Secret Santa, Christmas and teeth
15.12.06, 6:33 pm

Bad news, in that the anxiety gig cure appears to have been a temporary one. C�est la vie. I�m actually pretty hugely gutted. However, I�m going to see the Christmas break (I get a week off thanks to hospital closing days) up in Manchester as a perfect opportunity to calm the hell down and sort myself out a bit. Hopefully it�s just a case of having to do the hideous memory replaying more than once. My next appointment�s not until the middle of January though, which is a bit of a git. God-awful hormones are also making this optimistic thought-train a damn hard ride.

Went on a coffee date Wednesday night with a young Scottish gentleman, because I just love a-whorin� it around these days. More importantly though, I got my hair cut Wednesday afternoon and it doesn�t look insanely ridiculous. What is insanely ridiculous is that the woman gave me my three quid change in 10ps. Bus drivers and shop assistants have nay the time nor patience to wait for me to count out all my sodding 10ps, and in the meantime my purse weighs the equivalent of a baby whale.

The Secret Santa (who invented this contraption? All it does is cause misery and horror) has been determined at work, and I�ve been lumbered with the professor who loves the sound of his own voice and everyone thinks is a bit of a dickhead. Looks like someone�s going to be getting flashing reindeer antlers for Christmas! The hideous work Christmas Do is fast approaching too � next Wednesday in fact. Clearly alcohol in vast quantities is the only way I can survive it.

Continuing my colossal bang-on about Christmas: apparently my dad rang my gran the other night to discuss Christmas plans. We�re basically going down there a couple of days early to have an early Christmas with her, which solves most geographical and political problems. However, my sister foolishly let slip the plans we have to complete with the Ladyfriend clan. Consequently, my gran got out her huge Fighting Other People�s Battles sword, sharpened it on her big I Am Old And Therefore Right stone and proceeded to smite my dad down via the phone. Lots of stern words about how Christmas is meant to be about close family. My dad got very very annoyed (read: defensive), rang me and ranted on about how out of order she was. I AM SO VERY GLAD I DIDN�T SAY ANYTHING LIKE THIS TO HIM. Definitely one of the best life decisions I have ever made.

I now have two wisdom teeth coming through. It�s double the excitement, obviously.

Work this afternoon was spent decorating a bone-themed Christmas tree for the lab. Despite this, I am so ready for the Christmas break I can�t put it into words. Last night Lisa and me had our own wee Christmas dinner and did presents and stuff. She�s now buggered off back home with the rest of the students, and won�t be back until the middle of January. Sniff. It�s now very lonely in the festive flat.

I�ve started doing the whole �sponsor a child� thing with Plan because, well, having no money�s no fun, and seeing as I now have enough it�s something I can afford to do. Anyway, mine�s a little girl in the Philippines � she�s 2 in January. They sent me a photo of her the other day and she�s definitely the cutest thing going. They encourage you to send a photo to your sponsored family and I have indeed selected one. It is, of course, this one, and definitely shows all of my best qualities:

I�ve just this minute checked the post and got a Christmas card from my friend Lise. She�s pre-told me to notice the stamp, which is a white one with the word LOVE written in big red letters. And then on the back of the envelope she�s written, �Hope you noticed your special stamp. This is how much I love you�. She�s well cute. Although, a stamp�s not that big physically, so hope she�s not being literal.

I think my body�s trying to give me Christmas Day-timed period. This is not okay on so many levels. I will try and update a bit sooner next time, not least because I�ve only written four entries so far this month and we�re already halfway through. I am getting decidedly sloppy in my habits.

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