doggles

1. What was the last beverage you had?
water. and before that a yummy rice milk chai latte with agave nectar to take the edge off my sugar cravings and avoid going out to buy chocolate or icecream.

2. Are you in a good mood?
middling

3. Do you believe in psychics?
not sure. i think many of them are probably fraudulent, and if not then i don’t think it’s helpful.

4. Is your current hair color your natural hair color?
yes. dark brown (with a reddish tint in the sunshine) and an alarming number of white hairs, mostly concentrated in the front so i look a bit like rogue from the x men!

5. What’s the first thing you notice about people?
voice. i love accents, interesting verbal tics and stock phrases. and if they have a kind expression in their eyes. i’m not very good at faces and it takes me 2 or 3 times meeting someone before i recognise them, which can be embarassing. if you ask me what someone was wearing i probably won’t remember.

6. Do you believe in love at first sight?
no, only physical attraction. love is a choice and an action, not a feeling.

7. What is your favorite brand of shampoo?
i love original source but it is a bit expensive for me, so co-op own brand. no animal ingredients/ not tested on animals. anything with essential oils that smells of citrus/ lavender/ almond/ coconut is good.

8. 3 things you like about yourself?
- my dark eyelashes. never needed mascara.
- on a good day i’m very compassionate.
- i can do crow pose in yoga now.

9. Tea or coffee?
tea. love it.

10. Do you make wishes at 11:11?
no. never heard of it before. 3 hours ago

congratulations :) 4 hours ago

but i’ve met someone who has. bill shepherd came to my school when i was a kid. i don’t remember much about it other than that i thought it was really cool.

i’ve never taken a course in basic car maintainance (but i would like to at some point). 14 hours ago

my school friend c, whom i have known for about 25 years, came to visit and brought her four month old son to meet me. they only stayed for a couple of hours, but it was lovely to see them. it was nice to have some baby cuddles. it’s been about 18 months since i last saw her, so we had a good catch up. i always feel so comfortable with her because we know each other so well and there is never any pretense. 14 hours ago

that was another reason for starting this goal.
i’ve spoken to them since and i think they understand. they had a good time with their friends anyway. i hope to go visit them soon.

yes, i’m good at talking myself out of things! i was very nervous about the running. perhaps it was too much too soon. next time i might just walk to parkrun and cheer on my friends but not run. that will take the pressure off a bit and get me back into the habit of going. i used to love it, it’s great fun. 14 hours ago

she has forgiven me, she is kind, but i know i wouldn’t like it if someone else did this to me.

we were planning to do parkrun together (well i was only going to do part of it because i haven’t run in about 6 months) and then go for coffee after. it’s a long walk from my house to the start line, and i didn’t get up in time. i didn’t plan my route beforehand and work out accurately how long it would take to get there. and i din’t lay out my clothes the night before.

these things would have helped me keep my word. i’ll get it right next time! 15 hours ago

i promised to meet a friend and didn’t go. i’m going to end up having no friends if i keep doing this. 17 hours ago

have excellent foreign language programming (including spanish) which is available as free podcasts. world news, australian news, spanish and latin american news plus lots of other interesting stuff. plus they have a variety of accents. 2 days ago

when i noticed i was soooooooo happy about it :) 3 days ago

well done for putting yourself out there :)
sorry she said no. 3 days ago

boris smile – my love powered by 10,000 practice amps
http://countyourluckystars.bandcamp.com/album/my-love-powered-by-10000-practice-amps

i just love this album! especially the songs ‘into town’, ‘council of the brains’ and ‘a man stands alone’

you can download it for a price of your choice (including for free) or listen online.

this is what wikipedia says about them:
”...the band’s hallmark characteristic was its blend of singer-songwriter pop with orchestral arrangements. Their style is often compared to David Bazan, Page France, The Long Winters, and Sufjan Stevens. ” 3 days ago

the music was so loud! i feel old saying that, but it left my ears ringing a bit after.
i think i should just accept the fact that i’m never going to be a good dancer. i’ve got over my fear of dance exercise classes though, so that’s good. at least i have a sense of rhythm if nothing else! i’m going to try to continue with the classes to try and lose some weight but i don’t have high hopes of becoming coordinated so i think i’m going to give up on this goal. 3 days ago

it was a relatively flat walk and i did it slowly (i think it was just over 7 1/2 hours actual walking plus about an hour or so total breaks).
i’m about 80 pounds overweight. i’m only 30, so i ought to be able to run and dance, but either of those things leaves me gasping for breath and dripping with sweat within 5 minutes! but walking is nice because i don’t get out of breath unless i’m going up hill so if the scenery is nice i can go for a long time and just get lost in my thoughts. haven’t done any this week though. 3 days ago

university is hard even when you don’t have depression, so dont be ashamed to ask for all the help you can get. i don’t really know anything about disability services so i’m not sure how that works. but i reckon if there is a counsellor at your university (which there probably is) it would be worth going to see them so that they are aware of who you are, and can inform you of any services which are available to you that you might not otherwise know about.

the extra time in exams thing is not something i have experienced yet, since it is very new in my uni and i just found out about it (too late!). i’m not sure if all universities have the same thing yet but it’s worth asking. you don’t have to use it if you don’t need it but it’s worth having just in case. it’s not unfair to have it if it puts you on a level playing field with everyone else.

