bad start to the long weekend

today's national day and school ends at 10am, after which i had a badminton session with one class and a movie with another, tentatively dinner with a friend. and then it would be 4 days of break ahead.

so today during school i was in high spirits, being less strict than normal and just simply chatting to the students happily as there were no lessons, just class activities and performances.

and after the performance prizes were given out to the best decorated noticeboards which my form class won - imagine how i felt then - totally joyful and smiling constantly. and i guess in this state i was less inhibited than normal.

had earlier heard from a teacher that another class had seemed to copy our class' concept as it looked v similar. and then i saw the co-form of that class along the corridor, of which was my fellow practicum trainee and a trusted friend.

so i commented randomly (as usual) to her that her class seemed to have copied their concept from mine, as a joke of sorts, and i felt weird that she seemed to be less jovial than normal. i moved off to chat to my students after that, not knowing what was to happen next.

on the way to the badminton courts and in higher spirits, 3 random girls from that class confronted me about my words, and i was taken aback (just like those innocent guys when they are accused of something).

it was kind of a total mood-spoiler, as i hadn't meant it that way, and partly cos i felt really hurt that someone i trusted so much could relay such a skewed picture of me to her students.

so i sms-ed her to confirm that she did say that, and the initial reply sounded quite hostile and accusatory, which was rare and somehow set the tone for the ensuing sms-es, in which i veered between explaining and apologising (which i felt compelled to).

basically the conversation was something like this:

Me: did you tell your class that i said this?
Her: didn't you say that just now?
Me: it was a casual comment n you know i din mean it that way. but sry if i implied any illwill.
Her: (describing exactly what i said literally), which part did i get wrong abt your comments?
Me: it was more of a random comment from a friend, not a fellow form-teacher. hope u uds i wasn't really accusing your class of anything.
Her: am i supposed to laugh about that? my class spent the entire noon doing it ytd.

ok at this point i wasn't so much caring what her class would think of me, more about how to manage this so it wouldn't become awkward btw us in the future. i definitely prefer one more friend in the office.

afterall, even though the intent was not wrong, the words were, and i doubt she was in a very good mood to start with. i mean, i'm very easily annoyed by seemingly harmless comments by others and keep grudges thereafter when i was in a horrible mood then. of course others feel the same.

i guess i just have to watch my words in the future, and note that the friend-colleague boundary for others may not be so blurred unlike mine. i don't really behave like a professional colleague when around closer teacher friends and i guess my uninhibitedness with words may cause me trouble at times.

sigh.