Rowing News: I don’t know when I’ll have time to post the rowing glossary Evilena requested, but I’ll try to define any jargon as I go.
Latest in the continuing rowing coach saga: Having gotten no response from Coach DI yesterday, I went to rowing this morning, worried about what I might encounter. And .... nothing. I think he was avoiding me outside the boat, though at 5 AM, no one is all that talkative, so the conclusion is tenuous at best. During practice, however, he gave me more direct feedback than usual, and even told me when I improved something. What more can a rower ask for?
It was a terrible row, though. We did drills the whole time, and I was amazed that DI remained as calm as he did. The boat is supposed to be completely balanced, with all oars moving as one. Instead it was flopping from side to side, and I couldn’t seem to get my timing right. There were about 3 other lightweight women in my eight (lightweight, for women rowers, is under 135 lbs) and they had just moved up from the Fitness (i.e. noncompetitive) class held in the evenings. So I was only part of the problem, though I still wasn’t part of the solution.
DI did call a coaches’ meeting for this Saturday, to discuss "issues that have come up" but I doubt I’m one of them (though I’ll still worry until it’s over). I really hate to waste time on meetings in the middle of a precious weekend morning. I think we may have to give up coaching after our May classes; it’s just too much. I haven’t actually done any coaching since November, but I suspect I might return to my former burnt-out state fairly rapidly. We’ll see. Coaching is actually fun for its own sake, and I learn a lot that also applies to work and other parts of life. Combine that with rowing and a job, though, and it’s all Too Much.
End of the rowing news
I’m still thinking about my uncharacteristic Jubilate yesterday. It’s definitely still in progress, and in fact, I’ve made some small changes already, since first posting it. I want to do a bit more work on the internal structure, and on the rhythm of the words, since it’s definitely mean to be spoken out loud. (Sung or chanted would be even better.) Some comments on it that meant a lot came from Mechaieh (I have just been sitting here for ten minutes thinking of an apt and telling way to describe the quality of her work, to explain why I care about her opinons, but I give up. They’re good, really good.) and from my brother The Writer, who said something about stealing some of this to use at his wedding.
Since his wedding is probably a year or two away, I don’t know how likely this is, but I’d love to have him use it. He read the Apache Blessing at my wedding ("Now there will be no rain/for the two of you will be shelter for each other") and it was nice, but it was one of the things I wish I’d had more time to personalize further. He read it perfectly, as expected, but I regret not having had time to find words (and music, for the reception) that fit our own voices a little more closely.
Then again....the wedding we went to a few weeks ago included a reading from John Donne, the one that goes "I wonder, by my troth, what thou and I did before we loved." Had I picked a piece of his that better fit us, it would have been the one about not wanting to get out of his lover’s bed in the morning:
Busy old fool, unruly Sunne
Why dost thout thus
Though windows, and through curtains, call on us?
I’m not sure how that would have one over with the great-aunts.
Posted by dichroic at April 11, 2001 11:31 AM