Films

In the last few months I have watched lots of films on DVD and on TV:

• 2012 - Not much of a plot but good special effects.
  
• The Box - Stupidly I ignored the bad reviews and watched it anyway. Terrible film and only half the mystery is every revealed to the viewer
• Breaking and Entering - Nothing special, but enjoyable enough
  
• The Golden Compass - Enjoyable enough for me as I'd not read the books, but apparently it's an awful film if you've read the books
  
• Duplicity - So confusing, I couldn't follow it
  
• Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant - Again I quite enjoyed this because I'd not read the book
  
• The Soloist - Very good film, I'm surprised it wasn't promoted more as being based on a true story
  
• My Best Friend's Girl - Average romcom
  
• The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - Very well made and thought provoking
  
• Bolt - Average - enjoyable enough to watch but nothing special and nothing compared to Pixar films.
  
• Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland - I'd previously seen this at the cinema but enjoyed rewatching it on DVD, a great film
  
• Where the Wild Things are - I didn't enjoy this film, maybe I'm not the target audience
  
• Sweeney Todd - One of my favourite films so I enjoyed rewatching this
  
• St. Trinians 2 - Another great film I enjoyed rewatching
  
• Ponyo - Good Studio Ghibli film, don't feel it quite stood up to the likes of Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle though
  
• The Princess Diaries - Rewatched this as it always makes me smile
  
• The Brave One - Something just didn't quite work in this film, the main character and her motivations weren't at all believable.
  
• Pretty Woman - A great romcom I enjoyed rewatching
  
• Lorenzo's Oil - An unusual and thought provoking drama
  
• Shrek 1, 2 and 3 - I love the Shrek films, don't think I need to say any more. I don't think the 3rd is nearly as bad as people make out
  
• While You Were Sleeping - A great Sandra Bullock romcom that I enjoyed rewatching
  
• As Good as it Gets - I didn't really enjoy this romcom
  
• Toy Story 2 - A fantastic Pixar film that I rewatched in preparation for seeing Toy Story 3
  
• Mickey Blue Eyes - I can't believe this film isn't more well known, I thought it was one of Hugh Grant's best roles and it was hilarious in places
  
• The Net - I enjoy rewatching this film even though it seems to have lots of negative reviews
  
• Mrs Doubtfire - I'd not seen this for many years so I enjoyed rewatching it and it made me smile
  
• Juno - One of my favourite films, I've lost count of how many times I've seen it now. I'd highly recommend it
  
• Dan in Real Life - This didn't leave much of an impression on me but I don't think I minded it at the time
  
• Matilda - Lovely film
  
• Magicians - Great comedy
  
• James and the Giant Peach - The animation was good but the film didn't keep my attention
  
• Hard Candy - Wow, Ellen Page is amazing!
  
• The Ugly Truth - Predictable romcom
  
• The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood - I found this film quite tricky to follow with all the actresses in all the flashbacks and memories. Quite enjoyed it though but it wasn't anything special
  
• Casper - Lots of fun
  
• Liar Liar - Didn't keep my attention
  
• Kiki's Delivery Service - One of my favourite Studio Ghibli films
  
• Whip It! - Enjoyable comedy starring Ellen Page and directed by Drew Barrymore
  
• Flatliners - Much better than I expected and stayed with me afterwards. One of Julia Roberts' early roles
  
• Ghostbusters - I didn't enjoy it at all
  
• Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang - Funny lighthearted film but nothing special
  
• Signs - I didn't think I'd like this but I did. I think Abigail Breslin is great and it was nice to see one of her early films
  
• Groundhog Day - I got a bit bored rewatching this as it seemed to drag on
  
• Charlotte's Web - Nothing special but enjoyable enough
  
• The Nanny Diaries - I liked this comedy/drama
  
• Girl, Interrupted - An amazing film I enjoyed rewatching to share with my mum. I'd highly recommend it
  
• Cruel Intentions - Enjoyable enough but I don't think I'd rewatch it
  
• Keeping Mum - I was very surprised by this dark comedy, I really enjoyed watching it
  
• Big - Didn't keep my attention
  
• ET - Can't believe I'd never seen this before. I loved it
  

I've been to the cinema a few times too. There I have seen:

• Shrek Forever After in 3D - Really enjoyable but I'm not sure the 3D effect was necessary as it only seemed to add to one short section
  
• Toy Story 3 in 3D - Wow! I think this was even better than Toy Story 1 and 2. The 3D effect wasn't too in your face but wasn't too subtle to notice either
  
• The Rebound - Enjoyable enough romcom but nothing special
  
• Knight and Day - Great comedy
  
• Salt - Good action/thriller, kept me interested but the plot was simple enough to follow
  
• Inception - Very well made and I managed to follow the plot without too much effort
  
• The Switch - Funny romcom but nothing special
  
• Tamara Drew - Great comedy/drama
  
• Life As We Know It - Surprisingly good romcom with lots of funny bits although predictable
  
• Eat, Pray, Love - Enjoyable but a bit long
  

Getting up to date with April - part 4 (more day to day stuff)

Here's some more about what I've been up to recently :)

On Fri 16th April I got up earlier than usual and me and mum went to Catherine's house to see Catherine and her mum while she was back from uni for Easter. We had loads to catch up on so chatted for a while and mum, Catherine and her mum talked about knitting because they're all keen knitters. After lunch Catherine drove us into their local town for a look round the shops. We went into lots of charity shops (I think there were 7!), 3 knitting shops and a couple of other shops. Me and mum bought a lovely doll for Mia's (Lizzy's daughter) 4th birthday which is on Thur. We also bought Mia a card, I bought some Paracetamol and I bought a DVD called Kramer vs Kramer from a charity shop. Mum spotted a very exciting sock knitting book in a charity shop, but Catherine's mum got it first which disappointed my mum :( We stopped in a cafe for drinks and then headed back to Catherine's house. Before we left I lent Catherine a DS game and we played a card game called Slam together that we used to play at sixth form.

That evening I had a look at the cinema times because I was hoping to go to see a film called Whip It! (starring Ellen Page from Juno) but it had already gone from our local cinema after just being there for a week! So I'll have to wait for it to come out on DVD instead.

On Sat 17th April me and my parents went to a regional PINNT meet-up at Hosp A. I've been a member of PINNT since I first went onto TPN at 6 months old and they've been a great help and support to me and my parents over the years. We've not been to many local meet-ups but I was keen to go to this one in case my transplant experience could help anyone else. When we got there we had a buffet lunch. They didn't have any Marmite sandwiches so I tried some new sandwich fillings and found some nice biscuits and some petit filous. At this point people were just chatting to each other but I felt quite awkward because I didn't know many people. Most of the people there seemed a lot older than me but then I spotted someone across the room who looked a bit younger than everyone else, so I went over to say hello. I soon got chatting to J and found that she was really easy to talk to. When the structured activities started (quizzes, notices etc), me and J tried to carry on chatting. Later in the session there was a question and answer session so I asked anyone if they'd got any questions for me. I answered a few questions but then someone completely changed the topic so that was the end of that. There was a lady there who I got quite frustrated with because she kept talking all about her. How boring! So my experience of the day was a bit mixed, but I was glad I went. Me and J swapped details and are now keeping in touch on Facebook and via email. She lives nearby so we're hoping to meet-up again soon.

When we left the meet-up we went to the hosp concourse because mum remembered that she needed to buy a couple of birthday presents for people (a friend and her boss) as their birthdays were the following Mon. There was a Body Shop in the concourse so mum picked some nice gifts from there. While she was doing that dad tried out all the free samples in the shop, so came out v perfumed!

On Sun 18th April we went to the local carboot sale. The weather was very hot and so I felt quite lethargic at points. I bought 8 DVDs for £6 - Billy Elliot, Catch Me If You Can, Dreamgirls, Elf, Save the Last Dance, The Sixth Sense, The Spiderwick Chronicles and Stranger than Fiction. After the carboot sale we went to visit my nan in hospital. She'd not had any visitors so far that weekend but she said that we really cheered her up :) At this point the doctors had decided that she didn't have a chest infection (that had been suspected a few days before because apparently an xray had suggested that, but she never had any symptoms of a chest infection). When we visited she had a pain in her chest so she'd had some ECGs earlier that day because of that. As far as we knew they'd been fine though. While we were there a doctor visited her about the pain she was getting and decided it was probably muscular so gave her some more painkillers.

On Mon 19th April my Outnumbered DVD (series 1) arrived in the post :)

That morn me and mum headed into the city. I felt quite ill while we were out which I suspect was at least partly related to the heat. My heels and the balls of my feet were sore, I felt like I'd got a carpet burn on one foot, I struggled with overheating as had lots of layers on, I had a bad headache coming and going, I had bad tummy pains and I seemed extra sensitive to noise (like hand dryers). Me and mum looked round some shops and some charity shops. I bought a DVD (Speed and Speed 2) for £1, a PS2 game (Rachet and Clank) for £6 and a magazine (Games TM) to try for £4.50. I also bought mum 2 cassette tapes (Wet Wet Wet greatest hits and Rod Stewart) for her to listen to in her car because it has a cassette player rather than a CD player.

Then we headed to Hosp A for my hygienist appt. That went ok. My teeth were not quite as clean as last time (16% dirty rather than 12%), but not too bad. I said to my hygienist that that might be because I'm eating more now (and I'd just eaten my sandwiches and brushed my teeth in the hosp toilet, but I didn't tell her that!) as I thought she knew about my medical history. However she didn't so I had to explain to her. I didn't mind though as she's very nice and easy to talk to. She told me that my notes said that my braces would be removed in July (which was news to me!) but she thought that it would probably actually be after that because my gaps wouldn't be closed by July. I booked another appt for 3 months.

