June is half over already - this is incredibly scary! I've had a lot of sport recently; no hockey, as the matches have been on Thursdays for the last month, and I'm not missing orchestra for anything, however, TKD and running have more than made up for it!
I had the Cornish TKD competition two weekends ago - it was a great atmosphere as 15 of us from our club were competing (plus associated families and supporters); I came away with two bronzes - my patterns one I don't really feel that I deserved, particularly as I mucked up, and only got the medal because I had a bye into the second round. However, the sparring one was definitely mine! My first match was very tough - it was against someone who I've fought before and lost (she is two belts above me); however, as I was really frustrated at mucking up on the patterns, I really went at it hammer and tongs (apparantly quite scary from the sidelines!), and ended up with a draw after the initial two minute round. So we had another thirty seconds, which ended in another draw, then *another* thirty seconds, which was a draw again! So the umpires all put their heads together, and decided to make it a sudden death round; first point to be scored was the winner. I was very lucky in that about a month earlier in the squad training, we'd actually done this, so I knew the tactics :-) Unfortunately, the first time they ran it, it relied on three of the four corner judges actually seeing the point, and only two of them saw me bop her on the head... So they changed the rules, and, after stop-starting it two more times, I finally got them to see one of the points that I scored!
So - through to the second round... The next person I was fighting was three belts higher than me, and I was already incredibly exhausted from the first round - however I wasn't going to give up ;-) We actually had the fight stopped because the umpire thought we were being a bit too heavy handed (ironic given what happened later on...), and after the 2 minutes, it was a draw... (I'm ready to melt into a little puddle by this point!) We then had the next thirty seconds; when that was up, all I could think of was "I don't care if I win or lose, just please not a draw!" I did end up losing it, but it couldn't have been by much, because of the flags I could see, one was for me, and one was a draw (the other two were for the other person).
However, I was very pleased with my performance, and actually quite glad that I didn't get into the next round, as the other finalist was the lady that I'd been losing weight to avoid (unfortunately as there were so few of us competing, they'd lumped together both the belts and the weight categories...). She and the lady I'd been facing started the final, but it wasn't long into it before the scary lady thumped my opponent extra hard (after she'd been pummeling her all over the ring without the umpire stopping it!), and she collapsed... To compound it, the umpire decided to take off her helmet - not good with a potential head injury, and this was verified when she came round about ten seconds later complaining about a pain in her neck and not being able to feel her legs!
Obviously an ambulance was called, and they had a medic on duty as well, and fortunately, by the time the ambulance actually got her into the big white van, she had regained feeling in her legs and was laughing and joking - my instructor said later that she had been discharged at 7.30 with nothing wrong (apart from being annoyed at missing the rest of the competition!).
John and I stayed down in Cornwall for the Monday, and took a trip around the Lost Gardens of Helligan - definitely worth a visit if you are ever in Cornwall - a most amazing story, where the 200 acres of gardens had become completely overgrown following the loss of most of the garden staff during WW1 - the same chap who did the Eden Project was involved in their restoration, and the result is astounding!
Then back up to Bristol Monday evening, and had a relaxing but busy birthday on the Tuesday; we went out to an all you can eat pan-asian restaurant for lunch (we were a bit disappointed that, although we could watch the sushi chef making sushi, we weren't allowed to actually have any of it - it was all for the evening diners! However, they did make up for it with an amazing dessert selection...) and did some shopping (which did include buying some takeaway sushi for tea - I was determined to have my birthday sushi!), and then loads of baking in the evening for cakes for work (I have the most *amazing* brownie recipe - the "Secret" ingredient really does work!).
This weekend just gone has also been manic! All the running training that I've been putting in paid off dividends. The Race for Life went really well - not only did Alice and I run it in a new personal best of 32 mins - helped by having to overtake a whole load of people who went into the "runners" section, ran about 50 yards, then decided to walk, and also by an amazing sprint at the end - I paid for it the next day with thighs that did not want to speak to me! There was also a whole load of my TKD group there (most of them being completely insane and running it in their doboks!), and we ended up having a 'blink and you'll miss it' slot on TV - as John was doing his 'photographer' act (with about 8 cameras) for the post-run group photo, the HTV cameras snuck up behind him. I missed the actual broadcast, and can't catch up on it, so I'm waiting for someone from the TKD group to post their recordings online...
I've managed to raise £249 for Cancer Research as well, which is a fantastic bonus - everyone has been so generous!
I'm really looking forward to the next challenge now - there are a few 10K races coming up in September, and I'm hoping that with a bit of a push, I'll be able to take part in those as well.
Sunday we did manage to grab a bit of a lie-in (finally! First time in weeks!), and I had my TKD grading in the evening. It went reasonably well - I'm a bit disappointed that I fluffed some of the step-sparring (but I've never been very good at them in a pressure situation - I can do them in lessons, but I seem to lose concentration when I'm being examined on them), but when sneaking a look at my grading card (I like being able to read upside down!), I got B's across the board again, so should be getting my blue belt next lesson! (This puts me at the highest grade in the Adult Juniors group, and I'm not likely to grade again before we leave for NZ, so it is a nice goal to have met...)
I also have a nice new toy - an Acer Aspire Netbook - it is a very small laptop (it fits onto an A4 sheet of paper with space all round the outside); whilst it isn't something that I could use to play mega computer games on, it is absolutely perfect for writing stories and surfing the net (when I can get wireless access!) It's also Linux based, rather than Windows, which means that when I turn it on, it is fully loaded within a few seconds - I am able to get a lot of writing done on the 8 minute train journey to and from work! (webpage link - ignore the spelling errors!) There is a possibility that when not working on my story (it's currently at 4,000 words, and most of those have been Twittered to myself), I might even get some blog posts done, which might make my updates a little more frequent than they have been!
Showing posts with label Tae Kwon Do. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tae Kwon Do. Show all posts
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Friday, 8 May 2009
More Sport...
It does seem that all that I blog about at the moment is sport... This does seem very surreal to me when I think about it; I never really enjoyed sport at school, indeed two of the three sports I'm participating in at the moment were triggers for me to "play sick" at my first secondary school. Yet, now that I'm older, and these sports are not compulsory, I am really enjoying the challenges that they set me. I no longer feel that I am being judged by my classmates or teachers (even for TKD, which does have a class/teacher/pupil setting).
Even within a team setting (both for hockey and the TKD demo team), there are no recriminations when mistakes are made, just a knowledge that as we are human, mistakes are inevitable, but that we do our best not to make them.
A good example of this was our first hockey match of the summer league on Tuesday night. We were playing an excellent team (it turned out that they were in division one of their winter league, whereas we are division four of ours), and the ball was constantly down near our goal. Our defence and mid field played superbly; everything hung together, and, even though the attackers did their best, they were constantly being frustrated by our defence. Despite that, we lost 3-0, with all the goals happening in the second half of the match. Mistakes happened, though I feel that there was very little we could have done to stop any of the goals (we were purely outplayed), and there were no recriminations at any point from anyone on the team. So different from playing at school, where even the slightest error, particularly on the part of the goalkeeper (which tends to have major consequences for the match!) would be dissected and pulled apart.
