Late night thoughts

Gotta change this blog template. There are no proper titles!

Went to see The Aviator today - with Leonardo di Caprio. Wow! At last he has played a true character part. Although 3 hours long, we were unaware of the time passing. This is worth all the Golden Globe nominations. Hold tight for an Oscars.

Finished off Christmas left-overs today. Then Autumn beat me at backgammon - again. Harrumph!

Two more days left before we go back to work,

The book is coming along nicely.

The rain, it raineth every day

It sure is raining today - with the threat of 4 days of this stuff ahead. They say LA could get 12" of rain!

The nice things is - I went and bought wellies today. For Americans, you need to know that the English call knee length rubber boots Wellington boots; probably because the Duke of Wellington wore boots styled like that the Battle of Waterloo.

So now I can take the dog out in the pouring rain without wrecking my shoes. S'morning I togged up in the new wellies, full length brown raincoat and brown cowboy hat. We were impregnable (does that mean we were incapable of getting pregnant?) as we walked the neighborhood.

It was just like being back in England! Aaahhhh!

Catching up

So - this blog will take the place of the News page on my web site. And just to get it in sync. here is some backwards looking stuff (pretty boring, really):

• Michael recently took a quick trip back to the UK to visit family.
• Autumn preparing her Shakespeare show with her Junior High School kids. Due to open December 9th.
• New Voices holiday show currently playing. CLICK for details.
• Michael to sit the CBEST examination on Dec. 6th to qualify as a substitute teacher.
• Michael writing book under the title The Burning Issue. Awaiting a copy of John Blanchard's book on the subject of Hell.
• Passed the CBEST exams with very good marks. Started substitute teaching in March 2004.
• Starred in the Chance Theater's production of The Yeomen of the Guard, as jailer William Shadbolt (4/18)
• Starred in a musical version of A Midsummer Night's Dream at La Mirado Playhouse, as Oberon (5/7)
• The back garden is now growing veggies prolifically (5/10).

Subbing

Yesterday I 'subbed' at Katella High school and my friend Geoff Braun, with whom I was teaching for the day, ground it into my face that I had not blogged in 4 months!! That was truly humliating. So since I now find myself at South Junior High subbing in the Business department -where all the kids are learning to type properly and I'm the only one who uses unorthodox fingering. Yuk.

Home alone

The wife's at work, the dog's dead and the cats have gone missing -- which is code for saying I'm home alone. Tonight I have a party at the home of the chairman of the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce, and a dashed fine 'do' it should be too. Before then I have to complete the reinstallation of the toilet and handbasin in the guest bathroom and go and order the glass for the shower walls. I must also practise, practise, practise the CBEST examinations. Funny - I had a dream last night in which I was desparately cramming to get ready to take final exams in *physics* for my Masters degree. Why physics? I had to drop that at school because the maths got to be too hard.

Oh! I also see a honey-do list on the whiteboard. Better stop blogging and get productive.

Stale old stuff

Today I have revamped my website. Big deal! Well, the old one was looking very jaded. And what better way to launch a fresh line of interest than to add a blog to my home page. So here we are. Neat format, huh!

The shower. You need to know that the refurbishment of the shower is a project which has stretched out over 15 months. It's not that we foray out into the world each day smelly - because we do actually have a bath. But the shower has been out of operation for all this time. The full story must await another blogging accasion. All we need record here is that today I sealed the grouted joints between the tiles. This means that we are a mere stone's throw away from final completion. Tomorrow I will re-install the toilet and the hand-basin, and also order the 5/8th polished glass that forms part of the shower cubicle. I kid you not, this will be one of the finest showers you have ever seen. Not the largest, but the best. In fact, give us a call, come round, and have a shower. Be my guest.

I have a rotten code in by dose. Going to bed.