6 days til Half Term!

I'm about to enter the 8th week of the first half of this term. It's a significant week. I have never, ever had to work for 8 weeks in a row without a break. Not during school, uni or certainly not during the last three years as a teacher. Yes, it's been an especially long half term and I am tired- I think it may even be the reason why I haven't blogged as regularly as usual! It's not been the easiest of starts either- my class can be quite hard work, but am slowly beginning to see a change in them. So that's good. One of my lessons in particular had a real impact on my class this week- one mum came to see me after school yesterday to relay the following conversation she had in the car with her son on the way home the day before:

Mum: How was your day at school?
Ethan: Ok. But isn't it terrible about Louis.
Mum: Which Louis? In Year 3?
Ethan: (ignoring question) It's so sad that he had that accident.
Mum: Oh no! Is he ok?
Ethan: He went blind.
Mum: (horrified) Oh my goodness! What happened? Is he back at school?
Ethan: (looks at her like she's an idiot) No mum, he's dead now.
Mum: WHAT?!

As you may have guessed, Ethan was talking about Louis Braille, who we're currently studying in History.

In other news...

-Ben, Heather, Rich and I went to see Wicked last week- it was brilliant! Due to increased workloads, being part of a bigger community with the Wickford and Chelmsford guys (although that's great!) and Rich living in London, the four of us don't get to spend as much time together as we used to, so it was really nice to spend some quality time catching up and seeing a show.

-I've seen 3 films at the cinema recently- How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, Mirrors and Burn After Reading. All three were quite good, but Mirrors was a mistake, as I keep having nightmares about it. It's basically about this guy who works in a derelict, run-down department store, and starts seeing things in the mirrors there, as well as at home and in his car. His own reflection starts making him do things. Not nice when you have drive home late at night afterwards along the A130 with only your rear view mirror and reflection for company.

-Flight of the Conchords has appeared in the On Demand section on BT Vision, so I've finally been able to check out what everyone else has been raving on about for ages. It's hilarious. I've only watched a couple of episodes so far but this song really made me laugh (for the few who haven't seen it, it's a comedy about two guys from New Zealand who are in a band, and each episode has a couple of funny songs in it). Enjoy:

- Finally, I've been researching the Salvation Army initiative Journey, and would really like to go on some kind of 'Encounter' as it's something I've wanted to do for ages. However, I've asked for more information, I've emailed them, I tried ringing them (no answer)... I even tried sending a message to one of the guys in charge of it on Facebook, but received nothing back. So if anybody knows anything about it or where I could get some more information about how to apply (I've been to the website but the application it tells you to download already assumes you know about the dates and different expeditons), could you let me know? Cheers :)

What goes up...

At my murder mystery party way back in January, we attempted to construct a human pyramid. It wasn't easy. A good few attempts were made in order to achieve as many layers as possible... but in the end we succeeded. And it felt really good. Here's a little reminder of the end result:

However, when I saw the news today, I realised that we weren't the first people to come up with the idea of a human pyramid. In Spain, it's like a professional sport. And a dangerous one at that... (although the news reporter said nobody gets seriously injured). Check these guys out:

Makes our pyramid attempt seem kind of pathetic, doesn't it?

My favourite part was in another video where the news reporter stated (as it collapsed):

'At this point, any pain was swept away by the joy of success!'

Really. I'm not totally convinced...

A Pro-Active Post

I have lots of little jobs to do this weekend. Being a natural procrastinator, I'm not looking forward to getting any of them done. So instead of cracking on and attempting to decrease my To Do list, I decided to create a procrastination pyramid. I'd read about them awhile back (when I was writing my dissertation I looked up 'procrastination' on the internet, and found this...) Basically, you write down all the things you need to do, with the most important near the top. Then you get to work on the less important tasks to put off doing the tasks at the top of the pyramid. By the time you've done a couple of the tasks near the bottom, other stuff has come along to be placed at the top, so everything can be shunted down on the pyramid. Get it? It's called Structured Procrastination. I'll let you know if it works...

