cul's comfy corner

i awoke this morning to a text from my colleagues offering to treat me to lunch today.

it was such a simple gesture, but a welcome one.  i found that instead of gritting my teeth and just getting through the morning, i was happy and letting it all wash over me.  the kids are manic at theis time of the year, they're exhausted too, so it's not easy.

lunchtime was great.  i totally chilled out and even just getting away to the golf club for an hour was a bonus.

this afternoon flew by and i had a lot of fun with the kids.  

just three weeks to go guys, three ram-packed, out-every-night, incredibly stressful weeks and then i can sleep.

ah sleep, that delightful stranger. 

more like a frigging nightmare.

yesterday left me at work in tears after spending the entire day being pulled this way and that.  i went in with a plan of what i wanted to do.  it is never that easy.

before school, one of the teachers looked a little upset.  i went to ask if she was ok and she melted right there in front of me.  she needed some time out of class, she'd had enough.  i gave her my free morning to recover. 

first lesson, two kids were sent to me suspected of being a bully and his victim.  hang on, i'm in the throes of a lesson here.  my trusted assistant takes my kids while i deal with the two kids. after a lot of discussion and probing, it turns out to be the opposite way round to what was suspected and both boys are given stern warnings.  i feel like shit. 

duirng my break, the boss wanted me to talk about our 'fantastic and innovative curriculum' with a group of teachers who had travelled a long way to see us.  that break was that snatched away  from me. 

during my second lesson, a colleague ran into my room panicking that she'd lost all of her reports because she'd continued to use the laptop that was crashing, even though i'd told her not to and given her another one.  it took me all of my lunchtime, but i did manage to recover her reports, print them out and set her up on my laptop to finish them off.

after lunch, i was exhausted.  i sent  my assistant out to practice sports day with the kids and the other teachers while i caught up with what i should have been doing in the morning.  i am sent for.  'we need someone with a loud voice'.  i try to be nice and tell them to get the kids to be quiet and they won't need to shout.

after school, i find out that my friend's husband is in hospital with a nasty viral infection and so she won't be at work for the rest of the week.  another colleague turns to me and says 'who's going to cover my classes then?'  grrrr.

at the end of the day, i pick up may bag and go to walk out of the school. my assistant pulls me back and gives me a big hug.  "you're having a terrible day, aren't you?  is there anything i can do?"

little things like that make the big things go away. 

i mean there's only the reports, school trip and sports day left to do.

my moderation went well, though it was bloody hard work all the way through and my nerves were getting the better of me.

i had my first moderation two years ago and took loads of the kids work, books, folders, pictures etc and you know what?  noone was interested. it was all too much.  

last year i was moderated in the classroom when someone from the education authority came in to look at my work and she told me i was doing too much again.

today i went off for this year's moderation and guess what?  i didn't take enough.  what a joke. 

fortunately, they said it was obvious from what i did take that i was very thorough and knew the kids well, but next time if i could just take *all* of my thousands of photos and if i could get one of the kids in my bag then that would be fine too...

grr.  still, it's all done and i'm still alive so that's that.  i'm having a night off tonight and i'll continue with the reports tomorrow.  i'm going out i think.  there's a few cocktails and maybe a seat at the cinema with my name on it... 

hope everyone is fine and dandy [::] 

i just pray that i can get through tomorrow then it's plain sailing.

keep wobbly bits crossed for me please... 

i feel alone in this world, like no-one really understands me, despite protestations from those around me. it fuels my usual internal monologue about not being worthy and perhaps if i was a better person i wouldn't have such troubles.

so far this weekend i've chatted to friends, called people, text people, thought about people and i realised something. i *am* loved. i mean a lot to the people who care about me. i felt the vibes wash over me last night, my very own karmic boomerang springing back to me.

and it was good. thank you

the class was told that now they are all grown up, they're almost ready to go to the next class. wayne asked if that meant they had to do 'really hard work'. i replied that i was going to give them something so hard to work on, no-one would be able to do it, but of course it was nothing *too* taxing and they all beamed at being able to do 'hard work' now.

 

at playtime, wayne approached one of the other teachers on the playground...

 

wayne: we're doing really hard work in our class now

 

teacher: *mock anger* it's about time!

 

wayne: no, it's not, it's about weighing. we did time last week.

 

*rofl*

well, what a manic few days i've just had.

i was in tears at the end of the week, the tiredness really caught up with me as well as the stress of having so much to do in so little time.  my special little boy at work had a fairly major turn which i, thankfully, spotted in time and that helped to elevate my status to 'panic'.  then there was the meeting with the parents of the kids i'm going to teach next year.  another 14 hour day at work.  killer.

a few beers later, i was feeling more chilled and looking forward to the weekend.  it was a good job really, as i was going out.  oh yes, i was venturing out for once this weekend.  i had someone to see, someone that i'd bought tickets for almost 6 months ago.

yup, i had a date to see:

i had been looking forward to it for such a long time that i was almost past myself with the anticipation and excitement.  the show was absolutely fabulous.  he's the funniest thing i've seen in a long time.  it was a very friendly and intimate venue, which i think added to the relaxed nature of the gig.  

i thought his planning was a little sloppy as there seemed to be a bit of a gap where he'd run out of material but it was cleverly filled with a q & a session which was hilarious.  given where it was (chatham), the questions were a little...odd.  i sat directly in front of the guy who decided to shout out questions and answers all the way through the show.  horrified that he might actually address me, i huddled behind the guy in front and tried not to hyperventilate.

one thing i didn't think would emerge from the show was how damn attractive this jimmy fella actually is.  sure, he looks funny in his grey suits and pink shirts but he wore beautiful shoes and he has the most amazing jawline.  i was surprised to see that he's actually a lot slimmer in rl too, which added to the beauty of his profile:

funniest moment was him being asked if he was wearing makeup. 

"sure, this is showbiz, you have to.  i'm wearing a little tinted moisturiser and guyliner"  *pause* "i should have stopped there, shouldn't i?  saying i wore makeup was gay enough without describing it"

i have a little boy in my class that continually gets things not-quite-right and is forever making me giggle.  for the purposes of my blog, he is now called wayne.

all hail my new feature "wayne's word" *grin*

yesterday, we discussed noah.  he drew a lovely picture and was chosen to show it to the class and describe it.

"god saw people doing bad stuff and he felt sad.  he decided to make a flood and kill everyone but then he saw noah and his family doing good so he wanted to save them.  he told noah to get two of every animal so there was a mummy and daddy and put them on the ardvaark.  *points to picture* this is the flood, this is the mountain under the water and this is noah on the aardvark" 

lucky aardvark...

Current mood: bored

Current mood: tired

Current mood: hot