Mike's musings

Frustration

(backposting) Not on my part, but on Jojo's. She's really got the hang of reading, and really wants to be getting books from school that will stretch her, but they don't seem to have picked up on this. She was sent back with yet another book that is almost insultingly easy for her to read: she goes through it once, and that's it. Not very interesting, not at all challenging. Luckily we've got lots of books at home she can read, and she's now reading books that we've been reading to her, and sometimes reading them, in fact, to Miri, which is lovely. She'll need some help with some words, of course - "caribou" was one today - but then again, Moo sometimes struggles with words like Caribou, and Jojo's not yet 5.

Labels: jojo, reading

Car sound - and reading

(backposting) A few weeks ago, I had a bluetooth handsfree set fitted in my car. My previous phone had voice recognition, so when I had my bluetooth headset on and pressed the button, I could say "Home", and there was a good chance that it would dial the right number. However, my new one, nice as it is, is lacking this feature, so use of the phone in the car - if being legal - is restricted to receiving incoming calls only. So I went to Halfords, and got them to fit a bluetooth handfree set.

It's very good, and I'm very pleased with it. I noticed, however, that I was losing sound on the right front speaker. And then I'd go over a bump, or brake sharply, and it would come back. And sometimes the left speaker would go, and sometimes I'd lose both front speakers and only have the back ones. And reception seemed pretty awful.

So, as I was back in Huntingdon for a day (and that's where I had it fitted), I went in and asked them to sort it. As it was clearly just a loose connection, I was expecting it to take 2 minutes if they had the right tool to remove the head unit. They had, but it didn't, and after 35 minutes, I got a mate to pick me up. It took them a couple of hours, and involved removing most of the fascia. The guy who did it explained it to me when I went to pick it up spent some time explaining it to me, in the mistaken belief that I might feel confident enough to do it myself.

Bigger news - the reading

I don't often use a second heading, but this is big news: Jojo has suddenly "got" reading. Long words, sentences, full comprehension, rather than just single words. She'll try different pronunciations for awkward words until she gets the right one, and remembers "sight words" really well. It's fascinating, and I'm so proud!

Labels: car, jojo, phone, reading

Disappointment, but affirmation

Up at 0515, which really wasn't great. The SecondLife ervice started a little after 0805 - I'd managed to get the streaming working at around 0755 (having woken Moo up at 0730 to look after Jo, though the former had also been up at 0315 for Miri - why?), but it didn't seem to work for anyone else, so we went without. We had a congregation of around half a dozen, I was robed in a cassock, and was ready with cut and paste for a complete BCP Mattins. The only parts which I didn't cut and paste were the intercessions - I invited suggestions from the congregation, and we ended up paying for a goth outreach for Birmingham Cathedral, the Anglican communion and other issues and people - and the sermon, which I constructed as we went. I'd done some preparation, obviously, and preached on condemnation, starting off with Mary Magdalene, who is commemorated today. I talked about condemning the sin, not the person ("I look out in front of me, and I see sinners. But then again, I look in the mirror, and I see a sinner, too"). I really enjoyed preaching, and got some feedback during the sermon, too.

Hopefully someone's videoed the service. If so, I'll probably make bits available.

Had an interesting conversation with a member of the congregation afterwards. A non-believer, but interested. Brought in partly due to his interest in physics and creation. Need to think about it. I've said I'm very happy to talk more about science and religion if he'd like - I have some background in the subject.

Finished the Harry Potter around 1100 (I've been busy, which is why it took over 24 hours), have so far failed to find anyone to talk to about it, who's also finished it. No spoilers, but it's a very good ending, more deaths than I'd expected. Got a little sad towards the end...

We've been so tired today. Cafe Clare for brunch, played in the playground there, back home, played with Jo. I had a bit of a sleep (Moo had tried before, but been kept awake by the Miri monster), then took Jo for a lovely swim. I see what Moo means about her really getting it. With a backfloat on, she's really capable - can go quite fast and steer, as well.

Bath: Jo didn't want her hair washed, but went to sleep in under 2 minutes.

Labels: books, reading, saint, secondlife

Very tired

Not much sleep last night, and a busy day today with Jo. Still managed to read over half the Harry Potter.

I'm also taking Mattins in SL at the Anglican Cathedral at 0800 BST (12 midnight SL time). Please join me.

Labels: reading, secondlife, services

Well, well

Jo's been showing more of an interest in words recently. On the page, that is. For instance, if you read the wrong words to a book she knows, she'll point at the ones on the page and tell you to read those. Also, she asked where the sentences were this morning when I was reading a book, so we had to explain.

This evening at bedtime, Moo was reading her a Topsy and Tim story, and Jo got very frustrated: "where are the words?" Moo pointed at them. "But I can't read them..." So Moo had to point and give her clues, and she told the story. She's started learning the alphabet (it's just another song to her!), but at this rate, we're going to have to decide how to proceed with words. I'm scared, I'm telling you: I'm not trained for this sort of thing!

Maybe she'll just let it go, but she's a dogged little child, so we'll see.

Labels: books, Jo, reading