19th February. 20.27.

I primarily would like to start this post by informing you that I am merely doing this as a means of procrastination. yes, that's right. I am writing lots and lots of words instead of doing something where I have two paragraphs left of a few well-chosen words. I don't really like spending that much time over words to be honest. I end up spending too much time and not getting anything written as I get so frustrated over the structure of a bloody sentence. And all of this for an evaluation on an experiment to find out which was the best fuel for camping out of hexane and methanol? All I really have to say was that my experiment was shite because the draught excluders weren't good enough, the calorimeter didn't heat up the water efficiently as some heat was lost ergo affecting my result, and I did it in different conditions to the high and mighty data book. Ok. So I've written it here. Why can't I write it in my essay and spread it out over three paragraphs? Argh. D:

What has become of this week off?

Ah yes, the week of rest and respite. Bliss. Work only on one day? Absolute madness. My little brain struggled to cope with all the free time that it was getting at once and made me giddy with excitement. And tired, seeing as I slept a fair bit too. However, I must have done something during the entire thing? Besides reading that book on day 1, as I'm no longer counting day one anymore as I have already written about it. And now I start to worry as I struggle to recollect my actions of the past week...

CLEAN KITCHEN. Glorious.

On day two, I recollect having all of the intentions of going into college to do some referencing and to finish off a couple of assignments, however due to certain circumstances this never happened. Mainly due to the fact that the journey to college can be described as a "rare mission", and I probably wasn't really feeling up for it that day. So instead, I made tomato and basil sauce to while away the hours, then I drank lots of coffee and attempted to clean the house from top to bottom. Well, actually vice versa seeing as I started in the kitchen... It was all going swimmingly until the hoover bag decided to be full when I started to clean the landing, and alas! I could go on no further. Everything else was all sparkling clean, the floors were mopped and all the kitchen counters wiped down and disinfected, yet I think that the house remained in this state for a mere two seconds after my housemates returned. I guess that you could call that the more productive side of procrastination...

Day Three was work day. It was also Christmas changeover day at this obscenely early time, so out went the baubles and the changing of everything around the shop and the chocolate santas and reindeer etc etc etc. Wasn't feeling too festive as even as I'm writing this, Halloween still hasn't come around yet.

Day Four was Get-Yo'-Ass-Into-Gear Day. Awoke at 12, and was fully set on going to finish off her work. Left the house at about two, arrived at college closing in on three and then realised that not much work could be done, as the library closed at 5. However, one assignment was completed and the others were mere references away from being completed. The evening was spent watching television (though NOT Eastenders) and I thoroughly enjoyed watching the programme about Dale Farm and found the programme about the modern welfare system eye-opening. Went to bed thinking that the day was very short (and so it had been, I think that I was up for less than 12 hours that day).

Day Five was the Shit-Goes-Down Day, as I had prepared myself to arise for an early start to college. Yes, waking up at 9 was quite an achievement for me... Was all done by 1pm, and I'd even stopped to have lunch! It was nice to have a small sense of freedom from those assignments that you didn't exactly have to slave over, but just add a little and often (which in most cases is the most draining). I felt like celebrating. Alcohol? Well, there would be a time and a place. Town at 1pm on a Friday may be acceptable for some people, but I just wasn't feeling it that day. So instead, seeing as it was sunny, I bought an ice cream. It was marvellous. The fact that it was on work staff discount as well made it taste ever so sweeter.
[Lapse of a short space of time/enough time to get through to the evening.]

I befriended a banana and a big bird.

At work?

It was that time again. The time to apply the feline warpaint, ready the photographic device and capture people's evenings in a single frame whilst they partied and danced and all that jazz. With it being the closest Friday to Halloween, the majority of the attendees were turned out so splendidly in their odd vestments. I made friends with a banana and big bird, Colonel Gaddafi was bopping around the mosh pit and Nightwing was certainly in the house this evening. Alex from a Clockwork Orange was there as well as a roe deer, various pirates and vampires and even two dragon-looking things that were most magnificent, but it was quite difficult to make out what they were. There were sailors, Ol' Gregg even came along and showed us his mangina (though happened to disappoint as he failed to drink baileys from a shoe), Amy Winehouse, Victorian ladies and gentlemen, plenty of army men and women and a good part of the cast of Wayne's World. Excellent. The list goes on and on.... but I guess that the most productive thing that I have out of that evening is I ended up taking a back of a hundred or so professional looking photos! Do I win, or do I win?

