One Week To Go

This sentiment will be echoed in the minds of secondary school teachers throughout the country. No matter how long the term is (it varies between 9-11 weeks usually) the last two are always a drag. That seems to be when reports are due, plus about a million other little things. And when you're trying to do one of thsoe million little things, someone else comes in to talk to you about a new thing - or one of their things that they want some help with. Sometimes a cloak of invisibility would be good :) I think that's what i-pods are for.

I have got echzma on my chin, which only ever happens when I'm stressed (and the weather is like it is).

I am not teaching three days out of five this week, because we are trying to get the website up and running. That might sound like a good thing, but it's actually more of a hassle than teaching. So that makes my week even trickier. Bleh.

Must eat more veges. Me and Reidun ventured to the markets today, in the wind and the rain, so I am stocked. Good old Levin produce from the heart of the Horowhenua.

Nothing exciting.

No Tiime

(Not even time to go back and fix that typo)

Marking to do then reports to write. And netball to play.

To focus on the good things, I am looking forward to Dave's 31st with an Olympic theme and Rumpus vs Episode, with a medical theme.

And bagels on Wednesday.

* * *

Evidentally my dad is kinda stalking Yvette Williams (the long jump gold medalist from yeeeears ago). She was apparently dropped off at the airport on the way to the Olympics by a relative of mine (great-great-great something) as someone in her family was married to someone in the Judges.

So my dad's a family tree geek at the moment, and is ringing and emailing people literally all over the world..... so he rang Yvette's son, who put him onto the lady himself. My dad has talked to an Olympic legend on the phone! Go Dad!

I think he is quite chuffed that he is one degree of separation closer to Halberg and Snell and Lovelock and that crew. They were his idols growing up.

Look!

I actually grew something. I have finally found a plant that agrees with me - the mighty succulent! Usually I buy plants that are flowering, and kill them. This time I bought a plant without flowers and have actually grown some. It's lovely!

I like how this plant sits on my windowsill and the flower kinda bends its head towards the glass as if it's peering over the Hataitai valley. Possibly it's really silently pleading, 'Let me out! Before she kills me like she did the others!' But nobody's listening, sucker :)

My herbs are doing well too. My parsley is flourishing. I like this low-maintenance gardening. Just leave the herbs outside and the rain takes care of them... and leave the succulents on the windowsill where it's sunny, and squirt them with the waterbottle every few days......

I am a nurturer.

* * *

Went on a course today. It was for middle-management. I did a Bachelor of Business Studies. I dropped my Management major after second year. I think I'd had my fill of management styles and culture analysis and whatnot. It's all coming back to haunt me...... I guess it's all useful on some level, but Management as an academic course always struck me as rather intuitive stuff. And I don't really like those moments where I see people consciously using 'techniques' they have read about - it's kinda patronising. I guess I am cynical about such things.

Thursday.

Thursdays are always busy. I have either no non-contacts at work, or just one (depeding on the week). Then there are often either department or HOD meetings after school. Then I either have basketball or quiz (or both).

Today was a no-meeting day, thank goodness.

Went to the beginning of the quiz. We started with guns ablazing! 40 points after two rounds - that is the perfect start. I earned my place by guessing that Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas were the parents of two named children and that kedgerie was a breakfast dish and that the ponderous puzzle was 'the cell phone' (on the first clue!).

After that we stalled a little bit, but still came in a solid second place.

The trouble was that we had an $80 tab to spend from the previous quiz win. So I had nachos, chips, pizza, coffee and an oreo-sundae...... THEN went and played basketball. Not smart, Kate! My tummy is still unnaturally protruding right now.

Basketball was lumbering and painful (mostly emotionally). We played a Chinese team who were mostly small and quick and could all dribble and shoot well. Then they also had a few big girls whose Chinese heritage I would like DNA tested. Anyhow, they were pretty solid and killed us with a full court press (aided by having about four subs to our one) and good outside shooting. They train!

I think we actually had the measure of their half-court offence and I managed to plug up the middle and stop a lot of their drives. But we gave them the ball back a lot of times with sloppy passing. Oh well. We'll get em next time!

