Well, if you wanted honesty...
Good lord. Been ages since I posted anything. Not for the want of stuff to report and/or mouth off about, but sheer weight of work and time constraints led to a fair old bout of procrastination. Despite the fact that between my last post and now I have actually have two weeks off for the Easter Holidays, there hasn't been much in the way of free time in my world...
The Big Push has begun in earnest for my Final Teaching Practice, which begins properly on Monday. This is basically six weeks of me being Mr Fox 24 hours a day - I run the class, teaching how I want, setting the classroom as I like it, putting up whatever displays I choose... all that kind of stuff. It has taken an awful lot of preparation, but I finally think that I'm ready to go - instead of the minor fear that I'd normally expect to be feeling at this point, there's confidence. It's going to be a lot of work, but I am looking forward to it. Hopefully if there's a free second in the next 42 days, I'll get the chance to offload about it - but don't hold your breath.
As well as planning everything at school to within an inch of it's life, I did manage to do a couple of other things since I last posted. I finally managed to organise my Theory Test for my bike, and - shockingly - passed it first time! The questions were no worries, but the Hazard Perception Test was so poorly explained, I was actually a bit wary of it. For those who don't know, it's a touch-screen program where you have to spot developing problems on the road... Unfortunately, you don't know what hazards they're looking for, and if you press the screen too many times, you fail the question. Anyway, somehow I managed to get through it, and the next step is taking the actual driving test - booking it tomorrow, so hopefully I can burn the L plates soon. Who'd have thought that I'd be a biker?!
The new series of Doctor Who is living up to expectations and more. Martha the new companion is very good indeed, although I will always have a soft spot for Rose (and a huge crush on Billie Piper, of course). Sadly, having spoken to someone involved in the show I kind of know what happens in the series-encompassing story arc. Suffice to say, Mr Saxon is a very bad man... and it's going to be great. Plus - Daleks tomorrow! Woooooo!
There's also the small matter of me and the boy Elmo's podcast, which continues to roll on. We finally settled on a name too, kind of suggested by one of out hardcore band of listeners - "Joypod"! We're currently on Show 7, which you can download by right-clicking and Save Target-ing HERE if that's what you wish. So far we've been upstaged by a bee, managed to sell off Elmo as a gigolo, played some bloody good music, and (somehow) managed to talk a fair bit about games. Oh, I also managed to beat him at Wii Golf too, so yay for me. We still manage to squeeze out an episode every couple of weeks or so - you can subscribe on iTunes too, just tap "rllmuk" into the podcasts bit and you'll find us...
There's also been the odd bit of boardgaming (the new one from Days Of Wonder called Colosseum is aces, and I finally got round to having a session of Power Grid - I can see why it's well liked, but I found it a bit dry). I'm also planning on heading up to Birmingham in June for the UK Games Expo - need to save a bit of money to buy new stuff! - as a treat for completing my FTP. Just got to get through it first!
Ooh! Just remembered! Me and my boy Stan have been asked to reunite for another of our legendary DJ performances for a friend's wedding! Not til November, but I'm really quite excited already. We played together for years when I lived in Manchester and ran some pretty aces club nights - included the hallowed Loaded at Planet K and The Roadhouse - but now I live away, we don't see each other as much as I like, let alone dick about playing records. However, in a mere seven months (hah!) we shall rise again like a phoenix, get drunk and fall over while bellowing along to awful pop tunes. Fabulous, no?
Finally, the brain is... alright. Seems to be holding together, which is better than before. I get up in the morning with little or no problem now (again, an improvement on before!) but the meds I am on (a lot stronger than anything I've been prescribed before) seem to have two slightly meh effects: first, I now can only hit 5 or 6 hours sleep maximum a night, which necessitates a nap when I get in from work. Second, the appetite is shot; I can barely look at food most of the time, never mind inspire myself to go and rustle up a meal - which for someone who really enjoys cooking is a bit of a pain in the arse. I've spoken to my doctor about it, and they reckon though the food thing will subside eventually, the sleep (or lack of it) is pretty much here to stay. Bah say I - though I must secretly admit to rather enjoying the afternoon sleeps. It feels very decadent to me...
