Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes, they were much appreciated!! My party went fairly well, and it was great seeing people I hadn’t seen for ages. A few ups and downs though, but that’s only to be expected. Unfortunately I was still ill, and 2 full days and nights of socialising pretty much knocked me out. The first person to arrive (Sarah) came on Friday lunchtime; the last person to leave (Lindsey) did so around 7pm Sunday evening. Whew. My symptoms kind of changed into an awful cough and sore throat, puffy eyes and complete loss of appetite and taste (I lost around 7 pounds). The worst thing was when I nearly blacked out on the bus the weekend after. Even though I’d only been standing for around 15 mins, I went completely (and I mean pitch blackness, couldn’t even see outlines) blind. It was really scary, I literally could not see the bus step in order to get off. Thankfully once I got off and sat down at the bus stop for a while, things came fuzzily into focus. But it was frightening. Luckily I was with Joey, who has put up with my illness with incredible patience, doing everything from buying groceries to helping me get home <3 I know it was bad because I never get ill; the last time was chicken pox when I was 11. This time, I took 2 glasses of water to bed a night, and had one by my bed all day because once I got upstairs I needed a drink. I went to a society thing and actually fell asleep in it about 9pm, lol. Even though I was drinking probably 3-4 litres of water a day at least, I was still dehydrated. Ugh.

So when my parents came on Monday 10th for my birthday, they were immediately like, ‘OMG you look horrible!’. I love my family, they don’t even say hi. They knew I was ill from phonecalls, but they were pretty shocked at how I looked. (I put the photos of my party nights on FB, and I do look pretty rough). They forced me down to the pharmacy and seemed amazed that I’d been carrying on going to my lectures (I couldn’t walk the whole 25 mins there in one go; it took me between 40 mins and an hour to get there, some days), plus I’d been writing an essay. I don’t know, it just never occurred to me to rest in bed or anything. I justtried to carry on through it, withincreasing frustration at how weak I felt and how it was a lot of effort to go anywhere *sigh*.

On the plus side, my family brought me lots of presents, including a gorgeous new laptop (I bought a lovely red bag for it with Christmas money the other day), Wii games and Tiffany jewellery. And lots of other things: a jewellery box, a cake, and lots of other things. I was actually kind of amazed that they’d spent so much, but they kept saying ‘Well, it is your 21st’. Needless to say, they pulled out the whole ‘Well, you got a lot for your birthday’ crap this Christmas :p

I was going to submit an extenuating circumstances form for the essay I had due in on 13th, but I read the form and there’s no guarantee they’ll make an exception for me. Plus I went to the doctor’s, and apparently there was no name for what I had, my body was fighting it off anyway, so I doubt uni would’ve accepted it. Luckily I managed to get in touch with Em, my Sheffield Uni English buddy from college, and she spent a lot of time going through my essay, persuading me that it wasn’t that bad, and generally making really helpful comments. So after staying up all night on the 12th, and missing my Chaucer seminar the next day (hey, it’s the first I’ve missed this year, and maybe the 3rd I’ve missed in 3 years!), I managed to get it in, and I’m relaitvely happy with it thanks to Em <3

Fast forward to the 15th, official finishing day for Christmas. I’d finished lectures the day before, but decided to stay a few extra days to get some work done. Needless to say that didn’t happen; my friends distracted me, I was still ill, and I didn’t really have the energy. I managed to spend a couple of hours in the library doing some essential reading for my Chaucer essay, so I should be okay. I went home to Manchester on the 18th I think – the 17th I went to the cinema with Joey, Tabi and Rich to see The Golden Compass, which I thought was really good (but my sister apparently hates it). We were the only people in the cinema which was kind of creepy at first. Oh, and I spet £3.95 on a Ben and Jerry’s milkshake (made from their ice cream) which tasted awful. Ugh.