I had one of those satisfying teacher moments today when one of my girls said, 'Miss, I think Macbeth would be really easy to write about in the exam! There's lots of metaphors and stuff that had deep meaning.' My class were looking fairly blankly at me for the most part while we read the play and giving me the old ,'I actually don't understand a word of what he just said!' reaction. Seems to have sunk in a bit since then. Repetition and using OJ Simpson, Tonya Harding and Mugabe as real life examples hammered it in (though I warned them not to mention any of them by name in their essays - I hear it's a marker's pet-hate when those 'real life' examples are tagged on in the conclusion).

Not sure how I feel about Obama finally (officially) getting the nomination. Was talking about it with Sam tonight and he likes Obama better and thinks Hilary is a bit shifty and untrustworthy. Good point. I'd like to see her and Helen having an argument. I don't think either of them would give an inch. That'd be a good celebrity death match. I do like that when Obama did a speech for the WCW crowd he said, 'Can you smeeeeell what Barrack is cooking?' (ala The Rock styles). Politicians with cheesy pop culture catch phrases are fun!

Yum. Winter tastes good and warm and hearty.

Reidun is feeding us steak and kidney stew and baked apples for pudding.

Good for the soul!

(Not to mention the date-loaf I had with my cup of tea.)

* * *

I have been listening to the sound-track to Juno for about a month now. I tend to put a CD on in my car and leave it playing for a good few weeks before I move on. I now know every song intimately and subconsciously and will anticipate the next song correctly. Perhaps time to move on.

I am a vampire, I am a vampire, I am a vampire, I am a vampire and I have lost my fangs again.

And now it's time to go back.

Yesterday I made a small child cry. That's not a nice feeling.

I had been sharing my Grain Waves (most generously) with my nieces and nephews. They'd come over, get a handful and then go back to their play. Ruby, the 2 year old, had got a tiny little plate off her mum and had come back for a plateful. I poured them in (accidentally giving her almost all that was left). The toddled away happy. Then, by the time she got back, they were all gone. She held her plate up to me with expectant eyes, but I said to her, 'No more!' in a rather expressive voice.

She misinterpreted that as some kind of scolding and ran away. She actually hid behind the curtain, she was so upset. Oops.

We made up later on and played a game where I pointed at pictures and she told me who was in them (I think she did, couldn't really understand her). Then she walked around with a Sponge Bob poster that had come out of the magazine I'd given her sister, and kept trying to press it against the wall.... She looked most perturbed that it would not stay there. I tried to explain she needed 'sticky stuff' but I think it was lost on her.

* * *

I observed her sister, who was turning 10, being a typical older-sibling. She'd gotten a hand-held game of some sort for her birthday. She sat happily playing it most of the time I was there. Her cousin joined in every now and then.... Meanwhile her younger brother sat forlornly on the other side of the room, every now and then saying, 'Can I have a turn?' He got the whole raft of excuses and put-offs from her, most of which started with 'I just have to.....' (insert an aspect of the game, which seemed to change every time he asked).

The adults didn't want to tell her off on her birthday, but they tried every angle in the book to try to get her to share with her little brother, who as they pointed out had been waiting 'very patiently'. She defended herself with '... but he had a turn this morning!' (it now being 3pm).

Eventually I, being a more impatient secondary-teacher, sat watching her and ensured that once she had 'just' done the level she said she wanted to finish, she handed it over. None of this PC crap of waiting until she realises it's the right thing to do on her own.... I'm a younger sibling too! I felt Finn's pain.

* * *

Then it was night-flying. If you drove past Lyall Bay and saw a few crazy people running around the beach at 8pm last night flying a kite..... it was us. We had flasks of hot chocolate. It was fun. I am now good enough to mock and laugh at the new flyers who nose-dive poor bumble into the ground seconds after takeoff. I am most unkind and mocking. Last night it was Kyle and Marty, neither of whom (being athletic men) liked not being experts straight away (and having mere girls show them up).

* * *

Have had lots of cups of tea and coffee and hot chocolate this weekend.

