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Emma's Journal
Jul. 14th, 2009
08:41 pm - Right...
At the ball (the evening out we don't mention due to my own personal shame), the hot guy from next-door had a working ticket and I remember talking to him at the poker table he was running. Unfortunately, after that I drank tequila and absinthe and I don't remember anything else, but for some reason, now he is saying hello to me all the time and being really nice. And he's really hot. Especially given that he's a physicist. And he has really good facial hair...
What on earth did I do/say that evening?!
05:55 pm - Bleh Bleh Bleh Bleh
I have reached an all-new low. The only thing in my life which I'm actually pleased with at the moment is my thesis. This is just a miserable state of affairs. I was going to just pull the covers over my head and stay in bed today, but it was the thought of my thesis that actually got me dressed and into the office after lunch today. And now I'm home again I feel miserable once more.
This is just wrong.
I also think I'm getting sick as I've got a horribly-sore throat and the sniffles, and at the weekend I discovered I'm allergic to one of the few fruits I actually like - cherries. I discovered this because I ate some and then my lips swelled up and I looked like I'd had some sort of collogen-injection-related mishap in the style of Lesley Ash or Posh Spice. My sister Facebook'd me earlier to say she has swine flu (although I'm not sure if she was joking) so she is probably a lot worse off than I am right now.
Not even Michael Vartan in black tie is cheering me up.
Jul. 10th, 2009
08:22 pm - If It Ain't That Good At Least It's Pretty
This is the new mantra behind my thesis. Today I decided that it was time I bit the bullet and sorted out all the formatting which I have been dying to fix in my thesis. This includes putting headers and stuff in. It took me 90 minutes to work out how to remove page numbers from the first pages of each chapter. As much as I love LaTeX and all its type-setting wonder, sometimes I wish it made things a little more obvious. I also changed the font to a sans-serif one because the serifs are driving mad when I read it on the screen. But then this meant I had to go back and remake a load of figures with a different font so they'd blend in better. However, the upshot of it all is that my thesis is actually beautiful. So it doesn't matter if the results it may (or may not) contain are wrong, because it'll be nice to look at.
I'm on my own in Oxford next week. Literally, I will be THE authority on supernovae as everyone else is buggering off to Bonn for a workshop. I really wish I was going because it'll be an excellent networking event, but I was told that I couldn't spare the time. Which actually isn't strictly true because I am doing really well. There are 2 months to go until my self-imposed deadline, but really there is only 2 or 3 weeks of actual writing left to go. I think next week I'm going to tackle all but a small bit of my introduction which I'm waiting for a review paper to come out on in August because then I won't have to research any references. And then think about how to plot all my data which is the page-limit-reaching task I have been putting off for months.
And, just to prove how in control of everything I am, I emailed an English-speaking letting agency in Pisa today. I will not be phased by moving to a new country, I will not be phased by moving to a new country.
Other than that, I am doing rather well. You know, it's funny how little things make me see big things a lot more clearly. IBC forgot my birthday this week and when I subtley pointed out that perhaps he might like to wish me a belated happy birthday he a) refused and was really rude, and b) sulked because I hadn't invited him out for dinner with all the astro people on Wednesday. I can't invite him out with the people I work with because no one would talk to him because they all hate him for making me miserable and treating me badly. I did not want to mark my 25 birthday with a bar brawl. But, do you know what? I don't actually care. I'm sorry, but I'm one of those people who gets really excited about their birthday and, despite the little self-confidence I have at the best of time, my birthday is the one day per year where I get things my way. Not because I'm the prettiest, or the smartest, or the nicest, but just because I happen to be born on that day and it's my day. So he can fuck off as far as I'm concerned. I really couldn't give a monkey's.
I am celebrating this new-found joy with an Alias DVD detox (because Alias episodes over breakfast is just WRONG and distracting for the rest of the day). But I did find all the remaining DVDs going really cheap on Amazon the other day so that should pretty much see me through until the end of the summer... But (because you shouldn't deny yourself the things you love), here is a lovely Michael Vartan pic to add to my collection.
