So much excitement that it merited a quick post - I just heard that I'll be getting my own show on Cam FM (97.2) this Michaelmas term!
I applied last week and found out today!
The show will be called 'Treat Yo Shelf' and it will feature:
- me (obviously)
- lots of talking about children's books with some wonderful guests
- tangentially related music (there will always be a connection to either the theme of the show or the texts that we are talking about - it just might not be super obvious!)
It starts on 11th October at 11am and the theme for the first show will be:
MAGIC!
I'm so excited and I hope I'll have at least one listener who is not my family. You can listen on the radio (obviously) if you live locally in the Cambridge area and you can also listen online at www.camfm.co.uk!
Sunday, 27 September 2015
Monday, 17 August 2015
Pullups - prepare to be decimated
One of the things that I try to include in my exercise ~*~*~philosophy~*~*~ is that you should do stuff you don't like because you are probably bad at it. Yep, I'm all about stating the obvious here.
That's why I like CrossFit and have a super love/hate relationship with Wodify (which tells you the workout before you arrive at the box). In one way I quite like it, because I can look up the exercises while I'm having breakfast and go through everything and make sure I mainly understand things by watching tutorials on YouTube (the at-home learner's friend for everything) but I do frequently see things in the WOD that I just think, 'nahhhhh I don't like that' and/or 'nahhhhh I'm rubbish at that'. Frequently those things coincide. The list of things I dislike most:
Hollow body rocks
Anything involving an overhead squat (I just can't do all the things)
Anything involving my weaselly insectlike upper limbs having to do anything (my upper body strength is <0)
That's actually quite a lot of stuff when I think about it.
Today however I managed to thoroughly embarrass myself in a workout that involved pullups. I have hated pullups for years as APPARENTLY all swimmers and rowers should be able to do them. I am the only swimmer and rower that can't, according to various strength coaches over the years. I had to have two bands on the rig that I could stand on and lovely Coach Lee had to boost me up too.
Isn't it, Chris Pratt. Isn't it just.
So from now on every time I go to CrossFit I'm going to make the effort after the class to do some pullup drills because I'll be damned if I'll be so embarrassed again by my weakness.* And I'll be keeping a record on here, so I can track if I'm getting any better...
*NB reserve me a space in hell, because I embarrass myself all the time and I definitely will embarrass myself at CrossFit again because of my insect limbs.
Thursday, 26 March 2015
The Book That Made My Babysitting Job Seem Incredibly Easy In Comparison
Sometimes I babysit for two kids who live down the road from me. They are incredibly lovely and sweet but boy do they have some energy. I think that I race around and have high energy but I am as nothing compared to small children. Such running! Such giggling! Such shouting!
But at least there aren't six of them. They're not identical. And King Alaspooryorick of Daneland has never once tried to invade anywhere in Cambridge, to my knowledge.
Not being funny but I wouldn't let my sister pick me ANY job.
Holly and Anna are desperate to go on their dream holiday, but the only way they can is to babysit for six identical toddler Princes and their older brother Prince Pepino, all in the middle of an invasion by King Alaspooryorick. I knew it would be good since I've read Clementine's 'Sesame Seade' series and thoroughly enjoyed it, so I took this along to babysitting to garner some good favour. They loved the Cow, the porcupine grenade, and the Robotic Mermaids (not to give too much away), so at least we agree on some things, and they were so enthralled it was almost easy to get them to go to sleep afterwards.
Shamefully, this has been sitting on my TBR pile since it made its way into my basket at Sainsbury's last November. Clementine's in-jokes and bright writing, alongside Becka Moor's really amazing illustrations - she completely communicates the sense of the book, and makes it so fun!- made it a slice of sun and good cheer in the middle of March - enough to make me willing to take on some more babysitting to provide for my own summer holidays.
But at least there aren't six of them. They're not identical. And King Alaspooryorick of Daneland has never once tried to invade anywhere in Cambridge, to my knowledge.
'I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW HARD BABYSITTING IS!' EXCLAIMED HOLLY. 'IT'S THE LAST TIME I LET MY SISTER PICK A SUMMER JOB FOR US.'
Not being funny but I wouldn't let my sister pick me ANY job.
