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I’ve been home from my holiday for over a week, but as I’ve been so busy catching up on things it’s only now that I have some free time to update my blog.

This is actually the 4th time that I’ve been on holiday to the Lake District, although this time my 2 nieces Anya and Emily came as well. (Last year they stayed with us for a few days, but not for the full holiday, as they had other things planned).  There was no mobile phone reception available in the holiday cottage where we were staying, so I kept a paper diary instead of using Twitter.  At first I was a bit disappointed about that, but at least it meant there were less distractions.

At the beginning of the holiday (Saturday 7th August), we arrived at the cottage in Grasmere just after 3pm.  Much of the evening was spent unpacking, although we did go for a short walk by the local rock stream.  I had a nice big bedroom at the cottage – in fact I think it’s the biggest bedroom I’ve ever stayed in! The following morning, we went for a walk up to Easedale Tarn.  We do this walk every year, but on the first full day of the holiday I’m not usually very fit and it takes me a couple of days to get used to all the climbing, especially as we live in an area with no hills at all! Therefore I was dreading going to Easedale Tarn on the first day, as there are some steep climbs involved.  At one point during the walk I thought that I was going to be sick and I felt dizzy and light-headed, so I had to stop and drink some water.  Luckily I felt better once we’d reached the top of the mountain (where the tarn/lake is).  I never had any more of those dizzy feelings during the holiday.  Later that afternoon, we went to the Cumbria Carvery (which is favourite restaurant in Grasmere) for a meal.  I had a Yorkshire pudding filled with Cumberland sausage, chips and gravy.  That is a typical local meal in the Lake District.

On the first Monday it rained heavily, so we didn’t go on any proper walks.  Instead we visited a village called Hawkshead and we went to the Beatrix Potter Gallery.  There wasn’t that much to see, so we walked round it fairly quickly.  We also looked round some of the local shops and had some sandwiches and a piece of cake in one of the cafes.  On Tuesday we walked round Rydal lake – this was a walk that I’d done 5 years ago, but I still enjoyed it.  Luckily I didn’t get too worn out this time!  The first part of the walk is all uphill and quite tiring, but after that it is OK and the scenery is very good, and you get a nice aerial view of the lake.  On the higher path, there is a big cave – I’d actually forgotten just how big the cave is, since the last time I’d been there!  It started raining really heavily and all our clothes were soaked right through.  At the end of the walk we went to the Rydal cafe and had a quick walk around the Rydal gardens.  On Wednesday we went for a walk at Thirlmere, which is a reservoir near Coniston.  There was also a woodland walk where we saw a waterfall and a really big old tree (European Silver Fir), which was about 200 years old.  Later that afternoon, we went to an internet cafe in Grasmere, but there was only one (really slow) computer, so I didn’t have a chance to do much with it.  I just checked my email and that was about it

Thursday was Mum’s birthday so we all gave her birthday cards in the morning.  We spent most of the day in Ambleside, which is a town near Grasmere.  We walked to a waterfall and we had lunch in a pub.  When I’m on holiday, I always miss my weekly takeaways, but this pub served chicken makhani curry with rice and naan bread, so I had that and I enjoyed it.  After dinner, Emily and I played on one of the quiz machines.  We walked around the town and we went to a chocolate shop where I bought some chocolate truffles and some jelly beans.  On Friday we went for a really long walk up to Codale Tarn (which is the second tarn after Easedale Tarn).  We’d been there 5 years ago, but this time we took a different route.  It took much longer than I thought it would – in fact we were walking for over 6 hours, making it the longest walk of the holiday.  We saw many streams and waterfalls along the way, and it was a very pretty walk, even though it was steep and slippery in parts.

On Saturday we went to Coniston for the day.  We hired out a motor boat for an hour on the lake and we had a meal at Harry’s restaurant afterwards.  There was a meteor shower that evening, and as there was a clear sky, we were able to see the shooting stars.  It looked very pretty and I took several photos of the stars.  When we are at home, we can’t see the stars so well in the city due to the light pollution.  On Sunday we did another steep walk – this time to the Lionhead and Lamb in Easedale.  We did this walk 5 or 6 years ago and the path at the start is very steep and not very well laid out.  However it was all worth it in the end, as we had lovely views all over Easedale and Grasmere.  From the top, we could see Easedale Tarn and Grasmere lake, along with Windemere and Coniston lakes.  On Monday, we got up early to go to Aira Force, which is one of my favourite walks in the Lake District.  We walked amongst the waterfalls and woods for 2 and a half hours and had a picnic at the top of the waterfalls.

