Ready for battle!

Well, it's the night before term begins, a time for all teachers to dread, but at least it's a student free day and my old mate Gerard from itcpublications.com.au is coming to school to improve our pedagogy. I've been hoping for this for some time, so fingers crossed it all goes well. It'll be good to see GPA again anyway.
On Anglican matters, I finally got a chance today to listen again to a sermon I heard a couple of months ago from Bishop Tom Frame. He was kind of plugging his latest book which is called Losing My Religion: Unbelief in Australia (or something like that), but expanded it to include comments on what we can do about it. It was one of the most motivational sermons I've heard in quite a while, really inspiring! Shame I don't think I'd be allowed to post it somewhere, but then again I guess I've given him a plug now...
In other related matters, I read a book recently called I Found God in Bermuda: Faith for the 21st Century by Rev. Steven Ogden, currently Principal of St Francis Theological College. It was good reading for the most part, though it suggests what seems close to a non-supernatural proposal for Christianity in the future. Now, this is not big news for people who've heard of John Robinson, Don Cupitt, John Shelby Spong etc, but I guess it may ruffle a few feathers. The interesting thing about the Ogden book is his focus on God's presence and, importantly, God's absence when suffering occurs (and by golly there's been a lot of that in the Asia-Pacific of late - typhoons in Philippines / Taiwan; floods in India; tsunamis in Samoa, etc). His idea is that we stop thinking of an interventionist, supernatural God and recognise God as existing in the web of human relationships. He deals pretty briefly with the resurrection, except to say "something happened" and that it has to be understood symbolically. It seems weird, but I hadn't really looked into the resurrection much before, so I googled it and went from there.
There are an astounding list of arguments for and against a literal interpretation of the recurrection, and I won't run through them all here. After reading a list of the pro-literal, I felt strong in that belief. Then I read a list of the responses from atheists, and changed my mind. After reading Ogden again and Spong's book about saving the Bible from fundamentalists, I think I am now somewhere in the middle, still trying to sort it out. I agree with Spong and others that the gospel accounts are very hard to reconcile. I was particularly disturbed by the verses in late Matthew, suggesting that zombies were seen walking around etc! I'd forgotten about those.
I was also disturbed by a quote from Phillip Yancey, where he says he finds the account of the Ascension to be a serious problem in terms of believing the accounts of the resurrection, and I know what he means. I'll need to read more about these things, but I felt heartened by John Spong, I must say. The meaning of the resurrection continues to be essential, he says, but we need to find a way of adjusting the Christian mindset to handle the non-literal interpretations and this is crucial. More about this to come.

Scoop

11pm and all's well. My heel still a little sore at times and of course it's annoying to think that I may have to ban myself from the gym for a little while until it heals up. Just not sure it's up to a full-on Bodypump just yet. It was really quite freaky to walk across the rocks and sand at Brooms Head with my sandal slippery with my own blood - watching the red drops left on the rocks etc.
Anyway, watched Scoop (Woody Allen) tonight. Not a bad flick - plot kind of OK - Hugh Jackman and Scarlett Johannsen making a very attractive couple so easy on the eyes.
Now watching the end of Later with Jools Holland on ABC2 - kind of good stuff that I could get into the habit of watching if I didn't fall asleep by this time of a Friday.
We drove to the Jacksons to pick up my car from them this afternoon (having lent it so Lynette could get over to Bob & Jean's while we were away) and then I went to Aldi Oxley, mainly to buy an advertised whiteboard for $99. Turns out they sold out today which was pretty darn frustrating! I still loved the whole multicultural experience of shopping among a huge range of accents and overseas styles.
Al has finally got a Facebook page set up and has about 30 Friends so far. Good stuff!
Verity seems to be taking more of an interest in reading which is good. I read The Bear by Raymond Briggs to her tonight for what must surely be more than the hundredth time, but I guess it's all good. She's also into "Beanie Kids", the latest trend in separating parents from their money.
Declan also has a few BKs for some strange reason. He spent a lot of time today working on a huge origami creation for Verity's birthday coming up soon - good concentration and I hope they're both happy with it.
Looks like Al has finally convinced me to buy a kitten for us. I'm still very concerned about the practicalities of this (looking after it when we want to go away, expenses, etc) but it could be good for the kids in terms of advancing their sense of responsibility, etc.
Still haven't finished my school work yet and that's annoying but it's been a matter of willpower which I've failed. I guess there's always tomorrow, though I do wish I was heading off on Long Service Leave like Daven and wagging Term 4 altogether.
Very sleepy now so will head off. Finally finished my last chessmaniac game today with a long draw against a stronger player, so I'm happy with that. One less distraction, I guess. Ciao for now.

Back from Brooms Head

Howdy again

Well as usual, much has happened and I'm disappointed I haven't been writing here more often, but enough whinging.
We came back yesterday from our second family camping trip to Brooms Head NSW, and this time was better than last. Last time we were with two other sets of friends and this time it was just one - I couldn't help but think it was easier with just two. The amount of washing up was smaller, it was faster to make decisions about where to go etc. It was a bit blowy on the first two days, but once it calmed down, it was great, though still cool right there on the beachfront. Hard to pick a high point, though just getting away from home/schoolwork and being able to sit and read for a while was terrific. Lowpoint was on the Monday morning when we all went walking over slippery rocks and on the way back I slipped and cut my right heel open. Lots of blood on my sandal and I was concerned I was going to have to go get some stitches, but some excellent first aid from Al once we got back to base and all was OK, though I still have a dressing on my heel right now. We had to spend about $700 on camping gear before we went this time, but I must say it all seemed well spent, especially our little gazebo which we rigged up over the cooking area. We have already booked again for the days before Easter 2010.
The Idea of North concert at the Powerhouse was excellent - just fantastic a capella singing from the two guys and two girls. They appeared on the Hey Hey It's Saturday reunion tonight as well and got a great reception as well as a big plug for their next album which I look forward to getting when it comes out. It's funny that they do Stayin' Alive as one of their big numbers after the huge number of times I sang it with the Clefhangers way back when.
Declan is reading away massively at present - after knocking off the Harry Potters, he ripped through the whole Deltora Quest series and I guess the question is what next to get him into. Verity is getting very tall and enjoys her ballet classes. Need to keep both kids active but not easy when I'm trying to mark papers and organise the term ahead for all the RAVE classes. Someone pointed out on camp how good it was to be with your family with no technology around for a few days - Dec and Verity just played on the beach for hours and hours.
Finished reading Steven Ogden's "I Found God in Bermuda" today and I wrote a little review for Facebook purposes. I enjoyed reading it and found it quite stimulating but wonder how to apply it to RAVE or even to parish worship generally. Was really pleased that Paul expressed an interest in reading it on camp, so I'll slip him my copy very soon, maybe after I get Steven to sign it at a conference coming up soon. It seems to be the idea of a non-supernatural God again, and while the idea makes rational sense, I'm just not sure I can easily give away my idea of a personal God 'out there' even though I concede I have no idea where 'out there' is or anything.
Very sad to hear that my old mate and groomsman Jonathan M has been in Adelaide Hospital at death's door with meningitis in the last few days. Apparently the latest is that he has responded well to treatment and is conscious enough to squeeze Robyn's hand etc, but this has been a very disturbing episode and I have been praying constantly for his return to his family - so much for my loss of a supernatural God!
Better head to bed - need to clock up more schoolwork tomorrow or life will be very tough!

Little and often

Hi ho, got to try to keep this diary going with entries which are probably smaller and more frequent.
What am I doing now? Watching Friday night NRL - one game going well, the other one not so well for tipping purposes. I'm currently 4th in this year's comp, but anything could happen this weekend. Al and kids have gone to bed.
What happened today? Took 16 boys from years 4 to 12 to last Chess tournament of year at Macgregor State School. Kids all did OK, if not spectacularly well. Highlight was Mark Bird beating the Churchie #1 - an awesome sight and well-deserved. A few other missed opportunities were less great. Still, everyone got at least a win or two, which is the main thing.
How's Alison? A little cranky tonight but probably tired after a long week. I know I am too and will be hitting the sack soon.
How's Dec? Not bad. Did great again in UNSW Science test the other day - another HD, only kid at his primary school to get one. Pretty remarkable. Soccer is all over - only the breakup on Sunday to come - and I think we're all fairly happy about that. I'll try to go to a bodypump class at the gym in the morning anyway. I was up very early today, worried about the excursion and also all the Yr 10 RAVE stuff to organise for today. All got done in time - just.
I'm still seething somewhat about the excursion I ran on Tuesday with all Yr 10s to St John's Cathedral. I was pretty happy with most aspects but very unhappy to see about 37 kids who had given back forms saying they were going, fail to turn up, citing 'being sick', having a Dr appt or just 'parent permission'. Allowing for those kids meant that we hired three buses instead of two and had basically too many staff going, costing the school more money -probably close to a thousand bucks all up. Grrr. Gave the teachers lots of chocolates today to give to the kids who went on the excursion and exclude the baddies. Vindictive? Maybe!
How's Ver? Usual great little Friday ballerina. Still struggles to stay in her own bed all night. Has frequently turned up in ours in recent weeks, which is fine except for interrupting our sleep if she rolls into us or sticks her hand underneath one of us etc. Would also like to see her reading by herself, but I guess we can be patient with that.
Big weekend coming up - finally seeing The Idea of North tomorrow night at the Powerhouse. Hope it's good. Sunday is Father's Day and packed with action of Church, Phil's "divorce liturgy" whatever that becomes and the soccer breakup. I've had at least two other invitations to do things on the day, which won't be happening!
OK, might be sleepy bobo time. Still playing a lot of chessmaniac, but I am fairly determined to let the current games be the last for quite a while - they are really soaking up too much time at present. Ciao ciao.

