The Monkey House

More evidence that grading criteria are getting fuzzier:

I somehow have another translation - somebody's business is picking up out there, or maybe it's just the aftermath of everyone making their in-house translators redundant.  Got to get it done before half term and EMA marking.

I keep saying I'll have free time in another week or so, and it still looks like that, but who knows.  If the translations keep coming, I should grab them while they're there and I'm not busy with Unreal Uni work.  On the other hand it would be nice to see friends...  I do plan to get to the beer fest for lunch either today or, more likely, tomorrow.

So I'd better get back to that German medical report.

In other news, Speedy if grateful for all the offers and inquiries, of which he's had many here and elsewhere.  He'll be making his decision over the weekend, if he's not too cold to think.

Leicester is out of his cage!  In fact, he's been out for several hours a day of room 'rest' with the quote marks around rest getting more emphatic every day.  Today he went for his final vet check and now has permission to roam the house at will.  Thankfully we are no longer supposed to stop him running or jumping.  This is good because it has become impossible to keep up with him enough to stop anything.  No outdoors yet.  Vet says to think about that after at least 2 weeks.  She says we should let him out either when we're confident he's learned how to use his revised skeleton sensibly or when the stuff he's doing indoors gets so crazy that it seems safer to let him out.  Please don't tell him the second one.  He is the kind of cat who normally climbs the curtains if stuck in on a rainy day...  

The two cats are friends again and back to curling up and washing each other, though there was the usual hissing from Humbug again today when Leicester came back smelling of vet.  Leicester in Top Cat again and has been for some time.  He gets first pick of the fudz and places to sit.  I think Hum is quite relieved.

Sorry I've not been around much.  My left hand is full of RSI originally from all-day hedge-trimming session in July and now back, so I'm trying not to type more than I have to.  But now doing much better on mega painkillers with physio so hopeful it will actually get fixed well enough to go away and stay away this time.  Also I have been painting the shower room--not as daft as it sounds because it's 95% right hand work--and dealing with the various courses I teach all getting into active mode.  Still loving the new house.

I find this phrase from a student essay is pure poetry:

the seemingly number of endless roundabouts.

Doesn't that perfectly convey the feeling of befuddled alienation you get when driving round Milton Keynes?

Lots of them are writing about Milton Keynes because it's one of the examples of places that might be considered sacred. Yes, really. It has ley lines, and streets aligned on solstice sunrise/sunset. Really. (It's in the course materials, admitedly without the bits about Satan and Heathrow airport, but I thought you'd like to have those too.)

It's a pity the assignment is Religious Studies and not Creative Writing because I'd love to be able to reward him for that.

Phew! All monkeys are currently well (touching wood).

Spider is taking Year 10 exams we had no idea were coming, so pretty busy between that, catching up work missed when ill, and preparing for a violin grade exam next week. He is 178cm and 52kg (the same weight as when he was 170cm).* I'm cooking lots of puds and cakes to fatten him up. It's working up to a point--I've put on 4kg.

Squirrel and Musique continue fairly smoothly with school and work. Spider being ill didn't put them too far behind. The monkeycats are Big. Also Furry. Humbug has formed a bond with the mat in our shower room. He lies on in for hours. When we need to close the shower room at night (to keep the bedroom dark and quiet, we just drag the mat across the vinyl floor and into the bedroom. Hummy doesn't even bother to sit up.

I've caught up with my new course preparation (now a whole 2 chapters ahead of the students!) and am getting caught up with marking (Benin bronzes). I'm waiting to see if I've got a German medical translation. If I don't get it, there should be a more detailed update with photos soon. If I get the translation, no update, but I will earn some money...

*That's a BMI of 16.5. I just checked. :-0

Musicmonkey is in Colorado all week trying to make 3D geometry software look exciting.

Luckily, we are looking after tamaranth's copy of Civilisation, which is doing a great job of entertaining the Not So Littles in his absence. It's 1880 and the Mongol Empire has nuclear weapons; the Not So Little Monkeys just invented the lighthouse and ships that don't get lost.

Granny and Grandpa Monkey will be in charge later in the week because I'm off to do French Speaking Test examining (and laze around with tamaranth) in sunny East Grinstead. I fear I'll come home to find all four of them huddled over the laptop, engrossed in a space race against the Aztecs.

Right. Time for the weekly nit check. (The Monkey House: headlouse free since July 2008!) Then homework, lunch, and off to town to shop for guitar straps.

Nothing exciting really: life has been carrying on pretty smoothly.  But for those who want more detail…