Mark O’Meara: the blog

I was chuffed to find that the tv show Teachers has no sooner finished season three than they are showing season two which I haven’t seen.

Lesson for the day - more telly is not always bad.

Now I have access to the subject guides for my four subjects I can see that I have nine assignments due by June and five of them in the next seven weeks. Not that any of them look especially difficult but there sure are a lot of them.

In an attempt to feel prepared I have put all my due dates in my calendar which does provide the illusion of it seeming a bit more manageable.

What I find especially difficult to feel chipper about is that a few of these assignments are to be done in groups. I do understand that we are meant to be able to work actually with people but it’s always like having teeth pulled. A big part of that is just making the time to work with folk which is sounds simple enough but in practice is a complete sodding pain.

Lesson for the day - being a full-time student might take a bit of time after all.

Way back when it seemed to me that internet ordering of a home delivery pizza seemed like a great idea. I knew it was it wasn’t going to happen soon, after all this was 1993 and Spaceboy and I were the only ones I knew who had even heard of the internet.

It was also, amusingly enough, the year I said “I don’t think this world wide web thing is going to take off”.

But here and now I hope that our pizza arrived sometime soon as I am quite hungry.

Lesson for the day - pizza delivery got there in the end.

I weighed in again at eighty-one kilograms this weekend which is ok. I was a bit worried that with all the junk I have been eating I would be heading back towards ninety-six.

However my body seems to have decided that 81 is the go for me and is defending this in some fashion. Many years ago when I studied a remember a lecturer explaining how your body defends a particular weight. Of course this was in the strange period of academic history when weight loss meant something other than different coloured t-shirts and being snippy with others so he might have been plain wrong.

Hopefully down the track I might manage to kid my body into defending seventy-five at some stage.

Lesson for the day - it’s a tricky business being a fatty.

I could bore you with the story of the right kerfuffle that was my first day back at uni but you probably wouldn’t believe me. Obvious I expected things to be a bit half arsed but the arsedness of this was probably in single digits as a percentage.

I am half tempted to take some peanuts to throw at the monkeys on Thursday but I am loath to encourage them to turn up. Those that do of course.

Lesson for the day - it is hard to exaggerate for comic effect at times.

I am suitably embarassed to be someone who listens to the Firefly Talk podcast at all but I know it makes it much worse that when I listen to some people’s opinions and analysis and sometimes I disagree then spend some seconds thinking about my particular point of view about it all.

Which I know is sad and makes me a gorram nerd.

Lesson for the day - it’s a good thing I have lectures starting tomorrow.

It was lovely to see folk this weekend and, again, I took a few snapshots. With the exception of myself everyone was on their best and most charming behaviour which made for a very nice time.

Anyhow for those who couldn’t make it I hope you like these photos.

Lesson for the day - you can consider me pro-festival of tim.

Last time we went to Dr Bean’s rural paradise I wished I had taken photos of all the lovely little corners of the place. So this morning once I had a few things packed I wandered around and took a few snaps.

While I think these photos capture some of the spots well enough I realised how many spots I had overlooked.

Happily I am sure there will be a next time.

Lesson for the day - hoorah for cameras and the time to use them.

As nice as it was to be away, and it was lovely at the festival of Tim, it is always especially nice to be home again. This time I remembered to take some photos so there is every chance they will pop up on flickr in the next day.

Lesson for the day - even fat bodies can be homebodies.

Well I have worked my second shift which was my first normal regular type one. It was in the company of friendly and very competent people and that made it all very pleasant. Some kids were lovely and others just intent on pushing my buttons but it was all fine.

I think I have another three shifts next week so hopefully I will have the hang of the basics soon.

Lesson for the day - there are far worse things than winding down with kids on a Friday afternoon.