It’s been a while since I posted an update on my latest secret project:

I had my second lesson with my new ESOL learner tonight, and it’s going really well. She’s an Afghan refugee, who only arrived in New Zealand in March, and who speaks very little English, and is pre-literate, never having been to school. So we’re starting pretty much right at the beginning, with the basic language…

I think teeth are the best argument there is against creationism. I mean, what sort of creator would come up with a design for a chewing implement that’s got a totally unnecessary nerve running through the middle of it and is so prone to damage. Stumps of hard dead material would do the job just…

I’m writing this not at the normal boring desktop in the cold study, but on a nice shiny new laptop sitting on a comfy chair in the nice warm lounge (well, it would be nice and warm if we’d got the fire going yet, but theoretically it’s warmer than the study). And the reason for…

I set fire to Ming last night. Accidentally, of course – he was lying in front of the fire while I was putting some more wood on it, and a spark leapt out and landed on his tail. He didn’t notice, but I saw the glowing ember, and a plume of smoke coming from his…

MrPloppy blew up the computer yesterday. He had it unplugged to clean the fans (which get pretty dusty with three cats in the house!), and when he switched it back on, it went bang in a most impressive manner. Apparently the power supply blew (if so, this’ll be the third time we’ve had to replace…

It’s 05 06 07 today! (if you use a sensible type of calendar ;-)). Of course, that also means it’s two weeks today until my final exam for my sociolinguistics paper. So I should have been studying all weekend. Instead, I was being social 🙂 (hey, isn’t that what being a student is all about?…

I think this is the plate in the photo. From memory it came out of a bargain bin of assorted loose crockery at the Warehouse (a very cheap chain kind of similar to Walmart), and doesn’t have anything as sophisticated as a maker’s mark – all it says on the bottom is “Made in China”….

Great, I had my first asthma attack of the winter this morning, and winter doesn’t even start until tomorrow. Ironically, the asthma was brought on by the antihistamine I took to try and prevent an asthma attack – allergies are one of my main asthma triggers, but usually if I take an antihistamine as soon…

The dreaded jury duty this week… actually, I wasn’t really dreading it, although it’s one of those things you’re supposed to moan about. I was kind of looking forward to it, actually. The whole process of how justice works interests me, and I’d love to see the jury process from the inside, but this is…