St. George’s College (Week #60) – Day #272

Date for Entry: (Thursday 29 February 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Sunday 28 April 2024)

[T2, W:09 – WD:38, (Td:1)*].

Dear Diary,

    As soon as I crossed the bus through this morning, a bird from high up dropped twos on my shirt to the left. There was a wait for one more passenger after me and then the driver took off. I saw “Saga Boy Andy” chatting with the driver earlier. They were both matching and grey.

    The office seemed a lot busy this morning and then I had the time sheet placed. Placed with Kyle's stuff before rushing off to 1F. I took my book bag to class to use the things after recess. The students were given the steel pan techniques note. I saw “Jareem” sitting with them and he left when I came in. The children had to settle down.

    Not many teachers were around this morning either after recess. Mr. Charles and Dr. Jogi sat with me near and they spoke for some time with me. I took a black pen from Dr. Jogi that he had offered me. There was a time when I had given him a pen and he gave me one back in return. I messaged “Jeff” and “Miss Gittens” to let them know that I decided to return to school and teach the children instead of going to the workshop. I saw that Susan was there today in school. She called me out and waved.

    Lunchtime came while writing today's entry thus far and the rest of yesterday's. Lunchtime came and went quickly. I collected the test papers for 2F from Miss Gittens in the art room and then went to rest in Block K. I went back to the music room for practice with the students and felt like I could have used the time to work on the book. They finished late and I got the 2F test started at 1.30 p.m.

    The time took a long to go and the children were having trouble with a question on tempo. It seems as though they did not know what tempo is although that was done at the end of term two in four months for them. I dismissed the children at 2.25 p.m. and collected the papers.

    “Celia” saw a copy of the exam paper when I told her that I gave the children a music comprehension test with geography in it. I could explain to her the longitude and latitude perspective in the test. She seemed to enjoy it. I got packed up and went down to the office.

    “Tia” was there in the office signing in the attendance book before she left. I didn't see Miss Kittens outside for the bus shuttle duty. There was a concern with Caleb Smith's grandmother looking for him. She did not have a phone and he was not in the back of the school. Miss Gittens and I got a ride out to Curip with Mr. Raymond.

    I didn't do much for the night except for typing out the cancelling accidentals lesson. I felt as if some questions would be better for the lesson too. I played some levels on Primrose Lake Park too. These levels were in the Persimmons Resort. I also got Gallery Coloring Book downloaded again. I will play that tomorrow. While riding my bike, I thought of working on Imella. I'm not sure if the idea of working on “Let the Weight of Your Glory” flow simultaneously would be possible. you

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(8:00 am – : pm)

St. George’s College (Week #60) – Day #271

Date for Entry: (Wednesday 28 February 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 16 May 2024)

[T2, W:09 – WD:37, (Td:6)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning I had a hard time waking up. Not many cars were in the compound while walking in. Maybe it was the traffic. I knew it had one traffic by St John Road. The maxi needed one more person in the back and we took off. The driver took the housing roundabout and the rest of the road was clear surprisingly. I didn't have to wait long to cross the road either. Miss Patel was there today after a while.

    As soon as Miranda came out of her office I remembered her saying that the meeting for tomorrow would only be for teachers and not OJTs. I may just have to go over to DCFA and find out if they will allow me to sit in the meeting. I saw that Crystal and the principal went for a ride. I laughed with myself at how jealous I felt. Maybe they were going for lunch?

    Miss Kittens gave me a message for the papers for 2F tomorrow. I had them stapled and batched off before delivering them. She asked me to write out the instructions for her on a sheet of paper. Jess met me in Block A and we spoke about the exemption letters for the children. She had to ask about it with the principal and a dean. I went to work on part of the book. I didn't work on it for the evening. I couldn't print because there was not much colour in the art room. I went back to the office.

    Miranda and Crystal came back. Kyle was in the office too. He got me and the others copies of the new timesheet forms which I filled out and returned to my desk before leaving the compound. I felt so tired after getting home. Aunty Joan had called me to ask for me to do a scripture reading at her meeting on Saturday. I took the offer and she said that she would work with a bible for me. I woke up late at 7.38 that same night and had met Ash for class.

    I didn't wake up until I started to teach. I asked him to list the topics that we had. I decided to begin Term 3 work on Form 1 and return to the other work topics later. Tess was now starting that with the Form 2s. We did accidentals first and then went right into the tones and semitones lesson. This took an hour exactly to complete and his homework would be all of both sections for the questions in the red book.

    The time afterwards was taken to finish “Maleck Kohanim.” I didn't go to apostle bible study again. I had an impossible feeling that the song wasn't going to finish. There was some insecurity that the strumming could not work out. Praise God it did. I felt so relieved that the song was accomplished. I think that the hallelujah challenge will have to wait since it will take more time than I had.

    I think “Let the Weight” is the next piled-up song that I will have to wait on. It feels like very uncertain territory like the Yahweh and Malek Kuhanim. But it will be done and completed in some way. Mummy always used to say that the most difficult pieces of art come out the best.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:42 am – 4:28 pm) 

St. George’s College (Week #60) – Day #270

 Date for Entry: (Tuesday 27 February 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 16 May 2024)

[T2, W:09 – WD:36, (Td:5)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning Andrew had to go early and I decided to go late so that Daddy could drop him off and then come for me. I got to sleep a bit later and then got ready. Somehow Miss Harris didn't get enough teachers to go on the field trip and she had four buses filled with children and she asked me when Jess came to my desk. Jess and I exchanged large-eyed looks when Dr. Blandon started to yell at Miss Harris. She was seeking clarification from the principal over the phone. I got Miss Mohammed to do the copies for 2L to do the test.