On Tuesday we went back to the cafe in Rydal but this time I had a white hot chocolate with cream, marshmallows and a flake.  It was one of the nicest hot chocolates I’ve ever had in my life!  We parked at the cafe and walked into Ambleside.  I bought everyone a meal at the pub, where I had the same chicken makhani meal as before.  On Wednesday we went to Derwentwater and had cream scones and milkshakes at The Grange cafe.  Afterwards we walked around the village.  On Thursday we visited John Ruskin’s house at Brantwood, which was very interesting.  We walked round the gardens as well.  On Friday – our last full day – it rained very heavily so we didn’t do much.  We had been planning to walk up to Easedale Tarn again but it was too wet.  We had a meal at the Cumbria Carvery, bought some gingerbread at the Sarah Nelson gingerbread shop and then we walked to the top of Sour Milk Gill (the waterfall leading up to Easedale Tarn).

Several exciting things have been happening since we arrived back from our holiday.  On Tuesday last week, Anya received her GCSE exam results.  She did very well and she got 8 Grade A’s and a Distinction for ICT.  We went out for a meal at The Oaklands in the evening to celebrate.  It was a really nice carvery.  On Friday evening Mum and I saw Toy Story 3 at the cinema – unfortunately it wasn’t being shown in 3D, but we still really enjoyed it.  Afterwards we had a meal at Malaysian Delights.  On Saturday night I went clubbing with my friend Kay.  Today Terry and I went to Norfolk Lavender.  Disappointingly, the lavender fields weren’t open (as they’d already been ploughed) but we still walked around the gardens and farmyard, and we also had a snack in the cafe and I bought some lavender oils.  I also had a piece of lavender cake and a little tub of lavender ice cream, which was nice as lavender ice cream is very rare.

For the last month or so, we’ve been having a heatwave!  It hasn’t been quite so warm for the last 7 days, but before that it was very hot, with temperatures frequently reaching 30 degrees C.  Late last month, we went for a walk at Hoveton Hall Gardens, which was a nice way to spend a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon.  One evening a couple of weeks ago, I bought Mum and Terry a meal at Malaysian Delights.

Last Sunday (probably the hottest day of the year so far) we went to the beach at Sheringham.  We sat on the beach for a while, but the tide soon came in, so we couldn’t sit there for too long.  It was amazing how quickly the tide came in!  We had a lovely walk around the town too.

The good thing is that it won’t be long until we go on holiday to the Lake District.  We will be staying at a holiday cottage in Grasmere.  We have stayed in Grasmere before (in 2004 and 2005) but this time we are staying in a larger cottage as my nieces Anya and Emily will be coming as well.  Near Sour Milk Ghyll there are 2 cottages side-by-side, and this year we will be staying in the larger of the two.

This week (on Wednesday evening) I went round my friend Naomi’s house.  We had an Indian takeaway and we watched the film Van Wilder.  The film was very funny and I enjoyed the evening.  Naomi’s sister Sarah was also there, as she is currently on holiday from university.  It was good to see them both again.

A few really bad things happened this week.  Firstly, our cat Holly has fleas, so we’ve had to spray the house to try and get rid of them.  Also, my step-dad Terry has really bad back pain.  It first started a few weeks ago when he was leaning over to cut the hedge.  He had back pain for a few days, but it wasn’t too bad and it soon went away.  However, on Thursday morning the pain came back with a vengeance. On Friday he could hardly move – he couldn’t walk very far and he couldn’t drive either.  As he can’t drive, he hasn’t been able to visit a chiropractor.  On Friday evening we looked through the Yellow Pages and Terry phoned a chiropractor and he was told to use a hot water bottle and an ice-pack on his back (alternating between them every few minutes).  The chiropractor said that eventually Terry should feel well enough to be able to drive their practice.

Late last week we heard the news that our local woodland could be cut down by property developers.  There is a link to an article about this in the local newspaper here.  If you scroll to the bottom of the article, you will see that I’ve added a comment of my own.  Everyone in my family is very upset and angry about the proposals, particularly my grandmother as she often walks her dog there.  Last Saturday we went for a walk through the woods – this could be our last chance to do so before the houses are built.  Fortunately, the proposals haven’t actually been given the go-ahead yet, and we are hopeful that the local planning authority will reject the plans.  Here is a link to some photos I took of the woods last week.

Work is still going well – I am currently working on new websites for several weekly London newspapers.

As my last blog entry was mainly about my job applications and interviews, I thought it would be good to write a more light-hearted entry.

