Boiler and the boiler room

Our boiler is on the blink. The gas people have temporarily done some banging to it to make it work, but we fear it needs a big and major operation to fix it. They will be back with some kind of replacement part (organ donation) to fix it up and help it last a bit longer. Being with hot water is gruesome (hot soft am I?) but it was sort of fun bathing out of a bucket with one third boiling kettle water, two thirds cool cool tap water. Reminded me of being in the village in Sri Lanka and also a bit of my time in Africa. Crucially though, those are hot places so the sting of the cold water isn't so noticeable compared to chilly Swantown. We hope it will be fixed up soon.

With regards to the boiler room, well, my brother has been working in what pretty much seems to be a boiler room (he got made redundant, which some of us are not as devastated about, given the terrible macho atmosphere there) and I have just been listening to a report about "fake boiler rooms" where con artists trick innocent people into spending hundreds and thousands of pounds on non-existent shares. I can't believe how convincing the people sound - it makes me realise that if you have the gift of the gab, you can sell pretty much anything. I only hope my brother wasn't working in a proper boiler room - and that he was actually selling real shares!

In other news it is sunny today, which obviously makes me chirpy. To make the day even better:

1. I have been shopping. This simple act of hunter-gathering (simple so long as you have some money) is wonderfully satisfying, particularly when BARGAINS are to be had. Today bargains included two pairs of TU trousers and also some new potatoes.

2. We have a Weds-date later, to the cinema, whoop! Time Traveller's Wife, no doubt will be terrible as most book-turned-films are, but it'll be fun.

3. England are playing Croatia tonight and we finally have ITV on our telly so we can watch it directly rather than through a dodgy internet connection. Probably the game will be dismal but I am excited for now.

4. Fish and chips with green peas and tartar sauce. Enough said there.

I am pleased for Speech Debelle, who won the Mercury Music Prize last night. I am also a bit gutted that it wasn't Jij who won the prize.. Don't get confused, she wasn't even in the running or anything, but they seem to have had really similar lives and Jij is so talented, I want her to win a prize and make her music too. I will listen to Speech's album later to see what it's like.

Finally, I'm enjoying the holiday having finished A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - very good, if rambley, but true to life and impressive too - and so now have started Making History by Stephen Fry - the main character is annoying me already - and watching lots of good old telly and listening to Radio 4. Aaah holidays.

Loads of things!

Things have been really busy lately. I mean really busy. It's a Sunday night now and I'm knackered, really looking forward to an early night! We should be at Scrabble club but I've cancelled it this week so we can chill a bit.

So obviously since I've not been on here for aaages it'll be tricky to tell you everything I've done, so I'll just mention some choice highlights (which will most likely be the most recent things, since that is all I can remember!)

We had our housewarming last night, which was great! It's the first party X and I have hosted together and I think it was a success! It was lovely to have lots of our friends in one place and see them all and have fun together. I was really pleased, and felt really happy to be there.

I've played one footy match this weekend, and have run the line for three other games, so I'm just exhausted. Playing that much footy, including one game that went to extra-time and penalties, is serious hard work on the old knees and thighs. Still, need the money and it was a great experience - today was women's cuppers' final, which was a big game, and yesterday I did the Colleges XI and Centaurs varsity games, which are also very high profile games, so it was cool!

I got the Wolfson telethon job, which should be good fun (and again good for the money situation!) Basically it means working in a call centre calling up old members of college and asking them to donate funds, and also finding out what they're doing and keeping them involved in college life. I've never really done anything like that before, but I'm sure it'll be a good experience.

X took me to see Swan Lake on Friday night. It was a belated valentine's present, and it was just beautiful. I love the music and the ballet - it's all so elegant and graceful, like people are flying sometimes. It would be awesome to have that kind of skill and control in your body. I really enjoyed that too.

Spent last weekend at home as it was my Mum's 60th birthday, which was also great! My parents are pretty sociable and since the building works finished in the house, they've been trying to get back into organising things at home, so the party fitted the bill. Food was excellent and it was good company too, plus both my bros were back, so great to chatter with them too. Mum was glowing, I can't believe she's 60, she seems so much younger!

