Exciting times

The Olympics has started so at any given moment I look like this..

http://fyeahgymnasticsmemes.tumblr.com/post/28239147722/spannytampson-this-is-me-for-the-next-two

I love the Olympics and I am a sucker for a whole enchilada. From the opening to closing ceremonies, I love the drama, the athleticism and the goosebumps I get from watching someone achieve their lifelong dream. They always leave me awestruck and inspired.

The artistic gymnastics competitions take place this week so my attention is being completely consumed by it. The free to air coverage leaves quite a lot to be desired. Quite a lot. Last night at 2am I was watching the men's qualifications and every time channel 9 cut to the table tennis I wanted to punch the TV. But it is slightly better than nothing. 

Having studied the form of the gymnasts in the years leading up to these Games, I can't wait to see who succeeds under the pressure. I am an absolute tragic/ student of the sport and I can't wait to see how this latest chapter of its history unfolds.

I would love for Lauren Mitchell to win Australia's first medal in artistic gymnastics at the Olympics, but I am worried that her problematic ankles may prevent her from reaching her full potential here. The US women's team are favourite for the team gold and they will be tough to beat, especially with their superior difficulty on vault. However, I suspect Romania will prove a dark horse main challenger. I love their mixture of classy, legendary, full grown women veterans in Catalina Ponor (triple gold medallist from 2004, has come out of retirement and is looking better than ever at 24) and Sandra Izbasa (2008 Olympic floor champion aged 22). They are joined by the very exciting 16 year old young gun Larisa Iordache and fellow sprites Diana Chelaru and Diana Bulimar.
 
I love Romania's team because they are just about a perfect example of modern women's gymnastics. The super stars are having longer careers into adulthood and hitting puberty does not necessarily end gymnast's career. Now that modern gymnastics requires so much power, being a little taller and a little heavier can be of assistance.

Izbasa, Ponor, Iordache, Raluca Haidu (not selected for Olympics), Chelaru
http://www.romania-insider.com/romania-strikes-gold-silver-and-bronze-at-european-gymnastics-championship-wins-title-after-four-years/57163/

*(For those who are not familiar with gymnastics; by a little taller I mean 160-165cm tall as opposed to 145-155cm, and heavier I mean around 45-48kg as opposed to 35-40kg. The gymnasts would only be as heavy as 48kg if they were around 160-165cm tall, many gymnasts are still about 150cms and 35-40kg. These are not healthy weights and heights for normal people, but what gymnasts are required to do in their sport is not normal either and their health is closely monitored by team physicians).

In other news, last week Mum and Dad made significant changes to the whole family's automobile situation. This change was very exciting and I am so incredibly grateful that they made a decision that will help make my life so much easier.

I was a little sad and nostalgic when it came time to say goodbye to the old cars. I'm not sure why. I think it's partly to do with the fact that they were one of the few remaining constants of life in Adelaide that we brought over to Melbourne. More recently I certainly had developed a close affinity with Dad's Camry, given that it is the car I primarily learned to drive in and finally drove alone once I had my licence.

I guess it was just one of those moments that has become an identifiable landmark of how the needs of my family have changed so much over the past few years and we have now moved into a difference phase of life.

I also got the news that the gymnastics club I had an interview with have taken me on in an emergency/ fill in capacity. This is exactly what the coach said I would be offered if I were successful and that I will be added to the roster when the new one is drawn up. I'm so excited to have this opportunity and I will be enrolling in the Gymnastics Australia course to become an accredited coach in September.

I've also come across a course that I think might be a good fit for me next year. Choosing to go out on a limb and explore paramedics was a great decision but it has put a little dent in my confidence when it comes to course selection. I'm starting to put together a crazy picture of my "dream" career in my head and this course may well give me the skills I need to pull it off.

I am feeling really positive right now. I have worked so hard to overcome a number of "challenges", lets call them, and am so thrilled that the results and opportunities I want are coming my way. There is still a lot of work to be done to reach my goals, but it is such a relief to feel like I'm gaining traction in the right direction. 

So excited!

