Mem

Wedding Woes, And Their Obvious Solution

2009-10-12T22:24:47Z

We had a horrible time with our wedding. Virtually nothing was how we'd pictured it and some of it (i.e. my dress, among other things of similarly massive importance) was actually quite horrible.

Whilst the honeymoon was lovely we're now finding ourselves horribly depressed about the whole ridiculous affair.

Therefore, we have decided to do the only sensible thing.

We're having another wedding next year.

Yes, really.

Watch your inboxes, folks. WEDDING TWO: THE ELECTRIC BOOGALOO is currently in early stages of being planned. And this time we're doing it right.

To The Bone

2009-08-28T23:16:18Z

Wedding in precisely four weeks tomorrow.

Stress, stress, stress.

Currently: having an enormously harrowing time at work (love the job as ever, it's just we have a lot of very saddening patients at the moment), desperately trying to organise the last few details (i.e. almost everything), gradually retreating further and further into my shell.

For those who have missed my constant whining on various other social networks, my hands have recently decided that two years is the limit of its tolerance for stringent hand hygiene practices. Scaly, itchy, burning and bright red are they. Nothing seems to calm them. Lush Dreamwash is the only non-ouchie thing I can wash them in. They started bleeding yesterday. Why now? I've had one brief bout of eczema-or-something-similar in my whole life. One. Now, as I approach the one day of my life when photos of my hands more or less a certainty, they have decided to explode.

I haven't played capoeira properly in weeks. Again, it's important for the wedding. I can't make myself do it. Have become so afraid of screwing up that the thought of trying brings me out in cold sweats. Must overcome... currently lacking the energy to do so.

My new job starts in a couple of weeks. Great, but... Hockley Ward is moving over the corridor to a lovely 20-bed ward and becoming solely wound management. No more AMU dumps. No more incontinent, bedridden, violently demented oldies palmed on to us for social problems. No more bed wars and fuckwittery. If I'd only known sooner, I would have stayed.

Now this is all off my chest it will become better, that is the way of things. Give me a week and everything will be okay again.

You know you have a medical equipment obsession when...

2009-06-20T11:40:44Z

...friends start making you puppets out of socks and speculums.

Photo to follow when I have a little more time.

Incredible Edibles

2009-05-25T18:31:47Z

Today marks the end of the hardest working week of my life. My sleeping patterns are screwed, I've done next to nothing around the home all week, and for what? The taxman takes a massive slice of the money I earn doing extra shifts. It's a damn good thing that I love my job.

My little patio garden is plodding along nicely. What started as a few little baby pea plants has turned into no less than ten terrifyingly fast-climbing pea vines, four happy little courgette plants, a pot of mixed rocket and (hopefully, if it ever sprouts) a pot of lamb's lettuce. I am getting far too much excitement from watching how fast it's all growing and can't wait to start munching my first crop of home-grown veggies! Already putting serious thought into what I can grow next year!

Peas On The Table

2009-05-09T19:40:19Z

I recently failed to cultivate a herb garden. The main reason for this is that the herbs in question were crappy "grow herbs in a can" type affairs that I bought on a whim from the factory shop. They actually grew fairly well up until it became apparent that the cans they were in would not continue to support them as they grew bigger. They died very suddenly. I should probably have transplanted them - hindsight is a wonderful thing. I shall definitely grow my own basil again, when I have a decent windowsill, as the smell from the basil plant was utterly gorgeous.

Now. This has led to me wanting to grow edibles. Being someone who lives primarily on fresh vegetables, it seems that growing my own veg is something of a natural progression. However, I do not have a garden that I am able to dig up. Therefore, whatever I grow has to be in pots. I have not grown anything since I was much younger and grew some potatoes in massive pots assisted by my papa and advised by my nana (they were lovely spuds - sweet, firm, and waxy), therefore I would prefer to start with something simple.

Peas.

