The Adventure Continues...

Rants, raves and random observations from an itinerant epidemiologist.

 
100 in 1000
  1. Spend a week up a mountain learning to ski
  2. Visit Karoline's place in Moravia
  3. Hold a conversation in Czech (only)
  4. Drink 500ml of each of the following beers:
    1. Pilsner
    2. Staroprammen
    3. Budvar
    4. Velke Popovice
    5. U Fleku
    6. Gambrinus
    7. Krusovice
  5. Respond to at least one GOARN request (WHO and MSF are also acceptable)
  6. Travel across the Atlantic
  7. Return to South America
  8. Read a book to, or with, an impressionably aged child
  9. Participate in one NanoWriMo Challenge and come within at least 10,000 words of the goal length
  10. Have my nose pierced
  11. Have my next tattoo drawn
  12. Purchase the perfect jeans (x 2 pairs)
  13. Attend a spin class 3 times a week for 8 consecutive weeks
  14. Bake Viv's cheesecake
  15. Make David's casserole
  16. Make David's Chicken Cashew-nut Stirfry
  17. Invite 4 people who don't know one another too well to dinner
  18. Ride from Vienna to Venice on a motorbike (pillion acceptable, those less desirable)
  19. Attend a book group for at least two books
  20. Go on a choir weekend (learn and perform difficult piece in two/three days)
  21. Visit Madame Tussaud's (in London)
  22. Take an architecture appreciation course
  23. Join an all-girl group and sing a solo
  24. Publish in a scientific journal (top two authors)
  25. Cook a duck or other 'waterfowl'.
  26. Locate the Al-Timimi's from Doha Veterinary Practise
  27. Have a pedicure
  28. Maintain a Brazilian (ouch) for three months.
  29. Find a trustworthy Czech hairdresser
  30. Treat my inner-6-year-old twice a week (at least)
  31. Do the liver-cleansing diet properly (12 weeks)
  32. Don't eat out for one month
  33. Find a flat and flatmate
  34. Purchase one Joseph sweater
  35. Purchase one of the following pairs of designer shoes (they MUST also be COMFORTABLE, and be able to be worn with 4 different outfits and 2 types of occasion): Jimmy Choos, Manolo Blahniks, Christian Louboutin (Ebay or 2nd hand are acceptable)
  36. Send 5 books to the booksphere and track them.
  37. Go hanggliding
  38. Read 10 'classic' books (from 1001 Books to Read before you Die)
    1. Moll Flanders
    2. Everything is illuminated
    3. Madam Bovary
    4. Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintainance
    5. Catch-22
    6. Odysseus
    7. On the Road
  1. Run (non-stop!) for 5kms outside (preferably in a street race thingy)
  2. Send Christmas Cards on time
  3. Make a collage/mural out of street lights on my wall
  4. Buy a bed, build it, and sleep soundly in it
  5. Go to Africa
  6. Host an 'event' (classified as and when)
  7. Organise a 30th Birthday Party
  8. Wear a costume
  9. Sing on stage
  10. Buy a painting that evokes memories of Prague (cannot involve queues!)
  11. Learn a god-damned card game that stays in my memory (other than fish/snap)
  12. See sunrise. Be sober. Have woken for it. Excludes months Nov-Mar
  13. Take a walk and flip coins at each intersection
  14. Win something
  15. Draft a will
  16. Take a roadtrip
  17. Go to Italy already
  18. Sea Kayak around Abel Tasman Park (NZ)
  19. Get plants
  20. Take a train to another Eastern European Destination (accession countries are acceptable) alone preferably.
  21. Get UK to give me a provisional motorcyclists license and simultaneously get a 'card' license.
  22. Go SCUBA diving again - at least two dives lasting 30mins each.
  23. Go to a dentist. *sigh*
  24. Do a Czech Wine Trail. And live to tell the tale
  25. Make an 'outbreak emergency kit'.
  26. Go to bed prior to 11pm every night (inc weekends) for four consecutive weeks.
  27. Marvel over lack of tiredness
  28. Dine at a Gordon Ramsey restaurant (or Nobu)- preferably for free.
  29. Bet on the nags
  30. Do something for charity (applying and getting a 'red card' will count)
  31. Walk along the Champs Elysee
  32. Do 100 sit ups in a row
  33. Do 50 pressups (arms in tight)
  34. Make branston pickle (or nearest substitute)
  35. Cook something 'new' and 'adventurous' at least once a month
  36. Find a mentor
  37. Be a mentor
  38. Learn what mentoring is all about
  39. Meet an online person in real life
  40. Resist the flirt. Once. Just one night. It's okay if people don't immediately succumb to my natural charm. Really it is.
  41. Spend time at a spa (spa towns in the CR don't count)
  42. Send a care package to someone
  43. Get a Tata Bojs CD
  44. Take a French/German/Dutch course and SPEAK THE DAMNED LANGUAGE WHEN I HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY EVEN THOUGH IT MAKES ME SOUND LIKE AN IDIOT!
  45. Order new contact lenses.
  46. Make a list of things I take with me when I pack for different occasions
  47. Eat lobster. Prepared by someone else.
  48. Back up the blog
  49. Put everything onto an external hard drive
  50. Find a DDR mat and console and 'dance, I say dance!'�
  51. Go to the beach and lie on the warm sand. For an hour. (with sunscreen on, natch)
  52. Take and complete a course in either: Tango, Salsa or Flamenco
  53. Join the Municipal Library of Prague
  54. Move to another country
  55. Go to a live concert of a band I actually like
  56. Pay off debts (student loan excl.)
  57. Send thank you cards for every gift I receive (other than the gift of happiness, blah blah blah).
  58. Get an agent (literary or theatre)
  59. Go to a sports bar without cringing, by personal choice
  60. Ride a rollercoaster
  61. Hold a snake
  62. Spend a day wandering around a museum (not art gallery!)
Shock to the system
Tuesday 29 January 2008
First bit of ‘organised exercise’ in four years and I managed to swim for 1km in 50mins. Nice! (AND I can move my shoulders today…no harm done for the shock)

