The literature of this "portfolio" is a combination of music journal entries and DAPHA Projects journals done by Daryl Ali.
It is a digital account of his life experiences, works of many and accomplishments.
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Wednesday 04 December 2024)
[T1, W:13 – WD:, (Td:X)*].
Dear Diary,
Today was the start of another
weekend's practice. I got up early but delayed while shaving and determining
how to edit my hair. Daddy came and while I was about to turn on the shower the
pressure was low. Had to hot water in my kettle again. Not sure why that
happens in the morning.
The ride to Barataria was quick
thankfully. I knew how to anticipate the view of the bus route again. There was
a long wait for the light to turn red to cross the road and get onto Sixth
Avenue. It looked like the rain was setting up to fall. The band was in session
when I got in. I took up the toc-toc and went with the pulse.
It was nice to see Mr Charles At
12:15 we stopped for recess and then went back into the pan room. The panorama
tune was only run at the end. They were working on a medley using a Christian
one that was nicknamed "one by one, two by two, three by three" and
then into the Blessings song that they started working with before the Panorama
tune was changed to "Out and Bad". It sounded very interesting but the
timing was the problem. We were told that this new work was for the Panorama
Concert.
Jess was out and about the yard.
She left us and had cake by the second recess. Miss Carthy was there for some
reason. Everyone went to buy food across the road in the back of the school and
it took some time to order. At the end of the practice, I walked back up the
road. I continued with Mr Charles along the way and we spoke slightly on the
Leave Forms that I had been worrying about for the past nine weeks. He told me
not to worry about them. I hope to get to work on them with him over the
holidays.
As the driver pulled into Curepe,
the rain was already pouring. I saw "Jenny" Atwell and the gentleman
with her today under the same terminal. Andrew was in the car and we spoke
about a few things while waiting. The wait was very long for some reason. Daddy
said that the order before him was over twenty boxes of food that someone
ordered.
That night I got two weeks of
journal entries set into Microsoft, edited and uploaded. I couldn't make it again
after editing three more. The remainder of that week fixing and uploading work
for tomorrow after practice. I did two more paintings that night and went to
bed.
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Wednesday 04 December 2024)
[T1, W:13 – WD:?, (Td:1)*].
Dear Diary,
This morning was not an easy one.
Got to school sick and late. As soon as the driver pulled up to the junction
Mrs Solomon called me and asked me to borrow my laptop. I had asked her if it
was urgent or if it could wait until recess time. She said that it could wait
until recess. The bus route at that time of the morning in Curepe was looking
empty just like Saturday and Sunday. Even Sixth Avenue was empty the same way.
I got to school and had only 5
minutes to third period. The security gave me the keys and then I decided to pass
by the Form 3 area first before heading directly down to the music room. I saw
Ari, Aliah and "Miss Noel" there. The rest of the others were coming
back thinking that we had no class. When they got into the room I gave them
some of the remaining Form 2 worksheets to use for practice before heading into
the pan room.
The "Oh Holy Night" was
worked on for a while until the last five minutes before recess. I stayed back
and helped "Jay" with the second part on Double Tenor. The struggle
to figure out the melody was too hard. Kenya was not allowed to play any
Christmas songs because of her religion. She said she was given "Ode to
Joy" instead for a practical assessment.
I did not get to pay for the pies
so I sent "Jenny" with some money to get the pies for me. I was done
with Kenya and "Jay" by the time she came back. I realised that I had
no newspapers to move like a placemat got me. I used a scrap page to eat on
instead.
While finishing the second pie, Roberts
came in on her phone. She was beginning to send people out. Looked like recess
was over. She had 3L now and some of them were trying to skip class. It looked
like they had a test today. I had spoken with Jess about the class and
challenges faced, changes made and mentioned who the class skippers were. She
spoke about the markbook and I told her it was better when she had all the
marks and then we could sit together to put it together. I was not comfortable
with a live sheet so I preferred to send it as PDF after.
Going up the corridor, I forgot
that I was going to the library to see Mrs Solomon. She was by her desk and we
spoke for a while. She said she was thirsty and then I mentioned my keep back
after class and the hot pepper from the pies. She sent me to get her a soft
drink and two bottles of water. She said that I could have the second bottle of
water. We spoke for a while and then "Carthio" came and spoke with Miss.
She wanted a ribbon so bad that Miss had one side and said that she had to go
and decorate the hall. Her request for my assistance was very uncomfortable.
Kai came and spoke with Miss. She
needed some help putting a password in her computer and he did it for her. The
three of us had a short chat and then he jumped with my kick-up. At first, he
thought that it was musical and wanted to find out how it could have been a
kick-up.
Lunchtime came soon and Mrs
Solomon and I had a longer wait because my computer was taking too long. She
told me about an agricultural sale going on and bought a doughnut from them. I
got one assignment from Ahmad in the library and soon two more from the Form1s
were on my desk by the time I went to put back the laptop.
I went to the music room and
forgot that practice was going on. Mr Marcelle and I spoke for a while. I did ask
him about ownership stickers for the pans when looking at them. He said that
was good. I mentioned it to differentiate the school's pans from the pans we
may have to borrow from other sources. There was a short meeting after that
went straight up to the end of school.
The 2F class did not get teaching
again but some of them had submitted their assignments. All of them were handed
to Jess for grading over the weekend. I went to the staff room and had a wait.
Donna was there and she asked if I was going to band practice today. Did not
know that it had any. The practice went well. Sir was able to tie in the two
songs and made some changes alongside putting more technical chromatics for
Crystal in the Double Seconds parts when she asked him to do so.
Miss Jones tried to practice her
part. I stayed on "Jan's" Double Tenor and helped her out. I ended up
moving to the toc-toc. Jess left us early. Mr Marcelle sat by the drumkit and I
sat on the chair next to him. The struggle to fight the sleeping on myself was
not easy. I did the fight continuation in the back seat of Mr Raymond's car
going up the road.
