Compostable Kate

I've lost friend s over my personal views about “not doing” Christma s, but it's just as well that I'm not into Christmas in a big way, as I am totally skint at the moment, and can't even afford postage for Christmas cards. I'm hanging onto my home internet connection by the skin of my teeth, so may be able to send out a few virtual seasonal greetings, although I'll probably just tweet something (it shows up on facebook, too, you see). If I submitted to the social pressure of Christmas I would be feeling even worse than I already do about being so poor, and so far away from my family. I can't afford cards, or gifts, or festive food, or any kind of party or gathering*, and can really appreciate why this is such a difficult time of year for many people. Of course, I miss my family at this time of year, and if I had the money I would definitely travel to go and see them. If I had the money I would probably also send them gifts, because I love them a...

I am going to have a lot of spare time on my hands during these uni holidays. My attempts to get some casual holiday work failed, so I have to develop my own program of activities to keep my occupied. This is the start of my list: 1. Sort out my plastic storage containers! 2. Knit all this into socks for Knitting for Brisbane's Needy. 3. Re-read Harry Potter. 4. Get through my To Read pile (this is part of it). Other activities may include: knitting Andy's 2nd sock, teaching Dexter a new trick, and going swimming at least once before next semester.

Well, I didn't wash my dishes, and I didn't go swimming, as I chose to do some uni work instead, but the other things I didn't do are much more constructive: I didn't stay home in my pyjamas all day!  I didn't forget to take my meds on time! I didn't buy or drink any diet coke (it's 10 days now!) I didn't buy or eat that chocolate muffin (although I did give it a good, hard stare). I didn't buy or eat Hungry Jack's for tea (it really only flitted into my mind for a second). I didn't have a nap! I didn't berate myself for being an under-achiever! It's important to celebrate the wins, however small. Gold star for me!

I'm pretty sure that I learned far more on my prac than the students I was teaching. Some of it will stand me in good stead for my next prac, and for when I am a fully-qualified teacher. Some of it was very disappointing and disallusioning. One of the first things I learned was that my supervising teacher no longer wanted to be a teacher, but was sticking with it for a few more years, while her youngest child finishes high school. Another teacher in our staff room was only staying with teaching to boost his superannuation before he retired. Yet another teacher didn't speak to me during my four weeks sitting at the desk next to him, and seemed to dislike all students and the teaching of them. There were frequent discussions in there about students being "not very bright" and "unteachable", including one entire year. No effort was put in to teaching these students, as it was deemed to be a waste of effort. However, imaginative teaching was hampered ...

This is my own, personal story of my disability and how I have chosen to manage it. My thoughts and choices are in no way a judgement on anyone else's thoughts and choices.    I acquired my painful hip condition in my mid-20s, just after I had started as an undergrad at uni (I was a “mature” student, after failing school and going out to work instead), and started using a wheelchair after about six months of increasing pain and decreasing mobility (I was trying to keep going with my studies). I went through a lot of specialists (you name it, I've probably seen one), only to have no-one able to come up with a specific diagnosis for me. I have lots of weird stuff showing up on MRIs, bone scans, blood tests and x-rays, but nothing that can be put together and conveniently labelled. I was eventually referred to a rheumatologist, someone who specialises in joint issues. I saw the Professor Rhuematologist, and in our first meeting he angered me by saying that he thought my dis...

This is not my own work, but something I received as an email forward.  You think English is easy?? (This took a lot of work to put together - read all the way to the end.... :-) 1) The bandage was wound around the wound. 2) The farm was used to produce produce . 3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse . 4) We must polish the Polish furniture.. 5) He could lead if he would get the lead out. 6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.. 7) Since there is no time like the present , he thought it was time to present the present . 8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum. 9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes. 10) I did not object to the object. 11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid. 12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row . 13) They were too close to the door to close it. 14) The buck does funny things when the does are present. 15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into...

