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Sticky: Fencing targets, in increasing order of difficulty
Nov. 14th, 2018 11:21 am![[sticky entry]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/entry/sticky_entry.png){kind=small}
Top 10 K- and C-drama
Mar. 7th, 2021 09:32 amAs previously mentioned, I fell down the rabbit hole of K- and C-drama a while back and am happily wallowing at the bottom of it - some of it takes a little more finding with English subtitles than other things, as I've yet to learn either Korean or Chinese by osmosis (why isn't that a thing?) but it's often well worth the effort. If anyone wants links to places they can find stuff, please let me know...
Anyway, if anyone is interested but particularly for those who are a bit intimidated by just how much is out there, here's my favourites in no particular order. I'm not including the shows I'm currently watching, as there's always the possibility of not sticking the landing (not that this is necessarily going to preclude inclusion in a future edition of this post - I'm looking at you, makers of Guardian). Mostly historical, to be honest, that's just the way my tastes tend to go...
( Read more... )
Anyway, if anyone is interested but particularly for those who are a bit intimidated by just how much is out there, here's my favourites in no particular order. I'm not including the shows I'm currently watching, as there's always the possibility of not sticking the landing (not that this is necessarily going to preclude inclusion in a future edition of this post - I'm looking at you, makers of Guardian). Mostly historical, to be honest, that's just the way my tastes tend to go...
( Read more... )
So, it's been a while...
Feb. 28th, 2021 10:55 amHonestly, I was absolutely convinced I had posted sometime this year but apparently not. Not since September! What is time anyway?
So, on with the update. We managed to carry on teaching in-person in term 1, running up to Christmas, though we were restricted about how many people we could have in a room at time (usually, classes are 12-14 people and me coming in twice a week but the sheer size of the rooms we use meant 5-6 people plus me at most - we ended up doing the teaching equivalent of split shifts). That meant setting much more work for people to do in their own time, which varies wildly about whether people have the space, time and just the mental capacity to do it. We'd already back-pedalled on how many people were due to take exams in December, so that wasn't massively taxing.
Roll on January and we're back in lockdown, so back on Zoom. *sigh* That's where we still are, even though our March exams are looming and the schools are re-opening. The current plan is back to in-person teaching in April, after the Easter holidays, though I expect restricted numbers in rooms again. I find teaching on Zoom so much more tiring, so personally I can't wait. At least, I have to say my employers have been excellent all the way through this, with relatively minimal demands - much more understanding than some, from what I hear.
No fencing at all. One club I was fencing at managed to get back for a few sessions in the autumn term but that didn't last long and I had put on too much weight to fit in my kit, so I couldn't have joined them even if I'd wanted to. I miss it desperately, to the point that when I put on a Youtube video of a bout, just the sound of blades made me have to stop, to the point where I'm tearing up a little even thinking about it. This time last year was the national veteran's competition and I fenced really well. I wonder how long it will take me to get back to that level, both in terms of overall fitness (don't ask) and in terms of bladework? At least 18 months is my prediction, assuming the gyms reopen and we start fencing properly again.
Yeah, this has not been good for my overall health. I've put weight and also really struggled to get out of the house, even when the weather has been good enough to allow it. I respond better to the structure of needing to go to the gym and go to practice, free-form 'getting some exercise' really doesn't work for me all that well (or at all!). I've had to buy a new inner tube for my bike but it's the back wheel, so I need to a) sort out enough space to replace it indoors and b) get a new pump because the one I have is knackered. Needless to say, both of those impediments have been an issue for a few weeks now.
I didn't get around to doing a proper end-of-year post on here, so I'll probably try and do that in order to make myself keep posting and showing proof of life. In particular, I've fallen well and truly down the k- and c-drama rabbit hole, so any excuse to witter on about that is welcome!
Oops, forgot to say (in case anyone was wondering), the ferrets are both fine - currently some beautiful winter coats, as they spend most of their time in a hutch/run outdoors, and lively as anything.
So, on with the update. We managed to carry on teaching in-person in term 1, running up to Christmas, though we were restricted about how many people we could have in a room at time (usually, classes are 12-14 people and me coming in twice a week but the sheer size of the rooms we use meant 5-6 people plus me at most - we ended up doing the teaching equivalent of split shifts). That meant setting much more work for people to do in their own time, which varies wildly about whether people have the space, time and just the mental capacity to do it. We'd already back-pedalled on how many people were due to take exams in December, so that wasn't massively taxing.
Roll on January and we're back in lockdown, so back on Zoom. *sigh* That's where we still are, even though our March exams are looming and the schools are re-opening. The current plan is back to in-person teaching in April, after the Easter holidays, though I expect restricted numbers in rooms again. I find teaching on Zoom so much more tiring, so personally I can't wait. At least, I have to say my employers have been excellent all the way through this, with relatively minimal demands - much more understanding than some, from what I hear.
No fencing at all. One club I was fencing at managed to get back for a few sessions in the autumn term but that didn't last long and I had put on too much weight to fit in my kit, so I couldn't have joined them even if I'd wanted to. I miss it desperately, to the point that when I put on a Youtube video of a bout, just the sound of blades made me have to stop, to the point where I'm tearing up a little even thinking about it. This time last year was the national veteran's competition and I fenced really well. I wonder how long it will take me to get back to that level, both in terms of overall fitness (don't ask) and in terms of bladework? At least 18 months is my prediction, assuming the gyms reopen and we start fencing properly again.
Yeah, this has not been good for my overall health. I've put weight and also really struggled to get out of the house, even when the weather has been good enough to allow it. I respond better to the structure of needing to go to the gym and go to practice, free-form 'getting some exercise' really doesn't work for me all that well (or at all!). I've had to buy a new inner tube for my bike but it's the back wheel, so I need to a) sort out enough space to replace it indoors and b) get a new pump because the one I have is knackered. Needless to say, both of those impediments have been an issue for a few weeks now.
I didn't get around to doing a proper end-of-year post on here, so I'll probably try and do that in order to make myself keep posting and showing proof of life. In particular, I've fallen well and truly down the k- and c-drama rabbit hole, so any excuse to witter on about that is welcome!
Oops, forgot to say (in case anyone was wondering), the ferrets are both fine - currently some beautiful winter coats, as they spend most of their time in a hutch/run outdoors, and lively as anything.
So, September. What is time anyway?
Since last post (in May, sorry about that for anyone who's actually still reading these things - hello out there!), I've guesstimated some exam grades for people, then done pretty much nothing except eat, sleep, read books and watch TV. I fell heavily down the rabbit hole that is Chinese and Korean drama despite the many many long episodes of both and boy, there's some good stuff at the bottom there.
I'm currently watching Nirvana in Fire, long after fandom found it, and have so many shows lined up I had to start a proper list (on a very helpful website called MyDramaList) to keep track of them all. Historical costume drama is my main bag, to be honest, mostly because of the excellent hats - somehow a lot of the modern day stuff just doesn't have the same pull unless it's something utterly ridiculous like Guardian.
Lots of comfort eating and not much exercise over the past few months - sadly, no stabbing people since March! - mean I've put on a good bit of weight and feel like a tub of lard. My knees dislike running, even if I didn't think it utterly pointless anyway, and I only managed to finally get hold of a bike a few weeks back. The gym has reopened, at least, but it's feeling a bit of a struggle at the moment. One of my fencing clubs has reopened partially but I haven't even dared try on my breeches, since I know they're not going to do up, so I'm not there yet.
That's another source of annoyance. The club I'm on the committee of, I have to restrain my usual impulse to be the boss of everything and everyone but some of the other people are all so vague about everything. We just found out our usual venue won't be re-opening till at least January, so not only are we vaguely thinking about how we can re-open at all (in line with both government guidance and our NGB's rules, so we're covered by insurance), we're now vaguely thinking about somewhere else to do it. *headdesk*
Anyway, work is also looming. I'm currently doing assessments for new learners, which is fine, but when actual classes start it's all still a bit up in the air. My usual classes are 12-14 people but the size of our rooms = 5-6 + me as a maximum number. Which means, I don't know, alternate weeks in class? Online stuff and paper-based stuff for people to do at home? Some learners are going to be fine with this, others I really worry about, and I have the privilege of teaching the people who are the most able in terms of their English. Meanwhile our processes around getting funding from the government, showing learner progress and putting people in for exams are all still very paper-based with signatures from me and them - already a nightmare if people call in sick, how much worse if we know people aren't going to be in every week? Watch this space for more incoherent flailing...
Other than that? How was lockdown, I was asked the other day - well, I live on my own, so that but for much longer, was my reply.
Since last post (in May, sorry about that for anyone who's actually still reading these things - hello out there!), I've guesstimated some exam grades for people, then done pretty much nothing except eat, sleep, read books and watch TV. I fell heavily down the rabbit hole that is Chinese and Korean drama despite the many many long episodes of both and boy, there's some good stuff at the bottom there.
