I think my blog has scared everyone away!

It's been pretty quiet around here lately. But shouldn't it be the opposite? School holidays are looming (today! last day! yes! hoorah!)

I had a dream tonight which I think stemmed from reality, which is spooky. In the dream, I was running around chasing a little mouse with big ears. It was in this house, and I'd caught him for a while, and all was well. Then I suddenly woke up in the dark hearing this rustling noise, and thought I saw something in my rubbish bin. Gah! I turned the light on, put some contact liquid in (since my eyes get so dry at night I can't see a thing) and I didn't spy anything. Back to bed I went.

Most people are scared of mice, I don't know why. I'm actually thinking of getting them for a class pet next term, if I am still on the class. Mice are cute, and contrary to what some people think, they don't smell if you look after them. I'm a pro-cage-and-hutch-cleaner, just ask my cockatoo and my bunnies. I was at the pet shop deciding between a few goldfish, a hermit crab or some mice. I wanted mice, because they're always active running around in that spinny wheel thingy, aww! But I wasn't sure if they'd be hard to look after. Turns out they only need cleaning once a week apparently. Ha. I could always take them home on weekends and do the cleaning then.

I think if I had the chance, my house would become a petting zoo.

I love animals.

Anyway. I just thought you'd be able to take some goldfish, whack them in a bowl and feed them some sprinkles every day. Turns out you can't. She gave me this rundown on how to get a small tank/bowl up and running, and it was going to cost a small fortune! Mice, on the other hand, just require a glass cagey thing, a spinny wheel, sawdust and food. And the sawdust is cheap, as is the food. What would you choose? (Oh, we ruled out the hermit crabs because they just sleep during the day, so all the kids would see were shells.)

Last day, oh yeah! Last day, oh yeah!  It's before 7am and I'm PSYCHED. Sleep-ins, dead ahead!

Today's post shall be less of a post and more of a link.

Click here and prepare to waste time being amused by cartoon clips involving movies and bunnies.

I especially like the Titanic, Brokeback Mountain and Jaws clips. Enjoy.

That is all.

Sleepy. Oh-so-sleepy. Sleep is good.

Today was a really great day. There was the industrial strike (which I wish I could have gone to, apparently the turn out was really fabulous) so the school was "partially" open. There were only about 25 kids from four infants classes there in the morning, so their four teachers (including myself) took turns to keep them occupied, leaving us some time to plan and programme, which was great.

By lunchtime, I had a class of 7 kids. It was so good. And so quiet! And so less stressful. Imagine what you could do with a class that small - they'd just learn, learn, learn. I adore the kindergartens and little kids, they get along so well together. It's just lovely.

This afternoon, I had a batch of parents not show up at all for their parent-teacher interviews, which left me a bit cranky. But, I also had a few give me some good comments and tell me that they were happy with things so that made it a bit better. In other random school news, I was all proud because my report comments got good feedback from my supervisor and principal. First time around, yay! I had to change a few small things, but for the most part they were alright. Hoorah!

Two more days. Two more days. Tra-la-la! Oh, oh, and before I finish -- Can I say how proud I am to announce that my class FINALLY (after two terms of sitting up straight, the precious cherubs) won the Class of the Week award at assembly on Monday! They were so proud -- they came running up to me yesterday morning just bursting with excitement. We now get the special teddy (whose probably heavier than I am, and that's saying something!) in our classroom, and for the holidays too I think. That was the nicest surprise. One of those awesome teaching moments.

ONE TO GO! And then two more days.

So, round two of parent-teacher interviews is now also down. And this time, I came home feeling pretty good minus the rather large headache that has whacked me over the eyes. Gah. I was only supposed to have an easy day, one which would finish at 3.30pm, because I had someone turn up early yesterday. Instead, I got two LAST MINUTE (annoyance) notes back from two more parents just telling me they'd be turning up today. In the afternoon. As in, I couldn't say no because -- no time! It wasn't too bad, except for the fact that I had three before four, oh, and one at 4.30pm. =/

My last appointment was also with a mother who spoke absolutely no English past "hello" and "thankyou". Hey, I can't even say "hello" or "thankyou" in Vietnamese, so she's better than I am! But all would have been fine, since the school has a Vietnamese teacher whose job is to translate between parents and teachers. Sounds dandy, doesn't it? Would have been, had the teacher show. Thankfully, H's older sister came along, so we had a fantastic 14 year old Vietnamese translator. How good is that?

Tomorrow is a half day strike, I'm not striking because I supposedly had an interview in the morning although I'm not sure that they will turn up. Instead, I think I basically get to babysit the kids that are brought to school, since lessons aren't on until 12pm. I'm sort of hoping a lot of parents keep the kids at home, because I can imagine the headache coming back keeping those kids occupied for three hours. It seems sort of pointless really. You're only giving the kids 2 hours of learning time anyway, since 40 minutes is spent having lunch. Oh well. I would be striking if I could, because I think the whole workplace laws situation is ridiculous.

I don't like to speak about politics but John Howard is a complete idiot. And I'll leave it at that. Probably hasn't worked as a "normal" person for a day in his life. ((end grumbles))

Now my head hurts, and I have to go put on some potatoes and vegetables so my mum doesn't freak out when she gets home. I'd actually just like to go to bed. Hope your day has been fabulous, whoever may be reading this.

And can I say how cranky I am that I missed my 2000th page view? 2000!!!!! Thankyou, oh loyal readers and google-searchers who only find this journal because they are searching for "Stabilo", "Black Fingernails Red Wine" and "Songs about feeling lonely". And the rest of ya'll, too. Much love!

Two more to go. And then another two.

Soooo. I am alive! After parent-teacher interviews started this afternoon. I had four lined up, but then I had one parent turn up late, another turn up unexpected (even though she was not due until tomorrow) and my classroom turned into a babysitting room for younger siblings. Anyway, things went well. I only have two tomorrow - one at 3.15 and another at 4.45. Ack! I'm going to try and ask the other parent if they could manage to do it at 3.30 instead, because that's an awful long time to sit around and wait. Wednesday is the killer, with interviews lined up from 3.15-5.30 on the quarter hour.

It wasn't as hard as I expected - I just asked a lot of questions of the parents and told them any concerns and any great things. For the most part, my class is fantastic, just for the behaviours of some of them. And (not surprisingly) the kids who I am concerned about behaviourally and academically have parents who aren't interested in having the interview at all!

Today was a planning day for us. Nothing has been said to me, so I sort of just assumed that I will be looking after 1/2S for next term? I organised my spelling and handwriting, as well as beginning some literacy group work as well. If I can just organise my maths timetable over the holidays, I should be well on my way to planning well! I really like my guys there, it's funny how you grow attached to them. The parents seemed to think I was doing an okay job too, noone threatened to fire me or anything like that. Hoorah!

Other than that, I have nothing to really say except that it's really quite cold. Oh, and I was reading some low level guided reading books today thinking about what to do next term, and I could SO write those books. I wonder if there is a career in that?

I see an apple.
I see an orange.
Look! I see a pear!
I see some grapes.
I see some cherries.
Look! I see a watermelon!

Anyone knows me, knows that I get irritated by a lot of things.

I won't list them, since you'll be here for quite a while if I do. But my biggest pet hate? Idiot drivers. Why the hell are these people on the roads if a) They don't know how to drive b) They're driving like maniacs to show off c) They're driving like idiots JUST BECAUSE. Gah. Why get in a car and endanger other people's lives just because you're a.. well, in Eboni (of Australia's Next Top Model fame)'s words, a fuckhead.

This non-startling revelation came after driving home from J.'s place last night and having this idiot driver who DID NOT KNOW THE ROAD RULES WHILE MERGING ONTO A FREEWAY (A freeway! Geez!) making me use my smartness (ha!) to avoid being run off the road! Picture this: An empty three-way freeway (it was after 10pm) - a four wheel drive in the closest lane to the merging lane, and me - driving down the merging lane about to move onto the freeway. There are three things that should have happened here.

1. The four wheel drive could have just indicated and moved into the middle lane, leaving the "slow" lane nearest the merging lane open for me to move into.