Went to the Blues night for our qualitative methods music consumption project. Managed to get someone to do the interview about music tastes, but then they bailed when it came down to it, so have to go and try again. The music was really good though - I've never been to a blues night but I'd def go again, the band were totally talented. They were the Sean Webster band - I think you can find them on myspace if you're interested.

X and I baked a fish pie from scratch, I'm very proud of this! We also saw Gran Torino this week, which was really well scripted and seriously moving, I would recommend it, Clint Eastwood was a real star and it's sad but also hilarious at times!

Lastly I've been taking part in some experiments - social science ones, not chemical ones! It's been good fun and quite good money, especially since for the past two I've got there too late so the experiment has had enough participants, so I've just pocketed the "show-up fee" and saved my time, cool!

It's 8th week now, one more week of classes and essays and then a bit of a break, yeah!

Rambley Update - mainly about books it seems

Phew. It's been a while since I posted. Things have been a bit hectic over here. In a good way.

Have been moving around the houses of all my cousins. Most of my time has been spent "playing," which, frankly, is awesome. Despite being almost 22 years older than my youngest cousin (who I've just managed to put to sleep) I get treated like one of the kids over here; this could explain why I like it so much. No need to think or worry about anything - we just play and eat and sleep and watch TV and its good fun. Lots of charades and Junior Monopoly and building blocks and all that kinda stuff, it's cool. With my older cousins we discuss stuff and argue and debate and that's cool too - it's great that they've grown up now, to actual people with opinions and ideas and knowledge.

Aside from all the family stuff (it was Tamil New Year on Sunday, so LOTS of family), I've been doing a lot of reading, and thinking too (essentially the work has been abandoned). I read a book called The One Minute Apology, which was useful. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing was seriously thought-provoking, unusual, and weird too. I tried to not engage with it, but I couldn't help myself. It made me sad again, why can't people just be good and right to each other and themselves? After that I started Fifth Business but had to leave it at someone's house, so I will pick up a copy back home. But I did read Love Marriage, authored by a cousin on my dad's side, which really made me think. It's all about my family and Tamil society etc. so it's difficult to read it objectively, but it got good reviews from outsiders, and I really liked it. Like her, I feel lost in myself, in so many ways.

Over here you feel your Tamilness a lot stronger than in London, but then you also feel your lack of Tamilness too, even in simple things like cooking and colloquialisms, and just "how we do things back home" versus what I've been brought up with. The second generation here sometimes seem to know where they stand, but mostly they're lost too.

Now I'm halfway through The Perks of Being a Wallflower, which I love, but it's at another cousin's house.

Thinking wise, well, this is funny. All my aunts and uncles, whenever I ask them when they're next coming to visit, they say they'll be coming for my wedding. I was shocked, and then became quite prickly about it, so they only joke with me now and then, but really, I think they're gearing themselves up for a wedding. Sure I'll be 25 in September (marriage alert, marriage alert!) but what? I can't be getting married any time soon, I don't know what I'm doing in practically every aspect of my life, how on earth can I cater to someone else's? Hmm, this is unnerving, it's like a rock hanging just above my chest, and occasionally I feel it press down and it scares me. It's odd though, because my little cousin was reading her story book to me, and in it the main character spoke about "feeling like a weight had been removed from his shoulders", but my cousin said that the main character still wasn't happy, as even though the weight had been removed, the pain from the weight remained on his shoulders. Pretty deep for an 8-year-old.

Anyway, I'm heading back from Ajax to Brampton tomorrow so will try and give a less random update before I head back to London. Most excitingly, we're going to the Royal Ontario Museum, which sounds like it'll be full of random tat exhibits, woo hoo! A helpful distraction.

Impending Hangover + 2008 Horoscope

Oh gosh. I think I am rather hammered. And tomorrow I will know this for the truth.

We've been to Aunty N's Christmas party - an annual shindig for Clayhall's socially aware Tamil crowd. An invite is coveted, but we are always invited because my brothers and I run the entz for the adults. Except tonight they left it to me. So I drank a shed load of whisky and caused some chaos. Oh dear. Things were still entertaining, but I realise now that I am too much of a "live for the moment" type. People love it, but the consequences are tricky.

