Vegas baby!

I started to post some pictures on Saturday, but ran into some technical difficulties. Not Blogger this time actually though. I have this great video of the Elvis impersonator, but apparently it's too big of a file for YouTube to handle, booooo :( On Thursday night, a bunch of us went to a Las Vegas Shownight at "The Floating Chinese"-- literally a Chinese restaurant built on top of the river in Canary Wharf. The MC and the guy who did The Groovy Wonder Years, dressed in a blue crushed velvet Austin Powers suit with Austin Powers glasses, were both pretty forgettable. However, the ABBA Girls had everyone up and dancing, singing at the top of our lungs. They were the best part of the show, although Elvis wasn't too bad himself...the trouble being, when you've got a group of girls out together, the slow ballads just aren't as fun as "Viva! Las Vegas" or "You Ain't Nothin' But a Hound Dog" for example. Technically we were there to celebrate Laura selling her old flat and to give her a work hen do (she's getting married in May), as well as a leaving do for the physio who has now rotated. However, I had just pulled together in two days a major presentation on cognition which I had given that afternoon, as well as being prepared for my supervision and appraisal afterwards. So I was celebrating too! My appraisal continued on into Friday, and I had another major presentation to give today. Both went very well ;) But I'm looking forward to end of this week when all the major work should be done.

Well, that, and I'll be in Manchester for St. Patty's!!!

Not to brag---okay, to brag--- it's been 15 degrees (65 degrees F) and sunny here for the past two days, and is supposed to be 60 and partly cloudy for the rest of the week. Although it felt great, it's very disconcerting (still), as this is normally weather we wouldn't see until May-ish. Laura has a birthday coming up next week, and says she can't remember a birthday celebration where she wasn't wearing scarf, hat and gloves.

Interesting Factoid: Had to do a lot of research on the two presentations I have now given, which included research on attention. Your attention span, as you probably all know or could guess, is the amount of time you are able to concentrate on something. But did you know, the nerve pathways responsible for attention span don't fully mature until the early 30s in humans? (For those of you who know what I'm talking about, these specific nerve pathways aren't fully myelinated until our early 30s. Myelinated nerves pass signals along at a hugely increased speed.) AND, for males, it can be even later!! Hmmm, very interesting. I'll let you draw your own conclusions ;)

Laura (the bride-to-be, whose wedding invitations I addressed), and Cecilia, our Team Leader and my supervisor on the stroke unit.

Angelica, Allison & Nicole

The new housemates, as of May 2007 :)

A Leaving "Do"

Me and Nicole at her leaving do, a couple of weekends ago. When I first moved here, I used to make fun of housemate Nicole when she talked about hen do's and leaving do's, etc. I swore I'd never switch over to that phrase, it just seemed ridiculous-- I mean "do" is a verb, but it's being used to name an event-- surely it should be a noun, like party, or soiree. I guess that was the English major in me coming out. But sure enough, I talk about do's pretty regularly these days ;)

Looking out my window on the one morning we had snow a few weeks ago...

A small wooded area near to the hospital.

Lake St. Catherine

In a recent post I mentioned I've booked flights to be at the lakehouse in Vermont for Fourth of July week, which is something I try very hard to never miss. I don't have a summer pic of the lakehouse on my computer at present, but got this one of what Wissahickon (name of the lakehouse) looks like in the snow from Dad #2, so I thought I'd share it with y'all. (Try to ignore the dirty snow that's been plowed off the road...)

Stress brings out the best...

Nothing like a little rush deadline to liven the day up! I was supposed to do a presentation for nurses and therapy staff as part of my objectives on this rotation. Except my supervisor forgot to check the dates and which unit is assigned to which date (we rotate the presentations among the elderly rehab unit, our stroke rehab unit, and the nursing team), and as she discovered yesterday, I'm out of time. Two weeks from now, the elderly rehab team has a presentation all lined up about Infection Control, and it cannot be changed. For some reason, they don't want me to do my presentation next week (the trainings take place every other week, next week is meant to be an off week), which leaves....this Thursday afternoon. I was given this information this morning, as my supervisor was looking at me saying, now if this is too quick, just say so. But like a deer in headlights I heard myself saying, "No, it's fine, I'll be ready for Thursday." She has given me the afternoon off tomorrow to use some personal study time to prepare, but still! Sounds familiar for some reason-- oh yeah, I had two days to put together a power point presentation for that interview I had out in Bristol a while back.

However, I also got some good news today-- Barbara has received approval to advertise for Senior 2's, so as of next Thursday most likely, the advert will go up on the intranet, and I can apply.

Less than a month until I'm here...!!!

Catching up

A couple of things I missed from last week...Thursday was the birthday of a girl I met recently on the yoga weekend, Jules. Got a text from her on Wednesday to come out for a meal on Thursday night, and I was able to get there for the end of it at least. It was a lot of fun, got to see another new friend from the yoga weekend, Chantale, met her boyfriend, and a lot of other new people.

Also, Thursday (March 1st) was apparently St. Davids Day...St David, or Dewi Sant, as he is known in the Welsh language, is the patron saint of Wales. He was a Celtic monk, abbot and bishop, who lived in the sixth century. During his life, he was the archbishop of Wales, and he was one of many early saints who helped to spread Christianity among the pagan Celtic tribes of western Britain...It is claimed that Dewi lived for over 100 years, and it is generally accepted that he died in 589. His last words to his followers were in a sermon on the previous Sunday. Rhigyfarch transcribes these as 'Be joyful, and keep your faith and your creed. Do the little things that you have seen me do and heard about. I will walk the path that our fathers have trod before us.' 'Do the little things' ('Gwnewch y pethau bychain') is today a very well-known phrase in Welsh, and has proved an inspiration to many. On a Tuesday, the first of March, in the year 589, the monastery is said to have been 'filled with angels as Christ received his soul'. (Adapted from a talk given at OICCU Meeting Point, In Regent's Park College, Monday, 28th February 1994.) So a belated Dydd Gwyl Dewi happus (Happy St. David's Day) to you all! Thanks to Reg for his informative email on the subject, or I would not have known about any of this. With St. Patricks Day and St. Georges Day coming up soon, I figure it's only fair to include the Welsh in my commentary as well ;)

Speaking of St. Patricks Day, looks like I will be joining Housemate Nicole, Dave, and several others on a trip to Manchester for St. Patricks Day weekend. Two of the people going have lived there previously, and I doubt I would have visited otherwise, so I'm looking forward to their guided tour (read: pub crawl with various sights pointed out between each pub).

And I have also been invited to my first wedding over here--a lot of people divide up their weddings, where they will invite a select number of people to the ceremony and sit-down dinner, and then invite a whole lot more people to join them for the party/reception. I mentioned not too long ago that I helped a friend and colleague write out her wedding invitations, and I have been invited to her reception. Unfortunately, it's the same weekend as when I'm supposed to be in Dartmoor National Park, so I'll have to make a decision soon...guilt trips aside from people who are trying to get me to go to the wedding, I think I'm leaning that way anyway, as I don't need others to tell me that weddings are a once in a lifetime event.

I have my appraisal coming up this week, so I've been busy today working on updating my CV (or resume, for you Americans), my folder that contains all the evidence for my Continuing Professional Development (CPD), and the actual appraisal document. Even though they've now tipped me for the Senior II position, I will need to do a good interview and they will look through my CPD folder.

