Home alone

For a while anyway… It’s an odd time of the year. Ben is away partying in Nelson, Jed, rabbit shooting in Bendigo, Zoë is baby sitting at her dad’s and Jack’s still up in Timaru holidaying with Seán and his children (from where I have just returned).

So, for a glorious night or two I am alone! What bliss, I look forward to this time of the year all year long.

All done

My grading is all over – for another six months, phew!

It was a funny grading. Just nine karateka lining up to be tested. We have had low numbers attending the dojo over the last few months and many that should have been grading this time just didn’t have the class numbers. Great attendance by the higher grades – who must be bored silly watching the lowly kyu grades go agonizingly slowly though the basics. I can almost feel them wince at times, but good on them for being there, on a sunny Saturday morning, and supporting the club – and coming along to fight the two needing sparring partners – Jerome and me.

Lots and lots of basic techniques for the three beginners, a fair few push ups and so on, then through the self-defenses, kata and yakusoku etc and etc – until the big finale for me – and the big worry – sparring! I was pleased and surprised to see only ten wee men up on the board for me, and fifteen for Jerome. I had thought it was fifteen and twenty. But I’m always happy to do what I’m told at a grading! So I had bouts with a kyoshi, a sensei, a sandan, two nidan and so on down to the brown belts and one green belt. Last fight with my husband – a sensei.

I was pretty knackered by the end. Fit as I – and I am very fit – it was just so hard to breath, just no time at all between fights.

Today I have a few bruises – mainly shins and arms – and my entire chest and shoulder area is tight as tight, don’t like to sneeze or take deep breaths. I assume it’s from the push-ups and a bit from the sparring. They weren’t as terribly hard on me as they could have been but my body feels very used today.

So, I am now a 3rd kyu – advanced green belt - and I have a new kata to learn and six new self defenses and six months - August ‘08 - until I grade to brown belt. Bring it on!

Nerves galore

Sparring tomorrow, wish me luck :-)

Santa parade

We had two buses and a crowd of book-related characters in the Santa Parade yesterday. Lovely day and good fun waving to all the children.

Breathless...

Six days until my grading and I'm starting to get butterflies. Yeap, I know, I know, just gotta teach them to fly in formation or some such blather... I have a rib that is poking out where it oughtn’t. I have two bruises on my elbows that are actually on top of other bruises and my shins look like - I actually don't know what they look like, but it isn't pretty. Which is a shame as it's been lovely weather here and I’ve been wearing my three new dresses to work off and on lately.

We had a great sparring session last Thursday - in preparation for another karateka’s shodan grading - lots of blackbelts and other sparring grades turned up and gave her a special session. She was on for all the fights - 25 I think. The rest of us simulated, well it was real actually, a grading going on around her. We each had turns with her and two at a time had five fights out beside her. Doesn't make sense and it’s too late at night for me to bother thinking about it. But it was hard and heavy and I was knackered after five serious bouts.

I was dumped on the floor several times, once landing on the rib I had just paid $100 to have rubbed out. I am obviously a little heavy on my feet. I ache from it. I do so worry about making a fool of myself on the day. But there we are, that is part of it, I suppose. Humility and perseverance.

Bedside

There is one question that a Librarian dreads more than most - especially when asked by another Librarian..."So, what do you like to read?" My mind goes instantly blank – I have no idea what I am reading, have read or want to read. I do read widely in all genres but would hesitate (for hours) over who is my favourite author or what is my favourite book.

Anyway, awaiting a recent job interview that was the question I wasn't looking forward to, and so I took a picture of my bedside cabinet, just as it is most of the year - no embellishments, not even a dusting. This is what it is always like - full of library books waiting to be read. Many gaining overdue fines while just sitting there waiting to be picked up. Many more are on the floor. See the list below of books that are on loan to me at the moment

I don't read them in order of getting them, just as they take my fancy. I hate the choosing of the next book to be read and frequently start one or two before I settle on one. Most of these babies are from our stack - older fiction that no longer graces the public shelves. I like old series - Patrick O’Brian, James Lee Burke, Lindsey Davis, C S Forester - oh they are all mystery thrillers, but I like fantasy Sci-Fi too, Paul F Wilson, Chick Lit vampire bites. I don't even mind an occasion Scottish bodice ripper - Karen Moning indeed...Oh, and I adore historical sea novels – Forester and O’Brian – swoon, swoon.

So, instead of asking what is your favourite author or what do you read? Ask what are you reading now? You'll get a more truthful and less pretentious answer.
Tonight I am reading Peter Dexter’s Train, and loving it.


