Cat Using toilet and toilet paper

Cheryl wrote:

*snip*

My school offered sewing to the Grade 7 or 8 girls for a short period.
That was about the most useful thing I learned in school. I've made
and repaired clothes, made cushions - and, a really big savings -
made curtains.

From my dim and traumatised memories of sewing class, nothing was ever
actually taught. One was just expected to pick it up and understand, which I
didn't. The biggest thing I remember was getting knitting wrong. Now keep in
mind that I had been knitting scarves quite successfully for a good 4 years
before I landed in highschool thanks to my Grandmother, I knew the
difference between plain and purl, knew how to cast on and off, why not to
knit into the back of the stitch and could even do basic cabling. I wasn't
really up to making garments (otehr than scarves) but I could knit perfectly
well. Except that I knit the English way (not surprisingly, being from
English stock). My sewing teacher knitted the Buropean way, which looks
totally bizarre to anyone who knits in English (I'm sure English knitting
looks just as wrong to a Buropean knitter). The cast on is different, the
holding of the yarn and needles is different, and indeed so is how the yarn
is put around the needles. I could *not* get the hang of this new fangled
way and when I tried I made a bigger mess because I was not only trying to
learn something new, but also trying to *unlearn* something I had already
developed 'muscle memory' for. It was a mess. And the stupid teacher would
not accept that I could actually knit - and knit quite competently - in
another knitting language.

The odd thing is that as an adult, I've revisited the Buropean method of
knitting and can see the wisdom in it - I like the cast on better (even
though its harder to judge) and like to do knit stitches the Buropean way.
Purl stitches I still do the English way because the Buropean method is just
plain awkward, IMHO. Does it look like a dog's breakfast whilst I'm doing
it - yes no doubt. But I can make pretty good baby clothes if I have the
urge to - and IMHO they are the most complicated garments to make.

Yowie
(replying to an ancient thread)

wrote:
Jack Campin - bogus address wrote:

My most multilingual experience was in a train compartment going
from Istanbul to Thessaloniki. Me, two Syrians, and a Portuguese
couple. One of the Syrians spoke only Arabic, the other spoke
Arabic and Turkish. I spoke English and Turkish. The Portuguese
woman spoke English and Portuguese, her boyfriend only Portuguese.
I don't think much of the conversation made it all the way from
Arabic to Portuguese and back.

That sounds like an advanced form of the Telephone game. (Or "Pass
the Secret", as we used to call it.) So if the Portuguese-speaking
guy wanted to say something to the Syrian who spoke only Arabic, the
message might be rather garbled by the time it made it through all
those translations.

My mother used to pride herself on getting her one and only A level in
French. Until she went on holiday to France, tried to speak, and the French
person - in perfect English said "Please, Madam, use English! You are
hurting my ears!" LOL.

Yowie

Yowie wrote:
Cheryl wrote:

*snip*

My school offered sewing to the Grade 7 or 8 girls for a short period.
That was about the most useful thing I learned in school. I've made
and repaired clothes, made cushions - and, a really big savings -
made curtains.

From my dim and traumatised memories of sewing class, nothing was ever
actually taught. One was just expected to pick it up and understand, which I
didn't. The biggest thing I remember was getting knitting wrong. Now keep in
mind that I had been knitting scarves quite successfully for a good 4 years
before I landed in highschool thanks to my Grandmother, I knew the
difference between plain and purl, knew how to cast on and off, why not to
knit into the back of the stitch and could even do basic cabling. I wasn't
really up to making garments (otehr than scarves) but I could knit perfectly
well. Except that I knit the English way (not surprisingly, being from
English stock). My sewing teacher knitted the Buropean way, which looks
totally bizarre to anyone who knits in English (I'm sure English knitting
looks just as wrong to a Buropean knitter). The cast on is different, the
holding of the yarn and needles is different, and indeed so is how the yarn
is put around the needles. I could *not* get the hang of this new fangled
way and when I tried I made a bigger mess because I was not only trying to
learn something new, but also trying to *unlearn* something I had already
developed 'muscle memory' for. It was a mess. And the stupid teacher would
not accept that I could actually knit - and knit quite competently - in
another knitting language.