Adelaide conference

Hi ho, been quite a while since I last posted. Just very busy - heaps of marking and other odd things to keep me away from the keyboard.
A big night of sport on TV - cricket, rugby, AFL - just watched the Lions come back from 47 pts down to win in the last few minutes - exciting stuff.
Anyway, last weekend I flew to Adelaide for an Anglican schools conference - a real honour and perk, I guess. Had to be up at 4am on Friday to be at the airport at about 5 and then on the plane to Adelaide via Sydney at about 6. A few strange things happened here and there but I must admit it was nice to fly QANTAS with free food etc, not like last year's trip with Virgin back from Perth, which was a bit painful. Flew with Lizzie there and back - her first time away from the boys, so I expected it to be a bit odd for her, but she stayed calm. Spent a lot of the weekend in the company of other female chaplains Sharon S and Sarah L - great people to hang with.
Stayed in Mercure - not a great experience. I had deliberately booked a cheap room to save the school some cash, but by golly, my room was miles away from the lift - down a long corridor, through a doorway, down some stairs, around a corner and then right down at the end of another very long corridor. My view was scenic to the extent of lots of rusty rooves and back alleys and some other hotel in the distance. After being up at 4 and then a long (but admittedly mainly fun) day, I hit bed at 10 gratefully, looking forward to a long sleep. I was appalled to be woken at 3.30 by a fire alarm going off in the hotel. I made it to the door but noone else was going down, so I went back to bed. There was a rumour later that some party-goers had come back with sparklers to their room, setting off the smoke alarms - sounds right. My room also seemed to be near a nightclub, with thumping bass clearly audible most of the time. Oh well.
Conference itself was described later by Paul B as more interesting than good, which I think is about right. St Peter's College was even more obviously wealthy than I had believed - rolling in cash by the look of it. Amazing grounds and facilities - put shots on Facebook. Huge main oval - huge assembly hall etc. We were all stunned that almost none of the keynote speakers bothered to use PPT slides or visuals when they had a colossal screen to work with behind them. Having them lecture us for about an hour at a time with no visuals was hard going in some cases. Worship services were also very bland indeed - very little imagination, I thought. The up-side of this situation is that it makes our job on the committee for Brisbane 2010 pretty easy in terms of doing better than this one; the downside is that schools may be seriously wondering if it's worth going again, and we'll have to convince them that it is! I was very disappointed that Tim Costello dropped out as a keynote speaker only a few weeks before the conference. There was no explanation of this at all.
Other highlights for me, apart from my first trip to Adelaide, included meeting Tim Cooper, CEO of the Coopers Brewery, who was good enough to autograph a stubbie bottle of Coopers Pale Ale for me - that one went straight to the pool room when I got home.
In other news to hand, Dec got another High Distinction in the UNSW Science Comp - the only kid at KSS to get an HD. Amazing stuff! They also had their 2nd last soccer game today, and I think we're all glad the season is wrapping up soon. They won only narrowly 4-3 against a team they have walloped twice this year - their form has really dropped since the mid-year break and I don't think anyone really knows why. Glad I'm not the main coach!
OK, better head to bed. We are hosting Neville's 50th birthday tomorrow and this will require vast efforts of cleaning etc after church. Talk again soon.

All sorts of stuff

Hi ho, Sunday night. Weekend disappeared yet again. At least some of it was productive - Magazine report for chess club, drafting etc, and on the home front, finally got around to cleaning and partly oiling the pool deck which was looking a bit overdue. Will try to get home early tomorrow to finish it off.
Declan away on cub camp all weekend. Had to drive to Sandgate and back Friday night, and same this afternoon - 2 hr round trip each time. Still, seems like he had a lot of fun, and of course any time spent away from family is good experience for a young lad, I would argue. Didn't get into too many scrapes by the sound of it.
Still going with the Chess Fiends on chessmaniac.com. Had an awesome win over a guy where I sacrificed my Queen with only a slim likelihood of success, but it came together and I prevailed. I resigned my other game against him, but it was the kind of buzz that chess like this is meant to create.
What else? This week is going to be big. Ekka day on Wednesday so a day off to do marking and get ready for the days afterwards. Thursday night we are heading up to Toowoomba to see the TGS production of JC Superstar and then I have to be at Brisbane airport next morning at the appalling time of 5am for a 6am flight to Sydney then Adelaide for an Anglican conference. Hope I can sleep on the plane or at least not stay out late on the Friday. Never been to Adelaide before but looking forward to it - won't be much time to look around though, I suspect. We get back 7.30 Sunday night and then straight back into school on Monday, so no time to fool around.
OK, better hit the sack - but I should mention we had Bp Tom Frame preaching again at church this morning and it was one of the greatest sermons I've heard in a long, long time. Admittedly, he was at least partly plugging his latest book 'Losing my Religion' but by golly, I'm going to buy a copy because it sounds great. He didn't have any with him today because he says they don't actually come out until Friday, but I'll be on it when they do, you bet. Ciao now.

Wasted time

Well, today was a pleasant and relaxing day in many ways, but also annoying owing to self-inflicted problems.
Tutor group: fine. I had the bright idea of using the data projector to pull up Youtube to show the latest hit clip - the JKWeddingMarch - basically a young bridal party doing cool moves as they all dance down the aisle in pairs etc. So we all enjoyed that.
Yr 10s - drafting their satirical narratives. No big dramas.
Yr 12 - drafting their resumes and letters. Several away, including the slackest baddies, so class ran pretty nicely, despite my need to confiscate a couple of phones during the lesson - they don't like that!
Then 8 RAVE times 2: finishing off Evan Almighty which has really grown on me as a film - not at all offensive, and if I may say so, a bloody good choice for a Yr 8 RAVE unit! Need to follow it up with a discussion of discipleship etc next week.
Then a lunch duty where I was somewhat incensed by 5 year 8 boys who crossed my path brawling and being stupid - they soon came to regret the error of their ways as they accompanied me on a big litter pick-up. Silly stuff!
Then lots of spare time this afternoon which I mainly misspent playing chessmaniac games - continuing my winning run but making I think a fatal error in at least one game, so I suspect I'm going to be a dead duck there. I was disappointed to find the afternoon had disappeared in that way, but maybe I needed the wind-down time after being amped up at lunchtime!
When Nigel and I finally took off and made our way home for the umpteenth time, something incredible happened.
We got to the big roller coaster section of the road at Mt Crosby and we were listening to basically an announcer's comedy routine when suddenly there was a boom on Nigel's side of the car and I found myself shocked to realise I had actually veered slightly too far over and had actually bounced off the guard rail! I was able to immediately pull over safely and we both jumped out. There's a long thin mark along the side of the car and perhaps a slight depression, but no major damage, which is pretty lucky. I felt incredibly stupid - how easy it is to lose concentration and of course having a passenger on board was embarrassing. It certainly could have been a lot worse in many respects. We got back in and took off and I was a little surprised at how calm I felt as we drove along - but then again maybe I am just a cool customer who's become used to adjusting to strange circumstances.
Haven't told Al about it as yet but probably will tomorrow - would be good to see if I could clean it up before she sees it, but I'm not sure that will happen!
Bed now - absolutely intent upon getting as close to 8 hrs sleep each night as possible from now on. Must get back into the gym routine as well, but I don't think tomorrow morning will be the day!
With prayers for a good, productive day tomorrow, ciao.

Spooks

Just watched the final in this series of Spooks. What a top show it has become, after maybe a couple of dodgy years here and there. Despite the unlikely subject matter, they do a great job of convincing us these kinds of things can happen around us (espionage, bombs going off, etc.) Hope it's not long before the next series is shown (and hope that it's not long before then).
Still continuing my good run of chessmaniac games for the Chess Fiends. Thought I'd completely blown one in my grasp today against rudi111 (who turns out to be a female Canadian) but I have it back in hand now. Still, I'm going to get clobbered soon in one of the other games, so happy to have seen my rating get up to 1605 today.
Saw Kates at Mum's tonight. She was here to get her kids before heading back to Sydney tomorrow. Looks well enough to me, which is good. Cooktown festival went well for all concerned. She was on the phone to Damian at one point and returned to report that he'd made $3000 on the stockmarket today! Golly, and this is the composer and arts writer living in a tiny flat with two kids. It's a mad world.
School was good today. Strugnells gave me the 2 bookcases from Sheila Dawson yesterday and I got kids to carry them into the office today, along with numerous cases of books to the library. An awesome collection. I have adopted a couple of books from the pile yesterday, including a book on David Rowbotham by John Strugnell himself, and some Bruce Dawe books, including one called 'An Eye for A Tooth' which is inscribed, 'Dear Sheila, Thanks for suggesting the title of this book' - Bruce Dawe 1968! Now, I rate both of those as small literary treasures of which I can see worth that others may not so I'm keeping them safe and sound right here.
Was seriously considering going to the gym tomorrow (first time since knee op) but probably too late to get out my gear now - Al asleep etc, and the more sleep for me, the better at present.
More funny stories to come tomorrow, I would say. Night night from me.

