Punky Elf

Punky Elf by Petra McGuire

A myriad of colour was Jean Jane Lay,
Red hair, purple lips, nail varnish to match.
Gothic bracelet, tight leather bodice,
For a fairy prince she was a great catch.


Her wings were small, but delicate.
Her eyes were wide and bright.
Her bovver boots were well cool,
her skirt way too tight.

She didn't grasp the rules of love,
would rather go out and play.
But her Father said, 'Jean Jane my girl,
you will be wed this day'

'Oh Father, no' she wailed in dread,
I'm too young to be a wife.
I wanna run and scream and play,
go out and getta life.

'That may be so young Lady.'
Her Mother chipped in sternly.
But we promised your hand a long time ago,
to young Mikayl Bernleigh.

'I don't need a man' she protested,
I'm happy by myself.
Don't wanna marry, don't want kids,
I'm a solitary elf.

'Get you up to your room you whelp,
I won't have you chatting back.
You used to be a good girl,
Now manners you do lack!'

Poor Jean Jane she was so sad,
this isn't what she needs.
To be cooking all day,
up all night,with baby's milky feeds.

There was more to life for a wayward Elf,
Fun, laughter and games.
And anyway, if there was to be a mate,
it would be Donny James!

All the girls were into him,
including Marybelle Flutter.
With her golden hair and big blue eyes,
and skin as soft as butter.

Why couldn't she be pretty like Marybelle,
at least she'd land a looker.
She knew she wasn't the best looking Elf,
and she dressed just like a hooker.

But her parents, they were fighting mad.
Determined she should marry.
'Come on girl' her Father shouted,
'Jean Jane now don't you tarry!"

At the church there weren't many,
except snotty nosed Sue and Mandy,
Poor Jean she snivelled, she moaned and cried,
and Mikayl looked pretty randy.

'Can't wait to bed you darlin' said he,
this delight in her ear he did whisper,
'gonna grab you & cuddle you & love you I will'
and he lifted her veil and kissed her.

So what did become of Jean Jane Lay,
with her purple bovver boots?
She ran off to live in a castle,
and there she put down roots.

Her husband never found her,
didn't know she was with child.
She raised her daughter all alone,
in that castle in the wild.

So if you see an elfin girl,
with bright red hair and wings,
that's probably Jean Jane's offspring,
Good Luck to you she brings.

She is a cherished being,
looked after by the guides of the sky.
Please stop and spare a thought for the elves,
next time you walk on by.

Crazy frog Haiku

Green eyed, odd eyed frog

pop star annoying thing

children love him so

The Mad Accountant

The Mad Accountant.

by Petra McGuire.



The munchkin-man of High Wickham,
Came to visit me.
He thought I lived in a cosy house,
But he was wrong, I live in a tree.


I’m not human or munchkin or fairy not I,
Nor a bird, a bee or bear,
I’m a new kind of being, one you’ll never have heard,
And I’m soon to be a millionaire.

I’ve done so well with my tax returns,
Clients have paid me well.
The munchkin man wants a piece of my pie,
Well he can rot in hell.

I ain’t gonna give up my cosy life,
My spandikaly shoes and coat,
I want a new house, new clothes and a hat,
And I want a new sailing boat.

So Munchy mate can just sling his hook,
Go back from wence he came,
With his red tail hanging between his knees,
And his bobbly head hung in shame.

I don’t entertain clients like that,
I find him very odd.
There’s only one boss I answer to,
And that’s almighty God.

I might be small, ugly and weird,
I know I’m no beauty.
But that don’t matter, coz at the end of the day,
I’m the one with the looty.

Money talks they say, it’s true.
They all bow down to me.
They think I live in a cosy house,
Well they’re wrong, I live in a tree.

Autumn Leaves.

AUTUMN LEAVES.

By Petra McGuire

Red hair falling in curls to her waist.
Green eyes, windows to her soul
The delicate skin of an Irish Rose.
Loving all was her only goal.


She would sit under the winter white tree.
The tree that never flowered.
That tree was cold, stark and knarled.
Over her body it towered.


One day she was called by the wise woman of the woods.
She was told she was needed to trap mice.
But when she arrived she soon discovered,
She was the human sacrifice.

She begged and pleaded to no avail,
Suggested they take another.
One of the old ones, surely not me?
It was either her or her brother.

Her brother was younger, strong and alive.
She loved him above all else.
Her parents had died when she was but a girl,
In a boat on the river Shelse.

