OT OT OT!

This is all I have achieved today - REVISION!!!! Poster, proforma and attempting to write for an hour and answer a question.

But...On the plus side, these tweets made me happy/proud of my blog.

This links to this post.

From a fellow twitter 'friend' & #OTalk participant. Thanks!

Avoiding Katie's allocated hour of reality TV, so perusing my social media accounts and taking part in #OTalk...Meeting my goal, wahaay!! 

xx

Job interview

Ok, so as promised....

My interview was on Wednesday so on the Tuesday night I drove up to stay with Kim. The drive up was fun, lots of Michael Jackson playing on the radio that day, and apart from the minor mishap when a lorry cut across 3 lanes and I saw my life flash before me whilst on the M6, it was a nice drive.

I had done a fair bit of prep; I knew about the hospital and the initiatives there and had some idea about the structure of the team. I also reread key policy and legislation and made sure I got my head around the changes due to take place on April 1st, as well as key guidance linked to the area of practice. I also trawled recuitment sites and found the 'typically asked interview questions' in order to prepare answers for those, in case I got tongue tied or my mind went blank, and finally I thought of some questions to ask the interviewers that weren't the usual clichés.  The day before I reread all of that, and got my self into the right frame of mind: Positive thinking. I had a quick inspirational chat with myself in the mirror, affirming that I was ready for the interview, I knew my stuff and I am a capable and passionate OT. Then I went out for dinner!!

During dinner we chatted about the NHS and bits and pieces and I was given advice on interview questions, how to answer etc and it really put my mind at ease.

In the morning, as per usual, cue outfit change. But thankfully I was with someone who has an abundance of beautiful and smart dresses...so it wasn't an issue.

My satnav decided to take me a different way to the hospital than I had planned, which threw me but it was an adventure, 'Jane' got me there safely, it was fine.

I was early. I like being early. I handed in my IDs for photocopying and waited. I reread my notes and had an idea of what was in my portfolio and double checked all of that against the job description. 

"Breathe, just remember to breathe"

That was the best advice I was given. 

I had been told to plan for being there 9-5.  The interviewers came down and explained how the day was going to work. Firstly, in the morning, there was the tasks. I was verbally presented case studies and asked how I would respond, there was 3 questions; and I was give an 'article' and had 4 questions on that. Pretty standard stuff, and wasn't too difficult. After all the candidates had completed the tasks, individual feedback was given. I scored 4/4 on the article and 7/11 on the case study (I sneaked a peak at the notes when the feedback was being given).  On the day there was 5 candidates, 2 had not arrived, and it was the second day of interviews. In total I think about 15 were short listed  there was 2 posts. After lunch we were told if we were successful and had progressed onto the panel interview.

At this point, I was happy if I went home, it had been a very positive experience, and would prepare me for future interviews well. 4/5 people went on to the panel interview.

The panel interview was 30 mins long. There were three interviewers; two specialist OTs and the Head of therapy. Each asked 3 questions. I was confident with the answers for 8 of them, and fluffed up answering 1 of them. At the end I asked my questions and had a discussion about some topics that arose from my questions, thanked them and left. By this point I was feeling very happy and positive. I had learned a lot about my self in terms of how I cope in stressful situations, about the types of questions, and I realised that on the spur of the moment all sorts of information I didn't know I knew popped into my head.

I paid my massive car parking charge and drove back to the cotswolds. The first song on the radio as I left the hospital? MJ - Man in the mirror. As Katie always says 'make that change'... It felt like I was on the way to doing so. Reflecting on the day during the drive I realised that this was one of the moments I had been waiting for the past 3 years.

I got home to be greeted with lovely lemon muffins made by Katie, and I hadn't even had the chance to have a cup of tea before I got a phonecall - I got the job!

It's strange, I haven't finished the course, qualified or graduated yet, but I have a job. Awesome!!!


xx

A stressed student's diet.

Mine mainly consists of Digestive biscuits. And cheese. And soup.

To be fair, apart from all the tea and biscuits, and the amount of cheese, my diet is very balanced and healthy. Katie is a vegetarian, and whilst most of her meals are yummy, and colourful, I have taken a dislike to lentils.

