2010 in a nutshell =)

*Looks sheepish*.

Hello.

Shall I do my updates?

Jennifer Testa

Well, as you can see from previous updates, we sadly lost Manda’s mum to cancer. I attended her funeral with Chris and supported Manda. It was a really nice service and it was obviously really sad as well. In fact, I can’t believe it’s been nearly a year since she died already! Manda seems to be coping well and has got on with her life although not have her mum there in person for Christmas was really hard for her I think that’s what I was going to say on this.

Chris

I can’t remember lol. Does that make me a bad girlfriend? This was all the way back in June!

Work

I finished at Open Door but Jackie is trying to get me back there! I was told I hadn’t been allowed back because the guy in charge of payments knows me.

Birds

In May, we got an Avery with cockatiels and with Jack, that makes 8 altogether!

Glasses

I got a pair of Transitions lenses. Yep.

Weddings

This really should be the big one tbh. In June, my cousin Steven got married to Donna:

And in September, Martin and Stephanie got married:

Other things that happened (in no particular order):

Sadly, a few days after this picture was taken, we lost our beautiful boy. His health deteriorated rapidly, he fell asleep and he died at 2am. I regret not doing a separate entry for him as I don’t remember the exact day he died RIP old boy, we love you and miss you.

We decorated the bathroom (yes, that is a very bright pink):

Daniel’s 18th birthday:

Got pretty drunk on Jacques cider and brandy. Also had some weird wine stuff that looked like Rosé but tasted like red wine. Bluergh. We also let off chinese lanterns.

Infest:

Got to Bradford at around 8:30am and it was a pretty good weekend. I think we were a bit put out because it was all so different! On the Saturday, we weren’t allowed into the town centre because of riots. When we got to the uni, there was extra security and we could hear the helicopter over the city (which is about a mile away).

London Film and Comic Con:

This was a brilliant day!!! I met the Cigarette Smoking Man and the cast from Being Human! I lost my favourite belly bar though

Museum of London:

Our original plan was that Chris had a meeting with an employment agency in Farringdon and as it turns out, we went for a wander and discovered that the Museum of London was a few minutes walk away! So we went off and it was good! I’ve been there before and it was only the bit about Celtic Britain that reminded me of what it was like when I went there. The Victorian section freaked me out a little as it felt like I remembered what it was like. Chris described it as deja vu. The little Vauxhall exhibition freaked me out even more because it was so familiar.

Leysdown:

We went to the Isle of Sheppey the week before Halloween and it was good but cold. The sea was really high so the beach was closed. Dunican knocked his pint on my lap and I felt tipsy on lager for the first time ever. Um… that’s about it lol.

Buffy/Angel:

This year, I got back into Buffy and Angel in a big way. Collecting stuff and I have all the DVD’s now too. Loads of books! Buffy’s silver cross. Just finished the Buffy DVD’s and have a whole season of Angel left. I am sad about this. I need to get a big shelf in my room for all my stuff :p

THE HAIR:

White blonde, pink, fruit salad, pink and blonde, Katie Weasel, golden mahogany brown, Rod Stewart and now darker golden mahogany brown. My hair has seen a lotta colours this year.

Burlesque:

NotmuchtosayotherthanIhaven’tseenityet #badstan

Snow:

We had a lotta snow this year! On three separate occasions; January, November and December. If it had snowed like that at the same time, it would have been the same amount of snow we had in February 2009! It snowed the week before xmas and disappeared yesterday after a few days of ice rink.

Christmas 2010:

Nothing spectacular happened tbh. I got Jack the Ripper: The Casebook, The Titanic Experience book, loads of chocolate, Hello Kitty brush with my name on it, Buffy silver cross necklace, Snuggie, slippers, 2 china Geisha dolls, Buffy Watcher’s Guide vol. 3… um… I don’t remember what else lol.

I think that’s about it to be honest. 2010 has been a bit crap lol. Hope 2011 is better I’ve got a few plans tbh.

Do an 8-week pre-Navy training training course (I wanted to join the Navy but thanks to Labybloodyrinthbloodyitis, I can’t!

Start my Interior Design Courses with the National Design Academy. It’ll start off with Diploma then I’ll go onto Foundation Degree and then BA(Hons).

Finish learning to drive.

They’re my main goals!

But yeah. That’s all for now.

Tippy x

My Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome.

Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome (DSPS)

When I was five, my mum and dad took me to a sleep clinic because my body clock was very wrong. I’d sleep in until about 3pm and not sleep until late at night. I think the doctor’s told them that I’d grow out of it and guess what? I never did.

Delayed sleep-phase syndrome (DSPS), also known as delayed sleep-phase disorder (DSPD) or delayed sleep-phase type (DSPT), is a circadian rhythm sleep disorder, a chronic disorder of the timing of sleep, peak period of alertness, core body temperature, hormonal and other daily rhythms relative to societal norms. People with DSPS tend to fall asleep some hours after midnight and have difficulty waking up in the morning.