Tipping

My little nephew and niece Felix and Maggie are in town and staying at my Mum's. Maggie is a great little kid - I think she's about 3. Felix is about 5 and pretty demanding. I hope he doesn't get diagnosed as hyperactive down the track, but it wouldn't surprise me if he does. He is very impulsive with not a lot of obedience when it comes to being told to be quieter or to do things. Hope my mum can survive the weekend! They'll be at the other grandparents' place tomorrow then we'll pop over to see Kates and co again on Monday afternoon.
Thought I was a clever footy tipper again today when Raiders wacked the Broncos 56-0 but lost the feeling again after 2 massive losses by other favourites. At least virtually everyone else tipped the same as me, so no drama but I don't see myself soaring up the ladder by the end of the season.
Played a lot of chess for my team on chessmaniac this week - probably a bit too much and I'm certainly cutting down. So far so good with results but I still have 14 games active now and there will inevitably be some losses there.
Took all 4 kids to some Prep kid's birthday today, held at Rowdy Rascals at Jindalee. It was very noisy indeed inside and I was already feeling a bit headachey before we arrived. The dad gave us some vouchers for drinks which was good. Had some chats with Jamie S, old Anglican Youth figure from way back - now the father of 7 kids. I remember he and Tammy marrying very young - probably one of the first AYM couples to get married - but they're still together, so there you go. Didn't get a lot out of him except that having 7 kids is pretty darn hard and makes travel virtually impossible! Apparently Tammy brings the kids to school on the BCC bus each morning, etc.
Very happy with the way the Curriculum Review is looking at school. Consultant seems to know her stuff, and I am hopeful we will actually be able to position the school in a way which sets us up for many years to come.
Have now discussed LSL options with quite a few people, but we actually have no solid plans. Al still hasn't heard back from the job she went for last week, so we don't know if we are in place for a sudden income boost or not. Am following a travel blog from a colleague who is off on his own LSL trip around the US and Canada with his wife at present. I feel jealous as anything but also still hopeful that we will be able to get over there next year sometime. Better start getting a passport together first.
Time for some bed and read a bit of Book Thief if I can. C u soon.

10.30 pm

...and all is well during the blogging hour. Al was asleep on the couch as we watched Chaser / United States of Tara / Movie Show but was rudely awakened when I accidentally knocked over some of the chess pieces I had next to me while I continued my chess addiction on chessmaniac. After my current 16 (?) games remaining, I am going to have to cut it right out as it is soaking up way too much time. I even went to sleep last night dreaming about the chess games which is not at all conducive to sleep... always better to stick to the Oscar winners reciting. Did I mention I've basically memorised all the Oscar winners in the Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress categories? Ken H tested me out this afternoon with 1973, but I was equal to the task. He tells me he is memorising Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas - amazing!
Took the morning off to see our new financial planner Troy with Al at I'pilly. He inspires a lot of confidence, being clearly more proactive than most others we've had in the past. He's easier to understand as well! Today was really about sorting out Al's insurance situation and also investing $15000 we didn't realise we had sitting in cash into an ASX200 fund. I reckon it's definitely time for that because the market looks still pretty cheap but rising all the time.
Tomorrow is the good old Thursday 8-straight so I hope all hangs together. Meant to write my RAVE magazine report tonight but it didn't happen - the lure of the chessboard was too strong. It's due Friday so I'd better get my act together on that.
Verity all smiles after Baby Born swimmer started working. Al got some great shots of her in the bath, wearing togs and goggles to add to the occasion.
Had a good chiro visit and soccer practice tonight as well. Team seems keen to get back into the winners' list after their two recent losses. Dec volunteered to be keeper for a half which is probably not so bad, but not great either. We'll see what happens with that. OK, good night from me now.

Quick chat

Ups and downs - curric chat with consultant went fine - will speak with her again in a couple of weeks. She threw me a little at first by saying her background was in RE and then mentioned she was friends with some of our neighbours!
Other classes OK - 12 Eng Comm was less volatile than usual because I took less crap from them and kept on the backs of the individuals most likely to bludge. About to ban the use of ipods in class altogether - some kids just spend all their class time fooling around with song selection rather than completing their assts.
Tomorrow should be another pleasant day of Edward Scissorhands, 12 Eng Comm again and then double Evan Almighty! Oh, and a silly evacuation drill at the end of p.2. Hope Lizzie is there so I don't have to be a warden, but I think I should be safe.
Verity very upset this afternoon that the Baby Born swimmer doll she has sought for so long managed only about 3 strokes before dying! I'll have another look at it tomorrow.
Off to bed and back to the Book Thief, which still hasn't quite grabbed me yet, but I guess it's early days. Nightie night.

Sunday night fever

Sunday school / church not bad. Saw Mum for a while then home. Al not well but Tommy came to take kids to park for a while as payback for looking after their kids yesterday so all good. Watched Eastwood's Gran Tarino in a couple of parts while kids were away - enjoyed it quite a lot, probably more than Million Dollar Baby. He's just a very good director who knows what he's doing and doesn't make things too tricky. I don't know that it took me to any new emotional peaks, but it was good all the same. Catholic priest figure doesn't come out of it too badly either.
Still a bit worried about the curric review meeting tomorrow, but I'll have a decent half hour at least to get my act together, and it doesn't look like I'm going first so hopefully someone else will have softened them up. I suspect that RAVE is an area I will be able to make look good in terms of what we're doing, but of course I'm much more concerned about whether these consultants are looking at the overall WMAC strategy of having a sense of community and common purpose driving all we do etc. Hope I can express that in reasonable terms to them.
Anyway, better head to bed so I'm at least a little fresh tomorrow. Playing a fair amount of online chess at present - probably too much so better cool off over next few days. Chatted a bit with some of my chessmaniac team-mates tonight, including Martin from France. Weird discussion about Men at Work and Peter Garrett - amazing which Australians are known overseas!
Reading Zusak's The Book Thief - still not sure what I make of it so far. Ciao for now.

Anger and other problems

Well, a funny old day today. Kids slept over at Mum's so a very quiet start to a Saturday. Usual enjoyment of Times cryptic crosswords briefly before picking them up. Dec's soccer game was harsh for them - another loss to a strong team they hadn't played before. They haven't really regained their spark from before the holidays, so I hope it's not all downhill from here. Final score 8-4 I think. Dec had his moments, including putting his head on a corner which would have been spectacular if it had gone in. Not to worry.
After lunch, Dec had to a cub event which is when the rot set in. Al gave me money which I thought was to pay for entry at the event if necessary, but it turned out I was meant to give it to him for food and drinks if he wanted any during the afternoon. I felt stupid and angry that I either hadn't heard this or hadn't understood it and it just triggered a rage in me. I went downstairs and hit a few walls and things, luckily not leaving any holes (as has happened a couple of times before, I must admit). Then I calmed down enough to put up a new smoke detector in the laundry and went for a long trip to the hardware shop for another shower head (after the last one broke off and I then busted it properly while trying to repair it - another source of frustration) and a mop-head thingo to reoil the pool deck. By the time I got home, it was too dark to get underway with the pool deck, so maybe we can squeeze it in tomorrow. I sure hope there aren't any other trips tomorrow I don't know about.
Other issues: an unexpectedly sudden curriculum meeting with outside consultants at school on Monday. Concerned that I haven't brought home a copy of the College Strategic Plan to help me prepare for it but then again there was no reference to that in the ridiculously brief prep notes I was sent by the boss' PA. They want to see a sample assessment item (not applicable in RAVE) and evidence that my subject is innovative and prepares kids for the future. Well!
I'm thinking I'll give them the Year 10 unit from last term on Environmental Values and Ethics, or else one of my Yr 10 Powerpoints from this term which have Youtube links etc.
What I'd really like to see is these consultants looking at the whole school's overall curriculum strategy. At 16 years old now, we really need to decide what kind of school we want to be. Can we market ourselves as a school for high academic achievers? With only 1 -3 OP1s each year, that's going to be pretty demanding. Our central mission statement and vision must be clear to all - and I don't think it is at present. I'd argue that our Anglican nature and values can be the core of what we do. We should be able to say that if you are an OP1 level student, you will more than likely get an OP1 at our school; if you want an apprenticeship or traineeship, you can do that here (and since we're apparently the biggest provider of these in the state, that's an easier claim to sustain); but that overall, our school teaches kids to care about others. I believe that getting a reputation for being a school which produces great citizens who are able to change the world in positive ways will actually solve a lot of our problems. More pragmatically, we certainly need to do a better job of marketing our low fees and 'all inclusive' philosophy - the value for money at our place is incredible. You'll get a very good private education and Yr 12 still costs less than $10 000, probably more like $8000 - $9000, I think, with huge savings when you consider the inclusion of textbooks, camps, a ski-trip, excursions, etc, etc. Why aren't we marketing that on every billboard?
Anyway, in other matters: fantastic Founders Day dinner last night in the St Pauls hall - MC was the mayor, Paul Pisasale, who must have a personal approvhatred al rating higher than 80% - he's incredible. Guest speaker was former rugby legend Tim Horan - despite my long-held loathing for rugby, I'd drunk just enough to have my photo taken with him, along with other colleagues - surreal. He spoke well enough, but it was basically 20 minutes of chat about places he'd been, things he'd seen, people he'd met (e.g. the Queen; Nelson Mandela) and of course some amusing tales from the rugby field (including the best one which included his dropping of the F-word but I doubt anyone was offended). Today I found myself wondering why my mate Dave couldn't do the same thing for a living, after his retirement from the Ten Tenors - he could prepare a 20 minute monologue about amusing and incredible places he's been and of course, add in 2 or 3 songs along the way. Horan's chat began with a 3 minute video presentation featuring him scoring try after try; Dave's could do likewise with event after event. I'm convinced it could work - I've even come up with the name "Tenor Eleven" (geddit? geddit?)
Must chat to Dave soon - thought his 1st child was due in a week or two, but it's actually November.
OK, last thing - fantastic Founders Day/Chaplain Commissioning service on Friday morning. I had a few little roles to play. All went well except choir got missed in the program when they were supposed to perform their own featured item - poor old musos! Everything else was great and I continue to be extremely optimistic about Lizzie's prospects at school. Fingers crossed!