Actually, that reminds me of something I'm really going to miss about Oxford - just randomly bumping into people in the street in black tie, like it's the most normal thing in the world...!
Oooh almost time for Torchwood...
Jul. 9th, 2009
09:07 pm - Do-Bee-Do
I had a thoroughly lovely evening out for my birthday yesterday. It was a joint thing with another one of the guys from the office whose birthday is tomorrow. There were 25 of us all together in an Italian restaurant and it was just lovely for us all to be together for once and not talking about work.
I've not really done a great deal this week except watch a lot of Alias and do a bit of work. Everything is very slowly coming together and, bless him, our post-doc who is off on a conference/holiday tomorrow is being a total legend. He is infinitely more helpful than my supervisor and doing loads of stuff for me. It means I'm going to be very busy for a while with some hard work to do, but in the end I think it will be worth it as it will completely put my mind at rest about something.
I am currently banned from listening to the cricket in the office as it means I end up getting no work done. It's not like I'm missing a great English victory or anything. I'm just frustrated at my own lack of discipline. I do love the TMS commentary. They spend very little time talking about the actual match and more time just having a jolly chat and telling anecdotes.
That's it really. There have been no great events in my life, except I had a massive rant about my research council this afternoon for sending us a really retarded questionnaire which is completely irrelevant and just a waste of my time. I almost emailed someone about it, but then I thought they'd probably turn round and ask me how I'd improve it and I can't be bothered with that - I just wanted a rant!
Anyway... I've been keeping a half-eye on Torchwood so I'd better have another watch.
Jul. 7th, 2009
11:09 pm - Early-Onset Old-Age
So I managed to wander out of my shared office today forgetting my keys, only to wander back and find it locked and completely in the dark. The office contained:
my keys
my purse
my phone
my take-home back-up of my thesis (if the building burns down tonight I might die)
the dress I bought at lunchtime to wear for my birthday party tomorrow (yes I'm 6 and I bought a party dress)
my new conditioner and shower gel as mine ran out this morning
my copy of heat magazine
my diary (goodness knows what I'm supposed to be doing tomorrow morning)
the birthday present for someone that I needed to wrap tonight
Gaaaaaaaaaaah. Thank goodness someone was here to let me in when I got home.
Jul. 5th, 2009
09:37 pm - Spy-Tastic
Ok... I'll admit that I'm obsessed with spies. I don't know how slowly this has been coming on, but there's something about international men of mystery that I cannot shake out of my mind. I bought myself the second series of Alias today and I'm counting down the days until the next series of Spooks is out to buy (12 October). It doesn't help that (on TV at least) they all seem good-looking, suave, and burly men of action. They're like rugby-players (more on that in a minute) but in sharp suits, and getting stuck in with criminals rather than at the scrum. This also means that their ears are less prone to that strange cauliflower look most of the forwards get (esp unattractive if it's on one ear), but still maintain that element of danger where you know they could come home covered in dirt, sweat, blood and likely a black eye.
There's also that element of danger about them, that at any moment they could go rogue on you. It's like the bad-boy thing, but knowing that underneath it all there is a strong sense of morality and a willingness to only bend the law in a good way that will probably make them look really strong and sexy.
....
Anyway, back to another lovely subject: rugby players. I watched the Lions beat South Africa yesterday evening which was a lovely way to take 2 hours off my thesis. Then last night/this morning I dreamed that my friend Lisa was living with Tom Croft, this rather attractive English player, and she wanted to set me up with him. I think this was rather wishful thinking on my part. He plays in the same position as Richie McCaw (a moment of respectful silence please) and he's got the usual dark hair, broad chest, facial hair thing going on that seems to be my MO at the moment. Lisa thought this was hilarious when I told her this morning.
