Munchkin Country

I'm still here!

2010-10-25T04:46:00.000Z

Hi everyone

I can only apologise for the ridiculous length of time that it's been since I last wrote a proper update for you all. Well, that's not entirely true, I could also attempt to make some excuses for it. So with that in mind, here's a brief summary of my life in Texas over the last couple of months.

Work has been insanely busy. I'm still having a few experimental issues, but I'm working hard to try to solve the problems. A final year graduate student has also recently started working on my project as well, and that's something that's really helped me settle in my role as a postdoc. All those things I thought I'd forgotten are coming back to me, and I've been really enjoying a chance to help people troubleshoot their experimental problems and use my experience to advise them on things. I've also submitted a review paper and a pre-application for an independent fellowship, and I'm now working on a second fellowship application. All in all it's so far a very validating experience for me, and I can only hope that things continue in the same way. Actually I can also hope to not be working 7 days a week for a while!

As far as my social life goes, I'm actually starting to get one! I'm so thankful for the church I've found. It's such a welcoming place filled with wonderful people who have and still do make an incredible effort to make me feel included. I've already started up a new program at church where we cook and deliver home cooked meals to the medical students while they're studying for exams, and that's been more rewarding than I thought possible. The picnic we had a couple of weeks ago was amazing too - I never imagined I'd be too hot wearing jeans in the park in October! It did cool down briefly, but the temperatures during the day are still high 20's to low 30's - it's like the peak of summer in the UK, and it's almost November! I'm also going to dance classes two nights a week (although I haven't been for a few weeks since I caught a hideous strain of the flu).

Social activities also took a good turn last week when a few of us from work went to a bar to witness what still seems like the funniest spectator sport I've ever heard of - turtle racing! Every Thursday the turtles are put into a big bucket from which they are released to race to the edge of a mat. You get a free ticket for whichever turtle you like, and if it wins two rounds you get free stuff! You can also get free stuff if they pick your ticket number, if you catch whatever they throw into the crowd or if you volunteer (or are volunteered) to be a bucket babe :)

Given that I'm sure none of you looked at my blog hoping to find a short novel, I'll leave it there for now and let you all go and do other, potentially more interesting, things.

Keep in touch guys, miss you all

How y'all doing?!

2010-08-03T03:06:00.000Z

Well, it's been quite a couple of weeks! My first 2 weeks in Texas have been something of an emotional rollercoaster, ranging from the excitement of new friends and the start of my dream job to the pain of missing old friends, family and especially my lovely fiance. Thankfully all the people I've met have been wonderful - Texas truly is the friendliest and most welcoming place I've ever been, and many of the people I've met have been through a very similar situation so I feel very supported by everyone here. Some lovely people at church have vowed to adopt me and turn me into an honourary Texan. Apparently I'll have an accent and be saying words like y'all before I know it!

All the warnings in the world couldn't have prepared me for the heat here, although all the rain in the first week has made me feel right at home :) However sad it was to get rid of all the furniture and things that I'd spent so many years building up, I've never been so thankful for a furnished flat. It was wonderful to have a sofa and a bed to collapse onto when we arrived, and it does make my life considerably easier in that I've managed to start work without worrying about anything like days lost wandering round ikea and wondering how I'm going to get everything delivered! The next couple of weekends will hopefully be spent looking for a car (although I've got my eye on a couple already!), as everything is spread out that it's going to be pretty essential for getting around. My realtor Becky thankfully did an even better job of finding me a place to live, as I'm only a 15 minute walk from work - quite a coincidence given that the center I now work for has around 10 million square feet of space around Houston! There have been so many things, important and trivial, that have made me feel that this is what was meant to happen that I can't help but think there was more to all this than coincidence. However hard it is to be apart from the people I know and love, I honestly feel that this is where I'm supposed to be.

Work is a little slow at the moment, as these things always are at the beginning, but hopefully things will really start getting going in the next few days. Then I'll really understand that having to look for a job for so long was absolutely worth it, as I'll be doing not only something I'm good at, but something I really love that will also (hopefully) benefit a lot of people. I can't think of anything more rewarding for me to be doing with my time right now, and so that in itself will make all the torment of the last couple of years worth the pain and the waiting.

I'll leave it there for now before I send you all completely insane with boredom!

Keep in touch y'all!

T minus 2 and counting!

2010-07-18T17:32:00.000Z

Apologies for the delay in getting this update done, but things have been more than a little manic around here over the last few weeks. Anyway, this will be my last update from the UK (for some time at least), but given how much has been going on it'll probably take at least until I get to the States for people to actually finish reading it!

The last few weeks (and months for that matter) have been an emotional rollercoaster filled with friends, family and much frivolity. There have been trips to Alton Towers, Glastonbury festival, Longleat, camping in a random farmer's field and many many trips in the car to Swindon, Cornwall and Lowestoft. And now the time has come to wave goodbye to the English countryside and say hello to the exciting prospects of Houston. Like many before me, I'm off to fulfill at least one of my dreams, and hope to come back with many happy stories to tell. Or more likely type many happy stories on my blog while I'm there...

While I could go into the details of all the exciting trips we've taken over the last couple of weeks, I have decided not to for a couple of reasons. Firstly I'd like to avoid starting my job with RSI from how long it would take me to type everything, and secondly because it all really boils down to one thing. I've realised recently more than ever before in my life the importance of surrounding yourself with good people, and I've realised just how lucky I am to have such wonderful friends and family in my life. Without the support of my friends and family I wouldn't even be contemplating such an adventure, so really what I want to say to you all is thank you. You've supported me through some rough times and helped me celebrate good times, and each and every one of you is incredibly special to me. I promise I won't forget a single one of you while I'm away, and will endeavour to bore you all to tears with constant emailing and facebook!

