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graculusSo, September. What is time anyway?
Since last post (in May, sorry about that for anyone who's actually still reading these things - hello out there!), I've guesstimated some exam grades for people, then done pretty much nothing except eat, sleep, read books and watch TV. I fell heavily down the rabbit hole that is Chinese and Korean drama despite the many many long episodes of both and boy, there's some good stuff at the bottom there.
I'm currently watching Nirvana in Fire, long after fandom found it, and have so many shows lined up I had to start a proper list (on a very helpful website called MyDramaList) to keep track of them all. Historical costume drama is my main bag, to be honest, mostly because of the excellent hats - somehow a lot of the modern day stuff just doesn't have the same pull unless it's something utterly ridiculous like Guardian.
Lots of comfort eating and not much exercise over the past few months - sadly, no stabbing people since March! - mean I've put on a good bit of weight and feel like a tub of lard. My knees dislike running, even if I didn't think it utterly pointless anyway, and I only managed to finally get hold of a bike a few weeks back. The gym has reopened, at least, but it's feeling a bit of a struggle at the moment. One of my fencing clubs has reopened partially but I haven't even dared try on my breeches, since I know they're not going to do up, so I'm not there yet.
That's another source of annoyance. The club I'm on the committee of, I have to restrain my usual impulse to be the boss of everything and everyone but some of the other people are all so vague about everything. We just found out our usual venue won't be re-opening till at least January, so not only are we vaguely thinking about how we can re-open at all (in line with both government guidance and our NGB's rules, so we're covered by insurance), we're now vaguely thinking about somewhere else to do it. *headdesk*
Anyway, work is also looming. I'm currently doing assessments for new learners, which is fine, but when actual classes start it's all still a bit up in the air. My usual classes are 12-14 people but the size of our rooms = 5-6 + me as a maximum number. Which means, I don't know, alternate weeks in class? Online stuff and paper-based stuff for people to do at home? Some learners are going to be fine with this, others I really worry about, and I have the privilege of teaching the people who are the most able in terms of their English. Meanwhile our processes around getting funding from the government, showing learner progress and putting people in for exams are all still very paper-based with signatures from me and them - already a nightmare if people call in sick, how much worse if we know people aren't going to be in every week? Watch this space for more incoherent flailing...
Other than that? How was lockdown, I was asked the other day - well, I live on my own, so that but for much longer, was my reply.
Since last post (in May, sorry about that for anyone who's actually still reading these things - hello out there!), I've guesstimated some exam grades for people, then done pretty much nothing except eat, sleep, read books and watch TV. I fell heavily down the rabbit hole that is Chinese and Korean drama despite the many many long episodes of both and boy, there's some good stuff at the bottom there.
I'm currently watching Nirvana in Fire, long after fandom found it, and have so many shows lined up I had to start a proper list (on a very helpful website called MyDramaList) to keep track of them all. Historical costume drama is my main bag, to be honest, mostly because of the excellent hats - somehow a lot of the modern day stuff just doesn't have the same pull unless it's something utterly ridiculous like Guardian.
Lots of comfort eating and not much exercise over the past few months - sadly, no stabbing people since March! - mean I've put on a good bit of weight and feel like a tub of lard. My knees dislike running, even if I didn't think it utterly pointless anyway, and I only managed to finally get hold of a bike a few weeks back. The gym has reopened, at least, but it's feeling a bit of a struggle at the moment. One of my fencing clubs has reopened partially but I haven't even dared try on my breeches, since I know they're not going to do up, so I'm not there yet.
That's another source of annoyance. The club I'm on the committee of, I have to restrain my usual impulse to be the boss of everything and everyone but some of the other people are all so vague about everything. We just found out our usual venue won't be re-opening till at least January, so not only are we vaguely thinking about how we can re-open at all (in line with both government guidance and our NGB's rules, so we're covered by insurance), we're now vaguely thinking about somewhere else to do it. *headdesk*
Anyway, work is also looming. I'm currently doing assessments for new learners, which is fine, but when actual classes start it's all still a bit up in the air. My usual classes are 12-14 people but the size of our rooms = 5-6 + me as a maximum number. Which means, I don't know, alternate weeks in class? Online stuff and paper-based stuff for people to do at home? Some learners are going to be fine with this, others I really worry about, and I have the privilege of teaching the people who are the most able in terms of their English. Meanwhile our processes around getting funding from the government, showing learner progress and putting people in for exams are all still very paper-based with signatures from me and them - already a nightmare if people call in sick, how much worse if we know people aren't going to be in every week? Watch this space for more incoherent flailing...
Other than that? How was lockdown, I was asked the other day - well, I live on my own, so that but for much longer, was my reply.
no subject
Date: 2020-09-11 10:13 am (UTC)I do miss seeing friends occasionally and the odd chat around the water cooler at work but generally I'm OK with holing up at home, working and binge watching TV or binge reading my way through a backlog of stuff! In some ways it's been pretty blissful.
Alas I've also done far too much sitting down and snacking so you have my sympathy on the knees and breeches front. I'm very glad we've been told we won't be back in the office before late January at the earliest as I'm hoping to both get back to the gym and start doing some exercises at home!
no subject
Date: 2020-09-14 11:14 am (UTC)I think the shattering of routines has been the oddest thing - I only work part-time but the regularity of it (once I have my timetable for the academic year, it's pretty much on) and fencing practice meant I would at least know what day of the week it was! I went through a few months where I really didn't know and would have to check to be sure.
no subject
Date: 2020-09-16 08:03 am (UTC)I had a really good grip on new routines until about mi June and then it all fell apart and I've not quite managed to get back on an even keel!
no subject
Date: 2020-09-11 05:23 pm (UTC)Yeah, I've been "sick" for over a week--1. American "sick" which is "ill", and 2. It's not an infection, I just got a massive allergy exposure of some kind--and haven't been running, and feel like a lump. Prior to that I had to switch parks because the one close to my house had construction and part of the jogging trail was closed, so it was super-crowded and people don't know what "On your right!" means and startle and then lurch right and I have to run onto the grass to avoid body-slamming them.... Let's not mosh during a pandemic!
I've fallen down a Sims 4 rabbit hole--I'm so sorry to all my DW friends--because there's fake social interaction and fake leaving the house and fake accomplishing things and it's kind of like a soap opera in that you create a narrative and.... oy.
no subject
Date: 2020-09-12 05:40 pm (UTC)The sheer weight of things that need to be thought about everywhere before getting back to work is incredible, or after reopening as in our case where a combination of people actually offsick, on leave and having to isolate whilst waiting for a test meant we were one person away from having to close the museum yesterday.
I hope that you're able to work things out with your learners and all the systems!
no subject
Date: 2020-09-14 11:25 am (UTC)We're meeting today to organise how it's all going to work from next week, so that should be entertaining! At least the consistent message from senior management continues to be pretty supportive and forgiving of how many mistakes we're going to make in the next few weeks...