Her 'salad':

It may be healthy, but it is ugly and gross looking. 

Also, we bought matching awesome lunch boxes. I really like mine, I keep showing it to people. We have got compliments from random people at uni about how cute they are. 

I really enjoy making my lunch every day now. The combinations are endless. 

xx

My new favourite occupation.

My new favourite occupation, that is meaningful to me is creeping out Katie; intensively staring at her until we make eye contact and watching the face she pulls, and jumping out from places and making her squeal like a little girl.

It is hilarious. She can't help but laugh.

#OThumour. #Creepy

xx

A whole month in the Bungalow tomorrow.

It really doesn't feel like we've been living here for a month!! Or that we have been back at uni for 4 weeks! We've really settled into life in the cotswolds, it's my favourite place I've lived so far in these past 3 years.

Uni has become a lot of work, a lot more than before. Although we are only in 3 days a week,  we have hours of pre and post seminar reading and tasks to complete. As well as the dreaded dissertation.

Ben came up this weekend, which was lovely. He arrived quite late on Friday evening, so we had fish and chips and he got to know Katie a little bit. We were going to Cheltenham on Saturday until I had a reaction whilst driving and had to turn round and drive back as I felt too unwell, which ruined the day a bit. We met Suzanne & her husband and friends in the pub for a couple and went to see their cats, which was an unexpected event. Sunday was spent in bourton-on-the-water which is really beautiful.

I feel so naughty taking time off from doing uni work, the guilt is enough to spur me on to finish the next chapter of my dissertation!!!

xx

I love Sunday mornings

I get to have a lay in, I get up, have breakfast and coffee with Katie, casually do zumba for 30 minutes in our lounge... It's pretty awesome.

I submitted the first 3 chapters of my dissertation for feedback on Friday, so until I receive the feedback I am taking a break from it for a few days. I am trying to get all my post and prep  work done over the weekend for the week ahead, leaving me time in the evenings for dissertation and post work. Or going swimming.

I'm trying to ensure that I get occupational balance in these last few months because it has already become stressful with us all feeling that there aren't enough hours in the day. So for me that means ensuring I get time to vent and reflect with the girls (usually on the drive home everyday), spending time catching up with people (by phone or skype), going for a swim, doing an exercise video, going jogging or cooking. I don't want OT and the dissertation to take over my life.

We've been told we need to start applying for jobs soon... Which is a scary thought!! I've joined NHS jobs, and have been looking at local government jobs too. It feels weird as for 3 years all I've wanted to do was just hurry up and be an OT and now I'm soon to no longer be a baby OT it scares me.

On a completely different subject, I made parsnip soup yesterday with the vegetables Suzanne grew in her allotment. It's yummy!!!!

xx

Dissertation - eughhhhhhhhhhhhh

I am getting there. Sloooowwlyyy!!!! I said to Katie earlier that my email signature should now read : Lucie - Expert in pain. She told me that sounds like a wrestlers tagline.

I saw this picture and it felt kinda apt.

xx

It's snowed!

Which means that dissertation work has taken a back seat.

oops.

xx

I've moved! (photo heavy post)

I've moved, finally. And am now living in the cotswolds with Katie (my 'wife') in a lovely little bungalow in a peaceful residential area in a beautiful town, and near to a dear friend of ours.

Yesterday I drove up (first time driving on 'the mainland' or a motorway) by myself, car all packed up. The journey didn't have the best of starts, as whilst parked up at the ferry my battery went flat. I was about 3 seconds from crying, when my dad magically appeared to say goodbye, and I felt slightly less stressed that he was there, and the red funnel guys jump started my car with their magic pack thing and I was all set to go. And I didn't cry. I got to park on the lower deck with all the lorries just in case the battery went again, which it didn't!

