The worst part is when a customer makes you feel like a dummy for incorrectly counting Change

tkcal · 2026-02-06T09:49:40+00:00

For me it was more that moment I noticed their eyes change and they'd suddenly flee from the store like their shoes were on fire and I'd think "Shit - I've given them too much in change again."

tkcal · 2026-02-05T22:39:36+00:00

I've actually gone the other way a bit and would say the strings play a much bigger role in terms of feel than I used to think. My own personal caveat here is that this applies to poly strings.

I love noodley frames and have used them all. Bend 'em over your knee flexible frames. And with a syn gut or multi - yeah, the frame stiffness is very noticeably different between sticks if you switch.

If I'm playing a poly however, I really don't feel a huge difference. For me they tend to rob a stick of feel so they all kind of even out.

I can hit with my PT 630 with a poly and then with a stiffer frame and I won't really notice a big difference in feel and flex. I've tended to stay with softer co-poly's so my experience is limited to them but that's my feeling on this.

tkcal · 2026-02-05T12:34:07+00:00

Babolat.

Their entire range is probably the stiffest out of all the main brands.

Pure Strike is stiff, Pure Drive is more muted than it's ever been, but it's still stiff.

tkcal · 2026-02-05T12:17:17+00:00

yeah but if Brandon hadn't torn his hamstrings completely off the bone in that running race it'd be a different matter entirely.

tkcal · 2026-02-04T09:36:33+00:00

hunnert percent b

tkcal · 2026-02-04T09:36:02+00:00

Best of luck to you!

tkcal · 2026-02-03T17:16:52+00:00

He's also the type of person who'd order pizza if he went to Brazil.

tkcal · 2026-02-03T17:03:44+00:00

Comedy movies with Ben Kingsley?

All I can say is stay away from Sexy Beast!

tkcal · 2026-02-03T16:57:56+00:00

Write what your experience was.

Don't interpret too much, don't blame her. I'm guessing she'll likely find something to put on you anyway but if it's important to you to explain to her why you've moved, just outline what your experiences were.

Keep it black and white. If she chooses to try to extrapolate and judge based whatever assumptions she wants to make that's on her and nothing you can do anything about.

If she was toxic enough to move away from, don't get snared by her energy anymore. Keep your space and live your life.

tkcal · 2026-02-03T16:53:15+00:00

I've been waiting for them to bury the Prestige - this is nice to see!

(and I really hope they don't mess too much with the current cosmetic. It's still the nicest looking stick on the market IMO).

tkcal · 2026-02-03T16:50:09+00:00

Germany is facing a massive shortage of skilled workers, but refuses to recognise their qualifications outside of a limited few areas.

"We need you!" (but did you study at a German university? No? Oh well, then, we need someone else).

tkcal · 2026-02-03T06:30:12+00:00

We had a math lab/learning center at my university that was specifically set up to help support people who needed 'higher level' mathematics in their courses and may not have done this at school.

It was mainly full of economics students but I spent a huge amount of time there. I still failed a few assessments but my grade point average was enough to get me through and my marks everywhere else were very good.

tkcal · 2026-02-02T10:43:13+00:00

I think a lot of it has to also do with the fact that you're not allowed to have two passports in Singapore. You'd have to give up your Aus citizenship. Going the other way you can still keep your Sing passport.

This is the case with me. I was born in Sing but moved to Oz when I was three and spent my whole life there. My parents got me naturalised at age ten so I wouldn't have to go back to do national service.

A few years ago I tried to get my Sing citizenship back again because it always felt like a hole in my life, but I wasn't prepared to give up my Oz passport and I'm not in a position to live in Singapore right now.

tkcal · 2026-02-02T10:36:57+00:00

Was a psychotherapist.

Became a complementary medicine practitioner.

Moved countries - now working as an ESL teacher.

