Ah, the end of my first quarter back

My last exam was early this morning. I can now clean my house! Its become such a disaster ever since Ben started work and had to start studying for his exams. I miss my housewife. But I had a very satisfying time cleaning the stove this afternoon, all the dishes are done, and I'll attempt to conquer the laundry tomorrow. It feels gooooood to get some of the chaos under control. And I can get some serious hours in at work over break. Yay for money!

I can't believe I have to do this quarter thing about 8 million more times before this degree is finished. My nostalgic soul can't take it! I grew so fond of so many of my little classmates (even the ones that I initially found so annoying) and now I'll probably never have another class with them again. *sniff* I'll miss my Entomology prof's swearing, my Linguistics TA's sense of humor and fabulous New Zealand accent, and my Comp. Studies TA's great desire to feed and care for us.

In tribute to the end of the quarter I would like to share the greatest compliment anyone has ever given me. At the bottom of my final paper for Comp. Studies, next to the grade and the awesome Scooby Doo sticker (I'm not kidding), were these words--

'You work in profanity the way other artists work in clays and oils. You are a true master.'

I am saving that paper FOREVER.

Some of the most amazing dancing I've ever seen

Free time?

As I was telling Jessica, I just finished my last assignment for the quarter--a summary on coordinated cooperative behavior in social shrimp. Yay!

I have also decided that Linguistics just doesn't matter a hell of a lot. It's fun, but its usefulness . . . limited. So I think I'll be changing my major to a biological science of some sort. Entomology definitely seems like an easier route than Zoology, but do I want to only deal with bugs all the time--I'm not sure. My G.P.A. will certainly be shot to hell after this, which from a completely vain and prideful perspective is very sad to me. Goodbye, 4.0, goodbye. But I think I'll have a lot of fun too. We shall see.

So I thought I'd waste some free time by watching tv. Due to the lack of ANY good tv on tonight (WHY?!?) I turned to Ninja videos documentary section. The girls and I watched The Cove and I highly recommend you check it out. (If you want to watch it online for free, go here. You'll have to click on the ninja helper beta thing underneath the picture and then refresh the page before playing. I'm sure you're all clever enough to figure it out.) It's about the covert slaughter of dolphins in one particular area in Japan and some activists who go all fun and commando in order to expose it. Go and sign the frickin' petition too. It takes 2 seconds (you can opt out of getting any future e-mails) and it might just do something. Not that I ever ate dolphin meat, but lately I'm becoming less and less good-humored about the eating of meat in general. Grow a conscience, people. Please! Vegetarianism is one of the easiest and best ways to help the environment. Open your eyes!--to the pain and suffering of animals and the serious damage to the environment--and stop making lame justifications for what boils down to your own selfishness and lack of self-control.

Yeah, I'm judging.

I'm upstairs working on my final paper for Comp. Studies

and jealously listening to Moira having QI induced giggle fits downstairs. I guess series 7 is off to a good start.

Ugh. I want to be having fun! Though I can't complain too much. Our Comp. Studies instructor allows us to put our midterm and final papers in story or dialogue form and they're allowed to be as snarky as we see fit. My first paper was on the religious and world views of two characters in Uncle Tom's Cabin going through Native American restorative justice mediation. Seriously--that was one of the options to choose from. I picked Uncle Tom and Mr. St. Clare with Dr. Horrible (from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog) as the mediator. That was one of the options too. See--can't complain. Oh, and I made the setting purgatory. This time around I chose the option of comparing the religious and world views of the violent abolitionist John Brown, Ku Klux Klan wizard Sam Bowers, and abortion doctor killer Paul Hill. My setting is the first annual meeting of the Crazy-Assed Religious Extremists (C.A.R.E.). Bin Laden provided the cookies for the meeting. The papers still have to be cited and you have to include all the info., but getting to use a little smart-ass creativity is such a relief.

Okay, back to work. Just a few more pages to go.

Why does nothing please you?!?

The right way to read Twilight.

Putting new photos up on Flickr as we speak!

I am sooooooo behind.

Finally a solution to all of science's problems!

"Without ethics, think of all the beautiful experiments we could have."

Ah, Linguistics TA, you are so right. Being forced to research aphasias has pissed me off--both at my Linguistics TA for assigning this crap and at the data we have. It's so muddled! Waiting for people to get brain damage and then figuring out the linguistic implications is a hassle! We should just get into people's noggins, make some tidy and systematic damage and then research that. Duh! Interestingly enough, this fits perfectly into my Comparative Studies class about social justice. We had an extra credit assignment of attending a talk by the International Justice Mission about human slavery and sex trafficking. I was pissed about the light sentences these people were getting when they were finally arrested. 8-12 years for prostituting a bunch of 10 and 11 year old girls?!? No, no, no. I have a much better plan for bastards like that--aphasia research! Yes! All the nasties of society (after their castrations) could benefit everyone with their brains! I'm sure I could think of other things to add to their punishments, but we could definitely start with some systematic brain damage followed by years of research. It would be enhancing ethics ... by degrading it. Makes sense to me.

If only the world would listen to me, it would be a much better place.

