In which things are mostly going pretty well
I'm pretty knackered right now, as I was up a an ungodly hour for a training session for the school job this morning but, overall, the last week or so has been not at all bad.
The most interesting development in the school job, now that the outgoing clerk has handed everything over and isn't (physically) present any more, is the feedback I'm starting to get from governors about how they like some of the things I'm doing differently. I'm not surprised that they're pleased that their dedicated section of the school's Virtual Learning Environment now actually has some useful stuff on it (committee papers and minutes, for example). I was, however, seriously taken aback today to be complimented by one Committee Chair on asking people for suggested items in the draft agenda email I send out to Chairs and those staff likely to be making reports a few weeks before each meeting. I mean, the agenda belongs to the Chair of any Committee - how on Earth have they not been being asked to be doing agenda-setting previously?! *boggles*
Also on the work front, it appears to be the season for schools and universities to be seeking invigilators for this Spring. I have an application for invigilation work at a local-ish school due in tomorrow, and an interview for a uni's invigilation pool at the beginning of February. That one sounds quite odd, in that apparently there will be a written assessment of some kind and then a group discussion. I assume from that and the reference to a pool that they will stick anyone they think is sufficiently competent on their list and make decisions about who to call for any given shift at a later date.
On the not-work front, there has been a fair bit of gaming recently. The weekday group has been partly continuing the Star Wars game and, when the GM for that wasn't available due to lurgy. also doing a bit of Kuro again. We also did a few board/card games, including Castle Panic (I do like cooperative games) and Cheaty Mages (I'm not sure any of my strategy was better than blind luck would have been!). The Sunday RPG group also lost its current GM last weekend, there being so much lurgy about, so I joined them after lunch for a change and we had a very silly but rather fun one-off game of Maid, in which the master's giant robot had a malfunctioning off-switch and wasn't terribly good at differentiating residents and intruders.
Late night cinema after A gets out of work hasn't been/won't be an option this weekend, of course, with my early start this morning, but we did get to see American Hustle last weekend. Now, a seventies-set film about con-artists wouldn't normally appeal to me, but this one is directed by David O Russell (as in Silver Linings Playbook, which was my favourite film of the year it came out) and has a really impressive cast. And it certainly didn't disappoint. The script was very good, right from the opening title card: "Some of this actually happened". The acting was equally impressive. I'm not at all surprised Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence won Golden Globes, especially the latter, who was given a part (a slightly unhinged wife) which could have been appallingly unconvincing in the hands of a lesser actress. I'm a little puzzled at the film winning the Golden Globe for Best Film - Comedy or Musical; not because it wasn't good, but because (although the film is by no means devoid of humour) I wouldn't have thought of it as a comedy. If it is a comedy, it's a very black one.
Oh, and the other fab thing of this week is that, a week after the worn patch in my old one finally turned into a hole, I finally found myself a decent new winter coat in the sales. This one, for those who are even slightly interested. (I'm not entirely convinced about the furry collar, but it is detachable).
Edit Also, we managed to book a cottage for April Whitby - just. There are almost none left already!
At some point I must do a post about all the clubs I want to revisit/check out this year, to see who might want to come out and play. In the mean time, I shall just mention that, for my second clubbing experience of the year, I'm intending to go to Invocation next weekend. It's almost as trad-goth as it gets, and probably my favourite London club.
The most interesting development in the school job, now that the outgoing clerk has handed everything over and isn't (physically) present any more, is the feedback I'm starting to get from governors about how they like some of the things I'm doing differently. I'm not surprised that they're pleased that their dedicated section of the school's Virtual Learning Environment now actually has some useful stuff on it (committee papers and minutes, for example). I was, however, seriously taken aback today to be complimented by one Committee Chair on asking people for suggested items in the draft agenda email I send out to Chairs and those staff likely to be making reports a few weeks before each meeting. I mean, the agenda belongs to the Chair of any Committee - how on Earth have they not been being asked to be doing agenda-setting previously?! *boggles*
Also on the work front, it appears to be the season for schools and universities to be seeking invigilators for this Spring. I have an application for invigilation work at a local-ish school due in tomorrow, and an interview for a uni's invigilation pool at the beginning of February. That one sounds quite odd, in that apparently there will be a written assessment of some kind and then a group discussion. I assume from that and the reference to a pool that they will stick anyone they think is sufficiently competent on their list and make decisions about who to call for any given shift at a later date.
On the not-work front, there has been a fair bit of gaming recently. The weekday group has been partly continuing the Star Wars game and, when the GM for that wasn't available due to lurgy. also doing a bit of Kuro again. We also did a few board/card games, including Castle Panic (I do like cooperative games) and Cheaty Mages (I'm not sure any of my strategy was better than blind luck would have been!). The Sunday RPG group also lost its current GM last weekend, there being so much lurgy about, so I joined them after lunch for a change and we had a very silly but rather fun one-off game of Maid, in which the master's giant robot had a malfunctioning off-switch and wasn't terribly good at differentiating residents and intruders.
Late night cinema after A gets out of work hasn't been/won't be an option this weekend, of course, with my early start this morning, but we did get to see American Hustle last weekend. Now, a seventies-set film about con-artists wouldn't normally appeal to me, but this one is directed by David O Russell (as in Silver Linings Playbook, which was my favourite film of the year it came out) and has a really impressive cast. And it certainly didn't disappoint. The script was very good, right from the opening title card: "Some of this actually happened". The acting was equally impressive. I'm not at all surprised Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence won Golden Globes, especially the latter, who was given a part (a slightly unhinged wife) which could have been appallingly unconvincing in the hands of a lesser actress. I'm a little puzzled at the film winning the Golden Globe for Best Film - Comedy or Musical; not because it wasn't good, but because (although the film is by no means devoid of humour) I wouldn't have thought of it as a comedy. If it is a comedy, it's a very black one.
Oh, and the other fab thing of this week is that, a week after the worn patch in my old one finally turned into a hole, I finally found myself a decent new winter coat in the sales. This one, for those who are even slightly interested. (I'm not entirely convinced about the furry collar, but it is detachable).
Edit Also, we managed to book a cottage for April Whitby - just. There are almost none left already!
At some point I must do a post about all the clubs I want to revisit/check out this year, to see who might want to come out and play. In the mean time, I shall just mention that, for my second clubbing experience of the year, I'm intending to go to Invocation next weekend. It's almost as trad-goth as it gets, and probably my favourite London club.