The odd thing is that as an adult, I've revisited the Buropean method of
knitting and can see the wisdom in it - I like the cast on better (even
though its harder to judge) and like to do knit stitches the Buropean way.
Purl stitches I still do the English way because the Buropean method is just
plain awkward, IMHO. Does it look like a dog's breakfast whilst I'm doing
it - yes no doubt. But I can make pretty good baby clothes if I have the
urge to - and IMHO they are the most complicated garments to make.

Yowie
(replying to an ancient thread)



I'm re-teaching myself how to knit. I bought the ingredients for a "Dr
Who" style scarf. I figure why not have some fun with it all. The
owners love helping me wind yarn.

Pam S.

Yowie wrote:
My sewing teacher knitted the Buropean way, which looks
totally bizarre to anyone who knits in English (I'm sure English knitting
looks just as wrong to a Buropean knitter

Yes. Yes it does.

--
Marina, Miranda and Caliban.
In loving memory of Frank and Nikki.

"Yowie" wrote in message
...
Cheryl wrote:

*snip*

My school offered sewing to the Grade 7 or 8 girls for a short period.
That was about the most useful thing I learned in school. I've made
and repaired clothes, made cushions - and, a really big savings -
made curtains.

From my dim and traumatised memories of sewing class, nothing was ever
actually taught. One was just expected to pick it up and understand, which
I didn't. The biggest thing I remember was getting knitting wrong. Now
keep in mind that I had been knitting scarves quite successfully for a
good 4 years before I landed in highschool thanks to my Grandmother, I
knew the difference between plain and purl, knew how to cast on and off,
why not to knit into the back of the stitch and could even do basic
cabling. I wasn't really up to making garments (otehr than scarves) but I
could knit perfectly well. Except that I knit the English way (not
surprisingly, being from English stock). My sewing teacher knitted the
Buropean way, which looks totally bizarre to anyone who knits in English
(I'm sure English knitting looks just as wrong to a Buropean knitter). The
cast on is different, the holding of the yarn and needles is different,
and indeed so is how the yarn is put around the needles. I could *not* get
the hang of this new fangled way and when I tried I made a bigger mess
because I was not only trying to learn something new, but also trying to
*unlearn* something I had already developed 'muscle memory' for. It was a
mess. And the stupid teacher would not accept that I could actually knit -
and knit quite competently - in another knitting language.

The odd thing is that as an adult, I've revisited the Buropean method of
knitting and can see the wisdom in it - I like the cast on better (even
though its harder to judge) and like to do knit stitches the Buropean way.
Purl stitches I still do the English way because the Buropean method is
just plain awkward, IMHO. Does it look like a dog's breakfast whilst I'm
doing it - yes no doubt. But I can make pretty good baby clothes if I have
the urge to - and IMHO they are the most complicated garments to make.



I feel your pain! Needlework classes at school were a nightmare as I have
no talent at all for sewing. It took me 2 terms to make a cookery apron - I
spent a lot of time unpicking the work I'd done and trying to wipe off the
blood from it before the teacher noticed, because as teachers were back then
they only liked pupils who were good at their subject. I remember tears
soaking my work as I snivelled over it, knowing I was just no good at it. I
was 11 years old.

My grandmother taught me to knit aged around 10 and like you I can (if I
wanted to now) knit quite complicated baby cardigans and stuff. The
difference was the approach.

My grandmother had patience, my needlework teacher did not.
It put me off from sewing all my life. I will not even attempt to sew a hem
up. If my clothes need stitching I throw them away. Or..if I like the
garment a lot I ask my aunt to do it.
I can't see well enough to sew now anyway but I might have enjoyed it
earlier had I had a more sympathetic teacher in school.

Tweed

"Christina Websell" wrote in message

"Yowie" wrote in message
...
Cheryl wrote:

*snip*

My school offered sewing to the Grade 7 or 8 girls for a short
period. That was about the most useful thing I learned in school.
I've made and repaired clothes, made cushions - and, a really big
savings - made curtains.

