I have submitted my TARDIS Big Bang story! Now, I know I had a life somewhere, I wonder where I put it….

From a few people by now:

Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real places, names &/or objects, nothing made up Try to use different answers if the person you got this from has the same 1st initial. You CAN’T use your name for the boy/girl name question. And Have Fun With It!!!

1) 4 LETTER WORD: Nice
2) BOY NAME: Nathan
3) GIRL NAME: Natalie
4) OCCUPATION: Nurse
5) A COLOUR: Neon yellow
6) SOMETHING YOU WEAR: New clothes
7) BEVERAGE DRINK: Neat
FOOD: Neapolitan ice cream
9) SOMETHING FOUND IN A BATHROOM: Nailbrush
10) A PLACE: Nottingham
11) REASON FOR BEING LATE: Not being on time
12) SOMETHING YOU SHOUT: “No!”

19.745 / 50kg (39%)

I went to the optician’s today. Which wasn’t fun as she decided to have a really long look at my eyes with the really bright light which really isn’t pleasant. And made me dizzy. And then I found out my eyes had changed rather a lot and I really need new glasses.

The good news is that I got my eye test free from the NHS, the government gave me £13.40 towards my glasses (which, as the bloke who was dealing with me said, was an insult really – it’s certainly nothing more than a token gesture), and the optician’s gave me a free bottle of lens cleaner and a free pair of prescription sunglasses.

The bad news is that even with all that free stuff, I’m still £725 poorer.

Part of the trouble is that the lenses are expensive to make them thinner (I could have spent more to have an even thinner lens but they’re not that thick). The other part of the trouble is that I’m clumsy. So that means getting expensive lenses that bend when you walk into doors. The trouble is that if you hit anything at a higher speed they don’t bend back. So I need a spare pair for when I break the pair I’m wearing. Without my clumsiness I could have spent less than £300.

However, I am getting exactly the same frames as I have now, which is good because I like the ones I have. I was surprised they still did the same ones because they seem to think you want fashionable glasses, which is silly because ideally you want them to last a long time at that price. And also, those really thick, black squares things that are in fashion at the moment look really silly on me (apparently), although that’s not a surprise because I haven’t seen them look good on anyone.

I had a test drive tonight to see if I was well enough to drive. I can’t quite tell whether I’m 100% better any more because I’ve been so tired due to working hard at work and not sleeping, so that makes me a bit dizzy anyway. I am definitely looking forward to doing very little this weekend, and going to selenay936‘s to spend money at the local bookshop (and tell my satnav where it is) will force me to do that. Apart from the driving through Wycombe part…

The trouble was that I haven’t driven for two and a half weeks, I think. So I was scared of just about everything going wrong, but I just had to open the car door and it smelt of dad’s car, and that made me feel better. I quite liked, when dad first brought it up and I was scared to drive it at all, to see it outside the house because it reminded me of home. So I slid in the car (I parked it really close to the wall last time I drove) and then had to wipe away the cobwebs and use the windscreen wash twice because it was so dusty…

I made it round the block – well, round the town since the town’s so small and I live on a tiny estate so there isn’t a block. The only trouble I had was getting the car started – something with automatic choke would be very nice. Also I now know the tank is three-quarters full, which is good given I noticed the other day that petrol’s gone up to 114p! Depending on who drives to what events coming up, that may or may not last me till mid-June. It certainly won’t last till the end of June, but then I last filled up at the end of April, so as long as a tank of petrol lasts a month, that’s good (just doesn’t always happen).

I discovered the use of the iPlayer tonight. I love how they have it just on the website now. I don’t need to start up the software at all. I got a bit restless and thought I’d like to watch something interesting but mind-numbing on TV. This was at 9.30 and when I looked at the TV guide I found something on at 7pm… So I went to the iPlayer and watched, well, not that exact program, but another episode from earlier in the week. And now my lounge is much tidier.

I do like my new job, I just have to keep reminding myself that because I am ded from it this week, not helped by me not sleeping. Last night it was really cold, so I took my bunny to bed and before I fell asleep I’d run out of cold bit. And I have a double bed, so there is quite a lot of cold bits, in theory.

