Christmas Songs in my Head

1. My Husky Voice

My colleague said I should have recorded a new voice-mail message while I had my sexy-voice (in the early stages).

Had laryngitis again for a couple of days. It's the best of all the cool sounding diseases to have - you get visible symptoms, but feel pretty good inside! Great for sympathy, yet you can easily soldier on and look like a martyr when you actually feel better than you would with a run-of-the-mill head-cold.

It's quite an occupational hazard for a teacher. I had to plan a day of lessons where I had no need to talk - videos and essays, baby.

From googling my symptoms I have deduced that it probably somehow spread down from my impacted wisdom tooth, which seemed to infect that side of my mouth and lymph nodes a few days earlier. Either a viral or bacterial infection (I'm not sure of the difference). This is a good thing, since it means it was only acute laryngitis, rather than chronic. Chronic laryngitis means you need to go to something called a speech pathologist.

I don't like the idea of having a dying voice.

2. Healing the World

I spent quality time with my family today. My dad's wife had back surgery (relatively minor this time, though it went wrong and they had to operate again a couple of days later to take out a wonky screw, which means she can make good jokes about having a screw loose now).

Dad took me and my brother to the Michael Jackson movie. I paid though - a monumental ocassion, given my dad recently retired and it evidently costs $60 for three people to go to the movies and have ice creams! Who knew? I am now the bread-winner of the family.

I had cringed when I heard that was what we were seeing. It made sense, given my brother was a massive fan back in his youth.... And the first few minutes of the film made me cringe, with back up dancers gushing is a really put-on sort of way about how this was the highlight of their life.

But after that it was quite good. There was no narrator (they didn't mention his death at all), so it was just these really raw clips that showed the behind-the-scenes of the lead-up to a concert. You got to see the dance rehearsals and the band rehearsals. And I'd never realised how good his voice actually was - he's not like these modern pop singers who have to lip synch when they're live. He really is a perfectionist, but in a professional way. I liked seeing all the tiny details that they sorted out - the timing of everything is so intricate.

And he moved pretty good for an old fella. Certainly didn't look like a guy about to go into cardiac arrest or anything. It was actually better than a film of the live concert would have been, in terms of Michael being more animated and natural.

I liked it.

Long may the Weekend Be

Note: My dad playing bongo drums in the background. 'Baby' the leopard stuffed toy - Ruby's favourite ('Isn't he beautiful?' she often says). My happy-face cupcake (we made them - I did all the hard stuff though).

My favourite interaction of the weekend:

Ruby (3 year old nibling): Is Dav....vin your husband?

Me: No, David is my brother - like Finn is your brother.

Ruby: So who's your husband?

Me: I don't have one.

Ruby: Why not?

Me: I'm too young.

Ruby: [disbelieving look - had she continued in this vein I would have insisted I was 11 years old, even if she cried tears of frustration]

We kept playing her free Happy Meal computer game after that (though she was rubbish at it - could only press one direction button - I was awesome).

* * *

Back to 80 friends. She reappeared magically. Phew.

Diwali

It was a little chilly for Diwali. We had to brace sleety rain as we zig-zagged our way through the somewhat unnecessary queue barriers.

To us whities' surprise and disappointment, I'm guessing, there was no butter chicken in the whole place! It seemed to be mostly vegetarian lentil concoctions in sauce with fried stuff. I got samosa, pakora and mango lassi.

The funniest bit was when there was an Indian hip-hop group performing. They were quite bad-ass cool, with a beat-boxer and rapper. When they finished they thanked the audience and said, 'Hang around for the puppeteers.' Hehe. I liked that juxtaposition.

The puppeteers had some questionable moves. Most of the puppets seemed to hump the floor at some stage, while writhing about. I liked that they came out at the end and the big fat guy with a moustache was introduced as the master puppeteer. Sounded like a Metallica song.....

