Let's hope the next one enjoys four part harmony then!

Then the anthem must be 'O Clap Your Hands Together, all ye people'

Love it!

Argh. Just found out that it's school photos tomorrow. This is the last thing I need right now...

I used to mysteriously become ill and not attend whenever those came around. I hated them.. .

On one of my old school photos, one lad got into trouble for appearing twice, at each end.
The camera scanned along, and he ran round the back to the opposite end, beating the camera, and so appeared twice !

Not so much of a scream but more of a grump really.

I spent about half an hour looking for the Durham music department to ask if I could do a music analysis module instead of a maths one. The answer was a complete and utter absolute no exceptions NO because I don't have A level music. My two grade 8 distinctions, AS level and generally pretty good theory knowledge apparently count for nothing.

On the slightly bright side, it sounds like I might possibly be allowed to sit in on lectures without actually officially taking the module, which would be nice. (but would mean effectively doing 7 rather than 6 modules because I would still have to do the 6 maths).

I've just discovered that the class I most enjoyed teaching at the university has been cancelled due to a fall in numbers. There are five groups and I was unlucky enough to have group 5.

Not only that but we decide who is teaching what in June and in June I refused another class because it was at the same time as this one and now I'm worried I might not have enough hours. Or have to teach something I really don't want to teach at a time I don't want to teach....

WARNING- mega rant. Apologies in advance.
I'm at home with tonsillitis. Hmmm. At least I think that's what it is... I'm all shivery, pathetic feeling and dizzy, but haven't got a fever. Bit of a headache. Both of my tonsils are red and holey, and the one which hurts has white pustules all over it. Yum! Grrr, I always get this the doctors say I have "kissing tonsils" because they're huge. They get infected a lot. But this is the first time in ages the lumps have come...

And now I don't know if I'm going to be able to make it to thorpe park with my friends on friday Mum's taking us, and none of the other parents are willing to help, so if I can't go, we're all in trouble. And I've got a load of IT coursework which should be in tomorrow (but the deadline isn't actually for months) and I don't have excel at home, so would be doing it at lunch and after school, at school. But I haven't been able to. ARRRGGGHHH, I'm so annoyed. I'm hoping I won't feel better tomorrow on one hand, so that I don't have to face the teacher, but on the other hand, 3 days off school means a LOT of catching up. Plus tomorrow is a half day, and I was going to a friend's house after school.

I feel like I should be doing homework, and being constructive with my time, but nothing is working!!! Maths I get a different answer every time I try, science I seem to have forgotten everything, and English I can't seem to understand what on EARTH Jane Austen is talking about. I haven't even attempted geography. So I had the amazing idea of cooking cakes! Then remembered that I'll probably spread my germs to everyone else... plus I keel about all over the place when I'm standing up, so would probably go and burn myself...

Get well soon Bob.

LIttle Jen has Swine flu. SHe is really poorly, you can tell this by she is QUIET, and is not eating at all.
A sorry little girl. Hope it doesn't last too long.
Bev

Hugs to all the poorly ones (virtual hugs are wonderful - you never catch any germs! ). I do hope you feel better soon.

Priority I think should be to get plenty of rest. Get well soon...



Poor Jen , hope she's better soon too...

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh. My back is killing me. Sciatic stuff, lower right and into my bottom.
Had great difficulty putting on my socks and tying shoelaces this morning

Ouch hope it's better soon...

I've lost count of the amount of times I've had this. It doesn't seem the done thing to have them removed these days. I've asked my GP on several occasions and they won't do it.

Apparently it's something to do with the fact that they stop infections taking hold further down where they can be more dangerous (I heard that somewhere but can't remember where).

I know a great move for easing that, but I'd have to be in Yorkshire to show you.
GOt when I was pregnant the second time, and it makes life very difficult.

Thats sounds interesting Bev. I assume you wish to demonstrate to me ! You're welcome anytime !

