blast from the past

went to a BBQ yesterday. it was organised by a friend's brother. we were neighbours for years and years when growing up. we went to the same schools. i couldn't go to his wedding but went to hers.

anyway, i knew some of his friends were bound to be there. i'd known most of them as a primary school kid, but must admit i lost interest later on (they were a year older and i had my own friends). but then, between my sister (or other friends) going out with some of them, some of them failing a class and repeating it (ie, they were suddenly in my year), i got to know some of them a little better. nonetheless, it was a total surprise when one of them, one who'd been in my class but had since moved to New Zealand, showed up. i hadn't seen him since the after-exam party i'd had at my place all of 13 years ago. apart from the haircut, he hadn't changed at all. it was weird.

i went straight up to him and started chatting. the thing is, i totally failed to say who i was, and i only realised much later that he might not have had a clue who i was. i just walked up and said his full name (like, 'hey John Smith'), which would basically have made it really hard to ask me who i was, if he was in doubt... i'm sure he found out later if that was the case, but it's hilarious thinking about it. i should probably say, at this point, that whilst in the same class, it's not like we hung out together. moreover, people who were in my class don't necessarily recognise me, while others whom i barely knew do, which is weird but not something i can control.

finding out what's wrong with me

i went to the doctor's on Monday. despite my violent coughing, trouble breathing, fever, etc., he said he couldn't find anything physically nothing wrong with me. or rather, i didn't have bronchitis. it could be the pollen, he said. as it hasn't rained in over 3 weeks, it appears there are incredible amounts of the stuff in the air, making even non-allergic people sick. or i'd somehow contracted tuberculosis, which he agreed was extremely unlikely. in the end, he gave me medication for the cough, medication for possible asthma, and stuff for a rhinitis, with instructions to go and get X-rays if i wasn't better in two days.

i went back to work on Tuesday, despite feeling like shit. i didn't get a whole night's sleep before Wednesday night. in the meantime, i had made an appointment for X-rays because my friends insisted that i really wasn't better. X-rays were made and i'm all in the clear for whatever they were supposed to pick-up on.

so now it's back to square one. whilst i'm definitely better, i'm still coughing, my throat is still sore, and i sometimes still have fever. some people have suggested i do a full allergy test and others that i get blood work done. thing is, i hate all that kind of stuff and really don't think it's that serious. on the other hand, what if there's something i need to know?

presidential elections

not being French, i cannot, unfortunately, vote at presidential elections. which could be a good thing, considering i'm don't really like any of the candidates this time around. Sarkozy is too intent on not allowing anyone into France and Royal doesn't seem like she could actually achieve anything, in my opinion. which leaves us with Bayrou, who unfortunately didn't get enough votes to make it through to the second round.

one good thing that's come out of this election, however, is the massive participation of the French population. at an 85% average, they obviously heard the calls of everyone who didn't want a repeat of the last elections debacle. so well done people, for using the right so many people have fought for (and, in many countries, still do) and for once not letting other people decide for you!

sick as

it's ridiculous. a little wind and no jacket on Thursday should not, in any way, shape or form, end with me being this sick. practically no sleep three nights in a row, massive fever and delirium last night (the delirium was about how Clark Kent was stopping me from coughing - the last time i'd been this sick, i'd spent my time 'cataloguing' all the different races in Star Trek). and what was, in my mind, a good ten hours, turned out to be a mere four. so i'm pretty sure i overdosed on the various medication. great.

the shower's barely helped, still feel like shit. can't sleep though, as i can't breathe when i do. this is so much fun...not.

on a totally unrelated side note, my surprise at guy number 1's reply yesterday is no more: as i suspected, this girl, who'd suddenly developed a huge crush on him, had got her way. explains why he said he'd be happy to meet me for a drink on the one day and then tells me it's best not to meet up outside regular events on the next...

i knew it was all going to go wrong...