Daddy was already inside watching
TV when I got into the living room. I ate and went to do my last two typing
from the journal logbook after 4 paintings on Ven Colouring. The typing was
completed by 9:34 PM. Tomorrow will be timesheet day. Praise God I had it
filled up until yesterday morning. The rest will be done tomorrow for signing
and submission.
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Wednesday 04 December 2024)
[T1, W:13 – WD:59,
(Td:6)*].
Dear Diary,
This morning’s struggle to wake
up was not easy again. I ended up getting out of bed at 7:15 late. The rush and
walk down to school had to be swift if I wanted to get to the compound in time.
I saw Jessie walking from his homeyard to school. I remembered that yesterday
when we waved from different pavements his mom wanted to speak with me. I didn't
see her yesterday evening, though I thought that it was late. I had a look for
her making the corner to the school this morning and didn't see her.
Teachers were now going to roll
call by the time that I got into the staffroom. Looked like there was no assembly
this morning. I went to pay for the pies and got back. Miss was coming in from
her roll call too and Jess had just entered the building. She came soon after
to find out when we would meet to do the marks insert. Looks like she was
expecting it immediately. I told her that the third period would be better.
I went to work on my timesheets.
The first one was messed up with the dates for the last week. I ended up
spoiling my extra copy. Will have to get another in the office. Thankfully all
the information did not take long to enter on the first sheet. The third period
came quickly and then Jess and Mel were talking. She ended up taking a long time
to start the work. I had the laptop set up and waiting. She came in saying that
she got caught up in a long conversation.
We went through the Form 4 exam
papers and they had to be graded first. One paper's mark out of the four was
not entered because I had to go collect the pies before recess. As I was making
my way to the staffroom, the students were now on recess. Jess and Roberts
spoke in the corner about Dip. Ed.
We had 2F right after. They were
put to play the first line of the college song as an ensemble first and were
then graded in smaller groups by the sections. I had some fun chats with
"Pablo" and he was trying to figure out the 3 Cello. Riley had a good
dance. Wondered if the song really gave him 'good vibes' or something else,
lol.
I had to give "Creigy"
some words ("I want to go home") to help him play the rhythm on the sixth
bass. They were making trouble in the classroom after having to do the parang
project overnight which none of them did. Ravin told me that they had two exams
to take tomorrow. I packed up to go back with my bags.
Mel was not ready to work on the
markbook so I sat down to go over the timesheet.Looks like the sheet that Kiel gave me was a
special one because it worked just right. I completed it. The first of November
to this morning with times. I just have the number of late days, Thursday and Friday
to do, along with my signature for the sheet to be completed. I shared some of
the Maryland biscuits with Mel that Daddy gave me.
There was a list that I had
planned to make for work during the weekend. Too many sleepless nights and the
hours are going too quickly to do a lot. While Miss was with Jess and Roberts
planning out the Sound caterers for the Christmas programme and Saturday
Panorama Talent show, I went to the corridor to try and make a call but it was
too noisy. The school was so small that you couldn't make a call with all the
noise.
I looked to my opposite and saw
the empty science corridor. It was ideal for me to stand and write in my book
if in case there were notes to take. The first school to call was Tunapuna
Secondary but left a message instead. The next school to contact was Barataria
Anglican Primary on the opposite side of the savannah. The Principal would be
able to meet me at 3 PM. There was a short wait for 2:51 to come. I walked with
my book bag and laptop bag after school to go to the school compound.
There was a long wait but I did
not mind. It was a completely different feeling being in the school itself. I
saw two Georgian girls walking into the compound and greeted me walking away. I
met the Principal and we had a very nice conversation in the office. I shared
two copies of the School Song Form that I had created for her to find information
on the song and also when I began working on it. We discussed the work, the
booklet, and others. This also included the song being a YouTube video as a
teaching resource for the school.
However, when I did mention that
I would not be charging the school, she continued to ask the question of how
all of it benefitted me. It was still a question I did not know how to answer.
The meeting was over after giving her my contact information. By the time I
walked out of the compound, I forgot to ask for her name.
Walking back to George's, a small
grey car popped its horn. I looked carefully and it was Dr Allison waving
goodbye at me as she drove up Sixth Avenue. She did not have on her face mask
that is why I didn’t recognise her at first. I met "Celia" in the front
yard. She saw me coming in and wondered if I had forgotten something. We laughed
it out as I told her that I had a meeting. The staffroom was empty. The band
was heard in the quiet school so I took a walk down.
Mr Marcelle wasn't there today
and Jess led the session. There was new music given without Mr Marcelle's
guidance. The two songs were put together. I got a ride up with Mr Greenaway.
We had on the same type of blue shirt and black pants today. As I was opening
up the front gate my daddy came driving in the yard. I shared with him the
journey over to the primary school and how it happened. He was surprised for
sure.
I had a long evening typing up my
two entries from week 86. I decided to split Wednesday to Friday for tonight
and then do Monday to Wednesday of week 80 since I didn't do any typing last
night. I ended up sending the attempted transcription to Mr Marcelle via
WhatsApp. This is the Christmas Medley for the teachers' band. I hope he was pleased
with it. The guitar and cello pans part were typed out in the group but I did not
know if they had strums or rollings. I hope that he likes what I did. But now
based on what we did in practice today, I think there are some things to fix in
the tenor line, lolz.
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Wednesday 04 December 2024)
[T1, W:13 – WD:58,
(Td:5)*].
Dear Diary,
This morning was a repeat of
yesterday's morning plus, it was the morning after Monday. So I felt double
plus the ten nights of less sleep. I couldn't get my eyes to open. Ended up
playing music while I went to shower and it lightly helped me to awake. The bus
driver this morning was "Robin". He was speaking to a passenger about
wanting to purchase a vehicle from the relative "real bad". I thought
of the book for Miss Robin and planned to call the school.
