Update on where I'm at / what I'm doing

Last Tuesday I took the entrance exam for the Masters course at university and, although the results are not in yet, I’m pretty sure I have failed. We had three exam papers: one I aced, one I did okish and one I flunked. Ironically, I failed the exam that I had most prepared for. Ah well, at least I tried, right? Oh, yeah, and I have no idea when the results will be made available, so that I may confirm my awful fail.

As for looking for any other jobs, I am afraid to admit that I have been a completely lazy cow. My excuse is that I am fasting (still!) and I just do not have the energy to keep going. The reality is that I managed to push myself until my exam, and now I am suffering from a little burnout.

I am still doing Jillian Michael’s 30-Day Shred workout DVD. I had just about mastered level 1 (and by ‘mastered’ I mean ‘managed to get myself through it without wanting to give up’) when the first 10 days were up, and it was time to start level 2. Oh my God, I cannot believe how hard I found it, especially the first couple of days. There was actually a point during my workout when I said (aloud): that woman’s crazy! It was during a move called Plank-Squats, which essentially involves getting into a plank position (similar to full push-up position, but with the arms shoulder-width apart and your bum up in the air) and then jumping your legs forwards and backwards whilst keeping them closed, balancing on your arms and trying to remember to breathe. Admittedly, it works a lot of muscles: abs, thighs, arms and shoulders, and probably others too, but these were the loudest complainers. After a couple of days, however, I managed to get the hang of doing it so that it didn’t sound as though I was going to go through the floor, which is something I am immensely proud of. In all honesty, I’m dreading level 3, but I’m also really, really, really looking forward to finishing the whole damn thing!

I am also trying to get back into crafting as I have completely abandoned my knitting since the summer. Also, I borrowed a sewing machine a few months ago from a very kind friend who was not going to be using it for a while, and have yet to use it myself. I haven’t actually used a sewing machine at all since I was about 14 – and then all that I ever made was scrunchies (the teacher wanted to start with something small). Therefore, if I can manage to use her sewing machine and actually make something it will be a minor miracle. But in order to sew anything, I will need fabric (yup, I still haven’t gotten around to getting that yet), which necessitates a shopping trip (yay!) into Algiers. I might take the opportunity to go and stay with my Gran for a night while I’m there too.