Tomorrow.

Sofa shopping at DFS, apparently. Our sofa's are shit. They've basically broken so they are so uncomfortable to sit in. And don't get me started on the armchairs.

Then after that, weather permitting, dad and I will finally get to go Woodbury Common and spend some time trying out our new camera's. Then I'll come home and see what my (hopefully) decent photos look like on the Macbook Pro :)

I'm sure there was something else I was going to do tomorrow that was marginally exciting, but can't for the life of me remember what now. Hmm. My brother is coming round for lunch... I doubt that was it :P Ah well. Shit happens.

Lighter Life day.

So I had my first weigh in at Lighter Life today and I am pleased to say I have lost 7.7lbs in a week :) I am so pleased with that. I'm obviously now hoping I can keep that up as I'd be losing a stone a fortnight haha. But to be honest I'll be pleased with anything.

Unfortunately though, the road has not been smooth.

Lighter Life originally weren't going to let me do the programme due to the fact I have been depressed, but then after certain forms were filled out they said that was no longer an issue.

Then they said that because I was waiting for the results of an EEG I shouldnt be allowed to do the programme. We then gave them the results, which came back normal, so I dont have epilepsy, so it should have been ok.

However, they are now saying they need 'more information'. What more fucking information can they need? It's making me quite upset and angry to be honest, as I'm now again not allowed to have the food packs. My LL counsellor has however given me the necessary knowledge to stay in Ketosis so I can technically continue losing the weight until they give me the all clear, but its still very frustrating. It just seems as though they're now simply trying to find any reason not to let me do it, but I'm not giving up.

In other news, today I was a human pin cushion; I had my pre-operative appointment today and they needed to take some blood, and unfortunately my veins are notoriously difficult to find, so it took 4 goes to get some blood out of me. Which of course means the crooks of my arms are now very sore and bruised, but its nothing I haven't dealt with before. I'm so used to needles now after all the injections and blood samples I had to have done before I went to Africa a couple of years ago, that they really dont bother me. I'm not keen on watching the needle actually go in, but once its in I love watching the liquids going in or being taken out :) I know, I'm morbid :)

Tomorrow is March 17th, and so my new camera should technically finally be in stock. Dad's going to ring in the morning and if it is I'll be jumping in the car straight away! Here's hoping!

All in all, happy but frustrated.

H.x

Life update.

Once more, it has been a while.

I have GOT to be more disciplined about this.

So, first and foremost, I am now on the Lighter Life diet. I cant be bothered to explain in too great detail what its all about, thats what this is for, but basically it involves not eating any real food for 14 weeks and living on food packs and copious amounts of water. You may have seen a lot of my tweets about it, as I had a few problems with doctors forms etc last week, so I'm only just started on it now meaning I'm a week behind everyone else, but at least I'm on it.

I've spoken to a few people about the fact I'm doing this and had varying responses, but the long and short of it is that I am desperately unhappy with my body, have tried various diets etc and had varying levels of success, but nothing that works quickly. A lot of my psychological problems are because of my weight ( and vice versa ) and I dont feel I am equipped to deal with a lot of the other shit in my head while I'm constantly preoccupied with my weight and paranoid about what people think of me. So I'm taking control. I've done the research, and thought it through. I'm not going into this blind, I've given it serious consideration. I know what it entails and I am actually excited about it if I'm honest. They say that if you follow the programme properly, you'll lose a minimum of 3 stone, but looking on the forums etc there are some people who lose 6-12lbs a week! So yes, all in all I am excited. I'm finding it hard, the whole 'no food' thing, but its not the hunger thats the issue actually, its mainly the lack of chewing. If that makes sense. The food packs are mostly liquid so it doesn't feel fully substantial. The clever thing about the food packs is that basically they encourage your body to use up body fat for energy but transforming it into ketones, which are also a natural hunger suppressant, so once I'm in ketosis (when the body is transforming and using body fat for energy rather than calories) I shouldn't feel hungry, and by all accounts from the other women already on the programme, you really dont feel hungry. Now I'm rambling so I'll shut up.

In other news... well, there is no real other news. College work is going ok, my tutor tells me I'm making strides with the Wuthering Heights coursework and the revision for the exams is kicking off now.

Hopefully my camera really be in stock this weekend, if not then it'll be 17th March at the earliest I suppose, which is a bit annoying as I've been waiting for so long, but I'll just be glad when I do get it.

I SO need to remember to pre-order the new Pokemon game... not that I can decide whether to go for Heart Gold or Soul Silver... grrr. Ruby, Fire Red and Crystal all arrived from Hong Kong the other day and I've been playing on Ruby ever since. Pokemon rules! :D haha.

I also grabbed myself a Tumblr account... though in all honesty I'm not sure why as in some respects its very similar to twitter, and I already have this blog and twitter, so... ah sod it, I'll use it for web pages and shiz.

LEATHER BAG!!! :D

Oh today is a happy happy day.

I awoke today to a voicemail from Mr Henry Tompkins of HTLeather, telling me my bag was ready for collection. I literally jumped out of bed, rang my dad and told him we'd HAVE to go and get it today as he doesn't work weekends and there was no way I could wait another weekend.

Originally we were going to go and get it at lunch time but then dad got called into a meeting, so at 3pm we left and headed to his workshop. Oh it's oh so glorious.

Apologies for the quality of the pictures, the lighting is a bit shit in my house. It smells lovely, a proper leather smell, and the feel of it is amazing. Smooth yet very sturdy. I was most nervous about the colour if I'm honest, as he had lots of different colours of leather, and even though I picked what colour I wanted I was still nervous, as even the same colour leather can look different from piece to piece. But fortunately, its gorgeous. And if I want it lighter or darker at all at any point, I can always polish it or leave it in the sun for a little while. But I see no need for that right now at all.

