Members' News

Missy, I know you don't know me at all,me being a newbie,but I'm both a health professional and have depression myself so if you feel comfortable with it,you can ask me anything you like or just rant.

Missy, coming from an unsatisfactory working environment I can sympathize. Just be grateful that only one colleague is giving you trouble instead of everyone but one.

Ive been back at work a week now. But for the grace of god, i haven't killed her. She started texting me on my new phone (i didn't give her the number) so i told my boss and complained AGAIN. Thats all ive done all week. She hasn't looked after my work while i was off, to the point that my customers ask me questions and i am having to escalate everything to my boss cos i don't have any info. All my emails have gone, no paper work. Nothing.

On my first day back, I was told i might be made redundant in the next 3 months as my customer, my main one, has now asked for a person from our company to be based in their head office. Since this is in Halifax, i would have to drive for 3 hours a day, put in 8 and a half hours while i was there and all of this for a £3k pay rise that wouldn't pay for my petrol costs. I just hope its the bitch in the office that has to go and not me. Although either way its gonna help my health.

It got that bad on Tuesday, i came home with a headache, watched tele and when one of the Meerkats died in Meerkat mannor, i was inconsoleable. Bloody ridiculous.

Well to top off the perfect week. She wasn't in today and i had a ball. I was in a good mood all day and didn't even cry when the cooker blew up and i had to beg one from my mom for christmas. She is a star and is getting it us between us. Its being delivered on Tuesday.

Pretty shitty week all in all.

Thanks all for your kind words though. I really do appreciate it. Its nice to know others care. I know it sounds awful as i wouldn't wish this on anyone, but its nice to know that you arn't the only one aswell

Oh Hun, that sounds like one crappy week there... it never rains but it pours, eh ? But hey, you know, it often happens the other way round too, once one thing starts working itself out, others will follow. Hang in there and don't hesitate to rant when and where you like and as much as you need to.

Missy - sometimes one has to admit defeat - I know finding a new job can be tricky - I am in that situation myself - but if your employers refuse to recognise bullying, if they start suggesting that the way to keep your job is to accept 3 hours driving every day (OK, Halifax is a nice enough town, interesting markets and a very good fish-and-chip restaurant, but nothing worth driving 3 hours a day for) and if they don't seem to realise that one disruptive person screws the entire office (and well done for not killing her - it only gets you talked about!) maybe it is time to look for an employer who will appreciate you - I know that I am recommending that you start an activity which is one of my greatest phobias - "job-hunting" - but it sounds like anywhere you find will be happier than where you are - and if not - keep looking!

Wow, yeah, Hermia, we haven't seen her for simply ages !!! Congratulations to the both of them !

Congratulations to Hermia as well.

Missy (or to be more correct is it Wendy? and may I use the name?) - Grace has pointed out that a job where you are getting hassle all the time is not something to be endured, if you are of a sensitive nature. When I had this situation (the company felt I had been forced on them as part of an EU contract, when they realised that I spoke better French than they thought then they all switched to Flemish, anything which went wrong on the project somehow turned out to be my fault, they even accused me of stealing the coffee supplies!), I settled down to be a stubborn bugger, and ended up with paid separation time and a decent reference - maybe you could try this, if you go into it accepting that "They are the enemy!". If not, you have them paying you while you look for a better job.

This may seem to disagree with my previous message, but the principle is still the same - "Nil illigitimati carborundum" - "Don't let the bastards grind you down"

Yay to Hermia! and to grace for surviving the day if nothing else...

I'm still rooting for you Wendy. At least if they make you redundant they have to give you a big wad of cash as reverence pay then you can maybe take a little more time to find a much better job

Optimism is a virtue but don't you just want to put the boot into those overly optimistic buggers.

**laughs at typo*

Now now Grace, if you keep a clean, tidy house and eat normal stuff in normal ways, where will the genius Tripod ideas come from ? Could the world survive without "no-one must know how we live" ? :biggrin:

Even though Grace spotted the typo first, I still like the concept of "reverence pay" - "We worship you - but we don't want you here - you're too holy for us - here's lots of money - now bugger off!"

Yes I out did myself yesterday but I think we all should get reverence pay because we're special.

I shouted congratulations for Hermia's wedding to a poor Garner over IM> I am taking the opportunity to shout it anew.

CONGRATULATIONS!

I am back in Athens, I have the mother, father and second cousin twice removed of a sinusitis and when enough time has passed, I will tell you how rounding up the paperwork in Alexandroupolis went.

Freshers' Week = Awesome.