Aths day 2009

Well, I haven't found out for sure but I'd be very confident indeed that my House won the Interhouse aths today, and Facebook tells me that we won the House Spirit trophy as well - good stuff (even though I'm not sure it was really deserved - but given all the rip-offs of the past, I'm not complaining). The win was based around kids deciding to turn up and compete (lots of empty spots from the other houses) and gutsy work by our usual suspects. Very few superstars who won lots, though Megan P is one for sure, as trained by Nigel B. A win for the good guys!

Also very pleasing was my trip in to see my orthopod godfather to be told my knee should be fine within 2 wks. He gave me some great colour photos taken inside my knee during the operation. What's pleasing is how bad the torn medial meniscus looks - it just reassures me that the operation was really necessary. Still don't know what the final damage to my wallet will be - an invoice is coming - but I'm guessing it could be up to $800, and that's after the private health insurance has reduced the cost. Oh well, I guess the upside is having a knee that works and will let me get back to the gym soon (badly needed in terms of my shape and mental outlook at present) and hopefully will last me for decades to come.

Al had a job interview today at a company on pretty much the other side of the city, to be a part-time HR manager for them. Went well, but as she says, it comes down to whether there was someone even better who applied. If she gets it, it will be good financially - it's $50000 pa for 2.5 days a week, not be sneezedat. The impact on our family's routine will be pretty dramatic - I'll need to be much more involved in getting kids ready for school, and they may have to go to before-school care at least one day per week, etc. As Al says, Verity won't mind that because she'll get to watch TV in the morning which we don't allow now. But we'll worry about those things once we know if Al has an offer.

Found my phone in my office this morning, as expected - thanks God!

All in all, not a bad day - teaching 8 straight tomorrow, so time to split. I'll hold off on a chat about the novel Breath until a better time pops up.

Social action

Tuesday night: Interhouse Aths tomorrow - I have to be a track judge all day which I haven't done in more than a decade. Not sure if the organisers knew I had knee surgery just two weeks ago, but I decided not to wimp out. Still, hope it doesn't get too sore. Going back to see my Godfather orthopod straight after school, so I guess any tenderness will be easy to spot after a day of standing around outside.

Today was very frustrating - kept losing things, including my phone which I just hope is somewhere in my office. Worst case, it's fallen out of my pocket and could be anywhere. Next worse case scenario, some kid has swiped it, though I think that's pretty unlikely (I hope).

Last Sunday night was interesting. Church had organised for a roster of people to go to a local supermarket near the uni and stand outside (looking like we were kind of picketing it, though we obviously weren't), handing out little strips of paper asking people to buy an extra non-perishable product to give us so we could give it to the poorer folks in another parish. If they came back and gave us something, we gave them a thankyou card with parish contact details on the back. There was no picking the people who chose to participate! International uni students, lefty looking kids, older wealthy-looking people, etc etc. Apparently, there wasn't much cut-price soup left on the shelves, thanks to us! I was there for the last two hours before closing, and it was actually a lot of fun in a strange way. I was there with "elder" Ruth K and a bloke I've never met called Murray. He's been going to evening services for a long time, but as a morning service person, I'd never met him - a bit weird. He's into aviation and conservative politics, as it turns out; at one point, he introduced me to the local LNP member who turned up in his shorts etc.
Murray was replaced by Natalie B, a charming architect who's also apparently a regular at evening services who I'm also certain I've never seen before. Standing next to her passed the time very pleasantly indeed. Lots of parishioners were on the roster at various stages, but (and not trying to be too self-righteous here) I'm rather surprised there weren't a heck of a lot more people on board. As soon as I heard the concept, I signed up straight away. If Anglicans can't even go and stand in the street and encourage people to help out the needy, then what can we do? I'm delighted to report we collected (over Saturday and Sunday together) a huge amount of groceries. Don't know how often we can repeat the exercise, but it would have to be tempting to go back sometime and see what else we can pick up.
OK, it's 10pm and I vowed I would hit bed at this hour after a day of being tired and out of sorts, so ciao for now. Finished Breath last night but will review tomorrow.

The weekend comes...

At last: a big sleep in today as planned followed by another one this afternoon - it's a good investment of time as I would otherwise go crazy. Yummy dinner and at last a chat with Al about her 40th. If she is working (i.e. part time away from home), it means we would have the money to pay for quite a few of our projects and plans which at the moment are up in the air e.g. new kitchen, long-service trip to New York, and... a trip to Melbourne for her 40th. If she isn't, I reckon we could still afford it, but I guess it's all about opportunity cost, etc. She thinks her buddies may well organise their own parties and events for her, which obviously makes my job easier though not really what I had in mind.
Watching Foyle's War now - what a great show. Sat in front of the Bill but didn't take a lot in. A regular minor character recently has been played by an actress I now know to be Naomi Ryan - wow, she's stunning. She was severely bashed in the episode tonight, but hopefully she'll stick around for the sake of me and other fans!
Haven't played any bass guitar now for weeks, and that's annoying. Need to take it back to see if I can lower the action a little, but I might see if I can fit in a short session tomorrow.
Dec's soccer team got hammered today - 10-3 down, with a couple of guys away and up against the other really good team in their comp. I'm pleased because I'm hoping it will make the players listen more carefully to the coaches at training, rather than running around doing their own thing. Dec was keeper in the 2nd half and did a pretty good job. There's no doubt in my mind I would have been no better and probably much worse at his age, and I told him so. I didn't get any soccer skills together until sometime in Yr 7 or later, though I think I may have been a little faster than most. Anyway, at least the team weren't crying or bitching and moaning after their loss like some teams I saw in my younger years.
Verity told me today her ballet teacher gave her a high-five for knowing what a jete is! Excellent. She demonstrated a couple back and forth in the kitchen.
Big Sunday tomorrow - Sunday School resumes; then video recording Bob and Jean; then doing some social service work for Church; then dinner at Mum's. Maybe I should have done more schoolwork today after all.
Rev Greg rang tonight to find out how to download Youtube clips for use in a sermon tomorrow. Terrific stuff, and certainly the way of the future. Though our church is excellent in many ways, there are times a data projector would add another dimension, I feel. I suspect it won't happen for many years, though.
Time for bed and to see if I can finish Breath, which would be good. Still gripping and just hope it ends as well as it started. Good night and good luck.

Footy and chess

Playing some interesting Chess games on chessmaniac tonight. Trying to get into games for my Team, the Chess Fiends (a strange name but not the strangest on the site). I'm OK at longer Chess games but absolutely useless at anything of 15 mins and under, I've decided - I must need time to think!
Broncos lost to Rabbitohs tonight - first time Souths have won at Suncorp since 1990! Only one person at work tipped it, and it wasn't me. Not a great year for tipping. Watching Titans play Bulldogs now and looks like I'm going to be 2 losses down for the weekend - great (not).
Yr 10 multimedia spectacular lesson on Church history and Martin Luther went really well, I thought. Ran out of time in the end, but not badly.
Also enjoyed watching rest of the Gallipoli movie with Yr 11. It's been quite a while since I've seen the whole thing. I don't think I'd noticed before that David Williamson, the screenwriter, gets a cameo as a lanky Victorian soldier playing in a scratch AFL game against the Western Australians. Most kids had seen the film before but I think were still shocked with the final moments. Amazing film, definitely one of Australia's best ever.
Another good film on TV right now is Insomnia which I'm pretty sure I saw at the cinema many years ago. What a cast: Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank - wow! Can't remember much about the plot but Williams comes across as a formidable match for Pacino both in terms of their characters and as actors (imho).
Really need to have some time with Al to have a serious planning discussion about her 40th this year. She wants something special and by golly, she's going to get it. I think she wanted to be surprised at one stage, but I always think that's a bit risky. Think of that great scene in the surprisingly good In Good Company where Dennis Quaid walks into the 'surprise' party he knows is happening, wearing just his underwear - and proceeds to flash his butt at the guests - great stuff!
I'm thinking dinner at a small restaurant followed by hiring a whole cinema at the Blue Moon at Rosalie for watching something with friends and then going around the corner to one of the numerous cafes at Rosalie afterwards. Then we fly to Melbourne for a day or so. That's my plan anyway, but I'm happy to discuss it. My 'secret' present (or one of them) could be getting Al's uni graduation pictures finally printed, and her degree framed. I'm sure she'd also like some more Pandora jewellery for her bracelet, but maybe that should wait for Christmas... not sure.
Anyway, it's pretty bizarre that we haven't had much chance to have such a discussion recently - too busy and then we fall asleep in front of TV.
Must have a good sleep tonight and let all parts of my body do some healing! Throat still not great. Last steristrips came off knee today, which looks and feels fine to my way of thinking. Keep forgetting to do my 50-100 daily straight leg lifts, but I guess I could do them now. Looking forward to Saturday morning as always, especially with a late soccer game for Dec. Night night.

