The Educators’ Psalm

The principal is our shepherd; we shall not underperform,
He maketh us to sit down in lengthy staff meetings,
He leadeth us through restructured environments,
He restoreth our qualifications,
He leadeth us in the paths of curriculum development for his job’s sake.

Yea, though we walk through the valley of the show of gender equity, we will fear no discrimination.

For the principal is with us: his administrative expertise and his interpersonal skills, they facilitate us.

He prepareth a School Development Plan before us in the face of the P & C,
He annointeth our hands with policy documents: our file runneth over.
Surely selection criteria and professional development shall follow us all the days of our teaching career.
And we will dwell on getting our super forever.

Many things

Last night we had a terrific storm. It came from a direction that we don't ususally get storms from - always a sign that it will be "unusual". There was a good deal of wind, but amazingly, it seems that there aren't any trees down. That's one of the joys of living on land - lots of trees that blow down, then need to be cut up and disposed of creatively. I can't tell you how much rain we had, beacuse there's some kangaroos out by the rain gauge and I hate to scare them off.

I've also run a gamut of emotion over the last few days by making apurchase. Joy at finding it, anticipation about getting it, guilt beacuse I already have a few of these things, back to excitement, embarrasment because it's a bit silly, back to anticipation.

Humans can be so silly sometimes.

Ever the proud parent

A poem from my 7 yo daughter:

Sights and Sounds

Birds are flying in the sky,
Pigs are running in the mud,
Having fun, rolling and scattering
Splashing around.
Birds are cheeping
Making up songs.
Ants are marching
To look for food.
Trees are growing
And drinking the rain.
Storm birds are trying
To warn Queensland
That there is a storm
Tornado
Lightning bolt
Swishes
And down they come.

Success

The guinea pig project was a raving success, just like you'd expect - I think that our eldest is currently watching TV with it on her lap as we speak, having gone outside to the enclosure and liberated it for some attention.

Getting the enclosure on the trailer was an experience, as it was a good bit bigger for the available space. Still, there's not much you can't achieve with the right amount of snatch-it straps! Also, "boy logic" came to the fore and it went on ok.

We also stopped on the way home to procure one for our youngest, so that she didn't feel left out. We were very specific about requiring another female, so we don't end up hip deep in guinea pigs. Time will tell.

In any case, the joy that has been brought warms my heart.

Happiness

I look forward to today, because we’re doing something a little bit sneaky. Our eldest daughter would really love another pet. We have two dogs, but I’m the one who looks after them. She’d love a cat, but with all the native birds we have, a cat is out of the question.

So, we’ve organised a guinea pig for her, complete with outdoor condominium. She knows nothing about it and will go NUTS!

It’s nice to make people happy.

Constructive use of holidays

Just over the last few days I’ve used my holidays in a surprisingly constructive fashion. I love having the time to do some of the things that I’ve been putting off. Yesterday I changed the wiper blades on one of ourt cars. Now we’ll be able to see where we’re going when it’s raining. Then, I crawled under the house and drilled the holes that allowed me to place the speakers for our surround sound system in the right places without having the wires run all over the floor. Then, I gave our bichon friese (one of our two dogs) a clip. He looked like a cotton ball from hell, now he looks like a shorn sheep. I hope the other dog doesn’t tease him too much … 

Today sees some interesting tasks. I’m going to make a stand for the centre speaker from the aforementioned system – they all need to be 1.5 metres from the tv, or it screws up the picture. Well, I can see thew effect – no-one seems to be able to. Both dogs will benefit from a bath. Ever bathed a corgi? Set aside an hour or two – their double coats are thick. Then, I’ll wash my wife’s car and maybe my own.

At this rate I’ll need to go back to work for a holiday!

Broken sleep et al

I don't know about nayone else, but I love to sleep. Currently I'm on holidays and I'm trying to be disciplkined - staying with my mprmal sleep pattern, or I'll end up going to bed at 1 am and sleeping through until ten. That may be delicious, but it's awfully selfish, affecting the whole family.

Last night I had one of those awful nights where I wake up every few hours for 20 minutes or so. I feel very slow today and will probably be weary. However, with my wife off on an adventure today the tiredness will be pushed to the side, for it will be a day of "Secret Daddy Business".