Turmoil inside her churned like butter,
If she only had wings she’d fly.
But in order to save her only kin,
She knew she must prepare to die.

What a waste now she’s gone,
With her lovely red hair full of autumn leaves,
Now she is gone, now she is no more,
And all of the forest grieves.

New breed Haiku

new bred beast breaks forth

dragoyne hatched from its egg

mutant scales of fear

Ocean girl Haiku

Ocean girl baby

cuddled in her arms of love

wishing on a star

Blogs worth reading....

Here are some blogs worth reading, they belong to my fellow students on A215

http://www.restlessdreaming.com/


http://a215guineapig.wordpress.com/


http://www.xanga.com/StealthBuda


http://www.blatherblog.co.uk/



http://lamorna.blogspot.com/


Happy reading!

Four things...

Four places you’ve lived…

London, Crawley, Hampshire, Newquay

Four TV shows you love to watch….

Big Brother, The X factor, Blessed, Little Britain

Four places you’d rather be….


No-where else, there’s no place like home

Four albums you can’t live without…..

None….I’ll listen to anything…

Four of your favourite foods….

Cous Cous, Quorn, sprouts and humous

Four movies you could watch over and over….

The Matrix, You’ve got mail, sleepless in seattle, The Sound of Music

Four places you’ve been on holiday….

Spain, Weymouth, Portugal, Great Yarmouth.

Four websites you visit daily…..

My bank account, the open university, blogger.com, ebay

How time flies...

Ollie....
We went along to the second school meeting to see the 'personal & social education co-ordinator' anyway, she was brilliant and was really helpful. She came up with the idea of a time out card (Ollie can leave any lesson the minute teasing occurs or if he feels he needs to leave lesson for whatever reason...) and he can join a friendship club & meet other kids who are being bullied or are having difficulty making friends. She has also moved him to a new Maths & English class....he seems so much happier about this & if it wasn't for this lady I really don't think he would've gone back. He went in part-time Thursday & Friday and took his lessons in the LRC. His two best mates popped up to see him and three teachers went to see him too. He goes back into normal lessons on Monday....let's hope it all works out. I've promised him that if these strategies don't work then I'll move him to a new school. But hopefully I won't need to do that...I'm very proud of him for going in because I know how difficult it was for him.

We took him to see 'Cinderella' on Thursday night. An amateur group performed this pantomime but they were absolutely brilliant. The standard of acting/singing was surprisingly high and the panto was as enjoyable as a professional one. I performed with this company seventeen years ago....I doubt they would remember me. What is weird is the little 5 year old girl, daughter of the then principal girl, who used to hang around backstage, was playing Cinderella. All grown up and no longer a little girl in dark pigtails....how time flies.

Abby....
She got the keys to her lovely new house on Thursday. I've done lots of trips back & forth with blankets, boxes, cutlery, toilet brush, moses basket etc etc....she seems nicely settled in now and just in time for the little one.....it seems only yesterday when I was getting my moses basket ready for her arrival and now she is to be a mum herself....I repeat...how time flies!

I've been spending most of my morning popping in & out of the A215 first class conference. We have each been assigned our tutor groups & today I met some of my fellow region 02 students.
We had a little fun excersise to do, set by our tutor, and had to write a little post on what kind of writing we like doing etc.

I found a few other bloggers on the conference & posted a little hello on their blogs...but would you believe we have a fully fledged celebrity in our midst? And no it is not Chantelle.....

http://www.lennyhenry.com/home/index.aspx

She won!

She won! Well done Chantelle!

I've voted

I've voted for Chantelle.....

Let's wait & see!

big brother privilage

Ollie got himself really upset today. Because he is totally refusing to go to school (and I do not believe in dragging him, carrying him or physical force of any kind) then he is pushing me to have to send him to this other school, without a compromise or agreement between us.

I told him I will apply for the school transfer as he is being so stubborn but he has to take the consequences. Ollie is 11 now and must realise and understand about meeting people halfway and sticking to agreements. I understand that he is frightened of going back to this school and that fear is overriding all other emotion, but he also needs to learn not to run away from things.

