Nearly November

Lordy, it's been so long since I blogged, I almost forgot my blogger password. Life has been flying past - I find that time has the illusion of speeding up in late autumn as you think, jeeze, it'll be Christmas in a few weeks. The Mince pies are on buy one, get one free already.

I'm still enjoying the trial placement at the Friendly Wee Film Company. Okay, so that's not their name, but I can describe them as such. As it's voluntary, I can still come and go without being stressed up to my eyelashes. That's a treat reserved for the real working world. Will I get there one day? Who knows.

I met an ME acquaintance on the street recently and when he asked me how I was, I told him that the Mickel Therapy was still helping me. He looked wholly skeptical (as I was initially) and I could tell it was not the answer he was looking for. I'll bring you down to earth a bit, he joked, you looked just like your mum there. Politics, huh?

-C

Two films

This weekend I saw a big-budget film called Rendition which looked good and turned out to be awful, and a tiny-budget film called Once, which looked like a gamble and turned out to be gorgeous. Click here for one of the songs with film clips.

-C

In praise of soft water

The first thing I like to do on return from England is to get my own hair back by washing it in soft Scottish water. When I wash it in Birmingham's hard water it becomes hair I don't recognise - dry hair that clumps together and resists a comb. Like doll's hair. Now it flows freely again!

I'm fairly exhausted but I enjoyed the trip to see my sister and her family. It was good that Nice Man was able to join us there. My niece who is nearly four has an amazing vocabulary. She'll ask the meaning of words all the time. What's vicious? What's basic? What's mating season? Ah, national treasure, David Attenborough causing parents everywhere to choose their words carefully...

-C

Hey Ricky, one more time...

Occasionally I'll have a look at the stats for my blogarithm and I still get most hits from people who have searched for 'Ricky Gervais and ME /CFS'.

In terms of this year's health progress, my rant in January (one month into Mickel Therapy) and follow up here and here - seems such a long time ago. I was so offended by Ricky's ME-is-for-weaklings routine. Now, in a strange way, I'm not at all. It's like when people make religious jokes and the religious people get outraged and those with less attachment to any religion see it as 'quite funny, actually' without it being too malicious. If a religion is strong or true enough it should be able to withstand a bit of satire.

As for Ricky's routine, I don't feel the need to take up a defensive position any more. People can and do laugh at everything and anything. It's a relief when life isn't a series of battles and defences. Defending takes up so much mental energy....energy that could be used to get out and look at trees instead. Oh, how I love those autumn trees.

-C

Her with the big ears?

On Friday, I'm off on my bi-annual pilgrimage to visit my two cute nieces in Leamington Spa. If you google image search Leamington Spa you get this curious photo, which is slightly more interesting than a regency terrace, so that's what your getting, folks.

I'm still enjoying my part-time placement at the film company. It's small scale but it's rewarding to have a sense of purpose, not to mention ample post-it notes and several shades of high-lighter pens to choose from. When the phone rings it's for the others in the office, so I can see I'll have to forge contacts so people will have reasons to phone me. I phoned a girl today in a fashion design house whose name had the Italian pronunciation of Cecilia (Che-chile-a). I asked for Chinchilla by mistake.


Oops.

-C