Just another dent in the damage…

I’m not much of a New Year’s Resolution type person but last year I did write a list of 25 things I wanted to do in 2009. I thought it’d be worth going over what I did and didn’t do ready to prepare a new list of 26 things I want to do in 2010. So let’s see:

1) Set up an Etsy store and start selling small crafts: Well, I got the Etsy store bit sorted but getting the stuff to sell has been harder. I thought it’d just be a case of make a load of stuff and get it listed but it turns out a lot of the patterns I’ve been using to make consumables are all copyrighted and you can’t sell the stuff you make using them. Turns out I need to start writing my own patterns if I want to sell anything I make. The only things I really have for sale are my SSCS crochet whales as it’s OK to make money you intend to donate to charity, but a store with only one item to sell would be pretty naff right? I’ll work on this one. Promise.

2) Make more use of sewing machine and create at least one skirt from scratch: Again I kinda half did this. I reorganised my craft room so I can actually get at my machine without having to carry it about everywhere and I sorted out all the stuff I need to get on with making things – I just didn’t get round to making the skirt. But, I did make a lovely cushion (and embroidered it) and ploughed through one of my sewing books so I can learn more about what my machine does. I think this coming year will be my skirt making year so watch this space!

3) Learn to dive: CHECK! I actually did this one. This year I not only got my PADI Open Water but I completed my PADI Advanced Open Water and got qualified in Enriched Air diving. I’ve got about 20 dives logged now and am super excited about getting out and seeing more of the world’s oceans. At Christmas I went to Malaysia and got to play about with my new camera, here’s Nemo:

4) Learn Photoshop basics to improve photographs: So Photoshop is harder than I thought and there is definitely a lot to learn on this… but I’ve made a start. I’ve managed to cut three people out of one image and put them in to another, I’ve rubbed out plastic bottles and lamp-posts and learnt about image size and how to crop (ya’know – the simple stuff). My cutting out skills definitely need working on though. Max also showed me how to open my eyes – i.e. cut out Claire’s open eyes and stick them over my closed eyes!

This is a photo taken of Claire and I with Todd Kowalski from Propagandhi. On the original picture we were outside a pub and my eyes were closed. Here we are in Hawaii with my eyes open (if you look very closely you’ll notice they’re very similar to Claire’s eyes).

5) Take more photos and get uploading to Flickr: My new camera has helped with this one. On my last holiday I took about 1000 photos! Can you ever imagine doing this with an old camera that needed film? Crazy! Anyway I’ve slowly been making more use of Flickr and you can go and see my photos any time – lexrigby’s Photostream.

6) Make Donna a big granny blanket: Yes yes I did this. It got completed on March 18th for her birthday. Here is a picture of me admiring the finished product:

7) Print some Moo cards: Totally failed on this one. I figured I didn’t really need any if I didn’t get the store up and going. They’ll come eventually when I’m all business like.

8) Get funding for the IATUL conference in Belgium: I failed this too but it was kinda out of my hands. I wrote my statement about why I should be awarded the funding but at the last minute one of my bosses decided to write the entire thing himself on my behalf. I don’t blame him for not getting it or anything as I was told the application was exceptional, just not exceptional enough. Life goes on.

9) Design a cross-stitch pattern to raise more funds for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society: This was another one of those half did/half didn’t ones. Whilst I didn’t get around to design the pattern I longed to do I did get all subversive after buying Subversive Cross Stitch and started writing some cross stitch patterns inspired by Propagandhi lyrics.

10) Organise another SSCS fundraiser: This one is another ’still to do’. I think time ran away with me on this one. Whilst I didn’t organise a fundraiser myself I did volunteer at a number of events this year (including the International Dive Show at the NEC) and completed the first round of volunteer training. I’m now listed as an official volunteer on the Sea Shepherd UK website, so it’s all good in the hood still.

11) Make sushi: No making but plenty of eating. I’m going to get Donna to show me how to do this, she makes amazing sushi!

