Apparently, I can read people's writing, and small printed font. This is what I was told yesterday at the hospital any way. I find it intriguing that someone who does not have my eyes can tell me what I can and cannot read.

Also yesterday, I was told that I may not have a problem so much with my eyesight as such as with focussing; this I do think is possibly a valid assumption, so after Christmas, I have to go back to Oxford, and let them investigate that. I think that they're also going to ask the retina specialists if it's worth further investigating my retina...

Oh, and they did actually tell me that the tests that I had done in October were OK; my right eye did normal things, and my left eye didn't, but that's fine, as my left eye doesn't really have much use anyway.

Other than that, I have been thoroughly enjoying the lack of lectures, staying in bed until late-ish morning, and then getting up & doing some work. It's been nice.

Next week, I am having the cartilage taken out of my knee. I am not looking forward to that!

Well, 'tis the last week of term already, and I have two essays to write by the end of the week. One of them is going pretty well, and one of them is well, not going.

Other than that, I'm waiting to hear if I'll get an interview at St Mary's College in Twickenham, as I didn't get in at St Luke's for my PGCE, but I'm OK about that, as I think it probably wasn't the right place for me to go anyway...

I am really looking forward to the end of term. I'm not looking forward to finishing my essays, but I'll be so glad on Thursday when I come out of my last lecture!

Yesterday, I went to Torquay to see some Sisters there - it was great. I really do think that this might be the right order for me, but I really would appreciate prayers about that!

In the next 7 weeks, I plan to write at least 21,000 words. Why do I do this to myself?!

Have just done my PGCE interview. I think (and hope!) that it went OK...

I should know in a couple of weeks - prayers would be much appreciated!!!

Oooh - I haven't blogged for ages. I guess I've been kind of busy. It's pain not having internet at home.

I have my PGCE interview tomorrow... I'm kind of nervous about that....

On Friday, I went on a school trip to South Wales. It took 6 hours to get there. Never a good thing.

Any way, I'm going shopping now!

I went to the hospital on Thursday. I do have to have my knee operated on - hopefully that'll be during the Christmas break... I do only have to go in for a day - as long as I find someone to drive me home! I have to have a big bandage on it for 3 days, and another dressing for 2 weeks. I'm not allowed to have a bath for 2 weeks, & when I have a shower, I have to put clingfilm around my leg!

Last night, I went to Ottery St Mary with CathSoc... It was fun, though they charged twice as much this year as we did last year! That's probably sensible though... But, they didn't tell us we had to pay until we got on the minibus, so I haven't paid yet, as I didn't take my wallet out with me. Also, CathSoc still owes me money, so I think it's pretty fair that I don't pay them til they pay me, as I'm owed rather more than £3.

I did get a bit squashed last night at Ottery, but I think that's part of the fun... It also took me quite a while to get all of the ash and things out of my hair this morning!

This is my 150th post...

I have a PGCE interview in 3 weeks - I'm so happy!

On Friday, I had a hospital appointment in Oxford, and had lots of tests done to see how my brain reacts to lights and things. I should get the results in a couple of weeks.

Then, I spent the rest of my weekend with my parents, and littlest brother and sister.

I still haven't heard if I have a PGCE interview at Exeter, so please pray...

I got my mark back for my 1st assessed presentation this week. I thought I'd done really badly. I was wrong. I got 67.5%!!! I'm now v happy!

Please note the return of the exclamation marks!

I now have a very cool music notation program (called Sibelius) on my computer. It makes transposing music for the little trumpet players and clarinettist at church much easier and quicker. I can even make it transpose for me, I just have to put the music in, which is helpful. When I'm playing, I transpose really quickly, but when I'm putting the music into my computer, my transposition is far less reliable. It also plays back what I put in, so I can hear if I've done something wrong, & it also means that when I make up parts, I can play it and see if it fits with the tune. Fantastic!

Other than the wonders of Sibelius, nothing much exciting is happening for me.

Not much has been going on for me lately. It's been very rainy, and so I've spent lots of time getting rather wet.

I no longer have my crutches, which is such a relief...

My PGCE application went off yesterday, so I'm waiting to hear if I have an interview, and hoping I won't have to wait too long!

Well, I haven't had much time to do anything very exciting. I have been doing uni work and bar work, and other than that, not very much.

On Sunday, we split into factions...James and his crew went to the Cowley Bridge Inn, and Norris, Dan, Adam and myself went to the Globe. (I'm not sure why Ed didn't come, but he didn't.) We did better in the quiz without the likes of James. We got 37, and were only one point off winning, which was very good considering that usually we're lucky if we hit 20. When I set the quiz it is a bit easier, and admittedly, last time, James' team got 41, but I still maintain we did better.

Tomorrow, I have my 1st assessed presentation. I'm hoping it will be OK, and that I don't lose my voice before then. (At the moment, I do appear to be losing my voice...)

After tomorrow, I am free of work such as presentations until week 6. Then I have a presentation and an essay deadline. Joy.

I did my first presentation yesterday, and it went really well.

Tomorrow, I am going to Plymouth to see the Sisters of Notre Dame again.

Please pray - my PGCE application is being sent to my 1st choice (Exeter) next Thursday...I really want to do my PGCE here...

I have my 1st presentation tomorrow. 20 minutes on Greek sorcerers. I still feel like I know nothing about them. I'm a bit nervous really.

I also start work tomorrow. I'm looking forward to that.

I'm very nervous about my hospital appointment in Oxford in a couple of weeks. I'm having lots of tests done to see if they can work out why my eyesight has deteriorated so much. It involves nasty eyedrops, and having electrical currents passed through my eyes. Not exactly the kind of way I'd like to spend my day...

I have a hospital appointment in Exeter soon too - I finally have an appointment for my knee (which is still a bit painful, but much better).

My little brother was 16 yesterday. It's quite weird when your little brother hits 16.

I have a job! On Thursday, I start working at the Globe - which is just on the other side of Belmont Park to my house!

I also have a school placement on Fridays, which seems like it's going to be fun. I started on Friday afternoon - it was great.

My 1st presentation is on Thursday...I'm a little bit nervous - a week doesn't seem very long to prepare for a 20 minute presentation, especially when I have loads of other stuff to do too...

I have now completed my 1st week of lectures. All 5 hours of it. I do have lots of work to do already though, so it's not all roses.

I think I'm coming down with Freshers' Flu. I have a temperature, a headache, swollen glands, a runny nose & everything. The thing is that I've never had Freshers' flu before, not even when I was a Fresher! So it seems a bit mean that I get it in my final year.

That's part of the reason I'm not going to the CathSoc quiz (that I wrote!) tonight. I am going to music practise though, but that seems infinitely easier to cope with than CathSoc!

We had fun at the CU last night. We handed out leaflets. Not sure we were supposed to, but we did.... They weren't bad leaflets or anything. I'm just not sure the CU would approve of us handing them out outside their meeting, but never mind. Blame James!

Today, I registered. I thought my 1st lecture was on Thursday, but it's actually tomorrow. Tuesdays are usually one of my days off. After my one lecture tomorrow, I then have nothing til Thursday, and then I have 4 hours in the morning - 2 chunks of 2 hours, at opposite (well almost) ends of Queen's Building, which is quite a big building really.