Holly and Anna are desperate to go on their dream holiday, but the only way they can is to babysit for six identical toddler Princes and their older brother Prince Pepino, all in the middle of an invasion by King Alaspooryorick. I knew it would be good since I've read Clementine's 'Sesame Seade' series and thoroughly enjoyed it, so I took this along to babysitting to garner some good favour. They loved the Cow, the porcupine grenade, and the Robotic Mermaids (not to give too much away), so at least we agree on some things, and they were so enthralled it was almost easy to get them to go to sleep afterwards.
Shamefully, this has been sitting on my TBR pile since it made its way into my basket at Sainsbury's last November. Clementine's in-jokes and bright writing, alongside Becka Moor's really amazing illustrations - she completely communicates the sense of the book, and makes it so fun!- made it a slice of sun and good cheer in the middle of March - enough to make me willing to take on some more babysitting to provide for my own summer holidays.
'CAMBRIDGIA AND OXFORTH? NOTHING EVER HAPPENS THERE; THEY'RE THE MOST BORINGLY PEACEFUL PLACES IN BRITLAND.'
Wednesday, 25 March 2015
The Book That I Can't Stop Coming Back To
'THE CLAYR SAW ME, THE WALLMAKER MADE ME, THE KING QUENCHED ME, THE ABHORSEN WIELDS ME SO THAT NO DEAD SHALL WALK IN LIFE. FOR THIS IS NOT THEIR PATH'
I first read 'Sabriel' when I was about 12. I could say about it that Garth Nix is an engaging writer, the story rolls along, the characters are fascinating (especially Mogget) and the world in which it is set is drawn well, all of which I believe to be true.
It doesn't explain why I've come back to this book so many times. My mum has been known to describe it as my comfort blanket and I would go so far as to say I've read it more times than any other book (excluding Harry Potter texts).
I smuggled it to Cambridge after a term of my undergraduate. I read it brazenly in the car when I moved to Edinburgh, and kept it with me for reassurance. I delighted when it was finally put on kindle. And today I took it on the train with me as I came back from Manchester to Cambridge, and cried and cried as I left the hills and Sabriel received the bells and the bandoleer from her father.
There are two main reasons I love it so much.
One has to be Sabriel and her dad. We never know his name - he's always just the Abhorsen. But his love for Sabriel is true and kind, and even to the end, they're a team. To my dad, as well, who always has my back.
'They turned together and plunged out into Life'
The second reason must be the quote below. For someone who rarely knows what they want to do, whether in the big or the little decisions, these words consistently remind me, when I think on them, of the choices that we can make and the actions we can take to run our own lives, but also of the external factors which often force us to take a different direction. My life isn't settled yet, and in and of itself, it's comforting to remember that no-one knows anything for sure.
DOES THE WALKER CHOOSE THE PATH, OR THE PATH THE WALKER?
Wednesday, 4 February 2015
The Blue Bird Column: Week 3
Original to be found here: http://www.bluebirdnews.co.uk/sophie-clarke-week-3/
Can you get used to losing? Can you get used to winning? What does it take to drop a game when you’re winning – or start winning when you’re already some goals behind?
To be honest, I don’t know. It’s very well to say that it’s the will to win – that if you want it enough, it will happen. There’s an element of truth to that – if you want it, you work for it, and that often tips the balance in your favour. But I’ve played on teams and rowed in boats and run races in which wanting and working was just not enough.
As much as people say that it’s just about digging deep when you’re behind and you need to come back for the win, there’s also an element of viciousness about when you’re leading – about being almost cruel in continuing to put away the tries and goals and the distance between you. If you get cocky, if you sit back on your laurels, it’s easy to see that get snatched away from you. It’s difficult, too, to keep your head up if the flow of play is in your favour – and then all too soon it turns against you.
I’ve been thinking about this because over the weekend my team lost a match on Friday and then won on Sunday. We haven’t won a match since 14th November (beat Oxford 4-3) so it was long overdue. We’re not a bad team, far from it, but for some reason when we play, we haven’t managed to grasp that higher element, where training and hard work and team spirit all comes together and you trounce whoever you’re playing against. I read about the fantastic work of CUWLC and CULNC and remembered how good it feels to win consistently. It’s difficult to stay peppy and positive if you’re losing all the time – and people forget how great it feels to triumph. You start believing that maybe you are second best – how do you fix what’s wrong? What even is wrong? Why are we losing? Maybe you should be losing if you can’t even figure it out and make it better.
