Here's to the past...

The past few days have been horrendous, all accumulating in me being stuck on the side of the A27 for about 2 hours longer than I would have hoped for. Running a car is meant to be expensive but mine has always been reasonably good, so it was quite sad that for the first time, I had to use my green flag membership but thinking about it, I have a lot to be thankful for. I'm thankful that my dad has my car on as an additional car on his breakdown cover, I thankful that today was the first decent weather day that we've had for a while, I'm thankful that I have a job and can actually afford this kind of thing when it happens (as inconvenient as it is, it isn't catastrophic), I'm thankful I broke down in a location where I could easily pull into a parking space and most of all, I'm thankful I wasn't alone when it happened.

It got me thinking though, that today hasn't been the worst day I've ever experienced. Not even close. As bad as it was I would spend weeks at the side of the road living on half a bottle of coke and dirty apples from the nearby tree, in gale force winds and a thunderstorm if it could have meant that that was the worst thing I'd ever go through would be that. My sister was a remarkable person, I never ever saw her get herself down, even though she had to deal with so much more than most people could even imagine. Even until the very end. She was my best friend, the person who I could always rely on to cheer me up when I went through just the normal things of growing up. I wish she could have been here to help me deal with people purposely making things difficult for me, life getting in the way in the most inconvenient of days and the things that are even bigger. I just can't help but think that sometimes things would just be a little bit easier if she was still around. But I try not to get sad about it any more (trust me it's difficult!) but think of it that the thing I'm most thankful for is that I got to have my best friend with me for 14 years and I couldn't really ask for more than that.

So the message I can leave with this is just be thankful for what you do have instead of being frustrated by the things you don't

I'm going to leave you with a picture of the most inspirational person I've ever had the privilege of knowing

XOX

'Towards a goal that's non-existent, Except maybe it is..'

So this post is basically an update for my previous post 'Employed'

1. I'm not sure how 'ace' I am at my new job, but my customer service MUST be getting better, it was commented on in the book by a customer
2. Voluntary work is pretty much a null at the moment, will maybe retry when September ends
3. Biochem... still my weak area, still working on it...
4. Guitar, I'm back to the level I was at best but I haven't got any better, well I don't think, I just haven't had the time!
5. Looked at game, will help, but I'm going to focus on some pharmacy stuff to start
6. Many guests = Happy Vicky :D May even convince some to move here....
7. Car back on road and back up to standard, just needs a tyre for the slow puncture in the back wheel

Halfway point: Getting there!

XOX

1st in first year...recurring pattern?

So I found out a week ago that I got a first in my first year at uni! I got the news a few weeks ago that I was being classified under 'progress unconditionally' but this is amazing, and it feels like a year of hard work has finally paid off. I ended up with an overall grade of 73% which is so good considering I was averaging 2:1's In the first semester (still amazing AND enough for med schools to consider me academically at least) but towards the end of the years I actually seemed to realise what is expected of me at uni which is going to help me so much in the next 2 years. Despite this, I can't help but wonder about how I'm going to fare next year when it gets so much tougher (or so I've heard) and my final grade actually counts towards my degree. An upper second class honours degree would get me where I need to go but I think what I really need to realise is actually, how achievable is it? Something which I guess I'll realise in September. I think it helps though that I love my course.

I also found out this month that my job is being made permanent which is such a relief, because even though I could find another job, I feel so settled already and I really want to make the most of what I have and I really do honestly like where I work. I think when I am permanent, I can attempt at least to make my job interlink more with my future career progression, by hopefully first aid training and multi-skilling, hopefully in pharmacy. This is something I attempted to do when I worked at Tesco but left before I could complete the training. My current plan anyway is to go over the tools I already have to my disposal from the previous training and at least learning some new things, I'm getting so bored of not taking in new knowledge so I'm going to try this, improve in biochem (my only 2:2 module!) learn Italian, sign language and self teach some more guitar.

On top of all this, we just moved, I moved with Sarah (let's face it, I wasn't going to let her go anywhere!) and we've moved in with Laura who is so amazing an both of whom are so encouraging and I can just tell we're going to have some amazing times together, but mostly it seems like such a serene atmosphere for me to really focus on what may be one of the most important and influential years of my life.

Kinda helps that I got the car back...

The future seems so exciting at the moment... Wish me luck!

