As far as my job goes, it’s hard work, but very rewarding, so I don’t think I could ask for anything more! Uni is going very well (even though I did panic for a while and didn’t think I’d be able to manage my extra courses which are due to star next week). My last assignment for my current course came back with good marks, so I’m happy about that.

That’s about It for now, I’ll update as soon as I can.

I am currently sitting in the middle of my sofa in my living room, with one dog asleep aside the chair, and another out for the count underneath my duvet which is placed next to me. I was going to snuggle up under it, but didn’t quite get that far. I am also listening to ‘Florence and the Machine’ through my laptop. I love the tone of her voice.

The past few days have just been, crazy. I’ve been wanting to update my diary/blog, but I’ve just not had the energy, and now I have the time to do it, the words just aren’t coming.

Some people ask how I manage to work, and at the moment, the answer would be ‘Because I have too’. At least, that was the reason to start with. It was a necessity, and, still is. Life doesn’t stop, money is always needed, from paying the rent and bills to eating and clothing myself. Even though needs must, it’s still so difficult.

On one hand I feel I’m managing everything that’s going on at the moment on an ‘ok’ level, but then, on the other hand, I feel I just can’t manage it all. I know it’s only been a matter of weeks, and my body is adjusting, it’s just taking it’s toll on me.

I get in from work, and go back to bed, then I still wake up and my body needs more sleep. I don’t know whether to sleep even longer, or whether to get up and push myself. I feel I’ve really had to push, as there isn’t any other option. It definitely makes me feel good though, knowing that the money that comes in to my account I earned with my own hard work. So, all in all, theres positives and negatives to it all.

As far as the plans for the future, things are actually looking bright. Or, I feel they are. Theres still so many unknowns, but what I do know, is that with the extra money I earn coming in to my account, it means we can start to plan (of sorts) for our future. Starting with a holiday.

I’ve only ever been abroad twice (I think. One of them as a baby, the other time to Spain with my family and I remember that, but was only young). It’s why it’s so exciting. There is so many places I’d love to visit, Amsterdam (The house where Anne Frank lived in in World War 2), and to Poland, to visit the Auschwitz grounds (I love history). Both Rich and I would also love to holiday in Parga, Greece as well.

I’ve never felt I was in the right situation to manage anything like that. I’ve never felt I could ‘Dream’ about what I wanted in the future, with being ill, and a bad financial situation. That’s why me finding work has changed a lot for me, it’s given me and Rich a future. I always new we had a future, I just didn’t think we’d be going down this path.

I saw my family the weekend gone. My mum, dad, and sister came up to Coventry for the day. I really had a great time. I loved being able to walk the dogs with them (something I’ve only really been able to manage recently, and maybe even that is because I’ve pushed myself). It was great fun. We had a great meal, and we even managed to shop. Rich gamed during the day as he wasn’t hugely feeling very well (both of us have been feeling fluy over the past month or so). A good day all around.

I know so many people are excited about the snow (changing the convocation), but it’s really starting to get to me. It restricts me so much! I cant really go out on my own, I’m not fully able to keep control of my car, and the office at work is so dam FREEZING! I always hated summer, and longed for the cold, but oh god, i cant take much more dam it!

For now, that is all. My life is so busy, working, studying, sleeping. I don’t always have time to update my blog as often as I’d like. I’m going to start up a written diary, which I can note down my thoughts in. I’ll then use to update my blog online. For now, adios.

So this is why I’m here; to compile a list of things that I’m hoping to achieve in the coming year.

1. I want to work to the highest of my abilities at work for the period needed to earn the promotion to a full member of staff.
2. I want to earn enough money to pay for a holiday to Parga, Greece for me and Richard.
3. To stick by my decision to have a birthday party. (Something I always avoid as I lack confidence in most areas and feel I don’t have enough friends to warrant a party. This will be a real hard one to stick by).
4. I vow to work as hard as possible regarding all of the Open University courses. I hope to pass the said courses with the highest grade possible.
5. I hope that in the upcoming year I can work as hard as possible to keep my health as stable as possible. This means that I hope to manage any activity that would strain my fatigue levels. (Not an easy resolution to stick too, but beneficial at the end of the year).
6. I wish to to take up Archery as a hobby. This involves completing a 5 week Archery course.
7. And finally (for now), I wish too be in a better financial situation at the end of the year than I am in now. I hope to start to save money regarding the chance to get a mortgage.