I'm currently watching Nirvana in Fire, long after fandom found it, and have so many shows lined up I had to start a proper list (on a very helpful website called MyDramaList) to keep track of them all. Historical costume drama is my main bag, to be honest, mostly because of the excellent hats - somehow a lot of the modern day stuff just doesn't have the same pull unless it's something utterly ridiculous like Guardian.
Lots of comfort eating and not much exercise over the past few months - sadly, no stabbing people since March! - mean I've put on a good bit of weight and feel like a tub of lard. My knees dislike running, even if I didn't think it utterly pointless anyway, and I only managed to finally get hold of a bike a few weeks back. The gym has reopened, at least, but it's feeling a bit of a struggle at the moment. One of my fencing clubs has reopened partially but I haven't even dared try on my breeches, since I know they're not going to do up, so I'm not there yet.
That's another source of annoyance. The club I'm on the committee of, I have to restrain my usual impulse to be the boss of everything and everyone but some of the other people are all so vague about everything. We just found out our usual venue won't be re-opening till at least January, so not only are we vaguely thinking about how we can re-open at all (in line with both government guidance and our NGB's rules, so we're covered by insurance), we're now vaguely thinking about somewhere else to do it. *headdesk*
Anyway, work is also looming. I'm currently doing assessments for new learners, which is fine, but when actual classes start it's all still a bit up in the air. My usual classes are 12-14 people but the size of our rooms = 5-6 + me as a maximum number. Which means, I don't know, alternate weeks in class? Online stuff and paper-based stuff for people to do at home? Some learners are going to be fine with this, others I really worry about, and I have the privilege of teaching the people who are the most able in terms of their English. Meanwhile our processes around getting funding from the government, showing learner progress and putting people in for exams are all still very paper-based with signatures from me and them - already a nightmare if people call in sick, how much worse if we know people aren't going to be in every week? Watch this space for more incoherent flailing...
Other than that? How was lockdown, I was asked the other day - well, I live on my own, so that but for much longer, was my reply.
Teaching online
May. 16th, 2020 10:33 amOkay, so I have the luxury of having an employer that is not caning me for hours and hours of online teaching (thank the gods) but that doesn't mean that what I'm doing isn't immensely frustrating. I can't imagine trying to do this from the start of a new class, with learners I don't know, and building relationships with them in any meaningful way.
In the same way as I'm pretty much left to my own devices with what to teach, as long as I can demonstrate progress and my learners pass their exams, I've been left to my own devices with the online stuff. The people I teach are adults, with their own responsibilities, and this current situation has messed with everyone - most of them have school-age children, for starters, others have either been furloughed or potentially lost their jobs. Many of them are in high-risk categories because of medical issues or their ethnic background (since we don't know yet if the virus disproportionately hits particular parts of the community or if those apparent differences are more economically or socially-driven) or multi-generation households.
This is a bad thing for online learning, even if people actually read their emails in a timely fashion.
I teach 3 classes of 15, so I've been offering online sessions via Zoom to all of them. One class, I don't have emails for some of them and have had literally zero interest in taking up these sessions. I get the occasional email back from them but that's it. The other classes, about 75% of each class expressed an interest in using Zoom but the most I've managed to get at any one time is 4. Not always the same 4, either.
The last 2 sessions I've done, I had one learner try and connect but fail to get his sound working and give up. That's it. I'm actually typing this as the minutes tick by into the cut-off zone for this session (15 minutes is reasonable) and I can call it a day.
We were literally a week away from exams for two of these classes and now we're stuck in this limbo. The government is pushing for some of the primary school and secondary school classes to go back but there's a lot of resistance from both teachers and parents. No idea when we might re-open, as we need those children to go back to school so their parents can return to do their exams (and hopefully a bit of preparation beforehand).
And that's it, time to hang up. *sigh*
In the same way as I'm pretty much left to my own devices with what to teach, as long as I can demonstrate progress and my learners pass their exams, I've been left to my own devices with the online stuff. The people I teach are adults, with their own responsibilities, and this current situation has messed with everyone - most of them have school-age children, for starters, others have either been furloughed or potentially lost their jobs. Many of them are in high-risk categories because of medical issues or their ethnic background (since we don't know yet if the virus disproportionately hits particular parts of the community or if those apparent differences are more economically or socially-driven) or multi-generation households.
This is a bad thing for online learning, even if people actually read their emails in a timely fashion.
I teach 3 classes of 15, so I've been offering online sessions via Zoom to all of them. One class, I don't have emails for some of them and have had literally zero interest in taking up these sessions. I get the occasional email back from them but that's it. The other classes, about 75% of each class expressed an interest in using Zoom but the most I've managed to get at any one time is 4. Not always the same 4, either.
The last 2 sessions I've done, I had one learner try and connect but fail to get his sound working and give up. That's it. I'm actually typing this as the minutes tick by into the cut-off zone for this session (15 minutes is reasonable) and I can call it a day.
We were literally a week away from exams for two of these classes and now we're stuck in this limbo. The government is pushing for some of the primary school and secondary school classes to go back but there's a lot of resistance from both teachers and parents. No idea when we might re-open, as we need those children to go back to school so their parents can return to do their exams (and hopefully a bit of preparation beforehand).
And that's it, time to hang up. *sigh*
March seemed to go on forever and suddenly we're a week away from the end of April, how did that happen?
As suspected, our lockdown over here in the UK was extended by another 3 weeks and we're getting used to the new normal. Fortunately, the sun has been shining most of the time and I think that has helped a bit - I'm lucky enough to have a garden, so I can take advantage of that if I start going stir-crazy, but the good weather helps people want to get outside if they need to as well. I'm also getting paid and don't mind my own company, so really this isn't having as much of an effect on me as it will be on many people.
Work is fairly relaxed, unexpectedly so. My main anxiety had been that our senior managers were going to go 'you teach 14 hours a week, we have the technology, now just get on and do that online' but that doesn't seem to have happened in my setting at least. I don't have a webcam or microphone and the places where I could get a work laptop from are closed, so my only way of doing online stuff is to email people, post it on a website for them to access (much less likely) or via my phone.
I'm doing my very first Zoom tutorial with some of my students this evening, so we'll see what happens - since I teach adults, everyone is off living their lives and doesn't necessarily want to prioritise talking to me. Which is a point of view I absolutely understand and will defend their right to choose to do so.
Beyond that, the meal planning has gone out of the window now things seem to have stabilised a little in terms of supermarket supplies. I'm restricting myself to one big shop per week, usually early on a Tuesday morning - plenty of toilet rolls but still no flour. I'm okay at the moment, as I'd stocked up a while before all this started, but soon pizza will be a no go. :(
My concentration span has grown a little, as I was flitting from one thing to the next, and I have a bunch of stuff I still could do if I put my mind to it. One of those things is footwork practice, as my general fitness hasn't been a priority, though it looks like I'm going to have time to do something about that.
I suspect we'll get a further extension in a couple of weeks and my money's on us going back to face-to-face teaching after May half term (so, early June) - that's assuming that schools go back too, as a lot of the people I teach would only be able to come to class if their kids aren't at home. None of this is going to go away any time soon, though at least we know how it's going to work if it all kicks off again later in the year!
As suspected, our lockdown over here in the UK was extended by another 3 weeks and we're getting used to the new normal. Fortunately, the sun has been shining most of the time and I think that has helped a bit - I'm lucky enough to have a garden, so I can take advantage of that if I start going stir-crazy, but the good weather helps people want to get outside if they need to as well. I'm also getting paid and don't mind my own company, so really this isn't having as much of an effect on me as it will be on many people.
Work is fairly relaxed, unexpectedly so. My main anxiety had been that our senior managers were going to go 'you teach 14 hours a week, we have the technology, now just get on and do that online' but that doesn't seem to have happened in my setting at least. I don't have a webcam or microphone and the places where I could get a work laptop from are closed, so my only way of doing online stuff is to email people, post it on a website for them to access (much less likely) or via my phone.
I'm doing my very first Zoom tutorial with some of my students this evening, so we'll see what happens - since I teach adults, everyone is off living their lives and doesn't necessarily want to prioritise talking to me. Which is a point of view I absolutely understand and will defend their right to choose to do so.
Beyond that, the meal planning has gone out of the window now things seem to have stabilised a little in terms of supermarket supplies. I'm restricting myself to one big shop per week, usually early on a Tuesday morning - plenty of toilet rolls but still no flour. I'm okay at the moment, as I'd stocked up a while before all this started, but soon pizza will be a no go. :(
My concentration span has grown a little, as I was flitting from one thing to the next, and I have a bunch of stuff I still could do if I put my mind to it. One of those things is footwork practice, as my general fitness hasn't been a priority, though it looks like I'm going to have time to do something about that.