Today my parents and Lil' Sis came up for celebrate Dad's and my birthdays. We had a really, really nice lunch. It was especially nice seeing Lil' Sis because she was on exceptional form. Dad seemed a little distracted and off in a little world of his own, but Mum, Sis and I had a thoroughly lovely time. And my mother had brought her sharp wit with her. It's not something we saw much of as kids because she can be really catty and that's not really what she wanted to teach us (we picked it up anyway), but now that we're older we're seeing it far more often. We were also teasing my sister because she refuses to put her finger up someone's bottom (she has to learn to rectal exams to be a doctor) and persuaded a consultant to sign her off after doing it on a plastic, sanitised model. And I quote "You still want to wash your hands afterwards. You just feel dirty. I'm never sticking my finger up someone's bum." And I just held back comments that just wanted to come spilling out.
They bought be lovely presents though. M&D bought me one of those electronic photo-frames which I'm so pleased with because now I'll get to actually look at all the places I've been rather than just storing them on my laptop. Lil Sis bought me some DVDs which should keep me out of mischief should HMV run out of Alias box sets. And my card from my half-brother and sister-in-law was also signed (on behalf of) my little nephew. It's so cute! I must go and meet him soon!
That's it really. Just another 8 and a bit hours until I'm officially 1/3 dead. I can feel wrinkles developing and my boobs heading towards my knees as I type. Is it time for me to start using night cream to stop neck wrinkles yet?
Jul. 3rd, 2009
10:49 pm - A day of nothing
Today I lazed around at work, but I don't count it as a day wasted because I prepared and presented a paper, cheered up a friend, went to a seminar and spent the afternoon learning Italiano and watching the tennis. None of this has contributed towards my thesis, except perhaps now I have a few more references to read, but I definitely didn't waste it all.
On the Italy front, there is some housing progress. I finally got an email translated to contact the landlady whose flat I viewed. (Supervisor go her hubby to do it for me. This is literally the most help she has been in ages) Today I received a reply (which I could understand!) saying that she (landlady) has to talk to her husband, but she'll give me the answer by tomorrow evening. So this time tomorrow I could have somewhere to live! I sent my Mum the Google map of it today with my office marked too and she thought it was the most genius thing ever! I vecchi!
I did a good few hours of learning Italian today and it really is quite easy to get to grips with. Once you get passed the fact that they do weird things to make things plural (just add an s like normal languages!) it's actually rather straight forward. I think I should also mention (once again) how much I love my text book. Unit 4's dialogues revolved around the fact that someone's 80 year-old grandma (sua nonna) has found herself a boyfriend (un ragazzo) who is 20 years younger that she is and who is a lawyer (fa l'avvocato). It really keeps me entertained and teaches me language I might actually use (I skipped ahead today and found in the next chapter how to say someone is really hot. I will definitely need that one)
Tomorrow I'm heading into the office to do the work I should have done this afternoon, but with a slight break mid-afternoon for some rugby at the university club. However, I've got my laptop set up so it should work on their wireless network so I could always do some work while I'm there, or take something to proof read or something. My supervisor now has 3 draft chapters to read so I'm really pleased with the way that's coming.
On Sunday my parents and my sister are coming up to Oxford. I said that I don't really have time to go home this weekend so could they come here for my birthday, which they agreed to, so we're all having lunch together on Sunday. I'm so pleased Lil' Sis is coming up too. Sometimes she has to go in for ward rounds on Sundays so it's nice that she's spending one of her few Sundays off with me :)
I spent this evening watching Alias. Seriously, why hadn't I realised how gorgeous Michael Vartan is until now? I mean, I realised he was good looking and all, but not hot (super buono, I seem to recall...) Ok I'm off to stalk him on the internet bed.
Jul. 2nd, 2009
01:42 pm - The News
1. We're not increasing or changing my pills. The doctor thinks it's a thinking thing and the shrink thinks it's a medical thing. Ah well.
2. I don't remember most of the ball I went to on Saturday night because I, rather stupidly, drank absinthe and tequilla and spent most of Sunday horizontal. All the photos of my look awful and I made someone take one on Facebook down because it was so embarrassing. Apparently I was a complete state and did various things that in the cold, hard light of day made me realise that I really have to cut down on my drinking.