XOX

Sign Language

So the other day at work I had a deaf lady come through my till, she told me early into the transaction, but I found it difficult to decide on a method of communication beyond smiling and waving (when she left), and I've been thinking about the situation ever since. There should be more effective methods set in place for including people with disabilities of any kind so I've decided that this summer I'm going to try and learn some basic sign language, so in a situation like the other day, I can still effectively communicate as I would with a person who had full hearing.
It made me think though, would it not be beneficial to have some kind of program in which everybody, when they're are young to learn some sign language, it seems like such a simple thing that so many people are ignorant to including myself, but could make a dramatic difference in terms of inclusion.
So I've spent the last few hours going over some basic phrases, and now from memory I can recall the alphabet, 1-9, hello, goodbye, sign language, please, thank you, sorry, how are you?, happy, sad, good, tired, hungry, I & know :)
However, I decided that an effective way of learning would be use of an iPad app, and it surprised me how difficult it was to find a free app which gave more than a few useful words but not enough to be able to sustain any kind of conversation, for information that should be universally available

This is certainly going to be a challenge so wish me luck!

XOX

'Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginnings End'

So I've had a hectic few days! not only did I have my induction I started my new job and served customers and it went well I think, I had fairly positive feedback and managed to work through with support from the team around me. I think I'll be okay I'm just hoping that it will become more permanent. 

I also finished my fresher's years this Friday and I think we did it well, pub after my (rather easy) pharmacology exam and a few drinks later on.
Then last night brought a kind of last get together of the academic year on the beach, and if you know me, you know how much I love taking photos of Brighton seafront, so I decided to be a kind of opportunistic photographer. (see below)
I'm so optimistic about second year, firstly we're moving to the new house and it's so exciting because that's (hopefully) where we're going to spend the next 2 years of our lives, so I really want to make it like a proper home for us, I think Laura and Sarah probably share my predicament. I'm putting my car back on the road so that'll bring so much more freedom, because I have felt a little stuck in my uni bubble and it's nice to know I won't have to invest 3.5 hours of my time if I want to spend a little bit of time back home, and it's just going to be so exciting to see what opportunities arise next year personally, academically and professionally.

I saw a little boy on the bus today, he was so sweet. He went on with his 'pops' just to ride the bendy bus up to Falmer and back, he was absolutely amazed. He reminded me of Ben. Ben always tells me about the bendy bus, always asks me about it and absolutely loves it in general. Thinking of him and Aaron made me feel pretty sad that I can't spend as much time with them as I used to, and I'm missing out by it. They're changing all the time, every time I see Aaron he's bigger, and Ben since starting school is cramming his head full of knowledge which he'll tell me about. But at least it won't be long until I see them.

I'll be home for a few days next week, and I feel that calls for time to relax!

XOX

It's 4am, and I'm awake...

There's always a slightly surreal feeling from seeing the sun begin to rise before you even have had the chance to sleep yet..

I guess that's what you come to expect when you suffer from insomnia in times of stress, and 2 days before my final exam, I'm feeling it. This is along with my already pretty messed up sleeping pattern, with my typical time of sleep being between 3am and 12pm. I hate not being able to sleep this late, I picked up my guitar this evening and played it for the first time for a long time. My fingers are sore from pressing down on the strings so hard, but it made me happy as well as being a major form of procrastination from revision. I'm so unfazed by this exam that it's bordering on ridiculous. Tbh I'm really looking forward to the end of my first year so I can have a break before actually moving on to more focused things in my second year.
I have a lot coming up this summer, the major events being moving house and starting a new job. Both of which are really exciting prospects but also slightly unnerving, because both whilst providing opportunities also provides stress. Maybe then I'll be a bit more equipped for them than I currently feel.

Of course there is also attempting to fit in a long-distance relationship with all of this, Adam means the world to me and if we're going to work it is so important to make time for each other which is increasingly difficult with me working weekends and him having a 9.5hour a day, 5 days a week job. This is going to be so much easier when the car is back on the road, but I'm so worried about that because I feel like I am so out of practice, however I've never been much good at adjusting to someone else's car, so this might be very different when I go back to driving my own, at least I hope so because I'm being thrown right in at the deep end in being driving 160miles at least down the M4 from Swansea to Reading, which could turn into 250 if I need to come straight back to Brighton.

I'm sure everything will work out but it just seems so unsure right now, I'll put my trust in God and see where we end up in 4 months time

But for now, attempted sleep is necessary

XOX

Employed!

Guess who got the job!!!!!! I am now officially an Asda colleague (subject to induction)
So as I'm going to be spending half the week in Brighton over summer, new plan:

1. Become absolutely ace at this job
2. Try and get some voluntary work somewhere which works around my employment
3. Improve at Biochemistry as it's been my weak area this year
4. Self teach some more guitar
5. Use the medical case file game on my iPad and learn some new stuff :)
6. Convince my Reading friends that it is SO much better by the seaside and temporarily relocate everyone to Brighton
7. Put the car back on the road to save on train and bus costs

Things are starting to come together now

XOX