Well, once again I'm a teeeeeensy bit late but I just had a 26 hour sleep attack so I think you can let me off, right? I didn't sleep the whole 26 hours but I can't imagine Mel's last few hours visiting were quite as exuberantly fun as the rest of the week! I've written rather a lot that doesn't correlate with any photos so while you're reading I will be liberally sprinkling random photos throughout.
I don't think I really explained much about the whole uni process last post, so I want to start by going into a bit more about that. Basically, pretty much the whole application/signing up process is done via UCAS now which makes things a lot easier to keep track of but has the drawback of being a little... too efficient?
Possibly my most popular selfie
When I first signed up three of my five choices gave me a very definitive 'no' within about 36 hours so I honestly wasn't holding out much hope of making it in anywhere. Then, miracle of miracles, I got into St Mary's pretty much as soon as they met me and I absolutely love it there! But now I'm the one keeping them waiting as I haven't received a response from uni number five and can't do anything about loans or accommodation or, well, anything, until they get back to me.
I'm getting a bit stressy about it because I'm sort of waiting for the other shoe to drop. I know at least part of this is due to my MH issues and paranoia but when I did the OU a couple of years ago I encountered so many ridiculous red tape problems that I actually had to apply three times before finally getting on a course.
Then after that, the modules for English Literature included maths and mechanics and I kind of lost my enthusiasm for it. I'm sure they're both fine subjects in their own right but certainly not what I signed up for!
Couldn't resist getting this...
I've always had a bit of resentment for people who attend/have been to university. This isn't their fault at all, but due to dropping out of college and feeling like my entire world had collapsed around my ears after being assaulted, it seemed like my chance at further education had been stolen from me which made me jealous of everyone who managed to go.
While not entirely inaccurate I think it's a sign of how far I've come recently that I can admit that not everything was S's fault and that I was struggling with my mental health and other things before that. I don't know if I would have dropped out without that final push, but I certainly wouldn't have been the best pupil Leeds had ever seen.
Cute gift from Mel
Learning to accept the blame for my setbacks, and also accepting that it doesn't make me a total failure as a human, has been... well somewhat of a phenomenon as far as I'm concerned. I've always seen everything as rather black and white - every mark lost in an exam is a failure, regardless of the over all grade being an A. I would cry in lessons if I didn't understand something as it clearly meant I was an idiot and not fit enough to go to school at all. Again, this is partly due to the way I look at things, but I also think the way schools treat 'gifted' children is setting them up for a fall. I know I'm not alone in suddenly reaching a point where I have to revise and study and being completely perplexed about what I'm supposed to do and what I did 'wrong' to get to this point.
Phew, that was a lot more than I anticipated I'd write!
Cute gift from me!
Speaking of S, I had a super fun day when Instagram told me I should follow them as 30 of the people I know already do. That was a punch to the gut. It really pulls the rug out from under you when you spend years building a safe space for yourself only to find it was so much easier to pull the walls down than you'd thought. I felt like I couldn't trust anyone, the people around me all swore they believed me about S so either they were lying or just didn't care. Of course, it wasn't nearly as bad as all that, and once I'd calmed down I just unfollowed the problem people and stopped being suspicious of everyone else. It took me about a day to get there but this time last year I'd have been a wreck for weeks over the same thing.
Anyway, onto what I actually did this week!
On Sunday, we went to Stanhope Old Hall for Peter's birthday. We'd been there before a few years ago, which I vaaaaaguely remember but they've renovated since then (under new ownership). It was a very cosy escape from the snow and we sat by the fire playing with my cousin as we waited to be seated. He's getting so clever, it's really amazing. Mum was mixing up some coasters (face down) and asking him to find the owl and he worked it out nearly every time. He's pretty good at counting now, and his speech is getting clearer every single time I see him.
[CN: food]
We had a gorgeous Sunday dinner (I had the pork but others got chicken & beef) and I finally tried scallops in a really interesting starter with black pudding & potato. I managed to force down a delicious sticky toffee pudding as well.
I felt a bit sorry for the waiter. She was about 16 and apparently the only one in the whole building. She was running around the whole restaurant trying to serve everyone at once and had to keep going to get the chef to help because she wasn't allowed to serve alcoholic drinks!
Between courses, mum and I entertained my cousin with Operation - Cars edition. I'm not sure he entirely grasped the concept as he was trying to make it buzz as often as possible but he was having a whale of a time so we let him off. He also got a gummy snake from the chef for being so well behaved despite having a cold!
Nana rang in advance to say it was her husband's birthday and at the end of the meal we were presented with a huge chocolate cake which was covered in a ganache that would have pleased Mary Berry with it's sheen.
