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  • Things you should not do one week before your dissertation is due

    Number 1: Update Winamp. My machine has been a bit squiffy since…errr… ages ago. I get odd runtime errors on quitting lots of apps, but it’s actually been stable with it – so I’d been studiously ignoring that problem. And then up popped Winamp with a “Serious security problem” – please, it said, please let me update to 5.24. So being as I’m weak and stupid I did so.

    My machine has since become as stable as a dog on wet lino.

    So, now we’re running XMPlay, which is what I used to use on my low-power laptop. This is fine. This is okay. I am, however, a trifle peeved at having to endure crashes thanks to Winamp.

  • Strutting my funky stuff.

    So, I had a good day. A really good day. I took my bay, I managed my patients and prioritised care. I admitted and discharged people. It worked. It felt good. I drove home in my insanely better looking minor – considering the quality of the bodges – but the white grille really makes *such* a difference. It’s astounding.

    And it’s very white.

    Anyway, I got home and I came in. And Lauren wasn’t home, which confused me. But anyway, I came in, I stuck the kettle on and put on the first of the records I got while I was in Manchester; Runaround Sue. I now want more 60’s pop records too. As I danced my way around the lounge grinning like a maniac I did wonder what people walking past would make of the shadow leaping around.

    Then I suck on Teenage Rampage; the second of the records and danced my way round making my tea.

    Of course, then I came upstairs and read the snarky e-mail from the Critical Eval in Adult Nursing woman (Caia ‘screw you lady’ Frances). Let me just thank her for her support and encouragement. No, hang on, let me tell her to get stuffed for her lack of support and encouragement.

    This is the woman who said if our marks were delayed, our resubmission would be too. That was a LIE. This is the woman who said “come to me for help and advice” – and she’ll say what “You had the comments”. Well, thank you *so* much. Suddenly an awful lot of the support I had for the lecturers evaporated. So, *you* can hand back work late and that’s *fine*. We hand it in late and that’s a fail. Well, to quote an excellent author – Go Stick Your Head In A Pig.

    *sighs*

    Still. Well. Oh, I dunno. I just hope I get this job, at least then I’ll have something to look forward to. Of course, there’s this girl I’ve met online who, well…  I dunno. I like her. I just seem to have lost the knack of getting to know someone online. I’ve sent her a letter-on-postcards though, mebby that’ll work better.

    I need to take it slow this time though, I really do. No matter what my heart might say I shall be listening to my head (yeah, right). Still, living in a different country should reduce the potential for mind blowing acts of stupidity :-)

  • Not working yet…

    So, yeah, yesterday. Got home from work via a car-parts shop with enough spray paint to start a career in Graffiti; but I didn’t; no, instead I set to on making the stuff for Pride. After a few hours I stopped and headed over to Nikki and Kates for a relaxing evening eating Kebab, watching Dr Who and Playing Fluxx (we love Fluxx).

    And then I came home, chatted to James, went to bed at 2ish, got up at 8:30ish and set to on props for Pride again.

    Well, at 10, anyway, because I needed to eat and then my mum rang.

    So, yeah, I’m done now.

    We have:

    – A roofsign
    – Magnetic letters of doom
    – A blue-light with an extended lead
    I just need to nip to the shops, find a white blouse (*CHEAP* and a black, short, skirt). I’d wear the hockey one but I’m not quite back down to size 12. Well, that’s not true, my jeans fit and they’re size 12. Hrm. Now I have to go check.

    Okay, so it’s a very tight, but it sort of fits. At worst I *could* wear it. Just.

    I also did some ‘pimp-quality paintwork’ on my car. Just to tart her up a bit. She looks way better, actually. Although the quality of some of the paint work is beyond questionable, and I’ve discovered just how close I am to needing a new front wing (–>< -- that close - you can actually, well, could (before I threw filler at it) actually see through the wing. It's that rotten). Anyway, here's some teasers (one you've seen before and some new ones).

    Pride Prep

    You can see how big-er difference it makes having the grille painted white. What you can’t see is how bigger difference it makes covering up the rust with filler. Even really *badly* done filler.

    Anyway, it’s time to get on with my dissertation :-)

  • Alive and groaning

    So, Um, Yeah. Trains. Not as unpleasant an experience as previous experience had indicated. My only real issues – one of the little dinky trains was cancelled (but the other one was running so late it meant that my schedule didn’t actually change). And the train on the way back was somewhat cramped; it was like flying but without the charm of going to another country.
    Good things: Both the interviews are over. I only completely fluffed one of them (I rambled about MI’s for about 5 minutes when they’d asked about cardiac arrests. Fuck me if I didn’t look like the worlds biggest moron). The other one actually seemed to go okay, which is cool. I really like both cities, and both hospitals come highly recommended. So.