    I had 1M at third period and they did not even pull out unloaded students onto the maxi. We shared another big-eyed look before I went over in the black game. The children were loud and restless. Ethan was all over the classroom at some point. They got the note on steel pan techniques and had to draw over the tenner pan-blue sea in their notebooks.

    I had the children close in their notebooks to do a rectangle to a rectangular shape and had them roll pens or pencils in their hands and pretend that the rectangular-shaped notebook was a note in the steel pan. I went around the classroom twice and that was the end of the session. Recess went by too suddenly. I had to call Miss Roberts to find out if the music room was free. She said yes and I took the children to the music room for their score analysis test. Four boys were cheating and two girls were sleeping. I remained there for the rehearsal session at lunchtime.

    I got a text from Mrs. Sharma about training to catalogue books in the library for the church and help with the library project. I was so happy that I told her yes. I stayed with the Form 6 classes for the 7th and 8th periods. They did scales first, practical sessions, B and F before getting into the theory. Major and minor pentatonic and blue scales were given by formula. Miss Roberts moved the non-chord tunes and did the passing tune. The heat in that room was too much.

    I didn't see Susan in the evening. It was sad not to see any text papers. Miss Roberts suggested that I seek the principal's permission to go to the workshop tomorrow. I texted her but had to wait for a response. It was only this morning that the official letter for the workshop came out in the WhatsApp chat. This was evening.

    The Wi-Fi wasn't working and I couldn't go onto the internet to have class with Ash. I was only able to send him a message and hope that they would get it when the Wi-Fi kicked in at half past eight in the night.

    I took the time to work on the “Malech Kohanim” arrangement and was able to work out the majority. Only when the strumming pattern for the introduction was agreeable, the Wi-Fi came in instantly. I worked on this steel pan arrangement until eleven o'clock at night.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(8:12 am – 4:50 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #60) – Day #269

Date for Entry: (Monday 26 February 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 16 May 2024)

[T2, W:09 – WD:35, (Td:4)*].

Dear Diary,

    I saw Mr. Georgian walking down to Lockhart Street in Kiewet this morning. He got to Valslane before me since he got the lights to cross the bus route close. I took a pie from BrexWatts Express this morning and had it in the administration office by my desk. Mr Marlon and Mr Peer were chatting when I got in there.

    As soon as Miss Pope came in, there was a joke. I see that they still did not get a teacher's attendance register book, but they had the spiral-bound book for attendance. Aurella came in with a lady who resembled her but didn't seem like her mother, on an incident that occurred on Friday. I was surprised to see “Jess” there when she messaged me at 11.50 p.m. last night, mentioning that she would be absent today on Miss Harris, field trip and her form class field trip on Friday. I stated that she would be doing practicals when she gets back.

    Miranda was there earlier for assembly. I had to wait for Jess outside 1F to give her the attendance. While in one of the form 1 classes, they had a very nice maths question to work out. I did not get a picture of it, but I wrote down the formula in my book. This was a 2L classroom after watching what I had written. 2L had a listening to some of the national songs called “God Bless Our Nation”.

    This is a flag of our nation's zoning, and they had to examine the songs and answer some questions on the elements of music. We sat on a bench outside to discuss the topics for classes until Friday, when Miss will not be there. Mr. Amir Khan had come to ask for Mitchell's t-shirt, and I sat there on the bench waiting. I went back to the blockade to sit with Mr. Charles and Miss Mustapha near my desk in the waiting area for their prints.

    I felt bad that Jess asked for the originals of the parents' letter. Sometime soon, I will be able to make the copies for myself and hand them to her. Miss Mustapha and Mr Charles were chatting about types of big snakes, and it made my blood crawl and wiggle. It was shocking to hear that they were accused of industrial harassment and others for the mock exam. I found this to be uncalled for. I went to see if Miss Kittens was there, but she wasn't.

    After school, we found out that she was there. I also went to see Suzanne grade some papers. It was a bit of a shock to see that she was there, but I went to see if Miss Kittens was there. It was good fun that since I handed over the form to Sir Jess, I didn't get to grade any papers thus far. I sat by Janessa's table to do my journal entry. I hadn't seen her in a while. Mel came into the staff room and shared with me what happened in church with this song. She also told me of another song called Victory by Eben, which I noticed was a ringtone. 

    I went home to get the score analysis typed up and reformat for God Bless Our Nation score to a legal-size page so that the office could print it for me. I hope that I'll be able to get there early on time to do the printing. 

    There was another session with Apostle Charisse Takapatio from 7 to 10 p.m. I didn't get much time in the Malek Kohanim arrangement tonight, but the introduction was covered. The topic with the Apostle tonight was Your Response Matters. I think this was a very nice topic.

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:48 am – 4:46 pm) 

St. George’s College (Week #59) – Day #268

 Date for Entry: (Friday 23 February 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 16 May 2024)

[T2, W:08 – WD:34, (Td:3)*].

Dear Diary,

    I got to school in a rush. She told me that she should be going to be late. I thought that we might have both missed the first morning's class. There was a religious session going on and all of them took a very long time to finish. I waited in Block K and then met with Jess in the staff room to go back to Block K. We had to wait for the Catholic lady to finish in one of the four-man classrooms.

    There was less than one period to go and the lesson was on Bass Clef. The same was done for 1F right into the other double period, periods three and four. We had to wait for 1F to come back from their classroom. I believe they had Mr. Mr. Bain for woodworking. As I was erasing the board, Ms. Jones came back to yell at a large number of children who ended up ditching Mr. Bain's class when they heard that he was not there in school. Some of them said that Mr. Bain was not coming to school again because they heard that students from 1M said Mr. Bain was not there.

    As I crossed the board, I ended up spilling my venting mentally. Ms Hood had offered me to do the note on the board. I didn't mind. I also did the attendance form and handed it to the children while Ms. took over the rest of the class session. I had a lot of fun with the Muslim boys in the back doing maths with them.

