Category: Little Voices archive entries

Now, for the practice thing. I started a beginner’s course in Karate. So far it’s great fun, and probably good for me, though the most tangible result so far is that I am half-way limping at the moment due to having overstrained something or other on the top of my left foot. No pain, no gain, eh? Actually, I don’t suppose overstraining does me any good, so I will be a bit more careful hereafter. The general physical exercise, however, is bound to be good for me, as are the meditative aspects of the sport.

I have been wanting to learn martial arts of some sort for a long time, so I’m quite happy about having finally got myself off to a course. I’d have quite liked to do Aikido rather than Karate, I went along to one or two sessions of the Aikido club at Manchester University back in the stone age (well, a few years ago, anyway, five or so) and rather enjoyed the general style of the thing. However, Karate has a couple of points in its favour. 1. Pia is in the same club, though on a much loftier level. I can therefore look forward to being whacked by someone I really like instead of casual strangers. 2. It’s rather difficult to separate my concept of Aikido from rather a lot of other stuff going on at the time, especially since it makes me think of a certain person. In that context Karate is bad enough, it’s the same white suits (gis). Anyhow, though I can look back reasonably fondly, so to say, looking back fondly constantly is apt to detract from my concentration – and concentration is rather important in any martial art. Anyway, I’m sure thinking about ex-boyfriends constantly is not particularly healthy, especially five years after the fact and all. So there you are – at least Karate is different enough that I can concentrate on the task in hand. Besides, I like the kata concept. Do they have katas in Aikido? I don’t think so.

Having done both fencing and a short course in Tai Chi seems to have helped me in how quickly I grasp the movements, and especially the weight-transferral principles. Or maybe that’s just my imagination. Perhaps the reason I’m not corrected quite as often as the others (I’m quite sure I’m not) is simply that I’m so hopeless there’s no point correcting me? I dunno. Fun, anyway.

Now all I have to do is learn Japanese so I can remember all the names of movements and such – and the counting, “we” count in Japanese.

Not only do I have waaaay too much to do at work and not only have I actually managed to turn up for practice (more of that later) twice a week for several weeks, I also seem, all of a sudden, to have aquired a social life.

Huh? Where did all these people come from?

So that is why, if you’re wondering. (If you’re wondering, that is, how come I am not updating this thing as often as I used to/ought to/planned to/whatever.)

The few hours I manage to snatch between work and general-interacting-with-other-people are necessarily spent recouperating. Much as I enjoy the company, or rather, much as I enjoy this abundance of people who’s company I enjoy, it doesn’t change the fact that I am an introvert (and the definition of an introvert, in case you didn’t know, is that he/she is de-energised by people and re-energised by solitude, whereas the majority of people are extrovert, energised by socialising.) There’s a decent (if somewhat self-congratulatory) article in The Atlantic (via Vaughan) on the nature of introverts, but that’s a sideline – what I was about to say is that though I am, for example, looking forward to tomorrow night’s Trivial Pursuit session and to Sunday’s “Stitch and Bitch”, and therefore have no intention of cancelling, I will also have to find, on average, a couple of hours a day where I am not required to do anything that could be classified as “communicating”, or else I will run mad/collapse/have a nervous breakdown or just generally snap.

And this blog, of course, is communication.

So: My apologies for being sporadic. While work is taking up as much time as it is, “sporadic” is inevitable unless I become a hermit, and I’m enjoying all these people’s company far too much to want to do that at this point in time.

…well, uhm, maybe not quite morning anymore. Whatever, time for the weekly referral haiku:

sandals in winter
toothbrush manufacturers
rubber suit cycling

Evocative. Of what, though? And oh, search for “lesbian kualalumpur” on Yahoo, and you’ll find me at number 9. Not very surprising, perhaps, I guess the number of sites out there that have those two words on the same page is kind of limited. What puzzles me is why anyone who entered that search phrase would follow the link – seeing as the context summary is “Here’s to hoping it’s just gone on a bit of a wild trip to Kualalumpur or something … Though I am not, as far as I know, a lesbian, that could have been accurate … ” Pretty clearly pretty irrelevant. Whatever.

Voice in my head: Alanis Morissette – Precious Illusions

1. What is your most prized material possession?
There are a couple of books whose loss would be pretty devastating (due to the extreme difficulty of replacing them) – two other things spring to mind, though: An oil painting by Molly Cormick, given to me by the artist and my slide collection (both, for obvious reasons, irreplaceable).

2. What item, that you currently own, have you had the longest?
I still own several things that were given to me in my first year, and, to be honest, I can’t precisely remember which I got first…

3. Are you a packrat?
Emphatically: Yes.

4. Do you prefer a spic-and-span clean house? Or is some clutter necessary to avoid the appearance of a museum?
We like clutter. And dust. Dust is friendly.

5. Do the rooms in your house have a theme? Or is it a mixture of knick-knacks here and there?
A theme? I am planning a Macintosh kitchen, however, my general style is definitely eclectic, so I doubt whether it will be very strictly adhered to…

… to wake up:

“Good morning, this is the P4 news, it’s 6 o’clock. A new fire is underway in the centre of Trondheim. A fire was discovered in one of the old wooden houses is the town centre at 4 o’clock this morning”

(image from Adressa.)

It’s only a couple of months since we lost nearly a whole block in a similar fire. Depressingly, the reason that fire spread was that these old buildings had not been renovated according to “modern” fire security standards. What’s the bet that the situation is the same here – just a couple of blocks away?

Not a good start to the day.

Voice in my head: is just going “Noooooooooooo!” at the moment

I’m sure this site is practically content free if Meg’s is. I fail to see the point of Bimbo, myself. Too much randomness in which links appear on the main page. Or possibly the wrong sites trawled in view of what the moderators seem to be looking for.

At the moment this page specifically is certainly pretty free of any content whatsoever. I need time, which is in short supply right at the moment. Amuse yourself with reading the archives if you like, or come back later. I feel like rambling today, but have a late meeting followed by a ‘social’ happening at work, so I doubt I will have the energy by the time I get home. Pity.

Voice in my head: Paul Simon “Graceland” running into Prefab Sprout “Carneval 2000”

Referral Haiku of the week:

see before you die
the upward photography
hemmoroid image

Poetical, innit?

I’ve also had someone drop by after searching for “13 years girls pyjama gallery”, which is disconcerting.

Oh, by the way, I did this 100 songs instead of 100 things thing which Donna did the other day. Well, you know, me and list making… Anyhow, I’m not going to publish it here, as it’s more of a a permanent fixture thing, so I put it under “stereo” on the menu, which is the section meant for music in any case.