Thirteen Thing Thursday #1

Welcome one and all to the inaugural Thirteen Thing Thursday...sort of shamelessly pilfered from  inspired by Cely at Running off the Reeses' 'Fifteen Thing Friday' and Janae at HungryRunnerGirl's 'Tangent Tuesday'.

1. I signed up for the Cambridge Half Marathon! The last half marathon I did was very hilly so I am excited for a fast, flat course...

2. Quinoa and oats porridge is my jam. I used the recipe from Thug Kitchen for my breakfasts all of this week - cooked on Sunday and reheated all week - and it has been deeeeeeeeeeeelicious. Some frozen raspberries and blueberries on top and a tiny smidge of sugar and BAM. Happiness in a bowl.

3. I'm really excited for the next episode of TREAT YO SHELF. This week I'll be talking about sports in children's books and while I still need to plan the show, I'm feeling increasingly confident about the technical side of it and about enjoying myself on air and running a fairly decent show.

4. Not enough Mindy in Mindy Project this week. 

Exactly. How could you not write in more of her gloriousness. My Minday was ever so slightly disappointing as a result.

5. My Wednesday nights still feel empty without Bake Off...

6. ...but my Saturdays are filled with the shining light that is Strictly!

7. My mum just texted me and said she booked tickets for the new Star Wars film at Christmas. Exciting!

8. I'm reading Terrier by Tamora Pierce at the minute, and whilst I'm not loving it like the Alanna, Daine and Kel series (which I suppose I have quite a lot of nostalgia and emotion for), it is good...review coming soon! I'll probably review the whole trilogy at once when I finish reading them all.

9. I wish it were easier to help your friends be happy. When I see friends breaking up, making tough decisions, standing strong for their family amongst issues, I just want to give them a hug and support them. But not being able to actively do anything to improve these situations does fully suck.

10. I'm going to attempt to use November this year to do NaNoWriMo as well as catch up on a lot of PhD work. My wordcount per day will be 1,667 fiction and 1,667 academic. I know it sounds crazy but the trouble I have getting words on the page is not to be underestimated. Getting down to some planning next week to make sure it all goes as smoothly as it possibly can...

11. On top of NaNo and my academic writing I'm also going to be writing some features for one of the student newspapers here, the Blue Bird. I'm hoping to kick it all off by writing a weekly feature on how top student athletes fare after they leave Cambridge. Watch this space!

12. Speaking of student athletes, it's the yearly sporting alumni reunion of my college this weekend...Old Boys. There are rugby, football, hockey and netball matches with a rowing outing for good measure and then a big dinner in the evening. I'm sort of looking forward to it, but not, because it makes me feel old, and not a lot of my friends are coming back for it, but there will be people there who I only see once a year, and that is quite fun.

13. But regardless of what happens with Old Boys at the weekend, it doesn't matter because my family are in town! My parents and brother are coming to visit me and my sister because my brother was meant to be graduating but forgot to register in time (classic Bruce). Anyway they'll be here and that makes me happy. Here's to more pictures like this (and I can't seem to find one with all of us in. Note to self: that is a task for the weekend):

Exciting news!

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!

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.

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.

'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.'

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?