Category: Assorted Hammers

On Exercising

I am ecstatic to report that it has been another good week.  I can’t remember when last I had felt this way.

For one, the Springboks annihilated the Wallabies in the rugby test yesterday.  Just kidding.  Not about the Springboks winning, but about it having any influence whatsoever on the state of my week.  I only found out there was a game hours after it happened – I’m not very big on sports.

I woke up last Saturday with a sore throat and by Monday I was still feeling a bit under the weather.  Added to that, when I weighed in on Monday I discovered I had gained even more weight since I started working out.  I very nearly did not get back on my exercise machine, but managed to convince myself.  It was torture, however.  I very nearly stopped early and felt like I was going to be sick when I finally did stop.

It did not go much better the rest of the week, but somehow I prevailed.  Then Friday came along.  I got on my machine and when my stopwatch beeped that I could stop now I didn’t want to.  I was breathing hard and my muscles were burning, but it felt good.  I kept going and ran about a kilometre farther than usual.  I wanted to go on even longer, but forced myself to stop – no sense in over-doing it.

I had planned to take weekends off, but yesterday I actually got fidgety when I didn’t work out.  It’s the first time I’ve felt this way about exercise.  I guess I’ve never stuck with it long enough to reach the point where it actually becomes fun, though I think I can get used to it.

As a result of the exercise I’ve also been feeling more energetic, I’ve been more able to focus on my reading for my degree and I feel more relaxed.  I honestly can’t imagine why more people don’t try this exercise-thing.

In other news, I’ve not heard anything about that job for which I applied, but then it is a church board that has to make the appointment so I really hadn’t expected to hear anything by now – church boards tend to take their time.  That hasn’t stopped me from keeping my phone on and close to me day and night, though (they might call me in the middle of the night to check if I’m able to be on call if someone needed urgent trauma counselling or something – you never know).

But I think I’ve talked enough nonsense for one day.

Coming up this week we’ll talk a bit about serial killers, we’ll revisit that eternal question of what is in a name and there will be a book review (and maybe a movie as well if I have time).  I leave you in the good hands of Adele with Rolling In The Deep, currently number 1 on my workout playlist – it’s that beat: once it gets me going I don’t want to stop.

Have a good one.

On getting the facts right

This is not what I had planned for today.  But I needed to vent.  In fact, I needed to vent last night but didn’t feel like powering up the computer at 11pm for a rant.

I finally finished Inferno last night.  That in itself is reason to rant, but the full review is on its way.  However, on the tedious slog to the finish line I came across a sentence that quite literally made me cringe.

On page 434 of the hardcover edition Mr Brown uses this sentence:  “And the HIV virus attacked the immune system, causing the disease AIDS.”

In South Africa HIV and AIDS is a pretty big issue, with about a third of the population infected and more than two thirds affected.  In the people-oriented professions like social work, counselling, teaching, community development and the medical professions it is something we have to deal with every day.  Consequently, during my studies the facts about this condition was thoroughly drilled into my mind (and I’m reading a book about it again for my Master’s) and I get quite riled up if people spout a bunch of nonsense about it. Continue reading “On getting the facts right” →

On tasty treats

For as long as I can remember my favourite dessert (except ice cream, of course) has been lemon meringue.  It was always one of those treats that only came along with one of the folks’ birthdays or if some relatives came to visit.  When I finally became old enough to forgo the birthday party with obligatory clown cake it became a standard request for the celebratory rituals on the annual remembrance of my egress from the womb.  So naturally, when my mom moved to a different town I needed to learn how to make it myself, lest I be starved of my favourite sweet indulgence.

Lemon meringueThe wife and I just finished the final pieces of the lemon meringue I made on Friday for her birthday and in a surge of sugar-induced altruism I’ve decided to share the recipe for this divine food with you.

Continue reading “On tasty treats” →

On building a puppet

In a previous post I mentioned (and got absolutely no reaction, by the way) that I’m trained in puppetry and also make my own puppets.  I don’t get a lot of opportunity to practise these skills, though.  When I was still working as a youth pastor I did puppetry quite often and also trained kids in doing puppetry, but no more.  We also went through a phase where we got several orders for puppets, but those have dried up (probably due to the fact that we don’t really advertise).

Until this week.  A student who was doing her practical at the wife’s school needed a puppet for a class requirement.  They have to make it themselves.  For marks.  And not just any old puppet.  It must be a human mouth puppet, you know, like Elmo.

Sesame Street's Elmo
Elmo from Sesame Street
Designed by Caroly Wilcox
Click image for more information

This shows once again just how little some university lecturers actually know of the real world.  See, these puppets can be tricky to make, the materials are expensive (the foam used for the insides cannot be bought in single-puppet quantities), and good patterns are not freely available – you have to buy them.  But they have to be hand-made because that’s cheaper than buying them (then have them make glove puppets, for crying out loud!)

As one would expect, most students cheat.  They pay someone who has the patterns, materials and expertise to make the puppets for them.  I don’t really have qualms about helping them in their cheating – I enjoy making puppets and it’s good money.  I’m much more concerned that these students will enter the teaching profession with a puppet but without any training in puppetry and without any appreciation for the puppet they purchased, cause every time I sell a puppet it’s like putting a child up for adoption.  That’s how I feel about them.

Maybe you’ll understand a bit better once you’ve seen a bit of what goes into making a puppet.

Advisory Warning:  At this point I have to warn you that the rest of this post will contain graphic images of naked, skinless and skinned puppets.  Sensitive readers might do well to go look at these funny pictures of crying babies.

Continue reading “On building a puppet” →