I liked it when they got a bunch of audience people to dance to the song from Slumdog Millionaire. Tai Ho! If Michelle had been less fluey, I would have made her come volunteer with me (once I realised that the first 4 bars just involved clapping, and the next 4 stepping from left to right).

* * *

And a he he he. This is something my nana would do and the guy in the car is the definition of a douche-bag.

This week I got a shoe fixed, a picture framed and fixed the problem of my headlights not workign.

How very grown-up!

* * *

I am still having fun with my wrestling unit. This week we had a critical look at the entrance songs, the divas, the language used in interviews and the use of steriods in WWE.

It feels somewhat wrong showing them clips of women in lingerie and men saying 'candyass'..... so far nobody's parents have complained..... I thought showing the CNN doco on drug use to them might at least make it look intellectual on some level......

* * *

Three weeks to go. Fishy knows what I'm talking about.

A banged head goes donk.

A hit cricket ball goes tonk.

What goes bonk?

Above the Law?

For me the Roman Polanski saga is fairly clear-cut. He broke a law years ago and fled the country in order to get out of paying the time for his crime. That's deplorable. I don't know a lot of the finer details, but from the bones of the issue I don't see a lot of grey area.

That he's finally been caught and made to face up to it is a good thing, I think.

It sickens me a little to see the Film Community (so self-important than I think they need capital letters) getting behind him. They're even stating that it's wrong of the police to use an artistic event as an excuse to catch him - poor artistic famous people! How inconsiderate of the police. Art should be above law.

I think it's awful that he's been able to, in such a successful and high-profile way, flout the law for so long, continuing to be free and successful overseas.

I actually don't see how he can even argue the case - 'Yeah I raped a 13 year old, but I was smart enough to get out of the country.... so you should leave me alone! I'm famous! I am outraged that you ruined a party by arresting me! I'm furious that I thought this was a safe and dodgey country for me to go to and I was wrong!'

No sympathy from me. He drugged and raped a 13 year old. Even if it was 'consensual' and she mislead him about her age, he still needs to face the consequences. I'm not going to feel one ounce of sympathy for someone who reacts in the way he did. It's cowardly and self-important.

I don't really care if he gets any more jail time out of it. The principle is that it's a good thing that police co-operate around the world to make sure people can't just run away and thumb their nose like that. They need to go through due process.

I may sound rather militant here, but it's rape of a 13 year old, not speeding tickets. And his only argument seems to be '...but I'm famous! They'll pick on me! I just want to make movies!'

It's a pretty good signal of the morality of the whole thing that Woody Allen is among his chief supporters.

My Viewing Pleasure

1. District 9

I liked it. It was probably a fair guess at how we would really react in such a situation. We like guns.

I especially liked the sarcastic bit at the beginning saying '... and they didn't choose to stop over Chicago or Washington.... but over Johannesburg...' That's a first! Aliens almost always land over America. It reminds them of home.

2. The Mighty Boosh

I had heard rave reviews about this, without having any clue what it actually was. Seemed like a cult classic that I had to pick up when I saw it for $36 for the entire season.

I am undecided. Six episodes in. I don't dislike it.....

Another Era

Kyle is moving out.

He's finally nabbed a lawyering job, but the catch is that it's in New Plymoth.

I will miss his icecreams. He often comes home with four delicious Memphis Melt-downs and Magnums. He lets us girls pick our favourites, then he has whatever's left.

He has thwarted many a diet with his late night spontaneous ice-cream gifts.

Pet Peeve #4

.... when people ask you question like, 'Hey, what are you doing on Saturday morning?' and you think they're going to suggest doing something fun, so you say, 'Nothing at the moment....'

Then they ask you for a favour, which is something you probably don't actually want to do, let alone on Saturday morning.

It's a very passive-aggressive (or maybe aggressive-aggressive) way to ask for a favour.

And it's an anti-climax.

It's happened to me twice in the last week and it annoyed me both times. If you want something, why not ask straight up? I don't like being tricked!

