My Life after CELTA

After an interestingly bad night's sleep, my day was surprisingly okay. However, I'm still trying to figure out what I would have done without my espresso, but I shouldn't dwell on it, I reckon. Anyway, I was rather productive before lunch. I finalised the lesson plan for tomorrow, and before I knew it, my stomach sent me signals poking me to prowl for the next meal.  Frankfurter was my best choice today, and I even gave Abby some. The after-lunch espresso saved my beacon and enabled me to take Abby for her afternoon walk, during which I heard so many strange stories from one of our "dog-friends" that I almost fainted. When we returned home, I tried to sit back and relax, but it dawned on me that the plank in the back garden was waiting for its third layer of paint. So, with this in mind, I hurried into the back garden and started my shift in the DIY gild. It took me an hour to complete the job, but the plank looks amazing now.  Sitting in the living room to have ...

I taught an English lesson for my beginner student today. The class was about pronouns, and at the end of the lesson, she said she enjoyed it very much. It was good to hear, and it made me feel good. After the class, we jumped in the car and went to the craftsman store to buy a 10-meter-long extension cable. And since Burger King was nearby, we grabbed a menu there. We know it's junk food, but "c'est la vie". When we returned home, I grabbed a coffee and continued my DIY project. I sealed the back door but didn't have time to apply the silicon layer. I'll do it tomorrow, and the door will be winter-proof. The rest of the day went by quickly. I gave Ági a foot massage, and once I finished it, I turned on the central heating. I had to run up and down between the attic and the basement to adjust the water pressure in the system. It took me forty turns to complete the job. Now, my thighs look like that of a kangaroo. I'll jump about from now on instead of walk...

Before another weak attempt from summer to bring back the warm days, autumn showed its strength last night. We woke up to a chilly morning today. I had to put on an extra layer when I took Abby for her morning walk, and I didn't mind it.  My level of productivity soared today. After breakfast and slurping the much-needed coffee, I completed my beginner student's lesson plan. I think I made an excellent plan. It focuses on pronouns - as we discussed the other day - and gives her plenty of opportunity to practice using them. I had to drink another cup of coffee after we devoured our lunch. But it gave me the strength to rush to the basement and complete the job I'd started yesterday. I haven't finished it yet, but I'm on it, and tomorrow I can complete it. The weather is windy and cold. It rained a bit, but it hardly will solve the problem of arid soil. Still, autumn has made its entry, although in a peculiarly feeble way. I'm not saying that we should get the ful...

The world has turned upside down. It has never been a peaceful place. Even nature and the animal kingdom are brimming with fights for survival, territory, and just for the sake of it. One might think humans are much different, and common sense would inhibit such horrendous acts, but no. We are no different, however much we want to cloak our bloody history. It has never ceased to amaze me how nefarious people can be.  I'm sorry for this gloomy intro. The unexpected and sudden war in Israel made me think about how close we are to Biblical times. There have been sundry portents indicating that humanity is heading towards its extinction. The ongoing Ukrainian and the recently unleashed Israeli wars make everyone uneasy; no wonder I'm not in the mood for writing.  Anyway, my day was great. I could complete the A2 group's lesson plan, and I even began to put together my beginner student's next lesson. Besides planning, I could find time to learn as well. I reviewed my previou...

I was far more conscious about what to wear when I took Abby for her morning walk today than yesterday. The winter socks and pants with the fleece jacket protected me from the cold morning air. I was proud of myself for having such foresight. Even with the early morning prudence, I couldn't bring myself to continue the DIY session by sandpapering the wooden fence. I simply didn't see myself doing it. Instead, I buckled down to prepare the next lesson for my A2 group. Boy, was I happy about it? Completing the lesson plan gave me so much strength that I made up my mind and cleared the hallway in the basement. When I applied a chlorine-based liquid to the walls to remove the mould patches, I realised the walls weren't in bad condition. I was over the moon because it meant I didn't have to worry about removing the plaster and re-plaster them again. I can complete the job by applying a thin layer of spackling paste and painting the walls, which seems like child's play. I...