True Beauty

Time to be shallow! This isn't about the nature of beauty, it's the name of the latest ridiculous American reality show we're watching right now. Silly stuff - I'm going to bed asap after writing this. Can these pretty people really be so self-obsessed? Of course they can!
School was demanding in spots today - throat is still bad but at least I can still speak. Must go in tomorrow for big Yr 10 RAVE powerpoint lesson in the afternoon which has taken a lot of setting up across the 7 classes. Had quite a few IT issues today which were very annoying, including a profile problem which meant I couldn't log on to any computer in the school except my laptop - what a waste of time.
Told my Yr 12 Eng Comm class this afternoon they were the slackest class I've ever taught. I don't normally resort to negative comments of that kind - but no-one contradicted me! I added some qualifiers regarding the good kids, but then went ahead and cancelled library bookings because these kids are literally sitting around in the library doing nothing! How are we going to make it to the end of the year without coming to blows?
Started watching Gallipoli with Yr 11 today - having 2 female German visiting students in the class made it interesting. Some kids were disappointed to learn Mel Gibson was actually born in the US, though they were reassured when I told them about his time at NIDA etc. It's a great movie and good to watch via data projector on the 'big screen'. Then we need to get into our play 'The One Day of the Year' asap.
Al: has an interview with a company at Morningside next Wed as a part-time HR person. Will be her 1st job interview in a long time. If she gets an offer, we'll need to make some very crunchy decisions re: transport arrangements, kids' education, cooking - almost everything really! Interesting times.
I also got the usual letter from the QSA re: QCST, but this time telling me I'm a 'standby marker' - not sure if I'm interested in waiting around until the last possible day to see if I'm even needed or not during the first week of the September holidays. At most I could make about $1000 after tax for a week of marking papers - do we need it that much? Not sure! Time for bed.

Struggling on

Well, cough is getting worse, I think. Must keep up olive extract / betadine / cough suppressants / pain relief / etc and see what happens. Al wants me to stay home from work but I just don't think it's quite that bad - it seemed to be OK for most of today, though admittedly I had very few classes so not much talking etc. Went to soccer tonight with Dec but obviously didn't run or shout so stood around chatting with the other dads, as you do. It's a bit funny that the dads chat with dads and the mums chat with the mums. Do we really have such gender-specific topics of conversation? Is there some unwritten code that we should avoid mingling unless spouses are present or something? It doesn't really bug me that much, just an observation.
Qld lost 3rd State of Origin tonight which is kind of disappointing in some ways but good in others. I always have a small sense of suspicion with some of these results - they seem written with future marketing in mind sometimes, I think. Paranoid! Conspiracy theory!
Still helping Rev Lizzie settle in - was a bit sad to hear that she has heard so little about her own commissioning service which is coming up. You'd think she'd be allowed to choose her own music etc! I hope she gets to have some input before it's too late.
Too many late nights in recent days - must head to bed very soon. Glad classes are organised and going well. Even though tomorrow is an 8-straight day, I'll be trying to keep it fairly low-key on my energy levels to try to survive the week. See you soon.

First day down

Well, to recap on Monday first, a student-free PD day. I came away thinking, wow, that was a really inspiring day! The govt has given us $3 million to build a multi-function centre which will revolutionise all sorts of activities at school; they've stuck up lots more colourful shade-sails all over the place which have actually brightened the place up while simultaneously actually making my main classroom a little darker with the lights off, which is good when using the data projector - still no blinds or curtains on the horizon despite years of lobbying.
Our new Head of Library has redesigned and organised the renovation of the library into a bright, comfortable space which appeals to all; she's also created a new website which allows students and staff more interactivity and looks great.
Our new chaplain Lizzie has started us off with an outstanding first service which was professional, engaging, smooth and basically demonstrated the best of an Anglican service. I loved it.
Following some debates in HODs meetings last term, the school is simply getting smarter all the time and taking active steps towards emailing parents a link to the online weekly newsletter rather than tying up photocopiers for a whole day and creating literally hundreds of newsletters, dozens of which never make it home! The money we will save in this way is extraordinary, and should have happened a long time ago.
Yet more good news: the school is finally going to be able to tap into a fibre-optic cable for Internet purposes, kissing goodbye to painful years of dropouts and interference to microwave links and other cables. Teachers were literally punching the sky with that one!
So all in all, a day of tremendous progress and positivity! Just wish I was a little healthier at present to enjoy it more.
Classes have started OK and thank goodness tomorrow is my day of one duty and only one period of teaching, so my voice should get a good rest and I can get a lot of other DVD burning and photocopying done, fingers crossed.
Sitting here watching the end of 'He's Just Not That Into You' - well, a chick flick par excellence with a few funny scenes admittedly - still not really something I can see myself rewatching much!
Also just had a close chess win against a guy who lost on time but it could have gone either way. If you're playing a 30min or shorter game, it certainly helps to build up a time advantage if you can. 'Slow' players will suffer. No more chess tonight, though.
OK, bed time, dudes.

3 minutes to midnight

Woeful. I had no intention of being up this late yet again - it's a bad habit, but of course I was still working on the RAVE curriculum I will have to be telling staff about tomorrow. Think it's all basically under control now - it's going to have to be!
Knee fine today, but throat is bad, nearly as bad as Declan's. Dry cough and sore - not 100% but there's no way to be away tomorrow or this first week really. Using numerous medications simultaneously which may or may not be a good idea.
Took Declan to soccer game of Roar v Celtic at Suncorp this afternoon where the Scots were way too classy, 3-nil winners. Last goal was a spectacular header but otherwise Roar looked pretty lacking in options. Anyway, good seats and a good father/son activity, I guess, even though the soccer was pretty dull. There were 3 people who attempted to invade the pitch early in the 2nd half but no full-on streakers. Crowd were even Mexican-waving by the end to liven things up!
And Australia is either going to win the first Ashes test or get a draw -only 4 wickets left for English. Good to see.
Found good site for RAVE just now - www.36parables.com - DVDs can be downloaded for $10 US with free study guide which looks good, so that's pretty good value, and I can always find somewhere to use them. I'm thinking particularly of Yr 9 studying Miracles then Parables this term. Also going to use Keith Green's Prodigal Son Suite and one of the various Youtube dramatic versions of it. I remember loving the Prodigal Son Suite when I was in high school and it's still great.
OK, must get to sleep now or be cactus tomorrow. Ciao.

Late night Ashes

TV: Ashes: Test Cricket. Presently in its classic state: i.e. not much happening. Australia batting well against ineffective English bowling in Cardiff.
Knee OK, very sore throat though and reasonably persistent headache - I'll be pretty freaking unimpressed if the swine flu does suddenly grab me just as school goes back. Did a few school things today but headache now is making me want to go to bed and try to read some more of Breath.
Finished a game of chess today against an Indian bloke which I must rate as one of my best wins ever - he was all over me but I fought back and finally got him. As a chess fix, that should keep me going for a while.
Had some time at home with Verity today. She was keen to ride her bike, which she hasn't done for many months, if not more than a year, so I was happy enough to pump up the tyres and see how she went. Luckily it was still big enough for her so we went up and down the front timber and around the yard, and then down the footpath across the road when she was brave enough. She has training wheels but still needs two hands to squeeze the hand brake which is not really ideal. Still, it's great to see one of my kids interested in bike riding. Dec has shown virtually no interest in his bike since a couple of early goes a long time ago. Is this more genetic stuff? Thinking of the fact I didn't learn to ride until I was in about grade 5 or 6 and have only done it a handful of times in my whole life. Just not my scene, but Al and I would still like our kids to be reasonably proficient. There was one time in, I think, upper high school or maybe uni, where I was with a group in the city who suddenly decided to hire some bikes and go around the Botanic Gardens. I managed to do it but concealed the fact it was the first time in many years - and I was pretty sore afterwards, as I recall. We've tried to convince Dec that this is the sort of situation which could come up, but he's been unimpressed. He's gutsy in other ways, so I don't think he's being too wussy about it.
(Australian team really starting to slog now, so probably a declaration coming. Some people in the crowd in fancy dress - pretty amusing.)
More little jobs done around home - finally replacing smoke alarm. Al reminded me my mum still doesn't have any smoke alarms in her house, which really is bizarre. Typically, Al's on the case and has bought some for her. She also bought some pull-down blinds for downstairs but was irate to discover that because they have the pattern on only one side, you either have the pattern facing you when the blind is fully down, with a white roll at the top, or vice versa. She doesn't like having two colours visible at the same time, but there's not much you can do about it. I'm more concerned about the Chinese instructions which tell you to cut the blinds to suit your window space, and then cut the aluminium rod to match. What am I going to cut that with?
Probably a bit down about going back to school, which is normal for this time in the holidays; headache not helping. Oh well, more drugs and we'll see how it feels in the morning. Ciao for now.

Another late night

This time watching Law & Order with Al after So you think... Rabbitohs finally won in NRL which is good for my tipping. Currently in middle of huge chess game with an Indian guy of very similar rating - thought I was gone for sure, but anything could happen.
Knee OK, not bad. Looked after Cam N for a while today while ladies and girls were all watching Disney on Ice spectacular. At his age, my buddies and I would have been playing board games (maybe) or rolling around outside with guns playing army games (more likely). Cam and Dec were more into PS2, Nintendo, one board game (at my suggestion) and doing some unscrewing with a drill (under my close supervision). They seem on good terms but I guess you can't be besties with everyone.
Dec's cough is shocking and pretty hard to live with. Our throats are also a little sore which is not great. Friends rang us the other day to say they have swine flu officially - we'd seen them a few days earlier so it may or may not happen to us.
Al had call from her boss very recently where he intimated that he may be downsizing around September. He didn't actually say Al would need to look for work elsewhere, but Al is assuming the worst. In some ways, it would be good for her to get back into part-time or full-time work now before she spends too many years out of the labour market, but it's been incredibly convenient for her to work from home via the Web. She's already dreading a loss of playdates for the kids etc. Having them come with me to work/school could work out, but it would need a bit of thinking through. They'd get a 50% discount on fees, and the money we would need to spend on fees would be hopefully completely outpaced by the higher income she'd be making. It's the old story: do we go for income or do we go for lifestyle? Her great friend she was with today is an insolvency accountant who's just been given a $25000 payrise! Business must be booming for insolvencies... Anyway, I've tried to reassure her that it's early days in making these decisions (I hope). Let's take it one step at a time.
Never a dull moment!

