Target Panic. Those nasty evil words. Had never thought to have a real dose of it, but this last month I think we are definitely in that zone. So break out the BT, bust down to blank bale and batten down the hatches and Gosh Darn it (I only know one guy who really says gosh and golly... it still makes me smile)!
Folk might have noticed a little peace and quiet of late. I've been light on shooting and busy with other projects, but up until a week or two ago had been happy with what little shooting I was doing. Then after 3 or more days shooting in super gusty evil nasty winds... I find I'm not trusting my trigger so much. I'm finding I lack the patience to let it go off in good time. And an insidious feeling it is too. As bad as the flinch that starts before you shoot when you've hit your arm one too many times... not too different to trying to give yourself a shot of insulin when the last one hit a nerve. No matter how awesome and gutsy you think you are...some things are just beyond self control and no amount of determination can still the flinch.
Contributing to this mess was a week in hospital as an out patient in the DAFNE program. This means I spend all day there, but get to go home at night. This is a program for type 1 diabetics. Your insulin, food, exercise and sickness regimes are all overhauled with a view to better blood sugar control. I met lots of other diabetics and got to see how other people cope or don't cope with our disease and I got to see that my world really just isn't so bad. Not that I ever thought it really was...but I had never realised how much this disease devastates some people.
So I guess I figured everyone approached the world with a gung-ho, take the bull by the horns attitude and I don't think I ever really thought that that attitude makes up for a multitude of sins..in fact I'm sure it gets me into a lot of trouble... But I met a person so devastated by illness that their lives had been on hold and they had never been happy in over a decade. Not just by any illness. But by an illness we share. I met people who in decades of diabetes have never been as well on their good days as I have been in the worst of my 5 yrs. And in every case the difference was distinct in the approach. It isn't like you can produce less than zero insulin so it isn't a matter of anyone being more sick, but rather having the tools and or the attitude to push back. And seeing people obtain the tools to gain control of their lives and smile for the first time in years was as heart warming as it was educational. I am blessed in the education, teaspoon of cement and friends and family that have made life with my dinky pancreas considerably less awful than it could have been. And if I knew the formula to giving people their own in built, come out fighting attitude with a hefty dose of education, I would give it. It seems to have saved me considerable trauma.
I have the strength and know how to keep George the Evil Pancreas in his place, so no stupid target panic is going to get me down! Enter patience and time and perseverance...and maybe a lot of recurve :) And gradually the jumpiness is getting better. I figure never let these things settle. So all I have worked on the last few weeks is a calm, strong shot. I'm told target panic is never really gone... but neither is diabetes so they can both bite me.
Target Panic You Evil Beast!
Friday, November 29, 2013
Friday, September 6, 2013
Spring cleaning time again
So having a lot of self esteem and attitude convos lately...
So the advice I give to me... and to anyone who cares to listen in no particular order:
So the advice I give to me... and to anyone who cares to listen in no particular order:
Like yourself
If you don't like yourself why on Earth are you moping about someone else not liking you? They're taking your own advice and assuming if you don't like you, you're probably a jerk. And while we're on the subject - we're all jerks. No such thing as a perfectly nice, never said a bad word about anyone person...and if you've ever met one you know just how creepy they are. Budding serial killers the lot of them. If you really genuinely like everyone, there's something wrong with your wiring. Lots of people are worse than jerks. so getting back to the point, people take cues from other people. If you hate yourself, people will start agreeing with you. Better to be nice to yourself and get a head start on things. And lets face it, if no one else is nice to you someone has to be. May as well start with you.
Embrace your inner jerk.
Had a laugh when the cat fell off the bed or when that lady walked into the door? Can't bring yourself to like someone even though they seem nice enough? Don't want to do the nice thing today because you just don't want to? These are the hall marks of your inner jerk. We all have one and people who don't admit it are usually the worst kind of jerks (see comment on serial killers). So you really need to make peace with your inner jerk. It's part of who you are and often provides a different perspective to balance an overly fluffy world view. And over flowing self flagellation about the occasional jerk behaviour can lead to negative thinking and erosion of self worth.
Embrace your inner jerk.
Had a laugh when the cat fell off the bed or when that lady walked into the door? Can't bring yourself to like someone even though they seem nice enough? Don't want to do the nice thing today because you just don't want to? These are the hall marks of your inner jerk. We all have one and people who don't admit it are usually the worst kind of jerks (see comment on serial killers). So you really need to make peace with your inner jerk. It's part of who you are and often provides a different perspective to balance an overly fluffy world view. And over flowing self flagellation about the occasional jerk behaviour can lead to negative thinking and erosion of self worth.
Fake it till you make it.
I grew up in the teenage social disaster that says everyone will put you down so may as well get there first. Whose stupid philosophy that was I don't know, but lets face it teenagers aren't collectively bright. I'm pretty sure puberty kills brain cells for a few years and walking out of the emo whatevers of the teen years you really need to grow out of the follow the herd and hate yourself behaviour. Frankly it's boring and not terribly useful to you or anyone else. So I decided one day that I would not be that person. I don't like people like that so why should anyone like me if I'm like that. It isn't an overnight success. You don't wake up one day and think you are the best thing since chocolate crackles. You fake it, you lie through your teeth, to yourself and everyone and that includes the mirror. And one day you just don't think you're quite as bad as the squidgey stuff that smells bad on the bottom of your shoe.
Everyone is good at something
And you should not just learn what that is but you should learn to say so. Verbalisation is important in convincing the world and yourself that you are awesome. It's an interesting test with teenage girls - 'tell me you are gorgeous'. Most will go red with embarrassment and refuse to make eye contact. They'll stare at their feet, shrug their shoulders and mumble a negative. very rarely do you meet the teenage girl who can make eye contact and say with a smile 'I am gorgeous'. and I can guarantee you the one who can do it, even if they don't believe it, will be 10 times easier to coach or teach than the one who hunches over, crosses her arms and stares at her belly button lint rather than say 3 little words even in jest.
Pat yourself on the back
When was the last time you said yay me? Big or small. Doesn't have to be the discovery of the answer to fossil fuels or reaching the top of Everest. Just I did that and isn't it great! I shot that arrow with perfect technique. I made an awesome dinner. I look pretty in that picture. I didn't drop the f bomb in front of my nephew. I'm a great sister. The list is and should be endless of things you can congratulate yourself on even if it's just something small...assuming you got out of bed today. And if you didn't, well 'I am a most excellent sleeper.'
It isn't all about you.