3. I am cutting down on my drinking
4. My PhD works! I am so pleased! I now have results to actually write up and a conclusion which can be made. Wooooooo!
5. I am days away from being 25 and I feel really old. I think it's finally hit me that while I am still at university, I cannot behave in the same manner as I did when I was 18. For a start, my liver won't take it. And I need to take care of myself. One of the things I've realised in the past year is how fragile some parts of me are. I should't go out there and shatter myself just because.
6. It is so so so hot here. Those of you who have been watching the tennis will know we are in the middle of a heat wave at the moment and I am literally dripping my way through the day. And lusting after Andy Roddick. This is an important part of the Wimbledon fortnight for me.
7. My supervisor is here, but this doesn't mean she's "here". It's so frustrating. I feel like I'm doing this all by myself sometimes.
8. I got a compliment from one of my collaborators who is really hard to please (the one in California who didn't employ me) so I just think that it sucks to be him stuck with all these planet finding people next year and no supernova person to work with. Ha. That'll teach you to hire people who are doing "sexy physics" (urgh I hate that expression).
9. I read One Day by David Nicholls and I really, really loved it. It's been ages since I've felt this way about a book. You know, when you just want to meet the author and tell him how wonderful it was and thank him for writing things that you felt, but didn't know how to express in words?
10. (Because it's a round number) My new TV series obsessions are Gossip Girl and Alias. I don't know why, but I absolutely love them both. Well I know why. They're Matthew Settle and Michael Vartan. So shoot me. I'm shallow.
And that's the round-up from this part of the world. I should probably do some work now...
Jun. 23rd, 2009
08:25 pm - So...
I've not been feeling too great recently, since I got back from Japan to be honest, which culminated in me drowning my sorrows in a bottle of wine and thinking about doing some very stupid stuff on Sunday. I realised that perhaps I should talk to someone about it. Luckily I managed to get an appointment to see my psychologist at the uni today and she was really helpful. She thinks I need to go back to the GP though and maybe get my medication adjusted as this change was really sudden and it might be that we need to change my dosage or something. So I've got that to look forward to next Monday morning.
I don't know whether to be glad I recognised something was wrong, or be disappointed that I'm not "fixed" yet. Will I ever be fixed or will the worry of depression hang over me for the rest of my life? When will I be able to stop popping a couple of pills every morning which ensure I can make it through the day?
Anyway... enough thinking about crappy stuff. I am focussing on good stuff this evening. I thought I'd lost all my pictures as my back-up drive wouldn't mount on my laptop, but it's all good and I haven't lost the last 6 years of pictures. I really ought to burn them to DVD at some point... It's 8GB though which is rather a lot...
Other good news is that I am planning my birthday party for 2 weeks tomorrow. It's a joint thing with one of the guys whose birthday is a few days after mine. We're having a joint thing because he's too lazy to organise his own and is quite happy to go along with whatever I want. Woo! We (I) decided that we wouldn't have anything that would mean we couldn't do any work the next day so we're going for cocktails and then dinner at an Italian restaurant. It should be a really nice night with everyone.
It's the ball on Saturday night. We're going to the one at Linacre this year because it is a graduate-only college and won't be full of drunk 19 year olds and so might actually not be too ridiculous. Lisa's lending me her pearl jewellery to go with my amazing dress. It's the one I have to tape myself in, although this time I thought I'd experiment and try glue instead of tape - it might last longer and not be so affected by sweating (yeah you all really wanted to know that!). I've not decided what to do with my hair yet. I'm really not sure that I can be bothered to be totally honest. I might just blow dry it which is more of an effort than I'm going to most mornings these days. I just need to get a wrap, but I'm allowing myself this purchase (no money until the stipend cheque arrives next week) because it'll go with the shoes and bag I've already bought (hence the lack of money) and they'll go with all dresses for the rest of time. I really wanted a feather boa as the theme is vintage Vegas, but it's a silly purchase that I'll never use again and I can't be that arsed with themes anyway. My single bit of effort is that I'm going to wear bright red lipstick.
