I've got to admit, it is a "White" Christmas here in London

Happy first day of winter everyone...and hurrah, the shortest day of the year is now behind us!

I have now checked in online for my flight tomorrow, and Virgin's web site says their services have not been disrupted by the fog. I looked out the window at one point today, and because of the density of the fog...or something...for a split second I thought it was snowing, a white-out of small flurries, falling fast and furious. Of course, almost instantaneously I realized how ridiculous that would be in London, but boy, was it still a disappointment to come screeching back to reality! (Incidentally, it was hard to take the new movie The Holiday all that seriously, with what looked like a good 3-4 inches of snow on the ground in Surrey. Ah, what I wouldn't give to live in Surrey- my parents had a good life there.) But hey, if there's a stereotype of London weather that people think of, this is it...pea soup fog. And I'm lovin' it for that reason-- especially since my flight is not grounded ;)

Planets, Planes and Potter News

I apparently missed this...one of the papers has done a review of 2006 in today's issue, and around August, Pluto was demoted. 70 years after it was discovered, Pluto has lost its planethood.

In other news, for those of you Harry Potter fans, check out her website, jkrowling.com to find out the title of the upcoming 7th and last book in the series.

As reported by MSN, "If you go to her home page, click on the eraser and you will be taken to a room — you'll see a window, a door and a mirror.

In the mirror, you'll see a hallway. Click on the farthest doorknob and look for the Christmas tree. They click on the center of the door next to the mirror and a reef appears. Then click on the top of the mirror and you'll see a garland.

Look for a cobweb next to the door. Click on it, and it will disappear. Now, look at the chimes in the window. Click on the second chime to the right, and hold it down. The chime will turn into the key, which opens the door. Click on the wrapped gift behind the door, then click on it again and figure out the title yourself by playing a game of hangman."

However, you have to do all these things in the order listed, or they don't work. Yes, I've tried it, I'm not ashamed to admit I'm a kid at heart!!

And finally, no, Heathrow is not closed, and no, I don't expect to be stranded here for Christmas. Whilst we are in the midst of a pea soup fog that apparently will not lift until Sunday, it is domestic and some European flights that are being affected. Heathrow was operating at about 60% of its normal flight volume today, according to news reports here, and I have it on good authority (the sister of a colleague for works for the airlines) that thus far, flights to the US are doing just fine. :-)

I love these--

"Look at you, you Nice-ish thing

To all appearances you’re a nice enough sort, but scratch the surface and there it is— a bit of the naughty itching to get out. (Pardon the pun, but that’s just the kind of thing you nice-ish folk are into, isn’t it?) You can be trusted in most public situations, but once behind closed doors—heaven only knows."

I'm a member of the Virgin Atlantic flying club, and built up a fair amount of miles over the years, especially during the four years my parents were living in England. I was in Oxford for one term in the winter of 2004, and after I left, I came back almost immediately to visit in May '04, using 50,000 miles to avoid having to pay for my ticket. Except they never took those miles from my account (wahey!!!!), and I am now using them for the second time to go home for the holidays, since my ticket was so last minute and I couldn't afford the fare otherwise. Anywho, Virgin sent me an email to take their Naughty or Nice quiz, and the results are as above. A fair assessment I would say ;) Here's hoping they forget to take the miles out of my account again this time...

"A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight..."

...walkin' in a winter wonderland.

Well, we pretty much had our first frost overnight/this morning. The Epping Forest area looked just gorgeous on my walk into work, with everything covered in a light dusting of white. The only way it could have been better would have been if it had snowed. And this- this is what I'm talkin' bout!! This feels much more like Xmas weather. If it's warm, it just doesn't seem like Christmas somehow. Maybe I should wear my PJs inside out tonight, like I did when I was a kid hoping for snow days from school- it makes it snow if you wear your PJs inside out, you know ;)

David Bowie, Goblin King

I was out shopping locally yesterday for a Secret Santa gift for work, and one of the places I checked out was HMV. The way we're doing our Secret Santa, we didn't pick names out of a hat, we're just bringing gifts in, and it will go by number...with the twist that some people like where the person who draws second can choose to keep their gift, or steal the gift from the person who went first, and so on. I wasn't sure what to buy, since I didn't know who I was buying for at our 5 pound limit, so I settled on a DVD of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, Jim Carrey version. And as I walked down the aisle, I couldn't believe my eyes, I came across a DVD of the Labyrinth! Also for a fiver. Let me see if I can jog some of your memories...David Bowie? Jim Henson? No? Well, it has always been a favorite movie for me, even though I hadn't seen it in years and years, so I bought myself an early Christmas gift. And it's my little piece of happiness today :)

Party Pooper

8 Days Til Christmas! And less than a week now until I'm home for the holidays! And I think the only gift I don't have is one for my cat, Gerry. But I can just stop at Petco on Christmas Eve and take care of that I should think ;) And Jenn and I have managed to salvage our relatively new tradition by cooking our gourmet feast on Christmas Day as opposed to Christmas Eve, yay!!

Let's see, Friday night I was out with the stroke team, both current and alumni members, for a Christmas tapas meal/night out. It was an extremely entertaining night for reasons I can't share on here, but I'll be home soon enough to tell y'all about it in person. And last night was housemate Nicole's big birthday extravaganza. Something strange has been going on with me on and off this weekend, where I've been getting nauseous and light-headed, but I thought I was ready to go for the night out, since I was starving when we set out for dinner. We had a fabulous thai dinner in Soho, and from there headed over to Waxy O'Connors in Leicester Square. We'd been there about 20 minutes or so, and I suddenly felt really light-headed and slightly nauseous. I tried to tough it out for a few minutes, but finally went upstairs for some fresh air with a sympathetic bouncer watching over me (no, I wasn't feeling like that from alcohol, I'd had one glass of wine with dinner, and one sip of my rum and coke at the bar). Dave (Nicole's boyfriend) came looking for me after 10 minutes or so, to tell me they'd moved to a different part of the bar, and I decided to give it another go. Luckily, they'd found a little area where I could sit down, which was worlds better. I announced myself to be the designated Party Pooper, and bowed out of rounds, but had a great time regardless being chatted up. But eventually, the group decided they wanted to try another part of the bar, to which I said, no way, unless I can sit down-- so Nicole and another girl Jo ran off, and came back to say they'd found the Princess a stool, so we moved. And I was affectionately-sarcastically referred to as the Princess for the rest of the night. Which was rather ironic, considering the "stool" they'd found for me put me at about knee height with everyone else. There's a pic of it below, because hey, if you can't laugh at yourself...

From there,we went on to the Comedy Store at midnight. Everyone but me was battered at this point, but that didn't stop them from going through pitcher after pitcher of beer at the comedy club...including our housemate Leeanne, who heckled and shouted at and screamed with laughter at the three comedians in the first part of the show, and then abruptly decided she was bored at intermission and left. The show was really really good, and everyone had an ace night, which made my job as babysitter (by default being the only sober one) very hard. It took forever to get everyone out of the club, and to find the night bus. While we were traipsing around London I played referee to fights (verbal spats) that were only happening because people were drunk, and somewhere lost the quarter inch cap off the bottom of the left shoe of my favorite and most comfortable pair of high heels, lol. I also had to prevent Dave from trying to get off the night bus twice because he wanted to get onto the tube, being too drunk to realize the tube wasn't running. Our night bus driver by the way was tearing around London like the night bus in Harry Potter, and I was holding onto the grab bar for dear life, most of the way. But we finally caught a cab at Liverpool Street Station, after managing to convince the driver to take 6 people for an extra tenner on top of the metered fare (he was only insured to carry 5), and we walked in the door just after 4:30am. What a night!

The Princess

(on my little foot stool)

The Housemates

the girls

Dave and his brother Andy

At the end of the night, at the comedy club.

