Catching up, again

Wednesday, Jun. 09, 2004
10:11 PM

Whew, it's been a busy week or two. Um, let's see... I can't remember where I left off.

Sapphire was cool - great weather (unlike last year), great company, a challenging moment during A&S judging. It was a good event, though I felt a bit of indignation on behalf of someone near and dear to me. Fortunately, thanks to the kindness and chivalry of a good friend, everything worked out reasonably well. I still wonder sometimes what people were thinking (or not thinking) but there is nothing I can do about it.

Last week was mostly about getting ready for University. Too many late nights getting my handouts together, but that's what I get for procrastinating. I figured I'd throw together a few notes on the Medici family... and eight pages later I was done. I might as well submit it as an article somewhere.

Traffic sucked on the way down to University, Sue and I got stuck in backups on three major roads and it took us over 3.5 hours to get to Charlottesville (normally only 2). Nuff said. University was fantastic, and I had a great time. I ran out of time in my first class (the Medici one) but it seemed to go ok anyway. The hands-on judging class went really well, and I'm glad I scheduled two hours for it. People love to talk about anything related to A&S competitions. I had to rein in the conversation a bit, just so we would have enough time to do the judging part. But I think people got a lot out of it and I'll probably do it again for the next couple of Universities.

My husband is so cool. He brought me stargazer lilies before I left, and then while I was gone over the weekend he did the dishes, pulled the trash, painted our house numbers on the new recycling bin, cleaned up and organized the living room and vacuumed. And he put fresh flowers in vases all over the place. What a lovely way to come home after a long day on the road. But nothing's better than just being home with my sweetie.

This seems to be getting in shape week for me. Kevin and I went swimming yesterday evening, which was fun. I hadn't been swimming in a long time and I'd forgotten that it is actually exercise. I only did ten laps but I'm not in great shape so it was a pretty good workout. I'm not the best swimmer either - I'm sure my form is terrible - but I did it and that's what counts. Today I signed up for a membership at Curves. I wasn't expecting to enjoy it but I did, so hopefully I can stick with it. (Maybe that's just the endorphin rush talking...) It's pretty basic but that's good for a non-athletic person like me. It's also a very non-intimidating environment which is very helpful in keeping me going. I've never joined a gym before but I felt very comfortable there.

I've been wanting to get back in shape for a while, for several reasons, so hopefully I'll drop some weight and get stronger. I've been thinking about taking up rapier off and on for a while so maybe I'll work harder on getting started. I have a mask and gloves but I need to make some fighting clothes. I can get started working on footwork or something with Kevin though. Anyway, I'm encouraged about being more active and exercising more, but a little skeptical that I'll stick to it for the long term. Here's hoping...

It's late and I should get to bed. I have what feels like a zillion little mundane things to get done, though I'm actually making good progress through the list. Things like paying bills, getting my name changed on everything, etc. Tomorrow I hope to make some meaningful progress on some projects.

Ciao!