It's almost a whole week since I blogged, and that was kind of a long time ago. Since then, Zosia has come & gone again :-(, and now my house seems very empty and quiet... It's been my birthday, which was great fun... Freshers' Week has started and almost finished... And I have the dates of one of my next appointments in Oxford - for EEG scans - 29th October.

I'll be very glad when lectures start again - though that's not til Wednesday, as Monday is registration, and Tuesday is one of my days off. 3 months without lectures is a very long time!

Today, it was day 3 of 4 of Cream Teas at the Chaplaincy. It was fun, and there were lots of people. Tomorrow is the last one - which I think is in some ways a good thing; after all, clotted cream is best described as a heart attack in a tub!

I HAVE FINISHED WORK!!! I AM SO GLAD! NO MORE WORK FOR ME!!!!

Only one more day of work left! Yay!!!

Zosh comes to Exeter tomorrow! More yay!!!

Decisions, decisions...I hate making decisions. Why can life not be simple?!

'Tis my last week at work! Yay!

Anyone who's in Exeter on Sunday (26th) - I'm setting a quiz at the Globe (near Belmont Park). I think you should come & do my quiz!

Tis v sad...I had an email about the job I applied for, & some trustees somewhere have decided that the interviews are to be cancelled, whilst they look into funding and administration and stuff...So, it looks like I have no chance of getting that job after all... :-(

Yesterday, I went to my hospital appointments. I have to get new glasses. My new ones are obviously stronger than the ones I have now, so should help a bit. I have to go back to Oxford for tests to see if there's anything wrong with my optic nerve or cornea.

I went on 8 trains yesterday. 5 of them were late. Grr.

I'm off to Warwick and Oxford tomorrow for eye appointments. I have to get up at stupid o'clock in the morning again, as my train's at 7:20am, and I have to change trains 3 times(!) at Bristol Temple Meads, Didcot Parkway, and Oxford. Joy! And that's only getting to Warwick...I then have to go back to Oxford - changing trains at Leamington - and then from Oxford to Exeter, changing trains once more - at Didcot Parkway, I think, but it might not be...So, tomorrow, I'm spending many hours on trains. I may even get nasty eye drops thrown into the bargain. Lucky me.

READING LIST!!
Bold what you've readItalicize what you started, but haven't finished
Add 3 of your own
Post on your journal

