This is my happening and it freaks me out!

I'm on holiday, almost a week off. I've finally bit the bullet (thanks to Barbara's divine inspiration) and got around to (at least starting anyway) decorating my bedroom, predictably in my favourite orange and white. I've had to chuck out so much junk that I'd had boxed and bagged these years I've lived in my little house. It was really quite cathartic to get some space in there at last! It shames me to say that I hadn't seen the floor for two years!

Heavens to Betsy though! My dormer must have been built for the lowest quote in the history of building! there are holes and cracks and odd angles and the floor is so uneven I'm dreading peeking under the carpet - who knows what evil lurks!

more of this later I suspect.

The Teen Tycoon of Rock has just watched "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls". Although released in 1970 it is pure 60s , and whilst it may have the heaving bosoms that director Russ Meyer was famous for it is intentionally funny, and has a killer soundtrack. (I only wish I had the R1 disc, the R2 is non-anamorphic for goodness sake, and has no extras! - I'm off to search e-bay!)

Sorry for the poor grammar and style tonight , I'm just too tired to rewrite tonight - goodnight!

Compare and contrast :










“It doesn't matter what temperature the room is, it's always room temperature.” - Steven Wright

(love the Tesco's carrier bag Shirley!)

“Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist”

This post is just an excuse to post these pictures I found whilst chucking out lots of stuff. Halloween circa 1990 I think ,we were all student Nurses, hence the costumes! The flat hair was after a night of dancing / sweating, and our costumes gradually got tattier and tattier (not to mention less and less) as people couldn't resist ripping them further!!

I almost forgot those Captain Kirk sideburns I used to have!

This is one actually at work, as you can see we (men that is) used to dress like doctors back then (which led to many an hilarious mix up!) , and I had my regular (at the time) hair do - a strange 50's / 60's amalgam of a quiff.

“The human consciousness is really homogeneous. There is no complete forgetting, even in death.” - D.H. Lawrence

“If at first you don't succeed, failure may be your style.”

Oh I'm so tired! I don't mean in a sick of life way , just physically tired, I can hardly move my arms to type! As soon as I'm done here I'm going to slump in front of the TV and fall asleep for a bit (possibly) - interesting insight eh?.

I have nothing to say today, or rather haven't the energy to say anything, Billy really is a dull boy! I'm on holiday soon (for six days at least) and hope to get to grips with decorating my bedroom, I love the arranging furniture, putting up curtains stuff, but the physical slog of getting to that point is a little off putting. Still it will be worth t to have a cosy room I can relax in, rather than a pit to flop down my weary body!

Have fun children - see you soon!

“The young always have the same problem - how to rebel and conform at the same time. They have now solved this by defying their parents and copying one another.” - Quentin Crisp

“Zounds! I was never so bethumped with words since I first called my brother's father dad”

Hey hey - Little victories eh? My Brother finally came and started some DIY for me. Okay, he only changed some taps, but every journey begins with a single step eh? There's a bloody lot to do before April and yes I could have done it years ago, but I feel a little optimistic at last. By the way there's nothing cryptic about this post, I'm just glad that Frank finally started my bathroom!

This week I have really been enjoying (again) "Still Game". I watched them all the first two times alone, but I've got my Dad and Brother into it now, it's nice to laugh together, rather than arguing!

See you later!

“When brothers agree, no fortress is so strong as their common life” - Antisthenes

“The secret of being a bore is to tell everything” - Voltaire

Well! I had to get up at 4am for another sudden episode of diarrhea (Sorry sensitive souls). Now I haven't had any other symptoms, and certainly no weight loss, so it almost certainly isn't infective or inflammatory in nature. The only commonality is I had a glass of wine the night before. Oh how cruel if that was the cause!

This time however I managed to get back to sleep. When I did get up, I was confronted almost immediately by a power cut! It made me realise how dependent the modern man is on technology, I couldn't even have a shower (So I read my QI book and listened to my ipod - see more electricity!) obviously it came back on - you're reading this aren't you?

“Ok That's it, Talking Poo is where I draw the line.” - Eric Cartman

“It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than open one's mouth and remove all doubt.”

Funny couple of days off. Readers of a nervous disposition may like to look away now - I woke up at around 5am yesterday with the strangest abdominal sensation. Let me be delicate and say that I made it to my bathroom just in time! I can't think of any "dodgy" food I ate, and I am no more stressed than usual (although I do feel a little "bleak" today, but then I'm off to work in about 20 minutes). Needless to say I was wide awake (or so I thought) but I ended up going back to bed around 9am and wasting most of the day unconscious! - Now wasn't that fascinating kids?

Well I suppose I'd better get my things together for a hard day tending to the sick!

“I think I've discovered the secret of life - you just hang around until you get used to it.” - Charles M Schulz

“You can only be young once. But you can always be immature.”

I can't seem to stay awake. I got up at 7.20am to greet my daughter , I dutifully took her to school and since I got back I've hardly been able to keep my eyes open. The same thing happened last night, I sat down, fresh in from a hard days work (yeah!) and fell asleep with my parka still on and my ipod playing. It's a strange tiredness, my arms and legs feel like lead, my head is fuzzy. I'm sure it's just years of sleep deprivation catching up with me, or maybe a bizarre manifestation of middle age !

“Music that gentler on the spirit lies- Than tired eyelids upon tired eyes” - Alfred, Lord Tennyson

“I love mankind; it's people I can't stand.”

Crikey! What a shift!!!
Where were they all coming from eh? Wave upon wave of admissions, and the constant pressure from bed managers and Matrons to transfer out so we could get more in!!! Luckily I was on with a good natured and hard working bunch of people, and combined with the hustle and bustle it went by quickly.

