Is late-night blogging becoming a thing for me?
I guess it is while I'm on summer holiday.
As is entirely normal for me, in an extended stretch of time off, my body clock lurches forwards by about 2 hours. So rather than getting up, forced by the alarm, at 7am, and falling into bed, knackered @ 9:30/10pm - I'm waking up more naturally at about 9am and going to bed closer to midnight...
There is something about the quiet of late nights that appeals to me, that I've never quite been able to put my finger on. All I know is that it's when I'm at my most thoughtful, I make my best plans, and when I most open to new ideas. Hence why I often find myself blog-hopping, or Pintrest-hopping, and discovering fascinating blogs, by all kinds of fascinating people, and then spending ages pouring through pages and pages of their work. All late at night.
Heh.
I didn't actually come here to talk about blog hopping. I actually came to talk about fandom...
Ahhh... delicious, sweet fandom.
The reason being, I had a marvellous set-to via PM on the "Angry(feet)" forum first thing this morning. This woman I did battle with got more and more enraged as the exchange went on. The grammar got worse and worse and the leaps of her brain within the argument got more and more peculiar.
Anyway, I eventually got bored and made my final statement: -
"You won't hear from me again, because it's like talking to a wall. A very articulate, intelligent wall. But a wall nonetheless. And I have things to do today, that don't involve sitting around, on the computer, arguing."
Naturally, random woman replied, absolutely spitting teeth that she'd lost the chance to have the last word. *evil smirk*
That's my lesson to you, children. Always make your closing statement in an argument before your opponent expects it. That way, they've lost their chance to make a witty exit and are making their final furious declarations into unacknowledged thin air.
Anyway, I hadn't actually planned to fall into a flame-war. Indeed, I don't think I've had such a good one for a fair few years.
Tuesday, 30 July 2013
Monday, 29 July 2013
Summer is here!
It's the summer holidays! Huzzah!
We broke up last Tuesday, and having received a respectable haul in terms of gifts from grateful children/parents, the year was done.
As an interesting aside, there were 2 notable absences in the gift/thanks giving realm:
1: The parent I had to confront (or more precisely she confronted me) over her dear daughter pushing another children over in the playground before school. When the guilty party cried (as 6 year olds who are being told off tend to do), the mum, who was not supervising her child in the slightest, rushed to her daughters defence. When I told her what her darling had done, parent denied it all, "she wouldn't do that!" Then rushed off to complain to the Head that "I'd accused her daughter of lying." LOL
The Head asked my teaching assistant what had happened, then told the mother, in no uncertain terms, to bog off.
Sooo... Yeah, think I ruined any chances of a gift there. ;)
2: Parent of "Obnoxious Little Toe-rag" mentioned in a previous post. Gave a LOT of extra time to parent(s) of OLT, including an hours meeting after school on a Friday with the dad of OLT. Did a lot of extra hand-holding/supporting of the entire family... Didn't even get the most throw-away of thank yous...
Gratitude eh? ;)
Anyway, did I mention that it's the summer holidays?!
The weather has been reasonable so far. Some thunderstorms, which are fun. Some heavy rain, but lots of sun as well. It still seems muggy and gross at night though, so I'm still sleeping with the window open and lying on top of the covers.
I have made a start on Operation Spare Bedroom. I've almost completely gutted some filing drawers that were filled with scrapbooking stuff.
(Scrapbooking was a hobby I had between approx. 2006 and 2009. I enjoyed it, but then new career got in the way, time got squeezed and scrapbooking got squeezed out.)
I've held on to that scrapping stuff for 3-4 years, some of it, and without using it, so I've boxed most of it up to give to Adele's little sister Louise, who enjoys card-making and all that sort of stuff.
I could have tried to sell it, but I haven't the time or the patience, so rather than throw it all away, at least here it's going to a new home of someone who should enjoy it.
So, yeah. Got all that cleared out. And have made a start of clearing the stuff from the floor around the edges of the room... It's a slow process, because I'm very easily distracted! LOL
Ummm... A few day trips are in the pipeline at the moment, which is nice.
Today I looked at getting a ticket for "Warhorse" down in London. But decent seats were £85! I have a mental block going on if a ticket costs more than £60.
