Oh thank god (and I do) for the school holidays.
For the last few weeks I really thought I wasn't going to make it. This term just seemed to last for ever, which is strange, because, on one hand I was overly keen for it to be over but every hour seemed like a million years, and on the other hand it felt like I hadn't enough time to complete all the "urgent" bureaucratic bulls**t paper work for the VET audit and moderation. A paradox of time and space, obviously the aliens were just messin' with me (hope I wasn't probed).
And of course, with the end of the term comes the bliss that is "non-contact", and the inevitable cold. Why is it that when I'm ready to languish in the fluid relaxation of no classes, I get sick? I spend most of the first week struggling to breathe which then leaves me with just one week to complete the encyclopedia of tasks my wife leaves for me to complete during my "time off". When do I get to just relax and forget about teaching, marking and....hold on, marking!
Now this really bites my goat. Marking during the holidays, that's right, work away from work. I was ever so luck to have my poor BCT class scheduled to sit their exam on the very last session of block exams. The LAST session, the one that finished at 3:10pm on Friday (remember that the holidays start at 3:10:01pm). I literally had 3 spare days during block exams as all my senior business classes had either exams or work experience, so I had the time to mark the kids work. But "nooo", I had supervisions and nothing to mark because of this rediculous schedule which left me with 24 ninety minute exams to mark before first day back.
Ahh, the holidays.
PS. Sorry haven't muttered for a while but been just a little busy and our poor iMac got sick, but is all better now (or should be for the fortune they charged me)
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Jealous....green not grey?
Jealous...hell yeah! My odd, but ever-so-deserving parents, are off on an overseas European holiday and, yes, I'm extremely jealous (who wouldn't be?).
Whilst this is the long awaited meander down memory lane for my father, who did the big OE (when the Ark was still a forest), it is the first really big OE for my mum. Being the art/history/cultural buff that she is, I know she's going to love every tour-guided, trudging, step. With the highlight being pilgrimage to Haifa. I, of course, would love to revisit some of the cities they will be spending time in, as I was either working, being "guided" or just too young to appreciate the history/culture I was seeing/experiencing. I know my wife and daughter would also like to go for the same reasons. My son, well, history's not really his thing.
So green covers the whole jealousy thing but grey???
I had my regular hair cut the other day and couldn't help but notice, sitting caped in the chair, how much of my hair I could see against the black of the cape. Wasn't my hair black? Apparently not. Not even close. Remembering back to my senior art years in high school, I was pretty sure you need some black to make grey. Trouble is I seem to have only 'some' black.
So when the hairdresser (that's right, no barber for this metro) finished cutting/shaving and asked if I'd like anything else, I said "Can we loose the grey?". She took me to the counter and happily sold me some ebony (not just black - ebony!) hair dye (and of course all the paraphernalia that goes with it - including formulas for mixing that most bio-chemists would need to look twice at).
So off I wondered, slightly happier and ever-so-poorer, to home where I advised my daughter that she will be dying my hair that evening (she did Bio and Chem at school). As the evening rolled around I began mixing the concoction that to the untrained eye still looked white, even after several minutes of vigorous mixing. I then handed all the gear over to my daughter who proceeded to 'throw' most of the mixture in the right direction with some of it actually landing on my head, some even on the hair.
Once all the goo had been dispensed, I sat down to wait the 30 minutes for the resulting change. It was then discovered that the dye not only works on hair but skin as well. How my daughter managed to dye her hands "through" the gloves will, of course, remain one of the many mystories challeging the great minds of our time.
Washed and rinsed, my grey hair has now been restored, albeit artificially, to it's previous blackness. But I fear this is but the first ritual, of many, in the now new past-time of 'maintaining' my appearence.
Whilst this is the long awaited meander down memory lane for my father, who did the big OE (when the Ark was still a forest), it is the first really big OE for my mum. Being the art/history/cultural buff that she is, I know she's going to love every tour-guided, trudging, step. With the highlight being pilgrimage to Haifa. I, of course, would love to revisit some of the cities they will be spending time in, as I was either working, being "guided" or just too young to appreciate the history/culture I was seeing/experiencing. I know my wife and daughter would also like to go for the same reasons. My son, well, history's not really his thing.
So green covers the whole jealousy thing but grey???
I had my regular hair cut the other day and couldn't help but notice, sitting caped in the chair, how much of my hair I could see against the black of the cape. Wasn't my hair black? Apparently not. Not even close. Remembering back to my senior art years in high school, I was pretty sure you need some black to make grey. Trouble is I seem to have only 'some' black.
So when the hairdresser (that's right, no barber for this metro) finished cutting/shaving and asked if I'd like anything else, I said "Can we loose the grey?". She took me to the counter and happily sold me some ebony (not just black - ebony!) hair dye (and of course all the paraphernalia that goes with it - including formulas for mixing that most bio-chemists would need to look twice at).