I told him the consequences would be, not coming to see the pantomime with us, loss of one week's pocket money (both these things are very big punishments for Ollie, normally I don't have to use withdrawal of privaleges like this...) and that he would not be allowed to watch 'big brother' for the rest of the show....well that was the last srtraw for him...(he loves big brother) and he packed his bags and said he was moving in with his Dad. I phoned his Dad who said he backed me up 100% and did I want him to come over & smack his ass? I said no, coz if his Dad had come over to sort Ollie out in the middle of work he would be pretty pissed off! Maybe it's done Ollie good to get a threat from his Father like this though as the male discipline has been missing from his life as I've been bringing him up as a single Mum since he was a baby.

Parenting is never easy & I don't feel discipline comes easy, especially to the Mother. There are so many ways we could do things and it is so hard to get the balance right. We don't want to be too strict, to 'punish' or use force or fear but with the same respect we cannot be too soft and spoil a child & give no boundaries. Finding that correct balance is so difficult, do we ever achieve it?

I don't know, maybe I've done this all wrong, but I'm trying to show my son that he must have respect for adults, especially me as his Mother and he cannot be disobedient in this way. I do understand that he is not being naughty though, he has had enough of the bullying and teasing. In just five months at this school he has had a stone thrown in his eye, been slapped round the face, punched in the face and strangled. The school have suggested all kinds of issues to get this to stop and they are also going to deal with the child responsible for the teasing, but Ollie has got it into his head that he wants to transfer schools & nothing seems to change his mind about this.

Eventually, when Ollie realised his Dad was backing me up, he shut himself in his room and said he'd never come out!

Then a lady phoned from the school. She is a member of staff that helps with children who are not settling, who have social issues etc I told her the problems and she suggested that we go in and meet with her tomorrow.

I then spoke to Ollie and he agreed to have the meeting with her but I did agree with him that if he still wants to move schools after this meeting then I'll apply to transfer to our catchment school. I've just so had enough of this and want life back to normal.....I expect he will probably want this other school, despite the meeting, but at least he is meeting me half way. So i've restored his privaleges and he still gets to watch big brother!

Talking of big brother, what a mixed bunch of people. I find Pete Burns a larger than life character, quite weird and odd and rather theatrical. He is fascinating, annoying, sometimes downright rude and looks like a pain in the ass to be around, sometimes he says valid things. I like his confidence and individuality but I think he doesn't do himself any favours by being too hard on the outside, I think people would warm to him more if he showed his feelings.

George Galloway seemed wise and fair at first, very logical and sensible...but then he turned out to be a bit two faced. Mind you, it's only a game show.....

Chantelle. I like her, very pretty, very sweet. Yeah she comes across as the dumb blonde but so what, I find her endearing. She is about the only housemate who hasn't moaned or bitched about something...I intend to vote for her.

Preston, nice guy, seems like a laugh. I've never heard of the ordinary boys before but I really liked his song, be interested to hear more of their music. I think he is playing with fire with Chantelle though & wouldn't be surprised if he finds himself dumped when he gets out. I reckon he is a good contender for the winner.

Maggot...seems like a nice guy, fair, friendly.

Tracey, I think she is lovely, can't understand why she get's so much stick in there.

Dennis. Sex starved comes to mind! Think he's got a secret temper that he keeps under control, comes across as a womaniser, can't see him sticking to one woman and I reckon he'll end up lonely and unfufilled because of that. Seems an ok guy though.

Michael Barrymoore, my god has this guy got problems! I was really pleased to see him when he first arrived, I think he is a great entertainer but very quickly it became obvious he has serious personality issues. He is extremely paranoid, very nervous and completely emotionally unstable. He is the last person I would want to be around out of all the celebrity housemates.

Fascinating set of people though and it's good practise to analyse characters for future writing.

Meeting tomorrow at 1.40pm....

Nightmare day

It's been one thing after another today! Haven't had a minute to write anything.It's 11 o clock at night and I'm finally sat in front of my PC to write my blog.

The school needed a decision by 3.20pm today as another parent wants the place for their child. I told the school that Olz would return on Wednesday when he is better. (He woke up today with a cold, sore throat and temperature...probably all this stress) Olz is not happy about this and is adament he wants to start at this new school, I said I thought he should give his present school another go, especially as the staff are bending over backwards to try & sort this bullying issue out. I don't want him to run away from problems, but he says this has been going on since he started in September and he has had enough. I've promised him if the bullying continues then I'll move him but he says he'll refuse to go in on Wednesday......what do I do? I can hardly force his uniform on & drag him into school?....watch this space.