    Yes, Manchester has won me over, despite my hotel being a hotel which I’m sure had obtained it’s little RAC diamonds from e-bay, and despite my own poor planning, and despite the rain (look; it’s north; it’s cold and wet. Proof is mine! It *always* rains when I go North, always. Which is good, ‘cos I like Rain ;-) ).

    No, seriously, I liked Manchester a lot; Missed Brum a lot; Spent an awful lot on very nice food; spent an awful lot on very nice books and Manga (xxxHolic volumes 4-6; Never Give Up (random choice); Strangers in Paradise – Pocket book version, Vol 1; and a random Lesbotic Thriller – which adds another random lesbite writer to my list of writers to obtain books by). I also, err, picked up, a copy of Fluxx.

    Um.

    Yeah. Spent way too much, problem is boredom and a limit on how much time I can spend drinking coffee.

    So. I await the outcome of the job interviews with nervousness. Nervousness and a level of tiredness which – after a long day at work and an early shift tomorrow – may leave me lying on the floor gurgling.

  • Oopsie

    So I just got this call from my credit card company, very chatty, friendly like… They said “you’re a valued customer, you always make your payments, usually early… but you’ve not paid this month”

    ACK!

    I realised I’ve not paid either of my cards off at all, not paid lauren her rent… So Stupid! Never mind, sorted now… but I don’t half feel like a Moron.

    Incidentally, thanks to Fwink the Webcam is back. The only issue with Fwink is it needs a start / stop webcam button on the main window… Otherwise it’s dead simple and that’s exactly what I want.

  • Distraction.

    400 words to go on the Dissertation; so I got up this morning and with every intention of not getting sucked into doing anything else dumped my Shredded Wheat in a bowl and my Coffee in the Cafetiere (isn’t it interesting what a few weeks in Alaska changes about a person ;-) ) and my Yoghurt in.. well, it comes in a little plastic bottle. I trailed upstairs and sat down to read LJ while I munched (yes, I am that sad). And I came across this post by inspector_81 on Robert Newman’s History of Oil (google video link, just clicky and watchy) – and was well, shocked. Not so much by what he said, although the newly aquired history of the First World War, well, I must chat to my sister’s husband about it (History Teacher)… it wasn’t something I’d encountered.

    BUT – the commentary on society and oil, it’s basically largely what I thought about, with a huge helping of war thrown in; and the future isn’t bright for our society unless we do get off our collective arses and start doing something. I think when I’m done failing my course I’ll get out there and see about stuff I can do. I can’t exactly claim any fucking prize on this one, although much that I own is recycled I also
    – Drive (although it’s required by my job)
    – Keep my PC on all the time
    – Use 2 monitors (when one did me fine before)
    – Waste electricity and water something chronic
    – Eat fruit and veg out of season, and non-locally produced foods
    I think our society makes it easier to be irresponsible than it is to be responsible; it’s cheaper to buy food sourced from ‘wherever’, easier to buy new than to repair, difficult to travel by public transport. I’ve stripped out lots of the things I used to do, or that I would do if I could because it’s beyond my finances to be the ethical consumer I want to be. In some ways I’m good – I recycle loads, in fact I get quite annoyed at packaging that’s non-recyclable (particularly plastic. Trees coated in crud that means they won’t take it? That I can just about cope with, but plastic? How hard is it to put a number and a triangle on a fracking piece of plastic?!).

    Aye. So. Hrm. Lots to think about. And now I must regain my day; shower, work, and prepare for interviews of interviewy doom.

  • Ah, clearly my life is too easy.

    So, I was thinking my life was a bit stressful but then today arrived, and I was reminded that it’d been a walk in the park.

    I went to my tedious Work Based Learning Day, and then headed to Bristol Temple Meads to pick up my tickets; having struggled through the city roadworks in 27+ degree heat in full bike gear I then made it to university to collect my assignment. This assignment, the one I got my friend to read through, well it was one of very few assignments in this time at uni where I wasn’t in the slightest worried about it. In fact, I thought it was damn good.

    I was wrong.

    It got 30%. That’s a fail, incidentally. Comparing it to the marking descriptors it appears to me to still fit what they’ve asked for, it’s got lots of comments on it, none of them good, some of them showing the marker doesn’t really understand the reflective model I used, but I’ve clearly missed, entirely, what they’re driving at – and you know what – the comments don’t help me to see what they were driving at. The comments imply, to me at least, that what they wanted was a reflective piece (which would be a reflection on a reflection) when what they’ve asked for is a critical evaluation of a reflection.

    So, I felt about an inch tall when I opened that. In fact I swore quite a lot. Then I got on my bike and pulled out to the UWE junction, where as I went to pull away I heard a BANG followed by a distinct lack of forward motion. The engine was still running so… I looked down, there was the chain. I knew the chain needed replacing because it’s stretched unevenly, but I didn’t think it needed replacing just yet. Apparently I was wrong. With some struggle I got the bike back to the parking area – the chain whipping round and clouting the number plate on each revolution (and yes, I am aware of just how lucky I was, again).

