Where does the weekend go?

Well here I am, the night before I have to go back to work for another week, wondering what black hole steals my weekend away from me? It all goes so quickly.

I haven't heard anything about an interview for that job I sent my CV to, so I feel a little unemployable (despite the fact that I'm currently employed). I'm going to go back to the drawing board on this CV of mine, initially it got me some nice results, but now it doesn't seem to be working at all. There is the fact that it's four pages long and the recommended length is 2 pages. I want to delete some of my past employment, seeing as it is irrelevant to the jobs I'm looking for.

On a lighter note after my last post I'm glad to say that people in work do seem to be using the toilet brush now. I've definitely won the battle on this one. Next up I plan to tackle women who just walk out of the toilet without washing their hands, yuck.

Happy New Year!

Well it's now 2007 and I'm still left wondering where the heck 2006 went. So I decided to find out where the year disappeared by thinking over what were the highlights for 2006 for me, the best times, the worst times and the plain odd times. Carmelo inspired me to write this after I saw his post on the topic sorry for robbing off with your idea, Carmelo!

This day one year ago started off with me at a friends house celebrating the beginning of 2006. By about 2am I had managed to fall asleep on the floor using my best friends leg as a pillow, I don't think he minded too much. I didn't sleep for long and soon headed back to my house.
Note: This is a strange parallel of this year, where I stayed at home, fell asleep on the sofa in the early hours and woke up and went to bed at 6am.

As I'm a january baby the next highlight for me was my birthday. I was 21 years old and for the first time ever I had an exam on my birthday! I survived evil exams but only just, and made a resolution to study harder for my next exams (which I did). The fun came roughly two weeks after my birthday, when exams were over and a group of my friends and I painted the town red. It was the first time I'd ever been into Reflex, and although I didn't swing round the pole on this occasion, I did pose on it, leading to a rather infamous picture... Later in the year I would play on the pole and it would lead to bruises and an incomprehensible urge to play some more.

In 2006 I was chairperson for Links (up until the summer anyway) and therefore had all the stress associated with running a division, plus that of being in my last year at University. My hair was slowly coming out in rather worrying clumps in the shower. However 2006 was the year I managed to get it together, and not only did the unit survive me running it, but I managed to cope with my last exams and dissertation reasonably well.

In Jan 2006 my Dad started the job of decorating the hallway and dining room, and I'm pleased to report it was finally finished in October/November 2006. Only several months behind schedule.

I attended the Grand National, one of the biggest horse racing events in the world. I went with St John, as there was no way I'd be able to afford a ticket. The first day of it I was paired with a friend of mine by the parade circle. Highlights include us standing still too long in the cold and then being unable to move our legs, getting a cuppa while a race was on and having to gulp it down as we had to get back to our post before they cordoned off the area for the horses to come back in, getting soaked in the torrential rain while talking to some police officers (they were wondering why they were doing this, but at least they were getting paid, damn them), and returning to the first aid post after aforementioned drenching, looking a bit frostbitten and getting a nice sit down and a cup of tea in there. Good stuff.

The second day I was on the other end of the grounds and was with the now current chair of Links (my vice chair at the time), we were given an AED and when we got called to a something where we would have to use it, I was nearly pooing myself. We couldn't find the casualty and we were running like hell while I tried to get a more definite location from control over our radio. We ran into my best friend (a paramedic) and then we found the casualty, the ambulance service were already working on him, and we got stood down, thank goodness for that. My mate was laughing at me later on saying he'd never seen me move so fast in his life. This was also the day when I "got arrested". We were walking a casualty back to the first aid post when all of a sudden I felt something stop me, I looked behind me to find that the strap of my first aid kit had somehow brushed against the handcuffs of a policeman and the handcuffs had snapped shut on the strap. The policeman seemed as embarrassed as I was, and handed the handcuffs to his female colleague while he searched for the key. Other St John members who passed by stopped to take pictures... (excuse the edited picture, I just thought it would not be a good idea to post a pic on the web of the police officer). The final day wasn't as eventful, which is surprising considering the actual race is on that day. Alas I had forgotten to put a bet on as usual. The winner was Numbersixvalverde, which to be honest I don't think I would have bet on anyhow.

The Links weekend away was a good time, we went to county Durham, and as usual, had a little walk, drank a fair bit, and did activities. This years activities were archery (I rocked) and a tree-top rope course which scared the hell out of me at first and then led to me and a friend of mine referring to ourselves as "tree whores" as we were straddling every tree going. I also amused myself by hanging upside down on a wire suspended high above the ground. No pictures of that unfortunately. Other higlights include having to put on a play for the rest of the group, using a bag of props we got handed. This led to some bad chinese food puns, Scooby Doo, partial nudity and a monkey called Bubbles, that's all I'm going to say.

I got ill, for one of the first times ever. I had flu just as my dissertation was due in. I got a doctors note and an extention, and as a result I've now got a dissertation that makes sense.

I got offers from all of the schools of pharmacy I applied to, and chose Manchester as my first choice. I deferred entry until 2007.

I again survived exams, but the difference this time was that I knew what I was talking about on them.

I started my brief job as a lab technician at a college. The job held such highlights of getting hopelessly lost on my first day (my sat nav took me to the right road but in the wrong area), getting to make fake blood, microwaving hearts and denting my car.

As you can see my now linking to blog posts, this is when I first started my blog. I've chatted to some fabulous people through it, and as you can see from my first post, I never imagined that anyone other than my friends would read it. So thanks to everyone who's either read or commented on any of my entries on this blog (and thanks to anyone who's reading this doozy of a post, it is a bit long). I'm looking forwards to reading more blogs in this new year.