    At recess, Jess kept the class back for making noise. They had to wait and leave in groups wherever she saw necessary. I spoke with Brad and Fish before leaving. A short rescue occurred in class. A short scene occurred in the classroom before I left. I remained with Choo Choo in Block K, Ms. Dana, and Nia during the fifth period. I didn't feel like doing much work. I had my times out adjusted in the office and then transferred those times to my journal book.

    Miranda was there during lunchtime. Jess took out again to get to 1L. We waited and before I could start the bass club lesson, she came by the door and then told me to line them up and take them to the music room. This class got the steel band technique lessons and practical as the rest of the other two form ones. Their class was rolling under pitches C to F. Apparently, this was their first class to do practical practice rolling with a pattern. One girl was left. One girl had left her book in the office and I could not help her. I told her to go and get Jess up for the key.

    Ms. called me out and we went to the art room. I left for the staff room but she called me out and I had to go back to the art room to babysit the children doing food and nutrition while Calvin and Steven were there. I didn't like it because they were wasting their time. One of the girls in the corner broke something that sounded like glass. I still heard a spray being used from Mr Bain's woodwork room. As soon as the timer on my phone alarm made a sound, I had the children pack up and leave the room.

    Maria had her first set of English papers printed. She told Susan and me that it was a booklet of 21 pages and the first nine sheets were already printed. Daddy gave me a call to let me know that we would be coming up late. I went to the small table and had a seat. There was a shorter, longer wait for the rest of the exam papers to finish. Susan did not give me the answer sheet to help her mark the papers again.

    The papers were done as soon as I entered the administration office to get my blue bag for church. Somehow, I did not know where the blue bag went. The three of us sat back in the back seat to collate the exam papers and staple them.

    So, Maria and I gathered the last four pages and Susan got us the first view. It was night when the three of us left the compound. After finishing dinner and sitting on the couch, I couldn't do anything again, which meant that I could not work on the textbook or any other musical arrangements for the night. I hope that this weekend I can accomplish something. I hope that this weekend I can accomplish something.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

Yesterday – Day #267: (7:53 am – 4:23 pm)

(7:21 am – 6:49 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #59) – Day #266

 Date for Entry: (Wednesday 21 February 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 16 May 2024)

[T2, W:08 – WD32:, (Td:1)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning I was in a rush. The space in between the maxi was not comfortable. I had breakfast in the office and went to the staff room. Jess was already morning. We did treble clef pitches and she taught them the treble clef song. I was able to get the introduction for expressive features done in the double period. I remained in block K afterwards to work further on the topic. Dr. Jogi and I stayed back eating our roti while the rest of the teachers went to the library for a prefect selection meeting.

    There was a loud noise afterwards about Tia wanting a student's name to be removed from the list. I remained with the teachers while they ate food. Ms. Sudin passed around with the drinks. I took some red Fanta and it was nice as it was icy cold. Sadly they had the pepper in another bag and I didn't get any.

    I went to wait for “Jess” in Block C's staff room. She got there a little late and then we walked over. The topic for this double period was a review of major scales. With 2F, these major scales went from C major to A, 3 sharps, and C major again to Eb major, 3 flats. I went home and ended up watching Castle after Parliament's JSC.

    At 7 pm I went to work on “Yahweh”. This was not an easy song to do a steel pan arrangement on. After Bible study with MTC, I realized that I had accidentally deleted the arrangement. I took the two and a half hours doing over the entire arrangement after the Bible study. I felt so tired after but thankfully I had the entire arrangement completed for a second time in the night.

    I decided to play 7 rounds of “Primrose Lake” games. For me, it was better to start over from part 1 and advance my way through parts 4 and 5 which I had not played before. I hope that the playing and the stories go well.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:50 am – 4:49 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #59) – Day #265

Date for Entry: (Tuesday 20 February 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 16 May 2024)

[T2, W:08 – WD31:, (Td:6)*].

Dear Diary,

    I was absent yesterday. I was not feeling good at all but I attended the PAYE webinar. I saw Shiraz pulling up his maxi and he left. I felt like the time was getting later as I was getting to the school compound. I had been to the staff room to ask a teacher what timetable day it was today. After exiting Block C, Tutu said that today was day 6. I didn't even realize that days 4 and 5 had gone by. She sent me a message to meet her.

    We sat in the music room and spoke about the schema for term 2 that she had just finished. The rain was... the air in the room was puffy inside and it made me start to cough. I remained there for Ms. Roberts's 3L class afterwards. She did a review with the students and it seems as if they were not studying their work at all. The work reviewed were Calypso, Soca, Steelpan, Ethnoclassical, Classification of Instruments, Major Scales including the Formula, Self-Edge versus Sargon, Indian Classical, and Self-Edge. I left after the end of recess.

    During recess time she had her form 6s there practicing major scales in her office. A lot of them had problems with playing their scales as if they were not practising. I could see that they had some issues with their Harmonic Minor and Melodic Minor. Scales for B Major, B Harmonic Minor, and B Melodic Minor were done first. Ms. Roberts then asked the students in her group to play F Major, F Harmonic Minor, and F Melodic Minor. That was the end of recess.

    I went back to Block K to work on my textbook topics on Ostinato, the second portion of Ostinato. There were some questions needed but I did not bother to work on it that day. Ms. Odeen informed us that the lunch would be tomorrow. I went back to the music room for the form 4s class after lunch. Ms. Roberts did a review of assigning chords to a melody using the first two lines of Amazing Grace.

