Saturday's Saying...

Trust is like an eraser; it gets smaller and smaller with every mistake.
~Unknown

Saturday's Sayings...

Harmony makes small things grow, lack of it makes great things decay.
~Sallust

Saturday's Saying...

Love doesn't make the world go 'round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile.
~Franklin P. Jones

Moving on up!

Hello my lovely Wednesday,

So this week has been quite eventful. I've had some IT training on a new system at work, booked of some time to fulfill some meeting up plans with Jessie and I've been promoted to a position with more hours whoop whoop.

A step in the right direction

It's more a side-wards move to be honest as I am still doing the same job just with extra hours from January. This will be a big help in the financial department and I should be able to start affording more fun-times now I'm getting more cash in :). 

It's made me happy to think that after just under two months they are happy enough with my work to give me the extra time I requested. The first thing I shall purchase in the new year with my bumper pay check is fiber-optic broadband as the standard stuff round here is a joke XD.

IT training went well even if it was a ta awkward as I had to have it 1 to 1 with the trainer and she was on crutches so I had to keep getting up and fetching her stuff she had forgotten. It took two hours over all but has made my job a lot easier as i can now handle almost all the requests for tests on my own now. 

On another awesome note Jessiepie has agreed to come visit me over the festive period and I've actually managed to wrangle some time of work, though god knows how as next year is fully booked off already! I just hope she is ok with the date I managed to get because i haven't been able to get a hold of here as of yet!

British Rail at it's best!

I'm heading back home this weekend coming, and I'm looking forward to seeing my old mates from there and my family too. I'm heading straight from work Friday night and need to make a mad rush to the train station. This time isn't too bad as my supervisors have agreed I can shift my shift forwards an hour so I don't have to run, but  Christmas Eve is worrying me slightly as I will have about 20 mins to do the trip. I just hope it is quiet in the day so we can finish up early *fingers crossed*



Hope you are all having a lovely week!

Your ever humble blogger,
Alikay.

Saturday's Saying...

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.
~Buddha

Oopsie: Didn't Mean To Offend Your Carrot

Welcome Wednesday-ers once more,

So this week I've managed to put my foot in my mouth on multiple occasions. Luckily a few quick apologies have rectified matters, but this hasn't stopped me wondering what is going on in my head, this week, to make me spew this dreadful rubbish. It's not like I actually back the opinions I've been giving out.

It's weird, I've upset a work colleague by portraying myself as anti-vegetarian, when in actual fact it really doesn't bother at all what people eat. I've upset a close friend by implying I was uninterested in what they had to say when I was simply busy. I had a row with a bus driver because we both agreed on something but somehow, both were under the impression the other was disagreeing. Finally I managed offend a rather nice lady who rang to give me a refund on an old bill I overpaid, by suggesting quite aggressively she was a scam artist after all my personal details.

As I heard myself being a complete douche on each of these occasions I then attempted to explain myself and in doing so made matters completely worse. It didn't matter what I tried to say my brain sent even more rubbish flowing out into the world causing more and more damage.

Quick summary of the real reasons I said stupid things:

I don't mind vegetarians providing they don't expect me to join in/judge me on what I choose to eat. I try to shop ethically eating from sustainable sources if I can. I buy ethically sourced products if I can as whilst I have no issue wih killing the animal (in a human way) to eat it, I disagree with the animal being treated badly whilst it is alive. The best example of this is that I buy free-range eggs as I disagree with caged hens. We keep them alive to lay eggs, we should therefore make sure they don't suffer whilst they are laying for us.

I was more than interested in what my friend was trying to say to me but at that exact point I had a saucepan boiling over, starch water burning onto my hob, and an oven that should have been emptied 15 minutes earlier. In my manic rush to salvage my dinner I came across short and uninterested. Not my intention at all :(

The bus driver accused me of getting my ticket stamped back-to-front, to which I replied that I didn't stamp it the drivers did. He concurred but for some reason we still managed to have an argument. This one still puzzles me. I think that the accusation annoyed me and I think he felt silly for making it but I'm not sure why I didn't just then take my ticket and sit down :/

The lady on the phone did act suspiciously but instead of asking her to wait while I checked the number she was calling off of online (which I would normally do) I just started accussing her of fraud. Then as I tried to explain why I thought she was fake I managed to make the situation worse by basically saying she didn't know how to do her job. *facepalm*

So I shall go now before I manage to offend anyone esle :( I'll try harder next week not to be a jerk. Sorry I failed this week.

