S is for Sunshine

 Yay for summery sunshine goodness.

I find that sunshine (especially after weeks of being sick and hating the cold, grey, miserable weather) produces two, slightly contradictory effects:

1. It makes be perky and hyper. I am kind of attempted to skip around the field and spread joy (OK, at least amusement and confusion) amongst the students

2. Find a nice, quiet spot in a sun beam, curl up like a cat and snooze in the sun.

In reality, I sit indoors behind a computer, knowing that I should being doing work but feeling a little too 'Summer vacationy' (Matt and I watched the Summer Vacation episode of Azumanga Daiyo last night. Man, I am _too_ much like the Yukari sensei character. It is scary.)

The sunshine seems to be producing a similarly amibivalent effect on the students. On the one hand they are most friendly and pleasant. They are bouncing around smiling and saying 'Hi' and basically behaving like nice, happy little humans for a change. *

However, sunshine should also equal not working in many students' minds. My year 12s wailed bitterly when I made them write notes and write an essay today. Oh, the whinging. They did the book but were very grudging about it** (which is weird when they have exams coming up soon and should actually being knuckling down to doing more work not less).

* I just saw the first 15 minutes of my form class' "Conflict Resolution" workshop. They had to start by introducing themselves with an "I feel ________ because ___________". Most of them said they were glad or pleased because they won their sports game or it was nearly the weekend or that it was mufti day tomorrow. Only 2 students said they were tired or grumpy. The counsellor told me they were the happiest Year 9 class she had had so far! Yay, my class are the happy and perky ones! We may not be winning Year 9 trophy and many of them are getting into trouble, but at least they are happy little smurfs.

** One even warned me that 'we'd better not be doing writing tomorrow'. I kind of wondered what they thought they are going to do about it, but I didn't wonder for long. Students have a bizarre sense of vengence (perhaps studying Hamlet has messed up their sense of justice and revenge). One boy unplugged and carried out my OHP as he left the class! Huh? I had my back turned for a second and then turned around to see him carrying it out. I yelled out but he took off with it! I don't know what he was thinking? I don't use the OHP now as the sun is so bad in my classroom I have to write all the notes on the whiteboard. I worried that he was going to smash it just out of spite but his friend brought it back, undamaged, 10 minutes later.

What did they do with the OHP for 10 minutes? What was the plan? To hold my OHP hostage until I stopped making them write essays for English? To take out their misdirected rage and anger out on a defenceless piece of audio-visual equipment?

Some Teenage boys confuse me. Their logic is not Earth logic.

Back from the mostly dead

 Well, I have finally decided to get around to blogging. It has been a long time since I last blogged - back in Term two I believe. The scary thing is that I have been battling the cold/flu/yucky sick thing that JUST WON'T GO AWAY from pretty much all of that time.

It is amazing how quickly one becomes sick of being sick.

There are some aspects of being sick I like - it is an excuse to lie around under blankets sleeping, watching daytime TV or reading guzzling hot drinks and soups. You can actually feeling almost virtuous about being slothful because you are resting and recuperating for the good of your health. Generally I find with most cases of the 'flu a few days of slobbing around, keeping warm, consuming a copious amount of hot fluid and cough syrup and liberally smearing oneself with Vicks Vapour-rub* is enough to recover.

However, despite by slothful approach to the holidays and thus getting little work done, and also despite the fact that I even went to the doctor** for medicine out of desperation after 2 ill weeks, I was still snuffly and feeling icky when it was time to return to school. Blarh.

Not fair.

So now I find myself fully plunged into Term 3 without being particularly prepared and feeling tired and unenergetic so I am struggling to catch up.

Ah well.

On the plus side of things, the school play is progressing well, finally casting is today. The school ball is on this weekend and my rostered supervision time is for an hour early in the evening so it should be pretty easy.

* When I have a headcold or blocked sinuses, I really _love_ the smell of Vapour-rub. I am generally predisposed to like smells that are eucalyptusy or mentholy anyway, but when you unable to smell most regular scents the joy of actually being able to smell something is fantastic. The awesome power of vapour-rub can defeat any cold or flulike symptoms.


** I have seldom gone to the doctor in my adult life largely due to cheapness. I resent being sick and become miserly in my thinking. "It is bad enough I am sick and feel bad, I shouldn't have to _pay_ money as well."