Anyway... time to get my recent photos off my camera and set-up and automated back-up for this computer so I don't have a panic about losing everything again. Woo!
Jun. 19th, 2009
05:06 pm - All Set
I'm all set for my weekend away. It's a totally ridiculous jaunt basically but it should be fun. I'm off home tonight for dinner with the parents and a bed to sleep in. Then tomorrow I'm going to Kent for Avril's (aka former Housemate A) wedding. I will have to see Kag (aka former Housemate K aka that bitch who made my life hell for a year), but I got offered a lift from the station today so I don't have to drive and I can just get drunk if she's there. Then I'm back home tomorrow night, although now I think about it I forgot to pack PJs so I hope there's something suitable in my room. Then on Sunday I'm going to Ascot Priory for church/a boozy buffet lunch done by some nuns so that will all be rather jolly.
And I am so impressed at myself. To save time, I have booked my train tickets in advance so I can just show up, stick my number in the machine and I don't have to queue. Woo! Get me. (It means I get an extra 10 minutes in bed each day)
In honour of the wedding I have been wearing my hat while sat at my desk; however this has not made me very productive as I keep getting distracted by my reflection in the window or computer screen, or by the dangly feathery bits. This hat is epically enormous. When I wore it to Buckingham Palace for Dad's CBE the people behind complained loudly that they couldn't see round it. It is that wonderful combination of being both wide and tall. And I'm glad it was Ladies' Day at Ascot yesterday, because my hat will seem completely normal after all the news coverage some of those crazy ones got.
Spoke to my supervisor today who said that she's going to be around a lot more over the summer. Hurrah! I might get to see her before I have to submit my thesis! I've had 2 phone calls this week which has to be a record. We spent most of today talking in circles about my samples and which objects are in which sample, but in the end we managed it and came up with a good idea. Now I just have to get this code to work... Story of my life!
Jun. 18th, 2009
06:10 pm - Normal Service is Resumed
I've finally got my laptop back! Woo! I'm just going through the several hours of reinstallation of software until it's all sorted. So far it's all going well, but I'm yet to discover what of my files I've actually lost. I can't remember the last time I backed up this machine so I think it might be quite a few pictures :( Luckily, most of the good ones are on Facebook so I can download some crappy versions, but it's not really the same.
I've decided to switch my browser from Firefox to Safari. Controversial I know, but given that every single time I've managed to blow up a Mac (3 in all) I have been using Firefox at the time. I'm just trying not to tempt fate. And apparently, although they say you can just leave the thing on all the time, this actually isn't good for the hard drive. So I'm going to be a good girl from now on and back-up regularly and shut the computer down every night.
The other normal service which seems to have resumed is me feeling generally shit about everything and believing it's all my fault. I am trying my best to follow all the guidance I've learned and step back and think objectively, but every single time my brain just comes up with "yes, but..."
I had a nice text from my friend Simon today. He's on retreat with some nuns before he's ordained a priest next weekend. Seems like quite a nice holiday to me - the nuns provide them chocolate in their rooms and free gin in the common room. I'm going to his ordination which I am sure will be a lovely affair down in London on the Sunday night. I don't see him as much as I'd like to and I'm really pleased to be invited to be part of his Big Day.
I treated myself to some new stuff this morning. My cardie that goes with my wedding outfit for this weekend has vanished and so I found a lovely new pink cardigan in Next that I am quite pleased with. I also bought the box set of Gossip Girl because one of my friend promises me that I'll love it and get completely obsessed with it and a couple of books. One is about the astronauts who have landed on the Moon and what they're up to now which is much more interesting that it sounds, and the second is called One Day by David Nicholls. It's the Book at Bedtime on Radio 4 at the moment and I love it! So I have to remember not to listen to it tonight or tomorrow as I want to read the ending in the book. It's about Dexter and Emma who meet at their graduation in 1988 and then it follows their friendship on the same day every year for twenty years. It's basically a will-they-won't-they romance, but it's such a clever idea and it's been done so well on the radio. I'm looking forward to reading it this weekend :)
Jun. 15th, 2009
02:49 pm - Halfway There
I've just realised I'm over halfway on the page count! Woooooooo!
