St. George’s College (Week #71) – Day #325

Date for Entry: (Wednesday 29 May 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 22 July 2024)

[T2, W:08 – WD:36, (Td:6)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning was another challenge to wake up. I felt a light sore throat while getting up. There was a feeling to wear a T-shirt today. Only Dr. Blandin is in the office as usual. She was chatting with Mrs Ramsingh and then she called to let me know that 8:30 would be good to check her.

    In the staff room, the food was there already. I got a pen and went back to sign and complete the timesheet. “Mr. Dean” gave me the food when some of them started eating. Everyone loved the pepper that was given with the order.

    As soon as I was finished, I got a call from Kiel about the missing time for today. At first, I was very confused. When I got to the office and saw what he was saying, I told him that I usually leave it blank for the evening period. He packed up the documents away and then went to try and deliver them.

    I met with Miss Gittens in the corridor. She said that Aydan came to work on his art journal. I had to lend him my computer mouse for the day. Dr. Blandin said that the principal was coming to have a meeting. I packed up and left for her to eat. After recess, there was a hot argument between Donna and some parents. I went back to Block C because of this.

    While waiting in Block C and writing up my journal, Janessa asked me to help her put up some posters. They were French posters. We got some masking tape borrowed from Mrs. Sawh and we stuck them up by the cafeteria area. She held them up and I cut the tape and stuck them. Once this exercise was completed, I met Dr. Allison back on the corridor in front of Building A and she said that the meeting had just finished and that she would go to wash her hands and have food.

    I ended up in the conference room writing my journal entries. I was joined by a boy named Joshua and a girl named Hematie and we spoke in the same room until they left for roll call. They were sad to see some of the OGTs left and wanted to find out if I was leaving too. I went into the office again to meet Dr. Allison. I saw that Aficia was now sitting at the empty desk. That was interesting. Not sure who would be asked to move.

    Sadly, as soon as I finished moving into Language Arts, the principal came in and asked for a meeting. I told Dr. Allison that I'd have to leave and I would come back on Monday. She shook her head saying okay. I returned to Block K with my tray up and items in it. Many of the teachers had taken bank time that evening too, so the staff room was empty.

    I stayed back to hear Donna chatting in the back. By the end of school, the Coca-Cola was half empty. We had a while to wait. Miss Kittens had to babysit Matty for the evening. He was sleeping in the car. As we got up to cure, the rain began to pour down. Suzsan made a joke about being disappointed that I had no umbrella and I said me too. We both laughed it out together.

    Daddy met me by the terminal and we went by Isa for him to do the receipts for us to take the clearance for refunding. I hope that the meeting continues as planned tomorrow. The weather was very beautiful these past weekends, but not when it was flooding for real. That was something serious. God, please make provisions for a meeting to proceed as planned and lead us to the completion of the APC library report for the Christian Education Committee. 

    It took ISA a long while to formulate the bill, but it was accumulated bill for over seven different visitations in the shop. I didn't get much music done again, only in the battle belongs to the Lord. It seems as though that song might be put down for a while. I will have to wait to get some more ideas in it before it can be accomplished.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:51 am – 3:49 pm)

Day #326 – (: am – : pm)

Day #327 – (: am – : pm)

St. George’s College (Week #71) – Day #324

Date for Entry: (Tuesday 28 May 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 22 July 2024)

[T2, W:08 – WD:35, (Td:5)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning as I got to Lockhart Street, I saw “Shiraz” out by the road. It was nice that he was the driver. “Mr. Berthelmy” was with me and another Georgian girl. Thankfully, again, it was not hard or long to cross the road. Ms. Mustafa was chatting with Dr. Allison. As I was about to leave, she stopped me to ask for help. I was about to tell Dr. Allison that I wanted to get breakfast out of the way first. I had a pie and then packed up to go back down to see her in the administration office.

    As soon as I got in, I took out the envelopes from the black bag and showed her what I purchased yesterday. I mentioned that the lines had to be drawn in and then the holes were punched before I gave it to her. The specialist room was noisy with Mrs Noons-Charles’ class. The folders were all finished, ruled, and Block K as I waited for the dynamics lesson with 1M.

    “Jess” got in right before me. She came back into the classroom to run the excerpts that were sent to her last night over WhatsApp. I had a table drawn up on the board for the children to copy and it was filled out after each playing. Each excerpt was played twice. The criteria were language, instruments, and volume.

    The students were introduced to the term dynamics afterwards and then a note was given with the Italian symbols, Italian names, and then their meaning. Once this was completed, in the first period, “Jess” tried to investigate the online quiz. Some of the children had problems entering the online platform that she used. Not many of the students had their cellular devices or a laptop to do the quiz in the second period.

After recess, I had gotten all the scotch tape onto the envelopes for the forms of 2023. The 2L class was taken down to the music room. They worked on the G major scale on their steel band instruments and got into the college song for the remainder of the session. The room was very hot again. I got to use a tok-tok to help the children keep the timing, but they really could not keep up with their parts.

    I told Jess that I would not be there for the choir session this afternoon. I went back to the office, but Dr. Blanding said that she preferred to eat in her car with some music to relax and get away from the crowd in the office. So, I waited in Block C for her. Some of the teachers were talking about the envelopes for the leave and absence forms that I made. Mrs. Sawh told me that Dr. Blandin went and took out the envelopes to show her. She said she looked very excited when she was telling me.

