Sunday, May 4, 2014

Changes in Ritual

So the last week has been all about adjustments. Largely, adjustments to the schedule and habit that I had last term. It is a bit less ideal than before, but for some strange reasons.

The start of my week was very quiet. From here on out, I would largely have much of the day to myself with more than enough things to keep me busy with in the evening. I went to Hinksey, one of the local ranges, and shot before fitness. Fitness was not surprisingly much tougher than before and I struggled through it with everyone. The combined time devoted to shooting and fitness was 5 hours. Which isn't much in the grand scheme of things but is a bit annoying when it is over dinner hours. I was starving during much of the shooting but this would prove to be a common pattern.

I exhaustedly turned in for the night and the next day was faced with a day completely devoid of obligation and an evening that was really busy. My first tutorial was at 6pm, before which I review and got half way into costume for role playing society at 7:30. After my tutorial, which went moderately well, I rushed to my flat to finish my costume and grab a quick bite before meeting up with a friend to head over. My character Aiden was a huge success at the session. I was quite nervous to play her as she is very different from myself. She is a femme fatale with a heart burning with revolutionary spirit. I would be tempted to let the game and the many many many emails that followed take up my days, but I had enough self control to prioritize work.

On Wednesday, I was still sore from fitness and I needed to prepare my essay for Friday. The research done I set to the task and finished just as quickly as I had anticipated, only a 1 and 1/2 to write it. In order to utilize the meals that my parents were already paying for me, but that I often missed for archery, I forwent archery for the evening and had a quiet evening to myself. I was already beginning to feel fatigued by this top heavy approach.

On Thursday, I went for a jog with little success and prepared myself for a day much like my monday had been. Sure enough, I spent from 5pm-8:30pm shooting and this time in a nice downpour. This is when I learned what awaited me potentially for future practice and competition. Archery is an all weather sport. Just because its raining doesn't mean you aren't standing out on the line letting it soak you to the core. Safe to say when I got back and changed into new clothing, I curled up in a blanket and had a nice cup of hot coco. Little moments like this remind me to cherish climate control.

My Friday was shaped differently than any other day. I had a tutorial that morning which I really enjoyed, but in preparing for that tutorial (aka waking up), I realized just how lackadaisical I had become with my morning routine. Without any immediately pressing matters, I would allow myself to meander. A bit perturbed by the fact, I endeavoured to stick more closely to my 8:15am alarm, even when I had no reason to be up that early. I went to shoot that afternoon and began the process of re-tuning my bow. Tuning involves adjusting the surprising number of bits on the bow regardless of whether the arrow is fletched or not, it will fly in an ideally precise group. Unfortunately, because the walk to Hinksey is a good 40 minutes, I couldn't stay long and had to rush to get back for formal hall dinner. Hopefully I will finished tuning next week.

Saturday was a day of spontaneity. Sara had originally made plans with Katie to go see Much ado about Nothing at the Shakespeare's Globe in London, but Katie had fallen ill and Sara had an extra ticket. Happy to accompany her, I jumped on a bus with her to London and saw the show. The Globe stage is gorgeous and we had ground-ling seats which meant that we could stand anywhere by the stage for the show. It was a bit amazing to think of the numbers of peasants that would have stood where I was standing watching this same show performed. The show itself was spectacular, incorporating music in a surprising and effective way. The play, which I had not read or seen up until then, was well performed and quite hilarious. The stage directions were brilliant and I was very thankful to have been given the opportunity to see it.


All in all, this week was actually quite a good one and I was largely happy, but I did feel unbalanced. I like to feel busy and I honestly like to feel a little fatigued and sore because all of these things signal to me, a productive and well-lived day. However, even though I ended the day busy and fatigued, I was less thrilled about the hours of empty space. I often filled it productively but I felt a bit unchallenged. I have excellent time management skills, but they were of no use with this sort of work load. I didn't' need to bother and I felt like all those skills I had trained were slipping. I am sure that I will either adjust to the new schedule or find a way to alter it with time. I guess I should be thankful that I'm constantly given new opportunities to understand my self and my good life.

Until next time.

Adventures Await!

KH


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