March 14, 2009
New Year’s Resolutions Revisited
It’s March already and boy have we been busy these first two and a half months of the year!
I thought it might be a good idea to revisit our New Year’s Resolutions and see what’s happened.
- Lose another two stone (slow and steady is my melody) = Two more inches off the tape measure and I have bought my first two pairs of non-stretch trousers since 1986! It’s true, I’ve not had a proper pair of trousers for 23 years. And the best part of it all was having to ask for a smaller size. Twice!
- Keep exercising at least three days a week (seven is better but not always possible) = Doing well on this one! Getting a lot of walking in and have started a water aerobics class on Tuesdays. John has bought me two new excercise bikes, one normal and one where you move the handles as well to exercise your arms at the same time.
- Buy a new orthopedic bed (a good night’s sleep makes the day so much better) = Check! We bought a new mattress in January and it is amazing what difference it does to sleep in a bed where your body gets proper support. It is a costly investment, but one well worth saving up for. We want a new bed as well, but for now the old one feels brand new so we can save that investment for later.
- Get a driving license (I’m tired of London Transport!) = Nothing’s happened on this front yet, but I am determined to have a driving license before the end of the year.
- Register our second company = We celebrated our first anniversary as business partners by registering our second company, Atkins Associates. A website with an e-shop is under construction and you can pop in for a sneak peak at www.atkinsltd.co.uk if you’re the knowsy kind like me. =)
- Go on holiday (we desperately need one!) = Not yet…
- Open our ……………………… (can’t tell you about that either!) In process!
- Get our ………………………… (see above) In process!
- Launch our ……………………. (ditto) In process!
- Start a ……………………. (yeah, I’m afraid it’s the same again) = This one is almost a check, so I’ll soon be blogging about it!
Two completed and six in progress is not a bad result, is it? I actually think it is pretty darn good and a good reason to celebrate! I’m off to get some bubbles out – will be back later… =)
March 1, 2009
Happy New Year!!
Today is a special day. It’s our first anniversary!
I can’t believe it’s been a year since we formed the Academy. And I can’t believe how far we have come over the past 12 months. Not even in my wildest dreams would I have believed that day, the 29 February, that we’d be this close to having a proper independent school within the first two years.
The 29 February is traditionally the day when women are allowed to propose marriage. I proposed something that to me felt even more serious. I was ready to promise John the rest of my life, but I had never felt ready to tangle my finances up with someone else’s. But sometimes it all fits. It all makes sense. John helped me focus my energies on what I’m the most passionate about, and all of a sudden it seemed like building a school of our own would actually be possible. The thought of us establishing a learning environment in which the passion for learning is a goal in itself was too thrilling to let go of. Although he had hinted and suggested and nudged, I decided to face my fears and pop the question: Will you tie the knot with me, baby? And he said yes!
Today we are celebrating by registering a second company and drinking some pink bubbles! But we will also keep working. Over the past year we have worked seven days a week 10-15 hours day, but we have also achieved more in a year than we ever thought we could. And here we are now…
The attention we get is overwhelming. People generously donate things we can sell on eBay, or things we can use in our activities. People volunteering their services. Parents asking if we can help their kids. Young people asking for support and guidance. Young people wanting to launch projects. It’s all heart warming and humbling, but it also shows just how important our work is. And just how desperately we need our own premises. A place where we can be 7 days a week. Our kids need a safe place off the streets where they can chill, play and nurture their passion for learning. They all have it somewhere inside them, but in a world that doesn’t see them for who they are it has been long forgotten.
We believe that every child matters. We are working with young black people to raise aspirations, maximise potential and create opportunities for success. You can help us make a difference! Give them some of your time. Give them some of your old stuff that you don’t need or use anymore – we will sell it to raise money and use what we can in our activities. Chip in a little bit of money – even if it’s just a few pennies. Then when we raise our glasses to celebrate our second anniversary we will be doing it on our own premises. Together.
Happy New Year!
//Evalena
February 28, 2009
Get 19,530 new twitter followers in 30 days?
If you are on twitter and want to increase your number of followers for marketing purposes – or just for the extra attention – you might want to check this out!
Gary Mc Caffrey has this crazy idea of how to get up to 19,530 new twitters to follow you in 30 days. As a twitter newbie myself, I just signed up and it’s actually starting to work already.
Check it out at twittergetter!
February 22, 2009
Thank You, Tina!
