Fallen from Grace
Once again Ms Brain Cheese has yet another
great post - so along those lines I pose to my readers (all 3 of you - lol) "What has life taught you?" in under 50 words please!!
Linda's question came at an interesting time in my day. I got up around 9am, had breakfast, started reading a new book,
Tran-sister Radio by
Chris Bohjalian (author of
Midwives, which I enjoyed while at Norwich & living in VT) then showered & got ready to go to the movies. I'd made plans to meet up with Jaiden at 12.45 outside the Angel tube station, but she'd cancelled last minute, so I figured heck I'll just go alone since I wanted to go to Angel to get some Teva sandals from Blacks anyways. I got on the bust at 11.35, but this bus was only going to Muswell Hill Broadway (about 3 minutes up the road) but I got on it & figured I'd just grab the next 43 bus & be on my way . . . after waiting 20 minutes I finally got on a 43 bus but it was terminating at Highbury Corners (my stop is past that) but again figured get on & at least get going in the direction I want to go. A few stops later the bus makes a strange turn & I realise part of the problem is that the bus route road is closed for resurfacing (UGH!!) but no worries we're moving & hopefully it should be too much longer (famous last words). When the bus
finally gets to Archway (diversion was very slow) I think okay lets get this show on the road, I'll pop off here & get on the tube . . . smart idea until I realise the northern line is closed for track replacement all weekend . . . back to the bus stop I go. This time I get a bus which is terminating at Angel, which is fine by me as that's where I want to go - I think "yeah I'll get there" after a VERY slow ride we finally arrive at the tube station at 13.47, the movie started at 13.30 :( For those of you not good with math that journey took me just over 2 hours, typically it takes 40 minutes. Since I've come all this way I figure I'll get my sandals and then start my trip back home. I won't recite the reverse trip, but it's just as bloody bad as the trip into town! Luckily for me, I had nothing else I
had to do today so I just tried to remain calm & enjoy the bus ride (which is hard with people bitching & moaning, pushing & shoving all around you).
So back to the point of this story . . . what life has taught me is to take it one day at a time & not to sweat the small stuff, but then again the first half might just be me mum's 12 step program rubbing off on me, since I grew up with it all around me. We often joke that I've been to more meetings than the average person in AA and that I know most of the lingo fluently, just ask Jed in C'town, he hated it when he'd say, "oh I didn't have time or I'm too tired to go to a meeting" and I'd say with a smirk on my face, "you always had time & energy to go get drunk" . . . and amasingly he didn't have much of a reply to that aside from, "dammit, you're right Ra" and off to a meeting we'd go.
It's hard at times when I hear people in the program whining about this & that in their lives & how hard things are . . . it makes me almost pissed off at times because the reality is what they're going through is just as tough as what I'm going through. If you stop to think about it, getting drunk is never a solution to any of my problems, to be honest it just hinders the problem. I mean if I think oh I've had a bad day at work, I'm gonna go get pissed at the pub tonight to make myself feel better, the reality is the hangover I'm gonna have the following day did not solve the problem & now I've got a new problem of a hangover. I guess what I'm trying to say is I don't like it when people use alcoholism (or any other disorder) as an excuse in their life. I mean I could blame bad things in my life on my mom, "if she hadn't drank then . . . " but the reality is this is the hand I've been dealt & I've gotta make the best of it, one day at a time!!
Sorry I'm rambling now, I guess what I'm trying to say is
"Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle." Who are you to say yours is worse?!??!!P.S. 117 days left!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Labels: books, quotes, thoughts
"There is a way to be good again."
So I just finished reading what I think is going to be my favourite book of the year,
The Kite Runner by
Khaled Hosseini and I have to admit I've read some good books this year, but this one takes the cake (thus far)! The Kite Runner was Hosseini's first book ever written and his second one,
A Thousand Splendid Suns just came out this past May, I reckon I would enjoy this book as well maybe as a Christmas present (hint hint mum or dad or patty).
I do not want to ruin the story for you so I will just tell you that it's a wonderfully written & really intense book, I couldn't put it down, for real, I stayed up late reading it & missed my bus stop earlier today b/c I was so into the book I didn't realise where we were. I could see, feel, smell, and really "be" where Amir and Hassan where when reading. I've obviously never been to Afghanistan (and to be honest probably won't ever make it there) but I have a picture of it in my head & I was thinking as I finished it earlier that it could make a great movie, then when I goggled it, I noticed it is being made into a movie (coming out this Christmas), just wonder if it could do it justice, since in my head I know what the characters look like & I might not see then the same way.
Has anyone else read this book & if so what are your views on it, as I know not everyone enjoys the same books.
Labels: books
Post #770 - where does the time go?
I know I've not been as good posting on a regular basis, but since I have a few interesting things to tell ya I figured I'd give you a quick post - can't believe it's my 770th one!!
So I have a massive headache for no real reason (that I can come up with) unless of course it's just stress, but to be honest I can't think of that much - I mean there are a few unknowns in my life at the moment, but to my conscious brain they're not bothering me cause I'm old enough to know things that are meant to be will be & if not, there's a reason for it.
