backed into a corner

I'm home today.

My back, which is often friendly, decided to have a sooky la la session overnight. I have no problem with it going off in a huff BUT I am attached to it and it couldn't get very far so kept me awake.

I'm going to make an appointment to see the osteopath today so he can have a good talking to my back. I can't quite get round there to say what I really feel so I have to pay someone to do the talking.

I might have a lie down and read through a few books for most of the day. . . . .

quicky

Walking through the staffroom today and Frogdancer looked at me and told me that my hair didn't look too good today. I stopped, took a good look at her, then remembered I work with someone who reads my blog.

just stuff

My desk is an absolute shambles. It's not my desk and I have only got the surface space to play with. I can't wait to get back to my desk - for a variety of reasons.

I like having my time to do my correction at work and not at home.

I was saying this to my Year 11 class this morning and one student asked me if I had stated that I didn't take work home. I pointed out that yes, that was the case but in this situation I was needing to take the work home to do as I didn't have enough time with all the interruptions. Very frustrating. I am pleased that I have got the year 8 work corrected - predominantly - just the one class handing in their work at the end of this week.

Tonight we have a small concert. I think I should define the word small as we, our music department, see it. This is a single instrument night and there is only one teacher involved in the set up. This teacher is at school 2 days a week and has over 20 students. There will be solos a plenty tonight! A few duets, maybe a trio and the small ensemble that the kids are in...... I am hoping to be out of here by 9pm! Good luck!

I arrived in today wearing a nice chunky hand knit - a black number - when the teacher bounded up to me and told me that I needed to be MC for the night. Noice! I am not dressed to appear on stage.....but it will have to do! A bit of lippy and it will all be foine! I might even drag a brush over my hair.

Speaking of which. I have had the most interesting time lately with students, teachers and a few parents asking me if I have recently had my hair done? They tell me it looks nice, darker and the blunt cut looks terrific. When I state that I haven't in the last 4 weeks, they look quizzical. The only difference is that I haven't actually styled my hair. I have DEAD - STRAIGHT hair. I mean there is no body, not a wave or a whisper of a kink in my hair. I have found a fantastic hairdresser who cuts body into my hair....... But to be told my hair looks nice when I have done NOTHING! It has made me re evaluate the whole styling/brushing thing. I mean when I do something and get no compliments, then do nothing and get compliments. It's doing my head in.

I made mention of doing the cats head in last night. I don't have a particularly brave cat. She runs away at the sound of plastic being scrunched. Last night was an absolute hoot. There I am with the bubble toy....you remember the type you had in a lolly bag from a party when you were a kid? This was the 'adult' version. Same concept, not very diluted liquid soap and a handle with an eyehole that you blow the bubbles out of, but in a mini champagne bottle. There I am, I blew out a few bubbles. The cat watched with interest from the other side of the room - on her MASSIVE scratching post. She came towards me, a bubble floated down, hit her ear and popped. She jumped then bolted.

I then read with dismay about Doris, Mr Abodes cat. I am jealous beyond words. He does mention that Orlando is not very brave but I am not convinced.

bubbles

I tried posting the blog below last night. Didn't happen! Who knows why. Thanks to the program just automatically saving my work as a draft. Yay!

It is now 9.30 Tuesday 29th July - for those interested.


I made a decision that I wasn't going to blog until I had finished my year 8 correction.

Ta da! All done! - Well until the next form group comes in at the end of this week! I have one student who plagarised really badly!

So I am over talking about school......

I went to a friend's 40th on Saturday and another of her friends provided everyone with "bubbles" that you can create from the tiniest of champagne bottles. Tonight to distract myself from some of the least interesting assignments I have read (note to self, re write the bloody thing!), I played with the cat with the bubbles. She freaked out like nothing else. I blew out a few bubbles and she ran to the other side of the unit. Once she came back I did it again and off she scampered. It kept me entertained for a little while. She's now exhausted and is sleeping soundly on the couch.

I am now off to sleep myself and probably dream about the taste that my students seem to be lacking in music!


I didn't dream about my students you will be pleased to know!

committed

It's a rainy day here - cold but not as cold as it has been previously. I've just made a coffee and noticed the neighbours have their woodfire going. I knew they were out there with all the door slamming that has been going on.

I have corrected 3 worksheets of my year 11 class - and am about to finish the rest.

I am going out this afternoon - not sure where but I am catching up with friends.

Started back on the counting of food intake today (aka weight watchering style). I have documented my days intake - looks good and yummy.

I have made the commitment to get up early and go to the gym in the morning. (5.45 get up to be at gym when it opens at 6.)

I realised that I have to just plan - and then get on with following through with the plan!

On a radio station I listen to there have been many ads about their coverage of the upcoming Olympics. Not sure where I stand with the whole Olympic thing......Tibet and all. But they have a quote from a local sports hero on there about attitude and commitment which I will put here - thanks Ron Barassi

"if it is to be, it is up to me."

I've been thinking

It's Saturday and the domestic goddess has once again reared her beautiful head. Shopping done, back room, which went into stasis, is almost sorted (having a cup of coffee now to pep me up before going back) and a couple of loads of washing is done and blowing gently in the wind.