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austin
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. 1984, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli 's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliott
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Susskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E. Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight 's Children, Salman Rushdie
101. Three Men In A Boat, Jerome K. Jerome
102. Small Gods, Terry Pratchett
103. The Beach, Alex Garland
104. Dracula, Bram Stoker
105. Point Blanc, Anthony Horowitz
106. The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens
107. Stormbreaker, Anthony Horowitz
108. The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks
109. The Day Of The Jackal, Frederick Forsyth
110. The Illustrated Mum, Jacqueline Wilson
111. Jude The Obscure, Thomas Hardy
112. The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13 1/2, Sue Townsend
113. The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat
114. Les Miserables, Victor Hugo
115. The Mayor Of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy
116. The Dare Game, Jacqueline Wilson
117. Bad Girls, Jacqueline Wilson
118. The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
119. Shogun, James Clavell
120. The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham
121. Lola Rose, Jacqueline Wilson
122. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
123. The Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy
124. House Of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski
125. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
126. Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett
127. Angus, Thongs And Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison
128. The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle
129. Possession, A. S. Byatt
130. The Master And Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
131. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
132. Danny The Champion Of The World, Roald Dahl
133. East Of Eden, John Steinbeck
134. George 's Marvellous Medicine, Roald Dahl
135. Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett
136. The Color Purple, Alice Walker
137. Hogfather, Terry Pratchett
138. The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan
139. Girls In Tears, Jacqueline Wilson
140. Sleepovers, Jacqueline Wilson
141. All Quiet On The Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
142. Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Kate Atkinson
143. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby
144. It, Stephen King
145. James And The Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
146. The Green Mile, Stephen King
147. Papillon, Henri Charriere
148. Men At Arms, Terry Pratchett
149. Master And Commander, Patrick O'Brian
150. Skeleton Key, Anthony Horowitz
151. Soul Music, Terry Pratchett
152. Thief Of Time, Terry Pratchett
153. The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett
154. Atonement, Ian McEwan
155. Secrets, Jacqueline Wilson
156. The Silver Sword, Ian Serraillier1
57. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey
158. Heart Of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
159. Kim, Rudyard Kipling
160. Cross Stitch, Diana Gabaldon
161. Moby Dick, Herman Melville
162. River God, Wilbur Smith
163. Sunset Song, Lewis Grassic Gibbon
164. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
165. The World According To Garp, John Irving
166. Lorna Doone, R. D. Blackmore
167. Girls Out Late, Jacqueline Wilson
168. The Far Pavilions, M. M. Kaye
169. The Witches, Roald Dahl
170. Charlotte's Web, E. B. White
171. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
172. They Used To Play On Grass, Terry Venables and Gordon Williams
173. The Old Man And The Sea, Ernest Hemingway
174. The Name Of The Rose, Umberto Eco
175. Sophie's World, Jostein Gaarder
176. Dustbin Baby, Jacqueline Wilson
177. Fantastic Mr. Fox, Roald Dahl
178. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
179. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Richard Bach
180. The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery
181. The Suitcase Kid, Jacqueline Wilson
182. Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens
183. The Power Of One, Bryce Courtenay
184. Silas Marner, George Eliot
185. American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
186. The Diary Of A Nobody, George and Weedon Gross-mith
187. Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh
188. The Way Things Work, David Macaulay
189. Heidi, Johanna Spyri
190. Sons And Lovers, D. H. Lawrence
191. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera
192. Man And Boy, Tony Parsons
193. The Truth, Terry Pratchett
194. The War Of The Worlds, H. G. Wells
195. The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans
196. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
197. Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett
198. The Once And Future King, T. H. White
199. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
200. Flowers In The Attic, Virginia Andrews
201. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
202. The Eye of the World, Robert Jordan
203. The Great Hunt, Robert Jordan
204. The Dragon Reborn, Robert Jordan
205. Fires of Heaven, Robert Jordan
206. Lord of Chaos, Robert Jordan
207. Winter's Heart, Robert Jordan
208. A Crown of Swords, Robert Jordan
209. Crossroads of Twilight, Robert Jordan
210. A Path of Daggers, Robert Jordan
211. As Nature Made Him, John Colapinto
212. Microserfs, Douglas Coupland
213. The Married Man, Edmund White
214. Winter's Tale, Mark Helprin
215. The History of Sexuality, Michel Foucault
216. Cry to Heaven, Anne Rice
217. Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe, John Boswell
218. Equus, Peter Shaffer
219. The Man Who Ate Everything, Jeffrey Steingarten
220. Letters To A Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke
221. Ella Minnow Pea, Mark Dunn
222. The Vampire Lestat, Anne Rice
223. Anthem, Ayn Rand
224. The Bridge To Terabithia, Katherine Paterson
225. Tartuffe, Moliere
226. The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka
227. The Crucible, Arthur Miller
228. The Trial, Franz Kafka
229. Oedipus Rex, Sophocles
230. Oedipus at Colonus, Sophocles
231. Death Be Not Proud, John Gunther
232. A Doll's House, Henrik Ibsen
233. Hedda Gabler, Henrik Ibsen
234. Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton
235. A Raisin In The Sun, Lorraine Hansberry
236. ALIVE!, Piers Paul Read
237. Grapefruit, Yoko Ono
238. Trickster Makes This World, Lewis Hyde2
39. The Missing Number
240. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
241. Chronicles of Thomas Convenant, Unbeliever, Stephen Donaldson
242. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
242. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon
243. Summerland, Michael Chabon
244. A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
245. Candide, Voltaire
246. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More, Roald Dahl
247. Ringworld, Larry Niven
248. The King Must Die, Mary Renault
249. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein
250. A Wrinkle in Time, Madeline L'Engle
251. The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
252. The House Of The Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne
253. The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
254. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan
255. The Great Gilly Hopkins, Katherine Paterson
256. Chocolate Fever, Robert Kimmel Smith
257. Xanth: The Quest for Magic, Piers Anthony
258. The Lost Princess of Oz, L. Frank Baum
259. Wonder Boys, Michael Chabon
260. Lost In A Good Book, Jasper Fforde
261. Well Of Lost Plots, Jasper Fforde
262. Life Of Pi, Yann Martel
263. The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver
264. A Yellow Raft In Blue Water, Michael Dorris
265. Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder
266. All the Rage, F. Paul Wilson
267. Where The Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls
268. Griffin & Sabine, Nick Bantock
269. Witch of Blackbird Pond, Joyce Friedland
270. Mrs. Frisby And The Rats Of NIMH, Robert C. O'Brien
271. Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt
272. The Cay, Theodore Taylor
273. From The Mixed-Up Files Of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, E.L. Konigsburg
274. The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster
275. The Westing Game, Ellen Raskin
276. The Kitchen God's Wife, Amy Tan
277. The Bone Setter's Daughter, Amy Tan
278. Relic, Duglas Preston & Lincolon Child
279. Wicked, Gregory Maguire
280. American Gods, Neil Gaiman
281. Misty of Chincoteague, Marguerite Henry
282. The Girl Next Door, Jack Ketchum
283. Haunted, Judith St. George
284. Singularity, William Sleator
285. A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson
286. Different Seasons, Stephen King
287. Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk
288. About a Boy, Nick Hornby
289. The Bookman's Wake, John Dunning
290. The Church of Dead Girls, Stephen Dobyns
291. Illusions, Richard Bach
292. Magic's Pawn, Mercedes Lackey
293. Magic's Promise, Mercedes Lackey
294. Magic's Price, Mercedes Lackey
295. The Dancing Wu Li Masters, Gary Zukav
296. Spirits of Flux and Anchor, Jack L. Chalker
297. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
298. The Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices, Brenda Love
299. Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace
300. The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison
301. The Cider House Rules, John Irving
302. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
303. Girlfriend in a Coma, Douglas Coupland
304. The Lion's Game, Nelson Demille
305. The Sun, The Moon, and the Stars, Stephen Brust
306. Cyteen, C. J. Cherryh
307. Foucault's Pendulum, Umberto Eco
308. Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson
309. Invisible Monsters, Chuck Palahniuk
310. Camber of Culdi, Kathryn Kurtz
311. The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand
312. War and Rememberance, Herman Wouk
313. The Art of War, Sun Tzu
314. The Giver, Lois Lowry
315. The Telling, Ursula Le Guin
316. Xenogenesis (or Lilith's Brood), Octavia Butler
317. A Civil Campaign, Lois McMaster Bujold
318. The Curse of Chalion, Lois McMaster Bujold
