I had a dream we went away, left this city for a day, you took me southwards on a plane and showed me Spain or somewhere

Boomchikawaawaa!

Happy Easter all, and if you don't celebrate Easter, Happy Holidays!

Why is it that insurance companies/banks etc etc have these advertising campaigns where they obviously spend loads of money getting flyers put in magazines and then in a final act of desperation try to tempt you to sign up or find out more info by offering a free pen? It is always a Parker pen, usually a Vector model, biro, blue and silver, usually inscribed with Acme Insurance inc, with blue ink. "Oh no, I'm not interested in any insurance, I'm sorted. What?!?!?! A free Parker pen! Now that changes everything!! Sign me up right away! In fact, sign my whole street up, I just know they're desperate for a pen, they've been scratching around for one for a week now!" Good Lord. You can get one from WH Smith for £2.99! Don't be fooled! Or why not pick a biro up for free at your local bookies or Argos store. Come on people! A free carriage clock, I hear you cry! Yes.... great... but who actually wants one?!?!? Don't do it!

These same companies always use an ageing celebrity to endorse their service too. For example, today an advert fell out of TV Quick for an insurance company that shall remain nameless (it was one I'd never heard of). But 'TV's Annette Crosbie' no less was emblazeoned on the front. Gosh, if it's good enough for her, then it's certainly good enough for me. Oh wait though. I'm not aged between 55 and 80. Bummer. I loved the way that it was worded TV's Annette Crosbie, as though the TV actually owns her. You see similar things on adverts for hearing aids and such like. "I was deaf but now I can hear!" exclaims June Whitfield. "Apply today for our revolutionary hearing aid and you get a free MP3 player or Parker pen!" Talk about irrelevent free gifts.

Annnnnnnyway. Just had to get that off my chest.

Over and out

NLO

PS. The video is of Sonic. She used to like to run between all the people in the room to get her head tickled.

Candidate 80, come in candidate 80!

I'm back! Did you miss me, did ya, did ya? I hope I didn't cause too much concern with my absence. I know my last post was from Coventry so I hope you guys weren't panicking that I hadn't made it back from that delightful place. I survived. Just about! And the great thing is, I've got capital letters back! Woo!

I think the selection centre at the med school went OK. I didn't leave thinking I'd majorly screwed up on anything (apart from writing my hotel room number instead of my candidate number on the written exam), so I guess that's got to be a good sign. It was pretty intense though, not far off 5 hours of continuous assessments and such like. The whole set up kind of reminded me of a medical version of Pop Idol or X Factor. I actually said to some candidates that it felt like we were at 'Med Idol' and sure enough when we went into the group task assessment, we had to line up and state our candidate numbers as though we were in an audition. In the few seconds before our challenge was revealed to us, I was looking around the room to see if there was a mannequin lyng around that we'd have to demonstrate some dramatic CPR on. Or some scene of a car crash with ketchup everywhere where we'd have to don stethoscopes in some professional manor and try and stop some fiction haemorrhage. Alas, we actually had to get a ball bearing to negotiate a course in 15 seiconds exactly. Gutting.

Anyway, I've got a good month or so until I learn my fate so I guess I should really consider what plan B may be just in case.

I haven't really got much else to report, so to fill the blog up today I give you my spoof version of Ellen DeGeneres and Robert DeNiro's AmEx poster campaigns. To see a couple of the TV ads click here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5LR-IZbbc0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK1dRCfGEJo&feature=related

My name is........Nina Owen.........

Childhood Ambition....To be an astronaut....

Fondest Memory........I can't remember......

Soundtrack.....Chicago........

Wildest dream... Professional Oreo taster or funny person.....

Proudest moment...... Aceing my degree was pretty sweet.....

Biggest challenge....Getting up when my alarm goes off.....

Alarm clock.....Pain in the neck......

Perfect day.......Shredding down a mountain and watching Liverpool thrash Chelsea......

First job.....Washing cars.......

Indulgence........ Doing nothing except eating Oreos........

Last purchase........Chinese takeaway........

Favourite movie........The Lion King..........

Inspiration...........Anyone who makes me laugh..........

My life..........Is often random..........

My blog.............. A great way to procrastinate.............

Oh by the way, I have finally set up my JustGiving page, you can find it at www.justgiving.com/ninaowen.

OK, I'm gonna sign off. The kids playing in the playground thing just by my house are making far too much noise and are, quite frankly, doing my head in.

Be good all, and if you can't be good, be safe.

