Ahem, Hello, erm I know it's been awhile

But holy guacamole life has been busy...Yes yes I know I say that everytime but c'mon you know its true.

Study is progressing as study does, with lots of reading and thinking and then comes the writing. Which is why I am posting on my blog, it is part of my retinue of study or assignment writing avoidance techniques. I like the assignment I have written, whether the marker does is an entirely another thing. But c'est la vie. Being an external student requires one to maintain a sense of perspective and commonsense, it is very easy to feel completely and utterly alone when you are really really not, lots of my colleagues are studying and doing very well. But commonsense and perspective are sometimes hard to come by late at night on the weekend.
Another assignment I am enjoying researching is all about Second Life & Libraries but I am a single task at a time kinda gal - so focusing on the other assignment at the moment. Second Life can wait till next week.

On a brighter note I am booked to go on a cruise on 24th April, my very first cruise ever, a fact my sister (a travel agent) is jubilant about, she has been on my case to take a cruise for a long time. I have firmly resisted for years because I am terrified to the marrow of my bones of drowning. I have no idea why but that hands down for me is the number one very bad no good way to die. The movie Titanic has a lot to answer for. This fear is odd since when I was nobbut a young lass we used to spend the Christmas holidays on my dad's boat, we lived on it for weeks at a time and I don't remember being in terror when on the boat, but then my dad was a superhero in my eyes so I probably had a bone deep faith that he would always save us if something went pear shaped on the boat.

So I am determined to enjoy myself on the cruise, with recreational reading, reasonable consumption of fruity cocktails with umbrellas in them and loafing on a sun lounge featuring fairly high on the list of things to do.
I am going with a mate who is a real go getter on the activities front so I am sure I will be entertained as often as I choose to be. There will be another lass coming along whom I haven't met but I trust Dawn with bringing her along and I am fairly easy going and it is only seven days so the risk of stroppy tanties happening is fairly low.

I have got a good strong start to this module of Karate, I am really enjoying this Kata - Pinan Shodan - it is a kata I struggled with the first couple of times I did it, but repetition has done the magic trick and I can recall it with reasonable ease and perform it with marginal competence - no kata is ever perfectly executed - humans are not perfect therefore kata cannot be perfected. The instructor who has been doing the majority of instructing for our class this module has been riding me hard and really pushing me out of my comfort zone. Calling me up out front to demonstrate the kata to the lower grades and it is well know that the best way to learn something is to teach or demonstrate it. I am benefiting from that although I feel daft when I screw things up which I do most nights and sometimes several times a night but you live through it and feel better for having learned from it.

Cycling unfortunately is something I have not had an opportunity to do much of yet. Time is a precious resource and allocated according to need. But Goldie waits faithfully for me to take her out for a spin. I need to organise a play date for Goldie and Iris to meet and cycle together. Iris is a gorgeous Amsterdam bicycle that my friend Kath purchased recently. So the motivation is there to get out there and cycle but presently time is a little short but I will get there soon I promise.

Finally, this coming week I return to my substantive role after having been in higher duties of one kind or another since November 2009. It has been a marvellous learning opportunity and I have had a wonderful time developing skills and thinking about the direction and trajectory of my career and I have decided that the role of Senior Librarian in a hub library is just tailor made for this little black duck. Now I don't know how long it will take for me to secure a role but I am a patient lass and always always always achieve my goals. I may make like a tortoise and seem to take forever but the tortoise won in the end didn't he.

That about wraps it up for this time, and now I am not going to make any rash promises about my next post, it'll happen when the time and muse strikes

Cheerio for now