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jdmkleinWhile i was in a meeting
Master had some excitement at home. A ship exploded right in front of our place. He got video of most of it, but not the first explosion.
Oh, it was a planned thing. The Kuwait Navy/Coast Guard was having a practice.
This morning when i was getting ready to go to the meeting, i looked out the bedroom window and there was a fire boat spraying water from all its hoses. i'd seen pictures of this but never seen it in person. The actual spraying is sort of neat, but even more fascinating to me is the start-up and the shut-down. To watch the water appear and disappear from the air is something that enchants me.
Back to my story.
Later in the morning, Master had noticed a bunch of boats out in front but thought nothing of it. Our part of the Gulf is quite busy. We probably see between 35 and 100 tankers on any given day. Add pleasure boats on weekends, and Navy boats and tugs and there is seldom a time i look out the front window that i don't see a ship.
As soon as He heard the first explosion, Master went to the patio to see what was going on. (This would not have been my first move. Perhaps, after i had been pulled out from under the desk, i would have gone to the patio.) He got there in time for the second explosion. He went to get the video camera and returned in time to catch the fire boat on tape.
We haven't decided yet, just what the plan entailed, because the fire boat never actually hit the exploded boat with any water from its hoses. Maybe they were waiting for the radio man to call in the coordinates. It was a pretty magnificent affair to watch even without the fire actually being put out. Master missed the sinking of the ship, but we think it must have gone down. He said there was no sign of it being towed to another destination. We wonder if the gov't is making a reef near the sea club. i have no idea where we got that thought, but it could happen, i guess.
Master's cinematographic expertise is fine on filming ships on fire and fire boats missing it with water, but He leaves a little to be desired on His endings. There is about a 35 second piece on the patio wall that made my stomach sick. i knew what it was as soon as i saw it. i also knew it was not in the right perspective. If my world isn't squared away, i get vertigo. i nearly fell off the bed from dizziness.
While He was having all the fun i was in a meeting that was productive, distracting, aggravating, and innervating all at the same time.
Our curriculum has been in the process of revision for the past 2 years. Today's meeting was the first time all four courses have been viewed by all the unit's members at one time. We now are working on making sure that the courses are in alignment linearly as well as laterally.
At the beginning of the meeting the Director had asked us to all agree on certain givens for the curriculum. He also asked us agree to follow a specific format for discussion of each course. The first two courses went well. We completed the discussions within the time alloted, and they were good and productive.
With the third course, one of the teachers couldn't wait to get her additions to the work on the floor and started a debate before anyone was ready. We went over the time intended and didn't get nearly as much accomplished as we could have regarding the discussion of the course. By the time we finally got closure for this course, everyone's emotions were running high.
There was no acrimony or discord, but everyone had something that was the MOST important point to add to the discussion, so everyone was talking at once, and no one was listening.
Finally it was time for the last course, the one i teach. My colleague, immediately began an apology for the course and for any problems the others might have with it. i interrupted him and asked him to hold off his apology until we were sure one was really needed.
There was considerable discussion about the course. He and i look at it from one perspective, and that is how we taught it, as a research writing course. The other members of the unit looked at it as a language course and questioned many of our grading practices. That put my colleague even more on the defensive. He is young, this is his first position overseas, he is an idealist, inexperienced, and immature in his teaching. He has the ability to be an excellent teacher if he doesn't burn out before he acquires that experience and maturity and loses a bit of his idealism. He took many of the things discussed personally. He became more defensive and then sarcastic. Not meanly so, or argumentatively so, but more along the lines of being less and less sure of himself.
The constant babbling and one shouting above another to get the floor notwithstanding, i thought it was a good discussion of the course. We had valid well explained answers to all their questions. We do not yet see eye to eye, but that's ok. The sticking points are minor. They are only differing points of view. We can modify the course to become more in line with the vision of the others, but we don't have to. We probably will. This course is only two semesters old. My colleague and i are the only ones who have ever seen it as a whole. We are the only ones who have ever taught it. We got very good feedback on the layout of the course. There was no one who had any complaint about the content. There were just two minor sticking points. In that regard it was an excellent opportunity for us to have the course critiqued and make it better.
The downside of the whole meeting is that being humans, we all got emotional. Emotional humans, well teachers in particular, tend to get louder when they talk about their profession. That noisiness is what bothered me. It was not caustic, it was not argumentative. About the absolute worst i can say for it is that it was impolite. People shouting over one another to get their point heard. There was a lot of laughing and good natured black humor but far too frenetic for me. The last half of the meeting innervated me, if that is a correct use of the word. It made me nervous. i wasn't upset or angry, or anything like that, but my whole human system was on overload.
By the time i got home, i could barely stay inside my skin. i called my colleague and assured him again that the meeting had been good. We had a nice conversation on the phone. i hope he is feeling better about today. i wasn't ouchie with Master, i was never in danger of a reprimand, i don't think. But i knew i was being loud when we were talking. i could tell my side of the conversation was curt and clipped. i explained to Him what had taken place at work and why i was acting the way i was acting. He seems to have accepted that from me.
It is now nearly 9 p.m. and i am still unraveling.
On the upside, i don't have to go back to the office until next Tuesday. And i have the summer to experiment with the suggestions made in the meeting today. It was good for me professionally, personally it sucked.