    Once that was completed, the students moved over to the steel pan instruments to work on their performance piece. Ms. Roberts was able to get more of her engine room arrangement completed. I worked with the guitar pan and the double seconds. We had no guitars today and no bass pans because those were form 6 students. I rushed off quickly after class because Maria told me that the staff room, that she had to leave earlier this afternoon once school was over. We left some minutes after 3 p.m. I went to bed late as usual. Too much work to do and still less sleep to get.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:50 am – : pm)

St. George’s College (Week #58) – Day #264

Date for Entry: (Friday 16 February 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 16 May 2024)

[T2, W:07 – WD:30, (Td:4)*].

**

Dear Diary,

    I came to Valsane today with a new driver. They were playing music and Ria was sitting by the office computer and students came to get their exam certificates. I think Flash was one of them and Mr. Georgian. I was not sure Mrs. Santana would have been there but I had my homework she had given me to do. I gave Miss Gittens the second fish pie at lunchtime. I told her at recess time that I would have been leaving early because I wasn't feeling well. I spoke with Miss Mary and Miss Alicia before going to the music room but no one was there.

    Seeing that no one was there I felt better in Alock A air conditioning. The rain looked like it was about to come down so I stayed to work on the book while a few teachers were around. Lunchtime came and I was on my way back to my desk. I ended up meeting Dr Jogie in the same corridor and told him I had some music to share with him and that I would come back to block A to share it with him in a few minutes. I took the laptop bag and went back over to block A with the flash driver.

    The computer had to set up and it was taking long. I told him that the computer was a granny so it would have taken a bit longer than expected. On our way to viewing the program, he agreed that it was a granny computer. The way that he was seeing also was moving. Fortunately, after a few minutes, the musical program opened up to the tutor and them and then I explained it to him.

    When I hit play he seemed to like it. It was probably the first time he was getting to see a steel band score being played from the music program and I had to explain how each different staff was an entirely independent line for the different instruments. He requested that I send the mp3 and the page with the words from a tutor that I had.

    I told him I would send both as well as a copy of the lead sheet. He gave me his email on a sheet of newspaper. I did not have paper at the time so I only had a sheet of newspaper for him to write his email and he included his phone number as well. The copies of these materials were sent to him as soon as I got home at around 2 o'clock.

    Susan and the principal met me in the office before I left. I saw the new guard girl sitting by the guard boot outside. I gave her a wave goodbye. Susan and the principal met me in the office before I left. I saw the new guard girl sitting by the guard boot outside. I gave her a wave goodbye before exiting the compound. We both met this morning when I was entering the compound. I have not found her name as yet.

LINK(S):

• TUTTA Anthem.

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:52 am – 3:56 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #58) – Day #263

Date for Entry: (Thursday 15 February 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 16 May 2024)

[T2, W:07 – WD:29, (Td:3)*].

Dear Diary,

    Waking up wasn't easy, but as soon as I got my sip of juice, I woke up. I saw Ravi at Lockhart Street waiting for passengers. There were two other maxis in front being filled and pulled off. Myself and two other persons were needed to go. As we pulled off, I saw Crystal in her nice pink shirt walking to Lockhart Street. She got there before me in the office. Maybe the driver took their housing roundabout. Dr. Blandon was also there in the office.

    I had my name in the book signed in the book, and there I met some teachers. I had forgotten what day it was. It got black rain. Scores copied and stapled. Then I had one given to Dion, and we had a good laugh about the song in terms of the notation process. It was an entire week that I did not put my time out. I got the information transferred into the diary first, and then transferred into the school's OJT logbook.

    Some of the teachers were already signing up for half-day for the funeral of Miss Patel's mother. I was not sure if Jess was here. I still did not know what the scheduled day was today. I felt so sick, but I tried to hold up for the day.

    I went to the staff room in Block K, and only Miss Santana was there. She was sorting out her test papers, and the air-conditioning made me feel a bit better in that staff room. I sat and finished the topic on tonic triads. After that, I moved on smoothly to cancelling accidentals. Decided to have some in-depth discussion of key signatures in that particular lesson. Lunchtime was over, and some of the teachers were leaving for Miss Patel's mother's funeral. I didn't ask her again to go with anyone. I was feeling too ashamed to ask.

    “Jess” came to school and got her message late. She had 1L in the library, researching Calypso, Steelpan, and Taspo. This only lasted for the 7th period. By the start of the 8th period, the children were sent back to class, and Jess told me that I could go with them or hang out in the office. I returned her rollbook to the Block C staff room and went to the art room to see if I could cheer myself up by painting. I remained there a few minutes after school with Miss.

    I got a call from Auntie after school, and she asked if I wanted to do the regular line. I said sure. I went back to the office and had another good chat with Crystal while she was waiting in the waiting area for Izzy Girl to finish. They were going to travel out together. I did some more writing work on the lesson until Auntie called. Gloria was sitting on a chair listening to music on her phone. I still saw Riley and others sitting by the steps to wait for their drivers.

    When I was leaving the compound, I saw Jeffrey sitting in the guard booth, and Nick was by the other side of the road's direction. He doesn't talk that much. So, Auntie met me outside the compound, and she helped me put my bags in the trunk. We went to Trinity and then to Price Mart with a practice trial. We also got the bike and got home in Toonapuna at 8 p.m., and Rhianna had to come up to Toonapuna again to help us set the bike up the steps.

    I saw Rihanna tried calling me, but I forgot to call her back. I realized that I left my flash drive in school by the computer in the morning, and I was trying to copy the black rain scores. I had to empty my pencil case by the computer at home, but it was not there. If I had remembered, I would have taken the laptop to play the Tutor Anthem for Dr. Jogie.

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:40 am – 4:13 pm)

Yesterday: (8:00 am – 3:28 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #57) – Day #261

 Date for Entry: (Friday 09 February 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 16 May 2024)

[T2, W:06 – WD:27, (Td:1)*].