So, my horoscope for the week. Bodes not entirely well....

As can happen to anyone, you discover a situation in which you’ve acted unwisely. Ideally, you catch it before others notice, so you can make emergency repairs. However, with the hot-headed Mars retrograde and having returned to the part of your chart that involves pivotal decisions, you’re unlikely to be able to keep anything under wraps. Your best strategy isn’t just to be open, but to ask others for guidance. Since situations remain tricky for all of January, getting others involved means you’ll be sharing vital information — and the burden for getting things right.

What on earth have I got to keep under wraps or be open about?! And for ALL of January. Rubbish.

And for the year...

Most Virgos have lived with their relentless inner critic for so long that life without it is almost unimaginable. During this year of reckoning, however, you’ll realise where it comes from and, more important, discover how to eliminate it and its incessant judgments. This process is triggered by the uncompromisingly truthful Pluto, which, combined with the benevolent Jupiter, introduces you to people or situations so positive, there’s simply no room for negativity. Initially, such happiness may seem unlikely, especially around the unsettling Virgo eclipsed Full Moon in late February. But this actually highlights what must go. Begin this clearout — personal and emotional — of your habits and even your goals, and opportunities will soon replace what has gone. Suspicions about such amazing good fortune are natural, but you swiftly realise not only that things are as good as they seem, this happiness has come to stay.

Well, the end of that is good, but clearout my habits and goals? Remove my inner judgement? No room for negativity? What the heck? This can't be a horoscope for REAL virgos! Find yours here.

Hangover.

K's first birthday party

In keeping with the weekend's trend of kids' birthday parties, last night we attended K's 1st birthday party. K is currently the sole grandchild of my mother's former GP partner. He is also the lucky son of two doctors and four grandparent doctors. Crazy stuff.

As such, this was a 1st birthday party with a difference. True there were cakes and balloons. However, the scale was really rather big. For a start, it was held in The Conservatory of the Millennium Hotel in Kensington. A beautiful top floor glass pyramid type structure with huge up-lit palm trees, it was an awesome venue.


There were 20 tables each seating 12, all delightfully decked out. Rather than just a table number, the seating was designated according to the helium cartoon character balloon on your table - so I was seated at Bob the Builder's table, heehee. There were two 8 foot clowns made of balloons and a massive balloon arch spelling out K's name at the front of the room. The DJ had a sick system, and there was a raised platform in the middle where the magician/clown and the crazy jugglers performed (everything from face painting to juggling knives over people laying on the ground!) The cake was three tiered, huge and tasty, with massive single candle for K to blow out, and then loads of candles all around for the other kids. The AV crew were everywhere, there was a free bar, Ragamama's catering (yum yum) and party bags! An all out extravagant bash; my father even remarked that perhaps they had too much money...


Apart from the fun-ness of it all, as with D's wedding I really appreciated the attention to detail. The invitation itself was a personalised card with K's smiling face on the front, so cute. And on each place setting was a chocolate bar saying "K is 1, happy birthday" on one side, and "thank you for coming to my party, hope you had a great time, love K" on the back. The place cards were hand-caligraphed and the party bags were fun boxes too (I don't really know how I got one, but anyway...) Here are some of the exciting random things in my bag...


Essentially then, a very good time, and another raising of the bar for the most lavish party to be held, let alone for a one-year-old who went to bed before dinner!

Belated Sunday Noon Rambles

This is my horoscope for this week, courtesy of the Sunday Times:

This week’s events pit your fundamental practicality against the more canny side of your nature that has a knack of observing developments and making remarkably accurate predictions. The practical side insists that you need to consolidate arrangements involving personal, domestic and relationship issues. But your intuition says that because the sweeping changes you’re observing would rearrange various elements of your life anyway, it’s not worth bothering until the dust has settled. What you can do is tidy up mundane obligations so that, when the changes you’re anticipating begin early next week, you’re ready for them.