Our Tae Kwon Do demo team had our first demo down in Bournemouth on the Bank Holiday Monday; again, we were not perfect as a team - mistakes were made, but there was a recognition throughout that we were trying our best (after a little pep talk (lecture) before we went on, mainly for the benefit of the younger members of the team :-) ), and that we impressed the crowd.
And, I'm rather proud of this shot of me breaking my first ever board (I've broken a plastic 'joined' piece before, but "on the day" was the first time I'd ever actually tried to break wood) I don't honestly remember whether I had my eyes shut for the strike or whether I happened to blink at exactly the point that the photo was taken!
EDIT I just had to add this photo in, too - pinched off our TKD website...
And my final sporting joy for this week was going out for a run last night, mainly to get rid of some frustrations that had been building up through the working day. I have a nice on-road circuit to run round John's office which is just under a mile from start to finish. With one minor break of about 30 secs to give a colleague directions, I managed to do 3.13 miles in 34 minutes without stopping running - this is my 5K target for the Race for Life in June. Now all I have to do is improve the time and persuade my legs that they don't need to shake once I stop running!
Even within a team setting (both for hockey and the TKD demo team), there are no recriminations when mistakes are made, just a knowledge that as we are human, mistakes are inevitable, but that we do our best not to make them.
A good example of this was our first hockey match of the summer league on Tuesday night. We were playing an excellent team (it turned out that they were in division one of their winter league, whereas we are division four of ours), and the ball was constantly down near our goal. Our defence and mid field played superbly; everything hung together, and, even though the attackers did their best, they were constantly being frustrated by our defence. Despite that, we lost 3-0, with all the goals happening in the second half of the match. Mistakes happened, though I feel that there was very little we could have done to stop any of the goals (we were purely outplayed), and there were no recriminations at any point from anyone on the team. So different from playing at school, where even the slightest error, particularly on the part of the goalkeeper (which tends to have major consequences for the match!) would be dissected and pulled apart.
Our Tae Kwon Do demo team had our first demo down in Bournemouth on the Bank Holiday Monday; again, we were not perfect as a team - mistakes were made, but there was a recognition throughout that we were trying our best (after a little pep talk (lecture) before we went on, mainly for the benefit of the younger members of the team :-) ), and that we impressed the crowd.
And, I'm rather proud of this shot of me breaking my first ever board (I've broken a plastic 'joined' piece before, but "on the day" was the first time I'd ever actually tried to break wood) I don't honestly remember whether I had my eyes shut for the strike or whether I happened to blink at exactly the point that the photo was taken!
EDIT I just had to add this photo in, too - pinched off our TKD website...
And my final sporting joy for this week was going out for a run last night, mainly to get rid of some frustrations that had been building up through the working day. I have a nice on-road circuit to run round John's office which is just under a mile from start to finish. With one minor break of about 30 secs to give a colleague directions, I managed to do 3.13 miles in 34 minutes without stopping running - this is my 5K target for the Race for Life in June. Now all I have to do is improve the time and persuade my legs that they don't need to shake once I stop running!
Wednesday, 25 March 2009
Spring is Sprung
The sun is out, the birds are singing (even at 2am - one very insomniac bird (possibly a blackbird - I'm not sure...) that was going full tilt when I came back from babysitting last weekend), the breezes are warm, and I've lost my voice... Given that this is the only cold I've had this year, and it has followed its usual course (severe sore throat (which I blasted with a strong hot todday!), move to chest, get better, kick out voice with last gasp!), it's not too bad (and, after judicious application of chocolate) is starting to come back :-)
The glorious weather meant that our final hockey match of the season was played in bright sunshine, which made the 2-1 win feel so much nicer than normal! The fact that we are at the top of the league, however temporarily (about half the league still has another game to play...) is a great team-ego boost as well.
I had my first training with the TKD-Demo team - I'm going to be doing some sparring (choreographed, but should hopefully look very real!), and also one of the skills (which I wasn't expecting, as I've not done those before) - essentially, I'm going to be breaking a board with a side kick (not a wooden one, but a plastic one which slots together, as in this vid (from about 1.26 onwards - it's Bradley and Vaughn doing a pattern before then)) Then Bradley is going to be doing a flying kick over my outstretched leg and breaking another board. We've done it with pads, but it's going to be very different with boards - I envisage a lot of practice over the next few months!
Sunday was spent pretty much in the kitchen - cooking roast beef for the first time in ages, and getting my Yorkshire puds just right - I'm very pleased about that, as I've never done them before! But they rose perfectly and tasted great - and as a bonus, we only ate four out of the twelve, so I've got another 8 bagged and frozen for future use. I also made my pasties for work, and then pancakes for supper, as we'd eaten a large meal at lunch, so didn't want anything major before heading out to TKD in the evening.
Yesterday, I went for another run - this time managing to get out whilst it was light, and we had a lovely trip down by the river - very peaceful and lovely scenery to look at whilst moving through. We covered 1.7 miles in total, but I wouldn't think that more than 0.7 of that was actually running...
The glorious weather meant that our final hockey match of the season was played in bright sunshine, which made the 2-1 win feel so much nicer than normal! The fact that we are at the top of the league, however temporarily (about half the league still has another game to play...) is a great team-ego boost as well.
I had my first training with the TKD-Demo team - I'm going to be doing some sparring (choreographed, but should hopefully look very real!), and also one of the skills (which I wasn't expecting, as I've not done those before) - essentially, I'm going to be breaking a board with a side kick (not a wooden one, but a plastic one which slots together, as in this vid (from about 1.26 onwards - it's Bradley and Vaughn doing a pattern before then)) Then Bradley is going to be doing a flying kick over my outstretched leg and breaking another board. We've done it with pads, but it's going to be very different with boards - I envisage a lot of practice over the next few months!
Sunday was spent pretty much in the kitchen - cooking roast beef for the first time in ages, and getting my Yorkshire puds just right - I'm very pleased about that, as I've never done them before! But they rose perfectly and tasted great - and as a bonus, we only ate four out of the twelve, so I've got another 8 bagged and frozen for future use. I also made my pasties for work, and then pancakes for supper, as we'd eaten a large meal at lunch, so didn't want anything major before heading out to TKD in the evening.
Yesterday, I went for another run - this time managing to get out whilst it was light, and we had a lovely trip down by the river - very peaceful and lovely scenery to look at whilst moving through. We covered 1.7 miles in total, but I wouldn't think that more than 0.7 of that was actually running...
Thursday, 12 March 2009
Time...
Like a winged arrow bears all its sons away...
As it does my posts - when the post in draft is over a month old, it gets a bit silly to finish it as it is! So I am starting again with a bit of a summary of the last month...
Hockey - some great wins... I've not been able to play as much as I liked, with other events on Saturdays and Tuesdays preventing me from getting to matches and to practice. But we are still 2nd in the table with two matches to go - there seems to be an excellent chance that we will go up the league again!
