11/10/2008 by admin.

Wow things have moved fast recently; since my last post, I have managed to get some of the work situation sorted out.  Management are with me!  The guy is still a pompous git but the rest of the team are united and monitoring him; he can try to suck up to the people higher up than him but his days are numbered- he is useless and he will be going; I know it.

As long as Garfield is in the office, everything is at least a little bit more fun.

My TV/ video combo is now just a TV which  is a bit of a pain because only Argos seem to sell video machines.  I haven’t figured out the difference between Nicam and Mono properly although I think Nicam gives you better sound?  Think I’ll just have to buy a DVD writer and burn my videos to DVDs.

The video situation did make me check ebay and I was able to buy one of my favourite BSB videos on DVD (with extras) which was awesome.  The making of ‘Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)’ has this brilliant feel good feel to it.  I think the fact that the guys had so much fun making the video really comes across on the video and I like to watch it every now and then and wish I could dance like them.

So I’m off for a night out with the schoolies tonight; we’re going to Edinburgh and staying in a nice apartment in Leith.  Should be awesome; I have been looking forward to this for ages.  There was the usual panic last night; what is everyone going to wear?  What am I going to wear?  I have £5 off at Matalan and really wanted some kick flares but couldn’t find anything like and came away with some work shoes, a top for work and a black shurg and then I stupidly went to New Look… well I bought some flares (but I’m returning them; they aren’t right) and some gorgeous ankle boots.

I returned home and it was like Christmas!  My Brian Littrell CD had arrived, my contact lenses for the next 3 months were there, something else I’d bought on ebay had arrived and no way… my new Keane album ‘Perfect Symmetry’ was here?!  Already!  It’s not released till Monday…  Just to improve the situation further, for once the t-shirt actually fits a normal sized woman!  (You know how a ladies large is usually for size 6 women - I had a medium and was looking to cast it in with other band t-shirts that aren’t made for real people).  I was in overload; what do I listen to first?  Keane won anyway but then I checked my emails and discovered that I had won 2 tickets to a secret Keane gig in Edinburgh!!!!

Screw what I wear tonight, what do I wear on Monday?!

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01/10/2008 by admin.

I’m down today… in fact ‘down’ doesn’t quite cover it.  To be honest I feel like completely shit.  I know I can deal with this but it doesn’t stop me being a bit miserable now and then I guess.

At least now I know when my down turns are coming and somehow I am able to turn them around quickly and bounce back. My usual remedy is music or comedy or a mixture of both.  This time round it has been the Backstreet Boys; I always associate their music with extreme happiness and if I could find my video on the making of Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) then I would be watching that right now because of the feel good-ness of it.

I’ve always loved the BSBs and I am not afraid people will laugh because so what; they are who I like and I’m not going to stop liking them for anyone. (Time to step off the soap box but it’s sad I feel that needs to be said).

Anyway, moving on, I picked the above quote because I was looking for something Brian (BSB) had said; I’ve always admired him and loved his music and values yet he’s so fun and crazy yet serious.  I dunno - he’s just ace I reckon.  Anyway I’m not sure if that’s something he’s made up or if it’s one of his favourite quotes and the minute I saw it, it made me smile and feel better.

I didn’t come here to blog about Brian though in fact I’m not sure why I started writing; I guess it’s somewhere to say something.  I saw JH on saturday and he was saying he doesn’t see the point of blogs etc. and who really cared about them.  Well I just thought; ’sod it; I like having my blog.’  I don’t think anyone reads it and I don’t care if they do or don’t because it wouldn’t make much sense anyway. It’s my little space for me because as KS said I put people ahead of myself all the time and it will be my downfall.  She’s right and I do but to be honest most of the time I am not bothered about things and if I am, I will say. I guess this is my place to say stuff and to brag about myself.  How selfish.

Tomorrow though I am going to have to do something I hate doing and it’s not going to be fun as hardly any of my allies will be in.  I can’t let that idiot treat me like this anymore.  I am no idiot (despite occasional appearances).