I remember when I was little (this is probably how I used to watch The X-Files before I could read properly) and I used to get out of bed and Martin used to shout, “Charlotte’s out of bed!” and the thing was, it wasn’t my fault that I was awake late! My mum and dad obviously knew something wasn’t right because they took me to see someone about it. Even when I had a routine I was struggling with my sleep patterns. When I was at school and when I was at 6th form, I used come home from Chris’ at 10pm and sometimes if Martin was on the PC, I’d go straight to bed. It’d take me hours to fall asleep and I’d still have difficulty waking up in the morning. You could say that I’m awake all night because I sleep late – I’m up late because I’m awake all night. My body clock is messed up.

Often, people with the disorder report that they cannot sleep until early morning, but fall asleep at about the same time every “night”. Unless they have another sleep disorder such as sleep apnea in addition to DSPS, patients can sleep well and have a normal need for sleep. Therefore, they find it very difficult to wake up in time for a typical school or work day. If, however, they are allowed to follow their own schedules, e.g. sleeping from 4 a.m. to noon, they sleep soundly, awaken spontaneously, and do not experience excessive daytime sleepiness.
The syndrome usually develops in early childhood or adolescence,[1] and sometimes disappears in adolescence or early adulthood. Depending on the severity, it can be to a greater or lesser degree treatable. Prevalence among adults, equally distributed among women and men, is approximately 0.15% or three in 2000.

I think now that I don’t have a routine, it’s really prevalent. It says on the Wikipedia that it’s responisble for 7-10% of people’s chronic insomnia so yay me! ¬_¬ I can literally stay up all night even if I had to get up early. I do not have a regular sleep pattern. Funny thing is, when I go on holiday, I have a perfectly normal one! I can still go to bed late and wake up at a semi normal time!

The major feature of these disorders is a misalignment between the patient’s sleep pattern and the sleep pattern that is desired or regarded as the societal norm…. In most circadian rhythm sleep disorders, the underlying problem is that the patient cannot sleep when sleep is desired, needed or expected.

That last bit is true and so incredibly annoying! It’s usually when I have to get up early and just cannot sleep! The article is an interesting read and it tells you a bit more about me and my sleeping issues. There’s loads more I can quote – bits that I nodded at and it rang true with me. It’s good that I finally understand my issues! (Well, not all of them )

I would say, ‘so onto other things’ but I have nothing else to say. Well, Raj and I are talking about Vincent Van Gogh and how I relate to him (I actually to, don’t mock me!!!). My mum even said that “Vincent” by Don McClean could be about me. No one appreciates me or my art! (by art, I mean my photography and writing. If you want to see my photograpy, there’s a link on the right ). Maybe people will understand me before I go mad and top myself. As the song says, no one understands me and no one is willing to. But that’s ok. I don’t need people’s approval. At least all the time.

It was pouring down earlier! I was gonna clean the bunnies out but it started and then it got dark

X-Factor time and Stacey is on. I love her, I think she’s great. I said last week that I want her or Joe to win, definitely! Her singing was good but the song was a bit dull.

Anyway, laters. Might update in a bit

x

Zombieszombieszombieszombies

Hi gang!

Before you start reading this, please be aware that I’m not completely bonkers and I know that zombies aren’t real.

*Looks shifty*

I finished the survival section of “The Zombie Survival Guide” and got to imagining what I would do if I was billionaire and owned an island. I’d build a big farm with outhouses and defences all around the island (you never know if infected refugees/pirates/zombies that have beeen wandering around on the ocean floor decide to appear on the island out of nowhere!) and I’ve been thinking about who I’d take. Obviously my family (immediate/aunts/uncles/cousins etc) and some friends and their families as the house/farm would be big enough. I’d take a couple of chefs, doctors, nurses and some people who could do odd-jobs around the island and buildings. I’d make sure there was a fresh water stream for water. How would I get there? I guess the best way would be by boat but there’s a risk of being ambused that way. Then I thought about a private jet but what if we needed to get off the island quickly? Maybe I would take both as long as I trusted the captain/pilot etc.

Martin and I have been planning this for YEARS, ever since Ken told us about the zombies up at Queen’s Mary’s Hospital (I think that they are still there). Of course, there’s our Zombie Hill which seems to have shrunk over the years. I still remember going around the back on the train, past the water tower and being scared! Thinking of “Zombie Lake”. I haven’t seen anything yet but I will go up there and search! Martin once told me that he’ll go to places and wonders what it’d be like during a zombie attack. According to my book, one of the best places to be during a Class 2 or 3 outbreak would be a pier or something similar. Well, that’s easy if you know the best places to go, isn’t it? People will flock to churches and police stations and the like. Brighton Pier would be good if you were to smash the entry way. Zombies can’t swim or climb! You’d have your own artificial island! Another place I thought of was Selsey Lifeboat station!

I think we’d fare pretty well in an outbreak but everybody says that, don’t they? In “reality”, I think we’d just gtfo and try and find somewhere. Mind you, there’s a quote in the book that says, “why start building your ark when the rain has started to fall.” so these things need to be planned well in advance! Lee (cyanideandwhiskey.wordpress.com), Raj and I have the Zombie Survival Guide now so I think we’d do pretty well tbh

Anyway, Chris wants to fix his iPod so I might add more stuff laterz

x