1. Coffee at a cafe in Plimmerton to wake me up on the way to Saturday morning kite-flying (my eyelids were very heavy)

2. Coffee at Raumati en route to the beach to kite-fly (the other coffee had almost worn off)

3. Cup of tea at Hannah's birthday

4. Hot chocolate on the beach in a flask

5. Cup of Jarrah's coffee for lunch (with a Whittaker's bar dipped in)

6. Cup of tea after dinner (with sugar)

I have missed a few.

Dangling My Feet into Saturday

[totally ripped off a student there - she did a great poem about what it feels like on Friday afternoon, waiting for the clock to hit 3.30pm at school]

So, Friday was ok. Period 1 I was with my Year 13s, trying to model how to propose a topic for a feature article. I'd had two Year 12 girls come in the day before for us to interview and we were seeing what we'd do with them. One is in the Wellington wrestling league (that's WWF styles - no kidding!). She was really interesting to talk to. The other one has started writing and singing her own songs.

Then I had one of my Year 9s, and quite of few of them were away so it was a cute little class. We did jigsaw-poems where they get a jumbled up list of words and have to make a poem out of them (much like fridge-poetry magnets). They were so nicely behaved that I sat down and figured out a few poems of my own (one about a lady sitting by her husband's ashes and another about a man giving a scarlet orchid in a box to a crush, and then getting rejected and smashing it up). The pesky childrens kept coming up to my desk proudly to show me their poems and interupting my creative flow though....

Then I had a non-contact and had two intersting phone messages to reply to. The first one was from some Health Dept looking into whether the indoor netball teams that played on Sunday had the same virus that a bunch of kids had gotten from the playground downstairs (and subsequently been shut down over). The second was from a TV reporter, from 20/20 or 60 Minutes (I forget which one) whose daughter is in my Media class and who volunteered to come in and talk to us about journalism. Sweet! I'm all for high profile guest speakers.

Then, lunch-time was Film Club. My two leaders have instigated a tradition of having turns bringing snacks. One of them secretly revealed to me that she was bringing afghans. She has this kinda unselfconscious enthusiasm and the way she whispered the word with this wide-eyed look made it seem like you couldn't ask for a more magical snack. And they were good. She promised to bring me an especially big one... which she did. I jokingly said to put a giant 'K' on it with cornflakes or something, so she did. Though, she improved my idea by making it 'KJ' and doing it out of silver balls. It was episode two of 'Donnie Darko'. We're having to watch in installations.

Then..... a fairly standard Media 200 class then watching 'A Bridge to Terabithia' on DVD with my class last period. Sweet end to the day!

As usual on a Friday, a small crew of English-ish teachers headed to the Tasting Room. Then, it was back to school for basketball duties. The Senior B lost but the Senior A won handily (they are 3-1, and in the top division so that bodes well).

Got home about 9.30pm and watched the tail end of American Idol with Reidun and Kyle. Then we watched that show where they have answered lie-detector questions.... we are becoming slightly addicted to that.

Today me and Reidun went up the coast to kite fly on Raumati Beach. It was fun.


I bought this brooch at a second-hand store. I like the curvy swirly bits.

I bought these two wee limited edition prints at a craft shop in Raumati. It had a bunch of little prints I would have loved to buy. Some with insects sketched, some with native trees sketched.... This is a makaka and a fucshia.

The End.

Marmite Sandwiches.

Pecha Kucha.

I liked my Pecha Kucha experience. I am looking for opportunities to force my brain to take in new stuff. There were 12 speakers. A couple of them wouldn't have passed Speechgiving 101 in NCEA ..... and thus we were glad of the 6 minute time limit. At least we had pretty pictures to look at (and they changed every 20 seconds to accomodate our short attention spans). The other 10 were all varying degrees of interesting. I liked the guy who talked about designing fonts the most. He was a pretty funny speaker, straddling a nice line between arrogant and self-mocking. He's designed fonts from scractch that are commercially used.... and stunned me with the actual number of 'glyphs' (letters, symbols or numbers) that you have to design for a complete type-face.... Somewhere over one thousand, if it's got bold, italic, bold-italic, small caps etc.........

