And it's Sunday night already.

Hairtie

I found one lone hair-tie in my room. I am looking after it very carefully.

Knitting

Yeah...... and what? Knitting for me is very relaxing and I like to do it when I sit down sometimes. I don't care if that's on a bus, at a movie or at a party....... And once I start, I get in that zone and want to finish all in one go (which you never can - but it's a goal). I am very good at focussing like that. Makes me good at shifting house - I keep unpacking til I can unpack no more.

I have outed Ange as a knitter. The words 'I am going to kill you!' were texted in response.

Noggin

I am still in training for Noggin. I can't seem to get past the 45th best in the world status. I think I'd have to put in some serious time to get better than that. I'd have to play for 2 or 3 hours a day. That's commitment. I wish the scoring system wasn't just cumulative and they worked it out on some kind of average placing or score. I'm very consistent.

Movies

I have watched a lot of movies in the last week. What else are you gonna do when you have a pile of marking and schol work to do.....?

I watched Punch Drunk Love (very quirky, but I liked it), The Good German (good ending and enough film noir elements that I told my girls to watch it as light home-work if they felt the need to 'study'), 23 (Jim Carey just shouldn't try to do serious movies, seriously, and I do not want to see him having sex - that's just icky) and The Science of Sleep (very endearing, if in a slightly creepy way).

Reading books is for losers. I'm a Media Studies teacher......

Mr Hughes

Me and Ange have been amused to see the rise of Mr H in the Labour group as a result of the latest reshuffle. We went to high school with him and he is now the youngest minister. I find it funny that he's the Minister of Statistics when he failed fifth form maths (quite spectacularly, I believe). I think he took solice at the time in the fact that Jim Bulger fared similarly in School Cert Maths. I still take pride in the fact that I orchestrated his only political defeat to date in the fifth form school council rep electives. If need be, I shall start the smear campaign in future years if he does indeed become leader of the Labour Party (as is being tipped for the future). I am the only one who can stop the monster.......

Having said that, I think that his political beliefs are pretty decent and in line with my own. But my memory is long... and I still remember how he turned the 'James the Cat' theme-song into 'Kate the Fat' in third form science.

Dave is the Trampoline King

If you have never met anyone who is a trampolinist and has trained and competed in city champs... then you should meet Ange's flatmate, Dave. He used to be a trampolinist. That's cool. I may have never met anyone with as cool a high-school hobby as that.

And now he's a bouncer. That's just fantastic.

Does anyone know of any places in the Wellington region that have trampolines? We are trying to get him to do an exhibition for us. We know there are trampolines up in Levin, at the must-see Adventure Playground. A day trip may be in order.

Where do all the hair-ties go?

I have run out. And I used to have a billion of them. I buy whole packets at once. Now alls I have left is a few ones that have lost their elasticity, so are useless. Half my hair was hanging out at netball on Monday because I had been reduced to using a baby-hairtie (little thin one that's got crappy tightness).

They probably go to the same place as the bobby-pins.

I know where some bobby-pins go. They fall down the back of boyfriends' beds. I was at Matt's house once, and my hair was haggard looking (as was the rest of me) and I was complaining about having lost my bobby-pins.... and he had just shifted rooms in his flat and pointed out that he had 'dozens' of them on the floor of his old room. So I went and had a look at the empty room and sure enough, lots of bobby-pins lying on the floor under his window. I scooped them right up.

Evasive little blighters, anyhow.

Irrelevant

Means nothing to anybody, since nobody from school reads this, but we may finally have a printer. The other place quoted us $20,000 (after it was only $12,000 last year). Now this new place quoted $13,000. We'll take that. Not sure how you can justify such a big difference! It was all in the graphic design lay-out cost. Varied hugely. I'm sure this place will be quite shite in its layout.... but alls I care about is getting the darned thing finished (I always get to this point fairly quickly). We were talking about management units at work today. There is a lady who gets one for looking after the staff kitchen (which seems to mean buying new plates every now and then and moaning at us all to get our food out of it at the end of term - the tea-lady does all the grunt work). She also gets one for doing 'the curtains'. I'm not even sure what that entails. Anyhow, that's $7,ooo or so right there. I get NOTHING for doing the school magazine. I felt jipped. As usual. There's something inequitable there. My three periods off a week for half a term is blimin' measly.

Final

We had our netball final yesterday. Bits of it weren't too bad. Bits of it were horrendous. Bits of it brought back memories of Ken and those phases of game where we'd start humming the Harlem Globetrotters theme to ourselves because we were so comically bad (we seriously would, me and Ken)..... I put my hand up as one of the people who had a shite fourth quarter. I think I did a back net pass or two that bounced off the rim (oops - too high).

We got horrible trophies for our efforts. They should just give us another free game voucher for making the final or something. They are creating a lot of garbage there.

Free Haircut

I got hooked into this great deal of being a mystery shopper at Rodney Wayne (Probably not allowed to say that in a public forum..... probably breaking some secrecy vow). I get a free haircut, so long as I fill out a four page survey. Sweet! And I can recommend five more people to do it. I think I have three volunteers already....... Cass or Ange - you keen for free haircuts?

Tuesday

Tuesday has become the busy day. It is either the day of Ange's Geeky Craft Night in the Hutt or Richard's Cheap Movie Night. Tuesday never looked so good.

News

I am studying newsy stuff with my Media Studies class. We watched last night's TV3 broadcast in class today. We had some good wee talks. After each item we paused and discussed why that was REALLY newsworthy (what interest did it spark in us). I think they're starting to really think about it. One of them (the smartest one, to be fair) even used the phrase 'medical ethics'. Ok.... so my class is the 'slower' one of the two. It doesn't take much to excite me with them. I got to put in a few shots about Winston's emotive hate-mongering. I like to turn the new generation off him wherever possible.

Better

I feel noticably better. Though still sick. I am now at a 'functional' level. Wouldn't want to have to play Centre at netball or anything yet though....

I was lip-synching in my mirror last night (doing air guitar too) and in the middle of that I realised I felt 'better'. I thought to myself, 'Something's different....' and figured out that was the first time in about three days I'd actually had energy and a bit of animation. The things we do when we're at home alone......

It was quite a novelty. My cheek is still puckered on the inside and peeling skin from where I slept with a lozenge in my cheek for a few hours. Evidently that's not a smart thing to do.

Luckily I am still sick enough for people at work to notice. It gives me an excuse for stuff I was supposed to have done this weekend but didn't. I felt slightly patronised when one of my more chatty girls actually said (quite nobly to the class, after hearing my croaky half-strength voice), 'Aw - listen to Miss! We should all be really quiet today!' in sympathy. I was about to launch into '... uh.... L------, shouldn't you be quiet while I'm talking EVERY day?' but then I figured I'd just go with it.

* * *

Magazine may be starting to stress me out again. Being sick all weekend put my timing off a bit too. Stink one. I wanna just start getting the meaty sections done, but they all rely on other people getting me the last few items or someone else proofing them...... Other people get in my way, damnit. And teachers are the WORST. Never trust a teacher to do something by the deadline. They flout them.

* * *

Flight of the Conchords is funny.

Now THAT's what I call basketball....

The grade my team are playing in this season is the Women's C Grade.

It is, from what I can deduce so far, a grade full of short Asian teams and old women (sometimes the teams are comprised solely of short old Asian women). While the Chinese community have always represented well in basketball circles and usually have good shooters and quick hands..... they do tend to suffer due to having, at most, one tall-ish player on the team (if that - and certainly not tall by MY giantesque standards).

Flash-back: It takse me back to my earlist basketball days, when I was a wee third former. My team of friends was hapless at best.... and only won one team all season (by two points) against the local Chinese girls' team, The Mavericks. It was good times!

And then there's my team. Former B-grade contendors.

I think I got at least ten blocks in my last game, and I scored somewhere in double figures. I even did a 'move' where I dribbled the ball and used my steps......

I am going to get everyone to start calling me Lightning Feet (due to my extreme quickness and yellow shoes) and might request some sort of theme song to walk out onto the court with (in slow motion). *

It's a good grade. We are 3-0.