I have a project that they were absolutely desperate to go live on Tuesday, so I busted a gut working on it, along with another project that had to be done on Tuesday and a third that had to go live on Wednesday. At the end of the day we were just waiting for the client and it could go live Wednesday morning (that would be this morning – I’m terribly confused about the days this week, and the date).

What really rankled was that while I was doing this on Tuesday I had constant hassling emails on how it was going and why it took so long because it was a ‘simple’ project (it wasn’t, let me tell you). After the client fiddled about with a few bits three times, we got the go ahead to launch it mid-afternoon, after I’d contemplated asking them what was taking so long since it was simple to test. It doesn’t work that way though – it’s alright for one department to hassle us about getting stuff to them now, but we can’t hassle them when they’re holding us up.

About one minute before the project went live the client changed their mind about something major in the project. So, this project that had to go live on Tuesday will now go live on Thursday. Probably. And I get to spend the third day in a row desperately trying to get it to go live. I wouldn’t worry so much about it at this point except that I just want it to go away.

It doesn’t help that I only have one bread mix left, the health food shop can’t order it for me because their suppliers don’t have it, and the only place that sells it is the big Tesco half an hour drive away. And I still don’t know if I’m well enough to drive. There are no buses, of course. Because public transport is stupid and who would want to use that?

The bright spot is I went out to dinner last night at one of the Italians in town and I could eat three things on the menu! I actually couldn’t decide what to have. The last time I experienced that was last August, I think. And they had sorbet for dessert, which was really nice.

I was convinced I recognised the Vicar in last night’s Doctor Who, but had convinced myself I was imagining it. But no. It turns out he was Peter Pettigrew in Harry Potter and Ben in The Worst Week of My Life. And he was in Broken News. Also, an episode of Spooks. So I’ve seen him all over the place.

I haven’t checked but I’m sure I set the video for 6.59 last night. It was taping Small Gods on BBC7 form 6.30 so I can’t tell what time it started taping both. Anyway, at 7.25 when I’d cooked dinner and was ready to watch it, I started the file, had my finger ready over a skip button to skip forward to where it started and it had already started! I wasn’t quite sure at first but I’ve watched enough Poirots to know what I was watching was either Doctor Who or something 1920s-like before it.

And now for the actual spoilers: Read more…

I am doing well on getting things done today. Even if I did start last night. So far today I have: Read more…

This was linked on New Scientist of all places: Wikihistory

It’s page 263 of a (fake) forum called International Association of Time Travelers: Members’ Forum Subforum: Europe – Twentieth Century – Second World War. It’s funny and rather a lot like forums are…

I’m slightly amused, but mostly flaily, about the letter I had today from the hospital. It starts:

I’m pleased to inform you…

And goes on to tell me they want to take my wisdom tooth out on 13th June. Two statements that I don’t quite feel go together.

What’s also amusing about it is that the letter is specifically from the Theatre Booking Officer which makes it sound more like I’m going to a play. It goes on to say that it will be in the [name] hospital. The address at the top is the main hospital, which isn’t the same one or in the same place, but is part of the same hospital. Although I only know this because when I went in they told me it would be taken out at Church Road or in The West Wing. I was hoping for the latter, and only partly because I know where that building is. So I looked up the address of the hospital they want to take it out in and it turns out that was the other one they’re referring to. They just don’t want to tell you on their standard letter, it seems.

At the bottom it says that I’ll get another appointment for a Pre-Operative Assessment, which given that I did that last Tuesday, I hope I won’t.

My appointment is at 7.30am but from what I can gather from the accompanying bit of paper is that means that my tooth’ll be taken out sometime that morning. Or based on my previous visit, sometime that day might be more likely. I’m glad it’s not a 12pm appointment though because it says:

You may have a cup of tea and a slice of toast at 07.00

I don’t drink tea and haven’t tried toasting my bread, so that would be a problem.