Tae Kwon Do - I had another competition in Feb, this time in Cardiff. I came away with two bronzes, one of which was similar to the last time, as there were only four in the sparring, so, winning or losing, I was assured of a medal (and I did lose, but only by a point, according to my instructor, who was one of the judges). The patterns, however, had nine people in the group, so I had to beat two others to get my bronze - and neither time did I think that I'd done well enough to win, so I was incredibly pleased with that! I've also had the trials for the demonstration team - going round various fetes and fairs in the summer, showing off TKD to the masses. Very pleased to have passed that and got into the team, and even more pleased with my company, who have generously offered to sponsor our doboks, meaning that we won't have to pay for them! (Hey, I asked the MD on the off-chance, not expecting anything, and he turned round and said 'Yes' :-D)
Culture - We had a trip to London to see Sir Derek Jacobi in Twelfth Night, which was *amazing* - there wasn't a weak link in the cast, and the Letter Scene (which, particularly when Sir D.J was performing it, deserves the capitals!) was just side-splittingly funny. Add to the mix a brilliant meal in a lovely Chinese, and fantastic company - it was an amazing day.
Culture - We also went to see Watchmen - I really enjoyed the film - possibly a little too much blood and gore when compared to the comic, but certainly nowhere near as much as Sin City! The changes in storyline (which I know some of the fanboys have been screaming about), I felt were completely justified, and fitted the story a lot better.
Orchestra - We've got a whole load of new pieces, including Danse Macabre, which is one of the first pieces which made me realise that I wanted to play in a group, rather than as a solo musician. We've also got the Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor, which includes as the first piece, the tune from Stranger in Paradise, played first on the oboe, and then on the cor. As the first oboe can't play both instruments at the same time, I've picked up the first oboe part for this, and also for the first two of the Snow Maiden pieces (though I've handed it back for the Dance of the Tumblers, the last in the four dances - with having to do solos in 1 and 2, and having done a simplified version of Tumblers with a slightly different rhythm, I don't think I could cope with that one as well!)
New Zealand - We've had our medical checks, and they have all come back clear, which is a fantastic piece of news. I've also fired my CV off to a number of recruiters, but they've pretty much all come back and said "Let us know when you have a visa". I did find another GIS company (reselling a rival's software) in Wellington, who are very promising, so I'm hoping that they will take me on once we've got the visa sorted...
Microcon - We headed down to Exeter at the end of Feb for the annual Exeter Uni Sci-Fi Society convention - as always, a great mix of people, some really fun talks and discussions (including one on the nature of Fandom with a capital F - I'm sorry, but if I'm not a Fan because I don't tick every box on the list of Fandom (Go to conventions, Run a convention, Slag off other people because they don't fit in to your definition of Fandom, Slag off guests because they happen to disagree with you...), then I'd rather just be a small f fan and enjoy sci-fi in my own way. Here endeth the rant (poor John heard a lot more of it over the weekend!)), and generally an all round chilling time :-)
I've also signed myself up for Race for Life, which I'm a bit scared about - I don't normally run further than up the incline to Temple Meads to get the train! However, it isn't till June, so I've got all the time in the world to learn how to run 5K...
And that is, in brief, the last Month. Hopefully, I'll post another one before the start of the next one, though I wouldn't hold your breath... I'm currently out four or five nights out of seven till the middle of May...!
As it does my posts - when the post in draft is over a month old, it gets a bit silly to finish it as it is! So I am starting again with a bit of a summary of the last month...
Hockey - some great wins... I've not been able to play as much as I liked, with other events on Saturdays and Tuesdays preventing me from getting to matches and to practice. But we are still 2nd in the table with two matches to go - there seems to be an excellent chance that we will go up the league again!
Tae Kwon Do - I had another competition in Feb, this time in Cardiff. I came away with two bronzes, one of which was similar to the last time, as there were only four in the sparring, so, winning or losing, I was assured of a medal (and I did lose, but only by a point, according to my instructor, who was one of the judges). The patterns, however, had nine people in the group, so I had to beat two others to get my bronze - and neither time did I think that I'd done well enough to win, so I was incredibly pleased with that! I've also had the trials for the demonstration team - going round various fetes and fairs in the summer, showing off TKD to the masses. Very pleased to have passed that and got into the team, and even more pleased with my company, who have generously offered to sponsor our doboks, meaning that we won't have to pay for them! (Hey, I asked the MD on the off-chance, not expecting anything, and he turned round and said 'Yes' :-D)
Culture - We had a trip to London to see Sir Derek Jacobi in Twelfth Night, which was *amazing* - there wasn't a weak link in the cast, and the Letter Scene (which, particularly when Sir D.J was performing it, deserves the capitals!) was just side-splittingly funny. Add to the mix a brilliant meal in a lovely Chinese, and fantastic company - it was an amazing day.
Culture - We also went to see Watchmen - I really enjoyed the film - possibly a little too much blood and gore when compared to the comic, but certainly nowhere near as much as Sin City! The changes in storyline (which I know some of the fanboys have been screaming about), I felt were completely justified, and fitted the story a lot better.
Orchestra - We've got a whole load of new pieces, including Danse Macabre, which is one of the first pieces which made me realise that I wanted to play in a group, rather than as a solo musician. We've also got the Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor, which includes as the first piece, the tune from Stranger in Paradise, played first on the oboe, and then on the cor. As the first oboe can't play both instruments at the same time, I've picked up the first oboe part for this, and also for the first two of the Snow Maiden pieces (though I've handed it back for the Dance of the Tumblers, the last in the four dances - with having to do solos in 1 and 2, and having done a simplified version of Tumblers with a slightly different rhythm, I don't think I could cope with that one as well!)
New Zealand - We've had our medical checks, and they have all come back clear, which is a fantastic piece of news. I've also fired my CV off to a number of recruiters, but they've pretty much all come back and said "Let us know when you have a visa". I did find another GIS company (reselling a rival's software) in Wellington, who are very promising, so I'm hoping that they will take me on once we've got the visa sorted...
Microcon - We headed down to Exeter at the end of Feb for the annual Exeter Uni Sci-Fi Society convention - as always, a great mix of people, some really fun talks and discussions (including one on the nature of Fandom with a capital F - I'm sorry, but if I'm not a Fan because I don't tick every box on the list of Fandom (Go to conventions, Run a convention, Slag off other people because they don't fit in to your definition of Fandom, Slag off guests because they happen to disagree with you...), then I'd rather just be a small f fan and enjoy sci-fi in my own way. Here endeth the rant (poor John heard a lot more of it over the weekend!)), and generally an all round chilling time :-)
I've also signed myself up for Race for Life, which I'm a bit scared about - I don't normally run further than up the incline to Temple Meads to get the train! However, it isn't till June, so I've got all the time in the world to learn how to run 5K...
And that is, in brief, the last Month. Hopefully, I'll post another one before the start of the next one, though I wouldn't hold your breath... I'm currently out four or five nights out of seven till the middle of May...!
Friday, 13 February 2009
Another catch-up!
Well, it has been a long while since I posted (again!)