I decided I could marry him, because he was funny and fonts are cool. On stage he appeared good looking (for a font geek). I thought as a courting gift he could make me a set of fonts based on my handwriting. That'd be cool! It would have to be my writing when I'm using a really good pen. That makes a differnece. To me, that would be about the most romantic present ever.

But at this point I will note that Reidun and I decided to flag the 50 minutes of mingling at the beginning, and to go shortly before the presentations began. Apparently (as the flustered seating-guy told us) they had been told to accommodate 90 or so people and ended up getting closer to 150, so they were having to haul benches out into the back of the theatre, behind the pillars..... We had what you would call 'partially obstructed' views. Reidun could only see the speaker if she leaned into me, but at least there were big pretty slides projected onto the wall.

Anyhow, I saw the font guy closer up later in the night and decided I would not marry him. He was this close and didn't even know it. Also, when me and Reidun went out for some fresh air (and cigarettes for her) I saw him talking to a blonde font-groupie. I had competition.

I also liked the commercial photographer who showed us pictures of them erecting the 55 wind-tower thingies up north somewhere. And the guy who did an interactive art installation where you went into a full covered (dark) bouncy castle type thing (made in Levin!) and had to creep across a crevace at one point.... and the only way to get across was to grab the hand of an actor (which mysteriously pops through a hole in the wall - like in a horror movie). If you don't hold the mysterious hand, you fall off the ledge onto a bouncy bit. And this was all set up so that people had no idea what was in the installation and had to go in alone. I like that concept that it's a solo experience.

As a side note, Pecha Kucha uses viral marketing....... and I noticed on my site-meter that someone from that site had checked out my blog on the day I talked about it. I am now recognised as part of the virus (unsuccessfully, as nobody who viewed my blog came along.....). I felt a bit odd about that.

Basketball.

We had two games of basketball tonight. The second game was kinda in slow motion. It was odd. It might not have helped that in the hour long gap between games we all had a pack of lollies each (one of the ladies in the team was selling them as a fundraiser for a kindy). I may have been on a post-lolly-low. I could actually smell my own sweat, which is rare. But on the plus-side, I scored a decent amount of points in both games. I have low expectations (on offence) and was pleased to get about 8 points in both games. In the first one I went on this odd roll of hitting jump-shots from the top of the key. Swishes. I was in some kinda zone. In the second game they were mostly from offensive put-backs. The game we sat and watched between playing was painful - 45-2 (and that 2 p0ints was in the last minute and a half). And, even given that scoreline, the team that was up actually put on a full-court press for most of the second half. That's cruel!

I am New Zealand.

I walked into the Costume Cave on Friday afternoon at 4pm. I had decided to not be a stick-in-the-mud (aka Sam-type) and that instead I would go tot the costume dance at school in the true spirit of the theme, Around the World.

I walked in and explained my situation, and the always enthusiastic lady there was doubly-excited because there was this gem of a kiwi-flag dress that there had been no takers for. She accessorised me with red gloves and a stole and I went as a kinda Lorraine Downs Miss NZ figure.

I got the coveted award for 'Best Dressed Teacher'. I now proudly own one Gold ticket to Readings as my prize.

I needeed help getting OUT of the dress, which could have proven tricky..... because the person who laced me into the corset had done a double knot. Hard to undo on your own....

Kite Flying

Me and Reids are joining the Mighty Kites (anyone seen that Scrubs episode? Season 3, episode 11). She got introduced to kite flying by her friends and has now purchased two large kick-ass kites of her own (1.5m and 3.5m). She took me for a spin with the little one today. It was fun. Kinda cathartic. You just fly the kite and kinda forget about everything but yourself and the kite and the wind for a while. I see what she enjoys about it.

She is a kite-evangelist and is keen to introduce more people to kite-flying if you're interested. Sounds like the park by St Pats in Kilbirnie and a park on the Esplanade in Petone are the top-notch windy places with lots of space for enthusiasts.