TV sleeping

Kids asleep (and in their own beds which is a bonus); Al dozing on and off on one couch; me with laptop on the other couch - it's become a recent pattern of late night life in our household. It's 10.30 and we're watching a Grey's Anatomy with Izzy apparently coping with cancer treatment. I haven't watched a whole episode ever - I think - and so am not really paying a lot of attention now. I've been working away on my Powerpoint for Yr 10 RAVE on the history and customs of the Anglican Church - a pretty big project! - and now feel the need, the need for speed... or the need for blogging, really. Just found some cool blogs like the one below. Any anti-atheist blogs are welcome right now!
We finished watching the movie Ghost Town tonight, and I'd have to say it's pretty odd. Not very happy with direction/editing. Ricky Gervais seems unable to play his natural style of comedy and there are some very strange pauses in the flow of action. Tea Leoni seems uncomfortable - in fact, I think almost everyone seems uncomfortable here. Is it a poor man's Ghost / Truly Deeply Madly / Sixth Sense etc? Couldn't give it more than 2 stars.
Earlier today, I finally got around to seeing Evan Almighty which I am setting for all Yr 8 RAVE classes to see this term. I liked it quite a lot more than I expected. I read a great interview with the director Tom Shadyac after I saw Bruce Almighty where it seemed he had a very sound, liberal Christian view of the world. Good to see! Evan is not at all a fundo wacko movie, as I had feared, but should give classes quite a bit to discuss.
In other news to hand, I took the bandages off my knee this morning to survey the scars - not bad. 3 separate puncture wounds, and I was surprised to discover none at the back, which is where I had thought they would enter - guess not. Anyway, I'm still taking it slowly and hope the strength comes back soon.
Was hoping to make it into school today to get a few things organised but it didn't happen. In theory, I should be able to drive an automatic, but I just feel a bit unsure for some reason. Maybe I'll try tomorrow and see how it goes.
No on-line chess today, I'm pleased to report. Want to now go, take panadol etc so I don't wake up at 4am again, and keep reading Tim Winton's Breath, which I am seriously enjoying. Some great tips from a new blog I found tonight called www.conversiondiary.com (female atheist to Catholic) with 5 steps to belief. I'd encourage everyone to check it out!
'Til tomorrow, my brothers and sisters...

Out of the closet as an Anglican blogger

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Oh, that's right. You knew I was an Anglican all along - it must have been my tags that gave me away. Anyway, I like the sound of being an "Anglican blogger."

Just a quickie...

Knee is going well - starting to feel a few little itches etc, so more ibuprofen going down. Had first shower ever with plastic bag tied around the bandages but all good. Meant to do about 100 leg lifts a day which seems a little weird - not sure how it works upon the knee, but I guess it's about thigh stabilising or something.
What else? More schoolwork - spent a fair amount of time on Youtube and got on to old Rowan Atkinson and Fry & Laurie clips which were a very pleasant memory or else brand new to me. Trying hard to see if I can use them in RAVE - if not, Yr 10 Satire for English will have to do. "A Warm Welcome", "Songs of Praise" and "Apostle's Creed" all have potential, but as they say, all need to be used "carefully". I really wanted a nice clip on Francis of Assisi for Yr 8, but as I feard, the clip which came up features good old Donovan in 'Brother Sun, Sister Moon' stripping off and I fear bare male buttocks won't fly in Yr 8 RAVE classes - I think. Same problem with Jesus of Montreal, probably my favourite movie of all time - just a couple of sequences which might get me some complaints - disappointing, but that's the reality of schools today.
Time to confess I did waste some time playing more online chess at www.chessmaniac.com but must immodestly report I played some of my best chess ever! I won my last three games and must say this site seems to be much more my speed than freechess. The next step is to join one of their teams and meet some other like-minded chess nuts. Looks like a team called the 'Chess Fiends' are seeking my services.
The only downside of Youtube I have yet found is the number of 'militant atheist' videos. There was one which has had more than 6 million hits by a particularly obnoxious sounding American who wants to know why God doesn't cure amputees (!) There was a rather nice rejoinder in another clip where a man asked why the first guy is so sure amputees need to be cured etc. So much of the atheist clip was asking why we can't just use our rational intellect and get over the delusions of religion. I guess if the original atheist had something positive to offer, we'd be onto something. Still, there are good arguments for all sides.
Watched Chaser again tonight - had a few chuckles. The scary part was when they showed genuine middle Eastern news clips featuring Arabs saying the most outrageous things about Israel and the US. I suppose the US Fox Network is almost as bad, really. It strikes me as crucial that 'sound' liberal Anglicans like myself try to become the voice of reason at these times, but will we be drowned out by the extremists on both sides?
Tomorrow, I vow - minimal chess, maximum school work. May even need to try to drive to school to get things, check the office, see if Lizzie has moved in OK, etc. Thanks God for friends and for you and all the good things you have to offer this world. Night night.

Happy again - well, mostly

Hi ho everybody,
Well, I'm sitting here blogging and playing chess while fam watches final of HomeMade, the latest reality show which the other 75% of my family seem to love but I fear I don't. Oh yes, and I also have a big bandage wrapped around my knee to remind me of the day's events.
Woke up 5.30 (actually Verity achieved that yet again at 4.30 but that's another rant), quick shower (trying not to drink too much water) and off to hospital at Everton Pk. Hospital under renovation but easy to get in, get registered, say goodbye to fam etc. Sent off to next waiting room where each person went off for another quick chat then returned to go into the very public bathroom right there in the waiting room, and got changed into our paper undies, gown, dressing gown, etc. A nice young nurse then came in to shave my knee area all around which I don't think has ever been done before, but no dramas.
Then off to a bed for a little more waiting then basically straight to the theatre door. Met more staff including very nice anaesthetist Martina who made life pretty easy and did a good job with the needle into my arm, a) giving me a magazine to read beforehand which I could then use to shield my eyes as I winced and b) getting me to cough as it went in, which I turned into more of a laugh, a technique I often use at the chiropractor when he is really crunching me hard. Admittedly, part of that chiropractic laugh on my part is always laughter that I'm paying someone lots of money to basically hurt me, and maybe that was also the case today. I think she took a couple of goes to find the vein, but hey, it was still a lot better than I expected. I saw Dr Tuff (my godfather) for about, oh, 30 seconds before he got down to business, but that's fine. I'll go see him for a follow-up in a week or two, and I won't be too worried about it.
Still no pain and it's been probably 9 hrs or so since op. They say they use Marcain, a long-lasting local anaesthetic and by golly, it must be pretty good stuff. I also took panadol and ibuprofen as directed, and will give myself a another dose tonight to see what happens. It certainly seems good to have done this on holidays to prevent more walking around and other hassles. We'll see how I feel on Monday when school resumes though. Was pleased with number of people who responded to my Facebook mention of my op - not that I was going out of my way to get some sympathy, but it's nice anyway.
Other matters: still trying to jazz up these RAVE programs - must do whatever I can not to make them boring and enthuse staff and students - I really feel some weight of responsibility in that regard.
Formally mentioned this blog on the Facebook group for Anglican bloggers so in case anyone reading those posts ever feels called to check out each one, I guess I may actually get a visitor sooner or later. On other Anglican matters, I'm very disappointed with the English bishop who has apparently decided to do some more gay bashing, or 'calling upon them to repent' which is the Anglican equivalent... the younger generation simply cannot fathom this kind of approach, and there is no surer way of dispatching our Church to the historical scrapheap... Anglicanism is about intellectual honesty - why is it not possible there is a genetic component to homosexuality? Even if there wasn't a genetic basis, what is there to be appalled about? If a bishop wants to target sexual immorality, that's another matter, I think, but just going after gays for being gay is really ridiculous. Reminds me of the time during a theology oral on the life of Paul that I intimated there had been a case made for St Paul being gay - the lack of evidence of his marrying, the references to hating his body, etc. Some of my audience wanted to hear all about it afterwards!
All righty then, see you tomorrow.

The Last Supper

Well, I'm writing now to calm my nerves somewhat. It's the night before my knee operation and I admit I am now anxious about it. The knee has felt close to 100% much of the last six weeks, but just every now and then I feel a twinge or something shift and I know it's not entirely reliable. It's just hard to shift the feeling that I'm going into hospital with a pretty good knee and may or may not come out with the same feeling. Hard to believe that this time tomorrow (in fact by lunch time tomorrow) it will be all over. Thank goodness I haven't had to wait six months or more for the op, even though I think I've done a pretty good job of putting it out of my mind in recent times.
I am scared of the unknown - I've had operations under general anaesthetic before, but not since 1984 when I got my wisdom teeth out. I shouldn't be too worried about needles, because I've had them before enough times. I kind of just don't want to know all the details of what's going to happen in the operation, which I suppose is going to be a problem because I'm sure the nurses, surgeon and anaesthetist will feel obliged to tell me (or are legally obliged to tell me!)
Can't eat or drink anything after midnight tonight, even water, although I am allowed to shower tomorrow morning which is a good idea.
Had a nice dinner with Greg & Ingrid last night at the Caravanserai restaurant at West End - pretty busy for a Sunday night but great food, very good service and only $35 per head for the simplest banquet (with $2.50 each corkage). I couldn't remember much about the food we ate in Turkey when I was there in '99, but I would guess this was authentic. I am very confident that Al and I will be going again - a great find, with brownie points to me for picking it, if I may say so immodestly.
Kids and Al were out a lot today playing and shopping so I have advanced further in my lesson prep, but there's still a fair amount to do. I fear I am going to have to abandon most if not all of the big home projects we had planned for this Winter break, e.g. sanding and repainting the deck. I just don't think it's going to happen. Still, I shall try hard to do the school stuff fast and see what my knee allows me to do this week.
Liking DJ Ironik's take on Tiny Dancer atm. Missing my old penpal Adam too. Time to be helpful elsewhere.

