Boxing Day

After a great but tiring few days over Christmas I can finally relax. The work of the last few days caught up with me last night and I was pretty tired. It will be nice to have some space and start quietly planing for school next year. Christmas celebrations were excellent. It was nice to just sit and talk and eat and not have to do anything in particular.

Went and tried on some clothes today, I was looking for some denim shorts. Had one of those days where nothing fits no matter what size you get. Even though I am a bit thinner these days the complaint remains the same - nothing is cut right for my shape, its all cheap chinese made crap that doesn't take into account real girls shapes. I couldn't get my legs into the size 12 or 14, but when I got the 16 it was like a tent around the waist. It becomes clearer why you need to spend more money on jeans and shorts and shirts just to get a proper cut out of a proper material.

Christmas is nearly over!

Hurray, the new furnature is here! It looks awesome in my room. Will upload some photos when I get my phone organised. It definately time for a new phone, this one keeps turning itself off all the time. I think that the battery is failing or something. It's certainly not reliable anymore.

We've been watching Underbelly. It is as awesome as everyone is saying. The storyline is great, the actors amazing. It's strange seeing places that you've been on something this big too. Where one of the guys was gunned down was Strathmore just behind the pub. Great series.

We mowed the grass for the first time. It looks like an actual lawn. Satisfying seeing something that you planned coming together so well. Everything is well on track, thats for sure.

One more day to get some christmas shopping done before the BIG DAY. I have most of the presents wrapped in the hallway, just a few more things to pick up tomorrow. Good thing I'll be up early, or rather not been to bed. Rather do it then than later in the arvo when everyone is psycho out shopping.

I am really looking forward to Christmas day now, now that it's here.

School's out for summer!

Last day of school today, I am finally free. It will be nice to wake up whenever tomorrow and know that I don't have to go to school any more. I got the place well organised in the last week. We cleaned and shifted and threw stuff out. We moved into westside instrumental rooms and put up posters and claimed some space under the seats for storage. I'm glad its holidays, I've been a bit weary this week with the days left hanging over me. Much better to have it done and dusted now.

I saw Twilight and loved it. Its a simple story really, but the idea of the characters really appeals to me. I thought it was well shot and written and acted. A quality entertaining film. I've finished the book already, think I might read it again for fun.

Wrapped up some presents today, first lot to have finished. Not that many gifts to get this year, and easy to work them out.

Blog Take 2

O.K so I am thinking that it must be time to take this up again. Now that school has mostly finished I have a little more brain space and time at night to type a few words. Must have just needed a break.

I've now finished my first full 12 months at school. Out of this I have gained a lot of confidence about what I know and can achieve with students, and confidence with students in the classroom. There might have been a few stressful moments when I realised that class was about to start and I hadn't really put anything together, but I know enough to be able to knock something up and as long as they are entertained then I've really done my job.

The highlights of teaching are so many. I love the music students I have, they are excited to be there are learn things. I've learnt so many songs during this year, I just love to listen and work them out. We had some great performances at assembly this year, and they proved to themselves that they can improve with practise. I'm really looking forward to next year.

At home things are great. We've been landscaping the yard, both front and back. The front now had garden edges and sprinklers and grass! It looks awesome.

Well, sans grass, but you get the idea.

Things are ticking along smoothly towards christmas. My gifts wont be too complicated this year. I already have most of them planned out in my head. I'm waiting for all new bedroom furnature to arrive, I really hope that they call me soon! We also have an air conditioner to put in which will make summer and winter a lot more tolerable.

Bah ha ha, I'm on the left. What a nerd!

This is Brisbane Brass Band Nationals, maybe ?1998?

Day 2

Day two was a sightseeing and shopping day. We went to the museum and looked at lots of relics. The tour guide spoke English really well.

We went to a resturant for lunch and had heaps of interesting dishes served as a banquet, lots of green veggies and chillies.

The shopping in the afternoon was in a street and the array of things to buy was very colourful. We had some icecream, but stayed away from the octopus on a stick and some weird thing with blood. We saw the silk quilts but decided not to get one today, but we found a jade necklace that we liked - Mum!

We were very tired at this stage, but we went to the 'shamrock' irish pub for a western dinner. None of us were very hungry after the big lunch but enjoyed the spaghetti. The icecream tasted weird however.

Tonight we'll stay in the hotel and relax, we've all been meeting some of the other schools that are here. We'll fit in a bit of poker before a very welcome bed!

