31st December - Euro ahoy!

*boing*bounce* Last day of 2001! Wow, has this year gone quickly, or what? Seems like only a few weeks ago that I left Nortel, even though that was back in March. Time flies, eh? [Good thing I've fixed the calendar in time so it'll work properly after the year change too ;o)]

Oowow! There was a fox in my garden just now. I did wonder why Indy came flying through the cat flap to wrap himself around my legs. Bloody huge fox it was too. I didn't manage to get a photo 'cause I needed to open the back door to do it (windows are still a bit frosty) and the sound of the door opening frightened him off.

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29th December - Another namesake

Lord of the Rings was OK. I wouldn't go mad for it, or rush out to see it again on the big screen. 3 hours of arse-numbing and I thought, well, ya know... it's a good film, but...

Yes, the Balrog was fantastic and the scenery incredible but I just wasn't blown away by it. I think the trailers over-sold the visuals of the film. Don't get me wrong, I _did_ like it and I thought that the acting was great and the effects were pretty marvellous and yes, I will probably try to see it on a big screen again at some point and ohmygod Viggo "I can't believe he's 43!" Mortensen and Sean Astin were yummy. Still, having not read the books for over 15 years, I didn't feel too miffed with any inaccuracies as my memory for details in a book I've not read in so long, is a bit fuzzy anyway.

Hmph. Weekend lethargy/apathy.

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27th December - Lord of Radio 4

I'm 99% back to normal now. It took quite some time for the swelling to go down to the stage it is at now - the gland under my jawline is still up, due to the damage to the gums on that side of my mouth. I still have two gaping holes in my gums and jaw bone, but it takes a long time for those to heal. My stomach took a few days to get used to solid food again, but all looks good now.

Christmas Eve was nice - just me, the cats, a huge bowl of giant prawns (I went to Tesco to get about 1/2lb of shell-on prawns and ended up being given all of the prawns that remained - over 1.5lbs - for the price of just under 1/2lb) and two bottles of wine. Lovely. I gave the cats their presents; two tiny plastic mice that were covered in furry stuff to make them feel just like a couple of rigor mortis-ridden rodents. The cats went bonkers, batting the mice around the house, rolling around on the floor, shaking them and finally removing the fur and discovering that they were not real mice and couldn't be eaten.

Oohwow, the office is so _empty_ today!

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19th December

Gosh, Metronidazole was bloody effective in making inroads into the infection. I now have a reasonable amount of mobility in my neck and have just managed a mashed potato. Plus, the Diclofenac is doing a sterling job of smacking the pain and helping with the inflammation. Ohyes, and now that the dentist has had another look (well , in as much as he could, considering the fact that I can still barely open my mouth 1/2 a centimetre still) I've got some lovely antiseptic mouthwash too. Definitely well on the mend now! I'd still kill for a chicken sandwich though...

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17th December

Hum. It got worse. Lots. Ended up in A&E with silly blood pressure and a constant stream of tears from the pain. The facio-maxillary specialist took a look, prodded a bit, then prescribed 2 different antibiotics and 2 different sets of painkillers. Once they'd kicked in, I actually got some sleep last night. And thanks to a fabby new blender, I had banana milkshake today and am feeling far more perky. Still got massive swelling and a foul taste in my mouth, but at least I can swallow liquid and lie down without too much pain. Feel fairly "not really with it", still and clumsy as hell, but things are looking much better than yesterday.

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15th December

OK, I should really listen to my body more. Today has seen the worst physical pain I've experienced ever - worse even than the time I had concentrated acetic acid put on healthy skin. The worst thing is possibly the frustration of not being able to turn my head, raise it or lower it. I can't lie down because the pressure on my neck is uncomfortable. I can't drink because it hurts too much to swallow. Can't even lick my lips when they get really dry. I can only hope that the antibiotics do a decent job of getting the swelling and infection down a bit by tomorrow morning. If I had given in and called the dentist earlier though, I'd probably be in less pathetic state by now. Kind of serves me right really, in a way.

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14th December

Having dared some smoked salmon yesterday (nice and soft) I am very much back on soup today. Jaw is too sore. Having cleaned up the two removed teeth and picked out the slivers of bone that were tucked in the root, I now realise what was the crunching noise as the teeth were being removed :o( I am so glad I took today off work too, because things are still very sore and swollen across my jaw. Feeling quite sorry for myself today, so I was very glad to get a phone call from my Aunt to ask how I was and a lovely card from Mike in the post. :o)

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13th December

That has to have been the second most unpleasant (physical) experience of my life. All I can say is thank God I'll never have to go through it again. The two teeth had really thick roots - they'd usually be forked, but mine were completely solid. He'd planned to extract them without using forceps (heh. right. for "forceps", read "bloody great pliers" - Bill Bailey was so right about dentists speaking a language all of their own), but had to give in when they really weren't going to come out. To be honest, I had a bit of a panic when the bottom one was coming out, due to the fact that it must have brushed a nerve 'cause it hurt like buggery for a few seconds.