Evie and Connie

These two just finished up their weekly Skype conversation. They spent at least 20 minutes reading poetry to each other. Nerd friendship--it's a beautiful thing.

Everybody's doin' it

So here's this year's Christmas list for the girls. Remember that if poverty's got you down, Moira and Evie enjoy time spent with you just as much as any gift. Or just slip 'em some Skittles or Starbursts. These kids are so easy. Also recall that we have a zoo membership that's aching to take relatives to the Zoo Lights. Yay for the holidays!

Both

Aliens in the attic DVD

Up DVD

Gogos (I thought this would have to be up to Sam, but I found them on Amazon.com too)

Evie

Digital watch (I would avoid anything with princesses on it, but other than that no particular guidelines)

The Secret Seven books by Enid Blyton--any from #8 on (Sam got her hooked on these and now we live in the crummy United States and they don't have these in the library!)

Rubber lizard http://www.amazon.com/Slinky-Science-Pals-Green-Lizard/dp/B000HTHC6E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1258059932&sr=8-1

Stretchy aliens http://www.amazon.com/Oriental-Trading-Company-Metallic-Stretch/dp/B002F4QM9M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1258060631&sr=1-1

Moira

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince DVD http://www.amazon.com/Half-Blood-Two-Disc-Limited-Special-Digital/dp/B000ZECQ08/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1258058504&sr=1-3

Cello lessons from Mandy? Hmmmmm . . .

Percy Jackson and the Olympians book series by Rick Riordan (esp. book 5)

Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson

Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener’s Bones

Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia

Once again, the adults of this family do not deserve gifts.

Kickin' ass and takin' names

That's my university experience. I intend to have the highest grades in both my Entomology and Linguistics class. Comparative Studies is such touchy feely bullshit that I can't really compare myself to anyone, but I will get an A or else. It's not that I'm competitive--I just want to win ALWAYS.

Ahem.

I miss Lauren. It seems we are completely incapable of communicating outside of our blogs--'cause we suck--so I'm specifically writing this in order to draw you in like a little blog reading moth to a flame.

That was such a half-assed metaphor.

Probably because it was a simile.

This evening I've been soooooo mean to every member of my immediate family--to the point that Evie felt compelled to throw a bit of tortilla at me during dinner. Normally I would be opposed to such blatant disrespect ('cause disrespect should be done subtly or not at all) but it was done in mock anger and I deserved it even if it wasn't so mocky, so I let it go. Nah, I didn't let it go--I reinforced it by laughing heartily.

Heartily. Funny word.

A ladybug is busy beating itself to death on the light fixture above me. I don't know how so many of them are getting inside, but they are really, really good at it. They think they're acting in self-preservation by coming inside, but really they're just ensuring a quick death--the girls have a pet toad to feed after all. I go on ladybug harvesting missions. For a while I refused to touch them since I'd been taught from a very young age that hurting ladybugs is bad luck, but then one fell in my hair. Ladybugs in your hair means WAR!

Okay, that's all for this post. I heard a rumor that Mandy posted something, so I'm off to read. So let this be a not so subtle hint that Lauren should comment and also post something of her own, Faith should IM me, and Sam and Susie should skype--sorry we missed the last attempt : (

And Brad, Brad should move to Columbus and forget about trying to keep in touch in other ways.

I like that in my mind the frowny face served as punctuation

for that sentence up there.

The end.

P.S.

Zombie Kitten!

Wow, I actually dropped by YouTube

Communication?!?

I'm going to do this quickly because for some reason all the blogging steam has gone out of me lately.

We're back in Columbus obviously.

The girls are loving their schools and transitioned beautifully. Evie's at Thomas Elementary and is making lots of friends with Oxford-rivaling names like Prince, Rainbow, Angel and Anushka. Moira is at John Sells Middle School, has reconnected with her old school friends and is experiencing all the joys of middle school--lockers that jam, annoying 8th grade boys and running to get to a class that's at the other side of a very large building. But she's loving every minute of it. Her favorite class is Broadcast Technology which, as I've said, will hopefully not lead to a career as a weather girl. She's also learning the cello in orchestra. Prior to her instrument decision Anne and Mandy gave her intros to the bass and cello. Unfortunately, Sam, you were not available to show her the wonders of the viola. Perhaps this means her decision was a bit uninformed, but I'm glad for an instrument that doesn't have the capacity for high-pitched, squeaky notes.

Ben will be finishing his OSU degree this fall and is looking for a job in academic counseling, etc. I've decided to finish my degree at OSU as well and am officially enrolled as a Linguistics major for fall quarter. If all goes well, I'll finish just in time for us to move again. I'm not planning for any Linguistics related career--I just want the intelligence stamp on my forehead that a degree provides. That way I can get a good job as . . . a secretary in an elementary school. Bliss!

So that's the brief update for the 4 people who read this blog and aren't in Columbus.

I've finally put up all the wedding week photos on Flickr

They're all out of order as far as events go and I still have to steal photos from other people to cover the actual wedding--but all in all I'm feeling pretty accomplished.

Evie's class has been studying Frida Kahlo

And today Evie's teacher gave her a spontaneous Frida Kahlo makeover at break time.


