So, 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.