Now by Morris Gleitzman
The third book in the series, this one is set in modern Australia and Felix is now an old man turning 80. Zelda is his grandaughter named after his childhood friend. This time Felix has to survive a bushfire. ‘Now’ is every bit as gripping as ‘Once’ and ‘Then’ were, yet I felt the ending was more positive and hopeful than ‘Then’, which I found very sad. It traces Felix’s survival and story through the eyes of his grandaughter.
I love the way Gleitzman uses the perception of a child in these books and shows the thinking processes from Zelda’s point of view. It is similar to the other two books in this way. He is a great writer. I had to wipe the tears away again with this book. The whole bushfires setting is quite close still, after all.
I noticed in the news yesterday the CBCA have been announced and I feel very shabby in that I haven’t read any of the shortlisted books this year. I think being at the senior campus and not participating with the students in the Premiers Reading Challenge, has taken me away from the habit of reading so much as I once did.
This book was recommended to me in one of my students wide reading oral presentations last Friday. I still insist my year 10s only read novels for homework and they have to either write a blog post on our class blog or make a presentation to the class. Friday’s presentations were especially sweet for me as one students commented that reading a certain author had influenced his writing style. They are the kinds of unprompted comments that I love to hear from my students.
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Friday Already!
Today was non-stop, but it was Friday so it was all endured with a grin. I got an extra in the VCAL class and had my fingernails manicured and painted. That was an unexpected bonus! I love the VCAL program at work. It’s great for the hands on learners at our school.
On Wednesday night I went to a very well prepared and delicious tasting meal at school prepared by the students studying Food. I was really impressed, it was visually stunning and the desert especially was yummy. I booked for two because Darin was hoping to come, but couldn’t get the night off. Rhonda was the next, but had a big day the next day. Just as she told me she couldn’t make it, Asha called to say she was in town, so she became my dinner guest. I loved the way it worked out.
Tonight the kids came straight after school so the day kept up it’s busy pace. They have been an absolute delight. I love it when they are here. We have a full weekend ahead, so I’m having an early night.
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Tuesday
I know, it’s not a very imaginative title. I’ve been spending some time after school this week getting my computer and blogs up to date with back end stuff. Andy’s Poohduck is getting lots of hits, but the stat’s weren’t working and other things so I thought I’d better finally get round to doing something about that. He’s been taking some wonderful photo’s lately. I also have had more time available to me to potter around with these things. I’ve got my school blogs almost under control lately. See below for the reasons!
I’ve been catching up with heaps of stuff this week with no year 10 classes. The school ground is so empty. I am going visiting starting tomorrow. I was given a list of students to visit and made some calls today to make times to visit them. I am looking forward to it and wish I could visit every student I’ve taught, but that would be most of them, and I don’t have enough hours in the day. Some of them are in Melbourne with newspapers or architects, so I guess it’s not practical to get around that much in a week.
Darin has a new, more time consuming role at work. A couple of people at work have told me how wonderful the food is where is chef. I felt very proud of him, but I certainly already knew how great his food is. He’s working long hours and talking menu’s at home. Last night the conversation made me hungry. I decided I would wait and cook dinner and eat with him tonight. Just steak and veges, nothing as yummy as what he was talking about. Steak and veges will be good though and it’s better than getting stuck into cheese and biscuits at some awfully late hour! My waistline is expanding lately… what with all the chocolate and lemon tarts I’ve been practicing on and just a greater focus on food in general I guess. I do try to give the tarts away and I have done a lot of that, but you always have to eat some, just to make sure it is ok 
.
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Can’t Blog
Correcting Exams… writing reports…
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He’s Home
I’m feeling unprofessional this week. Tom is home and I really can’t concentrate properly on being a teacher. I want to be home with him every minute of my day. I want to rush out of meetings and I feel annoyed with anyone who asks an additional question that could perhaps hold the meeting up a minute or two. I really don’t want to be there.
I collected him from the airport this time. Bad move. The overwhelmed tears I usually shed in the privacy of my home were spilled out at the airport. It was so great to hug him. We chatted all the way home. It’s been so lovely to see him for the past few days. He hasn’t gone out as much as he usually does when he’s home. We’ve had meals together. We went to the place Darin works last night and it was really yum. He’s really feeling the cold. He’s shopping and sleeping, catching up on the things he misses out on at Hamilton Island I guess.
I think he is intensely happy there. He talks about his friends and the things they do with a light in his eyes that I recognise as good. His people from Hamo call him and his face lights up. He leaves me tomorrow to return to those good times and I am happy for him that he has found a place where he can thrive.
