De-stressing Machine!

Crikey, life continues apace!

Today:

Katherine Ellis was on the TV getting everyone singing, and was really fabulous - a great start to the day!

We still don't have BBC2. I called a BBC reception helpline number I found in the phone book and logged the problem. The Wonderspouse called a friend from an electrical shop whose mother is having the same problem as us and asked if someone could investigate at the transmission place. Madagascar and the new Neil Oliver programme will have to be iPlayered at some time I guess.

I found out that I have to teach a 50 minute lesson to year 9s for my interview. For the uninitiated of you, year 9 are 13-14 year olds! On the plus side, my Dad sent me an e-mail suggesting a few tips after talking to a maths teacher he knows! I will have to finish the lesson plan tomorrow morning! I have been playing with my metre stick and measuring jug in order to come up with ideas for my lesson!

Smudge is poorly again. I had to clean up a rather nasty mess from the kitchen floor. We may have to take her back to the vet if she doesn't improve. This will be interesting in the next few days since we have almost no time available at all. Dexter is a bit cross because Smudge has had more attention today because she's poorly.

I have (or will have, by bedtime) completed the part of the OU maths assignment that needs handing in tomorrow and have been up to my ears in asymptotes and graph-sketching all day. A rough calculation indicates that I have done about 0.42% of my BSc's assessable work today - if I worked at this rate every day it would take around 240 days to complete my degree (or end up in an asylum more likely)!

I have been listening to loud Dvorak Symphonies all day! I am the sort of person who works better with noise around me. I always have and I probably always will. I did my homework in front of the TV when I was a kid, and I still do when I'm not doing it to the accompaniment of loud symphonies!

I was called and told that I will not be accepted onto the Return to Teaching course anyway, even though the TDA would happily fund it. The institution to which I applied said they couldn't accept me to teach maths without me having already taught maths. Catch 22, no experience, no course / no course, no experience! I'll have to do this by myself then, which will be harder work, but then nobody said this was going to be EASY!

I have suspended the food diary until next Monday. There is too much else going on to be writing down everything I eat. It feels very strange not to be keeping it, but on the other hand I can be a bit freer with what I eat for the next day or so, which may be necessary to preserve energy levels and sanity! A few days off won't hurt too much, and I'll be back to the regime when these busy few days are over.

I have not suspended the daily time spent with my viola, nor my continued work on the Shostakovich Sonata, which I'm loving more and more with every practice session. There are some things that are worth using the time because of the hugely beneficial effect they have. OK, so maybe not EVERYONE finds that playing the viola is a good way to cope with a busy life and lots happening, but it works for me!

So here is a close up of one end of my viola strings, complete with mute! Yes, I know, I have an odd C-string on at the moment. It was left over from a previous set, and I'm not so wealthy I can afford to ditch perfectly good strings. They're all synthetic core anyway and there's no real difference in timbre or quality just because it's a different brand (Prim Solo, no longer made, so I've now switched to Evah Pirazzi). Next string change they'll all be the same!

Right, better go now - enough burbling for today. 2 hours until the Wonderpouse's bus gets in, which should be enough time to finish the OU assignment work!

And, by the way, this is just an ordinary day in a "fast-paced" life! It's a fraction of what I do when I'm manic!

SCARY!!!