Part 2 - Memoirs of a Geisha

 

We went and saw Memoirs of a Geisha last night - a movie I have been hanging out to see for a long time. I was pretty impressed. It was a beautifully shot film, with costumes and set both equally stunning. I was truly drawn into the emotional drama of the story. It had a strange sense of reality to it - the story was both a moving historical drama and also very much a fairytale. The film-makers cleverly realised that for this story there was no conflict between gritty historical reality and the heightened reality of a Cinderella tale. The world of the Geisha is so strange and built on mystery, beauty and artifice that Chiyo's story is both a historical drama and a fairytale. Hatsumomo is one of the more frightening villains - I found myself both intensely disliking her and getting really upset by some of the things she did but also understanding her motives and where she was coming from. Her cruelty seems more horrific because she is beautiful and cunning but also deeply sad and tragic. I realised when I was talking about the film with Matt on the way home that Talula's game system for Mean Girls could fairly effectively be used to run a game about Geisha in the Okiya - the sniping, backhanded compliments and petty cruelty that reaches levels of evil that would make Beelzebub shiver. I adore Ken Watanabe - in this film he is essentially a Japanese business version of Prince Charming but his character has depth and is very much taking his own journey and has his own choices to make and conflicts as well. He is a brilliant actor and very swoon-inducing when he is being lovely and kind yet enigmatic or brooding. Lovely, lovely film.

Superheroes and Geisha

 The title may sound like a bizarre concept for Matt's next SDC roleplaying game, but in fact I shall be talking about two things. One Kapcon related, the other not*. Part 1 - Superheroes Firstly, the fantastic Superhero game ran by Dale round 6 at Kapcon. The players were fantastic and well-cast in the roles of the Elite Superhero team. Talula as the most sensible** member of the team, Professor Eternity, her only mistake seemed to be her betrothal to the dim-witted Captain Hope which was justified on several ocassions after his intellect was less-than-superhuman by "he's very charming". Luke was the aforementioned Captain Hope who by his own explaination "brought hope to the hopeless." He had several unforgettable moments of ditziness which I later found out to be the result of an exhausted player rather than the insightful roleplaying I had thought. Early on Captain Hope was handed a briefing of emergencies and the GM starting talking at the same time. "Hold on!" he instructed the GM "I'm trying to read." The briefing was handed over to the Prof not long after. Later in a scene when the Secretary-General personally phoned Hope to plead for his assistance with rescuing his wife, Hope confusedly referred to him as 'General' for the whole conversation. Matt played their love child Danny who despite his mother's best efforts did take after his father and thus his grades weren't what they should be. Panda Pitt was playing, true to type, the bad-ass loner of the team called Salvo. In a bid to rescue the secretary-general's the team had their emotions altered by a shadowy supervillain, and several members of the team had been sobbing their heart out (Zia and Zero had become angered). After the carnage and explosions that occured in our attempts to rescue the wife and defeat the villain, many of the team were injured, bloody and several spandex outfits were ruined. When told he could clean himself up and remove the blood from his face, Salvo replied, "I'm more worried about the tears!" The much-missed Morgue played the Ground Zero was all the deep-voiced strength of a wrestler. He was Captain Hope's ever-loyal best friend. Unfortunately he exploded whenever he became angry - which meant when the shadowy villain made him enraged, he blew up. With us all in the lobby. After the debris had settled, Hope confronted Zero about endangering his family. What ensued was one of the most entertaining arguments ever to be held in a crater. Hope fired Zero as his best man and despite Professor jumping up and getting between them to calm them down, the inevitable happened. Ground Zero exploded. Again. Several police cars and ambulances were overturned but this time none of the Superhero team were hurt. Valiantly Zero offered his clothes to the others. "It's OK. I'm used to going in speedoes." However, the rest of the team rejected the proferred spandex. The traumatic argument had a bad effect on Danny and in the next encounter he pulled out a gun and shot wildly at the villains shouting Salvo catchphrase, not his father's. This made Hope realise he needed to be a fatherly rolemodel and prompted the touching reconciliation between Hope and Zero - "Zero, I was bad to you." I played Zia the Magnificant, a vain Vegas-style magician who due to unfortunate over-due tax debts had to make money on celebrity reality TV shows. When the team were transported into a alternate universe where they were supervillains, Zia was the one most able to adapt to the dark side. She teleported to a coffee shop and seeing the public's fearful reaction to her, demanded a orange-chocolate frapaccino. Then realising the full power she had recosidered. "No! Make that TWO orange-chocolate frapaccinos! And those muffins there..." Ah yes, the allure of the dark side was strong. However, Zia did return to the normal dimension with the team in a cunning invention made by the Professor, but she told the fruits (well, muffins) of her evil with her... I can't remeber nearly enough quotes or scenes from this game but I was lauhging until my sides hurt pretty often which is always good. * I'm trying to wean myself off my Kapcon obsession slowly. It is scary how the hours fly by when you lurk about the NZRAG site waiting for new posts to pounce on and blog-surf desperate for fresh comments and posts. ** Where most sensible = the only intelligent one.

