nimthiriel | Entries tagged with social life

I don't expect my students to be particularly self-aware. I don't expect my yr7 kids to be able to figure out on their own why they reacted to a situation in a particular way or the roots of their issues and all that sort of stuff. I expect to spend a lot of my time on behaviour management and trying to get them to think about their behaviour, where it comes from, how it affects others and what they should do about it.

I even expect to do this with yr10 students, though to a lesser extent.

I don't expect to have this kind of immaturity from adults. It isn't something I have to deal with particularly often or even directly, but when people behave in ways which clearly show that they know absolutely nothing about themselves, it seriously weirds me out.

I just expect that someone over the age of about 22 will have themselves more or less figured out. That they will understand their preferences, and at least be able to stop to think about their behaviour and figure out why it's right or wrong, both as far as they and others are concerned. I expect them to be able to outline what they want to do differently, and at least ask for help with it if not actually come up with and implement steps to do so.

I understand that people's priorities change as they get older, but there should be no great "surprises" in terms of your character or your values if you're approacing 30. You may reveal something that is a surprise to others, but it shouldn't be a surprise to yourself.

And no, I'm not talking about anyone who is likely to read this blog or know someone who reads this blog. At least, not as far as I'm aware. No pun intended.

I guess I just expect professionals to be professional.

Crossposts: http://taiba.livejournal.com/466381.html

I'm so tired. I've been doing so much the past few days!

Christmas was huge and at our place.

Boxing day was insane. I had to go to a shopping centre to pick my computer up from repairs. I'd spilled a martini on it and the keyboard wasn't in great shape. Luckily AppleCare covered it so they replaced the entire bottom section of the case free of charge. This means my computer no longer has a big, ugly dent in it! Yay!

On the 27th I gave blood and the rest of the day was pretty much a total write-off. I think from now on, when I give blood, it'll be in the evening so I can go home and sleep instead of feeling miserable. I did, however, manage to use up a gift voucher. I got a cake tin, some cooling racks for cakes and biscuits, and some tea towels. I also got a better grater.

On the 28th I didn't do much because I was stil feeling a bit miserable. I know I got something done, I just can't remember what.

On the 29th I ran around trying to get more stuff done. I tried to get my camera sorted out (my Powershot is borked), and the JB extended warranty people are happy to do a direct swap. Sadly, I have to wait until Jan 9th for them to come back from holiday before they'll talk to me. I also get a message telling me that the quote on my bridal set was in (only took them 4 weeks), so I went to see what they said. Apparently it would cost me $1850 to have a $400 set re-made (with the same stones) in white gold that doesn't have nickel in it. Right. No.

Yesterday I had an awesome day in the city with my mother-in-law, her sister-in-law, and a friend who's down from Sydney. I bought a truly awesome game called Klop, which everyone should play! It's hard to find, though. They have a list of stockists in the website, but Capital Kitchen in Chadstone no longer stock it, and the NGV is currently out of stock, too. I know, because I bought their last one which was the display set. Some of the other places listed may still have it. I don't know how much the shipping would be online. What I can tell you, though, is that we have it at school and there was a bit of a mad rush amongst the PE staff to reserve one of our 4 sets for the holidays. I missed out becaue I'm in the wrong department and found out late!

Later that afternoon my husband and I went to get him a white dinner jacket for tonight (cocktail party) and we also popped to a shopping centre to pick up a few things. While there, we found a replacement wedding ring! =D Sterling silver, so I shouldn't have issues with it. I have a silver ring from the same shop that I've been wearing for about 4 years with no issues, so I don't anticipate any problems.

Today has so far been busy. We've cleaned the whole house, tidied it, bought last-minute supplies, and picked up out-door chairs from my in-laws. And we soon have people coming over. I'm a bit wrecked. MIght go play some video games.

UPDATE: I just remembered what I did on Wednesday! I went out and bought supplies for the new kitty, which we're getting the day after tomorrow :-)

I am an introvert. I'm reasonably borderline, but still predominantly introverted. So when so I tell people "Sorry, I can't hang out with you. I just need to be by myself", please don't take it personally or as me not wanting to spend time with you.

There seem to be a whole lot of important things going on. There was an engagement party, there are catch-ups wth people I don't see very often, there's currently a friend in need because she got some bad news. There's interaction with kids because of bloody activities week.

You know that image of the crazed person, huddled in a corner, wild-eyed and fidgety and looking for a chance to flee? That's how I've felt for several weeks now. I know exactly what I need to do to feel better: I need to cycle into town, sit by the river drinking cider, wander the parks and gardens, have a picnic lunch then cycle home. Possibly after another cider.