I’ve really been looking forward to the Christmas holidays this year, especially as the last couple of months have been so busy for me. I’ve been to a couple of Christmas parties – the first one was held at the Lansdowne Hotel, hosted by the IVC social club. I really enjoyed that and I thought it was better than the 2008 party. The buffet was very nice as they had bread rolls with turkey and cranberry sauce and I enjoyed the disco too.
One funny thing happened – I was one of several people asked by the chairman to bring along a cake. So I baked a chocolate cake, but unfortunately it didn’t turn out as well as it normally does and there wasn’t enough time for me to bake another one. It was a bit wet in the middle so I put it back in the oven for an extra couple of minutes. Unfortunately, the outside of the cake was then a bit overdone. The cake also had a big peak on top, so it looked a bit like a mountain! I decided to take it in anyway, and I thought that at least one other person would eat it, as there would be over 50 people at the party. My cake turned out to be one of about 5 different desserts that people had brought in. When people started to go up for dessert, I had a slice of my own cake along with some jelly that someone else had brought in. Later on, when everyone had finished eating and the disco had started, I had a look at the table and I could see that no-one else had taken a slice of my cake! I wasn’t upset; I thought it was funny more than anything. There was quite a bit of food left over though, so my cake wasn’t the only one that hadn’t been finished. I took it home at the end of the evening and shared it with the family. I really enjoyed the party though, and I think one of the reasons why I liked it more than last year’s party was because I now knew a lot of the other people better than I did last year.

I also had a work Christmas party with my colleagues from my department, which was held at Norwich City football ground. The night had a gangsters and molls theme, but I didn’t bother to dress up (the ticket said dressing up was optional) as I thought a lot of others wouldn’t bother either. I just wore normal smart clothes rather than fancy dress. However, when I arrived, it turned out that I was the only person from my department who hadn’t come in fancy dress, so I felt a bit out of place. There were people from many different companies at the party, and there were a few people from other companies not wearing fancy dress, but they were in the minority. Another complication was that it was snowing really heavily that day, so my step-dad Terry said he would pick me up at 9.15pm, to make sure that I wouldn’t get snowed in at the venue. This gave me just enough time to have my meal (starter, main and dessert), but it meant that I didn’t have a chance to take part in the disco afterwards. I felt really disappointed that I couldn’t stay longer – I saw the first 5 minutes of the disco and the music sounded good, but I didn’t have time to dance as I knew it would shortly be time for me to go home. I was the first person in my department to leave the party, so I explained to everyone that it was because of the snow and that I would’ve stayed longer if I could. I really liked the food though.

I had a relaxing day on Friday – this was the first day in several weeks where I could just chill out and do whatever I wanted, so I watched a couple of DVDs. The first one I watched was Run Fat Boy Run, which is a comedy, and then I watched Blades of Glory, which is about 2 ice skaters. Saturday was another day where I chilled out reading books and magazines. Over the weekend, we had heavy snow – about 10cm in total – which is fairly heavy for where I live, and it doesn’t normally snow in December. We don’t usually get any snow here until January. I was glad of the snow as it put me in a festive mood and it felt like a traditional Christmas scene. Sadly, I think most of it will have melted by the time Christmas Day arrives.

On Sunday I went on the Norwich ice sculpture trail. I wanted to go last year, but I couldn’t as we were all laid low with flu. As a result, I was really excited about going this year. It is always held on the Sunday just before Christmas and I went along with other members of the social club. As it had been snowing, it was very cold so the sculptures remained frozen all day. I’d heard that in previous years it had been quite mild and the sculptures melted. That obviously wasn’t a problem this year! I took several photos on the trail – luckily the batteries in my camera held out until the end of the trail. The batteries cut out just after I’d taken a photo of the last sculpture! I’ve already uploaded some photos of the snow which I took on Friday, but I still need to upload my photos of the ice sculpture trail to my Flickr account.

After the trail, we had lunch at Pizza Express in The Forum. I was a bit weary about the prospect of having a meal there as I don’t actually like pizzas, but I had a salad for my main course instead, which turned out to be really nice. I had dough balls for my starter and Italian ice cream (vanilla and nut gelato). It was a really enjoyable day.

Yesterday was a busy day for me as I went back to work (just for one day) for the HR department’s Christmas fun day. Each team within the HR department set up a market stall explaining their activities and responsibilities. Most of the stalls also had games and quizzes, to raise money for charity. People had put a lot of effort into designing and setting up their stalls, and it was fun to walk around the office visiting each stall. For my team’s stall, I brought in a Victoria Sponge cake to be used in a “guess the weight” competition, where the person with the closest answer wins the cake. I baked this cake on Sunday afternoon – in fact I baked 2 cakes the same: one for the competition and one to keep for ourselves! Fortunately the cakes turned out well and quite a few people entered the competition to guess the weight, and the winner was declared at the end of the day. There was a big quiz in the afternoon where we were all split into teams and a lot of the questions covered things which we had learnt from each of the stalls. We didn’t win any prizes in the big quiz, but I found the day very exciting and I feel I now know more about what the other teams within my department do on a day to day basis.