More Kapcon

I have written an official post Kapcon report for the Kapcon blog. It pretty much says that Kapcon was awesome, and that we did all right financially (as in made the smallest possible profit). I have also been posting on nzrag.com, as have many other people. I really enjoy the post-Kapcon enthusiasm. It's one of the nicest things about the convention. Although I only played in one game at the con, it was quite possibly the best con game I've ever played in. Dale is a genius, and Debbie, Nick, Jenni, Luke and Morgue are brilliant roleplayers. I should also remember that I actually got to play in a total of 7 Kapcon games this year, through the wonders of playtesting. Ah, I am a lucky man. The past couple of days have been really interesting from a stress point of view. I have been, understandably, very relaxed and quite chuffed with my efforts over the weekend. I think it will be a while before I commit myself to a long term stress generator like the LARP again. It was actually fun to write, and I'm very pleased with the way it went (a lot of people have said very nice things about it, in person and on blogs and such), but it was weighing on me for the past few months. It's a lot of work for 3 people to do, and it is to Debbie and Svend's credit that we managed to get 60 characters written, all the props bought, and the actual running of the game fairly smooth. I am very grateful to both of them for all their hard work, and I am deeply impressed by how excellent Debbie's LARP was. I remember, back in the innocent days of March last year, when Debbie conceived of the idea for the LARP. She had a vision of how the game ought to be, and I think we managed to stay pretty true to that vision, doing even better than we'd expected in some ways, and the awesome players who brought the whole thing to life added a depth and variety that we are entirely grateful for. And now, a brief word about something that I thought went very well over the weekend - the announcements. I actually quite enjoyed doing all the greetings and in between round announcements, but probably my two stand-out moments as an organiser were the pre-LARP briefing and the prize ceremony. Before the LARP I gave what I would estimate to have been a semi-formal introduction to the LARP. As Sam commented, it had a bit of a story-time feel to it, with people sitting down in a big semi-circle listening to my rambling set-up. I think, despite being quite exhausted and having not a little anxiety about how the evening was actually going to go, I managed to do a pretty good job. I was pleased with the way it went. Svend's explanation of the name badges was hilarious and tone-setting, which was most impressive. Of course, Debbie was hard at work on set-up while we were lounging about soaking up the spotlight, something I feel was in some small way less than ideal. It is interesting to be one of the people ulitmately responisble for the LARP. Over the past 2 years Debbie and I had written many characters for LARPs, and had played NPCs, but were not really the ones who'd be blamed if everything went to custard. It certainly adds an element of stress. Of course, that also means that we're the ones who get to bask in all the praise now :) The other part of the weekend that was really enjoyable was the prizegiving. I liked explaining how we decided who got what prize, and being able to ask people to explain little stories or demonstrate the things they had done in a public setting. It was especially nice because the scores and prizes made sense, and I felt really happy to be able to award them. It's a really nice tradition, and I'm glad that I got to be a part of it. There was only one thing that I want to say more about today, and that's Debbie's amazing contribution to Kapcon. I got lots of spotlight time, and I enjoyed it, but there's no way in hell Kapcon would have been half as good, and there simply wouldn't have been a LARP, without Debbie. I invited her to take the spotlight for some of the con, but she very kindly said that I was doing a good job and that was fine. People have thanked both of us, and I've thanked Debbie personally, but I want to give her the mad props she deserves here. Debbie - you are amazing.

LARP Photos

 Robert was kind enough to take a whole bunch of photos of the Kapcon 15 Larp. Here are just a few of those awesome photos. Hopefully he'll make the rest of them available some time soon:

Post Kapcon Post

 Approximately 63 hours since the Kickoff of Kapcon (Drinks and social chatter at Southern Cross) on Friday night, I am still buzzing with Kapcon hype. So much in fact that I am actually posting on this blog*. I generally find that Kapcon is the most fun and simultaneously exhausting and invigorating gaming experience I have each year. It is the fountain of RPG enthusiasm for me. It keeps my passion for roleplaying fresh and renews my enthusiasm for some games and genres, and is also responsible for introducing me to brilliant new systems and types of gaming. Also the catching up with old friends, making new ones and reminding yourself again why you are lucky to be able to game with the range of talented people you do, is a pretty emotionally satisfying experience. With RPGing, as most other hobbies, you can fall into the trap of of thinking that it is becoming a bit stale or that you aren't as keen or inspired by your own personal gaming as you used to be. I know that now, as a person with a job and adult stuff to worry about, I'm only able to squeeze about one game a week into my regular life, as opposed to the 3 or 4 weekly games plus being able to eagerly jump into whatever one-offs and LARPs I could when I was a student. I'm very lucky with my regular group in that we all work together to cram as much quality roleplaying into the short amount of time we have each week and also that our GM(s) keep things fresh by changing games and systems. I think that we are very lucky to have an interest like Roleplaying, that has so many clever and creative people at the game design, GMing and player levels ensuring that each game you play is unique and you keep getting something new out of each experience - even after over 20 years of roleplaying. As I get older I find that books, movies, TV shows seldom surprise me. I generally am easy enough to entertain and enjoy and appreciate the storytelling or crafting but few strike me as original or unique. All too often they are formulaic and predictable. I virtually never have that experience at Kapcon. I am all too often blown away by the spontaeous, caffeine-fuelled quotes or actions of genius that flow from fellow players and the skills the GM have at pacing, setting up and crafting interesting stories in only 3 hours. It can also be amazing to see how well they allow players the freedom to go crazy and manage to get some pretty bizarre player actions to shape and enhance their stories rather than derail them. I guess what made this year's Kapcon different from the usual euphoric combination of "I love these people and RPGing" warm fuzzy feeling and the gluttonous orgy of gaming (and sugar), was being involved in the more stressful role of organiser rather than participant. I only played in one game, Dale's 6th round Superhero game (a game so awesome it requires its own separate post to do it justice). I feel a huge amount of relief now that it is over (especially the LARP because I was very stressed that it would, in spite of hundreds of hours of work, be a disaster, or people would be disappointed and people who spent hours and money on amazing costumes would lynch me - probably some kind of re-enactment of the KAPCON 13 LARP where I was disembowelled). Yet in spite of the stress, lack of sleep and tired blurry eyes making it difficult to read some handwriting and spreadsheets on the computer screen, I had an immense amount of fun. I am hugely amazed at how much fun it is to watch other people roleplay, hear war stories and read other people's accounts of games or nominations for funny or inspired moments. I thought the joy came from doing the roleplaying but now I know that it can be fantastically entertaining to simply see or hear about the roleplaying. The important thing is that the fun and the amazing experiences happened. It doesn't matter if you personally did them, or saw them, they are rich moments that should be shared and enjoyed by us all. I strongly encourage everyone who went to Kapcon to make the effort put their stories out there. Every moment that made you laugh, cry or drop your jaw in wonder/horror is worth sharing. That way we may all share in the joy and the legends of Kapcon 15 will be consolidated in the memories of everyone who went or read about it. * A fact that will be surprising to the many who have noted that my blog has of late** become an abandoned, cobweb-infested basement - barren and starting to reek of the musty odour of desolation. ** Ok, I admit it, it's probably over 3 months since my last post.

Kapcon Comment Number 1!

My first ever post on NZRrag.com Thanks to everyone who came to Kapcon, who ran games at Kapcon, who helped with the running and planning of Kapcon, and who was awesome at Kapcon. It was a great experience running the convention. There were a lot of awesome things, such as: Dale's Superhero Game - the only game I played in, in the final round. We had a stellar group (Luke, Jenni, Nick, Morgue, Debbie and Matt), it was an awesome 4 colour superhero game, and the character interaction was magic. Best moment for me? I was playing the super-powered son of the dim-witted Captain Hope and the brilliant Professor Eternity. I had moved so I was sitting between Luke and Jenni (the players), quite close, so I could roleplay with them the most. Then they had a fight in front of me. Being 7, I was quite traumatised, and my character slunk off to hang out with the pistol weilding bad boy Salvo and the Vegas Narcissist Zia the Magnificent. I moved my chair so I was sandwiched between Nick and Debbie, leaving a big space between the players who had just argued. I then decided to get back at my parents by emulating my father's foil, Salvo. At the climax of the game the 7 year old Daniel whipped out a police issue revolver, screamed out Salvo's catchphrase, and started shooting blindly at the villains. The reaction from my super-dad was fantastic, and it helped to push him into a reconciliation with his best man. There are many other fantastic moments from this brilliant game, but I'll let some other people comment on those. Prize Giving - it really is a very nice thing to be able to acknowledge some of the cool stuff that people have done during the con in a public setting. We had a lot of neat prizes this year, as Chaosium, SJG, the RPGA, Milsims and others had donated lots of goodies. and the last one for now, Stephen Hickey (Hix)'s comment at the end of day 1 Matt: "How was your first ever day at Kapcon?" Hix: "Great, I ran some great games, and I have some interesting ideas to work on for tomorrow. And there are really good people here." Really good people. That's why Kapcon is so awesome.