I was all ready to go; I had my AA cover, I knew the route, I had a map, and a sat nav, a full tank of petrol, and fluid levels all checked. I felt confident about getting out of Southampton as I had previously navigated for a friend and my dad talked me through it as we went to pick up my sister, which was so helpful in me feeling calm and not stressed. Before I knew it I was onto the A34 and then the A44 without the help of the sat nav - as I had memorised the junction numbers, and route! Once onto the A44 I recognised the route as I had gone that way so many times in the car with the girls. It was a tad on the icy side as I came down towards the town, and for one brief moment when I hit ice I panicked, but other than that it was a lovely easy, stress free journey. I was surprised at my lil car and how well she did. I was worried I'd be sat with the lorries, but she sat at 70 and above comfortably, and although she was a little noisy, and struggled slightly on steep inclined, I enjoyed the journey. Coming into the town and into the close where we now live, meant driving on snow, which I had been taught how to do last year (bearing in mind, the isle of wight rarely gets snow), and had the chance to practice as we have had minus temps and snow the last few days; which was also fine. It took me 2 hours there about from Southampton to our house, 97.2 miles. I still have a near full tank of petrol - I still have 5/6 bars on the petrol gauge.

We signed the contracts with the quirky (and that's being kind) estate agent, Katie's mum helped us unpack the bags from the car, and then we said goodbye. We spend the afternoon sorting the rooms out before venturing off to find the Tesco.  We had a celebratory dinner of Pizza, Cheesecake and Asti, and watching Midsommer Murders. Perfect!!!

Today I drove to Cheltenham. Yay!

My kingsize bed

The shower

The lounge, with the throws.

Katie, in the kitchen.

Our 'desk' and the drinks cabinet.

Katie's tiny room.

xx

Cookies! (& christmas things!)

This is my current facebook photo. This was also last years photo. It still makes me laugh even now!!!

The Cookies...

When I went to Oxford we had a wonderfully twee pre christmas weekend, where we made mulled cider, and had mince pies, baked reindeer cookies and watched the Christmas Carol in bed, and went to the christmas show at earls court and went around all the department stores and looked at the lights on Oxford street. And I've remade the cookies as my contribution for my shared leaving lunch tomorrow. 

Reading my old posts

My more OT related posts, and I came across these beauties. Firstly, dated 19/12/2011, 17:40:

"I think I've developed a pressure sore.
And perhaps a contracture or two.
I'm definitely occupationally isolated and possibly suffering occupationally deprivation too.
My eyesight is getting worse, 10 hours staring at a screen everyday leaves me feeling that my brain is about to explode and my eyes will bleed.
I sometimes forget to eat, and my usual hygiene habits have gone out the window.
I increasingly find myself daydreaming about alcohol, and I only sleep for 4-6 hours a night.
THIS IS WHY UNIVERSITY IS NOT GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH!!!
(On the plus side I have a far greater knowledge on research methods, traumatic brain injury and of c5 spinal cord injuries)"

And secondly this post on Occupational balance. 

I've been thinking more reflectively recently, and as a result of this I've realised I have increased my reflexive thinking abilities about ten fold since I started this placement - (anyone see what I did there?!). And currently whilst I feel during the week I am not achieving a particularly great occupation balance, and in fact I feel quite deprived due to the distance I am from others, lack of an income etc, I am feeling very positive about the whole situation and in fact think I am achieving flow - that my level of challenge is matched equally to my skill level. And really, overall, taking into consideration the weekends and the fact I meet on an almost weekly basis with some of my OT ladies, that in fact I am quite occupationally balanced.
(I like saying in fact. Sorry!) (I also like brackets...and '!'s.)

I have learnt a lot from my training, and my placements, and now I am in a position that I can switch off once I have left work for the day (unless I decide to complete placement paperwork in the evenings). I am thoroughly enjoying the place I am in now and feel I am in that inbetweeny stage when I am no longer a baby OT,  and not yet a fully qualified professional ready to be thrown to the wolves (or patients - sometimes one and the same :p) . But I am there, teetering on the edge, toeing that line where I have reached that skill level where I can practice autonomously. And the feeling? Well, if I'm honest, it's pretty awesome. And yeah, I've gotta admit, I am LOVING MY LIFE right now.