319. The Aeneid, Publius Vergilius Maro (Vergil)
320. Hanta Yo, Ruth Beebe Hill
321. The Princess Bride, S. Morganstern (or William Goldman)
322. Beowulf, Anonymous
323. The Sparrow, Maria Doria Russell
324. Deerskin, Robin McKinley
325. Dragonsong, Anne McCaffrey
326. Passage, Connie Willis
327. Otherland, Tad Williams
328. Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay
329. Number the Stars, Lois Lowry
330. Beloved, Toni Morrison
331. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ 's Childhood Pal, Christopher Moore
332. The mysterious disappearance of Leon, I mean Noel, Ellen Raskin
333. Summer Sisters, Judy Blume
334. The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo
335. The Island on Bird Street, Uri Orlev
336. Midnight in the Dollhouse, Marjorie Filley Stover
337. The Miracle Worker, William Gibson
338. The Genesis Code, John Case
339. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevensen
340. Paradise Lost, John Milton
341. Phantom, Susan Kay
342. The Mummy or Ramses the Damned, Anne Rice
343. Anno Dracula, Kim Newman
344: The Dresden Files: Grave Peril, Jim Butcher
345: Tokyo Suckerpunch, Issac Adamson
346: The Winter of Magic's Return, Pamela Service
347: The Oddkins, Dean R. Koontz
348. My Name is Asher Lev, Chaim Potok
349. The Last Goodbye, Raymond Chandler
350. At Swim, Two Boys, Jaime O'Neill
351. Othello, by William Shakespeare
352. The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas
353. The Collected Poems of William Butler Yeats
354. Sati, Christopher Pike
355. The Inferno, Dante
356. The Apology, Plato
357. The Small Rain, Madeline L.Engle
358. The Man Who Tasted Shapes, Richard E Cytowick
359. 5 Novels, Daniel Pinkwater
360. The Sevenwaters Trilogy, Juliet Marillier
361. Girl with a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier
362. To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
363. Our Town, Thorton Wilder
364. Green Grass Running Water, Thomas King
335. The Interpreter, Suzanne Glass
336. The Moor's Last Sigh, Salman Rushdie
337. Mother Tongue, Bill Bryson
338. A Passage to India, E.M. Forster
339. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky
340. The Phantom of the Opera, Gaston Leroux
341. Pages for You, Sylvia Brownrigg
342. The Changeover, Margaret Mahy
343. Howl's Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones
344. Angels and Demons, Dan Brown
345. Johnny Got His Gun, Dalton Trumbo
346. Shosha, Isaac Bashevis Singer
347. Travels With Charley, John Steinbeck (book on tape)
348. The Diving-bell and the Butterfly, Jean-Dominique Bauby
349. The Lunatic at Large, J. Storer Clouston
350. Time for Bed, David Baddiel
351. Barrayar, Lois McMaster Bujold
352. Quite Ugly One Morning, Christopher Brookmyre
353. The Bloody Sun, Marion Zimmer Bradley
354. Sewer, Gas, and Eletric, Matt Ruff
355. Jhereg, Steven Brust
356. So You Want To Be A Wizard, Diane Duane
357. Perdido Street Station, China Mieville
358. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Bronte
359. Road-side Dog, Czeslaw Milosz
360. The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje
361. Neuromancer, William Gibson
362. The Epistemology of the Closet, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
363. A Canticle for Liebowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr
364. The Mask of Apollo, Mary Renault
365. The Gunslinger, Stephen King
366. Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare
367. Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke
368. Sandman: A Season of Mists, Neil Gaiman
369. Ivanhoe, Walter Scott
370. The God Boy, Ian Cross
371. The Beekeeper's Apprentice, Laurie R. King
372. Finn Family Moomintroll, Tove Jansson
373. Misery, Stephen King
374. Tipping the Velvet, Sarah Waters
375. Hood, Emma Donoghue
376. The Land of Spices, Kate O'Brien
377. The Diary of Anne Frank
378. Regeneration, Pat Barker
379. Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald
380. Dreaming in Cuban, Cristina Garcia
381. A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
382. The View from Saturday, E.L. Konigsburg
383. Dealing with Dragons, Patricia Wrede
384. Eats, Shoots & Leaves, Lynne Truss
385. A Severed Wasp, Madeleine L.Engle
386. Here Be Dragons, Sharon Kay Penman
387. The Mabinogion (Ancient Welsh Tales), translated by Lady Charlotte E. Guest
388. The DaVinci Code, Dan Brown
389. Desire of the Everlasting Hills, Thomas Cahill
390. The Cloister Walk, Kathleen Norris
391. My Antonia, Willa Cather
392. Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath
393. The Moonstone, Wilkie Collins
394. Conceived Without Sin, Bud MacFarlane Jr.
395. Pierced by a Sword, Bud MacFarlane, Jr.
396. Tully, Paullina Simons
397. On the Beach, Nevil Shute
398. Cat's Eye, Margaret Atwood
399. Earth Abides, George R. Stewart
400. Double Play, Robert Parker
401. Traveling Mercies, Anne Lamott
402. Bookman's Promise, John Dunning
403. The Seven Storey Mountain, Thomas Merton
404. We Are All In The Dumps With Jack And Guy, Maurice Sendak
405. Sabriel, Garth Nix
406. Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino
407. Kushiel's Dart, Jacqueline Carey
408. Idylls of the King, Alfred Tennyson
409. The Jungle, Upton Sinclair
410. Dreadnought, Robert K. Massie
411. The Guv'nor, Lenny McLean
412. Farenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
413. The Blind Assassin, Margaret Atwood
414. Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut
415. Stupid White Men, Michael Moore
416. Annie on my Mind, Nancy Garden
417. Stellaluna, Janell Cannon
418. Animal Dreams, Barbara Kingsolver
419. Coraline, Neil Gaiman
420. Sir Apropos of Nothing, Peter David
421. A Night to Remember, Walter Lord
422. Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang, Mordecai Richler
423. The Luck of Barry Lyndon, William Makepeace Thackeray
424. The Illuminatus Trilogy, Robert Anton Wilson
425. Song for Arbonne, Guy Gavriel Kay
426. Hamlet, William Shakespeare
427. Parasite Rex, Carl Zimmer
428. 120 Days of Sodom, Marquis De Sade
429. Works of J. Fenimore Cooper (The Crater, Miles Wallingford, Homeward Bound), J. F. Cooper
430. The Awakening, Kate Chopin
431. The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde
432. Les Enfants Terribles, Jean Cocteau
434. Chobits - CLAMP435. Postmortem (Patricia Cornwell)
436. The Chronicles of Sleeping Beauty - A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
437. The One Hundred Secret Senses - Amy Tan
438. The House On Mango Street - Sandra Cisneros
439. Exquisite Corpse - Poppy Z. Brite
440. Lost Souls - Poppy Z. Brite
450. Cotton Mouth Kisses - Clint Catalyst
451. Party Monster - James St. James
452. Like Water For Chocolate - Laura Esquivel
453. Under The Beetle's Cellar (Mary Willis Walker)
454. Mod a Very British Phenomenon: Clean Living Under Difficult Circumstances -- Terry Rawlings, Richard Barnes
455. The Secret Life of a Satanist -- Blanche Barton
456. Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
457. My Other Life by Paul Theroux
458. A House For Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul
459. When The Saints Came Marching In by Buddy Diliberto
460. Liquor by Poppy Z. Brite
461. The Last Vampire series by Christopher Pike
462. The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
463. The Bridge Across Forever by Richard Bach
464. Drawing Down The Moon by Margot Adler
465. Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind
466. Symposium by Plato
467. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling
468. Boy by Roald Dahl
469. Coma (Robin Cook)
470. She Stoops to Conquer (Oliver Goldsmith)
471. The Buccaneers (Edith Wharton)
472. Naked Lunch, William S. Burroughs
473. Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess
474. The Edible Woman, Margaret Atwood
475. The Chocolate War, Robert Cormier
476. Women Who Run With the Wolves, Clarissa Pinkola Estes
477. Old Possums Book of Practical Cats, T.S. Elliot
478. The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner
479. Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare
480. The Redemption of Althalus, David Eddings and Leigh Eddings
481. The Three Sisters Trilogy, Nora Roberts
482. The Messengers : A True Story of Angelic Presence and the Return to the Age of Miracles, Julia Ingram, G.W. Hardin
483. A Room With A View, E.M. Forster
484. Stardust, Neil Gaiman
485. Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie
486. She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb
487. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
488. Slaughter House Five by Kurt Vonnegut
489. The Potato Factory - Bryce Courtenay
490. Junky - William S Burroughs
491. Geisha - Liza Dalby
492. The Glass Bead Game (or Magister Ludi) - Hermann Hesse
493. The Prince of Tides - Pat Conroy
494. Snow Falling On Cedars - David Guterson
495. Dalva by Jim Harrison
496. Decent of Man by T.C. Boyle
497. Wilderness Tips by Margaret Atwood
498. A Happy Death by Albert Camus
499. Time Enough for Love by Robert Heinlein
500. The Crying Heart Tattoo by David Martin
501. A Distant Mirror, by Barbara Tuchman
502. A Brief History of Time, by Steven Hawking
503. Dhalgren, by Samuel R. Delany
504. Gravity's Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon
505. The Book Of Lists 1: Wallechinsky
506. The People's Almanac: Wallechinsky
507. Anything by Robert Sheckley
508. Lirael by Garth Nix
509.Courtney Love: The Real Story by Poppy Z. Brite
510.The Acid House by Irvine Welsh
511. The Stake, Richard Laymon
512. Dominion, Bently Little
513. Under the Overtree, James Moore
514. The Collector, John Fowles
515. Still she haunts me, Katie Roiphe
516. Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Caroll
517. Silver Wolf, Alice Borchardt
518. The vinegar jar, Berlie Doherty
519. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
520. Euthyphro, Plato
521. El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes
522. Left Behind - Tim LaHaye & Jerry Jenkins
523. Tribulation Force - Tim LaHaye & Jerry Jenkins
524. Soul Harvest - Tim LaHaye & Jerry Jenkins
525. Nicolae - Tim LaHaye & Jerry Jenkins
526. I, Robot - Issac Azimov
527. Woman in Black - Susan hill
528. La Peste - Albert Camus
529. The Sacred and Profane Love Machine - Iris Murdoch
530. Queste del Saint Graal
531. The Complete Jeeves and Wooster - P.G. Wodehouse
532. The Abbess of Crewe - Muriel Spark
534. The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoevsky
535. The Eye in the Door - Pat Barker

