New Blog

As you'd probably guessed by my lack of posting I'm not updating this blog any more. I got behind with it and then couldn't get motivated to catch up. I have missed blogging though so I'm starting afresh here. My new blog is going to be more open & I don't plan to make it as diarylike as this one. So please have a look, become a follower and leave a comment :) However please don't mention this blog on my new blog, as not everyone knew about this. Thanks.

A to Z meme

A - Age: 20, but I'm regularly told I look about 15 or 16, which I hate. Often people realise I'm older after talking to me though.

B - Bed size: Single

C - Chore you hate: I'm not keen on any chores :P At the moment I especially hate vacuuming as it exhausts me and I don't see the point in ironing.

D - Dog's name: Not allowed any pets while I still live at home but would love a dog when I've got a place of my own. I've not picked a name yet but I like unusual names :)

E - Essential start your day item: I like to eat a croissant that has been warmed up in the oven while checking my emails and getting up to date with Facebook, online forums and blogs.

F - Favorite color: Purple

G - Gold or Silver: Silver

H - Height: 5 foot 4 I think. Wish I was taller.

I - Instruments you play(ed): Just the recorder in the first couple of years of primary school. My teacher told my parents I should quit though because I wasn't bothering to practise, whoops.

J - Job title: Not well enough to work at the moment, but don't know what career I'd like in the future.

K - Kid(s): None but would love some in the future.

L - Living arrangements: Detatched house in a boring village with my parents and younger brother. Quite excitingly though we are about to pay off the mortgage :)

M - Mom's name: Ann

N - Nicknames: Moll

O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: Far too many to count.

P - Pet Peeve: Disloyal and unreliable people. Also see 'Q' below.

Q - Quote from a movie: I hate the way the word 'movie' is used in the UK (although I've just twigged this is an American meme), it's an American word, over here we call it a 'film'! As you can probably tell, Americanisms in this country annoy me :P I love films but never remember any quotes from them.

R - Right or left handed: Right. Although I play cards with my left which I think came from spending a lot of time bored in hospital with a cannula in my hand. That is also why I learnt to hold and turn the pages of a book one handed :)

S - Siblings: A younger brother and an older brother.

T - Time you wake up: Usually somewhere between 11am and midday, I don't do mornings :P

U - Underwear: Don't feel like going into detail about it here!

V - Vegetable you dislike: Peas, I don't like the texture.

W - Ways you run late: I hate running late but it does sometimes happen because I struggle to get up in the mornings.

X - X-rays you've had: Too many to count for various reasons, but never for a broken or suspected broken bone.

Y - Yummy food you make: Before my transplant I loved cooking despite never being able to eat any of it. I've not been interested since my transplant though. Luckily my mum used to teach home economics so is a great cook :)

Z - Zoo favorite: Squirrel monkeys, they're so cute :)

Meme taken from Rebecca's blog.

Taylor Swift at Abbey Road

I know I have huge amounts of stuff to catch up on blogging about but I just want to share the amazing day I had earlier in the week. If you want to see any of the photos bigger then just click on them and then you should also be given the option to zoom in on them futher

It all started a few weeks ago when I got an email from the BBC audience listings saying that Taylor Swift would be performing an exclusive show for Radio 2 at Abbey Road Studios in London on 23rd March. And they had 200 pairs of tickets to give away. So I decided to enter the draw but didn't think I stood a chance, especially when they started advertising the draw on Radio 2. Three days later I quickly checked my emails before dashing out to a hospital appt and was amazed to see that I'd won a pair of tickets! My mum immediately bagged herself the other ticket and we spent the next couple of weeks getting very excited :D

On Wednesday the day finally arrived. I got up earlier than usual and we arrived at Abbey Road Studios at 12.30pm, 7 hours before the concert would begin. We'd heard that they gave away more tickets than they had seats as not everyone would turn up and they wanted to ensure a full audience, so we were keen to start queuing as early as possible to ensure we got in and got good seats. Me and mum were 7th and 8th in the queue so sat on the pavement leaning against the wall outside Abbey Road Studios and made ourselves comfortable. This is a view of the front of the studios that I took through the railings while we were waiting outside.