Getting Close!

Kapcon is just around the corner! It's starting to get quite exciting indeed. There are lots of little jobs that need to be done between now and Kapcon, but everything is on track and looking good. We have about 35 LARP characters assigned, somewhere close to 60 people preregistered (and about 25 of them prepaid), and we have 27 non-RPGA games so far, with Jon and Erik and Svend all having promised to run something, but not yet on the list. So, I am very well disposed towards the world in general. I have also convinced myself to run Kapcon for another year if the rest of the committee agrees, although I won't be involved with the LARP again for a while. Three years in a row is a pretty good stretch anyhow. One of the things that I'm intending to do this year is to build on the records I kept from the organising of this Kapcon, so that the next organiser has a pretty clear guide as to how it's been done in the past. I'm also looking at taking on an aprentice for K16, someone to train up to run K17. I have one or two people in mind for this, and will be approaching them during or shortly after Kapcon. Just to make sure I don't forget, here's a sample of some of the things that need to be done in the next 2 weeks: - print out game choice forms, scoring forms and nomination forms - maps of rooms for each floor - get RPGA room signs printed - arrange for coffee urn and hot water for tea etc. - buy some supplies for Kapcon cafe (same as last year - mostly drinks and nibbles) - pick up t-shirts - buy props for Kapcon LArp (wooden puzzle, brooch, 'diamond') - print out name tags - count number of plastic badges and buy extras if needed - purchase small lockable money box - LARP meeting on Wednesday - Write newspaper sheets for LARP background info - keep assigning LARP characters and sending out character sheets - collect keys for venue (probably a Scott job :) - set up rooms on Friday Feel free to comment with extra jobs that I've overlooked. I do have a list in my Kapcon big book of stuff, which I shall also check today. We are booked into the function room at Southern Cross / Zeboes, although they have redecorated and may no longer do such delicious food.

Busy like a fox!

Whew. We've been to Christchurch and back, finished marking, packed up and finally gotten rid of all the boxes and bags from marking, and are settling into the peaceful routine of writing LARP characters and doing other Kapcon work.

This has not been an easy year.

If I was to make a New Years resolution this year, it would probably involve being involved in less stuff. The end of this year was just flat out crazy, and I still haven't recovered. The end of next year should be a little less manic, as we won't be marking, and we won't be writing the LARP for Kapcon - 3 years of involvement in a row is plenty.

I am starting to get quite excited about Kapcon - it's only 3 weeks away! And Morgue has just arrived back and registered, which is awesome.

Anyone who is thinking about maybe coming to Kapcon - you totally should. Check out www.kapcon.rpg.net.nz for details, and be sure to tell other people about it too. We always welcome new players and new GMs. 

It's a Wonderful Library

Mildly busy...

There are just a few things happening at the moment, so I am somewhat busier than usual. I won't go into the boring details, but I am actually looking forward to the last week of school, even though that's crunch time for junior prizegiving. The trips and presentations and reports and debate adjudicating will at least be over by then.

The trip that I went on this week was a lot of fun, although it did have its fair share of accompanying stress and extra work. The OnTV activity at Capital E is awesome! We took a bunch of students to it, and it was fantastic. I even got to play with the vision mixing desk at one point, bringing back fond memories of my university video production course.

I can fully see that it'd be a worthwhile experience for Year 13 Media Studies students, as the gear is all top notch and the facility is really cool, even though it's been designed for much younger kids (lots of bright colours, low desks and 'workstations', and an overall fun atmosphere). Heck, I'd even go so far as to say that it'd probably be a lot of fun for a group of adults to go there and put together a news show!

Anyways, I am semi-trapped in front of a computer waiting for a DVD to burn, so I thought I'd post a quick message here before doing some reports work. It would be nice if the DVD burner was a little faster - I have 10 copies of the DVD to make, and this one's taking about 7 minutes to burn. That's a long time to have to be near the computer to change discs - longer than I can manage today!

Hmmm, reports await... 

MU'd!

 MU'd!

Hmmm. I seem to have been given a Management Unit for next year. Yay me, I suppose.

It's pretty awesome to have the confidence of the department and management, and the extra $ will be most handy, but this week I'm really not sure that more responsibility is really what I need. Except that, of course, it is if I want to progress my career and end up sitting in a nice comfy office pushing paper about and telling people what to do.

The one uncomfortable thing is that I think there were only 2 candidates for the job, and the other person will be part of my team next year. I hope that goes smoothly. I felt a mix of pleasure and guilt at being given the job, especially as the other candidate was sitting just around the corner in the English department office, and could no doubt hear everything that we were talking about.

All is well, I am sure that it will go swimmingly.

Now I must finish my junior reports, as the mountain of marking at home needs sorting tonight, in preparation for the Saturday kick-off.

I shall be very glad when the next 2 weeks are over and done with. I might skip the end of term booze-up, in favour of marking. Debbie and I are working on our plan to get up early and do an hour or two of work before school. It didn't happen today, but the start of the week was quite productive for me.

Table Manners

Last night Debbie and I saw a play called Table Manners at the Kapiti playhouse. It was awesome! Really funny, well acted, with a great stage setup / set dressing. A fantastic night out, filled with chuckles and laughs and some great comedic performances!

Early Christmas Presents!

 Early Christmas Presents!

Today I received some wonderful Santa sacks filled with joyous marking as an early Christmas present. I was pleased to note that I have been assigned 1337 scripts to mark - pretty awesome that I only get the best of the best :)

OK, that would probably work better if I'd been assigned l337 scripts to mark. And now that I think about it, having to decode essays written entirely in leet-speak would possibly take longer than merely deciphering bad spelling.

Whatever the case, I am overjoyed that my life shan't be boring for the last couple of weeks of school - I can add marking to prizegiving and designing a media studies course to my plate.

For even greater enjoyment levels, my eyelid has thrown a wobbly again. The excised flap of skin that was mildly irritating as it rubbed against my eyeball has grown back. Hooray!

