Garnet's Life Adventures

Thankful

As I'm sure most people have now heard, a US Airways A320 plane crashed into the Hudson River yesterday & all (about 150) passengers survived, how amazing is that? One passenger broke both legs, but aside from that 80 other passengers were treated for minor injuries. These photos are from BBC's website:


So be sure to read those "emergency cards" & listen to your airline staff cause it could save your life!!

Labels: airplanes, thankful

posted by Sara @ 12:56 pm 0 comments

14C and waiting

So the flat's down to 14C and I'm STILL sitting here waiting for the plumber who should be here "any minute" . . . I have to say that hot water bottles are the best - they can keep you totally warm all night long! I wish there was better day time shows on (LOL)

I just keep telling myself - I'm healthy, have a job, a roof over my head, food in my tummy & have a loving family for which I am very very thankful, so I shouldn't be complaining about my lack of heat or hot water, but it's frustrating when you're use to having these things at your disposal.

Labels: flats, thankful, update

posted by Sara @ 11:39 am 0 comments

Where where you on April 5 1994?

Can anyone remember what happened on April 5, 1994?

Some of you might remember this as the date in which Poland's application for accession to the European Union was written, but probably not cause that didn't make headlines news for very long.

Others might remember it from what I recall as "breaking news" as the day in which the lead singer of Nirvana killed himself. I remember the day rather well actually because my best mate Kristen was in tears when she told me that Kurt Cobain had died. I remember thinking she was over reacting at the time, but none the less tried to comfort her in the only way we at our age of 16 knew how. Seeing as I had just gotten my driving license 2 months earlier and since I'd borrowed my mom & dad's Lumina APV van that day, Kristen & I drove around town with no real destination, just thinking we looked cool cause we were driving (BIG deal when you've just turned 16!) and blasting Nirvana music!

And to my amazement, I don't recall hearing on the news or in the classroom anything about what was going on in Africa. Now some of you may recall more details about this day than I do, but I think my generation was a bit side tracked with one of our favourite musicians have just killed himself. I just wonder how I completely missed the fact that in Rwanda a genocide had been going on for FIVE days & yet I never had heard a thing about it. I was in a good school and obviously history was taking place all around me, yet our teachers never mentioned it, on Sunday when I went to church we didn't pray for victims of the genocide - how did I miss this? Within 100 days nearly 1 million people died & for me the worst thing was that I wasn't sure how Nirvana was going to cope - that seems a bit petty compared to what was REALLY going on in the world!


As today is my "Thanksgiving" dinner, I felt it necessary to watch, Sometimes in April which sort helped to make me even more thankful! That might sound a bit sadistic, but I still feel that even though we're all thankful on Thanksgiving, we are normally thinking about "issues" we're having in the US - like thankful we could get a new car this year, thankful we're able to go to Hawaii on holiday, and we breeze over the things like being thankful to have a roof over our heads, clean drinking water, etc.

Today I am thankful:

• I have never had to experience first hand the acts of a genocide
• none of my family was raped, mutilated, or killed in a genocide
• I did not have to live in a swamp for nearly 100 days waiting to be saved without food & drinking only the dirty contaminated water which had rotting dead bodies floating in it
• that America has elected a new president who I hope would never sit back like our government did in 94 and let some like the genocide in Rwanda go on!

Okay enough of that - I have to get back to cooking for the 13 people who will be showing up today to eat & learn about American Thanksgiving.

In case any of you are feeling generous today, please drop by Itafari's website & consider purchasing a goat for a child headed household in Rwanda, a brick to build a secondary (high) school in Kigali, or give any monetary amount you can spare today AND remember to be thankful that you have the freedom to choose to give or not to . . . not all have that choice in the world!!

Labels: donations, itafari, rwanda, thankful, thanksgiving

posted by Sara @ 11:26 am 4 comments

1001 things to be thankful for

I don't have time to write them all down, but as I was sitting at lunch listening to lots of people complain about "their problems" I suddenly mentally was transported back to Rwanda, where for 21 days I don't recall anyone talking about their problems - they maybe had minor set backs but they were all looking forward to the future, so I think everyone who reads this blog should leave a comment with at least 10 things they're happy/thankful for today! To start you off I'll lead with:

1. I have a job
2. I have the best sister in the world
3. I have a flat to live in with heat
4. I have more than £50 in my bank account
5. I have clothes which fit me and I can clean on a regular basis in a machine (not by hand in a sink)
6. I have wonderful friends AROUND the world
7. I have the best loving, supportive, open minded parents in the world
8. I am able to eat more than one meal a day
9. I am able to have hot running water at home
10. I met some of the most amazing people in Rwanda

Labels: list, thankful

posted by Sara @ 5:32 pm 4 comments

exhausted

I've just been at Imperial ALL morning long & am absolutely shattered, but I wanted to check in & say hello. Tricia's sugery was sucessful, you can read the post here.

