OMG so little time, so much to do. And I'm moving so slowly too. It's like that when you first start marking, you never know what to expect in the answers you read. It takes time to see the various permutations that are possible, and once a pattern starts emerging then things can go much faster. But for the moment I'm still at the feeling swamped stage. And tired. Oh, I mentioned that before, didn't I?

Glad I only had one relief invigilation. It was this afternoon during the math paper. 1 hour relieving Fook Khim the next relieving Weng Heng. It is so hot in the 3rd floor classrooms. The heat reflects off the sunshade over the gallery and bounces directly into the room. Even the fans going at full blast can't do much about it. Hardest thing about invigilation is staying awake. The students have their minds at full steam working out answers to their test questions, the invigilator has no stimulation at all, whatsoever, nada. Just stand, sit, walk around and constantly watch whatever non-activity is happening, or rather not happening in the room. There are occasions when you black out for a split-second -- your head jerks backwards because your neck muscles no longer function, or if you're standing you suddenly pitch forward as your mind forgets to fight gravity while it reboots.

I had to keep myself awake repeating song lyrics in my head. Today it was "Truly, Madly, Deeply" by Savage Garden and "Song for Whoever" by Beautiful South. It just so happened the latter song was what Cara insisted on playing in her car as we drove to our unofficial staff canteen for lunch with our usual lunch crowd. The song stuck in my head for a while. I also had to imagine wild but impractical lesson plans for my classes just so I could keep the mental gears going to stay awake.

Oh yeah! Cara let me drive her car back onto campus after lunch. The controls are so sensitive and I had quite a time getting a feel of how much pressure to apply to the accelerator, the brakes, and trying to remember my driving theory at the same time. Just before the college gates, Anthony remarked that I must be getting the hang of it 'cos I just hit 40kmh. Idiot.

OK, wasted enough time... back to marking!