12) Finish Ursula tattoo: Yep, done and dusted. This is on my back:

13) Start work on Kali tattoo: I didn’t do this but I did get a whale instead, I think Kali needs more thinking about. This one is on my left inner arm – it was pretty swollen so excuse the chubbiness, I think the photo is a bit squished too (I got it off Myspace because I couldn’t be bothered to take a photo):

14) Keep up the weekly postings on my work blog: I did this! Want proof? See Librarians’ Blog for Science and Engineering.

15) Master the art of false lashes (just because there’s got to be at least one vanity thing in here): I did this too but none of my pictures are close enough for you to see them clearly. I’ll work on getting proof of this.

16) Keep up with the personal training sessions: After a year I figured these were just getting far too expensive to continue. I went from about August 2008 to August 2009. I fully intended to restart them but really £120 a month on top of my £42 a month gym membership… really.

17) Tick off the to-do list and write up results: I guess the result of this is this blog post. I did tick items off in my book and did refer back to my list to remind me what I needed to do, I just didn’t do as much as I wanted. I had planned to do a scrap book but I definitely think a blog post is more my thing.

18) Start open uni short course on marine biology: The Open Uni course I wanted to do is a short module called Life in the Oceans: Exploring our Blue Planet. It looks like the greatest short course of all time but a las I’ve not had a spare £150 to do it yet. I will though, studying Richard Attenborough’s Blue Planet sounds like the best thing ever.

19) Prepare for Cilip (this is the professional association of librarians) chartership: I simply changed my mind on this one I’m afraid. I just don’t know if I want to charter just yet. The chartership means doing a lot of work I just don’t want to do at the moment. Career development portfolios and all that malarky… snore.

20) Cook for Max at least once a month: I managed this one I think for a few months. I mainly make him puddings like cookies and cake. This will change this year though as I’ve a new cook book and it’s amazing. I won’t tell you anything else yet as I’m working on a post for this beauty that stands alone.

21) Visit Stef in Canterbury: Sorry Stef, you just come home too much. I’ll visit her this year for sure.

22) Read Moby Dick: I didn’t do this either, but I did read a lot about other whales!

23) Cycle to work at least twice a week in the Summer: This is my main regret I think. I should have done this, but I didn’t. Curse me.

24) Watch a broadway show: For my 25th birthday Sarah got me some gift vouchers for a London show and after loads of faffing about she never got to come with me. Instead, Max and I went to see Wicked… and it was wicked. I’d already read the book (and thought it very strange) so was interested to see how it would translate to stage. I liked it, it worked well and luckily they kept all the sexy scenes out.

25) Finish decorating the kitchen: YES, YES and YES and it’s the greatest kitchen of all time.

I’ve already written this year’s list… I might put it up later but in the meantime, thanks for reading.

I’m back from Egypt… now a qualified Enriched Air Advanced Open Water diver. Yeah, check me out! The weather was great, the eels a plenty and I found Nemo!

And here’s a couple of giant moray eels courtesy of Lerotic:

The ocean fascinates me, everything about it – its beauty, its depth, its life, its centrality to our existence, its mystery, its colours, its wonders – but it wasn’t until recently I finally decided it’s about time I learnt how to scuba dive. The original plan this year was to head out to Honduras and qualify somewhere like Roatan but alas it was not to be, considering I couldn’t find flights for less than £800. PAH. So after hunting around and having a chat to a few travel ‘advisors’ I settled on the Red Sea, Sharm el Shit Sheikh to be precise.

Bracing myself for what I already envisioned as tourist hell I set sail, crew pak in hand, ready to return Ursula for battle with the almighty Triton (for those who don’t know me Ursula is the rather large sea witch from The Little Mermaid I have tattooed on my back). I’m getting carried away now right? But anyway off I went anxious, nervous, excited fully prepared to test out whether or not my ear had fully healed from that really disgusting ear infection I had on holiday when I was a kid. Right the way up until my last dive out there I was praying my eardrum wouldn’t explode leaving me with little else to do than fight off all the ‘please come into my shop – good prices’ stalkers until it was hometime.

