Working ok today!

I have done all my stats reading now, hurrah! Just have to do part B of the paper :)

Nest-hunting is also on the list today, must get on the phone and sort some of that stuff out.

Am annoyed that my stats exam now requires us to wear sub-fusc, this is all getting a bit serious, and tedious.

My eyes and head hurt, I can only presume it is from being inside at my computer rather than running free in the cold air. Bring on the knee, it's healing well but I want to run again!

Paid my credit card bill. I've spent around £700 on that card just in November and December! I can see why people have to tighten their belts in January. I vow to be more frugal.

Right I am going to update my links now and get back to work i.e. nest-hunting.

A first attempt at working

I am back and in and wanting to work (wanting is used loosely here). I have trapped myself at my desk, Word is open and the cursor's blinking, waiting for me to type. Aaargh but I can't. If I am struggling just to write my statement of purpose, perhaps applying to read for a Masters with lots of essay writing is an error?

I noticed on my blog that you can't search by label. This is annoying. I meticulously label each post, but what's the point if you subsequently can't search by label? Clearly this should be a priority, far more worthy of immediate address than my empty document.

I found the labeling issue out because I was searching for some words I remember looking up from On Beauty. I have forgotten the words, and their meanings. This too is annoying. I remember how good my memory used to be, but that's about it. And I can't find the post.

Thus I have decided that in future good words will be recorded on here, where I can't lose them. My word of the day: poltroon. An abject coward. I like the sound. But more so I like the statistic that this word is only used twice for every 100 million words said. Poltroon. Poltroon. I think I've doubled its use. I like it that I can change a statistic like that. What use are statistics anyway?

Come on words, write this statement of purpose. Gosh I hope the applications office doesn't read my blog...

Facebook Dependency

Grrr.

I was in the middle of doing some "Facebook Work" when the silly site shut down for maintenance. How annoying! I have four Scrabble games that are awaiting my move. Yes, alright, you can shout geek at me from afar. But really, it is very annoying when the site's down. Almost the same as when you can't get to your email or something takes aaaages to download. Humph. Impatience is a virtue right?

In other news, we had the most awesome picnic on Sunday. I'll post the pictures up from that as soon as I can sneak my bro's camera cable.

Today I definitely realised that I would struggle to work independently in an office. By independently I think I mean "continuously and quietly". On the plus side, I am loving the whole 9-5 malarkey, particularly with the extended 11am and 3:30pm tea breaks, and also the fact that I don't have to do any work or think about work or anything like that as soon as I leave the office. I guess this is what normal worker people feel like.

I am currently spending a lot of time thinking about the future and what I should do after my NQT year. I have many different ideas, none of which seem to be related, or even slightly similar, to each other. The most dramatic one is still graduate entry medicine, but I was reading "The Practitioner" journal on the tube this morning and I wasn't enthused. The whole medical debate is something else I need to blog about at some point. Wow, having a life really does make it difficult to ramble on here. Well, obviously not that difficult - all that needs to happen is Facebook going down.

Cats and Tonsils

I am contemplating attempting to remove my tonsils with a spoon.

The kids next door are searching for their cat. It seems than rather than physically look for said feline, a better technique is to loudly shout "Rushy, Rushy, where are you? COOOOOME BAAACK" for hours on end. There are 5 kids next door. I think they have created some kind of rota since it hasn't been quiet for ages.

But, on the plus side, what happened to the polar bear who sat on the ice for too long? He got polaroids. Hahaha.

Four days of school to go!

This Rant Could Be Bigger

My knee is buggered again. I am cross. But also glad in that it's not as bad as it could be. I think I may have partially dislocated it, but luckily fell quick enough for it to pop back in. I felt my thigh and leg bones move away from each other and click. Gross. Now my knee is a big puffy ball and I can't really bend it or carry weight on it.

My HoD was complaining about tennis players and their excuses. He was saying that if you're not fit enough to play then you shouldn't play, rather than losing your match and making lame excuses afterwards. Extending the theory and applying it to teaching, does this mean I should try and postpone my final assessment on Monday? I won't be able to walk around and I'm on a rather weird combination of prescription medication which makes me feel a bit strange, both of which are delightful ready-made excuses in case I don't get the grade I would be expected to get. But would the honourable thing be to simply reschedule the assessment rather than putting in a mediocre performance now?

My professional tutor was in on Friday and my subject mentor asked her to come and talk to me about my "problems". Humph. My professional tutor is one of the least subtle and discreet people I have ever met. For example, in an attempt to get me to confide in her, she proceeded to disclose another girl's confidential information. In the past she has revealed and openly discussed the situations other TFs were in without seeming to care about privacy. How unprofessional! Anyway, I remained button-lipped, she is never going to be a help.

And finally, we got the draft version of next year's timetable on Friday. It is awful. I will save that rant for later. Oh yeah, one good thing from the buggered knee - at least I will have to stay in all weekend and be responsible and make my portfolio. Every cloud eh?

Tutoring

I don't have a year 7 tutor group next year. This is strange, although now I don't know why it's strange. I think because I always assumed I'd get one. But I haven't. And, in fact, I have no idea what I'm doing next year tutoring-wise. I hope it's not co-tutoring with a year group again. That's a bit of a nightmare - running around six different groups without any real consistency. This would be ok if a co-tutor had any authority or understanding of what's been happening in the class, but for the most part they don't.

I think this makes me a bit sad since I'm almost certain I don't want to be a maths teacher long term, but perhaps the pastoral side of teaching could have been what appealed to me. Now I don't think I'll get the chance to find out. Plus, slightly arrogantly I'll admit, I always thought I was as good, if not better, than the other TFs in my year, and yet they've been given tutor groups and I haven't. I guess all my recent crazy is catching up with me.

In other news, one of the '07s has been warned against his incessant questioning. Apparently he has been ruffling some quite senior feathers i.e the queen of our academy herself, and so must now learn to button his lip and just accept things. Such is the way things work in our school.