I have that pile of correction looking lovingly at me. I wish I was at it. The aim is to have it done by the end of the day - nay weekend.

Tonight I am going to a friends 40th. Last night dinner with a couple of really good friends who I really should spend more time with - one I work with and never get a chance to sit and natter with her, the other I did work with and should ring her more often or even email. A good night on general catch up. Need more of that.

I've been reading through lots of blogs lately having subscribed to a few more in my blog reader. By reading these many blogs I have to tell you that I am glad to be single and not have ever been in a long term relationship.

A few months ago I would never have stated such a fact but through reading so many blogs where women (mainly) are sharing the issues of child support, broken promises etc I am pleased that I am here relatively unscathed. I know that there are heaps of relationships out there that work beautifully (I've read a few of those too) but there is a great deal of passion in the writing of those who are venting their anger, sadness about love and trust lost. I feel privileged to read your inner most thoughts.

Now I would like to say that I wouldn't mind being in a relationship but I am more than happy with the way things are at the moment - happily single. I was introduced to Quirky alone by Vanessa and I could say that it has helped my thinking a great deal. Basic premise is you would rather than be single than settle for just anyone. There is a standard.

Cup of coffee gone, house work beckons - and it saves me from having to correct!

Enjoy the day.

Correction isn't done but here's a poem - sort of.

Procrastination - I have blogged of you before.
Putting off until tomorrow, although it makes no sense.
I find "new" things to do, having nothing to do with my purpose.
But what have I set myself that I cannot undertake now?
Isn't sitting with the cat on my knee, knitting new jumpers a purpose?
Reading and writing blogs - catching up with the 'news' of the world.
Correction - although essential in the world that I inhabit
Is not a thing that I marvel in like wool and well-written words.
But tonight I might get to that pile
It might even shrink marginally
Tonight, it could even be a winner!

another day like yesterday..........

Today is ditto yesterday (take away seeing Mama Mia). I got different administrative things done today.

Grand piano delivery organised.

4 Professional Development meetings had with my staff. (See Mr Scott I am working!)

Sorted out the choir uniform situation. Looked into getting new ones made but the cost is ridiculous - particularly as I am looking at changing them in the near future. (Oh my goodness $60 per item! and a minimum of 20 needed to get the order made!)

Taught 2 classes.

Ran a rehearsal at 7.45 for the kids to perform at general assembly. They did really well!

Taught Frogdancers son after school today - we need to get him some "interesting" music so that he can wow the audience again! He is talking about stuff for the end of Unit 4 next year!

Started sorting out billeting for interstate kidlets.

Booked out wind quintet into a gig for the local council.

I also did the instrumental stuff as well!

Didn't get the correction done last night as I was jiggered. Lined up for tonight. Now going to have my dinner and get on with it!

Enjoy your evening.

what a day.....

My, what a day it has been.

Before I get to that. Saw "Mama Mia!" last night with a whole gaggle of girls (and one bloke). It was really good. We even got over the idea of Pierce Brosnan singing - if that is what you call it. He sounded like a heavy-duty ballad singer of the 1970s. Interesting.

Anyhow back to the day.

I have to tell you that being acting Head of Department is quite an eye opener! I am doing this on top of my normal teaching load....quite a heavy load I might just say. Today we had two staff away - ill; one staff away - conference and two away - tour. Normally on a Monday we would have 7 instrumental staff but today we had 2. It was very quiet.

One of the things that I had to do with the instrumental position was send of the AMEB forms and a cheque. On Friday I, along with the other instrumental coordinator, went through the process I would undertake today. We have so many kids going to do exams. A cheque went off today for $4757 - that's just exam entries!

Another cheque for a percussion Eisteddfod.

Then set up two meetings for professional planning with the two staff that are there. I also chatted with our graduate teacher - forward planning for her professional portfolio she has to get together for her full registration.

Kids kept coming to find me - eek!

Taught a number of classes.

Developed a headache and came home early (home by 4.45pm).

Tonight is correction - three lots of year 8 and two lots of year 11.

I think I might get an early one in! I have to as the chamber strings are performing at General Assembly tomorrow.......

the end of reality tv

Big Brother is on its final days! I am so excited. I am hoping that with the death of this reality television show we will finally see shows develop that encourage new local talent.

When the series first started 8 years ago I was intrigued, along with many others here. In fact, I discovered that I knew one of the participants in the show. But what intrigued me was why people would put their hand up to say they would live with a group of other strangers and have it filmed. I understand that there is the idea of a cash reward and also the promise of lucrative media deals but really..... (The person I know had a few years of being harassed by the general public due to the way she had a hissy fit and then was evicted. Her life has not really changed that much because of the show.)

Then there have been other reality based shows - Survivor (only the American version did well here. We tried our own but our attitude to game playing etc is so far removed from the original it doesn't project well on television. We should have called it "Build a bridge - then get over it!" Just not that catchy); Biggest loser (who knew that a weight loss television show would get such a cult status?); The Amazing Race - how far can you push couples!; and all the game shows where you can win a million dollars if you sing/dance whatever correctly.