I fall down and sleep.

Procrastination-Land/Ranting corner.

A frequently-participated activity by yours truly.

Just typical. Once again, setting up to write a blog in hopes that it shall be some sort of escape from the nasty soul-draining assignments that have to be done. Oh it's alright, I have another week left to complete them, and they're already half-finished anyway. It's merely the fact that it has to be presented and constructed in such a banal, regurgitated manner that destroys my soul and makes me look for something else to do.

Like write something on here. I would tidy my room, but I've already done that. It's the most habitable looking it's been in weeks, and all to get out of assignments. If they were interesting and about something that I didn't already know, I would be more than happy to get them done. However, seeing as one of them is writing up an experiment about the density of milk, it loses its appeal to me.

Not loving it.

That aside, and I know I say this a lot, but I really really hate winter. In fact these days, I hate it so much that I would very happily get rid of it as a season and replace it with something warmer. Fuck Christmas, no one really remembers the meaning of it anyway. But the annoying thing about winter and the approaching months is the amount of bugs and viruses and illnesses and other nasty things that are flying around, and are prone to leave one feeling quite under the weather.

Lemsip: Paracetomol 650mg,
Phenylepherine: Pointless.

I am currently in the midst of suffering from a bad cold. It's that bad, that to a man it would be more than man flu. Probably death or something equally melodramatic. However, I have been through the worst (hopefully), so full recovery should soon be within my sights. The only thing about this cold though, was the fact that I was bedridden for a day. Yes. Actually rendered BEDRIDDEN with the bloody thing. Normally I'm not the one for "pulling a sicky", in fact, quite the opposite. The only time I would really take off work is if I've lost a limb, or lost my voice, or lost consciousness. Hangovers, headaches, aches and pains... normally I'd be in there, soldiering through it all. However, on that fateful day where the cold really took its grasp upon me, I couldn't even move my head, let alone go to college, the pain was that excruciating. All of my sinuses, inflamed and screaming pushed against my skull, caused the worst cold headache ever to wake up from, coupled with an aching throat as well. Needless to say, I reluctantly called in and took the day off, and then out of the next 24 hours, I can assure you that I was awake for merely 3.

The most annoying thing about a cold though, after the initial horror show that comes with catching one in the first place, is trying to shift it. With the first phase you can batter it with anything you like.

Nectar of gods.

Painkillers? Paracetomol, Aspirin, Ibuprofen, Lemsip, Sudafed, Buttercup syrup... Pseudoephedrine, phenylepherine, ascorbic acid... All big names in this constant battle against the common cold. Very effective in the first phase, yet not really great for the long term after-effects of the cold that leave you annoyed and still slightly groggy a fortnight after you thought you got rid of the thing. Symptoms include: that constant runny nose, nearly-disappeared sore throat or that chesty cough that is still struggling... Bleh. Not useful if you're like me and have lots of things to do. Sometimes you just have to carry on regardless, but if it's really that bad, your body will tell you to stop anyway.

What I also don't like is this flu jab vaccine. Whoever really feels the need to have a flu vaccination (save I guess, patients suffering from an auto-immune condition) should really man up and take the cold like the rest of us. Personally, I have never suffered from flu (well, never been diagnosed with it anyway), but I put it down to my immune system being tip-top and prepared for winter and happy to destroy any unknown pathogens that happen to enter my bloodstream. But people who have to artificially insert some of the disease in order to build up an immunity to it, due to the fact that their immune system couldn't cope with a real thing? I don't think they really deserve to live here if their bodies aren't up to it!

Someone who wouldn't make it without
the flu vaccine...

I am aware that most of them are elderly or somewhat aged, but in my defence they'd probably state that they'd had a similar winter in their day (most probably a colder, more harsh one), and they were able to cope without the vaccine back then. And also, horrible as it sounds, the population of this country is on average, getting older and older, as well as the whole size of it becoming larger and larger as the same number of babies are being born, but not as many old people are dying. Withdraw flu vaccine and let nature take its course, seeing as it's not natural for us humans to live that long. It's quite easy to tell, seeing as you practically start to fall apart past 45 or 50, getting all sorts of diseases from just being about too long.

This could easily spiral into an even greater pool of controversial topics, yet I think that I may have to rein it in now.
All in all, I hate colds. I'm sick of this constant achey feeling, blocked nose, inflamed sinuses, headache, sore throat, you name it... please can someone make it go away for me?! :(

....and someone who would.