So much for everyone

It's been a fairly adventurous couple of days. Thursday and Friday last were the UCM Management Conference, which was a fantastic opportunity to discuss issues of strategic import and spend some time with colleagues I've grown very close to over the past three years. We did some workshops and discussions in the morning, followed by quad biking, archery and spa treatments in the afternoon.



The quad biking was particularly fun, and I managed to completely wreck my quad's suspension and blow out a tire. I just kept on going, which was probably foolish, considering a quad with a blown tire barely needs a whisper of a reason to flip, and I had to actually stop myself from flipping over on a few tight corners with a some well-placed footplants. Anyway, good fun, as was the archery. Looking at the photos, I suspect I was the only one who was more impressed with my archery form as opposed to how great I look. I was really chuffed - check the straight arm, straight fingers, eye lined up with the arrow. Even the mohawk is getting in on the target-alignment action!

The spa treatment was heavenly. Any reservations I may have had over the ability of a female masseuse to really adequately massage the knotted, twisted mass of muscles that is my back and shoulders were soon assuaged as my skilled masseuse employed fingers, the palm of her hand and eventually her elbow to knead every last ounce of stress and fatigue out of my tortured muscles. It was glorious.

Thursday night was raucous. There's no other words really to describe it, and it shall remain so.

Friday was rather emotional, driving back the three hours to Pretoria on my lonesome, feeling like death (I've drunk to excess perhaps twice in the past nine months) and completely emotionally drained. UCM has been a fantastic time in my life, and good for me in many, many ways. It deserves a more thorough examination and a more respectful retrospective, but I'll leave that for another time.

The focus for now must be on the days ahead.