More Photo Goodness

2009: Courtesy of Kelley

These photos were taken while out for a simple walk by the river. The day was warm and bright and sunny, and it had been hot enough that the banks of the river looked fairly dry and dead. In these, however, I think it looks really good.


There was a little old man sitting close by on a bench, feeding the ducks. This photo shoot took about an hour, and the man just kept staring at us. I suppose we were a bit more interesting than the ducks were, though if you had given Ashley the opportunity, she would have disagreed. She thinks there is nothing more interesting than ducks.

Personally, I think these photos came out as well, if not better than they would have if we had gone to a photographer. Thank you again, Kelley.

Pictures (because Kelley is good at those and I am really not, so I'll take advantage of her goodness now, kthxbai.)

Kelley is here, trying not to catch our sick-bug and snapping photos of the interesting things we are doing. She is much better at posting pictures than I am. Obviously. Just to pretend that I am not quite as bad as I actually am, I'll post a few here for you all. Not the interesting ones, of course, but only the ones of us, because there are fewer of them and all.

Day 1: B00's Birthday

Kelley arrives. B00 (not my Boo-bear, but a friend) has birthday dinner at pizza express. Then there is a pub involved. Don't worry - Amy drinks water.


Day 2: Deal Castle

We go and check out my new school, see my classroom, and meet the headteacher. Then on to Deal where we have just enough time to tour Deal castle before needing to head home so Amy can go to a dinner thing with the people she will be working with next year. It is at a casino - Amy is not impressed. And again, don't worry - Amy drinks water (though they really tried to get me to drink champagne and wine and cocktails.)



Day 3: Bodiam Castle

We all 4 brave the hour and a half trip to Bodiam castle, and have way too much fun in the stocks while we are there.

Kelley sad in the stocks.


Amy, well pleased, stealing Kelley's shoes.


Stephen in the stocks.


Amy getting herself in trouble again.

Amy finally gets put in the stocks herself.


Ashley not even pretending to be sad. She likes it, that one.



"Hey - let's put our heads in!" says Amy.

"Ash - I think we are stuck and its your fault!" "Wait a minute, this was YOUR idea!"

Again, Amy decides that she is the queen and Stephen is the king and that she could live happily in a castle. She also asks Stephen if they can build one. And again, he says no. On the way back, Kelley tries out her hands at driving on the wrong side of the road. Her thoughts? "It's absolutely nerve-wracking and not a little confusing." she says. (She did pretty well, if I may say so myself.)

Well, that's it thus far. Maybe more pics later.

The Doctor Adventure

I am sick. Ashley is too, poor thing. I think she passed it onto me, but my body apparently really enjoyed the idea of being sick, and so embraced it with both arms. She has a cough and headache and is congested. I have a sore chest, phlegm, hacking, fever, headache, clogged ears and no voice. Joy. I called the doctor this morning, and they asked me to describe my symptoms, which I did. They told me that they didn't want me to come in, that I might have the swine flu, and that the doctor would call me later. He did, listened to my symptoms, and told me that he needed to consult with some other medical entity, and that if they thought I had swine flu as well, someone would be coming to the house to examine me. Another long wait between phone calls. Then a call back: I don't have swine flu, just a chest infection. They prescribed antibiotics, which wonderful Stephen will pick up on his way home from work. Ashley, though still sick and sent home from school, is only supposed to call the doctor if she develops a fever, which she hasn't yet done.

So no work this week.

I am trying to get the fever broken, and feeling pretty pathetic and sore and sick all over, when Christi and Zach send me an email: Zach has been watching classic Sesame Street and they found a song for me. I don't think I told Christi I was sick - but the video shows that she knew someway or another. I'm posting it here for you to enjoy too.

So....

My mom sends me an email, and it says: "Your last entry is May 20. Today is June 30. Did I miss the invitation to your funeral?"

Well, no, and if I were going to be pedantic (which of course I am not) I would wonder if it were reasonable to expect a dead person to reply to an email asking if they were dead...

To be perfectly honest I don't even have the busy excuse (for the last week anyway) of why I haven't posted a blog. Since I can't really give you an excuse, I can tell you what I have done since that last post.

Since May 30 I have:

*Written and turned in 2 papers, 4000 words each
*Created a final presentation which consisted of a movie and a live action play with 2 other people (though I did the movie by myself)
*Taken 3 tests to test my ability to teach
*Given 3 presentations: 1 a lecture on schools in the United States, and the other 2 of my final project (1 to be marked and then 1 in front of the entire 3rd year)
*Finished my undergraduate degree
*Found a job teaching a year 4/5 class for next year
*Rented a vehicle 10 times (for transportation to said school)
*Found out my marks and turned in final paperwork (I had 2 marks that were 2-1 level, and all the rest were 1sts, including 2 90's, 2 85's, and 3 papers that I have been told that I should publish. At this point I think it is safe to say that I have a first in my Bachelors degree.)
*Cat-sat (for Moses the cat, who is here now and makes me really miss my cats)
*Worked every day that I have not been studying, at University, or at the school
*Found out about Visa situations and in the process of dealing with them
*Planned Ashley's trip to the United States for the summer
*Rearranged the living room
*Planted a new garden box for my miniature rosebush to live outside
*Evaluated plans, decided to wait on a doctorate just a little bit, and applied for entry into Grad School starting in September
-and-
*TRIED to maintain a fairly tidy house and kind of keep up with the laundry and cook dinner and pack lunches and make sure that someone washes the dishes though it is often not me that actually does so.


Truth be told, the past week I have had time to sit down and write in the blog. I thought about doing it, but I have no motivation. I'm tired, and it seemed like yet one more thing that had to be done. Funny how with nothing going on I still feel a lot of pressure to get things done. I have been feeling the same way about making phone calls to people. I know that I should call my mom, my sisters, my best friend... but the thought of actually picking up the phone and holding it against my ear for that long is overwhelming. The past few weeks I have been feeling it emotionally too, what with being really run down and sad and weepyand moody and grumpy and hard on myself. I am taking steps to get myself out of the funk (I love St. John's Wort...) but that is where I have been: in Funkville.

I want to think that the summer will give me an opportunity to slow down, but I actually don't think it will. Getting ready for next year, working as much as I possibly can, applying for and absorbing the tremendous cost of the next set of Visas, having to buy a car (and praying someone will give me financing,) Ashley being gone, missing Tristan's birthday, missing my family... there are some days that I am not just an ostrich sticking my head in the sand trying to hide, but I actively wonder if I should just give up, abandon the life I am trying to build here and the education that I am pursuing, and go live at moms house and work at a fast food joint. I don't actually think about that seriously, and I know that it is my just wanting to run away.

I am trying to do things that will help me have time for me, and things that I like to do (like gaming) but I laugh at myself because right now I even resent the planning, time and effort that creating a character to play in a game requires. My poor family... they must be walking on eggshells. I don't even understand myself.

Anyway, Mom, that is what I have been doing in the last month. Thank you for making me post, thank you for calling me on my stuff, and thank you for being patient. No, I have not died and have no plans to do so in the immediate future, and no there is no funeral for you to come to. Other than that, I make no promises.