more good new year omens

It's nearly February, so let's all pause a moment to review the year so far, and publish a newsletter.

On the second of January, I was in a department store, in their book department. There was a wall full of books all at 35% off. Of course they were all junk fiction, and there was no way they would have the only book I wanted to read, The Road by Cormac McCarthy. But just in case, I went to the shelf full of Ms, and there it was - the only book in the shop worth buying - the last copy and I bought it.

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Also in the first few days of the year, I made two successful ching donations within days of each other. Both with accompaniment. The BP was pleased. Since then, nothing, but there's always next year.

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After years of happily working half-time, why have I chosen to resume full-time work? It's not purely because of the global pension panic. It's also that there's a new order at work. The useless/certifiable managers, who were drafted in last year, have at last departed.

They're being replaced from the ranks by a couple of colleagues that I respect, and so I have been cooperating with them on planning the 2009 timetable. In the process, I found myself putting my hand up to take on extra classes in subjects that I already know about and have already prepared materials for. So for the first time this century, I'll be teaching the same lessons several times each week, to different groups. If you can't recycle somebody else's work, at least try and recycle your own.

At one point, I totalled up my new weekly hours and realised I had volunteered for more than a full load, so I'd be on overtime. That was crazy, so I dropped the subject I least wanted to cover.

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Another good move was arranging the timetable so that, sadly, I'll be teaching on the very time-slot when the weekly staff meetings are held. What a shame!

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I left an unkind comment at a blog where they had posted some mobile phone photos. In the interests of balance, I decided to post a couple of my own. I soon realised how difficult it is to make anything worth looking at. The only half-interesting ones I could find are actually snaps of somebody else's art. Always let someone else do the hard work if you can.