THis is a term I use for when my wife is away and the kids and I engage in all sorts of silliness only a Dad can come up wih. We don't do anything nasty, just things that are "male centred" e.g. not washing up until we absolutely have to. We go shopping for ice cream (although not me - I think I'm coming down with what the girls had).

In any case, I think an afternoon nap will be in order. I'll just make sure I'll move my wlaking frame out fo the way ...

Random acts of kindness

When was the last time you did this? When we go through a toll bridge, we also pay for the next person. A second ago I offered to write poems for people on a message board.

This world can be such a harsh place. From time to time we all need to take the responsibility of bluntening the negativity a bit.

I have moments where I choke down a comment to save the face of the person with which I’m speaking. I just think that it’s better to smile about what happened later, rather than make the other person feel bad.

Case in point:

Friend: “I’ve been studying astronomy at school lately.”

Me: “Really? What’s your favourite part?”

Friend: “Finding out so much information that I did not know before. Like scientist attempting to confirm that Uranus has slight rings around it.”

Me: blink blink.

Well, I was right. No sooner had one child started to get better than the other one started exploding. Mercifully for her, it seems to be a lesser case, but no-one like to throw up. To her credit, she is handling it all with her customary bravery. That said, she’s a little disappointed that she can’t engage in some of the activities that we had planned – throwing up at swimming lessons is never a good look!

It’s so hot and humid at the moment – 35 degrees Celsius, with enough humidity that you sweat standing still. I guess that’s what happens in summer.

Sick Kids

It's always painful to watch when one of your little ones gets sick. Our 5 year old is currently exploding out of both ends and is one of those people (like me) that hates being sick.

You're damned if you do and damned if you don't - you need to maintain their fluids or they dehydrate, but when you do it induces another round of vomiting. You can just rub their backs, soothe them and hold the bucket.

The other down side is that usually at least one other member of the family catches it, ususally when the one that had it first is better, thus making the imapct of the bug more impressive.

So, we've just racked up the DVDs and watch, snooze, catch and clean up. Hopefully it's just a 24 hour bug.

The last day of school - it’s a feeling that we have all experienced at some stage. For some of us, it’s one of joy and expectation. The joy of holidays to come and expectation of what the next year will bring. For others, it’s a sad day, where you part with friends, move on to uncertainty or feel sadness that a great year has passed.

As an educator, the last day of the school year is all of the aforementioned. Joy at getting an extended break to recharge my batteries and joy at what we as a school and what individuals have achieved. There is also the feeling of expectation as I look forward to the things that next year, and the years beyond, will bring. There’s some sadness as colleagues move on and I look at what some students have not achieved.

Mostly, it’s an eerie day, because few of the students turn up and there is a lot of pressure to finish those last few jobs. Add to this that the school’s server died a spectacular death, meaning that some tasks suddenly got harder. And you have a very interesting day.

Still, 6 weeks of holidays wind before me, while somewhat peppered by tasks that have to be done, is still a great feeling.

Air conditioning is something that more and more homes seem to have. We don’t, not because of any moral objection to it, but that we just haven’t really gotten serious about deciding whether or not to go down that road.

However, I find on really hot or humid days, it’s nice to be in there, but you have to come out sometime. I tend to think that you’d feel the heat more then, as you’re not so acclimatized to it. I find that when I go into shopping centres, I spend the first few minutes sneezing, then do the same as I leave, marveling at how uncomfortable it is.

Perhaps, you should just never leave the house …

Driving in the rain is something you either love or hate. Some people seem to think that they can drive at the same speed and just watch the taillights of the person in front of them. Others get nervous and drive at a third of the speed limit.

I have a strategy I call “throttle regulation”. My car is a 1970 dinosaur, with a good deal of power. This makes for interesting driving in the wet, for without judicious application of the throttle, you very quickly end up going down the road sideways. Thus, I drive carefully enough not to induce lateral movement, but fast enough to be near the speed limit.

You certainly don’t get bored driving this way.

Have you ever really wanted something ... spent time wishing you had it ... convincing yourself that you could not exist without it ... then unexpectedly getting it ... and deciding that you didn't want it?

It's been a long day.

Alternate word meanings

Once again, The Washington Post has published the winning submissions to its yearly contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words.