Of course, I’m STILL considered untrustworthy by the mobile phone carriers, which means I remain three months away from my new phone…

…one day at a time, huh?
posted by Nomes @ Tuesday, January 29, 2008   0 comments
Meme or Me! Me!
Friday 25 January 2008
What’s the biggest difference between men and women?
I think men are more capable of compartmentalising, such that they end up living in the ‘now’, whereas women seem more aware of the impact of the things they do on others, and consequently tend more towards living in the ‘if that, then when’ instead. I try to learn how to compartmentalise, but it just makes me feel ‘disconnected’ instead. I know that all of the things that affect me make me who I am at that given moment. This is occasionally hard to deal with (for me and others) because it means that I could respond differently from one time to another, even when faced with roughly the same situation. Consistency of behaviour would be nice, for a while at least.

Do you believe in fate?
I’m not sure whether I’d call it fate. I think that opportunity knocks, and you have the option to open the door or to bury your head under the covers. I also think that people choose either to stand BY the door, or to remain in the kitchen. I THINK I tend to stand in the hall, by the door, just waiting for it to knock. Call me Jeeves.

Are you an introvert or an extrovert?
I’m an extrovert to strangers, and become more introverted the better I know a person.

What’s your biggest extravagance?
Cosmetics. My shelf is FILLED to the brim with products and brushes. I love the stuff. The look of the bottles of perfume collected, the texture of the brushes all standing up in a collection, the feel of the unguents smoothed over my skin and the smell of the entire lot make me happy.

Are you a good liar?
I’m not good when I’m called up for a lie (at all, that’s when I just think “the game’s up” and cave completely, usually flushing with embarrassment and stammering included) but if I’m put on the spot, I can usually come out with something believable that puts the investigator of the scent. I try not to do it too frequently though, and certainly have been more honest with people (including, I think, myself) as I’ve gotten older. I will, however, obscure the truth if I feel that the knowledge won’t benefit the other person, or if I think it’s not my business to tell.

Are you closer to your mother or your father?
Instinctively, I’m closer to my father. Our sense of humour is similar. And I can be a bit of a grumpy old moo from time to time (more so frequently, as I’ve discovered what my parents figured out years ago: England is filled with lifeless, spineless zombies), so we can rant about stuff similarly. However, with distance and age, have come a respect, an understanding, and a deep appreciation for my mother, that continues to grow. I love both of my parents, a lot, for different reasons, and it’s an immense source of satisfaction for me to hear them happy – both individually and as a couple (role reversal?). It’s also a source of endless amusement to me to hear them squabble in the way they do. When this far away from them, I miss (most) hearing their two voices in the room at the same time.