As soon as I got out of the bus
the light turned red. I did not know if there was an accident or something but
there was a lot of jam on the other side of the traffic light's direction. As
soon as the light turned green no one could move. The Sixth Avenue began to
pile up with cars down to the shop where I waved to Mr Shawh. A few teachers
were still coming in for the morning. Assembly was in progress. I ended up
going to pay for the pies one time.
On my way back I realised that
the first two periods were free. I thought we had them right after the roll
call. I started to work on the 2L parang assignments. I feel like I will leave
it with Jess to do since there are some things she might like to see in them. I
took the 2L papers to begin grading them and then surprisingly I saw her
chatting with "Nia".
Jess was all over the staffroom
before coming to see me. I told her that I took the papers to grade for her and
that I was preparing to set up the markbook. She allowed me to come with her or
stay but told me to stay and still mark the groups in class. I remembered one
girl asking me to ask Jess to postpone the presentations for today. This was as
I was walking into the compound to the staffroom.
I made my way to the music room
at recess time. She had locked the door like me from yesterday. It was nice to
see "Michael" again and he spoke with me before departing to his
class. I began to set up my laptop my the teacher's desk at the front and then
work on inserting marks I was able to get the class list of names for 1L from
the attendance sheet. Somehow I will have to get a 1M listing.
Somewhere inside of the fifth and
sixth periods, Mr Marcelle came. I remember that Mel was going to get copies. I
hope they came out alright. Jess was busy being up and down while I did all the
work by myself. She did not sit down and go through the work. The practice
began and I did not even have the time to go over in the other room or even to
assist.
Sir had left early today. He
thought that we were not having Teachers Band practice today like me. That kind
of gave me some more time to work out the song transcription. I stayed by that
seat until 2:40 and then packed up. I gave Jess a listing of the things that
she needs to accomplish overnight for us to fix tomorrow. Mel and everyone were
gone by the time I got back to the staffroom. I had a lot to pack up and then
go. "Susan" was asking me if they told me they were going and I said
no. "Celia" took my last copy of the punctuality and regularity form
to make copies.
The road felt clustered still.
Only when I had passed the Anglican primary school I was shocked that the whole
day went by and forgot to call them as well as Tunapuna. I had TwinK this
evening. I had gotten four paintings done before 7 PM. There was a need for an emergency
meeting at 8 PM. It may have taken up my journal typing time for the night but
it was good progress. Thankfully it was just an hour.
I went to try today's entry which
just took one full hour. I could not do any typing after. Maybe it will be good
to do that in school tomorrow. I did not even have time to write up my
timesheet so that will have to be done somewhere in the first period of school.
My eyes were starting to hurt again so it was immediately bedtime. I left the
painting for tomorrow when I got home again.
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Wednesday 04 December 2024)
[T1, W:13 – WD:57,
(Td:4)*].
Dear Diary,
This morning I slept back until 7
AM. It was not easy getting ready or getting my mind back.I had to be Master of Compromises again in the
maxi. Behind the filled bus on the bus route. The walk was slower. I heard the
nice lady in the Primary School mentioning that they had a setback with their assembly
and that they can be able to adapt.
George’s assembly was in session
by the time I got into the compound. Many of the teachers were coming in late
too. Jess had taken the children to the music room. Didnt see when she came. I
ended up going down to the music room late. Had to check to see if I had the
papers she wanted me to work with the Form 4s first. There was a nice decorated
wine bottle that Mel had asked me to mark when she said, "Mr Ali how much
would say to give this bottle?" She confirmed that it was out of ten
points. I immediately said eight and she agreed.
When I got to the music room,
only four of the five Muslim students were liming in the back of the empty
classroom. The rest of the class was in the pan room working only on the first
line of the college song. Wonder when they will move on to finish the rest of
the verse? Students were coming in for class two minutes early. Jess took them
to the pan room and she said she would do the chorus with them and let 3F learn
the verse instead. I am not sure how that will work out.
Whoever the tenors were for this
class, I wrote out the melody pitches for them and circled the pitches to roll
on beforehand. Matthew was busy wanting to play the panorama piece and be a teacher
so I left him to figure it out and gave pointers when he was going wrong. I
left class at 10:35 and still got to the cafe during recess. The two pies were
good with the right amount of pepper. Sadly I ran out of bobbys. I remember
telling Daddy this morning that I could have saved my gulab jamon for the pies
in school.
Miss was bringing in more
decorated bottles for marking. She gave me some of her attendance sheets for
the markbook. Miss "Celia" was asking me for a copy of the
punctuality and regularity form that I used to give her. She needed another
one. I had to pack up and get ready for the Form 4 class. It looked like they
were told of the practical and theory test today. Jess went to look for the
paper when I entered the room. I was hearing them review their scales and heard
their concern about intervals.
I was by the piano trying out the
"Silent Night" that I had printed for "Michael" the Form 1 some
time ago. I also tried the "Greensleeves" that I might have to do in
the school's Christmas show or the Talent Concert. The Form 4s were given the
theory paper first and two of the papers had a duplicated page. Jess took the
children in the pan room individually for the practical exam. I sat there with
the students writing the test. Many times we had to ask people to leave to
avoid any disruptions.
Jess was telling me after the
practicals that some of the teachers were asking for a discounted price for the
Pamorama concert. There was a concert meeting for the talent concert and the
show. Up by the staffroom, "Celia" topped me in the corridor. She
said to pass around. It seems like there was another problem with the sewage. I
went to the office to update the OJT logbook and to collect my copies. I had
forgotten to ask for a copy of the timesheet.
I went down with the attendance
sheets that Mel had given me to write up the classroom names for this academic
year in the Excel File. The laptop was taking long and as soon as I began
working and getting the Form 2s and 3s in, Mr Bain said that we had to vacate
the compound. Students were leaving the compound and teachers were already
leaving. I turned off the laptop and headed back to the staffroom.