Good, I like mundane obligations, they sound decidedly drama-free. But I do have a pressing To-Do list that is gnawing at me, despite my attempts at ignoring it. Perhaps it's more of a Maybe-Do list?

Last night I was at my uncle's daughter's birthday party, a 5th birthday party I might add, so it was hilarious. Proper old-school - party bags and hats, musical chairs and statues, party poppers etc. For the kids AND for the grown-ups. I did the night entirely sober, and it was good fun, but for some reason I woke up this morning with what feels like a hangover. This is strange. I'm sure I didn't drink.

I also managed to pop my shoulder out while turning over in bed last night, that wasn't fun at all. There's an unpleasant ache in my arm now, and if I allow myself to think about it, I can just about remember the excruciating pain of a distended shoulder. Ouch. Dang my loose ligaments.

So due to my fatigue I have bailed on lunch, but am due at a fancy pants 1st birthday party in about 2 hours. Good-oh. What is the deal with all these kiddy parties? Have I regressed somewhere along the way? I think I may need to drink through this one...

A hard day's work

I'm knackered. I've done more than seven hours of actual work on my computer today, wow. Classic FM has been keeping me entertained all the way through :) It's nice to know I can work after all.

Did a lot on the MyBnk project, am very into that. Also did some stuff on the old Log. Haven't done any lesson plans, but I am going to school tomorrow! I am determined, there's only 20 teaching days left, let's just take it day by day.

What else? Had a family party last night, stayed entirely sober, but was still somehow hysterical. My brother regularly says I have lost the plot. It's true. Spectacularly managed to put my foot in something really awful, metaphorically I mean, just let a cat out of a bag, a cat that may or may not even be really a cat since I have only heard things loosely and most likely mixed them up a bit. Anyway, fingers crossed that cat gets back in the bag and family disasters are averted.

Am missing S's actual birthday dinner tonight, after missing her party last weekend. We have a family dinner thing tonight with family from Australia (a long way to commute for dinner, but my Mum's a good cook). Need to get back on form.

Why am I still typing? I have RSI. This reminds me why I couldn't actually work in the City, my wrists and fingers hurt too much.

Wish me luck, sooooo much potential for chaos tomorrow!

Mega-Tidying!

Sunday afternoon. I have procrastinated enough, time to lesson plan. Ok, in five minutes.

This morning I woke up at 8am and couldn't go back to sleep. This was very annoying since I only got about 4 hours sleep last night, and have a rather shocking sleep debt from the week to pay off. But, despite trying hard to stay in bed, I couldn't. I decided it was time to tidy up my room. Ruthless. Lots of things got thrown away/"demoted" from having a presence in my room. I tidied up both my wardrobes too and sorted out all my tops into categories (Puja, you would be proud!). Then I worked on the the hundreds of books around the room. They are now in neat piles, but on the floor. I contemplated whether to get a bookshelf or not, but then decided it would be tricky to order a bookshelf when a) there is no space for one without ripping out the fitted sections of the room and b) my credit card is blocked out after repeated attempts to guess the pin (it was one of those nights when I was sure to get it right the next time, but alas they only gave me three chances).

Moving from here, I wandered downstairs. I think my mother may have been cross with me for my poor show last night, since there were a gaggle of aunties already in the living room (it was only 10am). Usually turning up in boxers all bleary-eyed for breakfast would be a no-no, but part of the family dynamic is that shame is a good punishment, so to repent for the night before I did my duty and sat with the aunties and did the chatter. What with having tidied up after the party last night and doing the chatter in the morning, well, I think I am back in the good books.

What else? Had a nice piano lesson and completed a full pelt work-out, mainly to neutralise the last two days of wickedness and also to stop myself getting too wired. Sweated out all the alcohol in the sauna (hopefully!) and am now contemplating the lesson planning. If only my enthusiasm for tidying could be replicated for this task. Again, try as I might, I can't push myself to do this. Cup of tea time :)

The Weekend

Blah. It's Sunday. You know what that means....lesson planning. I figured out what I hate about teaching - all the stuff that isn't actually interacting with the kids in school. By that I mean planning, assessment, recording, reporting...bureaucracy. This probably sounds strange to those of you who know how well I love a good plan. I think lesson plans are different, mainly because I don't like teaching maths and the plans just lead to more plans.