As for the interior, its so roomy!

I don't think the photo really shows just how much room is in there, but I'm seriously excited about how much I should be able to fit in there! The thinner pocket towards the back is for a laptop, or iPad, and maybe an A4 notepad/sketchbook. The two pockets on the front of the divider are great for smaller gadgets or notebooks, and you cant really see, but on the front of those pockets there are some pen slip thingys too. The main front section is huge. It extends under the two pockets really, and is so, so roomy. I can fit some books, spare clothes for the flights, my camera, and all the other gadgets etc in there easily and still have room left over.

The buckles seem really nice and sturdy, as does the strap, though I havent yet figured out how to lengthen it.

I am SO happy. This is basically my 18th birthday present, just a few months early, and I couldn't have asked for anything better. I'm so excited to use it in Australia too. No doubt tonight after badminton I'll simply be found sitting on the floor putting all the gadgets I've already got for the trip in there, just to see what they look like in their home :) I'll probably take some pictures then too, and whack them up on here.

As for the weight of it, its perfect. It's heavy enough to not feel flimsy, but light enough that it wont weigh me down before I put anything in it.

Basically, its perfect, and I love it.

March.

Is it March yet?
My bag should be ready, the Fuji S2500HD will be out, my second GBM and Otterbox Defender iPhone case (courtesy of Alex Dixon, thank you dear) will be here, the 3 Pokemon games from Hong Kong should be here, I'll be on pay&go on the iPhone so saving money, and the uk pricings for the iPad should be revealed.
So hurry up and be next month already!

:D

A picture of all the important gadgets for Australia ;)



Starting at the top:
I have an iPhone, but am debating whether or not to unlock it before I go so I can put an Australian SIM in it, or to get the Blackberry. The former is the cheaper option, but the latter is the geekiest/gadgetiest.
I also already have my trusty iPod 80gb, but for the next couple of weeks I need to make a start on putting all of my CD's on it, and I can then sell all the CD's on MusicMagpie.com.

The Ciak, Moleskine and Uni Ball Jetstream pens are all sitting happily on my desk, and because I got 3-packs of both types of pen I've been happily using both for my musings, scribbles and every day life. Yes I'm a stationary freak, but these really are gorgeous pens to write with.
The Gameboy Micro I've just paid for on eBay and have been emailed to say it'll be sent out on Monday. Managed to get a good bundle on eBay - the console, cases and 4 games for about £30 - good when you consider there aren't masses of these around and they do tend to go for about £30-£40 anyway.

The Polaroid PoGo is also sitting happily with the journals and pens, along with a few packs of films.
The Freeloader is something I'm borowing from my auntie for the trip, so when we all go up to London in May to pick my sister up from the airport I'll grab that and check we've got all the connections we need and eBay for the ones we're missing.

Now, the camera.
I've been wanting something a bit more substantial, a step up from the point and shoot affairs I've always had, but not as expensive and knowledge-heavy as a DSLR, for a while now and started looking into it a few months back. Now in general, I'm camera thick, but after a lot of research I decided I liked the look of the Fuji bridge cameras, which have massive optical zoom lengths and afford a bit more creativity with more manual controls. I stumbled upon the Fuji S2000HD, which had another draw for me over the other Fuji models in my price range: HD video recording. So I decided I'd go for that one and then I can sell my old camcorder for a (little) extra cash. However, my dad then noticed (on his rifling through the Argos catalogue for his FIRST digital camera, bless) that Argos had listed the Fuji S2500HD, the upgrade to the S2000HD. After yet more research I discovered that Fuji had announced new models, among them the S2500HD, but they weren't yet on sale anywhere. More research yeilded the knowledge that Argos were expecting a delivery of the new model on 17th March. When I saw the S2500HD in the catalogue I knew I didn't want to just go and buy it without looking, so waiting was inevitable, as I'd want to maybe wait and see some of the reviews or at least hold it myself and see if they've made any changes to the body from the S2000HD. I'm hoping they haven't. THEN we found out that the Devon Camera Center is apparently getting them in next weekend!!!! Therefore, next weekend it is :)

Obviously, I don't have an iPad yet. But I will have one. Oh yes. The thinking is (for Oz in particular) that we might need a laptop of some kind while we're over there, if only for storage of photos etc, but any one of our laptops would take up a huge chunk of travel weight, so something smaller is needed. When the iPad appeared, I had my solution. It's light enough and slim enough, and with the camera connection kit we'll be able to free up memory cards left right and center, wherever we are. Plus, it's amazing :)

And the bag? You may remember my interest and consequently my wallets' displeasure in the Saddleback Leather company, and then my later wondrous discovery of a (very) local leather bag maker. I went to visit him, showed him the modifications I wanted after perusing both his website and my imagination, and an agreement was reached. He said it should be ready around about the end of February/beginning of March, so it shouldn't be long now, happily.

Obviously I left off all the little gagets, such as camera memory cards, batteries, cables, chargers and pouches for all said little stuff, etc.

So all I have to do now is wait for deliveries (which reminds me, I ordered a rectractable iPod cable the other week and it's still not here...harumph) and monitor my money. I've enough to buy the camera and have a bit left over, which could be more if my stuff on eBay sells, if I sell the camcorder and Magpie the CD's.

:)

Exciting stuff eh?
(I know you hope that was sarcastic. It wasn't.)

H.x