I took loads of stuff to amuse me but I didn't use most of it. The 2 girls who joined the queue after us were really nice so I spent a while chatting to them. I also enjoyed watching tourists posing on the level crossing which often caused huge queues of traffic to build up! And we saw a tour group across the other side of the street who were taking photos of Abbey Road and us, so because I was bored I got my camera out and started photographing them.

Lots of people without tickets and paparazzi came to try to get a glimpse of Taylor when she arrived at the studios. We all climbed up onto the wall and hung onto the railings for a while (I'm in the blue jeans and light blue fleece) on a couple of occassions to see over the cars parked inside the wall but she must have sneaked in round the back. I don't blame her with the amount of paparazzi that were there!

We saw her band arrive though.


At one point the 6 people in the queue in front of us decided to shift to queue from the other gate so we ended up much further back in the queue. I was a bit worried that we wouldn't get as good seats as we should, but the 6 people at the front said they'd save space for us in the queue so that all worked out well and when we finally went through the gates and got our tickets numbered we were 9 and 10.


Once we were inside the gates I needed the toilet as I'd not been since we started queuing, so I approached a few scary looking security guards and asked. They didn't seem very happy to let me inside but I didn't want to walk all the way back to the tube station, so eventually they said they'd let me in. I had to be closely escorted right to the toilet door though! Quite a while later they started letting more people in to use the toilet.

After a little while queuing inside the gates we were allowed in and led into quite a big studio in the basement. Because we were so close to the front of the queue we ended up just off centre in the front row! This was the set on stage.


And this was a photo of the microphone stand taken with no zoom, so this is how close we really were!

I was a bit shocked when we walked in to see that there were no seats, but I decided I didn't want to ask for a seat and risk being stuck at the back, so I'd just try my best and stand for as long as I could manage. I sat down when we got in there and then got up when Jo Whiley came on stage to introduce Taylor and remained standing til the end.

When Taylor came on she was less than 2 metres away from me! She just wore one costume for the whole set, played lots of different guitars (and a ukelele) and performed 11 songs - a mix of old hits (Fearless, Fifteen, You Belong With Me and Love Story) and new songs from her Speak Now album (Sparks Fly, Mine, Speak Now, Dear John, The Story of Us, Enchanted and Long Live) . She was very chatty with the audience, telling us the stories behind the songs she performed, and the audience was very enthusiastic (especially the fans either side of us!). She added Enchanted as the audience requested it. Love Story was great as the finale.

I took lots of photos but this was my favourite.

And here are a few more photos I liked.







You can also see a few professional photos on the Radio 2 website here.

At the end one of the guitarists threw a few guitar plectrums into the crowd and although I didn't manage to catch any I then spotted one on the floor between someone's feet, so I grabbed it. As soon as the concert finished the security men were quite rude trying to get people out of the studio.

We slowly walked back to the tube station which took a little while as I was struggling to walk a bit after all that standing. We got the tube and then the train home and arrived back at a reasonable time as the concert hadn't been late.

I was tired and sore following the concert but it was definitely worth it for such an amazing experience that I'll never forget. And my mum loved it too.

The following day we were very excited to hear the concert on BBC Radio 2. You can listen online here til next Wed (30th). Jo Whiley asked for texts from people who had been at the concert, so I text her. She read my text out on air and said she knew who I was from the concert! My text was read out at 45mins 16secs in.

If you're interested in listening to any more of the radio coverage then Jo Whiley talked about Taylor Swift from 1min 25secs in, interviewed her at 7mins 50secs, Taylor's live performances were reviewed briefly at 52mins 50secs and the (edited) concert was on from 57mins 48secs.

You can also watch highlights of the performance online here, which will be up for about a month. I think you can also watch them on TV using the red button if you've got Sky but I'm not sure about that. A friend is going to put the footage onto a DVD for me as I've got it recorded from when it was on the Freeview red button on Wed, but can't put that onto a disc myself and I'd like a more permanent copy and my nan wants to see it too. You should be able to spot me (wearing a light blue fleece) and my mum (with a purple fringe!) in the front row of the audience. We got very excited about seeing ourselves on TV! There's a good bit of film about 5mins 12secs in where me and my mum are the nearest audience members to the camera and you can also see Taylor on stage in the same shot! Here's a screen shot of it. My mum's head is on the far left of the picture and then I'm next to her in blue.