I must remember to, in the future, answer such leading questions with 'Why?' rather than 'Nothing...'. Caginess has its place.

Poorly Me

I hate it when your stash of tissue runs out. I'd taken several to class today, but my constantly dripping nose had quickly used them up. There were only remnants of tissues, all shredded and damp.

I realised, when a child had put her hand up for help and I had wearily motioned her over, that I should perhaps put the scrappy pile of tissues in my pocket (rather than on the desk where she'd just put her work down for me to look at).

The word 'clammy' is sometimes perfect.

* * *

Watch Out

Why do we still wear watches? When you think about it they're kinda archaic - not a lot has changed about them over time. They're clunky and generally not a fashion statement. I know at work I have a clock in most rooms I go into, or I can have a computer on. Yet I feel naked without my watch.

And in public, you can have your cell-phone handy to check, but I still often like to have my watch on.

Not in the holidays though. Holidays is watch-free time. It's a symbolic change in my state of mind. No more clock-watching. A few minutes will not make the difference between kids packing up tidily and the bell going and them running off without putting things away.

I wonder how many times a day I glance at my watch.

* * *

Frustrating Blogger Account

Are any other blogger users having trouble copy and pasting into the editing page? The only way I have figured out to do it is go into the edit html bit, then paste, then go back into compose. It's a new phenomenon.

* * *

Teachin' 'em to be Rednecks

I am a wrestling expert. I have given two power points to my class on the history of WWE. They may now think I'm a freak, but I think I'm intellectualising it enough that I won't get phone calls of complaints from parents. I've brought in good trivia stuff like the Chris Benoit murders and Owen Hart's death, as well as showing them Hulk Hogan in his vitamin days versus him in his NWO days.

Today we looked at entrances, leading onto the gimme exam-answer of saying how music ties into the target audience. I started with getting them to think about gladiators (showed them the trailer for Gladiator) and how it was battle for entertainment then, and it was socially acceptable, yet real. Back then we had slaves we could kill off, but nowadays that is frowned up, so we have to just have actors do it.

Then we moved on to how we have brought elements of theatrics into sports, starting with the haka, moving onto the Chicago Bulls' elaborate intros of the '90s (yay for being able to bring another of my favourite childhood things into a lesson) and boxing and high school football matches.

We then watched a really great Undertaker entrance from some Wrestlemania.

Trying to show that in a way, in order to hook into that 12-34yr old male audience, both sports and wrestling have cross-overs. Some of the conventions are the same. It is important to see where those similarities start and finish, and why.

The Gall and the Gumption

The 'Interupting Kanye' meme amuses me. As it does many other people.

What is it about it that has engaged with so many people and united us in shared outrage and agastness?

1. It's Black. It's White.

A lot of people are secretly always looking for reasons to moan about the bad manners of rap and hip hoppers. Rascals. This interaction created a great clashing of the stereotpyes - angry, drunk black man vs pure young country-singing white girl. You can't get a better victim. She's like the virgin in a horror movie.


2. Awkward Silence.

If Taylor Swift had laughed or made some witty remark once she got the mic back, it would've gone down as a weird and wacky moment, but the look of shock on her face once her moment of glory had been stolen and her feeling of recognition ripped away.... that made it unfunny.


It's like the kid who's got an icecream cone .... only a big bully had come and knocked it right off the cone, picked it up and spat on it, then plopped it back and said, 'Here you go - enjoy!'


It's just mean. Bully.


Brain Can't Think Ahead. Shiny Things.


Anyhow, it was quite wrong. You can see that his head just said, 'Oh - Beyonce didn't win. She might be feeling bad - I expected her to win. I'mma go say that I thought her video was the best, so she doesn't feel bad' or something along those lines.


He wasn't thinking, 'I'mma go make that Taylor girl feel like crap and tell her she didn't deserve her award in front of millions of viewers'. The thought process didn't get that far. The alcohol (and whatever else) intervened.


But in no universe was that an even remotely ok thing to do.