Bring on semester 2, I will conquer you dissertation, and I will be spending my third year at uni, my last 5 or so months living and breathing and OT, geeking it up with my ladies in casa del chums.

xx
(P.s. I like using words that aren't *technically* real, such as 'inbetweeny') xx

Lovely weekend with the 'wife'

Katie is my wife. We decided this due to our slightly clingy and boundaryless friendship. It works well for us both.
Saturday we went to Windsor. It was sunny, and warm(ish), and it's a pretty place. We mooched around the town and got some lunch, did some shopping and vented about placement etc. It was lovely. I bought a couple of bits in tkmaxx, and now I've gotten brave (I'm totally over my fear of unordered shops -such as tkmaxx, and getting on the tube unaccompanied) I think I may shop there more often. I bought a lacy long sleeved black top and a big cream cardi, which I've named my polar bear top, it's warm and snuggly and looks polar bear like, yep!

Today we met in central london, and had a mooch about. Went to Harrods and had a look around, which was exciting in itself, and then we went into Christmas world. Oh my god. I was so excited!!!!!!!!!!! IT WAS AMAZING. Obviously we had lunch again, because all my friendships revolve around food. It was a shame Tracie couldn't join us, but I think she has whatever germs I picked up recently as I haven't felt good all week, and am only just starting to now.

**Posting lots of entries I have written, but not posted.


xx

First week is over!

13 more to go!
I have successfully navigated my way to and from work, and survived both the Stratford centre and the Westfield. I have enjoyed every day of placement and am settling in well (placement entry will be written tomorrow). I think I avoided getting mugged. I got on the tube by my self (yay). I had a night out in Stratford, I found a pub called 'goose' (an in joke) and I witnessed Ben and G's synchronised dance moves. Oh and won a limbo competition. I've seen Big ben and the sealife centre. I've watched the paralympics in the park on the big screens on my lunch breaks. I spent my first weekend up here with Ben, and I ended my first week up here with a day in Oxford with Katie and Tracie.

Today was lovely. I was brave and got on the tube on my own, turns out it's fine. As long as it's not busy. I somehow arrived an hour early to meet Katie, but that was ok and we started our mini road trip to Oxford early. En-route received a text from Michael about an open day an Oxfam House, so we went via there and had a nice time looking at the exhibitions etc. And it was lovely to see him too!
We met Tracie's sisters lil dogs which I creatively named 'cat dog' and 'afro dog'. We had a tour around our future home, and loved it. Dined al fresco in the garden, and went for a walk in a nature reserve. It was lovely.

We've planned a night out to celebrate my 21st. Super excited!!

xx

Girlie weekend in the Cotswolds

It was lovely! We organised it as out half way point meet up/ celebration that we're still going/break from the work. We all met up at Suzanne's lovely flat in the beautiful Cotswolds. Katie, Tracie and Sumo (her dog) and I all arrived separately before heading out on a little walk around the lovely village. We all bought bits and pieces as we were having a girlie evening with cocktails (and tonnes of junk food, fish and chips for dinner and cake, lots of lovely cake!).

This is us in Bourton on the Water. We look superimposed into that
beautiful background. (I also look like I am attempting the michael
Jackson lean!)

On Sunday we had a rather lazy day and went for a walk through Bourton on the Water, which is sooo pretty! And dog friendly so Sumo loved it! We even stopped for an ice cream by a duck pond. 

It was so nice and relaxing just to unwind and be able to vent with people that knew exactly what I was on about, which was really nice!

Thank you to all of you lovely ladies (& Sumo) I had such a lovely time, and I'm looking forward to seeing you all again in may! :D 

xxx

I went for a picnic in Oxford yesterday.

Katie, Sumo (Tracie's dog) and I...And our massive feast!

I had a really nice day with the girls, just sat chilling in the park. Sumo got a bit bored and got a little cheeky, i.e. running off with his box of sausages haha.

Today the weather is just as nice, but as I know no one in reading I'm stuck in my tiny room, an I'm climbing the walls :(. It's days like this I really hate placement. I can't even relieve my boredom by doing shopping, as I'm too poor for that. So instead I've done all my washing, tidied and hoovered. and done research and work for next week :s. 

This course best be worth it at the end...

Since my previous post I have received an email telling me that myself and 11 other students have not been allocated a placement (at which point I got rather angry, then stressed and eventually upset). But seeing as this is out of my control I will sit and wait it out, fingers crossed they find me a placement, and I'm the first one to receive it as, of course, I am the most important (I joke...seriously though.. come one!). So as a distraction I have had a rather productive day today.