China

Well we've finally made it to Hong Kong. We've been sitting in the airport for nearly three hours now while they tried to fix the plane, and then finally got us a new one. We've been back downstairs to the gate three times and they keep revising the timetable.

The plane trip over was really hard for a few of the kids. There was a big patch of turbulance that lasted for almost an hour as we flew over the top of the typhoon that is headed this way. Luckily we will have...hopefully...flown off to Chengdu and will miss it.

The in flight entertainment was great, you can play games against the other passengers. The food was great on the plane, and we enjoyed some noodles in the airport.

Hope to fly out to Chengdu soon...

China Awaits

Well the few days that I've had on holidays have not been wasted thats for sure! We had killed the garden with copious amounts of round up last month and sunday got the rotary hoe working to dig up the lawn. Because we have cooch grass it meant that heaps of dead roots and sticks and rocks were all mixed up in the soil. It took me three days of work but I managed to rake it clean. Mostly.

Its all a blank slate out there now which is really exciting. It means that we can make it how we want it, and we have the edging cut and ready to go in, which means that there is just the sprinkler system and the grass and the red dyed mulch to go until it's done. Then we can research what plants we want and put them in a few at a time. Minimalist garden is what were going for. Because we both work we'll need a very low maintenance garden. I have a few plants in pots and I keep forgetting to water them. (Don't worry grandyma, they aren't dead yet...)

So this morning I packed some stuff, which will need to be revised tonight ready to go tomorrow. Then its just checking the batteries and stuff and I'm ready to fly.

Holidays

Finally, I made it to another school holidays. It got pretty busy there toward the end of term, but I survived...just.

The production turned out well, the audience enjoyed it and the cast really stepped it up in the last week.
Parent teacher interviews were fine, I felt like I just had a big chat with whoever came to see me. Maybe I should be more stressed about due dates and work requirements and whatnot, but those kinds of things function differently in my class compared to something like English or Maths. I watch the kids working in class and use that as the basis for their reports. I think that I could jot a few more things down about work done, or not done, during prac classes. I am considering keeping a notebook with little comments about students that I noticed during the class. I does mean a bit more admin work for me but I have been talking about having a bit more time allowance.

I don't like the amount of work that we have to get done in a day with classes and stuff, and then teach at band after school. I'm going to be having some meetings with the principal about the workload in the music department this term to see if we can have a bit more breathing space during the week to make up for the enormous teaching load that we do. When you factor band on top of a full time teachers load it means that the normal time that others teachers have for planning and having a life I miss out on. When, then, am I supposed to plan? We're signing a new agreement about the amount of hours a teacher can work, and band is beyond that agreement. And I don't like that at all.

Its a windy horrible day today. There is a dust storm going past at the moment, it feels a lot later than it is.

I bought new shorts and shirts today, hurray for Jenny Craig! Size 12!

We're landscaping the yard at the moment, we raked up all the dead grass and weeds and filled a wheely bin with only half the front. We got some redgum sleepers from the sale yards and cut them to fit. If it wasn't so windy and crap outside i'd be weeding my roses. They can wait till tomorrow however. The yard looks pretty dead and bare. We have a long way to go till it's looking pretty. Garden edging and sprinkler systems first, then mulch and then plants. Then BBQ at my house to celebrate the new yard! Yay!

Production Week

Definately time I updated again.

Right now its prodution week. I'm glad that it's finally here, it's been a long trek for Lindy and I. Getting everyone organised to be on stage is really hard work, on top of the enormous workload that we both have just with school. I think it must be easy in other departments but I know that it's not true. Everyone has lots to get done during the day. But then again not everyone has this enormous after school and weekends commitment that makes such a difference to our spare time and time off. I don't have much time off.

This sunday also, I am playing in a brass concert at Eastbank. I've been trying to fit in rehearsals amongst the production camp and performances.

Saturday I'm going out to spend the day at Deca getting my bus licence.

I wrote reports sunday night.

I travelled to Melbourne Sunday for a VCE exam day.

No wonder I always feel tired.

End of Busy

I'm tired, but coming out of the end of the busy-ness. I have had something on after work and on the weekend every night for three weeks. I've been to Melbourne four times in the past week, and having heaps of rehearsals for a concert coming up soon.

Classes are going ok, I am feeling like I am running out of time for VCE though. Is that normal? I would think so. I am going to have to have some extra time with them just to get the VCE students by themselves for a change. It's hard with a combined class to make sure that everyone learns everything that they need to. I have two students who are going great, some students who are picking it up quickly, and some students who still don't get it yet. I need to spend time with them all separately. But there just isn't time.

