Thursday, July 23, 2009

Goofed!


I'd thought I've grown out of those out-of-body experiences. You know, those experiences that leave you so mortified you feel disconnected from your body and like you're in a dream watching yourself being stupid from a hazy, far-off distance.

But I had another one today at work. This academic session, the powers that be finally threw out the outdated chalk and blackboards that rack up so much dust and put up pristine new whiteboards. As thrilled as we were at first with the tech progress, we quickly realised that writing on the slippery boards with felt markers isn't as easy as with the old chalk sticks and rough blackboards. Especially in letters large enough for everyone in a big room to read. And especially in anything resembling our usual handwriting.

My boo-boo today was taking in to class what I thought was my usual, black, whiteboard marker. So on a beautiful, sparkling, white-as-the-driven-snow board, I wrote out in large, crooked letters Hamlet as a Revenge tragedy/play. I did wonder at the time why the pen tip seemed so much finer than other days but it was only when I tried to rub it off that I realised I'd just accidentally used a permanent marker. Ack.

I went hot and cold all over but quickly composed myself and went on as if blissfully unaware of my gaffe. Class over, I wondered worriedly if my unslightly script would remain on the wall forever and what other teachers would think while always having to carefully navigate whatever it was they had to write around my permanent snafu. I wondered if I'd have to pay up for an expensive new board and if the one I'd damaged would be stored away somewhere, always bearing my ignominious bungle upon it.

As it turned out, I went to the office to report my blooper and the office staff assured me that someone else had done the same thing a couple of weeks earlier and they had effectively erased it all with a rag and white correcting fluid. Phew. If only all our slip-ups could be as easily wiped out.

13 comments:

  1. after 6 years with whiteboards, i still do that all the time, and know a whole buncha trainers who do, lol!

    thanks for the correcting fluid tip. also works if you write over it again with the whiteboard marker then rub it off. window cleaner liquids also do fine. normal water just mucks it up.

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  2. goes to prove that, sometimes (or rather, mostly), even what we think of as 'permanent' snafus turn out to be temporary ones and we can continue as usual, having learned some useful lesson in the process. :)

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  3. i do not like the whiteboards. using all the pink and blue and yellow chalks to make diagrams, and the crisp feel while writing on it can never be replaced by what you have correctly called 'slippery writing' with markers..

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  4. Yes, if only the mistakes me make could be as easily wiped out and forgotten just like that. But the sad truth of life is that no matter how many "correcting fluids" you use covering up your mistakes and wrongdoings they don't become undone, they remain mistakes forever.

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  5. Hey fed, you can't imagine how relieved that makes me feel - that there are other ppl who do this often too. Thanks for the tips. I've been told that body spray works equally well. Must stock up for future emergencies.

    Plats, I definitely intend to be extra careful about the markers I use in future. Lesson well learned!

    Gauri yeah, tech advances aren't all they're cracked up to be sometimes.

    aduhi, sad but true.

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  6. Goofer, you got lots of company! I've done that too, though i never knew what the office staff did to correct it. I saw the next day, with great relief, that the board was clean.

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  7. Haha mesjay, I was strongly tempted to play innocent and walk away too but felt I’d be too easy to track down which was really the only reason I came clean hehe.

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  8. Hman deuh khan i blog-ah hian ka lut thei miah lo. 'For invitees only' a inti zel a, mi sawm bikte tan chauh a nih dawn hi ka tia. Visit ve thin pakhatin, 'saptawng thiam changkang ho tan chauh a luh theih tawh', a lo ti bawk a. Mahse, hei ka lut thei leh lawi si!!!!

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  9. Nia ka kalh hmiah nih kha. Google search hi crawl lo turin ka set a mahse an lo crawl leh tho sia, spam te an lo dah thul. Ka kalh lai kha chuan mi 1 chauh thik rual loh sipisial invitee in a tlawh thei. I info dawnna chu a dawheh anih mai chu.

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  10. Hehe che chhe ve aw. White board hman hi classroom lian ah chuan a tih chi miahloh. Ziak a te luttuk a. Mizorama college lian berah hi chuan projector hi hmang thei ila chu duh thusam mawle. Anyway khatiang hruk reh nan khan zet-u-zu hi a tha luttuk.

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  11. feddabonn already said what i wanted to.. write over it with a whiteboard marker... nonetheless gr8 post,

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  12. Yes hi Gauri! Haven't been over to your blog for a while. I was experimenting with new templates sometime ago which deleted all the links on my blogroll and I never get around to putting yours back on. Remiss of me.

    Van, nia room lian atan chuan ziak a sin duh khawp mai. Mahse projector ilo vel chu hmang thiam kan tlem viau ang. Teaching faculty hi kan outdated em a, techno hlau kan tam zawk rih tlat a ni.

    Thanks, tinks. I'm extra careful now about the markers I use so the op to test your tips hasn't happened yet. Touch wood!

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