My younger daughter rang & asked if she could stay with me as she doesn't want to go home after having rows with her Dad. We went back to her house to get her overnight stuff and she was really rude to him & to her big sister...who is eight months pregnant & doesn't need it. See photo for pic of younger daughter.

To top all this my brother turns up, very upset with personal issues. I cooked him tea (macrobiotic meal with soya, sweetcorn, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, butter beans & cous cous with sweet potato & potato mash...yum, he liked it anyway) He was ill so I gave him some vitamin C powder in a fruit smoothie drink.

I'm now totally drained.......let's hope tomorrow is calmer, more organised and that I find time to write!!

I guess we all get days like this........................

Cyber-Shamans.

Cyber-Shamans.

We are the Cyber-Shamans
You will know us when you see us.
We travel from cyber-reality to cyber-reality,
to find you, to help you, to love you.

We bring you healing and wisdom.
We existed long ago in tribes with huts and fire,
we ate fresh air and spoke with the Earth.
That was when the Earth was healthy.

Dancing in the light of the moon.
We wore feathers, bone and animal skins,
Speaking truths and wisdom as you watched and listened.

We gave you our knowledge.
You learned as your soul grew.
That was when the Earth was healthy.
Mother Earth is dying now, she is sick.

Transported to your time, the twenty-first century,
clad in denim with our mobile phones,
we surf the waves of the World Wide Web.
In colourful, electric cyber land, we are here.

We will find you, teach you, just as we did before.
Just type WWW dot and with a click of the mouse,
we are there, with you.
You will know us when you see us.

We are here to help you, we are here to teach.
We are here to save the Earth.
This time……we will not go away.
There are just too many of us.
We are everywhere, here in cyberworld.

We are the Cyber- Shamans.
And we are here.

New blog and memories of Much Ado about Nothing.

I started another blog last night, a fictional diary from a fictional character Lady_Layna. As 'fantasy' is my fave genre then that is the style it is written in, I hoped it would allow me to get into the perspective of my character & also develop a story along the way....this is part of my writer's notebook and somewhere I can do focused freewrites...Go to my profile & you will see my other blog, Lady Layna. Don't know where it is going yet.

I've finished part 2 of the first chapter of 'creative writing' or rather, I've completed the exersises. You can't really 'finish' the chapter as the tools to get you writing 'clusters, freewrites, notebook' are an ongoing thing.

First class is still manic....I'll probably post more when we are split into smaller groups, can't wait for the course to officially start.

I'm glad I've got myself ahead though, what with the baby due in 4 weeks. I'm determined to continue writing every day, even if it's a few lines, or just posting here, but that might be difficult on days when I have the little one. I'm having the baby every other Monday (and baby's other "Nana" will have him/her the alternate Monday) so my daughter can do her one day a week at college. She is doing an NVQ1 in hairdressing, part time, this is a year's course. I think her aim is to qualify as a hairdresser this way. Having a baby shouldn't get in the way of her studies, many mums do it, both married & single. It's hard of course, juggling motherhood/studies/work.....I find studying for my degree with the OU and my writing make me a happier person & therefore a more patient & fulfilled Mum, coz I'm getting 'me time' and doing something that makes me more than just a Mum. Of course, there is nothing wrong with being 'just a Mum' and a woman doesn't have to have a career to feel fulfilled.....being a Mum is the greatest job in the world. But sometimes it is nice to have something else, even if it is just a once a week hobby....

The audition is coming up for 'Gigi' but I've decided I'm not going to go for it. Mainly because it will pull my focus away from my writing but also because after reading the play there was no part that really grabbed me. If the play was 'Macbeth' or 'taming of the shrew' then nothing would keep me away from the audition.

I still feel that 'Beatrice' in 'Much Ado...' was the best part I ever played. See photo.....this is the scene where Beatrice begs her beloved Benedick to challenge Claudio, after Claudio shames her cousin Hero in the worst possible way.....love it! Benedick was played by Tom Reah (now a professional actor) and claudio by Nigel Davies (professional actor, director, film maker) it was a pleasure to work with such talent. My own sweet youngest daughter, who was then thirteen, played the part of the messenger and she was excellent, especially as she had never recited Shakespeare before. Of course I have to mention our director Mel Casson, who was the best director I have ever had the privalege to work for. She had such empathy with her actors and such sensitivity. She commanded respect and hard work from us without ever having to so much as raise her voice!

perhaps we shall work together again someday? In the meantime......I write.......

