Sometimes life really does make you have to sit down and go “wow”.

Today went really well….for the most part.
I sent off the club’s list of entrants for the Nationals this weekend, I found a local place to supply the trophies for our competition in two weeks and got a brochure of their range to go through, I’ve sorted out some free time to finally do the photoshoot I’ve been discussing with a friend for awhile. Our Amnesty meeting went really well, and I got to hang out for half an hour with our Webmaster Gearoid with the SU before training enjoying a pint.
We went over to the jutebox to see what there was other than the rebel song shite that was playing, and this guy who was at the couch and table beside us comes over to us and begins chatting to us.
Normally this is ……well normal….BUT, it got slightly weird when he asked me if I read, to which I replied “occasionally”, and he hands me a copy of Odeipus the King and Antigone by Sophocles. Now to many of you that in itself isn’t that weird, but that fact that I know someone who last week was involved in a production of Jean Cocteau’s Infernal Machine- which is based on the Oedipus myth. Weird no? So anywho it’d now on my desk infront of me and I’m to give it back to him whenever I see him next on campus.

When the one thing that crapped on my day happened, it happened with one of those slow delays, it sucked at first and then got a whole heap shittier as the time passed and I got to think about it more and discuss it with someone.
Pretty much at fencing, I spent my time sitting on the floor sifting through the trophy brochure deciding on which to order and if it came under our budget or not. A productive time. So I spent some of the following time chatting away to other members and watching some of the action on the pistes.

Our Secretary swaned in with about half an hour, maybe twenty minutes left of training time left and I had to ask her about whether one of our members could or couldn’t compete this weekend(we need licenses for some competitions) and I mentioned that I’d selected our trophies for the competition. She then flicked through the brochure dismissing various styles and getting terribly close to the ones I had picked, so I mentioned the page numbers of the ones I had chosen( yeah I was technically asking to be shot down) and she dismissed them aswell. So the reason why my choices aren’t acceptable to give to other people is becuase fencers are aparently very picky about the look of the trophies they win. If they get a crap looking one, they bitch about it. Just me or should a trophy be picked because it looks nice and because it is to be given as a sign of someone’s achievement?

It appears that for some time now I’ve been living with the misconception that fencing was a refined and dignified sport. Now that belief has been challenged by seeing some people’s argumentative behaviour towards the referees during matches. But to think that these people hold the sign on their achievement in so low a regard that they criticise it and to others? I haven’t seen or heard any support for this save from our secretary, so right now I’m not going to think that badly of the other people in this sport.
For tonight she has taken the brochure away with her to pick more suitable trophies with our coach, and tomorow she is expecting me to go find her during one of my two free hours (from 9 til 5)before I go to Lexlip to order the trophies so she can tell me which ones to order.

I walked home with someone from the committee who commented on how other members of the club think she is knocking me down repeatedly. So we had a good old bitch all the way home about everything about our club. This cheered me up a bit but it also proved to frustrate me further. By the time I got home, I felt pretty shit. So I watched Skins and ate a 3 in 1. I complained a bit to mom and got more worked up in the process, so decided I needed to go get some things done on the computer before midnight.
When I signed into MSN my friend Arnau was online, a once in a blue moon occurence. So I IMed him and we chatted and I ended up explaining the whole saga of myself, our secretary and the coach to him. As always he proved to be wise beyond his years and gave me flawless logical advice. He told me I have two choices and that I am not the type of person to be pushed around by others because I fight for what I believe in. Right now that doesn’t sound like me at all. So from now on I will take a stand for what I have decided on. I am the president of the club, and I should not be undermined by the secretary. I value some of her advice because more experience of running a club under her belt. But she should not ask me to do something and then decide for a no good reason that my choice/decision isn’t good enough.

Weird how life can try to knock you over and then pick you up before you hit the ground.