First Day of School

September 30, 2008 at 10:47 pm (Education)

After 3 weeks of lectures about how to teach, we (PGCE Geog at UoC 2008/9) finally got let loose in schools – yahoo! I feel on the receiving and of a lot of jealousy as my placement is a 5 minute walk away and I don’teugh. I’m sooo getting somewhere miles away for my next placement :-S. have to leave the house until 8:30am. My housemate has to leave at 6am (as do many others) to get to her placement -

There at 6 of us at my school, and the school seems great – very well organised and a good mix of kids. Today I watched 2 lessons and had 2 meetings and had a free. Apparently this week will be just watching and getting a feel for things – but I already couldn’t hold back and was wondering around the room helping. The head of geog seems really cool – she has very pierced ears with bars and things, and generally has an air of awesomeness. She’s also admittedly anal about her coloured pencils getting mixed up – glad I’m not the only one with OCD!

Behaviour management tip of the day:

Situation: Child A purposefully moves a pink pencil into the yellow pencils, doesn’t put it back when asked, and then gets his yoghurt out ready for break.

Response: Ask if you can have a look at his interesting looking yoghurt and pick it up (once he’s agreed). When child A asks for it back, tell him ‘Of course… when you’ve put the pencils back ;-) ‘. Then praise him and return the yoghurt, and feel proud that you got one over on him and he knew it :-D This develops mutual respect using teenage boy language.

Things I learned today… erm… that I don’t have to be in for 8:00ish… just 8:40ish, well not even that at the mo – apparently 8:50 would do. I’m going to be with an art teachers form, which I’ll meet tomorrow. OOh, and very exciting – I have a desk!! Such gifts were not granted at kings for staff, never mind PGCE students. W00T! And I have keys for the rooms and office :-) I feel special.

Bon nuit mon amis

xxx

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The Spanish Grand Prix… real time! … ish.

April 27, 2008 at 1:11 pm (Formula 1, Life)
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I’m a long time fan of formula 1, the neeoooooooom (doppler effect) sound being synonymous with the smell of sunday dinner in my childhood. I remember Nigel Mansel winning in 1992 – I was 8 years old! Strangely, I also remember wanting a Nigel Mansel baseball cap when we were in Blackpool for the illuminations that year. Furthermore, I remember watching the crash that killed Ayreton Senna back in 1994. I can quite vividly remember being at my Nan’s bungalow, and watching the crane lift the remains of his car from by the concrete wall. *shudder*.
Now I’m doing ITV’s Fantasy Formula 1, and have 3 teams. Not doing tremendously, but it’s fun! My prediction is a Ferrari 1-2, with Alonso, or maybe Hamilton 3rd – which makes it exciting! I don’t think Alonso’s Renault will be able to challenge the pace and thrust of the Ferraris, but I’m betting Hamilton, or even Kubica, will have a good go at Alonso!

I’m a Hamilton fan (isn’t everybody these days?), but also root for the other Brits (2003 = Jenson Button crush…). Because of this, Alonso is arch nemesis. As are Ferrari. Also have a soft spot for Kubica, the other rookie, and Kimi Raikonnen who still appears humble despite his success. And he’s called Kimi…

Anyways, below are my step by step thoughts while watching the race.

13:05
I’m thinking this is going to be an exciting Grand Prix. As predicted Massa took Alonso on the first straight. And Alonso held up Kubica helping Hamilton overtake Kubica for 4th. We now have a Alonso-Hamilton 3-4 – EXCITING!

13:17 57 laps to go
LOL at Piquet being offered a lift at the side of the road! Poor bugger. And hurray for Hamilton slowly “closing in on Alonso”.

13:21
Damn adverts. I hear the BBC are getting it back next year, right? Bring back Murray Walker!

13:27 50 laps to go
Alonso Pits, seams early – interesting strategy (i.e. I don’t understand!)… hope this is good for Hamilton!

13:30 48 laps to go
“Anthony Davidson, stoned, drops out of the Grand Prix”… I’m sure he was referring to the stones on the track.

13:34 43 laps to go
Oooh… Hamilton Pits. Hurry up, hurry up! Oooof, into 6th.

13:35 43 laps to go
Oh no, Kovalainen is eating tyre barriers. Damn. Broken car.
Shit. Hope he’s ok and the tryes have done their job – ~140 mph apparently :-S Worried.
2nd Safety Car

13:38 43 laps to go
2nd safety car, this is an interesting race. Wonder how this will affect the strategies of those due to pit?

13:42 41 laps to go (sc)
Kovalainens car broke… there’s talk of “will they retire Hamilton?”. Nooooooo :-S
Also, Barrichello whizzing around with his nose knocked of after a pit lane scuffle. He keeps wiggling to get rid of it, hehe. Oh, there it goes, he’s got rid (13:44).

13:45 40 laps to go (sc)
Hurray and Pheew! Thumbs up from Kovalainen whilst he gets strechered off. Brill.