Most people are actually thinking about themselves and how other people think of them rather than spending all that time thinking about you. When you are the last person on the line to shoot and everyone else is waiting, it is easy to think they are all watching you and get nervous. But a little walk through my own head when someone else is the last one on the line and I realise I'm wondering why they made Ivana (5'4") and Albina (6'1") share a spotting scope? Can't be for fairness or practicality. So I'm going with self amusement. I'm checking my blood sugar. I'm rehydrating. I'm wondering if there's enough time to take a pee break and if I can be bothered going even though I know now I had that thought I'm going to be thinking about it all through the next end...damn i shouldn't have had that drink of water. I'm thinking my sock is getting eaten by my shoe. And maybe just maybe I'm sparing a thought for the poor schmuck who's running down the clock and the wind is picking up. So assuming everyone else has that much rubbish in their heads at any one time... it is safe to assume they aren't sparing much brain power on you and what ever it is that you find embarrassing, mortifying or depressing about yourself... they probably didn't notice.
Own it.
And if 100 people actually did witness your mortification then own it. Embrace it and pay it. I was walking back to my car last week on an especially windy day and my very pretty dress blew straight up. My hands were full of coffees for my next appointment and there wasn't a whole lot to be done for dignity or modesty and as pretty as my knickers were I hadn't chosen them with a view to an audience. So I could shrivel up and die of mortification or I could own it. I had a good laugh, assumed the old man walking to the cardiology clinic was in safe hands if he got a little too much excitement and proceeded to share my laugh with various people throughout my day. Sharing a little mortification is often a good salve for the soul. Such things happen to everyone and either they will commiserate or they will get a laugh too and you made someone else's day a little brighter.
The same goes for screwing up. You screwed up six ways to Sunday. Own it. Admit it. Apologise. Fix it. And then forgive yourself. Anyone who can't forgive you can go and get their own self help advice. Whatever it is, build a bridge and get over it.
Can't is the same as won't.
Let's assume we aren't talking about achieving the impossible, instead a task set before you that theoretically is possible. The first word of failure is won't. The second word of failure is can't. Try using different words in your own head. Like 'I can' or 'no harm in having a go'. If you say 'can't' or 'won't' then you have already failed. No point wasting your time and everyone else's if you are already making excuses for why you have failed when you haven't even tried yet. Winners try things. Can't win the race you didn't enter.
And you know that putz that says 'not to be offensive, but'... well you all know that nothing good comes from people starting with 'but'. So if you really want to take a step in the right direction, you need to practice not saying but or any equivalents. Like not saying 'um' in a public speech. Saying 'ah' is the same thing and you know you are cheating.
Procrastination
How often do you put something off? I will clean my room. I will do my homework. I will do my taxes. I will change my attitude. I will be more positive. All great thoughts. All totally pointless if you don't actually follow through. Like the race you didn't enter, the room you didn't clean and the attitude you didn't change leave you in the same state of unchanged. In order to change something you have to not just decide you want to, you actually have to do it. And the best place to start is with a goal. Small goals are fine. But goal you must have. I've heard a few sayings along the lines of if you don't know where you are going it doesn't matter how you get there. I think more importantly if you don't know where you are going it doesn't matter if you don't get there. Where is the incentive to go in the first place? And if you know where you are going, but don't plan how to get there... that's called lost people. L O S T. For all those people who don't need directions or maps and wind up in weird places - this one is for you. If you decide to be a positive person and the next words out of your mouth start with but or can't or won't...you might need to rethink your strategy. Your room doesn't clean itself and neither does your mind.
Avoid the negative Nancy
That person who never says a positive thing. No encouragement passes their lips. They never make a joke that isn't putting someone down. They always give voice to the hole in your plan and always say I told you so if the plan goes awry and never offer a hand up when you fall. The glass is half empty and they're the person who drank the other half. Remind me why exactly you spend time with this person? And if this person is you, re read this blog post from the start.
And lastly, be nice. Be nice to yourself and be nice to other people and other people and yourself will be nice back. Everyone could use someone nice in their life, be that person for someone else and maybe someone will be that person for you. Better yet, hedge your bets and be nice to a few people.
Own it.
And if 100 people actually did witness your mortification then own it. Embrace it and pay it. I was walking back to my car last week on an especially windy day and my very pretty dress blew straight up. My hands were full of coffees for my next appointment and there wasn't a whole lot to be done for dignity or modesty and as pretty as my knickers were I hadn't chosen them with a view to an audience. So I could shrivel up and die of mortification or I could own it. I had a good laugh, assumed the old man walking to the cardiology clinic was in safe hands if he got a little too much excitement and proceeded to share my laugh with various people throughout my day. Sharing a little mortification is often a good salve for the soul. Such things happen to everyone and either they will commiserate or they will get a laugh too and you made someone else's day a little brighter.
The same goes for screwing up. You screwed up six ways to Sunday. Own it. Admit it. Apologise. Fix it. And then forgive yourself. Anyone who can't forgive you can go and get their own self help advice. Whatever it is, build a bridge and get over it.
Can't is the same as won't.
Let's assume we aren't talking about achieving the impossible, instead a task set before you that theoretically is possible. The first word of failure is won't. The second word of failure is can't. Try using different words in your own head. Like 'I can' or 'no harm in having a go'. If you say 'can't' or 'won't' then you have already failed. No point wasting your time and everyone else's if you are already making excuses for why you have failed when you haven't even tried yet. Winners try things. Can't win the race you didn't enter.
And you know that putz that says 'not to be offensive, but'... well you all know that nothing good comes from people starting with 'but'. So if you really want to take a step in the right direction, you need to practice not saying but or any equivalents. Like not saying 'um' in a public speech. Saying 'ah' is the same thing and you know you are cheating.
Procrastination
How often do you put something off? I will clean my room. I will do my homework. I will do my taxes. I will change my attitude. I will be more positive. All great thoughts. All totally pointless if you don't actually follow through. Like the race you didn't enter, the room you didn't clean and the attitude you didn't change leave you in the same state of unchanged. In order to change something you have to not just decide you want to, you actually have to do it. And the best place to start is with a goal. Small goals are fine. But goal you must have. I've heard a few sayings along the lines of if you don't know where you are going it doesn't matter how you get there. I think more importantly if you don't know where you are going it doesn't matter if you don't get there. Where is the incentive to go in the first place? And if you know where you are going, but don't plan how to get there... that's called lost people. L O S T. For all those people who don't need directions or maps and wind up in weird places - this one is for you. If you decide to be a positive person and the next words out of your mouth start with but or can't or won't...you might need to rethink your strategy. Your room doesn't clean itself and neither does your mind.
Avoid the negative Nancy
That person who never says a positive thing. No encouragement passes their lips. They never make a joke that isn't putting someone down. They always give voice to the hole in your plan and always say I told you so if the plan goes awry and never offer a hand up when you fall. The glass is half empty and they're the person who drank the other half. Remind me why exactly you spend time with this person? And if this person is you, re read this blog post from the start.