Items checked out to me....

Bloodline : a Repairman Jack novel /
by Wilson, F. Paul (Francis Paul)

Cadfael. Series two

Devil may cry /
by Kenyon, Sherrilyn,

Emotionally weird : a comic novel /
by Atkinson, Kate.

Exile's return /
by Feist, Raymond E.

The four agreements : a practical guide to personal freedom /
by Ruiz, Miguel, 1952-

The Four agreements companion book : using the four agreements to master the dream of your life /

Great books to read aloud /

The harlequin /
by Hamilton, Laurell K.


How to win friends & influence people /
by Carnegie, Dale

King of foxes /
by Feist, Raymond E.

The lazy boys : a novel /
by Shuker, R. Carl, 1974-

Love in the time of cholera /
by Garcia Marquez, Gabriel,

Now is the time to open your heart : a novel /
by Walker, Alice, 1944-

Pocketful of names /
by Coomer, Joe.

The spider's web : a Sister Fidelma mystery /
by Tremayne, Peter.

Stone of farewell /
by Williams, Tad.

Strangerland : a family at war /
by Drysdale, Helena.

Train : a novel /
by Dexter, Pete

Phoebe worships at my feet

Phoebe has discovered the joy of ascending and descending stairs. It's still a fraught process for those older and wiser.

How to fall asleep when you are 10

Got it :-)

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. I am brilliant. I have the job. I am now the blankety blank blank for the blankety blank blank. I got the job! I am wonderful and slightly sozzled as well!

Work then karate, a quick trip to super mart to get something for tea and the most delicious tea in the world. Sitting with my daughter reading and eating salmon and cream cheese on French bread, with a gin and tonic and then strawberries and Turkish delight – oh and some grapes. Weird, but it works for me and I am indeed brilliant and I have a new job and staff and buses and I’m the boss! Yaah me!

The book you ask? I am reading the most hilarious book, about the Queen discovering a mobile library and then starting to read. Called ‘The uncommon reader’ by Alan Bennett and very, very funny.

Oh and did I mention that I am brilliant and ever so slightly sozzled, on one miserly(or not so) G&T), I am no drinker, but I am brilliant!

A glimpse of what life might be like…

Youngest child at school camp, oldest child lives with father, two middle children visiting father for tea, stepchildren out of sight…Just the two of us!! Phhooo eeeeh, life could indeed be good!

Off to work bright and early – picked up car from the panel beaters and to work on time. All day out on the buses, so no time to mull over the coming job interview. Meet husband outside work at 5.30 and walked two blocks to the movies had a coffee and lollies. Good enough movie – Atonement. Liked the book better but no mind. Then outside by 7.45 and it’s still light. The plan was a quick tea and then a wee training session to make up for the class I missed by going to the movies, but I wasn’t hungry yet and so up to the dojo, two blocks away.

A lovely hour of training - just the two of us. Kihons with push-ups, yakusoku, kata and kata with weights. No teaching, just doing, doing, doing. I need lots of repetition to bed in the patterns.

We then decided to go home for a bite rather than dawdle in town. What a luxury; 3-4 hours of time to do anything we wanted in the middle of a week. This will be what it is like when the kids are all grown up and it’s just the two of us! Time, space, and energy to do whatever strikes us whenever we feel like it. I can’t wait.

A beginner again

Tonight it was club night at the dojo. It’s a concept that is brilliant in design but severely flawed in that no one much comes. Monday night is traditionally a black and brown belt class. But recently it was decided to open up the first Monday of each month to the whole club, so that we can mix, see some black belts training and see our head guy, Jun Shihan, as that is the only class he attends.

Well, it started off OK, about five or six extras the first month, the next month two or three turned up. And then tonight there was just me – a lowly green belt - with a jun shihan, a kyoshi, a sensei, three senpai – (sandan, nidan, shodan) and two first kyu brown belts - nine in total. It made for an interesting bow in and out – kinda like this:

jun shihan

kyoshi

sensei

sandan

nidan

shodun

brown and green belts

It was interesting – a bit like being a white belt again. I could understand what they are saying, but my body wouldn’t do the moves. It’s a very bunkai (practical application) class. No syllabus (which is what I am silently screaming out for 4 weeks out from my grading!)

But never mind, it was an experience in humility and I don’t even mind that I got not one of the combinations or applications off perfectly (or even close). It was great to train with these guys many of whom have been training for over twenty years.

Cool – scary – totally recommended.