So tonight I am going to take myself back to a very happy night in 2005 when I got to see the Backstreet Boys live for the first ever time.  I’m going to remember it and wish the guys would come back (again) and also that Brian will come and do some solo shows in the UK because his music is inspirational.  Plus I would love to see him live.

I must do some work for the tennis club but my notes are in the car and it’s raining so it’ll wait till tomorrow.  I’m going to find that video…

Backstreet’s Back ALRIGHT!

……

Update 03.10.08

I certainly landed in the stars; I’ve stood up to my problem and had a lot of support from colleagues and former colleagues and now (after a private minor breakdown at work) feel much happier about going into work.  I can cope come Monday.

I hope I can get over (before Monday) AG emailing my entire place of work the other day; I was in such a need of a laugh I was almost hysterical!

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27/09/2008 by admin.

Hmm I’m trying to think of a quote (or a theme for one) which will best summarise this post, I’ve been feeling very guilty for not writing here for a while.  Actually it’s not as bad as I thought; only 27 days since my last post…

What have I been up to?

Tennis

I am now on the committee for Earlston Tennis Club, must remember I have a meeting on Sunday, not only that but I’m the club secretary… and I’m working on the funding application forms with LH and others.  It’s great to see things moving in the club who knows what we’ll be up to this time next year.

Work

Actual job going well although office atmosphere is struggling a wee bit.  We have this new guy who is causing a few problems for me and LW.  I don’t quite know where I stand to say anything but he is making me worry an awful lot and I’m starting to hate going into the office if he’s going to be there.  Ach no it’ll be me and him on Monday morning… noooooo.  He’s starting to be sneaky as well on top of his other problems and I don’t appreciate that - we don’t sneak behind the rest of the team especially as I’m in a position where I wouldn’t know better. I’ve had a week’s holiday and every morning I have woken up worrying and worrying about this man.  He’s such an arrogant twat.  Now there is no tennis on the TV he has absolutely nothing to talk to me about thankfully.

I refuse to rant further but I’m not looking forward to after Christmas with no WS and SR in his room and it’s just me, LW and AKS.  Not good.

Tennis Part 2 - US Open

ROGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  You beauty!  I knew you’d kick ass and you’re looking so good right now.  Roger played some stunning tennis in the final and I am so over the moon for him that he won the US Open - 5 in a row!

Roger, like Andy Murray, didn’t have the easiest start to the Open but as they progressed they both picked up into the most amazing form and Andy played Rafa like a man possessed; he was incredible (he needed to be).  I was struggling through the semi-finals, I couldn’t watch Roger v Novak but then I couldn’t watch Rafa v Andy.  I was really glad I didn’t see Rafa and Andy finish off their match on the Sunday because my heart almost broke when I saw the highlights and Rafa was literally struggling for breath between points.  I have never ever seen him look so vulnerable on a court before - it was a huge shock.

It was a fantastic Open though and congratulations to Andy and Jelena Jankovic on making their first grand slam finals - sorry you didn’t win but maybe next time.

Watch out for the Big Four in men’s tennis over the next few years.

Holiday

The holiday to Austria bombed out and I was very disappointed however, Keane stepped in to save the day and finally release their European tour dates.  A week in Germany sounded great, emailed HMacD and she suggested a week in Spain and Portugal and I thought that was a great idea as none of us have ever been to Barcelona, Madrid or Lisbon before.  So this is us for a long week away, three Keane shows and a lot of fun (only 4* and 5* hotels for us (at bargain rates)).  We’re also going on a sleeper train (between Barcelona and Madrid) something I’ll always associate with the movie ‘White Christmas’.

Anyone know what the weather is like in Spain and Portugal in November?  I’ve heard that the rain in Spain falls mainly in November.

Keane

Release their new album soon; have the deluxe DVD and CD with the free T-Shirt pre-ordered already but can’t remember when it’s being sent to me.  Soon I hope I can’t wait; am soooooooo excited for this it is totally unlike anything they’ve ever done before so should be as awesome as ever.

