So I’ve started my field work for real, but I haven’t managed to interview anyone properly. I’ve done a test interview and made a load of field notes but it feels like things are conspiring against me to disrupt my research. There are things going on in my life that I don’t think are appropriate to grumble about in my blog, but one thing I do feel like moaning about it my sore foot. I have hyper mobility syndrome, basically I can bend most of my joints in the wrong direction. (If you’re wondering if you have it, try and touch the thumb of your left hand to the forearm of the left arm… if you can do it without snapping your wrist you might want to mention it to your Dr.) I’m lucky, I know someone who has it and it has ended her career as a hair dresser because she can’t stand for long periods of time. Me, I’m mostly ok, but my knees are often very painful. Going up and down steps can be excruciating and it’s a bit embarrassing to take the lift for just one flight, people tend to assume I’m just lazy. Long story short, I was given physio and orthotics for it. Physio is great, the physio has made the world of difference. The orthotics killed me. Not literally, obviously, but they aggravated a point in my foot so badly I couldn’t walk. This is not just ‘high heel pain’ kind of pain, it’s the ‘my shoes may was well be full of lego bricks and thumb tacks’. So I had to take some time off going out and doing some field work.  I’m a bit better now, and I’m back on the field work, and I’ve made some other healthy changes too.

The biggest change is I’ve decided to lose weight. I’m pretty fat, in fact if you wanted to describe me to someone you’d probably say, ‘the fat lass with the purple hair’ …or blue, or pink, or whatever it is this week. There’s no shame in being fat, I like being fat, but one day I realised I had gained a stone and not even noticed. So, I took it as the kick up the butt to make me lose weight. I never want to be slender, but I could live with being a healthy BMI. I’ve taken up exercise, aqua running to be specific and joined Slimming World online. In three weeks I’ve lost half a stone… The down side is it’s ruining my social life. I never realised just how much of my leisure time revolved around high calorie activities: eating out, cooking, and boozing it up like a first year med student. So now I’m on a self-imposed soda water and bitterness diet. Have you ever been clubbing sober? Griiiiim! The PhD office is a calorie ridden mine field, there are biscuits EVERYWHERE!  Even my friends who are dieting are no help, they are doing Atkins and torment me by saying things like “Oh, when I get hungry I just eat some cheese” and “If I fancy something sweet I just have a tub of double cream.” … I miss fatty foods. Also, the next person who says “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” will be force fed a bacon and peanut butter sandwich, because I’ve been skinny, and let me tell you, a bacon and peanut butter sandwich tastes FAR better than being skinny.

Ok… I’ll stop grumbling, I’ve had enough of my own self-pitying waffle. (mmm …waffle)

Good things that have happened in August.

1)      I submitted a proposal to a gallery and they asked me to take part in a show. I bet you didn’t know I love to paint?

2)      I was accepted onto a BSA conference about drinking. I’m going to do a paper on how public drinking impacts on one of the areas I research. So excited!

3)      Things are going well for my boyfriend, he’s been accepted onto a leadership thing-y that sounds a bit like the Action 2012 thing I did. Which means that I get to interfere and boss him about, erm  I mean; make helpful suggestions and support him. 😉

I hate to upload blogs without images, so here’s a picture of something I painted. I’f you’d like it I’ll swap it for a 500ml Tub of Daler-Rowney System 3 Acrylic in Titanium white.

Thanks for reading!