Random pix

You can take the girl out of the library - but you can't get the book out of her hand! A weekend trip to Hanmer Springs with Sean.
The men fixing the aerial after big winds last week.


Jed has another accident that will cost his mother at least $1500! Grrrrrr....

Full on

Just a quickee! I am working full-time for the next few weeks. First time since 1987 when I left work to have my darling Ben who is now 19. I had about 12 years as a full-time mum and then the last 8 years part-time here and there. But my boss has left and I have been appointed as 'acting' for a month while they decide who to appoint to the position. I have my application in and an interview time is set for next week.

It's quite scary - full-time! When do I get to go to the gym and read books and lounge around? It's OK at the moment with longer days and sunny weather, but I imagine in the middle of winter, when I will be leaving for work and getting hme in the dark, it will pall a little.

Scary, because my youngest is still only 10 years old and that's a lot of day to be away from him. No more school trips (hurruh!), but added guilt and worry of who is home when, who is looking after whom and with karate three nights a week, most importantly, who is cooking tea?

Scary because I think I might enjoy it - all that time away from home.
More later...have to swot up on interview questions and answers :-)

Ouch!

Just home from my regular Thursday night sparring class and I have a few sore bits. One of our club members is preparing for her shodun grading in December so sparring class is just that for 45 minutes, one and a half minute fights, swap partners and fight again...that's about 20-25 fights - allowing for swap times. Everyone is pretty knackered by the end.

Usually we’ll do some kihons as a warm up then some foot work techniques, or pad work, or maybe sparring techniques – just hands, or just feet. But for the next couple of months it’s going to be sparring, sparring, and more sparring. Which is great for me as my next grading is my first sparring one and is 15 fights at the end of the grading – so this is the best preparation I could hope for.

I do however have a bag of frozen peas on my lap as I type this (one-handed) and am icing my thumbs one at a time. They are a definite weakness with me. Not keeping my fists tight and catching the thumb when blocking kicks. Ouch! My big toe isn’t feeling too good either. I tried to sweep someone, but somehow just buggered my toe instead.

I’m the lowest graded person there most nights and am not that great at it – yet! The guys could just wipe the floor with me any time they choose to – fortunately they are not like that and teach me as I spar. That said, they do like to sweep me and it’s not many fights that I don’t have to get up of the floor once or twice, or thank them for not taking my head of with a kick that I didn’t see fast enough to block or move from.

It’s the girls (women) that whack you the hardest though, as they don’t hold back anything. Di’s punches are ooahffy (the noise I make when they connect with my stomach) and Zoë’s kicks are just plain ghastly. I’m hobbling around with a dead thigh thinking ‘No, no, not another one in the same place – move yourself woman!’. I’m not very light on my feet yet! Always that yet! I will improve. I am improving!

Instructions tonight included: “keep side on’, ‘hands up’, ‘move in and out’, ‘duck’, ‘punch straight – don’t whack’, ‘kick higher’, ‘retract your leg faster’, ‘close your fists’, etc, etc.

All good fun.

Shorty

So, I’m 44. How short is too short? I know I’ve seen women down town and thought “Whoa! Too short!” And I know that knee length is about the limit for work, but what about non-work days? I have a top that I wear as an overdress (over jeans), but I want to wear it as a dress, over tights. But do I look daft? My husband doesn’t think so, but he’s not very impartial and he would compliment me on wearing a potato sack. Grr, it’s so hard to see yourself as others do. I don’t want to wear it and look silly, but I don’t want to not wear it either. Hmmm…I'll try to post a picture.

My boss is about to get another job and I have to start thinking about whether or not I want to ‘step up’ and take on a job with more responsibility. I am so bored at the moment. I can do my job in a daydream and frequently do. Not good. But it would be full-time work, something I haven’t done for 20 years!! Shockers. I was an at home mum for 12 years and then part time since then. Jack my youngest heads to secondary school next year, so I could manage with no after school care requirements, but do I want to do it????? The extra money would be handy, but it would mean I would have no time to myself and I might just go mad. Then again, it could be what I need to stir myself out of my usual lethargy. It might even leave less time for eating? But when would I get to the gym? Oh, well something to think of. We’ll find out tomorrow if she is leaving.

School holidays start next weekend, ugh. Have to encourage Jed and Zoë to study for their end of year exams, and find entertainment for Jack while I work and they sleep. No plans for actual holidays, although I’m going to take Wednesday next week off – my birthday :-)

Go time...

