Witch

Cthulhu session just ended, and man, laughing like this just can’t be healthy !!!
We met Nyarlathotep again, and yes, we all survived this time, but hardly unscathed ! All of us have/had mental disorders, and that combined with a lot of fumbles and bad dicerolls, and the typical Bartish remarks, led to a more than hilarious session ! I don’t think the baby agrees with this much laughing, my cheeks and belly were positively aching, while Steven was wiping away the tears from his face and randallsilver picked himself up from under his chair to go to the loo. Definitely not the style Lovecraft had in mind, but man, soooooo relaxing after two weeks of intense correction work, which drove me nuts.

Nearly all my stuff is packed for the larp this weekend too. Bart isn’t coming, alas, but yes, I’m going to play my barbarian shaman again, being 7 months pregnant. Yes, don’t worry, I promise to be careful and to sleep enough, and not to roam the woods in the dark.

Had a very relaxing evening yesterday too: a date with my beloved husband 🙂 I made lasagne first (so yummy when you make it yourself) and then we retreated to the couch, with a lots of candles burning and the fireplace crackling, the dog at our feet, watching the extended version of The Two Towers 🙂 A very good evening was had indeed, followed by a lot of dreamfights in stunning landscapes with the most gorgeous people and the most horrifying creatures.

While correcting, I usually listen to the radio, the national youth station Studio Brussel. All of a sudden I heard this appeal: the students of the Lyceum in Gent, who have philosophy exam tomorrow by Miss De Tollenaere, were asking the students of Mariakerke (where I teach) for the questions, since they have the same teacher.
Lieve De Tollenaere happens to be a good friend of mine, so I picked up the phone and told her about it. She laughed, and said Mariakerke has this exam only on monday, so no go. Besides, the questions were different. Her comment: ‘Shouldn’t they be studying instead of listening to the radio ?’
So I sent a short mail to the radio station, explaining this, and they quoted me on it, luckily not mentioning my name.

Heh, wanted to see the faces of those students as they heard the reaction of their teacher on the radio. *grin*

Don’t ever try to pull a prank on a teacher who’s correcting ! We’re a mean species, and especially now !

Heh, had a very nice and pleasant Cthulhu session tonight. Of course there was some out game talk and some good laughs, but mostly we were very much in character. We managed to introduce three new characters very elegantly into the party, to set up a new expedition into those maledicted labyrinthic corridors with a very valable reason, and to explore quite a new part of the labyrinth itself. No new clues though, alas.

On another note: exams have started, and I already have the first pile of correction work awaiting, sigh. Alas it’s part of the job too.

Spent the day doing generally nothing much, going with the car to the garage (since Bart’s uncle is taking it out of our hands and we get the ‘old’ car of my father-in-law in return, with an addition of € 2000), stopping by at the hairdresser to get my fringe cut out of my eyes, and spending the rest of the afternoon at Vallery’s, pleasantly chatting away. I just wish my back hadn’t given up on me :-((( Hurts like hell, don’t know what I did to it. I hope it will get better overnight, it’s a hernia, so it might just be that way.

Gonna correct tomorrow, get the car to the ‘state revision’, cook with unterm_galgen and generally do more of the nothingness thing, I suppose. Probably have coffee with the guys in the late afternoon, as usual 🙂

God I keep sniffing and sneezing. Students already asked me if I was shareholder of the tissue company…

Yesterday we went to my parents for a delicious lunch, together with my youngest bro and his gf. Don’t know if anything I ate there had gone bad (everything was delicious, had a most enjoyable afternoon) but at night I felt horrible ! Only got better the very moment I had puked out everything again. Slept great.

Work is very tiring these days. The belly is getting in the way, in like a week’s time I’m starting to look and feel like a baby whale. Only 6 months far though now. Kinda scares me for what is yet to come. Went into town with Bart on Saturday, just to buy me some pregnancy clothes. Couldn’t fit into my regular clothes anymore just now. Found some really nice stuff, for a very decent price.

Exams are starting on Wednesday, which will give me more time for myself, and, above all, the occasion to nap whenever I feel like it. Will have tons of corrections to do, but I can do these in my own pace. Will do me good.