And lastly, be nice. Be nice to yourself and be nice to other people and other people and yourself will be nice back. Everyone could use someone nice in their life, be that person for someone else and maybe someone will be that person for you. Better yet, hedge your bets and be nice to a few people.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
You don't say...
So on the roller coaster that is my life there was no time to write and so much to say and then you are in that moment between heart beats and all is silent and not a single syllable comes to mind. So I'll apply my usual tactic and just go BLAH on the page and cross fingers something intelligent can be found in the fluff that comes from my little brain :)
Got sent a link from a friend today, while he was shamelessly asking for a plug for his new athlete page http://t.co/qXVN8fRmji (that I'm shamelessly plugging for him now and mine while I'm at it http://www.facebook.com/pages/Erika-Anear/539989942706093...
and Martin's http://www.facebook.com/pages/Martin-Damsbo/154436418077850?fref=ts
and Ivana's http://www.facebook.com/ivanabuden10?fref=ts).... but he sent another link I mean to say...
The other was a talk by a doctor (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMhLBPPtlrY) who admitted to feeling contempt for a diabetic patient and then developed insulin resistance himself. It is a good speech and well delivered and offers a perspective that we could all afford to see. While I'm not sure I agree whole heartedly with the science and philosophies discussed, I think everyone should know what it is like to have a chronic disease and have not just your friends and family and colleagues think you did something to deserve it, but your doctor too. I doubt there is a diabetic (type I or II) out there that hasn't heard 'did you eat too much sugar?' or 'what did you do?' or 'if you just ate right', at some point in their lives. My favourite lately has been 'surely you have gotten the hang of it by now' from perfectly healthy individuals who have seen a doctor less times in their life than I have in a week and feel somehow superior because in the advent of developing a life long illness they will over come the disease that baffles scientists and doctors and millions of patients alike, in an instant, and never make such silly mistakes. And you smile and make some inane and polite response and hope the homicidal eyeball twitch isn't giving away what you really want to say.... something like 'I'm so glad you felt the need to offer your scientifically make believe advice because it makes my life of illness and needles so much more bearable and I really appreciate the helpful and compassionate way you accuse me of hypochondria when my body is failing me.'... something like that, but maybe with a lot more bad words.
Of course we could all always do better. But sometimes you are sick because you are sick, and sometimes life handed you lemons and sometimes life handed you lemons and then stepped on you like a bug and sometimes maybe, just maybe you could have avoided it...but it's a particularly bumptious acquaintance that fails to realise this information after the fact is going to make them about as popular as a fart in a space suit. Nobody likes the know it all with hind sight.
Not to mention the purse lipped suggestion that maybe insulin should be injected in the toilet instead of the dining room...because that's the cleanest place to be giving yourself a needle and you have so much in common with back alley junkies in train station bathrooms. Yes I did hear this just the other day from a very well meaning woman. And I didn't step on her toe because ignorance is a disease and while squishing her toes will make me feel a smidgeon better, it won't cure her. I'm quite sure the restraint made my homicidal eye twitch worse. You know the look cats get when you stick silly hats on them...
I think I put off writing that for a while because I was feeling a bit 'stab people with forks' about some things and I'm working hard on my positive attitude. But I think too it actually clears it out of the system if you just say it out loud and I wonder if ignorance is allowed to perpetuate because no one ever says anything to change it. I make no secret of my disease because for some reason it makes so many people uncomfortable and quite frankly if I can live with it the rest of the world can survive knowing I live with it. I once heard a particularly heinous cow say 'we don't talk about people's conditions' and with that one sentence made someone else's disease a taboo topic that people should be embarrassed and ashamed about. I wanted to stomp on her toe too.
But like I was saying - positive attitude. Let's talk about archery instead :) Turkey was a good trip.
OMG I totally forgot about the complete fuzznut I got stuck next to flying from Sydney to Abu Dhabi. Pause the positives! So the gentleman, and I use the term in it's loosest sense, did that oafish 'I need to prove I'm a man' thing and sat so sprawled out that he's taking up half of my seat and half of the lady's on the other side of him. And he was vertically challenged so not like he needed much room. And then proceeds to touch my leg through 10 hours of a 15 hour flight. I tried smiling politely and moving my leg, I tried pushing his hand away, I tried telling him not to touch me, and in the end I tried yelling loudly enough for the pilot to hear 'stop f***ing touch me!' And then got an 'I wasn't doing anything' look. Just a bit of word from the wise to the desperate and dateless...touching strange women on airplanes is not historically the best way to acquire companionship. I know such graceless rejection must be truly shocking, but if that is the best action you're getting I suggest you go back to basics...try a new pick up line and maybe work on your personal hygiene. I hear they do wonders with soap, deodorant and toothpaste these days.
So positives!! Turkey was a good trip :) There's cake, kittens, archery, photosynthesising and shooting all in walking distance of the hotel. What's not to like :)
I was disappointed in my ranking round and I'll admit to having a behind the scenes cry about it. I've been shooting so well and so much stronger and I just couldn't do it when it counted. And I struggled with my blood sugar all day which was the real heart breaker. Just feeling like I'm never going to get it right when I need to and wondering if it is really holding me back or if I'm making excuses to fail as so many suggest, when really I should be celebrating the improvements that got me there in the first place.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTK-WeJX9_A
Matchplay against Colombia's (once Slovenia's) Maja Marcen was, as in Shanghai, a strength and a disappointment. I shot my best arrows and let myself down with one arrow. Came down to a one arrow shoot off in the end and Maja shot a 10 to my 9, but the disappointing arrow was a 6 earlier in the match. I struggled with that arrow and thought I was out of time so shot when I really should have let down and started again. Every archer on the planet has shot one of those so I can forgive myself for poor judgement under matchplay nerves when I recall it is only the second match I have shot in a year. Australia needs matchplay practice, and despite the elite archers saying so since matchplay became the international standard, even the National Championships does not include matchplay.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFcK2vbfmFY
And that was me once more on holidays and training and playing tourist.
We saw a clash of the titans again with Denmark versus USA for the gold medal match in teams with Denmark finally taking gold. And Patrick Laursen from Denmark taking down Georg Dollinger from Austria in the gold medal individual match. Paddy wowed the crowds the day before putting down a perfect round against crowd (and my) favourite Martin Damsbo in the semi finals.
And perhaps a more notable match because of their history was Martin shooting the bronze medal match against Braden Gellenthien. Like the Danish/USA teams matches, this match seems to occur regularly. Braden decided to up the stakes by discovering 14 strands on his cable where broken under the roller guard less than an hour out from their match and lacking a back up bow on hand he borrowed Martin's for the event. Martin took the match with some solid shooting and the guys put in a good show of friendship and sportsmanship for the crowd.
