Tkd session

Feeling: Whumped!

Word: Whumpness- The act of being whumped... again pretty self explanitory.

Just got back from tkd... and i'm feeling a little sore. Mainly in the stomach where i got kicked. Which hey, is partly my fault, cos i didn't block and move fast enough, but still hurt like a son-of-a-bitch. And then i got a little more bashed on arms, but hey, it's all in the name of training, and i DID choose a sport where getting hit is sorta inevitable.

For our warm up Neil had us doing relay stuff. Which was fun. Especially when he started to make some of the things up. We were doing going what the hell are we meant to be doing? I really really don't get this. And it got to the point where all the teams were at the end because we had forgotten that it was then a sprint back to the start. So Neil's standing there, with a look of "what the hell are you doing, just standing there for?! Run!" Mucho chaos. And brick walls aint that forgiving when you're running full belt at then.

Neil got the green belts, boy does it feel good to say that!, to do some breaking at the end of the session. So i'm feeling a little apprehensive and tender, but it's only a step through side kick, and that's pretty simple enough. And if i start to break now i may feel more ready to go for my blue tags.

So anyway, everyone else except Nicolas and me has been up, so i get up, figure there's no harm in trying. And Neil decides that hey, i want you to do a hand technique. So i think, hey, no problem, i'm more comfortble with that anyway. So then Neil carries on and says i want you to break it with your elbow. And i'm like 'WTF?! My elbow?! That aint part of my hand... it's my ARM! More than that, it's my gorram elbow!' So, after getting what the hell i'm meant to do so that i don't break my elbow/arm/wrist (at least hopefully), i give it a go. And the first attempt is too soft. I realise that. So i try again. But the gorram piece of wood will not frelling break!

But hey, there will be other times. And it's not like we actually condition our elbows like we do legs and hands. I mean, out of all the training sessions i've been to, we've had maybe a half hour working on elbow strikes. But it would have been nice to have broken it. Ah well.

Alun side kicked his way through 4 inches of wood. Apparently he hadn't done it before, whereas Maceit had to try to break 5 to get his back tags and oly managed to break 4. Alun managed it on his second attempt, turned round to where a group of us were sitting miming "OW!"

So overall, it was a good lesson i guess. Bar the whumpness.

FREEDOM!

Song: Joe Jackson- Obvios song

Ablum: Joe Jackson- Laughter and Lust

Quote: I read this somewhere, but for the life of me i can't remember where. "Carpe Diem... For tomorrow we may all be fish!"

Well, despite y fears etc, i did actually pass my grading last night. Woo Hoo! I'm a green belt in tae kwon do, and i've been doing it a grand total of 6 months. And this also means that i have passed my target that i set myself at the beginning of uni, to be a green stripe by the end of the year. Though i dont think that i'm going to be doing the next grading when it comes around. To get to the next belt you have to do some breaking, and i son't feel confident for that yet. I mean, yeah, the kick is easy enough and everything, i just don't feel ready.

I've finished!! Wooop!! The only thing i have left are a couple of lab report deadlines, and exams. Which, bar 1 1 hour MCQ paper the week we get back, i dont have for, what, 6 weeks?! 6 weeks to prepare... or more likely 3 weeks to write random crap in lab reports and revising, then 3 weeks pure revision, then 2 weeks of exams, and then that's it!

Wow... the end of the year seems pretty damn close all of a sudden. Seems like it was only yesterday, mind you, the mood i was in it probably WAS only yesterday, that i thought it would be ages till the end of term, but it really isnt that far away.

I thiknk i've cheered up... I seem to be slightly hyper... though i dnt know if that's because my body has suddenly realised that yes, infact, there are more than one meal times in a day, or if it's cos of the end of term or something else entirely. I so need to calm down... I' m beginning to scare myself on my hyperness... hehehe

I feel like i should have been eating skittles or had about 6 cups of coffee in an hour to be this hyper. Oh, and i wouldnt reccommend the coffee idea... though it can sure as hell get interesting... hehehe

Ok, i'm going to go bounce off the walls for a bit or something until this hyperness wares off.

update as promised

Well, despite what i said earlier, tonight went pretty ok.

Apparently there were people who did the reverse turning kick worse than i did, and i didn't mess up the pattern or any of the movements in the rows or anything like that. So yeah, all in all it went ok.

Though i may have messed up the set sparring. The guy examing us came up to e and my partner and said that i wasn't crossing my arms when i blocked. So, i tell myself to cross my arms KNOWING that he's watching me, but yet i still don't on every block. Only the odd one or two. So i may have failed on that aspect. Never know... may not have. Have to see.