    Shiva told me if I found any of his forms to throw them away in the bin. He laughed. Dr. Allison came into Block C to find me and told me that she was done with lunch. She must have left and walked out of the room. We met back in the office after Ms Greenaway and Mrs Noons-Charles met her. Ms Harris had another quarrel that was unnecessary with her. I then went inside and we were able to check out some of the missing information in the Ministry's Excel file. Only about nine teachers to go again with outstanding forms.

    That night, I got the introduction to the “Battle of Belongs to the Lord” completed. Then, I went back off to writing the names of the teachers on the envelopes. Not sure where the treasury tags were stored. I had been looking for them all day long but nowhere to be found. I felt so tired afterwards. I ended up drinking out of the bottle of water and almost half. This was the Blue Mountain bottle. I ended up heating down in sweat before taking a shower that night and fell asleep on the couch again for a second night. A new song was introduced to me called "Tokyo Hotel."

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:39 am – : pm)

St. George’s College (Week #71) – Day #323

Date for Entry: (Monday 27 May 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 22 July 2024)

[T2, W:08 – WD:34, (Td:4)*].

Dear Diary,

    Over the weekend the rain had flooded Ria's yard and her road was closed off. Alex had some car trouble so sadly we could not have the meeting again. The performance in the church went well. Daddy and I both fell back asleep and I got to church at 7:10 AM for the most. It was still a long service but it went well.

    This morning on Lockheart Street “Mr. Gill” was in the front seat. The driver was “Marquise” and the back seat passengers were angry that he swung up to the small gas station down the road. Thankfully the road was easier to cross. No one was there in the office either. Dr. Blandon was probably in the assembly. As soon as Miss Dana walked into the office I heard the Principal asking her to hold the door open for her.

    I had time to pack for class except for breakfast. The assembly went through all of the first period. Many of the teachers were now coming in also. We were not sure if the two of us were going to the music room. Even “Jess” was late and coming out of her car. We greeted each other seeing Miss Santana coming out of her car too.

    I went down the corridor for “Jess” to let me know if to bring the children to the room. She said yes. It took some time for the children to get down to the music room. They had to write out the G major scale along with the note on Indian classical sargam. She did the discussion but there was no Wi-Fi in the classroom for the playing of YouTube videos as examples.

    I went back to the staff room to get breakfast at recess time. I heard some surprise music from Mr. Charles this morning. I hope the panadol that I gave him was good. Dr. Blandon and I got the science and mathematics department section dates and absences entered into the Excel document. There were still some teachers with outstanding forms to submit.

    I returned to the staff room to fill out my timesheet in advance for this week's admission. The brownies that Miss Dana brought were amazing. I forgot to take a picture of it. It looked like Dr Blandon was on a query hunt when I returned. “Miss Evelyn” from 1L was in the waiting area and at 12 as her exit form was being prepared.

    “Jess” was also waiting to see Dr. Blandon. She came and we had a review of numbers entered while copying and pasting the Excel document into the Ministry's document. My first attempt was a failed surprise. The result was R.E.F. and I forgot that the tallied figures were from a formula. Copying and pasting had to be done from values. Once I tried again it worked. Dr. Allison was very excited and had a nice laugh. We got a large amount of entries inserted. About 13 teachers with missing information to complete April 2024.

    Mrs. Ramsingh came and then we had food about MLA. I enjoyed the aroma of Mrs. Santana's curry filling the air in the staff room. If I knew she was going to use hand towels as a mat I would have given her two sheets of my newspaper. Lunchtime was over too quickly.

    I had to remember to take two of them down to the room again. They were very noisy and disruptive. I just had to shout. Praise God the notes from this morning were still there so I did not have to write it over. I had them copy it and “Jess” came in after. She asked me to go and get the speaker box. Some of the children were dancing to the Sarugam music. Just gave me the singing to go through the G major scale with arpeggio and it was very difficult. The room was too hot.

    Finally, the class came to an end. I got home to find excerpts for the lesson on dynamics. “Jess” had suggested that one can be classical, pop and one can be local. I found one from Adele, Skyfall. To find a local I was guided to Dr. Samaroo's “Song of Lopinot” which I ended up conducting at UWI for an assessment and in the intermediate ensemble. I was glad that she had no objections to the chosen pieces.

    The rest of the evening was taken to finding the chords for music transcriptions. Those chords were to the song “The Battle Belongs to the Lord”. That night I had my birstol board sheets counted. There were 53 sheets but I thought I had less than 50. This other half will go to the APC library.

    The green ones I bought today will go to George's teachers and the other half of the pink 100 will go to the library also. The Bristol board sheets were folded, creased and jotted. The lines will have to go in tomorrow in school. I ended up making a baguette or popcorn for below deck after having five dark chocolate biscuits. Daddy said it would be nice.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:43 am – 3:28 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #70) – Day #322

Date for Entry: (Friday 24 May 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 22 July 2024)

[T2, W:07 – WD:33, (Td:3)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning I had to get up and rush. I ended up sleeping back. I got to school and went to the Pentecostal religious instruction. Somehow Crystal was the person leading the session again. I was asked by Miss Pope yesterday evening why I did not go to the event they had for Crystal. But I had to tell her that I did not know they were having an event for Crystal. This was in the evening after school.

    Her scripture for the session was from Ecclesiastes. I will have to do some more research to find the right part of the scripture she was referring to. She mentioned that there was a time for different things. She also mentioned a lot of things occurring in the school and some of those things have hurt me. Part of the lesson was about a time and place for everything.

