Too much ambition

Any html/xml whizzes out there? I can't figure out why my sidebar drops down to the bottom of the page! And so much love and attention I put into creating all the buttons too. I've decided I like new Blogger after all - so much easier to add in page elements! I have the best brains over at Blogcrowds working on it, but any help in the meanwhile would be appreciated.

I failed another driving test. This time I got 18 faults! I honestly don't even know why - I thought it all went pretty well, and the one thing I thought he was going to fail me on he didn't mark me on. Anyway, I've decided that 2 crem forms = 1 driving test from now on, that way I feel a little bit better about it.

Also, anyone want to buy me a DSLR? I really really want one, now I've seen how beautiful everyone else's photos (on flickr) are! It's such a trial trying to get good at everything - knitting, crochet, sewing, driving and now photography..where will it end?

Just spent several very frustrating hours trying to change my template over to a very swish new one I found..but it doesn't seem to like blogger beta very much! Makes me wish I hadn't switched over..I can't find a way of switching back so I'm a bit stuck.

Good news
- someone has posted on the Kidsilk-along blog!
- it's Friday and the hateful working week is over (although I'm going to be examining medical students tomorrow from 9am for a mock osce)
-I'm back to where I was on Forecast before I frogged it

Lindsey tagged me for a meme - also my first one :) So here are six weird things you didn't want to know about me:

1. I HAVE to have lipbalm with me wherever I go - if I forget it at home, I have to buy some, no matter what. Or resort to bizarre alternatives, which I won't go into.
2. Knitting (this is seriously weird in my world) People do a major double take when they see me knitting on the ward!
3. I am allergic to my alpaca cardigan (not knitted by myself sadly) - I couldn't work out why I was getting so wheezy all of a sudden until I took it off when I was out at dinner one night and recovered..but I still wear it anyway, it's lovely and warm
4.Speaking of which, I am always cold. In Winter I have to have 2 jumpers and a winter coat on at all times, and I keep the jumpers on indoors!
5. I had FIVE wedding receptions and 3 pre-wedding parties! Including the infamous pink-and-black party..
6. I read the Amityville Horror when I was seven, and every paranormal book I could find (I mean I knew about doppelgangers)

I think that is definitely enough to go on with.

I tag Pink, Cow, Jug, Mr C, Fudge and Dazey! (Although strictly speaking Mr C doesn't knit, but how else can I convince him to post?)

Snowscene at the tram stop yesterday

All of a sudden I'm half way through my house officer job and it's time for FY2 (foundation year 2) applications! In fact the deadline is next Thursday! It's complete nonsense though, e.g. one of the questions is give an example of when teamwork has broken down and what you have learned from the experience, and so on. I really don't see how this can be used to decide our futures, even for one year. I'm going to try and stay in London, even though supposedly I should be applying to darkest Kent and Sussex as I've already spent this year in London.

I failed a driving test last Monday. After HUNDREDS of lessons, I was convinced I would be fine on my test, even though I was actually more nervous than I usually am for exams. On the day, I did all my manoeuvres beautifully but got a couple of majors..erm by accidentally putting the car into reverse instead of first gear at the lights! I was hoping the examiner hadn't noticed a small thing like that, especially as it was only a second before I realised, but he was a real tough cookie. I've got another one coming up, so I hope I pass this time inshallah. Especially as my instructor charged me £75 for one lesson and use of her car during my test last time!

I cooked ebi chilli men from the Wagamama cookbook yesterday, and I was pretty pleased with how it turned out! Almost like the restaurant version, it could probably have done with more chilli though. I had a horror movie moment halfway, when I put the homemade chilli sauce in the blender, and hadn't sealed the top properly - not only was it very red, it was boiling hot, so I was painfully scalded (thankfully recovered now) AND had a huge mess to clear up! We were in Brighton last weekend and had a really nice thai meal and now I'm quite tempted to have a go at making a red curry, if I can find a decent recipe - any recommendations?




Also, I have just discovered Bloglines - I'm a bit late to the party but it is just brilliant! If you read more than 3 blogs regularly than it's definitely worth subscribing (it's free). You subscribe to all the feeds you're interested in and every time a new post appears on each blog you can read it in Bloglines.



PS My post about Forecast is here

I have had my first taste of today's litiginous (if that's the word I want) society and how its likely to affect me as a medic. Every day at work, we have a handover meeting at 9 which is attended by all the Elderly Care doctors from consultants down to house officers. At the beginning, one of the consultants announced that she wanted everyone to look at a drug chart she was about to pass round and could whoever prescribed the lorazepam own up. Horrifyingly, it was me - and I was asked to see her afterwards in her office, while everyone sat in tense silence..It was a prescription from a night shift a month ago, so I couldn't even remember the circumstances - maybe the dose was wrong? I had no idea.

