Great with a capital G! I have not been so impressed or rejuvenated by a massage for a long time. I haven’t had many this last year though to be honest. I waited until today to sing the praises though because I was waiting to see if I pulled up sore. It’s not always a bad thing to feel a bit tender the next day, but I don’t want to be crippled. I just feel great. I think after my second week of exercising that I’m finally starting to feel good in my body again.

I have to thank my daughter for referring this woman to me. She has been telling me for years to go to her, and I guess when she first told me I had been seeing Lynda for ages and was really satisfied with her. After trying a few other people who were just ok, I was reminded when I bought Asha a gift voucher for Christmas. Here it is March and I’ve finally got around to acting on that intention:-)

I’ve been listening to Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers” whilst I’ve been exercising. It is just as gripping as “Blink” was. Each night when Darin gets home from work I tell him another thing I’ve heard. He won’t need to read those books. Did you know it takes 10 000 hours to be an expert at something? I have been trying to think if there is anything useful I’ve done for that amount of time other than sleep and breathe.

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Ah the long weekend that passed. I felt reluctant about getting up this morning. I got into work and had morning yard duty straight up. It was cold. I missed getting my new timetable and thinking I had a free as per my old timetable missed a class altogether. The students obviously kept themselves to a low chatter about the weekend and didn’t alert anyone to having no teacher. Many of them had seen me in the morning and knew I was there so I’m at a loss to explain why they didn’t come and find me. The pleasant outcome for me was that I had an extra free later in the day.

Some switched on students in my IT class solved a problem I’d spent the weekend trying to work in about 10 seconds. They are destined to get good reports. There is a group of students that are really advanced in their skills. I asked them today who had taught them so much. Apparently they had a teacher who had provided a pile of videos for them to access when they had a problem to solve. I thought they were probably from Adobe TV, but when I asked the students thought they were more likely from YouTube. These students are great at solving problems when they come across them in class.  It makes me wonder if as an IT teacher I don’t sometimes hold students back by my own limited knowledge and trying to stick to the curriculum.

I am exercising again. I am tired of feeling tired. I’ve had a lot of physical discomfort since I adopted my luxurious lifestyle of not exercising and eating lots of divine food. I reckon I got away with it for about 9 months and the last 3 have piled on weight and become increasingly uncomfortable in my own skin, not to mention tightening clothes. Luckily I remember the formula for me of how to feel healthy. Less fortunately it feels quite harder this time I clamour back on the exercise wagon. I have a massage tomorrow night though. Not only have I neglected the parts of being healthy that I’m not so keen on, I’ve also let go of massages and other more pleasant parts of maintaining my health. It can only go on for a limited time, and I’ve reached my limit.

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We have spent almost all weekend indoors. The weather has been pretty ordinary. Still I’m glad I wasn’t camping!

 I have completed about a quarter of the things I’d hoped to do. I didn’t manage much more than a glance at my students work, let alone correct it all. I have almost completed the first weeks tasks for uni, but feel more confused and stupid than when I started. In the last hour or so, I have given up the quest to get everything done. I want to relax tonight.

The kids went home this morning. I did manage to create an art gallery of drawings with them, well they did the creating and I just stuck them on the wall! We blew bubbles. We emptied the pool before the storm came but they kept forgetting and asking if they could have a swim, even though it was cold. We watched a few DVDs when the storm raged with the TV really loud so we couldn’t hear the thunder. Darin had to work Saturday night and I closed all the blinds. I think they were oblivious to it.

The next morning Darin and J (8) cleared the wisteria that had blown over with the fence I’d erected when I first came here to have some privacy from the neighbours.  I can’t walk out the back yard in my PJs now! Their back veranda looks over our yard and I doubt I’ll spend much time at all out there until I get it fixed.

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I didn’t realise it was a long weekend until Monday. It’s an unexpected bonus. It also indicates to me how well I’m travelling. The last few years I have longed in advance for each upcoming break from school, but this mini-break is a treat.

We have the kids this weekend. I’m excited. I love the change of pace and focus they bring to my life. They remind me of when my kids were little, refreshing all those joys. You HAVE to be in the moment with kids around. It always seems like a long time since I’ve seen them. I want to get more photos this weekend. I have forgotten lately and change happens so fast.

I also have some ‘playing’ to do with the Adobe suite toys for my course. It would probably be a good idea to explore the requirements of the other unit. To be honest, it sounds really dull and from what I have gathered it’s about the history of the Internet and all the technological jargon. I will probably learn something, but I am more drawn to the hands on learning of the other unit. In fairness though, I haven’t put the time in to get interested.

I have other little projects, private, small things that I’m not ready to share. I hope I can squeeze a little time to attend to those. Three days of my own choosing stretch out before me.

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Every time we go to the airport we are too early and have time to kill. This time we left a little later and got caught up in traffic. It was stressful! I take my hat off to people who travel in the city. I nearly stacked into the back of a car that seemed to suddenly stop today, though in truth I was engrossed in conversation and wasn’t paying full attention. We made it in time.