Meet the Stroke Team

We had a birthday party for the lovely girl in the middle of this picture. Because of confidentiality, I can't tell you much about her, although I will say she didn't have a stroke. But she needed an intensive inpatient rehab program, and we had a bed, so through a funny twist of circumstances, she came to us on the rehab stroke unit. You'll notice several of the girls are holding purple Quality Street candy boxes...she came with gifts for all of us on her birthday! Her family is absolutely lovely, and her dad took lots of pictures, talking about how important all these memories are for his daughter.
Ok, so this picture is here because I've gotten a lot of compliments lately from people both at work and outside of work on how I look when I leave my hair down. I almost always have it up at work in a ponytail or clip, because it just gets in the way otherwise, and I guess I've gotten so used to it, I tend to twist it up when we go out too...especially if I know we'll be dancing, and I'll be getting all sweaty. But I've got a hair appointment lined up for when I'm home, and I was planning to chop it all off, in the short style that I had for a long time. I've been afraid to go to anyone here, so it's grown long since I saw my hairdresser in NJ at the very beginning of this year. I'm not asking for a vote, since I already know I'd be going against popular opinion here, but I think I'm still leaning toward chopping it off-- it'll grow out again pretty quick anyway. Oh, and I've never put pictures up before, but you can see a little bit of my room in the background...

Straight No Chaser (name of the group) & "12 Days"

Ok, even if you are not a big fan of a cappella, you have GOT to watch this video, all the way through. Believe me, it's worth it, I PROMISE. (Oh, and click stop on my MP3 player to avoid competing audio, ugh.)



And if you liked that, check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKx_BTj_-IE

Scary stuff

There's a serious manhunt going on over here right now, for a serial killer they're calling the Suffolk Strangler. He (the papers are all calling the person a "he") has killed 5 victims in 6 weeks, which is apparently unprecedented in speed, and forensic psychologists believe he is taunting the police, dumping the bodies practically under their noses. Scotland Yard is involved, to help the Suffolk Police close the net. Eerily, the victims are all prostitutes. Jack the Ripper killed five prostitutes in East London over a period of 8-9 weeks in 1888. And as you all know, he was never caught. In Ipswich (Suffolk), just as they did back in Jack the Ripper's day, prostitutes are continuing to ply their trade in the red light district there, in spite of the danger...for whatever their personal reasons or habits to support, they say they need the money.

Gorillas

Have I ever mentioned that sometimes I get really jealous of Tressa? Well, this would be one of those moments. She went on a gorilla trip, and got to see the Sabyinyo group, which has the largest silverback gorilla in the world, at 450 pounds. Plus 3 wives, 2 blackbacks, and 2 babies. Here are a couple more of her photos...

Happy Birthday to (housemate) Nicole!

Inner Peace

"I am passing this on to you because it definitely worked for me and we could all use a little more calmness in our lives. By following this simple advice I heard on the Dr. Phil show, I have finally found inner peace.

Dr. Phil proclaimed, "The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you've started and never finished."

So, I looked around my house to see all the things I started and hadn't finished, and before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of White Zinfandel, a bottle of Bailey's Irish Cream, a bottle of Kahlua, a package of Oreos, the remainder of my old Prozac prescription, the rest of the cheesecake, some Doritos and a box of chocolates.

You have no idea how freaking good I feel. Please pass this on to those you feel might be in need of inner peace."

Hahahaha! Courtesy of Jean Aveyard (Mom #3)

nature's beauty

I saw a big beautiful red fox on my walk home from work today, in the strangest place. There's a big traffic circle (roundabout) in the middle of my walk, and they built an underpass for cyclists and pedestrians...it has various kinds of grass, brush, and small trees, and it's a very large underpass. But still, it's in the middle of this huge traffic circle. And I was walking toward the exit, I saw this rather large fox come trotting toward me under a bridge/overpass along the path, as if it didn't have a care in the world. He veered off into the bushes before he got anywhere near me, but I wasn't afraid, and he was a gorgeous creature. Just wanted to share ;)

pictures? what pictures?

for those of you asking about more pics from the thanksgiving weekend, i'll see what i can find, but i'm taking the 5th on most of them...i'm not all that photogenic, and my housemates made me promise to delete certain ones, from both our big night out on friday, and our big night in for the house party on saturday. it was a crazy, silly batch of pictures, in a nutshell, and i reserve the right to not publish! ;)

hey, time is flying: only 2 weeks from today til Christmas!!! (hope everyone's almost done with shopping!)

the christmas party

I have a couple of pictures of my co-workers from the day hospital (my original rotation, before the stroke unit), from the Christmas dinner we had on Friday night. We went to a Greek restaurant, where the food was excellent, the restaurant was jam-packed with long tables full of very drunk people from various offices, schools, and in our case, the hospital, and the entertainment was a belly dancer, a traditional Greek male dancer balancing towers of glasses on his head, and cheesy good-time music from a DJ. Christmas dinners/parties/balls are a huge deal over here, everyone has them, and everyone "lets down their hair" big time, no matter what part of the hierarchy their job title places them in. It really is a British thing...I was thinking today about how we always invited our rehab director and manager at the hospital in NJ to the happy hours and BBQs, etc that we had, but they always politely declined. And additionally, while I can happily remember some all-out holiday bashes my father's company used to sponsor back in the day when I was little, including magicians, bands, and someone dressing up as Santa, Christmas parties don't happen like that any more in the States (except for maybe the big money law firms). So this year I am happily taking advantage of the myriad Christmas do's that are such a cultural phenomenon over here...great fun!! Oh, and the pics- well, I'll post them when Blogger stops acting up and lets me.

"Oh yes we need a little Christmas, right this very minute..."

I have updated the MP3 player in my sidebar with Christmas tunes, both contemporary and classic. Hopefully there's something for everyone. Sometimes it takes a little time to change over to the new playlist, but by tomorrow you should hear them. I wanted to include "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" but the site where I put my playlist for the MP3 player is refusing to accept it due to something in the file name, grrr! I'm doing my best to get into the spirit as much as possible, though unfortunately, I don't really have Christmas decorations over here (but I did buy a pointsettia to brighten up our living room), and I can't do all the baking I would be doing at home...ie sugar cookies, as is traditional! Not to worry, I'm sure my mom will have cookie dough ready for when I arrive, right Mom? ;) I will also have a marathon Christmas movie watching session, since all I've got here are The Santa Clause and The Santa Clause 2... in particular, the Muppets Christmas Carol is traditional for our family, over and over and over again, as well as Chevy Chase in Christmas Vacation. Classic!

Weather Watch

The weather has been all over the map today. This morning it poured rain, then there was a blue sky and sun. Then it hailed and poured rain, then the sun came out again. Then the winds picked up, to the point where whistles and moans could be heard on the wards and in our offices. And just now, as I've been sitting here in the office, trying to catch up on discharge report paperwork, we've had two powercuts due to the high winds. And let me tell you, it's not fun sitting on an abandoned ward, alone, in the pitch dark. Luckily, they didn't last for long. I'm here because I'm running the once monthly relatives' group this evening, after which I will brave the elements to attend a Christmas thing with Nicole at a famous bar in trendy Shoreditch. I have heard, from some of the family members who are already here, that the news stations have been reporting a tornado touched down somewhere in North London earlier today. Well, they do say the weather is very changeable in London ;)

The down side

I've been struggling today with the recent development of clinical depression in one of my patients, and the role we played in "causing" it. This lady is 85, presents with right-sided neglect, and decreased sensation on the right side, but she has full range of motion and good strength. In certain routine daily activities, the right side automatically comes into play, as it also does during therapeutic intervention that we structure to bring her awareness to that side. However, there is more on this patient's problem list. We believe there may be some visual field problems and referred her to the orthoptist- we're waiting for the appt. There are definitely some visual perceptual problems including figure ground, object constancy, and depth perception deficits. She perseverates a lot, and cannot easily divide or alternate her attention. And as if all that weren't enough, she has both expressive and receptive speech aphasias, although she gets the general idea during conversational speech, and sometimes manages to get out what she actually means to say.

