Life is sometimes sort of okay because...

[Devons Daddy]

its the local school holidays, the sun is shining, i got promoted, and today i am leaving alittle early and going to,
 
WALK TO THE BEACH!
which is located on the same island as my work place, meet the family and have dinner,
yes its a good day today.
DD,son of DD, DM and baby. sunset, sand,dinner, soft drinks.hopefully some decent music in the background to make it complete

enough to make me truly smile.

[House of Usher]

I think I can afford to start buying the Megazine again.  

(* But my finances don't stretch to a $50,000 yacht club membership. Ah, well. Take the rough with the smooth...)

[House of Usher]

...one of my students is a terrible racist and try as I might I can't change her views, so the most I can do is head her off at the pass and stop her sidetracking the lesson with yet another discussion of why her views are wrong, why she can't say that in my classroom or anybody else's, and why it has nothing to do with the topic at hand. But the good news is, so disgusted is she over the MPs' expenses debacle she decided not to vote in the European elections, not even for the BNP.

[Roger Godpleton]

Metallo is going to be in the next season of Smallville. He's played by the bloke who's knobbing Megan Fox.

[House of Usher]

My girlfriend isn't a stripper. But she could be!  

[Roger Godpleton]

I had a terrible cramp in my leg earlier, but it's gone now. Also I got a very enjoyable blueberry tart from the M&S waste sale.

[locustsofdeath!]

...one of my students is a terrible racist and try as I might I can't change her views, so the most I can do is head her off at the pass and stop her sidetracking the lesson with yet another discussion of why her views are wrong, why she can't say that in my classroom or anybody else's, and why it has nothing to do with the topic at hand. But the good news is, so disgusted is she over the MPs' expenses debacle she decided not to vote in the European elections, not even for the BNP.

What subject do you teach, House of Usher? Your student must be pretty fanatical to make racist comments in class...usually, a racist keeps that to his or herself until hooking up with a bunch of like-minded creeps. In the States, someone saying such things wouldn't make it off campus alive - but I guess here in Europe it's easier being that there aren't as many blacks, hispanics, ect. Don't know why I found this post so interesting, but...

[mygrimmbrother]

...I rememebered to put the bins out just in time for collection. And three old progs I purchased off ebay arrived today.

[House of Usher]

What subject do you teach, House of Usher? Your student must be pretty fanatical to make racist comments in class...

I can't say, because that would be treading on the toes of confidentiality. Let's call it 'General Studies'. How do they get away with it? Well, they get away with not being thrown out of the class because class sizes are so small they could not be run without them. I have to continually remind the student in question that her comments are unwelcome and not relevant to her understanding of the subject and therefore not likely to improve her exam performance or aid the learning of anyone else in the class. I can't ask for her to be thrown off the course because the course would close without her and I would lose about £1,600 a year in wages, which I can ill afford.

[locustsofdeath!]

Ah, I see. So you're in a bit of a bind. More than a bit, I guess.

Sorry to seem intrusive. What I should have asked, to be more clear, was whether or not you taught History of some sort. Then I could understand if she was displaying a Nationalist (Aryan or otherwise) attitude. I imagine the other students probably can't stand her, both because those types of comments are unpleasant and disrupt the class they're paying good money for. Anyway, at least the semester should be over soon, right?

[House of Usher]

They pay peanuts for it. It's a GCSE (school level examination). The most any of them pays is £100 a year plus exam fees for a 10-month course, but concessionary rates apply, so it can be heavily discounted for circumstances. The year's over and they've taken their exam, and I'm confident all or very nearly all of them will have passed. All of them may be back in the autumn to do a different class with me, which will be of a more specific and less general nature, offering fewer opportunities for offensive talk.

[House of Usher]

...my Vauxhall Corsa was a write-off, with the 'rod' having gone through the engine. That's a £1,700 adventure come to a shuddering halt after a mere two-and-a-half months.

On the bright side, I'm in the process of buying a much fancier Renault Clio on finance.

[TordelBack]

...we resoundingly lost our dinghy race this evening, doing a full capsize in a Force 5-6 and heavy seas for as yet unexplained reasons, righting her to find just about every rope in the boat tangled or loose, and some key bits just plain gone.  Finally jury rigged enough to get moving, and finished the course about half an hour behind everyone else.  Even the rescue boats had rather worryingly made a run for it by then.

But it was absolutely massive fun throughout!  How the hell did it take to my late '30s to find one competitive sport I actually enjoy (albeit am utterly crap at!).

[House of Usher]

Life is sometimes sort of okay because... of House of the Dead III.

[House of Usher]

And I got a job application done I started on Wednesday.