As the women’s water polo finally won after many months, the men’s water polo suffered some unfortunate losses – in one, going from a 3-1 lead to losing 6-3 after conceding 3 goals in 1.5 minutes. I feel their pain as in our BUCS matches this year that is how a few of our games have panned out – the momentum is with you, you go out hard, in control of the play, and then inexplicably everything is slipping from your grasp and the more you work to scramble back, the more everything goes wrong. When you’re on a winning streak and you’ve got all the confidence behind you, the fall is harder when an inevitable loss comes – and it’s tricky then to pick it all back up and make it all seem right.
Now that we’re back on the win train though, we remember how it feels when everything clicks. After the night of RAG Blind Date it feels important to acknowledge that when you play as a real team there’s an element of chemistry there, something more than just working hard and fighting to be the best. I play for my girls and I play for CUSWPC and I play for the sport, because I love it even when I hate the losing. That’s how you come back from losing – whether stopping a bad run of form or suddenly bringing the field level again in the third quarter – when instead of gritting your teeth singularly and trying to do it alone, the whole team digs in and refuses to let it happen that way any more, and you pull up to that higher level of play, where everything works and you can’t be beaten.
So I’ll be closely following the water polo men on Twitter tomorrow as they fight to turn around some tough results – and I’ll be looking to see my girls fight our way up the league on Sunday when we take on Birmingham and the Other Place in our final BUCS matches before the knockout round. Work hard, play hard, fight together as a team – Light Blue victories all the way. Simple.
Can you get used to losing? Can you get used to winning? What does it take to drop a game when you’re winning – or start winning when you’re already some goals behind?
To be honest, I don’t know. It’s very well to say that it’s the will to win – that if you want it enough, it will happen. There’s an element of truth to that – if you want it, you work for it, and that often tips the balance in your favour. But I’ve played on teams and rowed in boats and run races in which wanting and working was just not enough.
As much as people say that it’s just about digging deep when you’re behind and you need to come back for the win, there’s also an element of viciousness about when you’re leading – about being almost cruel in continuing to put away the tries and goals and the distance between you. If you get cocky, if you sit back on your laurels, it’s easy to see that get snatched away from you. It’s difficult, too, to keep your head up if the flow of play is in your favour – and then all too soon it turns against you.
I’ve been thinking about this because over the weekend my team lost a match on Friday and then won on Sunday. We haven’t won a match since 14th November (beat Oxford 4-3) so it was long overdue. We’re not a bad team, far from it, but for some reason when we play, we haven’t managed to grasp that higher element, where training and hard work and team spirit all comes together and you trounce whoever you’re playing against. I read about the fantastic work of CUWLC and CULNC and remembered how good it feels to win consistently. It’s difficult to stay peppy and positive if you’re losing all the time – and people forget how great it feels to triumph. You start believing that maybe you are second best – how do you fix what’s wrong? What even is wrong? Why are we losing? Maybe you should be losing if you can’t even figure it out and make it better.
As the women’s water polo finally won after many months, the men’s water polo suffered some unfortunate losses – in one, going from a 3-1 lead to losing 6-3 after conceding 3 goals in 1.5 minutes. I feel their pain as in our BUCS matches this year that is how a few of our games have panned out – the momentum is with you, you go out hard, in control of the play, and then inexplicably everything is slipping from your grasp and the more you work to scramble back, the more everything goes wrong. When you’re on a winning streak and you’ve got all the confidence behind you, the fall is harder when an inevitable loss comes – and it’s tricky then to pick it all back up and make it all seem right.
Now that we’re back on the win train though, we remember how it feels when everything clicks. After the night of RAG Blind Date it feels important to acknowledge that when you play as a real team there’s an element of chemistry there, something more than just working hard and fighting to be the best. I play for my girls and I play for CUSWPC and I play for the sport, because I love it even when I hate the losing. That’s how you come back from losing – whether stopping a bad run of form or suddenly bringing the field level again in the third quarter – when instead of gritting your teeth singularly and trying to do it alone, the whole team digs in and refuses to let it happen that way any more, and you pull up to that higher level of play, where everything works and you can’t be beaten.
So I’ll be closely following the water polo men on Twitter tomorrow as they fight to turn around some tough results – and I’ll be looking to see my girls fight our way up the league on Sunday when we take on Birmingham and the Other Place in our final BUCS matches before the knockout round. Work hard, play hard, fight together as a team – Light Blue victories all the way. Simple.
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