Our warmest thanks to Tina who kindly donated books to our future school library! One of the most costly exercises after premises and staff costs is the supply of resources. We want our students to have access to books, to arts and craft materials, to music and films, to magazines etc. All of this is pretty expensive, and we are ever so grateful for each donated book, pen, DVD, crayon etc.
Thanks, Tina! You have helped us make a difference!
February 22, 2009
Thank You, Jane!
John and I would like to say thank you to Jane for her generous donation to the Academy. One of many ways you can support us is by giving us your old stuff to sell. We flog everything on eBay, and you can choose whether you want us to have the whole profit or just a percentage of it.
Jane has given us a few boxes full of clothes and things that are now on sale on eBay. You can always see that it is a consignement auction because we use the same turquoise background in all of them, whereas complete donation auctions have red backgrounds. If you would like us to sell your stuff, please email us at paperclips@atkinsacademy.co.uk and we’ll make the arrangements.
Once again, thank you for your support, Jane!
February 18, 2009
You Can Help Us Make a Difference!
Atkins Academy is working with young black people to raise aspirations, maximise potential and create opportunities for success. At the moment we are raising funds to become an independent school and a provider of GCSE and A-Level equivalent qualifications.
Education is an expensive field of work, but we are doing this Obama-style. Penny by penny we will build a school unlike any other schools. We want to be a vibrant hub in our community. A place where young and old come together and where inclusion is not just an empty term. To do this we need your help.
Check out our Atkins Academy website , look us up on Facebook or Myspace or keep your eyes peeled on this blog. If you like what we are doing, we would appreciate a little donation of time, money or anything we can use in our work with young people or sell on eBay.
Thank you!
February 14, 2009
Obama Dit It – And So Can We!
First of all – Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you lovers, dreamers and closet romantics out there! Hope you’re all looking after yourselves and making sure to give your love away, be it to a partner, a family member, a good cause or something you believe in. xxx
Exciting things are happening in the Academy, so here’s an update for you all: As of Monday 16 February we have a volunteer fundraiser!! John and I are proud and happy to say welcome aboard to Kate O’Donohue who will be the Project Co-ordinator for fundraising. Obama based his whole presidential election campaign on small contributions from ordinary people who believed in his cause. Education, as you probably know, is a costly exercise, but if Obama could make it to the White House we can raise the funds we need to make a difference in our own corner of the universe! I’m sure we can look forward to info and updates from Kate in the near future. In the mean time, please help us spread the word and forward the link to our brand new fundraising page.
We are equally proud and happy to say welcome aboard to Donna Armitage, who is volunteering her expertise in youth work as a member of our Advisory Board.
At the moment we have two discussions going on in the facebook message board: “Are Black Kids Less Academically Driven than White Kids?” and “Do We Need Special Schools for Black Kids?“. Please, feel free to join in the discussions and to start new ones! We’d love to get your feedback on our projects, on education and youth work, on the worries we face as parents and teachers today etc.
We are currently looking for more volunteers as we need mentors for our young people and project co-ordinators to help get our Community Outreach projects off the ground. We’re setting up a MySpace page where we will be targeting young people and showing what we have on offer for them. There are also plans for a fundraising fête with a talent show and, possibly, a party during the April school holiday.
Last but not least, we’ve started a mailing list for our supporters. Email us on info@atkinsacademy.co.uk if you want to be on the list and we’ll add your name and make sure you never miss out on an update.
Well, that’s it for now. As you can see we have loads of stuff going on, and you’re more than welcome to join in the fun! Every little helps and together we can make a difference!
//John & Evalena
February 14, 2009
On Valentines and True Love
So, it’s Valentine’s day again; this the single peeps’ least favourite day of the year and the real test of the coupled up’s love for each other. For years, this day (together with midsummer, Christmas, New Year’s, Easter, birthdays, funerals and christenings) used to invoke a feeling of dread and despair in me. There’s some cosmic rule stating that we should all be coupled up. With someone. And I wasn’t.
If you’re not coupled you’re only welcome when people can’t avoid inviting you. Or when it doesn’t really matter if you’re there or not. But even then you have to put up with weird looks, unwelcome come-ons and people digging into your private life. I guess single people are scary. They’re a threat to people’s perception of what the world should be like. They are potential partner snatchers. And they’re far from normal the way they seem to be partying all week long flaunting their independence. Oh well… I suppose it’s all down to the old “the grass is greener” adage.