"Riba" was dancing strangely. Someone threw a block of ice down
inside of his shirt.
The staffroom was empty.
"GG" was offering me a ride but I was not packed and did not want to
rush. Mel walked out walking out the staffroom after trying to ask me to go
with them. The office was still piled up. Had a while to wait to ask for a
timesheet. Miss "Celia" was making the joke about an unclaimed
suitcase that was not moved from there in about two to three weeks. She also
made the joke that next week Wednesday will be her final day as Acting Vice
Principal. At that time maybe Mr Charles will then go back to be the Acting
Vice Principal. Still no idea as to when Asha will be coming back as Principal.
That night I went home to do some
more painting before computer work. I was able to establish the markbooks for
Mel and Jess. Some of the Form 1 names will have to be found in school. There
were some minor changes in Mel's mark book. I began to see other potential
things that would need to be fixed and changed. While I was working on the
journal entries, I forgot to email Celia the handwritten document for the leave
and absences. I couldn't believe that I had opened up the email 3 times and
forgot what I was looking for.
I have two more weeks of entries
to manually type before the edits of week 87 onward. Today was as hard as
Monday and not had much sleep for the past nine nights. Tonight will make it
ten. Idid two more paintings again
before bed. It was great to see Mr Sawh again. He called me out and we waved
from the shop eating doubles as I was walking down Sixth Avenue to school. I
now remembered seeing Miss in school at lunchtime after having another
disappointing encounter with Shiva. I hope he NEVER does it again!!
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 30 November 2024)
[T1, W:12 – WD:56,
(Td:X)*].
Dear Diary,
This morning I went to work in
the library instead of going to the service. I did not have a steelband
performance today. I decided to work on practical questions for the textbook.
My time there was done until 9:30 as usual. Ria didn't come and I had forgotten
to call her that night. We had steelband practice starting with my arrangement
from 2022 of "Away in a Manger".
The problem was smooth rolling
from the tenors. He went into an exercise that was quavers for 4 bears and then
semiquavers for 1 beat. Then he moved on to his "Carol of the Bells",
which was the last song. The problem with this one was staying on time with
everyone. The session was long and very tiring. I was hungry when I got back
home.
Decided to stay like that for the
whole day. Daddy ended up misplacing the keys. I packed up some work to do. The
dark clouds were already packed in the sky and he was wondering if they would
cancel the practice today. I texted Miss and she was in church still. Mr
Marcelle was going to be slightly late.
I decided to go and if no one was
there I would still do my. Work on the laptop at school. We had a short wait
for a short shower and were then out to Curepe. I went onto a bus that was
waiting.* The road was very scary just yesterday with an empty road and because
of this, the arrival to Sixth Avenue was quick. I almost got hit by a car on
the road.
Entering the compound, a dog
started to bark at me. The guard was wondering why they were doing that and
after our chat, we were wondering if it was their mating season too with their
behaviour. I went to collect my laptop and then moved down to the music room.
She said that everyone here for practice was already down in the music room.
Only four section leaders were in
the room with Mr Marcelle. He was checking and making inserts. I stood with
them keeping the pulse with the toc-toc. We found that 1 PM reached up on us
quickly. Slowly the rest of the attendees were coming in. They worked on the
section just before the verse for a long.
At some point, Mr Marcelle sent
me to the next room before the drill practice commenced to make sure they had
everything alright and then to help teach three of the tenors the first portion
of the verse. The new part was not added with the rest of the band.
Maybe Sir had ideas to take the
music in a new direction. There was difficulty with reading the syncopation
written in cut-time. I had to transcribe the bar into crotchet beats and then
use the closed-gate style of writing to understand what to tell the children.
It was written in shorthand-like notation from Roberts and also opened-gate.
Toward the last part of the
practice, he had put me in charge of drilling the band while he went to speak
to the persons assisting with the concert outside. The same thing was run three
times and then from Da Capo. It was recorded in the regular slow tempo and made
it to 6 minutes. But I was concerned about the 'a tempo'. I would admit that I
did not get time to listen to the original song on YouTube as yet. It was nice
of Sir to send me the updated score.
When practice was over a lot of
the children were already on their way home. The sky was worse than yesterday
and the quadrangle was filled scarily. I had never seen the school as a temple
of water before. Me, Jess, Mr Marcelle and Mel were kept back waiting for the
rain to over along with four students. At 5:55 the rain had calmed and two boys
and I walked up to the bus route. They left before me but we took the same
maxi.
Seems like the rain moved up
Curepe. I was soaking wet after running for shelter under the terminal, or
maybe I should say the smokers' hub of all nasty kinds. That night, I finished
the painting that took me three nights to do ().
I got three more done before
going to the computer to work for the night. Jess was asking me to copy and
paste something into a letter but I realised she had given me some ingredients
for the letter and wanted me to write it. I messaged back admitting that I didn't
know how to do it. We planned for her to do the letter tomorrow and I work the
Form 4s tomorrow while they do an ABRSM Grade 3 past paper.
I worked on journal entries too.
I ended up bringing the laptop home with me to get what I had typed out last
week Friday. Sadly, the entry for the Monday of that week was not saved. I will
have to type it back over tomorrow. I took note of the entries to work on
tomorrow. Before I ended the night, painted two more images on Facebook. I couldn't
make it anymore and had to fight to make it to the bed again. Where did the
weekend go?
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 30 November 2024)
[T1, W:12 – WD:55,
(Td:X)*].
Dear Diary,
This morning I woke up and fell
back asleep. My weekend had been taken away from me with the need to go to
Panorama practice. This weekend will be both Saturday and Sunday. I did not
have breakfast. Somehow I thought of "Jay-22" today. I got ready in
casual clothing. I was originally planning to wear the blue Mitchell House
T-shirt. I saw a green one and chose that along with my purple plaid short
pants. I knew it would be a long day and the heat would make me need some air.
