Am very tired. Neck hurts and tummy bloated. Would anyone notice if I fell asleep?

that is all.

Today, I went for my swine flu jab. Took me an hour to get to GP office (15 mins walk back into town, wait for bus, got on bus, 30 mins journey, 15 mins walk the other end). Took less than 5 mins to get jabbed (!).

Made lovely lamb chops, mash potatoes, veggies, stuffing and yorkshire puds. Baked a double ginger cake. Had a long bath. Fast forwarded to Dr Who bits on Children in need. Ate Haagan Daaz vanilla ice cream - don't think I can go back to cheaper vanilla ice cream. And usually I'm just vegged out on the sofa on a Friday night. Now watching Dancing with the Stars.

So am feeling achieved tonight.

- back hurts
- neck and shoulder hurts
- is very tired all the time

/feeling sorry for myself.

I would totally respect the MSc students a lot more if they just came in to say "I didn't do the six month project because I couldn't be bothered". At least it is honest rather than making something up!

*waves hands and is rather fidgety and is counting down to her 2 weeks off work*

*bounces*

Laa laa laa laa!

I did a lovely stir fried beef and broccoli dish last night and this is the recipe on http://www.filipino-food-lovers.com/?p=64

I didn't put any salt or MSG in, and next time, I would put less soya sauce in. I also added more water when you put the sauce in to cook. I also added more veggies in, (onions and peppers, things I had left to use up). Plus I added a lot of black pepper!

It reminded me of a restaurant quality dish, so it was a success!

wow, this week has been quite a week so far!

Our new next door neighbours have arranged for a roofer and scaffolders to come do their house, but we have said to them ages ago could we have ours done at the same time? And they said yes. So they basically did all the hard work ringing around trying to find a builder! Now the scaffolding is being put up as I'm typing this. We're just there with the chequebook and that that is all we have to do!! We'll have a new roof soon!

And now we've booked our holiday to Malta! yay!

so yeah, lots of stuff a happening!

Best with sound

I need extra "I believe in Yuen" today!

Wish me luck

*I CAN DO THIS!!*

RAR!

Stuff that has happened in Yuen world recently.

- had the last Lindy class before the summer break. We did dancing in a circle. Was very fun.
- saw Bollywood dance show in Solihull.
- did 20 lengths swimming AND I can (sort of) breathe properly whilst doing the breast-stroke
- Played more Arkham Horror. Still not beat it.
- Went to Tina's wedding, with a vintage bus in a marquee (Deckerdence and video on youtube
- has booked 2 weeks off work in September. Haven't decided where to go yet.

Am now filing at work (oh joy!). It does relax me and I'm tidying my office as if I will be leaving!! *winks*

It is very quiet now, which is good. So it gives me a chance to sort stuff out. People are still very dopey / lazy though. I had one PhD student ask me for a certain form, I point him to the set of drawers that this form is in. He goes in and has a rummage. 5 mins later he comes to say he can't find it. I sigh and goes and opens the drawer and the form is the top sheet. Another PhD student sends something to the colour printer, she goes in to collect it, but it hasn't printed, so she presses random buttons and then comes crying to me to ask is it broken - I *look* at what the screen says ("load tray one or select another tray") and presses the BIG GREEN BUTTON twice and it works.

Am getting a bit bored though. Am not complaining, as I know it will get busier in September / October. So enjoy this quiet(ish) time :)

The Legend of Neil
(6 episodes each season - 4 mins each)

Last night, one of next door's (2 houses across) tabby cat was in our garden. She was sat there in the middle of the garden. Steve and Kali were a watching her quite intently. I went out to say hello to Tabby, but I got accosted by Steve who was intent on rubbing himself on me, as if to say "This is ma Hooman" then he went up to her and hissed at her to go away. She backed off, but not much. Then came Kali, she too rubbed herself against me which said "Don't worry mum, I'll deal with this" and she went to Tabby and talked (well meowed-talked) to her and then hissed to say "this is OUR garden". But Tabby wasn't imtimidated at all, but kept her distance.

It was sweet that they seem to be defending me from Tabby.

Tabby was still there in our garden about 10.30pm when I went to let them in. Kali was not coming in, so I had to go shoo Tabby away and picked Kali up to bring her in, otherwise I think she would have stayed there all night to guard the house.

I guess Round 2 will be tonight!

We went to see We Will Rock You last night. It was good, but it didn't make it into my top ten favourite musicals.

So it got me thinking about what my top ten musicals are.
( List of musicals )

*yawn*

that is all.

I've just been given this as a pressie from one of last year's students. He was a bit of a hassle - he was the one who kept trying to tell us how to run our programe.

I always feel a bit awkward accepting gifts from students - although usually I get chocolate or some little trinket from their home country. Never a watch though..

But I guess now he has got his degree, it can be seen as being just a gift (rather than being a bribe).

but wow...

Inspired by Dan, I got our keyboard out and now want to learn to play various tunes. I've attached the keyboard through my macbook and is learning to play songs via tutorials on you tube.

Yes I can read music, but am only used to one note at a time (being a cornet player), so I seem to learn better if someone shows me what to do.

So far I can play 4 bars of "defying gravity" - Wicked and also "Bella's lullaby" - with BOTH hands! Result!

Alas it will be a while till I have these songs committed to memory and also need to sort out my aide memoire for this (at the moment, I have notes saying D, D, F#, DA etc.)

Let's see how this goes!

We've been to a test drive event at MIRA over at Nuneaton. It is for the new Prius.

They had these domes that looked like giant golf balls. We were split into 4 groups. There were about 50 people in total. We couldn't take cameras in and had ID cards. There were sandwiches, canapes, tea, coffee, juice and more sandwiches and canapes!

We were the first up going for a test drive. We drove around the test tracks, we got to do the slalom on the cones, emergency break, swerving (without breaking - really difficult! I knocked over the cone! Whoops!) and raced around the track on the 3 different modes.

It is shinier, has a cool "Head Up Display" (where your speed is projected onto the windscreen right in front of you) and lots of other cool gadgets. The Intelligent Parking Assist is much better. It seems to have a better seating position for those who are vertically challenged. You can move the steering wheel back and up! Hob really likes the solar panel on the roof option to help power the aircon. And the car unlocks /locks by proximity - and it will start with the key in your pocket! And it still has the option to plug your ipod in - which makes me happy. I was sad that it doesn't fly nor can it tunnel underground or travel back in time....otherwise this car is like magic!

Then we returned to the domes and listened to the various presentations.

We bumped into Bridget and John (old RP crowd)!

And we got FREE bags at the end.

Not bad for a free event! I enjoyed it more than I thought I would as it was well organised and we got to drive the car before the official launch and got fed and watered and a free bag! (oh yeah, the car is nice too). I got to pretend I was the Stig for 10 minutes - well without the white suit and helmet - and his driving skills - I'm actually not very good on the test track as I wouldn't normally drive that way.

Did I mention I got a free bag? :)

I did 14 lengths and I wasn't absolutely shattered like I usually am. I seem to be getting better at this swimming thing!