That eve dad went to visit nan so he let us know the latest news. There wasn't a discharge date yet but hopefully she would be discharged later in the week. She would have a chest xray the next day because they now suspected that she might have a broken rib (she has osteoporosis).

On the morn of Tue 20th April I went to the shop for the Radio Times and also went to the surgery. At the surgery I collected my high calorie puddings and gave in a repeat prescription. I mentioned my reaction to the suncream to a pharmacist so she said she'd ask the specialist skin doctor about it for me. All I really wanted to know was whether they could prescribe me a different sun cream (I get it on presc because the steroids I take to prevent rejection mean I have to be more careful in the sun).

That afternoon I tried to phone Lizzy to find out if her and Mia were still going to come round the following weekend, but she wasn't in so I left a message on the answer machine. Our neighbour who is also mum's friend called round so mum could help her out with her knitting. A friend of hers is thinking about setting up an arts and crafts group (probably starting in Sept) for under 4s and Mary had heard that she might need a helper, so wondered if I would be interested. I said that if her friend did want a helper then I'd be willing to give it a try. Not sure if I'd be able to manage it, but I'd give it a go. However Mary's friend might find someone else to help her out, so I'm waiting to hear more.

I moved my DVDs around because I'd run out of space for them in my storage units. So I moved my boxsets to a space on one of my shelves, leaving just my full length films in my storage units. There wasn't much spare room though and I knew my DVD collection would keep growing so I spoke to dad about it and he said he'd be happy to put another shelf up for me. I think I've decided where I want it, but am not completely sure yet. I'm sure it'll take dad a while to get round to it but I'd like it ASAP because now I don't have room for any more DVDs.

That evening I attended the teenage discussion group in the village. Again there was just me, V, K and the 2 leaders - A and B. There was lots of discussion at the start about politics and I was pleased to find that most of them agreed with my political views :) I'll be voting Lib Dems on Thur. V and K are currently in their A Level year so were talking about their exams. The main discussion was about identity and we had some interesting points of view to share about it. At the end we got onto talking about music and I mentioned my love of Mika. B said that she thinks Mika's great but always sings slightly out of tune! I didn't agree with that! :P Before we left it was agreed that we'd now meet fortnightly rather than monthly. Although I enjoy the discussion group I think I'd have preferred the sessions to stay monthly rather than fortnightly, but never mind.

To be continued...

Organ donation in the news, trips out, an AYME meet-up and politics

Whoops for leaving it so long since my last update again. Looking at my notes from this week I think this update shouldn't be too long, but I never know until I've finished writing it, so fingers crossed.

At the end of last week I developed a rash on my hands and face after going in the sun, despite having factor 50 suncream on. At first I assumed it was a reaction to the sun, but after using a different suncream it seems more likely that it was a reaction to the suncream I used.

I forgot to weigh myself last Tue morn, so did it on Wed instead. My weight was 53.3kg, which was 0.3kg more than the previous week but exactly the same as the week before. It was the week I have to email my dieticians so I let them both know. My Hosp B dietician replied promptly and said she was impressed with how stable my weight was so would be happy for me to weigh myself monthly now. My dietician from Hosp A took a bit longer to reply as she was away for Easter, but she was happy with that too, so I don't need to email them my weight again until May. I'm a bit concerned about how much weight I could potentially lose in a month if I was to start losing weight, so I'm going to weigh myself fortnightly at home for the time being.

Last Wed I took some blood at home from a fingerprick and posted it off to Hosp B for them to check my Tac levels from. I also phoned them to let them know that the blood sample was on its way. I've not heard the result yet, so will chase them up about it later this week.

On Tue I got a phone call from the company who currently deliver my Tac asking how much I had in stock so they could decide if I needed another delivery or not. I was out at the time so they said they'd phone back the next day. They rang back on Wed while I was still in bed, so mum took the phone call. They'll deliver some more Tac a week on Wed.

Rachy is still continuing to make steady progress, so don't forget to keep following her updates here. Rachy had an article in her local paper last week which you can see here.

You may have seen that there was a story about organ donation all over the news yesterday. You can see the story on the Telegraph website here. It's a shame that the media seem to have completely blown the story out of proportion, I really hope it doesn't put people off registering to be an organ donor. You can read LLTGL's blog response here and Sarah has also written about it in her latest blog update here.

Once again I seem to have been quite busy since my last update. On Wed I went into Barnardo's for an hour. For the whole time I was there I was hanging clothes up, which got quite boring. It was very busy and noisy because there were lots of volunteers in. I was the only one doing any work though, the rest of them were just chatting. At least I didn't knock over any boxes of size cubes this time! When I'd finished I wandered round the charity shops in town. From Barnardo's I bought a copy of the DVD Nicholas' Gift which I'd rented and watched just a couple of weeks ago. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I get a staff discount of 20%. In another charity shop I picked up Jungle Book on DVD. I saw a PS1 game in a charity shop that I bought on eBay recently for significantly more money, but never mind.

On Thur it was lovely and sunny so me and mum decided not to go to the cinema but instead to wander round a local town that I'd not been to for a while. While we were out we stopped for drinks and found 7 charity shops :) In the charity shops I bought a book called Ten Thousand Sorrows by Elizabeth Kim for 75p, The Weakest Link PS1 game for £1 and 2 DVDs (Maybe Baby and Silkwood) for just 19p each as they'd originally come free with newspapers. In one of the charity shops I saw a woman who was there with her daughter. This lady was quite demanding with the shop assistants and rude to her daughter. When her daughter was talking to her she responded with 'Am I bothered?' just like the Catherine Tate character, but she wasn't doing it as a joke, that was her genuine response! :P While we were out we also bumped into a lovely nurse from Hosp H that we used to know well, so it was nice to have a quick chat to her.

On Fri morn before I got up, mum and dad went out to a fishing shop in a local city to look for a fishing bag to carry mum's giant knitting needles. They found the perfect one. Alf had planned to go to the cinema with his friends that evening, but they decided to go in the afternoon instead. They couldn't contact Alf because his mobile phone battery was flat, so they just turned up at our house at 12.30pm. Of course at this point Alf was still in bed, so there was chaos as he tried to get himself up and ready to go, especially as I was in the shower at this point! He got out eventually though and enjoyed seeing the film Kick Ass with his college friends.

On Fri aft Claire came round. We did lots of chatting, played a great card game called Ligretto, watched the DVD Coraline together and played on New Super Mario Bros Wii. As well as playing on New Super Mario Bros Wii with Claire, I've also played on it a bit on my own this week and am getting closer to completing it :) Claire is coming round again tomorrow and we're going to see if we can finish it, fingers crossed! I've bought myself a new Wii game this week from Amazon called Boom Blox Bash Party, so hopefully that'll be delivered later this week. I've not played on my PS2 for a little while, but am looking forward to playing on it again :)

On Fri night Alf went round to a friend's house in the village and none of us knew what time he'd be home. Usually we lock up and hide a key somewhere where he can find it to let himself in, but on Fri night the spare key seemed to have disappeared, so my parents decided to leave the door unlocked. At about 1am I was ready for bed, my parents were already asleep but Alf wasn't back yet. I didn't feel comfortable for the front door to be unlocked when we were all in bed, so I crept downstairs, found my spare key and put that out for Alf. I'd just locked the door and crept back upstairs and Alf came in!

On Sat I went to Lucy's AYME meet-up. To get there my parents drove me to a train station about 30mins away. I then got the train to Lucy's town, which took 40mins, where I met up with 2 other people and we shared a taxi to Lucy's house. There were 14 people (more than I expected) at the meet-up, so I became very shy and didn't talk much. I was very annoyed and upset at myself afterwards for that. No-one swapped seats either, so I didn't get chance to talk to some of the people I wanted to and one girl I was looking forward to seeing wasn't able to make it. I was quite tired while I was there, but I wasn't too bad. I'd not given my cat allergy a thought, but my eyes soon started watering thanks to Lucy's 4 cats! One part of the conversation that I found really funny was when some people started talking about blood tests. They'd clearly only ever had a couple of bloods tests because they were talking about cannulas blocking and needles missing veins like really unusual, traumatic events! I've experienced too many of them to count! I was quite tired when I got home, but felt ok the next day.

Yesterday morn some spare Glasto tickets went on sale. Dad had managed to get his and Alf's when they originally went on sale, but he'd not managed to get mum one. Luckily he got her one yesterday morning though. So at the end of June my parents and Alf will be going away to Glasto, which means I'll be at home alone for 6 days! That's exciting but a bit scary! If my health was better I might think about going to Glasto, but I'm not well enough to this year and to be honest I'm not too fussed about missing it - the yukky toilets, lack of showers and mud don't really appeal to me. So while the rest of my family are there in the mud I'll be watching the BBC coverage of it at home all cosy on the sofa :)

Yesterday morn we went to the local carboot sale again. It was much better than it's been for a while and I came home with loads. I bought a 500 piece dolphins jigsaw for 50p, a PS2 game (21 Card Games) for £1, a PS1 game (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) for 50p and 14 DVDs, all for £1 each! :D I bought 3 DVDs I've already seen - The Breakfast Club, Music and Lyrics and Rachel Getting Married. I bought 11 DVDs I've not seen before - The Pelican Brief, Brokeback Mountain, Clueless, Signs, The Blair Witch Project, Shakespeare in Love, iRobot, Becoming Jane, The Heartbreak Kid, P.S. I Love You and The Notebook. Mum bought the version of Pride and Prejudice featuring Colin Firth on DVD, some bits and pieces for herself and a book for me about films called Cinematherapy - The Girl's Guide to Movies for Every Mood, which was published in 1999, but still looks like I'll be able to get some DVD suggestions from it.