In the space of three and a bit A4 sides of paper there are two typos:

…admitting people coming in to hospital for an operation on the same say as the operation

and

The hospital provides “Pay and Display% car parks…

Now the d and the s keys are next to each other, but how you can aim for 2 and hit 5, I just don’t know.

Note for anyone else that’s has a wisdom tooth out and wants to tell me about what goes on: I don’t want to know. All I need to know is I go in with 29.5 teeth, go to sleep and wake up with 28.5.

An update on my current state of illness. I spent last Friday morning throwing up if I moved or opened my eyes, but after that passed I spent a couple of days not being able to do anything due to dizziness. Come Sunday I managed to read, which felt like quite an achievement. Monday I felt much better, but was still dizzy. And I still am.

So I went to the doctors this afternoon and established that it could take weeks for the dizziness to go away… I have some pills, so we’ll see how they go tomorrow when I pick them up (so that’s another £7.10 this thing has cost me). Today I went to work because if the dizziness is not improving I need to start doing normal things again. Not least because I was so bored.

While I was there, I enquired about the results of the x-ray I had on my back in April. Turns out that I might, possibly, have mild ankylosing spondylitis, which I can neither remember or pronounce. But it basically means that if I don’t have it they don’t know what it is or what to do other than take painkillers. And if I do have it all you can really do is take anti-inflammatories. So it’s slightly academic as to whether I have it or not.

What it is, is an inflammation where the bones join at the back of my pelvis. And it never goes away. Which given I’ve had it since January last year I’d sort of guessed. The only thing I can try are the anti-inflammatories she’s prescribed that are an alternative to the ibuprofen I usually take, and not let it get stiff (by, say, lying down for pretty much three days without doing anything).

In the meantime on Monday I was phoned by the hospital to say they had a cancellation and would I like to go in and have my wisdom tooth taken out on Thursday. And I have an eye test due. Neither of which is going to happen till I’m not dizzy again.

I woke up this morning really dizzy and unable to open my eyes or move without throwing up. I’ve had some sea sickness pills, so can actually sit up long enough to type this, but I have a viral inner ear infection that takes 3-4 days to go. So I will be AWOL for a bit because I’ve only turned the computer on long enough to post this.

Can someone post something on the TR and RS OOC comms to say I won’t be about for a few days please? And Hilary, can you post on Sat5 to get someone else to do Sunday’s soniclipstick for me please?

17.745 / 50kg (35.5%)

There are a whole load of things I planned to do this evening, and then I found the Doctor Who trailer maker…

An hour later, I present to you, my trailer.

Interestingly, they’ve changed the speed limit on half the road to Tesco so it’s now 40mph instead of 50mph. Which means you can’t go round the corner and down the hill feeling like you’re on a rollercoaster. I discovered the new speed limit just after the bends, as I was wondering when it was going to be in force because the new signs had been up for a while, just covered up. On the way back was even more interesting because when the 40mph limit ended they chose to put up a national speed limit sign. I didn’t make 60mph before the bends and it was 50mph after. So the road has gone from being 50mph to half 40mph apart from 50m where it’s 60mph…

This morning I went to the hospital about the wisdom tooth they’re going to take out. Usually I get up at 8am, but since my appointment was at 9.30am, I caught a bus at 8am. I was very glad I hadn’t tried to drive any of the journey because as we got near to town it was stupidly busy. I got off one bus and straight onto another and made it to the hospital at 9.10am.

Sadly, though, it was the wrong part of the hospital. I’m not used to somewhere so big and the letter helpfully said it was Level 2 which doesn’t tell you the building. Fortunately, it was only five minutes walk away. Once inside the main building I found a map that told me the oral surgery department was in the blue outpatients area.

There weren’t any signs that said oral surgery at the door to the blue area, but since there weren’t any signs saying it was anywhere else either I went in. Reception told me it was actually in the green area – which you can only get to from the blue area.

Once I found the green area it was about 9.20. I passed the corridor with a few chairs and a couple sitting in them and sat in the big waiting area. By 9.35 nearly everyone but me had been called and I decided to investigate the corridor. It turned out that was the oral surgery department. In the big waiting area it had said to report to reception, but it didn’t say that in the corridor. It was academic anyway, because there wasn’t a reception.