And there it is. The ’start’ of my New Years Resolution list. Some of them are things that I’m really struggling with at the moment, for example wanting to keep my health at a stable level (it being something that I’ve struggled with over the past year especially). The Resolutions regarding my work (as a Customer Services Adviser) are also important to me. I really do want to work hard (with it being my first proper job). It also means that we will have virtually a full second wage coming in, so if I work hard enough and stick at it, i could bring in enough money to be able to afford a few luxuries.

Edit 6/1/10: Every week I read back over the entries that I’ve posted through that week. I like to make sure that the things I post are as accurate as possible, I guess, and sometimes I like to add to posts with things I’ve thought about after I’ve posted.

In this case, reading back over my new years resolution list, not only did I add a resolution, but I felt that my list didn’t portray that however normal those resolutions seemed, for me, they are a great deal. I can always hope, and dream, and really do feel if i manage my illness, that I can achieve a great deal. A ‘great deal’ for me is managing to work, and earn, and maintain/manage my health those things mean a lot for me.

There was also a few other things I wanted to mention (which I’ll go into briefly at the moment as I’m sitting at working updating my blog!).

Firstly is a Video created by a friend relating to M.E and being Bed Bound. It really touched me, and is something I know all too well as I have been Bed Bound in the past due to my M.E. All I ask is you give it a quick look, would mean a lot to us and our cause.

Sever M.E

I will also be adding a section to my Blog about M.E, and the Campaign for recognition and publicity. It will be linked to a YouTube channel, created by the Administrator of a M.E group on Facebook. The youtube channel will be used by sufferers of M.E to highlight the difficulties of living with M.E on a daily basis. I am also planning to post my own video to the channel when it goes live, so please watch out for it.

Things have changed so fast for me over the past two weeks. Alots happend and I’ll be super relieved when I can update this page and everything off my chest and down on paper (as it were..).

I have some great news to share (I will expand on the subject a little later when I get home), I managed  to get a perminant job (at least it will be perminant after I’ve worked the first 13 week trial period). I am a Customer Services Advisor for a newspaper distribution company. I love my job, even though the working hours are not hugely desirable..

At the moment I get in from work at 9am (11 am on weekends), and attempt to go back to bed to catch up on lost sleep and fatigue from working with a disability. I then ‘attempt’ to catch up on Uni work, and as I’m sure you can imagine, I’m having very little spare energy to get online/update my blog.

Christmas was a great time for us.  We spent Christmas morning at Richards parents house, having one massive present opening session. We then spent the afternoon/evening with Richards family at his brothers wifes parents house, with all of their family which was great fun. The food was amazing, the company was pleasant and the gaming in the evening was alot of fun!

We spent boxing day at Richards parents, more food (I’ve eaten WAY too much this Christmas!), with more gaming (Trivial persuit and articulate, good fun all-be-it a little nerve racking to start with..).

So with Christmas, and work, it’s been a busy couple of weeks! I’m loving it though, and the extra money meens we stand a good chance of being able to save up some money (I’ll go more indepth about that later).

There me and Rich where, driving down a main road just outside of where we live (I was taking him to work), and he suddenly shouted ‘Father Christmas!’ I didn’t realize he actually meant ‘I see father Christmas’ haha!

Father Christmas on a Harley. Dam, the bike was nice!

Father Christmas on a Harley

I HATE ROYAL MAIL. I know that ‘Hate’ is a big word’, but this has gone beyond being annoyed. They tried to deliver a parcel they deemed was too big for the letter box. They knocked; no one answered, and chose to take it back to the sorting office (that’s their version of events!).