I could eat my own bodyweight in peas, and nothing beats fresh peas straight from the plant. They're easy to cultivate, I can stick them in big pots on the patio, and I can head out and pick at them if I want guilt-free sweeties.

I am making pea-babies.

Horoscopes

2009-04-13T10:26:01Z

This is absolutely amazing.

Random

2009-04-12T21:50:41Z

There are a lot of things that I seriously dislike. One of these things is misuse of the word "random".

Here's dictionary.com to tell us more:

ran⋅dom
/ˈrændəm/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [ran-duhm] Show IPA
–adjective
1. proceeding, made, or occurring without definite aim, reason, or pattern: the random selection of numbers.
2. Statistics. of or characterizing a process of selection in which each item of a set has an equal probability of being chosen.
3. Building Trades.
a. (of building materials) lacking uniformity of dimensions: random shingles.
b. (of ashlar) laid without continuous courses.
c. constructed or applied without regularity: random bond.
–noun
4. Chiefly British. bank 3 (def. 7b).
–adverb
5. Building Trades. without uniformity: random-sized slates.
—Idiom
6. at random, without definite aim, purpose, method, or adherence to a prior arrangement; in a haphazard way: Contestants were chosen at random from the studio audience.

To clarify: The pattern you see on your TV set that you probably refer to as "snow" is random. The numbers drawn in the National Lottery are random.

Tandem bicycles are not random. Seeing a woman walking a cat in the same manner in which one would walk a dog is not random. The Mighty Boosh, ladies and gentlemen, is NOT RANDOM. You are not feeling random, your hair is not being random... for the love of Darwin, please stop. You're driving me bonkers.

That is all.

I'll Take Eight!

2009-03-28T23:10:53Z

"Work has been proceeding in order to bring perfection to the crudely conceived idea of a machine that would not only supply inverse reactive current for use in unilateral phase detractors, but would also be capable of automatically synchronizing cardinal grammeters. Such a machine is the 'Turbo-Encabulator'.

"The original machine had a base-plate of prefabulated amulite, surmounted by a malleable logarithmic casing in such a way that the two spurving bearings were in a direct line with the pentametric fan. The main winding was of the normal lotus-o-delta type placed in panendermic semi-boloid slots in the stator, every seventh conductor being connected by a nonreversible trem'e pipe to the differential girdlespring on the 'up' end of the grammeters.

"Forty-one manestically spaced grouting brushes were arranged to feed into the rotor slipstream a mixture of high S-value phenylhydrobenzamine and 5% reminative tetryliodohexamine. Both of these liquids have specific pericosities given by P = 2.5C.n^6-7 where n is the diathetical evolute of retrograde temperature phase disposition and C is Cholmondeley's annular grillage coefficient. Initially, n was measured with the aid of a metapolar refractive pilfrometer but up to the present date nothing has been found to equal the transcendental hopper dadoscope. Undoubtedly, the turbo-encabulator has now reached a very high level of technical development. It has been successfully used for operating nofer trunnions. In addition, whenever a barescent skor motion is required, it may be employed in conjunction with a drawn reciprocating dingle arm to reduce sinusoidal depleneration."

If you don't already understand why I want my own turbo-encabulator then you never will.

Time To Relax

2009-03-20T16:30:17Z

My night shifts are finally over. It's been fun (hint: it hasn't) but it's done. Tonight I get to climb into bed with Dan and I won't have to let go until the morning, or until the skin-on-skin contact ends up making us both intolerably clammy.

Today was meant to be my Staying Awake Day to force myself back into a nice simple diurnal wake/sleep pattern. It was doomed to fail, of course, because I can't stay awake even when I am getting enough sleep at nights. I ended up admitting defeat and setting an alarm to go off after four hours so that the day wouldn't be a total write-off. Now - short-to-middling spells of napping during the day seem to do something peculiar to the REM centres in m'noggin, and I had this fantastically in-depth dream in which I was an anaesthetist in charge of heavily sedating a former colleague of mine (Luke, easily my favourite from the deep dark dungeons of CSSD) during his caesarian section.

