Husband had bicycle stolen last week - from cycle racks at station, I've lost a couple of pupils this week, or at least only one responded when I asked if their child was continuing lessons this term, and that was to say they were giving up, and tonight we've had a call to say the outboard from our little boat has been stolen!! Oh, and my computer has stopped working altogether, and my life is on it! And we can't afford to get any of it replaced or mended. Ah well.

My local music school is a complete Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh

In June I enroled my younger daughter to continue with the piano and to start the oboe. About ten days ago, they phoned up and said young children could no longer do two instruments and which did she want. She has had a junior oboe on loan this summer and has been practising both instruments ....

Then they sent out times for the compulsory music theory class. There are two classes for her age group and level, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. She has been put in the afternoon one. I phoned up and asked if she could swap for the morning one because for the past six years she has been attending an art class in the afternoon. The music school and the art school have the same Head and they work in the same buildings but he has refused to let my daughter swap groups.

Argh....have they given you a good reason why they've moved her to the afternoon class, or do you think it is for their convenience that they've swapped her over?...

I snapped my glasses in half this morning. So over I went to D and A (my usual optician) who couldn't do anything to fix them or help (no free eye tests today, so couldn't do me a new pair). So I went to the local Tesco optician where they could get me in today, and I'd be able to pick up my new glasses during the week after work (which is pretty difficult at most opticians).

I went over at 11.30am. They put me in for a 2am appointment. There didn't seem much point in going home again, so I read a book in the nearby library till 2am. They were running horrendously late. I didn't see an optician until 3am. I finally escaped and got home 10 minutes ago.

It was total chaos. And the staff obviously knew nothing about how to choose frames for perscrptions as strong as mine. They also only had 'fashionable' frames available. I don't give a damn about what's fashionable, I just want a shape and colour that is as small and simple as possible. (Fashionable ones tend to result in my lenses being about 1cm thick, and my rather small face being drowned.)

Won't be going back again, but what could I do? I'm stuck with a pair of £200 glasses that I don't especially like for the next 2 years, because I can't be without glasses. And I've still got tape wrapped round my current ones, to stop me walking into things...

*sigh*

No reason and they haven't really swapped her. They just attribute children at random to one class or the other. Because they don't ask parents what is convenient people are always asking to swap groups and I know they have let other people swap which is why I am so cross about them not letting my daughter swap.

Oh Tamsin! I've just done exactly the same thing! I stood on mine when I got up just now! Arrrghhhh! They were Prada and my mum is going to be really really angry

Good luck with that. At least I was the one forking out for mine...

That's just unreasonable on the music school's part...

The conversation went as follows....me:"mum...umm I'm really sorry but" Mum: "Camille, not now!" Me;"Mum I've just stepped on my glasses..." Mum: "Oh for God's sake what's the matter with you?!" Me: (resisting the urge to launch into that Joe Dolce song ) Well I'm really sorry - it was an accident!" Mum: "Hmmmph! I'll phone aunt Giuseppina..." (She's an optician, and a really really scary lady!) So I don't think I'm in massive trouble, but I still feel really bad about it! They were such nice glasses as well All sparkly! I still don't know how I managed to step on them and why they were even on the floor to begin with, but there we go.

That doesn't sound so bad... My parents tend to fall into spectacular loosing temper yelling mode in situations like that. Which doesn't help, from my point of view!

Mine just snapped across the bridge (I think that's the word for the bit that goes across your nose?) when I was wiping them off after getting out of the shower. It really shouldn't have happened at all...

And I'm always bending them by falling asleep while wearing them (something to do with the student lifestyle and chronic sleep deprivation). My one consolation as a paid my £200 for glasses I didn't like (though my hosuemate and the shop assistant said they looked okay) was that I was getting a spare pair free. Though without thinner lenses, since couldn't afford the extra £150 for thinnner lenses on a second pair. So at least next time I step on them or similar, I'll not have to resort to sellotape!

Well no, it wasn't too bad after all To be honest though, my mum was really really tired as she's been on call last night (she's an anaesthetist sp?!) so maybe when she wakes up a bit more later she'll be more cross. I'm going back to school tomorrow and boarding until Friday night, so I really don't want to go on a bad note On the plus side, the lenses are absolutely fine - it's just the front bit that snapped in 3 places - so we might be able to just order a new front bit to put the lenses in and attach the sides to, according to my aunt. Phew! (These are my frames: http://www.wantglasses.co.uk/designer-glasses/prada/pr07lv/ - I've got them in the pink/black version)

You know those frames which you can twist and bend and they don't break? My dad had two pairs, one with the UV light thing so the brighter it got the darker the lenses became.

Well one day i asked him to pick me up, it was fairly local to home, and he said he was rushing to leave and his glasses had managed to get snapped. £200 to replace as well. At least the opticians knew what they were talking about.

I really hate false claims for products. I bet whoever made them knew they could break!

A horror story about falling asleep with glasses on ...
The brother of someone I know used to be a good flautist. He went to sleep with his glasses on and woke up in excruciating pain as somehow the bit you put behind your rear had ended up inside his ear and had pierced the eardrum.