Put all of this together, and we had to have a case conference last Thursday with her family to say that the prognosis is not good-- that even if she makes improvements with functional transfers and walking, she will need 24 hour supervision due to the cognitive deficits. Although she'd only been with us a little over 3 weeks at that point, we felt it only fair to give her family time to absorb this, ask any questions they might come up with, and begin to make a very difficult decision about whether they could look after her as a family, or tell us to begin the process of finding her a place in a residential or nursing home. Now, although this patient did not by any means follow along in the meeting, point by point, it was clear she understood the concept that we were discussing a "home" for her, and were saying she could not go back to her own home. She was very distressed by this, and kept repeating "But they love me, we all love each other. " (Referring to her family.)

Prior to the case conference, she was always motivated for therapy, always bright and pleasant. On the Friday following the case conference, she came with us to the gym for therapy, but was rather agitated. She then had the weekend with no therapy, and apparently, according to nursing staff, her family has been visiting a lot less frequently. So this poor lady knows we were talking about a residential/nursing home for her, probably doesn't understand why, doesn't understand why she can't go back home, has little to no control over her environment due to her long list of problems, and may very well feel like her family is pulling away/abandoning her. On Monday, she was a completely different person. We were told by the nurses she wasn't sleeping at night, she's not eating, she can't sit up straight in a chair, is tired all the time, couldn't be roused to keep her eyes open let alone get her transferred into a wheelchair to come to the gym for therapy, and kept repeating "I wanna go home, I wanna go home, they love me." Tuesday, the same, at which point I said to the nurses, the SHO, and anyone else who would listen, this lady needs help urgently, she's showing signs of clinical depression directly related to what we told her in the meeting. Today, the matron of the ward came to me for an update on all the patients, and I repeated myself again, and apparently today this lady's been delirious, so they finally paid attention to what I was saying.

Although I've been reassured that we did the right thing by including her in the case conference, it would not have been right to keep her ignorant of discharge plans because she would have to have been told eventually and would have had the same reaction then, I still feel awful. Just horrible. It's night and day, her emotional health and personality before the case conference, and now. But I guess even if we'd only told her family, so that we could continue to make progress in therapy, all that progress would have been lost when we did tell her. Well, that and we could never have predicted she'd have this reaction in the first place. You just never know with stroke patients, the brain can be such a delicate thing, and maybe the only thing she was holding onto in what is now a confusing world for her was going back home, where everything would be alright. Seems to be how a lot of our patients feel, actually, although for very few of them is it actually the case that they go home and everything is alright.

On birthday plans and cold wars

I've had a great idea for my upcoming birthday, but am rejecting it due to costs: the Eurostar offers a "party train" fare...you leave at 4:30pm and must be back on the train to return to London by 10:30am the next morning, for 38 pounds. Pretty nice! So I was laying in bed, having one of those nights where your mind won't stop so you're just tossing and turning, and suddenly I thought, hey! I know- the cabaret! A live burlesque show! in Paris! I mean, what more could you want for a birthday?! The trouble being, the cabarets seem to all be in the neighborhood of 75-90 euros. And with that, the train fare, and money for drinks, that's just too much to ask of people. :( I can't tell you how sorry I am to be dismissing that plan...

In other news, I have declared war on my cold/being sick. Today I have had pomegranate juice, multivitamin juice, a spicy curry for lunch (and some garlic in the form of garlic-stuffed olives), chicken soup for dinner (to which I added chili pepper flakes), I have drunk all kinds of hot and cold beverages, I bought echinacea and was talked into an elixir that boosts your immune system at the health food store, not to mention the traditional cold & flu meds, cough syrup, cough lozenges and vaporub. This evening, I did not do the strenuous portion of my gym routine, only participating in the pilates-based class instead (which I did not enjoy, generally speaking when they're called pilates-based I don't like them) because I'd been advised that things like running on a treadmill should be avoided during a cold. I have had enough of having colds! I will get rid of this one, and there will NOT be another one lurking around the corner again!! So there. Oh, yes, and I will not be having more than one or two drinks at the various Christmas do's on Thursday and Friday this week.

Sex

Knew that title would get ya! Haha! Read on...It was an interesting day at work today-- half the team was out on annual leave for one reason or another, so it was just myself and two physios trying to manage the whole unit caseload.

For the first time as on OT, I addressed the subject of sexuality today. We had a case conference with a patient (who is going home Dec 21) and his spouse to discuss the details of his discharge. He is 57, and I believe she's 10 years younger, and by the time we'd come to the end of our conference, I just felt like I had to bring it up. For those of you non-OTs, although we aren't really told how to do it, it is stressed as part of our OT training that since we focus on holistic treatment, we should always be aware of how important sexuality is. Even more so because no other rehab professional will address it with the patient. And when you think about it, it's true, if everyone on a rehab team ignores such a major issue as sexuality, your patient may go home with lots of questions and no answers, because it wasn't something they felt comfortable bringing up. So it's our job as OTs to break the ice, and make it ok for them to ask questions. I have not had to figure out how to do this until now, as I've dealt mainly with elderly, frail patients. But today, when everything else had been said, I told M and his wife that although I'm not an expert, I'd be happy to provide information and resources if they had questions about their intimate life with each other, considering M's post-stroke deficits...and as I said this, I could feel myself going bright red. Which they and Bettina, the physio, thought was hysterical. This couple is very down-to-earth, very straightforward, and I don't know why I flushed as I was speaking, they were the perfect people to help me start figuring out how to address the subject. But on the other hand, to illustrate my earlier point, even being such a "hip" couple, they had not brought up the subject with anyone on the team, so it really is my/our responsibility to open the lines of communication so that people know they can talk about it or ask questions if they want. I just have to figure out how to have the conversation on a clinical, professional level, so that my face doesn't keep giving away the fact that I feel like I'm pushing my boundaries!

News from Rwanda

I forgot to mention on Friday that it was World AIDS Day, you'll find a new widget on my sidebar if you're interested in making a contribution. But I thought I'd copy and paste from Tressa's latest email update, hope she doesn't mind, as it's to with HIV. Oh, and Happy December everyone! 21 days to Christmas!!

"Hello all,

Friday was World AIDS Day. I'm not sure how much coverage it gets in the US, but it tends to be a big deal in Africa since the prevalence rates are very high in many countries. It's only about 4% here in Rwanda, but big donors (various foreign governments and UN organizations) like to give a lot of money for it. Partly because it's a very popular cause right now and partly because donors still feel guilty about the genocide and are willing to show it with money. On World AIDS day, you're supposed to hold lots of public events to education people, and show support for the cause.

CRS planned a day-long event at one of the centers we support here in Kigali for street kids and kids who are already household heads (lost their parents to the genocide or AIDS or something else). There were about 250 kids, from 8-22 years old. There were several speeches and we had some games for the kids; mostly questions testing their knowledge about HIV. The winners were given backpacks with school supplies in them. They did some traditional Rwandan dancing for us and presented a skit they had created showing the dangers of unsafe sex. The dancing was pretty good. I've seen it done by several times before and it takes a lot of energy and concentration! One of the best parts however, was when it rained for 10 minutes. Everyone ran under the awning, and the DJ put on some American hip hop music to pass the time. Two of the younger boys ran out into the rain and started dancing by themselves, just because they love to dance. They were definitely a hit.

Then we ate lunch, which some of the kids themselves had prepared. At this center, they have professional training courses for the kids. They can enroll in carpentry, metalwork, cooking, or tailoring during the year. CRS helps with small income generation projects for the center itself, so it can work towards being self-sustainable. We given them cows and training on how to manage them. We used to contribute their grains and oil to feed the kids, but our donor has cut its funding. After lunch was the big football game between the kids and CRS. So we played against teenagers who probably practice every day and I was by far the youngest member of the CRS team....we lost some very large number to 1, but at least we scored! And we know now who on our staff is remotely in shape (not to mention who knows the rules); it was highly entertaining at the time and I suspect will continue to provide some laughs in the re-telling.

