We've finally caught up with the homework and the routine is starting to work itself out. My new English class, at my friend's tuition centre where I help out, is lots of fun. Ten 6 - 8 year olds - 3 Malay and 7 chinese - is loads more interesting than 16 12 year olds who barely utter a word in class. The subject matter is a lot easier too - phonetic sounds of the alphabet - easy stuff. And they are young enough to enjoy simple English stories too. I love reading stories to kids, it's one of my favourite things to do with my own kids, even now. The book I read my new class was called Dog In, Cat out - the whole book uses those four words to tell the story. It's perfect for them.

I've also picked up a new student, a boy with Down Syndrome. He and his younger sister come twice a week. His sister was accompanying him so that he didn't freak out, but she's really shy and barely speaks a word, so I have to cajole and coax both of them to join me in the class. I like this sort of challenge where my main goal is to make the kids feel comfortable and good about themselves, gently building their confidence. Their responses have been really positive and it's actually a nice change from autism.

Also finally got to NASOM today. They said they've missed me. It's nice to be missed isn't it. I'd picked up my daughter from school and brought her lunch with me so that we could go there instead of heading straight home. It was good to spend time with the two teachers, sorting out their questions and listening to their stories. They are starting a community outing program next week and want me to drive them there. I hope I can organise it around the other things I have to do on a Wednesday, because I really want to help them out.

So it's going well. Ex is all positive about the new site and I'm just going along doing my thing. I've written a couple of articles for his site and done some proof-reading to help him get the content started but it was strange the way he assumed that I would - he didn't formally ask or anything, just said something like "oh, you could write something about such and such and I was going to make you editor." Hmmmm... I shouldn't but I want to help him out. He needs it. But it's definitely not something I stress over and my other things come first. My kids, my work, the house and my social life all come first. My heart's definitely not in it though, and I don't think my writing is as good as some of the things I've written on here (that you guys have told me is good), but it's better than nothing I guess.

Oh, look at the time. The nights pass so quickly, I'm always amazed. G'night.