universities often run courses about time management and dealing with stress, which are open to all students and can be very helpful.

i’m afraid that services aren’t always joined up: you need to be the one to manage your situation proactively and put support in place before you may need it (God willing you never will).

all the best. i’m sure you’ll have a great time and make lots of new friends and learn lots of interesting stuff. 1 week ago

you mean like compeed kind of thing? the blister is on the back of my left heel, so walking in flip flops is quite comfortable but shoes not so much. my left foot is a whole shoe size smaller than the right so it’s difficult to find shoes that fit both of them. the joys of not being a perfectly symmetrical super model ;-)

that’s the trouble, i got a bit too enthusiastic and went too far too fast! since i don’t have any transport, i rely on my feet to get me out and about – i need to take better care of them! still, it is interesting to have this learning experience. i know that getting blisters is part of long distance walking. 1 week ago

no walking today, i have a blister from my long walk yesterday. i need to learn how to deal with them. i’ve heard that you can thread a thread through them and tie the ends up but i don’t want to get an infection in there. i need to find a good antiseptic/disinfectant. iodene maybe? witch hazel? not sure what people use. 1 week ago

Italy :) 1 week ago

Gulf of Mexico 1 week ago

• brunch with friends. i considered not going because there is a lady who was going who i find difficult to get on with, but i prayed about it beforehand and it turned out well. i sat near her at the table and i managed to turn the conversation to her recent travels, which took the pressure off me a bit.
• i took (vegan) swiss style muesli with me to the brunch because one of my friends is lactose intolerant, and because it is simple to make and healthy. i got several compliments on it, people saying how good it tasted and asking for the recipe. it always makes me smile when people enjoy vegan food without being aware of it.
• a walk with a friend afterwards. she arrived late to the brunch and sat at the other end of the long table. i thought she had just done a night shift (she had said she would be) but she said no, so i figured something was up. turned out she had been signed off sick from work. it was good to be able to talk in private after, and encourage her. she has been struggling with a difficult work situation and has become depressed. she hinted at the fact that she has had suicidal thoughts, and i was able to pick up on it and we talked frankly about it withought embarassment. someone else may not have picked up on what she was saying. i think i was some help. it’s hard to know.
• continuing to walk further distances. this morning i got up early and went out and watched the sunrise, something i haven’t done for a very long time. it was beautiful. there was a deer nearby and we stood and looked at each other. later in the day lots of people were out walking/cycling and i enjoyed greeting people as they passed by. there was a woman walking her dog walking the same way as me and we chatted for about 10 minutes before she turned off my path. 1 week ago

though in a different direction because it was an out and back to a train station so i had the option to come back by train if i was tired. i was a bit sore after but nothing too serious. i wasn’t carrying much though, and when i walk my parents’ house i’ll need to carry clothes for a couple of days and another pair of shoes. 1 week ago

no bible reading yesterday but i went to church.
and none today either but i prayed a lot when i went for a long walk. 1 week ago

when i’m on my own i’m usually ok or even happy, but being with people can be so hard because i so often feel out of step with the rest of the world. i wasn’t always so antisocial. i hope i won’t be this way forever. i would so love to get married and have children, but i honestly don’t see how that can happen if i can’t even talk to people.

i had the opportunity to meet up with two school friends today but i didn’t go. they both have husbands, babies, houses and careers. i get jealous. it’s hard to be glad that things are going so well for them, though i try. i know i missed out today and that by neglecting these friendships they get weaker, but they don’t know i’ve dropped out of my course and had depression again and i can’t face talking about it. i’m feeling sad about the whole situation. 1 week ago

and i ended up sitting next to two people i didn’t know. before the service i talked to one of them for a couple of minutes and she said how she thought it was a wonderful church. i kept shtum, but wanted to tell her how i felt that going through depression recently i didn’t feel supported at all.

the lady on my other side turned out to be a nurse who works at the same hospital as me. i felt really trapped after the service when, sitting in the middle of a row with people chatting either side of us so i couldn’t move without disturbing them, she started to quiz me about work and was complaining about the threat of redundancies. i nearly burst into tears. anything work related is such a sore spot at the moment. she wasn’t to know, but gosh it hurt! sometimes i really hate church! 1 week ago

walked for about 7 1/2 hours today (21 1/2miles)! i didn’t mean to go so far but i made another wrong turn. got up early and saw the sun rise. i also saw a roe deer. beautiful. 1 week ago

an hour and a half today. feeling a bit tired. 1 week ago

Mali – Bamako
Niger – Niamey
Chad – N’Djamena
Central African Republic – Bangui
South Sudan – currently Juba although apparently there are plans to change this. As far as I’m aware South Sudan is still the world’s newest country.

(All landlocked countries. Coming from an island nation it’s hard to imagine life without the sea)

5 Benefits of eating lots of fruit and veg? 1 week ago

Dublin 1 week ago

congrats on the imminent/eminent arrival :) 2 weeks ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Day

thanks, i’ve really been enjoying the walking recently, especially since we’ve had such good weather. we’ll see if i manage to keep it up if we get lots of rain etc.! 2 weeks ago