From my dim and traumatised memories of sewing class, nothing was
ever actually taught. One was just expected to pick it up and
understand, which I didn't. The biggest thing I remember was getting
knitting wrong. Now keep in mind that I had been knitting scarves
quite successfully for a good 4 years before I landed in highschool
thanks to my Grandmother, I knew the difference between plain and
purl, knew how to cast on and off, why not to knit into the back of
the stitch and could even do basic cabling. I wasn't really up to
making garments (otehr than scarves) but I could knit perfectly
well. Except that I knit the English way (not surprisingly, being
from English stock). My sewing teacher knitted the Buropean way,
which looks totally bizarre to anyone who knits in English (I'm sure
English knitting looks just as wrong to a Buropean knitter). The
cast on is different, the holding of the yarn and needles is
different, and indeed so is how the yarn is put around the needles.
I could *not* get the hang of this new fangled way and when I tried
I made a bigger mess because I was not only trying to learn
something new, but also trying to *unlearn* something I had already
developed 'muscle memory' for. It was a mess. And the stupid teacher
would not accept that I could actually knit - and knit quite
competently - in another knitting language. The odd thing is that as an
adult, I've revisited the Buropean
method of knitting and can see the wisdom in it - I like the cast on
better (even though its harder to judge) and like to do knit
stitches the Buropean way. Purl stitches I still do the English way
because the Buropean method is just plain awkward, IMHO. Does it
look like a dog's breakfast whilst I'm doing it - yes no doubt. But
I can make pretty good baby clothes if I have the urge to - and IMHO
they are the most complicated garments to make.
I feel your pain! Needlework classes at school were a nightmare as
I have no talent at all for sewing. It took me 2 terms to make a
cookery apron - I spent a lot of time unpicking the work I'd done and
trying to wipe off the blood from it before the teacher noticed,
because as teachers were back then they only liked pupils who were
good at their subject. I remember tears soaking my work as I
snivelled over it, knowing I was just no good at it. I was 11 years
old.
My grandmother taught me to knit aged around 10 and like you I can
(if I wanted to now) knit quite complicated baby cardigans and stuff.
The difference was the approach.

My grandmother had patience, my needlework teacher did not.
It put me off from sewing all my life. I will not even attempt to
sew a hem up. If my clothes need stitching I throw them away. Or..if I
like the garment a lot I ask my aunt to do it.
I can't see well enough to sew now anyway but I might have enjoyed it
earlier had I had a more sympathetic teacher in school.

Both our stories show just how much effect teachers - both good and bad -
can have on people's lives long into adulthood.

There are two teachers of mine that always come to mind, Mr Fogarty my
English teacher, and Mr Poole the industrial arts head teacher and the one
who took the technical drawing class.

I didn't like Mr Fogarty much at school. I wasn't on the debating team and
wasn't one of his favourites in class. However, I came to appreciate what he
had taught me when I got to university and realised that somewhere along the
line I had learnt how to examine and deconstruct a body of work, and this
was not a skill most other people in my university classes had. He, along
with my parents, also gave me a love of language and the encouragement to
write what I write, even if its not 'War and Peace'. If I ever put the
Shmoggleberry stories together in a book, there will be a thankyou to Mr
Fogarty in it.

Mr Poole was the man who encouraged a shy girl (me) to break out of the
stereotypical female mould and take up Technical Drawing rather than doing
Sewing at school. He had to fight his own department, and I was forced to
take metalwork and woodwork if i wanted to do Technical Drawing (which they
thought would turn me off enough to stop me from persuing TechDrawing) But
because of Mr Poole's encougement and support (and the aweful experience I
had in sewing) I was the first female in the history of my school to do the
'boys' program rather than the 'girls'. I was an entirely average student of
metalwork and woodwork (although still better at them than sewing and
cooking) but was consistently the top student in tech drawing, and therefore
'qualified to do Engineering Science in senior highschool, where, again, I
was the first female in my school to attempt the subject and indeed I think
the co-first female in the state to sit for its final exam.