The production I am very underwhelmed about at this stage. I can't see how it will come out on stage yet! The scenes aren't being run, students aren't turning up to rehearsals, and some of it hasn't even been planned yet. No matter, the music will be awesome, and we have plans for a 'real' production next year instead of these 'made for schools' things which just have no substance. Blah, I don't like this one.

The world can just jump in a hole this weekend, I am having some me/family time. At home. With no need to watch the clock other than to check when to eat. I plan to practice horn and run on the treadmill and get some washing done and read my new book. And maybe watch Dexter on DVD.

It's my new favourite show, Dexter. Its quirky and arty and interesting and DIFFERENT! It's not like any thing else on T.V and if they tried to copy it it would suck. Pity it's on so late on a sunday. I have season 2 on my laptop, but I really want to finish season 1 properly. Haven't seen all the episodes and I would like to go back to the first episode and watch it from the start. A project for the holidays, perchance.

Bed. Bye.

Busy

Busy busy busy time of year this. At the moment I am rehearsing for heaps of different things, I am proud that I managed to say no to something. Phew.

It's a bit of a juggling act, keeping school going through third term. This is where most of the work gets done before we start winding up for christmas. I think that I have most of term 4 booked up, what with a trip to China in the holidays and the production and a trip away with the intermediate band and the vce solos and the junior concerts and recording night and assembly for the year 9s. Not to mention all the day to day running of a music classroom and band after school most nights a week.

I can see the end in sight with the VCE students and its SCARY. The exam is coming up soooooo fast, it will all be over before I know it, and I am nervous about it. It all hinges on me knowing all the details and being able to explain it enough that they can do whatever someone else is asking of them. The analysis stuff is hard and the theory stuff is complex and boring.

Going to Melbourne three times this week for the bands festival in Monash. I am looking forward to some trips away with the band students, they are always such good value to take away somewhere. They get used to following directions, so keeping them in line and listening to instructions is easier. They have spent some time together in the music classroom rehearsing, so they are used to being in a group. Its shared experiences that makes the best friends I think.

Also something exciting is that I entered one of my students into a compeition for the radio, and he gets to go down to Melbourne for the day and record some of his program! I don't know who was more excited!

Anway, it means lots of days off school for me this week and next, and lots of extras to write. Anyone say music dvd?

First Week Back

The first week back ended pretty well I felt. I worked really hard this week, made up several worksheets and worked on the VCE classwork. The timetable changed on the first day back, so I unexpectedly has a VCE class on monday when I thought I had until thursday to get prepared. Lucky I had the worksheets on my computer ready to go.

The hardest class, management wise, is by far the OzRock classes. I have two classes of 25, and the last two days I had the first prac classes. I have about 4 new students in each class, and I am just too busy to catch up with each student properly. I couldn't get around the whole class today. Also I didn't have enough equipment for everyone to play. This is why the class sizes should be smaller, so that I can fit them all in the space. I don't have the brain space to be on top of everything, especially when I am making sure that the students understand the things I am explaining to them. I just feel overwhelmed. I am pretty happy with the behaviour of the students though. There are a few students that didn't do much today, (mainly because I didn't have time to get them started on a song, or find out what they would like to learn...) but the majority worked out what they wanted to be looking at and now I just have to fine tune the materials over the weekend so that I am better prepared for next week. Its a funny class that way, that because I want the students to have a lot of imput into the songs that they want to learn during class time I can't really prepare that much before hand. During the theory sessions at the start of the week when I put a page out for them to write songs on I got nothing, I didn't find out about song preferences until they were into the prac time at the end of the week. I have a lot to think about before I get this prac thing to work how I want it to.

Things that I am planning towards is using Guitar Pro so that they can listen and watch the tabs as they scroll past. It's like a guitarists version of Sebelius.
I would like to also have clips of people, or even myself, playing songs so that they can listen and watch songs being played and discussed and demonstrated.
Also I need to have a folder with the songs on one of the computers so that students can listen to what they are learning so that they know how it goes. Thats one of the things about TAB, you need to have great listening skills because there isn't much information included, just a number.
I'm hoping to learn about creating flash games so that I can have interactive activities that score students based on rhythm and pitch. Make it a challenge to get a perfect score and have it on a projector so that the whole class can be involved. I tried it with one of my year 7 classes where I had an aural training site up and they had to name the note. Need to allow more time for it, but I think it was successful. Certainly made them think about it, and got them out of their seats.

Anyway, I'm having fun thinking about different things for classes, and continually adding to the collection of teaching materials.