The railing in the front garden is ready, and it looks fantastic. The locksmith came around 9 a.m. and finished the job at 6 p.m. In the meantime, I could prepare my next lesson with my beginner student. In the afternoon, I had to drive to buy some screws, but since I screwed up the first purchase - I only bought half of the requested amount, which I still need to figure out why - I had to drive in the afternoon jam to buy another batch. Anyway, the main thing is that the railing is ready, and who cares if I had to go to and fro twice? The weather is still baffling. The highest temperature was around +25°C, meaning I could wear my beloved TEVA sandals and shirt. I really enjoy this late summer, although the calendar has a different notion of the actual season. According to the latest forecast, the weather will be similar in the next ten days, so the late summer is on our side. I still need to correct some glitches on the fences, so the high temperature is precisely what we need.

Another terrible night's sleep resulted in me waking up grumpy - I woke up several times, again. (I checked my sleeping pattern on my Apple watch, and according to the app, I took some steps during the night, which I can't remember at all. I hope I'm not a somnambulist!) When I made my way down to the living room, Ági and Abby were ready for the morning walk, so I dragged my weary body along with them to the local store to buy something for breakfast. After coming home and devouring the nosh, I looked forward to gulping down the much-needed coffee. Little had I had to wait till the effects of caffeine showed some progress on my mood. Since Ági had two classes to teach this morning, I finally went to my den to study. I reviewed Charlette's lesson; I had to look up a couple of words in the dictionary. Our schedule is not complete without visiting the craftsman store. Since there were no other engagements on our calendars for today, we jumped in the car and drove to the st...

The show must go on. The mouldy Walls seemed the same after spraying them with an anti-mould solution, so I had to deploy something stronger. It took me almost two hours to clean up the mess generated by the intervention yesterday, apply a new layer of anti-mould spray on the walls, and thoroughly ventilate the premises. My throat was full of that strong chlorine-based chemical for hours. Eating Ági's pizza felt like being in a swimming pool - especially the one when I was a kid, whose water was snow-white from the excessive amount of chlorine they used to disinfect the pool. Anyway, I took Ági to her hair-dresser, and then I went to buy some goods I needed to revamp the basement office. On the way home, I stopped at the supermarket to buy goods for the rest of the week to get by till our holiday in Austria. But till then, there is a lot to do: Tomorrow Check the walls and if they are dry, putting back my desk and the sofa to their places. Separating the essential and the throw-awa...

We completed the back garden today. Well, a few tasks are left to fiddle with, but at least we can sit there and enjoy the subtle temperatures in the mornings with Abby. She won't be able to run into the common garden for the fence. I finished the paint job that awaited me and enjoyed the sun till lunch. We enjoyed the delicious food on the balcony and the ice-cold beer I drank afterwards. I haven't drunk beer for over ten years, and this 3 decilitre of golden sap hit me in the head. No wonder I slept like a log for 45 minutes. Anyway, the rest of the day went by quickly. We watched two episodes of Dexter, and then I gave Ági an English class about tenses focusing on Present Perfect Simple and Continuous/Progressive. It was intense, and I hoped she could grab the gist of these tenses. It's not easy for the Hungarian brain to comprehend how these tenses work because we are wont to express it with adverbs or simply the present or past tense describe what the perfect tenses in...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABBY! I spent the day with my new friend, ChatGPT. I found new ways to enhance and improve my inputs to get the best answers from AI, and today it worked like a charm. This large language model - depending on the input, of course - can be a terribly useful tool to help improve one's English. However, the only caveat one should keep in mind while trying to get familiar with this tool is it requires precise input; otherwise, it cannot produce useful answers. Apart from my AI session, the locksmith came to finish the fence in the back garden, and it looks amazing. The frame is black, the slates are white, and it looks beautiful. Not to mention how useful it is because we can sit in our little garden with Abby without keeping an eye on her because the fence prevents her from running about in the common garden - which, by the way, is a complete shambles. The next turn is the front garden, where we need stairs and a fence to go out there with Abby.  The weather was hot tod...

The DIY frenzy doesn't seem to cease. I painted the door of the electric meter's box, and it is ready, apart from the door handle, I need to install tomorrow. The inside of the box could do with a revamp, too, but there is better timing for such menial labour. I have to paint the wooden slates that the locksmith will install on Friday, so I have plenty of things to deal with in the next few days. I wanted to buckle down to my homework, but I couldn't distance myself from ChatGPT's assistance. I asked it to help me rephrase sentences, check them, provide feedback and recommend ways to improve my writing. It did a fantastic job, and I was impressed by how brilliant synonyms and idiomatic expressions it could offer me. The weather is hot. The highest temperature was around 30-31°C with slightly cloudy skies, but no rain today resulted in 28-29°C in the attic. I had to switch on the AC units because I felt like a sullen monkey.

