oh the weather outside is frightful

it can't make up its mind. it's raining, it's not, it's hailing, it's not, it's sunny, it's not. the one consistent thing though is...it's cold.

there's a dog yowling somewhere. it's been doing it for two days now. wish it'd stop.

i'm listening to the weather

this title has two meanings. it's a bic runga song and it's my homage to nz music month.

but. it really is very wintry out there and i'm listening to the rain being blown into my windows by the gale force and icy southerly we have going on outside (here). a friend of mine flew back from the 'tron yesterday. he was not amused. it was very rocky flying into wellington. the ferries are going nowhere too. and that's great cos the trip across the strait will be rocky to say the least.

on wednesday someone had an accident (here) when they were on the wrong side of the road at 5am. it caused chaos. at 9 am i had 10 students in my class out of 33. however, by 10.20 i had all but 6 there. normal services resumed.

take the money and run

the lead story on the news tonight. a nz bank made an error in giving someone $10,000,000. they transferred $6.7 of it before the bank found out and then they buggered off. it should make for interesting news over the next few days. apparently it's made world news.

i kissed a girl...

and i liked it...

but that's not today's topic. katy perry is on idol. hence the title.

todays topic is/are timtams...they are the devil's biscuits.

i told 100 students that i liked them. only one convinced his caregiver to buy them for me. and he's considered a shit by all who meet him. they don't understand him...

PS he's a ginga...so even more against him. (no offense)

too shy shy..hush hush...

this is not what i was originally going to put here cos i had a song trapped in my head. but it was supplanted by kajagoogoo. that's because i'm watching the news. they were a one hit wonder in the 80s and one of their members has great ink. and they are so good that i can't even remember the original song i had stuck in my head. they have reformed to cash-in cos i guess they have run out of money. like spandau ballet.

but the real subject of my entry today must be camp. in contrast to the last one ( Friday, November 30, 2007, sorry, haven't worked out how to do the link yet...i will research and update if i can be arsed).

in order to make this clearer i have added subheadings...cos i left them out of my last assignment and that cost me an A!

history
i went to this camp as an 11 year old.

weird factor
i think i have identified the cabin i stayed in.

the thank goodness i know what i'm doing factor
no one from the campsite did the meet-and-greet. handover was done by the teacher from my school who was here before me. none of the activities were explained, but as i have done camps like this before i have picked up some knowledge (like how to put on a harness so it is safe).

our parents were FANTASTIC
the parents we took with us had done this all before. they could safely put on a harness. they were OK with students kayaking in a river which the students LOVED. and no-one died on my watch.

the benefits of going last
at my school all our students went to camp in a two week block (not my choice-the boss dictated it). i went last. this was for selfish reasons cos i wanted to spin out the work for as long as possible so i didn't have to do so much planning (we do too much paperwork at my school..it's getting me down). but...by the time we went all the kinks had been ironed out. like the uncertified flying fox. like the inappropriate food (which i have no issue with. thanks vegetarian kid. your food was great. i'm glad i could share it as a low fat option).

i am the bedtime nazi (and thanks sylvia)
i took 11 and 12 year olds on camp. they notoriously take AGES to sleep..what with the talking and all...on the first night we confined them to their cabins at 8.30pm. they knew lights out was 9.30 pm. i enforced that. and the thing i learned from sylvia? i plonked myself on a chair in the middle of all the cabins with my book. they knew i was there. and they did not make a noise (well...we were mean to three cabins..me and another...but that may be another blog..if i remember)...we had to do punshment for three cabins...but long story short...they were all asleep by 10.10pm. when i told the boss that she was amazed...and thus laid down the challenge for day two...

day one's challenge
i'm 'slightly' competitive...(well more than slightly)...and one senior teacher said she got a good night's sleep cos she got into bed at 12.30 am. i was determined to beat that. which i did. so when the boss said she was amazed i had them all in bed asleep by 10.10 pm i had to beat that.

day two's challenge
so that was a nice set up for day two. i beat that. the chillins were bedded down by 9.55pm. i am the night-time nazi. plus i know that i will get questioned about the time. so i had a witness. (who's queen?!).