    I had my pie eaten as quickly as I could. “Jess” got into the staff room and I went to 1M with her there. The class was short because of religious instructors this morning. 1M had a late start. They decided to do their French assignment and it took 20 minutes of their ‘teaching’ time. I heard they had a PE class right after recess and because of that, they would not have been able to work on it.

    Riley told me they had a colouring of the French flag and a word in French that had to be used in an English sentence. I was not sure at first how that would have been done but I took a look at what some of the other students were doing. I hope they will be able to complete the project and that their presentations will be fine. The rest of the session was to work on the Mango's presentation.

    Some of the groups had their dances and costumes tried out for me. We learned that Riley tried to ask for permission from me but he didn't ask the question for them to work on the French project. It took a longer while for the period to finish. I took the opportunity to give the children back their practical marks slips from term 1 which I still had. Only one boy didn't get back his sheet of paper. I hope it was still in the set where the others were sharing from.

    I forgot that there was an MMT meeting today. It's probably the reason why many teachers and Dr. Allison wasn't around. There was an issue with Ayden's journal not being found and Nicholas's journal not being able to print. Nicholas had no transport to get his journal to a specific store to print. It was very shocking to hear that Aydan's journal disappeared altogether. He would end up having to do over the entire journal.

    I met “Jan” in the corridor after lunch. She was wondering if there was something bad that I had to speak with her. Not sure where “Jess” was. We spoke in the corridor after lunch. I told her that I'd meet her in the staff room after school instead. When the 1F door opened, Ms. Jones came out but Jessop was not inside.

    The children were sent into their groups to plan their dance, skit and singing of the Mango Song. This double period was also a bit too long to finish. The drummers for the groups used tabletops and padded chairs as their drums for practice.

    At some point during the MMT meeting, I recall getting my times out for leaving the compound updated in the OJT logbook. All of them were transferred to my journal for when the timesheet deadline came around. This evening when I got home, I didn't feel like doing much. As soon as Daddy left, I fell asleep on the couch from 4:30 to 10:58 PM in the night.

    I went to the computer and did some more typing for the library minutes. I hope it happens and goes well tomorrow. That is if the others can attempt to come to a meeting in the library. Thankfully things are working out fine. It doesn't matter if I'll have to do some more stuff but I'll get it done. And I pray that the library will be successful and that it will grow eventually over time.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(8:02 am – 3:59 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #70) – Day #321

Date for Entry: (Thursday 23 May 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 22 July 2024)

[T2, W:07 – WD:32, (Td:2)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning I got up with a fight awake. The road was clear and there was only one Georgian girl that came in to fill the maxi. Thankfully we did not get into trouble to cross the road. The assembly was long and Miss Jones was having her awards as part of the assembly. I didn't understand why it had to be part of the assembly. This was probably the reason why it took so long for class to begin.

    We only had one period or piece of one period with 2M. Miss Gittins gave me the numbers for the journal booklets and then I went to get prepared for the first class. I met “Jess” out in the corridor. She told me to go and get two 2M by the time but while I met her back in the lobby, she said to go to the music room and make sure that they didn't lock up the door.

    However, when I met “Miss Alicia” I saw “Miss Gloria” and she said that she had locked up the room. “Miss Gloria” got vexed that Jess didn't have her keys. Another guard came to open up for us. The class got to practice the college song and had to leave quickly. I brought down 1L to the music room. The Muslim students got to sit outside by the back of the room and the students practiced singing the Mangoes song before going into their separate groups.

    It was nice to see the children try the African drums but they seriously needed to work out their rhythmic pattern. “Jess” and I tried to get energy. We were both exhausted at recess time. We waited for the free students from 2M to come back and do the college song worksheet. This worksheet would have been 25 marks was their coursework.

    We both left the room and I took a while to fix up to go to 2F. She was already there and did the G major scale notation on the whiteboard. She introduced them to Indian classical Sargam and listed some instruments and genres that related to Indian classical music. Today was very difficult to go through. Somehow I felt alienated. I sat on the bench outside the art room doing my journal entry.

    I met “Ash” out in the same corridor and he was asking about the required clothing to leave the compound during this aid period. I wasn't sure how to guide him so I told him he could ask his mom. Suvir shared with me a secret about coconut oil. I'm not sure if I'll be able to try it out or if I'll remember when I get the time.

    Miss Harris and her mom sat outside Mr. Baines' woodwork room while I wrote the entry. I met Miss Susan outside the staff room. Again she didn't tell me anything about “Maria” being absent. Not sure if she is still angry with me for not helping out at sports day. I went home to play some music. The Phoenix was sent to recovery.

    I played some music and got the donation card and the memorial donation card cut out by the guillotine. Some of the spacing was too small. I will have to make the margins smaller to have them less corrupted. I got tired and could not work on typing for church again. It seems like the simple work is going to take some more time and effort than required but I still feel confident that I'll be able to do it. Lord Jesus be my help and guide.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(8:10 am – 3:11 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #70) – Day #319

Date for Entry: (Tuesday 21 May 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 22 July 2024)

[T2, W:07 – WD:30, (Td:6)*].

Dear Diary,

    I woke up early this morning to see that the principal wanted an explanation for my comment. It didn't look like she was understanding anything so I had to private message her immediately. Then I got ready to go on an appointment travel with Daddy. After we got to COTT. They said that their services were for live performances of music published online.

    The lady at the desk recommended that we travel to the Ministry of Legal Affairs to see if they could assist us. This was a very long way for us. We went into the glass building through the security scanners. Three persons did not know where the intellectual property section would have been. Another lady far down inside of the building told us to look on Frederick Street by Capitol Tower.