And I can't do that. I can't do that until well after Christmas. I'm trying to just keep myself steady and not have an outburst. But I just need a couple of days when I can be on my own and not be required to be anywhere specific at any point during those couple of days. I'll have that at the end of the month, and I'm really looking forwad to it. So, if you find me being a bit antisocial between Christmas and New Year, please don't take it personally. Though I won't be cancelling anything I've already committed to, I'm not likely to arrange anything new for those few days. I just really need to look after myself.

Crossposts: http://taiba.livejournal.com/458566.html

The surprise dip on Friday night turned out to be a very good thing, because it looks like lentil bolognese isn't happening tonight. I'm just so very, very tired. I think I just used myself up completely this weekend.

Yesterday I had my first aid re-accreditation. That started at 9:30am and ended up finishing at around 6pm. It was a really good and generally useful day, but it was also quite tiring to deal with. After the re-accred, I went out for dinner with a different group of people. Also really good, but it means that I was doing social stuff for 12 hours, almost non-stop.

Today I had professional development from 9am until about 2:30. End result was that I got home and crashed. I just went straight to my room and was antisocial for a couple of hours, then I fell asleep and stayed that way for another couple of hours! I'm still wrecked, AND I still have to do my physics homework for tomorrow afternoon, and I also need my husband to migrate a bunch of stuff to my computer from my back-up drive because I needed to get my computer wiped on Thursday night (it developed a random bug that the Apple store people couldn't fix).

So, no cooking tonight. I've just done way too much and I don't plan to do this much in one weekend ever again!

Saturday led me to the decision that I need to never sleep in under any circumstances. I slept in and spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon feeling dreadful, and for an hour or two I thought I'd lost my car key which ultimately turned out to be in a pocket of my bag which I'd forgotten existed. So, from now on, I will get up at my usual time no matter what :-)

The rest of Saturday afternoon was spent at a friend's birthday barbecue. It was good fun as they were mostly people I knew from work, and I left shortly after a very impulsive Nutbush, which

roccondilrinon also got dragged into :-)

Today I woke up at 5:30am in order to get to the Melbourne Summer Cycle starting line by 7:15. When I got there I got my bike off the back of the car, sot myself all ready, and realised I'd forgotten my helmet. It is illegal in this country to cycle without one, so I this did not bode well. I nealry cried at the thought of not being able to participate in something which I've been looking forward to for weeks. Fortunately, Roccondil is kind enough to get my helmet and drive it over to me. I've offered to take him out to dinner to thank him for sacrificing a sleep-in for me, and I look forward to doing that once I get paid :-)

ikona_rakasha and

dilph were also doing the ride, and they were good enough to wait with me until I got my protective shell :-) We then rode the 40km and had dumplings for lunch afterward. It kind of rocked :-)

So yeah, feeling good! Back to work tomorrow, and this week looks like it should be good for riding back and forth right through! Hooray!

Current Mood: accomplished

So yesterday, Phil and I found our dream home. It's this one, and it's SO PRETTY. It's also almost perfect, but we can modify it to what we want, which is slightly smaller. The house starts at around $385,000 without the land, so this is definitely a long-term goal to save for :-p

Had an awesome day today. Caught up with a friend who is visiting from overseas. We went to a restaurant in Chinatown that I haven't been to before, which turned out to be delicious. I really like Tsing Tao beer - it's tasty! I also like suan la tang, which is sour hot soup. I need to learn how to make it, because it's really good.

This week's recipe (#7) was a red wine rissotto! It involved rice and red wine (obviously), plus beef stock, sage leaves and cheese. It turned out really nice, though next time I'd modify it to include mushrooms and possibly beef chunks or strips. I might make that next week's recipe, if I don't decide to make that soup instead :-) See how we go.

But yeah, I'm rather pleased with this one! It's going into the favourites pile!

Current Mood: accomplished

There are certain types of communication that I really suck at, and I also suck at using certain communications media. For instance, I'm terrible at writing emails. I'm also terrible at making requests. If you put the two together, you have the potential for social suicide. I've known this for a while, and noticed it yet again with the last couple of emails I sent that were requests for information so I thought it would be worth writing about.

( Read more... )

I promise that I'm doing my best to get better at it. Every time I have to communicate a request, particularly in writing (though also in spoken conversations), I am trying to improve on the last one and trying to remember advice I've had in the past on how to do it in a way which doesn't break social norms, or to remember things that I realised I did poorly, but not until after sending (much to my dismay). I'll often have a third party proof-read it for me and give advice on how it comes across and what I can do to change anything which is written particularly badly.

I will always keep striving to improve, but I still have a lot of practice to do at this sort of thing and I will often forget or trip up. Just be patient with me, and please don't take offence at my awkward attempts to be polite, because I really do want to be. I just don't always know how.

I have a wonderful partner, an awesome housemate, an adorable and affectionate kitten, a job I like, and really great friends.

I'd say I have everything one could possibly wish for :-)