A few of those things are:
- I could be moving to a nice new flat in Tufnell Park on October 13th, course there is still background checks & the like to be done, so I'm trying not to get my hopes up too too much, but it would cut my commute in half & be near the flat I had last year which even though not everyone is a fan of that area, I like it, maybe just cause it's familiar to me but whatever, I like it, so there :)
- I've got a ton of stuff to do at work before my potential move in October, since that's when I have to have my presentation for Thailand finished. Things are going well, it's just that I don't have enough time to do what I wanna get done, to make it as solid as I want it, but I guess such is life . . .
- One of my bestest friends from the UK moved to New York on Monday & I really miss her!! I mean I'm happy MissyLou & Jeremy are there, I think it's an AWESOME opportunity, but still we use to hang out at least once a week, so it's going to be quite an adjustment for me (well probably for her as well)
Okay that's enough of that . . . in order to keep myself "happy" I've been keeping busy reading some of my fav blogger's posts, in particular BrainCheese, who's kept me rolling with laughter this past week when I've felt a bit overwhelmed!
And for those of you who joined me at LSHTM in 2005, can you believe it was 2 years ago this coming Monday that Greg gave us our first lecture . . . where did the 720 days go???? I was talking with John today & he said that there are 13 girls and 1 guy this term, we joked that that one guy was going to look like a big stud when they go out as a group - LOL
Alrighty, my bed is calling my name, laters.
Labels: me
interesting question
Was just reading
PCS's blog a few minutes ago & discovered he'd posted
a link in which the Washington Monthly asks an interesting question, When you're home alone, do you close the door when you use the bathroom?
So the question is do you?!?!?!?!?
You go girls!! Has anyone been following the Women's World Cup? If not, maybe you should seeing as "No. 1-ranked Americans" are advancing to the "semifinal in Hangzhou. The final is Sept. 30 in Shanghai, with the U.S. seeking a third title to go with the ones from 1991 and '99." Unfortunately the men's
RWC team is not doing anywhere close to as well, but so that I don't give away any info to those of you who want to watch it yourselves, just know that you probably should be watching the lady's footie instead :)
Labels: sports
Stillwater, NY?!?!?!?
So I was just looking at where people who read my blog are located & someone is from Stillwater, NY, which I've never heard of . . . can anyone enlighten me - I know I know, I could just google it but I figured it might be more interesting if the person who was from there told me. Course I know this is gonna backfire in my face as it will be someone I know really well & I'll be super embarrassed I didn't realise where they lived. Course when I log in it shows up at Lambeth, UK and I'm not really in Lambeth at all, so maybe Stillwater is just the closest place that the sitemeter knows about.
In other semi-funny news this week, you might already have heard this story from me but incase you haven't:
My work colleague at
DSTL called me the
FACS Guru the other day & I nearly wet myself since I am far from a guru with the FACS machine, so I said it's more like a Guru In Training, but then I realised that spelled out GIT
(British slang: a foolish or worthless person), so I said hows about a Guru In Advanced Training, I wonder if that's one of those stories where you had to be there moments, hope it makes you laugh, cause I'm still laughing telling you about it days later - but then again that might just prove to you how unexciting my life is these days . . .
That's all for my Friday, thanks to all of you who have voted for me!!
Hope you have a great weekend!
Happy Yom Kippur to my Jewish mates!
I made the top 10, go vote for me, PLEASE
So I made the top 10 of Dear Abby contest I was telling
you about recently, but now that I've made it this far I need your help to vote for me, just
click here and find me under (scared of muffin lady the 9th entry) and vote, please!!!!! Okay I guess you should read all entries & then vote, but if you're so inclined vote for me :)
AH in L'town
My mate Andrew who works in the Sudan at the mo, was back in London for one night,
here are the photos.
And for those of you who give a care about the RWC (that's the Rugby World Cup) the boks (South African Springboks) wooped England's arse 36-0 last night - YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!
Labels: photos
AH in L'town
My mate Andrew who works in the Sudan at the mo, was back in London for one night,
here are the photos.
And for those of you who give a care about the RWC (that's the Rugby World Cup) the boks (South African Springboks) wooped England's arse 36-0 last night - YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!
Labels: photos
Dear Abby
Shelly over at This Eclectic Life is having a Dear Abby Contest,
check it out here! I've entered with only a few hours to spare, fingers crossed :)
Labels: contest
Andrew H in town :)
Anna, my trainer & mate, left work today at 5pm for her new TB job at the Royal Free Hospital in Belsize Park on Monday :(
But in good news I got to meet up with my mate Andrew who's originally from Scotland, but been working in Sudan for the past year on transmission of diseases via parasite (like malaria from mosquitoes & other buggers like that) so that was awesome to see him. Even funnier was at dinner tonight he was whining about turning 30 next year & then it came out his b'day is 18 March, so yes, I'm OLDER!!!! We had a good chuckle about that. I will try to post the photos on my blog later this weekend.