13:49 38 laps to go
Safety car gone
Lets look where everyone is… ferrari 1-2 obviously. But Ham is in 3rd, and Alonso has dissappeared to 6th. Lets keep it that way! Lets hope that Kovaleinen’d car trouble doesn’t affect Hamilton.

13:56 33 laps to go
I’m feeling that Heidfeld’s 10 second penalty was harsh and unfair :-S
Half way through.

13:58 32 laps to go
There’s a smokey stationary Renault… It’s Alonso – Renault is out completely. And I pu Super Aguri as the worst constructor in my fantasy formula 1. Wonder if anyone put renault?
That’s a shame – I was hoping for an exciting Hamilton-Alonso podium showdown :-(

14:00 30 laps to go
Respect to Alonso who just went up to talk to his fans. Regained some sportsmanship – good on him.

14:06 26 laps to go
Hamilton has just set the fastest 1st sector, lloks like he’s pushing for 2nd! Get in there! Just don’t drop your guard and let Kubica get ya!

14:08 24 laps to go
Rosberg car has just conveniently blown up (okay, exxaggeration – it bellowed smoke and died) right outside his garage on the pit straight! Lucky him… I guess.

14:12 21 laps to go
I’m thinking it’s time for 2nd pit stops. Stop then! Oh, Heidfeld has.
And Hamiltons just done the fastest race lap – get in!

14:14 19 laps to go
Raikonnen, Hamilton and Kubica all pitting at the same time… oooooooh! Yessss… Hamilton has kept Kubica behind him. Massa’s 2nd stop will be exciting! I hope his fule pipe gets stuck, or some other minor thing to hold him up an extra couple of seconds.

14:31 8 laps to go
Glad to hear that Button is giving his all – previous lap time only second to Hamilton. Come on you Brits!

14:32 7 laps to go
Can Hamilton catch Massa in 7 laps? I don’t think so :-( . Possibly he could catch up, but I reccon it would need Massa/Ferrari to make a mistake to enable Hamilton to get past.

14:40ish finished
Raikonnen, Massa, Hamilton – yey! Podium for Hamilton, and an awesome drive in the final laps, great pace and a great catch up.
More-or-less as predicted and should earn me some decent fantasy f1 points! At least one of my teams definately had it spot on. And I have Button scoring for me too, which should earn big points. I didn’t count on Hamiltons fastest race lap though (it was him in the end right?!). So my guesses of Raikonnen on each team will have earned me jack shit! But I’m happy – Ham’s made up for Bahrain.

14:51 Champagne squirting
Lewis just squirted me with champagne and gave me a big grin! …oh, ok, it was to the amera and everyone watching. Awesome!

If you’ve actually read through all this, then you’re crazy. Or like F1 and actually thought I had something good to say… only to be daissappointed. But thanks! I enjoyed writing it – it was like having a conversation… with myself. Hmmm…

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GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Programme)

April 26, 2008 at 12:58 pm (Geekness, Life)
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After fumbling around for most of yesterday attempting to get my old laptop to connect to the interweb so as to install the Kubuntu distribution of Linux, I gave up and installed GIMP on my new(er) laptop from which I’m typing.

GIMP is GNU’s (the folks behind Linux) equivalent of ‘photoshop’, free to download from here. I’ve never had the best of luck with photoshop/imageready/etc, which were installed on my dads pc for the purpose of making his photography look good. I just wanted to draw stuff. Which on GIMP is much easier, hurray! Back in the day I used CorelDraw4 for, what one could call, my early years CAD… maybe. The only thign so far that this is lacking (/features are hard to find so I havn’t found them yet) is simple shape tools to draw circles, etc. and the ability to drag-to-resize images. But I probably just havn’t found them yet.

Anyways, here is what I have created… I think. I don’t know if that actually worked bacause it seamed to crash. N00b.

[edit] No it didn’t. Try this link. Although it’s to facebook, so probably wont work either.

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Confectionary ASBO: Whatevers!

April 22, 2008 at 7:47 pm (Philosophy, Politics)

Today in a big name supermarket which shall remain nameless, I stumbled upon a new sweet in the checkout queue: “whatevers”. They are, it seams, todays version of ‘love hearts’. Instead of respectful, romantic quips such as ‘Be mine’ and ‘I Love You’, this modernised version includes: WHATEVER; AS IF; YOU WHAT?; BOTHERED; MINGER; CHAV; CHAV SWEETS; IN IT!,  and so on.

What a perfect parallel to the degredation of respect in todays society. Even confectionary is trying to get an ASBO.

I did, however, err on the side of irony, and bought packs for myself, my two best mates, and my sister. I mean, what harm can a sweet really do to society? Hmm, I guess I’ll find that out once the kids at school catch on to them.