The Big Push has begun in earnest for my Final Teaching Practice, which begins properly on Monday. This is basically six weeks of me being Mr Fox 24 hours a day - I run the class, teaching how I want, setting the classroom as I like it, putting up whatever displays I choose... all that kind of stuff. It has taken an awful lot of preparation, but I finally think that I'm ready to go - instead of the minor fear that I'd normally expect to be feeling at this point, there's confidence. It's going to be a lot of work, but I am looking forward to it. Hopefully if there's a free second in the next 42 days, I'll get the chance to offload about it - but don't hold your breath.
As well as planning everything at school to within an inch of it's life, I did manage to do a couple of other things since I last posted. I finally managed to organise my Theory Test for my bike, and - shockingly - passed it first time! The questions were no worries, but the Hazard Perception Test was so poorly explained, I was actually a bit wary of it. For those who don't know, it's a touch-screen program where you have to spot developing problems on the road... Unfortunately, you don't know what hazards they're looking for, and if you press the screen too many times, you fail the question. Anyway, somehow I managed to get through it, and the next step is taking the actual driving test - booking it tomorrow, so hopefully I can burn the L plates soon. Who'd have thought that I'd be a biker?!
The new series of Doctor Who is living up to expectations and more. Martha the new companion is very good indeed, although I will always have a soft spot for Rose (and a huge crush on Billie Piper, of course). Sadly, having spoken to someone involved in the show I kind of know what happens in the series-encompassing story arc. Suffice to say, Mr Saxon is a very bad man... and it's going to be great. Plus - Daleks tomorrow! Woooooo!
There's also the small matter of me and the boy Elmo's podcast, which continues to roll on. We finally settled on a name too, kind of suggested by one of out hardcore band of listeners - "Joypod"! We're currently on Show 7, which you can download by right-clicking and Save Target-ing HERE if that's what you wish. So far we've been upstaged by a bee, managed to sell off Elmo as a gigolo, played some bloody good music, and (somehow) managed to talk a fair bit about games. Oh, I also managed to beat him at Wii Golf too, so yay for me. We still manage to squeeze out an episode every couple of weeks or so - you can subscribe on iTunes too, just tap "rllmuk" into the podcasts bit and you'll find us...
There's also been the odd bit of boardgaming (the new one from Days Of Wonder called Colosseum is aces, and I finally got round to having a session of Power Grid - I can see why it's well liked, but I found it a bit dry). I'm also planning on heading up to Birmingham in June for the UK Games Expo - need to save a bit of money to buy new stuff! - as a treat for completing my FTP. Just got to get through it first!
Ooh! Just remembered! Me and my boy Stan have been asked to reunite for another of our legendary DJ performances for a friend's wedding! Not til November, but I'm really quite excited already. We played together for years when I lived in Manchester and ran some pretty aces club nights - included the hallowed Loaded at Planet K and The Roadhouse - but now I live away, we don't see each other as much as I like, let alone dick about playing records. However, in a mere seven months (hah!) we shall rise again like a phoenix, get drunk and fall over while bellowing along to awful pop tunes. Fabulous, no?
Finally, the brain is... alright. Seems to be holding together, which is better than before. I get up in the morning with little or no problem now (again, an improvement on before!) but the meds I am on (a lot stronger than anything I've been prescribed before) seem to have two slightly meh effects: first, I now can only hit 5 or 6 hours sleep maximum a night, which necessitates a nap when I get in from work. Second, the appetite is shot; I can barely look at food most of the time, never mind inspire myself to go and rustle up a meal - which for someone who really enjoys cooking is a bit of a pain in the arse. I've spoken to my doctor about it, and they reckon though the food thing will subside eventually, the sleep (or lack of it) is pretty much here to stay. Bah say I - though I must secretly admit to rather enjoying the afternoon sleeps. It feels very decadent to me...
posted by michael at
7:56 PM
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