I could have gone on to do engineering at university (I had the subjects and
the marks) and even got offered a trainee-ship in materials engineering, but
science was my first love and I chose to do chemistry instead. Ironically, I
now work with the person who got the traineeship I knocked back - he
approaches problems from an engineering perspective and I approach themf
roma a science persepective but its still important for both of us to
understand and appreciate the other discipline. I am *so* glad I did the
'boy' stream at school, it has also stood me in good stead through my adult
life, all thanks to the encouragement and support of a forward thinking
teacher.

Yowie
(I tell this story to the new starters at work and they can't beleive that
'in my day' girls had to do cooking and sewing and boys had to do metalwork
and woodwork. They say "isn't that sexist?" and I say "yes!")
--
If you're paddling upstream in a canoe and a wheel falls off, how many
pancakes can you fit in a doghouse? None, icecream doesn't have bones.

On Apr 22, 4:16*pm, "Yowie" wrote:
"Christina Websell" wrote in message







"Yowie" wrote in message
...
Cheryl wrote:

*snip*

My school offered sewing to the Grade 7 or 8 girls for a short
period. That was about the most useful thing I learned in school.
I've made and repaired clothes, made cushions - and, a really big
savings - made curtains.

From my dim and traumatised memories of sewing class, nothing was
ever actually taught. One was just expected to pick it up and
understand, which I didn't. The biggest thing I remember was getting
knitting wrong. Now keep in mind that I had been knitting scarves
quite successfully for a good 4 years before I landed in highschool
thanks to my Grandmother, *I knew the difference between plain and
purl, knew how to cast on and off, why not to knit into the back of
the stitch and could even do basic cabling. I wasn't really up to
making garments (otehr than scarves) but I could knit perfectly
well. Except that I knit the English way (not surprisingly, being
from English stock). My sewing teacher knitted the Buropean way,
which looks totally bizarre to anyone who knits in English (I'm sure
English knitting looks just as wrong to a Buropean knitter). The
cast on is different, the holding of the yarn and needles is
different, and indeed so is how the yarn is put around the needles.
I could *not* get the hang of this new fangled way and when I tried
I made a bigger mess because I was not only trying to learn
something new, but also trying to *unlearn* something I had already
developed 'muscle memory' for. It was a mess. And the stupid teacher
would not accept that I could actually knit - and knit quite
competently - in another knitting language. *The odd thing is that as an
adult, I've revisited the Buropean
method of knitting and can see the wisdom in it - I like the cast on
better (even though its harder to judge) and like to do knit
stitches the Buropean way. Purl stitches I still do the English way
because the Buropean method is just plain awkward, IMHO. Does it
look like a dog's breakfast whilst I'm doing it - yes no doubt. But
I can make pretty good baby clothes if I have the urge to - and IMHO
they are the most complicated garments to make.
I feel your pain! * Needlework classes at school were a nightmare as
I have no talent at all for sewing. *It took me 2 terms to make a
cookery apron - I spent a lot of time unpicking the work I'd done and
trying to wipe off the blood from it before the teacher noticed,
because as teachers were back then they only liked pupils who were
good at their subject. I remember tears soaking my work as I
snivelled over it, knowing I was just no good at it. *I was 11 years
old.
My grandmother taught me to knit aged around 10 and like you I can
(if I wanted to now) knit quite complicated baby cardigans and stuff.
The difference was the approach.

My grandmother had patience, my needlework teacher did not.
It put me off from sewing all my life. *I will not even attempt to
sew a hem up. *If my clothes need stitching I throw them away. Or..if I
like the garment a lot I ask my aunt to do it.
I can't see well enough to sew now anyway but I might have enjoyed it
earlier had I had a more sympathetic teacher in school.

Both our stories show just how much effect teachers - both good and bad -
can have on people's lives long into adulthood.

There are two teachers of mine that always come to mind, Mr Fogarty my
English teacher, and Mr Poole the industrial arts head teacher and the one
who took the technical drawing class.