A girl couldn't wish for better people than you!

LOVE YOU ALL GUYS!

It's Party Time!

2010-06-18T11:50:00.003Z

This weekend sees the first of my real goodbye things. We're having a cowboy and astronaut themed fancy dress party, with horse space hopper racing, a pinata and undoubtedly lots of drunken karaoke! It's been such a busy week making sure everything's organised and trying not to get molested by all the badgers we keep seeing that I've almost not had time to be too emotional, although I'm sure all that will change on Saturday night. I'd best root around for some waterproof make-up!

Next week's likely to be just as busy with preparations for glastonbury. My fiance's work tried to buy him out of going, but thankfully I don't think there's any amount of money that would do it, especially this year. As with all years, glastonbury is expected to be several days of booze, music, late nights and I'm sure lots of hitting myself with my poi. There'll even be an England game shown on the big screens at the pyramid stage. I can't yet imagine what the atmosphere will be like with my closest friends and tens of thousands of other people watching the match out in the sun together with a few beers, but I doubt there's a better way to do it without actually being there. Sounds like an ideal weekend to me!

In trying to get everything I want to done before I go, I seemed to have made plans for every single remaining weekend. Looks like I'm going to be a busy little bunny for the next few weeks...

The temperature increases, the time decreases

2010-05-24T16:03:00.002Z

As the countdown to me leaving continues, it's been a busy but exceptionally fun week in the sun here in Munchkin Country. The busyness began with a day that will forever be associated with the song "Poker Face" and the phrases "tree rape" and "**** you Birmingham!" - a very long day trip to Alton Towers with Jono and some wonderful friends, Lee and Sara. Having paid a total of £1 each to get in (you've got to love nectar points!) and added a fast track ticket each, we made it onto all of the big rides including the front row of Air twice and the front and back row of my favourite ride, Nemesis, once each. Having not been to Alton Towers for 10 years a lot's changed, but I couldn't have imagined a more fun day or more fun people to have shared it with. I feel I must apologise to anyone who may have been in the queue for thi3teen with us, and may have been somewhat confused to hear frequent shouts of "tree rape!"... This was apparently Sara's theory for what might happen during the ride to make it so scary, which seems like a reasonable guess having seen the advert with the little girl - if you've seen it you'll know what I mean.

Alton Towers was followed a couple of days later by Jono's birthday, and a wonderful evening for the two of us at Bell's Diner in Montpelier. While the food is a little odd and not necessarily for those who might class themselves as fussy eaters, it was fantastic. The quail starter was incredibly flavourful, the duck main course was stunning as always, and the chocolate coulant was one of the best desserts I've ever had.

Of course a couple of days later the weekend arrived, and with it came some wonderful and much welcomed sunshine. As all good sunny weekends should be, it was spent with friends sitting outside, chatting, drinking and barbequeing. Sunday presented a slightly less common and incredibly fun experience - Jono, Lee and I drove down to Teignmouth and hired a self-drive boat for a few hours. There was sun, cider, food, fishing and general merryment out on the boat, followed by a family Sunday roast at Jono's parents'. All in all, I don't think it could have been a better weekend :D

As for the coming week there's always plenty to do. I've now given my landlord notice that I'm leaving and my academic evaluation is complete so the scary paperwork will all start going through pretty soon. I'm a mixture of excitement, sadness, panic and about a hundred other emotions all at once. Never in my life have I even contemplated doing something so huge as moving half way around the world, so now that it's all becoming very real it's pretty terrifying, but so thrilling to think I'm going to be doing what I love. I guess I'd best get myself outside and get a bit more used to the heat before I step off a plane into temperatures of well over 30 degrees every day!

The latest news

2010-05-17T16:04:00.003Z

Hi all

Sorry to those who I don't see often and are trying to keep up to date by reading things on here. I promise I'll try to update more regularly, things have just been a bit crazy recently!

As fas as the planning goes, I'm now part way through my vaccinations (5 down, 2 to go) and have the bruises to prove it. I've unfortunately had a reaction to both MMR jabs, thankfully much less to the 2nd, but I guess it's got to be better than having measles so I shouldn't really complain... In between being stabbed in the arm I've been visiting Anna in Lowestoft and visiting my gorgeous little neice Summa in Swindon. It feels like I've been continually running around, although that's not quite true (yet at least). I've also been writing a review paper for my new boss which has now been submitted and is waiting for an editorial decision. Seeing as the journal approached him to write a paper and he then offered it to me, hopefully it'll be accepted.

It's another busy week here in Munchkin Country this week. I've been to Swindon and back today to visit Penni and Summa, will be off to Alton Towers tomorrow (woo!), and it's Jono's birthday on Thursday so of course I'm planning things for him. If and when I get time to breathe I should probably start packing my clothes up and continue planning my leaving party. Ah well, it's all fun and games really. 10 more minutes here and then I suppose I'd best make a start on dinner...

The countdown begins

2010-04-02T11:59:00.002Z

As promised, here's this week's update. I now have a start date of 26th July, which means I now have a leaving date (ish) of around a week before that. As more and more things get arranged and I plan to see more and more people before I go, I've had to invest in a much more detailed diary. The handbag-sized one just wasn't going to cut it anymore! All of the paperwork's being dealt with, and the jabs are all booked. A couple of things down, a million more to go...

Relocation relocation

2010-03-26T11:25:00.002Z

Although typically uncommon with countries, I can confirm that Munchkin Country is relocating. Get yourself ready for cowboy hats and astronauts, as in approximately 16 weeks Munchkin Country will be moving from Bristol to Houston in Texas! Sun, space shuttles and a dream job of doing breast cancer research here we come :D

I'll be making an effort to keep my blog updated each week before and after the move, for anyone who wants to keep up to date with any progress.

