Still thinking...........but now posting

I have been thinking a lot over the last couple of days on what is coming up for me next year. I will be one very busy little bee and will have to be organised and up to speed with everything, otherwise the whole house of cards that represents my life will collapse.

As mentioned earlier in this blog I have enrolled to complete my library qualifications so I can be a librarian on paper as well as in real life! That is expected to take two years and is only part time so the load shouldn't be too onerous.

Another phase of my life is with Karate, I am currently studying and training toward being a black belt in my style of Martial Arts, and am approximately at the 1/2 way mark. Naturally it's getting harder as I progress up the scale and proving to be more challenging. We started sparring last night with gloves and mouthgards - we had previously been doing Tan Gan Ho - which is a modified form of sparring where the top of the head is gently tapped to signify a contact.

Last night we were instructed in kumite sparring, which is the real thing, still very strictly non contact ie you hit the ghi not the person (pulling your punch demonstrating your control) definitely no contact hitting to the face. But of course, yours truly, ducked her head in the wrong direction and got fairly smacked in the left eye, just a little puffiness around the eye the next morning to show for it (I don't bruise very easily). But very mortifying for myself and my partner who hit me, as it is deeply frowned upon to seriously hit your partner.

However I doubt it will be the last time I get whopped in sparring, for when I was dancing, whenever we were learning new techniques, out of the whole class, I was the one reliably guaranteed to go A over T in the most inelegant way possible every time, but I would just get up and dust myself off and repair my dignity and go on with the class.

I think the sign of a successful person is not in their material wealth but in their determination to get up every single time they get knocked down and keep trying!

Quote for the day

You always pass failure on the way to success.
Mickey Rooney (1920 - )

Thinking...................

about stuff!

Another week passes..........

I remember as a child that the year seem to last forever and that Christmas time would never arrive! The year milestones would take forever to arrive, you would have Christmas and then New Year and then you had to wait for Easter and the chocolate! Then my birthday which is in July would inch ever closer, then it too would pass and then it was the Ekka and September holidays and then the oh so slowly approaching Summer Holidays which would include Christmas and all its delights.

Now that I am a grown up of some years now, I feel I would not be surprised if someone told me that we skipped a few months because damn this year has freaking flown past and we are now heading into my least favourite time of the year. I have grown to dislike Christmas because of the family tensions it creates and fosters and bad behaviour of some has ruined it for most. I loathe New Year because it is the only time of year that highlights in BOLD ITALICS that I am a single female in her mid 30's and likely to remain that way until I die alone in my house undiscovered.

Never mind that for 364 days of the year I am happily single and have a rich full life with lots of things to look forward to and be involved in. Just that particular night highlights that little tiny (and it is very miniscule) part of me that goes "Hmm alone again this year!"

So I just grit my teeth and get through the "festive season" and enjoy what parts of it I can and endure the rest and before I know it - it February and then April and then September.

However this New Year I look forward too because 2008 has been a rough year and I am not sorry to say Adieu to it at all. I have much to look forward to in 2009 and am well focused toward that.

I find the quote below to be true one

It's funny how dogs and cats know the inside of folks better than other folks do, isn't it?
Eleanor H. Porter (1868 - 1920), Pollyanna, 1912

Summer Storms...............

I love 'em! Some of my earliest memories are of my Dad and I watching storms, my mother wasn't so fond of them so would ensconce herself in the middle of the family home and wait it out, but my Dad and I would park ourselves depending on the severity of the storm in the best position to see the storm out and marvel at nature's astonishing power. I find them invigorating and exciting and thrilling.

When it is a stinking hot day that only Brisbane seems to specialise in (I know I am being parochial) you just wait for the storm to come to break the heat and humidity!. You scan the sky and looking for the building thunderhead and watch it develop. My teenage years were spent on a mountain on the Sunshine Coast where we were perched on a hill and could see the storm evolve. The dog would start to freak out about six hours before the storm came and ensconce himself behind the washing machine, the dryer, basically any small dark place where he felt safe. His behaviour indicated a doozy of a storm was on its way. My dad and I would sit out on the tank stand and watch it roll in, calmly ignoring my mother's pleas to come in and what are you "freaking insane" etc etc.

I have one standout memory of being with an assortment of cousins and siblings and on the telstra mountain which is what we called the telstra/energex substation at Black Mountain Road, Cooroy, there was a dry electrical storm and we all got the idea to go up there and watch - the views being of the 360 degrees and utterly phenomenal (without parental permission of course) it was sensational, and to increase the risk factor we got out of the car and sat on the bonnet and roof just to boost the excitement factor. I have never seen fork lightning so spectacular nor so close since - as maturity brings with it commonsense! We all survived and enjoyed the spectacle but I suspect we were lucky!

I lived with my grandmother for quite a long time (13 years in total) and she is terrified of storms, unbeknownst to me for many years,was that she had witnessed a child being struck by lightning so that had scarred and scared her silly for the rest of her life. So I would be sticking my head out the windows and marvelling at nature's efforts and she would be shrieking at me and tugging my arm to rescue me from my foolishness!
I watched yesterday's storm from the balcony of Kedron-Wavell RSL sipping a Cointreau, lime and soda (my favourite tipple) and was restored by the spectacle Mother Nature laid upon us.
Now I know that a man died in the storm and damage was done but that is what happens if you are foolish you take the risk and gamble.