I feel my recent tentative forays into the obstetric theatre are entirely to blame for this.

On that note - next week is my last week of annual leave before it all rolls over next month. I shall be spending it working, because taking time out to properly unwind is not going to pay the bills. On the upside, I will be working on labour ward. I won't have to chase any dementia sufferers around, and the only bottoms I will have to wipe will be baby ones. Whilst I am not one to get broody over babies (baby animals, maybe, and baby footwear), I am looking forward to doing something completely different to normal and getting my foot wedged a little further in that particular door.

Plush hotel is booked for BVF '09. I am going to eat and eat and eat until I am pot-bellied and groaning.

An Observation

2009-03-18T08:30:51Z

I get a weird sense of satisfaction from shaving corpses.

Busy Bee

2009-03-11T10:43:48Z

Full time work in wound management unit + part time work in maternity = extremely knackered but extremely happy Mem.

Initially I took on the extra work because I need the money, but there's something very special about labour ward that just keeps calling me back there.

I am usually either at work or asleep. That's it. I have nothing more to update about.

I am ridiculously busy. It's amazing. I love it.

Five Things

2009-02-20T21:53:03Z

I'm not going to add a "comment and I'll pick five things for you" paragraph at the top of this, because I am under no illusions about the number of people who read my LJ (the names can be counted on one hand). However, I am elaborating on the five things Chilli picked for me, because I can.

Piercings and that tongue of yours!

I love piercings, as anyone who has known me for any length of time will be aware. It started with a handful of earrings and a humble navel ring (now sadly retired - I took it out for my surgery and never put it back in... might give it a go later now I'm thinking about it!) to a peak total of some 30-odd bits of metal poking out of me.

This number is now significantly reduced, mostly because of work. I was thinking just the other day about how terribly sad I am that I can't have visible piercings at work. My cheek "dimple" piercings were my favourite out of these. I'd have them all done again in a heartbeat.

I split my tongue shortly after my 21st birthday using the bind-off method. Since then I've used a blade to take the split further down my tongue three or four times. I'd like to take it further still as it is so close to my goal... Dan likes it as it is though, and since he's the one on the receiving end of it, I think it's only fair to listen to him.

Giraffes

My favourite animals always used to be cows. In fact, I still have a massive soft spot for them.

However, I have now been utterly entranced by the gawky, leggy gorgeousness of giraffes.

Seriously. They're just goddamned awesome. I don't think there's much else I can say on the matter.

Monty Python

I was raised on Monty Python. I could recite the Spanish Inquisition sketch word for word before I was ten years old. My brothers and I used to curl up and watch a crackly old video recording of "Parrot Sketch Not Included" on a regular basis (it was followed by the "Polymorph" episode from series three of Red Dwarf, and a Horizon documentary about sending little space doodads to Jupiter). It started with a spoof of the Paralympics and ended with various eye-destroying devices emerging from the top of a television set (oh, and a shot of all of the Monty Python members in a cupboard, shortly before Graham Chapman died).

Monty Python shaped the way my sense of humour developed and dictated that I was in for a life of sarcasm, satire, and sheer ridiculousless. The whole family are MP nuts - I will never forget sitting with my uncles Phil and Dave, sarcastically quipping "well you can talk", only to have them both chime back in perfect stereo "Of course I can talk - I'm a minister for overseas development!" It was a beautiful moment, and one that will stay with me forever.

Intelligence

Intelligence? What the shitting buggery am I meant to say about that?

I tend to class myself as pseudo-intellectual, really. I had such potential in my youth. I could have achieved great things. I could be halfway to becoming a doctor now.

In fairness, if I give myself adequate time to warm up I can still do a fairly good impersonation of 'clever'. Often I just keep my trap shut - having smoked the majority of my intelligence, any sort of in-depth discussion tends to lose me halfway through. I forget (and therefore repeat) what I've said, and even end up contradicting myself if I am not careful.