I didn't like Mr Fogarty much at school. I wasn't on the debating team and
wasn't one of his favourites in class. However, I came to appreciate what he
had taught me when I got to university and realised that somewhere along the
line I had learnt how to examine and deconstruct a body of work, and this
was not a skill most other people in my university classes had. He, along
with my parents, also gave me a love of language and the encouragement to
write what I write, even if its not 'War and Peace'. If I ever put the
Shmoggleberry stories together in a book, there will be a thankyou to Mr
Fogarty in it.

Mr Poole was the man who encouraged a shy girl (me) to break out of the
stereotypical female mould and take up Technical Drawing rather than doing
Sewing at school. He had to fight his own department, and I was forced to
take metalwork and woodwork if i wanted to do Technical Drawing (which they
thought would turn me off enough to stop me from persuing TechDrawing) But
because of Mr Poole's encougement and support (and the aweful experience I
had in sewing) I was the first female in the history of my school to do the
'boys' program rather than the 'girls'. I was an entirely average student of
metalwork and woodwork (although still better at them than sewing and
cooking) but was consistently the top student in tech drawing, and therefore
'qualified to do Engineering Science in senior highschool, where, again, I
was *the first female in my school to attempt the subject and indeed I think
the co-first female in the state to sit for its final exam.

I could have gone on to do engineering at university (I had the subjects and
the marks) and even got offered a trainee-ship in materials engineering, but
science was my first love and I chose to do chemistry instead. Ironically, I
now work with the person who got the traineeship I knocked back - he
approaches problems from an engineering perspective and I approach themf
roma a science persepective but its still important for both of us to
understand and appreciate the other discipline. I am *so* glad I did the
'boy' stream at school, it has also stood me in good stead through my adult
life, all thanks to the encouragement and support of a forward thinking
teacher.

Yowie
(I tell this story to the new starters at work and they can't beleive that
'in my day' girls had to do cooking and sewing and boys had to do metalwork
and woodwork. They say "isn't that sexist?" and I say "yes!")
--
That's a great story. In *my* day (long before your day)....girls were
required to
take two years of home economics. The teacher was one of those who
should
have retired ten years before. I learned nothing in her class, except
to hate sewing
and make white sauce. Apparently she didn't care what else you learned
as long
as you could make white sauce. She also taught us that when we're in a
car with
a boy, to be sure and keep our knees together, because boys look in
the chrome
reflection in the dash to look up your dress. Sheesh. Two years of my
life and
that's all I remember. I would have loved mechanical drawing.

Sherry

Sherry wrote:
On Apr 22, 4:16 pm, "Yowie" wrote:
"Christina Websell" wrote in message







"Yowie" wrote in message
...
Cheryl wrote:
*snip*
My school offered sewing to the Grade 7 or 8 girls for a short
period. That was about the most useful thing I learned in school.
I've made and repaired clothes, made cushions - and, a really big
savings - made curtains.
From my dim and traumatised memories of sewing class, nothing was
ever actually taught. One was just expected to pick it up and
understand, which I didn't. The biggest thing I remember was getting
knitting wrong. Now keep in mind that I had been knitting scarves
quite successfully for a good 4 years before I landed in highschool
thanks to my Grandmother, I knew the difference between plain and
purl, knew how to cast on and off, why not to knit into the back of
the stitch and could even do basic cabling. I wasn't really up to
making garments (otehr than scarves) but I could knit perfectly
well. Except that I knit the English way (not surprisingly, being
from English stock). My sewing teacher knitted the Buropean way,
which looks totally bizarre to anyone who knits in English (I'm sure
English knitting looks just as wrong to a Buropean knitter). The
cast on is different, the holding of the yarn and needles is
different, and indeed so is how the yarn is put around the needles.
I could *not* get the hang of this new fangled way and when I tried
I made a bigger mess because I was not only trying to learn
something new, but also trying to *unlearn* something I had already
developed 'muscle memory' for. It was a mess. And the stupid teacher
would not accept that I could actually knit - and knit quite
competently - in another knitting language. The odd thing is that as an
adult, I've revisited the Buropean
method of knitting and can see the wisdom in it - I like the cast on
better (even though its harder to judge) and like to do knit
stitches the Buropean way. Purl stitches I still do the English way
because the Buropean method is just plain awkward, IMHO. Does it
look like a dog's breakfast whilst I'm doing it - yes no doubt. But
I can make pretty good baby clothes if I have the urge to - and IMHO
they are the most complicated garments to make.
I feel your pain! Needlework classes at school were a nightmare as
I have no talent at all for sewing. It took me 2 terms to make a
cookery apron - I spent a lot of time unpicking the work I'd done and
trying to wipe off the blood from it before the teacher noticed,
because as teachers were back then they only liked pupils who were
good at their subject. I remember tears soaking my work as I
snivelled over it, knowing I was just no good at it. I was 11 years
old.
My grandmother taught me to knit aged around 10 and like you I can
(if I wanted to now) knit quite complicated baby cardigans and stuff.
The difference was the approach.
My grandmother had patience, my needlework teacher did not.
It put me off from sewing all my life. I will not even attempt to
sew a hem up. If my clothes need stitching I throw them away. Or..if I
like the garment a lot I ask my aunt to do it.
I can't see well enough to sew now anyway but I might have enjoyed it
earlier had I had a more sympathetic teacher in school.
Both our stories show just how much effect teachers - both good and bad -
can have on people's lives long into adulthood.