To cut a long story short he is now deaf in this ear and has virtually given up playing the flute as he said it has totally changed the way he perceives sounds and he can no longer tell if he is playing in tune or not.

*winces*

Thanks for that reassuring story. I do try not to fall asleep in them. But then, I've found I can fall asleep anywhere when I get tired enough. (Waking up with a keyboard imprint on your face is a bit odd!)

My glasses that snapped appart in my hand were the slightly flexy ones. They were good for coping better with things like being sat on, or balls to the face during netball, but seemed completely unable to cope with certain types of shear forces. This was the second time I'd had that particular type of frame snap in the same place.

I have a good solution. wear contact lenses.

I have tried My vision was really awful with soft contacts - I've got quite bad astigmatism and they couldn't correct it enough I think - but now I'm starting to wear rigid contacts a little bit. They're not very comfortable though, so I can only wear them for about 4 hours before they need to come out. It's much less hassle to wear specs if you ask me

Ooh-er... I'm not "arghing" just grumbling slightly... I have an audition next week. Due to things that have been said to me and behind my back in the recent past, I suspect it's just a formality, and it's been decided already that I haven't a chance... Still I can feel my hopes being raised... and I'm still getting nervous!

I'm such an idiot!

You are not an idiot!

Try to treat the audition as a chance to perform at your best, and don't worry about what people are thinking. A lot of pre-judging does go on, but you can't be sure that those who will listen to you have definitely made up their minds already. Go out there and sock it to them! And make sure you enjoy yourself - that's most important.

I was reading that without my glasses but the 'not' got lost and I read "You are an idiot! " and thought that was a bit out of character. Today we see BM's evil side.

Whatever the outcome, it will be great experience for other auditions. And like any job interview, try and assess yourself afterwards - what you did well, what you can learn from to improve next time. And if you don't get it, remind yourself that it's not personal - it just wasn't the right role for you at this time.

Good luck Lucy!

Thanks... I'll definitely do my best. Maybe it'll even help, in that since I really don't think I have a chance, I might be at least a little bit less nervous...
I don't know... I'll try anyway.

Yet again I appear to be a source of innocent merriment!

lucky, I know how easy it is to lose your confidence when people seem to criticise your performance, but you have a lovely voice, and as skylark says, losing out on one role doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with your singing.

Good luck with the audition!

Ah, I didn't see this. Thanks Skylark. I suppose everything is a chance to improve. I already know that (if) I don't get the solo I want, it'll be because I can't perform effectively, and act through the song, so I'll work on that for the next week, before the audition.



Thanks BM.

Hmm... from the sound of your first post, it seems to me that if you don't get the solo you want, it may be more down to stupid politics than your performance ability!

Hmm, it might be more accurate to say that if I don't get the solo I want, that's the (reasonably plausible) excuse that will be given.

Really unpleasant and frightening crisis with teenager - exam/lessons/work deadlines/house stuff/ all looming large and so far a total absence of solutions to major unavoidable problem....it's a bit like the sort of film where a large meteorite is about to hit the earth and there are only two minutes left to make a plan.

Perhaps we need a disaster thread? For those eventualities which need more than a scream?!?
N

Gosh, I hope things are sorted soon! Sounds awful

My aaaghhh is actually more of a grrrrr! I'm annoyed with myself for being disorganised

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh. I killed a baby rabbit on the road last night. Normally they scamper away , but he just didnt move and then I couldn't avoid him.

Awww, that's sad f#m...

Aw no. Don't worry about it f#m...


And my argh - I AM STUPID. I chickened out of an audition last night. It would have been a wonderful opportunity and could have gone so far...

What was it for? Don't worry, I'm sure you'll have loads of opportunities to do other things that might make up for it.
*hugs*

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh.
Spotted a cup of coffee on my desk that had almost gone cold. Tried to down it in one , and poured half of it down my neck. Then I said to a colleague 'D***!, Ive just poured a coff of cuppee down my neck!
I swear I havent been to the pub (yet) !

See my current signature - makes it worthwhile being disorganised

That's fab I was just having one of those really stupid days yesterday - I hadn't written down some stuff I was meant to do (like booking the school's great hall for a talent show! ) and then when people came up to ask me if I'd done it, I just stood there like a complete wally. Fortunately I managed to wriggle out of that one...

Arghhhh!
My (recently widowed) grandfather is staying with us for a few days. (that isn't what I'm arrggghhhing about! just some background info)

Not only does he refuse for anyone to pay for anything (him and my mum were having an argument in one shop today, the person at the desk went rather red ) he doesn't have a great grip on his finances (that was what my grandmother dealt with).
He went into the bank to ask for a new cheque book this week, and ended up coming out without requesting a cheque book and with a certain type of savings account. He has been panicking since Wednesday about it, and brought down all the info on it to us (he thought it was the wrong thing to do- hasn't slept properly). So I have ended up doing quite a bit of research whilst he was doing things this evening to explain it isn't the end of the world to have this account, but he can cancel it in 14 days blah blah blah. My grandfather is unable to write more than his name, so it is all a bit tricky cancelling it (writing a cheque is impossible for instance, let alone filling in a form).