After walking out of the road, I
laughed about the choice with Daddy. I told him that it left like I was going
to Town to play lawn tennis instead. The outfit did look that way. The bus
route was scary. Only one maxi was on the road and the rest was empty. A nice
lady was driving. I sat in the front row behind and I was giving a Jehovah's
Witness pamphlet on the topic "Who Created the World".
Sixth Avenue was hotter than a
regular school day. I was completely wet by the time I got to the schoolyard. I
saw Miss in the hall when she called me out. Surprisingly she had on the same
Mitchell House shirt that I was looking for. I told her the same but then
mentioned that it was good I didn't because if any hillviewers saw me in it
they would have thought that I was betraying them. She told me that the
staffroom was open so I went to cool out.
It took me exactly an entire hour
to start and complete the journal entry for yesterday. I got to school with the
phone battery at six per cent. After falling asleep on the couch the night
before, I didn't get to charge it. I even forgot the charger at home too. Miss
told me that Jess was coming late. We spoke about the tickets form and said
that there were over sixty tickets handed out. The children were with Mr
Marcelle in the pan room practising. They were working on a new section.
When Jess came down she handed me
two empty envelopes to give Mel. I went back up to the hall. The feeling of the
empty Form 2 classrooms and school was a completely different experience altogether.
Miss wrote out the names of the children who paid and placed the money in the
envelope, which was then sent back to Jess. "Mr Barbour" came to the
hall to ask me to help him with something. The children were in the classroom
so that means that they were on break.
Jess and Mr Marcelle were trying
out something. When I was finishing up one of the journal entries then joined
them. As I was pulling out my pansticks, Jess liked that I had pockets for the pansticks
and she had a long dress without pockets. Sir played the Double Tenor part and
Jess and I were trying to figure out an insert. This that we worked on was
taught to the students when returning from their recess.
I went back to typing up the rest
of of journal entries for the rest of week eighty-five. The typing was a lot
and my hand was hurting from holding the cell phone in my hand all the time.
Daddy called me from the phone at 1:30 to ask what time I would be coming up. I
told him at 2 PM. Jess and her mother left early from their ride. She did not see
the keys for the room to lock up. Mr Marcelle packed up and left the room. The
guard probably didn't know that they had to lock back.
Mel, Sir and I waited back
because of the heavy rain that broke out. I knew there was bright light but
when the door in the music room opened, there was a very dark sky. We ended up
waiting for the rain to ease up. Three boys travelled out and we still had to
wait for "Mr Haynes" father to pick him up. The three of us left the
compound at 4:20.
Mr Marcelle hurried to his home
before the rain wet his electronic devices. Miss and I saw Jessie and we gave
him a wave. I was going to invite him to come to practice. Miss went to the
grocery before the bus route. I almost fell crossing the wet road. An impatient
driver almost bounced us over. Thankfully there was a bus to take us. Had to
wake her up at her stop.
There were only a few minutes
when I had settled at home before our meeting to fix the Form 2 paper. Some of
the images were changed for the Christmas season. We had some issues with
English when it came to rows and columns in one of the questions. I ended the
meeting after sending the final product. I did some uploading on the Blogger
for a week of school that was typed up today. Tomorrow I hope to complete the
typing of another week.
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 30 November 2024)
[T1, W:12 – WD:54,
(Td:3)*].
Dear Diary,
This morning I realised that I
had fallen asleep on the couch. Didn't even know when I closed my eyes. Dad had
to call me on the phone to wake me up. He said he had knocked on the window
twice. I had a while before getting to the shower. Causal would be easier but I
am still forced into a shirt and pants. The ride was quick to Curepe and also
to Sixth Avenue.
I took my time walking down the
road. The Anglican school called for students to line up. They were already in
their assembly. The same goes for George's students. I thought that we had the
first period but somehow RI was going to happen first that was a relief
thinking that I would be late for class. I had time to eat the pies before the
third period. Thankfully they were ready to serve. Mr Richard asked the same
question and I just said yes although I knew the intention. The pies were fire
hot but good.
Concerns of the 2F children again
were heard. Was sad to hear about it. Jess went to the office. She didn't come
back for long and then she was not in the classroom. I went back to use the
washroom and saw that the children were out of class. They were now entering
the music room.I was given six more
parang assignments. Two of them were incorrectly done. The other three were
marked and I had to very the last one from personal research.
Jess had the children place
themselves into groups to pick a parang song and work on a presentation for it.
I graded the last two next to her and we spoke about the contract extension and
the troublesome requirements and expectations of her as a teacher in her
previous school. When I was done with the grading, I began working on the
school song form in case another school would have to be worked on. I hoped to
call the Tunapuna Principal about the song booklet for Miss Robins.
Jess and the Form 4s were curious
to know about the form I was making but they listened to my typing instead
while writing their note on the Form/structure of the music. This was completed
before the last 10 minutes of lunchtime. I opened the laptop to continue typing
the journal entries for week eighty-four. The file I was typing was joy saved
to my flashdrive so saved another on my laptop. The entire week was typed out
toward the end of the seventh period.
I went back to the staffroom to
rest my bags there and then went back to play the teachers' band music with
Miss Jones. She was practising with her niece Crystal and we had a few runs of
the song. I had a chat with Mel and Mr Marcelle back in the staffroom. We were
told that the tickets were already handed out and the design for the T-shirts was
to be chosen and to select the colour. Sir was asking me if I could make it on
weekends for the drilling. I told them I would see when I could make it and balance
the church work. I left them because I was too tired for all of this.
When reaching home I was not able
to do anything. I thought I had saved the work done on the journal entries
today to my flashdrive but it seems like I saved it to the laptop instead, lol.
I will have to get it back from school tomorrow and put that week together up
them together.
Mel and I worked on a spreadsheet
for the ticket payments for the Panorama Talent Show. I told her that it would
be best to handwrite the information as the MTC Unity Walk because typing will
make the document too many pages. I hope she understands me with that. Did not
get back a response about sending it to print so I will have to wait for
tomorrow to see it as well as another check of our data.