Basic Grades and Senior IIs

Rotation announcement day has come and gone. It was a very interesting Basic Grades meeting. It was our second one in a year to take place at Wheelchair Services, with the focus this time on specialist seating for postural control. Sally, the very enthusiastic and knowledgeable physio who gave the talk, tends to work mostly with kids or adults who have very unique long-term disabilities. I wanted to know more about the integration of switches (i.e. foot or head switches, sip and blow, etc) for kids and adults who don't have upper limb function, and how that fits into the creation of customised wheelchairs. When I completed my degree at Tufts, there was a fairly decent emphasis on assistive technology, plus I learned even more about it during my rotation at Franciscan Hospital for Children in Boston. I assumed that as part of OT training in the UK, others would have had similar exposure. So it took about 10 minutes into this conversation I had started before Sally and I realized the others weren't following along and had to backtrack into what switches are for, what they look like, what are the pros and cons, etc. Without getting into all of that, for any of you I may have already lost, there are options available for someone who does not have the use of their hands, and therefore cannot control a powered wheelchair with a simple joystick-- for example a button they can press with their head. It's fascinating stuff, really!

But anyway, back to rotation announcements. Not everyone was happy, by far, not everyone. The Head OT has a full Basic Grade rotation plus one, so she said before giving us our assignments that several people had ended up with their third choice, and one person had not gotten any of her first three choices at all. Two of the "older" Basic Grades, those who were on their first rotation when I started, were allowed to stay in the rotations they currently have due to difficult personal problems. At least one of those two rotations was in high demand, since it's a rehab position, and without the personal issues she needs to sort out, this OT would never have been allowed to repeat the rotation. But not everyone knows what's going on with her, and I think there was a lot of resentment. For myself, I scanned through the entire grid, and couldn't find my name anywhere. My confusion must have showed after a minute or so, because the Head OT eventually called out to me that I was at the very bottom, in a sentence underneath the grid at the bottom of the page. I have indeed been slotted into Orthopaedics, and since another OT was also slotted into that post, everyone immediately knew something was up. Plus, the Head OT announced that the finance dept had approved her application to hire new Senior IIs, and now she is just waiting to hear from the Turnaround Committee before she can advertise internally. Not that it was any big secret to begin with, but once the Head OT had left the room, I did admit to the other Basic Grades that I will be applying for a Senior II position, and assuming I'm successful, would be taking over the Senior II slot in Orthopaedics until the Senior II rotation changes in June...and that's why I was listed at the moment as the second Basic Grade assigned to Ortho. Things are looking good for me to move on up, I just hope the Turnaround Committee comes back with a decision in the next week or so, and then interviews can take place by end of March. That would be nice.

Tomorrow is my third and final Bobath module. I'm pretty sad that we're finishing up actually, I feel like I've been learning a lot on this course, so I will definitely have to apply for the more advanced and intensive 3-week course. Our tutor is definitely an expert in her field, and although it seems out of my reach, I'd love to have her skills one day.

Silver Linings

Things have been a little bit gloomy around here the past couple of days, what with Sunday's Arsenal Carling Cup loss and all...and I suppose the rainy weather hasn't helped. So, my happy list is making a reappearance:

I still have a month left on this rotation, thank goodness.

I will be going out to Michigan to see my Grandpa when I'm home in April (I missed the family reunion last summer). I will also get to see Aunt Grace and potentially others whilst there.

I will be going to Guildford on Sunday for a final final pub walk(the last one I posted about is not the last one after all), which will also be a birthday celebration for Alex.

Got to speak to Kristy on Skype last night, for the first time in awhile. Hey Greeky!

Tress heads back to Africa tomorrow after an extended stay in the States, sorting out tennis elbows. Congratulations, sis!

I have booked tickets to go home again for the annual Johnson/Heilala family extravaganza, 4th of July week, up in Vermont!

And last, but not least, Jenn sent me pics of her trying on wedding dresses, so that I could be kept in the loop and able to chip in with my two cents--awww, you're the best, hun.

Bits and pieces

There's too much to cover from the last several days, so here's the summary.

Little Golden Men: I won't bore you all with the results, I'm sure you were either watching last night, or have heard by now. However, I must add my congrats to Martin Scorsese-- it's a fickle business, pretty embarrassing that it took this long, but he finally got his due. If you haven't had enough Oscar fever, here's a web site with some amusing best and worst moments.

English Comedians: I'm not sure it's a name most of you will know, but Saturday night was the official leaving do for Rob and Nicole. At the restaurant, we ran into an English comedian by the name of Arthur Smith, who among other things does a show here called Grumpy Old Men. He regaled us for a couple of minutes on the pavement outside with bad jokes about Americans before we went our separate ways. (One was something like-- Why do Americans go to war? So they can learn geography.)

Flashbacks of Halftime: On Saturday morning, I went to the gym for a good long run on the treadmill and some weight-lifting. I was on the treadmill, headphones on, when I hear a loud "Hey!" I look to my right just as a tray with orange quarters on it is shoved in front of my face from the helpful gym attendant. I'm sure I looked surprised as I waved her off-- orange slices for someone who is running on a treadmill? It was a nice trip down memory lane to the hundreds and hundreds of soccer games where we always had orange slices for half time, but it seemed a strange thing for a gym.

"As I do my little turn on the catwalk": Sunday I went to London Fashion Weekend at the Natural History Museum with Angelica, our soon to be new housemate as of May 1. It was little more than stalls of people selling clothing, jewelry, shoes, bags, belts, etc although they did have mini catwalk shows every hour or so. Interesting, but probably not something I'd do again.

Hyde Park Calling

Guess who'll be going to Hyde Park Calling this summer?!! Just booked the tickets through the Live Nation presale! Initially, I was actually trying to book weekend camping tickets for the Isle of Wight Festival, but those were gone almost before they went on sale- in the blink of an eye. :( But I don't think I've done half bad for a second choice. Aerosmith is the first big headliner that they've announced, but there will be many more to come...all I have to say is "I don't wanna miss a thing!"

EQUUS

There's a lot of press out there right now, a lot of talk, both from people in the business and your average joes, about this play. And I think that was inevitable, given the unbelievable popularity of Harry Potter, whom- as we all know- is portrayed by Daniel Radcliffe in the movie adaptations of the books. Therefore, anything that he does live (ie theatre) is going to get a lot of attention, and you add full-scale nudity to that, you've got an international phenomenon.

I knew it would be a good show, it's been around for awhile, what with the original theatre production, and the film adaptation that followed (which I would now like to see). So this current production is a revival, really. And it's an extremely compelling story. The story of the boy and his obsession with horses, his religion really, might at first glance appear to be at the heart of the matter, and there's no doubt it is darkly gripping. However, the play is actually about the personal and professional identity crisis of the psychiatrist who is treating the boy. And perhaps since I am a therapist myself, his struggle may have touched me at a deeper level than the average audience member. But regardless, the play is his story told within the context of this one boy's treatment. I think one of the reasons I shyed away from mental health as an occupational therapist is because the world is not black and white. Right and wrong are not absolutes, and I find it all too easy to step into other people's shoes, blurring the lines. While it can be a skill, a gift even, to be able to understand someone else's perspective, it can also be a curse--because it's difficult to know your own mind, and stand your ground when you need to think of yourself first. Anywho, this psychiatrist who is treating the boy-Alan Strang- is experiencing a big, big blurring of the lines. Essentially, he realizes that he is doing "ultimate things", he is changing people through his therapy, his treatments. And he wonders whether he has the right to do that, and more poignantly, is what he is doing "right"? Does he really know what he is doing? He is actually jealous of Alan, because he has never known the kind of passion that the boy has experienced, and his treatment is essentially ripping this passion out of the boy so that he can lead a "normal" life...