Apprently the results are going up tonight, but as he had to stop by Mater Oldham's before getting home and posting them i don't know when they're goingt to get up. I thknk i'll just check before i head out tomorrow for my practical, cos Tracey will probably be asking me. I dunno. Depends if she's checked them or not.

Went to the pub afterwards with a few people. Between me and helen, and eventually Maceit, we got through a bottle of wine, so there is a chance that i am slightly tipsy. It's the whole metobolism tripling thing. Probably worse for me cos i aint been eating properly recently. But it was cool. Heland and Maciet took on Neil and Ellie in a couple of games of pool, while me, Alun and dan stood by and watched. See, i figured that was the sensible option. From there i could pass comment without being accused of supporting the opposition.

Though it did put me in a dilemma. Support Neil and Ellie, and Helen and Maceit would call me a traitor. Support helen and Maceit, and Neil would probably call me a traitor. So i decided right off the bat that i would support the winner. See... i can be sensible. It's up to them if i support them or not... yeah...

I've been in a funk the last few days. ot entirely sure why. Maybe i just need a holiday or something. I dunno. Hopefully i'll be back to normal soon. Whatever that means...

So, i finish tomorrow, probably by 12, as the bacteriology practicals never seem to take much more than 90 mins. And even that only takes me to 11.30. So i'll have between whatever time i get finished and about 5 on friday evening to actually get some reports written, my room tidied from the bomb site it is currently mascarading as, and get myself out of this funk!... So maybe the wine wasn't the best idea in the world... oh well...

Slightly p***ed off

Have to love the lecturers at my uni... They told us yesterday that our 3-4 physiology lecture isn't on. Which, yeah, last lecture of term is cancelled, so it's great, don't get me wrong... it's just that was the only reason i was staying in Brum till the Friday evening, as i had to make sure i had enough time to get home and back to the station baring in mind bus times. And now i don't have to worry about that. But it's not a case of having a day to twiddle my thumbs... i could be coming home on Wednesday! Its the only thing i have in the week after 12 on Wednesday... and it's CANCELLED!

Grrr...

Water company are trying to screw us. We got the bill through, and they're charging us for something that we've already paid. And what is also annoying is that the majority of the money that we will be spending on the water we will never get use of cos we're all moving out by the end of June. Though we have had this years water supply pretty much paid for i guess... M'eh, it probably works out... when they stop trying to screw us.

There may be a bigger update tonight, depending on how i feel after my tkd grading... where we have to perform a kick that we learnt at 9.25 on thursday... and the lesson finishes aat 9.30 on thursdays... for 6.30 the next lesson... yeah... i can see a fair number of us failing on that aspect... Think we can blame Neil for forgetting that we actually have a kick to learn for the grading?!... No... me neither...

Song: Einaudi- Passage

Album: No doubt- The singles

Word: Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia- fear of long words... I love irony...

Glasgow weekend

Quote: Me (to Lucy)- Walk down the street in Birmingham, and you're looking out for guys who could mug/murder you. Walk down the street in Glasgow and you get Bagpipes!

Song: Nice to be out- Sterophonics

Album: Evanescence- Fallen

Adding a new feature to my blog, Word of the day/week/month, depending on when I think up of them.

Word: Whumped. Pretty self explanatory really. Very onomatopoeic.

So, first of all, apologies for the huge delay between updates, but there hadn't really been much to report back on.

Went up to Glasgow at the weekend to see Lucy. I just needed to get out of the city for a few days. Clear my head. Think some things through. And sometimes you need someone to help you see what you want to do about certain aspects. So yeah, high-tailed it across the border to visit Lucy. And it was so much fun!

Virgin trains are really trying my patience. They keep going on strike! The train before the one that I got had been cancelled... Again... And so there was 2 train loads on one train. I.E it was extremely busy. People sitting in the doorways, in the corridors, couldn't move. But 1st class was pretty much empty. So by the time we got to just shy of Preston, baring in mind a lot of people got on at Crewe as the train didn't go via the midlands, the train was extremely busy in standard, and basically empty in 1st. So one of the train attendants was going down the doorways asking where people were getting off. The guy standing in the doorway was going to Carlisle, and they bumped him up to 1st class. So, naturally, when I said I was staying on the train until Glasgow, they bumped me up to 1st class too!

'Course that didn't really solve the number of people on the train. We got to Lancaster, and the train attendants were only letting people on the train if they were traveling to Glasgow. If they were going to any of the stops before that they were "advised" to wait until the next train. Don't they realise that because the train was full it would put pressure on the following services? And what about the people who had connecting trains at Carlisle? What were they meant to do?!

Oh, speaking of Lancaster, someone got off the train wearing an Aston Uni hoody. Ours is such a small world...

