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Agreed. We were in the cinema watching III when Hayden Christensen shouts "I hate you!" and my friend just shouted "You fucking suck!" Just summed up the whole movie right there. That one line. Three words, so badly written, delivered terribly.

S05E08

I'm always of two minds: The government could do a lot more on this. As someone said, affordable housing is in short supply, and therefore something should be done to make more affordable housing available. That being said: the government is not responsible for your own lack of responsibility in failing to get off your ass, study harder and get yourself into a decent job. It pisses me off when people get all "Oh, the government is interfering with our privacy! They keep internet files on everyone! That's wrong!" And then say "The government needs to do more to help people! They need to pick up everyone's mess for them!" Come on. I don't think anyone is homeless by choice, but I have found in conversation with some homeless people that they were trying to prove a point at some stage: I'll run away and you'll be sorry; you've forced me to wreck my life; you wanted to control me, you can't control me etc. There are a lot of genuine cases where people have completely wrecked their lives through drug or alcohol abuse, or have been beaten into running away... but how do you distinguish? How do you know which person is telling the truth? And how do you know when there is too much government? And then where do you redraw the line?

I think I'd give 'em half: they paid for it, but it was a gift. If I won 10 million in my own right, I would pay off any mortgages or loans everyone in my close family had - on the understanding that they waited five years before selling their house.

That's terrible, I feel for you. Being robbed happens twice: First they take your property, and then they take your feeling of safety. Neither belongs to them.

I was bullied pretty much every day by one kid at my primary school. I don't know if I would say I "deserved" it, but I was a pretty arrogant child and didn't do anything to hide the high opinion I had of myself. Literally from the first day of school to the very last, this kid picked on me. On the very first day he gave me a nosebleed, on the very last he scraped his football boot down the back of my shin. Periodically, when I would go back to that end of the town, if I saw him I had to cross the road or I'd end up headbutted, dragged to the ground and kicked, or otherwise pretty badly hurt. Part of me says Yeah, you were the smartest kid in school, the teacher's pet and the number one soloist, so you were an obvious target. You made no effort to hide your abilities or the favour bestowed by the teachers. So you asked for it. But another part of me says, no kid, no matter how opinionated and snotty should actually be frightened of going to school. It stopped after about Year 8 - the last time I saw the kid I was with one of my mates, who was absolutely useless: I got punched to the ground while he just stood there bouncing a basketball. I pulled the bully down next to me and desperately cracked him in the head. I don't know if I stopped it that day: I never saw the kid again, so I don't know if he was shocked by my finally turning on him. I'll never know now. But yeah, the best way to tackle a bully is to show them your face, and never call for help.

Hoping to get the DLC later, going to buy an eShop Card.

I can get the time off, but here's the kicker: They will calculate days off at the full salary rate + allowances (ALL allowances!) then divide the result by the minimum number of days in a month (February, even though it's December) then remove the sum from the main salary. THEN I will still pay taxed based on the FULL SALARY + ALLOWANCE amount, even though I will not receive the regular amount. i.e. If my salary + monthly allowances = 2k, they will take off however much 2k/18 days x number of days off. Then still tax me as if I have earned 2k. The net result is, I would be out by almost a grand with bills still to pay, plus flight, plus gifts for the family, plus spending money.

Got a phone call from Dad last night: Grandad's cancer, formerly in remission, has now spread to his lungs and bones. He's got a few months, and there's no way I can get back to visit.

He, clearly, can haz cheezburger.

Absolute misery. We've just had parents' evening - until just before 10pm. Back the next day at 7:45am. Straight into book week where we are promoting a charity: but instead of money, we get snotty emails from EXTREMELY RICH parents who don't even want to donate a pound. "Why should we help poor people?" Literally. That was what was said. Then, immediately after Book Week, we have The English Festival. Which has involved us teaching NOTHING WHATSOEVER for about four periods a week (cue angry emails from parents "Why has my child not learned calculus yet?") due to needing the time to organise performances and rehearsal and then, FOUR DAYS BEFORE THE EVENT, the Headmistress decides that ALL performances need to have "Audience Participation" in them. So that needs to be worked in. By the way, we just worked through several consecutive lunch breaks marking mid-term exams with seriously crap rubrics for marking - because the Headmistress wants them done to give back to the pupils on Friday. We also need to write a full term plan and have it translated for parents RIGHT THIS MINUTE due to one parent - SINGULAR - complaining that they wanted this. THEN: we have two parents' observation days coming up, which means 3 periods of observation, one after the other for me. So those have to be planned. And rehearsed. And re-jigged because my co-teacher, bless her heart, would rather stand at the back of the room than do any actual work. And they are judging the teachers on their level of co-teaching. So I'm on to an automatic loser because she is basically a mouse in human form and I dominate the classes, because otherwise nothing would get done. Seriously, I tried planning her interactions in the lesson and giving her time to practice, and she just kept looking to me for instruction. Which is my fault. Oh yes, and we've just started a four-week professional development course that requires video-watching, note-taking, podcast-listening and essay writing. I'm looking forward to my three-day Christmas holiday, although I am a worried that I may have dropped dead or murdered someone by then.

