Doing Something Different This Christmas

Every year I get stressed about Christmas. What should be a wonderful, joyous time of year ends up with a last minute dash to the shops because you've left it too late to do the shopping, or else panicking about how much money you've spent. You want to get everybody the perfect gift and only the right thing will do. Then when, like me, most of your friends live all over the country, there's the stress of getting parcels posted on time to worry about.

Enough, I say! This year I decided to take action and try and prevent this yearly Christmas stress. I've asked a lot of my friends to not swap presents this year. It was a pretty hard thing to do because I feared coming across like a Scrooge, but hopefully this will help me cut down on spending, as well as not having to worry about last posting dates and whether I have enough jiffy bags. Most importantly, though, I've asked people not to get me anything in return. I don't want or need presents, and I don't want people going through those same stresses for me. I wouldn't think any less of a friend if they didn't get me a present and I would like to think that the same applies in return. And when a lot of my friends have those very same worries as me about Christmas, then getting me something is just not worth it! I'd much rather my friends saved their energy and didn't waste money on postage.

When I decided to try and cut down on swapping presents I knew there was something I wanted to do to keep that Christmas spirit alive. After all, Christmas is about giving, right? I don't want to take that away completely.

That's why I decided that I was going to raise money for charity. My idea was to suggest that instead of swapping presents, we swap small charity donations instead. Why waste money on a cheap present when that same small amount of money could make a huge difference to a worthy cause? There's no stress - you can donate from your bed, no shopping to do and you get that warm glow knowing you're helping people who really need it. If people would still like to do something that would make my Christmas special, then rather than spend money on me or waste money on postage, I want them to give whatever they can spare to the charity I've chosen to support - St Leonard's Hospice. Donations to them would mean a lot more than presents!

I volunteer in a shop for St Leonard's Hospice and it's something I adore doing. You get to meet so many great people and I enjoy the atmosphere in the shop, but most importantly is the feeling that you're helping a fantastic charity. I first became aware of St Leonard's when I was in primary school and we would raise money for the charity through wearing yellow and creating giant sunflowers out of pennies and even people (read more about that tradition here).

Here's why they're such a great charity to support (taken from the St Leonard's Hospice website):

"St Leonard’s Hospice, which was founded in 1985, is a registered charity caring for people with life-threatening illness, which is often – though not always – cancer. 
 
Our skilled and specially-trained medical and nursing staff offer
 In-patient care in a purpose-built, 20-bed unit
Daycare to which people living in their own homes can come
A Hospice@Home scheme for people in their own homes
The many members of the Hospice staff work together as a close and integrated team, sharing their skills and experience for the benefit of our patients.
Doctors and nurses work with a team of other professionals and are supported by an army of volunteers. Everyone contributes to the special nature of hospice care."
 

You can find out more about the brilliant work they do on the website here.

If you would like to contribute to my fundraising efforts then you can donate via my JustGiving page at the link below.

http://www.justgiving.com/SarahBChristmas

Thank you!

Poptastic

I'm a huge fan of pop music so I thought I'd share some of my current favourite songs!

 

Amelia Lily - You Bring Me Joy

 

Now, I wasn't the hugest fan of her on X Factor, but I could see she had a great voice. She's teamed up with Xenomania (who wrote most of Girls Aloud's back catalogue) and I pretty much love anything Xenomania comes up with, including this!

 

 

 

 

Little Mix - Wings

 

I DID like Little Mix on X Factor, but I was worried they'd disappear into obscurity or come out with some completely naff debut single. I'm glad that wasn't the case! I LOVE "Wings" :) It's the perfect girly singalong song.

 

 

Owl City and Carly Rae Jepen - Good Time

 

Most of the world is probably pretty sick of Carly Rae Jepsen after Call Me Maybe, but I think we can forgive her because this is a fab tune. I loved Owl City's album Ocean Eyes so I was excited to hear more from him too.

 



York Science and Innovation Grand Tour

For today's post I wanted to share my experience of the York Science and Innovation Grand Tour, after taking part of it at the weekend and having a great time. Enjoy!

What is it? From YorkGrandTour.co.uk:
Join us on our amazing tour and experience what some of the city’s innovative people, businesses and organisations have brought to the city and how they have impacted on our lives.
60 large-scale, science and innovation themed, images and messages are displayed in prime locations around the city.

When is it?
From 30 May to 31 August 2012.