I paid £60 for 2nd row Josh Groban at Hampton Court Palace in 2008. Amazing venue and all-round top night. I'm doubtful that any more expensive ticket than £60 could top Hampton Court.
A shame, as I'd very much like to see "Warhorse", but I don't want to be up in the rafters, where I can barely see, sitting on a £60+ seat...
Continuing with the private tutoring gig over the summer. Easy money, gratefully received!
We broke up last Tuesday, and having received a respectable haul in terms of gifts from grateful children/parents, the year was done.
As an interesting aside, there were 2 notable absences in the gift/thanks giving realm:
1: The parent I had to confront (or more precisely she confronted me) over her dear daughter pushing another children over in the playground before school. When the guilty party cried (as 6 year olds who are being told off tend to do), the mum, who was not supervising her child in the slightest, rushed to her daughters defence. When I told her what her darling had done, parent denied it all, "she wouldn't do that!" Then rushed off to complain to the Head that "I'd accused her daughter of lying." LOL
The Head asked my teaching assistant what had happened, then told the mother, in no uncertain terms, to bog off.
Sooo... Yeah, think I ruined any chances of a gift there. ;)
2: Parent of "Obnoxious Little Toe-rag" mentioned in a previous post. Gave a LOT of extra time to parent(s) of OLT, including an hours meeting after school on a Friday with the dad of OLT. Did a lot of extra hand-holding/supporting of the entire family... Didn't even get the most throw-away of thank yous...
Gratitude eh? ;)
Anyway, did I mention that it's the summer holidays?!
The weather has been reasonable so far. Some thunderstorms, which are fun. Some heavy rain, but lots of sun as well. It still seems muggy and gross at night though, so I'm still sleeping with the window open and lying on top of the covers.
I have made a start on Operation Spare Bedroom. I've almost completely gutted some filing drawers that were filled with scrapbooking stuff.
(Scrapbooking was a hobby I had between approx. 2006 and 2009. I enjoyed it, but then new career got in the way, time got squeezed and scrapbooking got squeezed out.)
I've held on to that scrapping stuff for 3-4 years, some of it, and without using it, so I've boxed most of it up to give to Adele's little sister Louise, who enjoys card-making and all that sort of stuff.
I could have tried to sell it, but I haven't the time or the patience, so rather than throw it all away, at least here it's going to a new home of someone who should enjoy it.
So, yeah. Got all that cleared out. And have made a start of clearing the stuff from the floor around the edges of the room... It's a slow process, because I'm very easily distracted! LOL
Ummm... A few day trips are in the pipeline at the moment, which is nice.
Today I looked at getting a ticket for "Warhorse" down in London. But decent seats were £85! I have a mental block going on if a ticket costs more than £60.
I paid £60 for 2nd row Josh Groban at Hampton Court Palace in 2008. Amazing venue and all-round top night. I'm doubtful that any more expensive ticket than £60 could top Hampton Court.
A shame, as I'd very much like to see "Warhorse", but I don't want to be up in the rafters, where I can barely see, sitting on a £60+ seat...
Continuing with the private tutoring gig over the summer. Easy money, gratefully received!
Sunday, 14 July 2013
Typically Me
For the past 3 weekends in a row, I've intended to blog, only to get distracted with Game of Thrones Season 3 marathons (can I just say, "It was awesome!!") or other general pissing-about.
Now, of course, I've left myself 26 minutes to construct this entire blog post, condensing down the past 3 weeks, before I settle down to watch 'The Returned', which is a fantastic - albeit weird - French thriller series, currently showing on Channel 4. The fact it has subtitles is not important when you realise how great this show is.
Sooo... England is in the middle of a heat wave. Which I say with a certain sense of irony, because we don't really have a heat wave when compared to other places that... do. You just need to remember that we "don't do air conditioning" over here. Which generally makes us lethargic and blah.
So... 2 weekends ago I took Adele out for her belated birthday celebrations. We did what all respecting 28 year olds should do, and played crazy golf. I thought it had the potential for hilarity, and I was not disappointed.
I should point out, that the above photo is Adele trying to pull a raft over a stretch of water, all of 6 feet across. She couldn't do it. In the end, a random man had to do it for us. We have no shame in playing the weaker sex when it gets us out of manual labour.