I did it because I was bored.

On Wednesday, I went home; yesterday, I came back to Exeter. I am very glad to be back.

Being home was OK, and I had some v early birthday celebrations. It was fun.

I have an interview for the job that I applied for on the 21st. I'm excited and nervous too.

In 2 weeks, I won't have to do any more cleaning. This is definitely a good thing!

In 3 weeks, Maria will be back from Indonesia. I've missed her a lot.

Please pray: on Friday morning, the son of my grandparents' neighbours was killed in a car accident. It was his youngest daughter's birthday. He left behind 4 young children.

Big Norris, small bike....

Yesterday, Mark & I went to watch Norris BMX-ing. We saw lots of other people BMX-ing too, but we didn't know them.

Norris looks very fierce when he's riding, it's a bit scary.

Well, this month I have THREE hospital appointments. That's a lot. They're all for my eyes too. I have two appointments on the same day, but in different hospitals, in different towns, in different counties, maybe even in other worlds... But maybe that's going a bit too far.

On the 15th, I have an appointment with an optician in Warwick in the morning - I haven't seen this lady before - another new person, how exciting! I think she might give me new glasses. Also on the 15th, I have an appointment with a consultant in Oxford. He might even tell me what's actually wrong with my eyes. Novel.

On the 27th, I have an appointment in Warwick with an orthoptist. If the optician doesn't give me glasses, the orthoptist will. Otherwise, I don't know what she's going to do, but I guess if she does give me glasses, I don't know what the optician's going to do. Ah well. It does mean that I'm not going to be at the Chaplain's tea party in Freshers' Week though. Poor me.

What a lovely smell....Newly cut grass (though it does make my nose, eyes and throat itch), and the pretty recently cut-down wood smell of the tree stump...Mmmm....

I'm having next week off work. I'm actually going to go home for a few days. But, not for too long - I will be back. Like the Terminator.

I've applied for a job. Please pray that I at least get an interview!!

Well, I haven't really been doing much in the last couple of days, apart from work and dissertation stuff. I have Monday off, because it's bank holiday. That means I get 2 days off in a row! That hasn't really happened for a while.

Am looking forward to Freshers' Week, because then there will be people around...At the moment, I am even all alone in my house. Until this week, there were at least 3 people there, but at the moment, there's only me...

Right, here commences my thoughts on the letter about the Collaboration of men and women in the Church. There was quite a lot that I agreed with, but also some that I didn't agree with.

"A first tendency is to emphasize strongly conditions of subordination in order to give rise to antagonism: women, in order to be themselves, must make themselves the adversaries of men. Faced with the abuse of power, the answer for women is to seek power."

This was a bit that I didn't really like that much. I think that the "conditions of subordination" should be taken notice of - if not so much in the Western world, then in developing countries where women are made subordinate - for example, think of China where female babies are sometimes left to die because they are not boys (and yes, I know that it's far more complicated than that, but that's more or less what it boils down to). Or, a less extreme example can be found even in Britain and America, where women are still paid significantly less than men for doing the same jobs. To some extent, I also want to question whether women are trying to make themselves the adversaries of men, or whether women are trying to free themselves from patriarchalisation (and not necessarily men). I think it is also important to consider whether it is power, or empowerment that women are generally seeking - there is a subtle, but significant difference.

OK - now a bit that I agree with:

"...the identity and role of one are emphasised to the disadvantage of the other, leading to harmful confusion regarding the human person..."

While I think that it's important that everyone is entitled to develop their own identity and role in life, I do think that sometimes, this can go to far, and become destructive.

"In order to avoid the domination of one sex or the other, their differences tend to be denied, viewed as mere effects of historical and cultural conditioning."

OK, while I agree with this to an extent - there obviously are differences between the sexes - I do think that cultural and historical conditioning has a lot to answer for with regard to perceived differences; for example, for a long time, it was not thought that women had an 'appropriate consitution' for working, or making decisions or judgments.

"...it strengthens the idea that the liberation of women entails criticism of Sacred Scripture, which would be seen as handing on a patriarchal conception of God nourished by an essentially male dominated culture."

This, I do not agree with. For a start, there are women in the Bible who I believe are great symbols of the strength of women. Mary is the most obvious one - she was the mother of God; no man could really claim to be the father of God, not even Joseph. There is also Ruth - a Moabite, and therefore, a woman without status... However, she left everything she had - her family, her home, and her religion, to go with Naomi, when she knew that she would be seen as a foreigner, and would have to change the way that she lived. I think she was an immensely brave woman. Then there's the Samaritan woman at the well. She was obviously fairly knowledgeable, her conversation with Jesus indicates that she was no simpleton. She also seemed to command a certain amount of respect from other villagers, who listened to what she had to say about Jesus. Jesus also first revealed himself to women after the resurrection. I think that it's possible to strive for the liberation of women, and give Scripture its rightful place.

"...this tendency would consider as lacking in importance and relevance the fact that the Son of God assumed human nature in its male form."

To be honest, I was a little puzzled by this. It is undeniable that Jesus was a man. He had to be either man or woman, and couldn't physically be both. I think it is important that Jesus was a man, but I also think that it's important to note that Mary, Jesus' mother was a woman. Like Jesus, she couldn't physically have been male and female. I think that Mary is a woman whom we should celebrate. God didn't have to use a woman to put Jesus on earth, and so I think it has a lot to say for Mary that God chose to use her.

"'God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them' (Gen 1:27)...humanity is described and articulated in the male-female relationship. This is the humanity sexually differentiated, which is explicitly declared 'the image of God'."

This, I liked. To me, this advocates the equal respect due to men and women, and the recognition due to them as being created in the image and form of God.

"...Adam, experienced a loneliness which the presence of the animals is not able to overcome. He needs a helpmate who will be his partner. The term here does not refer to an inferior, but to a vital helper. This is so that Adam's life does not sink into a sterile and, in the end, baneful encounter with himself. It is necessary that he enter into relationship...Only the woman, created from the same "flesh" and cloaked in the same mystery, can give a future to the life of the man... God's creation of woman characterises humanity as a relational reality."

This, I also liked. To me, this says that Eve was every bit as important as Adam.

"...woman, in her deepest and original being, exists 'for the other' (cf. 1 Cor 11:9): this is a statement which, far from any sense of alienation, expresses a fundamental aspect of the similarity with the Triune God, whose Persons, with the coming of Christ, are revealed as being in a communion of love, each for the others."

I am a little wary of this. God exists for perfect God, and so cannot be exploited or abused. Humans are not perfect, or in so close a unity as the Trinity. So, in my view, this could be a dangerous view from a human perspective, and raises questions such as whether abuse should be tolerated simply for someone else...

"Original sin changes the way in which the man and the woman receive and live the Word of God as well as their relationship with the Creator...when humanity considers God its enemy, the relationship between man and woman becomes distorted."

To me, this implies that the way things are between men and women now is not what God intended. The relationship between men and women is not "right", and so it needs changing. Liberation of women might be the way to go, but there is a chance that it's not.

"'Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you' (Gen 3:16). It will be a relationship in which love will frequently be debased into pure self-seeking, in a relationship which ignores and kills love and replaces it with the yoke of domination of one sex over the other...In this tragic situation, the equality, respect and love that are required in the relationship of man and woman according to God's original plan are lost."

Is this saying, then, that God created sexism?!

"Man is a person, man and woman equally so, since both were created in the image and likeness of the personal God."

Oh, good!

"'Sexuality characterises man and woman not only on the physical level, but also on the psychological and spiritual, making its mark on each of their expressions'. It cannot be reduced to a pure and insignifican biological fact..."