What are you most proud of?
I probably should say “my PhD” or some equally academic topic. Back in the day (god, I LOVE being 30) I used to think that A’s = acceptance. Ha!
Nevertheless, in reality, I think what I’m MOST proud of are my collection of friends. My 30th birthday was (and will probably continue to be!) a complete revelation for me. I’d no idea how loved I was by so many, in many different ways. To allow myself for one moment, to think that I’ve affected all those many lives, is a horribly humbling thought, and one which I’m very, VERY proud of. It is also a very proud thought (so I’m all ready for the fall down the stairs later!) and since Pride is a deadly sin, one which I don’t allow myself the luxury of believing, too frequently.

When was the last time you got really angry?
I was furious with myself a few weeks ago, for making the mistake of believing that I could manage my own life. Seems I can’t – and I hate letting myself down like that. Two glasses of red wine quelled that particular storm though, AND assuaged the hunger that fed the anger.

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posted by Nomes @ Friday, January 25, 2008   0 comments
Reclamation
Thursday 24 January 2008
I know – two entries in two days. Could this be the turnaround? That pivotal moment of ‘come back’ that could make or break (see: Take That vs. Spice Girls)? Or is this the Swan Song (see: Tchaikovsky/Ballet). Can you tell that I’ve been reading one of those ‘list’ books (see: Christmas presents for him) over the shoulder?

Your patience is overwhelming, love and kisses to all, please accept me back into the gang.

I need to write again. And I’ve heard rumours that I’ll be getting a lap top shortly, which means that I’ll be able to start writing properly again (rather than stealing time here and there to scrawl a sentence or two in between working – sentences which are leglessly drunk on their own accord and read more like a ream of Facebook status updates instead). Properly = whilst sitting upright in bed, laptop on, er, lap and a glass of wine by my side.

But, dredging and reclamation is difficult (see: Budget for Dubai), no matter how worthwhile and cathartic. See…it’s hard to catch you up with all the happenings. Actually, no it’s not.

I’ve watched a LOT of television. I’m completely up-to-date with Top Gear and have had Colin Mockery and Ryan Stiles ‘doing things’ with more ‘apparatus’ than I care to recount. I have a passing acquaintance with words like ‘recession’, ‘markets’ and ‘house prices’, not to mention am able to make small-talk at length on diverse subjects such as ‘Amy Winehouse’ and ‘youth stabbings’. Though, you know, perhaps I could put those two subjects in closer communion – good things might start happening.

But I’ve also made an “I live in London” effort. I have seen Cabaret, Chicago, 39 Steps. I am booked to see Mamma Mia (for my sins) and have plans for the Lion King and Varekai. I’ve been to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Natural History Museum. I’ve eaten down SouthBank and saved £’s using my tastelondon card. But I have still not been to the Tate (old OR new).

I’ve had long discussions until 5am, most of which I can’t remember other than the eventual outcome (given my tenacity for ‘getting to the bottom of things’). I’ve played board games for 7 hours at a stretch, and won all but one of them. I’ve made decisions, and had them changed. I’ve made grandiose sweeping statements and had them refuted (at length) by my shadow someone (in the parliamentary sense). I’ve had my help requested and my assistance appreciated. I’ve done some research, and have changed my form of contraception. I still have yet to register with a dentist or a GP, so I’m not entirely grown up.

All in all, NomesWorld (that neuroses filled adventure land for those over 5’8”) is sparkling at the moment. Perhaps that’s the reason I’ve not been writing. Perhaps I need to find something to rant about, or is it that when I do need to rant, I now have someone who listens and puts their arms around me, and tells me not to be ridiculous and to get some real problems (grrrrr!).
Or perhaps I don’t ACTUALLY want to tell all about some subjects. Ha! Who am I kidding –stay tuned folks, she’s on the comeback trail and she’s still (in her head) wearing hotpants (see: Kylie).

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posted by Nomes @ Thursday, January 24, 2008   1 comments
Sitcom moment #397
Wednesday 23 January 2008
(INTERIOR. LARGE OPEN PLAN OFFICE ACOUSTIC. CLOSE TO MIC TINNY VOICE SUGGESTS THAT THE SHE IS ON THE PHONE TO HIM. WHICH SHE IS. PAPERS ON DESK ARE SHUFFLED AND THE COMPUTER EMITS A LOW BUZZ)
1. HIM: It’s 5:30!
2. HER: Yeah, I know.
3. HIM: But, you should be in my arms by now.
(CUT TO CLOSE-UP. PAPERS HASTILY GATHERED AND SHOVED IN BAG. CUT TO SPEEDING TUBE. CUT TO DARK STREET WITH CLIP-CLOPPING HEELS REVERBERATING OFF EMPTY BUILDINGS)

I mean, what else is a girl to do?

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posted by Nomes @ Wednesday, January 23, 2008   0 comments

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