I hope everyone is doing well. I'll be stateside for christmas and new years, which will be nice.

Love,

tressa"

The word, on Sunday night

So, this weekend...I cancelled my plans for Friday night, came home and slept. I have yet another cold (after finally getting rid of the one that lasted more than a month, I was "healthy" for maybe 3 days before showing symptoms of this one)...I've been such the social butterfly for so long now, saying yes to everything and thus having really late Friday and Saturday nights every weekend (involving alcohol, naturally, see my previous post on how over here, social event=alcohol), I think my body just decided enough is enough. I slept for a solid two hours after work, woke up, sent my apologies to the people I was supposed to meet, had dinner, and went back to bed. However, I did join up with Nicole and Rob and a whole bunch of their friends, plus housemate Nicole and her boyfriend Dave, last night for a great meal and then drinks...it's hard to say no when you're having fun, so it ended up being a late night once again. Luckily, today being Sunday, there was plenty of time for a lie-in.

In other news, let's see...I've been a busy bee getting together Christmas gifts, both homemade and bought. It's a bit more difficult to come up with ideas for things you know people really want or will really like, when you're not around to pick up the hints they drop in daily conversation. And I've always been someone who hates to say, "Ok tell me what's on your list, give me an idea..." But I think I'm managing! However, housemate Nicole's birthday is coming up in a little over a week, and I'm a bit stumped on that one, even though I live with her. And Dave has not been of much help, grrr. Hopefully I'll think of something really soon here...I've got a bit of a grace period since we're not actually celebrating her bday until the 16th, even though it's really on the 12th.

And at work, I am still very happy, which still seems to continue to amaze my supervisor. I guess in the past, she's been used to some basic grades being really stressed out, not liking the rotation for some reason, or only really settling in and realizing that they like it when the 6 months are almost over. Apparently, she heard ahead of time how much I was looking forward to starting on the stroke unit, and she was afraid it wouldn't live up to my expectations. But I'm a little different from the other basic grades, given how much experience I already had in rehab world before moving across the pond, and I already knew I wanted to specialize in stroke, had worked with stroke patients, knew what I was getting myself into. I explained to her that, professionally, doing this kind of work is why I made the move. And I'm loving every minute of it, even the hard parts of it. Nothing like taking on a challenge, and overcoming barriers. I wrote a little bit earlier about how much I enjoyed my first Bobath module, which took place on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. I am so looking forward to the next two pieces, plus I am putting in my application for the three-week Bobath course. Apparently, even though it is supposedly offered worldwide, there are no Bobath courses presently in the States...and I am now looking into the Senior II position at Whipps, which has a rotation on the acute stroke unit, and apparently I have a very good shot at securing. There are only two basic grades with enough experience to apply, me being one of them, and there will be some vacancies shortly. Good thing too, as with my work permit situation and the current OT job shortages, I can't get a Senior II job anywhere else.

Fun Facts

from London's various free newspapers. There is a new study out claiming that women get a natural "high" from talking and shopping, because that's how our brains are structured. Some of the figures quoted:

A woman will speak 20,000 words in an average day; a man will speak 7,000.

Men think about sex every 52 seconds, whereas it crosses a woman's brain only once a day, on average.

British women will spend an average of 8+ years of their lives shopping.

And one that will amuse many of you-- "Women have an eight-lane superhighway for processing emotion, men have a small country road."

Dr. Louann Brizendine claims that women have larger cortexes in their brains than do men, and conversation stimulates a rush of a dopamine, therefore talking is a natural "high" for women. Men on the other hand, don't get a response from their pleasure centers from talking, and therefore are less social. However, their brains are set up to think about sex more regularly.

Now, I don't know about you all, but I have known some guys in my time who loved to hear themselves talk...so I'm not sure what conclusions I should be drawing here ;)

A group pic from last Friday night, as we made our Thanksgiving celebrations last all weekend...;)

I'll get you my pretty...and your little dog too!

After ages and ages spent trying to get tickets to see Wicked on Broadway in NYC, by hook or by crook, including waiting on line, or having friends wait on line in various attempts to win lottery tickets for the front row (available two hours before every show on Broadway, unfortunately not something they are doing here yet in the West End)....I finally saw the show last night, at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in central London last night. The actor playing the role of the Wicked Witch of the West, or Elphaba, was Idina Menzel, who originated the role on Broadway. The resident hottie of the show was none other than Adam Garcia (of Coyote Ugly fame), and wisely the director of the show did not ask him to change his I-could-just-eat-you-up Australian accent. Other names you may or may not have heard of included Miriam Margoyles as Madame Morrible (most recently of Professor Sprout fame in the Harry Potter movies), and Nigel Planer as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

For those of you who have not heard of the musical, first of all, where have you been?!!! Moving on, it's based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, where he takes the original story of the Wizard of Oz, and tries a new perspective on the Wicked Witch of the West...what if....what if, she wasn't evil, just misunderstood? A victim of slanderous propaganda? The old argument of nature versus nurture raises its tired head-- and in the musical it's pretty obvious she's been shaped by her environment, by people using and abusing her, by things beyond her control. Although, the nature versus nurture thing is a bit of cheat, considering she isn't evil, per se, in the musical.

I don't want to spoil it all, and I don't think I will by going on to say the musical follows Elphaba through her school years, where for a time she is friends with Glinda (the Good), through the events found in the original Wizard of Oz, up to and including the melting scene. (Though Dorothy does not make an appearance, this is the Wicked Witch of the West's story after all.) I think that it's an absolutely gorgeous love story-- and I don't mean with Mr. Australia, I could get lost in your eyes. It is Elphaba's and Glinda's story, the meaning of true friendship and love, even when circumstances pit them against each other, that brings tears to your eyes.

It's an amazing show, from the music to the set to the story. If you haven't seen it yet, what are you waiting for, GO SEE IT! Several colleagues are now planning to see it because I had a container of Malteasers for a treat during the show...and barely touched it (I may have eaten four) I was so engrossed in the show. (I brought in the rest for them to share today.) They figure that's heavy praise ;)

"I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you"

To follow on my theme from Thanksgiving. It's funny how sometimes you feel like some of the lyrics to a song, or certain passages in a book, have been stolen directly from your head...or heart, as it were. I remember saying something like this to an English professor at uni, and she said, "It's as if the book is reading you..."

If you'd like to see the rest of the lyrics to this beautiful song from Wicked, click here.

From the Strange But True Files

It doesn't seem like much, but all that is needed for it to be declared a "white Christmas" in London, is for a single snowflake to fall on the roof of the London Weather Centre.