That's Dr to you!

2008-09-12T10:16:00.001Z

It's (un)official! After 4 years of working, ranting, tears and stress (and quite a lot of beer...) I'm going to get a PhD! Now I just need to get a job, and at some point maybe I'll be a proper grown up!

Where to go next?

2008-04-17T09:05:00.002Z

I'm starting to believe that I might one day finish my PhD and get to go on holiday! Only problem now is that there needs to be a decision regarding where to go. I'm currently thinking hot and not too touristy, preferably in a self-catering villa and not too far from the beach. Any suggestions?

If you say the word costume, I'll run away

2008-03-19T12:48:00.003Z

The university dance society show has, once again, come and gone. Usually I'm sad when a show's finished, because all that work and that really fun/pretty dance is probably never going to be danced again (at least not by me anyway). But the end of this year's show does bring with it an element of relief.

For some stupid reason, when ballet costumes were mentioned I came out with "if you tell me what you want, I can probably make skirts". Now there's a line I may never utter again! Not that I didn't enjoy making them, but when you're (still) trying to finish a PhD, 14 ballet skirts are possibly a little more work than is advisable... And then came the mention of leotards. My ballet teacher seems to be one of those people who can be a little away with the fairies at times, and didn't seem to have really considered how we were getting leotards that would go with the incredibly awkward colour she'd chosen for the skirts. It seemed to be one of those things that would just magically happen. So, in a fit of more than slight panic, a whole load of white leotards got ordered, as did some cold water dye. But 14 leotards obviously can't all be dyed in a washing up bowl unless you do them 2 at a time, and given the need to leave them in the dye for half an hour, that didn't seem a feasible option. My (exceptionally helpful, I must add) boyfriend, came up with the suggestion of a giant builder's bucket which could be put in the bath to keep any splashes off the floor. He also then had to go out to Avonmouth to pick the leotards up, so that I didn't have to drive out in my lunch time.

All in all, it was remarkably successful. I ended up with something reminiscent of a giant yellow cauldron in my bath, and an attempt to get 14 leotards on one clothes horse at once (following which they ended up on various radiators all over my parents' house), but thankfully it did all seem to work in the end. But next time someone says the word costume, expect me to make a bee-line for the nearest cupboard!

Greenbelt Festival 2007 - Saturday 25th August 2007

2007-09-11T09:08:00.001Z

Greenbelt Festival 2007 - Saturday 25th August 2007
Originally uploaded by Greenbelt Festival Official Pictures

Edward Monkton's monthly words of wisdom

2007-09-03T09:30:00.000Z

Well, it's the first Monday of the month, and I've remembered to change at least one of the calendars in the office. This is what Edward Monkton had to share with me this morning:

It's not sounding too good to me. I'm sure handbags shouldn't make you cry...

Munchkin tours 2007 - part 3

2007-08-29T13:03:00.000Z

Having been away at greenbelt for a week I've just finished trawling through all the emails (mainly from facebook!) and looking through the official photos from the festival. Can't see any pictures of me on the site yet this year, but that will hopefully be rectified by the time the rest of the photos have been uploaded.

The festival was, once again, amazing, although in a completely different way to last year. There was dressing up as a pirate, dancing around to bands with random names like rubber duck and the Kanda bongo man, and some hilarious stuff at a Richard and Judy style variety thing at the end of each day called last orders, including this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuayUmT8fWE

Saw some fantastic bands, who unfortunately very few of my friends have heard of but I'll try to rectify that. Favourites included:
Rubber Duck
Kanda Bongo Man
Rebecca Worthley (a friend of mine!)
Michael McDermott
Denison Witmer
The Gentlemen
Verra Cruz
This Beautiful Republic
Beth Rowley
and of course the highlight of the weekend, Duke Special!

I managed to get right to the front for Duke Special, and it was one of the best sets I've ever seen. I want to be a musician just because being in his band looks so much fun! I was a bit concerned after I'd told everyone I spoke to to go and see him because he's so good that they'd then not like him, but everyone seems to have loved him! The greenbelt facebook group is fast becoming the Duke Special appreciation group instead!

We had a great time site vibing too! This is what we do before the festival - we go round putting up flags and bunting and things like that to make the place pretty and less racecoursey. Although it does mean that I've been sleeping in a tent for a week, which is not so good, hence the 11 1/2 hour sleep last night!

One piece of advice - be very wary of the organic cider. 2 pints and I was as drunk as I normally get on 4 or 5 pints of beer! It did make carrying the flag we commandeered from someone quite funny, especially when we forgot it and left it outside the toilets on the way back to the tent and had to go back and find it at 4 am!

That may be enough camping for 1 year - I'm hoping any further parts of Munchkin tours 2007 involve real beds and proper showers!!

August advice

2007-08-09T08:55:00.000Z

I'm definitely getting worse at this. It's now 9th August, and I've only just remembered to change the calendar. I'll go sit in the corner and think about what I've done, while you can read this:

If anyone happens to know this girl, could they please bring her to Bristol for the weekend so that we have nice weather?

Words of wisdom for July

2007-07-02T09:38:00.000Z

Being the first Monday of the month (or the first Monday of the month that I remember to post on here), here is what Edward Monkton has to share with me and all those who visit my desk this month:
This specifically reminds me of a walk with a certain brother of my boyfriend's... He was at the time living in an RV on a campsite in the woods, and when we went round there one evening with a few of his other friends we thought we should all go for a walk. We were expecting this walk to happen before dinner, but somehow we ended up not going out until dusk with about 3 torches between 7 of us. Chris being Chris, strode off down the path, and so we figured that seeing as he lived there he must know where he was going. But no. We ended up walking for miles, got completely lost in the dark and ended up at some guy's house asking for directions and hoping that he wouldn't come out with a shot gun or something! So remember, if you go out walking in the woods, the person who lives there hasn't necessarily looked at the map either!