2. The four wheel drive could have sped up, and cleared the merging area completely.


3. The four wheel drive could have slowed down, and cleared the merging area completely.

Instead, this is what happened. I saw the four wheel drive and braked, anticipating he would speed up and clear the area. Instead, he slowed down. Therefore, I sped up to merge in front of him since there was enough room. After I sped up however, HE SPED UP - rather quickly too, and my room to merge ran out. This left me slamming on my brakes again, seeing as by now the merging lane had almost run out - just leaving the narrow side of the freeway. After he cruised (slowly) passed me, I had to pull out behind him after travelling nearly 100m on the edge. I honestly think that if there had been a car behind me, there would have been an accident. What the hell was that person's problem?

(My personal thoughts were that he fell into the "c" category from above - Driving like an idiot JUST BECAUSE. The way he slowed down, and then sped up to cut me off, AND the fact that he refused to just change into the empty lane next to him like any normal person would.. Gah. Some days, I just want to scream.

***

So. Being the internet dork that I am, I decided to Google Search idiot dirvers and see what I could come up with. These are the favourite posts so far.

# Idiot Driver Dot Com Dot Ay-Yew
Here, you can go online and register when you see an idiot driver. I didn't go in and signup because I am lazy, but who knows what sort of stuff goes on in there. I found this post quite amusing too, from people on a chat forum who linked to that site:

Person 1: Excellent site. Should be used lots.
Person 2: Geez! What ever happened to just flipping someone off for not indicating? That's far more satisfying.
Person 1: Flip them off and report them on this site.

# Geeks with Blogs
(People who tail-gate and rear-end, REALLY piss me off.)

"Whilst I was in the drive-thru at the local McDonalds yesterday waiting
on my daily dose of good wholesome nutrition, I was rear ended twice by
the same driver. The first time, I let it go, and gave the chick the
finger. The second time, though, I couldn't let it go. I got out and
had some very choice words for her which made her cry. Yes, I am a
monster, but if you do something like that, you deserve anything I can
dish out."

# Someone's Random Thoughts
All of the wonderful things people think they can do while they're driving. Very interesting.

# Idiot Drivers by Durst
Ha! See? Am not alone. And I thought I was.. sheesh.

"You know what drives me nuttier than squirrel breath?
Idiot drivers. More precisely, idiot drivers who for some strange
reason have a vendetta against me. You think I'm being paranoid?"

# An Ojar Dot Com Rant
A list of things which are irritating. And I second them all. Okay, except I don't really condone anyone being run off the road (especially my little encounter last night) BUT people who don't go the speed limit, whether it is UNDER or OVER, are annoying.

"I think people who drive in the fast lane going the speed limit, or
under, deserve to get run off the road... that is what the slow lane is
for stupid!!!"

***

I think I'm about googled out now, and that was only from the first page. But seriously? If you are an idiot driver and somehow came across my blog? I hate you. And if you are the four wheel driver owner in Sydney who was a fuckhead (as mentioned previously), all I can say is KARMA baby.

The alarm went off; music filled the room.

She awoke slowly, stretched groggily and burrowed back under the covers. The music continued. The music changed. The longer she lay there, hiding from the world, the music went on. Fast paced, to slow, to easy listening, to the drone of the radio announcer's voice.

This was a morning ritual for her. To wait, as long as she could possibly wait before she arose to face the day. And each morning, there was one song which would be 'her song' for the day. That unknown song which would be playing just as she pulled her frame from the bed and stretched to turn off the alarm. That song is the song that would shape her day.

She had been subconsciously doing this for as long as she could remember. Strangely enough, the song which happened to be playing always, always seemed to have lyrics which would somehow become apparent and connected to the unknown day which lay ahead of her.

She waited. She wiggled her toes. She yawned widely, savouring the pleasure that came from  wallowing in her sheltered haven from the world. She knew the time would be soon.

That time came. Her second alarm beeped furiously. She turned it off quickly, and waited; ears pricked for those new lyrics.

And I don't want the world to see me, cause I don't think that they'd understand. When everything's made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am.


So, it begins.

Another day.

Just like all the others.

But maybe, just maybe, today would be different. And she believed with all her heart, that her new song would be a part of it. She arose, turned off the dial, and headed for the door.

Haha, kids can be so cute.

When they're not yelling or making each other cry or beating each other up or crying, that is. I stayed back after school today to try and get some book marking done seeing as the next time I'm at school, I'll be having parent-teacher interviews so I needed to sort of impress, ha! My kids are pretty clever, most of them are naturally bright even if they don't do all the things that the new report cards say they should do. At least they like to write and attempt things. Which brings me to today's post, proudly sponsored by J. in my class's journal. Brought a smile to my face after sitting at my desk for over an hour ticking and sticking.

On the weekend I playd socr with my sitr. My sitr wun bcos I wet ese on hyo. i dont go hard on gurls inspeshlee my sitr. I thing it is men bcos thay can hot us wen thay get mad. My sitr is the best bcos she lockafdrme.

Is that not the cutest/funniest thing you've ever read? I'll now provide you with a translation, in case you couldn't quite read what J. was saying. I love, love, love that I've developed this teacher translation radar. It's quite handy to have around.

On the weekend I played soccer with my sister. My sister won because I went easy on her. I don't go hard on girls, especially my sister. I think it is mean because they can hurt us when they get mad. My sister is the best because she looks after me.

I burst out laughing reading the "They can hurt us when they get mad" part. Isn't that true of most females? How sweet of J. to LET his girly sister win, though. Bahaha! I must say, I've never actually heard of the word lockafdrme before, but it would be handy to have around. Squishing three words into one is a great time saver!

Whilst it's really cute and I find it amusing, please note that I am not making fun of dear J.'s writing. In fact, I'm really quite proud to say that the snippet above was only a teeny segment of his writing journal, which has come along way. And even though he has some spelling issues, he makes attempts to write all the words, and it still comes across as making sense.

Proud teacher. Yep. But also an amused one!

Woohoo!  Thanks to the lovely Enn, I have hit my milestone!

I have had 100 comments on this blog. Amazing! *clears throat* I'd just like to say thanks to my mum for making me want to use Typepad, and my friends for commenting -- okay, this sounds remarkably like a lame award winning speech but I am excited! I am honoured just to have people stop by here and read every so often when they get the chance. I'm really enjoying having the opportunity to babble on about anything and have it there to (hopefully) amuse and interest people. Hoorah for freedom of speech!

Today at school was insane. I had three D. tantrums (although they were mini ones, that's not the point) which I handled remarkably well, I thought. I was cool and calm and collected. Three kids were rude to me today on playground duty, yet I continued to remain calm and collected (though yelled at lunchtime, yes, I'll admit that) - and I am happy to say that one boy got a strike (next strike equals suspension) and two other girls are on warnings. I hate to sound mean but they completely deserved it. Strike-boy started a tackle football match practically on top of kindy kids, then threw the football at me when I asked him to quit the game. Bitchy-girls gave me attitude because it was "their football" that I wouldn't let them play with, and decided it would be nice to mutter sweet nothings under their breath as they walked away. Perhaps they forgot that I could still hear them? Perhaps it was intentional? What the hell ever.

I was also delirious from period pain which has not lessened in the slightest. My stomach is really really badly bloated too -- so much so that I walked for 30 minutes yesterday and 30 minutes just now because it alarmed me how huge I looked. I know I can't blame the period for all of that (as much as I'd like to!) but I swear it wasn't that bad recently. Ack. It'll be good to get back into the daily routine of walking anyway. My Ipod-song-mime-walk routine is back in business.

And now I am going to go relax with my feet up because I am absolutely knackered.

Why is it that rainy days always make you think about things?

Not that you don't think of things on any normal day, but on rainy days I always seem to find myself pondering stupid little things. I couldn't remember all of them if I tried, but the thoughts are always there. I must have had a thousand little thoughts today. Some worries, some wishes, some joy, some wonder.

Why does thinking bring such good things, but also such confusion? And why do I think too much sometimes? If only the universe were clearer. Please be nice with my poem.

I look out the window;
Grey skies meet my gaze with silent gloom.
Clouds hang over the horizon,
Clouds hang over my head.

I look out the window;
Raindrops fall like teardrops gentle.
Whispers are in the wind,
Whispers are in my mind.

I look out the window;
Memories hovering on the horizon far.
Heavy hangs the misty air,
Heavy hangs my heart.

June, 2006.

Actually, not new, but just old and REFRESHED.