I suspect we'll get a further extension in a couple of weeks and my money's on us going back to face-to-face teaching after May half term (so, early June) - that's assuming that schools go back too, as a lot of the people I teach would only be able to come to class if their kids aren't at home. None of this is going to go away any time soon, though at least we know how it's going to work if it all kicks off again later in the year!
To literally no-one's surprise after a sunny weekend where a load of absolute numpties treated the seaside and public parks like there was an unexpected holiday, gatherings of 3 or more where they don't live together have been banned in the UK. There's also been a lot of problems with people who have second homes in the countryside taking off there, regardless of the fact those rural areas already have close to zero infrastructure for the people who live there all year round. Likewise people in campervans heading for Scottish islands etc. with the same issue, not to mention possibly bringing the virus to new areas because they're infected already but asymptomatic because of the incubation period for the virus. *headdesk*
At least we don't have someone actively telling people to get back to work for the good of the economy and not to worry about grandma dying, it's a sacrifice she's surely willing to make for shareholder profits!
Anyway, I'm fine and just staying at home - for those of us who are antisocial introverts, this is just what we've been training for all our lives. I already had a load of food because of growing up poor and anxiety over making sure that you had enough to eat if things went down the pan. I haven't ventured out since last Thursday, apart from a brief trip to the local shop on Monday to buy milk. I have milk powder at home but want to save it in case I do come down with the virus and can't get out at all. Have to admit, I felt a bit rough and shivery yesterday morning but feel fine again now, but teachers have a low-grade cold thing going on for most of the academic year so it was probably that. I might head out to the supermarket on Friday, if I feel like it.
In other news, I'd been planning to fix two panels in my fence but this got delayed by the weeks and weeks of wet weather we had. Now my neighbour has replaced them anyway, which to be honest he should have done when they first started to fall to bits because it was mainly his stuff leaning against them which broke them in the first place. I could say he's a hoarder but that would be an understatement - he has two broken-down cars (one a Range Rover) at the bottom of the garden and hasn't done anything with them for literally years. He used to make a bit of money on the side buying up cars, fixing them and selling them on, but these ones haven't been touched for maybe 5 years now? Anyway, the fence thing has saved me some money, so that's something.
As far as work goes, we've been asked to see if we can send stuff to our students for practice while we're closed (with a hope of re-opening w/b April 20th as planned after Easter) but that's not massively realistic for some of our folks. I have email addresses for a lot of them but not all, while I know some won't have easy access to the internet or will have significant childcare and other commitments. I'm working on something to send them, with links to stuff online, so we'll see. We've also been asked to fill in a survey in respect of our skills so that people can be asked to help out in other areas - I've been brutally honest about the likely mental health impact of added stress and the fact I'm currently menopausal on top of that. Our union has been quite clear about the fact nobody should be required to do anything different to their usual job in order to make sure they get paid if they can't work as usual - voluntary cover is different but I'd like to know what I'm being asked to do before I volunteer for it.
I'm trying not to watch too much TV in one sitting, but in case anyone is interested I'm currently watching season 1 of a fantastic Korean show called Kingdom as season 2 has just dropped on Netflix and I couldn't remember what had happened in it. It's a historical drama with a zombie plague ravaging the country, which may or may not be your thing at the moment. If you don't fancy that, a couple of other recs also on Netflix: Russian Doll (black comedy where woman keeps dying and tries to figure out how to stop it) and Hilda (fantastic animated show where girl runs away to an enchanted forest). Happy to rec more stuff if people are interested! What are you watching at the moment?
At least we don't have someone actively telling people to get back to work for the good of the economy and not to worry about grandma dying, it's a sacrifice she's surely willing to make for shareholder profits!
Anyway, I'm fine and just staying at home - for those of us who are antisocial introverts, this is just what we've been training for all our lives. I already had a load of food because of growing up poor and anxiety over making sure that you had enough to eat if things went down the pan. I haven't ventured out since last Thursday, apart from a brief trip to the local shop on Monday to buy milk. I have milk powder at home but want to save it in case I do come down with the virus and can't get out at all. Have to admit, I felt a bit rough and shivery yesterday morning but feel fine again now, but teachers have a low-grade cold thing going on for most of the academic year so it was probably that. I might head out to the supermarket on Friday, if I feel like it.
In other news, I'd been planning to fix two panels in my fence but this got delayed by the weeks and weeks of wet weather we had. Now my neighbour has replaced them anyway, which to be honest he should have done when they first started to fall to bits because it was mainly his stuff leaning against them which broke them in the first place. I could say he's a hoarder but that would be an understatement - he has two broken-down cars (one a Range Rover) at the bottom of the garden and hasn't done anything with them for literally years. He used to make a bit of money on the side buying up cars, fixing them and selling them on, but these ones haven't been touched for maybe 5 years now? Anyway, the fence thing has saved me some money, so that's something.
As far as work goes, we've been asked to see if we can send stuff to our students for practice while we're closed (with a hope of re-opening w/b April 20th as planned after Easter) but that's not massively realistic for some of our folks. I have email addresses for a lot of them but not all, while I know some won't have easy access to the internet or will have significant childcare and other commitments. I'm working on something to send them, with links to stuff online, so we'll see. We've also been asked to fill in a survey in respect of our skills so that people can be asked to help out in other areas - I've been brutally honest about the likely mental health impact of added stress and the fact I'm currently menopausal on top of that. Our union has been quite clear about the fact nobody should be required to do anything different to their usual job in order to make sure they get paid if they can't work as usual - voluntary cover is different but I'd like to know what I'm being asked to do before I volunteer for it.
I'm trying not to watch too much TV in one sitting, but in case anyone is interested I'm currently watching season 1 of a fantastic Korean show called Kingdom as season 2 has just dropped on Netflix and I couldn't remember what had happened in it. It's a historical drama with a zombie plague ravaging the country, which may or may not be your thing at the moment. If you don't fancy that, a couple of other recs also on Netflix: Russian Doll (black comedy where woman keeps dying and tries to figure out how to stop it) and Hilda (fantastic animated show where girl runs away to an enchanted forest). Happy to rec more stuff if people are interested! What are you watching at the moment?
Semi-mandatory update
Mar. 18th, 2020 08:32 amStill at work, despite lots of places going to work-from-home, as teaching doesn't really work for that as well - at least not at short notice and not without a lot of investment in infrastructure that has never happened for us. We also had the pleasure of getting a visit from OFSTED (education inspectors, for those outside the UK) even though we're in the middle of a pandemic and people are choosing to prioritise their own and their families' welfare over coming to class. These are adults I teach, after all, so they have lots of competing demands on their time.
For me, we have theoretically another week of classes, then exams and then close for Easter till w/b 20th April. We're currently taking bets on whether we'll manage to do that - my money is on an announcement this Friday afternoon that we're closing for a month (and I stand to win 2 creme eggs if I'm right!). Classes and exams are now cancelled, no creme eggs for me!
It's a bit vexing because it takes ages to get these bloody exams organised in the first place, to the point where a couple of people have asked if they can just do the exam next week if we're still open. For some of them, we can but there are technical difficulties with rearranging the others.
Over here, schools are still open but the general feeling is that this is mainly to support healthcare workers etc. who have school-age children, as a lot of people are keeping their children home from school for whatever reason and the schools also have seen a trickle of teachers calling in sick. A lot of folks with underlying medical conditions that make them higher risk or who have family members who do, so it's not clear how long the schools will be able to stay open.
If it comes down to it, I've got enough food to keep me going, but this is not particularly abnormal. There were a few things I needed to stock up on but I usually have plenty of cans and frozen stuff at home anyway (partly because I hate shopping). My main concern was what 2 weeks worth of cheese looks like - I love cheese, I eat loads of it, so I end up buying it quite regularly and struggled to visualise how much might be enough!
Fencing shut down this week too, both clubs - I expect at least a month shutdown but it could be longer. There were a bunch of competitions scheduled for the next few weeks too, so some of those will (hopefully) take place later in the year. Don't know what life is going to be like without this, though - this is the first time I've missed more than a couple of weeks because of holidays and I know I'm going to be twitchy as hell!
It's a bit vexing because it takes ages to get these bloody exams organised in the first place, to the point where a couple of people have asked if they can just do the exam next week if we're still open. For some of them, we can but there are technical difficulties with rearranging the others.
Over here, schools are still open but the general feeling is that this is mainly to support healthcare workers etc. who have school-age children, as a lot of people are keeping their children home from school for whatever reason and the schools also have seen a trickle of teachers calling in sick. A lot of folks with underlying medical conditions that make them higher risk or who have family members who do, so it's not clear how long the schools will be able to stay open.