To an extent, I agree with this. But, I believe that it's still possible for men and women to have similar characteristics, and that, like the differences, these should not be minimalised.

"...the relationship is good, but wounded and in need of healing."

I am in total agreement with this.

I also like the bit where the importance of Mary is talked about at some length. It's too long to quote all that I like, but it's a lot of it, and maybe especially the bit about Mary's role in the wedding at Cana narrative. The stuff about the role of women in Paul's writings is also pretty cool, but again, too long to quote.

"...women preserve the deep intuition of the goodness in their lives of those actions which elicit life, and contibute to the growth and protection of the other."

My question here, is whether men can have this 'role' too? I think they can, and that to say that they can't is foolish and false.

"Although motherhood is a key element of women's identity, this does not mean that women should be considered from the sole perspective of physical procreation. In this area, there can be serious distortions, which extol biological fecundity in purely quantitative terms and are often accompanied by dangerous disprespect for women."

I liked this bit. It very clearly makes the point that women are not just baby machines, and after this bit, the importance of the Christian vocation of virginity is brought up too. This seems to remove attempts to give women a "mere biological destiny", and I think that's great! Later, there is also talk of the importance of the role and presence of women in the world of work, and in the organisation of society, which is good.

"As John Paul II has written, 'it willl redound to the credit of society to make it possible for a mother - without inhibiting her freedom, without psychological or practical discrimination and without penalising her as compared with other women - to devote herself to taking care of her children and educating them in accordance with their needs, which vary with age."

When I first read this, my thought was 'but what about enabling women to work?!', and it wasn't until I read a critique of the letter that I realised that this is far more relevant in developing countries where women work immensely long hours for very little money to try to sustain their family, than for women in the developed world, who generally have life far easier than that.

I liked the way in which it was made clear that the Church is a community, requiring the input of women and men; I also like the recognition that Mary is a fundamental reference in the Church.

"...the way of Christ is neither one of domination (cf. Phil. 2:6) nor of power as understood by the world (cf. Jn 18:36)."

I think that this is very important for the Christian community; if we strive to become more Christ-like - which we should be doing - then we will become closer to achieving a relationship between men and women that is "right" in the eyes of God; an equal relationship between men and women is shown to be the way of Christ.

"...one understands how the reservation of priestly ordination solely to men does not hamper in any way women's access to the heart of Christian life."

Well, I must say that I don't understand this. There has been so much good stuff said about women in the letter, and then this. I don't see why women shouldn't be priests. Perhaps I shouldn't say that, with wanting to be a nun, but it's what I think.

(All of the quotes above - ie. the bits in green - are from the Letter on the Collaboration of Men and Women in the Chruch, May 31st, 2004.)

Now, for the criticisms of the letter....

The one which branded the letter as disturbing (James' blog has a link to it somewhere...), I thought was silly. I don't think it was a disturbing letter. I also think the descriptions that this criticism gives of the letter were very over the top, totally blown out of proportion, and taken out of context. Not worth the time and energy it takes to read it, in my opinion.

I agree more with the article from the Tablet, which was much nicer about the letter, though obviously also had some criticism of it.

"Such observations could only be made by men who have no significant relationship with women and no knowledge of the enormous positive changes the women's rights movement has meant for both men and women."

I thought that this was, maybe, a little scathing, but I can see the point here. The letter talked about the importance and value of women in society and in the Church, but was there a woman involved in the writing of the letter? Well, no. Practise what you preach, gentlemen!

"The document was likely spurred on by the Church's desire to prevent the women in the Church and in the world (saying what they have to say) about feminism and gender."

I don't think so!

"... to damn this document as objectionable, chauvinist, and outdated, is crass. A thorough read reveals some surprising, and welcome thoughts."

Yes! I agree with this...

"A pity then, that the document does not give credit to the people who first began interpreting the Creation story in theis way - feminist theologians. A pity, too, that the document does not follow its own them - collaboration... And a pity too, for all the Vatican's increasingly enlightened thinking on the role of women in the world, its more familiar prejudices come shining through in its attitude to women in the Church itself."

I think that this is a very valid point, and is worth consideration.

"...there is no reason why more women cannot be appointed to senior positions in the Church, where priesthood is not a prerequisite."

I think that this is also very valid, and I think that this is something that should happen. Women should be senior in the Church.

(Since my last comment of this kind, the quotes - in green - are from an article in the Tablet by C Pepinster.)

OK, so there you have them, my thoughts on the Letter!

Today, I'm hungry, so yet again, I am not writing about the letter. Slapped wrist for me.

I have an appointment in Oxford (eyes again) in 3 weeks. The usual waiting list is 13 weeks, so 3 is pretty good going. I'm a bit nervous, but hopefully this time won't be a repeat of last time.

I think that at the start of term, I'm going to find it very hard to go back to the Chaplaincy - in some ways, I'm missing it a lot, and there have been times when I've been getting excited because it's only 5 weeks til the 1st Mass of the (academic) year... In other ways, though, I'm really going to miss Sacred Heart...

5 weeks today, & I won't have to get up for work!! How cool is that?!

I will eventually get around to telling you what I think about the letter on the collaboration of men and women in the Church - I promise! I've just had so little time and energy to do stuff recently...

This week, I've worked quite a lot, which is good, as it means that I get a rather bigger than usual pay cheque next week...

At the moment, I'm missing Maria a lot - she's been in Indonesia for a month now, and has about 6 weeks left until she comes back. Please could you pray for her - that it's going well, & that she's OK...(I haven't heard from her while she's been there, because she's staying somewhere very remote, so I'm just having to trust that God is keeping her safe...)

Today, I worked. I did lots of cleaning. I guess it's all part of being a cleaner. I think the oven cleaner's making holes in my hands though. I don't think that's a good thing.

Last night, I spoke to Zosh on the phone. I like phones... Most of the people I've been around all summer are blokes, and they don't seem to just chat as much as girls, so it was nice to chat to another girl.

I have to go home and finish reading Night Watch (Terry Pratchett) as I have to take it back to the library tomorrow. I like Terry Pratchett books, though I don't think Night Watch is his best. I prefer The Truth, or Equal Rites, or really any where Granny Weatherwax plays a large role! She rocks.

I am very silly. I went to my doctor with the primary intention of telling her what my consultant said on Thursday, but then forgot, and talked about my not so important reasons for going to see her instead. D'oh!

Today I got my letter from the orthopaedics department at the hospital, saying that I can have an appointment for my knee. Oh good. It went on to say that they will write to me again around 6 weeks before my appointment, and that it may be 17 weeks before I get an appointment. Not so good. That's like in December.

Today, I also had my hair cut. It's all short(ish). I like it. It goes a bit spiky/flicky at the back, which is cool.

Tomorrow, I'm going all the way to Warwick for an appointment with my eye consultant. My train's at 8:23 in the morning. I'm hoping that he'll actually do something, as I'll not be happy if he doesn't.

I had lots of thoughts about the letter about the collaboration of men and women in the Church (James mentioned it on his blog. Go there and follow his link). I didn't like the criticism of it that James didn't like. I thought it was over-critical, and sometimes wrongly critical.

I have things that I don't like much about the letter, but I have things that I like a lot, but I'm kind of tired now, so will write about them when I have more time and energy.