Couldn't do anything after 9 PM no
matter how much I was forced. 11 PM came around quickly having no choice but to
call the night an end. My eyes began to swell up bigger than before because of
these late nights.
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 30 November 2024)
[T1, W:12 – WD:53,
(Td:2)*].
Dear Diary,
Today was a late start but got
there in good time. The first bus was waiting in front took me. The bus driver
said, "Back seat quick" but I was looking at the front seat crossing
the road. Praise God there was a red light for me to get out with enough time.
I got to school and the assembly was in progress. We had class time very
quickly. Only 4 of the 2L students were supposed to do the make-up test. The
four Muslim boys remained in the back playing quietly.
The rest of the class was in the
pan room working on the college song. I had to dart in there and saw "Miss
King" playing the six basses. I asked her which pitches were given to her.
I gave a short change and then it was able to sound like it. I could have sat
comfortably on the chair. Off and on Jessie and "Perry" came to
visit. It looked like they had Technical Drawing and they did not have class. I
thought that there was going to be a Form 1 class but Jess said that was after
recess.
We left for the staffroom.
"Carthio" and Mrs Brown were putting up Christmas decorations. I went
to get the pies. It was funny how Mr Richard admitted that he put less pepper
in the pies to Miss Hannah. I've known that for two weeks now even though he
said it in a whisper. As soon as I ate them I went to get some work.
Later that day after school Daddy
and I went to Isa to finalise the Author Card and the Subject Card for the
library. He may have to send estimates of the cost for the documents because of
the variation in duplicating a card onto one sheet. He said that half quotes
too can be challenging.
I had a long wait in the bank
too. Only one hour waited and I typed up the first-day entry of Week 84 in
there. I had to learn that there was a special teller to do payments from me to
another bank. There was a special visit from Mala today too. Sad to see that
she had to move.
There was new music from Mr
Marcelle for today's practice. I only got it when I turned on the computer. I
had to send Isa the new version of the quotes list. Then I saw the score and a
recording. I remembered that yesterday he was asking for the music recording of
the Georges anthem so I sent him the YouTube link. I also sent Hillview,
Tunapuna, and Girl's Guides Anthems for him to listen to.
I noticed that the George video
did not have the link to the song's journal entry in the video's description. I
had mentioned the links to him also to see how it came about. Had to rush down
today's entry before the time stamp in WhatsApp changed for tomorrow. The
evening was tiring. Andrew had sent some phoulorie for me but it was still very
raw. I took a piece of the Sahina and sent the rest to Dad.
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 30 November 2024)
[T1, W:12 – WD:52,
(Td:1)*].
Dear Diary,
This morning the challenge to
awake on the couch was not easy. It took me 34 minutes to catch myself. As I
got into the shower hot water did not come because of low pressure. To get
prepared and out of the house was swift. Thank Jesus for the song He sent to
me. As I crossed the bus route a bus was waiting for me. The music was Soca
alone today. I took my time walking down Sixth Avenue and it was enjoyable.
As bright as the sun shined, it
did not let me down like some mornings. I just wished I had stopped by the
Anglican school wall to record their school song. Maybe someday I can visit the
school to introduce myself and possibly ask for a recording It would be nice to
score out the song and then add it to my collection of school anthems. Jess was
now signing when I entered the staffroom. After sometimes everyone was coming
back from homeroom and roll call.
As soon as Mel came back we
started working on the playlist for the Christmas Concert. “GG” was asking for
the date and Miss said that it would be Wednesday 4th of December. Thankfully I
had the pies in time and then went to class with Jess. She had forgotten that
we had class. The students were in the science corridor coming already. Che and
I walked down to the music room. I was wishing I could get to paint.
Some of the Theatre Arts students
were coming and wanted to stay because they had no class. Jess took the
students into the pan room and then we continued working on "Oh Holy
Night". There was difficulty with the last line with rolling and hitting.
Toward the end of the double period in recess, Itried my best to write out the pitches in
"Jenny's" book. This time I used Circles instead of Squares. That seemed
to work and sectioned the pitches even more using double barlines.
During recess time, I gave Che
the scores of "Fur Elise" to hand out to the others. I also gave
"Mr Warner" the George’s anthem copy that I had promised yesterday.
It was made yesterday with some of the parts. "Mr Haynes" was doing
fantastic on the piano with the anthem. He had the ends of the verse to fix.
The good thing is that he was able to remember the correct pitches. I will help
them with the rhythm after. I showed them the change in the second verse and
then we moved on to the introduction.
That was my time with them until
I went to the short recess rehearsal for the concert. This was the section leader
band practising "Carol of the Bells". “Mr Warner” played the tambourine.
And Jess gave me the triangle to play. Roberts came to have her class. She had
3L now which was Mel's class. Was nice to see "Vara" again.
Plenty of noise in the staffroom
again with Miss Harris. A student disrespected "AJ" because of
refusing to take off a ring and a chain and claimed it was religious and had to
be removed from the bathroom. The Christmas Tree was up with lights. I loved
the decorated stars that hung from it. The dark area made the tree look good.
Lunchtime came by. I remained by my desk and felt sick. I ate the last of my
nuts and it got me upset.
There became a conversation long
after that “GG” and Mr Charles were talking and then she mentioned the
"Spoil de Woman" song. They ended up playing the song and we had a
good laugh over it. Miss Dayna and all of us were intrigued to hear what that
song went like so we heard it on a speaker. The music then changed to Baron and
then to Scrunter.
The staffroom was now starting to
look beautiful when the sun shined from Seventh Avenue into the windows. It
feels better to enjoy it after school. I remembered seeing Mr Marcelle coming
in the shortcut from the guard booth to the music room. I didn't go to the
practice again. I hope it was good progress made with the children. Outside
there was another football tournament going on in the quadrangle.