I haven't fallen literally on my arse for at least two weeks (had a bit of an incident in the shower at Hotel KaznSteve , but it didn't even leave a bruise, so it's hardly worth mentioning), but I have well and truly fallen down in a metaphorical sense. Fallen down and scraped both knees, and even though I'm 40 years old, I feel like crying to Mum about it. I came to this uni course full of confidence, straight from a job I felt I was good at, to do something that I was sure I would be great at. I felt that the stars and planets had all aligned to make my high school teaching ambitions come true, on the second time of trying. I was available, and – at QUT at least – qualified. I could get financial assistance from Centrelink (Austudy is more generous than Newstart, so it would marginally easier to survive without working). Friends and family all thought it was a great idea. Then I started. By the time I got over the physical shock of uni life I had fallen...

Another Monday rolls around, another 5am wake-up (although I'd been awake since 4am, having been woken by the sound of Fred (I think) heaving up another furball (which I can't find)), leaving the house at 6.30am, after carefully checking that there was nothing remotely edible left out on the benches. I got to uni in time for a brief pre-lecture coffee and muffin (they had the coffee, I had the muffin) with some classmates, and the 8am session went by quite well, with some interesting presentations from colleagues (the most memorable of which was the part presented in "Alien" to demonstrate what it would be like to not speak English). In the hour gap between that and the next lecture I went along to the Field Studies (prac) office, to get the contact details of my school. I hadn't heard back, and was supposed to have done a day's observation last Friday. It turns out that the person I contacted is away on holidays; I was put onto someone else. However, when I...

If I'm not studying, it's generally because I'm stuffing around, procrastinating. I don't know why I do this, and although I know I do this, I can't seem to stop myself. I have to go through I certain amount of time-wasting activity before I can sit myself down and apply myself to my work. This is usually about the time that I only have half the time I need to complete the assignment that's already late. Go, me. Procrastination activities are often also things that I put off doing until I have something else to do that I want to do even less. I may have already procrastinated to avoid one of my future procrastination activities. I am a many-layered, multi-leveled procrastinator. Most common procrastination activities: 1. Sleeping . I never need a nap more than when I have an assigment due. 2. Eating . I read once that we think better when we're chewing. 3. Playing Scrabble/Words with Friends on facebook . It's not fair to keep people waiting. ...

I thought I had done a terrible, terrible thing in my 2nd week of house-sitting for Karen and Steve (and their two dogs, Fudge and JJ, and two cats, Midnight and Pepper), when I left out a half-full container of butter, which JJ managed to get hold of (probably with Midnight's help) and cleaned out. The butter, in turn, cleaned JJ out - mostly on the carpet in the spare bedroom where I'm staying. Dexter investigated the buttery, barf-pattery puddle and consequently got regurgitated butter on his ears. I couldn't get the stain out of the carpet, and thought the smell of rancid butter on JJ's and Dexter's was the worst smell, ever . I could not have been more wrong! A week later (on another Monday, when I leave for uni at 6.30am and don't get back until 5pm), I came home to discover that the dogs had got hold of a large tub of 400 super-strength fish oil capsules, and EATEN THEM ALL. There was oil EVERYWHERE.  Fudge only had oily ears, but JJ was covered in it...

I still have doubts about my ability to pass this course, but at least now I am physically managing this uni lark. For the first couple of weeks, if I wasn't at class I was asleep. The physical effort of getting around campus, sitting in my wheelchair all day, and all that concentrating (and confusion) were exhausting. Because I was so tired, and so asleep, I was behind in reading and assignment preparation from the outset. I was also hampered by not having any text books until 2 weeks into the semester (I had no money until then) and my chronic inability to focus or apply myself to studying outside of classes. Now that I am in Week 5, I am much more accustomed to the physical requirements, and my fatigue levels seem to be similar to when I was working (ie tolerable). Although it's come too late to get any of my first assignments in on time (I have extensions for all three; one since submitted), I am at least in a position to try to catch up. I no longer have to sleep until F...

In one of my uni classes we were asked to share a poem we wrote when we were younger. As we were all English Lit graduates, we had all written poetry at some point.  I went to find my poems, feeling sure that I'd find at least a couple of them in my trunk, that reservoir of my memories. I found the right journal immediately, and after flicking through it a bit, found that I had put a small collection of my poems in the back of the book. There were seven, including one that I thought I had lost completely. Just in case I do lose them, I'm going to put them here. Don't feel obliged to read them - or critique them! The Block of Flats The sun is a shimmering wave of heat, Beating relentlessly on the red brick walls Of the block of flats. The still air is thick with humidity; Behind the silence is the hum of traffic, Vast distances away, For a moment there is a slight bustling, A baby cries; a blast of music; a door slams; A slight wind moves paper. The fl...

