Monthly Round Up (January 2012)

Happy New Year to you! Let's hope the world doesn't end in December as the Mayans are supposed to have predicted. Are you worried about it, Dear Reader? No.1 and her friends appear to be taking it all quite seriously, but I guess she has yet to live through the numerous predictions of world destruction that those of us of a more 'mature' vintage have done.

I recall previous scares, prompted by the quatrains of Nostradamus - which, of course, are open to (extremely variable) interpretation. I also recall the worries of doom surrounding the new millenium. In all these cases, Life has appeared to have carried on as normal. I know many scientists believe that the earth is capable of flipping its magnetic axis - in which case we might all fall off - but that hasn't happened yet either. The Mayan calendar is the reason for the current anxiety - it just ends in December 2012. I think I'll choose to believe that those Mayans just ran out of whatever materials they were using for their darned calendar! But maybe it would be good for us all to live 2012 like it might actually end in the final month of this year? I wonder how differently we might all behave and think?

You find me in a somewhat philosophical mind, Dear Reader ... can you tell?! Anyway, on to our 'doings' of January.

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Early this month I discovered that I have a problem with some medication. This is not a new problem since I have a history of reacting in bizarre ways to various (prescribed) substances. I received a repeat prescription for a drug I've been taking for quite a few years now; the tablets have always been white, but this latest lot were blue. A pale shade of periwinkle, no less (and no, it's not Viagra :p ). I quite liked the colour, but the colour didn't like me: I felt extremely peculiar! Along with the peculiarity, I experienced migraines of quite substantial proportions. So I went back to the pharmacist and asked her if she could swap them for the white tablets I have always had. Erm no, far too simple. No, I had to have an entirely new prescription and a new batch of pills had to be paid for. Suffice it to say that my repeat prescription now reads 'Blah blah, 25mg WHITE TABLETS' lest the same mistake ever be made again. What a faff.

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It was this month that saw me take my turn in the kitchen at No.2's football club. I have never, ever, before cooked so much bacon and so many hot dogs. I shared the duties with another mum, but she is a very strict vegetarian and wouldn't look at or handle the meat. She wouldn't even wash up the pans in which I cooked the meat.

I'm very glad I thought to take along No.1 and her friend 'S'; as their presence and help meant we never quite crossed the line between 'busy' and 'frantic'. When I returned home I smelled like a fried rasher myself, but hopefully our efforts raised a bit more money for the team's coffers. It was a shame they lost the game 3-5 and slipped a place in the league table as a result of the loss. They seem to be going through a bit of a slump at the moment, and have gone from 2nd in the league, down to 7th :( Let's hope they bounce back now we're into the second half of the season.

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No.1 had her first experience of sitting 'real' exams this month when she sat the first paper for her Biology, Chemistry and Physics GCSEs respectively. She was very disciplined over the Christmas holidays and in the evenings after school leading up to the exams - I was really impressed (and proud). Hopefully she will have done well (we don't get the results for quite a long time) but whatever the results, I know she did her best, and that's what counts. I think another batch of exams will be along in May of this year, so she has a couple of months of respite from revision. It's just back to 'normal' homework for the time being.

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I was talked into accompanying a friend to see a psychic medium this month. My friend felt like she was at a bit of a crossroads in her life and just wondered if she could gain any 'help' from this woman. I went in feeling quite sceptical about the whole thing, but ended the evening wondering how the hell she can have known some of the things she told us. The evening's conversations centred largely on my friend and her family and life, but she did say a couple of things to me which were of interest. She didn't tell me anything I didn't already know, but she did say things to my friend which later turned out to be shockingly accurate, and potentially life-changing. It's a funny old world, isn't it?

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I was very sad early this month to learn of the death of Harry Morgan, at the great age of 96. I was a youngster, but I absolutely loved the TV series M*A*S*H. It's a show I used to watch with my dad, who also enjoyed the dark humour of a comedy set in an American Army Hospital in the Korean War. Mr Morgan played the wonderful Colonel Sherman Tecumseh Potter from 1975 until the series ended in 1983: he won an Emmy for that role, and was nominated a total of 10 times for it. My favourite character was always Captain Benjamin Franklin Hawkeye Pierce (Alan Alda, of course) but Colonel Potter ran him a close second.

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I will leave you with some of my first entries into the 112 in 2012 project at Flickr. At the start of the year it feels overwhelming to have all those topics to fulfil, but I know from doing the 111 in 2011 last year, that as long as one makes regular contributions every week, the challenge is easily achievable. ( <--- I hope they're not famous last words!) If anyone reading would like to join in, please come along to Flickr and have a go - we'd love to have you along.

Technology

Winter

Chocolate

Reflection

A Shot In The Dark

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