21 September 2014

It’s that time of year again – Wikipedia is asking for donations.

I went on it the other day to look up who-knows-what, and the message popped up. I have donated in the past (and feel pretty good about myself for it), but I wasn’t feeling particularly charitable this time around and, with a tiny pang of guilt, promptly clicked on the tiny cross in the corner.

Here’s a link to donate should you like to do so. I plan to become a regular donor myself once I’m on a payroll. ‘No money in, no money out’ is my motto of the day. Until I find myself a job, I’m not going to add to the financial commitments I already have.

You see, I can be pretty sensible if I want to.

Talking about being sensible, I’m taking proofreading jobs again. Since I have time on my hands, I figured I might as well. I’m not doing it purely for the money though. I like reading other people’s writing. It’s fascinating to see how different minds operate and express themselves. Also, it satisfies my urge to correct every little grammatical mistake I see. I have the itch every time someone asks me ‘just to comment’ on a text and not proofread it. *shudders*

I’m in the middle of writing a long post for my other blog. These long posts take a long time to write. Since they’ll go on my Featured Content page, I want to make sure I’m absolutely happy with them. Feel free to check the other featured ones out if you want to – they are my babies, my pride and joy.

So what am I doing writing this instead? To be frank, I lost my train of thought. I had finally come up with the first paragraph (always the hardest part), and sentences were flowing from my fingertips – all was well and good. Until I decided to take a break to have a read-through. When I came back to the text editor, I had lost my train.

This happens to me from time to time. Something I’m hoping writing more will help me avoid. (That’s actually the reason behind this diary blog: to get me writing more often.) But in the meantime, I’ll take this opportunity to condense and organise my thoughts on the post a bit more. I’m sure the next sentence will come to me in a shower; that seems to be when I’m my most creative self. I’ve heard similar comments from other writers/creative people. It must have something to do with the body being relaxed and the mind released from the mundane tasks that usually occupy it. I wonder if anyone has ever done a study on the effects of being in a shower on our creative impulse and/or subconscious. Hmm…

I love how random this blog allows me to be. *happy sigh*

OK – I think that’s enough writing for today. Time for Big Bang Theory! As they say, you can’t write if you don’t read. Or watch Big Bang Theory.

Have a good Sunday everyone!

Love,

Val

 

 

10 September 2014

Did you know that, in swimming, freestyle actually means free style?

I just found out. It’s fascinating. I’ve always wondered why it’s called freestyle. I mean, you see where the breaststroke or the butterfly stroke comes from. But freestyle? That’s hardly evident.

Turns out freestyle actually means free style. So if you enter yourself in a freestyle competition, you can actually swim however you like. You can even do the breaststroke (aka froggy style), the butterfly stroke, or the backstroke if it’s a stand-alone event. (According to Wikipedia, of course.)

And the swimming stroke commonly adopted in freestyle competition and leisure freestyle swimming is actually the front crawl, which is supposedly chosen for being the fastest stroke of all. No, the irony does not escape me either.

And, unsurprisingly, since virtually everyone chooses to do the front crawl when ‘freestyling’, the front crawl ended up being known as freestyle. Poor front crawl, it should really do something about freestyle unceremoniously taking all the credit.

How about that – an informative entry on my blog. You might have just learnt something new! O Val, the disseminator of knowledge. *chuckles*

Anyways, enough about things that might interest people. Time to talk about me! Weeeeeeee.

So I went for a swim today, froggy style. 1k. You’ll tell me that’s nothing, but I’m quite proud of myself. I feel like 1k is a good benchmark. I’ll try to do 1.5k next time. Or divide my 1k 50-50 into breaststroke and front crawl. Decisions, decisions.

I haven’t done lap swimming in a really long time – since November last year, I think. And I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Which is really good news. I do like running, and it’s a great way to get that endorphin rush, but it is a high-impact sport. I don’t want to run my young body to the ground, so it’s good to have swimming as an alternate exercise. Plus, I might be getting into scuba diving in the intermediate future, and I think being a strong swimmer might be a plus. Just might.

Exercise is great. I’m feeling great. I really should exercise more. Would it be excessive to go for a run now?

It probably wouldn’t.

But then I could watch Big Bang Theory.

Let’s watch Big Bang Theory.

Have a great day!

Val

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8 September 2014

Today was one of those days where coffee didn’t work.

Having slept an average of 4-5 hours and walked an average of 12 the past few days (I’d been travelling), I fully expected my body to demand a lie-in and did not set an alarm last night.

So I was extremely surprised when I woke up at 7.30am and didn’t fall immediately back to sleep. I had slept 9 hours, far fewer than I’d expected to. And I felt nowhere near rested; my head was weighing down as heavily as it did yesterday

After half an hour shifting about in bed, however, I decided to get up. Normally, I would have tried to go back to sleep, but given that I had been sleeping very erratically lately, I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to reinforce a healthy sleeping schedule. I’d feel better after coffee, I told myself.

I didn’t.

And I’d made my coffee extra strong and extra large.

So here I am, caffeine-injected and still as heavy-headed as ever. And let me tell you, writing has never been more of an effort.

I miss feeling normal. I hope I wake up more rested tomorrow.

I really do.

Wow. Writing this post is hurting my head, literally. Some post-vacation withdrawal effect, this is. I’d better go do something less mentally demanding.

Now, I can either read the Freud I picked out from my shelf this morning… or watch Big Bang Theory. Hmm…

*grabs headphones*

Have a good day everyone!

Val