I decided this morning I should stay positive, despite:
having no job in two months
having to move to London and live on no money
my experiments, which were going through a really good patch, completely failing on me again
being full of goo (yet another cold)
being at least a stone overweight
not being at all sure where my current relationship is going
when the DJ starts one of those "back in the day" slots where he plays music from a particular year. This music reminds me of:
not having to worry about money
going to the other side of the world and having a bloody good time, every night
most of all, meeting a guy who I flirted with all the way up the east coast of Australia
Ah well, I guess I'd better get back to my experiment that doesn't work, figuring out how I'm going to get to my car rental tomorrow and applying for yet more jobs...
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Friday, March 16, 2007
Friday Is Good Because....
....I had loads of results to show at the lab meeting this morning, and most of it worked as well!
....I got fed LOTS of lunch (although I did have to wait two hours later that I normally would for food, which was bad)
.....I got offers of two interviews.... although now I realise that they're two different groups operating in the same place, eeek
.....I didn't have too much work to do today, which was good given that I cant work on a) no food or b) too much food
....I got fed LOTS of lunch (although I did have to wait two hours later that I normally would for food, which was bad)
.....I got offers of two interviews.... although now I realise that they're two different groups operating in the same place, eeek
.....I didn't have too much work to do today, which was good given that I cant work on a) no food or b) too much food
Monday, March 12, 2007
Men Wearing Pink Trousers?
Just stop it, right now.
And, it is NOT the time of year to be wearing shorts.
And, it is NOT the time of year to be wearing shorts.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Mmmm.. Pancakes...
Pancakes with..
Fried mushrooms and grated cheddar cheese
Boursin (garlic and herb soft cheese)
Fried cooking apple in cider brandy (CAUTION: cider brandy is, in fact, flammable) cinnamon and sugar
Lime juice and sugar
Nutella (chocolate spread) mmmmmm
Lime juice and sugar (was so good the first time I had it a second time).
I should have pancakes as a meal more often. I love them.
Fried mushrooms and grated cheddar cheese
Boursin (garlic and herb soft cheese)
Fried cooking apple in cider brandy (CAUTION: cider brandy is, in fact, flammable) cinnamon and sugar
Lime juice and sugar
Nutella (chocolate spread) mmmmmm
Lime juice and sugar (was so good the first time I had it a second time).
I should have pancakes as a meal more often. I love them.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Ha Ha! I'm Famous!
Hopefully only for five minutes...
Ross is loving this, and I'm really not. It seemed like a good idea at the time...
Look at us looking a bit dazed in The Sun
We got half the page (and full page picture!) in the Daily Mail
Oh yeah, and I don't think we're the tallest couple in Britain. Please don't let the Guinness Book of Records get on to this one... aaargh! Go away! I like my nice quiet life!
Ross is loving this, and I'm really not. It seemed like a good idea at the time...
Look at us looking a bit dazed in The Sun
We got half the page (and full page picture!) in the Daily Mail
Oh yeah, and I don't think we're the tallest couple in Britain. Please don't let the Guinness Book of Records get on to this one... aaargh! Go away! I like my nice quiet life!
Friday, February 16, 2007
A Bit Less Shoop, Shoop, Shoop and a Bit More Aaaargh
Well, I'm back and I didn't break anything! Hooray! Rather than give you an entire rundown of the week, I thought I'd just give you some snippets:-Saturday night: Just catch last train from London at 11:30, after worrying all the way from Stratford I'd be horribly late, get back to Bristol after a short sleep at 1:40 with sore feet and then having to walk all the way home, get to bed finally around 2:30 after finally finishing packing, get back up again after not much sleep at 3:30, get lift to airport at 4:10, get plane at 7, sleep on plane, get on bus, sleep on bus, get to resort at 1pm. Get skis, go to bar. Fall asleep in deckchair while everyone else drinks beer. Go inside when it gets cold, fall asleep whilst sat on sofa while everyone else drinks beer.