I got up due to being rudely bothered with lots of texts from my lovely friends as I was trying to enjoy my lie-in, so I did two loads of washing, I hoovered and tidied my room, which took not very long considering how small it is! Then I packed, and realised I still have too much stuff and will have to leave some at Katie's to pick up in May. I then posted three birthday cards, and sent one happy birthday text. Decided to finish off my two essays and the have a bath. I enjoy baths, I shall miss having one most nights. I'm also glad I don't pay the water bill :D. Katie and I then walked to uni, and printed off both essays, and considering how good we were, decided to trek up to marston rd and hand them in (two days early, such OT geeks). Also popped in to see and say goodbye to Jas and Victoria, might be a while til I see my little strange children again, oops forgot to say bye to Marco, but I'm sure he won't mind. Stopped off to collect a package, and run some errands on the way home and finally managed to get home, hours after setting off. Feeling rather pleased with my efforts today, so I shall treat myself to some trashy Wednesday night TV. 

Tomorrow is the practice placement day, where we have to fill in a bunch of forms, might meet (if you've got one) your practice educator, and just do general stuff to do with placement. Although it feels pointless me going, I shall remain positive in the hope that there's good news for me tomorrow! I really hope so as I am running down the battery on my blackberry because I am constantly logging into, and refreshing my gmail. Which is a bit of a pain! 

Home friday, yay...I think. Be happier if I knew I had a placement to set off for on the 12th. 

xx

OT christmas dinner!

My OT girls.
(For my Family, to prove I have friends, haha!)

7 of us, all in dresses and heels. First time we'd all managed to get together to do something other than coffee.
The pub was nice, and the food was brilliant. 3 courses for £15, not bad at all, and a free Bottle of prosecco!
Had a pint with my xmas dinner (well, so did everyone else), turns out Peroni goes well with Turkey! The only thing I didn't like was the Pigs in blankets, :( which are usually the highlight of my xmas dinner!

The secret santa was brilliant, and everyone loved their presents. Even by the end of it we knew mostly who had who, or could make a pretty good guess. My present from Jen was a mini bottle of bubbly and some chocolates, perfect! Got some great photos, and some pretty awful ones too!! (I need to get around to buying a new camera...and straighteners, the list is as long as my arm!)

I don't think I've had that much fun, or laughed that much in ages!! It was so nice to be surrounded by people that know what I'm on about when I get all OT-geeky, and get my slightly odd sense of humour, and are all so fun. Plus all we ever talk about is food or xmas, so this was perfect!

Walked to and from the pub, which was amazing considering we were in heels! and stopped off for a cheeky cocktail on the way home.  Absolutely fab night, thank you ladies!!! xx

The best weekend ever!!!

It really was!!!
I spent Thursday night at Casa del Jammin, where we put the Christmas tree up, and decorated it, listening to christmassy songs, and watched Christmas films, and were joined by Kate and Victoria intermittently. Stayed up talking with Jas in bed until the early morning, and crashed there as I didn't want to walk home!
Woke up to the news of the first round of act announcements for the iow festy, and then remembered I was seeing Seth Lakeman that evening - best morning ever!
So we (Katie, Suzanne and I) managed to actually sit through 3 hours of Research methods without running off in excitement! Suzanne drove us to her flat in Moreten-in-marsh, which I absolutely adore!!! Where we had dinner before getting ready to drive to Cheltenham.

Christmas songs and Seth songs in the car...and a little detour, it was fun! I was so excited when we got there, but I was right, most of the audience were middle aged men! haha.
The support act wasn't great - she had a good singing voice but played weird instruments that kinda made groaning noises, which we didn't enjoy.


Seth came on, woah was amazing! All the band are fantastic, especially the double Bass player. There were a few hiccups with the sound system but it was the first night of the tour. He played lots of new material, and revamped a few of the older songs. He played a couple of my favourites, but missed out loads I'd love to hear him play again. He played Kitty Jay (see video above), and it was absolutely bloody amazing! Even though the strings of the bow broke he continued to play, it was awesome! The hour and a half he played seemed to go so quickly, I couldn't believe it when they played the encore. But he then announced he'd be going out to have a chat with the fans and sign Cds.