Well first things first they obviously didn’t knock very hard!! We were in the living room (right next to the door), and we didn’t hear a thing!! Secondly, they state it will take 24 hours to take it back to the sorting office. What are they doing, crawling the whole way!!! It shouldn’t take that long.. Surely.. I was prepared for it to take 4 or 5 hours, (after their delivery round), but 24 hours! Pathetic.

It’s really got my goat. It’s not like I’ve already waited 5 days for the dam parcel..

*calm thoughts*.

Whilst I’m on the ranting subject, there’s one other thing that I wanted to mention, which has really been bothering me for quite a while now. (I know I’m moaning overly, but I try not to do it too often..).

Tuesdays is bin day. I drag my bins down to the road, get them emptied and drag them back up the garden to my back door. End of bin day. Now what is so hard about that?? A certain house down the road seems to get the idea that you need to bring the bin outside to get it emptied, but doesn’t seem to get the idea that it has to be BROUGHT BACK IN AGAIN.

This stupid bin always gets left infront of my drive, and every single week I have to get out of my car to move the bin before I can reverse my car in to the drive. I swear one of these weeks I’m just going to run it over…

There was a news article about this a few weeks ago, Nottingham have in-forced a ban for people that leave their bins in the road (as it makes it hard for parents to push pushchairs down paths). Why can’t Coventry have a similar system! If it happens many more weeks, I’m going to attach a note to the owner stating the bin is designed to be brought back in again after bin day.

/End of rant.

I just have a burning desire to update my blog at the moment, so here I am! Theres quite a few things I want to cover. Ranging from news articles I’ve seen over the past few weeks that I’ve wanted to comment on, to my hunt for a job.

Theodore Sypnier

This is a story I first read yesterday (9th December 2009). I formed my view on this instantly (which is unusual for me). Sypnier was charged in 1999 with raping two young sisters, who were aged four, and seven at the time. He has been released from a half-way house to a flat in Buffalo.

I completely agree with the article! He should spend the rest of his life behind bars, in jail. He shouldn’t be anywhere near the public/children, let alone in a flat of his own! What made this worse was the fact that he admitted even though he was 100, he’d never change. It’s disgusting. Truly. I have always been one for the American justice system. When a person in the US is found guilty of murder, they serve there life in jail. A life for a life. As a posed to the way the UK justice system works. Dammit, that’s a completely different point to the one I’m trying to make here. When someone rapes someone else, they should get a lot longer than 10 years! Especially when the crime involved children. He only served 10 years, he shouldn’t be freed, irrespective of him being 100! What makes things worse is he’s still able to walk ‘miles’! He said himself, he’d never change, he should stay behind bars.

MPs’ Expenses

Oh come on, I’ve had enough of all of this! I can’t be the only one that’s had enough of hearing about all of this? It really frustrates me! I’ve heard it all before. When I’m cycling through my Sky News phone application, I always ignore ones about MPs and the government.

I’ve always had an interest in the political world, especially before the Prime Minister changed to Gorden Brown, but recently, things seem to be heading down hill, and I truly do think the UK needs a change in direction.

It annoys me so much that instead of the government spending their time and money on more important things (I.E medical research and recovering the economy) they spent their time and money on porn and garlic peelers! I don’t even think I can say any more than that! *insert angry face*.

Job hunting!

Well.. what can I say? After moving to Coventry, part of my benefits where stopped (another sore spot sadly..). So I had to start my job hunt this week. I had major help from Richards parents, who where great and helped build my CV. My mum was also great and helped supply dates for the document, so I got that built and ready to go. I did take a trip down to the job center as well, but am not eligible for job seekers allowance, arg!!

That’s where my job search began, there in the Job Center. I hate this place. It’s fall of people who look lazy.. are lazy.. and are being paid to live by the rest of the population! Occasionally I have seen people who actually are hard working individuals and genuinely don’t want to be claiming from the Job Center. I respect these people immensely.

Anyway, that’s a different subject entirely! I started my search on the Job Center Plus website when I got home (I couldn’t face using the machines in the building in town). I’ve been checking the website daily since then, and applying to several jobs I see each day. I also started using a website called ‘Reed’, (they have a shop in Coventry center), and I’ve had more luck through there than I have anywhere else.