* I'm not actually that good...... The teams with 'Masters' in their names make me feel young again, though!

**********************

Netball was good tonight. The other team were a male down, which probably hampered them. But we played generally well, I thought.

SWEEP THE LEG!

Damn. I forgot to get a photo of Jon in his sensai headband.....

Last day of frrrrreeeeeedom.

Friday - Steve Roger is back in the 04

Steve went to T-col with me and Fish and then taught at Wainui with Ed - so he knows a lot of our crew. He's been in England for the past four years teaching at badass schools and growing facial hair.

He is becoming Upper Hutt's official ambassador of cool. Living, working and partying in the UH. With a half British accent.

We went to Monsoon Poon (mmmm) and then played around with toothpicks at Kitty's. Ed's idea...... but Cassie took it to new levels with her twirling tricks.

Then on to .... uh..... Shooters with Marty and co. It met my expectations.

Saturday - Stone collecting

I went with Reidun to look for stones to make garden markers with (she's gonna paint them up with labels like 'Thyme'). My new yellow sneakers enjoyed the outing and were solid on the uneven rocks of the bays.

Saturday Night - Jono's Birthday Drinks

Jono still got IDed going into JJ Murphy's, even though he turned 32 yesterday. That's cool! I hope I'm like Jono when I grow up. Forever young.

I made it my new paparazzi mission to get photos of Michelle without hands in front of her face. I succeeded many times. I am the master! What will be my next drunken photographer challenge???

Justin got him the coolest present ever - a karate headband like the one in Karate Kid. I have ordered him to wear it for the whole game tomorrow. SWEEP THE LEG!

Jono is my new best friend. I shared my chocolate with him.

I got the yellow sneakers. Watch out!

* * *

I have to go in to school today. Stink. I have to sort out what's going on with the magazine (I have yet to get any support from anyone on any level - so am considering just chucking it in - as I have given fair warning I will do if no support is given in terms of help, time or money). That is not a nice thought. I'm not a quitter, but at the same time I'm not a martyr and my priority is teaching my seniors well before they go to exams and I just can't do that if I'm expected to produce a 130 page magazine at the same time (literally, the same time - I end up taking it in to class to work on while my seniors do 'quiet busy work', which is not great teaching).

* * *

I sent a dumb text last night. It was one of those instances where I was texting ABOUT someone..... and actually absent-mindedly sent it TO that person. And realised just after I'd pressed 'send'. ARGH! It could have been worse. But it still makes me cringe a lot. It wasn't good.

CRINGE CRINGE CRINGE. I tried to cover and make him think the tone was more flattering than it really was..... I hope he bought it.

I nearly killed a man yesterday.

I am blogging like a madman. This is almost my second of the day! It's because it's so bloody cold and I haven't wanted to get out of bed.

Under covers with lap-top is good. Outside in biting-cold wind is bad.

* * *

Before I get into my tale, here's a good link to evil cat pictures with funny captions (I'm sure that description doesn't anywhere near do it justice). It is stolen from Morgan.

It made me and Ange laugh out loud many many times the other night. I do not often laugh out loud at internet things. I think you need to read them out loud in the right accent. It helps. I am available for such services.

* * *

It was a dark and stormy night in Wellington. The kind with rain-slicked streets and blurry vision. I was in Mt Vic, trying to find a 'legitimate' park. I was pulled up over a drive-way on one side of the road, but I had spotted a park on the other side of the street, so was gearing up to do a u-turn. The street was not particularly well-lit.

I did a head-check and saw no lights coming up the road (only a set way down the bottom of the hill)..... indicated and started doing my turn.... and out of the corner of my eye saw a cyclist swerve out of my way mid-turn. Inches from hitting my car.

The moron was biking at 8pm on a rainy, dark night ..... with NO lights on his bike, no reflective gear and wearing dark clothing from head to toe (even had a beard covering half his face. To top it off he didn't even have a helmet on. That really pissed me off. Unless he'd been right under a streetlight when I'd turned to check behind me, he woulda been pretty much invisible.

I am quite righteous about the fact that I coulda nearly killed him.

After having a fairly shite game of netball which already had me in a bad mood, I did not need to have the maiming of a man in black on my conscience.

I'm sure on some level it was my fault too..... but you have to be some kind of idiot to be biking in that condition with no helmet or light. I don't care if he was a student - when I was a student biking around Palmie I wore a helmet each and every time I went out because I value my brain. And I had lights at the front and rear of my bike because, again, I value my brain and body. And Palmie was about ten times safer to bike in than Wellington, anyhow.

So, yeah. Funny how as soon as I started driving a car I turned to the 'other side' and started hating pedestrians and cyclists.

Paper Play - Part II

This is my dragonfly. I maded it. All bys myself. His name is Flitterby.

* * *

This is Saturday night.

Me and Sam M from work went to watch the school ukulele band play at Sub 9. They are called the Ukuladies. That cracks me up. Anything they lack in talent, they make up for in spirit. They are led by a talented guitar player (got award for best chick at the local Rockquest last year) and she has taught them a repotoire of three songs. Haere Mai (Everything is Ka Pai), Iko Iko and How Bizarre.

Me and Sam went as groupies. We were the only teachers there. We had on lais (their traditional outfits are Hawaiian shirts) and some home-made 'I heart the ukuladies' badges that I whipped up using my laminator (I made some spares and they went like hotcakes, I tell ya). We were very very hip and cool.

Sam and I then met Boy-Sam at Club K for karaoke. I have finally met someone else who doesn't mind karaokeing with me! Watch out! When we first arrived, Girl-Sam and I were quite literally the only ones there. It made for ideal warm-up time. We kept making the DJ stop playing hip-hop shite and put on some cheesy old songs for us to warm-up to. We started with Islands in the Stream, and it was fairly fortunate there was nobody there to listen...... The girl part is high. I have a very limited vocal range.

Ange and a couple of her workmates were out on the town, so they joined us too. Ange actually sang! I heard her! It was awesome. We were drinking the Canadian Clubs with ginger-ale. Mmmm. Not a bad way to drink the night away.

We then went to Motel for a cocktail (Rosebuds are gooooood) care of one of Ange's buddy's husband, who works on the door there.

That was the SECOND night in a row I had been out for a few drinks!

I feel like I'm reliving my youth. Getting my second wind just before I turn 30. On Friday night me and Ange and her flatmate (formerly MY flatmate) went out to Kitty's, Mighty Mighty and The Materhorn for drinks. I lost the 'First Person to See Someone they know is Cool' game. Ange saw someone from work. Damn her. Daragh came dead-last.

Ok, if I'm honest we didn't stay out past 1am on either night - but I was still out, it was late-ish and I was drinking. We even danced at the Karaoke Bar when Sam got up to sing. He did his usual specialised reportoire. He did good!

I know three people called Sam! It makes for much confusion when they were in the same place at the same time.

* * *

Ange and I have decided that we have already mentally moved into our 30s. I look around a bar, for example, and think, 'My god -they're all so young! All in their 20s. There's not many of us people in our 30s.'

I think that mental transition will make my actual birthday much easier.

RUMPUS II - The Party Refused to Die

This year was the second annual Rumpus party - Rumpus 07. The traditional gift for a first anniversay is something involving paper.

And yes, I do believe paper played a key part in the celebrations. I was just thinking of all my highlights - and a lot of them involved high quality white computer paper.

First of all, there were Damon's fantastically retro-classy invites with the lettering that you could run your finger over for textural pleasure. There was much time spent cutting those out by him (and Ange, at work). Nothing says class like a party that has an official, well-designed invite. We made matching DJ badges (which were laminated by me and my own personal laminator) and the chocolate smashing instructions.

