Of birthdays and Easter eggs
07.04.10, 8:22 pm

Thankyou for all the birthday wishes/nice comments about the song that I don�t really deserve. One day I will just relax and play like I can when no one�s watching, but until then you�re stuck with the sub-standard guff.

So yes, I turned 25. The birthday itself was lovely: James gave me my presents before work, which consisted of earrings (because I have run out owing to always losing one of every pair), test-match tickets to see England v Pakistan at Trent Bridge and the most beautiful camera ever to take to Alaska with me. That boy is the most amazing boy that I have ever met. True, he shouldn�t have spent so much money on me, but he is still just wonderful. Anyway, after presents and an unscheduled �cuddle� that made me very late, I schlepped into work and proceeded to fanny the day away, pausing only to dole out birthday cake that Ju had baked me because she too is fantastic. I then went back to James�s, where he cooked me a birthday meal and presented another birthday cake, complete with lit candles and off-tune singing. We then shared a bottle of wine and watched telly. And then we had a small glass of the cheap cooking wine that James had used earlier. Spot the grave error in that paragraph if you can.

Saturday was a hideous haze of pain and nausea, courtesy of the cheap white wine. I spent the morning either half-asleep or sat by the toilet, pondering the age-old question of whether to eat something or make myself sick. And then in the afternoon, instead of going into town and meeting Mel, Becky and Em, who had all travelled down to see me as a birthday treat, I stayed on the sofa and my lovely friends came to see me instead. It was not how I would have chosen to spend the day, but they cheered me up and gave me presents and talked me through Mel�s latest boy whom she had met and initially liked but was now going off due to having looked through his entire Facebook photo collection, so that was nice.

The students have finished their placements, so the lab is back to being relatively quiet again. They were all very sweet and bought me chocolate and a thankyou card on their last day, though I suspect it was partly due to the fact that I gave them all good marks for their reports. The Lab Day Out, on which the students came along to too, was a bit of a disaster. Everything was fine to begin with, and then everyone decided to walk a lot further than originally planned, and I suddenly became incredibly palpitaty and tired. Ended up having to be half carried to the pub by Andy and Guta, and then nearly fainted once I was in the pub. I found the whole thing really humiliating; I do not want people to see me in this state ever, because I am ridiculous and proud. Anyway, one of my friends drove me home and I managed to make the curry in the evening, but I decided not to drink and I felt like death the next day. Such is life.

I watched Up the other day, and have never been so traumatised in my life. What is it that makes the idea of lonely old people so upsetting? They�re not even real people either � they�re computed-generated! Shall not be watching that film again for some time; my emotions can�t take it, no matter how funny the talking dog is.

Spent Easter weekend in Dumfries, visiting family and walking in the mountains in the day and then getting thoroughly battered in the evenings. No change there then. I love spending time at James�s parents. I never really express that sentiment, as I�m naturally reticent and thus overly reliant on flippancy, but I do love it. Everything�s so friendly and cosy, and James�s parents are so interested in my life and thoughts, and seem to genuinely like me, and it�s just... nice. The weather there is not nice, however. Dumfries wind and rain does bog all for my hair, which frankly struggles to not look ridiculous at the best of times.

Better go have a shower and then do some washing. And also ignore the piles of half-eaten Easter eggs that are currently scattered about my room. I realised today that the egg part is the equivalent to four Dairy Milks. FOUR! It�s like I�m actively trying to antagonise my good friends Diabetes, Heart Failure and Double Chin From Every Angle, Not Just From Below.

Okay, really am going now.

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