So close you can taste it...

I'm talking about those moments in your life when the actualisation of a goal is so close that your mouth is watering. This is what my shooting has been like lately. Every day the feel and the process is a little tighter and a little better.  It doesn't have to be an epic goal or a life dream. There's just something tasty about being on that edge, when you know things are happening. I shot a 148/150 in matchplay for my first competition of the year and everyday since has been great shooting in practice. Loving those days when shooting a 10 is a choice and not a hope.

Nytårspokalen 2015

All of which had to be said before I gave my usual update because it sounds way cooler than anything else I needed to say :D

I fell off my bike before Xmas, and took a chunk of skin off my bow hand, right before the Kings of Archery tournament in the Netherlands. Shot a 878/900 (41x) ranking and ended up finishing 16th. Not an amazing result, but I'm claiming sissy rights on the whole gaping wound issue and calling it an okay result. It was beyond expectation that I managed to draw the bow at all. Everything else was gravy :).... I may have been banned from riding the bike prior to tournaments from now on....

No more bike for me!

The Berlin Open was a substantially better innings. I shot a 576/600 and ranked equal 4th. Going into matchplay, the ties were decided by coin toss and I was demoted to 6th. I might think that the whole thing had whiskers on it, but that's how it rolled. I won through the 1/16 match against Valeria Goncherova from Ukraine 140/138 and then lost the 1/8 to Janine Meißner from Germany 144/145 to finish 9th overall. I shot my qualifier for the European Championships and finished in the top 10, so basically a happy camper.

A quick trip home to Aus for Xmas was required. I've been missing BBQ turkey and daylight for xmas :) There was, kid you not, 5 turkeys on Xmas day. Something about not being sure we would have enough food.....a problem that seems to give various family members nightmares despite never having occurred in my memory. Was just awesome to see family and have an Aussie xmas. So I'm all xmas fat and stocked up on things you can't buy in Denmark.... like vanilla bean paste, real sunscreen and Sherry Gale (our most excellent house guest for January) and settled back into the life of an archery bum.

Snow!

Aussie archer Sherry Gale come to visit :)

The kittens are settling in well. Maybe a little too well. I woke up one morning to find Fabian trying to clean my teeth for me.... which of course ends badly for all concerned as I shoot up and kitten goes flying while I Plbplbplbpblbpblbplbpblpblpblpb!!!! trying to get the cat spit off my teeth and lips. Ugh!!!! The boys are weighing it at 4kg a piece and the vet informs me I can afford to feed them less. No one ever accused me of underfeeding a cat :D

Kitty!

In all these days of shooting, studying and travelling, a random and aimless rant that plays in my head just lately is about trying to understand crap coffee. Now we aren't talking about instant versus filtered or expresso versus latte etc we're talking that nasty stuff that looks like fine powdered rust and can be found in archery clubs all over the world. The floor sweepings from the clay factory that they put in jars and call coffee and sell to bad conferences and archery clubs. I'm sure you can find it at rehab meetings and anger management courses too... Because nothing tests you like really awful coffee... Now don't misunderstand, I'm not a coffee snob. It's more a life the universe and everything question... Why does such awful coffee exist? Who drinks it? Why do they drink it? Are they divorced from their own tongues? Why not drink tea instead? Because no matter how bad the tea is it can't be worse than the nasty coffee (okay I'm sure my Chinese mother could find me a worse tea)... So with the few people aside who have no taste buds and drink the crappy coffee for religious penance or something...one has to wonder at the market...
I now keep a jar of coffee in my archery locker.

School, like cat spit and crap coffee, is leaving a bad taste in my mouth. It's a good thing the new teacher is actually good at teaching.... With people skills like that, one has to hope she's got something going for her. Heinous cow. Nuff said. Here's hoping I learn Danish fast and get out before I'm forced to drastic measures. Herring has few uses (eating not being one of them), but I suspect one would do quite nicely tucked in the bottom of her bag.

Got kittens, coffee and christmas sorted. Bring on 2015. Next stop - Iceland :) 

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