I included this photo even though most of the flowers had fallen out and according to Evie it was now 'rubbish'.
Frida eats a popsicle.

They've also been making their own Frida Kahlo portraits which have turned out surprisingly good--although I'm not sure what kind of examples Miss Hodgson has been showing them because Reuben's portrait has big bare breasts. Go Reuben.

Just found out I got paid!!!!!

About a week ago.

The bursar told me I was hired just after the county paycheck cut-off, so I'd have to wait until July when I'd be paid for both months. So I wasn't expecting anything, but I happened to stumble upon my own old pay stub when delivering the staff mail. Yay! Obviously we check our account frequently. Ahem. Also fun--finding out how much I get paid an hour. That was never spelled out for me and I wanted the job so badly that I didn't really care. (After a while it just seemed rude to ask.) Obviously it's a raise from what I was making working for Rani. And my National Insurance number came through and I'm feeling HUGELY legitimate. This means I get to have my name put on the bank account and get my own card! I get to be a real person now! Woo-hoo!

In other news--a kid came into the office suspecting his itchy head was being caused by nits. It was. Ew. I'm still itchy thinking about it.

A delayed post

I wrote this earlier and had a link to the Cherwell but then got really paranoid that it could be traced back that way and I couldn't remember if I tested the link or not--blah, blah, blah. Anyway, I'm going to be brave and post this.

Since this post one of Moira's closest friends has come down with swine flu. I told the kids they could get it this week but as soon as next week hit they'd have to stay healthy. We've already booked our tickets to the States and need to stay healthy. It would be horrific if we wasted all that money and even more horrific if we had to wait another year to visit.

Anyhoo, if this child-centric post were to have a really long title, it would be something like--Moira's day at Cherwell, swine flu, a trip to Germany, Evie's West Side Story, and an epic daisy chain.

On Friday Moira and most of the kids in her year at Phil and Jim went to the Cherwell school to get a taste of what life will be like for them in secondary school next year. Unfortunately, Moira has three friends who will be sucked into the spirit crushing world of private school and won't be joining her at Cherwell next year. (They'll probably all have eating disorders and on-call psychologists soon, but you didn't hear that from me.)

Cherwell allows you to put down the name of one friend you'd like to have in your class--a nice, comforting touch since the year 7 group is about 300 strong compared to the 50 Moira's used to in Phil and Jim's year 6. They don't 100% guarantee that you'll get that friend since they have to weigh ability and gender balance and blah, blah, blah. Anyway, this could become a really long story so I'll shorten it to--even though she didn't list her, Moira ended up with her best friend in her class. Yay! That day she also made friends with a girl from a different primary school who happened to end up in her class too.

She enjoyed the rest of her day getting to know the school and some of her new teachers. Not that she lacked any confidence heading into this new transition to begin with, but after yesterday she's definitely feeling good about secondary school. And I'm definitely feeling very old.

So Moira was off exploring her new school and I was back at Phil and Jim working reception. Late in the day a call came in from Cherwell explaining to me that there had been a confirmed case of swine flu in one of their students and that, while the child was not in school at the time, this was a courtesy call since our year 6 students had been at their school that day. Oh, ha, ha, ha. And did they know this prior to the visit or did they just feel like springing that on us a little late?

Other Cherwell news (as if you weren't bored at this point)--Moira got German instead of Spanish as her foreign language next year. Poo. It's a lottery for one or the other and you can't make a request unless you have a really good reason. But, honestly, you gotta love the language requirements.
Year 7--Spanish or German (2 hrs. throughout the week)
Year 8--Spanish or German (1.5 hrs. a week) in addition to French (1.5 hrs. a week)
Year 9--Spanish or German (1.5) but French goes up to to 2 hrs. a week
I'm assuming that in the older years (our high school equivalent) the time will increase. Aaaaand as part of German next year, they'll be heading to Germany for a school trip. WHAT?!? I know that Europe is so much smaller and this trip shouldn't blow my mind as much as it does, but really, how cool is that? I have to confess that when Moira told me this I got teary eyed. My parental guilt about not being able to provide opportunities for the kids because of financial constraints is definitely being assuaged as we live in the UK. (I'll remind myself of this as we pay off the school loans into our 80s.)

Friday was also Evie's class assembly. Every once in a while a class will take the whole assembly time to put on performances or tell what they've been learning. I think it's a fabulous way of getting kids over any sort of stage fright--it's just a normal thing for them to pick up a microphone and read or sing in front of the entire school. During Evie's assembly they not only talked about what they'd been studying but also put on mini performances related to The Tempest, West Side Story and a rendition of Bob Dylan's Blowin' in the Wind. Seriously--you haven't lived until you've seen a bunch of first graders singing Bob Dylan with all the sincerity in the world. The West Side Story bit included a dance fight between the Sharks and the Jets, as well as a sock puppet rendition of I Feel Pretty--they thought it'd be funnier that way. ("Enjoy our hilarious song.")

The Sharks and the Jets (in which Evie and Connie take on Imogen)

(A few obvious things to point out--1. I couldn't change the zoom once I began filming and I often couldn't decide whether to focus on Evie or the action--sorry 2. little kids can't snap in rhythm )



Fiiiiiiinally getting close to the end of this post--

I think Sam was the first to teach the kids to make daisy chains. They've clearly put that knowledge to use.