There are two teachers of mine that always come to mind, Mr Fogarty my
English teacher, and Mr Poole the industrial arts head teacher and the one
who took the technical drawing class.

I didn't like Mr Fogarty much at school. I wasn't on the debating team and
wasn't one of his favourites in class. However, I came to appreciate what he
had taught me when I got to university and realised that somewhere along the
line I had learnt how to examine and deconstruct a body of work, and this
was not a skill most other people in my university classes had. He, along
with my parents, also gave me a love of language and the encouragement to
write what I write, even if its not 'War and Peace'. If I ever put the
Shmoggleberry stories together in a book, there will be a thankyou to Mr
Fogarty in it.

Mr Poole was the man who encouraged a shy girl (me) to break out of the
stereotypical female mould and take up Technical Drawing rather than doing
Sewing at school. He had to fight his own department, and I was forced to
take metalwork and woodwork if i wanted to do Technical Drawing (which they
thought would turn me off enough to stop me from persuing TechDrawing) But
because of Mr Poole's encougement and support (and the aweful experience I
had in sewing) I was the first female in the history of my school to do the
'boys' program rather than the 'girls'. I was an entirely average student of
metalwork and woodwork (although still better at them than sewing and
cooking) but was consistently the top student in tech drawing, and therefore
'qualified to do Engineering Science in senior highschool, where, again, I
was the first female in my school to attempt the subject and indeed I think
the co-first female in the state to sit for its final exam.

I could have gone on to do engineering at university (I had the subjects and
the marks) and even got offered a trainee-ship in materials engineering, but
science was my first love and I chose to do chemistry instead. Ironically, I
now work with the person who got the traineeship I knocked back - he
approaches problems from an engineering perspective and I approach themf
roma a science persepective but its still important for both of us to
understand and appreciate the other discipline. I am *so* glad I did the
'boy' stream at school, it has also stood me in good stead through my adult
life, all thanks to the encouragement and support of a forward thinking
teacher.

Yowie
(I tell this story to the new starters at work and they can't beleive that
'in my day' girls had to do cooking and sewing and boys had to do metalwork
and woodwork. They say "isn't that sexist?" and I say "yes!")
--
That's a great story. In *my* day (long before your day)....girls were
required to
take two years of home economics. The teacher was one of those who
should
have retired ten years before. I learned nothing in her class, except
to hate sewing
and make white sauce. Apparently she didn't care what else you learned
as long
as you could make white sauce. She also taught us that when we're in a
car with
a boy, to be sure and keep our knees together, because boys look in
the chrome
reflection in the dash to look up your dress. Sheesh. Two years of my
life and
that's all I remember. I would have loved mechanical drawing.