As I said, it's a gripping play.

But back to the Harry Potter issue...a few weeks ago, one of the papers was quoting Daniel Radcliffe, who was doing publicity interviews for the show. And he was talking about how they didn't yet know if he could pull it off. He said something to the effect of "If I can pull it off--and we don't yet know if I can...." Well, I can tell you that he can, and he does. Anyone who says otherwise either hasn't seen the show themselves, doesn't appreciate art, or just hates him because they hate Harry Potter. There's been a bit of a backlash from parents and schools, attacking him for not being a good role model, but the nudity is central to the play, and I'm not sure that anything less than this could have demonstrated as clearly that he should not be typecast, and he will be a talented actor. Within minutes of his stage entrance, you have stopped thinking of him as Harry Potter. Yes, he smokes a fag on stage, yes, he does strip down to his birthday suit (so does his female counterpart, but for some reason no one thinks that's a big deal) and stays that way for a good 10-15 minutes. I will admit that there is some room for him to grow into the role. For as serious a subject matter as the play explores, there are a lot of laughs, and sometime during the first 10 minutes when the audience was enjoying a good laugh at one of Richard Griffith's lines (he plays the psychiatrist), Daniel himself almost broke into a smile/laugh and had to rush into his next lines to keep from breaking character. But he really does breathe life into the role, and I think it's pretty obvious that should he continue to make savvy career choices that promote his growth as an actor, he will be able to continue to reinvent himself throughout his career, and not just be pigeon-holed as the Potter boy. The play is still only in the previews actually at the moment, with it's official opening night on 27 February. Hopefully he'll be over his jitters by then, though the only time in which they were in evidence at all during the performance I saw was when he came out to take his bows with the cast (the play ends shortly after the nude scene), looked a little bit shaky, took some deep breaths, and leaned into Richard Griffith's hug for support (Richard Griffiths was in three of the Harry Potter movies with Daniel). That was the only evidence that this was a 17-year-old boy who had willingly made himself as vulnerable as a human can possibly be in front of hundreds of people.

As I started to say somewhere up in there, when I walked into the theatre, I knew it would be a good show... but I was definitely apprehensive about whether I would walk out thinking Daniel Radcliffe's performance had made the story go flat. I'm happy to say that it's an excellent production, can only get better with time, and if it does move to Broadway (according to the press they're trying to make this happen for after Radcliffe wraps filming on the next Harry Potter film), you should definitely go see it.

Knackered

I'm just back from helping a colleague/friend address her wedding invitations...she doesn't have very nice handwriting, but I can write with a flourish, so she bribed me with free food to come and insert the names, and write addresses for her. The play I saw last night-- a revival of Equus-- was wonderful, and I will write about it tomorrow, but for now I need some sleep. I had another one of those days at work where I took the brunt of a lot of misplaced stroppiness (strop being one of my favorite English terms) and outright anger, so I spent a lot of time explaining, and soothing, and fixing things, and apologising to patients and their families for the medical team, defending the therapy team to the medical team (things like, "Acutally, yes we did page you several times when your registrar did not show up for the family meeting, and no one answered those pages"), and writing last-minute 7-page therapy reports which were unreasonably requested at 2pm for end of day by the nursing staff. Then I went to the gym, and after several hours of writing invitations, I'm ready for some serious shut-eye. Sweet dreams all.

Another Anniversary

Yes, it was a year ago today, February 20, 2006, that I arrived at Heathrow airport, ready for my grand British adventure...living and working in the UK! There was definitely a rough patch in there. At first I was all excited to finally be here, having had to wait almost a year to get everything in order to move, and then a few months after being here I hit a rough patch--largely due to intensely disliking the rotation I was on, feeling bored and useless, although it also took awhile to make friends and get settled in. And since then, I've pretty much been loving it, and so I'm staying! I'm in the process of waiting to interview for a Senior II position here, but I will continue to apply for other neuro rehab jobs, though I don't expect to get very far with that since I need a work permit :(

A Canadian girl that I met on the yoga weekend told me that I should look at the Highly Skilled Migrant Visa (HSMV) again, because the regulations changed recently. So I did, I used the bloody HSMV calculator for all the good that it did me (yes, I'm still sulking about it). Ironically, if I had stayed in the US for another year, I would have qualified for the visa, which would have meant I could work anywhere I wanted to/could get a job (I wouldn't need a work permit, the visa itself would have entitled me to work). But because I have been living and working here, at a much lower salary level, I miss out on qualifying by 10 points. Argh. However, there's no guarantee I would have still moved here had I waited another year, nor that I would have been able to find work (given the current job shortage). So there you have it. I continue to require a work permit.

To change the topic completely, HAPPY PANCAKE DAY! I remember writing a little post last year on why it is pancake day, so I won't repeat myself, but I do intend to gorge myself on crepe-like pancakes with lemon and sugar before heading out to the theatre in the West End to celebrate my anniversary. Hope everyone is having a good week so far.

Warm weather and training to trek

I was thoroughly exhausted after a grueling 2-hour case conference (family meeting) on Friday, and had managed to come down with another cold-- what's going on here, I thought I had more than served my time this "winter"?!-- so I spent most of the weekend in bed. Although I sound better today, I still feel totally drained, and can't get rid of a persistent (sinus?) headache.

I will get into the case conference at some point this week, but at the moment, it's still too tiring to think about.

A couple of things. Not to brag (especially since I was stuck in bed this weekend, not out enjoying some fresh air), but I've been hearing reports of it being bitterly cold on the East Coast for several weeks now. Over here, aside from the one day we had snow, it has consistently been in the 40s to even low 50s at times this winter. It goes down into the 30s at night. I think most people are pleased about this, but not me...I like my winter thank you very much, and it feels like we skipped right over it into spring! Okay, a really wacky spring, where it was getting dark around 4pm, but these days it's now pretty light when I leave work.

Viv and I have now booked all flights, and the only thing left to do is make sure we're in trekking shape by the end of March. To that end, I'm trying to run at least 3 times a week, have started going to a very challenging class at a yoga studio in Bethnal Green 2 times a week (the athletic power flow version of yoga, not the meditative static kind), and also try to lift weights 3 times a week. Housemate Nicole wants me to sign up for a bike ride from London to Brighton this summer, so she has someone to train with, which I would do, but I can't seem to find the time to go looking for a good quality used road bike.

Happy Year of the Pig!

Tae Kwon Kitty

A new favorite of mine from the dailykitten web site :)

A HREF="http://www.valentine-clipart.com/">

Happy Valentine's Day!