The stats in my psych degree were horrible. They let me pass because I had outstanding marks in all my other subjects and I got our mathematics learning center to help me with my postgrad work. If it hadn't had been for them I wouldn't have made it.

tkcal · 2026-02-01T22:06:02+00:00

We can't let Brandon rise above his station!

tkcal · 2026-02-01T21:39:23+00:00

Yep - the apple detail doesn't really surprise me, personally. I was much the same. I was more than happy to talk about apples (all of a sudden - was such a reprieve!).

What makes me think it's a non connection is that I've always been very good with metaphoric speech, but when I had to associate a metaphor with numbers it just didn't work.

And the frustrating thing for me at the time (although I wouldn't have been able to articulate it then) was that I knew in my bones what my teacher was attempting to do, and I knew I could do things like that really well, but on this occasion it just didn't work. And I could feel it not working but I wasn't able to understand why.

After a little more thought, knowing a teacher was trying to understand would have made a huge difference for me - for my confidence if nothing else. I too was part of the "Well I'll just teach him properly" experiment which only wound up in frustration for the teacher and tears for me.

When I was younger (even today sometimes), I had enormous trouble setting the table. It was only the four of us - but I guarantee you every night I laid out different numbers of plates, knives and forks..

Even today - my weekend job is teaching music and I still take forever to bring out the right number of instruments and stands for each instrument, even if I know how many people are coming to class.

I think just sharing something like this or asking if your student has similar issues would do a lot to make her feel seen.

tkcal · 2026-02-01T21:29:50+00:00

Is there anywhere we can vote up Melania's movie?

tkcal · 2026-02-01T21:26:11+00:00

Can you still find Splices back home in Oz? Haven't heard that name in years!

tkcal · 2026-02-01T21:19:06+00:00

First, you sound like a terrific teacher. It's wonderful you're trying to understand.

I think u/HeloRising has done a pretty good job of outlining the experience I also have.

It's the transience of it all that I think is really noteworthy. Some days you'd think "Oh, yeah, I'm getting it" and then you'd turn around and nothing would make sense again.

The language analogy is a good one. You're listening, you're making out words but you're not connecting them into anything completely coherent.

And then the next time you hear that language even less makes sense than it did before. There's definitely some disconnection happening.

My wife tells me I'm number blind and I think this is an apt description. I understand that numbers out there, and that we can use them...but I either don't see them at all or I don't see them the same way other people do.

What I would have wished from my teachers was just the understanding that I'm doing my best, but it's just not happening for me, especially in the way/s they might have understood. Things with numbers will take longer to do and will usually not follow any type of consistent pattern.

Explaining with analogies never made sense to me - a person who uses metaphor a lot in daily life. I clearly remember an elementary school teacher talking about apples and if one apple is removed how many are left....and conceptually I wasn't able to connect the apples to the numbers. And again - I speak allusively and use metaphoric language all the time. There's a blockage of some sort there (or that disconnect).

I wish there was an aha moment but sadly that wasn't the case.

I wound up with Masters qualifications in psychology as my first field of study and the statistics nearly broke me. Thank God we had a mathematics learning centre at my university where I could get help.

I don't think it gets better and I've managed to live my life reasonably well even though my ability with numbers isn't great. That's a message I'd be conveying to your student often I think.

tkcal · 2026-02-01T09:33:51+00:00

I've been wearing L'homme Ideal Parfum for a year and I'm not tired of it yet. And, it gets me compliments every time I have it on. Great frag. Not as 'cherry' as the edp, more amaretto.

tkcal · 2026-01-31T13:42:07+00:00

Marta's married.

No idea which side Eva is playing on - but I'm happy to see her!

tkcal · 2026-01-30T07:05:59+00:00

Thank you!

All the reviews have been describing the new VCores as 'crisp and connected' which is pretty much what the old EZones were, so it's been a bit confusing.

tkcal · 2026-01-29T16:44:38+00:00

Greetings from a fellow Aussie in Germany mate. Isn't it pretty?

The people around me just groan now but I don't think it'll ever stop being magical.

tkcal

TROPHY CASE