took off. The ride was not long and the walk was medium fast.

    When I got to the school they were running through "Carol of the Bells" with the Section Leaders' band for a while before getting into the Panorama Tune. Noon came quickly. I was using the new PDF that Mr Marcelle sent to me before leaving home. It looked like there were things that needed to be fixed again in it.

    At some point, he had asked the frontliners to go over into the classroom to run the song from the introduction to the chorus. His main concern was the verse that needed checking. We both started to notice that there were a lot of things that were not taught to them. The band did not go to recess until 3 PM or after there. Somehow practice had slowed down to an end. There was a meeting with the band before sending them home. Sir was telling me that he would cut practice short because of the weather that was there.

    We had a long wait for "Vannah" to go with her parent. Mel, Sir and I stayed back chatting in the evening. We ended up calling an Uber to fly us home. It was too expensive from Mel’s front gate to my gate in Tunapuna ($44). That was only a one-time experience for me then. I went home to have some Pelau that the aunties sent me and worked on uploading some journal entries. Only one painting was completed for the night before I fell asleep on the couch.

 

LINK(S):

• Newsday Report on George’s.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(11:10 am – 6:21 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #89) – Day #413

Date for Entry: (Saturday 30 November 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Wednesday 04 December 2024)

[T1, W:13 – WD:, (Td:X)*].

Dear Diary,

    Today was the start of another weekend's practice. I got up early but delayed while shaving and determining how to edit my hair. Daddy came and while I was about to turn on the shower the pressure was low. Had to hot water in my kettle again. Not sure why that happens in the morning.

    The ride to Barataria was quick thankfully. I knew how to anticipate the view of the bus route again. There was a long wait for the light to turn red to cross the road and get onto Sixth Avenue. It looked like the rain was setting up to fall. The band was in session when I got in. I took up the toc-toc and went with the pulse.

    It was nice to see Mr Charles At 12:15 we stopped for recess and then went back into the pan room. The panorama tune was only run at the end. They were working on a medley using a Christian one that was nicknamed "one by one, two by two, three by three" and then into the Blessings song that they started working with before the Panorama tune was changed to "Out and Bad". It sounded very interesting but the timing was the problem. We were told that this new work was for the Panorama Concert.

    Jess was out and about the yard. She left us and had cake by the second recess. Miss Carthy was there for some reason. Everyone went to buy food across the road in the back of the school and it took some time to order. At the end of the practice, I walked back up the road. I continued with Mr Charles along the way and we spoke slightly on the Leave Forms that I had been worrying about for the past nine weeks. He told me not to worry about them. I hope to get to work on them with him over the holidays.

    As the driver pulled into Curepe, the rain was already pouring. I saw "Jenny" Atwell and the gentleman with her today under the same terminal. Andrew was in the car and we spoke about a few things while waiting. The wait was very long for some reason. Daddy said that the order before him was over twenty boxes of food that someone ordered.

    That night I got two weeks of journal entries set into Microsoft, edited and uploaded. I couldn't make it again after editing three more. The remainder of that week fixing and uploading work for tomorrow after practice. I did two more paintings that night and went to bed.

 

LINK(S):

• Newsday Report on George’s.

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(12:31 am – 3:30 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #89) – Day #411

Date for Entry: (Thursday 28 November 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Wednesday 04 December 2024)

[T1, W:13 – WD:?, (Td:1)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning was not an easy one. Got to school sick and late. As soon as the driver pulled up to the junction Mrs Solomon called me and asked me to borrow my laptop. I had asked her if it was urgent or if it could wait until recess time. She said that it could wait until recess. The bus route at that time of the morning in Curepe was looking empty just like Saturday and Sunday. Even Sixth Avenue was empty the same way.

    I got to school and had only 5 minutes to third period. The security gave me the keys and then I decided to pass by the Form 3 area first before heading directly down to the music room. I saw Ari, Aliah and "Miss Noel" there. The rest of the others were coming back thinking that we had no class. When they got into the room I gave them some of the remaining Form 2 worksheets to use for practice before heading into the pan room.