It's almost 6pm. Our lunch guests left a short while ago after a booze fuelled feast. I have managed 7 days now on the detox; it's going well, but my target date is 5th October, which is FAAAAAAAR away. My family are being very weird about this. Last night we were at a family 21st and my mother asked me why I wasn't drinking. I explained the detox. She looked horrified. "Don't do that, you will only have a binge when you can drink again. It's better to drink a little bit each day rather than save it all up". She knows me well. My father's approach is rather different. We don't really do aperitifs in my house, preferring to hit the hard stuff straight. So at 12:50pm when our guests arrived, out came the big guns. "Whisky or brandy?," he asks. When I respond that a coke is fine, I get shocked looks from not just him, but my relatives as well. They proceed to demolish a bottle of whisky and three quarters of brandy. The Baileys and sherry also get a look in. Just after pudding the talk turns to an upcoming wedding between my cousin and her Muslim boyfriend. The concern here is that there will be no alcohol at the reception. My father and uncle put their heads together and decide that they will shoulder the responsibility of setting up a secret car park bar. Problem solved.

On Friday night we had a maths department curry, which was tasty tasty. Staying away from the Cobra meant that I could actually finish off my meal. However, I am concerned that I have just swapped drinking for food, a new addiction for me. My HoD remarked that he was thought I was a nice responsible girl until the Christmas drinks, where I went a little bit wild. It's a strange idea we all seem to have about drink...I can't figure out if people want me to drink or not.

During that dinner I heard two awesome stories from colleagues. One teacher told us all about how he'd ran a "bring a granny to the opera" programme when he was in charge of a youth centre. Each hoodie had to dress up nicely and invite a senior citizen to the opera. On the night 50 kids and seniors turned up at the ROH, everyone acting the perfect lady/gentleman. Woulda loved to have seen that! Another teacher told us about how she and three other teachers had been on a camping trip with some kids and had got so hammered during the night that they'd decided to hurl the kids' breakfasts at their tents! Imagine it, 30 eggs and sausages lobbed at sleeping children! In the morning one child was convinced that someone had been throwing eggs at him in the night. "Don't be so silly; it was probably a bad dream, " was the response. Shocking.

Aarrrgh I hate planning so much. Why am I doing this again?

Greece Baby!

I'm going to Greece tomorrow, yippee!
We're going here:

Lefkas (Levkas, Lefkada, Leucas) is a small Greek island off the north-western coast of the mainland. South of Corfu, north of Ithaca and Cephalonia, Lefkas isn't part of the Cyclades, but instead holds a proximate position to the Preveza Perfecture. As such, Levkas has recently seen a boost in tourism and travel to the area. However, it still remains largely unspoilt. And it's supposed to be wicked sailing out there! Am very excited :) So much so that I'm not too daunted by our crazy check-in time of 0440.

My excitement is only limited by the fact that my crazy Snack Acca is over here from New York with my uncle too. I love her, she's just so funny! Alas she's only here for a week and so I won't get to see her apart from today. Hopefully she'll be back soon to promote her amazing book, which is being released in the spring.


Ok, I don't know that it's actually amazing, but it's based to an extent on the trials and tribulations of my family, so obviously that'll make interesting reading for me! Plus I know all about the different types of marriage, particularly arranged vs love. Weird how those two things are mutually exclusive. Well, not weird, just kinda sad. Anyway, I hope it doesn't lead to some huge family fall-out type thing since we've had more than enough of those thank you very much. You can check the amazon preview here.

You know what though? I just checked the US amazon for her book and there it costs $11.16, but in the UK it costs £12.99! What a shocker, that's more than double the price, how can that be?!

In other news I have finally finished watching Grey's Anatomy seasons 1 & 2, and now am desperate to get hold of season 3. I am also contemplating starting Jade's West Wing collection, but this could be risky since I have to leave for dinner soon (well, in 4 hours, but that's soon in TV land).

Enjoy the last week of the summer holidays, fingers crossed for sunshine!