Letter from Daniel to prospective employer

Fictional letter from Daniel to a prospective employer written by yours truly in the genre of ' major sarcasm'


Daniel Saunders.
108 dreamsleep place
Lazyass Estate
Slumberland
West out-of-it.
PS1 PS2



For the attention of the director of Sleep Machine Almighty.

Dear Madam,
I write in application for the vacancy of Sleep tester which I saw advertised in this month's issue of 'What Dream?'

I have extensive sleep experience and I enclose my sleep CV. As you will notice I have twice been nominated for the title of 'Lazy bugger of the year' in the local 'Best Sleeper' competition.

I am able to sleep for long hours and am prepared to put in overtime. I believe I am qualified for this job.
I have slept in a double bed, a single bed, on the floor, the sofa, in a car, a field and on one occasion in a busy supermarket trolley. My best attribute and one most befitting this position, is that I can sleep until well into the middle of the day. I truly believe I have the potential to sleep all day long and into the following night. Even with caffeine in my system I can still while away the hours in the land of nod. Going up the apples and pears to bedfordshire is my favorite time of day. Sometimes I sleep alone, but more often than not I will involve my sleep companions, Sala Kayless, Zoe Hawkwind, Casper Firefox and Aztec Tomahawk. However I can tell you that lately my sleep partner, who has been doing an excellent job and I would ask for her to be my personal assistant, should you wish me for this post, is young Willow Witchblade.
I must tell you I would be extremely depressed and angry if I did not get this job. I do not wish to make you feel guilty or anything but I would find it most unfair if you were to offer this position to anyone else. If I find that you have done this I shall piss on your doorstep, shit on your paperwork and stick my middle finger up at your picture. I trust I shall be hearing from you shortly.
You can contact me by e-mail daniel@letmegetsomeshuteye.co.uk. I do have a mobile phone but if you wish to speak to me personally then I wouldn't bother phoning as I shall be busy sleeping. As you will have probably gathered, I like to sleep in my spare time as well as during my professional life.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours Sleepily,

Daniel.

All about my boyfriend.

Daniel

My boyfriend Daniel read my blog this morning and he said ‘there is nothing about me!’ sure enough…..he is right; there is nothing about him in my blog. So here we are, an entire post devoted to my boyfriend ‘Daniel.’ This kills two birds with one stone….writing about Daniel in my blog so he feels needed & important and two…doing a pen portrait of someone as part of my Creative Writing coursework!
We are supposed to write about someone who shows a dichotomy of character, displaying opposing traits….not really sure if Daniel fits the bill exactly but he is a Gemini!!! Does that count?

Oh well….here goes…

Daniel.

Daniel is my boyfriend. He has dark hair and is very good looking…..(got to say that!) no it’s true…he is very gorgeously handsome…see photo to prove it…




He is 29 years old…will be thirty in June. Eleven years younger than me. Exactly the same age difference between my mum and my stepdad.

Daniel and I met four years ago during the run of ‘Much ado about Nothing’ where I played ‘Beatrice’…



And Daniel played ‘Conrade’…

We became friends….did another play together ‘Way Upstream’ and then just before rehearsals started for our third play together ‘round & round the garden’ …I declared my undying love for him and how I wanted more than friendship….luckily he felt the same way otherwise it would have been really awkward doing ‘round & round!’

So we will have been together for three years in April.

Anyway…I’m supposed to be writing about Daniel not about how we met, I just thought I’d throw that in…

Daniel is a very deep and interesting person. Very deep thinking and analytical. This brings both positive and negative attributes to his personality.
He is very kind and feeling and loves animals especially cats which he adores…especially our cats.

He is, I feel, quite sensitive and sometimes tries to hide this, he doesn’t talk about his feelings as much as he could do, or that I do. This is a trait common to almost every male human on the planet I hear, especially if ‘Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus’ is to be believed.

He has quite low self esteem & confidence in every day life, yet bags of confidence on stage which is a contradiction…there you go, Daniel does meet the requirements for my pen portrait after all!

He is a very talented actor and writer…yet does not believe in his talents as he should. He isn’t doing much of either at the moment, He isn’t acting because no jobs have come up recently (although he went for an audition yesterday) and I don’t really know the reason why he isn’t writing, it could be because he feels he isn’t really any good (which is rubbish) or that he doesn’t have the commitment or focus or simply that he isn’t interested in writing at the moment. When he does write, it is always good, he is a natural.