Before our battle with the raft and the golf clubs, we went to TGI Fridays and had some amazing fajitas. Although no fajita has ever come close to the fajita I had at Las Iguanas in the summer of '09. I was a bit drunk on 2-for-1 cocktails, and that fajita was the best thing I'd ever eaten. I mourn its passing.
The next weekend I went out with Brian and drove over to Kenilworth in his convertible Mazda. It is a most silly and impractical car, but gosh, it's rather fun on a hot day with the top down!
We went to 'Beef' restaurant and had a particularly nice steak. We also drove past Kenilworth Castle, which seemed a pretty place to go, so it has been added to my "Summer to-do list".
Only 7 more days of school until summer holidays start! This is cause for excitement!
I am cautiously planning a UK road trip this summer. I've been wanting to do it for a few years now, so figured the summer hols would be the perfect time.
I also want to clear out my spare bedroom, so it's actually a functional, useful, attractive space, as opposed to an embarrassing dumping ground. But it was also my plan for last summer holidays... and didn't happen. So let's just see on that one.
Post finished with 13 minutes to spare! BAM!
Now, of course, I've left myself 26 minutes to construct this entire blog post, condensing down the past 3 weeks, before I settle down to watch 'The Returned', which is a fantastic - albeit weird - French thriller series, currently showing on Channel 4. The fact it has subtitles is not important when you realise how great this show is.
Sooo... England is in the middle of a heat wave. Which I say with a certain sense of irony, because we don't really have a heat wave when compared to other places that... do. You just need to remember that we "don't do air conditioning" over here. Which generally makes us lethargic and blah.
So... 2 weekends ago I took Adele out for her belated birthday celebrations. We did what all respecting 28 year olds should do, and played crazy golf. I thought it had the potential for hilarity, and I was not disappointed.
I should point out, that the above photo is Adele trying to pull a raft over a stretch of water, all of 6 feet across. She couldn't do it. In the end, a random man had to do it for us. We have no shame in playing the weaker sex when it gets us out of manual labour.
Before our battle with the raft and the golf clubs, we went to TGI Fridays and had some amazing fajitas. Although no fajita has ever come close to the fajita I had at Las Iguanas in the summer of '09. I was a bit drunk on 2-for-1 cocktails, and that fajita was the best thing I'd ever eaten. I mourn its passing.
The next weekend I went out with Brian and drove over to Kenilworth in his convertible Mazda. It is a most silly and impractical car, but gosh, it's rather fun on a hot day with the top down!
We went to 'Beef' restaurant and had a particularly nice steak. We also drove past Kenilworth Castle, which seemed a pretty place to go, so it has been added to my "Summer to-do list".
Only 7 more days of school until summer holidays start! This is cause for excitement!
I am cautiously planning a UK road trip this summer. I've been wanting to do it for a few years now, so figured the summer hols would be the perfect time.
I also want to clear out my spare bedroom, so it's actually a functional, useful, attractive space, as opposed to an embarrassing dumping ground. But it was also my plan for last summer holidays... and didn't happen. So let's just see on that one.
Post finished with 13 minutes to spare! BAM!
Monday, 24 June 2013
I've always been fascinated by this concept.
Well, I say "always"... But certainly a long time.
I stumbled across the actual name of it a while ago, and then promptly lost/forgot the link. Spent a long, long time Googling various phrases, before finally getting back to it.
I regularly find myself watching strangers, and wondering about their lives. What do they love? Fear? Hate? Do?
We're all just bit-players in someone else's epic.
Sunday, 23 June 2013
What A Week!
I am soooo glad to be home this weekend, doing nothing much of anything.
Leading up to this weekend, it's just been so busy. Here's what I did -
1: It all started with the vomiting post-Warwick Castle. I took the day off afterwards, but I was mostly back up to speed by the Friday. Some post-heave muscle pain, but otherwise I was fine. Which correlates with the theory that it was a bacterial poisoning rather than a stomach bug. As I explained the suspect sandwich to my dad (food tech graduate), he straightaway went "The mayo did it." I'm inclined to agree.
2: Saturday morning I drove over to Shropshire and were later joined by sister and her other half. We all piled in the parentals car and drove up the Long Mynd. It was very, very pretty and I wandered how come I'd never been taken up there before. I didn't even know it was there.