Leadership Skills Masterclass; Weekend Chatter

Welcome to smoke-free England! Hurrah!

I drank about 8 units of Jack Daniels last night and felt right as rain this morning. Proof that spirits are the way forward. A very nice birthday party, although a shame that the full family turnout didn't quite happen. It'll never be like it was back in the day, but still. Lots of nice "so when are you getting a serious profession and finding a nice husband" chatter. I'd like to think I cleverly bantered my way out of those conversations, but in retrospect I think I was a bit hammered and so may have come across as a bit hostile and argumentative. Ho-hum.

Leadership skills masterclass yesterday was actually very good. Freshfields were wonderful hosts, providing both breakfast and lunch, and also the use of some very nice offices. The masterclass itself was well presented with good content and challenging ideas. Lots of excellent "business psycho-babble" theory, with questions designed to help us figure out our leadership style, and what motivates us (achievement, affiliation, power).

It seems that essentially good leadership can be boiled down to a model with three components: intent/motive + behaviour/skills + outcomes/performance. If you get the balance right, you can be a good leader and provide direction, execution and commitment.

We have an assignment to do now to help us "define our leadership goals", which could be waffley, but might well be interesting. The two critical questions for a leader at the end of the class were "how do people experience you? how do people experience themselves in your presence?" I have no idea as yet, but I do now know that "people who cause others to experience themselves as energised, committed and confident are most likely to be seen as leaders". I will resist the urge to apply all this theory to the leaders at my school, this can only lead to negativity. On a slight aside, I feel rather like I've been brainwashed by the masterclass - I'm all over this leadership stuff, give me more!

In other news, a boy from my year at college is on a TV show called Last Man Standing. It's a competition where 6 lads go round the world and get initiated into various tribes and compete in tribal games and stuff like that. All sounds a bit mad really, but it's entertaining viewing, so check it out if you can (Tuesdays at 9 on BBC3; first episode repeated tonight at 8).

Meant to be making my portfolio today but still can't really be bothered. I have progressed as far as finding a lever-arch folder and some dividers. I think that merits a break.

Times Horoscope for Virgos this week:

Ordinarily, you’re the one who’s dispensing advice to others, and usually they take it. Now the tables are turned. Not only do you dislike the vulnerable feelings that relying on others’ advice triggers, you’re also not so sure about what they’re telling you to do. If you can’t agree, at least explore their suggestions, some of which would take you into unfamiliar territory. Actually, that’s the point. Recent burdens have restricted your zest for life. Once you regain the inquisitiveness that is one of your most valuable traits as a Virgo, you’ll also regain your enthusiasm, and won’t care in the least who’s giving you advice or what they say, as long as what it leads to interests you.

Family ramblings

A week away from school. Thank the heavens!

My middle brother didn't get the grades he needed to get on to his graduate medical course, so things are a bit up in the air for him. On the other end of the spectrum, my little brother came 5th in his year (well, outta 75, but it is Cambridge, so props to him) and has been allowed to switched to Natural Sciences (from Theology and Religious Studies - what a dramatic switch!) next year, so he's pretty psyched.

With all this news in hand, I went to the temple with my mother this morning. I like the temple, it makes me feel pretty calm. My mother likes it because she is really rather religious, and also because it's a nice social venue, where you can unexpectedly bump into all sorts of family and friends. My favourite highlight from today was when a friend of my late grandmother's saw me after a looooong time and asked what I was doing. When I said teaching, she said that it was an excellent profession since I could come home at 3pm every day and look after my husband and children. I'm not sure her perspective on our school situation is entirely valid.

Another thing that made me laugh today was as we were driving home I saw our new borough logo: Redbridge, a better place to live. This is a bit of a smack in the face for the borough of Newham, whose sign is about 50 metres away, but I guess Redbridge is a slightly better place to live. Approximately 3 mins after reading the sign, we were involved in an altercation with two rather horrid Eastern European chaps, who were in the car behind us and kept beeping and raging at us to cut through the red light so they could keep going. One of them got out of his car and came at shouted at me in the front passenger seat. He even invited me to lower my window - a request I politely declined. What has happened to our lovely little Jewish borough? Humph.