Daniel likes reading, films, theatre and music. He really likes trance music…but don’t let that put you off him, he likes good music too.

Good things about Daniel.

Daniel is kind, helpful and understanding. Daniel has good morals & a good philosophy on life. He is a spiritual person, aware of karma and universal law. He is creative and deep thinking. Daniel learns from his mistakes and works on parts of himself that he knows he needs to. An example of this is jealousy which he has learned to control very well yet this has been a hard challenge for him. He is very funny and says witty things all the time, he is intelligent and challenging. He is brilliant with cats and really good with children as long as they are well behaved and quiet. In many ways he is a good role model for my boys. He is loving and trustworthy. He likes my cooking and happily eats the meals I cook. Daniel does the washing up, the hoovering and puts the rubbish out and feeds the cats and the rabbits. Daniel looks after me really well when I am ill, which isn’t often seeing as my nutritional intake is so excellent and my immune system is working so well. Daniel is good at chess and is a non-smoking vegetarian. Daniel is so great that I want to marry Daniel.

Bad things about Daniel.

Daniel gets depressed, moody & withdrawn. When he is like this he can be snappy & rude & have a low tolerance level. Daniel can be very childish & immature at times. Daniel is messy and leaves things in a heap. Daniel sleeps too much for too long, in fact if I didn’t wake him in the mornings he would probably sleep til well into the afternoon.
Daniel needs lots of reassurance about himself. Daniel has a different perception of life in my house than I do. This is not a bad thing in itself, but it is not too good for our relationship. Where I see normality and harmony, he sees chaos. Daniel is not very good with my children when they are naughty or loud, which is usually every day.
Daniel occasionally sneaks off for a diet coke even though he knows all about aspartame; see http://www.aspartametruth.com/ to see how bad this is.
Daniel does not want to marry me. This is the very worst thing about Daniel.

Note: these observations about Daniel are from my perception only and may not match up with his own perceptions of himself. Feel free to leave comments about this, especially if you are Daniel.

Daniel is a professional out of work actor, if you are a multi-million dollar director looking for an actor to star in your latest box office blockbuster then here is his website http://www.danielsaunders.net/

Thanks to ‘Lucy West’ webmaster extrodinaire.

my brother's blog, not for children due to obscene language!

http://www.myspace.com/lfbmusic

Olz blog "ginger spice boys"

http://www.yachtyjr.blogspot.com/

Results!

Today's Haiku

Abby passed her test
Now she needs to buy a car
then she can drive it

Haven't done much writing over the last couple of days....it's been a hectic whirl of everything going on at the same time. This is a test for me, I really need to get on my computer and write something...anything...no matter what else is going on.

I did manage to squeeze a freewrite in yesterday, I was waiting for my daughter to have a bath at her house & thought I should grab any bit of spare time to write....so took a piece of paper & pen and did the 'your surroundings' exercise on my ex-husband's back garden! I've entitled it 'piles of rubble' which says a lot about his garden! Since the new conservatory was built & the brick wall got blown down in the storm....piles of rubble has been exactly what lies in his garden.
I sent him the freewrite on e-mail for a laugh....he hasn't commented yet!!!

It's been a manic couple of days my head is swimming...got my results from recent op...amazing but THEY FOUND NOTHING!!!!!
I'm ecstatically over the moon about this but given my past history the doctor won't give me the all clear yet...he is concerned there maybe something he has missed & is talking about maybe doing another op....what is baffling the doctors is that there was stuff there before that has mysteriously disappeared...biopsy was taken from the same place as last time....
however I truly believe it has been the holistic, macrobiotic, vegan diet I have been following for the past 18 months including supplements & cutting out sugar/alcohol (except for two bottles of organic red wine at christmas....whoops! yum!) and caffeine. I've taken vitamin C, B, folic acid, selenium, zinc, aloe vera, noni, green tea capsules, grapeseed extract, blackstrap molasses, spirulina, chlorella, garlic, flaxseed oil & essiac tea. And they found nothing!!!! They won't believe it's my holistic diet of course the medical profession won't admit that something natural could possibly work better than their orthodox drugs. Well I won't even let a paracetamol near me after the research I've done!
Anyway....cause for celebration....I hope so....I shall have more tests but this is great news.