The chalet host was 9 years younger than me, and I think I was the youngest in the group. He was mooning over some other chalet girl from the group. He did try very hard to solve most of the chaos in the chalet that wasn't entirely his fault. He also made a mean biscuit cake (cue me getting very hyperactive on sugar).
The ipod I brought was put on some speakers so everyone got to enjoy my kind of music and make various comments on the cheesiness of the music, and the randomness - well, there's Belinda Carlisle, Aerosmith, Samantha Mumba, Coldplay, Doves and Abba just to mention a few...
Down a ski slope the thought goes through my mind: "Congratulations. You have just chosen the steepest part of the slope to go down."Solving a work-related problem whilst trying to go to sleep, and getting annoyed at myself. I was on holiday!
Commenting that I wasn't looking very pretty (I meant ski style-wise) coming down the last slope in a cable car, only for an unknown bloke opposite us to pipe up, "You were looking very pretty from behind". Whimper...
Getting more bruises off slope than on - my skiing has got to the point where I no longer fall over (and therefore get worse and worse at skiing because I don't want to fall over). On Friday night I fell twice in about five minutes down a slope and landed on exactly the same place both times! I also have various USHIs (Unidentified Skiing Holiday Injuries).
Getting home on Sunday only to get to a cold, untidy and quiet house. It was strange to share so much time with people and then there to be nothing. Then I fell asleep during Natural World.
Finding that in fact people you know can become proper friends - it's funny how you can know someone, but not really know them, if you see what I mean. I hope that I have made an "acquaintance" become a friend. Also being the person that people tell things like "I have a really bad farting problem today". Thanks for that.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
It Seems That My Life Will Be Forever Touched
So, there I was. Hmmm, Valentine’s Day. The Most Romantic Day Of The YearTM. I know, let’s go “surprise” my boyfriend in London by visiting him for a couple of hours on that night. Let’s go by bus because it’s a darn sight cheaper than booking the train the day before.
So, the first bit worked pretty much to plan. Then it all started to go horribly wrong on my way home. Nooooo…
I got to the bus with plenty of time to spare, but unfortunately lost my helium balloons from Pizza Hut in Victoria Station. Then I wasn’t in the first few people to get on the bus so some girl pinched the front seat (having very long legs means sitting in a cramped bus seat is not the most comfortable, and the front seats have the most room). This girl then proceeded to push her seat back (I won the first battle, but then fell asleep when she did it again, grrr) to make what little legroom I had to start off with completely disappear. Thanks for that, cow.
So, the bus sets off at 11:30 pm, fine, I fall asleep after a while, only to wake up an hour later to the bus driver calling his mate to say that there’s a problem with the fuel and he’s hoping he can get to the next service station before the bus dies. About five minutes later, the bus dies. In the middle of nowhere, somewhere near Reading on the M4. Oh Great. So we sit, on the side of the motorway, while the trucks blow past us, and our emergency hazards on. Fair play to the driver, he did what he could to solve the problem, but there wasn’t much he could do except wait with the rest of us for rescue. About 10 minutes later, a bus stops by us. Hopes flare until it transpires the bloke’s going to Swindon, Chippenham and Gloucester. Not much good for a group of tired people who want to get to Bristol. It transpires that the people coming to rescue us are coming in a van, and all the way from Bristol, which is a good hour or so driving away. We sat, and then sat some more, and then eventually I probably did sleep. An hour and a half (2am) after we pulled to the side of the motorway, another bus turns up. This one, it transpires, is going to Swansea and will drop us off on the way. And it has enough seats on it! Hooray! So I quickly get off the bus, in the hope I can get a better seat that isn’t being crushed by the (insert rude word here) in front. We get on said bus, and the driver starts being very randomly rude to my fellow passengers – telling them they can’t even have a very small rucksack on the bus (luckily I got away with my heavily laden handbag) and it has to be stored in the hold (?!?). I get my space at the front of the bus, somehow, absolutely no legroom whatsoever on this bus, when someone gives me back my rather lovely gloves I left on the previous bus (whoops). Thankyou, kind man.