Master had some excitement at home. A ship exploded right in front of our place. He got video of most of it, but not the first explosion.
Oh, it was a planned thing. The Kuwait Navy/Coast Guard was having a practice.
This morning when i was getting ready to go to the meeting, i looked out the bedroom window and there was a fire boat spraying water from all its hoses. i'd seen pictures of this but never seen it in person. The actual spraying is sort of neat, but even more fascinating to me is the start-up and the shut-down. To watch the water appear and disappear from the air is something that enchants me.
Back to my story.
Later in the morning, Master had noticed a bunch of boats out in front but thought nothing of it. Our part of the Gulf is quite busy. We probably see between 35 and 100 tankers on any given day. Add pleasure boats on weekends, and Navy boats and tugs and there is seldom a time i look out the front window that i don't see a ship.
As soon as He heard the first explosion, Master went to the patio to see what was going on. (This would not have been my first move. Perhaps, after i had been pulled out from under the desk, i would have gone to the patio.) He got there in time for the second explosion. He went to get the video camera and returned in time to catch the fire boat on tape.
We haven't decided yet, just what the plan entailed, because the fire boat never actually hit the exploded boat with any water from its hoses. Maybe they were waiting for the radio man to call in the coordinates. It was a pretty magnificent affair to watch even without the fire actually being put out. Master missed the sinking of the ship, but we think it must have gone down. He said there was no sign of it being towed to another destination. We wonder if the gov't is making a reef near the sea club. i have no idea where we got that thought, but it could happen, i guess.
Master's cinematographic expertise is fine on filming ships on fire and fire boats missing it with water, but He leaves a little to be desired on His endings. There is about a 35 second piece on the patio wall that made my stomach sick. i knew what it was as soon as i saw it. i also knew it was not in the right perspective. If my world isn't squared away, i get vertigo. i nearly fell off the bed from dizziness.
While He was having all the fun i was in a meeting that was productive, distracting, aggravating, and innervating all at the same time.
Our curriculum has been in the process of revision for the past 2 years. Today's meeting was the first time all four courses have been viewed by all the unit's members at one time. We now are working on making sure that the courses are in alignment linearly as well as laterally.
At the beginning of the meeting the Director had asked us to all agree on certain givens for the curriculum. He also asked us agree to follow a specific format for discussion of each course. The first two courses went well. We completed the discussions within the time alloted, and they were good and productive.
With the third course, one of the teachers couldn't wait to get her additions to the work on the floor and started a debate before anyone was ready. We went over the time intended and didn't get nearly as much accomplished as we could have regarding the discussion of the course. By the time we finally got closure for this course, everyone's emotions were running high.
There was no acrimony or discord, but everyone had something that was the MOST important point to add to the discussion, so everyone was talking at once, and no one was listening.
Finally it was time for the last course, the one i teach. My colleague, immediately began an apology for the course and for any problems the others might have with it. i interrupted him and asked him to hold off his apology until we were sure one was really needed.
There was considerable discussion about the course. He and i look at it from one perspective, and that is how we taught it, as a research writing course. The other members of the unit looked at it as a language course and questioned many of our grading practices. That put my colleague even more on the defensive. He is young, this is his first position overseas, he is an idealist, inexperienced, and immature in his teaching. He has the ability to be an excellent teacher if he doesn't burn out before he acquires that experience and maturity and loses a bit of his idealism. He took many of the things discussed personally. He became more defensive and then sarcastic. Not meanly so, or argumentatively so, but more along the lines of being less and less sure of himself.
The constant babbling and one shouting above another to get the floor notwithstanding, i thought it was a good discussion of the course. We had valid well explained answers to all their questions. We do not yet see eye to eye, but that's ok. The sticking points are minor. They are only differing points of view. We can modify the course to become more in line with the vision of the others, but we don't have to. We probably will. This course is only two semesters old. My colleague and i are the only ones who have ever seen it as a whole. We are the only ones who have ever taught it. We got very good feedback on the layout of the course. There was no one who had any complaint about the content. There were just two minor sticking points. In that regard it was an excellent opportunity for us to have the course critiqued and make it better.
The downside of the whole meeting is that being humans, we all got emotional. Emotional humans, well teachers in particular, tend to get louder when they talk about their profession. That noisiness is what bothered me. It was not caustic, it was not argumentative. About the absolute worst i can say for it is that it was impolite. People shouting over one another to get their point heard. There was a lot of laughing and good natured black humor but far too frenetic for me. The last half of the meeting innervated me, if that is a correct use of the word. It made me nervous. i wasn't upset or angry, or anything like that, but my whole human system was on overload.
By the time i got home, i could barely stay inside my skin. i called my colleague and assured him again that the meeting had been good. We had a nice conversation on the phone. i hope he is feeling better about today. i wasn't ouchie with Master, i was never in danger of a reprimand, i don't think. But i knew i was being loud when we were talking. i could tell my side of the conversation was curt and clipped. i explained to Him what had taken place at work and why i was acting the way i was acting. He seems to have accepted that from me.
It is now nearly 9 p.m. and i am still unraveling.
On the upside, i don't have to go back to the office until next Tuesday. And i have the summer to experiment with the suggestions made in the meeting today. It was good for me professionally, personally it sucked.