It's nice going up the west coast. Because all the train journeys I've done have either started or ended at Newcastle, bar the day trip to Scarborough, I've only ever gone up the east coast. Which, y'know, helps if looking for landmarks etc, and knowing how long the journey is going to take from what station you're at etc, but the Lake district is extremely nice to travel through. Especially in the evening as the sun is setting over the hills. And ok, I'm going all poetical now...

Got into Glasgow on time. Met up with Lucy. And got the first taste of Glasgow. Of course, the weather decided to pick on me. So whereas Birmingham had been extremely cold, but there hadn't been any snow to show for it, Glasgow had had snow. So I'm thinking, GREAT! Love snow. So when I leave Birmingham there's snow in the air. And when I get to Glasgow there is no snow anywhere. I'm doing the poetic thing again...

But anyway...

Lucy's mates were planning on going out Friday in the evening after I had gotten there, but that fell through in the end. Ah well, maybe next time. I did, however, meet the creepy caretaker dude. I never knew until I met him, however briefly, that he was Irish! And on St. Paddy's day too...

Went out to see the Royal Scottish National Orchestra on Saturday night. When we were "buying" the tickets, this really really cute guy was in the queue behind us. I say "buying" as we were 2 of the 1st 20 students, and so the tickets were free! Gotta love that price... Oh, and going off on a tangent for the moment, when you buy the tickets they take down your Postcode. Luckily they accepted both of them on Lucy's address, cos could you imagine their surprise if I was to give them a Birmingham postcode. I mean, hello, it's not even in the same country! Never mind the same city!

Back to the point... Really really cute guy ended up sitting in front of Lucy for the entire concert. And after the interval we found out that the really really cute guy had an even cuter friend! What?! It was a concert... we had to check out the talent!

Though, speaking of that, there was a solo violinist for a couple of the pieces. And these pieces are HARD! And nigh on near impossible to play on the violin. And this guy was playing the pieces from MEMORY!! I mean, M'UH?! How the fuck did he do it?! Was pretty impressive to see. We were reading his bio that was in the programme in the interval, and he was born in 1986. He's basically our age!! Ok... So more Lucy's age than my age... But still! To be that bloody good at his age is pretty damn impressive!

Saturday night was interesting... At least from my point of view... Went to bed facing the door. Fair enough, it was the way I was sleeping the night before too. I woke up in the morning, about 6ish, and nothing seems out of the ordinary. I'm still lying on the mattress on the floor. I've still got the blankets the right way round. I'm facing towards the wall with my head at the door. I've still got my pillow... I've got my head nearest the door?! WTF?! That wasn't the way I went to bed...

Yeah, somehow, during my sleep, I had re-arranged my bed, taking the blankets and pillows with me, to the other side of the bed. It wasn't that I'd just turned round or fallen off the mattress or any other "normal" thing... I'd sleep-rearranged my bed. That has to be pretty impressive, right?! I mean, it's pitch black, there is no external light at all, so even if I woke up and did it I wouldn't have seen anything. So that was kinda freaky...

Went to the cinema on Sunday. Saw Date Movie. It's the new Alyson Hannigan film. Was actually really good. Sorta a spoof movie of all date movies. And a few non-date movies. So yeah, that was fun. The cinema, by the way, is HUGE!! There's 18 screens, on 6 floors! You have to get the lift or escalator to the floor of the movie. And on the 1st floor there's a bar. Like a proper pub bar. Just there. Because apparently it's perfectly ok to have a pint or whatever in the cinema complex before the film starts if under licensing hours.

And the size of the screens! My god! Think of one of the big screens at the Gate. Then double it. And that's about the size of one of the small screens. We walked in, and I though, wow, this screen must be one of the main ones cos its so big. Lucy turns to me and says "ah, we're only in one of the small screens today." I mean, m'uh! Pretty damn big screens! And the seats were full back armchairs like at the gate too. So yeah... FUCKING BIG CINEMA! Just make sure you turn up well before the showing cos it takes a while to get to the top floor...

Went out to Weatherspoons in the evening before going round taking random photographs of us in Glasgow, sort of a tribute to my visit as it were. Which was cool. Was going to meet the Trio group, but they deferred their meeting till Tuesday, so I didn't get to meet them. Ah well.

Up at 6.30 today to be ready for the train at 7.50. Got back to Birmingham for about 12.10ish. And for the first time ever I needed my ticket to get out of the station. Yeah, I knew I had to have one to get onto the platform complex, but never before have we needed one to get off the platform complex. I mean, what's the point of it?! You've obviously had a ticket to get the train. What are they looking for exactly?!

Had a biochem practical today. Extremely dull. But easy cos it was on the PC, and so once we knew what we were doing it didn't take long. It just would have been nice to have come back and not have to worry about work about 90 minutes after getting into the station. But no matter. It's done now. And it was the last one. So I just gotta finish writing them up. Or, in some cases, start writing them up...Yeah...