And just because--

Oh, my accident prone children

Evie is recovering this evening from her after-school encounter between the ground and her face. The ground won. After determining that the damage didn't require a visit to the emergency room I was flooded with selfish parental relief that this had happened now, directly after class photos, and not before. Her ear is even skinned up and bloody. Add to that the scrapes on her hands and knees, and you can imagine the crumpled and defeated Evie who will be milking this situation long after the pain has faded.

Lying beside her on Mom and Dad's double bed of recovery is Moira. Suffering from a headache and post-fitness club foot pain (I'd give you the doctor's medical run down but it would bore you) she also looks pretty darn crappy. Did I tell you how last week she got a bad headache at school and then yakked in the librarian's car as the nice woman drove us home? I guess I didn't. Fear not, Moira was supplied with an official Phil and Jim just-in-case-of-puking bowl.

Anyway, this country has just done wonders for my children's health.

More kid news, Evie and I pulled off a major procrastination victory by researching Mexico, watching a myriad of YouTube videos about baile folklorico and tortilla making, writing out facts and creating a kick-ass poster all in one night. All this poor behavior was rewarded by mega-kudos from the teacher and the knowledge that Evie was one of only two kids who actually turned it in on time. YES!!! By the way, it is sooooooo hard to sit back and not butt in by designing and cutting and gluing when the kids do these projects. So hard.

In the work news . . . confidentiality.must.not.share . . . gasp! I'm dealing with a crap load of paperwork, as anyone who's worked abroad can attest to. For right now, I'm finished--but that's only for now. I'm sure the county health people will come back and say I have to get a tetanus shot. Hopefully everything will be cool with my National Insurance number app. and I got a pass from the headmistress today on the FBI background check. It was going to be 60 pounds !!! to get fingerprinted here. What?!? Meanwhile, it would take longer with the mailing and the processing than it would if I just waited to get everything done in the States during the school holiday. She was totally cool with this (having dealt with a similar situation herself) and it was SUCH a relief.

Today I worked in the office and did NOT screw anything up! VICTORY!!! Non-screw-up days are so rare--definitely worth celebrating. This is especially true after yesterday's whopper of a mistake. It turned out to be fine but it could have been bad and that was the point. The headmistress was super nice and funny while simultaneously giving me hell for it--didn't know that was possible. I got a lot of teasing for the remainder of the day and a lot of self-inflicted punishment and anxiety, but in the end all was well. Oddly enough, it was after this awful screw-up that the headmistress offered to renew my contract for next year if everything was cool with the budget, which she's almost positive it will be. Yay!!! That's a huge relief! I really dig this job.

Just made an appointment with my U.S. hairdresser--the holiday is nearly here!!! Tickets are for the 24th of July with a return on the 30th of August. Woo-hoo! Sadly, still no word on Ben's grades. Of course, the loans can't be processed without grade info since he can't go onto the PhD with less than a 66 (not the equivalent to a U.S. 66, by the way--lest you think he sucks) and without processed loans we can't move forward on housing for next year. Hurry UP, people!!!

In less than a month

I have finished all 5 seasons of Lost. In that time I have learned that I deeply, deeply despise Jack Shepard and his whiny, ultra-reactive ways, and I think Rabbit Teeth would have been a better nickname for Kate than Freckles. Does she even have freckles?

Loving Nurse Jackie on HBO. I think it may actually have yet to be released . . . I've been watching pre-airs on Ninja. I'm a huge Edie Falco fan. She turned Carmella into my favorite character on the Sopranos and she's definitely doing it again on this show.

It's been fabulous to have this stay-at-home husband lately. Just being able to make a leisurely trip to the library as a family feels like such a treat. And I'm lovin' the fact that I can now come home without having to then turn around and walk into town to get groceries. Already done for me. Niiiiiice.

The return of the husband, etc.

Nearing the end of a beautiful evening. Ben turned in his thesis yesterday and finished his last exam this afternoon. There was a brief panic on Wednesday right before his first exam when he couldn't find his white tie for his sub fusc, but he was able to borrow one from the neighbors--once again may I say what lovely people they are and what kick-ass Korean food they make, which makes the piano playing oh so forgivable. He later found the tie, but not before we'd completely torn apart a very packed closet.

Tonight we celebrated with a whole range of crap food--nachos, fries, pizza, beer, wine, and soon--the vodka! We watched So You Think You Can Dance with the kids--always satisfying.

Okay, totally booze inspired idea--So You Think You Can Fight!!! Wouldn't that be AWESOME?!? Instead of drawing Ballroom or Contemporary out of a hat you get Kung Fu or Boxing. Sweet! "Last week Max wowed us with his fencing, but tonight will he be able to handle the nunchucks? We'll find out on So You Think You Can Fight!"

Ahem.

Then Ben and I played a lot of music, something we haven't been able to do much at all since this whole Oxford thing began. Nice. Tomorrow Ben is planning on going to the library and getting a book to read . . . for fun . . . whoa!