Oh Yeah, I know who Taylor Swift Is


One good thing that comes out of it is that Taylor Swift is more of a house-hold name than she used to be. I am hip and with-it and knew who she was beforehand (I accidentally came across an E Channel special on her once), but now a lot of other people who usually avoid soft-pop-country songs with videos of princesses and castles know who she is.


Victory!


Too Good to be True - Ratings Gold!


I like that there are conspiracy theories going around about it being some kind of set-up to get media attention. This is feasible on some levels - award show ratings have been flagging in recent years and it's hard to change the formula and spice things up, when they're so prone to cliche and predictable gratuities. I doubt Taylor was in on it. She did a pretty good breathless and excited act before he came up.

John Key - not popular with Teenage Girls

My Media class was doing work on demographics today, so I had a bunch of general categories and they had to wander around the class getting quantitative data from each other.

Nobody opted to do 'Political Views', so I grabbed that one.

I asked:
1. What party would you vote for if there was an election now?
2. Do you know who the MP for the region you live in is?
3. Do you prefer Barrack Obama, John Key or neither?

The results surprised me. In a class of about 24 only one kid said she would vote for National (and her reasoning was, '... because I like blue.') and a few went for Green, one for the Pacific Island party (if there is one), a few had no opinion and the rest were for Labour, rather resoundingly.

Gives me hope for our country's future! The youth are smart.

Quite a few didn't know for sure who their MP was - they often knew the first name or thought it was Kerry Prendegast ('cause my dad's always talking about her').

And all but one preferred Barrack (that one lone girl thinks John's cute). That was not at all surprising.

I guess I teach in a district that is a Labour strong-hold of late (Rongotai/Central Wellington) and Media Studies kids tend to be a bit radical - the Young Nats are probably doing Accounting and Economics (proper subjects).

Anyhow..... it made me proud. Good kids! (Not that I told them that - my survey was totally unbiased and for audience profiling only.)

Is it wrong...

1. Ready and Willing

Today I turned up to class and there were 8 kids there, out of 24.

And then I noticed that one of those kids wasn't even in the class. That was a humorous moment.

I stared at her for a minute and then said, 'Why...?' though given my low numbers, I didn't want to turn anyone away at this point.

She replied, 'I'm Mary*,' and proceeded to do an impersonation of her friend (who was away and whose regular seat she was sitting in - the girl is known for flapping her hands when she talks).

Deadpan, I replied, 'Oh, I didn't recognise you for a second there,' and continued with the lesson.

Eventually the others realised we weren't in the computer room and turned up to the right class. We did some brainstorming on some topics they'd been working on for about a month (luckily the girl knew what topic Mary was doing and was able to get right on task with some good points).

Once she'd written about a page I was able to say, 'Wow - that's more work than Mary's actually done all term!' and her friends agreed.

Eventually we got onto some work that she wasn't able to do, at which point I suggested she leave, but to make sure she showed Mary her very useful brainstorm ideas.

She left happily.

2. And nobody likes plain crackers for lunch

I had a 500g massive container of cottage cheese in the fridge at work. It was not due to expire until September 23rd (the day of the wrestling trip and my brother's birthday).

I went to use it today and it had gone off with a rather rancid smell. I suspect sabotage.

I must consider who my enemies at work are....

3. Form Time

Form time today went something like this

Me: Nice shoes today. Where's the tie?

Me: Pink forms are due today - who's lost theirs and needs a new one?

Me: No eating. Cell phones away. Stop dancing.




*name changed for ethical reasons

On a Good Day

1. Pretty Stuff

The above photos are from 'He's Just Not that Into You'. It's up there with 'Love Actually' as a romance that I can watch more than once, possibly because it's got a fragmented narrative as well, but also because the characters have nice depth and the director leaves the viewer to fill in some gaps (I watched some commentary which made nice sense). This one's probably not quite as good, and maybe boys wouldn't like it as much either, but I'm looking forward to seeing the projects the screenwriters are working on at the moment.