I can't believe that it has been 2 weeks since our fab Newcastle trip, where we headed up-North to visit one of John's ex-housemates and his wife. As well as a chance to catch up on the many years since we last saw each other (hey - we've all got married since then!), and fondly Jenny's cat, we also took the opportunity to expose my thin Southern blood to the chill Newcastle wind and head out into town. To get out of the knife-like wind, we walked over the tilting bridge (though sadly, didn't get a chance to see it tilt as the website with the times on it was wrong by a couple of hours...) into Gateshead, and went to the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art.
It wasn't the first time I'd been in an art gallery, but it's definitely the first time I'd been in a modern art gallery. I can't say that I was overly impressed... I was a little bit amused by the display of the Fluxus art, where the description given ran along the lines of "These artists (especially George Maciunas, who founded the movement) felt that art shouldn't be contstrained by galleries or museums, and some campaigned for such buildings to be closed", yet the display was being hosted in a gallery...
I know that modern art is supposed to "speak to the soul", but I really think that if something needs to have an essay next to it explaining what it is about, then surely it isn't doing its job as art.
Getting out of Newcastle was fun... We won't mention the refusal to use the sat-nav, nor the getting on the wrong motorway...
The last couple of weeks have seen some interesting weather hit the British Isles; Bristol seemed like it was getting away with it (it *never* snows in Bristol...), then got smacked with a couple of inches at the end of last week. However, other people have posted on the snow (particularly UHDD who has some amazing shots of the Lake District), and as I think that it covers the worst of all possible weathers (being both cold *and* wet), all I shall do is grumble about the cancellation of a hockey match and two hockey practices (apparantly we had the wrong sort of snow for our "all weather" astroturf...)
I'm looking forward to the weekend - I've got my first TKD competition for a while over in Cardiff. Whilst I don't expect to do any better than I did last year (in fact, given that I've gone up a couple of belts, I do expect to fact tougher competition...), I'm looking forward to the challenge!
Still doing my sewing as well, though I'm learning the follies of overconfidence; after finishing John's waistcoat, I've had to unpick a *lot* from my latest top due to first of all sewing up the sleeveholes, then, through trying to be too clever (fitting in a lining where there wasn't one on the pattern), made the armholes too small... Ah well - all good experience!
I can't believe that it has been 2 weeks since our fab Newcastle trip, where we headed up-North to visit one of John's ex-housemates and his wife. As well as a chance to catch up on the many years since we last saw each other (hey - we've all got married since then!), and fondly Jenny's cat, we also took the opportunity to expose my thin Southern blood to the chill Newcastle wind and head out into town. To get out of the knife-like wind, we walked over the tilting bridge (though sadly, didn't get a chance to see it tilt as the website with the times on it was wrong by a couple of hours...) into Gateshead, and went to the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art.
It wasn't the first time I'd been in an art gallery, but it's definitely the first time I'd been in a modern art gallery. I can't say that I was overly impressed... I was a little bit amused by the display of the Fluxus art, where the description given ran along the lines of "These artists (especially George Maciunas, who founded the movement) felt that art shouldn't be contstrained by galleries or museums, and some campaigned for such buildings to be closed", yet the display was being hosted in a gallery...
I know that modern art is supposed to "speak to the soul", but I really think that if something needs to have an essay next to it explaining what it is about, then surely it isn't doing its job as art.
Getting out of Newcastle was fun... We won't mention the refusal to use the sat-nav, nor the getting on the wrong motorway...
The last couple of weeks have seen some interesting weather hit the British Isles; Bristol seemed like it was getting away with it (it *never* snows in Bristol...), then got smacked with a couple of inches at the end of last week. However, other people have posted on the snow (particularly UHDD who has some amazing shots of the Lake District), and as I think that it covers the worst of all possible weathers (being both cold *and* wet), all I shall do is grumble about the cancellation of a hockey match and two hockey practices (apparantly we had the wrong sort of snow for our "all weather" astroturf...)
I'm looking forward to the weekend - I've got my first TKD competition for a while over in Cardiff. Whilst I don't expect to do any better than I did last year (in fact, given that I've gone up a couple of belts, I do expect to fact tougher competition...), I'm looking forward to the challenge!
Still doing my sewing as well, though I'm learning the follies of overconfidence; after finishing John's waistcoat, I've had to unpick a *lot* from my latest top due to first of all sewing up the sleeveholes, then, through trying to be too clever (fitting in a lining where there wasn't one on the pattern), made the armholes too small... Ah well - all good experience!
Tuesday, 20 January 2009
Being busy and plans
Time seems to be speeding away from me again - it is past the middle of January already (2009 is now over 1/24th gone...)
As well as all the usual stuff (hockey - played two matches in the new year - lost one and won one; TKD - have a competition coming up at the beginning of Feb, so am getting in Saturday practices every fortnight as well as the Sunday training; orchestra and Family Centre meetings), I've also kept on going with the sewing, now having two tops and a pair of trousers to my name, plus have started making a waistcoat for John.
Plus, we have the big next stage in our lives - we have started our emigration proceedings. We put in our expression of interest (EOI) in December; this is a basic questionnaire, which allocates points based on work experience, qualifications and age. Once you have completed the EOI (and paid your fee), you then go into a pool of other applicants, and, if you reach a required level of points (which, though it is always over 100, fluctuates month by month depending on how many people are in there and what their quota levels are looking like), you get selected to submit a full application for a visa (known as the Invitation to Apply (ITA). Whilst we knew that our points levels were ok (we had 115, which is above the basic minimum, but well below what we needed to get an automatic selection), we didn't realise that the base line for points was reasonably low at the time, and so I was very shocked when we got pulled straight back out of the pool in the next draw.
So, we have received our ITA, and the application is essentially asking us to prove the points that we have claimed for. Deadline is the middle of April. It will take the NZ immigration dept in London about 4 months to then assess the application, and, if all goes well, we will get our blue stickers (our visas) by the beginning of September. Which means that we could very easily be living in New Zealand by next November, and will have had our last Winter Christmas...
All a little bit scary!
As well as all the usual stuff (hockey - played two matches in the new year - lost one and won one; TKD - have a competition coming up at the beginning of Feb, so am getting in Saturday practices every fortnight as well as the Sunday training; orchestra and Family Centre meetings), I've also kept on going with the sewing, now having two tops and a pair of trousers to my name, plus have started making a waistcoat for John.
Plus, we have the big next stage in our lives - we have started our emigration proceedings. We put in our expression of interest (EOI) in December; this is a basic questionnaire, which allocates points based on work experience, qualifications and age. Once you have completed the EOI (and paid your fee), you then go into a pool of other applicants, and, if you reach a required level of points (which, though it is always over 100, fluctuates month by month depending on how many people are in there and what their quota levels are looking like), you get selected to submit a full application for a visa (known as the Invitation to Apply (ITA). Whilst we knew that our points levels were ok (we had 115, which is above the basic minimum, but well below what we needed to get an automatic selection), we didn't realise that the base line for points was reasonably low at the time, and so I was very shocked when we got pulled straight back out of the pool in the next draw.