Munchkin tours 2007 - part 2

2007-06-26T09:39:00.000Z

Munchkin tours this year seems to be primarily camping, and this part is no exception. Camping in this sense includes all manner of sleeping in fields, and in this particular instance I'd like to point out that a caravan is not cheating!

How to sum up glastonbury festival? Good company, good music, plenty of beer. Oh yeah, and mud. More consistencies and shades of mud than I'd ever thought possible! It rained every morning, so we stayed at the camp, ate fried breakfast type food and drank either coffee or beer. After the downpour of biblical proportions had stopped we ventured out, clad head to toe in waterproofs to find random music (and the odd bar - the alcohol keeps the mud funny!). And finding randomness was certainly not difficult. 10 feet tall Punch and Judy, people with inflatable giraffes tied to their heads and an Aardman penguin on a stick, and that's just for starters! I won't even go into the drunk Ninja Turtles...

Here's what I can remember of our line-up from the weekend:
CCQ
Pee Wee Ellis
The Coral
Sandi Thom
Hothouse Flowers
Damien Rice
Duke Special
The Klaxons (a really small amount)
Babyshambles
Some really random guy in a cafe
Show of Hands (Cornish pirate type people!)
The Killers
Another really random guy who'd been up for 3 days on cheap speed and couldn't tune his guitar
James Morrison
Shirley Bassey
The Manic Street Preachers
The Kaiser Chiefs
The Chemical Brothers

Favourite band/artist is a really tough one. Somewhere between Sandi Thom, Damien Rice, Show of Hands and James Morrison. Fondest memory would have to be dressed completely in waterproofs, sat on a folding stool drinking gin and tonic out of a paper cup while some hippies danced barefoot to 50's rock and roll while it was pouring with rain outside. Good times...

All in all, a fantastic weekend, mud or no mud. Well, I don't know what it's like with no mud, but I'm assuming that'd be good too! Same again next year anyone?

How-to of the year!

2007-06-20T10:30:00.000Z

I, like many other people, have a google homepage, and one of the things on that homepage is wikipedia's how-to of the day. Normally they're fairly boring, but now and again one catches my eye and really entertains me. The last one that seemed really amusing was something along the lines of how to mosh to heavy metal music, but today's was even better:

http://www.wikihow.com/Talk-Like-a-Pirate

Yes, it is what the link suggests - how to talk like a pirate! I can't say I've ever wanted to be Keira Knightly, but it sounds so funny that I might have to do it anyway! There are also other links, such as how to celebrate national talk like a pirate day, and how to release the pirate within!

Anyone at greenbelt festival this year should probably prepare themselves for some pirating!

I don't feel like dancing

2007-06-14T10:23:00.000Z

Well, actually I do feel like dancing, I'm just not allowed to do it. I had an appointment at the university sports centre open clinic this morning, and was told some not so fun news. I've always known that I've got weak ankles - it's something of a family curse. But it turns out the problem is much worse than I'd initially thought. My arches have partially collapsed, which is something that happened to my sister a long time ago except hers went completely, and the ligaments and things that support my left ankle have virtually no strength on the inside of the joint at all. The only reason my ankles are currently not in the state of my sisters is probably because I've been dancing for so long, so it's helped to hold them together as it were. But now my injury from January is back (again), so I went to get it assessed and it turns out I need physio or it's just going to keep getting worse. So no dancing, and no gym until I've at least had the full assessment and my physiotherapist can tell me exactly what I should and shouldn't do.

I miss dancing :(

Something to make you smile

2007-06-08T14:53:00.000Z

This is what Edward Monkton has to share with me this month:
Now I finally understand why I can never get my hair to behave itself - I'm going to have to start drinking tea, so that the hedgehog has somewhere to sit!

Happy anniversary

2007-06-04T09:11:00.000Z

On Saturday, Tony and I celebrated our one year anniversary! There was a picnic with champagne, a lie in the giant hammock and presents including a bear dressed as a sheep (no, this wasn't a result of the champagne) and tickets to see 42nd Street!

There was also a large quantity of chocolate and a lovely meal in the evening. I'm currently feeling very spoilt!

Words of wisdom for May

2007-05-11T08:32:00.000Z

A few days late I know, but here are a few words to brighten your month

Munchkin tours 2007 - part 1

2007-05-08T08:56:00.000Z

This will be the first installment of my holiday stories for the year, which will undoubtedly also include a couple of festivals over the summer.
The May bank holiday weekend was spent camping on the Gower. There was sun, beach, beer and far too much meat in the shape of barbeques and fry ups! (Obviously the meat itself wasn't in the shape of a barbeque - that would just be silly!) We talked, drank (in the case of the boys, before breakfast!) rode horses and played a game of throwing small rocks at a pileof bigger rocks to see who could knock it over, which was really far more entertaining than it should have been! All in all it was a lovely weekend, even if there was a minimal amount of sleeping on the last night, due it sounding distinctly like the tent was going to be lifted off the ground and carried somewhere by the gale force winds. It is nice to be back in my own bed though...

Happy Munchkin!

2007-05-01T09:12:00.000Z

Today is a good day in Munchkin Country. The sun is shining, I have a giant mug of coffee in my hands (or rather on my desk - it's a little difficult to type while holding a giant coffee mug!) and I passed my dancing exams! I was somewhat annoyed seeing as I know I didn't dance my best in the exam, but having been doing dancing exams since I was considerably younger (although not much smaller) than I am now, I'm used to that - it's just what happens. But it can't have been that bad because I got commended (89%) in each of my latin dances and highly commended (90%) in my ballroom! So all in all, I'm a happy Munchkin today!

Now I just wait for the medals to turn up!

