Ok, I’ve had bad groups, but this one… Out of 19 first graders, I expected 8 to flunk. Hoped for less, but that was realistic, I thought. NOT ! Only 7 of them made it, which means 12 did not pass for Latin. Am I really such a bad teacher ? This never happened to me before ! Sheez, makes me all depressed ! Those poor kids ! I did show the exam to Xavier, and he said it was not too hard, actually. Hey, first one has 95 %, second has 87 %, heh, last one has 7 %. They just didn’t study. Or are they that stupid ? I refuse to believe that. Man… This sux big time !!!
Hmm, cast quality was below every standard: it just didn’t want to dry. This kind should be dry in about two hours, but although it had been cast at 5 pm, I had to put on a very thick sock to keep it from staining my sheets. Cast was still wet this afternoon, so I went to see the doctor once more and he put on another cast. Foot is hurting too…
For the rest: busy as always, haven’t been in game for over a week now. Exams are coming nearer, and I still have to make them all up. Hmmm. Lots of work still. Can’t say I’m looking forward to it.
On June 12 the carpenter will come to install the new stairway to the second floor of our house. We used to have a gigantic attic, now we’ll get it finally transformed to sth usable. This being a new attic (was like 4-5 meters high), a big room/office for our company (www.netlash.com, working on the English version, Dutch only for the moment), a sauna and a relax room (with our comics collection, a bar for cocktails, stools, comfy chairs…) shower, toilet and a little hall. Not bad, huh ? grimlach already promised me to help a bit putting all the stuff up there. Gonna be quite a change, when Bart will finally have his own space to work and I can do whatever I like down here. I’m such a chaotic mind: I’m working and doing tons of stuff at the same time, which makes me run around a lot, and gets on his nerves. It will be better…
BTW, gonna start IVF again at the end of this month. Third time, good time ? Dunno…
Had a very weird day yesterday, nothing seemed to go the way it should.
For example, I got so annoyed that in the one school the classroom
hadn’t been cleaned for months, that when one of my papers stuck to the
table, I had enough of it and went, pretty angrily, to look for some
cleaning material.
The corridors, tho not that clean either, are
pretty slippery, so there I slipped with my heel, and sprained my ankle.
Didn’t think it that bad, but went to the doctor anyway for insurance
matters. He put a kind of a cast around it. Hmmm. Nice… Oh well.
I can still walk, tho Bart calls me Humpty Dumpty right now. Wonder what the students will say
Had this wonderful larp this weekend. The weather gods favoured us,
since there was rain announced, but somehow we managed to avoid the
showers there.
Had to play the beggar’s queen of a complete gang of
beggars, was hilarious… Those poor players didn’t know what hit them:
organised beggar crime ! Their leader was a real tyrant, blackmailing
her own people, threatening them, organising them too. Black market,
thieving, anything. Man, this was so typecasted !
At least as
hilarious was the short part I got as Sister Almonella, the cooking
nurse. She walked around waving herbs, had to explain the most crazy
stuff. Was nice.
Had the most fun tho with the sunday morning part as
noble lady, daughter of a duke, very naive but very haughty and rather
pregnant, tho she didn’t know that at first. Poor doctor (player) who
examined her: she fainted, squealed, sighed, and agreed to use abortion
herbs since her father would kill her if he ever found out. Had to ‘ask’
the other nobility around for money, loads of them, since the herbs
were very expensive. Explained to them the techniques of Heraldism too,
improvised there for over half an hour about heraldic signs and colours
and specifications, without (out game) knowing the least about it. Big
fun !
Very tired now and a working day ahead, but happy again. Had good fun. Liked it a lot !
BTW, I love my Bart, my Les and Faust! Heh. Lucky me !
Poem of a young (19) friend of mine, we go a long way, and we’re both the real gothic type, I’m afraid. It just made me cry again. Damn, I’m sad…
Sit down and have a drink
We’ll talk about our misery
So we won’t have to think
It’s been a while for you and me
Since we’ve known the way to go
In fact we never did
We just put on our little show
And kept fears and doubts well hid
So come on and have another round
It doesn’t matter either way
‘cause when they close, we’ll head on home
And forget all about our fighting day
When we hoped we would survive
Sad to say we never did
…to think it’s only years ago
that I was still a kid…
Ok… Maybe I have all the luck right now I deserve, and there wasn’t room on my luck list for anything more… Oh well… Maybe next time…
Sigh… Can’t say this is easy tho…
Isn’t it weird, how you can fall in and out of love with your love ? I
mean, I’ve been together with Bart for over 9 years now, of which nearly
6 years married. I have never stopped loving the guy, on the contrary,
the feeling just has deepened over the years. But the thrill has gone.
