Big long diaryland fast
17.07.06, 11:12 am

Oh good, it appears that I�m not dead. I wrote the following entry a couple of days ago, and am currently sat on the Uni library computers typing it in. Unfortunately I�m nowhere near getting Internet yet, so we might be looking at weekly entries for the foreseeable future. It�s completely rubbish, and I will try my hardest to keep up with you all:

I am lying on my stomach on the piece of lawn directly outside my flat writing this by hand for the following reasons:

1) It�s only been a few days and I already missing writing about my day.
2) Lisa�s also been gone only a few days and I�m just starting to talk to myself.
3) It�s a gorgeous warm sunny evening.

The move down was hampered by Snake Pass being closed (main road from Manchester to Sheffield), and so we had to trundle down some crappy diversion route that added an extra 50 miles to the journey � best tiny village in the middle of nowhere name had to be Sparrow Pit. Handily Leasha was here visiting when me and my dad finally arrived, and so her and Lisa gave us a hand with my stuff and I got to not die like I did last time I moved.

The flat is fantastic, though after living in two attic rooms for the last two years I�m finding the lack of stairs a little disconcerting. I�m only slightly unpacked, owing to the lack of furniture in my room � cheap IKEA trip is definitely required. Place is lovely though, and I�ll take some photos once I get settled. The flat�s part of a group and is the kind of place where you get to say hello whenever you see people. I�ve gotten through 5 hellos just by lying here for twenty minutes. It�s all very unstudenty, as generally you end up either fancying your (also student) neighbours and stalking them embarrassingly (i.e. Mel last year) or hating them and never ever speaking to them due to them continually coming home at three am and deciding to have a loud sing-along to Elton John Greatest Hits.

Wednesday I had to trek down to the hospital to have my 24-hour ECG monitor fitted. Once again I got to sit around in my bra and have a conversation with a cardiology nurse about her kids leaving home whilst she stuck various sticky pads to my chest. God bless the SEH, it makes me so many friends. Actually speaking of which, it turned up three times, which is good because it�ll therefore have been recorded and the cardiologist can then work out exactly what it is from its ECG pattern. Okay, science lesson�s over for the day.

Nah, I didn�t really notice wearing it, although my electrode things were mostly visible and I got a lot of sympathetic smiles from people clearly thinking I was terminally ill or something. Oh, and after about thirty minutes I managed to rip one of the leads out, which I only noticed when stood in the queue of a shop. And because I appear to have no shame I lifted up my top and reattached it then and there.

Bar that I haven�t really been doing a great deal, especially as Lisa�s away. My dad rand me the other night and let me know that I have a neurologist appointment on the 8th August (still ages away). I haven�t yet decided if I want my blood test results to come back clear or erroneous. At the time of writing the Mi�s pretty awful. My sister also rang me the other night on my mobile from Paris, just (I suspect) to tell me that she�d bought herself a bike that day. She sounded a little too happy about it, and I have no doubt whatsoever that she�ll have fallen off within a week.

I�m graduating tomorrow, which I haven�t really thought about properly. Me, Dave and Hannah all have our ceremonies at the same time � someone clearly thought that Biomedical Science, Maths and Journalism was the best combination ever � and Paddy�s already promised to heckle me when my name�s read out. My gran�s also vowed to come, which�ll be interesting. We�ve all been told that we have to take off our mortarboards when the national anthem is played, and that we can sing along if we so wish. I may just have to do that. I promise I�ll post a truly ridiculous picture of me in my gown and hat clutching my scroll once my dad emails me one.

Okay, so like I said I wrote all of that the other night, and we�re now back to the present day. Apparently Dave�s up today, so I will hopefully be meeting up with him soon. In crappier news, my dad rang me today to tell me that he�d been to the doctor about his high blood pressure (was horrifically high, now less high due to being on various drugs), as the new calcium channel blockers are having no effect, and is being sent for an ECG scan tomorrow - I�m assuming to check for heart blocks and irregularities and stuff. If my dad�s not worried about potential heart attacks then I sure as hell am.

I�ll try and update again soon. Think of me tomorrow when it�s apparently going to be 32 degrees C and I�ll be sat in the Octagon Centre sweating to death in my black robes, praying that I don�t trip over when it�s my turn to walk across the stage.

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