Dear Diary

Hello Blog! Compared to my output last year I have been pretty absent from the blogging world this year but all for good reasons. Things have really kicked off for me personally with my photographic hobby, and professionally with work abroad and a change in career paths. However one of my favourite things about blogging is creating a record of just what you have been up to in the time you have which flies by so quickly.

Someone told me the other day that the older you get the quicker the time flies by which is a little worrying however I have found that when I record my events for future reflection it does remind me that I have actually been achieving a lot, so although my perception of time is that it flies by in the blink of an eye, I know I have used some of the time wisely, by my standards.

So here I am today, taking note of the of the events of the year. Its half term at the moment so I am not working at the college this week although I am using the time to over prepare for the coming term. I am really enjoying teaching and it is making me study all over again which is great. It is quite frightening when you revisit your own college notes and realise just how much you have forgotten.

I also like to over prepare as when I was at college my lecturers were inspirational to me, and as keen students we bombarded them with questions from all angles. I want to make sure I am prepared for any such questions. Arboriculture bleeds into so many other subjects and the depth you go to in some of these subjects needs to be set. For example, I am teaching pests and diseases so we are looking at the entomology of insects, and the varied and complex relationships between trees and fungi, and other diseases.

As you can imagine before you know it you can be buried in biological terms and processes that although interesting are not part of the course curriculum. There has to be a limit when teaching such subjects so as not to confuse students and to make sure they learn the important aspects of the interactions between trees and pathogens. I do however like to know the answers to as many periferal matters relating to the subject so I am prepared for any question they may have.

I am also doing some business development this week for the photography and am looking at local venues to try and sell my photographs.

I have a list of tasks in my email calendar so that I can individually record all of the things I want to achieve and tick them off as done!

Its been an interesting couple of weeks on the music front and we went to our third Rush concert the weekend before last which was amazing, in fact the best yet! I have decided that Rush are not only the most talented guys in Rock 'n' Roll but also the nicest!

I am sad to report that Gil Scott Heron died last week; a much loved artist that I never got to see, but I did remind myself that he lived an amazing life and did what he wanted to do, and through his music and writings he is immortalised. I also realised that the reason there seems to be a spate of musicians I like dying of late is related to my musical tastes and my age! Most of my favourite musicians herald from the 70's and as such are now 20+ older than me. As I turn 40 next year they are all 60+ and sadly succumbing to the ravishes of old age.

I also wanted to note here that Jeff Conaway died last week. He played Kenickie in one of my all time favourite films Grease.

Both of the afore mentioned went before their time.

Well I have recorded most of what I wanted to! And added my latest book to my reading list. I am devouring books this year which is great. I have also recently downloaded Kindle onto my laptop so I can access the free books via the Kindle shop and have really been enjoying reading them and utilising the instant dictionary feature, which is probably my favourite Kindle tool.

I am not going to get a Kindle itself but when you can access so many books for free electronically it is too good an opportunity to miss!

Ok, chores are calling! Happy Wednesday Bloggers! Enjoy some Gil!