Make sure you are properly insured and all can be replaced and don't take foolish risks without expecting to pay the price. Yes I took a foolish risk being on top of a car in a dry electrical storm but that's the fun of being a teenager and completely risk attracted!

C'est la vie...........

A most satisfying day....

Well I am delighted to report that I am officially enrolled in a Graduate Diploma via Edith Cowan University. I am terribly nervous at the prospect of starting to study again, the mental discipline it requires of a world class procrastinator is tortuous. However it is only two years part time so it should be quite manageable and I am probably dramatising the impact I am expecting. The goal being that in two years time I will have qualified as a librarian with a real piece of paper to my name and also qualify for my black belt in Karate and all before I turn 40 - how's me!!! (an unfortunate phrase that my dad uses when he is bragging/boasting and i rather like despite the terrible grammar)

On another note, you may recall from previous trantrums, uh, I mean posts that I was experiencing significant difficulty in downloading a book from the net to a portable audio device, well I can report, that I achieved success at last this morning.

All this activity and I managed a phone call to my mum as well so all in all I was quite chuffed with my level of activity this morning.

Quote of the day for me
If I had to select one quality, one personal characteristic that I regard as being most highly correlated with success, whatever the field, I would pick the trait of persistence. Determination. The will to endure to the end, to get knocked down seventy times and get up off the floor saying, "Here comes number seventy-one!"
Richard M. DeVos
and this one too
Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
Calvin Coolidge (1872 - 1933)

Am I a simple person.............

I think I am, now before you think that I am denigrating myself or my intelligence - I am not! I say I am a simple person because I like the simple things in life, I enjoy simple pursuits, I prefer simple surroundings. I have always thought it wise to only have enough of what you need and a little of what you want. I have a roof over my head, family and friends who truly mean the definition of what family and friends should. I have my pets who offer what I believe is the purest form of love there is, I know people believe that it is only cupboard love but I disagree!
I have a townhouse which suits me, I have no need of large abodes to say something about me. I have a 9 year old car that has never let me down, yet I hesitate to trade her in because of faithful service. I may toy with the idea of getting a shiny new vehicle but I balk each and every time at the thought of trading my lovely car in. I enjoy mostly solitary pursuits but at the heart of it, they are my true enjoyments in life. I get pleasure out of the clean sheet night! I take pride in a clean and tidy house. I enjoy visiting friends and family if only for a short time but I enjoy it nonetheless.
I suppose in short I am saying that my life - while it seems simple to others on the surface and probably very boring. I am, I believe, very wealthy in the things that count. I am truly happy within myself, and I see, that it is very important to be happy within yourself because external factors are very temporary in their solution in providing happiness. I see myself working for a long time simply because I enjoy my job, I love what it is at the core of the job that I do, I am not saying that I don't get down, or irritated and extremely angry but it is fleeting and it passes. I have friends who are afflicted by that terrible disease Depression and I thank my lucky stars that I am not, and I wish that there will be a cure in the near future for this insidious condition.
I take heart that they are my friends and I can help them by offering love and support whenever and wherever they may be.
I am rambling somewhat but I have just been mulling over during the day while doing the housework and mooching around the place, my place in this world and where i am in my life and the conclusion is that I am happy and blessed with all that I have in my life both material, physical and emotional!

Until we meet again..............

23 things are done & dusted

Happy to report that all 23 things are completed! I will review some of the modules that I skipped through 'cause they didn't really grab me but by and large I know what all the new technologies can do and how to use them. Certainly not fluent don't think I ever will be but I can mooch my way around and figure sh__ 'er I mean stuff out.

Getting paid to play around on this stuff has astounded most of my friends outside of work and consider me a lucky lucky cow to get to this stuff at work. I look forward to really getting a grip on the BCCLS wiki which is starting to make sense and I can really see how it's only gonna grow and become a really useful tool.

Cheers & ciao for now

Pets are mashed..........

I have sat down today determined to finish off the last couple of modules remaining 23 things!

Have had fun mashing the furkids - it was painless and no animals were endangered I promise

Better get back to it.........

Ok now for the link to my Google Online doc - I can see a variety of possibilities for using it but until everyone is on board with the technology and confident using it I am not sure it ever would get used.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df93txn3_2cp5xkwc4&hl=en

There's the link, enjoy the view, Ok onto the last module

See you shortly

My three furballs ..............

From the top down they are Shadow - Maine Coone breed with 3 legs, Dixie - mini fox/chihuahua cross and last but not least Madame Simone - black persian with attitude to spare, she looks totally different today - she has been clipped for the summer so she has a black face, four black socks and her black fluffy tail but the rest of her is a lovely soft gray now. She is still groggy from the anaesthetic and staggering about the place like a little drunk kitty, very funny to watch. I have to get her clipped yearly as she won't let me groom her more than very lightly and a coat like her needs stripping regularly. Due to past trauma (not caused by me) she won't allow too much touching and grooming at all. She is sitting on my lap being very sooky due to still being a little dopey and I am enjoying this as she doesn't normally like this .

Glad you have met my pets.................