The integration of knowledge and clinical practice (finally)

There's a fairly regular neuro teaching/training group that happens on Mondays, and was previously physios only until I gate-crashed when I started on the stroke unit. And today I brought Cecilia's OT student with me as well. Today's topic was assessment of dyspraxia, and we met a patient that one of the group's members is currently treating (she's an outpatient physio) and who had agreed to perform some functional tasks for the group. First of all, the sad news...this guy could really have benefitted from a stint on a specialised rehab stroke unit but unfortunately slipped through the cracks. He went from an acute admission to hospital (where he was indeed diagnosed with CVA) to being denied admission to our stroke unit (I have no idea what the neurologist who made that decision was thinking) to going to a generalised rehab unit where the staff was temporary and his treatment was inconsistent to being discharged home with his wife. Thankfully a referral was made to outpatient physio and she realised this was an urgent case and picked him up right away. The good news...we generated a lot of new ideas today as a result of our group session, which in the end was really more of a brainstorming session than a teaching on the assessment of dyspraxia. There are no formal assessments for dyspraxia, I think at least in part because it's so hard to tease it out... you must first eliminate any other possibilites including muscle weakness, motor problems, decreased sensation, etc. And after watching this guy stand up, sit down, walk, talk, and have wild resting tremors with his left hand, we were able to pick up on several things that the physio (through no fault of her own) had missed- she doesn't work on a stroke unit after all, and it's hard to keep your eye on everything when you're working solo with a patient. We decided that the dyspraxia he's experiencing now may very well be the manifestation of other problems rather than be a true dyspraxia. He will be getting a referral to an orthoptist because we suspect possible vision problems. He also seemed to be exhibiting a fair amount of inattention to his left side. I was able to suggest graded bilateral functional activities for both arms, with facilitation from the therapist to make sure the activity is successful (for example, washing hands with hand-over-hand from the therapist to control the tremors) because I suspected he's given up on that hand since it doesn't do what he wants it to do most of the time, and he never had intense input from a stroke rehab team to work on that hand. For the first time in a while, it felt like a synthesis of what I've soaked up since arriving on the stroke unit, with things that I learned at Tufts, such as the importance of a "Just Right Challenge" balanced with making sure the patient experiences success. And boy did it feel good to contribute!!! :)

The next time you hear a politician use the word "billion" in a casual manner, think about whether you want the "politicians" spending your tax money.

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of its releases.

A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.

B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.

C. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.

D. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.

E. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our government is spending it.

While this thought is still fresh in our brain, let's take a look at New Orleans. It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division . . .

Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu (D), is presently asking the Congress for $250 BILLION to rebuild New Orleans. Interesting number, what does it mean?

a. Well, if you are one of 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman, child), you each get $516,528.

b. Or, if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans, your home gets $1,329,787.

c. Or, if you are a family of four, your family gets $2,066,012.

Washington, D.C. ... HELLO!!! ... Are all your calculators broken??

This is too true to be very funny (Courtesy Don Heilala)

Turkey Day

Well, I was going to post a picture of Stonehenge from Carla's visit to meditate on while you all think about blessings and what you're thankful for today, but I'm currently unable to post pictures (what's new).

I have had a brilliant, if very unorthodox, Thanksgiving. Today was the first day of the first module of my Bobath: Normal Movement course. I was fascinated the entire day-- the lecturer is very good, very down-to-earth, very easy to follow. And during the practical sessions, I learned a fair bit about my own body...mainly, that I don't have "normal" posture. When I sit, I have an anterior pelvic tilt, so when asked to sit up straight, I over-exert my hip flexors and fix with my shoulders, which basically means I lean forward. When I stand, again my pelvis is tilted anteriorly, and I fix with my shoulder girdles to maintain my standing balance. Therefore, when the lecturer tried to lift my arm up, my entire body moved with it. When she moved my pelvis into a more posterior tilt, and then lifted my arm up, just my arm moved. There was also some very interesting stuff in supine (lying on my back on a gym bed), where I have a ridiculously extended neck (the top of my head pushes back into the bed, bringing my chin up) among other things...but the really cool thing was, I now have a new party trick!! I know how to "talk" to people's feet, so I can get you to bend your knee and lift your leg with my hand while you are lying on your back. Without any effort on your part. Cool, eh? Believe it or not, this does have practical application in OT, but I'm not going to go into that here-- but I'm very excited about putting this to use with my patients!

So then I came home, popped the turkey breast joint into the oven, and hot-footed it over the gym, where I had a really good workout today! It was one of those days where I just felt great, I could have run forever, did some good stretching, and work with the weights, and was singing all the way home. And I arrived just in time to take out the turkey, help with the veg, and pop open the Asti! We had mashed potatoes, stuffing, turkey, corn, broccoli, and gravy of course. De-licious! Although this isn't the big celebration-- Saturday is the big big turkey feast and house party, with quite the crowd expected. And tomorrow's a big night on the town...well, what can I say, the holidays are finally here, and 'tis the season to be merry! I think I've got parties and nights out for every weekend from here til Christmas.

But for now, it's time for bed, with Black Friday visions dancing in my head. I am truly envious of those of you who will partake, but I will do a little bit of my own Black Friday shopping online, early tomorrow morning before work. Hey, can't break tradition! And then whoopee, our course finishes at 2:30pm tomorrow afternoon, what on earth will I do with all that extra time?!

My love to all, I miss you all, I hope you are all healthy and happy and with your families and friends today.

I cannot do anywhere near as good of a turkey as my dad can do, and wouldn't know how to post the sound clip on here anyway, so Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! I do believe that mostly everyone who passes through here is family or friend, so let me take a small moment of your time to say thanks for being you, and thanks for being a part of my life-- it is that much richer because of you. I am blessed with a warm and loving family (this includes you Heilalas, Burks, and Aveyards) and I am blessed with caring, loyal friends. I think in this life you should count your lucky stars if you manage to find just one true friend...I must have done something right in a past life, because I have several who would do anything for me as they know I would do for them (you know who you are). I would be lost without you, in both good times and hard times. You all are the reason that my life is meaningful. I will be thinking of everyone today...my housemates and I are celebrating with a small turkey dinner tonight as Nicole and I decided we had to do something for the actual day. But the big feast with lots of friends and acquaintances is on Saturday. So I'll be thinking of you all then, too :) From the bottom of my heart, Happy Turkey Day. Love, Allison.

Happy Birthday to Jenn!!!

To Drink or Not to Drink

Hee hee, I've got a little Mumble stuffed animal (main penguin in Happy Feet) that came in a box of Persil laundry detergent. It turns inside out-- it can either be an egg, or turn it inside out and it becomes Mumble!!

So, there's been a lot of talk lately about the binge drinking culture among teenagers and young adults in this country. There's been a lot of newspaper coverage, and it has become a political topic, in terms of how best to discourage/combat the binge drinking culture. There's a TV commercial that states on a "good" night out, young adults drink in the neighborhood of 40 units of alcohol, which is 5,000 calories, which equals 5 Christmas dinners. Yikes! Unfortunately, it is true over here that pretty much everything social revolves around alcohol. Whether it's happy hour, a BBQ, getting together to play cards, even going to the theatre (you pre-order drinks at the bar for intermission), everything involves drinking. It's just not a social event unless there is alcohol available. It's almost an equation, alcohol=fun. And it's cultural. Back to what I started with, the binge-drinking culture...on the front page of the free daily newspaper on Monday was a picture of Kimberley Stewart, Rod Stewart's daughter. She is 27 and she's currently in hospital, being treated for liver disease due to her heavy boozing. And there's a quote from daddy dearest: he is quoted as stating that she said to him, but Dad we're Scottish, I thought I could drink, and he told her, no, darling, it doesn't work like that.

News

The sad news today was that the tube was completely incapacitated, on top of which there was also a bus strike, and the stroke unit was therefore in complete disarray. I was there on time since I had walked, and an OT student who drives in every day was also there. But everyone else was at least an hour late. Although, I'm just now getting to the sad part of it...the central line had been shut down because there was not one, but two jumpers today. And we come back around to the topic of perspective, because I can't imagine where people must be in their lives to do such a thing-- and I also can't imagine being someone on the platform seeing this happen, or god forbid, the driver of the train.

