Tonight I became the 'mother' of the group. Everybody was just horrendously lashed and it was left up to me to ensure nobody got beaten up/kicked out/left behind.
I'm really not the sort of person who handles that kind of responsibility well when all the people in question are between 6 and 11 years older than me!
Tonight started out well, I think/hope I looked good, I was wearing massively high heels which have left my feet slightly impaired for tomorrow's planned run but alas I will strive to continue on my fitness drive. A day without exercise is a day with guilt at the moment, odd feeling.
I managed to get a cheeky bike ride in today, instead of getting the bus into town I cycled to pick up my car. It would have been excellent if my quick release wheels had done what they said on the tin instead of jamming up so I had to cut my hands ramming my bike into my tiny car. Nevermind, I am home in one piece and my bike remains unscratched!
Goodnight World. I am done.
Saturday, 30 January 2010
Thursday, 28 January 2010
Brothers
Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea
O Christ whose voice the waters heard
And hushed their raging at Thy word,
Who walked'st on the foaming deep,
And calm amidst its rage didst sleep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea.
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea
O Christ whose voice the waters heard
And hushed their raging at Thy word,
Who walked'st on the foaming deep,
And calm amidst its rage didst sleep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea.
Wednesday, 27 January 2010
Get fit or die trying.
It appears my fitness drive is officially on. After a laborous 90 minutes in the gym I can safely say the only part of me that isn't hurting is my fingers, but it feels great.
Going to the gym with your best friend is so much more appealing than running on your own, who knew you could actually have (dare I say it?) fun at the gym?! It would be handy if the air conditioning worked in the cardio section so it doesn't feel like you've got a septal defect or maybe that's just me. There was a girl today who was running so effortlessly in Reebok Classics, they are really not running shoes yet she was going at it for ages with an amazing rhythm - I am definitely just jealous.
Working from feedback received I have slowed my pace down to 9km/h. I was able to keep going for much longer, kept it up for 23 minutes which is probably by far the longest I have ever managed. Especially in such ridiculous heat. And I even managed a 12.5km/h minute which for me and my little legs was very tiring at the end.
I'm really looking forward to doing it all over again on Friday after work.
Going to the gym with your best friend is so much more appealing than running on your own, who knew you could actually have (dare I say it?) fun at the gym?! It would be handy if the air conditioning worked in the cardio section so it doesn't feel like you've got a septal defect or maybe that's just me. There was a girl today who was running so effortlessly in Reebok Classics, they are really not running shoes yet she was going at it for ages with an amazing rhythm - I am definitely just jealous.
Working from feedback received I have slowed my pace down to 9km/h. I was able to keep going for much longer, kept it up for 23 minutes which is probably by far the longest I have ever managed. Especially in such ridiculous heat. And I even managed a 12.5km/h minute which for me and my little legs was very tiring at the end.
I'm really looking forward to doing it all over again on Friday after work.
Monday, 25 January 2010
You know you need a man when...
...Your clutch cable snaps whilst on a busy main road and you have to coast to the side of the road nearest to you, which just so happens to be a fast lane, when you are in thin clothes and the temperature outside is akin to that of the Arctic...
Then when you phone your breakdown service you get the extremely polite lady informing you that "Our offices are currently closed, please call back later"... thank you for informing me so charmingly however that does not resolve my problem.
"Please redial 08000285904 if it is an emergency". OK great! I thought, I am indeed in the middle of an emergency, therefore I shall redial said number, hang on one moment, how on Earth do you dial a freephone number from a mobile phone? I looked around, stricken, for the familiar red phone box but alas there were none. I then had a stroke of genius when I remembered you just remove the first '0'. "Aha" I shrieked. I shall not be foiled by technology this time!
I finally got through to a delightful lady named Saleema but quickly realised I simply had no idea which road it was that I was blocking. Thankfully I could point out a few landmarks and within an hour (as promised) my hero in a big green tow truck came to rescue me and bundled me into his deliriously warm cabin. It was as if he'd done it before...
Two and a half hours after setting off I made it the 5 miles into work. Phew.
Then when you phone your breakdown service you get the extremely polite lady informing you that "Our offices are currently closed, please call back later"... thank you for informing me so charmingly however that does not resolve my problem.