And finally, my ebayed digital camera arrived, yay, but sans cables, boooo!

Oh Canada!

I am in Canada, woo hoo! I haven't met this person yet, but I hope to.


Flight was delayed and so spent 10 hours on the plane and a further hour in Customs & Immigration. However, lots of lovely Canadian people on the flight made up for this.

Crucially, since I have been here, I have eaten enough for food a week. Of special note are the four puddings we each polished off at the wedding yesterday (by we, I mean my cousins and I - and yes, it was a lovely wedding) and also the two buckets of KFC we ate last night after an epic game of charades. The charades was especially fun since the youngest player was 5 and thinks that whatever you are acting, the answer MUST be the Lion King. Added dynamic of boys vs. girls brought out a bitter rivalry but we made our peace after chicken.

Also met my littlest cousin who is almost 2; the last time I saw her she was just two weeks old, bless! She waddles around and squawks a lot - there is definitely a duck connection on there somewhere. Alarmingly, I am 22 years older than her. This means that when she is finally old enough to enjoy a beverage with me, I will be 40. Eeek!

Busy Weekend

I have lots of work to do. There's a surprise.

So my phone ran outta battery some time on Saturday morning, so apologies if I've not got back to you if you tried to get in touch. Crazy weekend. I will try and give you just the highlights, but you know what I'm like with the rambling.

School happened on Friday, pretty standard affair, nothing too exciting except I threatened some random child with an exclusion because he asked me if I was a "dyke" cos I taught football....how inappropriate! Plus I think "dyke" is in line with "paki" or "nigger" or "cripple" as offensive terms for things so had to cut that one down. I think the sports kit isn't really showing me off in the best light. Hahaha, anyway, he was pretty scared - I hope he doesn't realise I have no power at all to exclude anyone! I am proud of myself though - check me out challenging stereotyped views and standing up for equal opportunities and all that - Standard 3.3.14 all over!

Friday night went up to Oxford, had a few lovely drinks with Mouche, MeJij, Rouse & co. Mouche gave me a book and bought an excellent multi-sensory birthday present for MeJij. The Goooooose was just the same, I love it. Moved onto the Turf where there were lots of nice familiar faces and good catching up times to be had. Chatter was fuelled by numerous pints of Old Rosie, wicked stuff. Some unnamed people got pretty hammered and then there was a bit of a falling out. McDonald's was also involved at some point in the night (McPigeon Nuggets - gross!), alongside some deep and meaningful chats and all that drunken stuff. Essentially a fun night was had and a splitting hangover and sleep deprivation suffered the next day.

Not good since Saturday was graduation. Most of it passed by in a blur since there were many confusing moments and strange procedures. The whole thing was more or less in latin, and we had to bow at different people at different times and then walk to different rooms and wear our hoods and then walk back. Lots of stuff went on anyway, most of which I don't remember except for lunch (which was nice, and gave me a chance to knock back some wine, which woke me up substantially) and also lots of photographs. I did like wearing the crazy bat gown though, it's worth graduating just for that.

Missed the ball Sat night, but went up to Warwick with my family to take my brother out for dinner. Went to a nice Mexican restaurant and loaded up on deep fried cheese amongst other goodies. My father kept comparing tortillas to rotis and chapattis, and my Mum needed a steak knife to cut her chicken. My brother bought me a "bop-it" as a graduation gift, but I'm not letting myself open it yet, else the day will be written off (Bop-Its are like a bottle of SoCo to me). Good times.

Early start on Sunday for my cousin's wedding in Surrey. Was having sari nightmares - it get getting caught in the sequins of my shoes and also kept exposing my sari top - not appropriate for weddings! Lots of fun again though, maaaany cousins and family present, all of which keen to know how awful teaching is. Many bemused faces from people who seemed to think I was working in some kinda investment bank - also lots of disparaging commentary from my father about the exploiting of young graduates through TF, made me proud. Wedding passed well though with not too many tears from the little ones. Every wedding down is more pressure on the rest of us though - all the aunties and uncles spend ages winding us up about getting married and trying to introduce us to random sons of random other people. Apparently if you don't get married by 25 it will be much more difficult to catch one of the "good boys". I think I'll take my chances.