Holidays

Decided that when Mark went to work that I would have a nice night in and have a bath. Once I got over the guilt of using allllll that water I set up the candles and got hot chocolate and my book and settled in. As I laid back I bumped the plug and thats when I found out that the plug I had was slightly too small. So after a run down the hallway to get the laundry plug I resettled.

Both my cats were very weirded out by the whole thing. They've always seen me in the shower, never in the bath. Chicky couldn't figure out what all the water was for. She likes to play with the water coming out of the tap, I watched to see if she would fall in, but alas she didn't.

Back to school - again

Ugh, week 12.

Oliver! finished last night. We had such a good show, working with those people is heaps of fun. We all agreed that working with the conductor is easy because he doesn't worry about the mistakes. Sometimes when the conductor gets too stressed then it makes the show a real drag. We had great crowds over the two weeks, six shows we did. I'm already looking forward to what the next show might be.

So I have four and a half days to claw my way through before I can have a much needed break. As much as I enjoyed the show it came during the crucial report writing period. I thought that I was just struggling to find things to say but apparently because I have two year 7 classes that I only see once a week then I have a very high number of reports to get through. I made some basic errors that took me ages to go through and fix, however next time I will have a better idea about how to fix those things in the early stages before they get into EVERY SINGLE REPORT.

So that meant that with band and reports and the show I didn't get much sleep for a few weeks. And me on no sleep, plus stress, equals brain meltdown. Stress doesn't affect me in quite the same way that it does other I think. I push it back and get through it, but this time it built up a little too much. I can't describe the feeling of relief that I felt when I finally got to Thursday morning and uploaded them for the last time. I know that there are still some errors in them, but there is only so much I can physically do when I have that many students that I am responsible for.

I have had much smaller classes over the last week, for various reasons. Especially in the year 9 classes where we have been doing a lot of practical stuff for the assembly that they are playing at this week. It is so much easier to get everyone involved when I only have 15 or so to keep a track of. I only have so many guitars! I have been finding that when I am running a prac session that there are at least 6 or 7 students who just don't get involved. They aren't always the same ones in each song, but I can only do so many things at once! Some of them refuse to participate. Only a few of them I would trust to take an instrument somewhere else to practice and know that they will actually focus on the task at hand. Makes life in the classroom difficult. Life would be so much easier if I had a BAND ROOM!

You would think that this is a necessity for a music teacher. It's not that hard to just extend on from where they current classroom is. I need three walls and a roof! One of the walls is already standing! Then we would have the space available to work with a few different groups at a time. I could work on them running their own rehearsals without needing me so much except for answering some of the music questions about how to work something out. However at the school they are all hung up on using this performing arts centre that is already standing. I maintain that it is impractical as it is for the day to day running of a music department. We don't have reliable access to it during the day, we don't have storage over there, which means half and hour to an hour of carting and setting up before any meaningful music can be made. If we were able to use it it would still be impractical because all the resources are fragmented and then we would have to run between buildings constantly to get something from one place or the other. It's a terrible situation as it is because we are suffocating in the space that is available for us. Or not available as the case may be.

Anyway, to bed now and worry about classes and stuff in the morning.

Winding Up

Once again I have arrived at the part of the term/semester where we are winding up the work and writing reports. I am starting to get a feel for the cycle of work, making sure that I have offered the students a chance to show me that they have learnt something or have done the things that I need to report on.

I ran a test today, which went well. There was one question which I decided that I didn't like, so I have taken it off the other classes exam, and put a different one in its place. I feel like such an idiot, I asked them about a thing we've only talked about a few times and the other question about chords I forgot to include. So I adjusted the marks on it to give the students a better grade. Oh well, it's all part of the learning curve.

We had a concert with the junior and intermediate bands which was a fantastic day out. We played on stage and then went to maccas. Music kids are so much fun to take places. They enjoy themselves, they are mostly polite and well behaved and they have a fantastic sense of humour. After maccas we took them for a few hours to the local playground, which is a huge place of mazes and slides and swings. I bought along a suprise for them to run around with, little mini bottles of bubbles! I went around with my phone and took lots of photos of the band kids which I plan to put up on the wall soon in place of some of the older photos. It will make them feel like they belong to the music department, especially for the new junior band students.

The best thing about the day out was watching the friendships starting between some of the more loner students. They seem to not have a lot of friends, or not get along with the people they've known. Anyway, they start to develop new friends when they go on a day out. Friendships are based mostly on experiences they share together. That's why band trips and excursions are so important.