After two weeks I have been in every color area of the school and covered every grade. Today I was in EYU which has been hit hard the past few days with a stomach flu from hell. Man oh man, I washed my hands like I was going into surgery before I ate lunch today. Hopefully, I will be spared.

Speaking of vomit, (isn't that a great opening for a sentence) Moira was struck down with a horrific headache at school. The principal was nice enough to find someone to drive us home, but then Moira started vomiting (thankfully into a school provided bowl) before we reached home. Awkward. Hi, nice to meet you--um, sorry you had to listen to my kid retch.

Overall, the school work experience has been pretty positive. (Evie just came upstairs and said, "I think I left my ring outside so could I nip off and get it?" Um, yeah, nip to your heart's content.) People have been very nice, understanding and forgiving of my mistakes, big and small. I'm sure the people in the office are pretty sick of me, but I'm trying to redeem myself. I pretty much suck at phone messages--it's really hard to understand the English accents, let alone the plethora of other accents. But I'm learning . . . slowly.

The best thing I've heard so far was the headmistress telling me that I was fitting in wonderfully. I hope that means they'll want me when the school year begins in the fall. They'd better want me, 'cause all this paperwork has been a bitch to fill out.

Oh, so much more to tell, but for now this will have to do. Happy Friday everyone and Hooray for Ben!!!!

I really will write a post soon

Really.

Okay, sorry, this'll have to be for your Saturday

For your Friday

No time to say much

I'm remarkably comfortable in business casual clothing.

I was in a preschool class today that was much more behaved than a certain second grade class--but there was still the picking of noses and eating it thing to deal with. Why is that so popular with small children? And there was a SERIOUS chaos issue at freeplay/snack time. AAAAAA! I will go into more detail later.

I had this doctor's appointment . . . perhaps livejournal would be the best place to discuss this. The horror.

Evie so needs to be enrolled in a contemporary dance class. Do they have these for children? I'm not talking crap ballet or tap or whatever--I'm talking . . . Mia Michaels.

Moira's year has instituted a service points system. Whenever they help around the school or house (i.e. helping a little sibling with homework, folding laundry, etc.) they get a point that earns them perks at school. My life just got a heck of a lot easier.

Must put the children to bed now.

Evie etc.

In response to Moira's upsetting comment that Evie had a mustache--

"If you keep saying that, my emotional tank will be completely full."

I think this is public-education-touchy-feely talk for 'Quit it or I will bash your face in.'


By the way, my foray into public education is going well, but I'm too busy to write about it right now. So many anecdotes, so little time.


P.S. WEEDS is back!!!

I GOT IT!!!!

At the end of a very despairing day in which I feared that I would never ever be employed again, doubted my worth as a human being, and annoyed my husband with all my glass half empty-ness, I found out that I'll be starting work on Monday. !!!! I am absolutely thrilled and terrified at the same time. Now I have to go shopping for some school presentable clothing and reschedule two doctor appointments--good problems to have.

AND my new camera arrived today.

Goodness me.

The first of the photos

Some flowers from the Wolfson gardens. I will soon have pictures of family members in the Wolfson gardens, but it will take time to wade through the butt pictures. For some reason I had a lot of photos from behind. I'm sure some of you are quite proud of your behinds, but I'll try to find some good face shots.

If anyone knows the names of any of these flowers, feel free to show off your knowledge and tell me.

HERE, Lauren!!!!

Getting back into the groove of things after the term break and wedding festivities in London. It was SO great to see everyone and I was sad when it ended, but I was also relieved to get back to Oxford. I'm definitely not a big city person. My camera died during the trip and I'm not very impressed with the pictures I got. But I'll put up a few soon and steal a bunch from other people. Still waiting on Ben K's photos . . . hint, hint.

Today is Moira's birthday and Ben and I will be heading down to the city centre shortly to buy her a book I've had my eye on for a while. She wants to pick out the rest of her presents herself, but she allowed me one surprise. We'll postpone her party until Ben is finished with school. This will be bigger and more official than Evie's little party. Ugh. I hate planning this stuff.

This is also Market day. Woo-hoo!

I know this is hardly a satisfactory post after all the stuff that's been going on, but I'm beat. I haven't gotten used to going to bed at a decent time and waking up early. I tell myself I have to go to bed but then I stay up until 12:30, and that makes waking up at 6 seriously painful. I sound like such a baby, considering Ben regularly stays up until 3:30. Whatever. Whine, whine, whine.


P.S. Anne, I'm really curious as to how your exam went.

So . . . um

This week has been semi-uneventful.

Lots of baby ducks and geese, which would be cute if I actually saw them alive once in a while, but all I get to see is a cat running with a dead baby duck in it's mouth and later a dead duck on an unrelated sidewalk. Gotta love spring.

We've submitted our photos for the Wolfson photo contest. Winners get their photo on a postcard. Of course, it's only for members of the college so we're pretending that Ben took the photos. He actually did take one, but I'm pretty confident we'll sweep this thing and all our frickin' photos will be chosen.

Ha, ha, ha.

I REALLY want that Teaching Assistant job. Positive vibes being sent into the universe . . . now!