Finally, we set off on our trip back to Bristol, the driver telling the bloke on the opposite side of me to get his seatbelt on straight away, and we leave the poor other driver to wait for recovery, which still hasn’t arrived. The driver listens to cheesy radio all the way, but I sleep. An hour later (3am) we finally arrive, tired and annoyed, at Bristol Bus Station, after an extraordinary route round Bristol that almost takes us to the train station and annoys the bus driver further. Some guy pipes up, “I guess we’re not going to Bristol University?”. The terse Welsh bus driver replies, “You guessed right”. How polite. I don’t know what happened next as I just got off the bus, happy to be a bit closer to home. The guy next to me (who, it has to be said, snored pretty much all the way home) comes out of the bus station shouting about the bus driver. I start undoing my bike, realising that I have no lights. Ah well, I’d rather cycle home than attempt to walk it at this time of night. And then, the most random thing happens. The ensuing conversation takes place:
Random man: Can you give me a lift?
Me: What?!?
RM: Can you give me a lift?
Me: On my bicycle? Are you crazy?
RM: It’s no problem, I’ll just sit on the back.
Me: I’m sorry, I can hardly push myself along on this thing, let alone anyone else.
I get home at 3:45, on my own, and finally get to my nice bed. I get 4 hours sleep before I have to go to work again. National Express is not in my good books today.
So, the first bit worked pretty much to plan. Then it all started to go horribly wrong on my way home. Nooooo…
I got to the bus with plenty of time to spare, but unfortunately lost my helium balloons from Pizza Hut in Victoria Station. Then I wasn’t in the first few people to get on the bus so some girl pinched the front seat (having very long legs means sitting in a cramped bus seat is not the most comfortable, and the front seats have the most room). This girl then proceeded to push her seat back (I won the first battle, but then fell asleep when she did it again, grrr) to make what little legroom I had to start off with completely disappear. Thanks for that, cow.
So, the bus sets off at 11:30 pm, fine, I fall asleep after a while, only to wake up an hour later to the bus driver calling his mate to say that there’s a problem with the fuel and he’s hoping he can get to the next service station before the bus dies. About five minutes later, the bus dies. In the middle of nowhere, somewhere near Reading on the M4. Oh Great. So we sit, on the side of the motorway, while the trucks blow past us, and our emergency hazards on. Fair play to the driver, he did what he could to solve the problem, but there wasn’t much he could do except wait with the rest of us for rescue. About 10 minutes later, a bus stops by us. Hopes flare until it transpires the bloke’s going to Swindon, Chippenham and Gloucester. Not much good for a group of tired people who want to get to Bristol. It transpires that the people coming to rescue us are coming in a van, and all the way from Bristol, which is a good hour or so driving away. We sat, and then sat some more, and then eventually I probably did sleep. An hour and a half (2am) after we pulled to the side of the motorway, another bus turns up. This one, it transpires, is going to Swansea and will drop us off on the way. And it has enough seats on it! Hooray! So I quickly get off the bus, in the hope I can get a better seat that isn’t being crushed by the (insert rude word here) in front. We get on said bus, and the driver starts being very randomly rude to my fellow passengers – telling them they can’t even have a very small rucksack on the bus (luckily I got away with my heavily laden handbag) and it has to be stored in the hold (?!?). I get my space at the front of the bus, somehow, absolutely no legroom whatsoever on this bus, when someone gives me back my rather lovely gloves I left on the previous bus (whoops). Thankyou, kind man.
Finally, we set off on our trip back to Bristol, the driver telling the bloke on the opposite side of me to get his seatbelt on straight away, and we leave the poor other driver to wait for recovery, which still hasn’t arrived. The driver listens to cheesy radio all the way, but I sleep. An hour later (3am) we finally arrive, tired and annoyed, at Bristol Bus Station, after an extraordinary route round Bristol that almost takes us to the train station and annoys the bus driver further. Some guy pipes up, “I guess we’re not going to Bristol University?”. The terse Welsh bus driver replies, “You guessed right”. How polite. I don’t know what happened next as I just got off the bus, happy to be a bit closer to home. The guy next to me (who, it has to be said, snored pretty much all the way home) comes out of the bus station shouting about the bus driver. I start undoing my bike, realising that I have no lights. Ah well, I’d rather cycle home than attempt to walk it at this time of night. And then, the most random thing happens. The ensuing conversation takes place:
Random man: Can you give me a lift?