Luckily I insisted on a follow up appointment at the eye specialist to make sure all was going well, so I don't have to shell out for a pointless doctor's appointment to get a referral that would take at least 3 weeks to be followed up. Instead I have a ready-made appointment in 2 week's time. More surgery awaits!

I've been up since 6:30am this morning - not an early time in itself, but half an hour earlier than I usually get up. The honda has a wonky muffler and needs something like $250 worth of repairs/replacements. Presumable it will be a quiter beasty after today. I also spent an hour before work today putting together And then there were none... DVDs. I like finishing projects, so it was a very satisfying process. I had to make multiple copies of thd DVD (6), redo the label image to get it aligned properly, print off and apply labels (with help from Debbie) and get the covers trimmed and inserted. The final product looks pretty good, and contains about 15 music videos made with Picture Package. Quite a groovy little memento.

Now I shall go and fill in my attestation form, which allows me to be pay-raised (after an observed lesson tomorrow and a meeting and goal setting and all that good stuff). I should have sorted it out last term, but it's been a busy year, and I am talented at flying under the radar and putting off whatever can be left till the last minute.

Well, mildly talented. I'm working on being more action-focussed and speedy-result-delivering. It's not going too badly, all things considered.

Minor systems failure

 Minor systems failure

Oops. I had a feeling like I was forgetting something all last week, and it turns out I was!

Happy birthday Ma! We totally have a present for you (have had for ages), but it's not even near being in the post.

I've been writing lists the last few days, of all the important stuff I should not forget to do. That one was sadly remembered multiple times, then forgotten before the lists even started. If I consult my shirt pocket I find that my list has... 3 items on it. Not bad given that yesterday's list had about 8 things. I might even try to knock one more off the list before I go home - it's a simple faxing job.

Life has become markedly less chaotic this week - only 1 and a half hours of prizegiving work yesterday, and an after school meeting that finished before 4:30. Today - 10 minutes of PG work, and no after school meeting at all. After school blogging instead.

So, I shall now add "send present to mother" to my list, try to get "Fax OnTv confirmation" crossed off, and go home to cook some food to take round to L&S's.

The next 2 weeks are going to be very nice. I am low-key worried about marking, but it's not me that has to do it - it's Future Matt. No point me worrying about some other dude who's going to have all my cash (and natural charms), but isn't me. I'll do my best to set things up nicely for him, but I'll let Future Matt worry about Future Matt's job.

I'm sure that's a normal way of thinking, right?

Prizegiving Looms

 Prizegiving Looms

I have to leave to go to Prizegiving in about 20 minutes. It has not been a stress-free process, to be sure. I shall be very glad come 7pm tonight when the senior stuff is all over.

I have very low key anxiety about my job tonight - I have to stand up on stage and shuffle piles of books, certificates and trophies around, making sure to keep them in the correct order, so that the 200 or so students who are coming up on stage all get the right certificate, book or trophy (or engraved pen, or Japanese eraser, or colouring pencils, or boardgame, or watch, or CD, or medal, or whatever other crazy thing they need).

It will be mighty fine to have it all over and done with :)

Oooh - and Debbie and I get to see L&S's new house today, as we're helping move a carload of stuff tonight! Yay!

Weathering the Storm

Five days to go before we get a breather!

The past couple of weeks have been intermittently busy, with work and socialising and the occasional visiting of an open home. The next few days are hard slog for us, with all the deadlines for marks and reports and such that happen around this time of year.

Added to all that stress, I'm part of the Prizegiving team at my school, so there are a few dozen extra hours of work that need to be done before Wednesday afternoon. I'm sure we'll get it done somehow, but it's not going to be fun.

I did think this morning about how lovely the next two days would be if I wasn't doing prizegiving work. I'd be able to plan thoughtfully for my seniors' last classes, and actually be there in class the whole time. I'd be able to mark all the extra practice essays that students are giving me during school time, instead of after dinner. I'd be relaxed and upbeat, knowing that I only see my seniors once or twice more this year. Instead, it's rush and hustle and stress and extra meetings and going out to buy prizes after the extra meetings. Not really all that bad, but not as nice as not doing it would be.

It's all just part of the job, and the pay-off is really nice at the awards ceremonies (if all goes well), so I really shouldn't complain ;)

Umm, in other news, ah, I've been working on 2 DVDs - the school productions. A program called "Picture Package" has been a neat thing to get - it makes music videos out of video footage and photos. Quite neat but very addictive.

I've also been killing a lot of plants recently (Mattspeak for gardening). It is satisfying, but really I'd rather do it with a flamethrower and be done with it. I like nice plants, but weeds and spiky plants (like the silly bogan-villia on our deck) really just irritate me. I should develop a thorough understanding of poisons, and get into some chemical warfare, but I'd feel guilty if I accidentally killed any trees or roses or similar acceptable foliage. Maybe when we've got our own place.

Now I must depart and get back to the prizegiving war-room, and sort hundreds of certificates. It's monkey-work, but it's confidential monkey-work, so it has to be done by us. After that it's off to buy prizes, then home to do some marking.

I am totally hanging out for the weekend, with the departure of senior students and the reemergence of breathing space.

And then there were none…

 And then there were none…

This past weekend was a highly enjoyable one, largely because of the excellent play at Kapiti College entitled ‘And Then There Were None’. Debbie was the producer of the play, which meant that she did a whole heapin’ bunch of work. I helped out here and there, drawing the t-shirt picture, helping with posters and tickets and such, and going along to one rehearsal and all 4 performances to be a generally helpful lurker. I even did front-of-house for one show so that Debbie could actually watch the show.

The whole experience was incredibly satisfying and quite inspiring. The students did an amazing job in all aspects – front of house, lighting, props, sound, makeup, and of course acting. The play was about 2 hours 10 minutes long, with no singing or dancing breaks, so it was a pretty intense acting job for the cast. They pulled it off with style, being both convincing and impressive.

The first two shows were sold out, with the second two being more than two thirds full. The audiences were all very receptive, though Friday night’s audience was probably the most vocally responsive.

There were a great many excellent things about the experience, just a few of them being:

A great bunch of students. Everyone involved was a thoroughly decent sort of person.

An excellent show – even after seeing it 3 times, I still really enjoyed watching it.

The genki feeling that accompanies any successful production. It’s a nice, inclusive kind of celebration. Even though my involvement was fairly peripheral, I still felt like I could really celebrate with Debbie and the cast and crew.

The awesome music video DVD that Siobhan made. Really striking, and it made me crave the software that created it.

The support from family and friends. About 11 of our family and friends came to see the show, which was very sweet of them.