It was my dad who first let me know about the York Grand Tour and so this past weekend we decided to go hunting around town and try as find as many of the images as we could. Armed with a map and information about each of the images we set of on Sunday morning (when York would be that bit quieter!) to do the tour.

The Mumbo Jumbo roller coaster displayed in Coppergate

We started in Coppergate where several images are displayed. After a fight with my camera (zoom error! zoom error! zoom error!) I resorted to using my phone to document our trip. The pictures didn't actually come out to bad I'm happy to say! The first image we came across was a picture of the Mumbo Jumbo roller coaster at Flamingo Land North Yorkshire, which holds the record for the steepest drop. I've actually seen this roller coaster up close (from the safety of the ground!) on a visit to Flamingo Land and I can confirm it's just as impressive (i.e terrifying) in real life.

The images are all about local science acheivements and innovation and a lot of the pictures are linked with a particular company or organisation, from Aviva to Nestle, Bootham School to the University of York. The images are pretty spread out so planning a route is key if you want to try and do them all in one go. We didn't do all of them in one go so we still have some left to discover, but we managed to tick off a fair few on Sunday.

The inside of a mint Aero displayed on Blake Street

After Coppergate we headed up Coney Street, to St Helen's Square and Davygate. One particular exhibit our map informed us was on Davygate took some effort to find (it was hidden round a corner) but we got there in the end! Then we visited Blake Street and Lendal before heading up to Museum Gardens. All of that was enough to warrant a tea break in Costa whilst we refuelled and planned the rest of our route. To the Bootham Bar and the Minster next, then Monk Bar. Eventually we worked our way back to the Shambles and Fossgate, where again one of the images evaded us! We've still yet to spot the Fossgate one but hopefully I'll get the chance to see it eventually. The up to Picadilly before heading home.

The way we approached the tour was to try get round as much of it as possible in one go. It's a lot of work (not the most M.E friendly of activities but we managed to fit in plenty of rest stops to give my legs a break!) and the images are quite spread out so we're leaving some of them to do another day (Micklegate and the images by the river). You don't have to do it like that, though. You can still get enjoyment out of these pictures by chancing upon them on your trip to the shops or your way home from work. It's something to share with all the family and I'm planning on dragging more family members back to get a chance to look at some of the images (particularly the member of my family interested in photography!) so try and share the experience with other people.

It's geared up for tech-lovers with Twitter hashtags for the images and QR codes to scan with your smartphone, so it's a super-interactive experience.

 It was a really enjoyable day. Here's a few more of my favourite images!

Resources:
York Grand Tour Website
Twitter
Map
Smartphone App
Gallery

Until next time!

Sarah x

A Brand New Blog Project - Total Teen Fiction

For a while now I've been wanting to start a book review blog, as reviewing them on here has never really seemed to fit in. And finally I've done it! I've decided to stick with books I'm passionate about, so I'll be blogging young adult/teen fiction reviews as they're the books I adore. You can follow that blog over at http://totalteenfiction.blogspot.com/ :) If you love reading and are looking for more YA novels to read then have a look and see if any of the reviews and recommendations take your fancy! I'll be doing weekly book round-ups and news on YA fiction, too.

I haven't abandoned this blog though, don't worry! This is still a place for personal posts and M.E Awareness :) but I wanted to keep all my book posts in one place.

You can follow my new blog on Twitter, too, yay! http://twitter.com/totalteenfic

Until next time,

Sarah x

M.E Awareness Day 2012

Today is M.E Awareness Day! As M.E Awareness Week draws to a close I wanted to do one last post to try and get my message out there. I haven't been able to blog as much as I would have liked (due to my health) but I want to thank every single person who is following the blog, who has read my article and shared my poem, and who has been retweeting my messages on Twitter :) you guys are awesome!

For those of you that don't know my M.E story I'll share a brief history of it now. I became ill in 2005, just after starting year 10, when I came down with glandular fever. I was off school from September until January, when I finally managed to go back part time. It was obvious I wasn't right, though. I would come home exhausted and struggle through my lessons, and although I'd improved I seemed to be stalling. I also kept coming down with bugs that would knock me back. I was referred to the hospital and eventually diagnosed with M.E in around May 2006. I missed all of year 11 after becoming too ill to even attend school, and was home tutored throughout this period. I spent months unable to leave the house. In 2007 I started 6th form, a huge milestone for me after a year out of school, just doing the one subject. I'd managed to gain 5 GCSEs with the help of my home tutor, and by taking my exams either at home or in isolation at school so I could have rest breaks. 6th form went well until Easter 2008 when I suffered a huge relapse.