Now I'm getting all excited about seeing Taylor Swift again at the O2 Arena next week! I know I'll be much further away from her but I'm sure there'll be a great atmosphere and I'm going with a friend so it should be good fun. We're already making plans about what we're going to wear, I'll post photos up afterwards.

Not being able to eat

Following my last blog post I received a comment from Indigo Jo containing some interesting questions that I'd not previously answered in my blog. So rather than just leaving a comment with my responses I thought I'd post them up here so everyone can read them.

The comment I will be responding to was:
I've looked through your blog and I had one question that doesn't seem to have been answered, which is what it was like not eating for so long? Did you never eat, or even have water (e.g. when it was a hot day) - you couldn't have waited until the night if you were dehydrated, surely? Did you ever see others eating and want some for yourself, and how did you and your parents deal with that?

When I was little my parents used to try to tempt to me to eat but I could never tolerate anything more than a teaspoon of food. If I had any more I'd be sick. There were also numerous attempts to feed me enterally (into my digestive system), rather than intravenously (into my bloodstream) but these all failed.

I could drink a small amount of water pre-transplant - I'd have sips of it with my tablets but I could never drink anywhere near normal volumes of it, I wouldn't have been able to keep it down. I never had problems with dehydration though. Thinking back on it I'm not really sure how that worked though as now it seems odd to me, but somehow dehydration was never a problem for me.

I never missed eating because it was something I'd never known. I'm sure it'd be very different if someone was suddenly unable to eat after being able to eat normally for many years though. Most of the time it didn't bother me at all and I never had any interest in food. I'd sit at the dining room table with a book and read my the rest of my family ate meals. I found a lot of celebrations were very centred around food though, especially in my extended family where every Christmas or other gathering would revolve around a big meal. So I sometimes found it difficult on those occasions, but it would be more that I'd get bored with all the fuss about the food, rather than wanting to join in.

I hope this answers the questions and if anyone has any more then please leave a comment and I'll try to respond to them. I also hope to get back to blogging properly soon. Thanks for reading.

Another meme

Apologies once again for the lack of blogging. I'll try to do some kind of update style post soon. I just spotted this meme on Posh Totty's blog and fancied having a go at it because despite it now being 2.20am I'm feeling nocturnal :P So here we go :)

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?
I hope my hair will look slightly less wild when I've brushed it :P

2. How much cash do you have on you?
I don't actually have any on my person, but I've got about £10 or £20 in my purse at the moment I think, the rest is in the bank.

3. What’s a word that rhymes with DOOR?
Floor is the first one that springs to mind, probably because I've just read Posh Totty's answers to this ;)

4. Favorite planet?
Never thought about it, but Earth I guess.

5. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell phone?
My mum's mobile. The ring tone on my phone isn't very loud, so if I'm out I never hear it, so usually end up missing calls and phoning people back.

6. What is your favorite ring tone on your phone?
Blue Eyes by Mika :D

7. What shirt are you wearing?
A light blue fleece on top of a t-shirt with a wolf on the front which I'm wearing over a blue poloneck. Can you tell I feel the cold?!

8. Do you label yourself?
Not entirely sure what is meant by this, but I don't think so.

9. Name the brand of the shoes you’re currently wearing?
I'm wearing a pair of new slippers that I bought in town today. They're just from a cheap shoe shop (cost me £5) and are dark blue on the outside and fluffy inside. Here's a photo :)


10. Bright or dark room?
Depends what I'm doing, but generally light I think so I can see to do stuff :P

11. What do you think about the person who took this survey before you?
I love reading her blog and she makes me laugh :)

12. What does your watch look like?
It's purple and made out of coconut shell. The face is mounted in a flower shape and the strap is beaded. I love it :) Here's a photo :)


13. What were you doing at midnight last night?
Either surfing the Internet or watching TV after a busy day celebrating my mum's 60th birthday :)

14. What did your last text message you received on your cell say?
It was a chatty text from a friend I text regularly. She asked me about an iPhone app I said I was going to try out and responded to my question about which episode of Gavin & Stacey she was watching :)

15. Where is your nearest 7-11?
I had no idea what that was, so have Googled it and it sounds like a convenience store of some sort. My local shop is just round the corner, about a 2 minute walk away, which is very handy :)

16. What's a word that you say a lot?
Yup.

My 2010

1. What did you do in 2010 that you'd never done before?
I stayed at home alone overnight (well it was actually for 6 nights) for the first time ever, kept track of absolutely everything I spent in a spreadsheet (which I found very interesting) and applied for ESA and filled out a DLA renewal form myself (dad has done them for me in the past).