I dropped him off in the departures lane this time rather than parking and going in with him. I hate that walk back from the gate with the tears, it’s awkward, especially for him! I was much better dropping him off in the car and driving on. There were still a couple of tears but it was well and truly over by the time I got to Bolte Bridge and I managed to wait till he was out of the car.

It was a great drive home. I love driving alone. It’s a great space for reflection. I felt really grateful today for so many things in my life.

Tonight’s online webinar thingy for my uni course was good and it put me at ease in a lot of ways. I am excited now about the skills I will have to develop and pleased the ‘lecturer’ although he prefers ‘catalyst’ as a term for what he does, shares my general philosophy about learning. I felt quite self conscious about speaking with the microphone and chose to turn it off rather than hear my voice in that space.

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Tom is home frequently to get his braces attended to. I didn’t want him to get braces, but now I am glad because they mean I see my son more than I would have. He’s been promoted since the last trip to a ‘workplace trainer’, which means he’ll be doing some extra study at his employers expence as well as the improvement in pay for him. He’s also had a cocktail named after him, but that’s a longer and more complicated story. I am most pleased to see him looking well and happy.

When his friends all come around and they sit and share their stories, I must admit I am glad he has work he loves and is living in a place where he is happy. I miss him, but it would be harder to have him here unhappy. We are about to go to dinner together. Tomorrow I am taking him to the airport, that’s the part that is difficult…. although I’m getting quite familiar with it now.

I have my first online uni ‘lecture’ tomorrow night. I am still thinking about it but with Tom home, it’s a distant voice in the background.

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I haven’t studied at Uni since the 90s. I just logged into the CSU site and that overwhelmed feeling is coming back to me. I’m not sure I really want to do this. Feels like I’m just about to go into labour with my second child and I’m remembering what it’s about and kicking myself. There is just so much information! Where do I start?

I have done most of my subjects (apart from a first year full time BA) by distance ed. Back in the 80’s, you would get a couple of thick books and a list of assignments. I would cram my study around due dates I must admit. I don’t think I will be able to operate like this on this course. The internet has allowed for forums and electures and all kinds of “have to show up” type activities. There are lots of things I need to learn.

On a brighter note, Tom is coming home tomorrow. I am excited! I can’t wait to see him. I had a great weekend and finished all my corrections in anticipation of starting to study, lucky!

I had three associations with cars not working today. I picked up a friend from the Drs whose car was out of action. Darin called because he had a flat battery, then my car got a flat tyre.  I managed though!

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The full moon in Virgo falls on Monday in Australia. It’s probably a good thing with Virgo being all about minding the details and attending to all the analytical aspects. Mondays are better for that kind of thing don’t you think? It just doesn’t seem to me like a suitable full moon day… Monday! Naturally there are a lot of other things going on in the skies as you can read in the posts I’ve listed.

 Kelly Surtees: Full Moon in Virgo advises a weekend of decluttering. I have taken her advice to some degree and replaced a ragged and torn holland blind over my kitchen sink with a venetian blind. It looks great. I’ve also put a lot of things away such as a weeks laundry.

Astrogrrl: Full Moon in Virgo  has links to which house will be affected by this moon. I have continued listening to Carolyn Myss and am now enjoying the recording of ‘Sacred Contracts’ in which she talks more about archetypes and relates them to to the houses in astrology. I am enjoying learning more about both.

Lynda Hills Sabian Symbols post for the Full Moon in Virgo contains this quote “We don’t see things as they are. We see them as we are. Anais Nin”.  I think this is one of the quotes I want to keep in mind for Monday. I’ve already had some insights into this reality lately. I watched a film last night “The Soloist”. I recommend it.

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After attending the Cybersafe training day on Thursday I have pruned my facebook of all current students. I was reluctant to do that because I felt that I was a responsible user of social networking, but the implications and lack of control over what others post, creates vulnerabilities for teachers. I like to be socially inclusive. If a person I know requests to be my friend, I would need to have a clear reason for saying no. It’s easier to have no current students than to make judgement calls.

Greg Gebhart the facilitator is very knowledgeable and I highly recommend his site IT Vision for educators. I have completed a few IT courses with Greg over the past few years. He is a great resource to teachers having been a teacher and possessing a practical and grounded view of how to work with IT in schools.

I have also pruned my twitter account on the same basis. I’ve rid my feed of all the people I don’t read or aren’t really interested in as well as students. I don’t read my twitter feed that often though to be honest so I’ve created groups. The great thing about having different groups is that if I only check it once a week or so, I don’t miss as many posts in the areas I’ve created because the fewer amount of people makes it easier to catch up. Does that make sense?

I have also discovered a whole branch of my family on facebook this week. I think social networking is great. I love staying in touch with people who live all over the place. Although I generally have no time for reality TV, a family member is on ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ (vote Nick!), so I’ve been keeping up with his progress.

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Tomorrow I am going to a Cyberbullying course. We had a speaker talk to our year 7s and 10s yesterday and there was not much he spoke of that I wasn’t aware of. I have been attending these kinds of talks for a few years now. I want to keep up to date to keep kids as informed and safe as possible.

Many of the teachers were amazed though. It’s great the whole staff is getting exposed to this information now. The Cybersmart website has a handy red button to report any offensive online behaviour and a counselling hotline.

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