A bonus of the job is that in week 11 they have organised some events like breakfast and manicures for staff. Even though I work hard most of the term I really like my job. Today I went to another school for VCE assessment, after which there wasn't enough time to go back to school so I was able to go home early and get some marking and reports done.

Nearly holidays.

China

We have been preparing for the last nearly 2 years at my school for an overseas tour to China, to Chengdu. We were planning to go in about 4 weeks, however the recent earthquake over there has thrown all the travel plans into disarray.

We are having a meeting at school tomorrow ngiht for all the parents and students to talk about what they want to do. The feeling around the school is that they don't want to be going at the moment. I am thinking the same, the way things are at the moment, from what we are seeing on the news is of a grieving country. Some of the stories I have seen on the news makes me so sad. One story in particular has stuck in my mind, a man was trapped under part of a building for three days. As they were organising to free him someone got him a phone and he was able to talk to his wife. He said to her he didn't think that he would survive, and said his goodbye. A few hours later when he was dragged free, he was unable to be revived. How do you find the right words when you know that they will be your last?

Week 7

Lately I have been so tired, there just isn't enough time in the day to get everything done. There was a meeting and a vote at school about taking extras when people are sick, they want us to take them more often than we have. It remains to be seen if it impacts unfairly on the already huge workload that we have. Something that I will be chasing up is about the hours that Lindy and I spend taking band. If the teachers are complaining that taking an extra extra (hehe) is impacting on their planning time, then what about the extra 5 hours that we both put in each week? Not to mention the lunch time rehearsals, recess supervision, morning student meetings - I don't feel that I have ANY quality planning time at school. I rely on time at home in which to plan for the next days classes, if I plan them in advance at all, at the moment. I have a few units that I am running at the moment, some musical activities like rhythms and intervals, but I'm not sure that I am getting the best out of my students that I could be. I have limited time in which to research things and plan a semesters work.

Anyway, right now I am exhausted. And I can say from the meeting that I am not the only one. Many of the other teachers are feeling the same, there are soooo many things that teachers are expected to do in a day and just not enough time to do any of them properly. When you take into account all the planning for everyday classes, planning for assessment, running tests, writing reports and marking work and then add on to that the student discipline, following up on students who misbehave, haven't finished work, didn't turn up for something important, weren't where they were supposed to be, then also think about planning and running home group, organising instrumental timetables - not just for yourself but for the other two instrumental teachers - chasing up students who miss lessons, photocopying music, getting goods and services for the cabaret night, selling tickets, teaching the music...and thats only half of what I am in charge of doing every day!

Saturday night both Mark and I slept for a full 12 hours. We are both too tired, each day it is getting harder to get up. I am sure that this is in part due to the weather turning colder, but it's also as the term drags on. I must make sure that each night I am getting to bed earlier than I have been. I just want to have a little time for myself, so after Mark goes to bed I often stay up a little longer either reading or checking things online. Sometimes it is after 11pm until I can wind myself down enough to go to bed.

In terms of news on going to China, we have been sent a letter saying that we can pospone the trip until later in the year, however if we cancel we cannot expect any refunds from plane tickets, hotel bookings or tour payments. We are speaking of over $2000 that we are being told wont be refunded. It really stinks, that something out of our control still means that the airlines take our money. It's such a horrible thing going on over there at the moment, no parent is going to let their child go still. Anyway, we let the kids know this tomorrow, and have a meeting about it wednesday night. By then we should have an idea about the direction that we might take. It might be possible to change the destination to somewhere else overseas. It would be nice to know for sure.

Week 2

I can't believe it's only the end of week two. I was talking to the other music teacher on the phone tonight and she also swears that it's been three or four weeks since we went back. I think it's because we manage to fit so many things into a week. There's the classes, new students to teach instruments- and chase up out of class in order to teach, two other bands of students to teach instruments, a concert this weekend to prepare for, parent teacher interviews, strike day, assembly, and also both music teachers called up on the same case to attend jury duty. No wonder that when you include in all the students who constantly come to see us for a myriad of different reasons, and also the school things like home group and meetings and rolls and notices it's no wonder that it's easy to argue that working in a school is a tiring and demanding job. Can't believe we did all that in two weeks!

This sunday the music department is putting on a little show. We have some of our soloists and small groups playing for a few hours at a winery. We'll have classical piano, flute quartet, piano and vocals and also guitars. I'm planning to sing a few songs myself, so tomorrow I'll be spending a bit of time rehearsing and working out my vocal chords. I'm contemplating playing guitar too, if it fits in to the program. Then again I don't know if the song fits the mood of the afternoon. I'll see when I get there. It's a great song, Nirvana - Heart Shaped Box. It's really easy to play, but still I am very proud of myself for learning a whole song on guitar.