    We took a look around and it looked like a regular mall. Inside another building, the security near the entrance door told us to take the elevator to the top floor and there we met the office. Daddy and I signed the visitor's book and then we had a seat. The lady by the desk was trying to find an officer to assist us. A lady came and told us that everything she could tell us was on the website. I got the address of the website written down and left for Curepe after stopping by the churches.

    I told Daddy that if Miss Kitten's church was closer we could have gone to midday service. He laughed when I told him how far it was to find the church. We went to Curip in a taxi. I stopped out by the double stand to get a maxi at Lockhart Street before the driver got to turn into a side road. The maxi I was gonna go in pulled off. Thankfully the one I got in filled up quickly and we were on our way. I saw the chief examiner Miss Antonia leaving too.

    I got signed in as soon as I got to school. I heard the Principal’s voice too in the office. I wondered if she had gotten my message. Diane and the official were back at the desk. Dr. Allison wasn't back yet so I had her sit and began writing in the entry for the examiner. She eventually came into the office and was surprised when she saw me.

    Dr Allison said that she thought I wasn't coming today but I had let her know that I came just to help her today. She'd been waiting for me for a long time and I had told her that I was coming to pick her up. Let her know I came just to help her. She seemed so happy and surprised that I was able to come to school just for her and she said she felt very nice. She opened up the office and we got down to work.

    I asked her for the leave forms for March of 2024. They were sorted into departments and then out of the envelopes they were cut and stapled. They were then sorted back into their files and then punched to go into teachers’ folders. “Jeff” met me in the office and I showed her the envelopes in real. She told me that it was something for her to keep but I told her it belonged to the administration.

    Miss Gittens came in and she said that Maria was waiting for us. I thought she had left already when she wanted to go early as soon as school was over. I had to go back to Block K to pack up and get my bags. As I got back to Block C they were already in the car.

    When we got out into the road I realized I didn't call Daddy to let him know that I was leaving school. He came and I went home to have a look at Car Race before getting into my work for the night. As I looked at the memory card I did not bother and went to play any car races on the tablet. It seems as if yesterday was a blessing today was quite all right. I think tomorrow maybe I'll go and visit the other Doctor in the office.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(12:15 am – 3:36 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #70) – Day #318

Date for Entry: (Monday 20 May 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 22 July 2024)

[T2, W:07 – WD:29, (Td:5)*].

Dear Diary,

    Today had a quick start to the day. The school trip was very quick too. I had my breakfast first and then went back to Dr. Allison with my tray of books for 2 AM at the 2nd and 4th periods, along with the stationery I might need for our meeting. She was in assembly this morning when I checked after signing.

    I got all the leaf forms for January 2024 grouped, punched, and stapled, and suited them into their envelopes, and then as I was about to walk up the corridor, I went back since period 3 started at 9:30 AM. Dr. Allison and I got more of the Modern Studies people members and suited them into my Excel document which was made for her. At 2 minutes for period 3, the Principal called me asking for Miss Gittens about someone asking for marks for CSEC. I think it was a curriculum officer.

    I went to the music room, but only Miss Roberts was there with her class. I went to 1M and they had already begun introducing the Mango Song. The children had to write out the lyrics of the Mango Song in their copybooks and were then set into groups. Reba somehow was making the sound of a seal. It reminded me of Mr. Kai from the current 3F.

    Recess went with a breeze. Miss Jones had called me and asked me to meet with her. There were 2M students in there around the speakers in the theatre arts room. She had a request for me to play DNA, the soca song, but it sounded too quick when she played it from YouTube. She said she would play it in the background from YouTube on Tuesday. I learned that she had a short award ceremony for her theatre arts students.

    I had a message with Mr. Gale to get 2L to come down to the music room at the end of recess time. They had to be brought down by myself because no one was coming. “Jess” was very angry at their late arrival. They worked on the first two lines of the College Song and the different steel band arrangements. The room was really hot and the double period was not fast to end. I ended up going to the office, but Dr. Allison had a parent with her in the same room.

    I ended up going back to Block C to finish my journal entry. She eventually came over with January, February and March leave forms and absences summary for the teachers to sign. Mrs Santana and I spoke lightly about the same leaves and absences form. I went back to Dr. Allison with her to the office. It was good to see Mr. Knights coming to get his form signed as well as Mr. Sam.

    Towards the end of school, Susan told me they had to leave early. I told her that they could go ahead without me. Dr. Allison didn't want me to miss my drop. She had to eat something, but I got all the departments in their folders for February of 2024. I went to use the washroom, but “Samaroo” was shocked when he saw me coming into Block C after he had locked up.

    Thankfully, Dr. Jogi was still in his staff room and he had not locked theirs yet. I went to visit Mrs. Solomon in the library before leaving. She showed me the catalogue program that she had on the computer. This was from the Alexandria software she was telling me about. She also shared with me the headings that I needed to do in the borrowing book for the library. I gave her a copy of the library card that I made as a gift. She told me that they are now outdated and no longer in use.

    I went home to the Sunday lunch that Nadara had sent to me. I got some good learning from Big Nick that night. I had made changes four times to the card and had to make it over from scratch again for the fifth time because the paper size was A4. It had to be finished and squeezed down to the letter-sized paper. Thankfully to Jesus, it came smaller than the previous document sent in the librarian's WhatsApp chat.

