où sont les garçons beaux?

am off to belgium and paris for a week or so.. back with pictures and 5 kilos heavier soon. have a good week everyone..

mtk xx

it's the question on everyones lips!!!

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Y....
>Sent: Wednesday, 16 May 2007 3:16 PM
>To: R....
>Subject: RE: Glenunga '97-'07 Reunion
>
>Leanne C... jas two, Marcia J... (married Andrew D...) has one,
>wanted to be preggas again with number two last time I saw her. Tom
>H... has one... That answer the question? You and I are normal.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Y....
>Sent: Wednesday, 16 May 2007 3:15 PM
>To: R....
>Subject: RE: Glenunga '97-'07 Reunion
>
>I wonder who has kids....scary stuff...

>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: G....
>Sent: Thursday, 10 May 2007 10:33 AM
>Subject: Glenunga '97-'07 Reunion
>
>GLENUNGA INTERNATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
>1997-2007 REUNION
>
>Hi everyone,
>It's the question on everyones lips.......should we have a 10 year high
>school reunion? Of course!
>
>It would be fantastic for as many of us as possible to get together to
>catch up on the TEN years that has passed - and share stories, memories
>and laughs.
>Please email this on to any addresses you have - and lets get the ball
>rolling.
>Im proposing -
>
>WHEN: late November (date to be confirmed when I get an idea of numbers)
>WHERE: The Alma Tavern, Beer Garden. 66 Magill Rd, Norwood.
>WHAT: Drinks and nibbles
>TIME: 7pm onwards
>
>Partners and kids are of course very welcome.
>
>Please email me if you think you will be able to come
>- so I can finalise numbers - there may be a small cost per head at the
>venue.
>Looking forward to seeing you all there!
>
>Cheers,
>G.


should i...

a) attend to interpretive dance and pretend i invented post-it notes
b) attend to get a sqiz at marcia and andrews offspring and thank my lucky stars that my slow dance with andrew at the yr 12 formal did not lead to such outcomes...
c) attend wearing something low cut and dispel to rumour that i dropped out of the middle of year 12 to have a baby and instead inform them all of the truth - that i dropped out to work at mcdonalds
d) attend with clementine posing as my lesbian lover
e) send a dramatic telegram from kabul to be read out at the gathering sending my regrets i couldn't be there to enjoy the nibbles but am otherwise indisposed..
f) reply to organiser girl that i would rather attend a year 11 chemistry lesson every weekend for the rest of my life than show up at the alma to 'catch up'

on fiction

i have a little crush on the boy who works at waterstones bookshop on saturdays. i tease him about his fondness for the beat poets and he recommends obscure novels to me. i always ignore these recommendations because i'm worried i'll read it and won't 'get' it and my chances with him will be dashed forever. anyway, this little flirtation has meant i've been spending a little too much money on brand new books since i've been here:

a list and pontification:

small island, andrea levy

i read this in three days during my first week in england.. it's about new immigrants to england just after the second world war so it seemed quite relevant. though the immigrants in this book were from the caribbean and had an infinitely more difficult time of it than i did.. it's a novel full of big themes which are explored through the experience of white and black characters. and though it's pretty heavy and all the different forms of racism are explored, it's not a depressing novel as it is written with an underlying humour. i liked it very much.

utterly monkey, nick laird

nick laird is the gentleman friend of zadie smith. they have matching thank-yous for each other in their latest novels (and lastly, nick/zadie... for all your support, love, spew...) as if they mean to rub in the fact that not only are they budding young writers but also cohabit with a fellow talented young writer - 'read it and dream dear reader'. anyway. mr laird has managed to write a sex scene in this book almost as awkward as ms smith's sex scene in on beauty. do you think they sit together on a sunday afternoon and workshop their literary sex scenes trying to make them as 'realistic' as possible? if that is the case i bet their own sex life is whack. which makes me feel a bit better about them being 'literary sensations' and in love.

untold stories, alan bennett

before england i hadn't heard much of alan bennett. then penny and i went to see the history boys and it made me laugh a lot and feel superior to many types of people. exactly the type of feeling i enjoy getting out of my light entertainment. so when i saw this on the 2 for 3 table i picked up a copy. i read most of it lying on the bottom bunk of a hostel in krakow and giggling to myself late at night and annoying my roommates. the stories are mostly from his own life and there is a chapter on his battle with cancer which was particularly interesting as he seemed to articulate in a very humorous way some of the stuff my dad has been through in the last few months..

the history of love, nicole krauss

i thought this was a little contrived actually. and liked it even less when i found out that nicole krauss is cohabiting with jonathon safran foer.. man, these literary power couples really piss me off..

i liked the older characters but thought that the children were really badly written. it has a lot of threads which she seems to attempt to tie up at the end but she missed a lot of them which was very unsatisfying. either leave me totally mystified a la haruki murakami or round things off nicely please. don't leave the job half finished!