I've just discovered that the only 2 hours on my timetable that are both compulsory and unmovable are right over the top of the one hour of music I wanted to go to. I can go to the lecture today, then won't be able to go till after christmas. *wonders if they'll let me go to the musicology one instead*

I left my purse on the bus. *sob*

Really sorry to hear this, Sarah, though not surprised. BerkshireSon was hoping last year to have made it to the Tuesday lunchtime music recitals, but his Tuesday timetable made it impossible (and will again this year). Maths has such a full timetable - you'd have been all right if you were doing History or Languages.


Don't panic, yet, Miss Ross! Lots of people are very honest and would either hand your purse to the driver (who will hopefully give it in at the bus depot) or take it to a police station. Make sure you tell the bus people and the police that you left it on the bus, and fingers crossed, you will get it back in a day or two.

I lost my wallet whilst horribly drunk in Cardiff once, some lovely Welsh lady called me up the next day saying she'd found it (my business card was in there, fortunately). I got her details and sent her flowers That would never have happened around my neck of the woods.

Really?
I used to have 12 hours a week and was the envy of all my friends doing other subjects!

Presumably you didn't go to Durham! BerkshireSon had 21 timetabled hours last year, so Sarah will have something similar. Most of the arts subjects have about 10.

I've just discovered that I'm meant to be teaching in two places at the same time in November. That is really not going to work. To make it worse, the timetable clash is between two modules from the same year of the same degree programme and one of the modules is compulsory - so some of the students will also have a clash and the problem therefore cannot be solved with a staff swap alone.

I've thrown the problem at someone else to sort out...

Delegation is an important skill!

Nope - Royal Holloway.
I had the least lectures out of anyone, I think.

I know, but the problem shouldn't come up in the first place. I know that the timetables are very difficult to organise, but they really should be able to avoid clashes between modules on the same year of the same degree programme - especially when one of the modules is compulsory. I'm the one that will be in the firing line when the students start complaining that the module was badly organised, not the administrators who missed the clash.

On the subject of university timetables. On Monday evening I was told they were getting rid of one of my groups and I would no longer have enough hours. I spent two sleepless nights wondering what I could possibly find to make up the number of hours I have to teach that wouldn't involve an extra day's presence (and an extra 2 1/2 hour each way commute).

I finally solved it on Wednesday around 2.00 pm. At 4.00pm I was told that in fact they'd made a mistake, it was not my group that is going but someone else's. So I now have too many hours and like Flossie some are at the same time

I may have said I'd go to the Tuesday morning musicology. There's a small possibility that it might clash with a tutorial (we don't know when those are yet), but I'm pretty sure you can change those.

How many times do you have to ask a child not to run round the show site (which is full of greenhouses and summerhouses)?

I've just sat on my glasses... One of the lenses is hence without the frame. Most trying.

Did you enjoy today's lecture? I hope the musicology proves possible; you certainly seem very keen to learn some music whilst you're in Durham.


The moral of this story is: don't do it again!

Hope you can get new glasses soon.

It's that week, half way between beginning of term and half term. Pupils' practising is falling by the wayside. Grrrr.

Today's lecture was pretty good. I definitely didn't feel left behind for not doing music. The first half was mainly explaining the course though so there wasn't that much actual music in it, it was just a very rushed and brief analysis of a Bach prelude. I'm a bit disappointed though because the lecturer's starting his chronological history of music with Bach, so is missing out all the medieval and renaissnace stuff that was supposed to be in it. The musicology course looks really good though as it looks like it has load of stuff about early music, although it's the same lecturer as the other one so I guess he might have taken all the early stuff out of this one too.

My lovely ginger cat has a horrid stinky yukky abcess on his face He's such a dear, he managed to put up with all the treatment the vet put him through this morning with hardly a struggle. And now I've got to do the cleaning etc

And more of an Owwww! Than and Aaaargh! - My garden is covered in beech nuts and they're really painful to bare feet (I know, put shoes on, but I keep forgetting when I nip out to feed the rabbits). I raked loads of them up the other day (beech nuts, not rabbits) and now there are thousands more on the lawn. I'm surprised the rabbits haven't been knocked unconscious by them - when it was windy the other day I could hear them hurling themselves off the tree (again, beech nuts, not rabbits) and hitting next door's corrugated iron garage roof, house-at-the-back's prized motor home (oops) and the rabbit hutch roof. Ow!