Then in the evening, I met my friends Gemma, Naomi and Sarah in a local pub. We all exchanged Christmas cards/presents, had a drink and discussed what we had all been doing for the past few months (Gemma lives quite far away from us, so we only get to see her about twice a year, usually at Christmas and Easter). We normally meet up every Christmas in the Railway Tavern, but it closed down this year, so this time we met up in the Broadland View pub instead. There’s no roaring fire there (unlike at the Railway Tavern), but I had a nice evening as it’s always good to meet up with your best friends just before Christmas.

Last week was quite a weird week for me. A couple of embarrassing things happened. Firstly, I decided to go to McDonald’s for lunch on Wednesday as I hadn’t been there for quite a while. I ordered a milkshake, fries and chicken nuggets as usual. They didn’t give me a tray; instead they put the fries and chicken nuggets in a paper bag. I headed over to the condiments area to get some tomato ketchup: you have to pick up one of these little paper cases and then pump the sauce into it yourself. As I didn’t have a tray, I decided to put the paper case on top of the lid of my milkshake and then head over to the nearest empty table. Even though I was holding the milkshake steady, the paper case containing the tomato ketchup flew off the top and fell to the floor. I stood there horrified as I saw the ketchup splat all over the floor and some of it even landed on a nearby table! I was really scared that some of it might have landed on someone’s clothes or in someone’s hair, but luckily that wasn’t the case. I picked up the paper case (which still had some ketchup left in it) and I told a nearby member of staff what had happened and apologised for the mess. The really embarrassing bit was that just after I’d finished speaking to the member of staff, the same thing happened again, although luckily it wasn’t so bad the second time as there was less ketchup left in the case. The man laughed and said “You’re a nightmare, you are!” I then picked the paper case up again and tried to find a table. However, there weren’t any empty tables downstairs, so I thought I would try upstairs, but getting to the stairs would have meant having to walk past the area where I had dropped the sauce. I was too embarrassed to walk past that area again, so I just left the building and I ended up eating my food outside, even though it was quite a cold, grey day!

The second embarrassing thing happened on Friday morning on the bus on the way to work. Often when I’m on the bus in the mornings, I go on the internet on my phone, just to check my emails, Twitter/Facebook updates and things like that. My keypad is set up so that whenever you press a key, it makes a clicking sound, just slightly louder than the click of a computer mouse. I was replying to someone’s status message on Facebook, which meant that the keypad was making the clicking sound each time I typed a character. We came to a stop, and the woman sitting in the seat immediately in front of me suddenly turned round and said “Excuse me please”. At first I thought that maybe she was unfamiliar with the area and she was going to ask me which stop she needs, but what she actually said was “Could you turn the volume down on that keypad. It is annoying.” So I put the phone on silent. I did feel embarrassed though – I never realised anyone would find that noise distracting and no one had ever complained about it before. In future, I’ll put my phone on silent before using it on the bus or in any other public place where others could be distracted.

This reminds me of a funny incident which happened when I was at the cinema with my friends when I was about 10 years old. The cinema was full, so we couldn’t all sit together – my Mum had to sit a couple of rows behind us. There was a woman with a little boy sitting in the seat in front of me. I had a carton of drink and after I had finished it, I flattened it so that all the air gushed out. I saw one drop of juice come out of the straw and it landed somewhere in front of me. The woman in front turned round, with a really angry look on her face, and she started shouting, “If you do that again, I’ll ask the manager to remove you from this cinema!” To this day, I’m not exactly sure what she was angry about – whether it was the noise of the air gushing out of the carton, or whether it was because a droplet of the juice landed on her head. However, during the rest of the film I hardly dared move a muscle! I felt that I couldn’t enjoy myself after that. The woman’s face reminded me of a really strict teacher I had a few years earlier, but I don’t think it really was her. When we left the cinema, we laughed about it and my friends didn’t let me live it down!

The weekend has been better though. Yesterday I went to the Lord Mayor’s Procession in Norwich city centre with some other people from the IVC social club. I had a good time. By coincidence, it turned out that the lady hosting the event for the IVC was the daughter of my science teacher from high school! She was there as well, and she was asking me what I had been doing since I left high school. After watching the parade, we all had a drink in a local bar and then we went to watch the fireworks display.

This afternoon we went to Thrigby Wildlife Gardens, a local zoo. It was a nice sunny day, although it only took us a couple of hours to walk round the zoo as it is fairly small compared to the other ones in the area. I took lots of photos which I’ll upload to my Flickr page soon.