I strongly dislike idiot drivers. And I also strongly dislike people who are just as idiotic by not knowing the road rules. I strongly dislike backseat drivers. And I strongly dislike anyone who touches my radio dials in MY CAR WHILE I AM DRIVING. I'm not going to drive anyone out, again.

(NB: I am turning right into my street and have the right of way - and then my backseat drivers dare yell at me because THE OTHER GUY WAS TAKING UP TWO LANES AND COULDN'T TURN A FUCKING CORNER PROPERLY? Ha. I hope the stupid dimwit car driver gets wiped out next time. I don't care if they're a neighbour or not. Learn to drive.)

On a lighter note;

Cars was such a cute movie. I really enjoyed it! Mater was hilarious -- good times. Minus the kids that happened to be in a kids movie theatre, I mean, how dare they? Actually they weren't too bad (except for the kid behind me.) Mum and dad were worse with all their little Route 66 mutterings right next to me. My favourite part had to be the Tractor Tipping. A must see!

And anything that has a soundtrack featuring this lovely specimen has my vote. That voice, pshaw, uhmayzing. I'm going to bed now before I realise that I just spelled amazing that way and completely abandon this post. Two in one day, damn that's keen. Cramps are evil.

This should explain EVERYTHING.

I am rather peeved with myself for being quite so stupid. IMMENSELY PEEVED if you really want to know. Miss Aly forgot to take certain medication which er, keeps her cycle normal, mmhm, all weekend. Not one day. Not two days. Not even three days. I haven't taken it since Friday morning. FRIDAY! It is now Tuesday! Not good.

So because I am a halfwit, I awoke this morning to very VERY familiar cramps. Cramps which usually leave me in bed moaning for a few hours because getting up seems all too hard. Cramps that should not have been here this morning because -- I only just had a visit from said cramps about one and a half weeks ago. Damnit. Yes, all hell has broken loose and I am having period number two for June.

No wonder I felt like shit all day yesterday, this explains it! It might even explain why I still look like death this morning, even after showering and blowdrying my hair for once. All I know is that I cracked open the Naprogesic and washed them down with tea and NutraGrain. They haven't kicked in yet either, so I still feel - yep, you guessed it, of death. I say that a wee bit too much.

I wonder what the chances are of having off tomorrow for a sickness/sympathy day? Perhaps I shall talk to my supervisor today...

I am going insane and there are still two weeks to go!

I'm on this paranoid parent-teacher kick right now, although I'm not entirely worried about the parents (I can babble my way out of most things, usually) but I'm more worried about my stupid perfectionist problem of having each and every book marked before next Monday, as well as every single tray cleaned, as well as every desk straight, as well as every wall decorated -- you get the idea. I'm a freak I tell you! And it's doing my head in.

Nothing else too eventful though. I had a shocker of a day, but I can't exactly tell you why. I woke up feeling average (despite having about 10 hours sleep last night) and looked like death. A few people asked me if I was sick, or "what's wrong?" so I must have really looked awful, even the principal told me to perk up, only two weeks left until we get a bit of a break. I don't even know what's wrong, I just feel bleh. But wait, I'm female, do I need a reason?

Randomness for the day:

We do sentences every few days with our spelling words, where we try and use them in different ways. One of our spelling words was fake this week. So far, this is the best sentence that N. in my class came up with. She's one smart chook!

"Sometimes my parents tell fake things to me so I will be quiet". HA!

I figured today that since I am not seeing J, that I would dedicate a post to him. Just because.

I don't think he even reads this blog - but it's more for me than for him, anyway. Today will be all about him, because he is sick this weekend and I haven't been able to see him since last week. Gah. I told you I was lonely!

J. and I met in 2002, and not in the place most people would think of. For certain reasons, when people I don't know ask how we met I usually just respond with oh - at a party, you know. Actually, it was fate. Or so I like to think, anyway.

My favourite band of 2001, was a band called Lifehouse. You might know of them. They are still around now, minus a member, adding on a new member, three albums later. I heard Hanging By A Moment and fell instantly in love, because that's what I wanted to feel right then. Back then I was with someone that I didn't really want to be with - and I wasn't feeling that way towards them. That song just stuck to me. Wouldn't you fall in love?

Forgetting all I'm lacking
Completely incomplete...
I'll take your invitation
You take all of me now...

I soon bought the album (No Name Face) and fell in love with all of the songs, especially Everything. To this day, that song is one of my ultimate favourites and never fails to give me chills. I did an internet search, and found that they had a message board. It does not exist anymore, however the site still does. That message board changed my life.

I met J. through there. Lifehouse was a very American band. I found out I was one of only a small group of Australians who had heard of the band (they never did get very big here) - and we started an "Aussie Thread". I met some absolutely amazing people on those boards, including Jen, who is one of my closest friends. I won't mention everyone because I would be here for days, so suffice it to say that even now, years after that board was closed down, I still keep in touch with many.

I had a bit of a crush on J, just through talking to him on the board. I knew he was Australian, but I never asked for any details on whereabouts he was from, because that just seemed to cross an invisible line for me. But he was polite, he loved the same band I loved, and we ended up emailing and talking through MSN. I remember having my 18th birthday party, and wishing he could be there, even though we had never met and that seemed a trifle strange. Turned out he only lived 30 minutes away, too. What are the odds?

Turns out that J sort of felt the same way, believe it or not. He swears that he invited me to meet up once, and I just sort of ignored him and changed the subject, so he didn't bother asking again. I swear that I don't remember that! Whatever the case, we had began text messaging via phone by then, and one afternoon in September, I was sitting in this dreadfully boring tutorial about philosophy, and I text messaged him asking would he like to come see a movie with me tonight? I sat there having heart palpitations wondering what I had done, when I got his reply - Sure. I'll call you.

He did, we met up, had dinner, saw a movie (XXX - worst first date movie ever, haha!) and it ended well. He was absolutely gorgeous (I'd never even seen a picture of him before!) and very quiet and gentlemanly. That was on a Tuesday night, and we had arranged a second meet-up on Saturday. He kissed me that night, and we've been together since.

In a few months, it will mark our 4th year anniversary. I still cannot believe that we were brought together by something as random as a band messageboard - of all the gin joints in all the world, isn't that what Humphrey says? I don't know. To me, it was fate. He's the person who knows all my weaknesses, but he knows my strengths too. He irritates me to no end, but is also the sweetest person I've met. He's just - himself. And I love that.

We have done so much together. We travelled to Europe in January of 2004, and I got to experience all of these wonderful new things with someone I had never dreamed of. I'd love to do that all over again, one day, if all goes well. Those memories are priceless.

We don't see each other as much as I'd like, despite our short distance apart. Because of work, seeing each other in the week is rare (especially since on little sleep and busy teaching, I tend to get cranky). Most of our time together is spent on weekends, where we can enjoy each other's company. We are similar in the way that we don't have big social lives, neither of us enjoy being the centre of attention. I can't speak for J of course, but I am content with that. We have our differences, and our expectations - sure. But they are something that every couple has, and I hope ours will make us stronger.

I do have wishes for us, like most females do. I won't go into them here because they are probably rather obvious, and I'm sure if you think hard enough you would figure them out. But let me just say that if there is someone I think is capable for putting up with me day in, and day out, I think I'd know who it would be. Who knows what will happen in the future? No-one can predict that. But I can hope that we will both be happy, and in love, and I can hope that we will stay together. I'd love to keep on sharing things with him.

And so - I finish this entry feeling a bit emotional. Emotional because I miss being in J's company this weekend, emotional because this has made me remember some of the little things that remind me why I love him so much. And emotional because I am so damn lucky to have met someone who still makes me feel that way at all! Get well soon, babe.

I find this post very, very appropropriate!

Why, you may ask? Because as I type, I am staring rather fondly at my bed -- and looking very much forward to laying down for the night and dreaming. Yesterday's late night (ha!) at trivia has ensured that I am a very tired girl.

When I first read the topic today, I instantly knew what to write about. My inspiration came from my lovely mother who is possibly the most fantastic scrapbooker in the world. It's true. Sitting on her study desk right now, is a scrapbooking page which is almost completed. It talks about my whole family, and how different we are -- and how we sleep. Little quirky bits of trivia about each and every one of us which makes us unique, especially when it comes to our beds. I thought I'd think about my OWN stance on myself and sleeping, and write some facts that come to mind. Enjoy!

