There are two podcasts that I regularly download, Chris Moyles and Sportsweek. I usually listen to them at the beginning of the week. I'm still listening to this week's Sportsweek. It's with David Davies as Garry Richardson is off on holiday. He's not as good if you ask me.
But anyway, this week on the line up was stuff about the Tour de France, Freddy Shepherd and Jonathan Edwards. 'Oh' I thought. I like him, he's always very sensible and well spoken about things, like drugs in sport...2012...God.
Just as David was rounding off talking to him, he referred to the fact he had 'lost his faith.' My mouth fell open, 'Jonathan Edwards not a Christian anymore?! Did I hear that right?!' (I have since discovered this 'news' is about a month old, but I'm out of the country!) I pressed my earphone into my ear, mouth open wide. And sure enough it seems during all that competing and training he was just on auto-pilot, believing what he was brought up to believe and not actually questioning why he believed what he said he did.
How sad is that? I mean, Christians all have doubts at one time or another but most of us come back. In the interview he didn't totally renounce God or call all Christians lunatics, he was very Jonathan Edwards about it, articulate and polite. And in some ways that makes it sadder. Because I think because of the way the man spoke about God and his faith did more to help others in theirs than any Harry Secombe 'Songs of Praise'.
I pray he comes back. And not because he's eloquent.
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Monday, July 30, 2007
My, my
It’s nearly been a week since I posted a blog. I’ve been busy, don’t know with what now that I come on here. But here are some highlights:
- Evidently I wasn’t spending my time reading Harry Potter as I only up to P340 or something (rule no. 94 If you are going to talk about ‘where you are up to’ in Harry Potter, a page number is the only reference you can give).
- Met Nicky and Heidi on their way back to the motherland on Thursday. I laughed til it hurt hearing tales of their holiday.
- This was the second time last week I laughed til it hurt. The first was quoting lines from ‘Airplane’. ‘What kind of plane is it? Oh, it's a big pretty white plane with red stripes, curtains in the windows and wheels and it looks like a big Tylenol.’
- Actually, it was the third time. The first time was when I was teaching my GCSE class. I had tried to write ‘disastrous’ on the board (in reference to Russia’s 1904 war with Japan). I said ‘I don’t think I spelt that right’, to which they replied ‘yeah we think you spelt ‘illiterate’ wrong as well.’
- No, excuse me, it was the fourth. The actual second time was with my Year 1s. We’re looking at the History of Singapore and I was doing a recap of what we’d done and this boy kept on chipping in getting clarification on things. And he said ‘so the Dutch had control of the Malay archipelago and Raffles took over that Malay island…what’s it called again?’ To which another boy, with all the 'd’uh' in his voice he could muster said ‘Singapore’... I blame his Geography teacher.
- So for those of you keeping track, it was ‘illiterate’, ‘Singapore’, ‘Airplane’ and stories from Nicky and Heidi in chronological order of laughing til it hurts. Laughing til it hurts is great.
- I saved the world on Friday. Well I tried. I finally put those bags for your toilet cistern in (They were another 'birthday present' along with the fabric softener). I got one in on my own (without the assistance of the engineer they offered) but in one toilet the ballcock is wedged in and the bag won't fit. Sadly, for the world, this is on the toilet that I actually use.
-My Year 3s and I came up with a plan which could also help save the world. Now, it might be more of a Sheryl Crow than an Al Gore, but hear us out. What if A5 paper was the norm, not A4? We'd save loads of paper. Around half we'd say. There might need to be some adjustment in the size of handwriting but I think when you consider what is at stake who wouldn't want to write slightly smaller. It's the world we're talking about people!
- It was the school musical (Joseph) on Friday and Saturday night. I was like a proud parent looking at my students who were in it. I mean, it was no ‘My Fair Lady’ xBHSers, but still quite good.
- I went to the National Museum of Singapore on Saturday to see what they had for the proposed school trip. There’s loads of displays and relevant things but I was devastated to learn that there are no, as in zero, zip, nada, worksheets. What sort of national museum has an education department and no worksheets?!
- I found a cat meowing outside my apartment today. Cats seems to gravitate towards people in my family! I’m not too sure if it was stray or not, but the St. Francis of Assisi that I am, I gave it some tuna and helped him on his merry way. I toyed with the idea of keeping him just so as to see my landlady’s face. She has a kitten herself every time the yappy dog starts up because she thinks it’s mine. ‘Yes that’s right, even though it’s against our tenancy agreement , I have a dog and I kick it out every time you come around to next door so as you won’t suspect anything. Oh and I’m also clever enough to clear up any tell tale signs of a dog before you come in, like bowls, leads and hairs. Ha ha, fooled you.’
Right enough, if I owe you an email, and let’s face it, I probably do, you’ll excuse me if I go to bed now and read some more of Mr. Potter. Night night.
- Evidently I wasn’t spending my time reading Harry Potter as I only up to P340 or something (rule no. 94 If you are going to talk about ‘where you are up to’ in Harry Potter, a page number is the only reference you can give).
