foolfillment: the blog

That dastardly pair Neil Winton and Guinea Pig Mum have tagged me. Memes are quite good things usually, and this one is no exception. I’ve been challenged to tell you 7 things that you don’t already know about me. Trouble is I already did the 5 things meme back in 2006, so do I have to come up with 7 new things or will 2 suffice?

Let’s see what I can manage.

1. Last December I went down some new passages of a cave called Rana in Sutherland. At the time there had been more people on the moon than had been in that part of the cave.
2. Blogging, what is it? I’ve had a blog for a lot longer than Don Ledingham, but it was him that first introduced me to the term when I was still a naive 6th year student at Dunbar Grammar, where he was the Headteacher. But that’s not important right now.
3. I have an incredibly sweet tooth and can easily demolish a quarter of sherbet lemons/strawberry bonbons/rhubarb and custard…anything, in one very brief sitting.
4. My favourite film without exception is Airplane, I don’t know how many times I have seen it, I know pretty much every line and regularly fit quotes into everyday conversation and bamboozle people who don’t recognise it.
5. At the end of my first year at secondary school I had to choose between a extra hour of Craft or having an hour of French. I was talked into French by my parents, here I am several years later and I spend most of my time teaching in the practical workshop. The only bits of french that come to me easily are Je tres en and J’Adoube, I apologise if I’ve mis-typed them, or even just got them totally wrong.
6. Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit soaps! I am a self-confessed Neighbours addict. It’s a disgusting habit I know, but one that gives me pleasure and half an hour of mind-numbing a day.
7. Cream? No thanks, I take it black. I am dairy intolerant. For years I put up with the symptoms, not knowing what it was, then eventually did a food intolerance test, with a very sceptical mind. Turned out I can’t eat cow’s milk, goat’s milk, sheep’s milk, and load of other things. The most irritating thing about it (other than not being able to enjoy a good cheese board) is when I cook with chillies. As anyone who has read The Crow Road by Iain Banks will know, a good thing to soothe the pain of eating really hot food is cow’s milk (is it the lactose?), this is particularly good if you’ve been chopping chillies and then rub your eye. However if you are dairy intolerant then soya milk just doesn’t cut the mustard. I know, I’ve tried.

As well as having to come up with 7 new things, I also have to come up with 7 people to tag and pass on this meme, much like a virus. My 7 people are:

• Duncan Smeed (who introduced Don to blogging)
• Krysia (though she may not have time, justifiably)
• Margaret Vass
• Jonesieboy
• Fearghal Kelly
• Dave Cain (he’s been very quiet recently)
• And finally, Doug Belshaw, because he wimped out and only came up with 2 new things having also done the 5 thigns meme a while back.

I’m not going to chase these people up, nor will I be disappointed if they don’t respond, not everyone appreciates memes, but they can be a bit of fun. If you want to have a go, consider yourself tagged by me.

Castellers by pepesaura [old skool pride]

Robert Jones did me the dubious honour of tagging me for this passion quilt meme. Actually it was a pleasure, most memes are a bit rubbish – just cheap content creation for blogs. This one was a refreshing change. Think of something you are passionate about teaching to your pupils, then find an image to illustrate that.

I love challenging young people to work together and create something remarkable, I first found out about castelling after seeing a a photo taken by my friend Diarmid when he lived in Barcelona, but I thought this photo illustrated this passion better because it is mid-construction and actually involves younsters. I suppose there is a point to be made about usefulness of what is created but, the sense of community that seems to abound castelling has got to count for something doesn’t it?

Now I have to tag 5 new people: Krysia Smyth, Robert Clements, Ollie Bray, Eddie Mack (no blog, yet), and Duncan Smeed.

Here are the rules:
1. Think about what you are passionate about teaching your students.
2. Post a picture from a source like FlickrCC or Flickr Creative Commons or make/take your own that captures what YOU are most passionate about for kids to learn about…and give your picture a short title.
3. Title your blog post “Meme: Passion Quilt” and link back to this blog entry.
4. Include links to 5 folks in your professional learning network or whom you follow on Twitter/Pownce.

Well, I thought I was fairly safe from this meme but Armin Grewe who writes Ministry of Propaganda and the Islay Blog tagged me to come up with 5 things you don’t know about me. This is hard because of the varied (if limited) readership that I have, my parents read this, as do two of my brothers – so not unsurprisingly they know a lot about me, let’s give it a shot anyway.

1. I was once (2001 maybe?) the 39th fastest person in Britain over 200m breaststroke and 45th over 100m breaststroke, or thereabouts, It doesn’t sound much but I like to think it was pretty good. I was in similar positions for the years around that time.
2. I took part in the procession at the opening ceremony of the Scottish Parliament, flanking Robin Harper
3. I once served a desert at work with Brown Sauce instead of chocolate sauce because the chefs hadn’t cleared the cold kitchen completely before dinner service – and I didn’t check.
4. I’m a natural blonde, I just dye my hair ginger to continue a national stereotype.
5. The first single I bought was ‘The more you ignore me, the closer I get’ by Morrissey

Now, I was scratching the barrel there, so one of those aren’t true and it’s up to you to guess which one, although it’s fairly obvious. Now, the next challenge is to come up with 5 people to tag. Let’s go for Ollie Bray, Robbie Alexander, Christine McIntosh, Gordon McLean, and Neil Winton.

[tags]5 things tou didn’t know about me, brown sauce, Scottish parliament, Morrisey, Meme, swimming, breaststroke[/tags]