Yesterday afternoon we went to see my Nan but only stayed for about an hour and a half because dad wanted to get back to watch the football. Yesterday evening mum was listening to her iPod and was singing and dancing to Mika around the house and in the garden, but of course she was the only one who could hear the music! :P

Today my mum has gone to the library in the city to talk to an audience there about her knitting group to inspire them to set up their own. Mum wanted to take loads with her to show the people who come to her talk - her giant needles, lots of different types of yarn, lots of her knitted projects, a cushion she's just knitted etc - she'll be disappointed if only a few people turned up! She didn't have to carry her stuff too far as dad dropped her off as close to the library as he could, just outside the shopping centre that it's situated in, so she only had to walk through the shopping centre and up an escalator. To prevent her having to carry too many bags she put lots of stuff into a backpack. And she's got her giant needles in a fishing rod case. But she looks like a terrorist! Her backpack is one of the camouflage coloured Glasto ones and it's really big in comparison to my mum and the knitting needles in their case look rifle shaped! :P We were worried she might get arrested, but I've spoken to her on the phone and the shopping centre was very empty when she walked through it just before 9am this morning, so there was nobody there to get suspicious.

Last week dad heard that a local bike shop might have a vacancy so after much nagging Alf wrote them a letter to express his interest. Today my dad noticed that Alf had mistyped our phone number in the letter, so Alf phoned them to correct it. I've only been out to the surgery and local shop today. I've been relaxing this afternoon and don't have any plans for this evening. While I was writing this I had to go downstairs to ask Alf to turn his music down as even with my door closed I could hear it and it's horrible! So now he's very grumpy :P

On Wed there was an interesting piece on the local news about what the different political parties want to do about disability benefits. There was a disabled lady asking representatives from the different parties questions about how things will change for her if they get into power. This will be the first election I've been able to vote in, but rather than just copying my parents I wanted to know a bit about what the different parties believe and how their plans differ. However I struggled to find anything on the Internet that told me this in a way I could understand. A couple of days ago someone told me about a guide on the Telegraph website which helps you to find out how the different parties policies match your views. I didn't understand all of the questions in the guide, but I answered as many as I could. It said my views matched the Green Party 75% and matched Lib Dems 69%. My views least matched the Tories, but I didn't bother to include the BNP in my comparison. My parents vote Lib Dem and after looking at their policies in the guide I think I probably will too. The Telegraph guide is definitely worth having a look at, you can find it here.

I've not watched much on TV since my last update. When a programme name is displayed as a link on my blog, that link will take you to the place to watch it online if you're interested. I've watched Embarrassing Bodies: Charlotte's Story, the first episode of series 3 of Outnumbered (which was brilliant) and the second episode of series 3 of Ashes to Ashes twice :) I had to record Dr Who from Sat because I was out, but hope to watch it soon.

One of the DVDs I'm currently renting is the first series of the Catherine Tate Show, so I've watched the first 2 episodes of that. I've not decided what I think of it yet, but am going to persevere. Some of the sketches are funny, but some aren't.

As well as re-watching Coraline on DVD (which I love), I've also watched Sex and the City (which was better than I expected it to be), Little Women (the 1994 version with Winona Ryder, which was very good) and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (a predictable but funny romcom). I also attempted to watch The Pelican Brief, but wasn't able to follow it so I'll have to try it again when my brain is working a bit better.

On Tue night I listened to Taylor Swift through my pillow speaker, but it didn't help me sleep. On Wed I listened to some music from a CD called Temple in the Forest and I fell asleep while listening to that :) I discovered it when I was in hospital after my transplant and it helped me to relax then. A girl I know though AYME is very musical and she's recently released some of her music which is available to buy on iTunes or through Amazon. I'm not sure about her style myself but she is very talented so please have a listen for free on her MySpace page here. A few days ago I discovered that Marina and the Diamonds is performing at a festival that's just down the road from me this summer. I'm not well enough to go, but it's frustrating that she's coming so close yet I'm not going to be able to see her :( I couldn't see her on tour either because all the gigs were standing only. I think I might write to Marina and ask her to include some seated gigs in her next tour ;) Ellie Goulding's latest video has just been uploaded to Youtube today. The song is called Guns and Horses and will be released next month. You can see the video here.

I've also done some crosswords with my mum and some Sudoku.

Plans for a busy few weeks

As I mentioned in a previous update I have a busy few weeks coming up, so I thought I'd let you know what I've got planned from tomorrow.

Thur 8th - cinema with mum in the aft to see Nanny McPhee
Fri 9th - Claire is coming round for the aft and eve
Sat 10th - Lucy's AYME meet-up
Sun 11th - hopefully browse round local carboot sale in the morn
Mon 12th - mum is giving a knitting talk at the library in the city in the aft, so I'll get a lift with her and wander round the shops
Tue 13th - no plans yet
Wed 14th - Pathways to Work appt in town in the aft
Thur 15th - orthodontist appt at Hosp A in the morn
Fri 16th - meeting my friend Catherine and her mum in their local town while Catherine is back from uni for Easter
Sat 17th - PINNT regional meet-up at Hosp A in the aft
Sun 18th - hopefully browse round local carboot sale in the morn
Mon 19th - hygienist appt at Hosp A in the aft
Tue 20th - village teenage discussion group in the eve
Wed 21st - no plans yet
Thur 22nd - physio appt at Hosp H in the aft
Fri 23rd - Claire will be coming round in the eve
Sat 24th - Lizzy and her daughter M are coming to visit
Sun 25th - hopefully browse round local carboot sale in the morn

So I only have 2 completely free days out of the next 18 and I'm sure more things will come up! Some plans will be able to be cancelled or moved though if I need more free days.

Long update part 1

Sorry that I've not managed to update my blog for a little while. The update I've written is too long to post as one, so I've just split it in half and will publish it as 2 posts. Part 2 will be posted up tonight. So here's part 1...

My health has been quite up and down since my last update. I'm used to good weeks and bad weeks or good days and bad days, but this week I seem to have been going between feeling great and feeling awful within the same day. I'm finding this really frustrating, at least if I used to wake up feeling good I'd know I'd feel like that all day, but now I don't even know that. It's making it very hard to plan anything too. When I say I feel awful I often have a headache and/or a tummy ache and feel exhausted, just too tired to do anything. Last Mon morn I felt awful, I was worried about a few different things, I felt down and completely exhausted. I felt better that afternoon though after going back to sleep for an hour and a half. Tue was generally a good day but I became very exhausted at one point. This Sat just gone I felt ok in the morning, completely exhausted in the afternoon (which resting in bed for an hour listening to music didn't help at all) and fantastic in the evening! The rest of the days have been more stable though.

My tummy pains have been very bad some days, so I don't think the Amitriptyline is working. I tried the Spasmonal first for one week and then the Amitriptyline for a fortnight. A couple of days ago I started back on the Spasmonal again but am going to continue the Amitriptyline and see if taking them both together helps. Hopefully it will.

My nocturnalism seems to have been as bad as ever despite the Amitriptyline, I've had a few earlier nights but the late nights have been 3am ish. My younger brother Alf has stayed up through the night twice this week. This isn't when he goes out, this is when he's at home, but he just doesn't sleep all night. Think it's because he's bored and it seems a good idea to a teenage boy! His sleep pattern is now even more messed up than mine!

My weight last Tue was down a little bit from 53.3kg to 53.0kg, but that small decrease is nothing to worry about. I forgot to weigh myself this morning to email my weight to my dieticians, so I'll do that tomorrow morning instead.

My Hosp B consultant said at my joint clinic last month that my bloods can go back to 3 monthly now as all of the previous results were within the normal range. That means my next blood tests should be in June. However a couple of weeks before my last set of bloods were taken (at the start of March), my Tac dose was lowered from 2mg twice a day to 1.5mg twice a day because my last Tac level had been 13. My normal range is 5 to 8, so luckily when my bloods were last done my Tac level was about 5. However because it dropped from 13 to 5 in just a couple of weeks on the new dosage I'm worried that since then it could potentially have dropped more (making it too low) and that wouldn't be picked up til June. So I've decided I'm going to take some blood via a fingerprick this week (probably tomorrow) and post it to Hosp B for them to process for my Tac level.

Rachy is still making good progress since her transplant. You can keep up to date with her news here.

Recently there has been an announcement about a slight change in the way organ donation will now work in the UK. You can read more about it here, but put simply it means that under some rare circumstances organ donors or their families will be able to request to donate organs to loved ones. I was quite against this change when I first heard about it, but Emily wrote a great explanation of it which has reassured me:

"For those concerned about requested allocation...

Here's what the announcement means as far as I understand it:

Scenario: a woman dies in a car-crash. Her daughter is in need of a new liver. Previously, this would have absolutely no bearing on the organ allocation, despite the obvious wishes of the deceased being to save her daughter, as well as it being of psychological benefit for the donor family.

What has happened is that they have created a clause to allow medical professionals to acknowledge this exceptional circumstance. It's extremely rare, but similar scenarios have happened. It is not a change in the system, it is to legally allow some flexibility in highly specific cases.

Sally Johnston says: "This guidance will enable us to consider, as we always do, what the donor wanted but also to take into account the health and wellbeing of a sick patient who is known to them."