My brother's been here for a week, and goes home tomorrow. It's been good to have him here, though a week was long enough.

On Thursday, I have my appointment with my eye consultant, which I'm sort of looking forward to, as I feel that he has to do something, and will not let him get away with doing nothing.

On Saturday, I went to the zoo. I like the zoo.

Yesterday, we went to the beach. It was a bit rainy, but the beach is good in any weather.

I also introduced my brother to Devon Cream Teas - he was well impressed.

Well, my brother's here, with his girlfriend. They're quite sweet, and not really boyfriend & girlfriend-y - they're more just like friends...

There's been no washing up done in my house for ages. The bathroom hasn't been cleaned for ages either. I was waiting to see whether my housemates would do either of these things, but evidently not, as last time either of the said things were done, I did them.

It's kind of cool having my brother here, but kind of tough too...I'm realising how un-normal my life at home was. I don't see how I could have ever thought it was normal. You see, at the moment, I'm living with 2 13 year olds who are living with v abusive mothers...My brother doesn't seem to get it quite as bad as I did, but he gets it bad enough. He said that he hasn't been hit for a couple of months, but when that last happened, he had his head slammed in a door, and on a kitchen work top...That kind of thing used to happen to me at least a couple of times a week, and I used to just accept it as a normal part of life...

Well, I have a weekend off work. That's not actually a good thing. It means I've only worked 4 days this week, so haven't earned as much as usual.
 
Yesterday was quite a long day though - I worked for 6 hours...2 of them were spent cleaning up vomit. It was not nice. Today wasn't quite so bad...
 
Well, as I suspected, my grandmother had not sent my hospital appointment to me as soon as she should have done. I phoned the hospital, and my appointment should have been on the 19th of July. She can't even use the excuse that my post got lost, as she didn't post it til after that any way. So, my appointment is now on the 12th of August, so almost a month later. Thanks grandma.
 
Other than that, not much exciting is going on. I'm going out drinking tonight, & then on Sunday, I'm going to do a pub quiz at the Great Western with Mark and Dan and Norris...And my brother is coming on Monday night.
 
Please could you pray for my friend Paul (as in the one who came to Dartmoor with us) and his family, as his 4 year old nephew has leukemia...

Today is my day off work. Always a good thing...So, I didn't wake up until 8:45 this morning, which was just fab!
 
If you could all pray for Maria, that'd be great - she's flying to Indonesia today - she's a bit nervous...She's going to be there for just over 2 months working with a religious community there. I'm going to miss her loads...
 
I saw my social worker today too. She lent me a knife with a guard, so that I don't cut myself when I'm chopping things - Ella can borrow it too, if it'd help! I also have a signature guide, so that I can find where I have to sign on a receipt when I pay with my Switch card, & I have a white cane, so that when I'm out and about, I can use it if I need to. At the moment, I can't use it cos of the crutches, but it's in my bag anyway, as I'm trying to get used to the idea of having it.
 
I have also been summoned for jury service, which I'm not all that thrilled about. It's also very frustrating that my grandmother only posted my jury service letter to me yesterday, & I got it today, but my other post - which probably included a long awaited hospital appointment - that she posted last week, is still floating around somewhere between Southam and here...So, now I have to find my hospital's phone number, phone them, speak to about 6 different people to try to find out when my appointment is, probably to be told that I've missed it already. The joy.
 
There's a very big fly buzzing around. I can see it's legs & wings and everything. Usually, I can just see a black blob, but this one I can see in some detail. I've decided that just seeing a black blob where there's a fly is no great loss. After seeing this one, flies strike me as very ugly creatures.

My brother is thinking of buying my laptop off me, since I can't really use it any more, cos I can't see it & my new computer's better any way. It also works out a bit cheaper for him, as although I want some money, I don't want as much as computer companies do.
 
I'm thinking of buying a digital camera with the money he gives me for it - then I can join the world of James!

Well, today I finished work early, which is nice. I didn't have to be wicked witch of the west supervisor either, as I got a whole floor to myself, and didn't have to talk to anyone else all morning. Bonus.
 
Last night, I went to the Great Western with Mark, Norris and Dan. Mark, one minute was pretty sober, and the next was pretty unsober. It was funny. He just sat there sort of happily grinning at everyone.
 
Yesterday, I did a bit of sale shopping. It was fun. I bought a belt, so that my jeans don't fall down, and I bought a top, and a couple of other things too - & some fruit. I bought raspberries, cherries & nectarines. Fruit is good.

Well, today I have been at work. Again, I will be going to Saturday evening Mass, as I am working again tomorrow. Work today wasn't too bad. Only 4 hours - though I did have to send a girl home for just not doing as she was told, and telling me I'm not a supervisor. Grr.
 
Yesterday, I didn't work. It was my day off, & I went to Yeovil with L-T & did some dissertation research. It was fun.
 
Next week, my 13 year old brother is coming to stay. My mother is not taking him (or the 15 year old) on holiday, so I said that he could come & stay with me instead, even if Exeter isn't so much fun as Cyprus. He's coming for a week. I thought that he was bringing his friend Rob, which I was fine with, but last night, my mother informed me that he is, in fact, bringing his girlfriend. I'm not so enthralled with that one. But I didn't argue, since if I refuse to let him come with his girlfriend, he won't get a holiday at all.
 
My mother is also letting the 15 year old work all holiday. She doesn't see anything wrong with a 15 year old working at least 18 hours a week all summer. I'm afraid that I do. I think he should have at least one week off. I have my suspicions that he's actually working a lot more that 18 hours a week, which I wouldn't have thought is legal. So, any way, the 15 year old is not really having a proper holiday of any description this year. My mother is going to Cyprus with my step dad, my youngest brother & sister, and my 17 year old brother, who I'm sure will get the same joyous job that I did last year - that of babysitting. I'm thinking I'm far better away from it all. My mother's excuse for not taking the 15 & 13 year olds is that they don't behave at school; I personally think that it's because they'd cramp her style. She likes to have her cute little daughter (my 4 year old sister) and someone old enough to babysit around. My 4 year old sister is cute, & everyone loves her, so she's good, but she does need looking after, so a babysitter is good, so long as they don't talk or go anywhere near my mother, because then she can get on with doing her stuff, & ignoring all of her children, except when she wants something. So, any way, as usual, I'm not overly impressed with her.
 
I have my minidisc recorder. It's cool. It has a voice activation thingy, so that I can set it so that it only records when someone's talking. That's pretty funky!
 
Other than working, and dissertation research, and seeing my social worker, I'm not really doing much this week; so, like most people, my life's not v exciting right now.

Well, either today or tomorrow, I should have my minidisc recorder - yay!
 
Today, I worked with the same slow people as yesterday. Today, it took them 4 hours to clean a kitchen. It should have taken them an hour at most. While they did that, I stripped 12 beds, made 12 beds, emptied bins, cleaned 12 rooms, hoovered the whole flat, cleaned 2 toilets, 1 shower, 1 laundry room and one bathroom. Thankfully, I was sent to clean the flat with them at 9:00 this morning. If they had been alone, there would be a conference wanting to move in now, but they'd have no beds made, no rooms cleaned, or anything like that, because between them the other 2 may have  managed to clean 1 toilet.
 