On a much less dramatic note(perspective), but still emotionally draining and life-changing for this particular family, we had a case conference today for one of my patients. When asked what his current big goal, or number one goal, might be, he replied in this meeting he wanted to get back to work. (He's only 57, and was a self-employed painter/decorator.) We asked him to try again, and to try to think realistically, given the fact that he still has no movement or sensation on the left side of his body. He came up with walking, with a stick, or perhaps a frame at first. And it broke my heart, but we had to tell him we didn't see him being able to walk by the time he goes home, and that going back to work might very well not be on the cards for him. We asked him when he thought he might be ready to go home, and he named June of next year, but we had to tell him it would be early January at the latest. And we had to tell him that doing a good transfer with assistance, and standing well, would be the goals we'll try to accomplish before he leaves. His family is having to re-locate to wheelchair accessible housing, and he'll be getting a powered wheelchair eventually. His family is very "switched on" as they say, and none of this was a big shock to his wife, but I think he was pretty surprised by the news. His insight has definitely been affected by the stroke, and while he will say straight away he is making slow progress in therapy, and has good days and bad days, he's very unrealistic about the big picture. I think that's the hardest part of therapy some days-- being brutally honest with our patients about what we think they'll achieve before they go home. And even harder is dealing with patients who have no insight into their capabilities and limitations, and don't believe you no matter what you say. The one I'm talking about from today, he's not as bad as that. We've currently got two patients who think that they could walk with a stick if we'd just let them, even though they need 2-3 people just to help them stand in therapy.

Ok, so enough of the sad talk...my happy stuff today: Let's see, going to the gym (always feels even better than usual after an emotional day at work), I'm all booked for a yoga and hiking weekend in the Brecons in Wales in February (yay!!), and I got my first Christmas gift!! I got the shock of my life this morning when I picked up a parcel from my Mom on my way to work, which I thought contained some items I'd asked her to get from the drugstore. But it was bigger than I expected, yet still lightweight, so I couldn't guess what else might be in there. Turns out it was a pair of black Crocs (clogs) that was on my Christmas list, which she'd sent over early, thinking I could use them in hospital now. They are the coolest! And so comfy too... thanks Mom!!!

A little penguin luv

This is my advent calendar for 2006...HAPPY FEET!! Yes, it has chocolates inside, but even better, there are paper penguin puppets (finger) on the back! (Like the alliteration?) Jo was in town, and we did a little Christmas shopping together on Saturday. Unfortunately, though I know the movie opened on Friday night for most of you, we won't have it here until 8 December. And that's the night of one of the Christmas parties I'm going to, so I guess I'll have to bide my time...

Boy, I've been lazy about a number of things lately, blogging definitely being one of them, but I promise to try and be better about it. I think at least a little bit, part of the problem has been this stupid cold that has now gone on for more than four weeks. I suppose being out/partying for the past 5 weekends or so hasn't helped, but a cold for four weeks?!?! Seriously?! (Shades of Grey's Anatomy-- which, by the bye, why is it that I cry for every episode of that show??) My theory is I caught one cold on top of another, my coworkers think it was viral. Regardless, I do believe (touch wood, as they say here, slight variation I'm sure you'll notice) the cold is on its way out, finally, finally, as in it should be gone in 2-3 days. About time.

Looking up at a popular modern piece of the London skyline...it is rather affectionately known as the "erect gherkin" or "gherkin" for short, or the personal favorite of our London Walks guide, "the crystalline phallus." Inspite of its popularity, our guide told us the building's owners are actually losing money on it, as approximately 2/3 of its office space sits empty. I think the solution is simple-- currently it is only open to the public one weekend a year, during what they call "Open House" where all kinds of properties not normally accessible to the public open their doors. I think the Gherkin should be open to the public year round for a small admission fee.

Looking across the river at the London Eye. The building to its right with the searchlight beaming into the night is the London Aquarium.

Getting onto the British Airways London Eye...flights scheduled every half hour ;) I am not a big fan of heights, but I had no problem with this, and it was pretty cool to see the city all lit up at night.

Looking out over the Thames from our London Eye capsule...you can just see the capsule in front of us on the left half of the picture.

I don't know if you'll all agree, but I like this shot Carla took of Parliament and the clock tower...a big red double decker bus happened to be whizzing by at the time!

A little summary

Carla left yesterday, after a whirlwind long weekend taking in the sights of London...and beyond. In London, we saw the Changing of the Guard, Parliament and Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, took a London Walks guided tour, did the London Eye, went through Kensington Palace, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Covent Garden, and had afternoon tea at Harrods. We also took a day trip to Stonehenge and Bath on Friday....whew. No wonder I'm so tired! And I didn't have to make the transatlantic flight!!

Thursday was funny-- the new James Bond movie is opening in theatres all over the country this week. At the Changing of the Guard ceremony on Thursday morning, the Queen's Band played the theme song for just about every Bond movie that exists. And then at Harrods, later on that afternoon, the new Bond girl was posing in one of their Bond-themed windows, each of which had a TV with clips from the movie. And during afternoon tea, the piano player decided to entertain us with, you guessed it, Bond theme songs. It's a little 007-crazy over here at the moment. At the Changing of the Guards, several young American guys were standing behind me, commenting on the multitude of 007 songs. They apparently didn't realize that the movie was about to be released, and in some rather vulgar language were proclaiming how ridiculous it was that all the songs were Bond songs. And then one of them exclaimed, "What the ----! This is an American movie!!" I couldn't take it anymore and was about to turn around to put him straight, but one of his friends who knew a little bit more what he was talking about told him to shut up, Bond is a British agent. Oiy...Americans!

Dave, Nicole, Kris and me at Porterhouse on Saturday night

Boogien' with Tim at Walkabout on Saturday night

I still got it! Once a field hocky goalie, always flexible!

Woops, we weren't ready...

There it is! Happy girls at Sugar Reef, a popular club...

Leeanne is the unhappy blonde next to Nicole...yup, the crazy third roommate I occasionally mention does exist.

Showin' off our leg power... "get down, get down"...

Physios: OTs in disguise?

Well, blogger is doing its thing again...I posted a few photos early this morning, but have thus far been unable to post the rest tonight.

I am exhausted, but no rest for the weary! I've been cleaning house, because Carla arrives tomorrow morning for her UK-blink-and-you'll-miss-it adventure... we're going to cram as much in as possible, including a day trip to Bath and Stonehenge on Friday so that she gets to see more than just London. Unfortunately, I have to be on the tube at 7am tomorrow to meet her at the airport, so no sleeping in for me. Guess I'll just have to indulge in a nap on Sunday.

Gripe of the day...what's with the physical therapists moving in on our turf?! It used to be that physios were the joint and muscle experts, very straightforward stuff. And OTs, well, we were able to claim that what made us unique was our focus on purposeful, meaningful activity, or functional activities if you prefer. And yet these days, physios are pretty much across the board incorporating functional activity goals in their treatment plans. Professional niche stealers! Get back on your side! We were here first!!

From Friday night, with Nicole's friends Tim and Kris from Philly. The Ice Bar was the kick off for the night...more pics to come later on tonight, but for now I'm off to work!!

A little proof for Tim and Kris (both are on the right side of this pic) that this is London!

You can see the ice glass pretty clearly in my hand. The edge of it melted to the shape of your mouth as you drank! And the only things they had to drink were various kinds of vodka cocktails, very martini-like in strength!

An emotional drain of a day

Ooh, I just love it when Blogger won't cooperate with uploading photos. Love it, love it, love it.