Then there was the Paris Wall. I spent many an hour with Damon perfecting that. We searched Warehouse Stationery for just the right quality paper - and got 160gram paper. It's like silk, baby. Nothing cheap would do for that collage. I was the official putter-onnerer of double-sided tape for that, and did the white trim around the edges. Damon and Morgue came to help at the last minute and proved somewhat incompetant (how hard is it to fold, cut and stick????). :)

Ah, and then there was the roof of the Womb Room. I was the designated cutter-outerer of the spirals (proving that I have versatility in my paper-skills - I'm more than just a tape sticker). Morgue used his natural born skills and was the official putter-on-the-roofer, and Damon was the go-between. That roof was a thing of beauty if you looked at if from the right angle and the shadows were cast by the red lava lamp. Awww! Purty. And it looked like a school of hungry sperm. The boys have some Freudian issues there.

And then, the highlight of it all, there was was the OVEN! It was one of those random ideas that just popped up towards the end of the planning. Damon had an old oven in his kitchen. It had to be moved out. The front door had to be blocked off to stop that side of the house from becoming annoying to the neighbours and maintain the desired flow of people. So Morgan decided it would be one of those incongruous gems of an idea to put the oven on the doorstep. The original plan was to put the neighbour's old oven there too and have them facing off or mating (depending on much things heated up between them). But after jumping the fence, Morgan and I decided it was way to bloody heavy to hoist over. And the one oven was more than enough......

But then Morgue decided the oven looked almost like it had a face. So he wandered around grabbing items that could make an eye........ and I cut out some teeth, and Damon found an old bike light to give it a glowing red mouth effect.... and it was genius!!! Again, paper played a key part in the making of the teeth and eyes.

So there....... what will the theme be for the second anniversay? Is it cotton or something? Do I have my whole anniversay gift thing wrong??? Can't wait for the diamond anniversay, anyhow.

* * *

And let me expand on my highlights.......

I think the Rumpletron was again a little confused. It couldn't tell who was a girl or a boy this year (even more than usual). But that just adds to hilarity, I say! I love that Daragh the Builder came out as Congresswoman Moore. And there seems to be some conspiracy that led to Jon being Tiny Cleetis. That's hilariosu stuff, that there.

There was a nice mix of tribes this year, too. Good on ya, Rumple! I came out as Disco Lyssa.

Moments of hilarity for me were caused by someone (I will allow them anonymity - for now) seeing someone else they'd met on a series of internet dates there. Much avoiding and subtle-photo-taking and staring ensued. It was scandal. Then he was snapped (quite litereally) in his boxer shorts with another lady, helping the Womb Room live up to its reputation.

The world debut of DJ B*stard was a great thing to be a witness too. We love the 80s music and the organe-vinyl-jacket! Many 'magnum' and 'blue steele' attempts ensued as RELAX was played. Svend may have a calling as a male model.

Some pikers went off to see the rugby (bah!) but they came back. Drunker than before. Justin's friend had an odd affinity for the monkey. Justin himself ran around the different rooms catching us up on what was going on with everyone else and giving updates on anything scandalous. Meanwhile, I stayed fairly solidly in the Womb Room for a while. It was red and soothing.

Oh, earlier in the evening Ange's flatmates had a time of pretending to be bouncers (they certainly looked the part) and asking people for ID and invites as they came to the door. Really, they were just loitering around the free beer. One of them, Daragh, has officially never smiled in a photo in his life. He always looks like a miserable bastard - so I made it a mission to catch at least one good shot. That is why he features rather prominantly in the photos you can see via Damon's site. And, by gum, I did catch him a few times! I think I could actually be a good paparazzi person.

There was someone called Steve. Who the heck was he???? Apparently he's one of the Hutt crew, but I've never heard of him. And I like to think I know everything there is to know about everything. I suspect some kind of conspiracy.

Oh gosh.... and the smoke machine. What a highlight! Several people over the course of the night (Ange, Nick!) decided to just crank it up. There is something fantastic about being in a hazy room where someone can literally become invisible if they stand in the right spot across the way from you. It was cool! I'm sure by next time Damon'll figure out the magic of the strobe too - then he can truly bring the night-club home.

It was good seeing people from last year's Rumpus like Fraser (who generously gave out Sparkles and wore his name-tag on his forehead all night) and his fellow Fushia-Angels Sam and Michael. I got to vent about my outsting from the Ultimate circles many a time (it appears not being able to actually THROW a frisbee may count against me when the time to pick teams comes). There was the other Richard - the one who's good with computers - who I waved to on ocassion.

I said hi to lots of new people. Then they'd say, 'So - how do you fit in?' and I got to proudly say, 'I'm Kate - I'm on the invite.' Sometimes that was not enough explanation, so they asked how I knew Damon or Morgan. This perplexed me a little. But the easiest answer is, 'Through Sam.' If they didn't know Sam, this was of little help. More people should know Sam. He's a hub.

The party minions were a fabulous idea, and they came around with their pots of chippies and sausage rolls at regular intervals, exchanging empty bottles for full. Every party should have minions.

It all went very nicely. Nothing major (other than chocolate) was broken. Only one person vomitted, and they were considerate enough to do it in the drain in the garden. Only one couple (that we know of) had gratuitous sex around the party. Everyone seems to have gotten home safely (though, last I heard Billy was just heading to go for a walk on Petone Beach at 4am ..... I hope he's been spotted since).

I have heard positive feedback from many people. Though nobody filled out the optional form we provided at the exits.....

* * *

It is now holidays! Phew. I've been on auto-pilot for a week now and my clothes have been unironed and my hair a mess..... Time to regather.

Tonight I will either go on date #3 or go watch the ukulele band from school play a gig in town (or both).

Rumpus 07 - Bringing the Nightclub Home

I will do a proper entry when the time is right.

For now, in brief....

CHALLENGES

Ange - did manage to talk briefly to Cal about the knitting group

Darargh - did not pike (Marty did) and even managed to smile in a photo

Justin - did not out-party Jon (by about 20 minutes - it was a close call)

I feel mildly seedy, but was up at 9am cleaning and tidying the kitchen. There is much alcohol left over and some chocolate too. No particularly horrible carnage.

KEY IMAGES

- Nick and the smoke machine

- John molesting [insert name here]

- DJ B*stard rocking the party like it's 1999

- Congresswoman Moore

- Tiny Cleetus

- The evil red glowing oven-guard

- SAVE ME, DAVE!

- Who IS Steve?

- Sam reappearing after leaving again and again

- I look cool in a cowboy hat

* * *

I now have to go play netball for Michelle's team - not because I like them or anything, mainly because I realised from last night's myriad of bad photos that I need more exercise! I have developed Mummy-arms and two extra chins (from some angles). More exercise! Less chocolate!

ONE SLEEP!

It's like Christmas Eve. I betcha I won't get to sleep for hours tonight!

The excitement!

Get your dancing shoes on and your glad-wrags ready to wear, folks.

Bring an umbrella.

THREE SLEEPS TO GO!

Date 2: Dinner at Hede and a drink. Movie date proposed for third date. He likes Star Trek. A lot. I find this simultaneously endearing and concerning. Mostly endearing. I took along 15 questions this time.

You might like to try them at home:

1) Who is your nemesis?

2) What is your beauty regime?

3) What are three deal-breakers for you? (things that would veto you dating someone)

4) What action figures did you collect as a child?

5) Your attitude towards kilts?

6) Ever won anything odd?

7) Weirdest flatmate ever?

8) Define 'juxtaposition'

9) What board game do you specialise in?

10) What home cooking from your childhood do you remember fondly?

11) What is something ridiculously expensive that you have bought?

12) What are three dorky things about yourself you'll admit to?

13)

I had a Findsomeone date last night. It's only my second one in the last few months - I'd doing them rather intermittently.

It was good.

I'd say it comes in at #5 on the all-time list.

The thing I liked best about it was that we talked about 3-legged cats for quite a long time. And it was one of the topics he had written down on the list of things to talk about (he made this at my suggestion). Good topic choice!

History says that if we actually go through with the second date that is a good sign. Second dates tend to quickly turn into more dates.

We shall see.