Dear Diary,

    I woke up and so could not wake up it felt like I was not ready to go to school today but being in the staff room would have been nice I had “Sagaboy Andy” as a driver. I had a nice road to cross and saw “Jerry” the guard going into the compound in front of me we greeted each other as I walked over into the compound to the office. I had to find the log book and had a good chat with Crystal. She was enjoying a question in a CXC physical education paper we chatted afterwards.

    I went to Block K in readiness for class. Only 15 minutes to go, I ate my breakfast five while having a chat with Mrs Rivas and Mr Charles. We found out about the shocking story in the office. Mrs Rivas told me, “Every day is a new deal and that it's good to start new.”

    She also shared with me about Miss Paul a little bit she said, "Mr Ali. You could never know if I dislike you." Miss Dana was with the Form Ones in 1F. She had them watch a movie so I went back to the staff room and horrifying news came from “Choo-Choo”. We walked a block and she was singing “I've Got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy Down in My Heart.” I told her that I should email her a recording of this song for which I had arranged them.

    Mr Charles was playing some nice music to do for Steelpan. We had a good laugh over that song. Mr. Ramdath soon came and joined us in the staff room at recess time until he had supervision. I met Mrs Jaikaran earlier today when I thought of having 1F. She came to meet me outside the Block K staffroom after lunchtime after her roll call she paid me for the first month of lessons.

    It was a very nice feeling when I worked on intervals for my textbook during that last double session. It needed exercises for that particular lesson. Susan didn't come again today. She sent us this message in her phone class WhatsApp group. Miss Gittens wasn't up there as well Maria and I were alone to drive her out of school. We were both surprised that this was one of the first days that we were leaving school before three o'clock on a school day I had to wait for Daddy to come and pick me up in Curepe.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:48 am – 2:55 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #57) – Day #260

 Date for Entry: (Thursday 08 February 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 16 May 2024)

[T2, W:06 – WD26, (Td:x)*].

**results

Dear Diary,

    Daddy called me to let me know that he woke up late this morning. This means that I too woke up late. I missed my clock alarms. I got dressed and ready quickly. I had on my Starlift t-shirt this morning. Since Miss Houdin wanted me to wear red today. We saw Dr. Remy's car parked up in the D.C.F.A. compound on our way down to QF. Roti took a ride with us until we reached McLeod Street. As soon as I came out of the maxi by the road to cross, I realized that Kayden and Miss Charles in the maxi were with me.

    No one was in the office this morning by the time I got in there. Susan ended up reading Starlift wrong and mistook it for Stardust. Mrs. Santana came in and we had the same color shirt. The same colour pants and the same colour shoes. We laughed and she said that she had to hide from me because she was already in too much trouble. I just came to sign and left copies of the programs. She asked me to get four folders and changed it to five on her way out. Miss Shoba told me to stop by for breakfast and that the line would be open all day.

    Mr. Alexander from 1M collected the copies and folders for Jess and I went to the hall to see everyone. They had no extension cords in the office so I had to go back and tell Jess that. There was an issue with the print. There were no extension chords in the office so I had to go back and tell Jess that. There was an issue with the prints for the judges' forms so I had to walk back to the office to reformat and re-layout the forms and print them over myself. The fix took a long and only Miss Ali was there in the office at the time to see people and students coming in. She wasn't feeling well at all.

    While I sat by the judges' table they were playing Penthouse by voice. It was a nice song and it seemed like a good one for Steel Pan. I had my vest coat on for the judging event. I was not sure if the cap on my head could go on with the timing. I didn't bother to go back to the office a fourth time this morning to collect the cap. Sitting next to me was Elyssa on my right, then Miss James, Miss Daniels and our upper school girl. The ladies were only talking so much that I had to do all the work on my own in terms of tallying the points afterwards.

    We had a lot of fun during the event. For some of these contestants, I had no idea what kind of marks to give them because the quality of the singing was not that well done. I tried to remember Miss Saunders during the judging and tried to wonder what she might have done as a guide to put in marks for the students. By doing all the work this is why I would be keeping the final tally sheets and all documents that were with me for my archives. Miss Gittens remained in the hall and they gave us some food with banana, Portugal, cheese paste carrots and a cheese puff on a plate.

    These were for the judges. They were very nice. But I went over to Block A after the tallies were finished to visit. Everyone in the staff room was already finished with lunch. They had pizza which I took. They had bowls of dark chocolate and they also had heart-shaped barfi. That was some of the things that they had. I only took from what was open.

    I didn't want to open any bags of cookies so Mrs Rivers danced and tried to sing Annex Temple when the principal left. Miranda came into the staff room to find Miss Pantry but she was not there. Mrs Rivers got to see how difficult it was trying to come up with lyrics on the spot. She was trying to look at me for help seeing that I was music but I too wasn't able to help her except for one line. Miss Mustapha did the music.

    Sadly, Aficia came to the staff room and told me that they needed someone to write their names on the certificate. They were busy helping someone and looked tired after finishing the man's son's certificate. I did not get the certificate for Jess again because everyone was busy trying to help a man find his son's certificate.

    At the end of school, Jess told me that she was not coming tomorrow. I found that she did a really good job even though the principal disapproved of the show. The evening was very tiring. 

    When I was able to find the codes for K-Man Black Rain, I waited and waited in frustration by the piano to figure out the codes but did not like what was given to me by Chordify. The lead sheet was ready. I'm not sure if any of their five boys would be there to let them know that the song was ready for listening tomorrow. I got two secular songs that were already transcribed to complete during the carnival weekend. I'm looking forward to the staff room again.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:55 am – 2:47 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #57) – Day #259

Date for Entry: (Wednesday 07 February 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 16 May 2024)

[T2, W:06 – WD:25, (Td:6)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning the time it took to wake up was so hard. I had too much gas in my stomach. I had to wait in the toilet and then get ready. Thankfully, the hair was not so messed up. The maxi in front by Lockhart Street was full. I saw Shiraz was the driver of that first maxi pulling off. The other driver in the back was Ravi. He looked good in a red plaid shirt today.

