Sunday 14 November 2010

There's a certain irony about having a fire in your fire alarm...

So I came home last week, (Monday I think) and was told by the housemates that the fire alarms were making funny noises when they got back from lectures. They had rung the (fabulous) landlord who came over ASAP, despite only getting back from holiday that day. He discovered that the fire alarms were on the same loop as the downstairs plugs. This isn't good. Anyhow, all alarms were tested (but not all examined due to a lack of keys) but no blown fuses were found so it was assumed it was something to do with a plug in the downstairs bedroom (which couldn't be accessed at that point due to the above lack of keys).

Stay with me here.

Me: Ok, so funny noises. Anything else?

Housemates: The roof is still leaking.

Me: Oh joy. Anything else?

(There probably was something else but it was over a week ago and I can't remember :P )

Me: Right. Ok. I'm going to put my bags down. See you later.

I go into my room. And my fire alarm sounded like a sparkler. An actual sparkler.

*Shouts for help*

Turns out that when you turned the light off the fire alarm looked like a sparkler too.

There was a fire in my fire alarm.

How? Well, the water from the leaky roof (which has now been finally, properly fixed) leaked through the floor in the attic bedroom into my ceiling where it followed the wires and shorted my fire alarm.

Thus followed mild panic and a phone call to the landlord who was somewhere north of Wolverhampton and heading towards Stoke so couldn't come round. He sent his trusty electrician who is the sweetest old guy ever - he even offered to hoover the plaster off my carpet once he was done, but I wouldn't let him :)

I'm still missing a fire alarm. Instead I have wires hanging from my ceiling. I'm not planning on starting any fires, or lighting candles any time soon, and I've promised to be extra careful with my straighteners.

In other news:

I tried to give blood and they wouldn’t let me. Just take my stupid blood. I’m here, offering you a plump vein and you’re turning me down. A vampire would take it but no! What’s even more annoying is that once I’d convinced the nurses I was well enough I failed the haemoglobin test and a blood sample showed that even though I was above normal levels I wasn’t high enough to actually donate. Bet I would have been if I’d taken my iron tablet that morning.  

I got four books for less than £10 and found the nicest Waterstones ever in the process!!! It has three floors and ballroom stairs and ... sigh...can you be in love with a building?

One of my housemates had a pregnancy scare. That was fun. But thankfully it was only a scare. I don't think she's ever been so happy that she started her period.

Leicester is no longer an option. Turns out the course I wanted to do is an MA which means it’s a postgrad degree which means I won’t get funding from student finance which means I can’t afford it L Oh well, maybe once I’ve qualified. However the courses Birmingham offers are looking increasingly more attractive and I’m seriously considering it – I could use the break.

We’ve decided to sign for the house again next year, despite all the problems. Just hope we can all be a little more civilised about the heating. The point of my nose is like an iceberg.  

I had three meetings with three different people and I cried in all of them. In two of them we discussed mitigation for the January exams. In one of them we discussed anti-depressants.

I also had a bit of a breakdown. But I missed a few days, went home and now I’m back. Am I ready for life at the medschool again? Ummm, no, but I can certainly try. Just trying to ignore the fact I have a test tomorrow. I’ve told myself that I’m allowed to flunk one test in fifteen years of A* worthy education – I thought that test would be the last IIH ICA (Infection, Immunology and Haematology In Course Assessment for all non-bham medics out there) but as I didn’t do too badly on that one I still have the flunk-test wildcard available J What’s two percent in the grand scheme of things anyway?

I’ve eaten copious amounts of junk food and still seemed to have lost weight. But the junk food eating continues, as does a bad diet consisting of not enough veg and too many Oreos (the best biscuit ever!). This makes me a hypocrite as I told my medic kid to eat better.

Peppermint Mochas from Starbucks are like sips of a minty heaven. And I’ve upgraded myself to grande!

I’ve listened to soooo much music. And as I’m not entirely certain of the Islamic viewpoint on this I’ve also convinced myself I’m going to hell. (NB. If you’re going to leave a rude comment (you know who you are) about this don’t bother cause I’m not going to publish it). But it’s been useful and has given me many opportunities to scream and cry – I now have playlists for most occasions.

I’ve rambled for a bit so I really should go. Another update soon, hopefully. Sorry this has been so...weird. It's been a weird few weeks. Emotionally draining and weird. Sorry.

*Toodles*

Reading: Jingo by Terry Pratchett. I love him, and I love any book that can make me laugh out load in the quiet zone of a packed train.

