Normality is a social construct

You Are 45% Normal

While some of your behavior is quite normal... Other things you do are downright strange You've got a little of your freak going on But you mostly keep your weirdness to yourself

How Normal Are You?

Ringing in my ears

I can't hear it yet and that is because it is not there. The sweet releasing ring of the final bell of the day which will tell me that work is done for two weeks and holidays are to begin. There are still a few precious hours left and I am weak with the anticipation of room to breathe. I have plans, I have books to be read and people to see.

Escape artist

I am sat in the staffroom eating an almond croissant and drinking tea when I should be marking work. It is a miserable day here, the greyest of skies and that horrible drizzly rain that looks like nothing but still makes the whole world damp and bland. I have a free lesson now and I am trying to plan next terms work. I have been asked to stay until the summer in this job which means that I have some room to breathe and the waiting will be punctuated by some shopping trips once I get paid.

One of the dream jobs has slipped away and now I am looking at other options. I suppose that there are worse situations to be in, I have a place to stay and some amazing friends around to help keep me sane. I have also started to appreciate the feeling that my car can give me when it is zooming away from home. I like going to the cinema, twenty minutes on the motorway and then darkness for two hours. I went on Monday and realised afterwards that I really had escaped, sat in the cinema I forgot my frustration.

Only two more days and then it is the Easter holidays. I have more plans to go to the cinema, I really want to see Amazing Grace as I have spent this half term teaching about Slavery. I also want to go and see M, maybe catch up with J and S in York and generally relax for a while. If I can scrape up the cash I might go to Prague for a couple of days. Anyone have any crazy, interesting plans for their time off?

Dusty CD singles

Over the weekend there has been a Ipod shaped theme developing. Ever since I got my new laptop at Christmas, I have been eyeing the piles of CDs without ever bothering to get them uploaded onto my computer. Since Saturday morning I have steadily sat in the kitchen, chatted with my family, drank cups of tea, watched TV and talked on the phone while CD after CD went into my music library.

On Sunday evening I felt like the trip down memory lane had come to a crossroads. Did I carry on with CD by more current bands? Paolo Nutini, Kaiser Cheifs, Keane? Or should I drag out the box full of CD singles and upload individual songs? Sneeze as the dust flies into the air. CD singles it is.

Every one of them has a story behind them. There are at least 20 singles that I got when I worked at HMV, you used to get given the promo when the real single came out. Some of them are pretty rare I have to say. There are singles that were packaged in special limited edition sleevs that I have never opened, just bought because the sleeves were cool. And then there are singles that make me excited just to look at them. The ones that you remember loving, the ones that made you dance all night. There are songs that I listened to as my heart broke all those years ago and there were songs that I played so much I gave my housemates headaches.

All uploaded and ready to go they are now. Old songs by St Etienne, The Supernaturals, The Manic Street Preachers, Ash. I love them all. What I am looking forward to is my road trip in May with J, a university friend, on our way to a weekend with H. I know that when she sees those names on the Ipod screen she is going to squeal with delight. We can share those memories, that will be even better than the dusty discovery of discs written into my life.

An eye on Yorkshire

There have been some lovely sunny days recently and I have been happy to be able to take pictures in good light again. This is a view from outside the town.

This is the garden behind Solberge Hall just near to Northallerton. There are lots of weddings and events that happen here. The view from the front of the building is beautiful.

This is a view from inside this estate. I really liked the old window frame.

Saturday morning fever

I managed to make it after all. The wonder that is Saturday is here at last and all I have to do is update my Ipod so that I can listen to some new and wonderful tunes on the way to see what culinary beauty N is cooking up today. Sometimes I imagine myself to be spoilt, great friends to spend time with. Last night me and L had what is now a usual Friday night takeaway. Yes, I feel lucky sometimes. They listen to me when I am bored of listening to myself.

More movement on the job stuff. There are more interviews and some more things to think about. Wait and see is the message that always seems to the one that gets through the loudest. Mum and Dad are hovering around today as they are in the middle of tracing through years and years of family history. They are writing the family tree and have found all sorts of scandal in the family going back years. My Dad has found family in Boston and also worked out that the family do not all come from Yorkshire as we thought. There is Manx, Cornish and Southern blood mixed in there too. It is all highly interesting. When I find that I am related to Abraham Lincoln or similar I will make sure that I let you all know.

Scream if you want to go faster

Things seem to be moving along apace today. I have had three phone calls from the same recruitment company and it looks like there are a few jobs that they want to put me forward for. Add to that the fact that I applied for two more jobs today, one in Prague that I am very excited about and the sick feeling in my stomach may be starting to subside slightly.

I still want things to go faster. If you could tell me in half an hour when and where I would be moving to I would be happy with that. But there are lots of fingers in lots of pies now and I hope that in a couple more weeks I should have some answers. Any sort of excitement about going back overseas has very much been put on hold while I stood in that waiting place. Now that I am back in the driving seat the next few months at home do not instill the same level of fear that they have been doing.

All I know is that the next move is going to be for a while, a few years. I can't spend more time looking and waiting. I don't have it in me. It has taken a while to get there, but I will feel settled in the end. I never imagined I would want it to be overseas so much, but there you go. I had to come back for a while to realise that I didn't want to come back.