Me: What?!?
RM: Can you give me a lift?
Me: On my bicycle? Are you crazy?
RM: It’s no problem, I’ll just sit on the back.
Me: I’m sorry, I can hardly push myself along on this thing, let alone anyone else.
I get home at 3:45, on my own, and finally get to my nice bed. I get 4 hours sleep before I have to go to work again. National Express is not in my good books today.
Friday, February 02, 2007
Thursday, February 01, 2007
This Morning I Got Green Lights Down The Hill...
...cue crazy big woman on a bycicle going "Weee!" all the way into town
Monday, January 29, 2007
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside..
...in the pouring hailstones?
Actually it wasn't that bad. I had a lovely day out with the Conservation Group who conserve things by cutting down trees. The trees in question on Sunday were in fact evil. They'd been planted in the hope that they'd stabilize the dune system, which they did, but then they also kind of took over the entire place, removing any chance of nice native species to grow. And to cap it all off they've got massive great big thorns on them too. So I ended up scratched and reeking of smoke after they lit a fire to burn said evil trees. We cut down quite a lot of evil bramble too, which I think did the most damage to my poor hands... Oh, and we got caught in a couple of nice downpours of hailstones, which we stood with our backs too and tried to remember not to turn round too much until they'd finished (hailstones in the eyes is not, actually, fun, funnily enough...
Would you believe that we actually cleared the hill you can see in this picture, and left only sand? We did very well, and then we got to burn lots of evil plants and then go to the pub to drink cider (well I did anyway) and eat massive concoctions of ice cream, chocolate syrup and maltesers... mmmm
Actually it wasn't that bad. I had a lovely day out with the Conservation Group who conserve things by cutting down trees. The trees in question on Sunday were in fact evil. They'd been planted in the hope that they'd stabilize the dune system, which they did, but then they also kind of took over the entire place, removing any chance of nice native species to grow. And to cap it all off they've got massive great big thorns on them too. So I ended up scratched and reeking of smoke after they lit a fire to burn said evil trees. We cut down quite a lot of evil bramble too, which I think did the most damage to my poor hands... Oh, and we got caught in a couple of nice downpours of hailstones, which we stood with our backs too and tried to remember not to turn round too much until they'd finished (hailstones in the eyes is not, actually, fun, funnily enough...
Would you believe that we actually cleared the hill you can see in this picture, and left only sand? We did very well, and then we got to burn lots of evil plants and then go to the pub to drink cider (well I did anyway) and eat massive concoctions of ice cream, chocolate syrup and maltesers... mmmm
Saturday, January 13, 2007
The Day I Got A Shiner On My Knee
It doesn't come up very well in the photo, but last week I managed to fall off my bike. To be honest I was lucky not to hurt myself more, and I hardly even broke skin in my inability to cross hosepipes. Yes, I do know I should take them straight on, but occasionally I have a magic ability to be a bit of a plonker...
Friday, January 12, 2007
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Have Yourself A Very Merry Christmas
I hope you all had a good one. I had two Christmasses this year - I know, I'm very spoilt but it was more to do with the fact I spent Christmas with Ross's (the boyfriend) family then Christmas with my family. I only had turkey once, which I guess is a feat of my mother's famous cooking. I got a stinking cold which seems to be turning into a stinking chest infection and a comedy voice. Tomorrow I'm having New Year's at mine, and I'm hoping to be ready - ha ha...
I'll leave you with a picture of my Christmas tree. I picked this up as a fairly healthy plant some sod had thrown out in a skip just after Christmas one year and it seems to have got a bit bare and sad since then. I don't think it likes me much, or I'm just not taking the right care of it - any ideas? Let me know.