There was a time when I could babble endlessly about Fibonacci, cellular biology, fractals, English history, and space travel. Now I just point at planes and laugh if I see a dog in a hat.

Go, cognitive atrophy!

"Life In The Pit" = Quotes

If I put my head under there, it won't fall off.

'Nuff said.

Sweet Potato And Hummus Pastelón

2009-02-15T21:34:09Z

Dan cooked an absolutely gorgeous meal for Valentine's Day that was so simple and so splendid that he made it again tonight. I think I could eat this every day and never get bored. Yum yum yum...

Peel four large or five medium-ish sweet potatoes. Boil, drain, and mash with a splash of olive oil, a knob of marg, a sprinkle of garlic powder and some freshly ground black pepper.

Layer a little less than half of the mash in the bottom of a tin (we used a regular bread loaf tin, a small casserole dish would work just as well). Then add a layer of hummus (the 300g pot that Tesco sells is perfect - their reduced fat one tastes no less yummy than the normal one so go for that if you can), then layer on a tin of chopped tomatoes, and top with the rest of the mash. Finish off with half a handful of flaked almonds and bake for 20-25 mins at 190 C or reg 5.

That's it. This makes about four servings, dish it up with a nice side salad. Dan and I had a portion each yesterday, but ended up scoffing the rest shortly afterwards. It's comfort food - sexy comfort food.

I Lose At Updating Regularly

2009-02-13T14:06:17Z

Lately:

--Fortnight off work, which has been super duper. It's very hard going at the moment, as we're still in pneumonia season. I tend to think it's very unfair indeed, as by now I'm supposed to be up to my ears in massive unhealing wounds; but all we've got is spluttering oldies.

--Trip to Brighton on Feb 9th-10th, ate too much (damn you, Red Veg!), drank too much (Agwa gives you double your money's worth - it tastes the same coming back up), and made friends with some rays. Brighton Sealife Centre is amazing. Saw Ed Byrne doin stand up, which was pretty jolly. Met up with the lovely Gib and Bex for the first time in about three years. It's always a pleasure.

--Decided to start doing St. John's Ambulance, went along to my first training session and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Resussi-Annie is a tart.

--Gymming lots. Have noticed that the development in my shoulders is getting way ahead of everything else, the reason being that shoulder exercises give me all kinds of glee so I do them lots. Everything's coming together nicely now, however my former-fatty status means that I still have floppy bits under my arms and loose skin covering my (awesome, honest! even if you can't see them!) abs. Since I will never ever be able to afford surgery to fix these problems, my new goal is to pack on enough muss to fill all of the spare skin. This may possibly end with me looking like Action Man.

--I had an Unfortunate Cheesecake Accident a couple of days back which resulted in me burning my left arm on the oven whilst retreiving a tofu cheesecake (see end of post for recipe) from therein. Unfortunately, my left arm is comprised largely of scar tissue from The Bad Days, and this particular burn is approximately the same shape as many of the scars. Whilst I know it was not my doing, and that accidents happen, and all of that - I still feel compelled to wear long sleeves and otherwise keep it hidden from the general population, lest they jump to conclusions. I find myself feeling ashamed of it, which is bollocks really. I guess there are some thought patterns that take longer to shake off than I realised.

--Last night was spent getting delicious revenge on said cheesecake. I toddled off to Chilli's for a few hours. She cooked an outstanding meal that I will be raving about for weeks to come, I provided pudding, and the pair of us wittered on about life, the universe, and everything. It was glorious and a thoroughly good time was had by all.

--Today I have mostly been taking it easy. I have spent a fair amount of time online attempting to get some kind of order over my finances - I have acheived virtually nothing, save for ticking a few boxes marked "Yes! Send me my free sample of pointless gubbins NOW!"

Here's how I did it:

Preheat oven to 190 C/reg 5.

