I have to thank my daughter for referring this woman to me. She has been telling me for years to go to her, and I guess when she first told me I had been seeing Lynda for ages and was really satisfied with her. After trying a few other people who were just ok, I was reminded when I bought Asha a gift voucher for Christmas. Here it is March and I’ve finally got around to acting on that intention:-)

I’ve been listening to Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers” whilst I’ve been exercising. It is just as gripping as “Blink” was. Each night when Darin gets home from work I tell him another thing I’ve heard. He won’t need to read those books. Did you know it takes 10 000 hours to be an expert at something? I have been trying to think if there is anything useful I’ve done for that amount of time other than sleep and breathe.

Some switched on students in my IT class solved a problem I’d spent the weekend trying to work in about 10 seconds. They are destined to get good reports. There is a group of students that are really advanced in their skills. I asked them today who had taught them so much. Apparently they had a teacher who had provided a pile of videos for them to access when they had a problem to solve. I thought they were probably from Adobe TV, but when I asked the students thought they were more likely from YouTube. These students are great at solving problems when they come across them in class.  It makes me wonder if as an IT teacher I don’t sometimes hold students back by my own limited knowledge and trying to stick to the curriculum.

I am exercising again. I am tired of feeling tired. I’ve had a lot of physical discomfort since I adopted my luxurious lifestyle of not exercising and eating lots of divine food. I reckon I got away with it for about 9 months and the last 3 have piled on weight and become increasingly uncomfortable in my own skin, not to mention tightening clothes. Luckily I remember the formula for me of how to feel healthy. Less fortunately it feels quite harder this time I clamour back on the exercise wagon. I have a massage tomorrow night though. Not only have I neglected the parts of being healthy that I’m not so keen on, I’ve also let go of massages and other more pleasant parts of maintaining my health. It can only go on for a limited time, and I’ve reached my limit.

 I have completed about a quarter of the things I’d hoped to do. I didn’t manage much more than a glance at my students work, let alone correct it all. I have almost completed the first weeks tasks for uni, but feel more confused and stupid than when I started. In the last hour or so, I have given up the quest to get everything done. I want to relax tonight.

The kids went home this morning. I did manage to create an art gallery of drawings with them, well they did the creating and I just stuck them on the wall! We blew bubbles. We emptied the pool before the storm came but they kept forgetting and asking if they could have a swim, even though it was cold. We watched a few DVDs when the storm raged with the TV really loud so we couldn’t hear the thunder. Darin had to work Saturday night and I closed all the blinds. I think they were oblivious to it.

The next morning Darin and J (8) cleared the wisteria that had blown over with the fence I’d erected when I first came here to have some privacy from the neighbours.  I can’t walk out the back yard in my PJs now! Their back veranda looks over our yard and I doubt I’ll spend much time at all out there until I get it fixed.

We have the kids this weekend. I’m excited. I love the change of pace and focus they bring to my life. They remind me of when my kids were little, refreshing all those joys. You HAVE to be in the moment with kids around. It always seems like a long time since I’ve seen them. I want to get more photos this weekend. I have forgotten lately and change happens so fast.

I also have some ‘playing’ to do with the Adobe suite toys for my course. It would probably be a good idea to explore the requirements of the other unit. To be honest, it sounds really dull and from what I have gathered it’s about the history of the Internet and all the technological jargon. I will probably learn something, but I am more drawn to the hands on learning of the other unit. In fairness though, I haven’t put the time in to get interested.

I have other little projects, private, small things that I’m not ready to share. I hope I can squeeze a little time to attend to those. Three days of my own choosing stretch out before me.

I dropped him off in the departures lane this time rather than parking and going in with him. I hate that walk back from the gate with the tears, it’s awkward, especially for him! I was much better dropping him off in the car and driving on. There were still a couple of tears but it was well and truly over by the time I got to Bolte Bridge and I managed to wait till he was out of the car.

It was a great drive home. I love driving alone. It’s a great space for reflection. I felt really grateful today for so many things in my life.

Tonight’s online webinar thingy for my uni course was good and it put me at ease in a lot of ways. I am excited now about the skills I will have to develop and pleased the ‘lecturer’ although he prefers ‘catalyst’ as a term for what he does, shares my general philosophy about learning. I felt quite self conscious about speaking with the microphone and chose to turn it off rather than hear my voice in that space.