    The "Oh Holy Night" was worked on for a while until the last five minutes before recess. I stayed back and helped "Jay" with the second part on Double Tenor. The struggle to figure out the melody was too hard. Kenya was not allowed to play any Christmas songs because of her religion. She said she was given "Ode to Joy" instead for a practical assessment.

    I did not get to pay for the pies so I sent "Jenny" with some money to get the pies for me. I was done with Kenya and "Jay" by the time she came back. I realised that I had no newspapers to move like a placemat got me. I used a scrap page to eat on instead.

    While finishing the second pie, Roberts came in on her phone. She was beginning to send people out. Looked like recess was over. She had 3L now and some of them were trying to skip class. It looked like they had a test today. I had spoken with Jess about the class and challenges faced, changes made and mentioned who the class skippers were. She spoke about the markbook and I told her it was better when she had all the marks and then we could sit together to put it together. I was not comfortable with a live sheet so I preferred to send it as PDF after.

    Going up the corridor, I forgot that I was going to the library to see Mrs Solomon. She was by her desk and we spoke for a while. She said she was thirsty and then I mentioned my keep back after class and the hot pepper from the pies. She sent me to get her a soft drink and two bottles of water. She said that I could have the second bottle of water. We spoke for a while and then "Carthio" came and spoke with Miss. She wanted a ribbon so bad that Miss had one side and said that she had to go and decorate the hall. Her request for my assistance was very uncomfortable.

    Kai came and spoke with Miss. She needed some help putting a password in her computer and he did it for her. The three of us had a short chat and then he jumped with my kick-up. At first, he thought that it was musical and wanted to find out how it could have been a kick-up.

    Lunchtime came soon and Mrs Solomon and I had a longer wait because my computer was taking too long. She told me about an agricultural sale going on and bought a doughnut from them. I got one assignment from Ahmad in the library and soon two more from the Form1s were on my desk by the time I went to put back the laptop.

    I went to the music room and forgot that practice was going on. Mr Marcelle and I spoke for a while. I did ask him about ownership stickers for the pans when looking at them. He said that was good. I mentioned it to differentiate the school's pans from the pans we may have to borrow from other sources. There was a short meeting after that went straight up to the end of school.

    The 2F class did not get teaching again but some of them had submitted their assignments. All of them were handed to Jess for grading over the weekend. I went to the staff room and had a wait. Donna was there and she asked if I was going to band practice today. Did not know that it had any. The practice went well. Sir was able to tie in the two songs and made some changes alongside putting more technical chromatics for Crystal in the Double Seconds parts when she asked him to do so.

    Miss Jones tried to practice her part. I stayed on "Jan's" Double Tenor and helped her out. I ended up moving to the toc-toc. Jess left us early. Mr Marcelle sat by the drumkit and I sat on the chair next to him. The struggle to fight the sleeping on myself was not easy. I did the fight continuation in the back seat of Mr Raymond's car going up the road.

    Daddy was already inside watching TV when I got into the living room. I ate and went to do my last two typing from the journal logbook after 4 paintings on Ven Colouring. The typing was completed by 9:34 PM. Tomorrow will be timesheet day. Praise God I had it filled up until yesterday morning. The rest will be done tomorrow for signing and submission.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:52 am – 4:53 pm)

Day #412 – (7:48 am – 3:32 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #89) – Day #410

Date for Entry: (Wednesday 27 November 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Wednesday 04 December 2024)

[T1, W:13 – WD:59, (Td:6)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning’s struggle to wake up was not easy again. I ended up getting out of bed at 7:15 late. The rush and walk down to school had to be swift if I wanted to get to the compound in time. I saw Jessie walking from his homeyard to school. I remembered that yesterday when we waved from different pavements his mom wanted to speak with me. I didn't see her yesterday evening, though I thought that it was late. I had a look for her making the corner to the school this morning and didn't see her.

