Busy recently!

Just a quick update; Last weekend Tom's dad got married so we went up to Blackpool for the ceremony and it was a lovely day! Spent a few days up there with Tom's family, then for the rest of the week we returned to Oxford to see my family and spend some time down there. I forget how much I hate Oxford City.

A Greater Reliance on Technology?

I'm not too techy. There's a problem with that in our society with there being huge gaps in the general public's abilities and knowledge with all things electronic and 'technology'. THESE ARE GENERALISATIONS!

For example, those who just do not have any involvement with computers (eg the older generation who never needed to) and so just kind of shun the whole thing quite happily.

Then there's those who use everything, like all kinds of gadgets and, well, buzzy-stuff. Generally seem to be the younger generations of society, and male. All my young male friends have things like iPhones, iPods, want iPads and other i-esque things to improve their lives. They're the ones who know about programming and downloading and how to set up computers and run them properly, to add stuff and change bits, know what things like graphics cards and USB drives and enjoy games consols. The guys I call whenever the laptop won't connect to the internet despite me merely turning the damn thing on for the 1000th time and this being a new issue.
Helpful as these people are, they tend to become obsessed with these kinds of things and it gets really boring being the one who isn't involved in all the same stuff and has no idea about it all.

Then there is myself. Can use a computer. Knows a few websites worth looking at (mainly the hilarious ICanHAsCheezburger.com, the interesting Cracked.com, and the thoughtful OliviasAdulthood.blogspot.com) cannot fathom why printers have to make life so difficult, knows how to call, text, and take pictures using my mobile phone but not much else. Yet everything seems to be more technical and it's annoying. I want a 'crap phone', as said by one comedian; I don't need internet stuff or touchscreen stuff and so on. There are so many wires and cables dotted about the flat from TV stuff, computer stuff, Xbox stuff, phone stuff etc.

I just think we're getting too reliant on all this electronic amusement which is so damn fast, that as soon as we know it we're bored again. I spent a few hours each day on the laptop. Doing what? Mainly procrastinating. The time it takes me to look at all I want and enjoy it is probably only about 1 hour, yet I spend longer on it. I have access to the answers to any question but so little useful information is out there. But it's convenient. It's fast. I don't need to buy a newspaper because I can look online.

There has to be a balance.

I have a new pet!

Despite having three lizards already, last week I decided to get another one. The problem with having an exotic pet is that whenever you go anywhere like a zoo you see all the resident animals as potential future pets! When we went to the Costwold Wildlife Park a few weeks ago I saw a couple of Egyptian uromastyx (spiny-tailed lizards). I'd seen some before in a pet shop so they were familiar but one at the park were very spritely and active and even though they are really ugly they are ugly in a cute way!

Someone on Preloved.com was advertising a baby uromastyx and all the kit for it as they were moving and couldn't take it with them. After a bit of a trek with my parents on Saturday, we now have a new little lizard in our collection! The thing I can't get over is how small he actually is; at only 5ish months old he's only about 3 inches long. Turns out they grow quite slowly, and having only seen adult specimens it was hard to tell from the photo how diddy he is.

We're not sure if it's a boy or girl yet (too young and small to tell) and we haven't decided on a name for 'him' but I'm so happy with him! Since Tom picked and bought the other three, it's nice to have one which is technically my own (though obviously we both look after all of them.)

Easy week

So I've cheered up a bit since my last post! My birthday weekend was nice, despite a few down points. And my newly-wedded friends are back from their honeymoon so hopefully soon I shall be catching up with them and seeing how they are adapting to wedded bliss. And also if they love/ hate my present I got them!

Somehow this week the rota at work has spoiled me and I am only working 2 days! (However next week I'm on for 5 straight days but oh well) and even though I'm really not doing much it's so nice to not have to go to work!

Today I've (foolishly?) started to go through all the drawers and wardrobe in an attempt to bring some order about the place and correct Tom's last tidying session. In case you think I'm being pedantic: in one drawer I found 2 dresses, a skirt and a pair of skiing socks. So it may explain why we struggle to find items of clothing that we wear less than once a week. However as I write I'm only part-way through and I'm well aware I need to get some motivation and carry on in a few mins.

