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!

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.

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.

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.

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.