- Met Nicky and Heidi on their way back to the motherland on Thursday. I laughed til it hurt hearing tales of their holiday.
- This was the second time last week I laughed til it hurt. The first was quoting lines from ‘Airplane’. ‘What kind of plane is it? Oh, it's a big pretty white plane with red stripes, curtains in the windows and wheels and it looks like a big Tylenol.’
- Actually, it was the third time. The first time was when I was teaching my GCSE class. I had tried to write ‘disastrous’ on the board (in reference to Russia’s 1904 war with Japan). I said ‘I don’t think I spelt that right’, to which they replied ‘yeah we think you spelt ‘illiterate’ wrong as well.’
- No, excuse me, it was the fourth. The actual second time was with my Year 1s. We’re looking at the History of Singapore and I was doing a recap of what we’d done and this boy kept on chipping in getting clarification on things. And he said ‘so the Dutch had control of the Malay archipelago and Raffles took over that Malay island…what’s it called again?’ To which another boy, with all the 'd’uh' in his voice he could muster said ‘Singapore’... I blame his Geography teacher.
- So for those of you keeping track, it was ‘illiterate’, ‘Singapore’, ‘Airplane’ and stories from Nicky and Heidi in chronological order of laughing til it hurts. Laughing til it hurts is great.
- I saved the world on Friday. Well I tried. I finally put those bags for your toilet cistern in (They were another 'birthday present' along with the fabric softener). I got one in on my own (without the assistance of the engineer they offered) but in one toilet the ballcock is wedged in and the bag won't fit. Sadly, for the world, this is on the toilet that I actually use.
-My Year 3s and I came up with a plan which could also help save the world. Now, it might be more of a Sheryl Crow than an Al Gore, but hear us out. What if A5 paper was the norm, not A4? We'd save loads of paper. Around half we'd say. There might need to be some adjustment in the size of handwriting but I think when you consider what is at stake who wouldn't want to write slightly smaller. It's the world we're talking about people!
- It was the school musical (Joseph) on Friday and Saturday night. I was like a proud parent looking at my students who were in it. I mean, it was no ‘My Fair Lady’ xBHSers, but still quite good.
- I went to the National Museum of Singapore on Saturday to see what they had for the proposed school trip. There’s loads of displays and relevant things but I was devastated to learn that there are no, as in zero, zip, nada, worksheets. What sort of national museum has an education department and no worksheets?!
- I found a cat meowing outside my apartment today. Cats seems to gravitate towards people in my family! I’m not too sure if it was stray or not, but the St. Francis of Assisi that I am, I gave it some tuna and helped him on his merry way. I toyed with the idea of keeping him just so as to see my landlady’s face. She has a kitten herself every time the yappy dog starts up because she thinks it’s mine. ‘Yes that’s right, even though it’s against our tenancy agreement , I have a dog and I kick it out every time you come around to next door so as you won’t suspect anything. Oh and I’m also clever enough to clear up any tell tale signs of a dog before you come in, like bowls, leads and hairs. Ha ha, fooled you.’
Right enough, if I owe you an email, and let’s face it, I probably do, you’ll excuse me if I go to bed now and read some more of Mr. Potter. Night night.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
I'm stared
People are so funny. Like a boy in my class, who everytime he comes in (about 3 times a day it seems) he says 'Ah Miss, you know in Harry Potter when...nah just joking'. Good job too, otherwise he might see colours of rage from me he has yet to experience.
So with that in mind I'm not going to read the comments because people seem determined to spoil Harry Potter yet I am determined not to find out what happens.
Excuse me, reading to be done.
So with that in mind I'm not going to read the comments because people seem determined to spoil Harry Potter yet I am determined not to find out what happens.
Excuse me, reading to be done.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Old man name
I went to see Harry Potter the other night. I'm not that big into it at all but I like to keep up with the kids. For instance, I have never re-read one, and I really don't think I have seen any other film except for the few one, or maybe two.
That said, I really enjoyed the film, although today I was talking about and someone said something about a certain bit in it and I couldn't remember it at all. This concerns me, as I might be turning into Ruth who remembers nothing about anything!
Anyway, if you haven't seen it I won't say anything, except how much knitwear was there in it?! I was expecting to see 'costumes provided by the Edinburgh Woollen Mill' at the end. Oh and how brilliant Imelda Staunton was in it? Super.
Yesterday I got the book and am about to start into it. I had to put up a sign on my door today though saying:
*In tribute to Umbridge. Of course it raised questions about what rule number x was. Quick witted as ever I replied with 'there shall be no untucked shirts in my classroom' for I am the Mrs. McNutt of my school!
As I walking out this evening one of my students asked 'how long does rule 86 last for?'
'Til I finish it.'
Good luck everybody.
That said, I really enjoyed the film, although today I was talking about and someone said something about a certain bit in it and I couldn't remember it at all. This concerns me, as I might be turning into Ruth who remembers nothing about anything!