After a while a nurse came out and checked who I was. A while later she asked me if I’d been to reception, which I obviously hadn’t. So she gave me directions to where it was (round the corner and down a corridor and through a door – obviously). Then I had to go for an x-ray: back out into the main corridor and not that close either.

So I sat in x-ray for a while and had one of those done – and the machine hit me in the shoulder. Back in the oral surgery corridor it was busier and I sat and waited again. At 10.35 I got called in and spent less than five minutes in the room where they decided to tell me what they were going to do and what it would feel like afterwards. I wasn’t worried before I went in.

Then I had to go to pre-assessment where I waited for ages, then they took my height and weight and blood pressure, which really hurt this time. And the nurse established I couldn’t fill in the form correctly (funnily enough).

I finally managed to leave the hospital at 11.15 and got back to work about 12.30. So I spent two hours travelling and two hours sitting around doing bugger all for five minutes establishing that yes, they are going to take my tooth out (sometime in the next three months) and they are going to do it under general anaesthetic.

So well worth going (although I did get wished happy birthday twice by people looking at the date of birth on my form).

How is it nearly the end of the weekend already?

On Saturday I went to EUCO 2008, which is the European Rotaract Conference, which was held in London. I was quite surprised to find how warm it had got all of a sudden. I was standing outside in just a t-shirt and considering moving into the shade.

The afternoon was the ordinary RGBI (Rotaract in Great Britain and Ireland) part, where my club won an award for weirdest place to eat breakfast. This was a national challenge to eat breakfast in an unusual place. The club that won ate theirs on a raft they’d just built in the middle of the Thames. The last time we did it we had breakfast at RAL with lasers, so to top that we had breakfast in cyberspace.

The evening was the Gala Ball and there were 1000 people there from all over Europe! I ate, danced a bit, but mostly chatted with people and had a good time.

The hotel I stayed in was one that was definitely an experience. Don’t ask me why, but it was ages away from where everything was going on. Only four of us stayed there, everyone else being much more sensible and staying much closer.

So we left the Ball about 1.45ish and made our way to Hammersmith bus station. The night bus we wanted turned up at 2.15am. We’d worked out where we needed to get to to change buses for one that ran 24 hours. However, we had no idea where that actually was, so we stayed on until we got to Heathrow. Thankfully we only had to wait ten minutes there for our bus. But it ended up being 3.45am by the time I got to bed.

I was rudely awoken by my alarm at 10am. When I got up I found that no matter how many times I pressed the switch, the main room light wouldn’t turn on, despite it working the previous night. Also, the bathroom light wouldn’t turn on. There was a light above the sink, and I’d established the previous night that didn’t work anyway. There was a light above the desk and that one worked. So I had a shower with the bathroom door open and there was just enough light to see.

However, towards the end of my shower I realised I was standing in quite a bit of water. I worried that it was going to go above the level of the bottom of the shower, but it didn’t and I assumed it would go down. I went back in there once I was dressed and had my glasses on and noticed the water was still there. I had a shower the previous night and that hadn’t happened, so I don’t know what was going on.

The most worrying part came when I cleaned my teeth and turned the cold tap on and some water bubbled up out of the shower. I looked at it and it was quite disgusting. It reminded me of the horrible water that comes out of the washing machine. Remembering that made me realise what the smell in the bathroom was – old water.

Like I said – it was an experience.

Spoilers for The Sontaran Strategem/Poison Sky: Read more…

Here 3 of the 4 drabbles requested – the other one is going to be in a separate post due to spoilers.
Read more…

Since it’s now very definitely the weekend and has been for the past 5 hours, it must be my birthday. Although I am celebrating this weekend and next weekend and it’s not actually my birthday for another three days.

Since I get a bank holiday as a birthday present, and I have worked it out so there’s nothing I have to do on it, I am offering drabbles as presents. Give me a prompt and I’ll write you a drabble on Monday. Pick a fandom I know, and I’ll give pretty much anything a try.