This was one of the darkest times of my illness. I became completely confined to bed and ended up so weak I couldn't walk unaided. I was struck by light sensitivity, something I'd experienced at the beginning of my illness, which meant I spent all day with the curtains drawn shut. I suffered pain in my muscles and joints that was agonising, and it would be over a year before I left my house again, and even then it was a small trip out into my garden.


I'm in a fairly "good" period now, in that I can walk for short distances and leave my house, and I'm able to see friends and do volunteer work. But I still have a long way to go. There is no cure for M.E, and still so little research happening that it may be a very long time before we see anything like that, but I have to remain positive and hopeful that I will recover. I'd go insane otherwise!


M.E Awareness Week is a chance to wake the world up to the reality of living with this extremely debilitating illness, but it's hard work. The media and general public are so oblivious to our suffering that it is left to the sufferers and charities to get the word out there. The people out there raising awareness are doing so whilst battling crippling fatigue, headaches, nausea, cognitive problems, muscle and joint pain, dizziness, sore throats - the list goes on. YOU can help us, by raising awareness. If you hadn't heard of M.E before this week then please share your new found knowledge with somebody else. Look into the work of M.E charities and make a donation - anything you can spare. Display your awareness ribbon with pride!


http://www.ayme.org.uk/
http://www.actionforme.org.uk/
http://www.meassociation.org.uk/
http://www.investinme.org/




Well done to everyone involved in this year's efforts, you've been amazing! And raising awareness of M.E isn't just something I do in MEAW. I try and do it all year round, so keep an eye on my blog for more posts throughout the year :)


Until next time,


Sarah x

M.E Awareness Week - The York Flyer

For the past couple of years I've spoken to my local paper as part of M.E Awareness Week. This year I haven't quite had the time and energy, but I did manage to write and submit a piece to our local community magazine - The York Flyer. You can read my piece online at the following link or, if you live in York, in May's issue which is available now.

http://www.theyorkflyer.co.uk/latest.html (the piece is a few pages in)

I just wanted to say thanks for all the support and sharing of my poem from my last post! I got such a lovely response and some really nice comments, and thanks to the power of the internet it's gone all over the world. It means an awful lot, and hopefully it's had an impact and raised some awareness! A big well done to everyone blogging and tweeting for MEAW - I know it can be so tough to find the energy to do it all when you're ill, so it's so great to see so many people getting involved.

Hopefully I'll be able to blog again before the week is out!

Until next time,

Sarah x

M.E - A Poem

To mark M.E Awareness Week 2012 I have written this poem as an expression of the emotions felt whilst suffering with M.E, based upon my own experiences. Please take a look and share with others if you can. Thank you!

M.E

Virus, not well, mild frustration,

Missing out my education,

Visit GP, desperation,

Blood tests, waiting, agitation,

Still so sick, a bad sensation,

Return to GP, preparation,

Bloods clear, now what? Anticipation,

Hospital the new location,

See consultant, evaluation,

“You have M.E”, a revelation,

Explains the illness, grabs attention,

I’m not alone, a celebration

List of symptoms, expectation,

“No cure yet though”, hope deflation,

Just more waiting, stirs emotion,

Wiped out, pain, poor concentration,

Sickness, joint pain, bad digestion,

Fatigue, weak muscles, debilitation,

Insomnia, sleep deprivation,

Bedbound, housebound, isolation,

For some comes hospitalisation,

Have to stay strong for duration,

Where’s the help, consideration?

Benefits battle, messed up nation,

Struggle through the registration,

Misunderstood by population,

Media writes words of fiction,

“M.E not real” a fabrication,

Still I fight, no liberation,

Too ill to learn, no graduation,

No job at all, no work promotion,

Charities help, make a donation,

Volunteers at their station,

To help with my incarceration,

Recovery the destination,

For now in my imagination.

M.E often (but not always) develops after a virus, as was the case with me when I came down with glandular fever which developed into M.E. Diagnosis is initially a relief, after being ill for so many months not knowing just what is wrong with you. But then comes the realisation that there is no cure for M.E. It is an emotional rollercoaster that lasts for years.

M.E Awareness Week - 6th-12th May 2012.

http://www.ayme.org.uk

http://www.meassociation.org.uk

http://www.actionforme.org.uk

Sarah x