Thursday, January 3, 2008

ramrod

Registration day at my school went surprisingly like a breeze. Met parents I have met in the on the same day in previous years, and they kept asking if I have plans of transferring from the school this year. And most of them also included that I should just whallop their kids if they start acting up in school. No questions asked.

Then had staff meeting. Had lunch/farewell party for a colleague who appealed his transfer. Back in town. Stuck in a hair salon till 7pm. Ended up with very straight and very flat hair. Not exactly miserable with it, because All I wanted to do was iron out the kinks in my hair. And now it looks rather... ugly. Makes my face look like a baloon. I hope I will gain some sort of wave and volume after my next wash. Damn it.

Came home. Housemates too tired to wanna even help me cook, so went out with the new plastic hair to a restaurant. Was totally embarrassed when these people all stopped eating and stared at us till we all sat down at our place.

Don't mean to be so full of myself. But that never happened before. Their reaction to us being there (we always ate there and see the same faces time and time again, we never said anything to most of them except for the ones I know from work and from the department who would come by our table for a short chat or if they just waved at me and just say something from their table) could have been caused by one of these :

1. My hair made me look like a hideous ghost in a Korean horror flick cuz I can't tie it back yet said the hair stylist who chemical treated and hot iron treated it to death;

or

2. They saw these 3 fat girls with a skinny one thinking we must have been stealing food from her plate all this while;

or

3. Most of them were busy mouthing about me and my evil ways and was shocked to see me actually being there, like seeing a real ghost.

Most of the tables seemed like they were occupied by these young male teachers and the new young teachers who must have been recently posted here in this town, they must have been briefing these new teachers that there is an evil hag who has been in this town wreaking endless misery and pain on the people around her and how she does not deserve to be here among the people of the same profession and how she seems like she is never leaving this God forsaken place and leave them in peace. And with any luck, they might catch a glimpse of her at the restaurant because she always goes there with her party of 'friends' or 'cronies' or whatever they are.

Oh, the evil old hag being me, which had been sort of a favorite past time of this Kelantanese couple which I had written in a previous post of how these two people enjoyed talking badly of me with every new teacher they met so every one of them would look at me in disgust whenever they saw me out there. The strange thing is, I did spend 2 days and nights in a party of 9 people on the island of Labuan back in 99 on our way to Lawas to our first postings, but I never said a word to him. But the stranger bit would be, his wife, whom I have never met, also mouths off about me with such clarity as if she had even met me.

Which is fine. Because I don't need these losers in my life lah.

Why am I making all these assumptions? Cuz they all f*cking stopped and gaped at us for a full 20 seconds from the time we left my car and as we walked towards the place and took our seats. It was an open air place, but you could cut the tension in the air with a knife!

My housemates and I ate and talked and some of the other patrons whom I had known since I came here, made friendly gestures and commented on how I look a little different with the new hairstyle. Oh God, it was a disaster if they asked me. But I just responded as nicely and warmly as old friends should. One of my ex-student who is now is also a teacher in a primary school in town even stopped by our table and commented that he didn't know who I was when he first got to the restaurant because I looked so young.

Ha Ha.

It was a good day which ended rather strangely. But it was a good day.

And today went very well too. The usual first day of school stuff.

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