I'm nervous about jinxing it, but this week has been one of the best I've had for a VERY long time. 

I'm back at uni, which has reduced my "sleep ins" but has reintroduced some much needed structure. The timetable fairies were very kind to me this semester and I got all my first preferences. Better still, I was asked to swap out of one of my tutorials to help out some other students who had work. I was happy to do this and the tutorial I have swapped into has resulted in an even better timetable!

Today I had an interview at a gymnastics club. After much encouragement from my family, especially from my Mum, I emailed this gymnastics club in the hope of getting back into some coaching. The people who know me well know that there aren't many things I love more than I love gymnastics and I think those that live with me are probably keen for me to get back to coaching some actual gymnasts rather than forcing them to watch incredible routines on youtube with me.

I did gymnastics and sport aerobics when I was younger. Participating in these sports taught me so much, they were integral to the development of my confidence and provided me with communities where I felt accepted. 

I was doing quite a bit of coaching in Adelaide, but things were so challenging when we moved to Melbourne that it wasn't possible to seek out a club straight away. A lot of time has passed since but it has taken me until now to have the availability, the means and the confidence to re-engage with gymnastics. 

I felt the interview went really well. The head coach, the administrator and committee member I met were all really lovely. Their club has the grass roots community feel that I loved about my gym club in Adelaide. Just being around gym apparatus and that unforgettable smell of chalk, crash mats and happy little girls in leotards lifted my mood by about 5 points. 

I am hopeful that this interview will be the start of something really positive.

The other thing I am super duper excited is car related and due to take place on Thursday morning. You'll have to tune in later in the week to hear about that though...


Those things and with the Olympics being just around the corner, I'm a happy girl.

J

Wankerchef: chocolate & caramel chip cookies!

Last week I finally got around to making the chocolate chip cookies for which Kate Swaffer had kindly provided a recipe on her blog. You can find it here and she posts new recipes daily. It is quite a treasure trove of trade secrets and family friendly food. 

Kate is a fantastic chef so I followed her recipe closely. The only modifications I made to her recipe were to use chocolate and caramel chips instead of chocolate chips, nuts and dried fruit. They were easily the best cookies I've made and they were all gone within 24 hours of baking.

Ingredients:

125g butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

1/2 cup castor sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 3/4 cups self-raising flour

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup caramel chips

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and have your baking trays lined and ready.

I did as Kate instructed and beat the butter, sugar and vanilla together, then added the egg. 

Then I sifted in the flour and mixed it through with the wooden spoon, resulting in a delicious dough mass that looked like this...

Next I decided to split the giant dough ball in half as I wanted half of the cookies to be plain chocolate chip and the other half to have caramel chips in them too. I scattered some flour on the bench and kneaded the chips through the dough. 

Next I rolled the dough into balls and placed them on the tray about 4 cm apart as recommended. I put them in the oven and baked them for 15 minutes, by which time they looked and smelled absolutely delicious.

They came out of the oven looking like this... notice the tiny cookie on the top right hand corner of each tray? I made a tiny "marker cookie" for each tray so that I could tell one had the pure chocolate chip and which had the the chocolate/caramel ones. The "marker cookie" is just a tiny blob of dough with a couple of chocolate chips or caramel chips on top. 

And because I'm calling these infrequent cooking escapades "Wanker Chef", I arranged my seriously delicious cookies  in an appropriately wankerish fashion. I urge you all to go to Kate's blog and give this recipe a go for yourself, you won't regret it.

Decision made

My brother returned from England on Wednesday night, which was very exciting. He has only been gone for 3 weeks but we have missed him a lot. It was the little things like not hearing his keys in the door at 4pm coming home from school and the fact that for the first time I can remember, a bottle of milk went unconsumed and eventually off in our household! We also did the smallest supermarket shop, according to Dad, since Mum and Dad had kids! The boy sure eats a lot of food.

Initially I wasn’t going to be able to go to the airport to pick up Alex as I was covering a shift at work for my buddy who has just had her wisdom teeth taken out. However, the last leg of Alex’s flight from Brunei to Melbourne was delayed so I made it home just in time to come along to the airport.