I've had a crazy day today where everything went wrong with my patients I've actually currently got, plus two patients who had already gone home. "M" was badly handled by a nurse yesterday morning apparently, and now fears retribution from the nurses if he complains-- I heard about it from his wife, and I am now obligated to speak to the matron (essentially Head Nurse)-- unfortunately what happens on the ward with nursing staff has a huge impact on progress in therapy. "F" is scheduled to go home tomorrow, and though I specifically said to the nurse at our multi-discliplinary meeting last week that she would be going home that day and an ambulance needed to be arranged to take her home, today we were told that the nursing staff had no idea "F" was going home, and no ambulance had been booked. "G" is a story of his own, which I will get into when I have the energy for it-- in a nutshell, he's a 52 (or 62, we're not sure which, he's got two different birth dates, I'll explain another time) year old man who's had a stroke, past medical history of heavy smoking and drinking for 30 years (read alcoholic), who still thinks after 12 weeks of rehab that he can go home and be fine on his own. Meanwhile he can't walk, but tries to get up every day and falls, is incontinent, and has absolutely no problem-solving skills, no safety awareness or judgement, and no insight as to capabilities and limitations. But he's very good at covering things up, so the psych has assessed him to have the capacity to make informed decisions. Wheeee. It's a long story, I'll tell it another day. Meanwhile, the son of a patient who was recently discharged was calling me up on the phone, telling me his father is impulsive, aggressive, shouts at everybody, and does things he knows he is not safe to do, now that he is at home. And he wanted me to tell him that eventually his father will be back to normal, and told me he thinks the sleeping pills his father is on are causing the aggressiveness and impulsiveness. The son apparently wasn't listening while his father was a patient, when we talked about the behavioral side effects of having had a stroke, and I don't think he really took it on board when I explained this to him again today. In addition, though our discharge plan specifically called for this patient to be set up for living on the ground floor, and the family agreed, the son told me on the phone today that his father has gotten up at least three times during the night and tried to go downstairs. What?!!! I said to the son, we agreed that your father would be living downstairs, he is not safe on the stairs, we had everything delivered that you needed to have him downstairs. And the son said yes, but we're currently having a toilet and walk-in shower installed downstairs, it's too messy for his bed. And all I could say was please, please, clear a space for him to sleep and for his commode, he cannot be upstairs, his behavior is not going to change, he will do things he knows he is not supposed to do, and all we can do is keep him as safe as possible bykeeping him on the ground floor! For the icing on the cake, though the family insisted on having this man back home, and stated that as long as there were carers to help with personal care, his spouse would always be home with him, and everything would be fine, the son was now saying today he wanted 24-hour supervision for his father. And I had to say I'm sorry, but you either have to pay for that yourself, or if you want social services (i.e. the government) to pay for it, he will have to go to a residential home.

Geez, it was like the hits just kept coming today. That's not everything, but that's enough for now.

Phrase of the Day

KEEPING YOUR POWDER DRY: To take care of yourself; to be prepared.

This phrase was uttered by Oliver Cromwell in 1642, when his regiment was about to attack the enemy at the battle of Edgehill. "Put your trust in God," he told his troops, "but keep your powder dry." Wet gunpowder was very difficult to ignite, and with it a soldier would in effect be unarmed. (Courtesy of my cousin Andy)

I was too tired to blog about it at the time, and then forgot, but I went to see Guys and Dolls in the West End on Halloween. The big draw here has been Patrick Swayze headlining as Nathan Detroit. It was very very well done, especially since the female lead had been replaced (housemate Nicole saw it at least a month before me and said the original lead was awful). Although I must say, good ole Patrick is not the heartthrob he once was. He was never my type to begin with, I never swooned over him in Dirty Dancing, and now he definitely looks middle-age, and shorter than I expected him to be. However, he did a great job, and the show was fantastic! The actor who played Sky Masterson (no idea who he was), now there was a man to drool over.... ;)

Pics from this weekend still coming, just need to get ahold of Nicole's memory card tomorrow.

The Fun Never Stops

Boy, have I been busy, and the fun never stops...I still have some stories from last weekend (Halloween weekend) which I hope to get to today, and this weekend I have been partying with housemate Nicole and some friends of hers who are here visiting from the States. On Friday night, we went to the Ice Bar, where literally everything is made of ice-- the tables, the seats, the bar, the glasses you drink from, the walls. You get a heavy parka sort of thing thrown over your head as you go in, and you only get to stay for about 45 minutes-- which I think has less to do with the owners being worried about people getting too cold, and more to do with wanting to get as many people in and out to make as much money as possible! We then went on to a club called Tiger Tiger for a little bit, which is where Nicole and her boyfriend Dave first met, a little over a year ago. And finally, we had reservations at Sugar Reef, a club you often see pictured in the papers with celebrities like Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice) falling out of its doors in the wee hours. We had a fantastic time, and as soon as I get ahold of Nicole's memory card, I'll post some really funny pics on here.

Last night, I joined up with them again at a bar called Porterhouse in Covent Garden. I think it's my new favorite bar. It kind of looks like a brewery inside-- they do have their own draughts and everything-- three different levels, and tons of good-looking men. As a matter of fact, I was sitting at a table chatting to Nicole's friends, when I hear Nicole behind me yelling, "Allison, I found you a cute Irish guy!" Imagine what shade of red I was as I stood up to meet him, or them, as it turned out to be two guys. Very friendly, very funny, both from Belfast originally, and one had spent an exchange year at Beaver College (now known as Arcadia) in PA. Wish I had gotten their numbers, because they were a lot of fun to hang out with, but we somehow lost them in transit to our next and last stop of the night, the Walkabout on Shaftesbury Ave. However, it was probably all for the best, because I had a great time being chatted up (this counts as a "pull"), but they live all the way over on the west side of London. It doesn't take very long living over here to learn that you almost might as well be talking about East Coast versus West Coast when you live on the east side of London and you meet someone from the west side. The tube stops running at about midnight, the night buses can be hard to figure out (even for someone who's sober), and a cab is really expensive. So everyone is usually very reluctant to go for a big night out on the other side of town unless they've got a place to crash. Anywho, we left Porterhouse, and took rickshaws (so fun! think I've got a pic of that too) to the Walkabout, and I think all of us ended up wishing we stayed at the first place. The music they were playing last night at the Walkabout left a lot to be desired, very much on the cheesy side.

So I've got a few days of work now, but then Carla arrives for a quick visit on Thursday morning!! She's taking advantage of Teacher's Conference Weekend in NJ, and will be here from Thursday to Sunday, so I need to get my tourguide act together!

5th of November

Remember, Remember
The Fifth of November
Gunpowder Treason and Plot.
We see no reason
Why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot!

Today is Bonfire Night, or Guy Fawkes Night, whichever you prefer. It refers to the Gunpowder Plot of 1605...a small group of Catholics had thought that when James I took over as King, he would be more tolerant of Catholicism (having a Catholic mother himself). As it turned out, he was not, and a group of 13 men decided they would blow up Parliament, specifically the House of Lords, at a time when the King was present. They managed to put 36 barrels of gunpowder into the cellar below the House of Lords, but some members of the group had second thoughts when they realized innocent people could be hurt, and someone sent an anonymous letter of warning. Long story short, Guy Fawkes was the only man in the cellar when the King's men came looking for the conspirators. He was tortured and executed. To this day, the English mark the 5th of November with fireworks and bonfires, where they burn effigies of Guy Fawkes. It can be a bit of a gray area, though, as to whether they are celebrating Guy Fawkes' capture and execution, or are honoring him for his attempt to do away with the monarch/government! For a bit more information on the holiday, click here.

Happy Halloween!!!

One of the winners from our pumpkin carving contest on Friday night. It was entitled "Cherokee"

And this was the other..."Pussy Galore"

Trouble with a capital T

Tracy (to my left) was a great girl I met this weekend, who has kindly provided her photos. (Mine are stuck on the internal memory of my camera until I can find the transfer cable.) She was a bit of a troublemaker with regards to me the night of our Halloween party, as she kept feeding me wine spritzers during pre-party events. I subsequently developed balance problems during the Halloween party, which apparently kept everyone entertained. I'll be going to a party she's having in two weeks time, so chalk one up in the new friends column!

Clowning Around

My friend the surgeon next to me here was one of my South African buddies, as well as Tracy (witch above), and another guy named Mark. We had a great time playing cards, pre-party, and I learned several new games including one they called S**thead (classy). During the party itself, I do believe the surgeon dragged me out of bed twice to rejoin the festivities, even dragging me through the window of our room once. Ok, get your minds out of the gutter, it was a hostel, eight of us were sharing a room!