Update:

Went out again today (Sunday) with Sam and Damon in tow. Petone was a no-go, so we headed up to the abandonned school up in Maungaraki. Perfect! I love the 'whooosh' sound the kite makes when in full pendulum-like motion. I started off roughly, putting a few dents into Bumble and making Damon fear for his life as I dive-bombed the ground..... But got the hang of it as winds picked up. I still feel a little like I'm trying to tame a wild mustang...... Reidun, on the other hand, looks like she and the kite are as one in a blissful zen-like state. Sam and Damon, being more aerodynamically minded and having greater spacial awareness than me, caught on quite quick. You would think that my name (Kate) being only one letter away from the word 'kite' would give me some kind of advantage.... a kinship of sorts.... but, no.

* * *

On being newly single.

[blather deleted]

I'm ok with it. Feeling very much myself! [don't read any unintended inuendo into that]

Because I am my Father's Daughter

.... I shall detail some food events of my own (see my dad's pudding commentary below).

I have started to delve into the world of soup-making. I have always found this a mysterious and foreign thing. Why would one need that much soup? Soup is kinda yucky. It's slimy and full of vegetables (I have flashbacks of being the only one of the family who would not be served a helping of Mum's perennial favourite homemade-vege-soup as I stubbornly made the crabby-face any time it was pushed my way). But having gotten into the habit of buying packet soups from the fridge at the supermarket (not the tinned soups - I had a bad experience with one of those a year or two back and can't stomach them now), I have a newly awakened appreciation of soup. I discovered a delicious tomato soup, even. This has never been something I was fond of.

Anyhow, on our weekend tour of Levin, Reidun, Marty and myself discovered big pumpkins for $1. They decided to buy one each to make soup with, and I (not liking to miss out on things) got one too.

Then I looked up a recipe on the internet for carrot and pumpkin soup (beings as I had some carrots in the fridge) and away I went, after getting advice from various sources. I even put in my own home-grown parsley (part of my holiday plant-buying spree).

And it was nice.

I had it for lunch every day last week, in my specially bought tupperware containers. With two pieces of Vogels toast. I enjoyed it very much. Even more so because it was the fruit of my labour. It was quite a thick, sloppy texture, but that made it ideal for mopping up with the toast.

My most favourite bit of the whole process was using the blender-wand thing to turn it all into mush. My least favourite bit was the endless chopping up of pumpkin. The whole process produced a pleasingly low amount of dishes (I do not like dishes).

So tonight I made some leek and potato soup. I don't like it as much. It's green and slimy. Apparently that is the usual consistency of it. I actually don't think I like this flavour much, come of think of it. But it seemed the logical progression from pumpkin. And leeks are cheap. Is it actually anybody's favourite flavour???

My second point to make is that it is perfect weather to buy (or bake, if you're so inclined - I am not yet into the baking as it is not as fail-safe as soup-making) date loaves. Yum! With a bit of butter, it makes the perfect buddy for a sweet cup of tea. Pak 'n Save makes a good one.

Also, I have resorted to a favourite winter treat of buying a three-pack of Sante bars to stir into my hot drinks and lick the melted chocolate from. Mmm.

It is no longer salad weather.

I shall put on my winter layer of fat.

That means the skirt I have worn to work twice this year, due to having bought it over the summer with the genuine intention of losing 5kg at some stage which would have meant it would fit just right, may never fit me ever again (I wore it today and had to take tiny little lady-steps for fear of ripping the seams).

* * *

On a different note again, I bought the sound-track to Juno and am rather enjoying the 'Anyone else but you' song that ends the film. I can now play it on the guitar because it only has two chords...... Jolly nice! My students from the FC (Film Club) tell me the singer is actually black, which is very surprising.

