Day 13 - Something I'm proud of.

I started off trying to think of something profound for this post.

And yes, there many things I'm proud of - the fact that I'm still here, and just about managing to get out of bed every morning. Phil. For fighting as hard and as bravely as he did, without complaining or whining. The newly rearranged home of me. The cats - for putting up with me! My students - for being ace. Riddlesdown parkrun, all the runners, all the volunteers, for being part of such an amazing thing, and working so hard to make it succeed.

And then I decided to stop with the internal hand-wringing (that sounds painful...) and have some fun.

I'm proud of the salad that I've made myself to have for lunch tomorrow. And I've taken its photo!

Doesn't it look pretty? And all of my 5-a-day are in there.
Contents:

• Rocket & watercress
• Tomato
• Green & Red Pepper
• Cranberries
• Avacado
• Pine nuts
• some seasoning.... 

This is all part of a new healthy eating drive - for the entire week, I'm going to try to avoid eating any rubbish. No chocolate. No cheese and egg baggettes. No cake (unless it's healthy cake) and no bloody skittles.

Bets on success??? 

I'll keep you posted!

Day 12 - Three Blogs I Can't Get Enough Of...

I'm not a huge follower of blogs - & although I have a Live Journal from 2008 somewhere, I feel like a complete beginner when I look at some of the other blogs out there, with thousands of posts and hundreds of followers. I have 5 followers - and 4 of them are people I see at least once a week! Ahh well, starting small never hurt anyone!


First on the list is a lime less ordinary which was the very first (and actually, so far the only) blog I went back to the very beginning of to read it from the start.  Its creator is Dani, now a friend, but when I started reading, someone I'd met a couple of times at parkrun. I felt like I got to know her (and Baba Lime) a fair bit through the blog, & getting to know the whole family for real has been one of the best things about Saturday mornings! The blog is a lovely mix of photos and words, often, but not exclusively, featuring young Lime. I know that Dani occasionally worries that the blog is boring: It really isn't, it's one of the most loving, entertaining and endearing things I've ever read from a mother to her child - and it's an honour to be allowed to share in it!

Secondly, a blog which is largely a photographic extrazagana:   the happy daisy which is where the lovely Amy displays her photographic and artistic skill (she has plenty of this!) The blog always makes me smile as it is pretty, colourful and often a bit nuts - ever so slightly like the one responsible for it. Amy has the most rapidly changing hair colour I've ever seen - the photo shows an almost natural shade of red - currently it is 'lava red' but anything is possible!

There isn't really an obvious 3rd blog - I enjoy blog7t and papa7t, both written by Steve, (Dani's husband, Lime's Pa) one is all about running, the other is very much in its infancy (ha ha) and is all about the Baba. One day I'll remember to ask Steve what the '7t' is about! To put this as my 3rd blog feels like a bit of a cop out - I know all three of these people personally!

The only blog I currently follow which isn't by a friend is trudging ahead which is all about a family who have adopted a lovely but challenging 'internationally adopted' child. Holly, the mother of this family, has a degree of religious faith which is beyond my comprehension, but the situation she deals with on a daily basis makes me grateful for my relatively straight-forward existence.

I've recent started reading the blog which goes with the button on the left (must learn how to make one of those for myself!) so fawned is written by Desiree Fawn, it's beautifully put together, and she comes across as one remarkable woman. She's also the one responsible for the entire '30 Days Hath November' concept.




So there you have it. Maybe not quite what I was asked for - rebel child, me - but a list of all my blog reading to date - methinks I should do better!

Day 11: Something I've been craving

Sleep.
Undisturbed sleep.
With enough room to turn over if I want to without a caw mewling.
Without Kittehs fighting up and down the bed.
Without an alarm which cannot be ignored going off within 3hrs of closing my eyes.

Doesn't seem like a big ask, does it.
Won't happen though.
Am the insomnia queen.

Frankie Cat settling in for a day of rest

Day 10 - Things I love about my job

Obvious answer:

• Christmas Holidays
• Easter Holidays
• Summer Holidays
• Half-Term Holidays

I'm a teacher, in case you hadn't guessed!

Seriously, I (usually) love my job.
When asked 'what do you teach?' I generally respond: 'Children.'
My subject is Drama. And I wouldn't change it for the world!

So: 10 Things I Love About My Job:

• The Kids. Their enthusiasm; their lack of fear and their willingness to try out old ideas as if they were new and exciting (they are new to them!) Their willingness to trust and to have faith in me - to 'step into the staircase when they can only see the first step' (thanks Jen!) - this makes me step up my game on a regular basis. The fact that they are willing to put in so much time - before and after school. The fact that they are willing to come on many a theatrical journey with me, to buy into the joy I have for the theatre and performance work, and that they want so much to be a part of what we do.

• The fact that when things are going well, we have so much fun. Sometimes I will laugh until I can't stand up, until coffee comes down my nose (Hi Lauren) and at such silly things...wouldn't change it for the world, even if I do sometimes have to remember that responsible adults (aka normal people) don't approve of my having a sense of humour akin to a 15 year old techie! The fact that when things are going badly, we are so very much 'team drama' and all of us - staff and students alike - can and will work together to support each other, even if we don't know the full story....

• Watching a shy and timid kid start to find themselves and their confidence as a result of being part of the drama world. Conversely, watching a student who is on the brink of being chucked out for behavioural issues find somewhere to belong, or something worth turning it around for within Drama and theatre. (Hello Mr Sayer!)

