Some girl I see around the studio during pole came up to me yesterday and asked me if I were going to be at the studio's open night next week. She said she was bringing her friends to the studio and wondered if I could be their show monkey.

Even though I don't know her name, hey I've absolutely no problem with that! It'll be play time!

I think I'm developing a little phobia of pole prac without a safety mat.

Yes, yes, I know it's a definite no-no - at least at my previous studio it was - but my current studio just doesn't have any sort of protective matting lying around. And after my slip on Tues, I'm getting a little jittery about my inverts.

I don't want this to be one horse I can't climb back on. =( There are still so many things I want to get. Like Angel Drop (maybe) - and the many other legs-free inverts.

Sigh.

Got the yogini (and also the mid-pole version) last Friday, plus the advanced Jamilla into extended butterfly mid-pole.

But had a terrible prac this evening. I slipped from a yogini and crash-landed on hard wooden floor. My right knee took the brunt of it. My dad recently cracked his knee-cap having slipped and fallen on it. Lord, the things that shouldn't run in the family ... sigh.

Anyway, I'm growing a lump on that knee (the right one) which feels warm; also, knee feels a little stiff, but almost no terrific bruising. The last time I fell on that knee, it was because I slipped from a goddess. Gah... =/

Yikes, I've been gettin' dirtier and dirtier ...

Advanced Jamilla to butterfly (extended) - I got it!

Had a nice Easter break and now on the two-week mid-trimester break. Oh lordy, I'm so far behind in my work ... sigh.

The right side feels better; managed to get some stuff done at yesterday's practice, but I didn't dare to try the Deville again - not until I feel the ache completely gone.

Told Christine yesterday about what I might do re: Research Essay - editorial work on the A-S and O-N rune poems, plus write-ups on four different aspects. She said to send her the draft of my proposal ASAP so I could formally send it to Geoff for approval. Sigh. My working life was so, so, so much easier.

Should be up and about running errands and doing research in the library today (when it's still sunny, albeit with southerlies), but am not. Bad cold wet weather the rest of the week.

Sigh.

Gah.

Maybe I pulled something (again) from repetitions of the Deville ... or, at least I hope I'd pulled something.

Was told yesterday that it's actually possible to have ribs fractured/broken from this trick - as Jamilla had - if the pole ends up being too high up on the torso. Now I'm a little worried and paranoid.

Will monitor self this weekend. But if I'd broken anything, I'd've felt it by now, right?

Last night's pole achievement: Nailed the Deville!

Sigh.

Shit, what am I doing?

Seriously, what am I doing?

Woke up feeling less than good - slept late, woke up halfway by a nightmare, unable to fall back asleep, woke up by a snuffed nose, unable to fall back asleep, etc. - but damn if I didn't nailed a couple of stuff at pole prac.

One: Knee-hold - all you need is a non-slippery pole, a sense of balance, and knees with dead nerves.

Two: Chinese flag-pole

Three: Hanging side-split (I still don't dare to call it an Ayesha) with my trunk and hips off the pole.

Yay!

Woke up with a dreary headache which, after breakfast, worsened with the swelling of everything in my head.

So I took a pill and went to back to bed ... and I've managed to pissed away a whole day.

Sigh. =|

Thank you free comic strip generators! Thanks to C who hipped me on to them, I'm currently addicted. Mephisto appears to make a perfect character!

Mephisto by thegirlyouneverknew

And to make myself feel a little better about wasting precious translation and reading time on such trivialities, I made one from the Prose Edda.

Choosing A God For A Husband by thegirlyouneverknew

There's just something about being here that makes me feel free to think about making changes - even if superficial - to myself; and I know the possiblity of those changes coming about is all in my hands, whether or not I'm willing to set them in motion.

This just doesn't happen with me in Singapore.

So ... Yet another step closer to the grave. Still, it wasn't a completely horrid day: 2 hours of a somewhat-interesting-and-fun LING seminar followed by 2 hours of pole prac - and I didn't manage to hurt myself too badly, considering the damage inflicted on Sunday.

Strangest of all things pertaining to the annual grave march was a call I received on Wednesday night. I didn't look too carefully at the caller's number, just that it had a Singapore country code (I assumed it was my dad), so I was awfully surprised to hear from Ben-from-secondary-school-with-whom-I'd-not-met-and-spoken-since-1997. Wow, that's some kinda blast from the past! Apparently he'd gotten my cellphone number off Facebook. Had a short chat (a little awkward), and an offer from him to to visit Vietnam where he's currently based.

Awesome!