It is another minor adjustment in the laws surrounding organ donation to try and acknowledge the complexity and individuality of each and every case.

I hope that makes more sense - I was somewhat alarmed when the journalist first explained it to me but on reading what it actually entails I don't see any problem with it."

On Sat (27th March), me and mum went to the cinema to see The Blind Side. I think maybe I'd been expecting too much from the film after Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for her performance in it, but it was a very good film, if a little long. It's quite an American film, I didn't understand the American football stuff at all, but luckily that didn't seem to matter too much. Some of the lines were very funny too and made me and mum laugh.

On Sun (28th March) me and mum went to browse round the local weekly carboot sale. It was better than the previous week, but wasn't great. I did get some bargains though - a PS2 game (Harry Potter Quidditch World Cup - to convert Claire, who loves HP, into a PS fan because she currently hates them due to her ex spending more time playing on his PS than with her), 2 PS1 games (Tomb Raider and Spyro Year of the Dragon) and 3 DVDs (Sliding Doors, the first Pirates of the Caribbean film and Mickey Blue Eyes) totalled me just £5.20 :D I spotted one of the stalls that I'd previously bought a wrong region DVD from, but I didn't have it with me to ask to swap.

That evening Claire and her mum came round because they'd not made it round the previous Friday. They could only stay for a couple of hours before Claire's mum had to head home, but it was really nice to meet her for the first time.

Last Tue (29th March) I only went out to the local shop to buy a Radio Times. That afternoon I really enjoyed chatting to Lou on MSN and my older brother Chris popped round briefly to borrow my USB memory stick

On Wed me and mum had been planning to go out to a local city, but after seeing that the weather forecast predicted low temperatures and rain we decided to go to the other nearby city instead because it has an indoor shopping centre where we could shelter. We thought we might go on the train but ended up going in the car instead. While we were out we stopped at W H Smiths for drinks and to eat our lunch, but I was told off for eating my own sandwiches in there! My tummy was very painful while we were wandering round the shops :( I bought a Meryl Streep DVD called First Do No Harm in a charity shop for just 25p - bargain! I also bought a pillow speaker from Maplins to replace my pathetic pillow speaker. The new one is much better - to hear the music from my old one I had to put my ear in a specific position on the pillow, but with my new one I can hear the music when my head is anywhere on the pillow :) You can see it here (and it does work with an iPod). The only other thing I bought was 2 copies of the Pick Me Up Spring Special. This isn't a magazine I'd usually buy, but Holly S has her story in it (and it's not completely over the top like stories in these magazines usually are)! I'm in one of the photos she's included :) If you can find a copy in a shop, Holly's article is on page 57. At the end of the day my heels were sore and I was quite tired, but I had a lovely time. The other day my dad picked me up some memory foam shoe inserts, so I'm going to try them for my heels. My dad also got me a lockable cash tin this week (he had it at work, but it wasn't being used), so I can safely lock my money away again.

Thur was April Fool's Day. Two of the best April Fools I found on the Internet were Google's which can be seen here and the Guardian's which can be seen here.

On Thur I went to Barnardo's in town. On the way I called in at a games shop and traded in 3 out of 5 of my unwanted PS2 games (they didn't want 2 of them) for £8 in-store credit and bought some very pretty reduced greetings cards in Oxfam. I got to Barnardo's for 11am like I'd said and was met by the manager who I gave in my application form to. Firstly I was shown how to steam the clothes and left to steam a rail of clothes. Then the manager went through all the health and safety stuff with me before showing me how to hang the clothes (which hangers to use for which clothes and where to find the cubes with the sizes on to put on the hangers...) and I then hung lots of clothes. It was ok, but a bit monotonous. And it was tiring because it was a new environment and I was on my feet for the whole time (just over an hour). I did have a little accident when I tipped a box of a few hundred little black size cubes off the surface and all over a pile of clothes on the floor. So when my mum came to collect me (because I was very tired) I was on my hands and knees trying to pick all these little cubes up! :P Apparently I wasn't the first to do that though, hehe. All the other volunteers were really nice and the girl out the front looked about my age so I'm hoping to chat to her a bit more next time I see her.

On Fri me and my mum went to visit my Nan. She's lovely but hard work! After having her current TV for 2 years she'd just discovered that it has built-in Freeview so she asked me to teach her how to use that and I also showed her how to access the radio channels on that. Then I taught her to use her DVD player/recorder to play DVDs and CDs. While I was doing this she wanted to know what every button on each remote did! She also asked me to teach her how to record on her DVD recorder, but I said that would have to wait til next time! I'm not sure how much she'll remember but I did write some key points down, so hopefully that'll help her. When I was writing the notes my hand went very shaky (I suspect that was because of my Tac or maybe just because I was tired), so I hope she can read them ok. I also showed my Nan my iPod (Classic) because she'd never seen an MP3 player before. She couldn't understand how the sound quality on it would be any good, so I said she could have a listen. When I offered her the earphones she had no idea how to fit them in her ears because she'd never used them before! Once we got it sorted she loved listening to my iPod. I played Love Story by Taylor Swift on it and her feet were tapping along and she was shouting excitedly to us :D

Very excitingly, Fri night marked the return of Ashes to Ashes. I've watched both series of Life on Mars and both previous series of Ashes to Ashes and have them all on DVD. I think Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes are definitely my favourite TV programmes ever. I can't decide which I like best though - I liked the freshness and originality of Life on Mars but I really like that the main character in Ashes to Ashes is female. I'd been eagerly anticipating the first episode of series 3 (the final series) of Ashes to Ashes on Fri and luckily it didn't disappoint, I thought it was a great episode and a very strong start to the series. If you've not yet watched it but would like to, you can see it on iPlayer here. Now don't read any further if you're a fan and haven't yet seen the first episode because the remainder of this paragraph will contain spoilers. Episode 1 raised lots more questions, my parents were completely baffled. Hopefully things will become clearer as the series progresses but I know yet more questions will be raised before we get answers. I can't wait to find out more about where the series is going to go and how Sam Tyler is going to fit into it. I think in that episode they were trying to make us think that Gene killed Sam, but I'm sure he wouldn't have done. I suspect he knows more about Sam's death though. I also wonder if maybe Sam isn't really dead, because his body was never found. Who knows! I'm not sure how the man that kept appearing to Alex was, that wasn't Sam. I assume that was the body that was discovered on the TV too but I'm not sure where that fits yet. Maybe Gene killed him. I was really disappointed that Chris and Shaz had split up :( From the clip of next week's episode it looks like Shaz is going to leave, I really hope not. I loved the use of music again, Sweet Dreams when the Quattro was unveiled was great. And the lines seem to be as sharp and funny as ever, I loved Gene's suggestion to Ray about hazelnuts and squirrels, hehe.

Continued here.

Discussion group, hair cut and Barnardo's

Sorry it's been a little while since I last updated, hopefully this update wont be too long, fingers crossed.

My tiredness and energy levels have been up and down this week. My mood has too - most of the time I've been fine but I have felt very down on a couple of occasions for no obvious reason. On Sat night my legs were sore which is unusual for me. I started Amitriptyline on Sat night after stopping Spasmonal because it didn't seem to be helping my tummy pains at all. My tummy pains seem to have been different this week than usual and maybe slightly better, but not dramatically better. I'll keep going with the Amitriptyline and see what happens. My nocturnalism seems to have been better some nights this week (but not all) and I seem to have been getting to sleep quicker once I've got into bed, which may be due to the Amitriptyline.

One day this week I received a write-up of my last clinic in the post from Hosp A. The letter has been written to my GP but I received a copy too. On the envelope and in the letter Hosp A got my house number wrong. Hosp B have always had my postcode wrong! :P Most of the letter was accurate but I wasn't very happy with my consultant from Hosp A saying something along the lines of 'It was agreed that Molly's fatigue is probably not due to M.E. but is probably transplant related' That was not agreed, that was just his view!

I finally got my dad to check my email to S, the transplant co-ordinator from Hosp A, and after finalising it I sent it. I received a brief response from S saying that she'd be in touch again after her week off, but the follow up at Hosp B sounds very similar to Hosp A so she thinks my transition should be simple. I wish I was that confident!

On Tue morn my weight was up to 53.3kg. It was 52.1kg a fortnight ago (when I last emailed my dietician at Hosp B) and 52.8kg last week (when I just did my weight for myself). I emailed both of my dieticians to let them know. My dietician from Hosp B was very impressed and I also got a nice reply from my dietician at Hosp A.

On Sun morn me and mum went out to the local carboot sale. We both found it quite disappointing so hopefully it'll be better next time. I didn't buy any DVDs, just one PS2 game.

On Mon I felt quite tired so didn't do much. I wrote a letter to my AYME buddy Kate and went round to the post box to send that and also to the surgery to put in an order for some more high calorie puddings. I didn't feel up to going to Alf's parents' evening with my mum and dad but I'm sure there'll be more chances for me to see his college. That evening dad went away to stay in the fishing lodge that his sister rents for a couple of days while he's on annual leave from work.

On Tue I walked round to the local shop to buy the new Radio Times and some milk and to post a rental DVD back. That morning I phoned Barnardo's to chase up an application form and the manager answered the phone. She asked if I'd been in for an interview so I told her that I'd just been asked to fill out an application form. She said she'd just got back from a holiday but she'd like to see me for an interview, so could I pop in at some point on Wed or Thur. Eeek!