she did manage to convey different ideas of what it meant to be alone and loneliness very well though. i was reading in the middle of a busy cafe in berlin and it really hit me that i was alone in the middle of europe, half a world away from people i love best..

the historian, elizabeth kostova

i actually bought this one in a barcelona bookshop from an equally spunky spanish bookseller. it was thick and the text was tightly packed so i thought it would be ideal for holiday as it would hopefully last the week and i wouldn't need to buy another. turns out it is about vampires. so i feel a bit embarrassed to say that i thoroughly enjoyed it. it was very compelling and it has made me desperate to travel to istanbul, drink tea from glasses and peer into mysterious shadows looking for adventure..

suite francaise, irene nemirovsky

this has been in the press a fair bit lately.. the manuscript was found only a few years ago but was written during the war by a russian jewish woman living in france. she was taken away by the nazis sometime in 1941 and killed in auschwitz soon after that. the 2 existing parts of the novel have been published along with the notes the author made on the other 3 parts that she had planned but not written. it was pretty interesting to read her writing process, though i couldn't help but feel it spoiled the magic a little bit. of course logically i know that novels need to be planned and written and revised and agonised over.. but i'm not sure i want to know about it. i just want to imagine a writer sitting in a red armchair, writing away on a clickty clack typewriter pausing to look out the window and stroke the cat.. it was a beautiful book though and very unfortunate that it was never finished. yet another reason to hate the nazis.

the accidental, ali smith

don't really get why this was so hyped and well reviewed. i thought it was stoopid and implausible. it annoys me when *every* character in a novel is totally dysfunctional.







in the company of the courtesan, sarah dunat

i was a bit embarrassed to take this to the counter as it is so obviously *girly*. so i distracted spunky waterstones boy from analysing my choice too closely by asking him if he had added any women to his 'recommended reading' shelf yet.. he hadn't. maybe i'll add some there for him. anyway. i'm a sucker for 'historical fiction' set in romantic settings like venice or paris or 18th century palaces.. i shouldn't be ashamed. it's better than being into meg cabot.

of love and other demons, gabriel garcia marquez

this guy comes up with the best titles ever.. mostly i read this to see if i agreed with clementine's analysis that marquez is perhaps a touch of a misogynist. i'd never spotted it before but i think that i agree, he has a lot of female characters but all of them a little unsympathetic. or totally mad. still love the titles though.. and the weirdness.. this story involves a possessed girl, a rabid dog and a lunatic asylum.


this could go on a lot longer but i'm a little bored of it now. and i've got 3 lessons to plan before 8:45 am tomorrow for the ungrateful little punks. i know i've told a number of you in outraged tones already but for those who are still unconvinced of the madness i'm working in: a kid took a shit in the corner of the classroom! these children are not normal. only 6 more weeks to go..

of engelond to caunterbury they wende

this weekend zoe and i went off to canterbury in the southeast of england..

a quick history lesson because i know you're interested..

canterbury cathedral was where thomas becket was murdered and martyred.. back in the twelfth century henry II and thomas becket were friends. henry made thomas the archbishop of canterbury because he thought thomas would help him change the dodgy system of separate church courts (henry was big into law reform). thomas refused to do so and left the country feuding with henry. when he came back henry had not forgiven and forgotten and instead sent 4 knights off to the cathedral to kill becket. they did this with much gusto, slicing off the top of his head and spreading his brains all over the alter. lovely. and thus becket was martyred..

chaucer's pilgrims in the canterbury tales were all making their way to the cathedral to pay their respects at the place that st thomas a becket was murdered when they got distracted by the the story telling competition. man, i love it when history and literature link up...

anyway, the cathedral was tres impressive, with lots of little antechambers and little tunnels. it was appropriately imposing and dark and zoe and i agreed that we would not spend a night alone in there without electricity for all the money in the world..

here i am looking thoughtful in the cloisters..canterbury as whole is a lovely town with a disproportionate amount of funky cafes and a million french teenagers running around the place.. parts of it were impossibly charming in a very english way that thrilled me to bits.. it's like something out of wind in the willows!
meanwhile, marking essays this afternoon this one made me laugh the most: "jack the ripper was a terrifying cereal killer that slayed women and ate their ovaries." teehee.. with skim milk and a sprinkling of sugar?

something for everyone...

today i skipped out of work at the obscenely early hour of 5pm and got home in time for the 5:35pm showing of neighbours.. i've missed a good 3 months and people, i have some questions..

a) how the hell did janelle get into drag racing?
b) why is ned stealing plasma tvs? this episode implied that he is being blackmailed for money but hasn't that story already been done in the last 6 months with katya (supplementary question: have they got rid of her yet?)
c) what is with the hilarious beard on dr karl? it is part of a plotline right? or did it just show up inexplicably?

those of you who can't answer those questions might be able to answer this one..

the cd burner/player on my laptop skips whenever i put a cd in it and makes an alarming whirring sound when i try and burn pictures onto a cd. do you think this is a 'hardware' problem and is it going to cost a lot of money to fix?

yours in anticipation,
melissa the kisser