Jealousy is probably the ugliest of all diseases, because it poisons the mind and makes people dream themselves away from their lives. This seems to be an especially common phenomena in coupled up people. Read women. I think I can count the number of “happy” relationships in my circle of aquaintances on my left hand’s fingers. And I know a lot of people! Most of them keep talking about their partner as if he were an extra child and how fed up they are with him and his infuriating habits. But come Valentine’s they can’t wait to manifest their “happiness”. This is pay-off day – the day when he will reimburse you for your sufferings and give you a chance to impress your friends with his (material) tokens of love.
At work Valentine’s has been the main subject in most conversations all week, and the newspapers have been full of last-minute relationship rescue advice. One poor chap told the story of last year’s Valentine when his girlfriend said she didn’t want anything in particular – after all it was all just another commercial hype. He couldn’t believe his luck to have picked such a gem of a girlfriend! He picked up a bucket of KFC, bought a bottle of fine wine and grabbed a DVD box to treat his lovely lady to a romantic night on the couch. This, however, backfired when the lovely lady turned into a dragon and threw the chips in his face. She called him an insensitive twat! How could she face family and friends with the news that he’d not given her anything at all??!! For some unknown reason the young lady was still his girlfriend and now he was in agony – this year he had to get it right. But what did she want?
Everybody lies, says Dr House, and he’s got a point there. You say you don’t want something special because that’s what you’re supposed to say. But deep down you hope that he will get it. That he’ll think of something special. That this will be the day he manifests his love for me.
I’ve been very guilty of this myself. I’ve measured love in quantity rather than quality. The number of texts and phone calls. The number of days since he last spent the night. Took me out. Gave me a present. Did something – anything – to show me he cared. Yet I’ve never trusted that Valentine chap as far as I could throw him!
I tell ya, girlfriends, manifested love is not real. It’s as sour as the notes from a badly tuned piano. No presents in the world can mend a broken relationship. The diamond ring has not been forged that can turn “an extra child” into a passionate first lover at certain days of the year. And thank god for that! The reality is that you have to make your mind up – you either want a Man or you don’t. If you do, you need to love him unconditionally for who he is, not for who you wish he was. And you need to understand that Valentine’s Day has nothing to do with real love.
For years I claimed to need a man as much as a fish needs a bike. But everybody lies. What I didn’t need was manifested love and broken relationships with someone I considered to be an extra child. I was miserable enough in myself back then, and I really didn’t need someone else to make me feel even more miserable. But of course I wanted a Man. I just thought my chances of meeting one were about as good as my chances of finding the Holy Graal. But then I met John.
Imagine, if you can, six feet and two hundred pounds of self esteem and a vivacious zest for life coupled with a strong faith and a PhD in Wisdom from the University of Life. Then tell me how a woman is supposed to resist him.
“You need a Man to look after you”, he said.
“Yeah right, about as much as a fish needs a bike”, I tried. Lamely.
“Don’t be like that”, he said. “You can’t lie to me. You’re lost. I don’t know where you are, but don’t worry – I’ll find you!”
I tried my best not to fall for him, and (much to my dismay) I ended up hurting him in the process. But three and a half years, and an uncountable number of broken walls, later it doesn’t seem all that far fetched to think that a fish might need a bike after all. I needed a Man and I found one. Or he found me to be precise. He cares for me every single day and he would lie, steal and die for me if he had to. His love is unconditional, and knowing that he loves me even in my worst moments has changed me.
I have found a serenity in myself I never knew existed. I have found a sense of home and belonging that means more to me than I have words to describe. That’s why I don’t need him to buy me anything today. With John in my life every day is special and the biggest gift he can give me is to let me fall asleep in his arms and wake up happy to another day knowing we’re still here together. And that I can do any day of the week, any week of the year.
Beat that if you can, Valentine!
//Evalena x
February 4, 2009
Happy Birthday My Love
Just wanted to say Happy Birthday to my man, my boss, my mentor and the man I have promised to spend the next 25 years of my life with. 45 years old today, he’s still a young man at heart but a wise old dog in his character of knowledge.
I’ve made him a piggy bank for his obsessive coin collection. It’s a framed picture where he can stick the coins between the pic and the glass. The pic is the above collage of our first year with the Academy – random bits of marketing material and pics of John in various stages of thought. For good measure I’ve also bought him one of those big-ass magnifying lamps old people have… =)
Happy birthday, my love! May you never want… xxx