    Teachers were now going to roll call by the time that I got into the staffroom. Looked like there was no assembly this morning. I went to pay for the pies and got back. Miss was coming in from her roll call too and Jess had just entered the building. She came soon after to find out when we would meet to do the marks insert. Looks like she was expecting it immediately. I told her that the third period would be better.

    I went to work on my timesheets. The first one was messed up with the dates for the last week. I ended up spoiling my extra copy. Will have to get another in the office. Thankfully all the information did not take long to enter on the first sheet. The third period came quickly and then Jess and Mel were talking. She ended up taking a long time to start the work. I had the laptop set up and waiting. She came in saying that she got caught up in a long conversation.

    We went through the Form 4 exam papers and they had to be graded first. One paper's mark out of the four was not entered because I had to go collect the pies before recess. As I was making my way to the staffroom, the students were now on recess. Jess and Roberts spoke in the corner about Dip. Ed.

    We had 2F right after. They were put to play the first line of the college song as an ensemble first and were then graded in smaller groups by the sections. I had some fun chats with "Pablo" and he was trying to figure out the 3 Cello. Riley had a good dance. Wondered if the song really gave him 'good vibes' or something else, lol.

    I had to give "Creigy" some words ("I want to go home") to help him play the rhythm on the sixth bass. They were making trouble in the classroom after having to do the parang project overnight which none of them did. Ravin told me that they had two exams to take tomorrow. I packed up to go back with my bags.

    Mel was not ready to work on the markbook so I sat down to go over the timesheet.  Looks like the sheet that Kiel gave me was a special one because it worked just right. I completed it. The first of November to this morning with times. I just have the number of late days, Thursday and Friday to do, along with my signature for the sheet to be completed. I shared some of the Maryland biscuits with Mel that Daddy gave me.

    There was a list that I had planned to make for work during the weekend. Too many sleepless nights and the hours are going too quickly to do a lot. While Miss was with Jess and Roberts planning out the Sound caterers for the Christmas programme and Saturday Panorama Talent show, I went to the corridor to try and make a call but it was too noisy. The school was so small that you couldn't make a call with all the noise.

    I looked to my opposite and saw the empty science corridor. It was ideal for me to stand and write in my book if in case there were notes to take. The first school to call was Tunapuna Secondary but left a message instead. The next school to contact was Barataria Anglican Primary on the opposite side of the savannah. The Principal would be able to meet me at 3 PM. There was a short wait for 2:51 to come. I walked with my book bag and laptop bag after school to go to the school compound.

    There was a long wait but I did not mind. It was a completely different feeling being in the school itself. I saw two Georgian girls walking into the compound and greeted me walking away. I met the Principal and we had a very nice conversation in the office. I shared two copies of the School Song Form that I had created for her to find information on the song and also when I began working on it. We discussed the work, the booklet, and others. This also included the song being a YouTube video as a teaching resource for the school. 

    However, when I did mention that I would not be charging the school, she continued to ask the question of how all of it benefitted me. It was still a question I did not know how to answer. The meeting was over after giving her my contact information. By the time I walked out of the compound, I forgot to ask for her name.

    Walking back to George's, a small grey car popped its horn. I looked carefully and it was Dr Allison waving goodbye at me as she drove up Sixth Avenue. She did not have on her face mask that is why I didn’t recognise her at first. I met "Celia" in the front yard. She saw me coming in and wondered if I had forgotten something. We laughed it out as I told her that I had a meeting. The staffroom was empty. The band was heard in the quiet school so I took a walk down.

    Mr Marcelle wasn't there today and Jess led the session. There was new music given without Mr Marcelle's guidance. The two songs were put together. I got a ride up with Mr Greenaway. We had on the same type of blue shirt and black pants today. As I was opening up the front gate my daddy came driving in the yard. I shared with him the journey over to the primary school and how it happened. He was surprised for sure.