Other shows - more like talent quests - have hit the screens:Idol, X-factor, so you think you can dance (um, many can't!) and Australia's got talent (strange show!). My least favourite of all these type of shows has been "Battle of the Choirs" where there has been a singing and dancing spectacular between 4 choirs each week leading to the finals. We just don't have that many choirs here......If I entered my school choir (as suggested by a colleague) I think I would have been lynched, quite rightly, by the kiddies!

The talent shows are ok but it is such a generic, bland look and sound that the judges and audience want that there are MANY performers out there who wont ever get a look in! The goth/emo looking artist would not make it in a million years as they don't have "the" look, as does the hippy or the ultra conservative. To succeed on any of these mainstream shows you have to be trendy - but not outrageously so, sing very main stream songs and be prepared to 'sell' your soul. Maybe I am being too harsh. These shows are aimed at the pre teens (predominantly girls) or mums in the crowd.

I am not denying the contestants on the show have talent, but they have to learn to "play" the game and sometimes deny their own natural talent to really succeed. Unfortunately there is not really any other true outlet for these performers to be noticed. Once they win the show they are judged really harshly.......

But back to Big Brother. This year, after 7 years, the producers changed the formula to try and resurrect the ailing show. They dismissed the original host, who had looked a little bored last year, and employed two radio djs to replace her. One comes across as being a bit of an air head and then there is his off-sider. Together they have done very little for the show itself. Then they had a whole stack of people who were meant to "clash" once inside the house. I have caught a few episodes here and there (often nothing on and I have tv on to block arguments of neighbours) and there has been 'tension' but nothing really exciting. The people in the show know there are cameras everywhere and very rarely let their guard down - so there isn't a great deal of angst......but then again I have no idea what is really happening now.

When they announced the end of the show last week many people thought - "who cares?" - but it is now, when there is less than 72 hours to go, that many people are thinking about what the possibilities might be for other styles of show. I have heard about the demise of BB on many talk radio shows and in a few newspaper articles.

I can only hope that the students I teach have a good opportunity to present their talent without having to sell their identity or soul.

deomestic bliss

Domestic goddess has taken over the blog this morning. Dusting almost complete. Kitchen benches shiny and hygenic. Rubbish out. Bathroom complete. Only washing, vaccuuming, bedroom and study to go. After that I will leave the house and go shopping - with new and improved shopping list. Food will be made for the meals ahead - so much easier to come home and just pop in a reheat than madly try and cook something from scratch when you are hungry enough to eat the shelving system.

Also 3 sets of neighbours have power saws going off so now is a great time to get the domestic goddess stuff done.

I am bounding around the house - went to bed at 10pm and got up at 8am! What a sleep! I am so excited to be so refreshed.

Thank god its friday.

Friday night couldn't have come soon enough. I am a bit stuffed after the week that has been. Alarm clock is switched off and I am ready for a sleep in.

In amongst the standard domestic goddess stuff that I have to do I will correct lots of work, plan for the upcoming week and I will knit some more. I will have dinner with some good friends tomorrow night and I might even get out and about on Sunday - maybe to a market somewhere. I might want to go and look at some new clothes!

Not much else to say really. Cold weather, cat asleep on my knee and even some knitting underway! Only downside is the silly shows on television. I haven't spent a Friday night home for a while and have not ever really known how uninteresting tv is......I won't be up that long.

Read back and think that I sound like a sad sack.....I'm not, just tired..... Night.

Just came back after a few minutes and realise that I am seeing Mama Mia on Sunday after I have gone off to a meet - up over coffee. Should be fun......

off the soup.

I had to stop the eating plan tonight. There is one issue I have discovered in the last few days is that you can't miss a meal.....Yesterday I had only half my lunch and then today I didn't even have time to eat any lunch.

Massive headache after missing lunch so I decided that I needed to have something substantial. I made fried brown rice with mushrooms and zucchini and corn. It was really yummy. I had more fruit for dessert and I feel so much better.

Why did I miss a few meals - well it is to do with there not being enough hours in the day and I am in the head of department position for the first few weeks of the term.

OMG it is a busy little department - well not little, we are fairly large. We are taking in AMEB entrance forms at the moment and there is a camp starting on Sunday for the Stage Band and wind quintet. At the start of a semester there is the change of teacher, groups and finding out new timetable routine. It has been entertaining and I am now quite tired - what with the change in workload and the soup.

Enough work.

Neighbours Update - they are out in their crazy built extension everynight having a few drinks and watching a bit of LOUD telly. Well tonight they were using the power saw to chop up wood for their fire, for a good half hour 7- 7.30. What a bunch of tossers....(wankers for those not up with the term!)

bottoms up

I had to pick up a couple of books and CDs for the year 12 kid that I am teaching this afternoon. What I picked up were past distance education stuff so I will have a lot of my planning sorted out already. I have just one student in this particular subject while there are 6 year 11s in the room as well so it becomes a tad crazy. The thing with distance ed stuff is that you can get them going on it and they should be self sufficient.....

