I have just realised I have not blogged about last nights dance extravaganza. Pete Beale was as welcoming as always (Awight Tweacle) as was his dance partner- a Romanian woman that reminds me of (just to keep the Eastenders theme) the woman that Phil married so she could stay in the country. The woman I danced with last with didn't come back this week (Did I scare her off?) so instead I ended up with the 'friend' of the couple mentioned last time. She was so short! And I am quite tall so I felt like I kept dragging her all round the dance floor.
Romanian woman is still picking on me. "No no no! You're always dancing on your heels. Lean forward onto your balls!" "I'm not gonna lean forward that far, lady!!!" I replied - (I didn;t really) And then it was "No no no, you're leaning to far forward no. You need to be on your heels more." Make your mind up! Then it was "You're Okay, but I've just realised your woman is doing it all wrong too" No pleasing her! I don't mind really, seeing as I am there to learn and she is being constructive. I wouldn't have minded practising with her, seeing as the woman I was with wasn't very good- or very pleasant. When Pete Beale said to her "Don;t forget to look at your partner" she replied "I'd rather not" Charming woman!
But once again it was hard work. I was glad for the 'weak tea from vicarage crockery' break half way through. We danced the Jive and Quick Step again. The quick step is difficult. Have you ever heard that phrase 'dance yourself into a corner' I think I have realised where the phrase comes from. Everytime I got into the corner I got stuck and had to stop! What I need is a five mile stretch of road to practise on.
Oh well, it's all good fun really!

It's been a busy day. It always is on a Thursday. All six lessons- no break and no lunch. In fact since school started at 8:30 I have not stopped for a break until 5:30pm when I was sent home for being exhausted! (There was supposed to be a thing after school which I was meant to attend) I'm not sure it's right- I'm not even sure it's legal! We must be allowed a break at some time during a day. Plus I am behind in a few things that I have to do.
Then there was the whole soundblaster thing that irritated me. I really need to relax tonight.

So my OH managed to get the Soundblaster from Argos AND a male to male 3.5 stereo plug liney thing.
So theoretically I should be all set......
.....
.....
Oh I am always full of hope when it comes to technical things but my inability and lack of understanding normally leads me to screwing things up......

So I started loading the CD which came with the soundblaster. All was going well... until it got to 100% and then it showed "updating DirectX" and it stopped there. and the computer stopped working! Booooooooooo! Not good. I had to take the battery out to get it to close down.

When it rebooted I tried to use the soundblaster thingy. However the first problem I encountered was the fact that my 35mm jack stereo liney thing didn't fit into the headphones socket. The hole was too big. "Is it too big to fit in the hole. Typical of you" my OH said (not sure what she meant). However that wasn;t going to deter me, and I looked at the back of the stereo and saw some kind of red and white holes- one of which said 'out' and I had some leads that fitted them. So I plugged them in and put the jack into the line-in hole Soundblaster box.
I then played a record and tried to record......
......
...... nothing! No play back.
So I tried a microphone. And was able to record my voice- however I could only hear it back if I had the mic/headphones plugged in (why?)
now the problem was which software to use. The software that came with the box (creative something) would record it but didnt let me save it in any form. But did let me load Wav files and save them as MP3 files. The Audacity software let me record things and save them as wav files but not as MP3 files. So the only way I can get the bloody thing to do what I want is to use Audacity to record something- save it as a wav file then use the Creative software to change the WAV files to MP3 files. whilst only being able to do it with the mic/phones plugged in until I unplugged the whole thin.

There MUST be an easier way.