A kiss on the hand may be quite continental

I've been kissed and hugged today by a girl called Sarah...

Only problem is, she's literally young enough to be a my daughter, and she suffers from a learning disability.

I went to help at a party for children with learning disabilities and it was a lot of fun. It was really enjoyable, even before we talk about the warm fuzzies you get from doing something for the kids and the parents (who really appreciate an afternoon off from looking after some pretty demanding children).

We were playing with Play-Doh, threw balls around, used rubber inflatable rings as improvised frisbees, took them to the park to play on the roundabouts and swings, danced, played music, played pass the parcel, ran around, played hide and seek, ate cake and chocolate and crisps.

And now I'm tired. And haven't done any work yet. But it was fun.

I find working with children really refreshing. They will tell you if they're bored with you. They've got no pretensions and will be direct and honest. They've also got a huge facility for affection and having fun which I love.

It was nice to get distracted. I didn't post anything yesterday as I was in a foul mood. Partly over my non-existent love life and the fact that I think the object of my affections is starting to get a bit annoyed with me. I did land my first handspring at gymnastics without help from the coach (admittedly on a sprung floor, but it was still an achievement).

So now, I'd better do some work.

AcidCat

Down's Syndrome visit

Hi everybody!
To stop this blog becoming the story of my descent into madness and stalkerish behaviour, I'm going to talk a bit about a home visit I made today.

As part of my course, I visited the family of a child with Down's Syndrome with two colleagues, with the intention of teaching us medical students the social side and problems of families dealing with children with special needs and how it impacts the family dynamic. Down's syndrome is a genetic disorder (typically caused by trisomy (3 chromosomes) on chromosome 21) which manifests itself in delayed development - so a 5 year old with Down's syndrome may show the "mental development" of a child a few years younger.

It was an amazing experience. I really enjoyed the visit. The family were really nice, and I don't know what I was really expecting. The first thing that struck me was quite how cheerful the child (H) was. H was a five year old boy who had just begun at a normal school, and he seemed so happy. It didn't seem to phase him in the slightest, the fact that three strangers were in his house and were cluttering up his living room. He was friendly and outgoing and engrossed in the cartoon on the DVD player.

The family were lovely. It was a standard nuclear family: mum, dad (who wasn't there for the visit), elder brother (who wasn't affected by Down's). They obviously showed him a lot of love. The older brother was obviously very bright, and slightly more shy about meeting the three strangers in his home.

The mum kindly chatted with us for just under an hour and a half, while H played in front of us (trying to destroy the living room and investigate the DVD player - despite it being in a child-resistant cabinet). It struck me from hearing her stories how shamefully inadequate the support the family received was, and also (despite the family doing an amazing job) how guilty the mum felt. Every time she complained about (very understandable) problems, she kept suffixing it with self-effacing comments like "you must think I'm awful" or "I'm such a whiny bitch". I don't know how well I would cope with looking after a child with a learning disorder, but if I did as well and as much as that family, I would be pleased with myself. I also think that after that visit, I could do better than I thought beforehand.

It's made me even more keen to volunteer here for the special needs club, which organises little activities and parties for special needs children. If you have the opportunity to get involved with similar, please do so. It would do you good, not to mention helping the kid and the family.

Peace and love
AcidCat

End of weekend

Lack of updates again. I've been really busy at the lab for the week, and panicky as the time to finish is drawing near. This weekend I spent the Saturday at the lab, and went to see the London Philharmonic with my brother.

I did another stint of volunteering, and it is a lovely feeling to make people happier, and see the gratitude.

Anyway, have to do a lot of work this week, so updates may be thin on the ground this next fortnight.

AcidCat

Weekend roundup

No posts recently as I was back home for the weekend.

I went home as my mum and dad are going to Hong Kong for the next three weeks. Myself and my brother popped home to see them for the weekend. We went for a family Dim Sum lunch with my sister at Joy King Lau in Leicester Square (Good food, don't rate the service, but it and the nearby Golden Dragon are the best Dim Sum joints in the UK).

We also went for a walk round the park. I picked nettles as I was trying to make nettle gnocchi from the Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe. It was good fun and a nice day out. The gnocchi are a bit too cheesy though. They've got a lot of promise as a vegetable though. Free too.

Also did a volunteer session at Peace hospice. I was very busy, but it's a rewarding feeling, specially as you can see you're making a difficult time easier.

Went to Heathrow on Monday to drop off my parents. I hate airports. They keep you in the dark, it's really unclear where you're meant to be, there isn't even enough staff to tell you anything. They rip you off royally.

Anyway, that's a summary of the weekend. I'll try and blog more stuff later.

