Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts

Sunday, August 29, 2010

An award!

I received an award from VeeVee Bloget! (Here's her blog!) I really appreciate it, and was stunned to receive it.
VeeVee's blog award, I chose this design.
I love it! =)
Lately I'm not sure that many people bother to read my blog, and I've never really thought of myself as a halfway decent blogger... I just write about things that have happened lately, or what's on my mind, although lately I've been trying to add in posts with pictures and happier themes, ie. Things other than my illnesses.

Let me know if you think there are things I could add or change on my blog, as always, I love feedback! Alex. xoxo

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

A lovely surprise!

I've been nominated for a "One Lovely Blog Award" by Dominique... Her blog is here: http://www.4wallsandaview.com/ Thanks heaps, I really appreciate it!

In order to receive this award (I found this information from Dominique's blog) I have to:
  • Accept the award
  • Pass the award on to 15 other blogs that you've newly discovered (if possible)
  • Remember to contact the other bloggers to let them know they've been chosen for this award.
I'm not sure how many blogs I follow, but these are the ones I am nominating for the award:
  • It's Time To Get Over How Fragile You Are - by Annie. http://www.fragileannie.com/ She blogs practically every day, and I find each post interesting, inspiring, or just something I can really relate to.
  • Lemon Butter - by Natalie. http://www.lemon-butter.blogspot.com/ Natalie blogs a lot more frequently than I do, as well, and it's a change from the normal spoonie blogs I read. It's a way for me to find out what's in fashion, but it gives me hope that I might recover; Natalie has/had severe M.E., too.
  • ME/CFS and XMRV - by Emma-Kate. http://www.cfsandxmrv.blogspot.com/ Emma-Kate explains the latest news, findings and reports about ME/CFS and the retrovirus, XMRV. It's a great way to keep up with what's been happening, and the blog is brilliantly written and impeccably referenced.
  • My Life as I "StandUP2ME" - http://www.standup2me.blogspot.com/ This blog is about the latest happenings with ME/CFS, the WPI and more.
  • 4Walls And A Viewhttp://www.4wallsandaview.com/ by Dominique, the lovely person who nominated me for this award. I've only recently started to have a look at her blog, and I think it is beautifully written, and I can relate to a lot of the M.E. related posts. (As I can with most spoonie blogs!)
  • How Can I Explain It To You? The Life Of A Grad Student With Lupus. - http://www.gradstudentwithlupus.wordpress.com/ I can really relate to a lot of the posts, and I am hoping that it will give me an idea of what uni will be like for someone with a chronic illness. It's a really good feeling for me when I read something and think "I know what that feels like" because it means I'm not alone, and that's what a lot of these blogs do for me. As well as providing inspiration, etc.
They are all genuinely nice and lovely people. As a happy coincidence, all of these bloggers have Twitter, too! So I can see when they've updated their blogs just by checking their tweets, although Emma-Kate hasn't been on Twitter in quite a while.

I try to read these blogs when I can, but I am often kept to reading short blog entries, like those on Annie's blog. I used to spend hours on Emma-Kate's blog, and the blog 'My Life As I "StandUP2ME"' but lately I've been too fatigued and brain dead! I wish there were 15 blogs I could find to recommend, but I'm exhausted already! Now to notify the bloggers!!

If anyone has any spoonie blogs (eg. M.E. or Fibromyalgia blogs, particularly those of teens/young adults) that they'd recommend, please let me know. But I'm always happy to check out any blogs, when I have the ability!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Maths and other things

Another outing!
I got to go to IKEA on Saturday, as I really needed a new wardrobe and bedside table. I didn't go until 4pm, but I still needed Ondansetron; I've been getting shocking nausea, headaches, dizziness and disorientation/confusion from the LDN. (Which I have had to stop taking; I have been off it for two or three days.) I went to the cafe first, and I really love IKEA's cafe. Particularly the free refills on soft drinks! But for the past 4 days I've eaten one bowl of low fat pumpkin soup (nearly threw it up, that was a mistake) and a few spoons of coconut rice if I get starving. I wonder if I've lost weight; I know I lost a kilo last week. Anyway, I was all *sadface* because I couldn't even finish the kids' bowl of chips I'd got. But I managed a glass of Pepsi. =D It's a good thing I don't lose weight as easily as I used to, otherwise I'd be really thin by now!