If it comes down to it, I've got enough food to keep me going, but this is not particularly abnormal. There were a few things I needed to stock up on but I usually have plenty of cans and frozen stuff at home anyway (partly because I hate shopping). My main concern was what 2 weeks worth of cheese looks like - I love cheese, I eat loads of it, so I end up buying it quite regularly and struggled to visualise how much might be enough!
Fencing shut down this week too, both clubs - I expect at least a month shutdown but it could be longer. There were a bunch of competitions scheduled for the next few weeks too, so some of those will (hopefully) take place later in the year. Don't know what life is going to be like without this, though - this is the first time I've missed more than a couple of weeks because of holidays and I know I'm going to be twitchy as hell!
Another month, another competition
Mar. 1st, 2020 05:36 pmThis weekend has been the big one, the national veterans championships over here - sabre on Friday, foil yesterday and epee, which is my weapon, today. Since they relocated the competition to here in the Midlands, much more accessible to all parts of the UK (instead of making everyone trek down to London), we had the highest number of entries for about 10 years for all weapons. Veterans is 40+, with no differentiation in this one for age categories and boy, the standard was good.
It's the second of three qualifying competitions too for anyone who wants to be considered to represent GB at the World Championships later this year, so a lot of folks really wanted to get a good result here. I'm nowhere near contention for that kind of thing at the moment but then I've only been fencing 4 years and some of these folks have been doing this since they were teenagers.
Anyway, it was two rounds of poules and I fought really well in both, a little better in the first one I think, so I ended up mid-table going into the first round of elimination fights. You get seeded as a result of how many wins you had in the poule fights, so in theory the final fight should be the number 1 seed versus the number 2 - you want to do well in the poules so you get a good seeding and therefore fight someone 'weaker' than you. However, it soon became apparent there were no easy fights in this competition - I just squeaked a first round victory 10-9 and was happy to have managed it. Then I did okay against a much stronger fencer and lost 10-6 (pretty much what I thought would happen), so that was my day done. I managed to hold my own with her for a while but just wasn't quite performing as well as I needed to in order to beat her.
I haven't seen the final results yet but should have ended up in the mid-20's out of a field of 41, which is a definite improvement on last year. I also got given a yellow card for swearing, so that's an unexpected achievement ticked off! :P
It's the second of three qualifying competitions too for anyone who wants to be considered to represent GB at the World Championships later this year, so a lot of folks really wanted to get a good result here. I'm nowhere near contention for that kind of thing at the moment but then I've only been fencing 4 years and some of these folks have been doing this since they were teenagers.
Anyway, it was two rounds of poules and I fought really well in both, a little better in the first one I think, so I ended up mid-table going into the first round of elimination fights. You get seeded as a result of how many wins you had in the poule fights, so in theory the final fight should be the number 1 seed versus the number 2 - you want to do well in the poules so you get a good seeding and therefore fight someone 'weaker' than you. However, it soon became apparent there were no easy fights in this competition - I just squeaked a first round victory 10-9 and was happy to have managed it. Then I did okay against a much stronger fencer and lost 10-6 (pretty much what I thought would happen), so that was my day done. I managed to hold my own with her for a while but just wasn't quite performing as well as I needed to in order to beat her.
I haven't seen the final results yet but should have ended up in the mid-20's out of a field of 41, which is a definite improvement on last year. I also got given a yellow card for swearing, so that's an unexpected achievement ticked off! :P
Ugh, how is it February already?
Feb. 2nd, 2020 11:12 amApparently I can just recycle subject lines from previous years and they still work. :P
Yes, it's February and we're officially not part of the European Union any more. What a shitshow this has all been. Decisions made based on lies peddled by the media and lapped up by people who want to believe that somehow the EU has been holding us back and we're just going to gambol back into the sunshine as an 'independent' country now they can't do that any more. Bollocks. We're stuck with a government which is massively uncaring (if not openly hostile) to much of the population and little sign of that changing any time soon.
I'm currently also chewing over what to do personally in terms of holidays, as there are plenty of places I want to visit (and have to go for years, in some cases) but there are all sorts of philosophical wheels churning in my head. If I don't see these places soon, some of them might just not be visitable in the future because of climate change and general human fuckery, but if I go then I'm contributing to climate change etc, but if I don't visit them then the people who rely on tourism will suffer. Jeez, life is so much easier if you have no conscience about these sorts of things, isn't it?
Work has settled down a bit, despite the best efforts of the IT changes we're currently undergoing to make how we do our jobs as complicated as possible. I currently have 2 work email addresses and can only print anything at work by emailing stuff to one of them, which account currently takes me 7-8 minutes to log into at work because of the process involving in actually getting in (multi-factor authorisation and so on). After a further run-in with the QA woman, which led to her complaining to my boss about me, I've decided the best way forward is to ignore her completely.
Started the new year in fencing terms with two competitions on the same weekend, which I won't do again if I can possibly help it, especially as there was driving between the different locations involved. The first was against a mixture of UK and European fencers and I had the pleasure of running someone off the back of the piste, as well as roundly beating another who did very well in the national veteran's championship last year. She was having an off day, but I'll take that result anyway! It took forever to then get to the DE fight and I'd checked out before it started, so I didn't do particularly well. I then fenced much better on the Sunday but ran up against someone in the DE who usually has one really good competition result a season and happened to inflict it on me this time around. My next competition is this coming weekend and I'm looking to improve on my result last year, where I finished DFL.
I'm back to working on my overall fitness as well, with attempts at getting into a routine of going to the gym. January is rarely great for this, as the gym is full of new folks with resolutions, but I know what I need to do and it's just a case of going regularly, doing more each time I go, rinse and repeat. At least I have a reason for going, as I can see the difference in how I fence when I'm fitter overall, I just need to keep reminding myself about this!
Yes, it's February and we're officially not part of the European Union any more. What a shitshow this has all been. Decisions made based on lies peddled by the media and lapped up by people who want to believe that somehow the EU has been holding us back and we're just going to gambol back into the sunshine as an 'independent' country now they can't do that any more. Bollocks. We're stuck with a government which is massively uncaring (if not openly hostile) to much of the population and little sign of that changing any time soon.
I'm currently also chewing over what to do personally in terms of holidays, as there are plenty of places I want to visit (and have to go for years, in some cases) but there are all sorts of philosophical wheels churning in my head. If I don't see these places soon, some of them might just not be visitable in the future because of climate change and general human fuckery, but if I go then I'm contributing to climate change etc, but if I don't visit them then the people who rely on tourism will suffer. Jeez, life is so much easier if you have no conscience about these sorts of things, isn't it?
Work has settled down a bit, despite the best efforts of the IT changes we're currently undergoing to make how we do our jobs as complicated as possible. I currently have 2 work email addresses and can only print anything at work by emailing stuff to one of them, which account currently takes me 7-8 minutes to log into at work because of the process involving in actually getting in (multi-factor authorisation and so on). After a further run-in with the QA woman, which led to her complaining to my boss about me, I've decided the best way forward is to ignore her completely.
Started the new year in fencing terms with two competitions on the same weekend, which I won't do again if I can possibly help it, especially as there was driving between the different locations involved. The first was against a mixture of UK and European fencers and I had the pleasure of running someone off the back of the piste, as well as roundly beating another who did very well in the national veteran's championship last year. She was having an off day, but I'll take that result anyway! It took forever to then get to the DE fight and I'd checked out before it started, so I didn't do particularly well. I then fenced much better on the Sunday but ran up against someone in the DE who usually has one really good competition result a season and happened to inflict it on me this time around. My next competition is this coming weekend and I'm looking to improve on my result last year, where I finished DFL.
I'm back to working on my overall fitness as well, with attempts at getting into a routine of going to the gym. January is rarely great for this, as the gym is full of new folks with resolutions, but I know what I need to do and it's just a case of going regularly, doing more each time I go, rinse and repeat. At least I have a reason for going, as I can see the difference in how I fence when I'm fitter overall, I just need to keep reminding myself about this!
Top 10 books of 2019
Dec. 24th, 2019 03:30 pmIn no particular order, these are the books I've read and enjoyed the most this year:
A Conspiracy of Truths - Alexandra Rowland
Magic for Liars - Sarah Gailey
Blackdog -KV Johansen
The Perfect Assassin - KA Doore
The Calculating Stars - Mary Robinette Kowal
Trail of Lightning - Rebecca Roanhorse
The Black God's Drums - P Djeli Clark
Hexarchate Stories - Yoon Ha Lee
The Poison Song - Jen Williams
Annex - Rich Larson
For specific thoughts on the above, please feel free to have a look at my reviews here. I stopped doing reading challenges a couple of years back but I read about 50 books, which makes 2019 a pretty slow year for me.