*********

# I cannot stand sleeping on soft, squooshy pillows. Give me a pillow that is firm, and I shall be off in dreamland in no time. I adore pillows. Still on the pillow topic, I also have a fascination with LOTS of them. At present, I have four and 2 cushions, however I have at times had up to six. I grumble each time we have guests stay over, seeing as my bed is the resident pillow-hotel. I lose one every time, guaranteed!

# I used to not be able to sleep at all in the daytime. Now, I can. It helps if I have one of those eye masks, but if I'm tired and sick, usually nothing can keep me from falling asleep.

# I prefer to sleep with lighter clothes on, but cuddle up under my lovely quilt. I usually don't wear warm clothes while I'm asleep. Strange, eh? I don't know why. Perhaps it's just the feel of the quilt on my skin? On particularly cold nights I've tried to dress more warmly, however I usually end up tossing half the bedcovers onto the floor and making a gigantic mess.

# Changing bedsheets is one of the most horrible house chores ever invented. It irritates me to no end and makes me whine lots, and I don't exactly know why.

# Although, come to think of it, sleeping in a freshly made bed is really, really good. If only someone invented the self-changing-sheets-and-pillowcases bed. That's something every household needs.

# I sleep on my stomach, with my arms tucked underneath the pillow (picture me sort of clinging onto it, for lack of a better description.) I cannot sleep on my back. I can only sleep on my sides if I'm sort of half squashed on my stomach at the same time, in a sort of twist. No doubt this has done wonders for my poor back!

# When I'm in my bed, I find it immensely hard to get out of it again. Especially in mornings. Being able to sleep in is wonderful, wasteful but wonderful! I am very blessed to have a lovely (non creaky) bed that I can rest in each day. I mention non creaky because the current bed I owned, went through a phase of being rather noisy. For no reason, other than it began to fall apart after only a month of owning it. It took a case of beer and some hearty negotiation by my dad with the neighbours to have the metal re-welded together. It is now fabulous (and quiet!) once again.

And now, as I try and think of other interesting tidbits to add to this post, I have suddenly come to realise that the very call of bed is interfering with my creativity tonight. What dreams await tonight, I wonder? Perhaps they will allow me to finish off my last "Scribbling" -- seeing as that inspiration also came from the land of Nod. One can only hope!!

Damnit. I have one late night and now I've missed a blogging day for the month of June. Gah!

But it was kind of nice to get out and have some (sort of) fun. I'll make this sort of short because it's past midnight and that is WAY past my teacher bedtime and because I'm cold and my bed is warm and therefore I need to go lie down soon.

J. wasn't feeling well after working late, so he didn't come. That was the saddest part of the evening. Because I missed him, lots. And because he is the sports whiz so we were sort of useless without him. And because I missed him. Did I mention that?

My good friend L. came though on last minute notice, which was awesome. I did my first team teaching prac with L. last year and we went from strangers to friends pretty quickly. She's really a fantastic chook and I love her alot. Turns out she's having dramas with her partner of over 6 years too which I wasn't aware of because teaching has turned me into a horrible, slack friend. I missed her too. So, it was good to catch up.

We came third last. Which is the same as last year, so at least we didn't get worse. Heh. The emcee was lame, had lame jokes, had lame people dressed up as clowns but it was good fun. We had Subway for dinner and some snacks and carrots and stuff, and it was bloody cold in the hall. Only six rounds, but lots of activities in the middle and in between.

Because I am lazy I shall do the highlights of the evening in point form. Here goes. (No photo commentary today, thanks.)

# Mum, Nan, Alita and L. dancing the Nutbush and Macarena. Nan dancing with the help of her walking stick. L. winning a runner's up trophy for dancing in a trench coat.

# Me remembering (at least the first name of) that dude that stepped down so Ian Thorpe could swim at the Olympics?? What -- it's a sports question, I wasn't expecting to get any of them right but I KNEW his name was Craig. Go me!

# Winning very random prizes including a potplant, several boxes of cereal (possibly several dozen when we combine the family prizes together) as well as a free pass for a tour of the Museum of Contempory Arts, woohoo.

# BUYING $5 WORTH OF RAFFLE TICKETS AND RECIEVING NOT A SINGLE PRIZE. AND THERE WERE ABOUT FIVE BAZILLION PRIZES AND DAMNIT, NONE OF MY NUMBERS GOT CALLED. (I was quite peeved.)

Perhaps tomorrow I will provide you with a picture of the amount of cereal we won. I'm not joking, we won't need to buy anything for months. I'm all set with my NutraGrain, Rice Bubbles and Special K. Good prizes, I say. Very practical anyway.

Time for bed. And when tomorrow (ack, wait, that's today already!) comes, I'll see J. Finally! Miss him. Have I mentioned that? Goodnight!

I got bored yesterday afternoon.

So I decided to do two things. First, sign up for the whole DeviantArt thingy so I could comment on Jen's pictures and photographs. Second, make the potato bake. I actually did both. Are you proud?

Endeavour 1: The Deviantness.

You can visit my DeviantArt page by clicking on this very PRETTY PRETTY link right here. I don't have any skills in editing or anything other than clicking the camera and hitting the resize button, so don't expect wonders. But I'll add some random photos up whenever I get the chance. It's something fun and different. And woo! I have 20 page views in one day. I feel special!

Endeavour 2: The Potato Bake.

Sit back, enjoy and let me provide you with a small step by step (in big jumps) commentary of the whole ordeal.

Step 1: Find suitable potatoes ready to peel. Remember to pull up jumper sleeve even if it is cold. Otherwise it will get wet. True! Also get onions out, which you will actually not use because there are these wonderful things called "frozen sliced onions". So really, those onions in the pantry are for display only. No wonder they are growing things.

Step 2: Make sure your microwave is still in it's correct spot. If it is, take a picture of it just to set your mind at ease. (Including horrid reflection of yourself optional.) Realise just how dirty the outside of said microwave is, and put on to-do list. Or at least, someone else's to-do list.


Step 3: Peel the five thousand potatoes. Add flavouring by shaving off some of the skin off your left thumb for optional taste benefits. Chop up into teeny tiny pieces until a) They are all chopped, b) The knife breaks or c) Your hand falls off.

Step 4: Add things from your freezer - that wonderful invention known as frozen sliced onions, as well as some frozen diced bacon. Shove into bowl, slosh around. Add some cream and cheese and you're almost done. (You know, this wasn't so hard after all! Especially since I had thrown a tantrum and by now given the job of finishing off the Potato Bake to my mum, whose hands you can see in this picture.) Throw in the microwave.


Step 5: And there you have it. Potato Bake! Except by now we were so hungry that we just ate it with our chicken and bread rolls and took no pictures.

Wooo! It is 8.30pm (bedtime!) and I have absolutely nothing to blog about.

I was being creative. Truly, I was. I decided to make a potato bake to go with dinner, so endeavoured to get the camera and take "steps". Except. The camera is downstairs. I am upstairs. And I am tired. Perhaps the potato bake entry will come tomorrow. Or the day after.

So onto more rambling-ness.

My kids were really off the planet today. I jokingly told mum today was "National Feral Kid Day" because honestly, off the walls is an understatement. Even the Preschool where I had a lunchtime duty was insane, too! Must have been something in the air. Today's highlight was a spur of the moment art lesson which came to me after reading the kids "Elmer" - a book about a very cute patchwork elephant. We did our reading, our comprehension, and the kids really loved all the bright colours, so I whipped out my A3 paper and a pencil and proceeded to draw a very average sketch of Elmer. I photocopied them, and then we all grabbed the oil pastels and went on to make our very own herd of colourful elephants. Just in time for Parent-Teacher night in a few weeks, seeing as when they're done our classroom will look very, very bright. Was good!

Tomorrow after recess we get to sing and dance and watch a one hour show of performing arts, which basically means that tomorrow will also be a write off. The kidlets will be super excited (which is great) but it also means that afterwards, they'll be right off. That's ok. We'll have their performance, then we will be writing recounts about what happened. Sounds like a plan!

Speaking of (something being in the) air -- I woke up to ICE on my car windshield this morning. Standing in the 1 degree air holding a hose and spraying water everywhere is NOT my idea of a wake up call. Gah. Ice, can you believe it? It's not like we live in the mountains or anything, and it only frosts on the grass, never the roads but still. I guess now, it really is winter.