* * *

The children are off to mock-exams. No seniors for a week (yay). Then lots of marking (boo). I kinda cheated and explained to my Year 13s what 'hybridity' meant - so as to stop them from freaking out when they read that word in the exam. I ordered in these papers made by some professional person, and s/he uses wanky words the kids won't understand. So I figured it would be a waste of money NOT to use the papers, but that expecting 17 year olds to not be freaked out by a topic containing 'hybridity' was a little optimistic.

* * *

We now have in NINE magazine articles for the school year-book. That's encouraging. We usually get them all in a rush in the last week. I am feeling super organised and on top of things on that front. Delegating works wonders!

1.

When things go wrong at the moment, I say 'Sheizer McGeizer' in my head. It's become my own little expletive replacement.

2.

My drink of the season is black-currant cordial. Hot, of course.

3.

Stay gold, Ponyboy!

4.

I can quite honestly say I am indifferent about the World Cup. I am not a band-wagoner and have issues with the rugby-idolation in NZ. So I care not.

5.

Hacking cough, be gone!

6.

I bought a sack of little chocolate Spratz...... I have eaten at least half the sack myself. Moore Wilson's in dangerous. Bulk food = bulky me.

Good Intentions

While I honestly and sincerely meant to blog tonight..... I don't think I've got the stamina to do it properly. After ironing lots of stuff, watching some crap NZ reality TV, mucking around a bit and doing some personal grooming...... I am tired.

A sudden wave of mental fatigue has hit. That doesn't usually hit for another hour or so. I must go with this wave - I have things to do tomorrow which require alertness (teaching being one of them). Essays to mark, reassessments to supervise.

Were I to blog it might be something about Fathers Day. I saw my father on Fathers Day, and it was quite coincidental (despite me cynically thinking he'd planned it that way so I'd have to actually get him something....). Lynne is better (physically and hence emotionally - chronic pain affects both). They've sold their lovely big house. That is sad, but means I may inherit a lovely lounge-suite as new house is too small for all furniture...... That softens the blow. I may have to take equivalent worth of childhood crap and miscellaneous books...... Trade-off.

Umm....

Rumpus is progressing. Damon is ticking things off the to-do list, but it is still lengthy and will take time. I am looking forward to it! I do hope all my most special friends who have said they'll come don't pike.

Umm....

Yeah.

I fear my sore throat is coming back. I feel it a-tickling away back there. That would suck. Muchly.

Reminder to self: post on g.

Sam's Birthday

He wore three birthday t-shirts.

There were two cakes.

I ate 247 chippies.

There were five people from our netball team present.

There were three people from the 'Take down that B****** Richard' group present.

One person admitted to having seen my profile on Findsomeone. There was one cringe from me.

At least six people had a play on the guitar.

Damon and Shirley turned up five hours after the time on the invite.

There were two rats. Neither of them touched me.

Sam turned 31 years old. That's two more than my age. That makes ME the baby, and not Kirsten.

I got two text messages on my cellular phone. I replied to one 0f them. At the maximum, I had three bars of reception.

How you like THEM apples?

* * *

Tonight we versused the top team in our indoor grade. We were primed for a grudge match, being a few points behind them in second place on the table. It was like Daniel-san taking on Kobra-kan in the final. I was looking for weak points on the opposition's legs....... Justin had out his little drum-thingie.

Then we took to the court. And they were very average. They had one jolly good player - a girl who could shoot twos and stabilised the middle of the court as well. But other than that they were decidedly average.

They did not merit our adversarial anticipation.

I suspect they may be purposefully hiding their other good players from us, ready to unleash them in the playoffs when we least expect it. Or maybe they have figured out that the team that is coming 4th is actually quite good, and hence are aiming for the 2nd vs 3rd semifinal spot.

Whatever game they're playing at - they'd better bring more than that next time they square up against us.

Yeah!

Me and Morgan almost held them to ZERO points in the final quarter. But he got his ganglehand caught up in the net by jumping too high and so they got a pity-point from the ref for 'interference'. And they got one other shot it. But we let them get that in.

So, Sam is still the only one to have a shut-out. Albeit in a different sport, and one lasting the entire game.....

Sunday Night.

In case you haven't heard or been privy to an invite yet....

Go to THE RUMPUS 07 WEBSITE. It is cool. I have been involved in the doing of secret stuff with Damon. Sam - I hope you come wearing a sunglasses. That's all I'm going to say.

* * *

I had a ....... conversation with Justin and Sam last night. It began with him nonchallantly using the word 'arcane' in a sentence, and me and Justin going, 'Huh?' in our least unintentional redneck voices.

That somehow turned into an ARCANE discussion about science-geeky disease smelling stuff. I don't care if I'm using the word properly :)

* * *

It's super how many people can pick up a guitar and have a play around.

* * *

Sam is aging gracefully.

* * *

I really must think harder and come up with something worth blogging about.

Cough.

I am sick.

I have been sick for two days.

I woke up with a sore throat and it hasn't gone away for two days.

I have had to go to school because my kids have a big assessment they need help with.

I seem to get an adreniline rush that gets me through to lunch time. Then I take another round of drugs (the good old disprin/asprin/lemsip-lozinger combo). Then by the time it's night time I feel yuck again. And I go to sleep all miserable and cold but sweaty all at the same time. Then I wake up at 4am and need another round of drugs.

I blame my infected toe. It has deteriorated my imune system.

To put a cherry on top of that all - the space bar on my lap top is a bit bung and I have to really hammer it with my thumb.

Ugh!

* * *

Will pop in to your birthday tomorrow, Sammy boy!

Sports - the non-formitive years

My Humble Sporting History - Part One

I found Morgue's history of sporting prowess (or 'being unco but in a good way') interesting. Got me thinking about my own past.... [picture my eyes glazing over, as I look happily into the distance and cock my head slightly - camera dissolves into a shot of little-fouryearold-Kate in her matching tracksuit, whistle in mouth, forcing her family to run around her home-made obstacle course made of polystyrene blocks and planks in the back-yard. Lighting has a sepia hue.].
Primary School

I never played sports at primary school. I always was vaguely surprised when my friends announced they were playing netball. When were trials??? It seemed to be some conspiracy I was being left out of. Suited me though. I hate getting up on Saturday mornings, especially when it's cold or wet outside. And I hated the idea of wearing a short little skirt that flicked up most of the time you were playing. It was my idea of hell. My thighs and buttocks were my least favourite body parts. I even heard rumours that your undies had to match your skirt. Ridiculous! I had tom-boy tendencies and could go for a year without wearing a skirt, easily.

I did, however, get co-erced into filling in for my older brother's cricket team twice. I had gone along to watch and they were SO desperate that they chucked me on the field. Now, they were playing against boys who were in the rep team. I could not yet throw over-arm. They stuck me waaaaay out near the boundary. I ended up having to bat, but luckily the ball whizzed past me and the wicket keeper, and me and the bumbling Stephan Tyler (who was best known for his love of handkerchiefs and bananas and had the honour of being #10 in the batting lineup to my #11) ran through for a single. Innings over. I don't think they made me bowl.

The second time I played, they made me bowl. Now, as I said, I couldn't even throw over-arm, let alone bowl. So I did underarms (how very Australian of me). The umpire and other team were so frustrated at my dribbley efforts that they encouraged me to just 'give it a go' with the overarms. I did. I think they bounced about four times before reaching the batter and were fairly wide. They didn't make me bowl more than the regulation six bowls. Then I had to bat. My dad was umpiring at this stage. I got bowled out, first ball. He said, 'Let her stay in the over', and I was subjected to two further bowl-outs and then the entire field coming in close and getting their hands ready for the lolly-pop. I did in fact manage to hit the ball on my final effort..... straight to a fielder. It was a traumatic experience I thought would never end.

Other than that, my sporting highlights from primary school were back-to-back wins in the wheelbarrow race, with me pushing Alice Moore along. We made an excellent duo. In one of the races, us and our nearest rivals got so carried away that we totally missed the finish line and kept going for about 50 metres before we started to make out the distant yells of everyone else telling us to come back.

