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I think I may own too many books. Too many CDs. Too much stuff generally. I realise that my insistance on doing all my maintainance myself, and having a bike mid-restoration does mean that there’s a certain ‘more stuff’ theme that’s going to be present.

I know that having trained as a biochemist, worked in IT and then moved to nursing there’s a certain amount of books and evidence of practice development which are kind of required. I used to be good at backing up my PC and doing semi-incremental backups so there’s a large wodge of CDs (but then I’ve not used the stuff on them for years; do I really need them? I’ve packed them…).

And unlike my normal approach of packing all my stuff up in one fell swoop just before I move, this time I’m just doing bits and pieces. I’ve been trying to clear Lauren’s shelves and then I started on my own set in the office – the idea behind that was that I could clean the area up a bit and it’d be a bit nicer to get some space in there.

It’s a bit distressing though to find that I’ve packed 12 boxes with books /folders (although some of that space has been packed out with odds and sods). 12 boxes. I think that’s more or less all of them. Not, you know, a true 100%, but we’re now down to the odd book that’s kicking round the house somewhere, as opposed to shelves full; but I do feel quite… frustrated by it. I thought I’d got rid of loads – and it’s not that many when they’re out, it’s what, 8 shelves full? Still, apart from one box they’re all easily liftable, and that last box is within my capacity to lift, it’s just ‘a bit heavy’. Of course, things get harder from here on in. I’ve got CD’s to pack, but I don’t want to start on them until nearer the move; same with DVDs and vinyl. I should, I guess, start sorting out the garage and stuff to go, but hey. I’ve also got to leave some of the computer stuff unpacked until after I’ve reinstalled / installed whatever.

I’m still waiting for the re-test results on my motherboard, I hope it fails; I *know* it’s faulty, but that doesn’t mean that it’ll fail at the time it’s meant to. Bah. I don’t really mind moving, but I hate it dragging out, and I really wish I could be 100% about where I’m going.

Fucking racist insanity

I’m not left handed, I *eat* UK lefthanded (which confusingly appears to be American (or at least alaskan) right handed), but apart from that I’m a rightie. Yesterday I cut my finger on a bit of motorbike. Not a big cut, a little deeper than normal, but not sufficient to really cause issues. Only today it was a bit sore in the shower, so I’ve been attempting to lead with my left.

It feels very odd, very very odd. Just for fun I’ve been trying to properly work left handed and it’s a very strange sensation.

In other news, I’m over my dumb mistakes yesterday, Dave reminded me that I should have replaced the pressure plate with it’s teeny tiny fracture in anyway, so really, I should just let it all go.

So I have.

Ais has headed off too, I was worried about her visiting, we’ve been good talking online and whatever for ages, but I’d not seen her since she moved up north. In the end I’ve had a really nice, chilled out weekend; laughed loads, caught up and had a great deal of fun :-)

Ra!

Sometimes I think I’ve been born in the wrong decade, everyone I’ve told about me finding some Gramophone records with Les Paul on has looked at me with a ‘and’ look on their face. Les Paul. Famous guitarist. Had a guitar named after him. That Les Paul. Electric Guitar – on a gramophone record, do you feel the wrong? It’s cool.

Heh, so I found Les Paul records today, two of them. I’ve only tested out one because I’d forgotten how phenominally loud my gramophone is. And loud it certainly is – particularly the whistling blues one. That was quite shockingly uncomfortable to listen to at ‘close range’. Still.

So, I had an ultra-chilled-out, very selfish afternoon during which I probably spent more than I earned today, but at the end of the day, my eyebrows are done, I’ve got 2 really awesome gramophone records and my hair is shorter than it’s ever been in my entire life. Yes, really. It is. From the first time it grew when I was a baby to *now* it’s never been as short as it is now.

I got *sir’d* in Tesco. Now, I don’t exactly have *huge* breasts, but they are quite definately visible under a tight teeshirt. I nearly died laughing anyhow.