So, we have received our ITA, and the application is essentially asking us to prove the points that we have claimed for. Deadline is the middle of April. It will take the NZ immigration dept in London about 4 months to then assess the application, and, if all goes well, we will get our blue stickers (our visas) by the beginning of September. Which means that we could very easily be living in New Zealand by next November, and will have had our last Winter Christmas...
All a little bit scary!
Sunday, 22 June 2008
Pride
I don't often feel proud - I am much more likely to be disparaging and to knock myself, and the things around me. I'm not sure whether it is my inherent Britishness - mustn't blow my own trumpet and all that, what, what? - or whether it is a hangover from school, where the aim was to duck my head and not stand out at all costs.
However, a number of events over the last couple of weeks have left me feeling proud. I'm proud of myself for getting my green belt in Tae Kwon Do, after only a few months of being green stripe. I was sure that I wasn't ready, and, though I didn't pass with credit (getting pretty much everything right), I did well enough that, in my mind, I passed fairly, rather than just scraping through.
I'm proud of my work team - we got through to a demonstration in a very big tender, and we were repeatedly complimented on the presentation and professionalism of the bid work.
I'm proud of my hockey team - ever since I started playing, we have been losing - often really badly (I think the worst when I was in goal was 9-0) Yet this week, we managed to win a game, 4-0 - and we really ran rings round the opposition. It might just be a one-off, but we played really well as a team, and deserved the excellent score.
And I'm proud of where I live. This is really a new sensation for me - I've moved around a lot through my life, usually following my father's work, and have always seen each new village/town/city as another stopping point. But we had a friend over from Australia to stay for a couple of days, and decided to go out on one of the open topped bus tours. We had an excellent tour guide, who came up and sat with us on the top of the bus, even though it was blowing a gale and threatening more rain (hey, who comes to the UK for the weather, anyway?). The commentary was fascinating - I had had no idea that Bristol had so many literary connections (Robinson Crusoe and Treasure Island being the books named, as well as the poem Vitai Lampada (The Close mentioned is the playing fields at Clifton College)), nor that it had so many "Firsts" or "Biggests" - everywhere we went there was something to be proud of. Yes, there is the slave trade, which is a shame that should never be forgotten, but Bristol is a place where I can be proud of living.
However, a number of events over the last couple of weeks have left me feeling proud. I'm proud of myself for getting my green belt in Tae Kwon Do, after only a few months of being green stripe. I was sure that I wasn't ready, and, though I didn't pass with credit (getting pretty much everything right), I did well enough that, in my mind, I passed fairly, rather than just scraping through.
I'm proud of my work team - we got through to a demonstration in a very big tender, and we were repeatedly complimented on the presentation and professionalism of the bid work.
I'm proud of my hockey team - ever since I started playing, we have been losing - often really badly (I think the worst when I was in goal was 9-0) Yet this week, we managed to win a game, 4-0 - and we really ran rings round the opposition. It might just be a one-off, but we played really well as a team, and deserved the excellent score.
And I'm proud of where I live. This is really a new sensation for me - I've moved around a lot through my life, usually following my father's work, and have always seen each new village/town/city as another stopping point. But we had a friend over from Australia to stay for a couple of days, and decided to go out on one of the open topped bus tours. We had an excellent tour guide, who came up and sat with us on the top of the bus, even though it was blowing a gale and threatening more rain (hey, who comes to the UK for the weather, anyway?). The commentary was fascinating - I had had no idea that Bristol had so many literary connections (Robinson Crusoe and Treasure Island being the books named, as well as the poem Vitai Lampada (The Close mentioned is the playing fields at Clifton College)), nor that it had so many "Firsts" or "Biggests" - everywhere we went there was something to be proud of. Yes, there is the slave trade, which is a shame that should never be forgotten, but Bristol is a place where I can be proud of living.
Tuesday, 10 June 2008
Happy Birthday to Me :-)
Well, another year over, and another year of scaring my parents with how old I've got...
Still not thirty yet, though :-)
We were in Cornwall for the weekend, as I was taking part in another TKD competition. This therefore involved a fairly major drive in a company pool car, as ours is still in the garage (coming back from a friend's party last weekend, the head gasket blew outside Swindon. Fortunately, the garage we ended up at were taking someone else back from Leigh Delamere Services to Cardiff, and agreed to drop us off at Bristol for only the charge of getting to the services, saving us a serious amount of money...) As it was a company car, John wasn't insured to drive it, meaning that I had to go the full way down to St Austell, (Friday night) then on to Truro (Saturday), then back to Exmouth (Saturday evening) and to Bristol (Sunday afternoon). Not a lot, given the breaks that I had, but I'm not a confident driver, particularly when having to go down country lanes (and one accident just outside St Austell, when we were two miles away from our B&B, meant that I ended up going up a lane which hadn't been mown for a good few months, and had to creep past a badger and a ginger cat). But we made it in one piece, and didn't scratch the car, either. It's the first time I've driven a Megane - one of those cars with the 'arse' at the back - a very ugly car, but actually really pleasant to drive.
The competition itself was great fun; I got bronze in both the patterns and the sparring. I can't really claim a *huge* achievement for this - there were only three of us in my class! Both patterns and sparring were set up as round robins - each of us competed against the other two. However, it wasn't so much that I got a medal just for stepping onto the mat - the patterns were both very close; in both my matches, the judgments went 3-2 against me. The first sparring match was also very close - I was 3-1 down on the judgments, and I don't think that there were more than a couple of points in any of the counters. The second sparring match, I did get completely thrashed (though not knocked out...), by an opponent who, after only having a minute's rest from her first match, was still able to kick me round the head. I still really enjoyed it (that's the blood thirsty side of me talking), and as a club, we did really well, with all 11 competitors getting at least one medal, and we shared 19 between us. (and for those of you who are keen to know what I look like, I'm in the back row, third from the left on the top photo... Stalkers ahoy! :-P )
And the TKD fun doesn't stop here - for some reason our instructor has decided that I'm good enough to go for my green belt next week - I'm having to do a lot of sneaky practice in the toilets at work!
Still not thirty yet, though :-)
We were in Cornwall for the weekend, as I was taking part in another TKD competition. This therefore involved a fairly major drive in a company pool car, as ours is still in the garage (coming back from a friend's party last weekend, the head gasket blew outside Swindon. Fortunately, the garage we ended up at were taking someone else back from Leigh Delamere Services to Cardiff, and agreed to drop us off at Bristol for only the charge of getting to the services, saving us a serious amount of money...) As it was a company car, John wasn't insured to drive it, meaning that I had to go the full way down to St Austell, (Friday night) then on to Truro (Saturday), then back to Exmouth (Saturday evening) and to Bristol (Sunday afternoon). Not a lot, given the breaks that I had, but I'm not a confident driver, particularly when having to go down country lanes (and one accident just outside St Austell, when we were two miles away from our B&B, meant that I ended up going up a lane which hadn't been mown for a good few months, and had to creep past a badger and a ginger cat). But we made it in one piece, and didn't scratch the car, either. It's the first time I've driven a Megane - one of those cars with the 'arse' at the back - a very ugly car, but actually really pleasant to drive.