the downside of early nights
the first night they woke me up at 5.30 am.
the second it was 4.30 am.
on both occasions i rolled over and went to sleep.
but i did a major guilt trip.

it was a short timeframe
three days. at first i was annoyed cos deep down i enjoy camp despite the last entry...and here's an interesting segue...one of the parents i had on camp last time was here this time. we got on OK. she was my 500 partner and we played OK together. i am shit at 500. i enjoy it but i don't play intelligently. but the short timeframe worked. and we can do EOTC at the end of the year. i get to go to laser strike again. i love laser strike.

the how did we ever cope without it factor
where i was there was no cellphone coverage. luckily i had to take a boy to the doctor yesterday so i went back to modern civilisation briefly and it was nice to get texts. then today when we got back i texted my arse off. i also got a decent coffee. i hate being a coffee snob. i didn't drink coffee for THREE DAYS! plus when i texted my brother to gloat that i was the bedtime queen he informed me that i had probably ruined their camp cos we all know that staying up late is what they all aim for. i think deep down they were OK with it.

the camp staff
we met no one that was running the camp. but the kitchen guys were HOT. fijian. lovely. and the one that took his shirt off when chopping wood in the cold...well i wouldn't kick him out...

conclusion
i enjoyed camp this time.

hmmm...not sure of a song title today...

on wednesday we go to camp. hopefully it's better than the last time. however the weather is forecast to be very very cold and very very shit. 80 11 and 12 year olds...fun fun fun...

full report when i return.

should be a blast!

PS...go the 'canes. i want to go to a home semi and home final...updates to come..

don't you forget about me...

or in this case, a chocolate paddle pop.

i have a fridge with a tiny freezer on the top of it. i have this habit of sticking stuff on the top while i rearrange the stuff inside. the top of the fridge is taller than i am so it's a bit hard to see the top of it. in this case i left a paddle pop on the top. a wee while ago. i just rediscovered it today. it was a bit melted and stuck to the top of the fridge.

damn you paddle pop lion and your icy sweet delicious chocolatey milky treats.

but then again i should clean the top of the fridge a bit more often than once every never...

what doesn't kill us is making us stronger...

i know my current theme is song titles..but i'm stretching it a little to include lyrics...and stretching it even further to include sitcom opening title song lyrics...

wait for it...

it's not that D & M...

but i think i may 'get' the gym junkie thing...thought i'd never say this...but i think i'm addicted to that sore, tired feeling you feel after a workout...

wow!

it's a mad world...

this week, because it was the end of the holidays, it fair persisted down for most of the first three days back. picture the scene. 33 energetic students trapped in their small classroom. lots of incredibly immature boys who don't think. well, something had to give and on wednesday it was a very big window. 14 stitches and $350 later and i'm not sure if the lesson was learned. and here's why i say this.

the very next day the weather was a bit better. i decided, against my better judgement, to let them stay inside. ten minutes later there was a knock on the staffroom door. fearing the worst, i went to investigate. turns out three of my boys were chasing each other around the room with metre rulers. the rest of the class who were behaving got a bit annoyed when i kicked them all out but as i said to them, i couldn't trust those behaving like idiots to stay out.

a plea from a teacher frustrated by immature boys who don't know how to behave. stop spoiling them and make them accountable for their behaviour.

an update from a previous incident (not sure i have mentioned all of it before...)
the students from the carpark have gone on to worser things (yes, it's a word, again because i said so). one of the girls has been sent up north and the other two keep running away. i saw the latter two in town in the holidays. they looked appalling and it turns out they had been away from home for a couple of days. they were found earlier this week.

one of the boys involved, the one who pulled the gun on a teacher (i'm going to look back and see if i've told you about that), is FINALLY being removed from his parents. too little too late. apparently after pulling a gun on the teacher he went and shot someone in the head with it. luckily it was only a BB gun. this kid is too young to prosecute. he is also illiterate. hopefully his mother has stopped making excuses for him...

P.S...i checked back. seems i have referred to the carpark incident twice without actually mentioning the initial incident. short summary. in feb 08 five students spent the night in a carpark in the local mall. weather was dreadful. two of them were from my class. one was the gun toter mentioned earlier and one is a chronic runaway.