so, guy number 1 had accepted my invitation for drinks last night, but he had an all day meeting and wasn't sure when he'd be done, so wasn't sure he could make it. in the end, he got back home at 8pm, and as we were both going to the same thing at 10 and he sounded pretty beat, we decided to just meet up there with the others.

i was, incidentally, feeling really bad (i should've taken that jacket with me the other day - April is indeed a treacherous month), so it was with great reluctance i left home, but as a friend was coming in just for the weekend all the way from Frankfurt, i had to go see her. unfortunately for me, she didn't show up till past 11pm, by which time my head was swimming a bit. before i left, i got about 10mns conversation time with said guy before another girl swirled in and started chatting him up. i was too tired to care and i went home.

it was just after midnight when i finally got back, and i thought of how stupid i'd been not to set up something else with the guy. so i sent him an email saying we should meet up at some other time during the weekend, then went to bed.

barely slept (second night in a row - yeah! i love being sick...), got up to buy food, tried resting a bit but nothing worked. by the time i left at 2pm, no news from the guy. i started wondering whether he had a home connection but decided that either way, as i was feeling horrible and was even considering not going into work on Monday, it didn't really matter. had to go into town to see the friend from Germany a little longer than yesterday (and catch up with best friend) and got home to an email from the guy saying he thought it'd be best if we only saw each other as usual, ie with everyone else.

i should probably be crushed, and i probably will be when my head is all clear to think, but right now it doesn't feel like the end of the world. honestly, i'll say that, for various reasons that are too long for me to go into right now, i'm surprised, but what the hell. such is life.

so, what are the chances of guy number 2 working out??

the creep

so, went for a drink with man on the street. a bit of a creep. after having admitted to not actually remembering me, he told me i had a beautiful body (jee,... thanks,... don't think you needed to mention that...) and later that he hadn't actually realised at first, but i was quite the hotty (again, thanks but let's move on and not discuss that). i don't know what he's been through in life, but that's really not the way to go about it. anyway, it was very quickly pretty clear that we had nothing at all in common, so after an hour, i told him this would never go any further and left. i felt slightly apprehensive as i left, but i was all right. i was glad i knew the bar staff, though. i can't tell for sure, but i think they were keeping an eye out for me.

needless to say this experience has cured me from thinking i might be missing out on something when turning total strangers down. i think i'll go back to my usual accepting only invitations from people i know, and then again only if i actually like them.

such an idiot!!!

i am such an idiot! honestly. last night, this nice guy offers to drive me home after i've missed my bus. i asked where he lived and it was the other, other end of town. which would mean him driving an extra 20kms to get home. which he obviously didn't mind doing. and what do i do? not what you're hoping...

you see, at the same time, i've had my eye on this other guy for months (yes, i know, i'm useless), and so although i know that guy number two (whom i like too, but i've only just met him) driving me home doesn't necessarily mean anything, i feel bad in case guy number one thinks i'm not interested anymore (not that he knows, i'm sure). so in the end, when a friend who lives close to me says he'll drive me home, i accept, and thus decline when guy number two offers, again, to drive me back. IDIOT!!!

so, after some serious talking with a couple of girlfriends, this is what's happened. i sent an email to guy number one, suggesting we go for a drink Friday night before we all go out. i then sent an email to guy number two, thanking him for his generous offer and saying that if i don't see him Friday night (when we're all out, i mean), we'll get together next week. and then i called the man in the street (see Saturday's post) and suggested we meet for drinks tomorrow evening. which he agreed to. as my girlfriends say, i don't owe anyone anything until something happens. with my luck, it's all going to go completely wrong but what the hell.

can i be cloned? i'd rather not...

apparently, my supervisor wants me (and another colleague) cloned. which would be a nightmare for everyone else, seen as we both tend to be a bit hyper. what happened was this:

as part of checking that we're teaching the good stuff the right way, we're regularly observed in class. so my supervisor walks up to me the other day and tells me he'll be coming in to check on me in a few minutes (although they plan when they'll see us, we're never told until the last minute). just great. i'd in fact just decided to do something totally unrelated to the book that day, as my students were a) very good and b) too quick and we needed to slow things down a bit. so i told him about it and he said it'd be great to see something different and he was looking forward to it.

