The Nog's Blog

Sevilla English

noggin — Sun, 01 May 2011 15:22:19 +0000

I have recently changed hats on my Facebook and Twitter accounts and am now known there as Sevilla English. This is to build a brand for the work I am doing here in Seville, teaching English and Spanish to English translation, leaving Noggin (an online name which I have been using for about 8 years, and to which I have something of an emotional attachment), for some leisure and personal hobby uses. This marks a new development in my online life into the sphere of social media, which seems to be where the action is right now. We will see how it works out.

Update

noggin — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 18:34:45 +0000

Okay, it’s update time.

We’ve been to see a number of flats now, but we still haven’t found what we’re looking for. A couple haven’t been too bad, a couple have been really awful. The most interesting, though quite unsuitable, was a little three story house overlooking the courtyard of the El Salvador church, with the belltower right next to the azotea (rooftop terrace). Have to start thinking seriously about sorting and packing (and discarding) stuff to be ready. It’s funny how throwing stuff out sometimes feels like a new start, and sometimes feels really sad.

Lost one student at the start of the new year, but gained another one. I need about four or five more, depending on how many classes they do.

Writing

noggin — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 19:56:47 +0000

Tell people you work from home writing, and they’ll probably think you have it easy. After all, anyone, can doit, right? Wrong. Writing is hard work. For a start it’s not just the writing. It’s deciding what to write, or alternatively having to write about something which you don’t know much about. So it’s research; both of the subject, and maybe the intended audience, too. How you’re going to treat the subject, what style of writing to aim for, and all that.

Working at home isn’t easy either. Working at home is procrastination made easy. Working at home is constant random interruptions. No words of wisdom from me on dealing with that. Just ignore them as much as possible.

Good news. Possible new student for the new year, which would help to keep the financial ship afloat.

Happy New Year everyone.

back again – again

noggin — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 19:17:32 +0000

Haven’t been around much on the net for the last couple of years, but a lot has been going on in my life. To begin with, my best friend and flat mate has had cancer, fortunately currently in remission. Partly because of this, and partly because work has been difficult to come by because of the recession, the last year has been pretty tight financially, and looks like staying so for the foreseeable future. On top of that it looks almost certain that we will have to leave our home in the next couple of months, so we have to find a new apartment to rent (in Seville, Spain, so if anyone can help…).

At the same time I’m trying to find some new things to work at to supplement English teaching and occasional translating, while pursuing interests, probably non-profitable, in history and philosophy.

On my to do list is to write at least one blog post a week, which will help me to keep track of how I’m doing, and how I feel about it.

Back again

noggin — Sun, 17 May 2009 19:17:44 +0000

Haven’t posted anything here for a while. And this really only announces my intention to restart my blog, rather than being anything substantive. Just finishing a somewhat lazy weekend, but tomorrow promises to be pretty hectic, which probably means I won’t actually get round to posting anything.

my coat of arms

noggin — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 13:46:28 +0000

from the Coat of Arms Generator via casa az

my desktop

noggin — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 12:15:05 +0000

Joining in the fun of az’s desktop me-me.

Personality Cocktail

noggin — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 14:05:58 +0000

How to make a noggin

Ingredients:
3 parts competetiveness
1 part ambition
5 parts leadership

Method:
Add to a cocktail shaker and mix vigorously.
Top it off with a sprinkle of fitness and enjoy!

Personality cocktail
From Go-Quiz.com

Found at az’s.

I think they got the wrong person…..

Wolfgang Pawli

noggin — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 11:33:33 +0000

Spring Cleaning

noggin — Sun, 13 May 2007 10:01:17 +0000

The spring is sprung

The grass is riz

I wonder where the birdies is

Yes, it’s that time of year again. Time to change winter clothes and bedding for the summer versions. And to clear out and clean all the cupboards, adding significantly to the global rubbish disposal problem in the process.

But it does give me a nice satisfied feeling to get it done.