Sore limbs and software

Having really missed dancing and being freshly inspired by the Olympic figure skating I decided to send a quick message to my old dance teacher and see if I could come back to a few classes as I appear to be stuck at home for the foreseeable future. "Yes," said she, and so I found myself raking around my room for a pair of ballet tights on Friday evening for a ballet class on Saturday morning. I did a ballet shoe sweep and found five pairs.

I was a bit nervous as it has been almost six years since I've done a class and a good few months since I've done any regular exercise at all and I was going back in at the level I left off but resolved to give it a jolly good go. I'd forgotten most of the ballet terms but as soon as I was shown the exercises I was surprised at how much came flooding back, and how much core strength and poise I had retained. Yeah I was basically awesome. 

Nah, I'm not that much of a dick. I really was surprised, though, at how I had kept my natural turnout but my flexibility and energy levels left a lot to be desired, the rest of the class were young, sprightly seventeen year olds and on more than one occasion if we were doing an exercise on the right foot, then the left then repeating I would just do it the once on the right and the left. I'm young in the grand scheme of things but I felt old in those moments. Then came the time for pointe shoes. If I was apprehensive before I was at that moment but again, resolved to give it a jolly good go. I did the exercises at the barre but sat out the repeats for most of them but when we moved to the centre I was pleasantly surprised to find I still had some old strength for a few of the exercises. I'm not going to lie, it felt like I was magically floating a wee bit until my toes started hurting and I realised I'd scraped a bit of skin off the top of my fourth toe. 

In other news, my younger sister has a laptop she is essentially not using as she got a shiny one from disability services at her university so she said that I could put some fancy editing software on it (stuff that would make my computer shake of this mortal coil) and HitFilm were giving away HitFilm 2 Express for free so I downloaded myself a bit of that, used an amazon voucher I got a few months ago to buy a graphics tablet (the Wacom Intuos, will post more about it as I use it and let people know whether I rate it) and have a version of photoshop now. I am, indeed, a woman of the 21st century. My friend and I filmed a short on Sunday, the idea being a spoof of those existential French New Wave type films but about my unemployment. We'll see how it pans out, we thought it was hilarious but really I just want to have a play around with my new software and see what happens. 

In other other news, I was back at the job centre on Thursday for my signing. I couldn't remember the name of my advisor so when the G4S man at the entrance to the stairs asked who I was seeing I ended up saying "Margaret..?" As it was a name that popped into my head and seemed like the name of a woman who would work at the job centre. He goes "Margaret's not working today" at which point I find my card and tell him who my advisor is and I go through but it tickled me that I assumed an advisor would be called Margaret and of course there was a Margaret working at the job centre. There is always a Margaret. Then, when I went into the room to wait for my name to be called, I walked through the door and another G4S man said "you know what you're doing, yeah?" to which I replied "sit and wait for my life to begin." He didn't look too amused but as I took my seat on the primary coloured benches I had a good old chuckle at my own wit.

Oh, and I shadowed the lights at Bolton Little Theatre last week and even pressed the button for the cues a few times. It felt pretty powerful. Hopefully I'll be able to help out at the upcoming shows too and learn a bit more about it all. 

Sochi 2014: Why I am watching.

I was going to go for a swim today but the timetable online is hideously outdated so I had actually missed the open swim. Annoying. I swam a lot when I was younger and then at university but I have been hideously lazy during unemployment and the fantastic athletes at the Winter Olympics have spurred me on to be more active.

Speaking of the Winter Olympics, I have been watching the first few days coverage with much enjoyment and have been supporting Team GB with much enthusiasm.

But with this has come some measure of inexplicable guilt as even though I have carefully considered my relationship to the Sochi 2014 Winter Games and my decision to watch and support Team GB I understand those who aren't. The human rights abuses being carried out against LGBT peoples in Russia are horrific and Putin's administration should be vilified, but I don't think that the Olympics should be boycotted by athletes (I don't think any have this year but it was certainly discussed a few months ago) or that the viewing public should not watch and here is why:

Russia has previously been snubbed at the 1980 Olympics in protest of their invasion of Afghanistan. Seemingly, the Russian's (or USSR as it was at the time) did not care and continued to occupy the territory for four more years.

I understand the desire to hit the sponsors where it hurts, but money has already been paid and the coverage licences already sold. I really don't think that enough people are boycotting for it to make a discernible difference and that there are more effective ways. Also, not watching and not supporting the Winter Games doesn't only hurt the sponsors, which brings me to my next point.

The athletes participating have absolutely nothing to do with the anti-LGBT laws that have been passed. Many of the athletes at Sochi will be at the peak of their careers, scoring their season's bests (some already have), personal bests and perhaps even lifetime bests. To deny them the chance to compete or to ignore their achievements at the games punishes the athletes. Instead, I am openly and vocally supporting the athletes, particularly those who are out and those who a vocal supporters of the LGBT community.

