Saturday 4 December 2010

It's Christmas!

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Pretty Pretty.

Brainbow mice. Nature 2007. Back to work!
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Saturday 20 November 2010

good day!

At the Thackray medical museum don't you wish we still had apothocaries? Also, the Christkindel market is back at Leeds. With this rather charming reindeer that sang Christmas songs and German sausage and cheese!
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Friday 19 November 2010

Also, banana.

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Lookie here.

Aren't they cute?
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Oops. That's not meant to happen.

At least I don't think so. Yes. That is my sink: I leave my flatmates alone for a couple of hours... It was certainly one of the odder conversations I've had in a while.
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Thursday 28 October 2010

So, I was meandering around my dashboard just now and noticed that I have more followers that I used to. And some of you, I don't even know IRL. So thanks. That was a happy moment.

Those of you that know me know that I've been trying to lose weight for a variety of reasons, both health and personal vanity. I am pre-diabetic, which is basically a resistance to insulin and thus raised glucose levels. Losing weight can hopfully sort that out and all the other hormone problems I have at the same time. Vanity wise, I'm getting married in a couple of years (31 months!) and I want to look good for the wedding. But I have a problem with scales.

Mostly, they don't go upto my weight. I have looked everywhere, and the only ones I can find are £60+ and I just can't afford it. So all I have to go on is the fact that I feel slimmer. And that depends entirely on how cheerful I feel at the time.

But recently I have started a weightloss program with Kirklees weight management service where I attend a weekely meeting about trying to get into better eating pattens and control what I eat rather than lose weight, although that is in the long run what the goal is. The thing is, they do have scales that go upto my weight. Which means that I can actually see my weight change week to week. For nothing else, being able to see I'm losing weight, and knowing what I did right or even the opposite is a relief.

There is nothing more depressing than trying to lose weight and not knowing if you are succeding. You just give up, because there is no proof that it is working and well, whats the point anyway? Then you comfort eat and then you feel bad about it, and thats one of the comfort eating triggers so you eat more. Eventually, you just get depressed and stop even caring about uni, or your hobbies. There have been days where I've just stayed in bed and stared at the ceiling, because I don't even want to read.

So yes, recently I've been losing weight and knowing I have been and I've been reading more and knitting again (I will master those circular knitting needles) and actually enjoying the company of my friends. And I've only just realised that I have been depressed, albeit mildly. It is so much harder to see from the inside. I'm just glad things are looking up. I need to be interested in working this year. Thats quite critical to my plans afterwards.

Monday 4 October 2010

Final Year!

Finally. A couple of years after most people I started school with, I've started my final year at uni :) I'm very excited. And I'm afraid that might well mean a lot of emoticons and exclamations until I settle down.

Well, I'm excited and I'm not. This year is actually quite scary. It's worth two thirds of my whole degree, and how I do this year will reflect on what I do for the rest of my life. Saying that, so long as I actually work as much as I have this year just gone, I should be fine. I'm working at a 2.1, or I was in my second year. But the exams this year are 3 hours long, which is HORRIBLE. Having to sit still in one place for three hours at a time? And repeat it four times. Sigh.

But my dissertation is looking quite exciting, and I may have a part time job as well, so things aren't that bad. And neither are the actual lectures now we're getting into them. The first two years we learnt what makes biology tick and how it does it. This year seems to be the techniques we use to determine this. And there's an immunology module that is looking very fun. And it will help me apply for the jobs I want.

Jobs. Yep. I've been back at university for one whole shiny week and now I need to be looking for jobs. Although there are a lot of Graduate Training Programs out there, and one in particular that I'm keeping an eye on.

The NHS nationwide each year train about 180 (gulp, not very many!) recent graduates in what effectivly becomes a modern apprenticeship to become a clinical scientist in your field of study. There are a couple I'm interested in, the training for a clinical geneticist and the training for a clinical immunology and histogenetics. And in most cases, once you're in the NHS, you're in it for life. The applications for these positions used to open in November and close in February, but this year they're changing the way you apply, and they won't put up the new details :(

But enough about Uni an Jobs. I was pointed in the direction of an amazing webcomic the other day. Here's episode 1: Axecop This is written by a 5 year old boy, and drawn by his 29 year old brother. It's a hoot. I wish My imagination was this good still.

Anyway, I must be a good little final year student and get back to work :D

Have fun with Axecop!

Sunday 19 September 2010

Day 9

A quick note on day 8. I've decided to skip this photo as I couldn't think of anything sufficiently impersonal to post about that wasn't too impersonal. So on to day nine.

