h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well its been roughly a year since I last made a jouranl entry and what a pessimistic one it was.

Well my job status has imporved considerably even jus this wee I got a raise of 33% for some of the freelance work I do but to recap so it makes sense.

My back got better thank the slowly diminsihing power of self healing but it was damn slow going. It made me think about looking after myself a bit more atleast.

My contract did not get renewed and though I had some savings these ran out soon enough and I relied on family for living expennses and Im just now paying off what I had in handouts. The worst part of all was breaking ties with pupils who I had good working relationships with and staff who had become genuine friends. I still see a lot of them as I go back to do bits of work for the schoool but every day was a ball with the other mentors and I still miss that.

I ended up doing some play work developing playground activities and structures for a local school which was great and ended up doing some feild and residential trips with them. If you have never done a camp trip with 50 8 year old boys and girls who dont even know that a sheep is not a wild animal or that a Magipie is not actuall a "Cukaroo" dont even put yourself through the hassel just take my word for it that it is fun, but some people think that crack cocaine is fun too, but I wouldnt advise you rush off to try that either.




Rugby has been constant in my lfe since I was 16 and my dedication to it such as it is payed oof big style because I managed to get two part time posts developing rugby for children (6 hours) and the same for Women and Ethnic minorities. I also got asked to work free lance for a a group running an alternative education programme for children expelled form schools. One has meant working with dreadful kids but great staff and the other has meant working with great kids and dreadful staff so work isnt that different to how it used to be.

Serendipitously (is that a word?) I got some more work through as a sports coach and because my "sports leader" qualification means I can coach most things in schools I have been having a very interesting time. So as a beer swilling, rugby playing, mud loving, pie munching man of 34 years who dances only when full of dutch courage I ended up teaching my first dance class to a group of ten year olds



My love life has been going so well that as this is a family site cant mention most of it, but whilke I was unfortunate enough to have been working behind the bar of a pub I wasa fortunate enough to be asked for my phone number by woman. I wont say too much about her as I ve already gone on long enough, but lets just say that she scares and excites me in roughly equal measure and she is a sweet as she is tough. My kind of woman and obviously I hope it stays that way....


Anyway...anyone nosy/concerned enough to read to the end thank you and the same to the rest of you who wished me well

Glad to read that things are looking up for you, Blicky. I hope the positive trend will continue during the coming year. The description of your new lady friend is delightful. Good luck there, too.

Just one question: are you *sure* sheep aren't wild animals? Why did you have to burst my little bubble? All along I'd been boasting to friends that I wasn't a bit afraid of wild animals. Ah, the shame of it.

"I asked the butcher, 'Do you have any wild duck?'. He said 'No - but I've one I could aggravate for you.'"
(Chic Murray)

"He had a novelty special offer - Your name in lights."

Glad to hear things are going well!

I think team sports for youngsters are so important. Having a sense of responsibility, respect for rules, an opportunity to succeed, a sense of togetherness and comradeship is so good for young people.

Albert Camus, philosopher, writer, and goalkeeper, once wrote that "all that I know most surely about morality and obligation I owe to football". Although this is a bit of an overstatement, there's truth in this.

So more power to you!

Welcome back badger-man!

As for sheep not being wild, well it is obvious you have never worked with them. They are fast, bigger than you'd think, cunning, vicious and as stubborn as a mule.

Hope you can get back into the flow here.

Blessings,
Matholwch .

Well, this is the upside of insomnia ... I've been trawling around old posts and pages for the past couple of hours and finding out all sorts of things I'd missed out on. Like this entry.

When I 'minimalized' by PS awhile ago I also removed my Friends list (just editing it might have caused some hurt feelings) but then of course I miss out on people's journal entries.

So, little brother, are things *still* going much better? Hope so. You certainly deserve every happiness. I've seen you about here and there, but as I'm not here much anymore I don't end up posting a lot. But that isn't to say you aren't often in my thoughts - especially when I look through my photos (or have to change a lightbulb ).

Anyhow, got an update for us?

SIS

Sometimes something comes along and reminds you why you got *into* this place int he first place.

Well, big SIS, things are going fairly well at work at the moment Im working pretty much full time most weeks, Im getting paid to spread my mud cult philosophy and pratices. How cool is that?

The down side is that it is mostly freelance sessional work and the only contract I have is for a fixed period with no gurantee of an extension. This could be a problem if/when I have to apply for a mortgage.

Which brings me neatly on to Helen, well things are going very well romantically and despite the odd raised voice and sulk (from both of us) we are talking abotu getting a place together in the not too distant future.