[/CN]
It's been a very busy week, as on Monday I braved the buses alone to get to Durham and pick up Mel who was visiting for Valentine's Day. I was shaking with nerves but it helped to focus on the fact Mel would be lost if I didn't go to her instead of thinking about my own fears. It also helped that bus prices have rocketed so I could concentrate on complaining about that!
The biggest calming factor, however, was this adorable bundle of joy I met while waiting at the bus stop. He's called Sweep and I have never been happier to have my tights mauled and muddied! His owner seemed strangely surprised that a cocker spaniel puppy would be full of energy but I was more than happy to let him chew my fingers and tangle me up in his lead.
I leapt on Mel as she got off the coach and we set off for Dark Matter Café which is a lovely little nerd haven in Durham that sells great snacks, Pokémon cards & comics as well as having various tournaments and games nights during the week. I'm ashamed to say I've only been twice - both times with Mel - but we love it there. It's very comfy and I felt right at home in my Attack on Titan jacket.
[CN: food]
We had some delicious milkshakes - banoffee for me, Nutella for Mel - and a delightful snack of pancakes and waffles respectively. I was a bit unimpressed by Death by Pancake being two pancakes given that I once managed a hefty thirteen in one sitting (ah, growth spurts) but the generous drizzle of white chocolate, chocolate, caramel and... possibly some other sauce was definitely more than enough sugar for me!
[/CN]
That night, we went out to the park near my house and waited for Valentine's day on the swings watching the stars. We're so disgusting, aren't we? To balance it out, we got completely covered in mud and nearly fell off a zipline in pitch darkness before I flinged her onto the roundabout and blinded her with the camera flash. Much better.
It wasn't too cold when we went out but it took us a few hours to reheat when we finally came back indoors. The cat was most unimpressed as we sat shivering under a blanket with the fire on... oh who am I kidding? She loved it!
*Jaws theme*
Tuesday was The Big Day and we headed off to the Metrocentre for a sickeningly cute day together. It was a pretty successful trip by all accounts - free choccies from Virgin trains, we took over two gyms (though got kicked out about 30 seconds later!) and I got let off an extra train ticket when I accidentally left my railcard at home. Sweet!
[CN: food]
Once we arrived, we headed over to Yo! Sushi for lunch and ate our weight in maki as well as some lovely hot dishes and miso soup. It's only a little branch at the Metro but I've never been disappointed - unlike a much larger branch we once went to in St Pancras! The woman who seated us forgot about us (she seemed to be doing about 300 things at once bless her) so someone else came to serve us. We had a chat about Pokémon Go and he told us we could charge our phones while we ate! Superb.
[/CN]
After eating (and farming the nearby Pokéstop), we went to Shakeaholic for some more milkshake. We hadn't planned to have so much in two days but I wanted to take Mel here as it's one of those shops that has 400 different flavours to choose from! I got cookie dough and Mel tried a very unusual Refreshers and we both got popping candy on top because we are grown ups. I did notice you could get both Marmite and ketchup milkshakes which I kind of want to try for the novelty but... no.
We headed off to Primarni as Mel wanted to check out some new Harry Potter cushions. Alas, we couldn't find them anywhere but we got the cute tops that I posted above as well as some nice boxers that I can just about get over my knees. Sizing in Primark is bloody awful. We also popped into Argos, on the off chance they had some Potter cushions. They didn't but they did have a HP Trivial Pursuit which neither of us could resist.
Next stop was the arcade where we spent a happy few hours driving, shooting and generally causing mayhem. Mel turned out to be exceptionally good at the driving games and I at the dino-hunting. We earned a few tickets (you know those 'congrats, you won 50 tickets, only 40,000 more to get a pencil!' types) and gave them to some kids who were desperately trying to land a miniscule packet of sweets with their booty.
The couple that slays together, stays together.
Mission complete, we got picked up by mumsy (via the sweetshop, as she demanded refreshment) and en route shared a romantic kiss on the escalator. Pro tip: do not kiss on the escalator unless you want an electric shock to the face. I should also say a big thank you to nana who got me an intu giftcard which made this all possible!
I was totally spoiled rotten this V-day as Mel got me my fave smelly - Black XS 'for him' - as well as one of my fave films on dvd, a super soft Slytherin blankie and lanyard, a Platform 9 3/4 poster & a lil box full of cute messages. I, on the other hand, made her a bracelet out of some thread.
