Last night I went to my first Taekwondo session, having finally been persuaded to give it a go by Kev. I have to say, despite the terror that flowed through me at the sight of women breaking wooden boards and sparring, knowing that I would one day be expected to do such things, I enjoyed myself, and am looking forward to starting it properly next week

In other news, I have been invited to a friend of mine’s hen party/weekend at the end of January, which I am looking forward to as she was my very first friend at Uni. My plan is to use Taekwondo, Pilates and Sunday gym sessions to get fit in time to get a stonkingly gorgeous outfit for the wedding in February

In other good news, I finally have savings!! That’s right - after going to Florida for a fortnight I have been able to put almost £600 in my ISA….I think this is due to a combination of having had to save for the holiday and saving too much, getting a tax rebate, and not spending any of my salary for half of September as I was spending what I had saved before hand. Anyways, it should be make upcoming weddings, xmases and birthdays a lot easier

Categories: Friends, General, TKD
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As promised, here’s a huge post about our holiday, mainly so I have a garbled record of it somewhere

Left Exeter on Wed 31st August in the afternoon and went to Kev’s parents’ place via campus and Tesco for plane munchies. Spent the night there (had a gorgeous meal in La Terrazza, a nice Italian in Bridgend), and flew from Cardiff Airport at about 9am, the plane having been delayed a bit when a couple of toads were found that had hitched a lift from Cuba and had to be rescued! An 8 and a half hour flight later, we were in Sanford, Orlando and managed to get park tickets, the hire car and travel to the hotel without incident once we’d gotten used to the tremendous heat, and Kev had gotten used to driving an automatic
The hotel was quite nice - basic but lovely comfy double beds and a nice pool which was all we used there anyways.

Spent our first full day in Seaworld after starting it off with a Ponderosa All-you-can-eat breakfast buffet for $3.99 - pancakes, cakes, fry ups, cereal, fruit, icecream - we had breakfast there every day that were got up early basically Seaworld was fantastic - seeing Shamu, and the sealions, mannattees, dolphins etc was amazing; the shows were brilliant It was here I encountered my first rollercoaster with inversions, Kraken, and after the first time round which left me feeling rather worse for wear as it’s one of the most violent in the area, I enjoyed myself Also went on Journey to Atlantis a few times (water ride) and experienced the only thunderstorm of the fortnight while we were there.

Next day we went to EPCOT - our first Disney day Got there before park opening and had Cast Members from each ride at the entrance who we followed to our first ride once we’d waved off our first sight of a busload of Disney characters Anyways, after that it was Mission:SPACE (simulated shuttle launch to Mars, complete with face pulling back G-force), Test Track (high speed coaster type ride built around 7 car tests), Soarin’ (hang gliding sim over California), Spaceship Earth (slow moving ride through those fantastic Disney animatronics showing the history of comms, narrated by the lovely Jeremy Irons), Living with the Land (educational boat ride through greenhouses - HUGE pumpkins!), and a nice wander around the World Showcase taking us from Canada through France, UK, America, Norway (home to the Maelstrom - water ride type thing) and various other countries in about an hour Had no queues whatsoever so came back to the hotel for a bit, then as it was raining went to Magic Kingdom for the evening rather than the EPCOT fireworks, and had my first go on Space Mountain, Stitch’s Great Escape (complete with odd feelings on back of neck), Buzz Light Year, the Carousel of Progress and managed to enjoy ourselves despite getting drenched and losing my ticket in a fastpass machine and having to get a new one!

Sunday we went to Universal Studios, home of the ET ride (complete with cycling past the moon - really well done), Back to the Future (best simulator evar!!), and Men In Black. Saw the Beetlejeuce and Blues Brothers shows while we were there, and rounded the day off with a brief venture into Islands of Adventure where we went on Dueling Dragons. Had lunch at Hard Rock Cafe which was very cool I didn’t like Universal quite as much as Disney - there just isn’t the same attitude or atmosphere…..very good fun all the same tho

Monday we went to Blizzard Beach - I’m not good in the water so this was a challenge but I managed to find things to do that didn’t get me submerged for the most part. Tuesday we did MGM Studios - RocknRollercoaster Starring Aerosmith (favourite coaster possibly), Muppetvision 3D, The Great Movie Ride (favourite slow moving animatronic type ride), the Backlot Tour, Beauty and the Beast, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Star Tours, Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular and Lights! Motors! Action all in one day! Saw loads of film props, got caught in a flash flood, and witnessed a man catching fire and an explosion or two - brilliant In the evening we went back to EPCOT to see the fireworks there. Bought ponchos while we were there as it started raining, and sat in the gardens between France and the UK These really are breathtaking, even in the rain

Wednesday was Animal Kingdom day. Didn’t spend so long here - did the Kilimanjaro Safari and the nature trail - tigers :D Went on the Rapids and got drenched which we remained for the rest of the day whilst we did Dinosaur and watched the Tarzan Rocks and Festival of the Lion King shows, both of which were amazing. They’re building a new ride here - Expedition Everest, which looks as if it’ll be very cool, so next time we’ll have to try that one

Thursday we did Magic Kingdom - Splash Mountain (which broke down), Big Thunder Mountain (which we had to ourselves), Country Bear Jamboree, Haunted Mansion (which broke down), Cindarella’s Carousel, Mad Hatter’s Tea Party (tea cups can be quite a thrill ride with Kev at the helm), Snow White, It’s a Small World, Winne the Pooh, Space Mountain (again), Pirates of the Carribean, more Big Thunder, the Spectromagic parade and the Wishes Fireworks to end it all! Tinkerbell didn’t fly as it was too windy but they were fantastic regardless!

Friday we had a lie in and revisited Islands of Adventure where we did Sipderman, the Hulk coaster, and a a couple of unseen things in Universal (Shrek 4D and Jimmy Neutron). Spent the rest of the holiday revisiting theme parks, lying in a bit, eating at TGI Fridays, seeing MGM’s Fantasmic lights/water/fireworks show, and going to Typhoon Lagoon, my favourite of the two Disney Waterparks I think. As we had no queues for anything, we got things done quite quickly which was a shame in one way, but meant we could take things slowly the second week which was good.

Anyways, we landed in Cardiff at 4.30am Friday, spent the day at Kev’s parents’ place again, came back to Exeter Friday night, and then spent Saturday celebrating James and Roz’s wedding goodness. Yesterday we played snooker with Kev’s brother and his gf and then went over to DaveB/various others for pizza, tv and general merry making - good three weeks all told!

Categories: Holiday
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Well, Florida was AMAZING - will make a longer post on Monday while I’m at work and looking for something to do (I could cry at the thought of going back!) but for now, know it was AMAZING!

Have just been to the wedding of the now Mr and Mrs Seward - nice service with added Star Trek and a great party in the evening I’m sure they’ll be very happy together and yes, I am jealous that they’re off on holiday despite the fact I’ve just had one :p I must get myself one of those wedding things one day - they’re fun

Categories: Holiday, Important events
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