I've rounded up a few people we know (mainly family and friends of the family) to go to a Trivia Night on this Friday. A night out, yes! I am really really looking forward to it, we went to one last year and we sucked so much, it was hilarious. I am determined to do better than last time though, haha. So, if all goes well, Trivia Night will be a big success. I've got two days to memorise random facts.

So therefore, I ask:

Does anyone have any random facts I might need to know for a Trivia Night?

Comments welcomed, very very much.

Edit: Damn you Typepad, DAMN YOU for scaring me into believing my post was wiped when it was actually there all along except that I had accidently hit the back button instead of the re-edit and I was freaking out because damned if I was going to retype all the stuff I had just typed and I really probably wouldn't have remembered half the things I had posted in the first place anyway. -breathes-

The argument overall continues, in this hell
-- All of stand and point our fingers.

Why is it that this song has been in my head all day?? It's the new Eskimo Joe song. I heard it twice, and now it's apparently stuck. Gah. It could be worse, but I barely even know the lyrics. Only the main ones, anywho.

How I wish long weekends went for longer than a weekend. Today just felt like any other Monday (except that it's a Tuesday, ha!) -- meaning I still have lots more work to do and not much time to do it.

Parent teacher interviews are starting the week after next, meaning I have a crapload of work to do. I wanted to get the kids trays ready with everything neat and tidy, but the likelihood of that happening is rather slim. I need to check I've marked "most things", I need to get the room looking spiffy (well, even spiffier if you know what I mean) and I need to just be organised. If I were super organised I'd have a little portfolio made up for each of the kids but it's doubtful that'll happen. I am going to print out the report comments I wrote for each one, and have that there ready to talk about too. It's only for 15 minutes but that could take an awfully long time. I'm becoming slightly nervous.

This is a very random and sporadic post today with no real theme because that's a bit how I feel right now. Random and sporadic.

I am glad that my good friend Stefi is coming back to Australia in a few months. I didn't get to spend anywhere near as much time with her as I would have liked, and she was here for a good six months at least last time. =/ This trip is only a short visit I think, but I'm determined not to miss out this time around! I also want to eventually go for a road trip up to visit Jen too, although she doesn't know this yet. Mwahaha. Lots to do (or want to do) but not enough time.

I had my bunnies in last night and it was so nice. I wish they lived inside instead of outside, because it's a pain in the ass trying to get them out of the bloody hutch. Bella goes insane and I swear her eyes are one day going to bulge out of her pretty head. Lucy is so cute -- she spent ages last night licking mum's chin !! Don't ask me why she found that so appealing, haha, but bunny kisses are damn cute. Luce spends most time snuggling up with us (but don't let her on the floor because she is damn fast and hard to catch!) whereas Bella stays well away and just looks nervous all the time. Silly rabbit. I am in the mood for more bunny cuddles today so I think I'll get them in shortly. Yay.

I drove home today following someone who was driving the exact same car as me. Down the the colour and model and everything. And now I can definately say that my car is very stylish and sexy from behind. Except my number plates looked better than hers because hers were yucky yellow ones and mine are black and white. Non-biased view, of course.

A few people wrote to me and asked me to finish off my "Mystery" story that I wrote for Sunday Scribblings last weekend, which I found very flattering. It was nice of people to actually stop by and read it, so thanks if you left a comment or emailed me. Gives me the incentive to maybe finish it off one day, although I doubt the conclusion would be as fun to write as the beginning.

I think I'm just about done now. Time for bed? At 4.30pm? It's possible!

I think I forgot to mention in here that I managed to sell my old car, a couple of days ago.

We sold it to a teacher from my work's husband -- he is just starting a new job and needed a runaround car, so he grabbed it off me for $2000. Cash! So my first baby, my "May" as she used to be so lovingly called, my sort-of pride and joy, now belongs to someone else.

AND I GET $2000 OFF MY CAR DEBT! HOORAH!

It did get me thinking though about some things I will miss about my old car, and the experiences I had with it. So without further ado, I present to you; The Biography (or is it Auto-Biography, haha, get it, Auto?? -snicker-) of my White Corolla.

When I first turned 16 and got my Learners permit, my dad instantly made me attempt them in a manual (or stick shift) transmission. He said he learned that way, and that if I learned to drive in a manual, I'd be able to drive ANY car in the future. He also told me cars were cheaper in manual, so little old me said "Okie Doke" and off we went to look for cars. I don't remember how or where we found it, but not long after we started looking, we came across a little Red Corolla sports edition -- manual, with air conditioning, really cute little car. Dad bought it, and I was going to pay him back.

It was a really pretty car. I remember dad taking me out around the backstreets driving it. I remember me freaking out, because I couldn't figure out how much pressure to apply on the clutch and it was all too hard. I remember dad freaking out because I obviously wasn't picking up this whole manual thing as well as he had. I should also mention here that my father is a bit of a drama queen. He tends to throw himself forward and over exaggerate bumps and turns if he is in the passenger seat of a car -- really making the driver feel uncomfortable and quite useless. He still does that sometimes even now, although not as much.

I got lessons with a professional driving instructor. My first instructor was this balding old guy whose name was Philip (why do I remember that?) and he was terrifying. He screamed at me whilst driving, screamed at me when I did something wrong and even went so far as reaching over to the drivers side of the car and yanking the steering wheel to pull over. He didn't last long. The second driving instructor was also a manual, and he didn't speak much English and was sort of useless. He didn't last long. By now, I had sort of decided that driving a manual was too much and I JUST WANTED TO DRIVE AN AUTO SO I COULD PASS THE BLOODY TEST. Seriously. There was no way I was going to pass the actual test in a manual, I wasn't confident enough.

So, I broke the news to dad, who freaked and flipped. We sold the beautiful car. (I don't think dad has ever forgiven me for this, by the way.) We went looking for another one -- automatic transmission this time around. We found one in the city, owned by this lady who barely drove it anywhere. It had no air conditioning, but it was nice and white and in good shape, and only cost us about $5000. We took it. I got lessons with one last instructor (whose name was Bruce -- again, WHY can I remember that?) He had a nice car and didn't shout at me ever while I was driving with him, even when I miscalculated some islands in the middle of the road and gave his nice car a not-so-nice scrape down the side. -cough-

I went for my driving test when I was 18, and I got them. First go. I was very proud.

Since then, these are some amazing little facts that you know you want to know about my first car.

# It had central locking which was always possessed and never worked properly.
# I had to change it's hubcaps a few times since I had nasty experiences with gutters.
# The dent which was at the rear of the car (which you can't see in this picture) happened when I was working at Jeanswest near J's house. It was a Thursday night shift, late, and it was just me and my workmate in the car park. We had a chat for a long time, then got into our own cars. I reversed (looked too, let me tell you) and put my foot down -- and reversed side on into a pole. Okay. So I still get tormented about this to this day. I said pole. It was actually a rather ginormous shopping centre pylon in the undercover car park. Shutup. Big dent. End of story.
# It was involved in my first ever accident at the end of last year. I wasn't at fault -- someone from America with an expired license decided to turn right from the left lane. It gets tricky explaining our road rules sometimes but suffice it to say it left me with a bent and battered old car which had to get repaired.
# J. was the first boyfriend to ever sit in this car.
# It had a CD player but it died and when I sold it last week, only played fuzzy radio stations.
# I blew the head gasket and the radiator on the car a few months ago which cost me over $1000 to repair. Nearly as much as what I sold the car for -- scary, eh?
# My car made the trek to Newcastle with me to visit Jen, and back, without blowing up! I am yet to do that mission yet with the new car, but I want to!!

Farewell, old friend. You will (sort of) be missed.

I found this nifty post from a fellow teacher out there (Thanks Kathy!) and thought I'd steal it, to post up here. It made me think alot, and it's funny how many things I agreed with from her blog! I'll try and think of some "unique" ones.. Enjoy!



My Top 5 Teaching Loves

1. Hearing the kidlets say that they missed me when I was off sick for a week.


2. When the kidlets amaze me, by being on task and doing exactly what I ask of them every so often! Most times, there is always at least one person who has a problem, sometimes it's all of them just having a bad day -- but those days where the lesson you had planned runs off without a hitch. Priceless!


3. When the kidlets get excited about their learning. "Miss, can we please do some more reading??"


4. When I get to use stamps, give stickers, give awards and give PRAISE. Love that!


5. The thousands of little drawings, anecdotes, stories and all that jazz that I have recieved, and it's only been six months!!

