I wake up drunk on sleep and wonder what went wrong during the night?
It’s not 5:30 in the morning any more. It’s closer to 6:30. What happened to my trusty alarm?
Then I go over what that Quenntis guy did yesterday and I understand why I feel the way I do today.
I urge my electric toothbrush to brush faster, and by the time the shower has helped me feel human again, I am getting dressed, checking the weather, and wondering about the push and pull of creativity.
My wife tells me to grab a steamed egg and cucumber from the steamer. I drop them in cold water and check that the kids are almost ready for school.
I also pack the avocado pip for a fellow teacher who wants to grow avocados in his classroom. I imagine avocados popping out the windows as the tree pushes higher and higher until the students have finally learned that life is wild and can grow in unexpected places.
I am near the front of the train in carriage 11, seat 33. Nobody’s sitting near me today.
Strange.
On the way to school I stop at the PXMart to get tomatoes, cucumbers, and some cheese. I am trying to expose my students to more vegetables and fruits by doing taste tests and surveys about all the healthy food we can eat (and should eat). It makes me smile to see children trying food for the first time and expressing why they like it or don’t like it.
Yum or Yuck?
Rain is forecast for the afternoon so I ride my “Harry Stylish” bike back to the train station and get my Suzuki scooter after lunch.
I take a selfie with a lifesize image of Tanjiro Kamado, the main character in a Netflix show called Demon Slayer. He’s a whole head shorter than me, but his eyes are huge, and he has much more hair than me… He’s more strange than stranger, but he’ll do for now.
I skip dinner because I had a large lunch.
My son is very motivated to go for a run again tonight. I don’t really feel like it, but I put on my shoes and jog around the school running track with him for 20 minutes. This time we stretch first and he shows me some of the warmups they do at school during PE classes. We walk home to cool down.
The heavy afternoon rain arrives suddenly at 7:00 and we scamper back home, soaked and laughing.
I edit 2 short stories for a friend of mine who is a talented podcaster in Taiwan. She has 3 adorable children. We used to work together for a popular children’s English magazine which has sadly closed.
I’m listening to the Cloud Atlas movie soundtrack. What glorious music!
Tammy Lai-Ming Ho, a poet and editor I admire, received a Highly Commended prize for her “Love Poem with Typos.” I just love the idea of putting typos into a poem. What a great way to play with language and to be creative.
I’ll share the image and the short poem here. Perhaps you’ll be inspired to try and make a purposeful mistake or two in your own writing.
Here’s a link to The Forward Book of Poetry 2025 if you want to find out more.