A photo I took. This was back in halls in my first year of university. One of my housemates collected buttons, and was either showing us them or using them before we went out.

Whilst we were waiting for her to get ready, someone else and I decided to see if we could get them all to stand on edge.

It was one of the more infuriating things I've tried to do. And we couldn't get them all to stand on edge :( This is one of the few pictures I managed to rescue off my phone from that year before it broke.

Saturday 18 September 2010

Ginger Kitten's Done it Again!

She challenged me. Personalise the alphabet she says.


So here goes.

A = Ale (of the real variety)
B = Bonfire Night (Lewes rules)
C = Cheese Rolling! and Cthulhu
D = Dinosaurs (Rawr says I love you!)
E = Elmer the Elephant (because he's cool)
F = Fudge
G = Genetics (because it's fascinating)
H = Hastings (battle of) Start of the french rule!
I = Icecream (ben and jerries!)
J =jelly! to go with the icecream.
K =kisses and love (awwww...)
L =Lewes (see B)
M = Morris Dancing
N = night time with snuggly blankets
O =Orchids are beautiful flowers
P =Portal!
Q =quack is an amazing sound
R = Rainbows
S = The SEA!
T = Trains, especially steam trains woooWooot!
U = University of Huddersfield (the best in the world!)
V = violin lessons (when I remember)
W =wool
X =that xylophone player who is deaf but can 'hear' the vibrations in her feet.
Y = yetis (rooor!)
Z =Zebrawood, coz it's pretty. google it!

Thursday 16 September 2010

Day 7

A photo that makes you happy.
I love this photo. It says everything you need to know about border morris really. A stick in one hand and a pint in the other :)
If you're ever down south, go see them.
I can't remember exactly where this photo was taken, but it was near a pub! Although, with hunters Moon, and morris dancer in general, come to think on it, thats a fairly safe assumption. This is the proof that I really am a folky, honest, because once you are in this deep, you're never getting out of it. Although, if I'm gonna start dancing again, with anyone, I need to get a bit fitter first^^

Tuesday 14 September 2010

Day 6

20 of my favourite things.



1. Vanilla Rooibos tea.
2. Books
3. Languages, there are so many I want to learn.
4.music both that played and playing it myself. I play the flute, and am trying to learn the violin, and I'd love to learn the concertina when I can afford it.
5.knitting
6.crochet (and they're not the same thing!)
7.Science! it's amazing (espically genetics:p)
8.Folk Festivals
9.Apple juice (fermented and not fermented)
10.My imagination
11.fairy stories
12.My friends- They're all pretty amazing
13.Rainbows
14.Weather
15.Cycling
16.Boats
17.Swimming
18.The sea
19.chocolate :)
20.My fiancée

These aren't in any perticular order...

Sunday 12 September 2010

Day 5

My favourite quote.

As mentioned in the last post, The start of the last chapter in Jane Eyre

"Reader, I married him"

is one that never fails to stick in my memory. Also, another one that is stuck in my head from Sabriel,

"Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?"

edited for an overheard conversation:
"I'm not saying your head is about to explode..."

Day 4

My favourite book.

This is worse than music or films, or anything else. I am a prolific reader, and have been for years.

That saying, when I first started reading, I would only read the famous five for a long long time. Then my uncle and my dad gave me one of Anne MacCaffery's books.- Dragon Song I think it was. Since then, well I read a lot of Science Fiction. The best series there is David Webber's Honorverse. The first one is On Basilisk Station, and now there is a wealth of books set in and around the Honorverse.

Pure Space Opera.

Science Fiction led, quite naturally for me, to fantasy. And my alltime favourite author there is Mercedes Lackey. I've not yet found one of hers I don't like, but the tales of 500 kingdoms and her rewrites of common fairy stories like snow white and cinderella are well worth a read. Also in fantasy is Diane Duane's Young Wizard series, starting with So You Want To Be A Wizard. I read the first three in secondary school and I've been so hooked I've actually gone out and bought them in hardback when they were published. I do that for very few books. There are nine in that series so far and another two in the same universe. As an added bonus, Diane Duane does Star Trek novels as well :)

Another few books I like: PS I love you. It chokes me up every time. As does Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper. Mary Stewart's Thornyhold I've read so much pages are falling out of it. Back to Sci Fi, and Harry Turtledove's The Case Of the Toxic Spell Dump is incredibly well written with magic replacing science. But the magic is science. Mansfield Park is another book I read over and over again, as is Garth Nix's Abhorsen Series: Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen. And of course, I can't forget the wonder that is Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.

