Category: Life: Personal

I had today off work as a kinda holiday (due to the server migrations we’ve been doing, I’ve been putting in some serious overtime the last fortnight: around 3 hours every night) and managed to make an appointment next Wednesday (the 3^rd of December) to see my Doctor concerning a few health issues I’ve been slightly worried about. I hope it’s just a case of Psychosomatic Hypochondria which can be treated with a cause of Placebos ( 😉 ), but you never know. I suspect I’ve got high blood pressure as every weekend that I’m at my parents (which is every fortnight), I’ve been taking my BP and it’s been extremely high… Plus I’ve been having pains in my chest quite a bit recently and (especially for the last 2.5hours today), been feeling really “light headed” and like I’m about to faint (I haven’t yet though…).

Anyway, I was just downstairs reading a magazine whilst Zaphod (my “spare” computer) installs Linux and I thought I’d weigh myself (the “really interesting” article about “Posh Spice” – Victoria Beckham made me think of weight) so I got on my digital scales. 14stones. Aaargh – must be a mis-reading. Got off, got back on 11stone 2lbs. Ahh – that’s better, but that could be a mis-reading as well (as digital scales can be “funky” sometimes). Next three weighings all give 14stones exactly.

How the h-ll did that happen though? Last time I weight myself, I was 13stone 10lbs and loosing weight (around 2 months ago) so how on earth have I practically gained a stone in weight recently? That weight gain, combined with my height of 6ft 2in (yeah, I’m British but I still use good old Imperial measurements) puts me officially in the “Overweight” category (my Body Mass Index is 22.5). This is shocking! Especially for me as most of my life I’ve been in the “underweight” category…

*gulp*. I know I’ve been drinking a lot of Cola recently, eating sweets and having sugary foods such as pancakes, but still… And I’ve only been eating/drinking those cause I’ve felt thirsty and just really really felt like eating something like that (it makes me feel better – see previous entry).

I just hope the Doc’s got some good news, but the way things are looking I’ve probably got the onset of diabetes or something similar. Gak.

Whilst I’m logged into Richy’s Random Ramblings content management side 😉 and in the “Aid to Memory” train of thought – I thought I’d just note down this Pancake recipe. Ok, it’s months away to Shrove Tuesday (the traditional time for Pancakes), but I really like Pancakes but can never seem to have a recipe to hand – but no more… 😉

Anyway – the recipe should make 12 pancakes, but I managed to squeeze just 3 out of the ingredients (saying that, packets of “batter mix” which say 8 pancakes gives me 3 pancakes as well so…)

This is a “quick and simple” recipe so don’t expect “perfect pancakes” from it(!)

You will need: Around 100g of plain flour (3.5oz), 1 egg, half a pint of milk (300ml), a little bit of salt and some butter or frying oil.

1. Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Make a well in the middle and add the egg
2. Mix and add the milk until the batter is smooth
3. Warm up frying pan and coat the base lightly with oil/grease/butter. Add batter to cover base of frying pan. Cook until the pancake moves freely (around a minute). Flip pancake over (or toss it if you are feeling daring). Cook again until golden (around 30/45 seconds).
4. Serve with sugar (yum) and lemon juice
5. Eat pancake whilst cooking the next one: repeat until batter runs out then make some more 😉

Last night (Saturday), I went out “on the town” for what I think is the first time this year (yep, it’s already November!). Started getting ready around 6pm (bath, have dinner, shave, have hair wash, shave again, get trousers on, shave annoying bits I’ve missed again, get shirt on, use razor yet again), just missed the 10pm bus so I had to walk into town (it’s was chilly, but not cold): got into town and then went to the Creation nightclub on Churchgate in Leicester (Churchgate is practically all pubs and clubs down one side). Spent around 45 minutes in there having 2 “Red Square” Vodka bottle drinks and then headed home (since it was raining I caught a taxi).

Blarg! Seems a bit of a waste doesn’t it! I think I spent more time travelling that actually time at the nightclub: but it was very packed and I just wasn’t too much in the mood: plus going on your own isn’t that “fun” either. I need to get out more!

Right, any posts I make within the next couple of hours may not make any sense as I’m currently slightly drunk (say practically a whole bottle of Port without much food). Why have I got drunk on a “school night”? Well, it wasn’t intentional – I just had a bit of “middling news” over the weekend which has only just really hit home.

Basically – and without saying too much – certain medical conditions can be hereditary and others are “not yet known if they could be hereditary or not”. I’ve been aware that I’ve been running a “slightly higher than average” case of suffering from a certain condition due to heritage for a couple of years now, but I was informed on Saturday that something that I thought was “one-sided” of my family tree wasn’t to be. A quick test conducted on Saturday afternoon indicated that, yes, I do appear to be already suffering from that condition – even though I’m only 24. (and, yes, I’m being intentionally vague as it’s slightly private but I just want to get it off my chest: the whole reason for this blog).

And if that isn’t enough to contend with, I stand a “higher than average risk” of suffering from a number of other conditions – and to compound it all, there was quite a bit of news coverage on Sunday evening/night about two other males suffering from the “primary condition”. B-gger.

I hope this is just ramblings of a drunkard (my subconscious does actually control my “ability to get drunk” – if I’m happy and with friends, then I cannot get drunk no matter how hard I try: my body just won’t let me drink any more :- whereas if something is playing on my mind, I just gradually get drunk until the matter arises in my main consciousness) and that I’m just suffering from a bout of acute hypochondria – but… *gulp*.

Blarg! Sometimes I hate being me!

All my personal telephone numbers have been registered with The Telephone Preference Service for some time, but today I received a recorded advertising message which has just p–ed me off. I’ve reported it to TPS and to ICSTIS (the UK regulator of premium rate numbers) with the following message:

On 15th September 2003 at 19.29BST, I received a recorded (female voice) telephone call to my home residential number (that is listed with the Telephone Preference Service).

The message said I had won a £1000 prize award (well, my telephone number had) and that I had to call 0906 638 9992 at £1.50 per minute (call last 7 minutes) to claim the £1000 award. For terms and conditions, I was to see www.moreflights.net (may be incorrect) or write to PO Box 6017, Basingstoke, RG21 4BZ.

It’s bad enough that I was called whilst my number is listed on the TPS, it’s twice as bad that it was a recorded message that had no human operator at the other end, third that I had just got to sleep after an extremely long and hard shift at work, fourthly that it was advertising a premium rate phone number and fifthly that it’s probably a “rip-off/con”!

I hope this company (which failed to give a name, details of where they had got my number – apart from ‘randomly chosen’ or any other identifying information) gets massively fined and shut down!