On Tue aft Chris and Soph came round to compare PS games, but Sophie forgot her 4. She told me what they were though and I wouldn't have been interested in borrowing any of them. Chris and Sophie are both quite busy at the mo but they might borrow some of my games another time. We played on my PS2 together which was fun :) After they'd been round for a while I got very tired so went up to my bedroom to relax while they used our Internet because they've not managed to get the Internet set up at their new house yet. Chris did some job hunting. He's still got his current job but they've just lost some housing benefit I think so are struggling to afford the rent on their house. I'm sure they wouldn't have any problems though if they stopped spending so much on things like alcohol, cigarettes, going to the pub etc! So Chris is looking for a job where he can earn more money, but dad doesn't think he'll be able to get a more highly paid job in what he wants to do (bar and restaurant work).

On Tue eve I didn't feel too tired so went to the teenage discussion group in the village. This time rather than being held in a room in the church it was held at B's house because she couldn't get anyone to babysit for her 2 young daughters now we've changed the day. There weren't many of us there - just A and B who run it, me, my friend V and another girl we both know, K. V has told me that she can't stand K, but I thought she did very well at hiding that. The discussion was based around another 10 min video, but it wasn't quite so religious this time. I got a bit frustrated when I was trying to be 'normal' and A briefly mentioned my medical history. I also found it frustrating when B was talking about how her sister had ME and had recovered really quickly when she stopped multitasking and watching TV and I felt like it was pointed at me (I'm sure A had told B about me having ME), but I'm sure nothing was meant by it. I'm really pleased that I didn't say anything either time. The rest of the evening was good though :)

I had quite a busy day on Wed. In the morning I went to my local hair salon for an appt with my normal hairdresser (who has cut my hair since I was tiny). My hair really needed trimming but I'd kept putting it off because I don't like having to be sociable at the hairdressers :P I asked my hairdresser's advice on stopping my hair from looking so thin (I'm sure it's a side effect of some of my medication but it seems to come and go despite the doses of my medications not changing). She said she could see where it went thinner, so the best solution would be to cut my hair there, so I agreed. I don't like other people washing my hair so just went for a spray cut. However when she sprayed my hair it went wildly wavy and stuck out at all angles :P Luckily she managed to tame it a bit before I left the salon. I had 2 or 3 inches cut off which is more than I'd usually have, but my hair still ties up. And I like it, it looks much thicker now and is easier to wash, brush and care for now the split ends have gone.

On Wed aft I went to Barnardo's in town to see the manager. She seemed nice and younger than I'd expected from hearing her on the phone. It wasn't really an interview, just a short informal chat. She asked me if I'd ever done any volunteering like this before (which I haven't) and asked whether I'd like to work out the front or in the back, so I told her about the conversation I'd had with someone on the phone who had suggested that I work out the back so I'm under no pressure to go in unless I feel up to it. She gave me an application form and asked me to return next Thur to be shown around, shown how stuff works and what I'll be doing.

Then I tried to trade in my 5 unwanted PS2 games (there might be more I don't want when I've played them all a bit more, but they're the only ones I'm certain I don't want at the mo) and the shop said they'd definitely be interested and although price would depend on the actual games and the condition of them they would be able to offer me a couple of pounds for each. But they can only buy a certain value of games and consoles each day and they'd already bought their limit that day. So I'll have to go back a bit earlier another day and hope that they wont already have bought their limit. In the charity shops I bought a PS1 game and 2 DVDs (Burn After Reading and He's Just Not That Into You) for £1.50 each. Then I helped mum with a big Tesco shop where I bought The Hangover on DVD for £5.

Yesterday I helped mum with a quick Tesco shop but didn't buy anything myself. Then we called in at the cinema where we pre-booked tickets to see The Blind Side tomorrow. We ate our sandwiches for lunch in the car on our way to visit my Nan. It was lovely to see her and she seemed in good spirits :) But I became very tired while we were there so don't think I was very good company. On the way home we called in at a local shop to buy some croissants and I posted a rental DVD back. I was very tired that evening so relaxed for a while before doing a crossword with my mum which we both enjoyed. Then dad got back from his fishing break which he seemed to have enjoyed. After dad had been back a little while he said there was something different about me so asked if I'd got new glasses. When I told him I hadn't he then realised I'd had my hair cut!

One day this week my mum's friend called round with a big fleecy jacket that she didn't want any more so she wondered if any of us wanted it. It's mine now and I love it, it's so warm :)

On Wed when I'd been telling my hairdresser about Alf's college course and his love of exotic animals she told me about a exotic pet shop that she'd accidentally stumbled upon in a neighbouring village. I'd never heard of it before, but I told Alf who looked it up on the Internet last night. He thought it looked really good so went to have a look at it with dad this afternoon. They don't have any job vacancies for Alf or any chance for him to volunteer but they've taken his details and he will be able to do his work experience there. It's good that it's so close, he'll be able to walk or cycle there across the fields.

This morning I had a shower and it got me thinking. Although I find showering quite tiring at the moment, it's now much easier than it used to be for me because I don't have to spend time before showering waterproofing a central line or spend time after showering changing an illeostomy bag.

I'm having a very down day today :( Firstly Claire text mum to cancel this evening. She was going to come round for tea and bring her mum with her who we've never met before, but she's cancelled and I don't know why. However they're still going to my mum's knitting group, but I don't attend that, so I wont get to see Claire tonight or meet her mum :(

Then I overheard Alf talking to my parents about the possibility of him getting a pet. I've wanted a pet for years and my parents have always said no, so I was surprised that they were thinking about letting Alf have one. So I asked mum if I could have a pet and she said no, which I thought was very unfair so I got quite upset. Mum didn't seem to understand that I like animals as much as Alf and how much I want a pet. Alf isn't going to be getting a pet in the near future but if he makes a big effort with his college work and gets good grades then he might be allowed a chameleon or some other kind of reptile or amphibian in a tank in his room, which he'll have to take full responsibility for. At the end of the conversation it looked more like if Alf is allowed a pet I might be allowed one too, but nothing has been decided yet. If I am allowed a pet then it will have to live in my bedroom (so not a dog or cat) and be totally my responsibility. However due to my transplant I wouldn't be able to have a reptile or a bird, so I think it'll have to be a small mammal. And I'll have to get my consultant's permission too. My consultant at Hosp B has always said no to pets (although I do know other small bowel transplant recipients who have pets), but I think my consultant at Hosp A might say yes ;)

Tomorrow afternoon me and mum are going to the cinema to see The Blind Side which I'm really looking forward to as I've been waiting for the film to be released in UK cinemas for ages! And on Sun if the weather is good we'll go and browse round the local carboot sale. My only plan for next week at the moment is going to Barnardo's on Thur (and maybe getting into town a bit early to try to trade my unwanted PS2 games in), but I'm sure more things will crop up, they always do.

I've played on my PS2 a bit more since my last update. On Sat I played on Sonic Heroes a bit more on my own and tried out World Rally Championship 3 with dad. It was his choice but we both had a lot of laughs playing it because we were both appalling! I was marginally better though, so beat him :) On Sun I tried out a few games - Who Wants to be a Millionaire (just like the TV prog), Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (not sure if it's my kind of game, so need to spend a bit more time playing it), Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (I expected it to be some exploring and some fighting but it is all fighting so I didn't enjoy it), The Italian Job: LA Heist (I am awful at racing games, so that wasn't very successful!) Tony Hawk's Project 8 (bashing the buttons doesn't work, I need to spend some time learning and practising) and SSX3 (same thoughts as Tony Hawk's). On Tue I tried out the multiplayer options on Sonic Heroes with Chris and Sophie and then played Who Wants to be a Millionaire with Sophie. And on Tue I also tried out a new game, Lemmings for the PS1, which I loved (it's just classic Lemmings), but I got really frustrated when it would save and even complained to the eBay seller who I bought it from. After Googling the problem I discovered that you can't save PS1 games onto a PS2 memory card, but instead need a PS1 memory card. So I apologised to the person who sold me Lemmings and bought a PS1 memory card from eBay which I'm now waiting to be delivered. At the moment Alf is trying out my Need for Speed game.

This week I bought a PS2 game called Canis Canem Edit (aka Bully) from the carboot sale and a PS1 game called Jak and Daxter from a charity shop in town. I've not tried either of them out yet though. I've bought some PS2 games from eBay such as Escape from Monkey Island and Sonic Mega Collection. Escape from Monkey Island has arrived in the post already along with Need For Speed Most Wanted which I bought last week but I've not tried either of them out yet. I'm waiting for Sonic Mega Collection to be delivered. The PS1 games I've bought from eBay are Lemmings and Oh No More Lemmings and Crash Bandicoot 3, which have already arrived though I've not tried out Crash Bandicoot 3 yet, and Croc 1, which I'm waiting for. On Wed eve I decided I'd stop buying PS games from eBay while I tried out the ones I'd got but that didn't even last 24 hours because yesterday evening I couldn't resist buying the PS1 game Spyro Gateway to Glimmer from eBay :P But I checked my bank balance online the other day and it's looking good so I'm ok to buy a few games until the novelty of the PS2 wears off :)

A few days ago the next handheld Nintendo console (which will come after the DS series) was announced. The current name for it is 3DS, but I'm sure that'll change before it's launched. It will incorporate 3D without the user needing to wear special 3D glasses. You can read more about it here. I think it sounds quite exciting.

I've only watched one film since my last update which was called Fish Tank. It wasn't a cheerful film, but was very well made and acted and definitely thought-provoking. I'd recommend it if you want a gritty realistic film that makes you think. On the DVD was also a short film called Wasp that had been the inspiration for Fish Tank so I watched that too.