3: Sunday was the Christening of Nancy. It was sweet in the way only terribly informal Protestantism can be.
Little people... oh, they get big so quickly.
(That's Rowland in the background - right hand side - My uncle. Earlier in the year he was airlifted off the family farm after practically severing some fingers in a machine accident. He was flown to Birmingham and they've healed AMAZINGLY. With the exception of one still-mangled fingernail, he's only got practically invisible scars on his fingertips. The doctors did a phenomenal job. NHS FTW. I hadn't seen him since the accident, so gave him my best teachery telling off.)
4: Monday night was Josh Groban night! I've not seen him in a while, and he was as ridiculously cute as always. I had a really good seat, front row of the dress circle, courtesy of a nice lady on the UK Grobanites FB page. I no longer have a JG fanclub membership (haven't done since about 2008) so didn't have access to the fanclub pre-sales, which is the sole reason I'd ever want a membership these days.
Anyway, I enjoyed it very much. Got a little teary at "To Where You Are", rocked out to "Machine" and joined the group-sing of "You Raise Me Up". The seat next to mine was empty, so I enjoyed having that extra room to sprawl out. :)
Stayed overnight in Birmingham in the end. Got a cheapo room at the Comfort Inn right next to the station, which was very handy for the 5am walk for my train... Not the quietest though, because they're rebuilding the station and seemed to be at it all night... Alarms, beeping and banging all night long.
5: Tuesday... after getting up at 4:55am... I was at work until 9pm. That wasn't fun. Although I did that assembly to the whole school I was moaning about before. And it went very well. Lots of praise on it afterwards, and the whole event I was launching... so far... has been a success. I am pleased. I finish it off on Tuesday coming.
6: After school Tuesday, and the reason I was there until 9pm, was a meeting for the new parents of the reception children. Where I'll be teaching next year. I'm looking forward to it, as I love reception, but I didn't love sitting through a good 30 minutes of listening to a speech about hot school dinners. Grrr.
7: Not a huge deal more coming up in the world of me. I'm taking Adele out next Sunday for belated birthday (hers) fun. She doesn't know where we're going yet though. It should be a giggle. ;)
Oh. I just wanted to post this. I remember watching this on telly when it first aired. I think I laughed 'til I cried.
Friday, 14 June 2013
Brain Dump
Brain dump... Proceed.
1: Those of you who are friends with me on FB will know of the utterly embarrassing situation I had in front of 40 children and 8 grown ups on Wednesday. If you don't know, consider yourself blessed.
2: I currently don't want to go to Shropshire tomorrow. There is a reason I don't go over there for visits in the middle of school terms... Because I'm too busy! And next week is shaping up to be a doozy in terms of busy-ness. Monday is Josh night in Birmingham, which means either an overnight stay in Birmingham, and a very-early Tuesday morning. Or it means a hellishly late Monday night. Both are equally dismal when I remember that I've got to do a whole-school assembly on Tuesday morning.
I really can not decide which scenario is the worse. I'm currently leaning towards staying over in Birmingham and getting the first train out in the morning... But I might change my mind again. Because staying over costs money... I DON'T KNOW!
3: This assembly I mentioned... Normally they don't really phase me. This one? I don't wanna do it. It's probably largely due to the fact that I don't have the brain time this weekend to devote to being ready for it, because of family commitments.
4: I left my memory stick at school. I'm 90% sure I just left it in the computer. But that evil JerkBrain is going "You lost it! What if it's not there?! You great big fuck-up you!" So now, of course, I'm going to be thinking about it all weekend, then I'll dash down to my classroom, Monday morning, heart in mouth, to look for the sodding thing. I hate when I leave stuff behind.
5: Following on from this assembly, I have to then "manage" an event that follows on from it, for the whole bloody week. I don't want to!
6: Oh, and on Tuesday, when I just want to go home and sleep, I have to attend a meeting at school, which doesn't even START until 7pm. Jesus...
I really should be excited to see Josh Groban on Monday. But currently don't give an actual f**k. Honestly. I could stay at home quite happily. If not for the fact that I've already paid £50 for the ticket.
Can I just skip this coming week entirely?