But a bigger smile for Sara Lopez as the face of that first big win taking a gold medal for Colombia with the 3rd leg of World Cup and World Games coming to her home country next. It's quite something to see pure enjoyment on the face of the new comer to the world stage. A very cool reminder of why we do what we do :)
Returning home was smooth sailing until I reached home and discovered my bow and clothes hadn't even made it onto the first plane. And then began the merry go round of phone calls trying to find out where my bag was. Which might have gone smoother if the first 4 people I spoke to hadn't been looking for a duffle bag. At the end of every call I left a description of my bow case and at the beginning of every call I spent some time explaining that it wasn't a duffle bag. Including sending them a photo of the bag. They finally decided it was a surfboard (because archery gear looks so similar) when they said 'well no wonder we couldn't find it if it wasn't a duffle bag!' and then wasted another few days looking for a surfboard bag. You don't need childhood traumas when you have such wonderful lost baggage staff :P
Thankfully my bow case arrived in tact and in time for The National Archery Series. This growing initiative was started by Urban Archery with a mind to addressing our lack of matchplay in Australia. And just a few weeks post Turkey I got to shoot some matches and put in a solid performance ranking 6th and finishing 4th. I even managed to shoot a 60. It was a great day to shoot, great day with friends and just a nice boost to put in some respectable arrows for a full day of shooting. I cannot claim to have shot better outside of practice in over a year.
So I'm patting myself on the back and saying 'oh look I can do it' :)
Got sent a link from a friend today, while he was shamelessly asking for a plug for his new athlete page http://t.co/qXVN8fRmji (that I'm shamelessly plugging for him now and mine while I'm at it http://www.facebook.com/pages/Erika-Anear/539989942706093...
and Martin's http://www.facebook.com/pages/Martin-Damsbo/154436418077850?fref=ts
and Ivana's http://www.facebook.com/ivanabuden10?fref=ts).... but he sent another link I mean to say...
The other was a talk by a doctor (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMhLBPPtlrY) who admitted to feeling contempt for a diabetic patient and then developed insulin resistance himself. It is a good speech and well delivered and offers a perspective that we could all afford to see. While I'm not sure I agree whole heartedly with the science and philosophies discussed, I think everyone should know what it is like to have a chronic disease and have not just your friends and family and colleagues think you did something to deserve it, but your doctor too. I doubt there is a diabetic (type I or II) out there that hasn't heard 'did you eat too much sugar?' or 'what did you do?' or 'if you just ate right', at some point in their lives. My favourite lately has been 'surely you have gotten the hang of it by now' from perfectly healthy individuals who have seen a doctor less times in their life than I have in a week and feel somehow superior because in the advent of developing a life long illness they will over come the disease that baffles scientists and doctors and millions of patients alike, in an instant, and never make such silly mistakes. And you smile and make some inane and polite response and hope the homicidal eyeball twitch isn't giving away what you really want to say.... something like 'I'm so glad you felt the need to offer your scientifically make believe advice because it makes my life of illness and needles so much more bearable and I really appreciate the helpful and compassionate way you accuse me of hypochondria when my body is failing me.'... something like that, but maybe with a lot more bad words.
Of course we could all always do better. But sometimes you are sick because you are sick, and sometimes life handed you lemons and sometimes life handed you lemons and then stepped on you like a bug and sometimes maybe, just maybe you could have avoided it...but it's a particularly bumptious acquaintance that fails to realise this information after the fact is going to make them about as popular as a fart in a space suit. Nobody likes the know it all with hind sight.
Not to mention the purse lipped suggestion that maybe insulin should be injected in the toilet instead of the dining room...because that's the cleanest place to be giving yourself a needle and you have so much in common with back alley junkies in train station bathrooms. Yes I did hear this just the other day from a very well meaning woman. And I didn't step on her toe because ignorance is a disease and while squishing her toes will make me feel a smidgeon better, it won't cure her. I'm quite sure the restraint made my homicidal eye twitch worse. You know the look cats get when you stick silly hats on them...
I think I put off writing that for a while because I was feeling a bit 'stab people with forks' about some things and I'm working hard on my positive attitude. But I think too it actually clears it out of the system if you just say it out loud and I wonder if ignorance is allowed to perpetuate because no one ever says anything to change it. I make no secret of my disease because for some reason it makes so many people uncomfortable and quite frankly if I can live with it the rest of the world can survive knowing I live with it. I once heard a particularly heinous cow say 'we don't talk about people's conditions' and with that one sentence made someone else's disease a taboo topic that people should be embarrassed and ashamed about. I wanted to stomp on her toe too.
But like I was saying - positive attitude. Let's talk about archery instead :) Turkey was a good trip.
OMG I totally forgot about the complete fuzznut I got stuck next to flying from Sydney to Abu Dhabi. Pause the positives! So the gentleman, and I use the term in it's loosest sense, did that oafish 'I need to prove I'm a man' thing and sat so sprawled out that he's taking up half of my seat and half of the lady's on the other side of him. And he was vertically challenged so not like he needed much room. And then proceeds to touch my leg through 10 hours of a 15 hour flight. I tried smiling politely and moving my leg, I tried pushing his hand away, I tried telling him not to touch me, and in the end I tried yelling loudly enough for the pilot to hear 'stop f***ing touch me!' And then got an 'I wasn't doing anything' look. Just a bit of word from the wise to the desperate and dateless...touching strange women on airplanes is not historically the best way to acquire companionship. I know such graceless rejection must be truly shocking, but if that is the best action you're getting I suggest you go back to basics...try a new pick up line and maybe work on your personal hygiene. I hear they do wonders with soap, deodorant and toothpaste these days.
So positives!! Turkey was a good trip :) There's cake, kittens, archery, photosynthesising and shooting all in walking distance of the hotel. What's not to like :)
I was disappointed in my ranking round and I'll admit to having a behind the scenes cry about it. I've been shooting so well and so much stronger and I just couldn't do it when it counted. And I struggled with my blood sugar all day which was the real heart breaker. Just feeling like I'm never going to get it right when I need to and wondering if it is really holding me back or if I'm making excuses to fail as so many suggest, when really I should be celebrating the improvements that got me there in the first place.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTK-WeJX9_A
Matchplay against Colombia's (once Slovenia's) Maja Marcen was, as in Shanghai, a strength and a disappointment. I shot my best arrows and let myself down with one arrow. Came down to a one arrow shoot off in the end and Maja shot a 10 to my 9, but the disappointing arrow was a 6 earlier in the match. I struggled with that arrow and thought I was out of time so shot when I really should have let down and started again. Every archer on the planet has shot one of those so I can forgive myself for poor judgement under matchplay nerves when I recall it is only the second match I have shot in a year. Australia needs matchplay practice, and despite the elite archers saying so since matchplay became the international standard, even the National Championships does not include matchplay.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFcK2vbfmFY
And that was me once more on holidays and training and playing tourist.
