A new blog post. It has been a long time since I was last here. A lot has changed, I now have a degree and am working in a hospital as a staff nurse. Scary shit but fun at the same time. I do have another job which I am due to start in about a month or so.

My blog has over a thousand views. I have no idea why. It is more a record for myself than a worthwhile blog to be followed. Either there are a lot of strange people out there or one or two VERY strange people.

 I shall return. Someday.

It is my birthday soon and it now comes to the horrible time of year where I have to try to decide what I want. Not that I don't like getting presents; in fact I love getting presents. It is more that I have had so many great presents in the past few years that I now no longer want anything I don't have.

 I have toyed with the idea of a Kindle off and on for the past 6 months or so and have had some very good arguments for buying one but I still cannot justify to myself spending that amount of money on something which I would not use as much as most. I do read books, I read a lot of books but I very rarely actually buy books. The public library is one of my favourite places and it suits my requirements perfectly. I do know that there are ways and means of borrowing books to read on a Kindle but the bottom line is that it is still a lot of money to spend on something which I wouldn't use to its full potential.

Time is also another big issue with me right now. Between having two very small children and trying to do a degree at university full time, I have precious little free time available. In the past I figured it would be nice to learn to play the guitar so I bought one. Not a very expensive one but good enough to get started and get started I did. For all of a bout two months until I started my degree and then it fell by the wayside. I do plan to pick it up again in the future but now is not the best time to do so. I am an avid kite flyer but already have more kites than I know what to do with so buying another kite is out of the question.

I enjoy photography ( not an expert but I like the pictures I take), but if I was to get another camera I would be looking to upgrade the one that I have and that is more money than I plan on spending. I have lots of accessories for my photography such as tripods and filters and bags and memory cards and who knows what else, so that puts a stop to adding to that collection.

So as it stands: Guitars = got 2 electric and an acoustic
                        Kites = got more than I have space for
                        Cameras = got a point and shoot and a fancy one plus all the kit I could ever want
                        Kindle = Don't want one enough to justify spending the money on
                        Camcorders = got 2: a nice DV one and a waterproof HD handycam thing
                        Computers = Got a good quality desktop and a netbook, would love a tablet but too expensive
                         Bicycle = got a good one, nice off road full suspension job
                         Gaming = I do most of my gaming on the PC but I do have a wii as well
                         Toys = I have two RC helicopters :)

I guess it is because I have been spoiled so much in these past few years that I have been so stuck for this year but I have decided on this Veho Muvi Microcam. I figure it can combine nearly all of my hobbies into one. It is small enough to be attached to my helicopters for some nice aerial videos, it can be attached to a kite for some vomit inducing in flight videos. I can strap it either to my head or to my bike when I goe out with it and when I finally have the time it will clip nicely to the head of my guitar for some fret blazing action videos of me struggling along with "row, row, row the boat".

Having read all of that back I would imagine that some people might think "first world problems", yeah well tough. I do live in the first world through no fault of my own but after having an upbringing such as I had, everything I now have is stuff that I have worked for myself and I am damned proud of it.

I haven't run out of steam with my blog already but my plan tonight of posting a step by step guide to making my dinner (with pictures) has had to go on hold.

I am in a lot of pain today and my painkillers don't seem to be touching it, Doctors again tomorrow and this time I may actually get something done.

Were did all the hate come from?

I have noticed more than ever in this past week that the internet is full of hate. I don't mean racism, sexism and the usual old school hate, I mean pure hatred for complete strangers that people chance upon while online. My first example of this is playing Call of Duty. I am not a huge gamer but I do love the Call of Duty series, in particular Modern Warfare 2. The game itself is OK but it is the online play where the game really comes alive. I can sit in my living room, cup of tea in hand ( or on the desk) and play with other players all over the world. A huge online gaming community. Except it is not. Communities rarely subject one another to the floods of abuse that I suffer while playing the game. As I said before I am not a devoted gamer but I do not too badly playing this game and while I am very rarely top scorer, I am also very rarely bottom. I think my problem is the choice of gun I have, it must be, because regardless of which gun I choose I get called "fag" for using it. My view is if I can shoot someone and kill them with it and not miss it must be a pretty good gun. Apparently not so. There are guns in the game which are easier to use but using one will get me called a no0b, and have people screaming at me to "get some skill". on the flip side of this there are guns which are not so easy to use and scoring a kill with one of these gets me branded a "cheating hacker fag". I can't win. I even tried to inject a bit of niceness into a game I played last night, someone shot me from the other side of the map, aiming at a tiny bit of my head that stuck out above a wall. "Good shot!", was my comment, only to be met with a return of abuse from the person I praised that maybe if I "didn't spend so much time sucking my mothers d**k", I would be able to be as good as him. Second thing that got me today was on G+, I hope I don't step on anyones toes here but in a generally jovial post about a members eldest child professing a love of a certain TV show, someone took offense at one of the comments and made a few VERY nasty remarks then tried to derail the entire thread to suit their own agenda. It left me wondering if this person would do that if we were having the conversation face to face instead of online. I wonder if anyone would be so hate filled and ready to shout down anyone who said or did something they didn't like if they weren't online. I count myself very lucky to have a group of online friends like the ones I do. I know that I can be myself with all of them and that they are exactly the way they are whether it is online or face to face. Rant over, keep watching for some recipes after these short messages.

On 9th May 2012 I will be one of 24 student nurses chosen from a list of thousands to take part in the Escorting of the lamp, a commemorative service which takes place in Westminster Abbey in London UK. The Abbey itself holds up to 2500 people and on previous ceremonies has been filled to capacity by various dignitaries and nursing patrons from around the world. It is very humbling to be asked to do this as the main reason I went into Nursing in the first place was because I was unemployed and needed a job. Now I have been hand picked to represent Nurses from all round the world in this prestigious event. Wish me Luck!

This drink is known as a Brain Haemorrhage Half fill a glass with Peach schnapps, layer some Baileys Irish cream on top then layer Blue Curacao onto the Baileys. Finally drip Grenadine from a height to pull the Baileys down through the schnapps causing it to curdle et viola, a small violin.....

University and being ill.

Well I can provide positive proof that strong painkillers do affect ones ability to study at university. Last year my average for assignments was 79%. So for this year I have done and had marked 2 assignments, both written with taking a combination of Codeine phosphate and a cocktail of antibiotics following my perforated appendix and my average is 50%. I think the pain factor may have also contributed to my lower grades but I can't be sure. Still a pass is a pass.