Nintendo Wii

I got one of these for my birthday and I’m already a pro at tennis; I worked very hard the first day and then was forced to take a break as my right arm wrecked.  However it has recovered and I have kicked ass.  Want to get Topspin 3 so I can pretend I’m as good as Roger or Rafa and win Wimbledon (it’s the only way I could ever do it).

Got my dad playing tennis; he got on quite well with it and was very much into it; especially when he took out the light…

Weddings

My cousing and her boyfriend have gotten engaged and are going to be married in February or March we hope.  They have asked me to be their bridesmaid which is great!  I was thinking about it so much on Sunday that I completely and utterly forgot to wash the conditioner out of my hair!

They are trying to find the most suitable venue and get a date confirmed then I can let loose on the hen party.

Anyway best to be off; am having a relaxing morning and am off to see JH later on.

Toodles.

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31/08/2008 by admin.

Played 6 sets of tennis today - am now knackered but finally, finally, finally I was able to wipe the smile off the smug woman at SB.  6-0 and 6-4 wipeout; it was great.

Have a tennis meeting tonight in 3 hours time.  I’m settling down to watch the US Open first might be lucky to catch a bit of Roger’s match before I go out.

Watching Jelena Jankovic right now; she’s wearing a nice tennis dress.  Not mant people watching the match which is a shame.

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30/08/2008 by admin.

This song is for you:

Incomplete

and

Climbing the Walls

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28/08/2008 by admin.

Uh oh… the commentator on the USopen.org radio just remarked on the fact that the Grandstand (where Andy Murray is leading 2-1) has been closed to anyone else entering due to a full cappacity:

“He’s [Andy] got the whole of England in there.”

I don’t think that would go down with a very proud Scotsman.

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26/08/2008 by admin.

I was surprised to be playing tennis last night; it was so wet and windy all day I thought the weather would stay horrible.  However the sun came out and dried off about 95% of the courts.  When I say 95% it meant the other 5% which was right behind the baseline on one side was still slippy.

We all knew it and we’d even pointed it out to each other however when you’re in the middle of a point and trying to return a very defensive forehand, the last thing your expecting is to hit the ball and land on your back which is what I somehow managed to do.  My immediate reaction is ‘ARGHHHHH how embarrassing!!’ as I jump up and pretend I’m fine.  I’m actually very lucky that that is my instinct becausethe club coach was worried I was going to crack my head off the hard surface and I could have ended up in hospital!  A lot of discussion after that about whether the club had insurance… I was hardly going to sue; accidents happen.  I fell over a couple of weeks ago where I just grazed my knee but this time I really banged my elbow and I hate how the injury goes really numb.  Not good when it’s your right elbow and you’re a right handed player.  My tennis playing was rubbish though and the serve was patchy before I even hurt myself.  I suppose my excuse was I hadn’t played for a week (lousy weather/ poor communications).

Anyway I wasn’t blogging on here to discuss that.

I spotted an article on the BBC website about tennis being a middle class sport.  One of the points raised in this article is about how GB pro players are all middle class but don’t mention how expensive it is to be a pro tennis player and I don’t know about the funding out there for players but I can’t imagine there’s much.  Remember Chris Eaton?  Oh you know, the British qualifier who made it to the second round?  The guy who’s village raised the money to get him on the tour?  Point made?  I think so.  You need money to be able to afford the equipment and clothes, the coaching, the tournament entry fees, the travel to tours, accomodation and I think you may have to pay the LTA to have your ranking (I don’t know the ins and outs of it all) plus you need to be able to live as well.

I think the point of the article is right - tennis should be made available to more people and Council’s should be doing more.  I wasn’t surprised that the number of free courts had reduced from 33,000 to 10,000 in the UK - I think kids are starting to get a bit lazier - I definitely think that when I compared my childhood to some other kids.  Also when there are so many computer games readily available to them how else are they going to spend their time?

I admit I want to get a Nintendo Wii myself - I love the tennis game on that; very addictive.

However, I also understand you need to have clubs.  33,000 courts is an awful lot of courts to be subsidised and when you think of all the equipment and maintenance (don’t forget the insurance) that needs to go into courts… well you need a club.