Anyway, on my way home I was taking note of male fashions. Or maybe that should be lack of male fashions. There are so many older males who think that it is a great thing to wear their pants really low like the teenage boys do. On older men it looks stupid!

As I pulled up to a railway station near where I live, a bloke jumped out of the car he was in and crossed over the road. He literally had no bottom, his pants were that low. This man looked as though he was near 50 and really should know better.

If I see a larger man with the low-slung pant look I generally think "get bigger pants so they sit higher". There are plenty of shops around that target the larger-sized man so they should frequent those places and stop trying to fit into the pants they wore years ago. I can't stand the crotch of pants hanging somewhere between the hip and knee. I am not looking for cute, trim bottoms (well maybe I am....) on every man. I just want to know that all men have bottoms.......

This may sound harsh but I am over the no-bottom look.

Men - Lift up your pants! Please!

Can I have fries with that?

I started the soup diet that Frogdancer went on a few weeks ago. Now I know what she meant about irritation - I want anything that is not soup and has carbohydrates in it.

Cake.

Bread.

Pasta.

Cheese would be good too!

I am surprised that I am not craving sweet things. I thought that I would.

Tonight I can have a potato for dinner with butter (?) but I will have lots of lettuce, raw tomato and some carrot with it. I might even splurge for some pumpkin! That is after I have had a bowl of soup. (urgh! - ONLY after 3 serves of it. They were very big bowls.)

Now I know that there are those that would be reading this that might be a little concerned about my dietary habits and having a balanced diet. I am eating lots of vegies and fruit. At the moment I have not had any carbs or protein.

Why am I doing this?

Well through the report writing times and crazy concert/recital times I ate lots of cakes, biscuits (sweet and savoury), chocolate and indulged in too much wine, full cream hot chocolates and sweet coffee. I also had lots of take-away food but I did try to be healthy (stir fries, noodles etc). This has continued on during the holidays. I indulged to my hearts content.

Now that I am back at work I thought that it would be a good time to cleanse the body of its cravings for all of the above mentioned stuff. (cant write them down again - I just want to eat them instead!) Then I will re establish my healthy eating plan that I have. It's all about balance but I wanted a fast result to the cravings etc. It's also a bonus that I might lose a few kgs this week but that was never my primary focus.

I'll just let you know what the eating plan is for the next few days....tomorrow (day 3) is fruit and vegie day. Day four I can have BANANAS and milk. (I am very excited about that!) Day five I have steak and tomatoes. Day six - More beef and vegies (I'm thinking stirfry!!!!!!!!) Then finally day Seven - BROWN RICE (oh the carbs!) fruit juice and vegies.

You have to eat the soup all the time as well. The soup is made up of carrots, tomatoes, beans, peppers and celery. It's quite nice but I am over it! (5 more days of soup, glorious soup).

Have I mentioned the soup enough? Do you have an understanding of my position? I'm not hungry - I just want carbs and NO SOUP!

tongue tied

Have their been times when you have opened your mouth said something that you think will be understood but then on reflection you want to bring back as quickly as possible but you can't and it's out there haunting the universe forever?

Has this happened to anyone or is it just me?

(ok - the first question is badly worded but I hope you get my meaning.)

I have always had the habit of saying things that sometimes I just wish I hadn't. Trouble is I say it with such conviction that it may carry more weight than I had intended.

An incident occurred over the weekend that I keep thinking about.

I was musing out loud to my friend K about how different people discuss the same issue. Actually the word I think I used was gossip. This was never my intention to imply that they were gossiping. They were in fact discussing a fairly intense issue.

What fascinated me was not so much what they were discussing but more how body language, tone of voice, volume and emphasis changes according to the people who are leading the discussion. I am always amazed how different group of people react to the same information. I observe my staffroom with the same amount of interest, in fact any group of people who have some diametrically opposed people.

When I tried to explain this I think I stumbled over my choice of words and made it sound as if I didn't approve of what they were saying.

What I would like to have happen is the conversation that I had with K about this situation to be removed from existence and then replaced with a more carefully worded discussion that really showed my intention.

Now that I have that out of my system I can get on with it.

the weekend away

I have just come home from my weekend away and have just caught up on my blog reading - some of you out there have been very busy.

I might just tell you that I am officially exhausted - I did nothing over the weekend except catch up with some girls that I didn't know that well but got to know them a lot better over the weekend. I got up early this morning as K had to get back for uni and I was quite happy to travel with her as I do have to get some work done for school tomorrow.

I told you that it was going to be cold. That is an understatement if I think about yesterday morning. I was in Daylesford and it was about 3 degrees and the wind was blowing. Icy, bone numbing wind that you couldn't really get away from. We were staying a short walk from the main shopping strip but by the time you got to the shops your fingers were numb - even in gloves!

We wandered from shop to shop looking at bits and pieces and having a good girly time. We went to the Convent gallery, which is an old convent that has been transformed into an art gallery and reception centre. Some amazing art work there and also some that I scratched my head about - but that is the whole idea about art.