I'm at Nottingham, and have not as of yet been mugged, shot or stabbed in the face. It now feels like I've been at Uni for ages, and like I haven't posted on the board for ages. It has, in fact, only been 5 days.

It is exhausting and amazing. After the initial feeling of being dropped in cold water, the first night I got talking to people like I'd known them for ages. I have since acquired myself a gang. Second night we went for a drink to an almost-empty Venue, wherein played crappy bands and where we were evacuated twice out into the freezing cold because of a fire alarm. We got back to the halls of residence at about 1am, had pizza and beer and accidentally set off the fire alarm there.

Two nights ago we went to a '70s-themed night at a club with many rooms. I danced non-stop at the disco for four or five hours straight, to music that I hate completely. We didn't get back until after two. The fire alarm went off again.

Last night we went to the Pit and Pendulum, an excellent gothic-themed pub where we listened to gothic music and heavy metal and drum'n'bass and Muse and, strangely, something slightly more Caribbean. Some had cocktails named after the 7 Deadly Sins and earned free t-shirts. I was a rebel and drank only Fosters and Guinness. We returned around midnightish for our early rises the next morning. The fire alarm went off at 2.30am.

Tonight: filmathon. And more pizza. And more drinks.

Ahhhh, college years Once they're gone, you can go back and study, but you won't get that particular feeling ever again...

Busy busy busy. Did I say I have been busy, anyway congrats are in order for Spiky.

Just a side note, Fosters is a low quality Aussie beer that is sold more in foriegn countries than within Australia.

Everything alcoholic sells lots in Britain.

Who was he clubbing ? Or do you mean he stopped clubbing people altogether ? Because I'm not quite ready to believe that...

Fire drills suck. I'm not looking forward to them happening at 4 in the morning in the middle of winter.

Michigan Tech is fun, making new friends isn't really all that hard especially after going through a week of orientation with the same group and having the same classes since the groups are organized by major. There is always stuff to do all my weekends are full until the end of October. Yesterday I had a Geology Club meeting, tonight the Film Board is showing Evan Almighty for free and Ocean's 13 on Friday and Saturday for $2. Friday is also Band-A-Rama where the pep band, jazz band, and wind orchestra play for an hour on the stage in the theater. Saturday I have a geology field trip out to a mine for rock collecting, next weekend I have friends coming up for Homecoming, and the weekend after that is Family Weekend. Classes are going okay, everyone seems to be planning a quiz this week though. Or not planning and surprising us like in Earth History today.

In case you couldn't tell, I'm majoring in Geology.

Ah yes the uni lifestyle... i guess thats why I never left

My typing is currently severely hampered by the fact that I sliced off the tip of my finger last night while making dinner. It was a doozy, with part of my fingernail and all of the skin in the top corner of my index finger clean shaven off (thank god for ultra sharp knives). When i did it last night we wrapped it up tight and it didn't bleed too bad so we just put a bunch of bandaids on. however, this morning getting all those band aids off was a night mare as the wound had stuck to the gauze.

I've just been at the doctors where the nurse had to rip the gauze off making it bleed again. But it wouldn't stop bleeding, so an hour later she just wrapped it up without cleaning up the blood cos the damn thing would've gone back to leaking every where. So I now have this huge chunky bandage on one finger and I'm not allowed to get it wet or use it for 5 days.

On the upside it means that dave will have to clean the bathroom

I'm still kicking it back in uni aswell,

It has been a busy month, with a meeting with the 40 or so industry sponsors + associated academic who partly fund my PhD (I'm part of a big research group spanning 4 uni's). Given that at least one of them will probably be my boss after I finish the PhD I was a bit nervous about the speech I had to give.

It went well, with a general positive interest in what I am doing from the industry people. It is because I do wacky interesting research that involves cardboard, bluetac and plactic film canisters as building materials.

Now I am sorting out getting a bucket load of work done before the end of the year; two fiddly experiments and a important proof of concept.

---

Outside of uni has been mixed. Good and bad.

The good:
My girlfriend and I have just had our forth anniversary (I got a sazzy watch:smile.
I now own my new car (2006 ES lancer) completely.

The bad:
My girlfriends mother has had surgery to remove a twisted piece of bowel, then surgery to deal with subsequent internal bleeding.

