Christmas starts

It's Christmas in three weeks and somehow the only sense of the upcoming holidays I get is from when I shop online. Pathetic considering that I am now in England, where Christmas might have been invented in the first place! Well, I love the Christmas season. Next to my birthday, I reckon it's the most important holiday of the year. Quite a few people I know, think it's shite and utterly pointless because of how expensive it has become throughout the years, and I don't blame them. Christmas is expensive but I think being able to spend and enjoy part of what you worked for throughout the year is pretty reasonable. But I digress.

I was actually going to write about what a good time I had at Barton Grange today with Val and Paul, her husband. Val's such a nice person from work and she always tells me about how Christmas is her favorite season and how she loves to deck her house out and bake for the holidays. It's quite inspiring really, to see that little twinkle in her eyes whenever we talk about Christmas. It's rare to find people especially now that are as passionate about it as she is. Anyway, in one of our talks, she promised to take me to Barton Grange to see the 'best' Christmas displays as she claims. I had no idea what or where it was, but I agreed. She said she'd pick me up anyway so no worries there. She met me at around 4 and she brought her husband for the drive.

Barton Grange is a good 30-40 minute drive along country lanes from the Vic. As I learned now, it's somewhere in Wyre, where everything is as country as it can ever get. I mean, farms on both sides of the road, stately manors, fresh farm air, the works.

Barton Grange is like a one-stop garden/home center with a cafe, a farm produce section and an ice cream shop. Like Val said, the Christmas displays were absolutely marvelous! It's a total feast for the eyes, you'd never see so much glitter and color in one place altogether. The Christmas trees are out-of-this-world gorgeous with all the trimmings and the little Christmas village displays are just stunning. I just loved everything about it and with the Christmas songs being played, it was just perfect!

We grabbed some cake and hot chocolate afterwards. Then I may have mentioned not having gone to an English pub yet so they brought me to one as well. It's a quaint old english pub with a thatched roof and an awful lot of character straight from a Victorian post card! It wss

For the first time, it genuinely feltlike Christmas!

Huge gaping hole part 2

I had an epiphany. Remember that huge gaping hole I was going on about the other day? Well, I know what it is now, it's my essay for the adaptation course! I am making very little progress at the moment. Dear me!

Mid-autumn

I have been woken up by the sun coming through the windows today. That doesn't happen so often now especially since we're in the middle of autumn and we don't get as much sun as before. The past weeks have been gloomy day after awful gloomy day and this makes me appreciate the warmth of the sun more. Some things, you never get to be thankful for until they're taken away.

Hole

Excuse the poignant tone, why do I feel like there's a huge, gaping hole in my life right now?

Digital Face Lift

Yes! A new look for my blog. High five!

Sportacular

Remember how I said it was gonna be swift? Well, as it turns out, days have been draggy and uneventful and weeks pass without news from Drake or from anyone.

So anyway, I hear the World Cup is on. And the NBA Season is coming to a close. Suddenly, people are so into sports! This puts my own athleticism and interest in athletics into perspective.

See, to be honest, I've never been genuinely caught up in all the sporty hoopla. I mean, it's not like I don't try. I do, and I always end up rooting for the underdogs. It's almost an illness. Underdogs are expected to lose, and most of the time they do. And losing blows. No one likes to lose. And in any game, someone always has to. It is this very idea that turns me off somewhat.

I guess I am just not into sports, not even sports men with perfectly chiseled athletic bodies. Thank you very much.

Blackpool

I'm going to the UK!

I feel so lucky and blessed to be among the 27 out of 60 candidate nurses who have been chosen to work in Blackpool Victoria Hospital. The selection process, as we were told, had been more thorough with BVH. Though really, I think, they just have more non-negotiables.

Anyway, I'm so psyched. If things go as planned, we'll be shipped (yes, like human cargo) to the UK in 5 months.

For that to happen, a shitload of paperwork must be in order. Drake International, my recruitment agency, is taking care of everything and I can't be more thankful.

This will be a swift 5 months.

Focus

This week, I will saturate my mind with one goal and one goal alone. Here's to the future!

Operculumectomy

In other news, I have noticed the eruption of my fourth wisdom tooth over the past couple of months. It has become increasingly uncomfortable and painful these past few days, so I decided to see the dentist and have it checked.

He told me that there was nothing to worry about. The tooth wasn't impacted as I feared, and that there's just some minor discomfort as it is pressing on the surrounding gum. So I said, "So, what are we going to do about that?".

"Well, we could cut away some of the gum to lessen the discomfort and give the tooth more room."

I flinched. Cut away the gum? You can't be f*cking serious?! "Are you going to do that now?"

He checked his watch. "It's only 4:30, I could squeeze it in."

Squeeze it in?! Seriously?! "Will it painful?"

"Just a bit. I'll be giving you a local anesthetic." Then he tells the dental assistant to prepare a "#12"--surgeons' code for blade.

I was frantic and in an alternate universe, I fainted.

He applied a topical anesthetic. My mouth starts feeling better, then a bit heavy. He scrambled for another dental implement. I opened my mouth and shut my eyes. Then, the worst pain as he stabbed my gum with a syringe-full of god-knows-what. Then, nothing.

The procedure took about less than 15 minutes. The dentist made me gargle in between and there were blood clots coming out, which kind of gave away what was going on because I decided to keep my eyes closed the whole time. Although I'm used to seeing all these instruments, I still wouldn't want to see them used on me.

A bite of cotton ball, and it was over. But once the anesthesia wears off, the pain sets right back in. I was prescribed pain killers and an antibiotic, to ease the swelling. Sure it helps but I still can't chew well.

I think it's good though, as I have to be on a diet to fit into that summer bikini :D

In the interim

Efforts to revive this blog have been well, futile. But here I am, having a go at it once again. Shake off the rust and oil the old thinking machine, shall we?

So what have I been up to in the interim?

Nothing much, actually. Mostly work. I know, it kills just about every part of a person but it's uglier when you work shifts, like I do. Everything has to work around a particular schedule and time-offs are pretty much spent sleeping. But I'd like to think I'm doing a pretty good job of at least trying to have some semblance of a social life. I do go out with the boyfriend a lot and occasionally, spend time with some friends, a trip to the beach or coffee, that sort of thing.

And that's about it.