    I was very sleepy but I went and got the memorial donation card finished. It was beautifully crafted. I think I like this one more than the other one. It came out better than I expected. I will have to wait to see what the others say in the librarian's chat about both donation cards tomorrow. These two were sent at 12:39 AM. I am proud of the work done. If it should be struck down by Dr Hannah again, they will end up with NONE for sure.

** New Title assumed today.

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:50 am – 3:34 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #69) – Day #317

Date for Entry: (Friday 17 May 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 22 July 2024)

[T2, W:06 – WD:28, (Td:4)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning Daddy had to knock four times on the window for me to get up. I got ready by 7:17 AM and rushed to school. Last night I had packed the paper puncher in my bag so that I wouldn't forget it. This morning Kiel got in the Maxi. I forgot to sign and went off to Block K. My stuff was all there in Block K already. The table was in a mess because everything was there and I did not have extra room to pack anything. The drawers were filled with stuff belonging to Mr Raymond.

    I was not very impressed with the way Crystal carried on the Pentecostal group. They should have gotten real people to carry on that grouping and send someone to make sure that the students go somewhere. They needed the right attention from someone. “Jess” came in and was busy on the phone. She wanted me to go and get the Form 2 students.

    By accident, I went to 2M but they told me that their class was later. I went to 2L quickly to get the children and have them sent down to the music room. “Jess” was already there and she had me get the students to the back line. However, they did not write down the names of the students in their groups so I drew up a table on the board for them to copy and had the names filled in by the various types of pans.

    At the end of the class, I went to see Miss Gittens in the theatre room. She was working on the first row of letters for a banner that Miss Jones had asked her to make. Miss Mary was there and had asked me to call Miss Gittens. They were in the woodwork room with Mr. Bain. Sue and I decided to go through the unit plan and I took notes while he spoke about it. There was another document that he showed me for lessons within the unit. The second document was too much for me. I don't think I would want to do it.

    The next document he had to show me was the forward and forecast. He needed a strategy for the subject, the specific objectives in the general objectives. I gave him one and he found it acceptable since not much space was on the paper. I got breakfast done at recess and had a quarter of the half water that “Mr. Marlon” gave me.

    Then I went to my tray to pack it up and get down to Dr. Allison to plug in some more numbers. I was also able to get the forms for January sorted, edited and stapled.

    2M had the same lesson as 2L this morning. I had to draw over the table and then we were able to try and figure out the names of children in groups 1 and 2. They did a good job even though it was their first time with the College Song. It took me a while to get back to the staff room as usual. I finished the remainder of the soft drink on my way out. Not many things were brought home.

    I took a 12-inch ruler to do the paper punching of the late and absences forms by Dr. Allison in the Vice Principal's office. She was busy with Ezekiel at the same time. Miss Gittens came and sat in the office while I did this. She understood what I was doing and I shared my three pieces for the APC Library logo and stamp with her. She liked piece 1 which was the drawing of the Bible with APC Library written on it. She said she liked it because everything was contained and not all over the paper. However, she mentioned that piece 3 was suitable because someone who did not know what APC stood for would be able to have the words presented in front of them. She had left with Miss Jones that evening.

    Thankfully all of the leaf forms were punched and placed into their respectable envelopes for each teacher and then those envelopes were sorted into their departmental envelopes. Dr. Allison kept it in her desk and she looked up to leave. I got music copies on my desk for Monday then went to Bloxy for a ride out with “Maria.” Susan was busy typing up a lesson plan on Spanish commands for her form 3 class. She did mention that it was two weeks overdue.

    We had a while to wait so I sat down doing the entry for today. As I was about to create the mark book for Mr. Bain tonight, I forgot to ask him how much coursework he usually did in total for each class. This way I would have been able to understand how to customize the book in terms of plenty of work or a little bit of version for each form group. He did mention that form 3’s was not given to him to teach.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:56 am – 4:38 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #69) – Day #316

Date for Entry: (Thursday 16 May 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 22 July 2024)

[T2, W:06 – WD:27, (Td:3)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning, the challenge of waking was not so easy. Crystal was coming in the maxi along with two Georgians. I got signed in and went to Block K. I did not have time to eat a second time again so I took my bookbag and went away. Jess was already with 1M. I mixed up the days and thought it was day 5. Janessa was in 2L. We went to 1F after.

    1F was grouped into four groups and then they were taught the words by Rote to sing the song Mangos. I met up with Miss after recess. She said that Dr. Allison would be in the MMT meeting again so I went to pack up my stuff from the desk and then moved them over to Block K. I had stayed back to chat with the teachers. Not much time was left for lunchtime.

    Mrs. Santana was finished with her lunch. She took up the session in the second part of lunchtime. We went through the marking of the summary and used a scheme set by CXE. I realized that there was something much different from what we were taught at Hillview. I felt like there was a different set of things that they should have taught us.

    I got 1L late into the 8th period. “Jess” gave me the phone to write out the Mangos lyrics for the children to copy in their notebooks. While we had some time and she was working with the groups, I ended up meeting with Adam in the back of the classroom and we went through some mathematics questions together.

    The office after school felt empty in the evening while I sat there with “Gigi” and Mrs Noons-Charles. They were both waiting to see Dr. Allison. I too had my stuff waiting. There were four more people to insert numbers in my Excel sheet. That was it for the evening and a long wait.

    I ended up feeling sick on my way home. I got caught up playing my car racing game in the gallery and had forgotten to work on the Markbook for Miss Kittens or any music. No music was worked on this evening. The time was going to be 10 already.