• Being a part of the development of so many amazing young people - in some cases watching them getting wiser (ahem) or more *splutter* civilised, and in other cases seeing them loosen up and let their inner child out - it's an amazing priveledge to see understanding / acceptance / realisation dawning, to witness so many rites of passage, and although sometimes it all feels completely and horribly like running up an endless hill, it's always such an astonishing feeling when there is a break through... literally, it's about making tomorrow. (I sound like an advert...)

•  Never being bored (apart from in meetings and paperwork hell - collatoral damage!) - I don't know if it's the same in every subject area, but there is always something new, unexplained and inexplicable to deal with - and always a new way to make children be trees!

• I love love love my subject - and I believe passionately in its importance as a part of the curriculum and beyond. Getting to spend most of every day doing what I love, and seeing how powerful and important it is in the lives of the kids I teach/facilitate is awesome. And I get paid for it!

• Getting to push boundaries and challenge convention - with fresh, enquiring minds to take up any slack I leave. In the words of Major Ross in 'Our Country's Good' 'theatre leads to threatening theory' - oh yeah!!

• The ex-students: Now I know this is practically unique to Drama, at least at my school. We get a steady stream of ex-students coming back to let us know what they're doing, help out with tech stuff, pass on new skills, perform for us, teach workshop sessions (thanks Jamie Wilkes and Belt-Up) apply for jobs with us, and share the start of their own teaching careers (always makes me particularly proud!) and families. It makes me feel a part of something special when kids come back to share both their sorrows and their triumphs, and to know that they still place value on us - it's good to know it means something. It's also nice to know that they know we'll still be willing to listen! Also, there is the fact that some of them are out there, doing it - the whole acting thing. (Jamie, Louise Kempton, Katie Blake ... all professional actors) One day, I'll have the chance to say 'ah yes, I knew him/her when...' (and I probably have photos to prove it!)

• The staff I work with. They are amazing. Lucy & Andy are lovely lovely people. I'm so lucky to work with people I love so much.

• The fact that parkrun happens at and to some extent because of School.

• Oh yes. And the holidays.

That's 11 things. And to think I have a maths 'A' Level!

Day 09 - A Close Up of My Day

I had taken several photos of today with the intention of doing a 'day in pictures' type post... and then this happened:

Photo by Andy Deacon

Me and my 'A' Level students, plus a few of the tech crew, about 30 minutes before the start of the Unit 3 performance exams.

I may possibly have been eating chips and drink coke (bad, bad, evil woman) but I don't think I'd eaten anything else since breakfast.... Having spent most of my waking hours with these guys for the last 3 weeks, it does indeed seem appropriate that they should be part of the close up of my day.

The performances? - went very well. Very well indeed.

Day 08 - The Last Item I Purchased

If we discount groceries, an alarming number of parkrun destined Mars Bars, a particularly yummy chocolate  orange muffin and yesterday evening's Fish & Chips (It's been a long long week, don't Judge!) then my most recent arrival from Amazon is the claimer of this title!

Following the fabulous Tori Amos extravaganza of last week (so so good!) I decided I needed to own an actual copy of her most recent CD not just a digital version... It's been playing whenever I've had a moment to spare ever since.... gotta love Tori!

One of the Best Tori Albums in recent years!

Of course, if I was being totally open and honest, I might have mentioned the fact that my other internet purchase of the week arrived at the same time - and it was a mooncup!

Day 07 - A song for the Day

It is a moderately known fact that (when in a halfway decent mood) I can produce an apt song for virtually any occasion, and much to the delight/amusement/disgust of those around me, I'm not usually shy about singing whatever it may be. This of course immediately stopped being true when I was actually trying to think of a song to sum up today. 

We are rapidly approaching the first performance exams of the year - our 'A' Level babies have their Devised Performances on Wednesday, and as they are worth 40% of their final mark, the pressure is on. As always at this stage, (no pun intended) there has been very little sleep and several 10pm finishes. We're all knackered, and getting colds. I have a stinking cold, for which I blame Kaye and/or Morgan, and am at the dizzy, sleepy, itchy eyed stage of sneezingness. 


I came up with a couple of possibilities before I got to school, basically based on my being a sad and self pitying soul:

• I'm So Tired - The Beatles
• The Drugs Don't Work - The Verve

I think the titles are explanation enough, really!


Neither of those really seemed quite right (I know, I may possibly be over thinking this!) so I asked the kids as we went into the third hour of rehearsal, and got the following suggestions:

• They're Coming to Take Me Away - Napoleon XIV
• Insomnia - Faithless
• I'm Going Slightly Mad - Queen
• Frontier Psychiatrist - The Avalanches

Definitely a bit of theme there, I think - It's been a long couple of weeks!
The tech crew's contribution was more varied:

• I Hate Myself and I Want to Die - Nivarna (this was our Head techie's contribution - he had just entirely forgotten to put out the footlights and spent 45 minutes reprogramming something which should have taken 10 mins max, so some wallowing was occurring!)
• I Get by With a Little Help from my Friends - The Beatles (not sure if this came from Head Techie once stuff was sorted, or from the sound guy - but hey, made me smile.

As rehearsals went on, and things weren't looking quite so dire, suggestions got increasingly random:

• All I want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth
• We All Live in A Yellow Submarine
• Ugly-Bug Ball

Bless them. 

On the way home, whilst acting as a late night Taxi service to a couple of tired techies, I was commenting on how it was all looking better than expected - and spontaneously burst into the song which is my song of the day!


From Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, a song about redeeming something half decent from disaster!
YAY!