Christmas was good; I was a bit worried as I hadn’t managed to get a present for my dad, but got some last minute so it was all good. A calendar with family pics for every month, if anyone’s interested I got my mum random Christmas related stuff coz she really loves it, plus two gorgeous hand-painted German candle holders. My sister got High School Musical on Ice tickets (gotta love ebay – I had to pay double price coz I bought them so late though). I got the standard socks, chocolate, books etc. plus a Wii game and some Wii stuff, money, bath stuff, a new toothbrush, vouchers, and other bits and pieces. I was going to give the most random present award to my mum; she bought my sister an electric guitar for no apparent reason, lol. However, a friend of the family came over a couple of days ago and said her dad’s girlfriend had bought him a cow for Christmas. A cow. In suburban Manchester. They’re keeping it in the back garden. I have no idea how old it is (it’s full size though), but for some reason I seem to think that cows live for about 24 years? Intense.

Boxing Day we went to the Trafford Centre – there were no car parking spaces left, and there are 10,000 of them – it was pretty mad inside. I got some good bargains though – Lush bath stuff, my laptop bag, random presents for people,  two new tops.

So where am I now? I have two massive essays to write. One is about 85% finished; the other I still need to start and am stressing slightly about. I’m a lot less stressed than I was though, because I’ve been inspired by a text and I know roughly what topic I’m going to write about. I think it’s just a case of reading lots and getting my head down.Not for long though, because I’m going to Birmingham to see graduated uni friends for New Year, and hopefully I’ll see some more old school/college friends before I go back to Nottingham. Term starts on the 7th, I have essays due the 10th and 14th, and I have an exam (the Saturday between the two at 4:30 pm. What the hell is up with that?).

Oh, and sadness. One of my old English teachers from college, who has cancer, is apparently getting more ill. My sister told me he’s quit teaching for now, which is really upsetting. He’s incredibly talented as well as intelligent, and everyone likes him.

Additionally, two of my closest friends at Nottingham have ended their relationship, which, whilst obviously nowhere near as upsetting for me as it is for them, still worries and upsets me. I really hope they’re both going to be okay.

I feel quite guilty in a way, and realise how lucky I am right now. Blergh, I’ve ended on such a depressing note. Sorry about that :/

21 today.

 But I’m still ill

xx

Ugh, I’m ill at the moment. This happens maybe once a year, but like I think I said previously, I just get a sore throat which lasts ages.

This time started with bags under my eyes. Assuming it was from lack of sleep (which makes sense, since I’ve been up late working on an essay due the 13th), I just went to bed earlier.

The next day I woke up with a very fuzzy head, dry mouth and cough, which I put down to sleeping with my mouth open. Additionally, my eyes were very sensitive to light. As the day progressed, I gradually got worse and worse. I opted to stay indoors all day to do work (ha), and by the time 9pm came round, I had really bad back- and sideache, a worse cough, suitcases under my eyes and shooting pains through random parts of my body. My previously fuzzy head got very temperamental, and decided it was going to make me go all dizzy and weird if I moved about too much. So it took me about 5 mins just to get upstairs.

I went to bed about 10pm, after taking paracetamol – I have to be practically dying to take ANYTHING, so it was bad. I was wearing pyjamas and curled up under the duvet as I normally do…ten minutes later I was breaking out into a sweat. You would’ve thought I was wearing about 15 layers on the hottest day of the year. However, my hands and feet were freezing cold for a while, then they rapidly became as hot as my head. Obviously I was ridiculously uncomfortable, and my forehead felt like it was on fire. Definitely a temperature, though I don’t have a thermometer so I have no idea how high it was. 

I managed to open the window in my half-conscious state, and shifted over to the cooler side of the bed and pillows, eventually falling asleep. Perhaps fresh air was all I needed; I woke up this morning and my head is still slightly dodgy, my eyes are bad, and I still have a very small, dulled pain and a dry mouth and cough, but normal temp. (I assume), and my head and eyes are way better. 

My 21st birthday party is tomorrow, and Saturday, and probably Sunday morning, and my family are coming to visit me for my actual birthday on Monday, so I need to hurry up and get completely better!