So on Thursday night I finally did it. I finally went to orchestra rehearsal. It was a really nice feeling to stretch out the horn chops and remember what it actually sounds like when you aren't playing along with year 7 trombone/trumpet students. It's welcoming too, how easy it is to fit into the orchestra, but when I looked around I realised that I knew half of them very well. And they know me too, even though it has been quite a few years since I was home to play anything. And sorry to the Brass Band, but one night a week is quite enough thank you very much. It's still a late night. Settle into this thing first, and see if it balances out against the school stuff.

Jury Duty

Today I finally went down to the court to attend my jury duty. I had to turn up to the court where a group of about 55 had been called up. We were all seated in the court to listen to the accused be arraigned and then the names of the jurors were pulled out of a box at random. THe accused had 6 challenges, where he could say he didn't want a particular person. So when my name was called up, I was challenged. Thus I don't have to be on the jury. Which, considering the type of case it was, is a good thing.

So I wrote this huge post last time, and went to post it, and the virus protector software stopped 'sensitive' information being posted. And then 'poof', post gone! Bah!

Back To School

Back to School

I'm on the eve of going back to school. What an awesome holiday I've had. I had a great chance to catch up with friends and family, but most of all to catch up with myself.

I have been getting some recipes from online and having a go at cooking some things. Not all of it was successful, I tried making a custard slice, but there were some issues with the construction and then the icing tasted horrible. Anyway, today I made pancakes which were great, and I'll be able to take them to school for recess tomorrow.

I've done a lot of planning for classes, however I know that a lot will change throughout the term. Parent teacher interviews are on tuesday night and wednesday, and I'm a bit worried that I'll have students come up that I wont know what to say about, or worse - I'll forget their names! I've been more disadvantaged when I've been unable to access the roll marking program over the past term. The roll is marked with photos of the students, however I have been taking the roll in my book, where there is only a name. I've done my best to put names and faces together, hopefully this skill gets better over time. And when I have Idattend back up and running.

I'm supposed to be getting a new computer soon, hopefully it comes over the next few weeks. There might be the possibility of getting a Mac!

Two Days

There are two more days left of school. I am hanging out for some brain space and time to regroup for the very very long term next term. Two much needed weeks.

I read in the paper that Easter this early wont happen again for another 220 years or so. It's one of those freak occurances of the calandar. Funny.

Classes are going well. I am feeling very much in control, I have a pretty definate picture of what the classes are going to be like next term already, which - I am learning - is about as sure as you can ever be, because there are always a million interruptions to stuff everything up that you had planned. So it needs to be flexible if it is going to work. Lindy was telling me that although music teachers work hard because they are always on duty with kids wanting attention during lunch and recess and whenever, that it has never been this busy or this bad. I have no idea if it is just because we are missing Pete, and he would have usually kept Lindy in check but I know that the absence of another music teacher in the department has left a very big hole. Maybe Lindy and Pete talked a lot about work at home whereas Lindy and I are trying to fit it in whenever possible, which is working out to be never. It's a very 'on the run' kind of life. I don't stop, I don't eat, I'm feeling like I'm run off my feet. I'm tired.

I must ask the union reps about time allotments and things like that, because I wonder if they count the band sessions as face to face time in our daily count. I know I have a lot more work than most other teachers. I am usually the last to leave the car park at night, every night of the week. Comments in the toilets were about how glad one particular teacher was to be going home. The reply was that we both had another two hours to go. I never get home before 5.30. Sometimes I am still in the office at 10 to 6. I'm tired.

Anyway, tomorrow the students have organised a fundraiser concert in the courtyard at lunch time. I'm really excited about it, I think that everyone will really enjoy it. It's a pity that the OzRock students haven't gotten songs ready yet, but I might organise the same deal for them during a session and lunchtime. Tomorrow should be a real buzz.

Work - Week 5 over

It's the end of week 5, of 8 this term. I am so tired that I was histerical laughing at a picture I found online. I'm feeling the pressure getting to me by the end of the week. It's like a cloud that descends on me, while I keep trying to stave it off. I'm starting to count down the classes left until the end of term, which with all the public holidays and parent-teacher interviews left isn't many by now. At least I am easily planning my time for next term. It's that there are soooo many things to get done in the one day on top of the band students and the classroom management issues. I'm tired. Thankfully this is only an 8 week term. Unthankfully I have to write reports already.