I had another 'interesting' moment at the gallery. I needed to use the public toilets there and walked up to the ladies. Seeing the "vacant" sign was on display, I opened the door, and there was this woman standing there playing with her hair. I immediately apologised and backed out of the room. I then spent a few minutes guarding the door in case she needed to use the amenities and someone else came past. Once she came out, I went in and made sure I locked the door. Very strange and I have no idea why she didn't lock the door herself.

So why am I so tired? It has a lot to do with my sleeping - or lack of it over the weekend. There were 11 of us all up in a place that comfortably bedded 8. Three were providing their own sleeping gear. Knowing it was going to be cold I took 2 sleeping bags and a foam roll up mattress thing. When I got there I discovered two large couches and a slightly smaller one in the lounge room. I could almost lie down on a large couch so I decided to sleep there. A few people suggested that I should take the cushions of the couch and put them on the floor.

We had a good night of sitting around and chatting but the week had worked it's magic on us all and we were tired from the drive and sitting in front of a wood fire.

I got out the sleeping bags and my pillow and placed them on a couch - the other girl I was in the lounge with did the same. (the third girl wasn't there that night). Once I popped into my bed I soon discovered that it was warm. I couldn't get comfortable but I put that down to being in a strange environment and having the sleeping sounds of others around me.

2 hours later I cracked it a bit. I decided to move the cushions onto the floor. (time now 2am) The cushions were stuck down with velcro! You know there are times when you try to be quiet because you don't want to wake those around you and no matter what happens you are just noisy. This was one of those times. I apologised to the other lounge room sleeper and she said dozily "it's ok".

Three leather cushions on polished floor boards does not bode well but I wasn't thinking that sensibly at that hour of the morning. Each and every time I rolled over the cushion under my head went one way and the one at my feet went the other. I tried this for about an hour then finally gave up. I put the cushions back on the couch - slowly, as I registered the velcro issue.

Having got back on the couch I did get to sleep. I think I had about 4 hours all up.

Now I might just tell you that we had, as a group, decided to keep the central heating on (noisy) and the fire had been stoked up so it burnt away happily until about 3 am. I was boiling in my fleecy pyjamas and in a high tech sleeping bag, under the other sleeping bag.

When I got up the next morning (8.30am) I asked the other lounge sleeper how she slept and her reply warmed my heart. "I didn't!" It sounds awful but I was thrilled that I was not alone in my lack of sleep.

Compare that to the second night. I slept on the floor (on top of my foam and rolled up sleeping bag) and did quite well. The room was much colder and there was an amazing snorer in the room. I had my earplugs in and only occasionally felt the cold. I think I slept for about 5 1/2 hours all up so I was much better to drive.

I will get some work done today but I need to get foods sorted out for the week ahead and really just get out of holiday mode and into work mode.

Reflection

I'm going away for the weekend.

It's going to be very cold! It has been snowing around the area where I am going.

I think this might mean having to stay inside and drink a bit. What a shame.

Friday, last day of my holidays and I am looking at what I've done - not much really; how I feel - pretty good; preparation for next week - a little but no where near enough. How do I feel about all of this? - don't care really as I have been working long enough to know that the kids will also be a little all over the place for the first few days. (just so you know I don't count weekends as holidays - I have them off all the time.)

The only thing I really have to do is get my head around some Phillip Glass minimalism (light reading while I am away) and Modal Blues by Miles Davis for the year 12 student I am teaching. I need to get my hands on a copy of Miles Davis so that will be something I work on this weekend. Everything else should be fine.

I really needed to stop these holidays, which is what I have done. We have just had a CRAZY term and now comes the BIG one for my department. We have two major concerts and lots of small ones throughout this term and I will be acting as the head of department for the first few weeks.......should be fun.(ha ha ha!)

I am still looking into further study - slowly reading through what the universities can offer me and trying to work out my area of interest. I have so many ideas on what I could look at but was advised by an ex colleague of mine that perhaps the one idea that I was SOOOOOO passionate about might not be good for my future career. On reflection I think she might have been correct. I looked at the implications of studying something that I want to get on the panel of in the future and realised that the place I was starting from was in opposition to what the panel might consider to be correct. Sometimes you have to play politics. You also have to get onto the panel to change something. I'm sorry if I am not being clear in what, where, when and why but I am protecting my future..........

I am in the process of reading my sisters thesis and it has opened many more possibilities to me. The passion that she has written with is amazing and I only hope that I can write with equally the same conviction.

I have also come to the conclusion that I think I will eventually step away from the classroom in my career but I am not sure exactly where I will end up. This is an ongoing thought process with me and a few friends rib me about it when I raise the idea of finding something beyond teaching...."so, do you mean it this time?" I know that they mean it in jest and I often will say to the people I discuss these ideas with, that I am only using them as a sounding board to air my ideas for the future - often quite distant future. It is scary, but I feel that distant future is coming to me quite quickly and I am not sure exactly where it is I am meant to be heading. It will sort itself out if I give myself permission to honestly evaluate my position.

I am still very passionate about teaching - but it is the politics of the school, away from the students, that I don't care for. Some people thrive on "gossip" but I would prefer to thrive on the success of each individual in the classroom.

