Fire and Ice

A week after my gamesmaker orientation event in Wembley I had to be back in Hackney for Module 2 in my role-specific training. This time I had to be there so early that I actually woke up at 6am on a Sunday morning to be able to get there on time… but yet again public transport let me down. A combination of points and signals failure meant that once more I had to race through the streets of Hackney to get to the venue for my training.  I hate being late for things, grrr. Anyway, this last module was the most practical one to date. No more introductions, no more generalizations or broad strategic views. This was it – a very clear view of what our role would entail as well as an in-depth view at the concept of ‘hosting’. This I found particularly interesting, the whole hosting thing. It is basically a term that means that as gamesmakers, we are the hosts for the games and as such, we have some guidelines to follow to ensure that we are being good hosts. There even is a c

Two weeks after Module 1 of my role-specific training I attended Gamesmaker Orientation in Wembley Arena. I knew this one would be different because every gamesmaker, regardless of role, has to attend one of these sessions. I anticipated there would be a lot of people there, as it was being held in Wembley Arena and as before, I looked forward to the day but with a little trepidation as the last event had left me a bit unsure and concerned. I had to be at Wembley Arena quite early on a Sunday morning, which meant up very early in order to get on the train to get down there. However, overnight on the Saturday we got a large amount of snow so I worried about trains running at all. Adding to this I overslept on the Sunday morning which meant I basically got up, got dressed quicker than ever and left my house with barely a goodbye. Luckily for me the roads were basically clear (thank you gritters!) and I made it to the train station with a minute to spare. Sadly my good luck r

Back in October I was full of excitement at having beenchosen as a Gamesmaker for the Paralympic Games, in the role of NPC assistant. I promised then that I would blog as much as I could and I wouldn’t blame you for thinking that nothing much has happened since.  Couldn’t be more wrong. The year 2012 came and before I knew it I was having my first Role-specific training session in wonderful Hackney. This was my first event as a full-fledged Gamesmaker and I wasn’t sure what I was expecting so off I went with an open mind and an endless curiosity to London on a cold January afternoon. I won’t bore you with the details of getting lost on the way there (ANNOYING) but eventually I made it and even though I was late all the organisers there made me feel so welcome while they were checking me in. I was directed to a room where there must have been about a thousand other people, all NOC/NPC assistants like me!  The day itself was interesting as it included a presentation on

I spend a lot of time thinking about my hair, taking care of my hair, styling my hair and generally doing hair-related things. I really just love my hair. It makes me seem a bit shallow. That could be a fair-enough statement - with all that is going on with the world, why spend so much time fussing about my hair? After all, it wasn't that long ago that my hair was nothing more than a source of frustration because I didn't know what to do with it. In case you don't know what I look like, I have long, thick, brown, curly hair. Well, I say curly but in reality it is wavy and it takes a bit of effort to make it curl. And that was my biggest frustration: because I have "in-between hair" I could be either straight or curly and for many years I chose straight. You can hardly blame me: it was the 90s and everyone wanted Rachel hair. I had just emerged from the 80s after numerous perms and quite frankly, I was ready to embrace my inner Rachel. So out came the strai