Sunday --- the teacher's version

9:30 am
Settle down at the appointed place of toil with a glass of water and a red pen. The toll for today doesn't look too forbidding: two classes of comprehension assignments, and a little lesson planning. I've got the whole day ahead of me. Easy-peasy, I tell myself (yeah, it's all false bravado).

10:00 am
Hungry. Only 2 assignments done. The mark scheme is a minefield. Clearly, a little breakfast is needed to fuel me on my way.

11:30 am
7 or 8 assignments completed --- that's the rate of 4 an hour, which is the rate at which I usually mark essays, which take a lot more than a mere comprehension assignment ought to, so why am I working so slowly?! At this rate, I'll be marking till sundown --- a prospect that doesn't exactly bring sunshine and flowers into my life.

On the bright side, some of the kids haven't turned in their work, so "two classes" is going to add up to fewer assignments than I'd psyched myself up for.

Lunch break!

12:45 pm
Back from lunch. Armed with Coke. Would've been armed with peanut butter cups too, but three of those add up to 200 calories!! Eat just one peanut butter cup, put the rest away in the fridge, and settle down for furious marking. Target: finish everything (34 assignments remain) by 3 pm.

1:00 pm
If I'm gonna be stuck here marking, I might as well rip some CDs while I'm at it.

1:30 pm
Sync iPod with newly ripped music --- just in time because I was listening to all the Lord of the Ring soundtracks earlier and Annie Lennox has just crooned me to the end of The Return of the King. Now Sense and Sensibility can take over.

1:50 pm
Potter into the other room to see if there's other music of Terz's that I can rip. Return with loot of 10 CDs. Rip away (while marking, of course)!

2:30 pm
Mercifully interrupted by SMS from Ondine. Briefly compare notes on respective marking load, then soldier on.

2:40 pm
Sudden hankering to additionally acquire music featured on the early seasons of The West Wing. Hit Google. Badger Agagooga for Ave Maria and Bach's Cello No. 1 Suite in G Major performed by Yo-Yo Ma. Duly chastised in return for plebian tastes. Virtuously abandon search for other West Wing music to go back to marking.

2:48 pm
SMS update from friend on a pseudo-date. Progress report is positive and necessitates a few more SMSes to ascertain the girl's hotness.

3:30 pm
16 assignments to go. Dammit! Amend target completion time to 4:30 pm. Recall all the blogging I did during the week at work and reckon this is ample payback.

3:45 pm
Attempt to maintain alertness by refilling Coke and eating leftover Quadratinis from yesterday. Toss the Quadratinis back into the kitchen because the new tiramisu flavour, frankly, is yuck.

4:00 pm
Terz SMSes to gripe about SALT. Say encouraging things and ponder post-marking evening plans, in order to motivate self to continue.

5:15 pm
Marking done! iPod sync'd! Now to plan lessons ...

5:30 pm
Terz gets home from photo shoot and waves IRAS notice received in the mail, reminding us to pay our property tax posthaste. Neither of us recall receiving the first notice of taxation, but who are we to argue with the government? Thanks to internet banking, pay property tax immediately. And transfer money owed to various friends. And balance accounts.

5:45 pm
Resume lesson planning. Self-imposed 6 pm deadline looms.

6:30 pm
Lesson sorta planned. The main idea's there, anyway. Need to seize the pre-dinner window for a quick run. More importantly, need to flee the room in which I have been cooped up like a miscreant all day.

8:00 pm
Back from run and shower. Squeeze in 10 minutes of further lesson prep before we have to leave for dinner.

11:20 pm
Back from dinner and post-dinner chillin'. Regret to report that during the latter, I was still sporadically trying to think through the incomplete lesson. However, safely interrupted on each occasion by bouts of Pro Thumb Wrestling among the guys (who knew than Fannwong had the largest thumb of them all?), tales of old-time local photographers, and serious considerations about lightsaber purchases.

11:55 pm
Lesson completed!