"Please redial 08000285904 if it is an emergency". OK great! I thought, I am indeed in the middle of an emergency, therefore I shall redial said number, hang on one moment, how on Earth do you dial a freephone number from a mobile phone? I looked around, stricken, for the familiar red phone box but alas there were none. I then had a stroke of genius when I remembered you just remove the first '0'. "Aha" I shrieked. I shall not be foiled by technology this time!
I finally got through to a delightful lady named Saleema but quickly realised I simply had no idea which road it was that I was blocking. Thankfully I could point out a few landmarks and within an hour (as promised) my hero in a big green tow truck came to rescue me and bundled me into his deliriously warm cabin. It was as if he'd done it before...
Two and a half hours after setting off I made it the 5 miles into work. Phew.
Friday, 22 January 2010
Into The Abyss...
Whilst driving, I was strikingly aware just how fragile life is. The fog had closed in on my little silver car akin to a shroud of caliginosity. The continual darkness was only marginally tamed by the tiny beams of light which were meekly, and mostly uselessly, pouring out of the motorway lights.
It reminded me of a book by Dean Koontz where all plant life comes alive, pulsating and changing and reshaping until unrecognisable. The plants and fog and mist take on a life of their own until they are all encompassing and envelope and destroy everything around them.
Perhaps Saddleworth Moor has more to answer for than we initially thought...
Or perhaps the fog only serves to remind us that we are vulnerable, that we should appreciate when life is just that little bit easier. The sweet isn't as sweet without the sour so they say, and they are right.
"He who fights monsters must take care lest he become a monster. When you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes into you."
It reminded me of a book by Dean Koontz where all plant life comes alive, pulsating and changing and reshaping until unrecognisable. The plants and fog and mist take on a life of their own until they are all encompassing and envelope and destroy everything around them.
Perhaps Saddleworth Moor has more to answer for than we initially thought...
Or perhaps the fog only serves to remind us that we are vulnerable, that we should appreciate when life is just that little bit easier. The sweet isn't as sweet without the sour so they say, and they are right.
"He who fights monsters must take care lest he become a monster. When you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes into you."
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
31:23 Hurrah!!
Ran again today, minus sideways rain and wind, and managed it in 31:23. Another 2 minutes quicker than Monday. 28 minutes is my target for 3 miles, once I hit that I'll start going further...
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
10 Things I Hate About You
Slightly plagiarised, but none the less:
I hate it when you put me down,
I hate how you don't seem to care.
I hate how great you think you are,
With your stupid curly hair.
I hate your condescending look,
and the way you read my mind.
I hate you for making me feel bad,
Then asking if i'm fine.
I hate the way you're never wrong,
I hate that i'm never right.
I hate it when you let me leave,
And don't even put up a fight.
I hate it when you're ego inflates,
When you make me look so small.
But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you,
Not even a little bit,
Not even close,
Not at all.
I hate it when you put me down,
I hate how you don't seem to care.
I hate how great you think you are,
With your stupid curly hair.
I hate your condescending look,
and the way you read my mind.
I hate you for making me feel bad,
Then asking if i'm fine.
I hate the way you're never wrong,
I hate that i'm never right.
I hate it when you let me leave,
And don't even put up a fight.
I hate it when you're ego inflates,
When you make me look so small.
But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you,
Not even a little bit,
Not even close,
Not at all.
Monday, 18 January 2010
Jog On
Today I went for a 3 mile run, exactly the same as I did yesterday. I don't really know where this desire to improve myself has come from but I like it and hope it stays around a little while longer...
Sideways rain and having to run into the wind is generally counterproductive to beating your PB, but beat it I did. Yesterday I ran the route in 36:47. Today I did it in 33:20 which is definitely a major improvement, I am almost pleased.
Whilst I was out negotiating the treacherous icy patches, looking less than glamorous, a passing Citroen decided to give me a little toot of his horn. Encouragement? Possibly. Pervert? Doubtful, given my stertorous state. So what else could it have been? Answers on a postcard please.
Men are strange creatures in my experience, they say what they mean which would be great if us women were not elementally programmed to ignore what men say and turn it into whatever we, infact, want it to be. If there is a God he's got to be the Universe's greatest comedian. Jog on Jimmy Carr...
Sideways rain and having to run into the wind is generally counterproductive to beating your PB, but beat it I did. Yesterday I ran the route in 36:47. Today I did it in 33:20 which is definitely a major improvement, I am almost pleased.
Whilst I was out negotiating the treacherous icy patches, looking less than glamorous, a passing Citroen decided to give me a little toot of his horn. Encouragement? Possibly. Pervert? Doubtful, given my stertorous state. So what else could it have been? Answers on a postcard please.