    I had a donation form created for persons who were donating books to the APC library to fill out. Falling asleep was not so easy either. When I finished the donation card, I ended up sending it into the group chat for the others to see and comment on. This was after 12 in the night.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(8:12 am – 4:15 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #73) – Day #336

Date for Entry: (Thursday 16 June 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Thursday 25 July 2024)

[T2, W:10 – WD:45, (Td:3)*].

Dear Diary,

    As soon as I got onto Lockhart Street this morning, a Georgian girl was heading into the maxi in front. Only one by the door was needed. I went in the maxi behind. As soon as I greeted the driver and sat down, it was “Arthur”. It was the first time in the year that I had ridden with him.

    Dr. Allison met me in the paved walkway heading into the school area to Building A. She said she was still very busy and that she hoped to get more of the latest and absences done for May of 2024. I got to sign in and went to put my bags in the staff room. Somehow they were not having any morning assembly today.

    When I finished breakfast, I went to 1M. Susan was still in the classroom. She allowed me in at her exit. Then the children lined up and we went down to the music room. “Jess” followed us from behind on her phone. They were given the notes on rest and that was still on the board from yesterday. I spent the full four periods trying to finish all of my entries for yesterday.

    I went to get half of the 1F students outside of their classroom. The second half had a food and nutrition exam that was happening in the homeroom. It seemed as if they were dismissed by Mrs. Allen Brown the way they were talking so much. This class had a dynamic session and listening exercises to do.

    I left the music room at recess time to chat with Miss Mary for a while before heading over to Block C to count the incomplete test papers with missing sheets of paper. “Jess” gave me a question when she said that the test paper was not saying anything about music. I told her and pointed to her on the test paper saying that it had my name on it. She laughed and went on her way to Miss Poop. The two of them made plenty of noise in the staff room.

    I got the calculations done while chatting with Mrs Greenaway and stood under the tree. The breeze was nice there. I saw students walking about. It then occurred to me that I don't walk or go anywhere far. I went to see the back where the sports were going on. A cricket game between 2F and 1L was in session. I remained there with the children from the fifth period until the end of lunchtime. I was very proud of Ameer for leading this class team.

    By the time I walked out of Block C, “Jess” was at the start of the corridor with the children. She sent me to the office for a copy of the Form 1 and 2 exam papers. I met Miss Gittens there too when I asked for the permission slip for copies and test papers to Miss Mohammed. Miss Gittens said that “Jess” had the two of us running around for the same thing.

    The rest of the class time went by so quickly. I was shocked. There were now students who missed the assessments and were tested first and she did the listening. Only two of the tracks were played and then it was home time. The class was kept back for making noise to clean the room. The air conditioning in the staff room felt good. It felt like forever trying to finish up this journal entry all day. And I won yesterday too. I decided to sit in Block A and do the entry before reaching Block C. Miss Gittens got the missing sheets for the exam paper and began to insert them herself.

    Tonight I had class with “Ash” Gans from 7 PM to 9.28 PM. We did exercises 1 to 3 on pages 10 to 11 in the Orange Grade 2 Eric Taylor book. There was a lot of explaining for the exercise too, with recognizing the major scale with a given key signature. The majority of his answers were correct, thankfully. It was good to see that he was also able to work them out after the explanations.

    I saw the issue with exercise 3, but once the example was discussed, he was able to figure out all the remaining exercises. We had a drawing session with a tenor pan that is 45 years old and smart. I sent the image over WhatsApp for him to copy in his book.

    I started to feel sick afterwards trying to make a date page for the children in the Sunday school. It was not easy at all with the hours it required. The document took me a long time to finish in three hours. I had to go to bed immediately because I had pain and my head began to hurt me as well. I hope that the print can be made tomorrow for church.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:03 am – 3:51 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #69) – Day #315

Date for Entry: (Wednesday 15 May 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 22 July 2024)

[T2, W:06 – WD:26, (Td:2)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning I felt like I was in church when Daddy asked me how I was feeling. He too said he was not feeling good. I tried to get up and get ready for school. Two Georgians were in a maxi with me. I saw “Jan” and Hamlet signing in the office while I got the OJT book to sign.

    The office was empty, unlike yesterday. Dr. Allison met me in the corridor on my way to block A. She said she would continue with the later absences and whenever I'm free we would work out the figures together. Didn't have time for breakfast since class was about to start.

    I had to wait on “Jess”. She went through F major and C major scales for their midterm. I was not sure if they would let me set the test. “Jess” said that she wasn't feeling so good in the corridor. She did a major scale transcription for the C major and F major scales. Afterwards, she had to leave. Instead of getting to correct all, Miss Harris took all the children out of the building for a class photograph.

    When I exited the 2M classroom, I met “Miss Gloria” and the principal in the corridor way. The principal was picking up a piece of garbage from the ground and throwing it in the bin. She did meet with me and told me that she noticed I was in the Block K staff room. It was hurting that she had asked me to leave the staff room and move over to K. It was hurtful after all the inconveniences faced in the office and now being evicted. So I tried to knock it off my mind and tried to go and see if the meeting was still in place.

    I went to join “Jess”, Miss Gittens and Miss Jones for the VAPA meeting. It was strange how Miss Roberts didn't come to join us. They took a long time to see 1L. Joseph from UWI was there. He got a bit taller and it looked good. I went to 1L and then began the lesson for “Jess.” She had to speak with Joseph. He did mention that he was a moderator for CXC.