Since my last update I've discovered the BBC series Outnumbered as I rented the first series on DVD from Tesco DVD rental. I'd seen odd parts of the special episodes for Comic Relief and Sports Relief before so wanted to see more. This week I've watched all 6 episodes of series 1 (plus the cast interviews on the DVD) and I love it :D The first disc of the second series arrived this morning from rental and the second disc is in the post to me, so I'm looking forward to watching series 2 before series 3 starts a week tomorrow. This week I've also begun rewatching series 2 of Ashes to Ashes in preparation series 3 starting on TV next Fri. So far I've rewatched the first 3 episodes of series 2. I can't wait for series 3 :D You can see the BBC trailer here.

I seem to have watched quite a lot on TV, from the hard disc recorder and on online TV catch up services since my last update. I watched the last episode in the current series (and the last ever with Jonathan Ross of Film 2010, 2 episodes of Tracy Beaker Returns, the latest episode of Married Single Other which was very sad (the first 3 episodes were light-hearted and funny, but the next 2 episodes were very moving and a depressing. I wonder how it'll conclude on Mon), a really interesting documentary about refugees from Burma moving to the UK called True Stories: Moving to Mars (I was especially interested in this because Lizzy's husband is from Burma), the first episode in the new series of Children's Hospital, the latest episode of One Born Every Minute, both parts of an interesting BBC programme called Famous Rich and Jobless, 4Music: 4Play: Marina and the Diamonds (It's on the hard disc recorder and I've watched it a few times now), a Neil Sidaka prog with mum, Fri Night with Jonathan Ross featuring Lady Gaga (I thought watching it might help me to understand her but it didn't!), Boyzone Tribute to Stephen Gately (I only watched because I heard Mika had sung on it), Alexandra Burke performing her next single, All Night Long, on Dancing on Ice and Pixie Lott performing her latest single, Gravity, on the Alan Titchmarsh Show. I've now watched everything that I wanted to on the hard disc recorder in preparation for reformatting it, but there are still a few programmes on it that mum wants to watch.

I've had 2 songs stuck in my head a lot since my last update. I got Caravan of Love stuck in head after it was sung on Married Single Other and then again after I heard it on the radio a few days later. I don't mind that song though. More annoying was getting Telephone stuck in my head. Usually when the video comes on the music channels I flick to another channel but I thought I'd watch it through - big mistake! I don't like the song but it's very very catchy! While I was looking for that on Youtube I spotted a link on the side of the page to a Lady Gaga video I was sure I'd not seen before. Although I don't really like Lady Gaga I thought I'd have a look because her videos are always really weird, but to my surprise this one is quite normal!

I'm currently listening to The Family Jewels by Marina and the Diamonds to cheer me up. It's definitely my favourite album at the moment.

Mika was interviewed by Jools Holland on Radio 2 on Mon eve but I missed it on the radio so listened to it on iPlayer last night instead. You can listen to it here but only til Mon (Mika comes in 24 mins into the recording). Mika's latest single Kick Ass (the theme tune to the film of the same title) will be released on Mon and I'll certainly be buying it.

Good week, PS2 and new Mika song

My good week has continued :) I've been feeling less tired than usual and have had more energy, despite being as nocturnal as ever :P I've still been feeling tired at some points, but overall I've been feeling much better this week than I usually do and have been able to do more. Fingers crossed it lasts.

Yesterday my heels were the most painful they've ever been with the plantar fasciitis. Luckily they're not too bad today.

The Spasmonal tablets that I've been taking before meals since last Fri haven't helped my tummy pains and have given me indigestion a lot. So I stopped taking those yesterday after trying them for a week. I'll be starting Amitriptyline tonight, so hopefully that'll help.

I received a letter this week with an appt for my next clinic at Hosp A on June 7th. At this clinic the plan will be to complete my transition. I've drafted the email I need to send to S about how things currently work at Hosp B, but I've not sent it yet because I'm going to ask dad to read through it and see if he can think of anything to add. And I've emailed my GP, Dr I, to let him know that once my transition is complete my Tacrolimus wont be delivered by the health care company any more but instead I'll need to get it on prescription.

And the extra Tacrolimus that I needed because I was running short was delivered on Wed.

Yesterday would have been Jessica Wales' 21st birthday. I thought of her family and close friends a lot yesterday, I can't imagine how hard the day must have been for them. RIP Jess xxx

There's been some great news on Rachy since my last update. You can read about her progress and see photos here.

Earlier in the week I was given the link to a clip of Victoria Tremlett talking about organ donation on GMTV. You can see it here.

And the second Give And Let Live Photo book that I ordered from Holly C for mum arrived in the post this week.

Holly S' Battlefront programme was repeated on Channel 4 in the early hours of yesterday morning. We have it recorded on our hard disc recorder, but that is dying and I don't want to lose the programme when it does. So my friend Lizzy recorded it onto her hard disc recorder when it was repeated yesterday and is hoping to now burn it to a DVD (she's never done it before, but hopes she'll be able to) for us. It's really frustrating not being able to record things at the moment, I think if I can watch one more programme on the hard disc recorder then I'll try wiping and reformatting it to see if we can get it to work again. If not I'll try to persuade my parents that we need to buy a new one.

My Playstation 2 was due to be delivered yesterday but I wanted to go out. I knew that the parcel would need to be signed for so I asked Alf if he would stay in and sign for it for me. He agreed but I had to pay him £2 the night before, so I did. As it turned out the PS2 was delivered before we went out yest. I eagerly unpacked it but was disappointed to find that although I had the PS2, a memory card, 2 controllers and 10 games, I had no leads to connect the PS2 to my TV or to the mains power. I was worried that the seller was deliberately not going to sell me these so I emailed her to check. While I was waiting for a response Alf contacted a friend who said he had some spare leads I could have, but it might be a few days before he could get them to me. I just wanted to play with my new toy! Later that day I got a response to the email and discovered that the seller had just forgotten to include the leads in the parcel, so she put them in the post to me first class yesterday. I didn't want to have to wait much longer to play on my PS2, but luckily the leads arrived this morn. The PS2 is now set up and working :D I've only tried out one game so far (Sonic Heroes) but have more that I want to try.

10 games came with the PS2 - 2 of which I know I'll enjoy playing (Sonic Heroes and Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King) and 2 of which I might like playing (The Italian Job LA Heist and Splinter Cell). So that leaves 6-8 that I don't want (children's games, racing games and killing games). I'm waiting to hear if Chris and Sophie want to buy any of them off me because Sophie has a PS2. If not I'll check that they all work and then trade them in at a local game shop when I next go to town. I thought about trading them in at GAME but think I might get a better deal for them at a different game shop in the other local town.

As well as the 10 games that came with the PS2 I've also bought some more. I've had a look on the high street but the prices of the pre-owned PS1 and PS2 games vary greatly as does the quality of the discs. All of Cash Converters PS1 discs look too scratched to play but I did buy a PS2 game (Tony Hawk's Project 8) in there. It was £4 though, so a bit more expensive than I think I'm going to like to pay for games. GAME are selling used PS2 games for £5 so I've not bought any from there yet and wont unless I'm sure I'll like them. And when I went to a different town yesterday I bought a PS1 game (Who Wants to be a Millionaire) and PS2 game (SSX 3) in good condition from a charity shop for £1 each, bargain.

I've also bought a PS2 game (Need for Speed Most Wanted) for £2.70 on eBay which should be on it's way to me soon. And I bought a bundle of 2 PS2 games (Rayman Revolution and Rayman 3) plus a PS1 game (Rayman) for just £3.80 this morning but the seller's PayPal isn't working so I've got to try to pay them by postal order instead.

On Tue I only went out briefly to buy the Radio Times from the local shop. My dad has been on annual leave since Wed and he's off next week too. That's really been confusing me because he's usually only around at the weekends, so each day since Wed I've thought it's Sat! He seems to have been enjoying his annual leave so far - he went fishing on Wed, did loads of work in the garden on Thur and went out with me and mum yest. Next week he's looking forward to staying at the fishing resort where his sister and her partner rent a cabin for a few days.

On Wed I went into town while mum gave a talk at the library there about knitting because they're setting up their own knitting group like mum's Knit Lit at our village library. I successfully bought myself a new pair of slippers because my slipper boots were falling apart. When I'd finished my shopping I went for a drink in the library cafe and then surfed the Internet on one of the computers there til my mum had finished.

Then on Wed eve Claire came round for tea and we had fun playing on New Super Mario Bros Wii together. We didn't make any progress though. Later in the evening we went to the local cinema to see The Lovely Bones. I didn't really like it, it was very weird and quite sad. After that Claire came back briefly for a drink. Later that evening I caught up on my emails.

On Thur I had my 3rd Pathways to Work appt. I popped to the shops in town briefly before that. I used to have problems with Alfie helping himself to money from my purse, so I started to lock it away in a lockable box I had. I trust him more now though, so had stopped locking my money away. Dad suggested I restart now we know Alf is smoking again, but when I tried to put my money away I discovered that the lock on my box had broken. So I was looking out for a lockable cash tin in town but the cheapest I could find cost £9 and I thought that was too much. So my money isn't locked away at the moment. As well as the PS2 game from Cash Converters that I've already mentioned, I also bought a t-shirt from Sainsburys.

My Pathways to Work appt went well, my advisor was really pleased that I'd managed to phone the charity shops and was planning to start volunteering at Barnardo's. She suggested I phone them regularly to chase up the application form until I receive it. That appt only took 30mins as it was just updating my records on the computer. And we chatted about nails too because she was surprised to find someone else with long nails like her! Hopefully next month when I see her we'll be able to talk about how my volunteering is going.