95 days to go and I'm halfway there! Hurrah!
I can so do this.
Jun. 13th, 2009
02:21 pm - Ok
So apparently I'm not as well as I thought. Saw Lucy coming out of IBC's flat this morning (looking a mess mind you) and I totally freaked out. So guess I'm still not over that and not dealing with it at all. Apparently the message of ignoring him and hoping my feelings will go away just doesn't seem to have worked. And she's a complete bitch and I hate her.
I'm going to a ball 2 weeks today. I've decided that what I really need is a good old drunken snog with an equally drunk and inappropriate person. Inappropriate facial hair an option.
Anyway... I'm working on tables for my thesis, only I can't remember the things I did last week so it is making things a little difficult. I literally wrote down everything I did step by step and yet none of it makes any sense to me whatsoever. (I'm also streaming the tennis off the BBC, but the less said about that the better)
ETA: I don't know what I did but I just spent the past 2 hours tearing my hair out because everytime I type-set my thesis all I got was one single blank page. Gaaaaaaaahhhhhh. I am not ashamed to admit that a couple of tears were shed. At least now I can get on with doing what I meant to do today.
Jun. 12th, 2009
04:47 pm - All Done
Today I formally accepted the job in Pisa. Woo! Let's get this thing going. I am making excellent science progress and I can see the end! Just a few more things to do and then I can write and write and write.
Today is 12 June and I want to submit by 18 September. This is 14 weeks away or 98 days. I can and will do this, even if I have to sweat blood and tears.
(Here ends Friday afternoon's pep talk as I realise I haven't finished everything on this week's to do list)
In other news, annoying office person is going to Canada next week. Woo! And I still don't have my laptop back. Boo!
Anyway, I'm going to get back to learning some more Italian vocab. Ci vediamo!
Jun. 11th, 2009
06:32 pm - Well it was bound to happen eventually...
Today I had my first pedestrian/cyclist head-on collision. I was the pedestrian. Lucky neither of us got hurt, but it really shook me up. She came off her bike and I could have seriously injured her. But in my defence, she was cycling the wrong way down a one-way street and I didn't think I needed to bother looking in her direction. But I apologised, offered her a cup of tea (which she turned down) and put her bike back together. I still feel bad about it though.
In other news, I still don't have my laptop back. I'm phoning them tomorrow to find out where it is. I'm getting really annoyed about not being able to work from home or simply be out of email contact for 12 hours. I bought a new Italian book today as I decided that the reason I wasn't learning any was because the book didn't suit me. And I was right. My new book is American and it's really chatty and friendly and there's much more of an emphasis on grammar and so I am much happier.
Other than this, I've mostly been working. Although I did get fed up last week and treat myself to a new pair of shoes for the ball. They're gold and shiny! I bought a matching bag today while I recovered from the accident.
I absolutely want to kill the guy I'm sharing an office with - he's so inconsiderate. He'll have afternoon-long meetings with people in the office so their chatting really distracts me and when he's thinking he talks to himself and sits on his chair in the corner rocking backwards and forwards.
What else have I been up to... not a lot really. Although work is going well and I am making progress and I am making the last versions of things that will go in my thesis so I am reasonably satisfied. I've also decided that I really ought to cut down on the amount of coffee and coke I drink as I think it's very bad for me.
Anyway, I'm going to toddle off home and get some dinner. This is the earliest I've left work all week!
Jun. 7th, 2009
04:12 pm - Erm....
I go to an Anglo-Catholic church. I had my beliefs reinforced today by the fact that
a) I spent 3 hours after Mass drinking, and
b) I paparazzi'd the Archbishop of Cantebury
There was no gin though. Normally gin would have to be involved somewhere.
Anyway... life continues on as fairly normal. I have managed to come to terms with the fact that I am going to have no life between now and October by.. errm... filling up my diary, but it's going to be OK. Bad 70s sci-fi nights are good for my thesis, I promise!