However I don’t see people saying shouldn’t football be less middle class if you look at that.

Sorry am watching Coventry vs Newcastle Utd. on the TV and the referee has not blown the full time whistle after the 2 mins allowed and has allowed Coventry to score (he blew the whistle another minute and half later) - we were robbed.  If we lose this - the referee is to blame.  Bastard.  It’s completely distracted me.

The other thing I’m trying to do is to help out my tennis club.  At the moment we’re called a club but all we have are 2 and a half tennis courts attached to the local high school.  I never knew you could have a half court but there wasn’t quite enough space for a third doubles court so we have a singles court on the end.

We have no clubhouse (we use the school’s home economics room during matches) and we have no identity so at the moment we get together for club night on Mondays and meet for matches.  There’s no easy way to get in touch with everyone, no-one knows when the courts are being used and there are no summer competitions.  We really need to change.

I am proposing some kind of website or forum that tells people when courts are needed for juniors, letting members have a chance to get in touch with each other for some social games, organise nights out and things like that.  I’m looking to see what I can do (I know a wee bit about websites) so hopefully I can take a proposal along to the club meeting on Sunday and encourage people to run with the idea.

Wish me luck.

BTW re-reading the Bille Jean King quote entitling this blog reminded me of something I wanted to comment on from the BBC article.

‘”Anybody from eight to 80 can play tennis - it is safe, social and a low impact sport,” says Ms Mappin.’  (Ms Mappin is Sue Mappin, Executive Director of the Tennis Foundation).

Low impact?!  Does she watch Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Marat Safin or the Williams sisters… low impact?!  I don’t think so.  I mentioned it to a few people last night and everyone’s reaction was to laugh at it.

p.s.  Newcastle won the match - Michael Owen came on as a substitute and scored the winning goal in the first half of extra time to make it 3-2.  Kevin Keegan was very… diplomatic in the post-match interview.

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24/08/2008 by admin.

August is a month of remembrance for me.  Two very good people taken away and missing 4 years too long and as I think about them I am reminded by the Backstreet Boy’s song ‘Never Gone’ from their 5th album of the same name.

“Never Gone”

The things we did, the things we said
Keep coming back to me and make me smile again
You showed me how to face the truth
Everything that’s good in me I owe to you

Though the distance that’s between us
Now may seem to be too far
It will never seperate us
Deep inside I know you are

Never gone, never far
In my heart is where you are
Always close, everyday
Every step along the way
Even though for now we’ve gotta say goodbye
I know you will be forever in my life (yeah)
Never gone

No no no
I walk alone these empty streets
There is not a second you’re not here with me
The love you gave, the grace you’ve shown
Will always give me strength and be my cornerstone

(Somehow)
Somehow you found a way
To see the best I have in me
As long as time goes on
I swear to you that you will be

Never gone, never far
In my heart is where you are
Always close (always close)
Everyday (everyday)
Every step along the way
Even though for now we’ve gotta say goodbye
I know you will be forever in my life (in my life yeah)

Never gone from me
If there’s one thing I believe (I believe)
I will see you somewhere down the road again

Never gone, never far
In my heart is where you are
Always close (always close)
Everyday (everyday)
Every step along the way
Even though for now we’ve gotta say goodbye (yeah yeah)
I know you will be forever in my life (in my life)

Never gone, never far
In my heart (in my heart is where) is where you are (you are)
Always close, everyday
Every step along the way

Never gone, never far
In my heart is where you are

**** Apologies to the author of the lyrics; I’m not sure who you are.

RIP CW & HS-A  - never gone, never forgotten

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21/08/2008 by admin.

The Olympics are pretty much over for me now that the tennis has finished although it’s been interesting to keep watching.  Nice to see the UK doing well.

So the tennis at the Olympics had an awesome result for me;

Rafa Nadal won gold in the men’s singles.

Roger Federer won gold in the men’s doubles.

Wooo! 