For specific thoughts on the above, please feel free to have a look at my reviews here. I stopped doing reading challenges a couple of years back but I read about 50 books, which makes 2019 a pretty slow year for me.
December, how are you here?
Dec. 5th, 2019 10:30 amWe're pretty much at the end of the academic year and I suddenly realised that I haven't posted for 2 months, so here goes. Not that there's much to say, to be perfectly honest - life revolves around work, fencing and not a great deal else.
Work is going pretty well, though I've been very annoyed to have an observation which included our new quality assurance manager. She's full of all the usual QA buzz words and little else, from what I can see. Apparently they were happy with my lesson but still handed me a 16-point action plan, so I'm not sure I'm convinced. My manager also teaches one class and has been observed too, with apparent expectations that she's going to receive something similar from what she told me.
I'm teaching 3 classes, two at the same level and one supposedly the level below. Sadly the folks in the lower level are really only just at that level and not very strong at all, so it's a lot slower progress than it would otherwise be. Most of this term has been about boosting their confidence so they will try stuff that's harder as we go along and it takes a lot of energy on my part to do that. You also get folks who have hit a bit of a natural plateau and it's hard to see how to get them past that, especially if they can see they're stuck too.
This is going to be my last academic year of teaching Saturdays, as it's had too much of an impact on the competitions I want to do and I've done it for 4 years. I've also been teaching a class that's 12.30-3, so I have to have lunch at about 11.30 or starve, then another from 6-8.30, which means a late dinner. I very much like having a day off in the week, though I've not been very good at actually using it properly to do stuff. Maybe if I get my weekends back properly I can do something about that?
Fencing is going pretty well - I'm settled into a routine of fencing twice a week and have my competitions planned for the season. I'm currently comfortably in the top 200 in the country but you lose the points from the previous season after 12 months, so I need to do well in the next couple of competitions to maintain or even improve that. Another attempted routine thing is going to the gym to help with this. I was fencing a teenage lad last night and, while I could push him hard for a while at the beginning (and boy, he really didn't enjoy that!), I just didn't have the stamina to keep that level of intensity going for an entire fight.
Other than that, I've been reading a lot and watching a bunch of TV shows, while wondering how people manage to keep up with everything. Nothing that sparks any fannish desires, though. On Netflix, I'm currently watching a French show called Black Spot (Zone Blanche is the original title), where police procedures are just things that happen to other people, and a couple of Korean shows: Tunnel, about a detective who travels to the future to try and catch a serial killer, and Prison Playbook, about a baseball player who ends up in prison. The only downside with Korean shows is that each episode is movie-length and they usually have loads of them, partly because the pacing is quite slow compared to shows from the US or the UK.
I'll have to do a proper end of year post about TV shows, I think - there's been some really good stuff this year, with the highlights probably being Russian Doll (weird black comedy) and Kingdom (another Korean show, this time a historical one with zombies).
Work is going pretty well, though I've been very annoyed to have an observation which included our new quality assurance manager. She's full of all the usual QA buzz words and little else, from what I can see. Apparently they were happy with my lesson but still handed me a 16-point action plan, so I'm not sure I'm convinced. My manager also teaches one class and has been observed too, with apparent expectations that she's going to receive something similar from what she told me.
I'm teaching 3 classes, two at the same level and one supposedly the level below. Sadly the folks in the lower level are really only just at that level and not very strong at all, so it's a lot slower progress than it would otherwise be. Most of this term has been about boosting their confidence so they will try stuff that's harder as we go along and it takes a lot of energy on my part to do that. You also get folks who have hit a bit of a natural plateau and it's hard to see how to get them past that, especially if they can see they're stuck too.
This is going to be my last academic year of teaching Saturdays, as it's had too much of an impact on the competitions I want to do and I've done it for 4 years. I've also been teaching a class that's 12.30-3, so I have to have lunch at about 11.30 or starve, then another from 6-8.30, which means a late dinner. I very much like having a day off in the week, though I've not been very good at actually using it properly to do stuff. Maybe if I get my weekends back properly I can do something about that?
Fencing is going pretty well - I'm settled into a routine of fencing twice a week and have my competitions planned for the season. I'm currently comfortably in the top 200 in the country but you lose the points from the previous season after 12 months, so I need to do well in the next couple of competitions to maintain or even improve that. Another attempted routine thing is going to the gym to help with this. I was fencing a teenage lad last night and, while I could push him hard for a while at the beginning (and boy, he really didn't enjoy that!), I just didn't have the stamina to keep that level of intensity going for an entire fight.
Other than that, I've been reading a lot and watching a bunch of TV shows, while wondering how people manage to keep up with everything. Nothing that sparks any fannish desires, though. On Netflix, I'm currently watching a French show called Black Spot (Zone Blanche is the original title), where police procedures are just things that happen to other people, and a couple of Korean shows: Tunnel, about a detective who travels to the future to try and catch a serial killer, and Prison Playbook, about a baseball player who ends up in prison. The only downside with Korean shows is that each episode is movie-length and they usually have loads of them, partly because the pacing is quite slow compared to shows from the US or the UK.
I'll have to do a proper end of year post about TV shows, I think - there's been some really good stuff this year, with the highlights probably being Russian Doll (weird black comedy) and Kingdom (another Korean show, this time a historical one with zombies).
Two competitions in...
Sep. 30th, 2019 08:50 amJust spent the weekend doing a team competition and boy, I am really not a team player any more. We were supposed to have a team of 3, which means lots of fights but I figured the more fights the better as it might even out my inconsistency, then suddenly it was 4, then 5 when we arrived on Saturday. Which meant long periods of watching other people do the stuff I was itching to do myself and that definitely had an impact on how I did when I actually got on the piste. *sigh*
It also made for a relatively expensive weekend, in terms of bang for your buck. I like to get my money's worth when I travel to fence and more fights = better. The annoying thing is that early on we were approached to see if our fifth person would like to fence for another region, who didn't have a full team, and she declined. If I'd known how I would feel now about it all, I should probably have been the one who jumped ship. At the time I was just 'why the hell should I?' but that seems to have been a poor decision on my part.
The previous (solo) competition was much better - had a very good round 1 then tanked a bit in round 2 and ended up blowing the elimination fight as I got someone tougher than I should have. Still, I did well enough to get ranking points and that was a major aim, even if the two toughest people who'd entered didn't turn up in the end (which means less points for the rest of us, as a good result in a tough competition gets you more points than the same result in a weaker one).
Next competition is in November, so we'll see how that goes...
It also made for a relatively expensive weekend, in terms of bang for your buck. I like to get my money's worth when I travel to fence and more fights = better. The annoying thing is that early on we were approached to see if our fifth person would like to fence for another region, who didn't have a full team, and she declined. If I'd known how I would feel now about it all, I should probably have been the one who jumped ship. At the time I was just 'why the hell should I?' but that seems to have been a poor decision on my part.
The previous (solo) competition was much better - had a very good round 1 then tanked a bit in round 2 and ended up blowing the elimination fight as I got someone tougher than I should have. Still, I did well enough to get ranking points and that was a major aim, even if the two toughest people who'd entered didn't turn up in the end (which means less points for the rest of us, as a good result in a tough competition gets you more points than the same result in a weaker one).
Next competition is in November, so we'll see how that goes...
This year's summer holiday was a trip to Ireland, first to Dublin for WorldCon and then off to the west coast for a few days. To be honest, if it hadn't been for the convention I would have jumped the train to the coast after 2 days in Dublin, as I'd pretty much done all the tourist stuff last time I was there and it was just noisy, crowded and I didn't enjoy it all that much. Probably not helped by discovering that the hostel where I was staying was on a street where idiots people were making noise till 3 or 4am every night. The hostel itself was fine, as I was staying in a 4-bed single sex room, and definitely didn't want to spend the kind of money it costs to stay in Dublin in August. I had thought Helsinki was expensive!
Enjoyed the con a lot, which is good because it'll probably be the last WorldCon I make it to unless Glasgow wins the bid for 2024. Can't see me making the trip to the US any time soon and I'm definitely not off to NZ for next year's edition. Though it probably won't suffer from the horrendous queues that Dublin did. The other downside was that there was nowhere to sit and actually have a conversation, which is always a good part of any con.
Then I got the train to Sligo, as I figured it would be less busy than Galway, and it was great. A beautiful part of the country, some of it very reminiscent of the national park nearest to me - lots of sheep and heather and rolling limestone hills. I got to go kayaking, though only on Lough Gill as I didn't organise myself too well, and the highlight of the trip was definitely the neolithic stuff. There's a big concentration of megalithic stuff in that area, including a cairn on top of a hill that I didn't make it to which I could see from my hotel bedroom window.