I must be applying for a good 10 – 12 jobs a day (maybe not all that many for the average person, but for me, thats a huge amount, especially due to the fact I have only one real qualification due to being sick, and most of the work available at the moment requires a degree, or at least a full education). I think I’ve heard back from 2, after the vast amount of jobs I’ve applied for, it definitely leaves me feeling despondent.

I made it to the second stage of interviews with a company called Source Marketing Direct, but it turns out that the job they were advertising, wasn’t all above board.. Meaning it was commission based (so no real wage), and it was door to door sales, not me what so ever!

As well as the above, I had an appointment at a recruitment agency today. I was interested in a customer service job with unusual working hours. They asked me to fill in an application form for their agency, which didn’t take long. She explained that the company I was applying to had already taken on the two candidates they needed, but due to the shifts starting at 5am (till 9am), very few applied, and due to me being flexible with when I can work and the fact I have my own transport, I stand a good chance of being offered a position (the candidates may resign due to the working hours, or the company may feel they need more staff, so I’ll be the next person they call, hopefully!).

I know I should be daunted by the prospect of having to be at work for 5am, but it actually would suite me very well! It would mean they dogs wouldn’t be alone more than an hour a day (due to Richard starting work at 8am at the earliest), and it leaves the rest of my day free for studying, so all in all it would be perfect. Lets just hope something comes up and they offer me an interview/job. The representative at the agency said she’d pass on my details, so I’ll have to wait and see!

I’ve been pondering about posting this for several days now. I feel it’s important to portray what my illness is, and how it effects me, but it’s just super depressing, and I don’t want to bring down the tempo of my blog. But I’ve decided to go ahead and write this up, and hope it helps at least one person understand how debilitating it can be for us.

I suffer from an illness called Myalgic Encephalopathy (M.E). It’s also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (C.F.S), or Post-Viral Fatigue Syndrome (P.V.F.S). I simply refer to my illness as M.E as it’s so much simpler.

Some of the symptoms include sever and debilitating fatigue, painful muscles and joints, disordered sleep, and poor memory and concentration, just to name a few. In many cases onset is linked to a viral infection. Other triggers may include an operation or an accident, although some people experience a slow onset.

In some cases the effects of the illness can be miminal, but on the most part, lives are changed drastically: In the young, schooling and higher education can be severely disruped; in the working population, employment becomes impossible for many. For all, social life and family life become restricted and in some cases severely strained. People may also become housebound.

I’ve been trying to work out when I first fell ill, but it’s been such a long time it’s hard to pinpoint the date! I think it was 2005. I’d just started a new year at high school, and came home from the first day feeling a little hot and cold, a little fevery, and that’s where it began for me.

I suffered from what we presumed was the flu for the first two or so weeks after I fell ill. We had repeated doctor appointments as the weeks went by, and they couldn’t pinpoint what was actually wrong. They suggested varies theories, but none of them ever amounted to anything.

After 2 or 3 months (I think!), they suggested PVFS. We didn’t actually realize at that point that PVFS was indeed the same as M.E. We presumed (as the name suggested), that I’d simply suffer from fatigue after the viral infection, and that I’d recover. At this point I was struggling greatly to get back in to school, I really did push myself as we didn’t realize that it could be doing more harm than good.

Life went on this way for several further months. By this point my knees had swollen (a swelling that has remained there for the whole period of me being ill). It prevented me from walking in the beginning.

Between the six and twelve month period I’d been referred to the pediatric unit at my local hospital. We really did have to fight for the official diagnosis. To be diagnosed you have to have been suffering for 6 months, and you have to meet a set criteria. Luckily I did eventually get my diagnosis, but we where always hoping up to that point that they’d realize they had made a big mistake and I was actually suffering from something that could be diagnosed by taking a test and that they would be a cure.

From there I was pushed to stay in education, which I did manage to a certain extent. I got to the stage where my year 9 exams had come around, and I had very limited knowledge of the subjects due to not actually being in school all that much. I managed to get through the exams though, thanks to help from my parents driving me to school pre-exam, meeting me for lunch, feeding me, letting me sleep in the back of the car, then getting me back in for my exams and picking me up afterwards. I wouldn’t have got through it all if it wasn’t for them.