Anyone who has flown internationally knows that the process of getting through customs is a slow one. Since mad cow disease has been a problem in the UK for some time now, customs are very strict about keeping British plant matter out of Australia. Subsequently, getting a cricket squad of boys and their cricket spikes through customs isn’t a speedy process.

More than an hour after they’d landed, the boys finally came through the gate. They were tired but in good spirits and I received one a very warm and heart-felt hug from my brother.

I have worked a lot this week. In first semester I kept myself afloat but didn’t actually save any money so I was keen to fit as much work into my break as possible. I am planning to fit some extra shifts in this week, too.

This week I decided that I would go back out to Frankston for the second semester of my course. The main reason that I decided to go back was because I couldn’t find an alternative path that I wanted to commit to. I know I want to be doing something different next year but it will make more sense to apply for different courses for the start of next year.

I have changed one thing though, I will be doing three subjects not all four. I know that I do not want to continue my degree long term so I have dropped one subject to reduce the stress on myself. I still want to give myself a challenge academically without the additional fatigue.

I am really happy with this decision. I don’t know what path I will be going down next year but I trust that the additional science knowledge will come in handy. What I know for certain is that another semester of having a structured lifestyle and having to work really hard to live up to my standards is what I need more than anything.

I was feeling almost allergic to the prospect of going back to Frankston. I fairly set on not going back until I had a discussion with both my parents about it. Whilst neither of them tried to tell me what to do, they did both hint to me that another semester of paramedics would be the best choice. I was very reluctant to do that but after reflecting on it for a few days I realised that sometimes the hardest option is also the one with the most opportunity for reward.

I don’t know what that reward might be but I’m starting to work out that sometimes you have to trust that someone else might have a better idea of what is best for you than you. Coming out of the self-centred haze of adolescence, it is hard to balance having strength in your convictions but having the wisdom to account for your own short comings by utilizing the skills of others.  

What a relief: Semester One exams- Survived!

I got my results on Monday and I was really pleased. I am proud of how hard I studied and that I found the motivation to get through the semester, even though I wasn't connecting with the course vocationally. 

I was most proud of my lowest mark, which was for anatomy and physiology. Until this year it has been 5 years since I have studied any science. I knew I was going to have to do a lot of work just to keep up with the kids who had just done biology and chemistry a few months ago in year 12, as well as the ones who had complete or partial degrees in sciences. I got the mark I deserved and while my lowest, I do feel a level of satisfaction knowing that I earned every point of it. 

I knew I had worked hard but I was prepared, given that overall I found my exams pretty tough, that my grades were not necessarily going to reflect my effort. Thankfully on this occasion, I was pleasantly surprised. 

By the end of semester and during exams, having a good academic record to transfer into a different course was what kept me motivate. I hadn't committed to transferring but it was the only thought that inspired me to keep working and reminded me that I wasn't trapped in my course, I did have choices.

Now I have to make those choices.

Damn choices.

Over the last week or so of living in the limbo of my future, I have finally whittled my options down to two paths. My first option is to finish out the rest of the year doing paramedics and apply for new courses for next year. My second option it to apply to transfer for next semester. 

My parents have been great helping me talk through the options. I think they know which path they would choose if they were in my position, but I don't think either of them want to run the risk of actually telling me what to do. Whilst they are becoming very wise in this parenting business of theirs, a part of me does wish they would just straight out tell me what they think I should do. 

I am a little tired of standing at "cross roads" (I should say "intersections" given that I'm not American) and trying to pick one path when I want to give them all a try. I have also lost some of the faith I had in the decision making powers that landed me here in the first place.

That being said, I'm trying not to be too despondent. Whilst paramedics isn't the career I'm destined for, it gave me a huge kick up the bum. Over the past 5 or so months, studying paramedics has forced me to do the maturing I desperately needed to do to. 

On an unrelated note, don't bother seeing the movie "Ted". The laughs are cheap at best. Also, my brother comes home from England tomorrow. It will be so great to have him home.