One thing I'm learning is now that I know I need glasses and wear them most of the time for reading, but I can tell when I'm tired & trying to read without wearing them cause my head really hurts and I can't concentrate as well!

Even though my March Challenge is over, I wanted to let you know today I'm thankful for my sight, even if it is not 20-20 anymore 8-)

Labels: eyes, march challenge, thankful, tricia

posted by Sara @ 3:33 pm 3 comments

Camera Photos & last of my March Challenge

So this weekend started BST (British Summer Time) for those of us who were on GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) which means we're back to being 5 hours ahead of New York. The part I enjoy most about the switch to BST is that it's light out MUCH later, making me a happy bunny!! So I took a few photos on my camera phone tonight to show you how light it was, but then realised I had lots of old photos on that memory card from in & around London, so here they all are for your viewing pleasure . . . (I know you've been dying to see them ;)

Labels: BST, march challenge, mates, photos, Russia, sun, thankful

posted by Sara @ 7:57 pm 2 comments

Thursday Meme from Ms. CheeseWiz

Four films I’d watch again:
1. Silence Of The Lambs
2. The Notebook
3. Office Space
4. What About Bob

Four places I’ve lived:
1. New York
2. Vermont
3. Rhode Island
4. England

Four TV shows I watch:
1. Grey's Anatomy
2. Army Wives
3. Re-runs of Friends
4. BBC news (not sure that's considered a show, but I watch it)

Four things to eat:
1. spag bol
2. curries
3. chicken & biscuits
4. mac & cheese (homemade of course!)

Four places I'd rather be:
1. My bed
2. Germany (I'm going tomorrow but wish I was there already)
3. travelling - just about anywhere would be wonderful
4. eating blueberry pancakes with REAL maple syrup in the ADK General Store (in NY)

Four things I'm thankful for:
1. ability to travel pretty often
2. my mum being sober for 27 years & 1 day (yes, that means her 27th anniversary was yesterday!!!!! How cool is that?!?!?!?!?)
3. my mates in London, who make it easier to be so far away from my family
4. my job- allows me to live overseas, to pay the bills, learn new things about immunology of infectious diseases and over all keeps me entertained M-F :)

Labels: march challenge, meme, thankful

posted by Sara @ 9:48 am 4 comments

4 EYES

let's start with my thankfulness first off! i'm thankful for dan who organised & cleaned the shelves in the tissue culture room. i'm thankful to tash, mel & laura for helping me clean the main part of the lab, we still have LOTS to do, but we made a valiant effort today & everyone will see the difference immediately.

for those you of dying to hear about my new four eyes . . . no longer have to wait as I got my glasses today so instead of :-) I suppose I need to start making 8-) smiles to show off my lovely glasses (lol) i do apologise that i have no photos of them yet as i was super busy spring cleaning the lab & then sorting out my paperwork for the much awaited visa extension interview tomorrow in croydon, so you'll all just have to wait . . .

Labels: glasses, march challenge, thankful

posted by Sara @ 9:40 pm 3 comments

March PS Challenge

So how is everyone doing with their "be more thankful & try to take fewer things for granted" March challenge?

I'm rather proud of myself for my participation. For example yesterday, I showed up at the pub to meet some mates who happen to all be running late. I sat there by myself for 35 minutes before anyone showed up & I was getting a bit impatient, but again I thought, "what would Tricia do?" and then I realised she'd probably give anything to be outta the hospital, even if her mates were running late. So I sat quietly reading until they all arrived. Instead of bollocking them for being late, I just said, "glad you made it, I was worried maybe I'd gotten the date wrong"

Today I went to the gym & went on the treadmill, walking for 2 minutes then running for 2 minutes for a total of 50 minutes. I had only planned on going for 20 minutes, but then I decided to push a bit harder & keep going for Tricia & my March challenge. When I got done, I was a sweaty mess, but felt good for having done it!

So how are you all doing? Leave me a comment so I know . . .

Labels: gym, march challenge, thankful, tricia

posted by Sara @ 10:18 pm 3 comments