Rae Roy

What happens when you let your nerves get the best of you?  My weekend didn't go the way I had hoped. I choked like a Maple Leaf during the playoffs and failed my grading. Considering that I felt like I did my worst example of iaido, I agree that I shouldn't have passed. That doesn't mean I'm not upset. I'm pretty damn sad about it. What happened? Leading up to grading I: I caught my big toe on a computer cable, which tripped me and hurt my toe. Weeks of fighting with acne as if I'm a damn teenager. I dropped a plate into my sink, which broke itself and a bowl. I cut my finger with a steak knife. I got very little sleep the day before travelling. I had car troubles. I forgot to put my chicken bacon in the fridge at my friend's place, so breakfast was different than planned. I got lost in the building more than once. I should've read the signs better. Pre-Grading Seminar On nearly every kata they gave us corrections and I felt overwhelme...

[caption id="attachment_4712" align="alignleft" width="300"] Image created using Bit Strips.[/caption] I first started learning guitar in grade 12. We had a course we could take and get credit for as part of our high school diploma. My then boyfriend was also taking it and class was slightly uncomfortable once we broke up, but I enjoyed it regardless. I had a blast performing with the class. I was supposed to sing too, but singing performances and I are like that Buffy episode "Nightmares" where Willow ends up singing with Pavarotti and can't utter a word only weird screechy noises... Yeah. Put me in a car with friends and I'm fine. Shower? You betcha. In a musical or band performing in front of people. Nope. Unless I'm just one of the choir and not alone. I did make it through an O' Canada performance with only two other people one time in high school, though. All our strongest choir members were at another performance and the f...

I thought I already posted this, but apparently not. I started a kitchen reno. Just a little bit at a time. It was instigated by my peel and stick floor starting to let go. My cabinets are solid wood, so with a little ingenuity I can make them look nice. I think I'll do what these people did to give them dimension: http://www.beautifulmatters.com/2013/02/diy-inexpensive-cabinet-updates/ I need to fix the drawer bottoms and one piece of the drawers. The very back and bottoms are not wood, so guess where the moisture has collected over the years. I literally needed one piece of wood to fix the top three drawers and I can probably leave the very bottom one. For bottoms? I was going with plexiglass because it's waterproof and I had enough for 2 of the 3 until one didn't work out and when I looked at the price of plexiglass, I said holy crap! So onto thin wood bottoms instead. Then I'll paint them a dark chocolate on the bottom doors I think, or maybe the top too. I was thin...

[caption id="attachment_4711" align="alignleft" width="300"] Image created using Bit Strips.[/caption] I'm heading into crunch week, which started with my first time teaching martial arts and continues with my library writing group, my French oral exam, the last iaido practice before grading, anime club*, a bunch of laundry/ironing/packing, travel, grading, and then my French written exam. And all I feel like doing is relaxing. *I might not make anime club given the rest of the week. Iaido I taught my first martial arts class yesterday. It went OK. It was a good thing I had the book to refer to. I found it helpful when they had questions or specific things to fix. It's really hard to practice at the same time as teaching. I can't focus on both at once, otherwise I do both crappy. Since the other classes were cancelled, I got extra practice time in with the other student that is grading next weekend. We have one more class before the big day. H...

[caption id="attachment_4712" align="alignright" width="300"] Image created using Bit Strips.[/caption] French If you asked me last week, I would have said it was doubtful I would finish my online French hours in time. I finished my last two hours tonight! The oral exam is this Monday. The written exam is next Monday. Iaido Now I can focus on grading Nidan for iaido. I need to reduce how long it's taking me to do etiquette. It needs to be crisper too. And I need to run through my kata several times, perhaps by picking out numbers from a hat. I don't know what kata they are going to give me. I'm worried I'll forget the numbers and then do the wrong ones and fail. Writing I can finally work on The Blood Waitress Club. This story now features witch/vampire/insect demons that play roller derby. I'm collecting ideas for who they may play against. Some of my research includes rewatching Buffy the Vampire Slayer as I'm looking for differe...

I'm feeling restless lately. I've been so busy with French and iaido that I've had very little time to work on my writing. I just want to get the words into the page. And my place is a mess, but that's not unusual for November. Animé club has been keeping me sane.  Other things are bothering me too, but I'd rather not go into them. I think it'll be better once I've finished the online portion of my French class. There are about 5 hours left to do. Then, I can just focus on iaido and writing. I also need to see Fantastic Beasts, but that won't be for a few days yet.  Well, back to it. Ciao, R~

I had a pretty full weekend. On Friday, I got some errands done. On Saturday, I cut a pumpkin with a sword and threw some axes and spears at a target. On, Sunday, I woke up thinking it was Monday and became very happy when it dawned on me that I had another day off! Kitchen Reno Well, I'm still trying to just fix my drawers. I thought it would be easy. I'm just changing out the bottoms and the backs for real wood that will be sturdier and not shed bits of itself into the drawers below. My plan was initially just the bottoms, but then I noticed the backs were particle board and had some water damage. So, I was going to use fiberglass for the bottoms. They'd last forever and have no water issues. Well, fiberglass sheets are hugely expensive, so I scrapped that part of the plan. I tried a thinner acrylic and it was too flimsy and broke easy. Now I'm doing wood, but it's slightly too thick, so I have to scrape the edges a little with my hand planer.  Wood, as I learned,...