But probably, my favourite books: there has to be three, are Jane Eyre which just feels timeless and has the one line I most remember from a book. 'Reader, I married him.' And the other story is the first one in another series: Jasper Fford's The Eyre Affair. This book makes me laugh out loud no matter where I am, which has ended with me getting some strange looks on the train and bus, and it is just a book lovers' inside joke the whole way through the series. I first read it in 2004 when I was on a narrowboat holiday, so there are fond memories there as well.

These two books, along with Rudyard Kipling's complete collection of verse are the three books I take with me no matter where I move, and if I was only allowed to save three books, it would be these.

This post was made a lot harder by the fact that, in my teens, I decided to read the entirety of the BBC's Big Read list, the 100 favourite books of the nation. I'm still slogging at it. It shall not defeat me.

Saturday 11 September 2010

Day 3

My favourite TV program:
Probably Doctor Who. And the new Sherlock Holmes. They please me, and apart from the odd Documentary, I don't actually watch all that much telly. I'm far more of a book person.

There is not really much I can say about the TV, so I'll leave with this thought. If dinosaurs could drive, would a T-Rex need a disabled car because of his arms?

Friday 10 September 2010

Day 2

My favourite Movie. Oh lord.
Sister Act. I or II I don't mind. I adore them. Whoopie Goldburg is, to my mind, amazing. Rat Race ain't bad either.
Also Pan's Labyrinth for something a little more serious. That movie was inspired. And The Labyrinth. Ummm... David Bowie's crotch (or codpiece, you decide.) Labyrinth has some good music. And if you want a chuckle, Mel Brooks is good for a laugh. Try High Anxiety. Or Robin Hood Men In Tights and the classic Blazing Saddles.
Musical wise, West Side Story is something I inherited off my dad, And The Phantom of the Opera I was introduced to by an amazing and long time friend who is currently pretending to be an American. Speaking of Americans, An American in Paris is really rather good as well. In fact I like most of the old musicals.
And that leads me onto my secret (well, not so secret) passion. Old war films. To name a few, The Dambusters, The Great Escape (and Chicken Run) U451, and that one about the man who designs the new war planes and the last thing he sees before he dies is one flying overhead. I never can remember the name of that one. And there are lots more, but this post will be stupidly long if I don't stop now :)

Thursday 9 September 2010

stolen from my lovely friend...

... over at thegkdiaries.blogspot.com
This is a 30 day quiz. Each day you write about different things with the schedule as follows:

Day 1 – your favourite song
Day 2 – your favourite movie
Day 3 – your favourite television program
Day 4 – your favourite book
Day 5 – your favourite quote
Day 6 – 20 of my favourite things
Day 7 – a photo that makes you happy
Day 8 – a photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 9 – a photo you took
Day 10 – a photo taken over 10 years ago of you
Day 11 – a photo of you recently
Day 12 – something you are OCD about
Day 13 – a fictional book
Day 14 – a non-fictional book
Day 15 – your dream house
Day 16 – a song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17 – an art piece (drawing, sculpture, painting, etc)
Day 18 – my wedding/future wedding/past wedding
Day 19 – a talent of yours
Day 20 – a hobby of yours
Day 21 – a recipe
Day 22 – a website
Day 23 – a YouTube video
Day 24 – where I live
Day 25 – your day, in great detail
Day 26 – your week, in great detail
Day 27 – my worst habit
Day 28 – whats in my handbag/purse
Day 29 – hopes,dreams and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 – a dream for the future

Soooooo Day 1.

My favourite song.
It all depends what mood I'm in. When I'm working, it's Mozart's Horn Concertos. I love them. they're amazing to work to.
Otherwise, there's a whole host of them. Harvey Andrew's The British Soldier just seems to sum up the troubles in a way nothing else I've heard does. Then there's Frank Turner's Long Live the Queen , or indeed any of his, but that one... It's about his friend, and when you listen to it, and watch the video on YouTube, you can tell that they were friends. Jim Morey's Leaving Australia and I'll Go List For a Sailor- in fact all of his Low Culture album is good. As is Imagined Village. Amazing Album. It was described to me as folk gone wrong. Maddy Prior and the Girls: I've listened to that so many times I know it word for word. The Great Divide is the best there I think. Who else? David Bowie, Steeleye Span, La Oreja De Van Gogh... so so many. It's hard to choose just one. But my all time favourite song is actually not a song. It's George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. That's my Pick-me-up-calm-me-down piece that I can never get bored of. The clarinet at the start and the rushing of the piano...

Saturday 28 August 2010

wittering is a lovely word...