Seeing some of my students come along to support the Arts. It’s nice that the rivalries between schools need not stop students from enjoying each other’s achievements.

So, the production was great, I got to meet some great students and see them excelling at something they were passionate about, and I got to have some fun along the way. And people said nice things about my t-shirt design, which is always a plus.

My congratulations to all involved, staff and students, and my thanks to everyone who supported the show by coming along to see it!

Good Meeting

 Good Meeting

Yesterday we had a Kapcon meeting, and it was very positive. Things are going well, preparations are well in hand, and it was a lot of fun.

Thanks everyone!

There were a few moments of note:

*The idea of an auction, selling off some of our Kapcon Hunks to raise money. A certain person suggested dressing one of our most popular Kapcon GMs in a dog collar for the auction, which raised more than one eyebrow.

*The idea of a cheese vest, coupled with a wide brimmed hat filled up with crackers. The idea of eating body-warmed cheese off someone (the same someone who made the dog-collar suggestion) caused some consternation.

*The idea of having a wheel of Brie as a prize, possibly for the cheesiest game or character, was also an amusing suggestion (and lead, through a surprisingly short number of twists and turns, to the cheese-vest.

Lots of people are helping, nobody is overwhelmed yet, and things are looking really good for a great Kapcon. I say hooray!

It will kill us, kill us!

 It will kill us, kill us!

The mountain of marking just keeps growing. It makes me a sad panda.

I marked 1 class set of film essays today, so there are just 4 more to go. Plus Y12 film reviews, Y13 short answers from their exams, Y12 short text essays (about 100), Y13 portfolios, and Y9 film assignment bits and pieces.

I will not be despondent. I shall mark like crazy, until all the marking is done*. Then I will celebrate by not marking any work for several hours.

*Not all in one sitting. I expect to be marking like crazy until this time next week, when I head back to Wellington hospital to get my eyelid surgerised.

Kapcon Blog

Kapcon Blog

Don't know if it will prove ultimately useful, but I set up a Kapcon Blog:

http://kapcon.blogspot.com

It has a list of LARP characters on it! 

Pesky DVD Software

 Pesky DVD Software

Harumph. The world of the PC is not being kind to me this week. I have a student video that I want to burn to DVD, and a variety of different problems are throwing themselves in my path. There are 2 computers with working DVD drives that don't have the requisite software, and one computer that should be able to do it for me, but keeps crashing when it tries to convert the files.

Poop.

And there is a fully functioning, ready to go computer taunting me from the very locked library. I shall have to find a solution to this little problem shortly, as the disc has to be in the mail today.

There are also DVD drives that I'd like to buy, but they're out of stock until a mysterious date somewhere in October, so that doesn't help much either.

Ah well, a solution shall no doubt present itself, even if it is just to email the organisers and tell them that we're sending in a VCD, or a DVD on CD or similar.

Back to the problem solving!

Back to work!

 Back to work!

Well, not actual work, but back to marking.

The break was decidedly nice, my nephew is a cute wee fellow, and it's nice to be home. Debbie and I walked around and up the Mount, which was very nice. I saw a sign, which informed me that the Mount (Mauao) is 232 metres high, and the base track is 3.4km long. I greatly enjoyed the walk around, and survived the climb up, so that was good.

It was really nice to see my family, including the new addition, and to have a chance to hang out. I also collected lots of interesting stuff to watch and listen to, which should keep me entertained for many months to come. I am particularly looking forward to sitting down and wathching the new Doctor Who series - well, the recent series with Christopher Eccleston in it. Not exactly new now, but we managed to miss all but 2 episodes on TV.

We bought a new camera before we went away on holiday, which is neat. It's all little and lightweight, and with a 512mb card in it it has plenty o storage space. I may post a photo or two from the holiday if I get around to resizing them...

Ummm, in other news, I have way too much marking to do. Actually, it's not all that much, but it's about 20 hours more than I'd like to have to do during my holidays. Still, it has to be done, and if I can get a few hours done today, that's a few hours I won't have to cram into the Sunday before school starts up again.

I'd best get back into it - I only logged onto the internet to confirm that a student had plagiarised 2 pages of the 5 page report - which they had. Then the lure of not-work got me, and I ended up here...

None the Wiser

Well, another $70 down and my eye is still no better. And I shall have to fork out more $ for a specialist at the hospital, and further treatment no doubt. I guess I got a new, acidy eyedrop thing and a referral for my $.

Sigh.

I am looking forward to seeing my family! Debbie and I are headed north this weekend to see my folks, brother, sister and new niece. Should be a lot of fun. It feels like a while since we went on a road trip too, so I'm kinda looking forward to that too.

The holidays have been good so far - a little work (including going in to school for 3 hours yesterday), but mostly relaxing with Debz. We bought a shiny new camera, which we will use to snap holiday photos. We did some gardening (killing plants), went on several walks (including one that took over an hour), and I've helped some students edit their documentary for the CUT! Competition. All in all a good start to the holidays!

I fear that these holidays are likely to slip by very quickly, but then so will Term 4, and it'll be holidays again before I know it. 

Serenity - days after everone else...