    I had a long evening typing up my two entries from week 86. I decided to split Wednesday to Friday for tonight and then do Monday to Wednesday of week 80 since I didn't do any typing last night. I ended up sending the attempted transcription to Mr Marcelle via WhatsApp. This is the Christmas Medley for the teachers' band. I hope he was pleased with it. The guitar and cello pans part were typed out in the group but I did not know if they had strums or rollings. I hope that he likes what I did. But now based on what we did in practice today, I think there are some things to fix in the tenor line, lolz.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:54 am – 4:32 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #89) – Day #409

Date for Entry: (Tuesday 26 November 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Wednesday 04 December 2024)

[T1, W:13 – WD:58, (Td:5)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning was a repeat of yesterday's morning plus, it was the morning after Monday. So I felt double plus the ten nights of less sleep. I couldn't get my eyes to open. Ended up playing music while I went to shower and it lightly helped me to awake. The bus driver this morning was "Robin". He was speaking to a passenger about wanting to purchase a vehicle from the relative "real bad". I thought of the book for Miss Robin and planned to call the school.

    As soon as I got out of the bus the light turned red. I did not know if there was an accident or something but there was a lot of jam on the other side of the traffic light's direction. As soon as the light turned green no one could move. The Sixth Avenue began to pile up with cars down to the shop where I waved to Mr Shawh. A few teachers were still coming in for the morning. Assembly was in progress. I ended up going to pay for the pies one time.

    On my way back I realised that the first two periods were free. I thought we had them right after the roll call. I started to work on the 2L parang assignments. I feel like I will leave it with Jess to do since there are some things she might like to see in them. I took the 2L papers to begin grading them and then surprisingly I saw her chatting with "Nia".

    Jess was all over the staffroom before coming to see me. I told her that I took the papers to grade for her and that I was preparing to set up the markbook. She allowed me to come with her or stay but told me to stay and still mark the groups in class. I remembered one girl asking me to ask Jess to postpone the presentations for today. This was as I was walking into the compound to the staffroom.

    I made my way to the music room at recess time. She had locked the door like me from yesterday. It was nice to see "Michael" again and he spoke with me before departing to his class. I began to set up my laptop my the teacher's desk at the front and then work on inserting marks I was able to get the class list of names for 1L from the attendance sheet. Somehow I will have to get a 1M listing.

    Somewhere inside of the fifth and sixth periods, Mr Marcelle came. I remember that Mel was going to get copies. I hope they came out alright. Jess was busy being up and down while I did all the work by myself. She did not sit down and go through the work. The practice began and I did not even have the time to go over in the other room or even to assist.

    Sir had left early today. He thought that we were not having Teachers Band practice today like me. That kind of gave me some more time to work out the song transcription. I stayed by that seat until 2:40 and then packed up. I gave Jess a listing of the things that she needs to accomplish overnight for us to fix tomorrow. Mel and everyone were gone by the time I got back to the staffroom. I had a lot to pack up and then go. "Susan" was asking me if they told me they were going and I said no. "Celia" took my last copy of the punctuality and regularity form to make copies.

    The road felt clustered still. Only when I had passed the Anglican primary school I was shocked that the whole day went by and forgot to call them as well as Tunapuna. I had TwinK this evening. I had gotten four paintings done before 7 PM. There was a need for an emergency meeting at 8 PM. It may have taken up my journal typing time for the night but it was good progress. Thankfully it was just an hour.

    I went to try today's entry which just took one full hour. I could not do any typing after. Maybe it will be good to do that in school tomorrow. I did not even have time to write up my timesheet so that will have to be done somewhere in the first period of school. My eyes were starting to hurt again so it was immediately bedtime. I left the painting for tomorrow when I got home again.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(8:10 am – 3:16 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #89) – Day #408

Date for Entry: (Monday 25 November 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Wednesday 04 December 2024)

[T1, W:13 – WD:57, (Td:4)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning I slept back until 7 AM. It was not easy getting ready or getting my mind back.  I had to be Master of Compromises again in the maxi. Behind the filled bus on the bus route. The walk was slower. I heard the nice lady in the Primary School mentioning that they had a setback with their assembly and that they can be able to adapt.