Overlooking the Usk river and valley

Chantale (Canadian) and Caspar (Kiwi-New Zealand), new friends :)

We had a picnic lunch overlooking the lake

Ok, so you can say I was a little obsessed with trees during our hikes

I love derelict old stone buildings too

We were discussing Noam Chomsky, believe it or not, as we walked between these hedgerows. (For anyone unfamiliar with his work, try www.chomsky.info, articles he has written that are posted on his site are a good starting place.)

Sunday's hike in the Brecon Beacons, this was near the summit of the Alt. See- sun and mist at the same time!

Happy Birthday Dad!!!

A short interlude of snow

So, the snow had stopped before lunchtime, and at it's highest accumulation was probably about 3 inches, but that was all gone by 4:30pm because the temperature had warmed up a bit and it had switched to rain. There are a couple of places where I can see there could be trouble tomorrow on the sidewalks, because it had melted to slush, and people either don't know or can't be bothered to put down salt or sand...so there are likely to be icy patches on my walk tomorrow. Wheee. It sure was beautiful for a short time, though.

Yay!!! It's SNOWING! We've got, oh I'd say about an inch and a half on the ground, and it's still coming down fast. The BBC is now forecasting "heavy snow" all day, and if it keeps up, by the end of today it could be the most snow that Londoners have ever seen!

We had crisp, chilly morning with thick layers of frost and heavy mist, but it was all gone by mid-afternoon in the bright sunshine.

The entrance to Buckland Hall- this was early one morning as we set out for a long hike, with frost still coating everything.

View from the side of the manor

The grand staircase. They have a lot of weddings here, and I could see why!

Late afternoon sunshine on the grounds at Buckland Hall

It seems like an eternity now that the stupid car alarm has been going off-- and me without a baseball bat, erm, cricket bat, in the house! I'm dreading going to bed as sleep may not be an option tonight...

A little of this, a little of that

Because it is currently taking Blogger more than 10 minutes for each photo I try to upload, I'm giving up after just the one tonight. I'll try in the morning...it would seem that night-time here is prime time for Bloggers to post, making the site extremely slow! If I post photos in the morning before work, it literally takes seconds for each photo to upload. Sorry 'bout that.

I am currently being driven bonkers by a car alarm outside my window that has been going off for the past half hour. I thought they stopped automatically after awhile. I can't wait for Leeanne to move out end of April (she's going home to S. Africa), so that I can take over the bedroom furthest away from the road!! My bedroom is the biggest, but personally I'd rather have a smaller room without the traffic noises.

Everyone is in a tizzy over here tonight because we may be getting up to 10cm of snow tomorrow. That's a grand total of 4 inches, at which Americans wouldn't do much more than blink an eye. However, it is more likely to be 1-2 inches of snow if it is even snow at all-- British weather forecasters being notoriously bad at forecasting, no one is apparently able to say whether it will be snow or rain. This has not stopped many of the London area schools from declaring themselves closed for tomorrow, in anticipation of "the storm." IF we do have snow, and IF it does somehow manage to accumulate to 4 inches, I may possibly be the only one at work tomorrow as public transportation will grind to a halt. Now that would be funny. I don't know, with all this supposed climate change, I'm thinking England had better learn how to deal with snow sooner rather than later.

Climate change was one of our interesting debates this weekend. I have known people who have studied this kind of thing, so I don't claim to be any kind of expert...I don't know if it's been big in the US, but a major news story this week has been the latest report that the average temperature will climb by 4 degrees centigrade by the end of the century, and they are 90% sure that this change is caused by humans. Some of you may have read State of Fear by Michael Crichton, which is the popularized version of the theories against global warming (natural cyclic trends of the earth's climate versus human-made global warming), and some of you may have seen Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. I have not seen it myself, but apparently some head honcho of Marks and Sparks (Marks and Spencer dept store) did see it, and allegedly freaked out about it. The next day he gathered together his M&S think tank to make changes. Whether this is true or not, Marks and Sparks is now committed to cutting their CO2 emissions, and even putting labels on their products about the amount of CO2 required to make the product and get it to their stores, to help people make environmentally conscious decisions when shopping.

An ancient ewe tree on the grounds of Buckland Hall. We couldn't decide if it was all one tree, or if two or three trees had essentially grown into each other over the years.

News

Hello hello! I am back. And what an amazing, gorgeous, refreshing weekend I had in Cymru! (Or Cambria, or Wales even-- all names for the same stunning corner of land in the UK.) We were based at Buckland Hall, in Bwlch, which pretty much turned out to be 5-star accommodation. We had twin ensuite rooms, and the entire manor to ourselves, a very attentive staff, open coffee bar, big wood fires in every room of the main part of the manor, amazing gourmet vegetarian food, 2 sessions of yoga per day, with hours of sun-drenched/misty hiking in between (yes, in Wales you can combine sunny and misty), and the gorgeous grounds of the manor itself to explore. Not to mention the wonderful people I met, and fascinating conversations we had- boy, do I have food for thought! I have loads of pictures, but it's about bedtime here, and I've spent so much time this evening organizing other things, the pics will have to wait.

Big news- Viv and I have booked our trip to......Machu Picchu!!!!! This has been Allison at my best, ridiculously indecisive to the last. Viv was no help (well, you weren't, at least not until the final moments), and each day I'd wake up and think ok, Costa Rica, we're booking that today, and I'd say something to Viv to that effect, and then be texting her the following day to say, no it's Peru. And so on and so forth. To the point where I'd finally decided upon Costa Rica today, picked a package that I loved, which has a stay at a gorgeous eco lodge as part of it since Viv keeps talking about this program she saw on eco lodges in Costa Rica, or little bungalows as she says. I'd filled out the confirmation form, entered credit card numbers and everything, when Viv called and said we should do Peru since I've had my heart set on it. Long story short (too late, I know), we have put down a deposit on Peru! And actually, what Viv said was we should do both- save the other one for the end of the year ;) Somehow I think it may be a bit longer than that until we get there, especially if we actually do intend to do Thailand and Philippines next spring. I can't believe it, I'm going to see Machu Picchu at long last! My fascination with the Incas began with a report I did in the 6th grade, but that's a story for another time.

I was also trying to coordinate a chunk of 2-3 days while I'm home to go and see my grandfather in Michigan-- it's a bit tricky, what with the wedding in Boston and the trip to Peru, and trying to work with my parents' schedules, so I don't know if it will happen yet. Unfortunately, no one was at home when I called this evening, so I haven't gotten very far at this point.

However, I am going to Dartmoor National Park with a bunch of people on another Backabush tour for the first holiday weekend in May. And I've started to look at fares for Vermont week with the fam (Heilalas and Johnsons and Burks, oh my) in July. Heard back from Virgin Airways finally, in regard to my complaint following my flight back to the UK after Christmas. They gave me 5000 miles back in my account, which I suppose is something, although I would have appreciated say 250 pounds toward a future flight a lot more. Especially knowing I will need flights to the States mid-summer and again in November for Jenn's wedding. Ah well.

I hope to post more about Wales and put up some pics tomorrow night. Namaste. :)

Some "Me" Time

I am off for my yoga and hiking weekend in the Brecon Beacons in Wales, later on this afternoon. I am very much looking forward to it, and it seems like the weather may be in a mood to cooperate. I'm packing my rain jacket just in case though, it will be Wales after all!