Windy Saturday

Getting back into this habit of blogging has brought back memories of my first major efforts way back in 1998 or thereabouts - I decided it was a good habit to reread the last blog entry before writing in an effort to prevent repetition of content while still hopefully allowing a flow from entry to entry. Wow - I was really whinging yesterday but I'm pleased to report that today was very productive in schoolwork and in some other household admin tasks like filling in forms for govt rebates etc. Still liking my RAVE powerpoints a lot but not sure whether to send them out to Anglican RAVE colleagues as a freebie or stick them on the site EJW sent me recently: www.teacherspayteachers.com which is certainly something to think about. Maybe I could create an Australian version (and then probably get sued or something). Kids in pyjamas just about all day today - one of those kinds of days.
Quick chat to Phil who said mediation went well - he has finally secured unsupervised access at long last, for 5 hours instead of 3 - and that's great. Aiming for overnight stays in December or so. He said he'd ring back tonight but hasn't - he's probably too stuffed after 3 little kids running / crawling around him all day. Thanks to God that it went well.
Couldn't quite avoid online chess today, but have kissed goodbye to FICS in favour of www.chessmaniac.com and I won't be looking back. Alright, time for some more Tim Winton. Night all.

Still down a bit

7.36pm. Watching Masterchef with family. Full of Pizza Capers - got to be happy with that. New chorizo/scallop pizza was yum-my. Declan finished Moggill Uniting daycamp today - had a great time, particularly after his team won everything, mainly thanks to an ex-army adult helper who proved a wiz at constructing the gunya out of palm leaves etc. Some people are pretty competitive, aren't they?
Felt a bit sad this afternoon. Cue: sad music and pathetic comments to follow.
Reasons: a)Knee was hurting a bit.
b) concerned about knee operation on Tuesday.
c) concerned about work still needing to be done before school restarts.
d) generally sad about my lack of application and work ethic in recent days.
e) angry that I had to spend hours doing household tasks like trip to the dump and day camp closing today (I realise how selfish this one is.)
f) annoyed we had to take 3 friends home from day camp today (see above re: selfishness)
g) generally hungry and thirsty. (pause now for drink - that's salty pizza for you)
h) some strange lower back pain - annoyed at posture and home seats which probably contribute. Annoyed in light of chiropractor visit on Wednesday night. Annoyed further at having to spend money on chiropractors.
i) annoyed that friends we ferried home from daycamp are much wealthier than us. They have come back from a family holiday skiing down south, and are off tonight to the Gold Coast prior to running in the Gold Coast marathon tomorrow. Further annoyed that this guy can spend so much time away from family training for marathon, apparently without resentment from said family. Annoyed about our lack of money. (Am really getting pathetic now.)
j) after visit to financial planner today, annoyed that I didn't have all the documents to hand which I should have had - further annoyed at my lack of good filing downstairs to make this easier to follow. Annoyed that we are not in a better financial position after so many years, but admittedly we have been on basically one income for many years, have two children, etc. At least this guy (yet another new face) sounds solid - even suggesting it was possible to run our investments ourselves! Points for honesty!
k) annoyed at not making more money from OzLotto and then blowing it all on a ticket for the Powerball jackpot last night, which nobody won. Why am I wasting money chasing the big one? Must not go down the path of a gambling problem on top of everything else.
l) concerned about Phil and Jo's mediation session this afternoon. Fingers crossed that things went OK and nobody stormed out etc. Will call Phil tomorrow sometime to see how it went. What a saga - I realise I am now of the age when some friends will start separating / divorcing but this one is looking particularly harsh.

There may have been other things as well, but that's a pretty good start. Will have an iceblock and start doing more schoolwork. Mad Men's final two episodes last night were excellent viewing, so that cheered me up a bit. Weird Al Yankovic clips on Youtube are also a good source - hope to use some in my Year 10 English satire unit this semester. Pray for a good sleep tonight - need to go to bed at 10 if possible, I reckon. My bedtime novel, Breath by Tim Winton, is going very well - memories of my amateur efforts at surfing brought to mind and he really is impressive in his descriptive skills. Ciao now.

Down a bit

Made a poor decision just now to finish the day with a game of chess at freechess.org - what a mistake. I lost narrowly on time after being in a good position - very disappointed. It tells me that I must try hard to go cold turkey from online chess for as long as possible. What surprises me is that I can win pretty regularly on other sites, but freechess just has too many good players. Particularly when I'm playing under time pressure, I'm just not up to it. I know I should just harden up, but it was a mistake to play it - it just makes me blue!

The day otherwise was quite productive. More Dance clips transferred to DVD, other DVDs copied for school. Lots done on a Powerpoint on Church history for 10 RAVE - wondering why I never did it before! Saw lots of Youtube today too - some great pieces on Luther including raps and polkas which I hope to use; more theist/atheist issues elsewhere - how people have the time to go wandering through Youtube doing nothing but making negative or abusive comments on people's sites disturbs me. Added lots to my favourites for use soon.

Went to chiropractor again tonight with family. As usual, torn between hoping the treatment helps me feel good, and wondering if it really does anything at all - increasingly concerned about the cost as well. Can we afford it? Al will quote my dad and say, 'You can't argue with results.'

Speaking of money, we go to see our new financial planner on Friday and I'll be pretty interested to hear what he suggests, given the GFC etc. Must admit I entered the massive OzLotto record jackpot yesterday, and no, I didn't win $53 million like some other people, but I did get a $13.20 Division 7 prize. Unfortunately my ticket cost $25, so what does this teach you?

Good Chaser and good M. Jackson expose doco on tonight. Good to see a critical Jackson story just keeping the balance there this week, too. What a life.

With good wishes for another solid workday tomorrow,
Goodnight from me.

Hotting up

OK, more home alone time today in which to accomplish miracles. Foremost is the Yr 10 RAVE course which needs to be created from almost scratch - topic: Anglican Church basics. I normally teach this by myself as a rotating unit to Yr 12s, but the Year 10 course really needs something "Anglican" and thus I am attempting to clone myself, so to speak. I'm also looking for any A/V assistance possible and am a little miffed that I know that there is a video sequence around somewhere of the Primate in his office, looking relaxed and chatting to unseen questioner about the role of Archbishop etc. This would be ideal as a school resource - so where the heck is the footage? I'm going looking for it - and when this detective gets on the case, I mean business.

I'm also looking for Youtube or other clips from films to help tell the Anglican story - maybe from Elizabeth or Golden Age. I didn't see The Other Boleyn Girl or whatever it was called but even with Aussie Eric Bana involved, I suspect it would be more about sex/nudity than the Anglican history I'm looking for, though I guess I should try to see it, just to rule it in or out.

(I got out Evan Almighty last night as well, with the idea of showing to all Yr 8 - will try to watch it today along with my other miracles.)

Looked up good sites re: basics of Anglicanism esp. some from Dunedin NZ and Texas. Need to combine these (with permission) and use stuff from Rev. Gillian M as well. Good luck to me.

Making progress

OK, work is getting done today, thx to Al taking Verity to Tashi and Dec being off at daycamp playing in mud and stuff. Finally finished Term 2 marking and now fully focussed on RAVE and Eng planning for Term 3. Still torn between school and household jobs - sanding bottom of toilet door, e.g., so that it doesn't stick in wet weather. I'll wait for kids to come home for that because it could be spectacularly good or bad as bodgy home jobs go.
Had Alex & Kelly and kids over for dinner last night - all quite pleasant. Mixed my beer / chardonnay / cab sav merlot so probably didn't sleep well, but certainly wasn't hung over.
Also still ripping stuff off the HDD recorder so we can buy another one - Al is desperate to keep all episodes of So You Think You Can Dance. Hasn't someone distributed the series on DVD yet? If not, why not? Surely they're trying to "monetize" it as much as possible.
Fell asleep during Spooks last night - thank goodness we taped it.
My knee has been 99% fine for last couple of weeks, and finally started hurting a little again yesterday - I'm strangely pleased because it makes the operation next week seem like it's necessary, when I was seriously considering pulling out.
Ciao for now...

