UPDATE 4 MINIT ... after dawn

 Tuesday, July 4th, 2023, 6.45am, Kuantan

After dawn

The moon lingers

Saying hello to the sun

IN THE MIDST OF CHAOS ... there is peace and serenity

 Salam and good day,

Here I am again, ready to begin another semester. Seems like just yesterday I finished teaching the third semester. 

This semester, instead of online teaching, (which I have sort of gotten used to by now), the university wants us to do hybrid lesson. Hybrid, meaning, a combination of online and face to face lesson., ie: 50% of each. Sounds simple enough. Well, it is anything but simple. 

The 50% face to face and online only applies to students' learning time, 

For the lecturers, its actually 100% face to face, but in the face to face class, only 50% of the students will be physically present and the remaining will have it as an online lesson. That's one scenario. I know. It's complicated.

Anyway, the hybrid lesson consists of six different scenarios based to the actual number of students who are physically on campus and those who are not. Therefore, if I have six sections to teach, and unluckily, have six different scenarios, well... chaos would be an understatement. I'm literally heading into a storm. 

The bright side is this coming semester would be my second last before I'm off to my retirement. Sooo looking forward to it. I'm  just too old for this mode of teaching.

Speaking of storm, it's October now, and we can expect a visit from our dear friend, the North East monsoon in a few weeks. Yes, Mr Monsoon will come with abundance of rain, leaving a trail of destruction in its path. That gives me an idea for a November poem. Hopefully, I will have the time to think about it, you know, with all the chaos.

But, for now, I need something soothing... here it is...

Despite, the title, My Melancholy Blues, This song is not at all depressing. It is the most peaceful and serene song ever.

related post : death-on-two-legs-dedicated-to.

I'M HANGING ONTO THE CLOUDS .... by my fingertips

 

 I'm hanging onto the clouds 

by my fingertips

  I curse the wind

 I curse the sea

I curse the moonlight

wishing they would stop mocking 

and just let me be

                              I'm hanging onto the clouds

by my fingertips

way beneath I could see

a sea of smiling faces

thousands of helping hands 

beckoning me

to come down

                              Still I hung onto the clouds

by the very end of my fingertips

and

When my strength grudgingly hands me over 

 to the grasping arms of gravity

and  the earth gets to lay its hands on me

dare they be my safety net

                                          or

would they

with a smile plastered on their faces

mutter...poor thing

and go on to talk about politics

so

I shall keep hanging onto the clouds 

by the strength of my fingertips....

HAWK-MOTH ... oleander or jade

 Salam and good day

3 hari lepas, sewaktu saya sedang mengemas bahagian hadapan rumah, saya ternampak setompok daun melekat pada eksoz motor anak saya yang sudah tidak digunakan. Namun, sewaktu saya mendekati untuk menyapu daun itu, saya dapati yang ia bukan daun, sebaliknya seekor kupu-kupu yang agak pelik rupanya. Pelik bagi saya kerana tak pernah terjumpa kupu-kupu seperti itu. 

inilah kupu-kupu yang saya jumpa

Selepas mengambil beberapa photo, saya biarkan saja kupu-kupu itu. Out of curiosity, saya google gambar species kupu-kupu di Malaysia, namun tiada yang padan. Saya google pula rama-rama di Malaysia, sama juga, tiada padanan. Lama juga lah saya mencari, berpuluh-puluh gambar kupu-kupu dan rama-rama yang saya tengok. Akhirnya, saya google 'moth' dan saya dapat dua gambar yang agak serupa dengan yang saya jumpa. 

s

species pertama adalah Daphnis nerii, the oleander hawk-moth atau army green moth dari keluarga Sphingidae atau hawkmoth. 

Oleander hawk-moth/daphnis nerii 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphnis_nerii

species kedua adalah Daphnis hypothous, the jade hawk-moth, dari keluarga yang sama.

Jade hawk-moth/daphnis hypothous
https://tpittaway.tripod.com/china/d_hyp.htm

Apparently, terdapat sedikit perbezaan antara keduanya, tetapi, saya bukan seorang entomologist, jadi saya gagal membezakan antara kedua species. Menurut cucu saya yang berusia 9 tahun, ' the top one has the same pattern, but, the bottom one has the same colour'. 

what do you think?


References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphnis_nerii

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphnis_hypothous

https://tpittaway.tripod.com/china/d_hyp.htm