With all the work I'm doing at the moment I am leaving the house at 8 and not getting home to 6.30 some nights. I walked around the supermarket in a daze tonight especially so I don't have to leave the house tomrorrow. I made sure that I got something nice to eat in the morning. I'm going back to bed in the morning before I have to get the house work done. At least I don't have to talk to anyone in particular. No-one asking me about when their lesson is or whatever.

My birthday recently was a heap of fun. I enjoyed having dinner out with family, and I danced like an idiot in my loungeroom while M and I finished off a 700ml of Vodka between us. What a night. I saw the sun come up.

Despite the download issues I got my new ipod working, finally. It's one of those things I have been wanting for a long time, but haven't got around to buying it. Even better if it's a gift.

Right, off to bed for a few days before I think about facing week six.

By the way, this was what made me laugh till I cried. I have some new year 7 band students this year that have seemed like this. Awesome.

MSVCP71.dll

I've been having this issue with PDF files on my computer, I kept getting this error message that told me mscvp71.dll was missing, reinstalling might solve the problem. Which it didn't. Came across an answer somewhere that said to download the file and put it in the /system32 file folder, in the programs folder.

Hey presto, 12 months of adobe angst solved. No thanks to the adobe help files or 'knowledgebase'.

I. AM. AWESOME.

Let me know if this helps anyone else!

VCE

My birthday is over for another year. I got some fantastic presents and a very enjoyable dinner out with family and friends. I had a lot of fun with friends and a now empty bottle of Vodka later in the night too...

I've been working so hard lately, I've been coming home exhausted at the end of the week. There is so much to be done in a day that I seem to be one of the last cars in the carpark every night. The department has a big hole in it at the moment, which is a lot of the problem, the other classroom teacher has left to pursue another job at a different school and we were unable to fill the position with a music teacher before the school year started and thus have a non music teacher infront of the year 7 classes.

We're getting geared up for going on tour at the moment, to China this year. We are having two new instrumental teachers starting, and moving the instrumental lessons to a different area in the school. I've been writing lesson plans for my own classes, and the other teacher. I've had an enormous increase in the number of year 9 students in OzRock and teaching students to play drums, piano, guitar, bass and vocals at the same time in the one room is hard work. I'm also recently the VCE teacher, which means getting my head around the curriculum while teaching it in order to prepare these students for the big exams at the end of the year.

I travelled to Melbourne this weekend to go to the VCE music teachers conference to learn more about the VCE course. I've come away from it feeling a lot more confident about what I'm supposed to cover this year. It's a lot about sifting through all the theory stuff in order to teach the right thing, rather than just teaching everything. At this stage I'm feeling really good about it all. See how things go when we all get closer to the exams...

Post #200

This is offically post number 200, hurray!

I didn't realise how long it had been since I last posted. One of the reasons is I have been super busy at work, and too tired to think about anything much when I get home. I'm trying to get so much done at work that sometimes I don't get recess or lunch, or I only have 5 minutes to eat before the bell goes. The other reason is kind of stupid, the D button has fallen off the keyboard at home, and it's annoying to type as I have to continually make sure that the little rubber presser stays in the centre of the letter. As I type lots of D's when I write, it just annoys me.

Anyway, at the start of school we found out that one of the teachers in the music department was leaving, he's gone to take another job at a nearby school. It's sad to lose him, as I didn't have much time to work with him, and its hard to lose him because we now have two people doing the work of three in the band and classroom program. We have another teacher taking the year 7 classes, but he isn't much trained, so it will fall to me to make sure he knows enough to teach the students how to play something or they will all get angry. And I not only have to think about 'what' to teach them during the year, I also have to think about 'how' a non music person teaches someone, or lots of someones, how to play music. I think to myself that it is a piece of cake, but I have to remember that musical instruments can be really daunting when you haven't any experience at all. At least it is only year 7. And possibly only for this year. It would be interesting to have a new music person, but scary because you don't know what this other music person would be like and you have to work with them all the time and if they are weird or scary then it makes work hard. I'm lucky with the other music teacher still there, we get along so well. I think that some people are a little jealous or intimidated by the working relationship that LT and I have. I've heard a few comments around the staff room and one of the parents made a strange comment about not wanting to intrude on the fun we were having. Anyway.

Other than work things are going great. I have had my hair cut today, with a touch up to the highlights. I had a fair bit of the length taken off, I'm always suprised by how light it feels when you have it cut. I can feel it moving around on my back, but it's mostly just the newness you feel when you've been to the hair dresser.