The competition itself was great fun; I got bronze in both the patterns and the sparring. I can't really claim a *huge* achievement for this - there were only three of us in my class! Both patterns and sparring were set up as round robins - each of us competed against the other two. However, it wasn't so much that I got a medal just for stepping onto the mat - the patterns were both very close; in both my matches, the judgments went 3-2 against me. The first sparring match was also very close - I was 3-1 down on the judgments, and I don't think that there were more than a couple of points in any of the counters. The second sparring match, I did get completely thrashed (though not knocked out...), by an opponent who, after only having a minute's rest from her first match, was still able to kick me round the head. I still really enjoyed it (that's the blood thirsty side of me talking), and as a club, we did really well, with all 11 competitors getting at least one medal, and we shared 19 between us. (and for those of you who are keen to know what I look like, I'm in the back row, third from the left on the top photo... Stalkers ahoy! :-P )
And the TKD fun doesn't stop here - for some reason our instructor has decided that I'm good enough to go for my green belt next week - I'm having to do a lot of sneaky practice in the toilets at work!
Thursday, 22 May 2008
Good News / Bad News
Well - it has been a busy week or so - again...!
On Saturday, I took part in a Tae-Kwon Do tournament. I had been given the impression that it was going to be a 'local' event - i.e. for the three clubs in our area, so I was in for a bit of a shock when I spotted teams from Paignton and London! This was a team event, so three of us competing per team. (There were only four teams in our category!) We came away with a silver in the patterns - these are synchronised patterns, so each member of the team has to perform at the same time and with the same pacing. We didn't get anything in the sparring, but then we were a bit unlucky - I went up first (and lost, though I was later told that both my fights were close things), and the lady from our team who went up second withdrew halfway through the match (she hadn't wanted to spar in the first place and panicked!). So (as it was a knockout tournament, and each round was best 2 out of 3), we were down to the third/fourth play off. I went up first again, lost again, and then the final member of our team went up. She was winning the bout, and then jumped and landed wrongly on her knee, ending up not being able to put any weight on it, and having to go to hospital! (Fortunately, x-rays have shown that it was just badly twisted, and no major damage was done; given that our instructor is out for the best part of a year after possibly snapping a tendon, we do know what problems can come up!!) But I still enjoyed it, so much so that I'm going to put myself up for a single competition (i.e. not relying on anyone else...!) in Cornwall on the 7th June. Overall, our club did really well, winning 56 medals overall.
We also had a fun evening yesterday - Paul Merton is touring with an improv comedy show, and by some fluke we managed to get tickets (it sold out very quickly); I hadn't realised who else was going to be appearing in it; Richard Vranch (who is actually a talented comedian in his own right - he was wasted hiding behind the piano) - and Mike McShane (who has lost a lot of weight since appearing in Whose Line is it Anyway - he is half the man he used to be, but no less funny!). Great fun :-D
We've also had a few less fun things - our poor Skoda is now pretty much broken to the point where it is going to cost more to fix it than it will to buy a new car, so we are off out to get another one with my company bonus this year (huzzah for the change of company financial year which means that I get it 6 months earlier than normal!!). Hopefully this one will last more than a few months.... We are also definitely now on the move again (when we've found somewhere to go...), as our landlady has failed on the mortgage again, and the bank has informed us that they are taking her to court to gain possession of the property (though we still have until August to get out, and she may still pay the overdue balance (though as this is the third time in 6 months, I'm not holding my breath!)).
But I'm confident that we will get both of the above sorted out, and in the meantime, we have so many cinema things coming up! We've already been to see Iron Man (very silly, but great fun as well), are going to Indiana Jones this weekend, and then have films such as Batman, Prince Caspian and Hellboy 2 to look forward to - it's going to be a fab summer!
On Saturday, I took part in a Tae-Kwon Do tournament. I had been given the impression that it was going to be a 'local' event - i.e. for the three clubs in our area, so I was in for a bit of a shock when I spotted teams from Paignton and London! This was a team event, so three of us competing per team. (There were only four teams in our category!) We came away with a silver in the patterns - these are synchronised patterns, so each member of the team has to perform at the same time and with the same pacing. We didn't get anything in the sparring, but then we were a bit unlucky - I went up first (and lost, though I was later told that both my fights were close things), and the lady from our team who went up second withdrew halfway through the match (she hadn't wanted to spar in the first place and panicked!). So (as it was a knockout tournament, and each round was best 2 out of 3), we were down to the third/fourth play off. I went up first again, lost again, and then the final member of our team went up. She was winning the bout, and then jumped and landed wrongly on her knee, ending up not being able to put any weight on it, and having to go to hospital! (Fortunately, x-rays have shown that it was just badly twisted, and no major damage was done; given that our instructor is out for the best part of a year after possibly snapping a tendon, we do know what problems can come up!!) But I still enjoyed it, so much so that I'm going to put myself up for a single competition (i.e. not relying on anyone else...!) in Cornwall on the 7th June. Overall, our club did really well, winning 56 medals overall.
We also had a fun evening yesterday - Paul Merton is touring with an improv comedy show, and by some fluke we managed to get tickets (it sold out very quickly); I hadn't realised who else was going to be appearing in it; Richard Vranch (who is actually a talented comedian in his own right - he was wasted hiding behind the piano) - and Mike McShane (who has lost a lot of weight since appearing in Whose Line is it Anyway - he is half the man he used to be, but no less funny!). Great fun :-D
We've also had a few less fun things - our poor Skoda is now pretty much broken to the point where it is going to cost more to fix it than it will to buy a new car, so we are off out to get another one with my company bonus this year (huzzah for the change of company financial year which means that I get it 6 months earlier than normal!!). Hopefully this one will last more than a few months.... We are also definitely now on the move again (when we've found somewhere to go...), as our landlady has failed on the mortgage again, and the bank has informed us that they are taking her to court to gain possession of the property (though we still have until August to get out, and she may still pay the overdue balance (though as this is the third time in 6 months, I'm not holding my breath!)).
But I'm confident that we will get both of the above sorted out, and in the meantime, we have so many cinema things coming up! We've already been to see Iron Man (very silly, but great fun as well), are going to Indiana Jones this weekend, and then have films such as Batman, Prince Caspian and Hellboy 2 to look forward to - it's going to be a fab summer!
Monday, 21 April 2008
Where has the year gone?
Once more, nearly three weeks since I last posted, and the usual excuses apply (though I think they are very poor ones when I consider the blogs that I read, usually medical people who work silly shifts, study, and still seem to manage to post every couple of days... But then, they have more interesting lives than I do, as well!)
I'm hoping that my posts will pick up after the beginning of May - the Fforde Ffiesta will be over, and I will have some spare time again. Will try not to spend all my time playing Scrabble on Facebook and actually post properly...
We might be on the move again - the shower and bath are both on the blink, and the landlady didn't pay the electrician's bill from the last time it broke (October -> February - 4 months without a shower...), so I am not hopeful that she will pay out for it to be fixed again. We have the same electrician coming in this week (I've promised to pay up front and claim back from the landlady by deducting from the ), but if it can't be fixed straight away, we are just going to hand in our notice...