Oh, and being in the house shuttle-relay. My dad was along to watch and was sitting with my friend. She pointed out that it was my turn, and my dad did a double-take, saying, 'That's Kate???? I didn't think she could move that fast!' I suck it up for the team, Dad.

To many people's surprise, it is true that I took ballet and gymnastic classes for a few years. Mainly because my friends were doing it and I had fantasies of being a ballerina-princess. Eventually I realised that my dreams of pink tutus were unrealistic (all we seemed to do was practise pointing our toes and skipping in circles, seriously) and being a heavy-set gangly tall girl made me not the best at such pursuits. My mother graciously let me quit. Before I quit, I remember dreading the ballet so much that I got home from school one day and dramatically lay on the couch for an hour, touching my forehead and moaning softly so that Mum would think I was sick and not make me go.... She played along. Looking back, I'm sure she was onto me.

I think my brother was not much more successful, although it was generally acknowledged that he was 'athletic'. He did cricket, soccer, gymnastics and jazz-ballet (wtf??). My parents' best memory was of him playing soccer as a wee lad. The ball was finally coming his way, and they no doubt starting yelling out, 'GO, DAVID! KICK THE BALL!'. He duly choose this moment to notice that his socks were falling down, and bent down to pull them up. Ball went past. He always was a day-dreamer, hence he had the nickname 'Neil' most of high-school (think 'The Young Ones').

My parents were reasonably sporty. Mum played goalie for the hockey team, Dad played soccer and softball and won a wee trophy at the University Games for karate. They must have been despairing at their children's lack of sporting ability.
TO BE CONTINUED

Slice of Life - Morning Time

I have decided to do a 'slice of life' entry for no particular reason other than I love making lists, and this is kind of like making lists. I have changed my tense throughout the story and can't be bothered trying to make it consistent. Oh well.
* As an aside, I have this questionairre on reading and writing that I get kids to mark where they lie on a spectrum (eg - one end might be 'I like to start on a fresh piece of paper', the other end might be 'I write on anything, like scraps of paper or napkins'). The one that tends to polarise people the most is the one about either loving making lists, or not particularly liking it. I am one of the proud list makers. Whether or not you follow through with what's on the list is irrelevant.

My Morning

6.53
My obnoxious alarm went off. I quickly thought of some 'easy' lessons I could teach which meant I could sleep in a bit longer. Several snooze-button pushes later......
7.21
Actually got up. Have a message on phone. It is nice reply from Matt for text I sent him on Sunday night (he is doing labouring stuff so has to get up earlier than me and go to bed earlier - hence him tactfully not staying the night and going home at 10pm instead, despite my good-natured protestations).
Had already co-ordinated my outfit in my head to save time. Just required picking the clothes I wore the day before up off the floor and adding a skirt and stockings to make it more 'schooly' (and clean underwear). Wore my new Popup tshirt with a black thermal top underneath, a black cardigan and a black beaded necklace. My earring holes are a little tender, so flagged that accessory.
7.25
Went to bathroom. Noticed there is still no lightbulb in the toilet. Cursed Chris. Brushed teeth.
7.26
Took pile of dishes from night before down to the kitchen. Put them in the dishwasher (many flatmates miss this crucial step). Made myself a bowl of cereal containing Vogel's 'Cafe-style' muesli, strawbettery-cheesecake flavoured yoghurt and calci-trim milk. Took it back to room to eat while finishing getting ready. Used handy face-wipe to clean face and ears in my bedroom in front of the heater. Put on moisturiser and deoderant. Brushed hair and applied bobby-pins.
7.33
Packed bag, making sure I included my wallet, keys and phone. I put on my coat, new red beanie and running shoes (work shoes were put in the bag for later - I forgot to do that last week and had to teach all day in sneakers, which was ok cause I'd just worn jeans and took my necklace off to make it look like it was my intentional 'casual' look). For the record, I am very aware that cross-trainers and jeans don't actually look cool on most people.....
7.34
Went to kitchen and put an apple, mandarin, muesli-bar and empty pita bread in my bag for lunch. I put the pita bread in one of my handy Glad sandwich bags. They are amazing. They make sandwiches fun! They even come in different colours and with different stickers to secure them.
7.35
Left. Realised it was raining. Went back inside to get raincoat. Met Chris on the way back downstairs and he reminded me to not leave the door open because we now have a cat in the flat. It tried to run away last night and failed.
7.55
Arrived at school, having walked through the smoggy tunnel. Went and put two notices in the daily notices (both about basketball). This has to be done before 8am, hence me getting to school early. I purposefully called the Senior B team 'The Avengers' in the notice. I'm helping to popularise the name. Not quite sure who I'm helping anymore.... the girls seem to have abandonned it, so I'm just doing it for myself really.....
8.00
Having decided what I was doing that morning, I printed out a few things to photocopy. I even had time to carefully choose the font for the heading of the short story. I printed off: a copy of 'On the Sidewalk Bleeding' by Evan Hunter (which I photocopied 15 times to make a class set), a copy of the 32 comprehension questions I made up to go with it (30 copies - but only A5 size), a copy of 'The Rear Guard' poem by Seigfreid Sassoon (war poet) and associated questions (27 copies, double-sided). I then hogged the good photocopier for a while.
8.15
Got back to my desk in the battery-hen workroom. There was lots of 'stuff' on it from Friday. I cringed and shifted some stuff to make it more bearable.
8.25
Staff briefing. I forget what was said. But it lasted for 20 minutes. It always does.
8.45
My dean gives me back my class's reports and says (smiling), 'Didn't you proof-read them?' I sheepishly reply, 'Uh... yeah.... I sent about ten back..... Did I miss a few?' Later in the day I dare to peep inside the folder.... she has yellow-stickied about 40 more reports with mistakes in them. Ooops! There goes my lunchtime sorting through those..... I grab a glass of water on the way through the staff-room, hoping as usual that I can get past the principal without her waving me down to talk to me for a 'minute'....
8.47
I walk across to my class and have to elbow through the stage challenge girls milling about in the foyer. One of them accosts me and makes me stop to take an assignment and the department dictaphone off her. I then meet a couple of students on the stairs and comment that I saw one of them in town with her booooyfriend on Saturday.
8.48
Arrive in class a few minutes late. Do the roll to settle things down. And we're into it!

HOW EXCITING IS THAT?????

I was going to do my whole day but realised how long that would take. Instead I will do a 'top eight moments' list to sum up the good points.

In no particular order...

1) Got to repeatedly say 'Fists of fingers clutched a blackening wound' and actually make my class enact what that would look like. Fabulously disturbing!

2) Sat through a fire alarm for god knows how long until another teacher happened to walk past and say 'Can you hear the alarm?' at which point I realised I'd been subconsciously blocking it out while hearing it for a few minutes...... It's the way of the modern world - so many alarms, most of them mean nothing.... you just wait for them to stop. My whole class had also sat there continueing with their work. We thought it was an ambulance and vaguely wondered why it was taking so long.

3) I noticed that my wee student M. had yet again written the date up neatly on my whitebaord. I like that! She has decided it's her daily job.

4) My neighbour in the workroom gave me a lovely apricot yoghurt covered cookie just before staff meeting after school. It was just what I needed!

5) I was checking out Leon's new blog and saw that he'd put a link to me. Cher, bro!

6) I found my black pashmina scarf. I had been looking for it all weekend then had noticed it wasn't around my workspace either and had resigned myself to the fact that it was lost forever... then I found it on my desk in the classroom! Yay!

7) I was talking to my senior girls about 'Ratemyteacher.com' and most of them said they didn't want to put comments and if they did, it wouldn't be anything mean, only nice things. Gives you faith in the youth of today! One girl said very pointedly that she would say anything she wanted because we were 'providing the service they pay for, not the other way around' (I pointed out that she very much sounded like someone from a private school). She does not like me much and openly accuses me of picking on her any time I ask her to answer a question in a class discussion .... I am vaguely worried now that I have put an idea in her head............