Yesterday I went out with my parents. Firstly we headed to Tesco for a very quick shop and mum needed to return 2 items of clothing. They were both in the same bag yet she only remembered to return one! After that we headed to a town about 40mins away because mum had heard that there was a wool shop there. We all went in a few charity shops were we all got some good bargains. Dad bought himself a pair of jeans and as well as getting a PS1 and a PS2 game (mentioned earlier), I also bought a Victoria Wood DVD for my mum and a DVD of comedy clips for us all. The PS1 game, PS2 game and 2 DVDs all came to less than £4! While mum and dad went in the wool shop I went in Blockbuster, but didn't buy anything.

After that we headed to my uncle (dad's brother) and aunt's house. They were the 2 who celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary last month at a local restaurant. They've lived in their current house, about an hour's drive from us, for nearly 5 years now but we'd never visited them before yesterday. So because they live in the same direction as the town with the wool we went to see them. My uncle made us lunch. I'd planned to take sandwiches with me, but had left them at home. Whoops. The curry he made was nice, but a bit spicy for me so I couldn't eat as much as I would have liked to. We spent about 3 hours there in total which involved lots of chatting, trying to help my uncle sort his computer out (but both him and dad ignored my suggestions so that wasn't very successful!), admiring their knitted toilet roll covers (and sending a photo to Claire of course!), helping my aunt send some photos from her phone to their daughter, listening to some of my uncle's 100 year old records, walking round their land and seeing all their animals (2 cats, 4 geese, chickens...), talking about knitting (no surprise with my mum) and looking at their wedding photos from 45 years ago and laughing at the photos of my dad when he was 15. My uncle is the one who made my mum's giant knitting needles, so we took them with us so he could finish them off by gluing the ends in place. It was a nice but long afternoon so I fell asleep in the car on the way home :P

Today I'm home on my own, but I like it :) Alf stayed at a friend's last night, dad has gone out fishing and mum has gone to a knitting show in London with Claire and another of her friends. I phoned her when I got up this morning and she was on the train on the way there. She'd prebooked tickets for the 3 of them as that works out cheaper than buying on the door. But she'd left the tickets at home, so they'd have to buy new tickets once they got there. Whoops! My mum makes me laugh a lot. Last night when she got home from work she told me that she'd asked someone how old you have to be to join the Over Sixties Club, hehe! :P

Tomorrow morn I'm looking forward to browsing round the local carboot sale for bargain PS games and DVDs :D I'm also going to see if I can recognise the 2 stalls where I bought the wrong region DVDs last week and if so I'm going to ask if I can swap them. On Mon I might go into town to try to trade in my unwanted PS2 games and to chase Barnardo's up about the application form. That aft is Alf's parents' eve, so if I feel up to it I'm going to accompany my parents to that because I've not seen Alf's college before so that'll be interesting. On Tue eve I'm hoping to attend the teenage discussion group in the village.

Once again I've not done much reading this week but I did enjoy flicking through the latest issue of Cheers (AYME's bi-monthly magazine) which arrived in the post this week. I've also played on my DSi a bit more but am getting stuck on my current game, Yoshi's Island DS, now.

I discovered a few days ago that Mika sings the theme tune for a new film that is coming out soon called Kick Ass. The film, about Marvel Superheroes, doesn't interest me at all, but it's exciting that Mika sings the theme tune and that it will be released as a single. Some of Mika's singles don't get much publicity but hopefully this will because it's linked to a film and because it's produced by the famous music producer Red One (this song doesn't have the shout-out at the beginning though). You can see it here. I'm not that keen on the video because it's clips of the film interspersed with clips of Mika and I'd much prefer it all to be clips of Mika :P But I understand why they've done it that way. I like Mika with glasses, I think they suit him. I wasn't sure about the song to start with because it sounds much more computerised than his songs usually do, but it still has that distinctive Mika sound. After just one listen it was firmly stuck in my head, it's definitely catchy, and I've decided I like it :)

Since my last update I've watched a couple of films. I rewatched The Incredibles, but didn't enjoy it as much as I remembered I did last time. Hmmm. I also watched a Sandra Bullock film called The Net (and its extra features) which I rented. I loved it and would highly recommend it. It's got a very original plot, is quite a tense thriller and Sandra Bullock is as great as ever. In fact I then bought the DVD from eBay because I knew it was a film that I wanted to share with mum and would want to rewatch. I bought it for just £2. The DVD arrived this morning, just 2 days after I bought it, and is in perfect condition :) And today I found a trailer for Shrek Forever After on the Internet. You can see it here. I've loved all 3 Shrek films so far, but that trailer doesn't excite me. I'm sure I'll be seeing it in the cinema in 3D anyway when it's released this summer and hopefully it'll be as good as the other Shrek films, fingers crossed.

Since my last update I've also watched the first ever episode of Blackadder because I rented the DVD of the first series. I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would though, so I've not watched any more episodes and have returned the DVD.

I've not watched much on TV since my last update but do have loads to watch on iPlayer because the hard disc recorder isn't working, grrr. I've watched Sport Relief does Dragons' Den, One Born Every Minute and Sport Relief. I watched Sport Relief in the background while I was doing other stuff, but was waiting for interesting parts. There weren't many. James Corden's sketch as Smithy was the highlight of the programme for me, it was brilliant :D I was looking forward to seeing Annie Lennox perform but would much rather her perform one of her own songs than Bridge Over Troubled Water. And the Ashes to Ashes special didn't live up to my expectations either. They clearly didn't worry about the plot because it was all about spotting the 80s celebs in it. But of course I didn't recognise any of them, but did notice the poor plot. I was very excited to find out the other day that series 3 of Ashes to Ashes is starting on Friday April 2nd at 9pm. I can't wait! I'm a bit disappointed it will be shown on Fridays though as that will mean that mum wont be able to watch every other one live due to Knit Lit. So we need to have some kind of working hard disc recorder by then if not before.

New tablets, Playstation 2 and broken HDR

Sorry for not updating for a little while. Hopefully this wont be too long, fingers crossed. I've just noticed the my last blog update was my 200th blog post :D

As I said in my last blog update, my consultant from Hosp A prescribed me 2 new tablets that would hopefully help my tummy pains. He didn't say whether to try them both at the same time or separately, but I decided to try them one at a time so if my tummy pains eased I'd know which tablet it was due to. I was prescribed Spasmonal which helps reduce IBS type cramps and Amitriptyline which lessens the signals from the nerves in the colon, which in turn reduces the pain. I started taking Spasmonal last Fri evening and have been taking it up to 3 times a day with or just before meals (when I remember). Unfortunately my tummy pains don't seem to have improved and were very bad again yesterday afternoon despite taking a tablet with lunch. And I had indigestion all day on Sun which I can only think is due to that as I didn't eat anything different. I'm going to keep trying with the Spasmonal til Fri to give it a week and if there's still no improvement in my tummy pains I'll stop taking that and try the Amitriptyline instead. And if the Amitriptyline doesn't work I'll then try them both together. So hopefully I'll find a solution to my tummy pains, fingers crossed.

I'm still as nocturnal as ever (I was up til 3.30am last night!) but if I try Amitriptyline from the weekend I'm hopeful that that might help my sleep too.

My dietician doesn't want me to email her with my weight until next Tue because we're doing it fornightly now, but I decided to weigh myself anyway this morning. And my weight was up from 52.1kg to 52.8kg :)

My transition has continued to worry me and I've had trouble sleeping on a couple of nights because of that :( I'm still planning to email S about how things currently work with me under Hosp B, but haven't written that email yet. I spoke to my friend A (who is a similar age to me) from Hosp B last week and her transition isn't moving as quickly as mine, she's not sure when she'll leave Hosp B yet.

On Fri I received a letter from Hosp B with my last Tac level and saying that I needed all my bloods repeated in a fortnight. The letter was dated last Mon but I saw my consultant on Wed and he said because my bloods were all back within the normal range I didn't need bloods doing for 3 months this time. So I'm going to ignore the letter.

When I put all my tablets out for the week ahead on Sun I realised I was low on Tacrolimus (my anti rejection drug). I currently have that delivered by a healthcare company, so the shortage suggests that I didn't get the right amount with the last delivery as I don't usually run out between the regular deliveries. So I phoned them up yesterday and they're going to deliver some more tomorrow, which is good as I'd run out on Sun otherwise.

I've been keeping updated with Rachy's progress on her blog here. It was great to hear that she was able to come off the ventilator on Fri but unfortunately she then had a setback so had to be ventilated again and is still on the ventilator at the moment. I know her journey to recovery will take a while but she's very strong. I sent her a card yesterday. I wanted to make one, but didn't get round to it, so ended up buying her a nice one instead. If you want to send her a card the address is on her blog.

I showed my mum Holly C's Give and Let Live photography book a few days ago and like me, she loved it. So mum has now ordered her own copy of it from Holly :)

And my friend Emily was on Channel 5 news last week. You can see it here.

Last Wed evening I didn't do much after the clinic. But I did attempt to get some tickets for my family to see an episode of QI being filmed in the summer. I'm still waiting to hear if my ticket request has been successful, so fingers crossed. And I bought myself this wall decal from eBay, which arrived in the post this morning. I'll post photos once it's up :)

I've been out a few times in the last week. I didn't get out on Thur because I was very tired from the clinic the previous day. But on Fri I was feeling much better so I joined mum and her friend having lunch out at a restaurant in town. I rarely eat out so that was nice :) It was an Italian restaurant though and I'm not allowed to eat shellfish or blue cheese and I don't like tomatoes (or tomato sauce) and pizza. So it was difficult finding something to eat on their menu! I ended up having a chicken and mushroom risotto, but instead of the tomato sauce I had a garlic sauce on it instead. After the meal we looked round the shops and I just bought one DVD (Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring). I also called in at Barnardo's to pick up an application form, but they'd run out. So they took my address and will post me one out when they get some more. All the staff in the shop were lovely :) Once we got home I popped out to the surgery to pick up my new tablets and to the local shop to post back a rental DVD and withdraw some money from the cash machine.