Wickedly good

I saw "Wicked" last night. Overall it was a good show with a very interesting story line and a lot of great one-liners. I was really impressed by the costumes, lighting and some of the staging. The acrobatics was quite good as well but I scratched my head at the end when all these people around me jumped up and gave a standing ovation. I wondered what I missed.

The woman playing the Wicked witch (Elphy) was really good and came close to being the thing that would have forced me onto my feet but there were a few things here and there that I was not impressed by. Galinda was played by an understudy and she was really good and I think I would've been on my feet if it had been the regular and she was better than the understudy. The major hassle was the fact that the understudy had a few top notes to hit and she missed them by a good tone to a tone and half which clashed with the harmony and made me cringe. (This happened about 3 times through the night.)

The love interest (Pietro?) was played by a local celebrity who had first come to light on Australian Idol. He can sing but he can't dance. All of his dance routines were simple and still he looked a little awkward. I had the biggest chuckle during the major love song in the second half when Elphy and he are singing away about undying love and this being the best night of their life. All I could think of as I watched this was "I wonder if he was like this when he had a night with Paris?" (This particular gentleman rose to 'fame' when he "landed" a night with Paris H when she was on a whirlwind tour of Australia.) The thought distracted me somewhat and unfortunately I laughed and the man next to me was unimpressed.....

Watching the audience was just as entertaining as stage show. I followed two young ladies up the stairs. They were both beautifully dressed in slim fitting dresses, stockings and paton leather, high-heeled shoes. The blonde girl had amazing ringlets. They approached the main usher at the top of the stairs and he asked them who had the tickets. The blonde girl opened he mouth and out fell the most god-damn awful accent I've heard in my life "Oh, I do...." An image crushed.

The venue where the show is on is an older theatre (in the scheme of the world it is quite young!) and does not have any lifts or escalators and many people got to the top seating area and discovered that they had MORE stairs to climb and their face fell. I was amused.

The girl I went with sat in the stalls as we got tickets at different times and although we tried, we couldn't get tickets together. I was sitting near the entrance and watched the main usher with interest particularly when a woman with four or five kids appeared at the top of the steps. He asked her for her tickets. She handed over what turned out to be one, the others with all the kids. He looked at the ticket, then at all the kids and said "well you only have one ticket but that's ok. I'll show you to your seat and all the kids can sit on your knee. I'm sure that'll be fine." The look on the womans face was brilliant. The smile vanished from the ushers face and he moved the family on quickly.

I can recommend Wicked - but if you go in Melbourne you have to go to watch the audience as it is fairly clear that they are not used to watching live theatre and have no idea about etiquette.

How far we've come......

I am amazed about who reads my blog.

After having a hissy fit earlier this year about the numbers I now write for myself. (Thanks to those of you who "held my hand" during that whirl wind moment!) I was watching the numbers on my site reader stabilise to around 10 per day, then I had the 4th of July incident where the numbers just disappeared.

Following advice I jumped over to sitemeter without a care in the world. Now I find that I can see where readers are coming from - couldn't do that before! I mean, it mentions the distance from me in kms! Wow!

I also now get to see what pages have fed into my site, Mostly just run of the mill bloglines reader (I have that set up too!) but now I am finding direct links from other pages. I am so excited to find that I am on a blog roll of someone over the other side of the world that I have never met!

I now am reading Susan's site and it would never have been possible if I had not changed my counter! (I love what I have read so far.)

Now many of you would be thinking "ok, so you found out that someone in Europe or America is reading your blog," but this is mind blowing for me.

Just thought I would share my amusement and excitement with you out there - no matter how far you are from me........17,724km.........or 186.......

I would like to introduce you all to the blog of one of my sisters.

She is a very talented artist and musician.

Go and have a look but come on back.......

stong women

The thing about holidays is that you get plenty of time to think and sort through stuff mentally. Having read a few blogs these holidays I realise that I am not the only one thinking.

Vanessa posted about forgiveness which I found really interesting to read and made me go away and think through what she was saying.

Frogdancer is having a very interesting time at the moment dealing with the changes in child support.

And then I get amazed each time I read about Laura's job! (not something that I would be able to do myself!)

So now that I have sent you off every which way I will get to the point of my blog: Strong Women.

Last night I couldn't just drop off to sleep - some of that might be to do with the fact that I had my back manipulated in the afternoon and my back was just settling down again - but I think most of it was to do with the fact that I was thinking through "the strong women that I know."

I am very blessed in the fact that I have had many strong women in my life. I watch what these women do in stressful situations and then wonder if I would do the same.

Now I want to make it clear that I am not talking about aggressive women - I know plenty of them - but I am talking about women who get crap thrown at them then find a way to quietly get on with it and do what needs to be done without too much fuss. Sure they complain (wouldn't be human if they didn't) but they don't spend too much time or energy on the complaints. They spend more time getting on with living with the changed circumstances.

I know that I am a strong woman, particularly in the work environment. I also know that there are times when I just have to stop and have a good cry because I find it too hard. I think many women find this as well but you wouldn't see this in the open.