*waves at Kara*

Anyhow. Yes. I had a very relaxed day, met up with someone I used to work with – randomly – waiting at a bus stop (not a bust stop, I have such a one track mind); but couldn’t stay to chat, ‘cos Onne was, well, meant to be meeting me at my house between 5 and 6. Given that at this point it was actually 5pm, I had to cut the converstation somewhat short. Still, it was really nice to see her – so I headed back, managing (shockingly) not to get caught in too much traffic, and cooked my (popular abomination of a) curry. Which seemed to go down well, we chilled out more, listenened to music and chatted before people headed home. Friends, that’s what I’ll miss most about Bristol….

So, I’ve finished my training as a nurse; assuming I pass the last two assignments. I’ve got a job, assuming my references are okay. I left my placement for the last time today – I always feel sad leaving a placement, but this one I’ve enjoyed so much more than I was expecting, and I really felt part of the team at the end of the day.

I am sad to be leaving. Really sad. In fact, I felt like crying as I walked out that door the last time. Yesterday I had an impromptu shower; squirted with water and then a fair load of sterile water tipped over my head – they were planning much evil for today, but we were so insanely busy (the best, most award winning bit, was the patient arriving while the previous patient was still (a) in the bed (b) not handed over to the discharge lounge (c) waiting for tablets to be prescribed. I’d’ve been angry, but it was my last day and the nurse-in-charge was quite pissed off enough for everyone) that it didn’t happen; much I suspect, to their disappointment.

I’ve got a recipe which I have to pass on – lots of complaints about “why didn’t you tell us you could cook”… Heh. The answer is, of course, because then you’d’ve wanted me to cook.

Yeah, so, I’ve been looking at places to live, and actually found a potential place in Wokingham Woking; which was a bit of a shock. We’ll have to see how things all pan out; the hospital accomodation’s not as cheap as I thought – or more accurately, you get less for your money than I thought.

It is all a bit scary; everyone’s like “Wow, you’re just upping and leaving?!” – and I guess it’s a bit – something not many people consider; I guess the whole plan to move to Canada has kind of reduced the impact of the whole ‘oh my god I’m going to leave the city I’ve lived in for 6 years, and move house, away from my friends’, and all this insanity. And yeah it’s starting to hit me that while it’s no-where-near the scale of the drop everything and change country, it is a moderate size change in my life.

In weird other news, when you find out something about someone and have to assimilate that information into the matrix of information that you have about them… well, I enjoy tormenting people by dropping in new pieces, like my subtle femme tendancies, my cooking, my decorating…. etc. I like the fact that people quite often get to ‘know’ me and then suddenly I drop that new fact in and they’re forced to do a re-evaluation, however small that re-evaluation might be. Well, today, I assimilated some information about someone, which was completely unexpected, prompted by looking at some pictures of her house. And it’s quite interesting, I like it. I like suprise discoveries of talents you didn’t know someone had :-)

Sometimes I think I’m a little bit quirky; I spent the morning getting the stuff to make cakes, cookies and ‘american style’ brownies; and then spend the rest of the morning making them. Carrot cake, Choclate cookies and Brownies were made.

Of course, after lunch I got changed and went out and serviced my Morris Minor. I spent about 3 hours grovelling under the car, I slathered some old grease on some areas where the underseal’s wandered off – realised that I’m really very glad I’ve got new tyres being fitted tomorrow. One of the rear ones was more worn than I’d realised. Quite a lot more worn.

I am quite tired now though, and I realised that despite forking out 40 quid on service parts I failed to get a set of points. Yes. Dozy mare that I am. Or a new fan belt. And, in award winning news, I found out what was making the irritating tinging noise. The bearing on the alternator’s gone – I think – it’s moving front-to-back, which is worrying. Still, it’s still working at the moment.

Anyway, I then spent the evening at the Cinema watching Superman Returns, which, contrary to expectations was fantastic. I really enjoyed watching it – and it really felt like a proper Superman film.

This has been a really nice weekend – yesterday after work we headed out to TGI Fridays, which made for a really chilled out evening – then over to Nikki and Kates for an evening of nattering. All in all it’s been a nice, relaxed weekend…

1. Grab the nearest book
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your LJ along with these instructions.
5. Don’t you dare dig for that “cool” or “intellectual” book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.