a few hours later, as i was leaving the school, i was handed the observation feedback with a 'we don't need to discuss this. if you have any questions, let me know.' when i finally got a minute to look at it, i saw that i was back to having 'excellent' practically everywhere. nice. and thus the cloning idea...

games

a few weeks ago, i discovered these two types of games. the first one is very educational and basically aims to inform children and the general population on natural disasters and how they affect local populations. i've saved places from the horrors of floods, earthquakes and fires (failing on the tsunami one cos it was the first i tried and i couldn't figure out how it worked). i learnt stuff from it, and as i consider myself to be reasonably well informed, imagine what it can do for others! the website is:
http://www.stopdisastersgame.org/playgame.html


on a totally different topic is an amazing website that will get you hooked amazingly fast! technically, you have just 4 seconds to figure out what the point of each short game is and win. some are easy and some are really not. find them on:
http://www.koreus.com/media/four-second-fury.html

enjoy!

man in the street moment

i was nearly at my door yesterday when a guy came up to me. i thought he wanted directions or something, although as my building entrance is a way off the street, it did seem a bit unlikely. and in fact, that wasn't what he wanted. he just wanted to tell me he'd seen me walking down the street and had to come and tell me i was really pretty. which was very nice indeed, especially as i'd been feeling low over the last few days.

he then asked me if it would be possible to invite me for a drink. which reminded me of exactly the same situation over 2 years ago, when i'd regretted not getting the guy's number. so i told him this weekend wouldn't be possible, but that if he'd give me his number, i'd call him at some point and we could take it from there. needless to say he was really happy.

i don't know that i will call him, but at least this time i have a choice. and for some reason, i have the feeling it's the same guy. so i guess he should get points for perseverance and probably deserves that i call him.

what think you?

giving blood

i reasonably regularly give blood. the good thing about it is that, should something be amiss with it, they'll let you know. except i never expected to actually get a letter from them. it said i had low haemoglobin, so could i please make an appointment to check the count and send them (and my doctor) the results.

it's nothing, of course. a friend of mine, who's a nurse, just told me she couldn't believe they'd actually asked me to take action, cos as far as she was concerned, the haemoglobin count was barely below the normal amount, and frankly, it could just have been an 'off' day. but what the hell. i've got an appointment Monday morning. let's hope it confirms the above!

insurances

so, having sent off the relevant papers for the insurance to cover the stupid plumbing bill, i got a letter from the building's insurance saying that, as the leak was 'private' (ie coming from my flat, which i contest), it was up to my insurance to pay. a few days later, my insurance sent me a letter saying that as the leak had come through the building facade, it was up to the building's insurance to pay. ain't life just great?

Easter in the UK

4 days, 1.5 each with my sister then one of my best friends, who’s recently given birth to twins, and everything else was basically travelling time. it was nice to see a new area of London (where my sister lives) and meet her friends and old acquaintances (although didn’t get to meet her new man, as he seemed to feel there was too much pressure). the Forest of Dean, where my friend and her man live, was lovely as ever. as were the babies (a boy and a girl), the dogs (again, one of each – a gorgeous rottweiler and a playful labrador) and the cats (the pattern still holds). it was great to do nothing much all weekend (i don’t count feeding the twins work – for me that is) and catching up.

RIP

it’s been a few days now, but i’m posting this as if it were in fact last saturday. The thing is, my dog died that day, and i want there to be a post for that day. he was 14 years old, which is very old for a big dog, especially one whose breed’s life expectancy is around 8-10 years. despite him living with my father 800kms away this last year, and thus me not seeing him a lot, i really miss him. technically, i’ve been in mourning for about 3 months already, as my father kept telling me he thought this was it, his last day, and i kept believing him. now he’s really gone.