The garden is looking pretty good out the back. I need a huge trailer load of dead branches taken away, I'll have to ask the parents if we could have a bon fire soon. We must be out of fire danger season. I'm not sure if there are permits required. But who would know, anyway. It would be great to have a few beers and stand around watching stuff burn. I'm a bit of a closet pyro, I think. Hehehe. So, about the garden, I mowed the lawn the other day, (M is out of action on the mowing presently) and put the grass cuttings on the garden beds. Amazing how just a little bit of dead grass can make such a difference to the look of the yard. That's why I want to put garden beds and mulch down, so that even if there aren't any plants in the yard, it will look good. And then I can put in plants gradually.

M found out recently that he has a stress fracture in his foot. It had been paining him for about a week before he went to see the doctor, and three weeks after that until the doctor was definate about it. He's chosen the bandage and crutches option, which he uses at work. If he had a plaster cast he would go crazy, because he wouldn't be able to walk, or drive, or work, and boredom is a real killer. He struggled enough with the appendix operation he had just before the wedding, I was given the dubious honour of chosing the DVD collection for him to watch. Hard work. Especially as we struggle to find something to watch when we both go to video ezy.

Right, I'll post some more stuff soon, right now I've had enough of the letter D.

Vet

Buckley, my georgeous black and white cat went to the vet today to be 'fixed'. Now both of my cats are desexed we don't have to worry about her getting out any more, though I'd still like her to be an inside cat. I'd hate for anything to happen to her, and she seems so happy to stay inside and sit on the couch next to me. It was a hard thing to leave her at the vet today, seeing her carried away in the plastic container I brought her in. You get so attached to pets, it's no wonder that people think of them as children. No doubt I'll end up a crazy cat lady in my old age.

I watched a movie today, Apocalypto. It's the Mel Gibson one, that he made after Passion of the Christ. To be honest I was a little scared of seeing this one. You see I saw Passion of the Christ at the cinema, and I was honestly traumatised by having seen it. I saw it with Mark, and we both sat in silence at Crown eating tea for a few hours afterwards. It was horrible, I never want to sit through it again. Anyway, in a few reviews that I read they said that this movie was worse than that, and I thought after how affected I was by Passion, how bad is this movie?!

But in the end I really enjoyed the story. It had a strong storyline, strong characters, a little mysticism and a fantastic ending. It was a well told and well filmed story. I will warn you that there is a lot of blood and lots of people die and get cut up so it is still a brutal story, but not in any way like I remember feeling after Passion. I've probably hyped it up a lot, but you could not pay me to see that movie again.

Off to see the wedding photos tomorrow! Yay!

Holidays

It's been really nice to relax, and I am storing it up for the next year to come. I'm starting to get nervous about stepping back into the classroom and dealing with students again. I have another week left of holidays before it all starts up again. Thankfully this is only an 8 week term.

I took a trip with my friend to a day spa for a night. She is such an easy person to spend time with, I don't have to worry about what I am around her. She's been taking me through the magical world of Buffy, it's fun and impossible and full of cute guys. It's much more interesting to watch than I thought it would be.

Having a new car is fantastic, with the hot days that we've had this summer acutally having airconditioning is a godsend. It was so easy to drive up to the day spa, it's spacious and i'm proud of how it looks - shiny and blue.

We finally took the last trips to the city to pick up the last of the things from the rental house. I now have a dining room table! We sanded it back and polished it with Danish Oil, which is fantastic. It brought out the natural colours of the wood, and matches the coffee table which we got for our wedding.

Roll on summer, I'm loving the sun.

Welcome to the New Year

The new year has started off really well. I finally feel like I am on holidays, now that I have gotten the Safeway work out of the way. The night shifts went well over the holidays, but the third night in a row was challenging to stay awake. Having stuff to do in the day made it hard for me to get enough sleep for the next night. Good thing it was only a few nights in a row. Good thing that I have done it enough times that I can do it in my sleep.

We made the last few trips to Melbourne to get the last of the furnature home from the rental house. It is a nice feeling to have finished that finally, it was something that I wondered about because I knew that the deadline was getting closer but not how it was going to get done. It's hard for everyone to make the trip because most people are still working, Mum and Dad are really tired at the moment.

I've had some time to do some organising around the house, things are looking really nice at the moment. I find it a peaceful thing to get things tidied away.

New years eve was really nice, I had some people over and we had a few drinks and bbq and sparklers and listened to old songs we remember. We had a chance to use the outdoor table setting. I'm getting to be a boring old house woman, but I'm really happy with where things are at right now.