Work avoiding again

Missed the bike race Friday as I was asleep. Matt wasn't back in time anyway and as getting a bike in a Mazda is a bit like the elephants in a mini joke (weel, not really as you can't even get two in the back)...er anyway. missed it. Felt poo all night anyway so would have been rubbish.

Saturday. Watched Lions lose to All Blacks at Jono's house. Hope they aren't that poo for the rest of the tests. Second breakfast at home then mad rush to get to the PO in time as my new seat post had been delivered in the 30 mins that both me and Matt were out.
Biking at Cannock Chase was cool. Seem to be getting fitter (still die going uphill though) though not much braver. Having said that Matt made me go down the big roll-in at the Quarry. We have video evidence of his meanness. I must admit that after ****ing bricks the first time I then proceeded to do it another 4 times, and will add a bit of air off the ramp next time! And this was after I had done the smaller slope combined with drop off, but wasn't expecting air on the drop off and my feet slipped of the crap pedals. I can see how Matt and the boys spend a fortune on their bikes. I've just got a new seat post (so much better not riding BMX height) and now I want new pedals, tyres disc brakes etc etc.

Sun. Lots of cleaning and washing a tidying. Zzzzz. Must adopt the cunning plan of the boys....trash house then disappear. Practice at church was great fun. I love Sim messing about on the drums. Even better when his Mum has to tell him to be quiet!. Me playing Bongos in the service tonight. Scared but looking forward to it. Right. must do PhD work now. Boo Hiss.

Finally introduced Em to Eddie on Mon night. She now knows the correct answer to the above question. Tues night was lots of work for school, sleep, then a midnight attack of disc organising, capitalising on a brief spell of 'Epson working'. Couldn' t sleep this morning so got up and swept up the food the rats threw out of their cage. Found the TV remote, which is a bonus. MTV with subtitles is strange.

Good fun doing my Dukes of Hazzard to get in the car in time for the pic 

Friday night started with a sleep out in the sunny garden to get over the week at school. Watched Get Shorty, v good, highly recommend it, particularly if you like Pulp Fiction but with less violence. Saturday Remi was out doing climbing supervision so I got left with a messy house. Emu rescued me in the afternoon to go eat ice cream and play tennis which was a relief as all I had to show for my day was a tidy house with a pile of rat carnage. On Frankie's last outing it seems he didn't just nibble the dishwasher pipe, he also destroyed two playstation dancemats, a steering wheel and my Nintendo Bongos. This is now a rat whose extra-cage privelleges have been firmly revoked.
Discovered the secret to winning a water fight. Wait until your opponent has drunk all theirs and then start. Got the paddling pool out and had a barbie in the evening (again with Emu). Watched Shark Tale. Absolutely fantastic, esp the soundtrack.
Have a new wild and groovy reputation to live up to after last weeks clubbing...Mum called me and Em 'two old maids'. Gee thanks ma. She claimed she was only comparing us to her and Lesley, as they had also been abandoned by partners but...
On that note Lesley's birthday on Friday. Must remember to send a late card. Thats the only sort of birthday card you ever get off Lesley so I don't feel too bad.
Sunday: music practice at church (playing bongos in the service next week) then postponed the bike ride for the evening when it has cooled down a bit. Now gonna read in sun before the Euro 05 final this afternoon. Norway v Germany.

Been a busy week. School tough some days. Thursday was great though. The Year 9s did a fashion show at lunchtime. Their dances and posing in awful clothes from New Look was made bearable by Jono's running commentary of what he thought I should wear, and which trainers I thought would go well with that skirt and how I could be a model (shame about the head). What was truely amazing was Jane in her dress. In fact if not for the presence of children I would have sworn out loud. She managed to hit perfectly the very fine line between utter confidence and going over the top and looking grumpy or cocky like most of the kids did. First time I've thought that a dress looked good in about 20years.
Thurs night was a suprise party for Toni, who passed her PhD viva that morning. Andy commented that her intelligence is not matched by her speed at catching on. Bex even said welcome to your party and she still didn't get it. That was a great night which bizzarely ended with a 30 minute conversation about throwing up when drunk (hence Bex and Andy did most of the talking). So well done Toni. Can't wait till its my turn for such a celebration.

The fugitive rat saga continues. He escaped on Thursday night (not my fault) before I went to play tennis. Roger, who let him out, couldn't catch him. Neither could I. I had to get out of bed at 1am to investigate the noise Remi was making. He had already bent the gas fire into a mangled mess and was in the middle of ripping the wall apart. No rat. My only sign that Frankie is still alive was the puddle on the kitchen floor when I got in last night. He had chewed through the water pipe for the dishwasher. I think I'll give up on rats. Nothing will replace Rizzo, and I think she was a freak rat. No others have actually had the manners to come back when you let them out. I see little point in a pet that just destroys things and won't play with you in return.