The real good:
She is now doing fine.:surprised:

OUCH !!! That sucks, spiky ! **hug - without touching hurt finger** It reminds me of a friend of mine who did more or less the same thing while sharpening a pencil with a craft knife (idiot) during the main exam of our Baccalaureat (End of secondary/high school exams in France). It was art, so we were allowed to walk around and talk to each other moderately, he walked up with a roll of tissue round his thumb and said "hey, wanna see something cool ?" and then he removed the bandage and played with the semi-severed tip of his thumb. The girl next to me screamed. It was so much fun :biggrin:

:smile: glad your girlfriend's Mum is doing better, Pepster! Spiky, hope your fingertip grows back better than before (um...) and enjoy the freedom-from-bathroom-cleaning!

I hadn't had a chance to seriously mutilate my hand YET (we've only opened our brand new set of knives a few days ago, and I've been watching it in awe ever since, without really daring to touch it). But, there was a time recently when I shaved off a part of my thumb while grinding an apple for apple salad. It took me a few seconds to realize that apples are not supposed to be bright-red on the inside...

Long story short, my grandmother passed away this morning after a grueling, but relatively short, battle with cancer. The visitation will be tomorrow and the service will be Friday.

Mom is taking it very well, all things considered.Ma died around 6:40 AM with mom holding her hand as she stopped breathing. From all anyone can tell it was painless and quick. That is a relief and even though it was expected to be very soon none of us are just happy about. We are thankful that Ma's suffering is over, but the grief is still there to be tempered by all of the good memories.

Condolences Red. As i covered with Kat the weird mix of relief and grief is a weird one to handle cos it seems to stir up emotion number three: guilt.

Hope it all goes well in the next few days/weeks/months...

*hug too* Sorry for your loss, Red, having been through more or less the same kind of thing all too recently, I agree with Hsing, the pain will go sooner or later, leaving sadness and fond memories. My best wishes to you and your family.

My deepest condolences Nate. Grief is the price we pay for love.

On a more positive note, I have just heard from a friend who has just been through a really nasty bit of surgery to have 2 tumors removed from her lungs. She has had severe pains in her back (so bad she was still in pain on the maximum dose of morphine) for the last 2 years with no-one able to find out what was wrong, and then they found these tumors which didn't seem related. She had to have her chest opened from belly button to neck, and she died once and fell into a coma once during the recovery, but now she's back from the hospital, her back doesn't hurt at all, and her depression that went with it has gone too. She's an amazing person who has been through so much, so I'm glad things are finally looking up for her...

::hug::

Condolences Red

Well another long week nearly over with. My boss has been driving me up the wall but I’m over at my boyfriends tomorrow night. Then I’m out with one of my mates for her 19th yay. But I get to see her little lad. He’s lovely and she’s my best mate so where more like sisters than friends. i get to meet her new lad to who also has a son so its going to be good.

Nothing much going on in my life but looking forward to Christmas and my 2 yes 2 weeks off.

My boyfriend also lost his dog last week it had to be put down so he was a bit messed up after that.

Oh Nate, I'm sorry you lost your Grandma, just because it happens to us all doesn't mean it doesn't hurt like everything when it does.
My family just dismantled my grandma's apartment,she is in a nursing home now, it maybe that she'll get to go to an assisted living home but she will never be able to live by herself again, she is drifting away slowly.
Peapod, your plans sound like fun, I'm about to go to a CD release party for my friends band-Rock Bottom, I even have a date- I met him online and he's a Buddhist Horror writer, Tyrone Hampton. We are having a very nice weekend, but my nights and days are getting mixed up, Ty took the Amtrak train to a nearby(40miles) townand got there at 2:45 in the morning and tomorow we have to get him there about that same time and then I have to go to work at 7am. But it is entirely worth it.

GO Tamyra !!! :biggrin: good for you girl !

Tyrone is actually a name that a parent has called their child? Wow will wonders never cease.

Have fun Tam.

Well, y'know, we can't all be called Bruce and Sheila, that would cause some confusion :biggrin:

Nate, I'm sorry to hear.

Sorry to hear about your grandma, Nate. Give it time. :sad:

There seems to be a lot of news about surgery floating around, which makes mine quite topical (if not a bit weak compared to the rest). Yesterday I had to have an operation as well... hilariously named a "lumpectomy". Yes, it sounds like the kind of operation an aspiring doctor aged 3 would perform on a teddy.

It was nothing major, very routine, to remove a fibroadenoma, which is a benign breast tumour. They're usually small and not noticable, but mine was large enough to be seen (which is how I noticed it, in the mirror) and was obvious enough for me to want it removed. Most disappear naturally, but the doctor told me this would be there for the rest of my life. Now it's gone!