I was on the verge of booking the Costa Rica package for me and Viv last night, when I suddenly realized I'm thinking about Peru and Machu Picchu all the time....specifically thinking it will be "Holy Week" while we are there, and although I'm not very religious, I am very spiritual. And I guess I'm thinking the 4-day trek (camping) to Machu Picchu will be more meaningful in that sense. Hmmm.

Back online Sunday or Monday.

Mind games

A big pet peeve of mine-- people who bottle things up until it is too late to do anything to address the problem because it has gone beyond the stage of possibly being fixed before the other party had any idea there even was a problem, or until they explode inappropriately. We had a bit of a bru-ha-ha at the ole homestead this evening over our recent electricity bill. As has been all over the news lately, there has been a huge rate increase for electricity and gas here in Britain. Actually in everything it seems, because they just increased the fare for all public transportation too, as apparently they do every New Years' Day. Argh. But anyway, I recently bought a decent size electric heater at Homebase, which I then left in our lounge until I brought it into work. Our office, which is on an abandoned ward, can be very cold, and we all decided to contribute a few pounds each toward an electric heater. Now, our recent electric bill was pretty high, higher than our gas bill in fact, and someone decided the huge increase from when the bill was last paid in October until now, must have been due to the fact that I'm using electric heaters all the time. And wrote a nasty, accusatory email with offensive language, stating they were not going to pay a full third of the bill when I was the one using so much electricity. I now have an apology, after I gave an explanation of where the electric heater actually lives (as above), but I really don't like this style of communication. There was no reason for this whole thing to ever have been played out with such drama and disrespect, when it could have been dealt with diplomatically face to face. As it eventually was, once everyone was home together tonight-- But the damage had already been done from the awful email earlier in the day. Final tally: it's the electricity company to blame with large rate increase, not any individual in our house using tons and tons of electricity.

Now, this person is not British, but it did get me to reflecting over the past almost year I have lived here... I have found that the British stereotype of being very reserved and not discussing feelings and not bringing up problems until (quite often) it's too late, is still alive and doing very well in Blighty. I've run into this obstacle in several important instances, and it's like banging your head against a brick wall, "If you'd only said something to me, I had no idea!..." Very, very, very frustrating to know a situation might have been avoided or resolved, some compromise reached, if only you had known what the other person was thinking or feeling. Again, this is not to say that every British national fits this stereotype, but you do get to often wishing you were a mind reader over here. Sheesh.

It was a very mild day here today, around 60ish (15 degrees Celsius), which would have made for a nice run, but I'm very much not inclined to run in Leytonstone-- let me just diplomatically say it's not inspiring at all. So it was the treadmill at the gym again for me. However, as a birthday gift, my parents gave me a 3-month subscription to demandfitness.com, which came with a 4th month free. I signed up yesterday, and I must say I am very impressed! Over 150 classes, which include everything from yoga, pilates, fitness ball, ab workouts, cardio workouts, you name it, different levels available for each class, all available on demand via streaming video. Very cool. I'll let you know in a month or so how I'm getting on with it as a supplement to my gym membership!

Is it written in the stars?

I'm not a believer in horoscopes, though I do find them amusing from time to time. And for some reason, during my birthday month, I always feel compelled to check them out. I do tend to read both Capricorn and Aquarius, since my birthday is right on the cusp, but here are two of my favorites both from Capricorn:

On my birthday - "To a certain extent, every Capricorn begins a new cycle at the time of the new moon in your sign. It's just that because it takes place on your birthday, this marks a turning point of serious proportions. While leaving parts of the past behind may require courage, in doing so you're clearing the way for the promising developments in the future that will come your way from here onward."

And from this week- "Drink plenty of water, dear Capricorn, in order to keep your system properly hydrated. Water is the most important part of your diet, and it is likely that you are not drinking nearly enough. Being a water sign means that this element is the foundation of your being, making you extremely emotional, caring, and sensitive. Make sure to distance yourself from people who try to suck this life force from you."

This cottage caught my eye on our walk on Sunday, in particular I think because of its own cute little post box set into the stone wall (right side of the photo).

In case you can't get the perspective from the picture, this is actually a police dog training ground (the jumps and walls being much smaller than those used for horses). We passed along beside it on our walk through the hills of Guildford...

Rob and Nicole, probably both with the pub already on their minds as this was the second half of our walk!

More birthday fun

So, on Friday I had a very nice evening, catching up with an old high school friend. He'd been in London for a week on business, and was actually looking around to find a flat for himself and his wife. He'll be moving here next month for a year or so, on a contract through the American company he works for...and his wife, lucky devil, will spend the year traveling around Europe as she pleases, since she will not be working over here. We had dinner at a little tapas place near Hyde Park, and finished at a lovely wine bar in Covent Garden. It was very nice to have someone treat me to dinner and drinks, and also to hear from someone who hasn't seen me in years that I look good ;) Apparently, I'm very fashionable too! Oh, and, a girl who was a good friend and teammate in high school is moving to Spain in July, just after she and her fiance get married-- I now have her email, and as the saying goes, good things come to those who wait-- guess I'll be going to Madrid after all, sometime later this year!

Saturday I was pottering around home, doing home management tasks as we would call them at work, relaxing, and sleeping. But early Sunday morning, I was up and out of the house, and on a train for my last trip out to see Rob and Nicole in Guildford, before they move. It was a beautiful morning, a bit windy, but a bit sunny too. We went for 4 mile hike in the hills around Guildford-- there's some beautiful countryside right near their flat. They then drove me to the Half Moon Pub in Windlesham, near Bracknell, which used to be a favourite of my parents'...every time they had guests whilst they were living in England, they took them to this pub. It had changed a bit- there was an addition to the pub, in which they now have a proper restaurant, still keeping the pub bit of course. The big dog was missing, and there was no fire as it was too warm for one, but otherwise it was exactly as I remembered it. The food was just as yummy, and I had some Hogs Back T.E.A. (Traditional English Ale), which really went down a treat! I hadn't been familiar with that brewery until I went to the Reading Beer Festival last spring, but now I definitely look for it when I'm at country pubs. And thus ended my week-long birthday celebration, although technically my yoga and hiking weekend in Wales coming up on Friday is a birthday gift to myself.

Lots of stuff happening at work, but I'm still processing info from the Bobath course I was at on Thursday and Friday, and need to do some reflections for my CPD on what I learned, as well as update my CV, so I'll get into what's happening with my patients another time.

Looks like Viv and I are leaning toward Peru, final decision probably tomorrow or Wednesday. :)

One from the pros

This company, Tilllate.com, sends photographers to the big club nights, all over Europe. They were at ClubClass as MoS this past Saturday, so here's one I found on their web site of me and some of the girls.PS- I saw the big red fox again today on the pedestrian underpass of the Green Man Roundabout...I'm beginning to think he's good luck, and I get such a rush of happiness when I see him.

A brief interlude with snow

Lots of things happening around here. I woke up this morning to find an inch of snow on the ground- good packing snow too!!! It was gone by the time I left work this afternoon though :( Most of you probably know I absolutely love snow, so unfortunately this was just kind of a tease. Guess I'd better put together a ski weekend in Austria or something if I want to really see some snow this winter. It's finally starting to act like winter, what with this small bit of snow, and I actually had to wear my winter coat one day this week. I suppose it's too much to hope for a real snow storm around these parts.

