PGCE. Periodically Great Concerts, End of.

Weekends are for friends and family. Fact. OK, maybe on selected weekdays, too.

Hello! It's now Saturday 10 December 2011. Today I shall start filling up this blog with my adventure throughout the PGCE year. In case you didn't gather by now, yes, I am still the guy who signs 'iD + :T' on every Christmas card, and yes, I am training to become a teacher now. I didn't start the blog in September like my good old friend, 'Chris', but I think you should know by now, I am very slow. It makes perfect sense to start a blog at the beginning of a new chapter, ie in September, but, hey, I am very slow. It makes more sense to start writing when you have something interesting to say, ie in September, but, hey, I am very slow. What I was trying to say is, I am very slow. It's now Sunday 11 December 2011. Don't worry. I shall try and finish this blog post before the Mayan calendar ends.

In case you didn't know me, I am 23 years old (as of 11 December 2011 that is, don't know if that is still true by the end of this post) and training to become a teacher. For the past 4 years, I was studying to become a Master in Chemistry with Mathematics. Yes, you can tick the box, check, he is a proper geek. Before those 4 years, I was, eh, how should I put this, eh, ALIVE, or should I say, carrying out 'MRSGREN' relatively effectively (except that one time when I fell off a moving swing at terminal velocity and went unconscious for a while, that doesn't count, I was six). I really want to tell you more about myself, but I am afraid you will have to wait for my autobiography, available in all good bookstores, well, except WHSmith - I refuse to be placed next to Nuts and FHM. Creepy people touching over revealing covers with sweaty palms. No, no. Well, I wish I can share all of my inner thoughts to the world, but let's face it, I know what my inner thoughts are like and I don't want to end up in the cast of 'the Only Way is Essex' - I refuse any sort of mental torture, thank you very much (Oh, shut up.).

Let's start the week with Thursday, Thursday evening. (don't worry, we will go back to Wednesday, it is amazing, I don't want you to miss it.)
/ Thursday 8 December: Meat at Hawksmoor

This picture says it all really. Luckily, only one of us is a teacher.

So, after the career-defining (in a good way, a very good way) lesson with my year 10s, I went out for dinner with my dear old friends, Clair and Ed, the fresh off the boat, Tom (pardon the pun, but Tom does live on a boat, literally, sorry, inner thoughts again). After too many glasses of (any children reading this, look away now) out of date Ribena (I say look away now) that's slightly (look away) high in ethanol content (look away, good) and with a really fancy French title 'vin de la maison' (House Wine, oh yes), I was commenting on the fact that all Clair's friends seemed to be quite sirly, about 6 feet tall, messy hair, and so on, to which Tom and Clair just simply nodded. Ed then replied with the classic joke 'but you are just weird' (clearly a fact, not a joke, laugh out loud), to which I replied with my classic joke 'I hate you, Ed'. Well, to be honest, I am very unorthodox, let's not lie about it. When we were having this amazing dinner at this posh steakhouse in Covent Garden, I literally just got out of work. I was wearing slim fit trousers, orange socks, a white shirt with a blue collar, a red left-cuff, a blue right-cuff, a green button strip, and oh yes, a red bow tie. That just isn't your normal teacher look, is it? But you are just weird - so true. Oh yes, speaking of bizarre, I had a lesson on Wednesday which made one of my students vomit live in class (involving a Big Mac, chips, one-piece KFC, coke, more coke, and a blender - ask me for details, too graphical to say it here). I am just not orthodox. Never was. Never is. Never will be. (Friday, went out a bought two more bowties, morphing into Doctor Who now.)

/ Saturday 10 December: When Nothing Else Compares

Saturday is for me. :)

Spent too long typing. A bit tired now. Judging by the Marmite characteristics of this band, I will cut the long story short, Coldplay is the greatest band on Earth, end of.

Bye! Same time next week?
It is now Sunday 11 December. Still 2011. Panic over.
iD + :T C.
PS Newcomers, in case you don't get it, iD:T is not an abbreviation of idiot. It is how I sign things like Christmas cards. It is a (ha ha) wink (iD) and a (hmmm) crossed face (:T).