April's comedy calendar picture

2007-04-11T09:24:00.000Z

Ok, I'm obviously getting really rubbish at updating my blog, since I haven't written anything on here for a month. Too much time spent on facebook maybe...

Anyway, here are Edward Monkton's words of wisdom for April.

Anyone else think he's been on something "special"?!

Edward Monkton's monthly words of wisdom

2007-03-01T13:43:00.000Z

This is what Edward Monkton has to say to me this month:

"The wonderful man was strong. The wonderful man was handsome. The wonderful man took you in his arms and made you feel exactly how always wanted to feel. That is why they called him the wonderful man."

I hope you've got a wonderful man, unless you are a man, in which case I hope you are a wonderful man.

Tell 10 to tell 10!

2007-02-22T12:16:00.000Z

This is from a post I got on my facebook account, which if you've not signed up for then you should, because it makes organising things and generally keeping in touch much easier!

Basically, the breast cancer site need people to click on their website so they can donate mammograms to underprivileged women. It'll cost you nothing, because it's paid for in exchange for advertising. It's a really worthwhile thing to do, so please go to the website and click on the link, and tell other people to do it too!

http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/

My feet

2007-02-01T16:12:00.000Z

Yes, this blog is in actually about my feet. Not in a weird, gross way though, in more of a "Ooo look how pretty" kind of way.

I was in a dance show a couple of weeks ago, doing ballet. It was my first performance in pointe shoes, seeing as I'd not even worn them for classes for about 8 years. In my first ballet class in about 5 years I was asked if I was going to do the show, and there was a mention of dyeing our pointe shoes red. This was really exciting as I'm really not a fan of pink, and pointe shoes are only made in pink, so I'd had a pink pair since I was about 16 or 17. But not anymore!

These are my feet in my now red pointe shoes! And yes I was standing on pointe while the picture was taken - none of this sitting down pretending stuff!

February's comedy calendar picture

2007-02-01T15:45:00.000Z

As promised, here is the next installment of my comedy Edward Monkton calendar:
See, it's a good thing to organise and tidy, otherwise the law of straightness won't be observed, and the world will explode. And we wouldn't want that now, would we?

Don't you just hate it when...

2007-01-15T16:51:00.000Z

...people are incapable of getting back to with an answer to a perfectly straightforward question?
...people give you no notice at all of something you "need" to do, which either takes a few days to set up, or can only be set up on certain days as a result of other things you're doing, and still expect it done today?
...you work your ass of trying to get things done, only to have nothing work, and then get told it's all your fault because you "must" have made one or more utterly stupid mistakes, despite the fact you know you didn't?
...you find you're working for the least helpful person in the world and can do pretty much nothing about it?
...you're shattered, frustrated and grumpy most of the time as a result of the above?

End of rant, for now. I hope...

The world's most comedy calendar?!

2007-01-09T10:40:00.000Z

If you've bought a card for anyone in the last few years, I really hope you've come across Edward Monkton cards. They're fairly simple, usually black and white cartoon type things, with some kind of comedy verse or story. These no longer only exist as cards, but also as books, cuddly toys and much to my amazement when my friend, the crazy duck lady, gave me one for Christmas, desk top calendars! This is possibly the most appropriate calendar I've ever been given, as on the front of it is:

The text under the picture is:
When I am grown-up I will understand how beautiful it feels to administrate my life effectively. Until then I will continue to torch all correspondance that bores me and to dance naked over the remnants of its still glowing embers.

Now I'll freely admit I don't actually do this, but then I doubt many people would honestly say I was grown up either!

Each month of this calendar has one of these type pictures, and they make me giggle so much that I thought I should share them. So every month this year, be prepared to be updated with the latest comedy calendar picture. This is January's:

I hope this provides you with as much amusement as it does me!

2007 POTW

2007-01-08T14:28:00.000Z

I feel a need to go and sit in the corner and think about what I've done... It's the first phrase of the week of 2007 and I've only just round to it... Oops.

POTW this week is:
[object] made of cheese!

This has to be accompanied by an action reminiscent of mouse whiskers (i.e. having your hands next to face and wiggling your fingers). I'd also like to point out that it's not my fault, I didn't do it! Anna did it when she decided that cheesecake was cake made of cheese back in October. Since then, Tone has somewhat adopted this phrase, and uses it to refer to music, tv, the muppets, and pretty much anything else!

Happy 2007!

2007-01-03T12:01:00.000Z

Hello one and all and welcome to the new and improved 2007 version of Munchkin Country! Ok, the new and improved thing mught not be quite so accurate, due it being neither new or improved, but it sounded rubbish otherwise! Anyway, happy 2007 everyone! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year, filled with much food, friends and general shinyness. This year I will endeavour to keep POTW updated more regularly and to post more comedy pictures and/or videos as and when they come into my possession. I'm also going to try to complain less, especially about work, but we'll see how long that lasts...

There will at some point be comedy new year pictures, including me dressed as a reindeer christmas tree fairy with at least one drink in my hand (I spent most of the night with a drink in each hand, although they were very rarely both mine!). Until then, you'll have to find another way to amuse yourself!

Festive phrase of the week

2006-12-11T12:57:00.000Z

This will be my last POTW before Christmas as I'm taking next week off work :D (in case you hadn't guessed/couldn't work it out, I'm very happy about this!), so it seemed only right to have a festive POTW.

We seemed to be struggling to come up with something, pther than adding the word Christmas onto one of our other frequently used phrases until we came up with one a minute ago...

So, the Christmas phrase of the week is:
Baubles

In place of where we would generally use tiddlywinks (which is generally used in place of various swear words, and is sometimes alternated with the word turnips).

Have fun, and Merry Christmas if I'm not going to see you before then!