8) One of my difficult girls in my fifth form class eagerly piped up, after reading the short story that 'This is like 'The Outsiders' eh! That's my favourite book... I used to get angry when people talked while we were reading it in class....' Bless! And she is not the kinda girl who usually likes reading or even comes to school regularly for that matter.

Favourite Time Wastesr #1 and #2

I have recently rediscovered the enjoyment of looking at Strongbad cartoons on the interweb. I was introduced to them by Svend (is it ok to use such an obscure real name in a blog? if not I'll call him 'Barry') a few years back and then didn't have jetstream for a while, so forgot about them. He is a small Mexican masked wrestler (though that is largely irrelevant).

If you scroll down the list (to just above halfway) the absolute BESTEST one is called 'kids' book'. HILARIOUS!


'Everyone is different. No two people are not on fire.'

Super funny to me! Maybe it's one of those things everybody else already knew about.

*****

Stinky Feet

Also an old favourite is a site made up by some guy who may have been a fore-runner to Jackass who chronicles things like his attempts to get athlete foot, and his attempts to get people to date his sister or get fat.

He's funny too. He has detailed diary entries of how his athlete's foot progresses from day one, where he walks barefeet in the shower at the gym and then wears plastic bags on his feet all day so they sweat lots, to day fifteen by which time his detailed graphs of things such as 'stink' and 'pain' are up around the 'horrifying' levels. And lots of pictures! Some really gross ones! Closeups of him purposefully pulling apart the skin between his toes to break his scabs..... I might be a little sick for enjoying that site.....

Hmmmm, Top Ten most easy things to do a Top Ten about????

1) Top Ten Public Toilets in Wellington(the ones at the Embassy Theatre win, followed by the ones at The Cambridge)

2) Top Ten Ways to Annoy Your Flatmates Subtly(reboil the water from your hotwaterbottle in the jug and don't tell your flatmate that's what you were doing when she uses it to make a cup of tea)

3) Top Ten People You Would Have Killed if you HAD To(Tony Robbins!)

4) Top Ten Substitutes to Use When you run out of Toilet Paper(Ange used her undies and then threw them out)

5) Top Ten Places Ange has Lost her Underwear(I may have said too much already)

6) Top Ten Treats to Buy Yourself When you're on a Diet(magazines, face-masks, chewing-gum....)

7) Top Ten Worst Alcoholic Drinks Ever(whiskey-bloody-sour)

8) Top Ten Children's Stories Ever(Where the Wild Things Are)

9) Top Ten Ways to Get Revenge on An Ex(and no, Ange, you aren't allowed to be invisible when you do it....)

10) Top Ten Ways to be Obnoxious and Annoying at a Party where you Hardly Know Anyone
(me and Cass have dozens of ideas! Start with fake accents! then insist you're architects)

Is seemed so logical at the time....

.... to lay the iron down on the carpet for just a second while I folded my pants.

In reflection, carpet is different from fabric and it melts. Very quickly.

Throwing a glass of water on it didn't help either.

Reminds me of the time I got some toast stuck in the toaster at my dad's house. I was turning it upside down and peering into it when I noticed a strange shape at the bottom of it......... a small black mound with a tail....... Some poor mouse has got stuck in there and over the course of some time been chargrilled. Who knows how long ago that was....

Me and my dad agreed to never ever ever tell my brother, who had enough irrational food obsessions about germs and oestrogen* in the plastic wrappers without having to add a rather rational fear to his list.

*Note: I very nearly spelt this right before using dictionary.com to double-check. Only one letter off and I got the tricky bit at the beginning right! Spelling is not my 'thing'.

Fancy TVs Don't Work Good

TVs and DVDs and Silly Kid Names

Last year I decided to buy a new TV. I was inspired by my flatmate at the time, The Baron. He was minimalistic and snobby in his decor preferences His family bought a $600 toaster and no, it didn't have magical powers or gold coating. It just made 'very nice toast'. I admired his LCD screen TV (tell me if I'm using the wrong terminology there). It was sleek and took up hardly any room at all. My TV was bulky and took up my entire dresser.

So I set off to buy a sleek new TV for my room. My old one wasn't fancy enough to connect to my new DVD player anyhow. I then realised they cost up to $800. But I bought one anyhow, and it wasn't until I was about to sign the papers and key in my PIN that the salesman mentioned that I'd most likely need an outdoor aerial because these kind of TVs for some reason don't work well with bunny-ears.

Oh well. So I have this fancy sleek TV that gets crap TV reception.

Hence today I turned it on and was not inspired by the little I could see on TV2 or TV1 (TV3 wasn't quite visible to identify what was on), and thought I'd put a DVD on instead. At this point I was again reminded that I have no DVDs that you can just kinda put on in the background while you're doing other stuff. Mostly because half of them have bloody subtitles!

I have this odd mix of low-brow comedies and films with sub-titles that would be found in the delightful 'arthouse' section of the video store. Not much in between. Except for the stuff that I inherited from a guy I dated last year (I offered to give them back, but he went straight into 'avoid mode' and no exchange session was ever arranged. I have only since seen him two times, both while entering supermarkets, once looking like crap having run down the road to get there - isn't that always the way???).

So anyway, I've settled on the bonus DVD of a live concert that I got with a Coldplay CD. I'm singing along happily. Me and Chris Martin harmonise well. I too would have happily called a child 'Apple'. Same principle as George Costanza wanting to call his kid 'Seven'. Actually, most people who know me will have already heard my speil on how good a name 'Mango' would be.....

If you see anything you like in my blurry picture, feel free to place an order at the Not-Kate DVD library. I have 'Crash' too, but it's somewhere else in another pile. I have a lot of piles.

A few of my favourite things

Favourite Household Chore: Growing up my job was always folding the washing. I like folding. It's satisfying looking at the neat piles of washing I create from all that chaos in the washing basket. On a similar theme I enjoy taking a filthy bathroom sink and making it shiny and perfect. Cleansing!

Favourite Crayola Crayon Colour: Periwinkle Blue.

Favourite Part of Refereeing Basketball: I like setting up the free-throws and making sure everyone's standing in the right places. I like saying, 'Two shots - first one's dead'. I think I get to do it a lot because I'm such a bad ref that the other person is inevitably busy MAKING the foul call.

Favourite Kidism: A guy I went to school with had a son. When his son was quite little, he had said something was 'upside-down'. A while later the kid flipped it over and said triumphantly, 'Now it's downside-up!'.

Favourite Toast Combination: Vogels toast with smooth Eta peanut butter. It melts into the toast. Mmmmmmm. I'm gonna go make ham and cheese on toast right now!

Philosophical Winter Thoughts

The last two days have been so utterly miserable, weather-wise. I feel like looking for some bright spots about this crappy weather. As a heater-hogger it is not my favourite time of year.

Top Ten Things about Winter
1) You can leave chocolate lying out and it doesn't melt.
2) You don't have to shave your underarms very often. Some people (who shall remain nameless) take this opportunity to experiment and see how long they can grow the hair on one underarm before they start physically repulsing people..... apparently she got to the point where you could see it creeping out the side of her arm even when it was flat against her body.3) I no longer feel obligated to just order the chicken salad. Hearty food rules!
4) Less ice-cream cravings.
5) Going through the Hataitai tunnel on foot is actually a relief (it's sheltered and the winter wind makes the fumes less fumey).
6) Beanie Time! Unless you have a GIANT head and you look like a fisherman when you wear hats (not mentioning names).7) It's more socially acceptable to be pale and pasty.
8) Playing upstairs at WIS is actually bearable (there is no heart-attack risk from heat exhaustion).
9) Cuddling is both fun AND an economical form of heating (especially for a bad-circulation body-heat vampire like me).
10) Fog is pretty. Rain sounds nice when you're inside. Puddles are fun when you have gumboots.

I was possibly reaching a bit there but it's better to accentuate the positives, isn't it?
Who's hosting the mid-winter christmas party on June 25th, huh? Who wants to be my mid-winter christmas secret santa? There's a $5 limit and you can't go wrong buying me crazy stuff from the Asian aisle at the supermarket. Who isn't partial to a refreshing can of SWEAT?
(Note how the low-angle and petite size of the can emphasise The Gollums.)