Mum had already found out what aisle the wardrobe and bedside table were in, so we went to get them, then organised delivery for the next day, preferably after midday. The furniture arrived at 11am, so I got up at 10.15am, (which is when Mum warned me it would be dropped off soon) watched a bit of tv, and was going to go back to bed, but had to help with the grocery shopping, and get some take-away coconut rice. (If you're ever feeling nauseous, this seems to be quite tolerable in small amounts.) Then I went back to bed, to catch up on sleep. I'd only got 2hrs' broken sleep during the night. O.o

We're going to organise for the furniture to be assembled (hopefully) sometime this week, and then I'll post pics on Tumblr or Twitter of the new furniture. One of the wardrobe doors has a mirror on it, which is brilliant, 'cause I've only ever had one of those little mirrors designed to sit on a shelf so you can see your face. Not useful for looking at a whole outfit!

Maths...
I started Unit 4 on Sunday, having finished my calculus assignment last week, and my 70-minute SAC in the same week, as well. I'm really not sure about how I'll go, and I know for sure I got one of the short-answer questions really wrong. I guessed. Sometimes guessing pays off, sometimes it doesn't; but you had to attempt every question to show a satisfactory understanding of the topics in that SAC. Ew. Week 1 is antidifferentiation, which is pretty hard. There are also way too many rules, plus it's complicated to set out and remember what I am supposed to be writing!

I had maths tutoring on Monday, and we covered all of Week 1, then after about 2.5hrs of tutoring, I studied for another 3.5hrs, and I managed to complete the week's homework and a 20-minute practice exam. I plan to revise antidifferentiation as soon as I can sleep enough and the house is quiet. I hope I get a decent score for maths this year, I know that it wasn't this difficult in Year 11!!

I might ask some of my friends who graduated last year to study with me/share their notes before my exams. That is one slight advantage to being left behind; you can get help from others who have very recently suffered through the same subjects as you!

I hope my tutor isn't disappointed in me when I get my marks back. She's really nice, I just feel like I could do so much better if I could sleep each night, or 3 nights per week. I feel like I'm letting everyone down; I used to be able to survive on 3hrs' sleep every night when I was 13, now I can't survive on 4 or 5hrs' broken sleep. I think if I were to get 5hrs' sleep without waking, between 11pm and 4am, I would be okay. But some nights I am awake until 4am, or even 8am. And I don't sleep deeply after a whole night awake anymore.

Sleep.
I slept much better on Saturday night, only waking two or three times, and I got to sleep at around 1am, woke at 2am and 6.30am, and got up at 10.15am. Obviously I didn't get 8hrs' sleep, as I was awake from 6.30 onwards, dozing occasionally.
Sunday night I slept about the same, except I woke at 2.30am, and couldn't sleep between 7.30am and 11am as my younger brother had a friend over for a sleepover the night before, and they were quite loud. But, thankfully, they were silent when they got up at 4am or something to watch the World Cup. I had maths tutoring at midday, so I had to get up at 11am, and I took Ondansetron at 10.40am, so I would be able to get ready and eat a little without throwing up.
I slept okay last night, as well; I got to sleep at around 1.30am, woke once or twice (I don't remember when, so I musn't have been awake long) and have been awake since 6.50am. (It's nearly 10.20am.)

I've dimmed my bedside alarm clock so that it doesn't display the time; all my doctors have made me "clock watch" so I can say when I wake/sleep, etc. but that obviously increases anxiety and makes you less likely to sleep. I'm getting used to it, slowly, but I hope it helps my sleep in the long run. I honestly think, looking back at my sleep pattern, that any amount of anxiety or stress directly affects my sleep. Which is why my sleep has been getting steadily worse, along with my health, since I started Year 11, and I get worse each time a doctor lies to me, lets me down, or makes false promises and gives false hope. Ie. "I can cure you, you feel like this all because of your Idiopathic Hypersomnolence." I need to learn to let go of these things, but I've never been good at moving on, or no longer dwelling on the past, so it will be really hard. But it's affecting my health, so I must try.

Blogging...
I'm wondering if I should keep going with my blog; I do know that some people read it, I'm just not sure if it's worth it. I feel I should post at least each week, but is there a point if no one really cares? Would I be better off just using my energy to write in my diary most days. If anyone has any opinions, tips or comments, I'm always happy to hear them!