That night, after I thrashed both Mel & mum at HP trivia, we continued Mel's LOTR education with The Two Towers. I was so excited about this as this is my favourite of the trilogy. Anyone who doesn't think the battle of Helm's Deep is a cinematic masterpiece doesn't deserve to watch films. Ever. LOTR is so special to me, it really means a lot that Mel is willing to sit down and watch them just for me, as well as listen to the thousand pieces of trivia I throw at her at any given opportunity.
On Wednesday, I dragged Mel out of bed and into dad's car to Meet the Family. It was kind of a big deal to me as though dad has introduced me to his side of the family and lots of his friends, Mel is the first to meet him from my life. Thirty seconds in, dad was effing and blinding about his troll of a car and I saw Mel visibly relax as it turned out he was exactly how I'd described him!
It was also the first time I'd worn a binder in front of him (and later mum), or indeed in The Naaaarth, so that was a bit nerve wracking but I did it! I also decided to give myself a bit of a fauxhawk because why not.
We spent the day chatting and joking and introducing Mel to the menagerie, including some guinea pigs who I'd never met before. For those of you wondering about Blinky he made a full recovery and is back with his feathery family. Mel also introduced us to face swapping which is one of the most hideous creations I've ever seen!
Meet Willow; the lesbian, pagan, technogeek guinea pig
After lunch, we went to my nana D's house and sat and stared in horror at Judge Rinder for an hour. Honestly, what kind of program is that?! I filled nana in on my uni plans before heading home for a doctor's appointment.
Unfortunately, not everything was happy fun times this week and we left Mel with Shinx as I went to the doctor's for a new sick note. The only way to get an appointment now is to line up outside the doctor's before they open and beg the secretarys to have mercy. Mum had kindly volunteered herself for this task that morning and managed to get an appointment. We'd asked for a doctor because we needed a sick note but the secretary insisted the nurse practitioner would be able to deal with it. We were both a bit sceptical as this is not the first time we've had this problem but after arguing for ten minutes mum gave up and agreed to see the practitioner with me.
We were greeted by a very friendly woman who listened to what we had to say and offered to sort out a sick note for the following day. Mum explained we needed it that day as we'd gotten a letter at the last minute from ESA which kind of put us in a bind and that we'd already explained this while making the appointment.
Apparently, this is when Mr Hyde took over as her head spun around 360 degrees and she burnt my shoes with flames from her nostrils. She shouted at us for a good five minutes and demanded to know which idiot had given us this appointment and how ridiculous it all was and yelled some more when mum explained the only way to get an appointment was to drive up and beg instead of phoning. The lines open at 8am and by 10 past all the appointments have gone. And heaven forbid you attempt to book in advance. I don't think she was exactly blaming us but we were unfortunately getting the brunt of her anger as we were in the room with her.
I always feel incredibly anxious when going to the doctor's and I could feel myself shrinking further and further into the seat as she continued her rant. She did do her best though, and booked us in with the on call doctor to hopefully get a sick note there and then (while letting us know she was going to murder the secretary).
We sprinted out of the room as fast as we could and back to the waiting room. After another ten minutes or so we got to see the doctor. She looked over my notes and asked why the nurse couldn't sign the sick note. She didn't seem to understand that practitioners can't sign them and acted as though she was deliberately being awkward by not doing so? It was a little worrying that mum and I knew more about the system than she did... she seemed rather reluctant to sign anything but eventually caved. This was still far better thanow the practitioner who insists there's nothing wrong with me at all!
Finally, we escaped, note in hand, and headed home for a much needed cuddle and a hot chocolate. When mum went to bed, Mel and I snuggled up to watch Odd Thomas which was always a good film in my eyes but I like it even more now that I know it is very true to the book (minus Oz who has gone from friendly uncle genius writer type to one liner... welder?). I wanted Mel to see it because I thought she'd love the relationship between Odd and Stormy. They are very good for each other.
We retired to bed and spent a good hour asking each other silly questions - 'what's your favourite..?' and FMKs galore.
Thursday was very hard as I woke up and my brain immediately decided that consciousness was not an option that day. Somehow, I managed to get the bus with Mel and make sure she made it to the coach alright (via Gregg's) before coming home, collapsing into bed and sleeping for roughly 20 hours.
The best part of saying goodbye was looking up just as Mel was about to step on the coach to see mum running down the street, arms wide, and pulling her into a big hug. Hilarious and adorable all in one.
It's mum's half term holidays next week, just in time for the Johto update on Pokémon Go so I imagine there will be much fun and walking to be had in next week's blog.
Thanks for your patience and understanding about my lateness and I'll see you next time!
Post-fauxhawk weirdness
Xx
No comments:
Post a Comment