My studies for my Microsoft certification are proving to be a bit of a struggle, although I think this is mainly a matter of finding the time to devote to it. Out of 700 pages, I’m currently up to about 100. I was hoping to finish the book by the end of August, but I can’t see that happening now! (There are 3 books in total, and I was hoping to complete them all by the end of April 2010, as that’s when my current job finishes). A lot of the material is very advanced, in fact it is even more detailed than my computing science degree. At least with my degree course, I had proper lectures and seminars where I could get help where necessary, but with this course I’m all on my own, which makes it more difficult. I have even started to wonder whether the course is right for me after all. I think I’ll have to start setting aside an hour each evening to study, and then I’ll see where I am in a month’s time. If by then I still don’t enjoy it, I may as well give it up and find another course to study instead.

Over the last month I have been very busy learning my new job and there has also been a lot going on outside of work too.

My sister Suzanne’s wedding took place on 28th May. It was a really nice, sunny day. I wore a pink dress which I’d bought from Coast in House of Fraser. I bought my whole outfit from there, including a pair of shoes, handbag and necklace. Both the wedding service and the reception were held at the Oaklands Hotel. My nieces Anya and Emily were bridesmaids and they both made speeches during the service. In the early evening, we all had a roast dinner with beef and Yorkshire puddings and there was also a buffet for the guests later on in the evening. Suzanne and her new husband Paul are currently on their honeymoon in the Maldives, although they are due back tomorrow. For the first week of the honeymoon, Anya and Emily stayed round our house, and for the second week my other sister Sarah stayed with them in their own house.

I’ve been to the cinema a couple of times – firstly to see Coraline in 3D, which was really good as the 3D was very realistic. It seems that 3D technology has moved on quite a bit since I was younger – it is much better compared to the days when you had to wear those red and green glasses. The second film was Night At The Museum 2, which we went to see last night. I really enjoyed the first one 2 and a half years ago and I thought it was really funny. This one was good too, but I think overall I preferred the original.

I’ve also been on a few walks in the countryside at weekends – a month ago we went to Thornham in Suffolk. We last went there a couple of years ago, but this time we had a meal in a local restaurant and we also visited Hoxne, which is another pretty village nearby. A few weeks ago we visited Fairhaven Gardens, which I enjoyed as we hadn’t been there for a few years. Then a couple of weeks ago we visited Redwings Horse Sanctuary. I took photos at all these places and you can see these on my Flickr page.

Towards the end of May I co-hosted a nightclub night with another member of the IVC club. We went to Optic nightclub and I really enjoyed it. However, not as many people turned up as I expected, as a few people said they were ill or something else came up so they couldn’t make it after all. This brings me on to my next topic – I’ve been ill yet again. About 3 weeks ago, I caught a cough and cold. I was actually coughing quite badly at Suzanne’s wedding, but luckily I managed to keep quiet during the main service! The cough has nearly gone now, but I still felt really tired and run down last week.

Last week was a challenging week, for 2 main reasons. Firstly, my sister Suzanne didn’t get that job which she applied for. She had the interview on Wednesday, but a couple of days later she received a phone call from the employment agency saying she’d been unsuccessful. I was really disappointed, as I thought she had prepared well for the interview and I did think she would get the job.

Secondly, there is a major re-structure going on in my department at work. The main announcement was made on Tuesday morning, in which the head of the department said that the number of staff would be cut by 25 (there are currently 163 people in the department). Now, that didn’t scare me too much, as I thought the odds of being able to stay sounded pretty good. However, the next day we were told of the exact number of job losses per individual team, and it turns out that we are one of the worst affected teams within the department – our staff numbers are being cut from 21 down to just 10. That really scared me.

As part of this re-structure, we all have to fill in an assessment and selection form with details of our main achievements from the last few years, as well as examples of how we have met the competencies within our current jobs. We are each allowed to select 2 job preferences within the new structure. I put my current job (Automation Lead Adviser) as my first choice, as I enjoy the work I do and I’d like to continue to work in a technical role. For my second choice, I selected Reporting Analyst, as I’ve done that role in the past. Then we will each have meetings with our managers to discuss the form, and we will be given grades (A to E) for each of the competencies. They will use the grades and our 2008 end-of-year appraisals to decide who will stay and who will have to leave. We won’t know the results of the selection process until 12th March – we will all be called into a room individually to be told whether or not we have been offered a job in the new structure. I bet I’ll be really nervous on that day!

I’ve already sent the draft version of my assessment and selection form to my manager, and hopefully tomorrow I’ll have a meeting with him to discuss the contents of the form. I’ve also bought a few more technical books, because if I get my first job preference I’ll probably be working with SQL Server more frequently. Some of the others in my team have learnt ASP (Active Server Pages) and the C# programming language in their own time, so I’ve bought books about both of those too!

I think I stand a reasonable chance of being offered a job in the new structure, but I’m still nervous about it. If I can’t stay in my current department, I would have to apply for other internal jobs elsewhere within the company, but there aren’t many vacancies at the moment. The worst case scenario would be that I have to leave the company completely, and I definitely don’t want that to happen! A lot of companies are laying off staff at the moment, so it would be very difficult to find a job with a new company. Even if I do get to stay in my current job, 11 colleagues will have to leave and I will miss them. It’s very difficult for me to judge who will be allowed to stay and who will have to go – all members of the team are good at different things, so it’s hard to say that one person is better than another.