For me the best moments probably involve Ben Afleck (when he's washing the dishes at the sink, it actually made me catch my breath, even the second time).
I liked the film, but really got it out on DVD just to look at the clothes and set dressing again. The interiors are yummy. I have mashed together some of the details I liked (Scarlett Johansen wore some gorgeous dresses as only she can, Jennifer Connelly had a great corporate wardrobe, the main chick had some great soft looks with puff sleeves and Jennifer Aniston's apartment was gorgeous and chic and arty).
2. Welly Welly Good

I think part of the survival skills for living in Wellington is having a short memory. A few days of spring weather and I'm already forgetting the miserably cold nights in uninsulated flats. I blame the 'You Can't Beat Wellington on a Good Day' campaign. Brain-washed.

Weirdly successful campaign, when you consider it was just a euphemistic look at how crap Wellington weather is most of the time. For a large percent of the year, the best word to describe our outlook is 'grey'. But geez, it really does make you appreciate those rare good days.

.... and Wellington is lovely today!

Today I put on shorts and jandals for the first time this season (leg-waxing was required) and last weekend we had a BBQ. Eating fish and salad for dinner has also put me in the spring mood, as has having daffodils in a vase.

I went with Cass for a walk along the Petone foreshore today. Glistening harbour view, dogs chasing sticks and shaking the sea-water out of their coats, gentle waves lapping up to a frightened puppy being coaxed into the water. The whole time Honey was panting and sending us obvious messages that said 'IwannaplayIwannaplaythrowmeastickIwannaplay'. It was all very still, other than the jetboat and dog-walkers, and unrushed.

I feel like wearing something bright green. Maybe with my new bird earrings. And walking through some tulips. And drinking a mojito in a garden bar.

I gave my banner a spring-make0ver. I was a bit sick of it looking like I was proud of having Dan Brown on my bookshelf (I'm really not).

3. Nana Night Media Reviews

It's funny watching an American cooking show that calls scones 'biscuits'. Buddy, you may be a fancy chef and you may cut them out with a fancy cookie-cutter, but at the end of the day they're just cheese scones.

If you ever watch the film 'Dot the I', do hang on until the ending. The first 3/4 is pretty average, but it all comes together nicely. Me and Carly both had moments that we'd independently thought were odd or badly done earlier on, and it turns out they were 'clues'.

I watched 'The Kiterunner' again last night. That Hassan kid melts your heart.

I Heart Basketball

I knew from the moment a kid at school (the star player on our basketball team) said, 'Hey Miss - that team you're playing tonight is the Wellington Under 17 rep team - I'm in it!' that tonight's game would be a whupping.

But it was still fun. Basketball rules. Netball is for weeners.

I have a weird feeling that I didn't miss any shots tonight - got four from four in. That's a tidy contribution (considering we got 24 points in total). And they were all good shots - two rolling to the basket on a cut, one off a lob when my defender was fronting me, and one that was a couple of dribbles penetration pull-up jumper (ok - that was one a fluke, banked in pretty hard).

Rant 104

Our netball grade is not quite the top one, which seems to mean that we have athletic players, but not necessarily ones who are used to playing netball. We have big, solid rugby league guys playing against us. They're quick and jumpy, but don't know how to go for a ball without nearly maiming people.

I know it's not particularly intentional, but at the end of our last few games all I can remember is a montage of me cowering against the net or sprawling/stumbling/bracing-myself as some big Poly guy shoulder-barges me from the side as I innocently try to catch a pass. I think they often match the female D with Brad back in the circle, and send the sprint-star rugby player guy out to mark me. Neat. I think Michelle handles it just fine, because she's zippy and cunning enough to get around him, but I'm too accepting of my glacial qualities to even try that.

