not much

I'm cooking roast chicken (last Sunday too I made Sunday roast for S and I~~ it was quite good!). I've recently been missing mum's proper Sunday dinners, so from now me and flatmate K are going to make the effort to eat properly on Sundays. I also got hold (eventually!) of a Be-Ro cookery book. Been meaning to get a copy for ages now. Have now thanks to eBay! Actually it's been a good day for food (full English breakfast at Lynne's Pantry followed by dessert. Never had dessert with breakfast before!)

I don't have much to say... it's been a week of hard, hard work and tiredness. I'm feeling a little refreshed today, but the work has to start again tomorrow~~ But why won't it stop raining? It's rained here all week and now today.

Ooh, I got tickets to see Gemma Hayes at the Leadmill (maybe I'm more excited about finally being able to go to the Leadmill!)

I get to see ESOTSP tonight. I wonder whether it's a comedy or not.

Oh, and I got the latest Dave Eggers short story collection. Looking forward to reading those! Short stories are all I can deal with right now~~

Spanish 4

This is just a quick entry to record the fact that I went to Spanish, despite being exhausted ;-) It was good. We learned how to compare things. Haha, more interesting though than the lesson I did this week on the comparison. Just wish I had more time to learn Spanish out of class...

An OK day at school. Two good-ish classes. Dreading year 9 last period tomorrow (Friday!)

My free subscription to Lovefilm.com is going to run out soon, so I'm making the most of it and staying up late to watch movies when I shouldn't be... I have also requested 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'. Anyhow, the film I saw last night was good! I liked this one much better than the first. I love the dialogue and what they say kind of makes sense...

I had a bad day though. One class was such a disaster that I was so annoyed with myself for not preparing properly. I guess I learned a lesson though. The other one was ok, but I just feel the content was so dull. But, how can learning how to compare things in French be exciting? If I had been a pupil in today's class I think I would probably have fallen asleep zzzzzzzz

I'm listening to Gemma Hayes at the moment. My flatmate K tells me she's playing in Sheffield soon. I think it'd be cool to go.

big stress

I didn't have a busy day at school, but I got home and ate then started work again at six and I've only just finished now... (look at the time - gone nine thirty...). How long is this keep-uppable? This is without marking and a full timetable. Oh I feel like I'm drowning... Should I apply for that job? Will I be able to cope? Ugh. And I miss the company of my coursemates every Friday. The 'fun' part of the PGCE is definitely over. Groan.

Mardy Bum

I like these lyrics! From my favourite Sheffield band:

Now then Mardy Bum
I see your frown
And it's like looking down the barrel of a gun
And it goes off
And out come all these words
Oh there's a very pleasant side to you
A side I much prefer

It's one that laughs and jokes around
Remember cuddles in the kitchen
Yeah, to get things off the ground
And it was up, up and away
Oh, but it's right hard to remember
That on a day like today when you're all argumentative
And you've got the face on

Well now then Mardy Bum
Oh I'm in trouble again, aren't I
I thought as much
Cause you turned over there
Pulling that silent disappointment face
The one that I can't bear

Can't we laugh and joke around
Remember cuddles in the kitchen
Yeah, to get things off the ground
And it was up, up and away
Oh, but it's right hard to remember
That on a day like today when you're all argumentative
And you've got the face on

Yeah I'm sorry I was late
Well I missed the train
And then the traffic was a state
And I can't be arsed to carry on in this debate
That reoccurs ,oh when you say I don't care
Well of course I do, yeah I clearly do!

So laugh and joke around
Remember cuddles in the kitchen
Yeah, to get things off the ground
And it was up, up and away
Still it's right hard to remember
That on a day like today when you're all argumentative
And you've got the face on

花火

guitar practice

Look at us playing the guitar! WY is much better than me, but I'm really pleased I managed to learn to play a song in a few mintues (and it didn't sound too bad... at least I hope not...). Now, I just 'tuned' my guitar and when I play it it sounds completely out of tune! What's wrong with it? I hate not understanding how things work! I just want to play a song and it sounds horrible~~~ I even bought one of those things to clamp onto the strings especially so I could play Frente's Labour of Love, and now my guitar is being goddamn awkward! GRR.

we found a rainbow...

...can you see it?

gnocchi

I made spinach and ricotta gnocchi for my tea. I'm not sure that I got it right though - they were a bit too sloppy and I felt too full of cheese by the time I'd finished. Maybe it should've been a starter and not a maincourse...

Japan Day was fun. The taiko drumming was amazing... I've never seen anything like it before (I should've made more of an effort in Japan to see it). Ayumu Takahashi was interesting to listen to - although I think the 'interview' dragged on a little too long (I saw plenty of Japanese people around me doing what they are best at - falling asleep in public places. Hmmm). He seems like a cool guy, but I'm not sure that he would have become so famous had he been of a different nationality (I mean, stepping outside the circle is a brave and unique thing to do in Japan, although here it wouldn't have been so unusual). Nevertheless his lifestyle is one that I think many people would envy. I wonder what he said though about being free and just doing what you want in life is as easy as he said it is.