My Top 5 Teaching Peeves

1. THE HEADACHES. (And the sickness too, I suppose) I've gone through so much medicine this year -- and again, it's only been six months!!


2. The parents who expect miracles from their children when they don't: a) Send them to school with the right sorts of food to eat. b) Send them to school ON TIME. c) Send them to school with A FREAKING PENCIL. Gah.


3. Having no support for kids who NEED support.


4. Kidlets with messy books. Must have neatness! Must write on lines! Must not be messy. Ha. (Yes, I realise I have a Year 1/2 class - but some kidlets take their time and others just.. have icky books.)


5. People that tell me I have an easy job. ajshsajkhgffd.

This sounds rather lame, but I had a dream last night - and I thought about it the second I woke up, and figured it fit the bill of 'mystery'. We'll see! ((By the way, this is my first piece of writing in a long time, so bear with me on this one and be nice!))

****

How we got to this place, I don't know; it all seems too much like a dream. If I pinch myself, I know it is real - same as if I look at the expressions on my peer's faces, I know it is far from but a simple dream. Flashbacks come to me in the night. Flashbacks of a ship, of a storm, of a fury so great it hurts to think of. All I can do now, is wait. Wait to see what happens. Wait to see what is in store. Just wait. And while I do that, think about all that has happened. Think about all that may happen. Think about all that will happen. Wait. Just wait.

They looked around them, stunned. What they saw? A vast spread of lush, green grass with an array of plant life scattered around them. The air was quiet; the atmosphere calm. Even the sounds coming from the trees seemed to feel - right. The only factor that didn't seem right, was the table standing aloof in the centre of the grassy knoll. The old-fashioned table stacked high with fruits and vegetables of all descriptions, all in pristine condition, merely awaiting the individual to pick one up and devour it. It appeared a very inviting feast.

In a flash, it dawned on them why they felt so uneasy. Why was it, that though they had all been deposited in this place, wherever it was, none of them made a move to sample any of this awaiting cuisine? It was not through lack of hunger, for the gnawing had made itself apparent long before they found themselves staring at the spread. No, it was not hunger. It was something else. Something which stilled them from reaching over and taking their fill of the goods in front of them.

One of the men looked indecisive, his face a mixture of expressions. He stepped forward, faltered, and paused in his stride. The others stared at him - wondering what his plans were, all hoping there would be no repercussions for his action. The man shook his head as though clearing his mind. The rest watched, silent. In a flash, the man had moved. The others glanced around, and found him on hands and knees underneath the broad wooden table. One woman gasped.

The man arose, a blank look on his face. In his arms, he carried a handful of rope, fastened tightly together with cord and shaped to form crude nets. Without thought, the rest of the group came forward to recieve a net, and went to work packing them gently with the food provided. Still, not one dared to sample the fruit, until all was placed neatly away.

The group looked towards the man who had made the first move. Without a word being said, it was apparent that he was their leader, their saviour perhaps? He appeared to take this shift of leadership in his stride, and with a tilt of his head, turned to face the trees behind them. He set off, the others following. As they trekked through the forest, netting bags hoisted on their shoulders, it occurred to several of the group that they had yet to utter a single sound. They walked on.

The man stopped at the first clearing they passed. It was filled with an array of plantlife, however appeared to be less harsh than the terrain they had been walking through previously. Hearing a familiar sound in the distance, he pushed back an overhanging fern and was greeted with a sight which brought relief to his heart. A river awaited them, far below the ground on which they walked. A few hundred yards to the right of their position was a waterfall, not a fierce one but a gentle one, which trickled across the cliff and joined it's river-partner with splashes of greeting. Water was something they needed. They would stay here.

The group continued working without speaking. They did not need to speak to know that this would be their place of rest. They did not need to speak to know that how long they would reside here would be unknown. They did not need to speak to realise that the vegetation they carried in their netting was not for eating, but for planting. They did not need to speak to feel that still, something did not feel quite right. They each fell to a job in silence.

The group was small. Only now that they had stopped moving, did they look around to observe one another. The leader stood silent, facing the waterfall with not a movement. The other men appeared in control, busy taming the ferns and plantlife in order to make shelter. The women bustled around, still in utter silence, performing tasks they did not realise they needed to do. One woman instructed her two children, with no words, to stay out the way and stay quiet. The young boy and girl merely accepted this fate, and sat. The clearing was eerily still.

Nightfall came.

The group sat nestled together in the clearing, sheltered by branches of pine and fronds of fern. A fire had been lit. One section of the clearing had already been turned into a would-be harvesting area. Awaiting plantation, it sat, rows of fine soil already paved into crude lots. Buckets created from wood, sat waiting - waiting to be filled with water. The waterfall continued to trickle knowingly into the river. One by one, they drifted into sleep.

Morning came.

The leader awoke with an abrupt start. He was not alone. A glance showed two young children sitting in the rear of the shelter, eyes alert, watching him. Gone, were the other group members. Rising to his feet, the leader observed the boy and girl curiously. They too, had risen when he had, expectant eyes watching, waiting to see what he would do next. For the first time since they had arrived here, wherever here was, the man opened his mouth to speak. Sensing this, the girl halted him with just a look. The boy moved towards the opening of the shelter. He pulled back the branch flap, and with a look, invited the leader to observe what lay awaiting outside.

With a sense of dread, the man clenched his teeth and peered outside..

Gah! I am a bad Aly who almost forgot to update for.. a whole day! -gasp-

I woke up this morning with a headache, it started pinging me with tiny little ouches from about 7.30am when I was driving to work. Got to school, did my pre-school preparation, went to Buddy Reading and did all of that, and then 9am came.

And with it, the horrible, very ouchy headache that was probably a migraine that grew constantly worse all day which left me being at home by 3.20pm with a night mask on. It was absolutely horrid. I am writing this now at 7pm, as I was knocked out by Panadeine Forte (or something, I don't remember) at around 4.20pm. I guess the Panadeine Forte mixed with the Panadol and the Nurofen I had going around in my system across the day, worked.

Why is that the days I have a headache, the kids were completely rowdy and off the walls? My little hand-bell is all rung out after today, but ugh. I'm keeping this short because tomorrow I'm going to write a Sunday Scribblings and because I'm still really, really tired. Back to bed I go (after eating some NutraGrain cereal for dinner since mum didn't cook for me).

Okay, perhaps I won't ever move out of home. Ever.

Mum and I did a grocery shop this afternoon, because we haven't done one in a while. It's just us two girls here tonight too, so we figured we'd just do it while we were out. It ended up costing almost $350. THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS. Oh my!! We did buy some meat, vegs, and toiletries (is it not insane that even shampoos and conditioners cost almost $10 now - and not to mention the $9 toothbrush we found!) so that added up but yeah. Insane.

So basically - I've just realised there is no way I would ever be able to move out on my own. Not with rent, and bills and loan repayments and grocery shops like that. Never. Meaning, I'll be definately living at home until I'm 90. I suppose while I'm here I should just be thankful my board is lower than renting a place. And I am thankful. Sometimes I really want to be out, just because I feel .. old. At (almost) 22, I know. People think I'm stupid all the time when I say that. But I always wanted a family young and now - I'm practically middle-aged. No expectations, or anything. Nuh-uh.

The school front? D. has thrown three tantrums in three consecutive days. Just like Amalah was having troubles in one of her recent posts about her darling boy driving her to the point of insanity, D. is killing me, slowly. And he's not even my own child, sheesh. I am supported by other people with him, but sometimes I just want to throw my hands up in the air and walk out of that damn classroom. But at the same time, I've sort of taken him under my wing and I couldn't bear to have someone else with him. It's really bizarre.

And you'll be proud. Seeing as a certain someone tactfully asked me how my "walk to Newcastle" was going - for some reason, I was able to wake up at 6am this morning and go for a nice walk. I had my "walking mix" on my Ipod, which made it good. I think I have perhaps invented the term Treadmill-Karaoke-Miming. I started off miming to the songs as I was walking, then it eventually turned into tuneless singing - I thought I sounded rather good actually, since I didn't hear anything at all over the music. Fantastic. I'm going to try again tomorrow, just to stay in the habit.

Thank goodness for LONG WEEKENDS.

So I'm starting this at night, but posting in the morning. I am efficient. Hiiiie-ya! --insert ninja noise-- Don't ask me where that came from either, it just.. fit.