After that things continued to slowly go downhill. We tried many alternative therapies, all to no avail. After two years or so we managed to get my medication stabilized, but it took a lot of experimentation on the doctors part as there were several medicines I was allergic to at that point.

There are many possible symptoms that you could suffer from, but it’s very uncommon to suffer from them all. It’s common for symptoms to change and fluctuate during the course of the illness.

For me, in the beginning my main symptom was the pain in my knees (as mentioned above). They’ve remained swollen to the current date. I found the best way to explain the type of pain it is for me would be to describe it as a deep burning sensation right in the bones. The pain also makes my knees very sensitive to the touch. Sometimes even my clothes touching the skin can cause me great pain.

The pain that M.E sufferers suffer from is not curable through pain killers, so what ever the amount ingested, it doesn’t touch the pain, so I mostly try to suffer without them aside from the medication I’m already on.

I also suffer from the same type of pain in my lower neck, and shoulders. This is usually made worse by extensive periods of sitting up at my PC desk, or driving. Saying ‘ it hurts’ is an understatement, I’m not sure I can really convey the levels of pain. The doctors did suggest morphine at one point, but my dad refused as he didn’t want my body getting addicted too it.

More recently I’ve also started to get pain in my ankles and feet (causing my feet to swell if I walk too far) and sometimes my hands (causing my fingers to swell, usually if I’ve driven too much or gripped on to something for too long a period).

As well as the above (early on in the stage of my illness), I was also suffering from the extreme fatigue (one of the main symptoms suffered by every sufferer). I wasn’t always able to walk out side without a wheelchair, due to the said fatigue. Today, I still have my wheelchair, but attempt to not use it (which definitely makes me relapse, but I try my hardest to be as independent as possible). I still regularly use my walking stick and crutches, but again, not as much as I used to. The fatigue can get absolutely terrible. The best way I can describe it is having your internal batteries run down to nothing, sleep then not replenishing your batteries, and having to get up the next morning again with no battery life. Going to bed at night knowing that I’ll wake up the next morning even more exhausted than the night before is soul destroying. My illness there for affected my sleeping patterns, at one point being nocturnal. Luckily though I’ve fixed my sleeping habits and I sleep now at relatively normal hours.

I also suffered from cognitive problems and sensitivity to light (meaning I had to wear protective sun glasses at all times; a symptom that luckily eased as the years went by). I experienced sensitivity to the smell of certain food, (I.e the smell of meat cooking), which often made me sick.

Other smaller symptoms at that time were sensitivity to temperature, usually meaning my body dealt with extreme hot or cold periods differently to that of a normal person. At some points I also suffered from a certain amount of hair loss.

Another point I wanted to make, was that of my problems with eating. Sufferers from M.E can go down one of two paths: One, not eating because of lack of apatite due to not moving/burning calories, or two, gaining weight due to eating and not being well enough to burn those calories. Sadly I went down the path of loosing my apatite, and a very long battle with my eating was the result. I lost a lot of weight, and fought with my problems with my eating for a very long time. It was a big cycle, I’d not eat because I wasn’t hungry, then I’d feel sick due to not eating, then I didn’t want to eat as I new I’d feel sick afterwards, and the cycle continued. This meant that I lost a lot of weight (being able to fit in to children’s clothes at one point). Without my mums help and encouragement with my eating, I think I’d probably be feeding by a tube at present (which is the case of some sufferers). Loosing weight also affected other aspects of my body, meaning certain things stopped functioning, something that I’ve only recently recovered from.

In the past at different points I’ve been bed bound and unable to walk (my bed at this point was downstairs), in hospital due to my M.E, and regularly in A&E. My dad had been my carer for over 2 years, my mum my carer before that, and now my boyfriend, who looks after me when I’m ill.

I’ve been pondering about posting this for several days now. I feel it’s important to portray what my illness is, and how it effects me, but it’s just super depressing, and I don’t want to bring down the tempo of my blog. But I’ve decided to go ahead and write this up, and hope it helps at least one person understand how debilitating it can be for us.