Yesterday was one of those days. There were good parts, but also bad - and ugly - parts. Bad : Actually getting woken up by my alarm. Perhaps I need to choose a different tone; I currently have a nasty clock radio-type beeping noise. Effective, though. Bad : Couldn't move for all the animals on top of me. But... Good : Lots of furry bodies cuddling up with me. Bad : Having to get up, showered and dressed, breakfasted, lunched and out the door in the freezing cold. Ugly : What I saw in the mirror. Bad : Leaving the house at 6.30am and nearly falling asleep on my drive to uni. Good : Getting extra money out of the vending machine when I got my diet coke. Bad : A bunch of us being told off for being late to the lecture, when we were waiting outside while the students doing a presentation set up. Bad : Having to ask the lecturer for an extension on my assignment. Good : Getting an extension on my assignment. Bad : Feeling like a failure for needing an extension on...

I have up to three cats on my lap/desk/laptop and/or printer, with Miss Pepper the kitten or King Fred attacking anything that comes out of it! The dogs can't decide whether they want to be inside or out! I have foxtel (with extra channels I don't have at home), an extensive DVD collection and Wii for my entertainment. I have twitter and facebook in front of me on the laptop... I can curl up on the very comfy couch for a nap with up to 6 warm furkids. I am a world class procrastinator.... I need to go back to my place (I'm currently house-sitting for most of the aforementioned cats and dogs) to pick up paper and a book I left behind. I'm finding the avalanche of new information overwhelming, not to mention having all three of my first assignments due next week (one on Monday, two on Friday). Oh, and I'm in excrutiating pain from my right hip (the left is also painful as usual, but my right side has been extraordinarily painful for the past week or ...

Top to bottom: JJ, Fudge, Dexter I am house-sitting for Karen and Steve, while they are away on Kaz and Steve's European Adventure , looking after field spaniels Fudge and JJ , and cats Midnight and Miss Pepper Pots. I have brought King Fred of New Farm , and of course there is Dexter . It's fun, being surrounded by - and even covered in - so many furkids. However, there is a fair amount of animal husbandry involved. For starters, Freddy gets carsick, and had pooed within minutes of us leaving home on the way over here, and then spewed a few minutes later. Poor Freddy-Bear. I'm not sure which kitty spewed this morning, but I'm glad that I saw it before I stepped in it!! Happily, there has been no doggy spew, which is much more voluminous.  The only poo I've had to clean up has also come from the cats, and has been contained within the litter trays. There was one oops-someone-missed-the-box wee, but that was in the laundry, so easy to clear up. I don...

My poor arms (and shoulders and hands, for that matter)! So much extra - and unnecessary - pushing around today, trying to find how to get into the lecture room for the extra class I picked up. I tried one way, over a hump and down a ramp, only to find stairs. I went back up and over, and around the building via a narrow and steeply cambred footpath. I went around and around looking for the lift, only to find that there isn't one (QUT's mobility map SUCKS!). I eventually found out that the only wheelchair access to the room is via the steep road beside the building. I could have got down that road, but would never had got back up again (I was having enough trouble on the "flat"). This meant going back up to my car - including a switch-back half way to go and retrieve my keys from where I'd accidentally left them in the first lecture room - which is all uphill, driving around to the building and down the hill to the ramp into the lecture room. However, there ...

I have a task for one of my classes to draw a leaf, and write inside it my favourite poem, book and movie. Drawing the leaf itself was the easy part, although I think it's barely recognisable as a leaf! What is really difficult is choosing just one title from each category. In our very first tutorial, as a get-to-know-you exercise, we were asked to introduce ourselves and tell everyone our favourite book. Not one of us could narrow it down to just one book, so each gave a few examples of what we like to read. To select just one book, I have to think of it as a Desert Island book. If I was stranded on a desert island, and could only have one book for company, what would take? My answer: Laura Ingalls Wilders' "The Long Winter." It's an amazing story of her family's survival through a seven-month blizzard, stranded in their tiny frontier town.  It affected me deeply when I read it, and it still affects me each time I re-read it. I think that, even more tha...