I didn't have a restful sleep yesterday night. It wasn't too bad, however, it's been a while since I last had a good night's sleep, meaning not waking up during the night and not feeling knackered, waking up before the alarm goes off, and feeling utterly weak after dragging myself out of bed. Anyway, after finishing our regular morning routine and watching another episode of Dexter, I buckled down to study until lunch. Today I asked ChatGPT to create five random sentences that I had to rewrite, and it could check fro grammar, syntax, and semantics, provide feedback, and recommend ways to improve my sentences. I enjoyed our cooperation, and it seemed good at responding, assessing, and recommending how to improve. When I completed my studies with ChatGPT, I prepared lunch. After we ate the nosh, I took Ági to her hairdresser and drove to the craftsmen's store to buy some paints and screws. The DIY frenzy wouldn't stop this year, apparently. There is this box in th...

I continued my shrubbery-trimming ordeal this morning, which, quite frankly, does my head in. Whenever I have to think of the bush in the garden, I feel like a grumpy cat. After breakfast, I grabbed my tools and cut another part of the humongous bush. Many plants were among the over-grown shrub branches, which I found somewhat unsettling since neither Ági nor I planted anything there but bush. I suspect the neighbours might have gone clandestine and taken matters into their own hands. Anyway, it's already part of the past because I culled the dried branches along with the not-brush-type of plants. It took me another hour to complete the task, but it was worth my effort. Once I finished the job, I showered and prepared lunch - nothing fancy, just spaghetti with tuna. While we were devouring the nosh, we watched another episode of "Dexter". Once we finished the food and the episode, we went to the bank to close my entrepreneur account. Then ate ice cream at the famous ...

I took the grinding machine back to the store because it had kept ruining the belts. I was fuming after seeing it destroy the belts. I could complete the unfinished piece, but the machine wouldn't function properly even after replacing the belt. At the store, they guided me through the whole process step by step. I was asked what had happened. They recorded an error report and my name, both postal and email addresses, and telephone number, and they'd send the item to the factory service to find out what caused the problem. According to the store employee, it takes two to four weeks for them to respond, so my railing renovation plans are ruined. I should have bought a slightly more expensive device! As for my English: I had time to go through one more unit in the B2 vocabulary builder book. Since it didn't contain any unknown word, I completed it in no time. However, apart from this short-lived session, I didn't do anything else. I must find my way back to my intensive s...

Ági's got promoted! After successfully completing her habilitation, she will be appointed as an associate professor from September 2023. WHAT GREAT NEWS! I'm so proud of her, and she is such a brilliant mind. Well done! Finally, I can call her "docenském" :) I went to see my mates at the craftsman shop with the intention of replacing the machine that had demised yesterday. Well, demise is not an accurate term to describe what went wrong, but suffice to say it seemed it couldn't live up to my expectations. Anywho, I asked around and found out that they were more than happy to replace it, provided that it is in its original package and I've got the receipt. With this in mind I drove back home like a heavily sedated F1 pilot.  For reasons I don't want to discuss here I didn't start to clean the machine instead. I was focusing on the toilet and lunch. With that in mind, I began my cleaning-lady session. After completing the task and before preparing lunch,...

The Death of the Hobby Grinding Machine Today's events could have been better planned. Upon waking up, I knew I'd continue the railing renovation, but I wasn't anticipating a kind of chain reaction. On a sudden impulse, I disassembled the rest of the railing, and while I was painting the iron parts I realised that the railing on our balcony could do with a bit of paint. It took me three hours to finish the job, but the outcome was remarkable. I was quite pleased with myself, so after lunch - rice with tuna, tomato, cucumber, and parsley - I took a 45-minute nap. While slumbering, it dawned on me to finish parts of the wooden handholds of the railing, so I was eager to use the grinding machine. When I woke up, I felt like another man, knackered but full of energy, so I grabbed a coffee and took Abby for her afternoon walk. At 2:30 p.m., I started to work on the handholds. When I switched on the machine, it seemed swift and professional. I was filled with exceptional enthusia...