Men are strange creatures in my experience, they say what they mean which would be great if us women were not elementally programmed to ignore what men say and turn it into whatever we, infact, want it to be. If there is a God he's got to be the Universe's greatest comedian. Jog on Jimmy Carr...
Friday, 15 January 2010
Everybody Hurts
2,409 years later and this is still one of the wisest things man has ever said...
If all misfortunes were laid in one common heap whence everyone must take an equal portion, most people would be contented to take their own and depart.
If all misfortunes were laid in one common heap whence everyone must take an equal portion, most people would be contented to take their own and depart.
Thursday, 14 January 2010
Help The Haitians
One of my friends once told me that I was the only person who had ever really challenged him. I would love to know how I can show other people this side.
What is it that makes me hide it? I certainly don't do it deliberately. It is probably an innate and unbearably acute desire to please others rather than myself, or perhaps this reasoning is a further desire to make myself appear more selfless than I really am. I'm the sort of girl who will always give you the bigger half if/when you own any part of my heart.
Earlier I was looking through a prospectus, fairly straightforward one would assume. However, I appear to be at a bit of a crossroads. Do I choose the potential to earn and accomplish like a normal, structured, adult or struggle along from pillar to post (which, incidentally, is a saying derived from Real Tennis - thank you Eggheads) as a failing artist?
Life doesn't appear to be cut out for those of us who are capable of achieving great things academically but mostly, well, choose not to. It's not out of laziness, or at least I hope that it's not. I really do want to achieve something but I'm not wholly sure what it is that I would feel most proud of achieving.
Leaving behind some things is simply too hard sometimes. It isn't that I'm scared of change or having to make new friends/relationships/failures. My biggest problem is having to find the courage to remove myself from the only place that's ever felt like home.
I'm not ready to leave but I'm not happy staying either. Bummer. Please forward all suggestions and/or condolences to recurrent_whiner@a-crossroads.co.uk.
On the other hand, if you'd rather help people who really need it instead of a confused, naive, little girl like me you could donate to the Haiti fund where I have been reliably informed your card will then be cancelled by the bank. Because, in reality, the first thing you would do after nicking off with Mrs Rose Smith Age:87's bank card would be to find your moral sensibilities and help the Haitians... although this has a nice ring to it, maybe it'll catch on.
What is it that makes me hide it? I certainly don't do it deliberately. It is probably an innate and unbearably acute desire to please others rather than myself, or perhaps this reasoning is a further desire to make myself appear more selfless than I really am. I'm the sort of girl who will always give you the bigger half if/when you own any part of my heart.
Earlier I was looking through a prospectus, fairly straightforward one would assume. However, I appear to be at a bit of a crossroads. Do I choose the potential to earn and accomplish like a normal, structured, adult or struggle along from pillar to post (which, incidentally, is a saying derived from Real Tennis - thank you Eggheads) as a failing artist?
Life doesn't appear to be cut out for those of us who are capable of achieving great things academically but mostly, well, choose not to. It's not out of laziness, or at least I hope that it's not. I really do want to achieve something but I'm not wholly sure what it is that I would feel most proud of achieving.
Leaving behind some things is simply too hard sometimes. It isn't that I'm scared of change or having to make new friends/relationships/failures. My biggest problem is having to find the courage to remove myself from the only place that's ever felt like home.
I'm not ready to leave but I'm not happy staying either. Bummer. Please forward all suggestions and/or condolences to recurrent_whiner@a-crossroads.co.uk.
On the other hand, if you'd rather help people who really need it instead of a confused, naive, little girl like me you could donate to the Haiti fund where I have been reliably informed your card will then be cancelled by the bank. Because, in reality, the first thing you would do after nicking off with Mrs Rose Smith Age:87's bank card would be to find your moral sensibilities and help the Haitians... although this has a nice ring to it, maybe it'll catch on.
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
Could it be the weather?
Today I haven't ventured outside at all, more to do with the fact it is the end of my financial month than anything else. Especially not SAD although the thought has crossed my mind at one point or another in the last month. Why is it that so many people who claim to be yearly afflicted with SAD continue to reside in this country? Get yourselves to Spain and be done with it.
This years bleak winter has been somewhat testing. The most enjoyable part for me was definitely hurtling myself down a snow covered hill in Roundhay Park on a deflated double airbed, walking back up the hill was the low point but exercising isn't all bad right?