Sometimes in the seventh period,
Roberts came to ask me to put her pink bag and something else there on her desk
after school. She left her car keys too so she ended up walking with me. Her
stuff was elsewhere and she left. This afternoon Jess took the students to the
pan room in a group. By the time she began, it was only 5 minutes to 8th period
and she had asked me to tell her. I had forgotten while supervising four
students to do the test. Brad was one of the four.
"Mr Lallman" and I
spoke for a very long time, possibly from the time of the commencement of the
exam straight to the end of school. At some point before the exam, they asked
me to play something for them on the piano. The introduction that I created for
the Saint George’s anthem was my choice and they were impressed. I would admit
that it did have something special about it at that moment.
"Pablo" was trying the
first verse too but didn't know how the pitches worked. A lot of octave jumps
from pitch to pitch occurred from him. "Miss Garraway" was wonderful
with the first three lines of the first verse. I look forward to seeing her
continue the rest. The same for "Mr Barbour" who needs to work on it
more. Maybe the transition from Tenor Pan to Piano complicated it lightly for
him.
"Mr Lallman" and I
spoke about the test being difficult although I did mention that this was the
second easy test I had ever made and they were surprised. We then spoke about
music for CXC and he thought that it was easy. He said he lost me when the
conversation turned to composition and arrangement. There was a part about asked
me about how I learned all the theory and mentioned being self-taught. This all
led to conversations about music at the UWI level.
"Mr Peters" joined us
too and spoke about Maths and English. I emphasised how important it is for
them to pass their English A exams at CXC or they would be forced to take the ELPT
at UWI to enter. Only Brad was interested to see me grade his paper. Some of
them were afraid to see me grade the paper. He did slightly alright. I shared
the joke about myself and more than 10 marks in marking with them.
The school had ended and we didn't
get to go through some of their questions based on the exam. After class, Mr
Marcelle and I spoke. I went to say hello before leaving. We spoke about the
school song arrangement and the booklet that I made. He gave me a very special
compliment on arranging that I accept in Jesus' Mighty Name. He also spoke
about rhythmic patterns and that there can be ways to simplify them. I told him
that I didn't know much rhythms and then he was able to share some rhythmic patterns
for background patterns with me.
As he sang them out I wrote them
out on the whiteboard right there in the pan room. There was some discussion
about notation also. He asked me if I was able to stay back. I ended up staying
and then learned the Tenor part but went to Double Tenor to help out “Jan.”
"Patty" was playing Seconds. Mr Raymond was on the 6-Bass. We had a
new piece when he decided to make the song a medley of choruses. I'm not sure
if this was the song that he wanted me to do the transcription.
The practice ran over 5 PM. I got
a ride home with Mr Raymond. Daddy was coming out of his car when I began walking
into the compound. Was so tired after that long day and fought sleep on the
ride home. The MaziMazi did not want to work so I went to the journal. Seems
like GPI Notes did not want to work and they were only giving me 30 minutes of
free voice-to-text work.
In the past, it was unlimited and
free. I will now have to either continue typing on WhatsApp all the experiences
as the journal entry. The GPT app was only giving advertisements. Seems like
WhatsApp will have to work for now. I went to do three more paintings on Zen
Painting. After waking late these nights I could feel the tension in my eyelids
as if they beginning to swell. I hope that the swelling goes down in time.
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 30 November 2024)
[T1, W:12 – WD:51,
(Td:6)*].
Dear Diary,
This morning, it was not easy to wake
up. I got out of bed at 7 and got prepared. According to OJT, I was late but
not for the first period. Praise God we only had class today after recess, lolz.
I had to take my time walking down Sixth Avenue. A tall perfect girl darted
down the road even though she was moving slower than me too, haha.
Assembly was in progress as I
entered the compound. Miss Celia was speaking and it sounded like something the
children were doing was wrong. I greeted "AJ" at the door; today was
the green day. It was either bright blue or black for me today. Since coming
down on the bus there were clouds gathering in the sky. Daddy said there would
be plenty of rain today and tomorrow and that it likes to fall in the evening.
Two songs that were played on the
bus were good for Steelpan. One sounded like a fun reggae I might be interested
in transcribing and possibly making it a steelpan arrangement. I will have to
find out the names of them first. The first song was difficult to make out the
words, "Nobody wants to plant de corn. Everybody wants to raid the
pan." I most likely am very off with what I heard. I couldn’t make out
anything they were singing in the song.
Mel came and she was wearing a
nice teal and blue saying today is a happy day so she is wearing her favourite
colours. She also showed me a beautifully decorated wine bottle that a student
submitted for her. It looked like a 10 out of 10. Jess came and spoke with me
about yesterday. She insisted that I go to the doctor and say Happy
International Men's Day, while Jan brought some other art submissions.
Earlier Miss “Celia” and I were
talking about the Teachers' Regularity and Punctuality, and that she was ready
with September and October 2024 to insert into the Excel file made for the
school by me. She will have to get the school laptop that the Vice Principal
uses for us to start working on it. We also spoke about the other leave forms
from September 2023 to April 2024 that were worked on. Miss Ali from the office
will have to find it for us. Maybe later I can ask Mr Charles about May to July
2024.
Seeing how the year is ending I
can probably start preparing the new folder for 2025. I feel it better to begin
working on a design to be printed onto the bristol board sheets instead of
having to jot in the points and draw pencil lines. I was contemplating a
special sticker but that might cost me too much. The print would probably be
better. The only mess I would have to deal with is the layout and also the text
that will need to be upside-down on the lower portion of the page.
Miss Soodeen was eating her food
and it got me hungry. It was already 9:34 so I decided to go and get the pies.
They were hot and crispy. The pepper was slight but still good. Mel asked me to
get her pie on the way there. When I gave it back Miss Mary said, "I'm
having a blessed day and enjoying her blessed day." Mr Dale said that she
is hoping that it becomes contagious. I was hoping that Celia wasn't waiting
for me too long. I had time to eat the pies and got ready.