The winners are:

1. Coffee (n.), the person upon whom one coughs.
2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.
3. Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
4. Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk.
5. Willy-nilly (adj.), impotent.
6. Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightgown.
7. Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp.
8. Gargoyle (n.), olive-flavoured mouthwash.
9. Flatulence (n.) emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller.
10. Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.
11. Testicle (n.), a humorous question on an exam.
12. Rectitude (n.), the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.
13. Pokemon (n), a Rastafarian proctologist.
14. Oyster (n.), a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.
15. Frisbeetarianism (n.), The belief that, when you die, your Soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.
16. Circumvent (n.), an opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by
Jewish men.

Stop and listen

Take a moment to stop and listen.

It's amazing what you hear. As people we are very adept at filtering out so much that often I think that we lose our grasp on this damn slippery planet of ours.

So, stop and listem, you'll be surprised.

Graduation

When I went back to school when we wrote on animal hide and the classrooms were lit by the lamps made from the fat of mammoths, graduation ceremonies at school were low-key affairs.

Now it seems that thousands are spent on dresses, suit hire, limo / horse drawn carriage hire, corsages, pre-function parties, functions, post-function parties etc. Oh, please.

Then, it seems that we have graduation ceremonies for every level. Isn’t this a little bit precious?

Can’t we remember times as special without going overboard? Apparently not.

Personal Space

Recently we went on a boat to an island hideaway. Well, we went to an island for a Christmas party. The boat was a fairly new and quite large one – 2 decks and it carried about 200 people. However, downstairs their use of space was very efficient, because as you sat sitting facing the person opposite you, you basically had to open your knees and have their legs in between yours, or some permutation of the preceding.

This would be uncomfortable enough, without it being someone you didn’t know opposite you. In any case, I felt a bit uncomfortable about it all.

I then spent some time looking around at other people. They seemed to share my surprise and discomfort for a while, but then got over it. Perhaps we re-set our comfort zone for a short time, then re-set it later? I felt uncomfortable on the return voyage, but for less time.

In any case, it was interesting to see my reactions and those of the people around me.

Manners

I was having a conversation last night with some people on the subject of manners. Remember those? One of my daughters went to see the guy that lives next door and he cut her some 100 carnations. She said thank-you as he handed her each one. That left an impression. My youngest was asked for a kiss by a relative and when the relative thanked her, she said, “You’re welcome.” That left and impression.

I went shopping yesterday and two people ran to beat me to the checkout. That left an impression. Three people sped through the pedestrian crossing as I got to it. That left an impression.

Good manners aren’t a sign of weakness - they’re a sign that you value other people. When people take advantage of your manners, that’s fine. You just don’t let a toxic person infect you – life’s too short. Then you scratch their car in the car park when they’re not looking.

Time flies ...

Did you know that under ideal conditions, one housefly, if left to its own devices, could cover Germany with flies in a nine month period?

Creepy.

Moving on

We come across so many people in our lives and often we grow used to having them there. We value what they do and look on in admiration and what they do. Then, they move on unexpectedly.

You have to let them go, but it sure is hard. You know that they will leave a large void that will be hard to replace. Sometimes they are replaced by someone as competent, if not better. But not often.

I guess that’s life; people move on, but sometimes it’s just so sad.

90

I had the pleasure of meeting a gentleman today on the occasion of his 90th birthday. This man was the most alert and sprightly 90 year old I’ve ever seen – he’d make some 50 year olds look downright silly. What intrigued me was that to mark the occasion they had a beautiful park bench made by an engineering company and then donated it to his primary school.

This arose from their wish to mark the event and when they approached him he stated that the times that he was at school were some of the happiest of his life. How many of us can say that, particularly as we go through them? Perhaps our views of events long ago are seen through rose coloured glasses.

Regardless, this gentleman, and I use the word intentionally, was an inspiration to me and to all those who met him. I hope people can say the same about me, both now and in the future.

30th

It's hard to believe that it's the 30th of November ...

The year has seemingly whisked by with reckless abandon. I don't know if that's a sign that I've been busy, or if as you get older time just seems to be more precious. Once I used to wish my life away, looking on the horizon for things that are coming. Now, it's like Alice in Wonderland, when the Red Queen says "You have to run as fast as you can to stay where you are."

I watch as my girls grow up and marvel as the world and all its opportunities unfold before them. They are largely oblivious to this ... and I'm sure they're looking on the horizon for the tings that are coming in their lives.