Sherry



I had sewing, mechanical drawing and cooking in junior high. Mechanical
drawing taught me how to print and read a blue print. Cooking taught me
I wasn"t 't interested in cooking. Sewing served me well until My eyes
started to give me trouble. It was my junior high health teacher that
told us to bathe EVERY day even when in those days, bathing was supposed
to be bad on "certain" days -- I followed her instructions much to the
horror of my mother LOL! M LB

Sherry wrote:

That's a great story. In *my* day (long before your day)....girls were
required to
take two years of home economics. The teacher was one of those who
should
have retired ten years before. I learned nothing in her class, except
to hate sewing
and make white sauce. Apparently she didn't care what else you learned
as long as you could make white sauce.

That's pretty funny. I actually enjoyed sewing. Not at first, but once I
got the hang of it, I started doing it on my own and made quite a few
clothes for myself. I still enjoy it and have gotten pretty good at making
alterations. This comes in handy because I buy a lot of used clothing and
get stuff from clothing swaps. So at least I got something out of Home Ec.

I think I can top you in the cooking department, though: all my class
learned how to make was *candy*. And not even good candy, but this green,
lime-flavored, hard yet sticky candy that would remove your dental fillings
if you chewed it. I can still remember the taste, ugh. I can't imagine why
the teacher thought this would be useful in any way. We also made fudge,
which was a big step up from the green stuff, but still not too useful,
especially since I never made it again. At least white sauce has some use
in terms of meals. Of course, if you never learn how to make something to
put it *on*, it's not that helpful.

I remember. I would have loved mechanical drawing.

I wish I'd learned woodworking. I've actually made a few pieces of
furniture for myself, and they look OK (ie, 90-degree angles and so
forth ) but they're not too sophisticated because I just figured
it out on my own. If I'd had more formal training I would have been
able to make better pieces. I like working with wood so I probably
would have enjoyed that a lot in school

Yowie: my younger sister was the first girl to take shop class in my
high school (she graduated in 1975). I'm really glad boys and girls
learn both shop and home ec. now.

Joyce

--
Taxes: Money you complain about giving the government, to pay for
services whose absence you would complain about.
-- John O'Hanlon

In ,
typed:
Sherry wrote:

That's a great story. In *my* day (long before your day)....girls
were required to
take two years of home economics. The teacher was one of those who
should
have retired ten years before. I learned nothing in her class, except
to hate sewing
and make white sauce. Apparently she didn't care what else you
learned as long as you could make white sauce.

That's pretty funny. I actually enjoyed sewing. Not at first, but
once I got the hang of it, I started doing it on my own and made
quite a few clothes for myself. I still enjoy it and have gotten
pretty good at making alterations. This comes in handy because I buy
a lot of used clothing and get stuff from clothing swaps. So at least
I got something out of Home Ec.

I think I can top you in the cooking department, though: all my class
learned how to make was *candy*. And not even good candy, but this
green, lime-flavored, hard yet sticky candy that would remove your
dental fillings if you chewed it. I can still remember the taste,
ugh. I can't imagine why the teacher thought this would be useful in
any way. We also made fudge, which was a big step up from the green
stuff, but still not too useful, especially since I never made it
again. At least white sauce has some use in terms of meals. Of
course, if you never learn how to make something to put it *on*, it's
not that helpful.

I remember. I would have loved mechanical drawing.

I wish I'd learned woodworking. I've actually made a few pieces of
furniture for myself, and they look OK (ie, 90-degree angles and so
forth ) but they're not too sophisticated because I just figured
it out on my own. If I'd had more formal training I would have been
able to make better pieces. I like working with wood so I probably
would have enjoyed that a lot in school

Yowie: my younger sister was the first girl to take shop class in my
high school (she graduated in 1975). I'm really glad boys and girls
learn both shop and home ec. now.

Graduated from senior highschool[1] in '86.

[1] back then, whilst you were leagally allowed to leave school at 14 years
and 9 months old, most people left in Year 10 (4th Form) when they were
around 16, and only a few (perhaps the top 10% or so) made it to Uear 12
(6th form) to graduate with the Higher School Certificate when they were
about 18. Now its the reverse, and maybe only 10% leave school at the end of
Year 10 and most go on to attempt the HSC. Its darn near impossible for
youngen's to get a job without a HSC, even if the marks on it are woeful.

Yowie