Some people have opined that Clare Balding should not have traveled to Sochi to be the BBC Sports news anchor for the coverage; stating that she is just doing it for the money or that she should be ashamed of herself, like she does not know what homophobia is or has no experience of it. One twat (a tweeter who is an idiot) used a homophobic slur in his tweet to Balding about her decision to go to Sochi (the irony was seemingly lost on him) but has since apologised for his tweet. Clare Balding is delivering sterling coverage as per and by going as an openly lesbian women and the anchor of the world renown BBC sports coverage she is visible, she is proud and she is sticking two fingers up to Putin.This is why I am watching her. Read more about her and her partner's responses to the trolls http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/clare-balding-responds-sochi-backlash080214

My hope is by watching and enjoying the sports, openly supporting my team and other outstanding athletes, openly supporting the BBC and Balding's coverage and openly supporting any and everyone who speaks up about LGBT rights over the course of the games that those who are intolerant will see how visible and vocal the opposition is. I've been tweeting (to my admittedly only double figure followers) about the games using the hashtags #pride and #CondemnPutinSupportAthletes. It is only a small thing but if more and more sports fans and LGBT rights (or as I like to call them, RIGHTS) supporters are tweeting, showing support and tolerance in the face of oppression then maybe people will take notice. Boycotts work in some instances, but how can a boycott on moral grounds be effective when what you are targeting doesn't have a moral compass in the first place? Visibility and noisiness will shove the truth under Putin's steely nose and surely this will have more of an effect?

As an afterthought, I watched the Channel 4 documentary Hunted and, whilst it made for difficult viewing, was glad that something like this was being broadcast. One of the points made by an LGBT advocate and teacher was that the Russian government has focused attention on the LGBT community and vilified them in an attempt to cover up state failings. I can't help but wonder if the same is happening in the UK with vulnerable and lower income people and the welfare system.

Some things I don't get about Tinder

- Why do people put previous holidays on their 'about me'? Like 'Ibiza 2013' or 'Malaga 2014'?

- Why do so few of them smile?

- Why the strange angles of abs/close up of belly buttons?

- Why the creepiness?

On the plus side, if I'm ever planning a club event I know where to get a DJ, they are all on Tinder!

www.tindertryouts.tumblr.com

Yes to opportunities.

A good friend of mine who lives in London came up to visit me last weekend. It had been a few months since we had seen each other last but the great thing was, as is always the case with good friends, that it felt like no time had passed at all. His job was taking him for granted and paying him a pitiful amount so he handed in his notice and decided to do wee tour; visiting friends and family. Stress has made him quite ill so some quality time with his most fabulous friend was definitely in order and, as well as a large amount of chilling in front of bad TV, I took him for a walk through the West Pennine Moors.

Armed with a flask of tea, we walked the route I normally take and I decided to show him a place my sister and I found before we decided to explore further and get stuck in halfway up some ravine. I think the spot looks like a place where fairies could live. The trees are less dense but still provide covering and shelter, the ground is soft with that mossy type grass stuff (my sister would know the name) and there are a few fallen trees providing benches, though I did get a bit of a numb bum after a while. A knobbly, knarly tree stump sits about 10 meters from the log benches and it definitely looks like a gnome could pop out of it. My friend, who works in fashion, enjoyed the walk but wasn't particularly happy about having to wear wellies. Apparently there is a lot of biodiversity in the West Pennine Moors so I'll have to head out with my phone and see if I can capture anything.

In other news, in order to boost my CV and get involved in more stuff I have started volunteering at Bolton Little Theatre. They have a sort of open evening on Mondays where they tell you more about the company and show you around the building. They are quite unusual amongst amateur theatre companies as they have their own building which they took over in the 1930s, the building itself was built around the 1850s and was recently split into two theatres, their main one and a smaller one that only sits 61 people. Other groups I've been involved in put on approximately one show a year but BLT have seasons (I know!) and put on quite a few shows in this time, alternating between their smaller theatre and larger theatre. The entire operation is run by volunteers and people change roles depending on the production which was quite exciting for me as it means I can try a few different things. Someone may be in the cast for one production, doing the lights on the next and then doing the coffees during the interval for the one after. They show you how to programme and cue lights and sounds and you have the opportunity to direct productions although I think I'll definitely start as a production secretary if I was to go down that route. Seemingly everything is done in-house from set building to envelope stuffing and they have a sizable costume and prop store. And Sir Ian McKellen is the patron! And Justin Chadwick was involved in the youth group which sadly doesn't run anymore. I ended up doing a bit of set dressing on Monday for their upcoming production which was fun and as their next show is completely sold out I've been invited to the dress rehearsal - which has been opened to the public - to see what they are about.

I have applied for a few different jobs this week having cast my net a bit wider than just publishing to any media jobs so hopefully I'll hear something soon but in the meantime I'm quite excited to become more involved with stuff as opposed to sitting on my backside all day watching The Chase. Which I may or may not have applied for in addition to my job hunt.