“WHERE’S NINJA CHICKEN?”

MISSING! Ninja Chicken.

Uh-oh! Ninja Chicken. I’d not seen that blue chicken with a yellow bandana across his eyes for days. Grandand and I did what we could, looked under the bed, in the drawers, behind the curtains. Ninja Chicken was nowhere to be found. And then the waterworks burst…

“I’LL NEVER BE ABLE TO SLEEP WITHOUT HIM!” (You have been for the last three nights, at least!)

“HE’LL BE LONELY WITHOUT PIRATE PENGUIN!” (Then maybe you should have looked after him better.)

“I’M NEVER GOING TO GO TO SLEEP AGAIN!”

And then it clicked.

“Princi, don’t cry. Ninja Chicken is just at a ninja convention.”

The tears stop.  A suspicious and questioning look creeps across her soggy face.

“So he’s with Ninja Squid, then?”

“Yes.”

“But Ninja Chicken DOES NOT REMEMBER NINJA SQUID!”

“Well, it’ll be like a first meeting then, won’t it.”

“Yes, and he’ll be back soon. How long will he be gone?”

“I don’t know. As long as a ninja convention takes, I suppose.”

“Oh, OK.”

And that was that. Princi climbed back into bed, gathered up Pirate Penguin and my old Snoopy, and happily began reading Emily Gravett’s Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears to them.

And this demonstrates my lie. Instead of being lost, I took my pointers from the comic book. The only time Pirate Penguin couldn’t have a bed-time story was when Ninja Chicken was at a Ninja convention. I am so glad I listened to Princi during the numerous times she’s sat and read aloud Troublems with Frenemies.

Anyway. The wayward Ninja Chicken has now been found – he’d made himself a roost – or should that be a Ninja hidey-hole? – behind Nanny’s television set. I was so worried that I’d be facing a deluge when Princi got home from school today, as the bedroom had been tidied as a by-product of the epic search for a blue chicken. Phew! Deluge, denied!

As for Wreck This Journal. Well. I haven’t managed much recently as my head has been battered by the last TMA for the mythology course. But the essay is done and submitted – although I did submit defeat with it, it’s definitely not one of my better essays – so in between reading sections for the next block of study I have managed to do a couple of pages. The first one with a bit of help from a lovely Japanese take-away meal.

Document your dinner.

The noodly ‘n’ isn’t easy to see on this photo, but it is there. I also don’t know why the selotape has degraded the ink from the receipt, but it has. The second page, a double spread, comes in two parts, the second containing bad language, so if there are any little’uns about, best cover their eyes now!

Part one. The four-letter words are hidden, simply because Princi likes to look through the journal. She is under strict orders not to open the envelope.

Part 2. With the four-letter words.

I’m glad I worked out a way to do this page, but to be able to censor it too. I did ask Princi to tell me what bad words she knew and she was very worried that she’d get told off if she told me. But she did whisper them to me in the end – all three of them, and one of those I wouldn’t consider being a real naughty word – and I made a shocked face, just so she knew she wouldn’t get into trouble.

I’m off now to get ready to return a missing chicken to a cheeky seven year old.

Secondly, this will be my last journal update for a while. I have to get back to the studying – I have tons to read and a little under three weeks to get the next essay written and submitted. I’m not looking forward to this one, I can’t seem to find a way into an argument, so don’t even think about giving me a paper bag!

Anyways, here’s the Wreck this Journal update, this time in the form of a slideshow (ooh, I feel so hi-tech now).

Anyways, today’s pages….

Write along the edges of the pages.

Trace your hand. Firefly quote optional.

Hand prints. Yes, it was a very hands on day.

So I was meant to leave this page blank on purpose. I didn't. And at the moment it is my favourite page in the journal.

And Princi’s pages are here. Enjoy!

Wreck This Journal

For those new to WTJ, the idea of the book is this: to open it up at whatever page and do what it says on the page. It could be filling the page with circles, or making a paper chain, or even eating colourful sweets and then licking the page. It’s supposed to help you unlock your reckless abandon, which if you’re like me has been hidden away somewhere deep and unfathomable for years, and open you up to more creativity. It also gives you permission to damage a book – something I’ll do here, but it’ll not encourage me in any way to deface regular books! Nah-ah. I just can’t bring myself to do that.

Beginning the defacing of the cover.

So here are a few more photos of my day of destruction with the journal.

Make a paper chain. I coloured the paper with water-soluble crayons first, then smuged the crayon by licking my fingers!

The first ink/paint blot print.

Yep. I was disappointed with this, so when it was dry, I did it again.

The second ink/paint blot print.

I was much happier with this one.

Scratch with a sharp object. I used the sharp end of an interdental stick. The photo is a little out of focus as it was taken in near darkness.