I've got some more pics from my birthday weekend, although I've realized I didn't take any at the pub on Friday night. Oops. It was such a crazy day at work, with me running around like a chicken with its head cut off, I guess I was just too busy relaxing with friends and colleagues to think of my camera at the bottom of my bag.

Speaking of birthdays, my blog is officially one year old today. Who knew I'd keep this up for that long?! It certainly helped to keep me sane during my day hospital rotation. I don't blog as often now as I did whilst working there, but I still look forward to writing, and getting emails with people's responses and comments. Although, y'all do still remember you can click on the word "comment" and leave a comment right on the blog, yeah? ;)

Oh, and speaking of birthdays again, my Dad's is coming up. He and my mom were in Florida this past weekend for a surprise 60th birthday for Jenn's mom, at the Disney World resort. Yup, whilst I was partying here in London, they were partying in Orlando. Oh yeah, and Tress was partying in DC since she is still hanging around home for medical treatment of her arms (poor thing, she's bored stiff and can't wait to be cleared to go back to Africa). We get around as a family, eh? So my mom, sister, and I arranged for a luxury bass fishing trip for my Dad whilst he was down there-- I initially wanted to send him deep sea fishing, but for various reasons, we switched to bass fishing closer to Orlando. I think that's probably the first original gift I've ever thought of for my Dad. I always try to get personal when I give gifts, and I'm usually pretty successful, but I've been stumped for as far back as I can remember with my Dad. Oh, he's a Terry Pratchett fan, so I always buy the latest books, he loves puzzles, so I get interesting puzzles for him...but I was very proud of this fishing idea, and apparently he had a great time. Yay!

Tomorrow begins the second module of my Bobath course, which I am very excited about, so I'll just post a few more pics now, and then I need to read through the material we were given for tomorrow. One of my patients has been chosen to be our patient model, so I'm really looking forward to getting normal movement treatment ideas for her!

Nicole and Rob, looking like the cat who swallowed the canary for some reason. He got his passport back with fiance visa in place by post yesterday, big sigh of relief for them, the wedding can go ahead as scheduled! Keep scrolling down for more pics of just some of the people celebrating with me on Saturday night...

Sarah and Andy, whom I met through Jo

Jodie and her husband Rayman, who are Australian. You may remember hearing Jodie mentioned as my savior whilst working at the day hospital- I got to work with her on the wards in the afternoons.

Jo and James, who've just bought a little house in Clifton-Upon-Dunsmore (near Rugby)

Me, Karen and Jo, who was apparently giving me bday kisses ;)

Erm, I don't know...some lucky random clubber who was in the right place at the right time to get a birthday hug from me ;)

What a weekend

Well, my birthday weekend was a blast...I had half a thought to extend it and take one of my remaining annual leave days on Monday to make it a long three-day weekend, but then I remembered a home visit I had scheduled, so off I went to work yesterday. That's okay though, I'll take that day off on Friday Feb 2nd, which is the weekend of my yoga and hiking trip to the Brecon-Beacons in Wales. And then I've allocated my other three remaining annual leave days to a trip back to the States. I found an amazing fare online, so I will be going home for a couple of days, driving up to Boston for Nicole and Rob's wedding, then coming back to NJ in time to catch a flight to Peru or Costa Rica with Viv (we're deciding and booking everything this week), followed by a couple more days at home before I come back to the UK. Woohoo, let the new annual leave time begin! Five weeks of vacation a year definitely does make Allison a happy little worker bee. No word yet on my next rotation or potential move to Senior II, but you can bet I'll be posting on here when I do.

Anywho, on Saturday, we went to this amazing little restaurant/bar in Shoreditch called Cantaloupe. Limited menu,with a Spanish-North African influence, but everything was delicious! Everyone absolutely loved the meal, and it turned out to be quite the popular bar as well. Our meal ran pretty late, and the bar was just rammed by the time we left. 15 people decided to sing "Happy Birthday" at the top of their lungs (a few of those were big blokes with some sizeable lung power) and I was burning bright red by the end of the rendition, realizing quite a bit of the bar had joined in...I was bombarded with calls of "Speech, speech, speech" and then forced to deliver one standing in front of both strangers and friends. As embarrassing as that was, however, it was also a lot of fun, and I got a taste for being up higher than everyone else-- I later took advantage of the speakers at Ministry of Sound to dance on a stage, as it were. Technically not allowed, according to a sign posted on the speakers, but then nobody kicked me off either. Ministry was fun, although the "house" music tended toward techno and electronica. Around 2am, a live band went on, which I loved, but the headliner DJ who was on from 3:15 to 4:30 or so was a bit of a let-down, even for Nicole's boyfriend Dave who had been really looking forward to hearing this guy spin. But regardless, it was a great night, and I spent most of Sunday sleeping to recover, only getting up to join Nicole and Dave for a curry in the late afternoon. After which we watched Arsenal beat out Manchester United-- our house being Arsenal supporters :) I've got a few pictures below from Nicole's camera, haven't uploaded mine yet. Again, thanks to everyone for the cards, messages, flowers, and pressies!

I think that this was just after they'd finishing singing, and everyone was starting to realize most of the bar had been singing along...you can see I've already flushed red.

One of the side rooms at MoS had a cool leather bed with chain links hanging down all around it.

Looks like we're up to something, doesn't it...

Me and some of the girls...Nicole, Kate, Jodie, and Jo at the bottom (there were two Jo's there, the Jo you'll see in the next pic is a different one).

Not the greatest pic, but that's me and Jo, up on the speakers at MoS! And funnily enough, you can see one of my heels attached to the strap on Jo's bag.

"Go shorty, it's your birthday...

We're gonna party like it's your birthday. We're gonna sip on Bacardi like it's your birthday"
# # # # # # # #

"Oh, what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day. I got a beautiful feelin', everything's goin' my way"
# # # # # # # #

I know, I know, it's a horrific mix of genres, but it is my birthday, and for the first time in a while, it is a beautiful day. The sun is shining, and although there are setbacks happening on the stroke unit this morning, it seems like nothing can get me down. Many thanks for the birthday messages and e-cards I have already received earlier today!!!! I woke up and stumbled downstairs as the zombie I normally am in the mornings, only to find a big sign plastered onto our hallway mirror that said "OVER THE HILL" highlighted in bright orange with a picture of an old lady knitting. I think I woke up both Nicole and Leeanne, I was laughing so hard. It is such a typically American way to take the piss, I knew immediately it was Nicole who put it there.

I have two sad stories this morning-- one of my little elderly ladies was scheduled to go home on Monday, which was already a delay from the original date of discharge this past Wednesday. She is the first person I have ever met who was "in service." She was a maid in the household of a posh Welsh family, and has loads of fascinating stories. She now can't leave on Monday, because they want to do an MRI and see if she needs surgery for a blocked carotid artery. If I were her family (and they are very unhappy about this), I would complain, because her D/C had been scheduled, she'd had a previous scan where they told her they thought everything was ok, and now at the last minute have changed their minds. And then there's another lady in her 60s, ready to go home for a visit this weekend, and then be discharged a week from Monday, but she did something very unsafe last night (poor insight and safety awareness can be such a problem with patients who've had a stroke), fell, and fractured her femur. So, no weekend visit, and she's being transferred to the orthopaedic ward.