When we get the photos back, will post them up so anyone thinking I was bunking the Leadership Discovery Day will have proof that I wasn't!

New Teachers' Rights

Good stuff, new legal powers for teachers to "restrain and discipline unruly pupils" come into effect today. I think I might go into Walthamstow just to test them out (yes, apparently they apply even outside of school - hahaha, like anyone'd risk trying to tell off the street gangs!)

Full article from the BBC here.

Am hoping this isn't an elaborate April Fools' joke...

Will be back later to offer some completely unjustified opinion, but first I'm going to the last day of the Daily Mail Ideal Home Exhibition with my Mother. Awwww bless.

Very Inefficient Lesson Planning

By lesson planning, I mean procrastination. I hate lesson planning. I think I've said this before. Woo hoo, only two more Sundays of planning and then it's Easter break. Let's woo hoo one more time...something to aim for!

So during my procrastination I have:

1. More or less read the entire Sunday Times Online.
2. Messed about on Facebook
3. Eaten half the Rococo plain chocolate bar we got for free (yum yum, although now I feel a bit sick)
4. Chewed 3 pieces of gum
5. Drank 2 glasses of water

On the plus side, I have now managed to plan two lessons. Well done me.

Anyway, I'm going to have lunch now, but I will probably be back later. In the meantime, here and here are some good short posts by other teachers, with whom I can most definitely sympathise. Seems like teaching is tough for everyone, just gotta focus on the old light at the end of the tunnel. And by that I mean the Easter break!

Happy birthday Mouchio! Another year older, another year wiser, another year sillier :)

Update 17:00
Lessons for Y7 and Y8 planned, including one super-duper group work lesson on birthday parties and making formulae to figure out how many balloons, pizzas, cups etc. we need. Got the idea mymaths and am risking the old group work since am being observed with Y8 on Thurs. Have decided not to plan too enthusiastically or look forward to this lesson since this could jinx it.

Y11 lessons still to be planned - covering probability for the last time before GCSEs this week. Am being observed on Tues with Y11 so this will require some work. Two observations in one week, bang.

In other news, am still obsessed with Extreme's "More Than Words", have sung along to it approx 11 times already this afternoon. Time for a tea break.

Update 20:38
Lesson planning complete for the day! Whoop! Hilariously inefficient though. Oh well.
In other news, my Mum is very pleased with her mini-roses pot plant and Belgian chocolate egg, which makes me pleased. Also listened in on an interesting discussion my parents were having with a doctor friend of theirs about the best car to buy right now (best car = the nicest car that won't actually get nicked by the various criminals who come to our road just to rob stuff). Realised I wouldn't be able to buy aaaaaany of these cars for about 50 years with this crummy pay, and even then only if I am willing to live in said car because I sure as heck won't be able to afford any kinda house independently. Decided that tomorrow I will find out how long it will take me to earn £30k a year, before allowing the shocking answer to lead me to once again contemplate my "coulda been" life in the City, and to drive me to ginger bread men.

Family Tales

In the spirit of regaling each other with tales of our families:

I just texted Mosser to tell him we'd have to raincheck our afternoon drinking session. My excuse for absence made me laugh: I have to help my Mum cook eggs for my uncle's surprise 50th birthday party tonight. This sounds completely ridiculous, and yet it is true.

Also I was chatting with my Dad in our family room and in the space of about 5 mins he said:

1. "Good, let them" - in response to my warning that the tax man would come and get him if he tried to avoid inheritance tax.
2. "You could move to Senegal" - in response to my pointing out it will probably be maaaany years before I could afford to entirely independently make it onto the property ladder.
3. "I am bored of giving her money" - in response to my questioning why we aren't giving my Dad's friend's daughter her usual birthday present.
4. "I wandered lonely as a cloud" - kinda outta nowhere, but when pushed on it, he admitted it was Wordworth who first put those words together, and not him as he originally claimed.

Mouche, the book is still about you. The pile of stuff is growing. Want some of my brother's old clothes too?