I was watching telly last night and realised that by and large we are still spending a lot of time viewing stereotypes. When there is a strong woman she is often portrayed as aloof which I know to be so far from the truth it is not funny. Women who are good on the personal level are often as dumb as. Ok they are not the same level of stereotypes as they were 20 years ago - but I am so cross that popular media does not reflect what is truly happening. There are women who are portrayed in the way that they appear in real life - but these women appear in shows that don't trouble the ratings meter. Why?

I also know that concept of feminism has changed greatly (often the older feminists think that it has regressed) and a lot of young women don't find it "sexy" to present themselves as completely capable. Again, why? I personally think that this is a waste. I cannot cope with incompetence in male or female unless the person is psychologically or intellectually unable to make a decision for themselves.

As a teacher I watch young adults sorting out what to do in a situation where they know what they should do and how to act but they are faced with the dilemma of public image. Sometimes you hear "I know...." and other times (especially when there is someone to impress) you hear "what do you think....?"

This is often in the younger teenagers. The older teenagers have generally sorted out a broad place that they want to stand on and are fine tuning the character they are becoming.

To all the strong women I know, "Thank you" for being the role model that you are. We will always need a good role model.

woolly mammoth!

I have gone mad.......I have purchased SOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH WOOL.

I will be knitting for years to come.

Well actually I am making a "granny square rug" and I am crocheting it.

I haven't done that in years and I'm enjoying it immensely!

Can't chat have wool to deal with!

dancing the night away

Thanks to Vanessa I have changed my counter. No one will be able to see the numbers on there and I have a better idea of where everyone comes from. I still haven't got any idea where the numbers on the 4th of July went. What I am thinking is that they were all Americans and ex-pat Americans who gathered at my site and then went out and haven't come home yet.

Last night I went out to "The Laundry" with a friend of mine who was child-free for the night. We went to the "Funkiest first Saturday of the month" - Soul-a-go-go. This is a benefit night run by my most favourite radio station PBS fm. (Those who are interested try www.pbsfm.org.au and listen into the streaming). This radio station is run by volunteers and plays all genres of music that is NOT classical or top 40. Every week they give me my dose of jazz, funk, metal, soul country and gospel. Recently they had a grid change and my 2nd favourite show was taken off as it didn't have enough listeners. I subscribe to the radio station and I went with my most favourite show (Blue Juice - Sundays 11am-1pm), maybe I should've gone with my 2nd.

We got there at 9pm and we both went looking for our second wind, me as a school marm, and she as a nana (our descriptions of ourselves). The place was fairly empty but within the hour the place was starting to groove. By 11pm it was elbow room only. We left our "bus stop" chair and got up for a boogie. Soul music upstairs - funk downstairs. After a good hour of dancing my feet were sore - we were dancing on polished cement and there was no give and I was in VERY TALL boots.

We had a sit down - having found the bus stop again, and I ended up talking to a very drunk 20 year old boy. He and I laughed about his jacket (still not sure what he said but I smiled and nodded my head) then I finally heard what he was saying. He was telling me that he loves dance music as well as this stuff. "This stuff has a happy trance to it so you want to move to it." (We were listening to soul) I am still trying to work out the concept of happy/sad trance....... I might have to listen to it with a purpose now.

Finally my most favourite dj from the station got up to mix the tracks.

Just an aside I thought I knew who the djs had been before then but got them all wrong so I stopped trying to work out which one was my favourite one........

Can I just tell you all that once I worked out who my favourite was I realised he is gorgeous! Mohair Slim is his name. I am very impressed that my taste in listening is supported by eye-candy as well. And he can move! I wonder if he is single.........

Enough day dreaming....

Where did they go?

I wasn't going to blog today - not much that I wanted to communicate, I've been doing more of the same and loving the results. Still other things that I need to work on....but isn't that always the case?

So why am I blogging? Well I looked at my blog yesterday - in fact I even blogged- and the counter was over 1730 viewers. Today 1728. ?????? I checked out the counting web site and yesterday has been wiped. ??????? Don't know why and I'm very confused.

Back to the sorting.

the clean out continues

There is something really cathartic about cleaning out everything. You have a good look at something and decide "yes" or "no". If only everything in this world was so simple.

Yesterday I sorted out material, buttons, zips, odd bods of things (a lot ended up in the bin bag) and cleaned up about four shelves worth of stuff.

I also have put all the old doonas into space saver bags and sucked the air out of them before I put them into a newly cleaned trunk. There is something very surreal about putting old doonas into a bag and then sucking the "life" out of it and watching the shape change from a recognisable object to something that is small and ugly!

I had to clean out the trunk - all my wine collection wrapped in a single doona. I then had to clean off the wine rack (in the coats cupboard/linen press which has now become costume storage and linen/press). There was really 'old' alcohol there. I didn't realise that alcohol could go off but it did. I had something like "velvet cream" (yuck! - prefer the original of Irish cream) which had become a solid mess....... The gin had got thicker etc. Down the sink it went and the bottle got thrown into the recycle.