On another note: we’re having a baby room with a bright blue ceiling right now. Bart and I painted on Sunday, so I can start on the drawings any time soon. I promise I’ll take pics as soon as it’s completely done 🙂

I saw ‘Hero’ yesterday, by Zhang Yhimou with (amongst others) Jet Lee and Maggie Cheung. Damn !!!! If you even remotely liked ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’, you MUST see this movie !
I agree, it’s a feodal China movie with swords again, but where the sword fights in CTHD were spectacular, they’re even better and a lot more stilistic here !
Yhimou’s photography is breath-taking, nothing less. The way he plays with the colours, the way he tells his story…
I think this was a movie more than worth while !!!!

Had a really nice birthday yesterday 🙂

Got up late after a lot of talking and cuddling and goofing around in bed. Bart gave me his present, and I was even a bit shocked ! Must have cost him more than a month’s wages: a beautiful white golden bracelet with (coincidence he says) 32 diamonds on the front. It is gorgeous…
Bart went to get me ‘koffiekoeken’ (which would more or less translate as pastries or bagels), we read the paper while munching, and I did some general household stuff. Then as per request I made a ton of invoices for the company, got lots of phonecalls, was in game for quite a bit, and got ready for this big fancy dinner. I had promised Bart we’d go out to a well-known restaurant for our wedding anniversary, but by that time I was well pregnant and feeling very sick all the time. No point in wasting good money on a dinner I wouldn’t eat then.
So yesterday, on my birthday, four days after his birthday, I took him out there, and we had a wonderful dinner indeed, in a very nice setting with an excellent service. Doesn’t this sound delicious (sorry, Dutch menu, don’t feel much like translating):
– het Merendrees gelegenheids tripel Gerulfus (9% vol.) bier met degustatie bordje en voor mij vers fruitsap
– Terrine van reepastei en patrijzenpastei met medaillon van ganzenlever en chutney van passievruchten en abrikozen
– Bladerdeegkorfje van kalfszwezeriken en kampernoelies, verfijnd met mousseline
– Intermezzo van mandarijnen sorbet of Een Noordzee garnalen bisque (respectievelijk Bart en ik)
– Inlandse hazenrug in zijn jachtgarnituur, harlekijnsausje
– Gezellige chocoladefantasie
– Mokka, Italiaanse cappuccino of thee en versnaperingen

Bart had wine too with the entire menu, I stuck to water, as usual.

Was really delicious, and I had way too much to eat. Well worth it though. Yep yep, nice birthday. Have to start correcting now urgently, ugh.

God I love Bart :-)))

Yesterday when we were in bed, we apparently both didn’t feel like sleeping, so we cuddled and talked. He told me about all the company projects that are still awaiting, I told him about stuff I still have to do, we both fantasized about what it will be like with the baby around, and how we would revamp the bathroom (and a whole new floor on top of the garage) if we didn’t have practical and monetary issues to take into account… And we ended up singing lines from the soundtrack of ‘Alladin’ to one another, accompanied with all the funny voices and a lot of poking. We both ended up wide awake and laughing our heads off.

Never knew a person could have so much love for another, and get loved this much by that person. We’re so lucky…

Taught for one hour, came home again. I just didn’t feel up to it today. This morning I had a hard time getting up, but hey, usually it gets better once I’m in class. Dragged myself to school, did a good job in teaching that one hour, but even the kids remarked that I was rather silent. Dragged myself through that hour, hard to concentrate, feeling nauseous. Decided to go home after all. Couldn’t stand the thought of teaching 3 hours more.

Home now, mainly on the couch. Blergh.

On a brighter note: gave Bart a very nice birthday present yesterday: he for the first time felt the baby kick. You should have seen his smile 🙂

OK, long time no update, I see. Well, let’s get it on with then 🙂

The weekend before last I didn’t do much, actually. Didn’t feel all too great, I’m afraid. Basically some correction and such, played a bit AC, and had a family reunion on Saturday, and then I mean a reunion up to the level of my great-greatgrandmother. Was nice, in a way, but of course tons of new faces.

On Monday I had to teach 7 hours, and then I had -oh joy- a four hour parents night. Non-stop talking, met 33 parents of the first graders, who all wanted to know how splendid their daughter/son was. Of course some parents showed up of students who really had problems, and then it was worth while. But why on earth did some parents wait for over an hour in a queue when their offspring has an A+ ???? Why waste my time and energy too ???? I was completely beat when I got home, crashed on the couch, didn’t move. Same effect alas on Tuesday morning, so I called in sick. Slept nearly all day, guess I needed that.

