:confused:

What about flair? Will you need to wear flair?

What kind of job is that?

What movie was that from foot? I can't remember whether I loved or hated it, but I definitely remember the 'flair' thing being a big side issue for the protagonist.

Aden had confirmation from his maths teacher yesterday that he has achieved an A overall for maths this semester. That's a huge jump from a low C last semester. I'm so proud of him. He's worked hard to improve and this will set him in good stead as he enters his last two years of high school next year. He was so pumped about it that he actually promised to win the maths prize for next year. I know he can if he sets his mind to it.

Finally my biggest boy is putting his great mind to use, and none too soon either. :)

nb I guess maybe it's not such a big deal to some people just getting an A in maths, but Aden has had a lot of trouble knuckling under in highschool. I put it down to him having incredibly nurturing teachers for the last couple of years of primary school, and so the whole; it's your responsibility thing, hit him pretty hard, plus he had a short foray into dope smoking when we first moved here so that set him back for a bit too, so I'm just really happy to see him making good choices now, both socially, educationally and financially (he has a part time job now too).

Flair comes from one of the funniest movies ever, "Office Space"

Our Christmas tree is UP!!! Yay! Now it really feels like Christmas time here.

Yes I know it's a bit early, but since the big boys are going away this year, we're having Christmas early for them. Probably on the 16th of December. That gives us a couple of weeks to enjoy the tree and get all the other Christmas stuff ready (although of course I already have a head start on that :) )

So I'm curious... what kinds of X-mas trees are popular with Australians ?

Oregon and Washington grow hugh numbers of X-mas trees.
Douglas Fir, Noble Fir, and to a lesser extent the Grand Fir and Spruce
In Montana it's the Balsam Fir that is most popular.

For the mid-west and east, I don't know what is popular.

Same as you Lamp, as far as I know.
Douglas fir is my personal favorite. I think they smell the best and don't have a million sharp needles on them. They're softer.

fix'd

I'm pining for a white christmas.

plastic. lol

Fir trees don't do that well in the climate we live in here.

Many native Australian trees are highly flammable.
You wouldn't want one in your living room.

Worse, they attract drop bears.

Some people have a real pine tree. Many do plastic. Quite a few don't bother.

One of the contestants on I'm A Celeb mentioned drop bears this week :)
Convinced another camp-mate they were real. Then spoiled it by cracking up.

I'm happy at the all round good-ness of people in general.
And Dwellars in particular.

ok, I'll bite.

What's a drop bear?

Is it like a jagular?

They're fairly prolific up north. bit further north than me. They sit up in the trees and they're kind like koalas but not.

Anyway, the locals usually know where they are, but it's the tourists they usually get. You just have to be wary. Kinda like with crocs and not swimming in their water holes.

This is something that is making me happy, but which happened yesterday :)

Yesterday was week 9 of the 11 week semester. Unlike most of the modules, the skills module I teach doesn't have a lesson in week 11. They have to submit their main essay on the Monday of that week, but don't have the Friday seminar, as the purpose of those seminars is primarily to step them into the final essay :p

So, I reminded them, as I was giving them their work assignment for the week, that next week is the last seminar, and I'll be running it as an essay workshop, so bring all notes, laptops if needed etc. And there was a little chorus of 'awwws' from some of the students. One girl said that she loved Fridays and this was one of her favourite classes.

How pleased was I?

Still rather delighted by that.

They seem to have gelled really well as a group, with the research teams I put them into at the start meeting up between classes and doing the study tasks and so on. I'm particularly pleased by that. They're approaching the end of their first semester at university. For many of the students this will be their first time living away from home, in a new town, and most likely an entirely new social group. Giving them a mechanism for linking up with other students and a shared experience (group presentations) can be helpful in the first semester.

It's funny. After last year doing the same module went so well, this time I felt a little less confident with the way things were going. Then it just started to click from around week 5 (from my perspective: they may not have seen that big a difference).