Jamie

Jamie brought all her work books home from school today in preparation for the end of year. She also brought a pile of papers, drawings, etc. I’ve been looking through some of her work and it is fantastic! I’m really surprised at the quality and depth of some of the work she has been doing. She tells us next to nothing about the work she does. We do try to ask and express an interest, we are full of praise when she deserves it and supportive when she needs helps. But we get next to nothing back! It is very frustrating. I also found a certificate showing that she had taken and passed her bronze level keyboard exam 10 days ago! She was in bed when I found it so I couldn’t ask, but she hasn’t told us a thing about taking this exam or that she had passed it. *sigh*

Joseph, Jamie and The Taxman

I made my phone calls this morning: The inland revenue are still a huge disorganised bureaucracy! I got transferred from one department to another, and in the end I have to fill in a new form and I may as well have not bothered with the last one. I also found out I have been paying tax on a benefit I haven’t received for the last four years and will have to try to claim it back! The investment company I phoned about surrendering a policy have decided to rip me off! I lodged an official complaint! I also had to phone the hospital to chase up an appointment that I have been waiting for. It still hadn’t been made, but the lady I spoke to was able to do so whilst I was on the phone. So it has taken them more than a month since they received the referral from my GP to make the appointment, andthey still wouldn’t have made it if I hadn’t called them! I still have to wait more than a month to actually go into hospital for the appointment.

After lunch Jan and I went down to school for the show. I hadn’t realised it was going to be in the church. We got seats and settled down to wait. Eventually the kids came out and started the show. They did about ten songs from Joseph. They were really quite good. The PA system stopped working so it was a little hard to hear the soloists, but all in all they did very well. The costumes were good too. I took some photos and will put them in the gallery soon.

After coffee and biscuits in the parish hall, we went for our appointment with Jamie’s teacher. As usual she was full of praise for Jamie. She did not have a single complaint to make. She said she could not recall having to tell Jamie off for anything at all this year! She read us a story Jamie had written as part of her ‘optional’ SATS exam she took in May. The story was fantastic, and it had been graded by the year six teacher at level four, which is the level she will be expected to attain in year six. She is currently in year four, and will start year five next year. Her teacher assures us she will be doing year six work next year as she as pretty much attained year five level already!

A Day Off

I have a day off work tomorrow! I’ve got some phone calls to make in the morning (dealing with the Inland Revenue — yeuch!), and then we’re going to watch Jamie sing at school. The school are doing some songs from Joseph. I’m really looking forward to it. We’ve also got an appointment for Parents Evening tomorrow where we will get a chance to talk to Jamie’s teacher about how Jamie is doing in school. We got her end of year report on Friday and it was excellent as usual! Still, I would like to know that she is being stretched enough. I wouldn’t like her to get bored.

ALW, Dogsbody, and Audrey

I finished the book I was reading to day; The Andrew Lloyd Webber Story by Michael Coveney. This was a great book. I learnt a lot about ALW as he is apparently known. It certainly made me want to see some more of his shows. I’ve seen Joseph, Cats, and Phantom the last two twice. I hadn’t realized just how much he has done. Michael Coveny’s writing, whilst a little too fawning at times, did make me want to understand the music a little more. I’m a geek, so I am very interested in the technical aspects of what he does with his music. Recommended.

The book I read before ALW story, was Dogsbody by Diana Wynne Jones. This was an (older) kids book, but one which I really enjoyed. I read several of her books before but this one was quite a departure from my previous experience of her style. Rather than kids and magic, this book is about Sirius, a Luminary who is/inhabits the star of the same name. He is accused and convicted of a terrible crime by his contempories and sentenced to inhabit the body of an earthbound dog (Sirius is known as the dog star) with a normal dog’s lifespan to recover the weapon he is supposed to have used. It is a an unusual tale being written mostly from the dog’s viewpoint. Recommended.

I am now reading Audrey Hepburn by Barry Paris. More when I’ve finished it.

Ladies

Having listened to Stripped by Christina Aguilera, for the last few days, I’ve also been listening to some of the other female singers I have in my collection. First was P!nk – M!ssundaztood. As soon as I had refreshed my ears to that album, I needed to investigate just why Christine Aguilera sounds so much like Pink on half the album. Easy! Linda Perry wrote or co-wrote and produced four of the tracks on Christina’s album (including Beautiful) and six or seven of the tracks on Pink’s! Linda Perry was the huge voiced lead singer from 4 non blondes. More on Linda here, here, and here.
I’ve also listened to Joan Armatrading, Tracy Chapman, Melanie C., Avril Lavigne, Norah Jones, and Marianne Faithfull today. Of course I’ve got lots more ladies to listen to tomorrow.