Your ever humble blogger
Alikay

Saturday's Saying...

Joy is not in things; it is in us.
~Richard Wagner

Awkward Convos Over Cake!

Welcome Wednesday-ers!,

So this week has been an interesting one to say the least. Oli's birthday has been and gone and I (intending to make a good first year impression) baked a cake. 

Unfortunately it has transpired that even though things were good, and in my opinion remained good, that we are going to stop with the whole dating thing as he has some stuff he needs to sort out. Whilst I understand and do not hold his against him, I cannot deny I am disappointed. Things were going so well but then maybe I'm just planted firmly behind rose-tinted glasses on this one. 

We're now in this weird limbo phase where we are trying to work out if we can still be friends  To be honest this is my fault as I'm not sure I can do it now after knowing how close we came to it being something more. Not gonna lie I fell hard for this guy and now I discovered if you fall far enough you'll hit the ground...hard

I'm just taking some time to get my head straight and then hopefully we can meet up for coffee and carry on with just the friendship side He's a nice guy and I don't want to lose him from my life completely.

Works going well. Don't worry I'm not going to bang on about it :) just a quick note, I've been invited out for a meal, the weekend after next, by work peoples, but unfortunately I have visitors that weekend so I've had to take a raincheck.

Talking of visitors this weekend my mate Sarah and her partner Tim are popping down. They're arriving on the Sat evening and stopping until Sunday afternoon. It'll be the first time the guest bed gets a trial run so I hope everything runs smoothly and I can fold the damn thing out without having to reorganise my whole living room! Figers crossed and wish me luck!

Right well I'm offski then!

Your ever humble Blogger,
Alikay x

Saturday's Saying...

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul - and sings the tunes without the words - and never stops at all.
~Emily Dickinson

Go Hard or Go Home

Wondering Wednesday's Words

Hello my lovely Wednesdayer's,

So I'm shattered...It's been a rough one today. We've been 5 members of staff down and had almost 4,500 samples over the day. Thanks to the cuts to the NHS budget and cascading on down the cuts to our department we had NO staff able to co
ver for the bout of sickness. We also have NO budget for overtime. I have been pushed hard. to the point where I forgot to drink water all day XP.

I've had what nearly everyone in the lab agreed was the worst day in a long long long time and I still love my job! I think I can feel a little bit of relief knowing that on a really bad day my new job is not half as bad as a mediocre day at my last one :) 

I'm noticing my general stamina is increasing these days. I took it on myself to walk the three miles to work each day. Whilst there has been the odd day where I have, for what ever reason, stooped to use the bus, I can now make the journey into work and not feel like I'm going to pass out!

To be honest I have some brilliant incentives to walk it in. For a start the health benefits which I'm sure my doctor wouldn't complain about. Secondly it gives me an hour each day where I can think without having to focus on anything else, I'm now at the stage where I can autopilot my way there, leaving my conscious mind free to file, sort, revisit and delete the thoughts I need to whilst, my unconscious mind does the general "left leg up, left leg down, right leg up, right leg down" humdrum thoughts.

All the leaves are brown...

But the sky wasn't grey...

Thirdly the walk is very pleasant, there are no horrible hills or massive amounts of steps. Lastly the walk is very pleasant lol. This time I mean the surroundings are at some points pretty beautiful and make me glad to be alive. I took some pictures the other day as the sun through the leaves was just really striking. I get to look at that

nearly every day and I am grateful for it.

I've got a pretty bad headache at the moment, thanks to dehydration. I shall be wrapping up pretty soon but I guess I should say that I still hold out hope the others will join me again on here. I realise that the are too bus right now but even a few lines of each of us would be a great way of keep up on all the big news. 

our ever humble blogger,

Alikay

Mix It Up Now

Wistfully Wishing Wednesday Would Wed!

Hello, wonderful Wednesday-ers,

This week has seen the little World that is my life take a turn for the better. To start with I'm now only on the Sorting section when I'm rota'd to be on it so I get a whole lot of time off it! I'm now training to Book In.

Hello I'll be handling your sample today...

This is where we scan in or enter the information off of the manual forms into the computer, check everything is as it should be and then print of the labels the analysers use to recognise the sample and what test need to be preformed. I'm enjoying getting to sit in front of the computer for a change! It is highly repetitive but that's ok because the GPs throw in the odd mistake to keep us on our toes. Well I say odd mistake....my first pile of forms had so many that my supervisor swapped with me to stop me losing the will to live.

