For Clare

as requested- for my fellow Victoria Wood fan - follow the link to my photo's etc and you'll find some pontin's piccies! Look down the sidebar and there should be little pic of me in my Blues - ah the memories :)

Patrick Stewart can sing!

Finished watching the extra's on ST:TNG 5 yesterday evening. There a section which is a tribute to Gene Roddenberry - he's the guy who created the whole Star Trek idea and the ideals. He died during the filming of Series 5 and was obviously a much loved, admired and repected guy. He must have been something special to be able to see society turning out the way he did from what we are now. His wife Majel Barrett (Lxwanna Troi - Counsellor Troi's mother) speaks on it too (these bits were recorded in 2002) and comes across as an amazing lady. Have to say that I actually shed a few quiet tears while watching it.

At the end there is about 1 min with the screen saying "Gene Roddenberry" and the dates he lived. If you wait 'til they disappear you get a completey random and yet great moment where Patrick Stewart in full Captain Picard uniform sings "Walking through the alphabet with you" to Gene - complete with straw boater and cane doing a small dance routine round the bridge of the Enterprise! It ws actually pretty good - although you half expect the rest of the crew to come dancing in behind him. (and you can almost imagine the giggles of the studio crew in the background!)

I've added some photo's of various paintings I've done to my msn community, here's a preview of my final A-Level piece. I actually got an A for it - I was so chuffed!

Where I Live

My toes are really quite achey today 'cos of the cold - yey snow! But it also meant that I was terrified to go down the drive on my crutches in case I slipped!

Chief of Radishes!

Yey, peeps have left comments! Will no longer be using phone as modem - nearly had small coronary when I received phone bill yesterday. Now have AOL anytime so will be content with that.

Guess what....got some very surprising, neigh startling, news from the Theatre Belgrade yesterday. They might actually be able to pay me sick pay. The ongoing saga of me trying to get the benefit sorted meant I had to ring them for a form saying they couldn't give me money - and then they discovered they might actually have to - there you go, can't be that bad eh? Lovley ladies in finance department - they gave me nice cookies when I went past their office for the matinee's of panto!

ST:TNG 5 and LOTR arrived. Have watched all of ST (v.cool) and will strat reading LOTR when finished with Ramses. Some brilliant ST episodes in 5. Including one with Picard and 3 kids stuck in alift, Troi in charge of the bridge, Worf being a midwife, Riker having to remove Data's head, and Geordie and Crusher stuck in a cargo bay with a random fire - all good fun!

Joan Simms voice: "I seem to be a little plastered!"

Ah, what a fab film 'Carry on up the Khyber is'. I think it's definitely one of the strongest films - especially cast wise. And the scene where they're enjoying dinner and ignoring the fact that the mansion is being bombed to pieces around them is priceless if a little bittersweet. Also I think Joan Simms sister/ some relation plays the Khazi's No. 1. She looks a bit like her, speaks like her and the name 'Liz Simms' appears in the credits - anybody know?

Yeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyeyey, *ta da da da*. I get to go back to camp - wahoo! Ah, it's such a relief; been having really bizarre dreams 'cos I didn't know the answer to whether I was going, but Chris emailed me last night to tell me so I slept good :) Now have to sort all the paper work out etc, yey! :))))))))))

Should be getting ST:TNG 5 tommorrow or Tuesday as well as LOTR (book) as amazon have finally sent it! Edd wanted to borrow Series 4 but as he's not going to be back for a while I said he could have it at Easter (after all, I've only watched it 2 and 1/2 times !?! :s). So basically will have new things to keep me entertained and help me out of the boredom - which is well and truly settling in!

here comes a carry on!

Very tired today. Nothing to do really.

Had a great night last night. Jo G came round, we had chinese and watched "for Richer or Poorer". It's a great film, apparently only released in the US as I couldn't find it over here. I saw it when I went to visit Shel in Ohio. Comedy, stars Tim Allen and Kirstie Alley, rich couple who decide to divorce, whose accountant gets them into trouble with the IRS. They run and end up in an Amish community. Lots of cheese but a great film!

Toes hurting quite a lot today. Think where the stitches were is healing; it itches and I can't scratch it - ahhhhh! Carry on up the Khyber is on soon though - one of my favourites!

momentary excitement

Yey I sold 2 things on eBay, a book and the charger for my old phone. Made a grand Total of about £2.50!

For exercise I walked to the end of the road and back. Today have also watched far too much TV and ran down the battery of my laptop playing Sims. Enthralling!

Still dunno about NY. Rang Chris (programme Director) and he's waiting to hear back from 2 other's to make a decision. Apparently I was too assertive with one of the Director's. Never been called that before, I know I talk too much but I've really worked on that and hopefully will get the chance to prove it. I had a great time with the kids and was cheif Bug Catcher of Main 2, I think I did OK. Also I had a pretty tricky ASM last session - so I can't have been that bad as they thought I could deal with him - maybe it was a punishment! At least I know where I stand now.

Jaw has stopped aching, toes more sensitive but am managing to potter about in my room and upstairs without the bootees on for a little while. And also managed to kneel on my knee tonight for the first time since I injured it without it being really uncomfortable. And Jo G comes tommorrow with chocolate wohoooo!

Oh, Screw down my diodes and call me Frank!