 I guess it is typical of my current slackness* but it has taken until Wednesday** for me to actually post about seeing Serenity on Monday. Many others have already expressed some of views on the film. Firstly, it was 'teh awesome' and left me with all sorts of contradicting yet balanced feelings at the end - sad for some charaters/happy for others, satisifised with some stories being resolved or explained/desperately wanting more, inspired and hopeful/subdued. I guess it was the typical feeling I get at the end of a Joss Whedon series (after I move on from the "wah! There's no more!") - any happiness at characters defeating the big bad or achieving their goal is always tinged with the sadness from what or who they have lost along the way. As in life, nothing is 100% pure joy or misery. The humour comes through even at the times when characters are in their worse possible place or have suffered a terrible loss, and the grief permeates into even their proudest or happiest moments. His finales are always emotional - and the movie really was like a season finale. Firstly, the background of the Reavers was a good story and boy did they creep me out. I didn't find them that scary or interesting in the series but they were skin-crawlingly creepy and responsible for making me jump and spill popcorn more than once. Visually I loved the film. Some beautiful shots and fantastic sets that really showed off some of the different worlds. Only one visual criticism and that would be of the set of Serenity itself. It just didn't have the same feel as a space as it did in the TV series - it felt more cold and less lived in. I'm not sure if it had the same level of detail as in the show, all the little features that personalised areas and made the ship itself a character. Possibly I was just too focused on the action and story. I need to watch the movie again. I thought the characters all translated to the big screen well and I LOVED Captain's storyline and arc in the movie. Mal is so cool, so very, very cool. River's story was dealt with well, lots explained but still I want to know more about Blue Sun. Many of the other characters (all of whom are interesting enough to justify having a movie focused on their stories - especially backstories) have great character lines/moments rather than any real development which is fair enough. They had an ensemble show and because of the nature of a movie you do have to focuson some characters more than others. I feel like there was at least one scene-stealing line or moment for each of the characters so I don't feel cheated. While they were peripheral to the main story they still came across as cool, interesting characters rather than the usual stereotype that secondary characters often are. It would be interesting to see what a person watching the film without having seen the series would think and how clearly the characters and relationships would come across to them. I loved the opening - it perfectly conveyed the background world-building information but also had some of the most effective transitions ever in the first 5-10 minutes. It hit you between the eyes and had me sitting bolt upright in my seat. Deftly set up main storyline and themes of the movie whilst still creating strong, palpable tension and suspense. Some Plot spoilers might follow... It was extremely moving both with the sadness of the deaths but really inspiring because they finally had a mission that was about something they could believe in. The whole theme of heroism and being prepared to make sacrifices was more poignant to me in this film than in many others. Often action film are about heroes risking their lives to save the world. In this they weren't trying to save the world but trying to stand up for the truth and to bring awareness to an atrocity. What they did wouldn't drastically change the world or bring down the Alliance but if they hadn't exposed the truth no-one would have ever known and the cover-up of thousands of deaths would have continued. I guess it seems more interesting to me because they weren't saving lives directly. Not that it is unheroic to carry people out of burning buildings or throw yourself on grenades but the idea of being prepared to risk everything so that the deaths of a planet worth of people wouldn't just be kept hidden seems less obvious decision. * Actually typical of my current slackness would be to post nothing at all... ** Why is it only Wednesday? I have at least a Friday morning's worth of wanting the weekend!!

Holiday Matt!

 Holiday Matt!

Huzzah! I get to sleep in tomorrow! And the next day!

And a few days more in the next two weeks. I am oh so terribly happy.

In fact, I'm tempted to go have a nap right now...

Firefly fever!

I am very, very excited about seeing Serenity tonight! I shall be racing home as soon as my colleague finishes crossmarking his research projects (not the most convenient timing given my need to be in Welly tonight), having a quick snack and a shower, then driving down with my good lady wife and enjoying some filmy goodness.

Debbie and I have been watching bits and pieces of Firefly the past couple of days, and are very much in the mood for some movie-going.

We also received a very cool present from Jenni and Lee - loads of awesome 48 hour photos and some Family Guy on CD, some pens (from Jenni's trip, I suspect), and a FANTASTIC SCRAPBOOK OF THE 48! It's gorgeous. Totally lovely. It made us both very happy campers, and has spread the birthday joy across many months of the year! Hooray.

Serenity

Was good. Very good. I am very tired today (we got home around 11.45pm), but it was worth it. I won't say too much, as I don't want to give away any spoilers, but:

It follows quite a movie-formula structure

Tonally it's a little less warm than the TV show as a whole

The stakes are raised quite high, and the tension that goes with it is very well executed

It's very, very pretty. Nicely done sfx

It felt a lot more SF than Western (not that the TV show was all that Western really, but the film is quite SF).

I think non-Firefly fans will be able to follow and enjoy the story, and Firefly fans will be very satisfied.

Two thumbs up - but I say no more.

Music

Debbie and I were chatting away over the weekend and she mentioned the idea of me starting up a band. I've played in a couple of spectacularly non-public bands before, and it was always fun. We talked about which of the people we knew (from school) were musically inclined, and pondered aloud about configurations of people and instruments.

One thing we didn't talk about during this (admittedly brief) conversation was what style of music such a band might play. In the past I've only really tried a couple of styles of music - metal and pop-punk. There was a heavy pop influence in the band that made noise at Superflat. Oh, and I guess there was that 'experimental' band where the experiment consisted of seeing how alcohol consumption affected our musical and lyrical processes. That was fun, and there are hours of tapes as a result, but I don't know that my tired old bones could handle such a debauched approach these days.

So, in no particular order, here are some types of music that I would like to try out:

* Country 'n' Western - with a Johnny Cash type singer

* Full on Cheese Goth - with drum machine, strings, choral voices etc

* Improvisational Jazz - maybe with some brass or other wind instruments

* Acoustic Rock - all mellow styles, with some talented vocalist type(s)

* Hair Metal - with millions of really fast solos, and tights

* Hip Hop Metal Fusion - this just seems like a fun musical style, period

Of course, my preferred activity outside of school is hanging out with Debbie, be it sleeping, watching cool movies, visiting folks and playing boardgames, drinking, RPing, or just chilling in our crib. So the whole band thing runs counter to my obsessive desire to spend time with my good lady wife, and could well entail further damage to my already fragile ears. So it's rather unlikely to happen any time soon :) 

Cameras are fun!

I have just started a filmmaking unit with one of my year 9 classes, and it promises to be a lot of fun. One of the things I like about that class is that I can be reasonably confident that they will actually get something done in the time given. They aren't 100% when it comes to completing tasks, but they're more reliable than any of my other classes.

We started with some very simple stuff today - filming the numbers one to ten in sequence. It was actually quite time consuming, as students figured out how to set up tripods, hpw to put tapes in, and the best ways to roll up their uniforms so that they could hold a piece of paper in front of their crotch and appear naked on screen.

There was some inevitable silliness.

Still, I am a lot less exhausted and grumpy than I thought I'd be at the end of a 5 lesson day. Yay for fun period 5 lessons! 

Less Formal

I suspect that my spoken language at school has become somewhat less formal. I have had way fewer students ask me what country I'm from this year, and I've generally noticed that I use fewer words which students don't grok.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. I think I'm... disappointed? Concerned that my environment is shaping me into a grumpier, less eloquent person?

Then again, I don't think it's a change that has seeped too far into my non-school life. I'm still able to write in the same style as I was accustomed to use before I started teaching here, and I don't believe that my language has changed much in non-work situations, though I am a little more likely to say things like "James got the mad skills at dice rolling" than I once was. This may in fact have as much to do with being exposed to James' language use as anything...

Today I held a meeting for some students interested in a film-making competition. I couldn't help making a string of sarcastic or silly comments. Luckily it was a Y12 and Y13 group, and they all had a sense of humour. Thus, when I said that one camera was sufficient for most small filmmaking purposes, and that unless they were planning to do stunts like setting themselves on fire, they'd probably be OK with one camera, they took it well. They did ask whether I was encouraging them to set themselves on fire, which I clearly wasn't. I also wasn't encouraging them to make porn when I told them that, technically, porn would't breach the guideline on objectionable material as long as they were 18. I told them not to make porn, but I wanted them to be clear that 'objectionable' meant 'would be banned by the national censor', and that porn was obviously not in that category as video stores were bursting at the seams with the stuff.

