Assorted...

.:Minor Gripes:.

That cousin of Mark Lim's? That really nice one? Ah, well. She apparently smokes. Too bad, but them's the breaks.

On the other hand, the L5R deck is currently being sold online. The one I was supposed to buy. I guess I have to do something about that.

And yeah... got my letter of appointment to WAVE already, and I'll be probationary for the next six months (I'll talk about the stipulations in it next time...), effective July 1. The gripe about this? It's not retroactive, by the looks of the letter. That essentially means I get nothing but "hey, thanks" for working a near full month in June... that's too bad. I may not be money-hungry, but that's a full month's paycheck we're talking about...

.:A Major Gripe:.

Remember the bastiches who held my mom up in a hotel inside job? If you don't, I'm telling you now. As it's an inside job, the effing bastiches know where we live, since my mom checked into the hotel and inadvertently wrote down her address. Now we know trouble is brewing at this point...

My mom texted me this morning. Apparently, they've started making their presence felt around our residence. Oh, shoot. This is not going to be pretty.

.:My First Class:.

Mr. Bulaong: What did your friend say after she observed your class?

Marcelle: While I was a wee bit undertime, she actually said I was teaching quite clearly and concisely. :) Pogi points, kumbaga. She also liked my enthusiasm. :)

Mr. Bulaong: You should have told her that there's more to be liked. Plus- enthusiasm is for boys, passion is for men. Ask her if she can tell the diff, he he he. Thanks again, Marcelle. I hope you had a good time, a taste of teaching. Do you want your own classes, eventually?

Marcelle: Is snow made of ice? Do fish like water? Of course I do! :) I hope to be able to teach within the next two years. Thank you for the opportunity.

That's more or less the exchange between me and Mr. Bulaong after the classes I took over for him were over and done with. I suppose I really owe him for that, as I really enjoyed myself there...

The class was essentially an introduction to Aristotle. Mr. Bulaong wanted me to talk to them about who Aristotle is, and then show them how Aristotle considers the good in contrast to Plato. Whereas, for instance, Plato believed that there is only one, universal idea for the good, Aristotle believes that there are many ideas of the good.

This notion of multiple goods is reflected in the fact that one's notion of what makes a cheesecake good is not the same as one's notion of what makes a table good. In fact, the notion of what makes, say, a wrestler, good changes as well. Twenty years ago, a five-move wonder like Hulk Hogan (Clothesline, Punch, Kick, Big Boot, Leg Drop.) was a good wrestler. Nowadays, not too many people think that. They would say that a guy like Shawn Michaels or Chris Benoit is a good wrestler. If there were only one, universal idea of what a good wrestler is, why would people stop thinking that Hogan is a good wrestler?

I got going into that groove, and then I told them that because these notions are all different, then there can't be one universal idea of what is good. If my cheesecake clotheslined me, that doesn't make it a good cheesecake. If we were to pretend that there were a universal idea, since as human beings, we are unable to grasp it, then it becomes a useless idea.

With that in mind, I proceeded to get them to thinking about what could possibly be the ultimate good for Aristotle, and they realized that it was euadimonia, or flourishing. I then gave them the urban legend about Mr. Callassanz, and told them how "why not" is not the best answer to the question "why". Rather, it is "why ask why". Both classes found this point interesting, although the first class was a lot more inquisitive than the second class, who turned out to be rather docile for the most part. Still, I liked teaching those classes. If I weren't a nice guy, I would've wished that Mr. Bulaong still call in sick for tomorrow and ask me to sub again... but I'm too nice to wish something like that... even if he did call me a cabron...

Sacha sat in on the first class, and she found it amusing. She even took pictures of me while I was teaching. This one, I quote from her wiki:

"Marcelle substituted for Mr. Bulaong in two of yesterday's Philosophy classes. I think he did quite well. I sat in his first class and watched the students respond to his enthusiasm. He looked like he was having tons of fun. He'll make a great teacher yet. *laugh*"

I was a bit... arrogant during the second class, though. Something about my being "the only student to get an A with Mr. Bulaong last semester"...

In any case, when I was on my way to the Calf this morning, I met one of the girls there in the second class I subbed for. I think she was my groupmate in Public Relations two years ago or something, so she sort of remembered me. She told me that I had a really nice lecture yesterday, and I guess that was the perfect shot in the arm for me headed into this day...