Updates

I was too sick on Thursday to attend the post-post-pub crawl party, at which the announcement was made that we did, indeed, break the world record by 41 people. Apparently my team, the Tigers, handed in 126 stamped cards, though we were only 125 to begin with, and lost some along the way. Go Tigers! Here's the official picture from the big day, the guy in front in the red shirt is the guy who organised the whole thing.

Also, my photos have been included in the second edition of the online Schmap travel guide for Kauai!! Woohoo, I've been published! You'll find a new widget on my sidebar, directing you to said Schmap guide.

Trick or Treat!

A la Billy Madison...check out the interactive flaming bag of poo . Thanks to Don Heilala.

An unexpected encounter

Still feeling very krappy with my cold, so this'll be a short post. I did go to work today, I still seem to have my stupid American work ethic of not feeling I should stay home for a mere cold or flu, so I stuffed my backpack with meds and off I went. My supervisor let me go home about half an hour early, and wouldn't you know it, I ran into the Head OT on the High Street with her whole family...she happily introduced me to her husband, her sister and her children. She inquired about the stroke unit, and I told her I'm loving it and learning a lot. Meanwhile throughout the whole 2 minute encounter, I was hoping she didn't realize what time it was, and I kept wanting to blurt out that I was legitimately leaving work early with my supervisor's blessing. I didn't, but it was just ironic, since this is only the second time I've ever seen someone I know on the High Street.

Anywho, here's a cool link, it will generate a slogan for any word you input, including your name. One of my favorites: "Just what the Allison ordered." Or, "Smart. Beautiful. Allison." Or "Happiness is Allison-Shaped." Or "Behold the Power of Allison." Heehee. Ok, ok, I'm getting carried away, give me a break, I'm sick. You may not recognize all the slogans your chosen word is inserted into, it's a UK site, but a lot of them are slogans that have been used in the US too.

Me and my big fat mouth

So....I had a wonderful weekend in Rugby, er, Clifton upon Dunsmore, with Jo and her boyfriend James. In spite of my cold. Yes, I made the mistake of bragging to housemate Nicole midweek last week that I have not been sick since the day I set foot in this country in February. And wouldn't you know it, by Friday night, after we came back to Jo and James' cottage from the local pub, I knew I had a full-fledged cold. That didn't stop me, we had a great weekend, but I will have to sum it up tomorrow night, because I am exhausted, I can't breathe, and I still haven't reviewed my kinesiotaping method for my patient with a hemiplegic shoulder. I'm supposed to tape him up tomorrow, so I guess I'd better review it now. Just a friendly reminder kids, don't temp fate by bragging about oh, for example, good health, because you might just be jinxing yourself ;)

Almost Forgot

You cannot look at this web site and not be happy, especially with the three cuties showing up on the main page today. I meant to put a link on here earlier since I've got the puppy of the day on my sidebar...unfortunately, the daily kitten does not have a convenient widget for my sidebar.

How things stand on a Wednesday night

Things that are making me happy and/or laugh tonight:

I met a really fun Australian girl on the pub crawl, and sent her a text on Sunday to say I'd like to hang out again in future. I heard back from her tonight, and I'm quite pleased at the prospect of a new friend :)

My Aunt Sue's comment on my previous post...it would seem sibling rivalry shines through whether you're a teenager living at home, or an adult with your own family ;)

Dinner plans tomorrow night!

This weekend I'm visiting Jo- checking out her new place in Rugby and partying it up. Plus some shopping-- something I never do over here because it's not in the budget. But I have a little left over this month.

I have signed up for a Halloween weekend in Kent-- haunted house, hay ride, pumpkin carving, costumes, and a chance to wander around Leeds Castle. Not to mention, more opportunities to make new friends.

I ruined a chicken roast on Monday, trying to make it up as I went along, but managed to turn it into a very tasty chicken soup last night.

And last, but "soitenly" not least: I'm working on the stroke unit and loving it!!!!

I'll let you know when I know

There are no official results, yet, for those of you who have been asking. We all carried around cards that we had to have stamped at each pub, to provide evidence that we'd been there and had a drink. I checked out the web site today, and the organizer had an announcement that he's waiting until this Friday to do the final tally to make sure that all the cards are in (with a little message to those who forgot to hand it in to get it in the post and to him by Friday). I am back in action, having had a rough Sunday, go figure. For some reason, my parents found this funny.

Little story: For New Year's Eve, during my senior year at college, they took me, my boyfriend of the time, my sister, and her friend to Edinburgh for Hogmanay. (The BEST New Year's I've had thus far in my life, by the way, totally worth it!!) Due to various reasons (12% cider, a friendly Scottish couple who kept feeding us rum and coke during the concert, etc), I was much the worse for the wear on New Year's Day. Unfortunately, we were driving home (to Bagshot) that day, and I was moaning and groaning with a plastic bag in hand as we went round umpteen roundabouts, Tressa too, as I recall. And my parents found this hysterical. Cheers, mum and dad!

What a difference a job makes...

Yes, it's a Friday night and I'm home. But I've actually already been out for three hours immediately following work- drinks for a colleague who's leaving. AND the Guiness World Record attempt for biggest pub crawl is tomorrow. One drink at each of 10 pubs between 11:30am and 6pm. Our picture will be in the paper and everything, although with 2700 people, I doubt you'll be able to pick out individual faces.

Anywho...I feel like a different person. As I titled this entry, what a difference a job makes. I'm so incredibly happy, it's like night and day between the last rotation and this one. I feel at home on the one hand because rehab is familiar and satisfying work for me. I'm also rather intimidated at all that there is for me to learn, and me being me, I'm setting ridiculously high standards/goals for myself as to what I am to accomplish in a short 6 months. All that I want to do is impossible really, and I'm trying really hard to remind myself that I always aim too high...I cannot become an expert in the care of stroke patients in 6 months. My supervisor is very laid back, extremely so, which although I'm sure I will find trying at times, should be very good for balancing me out, and keeping me realistic. I had supervision yesterday afternoon, and told her that in general I am very happy (because she wanted to make sure I wasn't dreading coming into work everyday-- I told her "No way!!"), but that I'm worried time will fly by too quickly and I won't be able to learn everything. To which she said simply, you won't. And she's right. Even the Senior Physio that I'm working with for 3 of my 6 patients is still learning, and she has a lot of knowledge and skills. But as flatmate Nicole and I were discussing tonight, when you've got the right job, or are on the right unit over here in England with skilled teammates, there really are career-oriented reasons to be working in the UK. Woohoo!!

It's not just the job though. I've also slowly slowly started to make new friends and connections, through work and other means...one of those things that just takes time, and can seem like it's never going to happen when you've moved to new country on your own. But I can see now after 7 months that things are starting to happen, a new life is coming together. I know from past experience that moves like this, whether it's to a new country, or just simply away from family and friends, makes me stronger, makes me a better person, helps me to know myself better...but every time I do it, it's still just as hard, and it can initially be easy to forget that the fact that it is hard is what makes me grow. But enough of my soapbox-- I'm going to go practice my chugging technique ;)

The Incredubyas

Wawa Fabulous!

These are people after my own heart...

www.myspace.com/welovewawa

If I could import Wawa tuna, I would ;)

New shoes

Guess I need a new pair of running shoes. My sneakers have been wet and squeaky, and thus I didn't notice until this morning that you can also hear air rushing in and blowing out every time I step on the balls of my feet. Haha, the race must have done them in. I'm a bit disappointed-- even though it's been a year, and I should be replacing them anyway, I've loved my Nike shox so much, it's a bit of a bummer that they've given out. I've had other sneakers that have lasted longer, but maybe that's what happens with air-cushioned shoes.

Anywho, the play last night was pretty funny. Lots of sexual jokes, which I expected. No audience participation unfortunately, but they did directly address the audience at times, and there was a mix of comedy and tragedy with the tales that they chose to perform (Carpenter, Miller, Knight, Clerk or Oxford scholar, Nun, etc). For a fiver, definitely worth it!!!