1: Those of you who are friends with me on FB will know of the utterly embarrassing situation I had in front of 40 children and 8 grown ups on Wednesday. If you don't know, consider yourself blessed.
2: I currently don't want to go to Shropshire tomorrow. There is a reason I don't go over there for visits in the middle of school terms... Because I'm too busy! And next week is shaping up to be a doozy in terms of busy-ness. Monday is Josh night in Birmingham, which means either an overnight stay in Birmingham, and a very-early Tuesday morning. Or it means a hellishly late Monday night. Both are equally dismal when I remember that I've got to do a whole-school assembly on Tuesday morning.
I really can not decide which scenario is the worse. I'm currently leaning towards staying over in Birmingham and getting the first train out in the morning... But I might change my mind again. Because staying over costs money... I DON'T KNOW!
3: This assembly I mentioned... Normally they don't really phase me. This one? I don't wanna do it. It's probably largely due to the fact that I don't have the brain time this weekend to devote to being ready for it, because of family commitments.
4: I left my memory stick at school. I'm 90% sure I just left it in the computer. But that evil JerkBrain is going "You lost it! What if it's not there?! You great big fuck-up you!" So now, of course, I'm going to be thinking about it all weekend, then I'll dash down to my classroom, Monday morning, heart in mouth, to look for the sodding thing. I hate when I leave stuff behind.
5: Following on from this assembly, I have to then "manage" an event that follows on from it, for the whole bloody week. I don't want to!
6: Oh, and on Tuesday, when I just want to go home and sleep, I have to attend a meeting at school, which doesn't even START until 7pm. Jesus...
I really should be excited to see Josh Groban on Monday. But currently don't give an actual f**k. Honestly. I could stay at home quite happily. If not for the fact that I've already paid £50 for the ticket.
Can I just skip this coming week entirely?
Sunday, 9 June 2013
I'm still posting!
BOOM. Hi.
I'm really tired today, for no real reason as far as I'm concerned. Plus I have hayfever eyes, which struck about 5pm today. They make me grumpy beyond all reason, and wanting to go to bed. But there's a new series starting at 9 on channel 4 tonight... "The Returned" or something, that is supposedly really good, which I want to try, because I feel like there's a lack of anything decent to get stuck into at the moment. And I'm pissed that I have to wait forever and a day to watch season 3 of Game of Thrones. I'm currently reading book 2, and I've been spoiled about loads of the characters dying. Which bums me the hell out. I've literally NEVER been spoiled for anything before.
Anyway, it feels like it's been a busy week. But I wonder if that is psychological, because my teaching assistant has spent the whole week looking frazzled and declaring "I'm so busy!" all the time. I've pretty much failed to see at what she's been busy with. All I know is that she's only spent part of one lesson, all week, supporting in class. I manage totally fine without her, but that's not the point. She's a "learning support assistant", so doesn't that mean... "supporting learning". Not sitting in the "middle room" between the two Year One classrooms, bitching about how busy she is?
That being said, for about the first week since taking the class over in March, I really enjoyed them. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed them before this week, but it was this week where I totally felt like I had them firmly under the thumb and didn't need to be right on top of them constantly. That being said, it doesn't stop one of the boys being an obnoxious little toe-rag. ;) J/K. Only I'm not.
So, continuing from last weeks post... shit. No, a week ago this past Wednesday's post:
1: I have indeed starting tutoring a local 9 year old. She's a sweet kid, I got good email feedback from her mum the day after, and it's easy money. My current plan is to save it for a rainy day. Some of it pays for my weekly pub lunch on a Friday, but the rest is getting saved. I feel pretty good about that. I'm wondering if, next academic year, I should rent myself out a little more actively for tutoring. A friend of my who lives down south does it and makes good "pocket money". She gets most of her clients from either word of mouth, or a website that I've already checked out. I dunno... it's something to consider.
2: I met up with my friend Louise, her husband Mike and their daughter Emily, last Friday. It was a fleeting visit, but we've semi-arranged to get together in the summer holidays. Emily starts school in September, which I can't believe! She was 2 when I first met her. How time flies.
3: Met up with Adele for tea after work on Monday. That was nice, and she's okay - all things considered.