    I continued the rest of the lesson when Jess entered. 1L was given the same teaching from 2M previously done this morning. Two girls were asked to read their poems before the dismissal for recess time. It was nice of Mr. Samlall to ask questions. Mr Ali was also there after a long time of absence. Not sure if he understood the work. It looked like the line of Muslim students at the back of the class was getting longer.

    After having my cheese pie at recess we got 2F down to the music room. It seemed as if a student was given a message to bring the children down to the music room. They were moving out the steel pan instruments from the music room when I got there. At first, I did not know why but it seemed as if Ms. Roberts did not want the noise. She had a meeting with her Form 5 students in her office. I stayed back after for Ari, Ms. Noel, Aaliyah and Che to help the others practice the melody of the school song. I sat down in block A until the end of lunch.

    Dr. Allison looked surprised to see me. She said, “What! Yuh rell on time, boy!” She opened the door and we went in. She told me that part of the VAPA and the modern languages were ready for insertion into the Excel sheet that I had created. We sat there in the Vice Principal's office and got the match completed. Sometimes towards the middle of the eighth period, we had accomplished March 2024.

    The principal was not very nice to Dr. Allison and it did not look good at all. I felt very sorry for Sr Allison. This evening too I had a travel out. As we were driving up I saw “Saga-Boy Andy” driving downwards as I was going upwards to Curepe.

    That same night “Ash” could not do class. I told them the next week we would meet up and went on to work on finishing the Church of Almighty God song called “God's Arrangements for All People's Outcome.” The plan was to do Yesu Nam but the feeling was not for it tonight.

    Instead, there was a five-minute song that was done until the first three minutes of the melody's transcription. The time was 10:47 PM and I couldn't do anything else for the remainder of the night. I had to go and rest immediately because no strength was available again for me to stay awake.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:58 am – 4:29 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #69) – Day #314

 Date for Entry: (Tuesday 14 May 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 22 July 2024)

[T2, W:06 – WD:25, (Td:X)*].

Dear Diary,

    I got up late this morning. Crystal came into the maxi and we walked in. She didn't like her wig blowing into her face from the sides and the front. I told her how I would cut my side hair and let the back hang down. She mentioned it was a wig and that's how she wanted the hair to be.

    The office was empty and I got signed in quickly. Both Dr. Allison and “Jan” wanted to see me for different things. I told Dr. Allison that I would pass back in the third period. I sat in the staff room to get the pie done. I got all the names written out on the envelopes afterwards. It would have been 10:30 AM after completing all the names on the envelopes.

    After leaving the building, I had another nice chat with “Choo Choo” by a bench under a dirty tree. She was playing “Hotel California” which started to play as soon as I walked up to her. I shared with her the things that I did for the administration. “Shape of My Heart” was also the second song after. I told her that I had just finished the arrangement and offered to share it with her once I got home.

    It was nice meeting Mr Pieere on the way to Block C. Dr. Blandin was going for a snack so I got to use the washroom and then met up with her in the office. She liked the folders that I had made for the teachers a lot. They were stored in a brown envelope and placed into a filing cabinet drawer, within the Vice Principal's office.

    Both Dr. Allison and I were able to get the information done for the business department until she had to leave. This means that there would have been no principal and no vice principal there for the day. I prepared the attendance book before returning to Block C with her approval. She told me to make sure to sign the date and the name of the school on top in a writing pen and looked on to supervise before leaving the building.

    This afternoon “Maria” wasn't there. A lot of the teachers had already left early. Black smoke had filled up the entire road. It was like a dark and opaque road and the cars on the main road were coming out of the smoke one by one. You weren't able to tell which kind of car was coming out.

    I went home and didn't feel so good but I pushed and got the melody and chords written in by 10:15 PM. I could not fight anymore. I ended up falling asleep on the couch that night. It was difficult to get up and walk to the bed. It was surprising how Parents Day came and ended so quickly. We even had situations where dogs had died. It looked as if another dog was about to die the way it was looking.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(7:52 am – 2:45 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #69) – Day #313

Date for Entry: (Monday 13 May 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 22 July 2024)

[T2, W:06 – WD:24, (Td:1)*].

Dear Diary,

    I got to school late and had my pie. I enjoyed the Venz-men speaking in Spanish but did not understand what they were saying. I did not realize that Dion was in the seat behind me too. I reminded him that the CXE mathematics examination was today as we walked into the compound. He ended up checking his timetable and said that it was paper two. He was also able to tell me that music paper 1 would be on the 16th of May in the morning.

    “Choo Choo” brought the cake she said that she was going to make today. I might wait until recess to have it. I went to class to 1F after waiting on “Jess”. It was nice to see Ravin and “Leo” again. The Muslim boys had to do the theory and were exempted from the practical.

    “Jess” ended up having the children do the major scale transcription to prepare them for the written midterm examination at the end of the term. They were also required to review STEM directions to transcribe the major scales on the staff.

    Recess time came soon after. I went to the office to make some prints of the departmental folders but the printer was not making it. I went to see if Dr Allison was there but the room was locked. I figured that she wasn't there. I saw “Jenny” chatting along with Miss Pope outside while Miss Mohammed spoke to me. It looked like an older lady with yellow long hair.

    I spoke with Mr Earl at the end of the corridor for a while. We had a long and successful conversation about the change in society and children today. I went back to the staff room to work on the short story essay for Mrs Santana. Miss told me that she had forgotten her English A folder at home so we could not have gotten to correct the exercises I had previously done and submitted to her. She ended up asking Jess for periods 5 and 6 on day 3 to borrow me for a session on grading those papers.

