answers to fuzzy's questions
Dec. 17th, 2008 11:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarah_orange1) 2008 was obviously a turbulent year for you, I think everything brings knowleadge and wisdom what did you take from it?
never own a piano unless you never intend to move house again...
seriously - sometimes things feel bad but then you get perspective - ok so I could possibly spend 3 years having to pay part of my monthly wage to creditors but hey I have somewhere to live, plenty of friends, warm clothes, enough to eat and aren't likely to step on a landmine anytime soon.
2) Your black belt is quite an acheivement, what motivated you to start, and what kept you going, you seem nonchalont about it sometimes but its quite and acheivement what are your feeling about it and what its taken for you to acheive it?
I did martial arts when I was a teenager - giving up in the upper 6th as there wasn't time to fit it in with the a-levels. it's not something I have a natural aptitude for (although I am pretty flexible in certain axes which makes some bits easier) but have always enjoyed - I never liked the idea of excercise for excercise's sake. When I split up with Julian I started to lose weight - then a flyer came through the door of a friend![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
fraoch and she mentioned it and we decided to go to see if we could get fit. despite feeling utterly useless and unco-ordinated at the beginning I stuck with it and it's 6 and a half years now. I tend to be good at sticking with stuff once I've got past the critical period of a couple of months. I'm the only person left from that first lesson. the thing with martial arts over going to the gym or step class is it's not just you you let down if you don't train or leave - it's the club - which is very much a little community - I need that kind of external motivation as I'm pretty crap at doing stuff just under my own steam.
the black belt was hard - especially after getting it delayed due to broken bones a couple of times - the biggest blow actually was when I was told I wasn't ready and that I'd have to wait 6 months before being allowed to take it - this meant that someone else in our club became a black belt before me which was kinda disheartening - trouble is I'm one of those people that will generally make it happen on/perform well the day with out much of an external indication that I'm ready/prepared - and in the end I had to make sure I looked ready so that other people knew - that was culturally quite difficult for me as I tend to be a 'nick of time' kinda person!
I think black belts look impressive to people outside a martial art or at the lower levels - but as you come to understand the art better you realise that black belt is meant to be only the beginning and it's the further dans that are an achievement :P
3) What do you consider your biggest acheivement to date?
getting the club opened on time and on budget. the actual physical elements of that - even though I didn't do *that* much of the work - to have designed, estimated and procured the materials needed, sorted out the paperwork and licenses and estimated the time it would take and get all the different people organised whilst holding down a day job was pretty satisfying. there were panics and it wouldn't have been possible without people pulling together and knuckling down to it above and beyond the call of duty but we did it. we opened on the day we meant to which given virtually no refurbishment or building project ever seems to go to schedule I'm quite proud of.
4) Out of your jobs what one and what aspects have you enjoyed the most, how does this match up to your childhood aspirations?
I've only really had 2 proper jobs. admittedly the first one was for 2 seperate companies as there was a management buyout and the role grew from SQL programmer to system's manager... I liked being systems manager - I read up on networking and put the (admittedly simple) network into the new building and although my main focus was oracle design and analysis I got to touch on all sorts of aspects of computing.
as a teenager I wanted to be doing something more artistic - firstly graphic/commercial design and then architecture. the painful truth that I just wasn't artistic enough led me to civil engineering but with most jobs the actuality wasn't as good as the blurb - no suspension bridges or skyscrapers - just landfill sites and desiging foundation varients for the garages of barratt box houses! pah!
5) an easy one whats your dream holiday?
I suppose japan with an unlimited budget would be nice. Having done Japan twice now I'm not really a dream holiday person. Just a nice holiday would be... well... nice.
I yearn to be pottering through pine and olive groves, wondering round looking at archeology, smelling coconut sun oil and tasty exotic foods, snorkelling past colourful fish and exploring rockpools in the warm (not hot) sun. turkey, greece, cypress and crete come to mind.
never own a piano unless you never intend to move house again...
seriously - sometimes things feel bad but then you get perspective - ok so I could possibly spend 3 years having to pay part of my monthly wage to creditors but hey I have somewhere to live, plenty of friends, warm clothes, enough to eat and aren't likely to step on a landmine anytime soon.
2) Your black belt is quite an acheivement, what motivated you to start, and what kept you going, you seem nonchalont about it sometimes but its quite and acheivement what are your feeling about it and what its taken for you to acheive it?
I did martial arts when I was a teenager - giving up in the upper 6th as there wasn't time to fit it in with the a-levels. it's not something I have a natural aptitude for (although I am pretty flexible in certain axes which makes some bits easier) but have always enjoyed - I never liked the idea of excercise for excercise's sake. When I split up with Julian I started to lose weight - then a flyer came through the door of a friend
fraoch and she mentioned it and we decided to go to see if we could get fit. despite feeling utterly useless and unco-ordinated at the beginning I stuck with it and it's 6 and a half years now. I tend to be good at sticking with stuff once I've got past the critical period of a couple of months. I'm the only person left from that first lesson. the thing with martial arts over going to the gym or step class is it's not just you you let down if you don't train or leave - it's the club - which is very much a little community - I need that kind of external motivation as I'm pretty crap at doing stuff just under my own steam.the black belt was hard - especially after getting it delayed due to broken bones a couple of times - the biggest blow actually was when I was told I wasn't ready and that I'd have to wait 6 months before being allowed to take it - this meant that someone else in our club became a black belt before me which was kinda disheartening - trouble is I'm one of those people that will generally make it happen on/perform well the day with out much of an external indication that I'm ready/prepared - and in the end I had to make sure I looked ready so that other people knew - that was culturally quite difficult for me as I tend to be a 'nick of time' kinda person!
I think black belts look impressive to people outside a martial art or at the lower levels - but as you come to understand the art better you realise that black belt is meant to be only the beginning and it's the further dans that are an achievement :P
3) What do you consider your biggest acheivement to date?
getting the club opened on time and on budget. the actual physical elements of that - even though I didn't do *that* much of the work - to have designed, estimated and procured the materials needed, sorted out the paperwork and licenses and estimated the time it would take and get all the different people organised whilst holding down a day job was pretty satisfying. there were panics and it wouldn't have been possible without people pulling together and knuckling down to it above and beyond the call of duty but we did it. we opened on the day we meant to which given virtually no refurbishment or building project ever seems to go to schedule I'm quite proud of.
4) Out of your jobs what one and what aspects have you enjoyed the most, how does this match up to your childhood aspirations?
I've only really had 2 proper jobs. admittedly the first one was for 2 seperate companies as there was a management buyout and the role grew from SQL programmer to system's manager... I liked being systems manager - I read up on networking and put the (admittedly simple) network into the new building and although my main focus was oracle design and analysis I got to touch on all sorts of aspects of computing.
as a teenager I wanted to be doing something more artistic - firstly graphic/commercial design and then architecture. the painful truth that I just wasn't artistic enough led me to civil engineering but with most jobs the actuality wasn't as good as the blurb - no suspension bridges or skyscrapers - just landfill sites and desiging foundation varients for the garages of barratt box houses! pah!
5) an easy one whats your dream holiday?
I suppose japan with an unlimited budget would be nice. Having done Japan twice now I'm not really a dream holiday person. Just a nice holiday would be... well... nice.
I yearn to be pottering through pine and olive groves, wondering round looking at archeology, smelling coconut sun oil and tasty exotic foods, snorkelling past colourful fish and exploring rockpools in the warm (not hot) sun. turkey, greece, cypress and crete come to mind.