Japanese-style barbecue chicken breast with a ridiculous amount of butter. White bread.

This was getting repetitive until I discovered Adventure and Challenge mode. Also: the blude lady with the book is awful. SHOW SOME BOOB, WILL YOU?!

Where are the Tottenham fans? The Toon finally got a win and I feel the need to gloat.

Underwhelmed. The scenes in the wrecked city recalled the first film. The Pinnochio references were interesting, but only "got" them after a second viewing. There was no humour in this at all. I hope this is not another Star Trek Into Darkness - they reference the character for the sake of the fans, but everyone else is just nonplussed. "My name... (tears) (emotion) (definitely not a one-dimensional actor) is... Khan." Everybody Who Doesn't Know Who Khan Is: "So ----ing what? Who gives a crap? If you had said 'My name is Frank Frankersson' it would have meant the same." Fan of Star Trek: "What a shit way to introduce an awesome character. Ricardo Montalban is spinning in his grave. SPINNING." Anyway, we will see, but thus far... trepidation.

Pfah! I just did four day, one day off, then five days. Nine days, one day off. Now we have a weekend, then next week: pre-field trip visit to Chocolate Happy Land (yes!), parents evening WITH NO SCHEDULE FOR MEETINGS - "you might have to stay until 9:30-10:00pm, book week preparations, buddy reading system to put in place, mid-term tests to create...

Franklin? Who's Franklin? One of the Koopalings?

Belated and beknighted birthday wishes!

Nothing speeds up a promotion like a job offer: If you're happy and they know it (clap clap) then there's no reason to make you any happier. But if you imply that your dissatisfaction with a lack of advancement may be sufficient to spur you to change, then... ...mua ha ha ha.

No, don't do it! It's too late for me, but you can still save yourself! Escape while you still caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan! I mean, congratulations.

It has been a bit of a year, hasn't it? Anyway, Joan Rivers. Never really found her funny, but I know people who did. And I have absolutely no idea what she looked like before the surgery. Nevertheless, I feel for her family, and it seems that she was relatively healthy before she went into the hospital a few weeks ago.

Well, yes, I think depression is something that people have a poor understanding of, and many consider themselves "depressed" when they are not, and then there are those who are suffering from depression who don't get diagnosed and have treatment. I think it's quite an easy malady to fake once you have an idea of the symptoms - and many psychiatrists and counselors I have met are either easy to fool, or so disinterested in their patients that they will just continue to prescribe medications. My own psychiatrist just kept ticking the boxes -"are you feeling happier?" "Are you sleeping better?" "How's your appetite?". Then regardless of the answer she just upped the dose of medication and told me to come back in three weeks to give her more money so she could ask the same questions again. And up the dosage. I used to have a negative impression of people with depression, because I did not understand it - the ex-girlfriend was depressed (or so she said) and it manifested in a lot of incredibly selfish behavior designed to maximize her own happiness. She slept like a log, ate like a horse, easily got excited about fun things - but had no interest in work or any activity that would not promote her own pleasure. Now, going by the criteria that I know, that was not depression, she was just being a selfish bitch. However, I don't pretend to have all the answers, nor can I say that I have the monopoly on understanding depression. I can tell you what I've felt, and I've considered the same road out as Robin Williams, but I'm still here. Lord knows why, it seems like a punishment. Nevertheless, one good thing came out of it: I demonstrated once more my impressive willpower as I weaned myself off the medication. Same as I did the sleeping pills. I rock, and you know it.