Over and out

NLO

if i had myself a flying giraffe, you'd have one in a box with a window

here i am in coventry. costa del coventry, possibly the 2nd most depressing place i've ever been to.

for whatever reason, coventry doesn't like capital letters. i've spent a good 10 minutes looking for the caps lock on the keyboard for the internet in my hotel room but alas it was not to be.

so far i am impressed by the chocolate bourbon creams but unimpressed by the lack of hot chocolate.

nothing is ever straight forward in my life. when i got to dewsbury station at 8am, i found out there were no trains. not good for a train station. so i ended up on a skanky replacement coach, which was really a sauna that they'd stuck some wheels to. luckily i made the connection at leeds after i duly went to platform 11b ('cos the departure board told me to) and joined the masses of confused travellers who were wondering if the train waiting there was going to winchester as it was supposed to, or bournemouth instead (as it was telling everyone). anyway, i got here, the journey somewhat lost in a haze of being hemmed in against the window by some woman who was snotting everywhere and spilling popcorn over the seats. bloody people. why is it i want to be a doctor again? if anyone knows, could you please tell me before my interview at 12.15 tomorrow.

ok, i'm going to get ready for the selection day tomorrow and see if i can't do myself some good blagging.

remember kids - procrastination isn't the problem, it's the solution. so procrastinate now, don't put it off. too true, ellen degeneres, too true.

over and ouuuuuuut

nlo

Stay positive.

I've somewhat neglected my blog this week on account of not having that much to say and generally being too fed up but I thought I'd better drop in on the off chance that someone may be reading this and waiting for some updates.

We buried Sonic last Sunday under the hedge in the garden. She loved sitting there and keeping cool in the summer. I think she started sitting under there when this little bird decided to keep dive bombing her a few years ago every summer. One minute Sonic would be sat in the garden or under the tree minding her own business then all of a sudden there would be a really distinctive tweeting and this bird would swoop down and try to peck at her. She must have realised that the hedge was the best place to hide. So that's where she is. I think she'd approve. We'll probably put some flowers and a little memorial thing there for her.

I went swimming on Monday with Claire and it all went smoothly until I decided to leave. Dewsbury swimming pool has a 'changing village' which is basically a unisex changing room with loads of cubicles with two doors. The lockers are th one side of the changing rooms and the enterance to the pool is at the other side. Instead of walking around the cubicles, it is faster just to walk straight through the vacant ones until you get to the other side. Well. I'd got showered and dressed and was ready to leave and in order to get to the exit, I decided to cut through the cubicles. This plan of action went well until I entered a cubicle that claimed to be vacant with it's little green thing on the door but when I walked in, I found that there was actually a half-dressed occupant yelling. I don't think she was too pleased. The moral of this story.... make sure both doors of the cubicle are locked people!

On the fitness front, I also went to to gym for the first time in ages on Thursday. I didn't do too much, just a couple of miles on the new treadmills and some weights. I must admit, I did get distracted by the pile of magazines on the windowsill and stopped to read them for a bit... but hey, when the gym's empty you can get away with anything. I was in pain yesterday, I think my body had gone into shock. Going to go in a bit to do some more, so no doubt on my next blog entry I'll be moaning again!

Over and out

NLO

In freefall

Sonic died today.

My parents safely arrived home from their holiday on Wednesday and were quickly updated with the previous week's event. Sonic was delivered home and went for a sleep on their bed but according to dad she didn't look right.

Yesterday I went over to see mum and Sonic. The old girl still seemed really weak and hadn't been eating or drinking much at all. We spent the afternoon talking about the holiday and generally fussing over Sonic, giving her lots of cuddles. I had to admit that she didn't seem herself.

This afternoon I had nipped into Leeds to get some new trainers for my running training. Let's just say I don't think JJB has ever made an easier sale. While I was waiting for the assistant to bring out the trainers for me to try on, I got a call from Liz, who asked me if dad had been in touch about Sonic. He hadn't, so I tried to phone him up but my phone had no credit. I get free texts though so sent him a message asking him to phone me up. He did. In tears. Sonic had collapsed late this morning and they had rushed her to the vets where they were told she was in renal failure. They had little option but to have her put to sleep. At this moment, the assistant arrived with the trainers for me to try. I just stuck my feet in them, didn't bother tying them and just said they were fine. In the queue to pay for them I broke down in tears and the harder I tried to fight it, the worse it was. I paid for the trainers and left. Once outside JJB, I lost the feeling of my legs and had to prop myself up on some railings. Dad said he'd come and collect me from Leeds and take me home to say goodbye to Sonic.

When we got home, I went into the lounge to see Sonic's bed in the middle of the floor, on the rug. I walked up to it, and in a fleecy blanket was a furry bundle. My girl. She looked like she was asleep. The rest of the afternoon I sat with her, stroking her, crying, saying my goodbyes, laughing at the funny things she used to do.

I still feel in shock. If I'm honest, I knew this has been coming for a long time, but this isn't quite how I imagined it would be. I thought her health would deteriorate more steadily but even though she had been ill, this all happened so quickly. It's probably for the best. We couldn't have had her suffering. I don't know. I just kind of thought she'd gradually get worse until we called the vet to the house to have her put to sleep in her own surroundings. I didn't really want her to die in the vets because over her life she was hardly ever been there, in fact, in her whole life, she'd only spent about 3 nights away at the vets. I also thought I'd be there with her, holding her at the end. She has always been there for me when I needed her, and I always vowed that I'd be there for her right 'til the end. At least my parents were with her and they said she was very calm.

I don't really know what else to say right now, going to cry again.

Thank you Sonic for being part of our family for 15 fantastic years. You've been an amazing pal, a funny, clever and gentle girl. You will always be in our hearts, words can't convey how much we love you (and we always will) and we'll never, ever forget you. Sleep sweetly my baby one xxxx

NLO