Matchbox Twenty

They live on - their new CD comes out tomorrow!. I’d had the nightmarish thought that the band had broken up. I’d not heard from them since their CD ‘More Than You Think You Are’ in 2003. Since they are in my Top 5 favourite bands I was upset. I wanted more. In 2004 I came across Rob Thomas’s solo album 'Something to be' while on holidays in Malaysia. I liked this album but it's not the same as the old line up. I like their sound. I can't help tapping my toes in time to their songs and I NEVER get bored of their CDs.

In town yesterday I was looking for Amelie on DVD (it's time to get it on DVD as my VHS copy won't last forever as I watch it a lot!) and I came across their new single 'How Far We've Come' and it was bought on impulse. Surely I wouldn't be disappointed?

Luckily I was not. The first play of it, it's true I was quite non-plussed but after a couple of listens I was hooked. I cannot tell you how many times I've heard this tune today! Now I've ordered my copy of their new CD and I am beside myself. Hope the annoying postal strike does not delay it arriving through my door! yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Random 20 tunes I like

Ok so this top 20 tunes thing is driving me to distraction. Just now I sat down and thought I would write a list of 20 songs I like. This list took me about 5 minutes put together and I haven't even stood up to look at my CD collection yet for inspiration! I've not really thought about my favourite tunes, this is more a long-list before I start short-listing!!!!

(in no particular order)
Kelly clarkson – because of you
Lamb – Gabriel
Christina Aguilera – hurt
Counting crows – Omaha
Oasis –slide away (live at Glastonbury ’95 version ideally but any live version is great)
Matchbox 20 – 3am
Evanescence - tourniquet
Hard-Fi – stars of cctv
Tori amos – winter
Robbie Williams – misunderstood
Paul weller – bang bang
Jimmy eat world – authority song
Hurricane #1 – step into my world
David Gray - say hello, wave goodbye (link to this is not the original but it's ok)
Ben Folds Five - Brick
Natalie imbruglia – Beauty on the Fire
Simon & Garfunkel – the boxer
Linkin Park – Valentine’s Day (?)
Mariah carey – without you (don't ask!)
Stereophonics – billy davies daughter
Maybe I should focus on a top 100 songs list?!

Cat personalities

I’m going to write about this in the full knowledge that I am going to sound like some kind of mad old spinster. You may want to cross the road to avoid me if you see me in the street but I keep wondering…. Do cats really have thoughts and dreams? I am pretty sure my cat has a very high level of intelligence and logically thinks through most things before he acts. His personality seems very human to me and I am certain that he forgets he’s a cat sometimes and thinks he’s a person! He’s surrounded by people all the time after all. Perhaps he’s forgotten that other cats exist… or maybe not since he still won’t go outside unless it’s not outside my flat.

Also he dreams. He likes to lie on his back, feet in the air and wriggle about while he sleeps. Perhaps he dreams about being on a treadmill or running through clouds. It’s a shame he can’t talk about these dreams. Also, perhaps he has freaky dreams – often on nights when he’s eaten some cheese the night before, he wakes up in the middle of the night and runs about like a cat-possessed. He likes to dart about with his eyes like saucers while he runs around or away from imaginary monsters or the like.

In the future I’ll have to conduct an experiment and get to know another cat so I can distinguish what is unique about my fur-baby’s personality and what is generically cat personality.

Finding a voice

As a relatively new teacher I’ve found that I am still finding my place in my school. I’m developing my voice as it were. I still get stomped down by some members of staff but then you can kind of argue that perhaps I don’t stand up for myself.

I thihnk it might be down to my natural personality. I am not a particularly confrontational person; occasionally I talk as if I am but I don’t really follow through. Sometimes it’s just easier to go along with other people. However after a while people start taking advantage of my good nature, and then I get dragged into things I don’t want to be or I am not consulted on things that I think I should.

The question is which battles to fight and which to ignore. Sometimes it is the stupid little things that make me really mad and it appears daft to confront someone about it. On the other hand if I ever want to gain respect from my colleagues I need to stand up for myself and show that I have a backbone and that I care about things to do with my work. Perhaps this is something you learn as you mature?

A quiet weekend

You know you’re tired when the week just draaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaags. To be fair it was a busy week last week. On Monday the school had ‘Open Evening’ which was ok but quite a long day – I ended up doing about a 13 hour day. Then on the Thursday we took a group of kids (4 coaches worth) to France for the day – this was another ridiculously looooong day – about a 17 hour day. I was dreading that day but it turned out to be great. I really loved spending some quality time with my tutees and it was fantastic weather so that helped.


However by the weekend I was shattered. I ended up sleeping for a daft proportion of the time and then feeling rubbish on Sunday night that I had not done anything tangible this weekend. It was quite frustrating. I did manage to get boring things done but I cannot wait for the holidays. Thank goodness for half term. It’s silly that I’m annoyed about that though because this weekend I did exactly what I promised myself I would do: as little as possible.

Most of my ‘quiet weekends’ of late have turned into mass social events with little time to sit around or be lazy. Take the weekend before: quiet Friday night, nooooo I went out for dinner with some friends. Saturday lie-in, nooooooo MOT and then dinner with other friends, Sunday lazy trip into town, noooooooooo lots of wandering about and then tonnes of school work. So you see, my plans just never quite come together. Until now. Yet here I am on Monday morning feeling like I could do with a couple of days off!

My only consolation… only 9 more teaching days til half term!

Addicted to YouTube

Last night I spent around 2 hours on YouTube. I am not one of these people who spends that much time just surfing about for no reason online but I was tired of watching rugby – I’d been present for 3 matches previously. Since I cannot access YouTube at work I took the opportunity to look up all those music videos I’d wanted to see or I’d heard about on the radio. It’s amazing how fast time can fly. It’s also amazing how good the quality of the video clips can be.

Music is a truly unique medium. Just the opening lines of a song can take you right back into a moment. A memory or a feeling can wash over you when you hear something that you associate with that thought or emotion. Why was I spending all this time on something that some might argue is pointless? Well, I was trying to compile my top 20 songs ever because really I should be able to answer the question without too much thought. The trouble is I have a big CD collection and my love of music goes far beyond my personal collection. The idea, originally, was to decide on my favourite song EVER, but that proved almost impossible. So I extended this to my top 5, then my top 10 then my top 20. Even then I am finding it tough to fit all the songs I love into that tiny category.

Songs on my list so far (in no particular order) are:
Authority Song by Jimmy Eat World
Winter by Tori Amos
’74-’75 by The Connells
Something by Matchbox 20 and Oasis

….oh I don’t know anymore! I can’t even think of songs because there are just too many zooming around my head. I’ll have to come back to this list.

Catherine Campbell

An Australian artist (or so I think) that I saw in a magazine my sister brought back from a visit to New Zealand, although I believe the magazine (Frankie) is Australian. I just love her work. It’s so cool and stylish and I want to be able to recreate it for myself. Maybe I could my own style based on hers.

Her portfolio is amazing. My favourite work is the collage work she does. It’s just gorgeous. I love the textures and simplicity of the designs. I hope she makes it over here at some point…..