Turns out Triton didn’t want to battle this time, or rather I took to diving say like a ‘duck to water’ and my ears didn’t complain once… Four confined water, four open water, two adventure and one fun dives later I’m a qualified Open Water diver and almost half way to my Advanced Open Water. Next stop the world eh. Well, maybe. I thought the classroom work may get a little tiresome but it didn’t, not at all. It was all so much fun, even the learning how to read a Recreational Dive Planner bit, even the standard what to look for when buying your own equipment bit, even the ‘what next – your continued education’ bit. Yes yes all of it. I love it, I loved it, every second. My instructor was incredible, I’d totally recommend anyone going to Sharm to visit the Red Sea Diving College and get kitted up. The snorkeling is wicked, but seriously the diving is insane.

On my travels through the blue I saw turtles, blue spotted rays, eagle rays, moray eels, needlefish, cornetfish, all kinds of butterfly and angelfish you could imagine, lionfish, sand eels, too many different types of coral to name, parrotfish, groupers, two-bar anemone fish, trigger fish, wrasses, giant clams, puffers, boxfish… I pretty much saw it all! No manta rays though, which was a little disappointing. Those things are massive! I didn’t get to go shark spotting either! One day though! One day! In case you’re one of these people that thinks ‘a fish’s a fish’ go take a look at some of the things I saw over at UK Divers, they’re amazing.

So now I’m home what next? Well, as soon as I receive the pictures of my underwater photography adventure I’ll be getting some images uploaded to my Flickr, including some of me with my kit on the boat. Last night I headed over to my local dive shop seeking a dive group to get involved with and keep practicing and I’ve got my boy at the travel agents on the job of getting me back over to Sharm. Maybe if this whole career in Librarianship doesn’t work out for me I could fall back on dive instruction? Hhhhmmmm we’ll see but for now onwards and downwards!

I’ve just got back from a week long diving trip to the tourist haven of Sharm El Sheikh. I’m not really in to the whole package deal thing, I just wanted to dive. It was incredible! Will try and get some pictures up on Flickr soon but in the meantime here are some fascinating facts about Egypt courtesy of Longwood Holidays.

• The use of cosmetics dates from around 5,000 years ago in ancient Egypt. Their original use was to protect skin from sunlight, rather than for beauty care;
• In ancient Egypt, slaves are known to have been murdered to accompany their deceased owners to the afterlife;
• If you were to stand before every artifact in Cairo museum for one second, you would be there for 9 months;
• In order to deter flies from landing on him, Pepi II of Egypt always kept several naked slaves nearby whose bodies were smeared with honey;
• Cleopatra wasn’t Egyptian she was Greek;
• While the use of antibiotics did not begin in the 20th century, early folk medicine included the use of mouldy foods or soil for infections. In ancient Egypt, for example, infections were treated with mouldy bread;
• More damage has been done to Cleopatra’s Needle, a hieroglyphic-covered granite obelisk, in the 125 years it has stood in pollution-filled, weather-beaten New York City than in thousands of years in dry Egypt;
• The pyramids of Egypt, the oldest of the seven wonders of the ancient world, are the only one of those wonders to survive to the present day;
• In Cairo a child is born every nine seconds;
• Egyptians made the first sweets in the world: they came from dates picked from trees by trained baboons;
• Some people believe the young Tutankhamen was murdered by his uncle, Ay, who went on to take the throne. But in 2005 the mummy was given an x-ray and they found he had a broken leg, which probably led to his death;
• More than nine million tourists visited Egypt last year – up from 8.7 million the previous year;
• Egypt is probably the world’s oldest civilisation having emerged from the Nile Valley around 3,100 BC;
• Around four million people every day commute into the centre of Cairo;
• The ancient Egyptians believed that mummifying a person’s body after death was essential to ensure a safe passage to the afterlife.

Look out for my next installment on Egypt – Scammers, the Scammed and the Magic Circle.