So I just play for angles/space, which means they're always nearby and can't resist trying for an intercept, which (given I call purposely for the ball in a direction I can protect/hold) means a lot of times they come across my body and hit me from the side as I catch it. They're not often going to be able to get the ball cleanly from the angle they're coming from - but they keep on trying. And they're rugby players, so their version of 'trying' is a lot less controlled than an experienced netball player usually is. It's more a free-for-all tunnel-vision attack on the ball.

After getting hit a few times in tonight's game I said to the ref, 'Just watch they don't injure someone.' She said, 'I'm calling the contacts.' I said, 'I know - but it's getting pretty rough - I don't want to end up with a sprained ankle or anything from it.'

She started justifying herself, which I didn't intend - just wanted to signal that I was feeling a bit vulnerable from the heavy contacts. All power to anyone who can intercept the ball off me and in a way I don't mind that they go hard even against a girl, but this guy wasn't usually getting the ball - he was just getting me. And his buddy at centre had hip-checked me pretty solidly last time I'd tried to cut into the shooting circle. Bit of a human pin-ball machine.

It's just one of those things with non-netball players that refs should tell them off for more, so that they learn. They need to start using their judgement to decide when they're not going to be able to get the ball without hitting people, and pull out before that happens. It's the spirit of the game.

Social netball is not worth screwing up your back/ankles for. I have pretty decent control generally and don't get injured. I can take a hit and fall in a controlled way, but when I have 100kg blocks of muscle pounding into me most times I catch the ball in open play I do feel a little vulnerable. If there's a 50-50 ball and I see these guys barrelling in from across the court, to be honest, I'm just going to let them get it. It's not worth the risk.

And the guy got righteous at me. He said, 'Oh - come on. You know I'm faster than you - I got that ball.'

The fact he thought he needed to point out he was faster than me was almost flattering - he said it in a way that he expected me to put up a fight about it. Erm. He had just sent me sprawling, when I had my hands on the ball. His point was odd. Sure, I'd slightly Hollywooded my fall....

Then the ref tried to make out we were contacting each other evenly - 'Both teams are aggressive and physical - you were both contesting equally.' Huh? I wasn't contesting - I was merely putting out my hand to catch a ball. I wasn't silly enough to initiate any kind of contact with a guy who could accidentally knock me out with his elbow and not even notice.

And then in the second half a different guy crunched into me while going for a ball that I'd already caught and had me pinned on the ground underneath him, against the net. That one scraped both my knees and hurt my back. The ref even asked afterward if I was alright.

I was able to haughtily reply, 'That's what I was talking about!' as I got up grimacing (half-wishing I'd actually sprained my ankle and had to be carried off court just to prove my point). I'm not sure if my moment of righteousness was worth it though .... I'll see how the old back feels in the morning.

It's a bit grim to prophecise your own injuries.

* * *

I am looking forward to playing a bit of gentle basketball tomorrow.

Basketball generally is a safer kind of rough - your defender is right behind you, so while they may have a forearm in your back, they haven't got a full head of steam and it's generally not aerial contact until you're shooting it, at which point you're usually both going straight up, rather than being hit from the side.

The refs in basketball are generally pretty strong and wouldn't allow it to get dangerous, anyhow.

And except for some tank-like women from the Trentham Armybase team, there aren't a lot of women I'd be afraid to take on for a ball.

* * *

Post Script

I'm quite possibly grossly exaggerating - if I watched play-back of our game I'd probably cringe and say, 'Stop being a cry-baby, you lazy wussie! Harden up!'.

Just venting a little.

Teaching Rocks

Teaching Media and English means that I can slowly brainwash children and teach them stuff I like. I have, over the years, slowly introduced lots of my favourite things into my courses.

1. The Catcher in the Rye - this was fairly easy as it's one of our Year 12 texts, but also one of my favourites.

2. Education For Leisure (a dark poem by Carol Ann Duffy) - I started a trend there and many other teachers have since taught this little gem at my school. I forced it in there after accidentally coming across it while looking up ways to torture budgies. I used it in a Year 11 poetry unit on sociopathic narrators.