-Shove about 75% of a packet of Tesco value ginger nuts in a blender. Whizz until thoroughly crumbled.
-Gently heat a big knob (hurr hurr) of Pure spread over the hob 'til runny, add the biscuit crumbs, mix well. Press the mixture into the bottom of a greased pie dish.
-Next, place one block of silken tofu (extra firm if you can get it) and one tub of Tofutti Mango and Passionfruit ice cream in the blender. I also chucked in a big chunk of tinned mango (keep the rest of the tin for topping). Whizz until smooth.
-Pour the blended stuffs onto the biscuit base and bake for about 30 mins (or until the top starts to brown). Remove from oven and allow to cool.
-Place the rest of your tinned mango (and maybe some of another tin if you're feeling especially fruity) into the blender (I'm assuming you are being sensible enough to clean the blender between uses of your own accord), add some brown sugar (maybe three or four rounded dessert spoons) and a tiny splash of the syrup from the tin. Blend until it is completely smooth, spread over the cheesecake, and chill well before serving. Yum!

I'm A Glutton For Punishment (a.k.a. - just in case this year won't be hard enough work already...)

2009-01-30T21:06:19Z

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice for you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations: -

I make no guarantees that you will like what I make you. But I certainly will try. - What I create will be just for you. - It will be done this year (2009) -

You have no clue what its going to be,it may be a story, it may be a painting, a drawing or I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!

The 'catch' is that you post this in your journal as well (which, of course, means making things yourself). Go on, I dare you!

Well then...

2008-12-18T11:27:33Z

Laparoscopy was a week ago. No endometriosis. No clue on what's going on in there. Several days of barely being able to move due to post-operative owwies coupled with the usual tummy pains (and a poorly-timed throat infection), and I'm no closer to an answer. Go team!

Work is horrible right now. Our ward - supposedly wound management unit by now (HA HA!) - is full of high-dependancy patients who are in with the usual winter respiratory infections, and with our current staffing level we just can't cope with that many people who are so needy. There aren't enough of us to go around. It's horrible.

On the upside, Dan and I had a nice couple of days in London on Sunday and Monday, with an overnight stay at the Hoxton Hotel which is absolutely incredible! Also: dinner at Dim T, drinks at Guanabara, and a shopping session at Whole Foods in Kensington (who sell gigantic vegan cupcakes which we enjoyed very much!).

Tomorrow night I am off to the O2 to see Madness with my Mum. Saturday is drinks in London with a load of friends we only see a couple of times a year. It's nearly Christmas and that's terrifying.

Stuff. Things.

2008-11-24T16:28:14Z

First off - buy this. You want to. Or you know somebody else who does.

It's turning out to be a bit of a surreal day. I worked my first ever night shift last night, and was woken up this morning after only a couple of hours asleep by the neighbour's screaming kids. I'm feeling somewhat dazed, to say the least. "Utterly wasted" would be a far more accurate description.

It's not all bad news. Being curled up with a fleecey blanket in front of our shiny new halogen heater with a mug of chai and an free copy of New Humanist has got to be a good thing - especially since it's so bright and toasty in here and so dark and chilly outdoors. There is a lot to be said for wintery days like today, even if only in terms of giving you a special appreciation for warm jumpers and thick socks.

In order to expand on my previous post: it is suspected that my exploding tummy problem stems from something called endometriosis, and next month I will be going for a laparoscopy that will either confirm this or hopefully shed some light on what else could be causing the pain.

Also: Ringo. He has a type of cancer called Squamous Cell Carcinoma, which has started on his tonsil and spread. At best he's got about another three comfortable months ahead of him - as soon as he starts to suffer, he will be euthanaised. I am absolutely beside myself. We've had a lot of dogs over the years but he has always been a very special one.

To end on a good note (because it is always important to do so), I am generally happy pottering through my little world as it is at the moment. I'm often busy and occasionally quite stressed, but things overall are looking up. Dan is being marvellous, as ever, which makes this whole life business infinitely more lovely. On occasion I catch myself thinking back to how things were just two short years ago, and pondering on how far I've come since then.