And there we have it. I will do some more tomorrow, and I’ll update the blog as I go. And if you want to see Princi’s efforts, go here.

As for other things, I’ve discovered that Princi has a friend who understands her craziness. It is so good to know that. She only gets to see her twice a week as she’s one of the girls she does Taekwondo with, but it still makes me happy. They were inseparable at the Christmas party on Saturday, running around like headless chickens, doing madcap dances that the Monty Python Ministry of Silly Walks would be proud of, and generally driving me crazy with silly jokes.

The cheeky chickies!

The cheeky chickies!

The cheeky chickies!

It was a brilliant night, and it allowed me to stop worrying that Princi is having trouble making friends. This is something I have been worried about for a while now, especially since her teacher had mentioned that she doesn’t really socialise at school. Princi has people who she’ll play with if she wants to, but otherwise she is quite content to play on her own. But now I’ve seen her in the environment that she is comfortable in and with kids who accept her for her, well, I feel less stressed about the whole situation. And it makes me laugh that Princi also appears to have a twin obsession, as she adores the teenage twin brothers that go to her TKD club and two of the kids she’ll play with at school are twin brothers too!

So, an essay I thought was a flop and a party I had worried about going to have both left me chuffing happy on the peppermint train. Choo-choo! And my Christmas shopping is all done, so another choo-choo for that too!

Cor, that's a big'un!

You know that scene in Total Recall, where Arnie has the tracking beacon pulled out from a nostril? That’s exactly how I feel right now. I have a horrifically snotty case of sinusitis. My face feels like it’s being repeatedly hit with a wet kipper, and my nose feels as big as that picture just there. Not good. I’m glad I managed to write my essay up and submit it last week now.

Romulus and Remus and the She-wolf

Talking of essays, I’m now into the preparatory reading for TMA03 – “‘The Romans had a primarily utilitarian approach to myth.’ Do you agree with this statement?” Well, I don’t know yet, but I’m sure my argument will reveal itself in the next couple of weeks. I’m currently reading an extract from Livy’s Histories, and it seems he’s not entirely convinced by the whole Romulus and Remus and the ‘She-wolf’ thing, but he’ll use it and other myths to add grandeur to Rome’s cultural history. So maybe that’s where I should begin my argument.

Well, I suppose I should get back to the reading and the tissues. *sniffle* *sneeze*

The usual apprehensions gripped me. How crap am I? Do I really want to know how little I actually understand? Ah, stuff all that, I’m brilliant! But then, look how crap I was last year… So I ignored the inner turmoil and signed into the OU site. Tippety-tap. Click. Click. *Close eyes tightly, then peek through fingers* Woohoo! Distinction! And for once, really relevant comments on how to improve the marks for next time. Yay! So I am now in love with this course and raring to get going with the next essay.

But that will have to wait. I have a ton of reading to do before I can even contemplate planning the TMA, which makes me think reading Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Murakami maybe wasn’t my smartest move. And even more stupid, ordering the new Murakami book 1Q84. I am so going to want to read that as soon as, because I am loving Hard-boiled Wonderland. Add to that reading Matilda with Princi – she’s outgrown the Oxford Reading Tree books that her school was having her read, so she’s now reading the children’s novels we have at home. I think my head might just explode with all this reading!

So, time to get back to it… Once I’ve talked Princi into bed – she is playing golf with a green plastic golf club and a  Hello Kitty bouncy ball, jumping around shouting ‘Yay! Go me, go me, go me!’ I wish she’d give me some of her energy!

Ganymede and the golden eagle of Zeus by Catherine H. Miller

As I’ve moaned about previously, I’m not writing – here on the blog (sorry! Meant to try and write more often) or creatively – but I am now writing academically. My current OU course, Myth in the Greek and Roman Worlds, is in full swing.  This morning, I finally worked the nerve up to press the ‘Submit’ button on the first essay – a three source analysis of the myth of Ganymede. The picture there isn’t one of them, though!

Previous to this assignment, I’d known that Ganymede was something to do with mythology, that this was the alias that Shakespeare gave to Rosalind during her time in the forest of Arden, and through my teenage astronomy addiction that it is one of Jupiter’s moons. I didn’t know what the story was about, or even what it represented in Classical terms. So now to have studied they myth and understand its underlying socio-historic relevance, well… It’s a whole new level of understanding when looking at Ganymede in the forms I am familiar with, and the making of links and theories in my brain makes me happy! I am looking forward to diving deeper into the Classical world now.

So far, I am really enjoying the course. I’ve even met my tutor too, something that doesn’t happen often, but that’s my fault. I find reasons not to go to tutorials, so I’ve decided that I will make an effort to get to my tutorials this year. They are helpful, so I’m only spiting  myself by not going.