Now try it with gloves on!

Javi also decided that as I'd sneaked on the booking in section for a few moments at the end of the shift when I had nothing else to do, that he wanted to start me training on labeling also! This means I'm training on my third and fourth sections at the same time and that I'll only have one more to go when I'm finished there! Yay for competencies being signed off!

Got to keep on top of it all!

The last section I'll have to learn to cover is the Urgents section. This section deals with samples that aren't seen in the normal part of the lab such as Brain Natriuretic Peptide (BNP), Parathyroid Hormone (PTH) and Compliment (Comp/C3/C4) the three easiest to remember to look out for while I'm sorting; The dodgy political party, the person with a lisp, swearing, and the terminal I use to write this blog XD

Urgents is also where you have to do everything other than the sorting for the samples you receive. They even have a tiny centrifuge all of their own!

Bring it!!

Ok so that's all the work stuff dealt with I'll explain why my world is looking up most importantly. I've met a guy...He's called Oliver and he makes me happy. I'm not going to say too much just yet I don't want to jinx anything this early on but he has made it clear that he feels similarly to how I do. I'll update later with any news but for now I'll simply say he's lovely :D

Ok well I' feeling all embarrassed so I'd better shoot off,

Your ever humble blogger,

Alikay

So When You're On The Ward...

Ward Wandering Weirdos Walk Weakly Wayward!

Hello my lovely Wednesdayers!

3 weeks in and the instructor still hadn't noticed the
smell of rotting corpses

So I have literally just got home from my third and, thank God, finally day of incredibly long and useful Mandatory Training!! Three whole days of Health and Safety (also known as "Common Sense"), Non-Patient Manual Handling (also known as "Common Sense"), Equality and Diversity (also known as "Common Sense"), Mental Health Awareness (also known as "Common Sense"), Confidentiality (also known as "Common Sense"), Fire Safety (also known as "Common Sense"), Hand Hygiene (which to be fair was taught well and was a good laugh), and Safeguarding Adults and Children.

That last one, Safeguarding, turned out to be two and a half (none consecutive) hours of horrifying pictures, stories and case files, that left me in need of several hours of therapy. Seriously, the human race can be vile sometimes! 

Dave didn't get the memo that "Comfy" day had been canceled!

I think what made the sessions slightly worse was the fact I am not patient-facing. I exist in a dark, damp lab where no member of the public ever dares to tread. Well, the lab is actually quite pleasant but, I'm so far away from the general public, I can turn up in my most comfy trousers and t-shirt, put my lab coat on and no one at work cares. This did not however prevent all but 2 of the instructors from assuming I was clinical and constantly try to convince me I worked on a ward! This even annoyed two nurses I got to know over the three days, who both worked in A&E, not to mention the 5-10 clerical staff, 4 Biomedical Scientists and 1 member of management who were also on the course.

Not quite what I meant!

I'm glad it's all done and dusted though! Now I only have to top it up in a years time. Getting to Watford was Hell on Earth during rush hour! I spent £25 on a taxi the first day as my bus didn't turn up and was late the second day when it did turn up only to park on the Hemel Hempstead Road for 45 minutes! Let's just say I'm glad I don't have to do that trip every day or I'd quit work and become a hermit! :P

I'm back in the lab tomorrow and raring to go! I don't care how nasty sorting blood can be it will beat 8 hours of mind (and ass) numbing training sessions a day, any day!

Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Quickly before I go; on the topic of "nasty" and "samples": Last Friday was Halloween (or Samhain) just in case like our hermit friend up there you live under a rock! I was sorting samples as I described last week when I came across the perfect Halloween "Trick or Treat" sample! I opened a sample bag to retrieve the Microbiology form for stamping and out came a urine sample pot full of water and....and I kid you not!....A LIVE INTESTINAL WORM! It started flailing inside the jar and it took all my inner resolve not to throw that thing right across the room! It was HUGE! The size of a medium earthworm and it was literally swimming in the pot. Turns out it's quite rare to get a sample such as this, so it quickly became a hit among the staff. We called him Freddy and bid him a sad farewell when Micro came to pick him up to take him for parasitic analysis!

Buh bye Freddy! Buh bye to you guys too!

Your ever humble (if a little bit creeped out) blogger,

Alikay

"I Vant To Sort Your Blood!"

Warning We Weaponise Words!

Blood! Give me blood!
Oh OK; I'll sort your urine, faeces,
sputum, biopsies, and amputations, too!

