I choose Madness...

Our place in Italy...

2005-08-25T22:45:00.000+01:00

It's something I've boasted about for months: Paul's bought a place in Italy. And to be honest, until I'd seen it I was a little worried. It had, after all, put a longer waiting time on our buying a home in London. And financial pressures that worried me.
But all that was before I'd seen it.
Okay, so it's barely got a roof, it's covered in hay, and the 'bedroom' has a feeding trough in it...
But the view... Wow.
And it's just a few miles from Rome, Assissi, a whole bunch of other incredible Italian places. Beautiful.

We went for a week and stayed with Paul's uncle Cameron, who's living in a place in Eggi, near Spoleto. And the quiet... wow.

And there's one thing we both came back with - we spend too much time watching TV. We get caught up in the mundane, and never think about learning, reading, bettering ourselves.

Cameron has an incredible outlook on life. He's had some amazing experiences, and he's so wise. If anything, I came back with a desire to grow up like him. Like a lot of Paul's family... who look at life and always see the positive, even when bad things happen.

Paul, and his family are an incredible influence on me. And I thank 'God' for them.

When worlds collide...

2005-08-25T22:37:00.000+01:00

My dad posted a blog with links to other Oxford blogs, and who should come up but an old friend of mine from Lampyland?
It's wierd. This is someone who I idoloised at University. Someone who taught me a lot, and inspired me to get involved in student politics. And now, here's my dad, singing her praises.
It makes me rethink who my dad is...
Wonder how many other people I could have introduced to him that he would have loved.
Funny how I always assume my parents would disapprove of my life, and the people who are in it, when really I'm probably underestimating them on a humungous scale!
Sorry, folks!

Are you a homeowner?

2005-08-13T12:03:00.000+01:00

It's always made me laugh that during daytime TV - when the only people watching are unemployed or 'homemakers' - the majority of adverts are for loan companies.
Currently Mr Do, who just halved his monthly repayments, is buying a new car and taking his wife on a 'well-earned holiday'.
Meanwhile, he'll never see himself debt-free.
Reminds me of the time I applied for a bank loan for a deposit on a house and was told if I wanted to buy a car, or go travelling, they'd be happy to lend me the money. But not for something so trivial as having somewhere to live.
Nice world we live in.

Some things I have discovered over the last few – boring – days:

2005-08-02T23:55:00.000+01:00

If you put “how to be pretentious” into google, it can’t tell you how.
If you watch Paramount Comedy all day it starts to repeat itself.
If you tell people how dull it is to have so much time off work, they don’t appreciate it.
Daytime TV sucks.
Reading books is more appealing when you don’t have the time.
Su Doku is just like Maths homework.
There are no good pictures of Anthony and Cleopatra on the web.
Wedding magazines are full of very expensive, not so pretty, dresses.
I am incapable – not of remembering birthdays – but of sending presents.
Detective shows, pathology shows, murder mystery shows, are all predictable.
Planning lessons during the summer isn’t as fun as stressing about them the night before.
If you leave the back door open long enough, the cat comes in to keep you company.

This'll make you laugh...

2005-07-10T17:31:00.000+01:00

I've just joined a gym!
Bets are now on for just how long I'll last before I stop going all together.
There's just 13 months until the wedding. I haven't done any regular exercise since I fitted into my leotard and ballet shoes. My little sister gets thinner everytime I see her.
Are these good reasons for making myself feel sick twice a week?

Tee Hee

2005-07-09T13:47:00.000+01:00

adopt your own virtual pet!

These are a few of my favourite things...

2005-07-09T11:56:00.000+01:00

Was going to blog about London. About Paul being reminded by our best man to ring me because "she does worry". About Tom having travelled through Aldgate East just 20 minutes before. About the shock of this eventually happening in our home city.
But I'm sick of it. Sick of all the bad stuff. The bad people. So I'm thinking back over the last few days to find the good stuff.

Seeing Marilyn Monroe being driven through Balham in a fiat Punto.
The little Jewish woman talking to me in the bank about how beautiful little children were, and how she misses her own - all grown up.
The year eight boy who, knowing I had friends in London, asked me on Friday morning if they were all alright.
The year seven girls begging me not to have children (even though I'm really getting quite old) until I've stopped being their form tutor.
The class who guessed all the answers to their end of lesson quiz before I'd even asked the questions.
The man who works in Threshers kissing me on the head for forgetting to pick up my shopping in the aftermath of Thursday's news.
An LSA at school reminising about her days as a Bunny girl in the Casinos

So when the bee stings and all that...

Saskia.... I'm coming to get you

2005-07-01T22:27:00.000+01:00

It's the most talked about thing among under 25s. Saskia is evicted from the big brother house. And any other night I'd care.
But one of our boys is in intensive care after a horrible accident and all I can think is... How shallow are we?
Let's look to the important things in life, guys!

My brother's getting married!