Might hire a car & drive up to Nottingham & visit Becks, but haven't attempted to hire the car yet so that might not actually happen . . .
my lil sis the geek
So some might think the fact that I enjoy talking about Natural Killer cells would make me a geek, but never would you see me walking around in a hard hat, with not 1 but 2 badges hanging from my neck, safety goggles, and a pager on me hip, so the
geek of the year award goes to my lil sis, Patty (who's a test engineer) sorry I can't show you more of the photo, but know that she's the ONLY female & probably the youngest one in the group, she definitely bring beauty to this group, not to say the guys are ugly, but . . . you get my point :) Love ya lil sis, xx
Labels: sister
Saint EB is a champ!!
So as some of you know I have a wonderful blogger mate who lives in Seattle, WA, USA and her name is Linda (see side for her link as I'm too knackered to write it all out right now), but the point is not how funny Linda's posts normally are & how much I look forward to reading them daily, but rather to send you to read
this one in particular.
Now maybe it's because today is the 6th anniversary of the Sept 11th events, maybe it's that for some reason this & last week I've been a bit "home sick", or maybe it's just that work is getting a bit tiring with all this training & then on top of it to have alarm issues & drugs that don't work & experiments that have to be scraped, BUT I really thought it was a great post & I'm hoping you'll enjoy it too.
AND to top it all off, not only was Saint EB a champ for riding it, look at how much her team raised:
Swedish Smyelin Babes III
Goal:
$10,000.00
Achieved:
$23,292.00How awesome is that?!?!?!?!
Okay off to bed now, absolutely drained right now, will try to do better updates later this week or weekend!
BTW, feel free to leave Linda a comment when you go to her page, I'm sure she'd love to hear from all of you as well :)
Labels: MS
Anna's Leaving Do
Click here
World Cup Rugby & CO2 footprint
So America sucks at rugby compared to other teams around the world & that was proven today when they played England in their first match of the WCRugby 2007. They lost 28-3 :(
In other more exciting news, I booked my flights home for me Christmas holiday, I'll be arriving Friday Dec 21 at around 19.00 into JFK and leaving EARLY (07.40) on Monday Jan 7th.
Aside from that I don't have much to report, well aside from my mate Anna's leaving do last night, hopefully I'll get the photos uploaded tomorrow, but no promises. We had such a great time, didn't get home to LATE, hence why I have lil to report today seeing as I was up at 09.30 this morning, but went back to bed till 15.00 and only got up b/c I had plans to meet people at the pub for the rugby, lol.
We all know I do a lot of traveling, but when you add it all up here is my 2007 CO2 footprint in flights alone (this does include my future trip to Thailand & trip home at Christmas):
Number of Yearly Flights: 6Total Flights under 730 miles: 0Total Flights under 2580 miles: 0Total Flights over 2580 miles: 6Total Miles Traveled: 35610
Your Annual CO2 Emissions:
6.3 Metric TonsTo calculate your CO2 footprint click here (thanks Shann for this link)
Okay, off to bed now, hope you're all having a good weekend!!
Labels: holidays, rugby
Quote from a favourite movie of mine
"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow airport. General opinions starting to make out we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. Seems to me that love is everywhere. Often not particularly dignified or news worthy, but always there. Fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the twin towers as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board where messages of hated or revenge. They were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling, you'll find that love really is . . . all around."
I think sometimes we all forget this fact & it's nice to have a lil reminder about it. Okay, so can you name the movie?!??!!
(I'll put a hint in the comment box, in case you need it)
I WON I WON!!!
Check this out!
tube strike!
Service updates
Last update: 6:29am
Bakerloo - Suspended
Central - Suspended
Circle - Suspended
District - Suspended
East London - Suspended
H'Smith & City - Suspended
Jubilee - Good service
Metropolitan - Suspended
Northern - Good service
Piccadilly - Part suspended
Victoria - Suspended
Waterloo & City- Suspended
How will we all get to work you ask? I have no clue, I pray I can get a spot on the bus this morning, especially as I have to give my lab meeting presentation & CANNOT be late!! Wish me luck, this strike is going to continue till Friday morning :(
not much time left
144 days, 11 hours, 40 minutes, and 09 seconds till I'm 30!!!!!!!!
my best mate's fiance!
I think I've mentioned that Jim's engaged, right? Well if not . . . secret's out, he's engaged to Rebekah, aka Becks. So I met the future Mrs Strother tonight and she seems really sweet, a bit shy, but understandable seeing as Jim & I can talk for hours about absolutely nothing. BUT the few times he left us alone to go to the toilet or get us drinks we were able to chat & I think we'll get along really well, which makes me happy since I've not even slightly enjoyed all of the other girlfriend's he's had in the past 2 years since we met!!
I might meet up with them again tomorrow or Sunday before she leaves to go home, but I have a very positive feeling so far, which makes me happy for him, since as I think I've told you before, I've only seen once before in my life the smile he gets when he mentions her name, and NEVER before has he said such positive things about
any girl.
I'm looking forward to being "the best girl" at their wedding next August, just need something to wear and a date (anyone fancy flying over to London & driving up to Nottingham with me?), luckily I have a year to sort it all out
Alright, I'm off to bed now as it is 01.05!!