Look on the bright side - he may have decided to do all the early music stuff in his Musicology lectures, and that's why he's cutting it out of the analysis ones. You might manage to meet other recorder players by going to the lectures anyway, and be able to get a group going.

Glad you enjoyed the Linear Algebra today too!

I do hope he is better soon. Give him a stroke from me. I love ginger toms - and have had the awful experience of losing three in three and a half years. They have just disappeared - castrated, microchipped, vaccinated - the lot. We have no idea what has been happening and we have been so sad.

But I actually clicked here for another reason. Aaaaaargh!!

I was teaching music - Christmas songs to a class of juniors today when a van with a loud speaker drove right into the school car park and loudly announced publicity for one of those nasty little travelling circuses with wild animals dragged around the country in tiny cages - they call it a zoo! My lesson was ruined and the children became quite out of control. A few minutes later I had to go out to the locked playground gate to let somemone in and was approached by a man from the circus who wanted to distribute flyers to the children and asked when they would be coming out of school. I can't repeat where I told him to go because
the language I used wouldn't get past the censor. One of the children told me his cousin had seen the lions and they looked very sick. It suprises me that this sort of circus is still apparently legal here - and as for coming into the school grounds to blast their publicity at us in lesson time - well - aaaaaargh!!!!

I've given him a good stroke from you, thanks So sorry about yours, it must be simply awful not knowing.

The 'zoo' sounds appalling. Those poor creatures.

My cousin is staying and is steaming drunk - the idiot spilled Pepsi Max all over the carpet Really not happy at all!

At least it's not a sugary variant... *sigh* Some people are a real nuisance when they've had too much. At least I have the good grace to pass out and leave people alone when I've overdone it.

Argh... my car battery has died

I have a jumpstart kit, but now that means I'll spend tomorrow morning getting a new battery sorted rather than what I was planning to do

*sigh*

AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGH!

Today is not going well!

I had a 9 o'clock statistics lecture which, in itself, is enough to be grumpy about but, since then, I discovered a note under my door telling me to take down all the photos I'd stuck up and my timetable is all clashy which needs sorting out.

I have an email from my mum saying that she's rung the SLC and they think that I have been payed my student loan (it's nowhere in sight!!!) and that I have to phone them up to talk about it. But phoning them will involve a really long call which I can't really afford on my mobile. The person I would need to talk to about it in my college isn't here today.

I got the letter from Allianz about my insurance and it's been mangled in the post with an apology from the post office. The letter's ok but they've spelt half the makes of my instruments wrong, so I guess I probably have to sort that out, but there's no contact number.

Oh, and I seem to be coming down with the dreaded freshers' flu.

*wonders what's going to happen next. *

Poor Sarah It sounds as if you should go straight back to bed and start again tomorrow!

Prioritise, and sort out your timetable clashes before you start to feel any worse. I expect the SLC will wait until the right person is in college, and the insurance is OK to be left for now.

You must be due for something really nice to happen soon!

Yesterday was my nice day, so I don't think I'm owed anything nice.

I think my timetable's sorted out now (although that's left me with a five-hour friday afternoon ), but everything else is much the same. I walked into town between lectures to buy milk though, so when my friend gets back from choir, we're going to drown our sorrows in hot chocolate (she's had a pretty lousy day too!).

I've just discovered I can't play C major scale!

I can play all the others just fine, but the bit of my brain that does the fingering for C major seems to have gone AWOL!

I guess that's what I deserve for not practicing them!

That's because it's the most difficult and horrible scale there is.

Yes, It just pretends to be easy, by not having any of them black bits.

LOL!

I hated B Minor but seem to be getting on with that just fine now.

My faves are Eb Major and F Major at the mo E Major contrary falls nice under the hands too!

There are paramedics in my flatmate's room. I really hope she's ok... (and that it's not to do with how much she had to drink last night...)

Hope she's OK too...