Don’t Let Go – 1st May 2023

We don’t want to let go of our dreams
Those were the best days we ever had
But nothing is quite what it seems
Until we compare the good with the bad

What we need is a switching of scenes
And a reminder of what it’s like to feel sad
Remember that feeling from our teens
When our impulses forever drove us mad?

4th Apr 2024 – Submitted to FOWC with Fandango


Today I’m feeling:

A bit tired from late sleep last night and trying to get up early though I kind of failed with that. I got some shopping in this morning that was a bit of a struggle to push myself to do. Getting home at lunchtime meant the day felt like it has gone quickly but I got various bits and pieces done and so don’t feel like I’ve wasted time.

Today I’m grateful for:

Finding the small packets of pickled chilli and chilli in fish sauce that most restaurants have, whilst at Makro. They are bulk buys and I don’t need them often but they were only 30 baht for each pack of 100. And they won’t go off either.

The best thing about today was:

Having both Cap and Tig wanting to be around with me in the living room. It’s unusual for Tigger but I think he really enjoys the attention I’ve been giving him with brushing him a lot.

What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?

Whilst I was out shopping I thought I might as well go to the bank to get a new bank book but if forgotten that today is another holiday so they were closed. I didn’t get upset despite it being time wasted. Just one of those things.

Something I learned today?

I finally found a solution for my iCloud problem I mentioned the other day. Unfortunately, it was a workaround rather than a fix and the workaround caused me a bunch of extra setting up of other things. At the end of the day though I’m glad I got it working because it was an annoying bug that didn’t make sense and was confusing me a lot!

What do I want to focus on this month?

This month I need to focus back on the classroom. Staying calm under pressure and being the best teacher I can be for my students. It’s been a long and difficult break for me and it takes me a while to get back up to speed. I need to remember the mistakes I made last year and be smart enough to know how to avoid them. Slow and steady. Remind myself that there is no rush.


I took this picture because Tigger hid his face in shame after I discovered he’d peed on the folding mattress again! Fucking fuck! He keeps coming for a complete body brush though and his coat feels fantastic.

*Amber – 15th September 1998

Email with TLJ:

S: The Chinese believed that amber was made when tigers died and they became buried in the ground.
I knew a girl called Amber. She had bright orange hair. She was cute. But not as cute as you.

T: wow, how weird – i know (how weirder still – wow, how, and know all end in “ow”!!!!!!) a girl called AMBER SPARKS and her hair is bright orange too!!!!!!!!!!!!! and she’s from Queensland!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
baby, how can i open a powerepoint95 presentation in powerpoint4????? is there anyway of opening it as a 97 document, then saving it as a v4 one???????? it’s a far shot, but otherwise, we’re screwed!!!!!!!
can you solve this one mr senior technical support analyst?????
thanks baaaaaaaaaaaaab-beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, tlj

S: LTL (Chinese name)
You’re screwed! I don’t think you can convert to PP4. You may be able to cut each slide and paste into Word. Save the Word Document then go to the PP4 machine open the Word Doc and paste from Word into PP4. Don’t know how well that would work though. Can you get to a PP95/97 machine and save as PP4? You can definitely save as PP4 – but run through the slide show to make sure it works before you do your presentation!!!!
Did the fact that she’s from Queensland deserve all those exclamation marks?
I miss you muchly – I mean real bad.