Stuff, Uncut
Sep. 11th, 2008 04:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
f4f3I gave up sweets, chocolates and cakes nine days ago, and right up until, oh, 10 minutes ago, it hasn't been a major pain. But right now I have the cravings, so I'm turning to LJ for some distraction (I'm at work, and I have a deadline for tomorrow to produce a presentation, which is reliant on the outputs from a planning session that I'm not part of. Which is also driving me crazy. And I have toothache. So yes, pretty tetchy, thank you for asking. Why don't you just give me a nice paper cut and squeeze lemon into it while you're at it.)
Tonight I'm off to the fencing club, where I should be, finally, fully kitted out. I think my lame (the sleeveless foil jacket you wear when using electric blades) has been ready for a few weeks, but this will be the first night I've been along since before the holidays. I'd better practice like an SOB, because on Saturday I'm fencing in my first tournament. I am absolutely, resolutely convinced that I'll finish dead last in this (of 48) and I wonder how that will make me feel. I don't tend to lose terribly much in the sports I like. Oh, don't get me wrong, I can get thrashed at golf, but normally I get my own back pretty quickly. Put me on court with an international badminton player, and I'll lose very, very quickly, but I can hold my own with most club players. I play chess to a reasonable standard, and as for pool... oh, wait, no, I've never played much. What, you mean you want a friendly bet just to make it interesting? Oh well, if you insist... But I'm a complete beginner at fencing, and I do stand to be annihilated on Saturday. On the other hand, I'll probably double the amount of competitive fencing I've done on one day.
I haven't been sleeping well this week. Possibly due to being on my own, possibly due to an annoying low grade fever that finally broke through last night to give me swollen glands, a toothache, and the attention span of a gnat on mescaline. Normally I don't mind not sleeping, I just use the time to read, and so long as I get 5 or so hours along the line somewhere it all levels out. The attention span thing has been making this tricky, though, so I've been dipping into Clive James' "Cultural Amnesia" more and more. The 3-5 page essays fit in well, in between assaults on speed Tetris. I'm thinking of making a list of epigrams as I go. Not just from the artists, writers and musicians he quotes, but from his own writing. I've always had a high regard for his style, but in this book I'm actually seeing it deployed on something other than current events, and he shines all the more when he's describing terrible events, and the reaction of artists to them.
Tonight I'm off to the fencing club, where I should be, finally, fully kitted out. I think my lame (the sleeveless foil jacket you wear when using electric blades) has been ready for a few weeks, but this will be the first night I've been along since before the holidays. I'd better practice like an SOB, because on Saturday I'm fencing in my first tournament. I am absolutely, resolutely convinced that I'll finish dead last in this (of 48) and I wonder how that will make me feel. I don't tend to lose terribly much in the sports I like. Oh, don't get me wrong, I can get thrashed at golf, but normally I get my own back pretty quickly. Put me on court with an international badminton player, and I'll lose very, very quickly, but I can hold my own with most club players. I play chess to a reasonable standard, and as for pool... oh, wait, no, I've never played much. What, you mean you want a friendly bet just to make it interesting? Oh well, if you insist... But I'm a complete beginner at fencing, and I do stand to be annihilated on Saturday. On the other hand, I'll probably double the amount of competitive fencing I've done on one day.
I haven't been sleeping well this week. Possibly due to being on my own, possibly due to an annoying low grade fever that finally broke through last night to give me swollen glands, a toothache, and the attention span of a gnat on mescaline. Normally I don't mind not sleeping, I just use the time to read, and so long as I get 5 or so hours along the line somewhere it all levels out. The attention span thing has been making this tricky, though, so I've been dipping into Clive James' "Cultural Amnesia" more and more. The 3-5 page essays fit in well, in between assaults on speed Tetris. I'm thinking of making a list of epigrams as I go. Not just from the artists, writers and musicians he quotes, but from his own writing. I've always had a high regard for his style, but in this book I'm actually seeing it deployed on something other than current events, and he shines all the more when he's describing terrible events, and the reaction of artists to them.
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no subject
Date: 2008-09-11 03:58 pm (UTC)Ooooops....sorry!
no subject
Date: 2008-09-12 06:20 am (UTC)I'm surrounded by sick people, and am dreading coming down with something during this trip. I guess it will be what it will be.
Good luck with the fencing. I suppose it's better form to say 'en garde' than yell 'Have at you, you scurvy sons of motherless blaggards'.
Cheers!
no subject
Date: 2008-09-12 08:21 am (UTC)I'll fight you for it. Quite literally.
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Date: 2008-09-12 02:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-12 02:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-12 03:27 pm (UTC)I'm temptable into Epee, but sabre is a step too far...