I went to one particular place called Carrowkeel, which has a number of passage tombs dating back to about 3600BC and which were way less attractive to passing tourists because you have to hike for a mile or so to get to them. Next time I'd like to get a proper map of the area, as there were more neolithic elements around that area which I didn't get to see, but you can go inside the cairns which have been excavated. The best, you have to crawl into down a passage that's about 3' x 3', then it opens up into a central chamber where the roof is about 8' or so and you can stand, with other smaller chambers and shelves off it. There's another one like it, where you have to squirm in past a stone that almost blocks the entrance, again where you can stand up inside.
And then it was back home, as for some reason I decided it would be a good idea to get the train back to Dublin rather than flying back from the regional airport near where I was staying. Not sure what I was thinking when I organised all of that.
We're not officially back at work yet, though tomorrow is the date when we're officially supposed to be 'available' for any meetings etc. though ours all seem to be on Friday. This meant I couldn't avail myself of the bargain trip I was offered to go on the whale watching survey again, as it doesn't finish till Saturday, so I'm trying not to torture myself too much at the moment by reading the posts from that trip. Grrr.
I'm also trying to get ready for the new fencing season, which means regular practice and trying to get a routine of gym attendance as well. First competition of the season is in 2 weeks and so far the line-up in my weapon is all veterans (myself included) and the 2018 national senior champion. She was almost the 2019 national senior champion as well but lost in the final. You can probably imagine how much I am looking forward to possibly fighting her!
Enjoyed the con a lot, which is good because it'll probably be the last WorldCon I make it to unless Glasgow wins the bid for 2024. Can't see me making the trip to the US any time soon and I'm definitely not off to NZ for next year's edition. Though it probably won't suffer from the horrendous queues that Dublin did. The other downside was that there was nowhere to sit and actually have a conversation, which is always a good part of any con.
Then I got the train to Sligo, as I figured it would be less busy than Galway, and it was great. A beautiful part of the country, some of it very reminiscent of the national park nearest to me - lots of sheep and heather and rolling limestone hills. I got to go kayaking, though only on Lough Gill as I didn't organise myself too well, and the highlight of the trip was definitely the neolithic stuff. There's a big concentration of megalithic stuff in that area, including a cairn on top of a hill that I didn't make it to which I could see from my hotel bedroom window.
I went to one particular place called Carrowkeel, which has a number of passage tombs dating back to about 3600BC and which were way less attractive to passing tourists because you have to hike for a mile or so to get to them. Next time I'd like to get a proper map of the area, as there were more neolithic elements around that area which I didn't get to see, but you can go inside the cairns which have been excavated. The best, you have to crawl into down a passage that's about 3' x 3', then it opens up into a central chamber where the roof is about 8' or so and you can stand, with other smaller chambers and shelves off it. There's another one like it, where you have to squirm in past a stone that almost blocks the entrance, again where you can stand up inside.
And then it was back home, as for some reason I decided it would be a good idea to get the train back to Dublin rather than flying back from the regional airport near where I was staying. Not sure what I was thinking when I organised all of that.
We're not officially back at work yet, though tomorrow is the date when we're officially supposed to be 'available' for any meetings etc. though ours all seem to be on Friday. This meant I couldn't avail myself of the bargain trip I was offered to go on the whale watching survey again, as it doesn't finish till Saturday, so I'm trying not to torture myself too much at the moment by reading the posts from that trip. Grrr.
I'm also trying to get ready for the new fencing season, which means regular practice and trying to get a routine of gym attendance as well. First competition of the season is in 2 weeks and so far the line-up in my weapon is all veterans (myself included) and the 2018 national senior champion. She was almost the 2019 national senior champion as well but lost in the final. You can probably imagine how much I am looking forward to possibly fighting her!
In recent months, I've picked up a bunch of podcasts which I really enjoy, so I thought I'd talk about them here in case other people are looking for stuff to listen to. It's a bit odd, because I don't do anything like as many miles in the car as in my previous jobs, but I still just about manage to stay on top of these guys and find them all entertaining - I'm not going to bother reccing Welcome to Night Vale, however, since I'm pretty sure everyone knows about that one. ;)
I've linked to the homepage for each one though if you use a podcatching app, I'm sure a simple search will pull these up easily. Hope you find something new and let me know if you think I'm missing something equally good!
Fiction podcasts
Wooden Overcoats - came to this one, which is basically a sitcom set in a funeral parlour on a small English island, a bit late and via one of the actors in Victoriocity.
Victoriocity - a great mixture of crime tropes and steampunk, set in the city of Even Greater London which is ruled by a version of Queen Victoria who has survived multiple assassination attempts and is now part-machine.
The Strange Case of Starship Iris - in the aftermath of a galactic war, Violet Liu survives an explosion on her science vessel and tries to discover the truth behind what happened.
The Two Princes - enjoyable YA second world fantasy adventure serial with an all star cast marred a bit by adverts partway through. Seriously, who does that?
Eos 10 - entertaining series set in the medical centre of a space station which then branched off into messing with the space-time continuum (as you do).
Non-fiction, a miscellany
Scotland Outdoors - I think I rec this one all the time, it's so relaxed and massively interesting. Like it says, it's about Scotland with two guys meeting interesting people and talking with them. Highly recommended.
Ancient History Hound - a podcast about Ancient Greece and Rome, which doesn't shy away from all sorts of interesting details.
The Dirt - a new addition to the list, a podcast run by an archaeologist and an anthropologist.
Bad Gays - an interesting and well-researched look at gay men who are either ambivalent or downright villainous.
Be The Serpent - now Hugo-nominated, all about fandom and SFF, so basically a podcast version of the kind of conversations we used to have on LJ all the time. *sigh*
I've linked to the homepage for each one though if you use a podcatching app, I'm sure a simple search will pull these up easily. Hope you find something new and let me know if you think I'm missing something equally good!
Fiction podcasts
Non-fiction, a miscellany
And it's July...
Jul. 8th, 2019 10:00 amWe're in the last throes of the academic year, with exams to mark and just 2 more classes to teach then that's it for the summer. We're supposed to be doing mandatory CPD stuff next week but I have already reached my hours for the year and also there's absolutely nothing being organised that is of any interest or relevance to me - there's stuff via the internet I can log which will be much more useful in the longer term, I'm sure.
I have my timetable for September onwards, so I've been able to start planning exactly what I'm doing in terms of both work and generally. I'm still teaching on Saturdays but have told my boss this is the last year for me, as this will be my 4th year and it feels like it's someone else's turn to do that. It's also been a bit of a pain to try and organise around competitions, as any Saturday I book off is just added onto the end and we also have weekends we're not allowed to do for various reasons - it's technically possible to get cover but I like things done the way I want, so I've never even tried to do that. I'm still in the good books though, as I've agreed to take on an evening class (another thing many people don't want to do).
I still have planning to do for September and really want to at least make a start on it this month so I can have August off completely. However, as I am the queen of procrastination, it might not happen! At least I've organised my trip to Ireland, with WorldCon in Dublin and then a week on the west coast, which I'm really looking forward to. At the moment I'm not taking any books for signing as I don't think anyone I want to fangirl at is going to be there except for people I've already done that with. This makes the weight limit on the flight much easier to achieve!
Had another good survey at Easter, with fantastic weather every day - makes spotting much easier if the seas are calm and you don't have rain blowing into your face! Some great sightings, including minke whales closer than I've seen before, but one of the highlights for me was on the way back into port when a white-tailed eagle flew right across in front of us. I'd seen them at a distance but never really thought about how bloody huge they are till I saw one about 15 feet away lumbering across the Sound of Mull. Taking a break that way was definitely the right decision.
It did mean I missed the regional championships, which was a bit annoying, as it was also a qualifier for one of the national competitions. Next year, then! However, I did fence quite well at the British veterans nationals and am now really working towards the new season from September. Unexpectedly, this weekend I got a call-up to the regional squad for a long-running national team competition and got my regional badge (which you can only get by being selected). This competition is often dominated by folks in their teens and twenties but we lost a few fencers to a national achievement camp so I got asked this week if I was available. We did really well as a region, considering the panicky last-minute nature of the call-ups, finishing 4th out of 11 teams overall. I only ended up fighting 4 bouts and just managed to win 3 of those 12 fights but they were all against people ranked higher than me, including one woman who's just been called up for the GB veterans world championship team. :P
So now I've sewn my regional badge on to my jacket as I continue to prepare for the veteran's version of the same competition, which is in September - I've already been called up for that one and had thought that was the only one of these I'd ever get to do, since it's a bit more self-selecting!