Yesterday was the Phil and Jim Arts Night. Moira did the Jabberwocky with two other friends. Eva recited it and Moira and Tanglewest acted it out behind her. Then Moira was a tour guide for the public for another half hour, so we had to keep ourselves busy. We checked out all the art displayed throughout the building, found the girls' stuff, and then tried not to hyperventilate because of the narrow hallways and masses of people. One interesting thing about this night--Wine! They served wine to the adults. Can you imagine this happening in the States? Especially at a religious school? Shocking. I just couldn't partake. It felt so dirty.

Then today was the spring dancing at the school. Lots of English country and Maypole dancing. I'll look through the pictures and see if anything is worth putting up. Moira lost her shoe during one of the dances (due to a boy stepping on her heel), but other than that the kids performed admirably. But the BEST thing about this day was that Frances (Connie's mom) invited me to come back with her and have some coffee while we waited for the dances to start. (They began at 10, which was hardly enough time for me to walk home and then turn around and walk back again.) Yay! Friends! I hung out with her and Chris (nice guy who recommended the T.A. job) and Frances' friend who was visiting from Brussels. One great thing about the day was seeing that Frances' house was just as trashed as mine. Sweet.

Um . . . I think I had other things to say . . . guess not.

Oh, yeah, I volunteered in Evie's class again today. I almost got a blister from sharpening pencils when the kids went outside to play, but the reading part was fun.

Sometimes

the view from our bedroom window can be nice.


But usually it looks like Russian tenement housing.

Lauren,

I haven't forgotten your Star Trek question. I am still pondering. It's such an important issue--I don't want to steer you wrong.



And that really didn't deserve to be a whole post.

Because I'm missing Fringe

and to complete the YouTube overkill--


NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Part II

Heh, heh, heh

Well, it was Ben's birthday yesterday and nothing really special was on the horizon UNTIL I was walking down the sidewalk and found a twenty pound note. BOOYA!

Apologies to Sam, but as I am unemployed and Ben wasn't going to get any presents, I decided to jip the Found Fund and and shower Ben with all the vodka tonics 20 pounds could buy.

Oh, how the day picked up after that.

Baby, you deserved it.

Sometimes late at night

when I can't sleep, I turn to French and Saunders. This is always a dumb move since laughing out loud rarely proves to be soporific.

My favorites this week (both under a minute for you people who think you don't have time for such silliness)--

Kids and ice cream

I like how Jennifer Saunders is fighting so hard not to laugh at the end.

and

What postmodernism has done to art

Too many swear words to fit into this title

ARGH!!!!!!!!

Today a paper was sent home to notify parents that they'll be viewing a few of those Hey, Puberty, Here We Come videos in Moira's class. We had the same thing in my 5th grade class, and I've already covered those bases with Moira, so I was cool with that. UNTIL I kept reading and saw that there would be an additional video entitled 'Sex and You' or something horrid like that. Nooooooooo! I thought I could put off THAT talk just a little bit longer. I've had a lovely respite since Phil and Jim seems to be light years behind American schools with the whole boy-girl relationship thing. Coming here, we were transported back into a world where boys and girls both think of each other as totally icky (or at least keep their juvenile affections completely under wraps). Now it's going to be--Mom and Dad do WHAT?!?!?

The horror.

I feel an obligation to have this talk prior to the video. I remember my parents shoving a book in my direction--'Go, child, and learn on your own from this highly educational James Dobson book.' That always felt like a cop-out to me.

@!#*%$@!!!!!!!

(Obviously, I don't speak comic swear.)

I love market days

I love how frickin' cheap and fresh everything is. And I love the way those fruit and veg guys can add up infinite sums in their heads while simultaneously calling out what they're selling--"Juicy, juicy pineapple!" "Ripe banaaaaanas." And, of course, there's the way they call every customer 'mate' or 'honey' or 'love' or 'darling'.

But carrying all that back every week is a bitch. I'll let you know if it builds any character.

Officially desensitized

I was just watching Fringe and all these big assed larvae burst open a mangled corpse's chest, and I just kept on eating my cheese and pseudo chicken snack. I'm sure there's some sort of Boy Scout badge for this sort of thing, and I want it.

Bluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh

Sick.

Yesterday I totally crashed with this cold. I'm terrified of passing this nasty on to the kids or Ben right now--they all have so much to do. Both of the girls have SATs testing all week and can't afford to get sick, and Ben is hoping to have the rough draft of his thesis done by this Friday. Meanwhile, this thing is kicking my butt and I'm trying to wash my hands and not touch surfaces and change pillow cases I've sneezed on. Do they sell Lysol in this country?

This is not good.

Man, oh, man

Never watch old episodes of Medium right before bed.

I just woke up from a seriously trippy bad dream. But that's okay because I had stuff I needed to do. So it's 2 am and I'm finishing up my job application and doing laundry. Blah, blah, blah.

I have a bad sore throat and I'm sure it's because I picked up tissues when I helped clean up Miss Hodgson's room on Friday. I forgot to wash my hands before heading out and I know I was rubbing my eyes outside at the Trap Grounds. Damn. Germy little kids.

I'm stalling.

Star Trek: Random insights (no real spoilers--not that you care)

Watched the movie today from an excellent Russian cam version online. Very nice. I don't know how to read Cyrillic but I'm pretty sure I didn't miss much.

