soul

I think it was John Lennon, whilst commenting on the filming of the Beatles 'making' what was to become Let it Be, said that ' ... you can't make music at 7am in the morning ... ' Consider Lennon (and McCartney) writing 'All you need is love' at some god awful time of the morning when they had just woken up. Would it have been as good as the one we all know. Perhaps but unlikely.

___I kind of feel that teaching is similiar, in that there a definite times of the days that I just know that my class will not be as good as it could be, if it was at a different time of the day. Morning's seem to be fine. Energy levels are up and the head is usually clear. However, fast foward to 3pm. Energy is being sucked out of me and the last thing I want is to be in front of a noisy bunch of 40+ 1St year students who have also had the energy sucked out of them. This is equally applicable to class at 9pm. They want to go home. And, so do I. Rewind though, to 6pm. Although not as mentally alert as the morning but much improved compared to 3pm. The students also seem to have a renewed vigour about them.

I wonder if some Scientist has managed to come up with an equation to explain this. There definitely is an optimium time to teach and by the same token a time when yer classes are simply crap even though many variables remain constant. Anyway, today was the day that the scientist should have been monitoring me.

Everythingeverything.

The current chapter in my classes' textbook is about jobs...a taxi driver, an interpreter, a journalist and some stupid Scottish bloke who has 12 jobs. Greedy b>_____All for what? The chance to not be a student.

Wouldn't mind being a student again but only if the money was o.k. There is no way I could go back to being properly skint. I'm quite used to having enough money to buy food or to buy another beer or the latest pair of sunglassses. I guess i'm quite content being a teacher...it's not far off being a student and you get decent holiday time with pay. Compared to other jobs, it's not that bad.

Take my gym trainer. Not much opportunity there. Admittedly, he is built like a tank and he can lift infinitely more than me but then if you spent most of your time in that enviroment, you probably would be THAT big. But is that job that bad. You get too look at 'fit' birds all day and even get to position there bodies correctly on the machines. However, on the flip side you see a lot of 'unfit' birds who you may even have to position correctly on the machines. And you would always get a laugh...especially with idiots like me at the gym trying to lift 5 kg but failing to do it or the ones who can't stretch. Hmm, me again.

I guess it's what your happiest doing. Happy.

Elope

Today was lovely...not only was it a National Holiday but it was like summer-ok a Scottish summer-but summer nonetheless. I almost got sunburnt!

Tried to make a real effort to get to know my Hairdresser. I had a bunch of questions ready for her. Basic, small talk style sentences that everyone takes for granted when one gets their haircut. I was nervous and I tried my best but she wasn't very forthcoming. I only found out her name, that she isn't originally from Cheonan, she has been a hairdresser for 7 years and had worked at the present hair place for 2 years. I kind of feel a little short changed. I made a real effort to be 'chatty' but she just wasn't into it. She wouldn't even reveal her age. The cheek of it. I'm really disheartened by the experience. It's not like i'm trying to pull her or anything, I was just trying to practice by /crap/ Korean and be polite. Next time, I'm just going to go in there and say nothing. That i'll teach her. Actually, come to think of it, thats what I usually do...

oh yeah...and no-one has mentioned the fact that my April 1st post was, in fact, a pile of poo. I'm too subtle for my own good.

Soap

Well...Dyervs.Bowyer. Didn't expect them to be the main attraction on Satuardays Bill at St. James' Park. But, they were...fighting with each other on the pitch. What is more bizarre is the fact that they actually play on the same team!

Seems like frustration may well have gotten the better of Bowyer who has had a pop at Dyer. Both of them were subsequently sent off. I'm still undecided of they should have been sent off given that they were on the same team. If they had been on opposing teams, then no question but same team...hmm. Anyway, it appears that they have both made up now. Although unusual, team-mates whacking each other is not unheard of ... always remember the time that Craig Levein whacked Graeme Hogg in a pre-season friendly against Raith Rovers. I was really impressed with it since Hogg was a man not to be messed with as he did have a reputation as a bit of a hard-nut. This though, didn't phase Levein who socked him with a great hook. I don't recall them getting sent off either...

Faker

Word of the week: 'Pope'

Guess mention must be made of the Pope - John Paul, who passed away. I can't claim to be overly religious these days, however he did what he could which is all the more remarkable given all his health probelms in recent years.

Phrase of the week: 'A midget'

Uttered by Carlos Alberto, legendary captain of THAT Brazilian team in 1970. These days he is the coach of Azerbejan /spelling?/ who recently played England. He was referring to Michael Owen. Well, I guess he is!

Sight of the week: 'Beach'

Simple things really. Nice to get out of the city after a long, cold winter and see, feel and breathe the beach at it's air. Although, the sea was f_________________G cold!

Song of the week: 'Baby, one more time' by Britney

Not because it's a great song or anything...but because I did a rip-roaring version of it at the beach on thursday. Might I say, it was better than the orginal and but not as good a Darius'.

Flavour

Weddingsweddingsweddings.
Another one. Thankfully not mine but my old boss'. I remember when he told me that he was going to take the plunge...i told him that i was surprised given that he had been dating his girlfriend for only 4 months but he was unfazed. Clearly, since the wedding had already been arranged.
Good luck to him...

Ocean

No April Fool today. I'm not clever enough to think of something witty unlike a certain Mr. Bill who has decided to give up his University position and become a Buddhist Monk. It was all done with a high degree of seriousness apart from the 'Friday, 1st April' which appeared at the bottom of his posting. That was the giveaway.

I was reading on the news today that some Japanese scientists have been working on some 'translation' device which actually sits in your ear and tranlates into your ear. It seems like it is akin to the 'Babbel Fish' from the 'Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy'. Could be a great thing even if it can only translate a portion of what the other person was saying. I wonder how long the lag time between saying and 'hearing' is. It would be perfect for my students who would finally understand all of my lessons without just smiling and nodding. The report suggested that you could download software depending on with language you needed to get translated. The Japanese scientists said that they had programmes for many of the major international languages however, had discontinued it's Korean language programme software saying that they felt that they could not morally make such a software programme based on the recent 'Dokdo' Island issue. They went further to say that Korean is likely to become 'exitinct' in the next 5 to 10 years since the majority of the country is now speaking English. The scientists did confirm that they are attempting to make a Klingon version whilst suggestions that they were trying to tailor one for George Bush where off the mark since it would be easier to make a software programme that translated 'dolphin' noises.

I'm sure the Korean governement will be protesting and we'll see some old man chop his arm off next to the Japanese Embassy again.

hmm.