We saw a clash of the titans again with Denmark versus USA for the gold medal match in teams with Denmark finally taking gold. And Patrick Laursen from Denmark taking down Georg Dollinger from Austria in the gold medal individual match. Paddy wowed the crowds the day before putting down a perfect round against crowd (and my) favourite Martin Damsbo in the semi finals.
And perhaps a more notable match because of their history was Martin shooting the bronze medal match against Braden Gellenthien. Like the Danish/USA teams matches, this match seems to occur regularly. Braden decided to up the stakes by discovering 14 strands on his cable where broken under the roller guard less than an hour out from their match and lacking a back up bow on hand he borrowed Martin's for the event. Martin took the match with some solid shooting and the guys put in a good show of friendship and sportsmanship for the crowd.
But a bigger smile for Sara Lopez as the face of that first big win taking a gold medal for Colombia with the 3rd leg of World Cup and World Games coming to her home country next. It's quite something to see pure enjoyment on the face of the new comer to the world stage. A very cool reminder of why we do what we do :)
Returning home was smooth sailing until I reached home and discovered my bow and clothes hadn't even made it onto the first plane. And then began the merry go round of phone calls trying to find out where my bag was. Which might have gone smoother if the first 4 people I spoke to hadn't been looking for a duffle bag. At the end of every call I left a description of my bow case and at the beginning of every call I spent some time explaining that it wasn't a duffle bag. Including sending them a photo of the bag. They finally decided it was a surfboard (because archery gear looks so similar) when they said 'well no wonder we couldn't find it if it wasn't a duffle bag!' and then wasted another few days looking for a surfboard bag. You don't need childhood traumas when you have such wonderful lost baggage staff :P
Thankfully my bow case arrived in tact and in time for The National Archery Series. This growing initiative was started by Urban Archery with a mind to addressing our lack of matchplay in Australia. And just a few weeks post Turkey I got to shoot some matches and put in a solid performance ranking 6th and finishing 4th. I even managed to shoot a 60. It was a great day to shoot, great day with friends and just a nice boost to put in some respectable arrows for a full day of shooting. I cannot claim to have shot better outside of practice in over a year.
So I'm patting myself on the back and saying 'oh look I can do it' :)
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Maybe shoot me instead...
So still walking the line of anything that can go wrong will go wrong. I spent a week in Launceston for work staying in the biggest rathole I've ever seen - Hotel Launceston. Not only does it look like the kind of rat hole where junkies die in the corridors and dodgy 3rd rate hit men get what's coming in SVU, but it operates like one too. Keeping in mind this was not my choice of hotel, but where I ended up when my booking elsewhere got lost in the never never and I had to make last minute arrangements.
It might seem petty, but I would like to point out to the hotel proprietors that toast and juice does not a European Breakfast make. The only power points to plug in the 'European' toaster were nice and close to the ancient smoke detector so my breakfast was announced loudly with a not so charming serenade that only stopped with the waving of towels and opening of doors somewhat reminiscent of days long ago living in rathole rentals where the smoke alarms only work when the toaster is in use but make nary a whisper when black billowing smoke fills the apartment.
Post breakfast remains sat on their trays in the dark dodgy corridors for two days providing ample leavings for the rats that I'm sure were not starving with no evidence of cleaning staff to be found until my last day when I was well past caring.
But the following week my world looked up and my hon (Martin Damsbo) came to Australia for some pre world cup practice. Our friend Sherry Gale (Australian 2013 Silver Medalist) also came down for a catch up. The night they rocked in we had 96km winds and rain and we all speculated on what one does with oneself in Launceston when the archery weather is not just crappy but revolting. But true to Launnie form we woke to blue skies and not a breath of wind for the next week. Martin shot a new Danish record (710@50m) and the less said about my shooting the better, but I learned a lot and got some much needed practice in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSNu7XlWLH4
We flew into Shanghai a day earlier than the rest and had the practice field to ourselves for a few hours before we were swimming in Koreans... gosh there were a lot of them. My ranking round was a horror and possibly the worst I have shot in competition. Martin shot a repeat of his Danish record (smarty pants :P) and the Danish and Australian teams accounted for themselves respectably. I shot great in the matchplay and would have taken the first match if I hadn't left my brain at home and shot a 9 on the wrong target.
Martin sailed through his matches with ease including defeating Reo Wilde in the semi finals for a spot in the Gold Medal match and perhaps the most notable match of the day was Aussie Taylor Worth vs Brady Ellison with Taylor taking his 4th win in a row against the USA favourite. Much as I think Brady is a complete lovely, it's a bit awesome watching Taylor take down this titan of archery fame, match after match. Everyone loves an underdog.
And while sensible people in the world think being on holidays rocks... in the archery world it means you shot crap and have joined the spectators for the rest of the comp. So I spent a week kicking myself, wishing I was competing in the nasty polluted rain with the rest, training every chance I got and playing support crew to my man and anyone else who needed a gofer... and maybe getting in a shopping trip or two - cheerfully getting cheated by vendors left and right but walking away thinking I had a bargain which signifies that very best sort of deal where everyone wins or at least thinks they did... and then realising you just spent an hour bargaining over $2 and feeling a little bad that you didn't pay more.
At the finals the Aussie men placed 4th in the bronze medal match and it was grand to see green and gold on the line. Perhaps a good sign for the coming world target :)
and much pride watching Martin take Silver for Denmark against Braden Gellenthien in the Gold medal match.
Now home again with a new resolve and 3 weeks before World Cup 2 in Turkey. Am I prepared for this years cup season? Probably not. But it has been a long time since I was good enough to qualify and you need to get your feet wet again at some point.
There's an awful lot of losing that goes into winning and I figure that sooner or later I will have done my share :)
It might seem petty, but I would like to point out to the hotel proprietors that toast and juice does not a European Breakfast make. The only power points to plug in the 'European' toaster were nice and close to the ancient smoke detector so my breakfast was announced loudly with a not so charming serenade that only stopped with the waving of towels and opening of doors somewhat reminiscent of days long ago living in rathole rentals where the smoke alarms only work when the toaster is in use but make nary a whisper when black billowing smoke fills the apartment.
Post breakfast remains sat on their trays in the dark dodgy corridors for two days providing ample leavings for the rats that I'm sure were not starving with no evidence of cleaning staff to be found until my last day when I was well past caring.
