![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Gosh, doesn't time fly?
Health: 1 incident of full-blown brain mush, several bouts of tonsilitis, gained about half a stone, but apart from that, I've done just fine.
Finance: Well, I'm still in a hole, but I've stopped digging. And there's the possibility that some day I'll manage to climb out.
Job: Still got one! Yay! And it sent me to Pennsylvania, which was nice. Plus, I'm now Health and Safety girl, which may possibly *fingers crossed* translate into a bit of a pay rise. Which would, yanno, be nice and all. I've been commuting to Sheffield for 6 years, now. Who'da thunk it?
House: It hasn't fallen down! Go house! Or rather no, don't go. I like having a house. It's not as tidy as it should be, but I'll get there. I tidied up the bottom of the garden, and hung up some bird feeders. My army of frogs is growing. I re-roofed the shed, and my friend Sarah gave me another very small shed. I painted the other attic room and made curtains for it, and put blackout lining in the bedroom curtains.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ravenlas put down some laminate flooring in the bathroom. We put the house on the market mid-year, but no-one but me wants it, so we took it off again. I've almost finished unpacking all the boxes of books again, but I'm in dire need of doing a ton of decorating and putting up more shelves. Still haven't got the guttering fixed.
Travel: There's the 6 years of commuting... And there was that trip to Italy to go skiing with my sisters (ravenlas didn't break anything - hurrah!), and the whole US conference which let me detour up to Chicago to see my aunt. There's been a whole lot less of trekking up and down the country to see my family, too, although there was Spring Bank in Wales for the Hay Festival and much seeing of my family then.
Writing: Thanks toalasdair1076, I've sold 1 more short story, taking my grand total to 2. Much rejoicing! I'm hoping that I can at least double that over the next year... Still, it's not quite the end of the year, yet - publishers take note! *heh* My writing's improved a heck of a lot, largely thanks to Al and to my writing group, and because of being a slush-pile reader for Pseudopod and a proofreader for Hub. I still spend far too little time actually writing, though.
Dressmaking/Hobbies/Crafts: Still doing the 3rd year of my dressmaking course. I have skillz! You know, if I didn't have to go to work, I'd get a lot more done. I'm managing to combine my course with nalbinding - using that for my textile project. Plus, I've now got a toasty warm hat and pair of mittens. I'm still knitting like mad trying to get Christmas presents out to people... Erm... Yes, well... Um. Ooh, I have a sewing room, now. Which I have to tidy up a bit, and remove the bits of armour which have magically appeared in there, and the large box of reenactment clothing.
Sports/exercise: Still climbing, still not improving, but then if I went more than once a fortnight it'd help. I've started swimming again on a morning, the last 2 days at least, which I really like. I still cycle to the station and back every weekday, and since I've replaced my gear cable (with help frompalmersperry - thank you!), I have more than one gear. Which is a luxury! I learned to ski this year, finally, and have been to Xscape a few times with a_crow who has convinced me that blades are the thing for me. Note to self: must organise another trip there. Ooh, and I did some archery for the first time in years, down at my sister's (she has a bigger garden).
Family: Pretty much doing fine, thanks for asking. My twin is still happily married, as is one of my brothers. Ben is still ill, and I don't think there's anything to be done about it. Mum gets a little breathless from time to time, but her heart valve is still holding up, 16 or so years later. Dad is, well, Dad, and has his ups and downs, but on the whole, he's fine. And the others are okay, I believe. Must call them...
Lovelife: In case you were dead or something all year -ravenlas and I are getting married at the end of February! In Las Vegas! I'm very excited. I am very much in love with him, and he with me. So it's all good.
Friends: My circle of friends keeps on growing. I'm terrible about keeping in touch, but somehow, my friends still like me. As far as I know. I'm incredibly lucky - I know the most amazing people! You rock! Thank you for being a part of my life, and letting me be a part of yours. You are a blessing to me, and I am hugely thankful. I appreciate you all far more than I ever say. I hope your year held some good in it at the very least, and I wish you the best of years to come.
Health: 1 incident of full-blown brain mush, several bouts of tonsilitis, gained about half a stone, but apart from that, I've done just fine.
Finance: Well, I'm still in a hole, but I've stopped digging. And there's the possibility that some day I'll manage to climb out.