My 11 year old son hates his school. He started secondary school in September and has been teased & bullied ever since, mostly for having long, pale ginger hair. He had his hair cut last weekend and that has cut the teasing down (as well as his hair!) but Olz is still unhappy. He wants to go to another school (actually he wants to be home educated again but I feel that has to be the absolute last resort...it isn't really what I want, I already home educate my youngest & he needs one-to-one time with me, it's so difficult to find the time to devote to both of them that they need and still do my own studies!!! ) a school that is our catchment school where his elder sister goes and also his Dad’s girlfriend’s son…who he thinks of as a stepbrother. Maybe a move to this school might be a good thing to do, it would certainly save my petrol money!!! But this school has a worse bullying problem than the one he is currently at…and his sister cannot fight his battles for him constantly…she is in enough trouble already!!!

We went along to a meeting at his current school & I have to say the staff are marvellous and are bending over backwards to help Olz. They suggested having a friend round from school…a good friend he can trust…so he can talk to him in confidence about his feelings. So today we have a friend round, he is a nice boy. I would like Olz to at least try to give this school another chance, he has only been there four months, the bullies will be identified and reprimanded seriously.

However I shall not send Olz back to this school if it is going to continue to make him unhappy and ill, I want a happy, healthy child first & foremost & no child can ‘learn’ or concentrate on studies if they are unhappy & too scared to go into the playground.

(I myself have been worried about all this & it has got in the way of my studies too!)

The school have said he can have a good think over the weekend about what he wants to do, but I’m thinking he should give this school just one more chance. If it doesn’t work out then he can move to the nearer school.

So now he is upstairs with his friend & I am going to get some writing done!

The Creative Writing book by Linda Anderson is excellent & I’m slowly working my way through the exercises…’slowly’ being the appropriate word at the moment. I also haven’t logged into ‘first class’ for several days so I’m going to pop in & see what’s going on over there.

I’ve also been allocated a tutor who sounds very nice and has been writing herself for a long time. I expect we shall be split into smaller groups on ‘first class’ soon.

So off I go to write…….although I guess this blog post counts as writing too!!!!

PASSED!!!!

My daughter passed her driving test today!!!! YAY!!!!

My crappy Haiku

I’m drinking my drink
Blackstrap molasses I love
Full of minerals

Snooze

Set my alarm for 10 am yesterday....that's really good for me on a Sunday, I'm normally in bed til midday! Guess that'll have to stop now I'm on this course.
You are supposed to start writing the minute you wake, before you do anything else. As I very rarely, if ever, put pen to paper (the flow is much better for me directly onto the computer screen) I strolled downstairs, bleary eyed & booted up my PC. So much for writing when you are half asleep and still in touch with your sub conscious, it took me 10 attempts this time to boot up the PC. Definitely need either a new one or an upgrade...anyway, I finally got word up on the screen & started my morning freewrite. I wrote based on a dream I had the previous night that had stuck in my mind. Boring crap really....but apparently it doesn't matter what you write in your freewrite, the point is to get into a habit of daily writing & then....wham....you find yourself with great material. Well that's what's supposed to happen anyway.

This happened with me on my last Creative Writing course (the OCN at college) I was several weeks into the course....writing regularly every day....crap mostly, until I found my voice and 'Dragonchild' was born. I'm out of practise now but hopefully that muse will visit me again & it did before.

So....this freewrite. It's about a guy wanting to get away from it all, having all manor of problems back home, that he hires a caravan for a couple of weeks & doesn't tell anyone his whereabouts. He's totally sworn off women & is craving solitude....but then there is a pretty young single Mother in the next caravan, holidaying with her five year old daughter. Basically they fall in love & that's the story.....loads of other stuff going on but I wrote about two pages then stopped. I could come back to it if I wanted to but I can't see it going anywhere except as an extended freewrite. It's not really my genre but it's good to have a focus of some kind when you are freewriting. Then again I've tried freewriting without a focused story in mind and that seems to work just as well.

Did a couple more clusters with tiny freewrites and tried my hand at the Haiku. Don't know if I'm doing it right or not........

Got my letter through about my tutor & day schools, I'm really looking forward to the day school and hope I'll be able to get a babysitter ok.

Didn't do an early morning freewrite this morning. It's back to school and although I did set my alarm for 7am (thirty minutes earlier than normal) I just couldn't get up and I just kept pressing 'snooze' til 7.30! I'll try again tomorrow.

Morning Pages.

My next extersise for A215 is to wake in the morning & write as soon as I wake...about anything that comes to mind....