But at the risk of sounding uncaring (which you all know I'm not), the sun is still shining, and I am not going to be brought low today. I will deal with these problems as they arise, comfort my patients, and keep my sunny mood. Happy Friday to you all, and Happy Birthday to me! Lots of love, Allison.

The Birthday Week

I was at one of my quarterly AMPs meetings this afternoon, which means I was at the Institute for Neurology in Queen's Square. This put me within short walking distance of Covent Garden. Some simple addition: It's January. I am the only person I know who has plenty of money left until next payday on the 31st. My birthday is on Friday. And the January sales are on...so yes, this equals Allison went shopping. For as much as I have boasted that I don't shop, I save my money for travel, this month, I broke that rule. Got some great stuff, and boy was it fun :)

Plans are coming together for the weekend. On Friday for the benefit of my co-workers, I decided to stay close by, and chose a pub that's a popular meeting spot for work things. I invited everyone on the stroke unit at the beginning of this week, and the OT team from the day hospital too. This morning I was in the main department for our weekly meeting with the acute stroke unit, and saw a big sign plastered on the door of the main office telling everyone to come out for my bday after work on Friday (thanks to Nicole, the little sneak who emailed someone in that office). So Friday has actually turned into quite the big event. But Saturday is the still the night we will be painting the town red. I've just now made reservations for 14 people for a restaurant/club in Shoreditch. We'll have some drinks at a bar or two in Shoreditch after dinner, during which time about 6 more people will be joining us. And finally around 11:30 or so we'll end up at Ministry of Sound, where at last count 10 more people will be arriving. I have a fabulous new birthday outfit with some new red lipstick too-- I figure this birthday calls for a little drama, don't you?!

"15 Minutes"

Last week, in one of the free London dailies, there was a picture of a guy riding on the underground, looking like a working stiff-- Ipod earbuds, bored look, wearing shirt and suit jacket with a poppy pinned to it. (As the news story later revealed the photo was taken during November, a time where many people wear the poppies because they are a symbol of Remembrance Day- equivalent to our Veteran's Day). The photo was apparently taken on the sly by a girl from Bavaria visiting London. She was too shy to approach him, but not too shy to take a picture. After returning back home, she apparently regretted being too shy, and started emailing his picture all over the place (the news story says it circulated among 1000s of Londoners), in the hopes that someone would recognize him, and help her to get in touch. I guess the email landed on someone's desk at this paper, they published her story and the photo, and within a day, he was found...Ben Moon, 27, and newly single as of 2 weeks ago. Talk about your timing! The paper is now offering to fly this tourist back to London to have a date with Ben, once the two potential lovebirds have agreed on a weekend. So for a short while here, at least until the date happens I presume, these two have landed themselves their very own 15 minutes of London fame It's a funny old world :)

And in other news, there is actually a serious campaign happening at the moment, sponsored by the Scottish National Party, to have Scotland separate itself from the United Kingdom. More at the BBC web site. So let me add, it's also a crazy old world.

News from the world of CVAs

Hardly feels like 2007, eh? Not all of 2006 passed in a flash for me, in particular those bits related to my rotation at the day hospital. Unfortunately now on my stroke unit rotation, it's like my life is on fast forward. I have less than 3 months left, and I try hard not to think about the withdrawal I'll probably experience once it's done. Everyone on the team would love to have me repeat the rotation, but it's too popular of a rotation- there's no way the Head OT will let me do that. So my only hope to stay in stroke world is the acute unit, which is on the Senior II rotation. I'm still waiting on word from the Head OT as to whether she'll be allowed to hire to that rotation. If the answer is yes, I'll probably be interviewing in late February, and assuming I were to get one of the posts, I'd most likely be slotted into Orthopaedics until the Senior II rotation changes in early July. At that point, fingers crossed, I'd be assigned to the acute stroke unit. In the meantime, I'm still looking at all the job adverts I can find, as what I really want is to be on a stroke rehab unit. Since I can't continue on the unit here after March, I have to look at other hospitals, and hope they don't count my need for a work permit against me, like the Homerton did (very famous regional hospital in East London, with specialisation in assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of higher level cognitive disorders-- for example, Dysexecutive Function). I have a guy on my caseload right now as a matter of fact, who is fully functional on a physical level, but unable to cope with problems/new settings/changes/novelty because of higher level cognitive deficits caused by his stroke. He's been accepted to the Homerton, but there's a long long waiting list for a bed, and we're pulling our hair out because we're not specialised enough to provide him with the treatment he really needs whilst he's waiting for a Homerton bed. Which could still take more than 2 months. Argh.

Technical Difficulties

I apologize, although I changed my playlist at Loudfusion.com on Wednesday, they seem to be taking much longer than usual to catch up. Previously, it has taken up to 24 hours or so for the player on my blog to reflect changes I make to my playlist at the Loudfusion web site. Not sure what's happening at the moment, but if need be, I'll take the player down next week, since unfortunately, Christmas is over, until next December at least...

Tune

This is a relatively new song here in the UK by Mika, it's called "Grace Kelly" and I doubt it has hit the US yet. Catchy... and as they say here, "Tune!" (pronounced like Toooooooon) It's the only thing on my MP3 player for the moment, but I won't leave it on too long for fear of boring y'all. :)

Ramblings

I've been having trouble falling asleep the past couple of nights...I suppose it doesn't help that I got the TV series Bones and NUMB3RS on DVD for Christmas, and the episodes can be gruesome. I find that my patients run through my head a lot as I toss and turn. Funny how, even with six patients, which I consider to be a light caseload, there never seems to be enough time to do everything I want to do for my patients, to do everything they deserve. I guess part of that problem is that OTs in this country are at least half social workers as well. Today in particular I spent probably 3/4 of my day on the phone with various patient issues. During our multi-disciplinary meeting, we were interrupted 5 times, all calls for me with regard to one or another of my patients. The rehab assistant was all apologetic for taking me out of the meeting, but these weren't issues she could just take a message about.

Anywho, I've been craving a latte this week. I think I must be growing up, I had two coffees during the holiday week. An eggnog latte when I met up with Rob and Nicole at Heathrow on the 23rd, since we were all flying out the same day. And a peppermint mocha latte whilst I was home. I'm sure at least a few of you are groaning, thinking to yourself, ha! that's not coffee, the same way I get protestations when I call california or avocado rolls, sushi. But hey, for a girl who has shunned coffee all her life, this is a big thing. I'm using my hours off from the relative group I ran in the beginning of December to take off from work early on Friday, and do a bit of January sales shopping. Maybe I'll treat myself to a latte then. :)

I was also remembering my trip to Macys at 7am on Christmas Eve, whilst lying in bed last night or the night before. Nature called, so I turned to the sales lady and asked where the nearest toilet would be...she stared at me, and finally said, "Ah....you mean the bathroom?" Which made it my turn to stare at her. Finally, I burst out laughing and said," Yes, I mean the bathroom, I'm sorry I forgot I'm back in the States. That was rude, I'm very sorry." At which point she started laughing, and pointed a finger in the direction I needed to go. My mom was also in hysterics, having lived in England herself for 4 years, and made some crack along the lines of "What country do you think you're in, lady?" An observation: I think the English are rather European, which explains a lot of phrases that they use, and it's common across Europe to ask for the toilet, or perhaps WC, a bathroom being more that place where you take a bath or shower. But generally speaking, I do think I've absorbed more of the British culture, it has become more second nature, than it was when I first arrived.