Oh, hey there, Wednesdayers!

So exciting stuff! After only one week on ranking up and spinning down, I've been moved to a new section as I've been deemed capable! Mwahahahaha! The fools!

Now while I'm super excited to be moving onward and upwards I'm not liking this new section very much XD Now I'm at the sorting point and my goodness if it isn't really mentally draining! I know people think that MLAs do very little but seriously the amount of information I have to hold in my brain and apply to every sample is mad!

So the new section covers everything before racking up! I have to sign for the delivery of samples at the specimen reception door, remember to collect the samples from the specimen drop box and make my way to the Phlebotomy bleeding bays about once an hour to pick up their samples too! 

Little boxes on the hillside, little boxes made of tiki taki!

When I'm not doing all that I have to open the bags delivered and sort them out. We get samples for Microbiology, Cytology, Biochemistry (including Immunology), Haematology and Histology (collectively Pathology lol). I have to look at each form and separate them out to where they have to go. While I'm doing that I need to look out for certain urgent tests to make sure they get prioritised. All the Micro samples have to be stamped before they can be sent away, the Cytology and Histology samples are collected regularly and the Biochem and Haematology manual entry forms have to be separated from scannable forms.          

All the scannable Haematology and Biochemistry samples are sent over to be racked up, the manual entry forms have to be racked up by me...in all that free time I get from doing all the rest of this stuff lol.

I'm still under here...somewhere!

Before you think I'm just being a wimp let me explain 2 facts: 1) I am the only person on this section and all the samples pass through it. 2) Biochemistry and Haematology deal with somewhere in the region of 3,500 samples A DAY! That is just 2 of the 5 disciplines, I am on this section for half the working day so, on my own, I am handling over 1,750 samples in a shift! Yeah, my brain starts to go runny about 3 hours in XD.

I say over because I don't know the stats for Microbiology, Histology or Cytology but Micro I would guess at half again, Histo and Cyto are much less, though...luckily.

It's hard work and I'm not enjoying it as much, but I feel when I get better at it and when I go onto a normal rota (2 hours 4 days a week) I will enjoy it a lot more. At the moment I'm on there all day every day and even though I'm only 3 days in I'm exhausted! 

My supervisor, Javi, wants me on their for at least 2 full weeks! But next week I'm in Watford on my mandatory training for 3 days so thats going to push me to another 2 blog posts! Sorry :( I'll try not to moan much now I've got it out my system! 

Going to head off now for bed! I'm shattered!

Your ever humble blogger,

Alikay. 

My Rack Is Bigger Than Yours!

Work Witterings We've Written. 

Hi-de-Hi Campers!

So this week I have started my new job. I'm sure everyone is relieved as I've been writing about practically nothing else since I began posting again! 

Doesn't even come close!

I have done 2 shifts so far, and everything is going really well. The job I'm doing is split between 4 or 5 tasks and I'm currently training on my first section, Racking up. Racking up is basically taking the samples that have been sorted for Haematology, Biochemistry, and Immunology (Blood Sciences) and taking them out of the bags that they come in, checking the forms for any urgent tests that have been missed, time stamping signing and coding the form before putting the samples in a huge test tube rack (it holds 200+ test tubes). Then we load the tests that need spinning into the centrifuge racks and spin them down. The forms go on to another section and the spun samples rejoin the unspun samples in the rack and then are left for when the forms have been dealt with.

I'm finding that even though it is very repetitive, as I am on that section all day everyday until I am competent at it, I'm enjoying being back in a lab and the people are really nice so I'm having a blast. I'm already racking on my own so hopefully I can be signed off the end of this week and move on to training in a new section!

The flat is now completely unpacked and is feeling very much like home so everything seems to be going well! Now if I can just balance my budget I'll be singing! Don't worry it's metaphoric singing I wouldn't blast your ears really!

I'm heading off now then so I can get ready for work at 2pm. Hope you're all doing well.

Your ever humble blogger,

Alikay

P.S. I thought I would mention that this post falls exactly 3 years after our first! I guess that would have been an awesome achievement if the blog had been active all that time but I hope that I can carry on for at least a year...and maybe entice some old friends back!

3 of 7 Back Again

Wednesday Washes Weathered Words

Well hello there my lovely Wednesday-ers,

So I am now moved in to the flat. It's strange how excited I am at this new start, even if I have a few moments of missing people from back home! I have met my landlord who is super nice! Had a problem with my toilet and he came within an hours notice to fix it. He gets a thumbs up from me hehehe.