I slept in patches, due to my jaw beginning to realise what had been done to it. Now, my face and neck are swollen, my jaw hurts all the way to my ear and I feel quite crappy. I do have pain killers, but I can take them only 4 times in 24 hours. Seeing as I've had them 4 times since 5pm yesterday, I can't have any more until 5pm today *wince*. Drinking is OK, but swallowing food, however soft it may be, is painful. I've had half a tin of mandarin segments for breakfast before I gave up. Soup for lunch. Hey, at least I might lose a few more pounds this way :o)

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12th December

*fret*

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11th December - More LOTR junk

Wah! My Revo has died again. Same symptoms as when it died on a trip to the US. I think it may well be finally time to pronounce it dead and go for a new PDA *sigh*

And yes... the Handspring Visor Edge has just won the contest. In an otherwise boring day, that was the one highlight. Running all the way back from Goodge Street to work was fun too *cough*

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10th December - Cookies not illegal (phew!)

Tree up and new lights bought 'cause I couldn't get a replacement bulb for the old set. That's a bit of a bugger actually. The old tre lights were brilliant, there were 10 different effects you could have; chase, colour chase, fade, chamelon fade, random, static, all slow flashing, colour flashing, fast flashing and random fade. The new set does static or cycling through flashing and fading (which is irritating as hell.) Christmas cards made, but not posted, seeing as I've lost my address book when my Revo died.

Oh I wish it were Wednesday, then these bloody stupid wisdom teeth would be coming out and it'd be nearly the weekend and then I get to see people and then I'd be less mopey and then... ;o) Time to nip out to HMV and buy the LOTR movie soundtrack, methinks.

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7th December - Fat receipts

Cor, that link from yesterday (Reflections) has proved to be rather a hit. One of those truly addictive games, like the Bridge Builder one from a while back. Lots of work avoidance going on with that, ohyes.

Heh heh heh, there are a lot of very sorry looking people in the office this morning. There was a leaving do last night and much revelrie was hadde, including one guy being mistaken for a stripper. *ahem* I, however, had a quiet night in. (I finish the antibiotics on Sunday night, so roll on Monday night when I'll be having a glass or two of wine.) Oh, and it looks like Google have changed the way that they rank pages, such that is is night on impossible to get a rank below 5/10. Ho hum.

Vindicated! At last, the police are starting to crack down on "Fog Light Assholes"! About bloody time, I say. Lovely quote from the police; "We believe that some motorists, especially young ones, are confused about their front fog lights and their use." Oh, and just for reference, here's the relevant piece of highway code:

94. You MUST NOT
- use any lights in a way which would dazzle or cause discomfort to other road users
- use front or rear fog lights unless visibility is seriously reduced.
You MUST
- switch them off when visibility improves to avoid dazzling other road users.
Law RVLR reg 27 [-- this means that it is law and not just a guideline!]

There are any number of other people I've found that are as irritated as me about the misuse of fog lights, and a vast array of web pages that explain the fact that it _is_ illegal to misuse them. Just for those people who insist on using them at the wrong time... here's a guide to being a complete prat in a car - complete with awful spelling, grammar and web design :o)

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6th December - Fun with lay-sers

Very nice sushi last night... Tokyo Diner do a really mean Nigiri selection along with other standard "rice and stuff" dishes. All the green tea you can drink (before you begin to remember that green tea is quite horrible) and any tips you may want to leave go to charity. Nice.

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5th December - Cor. Toys.

Oh yes. Hoorah indeed. I still can't eat properly 'cause my mouth doesn't open very far, but the lack of pain all the time is a definite improvement. Done some more Chrimbo shopping today, I think I have only one present left to get now... oh no, two (because the courier was crap) but only one left to think about. And I have _no_ clue what to get either. Hmmm.

Ooh wow, for some reason, my google rating has gone up from 3.5 to 5. Wonder why.

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4th December - Viking names

So. Here we are. In December. Gosh, hasn't the year flown past? I can't believe I've actually been in this job for nearly 9 months now. Still... life is mostly peachy bar the fact that I had to trundle into the dentist yesterday. I've got two wisdom teeth that are impacting and, oh boy, are they painful. I found a very good dentist though and, apart from the fact that he's going to charge me an arm and a leg for the work, I'm, rather happy with him. I think he was glad of being able to talk to me about the materials involved in replacing one of my fillings and the reason that the old one had failed - I did tell him I'd done materials science, which helped somewhat. Anyway, he'll be whipping out the two teeth next week, if I don't give in and beg him to do it sooner. Fun.

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