Atheism and other strange pursuits

Hi ho everybody,
Quick funny moment: leaving Repco I'pilly yesterday after buying new hubcaps for Al's car - forgot it's a one-way street at the bottom of their driveway and turned left... only to be immediately met by a POLICE CAR who honked at me, flashed lights and then waited, holding up traffic while I did a quick 3-point turn and left rapidly (on the 50km speed limit) down the street. Embarrassing!
Anyway, a strange but I think productive day today. Woke up at 8.30am, the latest for a long time. Got dressed to race to Church but then decided against it, planning to go at 5.30pm. We had a long day at Seaworld most of yesterday with our neighbours Tom, Joanna and the boys so we were all pretty zapped. More filing then off to Field Committee meeting for Scott at Richard and Dell's - all good there. Home to stick glass doors on new bookshelves downstairs -not 100% happy with my handiwork, but they are good enough and by golly it's good to get all the books off the floor where they've been sittting for months.
Just finished reading "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" by Mitch Albom. Didn't like it as much as "Tuesdays with Morrie." It depressed me in some ways and hurt my faith a little - I was thinking, "Well, here's Mitch's view of the afterlife - what makes me think the Church has any better idea of what's going to happen?" At least his picture was nicer than some.
Now reading "Breath" by Tim Winton, finally out in paperback and thus affordable. Loved the opening chapter when I read it ages ago in a shop or a library.. actually I think it was someone's place, maybe Kates and Damian's? It's going well, anyway.
It's 2 mins to midnight and I think I may have to ban myself from midnight rants etc - can't be good.
Just worked on Yr 10 RAVE plan for this term - needs to be something like Anglicanism 101 - more about that later. I went looking on youtube for something on Elizabeth 1 and/or the Elizabethan settlement with which to dazzle the kiddies but instead found some guy called "Militant Atheist" who is, bizarrely enough, a militant atheist - another depressing clip where he has a go at creationists / fundo wackos / etc... ho hum. I suppose if I were living in a place surrounded by fundo wackos, I might start making clips like this too... but what a way to spend your life! Why not spend that time making clips which benefit people in some way, instead of just abusing people for their beliefs and sounding self-righteous? Or is that what he's responding to? Troubling stuff...
OK, beddy byes. Ciao,

Mad People

Came home from lecture at Church given by Michael Northcott, Professor at Edinburgh Uni and Anglican priest. All about Global warming / climate change / Gaia hypothesis. I've been very interested in Gaia for a while now and would have liked more. His theme was basically that if we hurt the Earth, the Earth is going to hurt us back - seems intuitively right to me. Had a chat to the Masons afterwards - Richard said the Archbishop mentioned me (and Paul B) at Synod in relation to the Talents Quest which is pretty cool. [Must write that ASTQ experience up in these pages before I forget it all.] Mentioned my classic RAVE question to the Mason clan: why did God create dinosaurs only to have them destroyed? Tough one! Also discussed 2001: A Space Odyssey etc - will humans all perish in 6 billion years' time? The sort of question which keeps me awake at night and on my theistic toes, that's for sure. Happy to hear some ideas on that, folks...

Came home and watched Mad Men with Al. It's compelling viewing - I think I may have missed the very first episode but I've been glued to it since - could be necessary to get it out on DVD and watch in one big hit. Alternately hilarious and appalling in terms of chauvinism and smoking in particular. Tonight had a lot to do with things vibrating. Did they really have those back in the early 60s?

Good night all.

From Ikea to Origin

Took a trip down to the Ikea megastore. Can't believe they used to be on one side of the highway and they've moved the whole thing over to a new spot. Bought 2 sets of bookshelves and doors, probably for downstairs. Sick of books sitting on the floor down there - it is pretty silly. Fitting them into the Zafira not a problem.

Also took in the Ford to check muffler and transmission. Reckon it's going to be expensive and maybe fatal for that car, but don't want to have to cough up for a new one right now. Wilfred will call tomorrow a.m., I guess.

Built one of the bookcases with Declan tonight during the second Origin game. He did pretty well with his half of the jobs. The good guys won the game pretty emphatically too.

Awful soccer coaching tonight - a couple of the boys were really disobedient and painful. With Richard away, I had no markers, bibs or whistle and the goals were all locked away - I came home in need of food and a solid beer, both of which my beautiful wife provided. As I was nearly home from Ikea today, I remembered Alison hinting at bringing her back a present and so turned around and went back to Shoppingtown to get something - ended up getting the 15th Stephanie Plum book at Dymocks which proved very acceptable.

We're discussing blog ideas to have fun and make $: Al has a good one with Australian resources for older people - there are incredibly few sites giving older folks good ideas on how to remodel homes or get organised in various ways, other than govt sites or academic papers. I thought today about a blog for teachers and others to send in funny stories about things which have happened at school. It could be ranting which all teachers need to do from time to time, but I'm still thinking about it.

Haven't thought much about Samson and Delilah today, which is usually a pretty sure sign it didn't have a lot of impact on me, unfortunately. It's like a story which means well (I guess) but I just don't know if I could really recommend it. Ciao for now.

Samson and Delilah

Just saw the movie of the name above. Very keen to see it following David Stratton calling it one of the greatest films ever made in Australia and he and Margaret Pomeranz both giving it 5 stars! It may be that I need to sleep on it a bit to get the whole idea, but sadly I'm not sure I can agree with them. (Possible plot spoilers to follow, as they say…)

Strengths: any film about modern Aboriginal life has to be useful. It is ridiculous that Australians like me who've lived here most of our lives still know virtually nothing about the realities of modern day life for black Australians in the Outback. I couldn't tell you the first thing about life in Arnhem Land or the NT. This movie shows us that black rural teens need love too and often need help. From a Christian point of view, there is clearly an awareness of Christ and/or the Church in the lives of the indigenous people as when we see crosses on the wall etc. However, there is a telling moment when Delilah visits a Church in what I guess is Alice Springs. She seems to admire the artwork more than anything but is in desperate need of personal help. A priest comes and stands nearby with his hands clasped behind his back. She doesn't ask for help and just leaves. He says nothing but just watches her go. It seems a pretty unsubtle symbolic statement about the Church standing by idly while black people suffer. For people like me who feel the Church exists in order to actively engage with, and improve the lives of, the disadvantaged and needy, it irks!

The acting is largely impressive and believable, though I don't think I ever felt as emotionally engaged as I have in some other films. It keeps your attention at every moment, though. Occasional moments of strong violence out of nowhere are genuinely shocking. The amount of petrol-sniffing is concerning – you want to reach up on screen and grab that tin out of his hands. The monotony and hopelessness of many black lives is obvious.

Weaknesses: I guess it's arguable how subtle the performances and themes really are. The title suggests hair-cutting will occur, and it does, but does it lead to a loss of power and disaster? Apparently not, though one can't see how the relationship can be sustained. It reminded me a bit of Bad Boy Bubby in some ways – disturbing images set in present day Australia, making us wonder how well we can ever know what goes on in this big place. (Memo – must see Wolf Creek sometime too – I see John Jarratt out in the street quite often so can probably enjoy his performance a little more, knowing he's not really a psycho…) The lack of dialogue is also apparently deliberate but without a great deal of plot motivation. It reminds us that indigenous people don't necessarily need to say much to communicate, but all the same, it can be frustrating to watch!

It's certainly very non-Hollywood and I guess that's a refreshing change, but I just can't help thinking of plot turns that could have been created, especially involving the art work involved etc. Maybe my sense of pace is just too Western and white.

I was watching it, asking myself constantly whether I could show it in Yr 11 or Yr 12 English, or even RAVE, but I'm just not sure. What point does it ultimately make about indigenous Australians? Is it ultimately a positive portrait? Does it make us question what's happening out there or just think it's all a hopeless case for the 'too hard' basket?

I'll see how I feel about it tomorrow.

Holiday work: a painful oxymoron

Holidays so kids at school. Alison suddenly unwell with headache, high temp etc. If this becomes swine flu...!
Trying to do too many things today (have holiday list of about 30 jobs) but desperate not to waste time (is writing this wasting time? Probably). Have done some filing and currently trying to copy shows off the DVD recorder onto DVDs. Need to buy a new DVD recorder as this one keeps freezing. Want to copy our wedding videos onto DVD, but then wonder if our VCR is up to the task or whether we need to buy a new one of those too. Should be pretty cheap - in fact we may not be able to buy one for much longer if they become obsolete. Wedding VHSs date from 1993 so condition may be suspect if I don't move fast. The good thing is they've been played very rarely and have been stored pretty well so should be largely OK.
But must do schoolwork whenever possible, especially during 9-3 when kids are away this week. Time to get into it.

Time for Kick-off

Hi folks,

It's the God HOD here. HOD is an acronym for Head Of Department and I guess you'll work out the rest. Really not sure what this blog is going to be about - very reluctant to go too public with some areas. I guess everyone gets rumbled sooner or later.
Maybe it'll just be a diary. Why don't I just save diary entries to My Docs then? Because I want things saved on some server somewhere - too afraid of IT failure at home?
Had a journal going for quite a while at The Open Diary way back but then had to go off-line for a long time and when I went back - it was all gone. Disappointed. They started auto-archiving things not much later but too late for me. Luckily I had copies of some key passages.
How much self-censorship? Who to name? Just had IT policy posted re: professionalism when using blogs etc. Well, don't worry - I'll be staying anon for now. Maybe this can be the personal diary and I'll set up others for work or whatever.
I had an idea many years ago to get a blog going with an entry for each day of my children's lives, detailing what they got up to, and not telling them about it for as long as possible. Goods and bads. Didn't do it, which is probably a shame in some ways but imagine doing that and then having your kids not care about, demand you delete it, etc!
I tried keeping all D's movie tickets but I've lost track of that too now - David Stratton, I'm not, I guess. Maybe I can at least get his and V's file-drawers straightened up these holidays, using folders for each year at least.
I'm always amazed at how much more photographed kids can be these days - digital cameras make it so simple and cheap. Not like when I was a kiddy, with expensive camera films, etc.
I've been thinking of 'restarting' this blog for quite a while now, but wanted to start on a "good day", not a sad one and hopefully one with action, not the mundane - bad luck!
Things on my mind - sore knee and upcoming operation; using holidays to do jobs (29 on the list this morning not including school work for next term); issues of faith and belief.
It's midnight - more tomorrow.