    As soon as I entered the office, it was filled with people. Only after finishing eating, Miss Kittens left and someone in a white car came to park up in the principal's parking. I didn't know if it was Miranda. I took my things to Block K and Miss Sudeen told me to come line with them tomorrow morning for lunch and the party. They had a whiteboard with several things the teachers were bringing. I remained there for the whole day. I had to take one of the soft green rolling chairs because a blue padded chair was beginning to pain my nice hops bread.

    During lunchtime, I heard word that Mrs Santana cancelled the competition and that the principal decided not to do anything and cancelled the show. Jess and Miss were going to continue working on the show. Miss Gittens told me that Jess and she were going to continue with the show without the principal's assistance. Miss Gittens also asked me if I was willing to be a judge for the competition. She told me that Miss Jess had indicated that I would still be considered independent and not biased because I was not heavily involved in the children's work. This means that I would have been a judge for the Soca Competition, The Bomb Competition, and the Calypso Icons Competition.

    In 7th period, I had a class with Miss Roberts. There was a long wait for her and they did SoCal, Mento, Star, R&B, and two other genres of study for that evening. This was their form 4 class. She had asked me to prepare something on rhythm. At first, I was not sure how to do it, but I was willing to give it a try. Miss Kittens left early today. Miss Greenaway shared a snack with me and she said it was like cheese sticks, but made from peas. I did not get to take a picture of the pack. She said that it was a product from Trinidad and Tobago. She left early as well.

    I think I saw Andrew on the road going up to Curepe. It looked like he was trying to get a taxi, but I doubt it would have been Andrew because I am not sure he would have been in that part of the city. Zaria stopped by Doubles again. In Royal Castle, Andrew said that the person he saw was him. I was surprised that he had gotten up to Curip before me, but I suspect that the taxi rushed up and went through the back.

    As soon as I got home, Jess called me. I had to call back after reaching home and we spoke about the function for tomorrow. She told me that there was disapproval for everything and that she was still going to try to make the event possible and do things to make it fun for the children. I typed up the program for her and listed the contestants in each of the competitions. This took me from 7 pm to 10 pm that night, except for trying to rush out the lyrics for K-Man's song in the score that I did.

    Hopefully tomorrow I will work out the chords for the K-Man song before it is ready to print. I went to play Bingo, and Bravo Bingo, and I got two chapters read from the story. It was a struggle until I had to get up to go and sleep in bed. Thank you for watching!

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(8:00 am – 4:28 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #57) – Day #258

Date for Entry: (Tuesday 06 February 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Tuesday 16 May 2024)

[T2, W:06 – WD:24, (Td:5)*].

Dear Diary,

    Yesterday was a principal's holiday after the sports day on Friday. I went to bed after 3 AM this morning but was able to get up on time. Yes, it was not easy, but I did it. On to Hartlock Street. The front driver had one seat to go, and then he closed the door. I realized that they had filled up already. That driver was Shiraz.

    I took the maxi behind, and that driver needed 3 more persons. We had 3 nice vans guys in the back. The Venz guy who sat by the door seat had a nice cross earring. It was nice to see, but I don't think there's something I would do. I was the first to exit the maxi. I praised God for a quick and safe crossing of the road.

    I met Crystal in the office, and some of the other teachers, Mrs Santana and Mr Pierre were matching me with blue today. A lot of other teachers, non-Mitchell house teachers, were also in blue. Maybe they were in protest that Mitchell should have been placed first in both matching and chantwell for the sports day. I know that today is the first Tuesday of the month, but maybe we might have a staff meeting. I went to meet Jess early, and we went to class.

    We sat in with 1M, and then she took me to 1M during the period for our session. I checked our students' work while she sat by the teacher's desk and listened to the children singing. I sat with Zephora's group and worked out the music and rhythm to help them with their song. They did not like the rhythm that Jess gave them, so I worked out each line for them to the same beat. They did not get enough time to practice the song for the evening. All of the recess was used to finish this work.

• There was a staff meeting after. I went to the washroom quickly, and then to the library. Staff meeting began. The topic for the staff meeting was the expenditure for Venture Sports, donations, trophies, credit, ambulance, and releases. We were told that the overall expenditure was $20,870.

• There were MOE policies discussed in terms of field trips, downtime policy, roster requests, special book and approval required books, leaving compound protocol, and guests on school compound protocol. There were also financial committee members' requests to start a committee dealing with the school finances.

• I learned that the school advanced six years without a vice-principal. Ms Chessop discussed Tuesday's concert. We were told that it was a cultural competition with costumes in the morning with music calypso and soca competitions. The afternoon would be a jump-up. Friday would resume on day one.

• There was also a guest, a past student of George's. He sat in 1998 and 1979. He shared with us his accomplishments in sports and his company in tutoring and teaching students. Exam paper, timetable by HOD to organize, FAC email, teacher's email issue, mock exam by 26th of February to begin.

• Maths field day, 14 guests, Form 3 and 2, 1st of March. Science field day, 3 guests, Form 1, Form 2, Form 3, 19th of March. This was the end of the meeting. I sat with Mrs. Santana, Mr. Peay and Dr. Jokey. I did not get the figure in full for the expenditures. The meeting had a very strange ending. I was not sure if Ms. Gittens would be coming back to school again. 

 [END OF MEETING]

    At lunchtime, I got copies of the music for the group that I had worked out over recess. The girls from the Sephora group were not in class. One student held onto the sheets for them, but I met up with the girls in the hall during lunchtime for the practice. Many of the foremen were in the hall with chess during lunchtime, so I stayed with them until the end of school. I became the DJ for recording the names of students and also the songs that they composed for both Form 1 and 2. I also had to deal with the music.