This is a subject I’ve debated with my dad about on many occasions, because he’s a smoker, and I’m not, and It really sickens me! I have no idea why, but it’s just something that super annoys me.

This is a subject I’ve debated with my dad about on many occasions, because he’s a smoker, and I’m not, and It really sickens me! I have no idea why, but it’s just something that super annoys me.

I grew up in a smoking house. Both my parents smoked, and it didn’t hugely worry me. I’d grown up around it, and the houses we lived in had always been smoked in, so for me, it was pretty normal.

Later on though, I remember heading in to family pubs with my mum and her then boyfriend and the smoke in there was so dam terrible! (this was before smoking had been banned in public places). I have not so fond memories of those clouds of smoke. Not nice!

More recently, when my parents where living together (I was between 12 and 15 years), again, the house had been a smoking house, and it was pretty much the normal for me, at this stage it didn’t bother me so much at all really. But then me and my dad moved out and in to our own house (a rental property), which meant that the house had never been smoked in, and meant my dad had to smoke outside.

It was about that time that I started to get a little more sensitive to it (I’m not sure if that’s due to my M.E, which could be possible, or whether it was the transition from living in a smoking house to a non-smoking house), and it really started to make me feel sick! Since then, when I’ve been around smokers, it really does make me feel a little sick, and generally makes me cough.

So in answer to the original question, my feelings toward smoking are negative ones. I really don’t think smokers should have rights to smoke in public (I agree with the ban), I think smokers have the right to smoke in there own homes. I also feel they shouldn’t be aloud to smoke in or around children.

Other peoples thoughts on the matter would be happily received. I know those are only my opinions, I know what smokers think on the subject after debates with my dad, so your thoughts are more than welcome.

Puppy

I’m writing this from the comfort of my sofa, with Kira, our Siberian Husky puppy by my side, half sleeping, half playing, and George, not actually wanting to be social!

I’ll start with Kira. Choosing and buying her came out of the blue, but the idea of me and Rich wanting a puppy wasn’t a spur of the moment decision. We’d toyed with an Irish Wolfhound for quite a while; he’d had one in the past, and loved him dearly. I was a little worried about the size of some of the dogs he was interested in, and whether we could afford to maintain a big dog!

Over the weekend, we’d viewed a few animal shelters, but decided that that wasn’t the way to go. The animals were lovely, but we just didn’t find one we ‘gelled’ with. It didn’t seem that they’d ever feel like they were ‘ours’, and they were nearly always at an age where it would be too late to integrate him/her with George (which was really important).

We came away from the shelters feeling really despondent. We decided to have a look at the net when we got home, to see if there was any possibility of buying a puppy instead. We looked around, and focused our search in the end on Siberian Huskies. Rich was keen on the breed, so I happily went with it.

I believe in fate, and destiny and I believed right from the beginning that when we found the right puppy, we’d know. The first 20 or so adverts we viewed just didn’t feel right. They where either too expensive, or male (which we didn’t overly want), or in a location that just wasn’t practical.

We did finally come across one advert though, and we had a really great feeling right from the beginning. She was the last of a little from Leicester. When we initially phoned the breeder, he was very, very friendly. He answered all of our questions and was happy for us to go view her.

Leicester is only 20 minutes or so from us in Coventry, and we traveled up to meet the puppy. The area wasn’t what I was expecting; it was the poorer side of town, so we where a little apprehensive. When we met Kira, she initially seemed very sleepy (she is a puppy though so it was to be expected). Rich held her first, and she snuggled him, and when straight back to sleep. Then I held her, and she just sank in to my arms. She loved every minute of it, and we instantly bonded. I didn’t want to put her down!

We questioned the breeder, and all seemed to be in order. She eventually woke up and instantly jumped down to the floor and started to chew my shoe laces! Naughty Kira. We decided to buy her there and then. We loved her so much! She traveled home just perfectly, she lay down and went back to sleep. A big contrast to how George is when he travels, he gets super excited and barks the whole way!