Hmm. Creating the pyramid took longer than I thought. Still, I've made a start as I am currently updating the ol' blog.

In other news:

- I had to play in the annual Staff vs. Parents netball match today. We beat them 10-6, a much better result than our 18-8 thrashing last year! Everyone took it incredibly seriously though, and have sustained minor injuries because of it. Meh.

- We had a great time at the Wickford Curry & Quiz night yesterday. Our team came second, pipped to the post by some team who knew what a baby whale was called. (It's a calf, in case you're interested.) Well done to everyone who organised it! :)

- Heather and Chris, who were both showing signs of becoming great bloggers, appear to have lost motivation slightly. A temporary lapse, I'm sure...

- Tim has disappeared off the face of the earth completely. As has Richard's actual blog. Idiot.

- Graeme is long overdue for an update. As is Andy.

- However, on a more positive note, John has uploaded some interesting travel vlogs. You'd be fooled for thinking was in Australia, as something odd has happened to his voice since he's been away. Still, it's worth a look. Glyn is also back, attempting to blog every single day for a month. Never gonna happen...

Farm Limericks

(Inspired by today's visit to Jimmy's Farm.)

I once met a sweet little pig,
Who looked so cute when trying to dig
But the problem I'd get,
(If said pig were my pet)
Is the fact he'd turn ugly and big.















There once lived a cow on the farm,
Who seemed to have plenty of charm
But when his praises were sung
He would stick out his tongue
Causing kids to leap back in alarm.

It should've been me...

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Dancing through life...

It's been a really busy couple of weeks. I'm back at school, my new class are hard work (I even managed to lose one today on the way to assembly, just because he felt like going somewhere else... got him back eventually though!) and I'm constantly really tired. Nothing has really happened worth mentioning, but I thought I'd guide you through some of my emotions over the last few days.

I've laughed at this:

(Courtesy of a boy in my class...)

Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Wooden shoe
Wooden shoe who?

Wooden shoe like to know...

Haha. Gets me every time.

I've cried at this:

It really is one to go and see, although I think it's best to read the book first. I won't say anything else as the blurb on the back of the book says: "The story of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is very difficult to describe. Usually we give some clues about the book on the jacket, but in this case we think that would spoil the reading of the book. We think it is important that you start to read without knowing what it is about." Effective, non? It sucked me in anyway.

And I've spent most of the week singing along to this:

Dancing Through Life- Wicked OBC

I also happen to quite like the Disney video (some people have way, way too much time on their hands... )


Finally, I've been quite annoyed at this:

I'm having trouble adjusting to the new Facebook. Why mess with perfection?! Argh.

Ok, so I'm aware that this is a bit of a nothing post. But I felt I should entertain you with something whilst I figure out something interesting and worthwhile to say. I'm sure it will come.

Ripley's Believe It Or Not

For my friend Meghan's birthday, I treated her to a day of fun at Ripley's Believe It Or Not, a new attraction in London. It's a museum with all kinds of weird and wonderful exhibits- here are a few photos from our day:

Here is the biggest rocking chair ever! The staff were really nice too- they tried to take your photo so you'd pay £8 to buy it, but when you said no they offered to take a photo with your camera instead. (Also, when I said I wasn't a student at the entrance and didn't have any vouchers, the woman whispered, 'Oh, that's ok, I have some here...' How nice.)

Hang on a cotton picking minute... Where are Meg's legs?!

This photograph didn't come out too well, but there were thousands of multicoloured dots rotating round the tunnel, and it looked fine as you stepped onto the walkway... but as soon as you do all sense of balance is lost and it makes you really dizzy! (My dad went a couple of days later and actually fell over.)

There were lots of funny tricks and surprises as you make your way round, but I don't want to spoil it for you in case you plan to go. And you should, because it's excellent! A great family day out. Oh, and guess who I bumped into...?

Remember him?

Yes, it was none other than my mate Robert Wadlow, the world's tallest man, who I'd last visited in Copenhagen in February. I complimented him on his new suit. He showed me his family album. Good times!