In other news, I've been working my way through the Hugo bundle and reading all sorts of stuff. There's nothing fannish which has particularly grabbed me lately, although I recently binged my way through the 3 seasons of Versailles, which I missed first time around. I was dragged into it by Tumblr, I must confess, with the promise of an OT3 which very much lived up to what I wanted from it and therefore does not generate fic ideas at all. Boy, that theme music is massively annoying though, with the whiny vocals. *shudders*
I've also been getting back into podcasts, even though I don't really drive as far as I used to - there's some really excellent ones out there and I think I'll do a separate post on them in the next couple of weeks, in the hopes this account doesn't get left to lie fallow all summer. No promises, though!
I have my timetable for September onwards, so I've been able to start planning exactly what I'm doing in terms of both work and generally. I'm still teaching on Saturdays but have told my boss this is the last year for me, as this will be my 4th year and it feels like it's someone else's turn to do that. It's also been a bit of a pain to try and organise around competitions, as any Saturday I book off is just added onto the end and we also have weekends we're not allowed to do for various reasons - it's technically possible to get cover but I like things done the way I want, so I've never even tried to do that. I'm still in the good books though, as I've agreed to take on an evening class (another thing many people don't want to do).
I still have planning to do for September and really want to at least make a start on it this month so I can have August off completely. However, as I am the queen of procrastination, it might not happen! At least I've organised my trip to Ireland, with WorldCon in Dublin and then a week on the west coast, which I'm really looking forward to. At the moment I'm not taking any books for signing as I don't think anyone I want to fangirl at is going to be there except for people I've already done that with. This makes the weight limit on the flight much easier to achieve!
Had another good survey at Easter, with fantastic weather every day - makes spotting much easier if the seas are calm and you don't have rain blowing into your face! Some great sightings, including minke whales closer than I've seen before, but one of the highlights for me was on the way back into port when a white-tailed eagle flew right across in front of us. I'd seen them at a distance but never really thought about how bloody huge they are till I saw one about 15 feet away lumbering across the Sound of Mull. Taking a break that way was definitely the right decision.
It did mean I missed the regional championships, which was a bit annoying, as it was also a qualifier for one of the national competitions. Next year, then! However, I did fence quite well at the British veterans nationals and am now really working towards the new season from September. Unexpectedly, this weekend I got a call-up to the regional squad for a long-running national team competition and got my regional badge (which you can only get by being selected). This competition is often dominated by folks in their teens and twenties but we lost a few fencers to a national achievement camp so I got asked this week if I was available. We did really well as a region, considering the panicky last-minute nature of the call-ups, finishing 4th out of 11 teams overall. I only ended up fighting 4 bouts and just managed to win 3 of those 12 fights but they were all against people ranked higher than me, including one woman who's just been called up for the GB veterans world championship team. :P
So now I've sewn my regional badge on to my jacket as I continue to prepare for the veteran's version of the same competition, which is in September - I've already been called up for that one and had thought that was the only one of these I'd ever get to do, since it's a bit more self-selecting!
In other news, I've been working my way through the Hugo bundle and reading all sorts of stuff. There's nothing fannish which has particularly grabbed me lately, although I recently binged my way through the 3 seasons of Versailles, which I missed first time around. I was dragged into it by Tumblr, I must confess, with the promise of an OT3 which very much lived up to what I wanted from it and therefore does not generate fic ideas at all. Boy, that theme music is massively annoying though, with the whiny vocals. *shudders*
I've also been getting back into podcasts, even though I don't really drive as far as I used to - there's some really excellent ones out there and I think I'll do a separate post on them in the next couple of weeks, in the hopes this account doesn't get left to lie fallow all summer. No promises, though!
Yes, it's another one of those.
Currently off work for the Easter holidays after a flurry of exams and enjoying the lovely weather - hopefully this will continue, as I'm off to Scotland in a few days and another boat-based survey. The forecast is mostly good and I have a new pair of wellies after my old ones split during the last trip. I'm spending a couple of days up there before we sail out, partly because I wanted to visit Kilmartin Glen, which is a massive collection of Neolithic and Bronze Age standing stones, stone circles and rock art. And there's also a site where beaver have been reintroduced in the same area, so I'm hoping to spot them too!
Fencing continues to be very up and down but I've managed to tick off another of my wishlist - this weekend I fenced my first veterans competition and managed to come 6th out of 17. I missed out on getting a medal by one hit, as I lost my round of 8 fight 10-9. We have the national veterans championships in a few weeks, so I'm feeling like I won't be completely out of my depth in that competition after all.
I've been offered a bit of a change for September, as I've been asked to teach an evening class twice a week. That means a move from two days teaching morning and afternoon to two teaching afternoon and evening - there's a few hours between the two and it doesn't interfere with the nights I fence, so it doesn't really make a great deal of difference to me (not having commitments around children and so on, like some of the other folks I work with). Anyway, we'll see how it all looks when the timetable gets finalised in a month or so.
Lots to do before I head north, as I've spent an entire week being a sloth and it's been lovely. :)
Currently off work for the Easter holidays after a flurry of exams and enjoying the lovely weather - hopefully this will continue, as I'm off to Scotland in a few days and another boat-based survey. The forecast is mostly good and I have a new pair of wellies after my old ones split during the last trip. I'm spending a couple of days up there before we sail out, partly because I wanted to visit Kilmartin Glen, which is a massive collection of Neolithic and Bronze Age standing stones, stone circles and rock art. And there's also a site where beaver have been reintroduced in the same area, so I'm hoping to spot them too!
Fencing continues to be very up and down but I've managed to tick off another of my wishlist - this weekend I fenced my first veterans competition and managed to come 6th out of 17. I missed out on getting a medal by one hit, as I lost my round of 8 fight 10-9. We have the national veterans championships in a few weeks, so I'm feeling like I won't be completely out of my depth in that competition after all.
I've been offered a bit of a change for September, as I've been asked to teach an evening class twice a week. That means a move from two days teaching morning and afternoon to two teaching afternoon and evening - there's a few hours between the two and it doesn't interfere with the nights I fence, so it doesn't really make a great deal of difference to me (not having commitments around children and so on, like some of the other folks I work with). Anyway, we'll see how it all looks when the timetable gets finalised in a month or so.
Lots to do before I head north, as I've spent an entire week being a sloth and it's been lovely. :)
Ugh, how is it February already?
Feb. 6th, 2019 10:12 amSorry folks (the few who're still reading this), I'm not sure what happened to January at all as I'd been meaning to post an update but it just didn't happen. So, let's talk about life and all that...
First off, I now am significantly poorer but also have central heating that actually works. This, along with a big fleecy jumper, has been a godsend on a few days here but so far the winter has been pretty mild in this part of the UK. A few miles further north, where it gets hilly, there was snow for a while but I've literally had just a sprinkling here and nothing more. Still, I'm completely sold on the concept of heated windscreens for cars, as by the time I've scraped the other windows, the screen is clear and I'm ready to go.
I did some work for the local university but not as much as previously, due to my other commitments. We're reaching the tipping point there between 'this money is useful to pay for my expensive hobby' versus 'I hate getting up at the buttcrack of dawn' - the next big lot of exams isn't quite so bad because at least it would be daylight when I got up, but we'll see how I feel after that.
Work trundles on as usual, except for the fact that I now have two job-sharing bosses instead of one single one. The single one has been talking for years about retirement anyway and the appointment was from inside the team, so someone who knows how we work and doesn't want to fix a system that's not broken. That seems to be the more senior management's job, which is one reason I didn't put myself forward for a minor job enhancement opportunity that came along recently - extra work and the hours to do it but otherwise just what looks like a lot of hassle. I'd rather spend my time and effort getting as good at what I'm doing now as possible than try and take on more, especially potentially-stressful more.
I'm still fencing at two clubs, which is working out well even though I was so cold at one of them last week I had to give up early and throw on multiple layers instead. The epee coach is back, though there's still things she can't do, but I cooled down so much during the group lesson that I just couldn't get going again after and felt really rough. This week (tonight) is looking like being much warmer so I need to get my practice in, as I've got a competition coming up this weekend.
I'm still creeping up the national rankings and am just outside the top 200 in the country, so a good performance at this would hit another target for me if I jump inside that bracket. I'm massively inconsistent, though - had another competition a few weeks back with 2 rounds of poules where I did quite well in round 1 but failed to stick the landing (to mix sports metaphors). However, even the worst competition performances tend to come with silver linings; I finally beat the woman who's been my nemesis for a while and who I often end up fighting in poules - we started fencing around the same time and she's at least 20 years younger than me but this time I absolutely thrashed her.
I also need to get on with planning my holidays for this year. I've got an attending ticket for WorldCon in Dublin but haven't sorted anything else out yet - the hotels are fiendishly expensive, making Helsinki look quite cheap, which was a bit of a revelation. I also want to visit a few other places in the country (neolithic stuff, mostly) and would also love to get over to the west coast, but need to really sit and figure out what's realistic. If it weren't for WorldCon, I definitely wouldn't be there in August, which is crazy tourist time anyway. I'm also thinking about doing another survey at Easter but might run out of time to organise that, we'll see. It's half term soon, so I can do some proper planning then.