I've just begun my second program at my 'new' gym. Still loving it, the trainers, the programme, etc. My sore arm had a massage last week - hard enough to leave bruises, but I think it is working. He is confident I only need one more 'rub down' and it will be better. It hasn’t ached since he did it, although it still feels tender with certain movements - that could be the bone spur that the x-ray found, I suppose.

Spring is finally here and I’m getting in a lot more walking with the lighter mornings and generally nicer weather. It is about 12 weeks to my grading and I need to be super fit and strong. Starting to do daily press-ups now and just thinking all the time about karate, fitness and food.

Not stressing, just thinking – a lot. I may be the only one grading at my level, which means I’ll be out on that dojo floor all alone and all eyes will be on my failures and weaknesses – that is the hardest thing for me. Because I really don’t like being in the limelight and I do make mistakes. It’s a mind thing and I need to know that I can do it all well – even if it doesn’t happen on the day.

Enough, but it will all be training, training, training, from here on…

Jack grades

This morning there was a general grading on at the dojo. It’s the first one that I haven’t been able to participate in since I joined Seido – and it was no fun standing on the sideline. I wanted to be on that floor – sweating and earning a new tab or colour belt. But, I have to wait for a six-month period as well as do a certain number of classes before I can grade again (I’ve done the classes, just need a little more time under my belt :-)). So, that means waiting until the December grading.

However, Jack was doing his second grading to 9th kyu (white belt with a black tab). He was on the floor for about an hour and then they worked through all the other colour belts. There were no green belts or above for a change which meant no sparring and a shorter grading time.

Jack did well and knew his stuff. We went and had lunch in town afterwards. It’s the first day of spring here and a glorious sunny day with blossom petals drifting down on the breeze. Very appropriate as the Seido emblem is a plum blossom flower.

Girlies

My darling Zoë had her 16th birthday a few months early. Her real birthday is early December and usually exams are on, school is finishing, or people are heading away on holiday and she misses out on any real occasion of celebration. So, she decided to have her birthday 6 months early…Well that slipped a little but come last Wednesday she thrust The Plan into my hands (having compiled it in a Maths class) and told me that some girls were coming over for a party on Saturday afternoon from 1pm until 6 pm. I was a little taken back as this was Wednesday! And I work Thursday, Friday and have rugby to watch Saturday morning.

Anyway having a plan was great and I just went and bought all the food we needed and gave Zoë a list of things to do Saturday morning while I was out – wash the kitchen floor, tidy the lounge etc...And it went off like magic.

Twelve girls just relived a child’s party. We had fairy bread and cheerios, pin the tail on the donkey and pink balloons, treasure hunts and pass the parcel. All that was missing were tears and tantrums, and the greedy or sick children that often accompany children’s parties.


It was a lovely sunny day, which led to an impromptu water game. All the girls dressed up in clothing from Zoë’s reject wardrobe and they stood out in the street answering Cranium questions. If they got one wrong they were dowsed with a cup of water. Hilarious!

Jack in his kilt

Had a fabulous weekend in Wellington. The Te Papa opening was special with Jack and I treated as VIPs from go to whoa. We never once felt like hanger-oners(?)

We also hit: the zoo, the cable car, a Parliament building tour, Te Papa we did to death, a couple of classes at the Wellington Seido dojo, shopping, Mass and plenty of walking to work off all the coffee and cake that fueled us.

Scots wha hae!

Well, hello there to my two regular readers! Gosh it was easy not to bother writing anything. It’s not like I haven’t been busy. Just that the business of life, and life, and life, which consumes all of my time down here at the arse end of New Zealand has been non-existent. Nought exciting, nought funny, nought, nought, nought pretty much covers it.

But it’s August now – heading for spring and I’m heading up to Wellington with Seán and Jack for a long weekend of fun and a tad of culture thrown in, I imagine. It’s the opening of Te Papa’s Scottish exhibition that Seán helped with and we have been invited to the opening.

Jack is coming because he looks good in a kilt. He and I have Friday to dawdle around the capital – duck into parliament buildings for a gawp, stroll along the water front, have a coffee or cake, maybe take in a gallery or two… Then we have some family time with the three of us, the opening itself on Saturday night and more free time Sunday. Should be fun.

I have nothing to wear (as usual) and am going to beg to borrow some clothes off a friend tonight. Wellington and Te Papa and VIPs galore mean serious clothes and I don’t do that so well – men have it so easy by being able to throw on a suit.

Got to dash and borrow a sporran for wee Jack :-) Pix to follow…