Phrase of the week

2006-12-04T10:32:00.000Z

Once again I'm sat at my computer on a Monday morning drinking my coffee and attempting to recover from my weekend. It didn't seem to be a particularly stressful or hectic weekend, except for Tone not getting back from Wales until 10:40 at night on Saturday, so we didn't get to spend much more than an hour of our 6 month anniversary together (ok, not a big deal really, but I'm really sentimental about these things). I'm still slightly stunned by the fact that it's been 6 months since we got together - maybe time is running away after all...

But back to the important things - it's phrase of the week time! This week's phrase of the week is:
500 million [objects]

This has to be said in a Dr Evil style, with the little finger and everything, otherwise it's just not as funny. I've been doing this almost constantly since the middle of last week when I realised just how many bits of an experiment I was trying to do (30 instead of the 8 I usually do... not such a good idea).

I think I may now go and drink 500 million cups of coffee!

POTW

2006-11-22T15:18:00.000Z

Ok, this isn't a phrase, it's just a word. Well, it's not really a real word either... it's something that got accidentally invented in the lab today when Hills thought I said this when I actually said something else.

The "phrase" of the week this week is: Meepery.

Seeing as it's not a real word, feel free to be inventive with your use of it! I can imagine there'll be a great deal of meepery here for the rest of the week, judging by the last couple of days!

That time again

2006-11-13T18:23:00.000Z

Yes it's Monday, and that means that it's phrase of the week time!

This week's POTW is:

I'm right, and therefore I win!

This is something I've been saying for years. Not entirely sure why I started it, or how I came up with it in the first place, but that's not important. The only important thing here is that I'm right, and therefore I win!

Xav-cam

2006-11-08T11:55:00.000Z

Ever wondered what a Frenchman on a dancemat on expert mode would look like? Well, here's your answer! This is Xav, my ex-flatmate on my dancemat at my flat warming party. Because obviously expert mode couldn't be that hard...!

An introduction

2006-11-07T13:21:00.000Z

It's time to introduce you all to someone. Some of you have already met him, but for those who haven't I hope you're all excited! For those of you who have met him, this is him in his "normal" state (I use the speech marks because let's be honest, he's never going to be that normal!).

I'd like you all to meet.....

Mr Flat!

He's very pretty and shiny. This is my living room (fairly obviously). I'd like to point out that the cake box doesn't normally live on the arm of the sofa, but it made it easier for us to get to the cake!

This is the rest of the living room, complete with
smoke machine (the thing under the photos) and what's becoming an impressively large collection of photos of me and my friends, generally doing random things. The majority of them (at least the more recent ones) are on my flickr site, should anyone want to see just how strange some of my friends are!

My bedroom isn't currently quite as tidy as it should be, so you only get to see half of it, but to be honest most of the rest of it is taken up with shoes, so there's not that much to see!

The kitchen is really lovely - everything's brand new, so it all works (after the wachine machine incident anyway!), and while it does make it a bit of a nightmare if anything does go wrong, I love the fact that all the appliances are built in so they're all hidden behind cupboard doors, including the dishwasher!

And last but not least, the bathroom. It's shiny too, but again you only get to see half of it, although that's more to do with the fact that I figured you probably wouldn't want to see a picture of my toilet, rather than it not being tidy!

So that's Mr Flat, in his general state rather than when he's full of slightly odd people playing on a dancemat and playstation karaoke! And look, I do actually have tables - they're not normally covered with so much food that you can't see them!

Phrase of the week

2006-11-06T10:53:00.000Z

It's phrase of the week time again! This week's phrase is something we started in our office. Hilary has a lot of plants. And I mean a LOT! There are plants everywhere! So, she became known as the crazy plant lady. Since then, Anna has become the crazy duck lady, and I've been called the crazy dancing lady. So, phrase of the week is:

crazy[object] person

I expect to see/hear many uses of this over the week. And Anna, make sure you post it this time! Otherwise I'll have to have words and make you go and sit in the corner and think about what you've done!

Flat warming party

2006-10-30T12:45:00.000Z

Mr Flat is now officially warm! A big thanks to everyone who came on Saturday night, especially to Tone for being so lovely and making me a chocolate cake made of cheese (also known as a cheesecake for those of you who are being a bit less random than me and Anna) and for helping with cleaning up afterwards. There was singstar and dancemat, and a good time at least seemed to have been had by all. There will be pictures online soon, so check my flickr page for those. There will also (hopefully) be a video on youtube of Xav attempting to do expert mode on the dancemat - it was special! When I get round to putting these things up I'll post the links so you can all amuse yourselves by laughing at me and my friends!

Mr Flat is now just about back to normal. There's the odd bit of cleaning to do (as always!), but otherwise he's pretty much sorted, or at least to the extent that he was before the party. Although I did have to rearrange the cupboard slightly to make space for all the lovely wine that lovely people brought me!

Looking forward to the next singstar and dancemat party!

POTW me up

2006-10-30T09:45:00.000Z

As with all of my Monday morning posts, it's phrase of the week time! This phrase isn't one of mine, I'm afraid. I may have got it from the Mighty Horseman (in fact I'm pretty sure I have), but obviously it's been adapted from I'm assuming the big pile of geekiness that is Star Trek!

This week's phrase of the week is:
[object] me up

I think my most frequent encounter with this phrase is while we're making lunch and I get told things like "cheese me up" (i.e. please could you put some cheese in my sandwich), but it seems pretty adaptable to more or less anything. While you all ponder the many uses of this week's phrase, I think I'll go coffee myself up! Have fun!

Phrase of the week

2006-10-23T08:31:00.000Z

It's Monday and there's a mug of coffee in my hands... You've guessed it, it's time for another phrase of the week!