Hill running has been a new experience for me too, I suspect it may be easier without the nuisance which is uncompacted snow, or compacted snow for that matter, but still fear I may not enjoy it for many months to come. Chin up Princess.
This years bleak winter has been somewhat testing. The most enjoyable part for me was definitely hurtling myself down a snow covered hill in Roundhay Park on a deflated double airbed, walking back up the hill was the low point but exercising isn't all bad right?
Hill running has been a new experience for me too, I suspect it may be easier without the nuisance which is uncompacted snow, or compacted snow for that matter, but still fear I may not enjoy it for many months to come. Chin up Princess.
Lest nos alieno...
You left us on a Wednesday
You never said goodbye
You took off in your aircraft
And soared up in the sky
You gave up what you loved
You gave up what you knew
You soldiered on eternal
In the small plane that you flew
Your friends, they all loved you
Your family miss you dearly
The report said the aircraft
Wasn’t made for seeing clearly
Because of this we’re left without
The one who ruled above
You’ll keep on flying in my mind
For that is what you loved.
You never said goodbye
You took off in your aircraft
And soared up in the sky
You gave up what you loved
You gave up what you knew
You soldiered on eternal
In the small plane that you flew
Your friends, they all loved you
Your family miss you dearly
The report said the aircraft
Wasn’t made for seeing clearly
Because of this we’re left without
The one who ruled above
You’ll keep on flying in my mind
For that is what you loved.
The Joy of Recycling
Leeds. Some may say the cultural, financial and commercial heart of the wider West Yorkshire Urban Area. Others (wrongly) think that this could be Halifax.
Others remember it for its shopping, its glorious parks on a summer's day, or possibly the heckling students throwing waterbombs at unsuspecting bypassers who have no access to a hairdryer before their impending interview.
Or perhaps more so for the ill-ease which is felt every time a plastic is recycled without prior checking of the plastic number which is so significant for the Leeds City Council to provide a proper service to us faithful Council Tax payers.
Obviously this isn't taking into account the three months that the streets of Leeds were parralleling London in 1665, and what a year that was.
To make it easier for the poor folk of Leeds I thought I would take it upon myself to clearly state what can and cannot be put into your green bin. 1, 2 and 4 are OK, and are mostly welcomed however 3 & 5 must not, under any circumstances (being hungover is not an excuse), be put in for recycling or the whole of Leeds will come to a grinding halt. See below for what is unacceptable in this beautiful city that we reside in:
3 - PVC - Polyvinyl Chloride
This stuff is everywhere (handy that, for Leodensians) - pipes, toys, furniture, packaging. Difficult to recycle and PVC is a major environmental and health threat. Fortunately, people into BDSM probably won't be recycling their wares often. Phew.
5 - PP - Polypropylene
Clothing, bottles, tubs and ropes. It can also be used to make sledges, perhaps if LCC had cottoned onto this some time ago there wouldn't be such a dreadful shortage of them. Sledge envy can lead to terrible things...
Over and out.
Others remember it for its shopping, its glorious parks on a summer's day, or possibly the heckling students throwing waterbombs at unsuspecting bypassers who have no access to a hairdryer before their impending interview.
Or perhaps more so for the ill-ease which is felt every time a plastic is recycled without prior checking of the plastic number which is so significant for the Leeds City Council to provide a proper service to us faithful Council Tax payers.
Obviously this isn't taking into account the three months that the streets of Leeds were parralleling London in 1665, and what a year that was.
To make it easier for the poor folk of Leeds I thought I would take it upon myself to clearly state what can and cannot be put into your green bin. 1, 2 and 4 are OK, and are mostly welcomed however 3 & 5 must not, under any circumstances (being hungover is not an excuse), be put in for recycling or the whole of Leeds will come to a grinding halt. See below for what is unacceptable in this beautiful city that we reside in:
3 - PVC - Polyvinyl Chloride
This stuff is everywhere (handy that, for Leodensians) - pipes, toys, furniture, packaging. Difficult to recycle and PVC is a major environmental and health threat. Fortunately, people into BDSM probably won't be recycling their wares often. Phew.
5 - PP - Polypropylene
Clothing, bottles, tubs and ropes. It can also be used to make sledges, perhaps if LCC had cottoned onto this some time ago there wouldn't be such a dreadful shortage of them. Sledge envy can lead to terrible things...
Over and out.
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