Dad would normally deal with this- but he isn't in the country (and won't be for another week), so he can't deal with it from that far away.

Argh! *goes to enjoy time with my grandfather rather than get bogged down in all the other stuff*

*hide away*
I don't want to endure anything in school anymore. Eurghh can I turn back time please.

I have a big concert coming up next wek that I REALLY need to practise for but I'm feeling really Fluey !!!

Hope you're feeling better this morning. Whatever's happened will probably be forgotten by Monday, or almost certainly by next weekend.

If only we could turn back time, I think almost everyone would, but in the long run maybe it's good for our characters to have to live with our mistakes!

Had a really stressful chemistry practical yesterday. Couldn't understand the instructions that well and when I did manage to do it the results weren't that accurate even though it wasn't bad.

AAARGH! Why does everything weird always happen to me?!?!

I opened a student account a couple of weeks ago and had been starting to wonder where the cheque book/debit card/stuff had got to because it hadn't turned up in the post. I went in to the branch to ask about it today and it they hadn't been delivered to the branch either, at which point the woman decided they got lost and cancelled everything. Then, she realised it had, for some reason or other, been sent to the college in Durham rather than my home address (she said that was the first time she's seen that happen), but she'd cancelled the cards and things by the time she realised that. The replacements will take about 2 weeks to be delivered to Cambridge, so I'll most likely be in Durham when they turn up and could have just located the original ones. And then, I guess there's the question of whether they'll let someone else pick up the new ones from the bank for me if I'm not there.

The really odd thing is that all the stuff to do with the credit card found its way to me without any problems.

Poor Sarah! You'd better make sure you take enough cash to tide you over the first fortnight then.

A "must have" is a gown, which you need for matriculation and which will cost at least £30 even if you choose a secondhand one, but I'm guessing your parents will be around at that point (they will be on sale when you arrive) and able to pay on your behalf.

Other than that, it's mostly tickets for ents, subscriptions for any societies you join, and any Freshers' stash you fancy. Plus general pocket money for drinks, etc.

I hope you get your cheque book, etc before too long.

I got attacked by a dog today !! Was visiting a friend when a dog visiting one of her neighbours jumped up alongside the fence. Grabbed my hair in it's mouth, wrenching my head well back - kind of whiplashing my neck which still hurts lots. Also a large chunk of hair was pulled out. Lookily my scalp is all intact, there were no actual bites and I'm ok - appart from neck and back pain. Spent most of the day in shock though. First a tearful jelly, then numb and with leaden legs, later I ached all over, especially head ache and muscle ache and now I just feel totally exhasuted. After effects of the shock I guess.

Oh dear Dawn, that sounds dreadful. I hope you're ok, take it easy and rest until the shock dies down.

Did you speak to the dog's owner? A dog that can do that is a grave risk

Thankyou. Feeling a lot better after sitting down, chatting with my husband and eating a decent meal. I do however expect my neck to be agony in the morning after the night's rest.

The dog was being "dogsat" at the time and the owner wasn't there. The person responsible for it and the person who's house it was at were mortified!!! In fact one was a police officer and she advised me to report it and phone the dog warden. She has also since spoken to the owner who was also "mortified". I have reported it and await a call back from the dog warden tomorrow. I do not wish to get the owners into hot water as to my mind unless the dog has shown signs of this behaviour before and they have been ignored it isn't the owner's fault, nor do I particularly want the dog putting down as I suspect could happen but my friend has children and I feel I have to report this on the grounds that I keep thinking "Thank God it wasn't a kiddie" and "thank God my son wasn't there to see it happen" and that if I heard of a similar dog in the York area mauling a child and I'd done nothing I'd always wonder and feel guilty.

Argh for ****'s sake!

Why is it that when I'm trying to video myself playing, I *always* mess it up? I've played this song a hundred damned times without a problem but have done 6 takes now and failed I can play it in front of an audience but not a camera? In fact, at the pupil's concert, I insisted on not being videoed and I played everything fine.

I give up. It's getting too late to make lots of noise anyway.

EDIT: Just had a run through without the camera and played it with only 1 slip... aaaaargh!

Poor Dawn...

Do make sure you have a good rest after that sort of shock, take care of yourself...

Thankyou. Just been clarinetting but can tell my mind's not quite on the job. Leaving it there tonight. Neck's a bit stiff too.

Oh, Dawn. *gentle hugs* Look afer yourself. xxx


My argh is that I feel like I might have the start of an ear infection... it certainly hurts enough, and the pain is familiar from the endless bouts of it I had as a child. I need to be able to travel home on Saturday.

Ouch...

Hopefully you'll feel better after a good night's sleep Floss...

Thankyou Miss Ross. Gentle Hugs to you too and hope the ear feels better soon.