Thursday, 6 August 2015

A TV Programme I Saw As A child

Write about a TV programme you saw as a child.
Say;
What it was called,
What it was about,
How often you watched it,
Why you enjoyed it.
Write at least 200 words. Leave a comment on your teacher's blog & on the blogs of at least 3 classmates.

Probably one of my favourite television programmes I saw as a child was called 'Monkey'.

It was about a monkey God who was thrown out of Heaven because he caused too much trouble. Because of this he was imprisoned in a mountain until he was set free by a Buddhist monk called Tripitaka. He then had to help Tripitaka go on a pilgrimage from China to fetch holy scriptures.

However, he was not alone and took with him two other people that had been thrown out of heaven also. These were Sandy, a water monster and Pigsy, a pig monster. Together, they helped Tripitaka on her journey and would fight many extreme monsters along the way.

I would watch this show every week without fail, even if it cost me time when I should have been doing homework!!

I enjoyed it because it was filled with action, strange creatures and lots of humour. It also had a moral message to every episode and also always had a moral message to share that was very interesting, especially to someone young. 

A truly classic piece of television history and interesting to watch something from Asia, years before the explosion of Animated series.




Wednesday, 29 July 2015

Have you had a good semester?

Hello again ladies and gentlemen. Today we will talk about this semester and how it has been.

This semester has been a very good one. It is the second semester, after 6 years of research and spending every day alone in an office, I decided to return to teaching.

Obviously at first this was a challenge, as it had been a while since I had taught full time. However, this is not always a bad thing and actually worked out very well. I have met many new people and discovered many new places.

However, if everything were perfectly this would be a romantic comedy, not reality. There hasn't actually been anything terrible, but probably the worst thing is changing from a job at a place with a reliable, regular salary, to a little more financial insecurity. Don't get me wrong, it is still not a problem to go to a nice restaurant when I want to, but payment is not always as regular as maybe would be preferred. Not the end of the world though.

Well, probably the biggest achievement so far has been finally finishing the design of my algorithms that I've been working on for quite a while. One less thing to do, but obviously when one thing is finished, there are always a hundred more appear!

Basically that is it so far, but there are a few more weeks to go, so lets see what happens before the end of the semester. Fingers crossed it is all good.




Wednesday, 8 July 2015

Post 5 - A Photograph I like

This photograph was taken by one of my students of PENTA at La Catolica. It shows me with some of my best students in the class that I have known for around 4 years. It was taken on Saturday, two weeks ago. 
I like it mostly for sentimental reasons. I have been teaching on the course for almost 7 years and I have watched my students develop over these years from children to young adults. The students in the photograph have become my friends over this time and I have helped them many times with different personal questions and problems.
Also, this photograph is important to me as this was my last class ever on the course, as I decided to leave to focus on other work. It was a very emotional time for everyone and I will miss them all very much, but obviously I will stay in contact and help them in any way I can for the rest of their lives.


Tuesday, 21 April 2015

21/04/15 - Post 4 My Favourite Piece of Technology

Hello again boys and girls!

Today I will tell you about my favourite piece of technology. Well, more machine but something that changed my life.

Many, many years ago, before cellphones or even most PCs, when wolves walked the streets at night and people would hunt with rocks and spears ....................... (only joking!).

Anyway, a long time ago when I was 13 years old I had the chance to buy my first car, a shiny red VW Golf. Now as I'm sure you know, I was not old enough to drive at the time, but it was the idea of my Engineer father that I must know how these machines worked.

Sadly, due to my age I didn't have many opportunities to use it as expected, but more to study, take apart and put back together. This resulted in many hours of 'fun' (cuts, bruises and some victory!).

I liked it as it started my following career as a car mechanic, well, more restorations than mechanics, but this introduced me to a new subculture of people and allowed me an interesting way to make some money, even when at university.

I think that without it, life would have been different, as from this I developed an understanding of how systems work and was certainly an influence on my later career as a psychologist. I don't have or need a car anymore, but I will always have an understanding and appreciation for these machines.


Tuesday, 14 April 2015

14/0415 - Post 3 - My Favourite Living Artist

Hello again everyone!

Today I'm going to talk about my favourite artist. Obviously for many of you this is a difficult and diverse area.

Why is this so difficult? Well, first you must define art. Is it based in the visual, the physical, the auditory, the spatial, the culinary, the spiritual even. These and more can be considered art. Possibly even life itself could be considered a form of art.

However, just for today we will talk about my favourite contemporary artist living today.

From those living today, I would have to choose the work of Kevin Dalton Johnson to be my favourite, as to me it combines form, texture, history and passion to create fantastic sculptures depicting a multitude of emotions and expressions.

However, it is not only the art, but the artist himself to whom I pay tribute, being possibly one of the greatest influences on my life, not only for my appreciation of form, but my understanding of all people and things, regardless of who they may be or what they may do.

For this I will be eternally grateful.





Tuesday, 7 April 2015

07/04/2015 Post 2 > Expectations for a New Semester

Hi again everyone!

This term I am mostly doing English, as it is my favourite subject.

I am not taking many extracurricular activities, but maybe literature and some art. Hopefully I will also have the time to do some sport.

At university, I am also a part of, some other activities. The most important additional activities I do are working with children with high intelligence from low socio-economic groups. This is always a very rewarding activity.

I am hoping that this new academic period brings lots of surprises and challenges for me to enjoy. Every semester so far has been better than the last one and I hope that this continues into the future and maybe even for as long as possible.


Tuesday, 31 March 2015

31/03/15 - Post 1 - A Country I'd Like to Visit

Hello everyone! In today's post I will write about a country I would like to visit.
 
I've always wanted to go to Thailand. I think it's most probably because I like the idea of relaxing on the beach eating delicious food and exploring interesting history. I am also interested in the strong cultural identity the inhabitants have but also the contrast of Western influence.

If I ever manage to go there, I'm sure that the first thing I will do is eat a lot of food! I think that I cannot stay there a long time or I may never leave, but I will be extremely happy! I will also visit all the wonderful hidden treasures and learn as much as possible about the rich history of the country.

I would love to possibly live there for a while, but this could be more difficult than many countries, as English is not a well paid occupation. Maybe I could look for alternative jobs? Hopefully I would have time to travel around the country and experience as much of the culture as I possibly can.

Hopefully I will make it there one day. For the moment I will have to be happy dreaming of visiting this truly spectacular part of the world.