I've spent most of my time in the flat unpacking and trying to find what boxes all my stuff is in. I've unpacked my kitchen and bedroom almost completely now so just need to push ahead with my living room/study XD gosh I feel grown up having an area called my "study" but it's just my desk in the corner of my lounge :P.

I've had a trial run walking to the hospital, and nipped into town to have a look around. Hemel isn't exactly them most exciting place in the world but it has everything I need to live quite comfortable including a very close-by fish and chip shop, supermarket, pharmacy and newsagents! Yay for short walks for milk/bread emergencies!

I really can't stay much longer! Sorry it's short one/you're welcome! Lots to do before Monday when I start work eeek!

Your ever humble blogger,

Alikay

The Post of Woden's Day

We Wrap Word-Waders With Well Wishes!  

Hello again! 

So the packing is well and truly under way. I've had all my checks back from the estate agents and now I've been given a moving date for the 11th...eeek!

I've thrown out so much stuff; racking up 5 black bags of rubbish, 2 of recycling and 2 for the charity shop. That's 9 black bags of stuff I don't want or need that I have somehow managed to store in my bedroom! I don't even know how I managed to get into bed at night!

I've booked a van and am due to drop my paperwork of at their office at 2.30pm before heading on over to the flat to pick up my keys from my actual landlord at 3.00pm. Fingers crossed it all goes well!

Life seems to have been dragging for so long now, that this change into the mad rush of getting everything ready is a nasty shock to my system. I just hope everything goes as smoothly as it can. 

I am now 100% certain that I will be starting in the lab on the 20th, so that'll give me a nice week of getting settled in the new flat, before I have to juggle work commitments as well. I'm hoping to be unpacked and used to the area ready for my first day, and if I get time I'll do one or two trial runs to the lab, to make sure on the Monday I know where I'm going and how long it'll take me. It will give me an excuse to get out the flat and investigate the town center, too.

I guess there isn't much more to say today, and I am really pushed for time as I need to be packed by this Friday, so we can load the van ready to run down the Saturday morning. Mom's partner, Kevin, is taking the Friday off work to help me out. 

I'm having all my farewell meals this week too, different groups of friends all want to say ta ta, and I'm so rushed already I just feel like hiding in bed until next week.

Friday is my big family send off, so hopefully I will have the van packed before we go out to a little pub I like in Wombourne, called the Red Lion. Nothing fancy, but good homemade, hearty food and the prices are good too!

Right I'm going to sign off now so I can go and meet my old work mates for dinner. Hope you all have a lovely week!

Your ever humble blogger

Alikay

Wednesdays Child Is Full Of Woe

Welcome Warmly Wednesday Wobblers,

So Here it is my first proper post in a loooong time. I realise that this blog fell apart a bit, but I am determined to blog once more. Maybe others will join me (providing they remember their log in details) Maybe they won't.

So exciting times for me! I have now been unemployed for a very long time. I seem to have made a firm mess of my life so far. However, I have been offered a job in the Haematology and Biochemistry lab at Hemel Hempstead, quite close to London and I have accepted it.

To be brutally honest I am not entirely sure I have made the right choice. It's a big move, far away from my friends and family, rent is expensive and the position isn't completely full time (just 30hrs a week). So I'm hoping the fact it is the only band 3 job I've been eligible for will make up for it!

I've run the calculations and I can afford it, but times are going to be tough for a while until I can get some extra hours here or there :/ I've put a deposit down on a nice little flat now though so I'm just waiting for my credit and work checks to come back to find out if I'll be living in a box or not :P Everything seems to be moving so fast I can barely keep track of what I need to do or what has been done!

I guess that's the reason I want to start blogging again. I'm on the precipice of a whole new chapter in my life and I could be moving forward into a wonderful new life or just be making another huge mistake. It would be good to have something to look back on when I'm ready to move on again to see how my initial fears and anxieties panned out and to hopefully be able to see, and learn from the mistakes I made along this path.

Fingers crossed for me, guys!

Calling The Chosen 6: The Blog, It Called To Me; Now I Call To You

Can you hear it?

Can you feel it? It's the feeling that comes when, for too long, a voice has been silent. It is the yearning one feels when something that was once familiar has become a distant memory.

To long has The Blog sat dormant. I call you each; return and take your day once more. No longer shall the Saturday challenge hang over your head like a piano on a thin string. For this time it is to simply to be heard and to get to listen that is important.

Wednesday Out!