I am doing this in stages - am not coping with more than an hour at a time. Saying that I have almost cleaned out the study - although to look at it you would think that I have a huge amount to go. I have tried to do this all at once before and I failed badly. I think you have to be in the 'right' frame of mind. You have to know that you are about to clean out what you have stored over the last few years.

It is all too easy to leave it and hope it goes away but it never does. If anything, it multiplies.

I really don't have a lot of stuff there as I have only lived here for 4 years and I moved MANY times before I came here. I always went through my stuff every six months but when I moved here I was comfortable and couldn't be bothered. I knew that it needed to be done but I then let the noise the neighbours made get to me.

They are really quite awful - they swear at each other at the top of their voices and 'live' outside all the time. I have let them get to me in more ways than one. I have tried to escape every Friday and Saturday night which has resulted in me being so tired. I have let my eating get out of control - I lost over 20 kgs a year ago and I have put half of that back on. You don't really need to know that but I am telling you so that you can see what I mean by them getting to me.

I am moving - a few ideas going on here and there, and I have got the mind set that I am taking back 'control' of my life. I am on top of the cleaning/sorting out stuff and then next I will tackle the food side of it. I just have to make the decision if it will be next week (starting tomorrow) or when I go back to work and I can almost guarantee when I eat (scheduled lunch breaks etc) so it is easier to control. I am back at the gym now and am walking a lot more.

more holiday jobs being done

I am getting there in terms of the organisation except that I didn't start last night.

My idea to start to sort out the study last night was a good one but the study was cold and I thought bugger it. So I am starting in a few minutes - when I finish here.

I have been sewing up the hoodie that I started at the beginning of winter. It is this awesome top that I put together - knitted. I had this crazy idea that I would finish it this morning BUT I have the wrong size zip. Grrr!

Last night I attached the sleeves to the should and then attached the hood. Once that was done I picked up 150 stitches around the hood and shoulders and started to rib finish that. OMG! It was so bloody heavy that I couldn't get that far. I finished that this morning and have tidied up the final ends of yarn. Finally I sewed up the sleeves and side seams so it sits nicely. I have to now purchase a new zip and put that in and put the covering on the inside so that it looks beautiful.

I have also purchased lots of wool to make 2 new jumpers - I tell you I have become addicted to knitting. I knit with the tv on in the background. I don't really watch the tv it is only on to drown out the neighbours. If you had a snapshot of my lounge room it would look like a fantastic nana scene. My cat is on my knee and I am surrounded by wool and knitting quite happily.

I thought I was one of the only people in my age group who was into this sort of thing but I joined a "stitch and bitch" group and I discovered a whole stack of like-minded people. Woo Hoo! Now I can say to my friends who marvel at the old fashioned skills that I possess - "look, there are heaps of us out there! I'm not that nuts!" I might also add that they don't mock me when they get a pressie. (it is only one or two who state anything but they're just having a little fun.)

check list underway

It has been an exciting time so far in my household.

I have purchased some large (60l) containers with lids which means I can now finally organise my materials and wools and stuff easily. I have also purchased small craft boxes (could also be fishing tackle boxes) to put threads, scissors and bobbins into them and have them tucked away. I feel that I will be on top of the "study" area fairly soon. I will be starting tonight.

Re reading my last few lines my holidays sound like I have done nothing much then sit at home and do lots of sorting - nothing could be further from the truth.

Holidays so far has been lots of walking (see the check list), gym going, lunching, afternoon teaing, reading, knitting, driving on the new East Link (wow what a road!) and basically just enjoying myself.

I have also got lots of information about further study.

It has been great so far and there is still 1 1/2 weeks to go. How exciting is that?

Holiday? or maybe a revitalisation!

I am in a frenzy!

I have started cleaning out everything - and I mean everything. I cleaned out the "wrap/present" drawer and made a good attempt at filling the recycle bin again.

I will quickly mark some work (not much to do) and then I will attack the bookshelves. I have so many books that I own but were such a disappointment that I don't want them in the house anymore.

After that I might attack the crafts area - material into sealed boxes, patterns into another, the wool into another, the cross stitch into another altogether. I am lucky that I have the time now to do all of this. I need to do this before I move - better out than moved with me!

Other things that I will do over the holidays:
Catch up with friends

finish lots of knitting patterns

read a huge pile of books that I have been given

plan some work (yucky, but it must be done)

investigate further postgraduate study (lots of food for thought here!)

sort out finances for tax time (woo hoo!)

see a few movies

see Wicked (I have booked a ticket for myself in a selfish moment and am taking myself in!)

relax on the couch

design the new couch that I want

sort out the backyard while the neighbours out the back are at work

go to the gym lots

go on lots of walks

I think that looks pretty extensive, there is heaps more that I can add to it. But, I am excited! In the last few months (probably 1 1/2 years) I have been uninspired by my holidays. I am so excited about things at the moment.

The friend I caught up with yesterday threw me another curve ball - find your purpose.......Deep thinking - I don't think so. I am pretty sure I know what my purpose is - I just have to be brave and plunge straight into it! I also think that I need to work out how to articulate it! Go me! I am so proud of me!