Marathon

Having managed to escape PE for most of my educational life and having avoided Sports' Day from the age of 6, it will come as a shock to most people to discover that I will be running the Brighton Marathon next Summer for St Wilfrid's Hospice in Chichester. Despite my aversion to anything sporty, aside from watching the gymnastics from the comfort of my sofa on a Sunday, I am determined to run and, more importantly, finish it.

My Dad once told me that I was on a one-woman mission to save the world. He may have a point. I do suffer from a form of "Charity Tourettes". If anyone needs help, it will always be me with their hand up, "pick me, pick me". This could be seen as me being caring and considerate or it could be seen as some sort of mental health disorder. "Oh, you need someone to prance about in a funny outfit? Okay" The things I do in order to help a good cause. I am surprised my two kidneys remain intact!

I shall be using this blog to record my progress, as I begin training. Watch this space...

Busy busy busy

Phew, what a whirlwind few weeks. I have barely had time to sit down and the only thing remaining of my old routine is watching Dynasty!

That said, I am quite chipper. I like having things to get my teeth into and being able to use my brain. The Dirty South is now up and running - the team are out and about and are doing a grand job covering events in the South. Southsea Fest is just around the corner and I will have my hands full with the new volunteering project, it'll be hard work but we are the first festival in the country to offer this scheme. Woohoo! Quite frankly, I am busier than a busy thing on a particularly busy day BUT in no way am I bored!

The majority of my life now is unpaid. It seems silly but all the work I do for Southsea Fest, the webzine and my voluntary work will help me far more in my chosen career path than my actual job. I am happy with the things I'm doing, which means I am better able to cope with the mundanity of my work life. The thing I have to stop, is the ideas I come up with when I have 5 minutes of downtime. It just results in yet more work! Is there a way of controlling that do you think?

Arse Idol

Last night I attended the premiere of "Love You Too" at Cinema Number 6. I shall not be reviewing the film on here, that will be available over at The Dirty South website.

What I do want to discuss is the afterparty! Squishing so many people into Sam's terraced house was quite a feat! Much alcohol was consumed and I am entirely to blame for "Arse Idol", an idea based on the amount of nudity contained within the film. I felt the other blokes needed a platform to exhibit their wares (haha) It's only fair!

So, 5 contenders stepped forward and I attempted to mark each backside based on technical ability and artistic interpretation. The results are as follows:

Xan 5.5/10

Mark 6.5/10

Sam 7/10

Isaac 7.5/10

Jack 7.5/10

The fact there was a tie-break situation was nearly my downfall! I do not feel able to discuss the events following my adjudication, needless to say I ended up with a scrotum on my shoulder and will need counselling for the forseeable future :D

Grrrrrrr, the Vinkasaur roars!

There are not enough hours in the day to achieve everything. Short of cloning myself (which is not wise, the world is not ready for two Vickys!) I shall just have to soldier on. As such, sleep deprivation is the norm and I am becoming a total insomniac. Telly is rubbish at 3am, radio is rubbish at 3am and being awake is rubbish at 3am :(

Several ideas have been put forward to alleviate my sleeping (or lack thereof) issues:

1 A mobile (not phone, but the whirly animal things that hang over a cot) I immediately rejected this idea on the basis that it will probably keep me awake even more by wanting to play with it!

2 Soft and soothing music. Even Selected Ambient Works is not doing it for me (Volume 1 or 2!!)

3 Reading. I am currently reading (or attempting to read) The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas. I will be awake sobbing and visualising Auschwitz, so have rejected this idea on those grounds.

My own idea is a combination of a mallet and chloroform. It's foolproof! I may be left with minor concussion or increased headaches but if it means I get some sleep, it's a risk I'm willing to take. A tired Vinkasaur is a grouchy Vinkasaur :(

A dilemma approacheth

Anyone who knows me will know that I do a lot of work for charity. In fact, most of the work I do is for charity being that I only work for 15 hours a week. I love what I do - always have done.

At present there are a load of projects I am juggling. The Dirty South will be launching soon and Southsea Fest ventures are about to kick off in earnest, plus I am helping a group get funding for counselling services, advising on a youth project and there are several charity events I am planning for the rest of the year (more on this at a later date!) There is no doubt that I am busy!

So, when an opportunity arose for me to be the regional coordinator for Refugee Week I was really excited. It's a voluntary post for one day a week between now and July, covering the South and South-East region. The aim is to be the point of contact for RCOs and for the media. I would love it, I'd be really getting my teeth into things but I know that the press enquiries and community group queries will not only happen on a Tuesday from 9 til 5.

I am stretched almost to breaking point as it is, if I took this on too would it be the straw that broke the capybara's back? Technically there simply aren't enough hours in the week for me to take this position but if I don't I would be missing a huge opportunity to enhance my experience, help out the regional Refugee Community Organisations (RCOs) and raise awareness. I find it hard to say no when asked to help but, in truth, I am finding this a difficult decision to make.

Hurtling towards Christmas again.....

So, a week has passed. Already. My Nan always warned me that time flew when you got older but I was not expecting such breakneck speed until I was well into my seventies, clad in chiffon, with 16 cats and a penchant for hairnets. As it is, my birthday seems to come round twice a year and Christmas is neverending! She's a wise woman, my Nan, casting aside her habit for knitting pants for teddies and calling me by every name bar my own :)

In some respects I feel I have skipped a generation entirely and have morphed into Nanny Olive. Aside from my love of tea and cake in the afternoon, I seem to have become more forgetful AND more scathing of popular music. "Chipmunk, in my day that was a small rodent" I do have similarities to my Dad too. I can vividly remember him complaining about how hard it was to replace his vinyl with CDs (what a fogey) and it was only recently I realised I had been doing the exact same things for years with my cassettes - do you *know* how hard it is to get Strangelove on CD?!

Whilst talking to my Mum this week I was frantically looking for my mobile. I turned my whole room upside-down in the hunt (one handed of course) until I realised it was clamped to my ear and I had been talking into it for 30 minutes prior to panic. Lost glasses, forgetting why you've walked into a room - all classic examples of early onset "Nan-ness" Unfortunately, I have not completely transformed into my Nan, as I am without the ability to knit! My poor bears will have to remain naked for the forseeable future....

Saints?

We are approaching Valentine's Day. St Valentine was the patron saint of lovers, the betrothed and had the less glamorous job of "protection against plague" To me, his job description was all over the place. Hit and miss, as it were! As I was discussing with my housemate earlier, it's a bit like being in charge of a country but also having responsibility for making sure each sock was part of a pair.

To keep myself amused this evening I have compiled a list of potential saints:

1) St Elsewhere: The patron saint of avoiding people after embarrassing situations

2) St Reatham: The patron saint of shitty areas of London which have delusions of grandeur

3) St Amina: The patron saint of the discomfort suffered after an infrequent visit to the gym

4) St Itch: The patron saint of insane Disney characters

5) St Ylophone: The patron saint of pointless musical instruments that you could get as a kid which have now been replaced by Air Guitar or Rock Group

6) St Arving: The patron saint of revisiting the fridge every 5 minutes despite there being nothing in there

7) St Arling: The patron saint of bird poo

8) St Arch: The patron saint of burning a hole in your favourite shirt right before an important meeting and/or job interview

9) St Ring: The patron saint of random bits of detritus and fluff extracted from your pocket

10) St Abbing: The patron saint of gangs

Oooooh, I could do this for hours :D