Damnation though, I'm the dreaded 13 hour shift tomorrow alas. So it's iron a uniform, stick something in the microwave, shower and bed for me, but not just yet.

Sorry that this entry didn't reveal any of the secrets of the universe for you, remember it's just something for me to look back on in my old age, assuming a nuclear war or an Antichrist doesn't get me first... and on that cheery note I bid you farewell...farewell!

(Toni Basil was 37 when this was a hit!)

“Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia.” - Charles M. Schulz

"Diane, never drink coffee that has been anywhere near a fish"

Ah I feel better now!
Isn't the mind the most powerful thing in the universe. My body hasn't changed since this morning, just my mood, but now I feel energised and optimistic, a total about turn!

Lots of Twin Peaks watched today, and I listened to a lot of The Free Design, groovy late sixties sunshine popsters. - Goodnight !

"Harry, I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just...let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee." - Special Agent Dale Cooper

"A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking"

and I was so happy yesterday wasn't I?

- a quick moan!
Another of those bland mornings, I tidied up a bit and waited for my daughter to ring. She was sleeping out at her friends last night, and since we are both off today I had expected to spend the day with her. I rang her a few times (that broadband phone might be cheap, but it's erratic!) and eventually got an answer. She went off to ask her Mum if it was okay to come over, and then in the background I heard a tirade of abuse , apparently her mother wasn't aware I was off and had taken a days holiday - therefore I am a criminal of the worst sort! - ho hum.
Seeing her for a couple of hours later!

“Fortune sometimes turns round like a mill wheel and he who was yesterday at the top lies today at the bottom” - Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

“Somebody's boring me." he said " I think it's me.”

I suppose everyone thinks their family is dysfunctional? Well don't you?
I don't have much of a social life, if I'm not at work or sitting here, then I'm taking my daughter to school, or sitting at my mother's house.
Due to his bad luck, and a little stupidity, my brother is living there too,. I always look forward to seeing him but he remains as elusive as a will o' the wisp. I've even offered him cash to do some diy for me (I just get so, well, lethargic on my days off - hey it's a stressful job!) but he remains as mysterious as ever! Okay enough moaning!

I'm in the middle of a Twin Peaks marathon. I had the whole thing on VHS but never got around to it. Then I bought the first season on DVD, and started to watch it, only to realise that the only way to see the second season would be to watch my old VHS tapes (it was never released in The UK). Thankfully Barbara came to my rescue, and bought me the wonderful Region 1 boxed set. It's great, and so is she! Thanks again Barbara.


Something else Barbara "turned me onto" is the delights of "Jim Beam" which prior to this was only a reference in a Blues Brothers song. I bought a bottle in Sainsbury's earlier this week (on sale - of course) and it's delightful! Barbara - Salut! Skål ! Here's tae ye! Chin chin ! Sláinte !

“An alcoholic is someone you don't like who drinks as much as you do.” - Dylan Thomas

“Why waste time learning, when ignorance is instantaneous?”

Hey Hey - I put up my shelves! Barbara is right it does feel good to achieve something! It energised me through the rest of the snowy day. Oh it was truly desolate, dark, cold, and snowing! A lone figure shuffling through it all in a parka.

You'd think from the news today that we'd never had a winter before! Every year it's the same "It January and it's SNOWING!" big story eh? In fact local news here in the North East bugs me, the way that local interest fluff is jammed between serious news that is handled so basely and with such atrocious diction and grammar (these people are journalists apparently, words are their trade!), or a tenous local connection is shoehorned into a story of national or international importance! . Thank goodness for BBC Radio 4 - the best Radio Station in the World !

(I didn't start out to rant! it just ended up that way! - honest)

This week I have really enjoyed "A Scanner Darkly" on DVD (the book freaked me out when I was about 17) and rediscovering the genius of Twin Peaks! I was disappointed with the "Still Game" Christmas and Hogmanay Specials - oh they were very funny , but much like series 6 , they didn't match the genius of seasons 1 to 5.

I've never mentioned it here before, but I really wish "Journeyman" had made it to a full season. It wasn't especially groundbreaking, but it was well written, intriguing, and well acted, how many shows can say that these days?

Bye!

“Know what's weird? Day by day, nothing seems to change. But pretty soon, everything's different.” - Bill Watterson

“Some mornings, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps.”

Blimey it's 2008. Doesn't feel much different does it? I'm not in a very chatty mood today, so I'll be brief, I just found myself with a few minutes (like that's a rare! occurrence).
It was undoubtedly the busiest Christmas and New Year I can recall (that's in work terms, not my hectic social engagements). It used to be that we had a handful of patients, a little Christmas music, a selection of calorific snacks, and only a few staff covering the ward (we are NOT allowed to take holiday over Christmas, as this would apparently be unfair to our colleagues who didn't get holiday - therefore no one gets any) as a few lieu days are handed out, and the workload is usually lighter. You've already guessed that it was super busy, and I won't bore you with the details. On Boxing Day I was really ill, nothing serious just a high temperature, runny nose sore throat, aching limbs, "swimmy" head kind of deal (and no it couldn't have been the flu as I had the jab!) but I am so scared of having another "sickness interview" (see bad back saga from last year) that I dragged myself in. Good job too as there was only a total of three Nurses on duty, for a full ward of 27 patients, all recent emergency admissions.
AND yesterday, the Chief Matron took me into the office to tell me that my shoes are unsuitable and against uniform policy!!!!
So I'm off to buy some new shoes today!



(hang on! this was going to be brief wasn't it? - well at least I typed it quickly!)

“Shopping tip: You can get shoes for 85 cents at the bowling alley”