    George’s assembly was in session by the time I got into the compound. Many of the teachers were coming in late too. Jess had taken the children to the music room. Didnt see when she came. I ended up going down to the music room late. Had to check to see if I had the papers she wanted me to work with the Form 4s first. There was a nice decorated wine bottle that Mel had asked me to mark when she said, "Mr Ali how much would say to give this bottle?" She confirmed that it was out of ten points. I immediately said eight and she agreed.

    When I got to the music room, only four of the five Muslim students were liming in the back of the empty classroom. The rest of the class was in the pan room working only on the first line of the college song. Wonder when they will move on to finish the rest of the verse? Students were coming in for class two minutes early. Jess took them to the pan room and she said she would do the chorus with them and let 3F learn the verse instead. I am not sure how that will work out.

Whoever the tenors were for this class, I wrote out the melody pitches for them and circled the pitches to roll on beforehand. Matthew was busy wanting to play the panorama piece and be a teacher so I left him to figure it out and gave pointers when he was going wrong. I left class at 10:35 and still got to the cafe during recess. The two pies were good with the right amount of pepper. Sadly I ran out of bobbys. I remember telling Daddy this morning that I could have saved my gulab jamon for the pies in school.

    Miss was bringing in more decorated bottles for marking. She gave me some of her attendance sheets for the markbook. Miss "Celia" was asking me for a copy of the punctuality and regularity form that I used to give her. She needed another one. I had to pack up and get ready for the Form 4 class. It looked like they were told of the practical and theory test today. Jess went to look for the paper when I entered the room. I was hearing them review their scales and heard their concern about intervals.

    I was by the piano trying out the "Silent Night" that I had printed for "Michael" the Form 1 some time ago. I also tried the "Greensleeves" that I might have to do in the school's Christmas show or the Talent Concert. The Form 4s were given the theory paper first and two of the papers had a duplicated page. Jess took the children in the pan room individually for the practical exam. I sat there with the students writing the test. Many times we had to ask people to leave to avoid any disruptions.

    Jess was telling me after the practicals that some of the teachers were asking for a discounted price for the Pamorama concert. There was a concert meeting for the talent concert and the show. Up by the staffroom, "Celia" topped me in the corridor. She said to pass around. It seems like there was another problem with the sewage. I went to the office to update the OJT logbook and to collect my copies. I had forgotten to ask for a copy of the timesheet.

    I went down with the attendance sheets that Mel had given me to write up the classroom names for this academic year in the Excel File. The laptop was taking long and as soon as I began working and getting the Form 2s and 3s in, Mr Bain said that we had to vacate the compound. Students were leaving the compound and teachers were already leaving. I turned off the laptop and headed back to the staffroom. "Riba" was dancing strangely. Someone threw a block of ice down inside of his shirt.

    The staffroom was empty. "GG" was offering me a ride but I was not packed and did not want to rush. Mel walked out walking out the staffroom after trying to ask me to go with them. The office was still piled up. Had a while to wait to ask for a timesheet. Miss "Celia" was making the joke about an unclaimed suitcase that was not moved from there in about two to three weeks. She also made the joke that next week Wednesday will be her final day as Acting Vice Principal. At that time maybe Mr Charles will then go back to be the Acting Vice Principal. Still no idea as to when Asha will be coming back as Principal.

    That night I went home to do some more painting before computer work. I was able to establish the markbooks for Mel and Jess. Some of the Form 1 names will have to be found in school. There were some minor changes in Mel's mark book. I began to see other potential things that would need to be fixed and changed. While I was working on the journal entries, I forgot to email Celia the handwritten document for the leave and absences. I couldn't believe that I had opened up the email 3 times and forgot what I was looking for.