    Of course, at this point I needed to be back home, so I could drive to Oxford and collect my mum. Only I wasn’t at home, I was 3.3 miles away dressed in full, black bike gear. In 25-27ish degree heat. I started walking. I walked and walked, and I sweated. I swigged from my bottle of luke warm water and finally got home; saturated; dehydrated and tired. I grabbed money got in the car and headed off.

    Having stopped to fill up Rebecca with Petrol and obtain fluids for myself I set out. As we crept closer to Oxford the uneven running got worse and worse; I’d assumed that the points were out… they were. In the end I made it, collected my mum and got back. By the time I’d got back the car wouldn’t idle and the accelerator essentially acted as an on-off switch. Either we could go flat out; have halting lumpy running or nothing. Pulling away was flat out-slipclutch-judder.

    Having looked the points were indeed way out of adjustment, the crap modern parts having worn away distressingly quickly (an electronic ignition module is looking awfully tempting); of course, having adjusted them I noticed that the screw which holds the vacuum advance in position had wandered off, perhaps touring Europe’s Art Gallieries; who knows. However, it wasn’t *there*; Lauren located a likely candidate which was screwed some of the way in and then loctited (it’s apparently not quite the right size :-/ ); another bodge in a list of bodges that’s getting ever longer.

    She also kindly gave me a lift to my bike when the recovery company rang; my bike is now sat rather forlorn in my garage. Sadly I can’t order the parts until Monday; except that I can’t even order them then because I’m working a long day. *sigh*

    I’m so tired. So fed up. I just want to curl up in a ball; it so doesn’t feel worth all this at the moment.

  • Quick ‘n’ dirty survey entry.

    You Are 40% Gross
    You’re a tad gross, but generally you’re a clean, hygienic person. No one can be perfectly clean all the time, and it’s better to be human than a neat freak.

  • I have the world’s worst schedule

    So, things are, again a little stressful in chez Kate; although I’m not really stressed, except about the job interviews….

    To summarise:

    – Props for Pride.
    – Heat shield.
    – Quick and dirty points and levels check on car.
    – MZ needs seal replacing and top end rebuild.
    – Interviews (ramble in a sec).
    – Mum needs to get picked up from hospital.
    – Dissertation needs: C4 writing, lots of typos correcting.

    I gave in this morning, I got the exhaust on Rebecca done at the Mog Centre, it cost me 40 quid, still took an hour during which I couldn’t do anything, but saved me lots of hastle.

    I finally got around to organising my shifts for next week; thus enabling me to go to my interviews. Unfortunately, my shifts are now deeply insane:

    Early
    Early
    Work based learning day [drive to Oxford, pick up mum from hospital, drop her home, drive home]
    Early
    Day Off
    Double shift
    Day off [during which I Drive to Bham, have an Interview, Drive to Manchester, Book into a hotel]
    Day off [in Manchester]
    Day off [interview in Manchester, Drive back to Bristol]
    Double Shift
    Early
    Day off
    Early…

    The problem is double shifts aren’t *quite* double shifts, so you have to do 3 in a week to make up the hours. But I’ve got an extra day off, that I was planning to knock off the end of my placement, which isn’t going to happen now. I should be filling in the Bath Hospital application form, but I really don’t care at the moment. I’m tired as it is.

    Despite the ‘hugeness’ of my list of things I actually *want* to do these things. I will enjoy them all, but by July I may just be lying on the floor gurgling. I also need to prepare for my interview (When?! How?!) and…. yeah. Stuff. So now I’m going to go and flake out on my bed so I don’t die completely when I do my shift tomorrow.

  • Big bloody sigh

    I am so totally fed up. Totally. Totally and completely.

    Despite a really nice lunch with a Ali and Lauren I am having the most frustrating day. The GP fucked up my prescription which meant I had to go and tell them that no, I didn’t just want one random item off the list; and although it’s now sorted it’s a pain.

    I had a look at the mog’s exhaust, which had been ‘a bit noisy’ having lost it’s back silencer had got ‘a bit noiser’ then ‘quite a lot noiser’. I went and had a look today. The weld’s given up around the front silencer now. It’s fucking shite, that’s what it is, so I’ll take that down to C’ware’s tomorrow, I might even see if they can fit the new one, ‘cos I’m so strapped for time.

    However, I’ve found out why I can’t book tickets – and I’m quite glad I failed to book tickets. It turns out there’s a signalman’s strike on the 20th, and so they’re not able to guarantee train times, or tickets, or anything very much. *sighs*. I’m trying to coax ‘TheTrainLine.com’ into refunding the ticket I did buy, because they can’t actually honour it. I guess since I bought it with my Visa card I could tell them to put a stop on the payment actually. I’ll see what they say. I do just feel like I’ve been repeatedly slapped down today though. Still, I’ve got a day off in Manchester on the 19th. Anyone live in Manchester who wants to show me that it’s a rockin’ place which I shall want to live in?