For no particular reason I will now show you a picture of my dad's spare rib. He had it removed last year as part of an operation to stop the deterioration of his back (hence his need to walk with a gentlemanly cane - and you just thought he was being eccentric!).


He kept it in a tub for ages and insisted that anyone who visited have a look. I learnt that rotting human flesh does not smell nice. He's the kind of person who would have his kidney stones made into jewelry. It explains a lot about me :) I'd do the same!

Leg Waxing

I'm going to wax philosophical about waxing. Boys may like to stop reading.

My top ten 'Leg Waxing facts'
1) I almost always do my right leg first, starting at just below the knee and going right around. Then doing my lower calves, ankle, knee and lower-thigh. Repeat for left leg. I have found most girls have this kind of routine.
2) I like 'Nair' the best. Veet and Nads are dumb.
3) It is handy to have a damp flannel nearby so that when your fingers get sticky you can unsticky them.
4) If you lose the wooden smearer-thingie, you can easily use a Magnum icecream stick.
5) Applying talcom powder to your legs before waxing helps because it takes away any residual moisture and it shows you where you've been.
6) Flatmates tend not to appreciate you waxing your legs in public areas or leaving the strips strewn around the laundry (oops).
7) There is nothing more satisfying than looking down and seeing that you've ripped off HEAPS of hairs from the root and it's all stuck in your waxy gooey strip you just yanked off.
8) There are few things in life more painful than waxing your bikini line.
9) I usually need to rewax after 2.5 weeks.
10) I usually can't be bothered waxing for another 1.5 weeks after that.

And it is just ridiculous how girly boys are about pulling off a teeny weeny band-aid.

I feel like doing another top ten.

Top Ten Pieces of Advice for Internet Dating
1) Go with your instincts. They are usually right. If someone seems a little dim, they probably are. If someone seems a little obnoxious, they probably are.
2) You will know within five seconds how you feel about someone once you meet them. If they are wearing a shirt with flames on it you can cut that down to two seconds.
3) Photos can be misleading. You can look fairly normal on film and turn out to be a younger version of Mr Bean.
4) The process tends to go: smile, message, exchange first-names, more messages, exchange cell-phone numbers, possibly a phone call or text, meet for a 'casual' drink or lunch. It varies after that.
5) The usual rules and etiquette of monogomy do not apply. People may be messaging and flirting with multiple people and have dates with multiple people within days. The true sign of commitment is when they take their profile down.
6) Short messages like 'how you doin'?' are 'feelers' that are sent to many many people. If they don't comment specifically on your profile they are either not terribly keen or morons. Either way, not worth it.
7) Best keep away from guys who mention how busy they are with work more then three times on the first page of their profile.
8) It's like karaoke - not nearly so bad once you have the first one under your belt (and probably easier if you're drunk, though not necessarily better).
9) More people have done it than you think. Just about everyone I know in their late-20s who is single has at least dabbled.
10) It's like shopping! You look down the list of vital stats and can be as fussy as you like ... 'Too short'..... 'Too unqualified'.... 'Can't punctuate'..... 'Likes car-racing'.....

Hutt People...

... are good people!

The road-trip crew from today make it less embarrassing to admit I'm half-Hutt (genetically).

Pet Peeve of the Day:
... when you've been really looking forward to a steaming hot shower and somebody else got in before you so it's only luke warm and you have to race against the clock to condition your hair. 

Things my Dad Taught Me

#182 - Letting things go can be beneficial

In chess, it is ok to make an exchange of pieces as long as you come out of the exchange on top. This can happen if you lose less pieces or pieces with less value (going by the rough rule that Knights=3, Bishops=3, Pawns=1, Rooks=4, Queens=5) or if you gain even a small advantage out of it, having equal losses. For example, you may cause them to double up their pawns, or create a pawn island. Or you may know that they prefer Knights to Bishops and force them to lose their preferred piece. You may cause them to use a move retreating, while you continue advancing.

This goes against my traditional game-playing tactics. As a child I was always very cautious (and I still am in lots of ways). I would save my money in my Snoopy pencil case, watching it pile up, whereas my brother would spend his whenever he felt like it. I would refuse to actually play anyone at marbles because I really liked my collection and didn't want to risk losing any.

I had a rubber collection and people in my class were trading them with each other. I traded a rubber shaped like a christmas stocking with my friend for one she had shaped like a dice. Later that day I regretted my trade so much that I stole my rubber back out of her bag. She had a feeling I'd done that when she noticed it was missing and searched my bag for it. It was right in the outside pocket, but must've been just out of her sight as she looked, so I got to stand there and righteously say, 'See! It wasn't me!' That's one of two times in my life I can remember stealing something. The girl ended up being my best friend in later years and I think I eventually admitted what I'd done to her.

I digress.

The point is that when I was little my dad would try to get me to play chess against him (he had really enjoyed chess in the 70s and even joined a club once, only to find that he was way out of his league after going that first time, and quitting). My brother doesn't have a mathematical brain, so I doubt he had the patience for chess as a child (though he had a phase of enjoying it in his early 20s, where he found some kind of affinity with Bobby Fisher).

So, he probably enjoyed that at least one person in the family was vaguely interested. When we played, I would hate it any time I lost a piece. I would probably have a small sulk until he put my piece back on the board and let me retake my previous move so that my piece was safe. Dads are good like that. This meant my early childhood chess experiences eventually left me somewhat jaded. Why play a game where you have all these pretty pieces with neat names, only to have to lose them (or have them stolen away)?

But at some point he convinced me that sacrificing a piece could actually be a good thing, and I eventually learned to do this without it hurting too much.

And sometimes the game gets a lot more interesting once the board gets less congested. It gives you cleaner lines and allows your more powerful pieces room to move. Clutter and holding on to pieces just for the sake of it can slow the game down.

It's ok to lose things if the overall change for you is positive. This is something I'm still trying to learn in life.

Thanks, Dad.

* * *

And the kid in the top video clip is super-cool. If you're gonna have a prodige kid, might as well be a music prodige like that!

Champ Eens

Monday.

I helped out at the Senior A basketball final, at the impressive TSB Arena. I had to do the 24-second-clock (the worst of all the jobs!). I only acted mildly biasedly when I let out a 'YES!' when the 6'2 girl from the other team got fouled out.

We won. Division Two Champs.

Tuesday

I went to support the Junior A team in the final of the top top top top top Wellington/Hutt Valley/Porirua/Paraparaumu division.

I took lots of photos and yelled out a lot. The wee girls hadn't beaten this team all season. The other team, HVHS, was in fact undefeated all year.

We won.

There was much excitement to be had.

I am a proud teacher in charge of (but not presently coaching) basketball.

* * *

And then there's the other team, whose biggest victory was only losing a game by 9 points (that was a close one!). Can't win em all. What we lack in depth, we make up for in Beatiness.

V v busy.

Goodness - I was trying to make a day to meet up with someone next week and it's actually not easy! Rumpus plans on Satur day, Cassie-organised-voucher-book dinner on Satur night, netball for Michelle on Sunday, then I have a couple of basketball finals* to go to (I will be part of the officiating team on the score-bench - VERY important) and Marty is performing on Wednesday.

What's the general feeling on going to The Realm quiz on Thursday next week? Sam? We haven't been to a quiz together in aaaages. My brain may be getting even rustier (and Leo is getting laaa-aaarger). Basketball starts up in about a month, so I wanna get in some quizzes while my nights are still free.

* * *

Me and Reidun had good fun trying to stalk people we know on Facebook last night. It is an EXCELLENT stalking tool. She looked up every ex-boyfriend she's ever had. My exes are either computer-illiterate or have annoyingly common names. Not much luck there.

I like that my high-school friends network is growing. Good old Ewok is on there now, Ange! And what high school grouping would be complete without IJ? The bunch of people I've added are really good sorts - but other than Ange I haven't seen any of them regularly since school finished.