    I have two more weeks of entries to manually type before the edits of week 87 onward. Today was as hard as Monday and not had much sleep for the past nine nights. Tonight will make it ten. I  did two more paintings again before bed. It was great to see Mr Sawh again. He called me out and we waved from the shop eating doubles as I was walking down Sixth Avenue to school. I now remembered seeing Miss in school at lunchtime after having another disappointing encounter with Shiva. I hope he NEVER does it again!!

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:59 am – 3:27 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #88) – Day #407

Date for Entry: (Sunday 24 November 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 30 November 2024)

[T1, W:12 – WD:56, (Td:X)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning I went to work in the library instead of going to the service. I did not have a steelband performance today. I decided to work on practical questions for the textbook. My time there was done until 9:30 as usual. Ria didn't come and I had forgotten to call her that night. We had steelband practice starting with my arrangement from 2022 of "Away in a Manger".

    The problem was smooth rolling from the tenors. He went into an exercise that was quavers for 4 bears and then semiquavers for 1 beat. Then he moved on to his "Carol of the Bells", which was the last song. The problem with this one was staying on time with everyone. The session was long and very tiring. I was hungry when I got back home.

    Decided to stay like that for the whole day. Daddy ended up misplacing the keys. I packed up some work to do. The dark clouds were already packed in the sky and he was wondering if they would cancel the practice today. I texted Miss and she was in church still. Mr Marcelle was going to be slightly late.

    I decided to go and if no one was there I would still do my. Work on the laptop at school. We had a short wait for a short shower and were then out to Curepe. I went onto a bus that was waiting.* The road was very scary just yesterday with an empty road and because of this, the arrival to Sixth Avenue was quick. I almost got hit by a car on the road.

    Entering the compound, a dog started to bark at me. The guard was wondering why they were doing that and after our chat, we were wondering if it was their mating season too with their behaviour. I went to collect my laptop and then moved down to the music room. She said that everyone here for practice was already down in the music room.

    Only four section leaders were in the room with Mr Marcelle. He was checking and making inserts. I stood with them keeping the pulse with the toc-toc. We found that 1 PM reached up on us quickly. Slowly the rest of the attendees were coming in. They worked on the section just before the verse for a long.

    At some point, Mr Marcelle sent me to the next room before the drill practice commenced to make sure they had everything alright and then to help teach three of the tenors the first portion of the verse. The new part was not added with the rest of the band.

    Maybe Sir had ideas to take the music in a new direction. There was difficulty with reading the syncopation written in cut-time. I had to transcribe the bar into crotchet beats and then use the closed-gate style of writing to understand what to tell the children. It was written in shorthand-like notation from Roberts and also opened-gate.

    Toward the last part of the practice, he had put me in charge of drilling the band while he went to speak to the persons assisting with the concert outside. The same thing was run three times and then from Da Capo. It was recorded in the regular slow tempo and made it to 6 minutes. But I was concerned about the 'a tempo'. I would admit that I did not get time to listen to the original song on YouTube as yet. It was nice of Sir to send me the updated score.

    When practice was over a lot of the children were already on their way home. The sky was worse than yesterday and the quadrangle was filled scarily. I had never seen the school as a temple of water before. Me, Jess, Mr Marcelle and Mel were kept back waiting for the rain to over along with four students. At 5:55 the rain had calmed and two boys and I walked up to the bus route. They left before me but we took the same maxi.

    Seems like the rain moved up Curepe. I was soaking wet after running for shelter under the terminal, or maybe I should say the smokers' hub of all nasty kinds. That night, I finished the painting that took me three nights to do ().

    I got three more done before going to the computer to work for the night. Jess was asking me to copy and paste something into a letter but I realised she had given me some ingredients for the letter and wanted me to write it. I messaged back admitting that I didn't know how to do it. We planned for her to do the letter tomorrow and I work the Form 4s tomorrow while they do an ABRSM Grade 3 past paper.

