And it's July...

We'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!