I'll leave you with a picture of my Christmas tree. I picked this up as a fairly healthy plant some sod had thrown out in a skip just after Christmas one year and it seems to have got a bit bare and sad since then. I don't think it likes me much, or I'm just not taking the right care of it - any ideas? Let me know.
Friday, December 01, 2006
Thoughts of the Week
1. The house is warm again. Hooray! How long will it last this time, especially given that the heating is not making the happiest noise ever...
2. The Christmas cactus is sulking because it's warm. Huh, plants!
3. I'm (apparently) no longer allowed into a room in my house or use it as I would like. Huh?
4. All the washing up has been done pretty much on the day I created it this week (yes, I know) but the floor is sticky. However, someone, not me, broke the pail so I have to buy a new one. Humph.
5. At least 25% of the things in my kitchen are out of date. So what? Dates are now arbitrary to make people throw stuff away and buy it new.
6. I hate colds. I had one day last month where I felt wonderful, and that was pretty much it. Even taking multivitamins every day hasn't helped.
7. Why are there only 3 weeks left til Christmas? Where did the year go?
8. It's not always my fault. This week someone else made a mistake that delayed my work.
9. "Leave to me and I'll sort it out" is not actually the answer I wanted. I'll go do it myself then.
10. What shall I do now? Maybe I should ask the Magic 8 Ball.
2. The Christmas cactus is sulking because it's warm. Huh, plants!
3. I'm (apparently) no longer allowed into a room in my house or use it as I would like. Huh?
4. All the washing up has been done pretty much on the day I created it this week (yes, I know) but the floor is sticky. However, someone, not me, broke the pail so I have to buy a new one. Humph.
5. At least 25% of the things in my kitchen are out of date. So what? Dates are now arbitrary to make people throw stuff away and buy it new.
6. I hate colds. I had one day last month where I felt wonderful, and that was pretty much it. Even taking multivitamins every day hasn't helped.
7. Why are there only 3 weeks left til Christmas? Where did the year go?
8. It's not always my fault. This week someone else made a mistake that delayed my work.
9. "Leave to me and I'll sort it out" is not actually the answer I wanted. I'll go do it myself then.
10. What shall I do now? Maybe I should ask the Magic 8 Ball.
Monday, November 20, 2006
3 Cold Street
I love my little house. Yes, it's messy, I can never be bothered to do my washing so there's a backlog of dirty dishes and I seem to have a large pile of dirty laundry too. This weekend I ironed my sheets for the first time ever - I must be growing up, I noticed that they're just not nice when they go on crumpled. Oh dear.
However, a cold house is not a good house to do anything in. For some reason or other half the radiators in my house just ceased functioning, so the only warm rooms are my bedroom and my hallway. Rubbish. This also has been going on for weeks now. I am cold! The other problem is I have a gas heater in my living room. I put this on, place my little rug over me, and bam, I'm asleep. I'm sure this does nothing for my body - sleeping on a small sofa makes me bend all wrong - or for my sleep patterns. Also I keep missing vital bits of CSI and James Bond (i.e. how on earth did he get out of that without being dropped to his death/cut in half with a laser/ruining that particularly nasty outfit (George Lazenby tries to look like Sherlock Holmes... no, no, no, no!)).
Brrr.
However, a cold house is not a good house to do anything in. For some reason or other half the radiators in my house just ceased functioning, so the only warm rooms are my bedroom and my hallway. Rubbish. This also has been going on for weeks now. I am cold! The other problem is I have a gas heater in my living room. I put this on, place my little rug over me, and bam, I'm asleep. I'm sure this does nothing for my body - sleeping on a small sofa makes me bend all wrong - or for my sleep patterns. Also I keep missing vital bits of CSI and James Bond (i.e. how on earth did he get out of that without being dropped to his death/cut in half with a laser/ruining that particularly nasty outfit (George Lazenby tries to look like Sherlock Holmes... no, no, no, no!)).
Brrr.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
This Week I Shall Mostly Be Dancing...
...because I made chocolate cake!
I managed to get the special recipie of my mother's chocolate cake (that I ask for every birthday). Surprisingly enough it was real easy to make. So I danced, even though it was midnight, when it was finished.