    I worked on journal entries too. I ended up bringing the laptop home with me to get what I had typed out last week Friday. Sadly, the entry for the Monday of that week was not saved. I will have to type it back over tomorrow. I took note of the entries to work on tomorrow. Before I ended the night, painted two more images on Facebook. I couldn't make it anymore and had to fight to make it to the bed again. Where did the weekend go?

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(11:40 am – 5:55 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #88) – Day #406

Date for Entry: (Saturday 23 November 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 30 November 2024)

[T1, W:12 – WD:55, (Td:X)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning I woke up and fell back asleep. My weekend had been taken away from me with the need to go to Panorama practice. This weekend will be both Saturday and Sunday. I did not have breakfast. Somehow I thought of "Jay-22" today. I got ready in casual clothing. I was originally planning to wear the blue Mitchell House T-shirt. I saw a green one and chose that along with my purple plaid short pants. I knew it would be a long day and the heat would make me need some air.

    After walking out of the road, I laughed about the choice with Daddy. I told him that it left like I was going to Town to play lawn tennis instead. The outfit did look that way. The bus route was scary. Only one maxi was on the road and the rest was empty. A nice lady was driving. I sat in the front row behind and I was giving a Jehovah's Witness pamphlet on the topic "Who Created the World".

    Sixth Avenue was hotter than a regular school day. I was completely wet by the time I got to the schoolyard. I saw Miss in the hall when she called me out. Surprisingly she had on the same Mitchell House shirt that I was looking for. I told her the same but then mentioned that it was good I didn't because if any hillviewers saw me in it they would have thought that I was betraying them. She told me that the staffroom was open so I went to cool out.

    It took me exactly an entire hour to start and complete the journal entry for yesterday. I got to school with the phone battery at six per cent. After falling asleep on the couch the night before, I didn't get to charge it. I even forgot the charger at home too. Miss told me that Jess was coming late. We spoke about the tickets form and said that there were over sixty tickets handed out. The children were with Mr Marcelle in the pan room practising. They were working on a new section.

    When Jess came down she handed me two empty envelopes to give Mel. I went back up to the hall. The feeling of the empty Form 2 classrooms and school was a completely different experience altogether. Miss wrote out the names of the children who paid and placed the money in the envelope, which was then sent back to Jess. "Mr Barbour" came to the hall to ask me to help him with something. The children were in the classroom so that means that they were on break.

    Jess and Mr Marcelle were trying out something. When I was finishing up one of the journal entries then joined them. As I was pulling out my pansticks, Jess liked that I had pockets for the pansticks and she had a long dress without pockets. Sir played the Double Tenor part and Jess and I were trying to figure out an insert. This that we worked on was taught to the students when returning from their recess.

    I went back to typing up the rest of of journal entries for the rest of week eighty-five. The typing was a lot and my hand was hurting from holding the cell phone in my hand all the time. Daddy called me from the phone at 1:30 to ask what time I would be coming up. I told him at 2 PM. Jess and her mother left early from their ride. She did not see the keys for the room to lock up. Mr Marcelle packed up and left the room. The guard probably didn't know that they had to lock back.

    Mel, Sir and I waited back because of the heavy rain that broke out. I knew there was bright light but when the door in the music room opened, there was a very dark sky. We ended up waiting for the rain to ease up. Three boys travelled out and we still had to wait for "Mr Haynes" father to pick him up. The three of us left the compound at 4:20.

    Mr Marcelle hurried to his home before the rain wet his electronic devices. Miss and I saw Jessie and we gave him a wave. I was going to invite him to come to practice. Miss went to the grocery before the bus route. I almost fell crossing the wet road. An impatient driver almost bounced us over. Thankfully there was a bus to take us. Had to wake her up at her stop.

    There were only a few minutes when I had settled at home before our meeting to fix the Form 2 paper. Some of the images were changed for the Christmas season. We had some issues with English when it came to rows and columns in one of the questions. I ended the meeting after sending the final product. I did some uploading on the Blogger for a week of school that was typed up today. Tomorrow I hope to complete the typing of another week.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(10:05 am – 4:32 pm)