I like it.

These are things. They exist.

2008-11-21T22:05:44Z

My man-in-a-dog-suit is dying. I will miss you, Ringo.

I am being operated on next month in an effort to stop my tummy exploding.

This is a rubbish update, but since I have a few days off, there shall be a better one soon.

Quick And Dirty

2008-10-06T11:39:04Z

Never any time to update anymore. Here is a brief rundown of everything:

-Tummy still exploding, ultrasound was clear, gastro team say "it's a gynae problem" but are in the process of testing my blood for various other bits and pieces anyway, will go to gynae team once results are back. It currently preventing me from playing capoeira and training at the gym. I miss it. Especially capoeira.

-I am frustrated with my lack of power at work and want to train so I can do MORE STUFF. I have been playing with leg ulcers and they fill my little heart with glee.

-Wedding is booked for Saturday 26th September 2009. Deposits on various things are paid. I am about to undertake the task of hand-crafting all my own stationary and/or bringing about my own death by drowning in double-sided tape.

-Spore. That is all.

I will, I will, I WILL come back soon and resume my usual inane wittering.

Chris Morris visits the LHC

2008-09-29T21:15:27Z

...and his worksnakery makes me want to rape his face off.

Because Wedding Cupcakes Are Splendid And Tremendous:

2008-09-15T15:12:11Z

My tastebuds are wanking. Furiously.

How To Lose Friends And Alienate People

2008-09-12T09:20:57Z

Here is an update:

Things have been very weird in the life of Mem. I am currently unwell. Actually, I have been unwell for a very long time but it is only recently that it has become a serious problem. As a direct result, I have not been going to capoeira or doing anything much outside of work that doesn't involve either being hunched/curled up in a little ball or being whacked out on codeine. I have an appointment for an ultrasound scan on Monday, which hopefully will give me a clearer idea of what's going on and how best to progress in getting better. All available appendages are crossed in the hope that the solution is something quick and easy and that normal life will resume shortly afterwards. I'm fairly optimistic.

Work has been its usual combination of wonderful and exhausting. My biggest problem there is deciding what to do next. I am absolutely smitten with the patient contact side of things, and I know that the further up the ladder one climbs, the less actual patient contact is involved (although it does come with the opportunity to put changes in place). On the other hand, having recently been allowed into the operating theatre to watch one of my patients having surgery, my interest in all things surgical has been reawakened - perhaps that is the way to go? The other option is to train in midwifery, thereby retaining the close patient contact whilst also assuming a far more in-depth (and better paid) role. Ah, decisions...

Spore was released, signalling the end of my social life for at least the next decade. Really.

Finally, Dan proposed to me last Thursday. It was somewhat out-of-the-blue, and very lovely indeed. We're planning to get hitched in just over a year from now, so in amongst all of everything else there will also be a fair amount of wedding planning, lots of faffing, and a small amount of panic. I am terrified in the very best possible way, and very very happy.

Greyhounds Need Rehoming!

2008-08-28T08:18:13Z

Hi all, just thought I'd post here on the off chance that some of you might be able to help out or might know someone that could.

Walthamstow greyhound tracks have now closed FOR GOOD. Hooray! However, this means that there are a lot of dogs who need rehoming. If I lived in a pet-friendly establishment then I'd jump at the chance to own one of these gorgeous animals; however, I do not.