On Saturday I was exhausted so didn't get out. But on Sun I felt better so had a lovely day. Mum didn't want a present for Mothers Day, but when I saw this pair of earrings I knew she'd love them so had to buy them for her. I had to let her know about them though so she could choose which colour she wanted. She went for purple like I thought she would. I ordered them from Folksy on Fri morning, they were dispatched later that day and they arrived on Sat so I could give them to mum on Sun! And she loves them :D

On Sun morning while dad was out swimming and picking Alf up from a friend's house where he'd spent the night, me and mum went to the local carboot sale to browse round. I love the return of the slightly warmer weather :) Mum was very happy with what she bought. I bought 6 DVDs at bargain prices, so they totalled just £4.50! Unfortunately I assumed they'd all be European DVDs but once I got home I discovered I was wrong - 3 of them were from different regions and so I can't watch them :( I can't unlock either of the DVD players in the house to play different region discs and my laptop wont either. The 3 DVDs that I bought which will play are Closer, Breakfast at Tiffany's and Lost in Translation. The 3 DVDs which wont play are Sense and Sensibility, Little Women and The Net. I'm not too bothered about Sense and Sensibility and Little Women, I'll just rent them at some point instead. But I was very disappointed about The Net because I was really looking forward to watching it as it stars Sandra Bullock. I tried to order a cheap copy from Amazon marketplace but that order was cancelled because they were out of stock. The only other copies available were a bit more expensive so I decided to hold off buying it until I've watched a rental copy. So I added it to my DVD rental list (as a high priority choice) on Sun and it was dispatched yesterday so I received it this morning :)

Mum and dad went to Chris and Sophie's for lunch on Sun but I stayed at home. Then when mum and dad got back us 3 went to visit my Nan. I should have guessed that we wouldn't be the only ones visiting her on Mother's Day afternoon, but I didn't give it a thought so was quite surprised when some other relatives were there. Dad's brother and his wife (who's wedding anniversary meal we went to last month) were there as well as their daughter (my cousin). I was a bit worried when we got there because there were more people than I expected, but it went ok. Because there were 7 of us there though there were often 2 or 3 conversations going at once, eek! My Nan was really pleased to see us all. And my uncle didn't mention my ME but was odd as usual :P His wife was lovely like she always is. And it was great to see my cousin as I'd not seen her for years. I think she might be in her 30s but I'm not really sure - I'm rubbish at guessing ages. I don't think many families would have such deep and lengthy conversations about marijuana like my family do, lol!

My Nan saw the cardiologist yesterday after months of waiting. The big relief is that she doesn't need an operation. Phew. Her heart problem are just related to her age. I don't know much more because my parents spoke to her on the phone, but she seemed very positive after seeing the cardiologist :)

And I had a nice time on Sun eve doing a jigsaw with my mum that she'd bought at the carboot sale that morning :)

On Sun eve I also discovered that Alf had pierced his own lip! I don't mind piercings but the idea of having one in your mouth is weird and self piercing - yuk! Alf said he did it himself because he didn't have enough money to pay to have it done. But he didn't get organised in advance with anything to put in it so by the time he got something from a friend at college yesterday the piercing had closed up. He'll probably attempt it again though. Mad!

I was surprised that I didn't feel exhausted yesterday after such a busy day on Sun. So me and mum went into town for a couple of hours to look round the shops (especially the charity shops). We also stopped for drinks in a coffee shop and called in the library where I borrowed a DVD (The Darjeeling Limited, mum's friend recommended when we saw her last Fri). I only bought one DVD (The Secret Garden) and I looked for some new slippers, because my current ones are falling apart, but with no success.

While we were in town yesterday afternoon afternoon I looked at the prices of some Playstations and Playstation 2s. I'm always surprised at how many PS1 and PS2 games there are in some charity shops and at the carboot sales we go to and how cheap they are. So I'd been thinking about picking up a second hand Playstation or Playstation 2 for a while but hadn't seen any at carboot sales recently. So I checked the prices of preowned ones in a couple of shops while we were out yesterday but didn't buy one as I wanted to check prices on the Internet first. Looking at them in shops helped me decide which model I wanted. I decided I wanted to get a Playstation 2 rather than a Playstation because then I would be able to play a wider range of games on it and I decided I wanted a slim model to fit better next to my Wii on the shelf under my TV. I had a look on the Internet last night and generally they were more expensive than those on the high street apart from on eBay. I tried to bid for a couple on eBay but I'm rubbish at bidding so either got outbid at the last minute or the price went higher than I was willing to pay. Then I found a perfect bundle available as a buy it now option, so I bought it. It will be delivered on Fri. Within the bundle I bought a silver (much nicer than the black) Playstation 2 slim, 2 controllers, all the relevant leads, a memory card and £10 games! And including postage that cost me £52 which I don't think is bad, especially as a new Playstation 2 without any games is selling for about £100. I only like the sound of 2 of the games (Sonic Heroes and Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King), so the other 8 I'm either going to sell to my older brother Chris or trade in at somewhere like Game.

I'm not going out today but am working through some jobs on my to-do list, such as updating my blog. This morning I received a lovely letter from Lizzy's husband's niece who lives in Burma :) And I also received the latest magazine from PINNT so I'll read that at some point.

Tomorrow we'll be waiting in for my Tac delivery and then that evening Claire is coming round for tea before we go to the cinema to see The Lovely Bones. On Thur afternoon I've got my Pathways to Work appt. I updated my CV the other day because I realised I'd got 3 more voluntary things (related to AYME) to add to it :) On Fri I'll be waiting in for my new Playstation 2 and then playing with it once it arrives :) No plans for Sat yet. And on Sun morn I'm hoping to browse round the local carboot sale again.

I received a letter through the door the other day with details of the next meeting of the teenage discussion group. The next meeting will be next Tue (23rd) and will be at the house of one of the leaders. Hopefully I'll feel well enough to go.

You may remember that shortly before Christmas I attended my first AYME meet-up at Lucy's house. I heard last night that she's planning another meet-up on April 10th, which I'm hoping to attend.

Towards the end of last week I discovered that our hard disc recorder had broken. It had been playing up for a while (it's quite old and has been very well used), but when I checked it I found it had only recorded one of five programmes I'd set it to record. I was able to watch the programmes on iPlayer though. I cleared lots off the hard disc and then did a test recording, which worked. But then when I set it to record manually and it told me it was recording it didn't actually record. Grrr. I've found it quite frustrating not being able to record things this week. I researched new HDRs and found one that looked good which also included a DVD recorder. I offered to go halves with my parents to buy it but dad said no because he thinks it's too expensive. And he thinks the old one will work again if we reformat the hard disc, but I'm doubtful. And even if it appears to work better I'm not sure I'll be able to trust it again. If we reformat it the whole hard drive will be wiped so we'll lose everything we've recorded on it. And if we replace it with a new one we'll also lose everything we've recorded. I've been watching through lots of the recorded programmes this week in preparation for losing them all. There are 2 recordings that I really don't want to lose though - Holly S's Battlefront programme (because it's something I was involved with) and an old Japanese film called Escapade in Japan (because it features parts of Japan I've been to, but it isn't available on DVD). Luckily Holly's Battlefront programme is repeated later this week (Fri morning at 4.45am if you missed it last time round) so I'm going to ask my friend Lizzy if she can record it to DVD for me. And I'll just have to lose the Japanese film, never mind.

So on TV this week I've watched the final episode of Syrian School, Film 2010, one part of Crufts 2010, a documentary called Too Poor for Posh School, a programme about Pink which featured an interview with her and some performances, Fri Night with Jonathan Ross (featuring Johnny Depp and Tim Burton), a fascinating documentary called The Pixar Story, Fri Night with Jonathan Ross (no Cheryl Cole as planned, but Charlotte Church and James Corden), an programe about Ellie Goulding which featured performances and a very short interview, an interesting programme about a railway journey through Japan, a documentary called Geisha Girl, the latest episode of Married Single Other (which was very sad), a BBC programme about kidney transplants called Diet or my Husband Dies and the music channels.

I've rewatched Finding Nemo this week and have also watched some new films. I loved Sunshine Cleaning and Erin Brockovich and would highly recommend them both. I also watched a weird film called The Virgin Suicides and started a film that I recorded from the TV many months ago called Framed, but I didn't want to finish it.

I've listened to some music as usual including Pixie Lott, Ellie Goulding and Marina and the Diamonds. I was happy to discover that Marina's next single will be I Am Not A Robot, which I think is a great song :)

And I've continued to play on my newest DS game, Yoshi's Island.

I've just remembered that Lou posted a meme on her blog recently (you can see it here), so I'll give it a go as I conclude this blog update.

Give me 5 foods you never want to eat:
~ Peanut butter - it just has the most disgusting texture, yuk.
~ Mince -it has a weird texture which I don't like.
~ Offal - the idea is just horrible.

And I'm stuck. There are other foods I don't like, but I don't want to say never to any of them as I might like them when I try them again in the future. I've only been eating for 3 years so I'm still discovering new foods and some take a few tries for me to decide I like.