Full on life

Saturday: 1st regatta of the season at beautiful Blue Lakes but, man! was it cold! Some of the boys did very well, some did moderately well and the rest I will remain silent about. Some rowed like no-one taught them how! It was all over by 3.30 but I had a 13 hour day. By the time I picked up CC at 7.15 am and got home at 8.15 pm! J&J came for tea and stayed the night - it was lovely to see them, but I was annoyed I had to go to boat unloading / loading instead of spending time with them.
Sunday: even earlier morning. This time picking up CC at 6.45. Got to Karapiro at 7.00 for the Long Distance race. The race is 10 km - usually rowed from the bridge at Horahora. We made them row up to Horahora ... so their row was 20 km! There were tired boys at the end - and it showed. Still some really good times listed and CC and I are happy coaches. Al and I kidnapped M's and brought her here for two nights. Yay, two nights with my favourite one year old!!! Took her to the bbq / fireworks night at the club. The first time she had seen fireworks .. she clapped and squealed and stamped her feet with excitement. Taylor and the other girls had fun looking after her.
Monday: M's slept til nearly 8. Al spoilt it by having to go rowing at 6.15 dammit. Fun day with my wee girl. She made a boy cry (you go, girl!) at the park by stalking him on the play equipment. I bought her a dolls push chair and she put it to good use by chasing the dog. Later she put raffy in it and tried to pull the dog off the couch so she could start the chasing all over again! She learnt how to say "row" and "bow ball" so soon as she can count to ten (as in "go hard for ...") she can cox'n. She also learnt to say "rubbish". And I got to put in an apology for the meeting tonight cos I can't get a babysitter. Can she come EVERY month??? Shes in bed asleep and I'll be in mine real soon. Shes fun, but she's tiring. I had an email from a 2nd cousin on Mum's side ... through a genealogy website. Interesting because I thought his father had died in the war - but it was 1991. And really cool.

EXAMS ARE OVER!

I am going on a summer holiday
No more working for a month or two
Fun and laughter on a summer holiday
No more studies for me and me
I live where the sun shines brightly
I live where the sea is blue.
Its better than the movies
cos its all true
Everybody has a summer holiday
Doing things they wanna do
So I'm going on a summer holiday
with only rowing
for me and you
With apologies to Cliff Richard

Stress bunny

Maybe I should have stayed in bed! Everything was OK til I got up. Al got shitty over the dishes not done this morning (hello, are his arms only painted on) so I got in the car and left. Spent a reasonably pleasant couple of hours studying down by the river. Came home when I got hungry ... no one there, just Dog and Emmy. Been that way all day. Heaps of emails have been doing the rounds of the club all day. I organised a fireworks / bbq / bonfire night on Sunday after boat loading. EVERYTHING BYO. Whats so difficult to understand about that??? Its turned into a whole major catastrophe with everyone trying to organise something else, and someone emailed said it wasn't on anymore! Finally, Novice Coach wants to put Novice boys in with our lot at the regatta on Saturday and we have to shift crews around to accomodate him. Another man with painted on arms! We got entries in correctly and on time, why didn't he? And who out of our lot wants to row with Novies anyway. I ask you!
Maybe I'm just stressed out with the last exam tomorrow and wayyyyy too much cramming. I think my brain is going to explode. Hmmm, more mess to clean. Dam!

This is cool ...

TODAY
1. The weather (not too hot, not too cold, not raining)
2. The water (except when CC tried to run me over in the coach boat)
3. The environment - as usual, a stress-buster. I lurve the river!
4. The boys behaving themselves, and trying to row proper
5. CC pretending he had a horn on the coach boat
6. Chicken salad for dinner
7. Pinot Gris for dinner
8. Four new masters women (are masters women, mistresses???) - all older than me (I think)
9. Al cleaned up the back yard
10. Sean getting a good report from the RPC "future gold" camp he went to because he has such an OARSOME coach

One down! one to go

Up at some ungodly hour while the boy went to rowing and I stayed home and panicked. Emmy tried to make me laugh trying to kill a toothpick - she picked up the tension. I am guessing it had something to do with walking around, holding study notes and muttering. Still, its over now. I've decided that exams are kind of like childbirth - you no sooner forget the pain of one than you contemplate another. Already looking through the enrolment pack to see what I would be interested in doing next year.
I showed the exam paper to the boy - there was a question about discourse in it and now EVERYTHING is a discourse. Even the programme on TV.
Its Halloween tonight - is today an appropriate day for an exam, or what! I wonder if M's has gone trick or treating? I hope not. Why oh why does our country import the bad stuff from the states?