Below is a copy of the email that I received this morning. I'll be crossposting it all over the goddamn place...
---------

Following the closure of the Walthamstow greyhound stadium in the UK last Saturday, Greyhound Crusaders/SWAP team UK have been in touch with the person who is in charge of re-homing all the unwanted greyhounds. We have been informed that there are 160-170 greyhounds needing forever homes. 100 of those greyhounds are being kept at a trainers kennels and the rest are being taken in by Retired Greyhound Trust kennels. £150,000 has apparently been given to help the re-adoption of these greyhounds.
Forever homes are now needed. We are not appealing for rescue places at rescue centres as we have been told that the greyhounds are already in rescue and need to go straight to forever homes.
If you would like to adopt a greyhound please email us at greyhoundcrusaders@googlemail.com or southwestanimalprotection@yahoo.co.uk and we will put you in touch with the re-homing co-ordinator. Homechecks will be carried out. If you have cats please advise the rescue as cat friendly greyhounds will be found.
Greryhounds make the most wonderful companions, they are couch potatoes and contrary to popular myth they do not need loads of exercise, two twenty minute walks a day are recommended. Many are wonderful with children and can be great fun to have around.
The mere fact that these greyhounds who are now redundant and are being put up for re-adoption by their owners/trainers prove that these racing dogs are viewed as disposable commoditites!!!

Please, if you have room in your home for another dog please consider adopting a greyhound today.
Please send this very special appeal to all your contacts across the UK for maximum coverage. Please also see the appeal below from Greyt Exploitations.
Many thanks for your support.
Greyhound Crusaders/SWAP team UK
We all make the difference

Busy

2008-08-09T09:55:52Z

Life is hectic and tiring. I finally have a couple of days off work following a nine day stretch. All I've really done is work and sleep and go to the gym. I've been too exhausted to play capoeira, my last couple of lessons have ended up with me ducking out halfway through as I've just been too tired to continue. This makes me very sad.

Life goes on, as life has a habit of doing. I'm certain that things will settle down again soon.

Exhausted

2008-07-24T09:32:59Z

I've been rubbish at keeping this thing updated.

This is mostly because I've been spending half my life asleep.

The job is still going well and I'm utterly thrilled with it. It's very hard work (hence my recent increase in nap-time), a lot of my patients have dementia (to various extents) and they all need a reasonably high level of care. I often have to run off to round up confused folks who have wandered off somewhere. Even making sure everyone is washed and out of bed in the mornings is a mammoth task.

There is some palliative care involved too which, whilst very humbling, is something that I'm finding extremely emotionally exhausting. I will become more accustomed to it, I am certain, but for now I often come home feeling rather drained.

I do love it, though. I cannot remember whether I already mentioned, but I hve never felt so appreciated in the workplace as I do now. I'm getting a real kick out of knowing that I'm helping to fulfil people's emotional needs as well as their physical ones, and am absolutely thrilled at the thought of this being the career I stay in for the rest of my life.

A couple of weeks back, I attended my first Batizado - also the first one hosted by my capoeira class. It was an excellent weekend, with Mestre Paulao-Ceara flying over to be a part of it, and various other Mestres and high-ranking figures travelling a long way to be there. The Saturday was taken up with workshops - I've never trained for that long in one go before, and it damn near killed me! It was good though, I enjoyed learning from different teachers and have picked up a few new moves that I'm looking forward to perfecting.

The Batizado itself was on the Sunday. We had one workshop to warm up, then a long roda where all the really good players had a few games for us all to watch. It was stunning - at times I found myself covering my face and biting my lip to keep myself from screaming with disbelief at the speed and fluidity with which they moved. The atmosphere was electric, remembering it again has given me goosebumps!

After that, Biscuim went around and gave us all our nicknames - mine is "Argolinha", which literally translates to "little ring" (shush) but means "earring". Dan's is "Tiradentes", which is the nickname of a Brazilian national hero who has a city and a national holiday named after him! Then we all had to play - I was terrible, my stage fright really got the better of me and I totally forgot what I was doing (the game finished when I fell over my own feet - boo!). However, I'm not too upset as I managed to have a few decent games over the course of the weekend. We got our cords - finally, I have a way to stop my abadas falling down all the time.

That's it. That's the past few weeks of my life. I'm off now to spend my day off complaining about the heat and baking a birthday cake for Dan to take in to work tomorrow (as he won't be in on his actual birthday).