I created a group for us ex-Nua folk. I was going to start a conversation thread, but you know what the first thing that popped into my mind was? Funny stories about old teachers.... but then I remembered that could be ME! East girls could be writing about ME in ten years time and mocking whatever it is about me that they mock (I'm sure there's more than I'll ever really know about....).

* * *

Yeah..... I didn't even have much to say. Just thought I'd write something new.

* * *

I have another medical condition, but after some negative feedback about THE TOE PHOTOS I shall keep my photos of infection to myself. That'll teach you all! You're missing out on a beauty.

* I am assuming we will win our semi-final tomorrow night with the senior team. I realised I have been overconfident of that all week when one of the girls pointed out to me that the team we play actually scored 70 points on us last time.......... I was sure we had dominated them.......

Two things two things two things

1.

Scarf

My Multi-Coloured Harry Potter Scarf that I knitted years ago has recently gained school-wide fame. He was cast as 'The Scarf' in the school production of Beauty and the Beast, beating out at least two other scarves for the role.

It was his 'earthy' home-made quality and multi-coloured personality that won over the director.

I saw his performance on Thursday night. He came out with the crazy-inventor-father dude and was then lost in the woods. There is later on a tug-of-war when Belle tries to wrestle him away from the fiend who has found him. He did his own stunts.

If I may say so myself, he was a scene stealer. I heard reports that on opening night he was a little nervous, and got himself wound around the wheels of the inventor's car-like-contraption, causing moments of panic. We all get nervous, I reassured him afterwards. And he did better after that.

There were parents and grandparents of the human actors in the audience - but none were beaming as brightly as I was at the performance of my wee Scarf.

He is now offically an ac-tor (say it the posh way, please). He can go to parties with other famous ac-tors wearing their own scarves (as ac-tors are want to do).

2.

Netball

I like being in a league that we can win. It is happy-making for me.

I was going to say after the game that I particularly enjoyed beating a team of people who look like they go to the gym and go for long runs..... unlike us. But then I realised, I may actually be the only one in the team who is a non-exercisor and that I should not bring you all down with me by making that generalisation.

I have been invited back to play basketball (for my old old team, the one who decided they didn't want me last season after I quit the new team to go back to them).

That will make me less winter-flabby, I hope.

I have been hibernating.

I have a good store of acorns.

When you go to Hede next, get Set Menu D. You won't be disappointed and everyone will look enviously at your plate. Good call, Ange.

I just learnt a bunch of old-school Beatles songs on my geetar before going out last night (almost made me late - I drove up just as the taxi arrived at Ange's flat). Actually, they are from the later-albums they did (all on the I am Sam soundtrack which is entirely made up of modern artists doing covers of them - nice album).

All through dinner I was tapping my foot to 'I'm Looking Through You' which was running through my mind as I made my chitter-chatter with Ange and her flatmates and invited guests.

The tradition of seeing people actually fall over completely on the bit of floor between the bathroom and the first few tables continues. They seriously need to do something about that. It always seems to be slippery, and there are always drunk girls in high heels.......

I tried to convince everyone that white-people should never ever high-five (low-fives are permissable). Me and my brother decided on this rule years ago while watching John Paxon (or some other white Bulls player - maybe Steve Kerr) try to return a high-ten from Jordan.... and miss completely. He went in too high and his finger-tips were completely above Jordan's, who ended up high-tenning the other guy's wrists......

* * *

Marty is my Blog Reader of the Week for initiating a string of poetry. There is a very very special prize for this (similar to the one Richard will one day get for winning the DWTS challenge, as soon as he posts the required photo of him with Suzanne).

Balancing

FACEBOOK

I have been prioritising Facebook over Blogger for a few days - I feel disloyal. Blogger has been good to me over the last year.... other than the fact that inserting pictures tends to bugger up my paragraphing (which, as an English teacher, I am very fussy about).

Facebook seems to only really encourage brief interactions. I've been perusing people's 'walls' and there are a few comments - most of which are from months ago. People find each other and say, 'Hey - good to hear from you - what are you up to?'..... and then disappear again.

The only communication I have generated on the whole has been from posting unflattering photos of other people. I feel a backlash coming up....... It really isn't intentional - I'm just egocentric and only look at myself ........ you bystanders are insignificant :) Oh, and I think you ALWAYS look fantastic......

* * *

POET TRY

I came up with an idea for a junior poetry activity late last night (while in bed and half-asleep) and tried it out today..... and it went really well!

One student wrote about 'my head overflowing/thoughts sinking down/as I try to pull them to the surface' and another one describled writer's block as 'purple/cut off circulation of ideas' and another described her exercise book as a 'paper-stage' and another girl has a teacher harrassing her to let her see her poem but she tries to explain 'It's written down/inside my head'.

Step 1

Write for two minutes on the topic I am about to tell you. It is a race and we are going to count how many words you come up with, in full sentences. The topic is - LOVE! GO!

Note: Everyone is trying to beat Ruby because we've done this activity before as a brainstorming stage and she always seems to win. Amanda's competitive streak comes out (she is a rep soccer player) and it's a two-horse race....

Step 2

Ok - I tricked you. Love is totally irrelevant to what we are going to write the poem about. All we did that for was to go through the process of trying to get ideas and then put them on paper under pressure.

Answer the following qustions

1 - Describe what the process of getting ideas written down is like for you [feelings and adjectives].

eg - I have too many ideas in my head - hard to pick one. I was blank - nothing came to mind. Writing is hard for me - I see an idea in my head, but it doesn't come out the same. I can write lots - but it doesn't make sense - it's all ramble.

2 - If that activity was a running race, describe what your 'performance' was like compared to the rest of the class [extended metaphor].

eg - I stumbled at the starting blocks. I raced ahead but ran out of puff, words failing me and my pen stopping. I wrote steadily, in the middle of the pack.

3 - Can you think of words to do with water that you can use in relation to your writing process? [extended metaphor]

eg - They flow through my head. They drip onto the page slowly through my pen. They freeze in my head and then melt slowly onto the page. They are dammed up - but suddenly break free like a waterfall. They trickle. They swell up like a wave then crash down on the page.

4 - Look at your paper. Describe what the actual writing you just did looks like [visual details]. Can you give it a personality? [personification]

eg - My words are scruffy and crooked. The writing looks like it's been shot and smattered across the page. It stands in tidy rows. It flows and curls.

5 - Look at your pen and your hand when you are writing. Describe what the pen is like, how it writes, what your hands does when you write (or stop writing) [visual details and interesting verbs].

eg - My hand waves back at me from the page. My pen is thick and inky and writes fat lines. My pencil is blunt and drags across the page. My hand stands frozen. The pen dances across the paper.

6 - Think of as many words or images as you can to do with the idea of BEING STUCK [diction, building up an idea].

eg - In cement. Crammed. Blank. Frozen. Still. Empty. Quiet.

7 - Think of as many words or images as you can to do with the idea of HAVING A JUMBLE OF IDEAS [diction, similes].

eg - It's like a maze of ideas. A gumball machine filled to bursting. Overflowing. Scattered. Vines. Tangle.

STEP 3

Write a poem about what it's like trying to write something on paper.

Eg

My Reluctant Poem by The Teacher

Thoughts grip and stick inside
Refusing to slide easily down
As I grapple for ideas.

Moments ago they frollicked freely
But now they freeze in fear

Of being trapped in the paper-cell.

I push and prod some into lines.
They surrender and plop darkly
Into smudgy pudgy splashes
Black-inky cross-armed
Scowling from the page
They bruised along the way.

The more they stare
The more I muddle.
Ideas scamper to corners
For fear they'll be pluckednext
And letters criss-cross quickly
Before I chain them into words.

The piteous few who didn't escape
Feel naked and fragile to prying-eyes
Of teachers and students
And me.

My jersy-sleeve covers them inshame
And only the towering t's and f's
Peek wearily from frayed
edges.

They hate what they have become.

An awkward-gawky, ug-lumbering

Poem.