Job: Still got one! Yay! And it sent me to Pennsylvania, which was nice. Plus, I'm now Health and Safety girl, which may possibly *fingers crossed* translate into a bit of a pay rise. Which would, yanno, be nice and all. I've been commuting to Sheffield for 6 years, now. Who'da thunk it?
House: It hasn't fallen down! Go house! Or rather no, don't go. I like having a house. It's not as tidy as it should be, but I'll get there. I tidied up the bottom of the garden, and hung up some bird feeders. My army of frogs is growing. I re-roofed the shed, and my friend Sarah gave me another very small shed. I painted the other attic room and made curtains for it, and put blackout lining in the bedroom curtains.
ravenlas put down some laminate flooring in the bathroom. We put the house on the market mid-year, but no-one but me wants it, so we took it off again. I've almost finished unpacking all the boxes of books again, but I'm in dire need of doing a ton of decorating and putting up more shelves. Still haven't got the guttering fixed.Travel: There's the 6 years of commuting... And there was that trip to Italy to go skiing with my sisters (
ravenlas didn't break anything - hurrah!), and the whole US conference which let me detour up to Chicago to see my aunt. There's been a whole lot less of trekking up and down the country to see my family, too, although there was Spring Bank in Wales for the Hay Festival and much seeing of my family then.Writing: Thanks to
alasdair1076, I've sold 1 more short story, taking my grand total to 2. Much rejoicing! I'm hoping that I can at least double that over the next year... Still, it's not quite the end of the year, yet - publishers take note! *heh* My writing's improved a heck of a lot, largely thanks to Al and to my writing group, and because of being a slush-pile reader for Pseudopod and a proofreader for Hub. I still spend far too little time actually writing, though.Dressmaking/Hobbies/Crafts: Still doing the 3rd year of my dressmaking course. I have skillz! You know, if I didn't have to go to work, I'd get a lot more done. I'm managing to combine my course with nalbinding - using that for my textile project. Plus, I've now got a toasty warm hat and pair of mittens. I'm still knitting like mad trying to get Christmas presents out to people... Erm... Yes, well... Um. Ooh, I have a sewing room, now. Which I have to tidy up a bit, and remove the bits of armour which have magically appeared in there, and the large box of reenactment clothing.
Sports/exercise: Still climbing, still not improving, but then if I went more than once a fortnight it'd help. I've started swimming again on a morning, the last 2 days at least, which I really like. I still cycle to the station and back every weekday, and since I've replaced my gear cable (with help from
palmersperry - thank you!), I have more than one gear. Which is a luxury! I learned to ski this year, finally, and have been to Xscape a few times with a_crow who has convinced me that blades are the thing for me. Note to self: must organise another trip there. Ooh, and I did some archery for the first time in years, down at my sister's (she has a bigger garden).Family: Pretty much doing fine, thanks for asking. My twin is still happily married, as is one of my brothers. Ben is still ill, and I don't think there's anything to be done about it. Mum gets a little breathless from time to time, but her heart valve is still holding up, 16 or so years later. Dad is, well, Dad, and has his ups and downs, but on the whole, he's fine. And the others are okay, I believe. Must call them...
Lovelife: In case you were dead or something all year -
ravenlas and I are getting married at the end of February! In Las Vegas! I'm very excited. I am very much in love with him, and he with me. So it's all good.Friends: My circle of friends keeps on growing. I'm terrible about keeping in touch, but somehow, my friends still like me. As far as I know. I'm incredibly lucky - I know the most amazing people! You rock! Thank you for being a part of my life, and letting me be a part of yours. You are a blessing to me, and I am hugely thankful. I appreciate you all far more than I ever say. I hope your year held some good in it at the very least, and I wish you the best of years to come.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Bicycle Gearing
Date: 2007-12-28 02:33 pm (UTC)From:The thought occurs to me that perhaps the easiest way for you to get more, higher gears (which IIRC is what you're after?) is to replace the chain-rings at the front with larger ones rather than swapping your freewheel at the back.
I'm pretty certain you've got MTB chainrings (so the biggest ring is probably about 40-44T), when you could swap to road chainrings (which go up to about 53T). Just need to make sure that whatever you get for the front is compatible, chain-wise, with whatever goes on the back!
The bonus is that I already have a crank-extractor for getting chainrings off thanks to Tom Riley ...
no subject
Date: 2007-12-28 04:49 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2007-12-30 02:52 pm (UTC)From:We should be going to the next reenactors market, which is the 14th-16th of March (the week we get back from the US).