On Wednesday I still wasn’t feeling too great, still very tired, so I went to teach, but cancelled the Tolkien storytelling session in the afternoon. It really felt like a burden, so I decided not to. At night I felt a little better, so I checked out this new choir, in the near village. They’re not bad at all, but the director made me sing alto, whereas I’m used to sing tenor, and I love that. I suppose a woman singing tenor was too innovative and out of the box. Doubting whether I’ll go tonight. I really don’t like alto.

Thursday: another lazy day, since I seem to have run out of stamina. Completely. Did do some correction and house work, but nothing more. At night we had Cthulhu, which was no short than hilarious ! Somehow we don’t seem to grasp the atmosphere Lovecraft had in mind, but these evenings are always fun. My belly was aching in laughing.

Friday: tough day of teaching: it started to snow, very unexpectedly, and that on a day before a vacation ! No need to tell you the kids went wild. Go me. I managed to survive, and when I got home, I packed some stuff and Bart and I went away for the weekend :-))))))

We stayed in a little hotel with an excellent kitchen in Luxemburg. Just had way too much to eat, saw a great castle which was very impressive, visited Luxemburg City with its casemats, made some walks, had fun and relaxed. Especially relaxed. Did us both well 🙂

Fetched the dog on Monday on our way home: he had stayed with Bart’s parents for the first time, had never been without either one of us for longer than two days, and never out of our own house. Glad everyone survived the experiment that well.
At night an appointment with the gynaecologist, and as stated before, all is very well, and it’s apparently a boy, the doc was very positive about that. Heh. And here we were, thinking it was a girl. Doesn’t matter, as long as it’s a kid, and it’s healthy.

Yesterday my mom came over to help: we stripped the baby room of the wallpaper and plastered a bit where necessary. Had planned on painting most of it today, but just couldn’t get myself in gear. At all. Only washed off the ceiling so far. Need to do some more plastering, I found out. Hmm. Yuck.

Guess that’s it for now. Wanna sleep. Need to plaster and fetch paint. Sigh.

Just showered, so I might just as well write an update while my hair is drying a little.

This week was luckily not as intense as last week. Busy, yes, but less stressed. Last Friday was hell: I was sooooo tired and all things that could go wrong (little things) did go wrong. Murphy had a joyful day. This resulted in my being very short-tempered at school, and crashing on the couch afterwards. At night I had a quiz at school, was actually too tired for it, but hey. Had fun anyway, but came home right away after the end and went to bed.

Saturday was doing general stuff (laundry, correction, bla bla) and a story telling session for Elanor, the Flemish Tolkien Society, at quite a large fantasy/sci fi event (I’d rather call it a merchandise market, but hey). Unfortunately, no story telling cos the organisers hadn’t provided a room for it, as they had promised. Hmmm. Had a nice day anyway. At night we went for dinner at Gwen and Erik, which turned out to be a lovely evening as usual.

Sunday: story telling in the afternoon, this time I DID manage to do some parts, for a small but very dedicated audience. Yes yes, was very fulfilling. John Rhys-Davies, the actor who plays Gimli in Jackson’s Lord of the Rings, turned out to be a very amiable man, with a fondness for tickling poor defenseless hobbits. The pics are nice 🙂 All in all, Sunday was fun and relaxing.

Monday-Tuesday: two hard working days, with an extra class council in the evening, but I survived better than I had hoped for. Yay me. On Tuesday evening, as I was doing the books for Netlash, I had this strange sensation in my belly, which definitely weren’t my bowels ! I was sooooooooo excited !!! Since then I have felt the little one move quite a few times. It usually startles me, but still fills me with lots of joy.

Wednesday: work – grocery shopping – books at my father’s. We ended up in a fight, as usual. Tiring day, but ok.

Thursday: really nice day ! Long lie, and then Faust came over for lunch, which was real nice, as usual too. I cooked an elaborate meal for the three of us :-). I still really like the guy. He helped Bart in getting the couch upstairs. Shouldn’t have been one inch broader, or it wouldn’t have worked. Then I went to the hospital to visit my gran. She’s doing fine, all in all, and already exercising each day with her prothesis. I hope this works out. At night I had game of Nephilim, in which we really did quite a lot. Was fun too :-). Busy, but relaxing day.

Friday: nice day at work, and at night Bart and I went for a meal in a little Italian restaurant, which was really good. We ended the day on the couch, watching the DVD of the Animatrix. Recommendable for all Matrix fans.

Conclusion: me happy girl these days. Life is treating me well.