So anyway, she called me into her office and then told me (in a nice way) that she had received a formal complaint from the family about the prescription and that I had written nothing in the notes to say why it had been written, and that if I ended up in court one day it would be completely indefensible. It was an extremely unpleasant way to start the day, and not something I'm likely to forget too quickly! When on nights, nurses often shove drug charts under your nose and you just write things up without thinking. I had had the impression sedatives could be written up much like paracetamol and the like, but this clearly wasn't the case. So rom now on, there will be no more shortcuts! Another of the consultants who I have been working with recently came up to me afterwards and very kindly said it was a minor mistake and that he thought I was a very good doctor from what he had seen, which was reassuring.

Otherwise, I have been getting on with knitting Forecast, which I will post about later. It is just beautiful so far! I also went to see Last King of Scotland with Mr C, apart from some gratuitous dodginess it was an excellent portrayal of Idi Amin and the atrocities in Uganda - Forrest Whittaker is an incredible actor! The storyline with the Scottish doctor is a bit improbable but it's so well done that you can see how it could have happened. Mr C is an education - I would never have thought to watch a film like that if it wasn't for him!

Projects and plans for 2007

This year I decided to make a list of all the things I aim to do during the year.
1. Arabic - I'm doing the Ibn Jabal Intermediate course at SOAS and have forgotten everything I have ever learned, so look like an absolute dunce in the class. Which is very embarrasing, as the teacher is my cousin's brother-in-law. Besides which, I'm always incredibly tired after work so am struggling to stay awake during the lesson. I'm planning to catch up before class starts again next week, and actually gain something from the teaching for the second half of the course!

2. Embroidery - my City and Guilds course, which I started with such enthusiasm, has fallen by the wayside somewhat, so I really need to concentrate and get the first few chapters done so I can get to the actual embroidery part. I am also hampered by having a very basic plasticky sewing machine which won't do anything I want it to (and it's not me because I was doing fine on the weekend course I did at City Lit a few weeks ago) I really want this Bernina machine although it is really just a jumped-up school sewing machine, so I am loath to spend that much money on it (£425!).

3. Cooking - I have a vast cookbook collection, and love all of them like brothers, but never seem to get round to the actual cooking part, apart from the odd cake now and then when we have relatives over. So I plan to start cooking more regularly and learning all the old bengali favourites like biryani etc, as well as cooking from all the amazing books I have, like the Wagamama cookbook, Arabesque and Mangoes and Curry leaves (which is the most beautiful recipe book ever by the way)

4. Knitting
Specifically, I plan to make the following:

This lovely wrapover cardigan from Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2006. I would have made it in the colours they suggested but I can't find them, so maybe a more practical grey and plum or something.
Gemma, from one of the Rowan magazines. I am making it in black Rowan Calmer and a dull mauve 4ply cotton called Ardour, just because a nice Ebay seller included a ball as a freebie when she sent me the stuff I bought, and I only needed to buy three more :)


Cherry by Amelia of My Fashionable Life. I'm going to make it in Debbie Bliss Cathay in a nice silvery grey, although I've seen a really pretty version in purple as well.
Birch Shawl - another Rowan pattern. I will be making it in KSH in Smoke, which is a medium grey. This version is by Sweetgeorgia



Forecast from Knitty. I joined the knitalong - my first one! I'm doing mine in a forest green. I love this pattern - I will be making this next as soon as I have finished the Louisa Harding Cable cardigan I'm making.

I'm planning a lot of other things too, including Jaywalker socks, gloves, the anthropologie inspired capelet, the Stitch Diva Simple Knitted bodice and a Leaf Lace Shawl but we'll see how I get on. I should mention I already have yarn for all of the above except the wrapover cardigan! So no more yarn for me for a while.

5. Crochet - at least learn how and make a few simple things. I'd love to make Short and Sweet from SnB Happy Hooker but it's probably ambitious at the moment. I did learn how to do shell stitch the other day which I'm quite proud of so maybe it's not all hopeless.

6. Health - I used my juicer for the first time yesterday! It's been sitting around for weeks - it all seemed too daunting. But the juice was good and I ate more fruit than I usually get down me in a week, so I'm planning to keep up with it. Probably not in the mornings though, as it took me forty minutes to prepare the fruit, juice it all and then clean everything up again! I should start doing some exercise too..going to see Swan Lake has inspired me to find my New York City Ballet again :)



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