So off I wondered, slightly happier and ever-so-poorer, to home where I advised my daughter that she will be dying my hair that evening (she did Bio and Chem at school). As the evening rolled around I began mixing the concoction that to the untrained eye still looked white, even after several minutes of vigorous mixing. I then handed all the gear over to my daughter who proceeded to 'throw' most of the mixture in the right direction with some of it actually landing on my head, some even on the hair.
Once all the goo had been dispensed, I sat down to wait the 30 minutes for the resulting change. It was then discovered that the dye not only works on hair but skin as well. How my daughter managed to dye her hands "through" the gloves will, of course, remain one of the many mystories challeging the great minds of our time.
Washed and rinsed, my grey hair has now been restored, albeit artificially, to it's previous blackness. But I fear this is but the first ritual, of many, in the now new past-time of 'maintaining' my appearence.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Do Ghosts haunt the Aliens?
They have to!....don't they?
I mean obviously the Aliens, who pretty much created (slash) guided ancient civilizations to achieve all their wondrous buildings/rituals/inventions/carvings/pictures/writing/etc, must have been visited, while they were here on Earth in their whole guiding role, by ghosts.
Surely the ethereal plan must have been crossed in the presence of the Aliens. If ghosts are going to manifest themselves to everyday "Joe Blogs" then it stands to reason that someone as important as an Alien must have witnessed a ghost.
Aren't these paranormal entities suppose to increase their activity when great change is happening? I can only think of a few things of greater change than the changes brought about by the Aliens. So the building of the spaceship docks/re-chargers (the pyramids) must have been a regular haunt-a-thon. And aren't the pyramids suppose to possess supernatural powers, like giant conductors, harnessing the interstellar charges, like mystical power stations (well, according to Nat.Geo on Austar).
I think they should kick the archiologists out and let the Ghost Hunters in (but not Most Haunted - way too much screaming and unmanly-like behaviour, GHI - just Ghost Hunters wannabes or those two american pansies who call themselves paranormal investigators and then scream at the slightlest sound). But the GH crew would obviously need more gear and more digital voice recorders (because they rock). Don't get me wrong, the K2's have their place but in conjuction with the old DVR, these two things should make for some damn fine evidence.
More to come on this subject.
I mean obviously the Aliens, who pretty much created (slash) guided ancient civilizations to achieve all their wondrous buildings/rituals/inventions/carvings/pictures/writing/etc, must have been visited, while they were here on Earth in their whole guiding role, by ghosts.
Surely the ethereal plan must have been crossed in the presence of the Aliens. If ghosts are going to manifest themselves to everyday "Joe Blogs" then it stands to reason that someone as important as an Alien must have witnessed a ghost.
Aren't these paranormal entities suppose to increase their activity when great change is happening? I can only think of a few things of greater change than the changes brought about by the Aliens. So the building of the spaceship docks/re-chargers (the pyramids) must have been a regular haunt-a-thon. And aren't the pyramids suppose to possess supernatural powers, like giant conductors, harnessing the interstellar charges, like mystical power stations (well, according to Nat.Geo on Austar).
I think they should kick the archiologists out and let the Ghost Hunters in (but not Most Haunted - way too much screaming and unmanly-like behaviour, GHI - just Ghost Hunters wannabes or those two american pansies who call themselves paranormal investigators and then scream at the slightlest sound). But the GH crew would obviously need more gear and more digital voice recorders (because they rock). Don't get me wrong, the K2's have their place but in conjuction with the old DVR, these two things should make for some damn fine evidence.
More to come on this subject.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Stress...and VET Audits
Sorry it's been so long between rants but have been busy with this VET Audit...that's where some random comes into the school and checks our program and questions us for two days, that's right, two days! Now I'm all for professionalism but can't they just rely on the professionalism of the actual teachers delivering the program to make the decisions on who is competent? Apparently not! This whole audit is to stress the school and staff to the max and then try to pick holes in the program. And we have to prove that the stuff we teach is 'industry' relevant...for godness sake, it's the course work that AQTF tell us to teach so how can it not be industry relevant? Stupid bureaucrats.
So another late night typing my staff profile (again) because apparently my profile from 2006, 2007 and 2008 isn't good enough. I mean, who doesn't pop out and earn an extra degree just for the hell of it, what with all that extra time between planning, teaching, marking, writing programs, student welfare, implementing state and federal education initiatives, and PD (you know sometimes I actually get to see my wife and kids, no really, I do!).
Stress brought on by bloody pointless audits that wont happen for another 5 years (so they must be really important) isn't worth it but try and convince the powers-that-be of that and they'll bite your head off.
Well back to my profile.
