Have you ever been alone in a crowded room when I'm here with you?

Have you ever been alone in a crowded room; well I'm here with you...

And here's the latest story. If you follow the world cup, you'll know that Australia was eliminated by Italy and it happened due to a penalty kick that took place with 8 seconds left to go in regulation time. It took place at like 5 in the morning for Australia time. My uncle woke up and turned on the T.V. with 15 seconds left on the clock. He turned it on, watched for 7 seconds, saw Australia lose the penalty, and promptly turned the T.V. off and went back to bed.

So I don't get access to the computer for a few days and everything these days just builds up. Par example, I haven't been on a computer for 3 days and suddenly, there are three times as many things to do just to get caught up. This will become much more complicated when I hit Malaysia and am obliged to drive to an internet cafe.

I shall start sending emails/correspondence once I settle in a bit more but let me just say this. I arrived at this place and the first thing I did was get myself caught in a rosebush, which I needed to be rescued from.

"Mr. Wong! I listened to that song you were talking about!"
"What song?"
"That song!"
"O_o"
"That E. on P. N."
"E. on P. N... oh, you mean Existentialism on Prom Night?"
"Yeah, that one!"
"Kid, I think this says something about your vocabulary"
-- Corina, Jon Wong

Leaving in a little over 2 hours. Take care of yourselves and each other.

Scene from earlier today:

(Mother brings in two Mikasa glass bowls. One is just a bowl, the other one is shaped like a Christmas Tree)
Mother: Jon, which one do you think I should give to your aunt (in Australia)
Me: Let me see the choices
Mother: Well it's either this one (shows me the first one), or this one (shows me the Christmas Tree)
Me: Why on earth would you give them a Christmas Tree shaped bowl?!
Mother: Cause it's Christmas there!
Me: ...no, it's winter there... doesn't mean that it's Christmas...
Mother: Ah yes, that is true

I love how we've played up to the idea of Christmas being in winter because we all live in the Northern Hemisphere. Even if you're down south and not cold enough to get snow, it's still technically "winter" during Christmas as long as you stay about the equator. I just found that exchange funny.

3 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am rarely truly psyched about stuff (aside from playing on stage), but I am pretty psyched for this trip to Australia. To be more precise, I am very psyched about this journey TO Australia. Yes, call me a freak.

So some of you have read my "Don't worry about the world coming to an end today, it's already tomorrow in Australia" quote by I think it was Charles Schultz. Well... one of my kids tried to adapt that quote into conversational usage and came up with this: "n yu kno if the world is comin tu an end, n yur in austrailia yu would die first, in other words 'Don't worry about the world comin tu an endtoday. it's already tmrw in austrialia' "

You know, that quote was meant to get you to relax about the state of the world, not meant to remind those in Australia that if the world came to an end, they'd get hit first...

Kids will be kids.

"Jon Wong... I honestly don't mean to offend you (again)... But what on earth is concurrent education? It sounds like something terrorists study..."
-- Christina Nadarajah

Well, as long as the offending was honestly not meant...

And she took my 400th wall post to write that too.

But Grant made a somewhat smutty comparison between him being the 401st wall post and the freeway number he took to make his numerous trips to Kingston. It was actually an interesting observation, though not as funny as Christina thinking that Con-Ed is a program that terrorists study.

ANYHOW! I am done with elementary school (I passed) for now. I am taking the next week before my departure off to engage in such things as Bright Eyes concerts, sick Omair visitations, room painting, and other such activities. I think everything worked out very well in terms of timing, scheduling, and all that.

Ok, I dealt with my first serious behavioral problem today at school and I'm convinced of one thing. Our schools in York Region are far too lenient with regards to dealing with and following up problems. But maybe you think I'm being too conservative so let's break down the incident and you decide:

During a game of soccer in Phys. Ed. class, Matthew gets into a disagreement with another student. What draws my attention to him is that fact he firstly screamed in anger at this other student, then proceeds to storm away swearing up a storm. Alright, so by this time, he's heading off school property and if there's one thing I'm not allowed to do is let an 11 year old boy walk off school property during class. So I tell him to stop and stay on school property. He ignores me and I proceed to cut him off.

By this point, he's worked himself up into a first class rage and I sit him down at the edge of the field. He proceeds to spew off a slew of violent (and profane) recriminations while I attempt to stop him. Well, he's not getting any happier sitting where he is and he seems to be in the mood to argue. Eventually, he storms back towards the school and when he gets to his classmates, proceeds to attack a boy named Gabriel. The substitute teacher finally notices this last act (of attack Gabriel) and sends Matthew to the office.

So he's the in office, working himself to another first class fit of rage; swearing, spitting, all the good stuff and I file my first incident report ever. And when it's all said and done, the teacher talks to me and says she's going to bring Matthew out for a walk during 5th period and that we're going to try to just "roll things over" and get back into the regular school schedule.

Excuse me? You're going to try to "roll things over" with an 11 year old boy who swore, spat, attacked a fellow student, and showed complete and utter disrespect for his teachers and fellow students? What is he, a victim? As much as you all love "regularity" and as much as you would prefer that everything was normal and trouble free all the time, these things are going to happen. You can't just turn a blind eye towards it and try to pretend it never happened by "rolling over it". So all the teachers are talking about how students are swearing earlier, learning about sex and drugs earlier, and are generally more disrespectful than before. Ya think?! With a slack disciplinary policy like this? No kidding! No fucking kidding.

Oh God, today's 06/06/06. Run for the hills!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On another note, I am just loving my life at this point in time. Every damned second of it.

For those of you who are having a crappy day, I apologize. I just felt like sharing that and well, I wanted to post on 06/06/06 so...

Oh and not only that, the Angels are playing the Devil Rays today too. God, I'm just loving this day.

"Mr. Wong, you shouldn't eat that part of the cupcake!"
"Why on earth not?!"
"It's made of plastic"
-- Edward Q.

Does anyone have any idea where Muskoka Woods is? It sounds like the middle of nowhere to me and yet, it's apparently always heavily booked with visitors.

On an editting note. This probably doesn't pertain to many people who read this blog, but if you request for me to edit your essay, understand that it will take time. I am a very careful, deliberate, and picky editor and therefore, do not expect your essay back in 5 minutes. I can however, guarentee you that I shall dissect your essay to the point where it should be as structurally sound as it can get. I had a run-in tonight with one S. Wilkinson, who, showing flashes of brilliancy, decided not to start writing her English ISP until 8 PM... and this is an essay that's due today (being Monday) in school. Editting essays, you can always sort of tell how long people spend on it. This one for example, actually looked like "an essay that wasn't started until 8 PM the night before". I don't know how well I managed to salvage this one.

On another point, I am apt to make saracastic comments in the margins of any essay I edit. If you have a sense of humour, you should be alright.

I actually find editting essays very relaxing.

Oh god, I'm becoming more of a teacher every day!