I've been out tonight for a leaving do for the speech therapist on our unit. She's moving on to a research position elsewhere, and a lot of people, not just from the stroke unit, went for drinks and a meal at the local pub. I am a big fan of the pub life, as I've said before, it's an addictive piece of British culture that makes you feel cozy, intimate, generally warm and fuzzy all over. City pubs can't compare to country pubs for the most part, but pubs are homey places, and I love whiling away the time with friends, down the pub. It was also a great time to keep building the buzz for my bday plans. Paris is not happening, that's a definite, we couldn't get a big enough group together and I think you need that energy for a night where you are out partying until 9 or 10 in the morning. Also, many people are currently experiencing money problems-- you see, we get paid early in December because of Xmas-- specifically we were paid on 20 Dec. And we don't get paid again until 31 Jan. So many people have already spent most or all of that money they got in December, and cannot afford Paris this month...so we've agreed we will do the Eurostar party fare and cabaret night a different month, probably this summer actually. But Plan B ain't too shabby either-- we're going to Ministry of Sound, baby!! Huge nightclub in London, known worldwide for the famous DJs who play there, they put out compilation CDs every year, mostly house music. I knew I'd have to go at least once, and this is the perfect excuse. It's not an expensive entrance fee either, so we'll have dinner and drinks first, haven't decided where yet, and then we'll dance our hearts out from midnight to 7am. And this plan is drawing a big crowd of people to join me, both because it's reasonable on their wallets, and you mention Ministry of Sound and people are hooked. So I'll do something more low key for my actual birthday on the Friday, and ramp it up big time for a massive Saturday night out on the town!

My Horoscope

"Your values could undergo a 180-degree turnaround today, dear Capricorn. Recent developments in the world, in your community, among your circle of friends, and within yourself could cause you to realize that you and everyone around you is, like it or not, going through a transformation. This is always a little disconcerting for the traditionally oriented Sea Goat, but it's a positive development. Take things one day at a time and see where they take you. You'll like the results!"

Two peas in a pod

A Zen koan, to paraphrase:

If you want to find something, you have to stop looking.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

And, she's back

I went to the GP yesterday. What a mess that was. They only had one doctor, or so they said-- it looked like two when I got there-- so I couldn't actually make an appt, but had to call the morning I wanted to go in, and they would give me a time. I missed a half day of work due to that little system, argh. Anyway, I didn't want to see the doctor they offered, I've had him before, but that's what they offered. So I walked in, sat down, and the first thing I said to him was, "I'm here because I've had a cold since October 22" and proceeded to describe my symptoms and what I've done for my cold. He listed to my chest, found it to be clear, and began to tell me I should keep using expectorant cough syrups to get rid of the phlegm and paracetemol for headaches. I was at a loss for words, I just stared at him...so he said, well, look, you've only had this for a couple of weeks, right? And I said, "NO, since October 22! I would never normally come in for just a cold!" His eyes widened a bit, and in a quiet voice, he said "Oh, ok then, we'll try some antibiotics." I just love doctors who don't listen to a word that comes out of your mouth. By tomorrow, I should know whether they're making a difference or not, although I think already that perhaps they are. Touch wood.

A summary of my holiday week at home: I was on the wrong time zone all week. I woke up at 4am the first day, and got better by about a half hour each morning, so by the time I left, I was "sleeping in" until about 7am. I had my best night of sleep on January 1, which was my first night back in London...hey Midge, does that mean that GMT is actually the time zone my body wants to be in? (I remember you saying the US felt like the right time zone to you.) I did quite a bit of shopping, taking advantage of the excellent exchange rate (well, for those of us who live in the UK anyway), and my mom's generosity. On Christmas Eve, we were in Macy's by 7am, since I'd been up at 4am and was bored by the time Mom got up around 6am. I went with Tress to her hand doctor appt- we both decided the guy was an idiot, given that he didn't do any testing of strength, function, or sensation, didn't ask for a history of the problem, didn't look at her splints, and discussed one potential diagnosis with us, but wrote down something completely different as diagnosis on her prescription for therapy. Oh, and I especially loved the part where he told her to go get some blood tests done to see if it was arthritis or fibromyalgia! Thankfully, Tressa didn't really know what that was, but it scared the hell out of me the way he just tossed the term out casually, and without explaining it to her. Fibromyalgia is widespread pain affecting muscles, ligaments and tendons all over the body, is quite severe, and lasts for years. Nope, no thanks. Anywho, I had the name of another hand surgeon recommended by an OT I'd met through housemate Nicole, and we got her an appointment with that doctor for two days later. He seemed to be competent, and told her he thinks she has tennis elbow in both arms, suspects she has muscle tears at both elbows, and that the pain in her wrists and hands is referred from the elbows. No one seems to know exactly why the pain travels along her forearms as well, the radial nerve tunnel on both arms- she underwent a rather painful nerve conduction test at his office yesterday to make sure there's no nerve damage. And he told her no physio- just relax and try not to do things that aggrevate her arms (to the extent that is possible).

We spent Christmas Day with the Florys, Jenn and I continuing our tradition of cooking a gourmet feast for our families, although a toned down version since no one wants to work hard on Christmas Day. Standing rib roast, shrimp fra diavolo, twice-baked potatoes filled with cheese, shrimp, and sour cream, cauliflower au gratin, and pannetonne trifle for dessert. I've got a few pics from that day, see below.

Spent a lovely spa day with Viv and Rhonda, I had a Swedish massage, manicure and pedicure. And an absolutely delicious meal at Delta's in New Brunswick, a soul food restaurant- blackened catfish, mm-mmm.

We entertained the Heilalas at our house, played some Wizard, learned an addictive new game called Blokus, and generally had a good time.

I visited with a previous patient of mine from when I worked at Roosevelt, he has come a long way in recovering from his stroke. It was really amazing to see what he has accomplished since going home, and I enjoyed catching up with him and his wife.

Oh, yes, and Viv delivered the bad news that since she has just bought a new townhouse and does not yet have renters for the old condo (poor baby, she's just racking up the assets), she has backed out of our trip to Thailand and Philippines we've been planning for the last year. Therefore, I am thinking I will attend Nicole and Rob's wedding in Boston the last weekend in March after all, or at least I hope to, and I am trying to plan a trip to Peru (Machu Picchu at long last!) or Costa Rica from the US whilst I am there.

Oh, and it looks like I will be going to Paris for my bday after all!!!! Two takers so far, and I'm thinking more people will say yes...how can you say no to an authentic top-notch Parisian cabaret, I mean come on! You can't say no. It's going to be fabulous...

This pic was used for the 2006 Johnson Family xmas photocard. Some of you may find them in your mailbox this week...

We girls were very good this year...we rated a personal visit!

The family Flory. My Jenn is in the middle, with her fiance Chris next to her.