Only after some time trying to
get some teachers to sign the leave and absence forms we speak again. She said
that only the office had the internet to get the Excel. I went to tell her that
I could slip the file from my flashdrive onto the school's device.I got my stuff packed up in my tray and
followed behind her. It was nice to work again as the 'Honorary Trainee'. I
packed up the materials I usually needed when meeting Dr Allison onto my traw
and followed behind her.
As we got into the office, Miss
Ali was turning on the laptop. It was now updating probably since the last
academic year. She was asked if the computer in the Vice Principal's office
would turn on. This was the first time being walked into the Vice Principal’s
Office. It was horrifying and “Celia” tried to clear off a table for us to work
on. The laptop did not open from updating at all and we had to leave.
She showed me the forms that she
filled out for September 2024. The present was symbolised by a tick, Absents
symbolised by a zero and the minutes were inserted in a pink-tree red gel-ink.
I noticed that the absences were not made off properly. She got to see that the
absences in the form had to be written as either Sick leave or Occasional leave
and if they were for a full day or half of a day. When she said that we could
check the leave forms, I had to remind her that sometimes teachers don’t sign
all their forms when they take days off. That led me to suggest that she go
back through the book.
MMT and my class were about to go
on after recess. We decided to meet back in the office during the seventh
period to work on the latest that were inserted. And she will work on the types
of dates and amounts. Returning to the staffroom, Jess told me that she was
heading down early to the music room for class. There were complaints of
children with poor behaviour again and children in the Form 3s asking if the school
was opened and the notice was sent out to all the class chats.
I had to go and get the 2F
students out of their class and then reach the music room. Jess was still in
the other room working on “Carol of the Bells” with the section leaders’ band.
She asked me to write out the words of the College song and then write the
pitches above the sentences. That was it for the children. I went outside to
help “Manny” with playing “Trini to de Bone” from the score that I painfully
made for him.
I found out they were playing it
differently from what I gave him. He and "Miss Raymond" were working
on it together as a pan solo. There was a practice right after. I went to the
staffroom. Forgot to use the washroom since morning. Jess and Mel went in the
back to have a meeting. Miss “Celia,” asked if I was leaving to remain a while
after school to go through the late minutes for teachers. I decided to go
through my box with books and papers to neaten.
I was called into the meeting
that was starting separately from the Panorama meeting. This one was for the
entire school as a whole. They were trying to get a theme and then plan songs
for the programme.The school was long
over before I knew it. Daddy called me to find out if I was coming up and I
waited. Mel and I had a good laugh when we spoke about nuts when the teachers were
around.
I got my stuff cleaned up and Miss
Celia limed around tired. We didn't get to do the work again because the matter
with students went on longer than expected. I got a ride home with Mr Greenaway
this afternoon. Daddy came to visit and I got 6 minutes of chords inserted into
the "Hallelujah Challenge" transcription. The next 8 minutes will be
seen about tomorrow.
I had a meeting with Clarence
about the library dealing with the expenses, borrowing card pockets, package
documents, welcoming letters, knife cutter for the big boxes on Sunday, late
returns of books, and liability form. I hope that he and the church get through
to some of the bookstores. I look forward to Monday coming to see the ones
being brought by Anthony. I also hope that we can find those leave forms from
the teachers. It has been bothering my mind too much. We need to get it and
make sure they are safe.
Actual Date of Online Entry: (Saturday 30 November 2024)
[T1, W:11 – WD:49,
(Td:4)*].
**electricity notice
Dear Diary,
This morning I slept back. It was
very difficult to wake up. Thankfully I did not get to school that late. I hope
that OJT changes their late time for arrival with the Cultural Transformation
Policy from the Ministry. The staffroom was empty as usual. I didn't walk briskly
and quickly as I usually do.
Was feeling too tired and sick
the whole way. I could not even make up my words properly in prayer as if I had
been up drinking the whole night. Class assemblies were in session. I had to
use the washroom before the long walk to pay for the pies at recess.
Soon Jess came back and she asked
me to take the children down to the music room. The students were taken to the
panroom to try and do the school song while the others who missed my exam were
given it. The rest of the double period took a while to get over. Jess decided
to grade the 2L papers because 3M was on a field trip. That's why Artee was
saying she was excited to ride a horse.
I took the first girl's paper* to
be copied for Mr Charles, made copies of music in the staffroom and then went
to get the pies. It felt like they were not putting enough pepper again. As
soon as Mr Marlon came in he said Good night. I replied Merry Christmas and
Miss Carthy laughed out saying the same. Recess time came and we were wondering
if there was going to be a holiday tomorrow because of the scheduled blackout.
I went to the music room to join
the Form 4s. They were in the cupboard looking through previous students' past
SBAs. This was the session for the day. It finished early. As we were in the pan
room doing scales, Miss Carthy came and called Jess out of the room. She came
back and told us that the school was being closed early because of a sewage
leak on the compound.
There was another immediate staff
meeting again for the week. We were told about a sewage leak the children had
to vacate the compound and that if it was not fixed by Thursday then there would
be no school on Friday. Tomorrow was also declared no school because of the electrical
works being done in the area.
While writing my notes in the
meeting, Jess came and interrupted me to find the keys in the music room. I
told her that it was in the front of the classroom and she didn't see it. I had
to leave the staffroom to go and get the keys myself. The keys were exactly on
the same table. Mr Marlon was in the corridor asking the children to assemble
in the hall. The classes were under lockdown too and children were being asked
to walk out of the compound in groups as a measure of safety.
Mel went out to help the children
with the box lunches but we had to get her back. She, me, “GG”, and “Chrissy”
went up the Main Road with Mr Raymond. I dropped out in Curepe to wait for
Daddy to come for us to head up to go by Isa for Library work.
