(no subject)
Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday. Turned out to be a good birthday. Took Friday and Monday off, so with ANZAC Day that gave me a five day weekend, yay. There should be more of them. Anyway, on Friday, visited Leah in the morning to protect her from her evil ex's family, wanting to see the baby. Only nice thing I can say about them is that they're nicer than the ex himself, who is a prize arsehole. Went to the hairdresser, always fun. Played Oblivion for a few hours, then met friends at Super Bowl for dinner, which is always good. Then we went to Fatboys for coffee and Jamie and I shared a chocolate and raspberry cake. Sharing food with blindies is fun. Jamie has to poke everything and make a horrible mess to see where everything is on his plate. :-P Then back to my place, where we drank some nice wine. I was supposed to be on office duty at netball at bloody 8am the next day but I swapped shifts with the finance officer, thank god. My friends didn't all go home until about 4am, so I was in bed until about midday. Kits was the real stayer - she was the only person who was there at the beginning for dinner and at the end, when she got a lift home with Ty. Everyone else had reasonable excuses though, I suppose. Ty was late because of football, Raog had another party to go to, Clare is looking after her sick aunt, etc.
Made it to netball on time, which was an achievement. My game was first. We won, but we played like shit. The only reason we won was not because we were better than the other team, but really just because they were more shit than us. There's a difference, really. We won by 16 but we should have beaten that team by twice that. Then my kids played - similar state of fried brains as my team, but they pulled themselves together in the second half and won by 5. Final grading is done now too and they're in a good division, i.e., the bottom one. It's a really even division, which is great. Against the other five teams my kids have had a draw, two close losses, one close win and one big win. Most teams are pretty close in ability but there's just one team that's pretty far below the rest. Poor kids, they can't go down a division because there isn't another open division below, and they're too old for U12. I'm just glad it's not Blue Sapphires this season because they had enough of being flogged in U12 Div 1 last season.
Went to the Norman Hotel for birthday lunch on Sunday with Dad, Maria, Carlos, Ben and Anthony. Dad was in his usual good form, 45 minutes late, but he paid for lunch so I'll forgive him. Anthony was grumpy and impatient about Dad being so late, but I suppose he doesn't expect it like Ben and Carlos and I do. We were happy to sit around and drink beer and talk while we waited. I think also part of the problem was that Anthony was hungry, and he is never as grumpy as he is when he's hungry. Anyway, food arrived eventually, and since it was for my birthday, albeit two days late, I bought a bottle of Moet for us to share. Great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Big fuckoff steak with mushroom sauce on, a glass of Champagne to wash it down, and everyone got on well and the conversation flowed easily. Dad and I talked about cricket and old sci-fi shows, Ben and Carlos swapped ringtones and taught Dad how to use Bluetooth, Maria taught me a swear word in Spanish, good times had by all.
Don't know if I mentioned this already at some point but I've been given my first rep team to coach - one of the Under 12 teams we're taking to Challenge Carnival on the Queen's Birthday long weekend. Their first training session was Monday night. I thought it would be best for me to coach them at the same time as my club team, because then I can play them against each other so they get actual gameplay experience. It's good for the 12's because they're playing kids a year older and a bit taller, and it's good for Blue Sapphires because these 12's they're playing are some of the best 12 year olds the Association has. At least, that was the plan. Turns out that Blue Sapphires were thoroughly humiliated. :-) I'm quite pleased about it actually. They don't mind losing against kids their own age or older so I don't think they always try as hard as they could. Have them lose to younger kids, though, and their game lifts immensely. It'll be even better next week when one of the other coaches brings in the Bramble Bay District U11's. *g*
The other wonderful thing about the U12's is that they are QUIET. This is such a novelty, you have no idea. Every five minutes when I'm coaching Sapphires I'm telling them to shut up or making them run laps or do push ups for not shutting up. The 12's are wonderful! They listen to what I say and I only have to give them an order once, it's great! I'm hoping that some of this discipline will wear off on the club kids. I'm really, seriously not hoping that Sapphires' silliness wears off on the 12's. That would make my life miserable. Nineteen screaming 12-13 year olds, oh god. I thought nine was bad. I couldn't handle nineteen. I'd have to call in the shock troops, meaning my mother and Mike Diezmann, to make them do horrible fitness training. That'd sort them out.
All in all I think my first rep training session went well. It's so much easier to plan a two hour session than a one hour session, too. More time to concentrate on each technique and make sure it's right, more flexibility in case things don't go as planned. More time for gameplay and strategy. Anyway, the kids tried hard, seemed to enjoy the drills I did, seemed to understand everything. Also important, Mum was talking to the parents watching on the sideline, anxious to see how their little darlings are treated in their first ever rep team, and she said the parents were happy. That's excellent. The extra responsibility of rep coaching is one thing, but having to deal with upset parents would be too much. I'm really relieved it's all over. I was pretty nervous about it, but now that the first one is done the rest won't be daunting at all.
Tuesday was nice and relaxed. Went to see Anthony's yiayia and took her to the fisherman's co-op in Sandgate. Had coffee, generally did nothing, etc. I'm not really big on traditional ANZAC Day celebrations. The parades are too crowded and watching them on TV isn't the same. Dawn services are on too bloody early in the morning. Don't get me wrong, I don't totally ignore the holiday. I just pay my respects in my head, rather than at church or at a war memorial. I wouldn't mind going to the dawn service at Gallipoli one day though. Getting up at stupid o'clock is easier when away from home so it might not be so painful, and really, it's the ultimate Australian pilgrimage (other than down the bottleshop on Sunday arvo when the XXXX runs out, anyway).
