Before FB there was MySpace, which was more about blinging up your page, & sending messages than astute personal observations on the world. Since the arrival of FB in my life, my writing has got lazy. It’s easier and quicker to write status updates than to hone carefully written blogs. It used to be that I would need to write & couldn’t leave the house until the itch was scratched. Now I feel satisfied [you know, in a shallow immediate gratification kinda way] by FB contact & I play with words less often. I used to put it down to not having my Table any longer, but I now I think I’m just spread a little thinner.. And no one reads blogs so much it seems. I started scanning through a week’s updates, like notes I took, and throwing them together into a semi-coherent blog. I still want/need/love to write, so I guess it’s just down to discipline..
As a kid, 2 of the strongest lessons I learnt were 1. stand up straight darling and 2. scalding water is essential for hygienic washing up/doing the dishes. Our office recently installed a gas burner in the eating room. There is 1 wok which they use for boiling rice, stir frying pork – you name it, what isn’t microwaved is fried. Or fried, then reheated. There is zero hot water in most houses [unless you're lucky enough to have a shower heater in the bathroom] ~ so I’m wondering as to the truth of Pop’s ‘Washing Up Discourse’, as no one here gets sick from dirty pans..
As a jar lover, I watch with restrained curiosity – everything here is in plastic bags – even cooking oil. It’s not like this is a town of jam makers – there’s no mason jar shelf in the supermarket, and ovens are few & far between ~ so I let the OCD monkey-mind jar-thoughts just slide by. They have unprecedented elastic band tying skills – I’m learning slowly..
I intentionally swore at a bunch of boys in class 1 month ago. They drove me so nuts I was miserable for days afterwards. I didn’t like the me that I was being, so I wrote their names: Ice, Noom, Gun, Champ, Gid, Tam, Palmy, Sax, Poom, Diw, Pepo, Bang, Te, Nam, Job, Nang, Eve, Pond, Kag, Prem, Ning, Fon ~ in my journal & Ho’o Ponopono’d my ass off for a week. “I’m sorry, Please forgive me, Thank you, I love you”
1 month later & I adore spending time with them. They’ll be a hard class to leave. Most of the challenge with the non-boffs, is finding stuff to teach which will engage them without being too hard, not too easy so that they slink off, and allowing them to learn/copy as they need to. If you ask them to write in their notebooks, they just won’t bother. Give them a piece of paper, which they think will be marked & they’re all over it. While some are huddled together over 1 dictionary, I’m stealth-jedi chatting with the others about their hair, contact lenses [for £6 they buy lenses with huge black irises - like comic books. I call them alien eyes] or Justin Bieber. Yesterday I told them all that no one knows I have any Lady Gaga in my possession, I only have it for them & that my street cred would be shot if the truth was out. Not sure they got it..
I did a movie survey with M4 [16/17 years old]. Angelina & Brad won as best actors ~ I felt it was my duty to teach them to say “Angelina kicks ass”. Emma Watson, Harry Potter, Robert Pattinson came runners up. When I ask why someone is their favourite, it’s either “beautiful” or “sexy”. Which explains the Lady Gaga obsession..
PS: I’m still very grateful for the ‘stand up straight’ instructions.
Sugar & chili mix, ready for dippin










































