On a more positive note, I'm going in for a Tae Kwon Do competition in the middle of May - getting to test my sparring skills properly against someone. I'm not expecting to get very far, but I'm really looking forward to it!
I'm also hoping that I'll be able to get more creative writing in after the beginning of May - I'm trying to write every day on the train to and from work, and I've got a couple of pieces that I'm willing to show to the world :-)
I'm hoping that my posts will pick up after the beginning of May - the Fforde Ffiesta will be over, and I will have some spare time again. Will try not to spend all my time playing Scrabble on Facebook and actually post properly...
We might be on the move again - the shower and bath are both on the blink, and the landlady didn't pay the electrician's bill from the last time it broke (October -> February - 4 months without a shower...), so I am not hopeful that she will pay out for it to be fixed again. We have the same electrician coming in this week (I've promised to pay up front and claim back from the landlady by deducting from the ), but if it can't be fixed straight away, we are just going to hand in our notice...
On a more positive note, I'm going in for a Tae Kwon Do competition in the middle of May - getting to test my sparring skills properly against someone. I'm not expecting to get very far, but I'm really looking forward to it!
I'm also hoping that I'll be able to get more creative writing in after the beginning of May - I'm trying to write every day on the train to and from work, and I've got a couple of pieces that I'm willing to show to the world :-)
Friday, 10 August 2007
Off to Bonny Scotland!
Long weekend ahoy! Heading up to Scotland to stay with lovely friends and go to the Edinburgh Fringe. Can't wait! This is only the second time I've been to Edinburgh, and the first time didn't really count as it was for a trade show, and I saw very little of the city outside of the hotel we were staying in and the conference centre that the show was taking place in. Oh, and the airport. Seven hours thanks to delayed Easyjet... (with colleague complaining for the *whole* seven hours...!) So this is going to be so much more fun, and if the weather up there is as nice as it is down here, it is going to be fantastic (hey - it would be fantastic even if it rained...)
Watched Heros on Wednesday night - another brilliant episode! Still being introduced to the characters, but we are now getting more indepth ideas about them. I love the way that even the timescales don't really tie up - you can't ever really be sure that you are watching the "Now" all of the time. I didn't really miss a huge amount by not being able to watch it last week - John was able to give me a recap of the important bits, and there was also a good fill-in at the start of the episode. I just hope that they can keep on upping the gain - I really don't want this to turn into another 'Lost', where it just loses its way half way through.
Had an extra session of TKD (beware - links on the TKD page don't work if you are using Firefox...) last night - though it wasn't really a proper work out session. Miss Burridge (our instructor), plus one of her students, took part in the World ITF Championships (competing for Wales, due to the politics of TKD, about which I know very little, and do not ever want to get involved in!) Miss Burridge is now World Champion in patterns! We're all really proud of her (and of Bradley, who got Bronze in both Team Power and patterns) So we had a little party, and then went down the pub for a bit more of a party :-)
And the aim of learning Norwegian on the train is starting to come together - I'm getting bits and pieces, mostly by using a visualisation technique (turning the words into something recognisable, and then creating a picture - e.g. the phrase "Your Welcome" is (phonetically) "Ingern awshaak" - for that I imagine a German walking over a Welcome mat into a shack. Hey, it works for me ;-) ) Still a long way to go, particularly for the phrases that I can't turn into pictures, but I hope to be able to have enough to get by in 3 1/2 weeks' time...
Watched Heros on Wednesday night - another brilliant episode! Still being introduced to the characters, but we are now getting more indepth ideas about them. I love the way that even the timescales don't really tie up - you can't ever really be sure that you are watching the "Now" all of the time. I didn't really miss a huge amount by not being able to watch it last week - John was able to give me a recap of the important bits, and there was also a good fill-in at the start of the episode. I just hope that they can keep on upping the gain - I really don't want this to turn into another 'Lost', where it just loses its way half way through.
Had an extra session of TKD (beware - links on the TKD page don't work if you are using Firefox...) last night - though it wasn't really a proper work out session. Miss Burridge (our instructor), plus one of her students, took part in the World ITF Championships (competing for Wales, due to the politics of TKD, about which I know very little, and do not ever want to get involved in!) Miss Burridge is now World Champion in patterns! We're all really proud of her (and of Bradley, who got Bronze in both Team Power and patterns) So we had a little party, and then went down the pub for a bit more of a party :-)
And the aim of learning Norwegian on the train is starting to come together - I'm getting bits and pieces, mostly by using a visualisation technique (turning the words into something recognisable, and then creating a picture - e.g. the phrase "Your Welcome" is (phonetically) "Ingern awshaak" - for that I imagine a German walking over a Welcome mat into a shack. Hey, it works for me ;-) ) Still a long way to go, particularly for the phrases that I can't turn into pictures, but I hope to be able to have enough to get by in 3 1/2 weeks' time...
Tuesday, 17 July 2007
What I did on my weekend...
The weeks are flashing by at the moment - it is rather scary to think that in 7 weeks' time, I will be Mrs Toon.
However, this weekend was a mixture of wedding preparation and taekwon do.
Saturday mid morning to early afternoon was spent at the Castle School in Thornbury desparately trying to stop my muscles going onto autopilot whilst doing my patterns, line work and step sparring in front of an examiner. The problem is that I've practiced these so much that my muscles know what they are doing without a huge amount of intervention from my brain - this does, however, lead to sloppy work (and the occasional complete "Huh?" moment as my brain wakes up and tries to remember what it is actually supposed to be doing!) However, the questions that I was asked were reasonably easy (not exactly what was on the sheet, but, as I'd been expecting that from the last grading, I'd memorised more than just the "You will be asked 4 out of these 10 questions" section)
So - I am now officially a yellow belt - 8th Kup and definitely off the bottom rungs of the ladder. At this point, I'm expected to be getting a good groundwork in the basics (the meaning of the yellow being "The ground from which the plant grows"), and probably shouldn't be still being muddled between side kick and turning kick...
So - after TKD, John took the car into town to drop off some books at Oxfam, and I killed people on Theme Hospital (yes, it's an old game. Yes, it isn't the best God game about, but I find it very relaxing, and can lose a good couple of hours in it without any trouble!)
Then, when he got back, we headed to Cribbs, John to buy some new trousers, and me to see what Per Una had to offer... (I *hate* clothes shopping with a passion. Even the thought of it gives me a headache. But for some reason, I love Per Una - it is my one fashion weakness. Fortunately, even though it is slightly on the pricey side, it isn't the most expensive shopping habit I could have!) I was very restrained in the end - after going into the changing rooms with a total of 8 items, I only came away with 2 - a new pair of linen trousers and a lovely Batik kaftan. So my hunter-gatherer instinct is assuaged for the time being :-)
Then home for my favourite butternut squash recipe (halved, brushed with oil, roasted in the oven for 40 mins, with slow fried veg, goat's cheese and parmesan breadcrumbs over the top), and Jekyll...