I dragged mum and her "wounds" (teehee) to the movies today because I have been busting to see the Da Vinci Code since it came out. Plus, it was cheap Tuesday, haha. So it was good. We went to a 5.30pm screening too, so we've just got back. Er, I mean, we went YESTERDAY and we got back at 8.30pm. Yep. Because I'm actually uploading this tomorrow. I mean, today. Gah!

It was pretty good. I don't know that the characters matched perfectly - I kept seeing Aringarosa (the Bishop) as that Octopus dude from Spiderman 2, so that didn't help. Paul Bettany was just fabulous though, he was quite scary and did a great job of Silas. I think I've been secretly in love with him since Wimbledon, I really adore that movie. Great one. You should check it out if you haven't already but ANYWAY. Tom Hanks? Not sure. He's one of my favourite actors but him? As Robert Langdon? I don't know. I sort of pictured someone different. The lady that played Sophie was pretty good. All in all, it wasn't bad at all. Glad we went and saw it. Thanks mum!

(Except for some stupid idiots at the cinemas - gah. I still get pissy thinking about it.) I bought the tickets and the popcorn, served by 3 people. I know. THREE. One trainee, one person training the trainee and one trainee who was just sort of hovering around the counter. I bought the tickets for us, and a popcorn bucket and a drink. I was a good customer, see? I even said the trainee did a good job. Ha. Mum decided she wanted something for dinner - so I trekked down to the foodcourt for her because of her "wounds" - teehee (!!). Got her a chicken burger thing, hiked back up the stairs and am presented with the same trainees.

Trainee: "Can I see your ticket please?"
Me: ((halting mid-step as if being held up)) "Um, Ok, I just bought it??"
Trainee: "Okay thankyou."
Me: "Right." ((starts walking again))
Trainee: "Excuse me?"
Me: ((halting mid-step as if being held up -- again)) "Yeah?"
Trainee: "You can't take hot food into the cinema."
Me: "It's not getting eaten, it's for later."
Trainee: "You'll have to speak to my manager."
Me: "But I just bought popcorn!"
Manager ((who happens to be someone I sort of, but don't really know, and would only smile at in passing IF I was in a good mood, you know?)): "You can't take hot food into the cinema." ((smiling at me))
Me: ((not smiling)) "It's not getting eaten, it's to take home. See? Bag."
Manager: "It's company policy. No special favours, it's the same for everyone. ((still smiling))
Me: ((really not smiling, in fact, probably glaring)) "I have popcorn to eat."
Manager: "Um, okay."
Me: ((stomps off))

Fucking idiots. Don't ask me why that pissed me off so much. I just felt like cramming the chicken burger up their noses. And it IRRITATES me when people act like they know me, when they don't, actually. Damn. I really am PMS-y. And now I have popcorn-teeth.

Oh, and before I forget:

Dear Jen. I love you for posting. Love, Me.

Winter. Boo. I shouldn't say that, since actually, I really love winter. I do! Give me coldness and heaters and blankets and hot chocolates any day over sweat and.. well, sweat. Summer is overrated.


But I have to say, winter makes me lazy. I should be up early every morning running (or at least walking) on my treadmill, since I haven't done a proper 30 minute walk/run in a few weeks. -hides- So. Being the female that I am, I must blame something.

a) My lazy ass.

b) My bed being so comfortable and warm and squooshy.

c) My alarm clock (or mobile) being annoying, and forcing me to turn it off.

d) WINTER.

You see? All winter's fault. You know - I used to whine (Ha! Go figure) when mum would get down on the treadmill at like 7am and do her exercising in the mornings because I WANTED TO USE IT THEN and oh well, since she's on there, I can't do it. Because I work. WORK. -picture me flouncing around and you'll get a better picture- So, exercising was out in the mornings because I? Am not getting up at 5am to exercise. It's not possible. I'm sorry, but no.

So now that mum is still recovering from her "wounds" (giggle) the treadmill is all free. Gathering dust, too. And have I used it in the mornings yet? Er, that would be a no. Damnit. I tried AGAIN this morning to set the alarm early and get up, and all I did was end up waking myself up before the alarm went off because I was thinking about it too much. That's something I hate doing, too. I even made a nice little "running" playlist on my Ipod, so I could just turn it on and have some funky music, instead of my same old mellow playlists. But I just - didn't.

So now it's 6.50am and in the time it took to write this entry, I could have walked for 20 minutes. Instead, I think I shall try this afternoon. No. I WILL do it this afternoon. I just hope it's not too cold.

Just when I thought I was going to be down one..

Turns out I ended up back at square one! What am I talking about, you ask? Well. D. in my class has gone overseas for a long holiday to Macedonia to visit family - so he isn't back until September this year. Don't get me wrong, D. is a lovely kid, really sweet, but one less student means more time for everyone else which can be a really good thing. (Imagine the work one could do if classes consisted of no more than 20 kids... ahh... the thought is so appealing.)

Anyway - he left last Thursday, so I was expecting less numbers. Until this morning, when I got a visit from the office administration lady who had brought along another body to come join 1/2S!! Yep - I got a new student! He's absolutely gorgeous, looked all cute in his old school uniform - turns out they had moved from the country here to be with their family. He's Aboriginal, absolutely adorable and seemed really polite and cute. Only in Year 1 too - so today I just spent most of the time observing him, seeing what he was like, that sort of thing. His reading is very behind, so he'll most likely end up on the Reading Recovery programme, but he has really good handwriting and seems to be quite clever. He wasn't even nervous about starting the school here, from what I can tell he's moved around quite a bit, so he's used to it.

Since he's the first Aboriginal student I have in my class, that means I also get to spend more time with Mrs G. She is the Aboriginal Aide in the school, and spends time in the classrooms that have kids with needs, just as extra support for them. So I'm all excited I'll get to see her more often, because she's just an amazing lady who I really look up to. She's also one of the few teachers who has supportive words and encouragement, so hoorah for that!

Looking forward to good times ahead - I hope. I've decided to take him under my wing, so we'll see what happens. I'd rather get to him before some of the other kids do, seeing as he has a cousin who also goes to B.P.S. who is quite possibly, THE naughtiest boy at school. Wish me luck!

My mum is a very clever chook.

Yes, she is. She knew I had this blog up and running. She even offered to pay for it now that my trial is up (Hoorah! I am a qualified TYPEPADDER now!) so therefore she must -gasp- read it. She gave me a recommendation to try out this other blog she found called Sunday Scribblings. I've just gone over there now and had a peep at it, and it is definitely appealing. I'm going to try it out now - so bear with me as I take part in their weekly writing "challenge" so to speak, at least creatively, anyway.

Earliest Memory

.. Or should I say, memories? Sadly, I can only go back to around Kindergarten, which would have made me about 4 years old. I can remember Mrs Hardigan really clearly, and colouring in on plain pieces of paper. There is one memory which I know is there somewhere, but it's sort of fuzzy. Also to do with that class though. I wish I could put my finger on it. I know it's important, I've always thought about it but I have never actually remembered. Repression, anybody? It's nothing BAD that I'm aware of, it's just.. something. Interesting.

Things I wish I could remember

.. Wouldn't this be something? Being able to remember all the little things that we forget. Like the fore-mentioned kindergarten "incident" that I can't place. If I could selectively remember a memory that would benefit me right here and right now, it would have to be my years in Grade 1 and 2. Probably sounds rather boring to most people - but I find it amazing that I can't remember much about that time at all. I remember my teachers, yep. I remember Mrs Benney being absolutely wonderful. I remember Mr Pink wearing kneesocks and being about six feet tall. But that? Is about it.

I bet you're wondering why on Earth I'd want to choose those memories?

Because I'd love to see what those teachers did with me in class those times. I must  have turned out okay - and now it's MY turn to be that teacher. It's MY turn to be the mentor, the one that (hopefully) makes a difference. So anytime those memories would like to come on back to me, would be fabulous.

So there you have it, my first Sunday Scribbling - hopefully I've done this right, I enjoyed having a topic to blog about. 'Til next week!

This will be a rather boring and somewhat cranky post, no doubt. You have been warned.