    Maria didn't come today and Suzanne didn't say anything. I didn't bother to get angry about it. I had finished up my pie called Daddy and walked down the road. The first maxi could not stop. Unfortunately, the second one stopped for me to hurriedly walk down the road. I was so tired I fell asleep in Daddy's car. He brought me Coca-Cola to wake me a little.

    I was glad to finally converse with someone a few short minutes after 6 p.m. to ask for assistance in seeking permission for my Tutor Anthem video on YouTube to receive approval for me to change the status of Unlisted to Public. The video was already on YouTube. I hoped that this lady would be able to help. It was in the nick of time before tomorrow's meeting.

    I messaged John that same night about the update. I was outside in the gallery and at that point, Yash had sent me a message to confirm if we were having classes tonight. That was a good reminder. I had completely forgotten about class time working outside to make up time. As I was sitting up at 7.52 p.m., I was worried that I was teaching him but he would not have been able to understand. He was able to understand crotchet beats which were taught earlier but the minimats were giving him trouble.

    Thankfully, some jokes and trinny dialect helped. It took two hours and finally, he understood. The session began with a review of everything which was 15 minutes and then the time signatures from scratch. I felt so tired and I had to go to bed early. I played four rounds of bingo and I was out. I did not even get to read a chapter. The night was too exhausting and hot.

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:55 am – 3:56 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #56) – Day #257

Date for Entry: (Friday 02 February 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 03 February 2024)

[T2, W:05 – WD:23, (Td:X)*].

**Stencil

Dear Diary,

    I came to Valsayn feeling very sleepy. I felt like I fell asleep in the living room last night too. I was the only OJT in the office at the time of arrival. The maxi driver had to pump into his tyre at the right back. Other passengers got very angry. I decided to change my T-shirt to the blue one given to me. I also did not like the picture for the T-shirt because I thought it would have spoiled.

    Mrs Santana and I spoke about the stencil for the children and I completely forgot about it. I went to the art room and only Miss was there. Everyone had their things inside and she was locking up. She was able to find me some excess of the paper that had the pictures for the t-shirts so that I could use it as a stencil. Mrs. Santana had asked me to make a stencil with a capital M so that the Mitchell house members could paint a capital M on their cheeks. The office did not have a box cutter. I just let Mrs. Santana know via WhatsApp.

    I was not sure when she would even see it. I had a long line with “Choo Choo” and Miss Dana in the Block K staffroom. We had a very long chat and some information before the three of us walked off over into the savannah. The match pass had already gone. Sometime in between the talk, Jessie and another tall boy came to carry their large box of sandwiches. I tasted a bit of Choo Choo's corn soup and it was really good. I prefer the chutney sauce from yesterday. Maybe some jerk seasoning might have been nice inside of the corn soup.

    There was a tent for Mitchell’s house. They were putting up their flag by one of the tent poles. They had to use a safety pin to hook it up. Soon I saw Miss Kittens with one of the props that a child had left behind. She came into the savannah with a lady from her church. Somehow in the middle of it, I started to get a bad feeling so I left the field just to get some escape. I went back to school, under the tent opposite the library to do some work.

    Miss Pope had spoken to me three times about collecting lunch, although I'd rather do without for the rest of the day and doing work. Miss Dana on her way back to the staff room had offered me to go back to Block K in the air-condition. I had to put back my chair from my desk in the office and I saw Miss with the lady from her church again. I stayed in Block K until 3 p.m.

    Mrs. Rivas came back from the savannah and told us that Mrs. Sow and Mr. Pear's house had won. Immediately I recognized that it was Giff House that won the sports day. She was telling us that she was glad for them because she could not remember when Giff House had won a sports day and she said it could have been the first year that she came in. Giff didn't win one for a very long time.

    At the end of the day, I was still feeling very angry. Shiva had lashed me hard again on my shoulder and it pained. The pants that I had on were too painful and tight as well. I got home and the burning anger was still there until after doing some music writing at 9 p.m.

    I was working on the girl's guide anthem. I'm very pleased to see that the strumming patterns for both guitar and cello steel pan instruments were working out and the double tenor and double second rhythmic pattern was fusing. There are some measures in between I will have to inspect because some of them do not seem to be consonant.

    I hope that within the time frame of the long extended weekend, I'll be able to complete the introduction and conclusion so that it can go up online. This time around I don't think I would want to wait and seek permission. I want to go ahead and do the YouTube upload as well as the veterinary school anthem and the tutor anthem. I hope that this works out and I look forward to the Prince of Wales holiday on Monday.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:40 am – : pm)

St. George’s College (Week #56) – Day #256

Date for Entry: (Thursday 01 February 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 03 February 2024)

[T2, W:05 – WD:22, (Td:4)*].

Dear Diary,

    Today was a very long day. I believe it was because I woke up early too. Last night I fell asleep on the couch and I woke at 2:30 am this morning. It was also timesheet day. I went to type up a topic and ended that period of work at 5:30 am. I thought that I would have gone back to bed but I stayed up playing bingo instead. I got two double Bingos and three single Bingos.

    This was in the cooking version. Daddy came at 6 o'clock and he was shocked to see me up. I stayed on the couch playing bingo until 7 o'clock. I had a challenge picking between a shirt and my dark neon blue shirt that I had saved for today. The other T-shirt I found would be better for tomorrow just in case the T-shirt they gave me was too itchy.

    When I got onto Lockhart Street in Curepe, I saw Trevor taking his fare. I sat with a new driver today. He took the left back road and it took much longer than the community roundabout that I liked. I saw “Mr Marlon” chatting with Ms Mustafa and she gave me a thumbs up as she was walking back to her car. It seemed as if she had liked the blue shirt with the blue shoes I was wearing. And she too was wearing all blue because we were both in Mitchell House for the blue colour.