Seeing as I found it in April, it's been a while coming. The waiting list stretched into next year, but they had a cancellation. It's kind of bad timing, because I've got an exam on Monday. But at least now I get sick days to cram :wink:

And general anaesthetic is the weirdest thing ever. Seriously. I've never had it before, so didn't know what to expect. The anaesthetist said "you may get a tingling in your arm as the anaesthetic goes up, and a taste of garlic (!) in the mouth". I said "Oh, it does feel a bit weird". Then I woke up, and an hour and a half of my life had disappeared in what felt like a blink. I don't even remember feeling tired or closing my eyes. It was the weirdest thing ever. :shock:

I have finished my first army course. As of Sunday, I'm stationed by my profession and ten minutes from home. In short, life is good. I won't be leaving for Officers' School in at least a year, but that too seems to be the best path for me.

I have now started saving money for a trip to England, so expect my invasion in at least half a year.

Last weekend was Homecoming and my school always does a Hobo theme. Basically everyone dresses like a bum for the parade and football game and we also had our first hockey game. The pep band is an obnoxious group of people so since it was raining many had hobo instruments. I bought a plastic recorder at the dollar store instead of taking my clarinet into the rain, other people had big PVC tubes, whistles, plastic buckets for drums, and other things. We won our football game 40-12 and our hockey game 7-0. I did not go to the hockey game because I had two friends visiting from home so mostly we stayed inside and played Guitar Hero in my room which I'm not very good at, but we made a couple trips out to Wal-Mart, took pictures of each other trying on Halloween masks, and to a park which has the longest tube slide I've ever seen. This weekend is Family Weekend so my parents, my sister and my dogs are coming up and we're going on a tour of the Quincy Mine. There is also another hockey game on Friday and one on Sunday which is going to be televised on ESPNU. After this I won't get to see anyone from home until I go home for Thanksgiving.:sad:

It was exactly the same for me when I had my minor strange-lump-removal operation! Except without the garlic!

I was 12 or 13 at the time but I remember the huge needle in my arm (They put the IV needle in beforehand. yay...) and gettingwheeled to the Operating Room. And then I woke up and was desperate for something to drink.

Glad your chop job went okay, Delphine :smile: - happy recovery!

(So many peopel with general anaesthetic stories... I'm still waiting for my nitrous oxide experience, dammit!)

Mazel tov, Roman! Faeirie, I like your school's style :smile:

To truly understand our style visuals are required.

... oh my!

I saw a guy get hit by a car today. We were getting ready to eat lunch when one of the local old men shuffled past me to go across the road to the gas station. We always eat at the same place for lunch every day and I knew the guy by recognition, but not by name. He has a stiff right leg and shuffles a little when he walks. He had just started to cross the street when I turned to go into the store and thought to myself that I would not attempt to cross that close to a pretty busy intersection. But he does it several times every day.

As soon as I turned away from him I heard a "thump" and knew what had happened. A truck turning out of the gas station was watching for oncoming traffic and didn't see him. The truck hit the old guy, Bill, right past the bumper on the driver's side. I turned and saw Bill lying on his back in the middle of the road. I hurried over to him as he was trying to get to his feet. I noticed that he was bleeding and then I saw that it had split his lip from the teeth to the bottom of his nose. We got him to a seat and a lady brought a towel to mop up the blood and check on him.

The guy that hit Bill was nearly in hysterics, but Bill was very calm through the whole thing. The ambulance took him on to the hospital because they thought he may have had a little head trauma and didn't want to chance it.

I did fine until the worst of it was over and then I got a little light headed. I didn't eat breakfast this morning and was already a little shaky from that, but after the accident I had the shakes pretty bad until after I had eaten.

I've always been like that. I can handle any situation while it is at its worst, but as soon as the situation settles down I'm liable to pass smooth out. Is that very common?

I believe the shakes and things are the effects of adrenaline wearing off and are quite normal.

Good job, Nate.

Yes, Nate, that sounds like a pretty normal reaction, I have been in or witnessed a few too many accidents and catastrophes, it shakes you up afterwards, because while your in the heat of it your brain has plenty pof things to keep it from realising that what's going on is scary, and it only digests that later on. This was particularly obvious to me when the chemical plant in Toulouse exploded and half the city had windows broken, gas leakage, walls cracking and so-on... The reality hit that evening while we watched it on the news, not when we were busy running for cover from the toxic fumes and worrying about loved ones... Good for you for helping him out too.

As for me, I'm waiting for the taxi to the airport, we're off to London town ! I should have internet though at the hotel, as they have free Wifi and we're taking the laptop, so if there are any changes in plan and so-on...

Agreed :smile: And Bill was definitely lucky!

Have fun in Londowntown, Kat :wink: