saffiter | I think I might've bruised a rib tonight.

Ow.

So, not sure if I told you or not, but I've taken up rollerblading. It was just up and down the streets to start with, but my housemate and I (she'd bought her blades back from the States, this is what started it all. I used to rollerskate all the time, but thought I'd try blading to keep her company) discovered very quickly that we lacked certain skills....like the ability to stop.

Kinda important to be able to stop. I couldn't keep jumping over gutters and using the grass...or a convenient tree...or a fence...to stop all the time. So, lessons had to be found. We tracked down DIGI Skate out at Browns Plains. They run adult skating lessons every Tuesday night.

I've actually been doing quite well at it (which is surpising me no end). I'm up in the highest group now. We've been doing stuff which I can only really describe as dance skating manouvers. Tonight was transitions (switching the direction you're facing in one quick movement, one minute you're skating forwards, the next you're going in the same direction but facing backwards) on both two legs and one leg (one leg is scary in blades, and damn hard to do), Spirals (you know that move where there's one leg on the ground and the other is up in the air behind you? Yeah, that), spins (those are fun once you work out how to do it without spinning too hard and crashing to the ground), and 180degree jumps.

They also tried to get us to do 360degree jumps, but I can't even do that when I'm stationary! I stacked it so hard when I tried. Landed chest first on the ground and that's when I'm pretty sure I bruised my rib. Coughing hurts, sneezing really hurts, and don't get me started on laughing!

I've also found another problem, couple of problems actually. The wheel base on my skates is way too long for the stuff I'm doing, and I'm aparently too advanced for the skates I'm using (something about how the skates I have are recreational and designed for beginners who don't do all the funky stuff I'm doing. The wheels are designed on an angle, and when you're balancing on one foot that's really not something you want to have. I got a "Wait, you're doing what now on your blades?! O.o o.O O.O ).

Oh, and the brake at the back is driving me nuts. I don't use it, and the way I stop, well, it keeps catching when I do my spin stop and nearly sending me flying. Plus, actual spins/twirls are really hard to do on the opposite foot when there's a brake there.

The brake needs to go. It's coming off on the weekend!

I'm actually eyeing off some hockey skates at some point. Short wheel base, and they're designed to take the kind of pounding I'm giving my skates (I swear I heard the axles creak tonight when I was doing a fast spin stop).

In other news, I'm finished Uni for the year! Handed my last assignment in yesterday *cheers* This year's been rough in the assignment department. I'm tired, really, really tired. My final assignment involved creating 12 hours of lesson plans and writing about the psychological, linguistic, and sociolinguistic aspects of what I did, as well as blathering on about what, exactly, I thought "Language" was...and I just couldn't bring myself to care about it at all.

The entire thing ended up being around 6000words of writing (not including the lesson plans) and roughly 40 pages long.

I'm actually going to go and talk to the uni about switching out to external coursework instead of internal.

One more year, that's what I'm telling myself right now. One more year to go and I'm finished my Masters degree and completely free. Of course, conisdering the current economic climate, actually being able to use that degree anytime soon might not be a reality.

So, to treat myself after the year of hell, I'm going to Stradbroke Island for a day tour in a couple of weeks. I got a good price for it (I'm on this Living Social daily deal thing. They had it for $49 so I grabbed one). My treat to myself after this year.

Also, I AM EMPLOYED!!!!!!!!!!!!! One of the temping agencies my name is down at called me up to tell me there was an ongoing, part time position available that they wanted to put my name down for. I told them to go for it, and got a phone call a week later saying that I was the preferred candidate and when could I start? So, I've been in training for two weeks, and tomorrow is my first day flying solo in the office. I'm an Administration Officer for the Queensland Police Scenes of Crime Unit (think CSI) out at Indro. I do pretty much anything and everything administration. Work is definitely interesting.

And that's my life in a nutshell at the moment.