Blog link love...

I love, love this blog. Life in pictures, so poetic.
Well worth a gander...

http://36words.typepad.com/habit/2009/11/7-november.html

Pissed-off on pause

Perchance to vent....

A colleague closed the large school gate on my car the other day, scratching its pristine exterior. My little, well-kept car which has ALREADY been reversed into this year by some drunk idiot (who was, by the way, inhebriated on a Saturday morning at 08:30) whose insurance hasn't paid the R2400 excess on a R5000 damage claim.

Now, being the generally gracious person that I am, I was willing to let it slide with just a: "Ah well, what can you do?" BECAUSE he is older and "retired" (read: on pension) UNTIL, ironically, I heard his apology, which went something like: "I'm sorry about your car. I coudn't sleep thinking about it. But actually, it wasn't my fault. I kept pressing the button."

Sure, keep pressing the button on a gate which is: Press once to open, press once to close.

Now, if you're going to apologise, then please be sincere about it or just shut up. Don't blame it on gate malfunction when it is clearly your fault.

And, to make matters worse, he has turned into some chemistry lab nazi (projection due to his guilt?), chucking all, to quote, "Your Biology stuff" out "his" cupboards. Which I'm supposed to put where?

Physics, chemistry and biology share one lab. One. With one, count it, ONE set of equipment to go around between all of us. His tirade went on and on for a very uncomfortable forty-five minutes during which I sat in stunned silence while I just tried to clean up the mess from yesterday's Biology prac.

Good lord, I thought girls were supposed to get PMS, not 72 year old men. But I can understand now why he is on wife number three. Who would put up with his shit?

I felt like shouting (as Cartman from South Park would say): "Screw you guys. I'm going home!"

*sigh*

Hoe maak jy 'n stukkende wereld heel? Jy toor als reg met die Paljas.

Well, someone needs to "sit die Paljas" on his ass STAT!

Bio and beakers

So many colourful beakers...so pretty :-)

Well, today was the day that my AS Bio students took their practical exam. For me, this involved a year of stressing about what they might ask in order to prep them adequately (there is no "set in stone" syllabus for the practical aspects of the course so you have to cover a wide variety of practical elements); five hours of making solutions, labelling beakers and testing microscopes yesterday; and a day spent mostly standing from 07:30 to 15:15 today.

BUT I pulled it off (Yay me!) AND the majority of them managed to finish within the required time span (Yay them!) SO now I just hope for the best for them.

Tomorrow is all about cleaning up the lab at work and tutoring any stragglers for their theory exam which is coming up. On that note, I cannot believe that the year is almost over. Total mind freak.

Now, I'll leave you with this thought:

"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
~Henry J. Tillman

Indeed :-)

Eat, drink and be scary!

"Proof of our society's decline is that Halloween
has become a broad daylight event for many."
- Robert Kirby -

And these are the days of our lives...

I invigilated two back-to-back chemistry practicals today and I am absolutely knackered, mostly due to five hours of the following:

1. Students not using the wash basin to dispose of various corrosive chemicals but simply emptying them out onto the floor because they aren't thinking rationally, thereby turning the lab into a chemical spill. Can you say: "Clean-up at aisle number four."
   
2. Students almost setting themselves alight because they are daydreaming while holding a boiling test tube over an open flame with a wooden test tube holder which, subsequently, sets alight while you continually scream: "Blow it out, blow it out!" and they think you're referring to the bunsen burner. Now while this does give the entire classroom the aroma of a roaring fire in an African boma, it's a little bit unnerving when you're not actually trying to braai meat.
   
3. Students forgetting to take out the cork stopper from the boiling test tube they are heating directly over an open flame, leading to random explosions of cork across the lab, narrowly missing many heads and sets of eyes with no promise of champagne at the end of it.
   

*sigh*

I love my job.

...Now put a cork in it.

The Weepies - Painting by Chagall

A little dog I know...

Flowerpot dog says: "Pick me, pick me!"

Quote: Jacques-Yves Cousteau

"When one man, for whatever reason,
has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life,
he has no right to keep it to himself."

Berry-Banana Slush

I made this divine treat for brekkie the other day....oh so yum and kinda healthy too! If you've checked the label of some commercial ice-creams lately, they seem to be the dumping ground for a lot of chemicals with scary E numbers. This is a rocking quick and easy homemade substitute.

Ingredients:

• 4 large bananas
• 1/2 packet of frozen mixed berries (I use the ones from Woolies)
• 100ml evaporated milk (a.k.a. Nestle Ideal Milk)

Method:

1. Zoosh together using a food processor (I have one of those mini ones that came with a stick blender, and it works very well).
2. Chuck it into two bowls and smul lekker with someone you love!

P.S. Forgot to take a photo because I was too keen to eat the finished product, so I found one that approximately shows the consistency...although it is slightly more on the ice-creamier side than the pic.


When you're just NOT in the mood to be "good" and make your OWN ice-cream, I highly recommend Woolworths' Simply Chocolate Chocolate Ice-cream (it comes in a 1L black tub).

Born-up-a-tree!

Quote: How I Met Your Mother

Season 1, Episode 4, The Return of the Shirt:

Marshall: 'Oh, my god. Are you alright?'

Lily: 'What happened to you?'

Ted: 'Told the truth, turns out the truth has a mean round house kick.'

Marshall: 'Oh, man.'

Lily: 'Oh, well you did the right thing. I’m proud of you.'

Ted: 'I’m bleeding internally.'