First day of real lecture as, ahem, Prof. Amy. To let you in on why I haven't posted much lately, I have been busy with getting around showing my face to my four Humanities I classes last Monday and Tuesday. Just spent 20 minutes with all classes - class policy of one (mobile phones to be placed on silent mode, very, very important!, grading system (I wonder why the sample grading systems I've gotten from my co-teachers emphasize this), etc.

Finally spoke this afternoon to my MWF class. For a 1-2 class, they're surprisingly awake and quite a number raised their hands, some even several times. Nice way of starting my lectures. I try not to make them lectures (i.e., me talking to the board, me talking all the time, etc.) My killer would be the remaining three classes tomorrow. Wahoo!

Update on the owl: I did get to see it! It's a medium-sized owl, but it really doesn't go hoo-hoo; instead it goes hwist-hwist. (Can't think of any other way to spell it.) We were planning to take a photo. Unfortunately, we did buy film but no one in the house knows how to load film INTO the camera. Oist!

Just to prove that our house is an animal menagerie, let me tell you the story of two snakes who decided to make the boarders' bathroom and the printer their summer villas.

Printer snake
There are periods when the printer is not in use. So when Tatay had to use it, it didn't operate the way it's supposed to. The printer fix-it guy opened it and.....saw shedded (is that the correct past tense of 'shed'? Just checking) snake skin inside. Which means only the obvious - some enterprising snake felt like making the printer his downtime place. The guy managed to fix it (reconnecting some damaged wires, etc.) but it was never the same.

Bathroom snake
One evening, one of our boarders went to the bathroom when she came face to face with a medium-sized snake coiled behind the door. Of course, call the only male in the house - Tatay - to kill it with, of course again, an itak, aiming for the head. After several unsuccessful tries, the snake was bludgeoned.

So you see, our house is no stranger to occasional visits from various creatures of the backyard. I won't be surprised if one morning I wake up to find one of those gree garden lizards staring at me from the ceiling. After all we do live at the foot of a mountain. We've learned to embrace the, uh, ecosystem that is our house and yard.

CD of the month: Elephant by the White Stripes. A quick review next time.