I graduated with a 2.1. It was my first degree and I loved doing it, even though I played harder than I worked for the first two years. I think in the last year I made up for it. I'm slowly losing my ability to remember all the drugs I learnt about, but hopefully my books, notes and vague memory of this degree should stand me in good stead for the next degree. I sometimes think that it would have been easier if I'd have applied for pharmacy in the first place, but although it would have saved me time and money I wouldn't be where I am now in terms of my emotional development. I wouldn't have met some of my best friends ever. So although it has taken me longer to do what I want to do I wouldn't change it.

I went on holiday to Turkey for the fourth year running. I wont say much here except it was an enjoyable holiday.

I had an interview for the pharmaceutical company I now work at. I thought I'd blown it with my jet lag related nattering, but for some unknown reason I was taken to work in the QC department.

I attended Creamfields as a member of St John, and I can't really say more than what I already posted here.

I went on the course I did to become a first aid trainer. It was hard work but fun, with lots of staying up late and drinking wine while planning our teaching sessions.

I placed third in the "So you think you can blog competition" on the blog Theory of Thought. Many thanks to Thethinker.

I went to London to see Wicked, and The Last Five Years.

I had fun dressing up for Halloween.

I got really bad tonsilitis and moaned a lot about it.

A friend of my sisters passed away.

I discovered baileys irish cream brownies, and ate way too many.

I had a good Christmas. I laughed at my sisters expression when she opened what she thought was a 25 quid bottle of champagne and turned out to be a bottle of bucks fizz. I then later got to see her face when she opened the real bottle of 25 quid champagne. I got dvds a-plenty, ate a huge meal and partied in the evening.

I got taken to a casino for the first time, didnt spend a single thing all night, and made 35 quid from a tenner, not bad for a first timer. We also had a meal in china town afterwards at about 2am with salty rice, yuck.

Then we come to New Years Eve. We had a chinese so big that I had to open my top jeans button. Then we saw in the new year at home and watched most of "2006 most annoying celebrities".

2006 has been a fast year, but eventful. I've done plenty of firsts. I've been hurt, and hurt others. I lost my temper on occasion. This was the first year I became a redhead, and right now the red is here to stay. I've partied hard, worked hard, and also been incredibly lazy. I have grown into a more mature, slightly sassy girl, who can be sensible when she tries, but most of the time she doesn't want to try.

Happy new year everyone, I hope 2007 will be a good year for all.

(Thanks to all who have read this far, why not post a comment just to say hi!)

Random job stuff

Remember back in July, when I first got the job I have now, and said it was a four month contract? Well it should come as no surprise that my contract is due to finish at the end of this month. However my lovely team leader knew this and upon overhearing that another department on site was looking for a temp, he suggested me for the role. It's only to Jan 31st but anything right now is better than nothing. To cut a long story short, today I found out that I have this new contract for definite. It is in analytic technology, and is more so involved with drugs that the company is developing.

Along with this change of scenery comes a better job title. From the 4th of December I shall no longer be an Analyst, but a Scientist. I feel quite excited, I may have to change this blog to Lola's Cherry Cola Laboratory, although it doesnt quite have the same ring. I'm excited about this move, but at the same time, absolutely petrified. I think I'll be expected to know things that I don't really know. All this previous job has taught me is how to follow a method step by step, and sometimes I couldn't even manage that... We'll just have to wait and see how it goes.

Speaking of work, the other day I heard something that surprised me, and then made me titter. The company I work for is apparently still producing aerosols with CFCs, although this is the last year they will be produced. It surprised me as the company is otherwise very engaged with trying to be an eco-warrior, persuading us not to print out unnecessary things, to print two pages to a sheet where appropriate, to turn off lights, equipment and computers when we are not using them, and starting off a big recycling quest. One of my co-workers said that apparently when it was first discovered that CFCs were harmful to the environment our company stock-piled a hell of a lot of CFC propellant, so they could keep using it long after it had to be stopped being produced. That was what made me titter, I could just imagine the board room conversation...

Underling: Have you heard about our CFC propellant damaging the environment?
Managers: No. Quick, lets buy some more before it runs out!

Oh dear.

As for today, work didn't like me. I made stupid mistakes and then a sample set was playing up so I can't process my results until monday. But coming out of the carpark I saw my first robin for the winter, and he cheered me up. Yes I'm easily pleased, but then again if I wasn't I'd be walking around in a foul mood constantly. Be happy that I'm easily pleased.

All Hallows Eve, amongst other things

Well the water was safe for human consumption from monday onwards, which brought an end to the "dying for a cuppa syndrome". Apparently the culprit was a corroded pipe, although how that would turn the water blue is beyond me.

Yesterday as we all know was Halloween, and to celebrate I went out on monday for a halloween social. Ended up at Popworld and swung around every single pole in the place. Yes I'm aching again. I'm seriously looking into this poledancing as exercise now, because I can very well believe it! I was also dressed as a cat, so apparently my tail looked very cute swinging about while I played on the pole. I wish I could have a real tail...

So a fun time was had by all, and now I really need to sleep. I may post a picture of my costume when I'm less sleepy.

The day the water turned blue...

Well allegedly turned blue anyhow. And also it wasn't today, it was friday. We got told not to use the water at work, and no we couldnt boil it to drink either. So I was obviously gasping for a drink after they told me that. Odd how I don't usually want something until I'm told I can't have it. Some people had already gotten something to drink, and turned a nice shade of white when we told them the water was contaminated.

Don't worry, we didn't die of thirst (and those who had already drunk the water didn't die either, which was nice). Some bright spark suggested going to buy bottles of water, so no one missed out on their morning cuppa. It was mid-afternoon by the time someone mentioned that someone from another lab had concentrated the water and it was a strange bright blue colour. This may have just been random hearsay, but I'm glad I didnt drink the stuff.

Hope things are all back to normal tomorrow otherwise we wont be able to do any testing!