12 comments:

  1. They refused to take your blood too!?! Mine was because they couldn't find a vein- I got through the tests and everything, ended up on the actual bed thingy, only to be turned away because my veins weren't prominent enough :( lol.
    Bloody scary stuff- nobody wants a fire alarm that can't cope.
    You appear to be getting a bit crushed :/ Noooo! Glad you're back- but screw Infection/Immunity. That's what I'm doing now. Or rather, should be doing but am, you know..reading blogs instead, lol. *Moral support virtual hug, which isn't weird because we are the same person*
    OREOS! Eat as many as are needed for cheer up sugar high :D
    Hope things look up soon!
    *waaaaaaaaaaves*
    :)

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  2. Lol, those similarities just keep popping up!! At least you made it to the bed :D
    Thanks Humaira :) For everthing.
    *hugs her back*

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  3. (Why do people act so tough posting anonymous comments on someone else's blog? *Insert c-bomb*)
    WOW! That was a post on an epic level!
    EAT COOKIES!
    And as for the pregnancy scare - I had the same thing happen to me only last week!
    Ahem.
    And no! You must dislike Waterstones forever after the death of Borders - ESPECIALLY as it was only a year ago when Borders were practically giving away their stock. Woop =P
    =)

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  4. Nooo, Waterstones all the way :) It was so pretty and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside...
    :D

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  5. My friend works in the waterstones, it is without doubt the nicest one in the World..
    I flunked IIH to!
    Why do you think your so upset? Is it the stress of medschool? That can get to everyone I guess..
    I so want to help, but I know I really cant. Though seriously If you want to talk I will reveal myself in a flash.
    Try to push through, uni counselling are god sends and use them. If work becomes a problem work in the library as I found its pretty difficult to cry in there without people staring so it does prevent you from doing that.
    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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  6. Thanks for the comment Anonymous :D
    I'm pretty sure I know the reasons I'm upset but don't worry, I've got all bases covered, trust me. Same to you though, if you ever want to talk...
    Hope IIH wasn't that bad :)
    xxx

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  7. Slms.

    Just wanted to say people have begun to find justifications for the permissabilty of music and that we should acknowledge that it's not. Everybody has some sin I'm sure and to repremand someone else is not really constructive. We shouldn't justify our wrong but rather hope that sometime in the future we could reform ourselves.

    Pratchett is extremely funny, I haven't read much of his books but my favourite characters are Rincewind and Moist Von Lipwig and Conina(but I only know of her appearing as a side character in Soucery)

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  8. SS, thank you for your comment. Can I ask how you found this blog? Pratchett is great, I agree. Moist is one of my favourite characters too, along with Death and Mort. And Sam Vimes.
    :D

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  9. I do a lot of blog hopping- I think that I went to another blog, sparkling smiles and than got to yours somehow, or to chariots of fire than to yours.

    Oh forgot Death, HE SPEAKS IN CAPITAL LETTERS. Man I should go get a pratchett book for the hols, which of the last few are extremely funny, the last that I read was making money.

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  10. Well thanks for stopping by :) Hope you like what you read and will continue reading :)
    Any of his are amazing! Unseen Academicals was his latest Discworld one, that was good. The Sam Vimes ones are good, I think the first one is Men at Arms. Monstrous Regiment is one of my favourite. :D

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  11. hi i have been given an offer from birmingham to study medicine next year, i was wondering whether you'd reccomend going to birmingham? advantages/disadvantages? thanks

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  12. Hi Anonymous!
    Congratulations!!!! I would really, really recommend coming to birmingham. The course itself is really good - it's systems based, mainly lecture based but with classes so you can go over important points again. Generally the teaching is really good, obviously you get a few hopeless lecturers but you generally get that everywhere! You get GP visits every 2 weeks so early clinical contact, which is key! GP days are really good days - the perfect break from the medical school and you get a chance to practice clinical skills and see real patients. That's really important because sometimes you forget that you're doing a vocational degree because there's so much science in the first two years. You also have a little bit of PBL, so a nice mix of teaching styles. The welfare team and system is really good at bham - everyone has a Personal mentor and a medic family with a mum/dad in the second year so you always have someone to talk to. The campus is beautiful, the city is really cosmopolitan and only ten minutes away on the train, we have a train station on campus (two mins walk from the med school). Bham's a really diverse place so you meet people from loads of different backgrounds and ethnicities, both in the med school and as patients, so you see a range of diseases and I think really grow as a person as you're exposed to loads of different cultures. And, of course, everyone's really, really nice! We also have loads of research teams near by, and lots of hospitals in bham, so most of the teaching comes from experts in the field.
    Disadvantages - they're aren't many. Anatomy is a bit dud compared to other places but we have a new prosectorium and I think they are improving the anatomy syllabus. And you have to remember - bham has had a med school for over 100 years and it's been producing doctors who have been more than competent in their fields so they must be doing something right!

    I hope this helps :) Thank you so much for commenting - can I ask, how did you find this blog and has it been helpful? Please comment again if you have any more questions or email me at its.complicated50@gmail.com. Good Luck in your a-levels and I hope you chose bham :D

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