'Love Seth' My signed Cd.

Got out to the merchandise table, and grabbed a CD, and looked up and there he was smiling away and chatting to the lady in front of me. Think I had a 'moment' with seth. Even though I just stared, mouth open, possibly dribbling. Even when he said 'Hi, how are you?' I was still stood there open mouthed, dribbling. And,then he signed my cd. Amazing! I was totally star stuck it was crazy haha. Katie and Suzanne said they were surprised at how short he was!

My yummy treacle tart. 

Saturday morning we spent on the sofa watching TV and drinking tea, before heading out to nose in all the little shops. We had a lovely day walking around, and got the yummiest pastries from a café. Then got the train back to Oxford.

Today I did a bit more xmas shopping and looked around the market in the Castle, with all the lights and the carol singers it was brilliant!

xx

Been so busy!

Excluding the weekend I went via Kim and Michael's (thank you it was a lovely night) to the IOW (Dinner was lovely Nanny!) to Portsmouth (Hope you had a lovely day Freya) for Freya's party, I have been in my room like a recluse writing and revising.
18 hours at uni last week, along with 2 meetings, were the only time I wasn't sat in my room working.
Up until now, I have spend 32 hours on just writing my Partnership essay and I think it's finally done! But I will take it to the Upgrade service in the library just to have it looked at before hand in. Now this isn't me leaving things until the last minute - The essay is due Friday, this is just it taking this long to write. I started the research for it the day it was set, which was way back in September.

Xmas tree at the gates

I can honestly say however, I have tried my best, I have worked so blimmin hard on it, I have researched and referenced and appendicised (I don't even think that's a word) to the best of my ability and now I. AM.  DONE!

Yesterday Katie, Suzanne and I went to Blenheim palace as a pre-christmas, essay writing break.
It was lovely! We had roast chestnuts, and sampled all these christmassy drinks and foods, and looked at all these wonderful christmassy gifts, the only thing that was missing was Christmas music. Blenheim palace itself is beautiful and the gardens and the views are too!
We didn't realise that the Crafts fair was going to be held within the halls and rooms in the palace, which made it just that little bit more special.
There was so much I liked, but I only got a small token thing that I need to send to that person, and I hope very much that they like it! I certainly did!!
I'd really like to go around the gardens if I go again.

Cosy log fire.

Woodstock is also really pretty too!! We walked around and had a look in all the shops, and stopped for lunch in a little country pub! Only had a sandwich, and shared some chips, but it was really nice. So cosy too as there was a nice log fire heating the room, which we were sat right next to!!
It was only spoiled slightly by the weird man who approached us twice about buying us drinks, clearly he didn't see how uncomfortable he was making all of us.
All in all it was a lovely day, and I really appreciated the break away from all the uni work!! (which I must add, I will be going straight back to once I have written this entry. Boo!)

Seth's new routine?

On the walk back from the bus station, and through the city centre, we saw quite a few buskers, but this one was rather unique - He was on a rope playing the violin - and it was pretty impressive!!! A perfect way to end the day!!!

And now to get on with the reading that I have to do! Goodbye life!!!


xx

Happy Halloween!

Spent last night at a friend's in Moreten-in-Marsh, the Cotswolds are so pretty! Had a brilliant night, I haven't laughed so much in ages!

My cake in a moreten Cafe.

Suzanne made amazing pumpkin soup and pumpkin pie - it was all very yummy! A few glasses of wine (& cider), and seth playing in the background - brilliant!

Played on DJ hero, which was interesting to say the least! Admittedly I wasn't brilliant at it, at all, in the slightest! But it was still fun!

We even carved a pumpkin - designed by all of us, and I named him Erik - most definitely a pumpkin themed night.

Erik!

There was lots of cake and chocolate too! And photos Katie took lots of photos - some were absolutely hilarious!
It was nice as it was chilled and everyone enjoyed themselves - and we didn't have to make an effort with dressing up or anything like that!

Feeling creative!

xx