4 1/2 days to go

and counting

(1581)

just gotta love 'em

went to a union gathering last night and learned an interesting spin-off about national's (no it's not a typing error..there's nothing 'national' about them) standards. we think we have it hard at a mid-decile school (it's 4). we will struggle to get all our students up to standard no matter how much we work our arses off. but at two high decile schools represented in the room they have had parents request their children be kept back a year because they aren't 'meeting the standard'. one school had 600 students and 13 lots of parents have made that request. the other has had 6 parents...this is from a very very wealthy and educated area in wellington. the principal of that school said that the first school was twice her size so that was comparable. that is scary. i (and some of the others in the room) were floored. maybe it isn't so rosy in decile 10 land after all.

(1556)

my team lost

and i don't mean the national cricket side (aka the slack craps) or the sevens team or the fast ferns (that's the 20/20 version of netball i think but i haven't managed to keep up with that...i'm hoping my netball fiend blogger friend will update me on that).

RIP (fuck off) goff. you did the best you could in the face of a smarmy slimy git who could work a crowd and a land full of ignorant morons and 'tards (apart from the intelligent 24% of you). i remember protesting against you in the early 90s...and i mean early, 1990. that was when you had the requisite 'stache and those big ass wire frames that were de rigeur at the time. you made the best of what you had. i forgave you so you must have done something ok.

i suggested, rather rashly in hindsight, that my friends and i stage a ritual burning of all things blue. but then i realised i'd have to burn my car. i quite like my car. it's a faux holden which i like and holden is red so i think my car is not in fact blue as it appears but red (and that's the truth).

so, in conclusion, thanks to all you morons and 'tards who have made it really hard for me to do my job, the one job i have wanted to do since i was 5. i seriously hope that the information i have been given is wrong. it hasn't ever been in the past but maybe this one time it may be.

(1517)

i had a chat with my mate trev today

that's mr mallard to the rest of you plebs. it was mentioned that the current 8 week term has been horrific. he said to me that it was his fault. i said to him please do not do that again. to which he replied it will not happen again for a long time and why not? then i said because it's been a hard term. he said is that because it's been short? i said that's part of it. the children have been shits. i left him to ponder that.

(1497)

it's been a while

since last time we won the rugby world cup. a nail-biter of a final that at times i couldn't watch.

end-of-termitis has well and truly set in, and that's just from me. some of the students are climbing the walls. thought i had another drug-bust today but the evidence had disappeared by the time i got to it. 4 weeks to go. it cannot go soon enough. i'm sick of telling people that this second half year has been long and tiring and having them say we had 11 week terms in the past. especially people who should know better and just keep dumping more and more paperwork on us.

the sonny bill williams effect

this is when something decidedly average (ie sonny bill williams) being made to look incredibly talented and good at something (ie rugby) by the company that they are keeping (ie japan or tonga).

so, in summary, when sonny bill williams plays against a rugby team such as japan or tonga he actually looks like he can play the game quite well...one might even say at an above average level. however, when he is up against a much better quality team such as australia he looks decidedly average.

an example of the sonny bill williams effect was how good france looked in their quarter final against england.

and just in case you're wondering, it's now on the internet so it must be true.

(1387)

quarter finals time

it's quarter finals time (as my title says). i'm a bit excited now. i have enjoyed the round robin games. i'm ok with us getting an opposition that ...shall we say... we may (read that should) beat this time round. though i'm thinking if we got the french this time round we'd probably beat them too.

dc has given us an excuse if we lose. he has strained his willy (well that's what we call it in my family) and judging by the way he was writhing around on the ground it pained him. personally i don't see the big deal (:P).

so at the risk of being made a fool, and that's something that happens almost daily, my picks are:
wales over ireland, france over england, us over argentina. the last semi i'm finding hard to pick. and it's all the irish team's fault. they beat the aussies and threw the whole draw into chaos. i want the aussies to win. i think we have a better chance of beating them. but i think south africa will win.

i also see that i am not alone in my conspiracy theory that, in fact, robbie 'dingo' deans is on the all black's payroll and is deliberately training the aussies so they are shite.

and one more conspiracy theory. israel dagg, richard kahui and zac guildford all out 'injured' for the quarter final. one that we should win in a canter if one was going by the form book (but as we all know, for the all blacks the rugby world cup is a vicious and unsatisfying beast). all this so mils can have his 100th test? and so that SBW gets a sympathy game? he will not get a start for the important games. despite all his 'skill' the better teams make him look very, very average. he looks superb against teams that are the next tier down (such as tonga and japan etc.)

for nostalgia's sake i'm hoping for an all black's france final. but i think i would equally enjoy an all blacks wales one. in another two and a bit weeks all will be revealed.

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