Jun. 5th, 2009
05:11 pm - AAAAAARRRRRRHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I am so, so close to completely flipping my lid and going all Office Space on the people here. Once in a while I wish I didn't have manners or a conscience and I wish I could tell people what I really thought of them. Here is a list of things which are annoying me:
1. The French people in my office who not only make noise, but they touch my stuff and go over shit on the white board right next to my desk when there is a perfectly good one the other side of a door they could SHUT so I wouldn't have to listen to them
2. My code. It has decided that it doesn't like me anymore and it's not going to work. Bastards.
3. Tourists. Get out of my waaaay!
4. Undergrads who have finished their exams. Get out of my way with your balloons, streamers and happy faces
5. Half the people I work with
6. The fact that I have no money and I'm in my overdraft because I spent too much money in Japan when I should have been here working
7. That my laptop is still broken and I've lost my presentations from the past few months so next time I'm going to have to make one from scratch instead of reusing slides
8. That I'm going to be in the office all weekend working
However, I am supposed to look on the good side of things
a. I have reached my fundraising target for Race for Life tomorrow
b. My formal offer arrived from Pisa today
c. I fixed the stress of my move in September/October by just telling my parents that I'll pay to ship my stuff rather than have them drive it because my Dad was being a complete arse and it was getting really stressful
d. I have the most amazing new shoes for the ball in a couple of weeks
Ok... back to work. We're getting take out in about an hour. That is bad for a Friday night.
Jun. 3rd, 2009
06:00 pm - Update
The hard drive on my laptop died again so I've only got internet access at work. My office is currently full of loud French people so I won't be updating much until I get my laptop back. Thank goodness for 3-yr warranties.
Other than that, life is going well and I am kicking supernova spectra ass.
May. 30th, 2009
08:00 am - Families
My Gran which is 83 in August has just gone into hospital for a double knee replacement operation. She is frail, but still manages to live by herself and it has taken us a number of years to persuade her that she should start taking it a bit easier, get a stair lift installed, have this operation etc etc.
Only the one final stumbling point over her going into hospital was my aunt, who by all accounts is a money-grabbing, selfish cow. I could go on and on about her. But Gran was refusing to go into hospital because she knew that my aunt would come down to her house, rifle through all of Gran's papers and find out how much she is really worth. At the moment, Gran has her convinced that she doesn't have much spare cash so she can't help my aunt pay off the tens of thousands of pounds of debt she's in (again - she won £80,000 on the lottery but burned through that very quickly), pay for the up-keep of her 8 horses or buy her a new three piece suite. I find this really sad that a mother can't trust her daughter at all. And it understandably made my Dad very cross too. I know there has been (for once) dialogue between Dad and my aunt about how best to deal with Gran, but this really hasn't helped.
Then this morning, luckily, I was awake quite early and there was a knock on the door. It was the postman with an absolutely massive parcel addressed to just my Dad from Gran. Now normally, everything comes addressed to Mum and Dad, so just for Dad when it's not his birthday was rather strange. I could easily feel what it is - it's about 2kg of a massive paper file with what I can only presume are all the papers Gran doesn't want my aunt to see.
This makes me so sad. I really hope that nothing like this happens between my parents, my sister and me. I once heard Dad say that when the time comes he's incredibly worried that my aunt will have a 4 hour head-start on him when it comes to clearing out Gran's house because he knows that there are specific jewellery bequests in Gran's will for all the grandchildren, but in 4 hours my aunt will have cleared the place and probably pawned the lot.
Families, eh...
May. 29th, 2009
04:09 pm - Home!
I have been up 40 hours now and I have had no sleep. I need caffeine every 45 minutes just to stay awake, but another 6 hours and then I can go to bed! I refuse to let the jet lag beat me!
I've even managed to put my washing on (one of the advantages of coming home rather than going back to Oxford - free washing facilities). I was also going to have a bath, but it's far too hot here for that. I think it's warmer here than rainy Tokyo was when I left it yesterday/today/god knows when!
Seeing Lil' Sis' tomorrow! Yay! Not seen her in months!
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