FC will be watching 'Across the Universe' this week. On the down-low. It's going to be a word-of-mouth club that only cool kids can join (by our own definition, in which cool=quirky). At the moment, to not overestimate the popularity of the FC, it is just me and two students. But we talk fast like the Gilmore Girls. It's a fast-talking club. Slow-talkers need not apply. Future requests at FC include 'Donnie Darko' and 'Amelie'. I shall also force them to watch 'I am Not Scared', which they will love (they always do!). It's art-house all the way, baby. If only 'Magnolia' wasn't R18 I would show them that (but just watching the first scene with Tom Cruise reminded me of why it is R18, given the reckless abandon with which he uses the 'c' word).

Kate is short for Bob

My hair sure does dry a lot quicker now. That's a bonus.

* * *

Today with my Year 13 Media Class I had my first day of term holiday-media-report-back lesson. We talked about films we'd seen, grind-house, the Austrian guy and why we were fascinated by it, the Obama-Hilary race and how it's been covered and the sympathetic view of psychopaths in 'Dexter' and how that links into the current state of mind. That kinda lesson will not get them any credits in NCEA ... but is always fun.

* * *

I'm gonna invest in a kick-ass heater this winter. I'm sick of being cold in stupid old Wellington flats. I bought two new heaters last winter but they're both pretty useless.

* * *

Tomorrow is bagel-breakfast at Wholly Bagels. Yum.

School Night

Tonight is a school night - gotta get up early tomorrow. As per usual, I have put off all school work that could have been industriously done during the holidays until today. I shall take on Reidun's attitude of just accepting my procrastination patterns for now, rather than trying to resist them. They are semi-functional!

* * *

Tomorrow lots of people will likely comment on my new hair-cut. It is rather shorter. I am hoping for comparisons with Katie Holmes (because we have the same name anyhow - and I will even settle for a 'poor-man's-Katie-Holmes' comparison), though I only really got the hair-cut because I had a bob in Standard 3 and 4 and quite liked it, looking back at the photographs. There are few haircuts that suit my thick hair! And straighteners help it suit even better :)

I went to the hairdresser and said, "I'm thinking of some kind of bob...." and at that point he took over and said, "I think that would look a-mazing on you!" and starting gesturing his hands about indicating how long it would be and said to just leave it to him.....

At this point I got nervous.... especially when he cut the first bit of hair at the back and it was up to the bottom of my hairline (which he tidied up with clippers at the end). Eek! It was like a scene from Edward Scissorhands where hair was just flying around and the hairdresser seemed to get some euphoric pleasure from it. My face may have been frozen in fear.

Might I add that I do not look at all attractive when in the middle of a haircut, wet hair sticking to face and starting to form cow-licks and bright lights highlighting the bags under my eyes. Luckily my hairdresser is not one for small-talk (which is why I keep going back) and just let me watch in horror rather than trying to engage me in inane chatter to mask my shock and distract me from his destruction of my hair.....

Anyhow, by the time he finished I was.... still not sure about it. Hairdressers insist on showing the finished product without letting you put your hair behind your ears, so it frames your face in this rather dramatic and un-natural way..... Oh, and he gave me a fringe. Ever since high-school where I had The Fringe (which I realised the faults of in later years) I have mostly avoided such things. But before I could open my mouth to protest he had gone from shaping the sides of the front to snipping me a fringe in one fell swoop without any warning.

Once I got home and inspected it properly.... and experimented with putting it behind my ears.... I liked it better. A good change, anyhow.

I shall now be trying to appeal to that minority of the male population that likes freakishly tall girls with short hair......

* * *

Thanks to Ant for cooking us (me, Cass and Ange) dinner last night. We played Buzz and Singstar while he toiled away in the kitchen. He pointed out that we are perhaps better at Singstar (or at least more tolerable) when drunk. Or perhaps that was when the audience was drunk. Anyhow, we were quite terrible and I do believe there is video footage out there to prove it which may be used against us at a later date. At any rate, I proved time and again that rap is not my genre. I still don't even get how Singstar scores a song with rap in it - I felt like I was doing a good job with Summertime, then it kept telling me I was 'awful' and 'bad'. Harsh judge!

Honey, the new puppy, kept jumping up on me and Ange. She got cuter when she tired out and just sat on the floor at my feet shaking my hand (it's one of her two tricks). I got her to shake my hand five times in a row before she tired of it.