Grumble No. 1
My insides feel as though they have been ripped out, juggled around and played with by feral monkeys or something. Cramps, so bad. Gah! I was expecting it today but still - does it have to be so damned crampy? The stupid thing is, I went on the pill years and years and years ago, because my crampiness was so bad that I'd spend at least one day in bed a month. It is much better than that now, it is. Can't deny that. But they are still pretty horrid.

Luckily. I have a convenience store down the road which stocks chocolate. Me thinks I will be paying a visit there later on this afternoon. When it's not freezing. I find it rather rude that on my sleep-in day, I was awoken (BY THE CRAMPS) at 7am. 7AM! Everybody else is still sleeping. Bah humbug.

Grumble No. 2
I HATE JUNK MAIL. Oh yes, I do. I use Outlook Express as my mail opener-thingymabob, so it has a "Block Email" section. So why is it that EVERY MORNING when I open my email, and no matter how long I spend adding people to my block list, the junk mail does not stop coming! Gaaaaah. Perhaps it's because I've had my email for such a long time that I've got geriatric junkmail servers still bombarding me. It's just irritating me this morning.

Grumble No. 3
Why are there NO VIDEOS THAT I WANT TO WATCH in my house at the moment? And yes, I realise that I could go to the video store myself but then I'd have to BUY them and I'm poor because I just paid mum board for June, PLUS my first car payment comes out next week so I need money in my account for that. Whine, whine.

Grumble No. 4
Nobody is commenting anymore. I take it this means my post have lacked wit and intelligence lately, or that you have better things to do than read this blog. (Gasp.) But, my cramps and I implore you, if you are reading THIS VERY SENTENCE right now, leave me some sugar. I bet it'd make me feel a lot better, and much less irritable.

Hell. With my cramps, anything could irritate me today. Luckily J. is well away. No heads will be bitten off (with exceptions for family members, who may lose several appendages.)

Why is it that when I actually find the time to sit down and update, all my wittiness flies out the window? Damnit.

Another week down - that means that next week is Week 6. Only 9 weeks of term 2 as well, meaning that I have a month to go. That's 20 school days! Only 20. Crap. That makes me realise I have an awful lot of stuff to do before the term finishes. Drat, drat, drat.

So, dad and I decided to go to the RTA today and swap the registration plates over from my old car to my new car. Reason for this? Because I will at least be able to remember what my old number plates actually are, rofl. So, dad got 1 of the plates off the NEW car (I did ask why he didn't just take both off, he said he only needed one for proof that the new car actually exists) and we drive down to the RTA. Where we stood. And waited. For like, 45 minutes. There were no chairs left to sit on, the darned place was so full. RTAs are my worst nightmare. Seriously.

Anyway, we finally get up to the counter (I had time to go for a nice browse around Woolworths getting fresh food for my bunnies, oh and some NutraGrain for myself - WHAT? I'm having a craving for dry NutraGrain, alright??) and the lady was all - why haven't you got both sets of plates? Dad was like.. Why would we need both? The other car is right outside your door with the plates on it, and here is proof of the OTHER plates. And she got all snarky, and told us we'd need to come back with BOTH sets of plates before she could help us.

So then. We stomped back home (or, you know, drove back home) and dad had to get off the OTHER plate. Then we drove BACK to the RTA - had NO parking and had to park a bloody long way away this time. Get there, and there is STILL an insanely long queue. We stomped (really, this time) to a seat and grumbled about how useless the RTA people is, ESPECIALLY Madame Snark who made us go home again. Until, all of a sudden, she gestured us over to come back and fix it all up, being much more friendly this time around. Redeemed - just. Until I had to pay a lousy $50 just to fill in a fucking form to swap licence plates. Give me a break!

Oh and apparently Ebay (Australian) is having a free few days of adding adverts - so I'm putting my old car up there. If you know anyone in Sydney who wants a cheap runaround car, go visit the link that I'll add in here once I upload to Ebay. Yep.

SHOOT! I also forgot to add Jess's (ooh, lots of s's.. ooh, more s's!) bloglink. Must do that when I update. MUST DO THAT.

How do I love Fridays? Let me count the ways..

1. They imply that maybe, just MAYBE, I will get to sleep in tomorrow without the dreaded alarm going off. This does not happen on any other day (even Sundays!)

2. I have a recess lunch duty WHICH means that I end up with the whole 40 minute lunch hour off. So good!

3. I get 1 hour "sort of off class but not". Which means I get the Aboriginal Awareness Aide come in and read Dreamtime stories to me and the kids, and then do art about them. So an hour off teaching is fantastic!!

And lastly, but certainly not er.. leastly:

I GET TO SEE J.!!

Damn the stupidness which means that I only really get to see him on weekends - I know that's partly my fault because I'm so freaking exhausted after work, but. It just stinks.

I am sure there are more reasons I love Fridays but I'm having a mental blank AND I have 15 minutes to have a shower and get out of my lovely and squishy oversized Eeyore jumper and mismatched 3/4 PJ pants (not to mention the ugg boots as well). Why can't we just go in PJ's to work??

Seriously. I almost didn't believe it and I WAS THERE.

I got called out of my classroom (during SHOW AND TELL mind you - darnit, that cracks me up, but that's a whole 'nother blog entry) by the principal this morning and was informed of some really shocking news. One of my kids, a 6 year old in Year 2, was caught at the plaza (shopping centre) next to the school at 9.20am, attempting to shoplift in one of the stores.

A 6 year old shoplifting.

Can you even imagine?

Turns out that he was caught trying to walk out of a store with something in his jacket and something else in his school bag. What it was, I never found out - but geez. He is not a stupid kid, he would have known exactly what he was doing. And he is 6 years old. Unbelievable.

I just want to cry.

Oh, and by the way, he escaped getting charges filed because the shop owners felt sorry for him, being so young. In a twistedly horrid way, I sort of wish he had been charged. (I know, I told you I'm awful). But at least if he was dealt something awful like that, he'd think twice about doing it again. Now - he's got off with nothing. And home life isn't great, so in all honesty, I doubt he will even get reprimanded.

-sighs-

So, we had a staff meeting today. Gotta love those.

We are changing the way that our school's timetable works, because our school goes feral in lunchtimes. Seriously, when I say feral I mean feral. Think hanging off of trees feral, picking fights feral, screaming like maniacs feral. It seems like one hour to eat lunch and play is too long for these kids. Even if it really isn't one full hour, it's more like 40 minutes. The bell rings at 1.10pm, we eat sitting down for 10 minutes and then there are two 20 minute lunchtime halves.

NOW we will be having shorter lunch breaks, so there will only be 25 minutes of play time, to see if it cuts down the number of silly feralness playground incidents that happen. Oh. And we also got told we need to start controlling our kids in a more orderly fashion. That means, the kids need to be lining up silently for us when we come out of the staffroom ready to lead them back off to the classrooms.

Please.

There is no way in hell that is going to happen. They are just kids!! Since I got this class, from the beginning of the year, I was always planning on having my kids be perfectly in order and in lines from day 1. And since the beginning of the year, I realised that no matter how hard I drill this into them (or should I say, bark like a drill sergeant - FIND A PARTNER! HANDS BY SIDES! FINGERS ON LIPS! STAY TOGETHER! MARCH! MARCH!) they just aren't getting it. Seriously.

I freaked out about it for a while when things weren't going as planned. I have half my class who are absolutely fabulous, like angels, who wait patiently with their partners for me to get there. They still talk, but they stop whenever a teacher comes into sight. They're lovely. Then I have the other class who have no freaking idea what the hell they are supposed to be doing. These are the ones I have to go and round up every time the bell rings. Yesterday, they were jumping up and down off the seats where they eat lunch. Today, they were jumping in the puddles from the rain last night. Who knows what tomorrow will be.

The other teachers were nice. They told me, hey, don't worry about it, it'll just sort of happen eventually. Great! I feel better now. No freaking out. I'll just go with the flow, make them practice a few times at lunch times, and hopefully it'll all fall into place eventually. What a bunch of lovely supportive teachers! (Although I have a sneaking suspicion that they were only telling me all the stuff about the lines because it made their classes look amazing standing next to my kids/monkeys.)

So executive people (who don't even have classes, mind you) telling us (perhaps, me, since they sort of looked in my direction when it was said --- OR perhaps I am a paranoid freak) to keep the kids in an orderly fashion..

Pah again.

The day that I see my ENTIRE class (every single one!) lining up in two straight lines without speaking, I will have a heart attack on the spot and die. For real.