I can make cake, me!
I managed to get the special recipie of my mother's chocolate cake (that I ask for every birthday). Surprisingly enough it was real easy to make. So I danced, even though it was midnight, when it was finished.
I can make cake, me!
Monday, November 13, 2006
I know, I'm not big or clever...
Friday night is either a)time to go to the gym, b)occurs elsewhere in the country, c)go home and watch CSI (sometimes coupled with (a) d)go out with random members of department/faculty and get drunk.
This week was the turn of d). I'm sure I didn't mean to, but recollections of Friday night are mostly entertaining and slightly fragmented... This may be something to do with Brother's Pear Cider.
The end of the night involved me wandering home singing at the top of my voice, after being called a legend by some bloke called Jasper I'd only just met that night, at 3am, with some other bloke trying to proposition me by text....
It was just one of those nights.
This week was the turn of d). I'm sure I didn't mean to, but recollections of Friday night are mostly entertaining and slightly fragmented... This may be something to do with Brother's Pear Cider.
The end of the night involved me wandering home singing at the top of my voice, after being called a legend by some bloke called Jasper I'd only just met that night, at 3am, with some other bloke trying to proposition me by text....
It was just one of those nights.
Monday, November 06, 2006
Remember, Remember, The Fifth Of November
This year was the turn of Tarr's Fireworks Extraviganza (sic). Those of you who don't know Phil would be forgiven for not having the fear of God put into you by those simple words. It all started fairly simply, Phil produced an old set of overalls which we stuffed with newspaper (making me freeze in the process, oh yes, I forgot to mention, IT WAS BLOODY COLD!). The bonfire was made in one of those fire bins and the guy, which looked a bit like the baby from Family Guy, was propped up on top. Soon enough the guy went up in flames, and his "guts" kind of fell out of the bonfire and landed on the soil, prompting Rach, who's house the party was going to be held at, to say, "Yeah, that would have been FINE in my back garden".
The fireworks started off with a bit of a bang, and not in a good way. Matt and Garreth go off to set one off and next thing we know they're running away from a bloody great big flash of light. They didn't quite get which bit of the firework they were supposed to light. Luckily neither of them were hurt, and we managed the rest of the fireworks in safety, having a good laugh at the catherine wheel which didn't actually go round at all (whoops!)...
The fireworks started off with a bit of a bang, and not in a good way. Matt and Garreth go off to set one off and next thing we know they're running away from a bloody great big flash of light. They didn't quite get which bit of the firework they were supposed to light. Luckily neither of them were hurt, and we managed the rest of the fireworks in safety, having a good laugh at the catherine wheel which didn't actually go round at all (whoops!)...
As I came in this morning in the fog created by burning bonfires I reflected on this and on many previous bonfire parties, and wondered how long it would be before they banned bonfires due to them giving off too much carbon dioxide. That would be a very sad day.Thursday, November 02, 2006
Today I did Something Good
I made a man happy and maybe helped someone in the world start a duck breeding program.
My friend's father is running in the London Marathon next year and is raising money for ActionAid. He seems to have been a bit down in the dumps recently so I thought I would cheer him up with a donation towards his sponsorship. Yay, it worked! I have made him happy, and I have just given enough money that would have paid for a small trip to Asda. Or someone in the world to get shelter. And I don't believe I've seen any Actionaid people trying to stop me for money in the street (which I find intensly irritating).
Right, I'll get off my soapbox now and go eat some supper. May we all be lucky enough to have supper tonight.
My friend's father is running in the London Marathon next year and is raising money for ActionAid. He seems to have been a bit down in the dumps recently so I thought I would cheer him up with a donation towards his sponsorship. Yay, it worked! I have made him happy, and I have just given enough money that would have paid for a small trip to Asda. Or someone in the world to get shelter. And I don't believe I've seen any Actionaid people trying to stop me for money in the street (which I find intensly irritating).
Right, I'll get off my soapbox now and go eat some supper. May we all be lucky enough to have supper tonight.
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