I also had a new occurence the other day: my friends threw me a surprise birthday party! It ended quite messily but was a lot of fun and I'm very touched that they did it! I've always wanted a surprise party.

Back to the clothes sorting... I never want to fold another t-shirt again.

All gone to ruin?

Just wondering, without going into too much detail, is it pathetic to let some bad things ruin the better things?

Some people may say you can have things ruined if you let them, and therefore it's more an attitude to ignore the bad and concentrate on the good. Some find that getting the balance to fall in the better times' favour can be too delicate and thus easily tipped over into bad territory.

This weekend was big, and on approach I was filled with excitement as not only was it my birthday but also was my friends' wedding. However the other night I suddenly was struck with some sadness which had kind of came out of nowhere. My birthday has a bit of a turbulent history so around that time I'm reminded of some things, but they don't stop me enjoying myself or celebrating what it is. I think it's acceptable for a few hours of the year to remember times and get a bit upset about them, because then it's out of your system and you can carry on with things, and then also remember the better memories as the painful ones have almost been moved through and you're on the other side.

As it was, someone was a bit tactless to me about the whole thing, and I got much more upset and for longer than necessary, rather than just being allowed to have some 'sad time' (for want of a better definition) and then return to form when ready.

Anyway, back to the title point. I've obviously had a big and busy weekend; spending one day at my friends' wedding and the next with my family celebrating my birthday. It was a good time, but I'm wondering if a few things amongst it have tainted it in a more negative light than I would like. This has nothing to do with the sad memories of the past (life has very much moved on) but more making me frustrated with how things are going at the present. Am I just being overly sensitive and allowing negative things to bother me? And how can I turn that off? Do you tend to remember the bad things more clearly? Or am I almost justifiably annoyed about whatever has bothered me? Maybe a bit of both? Tough call.

It's late and this time of year beckons

Start with lizard news I guess. (I'm sure I used to have something more interesting in my life but that seems to have been replaced by reptiles!) Unfortunately our incubation of gecko eggs didn't go to well and they appeared to dry out so we gave up on them and got rid of them. Whenever Sonny lays her next batch (which she will soon) we'll get the lizard shopkeepers to collect them so there's less disruption and risk of destroying them again. Would be nice to see what little monsters have been created!

Tom had his birthday the other day. Sadly it seems as you get older birthdays become less of a big deal. As an adult it apparently you're not really meant to ask someone how old they now are...! But he got lots of cards from friends and family and lots of books as presents, so he'll at least be occupied for a while.

This weekend it's also my birthday, but I'm more excited because it's also my friends' wedding. Being rather young and having mainly friends around my own age means I've not been to many weddings yet, so I'm really excited to see them get hitched! It's well deserved for both of them and I am truly happy for their union. And I get a party on my birthday! So what if it's not my own?!

With the wedding weekend forecast to be sunny and hot I shall learn from my lesson a couple of weeks ago when on the bank holiday I wisely forgot to use any suncream and spent several hours outside in sun and then wind. My face was not only sunburned, but I had 'panda eyes' from wearing my sunglasses, AND my left side was worse than my right. Work was interesting the next day.

New things beginning

Tom and I did something different last night, we went on an Alpha course. A few years ago I wouldn't have thought it relevant to my life, purely as it's aimed for those who want an introduction to Christianity, and I wouldn't class myself in that area.

However in recent times it's become so apparent that I need more of God in my life than I have been getting, and was eager to join a new group and see if I could 'start afresh' and break in to a new group of people and become part of something bigger again. I also wanted Tom to come along and see my faith in action, as he's not been to a Christian meeting like that with me before, and for him to be able to ask more knowledgeable people questions as I cannot always answer them.

I had a brilliant evening! We were fed, made welcome, were given an informal talk, and had a chance to chat to everyone at the pub afterwards. Tom and I ended up talking to a lovely lady called Gabby who is training to be a vicar with the church, and she said how much she enjoyed talking to us as we both were partaking in a very energetic discussion! I hadn't seen Tom so animated in this kind of setting before.