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Full Moon in Scorpio – Wednesday 28th April 2010
Everything I’ve been reading about this Scorpio full moon talks about intimacy, transformation and intensity. It’s been a gradual thing also according to what I read and will last for a little while yet. Moonkissd’s post is a good read. Astrogrrl’s post this moon is about the transformative energy.
Tomorrow after work I’m helping the teachers at my school with blogging. I thought this time would never come when teachers at my school would show a genuine interest in using blogging as a tool in the classroom. When I started this blog back in 2005, I thought it would be great to use with students. I’ve had a dabble a couple of times over the years, with varying success. My original evangalistic approach has died down, but I will be interested to see what others do with it. I must admit I don’t put as much time into this blog as I once did. I still like to keep it for an occasional dabble though.
I had a great weekend. I spent Saturday catching up with a mate for a few drinks (I had intended returning the favour of helping her to paint, but we didn’t paint) and then Darin and I went out when he got home from work. We headed to town on Sunday, making our way to my brothers for the evening. Enjoyed a coffee with Wilma and Darryl on the way and checked out quite a few display homes for ideas. I want to get serious about improving things around my home this year, so it was great to check out what’s around in homes. We saw a couple of ideas we liked. What was really good was that we like the same things. I really hate compromise, it’s lovely to have similar taste as Darin.
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Unhappy at Work?
I just read an interesting post on our ability to be happy at work: Shrink Rap: Psychologists Search for the Secret of Happiness at Work. When I say it was interesting it is because I have heard this before in an anecdotal way when I began teaching. A senior member of staff said to me that no one leaves our place of employment unless they are unhappy with their personal life.
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Parent Teacher Interviews
Tonight was the night and tomorrow morning, I’ll have more again. I enjoy parent teacher interviews. I like meeting my student’s parents. I learn more about what’s going on at home from them. It’s insightful. Tonight I had a couple of challenging interviews. I had to tell parents or students, in front of their parents or child, things I knew they wouldn’t want to hear. I was pleasantly surprised with how well the news was received. I was prepared though, with alternatives for them so I think that made a lot of difference.
I really appreciate being at the senior campus. It’s given me a different focus and one that I’m really enjoying. I like seeing parents that I met when their child was in year 7, 8 or 9 and being able to share the pleasure of the students development and maturity. It’s very rewarding.
I also had my annual review (from last year) today. It went well also. I am glad I ran out of time last year to complete it because I feel like a whole new person this year, professionally. Our school has updated it’s technology, and this has made a huge difference to me. I like using technology to teach. I believe students are able to achieve a lot more and I am more efficient using it, to facilitate that. I can see now that all the learning I have done in this area is paying dividends for me this year. It is making my life easier.
Tomorrow I start my holidays…. how good is that!
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A Week of Not Much to Say
Life is just going along…. well. I feel peaceful. Holidays are coming and I’m not watching the clock so to speak. It’s good. I’m exercising and keeping up with things at home and at school. There is a nice balance going on. I got a haircut on Friday. I am happy with it. I like my new hairdresser too. She didn’t talk too much.
Last weekend with the kids was great. I got to collect them from karate. J (8) has started and it was great to watch. Asha and Tom did karate and I spent many hours watching, especially Asha because she persisted with it for a lot longer. Soccer on Saturday was just delightful. All these little, little people kicking the balls around. Lots of laughs and J kicked 6 goals so he felt very good about it all, as you can imagine. They talked to their grandmother on Skype which was magic to watch. Especially R (3), once the other two had moved away and she got some time. She was quite chatty and relaxed with it all.
Tom survived the cyclone on the weekend. I was really pleased he called me before and after to say everything was ok. It was really considerate of him. I haven’t heard from him much this week, but I guess I know now that he will keep me informed if he needs to, so I am more relaxed about that now.
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Love Will Carry Us Along – Ian Moss
One of the things Darin and I enjoy is sharing our music. He has educated me about Cold Chisel and Ian Moss in particular. I really love this song. I also love his version of ‘Saturday Night’, which was always my favourite Cold Chisel song. I heard it for the first time on our drive to Sydney earlier this year. It was a pleasant surprise.
He is working nights now as a chef again….not ideal with the kids, but I think he really enjoys being back into it and we are working it out with the kids. They are coming this weekend and I’m excited.
He is an artist with food I reckon, so it seems right to me. At first we were worried about never seeing each other. To be honest I like the time alone after school. I am used to having a fair amount of solitude. When we are together it is all talking and hanging out. I think we both achieve more having a few hours of our own space each day.
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