But the following week my world looked up and my hon (Martin Damsbo) came to Australia for some pre world cup practice. Our friend Sherry Gale (Australian 2013 Silver Medalist) also came down for a catch up. The night they rocked in we had 96km winds and rain and we all speculated on what one does with oneself in Launceston when the archery weather is not just crappy but revolting. But true to Launnie form we woke to blue skies and not a breath of wind for the next week. Martin shot a new Danish record (710@50m) and the less said about my shooting the better, but I learned a lot and got some much needed practice in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSNu7XlWLH4
We flew into Shanghai a day earlier than the rest and had the practice field to ourselves for a few hours before we were swimming in Koreans... gosh there were a lot of them. My ranking round was a horror and possibly the worst I have shot in competition. Martin shot a repeat of his Danish record (smarty pants :P) and the Danish and Australian teams accounted for themselves respectably. I shot great in the matchplay and would have taken the first match if I hadn't left my brain at home and shot a 9 on the wrong target.
 |
| Photo taken from www.archery.org |
 |
| Taylor Worth |
At the finals the Aussie men placed 4th in the bronze medal match and it was grand to see green and gold on the line. Perhaps a good sign for the coming world target :)
and much pride watching Martin take Silver for Denmark against Braden Gellenthien in the Gold medal match.
Now home again with a new resolve and 3 weeks before World Cup 2 in Turkey. Am I prepared for this years cup season? Probably not. But it has been a long time since I was good enough to qualify and you need to get your feet wet again at some point.
There's an awful lot of losing that goes into winning and I figure that sooner or later I will have done my share :)
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Someone should shoot that prick Murphy and his law...
I'm somewhat frazzled of late...So my hon says to me 'write a list of everything that stresses you, so we can work them out one by one'...so I'm writing you all an epic :D
Maybe it's the endless run of miserable luck...Nationals was my worst ever. My stomach was killing me for two days (suspect water supply), my blood sugar was all over the show like a mad woman's breakfast and I just couldn't hit the proverbial barn side, standing inside with the doors shut. I was called in to hospital to have my eyes re-checked after my diabetic retinopathy screen wasn't good so spent the week stressing that diabetes is making me go blind and I've only had it 4yrs. They nicely reassured me that my diabetes was fine, it was the suspected melanoma on my right retina that was worrying them... and it took 4 specialists to decide it's just a freckle and not cancer and phrases like 'I'm pretty sure it's just a freckle' to strengthen my faith in medical expertise... and of course I barely have a freckle to my name so when I finally get one it can't be somewhere normal like on my nose or a cute one on my butt cheek... no no... it has to be on my retina...Of course...why didn't I think of that?
I got bitten by six jack jumpers (read freaking big bitey ants) which stings something like being stabbed 80 times with an ice cold insulin needle at practice then spent a night debating whether I needed an ambulance when my lips went numb and my limbs went weak - a sure sign of extremely low blood sugar, but my meter read so high I'm surprised it didn't freak and tell me to go to hospital too... turns out I'm allergic to ant bites... go figure.
The clinical meeting I had organised months prior almost didn't happen when venue, speaker and speech all went AWOL at various points prior to said meeting...My previous week had already been so crap that discovering I had left my spotting scope and tripod behind in Canberra really didn't elicit more than a 'meh' instead of the usual string of healthy epithets one should expel on discovering the loss of close on a thousand dollars worth of gear... by this stage you would need a tsunami and a plague or two to impact on my mega run in with Murphy (that putz..)
And between all of that I am living in hotels. I have two world cups to train for, but work keeps me busy enough to make practice a mythical beast. I've lost a cable guard...best not ask. My arrows need refletching. My bow needs a new string. My kittens might have fleas and my mother who pointed it out doesn't believe they might be hers. My bedroom floor is MIA... I'm holding out it's just missing and not beyond hope.
And my nephew thinks that the chocolate bunny I bought him for Easter is a Tyrannosaurus Rex... not that that is a problem...but when even chocolate bunnies aren't going right...
So me, my de-flead kittens and my coffee are going back to bed...wake us up when you've shot that prick Murphy, run him over, backed up to be sure and scattered his ashes in the Derwent river that is apparently so manky you'll get mercury poisoning from eating the fish...Or maybe we all had a bad week and everyone dumping ashes in the river is biting us on the butt....
Maybe it's the endless run of miserable luck...Nationals was my worst ever. My stomach was killing me for two days (suspect water supply), my blood sugar was all over the show like a mad woman's breakfast and I just couldn't hit the proverbial barn side, standing inside with the doors shut. I was called in to hospital to have my eyes re-checked after my diabetic retinopathy screen wasn't good so spent the week stressing that diabetes is making me go blind and I've only had it 4yrs. They nicely reassured me that my diabetes was fine, it was the suspected melanoma on my right retina that was worrying them... and it took 4 specialists to decide it's just a freckle and not cancer and phrases like 'I'm pretty sure it's just a freckle' to strengthen my faith in medical expertise... and of course I barely have a freckle to my name so when I finally get one it can't be somewhere normal like on my nose or a cute one on my butt cheek... no no... it has to be on my retina...Of course...why didn't I think of that?
I got bitten by six jack jumpers (read freaking big bitey ants) which stings something like being stabbed 80 times with an ice cold insulin needle at practice then spent a night debating whether I needed an ambulance when my lips went numb and my limbs went weak - a sure sign of extremely low blood sugar, but my meter read so high I'm surprised it didn't freak and tell me to go to hospital too... turns out I'm allergic to ant bites... go figure.
The clinical meeting I had organised months prior almost didn't happen when venue, speaker and speech all went AWOL at various points prior to said meeting...My previous week had already been so crap that discovering I had left my spotting scope and tripod behind in Canberra really didn't elicit more than a 'meh' instead of the usual string of healthy epithets one should expel on discovering the loss of close on a thousand dollars worth of gear... by this stage you would need a tsunami and a plague or two to impact on my mega run in with Murphy (that putz..)
And between all of that I am living in hotels. I have two world cups to train for, but work keeps me busy enough to make practice a mythical beast. I've lost a cable guard...best not ask. My arrows need refletching. My bow needs a new string. My kittens might have fleas and my mother who pointed it out doesn't believe they might be hers. My bedroom floor is MIA... I'm holding out it's just missing and not beyond hope.
And my nephew thinks that the chocolate bunny I bought him for Easter is a Tyrannosaurus Rex... not that that is a problem...but when even chocolate bunnies aren't going right...
So me, my de-flead kittens and my coffee are going back to bed...wake us up when you've shot that prick Murphy, run him over, backed up to be sure and scattered his ashes in the Derwent river that is apparently so manky you'll get mercury poisoning from eating the fish...Or maybe we all had a bad week and everyone dumping ashes in the river is biting us on the butt....
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Silence is golden and clowns are creepy...
As much as I talk and speak my mind, I often get in trouble with folk for not having anything to say. I guess I like to speak when there is something to say and then it's oft hard to make me stop... but when one writes a blog, I suspect sometimes we're supposed to say stuff even when we don't have two words to rub together... so sometimes filling the silence is an obligation rather than a nervous habit and I'll apologise if the silence was golden.