Maybe I am getting less formal in my role as a teacher?

fambily

 Well, the weekend was certainly lovely. On Friday we watched 3 episodes of Carnivale (we’re up to the last episode of the season, which we will hopefully get a chance to watch tonight). Then on Saturday we drove down to Lower Hutt to visit Debbie’s mum, then back up home to tidy the house, then I drove up to Palmerston North to meet my ma and brudder. Debbie had work commitments, so she stayed at home and did even more tidying.

It was super nice to see my family, have dinner with them and chat about random stuff. Adam and I drove back home while mum went to the Big Sing. It was really nice to catch up with my big brudder – I only see him a couple of times a year, so it’s nice to hang out. We messed around with my home PC for a while when we got back, as it has been conking out on a semi-regular basis for the past couple of weeks. It looks like there were 2 problems, both of which are now fixed! Huzzah!

The only problem with wonderfully busy weekends is that they leave me shattered. Teaching 5 lessons yesterday was not easy. Finishing off the moderation video as well made the day pretty full-on.

Today I have a whole hour to myself, which is a marvellous thing. Hence the blogging, and probably some more work on the moderation video (getting it onto a DVD and a VHS tape), and who knows, maybe even some lesson prep and marking. Those last two are less than likely, given all the other stuff I have to/want to do.

So, I am well and truly ready for another weekend.

busy busy!

 I have been assigned the task of compiling speeches onto a tape for moderation. This wouldn't be too bad if I had my own computer to work on, which I could leave capturing tapes while I was teaching, and return to whenever I happened to have a free moment.

Sadly, I do not. I have to commandeer the library computer, which makes the librarians slightly unhappy as it stops them from being able to get stuff done. This in turn makes me feel guilty, so I'm snatching a few minutes here and there when I can. The fact that the speeches range from 10 to 22 minutes in length, and I need to compile 8 of them onto a tape, means that I need to be in the library for a fair chunk of time altogether.

I have put a request in to the executive officer to get my hands on a laptop, even if only temporarily. I think it's futile, but at least people will know that I want one.

So, the speeches themselves look OK - they'd probably be great to watch live. Sadly, they aren't quite so moving when viewed on the 1.5 inch screen of a camera, or when they take ages to edit on the computer due to their sheer size.

Of course, there's a fairly strong argument to say that I should forget about the whole computer thing and just copy them using 2 vcrs. A strong argument indeed. In theory, the technology should make things easier, but in reality..?

Still, it's one of those things that I'd rather do right than fast. It's not a task I'll be putting my hand up for again unless I get meself unlimited access to a suitably equipped PC. I guess the best way to get that done is to inspire my students to win the CUT! filmmaking competition, and snarfle the shiny computer prize that goes to the school for myself.

Right, where are some talented students that I can exploit?

Flattery

 A couple of very nice Year 12 students asked if they could have pictures I'd drawn today. I was supervising a cover class, as most of the Y12's are out today. I'd drawn a pitcure of a beardy guy in a 50's kinda space suit on the class list during staff briefing, and when I went around taking down a list of who was actually there (10 showed up, 4 who weren't on the list, which means that 24 of them didn't). They saw the picture and complimented me, then asked if they could have it.

During the class I drew another picture whilst playing a game of Cow with some other students (I died first 2 games in a row, so had plenty of drawing time). As they were leaving, the two students who had asked for the first picture complimented me again, asked for the picture, and asked how I learned to draw like that (comic book style, I guess).

It's nice to be able to tell students that when I was their age I couldn't draw to save myself. I taught myself to draw when I was in first year varsity, having decided that I wanted to write and draw comics. Anyone who's seen my first comic efforts will know that I'm not a natural - I've developed the skills I have through practice and a healthy dose of copying other people's art styles. I guess, since I can't copy all that accurately, and I have trouble remembering the exact details of other people's styles, that I have ended up developing a 'style' of my own, which is all the bits that I can remember and recreate from all the artists I've tried to copy.

I can look back over the past 11 years and see a distinct improvement in my drawing skills, which is a nice thing. Even in the past couple of years, I think I've gotten better at drawing.

Of course, there are people I went to school with who were way, way better artists when they were 13 than I am now. They also continued to get better while I knew them. So I try not to compare myself to other artists too much, as I know that I can do the things I can do well, but that I'm very limited and amateurish. Still, present Matt can kick the arse of past Matt when it comes to drawing, and present Matt even gets compliments from students sometimes, so present Matt is a happy Matt.

More balls

 Huzzah! Another ball, this time for my school. It was a lot of fun, very wholesome and enjoyable. Lots of students came and said hi, and introduced themselves to Debbie, which was lovely. Some of them even told her that I was their favourite teacher, but I suspect that this is because I don't make them do much work.

The whole thing was lots of fun, and I am very keen to learn to dance the Gay Gordon for next year (I think I remember how it goes, so that shouldn't be too hard).

We also saw a play on Friday, called I Hate Hamlet. It was also lots of fun - a comedy, with good acting, a neat set, some great use of music and lighting, and plenty of laughs. Again, I wish my brain was better at remembering funny lines, as most of it is lost to me. I do remember enjoying it though! The venue was good too - cafe style tables with BYO wine, which made the performance even more enjoyable :)

And now, back at work. I took Friday off, so my week last week was a short one. I still feel pretty sick, but I'm going to try to get through this week with no days off. There's just a little bit too much going on for me to be able to take time off easily. That said, if I start feeling worse...

Lastly, Debbie and I are watching Carnivale Season Two (courtesy of Jenni and Lee) and it is excellent so far. Very, very creepy stuff!

Balls

Well, on Saturday I had the distinct pleasure of attending a school ball as an adult. It was a very interesting experience, marred just a little by my own sickness. 

The students looked fabulous in their formal attire - some stunning dresses, some sharp suits, a blue 50s suit here and there, some gentlemen with canes and so on.The evening itself was mixed. The music was all 'doosh doosh' nightclub music, for 4 straight hours, which grew to be a little tedious. It also meant that there were quite a few students who didn't dance at all, this not being their kind of music I suppose.

There were lots of little instances of naughtines, which was at times stressful, but the experience as a whole was highly enjoyable and truly fascinating.

I took yesterday off work due to the aforementioned sickness. I'm back today, but I'm not convinced that I'll last the rest of the week. Damn sore throat. My form class were not particularly polite today either - or more accurately, 5 of them were not so polite which made talking to the class quite difficult, especially as I can't raise my voice to any significant degree.