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My first sick note

April 22, 2008 at 7:31 pm (Life)

Dragging my self out of bed and to the doctors this morning paid off. After arriving at 8am, I got an appointment for half past, so tucked into another chapter of Robert Rankin’s Armageddon: The B Movie. I then visited the doctor to find that I have a viral chest infection, possibly causing wheezing and maybe could go back on inhalers again. In the mean time I have a sick note, and a prescription just in case I don’t stop coughing up ick.

I’m thinking I might try inhalers again, just in general, to see if they help with my general out=of breathness. Excercise does make me slightly wheezy, so I think I’ll give it a spin.

If nothing else, I think inhalers will add to my nerd image.

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Where am I?

April 21, 2008 at 7:44 pm (Bull Sh*t Gripe, Education, Life)

Presently, I’m off work with a chest infection. I think. I may have found this out today, but after ringing the doctors for an whole hour from 830am this morning, I finally get through to be told that there are no appointments left today, and my best chance would be to go to the surgery at 8am to ensure I get an appointment. Up until now I would never have bothered with the doctors with this kind of infection. Uni was easy with a bad cough/cold/sore head/lungs that get out of breath merely talking. However, cover teaching aint so simple! It’s not entirely up to me when I have to talk, and although not impossible to do without speaking, handling groups of 30 teenagers that you don’t see regularly would be more than challenging. Especially if I’m coughing all over them and they cover their noses and mouths when I’m helping them with their work. This did actually happen last Monday, and although they were doing it mostly in jest, I took it as a cue to go home poorly.

Although it’s not as bad as it was cough wise, it’s still a little dodgy in the whole breething department. I could have maybe gone back to work last Weds/Thursday and ‘managed’. But last time I did that I got ill again and had more time off. Which I don’t personally have a problem with, I went back to help my colleagues because I knew it was busy. What I didn’t know is that Wakefield council have the most ridiculous sickness policy. If you have more than 3 seperate absences in a year, then you get to a “Stage One” on this sickness level thing. Because of my goodwill last time I was sick, I managed to rack up 3 absences in the space of 2 weeks. From just one illness I got to a “Stage One”. I was meant to have some sort of meeting with someone from the council, but after months they have decided not to bother. So, this time I am not going back until I am rid of all symptoms restrictive to me doing my job.

So, I need a sick note. I’ve never had a sick note before so don’t really know what to expect or say. Do I exaggerate how ill I feel at the mo in case the doctor tells me to bugger off back to work? Or do I tell the doc the truth, that although I don’t feel as bad as I did, and could manage at work at a push, I run the risk of not recovering and ultimately getting ill again? I’m sure he’ll understand my reasoning what with the silly policy. So fingers crossed I can get a note till the end of the week to get rid of the crap currently residing on my lungs. Well, fingers crossed I get an appointment first. That’ll be an achievement.

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I used to do this blogging thing alot.

April 21, 2008 at 7:16 pm (Uncategorized)

And then my snowglobe world, although cracked and leaky from previous ‘life experience’, was shaken upside down, thrown to the floor and stamped on by the cruel hands (or feet?) of fate. I.E. the death of my father almost a year ago. It was like having my security blanket ripped from under me like a fancy table cloth trick gone wrong, and I fell on my arse. I finished uni after being excused from my finals, and remained at home to help my family. I secured a job as a cover teacher in my old high school, and plan to head back to Lancaster to do my PGCE in Sept. 2008.

In the mean time, however, I have inadvertently slipped out of the loop of the majority of my social groups. Many interconnected loops, somewhat like a venn diagram. Forget social butterfly, I am a social venn diagram!! Or was a social venn diagram. Due to the bereavement induced introversion, and minimal social opportunities of working life back home, I have regressed into a social bubble. This has resulted in a lack of blogs. For starters, as compared to the year I spent studying in Oz, I really didn’t have anything happy to write about. And I’m not the kind of person that believes people want to listen to me moan about how crap things were, or anything else I’d been up to for that matter. In fact, I still don’t think anyone will actually be particularly bothered about reading my blog. So thank you… hello? You still here?

Anyway, that brings me onto the reasons I am writing a blog – which are totally selfish, but hopefully avoiding the narcissism that life blogging could inevitably produce. It’s not that I think my life would be particularly interesting to others, but it’s quite interesting to me… and I have a terrible short term memory. So this will act as a diary so I can remember things that I’ve done or thought. Secondly, I’m out of the habit of writing since leaving uni, which is probably more than evident to you reading this. Hence it’s a great way to remember where to put my full stops and capital letters, and to think of words that are better than very simple words for talking about things.

Things to expect from this blog are: recollections of social events; random philosophical thoughts; ramblings about gaming/computers/technology/gadgets; maybe a gripe or two about bull sh*t I’ve seen/heard/experienced; education related stuff seeing as I’m going into teaching; and maybe a bunch of funny or surprising stuff that the teenagers I work with have come out with. Hopefully, I’ll manage to keep it up this time as so far my attempts to blog again have fallen by the wayside.

M xxx

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