The weasels are fat and healthy, with big winter coats and shiny eyes. I need to get some current pics of them and spam everyone as they are so pretty. Hard to believe they'll be two in April!
First off, I now am significantly poorer but also have central heating that actually works. This, along with a big fleecy jumper, has been a godsend on a few days here but so far the winter has been pretty mild in this part of the UK. A few miles further north, where it gets hilly, there was snow for a while but I've literally had just a sprinkling here and nothing more. Still, I'm completely sold on the concept of heated windscreens for cars, as by the time I've scraped the other windows, the screen is clear and I'm ready to go.
I did some work for the local university but not as much as previously, due to my other commitments. We're reaching the tipping point there between 'this money is useful to pay for my expensive hobby' versus 'I hate getting up at the buttcrack of dawn' - the next big lot of exams isn't quite so bad because at least it would be daylight when I got up, but we'll see how I feel after that.
Work trundles on as usual, except for the fact that I now have two job-sharing bosses instead of one single one. The single one has been talking for years about retirement anyway and the appointment was from inside the team, so someone who knows how we work and doesn't want to fix a system that's not broken. That seems to be the more senior management's job, which is one reason I didn't put myself forward for a minor job enhancement opportunity that came along recently - extra work and the hours to do it but otherwise just what looks like a lot of hassle. I'd rather spend my time and effort getting as good at what I'm doing now as possible than try and take on more, especially potentially-stressful more.
I'm still fencing at two clubs, which is working out well even though I was so cold at one of them last week I had to give up early and throw on multiple layers instead. The epee coach is back, though there's still things she can't do, but I cooled down so much during the group lesson that I just couldn't get going again after and felt really rough. This week (tonight) is looking like being much warmer so I need to get my practice in, as I've got a competition coming up this weekend.
I'm still creeping up the national rankings and am just outside the top 200 in the country, so a good performance at this would hit another target for me if I jump inside that bracket. I'm massively inconsistent, though - had another competition a few weeks back with 2 rounds of poules where I did quite well in round 1 but failed to stick the landing (to mix sports metaphors). However, even the worst competition performances tend to come with silver linings; I finally beat the woman who's been my nemesis for a while and who I often end up fighting in poules - we started fencing around the same time and she's at least 20 years younger than me but this time I absolutely thrashed her.
I also need to get on with planning my holidays for this year. I've got an attending ticket for WorldCon in Dublin but haven't sorted anything else out yet - the hotels are fiendishly expensive, making Helsinki look quite cheap, which was a bit of a revelation. I also want to visit a few other places in the country (neolithic stuff, mostly) and would also love to get over to the west coast, but need to really sit and figure out what's realistic. If it weren't for WorldCon, I definitely wouldn't be there in August, which is crazy tourist time anyway. I'm also thinking about doing another survey at Easter but might run out of time to organise that, we'll see. It's half term soon, so I can do some proper planning then.
The weasels are fat and healthy, with big winter coats and shiny eyes. I need to get some current pics of them and spam everyone as they are so pretty. Hard to believe they'll be two in April!
In which I amuse myself...
Dec. 1st, 2018 09:33 pmOne of the things I didn't know, but probably should have realised, when I took up fencing was just how small the sport is. Which is a good thing at times, when I get to see people at different competitions and chat with them, but can also lead to all sorts of shenanigans where it's who you know that matters.
This definitely goes on when it comes to picking teams for regional competitions - there's different age groups and it's fairly easy to guess just how non-transparent the process is for getting onto one of those teams. The only exception, to be honest, is the veterans where it ends up being 'are you over 40 and know which end of the weapon is which?'; I've already been head-hunted for the regional team for next time around (I did also get asked by someone else at a previous competition if there was any possibility I was Welsh, though sadly I'm not...)
This kind of nepotism also sneaks into our regional training days, one of which happened today. I always roll up late because I work on Saturdays, then have to drive to a nearby city and when I got there today, I was wondering where some of the usual suspects were and discovered there'd been some cherry-picking about who got to do what. Turns out there were two of the regional cadet squad epeeists around and a while later their coach rolled up and was focussing very much on them.
Cue the sparring part of the afternoon and I was okay but nothing exceptional - then came the highlight of the afternoon! Yes, I fenced one of the cadets and completely schooled him, to the point where his coach pulled him over mid-fight (which is completely Not Done) to give him advice. Not that this helped, as I subsequently caned him 5-2 and couldn't help seeing the sour look on his coach's face when I sauntered away. That's definitely one for us old fogies! :P
This definitely goes on when it comes to picking teams for regional competitions - there's different age groups and it's fairly easy to guess just how non-transparent the process is for getting onto one of those teams. The only exception, to be honest, is the veterans where it ends up being 'are you over 40 and know which end of the weapon is which?'; I've already been head-hunted for the regional team for next time around (I did also get asked by someone else at a previous competition if there was any possibility I was Welsh, though sadly I'm not...)
This kind of nepotism also sneaks into our regional training days, one of which happened today. I always roll up late because I work on Saturdays, then have to drive to a nearby city and when I got there today, I was wondering where some of the usual suspects were and discovered there'd been some cherry-picking about who got to do what. Turns out there were two of the regional cadet squad epeeists around and a while later their coach rolled up and was focussing very much on them.
Cue the sparring part of the afternoon and I was okay but nothing exceptional - then came the highlight of the afternoon! Yes, I fenced one of the cadets and completely schooled him, to the point where his coach pulled him over mid-fight (which is completely Not Done) to give him advice. Not that this helped, as I subsequently caned him 5-2 and couldn't help seeing the sour look on his coach's face when I sauntered away. That's definitely one for us old fogies! :P
A better trip out...
Nov. 12th, 2018 08:30 amAfter the disaster of my last competition, I've been working hard at practice and also trying to be more positive, in preparation for the next one. Pleased to say that it went much better and I ended up with the best result I've had in a competition so far!
I've been so used to being last, or next-to-last (or on one much celebrated occasion, next-to-next-to-last!) that I was absolutely stunned when I came out of the poule ranked 17 of 22. Yes, 5 people did worse than me in the first round - I had one really awful fight where I just couldn't land any hits and then the rest were much better, so I clawed some points back that way. That meant the top 10 fencers got to put their feet up while the rest of us fought to get into the last 16.
I was lucky because I ended up fighting someone who I'd already had (and beaten) in the poule but it still was very close and went to 15-14 in my favour in the end. I was ahead all the time but could never quite shake her, she kept coming back at me all the way. Anyway, that's another target achieved (win a DE fight) off my list of fencing things!
The 'prize' of getting into 16th was a fight against the number 1 seed, who was the fencer I'd had no luck with in the poule too, so I wasn't too surprised when she beat me 15-2. Towards the end, I started laughing and couldn't stop, which I still think is an improvement over frustrated annoyance, because I just couldn't quite get the right distance for hits. She went on to win the entire thing, so obviously I wasn't the only one who found her tricky!
I was guaranteed at least 16th and then someone above me in the ranking got dumped out of the competition by someone lower ranked, so I finished 15th! There's a fencer I come across regularly who started around the same time as me and this was also the first time I finished above her in the rankings (she was 20th, think she had the nightmare time I had last time around), so that's a bonus.
I've been so used to being last, or next-to-last (or on one much celebrated occasion, next-to-next-to-last!) that I was absolutely stunned when I came out of the poule ranked 17 of 22. Yes, 5 people did worse than me in the first round - I had one really awful fight where I just couldn't land any hits and then the rest were much better, so I clawed some points back that way. That meant the top 10 fencers got to put their feet up while the rest of us fought to get into the last 16.
I was lucky because I ended up fighting someone who I'd already had (and beaten) in the poule but it still was very close and went to 15-14 in my favour in the end. I was ahead all the time but could never quite shake her, she kept coming back at me all the way. Anyway, that's another target achieved (win a DE fight) off my list of fencing things!
The 'prize' of getting into 16th was a fight against the number 1 seed, who was the fencer I'd had no luck with in the poule too, so I wasn't too surprised when she beat me 15-2. Towards the end, I started laughing and couldn't stop, which I still think is an improvement over frustrated annoyance, because I just couldn't quite get the right distance for hits. She went on to win the entire thing, so obviously I wasn't the only one who found her tricky!
I was guaranteed at least 16th and then someone above me in the ranking got dumped out of the competition by someone lower ranked, so I finished 15th! There's a fencer I come across regularly who started around the same time as me and this was also the first time I finished above her in the rankings (she was 20th, think she had the nightmare time I had last time around), so that's a bonus.
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