Goldfish

Because I have a memory like one.

Having just re-discovered this blog lurking resentfully in the depths of my bookmark folder, I have decided to resurrect it. How long it will stay thus, I do not know. But goodness knows I have a lot to talk about recently.

How is life? Well, the PGCE (that's Postgraduate Certificate of Education to the uneducated) is nearing the end of its long, arduous efforts to ruin my life, my heart rate, my health and the quantity of hair on my head. The last four weeks (yes, FOUR! WOO!) will be hell. But then, every other week so far has also been hell. So this is not really a change so much as a progression.

I will soon pass into the 'University Tutor's Final Visit' level of hell and then the extent of my stay (will I fail and have to re-sit the placement, or will I pass into the world of Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT) with all the scars and twitches thereof) will be revealed. Wish me luck.

Speaking of hell, has anyone tried teaching four different year groups at once? I have year 3 to 6 (ages 7-11, for the confused, foreign or the old). It's a huge age range and the differentiation (I sleep with that word on my lips) is a nightmare.

On the plus side, I am now developing a lovely, Polgara-like streak of silver-white hair on the right side of my head. It's developed from a few hairs (September) to LOTS of hairs. And the other teachers said this year would be the hardest of my life. Bah.

*twitch*

Shall I tell you about my current school? Maybe not. I am still there. So to vent my true feelings would be to fail my final placement completely. Another time maybe.

Instead, I'll tell you about our family's shiny new villa in Orlando. It's in a beautiful (and expensive) area of Florida about 10 minutes drive from Disney, Universal, Florida Mall and all the delights of the sunshine state. I shall be spending about four weeks there this summer with various members of the family, lounging in the private pool, lounging on the leather suite, sleeping on the new, oak-framed beds, eating wonderful food in the beautiful kitchen, shopping in the fabulous Florida Mall and various book shops attached, and trying to stay out of the aforementioned sun.

I deserve it.

Maybe my twitch will come with me.

I shall regret this

Well, I said I wouldn't do it. But I have. Everything is piling up around me. My PGCE (yes, I am that insane) is trying to ruin my life and my social life (new man, new man!) is a little rocky. I promised I would take it easy on myself. As much as anyone can when entering the terrifying world if primary school teaching. I promised myself. I did.

And I broke that promise.

I agreed to do NaNoWriMo this November.

I will suffer.

I will probably fail.

But I will do it anyway.

Yellow Post It Notes

It's called a
Yellow Sticky
A yellow sticky
For our notes
We use them
For our shopping
Lists and put them
In our pockets
And take them
To Tesco, Asda
Or Town
But when ever
I use one to stick
On the wall
It always comes
Back down.

A glorious beginning.

Well, maybe not glorious. But a beginning nonetheless. I am Sibyl Harbinger – not my real name, of course, or I would be divorcing my parents with great enthusiasm and ceremony. No, I am in fact a lonely, miserable and hard-done-to writer and poet; never published and burning the candles all night long.

OK, so I am not really that lonely, and I am unpublished because I have never tried (or so I tell myself). I am not that hard-done-to. In fact I am quite happy with my life. I have a good social life. I eat well and I go out dancing regularly. I am up all night purely because I am busy watching CSI, Stargate or whatever series I happen to be in to at the time. I not an author, but I am a writer. A person who writes. I write more and more frequently, although not as often as I think I should. And most importantly, I enjoy it. So I am the proof that defies the rule that writers can't have a life.

Although I am the example that proves the rule that all writers are not quite sane. But I'll get into that at a later date.

I dream a lot. I write a lot. And I read a lot. So from here on in, I shall share some of that with you.

To a write moment. May it grow and grow.