So, finally I find myself in the mood to write again, as this blog has become not so much as a comment on my life as the random witterings of my mind.
I've not really been in the mood to write since... well for a while. And now, even though I'm not entire sure what to write about, I've got the itch. So here goes.

Somebody asked me what it meant to be fey the other day. And I had to stop and think to remember, and that got me thinking, isn't it funny how words go out of fashion so quickly, Almost as quickly as the clothes we wore when we were saying them. I pick up on fads with annoying- sometimes very annoying regularity. At the minute, I'm trying to wean myself off of saying like at the end of sentences. I hate it when I will just tag like onto the end of a sentence. 'So do you just want to make some more MRD like?' or 'No. He wants it in for Friday like.' The people I work with are currently finding it amusing, and are at the stage of gently twitting me about it. I just want it to stop. I have no clue who I picked it up off of and I'm half dreading the next influence that comes along. My vocabulary, well, it's quintessentially British: It picks things up wherever it goes, whoever it sees and whatever I read. The same for accents. Although, they'll usually get mashed good and proper before I'm done.

There are even examples in this post; further up, I wrote the word fad. I have one moment that has stuck in my mind for some strange reason, where I mentioned some passing craze to my sister. Apon me saying the word 'fad' she curled her lip in that way only she can (I have never seen it reproduced) and informed me that people had stopped saying the word fad in the 17th century, duh. Everyone knows that...

But there are people like that, aren't there? the ones who know exactly what clothes are in fashion, and exactly what phrase or word is the current big thing. You'll be talking away to them and you'll just be blindsided when someone turns around to you and says wow! last night, I got completely drained. And you'll look blank. If you don't know what's good for you, you may even say what? And then you get that look that says don't you know anything? My ten year old sister knows this, whilst they'll say, a bit slower than they normally talk, You know. Drunk.

Language. Just keeps on evolving like some pond sludge turning into a beautiful butterfly.

Imagine if we had to talk to our great great greats. Would they be able to understand us? Would we them? The rate of change of slang in a language is meant to be an indication of how alive a language, how much it is still bending it's self around the people who speak it. It's like a surprise every day. adds a bit of spice to life...

...I'm getting carried away. And trying to imagine a chav, one of the many that populate the town where I went to school trying to talk to one of their triple-greats.
'What you looking at innit? You think it's funny? well your MUM is what's funny.'
'You what? Get out of me way you glocky dollymop'

I'm still giggling. Seriously. Glocky dollymop. And yet, at the time, that was a perfectly acceptable phrase.

Wednesday 23 June 2010

I've learnt something today.
I've learnt what it is to have a few days off of work and nothing planned. I've also learnt what it is to have to work Monday to Friday 9 to 5. Even though this isn't a true representation of work. I know I'm going to stop and I'm going to become a student again. Doing what I think I truly love best. Learning. I've been lucky in that I've enjoyed my placement and I know what I want to aim for when I finish. Which also luckily means I know what needs to be done and what to aim for next year.

Which mean I might actually get there. I need something to aim at. Something, preferably just inside my ability to do. Because when I get there, all boundaries reset themselves. And to be honest, there is something to do today. I pick up my keys to move tomorrow. And the packing isn't quite finished. But Mum doesn't get here till about 4 ish. and somehow that becomes go time and the rest of today, well I've done bits and bats, but it has mostly been aimless wondering since then. And since I have been most remiss in writing my blog, well, here it is.

I'm gonna miss this place. I'm also really not going to, but this house has seen a lot and taught me a lot too. For the first time in my life, I have brought my own food properly on my own and not in a group. I've paid bills, I've had to call in repairmen and I've learnt to cope with things that are lopsided shabby and plain wrong. Combined with working for a year and learning how to get on with work colleges and actually having to sort out my finances, this house holds a lot of memories.

On the other hand, things are going to be good next year. I'm going to be living with a very good friend, in a house which isn't falling down around my ears, and without ants everywhere. I'm going to be moving into my final year at university, and the view has opened up some. Not much but the houses across the way are further away. And best of all, my fiancée is a lot closer now that he has moved to town too.

All in all things are looking up. And to stop me looking out of the window every time a car comes in the hopes that it is my mother, even though she isn't due for another hour, I'm off to play World of Goo.

Wednesday 3 March 2010

Failure.

But this time I have an excuse. Kinda...
I tried to upgrade to win7 a couple of three weeks ago.
Note the tried. I failed miserably.
I've managed to get a copy of vista working on it but now there is no internets (writing this from work.). Hello warranty. Lets see if Tosh can fix it.
So yeah. Lack of posts till I actually have a working computer again... Unless I write them at home and post them at work when no-one is looking.
So, chaciao for now.