Anyway, that’s enough of the doom and gloom; let’s get on to the happy stuff! It was my 25th birthday on Sunday, so I booked yesterday and today off work (for a long weekend). My main present was a new digital camera. It’s much more powerful than my old camera – it’s a Fujifilm FinePix S8000fd with 18x optical zoom and 8 megapixels. Yesterday evening I had my birthday meal with Mum and Terry at Mambo Jambo’s, which is one of my favourite restaurants. I really enjoyed it – I had Memphis chicken with fries for my main course. For dessert I had a pancake with chocolate and orange sauce, although it was a bit too sweet! I also had a big vanilla milkshake.

On Thursday and Friday last week, I had my DB2 SQL training course, along with the rest of my team. I really liked it and I feel that I learnt a lot. I did already know some of the things that we were taught, but it was good to fill in some gaps in my knowledge.

On Friday evening I went to a Big Cheese party held in a function room at the local football ground, with some of the people from the IVC club. I really enjoyed it, although it did take quite a while to get going and only about 50 or 60 people turned up. Apparently, 300 tickets had been sold, so it seems that a lot of people must have bought tickets but then decided not to go, which is weird. More than half the tables were empty!

The last few days have been pretty good. Last Tuesday I met my friends Naomi and Sarah in the evening after work and we went to the cinema to see Bride Wars. I enjoyed the film; it was very funny! Afterwards we had a meal at Nando’s. It was the first time I’d ever been there, but I liked it. I had the peri peri chicken with mango and lime sauce. It was very hot and spicy to start off with, and my eyes started to water a little bit. After a few minutes, I got used to it and it didn’t seem so bad. For dessert, I had vanilla ice cream with toffee-chili sauce, which was nice and it helped to cool my mouth down after eating all that spicy chicken! It was good to see Naomi and Sarah, especially as Sarah returned to university a couple of days ago for the spring term, which means I won’t be able to see her again until Easter.

On Friday I had my end-of-year appraisal for 2008. (These always take place in January, for reviewing the second half of the previous year. We have appraisals once every 6 months where I work). I was really pleased with how my appraisal went, in fact I think it was probably my best ever. While I was preparing for my appraisal, I received a lot of feedback from my co-workers – 8 people responded to my feedback request, whereas usually only 3 or 4 people reply. They were all pleased with the work I have been doing, although most of them still said that I am very quiet and that they would like to hear me speak up in meetings more often.

During my appraisal, my manager said that he is very pleased with my progress over the last 6 months, especially my technical work. He also said that my “soft skills”, eg communication, relationship management and decisiveness have improved, although he hopes they will improve further in 2009 (so do I!). During the appraisal session, my manager gave me some good ideas about how I can improve in 2009.

For example, in the past I’ve had a tendency to send people emails rather than go and speak to them face-to-face, mainly if there is a problem or misunderstanding about something. That’s because I’m not very confident about solving misunderstandings face-to-face, as I’m afraid of inadvertently saying something that might hurt the other person’s feelings. Also, sometimes when I’m very busy with my work, I find it easier to write an email rather than get up from my desk and go and see the person. It’s not that I never used to go and speak to people face-to-face, it’s just that I should do it more often. I think the managers of our department want everyone to reduce the amount of email they send. My manager said that progress can often be quicker by speaking to the other person face-to-face.

So yesterday I decided to give it a go. I went and spoke to an additional 4 people face-to-face, whereas in the past I would have probably sent them a quick email. I found that most things can be done much quicker face-to-face, and I felt more productive. You get a response instantly, whereas with an email you might sometimes have to wait a while for the other person to reply. I also felt more confident.

On Friday evening, I met Mum after work and we went to see the film Slumdog Millionaire. It was a good film with a good storyline, although some parts of it (particularly towards the beginning) were rather violent and disturbing. After the film, we had a buffet meal at Malaysian Delights, which I enjoyed as I hadn’t been there for quite a while.

On Saturday evening I had a meal at the Old Orleans restaurant at Riverside, organised by the IVC club. I enjoyed the meal and several friendly people were there. It was the first IVC event I had attended in about 3 weeks, as I was too ill to go to a couple of the events in December, and none of the events at the beginning of January really interested me. However, it looks like there are going to be several interesting events in February, such as a ten-pin bowling night. By February, I should be a fully paid-up member which means I’ll be allowed to organise my own events. On the first Wednesday in February, I’ll be co-hosting a clubnight at the pub/restaurant near my house. (It was another member who suggested to me that we organise an event together). I won’t have to do anything particularly daunting though, it just means that some of the calls/text messages/emails from members wanting to attend will probably come through to me and then it’s just a matter of turning up on the night.