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't usually make New Year's resolutions but plan to make some for 2011. In 2011 I want to get back to blogging regularly, become more active in a volunteering job I do for AYME, keep up with my communication (letters and emails) better, complete my project 365 (I'm trying to take a photo every day for a year which I'm putting up on Facebook), maybe try out some more volunteering, find something productive to do with my life and try to overcome my shyness a bit. I'd love to have a boyfriend but really can't see it happening.

3. How will you be spending New Year's Eve?
I don't usually celebrate New Year's Eve, but tonight my older brother and his girlfriend are coming round so we'll have a nice time as a family. Might move the Wii downstairs so we can play on that :)

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No-one I was very close to but a little friend from hospital died in September :( You can read a bit about Kennedy here.

5. What countries did you visit?
None, I'm waiting til my health is a bit better to go abroad again. There are loads of countries I'd like to visit though.

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
More energy. And teeth free of braces :D

7. What date from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
I can't think of a specific one.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I've got lots of medical ones. Coming off all forms of articificial nutrition which I'd been on since 6 months old and managing to maintain my weight without them, not having an overnight stay in hospital all year (for the first time ever), completing my transition to the adult hospital, having my first scope without a GA...

9. What was your biggest failure?
I think my confidence has failed me this year, my shyness has got worse and I've felt disappointed at how I've behaved in lots of social situations.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Ongoing health problems but nothing new.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
I didn't actually buy it but the best thing I acquired was an iPhone thanks to my older brother :D As for things I bought myself I find it hard to pick just one - my camera, my Trollbead bracelet and my hard disc recorder are just a few that spring to mind. And of course all my concert tickets.

12. Where did most of your money go?
On concert tickets. But I spent quite a lot on DVDs too.

13. What song will always remind you of 2010?
Anything by any of the 8 artists I saw live in 2010! :D And Forget You/F*** You by Cee Lo Green because it's been played on the radio and music channels a lot this year and it's also been covered at 3 of the concerts I've been to.

14. What do you wish you'd done more of?
I wish I'd had a more productive year.

15. What do you wish you'd done less of?
I can't think of anything.

16. What was your favourite TV program?
This year I discovered some fantastic TV programmes including Outnumbered, Misfits, Miranda and Peep Show. I think I discovered Gavin and Stacey either right at the end of 2009 or right at the start of 2010. I thought series 3 of Ashes to Ashes was a letdown though.

17. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Hate is a strong word and I don't use it lightly. So I don't think so.

18. What was the best book you read?
I'm currently really struggling to read novels, so have actually only read one this year.

19. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Marina and the Diamonds.

20. What was your favourite film of this year?
Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland or Toy Story 3 I think. And St. Trinians 2 was very good. I also saw E.T. for the first time this year :D

21. What did you do on your birthday?
I went to London with my mum and a friend. We went to the film museum, saw Avenue Q and ate at Yo Sushi :)

22. What kept you sane?
My family and close friends

23. Who did you miss?
I missed my friend Lizzy because I wasn't able to see her nearly as often as I'd have liked to.

24. Who was the best new person you met?
I've 'met' some great people over the Internet this year and a couple face-to-face too. I think the most amazing person I've met is Jay. I don't think I've mentioned her before but she is a huge inspiration to me and a great friend.

25. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010:
That cognitive symptoms are really frustrating, hence me now not being able to think of anything sensible to write here! :P

I got this meme from Holly's blog :)

Apologies

As you'll have noticed my plans of blogging regularly again have failed. I just seem to have been very busy recently, but with lots of fun things as well as the usual hospital appts. I'm going to relax over Christmas and then try to get going again on my blog in the new year. I've got lots of things I'm looking forward to sharing with you, such as all the concerts I've been to (I think I went to 6 in about 7 weeks), my trip to the BBC Television Centre and more :)

And of course I must say,
Happy Christmas everyone!