This entry is getting bloody long, isn't it? I will wrap it up to spare all three of my readers too much boredom.
Netball last night was good. We won by 29 and I actually played well. Best part about it was that we beat the team belonging to the girl who keeps getting picked for State League over me, and I played way better than she did and my shooting was more accurate too.
And now I'm at work trying not to fall asleep. *yawn*
Made it to netball on time, which was an achievement. My game was first. We won, but we played like shit. The only reason we won was not because we were better than the other team, but really just because they were more shit than us. There's a difference, really. We won by 16 but we should have beaten that team by twice that. Then my kids played - similar state of fried brains as my team, but they pulled themselves together in the second half and won by 5. Final grading is done now too and they're in a good division, i.e., the bottom one. It's a really even division, which is great. Against the other five teams my kids have had a draw, two close losses, one close win and one big win. Most teams are pretty close in ability but there's just one team that's pretty far below the rest. Poor kids, they can't go down a division because there isn't another open division below, and they're too old for U12. I'm just glad it's not Blue Sapphires this season because they had enough of being flogged in U12 Div 1 last season.
Went to the Norman Hotel for birthday lunch on Sunday with Dad, Maria, Carlos, Ben and Anthony. Dad was in his usual good form, 45 minutes late, but he paid for lunch so I'll forgive him. Anthony was grumpy and impatient about Dad being so late, but I suppose he doesn't expect it like Ben and Carlos and I do. We were happy to sit around and drink beer and talk while we waited. I think also part of the problem was that Anthony was hungry, and he is never as grumpy as he is when he's hungry. Anyway, food arrived eventually, and since it was for my birthday, albeit two days late, I bought a bottle of Moet for us to share. Great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Big fuckoff steak with mushroom sauce on, a glass of Champagne to wash it down, and everyone got on well and the conversation flowed easily. Dad and I talked about cricket and old sci-fi shows, Ben and Carlos swapped ringtones and taught Dad how to use Bluetooth, Maria taught me a swear word in Spanish, good times had by all.
Don't know if I mentioned this already at some point but I've been given my first rep team to coach - one of the Under 12 teams we're taking to Challenge Carnival on the Queen's Birthday long weekend. Their first training session was Monday night. I thought it would be best for me to coach them at the same time as my club team, because then I can play them against each other so they get actual gameplay experience. It's good for the 12's because they're playing kids a year older and a bit taller, and it's good for Blue Sapphires because these 12's they're playing are some of the best 12 year olds the Association has. At least, that was the plan. Turns out that Blue Sapphires were thoroughly humiliated. :-) I'm quite pleased about it actually. They don't mind losing against kids their own age or older so I don't think they always try as hard as they could. Have them lose to younger kids, though, and their game lifts immensely. It'll be even better next week when one of the other coaches brings in the Bramble Bay District U11's. *g*
The other wonderful thing about the U12's is that they are QUIET. This is such a novelty, you have no idea. Every five minutes when I'm coaching Sapphires I'm telling them to shut up or making them run laps or do push ups for not shutting up. The 12's are wonderful! They listen to what I say and I only have to give them an order once, it's great! I'm hoping that some of this discipline will wear off on the club kids. I'm really, seriously not hoping that Sapphires' silliness wears off on the 12's. That would make my life miserable. Nineteen screaming 12-13 year olds, oh god. I thought nine was bad. I couldn't handle nineteen. I'd have to call in the shock troops, meaning my mother and Mike Diezmann, to make them do horrible fitness training. That'd sort them out.
All in all I think my first rep training session went well. It's so much easier to plan a two hour session than a one hour session, too. More time to concentrate on each technique and make sure it's right, more flexibility in case things don't go as planned. More time for gameplay and strategy. Anyway, the kids tried hard, seemed to enjoy the drills I did, seemed to understand everything. Also important, Mum was talking to the parents watching on the sideline, anxious to see how their little darlings are treated in their first ever rep team, and she said the parents were happy. That's excellent. The extra responsibility of rep coaching is one thing, but having to deal with upset parents would be too much. I'm really relieved it's all over. I was pretty nervous about it, but now that the first one is done the rest won't be daunting at all.
Tuesday was nice and relaxed. Went to see Anthony's yiayia and took her to the fisherman's co-op in Sandgate. Had coffee, generally did nothing, etc. I'm not really big on traditional ANZAC Day celebrations. The parades are too crowded and watching them on TV isn't the same. Dawn services are on too bloody early in the morning. Don't get me wrong, I don't totally ignore the holiday. I just pay my respects in my head, rather than at church or at a war memorial. I wouldn't mind going to the dawn service at Gallipoli one day though. Getting up at stupid o'clock is easier when away from home so it might not be so painful, and really, it's the ultimate Australian pilgrimage (other than down the bottleshop on Sunday arvo when the XXXX runs out, anyway).
This entry is getting bloody long, isn't it? I will wrap it up to spare all three of my readers too much boredom.
Netball last night was good. We won by 29 and I actually played well. Best part about it was that we beat the team belonging to the girl who keeps getting picked for State League over me, and I played way better than she did and my shooting was more accurate too.
And now I'm at work trying not to fall asleep. *yawn*