Anecdotes from the Classroom

Hello all, Addi here. Tonight I decided to share with you some personal experiences that I had at school, and hopefully some will entertain you.

Student X

There’s always that one insanely annoying person in the class. The one who asks stupid questions, or thinks they’re always right, or throws things at people, or whistles to themself- all the bloody time! In the case of a person I won’t name, it was all four. Throughout high school, my sole purpose in life seemed to be to avoid this person, Student X. Unfortunately, I failed miserably.

Once, we were learning about the Industrial Revolution in a History class, and Teacher A was talking about how her house used to belong to a factory worker from that time period. Student X put up her hand and said, “Were you in the Industrial Revolution, Teacher A?” She wasn’t joking. She was quite serious.

This is the same person who tried to tell us that Antarctica has one of the largest forests in the world. When we explained to her that Antarctica was all ice, and trees wouldn’t grow out of it, she kicked up a massive toddler tantrum and shouted at us that we were wrong. After a while, she finally gave in and said, “Well… Maybe it was the Arctic.” No, honey, that’s the Amazon.

Wheelchair Fencing

During class, we were asking each other ‘Would You Rather’ questions, and someone asked Teacher B whether he would prefer to have no arms or no legs. He replied, “No legs, because then I could be a wheelchair fencing champion.” We argued, “But how could you roll the chair forward if you were waving a dirty great sword around?” He proceeded to demonstrate exactly how he would do it, and it was one of the most hilarious things I’ve ever seen in my life.

Go Home, Old Girl

In Year 5, I had a teacher well into her sixties, who once came to school with her shirt back-to-front and inside-out. No further explanation required.

Although, since I can never seem to stop myself from talking, I will add that six years later she was still at the school, and had died her hair a horrifying shade of platinum blonde, in an effort to make herself look younger. It did not work.

I have dozens of these stories, so if you like this sort of post, show me with comments and likes 🙂 I certainly love sharing with you.

Arrivederci for now, fellow bloggers!

Normality: The Myth

How many times have you heard the word ‘normal’? You might’ve heard it to describe a person, day or even a level of achievement. But what is ‘normal’? I’m sure each and every one of us has a slightly different answer to that question, making normal itself unique and irregular. I am aware that I probably sound like a rambling idiot, but I thought that maybe this isn’t something people generally think about. But in my worthless opinion, people should think about exactly what they mean before they use the word ‘normal’, because such a thing doesn’t actually exist.

Normal People

Friends used to tell me all the time that I wasn’t normal, and at the time I wholeheartedly agreed. But stopping and thinking now, I find myself asking, “How can I be or not be something that doesn’t exist?” The word ‘normal’ doesn’t have a meaning at all. It’s neither a good thing or a bad thing: it’s nothing.

If you don’t believe me, picture what you would call a ‘normal’ person. Are they nice? Intelligent? Good-looking? Male or female? Tall or short? Brunette or blonde? I can guarantee that whoever you’re picturing, they’re different to who I’m picturing and who the person in the next room is picturing. The word ‘normal’ doesn’t carry any weight in this situation.

A Normal Day

Right, so a normal day… A day where everything goes as it usually does, nothing out of the ordinary. But no two days are exactly the same. No day goes by without giving you even the tiniest of surprises, so therefore ‘normal’ can’t actually be defined in this context either.

So, to conclude, ‘normal’ is just a word that’s carelessly thrown around, but that doesn’t actually represent anything at all. It’s a myth. Like the Loch Ness Monster, only not as scaly. And, you know, a silly word in the English language, not a monster.  Yeah, scratch that particular comparison. As good old Dumbledore would say, ‘Alas…’

If you’ve kept reading up to here, I’m impressed. This post has probably bored most of you to death. But my goal was to inspire a bit of thought. Anyway, as you can tell, I’m a many-faceted being and I can ramble about a myriad of things. I’m not sure yet, though, what you beautiful people want to read, so help me out by leaving comments and liking posts you’d like to see more of. Thanks muchly as always.

Arrivederci bloggers!

“I look like a squirrel!” —- Movies and Richard Curtis

Greetings good folk, Addi here. Back in August, I went to see the latest Richard Curtis film ‘About Time’. It was fabulous. Curtis is one of my favourite film directors/ writers and he definitely didn’t let his rep down this time. For those of you who are unfamiliar with him, in a Richard Curtis film, you nearly always get the awkward, geeky, slightly foolish main character- who still manages to be sweet and charming at the same time- the love interest, and a couple of eccentric supporting characters.

‘About Time’ was no exception, but still Curtis finds a new approach or twist to make things interesting. It was a gorgeous romantic comedy- incredibly funny, as you’d expect- and it completely charmed me. If you haven’t seen it, I strongly advise that you do so. You should also make sure you see Richard Curtis’ other films, because I haven’t seen one yet that I haven’t liked. I particularly recommend ‘Love Actually’, ‘Notting Hill’, ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’, ‘Bridget Jones’ Diary’ and ‘Blackadder’ (TV show). Also, as a bonus, Hugh Grant features in many of his movies, and who doesn’t love Hugh Grant? (if you’re saying to yourself ‘who’s Hugh Grant?’, I may slap you)

Love love love his work and I’m looking forward to finding out what his next project will be. I haven’t been to the cinema since, but if anyone has any recommendations or reviews, I’d love to read them.

Arrivederci bloggers!

Jolly Good Show, Old Boy—– Learn British Slang

Greetings good folk, it’s Addi here. Today I thought I’d talk a little bit about the UK and its people. But… it’s all pretty simple over here, isn’t it? We’re the tea-drinking, pasty-faced, over-pronouncing people who drive on the wrong side of the road, from that little country up north that thinks it’s ‘oh so great’, right? Okay, well some of us are a little tea-crazy, but there’s a lot some of you don’t know about the UK. I won’t turn this into a ‘my nation is so brilliant’ speech, but really, it is. Just saying.

SLANG

Alrighty, here’s the fun part. I’d like to teach you some British slang that I or my friends use. Some you might’ve heard of, others maybe not. And for those of you who are British, you might not say these, but I can guarantee that some of us do. Well, here goes it…

Ace- awesome

Do- a party

Bloody/ bleeding/ blooming/ blasted- these are put in front of other words to provide emphasis, e.g. bloody hell, the bleeding computer,   the international equivalent would probably be ‘damn’

Git- Idiot

Bob’s your uncle- it’s sorted/it’s done/ there you go

Hunky-dory- very good/ going well/ going according to plan

Jammy- lucky, eg. you jammy little git

Mate- friend (also can be used when addressing someone directly, e.g. all right, mate? International equivalent: dude)

Piece of cake- easy

Pinch- steal

Faff around- dither/ procrastinate

Chuffed- pleased/ proud

Gutted- very upset

Shirty- cross

Rubbish- trash

Knackered- exhausted

Put a sock in it- shut up

Row- argument

Prat- fool/ jerk

Daft/dim- stupid

There are LOADS of others but I think I’ll cap it at that for today. If any of you have any questions, or anything to add to my list, please leave a comment. I leave you with a fun fact: Buckingham Palace was built on the site of a notorious brothel.

Arrivederci!