This afternoon, I am meeting with 3 nuns for afternoon tea. It's kind of exciting.
 
Then, I'm doing nothing til tomorrow, when I will be working, and then spending the afternoon doing dissertation research, as I do on a Thursday.

Well, today I worked as usual. This week I'm thinking I might earn lots of money. I have been working 6 hours a day so far, & that means about £30 a day, which is nice.
 
I want a witch's hat. I had to do a mean wicked witch of the west supervisor talk today. There were 2 girls working on a floor of Lafrowda, and it took them 2 hours to make 6 beds and hoover 6 rooms. How? That's my question. So, I had to kind of tell them to get a move on, and how it really shouldn't have taken them that long, and were they sure that they had been actually working for the full 2 hours?!
 
Don't really know what I'm doing for the rest of today...Maybe some dissertation research, but I'm not sure.
 
Going home for food sounds a good plan. I need some printer paper & some food too, so I may have to go into town later.
 
I have chocolate hobnobs in my room...A whole packet! Mmmm - they're great.

Finally, the Italians have gone! They were annoying, they were everywhere, they were messy, and they were 15. It wasn't good. They finally moved out this morning - hooray! But, that did only leave us with about 4 hours to clean up their mess, and get all of the rooms ready for a conference, which just happens to be the Plymouth, Portsmouth, and Clifton Diocese conference, so we're hoping that as they're all nice Catholic types, they won't be quite so messy as Italian 15 year olds. I think the least that we can hope for is that they don't wet the bed, and that they don't use their showers as toilets (yes, the Italians did do both of these things).
 
I now have enough money to buy my minidisc recorder! Yay!! My LEA do buy it, but I have to buy it and then send them a receipt, and before now, I haven't had enough money (well, overdraft), to buy it, but now I do! So, I can buy it, and then send the receipt to my LEA, and they put the money back into my bank. Pretty cool, methinks!

I'm confused. I'm working. I'm supposedly earning money, but I never actually have any money.
 
Thankfully, I do have a cheque to pay into the bank, and should have another one on Thursday (wages) that between them cover my rent for the month. Always good. That gives me 2 weeks of the month to actually earn some money that won't just get spent straight away. That's a good thing. It means I'll have enough money to eat, and stuff too!
 
I need some chocolate. I always need chocolate after work (I've been working today), so I'm off to find some. Mmmmmmmm, chocolate!

I am still on crutches...The physiotherapist wouldn't take them away, but he did give me one with a hand rest the right way round for my left hand, so it doesn't hurt my hand/arm quite so much when I'm using them any more.

I met Rob's & Zosia's mummies! Yay!

I have to have keyhole surgery on my knee, to see if they can file down the ripped cartilage - doesn't sound much fun...But I guess if it stops it hurting, it's not too bad. I don't know how long it'll be til I get that though, and I could end up being on crutches til then...

Today is my day off work. Days off are good. I am working at the weekend though, but that does mean lots of money for me - always a good thing!

Well, I hate not having internet in my house. It means I have to come to campus to use it. It also means that it's really hard for me to see the computers, so I have to touchtype, and just hope that I'm not making too many spelling mistakes, as I can't see what's on the screen.

Hopefully, I will be getting rid of my crutches tomorrow. I have bruises on one arm from using them, & a big red mark on the other. They're also a pain when I need to carry anything.

I now have a social worker-y-type lady to help me with stuff to do with my eyes. She's nice. I now have orange stickers on things like the cooker & washing machine so that I know which settings are the ones that I use. She is, however, going to bring a white cane with her next time so I can have a look at it & decide whether I want one. I can't say that I'm to enthralled with the idea.

My pay has gone up. I'm now on £4.90 an hr as opposed to £4.55. Yay! I'm now also the supervisor of the casual staff! Yay again! Last week, I was doing a bit of supervisor type work, and asked some people to do something again, but they got cross, & told me that I wasn't worth as much as them, as I wasn't getting paid as much, and that I was only an undergrad...I'm now on the same money as them - they're all postgrads, and are inbetween 3 & 8 yrs older than me, and so were in the pay bracket above me, because they're older...But now, because I'm me(!) I get paid the same, & it's my job to tell them to do things again if they're not good enough...

I'm still finding Exeter kind of strange due to the general lack of people...But, I'm glad that I didn't go home for the summer. On Friday, I went to the Artful Dodger - it's nice, & cheap! On Sunday, Mark, Norris & I went to the Cowley - we wanted to do the pub quiz, but there wasn't one.

Does anyone know anything much about Canon Law? Do I have to pay off my student loan before I can make my vows as a Sister?

Please could you all pray...My great uncle hanged himself last week...I hadn't had any contact with him for 5 years - he's my father's uncle - but him & my great aunt sent me birthday cards until I was 16, so 5 years longer than any one else in my father's family, and because of that they've always been kind of special...So, prayers really would be appreciated...

Well, this is all a bit silly. I've been blogging, but it appears that my new blog entries aren't being published - at least I can't see them if they are?!

Well, it's a bit quiet in Exeter, but hey! Exeter's better than home. I saw a physiotherapist yesterday about my knee. As we really already knew, I do not have a pulled hamstring - I do have a torn ligament & possibly some cartilage damage, but my knee's too painful & inflamed for the physio to work out exactly what is wrong, so I have crutches to try to help things a bit. Hopefully I won't be on them for too long, as I have bruises on one hand and blisters on the other. I also have really bruised arms. Ah well, at least they're stopping my knee from being quite so painful!

Other than knees, work & dissertation, I haven't really been doing much. Going out for a drink for the 1st time since the end of term tonight!

Well, all is pretty quiet in Exeter. Most people have gone home, leaving just a few of the hardcore. It's very weird without Zosh & James. It will also be very weird not having Mass & CathSoc tonight.

This week, I have been cleaning. It's not too bad, but it is tiring. I have cleaned lots. Now, though, I'm not being sent off to help other cleaners, I'm being given other people to help me. It's cool. I have also been visiting a friend in hospital. She's as OK as you really can be when you need to be in hospital.

Other than that, I am still waiting for my pay cheque to clear, as I have no money until that happens - & the content of my cupboard is nothing worth writing about.

Other than work, I have been doing dissertation research. It's quite exciting really. I get to read cool books & speak to cool people.

Well, there's really not much more for me to say. What with no Mark at the moment either, I haven't been having many adventures...

Well, it's the last day of term, which means that pretty soon lots of cool people are disappearing.

I'm not disappearing, as I'm staying in Exeter all summer. Most of my time will be spent cleaning and doing dissertation research. At some point, I will be going home for a weekend or two, I'll probably also go to stay with my step dad in London, go to Wales for a weekend, & Barnstaple.

Today, work was easy. I did portering rather than cleaning, & it was a doss. Tomorrow won't be though. Tomorrow, we start spring cleaning after the students have left. Yay! No more grotty student kitchens to clean.

I have now added an infected finger and a potentially infected foot to my painful knee. My foot keeps weeping, but I have a plaster on it, & my finger appears to have a hole in it. The Theology Department Secretary told me to soak it in warm salt water, so I did. That got quite a lot of pus & blood out. I have a plaster on my finger too now.

I think that I'll go back to the Health Centre & see a nurse about my knee, my foot, and my finger next week...