We had some good news yesterday as my step-dad Terry has been offered a new job. He will start in February and he’ll actually be working for his previous employer (the same company he worked for before he retired 5 years ago). The job will involve developing sales leads, which I think is similar to the job he used to do. He will only be working 3 days a week (Tuesday to Thursday), but that’s all he wanted as he will soon be old enough for his pension anyway! I’m very relieved that Terry has found a new job, as I did start to get worried for him, as I thought that it might take a long time because a lot of companies are laying people off at the moment.

That sums up the most interesting events of my life over the last week or so!

This has been one of the most bizarre Christmases of my life. Fortunately, we’ve all been slowly recovering from our illnesses, but none of us was feeling 100%. Over the last few days I’ve been feeling very lethargic – even if I sleep for more than 10 hours a night, my eyes still feel tired and I don’t have much energy. I haven’t really felt like doing much, so it’s unlikely I’ll set up my new website for at least another few weeks, as it’s nowhere near ready!

As for Christmas day itself, I woke up at 8.30am and opened my presents, like I usually do. My main present this year was a new CD player – one which can play MP3 CDs as well as normal CDs. It is fairly similar to the one which Terry bought Mum for her 60th birthday, which is in the lounge. I also received several smaller presents, such as new tops, chocolate selection boxes, CDs and DVDs.

After opening our presents and having breakfast, Mum and I went round my sister Suzanne’s house to exchange presents. Terry usually goes as well, but this year he didn’t feel like it and I think he was also afraid of spreading his illness. We only stayed for about 20 minutes anyway, as Suzanne and her family had arrangements of their own.

Terry still cooked our Christmas dinner as usual, but unfortunately he ended up leaving most of his meal as he didn’t feel like eating much. He has lost his appetite in recent days, and he just doesn’t seem his normal self. I think a lot of it could also be to do with the fact that he is upset about what happened to his Earsham Fencing business. He had been running that company for 4 and a half years (he set it up when he retired from his full-time job as a sales rep), so it must feel strange for him, like he is at a loose end. At least he has been offered a new job though, so he will probably start sometime in January.

On Monday night before Christmas, I went to see my friends Gemma and Naomi at the Railway Tavern pub near where Naomi lives. Unfortunately Naomi’s sister Sarah couldn’t make it as she was ill, but it was still a nice evening. We sat by the roaring open fire, had a couple of drinks and discussed what we had been doing for the last few months (Gemma lives quite far away from us, so we only get to see her about twice a year). During the evening, Gemma mentioned that she would like to go to the cinema to see Madagascar 2. I said that I’d be interested in seeing that too. So on the Wednesday (Christmas Eve) we all went to the cinema. Luckily, Sarah was well enough by then, so she could go too. It was a good film. The only bad part of the day was that we had to run for the bus on the way home from the cinema, and that made me have a massive coughing fit!

I return to work next Monday, so hopefully I’ll be back to normal by then.

It will soon be time for me to do my review of 2008. I always look forward to writing my review of the year – it gives me a chance to reflect on what has happened over the previous 12 months, so that I feel prepared and refreshed ready for the new year.

It’s been yet another busy couple of weeks for me since I last updated, both in and out of work. I suppose this is to be expected as Christmas draws near. Last week (ie the week commencing 24th November) my eyes were stinging even though I was getting about the same amount of sleep that I usually get. At work I had a series of 3-hour meetings to discuss our team strategy for 2009. I helped come up with a new project development lifecycle checklist for my team and I also designed a feedback form, both of which I presented at the meetings. The best thing was that on the Wednesday we all went out for a team lunch at the Lucky Star, which is one of my favourite restaurants.

As for what happened outside work, last Wednesday evening I attended my first IVC meeting at The Nelson. I also had a meal (half a chicken and chips). I was quite nervous about this, as I had never met any of the people before, but they all seemed very nice and welcoming. For part of the evening, they sat me with some of the other new members, so we could discuss our interests, for example going on walks, going to the cinema etc. They have got a Christmas party tonight so I am going to that, although unfortunately neither Terry nor my sister could drive me there – Mum and Terry have been invited out for a meal with relatives, and Suzanne is working – so I will have to get a taxi. I don’t really like using taxis on my own as I’m not keen on travelling with a driver whom I don’t know (I don’t mind travelling on buses as there are lots of other passengers, but it would be too awkward to catch a bus to the venue, as it is in the middle of nowhere). However, I’m sure I’ll have a good time at the party.