2005-06-15T22:16:00.000+01:00

I'm rubbish at writing in this blog - partly because P forgot to pay the phone bill and our internet was down for months...
But on saturday my big brother's getting married (to the best big sister in the world) and I thought that was worth a mention.
I love them both, I can't wait to see them make their vows, and even now I'm welling up just thinking about it.
Haven't got the words to say how I feel, just that it's the best thing to happen for a long time, and I'm over the moon (that someone would be stupid enough to marry him..)

I've met Annie several times... but only usually when my parents are around. The first time I went out for drinks with her, and then again on her hen night, I realised she really is a beautiful person. Capable of making every man in the room love her (and every woman too - a mean feat)

She rocks, I can't wait to spend the rest of MY life loving her too.

Nice one, Tom!

After a long sleep...

2005-04-10T16:51:00.000+01:00

It occured to me as I read around a few other blogs, that I'm taking this too seriously. I feel like I can't post anything unless it's perfect (perhaps using my dad's blog as a measure isn't the best idea)... So i'll now just write. Write how I feel, Write what I like.
We start back at school tomorrow after the Easter break, and I'm both glad to go back, and terrified of how work changes my life.
Is it normal to feel so exhausted at the end of a day, that I can barely feed myself, just in time to climb into bed at 8.30? Is this the life I should expect at just 25 years old?
What will happen when I have children? Or when I retire and look back on my life and realise I spent those entire working years wishing the time away - waiting for the next holiday when I could just about charge my batteries for the next term?
Will it always be like this? With Saturday night being the only time I can arrange to see anyone, and then realising I have no one to see anyway, because they think I'm dead it's been so long?

On that note I joined the adult world today and finally bought myself a contract phone... So without the 'oh, I have no credit' excuse, I might finally get over my mortifying fear of PICKING UP THE PHONE AND JUST RINGING SOMEONE.
How can someone who craves attention and doesn't flutter an eyelid at speaking in public be so scared of communicating by phone?? Pathetic.

So, those of you who have been waiting several years for me to phone you back... the end might soon be in sight.

Martha, Martha, Martha

2005-02-08T17:07:00.000Z

Further to the Mature Woman magazine dropping through the door before Christmas, today I recieved LX Direct - a mail order clothes mag for women sized 16+. Is someone playing a cruel joke on me... or did my parents really just give me a fat old woman's name?

Ah, what a great teacher I must be...

2005-02-06T11:03:00.000Z

One bright spark in year nine wrote this in his exam:
What is a Near Death Experience?
When you go out and get run over by a bus but you don't die
What hidden meaning might there be?
That you should of (sic) stayed at home

a butterfly in china...

2005-01-25T19:20:00.000Z

If I cough at the exact same time as someone on the exact same street as me, what are the odds on other people in the world coughing at that exact same time (and how many?) . Are we really unique?

From the mouths of babes...

2005-01-24T19:38:00.000Z

A year nine, on telling his classmate she'd messed up in a revision wordsearch: "That's not love that's EVOLution!".
I'm sure there's a great philosphical comment in there somewhere...

Censorship and the problem with parents...

2005-01-23T15:02:00.000Z

We censor ourselves. I know that. And I’m sure there are reasons.
I’ve been thinking hard about this. Can I use this space to write how I really feel, to say what I really think? When it’s hard, and it hurts… when I’m happy (and a little silly). Must I censor myself here?
And the real problem? What if my dad reads it?
But I am an adult. My parents don’t know me because I am scared to show them who I am in case they don’t like it. In case they stop loving me.
And we have lost so many years because of this fear.
I am writing in a journal and leaving it open in the living room – this blog – and I will live with what happens as a result.
(but I’ll censor myself a little, if that’s alright with you)

Quaking in my Anglican boots

2005-01-23T13:49:00.000Z

Mark, a friend from Lampeter, sent round an email recently directing us all to the Belief-O-Matic faith quiz. A quiz that promises: “Even if YOU don't know what faith you are, Belief-O-Matic™ knows”. Try it, you may be surprised!

I’ve just started looking into the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers to you and me) having come out 100% Liberal Quaker, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised. Watch this space for more info.

Seems my dad was right… he once said he couldn’t imagine how he’d raised me such a protestant!

You are feeling very sleepy...

2005-01-23T13:19:00.000Z

We had an INSET the other day about how the brain works, and how that affects how pupils learn. Apparently, most of what we learn (nearly 85% in fact) is unconscious, and people learn best in a state nearing hypnotism.
So, I shall be writing to the powers that be to ask their permission to hypnotise my year eights, thereby not only teaching them all they need to know to pass an exam, but also making my life one hell of a lot less stressful!
Ethical problems with this? Come and meet my year eights...

Genesis

2005-01-22T14:58:00.000Z

So. Where to start? I've read a great deal of blogs and wonder if I'm really qualified to join this world of intellectuals and philosophers. What do I have to write that anyone should want to read? And yet, if it'll save those near me from listening to my endless ranting and preaching, then I may as well give it a go. So.