Untitled

I just found out that my mum has decided that she doesn't really like her car anymore. Or her car doesn't like her. She came back form the Caribbean last weekend, and her nice shiny MR2 was sitting outside the station for her, complete with new gearbox so it doesn't sound like it's about to fall apart on you... And a flat tyre.

Which is fair enough really, what with the cold weather they've been having, or so i hear. And her car doesn't really like sitting outside in the cold, as the tyre normally needs a bit of attention after cold spells. So that was sorta expected i suppose.

Monday, driving to work, she hit a lorry. She was waiting at a set of staggered traffic lights by the side street where she parks, and realised that she could get past the lorry that was in front of her and nip down the side street which was before the lights. No problem. Except she totally mis-judged the difference and now there is a big gouge in the car, from the front wheel arch all along the door to the rear wheel arch. Luckily it was the passenger side of the car, not her side. But she was still pretty shook up when she saw the damage.

And it's not like she didn't see the thing! But from what she told me, it wasn't the lorry itself that caused the problem, more the metal platform ledge thing that was on the back of it. Personally I'm still not sure what the hell happened there, but she seems to still be ok about it. So it's now booked in to have a door replacement, new rear wheel arch and the front wheel arch "banged out" at the end of the month.

Of course, as things often come in threes, that wasn't the end of the matters. On Tuesday she was on the way to work and ran out of petrol. Now my mum has never run out of petrol on any car that she has owned as far as i am aware. So for this to happen is quite a fete. Lucky for her it happened where some builders where fixing up some council houses, and they took her down to the petrol station and back.

They saw her on the way to work yesterday and all stopped and waved, making her get all embarrassed, much to my amusement.

My brother had his options evening for his GCSE's last night. He's taking the same sciences thing Judi is, separately rather than the double award i did, maths and English, tech systems, P.E and business with French... Or something like that. Basically its a business degree... Just with a fair amount of it being in French. How'd it get to be that my siblings are so smart?!

I've had a weird couple of weeks. Emotions playing up, sometimes without my knowledge, and it has taken someone else to point out to me that i haven't been myself. *shrugs*

On a scary final note for this post, at least from my point of view... next year my sweet little innocent sister will be 18... ok... my little sister (who is actually TALLER than me!) will be 18.

Family Matters

Song 1- Giorni Dispari- Einaudi
Song 2- Fuori dalla Notte- Einaudi

Album 1- Einaudi- Echoes

Film 1- Serenity

All quotes have been suspended on account that Lucy has not (as far as i'm aware) seen serenity yet, and i don't want to spoil the experience for her.

However, saying that, it is totally her fault for my new liking of Einaudi. Though the music is extremely good.

Family are important. They can be your best friends or your worst nightmare, but at the end of the day you only get one biological family.

Went to visit my grandparents this weekend. Was cool. My nana hasn't been well recently, still not sure what it was that she had. She's better than what she was, though it seems that whatever it was is still affecting her slightly. But i' glad she's doing better.

Finally finished my brother's birthday present shopping. He's going to be 14 in 11 days. 14! My little brother can't be that old already. It's not fair! I'm beginning to feel old again.

Judi has to re-do her dance show for so it can be re-filmed for a DVD. Apparently the one that was filmed on the night of the performance 2 weeks ago was crap. She's suddenly perked right up. After she performed it she sorta went down. What with it taking so much time of her dancing for at least the last year.

My mum is back from the Caribbean. According to judi she looks like a charv's foundation colour. But then again she has had 2 weeks in the Caribbean! ANd she and my uncle actual got on. He was CIVIL to er. And all of the faily are still alive! Which, considering the amount of dislike that exists between the, at least 3, of them is amazing. My nana doesn't really get on with my mum, but worships Graham. Graham hates my mum, and she doesn't really have that much patience with him to be honest. However my grandad seems to be the only one who doesnt have any quarrels with any of the others.

He's been kinda ill recently. He's got quite severe diabetes, to the extent that it can be quite painful for him to move about. And sometimes its so bad he cant really use his fingers. Apparently the last couple of weeks have been really good for him. There hasnt been any pressure on him to do anything except relax. So yeah, i hope he's doing ok.

Was talking to my dad earlier. He and Judi have anaged to have a massive fall out. And from what i've gathered fro both parties it has to do with dad's new girlfriend. That sounds, i don't know, tacky, but i'm not sure what else to call her. I mean, i dont mind that he has got someone new. hell, since he moved out and started seeing her, he's been happier than i have known him to be in years. And after everthing that's happened, he deserves to be happy. But judith has always been a daddy's girl, and now that there is someone else in his life, she isn't always centre of attention. Something that sooner or later she going to HAVE to get used to.

Family.