Rubber Chicken’s Dojo

the first day of school has gone pretty well. most of the kids are ok. of course there are the couple of tools who think they’re funny, but i’m over them pretty quick. a few of the kids seem a bit disengaged, but i’ve noticed that it’s the kids in the corners of the room. i’ll either have to include them more, or change the room up, which i’m reluctant to do so early in the year. i’ll have to try the former. this first week is mainly about rules, expectations and routine setting. it’s coming together and the kids seem to be getting into it. even though they are older and more mature than the grade three kids from last year, they’re still kids. so this stuff should still work pretty well. i’m sure their true character will come out when the novelty wears off.

links clean-up. added some categories and fiddled with some links. it’s nice to fiddle.

all-star weekend and i’m having a nostalgic moment. so i youtubed some stuff and found a dunk contest compilation, with some players from the era of the nba when i was a big fan. mainly during high school. most of my favourite players are there, except for xavier mcdaniel. go x-man!

i received my class list today, 27 kids; 11 yr 6, 16 yr7. should be interesting. the classroom is basically set up, with just a few cosmetic touches needed to finish the job. it’s a little bit daunting at the moment but it’s also good to get into the swing of things. because of the public holiday, australia day, i’ll start on tuesday morning. the week is pretty much planned, so it should be all good.

word out of england is that the legend himself, jari litmanen, is training with english premier league club, fulham. if they do sign him for the rest of the year, i’ll be cheering for a brand new team until april. that’s when fulham will get relegated and jari will move on. litmanen has ties with fulham coach, roy hodgson, who managed finland during 2008 euro qualifiers. it might not be a coup for fulham, but it’ll be nice to see jari playing top flight footy again. go the cottagers!

uploaded shots onto evidence page under sydney and pre-existing rabbit albums.

after a couple of days of rain, it’s nice to get back to sunny brisbane.

yesterday was spent wandering around the soggy metropolis. we went to a few museums, circular quay (no seagull attacks this year), st mary’s cathedral, where i was scolded at by an employee for taking photos of candles not two minutes after a big group of koreans were taking the very same photos, and generally walking around getting wet and taking shitty photos.

BUT then! who did we happen to see in the australian museum? hugh jackman!! holy crap!! he was out with his son having a grand old time. inyoung walked straight past him before she recognised him. i, as a rule, generally don’t go around staring at people, so i almost got past him before i heard him talk to his son. “hot damn! it’s wolverine!” i thought. he’s pretty tall, very broad shoulders and inyoung noted that his head is very small and that’s why he has a big beard. we saw him twice as he was walking around. i didn’t take any photos and didn’t ask for an autograph. it’s not what i do, and it’s not what he was there for. so now i can say i’ve stood next to two celebrities and not done anything (first one being alice cooper in adelaide back in 2000).

it doesn’t end there, oh no! at the airport coming home, we saw a couple of women basketball teams from the national league, wnbl, canberra capitals and dandenong rangers. tall, quite tall. we also saw dual international and perennial trouble maker, lote tiquiri. he’s bloody huge, not quite as tall as jackman, but he would snap him in half if he had the chance. that AND krispy kreme donuts! almost made up for the first shithouse 2 days.

would you even call it a holiday? not only is it raining, windy and cold in sydney, but inyoung’s friend, who, for the sake of friendships and liability, will remain nameless, owns two maltese terriers, one of which has taken an instant dislike to me and incesantly barks at me whenever it sees me.

we have managed to get out and about. yesterday, we went to darling harbour and the powerhouse museum. from there we walked through centrepoint mall and contemplated shopping, before realising we are in fact, poor. after that we headed into a sandstorm at bondi beach. i’ve said it once and i’ll say it again: bondi is shit. there is nothing there and main beach on the gold coast has much more going for it. it looks better, the surf is better, the shopping is better… and i’m probably biased.

still two days to go

i’m heading to sydney for a couple of days. i’m going to meet up with inyoung and have a look around. i’ll take my camera and hopefully get some better shots than i did last time i went there. rumours of a trip to taronga zoo may prove interesting. nice to get out of the house at least. hooray for traveling!