Still not dead
Oct. 18th, 2018 09:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
graculusPlenty going on, most of it not particularly fannish. It kind of breaks into three categories: stuff to do with my house, work and fencing.
First off, the house. When I bought it, I didn't quite realise the extent to which the previous owner was a devotee of the concept of bodge-it-yourself. I think people ought to do things themselves, if they know what they're doing, but in this case a) he didn't and b) he has caused further problems for me. A case in point has been my ongoing struggles with the central heating system and the discovery recently that the (plastic) overflow pipe from the cold water tank in the attic (whence comes all the water to feed the system, rather than from the mains) was held together by basically nothing. So when the ballcock started playing up and the tank overfilled, the water that was supposed to be diverted through a pipe to outside instead went into the ceiling of the room below. I've now fixed that problem myself but am well aware that it's just a temporary fix - in my near future is the expensive replacement of the heating boiler and the removal of all the tanks connected to it, which will doubtless end up costing me more as my plumber discovers all the other things that have been half-arsed along the way.
Fortunately, at the same time, work is fine. I've had something new to do this term, which is assessing folks for placement and that's been interesting. We take people into classes until Easter usually, so I'm signed up to keep assessing till Christmas at least. I got tripped up by some paperwork issues at the end of last academic year, so I'm trying to keep on top of everything as I go this time around - so far, so good.
I've had a very up and down time with fencing, having entered another competition and done the absolute worst I've ever done. I've finished last before but there's a difference between finishing last because everyone else was better than you and finishing last (like this time) because you sucked. I've been describing it as a 'frustration death spiral' - I fenced badly, so I got frustrated, then I fenced even worse. Then I had some really good fights in practice last week, as well as practice last night where I had two fights back-to-back at one point, the second of which I won against a woman who usually beats me fairly comfortably. After that competition, I was left wondering if I was kidding myself about how well I can fence but results like that one make my head spin again. Anyway, another competition in a couple of weeks, so we'll see if I can get my head together and actually fence as well as I think I can.
To be honest, I had a bit of a mental health wobble the morning after the competition and felt very low. That seemed to lift as I was at work throughout the day, so it's probably a good thing I now work straight after the weekend and don't have yet more time to mope. ;)
First off, the house. When I bought it, I didn't quite realise the extent to which the previous owner was a devotee of the concept of bodge-it-yourself. I think people ought to do things themselves, if they know what they're doing, but in this case a) he didn't and b) he has caused further problems for me. A case in point has been my ongoing struggles with the central heating system and the discovery recently that the (plastic) overflow pipe from the cold water tank in the attic (whence comes all the water to feed the system, rather than from the mains) was held together by basically nothing. So when the ballcock started playing up and the tank overfilled, the water that was supposed to be diverted through a pipe to outside instead went into the ceiling of the room below. I've now fixed that problem myself but am well aware that it's just a temporary fix - in my near future is the expensive replacement of the heating boiler and the removal of all the tanks connected to it, which will doubtless end up costing me more as my plumber discovers all the other things that have been half-arsed along the way.
Fortunately, at the same time, work is fine. I've had something new to do this term, which is assessing folks for placement and that's been interesting. We take people into classes until Easter usually, so I'm signed up to keep assessing till Christmas at least. I got tripped up by some paperwork issues at the end of last academic year, so I'm trying to keep on top of everything as I go this time around - so far, so good.
I've had a very up and down time with fencing, having entered another competition and done the absolute worst I've ever done. I've finished last before but there's a difference between finishing last because everyone else was better than you and finishing last (like this time) because you sucked. I've been describing it as a 'frustration death spiral' - I fenced badly, so I got frustrated, then I fenced even worse. Then I had some really good fights in practice last week, as well as practice last night where I had two fights back-to-back at one point, the second of which I won against a woman who usually beats me fairly comfortably. After that competition, I was left wondering if I was kidding myself about how well I can fence but results like that one make my head spin again. Anyway, another competition in a couple of weeks, so we'll see if I can get my head together and actually fence as well as I think I can.
To be honest, I had a bit of a mental health wobble the morning after the competition and felt very low. That seemed to lift as I was at work throughout the day, so it's probably a good thing I now work straight after the weekend and don't have yet more time to mope. ;)