Apologies for not having done one for the last couple of weeks. Everything's been a bit hectic with moving into Mr Flat and trying to get the odd bit of work done here and there. But POTW is now back!

This week's phrase is: We're going to need a bigger [object]!
I don't know where this came from. I think it's from a film, but however hard I try I can't remember which one, so if anyone can enlighten me please do. But if not, just use it randomly during the week!

Moving house

2006-10-05T13:21:00.000Z

I get to move into my flat tomorrow! It's very shiny, having just been completely refurbished, and is at the moment at least being referred to as Mr Flat. It's been 3 months since I had a "home" as such, so I'm really looking forward to it. I get all the stuff back that's been cluttering up my Mum and Dad's house/loft/garage since the end of June, I get to go shopping in ikea for shiny new furniture and I get to organise an entire flat!! It does mean though that I'm going to be spending all afternoon tomorrow and all day Saturday carrying stuff, which wouldn't be such a problem apart from the fact that I already seem to have hurt my arms/shoulders carrying stuff back from town at lunchtime. Hopefully a good stretch at the gym tonight should sort them out, otherwise tomorrow's going to be "interesting" (also known as painful). I may be in need of some sympathy by Sunday night. Having said that, knowing what my Dad's like, he won't let me or my Mum carry anything that's too heavy and will insist on doing it himself, and I'll have my lovely boyfriend to help too!

There will be pictures online once I've made Mr Flat pretty. Knowing my love of organising it shouldn't take too long, so maybe by the end of next week you'll all be able to see how pretty and shiny Mr Flat is!

This week's POTW

2006-10-02T16:59:00.000Z

I'm afraid it's not a very imaginative phrase this week. In fact it's not a phrase at all, it's just a word. The 'phrase' of the week this week is:
Meep.

This is usually a response to something bad or confusing. Like when someone tells you something you really didn't need to hear, you respond with 'meep'. The reason this is POTW this week is that I'm moving house at the end of the week, and so everything is a little meep at the moment trying to plan and organise when I'm going to get various things done. Plus it's a Monday and that's usually more than enough reason to meep.

However, there is also a dance of the week this week. It's the 'I got paid' dance, which makes me happy!

Phrase of the week

2006-09-26T09:28:00.000Z

I know it's a day late this week, but considering the week I had last week I'm hoping you'll let me off for that.

This week's phrase of the week is:
[object] is male/is being male

This started with computers. Meant to make our lives easier, but in actual fact are often far more hassle than they're worth. Hence they are like men, or at least they were when we started this and I was having one of my 'I hate all men' phases. I don't have them so much now, but things still get referred to as being male on occasion. It's not my fault, I didn't do it?!

My love/hate relationship

2006-09-22T17:18:00.000Z

After another trip to the darkroom at work, it's occurred to me that I both love and hate the place...

Reasons why I love the darkroom:
* I can go in there if I'm having a bad day and need to get away from everyone for a few minutes, and I can guarantee that I'll be left alone
* I can sing and prance around, and no-one can laugh at me because I'm the only one in there so they can't see me. This is a big bonus for me, because I love singing and prancing around, but am also very self-concious so don't always like doing it in the lab when there are other people around
* It's where I find out if my experiments have worked

Reasons why I hate the darkroom:
* It's really boring - if I forget my iPod, there's nothing for me to sing along with or prance around to, and then there's just a lot of standing around which is really boring
* It's where I find out that my experiments don't work after all
* If I'm having a really sociable day, I don't get to chat to anyone for the amount of time that I'm in there
* It's too far from the lab, which involves much wandering around the department. It doesn't sound like much, but when you end up having to go there 2 or 3 times a day, it gets annoying

Hmmmm.......

Phrase of the week

2006-09-18T09:59:00.000Z

Firstly, sorry to the people who were disappointed by the lack of phrase of the week last week. I was ill on Monday and Tuesday, and it seemed a waste to start a phrase on a Wednesday when it'll only get half a week. But I've now recovered, so phrase of the week is back!

This week's phrase of the week is: It's not my fault, I didn't do it!

Admittedly, when I say this it usually is my fault and I probably did do it. But it's much funnier when it's something you've blatantly done - it's not the same as lying, because you both know you did it and you both know you're just trying to be cute and/or funny by saying you didn't. Plus sometimes you can actually be cute enough to get away with it anyway!

I'm confused

2006-09-08T14:08:00.000Z

The fact that I'm confused isn't generally much in the way of news. It happens quite a lot, often for no real reason at all. But this time it's not my fault (or at least I don't think it is). I never really got the Scissor Sisters - I don't know why, but their music just never really made any sense to me. And now they've gone and made it all worse by releasing what can only really be described as imitation 80's cheese! Can someone please explain this to me, or at least reassure me that I'm not the only one who's this confused about it!

Mighty phrase of the week!

2006-09-04T09:16:00.000Z

It's time for phrase of the week again! I've missed it having not done one for the last 2 weeks - it's been sad!

The phrase of the week this week is something Anna and I seem to have adopted over the last couple of weeks along with the word 'mighty'. Phrase of the week is:
[object] makes me happy / [object] doesn't make me happy

I'm not entirely sure what started this (aside from me randomly saying it!), but the one that made us decide it should be phrase of the week was probably when we were shopping for a paddling pool for greenbelt, and we'd been to virtually every shop we could think of and couldn't find one anywhere. We were buying mighty soup (and other food) in Asda and found a huge paddling pool for £7.48, which made us happy! On the not so entertaining side, I unfortunately have an exam this morning, which does not make me happy :(

Mighty camping

2006-08-31T14:06:00.000Z

Having just returned from a festival it seems only right to post some of the comedy events of the week, as otherwise I'll end up telling you all individually anyway!