My two favourite players won gold medals and Novak ‘Nole’ Djokovic won a bronze medal in the men’s singles.  I was very lucky to wake up in time to see the Nadal v Gonzales final (I’m currently using the same tennis racket as Gonzales) and it was very exciting.  There was only going to be one winner and I knew who it would be before the match started.  Bit concerned that during the second set that Nadal may be feeling the effects of playing so much tennis this season.  He was all over the court but I came away with the impression he may be feeling really tired right now.  I’m a bit concerned about his US Open campaign (watch him win it now I’ve said this). 

Speaking of the US Open, I can’t believe that a man who has never made it past the quarter final has been seeded number 1!  I know he’s World number 1 and he’s won the French Open, Wimbledon and a gold medal but hard court isn’t Rafa’s favourite surface and like I said he needs to get past the quarter final and I’m concerned about how much tennis he’s played this season.

My prediction?  Roger Federer’s confidence will be feeling better having beaten the number 1 doubles partners in the semi-finals to then take the gold medal (who saw that coming?!) and will be feeling better and stronger.  He’ll meet Rafa in the US Open final and successfully defend his title.  The press will still him write off but unfortunately that’s what they do.

BTW who sees Roger coming back to regain his world number 1 title for a few more weeks?

Congratulations to Roger and Rafa and all those who won medals and all those who were outstanding enough to take part in the Olympics.  You are all amazing athletes to get there do not be disappointed if you didn’t win – getting there is an achievement in itself!

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07/08/2008 by admin.

St B v EAR

The mixed doubles is upon us and EAR (my team) aren’t doing that badly.  We’ve had 1 walkover, 1 convincing win and one appalling loss.  I was really annoyed with the loss; in fact I was depressed by it.  My team captain didn’t think about the pairings properly – if G and I had played together (as we had the previous week) we would have faired much better.  So not only was I not playing with someone I’m used to playing competitive doubles with but also I was demoted to 3^rd couple and I shouldn’t have been.  I got the impression we were playing to try and win but you could have fooled me.

(Check me out I sound vaguely diva-ish).

So we were playing the crunch final match in the table last night to see if St B. Were crowned as winners or not.  G and I were playing together and we were (rightly) 3^rd couple this time.  We had a ‘B’ draw and had to play their first couple.  Good one.

Their first couple being a mum and son combination (the son being only just higher than the net but very good at tennis).  G had already said we’d find St. B tough but then added to that by saying how good this boy was.  We weren’t too surprised when we went 3-1 down but then things started to pick up and eventually we went ahead at 4-3 or 5-4.  Couldn’t believe it.  There was a lot of fist pumping (there’s been a lot more of that than I remember last year!)

The only problem was the weather; it was drizzling verging on rain and the courts were getting very slippery.  Sure enough in the middle of a point I had been racing around the baseline like a headless chicken and slipped over trying to switch direction (oddly enough I had suspected this was going to happen).  I scraped my knee and landed heavily on my wrist which was already sore from my tendonitis.  Luckily I had my wrist support on (heavily masked by my sweatband because the support is so ugly) and after that my tendonitis actually got better.  I finished serving the game (which we won) and then had to see to my knee as blood trickled down my leg. 

After that, the rain was getting worse and I was very uncomfortable on court; I wasn’t enjoying moving around on it and I was swinging through my shots properly causing a lot of unforced errors so we lost the first set tie break.

In the second set, we took an unexpected lead at 3-1 with me to serve.  I had a mammoth service game (meanwhile on other courts, out first couple started their second round match) which I came back from 0-40 to serve about 10 deuces and we eventually lost the game.  I knew it would be a turning point and it was.  They went ahead in games (our first couple finished their second round when we were at 4-5) - we took them to another tie break which the won.  We finished the match frustrated that we were given so many opportunities and we just couldn’t convert them.  We did play fairly well though.

A two hour epic (it was even written down on the score sheet!).

We started out next round appalling as we went 5-0 down and before rain stopped play we were at 5-1 so everything to play for when we go back and finish it all off.  I think we were partly tired after our long match and the rain was getting really bad it was dangerous.  I was not moving well and the fact I wasn’t swinging through shots anymore was annoying me.  I started to pick up though just as we finished.  How typical.

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