Quick[?] update on various and sundry. I have divided this update into sections, so read only those that may be of interest to you:
Skating: This is the second to last week of the current term, so we finished testing out on the level five skills. I passed the final one -- backwards one foot glides -- and am now officially NISA Level Five certified. I am such a dork -- I continued collecting the little badges that show what level I have passed. We started on level six skills, as there will be a large gap after our last class next week and the following term, which begins on September 8
th. By introducing these skills now, I can practice them in-between terms. Also, I plan to buy my own pair of skates when I am in the States later this month. Does anyone in the Chicago (or New York) area know of a skate shop that they would recommend?
Kittens: Gave back Leo, our "loaner kitten", yesterday. He is a sweet boy, and we were sad to see him go. However, I was grateful that we had him for a week and a half, as he helped to transition our [still-nameless] kitten from a life with his mum and three siblings to life with us. By now, The Boy is getting grudgingly tolerant of the new kitten and, as of yesterday evening, we are allowing them to interact together unsupervised. When we are home, they get full run of the flat; when we are asleep or away, we lock them out of a couple of rooms that have not yet been kitten-proofed. Last night, the kitten slept on my pillow, leaning on my head. He is
so adorable!!! I was ridiculously pleased, though I did sleep somewhat restlessly, as I was nervous about rolling over and crushing him.
Bells: Participated in a quarter peal attempt at St. Giles last night. Previously, I had
rung a quarter peal in April, on the covering tenor. This is the easiest position to ring. It was a six bell method (
Cambridge Surprise Minor), so the first six bells mixed up their order... and then I always rang in the sevenths place, after they had all done their bit. It was an accomplishment for me, but the simplest that ringing a quarter peal can be. Yesterday's attempt took the challenge up a notch: We rang a seven bell method (
Grandsire Triples). There was a covering tenor -- see the constant position of the #8 bell in the link -- but that was not my job. I rang the next easiest position, that of the treble (the #1 bell). If you look at the link, you can see that the treble moves ("hunts") repeatedly from the front to the back, and then returns. Harder than a covering tenor, but easier than the job of every other bell. I was very nervous about this and not sure if I was up to keeping my ringing from going wrong for the forty-five minutes it takes to ring a quarter peal. In the end, our attempt was
not successful. We made it through about 740 of the 1260 changes. This is disappointing, of course. However, I take some comfort that it was not I who caused the band to go wrong. Much to my surprise, I did remarkably well at holding the correct place
and at maintaining good striking. One of the other ringers, on an inside bell, went off course... and this caused a domino effect that ended our attempt. I will try again in September and, based on how well I managed to do this time, am reasonably optimistic that I will succeed.
Car: Am very much enjoying the new car. It is the same colour as Pazu -- my 1998 Honda Civic that I bought new and drove for eight years, until
I moved to Oxford. The battery would not hold a charge, though, so I got a guy from the AA to look for it. Given that I am a member, this was free... so why not? He confirmed that the problem was the battery, not the alternator nor a short in the wiring. No problem -- I went out and bought a new battery. While we were chatting, he mentioned that the Rover 400 engines are made by Honda. This news made me happy, as I have the utmost respect for Honda engines! When I mentioned that I paid £300 for the car, he seemed surprised... and jokingly offered me £400 for it. Despite the cheap price, I think that I may be holding onto this car for awhile; it seems like it is in very good shape! Indeed, in the anticipation of driving it for a few years, I ordered
a new stereo for the car today. He went on to say that the Rover 400s are basically the same as Honda Civics. I had noticed a fair bit of similarity, actually. I liked my Civic very much and am rather pleased to [sort of] have it back -- with the added bonus of a sunroof! Finally, it dawned on me that I now own a
red Rover. That is just cool!
Social: This afternoon, a few hours before our skating lesson, I got a text from KF asking me if I wanted to go out for coffee and then hit the rink for extra practice before our lesson. This was a pleasant addition to my day, as I
have had a crush on her for months. We have quite a few interests in common -- SCUBA diving, traveling, history, skating, whitewater rafting -- and I would very much like to get to know her better. The pseudo-date went pretty well, so I find myself wondering what might happen next. I will confess to being nervous, because I have not met her through the polyamorous community, the sci-fi community, or the Pagan community. Thus far, everyone I have ever had a relationship with since
cheshcat and I became polyamourous eleven years ago has come from one of those three worlds -- worlds that are well acquainted with and accepting of polyamoury. Although KF knows that I am polyamorous, I am not sure how willing she is to set her toes into these waters. There certainly seems to be a mutual attraction there... how far it can or will go, though, is still up in the air.
Theatre: On Friday evening,
cheshcat and I drove down to Abingdon to see a production of Alan Ayckbourn's play
Improbable Fiction. This is, I believe, the second Ayckbourn show that I have seen -- the first being
A Trip To Scarborough back in February. Like that show,
Improbable Fiction is a bit surreal, and involves a juxtaposition of multiple disjoint locations. It was good fun, though. Perhaps even more impressive than the play was the theatre itself. We saw this production at the
Unicorn Theatre, which is housed in a building that used to be a
medieval abbey from the seventh to the sixteenth century. With my love of old buildings, this experience was really quite the treat!
Weekend: On Saturday, my beloved
cheshcat and the adorable
ms_katonic and I took a day trip to the
Savill Garden, part of the Royal Landscape near Windsor. The gardens themselves were quite pretty and -- as an added bonus -- there was a sculpture exhibition. Fifty-eight pieces of art were placed at various and sundry points throughout the garden, ranging from annoyingly abstract pieces to lovable penguins and ducks to an awesome velociraptor! The weather, which should have been rainy, cooperated with us remarkably well, making for a very nice day out. After leaving the gardens, we topped off our day with a stop at the
Monkey's Forehead for dinner and drinks... just because it has the coolest pub name ever!
On Sunday, I dropped
ms_katonic off at the Oxford Castle so that she could celebrate
thirteen_ravens's birthday party. With the exception of cycling to St. Giles church for the quarter peal attempt, the rest of the day was spent sharing some quality alone time with
cheshcat. We were both a bit shaken by the postponement of her surgery last week... so having this time was significant and important to us both.
.......and that's all the news for tonight. Tune in next time, gentle reader, for fun-filled photos from this weekend and video of kittens playing!