Before we went, Anna came to stay in Bristol for a few days, and Anna and I spending any amount of time together always results in a certain amount of chaos. For example, we spent a couple of hours one afternoon in the museum, most of which we spent in fits of giggles as a result of comedy descriptions of things - one of the dinosaurs was described as "a dinosaur from Portugal" with no other information, and one of the parrots is actually called a "superb parrot".

Then we got to go camping for a week, which isn't as bad as you'd think when it involves a festival with bands you otherwise don't get to see at all. But it also involves buying food that you can make on a camping stove (i.e. with little more than hot water generally), so we thought that some cup-a-soup type things would be good for lunch. So we were looking for them in Asda and found some with such a good name that we had to buy them just for that - mighty soup! We then told someone on our team at the festival about them, and he started using the word mighty a lot, in a comedy voice, so we started doing that too and everything over the weekend became mighty something or other, much to our amusement (hence the 'mighty camping' title...).

As some of you will know, I'm not necessarily the most normal of people, which works at this festival as it seems to be full of very strange people. And while I can be relatively sensible at work when I have to, when I'm at this festival I'm most likely to be found with fairy wings on carrying an inflatable elephant. If you don't believe me, this picture is one of the official ones on the festival website.

This was taken at one of my favourite gigs over the weekend where due to being right at the front and jumping up and down with an inflatable elephant, quite a few pictures were taken of me and Anna, although in that one you can't actually see Anna because she's behind Ken (the elephant). Just be thankful we didn't have Nigel the giant rubber duck with us at the time too! There was a picture of one of our rubber ducks in the program too, which was taken last year. It can be really fun having the elephant to draw attention to you, especially when random bands then mention you during their set, although it turns out it can be a bad thing too when scary weirdos try to steal him in the beer tent and random teenagers hug you for no apparent reason other than you're carrying an inflatable elephant. Oh well, these things happen I guess. Next year I'm hoping that Tone'll be there to scare all the weirdos away for me like he does when we go clubbing (seriously, when he's not there I seem to have a habit of attracting weirdos - if anyone can explain this to me then please do, because I'd love to know why it happens!).

Part of the festival also included Anna building a 17 ft high sculpture which we played drums on a lot.

As much as I liked it I would have preferred not having to help carry 200kg of concrete! After all, I am only little...

There will be more pictures when I get round to getting them off my camera and I get Anna to email me hers. There may have to be some comedy captions to go with them...

Big wet fish slapping!

2006-08-31T10:05:00.000Z

I'd like to start this post by saying that I didn't start this, it's not my fault. My friend Chris once suggested I should slap one of our mutual friends with a big wet fish to stop him working so much because he works absolutely ridiculous hours. I told said friend about this, and he has been suggesting recently that I slap someone else, who shall for now remain nameless, with a big wet fish. This has now become something of a commonly used threat for people who annoy us, so just imagine my amusement when Pete (the guy who I was told to slap initially) sent me this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/5267392.stm
How fun must that be?!

Dancing penguins

2006-08-15T10:43:00.000Z

After the horrible penguin-related incident in Texas last week I was really pleased to be sent a much happier penguin-related link. It also features a possible future phrase of the week! (Anyone else who wishes to suggest things for phrase of the week please feel free, the more people involved in it the funnier it'll get!)

http://www2.warnerbros.com/happyfeet/

Enjoy!

Phrase of the week

2006-08-15T08:41:00.000Z

It's the first phrase of the week on my blogspot since the msn spaces error last week (and the annoying microsoft tech support people error, and a couple of other microsoft-related errors). This probably wouldn't make a lot of sense as a phrase if I hadn't just written that last sentence, but now you can see how it works!

The phrase of the week is: [something] error

This all started with the too many people in the kitchen error. The crazy plant lady only has a little kitchen, and 3 people in it at once seemed to be too crowded, especially when we were all trying to do different things at once. Hence the error. Since then we've had many errors, including the giggling too much to be physically able to work error, which in itself was caused by several other errors. I'd just like to point out that it's not my fault, I didn't do it!

Microsoft are not my friends

2006-08-11T16:33:00.000Z

I hate microsoft. I really do. I swear they do very little except annoy me and make my laptop unhappy. Then they make me swear and/or meep. A lot. After installing windows updates this afternoon, word decided it could no longer insert references into my report until I'd updated that as well. I then have all the usual faff in our office of attempting to get anything printed, which believe me is a lot more hassle than it sounds. Then there's the issues of having to move onto a different computer which doesn't have the same version of office on it, so all the formatting goes haywire and you have to spend ages re-doing all the figures in the report. So seeing as it's just gone 6 on a Friday and I'm still working when I need to go shopping tonight for our cocktail party tomorrow and it'll take me the best part of an hour to get home before I can do that, I'm not a happy bunny. But on the plus side, our department's deserted by this time on a Friday, so I can turn the music up on my laptop and sing (fairly loudly) in the office without disturbing people. Well, there had to be a good side in there somewhere!

Welcome to Munchkin Country

2006-08-10T18:50:00.000Z

Welcome to Munchkin Country. I've decided to set this up as a result of my seeming continuous annoyance at something that microsoft have done and are too stupid to either understand when you explain it word by word or to fix the problem. There I was, happily posting away on my msn space, when microsoft had to faff aroudn with msn spaces and broke them so that people can't put names on their comments anymore. You wouldn't think that's a big problem, but I seem to get a lot of comments from weirdos on my msn space, so I like to have some idea of who's saying what to me. Plus it helps me not to get so confused, which lets be honest, happens a great deal anyway, even without the help of the idiot people at microsoft tech support. So yay, I now have a blog spot, where I can continue to keep people updated with the latest phrase of the week and hopefully they'll be able to let me know who they are when they comment!

To those of you who had links from my msn space, I'll put them on here I promise. Just give me a day or two to sort it all out!