    When I met “Mr. Marlon” again in the corridor, he asked if I was given any duty for assisting in the sports day tomorrow. He asked if I would be interested in hall monitoring for the toilets because he would be with the food. But I told him I would have preferred to assist with the food instead. I told him I would be interested in helping with the food so he told me he would do the toilet monitoring instead. There was no sign of Ms. Roberts again and Ms. Kittens had got no stuff from me before I went to Block C to work on my entry for today.

    Miss Sawh got a call and told me that the teachers in Block C wanted to see me to collect some things. I was very surprised and so I took my books and I head over to Block K one time. They were all surprised at my blue shirt my blue shoes and my blue bandana hanging down from the top of my pants. It seemed as though they loved to see the blue. Many of the teachers in the Block C staff room were also Mitchell House teachers.

    I was called over by Ms. Shoba and she handed me a nice paper bag with the breakfast that I had agreed to take yesterday from Ms. Soodeen. There was a nice, tasty container of pepper they said that Ms. Pantry made. I was told that Ms. Shoba had paid for the breakfast for me as a gift because I had given them gifts for Christmas. Before I could eat, I went back to the office quite in front of the school to get my phone and some newspapers to eat. I also took from the office with me a new pen because I had run out of black ink.

    It was nice that Mr. Charles was playing music and singing while I was eating the food. He was singing a song called Other Side by Red Hot Chili Peppers and it had a nice reggae one called Lonely Monday Morning by Snow. While he continued singing and stapling his papers I continued working on a new topic and then decided it might be nice to do a separate topic for semitones and semitones. The semitone lesson began lovely and interesting enough that I was able to incorporate the chromatic scale into the lesson.

    When the 6th period came for me, I had to leave to go to the hall. I carried my T-shirt into the office firstly to store it away. Mrs Rivas was sitting by the printing machine. She took the donation box that Ms Sudin had asked me to carry for her to the meeting so that she could start the meeting and had asked me to collect the copies that she was printing. Only Mr. Marlon, Ms. Sudin, Mrs. Rivas and I were the only teachers there for the meeting. Mrs. Jaikaran and Mrs. Santana joined us sometime after. I didn't see Jess for the day.

    After the meeting I was heading up to the art room and right outside in the middle of the corridor to the top end Mrs. Gittens met me again and she said that she was leaving with Ms. Mustapha to get more things for the marches. She asked that I stay in the art room with the marches and the form files in the evening. Somehow during the long waiting period, I felt now like I wasn't wanted in there again. I did not share the list of names with the children again because they mentioned that it seemed that they wanted to do it the hard way by asking everyone.

    Mr Reid came very early for the practice rehearsal today. There were supposed to be dress rehearsals for all marches during the 7th and 8th period but then we heard that there was going to be some marking for the marches in the hall. I was stuck babysitting in the art room. I would have preferred to go back to Block K. School over and it took forever for the form files to reach 4 pm. I worked on chromatic scales during that time. There were exercises to work on but perhaps another time.

    Before all of us left with the form files I drank a melted soccer bag after sending the children off with the remainder to the staff room freezer. There were still a lot of soccer bags remaining and I had to pack the bags myself. They were busy talking and didn't want to help me. As soon as I got into Block C, they had packed to go. I ended up going home with $900 in my bag and no sign of anyone with a banner or t-shirts to do printing.

    Once I was home and had finished eating, dinner and dating, I called Miss Kittens at 6.30 pm. I was very concerned about the money and explained to her that I had not seen anybody come to the art room to collect money and deliver a flag for the marches. I told her that I decided to leave when I saw no one else coming. I had to pull on my shirt, my track pants and shove my foot in my sandals and let Daddy rush me down to Curepe to take a maxi and travel down to Valsayn for a second time for the day. Thankfully, I had already bathed.

    I told Daddy to drop me off by the bum and I got out of the car. I met a nice maxi driver in the front lane who was taking passengers to go. As soon as I sat down, he closed the door, got into his seat and took off. It seemed as though I was the only one remaining for the maxi to go. He sped so quickly. I decided to stop off with the nice-looking Spanish people by the bar because I was afraid that he would have sped quickly and missed the stop. I came out and walked over to the walkover. Gladly, there was not much traffic to walk in or even to cross the road.

    I got to the compound gate and walked in. Miss Bernadette was busy watching. She did not know that someone could walk in the yard easily. I'm not sure if she may have glanced up and knew it was me. By the time I was making it to the art room, I was in pain. My back at the bottom was hurting and my toes were hurting because the sandals somehow were not agreeing with me anymore. They were close to done and Miss Gittens showed me how they were doing the press-on transfers of pictures to the shirts. She also gave me the hand gloves that I had asked for. I told her that I would have the sticker for her to do tomorrow. We did not have an iron at home.

    I met the gentleman who came to do the delivery of the flag and to do the press-on prints to the shirts. We spoke walking up to the bus route from Happiness Grocery. I learned that he too was a Georgian. I'm not sure when he said he was a Georgian if that meant he had disowned Georgian or he said it was because he's no longer a student. I did not bother to ask out of curiosity.

    Daddy and Andrew met me walking over and we had to walk up next to Agape Bible Ministries which they were parked in front of. It seemed as if they had blocked off the road to pave. I could still smell the nice curry from this morning on my fingers. I got home at 8 p.m. in the night and was very tired afterwards.

    By the time 11 o'clock came, I was very tired and sleepy on the couch and so I went to bed. I'm not sure what time I will arrive at school tomorrow. I hope that I get there on time, long before the school could call so I can help out with anything they need.

LINK(S):

• Pictures of the Mitchell House T-shirt.

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:45 am – : pm)