Category Archives: Jon

Class 5s’ Special Week

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Back to work today, after a week’s respite, and I can’t say I’m particularly happy about the prospect. I was, however, quite interested to get the 5th year’s National Test underway, as I’d been planning their week for a while now.

We started with a light breakfast in the dining room at 08.20 this morning. About 25 of the 40 children turned up, to munch their way through cheese sandwiches (I should be, and am a little, pleased that they got anything to eat, a fair number of them not having breakfast at home), but it did seem a bit on the stingy side. No milk to drink (what am I saying!), and no thought for those who are allergic to milk products.

We then went for a quick 10 minute walk up the road, and up the hill. The idea was that this would give the pupils some fresh air and exercise to get the brain working, as well as having time for them to ask any final questions about the day/week, rather than having them ask in the classroom just before the test.

The actual test (part one of five) and accompanying papers took the whole of the morning, as planned, and I think it all went quite well. The aim of this “special treatment” before the exam, which they shall get tomorrow and Wednesday, is for them themselves to feel a bit special, that this is “their” week. Even if they do not do as well as they’d hoped (which most of them will), the whole experience should be an enjoyable one.

I’m not looking forward to the paperwork created by 40 tests, which just comes at the worst time. Classes 1 – 5 are just starting their parent-talks, which requires me to write something meaningful about the 150 children who have English with me.

Playing Videogames May Decrease Your Time Spent Reading

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One of the small pleasures in life is flicking through the adverts that regularly appear in our postbox. Most of all I look forward to the newspaper-format electrical goods chainstore ads, of which there are a number.

It was during one such instance of paper perusal a few days ago that I chanced upon a page dedicated to the next generation of games consoles, the Wii, PS3 and XBox 360.

The PS3 was at the top of the page, despite (or, perhaps, because of) its higher cost and low sales figures. Although I have no plans to buy a PS3 (the XBox would be my inclination for a second system), I read the accompanying blurb, which, translated, went something thus:

“The PS3 is a very powerful games machine. It has a powerful cell-processor that can be up to ten times more powerful than other processors. It has a powerful RSX graphic chip…“, blah, blah, blah.

The XBox 360, without a single adjective in its blurb, is 1000 crowns cheaper. This, in my mind, gives the word “powerful” a value of about 250 crowns (£20). I only hope this is the writing of a Sony fanboy madman, whose last task at work in the real world before being carted off to make small strips of metal out of larger strips of metal was to sell the PS3 to the ignorant public, one that is apparently swayed by the repetition of powerful adjectives.

And another thing, while I’m being facetious: making a statement that the PS3’s cell processors is “up to ten times more powerful than other processors” is irrelevant. Firstly, because no-one who plays videogames should seriously give a rats arse; secondly, I could write an advert about the N64, stating the same about its 93.75MHz processor (comparing it to, say, the first generation of games machines, for example); thirdly, I’ve forgotten.

So, if I were to take away the extraneous adjectival usage, along with any flimsy filler statements, the above PS3 blurb would go something like this:

“The PS3 is a games machine. It has a cell-processor and an RSX graphic chip.”

Were I really harsh, I’d take away the obvious words and any techno-babble that hints of trying to impress, leaving:

“The PS3.”

Sadly, not even a proper sentence, but I’ll allow such a grammatical faux-pas on this occasion. Still, such logical editing wouldn’t make my advertisement reading past-time as enjoyable, though I’d get through a hell of a lot more adverts.

Fretting Over A Game

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I am, as it is well-known, less fanatical about rock music than the average person. I don’t really like a great deal of guitar music in general, actually, with certain exceptions (thinking Pink Floyd as an immediate example). That said, I have mellowed with age, and I can find myself humming along to the occasional riff, or appreciating a wider variety of music than I once did in my predominantly synth youth and early adulthood.

That said, I did actually mess around with a guitar or two in my music making heyday. I even played bass in a rock n roll band when I was 15, playing in pubs and talent contests (well, contest). I think my interest in guitars grew only as Martin L Gore became proficient, and, after I saw him playing some groovy country stuff in one of Depeche Mode’s documentaries, I suppose I deemed it okay to be seen with one.

Recently, it has not only been okay to be holding a guitar, but fantastically entertaining; I refer, of course, to Guitar Hero 3 on the Wii.

We went out and bought the game plus 2 guitars when Chip was over to celebrate my birthday a few weeks ago. The £100 purchase seemed a bit steep, and I got pangs of guilt at splashing out so much on one game, though I knew I simply had to have two guitars to get full enjoyment.

Since then we have had a number of different people over to try it out, with further plans to make it a central reason for inviting other friends over in the near future, and my current week’s holiday has so far seen a number of solo sessions taking place. I am, in short, hooked.

There are enough tracks in the game to make it interesting, and enough strong tracks to make the absolute dire offerings bearable, if not enjoyable. It has also opened me to bands that I had previously not been giving a chance to, with tracks like The Who’s “The Seeker”, The Killer’s “When We Were Young” and Heart’s “Barracuda”. I find myself mumbling the riffs or various vocal lines from these songs more often than is absolutely necessary or healthy, but I’m happy with my condition.

A Much Needed Holiday

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A week’s holiday could not have come at a better time. This last week I have felt the stress of working in a school that has rules, but no set of consequences for breaking them. After putting up with a whole deal of lack of respect I am finally away from it all.

Once again a long period has gone by without my posting any entries. It’s not that I’ve not had any decent ideas to write about, rather an inability to formulate myself and a feeling of having so little time to do it. I suppose the second explanation of my absence from the blogging world is due to stress, and I hope to rectify that in part over the next few days. I shall, as much as possible, become a single-task being, concentrating on one task at a time until I feel that task is complete.

And with that I shall finish off this entry and go and make the bed. Oh, sweet holiday, how I have longed for you!

Happy 40th Birthday To Me

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Today is the anniversary of my fortieth birthday, which is celebrated accordingly in Sweden with cakes and big presents.

I can’t remember the last time I had a birthday cake, and Jo did a fine job of making a three layer strawberry & apricot affair to last us the year out. It actually felt a bit strange getting cake and blowing out the candles, as it did to have a few friends over to eat said cake and homemade pizza.

Jo had secretly arranged for Janne, Lotten, Edla and Chris to come over for dinner. It was a little bit overwhelming, in fact. Also, I think, because it is midweek I’d been expecting a quiet, early night. I wasn’t quite up for so many visitors, though I’m still glad they came.

The presents I received were absolutely spot-on. I’d been given a few items that were on my Christmas wish-list, which included The final Harry Potter book and a Fred Perry polo-shirt; the Harry Potter book is a bitter-sweet gift, since it marks the end of a long journey; the Fred Perry is an item I’ve been wanting for a while, and harks back to my Rude Boy era of the early eighties, when a white Fred Perry, black Harrington jacket, white socks and loafers were the order of the day.

The best present, one which I’d been expecting, was the Nintendo Wii. I’d not asked for anything else, despite having ideas about a bigger TV or a flat-screen monitor. The Wii was the obvious choice since a) I haven’t yet bought into this generation’s consoles b) the whole family can enjoy what the Wii has to offer.

I’ve been given an option to chip the Wii, which I don’t think I’ll be taking up. Firstly, I don’t wish to contribute to the piracy that is rife in the gaming industry, and, secondly, it feels like it won’t be a Wii, but a bastardized copy of one. I know it sounds strange, and I do not really expect anyone else to understand, but I think I’ll keep my virgin Wii.

All in all I have had a marvelous birthday, and I thank Jo and my friends for making it so.