AcidCat

PS Listening to Radio 4 listen again service: Mark Thomas - My Life in Serious Organised Crime. It's extremely funny, and is a good lesson in using the law to be a civil thorn in the side of bureaucracy and the government. Well worth a look at.

Blessings counted

I was going to whinge about how shit life was, and how depression was threatening to take a foothold again.

I spent this afternoon being shunned by LG for no apparent reason, moving house from a beautiful, spacious room to a complete dive, dealing with petty bureaucracy designed purely to irritate for no real reason and generally getting exhausted and frustrated.

But this evening, I got an email from a friend, and spent the evening lazily having dinner with my brother.

We went to the Lemon Tree, which was ok, but overpriced and small portions. The risotto was more like rice pudding. However, it doesn't matter, as I had a fab time with my brother who was an oasis of calm and returned me to a state where I felt I could deal with life again.

I'm an incredibly lucky person for having a wonderful family who love me and look after me very well. I thank my lucky stars/my maker for them.

(On a more minor note I'm lucky the internet works in my room I've moved into...)

Sometimes I need reminding how fortunate I am.

AcidCat

Gig - Support Live music

She took a small silver wreath and pinned it to me
She said this one will bring you love
And I don't know if it's true
But I keep it for good luck

Bright Eyes - We Are Nowhere And It's Now (From "I'm Wide Awake It's Morning")

Went to a gig with Pimp Daddy and two of his friends. It was a lot of fun. Bright Eyes is a supremely gifted, jealousy inspiring, young musician of about my age, who Pimp Daddy introduced me to and I've been a fan since. The album "I'm Wide Awake It's Morning" is something that really helped me get over the pain I suffered at the end of last year. It's now one of my favourite albums.

Anyway, I loved the concert. It was at Oxford Brookes, which isn't a huge venue, but it was fantastic. He's great performing live.

The only other artists I've seen perform live are Radiohead (went to a gig with Sphincter Boy), Supergrass (who were playing at an Oxford Ball), and S Club 7 and the Sugababes (who were playing at a club I was having a boogie at). The live music experience is great, and it goes beyond the music. It's the atmosphere, the vibrations, and the feeling that you're experiencing something that never will be experienced ever again, in quite the same way.

I also went home this weekend and did my first shift volunteering solo. It was quite nerve wracking, but it was really enjoyable, and it was great to know I was helping people going through a very tough time, and helping some extremely hardworking nurses.

It was also lovely to spend a little time with my mum. To all mothers out there, Happy Mother's Day! You're all fantastic, and kudos for looking after us kids so well. To everyone, be nice to your mum: show her how much you appreciate her.

And on that soppy note, goodnight!

AcidCat

Sunny Sunday

A combination of the "say yes" and "Do it" thoughts led to today being somewhat busy.

I decided to ring a friend who I go breakdancing with to see if he was going today, to the Oxford session. He's been suggesting I went for a while, so I asked him. He said he would if I would, so I said yes, and agreed to meet him for the 8pm session.

I then rang my brother to see if he wanted to do an early dinner together before my breakdancing. He agreed, and despite my offer to go out to eat, he suggested cooking round mine. We decided to meet at around 5-5:30pm round mine.

I went into town, picking up my car en route. It's incredibly difficult to park a car in Oxford, even on a Sunday. I found a two hour parking space near Keble road, so popped into the lab briefly, doing a little work, but not much. Sphincter Boy and JizzNut were there, I was pleased to see one of them and we had a bit of a chat about rugby, while I tried to work. All too soon my two hours were up, so I had to head back to move the car. On leaving the lab I met the Ringleader who wasn't overjoyed at the prospect of sharing a Sunday in the lab with JizzNut.

I trawled the centre trying to find a space, but to no avail. I finally chanced upon a space on Walton Street, so walked to Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer, where I decided I'd base a meal on roast chicken as they were on offer in M&S. I got some decadent oozing filling steamed puddings in both Chocolate sponge and sticky toffee pudding flavours.

I headed back home as I realised that I needed to get the chicken on or it would be very late. I dashed straight to the kitchen and looked at the electric fan oven. I don't really trust electric cooking devices, but it turns out that this one was excellent, and I really should have reduced the temperature for the fan assisted oven as suggested on the packaging. As it happened, the food ended up being slightly carbon enhanced.

My brother cycled through the pouring rain and I welcomed him with a cup of tea. He set to fixing my punctured bike tyre, while I put the rest of the food on. I was quite impressed by my efficiency, managing to feed him by around 6pm. He was a sweetie, and didn't mind the food being a little blackened cajun style (partly from the standard of Balliol hall food being quite as disgusting as it is). I managed to burn the beansprouts with parma ham a little, thank god I got the rice ok, or it would have been a clean sweep.