Well, not really, but we know each other so well, every habit, every
trait, every bit and piece. Not that that’s not nice: I love his habits
and the whole of who he is. But usually the butterflies are gone. Till a
certain moment, you look at him when he’s in your arms on the couch
while you’re watching TV, and there’s that hot flash thru your body
again, and you just can’t stop smiling. And all you want to do is cover
his face with kisses, so that’s what you do, and the look in his eyes is
so loving…
We just had tea together, a bit ago, I had forgotten
today is a holiday, so no shops are open, and I defrosted some rolls. He
offered to make us some scrambled eggs with cheese to go with them. And
after that, I cleaned some strawberries and cut them up, to go with
some vanilla ice cream. While he was putting the dishes away, he looked
at me and said: “Aren’t we just lucky ? Aren’t we just two happy people
?” And all I could do was smile back at him and agree. Dog and cat were
licking their paws, and silently agreed as well.
Is it weird to be happy ? Cos, deep down, I just am…
Tomorrow results of the pregnancy thing. Wish me even more happiness, people…
Got a real nice day yesterday ! We had what is called ‘Paedagogical day’
at school: teachers only, no students, and then we usually have a
meeting all day, concerning drugs problems, school rules, vandalism on
school, ways to deal with homosexuality or deaths or suicides or
whatever…
This time our principal decided it was time for some fun:
we departed at 7.30 for the Hoge Veluwe, and in particular the
beautiful museum there (it’s a nature park near Arnhem, a city in The
Netherlands). So before noon we wandered around the museum, saw some Van
Gogh, Braque, Gris, Monet, Renoir… Then we had lunch, and then we
went cycling. This park has this great feature: free bikes ! They have
little white bikes all over the place, and you just grab one, go for a
ride, and leave it wherever you want to be. We took a bike from the
museum to the restaurant, and then we went for a ride of about 26 km.
Was big fun, and the weather was so fantastic: 25° C, bright sunshine,
light breeze… We all got a tan, heh. On our three hour drive back, the
principal produced wine, beer, water, crisps… Everyone ended up
singing aloud, LOL, really a school trip ! Was big fun, yep. And you
know what is so nice about it ? We all got paid to do that :-))))
Today I went for a new lawn mower, since the old one is broke and the grass is about a meter high (it’s a shame!) and I finally found some black fringes for my banner. Yay !!!
Leaving about now for the movies, no, not Star Wars yet (queues are way too long, no numbered seats) but Grosvenor Park, the Altman film.
Generally one could say I’m doing fine these days…
I seem to have this situation going on here, the two parties being my cat and my husband.
On the one side there is the cat. Not even a year old, pitch black, sleek, nearly full grown, totally unaware of the Sword of Damocles hanging over his balls, an incredible hunter, and very very smug about that last part. As a good cat should do – but especially one in his puberty – he tries to please me, being his mistress/mommy/protector/the one who feeds him. And what is the summum of adoration he can show me ? Bringing me a live prey, usually a nice bird.
So this morning at 5.15u I was crudely awakened by an unearthly, ghastly, terrible squeeking – and I can assure you, at 5.15 in the morning it IS all these things! – of a little bird in death angst ! Purper (pronounced purrpurr, but being the Dutch word for Purple) came to wake me, as if I wasn’t awake yet, to praise him and his hunter qualities. The bird had already a broken wing, but was very much alive for the rest, and making a godawful racket. I tried to grab both cat and bird, but as the latter dragged the former under the bed, it wasn’t that easy. After several minutes, I managed to grab the bird in one hand, and the very indignified and offended cat in the other, went downstairs, and threw both of them in the garden. I couldn’t deny the cat his prey, as he is supposed to do such things, and the bird was lost anyway. Back up I went.
And there I found the other party in the problem: my husband. Bart had naturally been awaken – du-uh – by the bird’s anxious squeeks as well, and was terrified… My husband is the sweetest guy you can imagine, smart, caring, understanding, sweet, inventive, brave, hard working, attentive, romantic… But even a perfect guy needs to have a flaw, and the flaw on this one is blood. He just can’t see blood and gore and such things, without getting sick or vomiting. So as soon as he realised what was going on right underneath him, he curled up in foetus position, and covered his ears with his hands, and kept his eyes shut real tight. As the minutes of fruitless chase passed, I heared a soft moan immersing from the stack of blankets he was underneath. Poor guy. As I came back up after throwing all animal things outside, I found him positively trembling. I had to hold him, stroke his hair, rock him gently for him to calm down. Was so awkward, he usually does that kind of thing for me… Eventually he went back to sleep, still clutching my hand…
And the cat ? He left the remains of the bird on the porch, and came back up to sleep at my side, very very pleased with himself. And me ? I couldn’t deny the appraisal he earned. After all, he had been a good cat, providing me with a treat…
Found some good, really weird music: it’s called ‘Flamma Flamma (The Fire Requiem)’ by a Belgian composer Nicholas Lens, and if I’d try to describe it, I’d say Dead Can Dance meets Koyaanisqatsi meets Carl Orff meets Les Mystères des Voix Bulgares. The texts are in Latin, and consist of poems conceived for every chapter of a book ‘Ignis Perennis’ by Herman Portocarero. Both highly recommended, tho the book is scaringly thin. I read it aloud to 17 year students and we translate the poems, while listening to the music.
It’s good !