"The best way to do this is to rise half an hour, or a full hour, earlier than you customarily rise. Just as soon as you can – and without talking, without reading the morning's paper, without picking up the book you laid aside the night before – begin to write. Write anything that comes into your head...last nights dream, the activities of the day before, a conversation (real or imaginary) an examination of conscience. Write any sort of early morning reverie, rapidly and uncritically. This can be in a notebook sitting in bed or on a computer."

Well I've decided to set my alarm & try to get up & write instead of having my usual sunday morning lie in! I have to do this every day! I already get up at 7.30 to get ready for the 4 mile school run, guess I'll have to get up at 6.30 instead!!!!

See you in the morning.............................

Two of my cats, Aztec and Casper. 

Me and my son Oliver. 

Me 

Becoming the receiver

A215 isn't officially underway just yet but everyone on the conferencing system seems to be well & truly stuck in already! I've just started tucking in to the course too as I don't want to be left behind! Course looks really exciting and I can't wait to get into it properly. Even though I've done a creative writing course before, everything seems new and fresh. Admittedly it is four years since the course so I've probably forgotten most things anyway! One way of establishing a flow and becoming a channel (the author of the workbooks words....usually mine but not this time) is to write every day for at least 20 minutes. Freewriting and clustering (technical words for just writing anything that comes into your mind and mind mapping!) are one way of doing this, keeping a journal type of notebook can be another. This journal can be the old fashioned pen & paper in a pad or it can be a computer notebook or document. Some of the students are keeping an online journal however and that is where I got the idea for this blog. I think it's a great idea actually because not only do we get to post our own thoughts about everything, which helps to focus our thoughts, but we also get to read the thoughts of other students on our course which is such an important part of learning the creative process. Writing can be a lonely game....but with computers & the internet it can be a party!!! Our conference is buzz buzz buzzing & I can't keep up with it!

I'm not just going to use this as an A215 journal tho, I'm going to post my other life stuff up here too. I doubt anyone will read it as it will probably be drivel, but then, one person's drivel is another person's drive. Who said that? Can't remember, probably me just talking crap.

So what else drives me apart from A215?

Well, the boys of course especially the learning journey of my youngest child as I'm the facilitator to that. (Toontown at the moment...and the Sims2, it was chess last week...& lots of incessant questioning about anything & everything of course)

My daughter and the impending birth of her firstborn.....my first grandchild....can you believe that? And no I don't have knitting needles, grey hair and a walking stick thankyou very much!

My daughter's move into her very own house! How unbelieavably exciting is that? It's a lovely house, only a little 2up, 2down but that's all she needs for just herself and the wee one.

The sims2. Love it, love it, love it. It's really hard when I get free time to FORCE myself to get into study & leave my little people alone. I've created such great little families, most of my ladies are either pregnant or have babies so it's hard to choose which family to play...or to create new little people! It's an amazing game & thankgoodness for computer man on the high cliff for buying this great new PC for olz. Of course it's not my computer so if olz is here then I won't get a look in! Must get one of my own or get mine upgraded.

Sala_Kayless, poor darling, is SOOOO desperate to be a mummy but there are no full Toms around here. Most responsible cat owners have their pets neutered as we were intending to do. After seeing Sala and Joey fall in love all over the garden, bushes and everywhere else I thought it might be nice to let her have just one litter. We have good homes lined up already and of course we would keep one ourselves. But then I discovered Joey, is, in fact, neutered so nothing happening there I'm afraid. Bless him, he was just going through the motions and remembering the days when he was a full Tom. Guess we should get her to the vets pretty quick I suppose, much as we'd love to have kittens, there are so many homeless kitties out there, is it fair to produce more? I could debate this one for hours.....

Olz has had his hair cut. After two years of growing it long & loving it he has finally had enough of the teasing. Being called a pouf and a girl every day is doing nothing for his morale so we all felt it best he have it cut. It's a shame as it was beautiful, but then I love long hair on guys. Olz can always grow it again in a few years when bullies will no longer be a problem.

My results....well they haven't come through yet & yes they are always on my mind but when one is being creative (either through blogging, freewriting, sims playing or any other creative outlet) one tends to become immersed in and lifted to a higher plane. (God now I'm really sounding like an eccentric writer......good!) So sod the results....I refuse to allow myself to be dragged off my cloud....and who knows? It might be good news, in which case I'll be singing from the rooftops.

Be back soon......