Now - I am one of the demographic that the BBC hates. Unless I have a really good motivation to watch TV, I don't, and my motivation severely dips if I don't watch a series regularly. Last week Jekyll was bumped for some small concert, and it felt like a big effort to sit down and concentrate for an hour, even though I was left bouncing on the edge of my seat at the end of the last episode. However, this episode was really worth the effort! It was all told in flashback, with about half an hour of "now" time passing. I am really enjoying this form of story telling - moving the current story on slowly, and letting us try to piece it all together. It definitely wouldn't be as fun being told in linear format. Some lovely lines, including the really cheeky "Are you my Daddy?" (and if you don't get it, then go and watch "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances", also by Steve Moffat), and I am loving Gina Bellman as Claire Jackman - she really got to come into her own in this episode. And we are out next weekend, so I'm going to have to wait for the Replay on Sunday to see how this cliffhanger ends! (nice BBC didn't spoil edge-of-seat cliffhanger with a trailer - I was shocked!)
Sunday we had a lovely long lie in - they don't happen that often, so I tend to make the most of them (and then completely smash my sleeping patterns as a result!), and then off to Tortworth Court to meet with our wedding photographer. Tony Charnock (although his website isn't loading at the moment!) is a really nice, genuine guy. He was really helpful - getting us to think about things that we hadn't even considered (such as "What time will you be getting ready?"), and was really enthusiastic about the dress (he was dreading that I was going to say I was getting married in Ivory, which apparantly is a pain to try to get right in a photo!) He also showed us a number of different albums, including a book - i.e. you have your wedding photos vanity published into a really nice coffee table book! (I'm hoping that this will be on his website when it comes back up again - if so, I'll link to it...) Unfortunately, that option doubled the overall costs, and wasn't *really* justifiable! So we've gone for a lovely leather bound digital print option, (again, if the option becomes available on his website, I'll link to it...), where the layout isn't just photo;photo;photo - there are lots of overlays and backgrounds (difficult to explain!)
And then, Sunday evening was TKD again - this time a fitness evening, where we spent over an hour and a half (because Kerry lost track of the time!) doing skipping, stomach crunches, running and other circuit exercises. Great fun, but my legs are paying for it now - every time I stand up, my muscles have shortened by another inch!
Finally, back home for the sausages that wouldn't cook (15 minutes in the George Fornby grill, plus 10 minutes extra (after I cut them open and realised they were still pink), plus half an hour or so under the grill. John ate them, I didn't...), and a mild panic when I realised that the info on the wedding ceremony should have been with South Glos council two weeks ago... Fortunately, they let me fax the completed copy through today...
However, this weekend was a mixture of wedding preparation and taekwon do.
Saturday mid morning to early afternoon was spent at the Castle School in Thornbury desparately trying to stop my muscles going onto autopilot whilst doing my patterns, line work and step sparring in front of an examiner. The problem is that I've practiced these so much that my muscles know what they are doing without a huge amount of intervention from my brain - this does, however, lead to sloppy work (and the occasional complete "Huh?" moment as my brain wakes up and tries to remember what it is actually supposed to be doing!) However, the questions that I was asked were reasonably easy (not exactly what was on the sheet, but, as I'd been expecting that from the last grading, I'd memorised more than just the "You will be asked 4 out of these 10 questions" section)
So - I am now officially a yellow belt - 8th Kup and definitely off the bottom rungs of the ladder. At this point, I'm expected to be getting a good groundwork in the basics (the meaning of the yellow being "The ground from which the plant grows"), and probably shouldn't be still being muddled between side kick and turning kick...
So - after TKD, John took the car into town to drop off some books at Oxfam, and I killed people on Theme Hospital (yes, it's an old game. Yes, it isn't the best God game about, but I find it very relaxing, and can lose a good couple of hours in it without any trouble!)
Then, when he got back, we headed to Cribbs, John to buy some new trousers, and me to see what Per Una had to offer... (I *hate* clothes shopping with a passion. Even the thought of it gives me a headache. But for some reason, I love Per Una - it is my one fashion weakness. Fortunately, even though it is slightly on the pricey side, it isn't the most expensive shopping habit I could have!) I was very restrained in the end - after going into the changing rooms with a total of 8 items, I only came away with 2 - a new pair of linen trousers and a lovely Batik kaftan. So my hunter-gatherer instinct is assuaged for the time being :-)
Then home for my favourite butternut squash recipe (halved, brushed with oil, roasted in the oven for 40 mins, with slow fried veg, goat's cheese and parmesan breadcrumbs over the top), and Jekyll...
Now - I am one of the demographic that the BBC hates. Unless I have a really good motivation to watch TV, I don't, and my motivation severely dips if I don't watch a series regularly. Last week Jekyll was bumped for some small concert, and it felt like a big effort to sit down and concentrate for an hour, even though I was left bouncing on the edge of my seat at the end of the last episode. However, this episode was really worth the effort! It was all told in flashback, with about half an hour of "now" time passing. I am really enjoying this form of story telling - moving the current story on slowly, and letting us try to piece it all together. It definitely wouldn't be as fun being told in linear format. Some lovely lines, including the really cheeky "Are you my Daddy?" (and if you don't get it, then go and watch "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances", also by Steve Moffat), and I am loving Gina Bellman as Claire Jackman - she really got to come into her own in this episode. And we are out next weekend, so I'm going to have to wait for the Replay on Sunday to see how this cliffhanger ends! (nice BBC didn't spoil edge-of-seat cliffhanger with a trailer - I was shocked!)
Sunday we had a lovely long lie in - they don't happen that often, so I tend to make the most of them (and then completely smash my sleeping patterns as a result!), and then off to Tortworth Court to meet with our wedding photographer. Tony Charnock (although his website isn't loading at the moment!) is a really nice, genuine guy. He was really helpful - getting us to think about things that we hadn't even considered (such as "What time will you be getting ready?"), and was really enthusiastic about the dress (he was dreading that I was going to say I was getting married in Ivory, which apparantly is a pain to try to get right in a photo!) He also showed us a number of different albums, including a book - i.e. you have your wedding photos vanity published into a really nice coffee table book! (I'm hoping that this will be on his website when it comes back up again - if so, I'll link to it...) Unfortunately, that option doubled the overall costs, and wasn't *really* justifiable! So we've gone for a lovely leather bound digital print option, (again, if the option becomes available on his website, I'll link to it...), where the layout isn't just photo;photo;photo - there are lots of overlays and backgrounds (difficult to explain!)
And then, Sunday evening was TKD again - this time a fitness evening, where we spent over an hour and a half (because Kerry lost track of the time!) doing skipping, stomach crunches, running and other circuit exercises. Great fun, but my legs are paying for it now - every time I stand up, my muscles have shortened by another inch!
Finally, back home for the sausages that wouldn't cook (15 minutes in the George Fornby grill, plus 10 minutes extra (after I cut them open and realised they were still pink), plus half an hour or so under the grill. John ate them, I didn't...), and a mild panic when I realised that the info on the wedding ceremony should have been with South Glos council two weeks ago... Fortunately, they let me fax the completed copy through today...
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