Went to get the details for Incapacity Benefit today. Came out with about a forest's worth of paperwork and ended up ticking the "No" box for most of the questions and skipping some bits completely - there has to be a better way of sorting it out! I had to fill the IB one in and one for Income Support incase I don't get IB. In the process of getting the info to fill it in it gave my mum an opportunity to guilt trip me about how much it costs to have me at home. I do contribute (she's worked out a scale system - depending on what I earn, the amount I give her differs ranging from -> £50 (£15) and £250+(£50)) but it depends how much work I get each week. That's why I'm desperate to move out. I may have no money but at least I'm not gonna get guilt tripped, I'm sick of it.

Me, Son and her little boy Toby went round to see Clare + Abi today. It went well I think. I played with Toby while they chatted, he's soooo cute!

My feet/toes are really swollen now, pretty uncomfotable inside these casts! Also my jaw still aches after yesterday, and Jo G. didn't make it this evening so I'm feeling rather bleugh. Had a good chat to my mate Liz (Key - same surname, no relation!) from Uni (She was one of my flatmates in 2nd year). That helped, and it was good to catch up on what's going on up there. She doing a PGDip in Concert singing (her 5th year) and is waiting to hear if she'd got into the Opera school. She should - she'd got an amazing voice!

Watched all of RD IV, with and without commentary and all the bonus features. Reorganised and tidied my room, got through some more of my puzzle books. If anyone has any suggestions how I could fill my day I'd be very grateful. Try and keep them 'nice' - and remember - I have both feet in plaster!;)

::blehhhhh::

3 GOOD things that happened today :

* I actually saw what was underneath my plaster and for some reason it has helped me feel a whole lot better.

New Plasters:

*Red Dwarf Series IV and "The SIms : Livin' It Up" arrived

*I managed to arrange to get 2 of my good friends (and 1st time mothers) together with me for coffee and biscuits. Something I've been trying to do for about 1 year now!

3 BAD things that happened today:

*When the lovely lady Tammy was taking my stitches out they were really tight and one hurt so much (we're talking shockwaves of very SHARP pain along sensitive Big Toe and Foot) I yelled and burst into tears.

*The Dentisit had to pull out one of my top wisdom teeth out because it was causing all the pain on the lower gum - If you follow this link you can see the offending article. The roots were curled for some reason so it nearly broke coming out and was pretty tricky to pull :(

*Now don't know if I'm going back to NY this summer and the wait to find out is hard.

The lovely ladies who did my new plasters were called Tammy and Susan and were very patient with me as I think I was being a bit difficult, mainly 'cos I didn't really know what was going on. Mr Pereira (my consultant/surgeon) actually explained to me what was inside my toe - just one screw holding it together, made me feel better - then I had to try and curl my big toes - which was hard so I must practice if poss.

I'm very tired 'cos the post-y arrived at 7am this morning and I was so excited that I stayed up and watched RD and loaded The Sims instead of going back to sleep. Also that pulling tooth thing has really taken it out of me!

Pattern Buffers....mumble

I think the confinement is getting to me.

In 2 days (48 hours anyway!) I have managed to watch the entire Season 4 of of Star Trek:The Next Generation, completed 1/4 of a puzzle book (a v. thick puzzle book) catalogued half of my Cd's and sorted my Calender out for this week on my laptop - including what I'm going to watch AND Tape on TV....

I think I may possibly win the prize for the most BORED person I know right now.

Plus I'm actually EXCITED at the prospect of going to the hospital (check up I think - might be having my stitches out though) and the DENTIST - yes that's right folks - the DENTIST. (they think I have a wisdom tooth infectiony type thing - it's been hurting for like 2 weeks, so you know, I thought I ought to get it checked out!)
And the reason.......because it will be the first time I've been beyond my block (except for church) for 1 + 1/2 weeks !!!!! *gnash* gnash*

I realise for some people this may seem like a relief or they are not able to get out and about usually and think I'm over reacting. But I'm finding it hard that I can actually walk about (if a bit aided by crutches and not for too long) but I can't go anywhere! And my brain still feels as if it should be at work so I feel as if there's something scurrying about inside that can't make it's mind up what to do - making it very difficult to actually focus on anything!....OK....back to a vague normality now......

What else: Don't lean over to look in a pond whilst wearing these funny bootee things and noone else in vicinity. Tragedy nearly ensued this afternoon as I found myself in that predicament. One wet crutch and probably terrified fish later I had averted disaster.

I wish I had more Get Well Cards. How bad is that......I know it's ded whiney but I only have 2 and the way that I feel today and probably for most of this week (P.M.T not exactly helping at the mo) it's really quite, well, depressing. Although one of the 2 I've got does have Coupon's inside that I get to use for different things, like watching an entire morning of daytime TV! And the other Vix drew for me so that has definite cute factor! I feel a very hard going week coming on...... :s

Although, last night I spoke to my great friends in the States (I think of them like my American family :)) and they've had a truly awful month, lots of illness and things, so it helped me put my blue-ness into perspective really. Any spare prayer or mojo it would be great if you coiuld send it in the Michigan direction to the VanKampens (there's lots of them probably, but the thoughts will know where to go!) as they mean alot to me :)

Anyhoo, this is increeedibly long so I must stop it and, well, go and watch some more Star Trek and play Sims I guess, what is a girl to do........?

Zen and the art of retreiving pictures

Wahoo, I got the piccies of my feet (see 2 posts below) to work. I'd put one letter in the wrong place for the HTML. Man, it's picky!

RANDOM THOUGHT: How cool are microwaves? (as in the ovens!)