* * *

I have learnt two new songs on the guitar, for the first time in ages. I forget how fun it is! I learnt 'New Soul' (the song from the Apple ads) and 'Hey There Delilah'. Both very easy.

Holidays Week 2

I got me some new plants. I see what Reidun is addicted to now. I got a little row of succulents on my window-sill, a yukka and some herbs growing on the doorstep. I'm not too optimistic about the herbs surviving, but the others are known to be 'hardy' plants.

* * *

The best things about boyfriends is that (sometimes) they work in the CBD and can take things back to the library for you :)

* * *

Now I'm watching bits of some TV series DVDS: Boston Legal Series 3, Scrubs Series 6 and The Best of MTV Cribs (odd choice - but oddly fascinating to watch). You can't buy taste.....

Movie time

It being school holidays, I have consumed some viewing pleasures. Here are a few. I may have already mentioned them in previous blogs, but humour me like you'd humour Uncle Peter when he's telling you the same story for the fifth time. Just nod and smile.

Atonement

I feel very uncultured for saying this, but I didn't love it. Apparently the book is better? It kind've ambled along and perhaps I would've cared more if I'd found any of the characters particularly likeable, but Keira Knightly often plays rather unsympathetic people. It was ok. But..... not something I'd watch again in a hurry.

Into the Wild

I liked this one a lot better. Perhaps went a little longer than I would've liked, but had that nice Eddie Vedder sound-track to hold it together (which Ed played as mood music when he had a few of us over for dinner recently). It had a heart-wrenching little ending.

Fracture

Last night I went to get a DVD with Marty. We were quite disappointed with the selections in the new release section. Marty does, however, have a talent for being able to give a quick synopsis of any movie I point at. So I was quite convinced when he said this film was about Gwyneth Paltrow, whose father had alzheimers, and she falls in love with a man who reminds her of her father...... Sounded preferable to Evan Almighty, which was the second choice. We then got in the car, and along the way home Marty realised it was a completely different movie to the one he had summarised. This one was like a modern take on Silence of the Lambs (in that it had Anthony Hopkins as the genius bad-guy who takes a liking to some young and hungry law enforcer, or lawyer in this case). The dialogue was awful at times and the plot kinda jumped around (Ryan Gosling's character seems to form a 'serious' relationship with a woman he has met all of three times, for about 10 minutes each time.... possibly would've been a better film with that plot element left out altogether). Cliff Curtis plays a role in it, he is the earnest cop who tries in vane to find the murder weapon, which has disappeared. Basically the whole film is trying to answer the question of 'where did the gun go????' Anyhow, watchable on a Sunday night, but not amazing.

Big Love

I have worked my way through the first season of Big Love, which was only 13 shows long. While I don't expect it's an entirely relaible look at paligomy, it's kinda different in an intersting way. A nice ensemble cast and most of the characters are developed along the way. Chloe Sevingy's character is a talking point - I absolutely hate her, and Marty finds her charming. She is the 'traditional' wife. Has its funny moments. And it has one of the few theme songs Marty doesn't fast forward when he's watching a DVD of a series.

Basketball

Not sure what's going on here. None of us look

Changing Rooms

I just don't understand some shops. They must WANT you to buy their clothes, but then they seem set on designing the most unflattering lighting and mirrors they can. Not to mention the doors or curtains that always have a tiny gap in the side, so the sales assistant can see you standing there in all your half-naked glory trying to wrench on their clothes.

My recent experiences are that Cue is horrid. Somehow the lighting showed up cellulite I had been oblivious to and the low angle didn't do anything for me either. And Paris Texas is good. I love that they have a special butt-mirror where you can see what you look like from behind. This view is most enlightening. They made me want to buy everything I tried on in the shop! Great mirrors.

I'm going to try and read a book. I hope I remember how. The books I have taught thus-far this year have been ones I am very familiar with. So all I've had to do is thumb through to the relevant sections.

Now I remember how the children feel..... a whoooole book..... but that'll take hooooooours.......