So another late night typing my staff profile (again) because apparently my profile from 2006, 2007 and 2008 isn't good enough. I mean, who doesn't pop out and earn an extra degree just for the hell of it, what with all that extra time between planning, teaching, marking, writing programs, student welfare, implementing state and federal education initiatives, and PD (you know sometimes I actually get to see my wife and kids, no really, I do!).
Stress brought on by bloody pointless audits that wont happen for another 5 years (so they must be really important) isn't worth it but try and convince the powers-that-be of that and they'll bite your head off.
Well back to my profile.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Last Game of the 2010 Season
Well here it is! Last Game of the season! And on a bloody Tuesday night... awesome!
My poor U14 team have played 19 games this season with he 20th tonight and they haven't won a single game! Not one! We got close a couple of times but were robbed by that slow fat ref (how can you award a try when you're 30m behind the play?). This referee is the very reason that more than half the players in my team wont be playing rugby union next year. They just gave up because of this fat wanker. The other half of the team are going to other clubs so now we don't even have a club. So well done fat wanker, well done!
If we get this tosser reffing us tonight, we will just walk off. No use playing because he can't ref. He probably knows some of the laws but he can't physically keep up with 13 and 14 year olds. He's, no doubt, a nice person but a long haired ranga who waddles (that's right) should only be reffing under 8's.
Of course, then there's all the support the club (and school) gets from the district union... oh, that's right... none. A pack of self serving liars who only want to look after their clubs and don't give a toss about any other club (especially struggling junior clubs).
So the new focus for next year will be NO CLUB and only work with school rugby, mainly 7's, so those tossers can't do anything to ruin great kids. If fact, I think I'll become an even tougher bastard then them and ban them from any games held on school grounds.
Then there is the decision on whether to coach A's but that's another posting.
My poor U14 team have played 19 games this season with he 20th tonight and they haven't won a single game! Not one! We got close a couple of times but were robbed by that slow fat ref (how can you award a try when you're 30m behind the play?). This referee is the very reason that more than half the players in my team wont be playing rugby union next year. They just gave up because of this fat wanker. The other half of the team are going to other clubs so now we don't even have a club. So well done fat wanker, well done!
If we get this tosser reffing us tonight, we will just walk off. No use playing because he can't ref. He probably knows some of the laws but he can't physically keep up with 13 and 14 year olds. He's, no doubt, a nice person but a long haired ranga who waddles (that's right) should only be reffing under 8's.
Of course, then there's all the support the club (and school) gets from the district union... oh, that's right... none. A pack of self serving liars who only want to look after their clubs and don't give a toss about any other club (especially struggling junior clubs).
So the new focus for next year will be NO CLUB and only work with school rugby, mainly 7's, so those tossers can't do anything to ruin great kids. If fact, I think I'll become an even tougher bastard then them and ban them from any games held on school grounds.
Then there is the decision on whether to coach A's but that's another posting.
Monday, August 16, 2010
COA's (Centre of Attention)
Why do some people feel the need to be the COA?
I can understand that we all need our moment in the sun, and I would never deny that of anyone. But I think the 'fifteen minutes' are cumulative and that some of us need to be reminded of that.
We all have problems, we all need to vent occasionally, we all need to spread or wings and grow, we all need the support of others but in doing these things we must be aware of the impact we have on others. Our problems shouldn't become theirs, our venting shouldn't overpower whats others have to say or contribute, and the spreading of our wings shouldn't knock anyone else off their perch.
By all means, be the COA, but do it for the right reasons so that people focus on you and appreciate all that is positive about you. Don't do it because you can and, certainly, don't do it because you think you have a right too, because that is definitely the wrong time.
May the light that shines on you be backed by smiles and accolades.
I can understand that we all need our moment in the sun, and I would never deny that of anyone. But I think the 'fifteen minutes' are cumulative and that some of us need to be reminded of that.
We all have problems, we all need to vent occasionally, we all need to spread or wings and grow, we all need the support of others but in doing these things we must be aware of the impact we have on others. Our problems shouldn't become theirs, our venting shouldn't overpower whats others have to say or contribute, and the spreading of our wings shouldn't knock anyone else off their perch.
By all means, be the COA, but do it for the right reasons so that people focus on you and appreciate all that is positive about you. Don't do it because you can and, certainly, don't do it because you think you have a right too, because that is definitely the wrong time.
May the light that shines on you be backed by smiles and accolades.
Muttering (in Pain)
So never wonder around your house (split level) in the early hours of the morning when you're still waking up!
Missed stair, fell forward, took out drying frame (clothes), landed on butt, aggrevated old back injury, stuck on bed looking at ceiling for rest of the day.
Moral of the story: I HATE Mondays!
Missed stair, fell forward, took out drying frame (clothes), landed on butt, aggrevated old back injury, stuck on bed looking at ceiling for rest of the day.
Moral of the story: I HATE Mondays!
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