If someone just gave me a million quid, life would be pretty good right now.
First off - OMG. 6x13: Cliffhanger from hell! (See what I did there?) Well, we all knew the Wall wasn't going to last forever. Sera Gamble is the showrunner now, and she does seem to love a tormented Sam (don't we all? ;)). I thought the ep took a while to get going but once it did the flashback format worked very nicely. At the end I literally sat up straight in my chair (well, bed) - but of course it was just to torment us, have to hang on till next week ;.
This week I started teaching on a new course (to me), called Understanding Journalism. All the first year undergrads look so mature, though that was possibly because they are all bigger than me (though most 15 year olds are bigger than me, so I was expecting it). Overall I have pretty nice classes - the last one is a little noisy, but it's mostly on-topic noise in the manner of something like debate, so I don't mind it. Just hope I don't get any complaints from down the corridor. I didn't have anything I'd reallly call misbehaving, and most of them were happy to engage with the material, so I call it a win.
Biggest problem in my life is that I messed up some money management, which long story short means I won't have funds available until next week that I thought I'd have this weekend. Somewhat gutted because I've finally made the decision to get my long, thick, curly hair cut into a short style and now I've decided, I want it done and over with. Was going to be today but now I have to save the £££s for bills on Monday, so I guess next Saturday it is. Last night K and I were at S's house (S is one of our other best friends) and we were all doing the 'If I had a million pounds right now' thing, and I realized that, materially speaking, there's not much I actually want. If I had a million pounds I'd pay off all my tuition fees and buy more books instead of borrowing. Invest in some expensive hair products for Arab-style hair. Oh, and buy an elaborate cat tree and a big squishy basket for Sammy and Zara. (They're getting the basket anyway, when I get my next paycheck). Life-wise I'd go on with what I'm doing, which as a realization is pretty nice.
S, by the way, owns Sammy's sister and another cat called Louis (pronounced the French way). Louis is technically a kitten at ten months, but he's massive. When I first saw him he could fit in my hand but he had enormous disproportionate paws, which he seems to have grown into. When I see other people's cats I wonder if mine are skinny. I give them as much food as they'll eat but they don't eat the amount it says on the packaging. They always have leftovers. But then I looked up this thing about how to tell if you're cat is a good weight, and they met the requirements for healthy - can feel their ribs but not see them, indent at the waist but not drastically. The truth is Sammy's sister is a little, er, chubby. But it suits her, its cute.
Oh, a weird thing happened! Weird in a good way. I got this email that I had to go to a lunch meeting with all the teaching assistants who are new to this course, and I thought that meant 'bring a sandwich to the canteen'. I actually had my sandwich in my bag. But it turned out that after his lecture the guy who heads the journalism course took us to this staff 'canteen' (think restaurant, poshest dining hall I've seen since Cambridge) and *bought* us all a 3-course meal! They even had a good veggie option of a main-meal style salad bar with couscous, eggs, pickles, mixed salads, cheese, fresh bread, everything. I was half-scared the waitress would just bring a massive bill at the end but he just went up and paid for it. This kind of boss, I could get used to. :)
Good week everyone x
This week I started teaching on a new course (to me), called Understanding Journalism. All the first year undergrads look so mature, though that was possibly because they are all bigger than me (though most 15 year olds are bigger than me, so I was expecting it). Overall I have pretty nice classes - the last one is a little noisy, but it's mostly on-topic noise in the manner of something like debate, so I don't mind it. Just hope I don't get any complaints from down the corridor. I didn't have anything I'd reallly call misbehaving, and most of them were happy to engage with the material, so I call it a win.
Biggest problem in my life is that I messed up some money management, which long story short means I won't have funds available until next week that I thought I'd have this weekend. Somewhat gutted because I've finally made the decision to get my long, thick, curly hair cut into a short style and now I've decided, I want it done and over with. Was going to be today but now I have to save the £££s for bills on Monday, so I guess next Saturday it is. Last night K and I were at S's house (S is one of our other best friends) and we were all doing the 'If I had a million pounds right now' thing, and I realized that, materially speaking, there's not much I actually want. If I had a million pounds I'd pay off all my tuition fees and buy more books instead of borrowing. Invest in some expensive hair products for Arab-style hair. Oh, and buy an elaborate cat tree and a big squishy basket for Sammy and Zara. (They're getting the basket anyway, when I get my next paycheck). Life-wise I'd go on with what I'm doing, which as a realization is pretty nice.
S, by the way, owns Sammy's sister and another cat called Louis (pronounced the French way). Louis is technically a kitten at ten months, but he's massive. When I first saw him he could fit in my hand but he had enormous disproportionate paws, which he seems to have grown into. When I see other people's cats I wonder if mine are skinny. I give them as much food as they'll eat but they don't eat the amount it says on the packaging. They always have leftovers. But then I looked up this thing about how to tell if you're cat is a good weight, and they met the requirements for healthy - can feel their ribs but not see them, indent at the waist but not drastically. The truth is Sammy's sister is a little, er, chubby. But it suits her, its cute.
Oh, a weird thing happened! Weird in a good way. I got this email that I had to go to a lunch meeting with all the teaching assistants who are new to this course, and I thought that meant 'bring a sandwich to the canteen'. I actually had my sandwich in my bag. But it turned out that after his lecture the guy who heads the journalism course took us to this staff 'canteen' (think restaurant, poshest dining hall I've seen since Cambridge) and *bought* us all a 3-course meal! They even had a good veggie option of a main-meal style salad bar with couscous, eggs, pickles, mixed salads, cheese, fresh bread, everything. I was half-scared the waitress would just bring a massive bill at the end but he just went up and paid for it. This kind of boss, I could get used to. :)
Good week everyone x