Holiday list of things to do

1. Dye hair (done)
2. Do loads of washing that have been accumulating for last three weeks of term (done)
3. Watch Atonement (rather a spontaneous choice at the video store, done)
4. Buy only healthy food to make up for the sins of the morning-tea muffins and late-night-marking-chocolate (done - Flakes were on special for 68c - but I put it back)
5. Wax legs (done, with no major injuries)
6. Get haircut (not done)
7. Get car serviced (not done)
8. Go on road trip (done - Levin counts if the people you travel with are not locals)
9. Sleep in (done - I said goodbye to Marty at 8am and never looked back - got up at 10)
10. Read a book (not done)

I'll think of some adverturous things to add in there.

I might even go vacuum the kitchen. What a productive day!

Wedding II

Yesterday I journeyed to Levin for my second wedding of the year. This one was for my school friends, Louise and Clinton. It is a cliche, but the bride looked her best (all glowing and stuff). Both Lou and Cass looked radiant on their big days. And Clint and Lou were both just smiling all day.

So that was nice.

I was a bit of a loner at the reception. At the actual ceremony I had run into an old school friend, Merv, who was crashing. But he scarpered fairly quickly afterwards. So, at the reception I was having to sidle up to people I went to school with but barely knew. I crashed an entire family grouping. I stood trying to be discreet, sipping my champagne and keeping an eye out for fancy snacks being passed around. Unluckily for me there were huge delays due to gas ovens not working, and we had to all stand in the lobby for a good hour beforehand. I was all mingled out by then!

I was really the only one from 'our' group of friends at school there. The others were from Clint's 'other' group of friends - the outsiders. I guess he was a geeky-rebel at school, so these varied social groups reflect that.

Anyhow, I was seated at Table 8. It was the equivalent of the kids' table (since it was a no-children reception). It was me, some cousins and the brother of Louise and three young optometrists she had gone to school with. Though, it was rather thoughtful that she had placed me between her brother (who I know through basketball) and a guy who I'd been in a class with at intermediate (though, not spoken to since).

I made the small talk and once I'd had a few wines it was fairly easy to gab on to Simon about all kinds of trivial details. He lives in Wellington, but commutes a few days to work in Levin at the optimitrest there. I would say if there was a bad boy of optometry, it would be him.

Though we were the kids' table, we drank barely any of the wine! I had about 2/3s of a bottle, but the other two bottles were barely touched. That's what happens when you're an optometrist or young married peoples, I assume.

It was one of those ocassions where I felt very conspicuously alone. Surrounded by couples. I mentioned Marty a couple of times in conversation with one of the young optomitrests, so they would know I was not the desperate single girl at the wedding (not this time, at least). As the flow of conversation would have it, the two times he came up were about his penchant for watching wrestling and how he requested Vanilla Ice at the last wedding I was at. I think that made them feel even more sorry for me........

Anyhow.

I have very sore wisdom teeth. Both my bottom ones are coming through in a very uncomfortable way. They have been coming through in bits for years, causing only minor pain. But this time..... OWWW! The last three nights I've woken up with a throbbing jaw and the whole of my mouth has hurt. I got up at 3.30am last night and raided Dad's house for pain killers. I found a whole cupboard of drugs.... but I feared they were too strong for me (Lynne has chronic pain) and I didn't recognise any names except Voltarin. So I took one of those, hoping it wasn't some super-drug version that would have weird side effects on me, and a couple of Panadols. That helped. And I slept with my head propped up on three pillows since it didn't seem to like blood rushing into it.

Anyhow, I'm using Bonjela, like the babies do. It's good stuff.

Back to the wedding. I had to cut everything into tiny little pieces to eat it, since my mouth is not opening wide due to widom tooth swelling. And then I'd wince when I went to chew it. So it may have looked like I was hating it.... but quite the opposite, it was really nice food. I had the honey-glazed salmon on some yummy rissotto concoction. Then we got a selection of little baby-deserts that were all yummy. And the wedding cake was chocolate. Mmmm!

Anyhow. My teeth hurt. I'm off.

And my spell-checker is not working..... so excuse any errors!