Today I'm feeling a bit:
I haven't been around here in a while, but then some things never REALLY change, either.
SO let me think, what's happened since I was here last? That's a LOT of stuff, when you consider the last time I posted anything was February 9th.
There HAS been a lot of stuff, really, and I'm sure I'll forget some of it, but let me quickly jot down what I can remember off the top of my head:
Went home to visit for 2 1/2 weeks at the end of February; it was GLORIOUS, getting to see my family, and the shopping was spectacular! I just laughed every time I swiped my credit card.
I knocked out one of the papers for my Exit Portfolio, and have just two left; one, actually, if you consider all the notes I have for the second one just need to be organized and brushed up a bit.
I got my UK driver's license, AND I passed the Pass Plus program. Basically, Pass Plus is geared for younger drivers, because statistically they're the highest demographic involved in car accidents in the UK; if gives the young, new drivers a bit more training, and some hints and tips on safer driving. The perk for the driver is getting a lower price for their car insurance, this is really similar to how driving lessons gave me a big discount on my car insurance when I first started driving about 20 years ago. Damn, I'm feeling SO INCREDIBLY OLD at the moment, having realized it's been THAT LONG . Now while I'm FAR BEYOND being 17 years old (the earliest legal age limit for obtaining your UK driver's license) and my insurance is going to be at the lowest rate I can get --at least it was in the US-- I took the Pass Plus lessons for more road experience.
The above said, though, I've not driven here since I got back from the US. Where I drove. A lot. Like a crazy lady who hadn't been in a (left drive) car for a year. Which leads to yet another thing in the works at the E.G./E.M. household:
We're about to get me a car. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! YES YES YES!!
Anyway, I'm sure there's more stuff that's happened since the beginning-ish of February, but whatever it was, I'm sure it all involved cold, wet days, and since the weather here is trying it's HARDEST to bring Spring on, I vote we leave the past in the past, and continue on with the sunny days to come, the days when I finally have a car, I've finally finished all my papers, and I'm looking for a job. The days when I can go outside and walk around the neighborhood, or to the next village over, without feeling like my nose is going to fall off, because I've not wrapped my entire head in my scarf. I'm from the South, y'all, we don't even HAVE scarves down there. Well, I take it back, I have some COOL ones at my parent's house, because I bought them all from the GAP for TEN CENTS EACH --along with the matching hats for a cool quarter apiece-- because that stuff's not necessary down there! All this REALLY means is, I'm a complete sissy when it comes to being outside here on really cold, damp days, because I've never had to do it before, at least, not to this degree. I freeze easily.
We've been doing general housekeeping things, like trying to come up with a tentative budget and time line to make some minor repairs and things around the place, like removing some of the @#(&%)!@!!! leylandii trees/shrubs/bushes/monsters that edge our back yard. Thankfully, our neighbor said he's going to pay for the fencing to be put up, but we'd have to take the trees down, since they're on our side. HALLELUIAH! I'm SO COOL with that, because those blasted things suck the BIG ONE. So definitely gardening is high on the list of what needs to be done this year. As is replacing the pipes to the radiators. We only have ONE radiator downstairs that's working now, and the upstairs ones **KNOCK ON WOOD** are still working, but there are THREE downstairs that aren't working at ALL. So that's going to cost a pretty penny to have done, not to mention take some time, and totally disrupt the WHOLE HOUSE, as the floors will need to be ripped up in order to get to the pipes. Lovely.
That's all that's rocking on at the moment that's worth telling, but before I end this, I'm going to mention two things, first, the progressing one:
The E.M. and I had our first wedding anniversary on February 10th. We've made it a year (and a little over, now) so far, and I think since we're both still alive to tell the tale, we're gonna be alright, and things will just keep getting even better. We went to Wagamama for our anniversary, and pigged out on noodles and curry, how can that be bad?!
And now for the thing that's stayed the same:
First, a little background. On February 1st, I posted a rather strong rant about the NHS. Several people left comments, ranging from sympathy towards my problems having my prescriptions refilled, to suggestions that I needed my mouth washed out with soap (that was The Mother, if anyone DIDN'T already know that) and suggestions on what to do in order to try and alleviate the problem of having to go without my asthma meds sometimes when it was taking a while to get my prescriptions filled. Just the other day, a very nice person left a comment explaining the separation of the actual NHS from the parties who were actually responsible for the problems I was having. The E.M. had explained this to me, but the man who left the comment just a couple of days ago was patient, and had valid point. I've done a lot of thinking on this subject, before and since this person's comment, and I answered accordingly --and very VERY politely. ;) However, some of the things I pointed out still remain, and that is that there are so very many problems with the NHS as a whole. To highlight this, as I called it the other day in my reply, availability heuristic, there is yet ANOTHER article on the bbc site today about problems within the NHS, this time, a doctor who had repeatedly misdiagnosed mammograms and other scans of breast cancer patients, resulting in the review of nearly 2,500 mammograms where the doctor had worked. You can read that article here. One woman has already died needlessly because of this, and who knows how many others have passed the point where any sort of treatment will actually be beneficial? I continue to stress that there's a flaw in this system, however, I don't know what needs to be done in order to fix it, either. Believe me, I wish I did.
Well, there you have it, the hodge-podge mishmash of what's been going on in my life for the close to two months I've been MIA.
I should be around much more often, so keep your eyes peeled, who knows what's going to come out of my mouth next?! ;)