She’s settled in extremely well She’s chewed everything, peed everywhere, made lots of mess, and spent all of her remaining time sleeping! She’s really settled in nicely, and is growing bigger and bigger by the day! It’s really strange seeing how she’s changing; just her facial features developing, and her coat colour.

She wont be fully grown until she’s 2 and a half years old (she’s 8 weeks at the moment). She’ll get as big as I am when she’s standing on her back legs. She’ll also need walking an hour or more a day (which will be Richards job as my health just wont stand it).

That’s all for now regarding dogs!
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Christmas

Christmas is closely upon us! ARG! I’m trying to work out how long I can put off Christmas for. Don’t get me wrong, when the day arrives, I love it, I just dislike how suddenly Christmas starts in August and September and my radio is filtered with Christmas tunes! Really frustrates me.

As far as plans for Christmas day though, I’m really conflicted as to where to be and what to do! I really don’t want my dad being alone at Christmas, would be so strange without him. As well as that though, I’m going to be super sad to not see my sister at Christmas. Boo.

In the end we kind of came up with some form of plan. Dad will spend the morning of Christmas day with my Jen, my sister. At mid day he’ll travel up to me and Richards (about a 2 hour drive). We’ve all then been invited to Richards brothers wifes parents (still with me?!) for Christmas day meal, which will be great, means I don’t have to cook, hurray! Boxing day will be spent at Richards parents for boxing day celebrations.

Thats what’s happening on the 25th! It’s all so new for me, we’ve never really made a huge fuss at Christmas. We’ve always had the family tree, and the meal in the afternoon, and presents of course, but that’s been about it! We’ve never really had boxing day celebrations, or new years celebrations, so I think I’m in for some fun this year!

As far as presents go, Richards sorted, dads sorted, mums sorted, as is her boyfriend, and my uncle/aunt. Still conflicted as to what to buy my sister, due to the fact my mum stole my present idea! What a coincidence! GRR! We had such fun laughing over that when we found out that we’d both decided to buy the same present for her, i’ll make sure she knows it was my idea first!
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Open University and job hunting

As i’ve already mentioned, i’m studying the first course which will count towards my degree. I received the results of my first assignment a few days ago, and and am pretty dam chuffed with the mark! I was scored 88% (The Open Uni works in percentages instead of grades..). I’m dam chuffed I have to say! There’s certain points I need to work on, so will make sure I sort those out for the next assignment. I also had my monthly tutorial last night, which meant I had to travel back east as I haven’t changed regions yet. I was feeling terrible and really didn’t want to go, but it turned out to be worth it and helped answered a few questions I had.

I am completely shattered today though. I’m in super amount so of pain after the 5 and a half odd hours driving yesterday (To my dads, to pick up his car, back to my tutorial, then home). Having some trouble walking as my knee and ankle joints/muscles have swollen and seized up. Is due to me overdoing it and I know I shouldn’t push myself in that way, but sometimes it’s necessary, at least once a month for my tutorial.

Due to part of my benefits stopping, (as I think I’ve already mentioned), I’ve had to start to search for a job, something I didn’t anticipate I’d have to do until after I’d finished my degree. I’ve applied to several retail positions, working on tills, and varies boring things.

I’ve also applied today to several Web Content Editing positions, which I have to say I’m pretty nervous about. Due to not finishing school though, I have little qualifications (pre degree), and have had no previous work experience, so I’m just not confident I’d land a job in the IT field (which would definitely be ideal for me).

I’m hoping to pick up some volunteer work over the next few months, and work hard, so I have at least some experience to put on my CV, as it’s looking rather bare at the moment.

Before I sign off, I’d like to thank the continuing support of the readers of my blog. There has been so many views, and comments over the past month, and it’s really appreciated. I have always said, and always will, that I write for me. I don’t do it to follow the crowd. I don’t limit my posts so it follows a set of ‘rules’ or ideals. I just write. It’s always been a release for me, a way to get things off my chest and document what’s happening in my life, and I think that’s reflected in the end result. So again, thank you for reading!
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