But I’m not the only one indulging in ‘the arts’. Princi recently started drama classes, so she’s been coming home telling me how she had to imagine being a strawberry and other things. Over the last week she’s had to learn some poetry, particularly a poem called ‘Sock Song’ by Ian McMillan. I can’t believe how fast she remembers things, she read the poem twice and had it memorised! The same happened with three of the other four poems that were on the sheets she’d brought home. She really does amaze me. Anyway, she was asked to draw a picture of the poem too, so this is what she came up with:

I love that she’s managed to find a place for her latest obsession, with two ‘Pirate Penguin’-style penguins appearing on the picture. And just so you know what I’m on about, this is Pirate Penguin (vs. Ninja Chicken):

Pirate Penguin vs Ninja Chicken by Ray Friesen

So now, with TMA01 thrust on a wing and a prayer into the divine ether of the ‘net, it’s time for me to get reading Hippolytus. What mythic goodness (or tragedy, even) awaits me there?

Where are all the guests?

Yesterday, it was Princi’s seventh birthday. She had been excited since Monday as she knew she would be having a party – although the threat of having her birthday cancelled due to bad behaviour marred her excitement for about five minutes. Still, she bounced around in anticipation… Up until the half hour preceding the party.

“Mummy, where are all my guests? How can I have a party if it’s just me?”

She sat on the chair, thoroughly dejected. Uncle Gareth tried to distract her with a bowl of chocolate coins, telling her that when a guest arrived she should go to the door and say, ‘Welcome to my party, would you like a chocolate coin?’ That cheered her up for a few moments, but when no-one knocked at the door, the sad face came back.

Finally, a knock came. Princi grabbed her bowl of chocolate coins and tackled Uncle Gareth to the door, desperate to get her welcoming speech out. And then that was it; a happy Princi, friends, and balloon fights! Once the balloon battle was over, we all played sneak attack for cupcakes. I covered my eyes and the kids crept towards me, stopping and standing like statues if I uncovered my eyes. To say it felt like I had been ganged up on by a bunch of mini Weeping Angels would be an understatement! It was scary how quiet some of them were!

After a few more games, the food was unwrapped and descended upon. I had put some fruit on the table – pineapple fingers, apple slices, and grapes – fully expecting the kids not to touch it, overlooking the healthy stuff for the likes of crisps and jelly, but no. I was the fool. Nearly all the fruit was gone after the first visit to the table. Then the second surprise – the kids then took themselves off into the garden to sit at the patio table.

Uncle Gareth acted as a Pied Piper figure, the kids followed him about because he was being as loud and silly as they were. I have no clue what he was doing while they were eating their food, but there were loud screams and raucous laughter coming from the garden, so I can only imagine he was doing disgusting things like spitting out jelly or sucking jelly up through his nose!

Uncle Gareth also supervised the craziness that ensued when the piñata was unveiled.

Oi! Donkey! Gimmie my sweets!

Thankfully, there was only one slight bonk on the head when one of the girls, L, hefted the stick above her head and knocked the little boy, C, gently on the head. But wow! The kids were brutal with that wooden cosh!

Then it was time for the cake. This was the bit I’d been looking forward to, simply because Princi didn’t know she was getting a special cake. She is addicted to a game called Spore Hero Arena on the ‘Intendo DS, so it was my intendo to get a cake made with some of the Spore Creatures sat on top.

There were gasps of ‘Wow’ when the cake came out, and Princi was suitably stunned by it too.

After two hours of screaming children, the party was over. Phew! Everyone had fun, hands full of sweets, and bellies full of cake. All in all, a good time was had. And just before bed, Princi said,

“That was the best. Birthday. Ever. And Mummy, you are the best Mummy I could ever wish to have in the whole wide world.”

I am possibly more excited about the party than Princi is, simply because she’s never had her own birthday party, so I finally get to see her getting excited about her birthday. And she finally gets to experience a party all about her. But then, how is that different to any other day? Every day is about her! Or so she thinks, anyhow. I am just hoping that the ordered-last-minute games/activities will be delivered first thing tomorrow. Yikes, I do like to cut things fine! But I am really looking forward to seeing the specially made cake. I am sure Princi is going to love it! Ooh, the anticipation of watching a shocked and happy Princi is so exciting!

And the TMA questions. Well, study mode finally kicked in this morning. I am chomping at the bit to get moving with the course and to saturate myself in myth. Having the questions will only motivate me more. Yay! So glad for the lessening feeling of dread. So glad to have some semblance of sparking brain activity. So glad to to be feeling more like myself and not some shade of my former self. About bloody time, too!

I think, then, it must be time for an early night. I still have lots of preparation left to do tomorrow, and the added anticipation of future learning will be playing on my mind too. So, off to Noddlington for me…