On Saturday morning I went to a Chocolate Show with my friend Naomi, which was fun. It was the first time that a chocolate show like this had been held in our area, and there were exhibitions explaining how chocolate is produced, several stalls of local chocolatiers, and there were also demonstrations where they showed you step by step how to create chocolate in different shapes etc. Oh and there was also a nice chocolate fountain – I actually put 2 sticks of marshmallows into the fountain. One day I will have to get my own mini chocolate fountain to use at home! Naomi said she’s already got one of those. I also bought some chocolates and a jar of hot chocolate powder from a couple of the stalls. It was a good day out.

So that was what happened last week; hopefully tomorrow I’ll have time to post an entry about what’s been happening this week!

I’ve been sitting here for the last few minutes, pondering where to start. I’ve had another busy week, with preparations for Christmas coming up. At work I’ve also been busy trying to get all my major projects completed before the holidays start.

On Thursday night the Christmas lights were switched on outside City Hall, so I met Mum after work and we watched the switch-on together. The ceremony was better than in previous years, as this time they had carol singers and fake snow too! As usual, there was a burst of fireworks as the lights were switched on. Seeing the lights switch-on always makes me happy, as it means the Christmas holidays are just around the corner and it puts me in a festive mood.

I’ve also been reflecting on the year so far and what aspects of my life have changed. Overall, I feel much happier now than I was this time last year, or even this time 2 years ago. So far, 2008 has been a better year than 2004 (which was when I first started this blog), 2006 and 2007. This year, I’ve been able to meet up with my friends more frequently than has been possible in the past, and I also enjoy my current job more than the jobs I had a year or two ago. It’s fairly unlikely that there will ever be a better year than 2005, as that was a really good year for me, with several happy events such as my 21st birthday, my graduation, Mum and Terry’s wedding, my first 2-week holiday in the Lake District, getting my first ever full-time job, amongst several other things. However, this year I have been feeling more confident in myself, and fortunately nothing too negative or scary has happened to me so far this year, unlike in previous years.

Last night (Saturday night) I went clubbing with my friend Kay. The evening started just after 8pm when I met Kay in the Glasshouse pub, where she was having a meal with her co-worker Rachel and Greg (Rachel’s boyfriend). I didn’t have anything to eat as I had already had dinner at home – the others had gone to the Glasshouse straight after work, so they were hungry. Rachel and Greg went home straight after the meal – it seems that Rachel doesn’t like going to nightclubs as much as she used to in the past. So again, it was just me and Kay who went to the club. The nightclub we went to was the Chicago Rock Cafe. I had wanted to go to Mercy, but Kay doesn’t like it there quite so much.

We were going to go to Liquid afterwards, but we didn’t realise they stop letting people in after 1am and we were 5 minutes too late so we got turned away! (I don’t think it actually closes until 2am, but for some reason they don’t let any more people in after 1am). I was a bit disappointed about that, as I’ve never been to the Liquid nightclub before, and I had wanted to see what it was like. Oh well, maybe we will go there next time instead. Kay had been going to sleep round my house, to save her having to get a taxi home as my house is closer to the city, but her cat Mally was ill so she decided she had better go home. When Kay first told me about Mally a few weeks ago, I remember thinking that it was an unusual name for a cat. There was a boy in our class at high school who was nicknamed Mally, so I thought perhaps Kay had named the cat after him! However, when I asked her, she laughed and said that wasn’t the case at all! It turned out that when she first got the cat, she thought it was female, so she called it Molly. Then the vet told her it was actually male, so she changed the name to Mally, as it is fairly similar.

Following on from what I said in a previous post, I have joined the local IVC club and I will be attending my first clubnight this Wednesday. It will consist of a meal at a local hotel with 30-40 other members. I am a bit nervous about it, as I won’t know any of the people there at all. (It was one of my managers who told me about the club, but she won’t be attending on Wednesday as she hasn’t yet decided whether to renew her membership for the coming 12 months, since she is often too busy to attend many of the events). It actually took me about 2 days to muster up the courage to send an email to the new members’ officer to enquire about joining! However, they soon replied to me, saying that they would make me feel very welcome on the evening.

I’m always nervous when meeting people for the first time, and just a couple of years ago I would have probably been too scared to join an events club like this. But I also realise that it could help me meet new friends and get me out and about in my free time in the evenings and at weekends, rather than spending so much time at home on my computer or reading magazines etc. Many times in the past, my co-workers asked me on a Monday morning if I went anywhere nice at the weekend, and I remember that I often used to say that I had done nothing exciting and that I had just had a quiet weekend in. Some people must have thought that I was boring. I don’t want to be boring! So even though I’m nervous about attending this club for the first time, I know that it could potentially change my life for the better and help me to become more confident and outgoing. The worst thing that could possibly happen is that I don’t enjoy it or I don’t like the other members very much, and in that case I would never have to go again. So I may as well try it.