Leonard Nimoy is looking more and more like a chimpanzee every day.
I had some serious, serious issues with a certain stupidly concocted romantic relationship. STUPID!

And (nerd admission) I was annoyed by the the Federation knowing all about Romulans even though, according to the series, no one had even seen a Romulan until much later . . . and in the series the first Romulan they saw happened to be Spock's dad who died and then later showed up again as a Vulcan ambassador. . . or maybe that was just an actor . . . sadly, too many years of watching Star Trek has blurred the line between fact and fiction. This was the nail in my mental coffin.

Why does Spock's dad suddenly have a fluctuating English accent?

Once again Star Trek is messing with time. But that's a pretty brilliant move if you want to continue making these movies--ditch most of the mythology so you can continue with whatever you want.

Nurse Chapel was only a voice in the background. That was cruel.

Did I mention a really, really horrible romantic relationship?

Expect too much Vulcan mushiness.

McCoy was especially well done, Chekov was very funny, Scotty got the most campy lines, and Sulu got to be kick-ass.

But overall--a very fun, sci-fi action movie with just the right amount of camp. For the non-nerds out there, definitely the most accessible Trek movie so far--no background knowledge needed. The special effects were very well done . . . but I saw the cam version so that could just be in my head.

So there. All you never wanted to know.

Volunteering is fun!

I just sat and listened to kids read and completely lost track of time. I was accidentally there for 2 hrs. instead of just half an hour. Euan's mom, Lynette, comes every Friday to help in the afternoon, so our time ended up overlapping. It was nice to work and chat with someone. You really feel close to a person after you've sharpened 100 pencils together.

After school I was hijacked by Moira who said we absolutely HAD to go to the Trap Grounds for the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new willow sculptures. The kids at Phil and Jim had worked with a local artist to create them. I really need to get a picture of the unicorn and the most impressive dragonfly that Moira worked on.

On the short walk from the school to the Trap Grounds I read on the school newsletter that there would be biscuits and squash for refreshments, and I couldn't figure out for the life of me why squash went with cookies. Um, it doesn't. This is squash. That stuff was pretty zingy--I think the kids didn't put fizzy water in it like they were supposed to. I'm sure we were being mocked from afar.

But the Trap Grounds are really quite pretty and we went for a walk along some of the trails after the ceremony. Oh, and the Lord Mayor of Oxford was there with her seriously heavy looking ornamentation. (no robe, just the bling)I looked her up on the Council website and this is what followed her picture--

"Currently the Right Worshipful the Lord Mayor of Oxford is Councillor Susanna Pressel."

Man, don't let that title go to your head.

Oh, did I mention I finally got around to watching Stigmata?

Yeah, well, I just did.

Thanks, Lauren. Boy, was that a lot of fun. All I wanted to do was sit down and relax and watch Patricia Arquette (and her teeth) get possessed, but I stupidly chose to do so with Ben.

"That's not Aramaic script. That's ancient Hebrew from the 9th century BC before the adoption of the Aramaic script."

"That's from the Gospel of Thomas."

"The Gospel of Thomas was written in Coptic not Aramaic."

"If anybody making this movie had read the Gospel of Thomas they wouldn't be saying that, because the Gospel of Thomas is some weeeeeeird stuff."

"The Gospel of Thomas was probably a Syriac church text."

Yeah.

I just wanted to watch her teeth.

I have no idea what bizarre movie this is from, but ha, ha, ha.

Ass clock!

I was minding my own business reading about the HMS Illustrious moored on the Thames (God knows why) when my eyes were assaulted by the most horrific yet hilarious widget EVER.

I REALLY wanted to put it on my blog, but I couldn't find the code for it anywhere. Alas. But here's a link to a page that shows it. Enjoy.

The interview that wasn't really but sort of was

Went well . . . I think.

The most interesting part was that Ms. Conway was in a meeting that ran late, so instead of talking to her I spoke with (crap, I can't remember her name) um, somebody, but it turns out that she was American, specifically from Dublin, Ohio. What are the chances, man? She's been here for 13 years after coming with her husband and two kids for an initial 3 years so her husband could attend Oxford. Uh, oh. If the similarities continue, we're never coming back. It was amazingly not weird to sit there and talk about things like Tuttle Mall and (after I mentioned I'd lived in Grandview) Staufs. Okay, I have to be honest here. It didn't even occur to me that she was speaking in an American accent until I told her where I was from and she said 'me too.' Seriously. I'm going to blame this on nerves, but really I think it's just my space cadet mode is becoming more and more frequent. Scary. Another fun moment was when she was so glad to hear the words 'bulletin board' as I talked about various responsibilities I'd had at the preschool. I guess they call it 'display board'--which sounds a lot more glamorous.

Anyway, we chatted about various relevent work/volunteer experience I've had, and she mentioned bits about the job and asked about what I'd be most comfortable doing. So I have an application to fill out and we'll see what happens. She conspiratorily told me to fill out the relevent experience section in length--apparently Ms. Conway has tossed applications because the experience section wasn't sufficiently detailed and she felt like that showed a lack of real interest in the job. And after our talk, during which she even wrote down that I supervised lunch activities, I can see that every detail counts. Believe me, I'm gonna go nitty gritty.