    After lunch, we had 2F in the music room. “Miss Best” was very unsettled and almost had damaged the tenor bass instrument in the back. The children were given C major and F major to play on the various instruments ascending and descending. I remained behind after school to assist “Miss Noel” and Aaliyah in playing part of the college song. “Miss Noel” got part of the guitar done. The original part of the guitar was in my arrangement.

    I went home with Daddy to Chinese and got the shape of my heart completed and sent to Clarence. He was able to see a PDF of the music and a recording was also in the WhatsApp message. The time in the evening ran out and I did not get to write in the names of the late and absent envelopes. Hopefully tomorrow that time will be provided during the free period.

 

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(8:38 am – 3:30 pm)

St. George’s College (Week #68) – Day #311

Date for Entry: (Thursday 09 May 2024)

Actual Date of Online Entry: (Monday 22 July 2024)

[T2, W:05 – WD:23, (Td:5)*].

Dear Diary,

    This morning I woke up late, still tired and had no rest from the exam session. I was able to get to school in the first period. I had some time to eat my pie and then get to running. Used the washroom first and then went in.

    There was no sign of “Jess” until she replied to my message. The children were sent down to the music room. There was a problem with leaving the classroom again and behaviour. The children were taken into three groups and split up under various pans to try playing C major and F major. “Shem” did a wonderful try on his first attempt at the sixth bass. I recall “Mr. Williams” tried the tenor bass and we had some difficulty trying to find the pitch D and A on them.

    The marker labels had faded on the instruments. Some of them were given the names of the instruments that they tried. The music room was so hot. Thankfully, the period went quickly. Ms. Gloria closed up the room and I spoke with Ms. Mary. She came to school on her day off. She had a nice dress on. Ms. Gittens came to join us too. We went back to the art room and I continued labelling up the envelopes for the CXC students. I had started working on these since the second period.

    “Moonie” came to take some of the landscape envelopes I gave him. I called him back to label one so he’d know what to put on theirs. I gave him the blue marker and he went down to the exam room where Ms. Gittens was. I learned of a Form 4 student helping Ms. Down there. It felt like there was a need to move everything down on the front side of the school towards lunchtime.

    I had to rush down to the art room to get all of the rest of the envelopes. Another need to go back to the art room for my tray. I put all the stationery that I needed in the tray to use and decided to go to the admin for a roll of clear masking tape. It came out very handy. I met “Jess” and she was wondering why I didn't speak for long but told her that the Wi-Fi hadn't sent me a message. I was surprised that lunchtime came by. Instead of asking a student, I watched the sun and got confirmation.

    There was one point where we ended up in the admin office and all around the desk area there were endless boxes papered up in brown paper as packages. They had to be moved around to get through to the cupboards. We had some last-minute labels to stick on in the envelopes. Two male students helped us pack the packages into the principal's car. Not sure if the gentleman driving was her husband.

    We had to wait for one student to bring a textile design. Miss gave me her bag to take to the art room. She said that Mark would be there in the back. I thought it was Matthew coming. The way we were both rushing, we were out of our minds saying something while thinking a different thing. We spoke in front waiting but forgot to bring out Calvin's large submission. I had to rush down the lines on the envelopes and then slip the project in. This project and the envelope had to go into the car separately. I folded the envelope for it to fit.

    Long moments later, while Miss and I were chatting in front of the administrative office's door, she told me that it was Myiesha coming in “Tia's” car to send us the art submission. When she came, the principal came out of the car to the side of the bench. I went swiftly into the admin office and set down the tray on the bench. The crash of the tray was heard throughout the corridor. Miss Gittens was walking back to the art room and she asked loudly to her down the corridor if the exam room had any more of the envelopes. The principal said the office had but didn’t know about the kinds we had. I told her loudly walking over from them to the exam room that we had some more.

    I sent the envelope down on the bench and the principal saw what I was talking about. She said, “Daryl, Miss Giddens owe and a whole lot, boy. I listened because Miss was writing up the form to stick on and I was busy filling out Maisha's information on the envelope with my marker. Everyone in the corridor passing by saw what was going on. I got the project in and then went with the Principal to the car and had it put in.

    We still had to wait. “Kimmy” went with Miss Gittens to the office to give her the sample sheet. The principal took it and they went off. Miss Gittens went with a drummer named Brother Mark. I sat with Myiesha at the end and felt so exhausted. As we watched them all drive off the compound I said a prayer and we both sat there until 2:45 in the evening. We spoke about a lot of different things. I left her when her friend came to go to block A.

    Only Miss Dana and “Mr Marlon” were there. The other staff teachers had left already. “Mr Marlon” and I sat in there in the cool air conditioning and we chatted until 4.30 PM. I was wondering if “Maria” had gone without me. They were still there with Dana trying to find Spanish comments for Susan's clinical supervision. I gave her some ideas in case the real cookies and a real glass of water to drink were not workable. I told her that she could print a picture of a cookie and a picture of a glass of water so they could hold it up instead of breaking a real glass.

    I went home and had some sad realization that I left my flash drive in my pencil case which was in the administration office on my desk. So this meant no typing of minutes could have been done tonight. I also could not do journal work because the diary was also in the class bag in the administration office. I spent the rest of the night in front of the TV watching Summer House and then the night was over after playing car racing on the tablet. I'm not sure what will happen tomorrow in two plans to COTT.

 

LINK(S):

• Image of Envelope Challenge (2024).

Daryl Zion M. Ali

(8:15 am – 5:49 pm)

Day #312 – (7:49 am – 4:16 pm)