Got to play on a high ropes course for a morning. The gentleman taking the course asked what I felt about it before we had started. And I told him I had nothing to say until I was standing on the edge of the high wire. Can't offer an opinion on how I feel about something I haven't tried before and feeling no trepidation with regards to heights generally, I really had no thoughts to offer.
So now I've completed a high ropes course and have a few interesting scrapes to show for it... I can say I'm not afraid of heights, I'm not a fan of safety harnesses that cause the worlds worst wedgies and adrenalin rushes mess with my blood sugar and not in a good way... so lets not try an activity I have an actual phobia of like running down dark corridors filled with clowns... I suspect George the dinky pancreas might object.
They claim such activity can help high stress situations like matchplay finals... I'm expressing my doubts at this point. No offence to Ron my new bow hunter friend who would likely beg to differ... but having your blood pound because you're on a high wire and some putz is jumping around enough to make the whole 10m high run shake that little bit extra... somehow just wasn't the same as the self doubt game we can play in matchplay. On the wire, no matter how exciting it might all be, you know that the harness will catch you if you fall and you'll probably enjoy the rush... nothing catches you when you shoot a bad arrow except the opposition shooting a worse one. So I guess I'd rather just learn confidence in my game and preparation.... I'm not so far seeing the similarity to voluntarily walking a high wire...maybe we should have tried the creepy clowns....
Regardless of clowns, I'm once more heading to Shanghai for World Cup in May. Hoping to see the bf come for a visit leading up to Shanghai and we will fly up together. This time representing different countries :) Being Danish team captain was all fun and stuff but much rather get to play. Shooting arrows is what we live for after all. Super excited for May to get here already :)
And a crack at coaching for the first time in ages last week.... Just a small group. Coaching is a funny beast, you spend a lot of time telling people to do something they already know they need to do, but for some humanly bizarre reason none of us do. How many times do you hear or say 'I know I need to work on that'.... So one has to wonder how awesome we could all be if we just did the things we already know need doing.
Got to play on a high ropes course for a morning. The gentleman taking the course asked what I felt about it before we had started. And I told him I had nothing to say until I was standing on the edge of the high wire. Can't offer an opinion on how I feel about something I haven't tried before and feeling no trepidation with regards to heights generally, I really had no thoughts to offer.
So now I've completed a high ropes course and have a few interesting scrapes to show for it... I can say I'm not afraid of heights, I'm not a fan of safety harnesses that cause the worlds worst wedgies and adrenalin rushes mess with my blood sugar and not in a good way... so lets not try an activity I have an actual phobia of like running down dark corridors filled with clowns... I suspect George the dinky pancreas might object.
They claim such activity can help high stress situations like matchplay finals... I'm expressing my doubts at this point. No offence to Ron my new bow hunter friend who would likely beg to differ... but having your blood pound because you're on a high wire and some putz is jumping around enough to make the whole 10m high run shake that little bit extra... somehow just wasn't the same as the self doubt game we can play in matchplay. On the wire, no matter how exciting it might all be, you know that the harness will catch you if you fall and you'll probably enjoy the rush... nothing catches you when you shoot a bad arrow except the opposition shooting a worse one. So I guess I'd rather just learn confidence in my game and preparation.... I'm not so far seeing the similarity to voluntarily walking a high wire...maybe we should have tried the creepy clowns....
Regardless of clowns, I'm once more heading to Shanghai for World Cup in May. Hoping to see the bf come for a visit leading up to Shanghai and we will fly up together. This time representing different countries :) Being Danish team captain was all fun and stuff but much rather get to play. Shooting arrows is what we live for after all. Super excited for May to get here already :)
And a crack at coaching for the first time in ages last week.... Just a small group. Coaching is a funny beast, you spend a lot of time telling people to do something they already know they need to do, but for some humanly bizarre reason none of us do. How many times do you hear or say 'I know I need to work on that'.... So one has to wonder how awesome we could all be if we just did the things we already know need doing.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Danish Xmas round 2 :)
Sitting on my bow cases to get the zips to close and racing out the door to rush to the airport to get the stack of 'don't forget' texts from various parties about things I had of course forgotten. Including spare arrow rests, peeps, nocks, socks, bathers, X-rays.... and starting to wonder what exactly I had packed. Oh yeah! Lots of thermals...lots and lots of thermals. You might recall I am allergic to being cold.
Scored the much dreaded middle seat the whole 24hrs from Melbourne to London and the not exactly hygienic oaf who hasn't yet discovered toothpaste or personal space in the aisle seat next to me. But immediately discovered that my single serve companion to the right was a chatty girl from Berlin with a shared obsession with spicy food. All in all a pleasant trip including a dash across Changi Airport in Singapore to get some chilli noodles in our 45min lay over and the same in Heathrow before we parted company to our separate destinations where chilli was likely as hard to find as sunny days.
And oh thank the powers that be for showers at the Heathrow One World lounge. I'm sure many think that first meeting at the airport after being apart for 4 months is a romantic concept all round. And on the bare face of things it is. But it's substantially more romantic if one can achieve a shower, tooth brush and change of clothes before hand.
So I rolled into Copenhagen, reasonably refreshed and finally got my welcome hug without the stress of 40hrs of transit filth to worry me :). We took a side trip to deliver a bow to a famous someone or rather who gave thanks with some very drinkable Champagne and then drove to Fyn for the night. And then a little archery before driving to Berlin the next day. Coming from Australia it's a bit weird to drive only 7hrs and find yourself in another country...at home it doesn't even take you to the next state. Or rather 7hrs from home would likely put me in Bass Strait or well on my way to Antarctica.
Berlin was more about seeing the Xmas markets and having fun. I only had my backup bow with me and it wasn't exactly tuned and jet lag is always fun. So no expectations - just a chance to see another city I've never been to, catching up with friends and a great weekend with my guy :) The Xmas market was lovely, the Vienna Schnitzel was tasty and the shooting was terrible, but we had fun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjdDzxJa-sg
Rocked back into Aarhus and Logan and Kevin totally came through for me and my new toys arrived just before Xmas. I even got to shoot them before we left on holidays. Got a shiny new Pro Comp Elite in black, Spyder in Real Tree Snow, some new Pro Tours and indoor arrows and clothes. So thanking Santa and the boys from Hoyt/Easton for my presents.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sWjY7Ht0lE
Then had to put the bows away for amber hunting, kite flying and snow angels on the beach in Blåvand. Amber, I am told, is easily found anywhere along the West Coast of Scandinavia. Just look where there's seaweed.... Well I have to say that Blåvand was the most pristine beach I have seen in a while and finding a piece of seaweed was not going to be easy. On our second day there was a snow storm and it was pretty hard to find your own hands in front of your face... but we did manage to fly a kite (don't ask). After 3 days we did find amber... about the size something so tiny I can't think of anything that small... but we found it!!!
