I've just returned from a week with my parents. It was hectic, to say the least. Still, we managed to see some old friends and made parents happy, so that's something. I'm too exhausted to write more, maybe tomorrow. Just one thing -- I'm now totally addicted to Star Realms. I downloaded it when I first bought the ipad but only started playing while I was away and tried to decompress from too much family and food... Well, now I can't put it down. Halp!

My health has been annoying this week, with several issues flaring up at once. Noting big, but trickier than, say, a cold, in that I can't just wait for it to go away but must actively do something about it. I'm self-medicating on one issue, because I've dealt with it before and recognise the symptoms. If it doesn't go away, I'll have to see a doctor, which is annoying because the whole thing started due to a doctor's intervention. [I know I'm making it sound mysterious--it's not, I'm mostly concerned you might be reading it while eating and want to spare you :D]

the second issue is my shoulder pain -- the specialist thinks it's rotator cuffs, so he had me MRI it, which I did today. It was my first MRI, and as such it was interesting purely from the technology perspective. I didn't expect it to be so noisy -- though I should have, if I spared it a thought. Another thing I didn't expect was that it would make me dizzy, which it did, and quite a lot, though luckily it was gone within minutes. One of the techs told me it was normal for some people, so, lucky me!

I wanted to grill the techs on the details about the blue-space-portal they put me into, but I was the last patient and they looked eager to go home (it was after 10 pm). So I mentioned briefly that I'm going to read up on how this works, and the tech told me it was just magic. So, you have it from a health official: I've been inside a magic vibrations portal today. Yay!

Writing has suffered a bit from the health issues (and some study assignments), BUT I drafted three short chapters (slightly over 7k words). This is good because now I have a chapter in each pov, and that really helps me see their part of the world. I have one character's plot worked out in enough detail but the other two are more nebulous -- and since they are the ones that intertwine the most, I really need to give it some thought.  So I think that's what I'll be doing next (working out on the outline some more) going further with the wordcount. My rewards will have to wait!

If you missed that entry, last week -- wait, it was the week before that, I've lost track! -- I decided to experiment with Colemak keyboard layout. My shoulders were really bothering me, and it was going to be a slower week and I knew I could rely on dictation if I needed to type something fast, so it seemed like a good week to try.

I was wrong.

I ended up giving up even before the end of the week. What I have learned, however, is that it is clearly a way better layout than qwerty, both for my wrists and shoulders (it claims that your fingers move 2.2 times less than with qwerty and I totally believe this) and for my speed. I'm a very slow typist and I could see how Colemak could make me faster, with time.

That that's where I erred. I underestimated how hard it would be to switch. I knew it would be a pain but I thought after a week of intense practice I could get up to tolerable speed, and then continue from there. But I failed to account for two things: first, the amount of practice I needed to do was putting even worse strain on my wrists, leading to more pain. And two, even though I had no assignments due, a lot of my game work consists in Slack exchanges where dictation was useless, and slow typing was really getting in the way.

So, I gave up, at least for now. I may try again when I have nothing going on for a week or two and really can give it a proper effort. It is definitely a better layout.

I'm away for a short trip to Bologna, Italy. The city is beautiful; every corner feels ancient. It’s got the oldest university in Europe, almost a thousand years old. And of course, there are students everywhere, enjoying the last of summer weather. I’ll post some pictures when I get back. I also got a new pen, a gorgeous Montegrappa! And had dinner in a Michelin restaurant... Enjoying the break— I needed it.

Not that it's that newsworthy, but I wanted one ever since I decided I didn't really need one and gave my old iPad 2 to my mum. She's been loving it so I could never ask for it back, and after all, I didn't really need it. I finally decided that needing wasn't everything and wanting counted as well. And since I'm now a student and get the education pricing... well, I couldn't pass the opportunity, could I?

And so my brand new iPad Pro (11 inch) arrived today, and it's shiny! I got the keyboard folio, and plan to install Scrivener so I can do writing on the go. In the meantime, any games recommendations? :D

Went fencing for the first time since forever, thanks to yhlee's encouragement. Well, the breeches still fit but only barely... I've put on ten pounds over the last year--which of course means I should do *more* fencing but...

Anyway, in my excitement, I got there an hour too early, which is when the kid's class is on. It was really busy, with some forty kids practicing in three groups. I amused myself by warming up against a stack of mattresses -- and was out of breath within ten minutes. Grrrr..... A few others eventually showed up, but not many, which is likely due to the fact that the head coach sent out a reminder of the new season only last night (we use a school building so are tied to the school opening days). The head coach was an Olympic foilist, but unfortunately, time planning is not his strongest side.

I booked a private lesson with Kate, the épée coach. It was only 15 or 20 minutes, but that was probably better as a refresher. I was bad. Mostly my legs hurt from staying low. And I'm back to the rookie mistake of stepping before extending, and then not straightening my arm fully. :( Funny enough, if I practice dry, i.e., without an opponent, I do much better. The moment somebody stands in front of me, all I think of is scoring a hit.

I left after the lesson. I was exhausted, and the only other épéeists were young, tall, and much more advanced. Still, this was enough for the first time in such a long while. Seriously, if I want to continue, I've got to put in some practice. I need to strengthen my legs and work on the basics of my technique. But I find practicing footwork so boring... I love fencing, though, and it seems the only way...

Well, I've paid my autumn dues. I guess I'm committed? :D

My husband caught this amazing photo of Earl Grey in the evening light... Had to share!

I went fencing last night, first time in almost four months.

The good news is, I managed to button up my breeches (that was a real question after four months of hardly any movement). 

The bad news is... Well, almost everything else. I walked straight into the club tournament. I still remembered which way to point, but my stamina was abysmal. I managed to do three bouts, of which one lasted maybe 30 sec... I did actually score a couple of points, but that was more of a lucky chance than any skill. 

But, I got reminded why I love it. In a way, it made the lapse in form and skill even more irritating, because I'm a stupidly ambitions and would like not to suck so totally. I keep reminding myself that I'm doing it for fun and can't expect to compete with boys half may age and ten times my level of fitness. 

Other than that, it was great... I do need to keep at it. It's such a fun sport!

(And yes, it's definitely going to feature in my next novel. Don't know the plot yet, but fencing will be involved!)

Well, that went much faster and smoother than I feared.

I'm happy to announce I'm now represented by Lisa Rodgers at JABberwocky. Really excited about this. :D