Congratulations, extra time and a text message

I thought I'd take note of a couple of things that gave me pleasure today:

• Soon after I arrived at work this morning, I received a call from our College Secretary and had to laugh outright because she greeted me with, "So... are you going to give us a blowout on our next meeting?" She was referring to our committee's next meeting scheduled on 09 March and to the usual practice of treating friends when one receives an award--especially when the award accompanied by a cash prize!
  
• My students in my 1-4pm lab class were done with their laboratory exercises a half hour before the end of the period. This meant I had more time to work on other things! Hooray!
• Early this evening I most unexpectedly received a text message from my good friend asking how my day was. Having missed my weekly lunch with him today, this message--and the dozens more we exchanged tonight--was a most welcome and pleasant surprise.
  

An award

I got the thrill of my career late this morning when I received word that I have been chosen to receive a prestigious award for teaching. Quite frankly, I'm not sure what to make of it; I guess I'm still in a state of shock. Ha ha. At least from now on no one will be sitting in my classes to scrutinize my teaching methods. And there is now doubt that while the award will look good in my resume it will mean a immense responsibility, something that I will have to live up to from now on!

Earthquake!

My students and I got quite a shock--literally!--when an earthquake jolted this part of our country at approximately 8:15am for about five seconds. My poor students looked doubly shaken (pun not intended) because they were in the middle of answering a particularly difficult quiz I was giving at that time. Afterwards, when I inquired if they were all right they shook their heads. From the quiz or the earthquake? I teasingly asked. They all giggled nervously and exclaimed, "Pareho po!"

A new toy

I bought myself a new cellphone last Sunday, 25 January: a Nokia E51 which, considering my previous cell phone is a Nokia 3210 bought way back in 2001 in Singapore, is a major upgrade for me. As with any new acquisition, I became obsessed with exploring its features and customizing themes, ringtones and profiles. Of course, it set me back by a considerable amount of money--at least Php5K more than I intended to shell out--but after playing around with it for more than a week, I happily discovered that it was worth every peso.