The gyudon made by S last night was yummy (I was pleasantly surprised!). The inari too... Let's hope this isn't a one off, I mean this cooking thing! Fingers crossed there'll be more of where that came from. I think I want to try making tempura with my new fryer.

Gotta sleep now (at 7.30) - serious lack of sleep for the past few days!

Finally the gig of the year arrived!! I was not disappointed in the slightest, not even by The Brakes, who were supporting. In fact, they were quite entertaining~~ especially the song entitled 'Comma, Comma, Full-Stop'. Bit short, but good. Anyhow, B&S just sounded great: great sound, great crowd, great lighting, jokes, songs played... They played a lot (maybe too many) of the new songs, but somehow hearing them live made me like them even more (bearing in mind I don't have the album yet, having just listened to some tracks online). 'The Blues Are Still Blue' has particularly grown on me... The rest of what they played mostly came from Tigermilk - even 'Electronic Renaissance', which I never thought could sound good live. They didn't play much from the previous album, just a token 'I'm A Cuckoo', and 'Dirty Dream No. 2' from The Boy With The Arab Strap, but did quite a lot of the EP stuff - including 'La Pastie de la Bourgeoisie' and 'Loneliness of the Middle Distance Runner'. Ooh, and 'Your Cover's Blown'... which I hadn't heard in a long, long time. My favourite part of the night was when Stuart did a survey of how many girls were in the crowd (for some reason, B&S gigs tend to be dominated by men...) and told the guys to sit down... Haha, he almost made them stay there for the whole song so that us girls could get a good view of the stage for at least one song... Ugh, one of my looking forward to things has already disappeared... I'll have to start making my list longer!

楽しみにしている

It's mid-week and I have loads of things I'm looking forward to:

1. Belle and Seb tomorrow night (woo!!!!) (But still haven't managed to listen to the new album.)
2. Having a visitor come and stay!
3. (Possibly) The Romans in Britain on Friday night (otherwise fun stuff like chips from the Devonshire Chippy).
4. Having Japanese food cooked for me at the weekend.
5. Japan Day at Sheffield Uni on Sunday.
6. A whole week of NO SCHOOL!!
7. A visit back to York.
8. (I hope) a trip to somewhere by car (if we can get the car).
9. Trying out the new cookbook sent to me by Fre.

Isn't it lovely having lots of nice things to look forward to?

This week my teaching so far has been pretty rubbish. Because I'm not doing much teaching yet, it's really hard to get involved and motivated. Plus for some reason I don't feel much of a connection with the kids. Yet. Maybe this will come with time. I don't feel like a real teacher yet at this school either~~ I'm not moaning, just saying it's not how I expected it to be.

I had a Japanese lesson today with Saori. It was good to be the one being taught again. Had a long telephone conversation with T too. I miss having him around at school!! How we took Aldercar for granted~~ I miss our chats on the way home in the car :-(

Does anyone have anything particularly cool to look forward to?

I See You, You See Me

Wanyu's blog entry reminded me of a really great song that I like a lot. It goes like this:

'I never wanted to love you, but that's okay
I always knew that you'd leave me anyway
But darling when I see you, you see me

I asked the boys if they'd let me go out and play
They always said that you'd hurt me anyway
But darling when I see you, I see me

And it's alright
I never thought I'd fall in love again
It's alright
I look to you as my only friend
It's alright
I never thought that I could feel there's something
Rising, rising in my veins
Looks like it's happened again'

(I didn't know they were American. But that's okay.) I absolutely love the female vocal.

Why is there nowhere exciting in England to visit (except London and Edinburgh)! I can only think of the Lake District, Cambridge, Cotswolds, Oxford (?)...

Ballad of the Broken Seas

I bought Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan's Ballad Of The Broken Seas. Campbell has the sweetest voice I ever heard, although the whole thing is very un-B&S-like, as I had kind of hoped. After a few listens, I so far like '(Do you wanna) come walk with me' and 'It's hard to kill a bad thing'. This music will keep me going today whilst drowning in lesson planning and fretting about the week ahead ;(

Spanish 3

I just got back from Spanish~~ Took a bit of effort to make myself go, but it was good in the end. I really am having trouble with the pronunication though - whether the c's and g's are soft or not. It'll come with time I'm sure.

Thank god it's Friday tomorrow!! I have too many plans for the weekend and too much work to do. Wouldn't everything be easier if we didn't have to sleep? Then my weekend would be twice as long:-) I want to go for Indian tomorrow (I seriously can't remember the last time I ate Indian!) And I want to see that French film Hidden and I also want to go shopping and I want to see all my coursemates (I've missed them this week!) And W and K I want to come to your party too, but I don't think I can:-( Have a great time though!

Oh, this time next week I'll be watching BELLE and SEBASTIAN!!! So exciting!!!!!!! *YAY* And the day after is a training day so I won't even be all stressed about the next days' lessons!! How incredibly cool is that!?