We had a lovely chat, but I had to dash off for the breaking session. I drove to the session which was good fun, but I'm really rusty and unfit. It was nice to meet my friend Q again though. Despite it finishing at gone 10, he asked if I wanted to go for food or drink with him. Normally I would say no, but with the new resolution I followed him to a chinese where I sipped an Orange Tango. It was fun just yapping away, and we left at nearly midnight when they were shutting up shop.

It's been a busy day, and lots of fun. It's largely come about through saying yes, and the mentality of "doing". So enrich your life: Say yes, and Do it!

AcidCat

PS www.tanksforsale.co.uk has used tanks for the price of a small family car. I'd better start saving...

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This Blog post has been brought to you by AcidCat, plugging www.do-it.org the nationwide volunteering website. Put something back, and have some fun while you're at it!

Sublime to the ridiculous

I had my second session shadowing a volunteer at the hospice today.

I was shadowing a wonderful, friendly lady called Elizabeth.

Elizabeth was a recently retired midwife, who had been intensely linked with the hospice from the days when it was just an idea being fundraised for. She is absolutely charming, shiny and sparkly, and I'm sure she was a wonderful nurse to have had.

In the short session, I learnt a lot. One of the things I was worried about with volunteering at an hospice where the patients had terminal illness, was how I should approach them. Should I be cheerful and happy, or treat everyone with the solemn gravitas that the situation might need? She showed me that by being a ray of sunshine (while being aware of the feelings of the patients and their loved ones) it could make the difficult time slightly better.

She is an absolute gem.

I've met so many lovely people there who care so much and are so nice. The hardworking medical staff, volunteers and admin are amazing. The patients are dealing with their situation with dignity and stoicism. Support your local hospice, whether by donating money or time or skills. They are amazing organisations, and you never know when someone you know may need help.

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On a slightly more mundane note, there seems to be a bit of a craze with young kids with shoes with wheels in the heels which lets them slide around. As a big kid who should be too old for these things, (but never really grew up), I whinged to my younger brother that these shoes didn't come in my size as the manufacturers carelessly overlooked the possibility that twentysomething people might feel like sliding around like they were aged seven.

Being the computer whizz that he is, he started searching online, and found some shoes on Ebay called kick rollers, that are shoes that transform into skates at the touch of a button.

They arrived today! I've been sliding around happily this evening. They're basically a novelty, I don't think they're very good as shoes or skates, but they're fun! Good for the big kids!

Waiting for the packages is a royal grade A columbian pain in the neck. I really wish these delivery companies would give a more exact time than "Yeah, we'll probably deliver some point on Tuesday some point between 8 am and 6pm. Probably. And if you miss us, you can always pick up your parcel from your local depot 30 miles away. Which is open between 12pm and 12:05pm."

Rant over.

And I abandoned the ape diet today. I think it was a success. My general digestive system seems to have enjoyed the clean out, I learnt a new appreciation for salads and raw fruit, veg and nuts. I also learnt to really appreciate cooked food.

I broke it with some rice, turkey and cooked sugar snap peas, lightly stir fried.

It was delicious.

I'm going to take some lessons from the ape diet and eat healthier, and maybe go back on it occasional weekends to give my body a light detox.

Keep rolling, rolling, rolling, rawhide!

AcidCat

Public service announcement - volunteer!

I've been thinking of applying to read medicine for a while now. I've started volunteering at the local hospice, which looks after those people with terminal illnesses. I had my first session there yesterday, shadowing an experienced volunteer.

I enjoyed it. It was only my first session of 3 hours, but it did show a few things. Firstly, it emphasised one of the main points of work experience for medicine applicants: it ain't as glamorous as ER. It's pretty menial (I realise that as an unqualified volunteer the tasks are less interesting, but still, it's not rock and roll) and hard work. It's not easy being around very ill and sad people, and it makes it harder to feel relaxed.

One of the things I realised though was that it's easy to make a difference. Just making tea and coffee for the relatives visiting (the main task for the volunteers as far as I can see) seems to make the visit easier for them, and anything to help at such a difficult time is worthwhile.

If you were thinking you've got nothing to do, try volunteering. There's so much you can do, if you are more into animals, help at a cat shelter. If you like being outdoors, there are lots of placements helping in nature. Whatever your interest: young people, law and order, administration, advice, gardening, people, animals, conservation, music, dancing, cooking or something else, there's a good placement for you, all over the country.

Convinced? Look into volunteering now!

AcidCat