Hurrah. I'm young and groovy for probably the first time ever. Went out clubbing with Emu on Friday night. We went over to Leics to meet Sarah, who I havent seen for 5 years. Sarah is soooo sorted now its great to see. She even has cats, how very grown up. So, a fantastic time dancing away in Streetlife. The weirdest thing was coming home in daylight. I know its nearly the longest day, but 4am is pretty good going. However, my ears are STILL ringing. Now I'm being old again.

Surviving the week at school. So tired when I get home, and now with added headache that I keep wasting the best part of the evening being asleep. Missed all but 10 mins of the England womens game yesterday. Grrr. Dozed whilst watching Schindler's List after school today. Then we discovered the secret to my concentration. Give me a set amount of work to do, and a limited time, and something good to do after I've done the work. Had an hour to do my stuff before meeting Emu for tennis, and its the best I've worked in ages. No going to go eat and watch the last half of SL. Hopefully won't cry into my peas.

School. Eugh. Missed first lesson having blood test. In my absence Jane and Carol discovered the kind present left for us in our office. Someone had broken in and in addition to nicking watches and jewelry this time they decided to smear excrement on our coats and the wall. How nice. It seems that everyday I find another reason to lose faith in children and that school. Training on 'for learning' after school. Not very exciting. Got home and had to eat and sleep before I was able to tackle yet more PhD while the boys watched Hellboy. Can't wait for more of the same tomorrow.

My folks came up from Norwich this weekend, so spent Sat am tidying up a bit. I hsouldn't have bothered as mum started cleaning as soon as she got here anyway. Maybe I should get her to visit more often. Went shopping at Mansfield (again). More bargains. Was just settled in the Jaeger shop in a comfy leather armchair with my GBA doing well on Mario Kart, and Mum didn't want to try anything on. Most disappointed. Later on Mum had to go back into a shop to collect me and dad as we'd found a seat and Top Gear magazine. Went out for a nice meal in the Packe Arms Sat evening. Today we went for a bimble in the Peaks. Remi was doing his SPA assessment so I had to navigate using Dr Waffle's book of Crap Descriptions. At one point something was 'beyond his Ken'. We wondered if Barbie would fare any better. Great walk starting from Elton. Only 3.5 miles but it took us all afternoon, but then we did stop to do some extreme bouldering (photo later) and Dad was taking pics so that slowed him down. Only had Pringles and peaches for our picnic so we were looking forward to tea and a bun by the end. Watched the England-Finland game (Euro 2005 Womens comp) cracking finish to it, great goal from Karen Carney to win it. She got a wee bit excited bless her (and I hope her Mum can't lip read!) . Anyway, time for bed said Zebedee. School tomorrow (boo, hiss)

Its 1.20am and I've just finished the outgoings part of my accounts, luckily there is the in part left to do but we'll leave that till the morning. Have had fun with the outgoings today, went to the Outlet Store at J28. Gutted there was no London Marathon gear, and also quite horrifed at having to spend 35 bloomin quid on 3/4 trousers for skool. Pupils evidently have more money to spend on sprts kit than I have by the look of some of them. Anyway. Best part about being a grown up......you can buy toys without having to ask your Mum! hehehe. Got a second-hand GBA-SP in Game. Handy for when its too dark to read in the car and for Ryanair flights of dullness.
Night Night Zzzzzzz!

Cool.
Way cool.
Fantastic. If I wasn't so big on Hans Solo then I might call it the best of the six. Its damn close. Artoo is such a hero, and funny in a good LOL way, without being plain stupid like Jar Jar. And Yoda LS fighting. wicked. The way they did Anakin's transformation into Vader was cool, with the first breath. I must learn to keep my mouth shut at the cinema though. The moment I chose to repeat my comment to Em about the shells coming out of the back of the big cannons was the moment the movie suddenly went silent. Sounded like I shouted the words 'metal poo'. Oh well.
BTW did anyone else spot the Millenium Falcon???

Today was like Boo and Pheobe all over again. Frankie was foolishly let out onto the top of the cage this morning. He then learned how to downclimb and after some intial exploring hid in Remi's photography kit. I gave up and went to do some work. During the course of the day he managed to get into the fire we thought we had blocked off. Only now at 11.30 have we successfully mounted the recapture mission. And then only with the aid of teamwork and Jam. Douglas Adams was close with his theory about white mice running the planet. It's actually Rats.

Ok day so far. Joined the soppy gits for a run this morning. Glad I didn't join Rach and Toni for the Beacon Hill run, I was happy enough in the splinter group. Got a nice Frankenstein stylee scar on my knee from some barbed wire. hehe. Also watching Chronicles of Riddick in bits today in between sitting at a laptop trying to concentrate. Cool but confusing. The boys liked it though, Remi stayed up till 2am so it must have been intruiging at least.
Anyway, to the point of this posting. I've just got my PhD blog started. Its on the same site, so you should be able to get to it from this one. If not its at http://gemmaphd.blogspot.com
Also started an online photo album. This is all soooooo much quicker than trying to do your own site with raw HTML. Again, this is just started, but I'm sure more will be added later as boredom with writing sets in.
http://gemmaleggett.tripod.com/sport