Anyway, if you haven't seen it I won't say anything, except how much knitwear was there in it?! I was expecting to see 'costumes provided by the Edinburgh Woollen Mill' at the end. Oh and how brilliant Imelda Staunton was in it? Super.
Yesterday I got the book and am about to start into it. I had to put up a sign on my door today though saying:
Rule 86*
There shall be no talking about Harry Potter inside my classroom.
*In tribute to Umbridge. Of course it raised questions about what rule number x was. Quick witted as ever I replied with 'there shall be no untucked shirts in my classroom' for I am the Mrs. McNutt of my school!
As I walking out this evening one of my students asked 'how long does rule 86 last for?'
'Til I finish it.'
Good luck everybody.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
No. 27, Singapore
And a Happy Tina Day one and all!
As I was thinking about my birthdays I realised that this should actually be the 27th Annual International Tina Day (technically there's an argument that it's the 28th but that makes me seem older than I am!) because recently I have had more out of the country than in:
27 - Singapore
26 - Seoul, Korea
25 - Teresopolis, Brazil
24 - Befast, N. Ireland
23 - Whitehead, N. Ireland
22 - Jordanstown, N. Ireland
21 - Boyne Falls, Michigan
20 - Tulsa, Oklahoma
And two of those in the country were at international conferences so thus I have now decided Tina Day is International! (Also this is the first in a while without Dee! Sad!) Pre-twenties I think the furtherst abroad I was for my birthday was maybe Holland, although I can't remember if my actual birthday was there or my mum just bought my card there. It had a spinny wheel to select how old you were and the greeting. Very functional. I actually don't remember many of my pre-twenties birthdays at all, my birthday was usually a non-event as friends were away and all that. Although I do remember a few parties and presents. Like my Care Bear mug I got when I was about five. To this day, milk tastes better from it. And I remember the day after my sixth birthday Sarah Ferguson married Prince Andrew! Maybe that's why I love national events?
Anyway, so far the day has been way better than last year. Like Christmas, this is a day where it's allowed, nay, expected to get up early. So I was up at 8.30am. I opened my cards and even a present and checked my emails. Then the doorbell went. Thinking it was upstairs about the leaky bathroom, I thought bad thoughts about them. But when I looked through the peep hole I saw a man with balloons and flowers!
When I opened the door, it got even better, he had cake!
Then I watched an episode of The West Wing whilst eating my Birthday Breakfast of a frozen drink and Mini Roll (again like Christmas, it's ok to have chocolate for breakfast on your birthday). Then I went out for church. After church we went out for lunch where I had the biggest Sundae I have ever seen. Once they heard it was the 27th Annual International Tina Day they even gave it to me for free!
Blowing out the candle!
So now I am just back from the pool (played with the noodle) and now need to get ready for a barbeque at Clare's.
Marvellous.
As I was thinking about my birthdays I realised that this should actually be the 27th Annual International Tina Day (technically there's an argument that it's the 28th but that makes me seem older than I am!) because recently I have had more out of the country than in:
27 - Singapore
26 - Seoul, Korea
25 - Teresopolis, Brazil
24 - Befast, N. Ireland
23 - Whitehead, N. Ireland
22 - Jordanstown, N. Ireland
21 - Boyne Falls, Michigan
20 - Tulsa, Oklahoma
And two of those in the country were at international conferences so thus I have now decided Tina Day is International! (Also this is the first in a while without Dee! Sad!) Pre-twenties I think the furtherst abroad I was for my birthday was maybe Holland, although I can't remember if my actual birthday was there or my mum just bought my card there. It had a spinny wheel to select how old you were and the greeting. Very functional. I actually don't remember many of my pre-twenties birthdays at all, my birthday was usually a non-event as friends were away and all that. Although I do remember a few parties and presents. Like my Care Bear mug I got when I was about five. To this day, milk tastes better from it. And I remember the day after my sixth birthday Sarah Ferguson married Prince Andrew! Maybe that's why I love national events?
Anyway, so far the day has been way better than last year. Like Christmas, this is a day where it's allowed, nay, expected to get up early. So I was up at 8.30am. I opened my cards and even a present and checked my emails. Then the doorbell went. Thinking it was upstairs about the leaky bathroom, I thought bad thoughts about them. But when I looked through the peep hole I saw a man with balloons and flowers!
When I opened the door, it got even better, he had cake!
Then I watched an episode of The West Wing whilst eating my Birthday Breakfast of a frozen drink and Mini Roll (again like Christmas, it's ok to have chocolate for breakfast on your birthday). Then I went out for church. After church we went out for lunch where I had the biggest Sundae I have ever seen. Once they heard it was the 27th Annual International Tina Day they even gave it to me for free!
Blowing out the candle!
So now I am just back from the pool (played with the noodle) and now need to get ready for a barbeque at Clare's.
Marvellous.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