It's a little daunting because this is the first real job I've gone for--no slackers need apply. But I know if given the chance, I can do this. So I'm hopeful, but I realize that I'm not the absolutely best qualified person for this sort of thing. I fall more into the kinda sorta qualified category.

In other Big Brave Me news, I'm volunteering in Evie's class tomorrow. This is my first chance to be all maternal and involved. I think I'm just going to be listening to kids read. Asking Evie's teacher about volunteering was a little awkward--I think I was supposed to know all about it or something, which I didn't. I expect more awkwardness tomorrow. Fun, fun, fun.

Interesting news on the childrens' front--Evie is now in a school choir group called The Pink PJs. (It's only for year 2--the color for year 2 is pink, hence the pink theme.) And Moira skinned herself up pretty badly during her after school fitness club--the one that involves all sorts of wheelie things, skateboards, roller blades, etc. Moira wasn't on anything with wheels when she fell, she was running next to her friend (who was on a skateboard) and just tripped. Ironically, Moira had just handed over her elbow pads to her friend so she'd be safe on the skateboard. Coordination is not one of her gifts. And regarding her procrastination earlier this week, she was quite eager to get her work done early this time. Fear not, Anne. It's another Design a Brochure about blah, blah, blah assignment. Unfortunately, I think she's going to be hard pressed to get this done before bed time. To her credit, she almost always finishes her homework early and rarely needs any reminding. It's just these brochures that seem to take much longer than she plans. Whatever.

It's 11 o'clock

and my eldest daughter has just plowed through her first true homework procrastination session.

I'm so proud.

Possibly the saddest thing I've ever seen adults do

My favorite printed thing this week

Stephen Fry's letter to his 16 year old self.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!!

THAT @#%&*!!!!!!! PIANO!!!!!!

A long, long time ago--I think it was in March . . .

This is a brief account of Jessica's visit to Oxford during her 16 hour layover in the UK. (Well, brief on words, long on pictures.) A truly inspiring account of endurance, good humor and grace under pressure.

Jessica arrived around 6:30ish (I wasn't there for that part). Ben went to Heathrow to pick her up and they were denied passage on the first bus to Oxford by a very rude driver who didn't feel the need to explain himself. They eventually arrived at Wolfson College where Jessica was treated to a truly English experience--clotted cream. I didn't know how to explain it, so I just told her it was fat. This, I'm afraid, is a fairly accurate description.

After a little visiting time at home (during which she gave us our most excellent housewarming gift), we headed down to the city centre where we tortured Jessica with not one tower climb but two. First was Carfax.



Some of the views were good (others were not--see below) but overall this was not what I was expecting. That's when I realized that I'd wanted to go up the tower in St. Mary's, not Carfax. Ben had misunderstood and I'd COMPLETELY zoned out and followed along. I like how I can walk to a place, stand there while we buy tickets, climb a tower and only at the top realize I'm not where I thought I was.

Don't puke.

Jessica and Evie reading graffiti.
We did not pay for the viewer.

After seeing this picture I realized just how much I needed to trim my kids' bangs.

Now I'm getting a little hazy on the details. I'm not sure, but I think after this we may have gone to lunch. We chose to take Jessica to The Turf because it's so tucked away that it gives the impression that we know this city inside and out (mind you, that's only an impression), and because it's just cool to go to a pub that's older than your own country. I don't know about Jessica's beer, but ours was not good. The first bad beer we've had in England. Shame on you, Turf. But we did have some interesting vegetarian food that included Yorkshire Pudding and very salty gravy.


I think at this point we just walked around for a little bit.



I'm glad I have this on record, and I hope they're both very, very ashamed.





Those pictures were in no particular order AT ALL.

For some reason the terror of confined spaces that I experienced in Carfax Tower just wasn't enough, and I decided we simply had to climb St. Mary's too. I have no idea why Jessica went along with this, but I'm sure it had to do with the jetlag.


These you'll remember from an earlier Found Fund post.




THAT'S the view I was looking for.

I frickin' LOVE this shot. (*sound of hand patting self on back*)


I'm not sure what these guys have to do with anything, but they were playing on Cornmarket Street and they were just soooooo small.

While we were downtown, we stopped in at Blackwell's to look for a journal that Jessica didn't really want to buy . . . and so she didn't. Then we hopped in a cab and went to look at the girls' school. I should really take some pictures sometime because I realize that's a place that I haven't sufficiently documented. Oh well. So we walked by the school and then walked to Port Meadow behind it.




Ben looks like he's up to something, but I think it was just the sun in his eyes . . . and maybe the fact that this was like the third take on this particular picture added to a bit of annoyance on his part.

At this point we headed back and went to the park just up the street from Phil and Jim. No kidding--Jessica was still on her feet. But finally, finally she yielded to exhaustion and we took her back home so she could shower and nap.

And then she was gone. *sniff* A taxi took her and Ben off to the bus station where he saw her off. I was seriously a little teary eyed as the girls and I waved goodbye to the taxi.

So there you go--the post you've all been waiting for. Wow! Blew your mind didn't it.