I did get some marking done yesterday, as well as a little tidying of the house. Restful for my voice but reasonably productive, so that's a nice compromise. I also watched the documentary features on Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow - damn good docos really.

Now I must go and try to catch up on the work from yesterday, and look at maybe planning for tomorrow just in case my voice is gone by the end of the day!

Barely Surviving

Uhhhh, Matt is sick. Matt has a very, very sore throat. I considered calling in sick today, but decided that I couldn't be bothered trying to frantically write relief lessons at 7:30 in the morning. It was easier to limp in to school and struggle through the day. 

It hasn't been that bad, really. Students keep commenting that my voice sounds different, which gets a little tiresome the 30th time, but I'm not suffering from any symptoms other than a sore throat. When I woke up I could barely get a sentence out, with my voice cracking and failing like crazy. I had a hot drink, and warmed my throat up a little, and I managed to get up to a croaky, monotonal James Earl Jones voice. Oddly low pitched. I haven't got much past that, unfortunately. If I try to vary my tone at all my voice just stops, so I'm Mr Monotone today. 

I have had students asking me pointless but inventive questions just to hear my different voice. I also had a kid ask me to say "I'll be back!", as I apparently sound a little Arnie. Hmmm. It's reminded me of two things: 

 1. The weather guy on Black Books, whose voice is a source of... pleasure for Fran. 

2. Throat singing - my voice seems to be almost entirely a throat voice today, the bass tone that normally sits under the higher tone in your voice. I saw a TV report on throat singing and found it fascinating, so much so that I tried to reproduce that awesome monastic chanting hum. I did OK in separating the throat voice from the other one (head voice?). Today I have only throat voice to go with, hence the different sound and lower tone.

teh m@+3rn@1133+5p3@k

Woah. My mother wrote something in leetspeak. I'm totally freaking out :) 

 Parent Teacher Interviews tonight - more than 30 of the buggers - and I have a very sore throat. Teh ouchy. I think I might pop out and grab me some soothing drinks before 3pm. Most of them will be fine, though there are a couple of tetchy students whose parents have made appointments. 

 Me am going to be a very tired Matt come 8pm tonight...

Big Blue Bear

So Debbie and I arrive at the new house that we've just bought - it's a sort of cottage affair, with lots of greenery around, a sharply steepled roof, and quite old decor. We got the house cheap because it was an estate sale. We're wandering about looking at various parts of the house, when I find a room out the back we haven't seen before. It has a concrete floor, brick walls, and is quite small. There is only one window, and it's partially blocked by external shutters that are hanging askew. A shaft of dusty golden light streams into the room, though it doesn't do much to light it up.
I notice that the back wall is divided into sections, and has a handle at one end. I slide it back, revealing a larger space behind. The room, once this partition is pushed back, is quite big. There is one other window, which looks out into a corner of the garden, a private little corner with a hill blocking the view. I look around and decide that it would be a good room for gaming.

Then I hear music. It's loud, energetic rock music, and it seems to be coming from above my head. I look up, and there's a mezzanine floor of sorts that I've somehow missed. There's a stereo up there, and the light is somehow brighter, warmer. There are piles of tapes and old LPs up there too, and when I look down again the room is filled with furniture and boxes and random junk - a room that has only been half moved out of. There is a feeling like I'm not alone in the room any more, but there's nobody here.

I walk out, looking for Debbie to tell her about the room. When I look back, it is once again a small room with a single window, barren walls and concrete floor. I'm disoriented for a moment. My eyes lose focus. When they come back into focus I'm looking down at a picture in my hands - it's a photo of a child holding a blue teddy bear. The photo is in a frame, and when I glance up there's an obvious patch of darker wall where the picture was hung. I look back down at the photo, then walk towards the front of the house, now looking for the bathroom.

Behind me, the space where the photo had hung grows darker. It pulsates slightly, then bulges outwards. A form begins to emerge from the wall, a small blue teddy bear climbing out of the patch of darkness. It drops to the floor with a soft thud, then stands up. As it stands it grows, filling the hallway, at least 6 feet tall. It begins to amble down the corridor towards the bathroom.

In the bathroom I'm splashing cold water on my face. The photo stands on the basin in front of me. I look up at my reflection, then back down at the basin. I hear a noise behind me, and turn slowly. The Big Blue Bear is stumbling towards me, arms raised clumsily. I know that it's the ghost of the former occupant, trying to kill me, maybe suck my life force to reanimate himself. I know that each time I move or touch one of his enchanted items it will come to life and try to retake the house for him. I am terrified.

I grab the picture, and hold it up in front of me like a talisman. The photo is facing towards me, the young child clutching the little bear happily. I run forward to meet the Big Blue Bear and try to drive it back. The back of the photo frame, where the bear belongs, seems to have power over it. I drive it back, down the hall, to the spot where the photo used to hang. I thrust the photo back against the wall, and the bear is squashed back. As I hang the photo once more the bear writhes silently, then shrinks back behind the frame. It is trapped, silent, hanging on the wall once more. I look around the house, looking for other threats come to life.

It begins to occur to me that this may not in fact be our dream house after all.

From the Mouths of Babes

I had a very interesting class with my Y13 students today - they strayed onto the topic of elections, and who people were going to vote for. I was mostly just an observer in the conversation, only answering direct questions, and trying to do so without imprinting my political biases too deeply on the students.
There were 3 students talking (from opposite sides of the classroom, quite loudly). One was going to vote for Helen Clark - though she wasn't 100% sure which party that was. One was going to vote for the Greens, and one was going to vote for National. The discussion centred around a few key points:

• Helen Clark is a lesbian
• Helen Clark is a lunatic, as she wants to use tax-payer money to pay off student loans
• Labour are doing a good job running the country
• Homosexuals shouldn't be allowed to get married, because it's just a chemical imbalance, and that's just icky
• The Civil Unions bill was a good idea
• Prostitution is gross, and nobody should be allowed to do it, let alone be encouraged
• The Prostitution reforms were good because they made prostitutes safer, and some people have no choice about what they do for a job

Obviously that's a sample from both sides. It emerged that none of the students were really well informed, but that didn't stop them holding strong views.When asked, I explained that I was employed by the government, and that tax cuts are generally paid for in public services like hospitals and schools, so I didn't particularly care for parties that were running on tax cuts as a main policy. I tried to say as little as possible, though I did voice my support fo the Civil Unions bill on the grounds that marriage was awesome, and anything that recognised that commitment and family was a groovy thing, which in my opinion is what the whole civil union thing is about.

Most of the class just listened, as the two students with the strong views sure made for interesting commentary. If I identified them as a white girl who owns several horses, and a Maori girl with a high involvement in social events and charity fundraising, you might not be surprised which one supported which party.