Two Years Ago Tomorrow...

...was a REALLY hot Saturday and one of the most bizarre of my life.

The day after that was probably the scariest.

And it's been two years already....

Bonjour!

I just got back from my trip to Vichy for the European Heart & Lung Transplant Games which I was competing in. (The grammar in that sentence looks a bit funny to me...) I swam and ended up getting a Bronze, Silver and Gold medals for my panting.

Vichy was really nice and the pool was an Olympic size 50 metre which was a little bit daunting at the practise and training session. Especially considering I haven't been swimming since Christmas, so it really seemed VERY long!



Even the diving platforms seemed VERY high the first day! It was a spectacular venue though, all outdoor and in the 35 degree heat it was stunning. I managed to get myself quite a bit sunburned at the practice session which wasn't too wise but I wasn't thinking much!



Luckily the races and competitions started at 8am so before the midday heat. Our morning was even quite overcast to begin with as well, so it was grand.



As always at these events, it's great to see the true athletes perform as it shows what IS possible. And if I wasn't ever so lazy I'm sure I could get some muscle on my arms and my bum into training for the next games as I was pretty much relying on my stroke and ability to sprint yet again which really hurts the next day!



This guy seemed to follow me everywhere and took the whole games EXTREMELY seriously to the point of ridiculousness. He did seem to do very well though so perhaps his technique is one I should employ. Beside him is one of our supporters...

The Lisbon Treaty

....and we voted 'no'. I use the term 'we' lightly as I didn't actually vote. I couldn't understand what the bloomin' heck the thing was about so rather than vote for the sake of voting (and risk picking the 'wrong' choice by accident) I didn't vote. Actually I did intend to vote late yesterday evening, but I was too late by the time I had my mind made up.

And it would seem with the 40 percent turnout that I was not alone!

I would catagorise the grouping of votes in the following way:

The group who understood the Treaty and voted 'Yes'.
The group who understood the Treaty and voted 'No'.
The group who didn't understand the Treaty so voted 'No' so that nothing changed and felt they should vote for the sake of voting.

In the first two groupings I would say there was a higher 'yes' support but that the 'no' group picked up a LOT of votes from the misunderstood.

See, I can talk politics too from time to time....

Now if I could just understand what it was all about I would be oh so much the wiser.

A few things...

1. I got the results of my exams the other night. They weren't to be released until Tuesday morning, but me being me, stumbled upon some glitch in the system it would seem, and got them late Monday night. For some weird reason, nobody else in my class could see theirs until later on. Freaky. Anyway, I managed to surprise myself with how well I did so it's on into second year I go!

2. Work is.....work. I'm still making the early mornings and counting the days down to my trip to France with my Mom next week. It's actually the European Transplant Games I'm going to, but unfortunately I can't remember the last time I was in the pool. And I can't even remember what sports I'm doing, but I'm pretty sure it's just swimming. All I need is the holiday to be honest.

2.5 I'm debating whether to finish altogether in August and go travelling for like 10 days. My mom thinks it's a good idea but I hate telling people I'm quitting. But at the same time, I don't think I'd forgive myself for giving up this first opportunity (as a healthy person) to go travelling with friends. And being left out and forgotten about (not that I'm saying anyone ever forgets about me) I've had nightmares about this sort of thing...

3. I've got an appointment with my old hospital next week to see the CF team. I actually don't like that hospital very much as I don't have good memories of it, and spent a lot of time there just wishing to be better and home. But I really love the team there and it'll be good to touch base with them about my CF (which I still have everywhere except my lungs). I'm having sore tummy again this week and sometimes it's just.... sore, so a miracle cure on that front will be welcomed. I also need to start taking my breakfast insulin again to get my HbA1c down before they take blood. Don't ask me why but I think hiding my whole health side issues in work (yes, I actually have managed three weeks hiding all the injections and tablets I take) makes me forget my injection because I take my breakfast one AFTER breakfast, around the time I reach work.

3.5 Speaking of hiding health issues, I haven't done this since school and have forgotten what hard work it is!! And dropping an insulin needle precariously close to your supervisor's chair and having to fetch it without her (a)noticing what you're doing or (b) noticing what you've picked it up after you've picked it up and getting nosey, (c) finding it first and saying 'oh gosh what's this?', (d) all of the above, can cause someone to have heart attack!!!

4. I need to get my side fringe cut soon. When I had my hair done recently I slowly realised (as in it took weeks for me to grasp it) he forgot the fringe. So I've got this stupid....thingy going on at the front. While browsing Boots yesterday I saw some blonde hair dye, which I was way too tempted to buy. But then I reminded myself how much I spent on my current brown colour, so I'll leave it a while yet.

5. I watched the Dakota Fanning version of Charlotte's Web earlier. It was soooo sad. Some bits are bit like the film Gordy (which was like a cheap remake of Babe which we have on video) but overall it's brilliant. I cried at some parts too.

6. I didn't watch Dreamgirls tonight but the sister will be watching it tomorrow so I'll catch it then, it's also very good.

7. Seven is a lucky number.

*silence*

Yikes, it's been a while-eo. I'm off the IVs about two weeks now and *touch-wood* am doing really well. A positive sign is that I haven't even rebooked an appointment back at clinic and am going to try and give them a break for a while!

I'm also working 5 days a week for the summer, 9-5. This means I leave the house at about 8am to do the 30 minute drive so it's a world and time of day I'm not overly familiar with but am getting there (and getting there on time!).

My life, revolving around a series of countdowns (I countdown EVERYTHING) means I have already worked out that I've done two weeks of work, which means there's only 10 weeks left. At least I can count that on my two hands. I remember when I was in fourth year, I counted down to the time I had left that year and then the number of days until my graudation, two years away!!! So needless to say each day I go into work, I count down the 8 hours I'm there...

I do actually like work but am definately not ready to join the working world fulltime yet. Mentally I find it's just so claustrophic coming home at nearly 6pm and if I don't go out (which funnily enough has only happened two evenings so far) means by 10pm I'm getting ready for bed, to go to sleep, to get up and do it all again. I'll do it some day but I'll enjoy my next three years in college while I can!

So anyway, that's why there are a few cobwebs around here....

Oh and I survived the Mini Marathon, finishing the 10k in 1hr52mins. That's 6 minutes faster than last year. Now if I could just get my Mom to stop stopping and gabbling to people FOUR times and teach her to jog (although she is an impressive power walker) a little bit, we'd do great.

But sure not to worry, I'm going to jog/run it myself next year anyway, because I reckon I could SOOOOOOOOO do that....

Ooops

It's the Bank Holiday Weekend and gloriously hottt and sunny and boootiful. But I have a mere 10k (6 MILES) to walk tomorrow for the Women's Mini Marathon. Unbelievably I only realised this on Thursday or Friday, it was 'ages away' for so long.

I survived it last year, but in this past year have spent everyday driving. I made a last ditch attempt at 'training' when I brought the dog for a five minute walk and then walked down to the shopping centre. Sore legs afterwards probably suggests it's just a few weeks too late! Yikes.