Surprised by Joy

On August 15, 2006, the University of Asia and the Pacific, after close to ten years of patient waiting until their plan could finally mature into diabolical fruition, managed to render yours truly, for one of the few times in his life, speechless...for all of five seconds, but speechless for four seconds longer than usual nonetheless. I was surprised to receive the Most Outstanding Teacher Award for the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Asia and the Pacific, and I think I almost broke the record for "most capitalized words used in a sentence for this blog", which, in my humble opinion, reminds me that the award was for teaching, and not writing.

I was entirely serious when I mentioned, in my rambling, incoherent, "Al Pacino giving his acceptance speech for the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2003 Golden Globes mode" that I would like to thank all the students who suffered through my first four years of teaching, because I think I set new standards for brilliantly inconsistent teaching (for NBA fans, imagine Tim Thomas-like consistency, which is basically a long legacy of underachieving frustration occasionally punctuated by "Tim Thomas in the 2006 playoffs, wait, is it a contract year?" type performances) during those dark years. So, if any of my students from those wildly embarrassing times is reading this, please accept my heartfelt apologies, and the consuelo that at least your labors were not entirely in vain.

Please enjoy the pictures of the celebration dinner, which I wish I could have invited more people to, but considering that we held it in Le Souffle, I'm glad that not too many people were able to attend. Still, a great number of you, friends and loved ones, were sorely missed. I'll be posting more of them at my Multiply site.


Joy, joy, joy!