Xmas was the anticipated rounds of pork, duck, potatoes, brown sauce, risalamande and marzipan.... about triple my usual insulin intake :D, and real burning candles on the Xmas tree to which my first thought was 'doesn't that cause house fires?' and the answer was 'sometimes'.
It was super pretty though :)
Spent the next week in physio, gym and shooting. Working on my left side which is very weak and even getting insoles in my shoes to correct my balance. Got my Pro Comp Elite all tuned up for indoor and attempted to get a brief tune for outdoor in the 50m indoor range. The Pro Comp has a better balance than the Contender Elite and is a lovely bow to shoot.
Also roughly set up the Spyder so we could go and shoot a little 3D on the weekend. Didn't have pins or a 3D scope so it was more just play. Lots of 'I can see above, below and around the scope but when I look through it just disappears'. It was great fun though and a stunning field course. I really wish I had taken more photos. We had some video, but it just didn't do the place justice.
Back in Copenhagen we went to the movies to see Jack Reacher. It's all in English just with Danish subtitles. But a cinema full of Danes watching a movie is kind of entertaining... the whole cinema laughs at completely different things to an Australian audience and they're quite obsessed with candy. And we scored a parking fine despite obeying all the appropriate road signs. Apparently there is no such thing as free parking in Copenhagen even when the street signs say it's free.
My final shoot in Denmark was Nytårspokalen in Copenhagen. We got a little practice on the Saturday and one of the ladies brought home baked rolls for lunch which was just a bit awesome :) and I met some of the local archers. During the comp I was trying to persist with both eyes open despite the awful light and shot a terrible first round. Gave up and shot with one eye shut for the second and the score improved dramatically. Apparently being able to see the target helps :). I ranked about 5th, made it through the 1st match and lost the second match by a point shooting about my current average. Had a beer with the Norwegian boys before they headed home (okay they had beer and I had hot chocolate) and then it was time to go back to our rather odd little hotel (Hotel Fox) and relax before my long trip home the next day.
So now home again. Bow tuned, archer tuned (if a little jet lagged) and back to work. Happy New Year everyone :)
Scored the much dreaded middle seat the whole 24hrs from Melbourne to London and the not exactly hygienic oaf who hasn't yet discovered toothpaste or personal space in the aisle seat next to me. But immediately discovered that my single serve companion to the right was a chatty girl from Berlin with a shared obsession with spicy food. All in all a pleasant trip including a dash across Changi Airport in Singapore to get some chilli noodles in our 45min lay over and the same in Heathrow before we parted company to our separate destinations where chilli was likely as hard to find as sunny days.
And oh thank the powers that be for showers at the Heathrow One World lounge. I'm sure many think that first meeting at the airport after being apart for 4 months is a romantic concept all round. And on the bare face of things it is. But it's substantially more romantic if one can achieve a shower, tooth brush and change of clothes before hand.
So I rolled into Copenhagen, reasonably refreshed and finally got my welcome hug without the stress of 40hrs of transit filth to worry me :). We took a side trip to deliver a bow to a famous someone or rather who gave thanks with some very drinkable Champagne and then drove to Fyn for the night. And then a little archery before driving to Berlin the next day. Coming from Australia it's a bit weird to drive only 7hrs and find yourself in another country...at home it doesn't even take you to the next state. Or rather 7hrs from home would likely put me in Bass Strait or well on my way to Antarctica.
Berlin was more about seeing the Xmas markets and having fun. I only had my backup bow with me and it wasn't exactly tuned and jet lag is always fun. So no expectations - just a chance to see another city I've never been to, catching up with friends and a great weekend with my guy :) The Xmas market was lovely, the Vienna Schnitzel was tasty and the shooting was terrible, but we had fun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjdDzxJa-sg
Rocked back into Aarhus and Logan and Kevin totally came through for me and my new toys arrived just before Xmas. I even got to shoot them before we left on holidays. Got a shiny new Pro Comp Elite in black, Spyder in Real Tree Snow, some new Pro Tours and indoor arrows and clothes. So thanking Santa and the boys from Hoyt/Easton for my presents.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sWjY7Ht0lE
Then had to put the bows away for amber hunting, kite flying and snow angels on the beach in Blåvand. Amber, I am told, is easily found anywhere along the West Coast of Scandinavia. Just look where there's seaweed.... Well I have to say that Blåvand was the most pristine beach I have seen in a while and finding a piece of seaweed was not going to be easy. On our second day there was a snow storm and it was pretty hard to find your own hands in front of your face... but we did manage to fly a kite (don't ask). After 3 days we did find amber... about the size something so tiny I can't think of anything that small... but we found it!!!
Xmas was the anticipated rounds of pork, duck, potatoes, brown sauce, risalamande and marzipan.... about triple my usual insulin intake :D, and real burning candles on the Xmas tree to which my first thought was 'doesn't that cause house fires?' and the answer was 'sometimes'.
It was super pretty though :)
Spent the next week in physio, gym and shooting. Working on my left side which is very weak and even getting insoles in my shoes to correct my balance. Got my Pro Comp Elite all tuned up for indoor and attempted to get a brief tune for outdoor in the 50m indoor range. The Pro Comp has a better balance than the Contender Elite and is a lovely bow to shoot.
Also roughly set up the Spyder so we could go and shoot a little 3D on the weekend. Didn't have pins or a 3D scope so it was more just play. Lots of 'I can see above, below and around the scope but when I look through it just disappears'. It was great fun though and a stunning field course. I really wish I had taken more photos. We had some video, but it just didn't do the place justice.
Back in Copenhagen we went to the movies to see Jack Reacher. It's all in English just with Danish subtitles. But a cinema full of Danes watching a movie is kind of entertaining... the whole cinema laughs at completely different things to an Australian audience and they're quite obsessed with candy. And we scored a parking fine despite obeying all the appropriate road signs. Apparently there is no such thing as free parking in Copenhagen even when the street signs say it's free.
My final shoot in Denmark was Nytårspokalen in Copenhagen. We got a little practice on the Saturday and one of the ladies brought home baked rolls for lunch which was just a bit awesome :) and I met some of the local archers. During the comp I was trying to persist with both eyes open despite the awful light and shot a terrible first round. Gave up and shot with one eye shut for the second and the score improved dramatically. Apparently being able to see the target helps :). I ranked about 5th, made it through the 1st match and lost the second match by a point shooting about my current average. Had a beer with the Norwegian boys before they headed home (okay they had beer and I had hot chocolate) and then it was time to go back to our rather odd little hotel (Hotel Fox) and relax before my long trip home the next day.
So now home again. Bow tuned, archer tuned (if a little jet lagged) and back to work. Happy New Year everyone :)
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