3. Amelie - I have used this for scene analysis in Media and as a film study in English. One of my favourite films which I waited a few years to legitimately squeeze in there - I saw in last year's moderator's report that it was working really well as a Year 12 film study and jumped in there.

4. Heart of the Game - A basketball doco that I showed my Media class as an alternative to the shallow representation of teenage girls we'd been studying. Love forcing kids to watch girls' basketball!

5. Pan's Labyrinth - I used this as my close reading text for Year 12 Media. Love forcing them to watch movies with subtitles! It's actually good for the ESOL kids in that they often can pick out words visually better than they can understand them when spoken with a strong accent.

6. Emoticon Poem - I have shown the Rives visual poem to my Year 12 class when we did love poetry as a unit - they loved it too. Nice example of a really modern take on a genre.

7. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas - We just bought copies of this as an extension book to go with a text we teach at Year 9. I am pushing it onto my kids - such a sweet, accessible book.

8. No Country for Old Men - I got to show this to my Media class as an example of a recent film with noir tones to it.

9. The Music Videos of Michel Gondry - Examples of a director's sense of personal style for a unit with my 13 Media class.

10. Wrestling - And now, I get an excuse to take my Media class to the filming of a wrestling show for TV. I have long had a fascination with live wrestling - the kids just like having an afternoon off and wearing mufti (and I have told a couple of them that this is the one time where they can use their obnoxiousness in an appropriate way).

Larry Baldock is not giving up.

He seems a little (lot) crazy, but he's like a real life Wile E Coyote, clawing his way up the cliff, having just held the ACME dynamite stick as the Roadrunner scooted off down the road.
But damnit, he's back with a new hair-brained scheme. And this time he's pretty confident he's worked out that pesky bird..... this time.... There may just be an anvil involved.

* * *
This is my one purchase from the big Wellington Book Fair. It is a book I already have a copy of (the revised edition). I got the original edition at the fair, with the more psychadelic cover (below).

This is a book my mother had. My copy has her signature in the front cover. It was, I assume, one of her teaching resources. I'm not sure, but someone I got hold of it in my formative years and it became my favourite.
It has lots of lovely poems. There are nonsensical and humorous ones - they were the ones that I liked as a teen. There are more philosophical or reflective ones - they are the ones I like now.

Anyhow, it has long been my very-special-book and I quite like that I now have two copies of it. It is the book I picture when I say 'I love poetry' more than any other, for as much emotional as practical reasons. It has yellowed pages that have been traced by my fingers and gorgeous words that I have wrapped around my tongue a savoured (you talk on tiptoe) (it is the scar on a beautiful young man's face).

I was lucky to have a mother who gave me poetry books written for children every birthday, with beautiful illustrations. As a teenager I had to raid her Roger McGough anthologies and it wasn't until a few years ago that I accidentally fell across Carol Ann Duffy and Simon Armitage.

Along the way I waded through the classics at university, none of which I'd pull out and read for pleasure (though I often think of the messages of some of Gerald Manly Hopkins's works). I have taken some pleasure in the visual elegance of ee cummings and the crispness of William Carlos Williams, and in the almost pop-music catchiness of Robert Frost.

But this book is the one that is familiar and fond - every page.

Cheating

Simple, free, a little addictive

Book Fair in Parts

1. The one time I think I'm the first one there (and on time) it turns out I was late. Janet runs a tight ship!

2. I got one book. I got Richard to be my book trafficker (little does he know that it had illegal substances taped inside it and he was duped into taking it through the check-out for me). I considered asking Mash, but he seemed too straight up to traffick for me.

3. I halved a pizza with Kirsten - the kind of pizza you can fold in half, New York styles.

4. I bought shoes a half size too small for me. But only $60 (down from $210). They might stretch. They are cream pumps with an almond toe and brown heel.

5. At Unity I found 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo', which has been recommended. We shall see - I turn my nose up at crime fiction generally.