I very much look forward to returning next week!

Another new thing recently discovered is that our bearded dragon seems to have changed his mind about water. He used to absolutely hate getting wet; bathing was a bit of a nightmare as he would have a small fit about it and that made things tricky. However he seems to be enjoying it more, and I braved putting him in the bathtub. Before we've used a sandwich box in the kitchen, but he's outgrown them! After a moment of sitting on his 'rock' (aquarium ornament) in the bath, he decided to have a splash about in the inch or so of water. Seeing as he didn't bother trying to get back out he obviously liked it! And he was cleaner afterwards.

Been a while

What a hectic month April turned out to be!

One of the reasons for not updating this soon was I inadvertently broke the power cable for the laptop and thus for a while we had no internet (nooo!) which was interesting... luckily that got fixed.

But April was a month of endurance for us. One of the problems that troubled us was our bearded dragon caught mites (a bit like fleas but for reptiles) and we were having to spend a lot of time and money that we didn't have on trying to sort him out as best as possible. In the end the best medicine seemed to be coating him in olive oil! I think he's nearly forgiven us...

Not before we'd finished with Rusty than during our trip home for Michelle's engagement party Tom had his own medical problem which lead to us being dropped off in Cheltenham A&E for about 9 hours. He had a problem with his chest which required many blood samples, X-rays, blood pressure readings and monitoring before they performed a small procedure on him and, thankfully, sent him home rather than keep him in overnight. We had a few days away from work together to keep an eye on each other and let him get his strength back up. He's been declared fit and healthy again now.

We also got a bit of a shock recently when we found out one of out geckos is actually a male! We had thought we had two girls, and unfortunately put them in the same tank assuming they would live a peaceful existence. Instead, some violent mating has occurred, and tonight we found the first batch of gecko eggs! We're currently trying to incubate them with a hope to hatch them and sell them to a reptile shop as we really can't keep any. Hopefully the couple will not produce too many more as we're more concerned with the possible health effects on the female laying them, but she managed the first two ok, and judging by the size of them we think it must have been a great relief!

Hopefully this next month will be a smoother transition into a more stable household routine where we can actually do the things we need (and want) and not be too hindered with the financial problems we've had over the past few months.

And I'm really getting into Bill Bryson books. I think I have more patience than when I was a teenager.

Books 2011

What I have read so far this year:

'Room' - Emma Donoghue
The Warlord Chronicles - Bernard Cornwell
first three 'Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy' - Douglas Adams
'Elephant Eats Hippo!' Alex Boese
'Nineteen Minutes' - Jodi Picoult

Re-read so far:

'A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian' - Marina Lewycka
'We Are All Made of Glue' - Marina Lewycka
'PS I Love You' - Cecelia Ahern

That's all I can remember off the top of my head. But that list averages out at a rate of one book every eight days. Not too bad!

April and money

Just musing that this time last year I was working for a financial company who arrange ISAs for clients, and as the last day to apply is 5th April (end of tax year) of course it was busy, hence people like me taking some of the work on.

In contrast this year I am desperate for the tax year to end as it seems that yet again I have been taxed incorrectly and I need to get my P60 before I can claim anything back. So until then I am a bit poor.

Strange to me how there are those who rush to invest money in the hope that if they leave it for however long then they will have had growth without having to really do anything. And then there are those who have nothing to save as every penny counts and there is nothing spare. In my eyes having some savings is a blessing, and whenever an individual gets angry because their savings isn't growing much etc I resent their attitude because to me it is greedy.

I know that's a little black and white, but I think my experiences with that kind of world have left me a bit burned. I don't like the way people get so obsessed with money but we all do; my pay being over-taxed has stressed me out and angered me. But I think the difference is that it's one thing to be able to afford everything each month and have some left over to save, and another to be barely able to afford everything at all. Are we really all that entitled to have whatever we want?

I guess I am just having to face more of the real world, and so far my conclusion is this: everything is expensive, people will take from you whether or not they are meant to and it's up to YOU to claim it back, and effort rarely equates to reward.

/cynicism.