Upcoming Attractions:
I take my class to Warwick Castle on Wednesday. I hope the weather is decent, because it's mostly all an outside kind of day.
Next weekend I'm heading over to Shropshire to the parentals house. It's my cousin's daughters christening, and as I went to the previous family christening in the same location, I'm sort of obliged to go to this one as well. Hazel and Brian are attending this one though, so it'll be nice to have the full compliment of family present.
Then on the Monday after... boom boom boom! It's my semi-annual trip to Birmingham to see Josh Groban! Last saw him... gosh. October 2011? It doesn't seem that long ago.
No hanging around for autographs this time though. I have to bomb it back for the last train to Northampton I suspect. Partly to save money, and partly because if I stayed overnight, I'd have a somewhat frantic gallop to work the next morning. It worked last time when I worked 8 minutes drive from my house, but now I leave for work a good 45 minutes earlier than I ever did there.
Anyway, I might update again before all that. Might not.
Toodles for now, my little cherubs. xx
I'm really tired today, for no real reason as far as I'm concerned. Plus I have hayfever eyes, which struck about 5pm today. They make me grumpy beyond all reason, and wanting to go to bed. But there's a new series starting at 9 on channel 4 tonight... "The Returned" or something, that is supposedly really good, which I want to try, because I feel like there's a lack of anything decent to get stuck into at the moment. And I'm pissed that I have to wait forever and a day to watch season 3 of Game of Thrones. I'm currently reading book 2, and I've been spoiled about loads of the characters dying. Which bums me the hell out. I've literally NEVER been spoiled for anything before.
Anyway, it feels like it's been a busy week. But I wonder if that is psychological, because my teaching assistant has spent the whole week looking frazzled and declaring "I'm so busy!" all the time. I've pretty much failed to see at what she's been busy with. All I know is that she's only spent part of one lesson, all week, supporting in class. I manage totally fine without her, but that's not the point. She's a "learning support assistant", so doesn't that mean... "supporting learning". Not sitting in the "middle room" between the two Year One classrooms, bitching about how busy she is?
That being said, for about the first week since taking the class over in March, I really enjoyed them. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed them before this week, but it was this week where I totally felt like I had them firmly under the thumb and didn't need to be right on top of them constantly. That being said, it doesn't stop one of the boys being an obnoxious little toe-rag. ;) J/K. Only I'm not.
So, continuing from last weeks post... shit. No, a week ago this past Wednesday's post:
1: I have indeed starting tutoring a local 9 year old. She's a sweet kid, I got good email feedback from her mum the day after, and it's easy money. My current plan is to save it for a rainy day. Some of it pays for my weekly pub lunch on a Friday, but the rest is getting saved. I feel pretty good about that. I'm wondering if, next academic year, I should rent myself out a little more actively for tutoring. A friend of my who lives down south does it and makes good "pocket money". She gets most of her clients from either word of mouth, or a website that I've already checked out. I dunno... it's something to consider.
2: I met up with my friend Louise, her husband Mike and their daughter Emily, last Friday. It was a fleeting visit, but we've semi-arranged to get together in the summer holidays. Emily starts school in September, which I can't believe! She was 2 when I first met her. How time flies.
3: Met up with Adele for tea after work on Monday. That was nice, and she's okay - all things considered.
Upcoming Attractions:
I take my class to Warwick Castle on Wednesday. I hope the weather is decent, because it's mostly all an outside kind of day.
Next weekend I'm heading over to Shropshire to the parentals house. It's my cousin's daughters christening, and as I went to the previous family christening in the same location, I'm sort of obliged to go to this one as well. Hazel and Brian are attending this one though, so it'll be nice to have the full compliment of family present.
Then on the Monday after... boom boom boom! It's my semi-annual trip to Birmingham to see Josh Groban! Last saw him... gosh. October 2011? It doesn't seem that long ago.
No hanging around for autographs this time though. I have to bomb it back for the last train to Northampton I suspect. Partly to save money, and partly because if I stayed overnight, I'd have a somewhat frantic gallop to work the next morning. It worked last time when I worked 8 minutes drive from my house, but now I leave for work a good 45 minutes earlier than I ever did there.
Anyway, I might update again before all that. Might not.
Toodles for now, my little cherubs. xx
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