Well, there aren’t five sentences on this page; big diagram. The fourth sentence is:

“Heart valves, the perichondrium (the membrane surrounding cartilage), and the periosteum (the membrane surrounding the bone) are dense irregular connective tissues, although they have a fairly orderly arrangement of their collagen fibers”

– Principles of Anatomy and Physiology.

And some meme:

You scored as Kaylee (Kaywinnet Lee) Frye. The Mechanic. You are a natural mechanic, and you are far too sweet and cheerful to live out here. How you can see the good in everyone around you boggles the mind occasionally. Still you don’t seem to be any crazier than that, and it is a nice kinda crazy. Kaylee (Kaywinnet Lee) Frye 88% River Tam 75% Simon Tam 69% The Operative 69% Hoban ‘Wash’ Washburne 56% Zoe Alleyne Washburne 50% Inara Serra 50% Capt. Mal Reynolds 44% Shepherd Derrial Book 44% Jayne Cobb 6% Which Serenity character are you? created with QuizFarm.com

Blimey. I. Am. Tired.

It’s been a hard couple of shifts at work – sick patients needing a lot of care, and me in charge of the bay for most of the shift yesterday. Hence the absence of posting. Well, absence of significant lengths of posting. I guess I ramble anyway, but hey.

So, news? Well, I’ve rung up and got them to send me my CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) check form, which will apparently take up to a week to arrive, the motherboard from my PC which I found to be most dead has gone back to Scan, hopefully it’ll be replaced and we can stop with the random crashing. Me and ‘good quality’ hardware have no luck. My 1999, 300 quid all in (disks and all) PC is still going y’know. All that died was the case, in fact, it didn’t actually *die* I just found out that the reason for the wandering ants on the screen was that the powersupply was crap; and it was cheaper to replace the case and powersupply, than just the one. It’s battered, but unbeaten. I think the CD-Rom still worked until recently, despite being parked in the garage.

I’ve just mailed the lass back from A and SP NHS Trust who said “do you want accomodation”, because I suspect I do, but because the e-mails are mauled by NHS Jobs first, I don’t get any attachments.

I’ve ordered new tyres for my car (can you feel the excitement). I have this thing about good tyres, so I’ve done some research, and ended up with Nexen tyres, which are a Korean brand that appear to be un-hideous. Firestone having stopped making tyres in my size, mostly (I think) because they’re evil cruel people with no love for the Morris Minor. She’s also due a service, so I may try and get the bits for that tomorrow.

I think I’m still in ‘University’ mode, I come home and feel the need to do something, although I’m knackered this week so I’ve been asuaging that need with the cunning technique of ‘watching firefly’. I’ve been chatting at work about holidays too – the Canada one coming up and y’know what, stuff like this just makes me love Canada more. Of course this might not be an accurate representation of what I can expect when I get there, but hey. I guess I should start planning. But I also need to learn about endocrinology, not a subject I’m really very well versed in.

It’s starting to hit me that in a few short days I stop being a ‘student nurse’. It’s quite scary, really. Quite scary. There’s one patient who always calls me ‘Staff’ despite me not being… I find it scary. I mean, I seem to cope and manage the bay pretty well, but this whole people expecting me to know stuff, there I am trying to explain to someone about why their dad needs to go to theatre, or why their mum is ill. It’s all big stuff. And I do it… and… yeah. In a few days time I won’t be Student Nurse at all.

Weird.

Also, next week my ward is temporarily relocated so that the ward can be thoroughly cleaned; which… well… Let’s say they have a tradition of saying bye to leaving people and students in a, well, unique, way. Generally by them being drenched in something wet and cold. Ultrasound gel, accidents with bags of saline and having milkshake dumped on you are things that you might expect on leaving.

Unfortunately, the ward we’re going to? They have a bath. A *bath*, I don’t *think* I’ll end up in it, just because Tim, the HCA who’d easily lift-and-plonk isn’t there. But…. Hrm.

I fear it…