Throwing out school notes, my health, music, films and books

I've not done much over the last 10 days, but thought I'd write an update anyway because I've done a couple of interesting things. Sorry it's been a while since my last update, but I hope you liked the Japan posts :) I've got loads of photos on my laptop, so am going to try to do a few more memories/photos posts soon.

The day after my last update I sorted through all my sixth form stuff and class notes. I'm not very good at throwing stuff out and tend to be a bit of a hoarder, but was very happy that I got rid of loads and loads. All my work was in lever arch files which were stored in 2 crates on the dining room floor, so my parents are very happy to have the floor back! And the few bits I've kept (my Japanese notes and flashcards, my homework diaries, my yearbook, my reports and some bits for memories) now fit happily on the shelves in my bedroom :)

I've still been quite tired, so had to cancel my plans to run a stall to promote organ donation at my village Feast Day last Saturday. I've been quite fed up and frustrated with it all at some points this week, but I'm really hoping that I'll get some advice when I have my initial meeting with the local ME unit on August 5th. For the moment though I just want to do so much, but don't have the energy, which is very frustrating. I really want to try to learn to drive again, but I know I used to make mistakes and get very upset at myself when I was just a little bit tired, so I think that should probably wait til I feel better and less tired. And I also don't really have the money at the moment either, learning to drive is soooo expensive! I took my theory test when I was learning before, but that expires in November, so it looks like I'll have to take my theory test again. I'm not conerned about retaking it as I found it easy, but it's just more money! And I want to work too, but I just don't have enough energy at the moment. It's the British Transplant Games at the end of the month and it now looks quite unlikely that I'll be feeling up to competing. I'll definitely attend though as it's a big social event and I'm really looking forward to catching up with some friends there and hopefully meeting some new people too. However my weight has been staying stable, which is very positive and since my last hospital appointment I've been making a big effort to make my diet more balanced, so have been working hard to try new foods, especially fruits. I've discovered I love plums, but unfortunately so do the rest of my family, so other people keep eating the ones mum buys me when she goes shopping!

I think I've mentioned before that I really like Little Boots. Well, I've bought tickets to see her live in October, which I'm really excited about! She's doing a mini tour of the UK, but isn't doing any big cities, like London. However, she is coming to my nearest city, yay! The tickets were very reasonably priced, so I'm going with my friend Claire and my mum. I can't wait! :D I found lots of good Little Boots videos on Youtube too, which I've enjoyed watching. This week I was also really pleased that I was able to fix a problem with my iPod that had been annoying me for ages (lots of artists wouldn't show up in the artist listing). Quite frustratingly a key has fallen off my laptop keyboard this week and I'm struggling to work out how to fix it as I think the bit underneath might need gluing back into place. I'm going to ask my dad about it tonight and hopefully he'll know what to do. And my laptop screen seems to have acquired a scratch, but I've no idea why. Apart from that my laptop is doing quite well considering it's 4 years old :)

I've been relaxing quite a bit since my last update as I've been very tired. I like watching films and have watched a couple of good ones this week. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was much better than I expected, but it was quite long. Another film I watched was called Panic Room and all the reviews I'd read before I saw it said it was very scary and tense. It was a good film, but I didn't think it was scary, and I think I found it funnier than it was intended to be! And then very excitingly I saw Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on Wednesday with my family, Claire and Claire's friend. I've never seen the cinema (a big multiplex) as busy - every showing of Harry Potter on Wednesday was completely booked up, there were no parking spaces to be found, the foyer was packed... We'd prebooked our tickets in advance, but got to the cinema about an hour early to queue for good seats. The film was brilliant and I'd highly recommend it :D And I bumped into an old friend at the cinema too, which was nice.

I used to be a very avid reader, but have struggled to read recently while my concentration hasn't been very good. However, I've got back into reading this week which has been lovely :) So far I've just read a few Young Adult books from the library, but think I might read the Harry Potter books next. I've read books 1 to 4 before, but haven't read the last 3. So I want to reread the first 4 and then see if I can get through the final 3 :)